It was to a hot, dreary summer morning that Harry Potter woke up screaming out. His godfather's name on his parched lips, he sat up straight on the rickety old bed graciously provided to him by his only living relatives, the Dursleys.

Hedwig, his beautiful snowy owl sat cautiously on a wooden perch he had made himself, his first week back home after doing some cleaning chores in his Uncle Vernon's all-purpose garden woodshed.

She gave a feeble hoot and hopped slowly to him, whom she had fondly christened 'Harry Wizard'. If Harry Potter had understood owl-speak he would have realized just how much she had come to love him ever since his first year and understood the mental anguish he was going through.

Gently rubbing her soft head against his hand, she looked at him questioningly as if asking him if she could help him in any way possible. Harry slowly drew his hand from his forehead which he had been pressing with his fingers and gently stroked Hedwig, reassuring her that he was all right.

With a disbelieving look, she gave him a gentle nip on his ear and flew back to her perch, her amber eyes looking out of the window as if daring anyone to come and disturb the quiet yet intimate moments she shared with him.

Harry slowly climbed out of his bed and stretched his limbs, loosening his joints and put on his weather beaten trainers. He opened the small closet in his bedroom and took out a protein bar from a big box and carefully un-wrapped it.

He had bought himself some nutritious food items on his second day home after visiting a local grocery store knowing fully well that the Dursley's fear of 'those awful freaks' as Uncle Vernon had so succinctly  put it, would soon vanish after a few weeks at home. He treated himself to a cold glass of orange juice downstairs and made his way out of Number 4, Privet Drive.

It was well after an hour that Harry came back home, with sweat glistening on his face and a wet T-shirt clinging to his chest. For the past few days he had been going for morning runs to rid himself of his frustrations and fears that slowly built up in his subconscious mind in the night and gnawed away his few hours of sleep. It gave him some time to clear his mind and think about nothing except feeling the oddly comforting wind carrying through his ears.

This was his second week back from Hogwarts and Harry had decided to make some changes in his life.  This change in his attitude was however not brought forth overnight. He had been reading some of Dudley's discarded books to take his mind of things, when he came across a speech by a famous and well admired leader of men, Abraham Lincoln.

He had been so thoroughly moved by the speech that he had in fact memorized it in its entirety. Slowly, word by word he recited it in his mind:  

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

 We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.

 The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

 It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. "

'Yes', he thought, 'Sirius had not died in vain. He had died protecting him, Harry Potter. He had died protecting a way of life. He had died for love.'

'James Potter, his father had not died in vain - he had died protecting his wife and their one year old son. He had died protecting his family. He had died for love .'

'Lily Potter, his lovely redheaded mother had not died in vain – she had died protecting her child. She had died for love.'

'Cedric Diggory, his Tri-wizard competitor and fellow Hogwarts student had not died in vain. He had died with honor, showing till last the qualities that Helga Hufflepuff so fiercely admired.'

'But none of them got to live their lives to it's fullest. They were all victims of hate and one way or the other – Voldemort.'

'Voldemort. The word immediately brought to fore a mixture of feelings in Harry's mind. Anger, hate and an extreme need to be wipe him off the face of Earth. He wanted to banish him to the depths of hell, from where he would never return and suffer punishment for his sins and innumerable crimes till the end of all existence.'

'But how am I going to do that', he thought. 'That vile creature has had so much time to learn and master the dark arts; whereas I am just a nobody in front of him. What can I do? Will Dumbledore help me learn? Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody? Professor McGonagall?? WHO WILL HELP ME? They can't just think that I will clear my NEWT's and go fight him off and face his army of Death Eaters. WHAT THE BLOODY HELL SHOULD I DO?'

His thoughts immediately went back to the duel in the graveyard at the end of his 4th year. 'Wait a second! I do have a few advantages over him. Our wands don't work against each other. He is too proud to just go and get another wand because of poor, pathetic Harry Potter, the perpetual thorn in his side. Plus the prophecy that Dumbledore mentioned. The power that the Dark Lord know not. Yes. I definitely have some advantages. I need to learn more about this.'

He had resolved to tell Hermione about the prophecy. She had always supported him even when Ron had backed out of his friendship during the Tri-Wizard tournament. He knew Ron would also support him in his endeavors and stand by his side but for some reason felt it better that only Hermione know about it. Her vast knowledge and razor sharp intellect had helped them time and again in many a tight spot.  'And this was as tight as it gets', he thought with a mental sigh.

Her unwavering loyalty was what finally made him decide that she was the one he had to share the prophecy with.

'So that's that. What should I do with my summer then?  Ahh. But, of course. Learn to hold my own when facing Death Eaters. Bellatrix LeStrange, Lucius Malfoy, Avery, Nott, Jugson, Mcnair. So many of them. They all tried to hurt me, hurt my friends. Bellatrix killed Sirius. I will get her for that.'

The D.A. had helped him better some of his offensive and defensive skills but after having the duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore, two of the most powerful wizards in Europe, he realized he still had a long way to go.

He was abruptly broken from his thoughts when he heard a loud shout from downstairs. "POTTER, COME AND GET YOUR LUNCH!"

And with that Harry went downstairs. After quickly finishing his lunch, he came back to his room and fed Hedwig some of the meat-pie from lunch and a few owl treats from his trunk.

The day had just started and Harry Potter had some serious planning to do.

TBC.