Reign O'er Me

Chapter 1 - How Can You Do It Alone?

The Dursleys were strangely quiet on the ride home from Kings Cross Station; Uncle Vernon seemed to focus on his driving, not even glancing at Harry once in the mirror, though Harry noticed his face was still quite red and the vein in his temple still pulsed. Dudley had developed an interest in the scenery flowing past his window and for once he was keeping to his half of the back seat and not crowding Harry, even with Hedwig's cage between them. Aunt Petunia glanced at Harry several times, and once or twice looked like she was about to say something, but obviously thought better of it and returned her attention to the road ahead. It was the least stressful trip Harry had had ever experienced with the Dursleys.

Upon arriving back at Number 4 Privet Drive, Dudley muttered something and headed quickly down Privet Drive; Aunt Petunia immediately disappeared into the house. Vernon wordlessly opened the boot, carefully not looking at Harry, and followed his wife inside, leaving Harry to deal with moving his belongings to his room. Harry first carried Hedwig and her cage up to his room; then he returned to the car to collect his trunk. Harry carefully maneuvered the heavy trunk through the door, up the stairs, and into the room just far enough to allow the door to close. He dropped onto his bed; tired, but still feeling a warm glow from the concern his friends had shown for him at Kings Cross station. A short time later, Harry was sleeping soundly.

The next morning, Harry woke to an insistent tapping on his window. He fumbled briefly for his glasses, and sitting up, spotted a large owl outside the window. Quickly getting up, hopefully before anyone else had become aware of the owl's presence, Harry opened the window, and the owl flew in and perched on the footboard of the bed, presenting a leg with a message attached. Harry reached to detach it, and paused just before touching it, recognizing the expensive parchment and wax seal of the Ministry of Magic. He stared at it for several moments, thinking that nothing good had ever come for him from the Ministry and it was far too early for OWL results. The owl, growing impatient, flapped its wings; Harry muttered an apology, removed the parchment, and the owl immediately spread its wings and departed through the window, not even pausing for a sip from Hedwig's dish.

With a sigh, Harry sat on the bed and opened the letter, which was written in the perfect script of an Official Quick Quotes Quill:

Dear Mr. Potter:

Given the special circumstances of your history with You-Know-Who and based on the recommendation of Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, you are hereby granted a waiver of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery.

You should understand this unusual action has been taken both in the interests of your safety and to allow your education, under the supervision of the Hogwarts Headmaster, to continue over the summer months. Please note that all provisions of the Statue of Secrecy remain in full effect and that any abuse of this highly unusual privilege will result it it's immediate revocation.

Headmaster Dumbledore will contact you shortly with regard the details of your summer tuition.

Hoping you are well.

Yours sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Improper Use of Magic Office

Ministry of Magic

Below, a short note was scrawled:

PS - That was an impressive bit you did at the Ministry. I got a glimpse of You-Know-Who himself and now have no doubt you've been telling the truth all along.

Harry read the note through once, shook his head as if to make sure he wasn't dreaming, and read it again, unable to believe his good fortune. He could use magic! And even better, it looked like this summer he'd at least have some contact with the magic world. Even lessons with Severus Snape, Harry grudgingly admitted to himself, would be better than sitting here, isolated, alone, and with no idea of what was happening in the magical world.

After re-reading the letter for at least the tenth time, Harry noticed the clock, which read 9:08. He had fallen asleep not long after arriving back at Privet Drive and moving his things to the smallest bedroom, and had slept through the night; he felt rested, and even stranger, had not been woken by his Aunt or Uncle. Somewhat puzzled, Harry took a change of clothes from his trunk and took a long, hot shower; surprisingly, without the usual shouted demands that he stop wasting hot water. After drying off and dressing, Harry strolled back to his room to find another letter waiting. There was no doubt about whom this one was from, this time without even as much as a glance at the parchment. Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix was perched on the back of the straight chair in front of Harry's desk.

"Hi, Fawkes." Harry greeted the Phoenix, who answered with a single trilling note. Harry took the letter from the magical bird, and opened it to find Dumbledore's loopy handwriting:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Harry,

By now you should have had a letter from Ms. Hopkirk at the ministry telling you that you have been granted permission to use magic this summer. Mr. Ronald Weasley, Miss Granger and Miss Weasley have been granted permission as well, and Remus Lupin will be contacting all of you about some special tuition I have arranged for all of you this summer. Ms. Lovegood and Mr. Longbottom were invited as well, but as you may know each already had plans for travel outside the country this summer.

