The next weeks were some of the best of Harry’s entire life. The Dursley’s had never taken Harry on a holiday before, they preferred to stay at home, or send Harry to Mrs. Figg’s house. Harry guard was true to their word. If Lupin hadn’t shown Harry the guard station in the cellar, Harry wouldn’t have known they were there.
Harry days were spent riding bicycles on the country roads around the farmhouse, hiking through the rugged countryside, spending time in the village, and just hanging out at the farmhouse with his best friends. The days were long, lazy, and relaxing. Nearly everyday, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and Tonks would get some physical activity, either by biking, hiking, walking, or swimming. The exercise was doing Harry a world of good. His body which was so battered after the attack at Privet Drive was starting to feel like his own again. His limp went away entirely after about a week.
His emotional state was also improving. Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Granger both been able to get him to open up about Sirius and share some of the pain. The hurt was still there, they both said it would never go away, but someday it would be better. Some days were better. There were days that he didn’t think about Sirius at all. Some days were worse. There were days that he couldn’t help but obsess about Sirius all day long.
Mr. Weasley came up for about a week in the middle of their stay at the farmhouse. He took Harry and Ron for a few outings by themselves without the girls. The outings weren’t anything special, they went for a hiking in the countryside one day, and once they went fishing at the river near town. During one of the outings Mr. Weasley was just discussing his life.
“You know, I still can’t get over the fact that Ginny was a girl,” he told them when they were fishing. “There has never been a Weasley girl born in our family in generations.”
“Yeah, Dad, we know,” Ron answered dryly.
“We didn’t even have a girl’s name picked out. It took us a couple of days to name her. We both just assumed that she’d be a boy. I always thought that she would be the seventh son. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
“What the significant of a seventh son?” Harry asked.
“You don’t know?” Ron replied surprised.
“No,” Harry answered, “should I?”
“Well, if you grew up in a magic household you probably would have. The seventh son of a seventh son is supposed to have exceptional magic power, including clairvoyants, and healing abilities,” Ron replied.
“But you aren’t a seventh son are you?” Harry questioned Mr. Weasley.
He smiled, “No, I’m not. But my grandfather was the seventh son of the seventh son. And he did have exceptional magic power. My family has been producing seventh sons for generations. My father decided against it. I only have one brother.”
“Aren’t you happy with Ginny?” Harry asked.
“Happy?” Mr. Weasley said confused, “I was ecstatic to have a little girl. I just didn’t think it was possible.” He chuckled, “But it did make Ron’s life a bit tougher I think.” He clapped hand on Ron’s shoulder.
“No,” Ron said, “I’m glad she wasn’t another boy. Five brothers are enough.”
Harry laughed, “Any brother would be good by me. Five is better than none.”
“My thoughts exactly. Besides, it looks like I got my seventh boy after all.” Mr. Weasley said, clapping Harry on the back. “It doesn’t seem like the fish are going to bite, come on boys, let’s head back.”
One week blended into two and two into three. There was no Death Eater activity anywhere. Lupin had been keeping track of Ministry intelligence, and they didn’t have anything new. Lupin said the Ministry was getting nervous.
“They think another attack is on the horizon,” Lupin began on night during the third week of their stay. Everyone had moved out into the garden after supper. “The Ministry is fairly confident that our location is still secure. Our cover story is still intact in the town and the Minister let it leak to the Daily Prophet that Harry is spending time aboard this summer. They think we’re safe out here. They do believe another attack in imminent. The question is where. No one, not even Dumbledore can make a good guess on their alternate motives.”
Harry was lying on the ground staring up into the clear cloudless sky. He remembered as a child not even being able to see the stars, and now he could find and plot all the heavenly bodies on a star chart. He looked around at the group. Hermione and Ron were chatting by themselves over at the other side of the garden. Ginny was sitting in a chair, staring off into space.
Harry caught her eyes, and nodded to Ron and Hermione over on the other side of the lawn. Ginny smiled back at him and pulled something that looked sinister out of her pocket. She walked over to Harry and showed him a packet of firecrackers that Harry had never seen before.
“Fred and George gave these to me,” She said showing him the package. “They wanted me to do some market research.” She smiled mischievously at her brother and Hermione. “Shall we?”
Harry sniggered, “All right then.”
Ginny lit the firecracker with her wand and threw it hard in the general direction of Ron and Hermione. “I’d duck if I were you,” she hissed at Harry.
Harry and Ginny both fell instantly to the ground and watched the glowing device reach its target. It exploded in a low boom which shook the whole house. It then glowed brightly and morphed into a large head. The head stuck it’s tongue out at Ron and Hermione and then proceeded to call them in a voice that sounded very much like Mrs. Weasley’s, “You’re so poor that Gringotts doesn’t make a vault small enough for you.” The firecracker then fizzed out like a balloon popping with a high pitch whistle.
Harry and Ginny stood up and looked around at the started group. Ron and Hermione were clearly startled, but Hermione was laughing, Ron was looking furious. The adults started laughing as well after determining the source of the ruckus and went back to their conversation.
