Harry Potter and the Return of the King

Leaving Privet Drive, For Good.

Harry Potter woke up one beautiful July morning to his aunts screeching. "Harry!! Get down here right now. The bacon is going to burn, and everything has to be perfect on Dudley's birthday."

Harry yawned and slid out of bed, stumbling around the sunlit room, blinking sleepily as he got dressed. He remembered that morning years ago when Aunt Petunia had awoken him with nearly that same shout. That was the summer when he turned eleven, and got his Hogwarts letter. Now Harry was in the summer after his fourth year at Hogwarts, and couldn't wait to get back to school. He went downstairs; almost falling he was so tired. He turned on the TV in the kitchen, watching the Muggle news as he burned (purposely) the bacon. He would get an Uncle Vernon tirade from this, but Harry didn't care. He was idly watching the news when an announcement was made that surprised him.

"On Monday at approximately 8:00 AM, an airplane containing 300 people smashed into The World Trade Center in New York City. The tower collapsed, and the death toll is estimated at 5,000. The plane, on a New York-Los Angeles flight plan, ran into a fog bank and had to be turned around. The fog bank apparently surrounded the craft, and all contact was lost. The cause of the crash is thought to be terrorist hijacking."

Harry watched this with shock, and he knew that terrorists could not cause such a catastrophe. Only one thing could do such damage. "Voldemort," Harry breathed. He turned off the TV and called, "Bacon's ready!" Almost immediately Dudley came waddling in, his 300 pound bulk restricting him. The great fat teenager sat down at the table, expecting Harry to serve him. Harry however took a few pieces and left for his summer job with a word to Dudley, "I'm not your servant fatso, get your own lazy ass up and get it yourself."

It was hard work, being a mover, but it was rewarding. Harry was no longer a skinny boy; he had developed some muscle and was looking better than ever before. There were other benefits, for now he could buy himself some clothes that weren't three feet too long or made for an elephant. Harry thought about all this, and his life in general while he walked. When Harry got back to Privet Drive, he found that he had a small stack of mail waiting, along with about five owls sitting in his room, waiting for replies. He recognized one as a Hogwarts owl, and opened that letter first. It was his usual Hogwarts letter, telling him what books to buy and the rest of it. There was also a special note from Professor Dumbledore. The note read:

Dear Harry,

I have just received news of an attack on a Muggle building in the United States, and know that it is the first in what will become a long series of similar events, caused by Voldemort. I worry for your safety at Privet Drive, and I would like you to take tonight's train from the station in Little Whinging to London. You will be met there by a driver, who will take you to a hotel in Diagon Alley, where you will stay for the rest of the summer, unless the Weasleys invite you to stay with them. When you return to school you will find that some changes have been made, such as your class schedule. It will not be the same this year as Ron Weasley's, for you will have extra Defense and Dueling classes, as well as others. Just giving you a heads up.

Albus Dumbledore

Harry contemplated this thought, then grabbed the telephone on the bedside table, and dialed the station's number. He got an automatic response that told him that the next train to London was in two hours.

"Two hours!" Harry exclaimed, "I have to start packing right now or I will miss the train."

Harry started packing, first his textbooks, not the old ones but the newer ones, laying them on the bottom of the trunk. Then came his broom, and his other accessories. Finally he put in everything he would need for day-to-day life, his robes, his purse, containing about 20 galleons, his wand also went on top, for he would surely need that. He snapped shut the trunk, enabling the charm that made it feather light. He picked it up by the handle on the side, and told Hedwig to fly straight to Diagon Alley, and he did the same with all the other owls. One by one, they soared out the window, off into the twilight. Harry walked out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door, receiving strange looks from the Dursleys, who got no explanation. The train station was not far away, just about a mile down the highway. As he walked down the highway, carrying his feather light trunk, he thought about how glad he was to be leaving the Dursleys again. The walk was short, and ten minutes later he was approaching the small train station. Once in the station, he bought a ticket and got on the train, which was about to depart. Once aboard, he opened his trunk and pulled out the letters, and the one small package. He opened the package first, and found it was from Fred and George. There was a small sack, which Harry opened and looked inside. Inside there were about 1000 Galleons, he guessed.

"Why did Fred and George...send me back the 1000 Galleons I gave them? They are really poor, they must have been able to use the money for something."

Then Harry saw the letter from the twins.

