Harry Potter and the return of the Dementors

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--------Chapter 1---------

Harry sat on his bed, feeling rather miserable for himself. Standing up, he looked on his desk at the only reminder that he was, in fact, a wizard. These were the letters on his desk from his friends at Hogwarts, Hermione and Ron. This, in effect made Harry more miserable about his situation, because Uncle Vernon didn't let him send any replies back to them, a deal which, at least, allowed Harry to let Hedwig out into the open. Harry had scored this one concession from Uncle Vernon due to the lack of sleep caused by Hedwig's excessive hooting.

The reason that Harry only had his letters for company was due to the fact, as usual, that all his wizarding stuff was locked in the cupboard under the stairs, which, for 11 years, was Harry's bedroom. Harry also knew that, given any excuse, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would have no hesitation in locking him under the stairs in the cupboard. Although Harry wanted to be reunited with his wizarding possessions, the cupboard wasn't, in any way, the ideal situation.

It was 11:00 at night, and Harry decided finally that this situation was too much to bear. Today, he had washed the Dursley's car and windows, and mowed the lawn for them, and he didn't get any real concessions from the Dursleys, his last remaining family. "You get to eat" Aunt Petunia said with an air of finality.

Treading softly so as to avoid making excessive noise, Harry moved to his desk, and scribbled a note to Hermione.

Hermione,

I'm basically a prisoner with the Dursleys. Thanks for writing to me but I'm afraid that I can't really reply to any of your letters. I'd like to see you before September 1 but I don't think I will be let out. Oh, and if I'm not on the school train, tell Dumbledore that the Dursleys haven't let me out. One more thing, can Hedwig stay with you for a while? Harry

That would do. Harry looked at the scrawled note, which, he thought, was understating his situation, but would do. Tying the note to Hedwig's leg, he opened the window and said "Hedwig, bring this to..."

But then, the door opened behind him and Uncle Vernon was standing there, fuming.

"BOY! WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT RUDDY OWL'S GOING?"

Harry panicked. He had broken his deal with Uncle Vernon and there would be hell to pay. Still, he wanted to get that note to Hermione.

"Hurry Hedwig! Hermione! Go and stay there until term starts!" and with that, Hedwig flapped her wings and disappeared into the night.

Harry turned and faced a fuming Uncle Vernon. He was over angry, he was absolutely furious, his face a bright shade of red. He looked at Harry in a menacing way.

"Come here, now!" he barked. Harry hadn't seen Professor Snape, his worst teacher, this angry before. He dreaded what was in store. Uncle Vernon marched Harry out of the room, down the stairs, and then stopped. Then suddenly, he bent down, picked Harry up in one hand and threw Harry onto his old bed in the cupboard under the stairs. He had no trouble doing this, because Harry, although almost fifteen, was small and skinny for his age. As the cupboard door slammed shut, and the bolt rammed home, Harry could have sweared he heard Uncle Vernon laughing as he walked away.

Miles away the next morning, Hermione saw Hedwig fly through the window with a note. ep"Finally!" she thought as she untied the note. As she read the note, she gasped and ran downstairs to where he parents were eating breakfast. She said urgently, "Mum, I think I might need to go and visit Harry".

Mrs Granger looked at Hermione with a puzzled look. Hermione passed her the note. Mrs Granger said, "I'm sure Harry's exaggerating, he probably just misses you all and Hogwarts too."

Hermione thought if this was possible. She had known Harry for the last 4 years, and if anything, Harry tended to understate, rather than overstate his predicament. She said, "I'm not sure. He wouldn't send something like this as a joke."

But Hermione's mum said, "Best wait for a while dear, we'll see what's going on over there soon OK?" and with that, they were off to work.

Harry sat on the bed for the next couple of days, brooding. He had only been let out to use the toilet, and even he, short as he was, couldn't stand up in the cupboard. Things were definitely looking grim. He was glad that he had sent Hedwig away; Harry didn't know if she could survive this. Uncle Vernon had given him one meal a day, and it wasn't exceedingly large. Harry looked to his wizarding stuff, and found his wand sitting in his trunk, where it had lain since the end of last term. In fact, Harry hadn't used his wand since hexing Malfoy on the train on the way home. This could be his way out, but it also could land him in trouble with the Ministry. He decided not to risk it. He was in enough trouble already.