I should stress that while your permission to use magic is not restricted to your training and practice, I would encourage you to be cautious and careful in using it. You will undoubtedly be watched and held to a higher standard than an adult wizard. In particular, please be careful that you do not allow your relatives to goad you into doing something foolish. I have full faith that you will not abuse this privilege, and have assured the Ministry of my confidence there would not be any problems. Minister Fudge in particular required a certain amount of arm twisting, but in the end felt it was better to resolve my concerns himself rather than to have them explored in detail with Ms. Skeeter, whom you perhaps remember from your fourth year.

Speaking of Minister Fudge, I am also pleased to tell you that Sirius Black has been officially cleared of all charges by the Ministry, and will be awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class. Numerous witnesses, including captured Death Eaters under Veritaserum have confirmed that Peter Pettigrew is alive and framed Sirius. As with your use of magic, Minister Fudge felt that he was better able to address my concerns in this matter than other parties. While you might well feel this is too little, too late at this point, Sirius was a brave and fearless soul who deserves to be remembered as the hero he is, not as a fugitive and felon.

While it is important that you stay with your Aunt and Uncle for at least the first part of the summer, there is a not sufficiently good reason for you to have to be alone during this time. Thus, if you will indulge me an old Arabian proverb: "If Mohammad cannot go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammad." While there are perhaps some disadvantages to having regular travel to and from your location, I see now that there are far, far greater disadvantages to isolating you from your friends. Perhaps you may find it in your heart to forgive an old man, for whom months seem to pass in the blink of an eye, for forgetting how long they can drag on for one fortunate enough still to be enjoying their youth.

I have made arrangements with Mrs. Figg so that your initial training will take place at her house, and have set up arrangements for your friends to be able to travel there as well. If your Aunt and Uncle do not object, there is no reason they may not visit you at No. 4 Privet Drive as well, as long as all of you stay within the bounds of the wards. Remus Lupin will explain this in more detail.

I realize that our parting at the close of term did not end on the most positive of notes; however, I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive the mistakes of an old man, and will meet me part way in rebuilding a working relationship. If you are willing, I would like to meet with you several times over the summer months. I expect you still have many unanswered questions, and I shall endeavor to answer these and make amends for my previous errors. Please be careful this summer and do not hesitate to owl me if you have any questions or concerns.

Yours,

Albus Dumbledore

Harry began to smile as he start Dumbledore's letter, and it continued to widen as he read Dumbledore's description of his dealings with the Minister of Magic. Harry suspected that the arm twisting Dumbledore described with Minister Fudge had come quite close to leaving the Minister of Magic's arm in several pieces; he would certainly be exceedingly careful not to do anything that would embarrass Dumbledore or in the loss of his new privileges.

Reading about Sirius, Harry's smile faded, and he felt pangs of guilt welling up, remembering the unused mirror and thinking if how different things might have been if the pardon had come earlier, or he'd worked harder at Occlumency, or had checked before storming off to the Ministry, or if... still, Harry was pleased that the Ministry had finally accepted Wormtail was alive and that Sirius was innocent. He whispered softly "Sirius, I'm sorry it took so long, but at least now your name is clear."

Reading the last paragraph, memories of the meeting in Dumbledore's office came flooding back into Harry's memory. After all that, Dumbledore was apologizing to him? More than that, apologizing twice in one letter? Harry rather guiltily remembered Dumbledore's broken possessions strewn across the floor of his office and realized that, in all fairness, some mending of fences was necessary from his side as well.

Harry's reflections were interrupted by the arrival of yet another owl, this time a large brown post owl. Unlike the Ministry bird, this owl cheerfully accepted an owl treat and a drink from Hedwig's dish before flying away.

This letter was a quick note from Remus Lupin:

Dear Harry,

Please meet me at Ms. Figg's house this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Ms. Figg will have already spoken to your aunt.

Looking forward to seeing you,

Remus

"Well, I certainly don't feel very isolated this morning," Harry said to himself, as he collected his wand, cast a quick spell to make his bed, levitated his trunk to the far side of the room to its usual summer place, then headed down the stairs, hoping to obtain a bit of breakfast without too much of a fight.