Dear Harry,

Here are your 1000 Galleons back. Dad got into raving about the Muggle stock market (just like last year he was all about electricity), and we got an idea. We took a trip to Gringotts, and changed 500 Galleons into Muggle money. We invested the money in the stock market, and doubled it or tripled it. So now we can pay you back, start our joke shop, and give some money to Mum and Dad to help out. Oh yeah, Ron gets 500 Galleons too. Well, spend your money well.

Fred and George

Harry looked at the letter with surprise for a moment, and then laughed out loud. "Trust Fred and George to do something like this," Harry chortled, "They really do know how to do things properly."

Harry turned to the next letter, after putting away the sack of Galleons. This letter was from Sirius. He decided to save that one for last because Sirius's letters were always the best. The one after that was from Hermione.

Dear Harry,

I was just wondering how you're faring at the Dursleys. Have you heard about the attack? I suppose you would have, because it's all over the papers that Dumbledore says its Voldemort's doing, and Fudge of course doesn't believe that Voldemort is back. He agrees with the Muggle government that it was Muggle terrorists, not magical ones, for that is what Voldemort really is. I am going in to get my books and things the week of August 1st. Will you be there then? Tell me in your response. I have been reading up on OWL course structure, and our schedules may be altered so as to skip break and cut lunchtime down. We may even have after dinner classes. I have been studying our old books all summer. The OWL's are a really big deal. Well, I realize that I am blabbering a bit, so I will end this letter here.

Hermione

"Good old Hermione," Harry thought to himself. "Always worried about tests."

Harry turned to the next letter, which was from Ron.

Dear Harry,

How's the summer with the Dursleys going? Well, if Dumbledore's owl gets to you first, which I'm sure it will, this won't be a surprise to you. You have to go to Diagon Alley, and then once you've spent some time there, like 2 weeks, you can come stay with us for the rest of the summer! I used that money that Fred and George gave me to buy season Cannons tickets!! Every Saturday there is a game this summer. We usually go to all of them!! You can come to, because the tickets are a "large family pack", which supports up to ten people on it!! Isn't that great! Well, see you in a couple weeks.

Ron

By now the high-speed Muggle train (which was nowhere as fast as the Hogwarts Express, the Express would have made the journey in about five minutes) was slowing as it pulled into Kings Cross Station in London. Harry looked around, and saw a man who was definitely a wizard in disguise. He had on an old sweater with a bowtie on the back of his neck, and he wore breeches and knee socks. He was receiving strange looks from all the passers-by, another sign of a wizard. Muggles always sensed a strange force of magic when they got near wizards. They didn't recognize it as magic of course, unless they were from a family that had a Muggle-born wizard in it. Harry picked up his trunk and walked toward the door, noticing that it was strange to walk on the still train after the jolting movement before. He climbed down the steep stairs, for his compartment did not have the luck to be next to a platform. As soon as he got off the train, the wizard walked up to him.

"Straighten your bowtie," Harry whispered to the man, "It goes around front."

Aloud, the man asked him, "Mr. Harry Potter? Mr. Dumbledore sent me to escort you to your lodgings." The wizard led Harry to a Ministry car, a shiny blue MG that, like all Ministry cars, was much bigger on the inside than it let on. The driver, who said his name was Luke Bringing, loaded Harry's trunk into the back of the car, then opened the door to Harry, who was surprised to step into a stretch-limo sized interior. HE poured himself a Coke, and had a mint. He found there was a large TV screen in the front part of the car, and turned it on, to find that it was hooked up to a video game system, what looked like the wizard version of a PlayStation2. He found that there weren't any controls, but that your wand was your controller. He had learned about wandless magic last year from Professor McGonagall, and decided to try the summoning charm without his wand, on his wand. He concentrated with all his might on the flow of magic within him, and spoke the incantation. "Accio!" Almost immediately he felt himself being drained slightly, but saw his wand zooming towards him, to land in his palm. Nearly instantly he felt himself being rejuvenated by the wands magical power. Harry turned to the game system, and selected his wand type by saying "Olivanders" and then the serial number "234234" that was engraved in the side of his wand. This activated the game, and he began controlling a little figure of.... himself? It sure did look like him, but Harry shrugged off the thought, as he was used to strange things in the magical world. He made the little figure run around, and he encountered obstacles along the paths. There was a little window that popped up that said "danger" Harry didn't pay attention to it because he was too busy fighting an angry Hippogriff. After he had defeated the Hippogriff, he realized what the warning meant. He was walking into a Death Eater stronghold. He first saw Death Eater guards, which he put out with the stunning spell, then more Death Eaters. When the death eaters he had just stunned attacked him from behind, he realized he would have to use more potent curses. He blasted his way through the Death Eaters, and just as he was reaching the Dark Lord, the car screeched to a halt, ending the game. Harry emerged, a little shaken up, but he soon recovered as he entered the Leaky Cauldron.

