Consequence

Chapter One

December 19, 1995

'Stay where you are.'

'I haven't moved!' said Harry, his hand still upon the doorknob. 'So what's the message?'

'I have just given it to you, dolt,' said Phineas Nigellus smoothly. 'Dumbledore says, "Stay where you

are".'

"Why," said Harry eagerly, dropping the end of his trunk. 'Why does he want me to stay? What else did he

say?'

'Nothing whatsoever,' said Phineas Nigellus, raising a thin black eyebrow as though he found Harry

impertinent.

Harry's temper rose to the surface like a snake rearing from long grass. He was exhausted, he was

confused beyond measure, he had experienced terror, relief, then terror again in the last twelve hours

and still Dumbledore did not want to talk to him!

So Harry did the only thing he could think of in his anger. He left.

He snuck down the steps, trunk in tow, avoiding avoiding the Weasleys, who he could hear talking in the kitchen. Ginny's voice rose above the rest, though he couldn't quite make out the words she was saying. He passed the troll-legged umbrella stand, and finally reached the door

He stopped to think if he should leave a note; it would be polite, right? But off hand, he couldn't think of anything to say. Nothing that wouldn't lead them to exactly where he was going. He was, in fact, going to

the last place they would search for him at. The Dursley's.

He opened the door. Ron, Ginny, and the rest; they would be better off without him. He was only a danger to them there, who knew who he would turn on next. Going back to school wasn't an option; he couldn't let himself possibly hurt Seamus, Dean, Neville, or anyone else in the Tower. He was a danger to them and himself, though he'd rather hurt himself than them.

He stepped out into the openness of the street. He asked himself if this was the right thing. Yes, a

voice from somewhere within his head replied.

Without a further thought, Harry Potter raised his wand, and waited for The Knight Bus to arrive.

Three things happened at the same time. One of the portraits began yelling, the door slammed, and Fred yelled, "Checkmate!" with glee. Ginny jumped, then followed Ron out from the dining room, where she had been playing chess with Fred, with George and Ron yelling pointers every time she or Fred did something wrong. They were both hopeless at chess, which is why they enjoyed playing against each other, in a sort of 'which sibling is actually the worst' sort of match up. Mrs. Black began screaming, which attracted attention from a few other rooms. Sirius bound up the stairs, followed closely by Professor Lupin.

"Sirius!" the portrait yelled.

"Blood traitors, half blood brats, mudbloods, thieves!" Mrs. Black screeched from her portrait. "Defiling the

home of my fathers."

"Sirius!" the portrait yelled again, while Lupin and Sirius struggled with the curtains in front of Mrs. Black's

portrait. They jerked the curtains closed, finally, and turned around. "Sirius!"

"What?!" Sirius snapped at the man who had been calling his name.

"If you're going to treat me in that manner, I may just forget to tell you what I was going to." The man

stuck his nose up in the air and folded his arms across his chest. Ginny watched as Sirius glared at the

man in the portrait.

"Just apologize to him," she heard Lupin mutter softly.

"What was it that you needed to tell me?" Sirius asked, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"I seem to have forgotten," the man said, feigning innocence.

Sirius glared at the portrait. "Tell me. Now." The man sulked back into a large purple overstuffed chair, which happened to be in the portrait. Sirius shook his head. Ginny shared a look with George, what exactly was going on?

Sirius began to stomp off; Ginny herself was ready to head down the stairs along with the twins and Ron,

when finally the man spoke up.

"Dumbledore sent me with news for that brooding godson of yours (adolescents! Really!), and well, he didn't receive it too well. He's left."

"He's what?" Sirius yelled as Ginny felt her heart stop in her chest. She looked over at Ron, but instead of

seeing him there, she heard feet pounding on the steps, and a door slam. Mrs. Black began screaming

again, but Ginny wasn't quite paying attention to what she was screaming.

Ron couldn't feel his legs, he couldn't feel his lungs, everything was numb. He'd run as fast as he could down the steps, hoping to catch Harry, but he'd been too late.

Curse you, Sirius, Ron thought. Why did you have to argue with that mental portrait anyway?

The skyline of downtown London was coming into view now, though Ron was sure he still had ages to run

before he could reach the tall buildings of the Muggle world.

Why did Harry leave? Ron asked himself for what seemed like the millionth time. Sure, there was Moody's comment that they'd all heard on the Extendable Ears...but really. Ron knew Harry hadn't attacked his father, unless there was some way for Harry to leave his body. He'd tried to wake Harry up for a full minute before he'd finally woken up, covered in sweat.

