DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I don't.
Chapter Two
Fawkes was sleeping peacefully on his perch in Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when he suddenly woke up and unleashed a burst of Phoenix Song so loud and powerful, it shattered every single window within the castle before flashing away in a plume of fire.
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Hermione sat in the corner of the room, arms wrapped around her knees as she gently rocked herself backwards and forwards while he mother sat with her, trying to console her emotionally distraught daughter.
"Harry?" someone called out from just outside a pair of double doors, which opened as Dumbledore walked in. "Where's Harry? I just heard he had been injured and brought here. Where is he?"
"Albus," Tonks said as she approached her former Headmaster and current leader of the Order. "I don't know how to tell you this, but Harry… He… He's…"
"No," said Dumbledore, completely shocked by what he was hearing. "No, that isn't possible. He can't be… The prophecy…"
"It obviously wasn't about Harry," said Tonks, starting to get upset that all the man seemed to care about was some damned prophecy. "We don't even know if it was about You-Know-Who. For all we know, it could be about a dark wizard that wont come about for another five hundred years."
Just then, the entire building of St. Mungo's started to shake. A high pitched sound could be heard, growing louder and louder with each second until it started to become defined into a song.
"Fawkes?" Dumbledore asked, knowing the sound of his familiar anywhere.
A plume of flame erupted inside the room Harry's body was in, which quickly vanished to reveal the magical creature of the light.
Fawkes looked down at Harry's lifeless body for a moment before a single tear rolled down his feathered cheek and dropped down onto the young wizard's lips. His mouth was just open enough for that tear to enter his body, allowing the magic to quickly course through his body, restarting his heart.
Harry sat up quickly as he took a huge, gasping lungful of air before he screamed out in pain.
The nearby healers quickly ran back into the room, amazed at what they were seeing before they shook it off and went back to work on saving Harry's life while Fawkes remained in the corner of the room, watching.
"I don't believe it," said Dan, who was completely shocked at what he had just seen.
"I don't either," said Dumbledore. "How did he know?… Unless…"
The aged wizard's mind was working overtime as he tried to understand what had just happened.
A few minutes later, the door opened and the healer came out just as Fawkes left and returned to Hogwarts in a flash of fire.
"I don't know how a phoenix knew to come here or why, or even how it did what it did was possible, but Mr. Potter is going to be alright for the most part," said the healer.
"That's good," said Tonks.
"What do you mean, for the most part?" asked Dan.
"Well, he's suffered a lot of damage to his body, and there is only so much potions and healing spells can do at one time," said the healer. "If we do too much at one time, we run the risk of causing harm to his body. I suggest and highly recommend that we allow his magical core handle the rest. It will take most of the summer, but in the long run, he'll be much safer off."
"So Harry will have to stay here for the summer?" asked Dumbledore.
"I'll let Amelia know," said Tonks. "We have someone on guard here twenty four, seven, just in case."
"Actually, that wont be necessary," said the healer. "I don't think Mr. Potter will need to stay here more than a couple of days before he can go home."
"Over my dead body," Tonks and Dan said at the same time, refusing to even entertain the thought of allowing Harry to remain anywhere near the Dursley's or their home.
"Is there a problem with him going home?" asked the healer.
"Unfortunately, yes," said Dumbledore. "It was his relatives that did this to him."
"His relatives?" asked the healer in surprise. "Do they have a death wish by attacking one of the most beloved figures in the wizarding world?"
"Oh, he's beloved again?" asked Tonks. "Is that your personal belief or just what the Prophet told you to believe?"
"Nymphadora," Dumbledore said warningly before he turned back to the healer. "A safe location for Harry to heal will be found, I guarantee it."
"Dan," Emma said from where she sat, holding a now sleeping Hermione.
Dan excused himself and walked over to his wife.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Why don't we have Harry stay with us," Emma suggested. "We both have basic medical training, incase anything happens. Plus, I think it would be good for him to stay somewhere he knows someone he can trust and talk to."
Dan thought for a moment and said, "As much as it goes against my fatherly instinct to let a teenage boy stay with my teenage daughter while unsupervised when we'll be at work, I do have to agree with you."
As they were talking, a second healer came out and whispered in the ear of the first one, who nodded in response.
"Which one of you is Hermione?" the healer asked.
"She is," Emma said, tilting her head at her sleeping daughter.
