In Diagon Alley Harry withdrew enough money to purchase gifts for his friends and a little extra. He exchanged some of it into Muggle money just in case there may be a need for it. In Quality Quidditch Supplies Harry bought a set of Chudley Cannon's robes for Ron, Holyhead Harpies robes for Ginny and simply Gryffindor robes for Hermione to wear at games.
Harry turned to ask Sirius if they could stop in the Leaky Cauldron for something to eat but Sirius was not there. Harry took his purchases and went to look for Sirius when he showed up out of nowhere.
"Sorry to have left like that, but there was something I had to do. I hoped that I would have been back before you noticed. Is there more shopping that you need to do or are you finished?"
"Almost. I just need to stop by the stationary shop and get some ink, quills and parchment."
They set off to the stationary shop.
Once Harry purchased the items he needed they left the shop. Harry was feeling hungry.
"Could we get something to eat at the Leaky Cauldron?"
"Of course."
At the Leaky Cauldron they ordered their food and waited for it be brought to them. As Harry and Sirius ate their food they talked, at least Harry was talking.
"Sounds like you have some really good friends. Hearing you talk about them makes me think of when I was at Hogwarts with your dad, mum and Remus. I am so glad that you have such good friends. Don't let Ron get to you he's probably thinking that he'll lose you to his sister."
"Never happen."
"You seem very sure of that."
"I am."
"But how can you?"
"You'll understand when I explain what Remus told you shortly sometime after you were released."
"Okay. I am glad to hear that you are doing well in school and magnificent at Quidditch. Your dad and mum would be so proud."
Harry didn't say anything more; he focused on his lunch so that he wouldn't cry. He was so tired of the tears that fell when his parents were mentioned.
"You ready to head to the house?"
"Yes. I want to set up the presents I got for my friends so that I send the right package to the right person." Harry said smiling. Sirius chuckled.
Once at Grimmuald Place Harry dumped his packages on the couch in the living room so he could search out a room for him to have. He found one near Sirius's room that was not going to be too hard to clean up and make it his own.
The first thing he did in the room was open the window to air it out. The room was fairly large to Harry when comparing it to the one he had at the Dursley's. As he looked around the room he noticed that there was a lot of dust covering everything. He went down stair and found Sirius in the kitchen.
"Sirius, do you have any cleaning supplies? Mainly dusting. And I'll probably need some different bedding. Please do not call the house elf, I really don't mind cleaning the room."
"I completely understand that you want to make the room fit you. I am sure that there are cleaning supplies around somewhere. I never found them. I cleaned up the rooms that were necessary magically. I could have Kreacher pull out the cleaning supplies and leave them in the hall, unless you rather I took care of it."
"I would not object to you taking care of all the dust."
"Very well. I will be right up."
Harry dashed up the stairs to wait for Sirius.
"Hedwig. The room will be clean in a jiffy. I didn't bring your cage with me, but I am sure that I can find something for you to drink out of. I am pretty sure I brought some treats with me. I'll have to check my bag."
Hedwig gave Harry a little nip on the hand.
Sirius walked into Harry's room and smiled at the fact that it was Harry's room.
"You might want to take Hedwig somewhere else, I don't want to take the chance on startling her. In the kitchen should be something you could use to give her some water."
Harry took Hedwig down stairs with him and into the kitchen. As he was filling the small container with water for Hedwig, Kreacher entered the kitchen and mumbled incoherently at the sight of the owl.
Hedwig chirped in between drinks of water.
After a few minutes Sirius came down the stairs to let Harry know that his room was ready for him.
"Thank you. Could you please bring my packages up to my room? I don't think I'd be able to carry them and Hedwig."
"Sure."
In Harry's room Hedwig perched on the windowsill. Harry put the container of water on the dresser near the window.
Sirius stayed and helped Harry put together his gifts to his friends and helped make sure that the right names were on the correct packages.
"What shall I tell Kreacher to fix for dinner?"
"I could make dinner."
"It has been a long day Harry and it's your first night here."
"Uh…I don't know. I'll eat whatever you have Kreacher make." Harry said the only thing he could of. He was too tired to argue about Kreacher making dinner. He knew Hermione would have a fit.
