It was the first time Harry had ever been excited about going home for the summer. The very word was intoxicating. He was nervous thinking it, let alone saying it out loud.
His worries over Pettigrew were pushed firmly to the back of his mind, helped there by Ron and Hermione furious argument over Hermione's idea for a student paper.
"People were laughing about it," said Ron.
"Well of course they were. It was the first time, and you misspelled 'slackarly' and I didn't catch it because I don't know obscure Quidditch terms. We'll get better at it, and they'll get used to it."
"I'm not 'getting better at it,' I'm not doing it. I write more than enough for school already."
"You enjoyed writing about Quidditch."
"Once, to pull the wool over Fudge's eyes, and no homework or lessons to worry about."
"But think of all the horrible rumours we could set straight."
"We'd probably just spread more of them. If Harry'd written that thing about Lupin like you wanted, there'd be even more people talking about him now."
Harry had escaped writing anything. After the Pettigrew news, Hermione had asked and hadn't brought it up again when he'd said he didn't feel like it.
Hermione said "What do you mean, 'even more people?'"
Ron shrugged. "Seamus was telling me this daft rumour that Lupin's a werewolf. Supposedly some of the upper years are saying it." Ron snorted contemptously at the ridiculousness of it.
Hermione leaned back in the seat, eyes wide and lips pressed tightly together.
Keeping his voice carefully neutral, Harry said, "Would it matter if he was?"
"A werewolf?" said Ron. "Course it would. Imagine if he bit a student, and he'd try to, wouldn't he?"
"Most werewolves never bite anyone," said Harry. "A small number of werewolves are criminals, just like a small number of wizards are, and they're the ones responsible for nearly all infections."
"Yeah?" said Ron. "Where'd you hear that?"
"A book."
"You read it?" said Ron, with a tone that sounded peculiarly familiar to Harry though he couldn't quite think why. It was as if Ron were incredulous over the idea that anything Harry had read could be right if it contradicted what Ron knew just by being a Weasley.
"Sirius says my dad was dead keen on werewolf rights."
"Eh, really?" said Ron. "I guess they're not all bad. Still, you can't exactly trust them can you?"
"Not on the night of the full moon," said Hermione. "But otherwise, what's the problem? Werewolves aren't evil, they're injured, and this prejudice against them is completely reprehensible."
"What are you in such a snit about? It's not as if Lupin's really a werewolf." Ron hesitated. "Is he?"
Hermione said. "Didn't you notice his boggart is the full moon? And he always missed class right around the full moon. I suppose that's what most other people are going off of. Plus the terribly suspicious way Professor Snape acted when he was substituting."
Harry said, "And I'm pretty sure that potion Snape was giving him is wolfsbane. Werewolves take it to help them keep their minds when they change, but it makes them ill."
"Seriously?" said Ron, eyes bugging out.
"Speaking of which," asked Hermione. "Harry, did Sirius tell you?"
He shook his head. "I guessed on my own from a book. Sirius wouldn't confirm when I asked him, but he didn't try denying it either."
"But Lupin can't be a werewolf," said Ron. "He's bloody brilliant."
"Yes," Hermione gritted out. "That's the point."
Ron shook his head.
Hermione said, "Harry, what book did you read? Could I borrow it?"
"Er, sure." He dug in his trunk. "The Cursed Children of Mani. Professor Lupin recommended it."
Hermione took it happily. "If it's children of Mani, does that mean the author subscribes to the Germanic origin hypothesis?"
"She comes at it from Germanic history, anyway."
"That'll be fascinating. I'd love to learn more about traditional Germanic magic. We hardly use it outside of Runes. By the way, I have some great introductory books on Runes and Arithmancy, if you'd like to borrow them."
"No, I reckon Sirius has it covered."
"What's this now?" said Ron, emerging from his consternation.
"Er. I guess I haven't told you. I'm dropping Divination next year and taking Runes or Arithmancy. Sirius'll tutor me so I can be in our year for it." He should've told Ron, had known he should've told Ron, but he hadn't for fear of the exact expression of betrayal Ron was making. "You could switch too."
"No, I've seen Hermione's homework." Ron shuddered extravagantly. "But mate, is it, is it because she keeps predicting your death?"
"Pretty much."
Ron rubbed his face. "Great. Now what am I supposed to do?
"You could partner with Neville," Hermione suggested.
"And have him break his teacups all over my lap?"
"Or you could switch to Muggle Studies," said Hermione. "Professor Burbage is rather good."
Ron sighed. "What's with all the secrets lately? Werewolves, Time Turners, changing classes. There isn't anything else, is there?"
