An Interruption of Sanity

Prologue: The New and Improved Boy Who Lived

Harry James Potter sat at the kitchen table of Number Four Privet Drive, wearing new spectacles, reading the morning edition of the Daily Prophet and sipping a cup of coffee. He read the paper with trepidation; he didn't want to hear of the activities of Lord Voldemort, but there was no way that he could keep out of it now. Not since the prophesy.

He finished his coffee, rose and stretched before heading out the door. It was his new routine while he was awaiting the go ahead to return to the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. He would rise at four am and go for a morning run and return home in time to cook and serve the Dursleys their breakfast and then head out to the back shed to lift weights. Uncle Vernon had bought a home gym several years prior and no one ever used it; Dudley used the local gym to practice for boxing matches.

So Harry set off on his run, clad in red shorts emblazoned with the Gryffindor lion and a black shirt with the sleeves cut off that said 'Seeker' across the back in big red letters. It was just him and the road, nothing else, nothing to think about, nothing to distract him. He ran towards the slight pink glow in the distance for an hour before turning around and heading back to Privet Drive.

He kept his pace steady as he ran and realized with a jolt that only four weeks remained until he was due to return to Hogwarts. He needed to go into Diagon Alley to buy new robes and get his new books. He kept running.

Vernon Dursley was coming down the stairs when the front door opened to reveal his sixteen-year-old nephew just back from an early morning run.

"Where've you been, boy?" he demanded of Harry by way of good morning.

"Nowhere in particular, sir," Harry replied stiffly. Vernon harrumphed.

"Nowhere the boy says," he muttered as he made his way to the kitchen, Harry behind him. "More like meeting with his freaky friends I should think..." As Harry fried bacon and scrambled eggs for him, Vernon continued to berate the wizarding world under his breath from behind his own newspaper.

Aunt Petunia came in a little while later, shortly followed by a waddling Dudley. Neither of them made any indication of noticing Harry's existence as he served them, which is what Harry preferred. Harry washed the dishes and went to the shed, stretched and began his workout regimen.

He had been at it for a little over an hour, and had worked up a good healthy sweat when Aunt Petunia shrieked from the back porch:

"Harry! You have a visitor!" Wondering who on Earth would come to see him at Privet Drive but unwilling to stop in the middle of a workout, Harry called back.

"Send 'em back to the shed!" He judged by the lack of admonishment that his aunt was going to comply with his request. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, Harry heard approaching footsteps and someone leaning on the doorframe of the shed.

"Hi, Harry," the person said. He sounded stunned, but Harry knew the voice nonetheless. He set the weights down and hauled himself into a sitting position on the bench to face Remus J. Lupin.

"Professor!" Harry shouted, leaping up to greet his old teacher. "What're you doing here?" Remus sighed.

"Three things, Harry," he said. "One: I am no longer your teacher; call me Remus. Two: I'm here to bring you back to Grimmauld Place. And three: damn." He looked Harry up and down.

"What? Didn't expect to see my big guns?" he joked, striking a pose.

"Well, it begs the question of why," Remus said dryly. Harry hesitated.

"It, er, the exercise, it keeps my mind off of, er, other things..." Remus nodded understandingly. "Anyway, we're going? Now?"

"As soon as you get your stuff packed."

"Good, gimme twenty minutes to shower and change, then pack up and we'll be off."

"Okay, I'll help you pack."

Ten minutes later, Remus closed the latches on Harry's trunk just as Harry himself walked in, toweling his hair dry. He tossed the towel on the bed and looked to Remus.

"All set?" he asked.

"Yep. You ready?" Harry nodded. "Good. Before we go, I have to tell you something, Harry." The teenager raised his eyebrows. "Sirius left the Black Family fortune to us, divided equally, but he left the house to you, so Dumbledore has some papers for you to sign saying that the Headquarters can still be there, otherwise you could, legally, evict us." Harry shook his head.

"No, I'll let the Order stay. So, who all is there? From school, that is." Remus thought a moment.

"Well, there's Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and, who else? Ah, yes, Luna." Harry looked up sharply.

"Luna? Really?" Remus smiled with a twinkle in his eye.

"Excited to see her, are you?" he laughed. Harry blushed, a reaction he could not explain himself.

"Well, it's, er, just that, uh, she's a friend and I, er--"

"Okay, okay, come on, we're leaving." Remus pulled out his wand, tapped a book and said, "Portus." The book began to glow blue and shook violently. When it stopped, the two wizards touched the Portkey and felt a familiar jerk behind their navels