To Harry's surprise, there was no sign of his relatives on the lower floor of the house; and an even stranger sight waited in the kitchen. A plate was set on the table, with several rolls and two strips of bacon, along with a note written in Aunt Petunia's crooked hand:

Harry,

Dudley and I will be out today. Your breakfast is on the table and there are makings for sandwiches for lunch in the refrigerator. Ms. Figg has asked for your help moving some boxes this afternoon; you should be at her house at 2:00 p.m. Stay out of trouble.

P.

Harry began to wonder if he were dreaming or had perhaps crossed into another universe, like people sometimes did on that American muggle TV program The Twilight Zone. Breakfast made and out and waiting for him; food left for him for lunch... this was unheard of. Perhaps the Dursleys had taken Moody, Tonks and the Weaselys far more seriously that he had thought. Perhaps the prospect of Mad Eye Moody clanking down their street and standing at the door, in broad daylight, in full view of the neighbors was as unsettling to the Dursleys as the old Auror's approach had been years before to Death Eaters fleeing justice.

Harry ate a leisurely breakfast, supplemented by several glasses of milk, drunk more to test the limits of his refrigerator privileges than to satisfy thirst, then with a flick of his wand, the dishes rose from the table and made their way to the sink, where a few other plates and glasses were stacked from his relatives' earlier breakfast. Harry looked thoughtful for a second, and then flicked his wand, and the dishes began to wash and dry themselves, and float to their accustomed place. With a few more flicks of the wand, and the appliances gleamed and the floor appeared freshly waxed. One good turn deserves another, Harry thought.

Returning to his room, Harry started to unpack his trunk, moving clothes to his closet and drawers, his school supplies to his desk, and other items to his hiding place under the loose floorboard. Making frequent use of his wand, Harry began arranging his things and found his attention drawn to the accumulated debris that Dudley had stacked in the room when it was his second bedroom. His trunk still only partially unpacked, Harry pointed his wand at the broken TV and said, "Reparo," and watched as the cracks vanished from the broken picture tube. Smiling, Harry levitated it atop of his dresser and plugged it in, and turned it on. It had been far too quiet all morning.

Harry spent the rest of the morning alternating between reading various books as he unpacked them, and finding excuses to use his wand. He left the bathroom gleaming like the kitchen. His room was the neatest it had ever been, and all of the broken toys had been repaired. A little after 1:00 p.m., Harry returned downstairs, made sandwiches, then returned upstairs to eat and continue reading until it was time to leave for Ms. Figg's. As 2:00 approached, Harry set his book aside, slipped his feet into his trainers, and briskly walked to Ms. Figg's house.

Harry walked to the door and rang the bell; moments later the door was opened by Remus Lupin. "Hello, Harry," he said.

"Hi," Harry replied. "I certainly didn't expect to see you this soon."

"Actually, things moved a bit faster than I was expecting, too," Remus agreed. "I knew that Professor Dumbledore was planning to set this up, but I didn't expect Fudge would give in so quickly."

"Professor Dumbledore did say in his letter," Harry remarked, "that he did have to twist Fudge's arm."

Remus grinned. "Albus can be quite persuasive, of course; however, he was not the only one twisting the minister's arm in this particular case." Harry looked puzzled, but Lupin continued, "My guess is that Cornelius Fudge decided that he'd remain minister with Albus pulling the strings that to have Dumbledore make a very public push for his ouster. He certainly caved fast enough when they mentioned their next meeting was with Rita Skeeter and wanted certain issues resolved so the public could be reassured things were now proceeding in a positive direction."

"I'd have loved to have seen that."

"Perhaps you will yet," Remus replied. "I expect you will at least hear about it in some detail from someone who did." Remus then looked concerned. "Harry, did Albus mention Sirius in his letter?"

"He said that he had been cleared," Harry answered bitterly, forgetting the question of who had taken on the Minister of Magic with Albus Dumbledore, the smile vanishing from his face. "Not that it does much good now".

"Not entirely," Remus said. "I understand there are some issues with the Black family estate where this was rather important. Among other things, it ensures that the will Sirius left will be followed; if that had not have happened, 12 Grimmauld Place might have ended up going to the Malfoys, which would not have been a good thing for the Order."

"Will?" Harry asked.

"Yes, a will. Sirius spent quite a bit of time on the details the last few months; I don't know a lot of the details but I do know that you figured into it a great deal. There will be a formal reading of the will in a few days, quite possibly at Gringotts, that you and I will both need to attend, but I don't know any details yet."

