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He arrived just as Ron’s breakfast dishes were being removed. Hermione was giving Harry a look that Gestapo interrogators would be envious of. “Hey guys. Did you catch any of the quidditch game from the windows here?”

“No. Just finished breakfast, mate. Takes forever to eat with my arms like they are.”

Harry ducked his head, “Maybe if they got you bigger utensils... Think if they got you a bigger spoon you could still eat as much as you like to, and move your arm half as much.”

Ron smiled. “Now that’s a helpful idea. Hermy here just told me not to eat as much.”

“Ron, it’s not as if you’re getting any physical activity here. I was just pointing out that you shouldn’t have as much demand on your energy stores.” Hermione tossed her hair back.

Harry held up his hands, “Maybe it’s just my guilt speaking here, but I think if he’s hungry he should eat. After all, your bodies are working hard to heal.” Harry looked towards the windows, “Though maybe they could see about getting you some of those meal-shakes the Americans came up with for dieters. If you could sip your food through a straw, you wouldn’t need to stress your arms.” Harry looked back at his friends, “Unless you want me to feed you, Ron.”

The tips of Ron’s ears went red. “No problem. Those shakes sound good.”

Hermione eyed Harry a bit suspiciously, for a moment. “I’ll make sure to ask Madam Pomfrey next time she’s through. I suppose my parents could get samples from the store if she hasn’t heard of it.”

Harry smiled. “Good to know Dudley’s diets have some benefit.” They all laughed.

Harry ran his hand through his hair. “Um, I got a letter from Gringotts today. That’s why I’m late.”

Ron and Hermione shared a look before looking back to Harry. “So what’s happening, mate?”

“Well, it was from Sirius.” Harry pulled the now edited letter from his pocket and handed it to Hermione. “Seems he made me his heir, and I’m to waste all the money on pranks and brooms.”

Ron’s face contorted into a variety of expressions, finally settling on ‘comforter’. Hermione made a moue of distaste, looking up from the letter, but put on a smile when she looked up at Harry, and passed the letter to Ron. “He wants you to be happy. Of course, you’ll need to save some for a rainy day, not to mention the lawyer’s fees.” She reached for parchment and quill by her bed, and a look of agony shot across her features. Harry was alarmed, but knew better than to say anything. She began writing what looked to be quite a long list. “Since they canceled our classes to take care of all Umbridge’s leavings, why don’t you get these books for me, and we’ll start figuring out what you’ll need to handle this.”

Harry smiled, and could practically hear Sirius laughing. “And I’m sure Ron here has plenty of Quidditch catalogs to start on my orders.” He smiled at Ron, “Unless you think I should just order us all Firebolts.”

Ron’s eyes were a bit moist looking up from the letter, but he laughed. “Best way to let him get back at me Mum, I expect. But to do this Marauder style, I think you should get all the Owl Post Catalogs from Madam Pince when you get the books.”

Harry smiled. “Well, as soon as my orders are complete,” he nodded at Hermione, “I think we have pranks to plan for next year.”

Part 4

Hermione’s list had included the directory of attorneys that Sirius had suggested. He felt mildly guilty for playing his friends like he had, but all he said would be perfectly true, if Dumbledore wasn’t in question. He was 15, all but one of his DADA teachers had intentionally tried to do him harm, if not kill him, and he had a feeling he was playing many galleons for the privilege. One of many things he should have asked or found out about before now. And how was there an Evans account at Gringotts? Wouldn’t his mother’s account be a Potter account?

He gathered the mail order catalogs, along with spare order slips next to them. He then went to the Quidditch books and grabbed “Professional Quidditch and the Firebolt: Speed vs. Skill” for Ron, and “Conditioning on the Ground” for himself. Then begged Madam Pince’s help with Hermione’s list. He knew that her stay in the hospital wing was the only reason Madam Pince would make an exception and allow the books out of the library this late in the term. The court ruling books were something he wouldn’t have known how to find, and judging from the dust on them hadn’t left the shelves since Hermione had worked on Buckbeak’s case.

Any questions Harry asked, looking for information, would be passed on. Hermione asking would be expected, the overkill in information that she required to reach a decision something he knew he could use for his benefit. Also, since Madam Pince was on Hermione’s Christmas list, a little over and above help would be given. Harry wished he had thought to be seen more as a bookworm, but shooting for average marks to avoid punishment for surpassing Dudley was engrained in him. Hopefully his push since McGonagall’s career advice session was seen as the sole source of his improvement.

