Hazy Revelations
AN: I'm posting this chapter mainly to gauge the reaction of readers, so that I know wether or not to continue posting should I be able to keep myself from getting my usual bout of writers block. It's all I've got written, though I have the basic ideas for chapter 2 & 3 ready as well. The title and contents may be subject to change, and before you read any further be aware that this story may not continue; if you feel this is a waste of your time, leave it be. ;)
Ideas and opinions greatly appreciated. Especially concerning how I did with the dialogue as I feel that's a big weakness of mine. Now, dear reader, enjoy.
Chapter 1 - Resurrection
He took a long drag from the spliff in his hand and held it in for a few seconds before exhaling.
'Aaah, that's the stuff… Bliss.'
He laughed to himself, at himself, in actual mirth. Maybe doing drugs was a pathetic way of handling your grief, but DAMN, it was a hell of a lot better than sitting in his room crying all day. Lucky he had asked Mrs. Weasley to exchange quite a bit of galleons for pounds during her last Gringott's visit on his behalf, or he would've probably missed out on quite a bit.
Harry Potter was sitting down on the back lawn of Number 4, Privet Drive, resting against the wall of the house. He was supposed to be doing yard work, but who gives a damn about keeping the garden of the family that hates you in good shape. He chuckled again at the thought. Petunia would take all the credit for it anyways, were the neighbors to notice its immaculate state.
Harry had noticed that his "watcher", his babysitter, was always stationed on the front side of the house – first due to the distinctive smell of cheap tobacco and cheaper booze that Dung carried with him wherever he went, then the occasional rustling of bushes or flattened grass footprints where someone stood when others were on duty – and the view from the houses around Number 4 was obstructed by the tall hedges that grew along the edge of the property. As a result he wasn't particularly worried about being caught getting high. The Dursley's almost never went out in the backyard and even if they saw him he doubted they'd care about it other than not wanting the neighbors to notice anything unnatural. Drugs most definitely weren't a-okay from that point of view.
What with them having already painted him out as an Incurably Criminal Boy to the whole community though, Harry thought the neighbors probably expected it.
Harry had taken to using the invisibility cloak to circumvent his babysitting Order members when he wanted to leave the house, carefully not rustling bushes or walking in the grass so as to not make the same mistake as his guards. And he had wanted to leave the house a lot.
After the events at the Ministry of Magic at the end of last term, he just couldn't stand being locked up with just his judgmental thoughts as company.
As such, he was out walking or running a lot and that's how he'd run into Scott, the local pot dealer.
Harry took another drag from the spliff and sighed contentedly as he let his mind drift back to that night.
*** FLASHBACK ***
It was the third day of summer vacation and Harry snuck past the Order guard and proceeded a safe distance away before ripping of the invisibility cloak and stuffing it in his bag. He figured that if not even the Order of the Phoenix knew where he'd gone off to then how would Voldemort.
Surprise attack! Pause. Where the fuck is Potter? Should be entertaining.
Harry reached the nearby park and tiredly sat on one of the swings, kicking the swing into movement absently and losing himself in thoughts about what he could have done differently over the last year, mostly what he could've done to prevent Sirius' death, and beating himself up about not doing that instead.
A good fifteen minutes later he was startled as music blared out of the newly opened door of the house across the street. Looking up from where his gaze had been firmly fixed on the ground, he saw three teenagers, two girls and a guy, stumble out from what appeared to be a party in a house on the other side of the street. As the trio made their way over to the (nearly) deserted park, Harry got up, thinking to make himself scarce seeing as most people here only saw him as the criminal or freak cousin of Dudley Dursley – neither of which was the kind of attention he wanted.
"Heeey!", one of the girls called at him drunkenly. "Don't I know yooou?"
Harry slumped his shoulders and heaved a heavy sigh, turning. "I don't know, do you?"
"Whoa, attitude! Watch it, mister." the other girl responded, also quite drunk, as the guy lit what looked like an oddly shaped cigarette. "But yeah. You're Dursley's cousin, righ'? Harry, innit?"
Harry eyed them suspiciously before answering. "Yeah I am. Who are you guys?"