Harry started to say something, but his voice broke, and his eyes filled with tears. Remus awkwardly pulled him into a hug, and said, "I miss him, too. In some ways, I feel like I'm all alone in the world now."

Harry pulled back a bit and looked at Remus, and muttered, "Yeah, I guess I know how that feels."

"I do have something for you from him," Remus said. "I debated about giving this to you now instead of in a few more days, but I guess it's time." Lupin pulled a letter from his robes and handed it to Harry. Nodding at one of Mrs. Figg's sofas, Remus said, "Go ahead and read it if you want. There are several more things we need to talk about, but I'm in no hurry," which was not quite true, but Lupin had no intention of letting Harry out of his sight until he knew how Harry would handle the letter.

Dear Harry,

If you're reading this, I guess my number finally came up and I'm dead. Not that I haven't been living on borrowed time for years now; though after spending the last several months locked inside this wretched house, shuffling off this mortal coil seems like it might not be quite so bad thing after all. I'd like to think that I went out in a blaze of glory, saving a lot of lives and taking dozens of Death Eaters with me - starting with Peter. There's also a very good chance that I'll have bought it because I finally ignored Dumbledore and took "foolish chances" or did something stupid, but it's not easy sitting here watching everyone else come and go as they wish, and even harder when there are important things that they are doing while I sit here pretending to be useful with whatever make-work Albus sends my way. I don't think he has a clue how much fun sitting around being useless isn't. I was never a good wallflower, Harry; my first choice has always been to try and be the life of the party; but I'd rather make a fool of myself (and I did, once or twice) than to miss out on the action. I've had more than my fill of being on the sidelines.

I don't have a lot of regrets that aren't old news; the biggest one is thinking you might actually read this instead of me throwing it on the fire in after I write the next one in the series. Yes, I did say series. So far, three of these letters have made their way to the fire, which most likely says more about just how much time I have on my hands right now that I'm trying to fill as opposed to having anything important to say. Still, I want to keep something of my promise to James that I'd look after you should something happen; so far that promise hasn't been kept very well, though we've managed to have a few good moments. If I end up where James is - and I very much hope that I do - I am not looking forward to explaining how you ended up with the Dursleys.

One thing you should be sure of - James and Lily must be incredibly proud of you; I see so much of both of them in you. You got the best qualities of both. You have James's strength, Lily's compassion, and the courage of both. Did I mention how proud I am of you? And that James picked me to be your godfather?

Now, since I'm gone, there are some things I want you to do. These are important, and of course, the very last things I'll ever ask of you (ok, that's a cheap shot to play the guilt card, but I think it's important enough that I'll use whatever I can, foul or fair), and expect you to do them no matter what. You've kicked Voldemort's arse three times now; these should be easy compared to that.

I mean every one of those things, Harry. I expect you to do them every one. Yeah, it's all on your shoulders, it's not fair, it sucks, and you're stuck with it - so hang tough, let your friends help, and make this the kind of world you want to live in. James and Lily love you; I love you. You will not let us down. The time for worry is over; the time for doubt is over; put your doubts and the guilt aside, and start preparing.

I will see you again on the other side. But I want that to be a long, long, long time from now. Know that I am with you always.

Sirius

Remus carefully watched Harry's face as he opened the letter and began to read. Tears began to flow from Harry's eyes as his eyes scanned the parchment, but he seemed almost unaware of them, other than the need to blink frequently to be able to keep reading. As Harry read, Remus noticed subtle changes in Harry's posture; his shoulders squared, and something seemed to be forming in Harry's eyes behind the tears.

Harry finished the letter, and wordlessly handed it to Remus. Though their tracks lined Harry's cheeks, tears no longer flowed; instead, there was a set and gleam to Harry's eyes that caused Remus to quickly draw his breath. "How well I know that look," Remus Lupin said to himself, remembering the handful of times he saw the same look of absolute determination and will etched into James' face. There was no doubt, no hesitation, no obstacle too large, no punishment too severe, no risk too great, or anything else Remus had found that would turn James from his goal when whatever was running through his mind painted that particular look on his features.