He thanked Madam Pince profusely for her help, and understanding how much he wanted to help his best friends. The carrier bag she lent him, had a nice built in feather-light charm, so he decided to take the long way back to the infirmary.


If Sirius was right, and he was not well warded at Privet Drive, the question became how to ward himself without letting Dumbledore know, and without using magic during the summer. He also needed ways to keep himself and his belongings safe. Which meant he also needed a way to sound-proof his room, unlock and lock locks, and get food and water. Apparently, Sirius thought Dumbledore was watching his mail much like Umbridge had, and frankly it was logical. Otherwise shouldn’t he have received owls his whole life? Little girls like Ginny raised reading romanticized stories with him as the hero, would surely have written. And why had he never received a single letter from any of his parents’ friends? Or a single Christmas gift? Was there a room in Hogwarts filled with hate and fan mail for him? He laughed.

As Harry entered the infirmary, he saw Ginny and Neville had come in to visit. The curtains were drawn from the windows, and it looked as if they had opened all the lower portions of the windows. It smelled of late spring, and not potions for the first time in days. He smiled as he pulled a chair over to the foot of Hermione’s bed. Neville and Ron were playing chess with Ginny and the pieces competing to help out Neville.

“Hey guys.” Harry handed Hermione the legal directory, placed the Ron’s book on his nightstand, and then put the catalogs on Ron’s bed. Hermione smiled above the bickering of the pieces and started reading the directory immediately.

Ginny turned to him. “So Sirius has ordered you to waste all the money he had.”

Harry tried to smile. “Yes. Probably the best revenge he could get, having it spent on fun rather than snakes and dark artifacts. Though I don’t know how much there is, but I thought we could make Christmas lists of sorts.”

Ginny smiled. “Catalogs are no fun if you try to shop realistically. When I was little, Dad would bring home all these Muggle catalogs that have pictures of most everything, and I’d cut out everything and make mansion collages. It was more fun to pretend my dolls lived there, and I could change it any old time.” She picked up Gladrags catalog, and opened it. “Wizarding catalogs aren’t half as much fun. Pulling out her wand and she began tapping on the menus. Choosing gender, height, season, and color before any pictures began to appear on the side page. “To even get a picture you have to get pretty specific and then the picture only stays for 5 minutes max. And you can’t copy it, or tear it out, only add it to your wish list.”

Ginny looked at Harry, “Not to mention all the spells that make these work make them somewhat expensive, not free like most of the muggle ones. I got in such trouble when I cut up our Madame Malkin’s catalog. I don’t even know why we had it since we always shopped there in person, but I knew it cost a galleon to replace.”

Harry said, “If Hermione here wasn’t Madam Pince’s favorite I don’t think she would have let me remove them from the library.”

Hermione looked up and smiled, “Dad’s favorite advice from university, ‘Be nice to secretaries and librarians, because they are the ones who run the school.’ It’s true, though here the secretary part doesn’t really apply.”

Ginny snorted, “Maybe it’s prefects here.” She nudged Harry. “After all, we common folk need to be able to get to the kitchens.”

Harry chuckled. “I don’t think so. Except for Percy, most prefects seem to only notice if someone was bleeding, or a teacher was about to catch them. Then again with my cloak…”

Hermione shook her head, “Not even Percy stopped our adventures when he was a Prefect. Only Neville tried to stop us from leaving.”

“Yeah, but then again we usually left when there was no one in the common room,” Harry pointed out. “Secretaries are important because they are there even when their boss is out. Hmm, maybe it’s the portraits.”

Hermione beamed at Harry’s insight, “Exactly. I wonder if we could have made things go more easily if we asked the Fat Lady her name? Though in her day, being plump was a sign of wealth and beauty, so it’s not exactly that we are insulting her...”

“Well, we don’t call her that to her face, do we? Most she hears is usually hello, hurry up, or whatever the password is with the occasional is so-and-so here? Makes you wonder how much portraits are actually there, you know, to keep from getting snippy like Mrs. Black's."

Ginny looked surprised, and Hermione pensive. "Something to look up. But I'd imagine portraits here might be more magical. Not only is there more ambient magic, but more to do, with the range of paintings…"

Ginny said, "And they haven't been trapped in the dark for a decade. Though Sir Cadogen was still a bit off."

Harry leant forward in his chair, resting his chin on his fist. "Wonder if the Fat Lady and the other guarding portraits rotate off?"

