Harry Potter And The (Title Pending...)
Disclaimer, to all who care: I own absolutely nothing whatsoever. Except my Guitar, and maybe.... no, that's it.
A/N: Warning to all readers: I have no idea what this is going to be about. That's why there is no real title or description yet. I just figured I'd go for it and see what happens. This could take a whole month or a whole year to finish, if it even gets finished, that is. I have no plans for this story, no real idea of how long updates will take, and I definitely don't know if it's going to be good or not. All I know, in fact, is that it will be based on the 6th book in the series, and that it will more or less be absolutely nothing like said book. If anybody has any suggestions to keep this story running smoothly, I'm open to anything.
- DJ Billy Joe Bob.
Chapter 1: Owls and O.W.L.S.
Tap, tap...
What? Go Away.
Tap, tap tap...
Why won't everyone just leave me alone... Harry Potter's mind was swimming around between sleep and awareness. He was in a place where he knew nothing, where there was nothing.
Tap, tap...
I said GO AWAY... This last was enough point Harry's mind in the right direction. The fog cleared as he opened his eyes and took stock of his situation. He was on his bed in the house on Number 4 Privet Drive. He sat up and rubbed his eyes to clear away the sleep. His bedside clock read 4:30 AM. I've only been asleep for 2 hours... Harry thought to himself as he got out of bed, can't I just get one good night's sleep?
Tap, tap...
The noise Harry kept hearing was coming from the window. Harry looked out and saw an owl that he didn't recognize tapping on it. Harry hurried over and opened the window just long enough to let the owl in and then shut in again as quick as possible. The storm that had been raging off and on for the whole summer had apparently started again while Harry was asleep. Huge lightning bolts lit the sky so bright that one might think the sun had risen for just a few short seconds at a time. Great rumbling thunder sounded all over the country. Wind howled and rain fell like they knew that something was wrong.
The owl that Harry had let in, presumably from Hogwarts or the Ministry, ruffled it's feathers, trying to look important, but succeeding in nothing but looking somewhat pitiful, what with it being completely soaked and with a few feathers out of place. Even though Harry had been awoken from a rare dreamless sleep, he couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for the bird.
Harry led the owl to Hedwig's cage to get some food and to dry off before flying off again. The owl got into the cage, shook itself off, and managed to wake Hedwig. It seemed that Hedwig didn't like being woken up in the middle of the night by a strange owl either, as she clicked her beak and turned away.
Harry looked at the letter the owl delivered and saw that it was from Hogwarts. This must be his O.W.L. test results. Harry turned on the light, sat down on the bed and opened the letter, not because he really cared what his scores said, but as he had nothing better to do, he figured he might as well know what to expect. He sighed, unfolded the letter and read:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you of your O.W.L. results for last term.
Your grade results are as follows:
Care of Magical Creatures: Exceeds Expectations... 93%
Charms: Outstanding... 98%
Defense Against the Dark Arts: Outstanding... 110%
Divination: Poor... 53%
Herbology: Exceeds Expectations ... 87%
History of Magic: Acceptable... 79%
Transfiguration: Outstanding... 96%
Potions: Exceeds Expectations... 89%
We would also like to inform you that you have fulfilled the O.W.L
requirements needed to become an Auror for the Ministry of Magic.
If this is still your goal, then you will need to continue with Charms,
Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration, and Potions.
If you would like to continue with this course of study please send an
Owl stating these and any other courses that you would like to take.
We would also like you to note that you have been selected as
Gryffindor Quidditch Captain as of this term.
We await your owl no later than July 1st.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress.
Harry lay back and thought about going back to school. I've got about two more months to spend in this craphole... Harry thought to himself with more than just a hint of bitterness, and that's it. He would be going back to Hogwarts soon. There would be problems, but there seemed to be problems no matter where he went. Not that things had been to bad since he'd been at the Dursley's house this summer. Harry had been staying in his room constantly since his return, reading and re-reading every book he owned, figuring that if he had no choice but to kill or be killed by Voldemort then he had better learn all he could. Another reason that things had been better this summer was that after the Dursleys had a confrontation with some of "those people" from the Order of the Phoenix, they hadn't been to keen on doing anything to bother Harry.
Then there was also the fact that he had been in contact with quite a few people from the Order. Members were constantly owling him to find out how he was doing, and sometimes to give him information on what the order was up to. Harry highly welcomed this last; he hated being kept in the dark about what was going on. Fred and George Weasley sent him a letter just yesterday telling him how there shop was doing and how things were going for them in the Order. Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt had sent him some books on advanced Auror study. These Harry was very thankful for. Quite apart from it helping him to become an Auror, he felt that anything that could help against dark wizards was good for him to know.
Harry sat up and looked at his bedside clock again. It read 4:45 AM. Harry guessed that he might as well get up and take a shower, as there was no way he would be getting anymore sleep now. Harry got some cloths from his overflowing hamper and went towards the bathroom. They weren't very clean but he didn't care, he had no one to impress.
After showering and shaving he went back into his room and found that the sun had risen while he was cleaning up. It was still storming, but not quite as bad as before. The owl that had delivered his O.W.L. results had fallen asleep in Hedwig's cage. Harry sat down at his desk and started to write the letter to Professor McGonagall This took him a long time to write, mainly because he had to consider whether or not to take any other classes besides the 5 he needed to continue with. He finally decided to drop Divination but keep Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid's class may have been rough at times, but he was Harry's friend.
This led him to think about Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, his best friends at Hogwarts. As Harry's best friends, they would never even think about abandoning Harry, not even if their lives were in danger. And they were; just for being Harry's friend, they were at risk. This gave him another reason for learning everything he could. People who were associated with Harry were naturally in danger. There were his parents, who were killed by Voldemort when he was just a year old; there was Ginny Weasley, who was almost killed by a mere shadow of Voldemort. Cedric Diggeroy was killed by a Death Eater at the end of Harry's fourth year, just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. There was Arthur Weasley, who was attacked by a snake while asleep on guard duty for the Order. Then, near the end of Harry's 5th year, Sirius Black, who was Harry's Godfather, was killed at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange, his own cousin, and a Voldemort supporter. This was worse for Harry by far than anything that had happened to him so far. It was for this reason that Harry vowed to himself that he would do whatever it took to keep his friends out of trouble. He thought about using the fidelus charm; that might work, he didn't know how to do it, but he thought that Dumbledore might help him with that.
Ever since Sirius's death Harry had been thinking like this; obsessed with learning all that he could and trying to figure out how to keep his friends out of danger. Paranoid, maybe... he would have said, if asked, but not without good reason. In essence, he was starting to think like a younger version of Moody. Not that he was walking around with his own hip-flask yet, he didn't think a Death Eater would show up on Privet Drive and try to poison his tea, but a lot of what Moody said made sense to him all the same.
Harry started to fold up the letter to send to McGonagall, but stopped and added a postscript:
P.S. I'm sorry, but I just don't think I can be the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain right now. Do you think you can change it to someone else?
Harry still wanted to play Quidditch, of course, but on top of everything else he couldn't stand another responsibility.
Harry folded up the letter, put it in an envelope and layback for a while, thinking that he would send it when the storm had calmed down a little.
A/N: Well, that wasn't too bad actually; the hardest part was starting the thing. It took me 2 days and four different beginnings before I found something I liked. As soon as I got that it took me all of about 2 hours to get here. Anyway, that's enough out of me.
- DJ Billy Joe Bob