Day by day, the same routine went on, Harry had his birthday, forgotten, in the cupboard. Any presents would probably have been thrown away by Uncle Vernon...

The cupboard door opened.

Uncle Vernon seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Harry looked at him weakly, he didn't feel very strong at the moment. How ironic, he thought, to survive Voldemort four times now, and now to starve to death in the cupboard under the stairs. Malfoy and Professor Snape would be laughing if they knew this. He did, however, give Harry his presents, but only because he didn't want the neighbours seeing that kind of thing, even in the garbage.

Harry heard a motorbike pull up outside the Dursley's front yard, and the doorbell going off. He decided that he didn't want to be found, so Harry slipped under the bed and pulled the invisibility cloak over himself. Nobody would find him here. He heard the door open, and a voice he recognised boomed out.

"What have you done to him?"

"N..nothing." That was Uncle Vernon's voice.

This didn't sound good. Harry was in a bad state already, and he really wasn't in any shape to be hunted. Scanning his mind, Harry didn't think he had broken any wizarding laws, so it wasn't the Ministry....

"So where is he?" the voice continued

"In there, he did something I didn't like."

The cupboard door opened with a bang. Harry saw two sets of feet. He cowered under the bed, he didn't want to be seen in this state.

Uncle Vernon spoke again: "He was in there when I last saw him, he must have magicked himself out. I don't know". Harry saw Uncle Vernon walk away.

The other set of feet walked closer to the bed. Harry saw the person bend down and look under the bed. It was Sirius. He was smiling.

"Its OK Harry, I've come to get you. your Uncle won't bother you any more this holidays."

Harry didn't move, not daring to believe it.

"Harry, I know you're under there in the invisibility cloak. There's nowhere else you could be. Anyhow, your leg's sticking out."

Harry stayed where he was, stunned. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Could it really be Sirius?

Sirius, although innocent, was being hunted by both the muggle police and the Ministry for the supposed murder of Peter Pettigrew. In fact, Pettigrew was still alive. This meant that Sirius was literally a fugitive. He wasn't in any position to walk in and visit anybody.

If Uncle Vernon called the police.....

Sirius gave a sigh. Then he reached under the bed and pulled Harry out from under it. He sat Harry down on the bed and let the Cloak fall around him.

Harry smiled back weakly.

"My, God," Sirius continued. "I didn't think you could get any skinnier. They haven't been feeding you have they? You look worse than some Azkaban prisoners."

"Hi, Sirius," Harry replied, now feeling very weak. "Where am I going?"

Sirius looked at Harry critically, and then said, "I've got a bike outside. Do you reckon that you can get there? And is this all your stuff?"

"Yeah, I can get to the bike," Harry replied. "And that's all my stuff. Uncle Vernon shoved everything down here. Remember to bring Hedwig's cage."

As an afterthought, Harry added, "You better not take too long, Uncle Vernon probably called the police."

Harry stumbled out into the open for the first time in about two weeks. It felt like bliss, and he was happy to be leaving. Harry's clothes, already 4 sizes too big at the best of times (they were Dudley's old clothes) were now positively huge. His pants were falling down. Harry sat down on the bike, dazed.

Sirius emerged from the house, holding Harry's trunk with all his stuff in it, and Hedwig's cage. He used a belt to strap them on the motorbike, and then they rode off, away from Privet Drive.

"Where AM I going?" Harry blurted out.

"To the Grangers, Harry," Sirius replied. "Thank the heavens that you sent that note. Hermione sent it to me. She's very worried about you."

"And for good reason," he added, stealing another glance at a very thin Harry.

The ride itself was uneventful, and when they pulled up outside the Granger's house, Harry stumbled up to the front door, aided by Sirius. Sirius knocked on the door. The door opened, it was Mrs Granger.

"Hello". And then seeing Harry beside him, gasped.

"What have they done to you?" Mrs Granger was visibly shocked at the sight of Harry. She had seen him before, and he didn't look anything near the state he was in. Mrs Granger brought Harry inside their house and sat him down at the table.

Hermione was nowhere to be seen. Mrs Granger came back with a plateful of sandwiches.

"Eat up Harry,” she said. "I don't think they've been feeding you looking at your state."

Hermione walked into the room and gasped.

"Mum! I told you we should have gone to get Harry!"

Mrs Granger looked at Hermione, and nodded. Even she did not expect this.