Harry set the package on top of the dresser and followed Sirius into the kitchen.
"Sirius, would you be all right if I invited my friends over for a day or two, before Christmas?"
"That would be fine with me. Do you want to send the invitations or shall I notify your friends?"
"I'll invite Hermione, she's Muggle born. Could you get a hold of the Weasley's?"
"I can do that. Who all do want to come over from the Weasley's?"
"Fred, George, Ginny and Ron definitely, but I would not mind if they all wanted to come for a day or two."
"I'll invite all of them and go from there."
"Sounds good." Harry turned and took the stairs two at a time.
Harry wrote to Hermione inviting her to come to Grimmuald Place for a few days. Hedwig was happy to have a job to do for Harry. She stayed very still so that Harry could attach the letter to her leg. Harry watched as Hedwig flew off up into sky.
Harry finally looked around his room and saw how clean it was. He checked the bedding and realized that he didn't need different bedding after all. To his surprise the bedding did not smell musty or smell like anything at all. He crawled up on to the bed and stretched out. Harry started to drift off to sleep when he heard Sirius's voice letting him know that dinner was ready.
As he left his room he was having a difficult time taking in how fast the day had gone by and how tired he really was.
Harry and Sirius ate in silence, as they were both tired from the long day. Harry excused himself from the table, when he tried to stand he fell back down onto his chair. Sirius got up and helped Harry from the kitchen to his room and to his bed.
The second Harry's head hit the pillow he was asleep.
The following morning Harry woke up and headed down stairs. Sirius was not yet up and Kreacher was nowhere to be found. Harry was relieved that Kreacher was not roaming around in the kitchen. He walked through the kitchen checking the cupboards and the refrigerator to see what there was to make and to see how much food was there. There was enough food for them to last until Christmas.
Being used to cooking the meals at the Dursley's, Harry fixed breakfast for him and Sirius. There was even some for Kreacher if he so chose to eat it.
Harry put the food on the table and sat down when Sirius came into the kitchen.
"Harry, did you make all this?"
"Yes. I was hungry and I don't mind."
Sirius looked at Harry questioningly.
"I learned to cook while living with the Dursley's. Between that and watching Mrs. Weasley."
"But, you're only in your second year."
"I'll tell you everything after breakfast."
Sirius took a seat and dished out food onto his plate. After they finished with breakfast Harry and Sirius went into the living room to be comfortable while Harry talked.
"So, how have the Dursley's treated you? Did you always have to make their meals?"
"I did make all the meals. As far as how the Dursley's treated me, well it's a little complicated if I just go into it. I should tell you something else first, but before I do I just want to say that I know Remus talked to. Remus is the only person I have ever referred to myself as 'cub'."
"Remus did talk to me, he told quite a bit but none of it made any sense."
"Okay, hear me out. I have gone back in time. Not like time travel, literally went back in time."
"How is that possible?"
"I was thinking of someone very special to me so therefore I was not paying in attention in potions class, we had been working on time travel potions. I have no clue as to what I did wrong, there was an explosion, I flew backwards into a wall and the next thing I knew I was at the Dursley's before I turned eleven."
"How did the Dursley's treat you, both times?" Sirius said a bit confused.
"To put it simply horribly. I was treated like a slave, blamed for everything that went wrong for them; I was just a burden to them. They had been receiving financial help through my vault at Gringotts but never spent a cent on me, but boy did they spoil Dudley. It still pisses me off that they spent the money on Dudley when it was to help them care for me and they didn't. There would be times when I was locked in my room without food for a day or longer. Up until just before starting Hogwarts did I actually get a room, I used to sleep in a cupboard under their stairs. Whenever they had company I had to go to my room and make no noise pretending that I didn't exist. When Aunt Marge, Uncle Vernon's sister who I was forced to call Aunt, would visit I would have to go along with the story that I attended St. Brutus's Secure Center for the incurably Criminal Boys"
"And to think that they are blood relatives! You will never have to go back there again."
"Before you were released I left the Dursley's and went to the Weasley's and vowed that I would never go back."
"So what happened before the potion exploded?"
