A/N: Ok, this is my first fanfic that I've ever done so please be gentle but opinionated with your reviews. After getting a couple e-mails, I'm now going to try and update this every Monday and Thursday instead of just once a week, but I still make no guarantees about my timeliness.

Disclaimer: All the characters, places, objects, etc. from books 1-6 (and maybe some stuff before them) belong solely to J.K. Rowling.

The rest of the stuff in this story is out of my own mind and any resemblance to anything in book 7 when it comes out is purely coincidental.

Summery: With what lies ahead of Harry, he gathers as much help as he can to aide in his quest to defeat Voldemort. Will Harry succeed? Will love come into his life?

Chapter 6

The next day seemed to go by without a hitch. And it seemed that after her revealing speech to Harry the previous day, Aunt Petunia had spoken to both Vernon and Dudley about watching themselves around Harry. Although he sounded rather reluctant, Vernon was more polite to Harry, and Dudley just stayed away from Harry in general, making sure to keep his backside well protected from growing a new tail.

"Aunt Petunia," said Harry, "just so you know, tomorrow after noon, I'll be leaving with my friends to stay with them for their brother's wedding."

"Thank you for letting me know Harry," she replied.

"And they won't be coming through the fireplace this time," he added as his uncle looked over his daily paper with a rather intense glare towards Harry.

After a somewhat quiet dinner, interrupted only by a common, ordinary sneeze from Harry that caused Dudley to jump with fear, Harry retreated to his bedroom for the final time. Tomorrow, he would be leaving number four Privet Drive at last.

Harry muttered as he woke to his alarm the next morning. 'Why do you always have to interrupt a good dream,' he thought as he shut off the buzzing alarm. He had been in the midst of one of the best dreams he had ever had. Ginny and he were together on their wedding day, standing hand-in-hand while gazing into each other's eyes as the minister proclaimed them to be Mr. and Mrs. Harry Potter. The alarm had gone off right as they were about to share their first kiss as husband and wife.

"Morning Hedwig," he greeted his owl as she flew the window after a night of hunting. She replied with a soft hoot as she made her way into her cage to get some sleep. Harry got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Dudley and Petunia were both already in the kitchen having breakfast. "Good morning Harry," said Aunt Petunia with a smile on her face, "let me get you a plate."

"Thanks," he answered back. He sat down at the table and looked across at Dudley who seemed to have broken a cold sweat as Harry entered the room. "I'm not going to do anything," he said directly to Dudley.

Dudley made a kind of grunting noise but still acted extremely nervous with Harry. Petunia returned with a plate of eggs and bacon. Once he had finished, he went back to his room to pack-up his belongings. Robes, books, pictures, letters, everything but the furniture seemed to be stuffed inside Harry's trunk. It took a moment or two, but after sitting as hard as he could on top of the trunk, he managed to get the lid closed.

He looked all around the room to make sure that he had gathered everything. After making sure that he did indeed have all of his possessions, he looked at his watch and began to haul his trunk down stairs. Hedwig hooted a little indignantly as Harry snatched up her cage with her still inside.

At the bottom of the stairs, Harry ran into Petunia, "So, this is goodbye then?" she asked.

"I guess so," Harry replied, "and don't worry, I'll keep my promise to write you."

"Thank you Harry. And here," she handed him a small parcel, "consider it seventeen years of birthday presents."

"What is it?" Harry inquired.

"You'll see, but don't open it here. Just wait." She walked over to the door and opened it for him. "It's not going to be the same without you around here."

"It won't be the same without you guys either."

Suddenly there was a loud bang in the street. And out in front of the house appeared a violent purple, triple-decker bus. The Knight Bus.

"That'll be my ride," said Harry as Petunia looked out across the yard in shock at the monstrosity in the middle of the street.

Then, just as suddenly as the bus had appeared, a tall, red-haired boy bolted out of the door in the rear of the bus and collapsed on the ground.

"Land! Land! Sweet, solid land!" he shouted.

Harry began laughing as he watched his friend Ron kiss the Dursley's front lawn. He looked back towards the bus to see his other good friend Hermione step out of the bus.

"Oh honestly Ronald. It's not that bad. I did tell you to put a sticking charm on your seat to help out," she told Ron.

"Like he listens to logic," came the voice of the person he had been most longing to see, "Hey Harry!" Ginny called across the lawn.

