Disclaimer: Don't own any of this, no money being made
Chapter one
'..but my lord,' came a small petrified voice from the depths a small dark chamber that had had damp stone walls, and moss growing on the even stone floor tiles, '.I can not, wouldn't it be better to send someone who. who can be seen, the world believes me dead my lord. Its not that I don't wish to carry out your great work, I would be honoured but. but.'
'Silence wormtail' came a high cruel cold voice that filled the very walls with unspoken fear, 'you will be going, and you will succeed, perhaps you need another reminder of what failure will bring? Umm?'
'No my lord, no, I am truly sorry, truly, I beg your forgiveness. I will not fail, and I am sincerely honoured to be chosen to go and do your bidding, nothing will bring me greater pleasure than to see that meddlesome fool Black dead, he too has had fourteen years too many on this earth.' Came wormtails meek voice, hoping beyond belief that he had said the right words, if he never felt the dark lords wrath again it would be too soon, even if it meant risk of exposure to the ministry.
'I hope so wormtail, you little rodent; the consequences will be dire if not. This is your last chance to prove yourself a loyal servant and worthy ally to me and my cause, do not fail. Do you understand my meaning wormtail?'
'y..yes my lord, quite c..clearly' squealed the smaller man with the metal hand, as he risked a look into the face of the tall cruel creature with red eyes in front of him.
'Good, then we proceed, Black is as good as dead already' was the reply of the highly feared dark wizard, lord voldemort.
Somewhere in domestic, suburban surrey, Harry Potter, the boy who lived awoke from a dream so clear that the image was still playing in his head as he reached for his glasses. His glasses were not to hand on the small scratched bit of furniture beside his bed, the Dursleys called it a bedside table, Harry wasn't sure what it was but aside from the bed and a very small wardrobe it was the only furniture in his room, which had wallpaper with flowers on it peeling off the wall. He stood up looking for his glasses and stood on something other than the threadbare carpet, he felt around on the floor with his hands to see what it was, and as he brought the objects closer to his scarred face he saw that it was his glasses. He thought that he probably knocked then down in his sleep, Harry slipped the glasses on to his nose, the world righted itself. It was very lucky Harry was so skinny, or they would have broke, and as an underage wizard it would be illegal to use the repairo charm during the summer.
As these sleepy thoughts passed Harry remembered why he had awoke suddenly, his dream was playing in full colour picture inside his head, unlike other such dreams he had had no problem recalling or holding on to this night visions contents, they were truly petrifying as the treat was not to him this time, but to one he loved dearly, his godfather Sirius. Harry frowned remembering that it had actually been pain that woke him not the dream, his scar was hurting again, but this had happened too many times and Harry barley noticed in his panic over what he had seen.
For the first time since waking Harry took notice of the time 5.18am, 'ohh..' he thought out loud, it was the 6th time this week he had woke up at a similar time, and knew better by now than to try to go to sleep again, so he sat on his bed pondering the new problem that faced him, was his nightmare just that or was Voldemort trying to kill Sirius? His last such dream was now known to have actually happened, this gave Harry no comfort, after all a nightmare was far better than an actual plan to kill his godfather. Trying not to panic Harry decided that the only sensible thing to do would be to write to the long-standing headmaster of hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore. If he wrote directly to Sirius, his godfather might just do something stupid that would get him caught, and it would be Harrys fault if nothing really happened. He had briefly thought of Ron, his best friend or Hermione, his other best friend, but he did not want to upset them as they would only worry and question him on the topic forever.., no the headmaster was the obvious choice, if anyone knew what to do in these situations it was definitely him.
Dear Professor Dumbledore
This is a difficult letter to write, but I cannot just ignore the dream I had last night. I know I may be overreacting because of what happened last year, but I have just awoken from a disturbingly clear night vision, in which Voldemort was sending Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew, to make an attempt on Sirius's life. I am truly concerned for him, but do not wish to disturb him unnecessarily, as that may have negative consequences, so I am leaving the matter in your hands, hoping you will know what to do for the best.
Love Harry
P.S. my scar did hurt.
Yes.. that was about right Harry thought, hopefully he had done the correct thing, now all he could do was give the letter to Hedwig, his snowy owl, and wait for a reply, and in the mean time try not to be worried, a lot easier said than done when it came to those he cared about.