The guy – a semi-muscular bloke of average height with short, dark brown hair and goatee – chuckled as the group came to a stop a few feet in front of Harry. "That's harsh, dude, hear that guy's a real arse. Name's Scott, by the way."
Scott extended his hand and Harry shook it without much hesitation, considering Scott's comment about Dudley. "These two lovely and properly intoxicated ladies are Nicole", Scott pointed to the cute, short brunette on his right as he passed her the 'cigarette'. "And Helena." he finished, pointing to the pretty, taller blonde on his left.
His teasing earned him a playful swat on each shoulder and he looked at them in mock-hurt for a second, before turning back to Harry.
Harry gave them a small smile. "Nice to meet you." They seemed okay, He thought. Definitely not the Death Eater type. "How come… Eh, how come you're talking to me?"
He received raised eyebrows and questioning looks and quickly amended his statement. "No! I mean no offense or anything but half the neighborhood thinks I'm a criminal, the other half remembers me as that weird kid from school you probably shouldn't talk to…"
Harry trailed off as the trio started laughing and blushed. "What?!"
"Dude, I'm not exactly the most reputable character around, so even if that was true; who am I to judge?" Scott answered with a grin as he caught his breath.
"Actually, he's not the sanest person around either, so that covers both halves of your argument, eh?" Nicole added with a wink at Harry and a few steps away from Scott, putting Helena between them so as to avoid retaliation.
Harry smiled a proper smile this time, as Scott half-heartedly glared at the retreating brunette, and replied. "Good to hear not everyone in Little Whinging is a total git. I was beginning to wonder, to be honest."
Helena grinned at him. "So, you wanna party with us tonight, Harry?"
"Sure looked like you could use it, all gloom and doom as you were before we arrived." Nicole added with a friendly smile.
"Err, sure... I, I mean, yeah. Why not?" Harry stuttered out, surprised at the offer and her insight, but he managed to return her smile. Maybe he could get his mind of off things for a while, be content, maybe even happy... He didn't know if it would work, but it was worth a shot, for even just a moment of peace.
"Livin' life to it's fullest!" Helena beamed. "Hell yeah!" Scott replied as he grabbed onto Harry around the shoulders and dragged him away towards the party.
*** END FLASHBACK ***
Harry had gotten stoned out of his mind that night, met lots of good-natured, interesting people likes of which he'd never have thought resided in Little Whinging and he'd felt on top of the world. They'd partied most of the night away and he'd finally fallen asleep next to Nicole on Scott's spare mattress, Helena and Scott sharing the latter's bed, as the sun was beginning to rise.
Next morning had brought a two and a half mile trek home to Privet Drive from Scott's mom's apartment and getting yelled at by his Aunt Petunia for not being home in time to help make lunch, but it was worth it by far.
Harry chuckled at how silly and seriously mistaken his aunt was, thinking anything she said had meaning to him after all these years of treating him like crap, then he flicked the remains of the spliff to the general area that his foot was currently occupying and stepped on it to put it out, picked it up again and flicked it into the bushes.
He gave another satisfied sigh.
In the two weeks that followed his first meeting with Scott and the girls, Harry had started smoking pot daily using his previously acquired pounds and hung out with his new friends as often as he had an opportunity to leave the house.
Nicole and Helena both had part-time summer jobs working at a restaurant, mostly during the days, but Scott was usually free due to his unusual financial solution and since Harry was both a costumer and friend he was always welcome. Harry progressively overcame previously his timid social ways as he hung out with them too, as they were mostly partying and consequently meeting a lot of new people. He gained more confidence in himself as he noticed that most of the people he met liked him despite that they had no idea of his fame or importance in the Wizarding World.
Some – of course – had even heard the rumors the Dursley's had been spreading about him or remembered Harry from Primary School, and still they seemed quite able to appreciate his company; in fact Nicole and Helena had been in his year through Primary School, although not in the same class.
Harry sighed again, but this time there was no contentment. There were no assignments to be written for school this summer, as last year had been their OWL year and they had yet to pick their NEWT classes, however… 'I should get started reviewing my old textbooks.'
