Chapter Text
At the end of Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he went through a harrowing ordeal at the Ministry of Magic where he and some of his friends had to fight a dozen fully trained dark wizards, known as Death Eaters. They fought them all over the Department of Mysteries. They were after a prophecy Harry had found on a shelf in the Prophecy Room.
Harry refused to give it to them.
Harry was lured to the Ministry of Magic by the dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort. He tricked Harry into believing Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, had been captured and was being tortured. Harry was determined to save his godfather and none of his friends could talk him out of going, so five of the bravest of them accompanied him on his quest.
Unfortunately, Harry watched as he lost his godfather when he was hit by a spell and fell through the Veil in the Death Room, never to return. It was a one-way ticket to the afterlife.
Harry wasn’t able to save his godfather after all and felt responsible for his death somewhat since he allowed himself to be tricked by the dark wizard that killed his parents and even attacked him as a baby.
Voldemort even tried to possess Harry in the ministry atrium after the old Hogwarts headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, proved to the dark lord that he couldn’t beat everyone he faced. Dumbledore prevented Voldemort from doing whatever he wanted while they dueled, but he couldn’t stop him from possessing Harry.
However, he apparently chose a bad time to try the possession. Harry had just lost his godfather and he wasn’t too pleased with Voldemort at the moment, nor did he have fondness for the man’s devoted follower, Bellatrix Lestrange. She was the deranged one that hit Sirius with the spell and caused him to fall through the veil. What was even worse? Sirius and Bellatrix were cousins.
When Voldemort possessed Harry and was rifling through his memories, Harry grabbed onto the happy ones he had with his friends, how much he loved them and how much they loved him. He then focused on his memories of Sirius and not just reveled in the love he had for his godfather but he pushed with all his might and magic every one of those feelings of love he felt for Sirius and made Voldemort experience them to the fullest.
The dark lord screamed in pain as he experienced something completely foreign to him, something he could not fathom nor comprehend. The pain the feelings of love caused were intense to someone as evil as Voldemort.
He left Harry’s body quickly, unable to possess him like he wanted. The dark lord had been weakened by the attempt and so had Harry. He put everything he had into pushing Voldemort out. He was now passed out from the effort.
Dumbledore protected him before Voldemort could do anything more. Besides the aurors and the Minister had arrived. The dark lord had now been exposed and could no longer hide in the shadows until ready to come out in the open. He was definitely in the open now, for better or for worse.
However, he needed to leave so he could rest and regain his strength. The boy had surprised him once again. These surprises were getting very old, he thought. He then disapparated away.
Even though the prophecy was accidentally destroyed and Voldemort never attained it, Dumbledore had a copy of it so he shared it with Harry in his office back at Hogwarts.
The burden of the prophecy that pits Harry against Voldemort in a final battle, along with the loss of his godfather, put Harry in a state of depression and guilt he could not seem to crawl out of.
The only help he received was from some of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, a group dedicated to fighting against the dark lord, when they confronted his horrible relatives at King’s Cross. His relatives were there as usual to pick up Harry after he arrived by train at the end of the year.
The Order members warned the Dursleys that they would be watching to see how they treated their nephew and cousin. They were told that Harry lost someone close to him and was to be given plenty of space so he could properly mourn and deal with the loss.
Harry’s uncle did not look too good on the ride back to Privet drive. His face was turning purple as he drove and thought about what he had been told. How they had threatened him. “How dare they!” he was grumbling and complaining as his Aunt Petunia sat on the other side looking worried. His cousin Dudley was sitting as far away from Harry as he could get in the back seat, but it wasn’t far enough for his liking.
Harry just bided his time. He knew that his uncle was too stupid and set in his ways to do what they said. But Harry had an ace up his sleeve. Normally, he wouldn’t resort to such actions but after the year he had, he decided that there was no way he would put up with anymore of his relative’s nonsense.
He almost couldn’t wait to surprise them.
Once they arrived home, Vernon opened the boot for Harry while they all went inside the house, leaving him to deal with his trunk on his own. That was not a problem for Harry though. The trunk was lightened for easy handling and carrying, so Harry lifted it with one hand out of the boot and carried it to the house with no struggle at all.
