Harry Potter and the Dark Heir
By Lady Paradox
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and affiliates do not belong to me nor do I claim credit for them or claim any financial gain from this fan fiction.
AN: sorry for the long wait. sheepish This chapter has been giving me a lot of trouble and I'm still not quite satisfied with it, but my loyal readers deserve their update. I was so tempted to send Harry to Narnia as he sat in his wardrobe... you'll see.
Chapter Five:
Cursing softly, Harry slammed another book on alternate universes closed. Angry at another dead end, Harry sighed as he put his head down on the table in front of him. Sirius and Remus had long since retired to their respective rooms, after having told him to go to bed. It was at times like this that Harry wished he had Hermione's persistence and intelligence in researching. Shaking his head, he put the thoughts of his friends away, for thinking of them would only serve to make him depressed.
It had been two weeks since Harry had moved in with the two and they had not made any progress with their research. Lifting his head, Harry ground the palms of his hands into his eyes, trying to wipe away his tiredness. A quick charm told him that it was nearly four in the morning, much later than he had promised Sirius he would be in bed.
Deciding in his head that it was more beneficial for them all if he stayed up and got ahead on the gigantic pile of research material, Harry took a big gulp of his long cold coffee and quickly scanned the list Remus had created on books that could be relevant to alternate dimensions. In the two weeks he had been throwing into the project, Harry, with the help of the others had only made it through the first thirty or so books. Checking off the next book on the list, Harry stood up and quickly found the book, thanks to Remus' organizational skills.
Pulling the book off the shelf, Harry first noticed the worn covers and the faded black ink stamped on the cover of the book. Running his hands over the old leather, Harry couldn't help but realize that the book was unlike any of the other books he had been reading. The other books felt and looked brand new, possibly been bought just for the appearance of an abundance of books. This one looked well loved and possibly second hand, not something you would expect to find in the Black family library.
Bringing the book back to the table he had deigned his research space, Harry sat down and almost hesitatingly cracked the book open. Flipping through the first pages, Harry was almost disappointed as the book turned out to be just as incomprehensible and dry as the other books he had tried to comprehend in the past few days.
Leaning his head against his palm, Harry started to read the book for any new information on alternate dimensions. He never noticed his eyes start to droop or his head slipping from his hand.
"This happens much too often Sirius." Whispered Remus as he opened the door for Sirius, who was carrying Harry's sleeping form.
"I know Remus, but it's not as if we can stop him. We're not his parents."
"We just need something, anything that can pull him away from this project. It's consuming him."
Coming into consciousness, Harry noticed that he was back in his designated bedroom. He briefly wondered how he had gotten there when the last thing he remembered was reading that book in the library. Concluding that Sirius or Remus must have found him that morning when they woke up, he was a bit embarrassed as this was not the first time he had had to be put to bed like a child. Hoping inside that they would not discuss his sleeping habits when he met them, he sat up and rubbed the crick in his neck from sleeping on the table most of the night.
Getting ready and dressing, Harry went down to the kitchen where he was greeted by the duo cheerfully. After a casual conversation over breakfast and helping clear the dishes, Harry was about to go back to the library when a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"I think we all need a break from the library, don't you agree Sirius?" said Remus nonchalantly when Harry had turned back around.
"I wholeheartedly agree my dear Moony. We are much too young to be wasting away in the library all day," said Sirius, dramatically putting the palm of his hand against his forehead, pretending to be faint.
Laughing at Sirius' antics, Harry couldn't help but agree that they had been working much too hard the past two weeks.
With his agreement, the trio started to brainstorm any activities that they could do. Quickly, Harry realized that most of the ideas the other two thought up of were indoors. Mentally slapping himself on the head, Harry remembered that the house was under the secrecy charm and going outside for a game was much too much of a risk.
Quickly, the three decided on a game of Hide and Seek. Though Harry was a bit hesitant to take part in such a childish game, he was easily pulled into Sirius' playful pace. Sirius was the one who declared that he himself would be 'It' and the other two would dash off to hide somewhere. Yet if they could, they would try to touch 'home base' first, which would be the library.
Agreeing on the rules and reminding Sirius not to cheat, he quickly started his count to 45 seconds. Glancing at each other and wishing each other the best, Harry and Remus dashed out of the kitchen and went their separate ways.