It was a depressing thought at first. Though the last two weeks had passed in a drunken, blurry rollercoaster ride of weed, some random snogging and general happiness Harry hadn't totally forgotten about the revelations of the end of term; that the prophecy planted the weight of the world firmly on his shoulders. It was in the middle of July now, a month and a half left before the next start of term, so Harry figured that he could squeeze quite a bit of knowledge and training out of the rest his summer.
Harry struggled to his feet, chuckling slightly at his own instability as he stumbled around when the THC kicked in properly. 'That one packed quite a punch.' He thought to himself, and then made his way inside the kitchen through the backdoor; only to end up face-to-face with a discontent Aunt Petunia.
Not a pleasant position to be in, to be sure, mainly because Aunt Petunia's face wasn't pleasant even when content.
She sniffed the air a bit and scowled at him. "You smell odd, boy. Take a shower, for goodness sake; I won't have you stinking up my house when we have guests coming over in a few hours!"
Harry shrugged and gave her a lopsided, uncaring smile. "Whatever you say, Auntie dearest."
Her eyes narrowed, and her voice took on a slightly threatening tone. "Our dinner guests tonight are very important clients of Vernon, so I expect you to stay out of sight. Do I make myself clear?"
"Abundantly, Auntie."
Petunia looked very disapproving, her eyes narrowing further almost to the point of acquiring a comical effect, but didn't comment so Harry made his way up the stairs to his room to study, not bothering with the rudely requested shower as the smell of weed was mostly in his clothes anyway.
All of the Dursley's, even Uncle Vernon, had been quite meek so far this summer. Verbally abusive at times, sure, taunting and confrontational whenever opportunity presented itself, definitely, but never making outright threats or laying a hand on him.
***
"What're you doin' inside, then? Shouldn't you be out prettying up the garden?" Dudley challenged Harry an hour later from the doorway to his room, clearly confused and upset that his freak cousin was no longer the resident ill-treated house elf.
"Yeah, yeah, Duds. Sod off." Harry replied, waving him to the side with a flimsy gesture.
A tingling feeling swept swiftly through Harry's body, radiating out from the center of his being and his fat cousin was promptly sent flying towards the stairs. Dudley dropped to the corridor floor with a crash, screaming bloody murder, right on the verge of tumbling down the stairs.
"What the bloody hell was that?!" He shrieked.
Harry burst out laughing and made his way from his desk to the doorway to check on Dudley's landing.
"I don't know, Duds, guess the ol' magic's acting up, huh?" Harry replied, smiling widely.
"But you can't do that out of school!" Dudley screamed, before his demeanor changed after a few seconds of what appeared to be intense thought and he continued smugly. "Haha, you'll be expelled from your freak-school now!"
"I wouldn't be so sure, Duds," Harry kept smiling. With Fudge holding on to his job so barely after Voldemort's return became official, he was pretty sure that expelling the Boy-Who-Lived-And-Turned-Out-To-Be-Right-About-Everything wouldn't be a very good political move. Dumbledore certainly wouldn't allow it, considering the prophecy, and wasn't the Ministry tracking spells in the wand anyway? "You have a nice day now, yeah?"
With that Harry closed the door to his room, intending to do continue studying uninterrupted for the rest of the evening. Probably for the rest of the summer, if Dudley's horrified expression was anything to go by.
***
The following afternoon had Harry going through Achievements in Charming, sitting out in the sun against the back wall of the house once again with a comfortably buzzing high in the back of his head, when a colorful slip of paper suddenly fell out of the book and landed in his lap, having apparently been lodged between the last page and the cover.
As Harry picked it up he saw that it was an owl order form from Flourish & Blotts and therefore a very welcome and pleasant surprise.
Harry, of course, realized that just the books he had now wouldn't get him very far against an experienced dark wizard – even though it had seemed to be working out quite admirably this far – and filled in the order form to indicate he needed books on the subjects of basic and advanced Occlumency, a selection of books on advanced Dueling and Defense Against the Dark Arts and an instructional and educational book on the Animagus transformation (though the exact titles he left up to the bookstores employees to decide) in addition to the new sixth and seventh year textbooks in spells, Charms, Transfiguration and Defense.