Luckily he had Hedwig’s cage cleaned and inside his trunk. He had also suggested to Hedwig that she should fly to Privet Drive instead of riding the train and having to be in the car with the Dursleys. It was a much better offer so she took him up on it.
When Harry went inside and closed the door, he was warily keeping an eye out for his Uncle Vernon. A purple face typically means he’s going to erupt into violence of some sort. That violence was typically directed at Harry.
After he was inside, he headed for the stairs with his trunk in hand. Just before he stepped on the first step, his uncle came out from the lounge with his hands out in front of him reaching for his nephew. He was cursing up a storm and promising all sorts of horrible things he was going to do to the teen.
Harry went ahead and stepped up on the first step and then swung his trunk forward and into a loop over his head as he swung his arm in an arc and had the trunk come down hard on top of his uncle’s head behind him. The man had barely touched him when he felt the pain from the hard trunk. He was lucky it had no weight to it, only the strength Harry could put into it as he swung it.
Vernon stepped back dazed from the blow, holding his head that had started to bleed a little. Dudley, who had been watching and hoping to see some action, was shocked to see what Harry did to his father.
“Hey! You can’t do that, ya freak!” Dudley said loudly.
“Shut up, Dudley, before I do worse to you!” Harry replied impatiently.
Dudley took a step back, worried about what he had in mind. His cousin was no longer the scrawny little runt he and his friends were accustomed to bullying around. He was older now and had put on some height and muscle. He also looked like he wasn’t in a particularly good mood.
Harry calmly swung his trunk back around to where he was carrying it again and headed up the stairs to his room while Vernon and Dudley just watched. Neither one had seen him fight back before.
Once in his room, Harry started automatically putting things where they go and placing Hedwig’s cage on the dresser for her. When he passed the window he noticed some work going on directly across the street at Number 5. The house had been changed too. It was no longer a cookie-cutter type home like the rest of them in the neighborhood.
It had been expanded some with a room over the garage and perhaps a bigger patio in the back. Apparently they were finishing up a pool in the back garden too. The truck out front clearly was from a business that installs pools. He couldn’t see any large excavating equipment so they must have already dug it out. He decided to ask his Aunt Petunia what she knew about it. She was a nosy neighbor so likely knew quite a bit.
Harry got lost in his mourning for Sirius for a bit, mixed in with his worry over the prophecy. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do. Voldemort was way too powerful and skilled with magic for Harry to have a chance against him.
The power and complicated spells Dumbledore and Voldemort used against each other in the Ministry atrium were nothing short of amazing. How could he ever get that good before Voldemort kills him? Voldemort was back already and Harry was still in school. It seemed hopeless.
He decided that he needed to buck up and stop moping so much. He had plenty he needed to do. He had started on a regimen last year that he followed all year at Hogwarts. He planned to continue that regimen with a few minor adjustments that will need to be made for the summer at his relatives.
He had a few ideas of what he could get by with in his room, so he would get started soon.
However, right then, Harry started smelling food. He realized he was hungry, especially since he missed some meals during and after the ordeal at the Ministry. He had been too upset to eat.
He left his room and went downstairs to see what was cooking.
When he reached the lounge, he saw in his peripheral vision his uncle coming at him with a bat raised over his head for a downward swing. Harry’s right hand came up automatically quick as lightning and the red spell of a stunner left his pointer finger, hitting his Uncle Vernon in the chest.
Vernon crumpled to the floor out cold.
Dudley, who was once again watching, jumped up from his seat in the lounge.
“What did you do to him?” Dudley demanded.
“I stunned him, Dud. He won’t wake for a while. Maybe he’ll calm down before I have to hurt him to get through that thick head of his.”
“Won’t you get in trouble with your ministry?” asked his Aunt Petunia who had come out of the dining room when she heard her husband hit the floor with a loud thud due to his weight.
“No,” he replied politely. “I didn’t use my wand. I found out that the trace is only on the wand. Lucky for me, I’m powerful enough to not need a wand for every spell. Found that out last summer, actually, when I saved Dudley over there from the dementors,” he said gesturing at his cousin.
They looked confused so he continued.