Running into a mostly unused wing of the house, Harry randomly picked a door and went in, closing the door behind him, trying not to upset the dust. He considered a moldy looking curtain for a moment, before picking a wardrobe that looked half rotten. Going inside the wardrobe, Harry was overwhelmed by the smell of the decomposing wood. Thinking about trying another space, he was beat by Sirius' magically amplified voice, declaring "Ready of not, here I come." Quickly getting used to the smell, Harry sat down in the bottom of the wardrobe to wait.
After only a few minutes of nervous anticipation, Harry put his ear against the door, listening for any sound. He wondered if he should wait here until Sirius found Remus, or take a chance and run for the library. Quickly deciding, as he had always been impatient, Harry decided to leave the relative safety of his wardrobe.
Tiptoeing down the hallway, Harry could hear the sounds of Sirius searching the house recklessly. When he heard Sirius take the stairs up and past the wing he was going down, Harry quickly dashed down and hall and ran down the stairs towards the library.
Reaching for the doorknob, he was about to shout his triumph when the knob sent a shock up his spine and he suddenly saw long cascading locks of bright pink hair fall in front of his face. Fearing the worst, Harry pushed the hair aside and felt the top of his head, only to realize that while the rest of his hair was the same, he now sported waist length pink bangs. Laughing at himself for falling for such a prank, Harry opened the door and stepped in, proving that he had made it to home base.
Now that he was safe, he looked around and noted that Remus had not made it back to the library yet. Sitting down to wait for the duo to show up and announce the results of the game, Harry found the book he had fallen asleep over the other night still open to his page.
Settling down, Harry continued to read the frustratingly complicated book, making sure to take notes and bookmark places he didn't understand to ask Remus later. So immersed in his book, he was startled when he glanced up at a clock above the doorway which told him that it had been twenty minutes since he had arrived in the library.
Wondering why Sirius was taking such a long time, Harry decided to go search for him after tying back his new bangs with a piece of old string he found on the floor.
Walking up the stairs towards the last place Harry had heard Sirius, Harry immediately spotted his foot steps in the layer of dust on the ground. Following the steps further down the dark hallway led Harry to a slightly ajar door.
At the sound of muffled voices, Harry was hesitant to open and intrude, but curiosity soon won out and he slowly pushed the door inwards. The sight that greeted him shocked him to the very core.
Sirius was sitting on the floor, shocked speechless, staring at a malicious James Potter. In James' hand was a long bloody axe, like the type McNair used to carry around, and at his feet, stared a hollow eyed decapitated Remus.
Scoffing, James spoke, "Did you think you could protect him forever? Hiding him in your old house that I knew about wasn't the best idea now, was it?"
With Sirius' speechless horror, staring at the body at James Potter's feet, the man continued. "Mourning the werewolf? As a friend or as a fellow dark supporter?"
Sputtering at the question, Sirius could only reply, "Dark supporter? Never in my life James. You know we aren't like that."
"I know all too well Black. After all, you were the one that sold Peter and my family to the dark lord!" he screamed, furious.
"I never… James… I would have died rather than give Lily and Harry up."
"You can certainly die now Sirius." said James with a murderous glint in his eye, striding purposefully towards Sirius while lifting the axe into the air.
Finally recognizing it for what it was, Harry quickly pushed himself fully into the room, forcing the boggart to turn its attention to him.
In the blink of an eye, the boggart shifted into a dementor, menacing its way towards Harry.
Quickly thinking of a happy memory, Harry instinctively cast his Patronus with a flourish.
Instantly, the proud stag leaped from the tip of Harry's wand, charging the Dementor/Boggart and causing it to retreat. Seeing the sight, Harry let out a forced chuckle, with which the boggart burst into oblivion.
With its quarry gone, the silvery stag shook its majestic head a few times before trotting over to Sirius.
Bending its head down, it seemed to recognize Sirius as it bumped the side of Sirius' shoulder with its nose, urging him to stand up. Transfixed, Sirius got up and stroked his mane with a shaky hand a few times before it bellowed once and disappeared.
When his Patronus vanished, Harry cautiously walked over to the still figure of Sirius.
"Sirius, are you ok?" he asked carefully.
After a lengthy pause where Harry was contemplating kicking himself for speaking too soon, Sirius finally spoke. "I'm fine kid. It just startled me, that's all."
Not wanted to argue, Harry just gave a hesitant nod.
"Where'd you learn your Patronus?" Sirius said suddenly, changing the subject.
Recognizing the man's need for a topic change, Harry quickly told him about his extra lessons with Remus in his own world.
Glancing at amazement at the boy's power, Sirius noticed, with a chuckle, his sporting new hair.
"Nice hair you've got going for you kid, smashing good taste." He said with a slight chuckle.