Harry figured the shopkeeper should know which textbooks will be in use the following year, considering they have to order the books beforehand to be able to handle the rush of students that came with the arrival of the Hogwarts letters. He attached his order, a packaged stack of galleons along with a note that told the book dealers to keep the change to Hedwig's legs, petted her fondly for a minute and then sent her off towards London.
During that week Harry started taking his summer, his life and future, a bit more seriously. He was still high and giggling most of the time, but he spent approximately nine hours a day at home studying – telling Scott and the girls he was severely behind on his schoolwork due to bad grades during his GSCE exams by way of explanation – in instead of just constantly partying.
Harry found that even though his buzzed state during these sessions lead to him be easily distracted the single-minded fascination that he attained with the more interesting magical subjects more than made up for it. This vigorous studying lead to Harry surprisingly having read through his third through fifth year books in Charms, Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts (excluding Umbridge's choice in textbook and instead including Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts, the book that he got from Professor Lupin and Sirius last Christmas) as well as The Standard Book of Spells Grade 5 and the important dark and/or dangerous creature sections of his Care of Magical Creatures textbooks quite thoroughly by Thursday the week after that.
This left almost half of the talking homework diary Hermione had gotten him last Christmas full of scrawled notes and drawings about spells of interest and magical theory.
For the same reason he'd made such quick work of the books that interested him, Harry hadn't read a single word from a Potions textbook.
It wasn't that the subject was dull, really, but having the greasiest git of them all for a teacher for five years left him shuddering a bit at the mere thought of Potions and certainly didn't motivate him to study it further while under the influence of a few joints.
To Harry's continued hilarity it seemed that his magic "acting up" was not a one-time occurrence. And neither was it covered by the Restriction of Underage Magic, apparently, as he hadn't gotten any complaints.
Something had snapped inside Harry Potter, and he didn't know why (or how), but it caused his magic to help him accomplish things – sometimes small, sometimes big. His control over this newfound ability was weak and unreliable at best though; he'd tried to send Dudley flying again a few times for fun, with little to no success, but he rarely needed a lighter for his spliffs anymore.
'That's pretty fucking practical though.' Harry thought, hanging out the second floor window of his room, looking down the backyards of Privet Drive as the sun set in the horizon. He put a newly rolled spliff in his mouth and the tip of it flared as his magic lit it automatically. Studying done for the day he was heading out to meet Scott, Helena and Nicole.
***
As Friday, the 26th of July, came around so did Harry's OWL results. He found the impatient- and important-looking Ministry owl sitting perched next to Hedwig on the back of his desk chair as he stumbled inside feeling quite a bit hung over. Hedwig seemed to glare at Harry for a bit, before turning the glare on the Ministry owl once again.
Another owl, a non-descript barn owl, had wisely taken up a perch further from Hedwig; namely on top of her cage a good three foot away.
Harry eyed the Ministry owl blearily for a while, cursing his monumental appetite for vodka, before relieving both owls of their burdens. The two non-residents quickly fled the room as Harry sat down on the edge of his bed, head in hand, his elbow resting on his knee to read the contained messages.
The letter brought by the barn owl turned out to be a short message from Dumbledore, informing him that sadly he wouldn't be able to leave for Grimmauld Place until a week before the start of school due to the recent increase in Death Eater activity, but that a Diagon Alley trip would be scheduled during that last week with full Auror and Order protection for him and his friends.
Crushing the letter into a little ball and throwing it casually in the general direction of the bin, Harry didn't notice when it changed direction midair and landing precisely where he'd lazily envisioned it would.
'Perhaps it's for the best, really.' He thought, a bit saddened. Sure, Harry missed Ron and Hermione and all the Weasleys… but he honestly thought he would have gone insane living a whole summer in Sirius' old house.
Surrey had for once been a welcome change of scenery, thanks largely to the efforts of Nicole, Helena and Scott. Of course, Harry still mourned Sirius, but had recognized the futility in sitting around blaming himself and being miserable; Scott and the girls had shown him how to have fun, though their methods weren't exactly commonly accepted, and Harry knew that that is exactly what Sirius would have wanted for him.
'How the hell am I going to hide my 'habits' from Dumbledore and the rest?' Harry mused briefly. 'I sure as hell ain't quitting.'
