Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Pokémon. The only thing I do own is the story idea.

"Talk"

'Think'

"Telepathy"

AN: You guys are so awesome! When I started this fic, I didn't see it becoming so popular! Thanks so much for all wonderful reviews/fav's and follows!

Chapter 3

Harry's last three days of solitude ended far more quickly than he would have liked. He practiced day in and day out, but managed only to change his hands and feet into paws as well gain the red tipped hair/fur. His canines grew, sharpening in his mouth and he even felt the start of a tail forming, but once more he was stuck. He'd practice late into the night until, finally, he'd pass out, unable to practice anymore and his magic weary from trying. Sure, it was better than what he could do three days, or even a week ago, but he had such high hopes that he'd be able to manage it before he had to leave for the Weasleys!

However, thanks to the good ol' Harry Potter luck, something from his animagus side transferred over to his human side. The hair. His had always been quite untamable, so that hadn't changed, but the red he had managed to see growing in while practicing his animagus transformation hadn't changed back. Vernon hadn't been pleased at all, but there was little the overgrown walrus could do, what with Harry's friends coming to pick him soon. After awhile, once Harry had gotten over the shock, he had found himself liking the red crest, as that was all he could think of it as, which formed in his hair. It was unique and a nice touch of rebellion, if he did say so himself.

At any rate, as Sunday dawned bright and early for one Harry James Potter, he was already packed and ready to leave. He had even dismantled his little nest of blankets, though made sure to pack a couple to recreate the thing at Ron's house. He wasn't sure why he had never thought about cuddling into so many blankets to sleep before, but it certainly kept most of his nightmares away and he slept pretty comfortably.

To waste away the hours, Harry practiced a little with his animagus form, growing paws, or a ruffle of fur, but with no idea if Ron and his family would come early, he ended up scrapping that after a good ten minutes and picking up his room. He double, then triple checked, to make sure he wasn't leaving any bits of parchment, books, potion ingredients or journals behind and then did a cursory check under the loose floorboard. Any food sent to him by the Weasley's and Hermione had been eaten ages ago, he was too embarrassed to ask for more, but he found a half empty ink bottle and a couple of chocolate frogs, all of which he quickly packed up.

As five o'clock neared, Harry quit his pacing and sat at the stairs, watching his relatives. Vernon was dressed in his finest suit, no doubt as a ploy to intimidate Mr. Weasley, while Petunia was straightening cushions, her lips pursed into a thin line.

"They'll be driving I expect? They'll be arriving the….the normal way?" Vernon asked as he turned to glare at his nephew.

"I think so," Harry replied, watching his Uncle pace, his face turning several interesting colors as he did so. He idly wondered if Fred and George could make a candy, or a prank that did that; make someone's face flash the rainbow or respond to emotions. It was an interesting idea at any rate. Harry relatives fell back into tense silence, ignoring his position on the stairs as they waited the imminent arrival of wizards like one would their hanging day.

But five o'clock came and went and at half past, Vernon tore open the door and glared balefully up and down the street, "They're late!" he snapped as he turned on his nephew, mustache bristling.

"Um…traffic?" Harry offered as way of an excuse.

Snarling, Vernon turned away and muttered, talking mostly with Petunia than himself. "Might've been busy, had to go somewhere. No decency, their sort has."

"Perhaps they think they'll be invited to dinner, if they're late," Petunia said, her beady eyes trained on the couch as her long, thin fingers worked at the pillow, straightening and fluffing them obsessively.

"Well they won't be! They'll take the boy and go, no dawdling!" Vernon replied, swelling up indignantly at the mere idea that someone of their sort would invade his house and dare ask to stay for dinner. "If they arrive at all, at this rate. Probably mistook the day, no doubt their sort aren't known for any punctuality!"

Harry sighed as he watched Vernon gear himself up for one heck of a rant, but was immensely pleased, though quite confused, when it was interrupted by a loud THUMP coming from the boarded up fireplace. The thump startled Vernon so much, that he even screamed something Harry would keep in his memory always. Vernon, the walrus, screaming in fright from a boarded up fireplace. Ah, memories. Even Dudley was providing entertainment of a sort. At the sound of the thump, the boy clamped his hands around his rather wide buttocks and waddled quickly out of the room, hiding somewhere in the kitchen.

"Vernon! Oh Vernon, what is it!?" Petunia gasped as she glanced fearfully at the wall. There had been a fireplace there at some point, a real one, but it had been boarded up since Harry was four and an electric one put it.

"Oh…" Harry mused, a grin stretching his features as he put two and two together. The voices from the other side of the wall sort of helped as well, "They've, that is, they tried to travel by floo powder. Hold on," he added as he stepped closer. "Mr. Weasley, is that you?"

"Harry? Oh gods, I thought something had gone wrong there for a moment. What's happening on your end? There seems to be some sort of –Ouch! Ron, no, try and, oh bother Ugh, Fred!"

