RAVENCLAW!

22. A New Home

"What do you mean 'he is gone'?!"

Draco panicked. His heart rate refused to calm down and anger overwhelmed him.

"Dobby is very sorry, Sir. When he checked yesterday, the boy was still cruelly locked away, but as he returned today, he and his things were gone and the Muggles were very angry."

Nonononono this couldn't be happening. That idiot just didn't know what was best for him!

Okay.

New plan.

"Dobby, you will come up with a way to keep Harry away from Hogwarts. Scare him, kidnap him, whatever! Just make sure he doesn't get to school. Every second that you don't have orders from my father to fulfil, you will spend on this project. He would be in great danger at Hogwarts. You wouldn't want anything bad to happen to Harry Potter, would you, Dobby?"

The house elf shook his head enthusiastically, his eyes wide and his ears flapping around making him look extremely ridiculous. And then he just stood there.

"Are you deaf?! Get started! Now!"

"Of course, master Draco, Sir!"

With a snap the house elf finally disapparated, leaving Draco to himself. It wouldn't take much now to get him to break every promise he made to Nobody. Suppressing the urge to cry and scream he settled on kicking his bed post instead. He groaned in pain. This was the first and probably last time he ever thanked his parents for forcing him to always wear shoes - even in his own bedroom.

"Merlin, Harry! Why can't you just stay out of trouble?!"

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

The Weasleys were the nicest and most wonderful people Harry had ever met. They all welcomed him wholeheartedly in their midst and made him feel like he was one of their own children. Molly made the best food - except Hogwarts food maybe -, Arthur asked the strangest questions about simple Muggle things but always seemed genuinely interested in what Harry told him and Ginny always acted a bit weird and shy around him but was also super nice and that fierce little girl was definitely not afraid to stand up to her older brothers. Ron claimed she had a crush on him but Harry didn't believe him.
Why would she?

The brothers he all knew from school already, except the very oldest one. But neither Bill nor Charlie were in town as they both worked abroad so Harry didn't get the chance to meet him. He also would've liked to thank Charlie for his help with a certain Dragon Problem. Seemed like he had to do that another time.

Life at the Wealseys' was super fun. Ron always complained about the chores they had to do but Harry found that that bit of table setting and garden degnoming with the other boys was fun, too.
The most amazing thing, though, was the fact that he finally got to fly on a broom again. Quidditch with Ron and the twins was the best thing ever and he couldn't wait for the school team try outs this September. He just wasn't sure about the position he wanted to play, yet. Keeper definitely wasn't his thing but he loved being seeker and beater equally. And his father had been a chaser so that would be amazing, too. Nevertheless, his decision could wait until his return to school. Now he just wanted to enjoy the time he had with the Weasleys. At the moment he was getting ready to leave the burrow- that's what they had called their house - for Diagon Alley in order to buy various school supplies that were required. Soon all of them were gathered around the fireplace, even though Harry wasn't sure as to why exactly 'there'. Molly was the last one to join them. In her hands she carried a small pot of glittery black powder.

"Here's the floo-powder."

Then she basically shoved the pot right under his nose.

"Guests go first!"

"Okay, um, but what do I do."

The woman looked shocked and glared at Ron accusingly.

"Ronald, you should've told us that he hasn't used the floo system before."

Ron looked ready to defend himself but got interrupted before he even opened his mouth.

"Come on, you go first, so Harry can see how it is done."

The youngest son just shrugged and walked towards the fireplace, grabbing a handful of the weird powder on his way. Mr Weasley put his hands onto Harry's shoulders from behind in a fatherly gesture which felt oddly right.

"Okay, kid. Just watch really closely what he's doing, alright?"

He gave a nod and Ron threw the powder into the fireplace which suddenly lit up in bright green flames. Harry almost screamed when Ron stepped into them, but the boy seemed totally fine and his clothes didn't even catch fire!

'I should really stop being surprised by this world',
Harry decided.

"Diagon Alley",
Ron said loud and clearly and immediately he was gone and the flames were, too.

Suddenly all the gazes were on Harry again.

"Your turn, boy."
Mr Weasly let go of his shoulders.
"You've got this. Just speak very clearly."

Gathering his courage he stepped forward, took some of the powder and flung it into the fireplace. He hoped no one saw him wince when the green flames burst out of nowhere. Taking a last deep breath he stepped in. Against his expectations the fire was really cold. When he finally dared to breathe in, in order to say the words, ashes were finding their way into his lungs and the urges to caugh and sneeze were interjecting with his ability to speak properly. What came out was something like:

"Dagnally-"

And with that he got sucked into the floo network.