Chapter One: Coming of Age

Harry Potter sat wide awake in his bedroom at Privet Drive. Tomorrow, he'd be 17 and heading off to the Burrow to see his best friend, Ron Weasley, and to attend Ron's older brother's, Bill's Wedding. Of course, this wasn't the only reason he was lying awake. He wondered who R.A.B. was and if he had destroyed the Slytherin pendant that was one of Voldemort's six horcruxes. Then he wondered what the remaining three horcruxes were and where they were. The locket…the cup…the snake…something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclwa's… He knew he needed to go to Godric's Hollow, but he didn't know why. He also wondered whether breaking up with Ginny was the right thing to do, but then he thought to himself, Voldemort uses people you're close too. He's killed my parents, his Deatheaters have killed Sirius and Dumbledore. I don't want Ginny to get hurt because I love her.

He glanced over at the most recent Evening Prophet.

Hogwarts to Remain Open Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry to remain open. After the unfortunate events at the end of the last schoolterm which involved Deatheaters penetrating into Hogwarts and the death of the then Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, there were rumors that Hogwarts might need to be closed. After much discussion and Debate, the Board of Govenor's decided that Hogwarts should remain open for any student who still wished to attend that was of age. In the cases of underage wizards, it will be the decision of parents on whether they will allow their children to attend. When asked for more information, newly named Headmistress McGonnagal, who assumed the duties of Headmistress after Dumbledore's death, simply stated that "Professor Dumbeldore would have wanted the school to remain open." Students should expect an owl at any time. Due to the events of the last term, there are now two teaching positions open: Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Anyone wishing to apply shall contact Professor Minerva McGonnagal. Even though he didn't plan on going back there, he was glad that Hogwarts was going to remain open, and he was sure that Hermione Granger was overly full of joy. He then looked over at the first Daily Prophet that was published after Dumbledore's Death. On the front page, there were two pictures upon it. That of Severus Snape, sneering as always, and under it, Wanted: Severus Snape. Murder of Albus Dumbledore, Aiding Deatheater entry into Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry. And that of Draco Malfoy, and under, Wanted: Draco Malfoy. Attempted Murder of Albus Dumbledore. Aiding Deatheater Entry into Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizadry. Then Harry's alarm went off, and Harry jumped. He had forgotten he had set it for midnight. He was finally able to do magic outside of Hogwarts, and finally able to leave. He had already packed, and was about to leave when and owl came to the window. Harry went to the window and opened, and the owl stuck out it's foot. Harry untied the letter, and looked at it. It was from the Ministry of Magic:

Dear Mr. Potter,

According to our records, you are now 17 and are therefore able to practice magic outside of school. You are also eligible to take the Apparition test if you desire to do so. The next tests are scheduled for August 10 at Hogsmeade and September 12 at the Ministry of Magic. Extra practice sessions are available at both locations until August 9 and September 11, respectively.

Sincerely,

Rufus Scrimgeour.

Minister of Magic

Harry read it through. He knew he could apparate, but the only time he had done it on his own, he was with Professor Dumbledore, so even though they could detect magic, they couldn't tell who performed it, so Harry was safe. After thinking for a few seconds, Harry decided that it would be a wise idea to get licensed, so he could legally do it, since he may be alone on some of his journeys even if Ron and Hermione wanted to come with him.

Harry looked over at Hedwig's cage. She was there instead of out hunting since Harry had told her to come back by midnight since they were leaving Privet Drive for good. With one flick of his wand and a simple spell, Harry sent his trunk and Hedwig's cage to the Burrow. He was almost ready, but he just simply needed to do one thing before he left. He sneaked into Dudley's Room and cast the very same spell that Hagrid had cast on Dudley before Harry's first year at Hogwarts, giving Dudley a nice pig tail. Of course the spell caused Dudley to wake up, and when Dudley noticed Harry was in the room, he yelled, "I thought you weren't allowed to do magic outside of that school of yours! I'm telling Mum!"

"You were right, up until a few minutes ago. Have fun with that tail of yours," said Harry as he ran to his room and got his broom and left Number 4 Privet Drive for good.

At about one in the morning, Harry arrived at the Burrow, where he was sure Molly Weasley was wide awake. After all, it had been her idea for him to leave the Dursleys' as soon after midnight as possible. And sure enough, as soon as Harry landed and put his broom in the Weasley's broom closet where he and Dumbledore once had a conversation last year, Molly came running out, and saying, "My dear Harry! How skinny you are, come on in and eat something," as she rushed him inside the house. "Here, try some of this cake, after all it is your birthday."

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry as he started eating the cake. Then he heard a loud snore and was startled for a second, until he had realized that it had been Ron who had let out the snore. "What's with him?" asked Harry, wondering why Ron was sleeping in one of the dining room chairs.

"Oh, he wanted to wait up for you, but as you can see, he fell asleep. I didn't have the heart to wake him, but now that you're here, I suppose I must. Ron wake up."

"Just five more minutes, Mum," mumbled Ron.

"Ronald Weasley, wake up, Harry's here," yelled Mrs. Weasley.

"What? Huh?" said Ron as he woke up and then he saw Harry. "Oh. Hi Harry! Happy Birthday! What time is it?"

"A little past one," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now that Harry's here, why don't you go upstairs and go to bad. And Harry, once you finish, you probably should get some rest too. It looks like you haven't slept at all tonight."

