A Sirius Summer

3rd August 1995

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

As Harry read the words on the scrap of parchment, the town-houses in front of him started to move, stretching apart to reveal the presence of another building. It was darker than the surrounding houses, giving off an aura that reminded Harry of the Hogwart's dungeons. He shivered slightly, the dungeons did not bring good memories and this might not be preferable to the Dursleys', especially if he was to be expelled soon.

A nudge in Harry's back sent him stumbling forward to the door and he followed the bright haired Tonks into the gloomy interior. Darkness engulfed him, and Harry went to draw his wand, freezing as he felt Tonks fall in front of him.

"FILTH AND TRAITORS, MUDBLOODS AND THIEVES" Curtains flew back revealing a the haggard face of an aristocratic looking witch. "HOW DARE YOU DEFILE THIS NOBEL HOUSE!"

The hallway came to life, several doors opening revealing the Weasley family plus a few unfamiliar faces as they came to investigate the disturbance.

"Tonks!"

"BEGONE AND TAINT THIS HOUSE NO MORE..."

"Sorry Mrs Weasley, the troll leg just came out of nowhere" Tonks sheepishly said trying to right an ugly grey thing, that Harry assumed to be the troll leg, stuffing an umbrella back into it before turning and wrestling the curtains back over the portrait. Mrs Weasley ignored her, rounding on Harry and smothering him in a hug. Harry stiffened, waiting it out, experience having shown him that struggling just made her hold on longer.

"Oh Harry, you are looking so well" She exclaimed, and Harry barely avoided rolling his eyes. He knew for a fact that after nearly a month at the Dursleys' he looked anything but well, but he let the comment slide knowing it was how she greeted everyone. "You must be starving! Dinner is nearly ready, so why don't you go up to your room and set your things down. You are with Ron, first floor, second door on the left."

Harry felt himself pushed towards the stairs, and dragged his trunk and broom with him, carefully navigating the narrow stairwell and rickety steps. As he reached the first floor, the door burst open and a familiar voice screeched at him engulfing him in a hug.

"HARRY! Ron, Harry's here! Oh how are you, are you all right? We heard about the attack! I cant believe they tried to expel you for that. I looked up the laws, they have no right to expel you, there is a provision in the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery regarding the use of magic in life threatening situations and..."

"Let him breathe, Hermione," said Ron, grinning, pulling them both into the room and closing the door behind them. Hermione, still beaming, let go of Harry, but before she could say another word there was a soft hoo-ing sound and something white soared from the top of the curtain rail and landed gently on Harry's shoulder.

"Hedwig!" The snowy owl nibbled his ear affectionately as Harry stroked her feathers relieved that his beloved familiar had made it safely back to him.

"She's been in a right state," said Ron. "Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters, look at this!" He showed Harry the index finger of his right hand, which sported a half-healed but clearly deep cut.

"Oh yeah," Harry said. "Sorry about that, but I wanted answers, you know."

"We wanted to give them to you, mate," said Ron. "Hermione was going spare, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, but Dumbledore made us..."

"Swear not to tell me," said Harry bitterly. "Yeah, I get it." The warm glow that had flared inside him at the sight of his two best friends was extinguished as something icy flooded the pit of his stomach. All of a sudden he felt he would rather Ron and Hermione left him alone. There was a strained silence in which Harry stroked Hedwig automatically, not looking at either of his best friends. Instead Harry took the time to look round the room, which seemed as dreary as the rest of the house. The two rickety rusty iron bed frames held lumpy mattresses and moth eaten blankets, which while an improvement on the too small cot he had at the Dursleys' was still far from his comfortable Hogwarts bed. The only other furniture was a worn down dresser on top of which hung a blank picture frame.