Chapter One

A boy with jet black hair and bright green eyes sat strait up in bed, his breath coming out it harsh gasps. Wildly looking around he shifted till his feet hit his carpeted floor, his hand automatically reaching for his glasses. Something was wrong. Standing he stumbled over to the door. He didn't care if he woke his relatives; he needed to see a mirror.

Stepping into the small bathroom next to Dudley's room, Harry Potter rushed over, nearly tripping over his cousins dirty towels. Once Harry had gotten a good look at him self he promptly let out a large not to mention loud gasp. His black kept short due to necessity (it really was a bit unruly), was now hanging past his shoulders, sort of straight. Now that really was not the main reason why the young man had gasped. His skin had taken on an unnatural glow, he now look positively golden.

But even more bizarre then that, he had grown a few inches. Harry could have sworn under a wizard's oath that he had been only five foot six inches when he had laid in bed that night. But now he had to be at least five foot ten inches.

Raising a shaking hand Harry fumbled with his glasses, trying desperately to clean his them. His hope that he was just seeing things due to dirty glasses or some such were torn apart, he still looked the same. What the hell had happened?

Slumping to the floor (his relatives apparently had not been woken up by him) Harry bent his knees allowing his head to fall down. There had to be some reasoning behind this, people just didn't change like this over night! Normal people did not wake to know something was wrong that something had happened. But then again he had never been considered normal had he?

No, before he had found out that he was in fact a wizard and the Boy-Who-Lived he had been Dudley's freak show of a cousin. The one no one was allowed to talk to without risking damaging of limps by Dudley and his gang. Then finally when he had learned that he was a wizard, that his parents had been too, Harry had thought maybe he could be normal in the new world about to be shown to him.

But no, he had to be a freak there too. And this, this just proved that he could not escape that. He would forever and always be considered a freak. No matter what world he chose to live in.

Feeling despair ripped at his heart, Harry did not hear the front door open. Nor did he hear the slight creak of the stairs as someone came up.

Slamming his hands against the linoleum floor, Harry cringed at the loud SLAP that sounded out. Surly his Aunt and Uncle would have heard that? Slowly standing, slightly unbalanced by the added height Harry cautiously stepped out of the bathroom. No sign of the Dursleys. Thinking that maybe his luck might be lifting, Harry walked back to his room.

Smiling at his own overreaction over a few inches in height and some minor changes. Maybe this happened to other wizard kids as well, he really did not know that much about that kind of stuff. That's why he had Hermione Granger, full of her book knowledge, and Ron Weasley and his pureblood knowledge. Though the Weasleys would be the absolute last family you would think to know all the rules and such of wizarding traditions all six boys and Ginny knew what would be expected of them if they ever felt the need to become apart of the Social elite.

Still not really paying attention to anything around him (Constant Vigilance! Not being paid attention to) Harry stepped back into his room.

"Hullo Harry." Came a silky voice, causing Harry to jump slightly. His hand flying to his back pocket, to find that he did not even have a back pocket, he was still in fact only in his boxers.

Bill Weasley stood staring at him, his long red hair let loose around his shoulders.

"How are ya?" Harry stood gaping at his best friend's brother. What the hell was going on?

"Hi Bill. Er… could you… that is… why are you here?" Harry was painfully aware that his crush on Bill was not yet completely gone. He turned his back on the other man before he could see exactly how much that crush was still with him. Grabbing the cleanest pair of pants that he could find Harry hurriedly pulled them up. Finally, not worry about his bare chest, Harry turned back to Bill.

"Well Harry that really is not something that I can tell you. That is it's not for me to say. I'm sure that once we get you to the Order Headquarters they will explain everything to you. So get to packing you will be leaving this place." Bill grinned widely, in a way that reminded Harry of Ron. Ick… that definitely got rid of one problem.

"Sure thing, but why are you here?" Harry whispered back, not wanting to deal with the Dursleys' in front of Bill.

