Changes

Chapter 1: Living for Life's Sake

Disclaimer: No I don't own anything. If I owned Harry Potter I would be rich. Believe me when I say that's something I'm definitely not.

A/N: This is just a story I got stuck in my head and I had to write it out. Even so, I think it's one of my best stories. Please read & review, I'm already 2,000 words into writing the second chapter.

"Hey Tonks, are you my watchdog for today?" Harry had a ghost of a smile on his face as he addressed the friendly metamorph.

"Wotcher Harry," Tonks smiled. "Yup I'm the guard for the day." Tonks fell into step beside Harry as they walked down Privet Drive. "You know you wouldn't have to have me following you all the time if you would just stay home like you were supposed to."

Harry just laughed. "What if I enjoy your company? Besides I know why you're following me and I don't mind. It's nice to have some company around without the last name Dursley."

"You know a month ago Harry Potter would have thrown a fit about being forced to stay at home under armed guard," Tonks said in a quiet voice. "How are you holding up Harry?"

Harry lost most of his smile but a small ghost of it still remained. "I don't know Tonks, I really don't. You guys are always guarding me, why don't you tell me how I'm holding up as you see it." He said this without malice. The frustrated and angry teenager of a month ago was long gone. Death always has a way of changing people, some more than others. Since the death of Sirius and the revelation of the prophecy Harry James Potter had done the one thing no one expected. He had smiled and continued on with his life. No longer perpetually angry he had taken a more proactive approach with his life. He hadn't protested when he was forced to return to Privet Drive, now that he actually understood why he had to stay there. He hadn't protested when informed that members of the Order of the Phoenix would be guarding himself and #4 Privet Drive while he stayed there. When the leader of the order, Professor Albus Dumbledore, had suggested he stay inside as much possible Harry had politely refused. Simply stating that he had important things he needed to do during the summer and couldn't afford to cower in his bedroom. If the order wanted to guard him they would just have to follow along.

Tonks regarded him carefully, "I think your holding up better than most. Keeping yourself busy must be helping eh? Where are we headed today anyway?"

"A tattoo parlor I looked up in the phonebook," Harry replied. "I have something I mind that muggle tattoo parlor could do just as well as a magical one."

"YOU'RE getting a tattoo?" Tonks was astonished. "I hope its somewhere it won't be visible, unless you want it all over Teen Witch Weekly that is. And I'm sure Molly Weasley will just be thrilled if she sees it."

"Something tells me that you, Miss Tonks, might be one of those people who reads that magazine. As far as they go, they can snap pictures and write about how hot the Boy-Who-Lived is all they like. None of them getting anywhere near Harry Potter, except you of course, don't you feel privileged?" Harry had a joking smile on his face.

"Oh yes isn't just my lucky day to be stuck guarding a little pain in the ass like you," Tonks joked back. "You know as soon as you're done with this tattoo I think I'm going to send a message to Molly and tell her all about it."

Harry stuck his tongue out at her playfully then shrugged. "Go ahead and tell her, she'll probably find out anyway when I go to stay at the burrow again this year. I love Mrs. Weasley like family but she isn't my mother, that spot is taken." His smile faltered for just a second. It was back on his face so fast Tonks thought she might have imagined it. "Besides," He continued, "Once you see what I'm getting I'm sure you'll agree she won't mind."

An hour later Harry and Tonks exited Nu-U Tattoo. Tonks seemed to be taking pleasure in "accidently" poking him in his now sore shoulder. "Ouch. Hey will you stop that?" Harry whined.

"Ok fine you big baby." Tonks looked at Harry's new tattoo again as she walked him home. She didn't need to ask him why he had gotten this particular tattoo. She even agreed that Molly wouldn't be mad about it once she realized what it meant. On Harry's shoulder in large gothic letters were two dates:

October 31st, 1981

June 1st, 1996

His parents and Sirius, Tonks said to herself. Harry interrupted her from dark thoughts by putting his arm over her shoulder. "Come on Tonksie let's get something to eat, my treat." Harry used his arm around her to guide her to the nearby fast food restaurant.

"Well Harry you sure know how to treat a lady. A milkshake and french-fries, yum." Both Harry and Tonks were chatting quietly in a booth while they ate.

Harry was looking around the restaurant theatrically, "I didn't know I was in the presence of a lady." He laughed when Tonks threw a fry at him. "Sorry Tonksie I save the classy places for dates, and I don't think I'm on one at the moment."

