Harry Potter and the Lord of the Net
Chapter One: Muggles and Missions
Disclaimer and Author's Note: Harry Potter, his friends, enemies and all respective items and characters (beasts or beings) from the novels and novellas of J. K. Rowling are hers by moral right and legal copyright. All new creations are my own fictions by moral right. I should also add that Lord of the Net and myself were personally insulted by an impersonator of him/her, so this story is dedicated to him/her for helping me to rectify the situation. Lord of the Net should note I have made you a boy as I am one myself, if you are in fact a girl, I am very sorry and hope you will still accept this dedication anyway.
Harry woke up and sighed, sun was streaming through his small window, Uncle Vernon had decided that rather than barring him in, he'd make the window so small Harry would need to diet for twenty years before he could fit through. Yawning he was brought back to reality with a sharp thump! as Hedwig landed on his lap, waving her leg with a familiar parchment, of course it's familiar, Harry thought, we all use the same parchment, why should it be from Hogwarts? As soon as she settled down and nibbled on his ear affectionately Harry was able to remove the parchment, fed her a sticky owl treat than turned to his attention to the letter – oddly enough it was from Hogwarts, Dumbledore himself!
Dear Harry,
I hope you are feeling well despite last years 'events' and that your summer holidays are proving most valuable…
They definitely were for Harry, he'd borrowed notes from Ron and Hermione to copy up on the work he'd missed throughout the tasks for the Triwizard Tournament, plus he had revision and homework to do over the summer anyway…
I have some good news that concerns your homework, I'm guessing that you have a lot to do after doing so admirably in the tournament. All of your Professors have given me permission to extend your homework deadlines by a month into the school term, excluding Professor Snape's Potions homework…
'Wouldn't have it any other way,' Harry muttered, he had known he would never get all of the homework done and had hoped to get extra time from most teachers, that was why he had done Snape's first, then most of his Transfiguration work as they were the hardest.
However knowing your penchant for sudden talent in exams I won't let this worry me much. There is, unfortunately, and ulterior motive to me writing this letter as you may have guessed, and unlike most tasks I set, this is only really suitable to be completed by you. It involves Voldemort as you may have guessed, but also a Muggle as you may not have…
Harry immediately sharpened as he read this, living as a Muggle for eleven years and every summer holiday he had some experience, but surely Hermione would be more suitable?
Normally I would ask a Muggle born like Hermione or Justin Finch-Fletchley to do this as they have lived relatively normal Muggle lives.
'How does he do that?' Harry asked the question of Hedwig who simply swallowed the rest of her treat and ruffled her feathers, Dumbledore's ability to read minds was none of her business, she was an owl, and a damned great one at that, 'well you're a great help!'
The reason I have asked you is because the Muggle happens to live in Little Whinging, and very close to your aunt and uncle's house in Privet Drive, you may even have seen him or gone to school with the boy before.
Harry doubted anyone recognised him, he spent most summers wandering around the town alone, avoiding Dudley and his gang, the same was in school, and nobody wanted to know him there because of Dudley. That had changed at Hogwarts of course where everyone wanted to know him, except of course for Draco Malfoy, the wizard equivalent of Dudley, and most, if not all of Slytherin house because of this.
The boy's name is Stephen Wilkins, but he is known by most of his close friends as Lord of the Net, this is because he's a, now I'm not sure if this is right, an in–the–net wizard. Now this may be risky but at the moment we need all the help we can get in organising resistance against Voldemort. As our Muggle studies Professor explained to me, this wizard on the 'web' is not like us, but is a person with the ability to contact world-wide in a matter of minutes.
'Where are you going sir?'
I need you to meet with Stephen because all of us who believe Voldemort has risen again have been cut off by Minister Fudge, he has clamped down on rumours at the Ministry of Magic and also in terms of communication abroad. Some good news is that Arthur Weasley has won over most of the Ministry wizards into believing Voldemort has risen again, those excluded are Fudge himself, some of the older wizards and anyone you mentioned that evening after the third task.
Harry breathed out slowly as he read this beat, the evening of the third Triwizard task had led to Voldemort's rise and the death of Cedric Diggory. Lying in the hospital wing Harry had shouted out names of the Death Eaters who had been present that evening while Fudge shifted them aside, Malfoy's father had been among them, as well as several so-called enslaved followers of Voldemort who had been under the Imperius curse throughout his reign.
Enclosed in this letter is a list of 'e-mail' addresses, apparently they are eckelectric, that belong to Ministry wizards throughout the world, in America, France, Germany, Egypt for example. I need you to contact them by the 'web' and relay the events of last year, most importantly to include details of the rebirth of Voldemort, they are expecting this as I have owled them.
