Chapter 1
When Harry awoke his eyes were still heavy from a dreamless sleep, not that he particularly wanted to open them anyway, with good reason. The walls of his bedroom were crumbling with mould and were damp to the touch. Hermione had begged him not to go back to Grimauld Place and Ron had offered him his own room in the newly built Weasley burrow, but part of Harry knew he had to return. Sirius had left him the desolate building , it was the only part of him Harry had left, the closest thing to family he had left.
Pushing himself up and out of bed he gave a sigh that echoed the emptiness inside of him. Since the battle against Voldemort Harry had felt that something inside of him had died, which technically it had. But he didn't feel light as if a huge weight has been lifted, it felt as if all the former emotion Harry had felt had left his body. It was if he had become an empty shell of his past self, going through the motions but never truly living in the moment.
Everything would go back to normal once he returned to Hogwarts he thought to himself. Hogwarts felt like home.
He, Ron and Hermione had been invited back to the school for an extra year to compensate for the turbulent last year they spent hunting horcrux's. Most of the students who suffered a loss in their education due to Voldemort had been invited back. Some had even declined, the horror of the war being too much, the castle being a permanent reminder of all those who had lost their lives.
Harry tried not to think of it like that, he preferred to make new memories, like the ones from his first few years at the school.
This year would be different, he thought as he padded out of his bedroom towards the old creaky stairs.
Once downstairs Harry could hear the familiar sound of his grumpy house elf muttering to himself. Kreature had refused to leave the house and insisted he must serve, even if it was Harry Potter.
Sighing, Harry began quickly making himself a coffee before the house elf would notice and make it for Harry himself (always with too much sugar and not enough milk). He needed to be more alert than usual today as he was packing and making a trip to Diagon Alley to purchase all the thing he needed for his last school year.
He was due to meet his friends at Diagon Alley at 9 and it was now 8:47 so he'd better get a move on if he intended to make it there in time. Downing his now lukewarm coffee and grabbing his hoodie off the table he left Grimauld Place for the first time in weeks.