As the train pulled out of the station, Harry watched through the open window for his last glance at Hogwarts for the year, enjoying the warmer weather. "Do you ever think we will have a normal year at Hogwarts?" Ron asked.
"Is there such a thing as a normal year at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked as flicked through a book, trying to find the part she left off at.
"Okay, a year where we get to watch some other group of misfits deal with everything," Ron amended.
"Hey I'm no misfit," Harry protested, getting Hermione and Ron to look at him like he was going mad.
"Harry, if anyone qualifies as a misfit, it's you," Hermione said.
"Nope, you are the miss fit. I'm the mister fit." Harry joked while flexing his skinny arms, causing the other two to groan at his lame pun disguised as a joke.
"But seriously, will we ever get a quiet year, do you think?" Ron asked again.
"We better, because the way it's going, if we don't get a year off soon we are going to need to stop an Armageddon our seventh year. I don't know about you, but I may just say fuck it and let the world burn at this rate," Harry said.
"I'll bring the marshmallows," Hermione said, both keeping the mood light and offering him her support at the same time.
After that there was some quiet for a while, both she and (for a change) Ron were reading, though the quality of what they were reading was vastly different. Hermione was reading a novel set in a fantasy world where people fought wars on the backs of dragons, while Ron was reading a Quidditch magazine that detailed the last two weeks of Quidditch games and was using the information to see how he was doing in his fantasy Quidditch league. Considering half of Ron's players were from his favourite team, which was always last place, Harry didn't know why he bothered with all the maths because the result was going to be the same anyway.
About the time they were crossing the Scottish/English border, the door to their compartment slid open and Malfoy was standing there looking smug. "Well Potter, I warned you about being on the wrong side back in our first year, didn't I? Now look where you are, the Dark Lord is back and your days are numbered."
"Malfoy, is it the inbreeding that's made you so stupid or is it the fact that your father alway bought your grades so you never had to use your brain?" Hermione asked.
"Watch your mouth you filthy mudblood, the Dark Lord will probably be coming for you first," Malfoy snapped.
Hermione just ignored him and carried on. "Voldemort is off licking his wounds because once again Harry kicked his ass. A lot of his free Death Eaters have just been captured or killed, and the entire Auror force is looking for him. Yet you think just because Voldemort has a body again you have the power to go around threatening people? Worse yet, people who are part of a House with higher standing than the House of Malfoy? Go away before you get hurt."
Malfoy and his two bookends flinched every time Hermione used the name Voldemort. The blond was too stupid not to go for his wand and Hermione was too smart to not have prepared for it. She hit him with an Expelliarmus before the wand was even half out of his pocket. The wand came flying into the compartment and completely by coincidence flew out the open window.
"I'll have you thrown in Azkaban for that! Destroying a wizard's wand is a crime!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Internationally destroying a wizard's wand is a crime. First off, all I did was disarm you when you tried to pull your wand on me, which is perfectly legal. Second, your wand isn't destroyed, it's on the side of the tracks about maybe half a mile away at this point. If I were you, I'd go run to a prefect or someone and have them Accio your wand quickly, before we are out of range. You probably have less than three minutes," Hermione said smugly.
Malfoy's eyes went wide and he ran off, Crabbe and Goyle running after him. Hermione pointed and summoned the wand herself. When it came flying back through the window, Hermione smiled and cast a Sticking Charm on it before she stuck it to the wall of the compartment. "Now it won't get lost again this way. Of course, it can't be summoned either, so poor Draco is going to have to spend the whole trip home worried about what he is going to tell his parents." Hermione couldn't keep a straight face as she spoke. And neither could the two boys, who must have been disturbing the compartments either side of them with how much they were laughing.
Not long after lunch, the door slid open again and this time it was Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. Harry was a little surprised, as the Gryffindor trio weren't particularly close to the Hufflepuff duo, but when the red-haired Hufflepuff focused most of her conversation on Ron, Harry understood.