"Not while my brothers were here at least. They all seemed shocked when Ron & I mentioned having a different portrait."

Hermione interrupted. "Time to get to work. Harry, you take the court index from 1975 to 1985, and Ginny if you would take 1985 to 1995? They are indexed by year, then case type, then by defendant or claimant. Since you'll not want an attorney he's ever used, we can compile a list, though we probably should cross-check to see if other Death Eaters used any of the winning attorneys." Harry grabbed his book as she continued, "We'll need to cross check with the trial transcripts, so write down all you can. There should be a reference volume given, but last time I found they weren't that accurate, so you need the court, judge, and date, too."

Harry glanced over and noticed Ron's trying to shush his players as he moved into checkmate. "And don't think I forgot you, Ron or Neville. There are supplements to go through too."

Harry quickly jumped in, "Neville, if you'd like to help, or if you just know a couple good attorney names, that'd be great. I don't know if this lot explained...”

Neville interrupted, "They gave me enough, I think. And if you'd like to talk later, or some help tomorrow I'd be willing. But I'm already running late to meet Professor Sprout. She's promised to let me take some cuttings home in exchange for help setting up for the summer." He shrugged, "Thought I would have lost by now."

"You're definitely better than Harry here, mate. Haven't had such a good game in ages."

Neville finished putting away the set, "Gran makes me play her a lot. And even when I was learning to call the knight, a knight, instead of the horsey, she rarely let me win." He smiled, "You should play her, Ron. It would be great for everyone else."

They all laughed.




Part the Fifth

He stayed until dinner. They'd found thirty different lawyers to follow up on, though they hadn't crosschecked them against the other death eaters yet. There were also ten cases in 1981-3 with the names Potter, Evans, and Dumbledore attached to them. Ginny had commented that his underage magic trials weren't in her book. Harry wasn't sure what the significance of that could be. Were all underage trials not in these more public listings? Or had Fudge done something just to suppress his?

He had grabbed a couple catalogs before he left, which immediately had Ron switching to the Quality Quidditch Supply catalog, and Hermione complaining. Harry sat next to his dorm mates as Dean once again was preaching the value of football. Harry tried to suggest rugby was a more substantial sport, with hands and serious bodily injury both in play, but Dean wouldn't be derailed. The full staff was at the head table tonight, only the second time since Dumbledore's little talk with him. Seeing McGonagall starting dessert, Harry suddenly remembered one of his many questions from before, "Hey guys."

Dean, Neville, and Seamus turned to him. "Do any of you know what classes we were supposed to have this week?"

Neville answered, "We were supposed to have introductory classes to the electives that are offered for sixth and seventh years."

Dean added, "We were also supposed to have a government class every morning, to start prep for various licenses and introductions for summer programs."

"Summer programs?"

Seamus answered, "Yeah, exchanges with magical families in France and the States. Study programs and internships and all that rot. Didn't Hermione fill you in on the meeting?"

"What meeting?" Harry made an effort not to raise his voice.

The others shared a look then Dean answered, "Back while you were still taking remedial potions. There wasn't a posting in the common room, but McGonagall got all us fifth years together and told us about all the summer programs that were offered for sixth years. She said Hermione would tell you, when Neville asked."

Neville added, "She took Hermione aside afterward and gave her a packet. You were sleeping so rough then, and with the detentions and all, I never thought to check."

Harry sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Were there any other meetings that I missed?"

Seamus replied, "Not really. McGonagall came back a week after that to pick up applications and advise people who needed recommendations."

Harry tried to smile, "So did you guys sign up for anything?"

"Internship at the Blunbott Greenhouses for me." Harry nodded.

Seamus said, "Me mum wants me home now, but I was accepted at the Ministry in the Muggle offices. But she reckons it might not be the best… I've still 'nother week and a half to decide. The underage magic waiver makes me want to."

"I'm working for a football camp outside of London. It'll be all muggle kids, but the pay is good. So no waiver for me." Dean finished.

"But if I were you I'd sneak some headache and healing potions from Madam Pompfrey. Hate to see a seven year old girl's well-shot kick give you a Snape nose." This elicited the laughter he hoped for, and brought the conversation back to sports.


Part 6

A little while later, Harry noticed McGonagall leaving the main table, excused himself to try to catch her. Her limp wasn't as pronounced now as it had been when she first got back, but she was still walking much slower than she usually did. "Professor? I was wondering if you would have time to talk tomorrow?"