'Why didn't you do that anyway?'
At this point you'll probably wonder why I did not do this to give them the information by owl – '
damn you're on form sir!' – the answer is that Voldemort has been intercepting and killing owls that contain important messages. For this reason I ask that you do not reply to this message, the only reason Hedwig escaped notice is because I sent her from Snuffles's cave, he is fine and currently living with Remus, please do not write to them either. Now I must urge you to hurry, the 'web' was not such an important tool of communication when Voldemort previously lived, so he may not yet know of its existence or how 'small' the world has become.I thank you Harry once more for your bravery and courage in accepting the situation fate has placed you in since birth.
Yours sincerely, Professor Albus Dumbledore.
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)
'Wow…' Harry regarded the letter for a few minutes while Hedwig settled down on her perch as the room warmed up as more sunlight flooded in. 'I guess this beats homework any time, have a nice nap Hedwig, I've gotta go and get on the web.' Harry finished the sentence before realising how impossible it would actually be, he didn't have a clue where Stephen Wilkins lived, and what would he do even if he did find out? Pondering this Harry left the letter and list on his bed and went down to get his breakfast.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs Uncle Vernon barked at him from the living room, 'Get a haircut boy!' nothing had changed since the previous year, Dumbledore had sent a letter back with Harry that explained the events, Uncle Vernon had read it and then thrown it away. The only change was that he no longer insulted Harry or made any threats, Dudley and Aunt Petunia were still their same old selves, his cousin picking on him for having no friends, while his aunt just set him menial tasks anytime she could. He only got comments from Uncle Vernon about his hair and his lack of 'real' homework.
Harry ignored the haircut remark and went straight into the kitchen which smelt of bacon, the smell was so concentrated that Harry wondered if his killer-whale sized cousin had eaten an entire pig. Harry sighed as he saw the mountain of plates, cutlery and glasses in the sink, he knew what his job would be if he hung around too long. Moving quite swiftly he found the rest of the bacon in the fridge and cooked himself a couple of rashers, then threw some out the window to the dog outside.
The dog outside?
Harry turned round slowly and blinked a few times, sure enough there was a shaggy, black-haired, bacon-consuming dog outside, and sure enough it was unusually thin for a dog that size. 'Sirius?' Harry asked the question tentatively, and the response he got was for the dog to place its front paws up on the window sill and lick Harry in the face. Then before he could chide his godfather the dog turned from the sill and ran inside the open garden shed door, wolfing down his bacon before a scavenging Dudley might, Harry snuck out the back door and followed the dog into the shed.
As soon as he shut the door, a laugh cut through the darkness that enveloped the shed and Harry's godfather was in the shadows, 'You should have seen your face when I was eating that bacon!'
'Sirius, what are you doing here? The Ministry still thinks you murdered those people, you can't be seen anywhere, my aunt would love to turn you into the Muggle police…'
'They stopped looking after I escaped from Hogwarts, I heard that Fudge went to see the Muggle Prime Minister and called off the manhunt. That's not important though, I'm here to see you…'
'What else, you're hiding something.'
'You remember Dumbledore told me to gather the 'old crowd'?' Harry nodded as he recalled the meeting between Sirius, Dumbledore, some of the Weasleys, Snape and Hermione the pervious year in the hospital wing. 'Well, a Mrs Arabella Figg happens to be one of the old crowd, and also your babysitter over a few years I understand.'
'What – Mrs Figg from the end of the road?'
'The very same, she has a favourite saying; the most protected hiding place is the obvious hiding place. She's lived as a Muggle for fifteen years now, it was very lucky that you grew up so near, she's been keeping an eye on you, while maintaining her cover.'
'Cover that included feeding me stale cakes and billions of pictures of her cats.'
'You probably saw Minerva on there you know,' Harry was slacked jawed, 'Dumbledore works in the subtlest ways imaginable. I only popped in for a snack and to say hello, I hope you've been busy catching up on school work?'
'I got an extension on most of it, except for Snape's which I've already done.'
'Sallow faced git, but at least he's on our side, I'd hate to go up against some of those curses he knows.' Sirius then turned and looked Harry in the face before continuing, he saw the same calmness and vivid eyes that had focused on him in the tunnel under the Whomping Willow a long time ago. 'You stay out of trouble,' he then gave a short laugh as he assessed his godson again, 'what am I saying? You've got your mum's eyes and dad's mischievous grin, get in trouble, I wouldn't be a Marauder if I stopped the tradition continuing.' With this there was a small pop as he transformed fluidly into a dog before Harry's eyes, licking his hand, Sirius opened the door with his nose and ran back out into the garden, turning and barking at Harry before disappearing into the hedge.