"You would know, you jinxed the door to the library to do this to me." said Harry smiling, teasing the man.
Confusion crossed the man's face before he broke out in loud, barking, guffaws.
"Remus you sly wolf, you jinxed him!" he managed to utter while laughing.
Realizing that is was Remus who had pranked him; Harry quickly began laughing with Sirius.
"Speaking of Remus, we should go find him shouldn't we?" said Harry after they had calmed down a bit.
"I agree my dear boy; we should find him before he falls asleep in his hiding spot." Sirius said, grinning with a new found camaraderie.
Yet, as Harry and Sirius, were walking down the dusty hallway again, Sirius' grim voice stopped Harry in his tracks.
"About what happened in there? Let's agree not to tell Remus ok?"
Thinking it over quickly, Harry decided that it was not his right to tell Remus anyways, so he gave his nod.
With Harry's agreement, Sirius' previous joviality returned and they continued down the hall with the quest of finding the elusive Remus Lupin.
It turned out to be not as hard as they thought, because when they reached the stairway, a loud banging noise alerted them to Remus' position.
The noise brought them to one of the unused bedrooms down the hall from Harry's room. Upon entering, they found the source of the noise, a huge trunk on the side of the room. After charming the trunk open, a rumpled Remus Lupin stumbled out.
"What took you so long Sirius? I was stuck in that bloody trunk for ages! I thought I was going to die in there." said Remus, panting.
"You're the one who got yourself stuck in a trunk." said Sirius, trying not to laugh.
Remus was about to rant some more when he noticed Harry's hair.
Chuckling a bit to himself, he spoke. "Seems like you found my present."
Dramatically, Harry grasped Remus' hand between his own two. "Thank you Remus, I love it ever so much."
Not being able to take it anymore, Sirius burst into laughing once again, falling to the ground and starting to roll around as he laughed.
Glancing at each other's rumpled appearances and Sirius, Remus and Harry couldn't stop the peals of laughter that soon had them rolling on the ground as well.
When they could no longer laugh for lack of oxygen, they just lay in a comfortable silence, getting their breaths back.
Realizing that they were rolling in years old grime, they got up and Sirius charmed them all clean.
After reversing Harry's hair, Remus quickly agreed to look over the parts of the book that Harry didn't understand.
When they reached the library, Sirius suddenly ran in and sat in Remus' normal spot, to the confusion of Harry and Remus. Putting it aside as another of Sirius' eccentricities, Remus sat across from Harry instead.
When they were all seated, Harry proceeded to explain what he had gotten out of the book, with the help of his notes, and then explain which parts he had been confused about. Listening intently, he was reaching over the pull the book towards himself when Sirius' hand landed on top of the book.
"How come you never ask me for help?" asked a slightly jealous but mostly teasing Sirius.
"Obviously because I'm smarter." said Remus, teasing back. "Now give me the book." he said with a slight tug.
"No." said Sirius, getting a hand around the book and tugging hard.
"You're such a baby sometimes." said Remus, standing up and using both hands to tug the book out of Sirius' hand.
"Ouch Moony, I think you gave me a paper cut." said Sirius as he examined his index finger.
"Quit whining, it's just a paper cut." replied Remus exasperatedly.
"But it stings." said Sirius, developing a whiny voice to spite Remus. "Ah!" he said as he jumped out of the chair, "what if I developed the flesh eating bacteria from that old, filthy book?"
"Don't be stupid Sirius, just use the wound-cleaning potion if you're so worried." admonished Remus.
"We have wound-cleaning potion?" Sirius replied with a sincerely confused look on his face.
Exasperatedly, Remus threw up his hand and gestured for Sirius to follow him to the pantry, where he would get him the potion.
Smiling a bit at their childish antics, Harry looked down at the book to see the words swirling around on the page.
Astonished, he waited until the words stopped, before cautiously flipping the book back to the beginning.
Sirius Black,
You have fortunately stumbled upon the great and honorable Black family spell book. This book is a compilation of generations of Black family spells, added to by each owner of the book, designed to beat the shrewdest of opponents without fail.
When you are finished reading or adding to the book, a simple Finite will restore the book to its original form, but only a drop of Black blood will open it again.
Use carefully and do not let it fall into the hands of outsiders. I bid you good duels and may the Black family be toujours pur.
