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Hedwig the snowy owl hooted softly, then again, louder, trying desperately to wake the untidy-haired skinny boy sleeping in the bed next to her cage. Harry Potter woke with a start when his Uncle Vernon, a beefy man with no neck, burst through the bedroom door, yelling, "Boy, you better shut that ruddy bird up or she'll be gone first thing in the morning!"

Harry slid out of bed, and gently eased his window open as Uncle Vernon's heavy footsteps retreated down the hall. He glanced at his poorly repaired alarm clock, which now read half past midnight. He stood there in the window, thankful for the blasts of warm summer air coming in his room. He opened the door of the owl cage and put his hand inside. He winced as she climbed onto his hand, her sharp talons digging into his finger, drawing blood. He gently eased her out into the warm air, and allowed her to fly out the open window for a bit of hunting. He gently, reluctantly, closed his window and sucked the drips of blood off of his pointer finger.

"Darn bird. Time for a nail clipping, I think."

He listened closely, and heard Uncle Vernon's unmistakable loud snores echoing down the hallway. As long as Hedwig was back by six AM, Uncle Vernon would never know she'd been out of her cage. He grabbed a flashlight he'd stolen from the kitchen drawer off of his bedside table, then settled on his bed and pulled his covers up over his head. He pulled a thick, dusty book from under his pillow. The book was old, read many times by many different people. Almost every page had been dog-eared, and had stains. He traced the gold foil lettering of the title, which read, "Revenge for Underage Wizards."

Just looking at this skinny boy, pale white under a shock of dark untidy hair, nobody would ever guess he not actually a hopeless teenage criminal who attended St. Brutus' Criminal Center for Boys, as Uncle Vernon told everyone, but actually a wizard, student at the best school of magic in the world, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, whose location was kept secret, only reached by the Hogwarts Express, and the building was Unplottable and went unnoticed by passing Muggles, or nonmagic folk.

He leaned back against the wall, and began to read where he left off before bed. About ten minutes passed, giving Harry an opportunity to perfect a spell that did not use enough magic to alert the Ministry of Magic, but made the victim sprout tentacles from their ears for a second, then grow back in before anyone noticed. Then there was a consistent pecking on the glass of his window, then silence. Harry clicked off the flashlight, and listened. There it was again. Harry ripped the covers off of his head, and peered at the glass. There was tiny, very miniscule owl fluttering around outside it, a scroll of parchment tied to his leg. Harry recognized it as Pigwidgeon, Pig for short, an owl given to his friend Ron third year. He opened the window and snatched the bird out of midair, pulled off the scroll, and closed the window before letting him go free. The bird zoomed around his head as he settled on the window-seat to try to decipher Ron's writing. He read aloud,

"Dear Harry, we are having a Welcome Home party for Percy in two weeks, and we would be happy if you could come. Ask the Muggles and tell them you can stay with us, we'll take you shopping in Diagon Alley and take you to King's Cross."

Harry grabbed a bent quill off of his writing desk and scribbled,

"Dear Ron, I would love to come. Ill ask the Muggles and send Hedwig with their answer first thing in the morning."

He tied the scroll to the owl's leg and threw it out the window. Ronald Weasley was Harry's best friend at Hogwarts, and a very good wizard. He was one of the few pureblood wizards left, and he had five older brothers, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George, and a little sister, Ginny.

He settled back on his bed and had just pulled the covers back over his head when there was another peck at the window. Harry growled in exasperation and yanked the covers off his head. There was an unfamiliar owl sitting on the sill. He threw open the window and the owl lazily held out it's leg, as though this was at the bottom of a list of things he wanted to be doing. Harry snatched the paper, and read Hermione's neat writing.

"Dear Harry, I hope you can come to the Burrow for the party. I will be arriving there myself tomorrow afternoon, as my parents are leaving on vacation. I hope to see you there. Love, Hermione."

Harry irritably scribbled,

"ok. I don't know yet, but I hope to be able to go. See you either then or at the station."

He tied it to the owl's leg and threw it out the window. He lay back on his bed and glanced at the window before pulling the covers over his head and turning on his flashlight again. He had time to perfect two more spells, consisting of one to grow hair at an alarming rate wherever the wand tip was pointed, and one to cause the victim's skin to itch like crazy for hours, yet them never being able to find the itch. Harry giggled at the thought of watching Malfoy lying on the floor, scratching his whole body. Then there was a hoot at the window, which signaled Hedwig's return. He pulled the bird inside and stuffed her in her cage, despite her reproachful look and spiteful nip on the finger she gave him. He shut the door, sucking his sore finger, and locked the window. He stuck the flashlight in his bedside drawer and flopped into bed, then quickly fell asleep.