Soon Harry finished his cake, and then went upstairs to the bedroom he'd be sharing with Ron until after Bill's wedding.

"Wake up, Harry!" yelled Ron in the morning. "We need to celebrate your birthday! My mum made a terrific breakfast for you."

"Good morning," mumbled Harry as he reached for his glasses and put them on. "Who else is here?"

"Well, Fred and George, just arrived a few minutes ago from Diagon Alley, and Hermione's been here since yesterday. We need to get you downstairs so we can give you your presents." But before they could do that, Fred and George Apparated into the room.

"Will you please stop doing that?" asked Ron.

"You don't need yell at us just because you failed your test by an eyebrow," said Fred and George.

"It was half an eyebrow," corrected Ron.

"Happy Birthday, Harry. This is for you," said Fred and George as they handed over a box to Harry.

"Thank you," said Harry, and he started to unwrap the box, but then he remembered Fred and George were notorious pranksters. "Hey, did you do anything to this present?"

"Harry, you think we'd pull a prank on you on your birthday?" Fred and George said, trying to hold back a snicker as Harry resumed opening his present.

"Wow, it's Dumbledore!" exclaimed Harry, but at that moment the minature statue stated, "Transifico Greenitis" as a green smoke came out of it's wand, turning Harry green.

"You know us too well."

"What did you do to me?" asked Harry.

"They turned you green," said Ron.

"Yes. We're thinking of making these joke miniatures of famous wizards. Took us long enough to figure out how to reverse the effects though. Walking around Diagon Alley green looking for books and potions that might help isn't as fun as one might think. Turns out, it was a surprisingly simple spell to turn you back normal. Normulus," said Fred while waving his wand and Harry returned to his normal color.

"What do you think, Harry?" asked George.

"It's actually pretty impressive, but why'd you choose Dumbledore as your test model?" said Harry.

"He always had a sense of humor," responded Fred and George right before they Disapparated from the bedroom.

"Well come on, Harry. You do want breakfast, don't you?" said Ron.

"I'll be down in a few minutes," said Harry. It was going to be the first time he had seen Ginny since he broke up with her at Dumbledore's funeral. He wasn't sure how she or himself would act upon seeing him, and worst of all, Harry didn't even know if he could stand seeing her for as long as he was going to. After all, Bill's wedding wasn't for a few days.

Harry walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Hermione had seen him and said, "Harry! Harry! Did you see the great news! Hogwarts is to stay open!"

"Yes, I saw it in the Prophet yesterday. I'm glad even though I'm not going back," said Harry.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I forgot. Happy Birthday, Harry," said Hermione as she handed Harry his present. Harry opened it and discovered that it was a book entitled The Ultimate Book of Magic: Charms, Transfigurations, Potions, and Defense Spells. "I figured that if you were going to go after Volde…Voldemort, you'd need some very strong spells and potions to get through his defenses."

"Thank you, Hermione," Harry said even though it had been pure luck that he had survived Voldemort's attacks in the past, but he knew he would need some very strong spells to get close enough to Voldemort's horcruxes and eventually to Voldemort himself.

"Here, Harry," said Ron as he gave him his present. Harry opened it, and it was chocolate frogs.

"Thank you, Ron," responded Harry as Mrs. Weasley sent their breakfast to the table with a flick of her wand. "Hermione, I know you want to go back to Hogwarts. In fact, I was counting on it. Your love of books, and knowledge of the History of Hogwarts will come in handy. I need you to look up the possessions of Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw and try to find out if any of them are still around. Also, have you found out any leads on who R.A.B. may be?"

"I found birth announcements of many wizards and witches with those inititals, but other than that, nothing," said Hermione.

At that moment, Mr. Weasley came in, and said, "Happy Birthday, Harry," as he sat down and started to eat his breakfast.

"Yes. It's what Professor Dumbledore would have wanted," said Harry not revealing to Mr. Weasley that he had no intentions of going back. Harry just had the feeling that Mr. Weasley would say that Hogwarts was probably safer than any place else, since it was home to many wizards and witches.

"Harry, I almost forgot. Here's your present," said Mrs. Weasley. When Harry opened it, he discovered it was another one of Mrs. Weasley's hand-knitted sweaters.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," responded Harry as he finished up his breakfast.

"I don't know what's taking Ginny so long," said Mrs. Weasley. "I called her almost an hour ago."

Meanwhile, Ginny was still up in her bedroom hoping that one day, she and Harry could be together again. Of course, she knew Harry had broken up with her for a noble reason. A stupid one, too, but noble. She finally decided that she would need to go downstairs and see Harry. When she got downstairs and saw Harry, she simply said, "Happy Birthday, Harry," even though she did blush as she started to eat her breakfast.

For Harry, the rest of the day was very fun. He, Ron, and Hermione ventured into town after they discovered Fred and George had disappeared. Ron ventured a guest that they were probably flirting with some Muggles, and certainly, Fred and George were flirting, and performing card tricks with a couple of girls in particular, who kept saying the card tricks were "almost like real magic." Later on, Harry helped Ron practice his keeping skills for Quidditch. Harry was convinced that if he wasn't going to be at Hogwart's and captain, Ron would be a likely candidate. Harry had tried to convince Hermione and Ginny to play some two-on-two, but Ginny said she didn't feel up to it, and Hermione just said she wasn't good enough. To Harry, it was one of the best birthdays he had ever had.