Harry couldn't believe that he had accidentally found the Black family spell book, which was disguised as a book examining the possibility of alternate dimensions. Sitting in shocked silence for a while after reading the introduction, Harry burst into action when he heard the footsteps of someone coming closer. He quickly shrunk the book put it in his pocket, putting another book in its place. He didn't know why he wanted to keep it a secret from the other two, he did so instinctively, the chance to 'beat the shrewdest of opponents' was too good to give up.
From the safety of his bed in the middle of the night, Harry returned the book to its original size and opened it, finding that the book was an alphabetized list of spells of use in dueling. Reading greedily, Harry could only think of the use he could be in future battle, that he would be able to defeat Bellatrix and get revenge for his unfortunate journey, that he could finally face off against Voldemort and stand a chance.
Memorizing as much as he could, Harry vowed he would try to practice them another day away from Remus and Sirius. Knowing that Sirius hated a lot of things that had to do with the Black family, Harry was scared that Sirius would have destroyed the book before he could finish reading it.
Most of the spells written in the book had explanations on casting and effects except for a select few. The one that stuck in Harry's mind was the spell Sectumsempra where the only explanation was: for enemies.
Leaving the library at the same time as Sirius and Remus for the fifth night in a row, Harry walked forward eagerly as he thought of the new spells that awaited him in the spell book. In the past few days, Harry had been diligently reading and memorizing the spells, but not practicing, as he hadn't had the chance.
Entering his bedroom, he was shocked when he saw a small hunched figure dangling from his trunk, searching through it.
"What are you doing?" cried Harry, brandishing his wand.
As soon as the figure turned, Harry recognized him right away. Kreacher.
When Kreacher abruptly turned around, Harry saw that his thin, gnarled hands held the Black family spell book.
"Give that back!" Harry yelled, waving his wand threateningly at Kreacher.
"Does not belong to you." Said Kreacher, staring at Harry through sunken eyes.
Alarmed at losing his book and any chance at training himself successfully, Harry watched as the elf moved its fingers as if it snap and move to a different part of the house.
But before he could, Harry swished his wand and yelled the first spell that came to him. Sectumsempra.
Interrupted before he finished, Kreacher fell to the floor, shrieking as cuts appeared all over his body, his blood leaking out onto the floor or Harry's room.
Panicking, Harry rushed forward and fell to his knees before the elf. Pulling the book from his weakening fingertips, Harry threw it under his bed just as Sirius and Remus burst in.
Horrified at the sight of the bloody elf and Harry looming over, Sirius ran forward and pulled the still Harry away from the elf as Remus came forward and started healing him.
"What happened?" said Sirius gravely when he had pulled Harry out of the room.
"He took something, something from my trunk. and I tried to stop him." said Harry, staring in shock at the blood that stained his hands.
Seeing his blood stained hands, Sirius held Harry's hands in his and cleaned them, checking them over for injuries.
"So you decided to kill him?" said Sirius incredulously as he examined the hands.
"No!" Harry shouted, yanking his hands away from Sirius. "I didn't know that spell would do that! I was only trying to stop him-"
He was cut off as Remus came out of the room.
"How is he?" said Harry, fearing the worst.
"Not too bad actually, continued his rant about mudbloods tainting his master's house halfway through" said Remus with a small smile.
"That was a nasty spell Harry, what was it?" said Remus, looking uncomfortably between Sirius and Harry.
"I… learned it at school." said Harry after a moment's hesitation.
"Just what are they teaching kids at that school of yours." Said Sirius with a hint of frustration.
Coming quickly to Hogwarts' defense, Harry replied, "No one taught me, I learned it from a book."
"You learned a borderline dark spell from a book?" said Remus doubtfully.
"I found it in the restricted section." Said Harry, hanging his head in the guilt he felt for lying so easily to the two men.
"Just what were you doing there?" said Remus, getting into scolding position.
Thinking quickly, Harry told him, "I was finding spells to help train this defense group I held."
"You trained other kids?" said Sirius, reevaluating Harry.
"I taught them how to defend themselves." Said Harry defensively, rubbing his left arm with his right hand.
"Kid, if you're going to train, you got to train right." Said Sirius with a determined look, just before he grasped Harry's forearm and started pulling him down the hallway.
Harry just stared back helplessly at Remus as he was dragged away by Sirius.
When they came to a stop, they were in an enormous empty room somewhere in the middle of Grimmauld.
"Welcome to the training room." Said Sirius with a grandiose bow as Harry surveyed the room.
He had just turned to look suspiciously at some humanoid lumps in the corner when a flash of red light flew past his left ear.
Ducking low and spinning on the spot, Harry withdrew his wand to see Sirius in dueling position.
