Harry awoke rather late the next day. He blearily looked around the room and noticed the clock on the wall reading 2PM.

'I slept all the way till afternoon, was I really that tired?' wondered Harry.

He sighed and got up off the bed. Stretching his limbs, he reached towards his glasses and then stopped abruptly.

'It's become such a habit to wear them that I forgot I don't even need them anymore' thought Harry with a smile.

Ever since he had woken up back in Privet Drive, he noticed that his eyesight was fixed. It was beyond fixed actually, he could see so much better now than he imagined a normal person could.

Feeling happy about the new change, Harry looked at himself in the mirror for a second, admiring how different his impression was without glasses.

Satisfied, Harry walked out of his room and after he had taken a few steps, he heard some voices coming from his aunt and uncle's bedroom. Curious what they were talking about, he concentrated a little harder on his hearing and a moment later, he could hear them clearly.

"Petunia, you can't seriously mean we have to take care of that disgusting nephew of yours till he turns 18 right? I don't know when he might end up killing us!" said his Uncle angrily.

"There's no helping it Vernon, we had an agreement. No matter what, until he turns into an adult, that boy stays right here. I don't care what you have to say on the matter but this case is closed" replied his aunt, sounding equally angry. A moment of silence later, she continued.

"If he wanted to kill us, he could have done it quite easily Vernon. Did you notice how the wall literally ripped off when he touched it? He might be trying to scare us for everything we've done till now but I don't think he would actually hurt us" she said, with confidence. "No matter what, he's still my sister's son. Even if I hated her, she was still my sister and I will not have you throw him out, do you understand me?" she added menacingly.

"Un-understood" replied Vernon, taken aback.

Harry stopped listening to their conversation and just stared towards their room in surprise.

'I thought she hated me down to her bones but well, that was unexpected' thought Harry. 'I almost feel bad for scaring the bejesus out of her'

After a moment, Harry decided not to think about any of that and just went to the kitchen, grabbed a bite to eat and sat at the kitchen table for a few minutes, thinking about what he should do during the day.

'Maybe I should polish my control over my strength so I don't lose control in a bad situation' thought Harry.

Having this thought, he grabbed a glass from the shelf and made his way back to his room.

Standing in the middle of his room, Harry started throwing the glass up into the air, and catching it as it came down. He did this over and over again, though at times he would squeeze the glass a little too hard and have the glass crack or even break but eventually, after hours of practice, he went almost an hour without the glass breaking or cracking at all.

Just as he was revelling in his small achievement, he heard the sound of his door opening.

Placing the glass on his bedside table, he looked towards the door to see his uncle walk in, dressed in a rather nice suit.

"We're going out" said Uncle Vernon.

"Are we now? Any place interesting?" asked Harry, trying his level best to keep a straight face.

"I meant, your aunt, Dudley and I - are going out" he said with a glare.

"Oh well, too bad. Have fun out there" said Harry, trying to seem genuinely disappointed.

His uncle apparently didn't like the way Harry was acting as he glared at Harry, his face slowly turning red.

"Do not wreck the house" he said.

"I'll try not to, can't promise anything though" replied Harry, receiving a glare in return.

"Do not touch our possessions" he continued.

"I have better stuff you know?" said Harry, pointing at his trunk with all his clothes, books and other items strewn about on the floor and bed.

His uncle just grit his teeth seeing so many things he didn't approve of, under his own roof but he contained his anger and turned around.

Before leaving the room, he turned his head back and spoke in a threatening tone, "I expect to see the house in one piece when we get back"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"I expected a nicer family but we're all stuck with our lots in life" replied Harry with an obviously fake, sad sigh.

His uncle's face had already transitioned to a shade of purple and it looked like his head might just explode if it continued further.

Harry almost expected him to start yelling at Harry but to his surprise, his uncle just grunted and walked off, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Well, that went well" said Harry with a laugh.

'So they're going out and with the way my uncle is dressed, that means the advance guard should be arriving soon' thought Harry, oddly excited. 'I can finally start my journey to fix all the crap that went wrong over the last few years…or well next few years in my current situation' thought Harry.

Unable to concentrate on training anymore, Harry just lay in bed, lost in thought as he waited for the people he was expecting to show up on his door step.

After what felt like days had passed, Harry was starting to get impatient, wondering if things had changed and that they had decided not to come when he heard a distinct crash from the kitchen.

Harry bolted upright with a smile on his face. 'They're here!'

As he stood up, he grabbed his wand since he wanted to at least act a little cautious so as to not get chewed out by Moody.

His bedroom door's lock clicked and his door swung open. Remembering how things went last time, Harry slowly made his way to the top of the stairs leading to the living room and looked down into the darkness.

He pointed his wand out, waiting for someone to speak.

"Put the wand down boy, before you take someone's eye out" said a voice.

Harry almost smiled when he heard this.

"It's been a while, Professor Moody" he said, somewhat nostalgically.