Hermione hurried to reassure Ron that she was out of secrets and had only kept those because they hadn't been hers to tell.
"Yeah?" he said mullishly. "You're not secretly 16, are you? I was thinking about that Time Turner, and you could be an old lady now for all I know."
Do I look like an old lady?" Hermione screeched.
"No," said Harry. "It doesn't add up to all that much. She was only really taking two extra classes. Say that added up to six hours a week for what, 40 weeks? 240 hours might sound like a lot, but it's only 10 days."
"Exactly," said Hermione. "Though I did use it a little more when I was researching for Buckbeak. But second year, I didn't age any while I was petrified for most of a month. I've kept careful track, and after doing all the sums, it turns out I'm younger, relative to you two, than I was to start. My birthday is September 19th, but now I'm only as old as I would be if my birthday were September 30th, so it's almost as if Harry and I share a birthday now."
"How's that?" said Harry.
"Because we both turn a year older on the last day of the 7th month, in a manner of speaking."
Ron blinked. "Hermione, September is the 9th month."
"Only ever since July and August got added in. It used to be that September was the 7th month, and October, as in octagon, was the 8th, November was the ninth, and December, as in decimal, was the 10th. That's why in arithmancy, you can treat September as being both the seventh of ten AND the ninth of twelve. Some people try to resolve it as twenty-ninth of forty, but that's nonsense really. It's not a combination, it's both distinctly, at the same time. So you see, Harry and I do sort of share a birthday."
"She's lost it, that one," Ron said, shaking his head. "You're really going to try learning that rubbish?"
"I'll give it a go," said Harry, feeling strongly that he would end up choosing Runes.
Ron said, "And you're really going to send your whole summer studying?"
"I don't know about my whole summer," said Harry. "But there's something I haven't told you yet. Sirius has it arranged so I'll be able to practice magic at his house over the summer. So he'll be teaching me some extra defence in case Voldemort comes after me again. Though I guess Sirius is more worried about angry supporters."
"Wicked," breathed Ron. "Curses and things?"
"I guess."
"But that's so unfair," said Hermione.
"Come off it, Hermione. Harry needs to be able to protect himself."
"Well of course he does." Hermione looked intensely pained. "It's only…"
Harry said, "Sirius says it's pretty common."
"But that just makes it worse," Hermione wailed. "Are prigs like Draco Malfoy getting to do magic over the summer?"
"Maybe."
She stalked around the train car while Ron chortled.
"I need to work so much harder from now on," Hermione said.
Ron said, "Now you've really lost it. You're top of the year already."
"For now. But our OWLs are coming up, and lots of people will have tutors then. Can you do magic over the summer?"
"I wish. I think Fred and George have used potions and things."
She wrinkled her nose. "I doubt my parents would approve of that. I just wish there were some place I could go to cast over the summer, even just once a week. Like a work room at a library."
Harry said, "Hermione, Malfoy could have five private tutors and just as many Time Turners and he still wouldn't score as high as you. But I'm pretty sure doing magic isn't just for me. My," he stumbled over the phrase, "my house is magic legal for anyone who's there. So if you came over…"
Ron perked up, and Hermione leaned forward eagerly. "I wouldn't be intruding?"
"No. I'd like having friends over. I'll ask Sirius if I can."
She gave him the hug then, extremely pleased, and said, "I'll be going on a trip with my parents at the start of summer. Italy this time. Rome, Venice, Milan. But I should be back by your birthday. Maybe I could come over then."
"Right," said Ron. "See you on your birthday. And the Quidditch World Cup is this summer too. I'll talk to my dad about it."
Dudley had had friends over. On those days, the 'Harry Hunting,' had followed him home. Though not really home. The Dursleys had never been that. Just a place he had to live. But now…"
"Hey," said Harry, "what colour do you reckon I should paint my room?"
When they reached platform nine and three quarters, Harry headed toward the barrier, craning his neck for any sign of Sirius. But he didn't see him. He wondered if he should go through the barrier. Would Sirius decide to wait on the other side?
His heart thudded. Sirius wouldn't have forgotten, would he? Or worse, hadn't changed his mind? Wouldn't be thinking he didn't want a kid to take care of after all?
"There you are Pronglet."
Far from the formal robes of the meeting with Dumbledore, Sirius was wearing a black t-shirt with some muggle band on it. Lupin, who'd ridden down on the Express, was next to him in his ratty old robes. Ron gave him a startled look.
"And your friends. Nice to see you two in person." Sirius shook Ron and Hermione's hands. "Ready to go? I've been practicing my side-alonging, so we'll apparate."
