The Masks People Wear
Illustrious Sorrow
Note: All right, I'm restarting this story. Hopefully it will be better. Enjoy.
Chapter 1- It Begins
In a small glade, an old man seemed to come out of a tree. The man looked weary, as if he had seen and done far too much in his life. His long bread was reaching down to the ground and it was dirty and tangled with leaves and twigs. The man stared at the bright overhanging moon and watched as a bird seemed to separate from the great planet. The shinning ethereal bird landed on the man's shoulder, seeming to be ready to listen to whatever woes he might have.
"Ah, Trouble. I was wondering if you would come to say goodbye. I'm going now; I can sense a time far into the future when I will be needed to train one of my descendents. No rest for the wicked, right Trouble?" The old man made as though to pet the bird, but then seemed to think better of it.
"Will you go to him?" The falcon chirped in a seemingly negative way. "Will you have somebody keep an eye on him? For me?" The bird chirped again, but now in agreement. "Thank you." He sighed, "It is time. I must go now, thank you for coming to see me." With that, the bird disappeared and the old man kneeled onto the ground, chanting. As he chanted, his voice rose until he was nearly shouting, at what was the end of the chant, he yelled a word, and in a blaze of light, was gone. ***************
In a small bedroom in England a small boy sat up in bed gasping, wondering at the strange dream he had just had. He couldn't remember it clearly but he knew that it was important and that it involved Merlin. Sitting with his head in his hands, the boy wondered whether or not he should write Professor Dumbledore. He wasn't in pain, and this dream, though sad, had nothing to do with Voldemort.
Getting off his bed, the boy crossed the room to the cage where his owl, Hedwig, was sleeping. "Hello girl, I'm sorry to wake you up but could you take a note to Professor Dumbledore for me?" The owl hooted softly, "Thank you, just let me write it." With that the boy sat down on the floor and dug around under a loose floorboard for some parchment and a quill. Upon finding it he began to write.
"Professor Dumbledore, I just wanted to let you know that I had a strange dream. It was set in a grove of trees and an old man climbed out of one. Like he had been a part of the tree. He watched the moon for a while, and then a falcon flew down at him. I think it was a spirit. I don't remember what the man said, but he was very sad. I think that the man was Merlin! I have no idea why I dreamt this, so if this is just a random dream, sorry for wasting your time. If you know why I dreamt this, could you please explain it to me? Thank you,
Harry Potter"
Harry Potter. That was the name of the boy. He was not an ordinary boy, not by a long shot. He was a wizard, a famous wizard. Everybody in his world knew his name. He had after all, defeated Voldemort. Or that's what they believed. What really happened was that Harry gave them a reprieve. Time for them to prepare for Voldemort to come back to power. Unfortunately, they didn't use that time and now Voldemort was back, and haunting Harry's dreams with the boy he had killed, an innocent, a boy named Cedric Diggory.
Every night Harry had nightmares about Cedric. Going over the scene in the graveyard, trying to find a way that he could have saved Cedric. Every night he had a vision of Voldemort, of the death and destruction he was causing now that he had returned to power, using Harry's own blood.
After Harry had sent Hedwig off with the letter, he pulled a schoolbook out of the floor. He wished that his family, the Dursly's, would allow him to have his schoolbooks in his room but that was not the case. Luckily for him though, they were out of the house a lot, avoiding him. Ever since he had gotten back from Hogwarts they had been acting strangely, like they were afraid of him, though that was entirely possible as the last summer he was here, Dudley's tongue had grown four feet long.
Harry had been at the Dursly's for a month and he had already finished his homework. There was nothing else for him to do. As a result, Harry decided to ask his Aunt Petunia if he could plant a garden. With a halfhearted sneer she had agreed. So Harry moved large rocks around the front of the yard to create a border and a stream/waterfall. Then he began to plant flowers.
It was weird. In the 2 or so weeks since he had begun, the flowers were already starting to bloom. Harry didn't know much about flowers but he was pretty sure they weren't supposed to grow that fast. His garden was full of green and thriving plants. It was truly beautiful and Harry devoted most of his time to it. At one point he had decided to make a bench. He gathered all the wood he could find around the yard and got to work.
By the time he was done the wood looked like it had just grown into a bench. At the same time it had little pictures in it of flowers and trees. They to looked like they had grown into the wood. Harry had no idea how they had gotten to look so good he just figured he had a new talent that he had never noticed. With a shrug he had placed it in the middle of the garden, and that was where he was now headed with his book.
The sun was rising and it was just light enough to read. There was a slight breeze through the 80-degree air and it cooled Harry down as he settled onto the surprisingly comfortable bench. Harry was currently working on memorizing his textbooks when he wasn't working on his garden.
