Chapter 10

Flowers And Chocolate

August first came quicker than anticipated for Harry and he was dreading every moment of the upcoming day. He tossed at turned during this night imagining that his Aunt had put up an act being sad about his death and just wanted to kill Harry. He had another dream that the minister of magic decided to throw Harry into Azkaban for having extremely messy hair. He finally woke up and got dressed quickly into his best (worst to most) muggle clothes. When he went into the kitchen, he found that Sirius was sitting at the table, beaming while Mrs. Weasley and Remus were cooking.

Sirius turned to see Harry smiling at him and he returned it happily.

"Morning Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley bustled, "Here's some breakfast. Now eat up, Dumbledore will be coming in ten minutes."

Harry quickly ate his breakfast along with Sirius. Just as they finished, Dumbledore apparated into the headquarters and smiled at them.

"Good Morning, Harry. Sirius. It is a simply marvelous day outside. Now Harry we need to disguise you. It will not be a heavy disguise since we shall be using a portkey to get to Privet Drive. Here," Dumbledore held out a long black cloak," Put this on; the hood as well. You can take it off once we are in the wards of the home. Now are you ready?"

Harry stood up and Sirius followed. Apparently, he wanted to be there to "support Harry" but the now 16 year old didn't mind much.

Dumbledore took an old can and muttered the spell to turn it into a portkey. Immediately they all stuck out their hands and were whisked away to the unhappiness of Number Four Privet Drive.

Harry felt himself fall onto the grass at his "home". He stood up and looked at the place he spent his dreaded summers at. It was no longer well kept and clean. The grass needed a mowing badly and the bushes and flowers were welted and dead. The outside of the house gave off a dreary look that made it look like it had come out of a scary movie.

The odd group approached the house and Sirius knocked gruffly on the door. It took a minute for someone to come to the door. Harry kept his head hidden under the cloak but could tell that his aunt had answered the door.

Harry caught a glimpse of her and was shocked at her appearance. Her normally clean and kempt hair was everywhere and barely in its head band. It was slightly graying now as well. Her face was pale and she had dark circles under his eyes which were now filled with sorrow and regret. She was wearing a long, silk pink robe with a long nightgown under it that seemed to still be dirty.

"Dumbledore, sir? Sirius Black? What are you doing here? And who is this person?" Petunia said sniffing between every sentence as she pointed to Harry.

"May we come in Petunia my dear?" Dumbledore asked soothingly.

She nodded and her eyes darted from Harry to Dumbledore to Sirius and back to Dumbledore.

She let them come into the home and they went into the now dirty living room. They sat on the couches, Harry still concealed by the cloak.

"You were cleared," Petunia said quietly to Sirius who looked at her mildly surprised.

He smiled and nodded.

"Petunia, I am aware that you have taken the news of Harry's death quite badly," Dumbledore began but was cut off as Petunia let out a loud sob into her robe.

After a moment Petunia calmed down Dumbledore continued.

"Now, we have some exciting and good news for you Mrs. Dursley. My boy, please, you may remove your cloak," Dumbledore commanded.

Harry obediently stood up and pulled down his hood. Petunia looked at him for a moment before jumping on him and crying into his shoulder. Harry was uncomfortable for a moment before he hugged her back letting her cry into his shoulder.

Dumbledore and Sirius walked out of the room silently leaving them alone.

Once Petunia calmed down, she looked sadly at Harry.

"Please, sit," she instructed pointing to a chair.

"Where are Dudley and Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked when his aunt sat next to him.

"I told them that I needed some time alone and that when the got back I would be fine so they went to watch a futball game in London."

"Oh. Umm… can I ask you something?" Harry asked looking at the carpet.

She nodded and let Harry continue.

"Why did you care that I was dead?" Harry asked suddenly, looking into his aunt's dark eyes.

She began to shake her head and tears began to fall down her face once again.

"I always cared about you. It just took fifteen years to realize that I did. You are the last reminder of Lily that I have and even though all those years I hated her and loathed the fact she was "not normal" I loved her and when she died…I didn't know what to do with myself. We took you in and when your uncle wasn't home I would watch you and see those green eyes and remember Lily. She was an amazing person Harry," Petunia finished smiling at her young nephew.

Harry nodded before standing up and getting ready to leave.

"Wait," Petunia said standing up, "I need to give you something before you leave."

Harry nodded in response and watched as his aunt hurried up the stairs.

A moment later, she returned back downstairs with a long, thin box with an inscription on the top stating:

Lily Evans----Lily Potter

Petunia gave it to Harry who immediately opened it.

"It was your mothers. Dumbledore gave it to me when I got you. He said to give it to you when you were 11 but I never really got to it. Now I think you should have it," Petunia stated looked at the box in Harry's hands.

