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Twelve year old Harry Potter leaned back into his seat on board of the Hogwarts Express with a sigh. His second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had just come to an end and he was on his way home again.

And to say that it had been an interesting year would be an understatement, but that had become normal for Harry.

You see, Harry Potter was no ordinary twelve year old boy, not even from wizarding standards. When Harry had been fifteen months old, his parents had been killed by a Dark Wizard named Voldemort, and only the protection his mother had left in him by sacrificing her own life for her son had saved him from suffering the same fate. Voldemort had been hit by his own curse that night, getting reduced to a mere and weak spirit.

The wizarding world had already celebrated Voldemort's defeat, but during the last two years since Harry had started attending Hogwarts he had had to realize that Voldemort's spirit was still seeking for his old power, trying to get strong enough again to finish what he could not have done eleven years ago.

During Harry's first year at Hogwarts, Voldemort had attempted to get hold of the Philosopher's stone, a token that would lead him to immortality. He had failed, but this had not saved Harry from encountering him again.

And then, during the last year, Hogwarts had nearly been closed because an ancient Basilisk had haunted the school and petrified students. Harry had known that he was a Parselmouth since he had been very small, but he had not been able to draw a connection between this ability and the voices he always heard emerging from the castle walls, threatening to seek blood and kill. He had believed that if he admitted hearing voices nobody else could hear, he would soon have his own comfortably cushioned room at St. Mungo's, therefore he had remained silent. Only after Ginny Weasley, the little sister of his best friend Ron, had been kidnapped Harry had been able to solve the mystery about what haunted the school. To be bluntly honest, it had been his studious friend Hermione who had figured it out, but at that time headmaster Albus Dumbledore had already been removed from his position and Harry and Ron had had to make an end to this on their own. Nobody else would have listened to what they had found out.

In the end it had become clear that a diary with the conserved spirit of Voldemort's sixteen year old self Tom Riddle had started it all to happen, and Harry and Ginny had barely escaped with their lives from the confrontation with Tom Riddle's incarnation and the Basilisk.

Again, Harry had spent over a week near the end of term in the Hospital Wing, embarrassed an unnerved by all the people that were fretting over him. Not even talking about the lecture he had received from his frantic godfather who had been called to Hogwarts immediately after Harry had been brought to the Hospital Wing. Fifteen minutes, Harry had listened to how foolish it had been of him to seek out the danger on his own, risking his life without telling anybody about it. An experience Harry didn't want to repeat very soon, but somehow he could not help the feeling that he had not heard the last of it yet. In the Hospital Wing he had heard the 'concerned version' of the lecture, but at home with some distance to the incident surely the 'serious version' would follow suit. Trust him to ground Harry for sneaking around in the castle on his own.

And of course he had had to take his End of the Year Exams as if nothing had happened, and though he had passed nearly all subjects with average or good grades, he had nearly failed potions.

But Harry didn't want to think about that right now. The school year was over and he was going home, two and a half months of summer holiday before him. He would surely visit Ron and his family at the Burrow for a week or two, and maybe his friends would also be able to spend some time at his place. With another sigh he pulled himself out of his thoughts and back to his friends and what they were doing.

Ron, Dean and Seamus were engaged in a game of Exploding Snap, while Hermione and Neville were still discussing their Herbology exam. A loud explosion signalled the end of the game, and judged from the dust in Ron's and Dean's face, Seamus had won. Ron grinned.

"Another game? Harry, are you in?"

Hermione interrupted.

"We'll be arriving at King's Cross in a couple of minutes, better get ready."

Dean packed the card into his bag while everyone else in the compartment also began packing up their belongings. The train was already slowing down, when suddenly Ron remembered something.

"Hey Harry. Will there be someone to fetch you, or shall my parents apparate you home?"

Harry frowned his brow and thought for a moment.

"Well, I didn't get an owl telling me that nobody would be there, so I guess someone will be there to fetch me. But just in case there's nobody, I'd be glad if your parents could give me a lift."

"No problem."

The train slowly came to a halt on platform 9 ¾, and Harry and his friends made their way out of their compartment. When Harry stepped out of the train, he immediately saw Mr. and Mrs. Granger standing there, having a conversation with Neville's grandmother. Hermione and Neville went over towards them while Harry took a closer look around in search of somebody waiting for him. Over to his left stood Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and with them was…

"Remus!"

Harry grinned and walked over towards his godfather and guardian, who at the sound of his voice had turned around and started smiling.

"Hello Harry!"

Remus engulfed him in a warm greeting hug, then after some moments held him at arm's length and looked up and down, as if searching for any injuries he had not seen while he had been at Hogwarts after the incident with the Basilisk.

"How are you Harry? How's your arm doing? Any pain?"

Harry smiled, though Remus' over-protectiveness could sometimes take on extreme extents. Blasted pack instincts of the wolf.

"I'm fine Remus, really. Otherwise Madam Pomfrey would not have let me out of the infirmary at all. You know how she is. It's alright, it's only been a bite."

Remus made a choking noise.

"Oh yes, only a Basilisk bite, nothing to worry about."

While Remus kept on making sarcastic remarks about the harmlessness of Basilisk bites in particular and Hogwarts' safety in general, Harry took a closer look at his guardian himself. The reason why Ron had asked him if somebody would be there to fetch Harry was that full moon had only been yesterday night, and Harry wanted to see what the latest transformation had done to Remus. His guardian looked tired and pale, there were huge shadows under his eyes as if he had not slept enough, but other than that he looked fine. Harry had seen him in worse states after full moon more often than he wanted to remember. But nevertheless he knew that Remus had a tendency to hide any sign of uneasiness.

"And you? How has it been last night?"

Remus stopped his rant and looked at Harry, a somewhat pained expression on his face.

"It was alright. I've seen worse. Let's go home, shall we? I think there are still a couple of explanations you owe me concerning why you nearly lost your life, alone, somewhere in the dungeons of Hogwarts."

Harry sighed and nodded.

"Alright, I just want to say goodbye to Ron and Hermione."

Remus nodded, and while Harry went over towards his friends, he turned around to the Weasleys again.

"Molly, Arthur. I'm sure we'll see each other again quite soon. Knowing the kids, it won't be two weeks until they start planning to visit each other again."

Molly smiled.

"Yes. Ron already said something about Harry coming over and about him and Hermione visiting Harry near the end of the holidays."

"Well, as long as they are strategic in choosing the time, I won't complain about it. Though I think I'll need to have a couple of words with a certain Mr. Potter first, but I don't think I'll ground him for too long."

He grinned again, but Molly only shook her head and laughed.

"Give it up Remus. As if you could ever be strict with Harry. We'll be in contact. Good bye, Remus."

"Bye Molly, Arthur."

Remus turned around, shrunk Harry's trunk and pocketed it, then picked up Hedwig's cage.

"Ready Harry? Hold on tight."

Harry nodded and took Remus' hand, and with a low *pop* they apparated away, not knowing yet what they were about to experience throughout the following months.