With a small smile, he ripped open the envelope from the Ministry and began reading.
Mr. Harry Potter,
It is with sincere pleasure that the Department of Magical Education and myself announce that you have passed your O.W.L.s and congratulate you on your achievements. You will find your test scores below, ranking on a scale from Outstanding to Troll with a possibility for extra credit.
We wish you continued good luck with your education,
Professor Griselda Marchbanks, CDMG, APMO, fdBB
Head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, Department of Magical Education
Ministry of Magic
------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject – Grade – Extra Credit
Astronomy – P – none
Care of Magical Creatures – E – none
Charms – O – 2/10 points
Defense Against the Dark Arts – O – 10/10 points
Divination – D – none
Herbology – E – none
History of Magic – P – none
Potions – E – none
Transfiguration – O – none
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Wow… Well…" Harry said aloud to nobody in particular. "That wasn't very unpleasant." A small smile spread across his otherwise pretty haggard face.
'Good grades in my favored subjects, plus the E's in Herbology, Creatures and Potions.' He continued, now keeping his thoughts to himself.
'Really got fucked over with the Astronomy grade though, considering…'
Harry knew he wouldn't be able to take N.E.W.T. level Potions, because of Snape's demand for O scores on the O.W.L.s, but resolved that it'd probably be a waste of time anyway with Snape teaching it. Maybe he could pull some strings and get into Auror Training anyways. Being the Boy-Who-Lived has to hold some political weight, else Harry really failed to see the benefits.
He decided to sign up for N.E.W.T.s in all of the subjects where he got an E or higher (and consequently passed, as he had no Acceptables), except for Potions, and check out which electives to sign up for whenever he got his Hogwarts letter. 'Good riddance, Divination.'
***
The following four days Harry once again spent with his Muggle friends in all-out party mode, having no books of interest left to read until his owl order was delivered and not being especially keen on hanging around the Dursley's despite their improved behavior.
Harry left the party early on the night before his birthday and arrived home, a bit drunk, a quarter to midnight, only to be met by a room full of utterly exhausted owls.
His order from Flourish & Blotts had arrived, and he had to admit that it was by a stroke of pure luck that he hadn't closed the window before leaving home that day. Twenty different owls carrying heavy book-shaped packages would've certainly raised some questions from the neighbors and fury from the Dursley's, had they been forced to linger outside.
Hedwig was nowhere to be seen, probably having gone out hunting when the flock of book-bearing trespassers arrived.
Harry gave the delivery owls sympathetic looks as he released each one in turn of its cargo and gave it an owl treat, but couldn't help but grin at the fact that he would finally be able to make some progress in his training instead of just acquiring a deeper understanding of things he already knew.
Opening the fifteen packages the owls had carried – as some of the books had required more than one owl for delivery – Harry found that he was now the proud owner of Occlumency for Beginners, the more advanced tome The Arts of the Mind, the six books that encompassed the entire basic curriculum reading requirements for N.E.W.T. level Defense, Transfiguration and Charms (marked as such with post-it like notes) and as well as two books on professional level dueling, four on increasingly advanced defense against dark creatures and wizards and a copy of the heavy volume entitled Finding Your Inner Beast.
"Cool", he breathed, running his hand over the ornately decorated black and dark green cover of the last book. Picking it up, he saw the letter previously hidden between it and the wrapping paper underneath and decided to read that before losing himself in the Animagus book.
Dear Mr. Potter, it read.
I was pleasantly surprised and honored to receive your order and feel that I must excuse the small delay of its delivery with an explanation.
When my assistant told me of your order, I asked to read it myself. I sensed your motivation for this highly advanced and highly expensive purchase and saw to it to ask around among friends and acquaintances within the higher educational system and law enforcement agencies – who I know to be very proficient in these subjects – for what books might best suit your needs; never mentioning your name, of course.
I hope my choices will be to your liking and benefit, and please, do stop by the next time you're in the Alley to let me know what you thought.
Sincerely,
Mr. Arbel Freed, Manager
Flourish & Blotts
Harry grinned widely at the letter. Talk about freakin' service. He would most definitely stop by and talk to Mr. Freed the next time he was near the bookstore and thank him for going over and above expectations.