"Hey Harry I'm thirsty, come with me to find the trolley lady? What about you Hannah, want to come as well?" Hermione asked the two of them. It wasn't subtle to anyone in the compartment, except perhaps Ron, what Hermione was doing. Harry and Hannah both agreed, and Susan flashed them a smile as they left.
"So how long has that been a thing?" asked Harry once there was half a carriage length between them and the compartment.
"Susan has had a small crush on Ron since my birthday party," said Hermione. "She had planned on getting him to ask her out earlier this year but then he started dating Lavender."
"That didn't last long though, why did Susan wait this long?" Harry asked?
"Because it's not that easy. Ron was busy with Quidditch, chess, and helping you. She has been working on Ron for a while but she hasn't had a lot of opportunities," Hannah said.
"How did I not notice that?" Harry asked, surprised. He hadn't seen much of Susan outside of class this year.
"Probably because you spent almost every free minute you had training for the tournament. It kinda took over your life since November," Hermione said. They had reached the cart at this point, so Harry got two large bottles of chilled pumpkin juice and had the trolley witch conjure a few glasses to drink from. Being conjured, the glasses would disappear in a few hours, so it didn't leave any rubbish that needed cleaning on the train. They decided to wait a few minutes though before going back to the compartment.
"So Hannah, you got your eye on anyone?" Harry asked, attempting to make small talk, but the Hufflepuff girl just blushed and refused to comment while Hermione elbowed him and told him to drop it.
-ϟϟϟ-
It was about five o'clock when the Express pulled into King's Cross and the trio started casting Feather-Light Charms on their luggage and pulling them off the overhead racks. "So Hermione, what are your plans for the summer?" Ron asked.
"I don't know yet. However, considering that Uncle Charlus tells my parents everything, I will probably need to spend most of the summer convincing them not to send me to Beauxbatons or somewhere there is no Voldemort. Apart from that, it will depend entirely on what my parents have planned. Should be able to spend some time together though."
"Don't worry too much about being sent to Beauxbatons. If you go there I'll convince Grandfather to send me there as well, I doubt I'll need to try hard. But I wouldn't worry, with Grandfather as Potions professor and Dumbledore no longer able to use the school as a trap, Hogwarts is probably the safest option. The hard part will be keeping our Hogsmeade privileges," Harry said as he stacked their four trunks, his two on top of his friends' one each.
"Well I hope you stay. I seriously doubt my parents could afford to send me to a foreign school," Ron sounded a little put out by that.
"Ron, you and Hermione should be getting your shares of the basilisk money soon. You can afford to go to any school you like," Harry reminded him.
"You underestimate my mother. You trust me, as soon as that money comes in my mother will take the key because I'm 'too young to be bothered with such things,' and 'you're best off saving that money for your future,' I swear she thinks I'm still five years old," Ron said, doing a passable imitation of his mother.
The three teens made their way off the train together. Grandfather Charlus, Mrs. Weasley, and Dan and Emma Granger were all standing together waiting for them. Ron and Hermione soon found themselves engulfed in hugs. Harry was able to avoid this by the simple fact that he had seen his grandfather only a few hours ago, before he got on the train, whereas it had been much longer since Hermione or Ron had seen their parents. Ron was only let go when Ginny came wandering over and was pulled into her own hug. The twins also arrived and were getting their hugs from their mother when Hermione finally let her parents out of the hug she was giving them.
The teens said their goodbyes, and Harry and Hermione gave each other a kiss as well. Promising to write, each of the trio went home. Charlus Side-Alonged Harry right from the platform to the gates of Potter Manor. It was weird to Harry to actually feel like he was coming home. Charlus had Harry take his trunk up to his room and unpack, and he was glad his trunk still had the Feather-Light Charm on it as he carried up multiple flights of stairs to the family floor.
Before Harry could get to his room, he was pounced on by a large black mutt, who proceeded to excitedly lick Harry's face. "Sirius! Get off me. Off. Get off before I stun you then go look up a charm to have you fixed."
Sirius transformed back into his human form and grinned smugly at Harry. "There is no charm to fix an animagus. I checked after your mother threatened me the same way."