He awoke early the next morning, before any of the Dursleys. He spotted the book open on the wood floor, showing a moving picture of a woman's lip hair growing to her knees in a matter of seconds. He leapt out of bed and slammed the book shut. He stuffed it under his pillow and threw his covers over it, completely hiding it from view. If Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia saw it, they'd surely lock him up for the entire summer and he wouldn't see Ron or Hermione until next term started. They'd already locked Harry's wand and Firebolt in the cabinet under the stairs so he wouldn't have access to them. He made sure the latch was closed properly on Hedwig's cage, then waited until he heard Uncle Vernon walk by his door. He quickly dressed and went down to breakfast.

After he'd eaten, he asked, "Uncle Vernon, would you mind terribly if in two weeks I went to my friend Ron Weasley's house for the remainder of the summer? They said they would take me shopping for my school supplies and give me a ride to King's Cross on the first of September."

Uncle Vernon merely grunted, which Harry assumed meant yes, and he ran upstairs to send Hedwig to Ron. He had forgotten that today was a very important day for him: his 17th birthday. He was now of age, and could perform magic anytime without worrying about the Ministry trying to expel him from Hogwarts. He was reminded in a hurry when he opened his bedroom door and heard Hedwig clicking her beak impatiently. Looking at the window, he saw why. Four owls, Pig being one of them, were fighting for a place on the shallow ledge outside the window. Harry leapt across his bed to open the window. He opened his gifts excitedly after sending an irritated Hedwig on her journey to the Burrow. Hermione had given him a computer, a Muggle invention, yet run completely by magic so he could use it at Hogwarts as well as at Privet Drive. Ron had sent him a value pack of sweets from Honeydukes, a package of rock cakes from Hagrid, and something he didn't quite understand, a small pendant in the shape of a Golden Snitch from Dumbledore. A chain should have come with the pendant, but it didn't. Harry set his cards up on display on his dresser, then hid his gifts under the loose floorboard under his bed.

Then there was a knock on the door. Harry quickly pushed himself up from the floor and dusted off his clothes. He jerked open the door and rolled his eyes as he saw piggy little Dudley standing there.

"What do you want, Dudley?"

"Don't use that tone with me, Potter. Mum just remembered today is your birthday, and she told me to give you this."

"Aunt Petunia is actually giving me a birthday gift?"

"Yeah, here, take it. I've got better things to do."

Dudley shoved a five-dollar bill of Muggle money and two actual Wizard Galleons. Harry yelped, "what!"

Dudley tossed off carelessly, "I don't get what those gold coins are, but they aren't my kind of money, so you can keep them. They are weird looking."

"Oh, Dudley, you're such a moron. These are Galleons, wizard money. I use them to buy stuff at school. Why does Aunt Petunia have them, though? I thought she'd never had anything to do with the Wizarding World."

"Those coins are magic?"

"No, idiot. They are used to buy stuff for people who are magic. They are just like quarters and fifty-cent pieces that you use. Just made of gold. Get out of my way."

Harry pushed past Dudley and pulled his bedroom door shut. He locked it and stuffed the key into his jeans pocket, then thundered down the stairs. He marched up to Aunt Petunia with the Galleons clutched in his hand, and stopped as she slightly shook her head, signaling him to wait for Uncle Vernon to leave. He quickly dived behind a plant as Uncle Vernon walked past and out the front door. When she heard the car leave, Aunt Petunia roughly pulled him up.

"What do you think you're doing, Harry? Do you want to cause problems between Vernon and me? I paid Dudley a twenty pound note to keep his mouth shut, and you come down here, all ready to blab!" she screamed furiously.

"Sorry, I was just wondering exactly how you came into contact with Wizard money."

"My sister was a witch, and I was forced to go to Diagon Alley with her when she went to buy supplies, and I stole a few Galleons from a man's moneybag when he wasn't looking. I thought they looked cool. I figured since you could actually put them to use, I'd give them to you. Now, go up to your room and don't bother me with them again, and for heaven's sake, boy, don't go mentioning them in front of your uncle. Now go, scoot."

Harry ran back upstairs and shut himself in his room.

He spent the next two weeks either reading his Revenge book, although he no longer needed it, or playing on his computer. The day before the Weasleys were due to arrive, Harry began to get excited and went ahead and packed his school trunk. He turned the trunk on its end and cleaned it out of old broken quills, broken ink bottles, pieces of ruined parchment, and pieces of shattered glass from the mirror Sirius had given him two years ago. He combed his room and found six wrinkled sets of school robes, a filthy set of Quidditch robes, two sets of dress robes, his Quidditch Captain badge, his traveling cloak, his underclothes and socks, and his new trainers and stacked them neatly folded into the bottom of his trunk. He searched everywhere but couldn't find any good blank parchment or unbroken quills, so he made a note to buy some in Diagon Alley.