"There is no need to whisper Harry, I put a sleeping charm on them" his grinned turned mischievous in a way that again reminded just who Bill was related too "I did not want to deal with them. I hope you don't mind." Harry grinned back, feeling much better now that he had someone here to talk with him. Maybe Bill would know what the hell all that was about?

"No, in fact I wish I could have done it." Harry started to gather his things, throwing everything into his trunk.

"Hey Harry, you are of age now, you can do that with magic." Bill waved his own wand at Hedwig's cage, the cage rattled slightly before flying over to the bed.

"Well, you know I thought with all the wards and… I don't really need magic… well I guess I didn't think about it." Harry lowered his head sheepishly. He had just turned 17, just about an hour ago.

"We don't have much time so I say go for the magic. I've got to be somewhere soon and mom will have a fit if I don't bring you over soon." Harry felt his face fall, Bill had to go somewhere? He had been hoping to be around the older man more, not that he expected anything to happen between the two, as far as he knew Bill was a straight as straight could be.

"Yeah sure, where do you have to be?" Harry hopped that his voice did not come across too curious. Bill however did not seem to notice if anything was wrong.

"Oh, nothing much. Fleur expects to see me soon." Bill shrugged. Harry felt disappointment settle deep in his mind, even though he knew it was unreasonable. He knew Bill was straight.

"Oh, well… congrats. I think I've got everything now." Harry looked around the room one last time before turning back to Bill.

"How're we getting to headquarters?" Harry asked, hopping that they could fly. He had not been flying since the end of term. He really missed his Firebolt.

"Portkey. Set to go off… soon actually. So lets get going, ya?" Harry shrugged, casting a spell on his trunk to make it weightless.

Soon Harry felt the familiar pull around his navel. God, he hated this almost as much as the Floo, the wizarding way of traveling through fire.

Finding himself outside of his Godfathers house Harry stiffened. Even though it had been a year sense Sirius had died, Harry still felt it when ever he came to this house.

"Don't worry, you wont be staying here all that long Harry." Harry frowned at Bill. What happened to this is the best place for you Harry, next to your Aunt and Uncle's house? Bill must have seen the question, but he shook his head indicating that he was once again not the one to say.

"All right then Harry?" He nodded, sure he was all right. "Then lets get a move on, I'm bloody well hungry. Haven't eaten in a while." Together the two walked up toward the forbidding house.

As the two stepped into the house, they were bombarded by a throng of red haired Weasleys.

"Harry dear, are you all right?" Molly Weasley, a short but slightly plump women, enclosed Harry in a tight warm hug. Harry had come to think of the women as his surrogate mother. The women acted towards him the way Harry thought a real mother should.

"Mum! Come on he just got here! Leave 'im alone!" Ronald Weasley, or Ron, pushed at his mother trying to free Harry of the hug. Once he was satisfied that Harry would not be smuggled he then did the unexpected. He reached out for a hug too. Now before, when the two young men had met again they had shook hands or perhaps swung an arm around the other. Hugging was not something Harry was used to and Ron had a masculinity crisis. It was not manly to hug.

"Hey Harry. Did the Dursleys treat you bad?" Ron asked as he let go of Harry.

"Naw, they were fine. I mean no worse then the years before." Harry said slightly uncomfortable. He hated to talk about the Dursleys in any topic.

"But no better, I think." Molly said as she looked Harry up and down. "You're too skinny!" she then proceeded to pull Harry to the kitchen.

"Mum! We haven't even said hello!" Fred and George Weasley said together, their identical voices ringing out loudly through out the hall way. Harry winced, waiting for the portrait of Sirius' mother to start screaming. But it never came, Turing to Ron Harry raised his eyebrows. Ron shrugged.