She stopped, looked him over, "It must be important to forgo your treacle tart. My office at 8, Mr. Potter?"

"Thank you, Professor. That will be fine." Harry forced a smile. She nodded curtly and continued out of the hall.

Harry headed to his room, noticing for the first time how the statues eyes seemed to faintly glow as he approached them. He only had a week to prepare for the summer. With Dumble's speech about Privet Drive, he was fairly certain this summer was going to be like the last, even with the lack of information apparently. He would need to see what these programs Hermione was supposedly tasked with telling him about were. But why hadn't he heard about them from somebody else? Usually the gossip machine around Hogwarts was thick with discussions about anything new for their year. And if there were outside internships with wizarding companies – why hadn't he gotten any offers from someone wanting his fame? Granted, Fudge had been dragging his name through the dirt in the press…

And why were classes canceled for their year? If these were standard for every grade, shouldn't they have received at least packets telling them what would have been covered? As Harry entered his room, his mind was a blur with the million questions the day had raised. Luckily Seamus and Dean were going to be on the pitch for a while, they had set up a pick-up game of football. Neville had said he was going to work out in the greenhouses until dark. Harry inspected the room, sure enough in every corner of the ceiling there were gargoyle-like figures. Harry wasn't sure if the stonework counted as a statue, but he shivered at the thought. There were no portraits hanging on the walls, and the carvings on his headboard were of leaves. Harry stood on his bed, drawing the curtains, "Lumos". Using his wand he checked the canopy, and was relieved to find no carvings. "Nox". He plopped down, rolled off the bed, and went to his trunk. He pulled out a spiral notebook and ballpoint pen he had filched from Dudley last summer, and the last issues he had of the Quibbler and the Daily Prophet. Shoving aside the curtains, he placed these on his bed before grabbing a self-inking quill and parchment from his desk.

Supplies complete, Harry lit the study lantern at the head of the bed, silenceoed his curtains, and then placed a proximity alert on his bed. Pulling out the Quibbler he found ads for Flourish and Blotts, Dervish and Banges, and a used bookshop Merlin's Library. Noting the fees for each catalog, Harry decided to buy a book from the first (as a catalog would be sent free with any order) and order self-updating catalogs from the other two, as you had to spend 30 galleons before they included a catalog. While the interlibrary book had a card index built in, the stores would feature more popular, and probably easier to understand books, and escaping the wards to retrieve a better book might not be feasible during some parts of the summer. Pulling the letter and the catalogs out of his pocket, and restored them to full size.

The one that had caught his eye was the camping and household goods store McGoens. A tent or trunk was likely to either give the Durselys too many ideas, or get locked up in his 'old room'. There were some interesting items he could cobble together, the problem would be making the items shrink or expand with a password. Maybe there would be a way to make a tent invisible, or repel muggles. The main problems he had at Privet Drive were: lack of food, confiscation or destruction of his belongings, lack of privacy, lack of time to study, lack of information, and not knowing when he'd get to leave. Setting aside the catalog, he picked up the notebook, and began to write a list.

1) Protection/Concealment Spells for Hedwig
2) Lock-pick or window vanisher
3) Way to keep sound in room
4) Muggle repelling charms?
5) Way to get food & water
6) Potions for injuries, dreamless sleep
7) ?Way to receive owl post at a drop box or something?
8) Shrinking/Resizing Charms.
9) Retrieval/Protection Charms for trunk.
10) ?Paper?

He picked the catalog back up. In the camping section, there was a wizarding ice box in the shape of a muggle cooler. Tapping it a description came up, as well as sizes and cost. The smallest could carry a days worth of food, the largest six months the outer size was the same, unless you chose a warmer to be built into what would be the white handle. The top end model was a whopping 100 galleons, but was guaranteed for 20 years, and came with dinner for five from L'Enchantment in Diagon Alley. Harry tapped his wand to add the black model to his wish list. If he was able to get his order before he left, he might be able to scrounge enough from the kitchens without drawing too much of a fuss. There were additional goodies. Camp stoves that worked the muggle way but had charms to prevent burning the food, and a color indicator to show when the food was fully cooked. There was a sleeping mat that was charmed with extra cushioning charms to mimic a feather bed. Harry tapped that to his wish list, as the springs on his bed were nearly poking through. He also tapped the Always Temperate Bedroll, the description for which told of its cooling and heating charms, guaranteed to keep you cool in the desert sun or warm on a bed of snow. It had a built in head cushion, and the larger model was able to fully unzip and mimic a feather duvet. He chose a charcoal gray one, and just in case a green one. He looked at the tents, but all were made to give the appearance of a muggle tent on the outside. Some of the expensive models' special features were very attractive to Harry, silencing charms, muggle repelling, insect and vermin repelling, as well as some that had charms to make some rooms of the tent one-way windows of sorts, and to keep magic in, and hide detection of magic done inside the tent. Giving in to temptation, he added the top of the line tent to his wish list, selected all the charms possible, and in the notation line, requested if it could look like a rickety chair to muggles, and if additional charms could be added to keep anyone from moving it without a password.

