Hello everyone and welcome to Year 2 of Running! If you haven't already read the First Year of Running, what are you doing? Go check it out, or this story won't make much sense. Either way, I've taken a really long break and I am super happy to get back to writing. I hope you enjoy :)

Sipping tea in the parlour of Grimmauld Place, with an exonerated criminal and a werewolf was not how the Granger parents had imagined finishing the summer with their daughter. They had started with a visit to France as they usually did each summer, where they happened to bump into Hermione's friend, Harry Potter and his... guardians? At the time, they had been wary. They knew how close their daughter was to the boy; during her time at Hogwarts, it was rare that a letter she sent home hadn't included some mention of him, and they were aware that his godfather had been found not guilty, but they still couldn't help but worry. Sending their daughter to a boarding school meant they only saw her for 1/4 of the year, and barely had any idea of who anyone she knew was. However, after some time spent together on a beach in Callais, they found the two gentlemen Harry was with to exceed their expectations. Easy for conversation, outspoken, and while Sirius had a certain boyish nature to him, both men came across as rather charming. When Hermione had mentioned that one of them was a werewolf, never would they have imagined meeting a man so timid and courteous as Remus Lupin.

While Hermione had spent a few weeks in France with her parents before returning to Britain, Harry, Remus and Sirius had been everywhere they could go. After visiting America, Italy, Spain, Dubai, Germany, and of course, France, Harry had lost count of the different varieties of food they'd tasted, the tours they'd been on, the souvenirs they'd collected. The three had enjoyed the trip immensely, hopping from city to city, without the excruciating and exhausting wait times of airports and planes had only made the trip all the more exciting. Meeting Hermione in Callais for a few days had been interesting. Remus and Sirius were, of course, happy to meet their de facto son's best friend, but noticing how much more animated he became around her brought a smile to their faces. While the Grangers had come to visit muggle France, Remus and Sirius took the time to give them a tour of magical France, creating a far more exciting trip than expected. After leaving the Grangers in France, the boys continued their world tour, developing a far better relationship than Harry could remember. Rather than forming their bond through war and loss, this time it could be based in fun and happiness.

When they took a few days off for the full moon, Harry showed clear interest in wanting to become an animagus too but was assured by Sirius, there would be plenty of time for that when he was older. His birthday had been excellent. They'd spent it in Switzerland and Harry could not remember the last time he'd had so much fun.

Once they had arrived back in England, for the last few days of the summer, Harry used his watch to ask Hermione if she wanted to spend some time with them at Grimmauld Place. Of course, she had begged and begged and begged her parents, until they eventually agreed to spend a couple of days there. They had visited Diagon Alley together, thankfully not seeing any undesirable characters as they picked up their books for the new year. Now the adults sat in the parlour, drinking their tea and relaxing, while their children were upstairs in what was now Harry's room.

"I cannot believe we have to put up with another year of Gilderoy," Harry sighed as he placed his books into his trunk.

"Maybe that's a good thing? You can get on his good side easily, you're the Boy-Who-Lived after all," Hermione laughed. Of course, she had no plans to fawn over the DADA teacher this time, but he could potentially be useful.

"Thanks for getting my books for me Mione; I did not want to deal with another round of press with him." Harry had in fact sent Hermione into the wilderness of flourish and Blotts without him in the hopes of delaying his meeting with the madman for as long as possible. "How could Dumbledore actually hire such a fraud? I get everything is supposed to be for the Greater Good but it is neither great nor good that Lockhart is able to just flounce around and ruin our education. Seriously, you'd think the headmaster of a school like Hogwarts would take care of which people he's hiring." Harry fell back on his bed. He'd enjoyed the summer so much, and now it was ending. For the first time, he found himself not wanting to return to Hogwarts.

"I don't think anyone else applied for the role in our second year. The whole curse thing tends to scare people off, especially with what happened to Quirrell last year." The story had eventually made it beyond Hogwarts of course. Gossiping students had been quick to tell their parents a teacher had screamed and died during what was supposed to be a normal dinner. The official press release had no information about the second face on Quirrell's head, nor any definitive cause for his demise - thankfully, Cornelius had managed to keep that information between himself and the staff at Hogwarts without much issue.

"And besides," Hermione continued, "I don't think anyone actually has any proof yet that Lockhart's an imbecile." She spoke with a slight lisp. One of the first things she'd asked for this summer was braces. Though her parents felt it was too early, Hermione just wanted her teeth back to what she was used to as soon as possible. They assured her she'd have the braces removed by Christmas. Despite Harry assuring her that her teeth weren't as bad as she felt they were, Hermione knew her confidence at Hogwarts last time had only started once her teeth were shrunk down. "For this year, I doubt he'll be the height of our concerns," she continued.

The Chamber of Secrets. They'd bounced around it but were honestly unsure of where to even begin. "He's probably already given her the diary," Harry said, not really needing to clarify what he meant. A Horcrux and the way to cause mass deaths at Hogwarts? They needed to get hold of it as soon as possible. The series of coincidences that had led to people only getting petrified instead of killed last time around, seriously couldn't happen again, it was just too improbable.

"Any news from Dobby?" Hermione asked.

"No. I haven't seen him at all this time. But then, I've had no letters for him to intercept so I'm not sure what he'd try to do."

"What about Kreacher?"

"What about him?" Harry responded, confused about where this was going.

"I mean, couldn't Kreacher maybe get in contact with Dobby somehow? Ask him to see us?"

Harry shrugged, "It's worth a shot. Kreacher!"

