Protection

*~Protection ~*

Chapter 1

The moment Harry opened his eyes, his vision settled on the radium dial of his alarm clock. He watched with hooded, sleepy eyes as the hands ticked away like a time bomb towards the set time. He stared and blinked for a few seconds before fumbling and disabling it. Don't want to wake up to harsh noises so early in the day...

He sat up and rubbed his eyes so viciously that he saw little blue stars dancing in front of them. He heard a soft, but definitely annoyed, hoot from the other end of the room and looked up.

'Morning Hedwig.....alright! Alright! Don't get yourself in a knot...we're leaving today.' He glanced at the clock. 'In exactly three hours.' He fumbled around again for his glasses, as Hedwig flapped her wings in response and settled back down to sleep.

Harry got up and went to the bathroom. After finishing his morning rituals, he changed into the clean clothes he had left out for himself last night, stuffed his bedclothes into his trunk, locked it, and then tucked his wand into the waistband of his jeans.

He walked into the kitchen to grab a little breakfast and found that the Dursleys were still asleep. Six-thirty on a Sunday morning, the world will be happier place if the Dursleys decide to remain in their beds and just forget to wake up.

'Have you got breakfast ready, or did you gobble it all down by yourself, boy?' Vernon Dursley bellowed as he thundered into the kitchen in his orange and purple dotted pajamas.

Oh well, someone had to start the day with a happy thought.

'Breakfast's done, Uncle Vernon.' Harry said, placing a plate of bacon and eggs in front of his uncle and turning away to make some coffee.

An hour and a half later saw Harry putting away the breakfast dishes. He stood as far away from the sink as possible, so as not to splash water on his clean clothes while removing the soapy dishes from the sink. The fact that he was standing in that awkward position was now giving him a minor backache.

Another forty-five minutes and you're out of this place...grin and bear it! Be a man about it...

But I'm not a man! I'm just a teenager with a hell of a backache!

Ok, stop whining! You're the Boy Who Lived!

...To Wash Dishes at the Dursleys' ...

Shut up, head!

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The next half hour was possibly the longest in Harry's life. He paced his room, sat on the bed, memorized the ceiling (again) and cleaned out Hedwig's cage.

Finally, finally the clock struck nine. Harry made a beeline for his window and looked out. There wasn't a single soul on the street: not surprising given the sweltering heat outside. Everyone was comfortable inside their living rooms, cooling off away from the harsh sun and sipping ice cold drinks.

Where are they? Do they know they have to pick me up? Is it today? Have I skipped a day...?

Just as Harry was about to go downstairs to double-check the dates on the calendar and the letter from Ron, he heard the doorbell ring. He shot out of his room, ran down the staircase, but his Uncle had already gotten there by the time he reached the doorway. There was Uncle Vernon's large backside trying to burst out of the light yellow shorts that he wore, but Harry could clearly hear to whom he was talking.

'WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!'

'Mr. Dursley, please calm down! We've just come to take Harry...er...out of your hair.'

Remus!

'Dursley! Are you sure Harry didn't tell you we'd be coming by to pick him up?'

Mad-Eye...

'HARRY!!!'

Crash!!

..and Tonks.

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'It wasn't my fault. The stupid thing was just lying there waiting to get broken! It was an accident! I didn't do it on purpose!' Tonks wailed.

'Yes well, I'm sure the...er...what was it Harry?' Remus asked, turning to look at him.

'It was a glass trophy. Dudley won it for a boxing match. They kept it there so that it would be the first thing their guests admired. It was horrible really.... You did a great favor there, Tonks. I had to polish the blasted thing everyday. With elbow grease.'

Harry added with a touch of sarcasm.

Tonks smiled sheepishly.

They were sitting in the Leaky Cauldron waiting for a signal so that they could move on to Grimmauld Place. It was past lunchtime and Harry was getting impatient - he was dying to get back to Ron and Hermione.

Although those two wouldn't mind being left alone to their own devices... He snorted mentally.

Remus looked down as his front robe pocket began to glow a beautiful opal blue.

'What's that?' Harry asked.

Remus pulled out the object of attention from his pocket and held it in his right palm, where it glowed softly.