Harry snickered as the one voice split into many voices, he could pick out Fred and maybe George's, though he sounded to be squashed against the wall, while Ron's was quite loud and distinctive. "Sorry Mr. Weasley. The fireplace is boarded up, has been for awhile now. They have an electric one instead."

"Do they really?! With a plug and everything?" Mr. Weasley sounded delighted at the thought of an electric fireplace and Harry could only imagine the man's wide eyes, crazed grin and twitching fingers. "Oh, not a bother really. Considering, I could put it back to sorts. Right Harry, if you'd step back a bit?" The older man asked. Harry, knowing exactly what Mr. Weasley had in mind, dived behind the couch. Vernon…wasn't so lucky.

The man swelled with indignation, stepping forward briskly, "Now see here~!" he started, before the wall, with the plugged in electric fireplace, was blasted to smithereens. Bits of plaster, chipped paint and woodchips flew everywhere, coating the Dursley living room in a chocking expanse of white dust and aged soot. Vernon, thanks to the white dust, looked to have aged a good ten years, while Petunia looked near faint thanks to the state of her living room.

There was coughing coming from the once boarded up fireplace and the Weasley's, all four of them, stepped through, dusting off their forms and glancing about the living room with mild interest, or intense if you spotted the look in Mr. Weasley's eyes.

Ron looked over at him and grinned, "Nice hair mate."

Harry gave a smile in turn, "Thanks. Figured the red would fit nicely with the lot of you," he said with a chuckle, falling silent as Mr. Weasley finished dusting himself and his glasses clear of debris.

"Ah, that's a bit better. Roomier at any rate," Mr. Weasley joked as he gave what he hoped to be a charming grin to Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. "I'm Mr. Weasley, Harry might have told you about me?" His question was met with surprised looks and the forming of a glower from Uncle Vernon, "No? Well…ah, yes the mess. I can fix that up before I leave."

The room fell into an incredibly tense and awkward silence until Mr. Weasley coughed, "Right, Harry your trunk?"

"It's upstairs," He answered with a shrug as he moved to get it.

"Oh don't worry Harry-"Said Fred, or was it George? He honestly couldn't tell them apart yet.

"Yeah, we can pick it up," Finished George (or Fred). They waved cheerfully and disappeared from the living room. Harry could hear them taking the stairs and had to bit his tongue to not laugh as Dudley waddled out of his 'safe zone' and tried to hide behind his mother. Considering Dudley was wider than Petunia was tall, it didn't work well. It only made Mr. Weasley look at Dudley with concern.

"Having a good Holiday?" He asked them pleasantly, blinking in confusion as, for an answer, Vernon grunted, Petunia tried to hide and Dudley whimpered and clutched his buttocks more firmly than before, as though afraid it would fall off. Mr. Weasley glanced at Harry for a moment, confusion evident in his eyes. Harry simply shrugged. The Dursley's were the Dursley's and there really was no explaining away their behavior.

Sounds of thumps and scuffing feet heralded the arrival of the Weasley twins, carrying the cumbersome trunk between them, "Gosh Harry. What you got in here rocks?" One of the twins joked, tripping slightly on the edge of the carpet. A shower of brightly wrapped candies fell to the floor, "Oh shoot!" One of the twins, the one that tripped that Harry was thinking was Fred, dropped his end of the trunk and quickly started scooping them up. Once all the candies were placed back in his pocket, save for one Harry spotted underneath the table but didn't mention, Fred picked up his end of the trunk once more.

"So, guess we'll just be going then," Mr. Weasley said pleasantly once he saw his son was situated once more, "Incendio!" The shout of the spell, a rush of color and flames were crackling merrily in the fireplace, despite the lack of wood therein. A pinch of floo powder later and the flames turned green and mildly transparent. "There we go, George you go in first. Set the trunk like so," Mr. Weasley said as he helped turn the trunk to a more manageable position.

"The Burrow!" Shouted George and in another rush of color, the boy was gone, leaving nothing but crackling green flames.

"Alright Fred, you next," Mr. Weasley said and after another shouted. "The Burrow", Fred was gone. "Ron next and then you can head on Harry. I'll be setting the room back to sorts an apparate back myself."

"Right, see ya soon Harry," Ron said with a smirk as he stepped into the flames. Two shouted words later and he was gone as well.

"Go on then Harry, won't be but a minute until you're at The Burrow," Mr. Weasley stated with a grin.

Harry felt a little leery of stepping on the fireplace, but only because he last use of the floo system had him popping out in Knockturn Alley. He knew now that he was lucky that Hagrid was around, or old hags would be selling the tips of his fingers; never mind what they'd do with the rest of him. "Right. See you," He muttered to his relatives before stepping into the flames. Hearing a chocking sound Harry turned to see Dudley with a large, almost 4 foot long tongue, but the words to activate the floo had already fled from his lips and the next thing he knew he was spinning inside a vortex of green flame and being spat out onto cold stone floors.