"Are you sure Harry?" Tonks joked, "You've been awfully flirtatious today."

Harry laughed, "Sorry Tonks you're definitely attractive but I'm just not that into you. And if I stole you away I think Remus would kill me." Harry stuck out his tongue at her again. Tonks just slapped his arm playfully.

Later on they arrived back at #4 Privet Drive. Harry gave Tonks a goodbye hug and was about to go inside when she stopped him. "Oh Harry Dumbledore wanted me to ask you again if you would stay at home from now on. He says it isn't safe to be running around right now."

Harry sighed, "Tell Dumbledore the same thing I told him the last forty times he asked. I'm not going to put my life on hold to hide from an idiotic Dark Lord who has no idea, not even remotely, where I might live. Thanks for coming along today Tonks; I had a lot of fun."

Once inside Harry closed the door the casually and quietly took off his jacket. When he walked by his red faced uncle he said, "Go ahead, yell and scream when you know a group of wizards is watching the house." Vernon Dursley went from red faced to bloodlessly pale and scurried back into the living room with Harry's aunt and cousin. Since Harry had let slip at the beginning of summer that a group of fully trained wizards were just outside the Dursleys had ignored his existence. Once in a while Vernon would get moody but a quick reminder from Harry was all that was needed to put him back in line. Harry didn't think any of the Dursleys had gotten one good night's sleep all summer. They hadn't even asked him where he got the money for all the new clothes, books, and other items he had bought while staying with them this summer. Over the past two months packages for him had arrives almost every other day, both through the muggle mail during the day and by owl delivery at night. Hedwig was a happily busy owl constantly delivering order forms to numerous magical shops. She had even delivered a couple letters to the Daily Prophet.

After walking up his room Harry sat down at his desk to enjoy one of his new purchases, a laptop computer. It had taken some learning for him figure out how to use properly, it wasn't like he had ever gotten to use Dudley's computer so it was the first time he had really used one. Now however he was putting it to good use to order a large amount of things off the muggle internet. He was already rich and Sirius had left him the majority of the Black fortune with strict instructions to, "Waste every last Knut of their god damned money." "Who am I to refuse a dead man's last wishes?" Harry asked himself with a grin. He placed more orders for things he wanted before putting up the laptop and switching over to quill and parchment to write a letter to his favorite member of the Daily Prophet.

Dear Bug Lady,

Feel free to include the attached letter in next week's edition of your paper. You don't have to hide this one in the back pages like I requested with the others so feel free to put it on the front page if you want to. However, I'll include the same warning as I did with the others. Tamper with it or write it out of context and the ministry finds out about your buggy side. As long as you obey we can continue this mutually beneficial deal of ours.

Sincerely,

The-boy-who-can-ruin-you

Satisfied with his newest letter to the Daily Prophet Harry attached it to Hedwig's leg and sent the merry owl on her way.

The next week found Remus Lupin standing guard outside. He watched as yet another delivery man stopped by with, "A package for a Mr. Potter." 'Christ Harry, where the hell are you putting all this stuff?' Remus thought to himself. Five minutes after the delivery man left Harry exited the house and waved at Remus as he approached.

"Hey Remus," He greeted. "What you doing here today? Shouldn't you on a date with a pretty metamorph right now?" He smiled when he saw Remus blush slightly.

"No she had to go into work early today. They had a lead on one of the escaped Death Eaters." Since Cornelius Fudge could no longer deny Voldemort's continued existence he had actually begun to take minor steps to deal with the threat, like actively pursuing the Azkaban escapees. It a was really a pathetic attempt over all to deal with the problem of Lord Voldemort, But Harry would take whatever he could get. "Anyway," Said Remus, changing the subject. "Where are we going today?"

"How about we go see a movie then grab some Chinese food? I think there's a remake of the movie "The Wolfman" playing." They both laughed together at the irony.

"So Harry, Tonks told me you decided to get yourself a tattoo last week." They sat together eating at a small Chinese buffet.

Harry lifted the sleeve of the t-shirt he was wearing to show Remus the tattoo. "Just a little memorial to them," He gave Remus a small pained smile.

"They would all be proud of you Harry. Sirius was always going to go out with a bang; I don't think he would have it any other way." Remus gave him a small rueful smile.

Harry's pained smile slowly went away and was replaced with one of genuine happiness as he remembered the man who had been like a father. "I know Remus I just wish he could have waited another decade or two. But staying cooped up in Grimmauld Place sure wasn't being any help."

