Harry Potter and the Room of Remembrance

Chapter 1- House Elves and Havoc

"HARRY POTTER!"

A teenage boy with messy, jet black hair and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead awoke with a start. After a few seconds, he realized that the thing that had woke him was his Uncle Vernon's voice. To avoid any trouble that he already wasn't already in, he quickly got out of bed and went downstairs to see what all of the ruckus was about.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon?"

"IF THAT RUDDY BIRD COMES CRASHING THROUGH THOSE WINDOWS THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING ONE MORE TIME, I'LL NEVER LET YOU SE-" But the angry expression on his Uncle's now purple face had turned to one of curious amusement, for Harry did not look upset or angered by his Uncle's lecture at all. In fact, he seemed rather amused by it, and had a rather twisted smile on his face, as if he knew something that Uncle Vernon didn't.

"What exactly do you find amusing about this, boy? How would you like to be locked in that room of yours for the rest of the summer? I know all about how you can't use, er, You-Know-What over the holiday to get out!"

"Oh," said Harry, "That's fine with me, but it may not be alright with some of my FRIENDS. I'm not sure that they would be entirely happy with me not being able to go to school, in fact, I'm sure that they will want to have a lovely chat with you. IN PERSON."

And with that, the look of triumph that Uncle Vernon had on his face had vanished, and a somewhat frightened expression took over. At the end of last term, as Harry had gotten off of the Hogwarts Express, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, and Remus Lupin had told Harry that if he was mistreated in any way by Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, or his cousin, Dudley, he was to write to them, and they would "straighten it out" with the Dursley family. Knowing that his Aunt and Uncle would cringe if another witch or wizard showed up on Privet Drive, he left it at that, and walked out of the room with a rather satisfied look on his face.

Back in his room, Harry sat down at his desk, struggling to finish a very nasty and very long essay about the misuse of Shrinking Solutions for his Potions teacher, Professor Snape. Snape was Harry's least favorite Professor at Hogwarts, and he knew that if he started off the term by not handing in a decent essay, he was bound to be in detention for the entire first term.

An hour later, he put his quill down, let out a sigh of relief, and put his finished essay inside of his trunk at the foot of his bed. After pacing the room for a few minutes, he realized that Hedwig was back. How could he have not noticed this, he wondered, as to she was the reason that he was called downstairs in the first place. He walked over to her cage, which at the moment was perched on his windowsill, and untied the letter that was attached to her leg. He gave her some more food, and she hooted joyfully. Sitting on his bed now, he opened the letter.

Harry,

How are you, mate? Hope the Muggles aren't getting you down. It would be a bit worse for them, though, come to think of it. Would be a bit of a nasty shock for them if Mad-Eye or Tonks showed up at the doorstep. I can't imagine your aunt and uncle getting along well with either of them.

Anyway, we've been stuck in Grimmauld Place for awhile now. Mum hasn't let us so much as set foot anywhere past the backyard. A bit much, if you ask me, since the Ministry is now acting against You-Know Who as well, but I guess it isn't much comfort to her.

Hermione got permission from Dumbledore to stay with us here for the rest of the holiday. She has been off of her rocker for a few weeks now. She keeps reading over my letters now, since she can't correct her own or my holiday work. She has made it a point for both of us to get our work done before the last two weeks of holiday approach. She made me finish Snape's essay in one day!

After reading this, Harry laughed, and imagined what Ron was going through right now.

Mum has been hinting that you might be coming to stay with us towards the end of the holiday. I'll let you know.

Hermione just walked in, and wants me to tell you that she just sent you a letter. She says for me to hurry up, that she has some sort of surprise for me. I'll bet you a Sickle that it is a new book.

Give your cousin a good kick for me,

Ron

As Harry folded the letter, he pictured spending the last two weeks of his so far boring holiday with his two best friends. Wondering what Hermione had in store for Ron, he went downstairs, careful to avoid his Uncle's gaze at the table. He grabbed a piece of toast, ate it rather quickly, as if he had somewhere to be, and ran back up to his room. He found nothing rather amusing there, so he headed back downstairs.

Wanting very much to walk around the neighborhood a bit, but knowing that it probably wasn't safe, Harry stuck to pacing around Privet Drive. Thinking about how great it would be to get out of there and go to Grimmauld Place, he didn't even notice the odd shaped figure that darted in front of him.