The house-elf popped into the room carrying a tray of sandwiches and tea. "Is the young master and his friend hungry?" As if on cue, Harry's stomach growled. Kreacher had been much more pleasant towards Harry this time. He was still fairly stand-offish with Sirius, but couldn't find much reason to be hostile towards the boy.

"Actually, yes we are, thank you Kreacher. But that's not what I called you here for. I was wondering if you could bring another family's house-elf to me?"

"I'm sorry young master, but Kreacher can only do that if the house-elf is from one of the houses of Master Sirius."

"Isn't Sirius also Lord of the Malfoy house?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, he is, Kreacher can call a house-elf from the Malfoy Household."

Harry smiled, "Excellent, Kreacher, I'd like you to call Dobby from the House of Malfoy, here." And with a small bow and a pop, Kreacher went.

Arthur Weasley was at work. Not for the Ministry anymore, but instead as an on-call gardener. While he had always loved the Muggle world, he found it to be something of a hobby, exploring their technologies and interests and his salary had been pitiful. After the trial, in the early summer where he and his wife had been found innocent of any crimes, he left his job at the ministry. He had been feeling sick for the past few weeks and knew if he hadn't left soon, they would've fired him anyway, the bad press, the lack of progress coming from the Muggle Department and the fact that he quite literally couldn't remember what he even did at work all came together to make the decision that he should just leave.

And so he did.

He spent a few weeks at home, soon feeling far better. Molly had unfortunately received supervised house arrest for a few weeks after assaulting an Auror as they were led to the trial. He had rationalised it as a moment of stress and anger bubbling over in a little chaos. But now, for the past four weeks, young trainee Aurors were on a rota to keep an eye on his wife. It seemed a little much to him, but considering how much worse it could've been after they were found harbouring a follower of You-Know-Who for so long, he reminded her often to be grateful it wasn't worse. They had gotten somewhat used to it, but they looked forward to things going back to normal.

So now he worked as a gardener. He had put out an advertisement in the Daily Prophet, and people responded happily. He spent his days degnoming backyards, watering flowers, and pulling out weeds, and he found himself to be quite happy. He was lucky to have his eldest sons who had taken their younger siblings to Diagon Alley for their school supplies. They had paid out of their own pocket for new robes and a wand for Ginny and for Ronald's books. He was working towards paying them back.

Molly was having a far worse time. She had barely touched that Auror and now she was face to face with so many of them on a daily basis. She could do nothing. She couldn't brew the potion she required for Arthur, she couldn't write to Dumbledore as they stood over her shoulder while she wrote letters, she couldn't do anything. The Aurors were fairly young, clearly just trained and far too overzealous in their role here. She spent all her days cooking and cleaning at home, attempting to play the role of the doting housewife as much as possible, but she had nearly reached her boiling point. She had asked Arthur to bring in some carrots from the garden as she saw him leaving the house and he had the audacity to refuse saying that he was off to work. In their many years of marriage, he had never once refused her anything. She had very nearly stunned him there and then, if not for the watchful eye of the Auror on duty that day. Her punishment continued into the second week of September. She knew they were just overcompensating. Albus had managed to get them off any charges regarding the Pettigrew situation, but they still felt the need to punish her further and for what? Barely touching someone. This was ridiculous.

Ginny was over the moon. Just a few more days and she'd be going to Hogwarts with her beloved, the one and only Harry Potter! She couldn't wait. She'd already packed her bags and practised what she was going to say to him. She'd found a diary at the bottom of one of her bags and had already started writing in it. She'd written about the great Harry Potter and how she couldn't wait to meet him and she was going to make him love her and they were going to live happily forever and ever and ever. And then, to her great astonishment, the diary wrote back. It was excited for her and kept encouraging her to get as close to him as possible, and she just could not wait.

The scrawny house-elf stood in front of the two 12-year-olds, head bowed, unsure of what he had been called for. Dobby had been trying to figure out a way of stopping Harry Potter from getting to Hogwarts this year and had decided on blocking the barrier before he could get on the train. But now he was standing in front of him and had no idea what was going to happen.

"Hello Dobby, I'm Harry and this is Hermione," Harry held out his hand for the house-elf to shake.

"Yes, Dobby knows who you are Mr Harry Potter sir, but Dobby is not knowing how you know who Dobby is," the tears already seemed to be forming around the house elf's eyes at being offered the hand of the Great Harry Potter.

"That's not important," Harry said with a smile, "I just wanted to ask you to do something for me." There was a slight pause as Dobby looked up awaiting his command. "Don't try and stop me from getting to Hogwarts this year." Dobby's eyes widened and before anyone could stop him, he started slamming his head into the floor, "Stupid Dobby, stupid Dobby, stupid Dobby." Harry and Hermione quickly dropped down to stop him.

"Dobby it's ok, you're not in trouble," Harry explained kindly, "I appreciate you trying to protect me, but don't worry, I can handle something as small as a diary."

"Harry Potter is already knowing about the diary?" Harry nodded in response. Dobby stroked at his ears, deep in thought. "Dobby can see why Harry Potter could kill the Dark Lord. Dobby will not stop Harry Potter from going to Hogwarts, but if Harry Potter is needing help, then he must call Dobby."

"I will, I promise," Harry smiled.

"Dobby must be going now before his Masters call, goodbye Mr. Harry Potter sir." Dobby vanished, and Hermione let out a slight sigh.

"I wish we could get him out of the Malfoy household now, they treat him terribly," she exclaimed lying back on Harry's bed.

"We'll get him out eventually, don't worry." Harry smiled as he continued packing his trunk, ready to return to Hogwarts.

First Chapter of Year 2! I've already started planning how chapter two will go, but I really hope you enjoyed this one. Please follow, vote and comment letting me know what you think, I'm always looking for ways to improve!