Harry let this train of thought wonder back to Ron and Hermione, it had only been a week since he had seen them at Kings Cross Station, at the end of term but Harry already missed them and the rest of Hogwarts like he would miss his right arm. Dear Ron he mused, his friend who had taught him about the wizarding world, been by his side since day one, and would give his life for Harry in a second, Harry would of course do the exact same thing for Ron.
Ron was at the burrow with the rest of the Weasleys, they had invited Harry to stay the summer, and Harry would have liked nothing better, however Dumbledore had stepped in saying he had to return here to the Dursleys. Although Harry wasn't quite sure why Dumbledore had insisted on this, he trusted his headmasters' judgement 100%, there had to be a very valid reason. At his last meeting with Voldemort, the creature that had once been Tom Riddle, head boy at Hogwarts, had insinuated that Harry was somehow very powerfully protected here in Priviet drive, but Harry had no idea how.
Hermione was the next person Harry turned his thoughts too, Hermione was the cleverest witch you could hope to meet, she was also a strongly loyal friend, they'd learned about the wizarding world together, shared some of the same preconceptions about it. Of course in over 50% of circumstances, Hermione had learned things before him, but that didn't bother Harry in the slightest, he was quite endeared to her studious manner after spending four years with her, sharing things that very few people would ever know with her. He thought of the last time they were together, she had kissed his cheek, something that she had never done before, it sent a warm feeling through Harrys veins, and he saw a picture of her in his mind, she had looked stunning at the Yule ball last year.
The idea slowly dawned on Harry that he Might, just might want more than to be Hermiones friend next year, which scared him perhaps more than the dark lord himself. He pushed that idea out of his, as a small voice from somewhere in the back of his untidy mind told him that it might be a good idea to get an early start on his summer homework, after all his teachers had kinda gone overboard this year what with O.W.Ls coming up.
Yes that wasn't a bad thought after all it was only 6am still, hours before aunt Petunia would want him to help prepare breakfast. Not that there would be much to prepare as Dudley had arrived home a few days earlier from his private muggle school Smeltings, back on his diet. Harry would have found this funny, except that the whole family had to take part to help Dudley's morale. This was ok for his Uncle Vernon as he also needed a diet, Aunt Petunia would also be alright as she barley ate anyway, but Harry did not need to lose weight he was already very skinny and small for his age. He would send more letters to his friends begging for food later, but back to summer work..
Harry had a choice of Transfiguration, two essays both particularly nasty ones on animagi, perhaps he would owl Sirius for some help, but as that idea sprang into his head, so did last nights dream, he moved on to charms. Slightly easier 6ft long essay on the Novidoc charm, a charm used as part of the process to create a portkey,he had never practised this charm at school but his textbook was very helpful and informative on the subject. Potions homework was a summary of the preparations and ingredients needed to make a polyjuice potion, 'ha' Harry thought out loud, he, Ron and Hermione had actually made this potion in there second year so they could find out information about the chamber of secrets by changing into Malfoys friends, Crabbe and Goyle. Yes thought Harry, this shouldn't be too difficult, wondering at the same time, if Professor Snape ever found out about that potion, and about the stolen ingredients.
For obvious reasons there was no defence against the dark arts homework, but Trelawney had soon made up for that by piling on the divination homework, no matter that just meant he would have to be extra creative this summer, perhaps he could owl Ron some extra ideas, and hope he sent some back.
As Harry was not feeling particularly creative this morning, and he did not really want to think about animagi, he decided to start with his charms essay, he opened his textbook, an enormous book, with a brown leather cover, to the right page and read aloud
'The Novidoc charm is an immensely complex charm which allows an ordinary objects to be given extremely complex magical powers, and is most commonly used as the initial spell to create a portkey, as it enables the object to be the subject of a transportation spell (see page 712)'
About two and a half hours later his Aunt Petunia used most of her daily word allowance by telling him to get up and lay the table. None of the Dursleys ever really spoke to Harry now, to them he was just a freak, but a very dangerous one that might explode any minute, this to might have been funny, but the summers were very lonely sometimes.