"Hey Ginny," he responded to her, he then turned to Petunia as Ginny made her way over, "thanks again for letting me know."

"Don't mention it Harry. Just remember to keep in touch," she reminded him.

"I will," and with that, they hugged each other goodbye with Ginny standing next to Harry, shocked beyond belief at what she had just seen.

"Did I miss something?" she whispered to Harry as he turned to face her.

"I'll explain in a bit," he said in a reassuring manner, "can you help me with my trunk?"

"You're kidding, right?" said Hermione as she came over with Ron, "you've been of age for what, twelve hours now?"

"Mate," Ron chimed in, still looking a little pale from the bus ride, "mum's been waiting for you to send your stuff over."

"Oh yeah," Harry finally remembered, "gimme a break, none of you have been tried for underage magic."

"True," said Hermione, "but come on, everyone's back at The Burrow waiting." And with a couple waves of her wand, Hermione magiced Hedwig and Harry's trunk off to The Burrow. Aunt Petunia seemed unalarmed at what had just happened next to her.

"Stay safe Harry," she said as the four friends began to make their way to the bus.

"I will," Harry called back, "say goodbye to Dudley and Uncle Vernon for me."

Petunia smiled and nodded in acknowledgement as she waved goodbye to Harry.

Ron looked puzzled as he turned from Harry, to Petunia, and back again. "Hang on, what just happened here?"

"I was just asking the same thing," said Ginny.

"Well to be brief," Harry said, "we made a mends with each other. I'll fill you all in, in detail later. Right now let's just head to The Burrow."

Ron let out a very audible sigh, looking for some excuse to delay getting back on the Knight Bus. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to the parcel in Harry's hand.

"A birthday present from my aunt," he replied.

"Not another pair of your uncle's old socks is it?"

"Don't think so."

"Why don't you open it?" asked Ginny.

"I promised I'd wait till after I left," he told her.

"How about on the bus then?"

"No. I wouldn't dare open anything while it's moving."

"Good point," Hermione said, "now let's get going you lot."

As they got on board, Harry looked around to see if Stan Shunpike was back to his job as conductor of the Knight Bus.

"Well come on, come on. We haven't got all day," came a voice much higher than Stan's, from the front of the bus, "there are more people than just you in this world you know."

She seemed to be no older than any of the four of them. "Sorry about that," Hermione apologized.

"No matter. That'll be eleven sickles a piece," then she turned to Ron, "And if you ever complain about this bus like that again, you can walk!" Ron blushed.

They all paid the girl and proceeded to their seats. "I take it the Ministry still has Stan locked up?" Harry inquired.

"Yeah," Ginny responded, "Scrimgeour would rather seem to be doing anything instead of actually going after real death eaters."

As they sat down, they all placed sticking charms on their chairs. Ron, however, also put a sticking charm on himself so that his butt was glued to his chair. Harry looked over as he did this.

"Good idea mate," Harry said remembering his previous trips aboard the Knight Bus. He followed Ron's lead just as the bus departed Privet Drive.

In a manner of minutes, the bus had zoomed them out across the country, stopping every now and then to either gain or loose a fellow passenger. Sooner than later, they arrived just outside Ottery St. Catchpole in front of the Weasley home, The Burrow.

Harry and Ron soon realized that their sticking charms might not have been such a good idea. As they stood up, after removing their sticking charms, Ginny and Hermione came over with a fit of the giggles.

"What are you two laughing about?" questioned Ron.

"Nothing," said Hermione in between laughs.

"What?" Harry asked Ginny.

"Really, it's nothing," she replied while still laughing.

Ron and Harry looked at each other, then back at the girls, "Honestly, what's so bloody funny?" said Ron starting to get irritated.

"Nice underpants there bro," came Fred's voice as he and George walked onto the bus to see what was keeping them.

"You too Harry," added George.

Harry and Ron then realized that the momentum of the bus and their sticking charms had resulted in the pair of them tearing holes in the seats of their pants.

"Reparo," they both muttered while blushing at their predicament.

"Thanks for the help," Ron said sarcastically to Ginny and Hermione.

"Well come on you lot, mum's waiting for you," said George.

"And Harry, happy birthday," said Fred.

"Thanks guys," he responded.

Please let me know what you think and leave me a little review. And I will try to update this Monday.