'This, Harry, is a Remindrall. Bit of an extension on a Remembrall. They come in sets of two. I have one, as you can see, and the other is probably with someone in Grimmauld Place. It helps us communicate. Right now, the person on the other end is giving us the all clear and we know its safe to move on to headquarters.

'Right then. Let's get a move on.'

Tonks stood up, and immediately the chair toppled over.

'Tonks, truthfully, did you bump your Stealth examiner on the head?'

*************************

'Harry!'

Harry had barely stepped into the house and immediately found himself enveloped into a familiar bushy-haired hug.

'Hey, Hermione.'

'Harry, how are you?' Ron asked, following behind Hermione and grinning at Harry. Except that, Harry noticed, he had to look up to see Ron's grin. Harry, though not a midget at five foot eleven inches still felt dwarfed by Ron's recently acquired height of six foot three inches.

'Wow, Ron! You've er...grown.' Harry said, looking his best friend over.

'Yeah, well - '

'Oh Harry, dear! It's so good to see you!'

'Hello Mrs Weasley. Had a good summer?'

'Yes, of course dear. It's going to be better now that you're here and we won't have to worry about you being starved at your ...er...hmmm...' Mrs Weasley pursed her lips as she trailed off.

'Best you get washed up and then come down to the kitchen. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.'

Harry nodded and walked up the stairs but was intercepted by a whirl of copper.

'Hey Ginny, where are you off to?'

'Harry! How are you? Well, I thought I heard the doorbell and wanted to say hi to you and catch Tonks. She said she'd slip me a tip on the imperturbables.' Ginny panted, all the while keeping up her end of the grin at Harry and jogged to where Tonks was furtively trying to untangle her cuff from the doorknob, without Mrs Weasley noticing.

Harry smiled back at her. He wasn't entirely happy, being back in Grimmauld Place. It held memories of Sirius too dear for him to let go. Every time he thought of Sirius's happy face and cheerful voice when they had all agreed to spend last Christmas with him because of Mr Weasley's attack, he felt a knot in his chest and a lump rise in his throat.

He shook off the gloomy feeling, climbed upstairs to wash for dinner and entered the room that he was to share with Ron, who had followed him.

'Harry, you alright?' Ron asked tentatively.

Harry nodded. 'Yeah. I'm okay. It doesn't hurt as much now. It's not like I've gotten used to him being gone. I just feel...defeated. I wish we were at the Burrow instead of here. It just brings back memories of ...him.' Harry sighed.

Ron, not knowing what to say, simply put his hand comfortingly on Harry's shoulder.

'Do you want to talk?' Ron asked.

'No, not right now. Not today. It's just good to be back with you guys again.' Harry looked up and smiled sadly at Ron.

'Yeah, well anytime you want to, you know I'm here. And Hermione.'

Harry nodded again. He looked up at his best friend in the world and wondered, for the thousandth time, how he could have made it to his sixteenth year without either of them.

'Thanks, Ron.'

'Anytime mate, anytime.'

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When Harry walked into the kitchen twenty minutes later, everyone was already at the table. He looked around and saw all the familiar faces and a couple of new ones. He took a seat between Ron and Fred.

'Harry! How are you doing, mate?' Fred asked, passing him the salad bowl.

Harry took the proffered bowl. 'Good, now that I'm with everyone I know. How's the joke shop coming?'

'Fabulous! And speaking of the joke shop Harry, we need to speak to you after dinner.' George tapped his nose secretively and winked.

'Right, I'll meet you both in the Library after dinner - er...wait a minute, you're not by any chance going to use me as a test subject for one of your new products?' Harry asked cautiously. With the twins, there was no such thing as being too careful.

Fred just grinned at Harry while George busied himself with the butter and dinner rolls.

After that, Harry was mostly engaged in conversation with Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny. He listened to them go on about how nobody would let them listen in on the meetings, how Ginny, Fred and George were trying a new product to get past the imperturbables that Mrs Weasley had put on the kitchen door and walls, how there was not much news in the Daily Prophet about the rise of Voldemort except how to defend themselves against the Death Eaters and how to get in touch with Aurors or with Ministry officials, if they ever came across one.

'Assuming they'll still be alive to get in touch with.' Fred said dryly.

'FRED! That's not funny!' Hermione hissed.

'Well, Hermione, you don't see any of us laughing, do you?' Fred shot back.