"Then I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way, with a leather bootlace and a tightening charm," Harry snapped back.
Sirius just laughed and pulled Harry into a hug. "It's good to see ya kid."
"Yea you too, you old mutt." Harry finished hauling his trunks to his room and started to unpack. He hung up both his basilisk duelling robes and his dragon hide long coat separately, as it just didn't feel right to lump them in with the rest of his clothes.
When Harry had finished unpacking there was a chime from the house's wards that said someone was Flooing into the manor. As Harry was the closest to the stairs, he ran down to the receiving room to see who it was and was surprised to see Hermione's head floating in the fire.
"Hermione, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Harry asked in concern. If Hermione had rushed to the Leaky Cauldron to Floo him this quickly, something must have happened.
"Oh Harry, it's brilliant. Sirius made a deal with my parents and now he owns our house. Dad explained it as a bunch of legal trickery because I'm apparently renting the house from him, but the end result is that it's considered a magical home now. That means that my house can legally have wards to keep my parents safe and it means we can have a Floo connection now." The words came tumbling out of Hermione's mouth faster than a machine gun spits bullets.
"Wait, Sirius owns your house now?" Harry asked, both confused and worried.
"Yep, mum and dad sold it to him for one Galleon, and I rent it back for one Galleon a month, something my father takes care of for me. Sirius has signed a magical contract preventing him from kicking us out, or from selling the house to anyone besides us, plus he can only charge us one Galleon for it and he will sell it back to me once I'm of age. But it means I will be able to Floo directly to your place whenever I want!" she said excitedly.
It was clear why the adults had done it. Voldemort and his people liked to go after the family and friends of people who pissed them off. Harry and Charlus had definitely upset Voldemort and his coterie of lickspittles enough that they would target Harry's friends. The Weasleys were mostly safe because there were enough of them that attacking required a significant investment of manpower. The Death Eaters were cowards who wouldn't attack without at least a three to one advantage, and with at least seven Weasleys living there (Harry wasn't sure about Percy), a large enough force was a significant risk.
Hermione, though, was one witch with two muggle parents. She would definitely be their preferred target. But with the Floo, the new wards, and the fact that Hermione knew just as many deadly spells as Harry did, any Death Eater attacking there was in for a massive surprise.
"That's brilliant. What's your Floo address?" Harry asked.
"Well they didn't want anything that said Granger or Black on the paperwork, so it's 'Crooks' cradle.' You know, like cat's cradle but Crookshanks."
"I think Professor Moody would be very happy with that level of paranoia." Harry grinned at her. "Want to come over for half an hour?"
"I would love to, but I still need to unpack and then I'm having dinner with my parents. Is it okay if I come over tomorrow afternoon when my parents go to work?"
"Definitely. Should I invite Ron so we can get started on our summer work, or do you want a day just me and you?" Harry asked.
Hermione chewed her lip for a second in indecision torn between wanting to get her homework done and wanting to just goof off with Harry for the day. "Call Ron," she decided after almost a minute. "But definitely take a rain check on a you-and-I day. And who knows maybe Ron won't be able to make it."
They chatted for a minute more, but Hermione admitted that her knees were getting uncomfortably sore kneeling in front of the fire. As she was going to leave, Harry leaned into the fire and gave her a quick kiss before she disappeared. The green frames turned to a natural orange before going out, as being July there was no reason to keep the fire lit. Harry considered calling the Burrow right away but decided to wait a few hours. The Weasleys probably took longer to get home, as there was no way Mrs. Weasley could Side-Along apparate them all and there was no Floo fire closer than the Leaky Cauldron, and with how hectic their packing days were Harry was sure their unpacking was just as crazy.