Surprisingly it was all easy and interesting. No wonder Hermione always memorized her schoolbooks. He decided that when the school year started he would do a lot better in most of his classes if only because he knew all of the information. He was working on memorizing his potions textbooks. He wanted to be able to prove to Snape that he was a good student.
Slowly the sun rose and Harry made his way through his textbook. By the time his aunt was up (9:00) he was already over halfway through the book. "Harry! Get in here now!" She yelled when she saw the boy reading in the garden. Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise. This was the first time they had spoken to him since he had gotten back other then to tell him not to get in their way.
"Yes Aunt Petunia?" "I want you to paint the garage today." "Alright. Where is the paint? I'll start once Uncle Vernon leaves for work. That way it will be dry by the time he gets back." "Good. Then you can fix breakfast right now." With that she flounced out of the kitchen. Harry sighed and got out ingredients for breakfast.
Dudley wasn't on his diet anymore so Harry made bacon, pancakes, and toast. Looking carefully around to make sure nobody was coming in; Harry quickly ate two pancakes and five strips of bacon. When that was done he brought the plates to the table. "Here you go Aunt Petunia." "Thank you." She said stiffly. Even this was enough to make Harry start with surprise. Nobody had ever said thank you in this house to him.
Still puzzling this, he waited for Vernon to leave and then left the house to paint the garage. As he was painting he noticed a group of girls watching him and giggling. He looked at them puzzled, and then turned around and began to paint again. Then he bent over to get some more paint on the brush and then heard the girls giggling yet again.
Finally he turned around, "Did you want something?" He demanded. Then one of the girls broke away from the herd and ran up to him. Startled, he stared at her as she stood in front of him, and then was even more startled as she grabbed him and kissed him. After a moment she released him with yet another giggle and then she and her friends ran off.
Harry just stood on the driveway gaping in the direction the girls had run in until his Aunt Petunia yelled at him to keep working. All in all, it took him about 3 hours to paint the garage and when it was done Harry moved to sit in his garden with a relieved sigh. Suddenly an owl swooped down on him, dropping a letter and then soared off again.
Suspiciously, Harry picked up the letter. When he saw that it was from Albus Dumbledore he ripped it open immediately.
"Harry,
Thank you for sending me your dream. You were right it is important. If you have any more please tell me. On your birthday you will be coming to Hogwarts for the remainder of the summer. If you have any questions please owl me and ask.
Albus Dumbledore Headmaster of Hogwarts"
"I wonder why my dream was important." Harry muttered to himself as he began to weed his garden with supreme care. That night when Harry got out of the shower he glanced in the mirror and was so surprised he almost fell over. He had finally grown a little, instead of being 5'1 he was at least 5'5 and he had gotten some muscle, probably from all the gardening he had done. Shaking his head in disbelief, Harry went back to his room and crawled into bed.
Over the next few weeks he did chores around the house, memorized his schoolbooks until he would have made Hermione proud, and worked in his garden. Finally it was the night before his birthday.
"Tomorrow I can leave this place for a whole year." Harry sighed as he climbed into bed to try and get some sleep. Harry hadn't been sleeping well all summer. His sleep was even yet filled with Voldemort and Cedric. Still, it was his birthday, maybe he would get some sleep.
As Harry drifted into darkness, that hope was shattered. A gray fog surrounded him (a/n in the dream) and a voice began to speak. "Harry, Tonight you begin to receive your powers. Your destiny is calling you Harry, can you meet it?" And with that it faded away into another dream.
{ Merlin was standing at the top of the cliff again. It looked like an different conversation then the one Harry had seen, perhaps it had occurred earlier, the man didn't look as old. The same bird was standing on his shoulder. "When my grandson comes here Trouble, he will not understand, do you have someone who will be his friend?" The falcon nodded. "Thank you. He will be coming into his powers and might be mad with me for not telling him whom I am. Ask your friend to take care of him."}
Then the dream faded into grey again and the voice was back. "Learn to use your power, your destiny is coming, be ready." And with that Harry woke up. For a second Harry thought he had woken up because of the dream but then he realized that was not true. He could hear a group of people moving around downstairs.
"Where is he?" "Master said upstairs." "I remember. Come on, let's get the boy and get out of here." With that the people moved to come up the stairs. Harry reached under his bed for his wand. Death Eaters were in his house!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Note: Hope you liked the first chapter. It is based on a challenge called "In the name of Merlin" By Phoenix tears type 6. I realize the first chapter was a little boring but I promise it'll get better next chapter. Review
Illustrious Sorrow
Note: All right, I'm restarting this story. Hopefully it will be better. Enjoy.