"Is that why you've been refusing to stay at Privet Drive during the day?" Remus asked curiously.

"It is one of the reasons. I think that Dumbledore would be a lot more forceful about making me stay if he wasn't treating me with kid gloves since Sirius died. But even if he was more forceful I still wouldn't stay. I'm not going to end up living like Sirius did; it's not really living at all." Harry ended his little speech with a faraway look in his eyes.

"You think you're going to die don't you?" Remus asked quietly. He wasn't sure he really wanted to hear the answer.

"Dumbledore told me something that night after Sirius died. I can't tell you what so don't ask. Voldemort has been after me years and he's only getting more persistent. Eventually it's going to come down to me or him again and I might not get away next time. If I end up meeting Sirius again soon I don't want to do it with any regrets."

Remus wasn't sure whether to be proud or worried by what he heard. Dumbledore had dropped something big on Harry right after Sirius' death? No wonder the man was being careful when handling him now. What was Albus thinking? That does explain why I found Albus repairing everything in his office that night. Remus decided it was better to change the subject for now. "Oh, Harry, before I forget, Albus wanted me to let you know we're coming to take you to the Burrow on Friday. The Weasley's are planning on moving everyone to Grimmauld place a couple days after that. Molly wanted you to have the chance to enjoy the good weather before everyone is stuck in Sirius' old house. After everyone moves to Grimmauld Place you'll all have stay inside the house. Dumbledore suspects Death Eaters are watching the area, trying to find the house."

"I'm not sure I want to go back to Sirius' place." Harry admitted. "But I guess it had to happen sometime right? I can't hide from the fact that he's gone." Harry shrugged sheepishly. Remus nodded and put a hand on his shoulder in sympathy.

Friday morning found the Weasley household in its topically bustling state. Though most of the children no longer lived at home they still stopped in every morning and enjoyed breakfast with their family, with the exception of Percy Weasley that is. The two remaining children who still lived at home were lounging in the nearby orchard with their friend Hermione Granger. All three were staying out of the house as much as possible this morning while the Weasley Matriarch prepared for their other friend, Harry Potter, to arrive.

"I wonder how Harry's doing. Sirius' death must have been extra hard on him." Hermione spoke to no one in particular.

Ginny replied, "Remus and Tonks both said He was taking it really well, surprisingly well actually. Apparently he's done a complete 180 from how he was before the Department of Mysteries.

"How did you get them to tell you anything?" Ron asked. "We tried but they wouldn't tell us anything."

"I think Tonks actually threatened to hex you if you didn't stop bugging her." Hermione added with a laugh.

Ginny smiled. "I blackmailed them into telling me how he was when I caught the two of them snogging last week." She burst out laughing at the expression on the faces of the other two.

"Remus and Tonks are together? No way," Ron said incredulously.

"Seriously," Replied a laughing Ginny. "They were trying to keep it a secret but I don't think they did a very good job. Tonks told me that Harry had figured it out too. I guess he saw Remus pick her up from guard duty a couple times and noticed some awfully suspicious red marks on Remus' neck." They all laughed together.

"So Harry really is ok?" Hermione asked seriously.

Ginny nodded, "From what they said it sounds like he's better than he has been in years."

"Isn't that a little strange?" Ron asked. "He just lost his godfather. I expected him to be a wreck."

It was Hermione who answered him. "Everyone reacts to the death of a loved one differently Ron. That kind of trauma can really change someone."

Molly Weasley's voice reached their ears. "Hermione, Ron, Ginny! Come back to the house. Harry should be here any minute."

Ron and Hermione both stood but Ginny waved them off. "You guys go ahead I'll be in in a minute." The both nodded and left to go greet their friend. Ginny stayed behind, wanting to enjoy the sunshine just a bit longer.

The arrival of a portkey dropped Harry James Potter and his trunk unceremoniously in the living room of the Burrow. He picked himself up off the floor and dusted off his clothes before smiling as Ron and Hermione both pulled him into separate hugs.

"Harry!" Hermione practically squealed as she hugged him. "How have you been? Oh is that a new trunk?" She asked as she spotted it behind him. She held him at arm's length to inspect him. Harry was dressed in some clearly expensive clothes, a black suit and dress shirt. The changed from Dudley's hand me downs was quite shocking. Hermione's voice betrayed her surprise, "And new clothes? Just what have you been up to Harry? You were supposed to stay home where you were safe!"