"Hi Harry." He turned to see the only girl Weasley sibling standing next to him. She smiled and Harry had a hard time connecting that this was the girl that had sent him that valentine,

She stood tall and straight, she was not affected by whatever gene her mother had. Her long red hair coming down her back in waves, accentuating her curvy body. Now Harry was not one for girls but he thought that maybe he could have made an exception for this one. Smiling she pulled him into a hug, the Weasleys (with the normal exception of Ron and Percy) were a loving family who showed each other quite a bit.

"Hello, Ginny. How are you?" She laughed, a deep and throaty laugh that sounded out through the hall way. She really had grown up.

"I'm fine." Her eyes sparkled and Harry wondered what she was so happy about, something was up with her. But before he could comment Fred and George grabbed him by his shoulders and steered him toward the kitchen. The rest of the Weasleys followed at a more sedate pace.

"Harry, we talked about it." Fred said glancing at George.

"And we want you to be a partner with us." George finished.

"Why?" Harry asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Well… you helped us start up. And you are a son of one of the Marauders and a godchild to another."

"We're sure that you could help us." Harry stared.

"But if you don't want to…"

"Or if you want to be a silent partner or something…"

"That's okay." Fred finished.

"Sure… I'd like that. I'll be a silent partner though at least until this year is over." The twins grinned.

Everyone sat down for tea and cookies. Talking about their summers so far and the Quidditch World Cup about to take place.

"Krum's still the only good player Bulgaria's got! England's got a good chance of winning." Charlie said to Fred.

"Yeah… but its Krum." Fred argued.

"Don't you remember the Cup two years ago?" Charlie said his voice starting to sound irritated.

"Yeah, but now that we know Krum, we've got to route for him." Fred said.

"Oh, I forgot. Him and Hermione right? Those two seems so…"

"Nauseating?" Fred finished his older brother's sentence.

"That's not what I was going to say." But Harry could see the tell tale blush on the tips of his ears.

"Sure…" Fred said in a sing-song voice.

Ginny and Bill sat further down the table, their heads together as they quietly talked about Bill and Fleur. Harry could here them due to his unusually sensitive hearing.

"Are you guys going to…" she waved her hand and rasied her eye brows, "Really?" her voice betrayed her age.

"Yeah, I think so. After the meeting tonight I'll go over there and ask her." Bill smiled proudly.

"Wow… I hope she goes for it." Ginny smiled stars in her eyes.

Mrs. Weasley stood and started to clear off the table, her wand moving furiously.

"Time for bed, you two" she pointed at Ron and Harry "have got a big day tomorrow. Ginny up you go too." A few grumbles and moans rang out threw the hall but Ron, Ginny and Harry trudged up the stairs. The rest stood around the table. Ginny after they passed the first door waved a cheery goodnight, before she slipped into her room. Harry watched her go with a small amount of interest; something was definitely up with her. Harry took the lead, knowing exactly where his room would be.

"Harry, you would think that being of age would be reason enough for us to be a part of their meeting." Ron grumbled.

"The day the Order decides to let seventeen year olds, who can't even brew a third year potion correctly in, I will leave." Severus Snape, Harry's most hated Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stood glaring at him. Harry was happy to note that he stood only slightly below the Potions Master.

"Prof. Snape." Harry nodded his head, really not wanting to get into a fight with the man.

"Mr. Potter. How nice to see you." Snape said in a strained voice. Harry glanced at Ron for an answer but he looked just as shocked Harry.

"Ah… Severus, Harry I see that you two are getting along." The reason for Snape's sudden attempt at being nice came in the form of Albus Dumbledore.

"Yes, sir." Harry said obediently. Snape sneered.

"I trust that you trip over here went well." Dumbledore asked, peering at Harry intensely.

"Bill collected me just fine, Headmaster." Harry said.

"Excellent, I would like to talk to you tomorrow evening." Harry nodded again.

"Good, good. Now I believe the two of you should be getting on to bed." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his half moon spectacles.

"Yes, sir." Ron said as he led Harry away, his legs moving quite rapidly.