Breakfast as expected was not worth getting up for, grapefruit again, Dudleys regime was so unimaginative. Also as expected no one said a word to Harry. As soon as he had washed the small plates and spoons, one good thing about such a lousy meal was easy washing up, he raced back to the sanctuary of his small neglected bedroom, as was just about to pick up his charms essay again when he noticed a grey feather duster type thing breathing on his bed, 'oh hello Errol, didn't see you there' Errol was the Weasleys owl, and Harry wondered briefly why Ron hadn't sent Pig, but quickly turned his attention back to the letter and small parcel from Ron, he opened the letter first and saw his best friends scrawl;
Dear Harry
How are you mate, hope the summers going ok with the muggles, life here is great but Fred and George are being very secretive about something, which is annoying mum intensely, remember the toffees and summoning charm? Anyway the muggles are well known for starving you so mom sent you these homemade toffees, don't worry Fred and George haven't touched them I swear, if you need more send word with Hedwig and I'll see what I can do, keep in touch,
Love Ron
p.s. have your heard from snuffles
Oh Ron would bring up Sirius again wouldn't he?, but never mind. he laughed out loud at the reference to Fred and George, Harry knew there behaviour came from the money he had given them on the train last, the 1000 galleons from the triwizard tournement, but thinking about how he came by the money was a very sobering thought, and he stopped laughing almost immediately. Harry thought bitterly, it wasn't fair that most of his happy memories were tied to such bad memories.
Next he looked at the toffees which came in a nice box with a red ribbon tied neatly around, and prayed feverently that Ron was right about Fred and George not being too near them. They were however very nice, and he settled down to write a thank you note and let Ron know that he would be needing much more to survive the summer.
Dear Ron
Thank you so much for the toffees, they were even better for not being hexed. Things here at pretty much the same as ever, but yes the Dursleys are staving me again, as Dudley is back on his stupid diet again, so more food would be very very much appreciated. Have you heard from Hermione yet, and how is everyone else?
Love Harry
He sent Errol back to Ron, hoping that the old owl would make the journey again, it was always in question with this particular owl. Then he grabbed some more parchment and started writing a letter for Hedwig to take to Hermione.
Dear Herm
I hope your summer is going well, and that you are adjusting back to the muggle world, are you going on holiday again this year?
Dudley is back on his diet again, so things here terrible as usual, tempers running high, etc. which brings me to my next question, could you please please send some food?
Keep in touch
Love Harry
He tied the scroll to Hedwigs leg as she nipped his finger affectionately, and then flew off through the open window, Harry promptly closed it, as it was growing cold and the threat of Voldemort was ever present at the very back of his mind, not that Voldemort was likely to fly in through the window, in fact the idea of Voldemort on a broomstick in Privet drive almost made Harry laugh.
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Chapter one
'..but my lord,' came a small petrified voice from the depths a small dark chamber that had had damp stone walls, and moss growing on the even stone floor tiles, '.I can not, wouldn't it be better to send someone who. who can be seen, the world believes me dead my lord. Its not that I don't wish to carry out your great work, I would be honoured but. but.'
'Silence wormtail' came a high cruel cold voice that filled the very walls with unspoken fear, 'you will be going, and you will succeed, perhaps you need another reminder of what failure will bring? Umm?'
'No my lord, no, I am truly sorry, truly, I beg your forgiveness. I will not fail, and I am sincerely honoured to be chosen to go and do your bidding, nothing will bring me greater pleasure than to see that meddlesome fool Black dead, he too has had fourteen years too many on this earth.' Came wormtails meek voice, hoping beyond belief that he had said the right words, if he never felt the dark lords wrath again it would be too soon, even if it meant risk of exposure to the ministry.
'I hope so wormtail, you little rodent; the consequences will be dire if not. This is your last chance to prove yourself a loyal servant and worthy ally to me and my cause, do not fail. Do you understand my meaning wormtail?'
'y..yes my lord, quite c..clearly' squealed the smaller man with the metal hand, as he risked a look into the face of the tall cruel creature with red eyes in front of him.
'Good, then we proceed, Black is as good as dead already' was the reply of the highly feared dark wizard, lord voldemort.
Somewhere in domestic, suburban surrey, Harry Potter, the boy who lived awoke from a dream so clear that the image was still playing in his head as he reached for his glasses. His glasses were not to hand on the small scratched bit of furniture beside his bed, the Dursleys called it a bedside table, Harry wasn't sure what it was but aside from the bed and a very small wardrobe it was the only furniture in his room, which had wallpaper with flowers on it peeling off the wall. He stood up looking for his glasses and stood on something other than the threadbare carpet, he felt around on the floor with his hands to see what it was, and as he brought the objects closer to his scarred face he saw that it was his glasses. He thought that he probably knocked then down in his sleep, Harry slipped the glasses on to his nose, the world righted itself. It was very lucky Harry was so skinny, or they would have broke, and as an underage wizard it would be illegal to use the repairo charm during the summer.
