Chapter 1:

"Crucio!"

"No Master! Please spare her!"

"Your family defies me and now you must all pay the price!"

"We shall not fail you again, my Lord. Please, I beg you..."

Harry woke up, drenched in sweat, panting for air. This was the second time in three days that he had had a nightmare. On both occasions, it was darkness with muffled voices but he hadn't been able to make out any familiarity with the voices. He knew though that Voldemort had to be involved. Each time, his scar had also burned in agony.

A sudden sharp knock on his bedroom door dragged him from his thoughts.

"Are you up, boy? I want breakfast on the table in 10 minutes!" came the stern voice of Uncle Vernon.

Harry sighed, letting himself fall back into the comfort of his pillow. This summer had been long and tiresome. His Aunt and Uncle forever ordering him about and never allowing him a moment to collect his thoughts. The wizarding world now knew that Voldemort had returned and no one from the Order or any of his friends had bothered to contact him all summer. He had no idea what was going on, if anything. A failed attempt at sending an owl to Dumbledore resulted in a reply of;

Gone on holiday. See you at the welcoming feast.

Albu Dumbledore

Harry was eager to end Voldemort once and for all but he knew that he couldn't do it alone. His head lolled to the side. Animated photographs stared back at him. The first one was of his parents; dancing and laughing and so in love. He couldn't help but share a smile himself. The second showed himself staring back, standing on the steps of Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione. First year and carefree; it hadn't lasted long. Little did he know that the salvation of the wizarding world rested on his shoulders. Finally, the last photo was of he and little Ginny Weasley. Sharing a first kiss in the Gryffindor Common Room on Christmas night the year before. Colin Creevey had been hiding in the corner that night and snapped a photo of them. Harry had to pay him for the photo. He couldn't risk it falling into Ron's hands. Best friends or not, he was still a boy who could potentially take his little sisters virtue and that wasn't going to happen until she was a least 40 (in Ron's mind anyway). Of course, Ron had found out only a week later. They couldn't keep it secret. Especially not with Ron constantly at Harry's side. He had been surprisingly okay with the whole idea of his best friend and sister dating but Harry had still received the big brother's warnings.

He hadn't seen Ginny since the last day of school either and he missed her. A lot. This is the year I tell her I love her, Harry thought. He loved spending time with her, her deep blue eyes and flaming red her. She was beautiful and she was his.

"Harry Potter! Breakfast! Now!" bellowed Uncle Vernon from downstairs. Harry dragged himself out of bed and slowly made his way downstairs ready to face Uncle Vernon's wrath. He couldn't bring himself to care anymore. Stupid muggles don't even realize what is going on out there, he thought. Yet here he was, bowing down to each command.

Breakfast passed quickly. Harry had tried to zone out as much as possible from his Aunt and Uncle's mindless chatter about how wonderful their precious son was and how perfect his birthday was going to be. "Maybe this year I'll set a tarantula on Dudley. It'll be more exciting than the snake incident" he snickered to himself while heading back upstairs.

Opening his bedroom door, Hedwig welcomed him with a cheerful squawk. She hadn't been able to spread her wings in over a month. With only a couple of weeks left until school began, he would need to make a visit to Diagon Alley soon. Perhaps Ron, Hermione and Ginny would meet him there. He quickly penned a note to arrange a day and let Hedwig loose from her cage. After tying the letter to her leg, he opened the window and let her free. Hopefully his friends would reply soon and he would have an excuse to get out of this awful house for a day.

"Aaaaaaaaaarrrrghhhhhhh"

A woman was screaming...

It got louder, and louder, and louder...

Harry shot up. Awoken by the snow white owl pecking at his trousers. Hedwig was back. He looked at his bedside clock and saw it was 14:56. He'd dozed off and had yet another nightmare. Two in one day? This has to mean something. Glancing down at Hedwig, he noticed she had a note tied to her leg. Untying it, he quickly unfolded it.

Tomorrow. Leaky Cauldron. 11am.

R.

Seriously Mate? That's it? Harry locked Hedwig back in her cage and decided to grab a book to read. He couldn't wait for this long boring summer to be over and to get back to Hogwarts. Something wasn't right. This upcoming school year looked set to be eventful and he couldn't deny the fear stirring deep inside him. But he needed to stay strong. Fear wasn't going to win the war. Courage, strength and the love of his friends was what he needed for that. Three things that he wasn't sure of at this exact moment. Maybe the Weasley's have just had a rough summer too...he pondered.

His main fear now was falling asleep again. The woman's screams he was becoming accustomed to hearing were stuck in his mind and he didn't think that he could cope with another night of them. Opening his copy of Quidditch: A History, he sat back on his bed against the wall and let himself become engrossed in his book. Tomorrow he would see Ron and Ginny, and all would be good. At least that was what he kept telling himself.