Harry just shrugged, "I had an order member with me every time I went out. But most of this stuff I just ordered and had delivered. The new trunk is just like the one Moody has, multiple compartments, one compartment is a small room. I'm only wearing the suit so I could make an entrance." Harry grinned, "Sirius gave me strict instructions on what to do with his money, so I'm following those instructions to the letter."

Mrs. Weasley came in at that moment and pulled him into a motherly hug before she too held out for inspection. "Wow look at you," She said. "The Dursleys must finally be treating you right." Harry chose not to comment and moved into the kitchen where Molly had been busy preparing everything for Harry's birthday party that night. His birthday had already gone by but instead of everyone sending presents to him they had decided to wait and give him a late party.

"Ron, where's Ginny? I need her to help me prepare some more food for the party tonight."

"She's still out in the orchard I think. She wanted to spend a little more time out there."

"That girl's had her head in the clouds all summer," Molly huffed. "I'll have to go get her. she's probably asleep under a tree again."

"You look awfully busy Mrs. Weasley, why don't I go get her. Ron and Hermione can help till she comes back." He grinned at the looks his two friends shot him.

"Oh thank you dear, please hurry back with her." Harry left as Molly quickly roped the others into helping her cook.

It was only a short walk to reach the old orchard near the Burrow. Harry was walking through it when he caught the faint sound of a voice off in the distance. He followed the sounds and as he got closer Harry realized it was the sound of a woman singing. The melodic voice rose and fell in tune with a folksong he didn't recognize. He followed the voice as it grew louder and spotted Ginny Weasley when he reached the far side of the orchard. She had her back to him and was leaned against one of the trees. He didn't think she heard him approach as she sang. He stopped behind her and listened quietly as she sang till the close of the song. "Didn't know you could sing," Harry swore she must as jumped five feet in the air at the sound of his voice. She spun around with her wand at the ready but lowered it when she realized who was there.

"Jesus Harry, Don't scare me like that." She panted with a hand on her chest. Harry just laughed and pulled her into a hug.

"Sorry Ginny I didn't mean to scare you. I was listening to you sing, how come I've never heard you sing before? You're pretty good at it you know."

Ginny blushed at his praise. "Thank you Harry, but I'm not that good."

"Yes you are. You should sing more often."

"What's make you think I don't sing very often? Huh Mr. Potter? It's not you and I spend a lot of time together you know." She huffed in annoyance before grinning. "Some of us have secrets that don't involve prophecies and Dark Lords," She joked.

"Touché Miss Weasley, But if I had known you sang like that before I would have spent more time around you. All I knew about was you're ability to write bad poetry and a habit of sticking your elbow in butter dishes." He teased, "Butter must be good for the skin."

Ginny responded with a playful slap on the arm. "Why are you out here Harry? Besides the chance to make fun of me, that is."

"Your mother needs help in the kitchen. I offered to come get you."

"Oh, we better not keep her waiting then. My mother can be a real slave driver in the kitchen." The two walked back to the Burrow in a companionable silence. Harry was lost thought about the young woman walking beside him. He felt badly taking such a long time to get to know her. Ginny had always been around since her first year. She was friends with Hermione and Ron's sister but he had virtually ignored her until she joined the D.A last year. He vowed to change that, after all it's good to get to know new people.

Once they were back inside Ginny was quickly put to work helping her mother. Molly sent Harry off stating, "You shouldn't be helping prepare your own birthday party." Harry decided to go up to his room and read. Since all but the two youngest Weasley children had now moved out everyone who stayed at the Burrow was able to have their own room. Harry had Percy's old room. He had just settled into a book on competition dueling when there was a knock on the door and Ginny poked her head in. "Hey Harry, the Headmaster is here asking to see you. He's in the living room."

"Okay thanks Ginny. I thought he'd be here today." Harry followed back down the stairs and met Dumbledore in the living room while Ginny went back to cooking. "Hello Headmaster, you wanted to see me?"

Albus Dumbledore smiled benignly, "Ah Harry there you are. It's good to see you're well. I just thought I might stop but and ask about this curious article that was taking up the front." Dumbledore handed Harry a copy of the Daily Prophet and he grinned as he read the headline:

Boy-Who-Lived Calls for Lift on the Restriction of Underage Magic

Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived is calling for the Ministry of Magic to lift the restriction on the use of underage magic. Mr. Potter sites the recent Death Eater attacks as, "Clear cause to left the restriction. If children are allowed to perform magic outside of school then they will be better protected should they find themselves in the midst of an attack.