-ϟϟϟ-
The first night back at Potter Manor, instead of the family dinner Harry was expecting and Charlus had planned, they ended up having to go out for dinner. With both Charlus and Harry away at Hogwarts, the only person regularly using the manor was Sirius. His grocery shopping habits were largely dictated by how he ate, and when he was only cooking for himself Sirius was rather lazy. Basically the man lived off sandwiches and pre-made soups, as he just wanted to wave his wand a couple of times and have his dinner ready. The restaurant was nice, but both Harry and Charlus resented the need to dress up for dinner after such a long day, what with Harry travelling and Charlus taking inventory of the school's potion supplies so he could submit orders for anything that needed restocking for the next term.
It was when they got back home that the surprise happened. They were sitting in the family room talking about what they were going to do now that Voldemort was back, and Harry was just thanking Sirius for what he did for Hermione when the centre of the room was filled with a ball of fire for about two seconds. When the fire died down, a scroll of parchment fell away from where the centre of the fireball had been and landed on a table between them.
Naturally the three of them all jumped to their feet and pulled out their wands. It took them a minute to calm down enough to realise they weren't under attack and there was a letter on the table. Harry went to reach for it for a split second, but remembered how the Triwizard Cup was a portkey and abandoned the attempt before he had moved more than two inches. Sirius waved his wand at the scroll and it glowed blue. "It's a portkey. Don't touch it," he warned them. Charlus flicked his wand, and the scroll unravelled and floated there in front of him. He began reading it out to them.
With the recent situation regarding Voldemort's return, the Order of the Phoenix is once more active and searching for members. Charlus Potter and Sirius Black, you are invited to a meeting with myself and other invited individuals. During this meeting we will be discussing Voldemort's aims, and that includes how I believe Voldemort will target Harry. Because of this, I strongly believe it is in your best interest to attend. This letter will act as a portkey tomorrow night at eight o'clock.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Order of Merlin
Chief Warlock
Supreme Mugwump
Defeater of Grindelwald
All around good chap
"Okay, two questions," Harry said as Charlus finished reading the letter. "First, how the hell did Dumbledore get that through the wards? Didn't he testify in the Wizengamot he couldn't get through them to check on you in '91?" Harry asked.
"Phoenix travel is notoriously difficult to block, but I wouldn't want to be Dumbledore if he actually flame-travelled here himself, though. The wards wouldn't have kept him out, but they definitely wouldn't let him stay and the results would have been messy," Charlus reassured Harry.
"So Dumbledore can't come here, but there is nothing stopping him sending things here? Including portkeys. Tell me, what's to stop him sending a rug with a portkey set to trigger when someone stands on it?" Harry didn't sound happy at all.
"Well… uh… well shit," said Sirius.
"I will get on to finding a solution. Now what was your second question, Harry?" Charlus asked, looking as disturbed as his grandson at the possibility.
"Did he really sign off a letter like that? It's completely ridiculous." That question broke some of the tension.
"Yes he did. My guess is that he is both trying to remind us of how important he is and to make himself seem goofy. After all, goofy people aren't a threat you need to worry about," Charlus speculated.
"What concerns me is that Dumbledore is saying Voldemort will come after Harry. What do you think Dumbledore thinks he knows?" asked Sirius, giving Harry's forehead scar a significant look.
"It's possible, Harry was in Madam Pomfrey's care for most of the day after that Halloween. Dumbledore had plenty of opportunity to examine Harry, if he found the dark magic and was able to piece that together with the diary he could have put the two together," Charlus mused out loud. "But it could be something else entirely."
"So we are going then?" Asked Sirius.
"Probably. Unless I can think of another solution." Charlus agreed.
"Harry, I want you to stay away from this letter. Uncle Charlus and I will deal with Dumbledore and his schemes," Sirius said.
Harry nodded but said, "Just don't go. You know Dumbledore can't be trusted."
Charlus started "It's not that simple, if Dumbledore has information we need-."
But Harry cut him off. "If Dumbledore knows something we need, he will never tell you. He will give you scraps of information and his assurance that if you do what he says, he will tell you more. Only he won't, he will just give you more scraps. That's what he did to me for three years."