'That's not the point, you shouldn't ...' Hermione carried on angrily.

Harry shut them out, letting his gaze wander over to the other familiar faces at the table. There was the Weasleys' older brother, Bill, sitting next to Kingsley Shacklebolt. They were deep in conversation: possibly about some of the curses Bill had to work with in Egypt. Next to Bill was Mrs Weasley, eyeing her son's errant hairstyle while complaining to Mr Weasley about how thin he was and urging him to eat more. Mr. Weasley, to his credit, silently chewed on his food, giving his wife nods and the occasional 'You're right Molly, absolutely.' Next to Mr Weasley sat, or rather slept, Mundungus Fletcher. Between him and Mad-Eye there sat a man Harry had never seen before. By the looks of him, he was probably an auror with Tonks. Mad-Eye was scowling at his food, as though it planned to take up the knife and fork and attack him instead. Tonks was there, too, amusing Ginny and Ron (who had grown tired of Hermione's increasingly loud lecture to Fred) with new faces, apparently of the Wyrd Sisters in old age. Next to her sat Remus, smiling amusedly at Tonks. The last person at the table was a woman, sitting next to Remus and eating her dinner with a contented smile on her face.

Harry's eyes widened. She was the most beautiful woman Harry had ever seen. She had olive skin, which was on the darker side and was perfectly smooth and flawless. Harry noticed that when she swallowed her food, her lips jutted out in a sort of pout, which was, by the looks of it, unintentional and inborn. Her hair was dark, and pulled back in a tight ponytail that fell below her shoulders in straight black sheets, ending in big curls. Her eyes, which were the most beautifully shaped ones he had ever seen, were either grey or green, Harry couldn't make out in the dim candle light and at that distance. There was no doubt about it: she was beautiful. He knew she couldn't be a Veela; none of the other men seemed inclined to do anything silly in front of her. In addition, her nose, while not very large, was quite distinctive and marred her perfection. Harry guessed her to be Remus' age, although he could not be sure. From where he sat, she looked untouched by age.

He nudged Ron.

'Who's she?' he asked nodding toward the woman.

'I dunno, but she's quite a looker.' Ron said, gazing raptly at her.

Even though Ron was sitting between them, Harry distinctly heard Hermione snort loftily and mutter something very similar to 'Boys!'

**********************************

After dinner was done, everyone insisted on helping Mrs Weasley clear up. Harry watched silently as he saw the mysterious woman move about. She moved with a grace that oddly reminded him of water flowing out of a fallen glass: fanning out in gentle, unnoticeable waves.

The washing up done, everyone who did not have Order duty was lazing about in the kitchen or had drifted off into the living room. Harry saw Remus talking to the woman and noticed that she was frowning and nodding her head but her hands were twisting around on her lap.

Remus stood up and the woman followed as they walked toward Harry. He immediately looked away pretending to be studying a ...whatever it was that hung on the wall.

Real smart move, Potter.

'Harry.' It was Remus.

'Who's your friend Remus?'

Remus smiled gently. 'My friend here is my wife. Elizabeth.'

Something in the pit of Harry's stomach exploded.

'Your wife?'

Remus laughed at the look of shock on Harry's face.

'Remus...your...wife? I-I ...I didn't know you were...er, you know- '

'Married?' Remus smiled gently.

Harry blushed. 'Yeah.'

He turned to Elizabeth. 'Hi...er, Mrs Lupin- '

Elizabeth laughed. 'You can call me Eliza, Harry. You don't have to be so formal. Your mum would have laughed her head off.'

Something in her cheerful voice reminded him of Tonks and immediately Harry relaxed to this beautiful woman. Then something registered in his mind.

'My mum? You knew my mum?' Harry asked uncertainly.

Both the adults spoke at once.

'Well Harry ...er-' Remus.

'Oops...busted.' Eliza muttered.

Remus sighed. 'You should know, Harry. Eliza- '

'No, Remus. I should.' She turned to Harry and sighed. She spoke again, her hands fidgeting.

'Your mother and I...well we were close friends. Not only did I know your mother, Harry. I knew your father too - I was his cousin. Your mother chose me, along with Sirius, to look after you if ...if anything happened to her and your father.' Eliza took a deep breath, as though steeling herself to push out the words stuck in her throat.

'Harry, Lily made me your godmother.'

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