"No better way to learn then to get right into it." Sirius said with a roguish grin before starting a volley of spells.
Harry threw himself down on the bed, exhausted from the hard day's work. During the past three months, he had fallen into a repeating routine with Sirius and Remus. In the mornings, he would be woken up by Sirius, who insisted on morning exercise to be in great dueling shape. Afterwards, they would have breakfast and research alternate universes for awhile before breaking for lunch. Though they had not made much progress, but with the training distracting him, he was not as bothered as he could have been. After lunch, he would sit down with Remus to go over spell theory and defense/offensive strategy or wordless casting.
Last month, they had stopped those lessons so that Remus could teach Harry how to apparate. After many failures and almost splinching himself, Harry finally mastered the skill.
After lessons with Remus, he would be whisked away by Sirius to practice dueling. It was through these relentless duels that Harry learned much of his strengths and weaknesses. With Sirius' merciless onslaught, Harry quickly realized that to duel successfully, one couldn't only rely on knowledge of spells.
Naturally being quick on his feet, Harry had always been good at dodging wayward spells, but dueling with Sirius showed him how to go on the offensive as well. Hand-to-hand combat training fell naturally in the pace of their training, though Harry found it exceedingly difficult to overpower anyone with his slight frame.
His training with Remus in wordless casting was immediately effective in his dueling. If the opponent didn't know what you were casting, they were much less likely to know how to counter it. The first time Harry had wordlessly cast Expellimarus at Sirius, he was shocked enough to let the wand slip out of his hands. Sadly that was the only time that had happened. Becoming proficient at wordlessly casting a few spells was harder than Harry thought, it needing his full concentration.
The most exciting part so far of his training was his animagus training. After detailing the steps the Marauders took to become Animagi in their fifth year, Sirius promised to help Harry become one as well. At first, Animagus training was quite like Occlumency training, a lot of clearing the mind. When Sirius was pleased with his ability to clear his mind of outside influence and focus deeply on his magic, he coaxed Harry into delving deep within himself to find his animagus form. Though they had been working on it for weeks, all Harry could see was some type of feathered animal, which was reflected on his skin when he came out of the trance, his arm spouting a few feathers here and there. Thinking of the possibilities a new ability would bring him, Harry's lack of progress irritated him deeply, making the frustration show clearly in his dueling. Doing so had caused him to make more juvenile mistakes in his dueling, which only served to irritate him further.
Turning onto his side and pushing away his thoughts, Harry kicked off his shoes and burrowed his way into the covers before falling into a deep sleep.
Running from the enemy he flew through the obstacles of branches with an ease that exhilarated him and left him breathless.
With his fast movement through the thick canopy of the forest, Harry felt his arms- no, wings begin to tire.
Sensing the searchers from above, he ducked beneath the great trees, weaving his way through the thick trunks of the overgrowth, trying to lose them.
Just when he contemplated risking apparating out, movement from the front stopped him in his tracks as the shadows themselves seemed to shift. Out of the shadows came the sleek, dark form of a jaguar, who looked searchingly at Harry with deep emerald green eyes.
Jolted out of his dreams by the shiver that ran through him when their eyes met, Harry turned over to his over side and fell back into the comforting arms of slumber, promptly forgetting his vision.
Waking up with an odd feeling he was forgetting something and feeling a bit on edge, Harry quickly shook it off and got ready for Sirius' arrival.
By clockwork, the man bounded into Harry's room with boundless energy and they started off their morning exercise with a bit of running through the house.
Though they were confined to the inside of the house by the secrecy charm, the idea of running shamelessly through the house had always appealed to Sirius, so it was with good-natured glee he bounded up and down the steps and past Remus' room, creating tons of noise.
The first few weeks of running, Harry had been breathless and panting, constantly wishing Sirius would give him a break, but lately the feeling was fading and he felt as if he could converse normally.
Running past the kitchen, a thought suddenly struck Harry.
"Sirius, if you hate him so much, why do you keep Kreacher?" said Harry, as he ran alongside Sirius.
"He knows too much about us to let go." said Sirius after a moment to think.
And with the answer, Harry thought that the question was resolved, until they rounded the corner and started back up the stairs.
"Regulus loved him you know." said Sirius with a wistful look on his face.
Remembering that Regulus was Sirius' brother and that he had died, Harry mentally kicked himself for bringing up a sensitive subject. Deciding that not answering would be the best choice, they finished their run in a companionable silence.
None too soon for Harry, it was time for animagus training.
After going through the familiar channels of clearing his mind and getting in touch with his magical core, Harry thought deeply on the animal he was to become.