"Ron! Come one why are we in such a rush?" Normally Harry would have been the one to try and hurry Ron up.

"We need to talk. Something has… happened that I could not tell you about before." Ron said glancing over his shoulders and around the corner, he looked about as paranoid as Mad-Eye Moody.

"Actually, Ron I have some questions for you too." Harry thought about his sudden height gain.

"Sure, sure" he said shutting the door behind him, "Let me just tell you something about ol' greasy git Snape. He was caught by You-Know-Who… just a few days ago. Apparently he had been sent on a mission to… you know…" he waved his arms around gesturing wildly "well he was sent to do some bad things to a few muggle girls. Anyway he ended up letting them go and ol' Lucius Malfoy caught him at it! Malfoy turns him over, git doesn't even help his friend out, and You-Know-Who tortures him a bit before letting him go to be a "play thing" for the other Death Eaters. He escaped, don't know how but he did. So he moved over hear and has been all moody and angry, worse then normal I mean." Ron stopped to take a breath, wanting Harry to know everything that had happen over the past summer. He did not want a repeat of their fifth year.

"So, I reckon that he will be staying here for a while. Mums been acting all weird around him. All nice and sweet, it really pisses him off." Harry stared at the Posters on Ron's wall. The brightly orange colored players waved and smiled at him, one he swear even winked.

"Well… er… so what else has happened?" Harry had no other reply to Ron, Snape being hurt was not something that he had ever dealt with and he did not think that he wanted to start now. He could not do anything about it anyway. The man would never except it anyway.

"Hermione and Krum have been getting really chummy, Gin and I went over to her house early in the summer and he was there. They were holding hands and smiling all the time." Ron blushed a bit, his eyes averted to the floor.

"What? Did something else happen with Hermione?" Harry asked knowing that something else had.

"Well… er… Hermione's acting a bit odd." Was all the red- head would say, Harry did not push him, Ron would tell him eventually.

"So what was it that you wanted to ask me?" Ron focused his attention on Harry, hands on either side of him almost as if he were bracing himself.

"oh… well nothing really." Harry looked away.

"Come on, it must be something!" Ron said.

"Well I was wondering is, wizards… that is do they a hit puberty?" Harry asked his cheeks blushing profoundly.

"Ahh... well I think we hit all the normal stuff, why?" Ron asked on the break of laughing.

"Oh, well I just grew a lot this summer you know?" Ron nodded, a large yawn escaping his mouth.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about, but you could ask Bill or Charlie. They would be sure to help you." Ron said.

Some how he could not see himself asking the eldest Weasley brothers for advice on that particular subject. Ron did say that he had nothing to worry about… so why worry?

"Well I'm tired, and mum's been going on about what an important day tomorrow is. It's probably just Bill telling the family about him and Fleur. Those two have been dating for about a year now," Ron made a slight gagging noise "Mum and Dad will be so proud." Harry laughed, trying not to show his jealousy over Fleur and Bill.

"So, where's my bed?" Harry could not find another bed in the brightly colored room.

"Just through that door, Mum and Dad changed it a bit so that we could all have our own." Ron nodded then proceeded to undress, getting ready for bed. Harry used to the sight of a half naked Ron just shrugged and walked toward the door.

Inside he found a beautiful room done in black and green, Slytherin colors but he bet Mrs. Weasley thought the green would look good with his eyes. She was always doing something like that. He smiled slightly, the room really was great. Rather larger then he would have thought, it was almost Ron's room and half more. He wondered why they would make his bigger, but then it was not to be permanent anyway. According to Bill, where he was going he still did not know maybe Dumbledore would tell him tomorrow.

Harry shrugged out of his clothes, he was kind of tied. Tomorrow he would deal with his added height (his clothes still fit so there was no worry of having to get new), the new residence that was surely to take place soon, and his attraction to Bill Weasley. He fell asleep dreaming not of Bill but of another….

TBC