disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter. Never will own Harry Potter. I only own what I make up from scratch in this story.
The Beginning of the Storm, a Harry Potter fan-fic
Quick Plot Summary: After the events of fourth year, a mysterious American teenage wizard shows up at Privet Drive while Harry is depressed over the rise of Voldemort, the lack of news from Ron and Hermione, and the death of Cedric. Will become somewhat AU as the story progresses, but tries to stay as canon as possible in terms of character traits and actions. Reviews appreciated, and I hope you like it.
Added AN: The first four chapters are really short, and are basically intro for the story. So the meat of the story begins on chapter five.
Chapter One: The Arrival
Harry James Potter slept in his bed, in a small bedroom in a home with his Uncle Vernon, his Aunt Petunia, and his cousin Dudley. Harry was a tall wiry youth with messy black hair, emerald green eyes, and glasses. He had a lightning bolt shaped scar on his head, which was the result of an encounter with the dark wizard, Voldemort. Screaming, Harry shot up, clutching his scar. He had just suffered through another nightmare where he watched Cedric Diggory, a fellow Hogwarts student, murdered on the orders of Harry's arch-enemy. Harry's breath began to slow down, and he started to calm down, saying to himself that it was just another dream. This event had really happened in June. Harry was competing in the Tri-Wizard tournament, when he and Cedric had grasped the champions cup at the same time, and they had been portkeyed straight into a trap laid by Voldemort and his servant Barty Crouch Jr. Crouch had been masquerading as the famed Auror Mad-Eye Moody, which allowed him to turn the cup into a portkey, and also enabled him to make sure Harry touched the cup first. After reliving those horrible moments again for the countless time, Harry stood up, and opened his window, as he wanted to let some air into his room. The room was very plain, with a bed, desk, chair, lamp. Nothing in the room showed Harry's identity as a wizard. This was because he had hid all of his wizarding supplies from the Dursleys under a loose floorboard. This was because his aunt and uncle hated wizards, and would lock up all his supplies during the summer. Another thing weighing heavily on Harry's mind was the lack of news about his enemy, Lord Voldemort. Harry had been watching the news and nicking newspapers out of the trash, desperate to find out about murders, or odd disappearances. But, Harry had not had the fortune of acquiring any information to the whereabouts of his foe. As Harry sat by the window, his only friend that he was able to see while staying at 4 Privet Drive, his snowy owl Hedwig, flew in and almost crashed into Harry.
Harry looked at his faithful owl and whispered to it, "Let me take a look at what you have got there, Hedwig." Hedwig clicked her beak, gave Harry an affectionate nip, and dropped the note. Harry picked it up, and began to read:
Harry Potter,
The Order of the Phoenix has asked me to talk to you. In case you do not know, this is the anti-Voldemort movement led by Albus Dumbledore. Right now, I'm standing outside your window, and I'm starting to get impatient...
Xavier Dalton
Harry re-read the note, and thought to himself, "Is this Order of the Phoenix real, or is it a trick? It could be a man of Voldemort's looking to lure me out and kill me… If he is trying to trick me, I will make sure he has no chance to attack." Harry rolled out of bed, and reached down and pulled up the loose floorboard up, and pulled out his invisibility cloak, wand, and pocket sneakoscope. Putting the cloak on, Harry snuck silently outside, where he spied a man hiding in one of his aunt Petunia's favorite hydrangeas. Harry called out to the man, "Xavier, why are you here? Are you really from this Order that you speak of?" Xavier walked out, and Harry saw that Xavier was about three inches taller than he was, and also had messy hair, much like his own. Xavier stepped into the light on the front door and Harry could see that he was wearing a black and white striped collar shirt, ripped cargo shorts that were down past his knees, and a backwards fitted baseball cap with a B logo on it. Xavier was also wearing leather sandals, and a gold necklace with a cross on it. Harry almost mistook him for Cedric Diggory, but then Harry sadly realized that he looked slightly different, and that Cedric Diggory was, in fact, dead. Harry saw that he was thin and muscular, but not excessively so. Harry was shocked that Xavier was about his own age, he expected a fully grown adult wizard from the note he had recieved. Harry asked Xavier, "How old are you and what are you doing on Privet Drive?" Xavier spread his hands out wide, and spoke for the first time, "Hey, Harry. I'm Xavier Dalton, sixteen year old wizard from America, so I'm your elder by one year, as of an hour ago at least. So, Happy Birthday, Harry." Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was 1:05, and he realized that he was now fifteen. Xavier continued, "As for what I am doing here; I am here as a favor to the Order of the Phoenix, who happened to save my life. They just wanted me to tell you what was going on, and some basic information about the Order. I moved here from America, and intend to stay here in England to attend Hogwarts."
"Order of the Phoenix???" Harry inquired. He had never heard of this order before, and he was not completely convinced that Xavier was telling the truth.
"What, you have never heard of the Order before? You of all people should know about the Order. Anyways, so the Order is a bunch of people who banded together to stop Voldemort the last time he was ascending to power. Your parents were members, and Dumbledore was the leader. He in fact, is still the leader. And about an hour after you escaped from Voldemort in the graveyard, the Order reconvened and it is currently working on preventing Voldemort's army from gaining the numbers it did last time. But don't mention to anyone that I'm telling you this much, cause Dumbledore didn't want you to hear the full story yet. And the Order is also working on recruiting new members, as they lost many of their best witches and wizards in the first war against Voldemort. But, that is a challenge because the Ministry refuses to tell the truth about his return. And that's pretty much it. Any questions?"
Harry had just stood and listened to Xavier speak. He had an odd feeling about the wizard based on his talk and appearance. Harry was very interested in what Xavier had to say, and was so elated to finally hear news on the Voldemort situation, that he didn't think of all the questions he could have asked, but instead said, "What school did you go to in America, Xavier?"
Xavier answered, "I'm from Boston, but I have completed four years so far at Los Angeles Academy of Magic, or LAA for short. But I decided to jump ship and continue my education in England, and I planned on staying with my uncle. My parents weren't too pleased, but they'll deal with it. So, I kinda have to leave now, but someone from the Order will be coming to pick you up and take you to Headquarters in two days. Later, Harry." Before Harry could respond, Xavier turned, jumped in a parked car, and drove off. Puzzled and dazed, Harry walked back to his room and whispered to Hedwig, "What an interesting character. I'll talk to him in two days when we go to where the Order is based." Harry rolled over, tucked himself in, and fell asleep.