If Mrs Granger was shocked, it was nothing to what Hermione looked like at that moment. If the situation wasn't so serious, and his mouth not full with sandwich, Harry probably would have started laughing. Hermione had never looked this shocked ever since Harry met her in his first year in Hogwarts.

Eventually, Harry was full. He hadn't eaten this much for weeks now.

"Thanks for the food, Mrs Granger," Harry said.

Mrs Granger spoke up. "Hermione, I think that you better take Harry to your room. He's probably very tired and needs rest."

Hermione nodded, obviously shocked at the state of Harry. She helped Harry get to her room.

"Harry," she said, concern in her voice "I think that you better go to sleep. You look terrible."

Harry smiled at her, groggily. He hadn't felt this tired in a while. However, he wanted to ask Hermione something first. Was it her who sent Sirius?

"Er Hermione..." Harry started, not knowing how to ask.

"Sleep well Harry." There was a tone of finality in her voice. Harry WAS pretty tired. He fell asleep quickly.

Harry stirred. He woke up. Without his glasses, Harry could still tell that he wasn't in the cupboard under the stairs. But this didn't look like Hermione's bedroom either. How curious! Harry decided that he didn't feel dead though, he could still feel himself...

"Welcome back Harry." Hermione handed Harry his glasses. He put them on with his left hand. His right arm seemed to have something inside it that told him not to move it. Harry looked at the arm. There was a tube connected to it. It was, he noticed, connected to a bag of something that looked like water.

"Where am I?" Harry eventually asked. Harry had never seen anywhere like this place.

"In hospital Harry," came the reply. "The Dursleys almost starved you to death. You've been asleep for three days. Term starts in two weeks, so you better get well soon Harry."

So that was where he was, but why? Harry was, or so he thought, perfectly all right at the Granger's place. He looked around the ward. It didn't look anything like Madam Pomfrey's one at Hogwarts, although these nurses seemed as obsessive about dust and noise as Madam Pomfrey.

"T.tt.three days?" Harry stammered, just comprehending what Hermione had just said.

"Yes, Harry. You didn't have much left in you. I know what happened Harry. I'll ask Dumbledore if you could stay with us or Ron next time," Hermione said.

"How did you find out?" Harry asked.

"Harry, don't worry so much, its not good for you. Anyhow, its pretty obvious. You were always pretty skinny but you look like a skeleton. And if that's not enough Harry, you kind of told me."

Hermione wore a sly grin on her face.

There was something that she knew that Harry didn't. She had that look when she had just found something in the library, after extensive research. But Hermione wasn't in the library now. She was sitting next to him.

"I told you? I don't remember," Harry said. "Maybe I wasn't really coherent though. I can only remember coming to your house with, er, 'Snuffles', eating some stuff and falling asleep."

"No Harry," Hermione said. "You told me in your sleep". Upon seeing the look of surprise and confusion on Harry's face, she added, "Its perfectly normal. Some people snore, some talk, some do nothing. You talk. I guess you've been giving Ron some great entertainment over the years."

Harry sat up. He felt a lot better. He asked, "When do I go home?"

Hermione grinned at Harry.

"Harry, you're not going home. At least not this holidays. And if I can help it, not ever." Hermione was now positively grinning.

"Er I can't really stay here though," Harry said, confused.

"No, Harry you prat! You're staying with me or Ron," Hermione said.

Harry laughed. He really did feel much better now.

"When do I leave here?" he asked.

"About now," Hermione said. "The doctors said that you could go as soon as you woke up. I'm under instruction to stuff as much food into you as possible."

Hermione grinned, obviously excited at the prospect of stuffing food in Harry's mouth. She seemed anxious to start. Fortunately for Harry, there was no food at hand.

Later that afternoon, after the doctors had performed some final tests on him, Harry was back at the Granger's place. It seemed that Hermione wasn't kidding.

No matter where he was, there seemed to be food around.

And no matter how hard he protested, Hermione would try to make him eat whenever he was free. Many conversations went along the lines of, "Hermione, I'm already full!"

"You have to eat Harry," was always the reply, followed by Hermione grabbing Harry, holding his nose and basically force-feeding him whatever was close at hand.

"Hermione!" Harry gasped, exasperated, after another occurrence of this. "I'm NOT dying of starvation!"

"You almost did Harry," was the reply. Harry supposed this was true. "I'm not going to let it happen again, plus its doctor's orders!" Hermione added.