Continued pg. 8

Ministry response pg. 9

More on the Restriction pg.10

"Did you actually write a letter to the Prophet Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry nodded, "Actually I've written several before, but I requested those be put on the back pages. Most people just read the articles with the catchy headlines."

"Harry I don't disagree with the points you made in this article, but I must ask you not to send anymore letters to the paper." Dumbledore chastised, "Leave the politics and fighting to us."

Harry gave Dumbledore a confused look, "Headmaster we both know why I can't do that. I'm a part of this war whether anyone else likes it or not. We both know exactly why Voldemort keeps coming after me, and why he will keep coming after me. If you want to keep out of fighting with the order then that's fine, I know I'm not trained well enough to be of any help to them. I do, however, still have the right to place an article in the Daily Prophet if I feel like it. Even if I can't fight I need to be involved somehow."

Dumbledore gave a weary sigh. "Harry you need to stay out of this war as much as possible. You have your whole life ahead of you; let us worry about Voldemort for right now."

Harry was starting to get annoyed. "I'm sorry Headmaster but the answer is no. I appreciate that you care but I will not allow myself to end up imprisoned like Sirius was after his escape. I live a life that someone tries to cut short every single day, eventually they might manage it."

"I'm very sorry you feel that way Harry, but perhaps you're right. It is better to live a short life happily then a long life miserably. Still, I can't help feeling sad for those like yourself who have to make the distinction." Harry felt slightly bad for getting mad at the headmaster. Even if he was being overly controlling he old man was only trying to help. He hated having to argue with someone who had always been kind to him but Harry still felt he was making the right choices.

The Headmaster was quick to leave after their short discussion and it reminded Harry eerily of the previous school year. 'He's trying to shut me out of everything again,' Harry thought to himself. 'If he keeps making decisions like this it's going to cost someone else their life.' Harry shook his head in resignation. Why was the only one who seemed willing to say no to the headmaster?

Hours later the Burrow was full of people who arrived for Harry's birthday party. Every member of the order was attending, though from the way they kept glancing about Harry guessed that they weren't just there to celebrate. Everyone sang happy birthday together for Harry while the twins tried to find the most ridiculous tone in which they could sing it. Everyone had eaten supper together and enjoy a large piece of Molly's delicious cake. Harry got a large stack of presents from all his friends including a box of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from the twins, a journal the marauders had kept from Remus, sweets from Molly and Arthur, and a planner from Hermione. Tonks had given him a copy of the Auror Training Manual, and Ron and Ginny had gone in together and bought him a high quality broom servicing kit. Harry had made sure to thank all the others that showed up and brought him gifts. Toward the end of the party most of the lesser known people in the order had left early, having really only been there for security in the first place. Soon it was just Harry, The Weasley's, and a few other close friends like Remus and Hagrid. It was a pleasant night and Harry was chatting with his friends quietly. He noticed Ginny seemed to be starring off into space when an idea popped into his head, "Hey Ginny, do you think you could sing us something?"

All the Weasley's seemed to freeze up as soon he asked the question and he looked at them all curiously, not understanding what he had done wrong. "Are you sure you want me to Harry?" Ginny stammered. The all gave her a surprised glance, which Harry still didn't understand.

"If you're ok with it Ginny, you don't have to if you don't want to." Harry replied, wary of the sudden change in mood.

Ginny took a deep breath, "No it's ok Harry. It's your birthday after all and the birthday boy gets his wish." Her joke didn't really succeed in lightening the mood. She stood up and faced away from everyone, staring up at the star filled sky. Harry almost thought she had changed her mind when he heard her begin, a low tone that gently rose and fell as she sang. He didn't recognize the language though he suspected it was Gaelic. None the less Harry thought it was beautiful, you didn't have to understand the words to enjoy the song. The song was low and gentle, never rising very high. Harry that Arthur and Molly both had tears in their eyes, why he wasn't sure.

When the song drew to an end everyone was silent for a few minutes. Finally Mrs. Weasley snapped out of her daze and shooed all the children off to bed while the adult excused themselves to go home for the night. Arthur quietly got his attention and pulled him into the living room while the others went upstairs to bed. "Harry, I just wanted to say thank you, for whatever it is that you did." Arthur began.

"I'm not sure I understand Mr. Weasley." Harry was only getting more confused.

