Chapter 50 – Heading Back

Hermione and Ginny came down for breakfast the next morning to see Harry handing a small pouch to Fred and George. They both smiled at him and shook Harry's hand before they left through the portal.

"Do I want to know what that was about Harry?" Ginny asked.

"I just took care of a couple of important details with the twins" Harry answered.

"It's not anything you are going to get in trouble for, is it?"

"Probably not Hermione." Seeing the suspicious look on her face, Harry explained as the three walked down for breakfast.

"The two of them still have our last nap together fresh on their blackmailing little minds. I offered to hire their services for the summer in exchange for not mentioning that little detail to anybody else."

"What kind of services, Mr. Potter?"

"Nothing you'll want to volunteer to test Ginny. I've asked your brothers to make me some marbles. Some regular, some pranking and some a little more serious. Malfoy's never going to back down from us and I would rather be prepared for any more 'surprises' like happened to the three of us this year. Somehow I have a feeling that trouble will keep following me around."

"Can I help the twins with ideas Harry?" Harry laughed as the statement was spoken by Ginny and Hermione together. They looked at each other and smiled. Harry finally said it was ok with him if Fred and George didn't mind.

The three sat down with their friends at the Gryffindor table and had a quick but satisfying breakfast.

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The train platform was full of a variety of students saying their goodbyes to each other and making sure that their packing hadn't forgotten anything. Harry had seen the arriving families and adults taking another trail up to Hogwarts for the graduation as he and all the others were walking down.

Hagrid was supervising the loading and trying to answer all the questions everyone seemed to have at the last minute. Harry caught his friend's eye but Hagrid looked at him sadly for a second and turned to head in the other direction. Feeling something was wrong, Harry and the girls hurried to catch up with the half-giant.

"Hagrid", Harry said, "what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry Harry, it was my entire fault."

"What?"

"The whole thing. If I hadn't blabbed my big mouth off, then Quirrell wouldn't have known how to get past Fluffy to get … And then you wouldn't have felt that it was necessary to go after him. And then you and Hermione wouldn't have been hurt. It's all my fault!"

Hermione walked up and took up Hagrid's hand. "Everyone's all right now Hagrid. And everything worked out for the better. Sometimes things have to happen to get to the best conclusion. Nobody's is blaming you; certainly not Harry or me."

"That's awful kind of you to say Hermione but I still feel like it's my fault."

Harry looked up at his friend. "The only faults here belong to Quirrell and Voldemort. You are I may not be Dumbledore but as long as we're trying to do the right thing and stop evil - I guess were allowed some mistakes. Quirrell never tried actually killing Fluffy so I guess he had some sort of compassion in him."

"I never thought about it that way Harry. Maybe I'll feel a little better now that you've explained it that way."

Ginny slipped up to grab hold of Hagrid's other hand. "You're a good person Hagrid. You don't owe Harry or anybody else an apology."

Hagrid smiled and bent down to engulf Hermione and Ginny in a gentle hug. "Thanks, you're always welcome at my door. You'd best be heading back to the train though; it's close to the time for it to leave."

Hermione and Ginny left Harry to finish talking to Hagrid. They told Harry that they would go get a compartment in the train. Harry walked a few steps to Hagrid's one in returning to the platform. He stopped and shyly held out a small package for Hagrid. Hagrid took it from Harry's hands and shook it gently.

"What's this then?"

"That's a present from me to you Hagrid. Something to look at in all the free time you'll have with us kids not being around all summer. It's the shrunken collection of all my notes and books from the first year. I would consider it a great favor repaid if me and Hermione and Ginny could help you get your wand back. I feel we owe you that much."

For once Hagrid had nothing to say but Harry saw a tear glistening in one of his big eyes. Harry ran to catch the train just as it started to move. The three of them stood on the car landing and waved to Hagrid along with a lot of other students. The view of the castle disappeared but Harry's last memory of Hogwarts this year was Hagrid waving enthusiastically and holding up Harry's gift.

Xxxx xxxx

The train ride back to King's Cross was a bittersweet one for Harry and his friends. Hermione and Ginny were looking forward to being together with their families again but Harry wasn't looking forward to his separation from the others and home life at the Dursleys. Time was passed playing card games or talking about their summer plans. Harry didn't have much in the way of summer plans but Hermione said that her parents had a vacation planned for a week in France.

Harry hadn't had time to discuss Hermione's plan about getting a floo connection to the Dursleys with anyone but he was still looking forward to having at least the two of them visiting for the next six weeks.

It was just as they were five minutes from King's Cross that Harry remembered he needed a lot of money really quickly. The initial 200 pounds from "Mrs. Wrightgate" were due to arrive by Hedwig in the next day or two. Harry panicked for a second and then remembered that his money pouch was safely stowed in his shrunken trunk along with his other magical things. Harry could safely enlarge his trunk when he was back in his room.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were waiting on the platform when they arrived at King's Cross. Harry helped Ginny and Hermione down with their trunks and then went back and got Hedwig and her cage. Mr. Weasley was trying to get the twins and Ron organized to put all their things on carts when Mrs. Weasley came up. Ginny ran into a familiar hug from her Mum. Hermione and Harry were watching their reunion with a smile on their faces but then Mrs. Weasley took another two steps to greet Harry and Hermione. She hugged Hermione briefly and told her that her parents were waiting outside.

Mrs. Weasley then took a good look at Harry and he started getting nervous again. Mrs. Weasley laughed however and picked the boy up and swung him around in a hug. Ginny tugged on her mother's arm and quite seriously told her that Harry was recovering from some cracked ribs and had orders not to be crushed.

The look on Ginny's face was so formal that Mrs. Weasley actually apologized as she let Harry back down. Harry smiled and told her that he gladly accept any hugs from her, whatever his condition.

