Chapter 45

Harry woke to the annoying Beep-Beep-Beep of his alarm clock three hours later and hit the snooze button unconsciously.

Forty minutes, and five slaps of the snooze button later, Harry blearily looked at the time and jumped up with a yelp. He ran about the room tossing off yesterdays wrinkled clothing and throwing on new clean clothes. He ran down the stairs and grabbed a banana from the bowl on the counter and jumped into the Floo yelling, "Ministry of Magic!"

He ran through the atrium and tapped his foot impatiently in the lifts until he finally arrived at his floor. He practically flew down the hallway, into the classroom, and sat his bum in his seat just as Mr. Prom walked in to the room, precisely at eight, just like always.

"Now class, today we will be discussing laws and procedures of the Auror Department…"

***

At 10:30 James and Lily were sitting down to a late breakfast with Sirius. Kreacher was putting bacon on the plates and they each scooped eggs out and picked up some toast. Lily poured each of them a glass of pumpkin juice.

They heard the door shut upstairs and slow footsteps heading down to the kitchen. Harry walked through the door and stopped when he smelled the food before rushing forward and grabbing a plate and starting to serve himself.

"You're home early," James said with a grin.

"Mr. Prom kicked me out for the day," said Harry before shoving a banger wrapped in bacon and slathered in ketchup into his mouth. Lily grimaced and looked away.

"Why'd he kick you out? Were you acting out? Being a troublesome child?" teased Sirius.

"No," Harry said around his mouthful and then he swallowed and yawned. "I kept falling asleep during his lectures. Not like it wasn't easy, laws and procedures could put Binns himself to sleep. But, I think he was a bit more irritated when I dozed off standing up during Basic Combat and wasn't able to dodge a Stunner. It took three enervates to wake me up enough to ask me why I was so sleepy. I said I was up all night talking with my parents and so he sent me home. Good thing too, I slept through the mid morning break and didn't get a chance to eat anything this morning so I'm starving." To prove his point he ate another banger-bacon concoction this time wrapped in toast.

"At least eat some fruit too," said Lily as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I forgot I grabbed a banana…I wonder where I put it," Harry said. "Oh, it's probably in my locker with my training robes." He shook his head and ate half a banana in one bite.

"Oh for goodness sake, slow down before you choke. The food isn't going anywhere, take your time," she said with a chuckle.

"Sirius, are you going to come with me to Godric's Hollow again today?" asked James over the paper.

"Hmm … maybe this afternoon, the house needs a lot of work on it from what we saw on Sunday. I've got another meeting today at the Ministry, then a quick trip for another meeting, and then I'll be there," he said.

"How long are you going to be before you go to Godric's Hollow?" Harry asked Sirius.

"I don't know, three or four hours. Why?"

"I want to take a nap and then join you guys, is that okay?" asked Harry.

"Sure. Lily did you want to come too?" asked James.

"No, I think I'll run to town and get a few things… James, how do we access our vault at Gringotts?" she asked.

"Er, all your accounts transferred to me on my seventeenth birthday. I can give you my key though, and we can figure out the money thing later when I'm more awake, alright?" said Harry.

"Okay. I'll wait until you leave after your nap before I go shopping," said Lily. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, with the occasional clipping from the newspaper someone found interesting, or asking to pass something.

Finally, James stood up, gave Lily a kiss goodbye and ruffled Harry's hair as he walked past towards the Floo. Harry, feeling his father ruffle his hair chuckled. Little things like that he'd seen Arthur do with his boys and occasionally with Harry, but having his own father do it had made him unbelievably happy. He stood up also and took his leave for his nap.

"Harry, I'll be back here about one thirty to two, half past two at the latest. If you're not up, I'll let you sleep. You know how to get there?" asked Sirius as Harry walked out.

"I've been there once but I'll be up by then," replied Harry before a huge yawn escaped. He trudged up the stairs and peeled off his outer robes and fell into bed wearing his boxers and tee-shirt, staying awake just long enough to set his alarm clock.

***

Beep-Beep-Beep!

After almost no time at all, Harry was woken up again that day by the annoying Muggle contraption. This time however he was rested enough to not need the snooze. He rolled out of bed and stretched before putting on his glasses and trousers and wandered down the hall towards the bathroom.

"Harry! I need to talk to you," said Hermione startling Harry out his post-nap daze.

"Can it wait? I have to—"

"No, come here." She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her room. "After reading that article the other day about Skeeter, I sent a letter to Kingsley asking what you could do. He didn't respond until this afternoon, but it's bad Harry. She registered less than a week after the Final Battle! Our blackmail is useless against her now! I have no idea what to do. We're going to have to put up an Anti-Animagus spell on the house so that she can't enter. Oh, I hope she hasn't gotten in here somehow the last week or so," she fretted. Harry was almost dancing he needed the loo so badly, so he shook her off and headed towards the door.

"My parents are out in the open now, so is Sirius. She can't do anything to me about that. There's no bloody way Kingsley is going to arrest me for harbouring a criminal," he said as he walked out.

