A Cold Welcome

They should be together as they were in life. There should also be a headstone for Sirius here, even though there was no body. He also noticed that on both headstones there was carved an image of a phoenix in flight. That made him angry. While he had nothing against Fawkes, he would be damned, if he were going to let the symbol for Dumbledork's group of traitors remain on either headstone.

Reaching out to the ambient magic that flowed through the graveyard, Harry transfigured the separate headstones into one large stone. Closing his eyes, and visualising the images and information he wanted on the stone, Harry let the magic flow through the tips of his fingers, brushing away the old carvings and replaced them with what he wanted there.

Even though he'd done this many times before on Azkaban, it was still interesting to feel the stone shift and reform under his fingertips. As soon as he felt the new pattern firmly settle in the stone, Harry placed a charm on it to insure his changes could never be undone.

Opening his eyes, he took a look at his handiwork. All four names were now there across the top along with the birth and death information, but below that, he had grouped a wolf, a stag, and a large shaggy dog around a carved lily. No trace of the phoenix remained Below each image was a name; Moony, Prongs, Padfoot, and Lily and below the group he'd put the words. They were together in life, now they are together forever.

The sun had set before Harry finished pouring his heart out to the large silent stone and the occupants beneath it. If there had been anyone nearby he wouldn't have said half the things he did, but the magical trip wire he had set never went off, so he knew that no one had ever come near this part of the graveyard.

"I've got to go," he told the silent occupants beneath the headstone, "but I will be back. If only to let you know what happened with that fool Dumbledork."

....

As soon as Harry arrived back at #4 Privet Drive, he heard a slight pop off to his right, indicating someone had apparated out.

Sighing Harry headed inside and called, "Aunt Petunia, I'm home."

Vernon came charging out of the living room and growled. "Those freaky friends of yours have been by here three or four times today."

"They are no longer my friends." Harry countered, then told him. "I heard one of them apparate out when I came in, so some of them will probably be showing up in the next hour or so. If you don't want to see or deal with them, then you might want to go out for the evening."

"There is no way in hell, I'm going to leave my home to the mercy of those freaks or you." Vernon told him.

Harry shrugged, "suit yourself. Then sit back and watch the show, if they are stupid enough to come."

Not waiting to see what Vernon decided to do, Harry headed upstairs and dumped the contents of the canvas carryall onto the bed, before returning them to their normal size. He put the books onto the bookshelf he had transfigured out of the pellet gun Dudley had sat on, before moving the rest of the stuff to the desk.

Sitting down at his desk, he tore a piece of paper out of the note book and transfigured it to parchment, then wrote a quick note to Greeva asking him if they could meet to discuss his inheritance a week from today on the twenty-fifth around eleven and also to ask if he could recommend a wizard solicitor who was good at all aspects of wizard law and who wasn't afraid of Dumbledore or anyone else in power.

Once the letter was sealed and addressed, he told Hedwig. "I've got a letter for you to deliver in a while. Once you deliver it, I want you to wait for a response."

As the doorbell rang, Hedwig hooted with happiness, eager to be of service to her master once more.

He sighed as he heard Vernon holler. "Those freaks are back, so get down here and get rid of them!"

Given that Vernon had said freaks, not freak, Harry was willing to bet that the Weasleys were here. And as soon as he got a look down the stairs he saw that he was right. There were five Weasleys in the entry hall and one unexpected guest. Granger had come with them. She was standing next to Ron, surrounded by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and the twins.

As he came down to the foot of the stairs, Harry noticed that there was no sign of his relatives. Probably hiding in the kitchen.

In a voice that could rival the chill of the Artic, he asked. "What are you doing here?"

Since no one else seemed to want to break the silence, Molly Weasley said, "We came to see you, Harry dear."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop as Harry commented, "So I'm Harry dear again am I? Well as I told Dumbledork, yesterday, the name is Potter. The only ones allowed to call me, Harry, are my friends and those I trust.

You and your family, madam, fit into neither category. Nor does the arrogant Miss Know-It-All who came with you. In fact, I don't even know why any of you are here, given your statements at the trial and the comments you made to me afterwards as I was being hauled off. What makes you think I want to see any of you now or ever?"

"Harry, we just came to apologise." Ron spoke up quickly.

"Is your son deaf, madam, or is he just stupid?" Harry noticed with pleasure that his former friend's face was growing red. He couldn't help wondering just how long the hot-headed fool would be able to restrain himself.

"The reason I ask, is because I remember quite clearly telling him about two days ago that he and Granger were never to speak to me again. And even if he had trouble recalling what I told him in the main wardroom of Azkaban prison, he should have no problem remembering that I just told everyone here that you didn't have the right to call me Harry any longer. Surely his memory can't be that bad."

Harry paused looking thoughtful, "though now that I think about it, maybe his memory is that poor. He certainly forgot five years of friendship in a hurry. Trading it for the spotlight and the attention that comes with it."

"Now son, you have…"

....

Join my P*atreon for early access to 60+ chapters ahead of the public release. 

Free members can get 2+ advanced chapters FOR FREE.

Link : pa*treon.com/thebookaddict (Remove the *)