“Dudley made me drop my wand and it was dark when the dementors attacked. So I desperately asked my wand to light up so I could find it … and it did. Wandless magic is a very nice thing to be able to do. You never know when you might not have your wand. You do have to work hard at it and it’s more difficult to learn than wanded magic but very doable if you’re determined. I worked on it all year with every spare moment I had.”
He didn’t go into more detail with his relatives but he would even try spells wandlessly after he mastered them with a wand in class. As soon as he had it down with a wand then he would work on it wandlessly. He had already learned the lower level spells he already knew. His wandless repertoire expanded rapidly over the year due to his efforts.
He was even tortured by his Defense professor who made him write with a cursed quill that used his blood for the ink. A wandless spell to numb his hand made it easy to bear. He then found some good healing spells that he also learned wandlessly. They helped prevent the scarring along with soaking his hand in Essence of Murtlap.
Eventually, he learned a switching spell that he did wandless and every time he had detention he would make sure he had a few self-inking quills loaded with red ink in his bag. They were all transfigured to look like the professor’s cursed quill. Once in detention he would switch the cursed one with one of his own and write the lines with no blood loss or harm to the back of his hand.
The professor was angry that her punishment was not doing the damage she wanted but she couldn’t keep him in detention forever. He made her believe that his magic kicked in and healed him quickly while he wrote. She eventually gave up on the torture since it wasn’t working.
How was she supposed to enjoy watching him suffer when he wasn’t suffering?
Both Petunia and Dudley were shocked that he could do magic now without getting in trouble. This changed things dramatically in their minds.
“What’s for dinner, Aunt Petunia?” asked Harry. “Can Dudley and I help to set the table?”
“It’s butterfly pork chops with mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, and a salad. Please do set the table for me and get the drinking glasses. Also, can you wake Vernon, please?”
“Sorry, but I don’t trust him. I’m going to let him wake up on his own. He may have to eat a bit late but the experience will drive home the importance of not messing with me.”
She nodded her head.
“I suggest you explain the current situation, Aunt Petunia, when he does wake up so there are no more misunderstandings on his part. No one has the right to hurt me. He better learn that lesson quickly,” he threatened.
Petunia nodded again in acceptance, understanding that he wasn’t just speaking about Vernon. She gave Dudley a knowing look to make sure he understood.
“Come on, Dudley,” said Harry. “Let’s get the table ready so we can eat. I’m hungry.”
Dudley only hesitated for a few seconds before he followed Harry to start setting the table.
They had a fairly quiet dinner with everyone getting their fill as Vernon lay in the other room out to the world. About the only talking was when Harry asked about the house across the street.
Turns out the house was sold in the early spring to some family coming from the United States. They had a lot of work done on the house before they planned to arrive. Evidently, they have a kid who needs to finish the semester at their school before they can move here.
They had a pool put in and expanded the house as much as they could. Apparently, they have some money to be able to do all that, she told him.
Well, at least the house will be different, Harry was thinking. Too many of them in this neighborhood are all the same.
oOo
A few days later after lots of body weight exercises and learning new spells wandlessly, Harry saw out his open window that a big moving truck was out in front of the house across the street. There were two guys carrying big pieces of furniture from the back of the truck and into the house. Occasionally, he would see a woman that looked to be about Aunt Petunia’s age come out and grab something.
She was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and trainers. She appeared to be a nice looking lady as far as he could tell. But then he saw something that caught his eye and he could not seem to look away. He forgot about Sirius and the prophecy completely during this time. He focused and zeroed in on the one mesmerizing sight before his eyes.
It was a girl that appeared to be about his age and she was dressed in what looked like a light-blue bikini top with short jean cutoffs that had strategic slashes and holes. Had the slashes and holes been anywhere else they would have been useless as shorts or for any type of covering. She also had on trainers with ankle socks. She had a light tan that was even across all her exposed skin and her long legs.
She stopped and swung her hair back behind her head as she reached back and pulled out the item that previously had it in a ponytail. She then gathered her shiny, light golden-brown hair in her hands and tamed it again with the same item so it was back in a tighter ponytail. It looked like her hair reached down to her shoulder blades when hanging loose, Harry thought.