"Harry, that's not what I was talking about. What have you been doing with your parents, Ron and I, Ginny, Sirius, and even Professor McGonagall almost every night?" she prompted. Harry stopped dead in his tracks and spun around.

"Bloody hell," he muttered. "Hermione, what if she did get in? She'll have heard all of it! What if she writes some stupid biography of me?" Harry asked loudly, bathroom woes forgotten.

"I'm still working on finding out if we can figure out if she's been here. First, we need to find out if she's in this house now with an animagi locator spell, then we have to put up that barrier so she can't get back in. I found the right spells in this book, but the barrier takes two people," she said picking up a small book off the desk she'd moved in to her room. Harry started to follow her down the hall to the stairs when he passed the bathroom.

"Er…Hermione, I need to…" he said before slipping into the loo quickly. She rolled her eyes and continued on to the lower level.

Harry walked down the stairs quickly when he was finished and found Hermione in the entry way.

"Alright, I did the locator and she's not here now. This is the incantation that will keep her out, in bug form or human, until we remove the spell."

"Uh, Hermione, would this trap an Animagus inside if we were to do it with her in here?" he asked.

"Yes, that's why I did the locator spell while you were in the bathroom. It's like the Homenum revelio spell, but you specify Homenum Animagus revelio. That's the simple spell, the barrier is more complex."

They spent about five minutes going over the spell, re-did the locator just in case, and then they did the barrier. Harry shook his head and sighed.

"I really hope she didn't get in. I don't want my name dragged through the mud like Dumbledore's."

"Well, if she did we'll think of something," she said as she patted him on the arm. He pulled his arm away and walked upstairs.

"I'm still mad at you for yesterday, Hermione. Don't think you can just worm your way back into being best mates just because we had to get this barrier done. Thanks for warning me and helping me with this, but just back off now," he said over his shoulder. Hermione's shocked face and sad look was missed on him however as he turned the corner and stormed into his room and slammed the door.

Hermione hung her head and willed herself not to cry. She headed back up to her room to research the ways to track the past areas for an Animagus, forgetting her small book on the floor next the Troll leg umbrella stand.

Half an hour later, Harry was in the kitchen with his mum waiting for Sirius to arrive.

"Maybe he forgot to come here and get you," said Lily.

"Mum, its okay. He's probably just running a bit late, I'll wait here a bit longer and then if he still doesn't get here soon, I'll just go to Godric's Hollow and meet up with dad. Sirius will figure it out soon enough. You don't have to wait here with me, you can leave and get your shopping done," said Harry.

"I don't mind waiting with you Harry. I don't have that much to get, a few outfits for your dad and I, some potion ingredients, some new shoes for the both of us, some fresh food, and maybe some toiletries. It won't take me too long," said Lily holding an eleven inch list.

"Not much huh?" said Harry with a chuckle. "Why don't we both just go now, no sense in waiting any longer?" They both walked out the front door and Apparated away.

***

Not five minutes later another double pop sounded and both James and Sirius showed up on the front lawn. James strode forward and grabbed at the door handle but something blocked his hand. He tried again and once more was thwarted.

"See, I told you I couldn't get in! There's a ward of some kind we can't get through. It's not Fidelius or we wouldn't be able to see the house. I'd call Kreacher to me, but he's not bound to me anymore, he's Harry's elf. I just don't know what to do!" Sirius said in alarm.

"Padfoot calm down," James said as he waved his wand around trying to figure out the ward. "It's not a ward that I know, or I would be able to dispel it."

"Let's go to the Burrow, see if we can Floo in," said Sirius. James nodded and they popped out of sight.

Ginny and Ron were sitting outside, teasing the gnomes with bits of bread when they heard the double pop and saw the two black haired men trotting down the pathway.

"Can we use your Floo?" asked James.

"Sure, may I ask why?" said Ginny as she stood up and brushed off her pants.

"We can't get into Grimmauld Place, there's some kind of ward blocking us, so we're going to try Flooing in," he replied.

Ginny and Ron shared a look and hurried after the two agitated men. Sirius grabbed a handful of a Floo powder and stepped into the dormant hearth, shouting his house name and dropping the powder. He was whisked away, and then suddenly spat back out at their feet sporting a bloody nose.

"What the hell?" he shouted as he scrambled up. James rushed forward and he also tried ending in the same fashion.

"What are we going to do? We have to get over there! Something bad could be happening!" shouted James.

Ginny started forward and grabbed a handful of powder and she tried also.

She arrived in the kitchen and looked around, she stepped out of the way as the Floo ignited and Ron stepped out.

"I can't believe you, just jumping through the Floo like that when you don't know what's on the other side," he said half-heartedly. He knew there was no stopping her if Harry was involved. "At least let me Floo back and tell Mr. Potter and Sirius we got through okay. They both seemed a little panicky."

After the Floo call they headed up the stairs with their wands out.

***

At the same time, Harry was arriving at Godric's Hollow. He walked up the path and slowly pushed open the front door with a loud creak.

