Harry sat at his kitchen table trying very hard not to flinch at the twin glares directed at him by Sirius and Hermione. Luna and Dobby were both trying not to get in each other's way as they made tea for everyone.
"How?" snapped an angry Hermione. "How could you do that to us? To me?"
"Listen, I already apologised for stunning you but like I already said I needed to convince Dum..."
"Oh, who cares about that? I understand that you wanted to make a point to Dumbledore. That's not what I'm talking about and you know it," said Hermione. "How could you just leave home like that? How could you leave without telling me?"
Harry grimaced. "It's not like I had much of a choice at the time. Don't forget that I didn't know where you were. Or have you forgotten how both of you refused to send me any news that summer."
"You could have sent a note with Hedwig," snapped Sirius.
"No, I couldn't," snapped Harry. "That entire summer, who was it that claimed that sending any information by owl was too insecure? Yeah, that's right. That would be the two of you. So don't get on my case now and start claiming that I should have been sending you'll notes telling you everything."
His tone softened as he saw their abashed faces. Damnit, he didn't want to fight with them. "Listen, it's not like I wanted to just leave like that. I tried... I went to the Burrow but there was no one there. I was planning on probably spending the night at the Leaky Cauldron and finding a way to contact you the next day but then I got a letter from the ministry saying that I've been expelled from Hogwarts and that they're sending people to destroy my wand. I knew I had to get out of England after that. What else could I have done?"
Sirius slapped his hand into his forehead. "Oh Dear Merlin," he cried. "Dumbledore had them reverse that expulsion in minutes, Harry. All you had to do was sit through an underage magic hearing. They would never have expelled you. Not as long as Dumbledore was Headmaster."
"Yes, because he had done such a stellar job of protecting me in the past," muttered Harry. "Unfortunately, at the time I was convinced that I had to leave. I'd found a Death Eater outside my home and then I got a bogus expulsion notice claiming I had done magic when I hadn't and..."
"Hold on, back up a second. There were Death Eaters at your house? What exactly happened that night? All we knew was that someone knocked out Dung and that you had disappeared?" asked Sirius.
"Who's Dung?" asked Harry.
"Mundungus Fletcher. He's... well I don't know if he still is, but at the time, he was a member of Dumbledore's group - The Order of the Phoenix..."
"Seriously... he actually called them the Order of the Phoenix? Grandiose, much?" said Harry.
Sirius continued smoothly, "He was the member who was supposed to be guarding you that night. Only we found him knocked out and pushed under some bushes."
Harry had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Uhh, could you tell me what he looked like?" he asked.
Sirius looked puzzled - "Oh you know, short guy, gingery hair, looked like a basset hound, but you wouldn't have seen him. All the guards were under invisibility cloaks."
"Ahh I see, of course, invisibility cloaks. That makes so much sense... Tell me," he said as it became clear to him who exactly he had bashed over the head with a shovel. He shook his head, he could think about that later. "Why didn't anyone think to inform me that I had guards? It would have... made me feel so much safer, I'm sure."
"This is all very much beside the point. I want to know why you never got in touch with us," snapped Hermione."
"Who says I didn't," snapped Harry right back, which caused both Sirius and Hermione to stare at him in astonishment.
"You did?" asked Sirius. "When?"
Harry frowned. "Well, the first time I learned where you where is when I read in the paper that you had gotten the Brazilian Wizards to give you a trial to clear your name. That was what? Five - Six years ago?"
"Six, actually," said Sirius.
"I looked you up then," said Harry. "I didn't have any way to let you into the Fidelius at that time since my secret keeper was... ahh, unavailable and I didn't really have any way to explain why I looked so much like your old friend James Potter so..." Harry held his hand aloft and displayed a ring there. "This is a glamour ring; you rub your thumb across the top like so and..." Harry's hair turned a sandy brown, his eyes shifted to brown. While the change to his facial features was subtle, it was still enough to make him look utterly different from the Harry Potter that had been sitting in front of them.
"Jim Dobbins," shouted Sirius in sudden recognition and astonishment.
"You know him?" asked Hermione in shock.
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