As these sleepy thoughts passed Harry remembered why he had awoke suddenly, his dream was playing in full colour picture inside his head, unlike other such dreams he had had no problem recalling or holding on to this night visions contents, they were truly petrifying as the treat was not to him this time, but to one he loved dearly, his godfather Sirius. Harry frowned remembering that it had actually been pain that woke him not the dream, his scar was hurting again, but this had happened too many times and Harry barley noticed in his panic over what he had seen.
For the first time since waking Harry took notice of the time 5.18am, 'ohh..' he thought out loud, it was the 6th time this week he had woke up at a similar time, and knew better by now than to try to go to sleep again, so he sat on his bed pondering the new problem that faced him, was his nightmare just that or was Voldemort trying to kill Sirius? His last such dream was now known to have actually happened, this gave Harry no comfort, after all a nightmare was far better than an actual plan to kill his godfather. Trying not to panic Harry decided that the only sensible thing to do would be to write to the long-standing headmaster of hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore. If he wrote directly to Sirius, his godfather might just do something stupid that would get him caught, and it would be Harrys fault if nothing really happened. He had briefly thought of Ron, his best friend or Hermione, his other best friend, but he did not want to upset them as they would only worry and question him on the topic forever.., no the headmaster was the obvious choice, if anyone knew what to do in these situations it was definitely him.
Dear Professor Dumbledore
This is a difficult letter to write, but I cannot just ignore the dream I had last night. I know I may be overreacting because of what happened last year, but I have just awoken from a disturbingly clear night vision, in which Voldemort was sending Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew, to make an attempt on Sirius's life. I am truly concerned for him, but do not wish to disturb him unnecessarily, as that may have negative consequences, so I am leaving the matter in your hands, hoping you will know what to do for the best.
Love Harry
P.S. my scar did hurt.
Yes.. that was about right Harry thought, hopefully he had done the correct thing, now all he could do was give the letter to Hedwig, his snowy owl, and wait for a reply, and in the mean time try not to be worried, a lot easier said than done when it came to those he cared about.
Harry let this train of thought wonder back to Ron and Hermione, it had only been a week since he had seen them at Kings Cross Station, at the end of term but Harry already missed them and the rest of Hogwarts like he would miss his right arm. Dear Ron he mused, his friend who had taught him about the wizarding world, been by his side since day one, and would give his life for Harry in a second, Harry would of course do the exact same thing for Ron.
Ron was at the burrow with the rest of the Weasleys, they had invited Harry to stay the summer, and Harry would have liked nothing better, however Dumbledore had stepped in saying he had to return here to the Dursleys. Although Harry wasn't quite sure why Dumbledore had insisted on this, he trusted his headmasters' judgement 100%, there had to be a very valid reason. At his last meeting with Voldemort, the creature that had once been Tom Riddle, head boy at Hogwarts, had insinuated that Harry was somehow very powerfully protected here in Priviet drive, but Harry had no idea how.
Hermione was the next person Harry turned his thoughts too, Hermione was the cleverest witch you could hope to meet, she was also a strongly loyal friend, they'd learned about the wizarding world together, shared some of the same preconceptions about it. Of course in over 50% of circumstances, Hermione had learned things before him, but that didn't bother Harry in the slightest, he was quite endeared to her studious manner after spending four years with her, sharing things that very few people would ever know with her. He thought of the last time they were together, she had kissed his cheek, something that she had never done before, it sent a warm feeling through Harrys veins, and he saw a picture of her in his mind, she had looked stunning at the Yule ball last year.
The idea slowly dawned on Harry that he Might, just might want more than to be Hermiones friend next year, which scared him perhaps more than the dark lord himself. He pushed that idea out of his, as a small voice from somewhere in the back of his untidy mind told him that it might be a good idea to get an early start on his summer homework, after all his teachers had kinda gone overboard this year what with O.W.Ls coming up.
Yes that wasn't a bad thought after all it was only 6am still, hours before aunt Petunia would want him to help prepare breakfast. Not that there would be much to prepare as Dudley had arrived home a few days earlier from his private muggle school Smeltings, back on his diet. Harry would have found this funny, except that the whole family had to take part to help Dudley's morale. This was ok for his Uncle Vernon as he also needed a diet, Aunt Petunia would also be alright as she barley ate anyway, but Harry did not need to lose weight he was already very skinny and small for his age. He would send more letters to his friends begging for food later, but back to summer work..