Harry shrugged, it wouldn't hurt to ask, and at the amount of money his wish list was already totaling to… He then chose 2 deluxe first aid kits, supposed to be outfitted with all basic healing potions and a flare of sorts that dispatched a call for help to the nearest wizarding hospital. These he noted, were charmed to shrink or resize with a password, exactly as he hoped was possible for the cooler. There were fire starting kits, that guaranteed a full nights fire from the three provided logs. He chuckled a bit at the bedpan, then found himself considering it, as more than once even without much food or water he'd found himself tempted to go out the window if his door stayed locked another ten minutes. Whispering Sirius's words, "Plan for the worst, hope for the best," he ordered one Amazing Self-Vanishing Portable Loo. Skipping past the recreation items, Harry was somewhat surprised to find packaged meals for travel. He ordered one of each, a crate of Butterbeer, 2 self filling thermoses one hot water, the other cold, a selection of herbal teas, sugar, and a Always Fruitful refilling fruit bowl. There was a note that the monthly subscription fee was based on quantity, and started at 5 galleons a month in addition to the cost of the bowl.

Continuing to flip through the catalog, Harry found the lawn and garden supplies section. Wizarding lawn ornaments looked much the same as muggle ones, he tapped on a glass lily and was surprised to find that it had a charm to attract beneficial insects as an option. He went back to the fencing section, and tapped on the edging fence – sure enough there were notice me not and muggle repelling charms. Harry's face split in a wide smile. If he ordered enough fencing to surround the tent, apparently it came as a long rope, you enclosed the area, tied the ends together and the fence popped up. He chose the option that made the ground inside look like the ground touching the outside edge of the fence, and to make the fence transparent to muggles. While the prize winning flowers of the season with white pickets was a nice option, it wouldn't help him hide. Suddenly remembering the Wizarding Wireless, Harry flipped back to the entertainment section. He quickly selected a boombox size Wireless that had the capability to play muggle CDs and had what looked like headphones with it that apparently could pick up the Wireless for up to a mile from the box. There was a yearly subscription fee for the Wireless, and he could elect to have additional subscriptions to the French and Scandinavian Channels with optional translation. He decided to take the French with translation, hoping they might have more accurate news coverage.

Harry decided that was enough shopping for now, so pulled out an order form, and attached it to the spokes on the back of the catalog and tapped his wand to the top of the order form. Checking to make sure the whole order was put on the form, Harry then pulled out his quill and requested that his order be shipped in a box that could shrink or resize with a password as he was underage. He then filled out the billing info and the Gringotts withdrawal authorization, and detached the order form. He pulled off his copy, then folded the order to mail later.

Knowing he would need cover, Harry wrote a short note to Lupin.


Remus,

Hi. Hope you are healthy, and coping better than I am. I got a letter from Gringotts today from Sirius. It really helped a lot. I wonder when he wrote it. He asked me to get a lawyer before I go to Gringotts to sign papers. I think it is to keep his cousins from trying to claim his things, so I have gotten Hermione to help me search for a good attorney. I hate doing this, but I don't want them to benefit.

I'm trying to keep busy. My classmates aren't complaining, but since they canceled the NEWT prep classes I've been scrambling for something to do. What were those classes supposed to be anyway?

I've been taking walks in the morning, enjoying being outside without having to fear being locked out while I still can. I'm spending most of my day hauling books and doing other entertainment duties for Ron and Hermione. Madam Pomfrey gave Ron my bed. It's so strange to be the visitor, I feel so guilty at times – I wish I could help them heal faster.

Please take care of yourself,
Harry


Harry flexed his legs, did a quick tempus and discovered it was already 8:20. He folded up Remus's letter tucked Sirius's back into his pocket along with his order copy, and grabbed the order and the letter to take to the Owlery.
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