Arthur smiled in response. "No I suppose you wouldn't. I guess I owe you an explanation for our behavior tonight. You see, Ginny used to sing like that all the time when she was a little girl. Even then she had a beautiful voice. It was her aunt who taught her a few Gaelic folksongs before she passed away. But now I'm getting off track aren't, the point is that she sang like that all the time, until her first year at Hogwarts." Arthur paused as an anguished look passed over his face. "After everything that happened with diary, she just stopped singing all of a sudden. She wouldn't tell us why, but she refused to. Until today I was sure she hadn't sung since then. But must have at some point or you wouldn't know how good she is. So I'll just say thank you Harry, for helping my daughter once again, even if you didn't do it intentionally. Now off to bed Harry it's getting late."

Harry just nodded dumbly, not sure what to say. He hadn't realized that the events involving the Chamber of Secrets had affected her so strongly. Though in hindsight, he supposed it was stupid to assume someone could go something like that and come out completely unscathed. He was lost in his thoughts as he walked up to his room, but as soon his head touched the pillow all thoughts ceased. Thoughts could wait till morning.

However, as so often happens in the life of Harry Potter things got in the way. An explosion rocked the house in the early, jarring is inhabitants awake. Harry awoke and swung himself of the bed, running to the window to see what the cause was. Looking out he could see dozens of spells flying out of the orchard, the wards around the Burrow flared brightly visible as the spells impacted. "Everyone downstairs now we're under attack!" Arthur's voice rang out. Harry grabbed his wand and shrunk his trunk, restriction or no it was too valuable to leave behind. Everyone hurried down the stairs gathered in the living room. Then the largest explosion yet shook the house. "Damn the wards are down," Arthur swore. "Come one everyone through the floo now!" Even with everyone rushing to leave it was taking way too long, only one person could use the floo at a time. Harry peaked out of the living room towards the front door. He could see spells flying back and forth across the yard as several members of the Order tried to fight off the Death Eaters. Suddenly Harry saw several of the Death Eaters break off from their fight and rush toward the door to the Burrow. Thinking quickly Harry crouched and sent a powerful banishing hex towards the bottom of the door. Three Death Eaters reached the door just as the unseen banishing hex sent the door flying out into the yard. Being directly in front of it the Death Eaters found themselves along for the ride as they were hurled across the yard where they landed on the other side in a crumpled heap. "Come on Harry it time to go!" Arthur yelled. Harry turned to him and realized that they were the only two still in the house. He turned toward Mr. Weasley but froze when the point of a want pressed into his neck.

"Forgot to keep an eye on the windows kid," said the snide voice of the Death Eater behind him. Harry locked eyes with Arthur briefly before making up his mind. He dove to the side suddenly and waved his wand, in any other situation the look on Arthur Weasley's face would have been comical as a banishing hex sent him flying into the green flames of the fireplace. However, Harry didn't have time to celebrate. Another banishing caught him in midair a send him flying into the wall beside the fireplace. He screamed out on impact as he felt several of his ribs crack under the strain. He slumped to the floor and rolled on his back before bring a hand to his face, his nose wasn't in the correct position anymore either. He forced himself through the pain and looked up at the Death Eater standing above him. "Consider that returning the favor, my sister was one of the three you caught with that little trick of yours."

This must be one the Carrow twins Harry thought. There weren't many family pairs in the Death Eaters and he knew the Lestrange brothers were both taller. The Carrow in question kept his wand trained on Harry as he stood over him. "You just stay right there kid," He said. He turned his head towards the door to call for the other Death Eaters; he really should have kept his eyes on Harry.

Harry saw his chance as soon Carrow looked away and brought his food up as hard as he could right between the man's legs. Carrow immediately crumpled to the floor, clutching himself in pain. Another strong kick connected with Carrow's face and returned the favor of breaking the man's nose. Rolling away quickly Harry snatched his wan up from the floor and dove into the fireplace, hoping the Order hadn't already sealed off the other end.

The entire Order of the Phoenix was in the kitchen of #12 Grimmauld Place, along with the entire Weasley family, when the Boy-Who-Lived tumbled out of the fireplace. He looked up from his position in the floor to see every single wand in the room trained on him. When people realized who it was he saw several people's faces grow pale at the state he was in. He locked on the pale faces of his friends and cracked a painful smile, "You should see the other guy." Then Harry promptly passed out on the kitchen floor on Grimmauld Place.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it so far. This story will have a Harry/Ginny pairing but I'm trying to build it up slowly. So the pairing won't actually happen for several more chapters. Dumbledore's not manipulative or dark in this story, he's just old and more than a little senile. He's still the wise and well intentioned old man. Thanks for reading!