She then grabbed a small box and walked into the house with it. When she came back out to grab another box she happened to look over at the Dursley’s house and saw Harry looking at her from his bedroom window.
She waved at him.
Harry felt embarrassed for being caught looking but managed to wave back instead of running away to hide. She took off across the street after she checked for traffic. She then stopped when she was in the grass on the front garden and looked up at Harry.
“Hi! I’m Cassie. What’s your name?” she asked.
“Hello, Cassie. My name is Harry,” he said leaning out the open window.
“I love your accent. You English guys have the best accent.”
“I like yours too!”
“Oh? Mine’s just plain ole American mid-west. Nothing special.”
“I think it’s great! Definitely different from around here.”
“Thanks!”
“Say, do you guys need any help unloading?” he offered. “I’d be happy to help.”
“No thanks. I don’t think we need it. We almost have it done. Most of it will be unloaded by the moving guys. That’s what they’re paid to do after all.”
“I really don’t mind helping so let me know if your need changes.”
“What I really need is a swim in that brand new pool in my back yard. As a matter of fact, once these guys are done and that truck leaves, I’m going in. I already have my bikini on so I’m going to get a swim in before I have to start all that unpacking.”
“Sounds like a good idea. It’s certainly a hot enough day.”
“Why don’t you join me, Harry?”
“Are you sure?” he asked to make sure she meant it and wasn’t offering out of some sort of neighborly obligation.
“You bet I am! You can help me break that new pool in.”
“I’ll have to see if I can find my swimming costume. I just got back from my boarding school and haven’t unpacked everything. If I do have it somewhere, it may not even fit anymore.”
“Best get a move on then. Cut something old off if you have to. I think these guys are going to be done very soon. Come on over once the truck leaves,” she told him then walked back to her house.
“Okay. I’ll see you soon,” Harry told her then pulled back into his room.
Harry didn’t actually have any trunks for swimming so he decided to transfigure a pair of Dudley’s old castoffs into some. He didn’t want to use any of the clothes he bought himself recently. They fit him perfectly and he wanted them to stay that way. But he had plenty of the castoffs from Dudley so they were ripe for transfiguration.
After today with Cassie, he could go visit a shop and buy a few swim trunks that don’t have to be transfigured, just in case he gets invited back. Best to have several in different colors. Of course he could always do a color change charm. Those were quite simple to do wandlessly.
With lots of concentration, Harry cast the transfiguration on the old pair of trousers and they morphed into shorts that looked just like board shorts made out of nylon. They even had the lining inside. He then shrunk the shorts to get them to the right size.
For his final touch he turned the swim trunks black with a light-blue thin stripe down the side.
They felt pretty good when he put them on. All the extra practice on wandless magic after perfecting spells with a wand had really come in handy, he thought. He ended up working twice as much on all the spells. Of course, he was really good with the practical side so it came a little easier for him than most.
His theory was getting better and he planned to keep working on it. It helped with the practical and what was interesting was the practical, at least once he analyzed it enough on how he picked it up so quickly, it helped with the theory. He never realized that until this past year.
With all the extra work on spells and then teaching the DA how to defend themselves, Harry had really jumped ahead in many areas, but mostly defense. Charms and Transfiguration were important to be better at fighting so Harry had buckled down there too.
Harry went ahead with more wandless practice as he waited for the truck to leave. It was getting easier and easier for him to learn spells wandlessly. Now that he was back with the Dursleys, he had to reverse the process. Any new spells he wanted to learn, he had to learn them wandlessly first and then wait until he was back at Hogwarts to learn them with the wand.
Eventually, the truck pulled away so Harry took off downstairs with his swim trunks, t-shirt, and trainers on.
“I’ll be across the street at the new neighbors. I was invited to go swimming,” he told Vernon and Petunia. “See ya!”
He never got a response so he went out the front door and crossed the street.
He rang the doorbell and waited.
The lady he saw earlier answered the door. She was pretty with dark brown hair. Must be where Cassie got most of her looks, he thought.
“Hi!” Harry said cheerfully.
“Hi! Can I help you?” she asked with a smile.