He listened for somebody coming down the hall, and hearing only silence, he laid down on his belly beside his bed. He pulled up the floorboard and took out several bags of wizard sweets, several of the Weasley Skiving Snackboxes, a few Decoy Detonators, three six-packs of butterbeer, his Invisibility Cloak, a bottle of firewhisky he'd managed to get ahold of last term and hidden from everybody, his Quidditch servicing kit and his computer, then put them neatly into his trunk.

He swiped his old birthday cards and letters from his friends out of the hole, and threw them on his bed. He carefully replaced the board, and swiped the cards off of his dresser onto his bed. He organized them by year, then bound them with a paper clip, and stuffed them in a pocket of the trunk. He quickly cleaned out Hedwig's cage, and used an old envelope to sweep all the droppings and mouse carcasses out the window, making sure they all landed in Aunt Petunia's flowerbed. She surely wouldn't mind, since it would fertilize the earth. He slid the lock closed on the trunk and pushed it to the foot of his bed.

The next morning, Harry quickly stuffed his Revenge book in the trunk, which was full to the brim as it was, and dressed, to uncle Vernon's extreme dismay, very blatantly like a wizard. He pulled on his best set of wizard's robes, and his traveling cloak, and his old trainers.

He dragged his trunk downstairs, set it by the fireplace, and sat on it.

"Uncle Vernon?"

"Hmm?"

"Will you kindly open the cupboard under the stairs so I can get my stuff?"

"What if I don't? What will you do then? You'll be out of luck, wont you, boy?"
"Actually, no. I will burst the door down by using a simple nonverbal spell, and get them anyway. I am simply trying to leave here on a good note."

Uncle Vernon sighed, admitting defeat, and unlocked the cabinet. Harry stepped inside, gathered his dusty wand and Firebolt, and resumed his spot by his trunk. He pulled a washcloth out of a drawer, wetted it, and began to scrub the dirt and dust off of his wand. When it was gleaming again, he opened his trunk and removed his Quidditch servicing kit.

"What's that?" asked Uncle Vernon.

"What's what?"

"That," he replied, and pointed at Harry's computer.

Harry, a feeling of dread building in his stomach, replied, "A computer. My friend Hermione bought it for me for my birthday."

"And you've been using our power and phone line to operate it, have you?"

"No, sir, I haven't. You don't understand me, Uncle Vernon. I am a seventh year wizard, no, don't speak, let me finish. I am in my seventh year of training, and I turned seventeen two weeks ago. I can now use magic anytime, and this computer is completely wireless. It runs by magic, so I can play on it anywhere, anytime, with or without a phone line or power cord. Only Muggles need that rubbish."

"Potter, if you use magic in our house, you'll never set foot here again."

"After I leave today, ill never darken your doorstep again. Now that I am of age, I can purchase my own house in the Wizard world, where I can use magic anytime."

"And how exactly do you plan to pay for this house, boy?"

"Oh, I guess I never told you, my mum and dad left me a fortune when they died, and it is all Wizard Gold, so I have enough to purchase twenty houses if I wanted. After I leave Hogwarts, I will live as a wizard 24/7 in my own house, by myself. After I set up my life, I will begin training at the Ministry of Magic to be an Auror, and two years later I will get a job as an Auror and hopefully start my own family."

"Sounds like you have it all planned out, boy. More power to you."

Harry opened the servicing kit on the floor in front of him and began polishing his broom handle. When the handle was gleaming, Harry clipped the stray twigs and cleaned the mud off of the tail before leaning it against the wall beside him and putting the kit back in his trunk.

He then took out his wand and pointed it at the fireplace.

"Boy, I told you no magic in this house!" roared Uncle Vernon.

"Relax, would you? I'm only freeing the fireplace for when the Weasleys get here."

He mumbled a spell, and the boards pried themselves from the wall and stacked up neatly beside it on the floor. The last time the Weasleys had come to rescue him, they'd gotten stuck in the fireplace and had blasted their way out, destroying the Dursley's living room. Since he didn't want to cause uproar this time, he decided he'd better have a place free for them to appear.