Harry had a choice of Transfiguration, two essays both particularly nasty ones on animagi, perhaps he would owl Sirius for some help, but as that idea sprang into his head, so did last nights dream, he moved on to charms. Slightly easier 6ft long essay on the Novidoc charm, a charm used as part of the process to create a portkey,he had never practised this charm at school but his textbook was very helpful and informative on the subject. Potions homework was a summary of the preparations and ingredients needed to make a polyjuice potion, 'ha' Harry thought out loud, he, Ron and Hermione had actually made this potion in there second year so they could find out information about the chamber of secrets by changing into Malfoys friends, Crabbe and Goyle. Yes thought Harry, this shouldn't be too difficult, wondering at the same time, if Professor Snape ever found out about that potion, and about the stolen ingredients.
For obvious reasons there was no defence against the dark arts homework, but Trelawney had soon made up for that by piling on the divination homework, no matter that just meant he would have to be extra creative this summer, perhaps he could owl Ron some extra ideas, and hope he sent some back.
As Harry was not feeling particularly creative this morning, and he did not really want to think about animagi, he decided to start with his charms essay, he opened his textbook, an enormous book, with a brown leather cover, to the right page and read aloud
'The Novidoc charm is an immensely complex charm which allows an ordinary objects to be given extremely complex magical powers, and is most commonly used as the initial spell to create a portkey, as it enables the object to be the subject of a transportation spell (see page 712)'
About two and a half hours later his Aunt Petunia used most of her daily word allowance by telling him to get up and lay the table. None of the Dursleys ever really spoke to Harry now, to them he was just a freak, but a very dangerous one that might explode any minute, this to might have been funny, but the summers were very lonely sometimes.
Breakfast as expected was not worth getting up for, grapefruit again, Dudleys regime was so unimaginative. Also as expected no one said a word to Harry. As soon as he had washed the small plates and spoons, one good thing about such a lousy meal was easy washing up, he raced back to the sanctuary of his small neglected bedroom, as was just about to pick up his charms essay again when he noticed a grey feather duster type thing breathing on his bed, 'oh hello Errol, didn't see you there' Errol was the Weasleys owl, and Harry wondered briefly why Ron hadn't sent Pig, but quickly turned his attention back to the letter and small parcel from Ron, he opened the letter first and saw his best friends scrawl;
Dear Harry
How are you mate, hope the summers going ok with the muggles, life here is great but Fred and George are being very secretive about something, which is annoying mum intensely, remember the toffees and summoning charm? Anyway the muggles are well known for starving you so mom sent you these homemade toffees, don't worry Fred and George haven't touched them I swear, if you need more send word with Hedwig and I'll see what I can do, keep in touch,
Love Ron
p.s. have your heard from snuffles
Oh Ron would bring up Sirius again wouldn't he?, but never mind. he laughed out loud at the reference to Fred and George, Harry knew there behaviour came from the money he had given them on the train last, the 1000 galleons from the triwizard tournement, but thinking about how he came by the money was a very sobering thought, and he stopped laughing almost immediately. Harry thought bitterly, it wasn't fair that most of his happy memories were tied to such bad memories.
Next he looked at the toffees which came in a nice box with a red ribbon tied neatly around, and prayed feverently that Ron was right about Fred and George not being too near them. They were however very nice, and he settled down to write a thank you note and let Ron know that he would be needing much more to survive the summer.
Dear Ron
Thank you so much for the toffees, they were even better for not being hexed. Things here at pretty much the same as ever, but yes the Dursleys are staving me again, as Dudley is back on his stupid diet again, so more food would be very very much appreciated. Have you heard from Hermione yet, and how is everyone else?
Love Harry
He sent Errol back to Ron, hoping that the old owl would make the journey again, it was always in question with this particular owl. Then he grabbed some more parchment and started writing a letter for Hedwig to take to Hermione.
Dear Herm
I hope your summer is going well, and that you are adjusting back to the muggle world, are you going on holiday again this year?
Dudley is back on his diet again, so things here terrible as usual, tempers running high, etc. which brings me to my next question, could you please please send some food?
Keep in touch
Love Harry
He tied the scroll to Hedwigs leg as she nipped his finger affectionately, and then flew off through the open window, Harry promptly closed it, as it was growing cold and the threat of Voldemort was ever present at the very back of his mind, not that Voldemort was likely to fly in through the window, in fact the idea of Voldemort on a broomstick in Privet drive almost made Harry laugh.
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