Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I related to, or have permission from, the person who does, the legendary J. K. Rowling, who I am surprised has not made us bow down to her mighty fingers for creating such a marvelous series that has approximately ninety percent of the world hanging on her every typed word.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

By: HHr

Chapter One: A Close Friend and an Heirloom

Main Pairings: Harry/Hermione, Ron/Lavender

Summary: Harry and his friends return to Hogwarts, only to find a legend becoming a reality and yet another mysterious prophecy awaiting them. Can Harry, with the help of Hermione, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean, and, most surprisingly, Lavender, unravel the prophecy and stop the evil Lord Voldemort from getting his hands on the legendary Half Blood Crown before it's too late?

Author's Note: In my opinion, I've fudged my version of Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch enough as it is, so I'm going to start concentrating on this story, now that I know the real name of Harry's 6th year. I won't be doing NEARLY as many author's note 'chapters'. Anyway, on to the story, I hope you like it.

Also, I doubt any of you have not already read Order of the Phoenix, but for the rare few of you that have not, this fanfiction WILL contain HP&tOotP spoilers, so please do not read until you have finished it or don't care that much.

Harry awoke from his nightmare, drenched from head to toe in sweat. For probably the fiftieth time during the summer, he had relived watching Sirius Black fall through the veil and into death. Out of nowhere, Harry suddenly heard a voice in his head, saying, 'To the well organized mind, death is only the next great adventure.'

Harry was surprisingly comforted by those words. But before he could begin dwelling on Sirius's death, he heard the sound that had saved him from the nightmare again. It was Hedwig pecking at his bedroom window, trying to get his attention. He quickly hopped out of bed and walked quickly yet quietly over to the window, opening it upon his arrival.

Hedwig let out a hoot of appreciation as she flew in, landing on his desk next to her cage. Harry closed his window once again and hurried to his desk, where he then took the letter from him and let her into her cage so she could get some well deserved food and drink. Before he even looked at the letter to see who it was from, he glanced over at his alarm clock and saw that it read 5:00 A.M. He still had another half hour before he usually got up. He quickly opened the letter and began reading it.

Dear Harry,

I'm sorry I haven't written to you yet this summer. My parents decided to surprise me as soon as I got home by telling me that we were moving. My new address is 3 Cadet Drive. I've written my new telephone number on the back of this piece of parchment. My mum says around noon we'll be going to visit the new neighbors. I hope they won't be anything like you say the Dursleys are. I'm really nervous about meeting them, but I don't know why. I'm up at 4:45, and I figured I might as well write to someone while I'm waiting for noon. I know you mentioned the Dursleys' street address at one point, but could you tell me what it was again? Anyway, I'm going to let you get back to what you were doing, especially if it was sleeping.

With love,
Hermione

Harry chuckled to himself for a minute before he realized she had to be very close for him to get the letter so quickly, especially as he had probably been sleeping for a good ten or fifteen minutes before he let Hedwig in. Harry glanced at the clock again and, seeing as it read 5:15 A.M., he decided to write a quick letter back to her.

Dear Hermione,

The Dursleys' address is 4 Privet Drive. I have a hunch that you're extremely nearby. I got your letter about fifteen minutes after you said you sent it, and I think Hedwig was pecking my window for quite a while before I was awake enough to let her in. Anyway, it's almost 5:30, when I usually get up, so I'm just going to send Hedwig with my reply now. Good luck with those neighbors.

Harry

After beckoning Hedwig out of her cage, Harry asked, "Sorry for sending you back out again so soon, but do you think you can take this to Hermione for me?" Upon hearing her hoot of affection, he tied the short note to her leg and opened the window for her. Harry made sure to leave the window open for her, just in case she got back before he did. He exited his room, walked down the hall, into the bathroom, and securely locked the door.

Harry then stripped naked, turned on the shower faucet, quickly adjusted the water temperature so as not to scald himself, and jumped in. After a quick ten minute shower, Harry turned off the water and grabbed himself one of the off-white towels from the stack of them on the shelf next to the shower. Harry wrapped the towel around his waist and walked in front of the mirror and sink.

Harry couldn't resist the urge to flex his muscles for a minute before grabbing his toothbrush and toothpaste. Harry was no longer the skinny boy whose rib cage was easily visible, sometimes even with a shirt on. He had finally started putting on some weight due to his his new exercise routine, along with the Dursleys feeding him average-sized meals, and was now up to around sixty-five kilograms. Harry quickly brushed his teeth, trying not to allow the minty taste of toothpaste to stay in his mouth for long. Ignoring his hair, which he knew was hopeless to try taming, he quickly put on a bit of deodorant before hurrying out of the bathroom and back into his own room.