"Well, Mr. Potter is asking to see her," the healer said.
"Okay," said Dan. "Give us a second."
"Hermione, time to wake up," Emma said as she gently shook her daughter.
"Can't right now," Hermione mumbled in her sleep. "The hippos are storming the museum and we have to protect the peanuts."
Dan couldn't help but chuckle as Emma continued to try and wake Hermione up.
"Sweetie, you need to wake up," Emma said. "Harry wants to see you."
"Harry?" asked Hermione, who was suddenly wide awake.
She started to make her way towards the room Harry was in when the healer stopped her.
"Miss Granger, I must warn you, Mr. Potter has been through a very traumatic experience," said the healer. "His body still has a long way to go before he is fully healed, so please try and refrain from giving your boyfriend any rib crushing hugs."
Hermione blushed and said, "Harry isn't my boyfriend. We're just friends."
"My apologies," said the healer as he let her go in and see Harry.
Hermione was silent after entering the room. There, on the bed, was Harry. His body covered with various cuts and large bruises. The white of his left eye turned red due to a broken blood vessel. His ribs covered with bandages soaked in a healing potion.
"Hermione, hi," Harry said, still sounding a little weak, but not as bad when they found him at the Dursley's.
"Hi," Hermione said, as she fought the tears that threatened to come at seeing her friend in such a state.
They looked at each other in silence for nearly a minute before Hermione spoke and asked, "What happened? Never mind, stupid question. I know what happened, but… Why?"
"The Order," Harry said. "Their little talk with my uncle backfired on them and he took it out on me."
"I'm going to hex them into next year," Hermione growled.
"Don't," said Harry. "They were only trying to help. I don't blame them for it, and neither should you."
"Harry, I was so worried," Hermione said, the damn of her tears starting to break. "Hedwig showed up as I was unpacking and she had blood on her."
"I don't remember her coming back after I told her to leave after we got home," said Harry. "She must have come back while I was unconscious and decided to get me help… Remind me to get her the biggest bag of owl treats we can find. She's earned them."
"How can you be so calm at a time like this?" asked Hermione. "You died."
"I did?" asked Harry.
"Yes," said Hermione. "You were almost dead when we finally got to you, and by the time we brought you here to St. Mungo's and got help, it was too late."
"Then how…" Harry started to ask.
"I don't know," said Hermione. "I, um… I sort of shut down emotionally when you died."
"I believe I can answer that," said Dumbledore, who was standing by the door. "I am sorry to interrupt this private moment, but I must get back to the Ministry and wanted to talk to Harry if I may."
Hermione looked at Harry, who nodded.
"I'll be right outside," said Hermione, who then left the room.
"So," Harry said. "My summer has obviously been off to an interesting start. How's yours going?"
"Busy," said Dumbledore. "The second school let out, I've been at the Ministry in session with the rest of the Wizengamot as we try and decide if Cornelius should remain Minister or removed from office due to his actions this past year."
"Personally, I hope the door hits him on the ass on the way out," said Harry. "Umbridge as well."
"Deloris might be a problem as she slipped out of the castle some time the night before last," said Dumbledore. "No one has seen her since."
"You don't think she's been working for Voldemort, do you?" asked Harry.
"No," said Dumbledore. "I did suspect her of the same, but after scanning her mind, discovered that she is just… How is you kids put it… A nutter?"
"You could say that again," said Harry, who then winced.
"Are you okay?" asked Dumbledore. "Should I get the healer?"
"I'm fine," said Harry. "Just the Skele-Gro regrowing a few of my ribs. It's a little painful, but it's still better than regrowing all the bones in my arm like in second year… Sir, Hermione said that I died."
Dumbledore had a sad and pained look in his normally bright eyes for a moment.
"Yes Harry, you did," he answered. "I arrived here just after they had pronounced you dead."
"Then how am I here?" asked Harry.
"Fawkes," said Dumbledore. "Just like when you faced the Basilisk and the shade of Tom during your second year, Fawkes came to your aid when it was needed the most."
"But why?" asked Harry. "After I told Hermione what happened in the chamber, she looked up all she could find about phoenix's and told me that they are only loyal to the few they choose to bond with."
"I believe Harry, that Fawkes senses something in you that others cannot," said Dumbledore. "Do you remember what I said to you about the power he knows not after I told you the prophecy?"