Chapter 1- It Begins
In a small glade, an old man seemed to come out of a tree. The man looked weary, as if he had seen and done far too much in his life. His long bread was reaching down to the ground and it was dirty and tangled with leaves and twigs. The man stared at the bright overhanging moon and watched as a bird seemed to separate from the great planet. The shinning ethereal bird landed on the man's shoulder, seeming to be ready to listen to whatever woes he might have.
"Ah, Trouble. I was wondering if you would come to say goodbye. I'm going now; I can sense a time far into the future when I will be needed to train one of my descendents. No rest for the wicked, right Trouble?" The old man made as though to pet the bird, but then seemed to think better of it.
"Will you go to him?" The falcon chirped in a seemingly negative way. "Will you have somebody keep an eye on him? For me?" The bird chirped again, but now in agreement. "Thank you." He sighed, "It is time. I must go now, thank you for coming to see me." With that, the bird disappeared and the old man kneeled onto the ground, chanting. As he chanted, his voice rose until he was nearly shouting, at what was the end of the chant, he yelled a word, and in a blaze of light, was gone. ***************
In a small bedroom in England a small boy sat up in bed gasping, wondering at the strange dream he had just had. He couldn't remember it clearly but he knew that it was important and that it involved Merlin. Sitting with his head in his hands, the boy wondered whether or not he should write Professor Dumbledore. He wasn't in pain, and this dream, though sad, had nothing to do with Voldemort.
Getting off his bed, the boy crossed the room to the cage where his owl, Hedwig, was sleeping. "Hello girl, I'm sorry to wake you up but could you take a note to Professor Dumbledore for me?" The owl hooted softly, "Thank you, just let me write it." With that the boy sat down on the floor and dug around under a loose floorboard for some parchment and a quill. Upon finding it he began to write.
"Professor Dumbledore, I just wanted to let you know that I had a strange dream. It was set in a grove of trees and an old man climbed out of one. Like he had been a part of the tree. He watched the moon for a while, and then a falcon flew down at him. I think it was a spirit. I don't remember what the man said, but he was very sad. I think that the man was Merlin! I have no idea why I dreamt this, so if this is just a random dream, sorry for wasting your time. If you know why I dreamt this, could you please explain it to me? Thank you,
Harry Potter"
Harry Potter. That was the name of the boy. He was not an ordinary boy, not by a long shot. He was a wizard, a famous wizard. Everybody in his world knew his name. He had after all, defeated Voldemort. Or that's what they believed. What really happened was that Harry gave them a reprieve. Time for them to prepare for Voldemort to come back to power. Unfortunately, they didn't use that time and now Voldemort was back, and haunting Harry's dreams with the boy he had killed, an innocent, a boy named Cedric Diggory.
Every night Harry had nightmares about Cedric. Going over the scene in the graveyard, trying to find a way that he could have saved Cedric. Every night he had a vision of Voldemort, of the death and destruction he was causing now that he had returned to power, using Harry's own blood.
After Harry had sent Hedwig off with the letter, he pulled a schoolbook out of the floor. He wished that his family, the Dursly's, would allow him to have his schoolbooks in his room but that was not the case. Luckily for him though, they were out of the house a lot, avoiding him. Ever since he had gotten back from Hogwarts they had been acting strangely, like they were afraid of him, though that was entirely possible as the last summer he was here, Dudley's tongue had grown four feet long.
Harry had been at the Dursly's for a month and he had already finished his homework. There was nothing else for him to do. As a result, Harry decided to ask his Aunt Petunia if he could plant a garden. With a halfhearted sneer she had agreed. So Harry moved large rocks around the front of the yard to create a border and a stream/waterfall. Then he began to plant flowers.
It was weird. In the 2 or so weeks since he had begun, the flowers were already starting to bloom. Harry didn't know much about flowers but he was pretty sure they weren't supposed to grow that fast. His garden was full of green and thriving plants. It was truly beautiful and Harry devoted most of his time to it. At one point he had decided to make a bench. He gathered all the wood he could find around the yard and got to work.
By the time he was done the wood looked like it had just grown into a bench. At the same time it had little pictures in it of flowers and trees. They to looked like they had grown into the wood. Harry had no idea how they had gotten to look so good he just figured he had a new talent that he had never noticed. With a shrug he had placed it in the middle of the garden, and that was where he was now headed with his book.
The sun was rising and it was just light enough to read. There was a slight breeze through the 80-degree air and it cooled Harry down as he settled onto the surprisingly comfortable bench. Harry was currently working on memorizing his textbooks when he wasn't working on his garden.