“Sorry. I should have introduced myself. I’m Harry Potter and I live across the street with my aunt, uncle, and cousin,” he said pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. “Cassie invited me over for a swim. She wanted to swim before she had to start unpacking she told me.”
“Nice to meet you, Harry,” she said shaking his hand. “I’m Margaret Taylor. Come on in but please ignore the mess.”
“Thanks! Don’t worry about it. I know you’re just moving in. There’s no way I could expect it to be sorted and put away already.”
“No. That would take a whole bunch of magic.”
Harry stopped and looked at her. “I beg your pardon?” he asked.
“Oh, I was just joking,” she said with a grin and a chuckle. “I thought how wonderful it would be if I could just wave my hands and make all this go where it’s supposed to go,” she said wishfully.
“Oh, right,” he chuckled in agreement. “That would be marvelous to be able to do that. I’m sure you are not looking forward to all the work it’s going to take to get all this done.”
“No, not really. I haven’t had to move in a while. I forgot how tedious it could be.”
“Mom, have you seen a cute neighbor with messy black hair and bright green eyes around yet?” she asked as she entered the foyer.
Margaret turned to her daughter then motioned to Harry. “Do you mean this cute neighbor with messy black hair and bright green eyes?” she asked with a smile.
“Harry! There you are and you’re taller than me,” she said walking up to him. “That’s a bonus! I couldn’t tell when you were in your upstairs window, you know. Come on let’s go swimming before Mom puts me back to work,” she said then turned to walk back the way she came.
“Alright,” he said then followed the whirlwind known as Cassie. “It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Taylor,” he said over his shoulder.
“You too, Harry. You guys have fun.”
Margaret Taylor watched as her daughter led her new friend to the back for swimming. Cassie always amazed her. Leave it to her to find the cutest boy in the neighborhood quickly and wouldn’t you know, he was just across the street. Did he say he lived with his aunt, uncle, and cousin? I wonder what happened to his parents? Oh well, if we get to know him well enough then I’m sure we’ll find out, she thought to herself.
Putting thoughts of her very friendly daughter aside she went back to work putting away the kitchen items. She had dishes, pots and pans, you name it, and they all needed to be unpacked and put away. Best to quit procrastinating and get busy.
Her daughter was procrastinating enough for both of them right now but she wouldn’t dream of stopping her from having some fun. It was a very long trip. She always worked hard at school and she had to leave all her friends behind with this move. How she wished her husband was still alive so he could help. He could definitely speed up the process and get these things put away.
She teased him in her mind, accusing him of just wanting to get out of helping. They used to tease each other and she missed it.
oOo
“So, you think I’m cute?” asked Harry as he and Cassie removed their trainers and socks by the side of the pool.
Harry noticed her toenails were painted light-blue too.
“You are definitely cute,” she confirmed before she stood and started shimmying out of her blue jean cutoffs as Harry removed his shirt.
She had a matching bikini bottom to the bra, both a light-blue.
“Well, I’m disappointed,” he said.
“What? You don’t think I look good in this bikini?” she asked hurt.
“That’s not what I meant!” he said exasperated. “I was disappointed that you only found me cute,” he explained. “I was hoping for ruggedly handsome,” he said with a grin.
“You don’t have to worry about that. After seeing your six-pack you have already climbed several levels past cute. You may need to age a year or two more to reach ruggedly handsome but I’m positive you’ll get there. By the way, I’m only unsure about the time frame. You will definitely get there. Also, how old are you?”
“Fifteen. Actually, I’ll be sixteen in about a month, at the end of July.”
“Cool! We’re the same age. I just turned sixteen in May.”
“After you, Cassie,” Harry said with a bow. “It’s your new pool so I insist you get in first.”
“Why, thank you, neighbor Harry. You are most considerate to offer,” she reciprocated with a returned bow.
Cassie then walked down the pool steps in the water and waded out further before diving under, popping back up, and swimming to the other end. Harry watched her the whole way then followed her in after she reached the other end of the pool. The water was perfect for such a sunny day, he noted.
He dove under the water and swam under the whole way to the other end before popping back up.
“Wow, this feels great!” he said. “Thanks for inviting me, Cassie.”
“You’re welcome, Harry.”