"You said it was love," answered Harry.
"I did," said Dumbledore. "However, like with many things I am discovering lately, perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps it is something beyond our own understanding that Fawkes senses in you."
The two were silent for a moment when Harry yawned.
"I think it best if you get some rest Harry," Dumbledore said. "You've had a long day."
"I think you're right," said Harry. "Sir, what's going to happen to me now? I mean, I don't think I can go back to the Dursley's."
"No, you wont be going back there," said Dumbledore. "We shall figure something out that works in your best interest and allows you to get better. But for now, do not worry about it and get some sleep."
Feeling weak from just the conversations he had, Harry closed his eyes and was asleep before Dumbledore had closed the door as he left.
"Can I go back in and see Harry?" Hermione asked as Dumbledore walked over to her and her parents.
"Harry is sleeping now," Dumbledore said. "And I believe it is best if he gets some rest after all he has been through."
Hermione nodded as she glanced at the door, wishing she could remain by Harry's side, if only to assure herself that he would be okay.
"As much as I would like to stay here and make sure Harry continues to get better, I am afraid I must leave," said Dumbledore. "I need to find a place for Harry to stay once he is released from here."
"Actually," Dan said, "my wife and I have been talking and are more than willing to let Harry stay at our home. We both have some basic medical training we had to go through while studying to be dentists. You know, just in case a patient had a bad reaction to anesthetic or something. And with all the books Hermione has read, she probably knows more than we do."
Dumbledore thought about their suggestion for a moment. He knew that after everything Harry had been through over the past year, he would need someone he could trust to talk to. And while he would normally be inclined to have Harry stay at the Burrow with the Weasley's, he didn't think it would be best for his recovery considering not only how chaotic the home could be on a normal day, but also with Mrs. Weasley's tendency be a little overbearing. She might even feel it necessary to put Harry in a body bind spell and keep him in a bed till the end of summer because she would worry he might hurt himself even more than he already was.
Dumbledore also knew that if anyone could get Harry to talk about his feelings so he didn't bottle them up like before, Hermione would be the one to do it.
He would just have to make sure there were plenty of protection wards around their home, just incase Tom decided to make a move against Harry.
"I don't see any reason why that would be a problem," said Dumbledore, noticing the look of relief and joy on Hermione's as he said it. "However, there are some precautions that need to be taken."
"What do you mean?" asked Emma, not noticing the slightly panicked look on her daughter's face.
However, Dumbledore did and when he passively took a glimpse into her mind, he found out that she really hadn't told them the truth about Voldemort because she was afraid that her parents would not only pull her out of Hogwarts, but possibly even leave the country.
"Well, you see, Harry is quite famous in our world," Dumbledore said. "And with his fame, comes admirers. With your permission, I would like to place a few wards around your home. Nothing serious, mind you. Just some to keep the endless stream of owls from delivering letters asking for his autograph or… Other requests."
Despite his age, Dumbledore couldn't fight the blush that crept into his cheeks.
"I think I understand," said Dan. "And I give you my permission to put up… Whatever you feel you need to do."
"Thank you," said Dumbledore. "I'll be by personally in the morning to handle it. Now, if you'll excuse me, there are a few people that I would like to have a word with regarding how to properly treat those left in their care."
By this time the following night, there were only a small hand full of people left in the world that remembered that the Dursley family had ever existed. If their former neighbors were ever asked about Number Four, Privet Drive, they would tell that person that the home had been empty for years. If Marge Dursley were ever asked about her family, she would inform that person that she was an only child. If someone were to call Grunnings Drill Company and ask to speak to the director of the company, they would find out that the position had been vacant for many years. In fact, the only people who remembered that the Dursley's had ever existed were Harry, the Grangers, Albus Dumbledore, and the select few members of the Order that removed all traces that they had ever existed while simultaneously locking the three of them up in a special part of Azkaban meant for Squibs and Muggles that knew of the magical world and had committed a great crime against a member of the magical community.
Some might call Dumbledore's actions an abuse of power, while he called it finally righting a wrong he had committed many years ago and doing what must be done for the greater good, because he knew his actions were far kinder than what would have happened to them once word got out about how they had treated the Boy-Who-Lived. Even Voldemort himself might have attacked them for trying to kill the boy he believed was his destiny to destroy on his path to taking over the entire wizarding world.