"You do realize that we're going to have to have a long talk about all you've been up to, Mr. Potter."

"Yes ma'am. I expected as much."

Hermione spoke up then in Harry's defense. "He tried really hard to talk us out of following him but…"

"You weren't going to let him go by himself. I got that from Ginny's floo call. I hope your parents are going to be told about your little adventure soon Hermione."

"Yes, I'll tell them myself about what Harry did."

Mrs. Weasley threw her head a little bit sideways and looked at Hermione. Hermione's cheeks went red briefly and she nodded. "Ok, the whole truth. I was going to take all summer to tell them our part of it."

Mr. Weasley laughed as he had overheard the whole conversation. "The important thing is that everyone came out of it ok. I guess the boys are all sorted out now. We can get going."

Harry helped Ginny push her cart while Mrs. Weasley gave a steadying hand to Hermione. They walked through the magical barrier and stood aside as the rest of the Weasley's followed them through with their carts. Harry watched Mr. Weasley and the four boys wheel away but called out to Ron before he made the next corner. Ron stopped and watched as Harry came running up.

"Thanks for a great year Ron in spite of all the bad stuff." Harry clapped a surprised Ron on the back and then went back to where Hermione was meeting her parents.

Mr. Granger and then his wife hugged Harry to his surprise. The Grangers were in the middle of talking to Ginny and her Mum when Harry heard a gruff voice behind him.

"Finished all your goodbyes, boy? We don't have all day to hang around."

'Please don't go hexing them, either one of you!'

'Darn!'

'Only because you asked nicely Harry.'

Harry turned around to see his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia looking at him with their usual glare. Dudley was a dozen feet back, looking as if he didn't want to get close to anybody that Harry actually knew.

Making the introductions all around, Harry was thankful that everyone was civil to one another. Mrs. Weasleys voice was the most strained in saying hello but, other than that, it went ok. Harry grabbed Hedwig and her cage from Ginny's cart and started following the Dursleys away.

If wasn't a matter of ten feet before Harry heard his name called out. Turning, Harry stopped and put Hedwig down. The Dursleys were very surprised to see the two young girls they had just been introduced to come running up to give long hugs to Harry. Dudley's double chin about dropped to the level of his belt buckle when each also gave Harry a kiss to the cheek and the forehead.

The two girls ran back to their mothers and then turned and waved at Harry. He waved back and then picked up the owl in her cage and then walked calmly by the stunned Dursleys whistling.

Harry Potter smiled as he thought he was about to have the best summer ever!

Finis

Honestly Harry: The Year of the Rock

Xxxx xxxx

Coming Attractions (or The Plot Bunnies that Ate my Brain!)

Thanks for hanging on until the end. My mind and fingers wandered a little doing this so it ran a little longer than I planned.

I really appreciated all the reviews and people that added the stories to their favorite lists. Even the bad comments helped me some.

Harry's next year is probably(?) going to be titled 'The Founder's Chambers'. I hope I can manage to write and post one or two shorter stories that have been keeping me from sleep before I tackle one of the biggies again.

Just to let you know that I've been thinking about Harry's next year for a bit – here's some of the plot points that may or may not show up.

… "Before I let you read what your parents wrote me and what their will contains, I should best begin by telling you about your Godparents. Alice Longbottom was a great friend of your mother but…"

… Dumbledore looked at the Weasley and Granger families that had gathered in his office along with Harry. "I asked you all to come today to listen to the most disturbing piece of information that pertains to our young friend Harry here. I shall ask you also to give me a magical binding oath that you will never reveal this to anybody else. I had to swear a binding oath to the Minister of Magic that I would not raise Harry in my household after his parents died or divulge to him this unwelcome news. While I cannot morally let Harry be ignorant of his fate, I am getting around that oath by asking my wife to tell you all what was forecast many years ago."

As everyone's mouths dropped at the news of Dumbledore's marriage, they heard footsteps climbing the stairway to his office. All eyes were glued to the door as it swung open to reveal… (Caught you reading, didn't I? )

… "Our guide got lost one day and took us to the wrong place on our tour. We didn't find out until we got left there it that it was a nude beach but Mum said we…" Harry clasped his hands over his ears and ran quickly away. Hermione and Ginny just looked at the retreating boy and giggled.

… Ginny had just flooed into Harry's room and saw that he was still mowing the front yard. She settled down on his bed and waited for him to finish his chores. Some days she just followed him around as he toiled the whole day long. It didn't seem fair when that oaf Dudley just lay on the couch downstairs and watch telebision.

She got bored after a few minutes and opened up Hedwig's cage to let the owl stretch her wings a bit. Harry could only let Hedwig fly after dark so the snow owl probably felt a little cage bound.

Ginny was feeding the bird a treat when she heard a pop behind her. A very scrawny house elf suddenly appeared sitting on Harry's bed. The door opened to reveal Harry as Fawkes suddenly flamed into the room at the same moment. Everyone was staring at each other dumbfounded but Harry asked the first question.

"So who wants to talk first?

… "My name is Zllysedtizz but you may call me Zell. How is it that a wizard named Harry Potter can speak Parseltongue?" Harry gulped in the darkness of the corridor. The reptile's voice seemed to come from about 10 feet over his head and he wasn't sure what to do.

… Draco Malfoy's robes and pants had somehow disappeared from him when he took his stand on the dueling platform.

"Who's Gumby?" a couple of girls blushingly asked as they pointed at his green and white boxers.

… and suddenly Harry staggered and felt part of himself disappear. His connection to Ginny had quickly and totally gone!

I hope at least some of you are smiling and not too many are thinking about what a rotten person I am to leave you some crumbs. I enjoy writing and hope I can bring some smiles and surprises to everyone. Have some patience and I'll be back soon. I promise! Captain Compass