"Don't know much about the professor part" growled the voice, "didn't get down to much teaching, did I? Now come down here, so we can get a better look at you"

Harry almost hesitated, even though he knew they weren't hostile to him, he still couldn't get used to how irritable Moody sounded, true to his name.

"It's okay Harry, we're here to take you away" said another voice.

"Oh, Professor Lupin!" exclaimed Harry.

"Why are you all standing in the dark?" asked another voice, clearly a woman's. "Lumos"

The group of people were crowding around the foot of the stairs, Lupin standing nearest to him. His patched and frayed robes standing out even more than he remembered. Harry fought back the smile forming on his face as he looked at the faces he was already acquainted with.

Especially Tonks, he was rather fond of the bright, bubbly girl. She always gave him the feeling of being with an older sister, though he never had a sister to know how that would feel.

"He looks exactly like I thought he would" exclaimed Tonks happily.

Harry walked down the stairs, his wand still gripped in his hand and when he reached the bottom of the stairs he put the wand into his back pocket, out of habit.

"Don't put it in your back pocket, do you have any idea how many wizards have lost buttocks by doing that? It's basic wand safety!" growled Moody.

"Who d'you know who lost buttocks?" asked Tonks, clearly interested.

"Never mind, just know it's dangerous. Anyway, you sure this is him Lupin?" asked Moody cautiously.

"What form does your patronus take Harry?" asked Lupin.

"A stag" replied Harry.

"Yup, that's him alright" said Lupin happily.

Lupin walked towards Harry, placed a hand on his shoulder affectionately and spoke, "How are you, Harry?"

"Well, all things considered? Kind of hungry. I didn't eat any dinner" he replied.

This earned a chuckle from all of them, except Moody.

Harry looked around at all the wizards around him with a smile as they kept staring avidly at him. Though he remembers feeling disconcerted with how they constantly stared at him the last time, he couldn't help but smile this time around.

'I really did come back in time.' Thought Harry excitedly.

Though he already knew the answer, Harry felt he should say something to them.

"You know, it's rather lucky the Dursleys are out tonight" he said, and inadvertently looked towards Tonks for a reply.

Not noticing his glance, she chuckled. "Ha! Lucky? I'm the one who lured them away" she said proudly, "I sent them a letter through muggle mail telling them they'd been shortlisted for the All-England Best Kept Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now…or at least they think they are"

Harry chuckled at that. He really wanted to wait and see his uncle's reaction when he got back.

"We should probably leave soon then" said Harry.

"Yeah, we'll leave almost immediately" replied Lupin, "We're just waiting for the signal"

Harry looked around at all the wizards in the meantime and noticed Tonks frequently stealing glances at Lupin. All the other wizards and witches were staring at Harry almost constantly.

'Hmm, I wonder what that's about' thought Harry.

Lupin led the group into the kitchen and started motioning towards the various wizards in the room.

"This is Alastor Moody" Lupin said, pointing at Moody.

"Yeah, I know" replied Harry.

"This clumsy one here is Nymphadora-" he continued only to be interrupted by her.

"Don't call me Nymphadora" she pouted, "It's just Tonks."

"This is Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers being called Tonks" said Lupin.

"You try being named Nymphadora by your idiot mother, then we'll see how you like it" she mumbled.

Lupin ignored her and continued on with his introductions.

"This is Kingsley Shacklebolt" he indicated the tall black wizard, who bowed. "Elphias Doge" he motioned towards a wheezy-voiced wizard who nodded.

"Dedalus Diggle-" he started.

"We've met before!" squeaked Diggle excitedly, his violet-coloured top hat falling down.

"Emmeline Vance" he said, pointing at a stately-looking woman in an emerald green shawl, who elegantly inclined her head with a small smile.

"Sturgis Podmore" Lupin continued, pointing towards a square-jawed wizard who smiled and winked at Harry.

"And lastly Hestia Jones" he pointed at a pink-cheeked black-haired witch and laughed brightly and waved at him.

Harry smiled and nodded or waved towards the various members as they were being introduced.

"There really are a lot of people here though" muttered Harry.

"A lot of people volunteered to come get you" said Lupin, having heard what Harry muttered.

"Yeah well, the more the better" said Moody darkly. "We're your guard Potter"

"Much too clean aren't they, these muggles" said Tonks, looking around the kitchen. "My dad's muggle-born and he's a downright slob. Guess it differs from muggle to muggle"

Harry laughed a little at that, "They might keep their house clean but they spew some really dirty stuff out their mouths though. Worse than anyone I've met so far and that includes Peeves by the way"

Tonks giggled, "I miss Peeves, he always made me laugh"

Lupin sighed a little and said, "You should get packed Harry. We have around fifteen minutes"

"I'll help you!" said Tonks brightly and started skipping up the stairs only to stop at the landing and look back, "Come on Harry, time's-a-wasting!"

"Coming, coming" said Harry and followed her up to his room.