Author's Note: Sorry to interrupt mid-chapter, but 65 kilograms is roughly equivalent to 145 pounds for those of you, such as I, who are metrically impaired.

Harry noticed Hedwig was back, waiting on his desk for him to take Hermione's reply from her. "Just one second, Hedwig," Harry muttered, wanting to get dressed before reading Hermione's response. Harry pulled out a plain pair of boxers, plain socks, an off-white T-shirt, and a gray pair of jogging shorts. He slipped on a pair of sneakers before walking back over to Hedwig. The owl gave an indignant hoot immediately after the letter was finally removed from her leg.

Dear Harry,

I thought I saw Privet Drive on one of the street signs on the way through the suburbs while we were looking for our house. I think you were right when you said we were probably very close to each other. Anyway, I'm going to let you go on with whatever you usually do in the mornings, I've got to go get ready myself. Maybe we'll see each other when my family and I are walking around meeting the neighbors.

Hermione

Harry smiled at the prospect of seeing Hermione again for the first time since school. Harry looked at his clock, which read 5:50 A.M. His smile faded slightly as he realized he was running behind schedule. He practically jumped over the stairs and, attempting to make a somewhat soft landing, made only a small thump. Smiling once more, he pulled open the front door and started out on his morning jog. He knew if he wasn't back to the house by 7:00 A.M., he would be in trouble from the Dursleys for attempting to skip out of his chores. He did five laps around the block and ran to the nearby park and back three times. Normally he would have done more, but today he was running late.

Harry quickly ran back inside the house to check the time. Upon reaching the kitchen, Harry looked to the microwave and read 6:30. He was back on time. Harry jogged into the former family room, which the Dursleys had converted into a weight room for the summer in hopes that Dudley would put it to good use and shed more of his excess weight. This, of course, amused Harry to no end, knowing that Dudley would rather go up against Voldemort alone, if he knew who Voldemort was, than use the exercise equipment his parents had bought him.

Harry had not pushed himself very hard on the weight bench, due to the fact that he overdid himself, the Dursleys would probably be content to leave him there. He was now able to bench press seventy kilograms, which was more than his own weight, but didn't want to go higher for fear of looking like a bodybuilder upon his return to Hogwarts. He did five sets of ten with the thirty-five kilogram weights on each side. He then did the same on the 'crunch machine' as he called it. The crunch machine was simply a bar, similar to the one used on the weight bench, supported at just below eye level. Harry put one hand on either side of the bar, put his neck underneath the bar, and lifted the bar off of its resting post.

Upon finishing this, Harry did twenty-five pushups and pull-ups each before running upstairs to reapply his deodorant. He did this because Petunia would always complain about Harry smelling like sweat and make him go put on deodorant again. Doing it before she complained meant Harry was spared the lecture. Upon his return, he noticed Petunia was just about to shout his name. He quickly glanced over her shoulder, and noticed that the microwave read 7:00. Harry quickly began helping Petunia with making breakfast and setting the table.

About half an hour later, her screech was heard resounding throughout the house and possibly even through the neighbors' houses. Immediately, what sounded like two rampaging elephants, Vernon and Dudley Dursley came running down the stairs and into the kitchen. Harry was surprised that either of their legs were still capable of supporting their mass of writhing flesh, but he chose not to mention anything in present company. What amazed Harry more was that his uncle, Vernon, seemed to weigh even more than Dudley.

The breakfast went along smoothly until, at 7:55, just as Vernon slammed the kitchen door shut and left for work, an owl flew in through the open kitchen window, landing on the table between Petunia and Harry. Harry reached toward the owl to try to take the letter from it, but the owl snapped at his hand, and he pulled it back suddenly. The owl then extended his leg toward Petunia. She hesitantly untied the letter from the owl who, as soon as its leg was free, took off back out the still open kitchen window. After reading the letter, her face went pale, and she stuttered to say something to Harry.

After a good five minutes of her stuttering, she finally calmed down a bit and said to Harry, "W-Well, I guess the time has come for me to give you what your mother left for you."

Author's Notes: I know, I know, that's almost the exact same cliffhanger as I left you with in my last story, but this one WILL be much different from my other story, which I doubt I'll even attempt to continue...anyway, R/R.