His body demanded he stopped running, so he slowed down to a stop. His heart was pounding, sweat

was running down his back making the thin shirt he'd left the house in stick to his body. It was making him

cold; he mentally kicked himself for leaving the house in December without anything but a thin shirt and

no jumper or cloak.

The grass crunched underneath his lanky frame as he sat on the cold earth. His side was killing him,

breathing was difficult.

There were only a few places Harry would, or rather, could have gone. Diagon Alley was one, back to

Hogwarts another. There was nothing in the Muggle world for Harry that much Ron knew. Harry would as

soon as die then go back with the horrid Muggles he lived with during the summers.

"Where the bloody hell are you?" Ron asked the air, hoping Harry would appear. "Where have you run off

to?" He ran his hands through his hair. They were in quite a mess. Ron tempted the thought of burning

the portrait when he went back home.

"Someone needs to owl Dumbledore," Ginny heard someone say as she ran down the stairs after Ron.

"Ginny!" someone called.

"Brats...blood-traitors, defiling my house!" Mrs. Black screeched from her place in her portrait.

Ginny slammed the door behind her, shutting the sounds of the house behind her. This was insane, Harry couldn't have really left. Could he? It wasn't safe for him to be out wondering in the Muggle or Magical

world alone, was it? Surely not, Ginny thought. Then again it wasn't exactly safe for her or Ron either, their hair and surname gave them away every time.

Ginny sighed and headed back towards the house. She wasn't going to go running after Ron, then the

two of them would just wind up lost and yelled at by Mum. Ginny rubbed her arms; it was cold in the

December air.

She knew why Harry left, she wasn't stupid. However, he on the other hand was. Didn't he realize that

she, herself, had dealt with possession? Was there any better person to talk to about what had happened

in the dream, besides Dumbledore? Why hadn't he bothered to ask her? Sure it wasn't a subject that she

would converse freely about, but it was behind her now. It didn't bother her as much as before to talk

about.

"Ginny!" She looked up to see Fred, in a cloak outside the door. "Mum was hoping you hadn't run off like

Ron and Harry, she's having kittens."

"Imagine that," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes.

"Best get inside though, you don't want to get her too angry," Fred said, opening the door to the house.

"Besides that, everyone's running around like the sky is falling."

Ginny followed Fred back into the house, the noise had reached a deafening volume. They entered the

dining room, Mum was sitting, drinking a cup of tea, most likely with Firewhiskey added.

"Oh Ginny!" Mum said, she rushed over and squeezed Ginny tightly. "I thought you'd run off."

"No," Ginny said, attempting to stop her mother from suffocating her. "I'm fine, you should sit back down."

She led her mother back to the seat on the bench on the dining room. Someone handed Ginny a blanket

and she wrapped it around her mother's shoulders.

There was a door slam. She looked up to see Ron, whose skin was a bright red and shivering, enter,

moving slowly.

"S'he come back?" her brother asked through chattering teeth and he folded his arms across his chest.

"Ronald Weasley!" Mum yelled again. "What do you think, running off like..."

"Now's not the time, Molly," Remus said, from his place across the table, looking up from the parchment

he was writing on. Ron was twitching because of the cold now.

"Somebody...owl...Hermione?" Ron asked again, his teeth still clanging away. "Needs...to...know."

Someone came back from behind Ron and threw a bright orange blanket around him. George led him to

the table, where he sat, still shaking with cold.

"Hermione...owl..." Ron said again.

"I'll owl her," Ginny offered. She needed to get away from the table, away from her Mum's hurt face and a

shivering Ron. "Should I send a letter to anyone else, while I'm owling Hermione?"

"I'll come with you," Remus said, scooting his chair out. "I need to send this letter to Dumbledore and talk

to Sirius before he does something rash." Ginny nodded and followed Remus up the stairs.

Dear Hermione,

I'm sure you'll find this out from Dumbledore soon enough, but Harry's...well there's not an easy way to say this, but Harry's run off. I think I know why, but I would rather tell you in person once you arrive, if you arrive that is. Ron insisted that I owl and tell you, he ran off after Harry and is currently battling near frostbite downstairs. He'll be fine, I'm sure. Mum's taking care of him.

Do be careful, we hope to see you soon,

Ginny

"Remus," Sirius said, throwing things into a trunk. "I have to go find him."

"No," Remus replied. "What if you get caught?" I can't bear another 12 years of you in Azkaban, he

thought silently. I can't bear losing anyone again.

"What if he's hurt? What if something happens to him?" Sirius demanded, still throwing things into the

trunk.