Harry had seen apparition mentioned in a wizarding novel. He said quick good-byes to Ron and Hermione.
Sirius said, "Remus, you have his trunk?"
"Got it," said Professor Lupin.
"Good. Harry, it's a bit like flooing. Stay relaxed, but not quite limp. Let your magic move with it, not against it. Now hold on tight."
Sirius spun on his heel. Harry's vision went dark. Tight bands wrapped around him, and he felt as if he were being squeezed through a narrow rubber tube.
He tried to think of what it meant to keep his magic relaxed, and the next moment, green turf was tumbling at his feet.
He caught his balance and drew a deep, gasping breath, fighting not keep his lunch down. An iron fence was around them, overgrown with a hedge of thorns and flowers. A wrought iron gate was just ahead.
"You alright?" said Sirius.
"Sure," he choked out.
Sirius slapped him on the back. "Before you know it, that'll be easy as jumping."
Lupin popped into existence next to them, holding Harry's trunk and an empty cage.
"Where's Hedwig?" said Harry.
"It's best not to apparate with an owl, so I told her to come here herself."
Harry frowned, wondering how many days that would take her. "Where are we?"
Sirius said, "Apparition is hell on ward schemes. You can set it so your wards will let some people through and others out, and that's dead common because it's dead convenient, but it isn't very secure. Better is to create an apparition point. It's a small space, so you can ward it up to hell and back and put it just outside your main ward scheme. A front porch, for instance. Trouble is, a dedicated entrance is the exact place an enemy would stake out.
"So Dumbledore helped us make this. You need a key to enter, plus the right presence, and it exists only when you apparate into it, at a largely random location along the property, so it can't be staked out. Real top shelf stuff."
Sirius opened the gate with a touch of one hand.
A path unrolled from the gate, and a nest of devil's snare rolled aside.
"I wanted mandrake hybrids," said Sirius conversationally. "But Dumbledore said that would be more hazard than security, and after a long talk with Pomona Sprout I decided he was right. We'll do the grand tour later to make sure you don't bump into anything dangerous."
They came out onto the clover field Quidditch pitch, and five barking dogs ran up.
Harry tensed, but Sirius knelt on the ground and was immediately bowled over by four of the dogs, licking his face and wagging their tails so hard their butts shook.
The fifth was Beawoof, and she circled Harry, panting happily and accepting his pats.
In due time, the rest came over to sniff Harry and collect pats from Professor Lupin.
Pointing, Sirius said, "Assrash, Bellygamut, Finegold and Chukster."
Sirius threw a ball, and the dogs raced off.
Sirius pointed to a one story house flanked by two magnolia trees with large pink flowers like cups. "That's Ted and Andy's. Ted's at work, and so's Nym-Nym."
"Tonks?"
"Gets bloody confusing call her that with her da' living here too, and she hates Dora. Says it makes her sound like a female entryway. So Nym-Nym it is."
"Sirius…" said Lupin.
"And Remus'll be in the house with us, if you'd forgot. Three single wizards living together, so I've been given strict instructions at making sure things gets cleaned at least a couple times a year."
But just as over Easter, it was clean enough, though perhaps a tad more cluttered than before. Books were strewn about, and most of a large telly was disassembled and laid out on newspaper in the parlor.
Sirius said, "I've been trying to Charm the blasted thing to show English premier league and those daft American chaps who redesign autos, but so far it won't show anything but Italian face cream adverts."
Harry took his trunk upstairs. The room looked just as he'd left it, except for the additions of a clothes hamper, a large hat rack with at least 30 walnut knobs, and a balcony.
Harry went onto it. It had two chairs, a telescope, and a fine view of the grounds. An ivy with purple flowers was spreading across the rail. Harry sniffed the flowers, smiled, and went back in, leaving a window open for Hedwig as he unpacked his trunk.
He was home.
&& Author's Note:
And that's the end of the story. Harry's in a dream house with a lovely, supportive, and surprisingly functional Black family. You can imagine this altering canon events as you like.
I've actually written out the whole summer and the start of 4th year. However, it's recently occurred to me that I'd prefer a set-up where they only catch Pettigrew at the end of the year, and Harry ends up living with Sirius in Grimmauld Place. They're both messed up and they're both taking care of each other and it's a long way from ideal... but it's still a thousand times better than living with the Dursleys. I think it's just generally a better story. Less "fix it" and more of an adventure. The fly in the ointment is the issue of Pettigrew's escape.
Anyway, I actually really liked this beginning, so here it is.