Harry laughed, realising that he was going through the complete opposite of Dudley and his diet. It wasn't exactly something Harry found enjoyable.

The day after he arrived back at the Granger's place, Harry felt that he was OK, and it really wouldn't do to overstay his welcome at their place.

They had really gone out of their way to help him, and he didn't want to trouble them further.

So, after dinner, Harry stood up and went to do the dishes for the Grangers.

It was, he supposed, the only way that they would let him repay their kindness to him. Halfway through, Mrs Granger approached Harry.

"Harry dear, you don't have to do the dishes, its OK," she said to him.

"Really, I don't mind, its the least I could do for you" Harry replied. Harry supposed that he better bring up the topic now, before Hermione came and made it any harder to do.

"Er, Mrs Granger," Harry started. "Yes?" Mrs Granger was looking down at Harry, a puzzled look on her face.

"Thanks for everything that you've done for me, I really appreciate it. If I'm too much trouble though..." At this point, Mrs Granger interrupted Harry.

"Harry, you're not any trouble at all, and its good that you're here to keep Hermione company. She was worrying about you since you sent that note."

Mrs Granger had a searching look on her face, as though peering into Harry's mind. Then she said:
"Harry, unless you really want to go, you can stay here. We've asked Dumbledore for permission to keep you, especially after what happened with your Uncle, he hasn't replied yet, and we'll work from there. If I'm not mistaken, I don't really think that you WANT to go back to the Dursley's now do you?"

Harry didn't know what to say. He stood there, dishcloth in hand, stunned as if someone had hit him with a Stunning curse.

Mrs Granger bent down and looked into Harry's green eyes, concerned.

"You're really OK now aren't you? You were in a right state when you came here with your godfather. I thought you were going to keel over and die at the door."

At this point, Hermione walked in. Mrs Granger stood and faced her. She then said:
"Hermione, I don't think that Harry's thinking right yet. You know what, if I'm not mistaken, he was suggesting to me that he go back and live with his Uncle! Well Harry, you didn't get that far, but that's what you were suggesting, right? Well, those people you were living with near starved you to death before, and I'm not letting them finish you off!"

At this, Hermione, after hastily removing the dishcloth still in Harry's hand, took him up to her room and sat him down on the mattress that was serving as Harry's bed. She sat down next to him, put her hands behind Harry's head and peered into his eyes. Finally, she spoke up.

"Harry, you didn't REALLY suggest going back to the Dursley's did you?"

Harry didn't know what to say. He said: "I just thought that I was too much trouble for your parents, and it would be easier for them..."

Hermione interrupted Harry. "Harry, it would NOT be easier for us or indeed for anyone except the Dursley's and You-Know-Who if you died. You surely don't WANT to die do you?"

"Er, no," Harry replied. There was no other logical answer to the question.

A few minutes later, Hedwig flew in through the window. She had a note tied on her leg. She landed on Harry's shoulder and nibbled at him affectionately. Harry untied the note. Upon reading it, Harry exploded with laughter.

It read:

Hermione,

Harry's not dead is he? If he isn't we'll meet next week to get our stuff from Diagon Alley. It's just that rumours that Dad's heard from work are saying that Harry got starved to death at the Dursleys. Then Hedwig flies in through the window with that scrawled note from Harry and a note from you. Send Hedwig back pronto about Diagon Alley and of course, Harry.

Ron

Hermione looked at the note and chuckled.

"I suppose we better write back to Ron and tell him that Professor Trelawney hasn't been proven correct."

Harry grinned, and nodded, chuckling inwardly. Hermione fetched some parchment and a quill and wrote:
Ron,

Harry's alive and with me. He looks like a skeleton and I've been feeding him as much as I can. He is looking quite a bit better than when he came here, and he was in a Muggle hospital for a while but he's OK. We should meet in Diagon Alley next week to get our school stuff I suppose.

Hermione and Harry.

Harry looked at Hermione and asked, "I don't look that bad do I?"

Hermione laughed and examined Harry critically. "Well, you're definitely thinner than before, and you were never very fat..., and just look at yourself, those clothes look huge on you."

"They're Dudley's old things. They've always been big on me," Harry replied.

"That's true, but you didn't have to keep pulling your pants up before," Hermione said, laughing.

As always, Harry thought, things turned out alright in the end.