Harry and Ginny joined Ron and Hermione over at the far side of the garden. Hermione was still laughing, Harry and Ginny joined in. Ron was still looking furious.
“What the hell was that?” Ron asked Ginny angrily.
“Er…” Ginny fumbled with the package getting it back out of her pocket. “Instant Insulting Incendiary, Fred and George asked me to try it out. It dishes out insults with a real bang,” she said reading the package. She handed it over to Ron. “They’ll be happy to know it works.”
Ron took it and lit another one and threw it up in the air. This one glowed blue instead of white and said, “You were such an ugly baby, your parents tied a steak on your neck so that the dog would play with you.”
Ron started laughing now. “That is pretty funny. We should get a supply before we go back to school. Malfoy would love it don’t you think.”
“Speaking of that,” Hermione began, “I wonder if we’re going to Diagon Alley this year. School starts in three weeks. We haven’t gotten any of our letters or anything. We don’t know how we did on our OWLs yet.”
“Those of us who want to know,” Ron stated flatly. “At least I’ve probably done better than Fred and George did. Mum was so angry with them after they got their report.”
“That doesn’t take much,” Ginny commented smiling. “I’ll ask Mum tomorrow if we’re going to make a trip to Diagon Alley this year. We probably will be.”
But Ginny’s conversation didn’t produce any information. Mrs. Weasley was being very elusive on the subject. All Ginny could get was that the letters would come soon and that they would deal with it then.
Harry was pretty sure that even if everyone else got to go to Diagon Alley, he wouldn’t be allowed to go. There was no way that his guard would be able to protect him in such a public wizard setting. Harry also figured that he would no longer be allowed Hogsmead visits either. The guardian who signed his permission was now dead, and there would be no way that his guard would be able to protect him in such a public place. At Harry insistence, the four teenagers started spending more time in town. Harry figured it would be the only time he would able to wander freely in public for a very long time.
They walked into a pub one afternoon for a late lunch and the woman at the bar gasped as they entered. She hurried over to them and looked up and down at Harry. She said shocked, “Oh my word, the dead are walking. You look exactly like a young man who I used to know. His folks used to live here years back.”
Harry smiled at her, but his stomach took a turn. He was supposed to be staying incognito.
She continued, “You look just like young James Potter. It’s uncanny. Jim, come here.”
A man with grizzle grey hair wearing an apron came around to the front of the bar. He looked at Harry and said, “Blimey, you’re right Marie. He is a dead ringer for Jamie. Poor lad.”
“Jamie?” Harry said and chuckled.
The woman pressed, “Did you know James Potter?”
Harry sighed and then admitted, “Well, he was my dad.”
“You poor lad, he’s been dead for years. How old were you when he died then?” She asked.
Harry glanced between Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Tonks and then decided on the actual truth, instead of the cover story. “I was one when he died. I don’t really remember him at all. Everyone says I look like him though.”
“You do,” the man behind the bar said, “it’s the resemblance is uncanny. He used to come in here a lot when he was home from school during the summer holidays. His parents owned an old farmhouse outside of town. Queer folk they were, but James was all right. Friendly and outgoing he was. Your grandparents, lad, never came to town. They kept to themselves, very private. Your dad came in here almost every day in the summer. We were sure sorry to hear that he died.”
The woman ushered them all into a booth. “What’s your name then lad?”
“Harry,” Harry replied looking sheepish. “Harry Potter.”
“Who are these folks?” She asked looking at the group of them.
“My friends, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Tonks,” he said pointing to each in turn.
“Tonks?” the woman asked, “What kind of name is that?”
“My last name,” Tonks said brightly, “my mother named me Nymphadora. I don’t know what she was thinking.”
The woman laughed a warm hearty laugh. “My name is Marie, Marie Jones. My husband Jim and I have run this pub for nearly forty years and I have never met anyone named Nymphadora, so you’re the first. What’ll you have kids?”
They ordered some lunch fare, fish and chips, and some sodas. Marie served them herself and after they were done, she sat down with them and talked. They spend a couple of hours in animated discussion. Marie was grandmotherly and cheerful. Harry couldn’t help but like her. She chatted on about Harry’s dad as though he had been in the pub yesterday instead of twenty years ago.
Harry was sorry when it was time to head back to the farmhouse, but Tonks was insisting. It was getting late and the evening crowd was beginning to arrive at the pub.
“I’ll be back,” Harry said to Marie on their way out. “Thanks for talking.”
“Anytime lad, anytime,” she said winking and smiling.
Harry came back almost every day after that. Marie and Jim were always happy to sit and chat with him about anything and everything. They talked about Harry’s dad, the weather, the state of the roads, the current policies that the Prime Minister was implementing, and anything else that came to mind. Harry asked them all about his dad. They obliged him, and gave him all of their impressions of James, even some that weren’t particularly flattering.
Harry ate it up. He finally had a third party source of information about his dad. There stories combined with the photo albums and personal belongs he dug up from the house had increased his knowledge of his family greatly. His father was a good man, a bit self centered, Marie admitted, but he seemed to be a goodly type of person, as she put it.