"Ow," he muttered, holding his hand up as Ron moved to help him up.

"You're getting better. You landed on your back rather than your face this time," Rom teased as he watched Harry dust himself off.

"Ha-ha, funny," Harry replied sourly as he wiped off his classes and placed them back on.

Still grinning, Ron turned to the kitchen, "Anyway, I don't think you've met the last bit of my family mate. This here's Charlie, works with dragons in Romania and that's Bill, he works at Gringrotts as a curse breaker."

Charlie Weasley was a stout man, with short hair and many burns upon his person. He smelled faintly of smoke, but looked perfectly healthy. Bill Weasley was taller, much more like Ron, with hair long enough to pull back into a ponytail and some sort of fang earring.

"Ron's told me about you before. Good to meet you," Harry said as he accepted the hands and shook them.

"Wicked hair Harry, don't know why I didn't think about doing something similar," Bill said with a chuckle as he ruffled Harry's hair good-naturedly. "Anyway, I would love to stay and chat, but mum has Charlie and me setting up the tables outside. Too many of us to eat inside comfortably. Chat with you later Harry," he said with a bit of a wave. He and Charlie then left, talking amicably about whatever it was they were working on. He heard something about nesting mother's, but blocked the rest out in favor of catching up with Ron and watching Mr. Weasley, and then Mrs. Weasley, chew the twins out for something called Ton-Tongue Taffy.

"So, how's your summer been?" Harry questioned as he followed Ron up several flights of steps and to his room. It was still absurdly orange and three extra beds were placed inside. It was cramped, but Harry found himself relaxing into the atmosphere. Hermione was there too, looking at the two of them expectantly.

"Pretty good. Hermione bought chewed my ear off when I told her I hadn't finished my homework though. Most of it's done now anyway," Ron answered as he took a seat.

"Ron! Homework is important. If you get it done soon enough, you can go back through and edit, or even add things," Hermione chastised before turning on Harry, "Anything from Snuffles? And what about your summer? You didn't send much mail and what did you DO to your hair?!"

Harry chuckled, "Summer was fine. Dudley was on a diet though, so less food than usual. Your packages came in handy. As for my hair, woke up like it like that, but I like it. Also, I was busy and Hedwig sent more letters to Snuffles. I couldn't tire her out by making her go all over the place," he answered easily enough. Sure he was lying a little, but they didn't need to know about his extracurricular activities, now did they?

After a little more integration, mostly from Hermione about his hair and then from them both about Snuffles, they were called downstairs by Mrs. Weasley to help set up the tables. Grabbing handfuls of forks, spoons and knives, the trio trudged outside and were given a wonderful showing by the elder Weasley's. Table fighting. He wondered how much fun it would be, and if it was possible, to stand atop the table while levitating it and ramming it into the other. At the very least, it would make it more challenging.

"Would you keep it down?! Some of us are trying to work here," Percy yelled through an open window, slamming it shut thereafter and ruining the fun.

"Why was the window open if he wanted quiet?" Charlie muttered darkly as he fixed the broken off table leg with a flick of his wand and, with another flick, had tablecloth set over the lot of them.

"Ah don't mind Percy, Charlie. You know he's just stressed from his job. All those cauldron bottom reports," Bill said with a snort as he helped finish setting up the table. It seemed like no time at all thereafter that the tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking. Harry, who hadn't had a full meal since a few weeks into the summer, got a little bit of everything. Mot conversations were kept simple, mostly about Quidditch, how they were getting to the world cup and the like, though Percy tried to get people interested in some big project he was mentioning only vaguely. Harry was curious about it, but knew better than to be dragged into a discussion with Percy. The last time something of the sort happened, his chess pieces had been utterly decimated by Ron's.

Stuffed with food, Harry eyed the small moths fluttering low over the table, a small, lazy grin stretched across his features. If he had more energy, and wasn't so full, he'd probably wouldn't mind chasing them about, or going on to catch the fireflies that were now popping out of the woodwork. It was pretty at least, something to watch before they were all ushered upstairs, into showers and tucked into bed.

Harry allowed himself to relax, yawning slightly as he curled underneath the nest of blankets, his breath easing softly as he started to relax. The funniest thing though, was just before he fell asleep, he was sure he heard cat, but when he moved to check, all he saw as Fred and George's snoring forms and a flash of pink from outside the window. Too tired to think about it, he fell back asleep. He'd worry about strange pink mewing things in the morning.

EverD: Yeah, I know I promised a bit more action, but at least there was more dialog than the previous two chapters and this one is a bit longer as well. (most of my chapters average about 5 pages, this one is 7). Next chapter is the Quidditch World Cup, so yes…I SWEAR there will be more going on in that one. Just got to get through all the filler first, lol. No Zoroark interaction in this chapter, sorry 'bout that, but it's purely Harry here.