Harry wrapped his wand in some robes near the top, and then dug in his trunk until he found his food. He pulled out a bag of sweets and a bottle of butterbeer, then sat down on top of his trunk. He could feel the Monster Book of Monsters inside the trunk, thrashing around. Apparently, the strap holding it closed had come loose. Harry set his food down and opened the trunk, all the while feeling Uncle Vernon's piggy eyes boring into his back. He pulled out the strap, and then took a deep breath and plunged his hand into the trunk. He felt fur against his fingers, and began to stroke the fur. The book settled down, and Harry kept one hand on it while using the other to pull out the books stacked on top. He finally pulled out the book, and continued to stroke the fur while he rearranged the strap and pulled it tight. When all was safe, he put everything back in and sat down. He opened the bag and ate the sweets, losing his appetite after getting a liver-flavored Bean from a package of not-so-delicious Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. He stuffed the bag of treats back in the trunk and settled for drinking his butterbeer.

Dudley asked, "What is that stuff you're drinking?"

Harry replied, "Butterbeer. It is beer with a flavor of buttery goodness, with a permanent heating spell put on it so it always stays hot. Best there is at Hogwarts."

He took a long swig of it, and set it beside him. He glanced at the wall clock, and saw that the Weasleys were due in five minutes. He jumped up, and the Dursleys started.

"Oh, sit down. It's almost time, and since I don't ever plan to return, it is time for parting gifts."

He opened his trunk and pulled out a Skiving Snackbox, and two packages wrapped in brown paper. He handed the Snackbox to Dudley, grasped his wand, whispered, "Muffliato," and said, "To you, Dudley, this will be the only favor ill ever do for you. This is called a Skiving Snackbox. Don't tell your parents or they will take it away. It contains Nosebleed Nougats, which make you have a severe nosebleed until you eat the purple part, Puking Pastilles, which make you vomit until you eat the purple part, and so on. The directions are there. Use them to get out of class at Smeltings."

He put the tip of his wand on the top of the box and whispered a curse. The writing on top disappeared, and "Fat-Free Sugarless Assorted Snacks" appeared in its place. He whispered a countercurse and handed Aunt Petunia a brown package.

"You don't have to use these if you don't want to but don't throw them away. This is a magic robot. You throw it at the floor and it deploys and you set the dial to do whatever you want it to, and it will clean the house for you if you ever want a day off. Uncle Vernon, this is a Gasoline Gasket. If you run out of gas on the road, simply shake this and slip it in your gas tank, and it will fill up your tank. I think there's four of them in there. Use them well."

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon opened their packages and began examining their gifts. Harry sat down on his trunk and finished his butterbeer. He threw away the empty bottle, and sat down, waiting. Just then, a hoot sounded from upstairs. Harry jumped to his feet. "Darn! I left Hedwig!" He gave a small pirouette, focusing on his bedroom and heard Aunt Petunia shriek as he disappeared and reappeared in his room. He grabbed Hedwig and tore down the stairs, stifling a giggle at the Dursley's faces. He lit a fire in the fireplace, preparing for the Weasley's arrival. He set the cage on top of his trunk, and took a seat across the room in an armchair. A few minutes later, the orange fire suddenly glowed green, and Harry sat forward anxiously, knowing what would happen next. Uncle Vernon's eyes grew big as saucers when Ron appeared, spinning out of the fire.

Uncle Vernon yelped, "Bloody hell! What in the blazes is going on here?"

Harry replied, "That's how you travel in the Wizard world, by Floo Powder. It allows you to travel through every wizard fireplace until you get where you're going."

Ron brushed himself off, and the two wizards grabbed each other in a bear hug. They stood back from the flames, and before long, a plump woman came spinning into the room.

"Mrs. Weasley!" cried Harry, and he gave the woman a big hug.

"How are you, Harry dear?"

"Just fine."

She joined the boys off to the side, and soon a young girl with flaming red hair came out. Harry's eyes brimmed with tears, and he grabbed her in a hug, yelling, "Ginny!"

They stayed together a little longer than everybody else, then Harry came to his senses and quickly let her go. He stared at the fire, at it returned to orange.

Mrs. Weasley quickly mumbled, "Aquamenti!" and pointed her wand at the fire, extinguishing it with a jet of icy cold water. Just then, the Dursleys nearly jumped out of their skins as a loud crack split the air like gunfire, and Hermione appeared out of thin air.

"Hermione!" cried Harry, and he grabbed her thin frame in a hug. She quickly smoothed down her bushy brown hair, and straightened her robes. Harry turned to the Dursleys, a wide grin on his face. He introduced everyone, and each witch or wizard stepped forward as he called their name and shook hands with each Dursley.

"Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley, this is my best friend in the whole world, Ronald Weasley; my second best friend, Hermione Granger; Mrs. Weasley, Ron's mother, and like a mother to me; Ginny Weasley, Ron's little sister and my ex-girlfriend; guys, these are the Muggles, my Aunt and Uncle and their son. Me, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny attend school together."