Pleased with the apparent high quality and usefulness of his purchases, he grabbed Finding Your Inner Beast again and lay down to read. An hour later his birthday owls had yet to start arriving and Harry was fast asleep, still fully clothed and hugging his new book to his stomach.
The need to become better, to become stronger, to be able to live up to his predestined place as savior and to be able to live at all plagued his sleeping mind now that he for once wasn't affected by his usual sleeping aid.
Harry's body wrenched around and twitched intensely from time to time during the night, sending bursts of magic outward with no apparent purpose, but he did not wake.
As such, no one noticed the phenomena, save a few owls that were not likely to tell anyone.
***
Harry awoke around midday on his birthday feeling sweaty and sore, like he'd just spent his eleven or so hours of sleep doing two weeks of quidditch practice. On the plus side he didn't have a hangover, but he was still pretty tired despite usually only requiring 7-8 hours of sleep a night.
Pushing away thoughts on that particular weirdness for later, he took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes before replacing them and looking around the room.
It was still a bit blurry, but a smile twitched at his face as he witnessed Pig zooming around the room happily with a small package tied to his leg, annoying the other owls to no end. He plucked the small owl out of the air easily and took his gift first off first, hoping he would calm down.
After getting all presents untied and owls ushered out, Harry jumped in the shower and then got some breakfast, reflecting that with the book delivery and the few extra gifts he had probably quadrupled his usual number of incoming owls over the summer, easily.
Harry had, with accompanying notes of well wishes, gotten a couple of t-shirts that actually fit from Mrs. Weasley, a leather necklace with a small dragonstooth from Tonks, a book on stealth enchantments from Professor Lupin, a black dragonhide belt from the twins and some wizarding candy and a new broom servicing kit respectively from Ron and Hermione. He'd also gotten a forearm spring-release wand holster with a strong Notice-Me-Not charm on it from Moody and a few books and trinkets from Ginny, Luna, Neville, the rest of the DA and some order members. In Luna's case it was an earring that looked like a small chili fruit that he was pretty certain he was never going to wear.
Having just gone through and put away all his presents and the books from the night before, and slightly annoyed that his vision didn't seem to want to clear fully despite vigorous rubbing of eyes and a cup of coffee to wake himself up, Harry was surprised as another official looking owl entered through the window. It earned a glare from Hedwig, who clearly thought there had been enough visitors for a couple of months already.
Taking its carried letter thoughtfully, he broke the Ministry seal as the messenger fled Hedwig's glare by way of the window and read it.
Mr. Potter,
Congratulations.
You are, as of your sixteenth birthday and the receiving of this letter, of age in the eyes of the Ministry and exempt from the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Magic though still liable to abide by the Secrecy Act if you do not wish to end up in Ministry custody.
You are also eligible for apparition lessons and licensing.
Mafalda Hopkirk
Improper Use of Magic Office, Ministry of Magic
'Freedom!' the thought rushed through Harry's head bringing with it elation and relief.
It would be nice not being prosecuted the next time he had to defend himself from Dementors, but he wasn't sure that he wouldn't be anyways what with Fudge in office. He was probably only safe from the Ministry for as long as Fudge was struggling to keep his job.
Harry pulled out his stash from under the loose floorboard, got himself a joint and leaned out the window before it lit automatically
He took a long, slow hit, feeling the smoke fill his lungs.
'Aah…'
When he had finished the joint, he put it out on the windowsill and flicked it out into the backyard. As he turned around, it burst into flames behind his back and was disintegrated before it hit the ground, like some sort of silent firecracker.
Petunia Dursley eyed her nephew with extreme suspicion as he walked out of the house. Something had to be seriously wrong for her freakish nephew to be that happy.
***
It was with a spring in his step that Harry left Privet Drive soon thereafter for Scott's apartment, wearing a new marine blue t-shirt, an oversized light grey hoodie and oversized torn blue jeans held up by a black dragonhide belt. The dragontooth necklace dangled from around his neck, his wand was held securely in his forearm wand holster and he had a big smile plastered across his face.
Today was good.
***
AN: There you have it, folks. Purr-lease... review. ^_~