Somewhere in the next week they all received their OWLs at the farmhouse. Hermione had of course gotten all O’s. Harry and Ron didn’t fare too badly. Harry had gotten O’s in Defense against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures and to his own disbelief, Divination. He pulled E’s in Potions, and Astronomy, apparently his written test had pulled up his marks in Astronomy. His History of Magic grade was bad, but Harry wasn’t expecting much there. Ron’s marks were fairly good, he got O in the same subjects as Harry, except Divination where he got a E. Ron didn’t get anything worse than and E, which was better than Harry. Ron’s grades were overshadowed by the fact that Ginny was made a Griffindore prefect. Mrs. Weasley was preparing a celebration for her and didn’t fuss much over Ron’s marks.
What was more interesting to Harry was his class list. Although Professor McGonagall had assured him he needed an O in potions to study at the NEWT level, Advanced Potions was on his course list. The books listed, however, didn’t match the ones that Hermione was requested to have for her Advanced Potions class. Harry was also signed up for classes that he never realized existed. He had three different Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. Ron and Hermione only had one. Harry also had Charms, and Transfiguration. He had elected to drop Divination, but that was still on his course list. Care of Magical Creatures was there as well. Harry had more classes now than Hermione.
He mentioned that to her and she looked miffed by it. “I don’t see why you get to take special classes, and we don’t get to,” she sulked to him.
“Speak for yourself,” Ron replied. Ron’s marks were unfortunate in one way; he didn’t get an O in Potions, which meant that he couldn’t take the NEWT level Potions course, which meant that he wouldn’t have the course work for Auror training. Ron was disappointed, but not devastated. He didn’t really want to continue potions anyway, he thought that one he got back to school, he would be able to find some other career path that would suit him just as well.
Harry mentioned his puzzling course list to Lupin later that day. Lupin didn’t seem surprised by Harry’s course load at all. In fact he seemed pleased.
“Ah good,” he said to Harry, “yes, you are taking a lot more classes this term then the typical sixth year student. You, unlike your fellows, are not preparing for the NEWT exams next year. You are fighting for your life. To that end, Dumbledore and I set up a course list for you with your future in mind. Your Charms, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and the first Defense against the Dark Arts classes are with your regular professors. The potions course you are taking is with Dumbledore. He will met with you everyday, first lesson of the day. The second Defense course will be an extra course with your Defense professor, three times a week over your lunch hour. The third Defense course will be with me, everyday before breakfast.
“With you? How is that possible? How will that work?” Harry asked confused.
“The Ministry is placing a guard station at the entrance to the Hogwarts grounds. I still need to get a hold of you on a fairly recent basis once you get to school, so I will live there. They are making special arrangements for my condition. Professor Snape will again be providing the Wolfsbane potion and as an extra precaution, I will be going to the Shrieking Shack again.
“What are you going to teach me?” Harry asked.
Lupin smiled a devious sort of smile that Harry had never seen before, “Well, Harry, I do know how to do some magic that isn’t really appropriate to be taught at school, especially at your age. Things like Animagous transformations, and Apparating. I have a whole host of things that I am going to teach you, off of school grounds, on your own time. Do you understand me?”
Harry smiled, the prospect of learning how to Apparate or transform into an animal was intriguing. “Yes, sir, I understand. I suppose you will be teaching me all the things my dad would have taught me himself had he lived?”
Lupin’s regular smile was back, “Exactly. But this will only work if you come down to see me in the morning before breakfast, otherwise there will be too many awkward questions. And once you get back to school you really have to lay low. Mafloy will be watching every move you make and reporting back to Voldemort.”
“I understand,” Harry smiled. “Should be fun.”
“I hope so,” Lupin said, “Although I’ll be teaching you advanced magic, so it will be quite draining. You might want to get to bed early.”
Harry laughed, he did head to bed early that night. The others were headed to Diagon Alley the next day early and Harry wanted to be up with them to wish them a good time. Harry wasn’t going, Lupin had insisted, and Harry actually agreed with him. Harry was going to spend the day in the pub helping out Marie and Jim. Lupin had given him the okay to stay there all day by himself. Harry was really looking forward to it.
He wished his friend well in the morning and while they headed off in the fireplace to Diagon Alley, Harry headed into town on a bicycle, carrying in tow, one of the Granger’s cell phones. Lupin had the other and he told Harry to call if anything went awry.
Harry never had such a nice day in his life. Marie and Jim were wonderful to him, treating him as if he were one of their long lost grandchildren. Harry mostly washed dishes and buses tables. It felt good to be a part of something, it felt good to be with people who had no idea who he was or what he had to do, it felt good to be a regular Muggle kid again for just one day.
He arrived back to the farmhouse, tired in a good way. His friends arrived back as well and they chatted on and on about their day, they people they saw and the places they went. Harry found that he was really happy that he hadn’t gone to Diagon Alley. If he had gone, his friend would have been guarded closely, and they would have been waiting for Death Eaters to jump out at any moment. This was a day they all got to take off. Harry felt like all of them now had finally had a vacation.