He checked over the wand and smiled thinking that once before his mother used it and held it. He looked up at his aunt and gave her a hug before meeting Sirius and Dumbledore in the hallway. Dumbledore looked at the box and smiled knowing what it was.

Silently Harry grabbed his cloak, gave his aunt one last hug, and walked out the door, his mother's wand tightly clutched in his hands. The group stayed on the doorstep as Dumbledore got the portkey.

"We will go to the ministry next. Remus will meet us there. He will portkey. Harry you may take off your cloak. No need for it now," Dumbledore said as they grabbed the portkey. Harry felt the familiar tug behind his navel and just as the swirling began, it stopped and he found himself standing in front of the Ministry of Magic.

Remus came a moment later landing gracefully behind Sirius who jumped back in shock.

"Hello, Remus. Now we will proceed," Dumbledore said walking to the security officer.

"State your business and please allow me your wands," the guard said not even looking up.

"Albus Dumbledore here with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Harry Potter. I have a meeting with the Minister. I am sorry though, I will need my wand," he said strongly.

The security guards head snapped up and he scanned them his eyes widening as he moved across the row of people. He smiled and nodded, handing them name tags.

"I thought you had to use a phone to get into the Ministry of Magic," Harry asked.

"Well, only a few people know this is here. Those include me, the security guards, Minister Fudge, the Wizengamot, and now you three. Few use it however."

Harry nodded and followed Dumbledore, placing his name tag on his chest.

The now four walked quietly to the minister's office. As they passed the cubicles and desks heads immediately whipped in their direction. The workers eyes would widen and then they would turn to their co-workers and whisper while snatching one last glance at the supposedly dead people.

Harry looked annoyingly at the people but felt much better when Sirius put a comforting hand on his broad shoulders.

He looked at his godfather and smiled and kept following Dumbledore and Remus.

When they finally made it to the minister's office Dumbledore didn't even bother to knock. He opened the door and walked triumphantly in after telling the other three to wait outside for a moment before they came in.

"Ahh, Albus. So nice to see you," Cornelius Fudge said as pleasantly as he possibly could. The minister was close to being pulled out of office but the many federations such as the Wizengamot and the important ministry workers had not yet come to a compromise as to who the new minister of magic would be.

"Hello Cornelius. I suppose you are wondering why I scheduled this meeting," Dumbledore said back in a calm voice.

"Yes, yes. Now please sit down, would you like some tea? Pumpkin Juice, perhaps?" he offered Dumbledore who politely refused the offer.

"Now, down to business Minister. Not to long ago, young Harry Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin were lost beyond the veil. It was a horrific event and since then we had been trying to find out the secrets of the veil in hopes of getting our loved ones back. We were sadly unsuccessful in the project. We gave up and thought that there was no hope in our friends return. Well, to get to the point Minister, we were very wrong in our assumptions," Dumbledore said standing up and motioning for the three people standing outside to come in.

As Harry, Sirius, and Remus walked in the minister looked close to passing out. He saw the angry faces of all four of the people in front of him.

"Oh my lord. This is a miracle! Welcome back!" he announced attempting to shake Harry's hand but he stepped back.

"I want a public apology, Minister," Harry said his arms crossed.

"W—what?" he stuttered.

"You heard me. I want you and everyone else in this ministry, who doubted what Dumbledore and I were saying to make a public apology to the public and us. You ruined my whole entire fifth year, Fudge and I want everyone to know what lying fool you are. You ruined Dumbledore's image and I want everyone to know that you are scared of him. I want you to say yourself that you lied about how I was an attention seeking boy who was not "right in the head" and how Dumbledore was a senile old fool. Do it and do it now," Harry said fiercely, Sirius' hand still tightly clasped on his shoulder.

Fudge looked simply appalled and scared at the statement Harry made.

"But… if I tell people that they will… they will," Fudge started.

"They will know that you are no longer fit to be the minister of magic and that you should have never been elected in the first place. They will know that you are the attention seeking fool; not Harry or Dumbledore," Remus finished for him letting his werewolf side come out.

By this point, Fudge was shaking.

"Cornelius," Dumbledore said in an eerily calm voice, "you will do as Mr. Potter says. We would like the Wizarding community to be informed that Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, and Mr. Lupin have returned. You will be given no further details."

Fudge merely nodded, his face slightly pale.

"Oh, Cornelius. I think that I would fancy a nice long apology as well. Since you know, you falsely imprisoned me to Azkaban prison for 12 years without a fair trial. I want it soon, Fudge. Real soon," Sirius snarled.

"We have other business to attend too. If you will excuse us, very nice to see you, Minister," Sirius said in a mock-happy voice as he strengthened his grip on Harry's shoulder.

Dumbledore conjured up a portkey and they all touched it quickly, leaving a very frightened and worried Minister of Magic back in his office.