"Aahh, Mr. Potter, Dumbledore told me I would be seeing you soon. Follow me to your room. There are about four owls already there, and they seem impatient for replies. You should go straight upstairs and begin writing to all of your friends." Tom, the toothless barman of the Leaky Cauldron greeted him.

Harry easily carried his trunk up the stairs, and walked through the opened door of room 11, which seemed to be his private "Harry Potter only room" because he stayed in it every single time he came to the Leaky Cauldron. Sure enough, sitting on the dresser, were Hedwig, the Hogwarts owl, Pig, and two owls Harry didn't know but figured must be owned by Hermione and the twins. After putting his trunk at the foot of his bed and popping it open, he went to flop down on his bed, because it was late and he was tired. He lay down, and noticed something under him. He pulled it out, and discovered that it was the Daily Prophet. Harry glanced at the headline, which read, "Death Eater Apprehended" Harry read on, to discover that Aurors just north of Hogsmeade had apprehended Death Eater Peter Pettigrew. That was all he read, for he could suspect the conclusion. He checked the date on the paper and found that it was yesterdays. Harry grabbed the letter from Sirius and ripped it open.

Dear Harry,

I don't know if you read the Daily Prophet or not, but if you do this won't be a surprise to you. They caught the rat, Wormtail, and made him squeal. He told Fudge that I was innocent and that Voldemort was responsible for the attacks on the Muggle building. I have just received an official pardon from Fudge, along with 500 Galleons in expenses for my troubles. Next summer, if you so choose, you will be living with my daughter Rose and I. She has been going to private school, but will being transferring to Hogwarts this year as a fourth year. I expect you to help her out. Well, I will see you in Diagon Alley when we come to buy her things, because I know you will be there.

Sirius

Harry jumped off the bed and started to dance around. "Bye Bye Dursleys, I ain't gonna miss you at all, Bye Bye Dursleys, I'm glad I get to go." He kept singing and dancing around the room for a few minutes, and then ran to the desk and pulled out some parchment and a pen. He laid another piece of parchment on top of that one and charmed the quill to write through the first and onto the second. Harry was allowed to use this spell because there were two places where underage wizards could use magic. Hogwarts or whatever school they went to, and Diagon Alley. He wrote the following letter to Ron and Hermione:

Dear Ron/Hermione (whichever of you which copy gets to, instead of copying it over I bewitched the quill to write on both parchments.)

Ron you will know this but Hermione you might not. Sirius had been pardoned, and his daughter is switching to Hogwarts as a fourth year. She is our age but going under grade-level because she went to a private witches only school for people who were accepted into Hogwarts but had parents who sent them to private school. I will be living with him next summer, and you can come visit me instead of me always visiting you!

See you whenever I see you,

Harry

He gave the copies of this letter to Pig and Hermione's owl, which jumped out and stuck out her leg. The owl, whose nametag said "Athena", looked very proud of herself at completing her first delivery and getting a reply. She spread her immense 4-foot wingspan and soared out the window, to disappear into the night. Next came Pig, or Pigwidgeon, Ron's tiny spastic owl. The tiny owl hopped around so much, hooting his shrill little hoot, that Harry had a hard time tying the letter to his leg properly. The tiny owl hopped once, hooted, struggled with the letter on his leg, and spread his little wingspan, catching the draft from the magical air current that flowed through the building during the summer, keeping the air fresh and cool, and soared out the window, flapping awkwardly to gain speed and height. Harry watched him until he was out of sight to make sure he didn't crash, then took out another parchment and began to write his letter to Sirius. When he finished, Harry tied it to Hedwig's leg and watched her soar out the window. Harry pulled out his final piece of parchment and just wrote a quick thank you note to the twins, because he was too tired to write a full letter. Harry flopped down on the comfortable bed and drifted into the realms of sleep almost instantly.