Floating around almost aimlessly through his mind for a moment, Harry was shocked out of his trance when the fleeting sight of a snake flowed across his mind.
His eyes quickly opening, he saw that parts of his legs had taken on a scaly, greenish skin. Looking at Sirius for an answer, Harry questioned, "Sirius what happened?"
"I don't know Harry." Said a puzzled Sirius, looking at the skin in interest. "The other day I swore you would be some type of bird, but now this…"
"So you don't know." Said Harry, his irritation at not being able to do it right seeping through. "Are you even teaching me right? I shouldn't be spouting two different creatures should I?"
"No you shouldn't. Maybe because you're a teenager, your inner animagus is changing, that you haven't developed your personality enough." Said Sirius contemplatively.
"Stop looking at me like I'm going to turn into a basilisk! You see a snake and you always think dark." said Harry, acting on his own insecurities.
"It's possible you're just confused." Sirius said complacently.
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Harry bitingly, "Aren't you just covering up for your bloody damn incompetence?"
"Don't you dare speak to me in that way, I'm your godfather-" warned a growingly aggravated Sirius.
"You're not my godfather, so you can't tell me what to do!" yelled Harry back into his face, "Just because you're all beat up about losing your godson doesn't give you the right to use me as his replacement!"
A solid slap to the right side of Harry's face stopped his words immediately.
"As long as you are in my house, you'll listen to me." said Sirius in a deadly serious voice.
"Fine," said Harry, clutching his red right cheek, "I'll leave."
And before Sirius could say anything in response, Harry fled the room. Running past a concerned Remus, he didn't stop running until he was out the door and down a couple of streets. Continuing at his pace and only thinking to get away from Sirius, Harry ran directionless down the streets.
When he had run his frustration away, Harry began to feel ashamed of the way he had acted. He had been rash and unfair to Sirius, who had been teaching him and housing him for the past few months. He had acted every part the spoiled teenaged brat that Snape always called him.
Harry continued his absent walk, burning off the remaining steam he had. Thinking of Snape caused him to think of his own world. How were they fairing without him? How were his friends? Sadly thinking of the last time he had talked to his two best friends, Harry's feet unconsciously brought him to King's Cross in remembrance of the first time he had met the two.
Smiling slightly at the sight of the building, Harry has broken out of his thoughts by a soft hoot. Looking around frantically for his Hedwig, Harry was disappointed when his eyes met with a brown barn owl perched inside a cage atop a trunk on a trolley.
Thinking of his beloved first birthday present, Harry remembered his own recent birthday celebration with guilt. It culminated in a few hastily wrapped presents and a big, sloppy chocolate birthday cake, but the care and devotion put into each minute detail caused Harry's stomach to churn shamefully.
"Archie, grab the trolley or you're going to miss the train." Yelled a woman pulling bills out of a wallet to pay the taxi as her son went to grab the cart with the owl on it.
Train? Was it already September 1st? Thinking bitterly that he could have been boarding the train happily with his friends if he had been home, Harry was hit with the biggest wave of loneliness that had struck since he had arrive in this strange dimension. Did his friends even miss him?
Feeling incredibly melancholy, the pain of his loneliness caused Harry to barter with himself. Possibly, just possibly if he went to the station, he would be able to see his friends. They aren't your friends; they just look like your friends. Convincing himself that seeing his friends would definitely ease his longing, Harry cautiously walked through Platform 9 ¾ and looked around for a family of red heads.
When he didn't immediately spot them, a panicked thought raced through his mind. What if in this world, the Weasley family he knew didn't exist? Before he could dwell on that thought much longer, he was nearly bowled over by two men behind him. He watched dazed as red headed twins ran past, racing to talk to one of their friends before they left.
"Sorry there mate!" yelled Fred, or George back at Harry.
"Didn't see you there." And with a quick smile, they were running off in the train's direction.
Following them at a much more leisurely pace was a sedated Ron and Ginny, followed by their parents.
Mrs. Weasley was lecturing Ron about his OWL results, telling him that he needed to study harder this year if he wanted to get good NEWTS. At the same time, she was telling Ginny good study habits for her OWLs that year.
Relieved that they seemed virtually unchanged, Harry stepped out of their way. Knowing that the train was about to leave, Hermione was probably already on the train. Disappointed with that knowledge, Harry was about to turn around and go back to Grimmauld place with an apology when a loud explosion knocked him off his feet. Sitting up, he watched in horror as Death Eaters stormed the platform.