Uncle Vernon stood up, and raised an eyebrow. He asked, "okay, and where are the rest of the freak parade? The little brats that did such damage to my son last time?"

Hermione's jaw dropped at this statement, and Harry said quickly, "Sorry, Hermione. Uncle Vernon doesn't approve of magic. The only reason he believes in it is because I blew up his sister."

Then Harry looked at Ron. Ron stuttered, "Uh, Fred and George, my twin brothers, "the brats" you called them, own a joke shop in Diagon Alley, and they live there. My father, Arthur, is working at the Ministry of Magic, and my older brothers Bill and Charlie don't live at home anymore. My brother Percy is waiting at the house."

Mrs. Weasley caught sight of the clock, and said, "Harry, dear, if you don't mind, we need to get back before Arthur comes home."

"Er, Mrs. Weasley, how exactly are we going to travel back? You don't have any Floo Powder."

"Oh, Harry dear, Ron's just perfected his Apparition, so we'll go back that way. You have passed your test, haven't you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Ronald, grab his trunk, Ginny, get Hedwig, and Harry can carry his broomstick. Ready everyone? Oh, Mr. And Mrs. Dursley, its been nice meeting you."

Harry gripped his broom tightly, tucked in his elbows, and focused on the Burrow as hard as he could, and gave a pirouette. He heard cracks ring out all around him, then he felt his body slide through the rubber tube as he left the Dursleys forever. He grinned as the kitchen of the Burrow came into focus. He landed, and fell to his knees, trying to get his breath back. Ron helped him up, and he looked around at the familiar house, the place he'd always considered home next to Hogwarts. He took Hedwig's cage from Ginny, and him and Ron ran upstairs. Instead of going right at the landing as usual, Ron veered left, toward Fred and George's room. When he opened the door, the usual smell of gunpowder reached Harry's nostrils, and he took in the new décor.

The large room was now decorated in bright orange Chudley Cannons Quidditch posters and memorabilia from six years at Hogwarts. The pile of boxes full of Wizarding Wheezes products from Fred and George's store were gone, replaced by Ron's own boxes. Ron deposited Harry's trunk at the foot of one of the beds, and plopped down on the other bed. Harry and Ron ran back downstairs to welcome Percy home. Apparently, he'd made up with them after Fudge had been sacked. Mrs. Weasley was making fried chicken, macaroni, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and meat pie for dessert. When Percy and Mr. Weasley arrived, they all fixed plates and went out to eat in the garden, constantly having to chase gnomes away, helped slightly by Crookshanks.

After they had eaten, they all went into the living room to talk. Percy was just telling Mrs. Weasley how much he liked the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, when he overheard Mr. Weasley telling Harry how much he hated the new Minister and how he'd refused to let Mr. Weasley's promotion go through, and had actually cut his pay.

Percy turned red, and stood up so fast he knocked his chair over backwards. He yelled, "Dad- oh- I hate you! All of you! Never talk to me again! You're not my family! Congratulations, you now only have five sons!" With that, he turned on the spot and disappeared.

Mrs. Weasley burst into tears and ran to her room, and Ron motioned for Harry to follow him as he ran up to his room. They slowly sank onto the beds, shocked at what had just happened.

The next morning, Mrs. Weasley took the kids shopping in Diagon Alley. Harry, Ron, and Ginny went to get new robes, visit Quality Quidditch Supplies to get stuff for their brooms, and then Eyelops Owl Emporium for more owl feed and Ginny bought a new owl and named it Ebbie. Mrs. Weasley took Hermione to Flourish and Blotts to buy the new school books, then to buy everybody new quills, ink, and parchment, then to The Magical Menagerie to buy cat food for Crookshanks. They met up in The Leaky Cauldron, then as a family they went to Fred and George's shop. Harry, who the twins gave merchandise to for free, got six more Skiving Snackboxes, two Decoy Detonators, and a 30 minute daydream.
After everybody had got their stuff, they all went back to the Burrow. Ron and Harry went upstairs and sorted their trunks, setting robes aside for washing and putting books they wouldn't be using this year into Ron's desk for when they came back that summer. Harry put all his wrinkled robes in a basket, then rolled up his Quidditch robes, and Ron did the same before going downstairs and loading them into the washer. When they were clean, they carried the stack of warm robes upstairs, passing Ginny, who was carrying a basket full of robes downstairs, and when she met Harry's eyes, she flushed and moved the Quidditch robes under her arm up to cover her face. Harry laughed gently and followed Ron to his room to finish packing.