Harry told Sirius about Voldemort returning and how that came to be, all the deaths when and how they died, hunting the Horcruxes, how he defeated Voldemort. Harry had gone into such detail with Sirius that it took two days to tell the whole story.
"I am really shocked and surprised. The events that took place before the day of the explosion in class are horrible it's incredible that you went so far back. Hell it's amazing that you went back in time. How has the adjustment been for you?"
"It has been difficult at times, especially when I first realized what had happened. Being back at the Dursley's was infuriating. At first I thought about changing little things just tweak this and tweak that, but then I decided to make bigger changes. Being in a position where I could make a huge difference finally sunk in and I am making the changes. I just keep thinking that there are some things that might have to play out."
"Harry, out of curiosity aside from I guess Ginny Weasley, what were you thinking about?"
"Not thinking about something necessarily more like wishing that I could go back and change things."
"You have changed things and I have to say for the better. If we could only get a hold of that rat!"
"As far as the rat goes, I don't think that it will be too hard to achieve."
"Don't you think that it will be difficult?"
"Not really, I just have to convince my best friend about his rat. He will have to be there when Wormtail is transformed into his human form it's the only way he will believe it."
"Just as long as we are able to send that miserable rat where he belongs! I think dinner is ready Harry. Tomorrow I am considering going to the store for more food just incase we have company."
"Oh, Sirius what did the Weasley's say about visiting?"
"Waiting for Molly to get back to me. She said it depends on who isn't in trouble."
"That tells me that Ginny might be the only Weasley showing up if her mum would let her go alone."
After dinner they turned in for the night. As Harry was lying in bed he was thinking that he didn't want anything for Christmas. He never had to go back to the Dursley's, Sirius alive and spending the holiday with him, every holiday would be spent with Sirius and that was enough. What would make it nearly perfect would be if his friends could spend a day or two before Christmas.
Hedwig woke Harry up early in the morning hooting at him. Harry sat up put on his glasses and took the letter from Hedwig and read,
Harry,
My parents are thinking about it. I don't know if they are going to let me visit so close to Christmas. I hope I will see you soon. If not have a good Christmas and I'll try and find a way to get your present to you.
Hermione
Harry was a little down he had hoped that Hermione would have been saying that she would be arriving soon.
Harry dressed, left his room, while passing Sirius's room he noticed that Sirius was not there. Once down stairs he found a note from Sirius,
Harry,
I will be back soon to go shopping. I had to take care of something this morning.
Sirius
Harry made breakfast for himself, ate and waited for Sirius to return. After a while he got up and looked through the rest of the house. He made a little too much noise and the portrait of Sirius's mother started screaming. Harry yelled "SHUT UP!" when that didn't work he pulled out his wand and non-verbally cast the silencing spell and silence fell through out the house.
"Harry, how did you do that?"
"Do what?" Harry asked as he jumped, he had not heard Sirius return.
"Sorry to have startled you. How did you get her to shut up?"
"Cast the silencing charm."
"It will be good to remember that. It works quickly I like that. So are you ready to go shopping?"
"Yeah."
Lunchtime was on the horizon as the neared the store so Sirius decided that it would be in their best interest to go on to the Leaky Cauldron and get some lunch before doing the grocery shopping.
"Sirius, do you have any Muggle money? I have a little but I don't think it will be enough."
"Yes I do. When we went to Diagon Alley at the beginning of your holiday I withdrew some money and exchanged it into Muggle money. Shall we get on with the shopping?"
"Sure."
They left the Leaky Cauldron and found their way to the store.
It was late by the time the found the store. As they walked through the store Harry put items in the cart and a thought occurred to him, "Sirius, how are we going to get all this stuff to the house?"
"We'll figure it out."
After they checked out they hailed a cab and rode to Grimmuald Place. Harry paid the driver and they watched as the car pulled away and out of sight. As awkward as it was with all the bags of food Harry managed to hold on to Sirius's arm and they apparated into the house.
Harry was so tired that he did not complain or care much that Kreacher was putting the food away and making dinner for them. He managed to get up the stairs to his room and crawled on to his bed. He fell asleep before he hit the mattress.
The next morning Harry woke up to several voices wafting up to him from the kitchen. He put his glasses on, dressed and headed down to find out who was visiting.