"Dad? Sirius?" he called out. No one answered him so he walked into the living room. James and Sirius had eliminated the dust from this room only and had started to attack the mouldy carpet and furniture. In several areas dead animal skeletons had been scraped off the ground, leaving behind circles of decomposed flesh, or feathers and fur.

The curtains hanging from the window fluttered and stilled. He paid it no mind and wandered closer to the bookshelves, and then the chair from the memory of his mum singing him to sleep. He saw many stuffed animals on the ground in the corner; a stuffed dragon was sitting on the sofa, grinning up at him. The book Godric was sitting in the same place as the memory, faded and peeling, no longer new as it was seventeen years before.

He wandered towards the window to look outside and missed the flutter of the curtain again. As he stood staring at the desolate, overgrown garden he missed the exit of several doxies from the curtain. He didn't notice the biting fairies until he felt the sharp sting on his wrist and then on his neck, ankle, and then cheek.

Immediately, he felt woozy and lightheaded and he batted them away and stumbled across the floor. He pulled out his wand and stunned three of them before he passed out, missing the last one which bit him once more on the eyebrow.

***

"Hello?" shouted Ron up the stairs. Ginny was checking the unused Dining room across the hall while he started up the stairs. "Anyone home?"

"Ron, look at this," said Ginny as she picked up the small book Hermione had forgotten earlier. "Animagus barrier? I didn't even know that was possible."

"But why would anyone want to block out Mr. Potter and Sirius?" asked Ron. They hurried up the stairs, not so much worried as curious. They found Hermione with her nose in a heavy book on tracking spells.

"Hermione didn't you hear us shouting for someone?" asked Ron as he stepped in the room. When Hermione spun around he saw her red eyes.

"What? No, I didn't. What did you need?" she asked.

"We found this downstairs in the entryway. Did you do this barrier?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, Harry and I did it because I found out Rita Skeeter is now a registered Animagus and could probably have gotten in and heard everything Harry's said over the last few days," replied Hermione.

"Uh oh. That's not good at all. But…now Mr. Potter and Sirius can't get in either," said Ginny trying to hold back her grin. Hermione looked at her for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"How could I forget that little detail?" she asked rhetorically. Ginny shook her head and stood up.

"I'll head back home and tell those two what happened. I'm taking it that Harry isn't here?" asked Ginny.

"No, he and Lily left about ten minutes ago. She was going shopping and Harry was going straight to Godric's Hollow. Ron and I will remove the barrier in a few minutes."

"I'll see you two later then. I think I'll follow Mr. Potter and Sirius back there and help clean as well, bye."

Hermione waited until they heard Ginny's light footsteps on the stairs before she looked at Ron.

"Hermione, what's the matter? You've been crying," said Ron.

"It's just that…Harry and I set up that barrier and then when we were just sitting there I tried to comfort him, just a pat on the arm, after he worried about Rita, and he just blew up at me because of yesterday. Said that, just because he needed my help with the barrier doesn't mean he's forgiven me and to just leave him alone," she said.

She looked at her hands in her lap and sniffed. "I know he's mad and I know what I did was presumptuous and unthinking of his feelings, but…I have such a hard time not having answers. I have to know why things happen or what led them to happening. If something is unanswered, I have to find an answer to it, that's just the way I am. Harry knows that about me. I don't really blame him for being mad. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, like my dad always says, and I can see why he's mad and it's justifiable too. It doesn't mean I don't hate it when my best friend shouts at me."

"Hermione, give it some time. He'll come around eventually. What you found out is definitely helpful for when he does answer his parents' questions. You found out answers that needed to be discovered. He'll realize that later. Come on, come visit us at the Burrow, you can come swimming with me," he said with a smile.

She smiled at him and stood up. Just then they heard a shout from downstairs...

A/N: Okay so I'm almost done with the next chapter, then I'll send it to my super awesome (and fast) beta Teufel1987, thanks again! So No long wait between chapters waiting on a cliffe again, I promise! So I heard from my friend in Chile, she's okay! Thanks for everyone who thought of her for me!

Also i got a huge response for Uncle Jim-Jim's Magical Emu farm, so I'm thinking of writing a Marauder fic when I'm done with this one, If you're interested add my name to your author update, and You'll be updated when I post it. It won't be for a while, because I'm going to start this thing where I write the story completely before posting it, so I don't run into those weeks where I'm too busy to write and lave too long of a gap. I'm doing this on the advice of a friend of mine Lynda, (who's written 3 of her own books and goes by the pen name Abraxan on this site. She's an amazing writer, check out her stories if you can!) She keeps telling me that I should finish the story before posting again, but I'm like, I can't do that to my readers...Anywho...If you want info on Uncle Jim-Jim, put me on your update list. I'm not a big one shot writer, so you won't be overloaded with updates from me.

Also, Please review! I would like lots of reviews! I only need 12 more until 550! You guys rock! and thanks your reviews have helped a lot this last week, it's been a really bad few days for me! Reading your reviews cheers me up and also inspires me to write more!