Remus turned to the letter, and read quickly. By the time he was finished, tears had leaked across his face as well. He raised his eyes to Harry's; Harry's expression was unchanged. Remus slowly nodded. "I've never, ever understood it. Not for one second. Sirius was perhaps the biggest troublemaker Hogwarts has ever known and always lived for the moment. He lived fast, played hard, would rather pull off a good prank than eat when he was hungry or sleep when he was dead on his feet, but when it mattered, when it really, really mattered, he always managed to find exactly the right words." Harry nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak. Lupin continued, "Sirius, wherever you are, you old cur, bless you. I don't know how you did it, but you found the right words. You wrote exactly the right words. Bless you Sirius."

They sat in a companionable silence for several minutes; then Harry asked, "You did say there were several other things we needed to talk about?"

Remus replied, "That's true. I believe Professor Dumbledore would have mentioned he would be arranging some training for you and some of your friends."

"Yes, though he didn't go into any details," Harry answered.

"If you and the others are agreeable, Professor Dumbledore felt it would be useful for you and those who accompanied you to the Ministry to keep up your defense practice over the summer. You will be training with the new Defense professor, and perhaps with others as well as the summer goes along. You will have some one-on-one instruction, but all of you will train at least three days a week."

Harry asked, "Are you the new Defense professor?"

Lupin shook his head, and replied, "No, though you might say I'm the assistant. I will be conducting the classes for the 1^st through 4^th years."

"That's great," Harry said. "I just wish you were doing our classes. You were the best Defense professor we've had."

"I don't think you'll be too disappointed after you meet the professor, Harry. He's quite a bit more qualified than I am."

"After Umbridge I'm not sure I could be disappointed, even if Lockhart were to return. Can you tell me who the new professor is?"

Remus shook his head and said, "You'll meet him tomorrow; I'd rather not take a chance of jogging anything he might have planned; but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Is there any reason you couldn't meet with him at ten tomorrow morning?"

"Ten? That's really tough to say without consulting my calendar. You know what a busy schedule I keep during vacation," Harry replied, laughing. "Certainly, ten is fine."

"Excellent. When you come over, just open the door and come in. It's been charmed to open for you; Mrs. Figg will be away for the next several weeks, but has very kindly made her house available to the Order." Harry had wondered about that; he had not seen or heard Mrs. Figg, or any of her many cats since entering the house. Remus continued, "There will be other members of the Order about from time to time. Bill and Charlie Weasley and Tonks will be staying here from time to time; others may as well. The house is on the Floo network, and is enchanted so that only a very few people can access this fireplace, including Ron, Hermione and Ginny."

"Will they all be coming tomorrow?" Harry asked eagerly.

"No, tomorrow you'll meet with the new Professor, and if you have no objections, Professor Dumbledore would like to meet with you for a few minutes as well."

Harry swallowed guiltily, and said, "I...I... well, I er... have no objections, I guess."

Remus asked, "You look uncomfortable, Harry?"

"My last meeting with Professor Dumbledore wasn't, er, well, a very good one." Harry sighed while Remus smiled knowingly. "I owe him a pretty big apology, and I may need to replace some of his stuff."

"I wouldn't worry too much, Harry; Albus has shown nothing but concern over you, but clearing the air certainly wouldn't hurt. Two more things, and I must be off. First, I mentioned there would be a reading of Sirius' will in the next few days; I'll have details in a day or two, but that day, you should plan on traveling with me and several Order members, most likely to Gringotts, for the reading and paper work." Seeing Harry's face fall, Remus continued, "Hey, keep in mind this is what Sirius wanted, and if you refuse to be his heir, the Malfoys are next in line, and they are among the last people Sirius would want to have anything of his."

Harry nodded his acceptance, and Remus continued, "And finally, Molly Weasley said to tell you that she hoped their little talk with the Dursleys did some good...."

Harry interrupted, "This morning, breakfast was laid out for me, and Aunt Petunia left a note saying there were sandwich makings in the refrigerator; I even got to have a lie-in; that's a pretty big change."

Remus smiled. "Anyway, Molly said she was going to make certain you got some decent meals this summer, and was going to send Ginny over with a basket for the two of you at about six." Remus' smile grew wicked, "But if you'd rather me tell Molly that everything is fine and the Dursleys are feeding you proper...."

"No! Please! No! I'd much rather have Mrs. Weasley's cooking." Harry insisted.

"Not to mention some more agreeable company, eh?" Remus asked innocently as Harry blushed. "Very well; I must be off; Ginny will meet you here at 6:00. See you tomorrow, Harry."

"Thanks, Professor," Harry replied as Remus Lupin disapparated.