"What if he's fine and he's gone for a walk around the block like Ron did?" Remus questioned. "I know

how you feel about Harry, all right? I know you're concerned, but you can't get caught. Lucius Malfoy

already knows about your Animagus form, where do you think he learned that from?" Sirius didn't say

anything, he just kept throwing things into a trunk.

Finally he spoke up. "Harry is James's son," he said so softly Remus almost didn't hear him. Sirius looked up, his pale eyes meeting with Remus' own brown ones.

"I know. I know he's James's," Remus replied softly. "But you still can't just go run off after him. Sirius, it

would kill me if you went back to Azkaban, I couldn't take it. What do you think I went through the first

time? It was horrible. Horrible. I thought that you had gone down the same route as the rest of your

family...after...after leaving them behind. And I can't bear the thought of you in there again." He looked

away for a second, and tried to compose himself.

"You always were the rational one, Moony." Remus gave out a snort.

"Well, compared to you and James it wasn't hard to be the rational one." They were silent once more. "I

know you don't want to stay, but can you for me, at least until we hear something from Dumbledore?"

Sirius looked up and let out an audible sigh. Staying was the last thing he wanted to do, it was obvious by the look on his face.

"Please."

"You know I don't want to."

"Yes. You can tell by the look on your face."

"That obvious?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

"As always."

Harry looked up lonely at the doorstep to Number Four Privet Drive. He sighed and looked down at his shoes, the Dursleys would not be happy to see him arrive upon their doorstep. In fact, that might be an understatement, he thought sulkily. They would be furious.

Tell them you were thrown out, a voice said. Harry's head snapped up. They always had been happy

about the thought of him being thrown out of 'his freak school'. It would work...maybe.

Where are you going to go to school at, another voice questioned. The local public school was not where

he wanted to go, but if it kept him from attacking anyone he cared about...he would do it. He would run

and hide from them, if it meant they would be safe.

Funny, he thought. For years, he wanted someone, anyone to come and take him away. Then when they

finally did, he came running back here, to save them. He didn't want anyone to be hurt, even Seamus

Finnigan, who was currently being a prat.

Privet Drive hadn't changed since the summer, though really he hadn't expected it to. Privet Drive never

changed, not for anyone or anything.

Hesitating, Harry knocked on the door. He held his breath waiting for Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to

answer the door, scream, and then slam it in his face. They wouldn't take kindly to Harry showing back up

on their doorstep.

He heard someone turn the door knob and he took a step back, awaiting the slamming of the door.

Christmas music leaked out, he turned his gaze to the person opening the door.

At the doorstep was Aunt Petunia, looking not very surprised at all, which in turn, surprised Harry.

"I knew you'd get kicked out of that mad school eventually," she tutted. "Come in and go up to your room,

your uncle will talk to you. We're having company over for tea."

Harry stepped into the warmth of Number Four Privet Drive and headed up the stairs, feeling oddly safe.

"Miss Granger," Hermione looked up from the book she was reading in the Common Room. She was to head home on the train the next day. Professor McGonagall was standing the Common Room, looking grim.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall?" she asked, putting Hogwarts: A History down on the pouf in front of her.

"We...we have an issue. Please follow me." Hermione stood up from the armchair she was in and

followed Professor McGonagall out of the Common Room, wondering. What was going on, exactly? She

quietly followed her Head of House, even when they went up into Dumbledore's office.

She gasped though, when she found Professors Dumbledore and Snape in there as well.

"Hurry, Minerva," Dumbledore said, sounding hurried. "We do not have much time; I fear that Ginny

Weasley's owl has been intercepted."

"Isn't it about Mr. Weasley?" Hermione asked, feeling worried and sick to her stomach.

"I am afraid not, Miss Granger," Snape said snidely. "Rather, your friend, Mr. Potter."

"Is Harry okay?" Hermione asked, feeling twice as worried. If anything happened to Harry...she felt sick.

"I'm afraid that Mr. Potter has gone missing," Dumbledore said. "Which is why we need to get you either

home with your parents or visiting with the Weasleys. I am afraid if you linger Professor Umbridge will

delay your leaving Hogwarts."

Hermione was trembling. Harry, gone? How? He couldn't be gone, really, this was some sort of horrible

joke...it had to be.

The professors began speaking to her again, she wasn't listening to anything she said. She remembered

something vaguely about telling telling them she wanted to see the Weasleys and then touching an old boot, and being Portkeyed away. She fell, not expecting the landing to be so rough.

She felt someone help her up, and looked to see it was Ron. Before she could think, she hugged Ron and burst into tears.

"It's going to be okay," Ron whispered. "Hermione..."