"Hey kid, don't worry. Your godfather and I can handle Dumbledore, and neither of us are going to wind up dancing to his tune. But if he knows something we don't, something that's relevant to your protection, then we have to at least try to learn it. Trust us, we know what we are doing. Now, it's getting late, why don't you call it a night?" Grandfather Charlus said.
It was at that reminder that Harry remembered just how long his day had been. He felt a wave of fatigue crash into him and he couldn't hold back his yawn. He said his good-nights to Charlus and Sirius and made his way to his room.
-ϟϟϟ-
One second Harry was stood in the middle of the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch with the Snitch in one hand and his other arm was wrapped around Hermione, who was pressing herself against him wearing her Yule ball dress as she snogged him for beating Draco Malfoy to the Snitch and winning Britain the Quidditch World Cup. The next second Harry was in bed having suddenly been woken by the Floo alarm.
Harry looked around, it was too dark for him to see the time on his clock and his watch was on his dresser across the room, but given the lack of light it wasn't exactly the time for visitors. Then Harry thought about what the alarm meant; someone who wasn't part of the House of Potter had arrived through the Floo. But the only way that could happen was if a member of the House had brought them, the wards wouldn't allow anything else. More importantly, there were currently only four members of the House of Potter: Warlock Charlus, heir Harry, and two adopted members. Harry, Charlus, and Sirius, were all here so that only left Hermione.
As soon as that thought had crossed Harry's mind, he was out of bed and jogging down the hall pulling on his bath robe that he grabbed as he left his room. He was just about to start descending when a voice called out. "Harry! Uncle Charlus!" It was Hermione, and Harry spread up as much as he dared on the stairs. He could also hear some scrambling coming from behind him, so he guessed his grandfather and Sirius were on their way as well.
Once Harry reached the main staircase he called out. "Hermione! What's happened!?" There was no way Hermione would just Floo over, brining people with her, in the middle of the night, unless it was an emergency of some sort.
Hermione and her parents were standing in the main entrance hall, Crookshanks in her father's arms, and the three of them looked like they had just seen hell. Harry rushed up and pulled Hermione into a hug. He could practically feel the adrenaline dump out of her system as she collapsed against him.
"What happened?" Harry asked again.
It was Dan who answered. "Zombies. There were zombies attacking our street. How is that possible? Dead bodies don't have working muscles, their ligaments would be weak, the nerves couldn't carry a signal, the brain couldn't send a signal…"
"Magic makes all that unnecessary. A dead body can be animated the same way a puppet can. It's a particularly disgusting piece of magic that no right thinking person would ever use, but it's definitely possible." Charlus said from behind Harry. "Dan, how many were there? Were they specifically targeting your house or was it the general area?"
"We don't know. All the streetlights were out and we couldn't turn on our lights. The only ones we could see were the twenty or so trying to get to our house when Hermione used magic to create light." Dan answered, his mind latching onto the things he could answer. "Hermione bundled us all into the Floo pretty quickly after that."
I tried a few cutting spells but they didn't work. I didn't want to try fire spells that close to the houses," Hermione admitted.
Charlus nodded "Good, it sounds like the power is out so witnesses will be kept to a minimum, and hopefully there will be no muggle cameras either so the Statue of Secrecy will hold. Sirius, Floo to the D.M.L.E. and report an Inferi attack in muggle London, and provide them with a portkey inside the Grangers' wards. If the wards are holding up then it will be a perfect place for the Aurors to start from. Harry, take the Grangers upstairs and make them all a cup of tea. Also, put a pot of coffee on. I doubt we will be getting any more sleep tonight."
Both Harry and Sirius just nodded in agreement. Sirius waved his wand over his bath robe and sleepwear and turned it into a set of wizard robes before he disappeared into the Floo room, though if anyone paid attention they would have seen that Sirius was still wearing slippers instead of boots. Harry led Hermione and her parents upstairs while asking, " What are you going to do, grandfather?"
"I'm going to write a letter to the Underage Magic Office. Hopefully that will clear Hermione of any charges of breaking the Restriction on Underage Sorcery before they are filed. I really don't want to have to deal with the bureaucracy of getting the charge removed."