Surprisingly it was all easy and interesting. No wonder Hermione always memorized her schoolbooks. He decided that when the school year started he would do a lot better in most of his classes if only because he knew all of the information. He was working on memorizing his potions textbooks. He wanted to be able to prove to Snape that he was a good student.
Slowly the sun rose and Harry made his way through his textbook. By the time his aunt was up (9:00) he was already over halfway through the book. "Harry! Get in here now!" She yelled when she saw the boy reading in the garden. Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise. This was the first time they had spoken to him since he had gotten back other then to tell him not to get in their way.
"Yes Aunt Petunia?" "I want you to paint the garage today." "Alright. Where is the paint? I'll start once Uncle Vernon leaves for work. That way it will be dry by the time he gets back." "Good. Then you can fix breakfast right now." With that she flounced out of the kitchen. Harry sighed and got out ingredients for breakfast.
Dudley wasn't on his diet anymore so Harry made bacon, pancakes, and toast. Looking carefully around to make sure nobody was coming in; Harry quickly ate two pancakes and five strips of bacon. When that was done he brought the plates to the table. "Here you go Aunt Petunia." "Thank you." She said stiffly. Even this was enough to make Harry start with surprise. Nobody had ever said thank you in this house to him.
Still puzzling this, he waited for Vernon to leave and then left the house to paint the garage. As he was painting he noticed a group of girls watching him and giggling. He looked at them puzzled, and then turned around and began to paint again. Then he bent over to get some more paint on the brush and then heard the girls giggling yet again.
Finally he turned around, "Did you want something?" He demanded. Then one of the girls broke away from the herd and ran up to him. Startled, he stared at her as she stood in front of him, and then was even more startled as she grabbed him and kissed him. After a moment she released him with yet another giggle and then she and her friends ran off.
Harry just stood on the driveway gaping in the direction the girls had run in until his Aunt Petunia yelled at him to keep working. All in all, it took him about 3 hours to paint the garage and when it was done Harry moved to sit in his garden with a relieved sigh. Suddenly an owl swooped down on him, dropping a letter and then soared off again.
Suspiciously, Harry picked up the letter. When he saw that it was from Albus Dumbledore he ripped it open immediately.
"Harry,
Thank you for sending me your dream. You were right it is important. If you have any more please tell me. On your birthday you will be coming to Hogwarts for the remainder of the summer. If you have any questions please owl me and ask.
Albus Dumbledore Headmaster of Hogwarts"
"I wonder why my dream was important." Harry muttered to himself as he began to weed his garden with supreme care. That night when Harry got out of the shower he glanced in the mirror and was so surprised he almost fell over. He had finally grown a little, instead of being 5'1 he was at least 5'5 and he had gotten some muscle, probably from all the gardening he had done. Shaking his head in disbelief, Harry went back to his room and crawled into bed.
Over the next few weeks he did chores around the house, memorized his schoolbooks until he would have made Hermione proud, and worked in his garden. Finally it was the night before his birthday.
"Tomorrow I can leave this place for a whole year." Harry sighed as he climbed into bed to try and get some sleep. Harry hadn't been sleeping well all summer. His sleep was even yet filled with Voldemort and Cedric. Still, it was his birthday, maybe he would get some sleep.
As Harry drifted into darkness, that hope was shattered. A gray fog surrounded him (a/n in the dream) and a voice began to speak. "Harry, Tonight you begin to receive your powers. Your destiny is calling you Harry, can you meet it?" And with that it faded away into another dream.
{ Merlin was standing at the top of the cliff again. It looked like an different conversation then the one Harry had seen, perhaps it had occurred earlier, the man didn't look as old. The same bird was standing on his shoulder. "When my grandson comes here Trouble, he will not understand, do you have someone who will be his friend?" The falcon nodded. "Thank you. He will be coming into his powers and might be mad with me for not telling him whom I am. Ask your friend to take care of him."}
Then the dream faded into grey again and the voice was back. "Learn to use your power, your destiny is coming, be ready." And with that Harry woke up. For a second Harry thought he had woken up because of the dream but then he realized that was not true. He could hear a group of people moving around downstairs.
"Where is he?" "Master said upstairs." "I remember. Come on, let's get the boy and get out of here." With that the people moved to come up the stairs. Harry reached under his bed for his wand. Death Eaters were in his house!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Note: Hope you liked the first chapter. It is based on a challenge called "In the name of Merlin" By Phoenix tears type 6. I realize the first chapter was a little boring but I promise it'll get better next chapter. Review