JK ROWLING has all the credit not me, I be but a poor writer tring to find my way... ;)
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Harry Potter and the Sword ofAwakening
Chapter 1
How Harry enjoyed his quiet evenings at the Dursley's now, Harry knew that the only reason the Dursley's were being so tolerant of him was because they were afraid of what he might do on his birthday. The Dursleys lived at Number 4 Privet Drive and they were the most "normal" muggles around, they had a son named Dudley and a perfect little house but the Dursleys had a terrible secret, their nephew, Harry Potter was a wizard! That was absolutely unheard of and to speak of such nonsense was treason from Uncle Vernon's point of view. And unfortunatly for Harry, Uncle Vernon's point of view was law at Number 4 Privet Drive.
Uncle Vernon refused to have the words magic, wand, wizard or owl spoken in his presence, though Uncle Vernon had all these demands he was more afraid of what Harry might do to him when he became "of age" than what the neighbors might think, so this summer he left Harry alone.
Every summer before this one Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia found a way to torture and abuse Harry, not to mention how their son Dudley thoroughly enjoyed using Harry as a punching bag.
Harry however found out that Dudley was nothing but a coward and could easily be scared off with threat of turning him into a pig!
Up until now the Dursleys treated Harry like he was a nasty insect that needed to be squashed and whipped clean, Harry was more a slave to them than he was a family member. The Dursleys knew that Harry was not allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry where Harry spent the last 6 years learning about magic and about the dark wizard that killed his mother and father, He-who-must-not-be-named. Harry was not afraid of speaking his name, Voldemort, but others around him flinched at the thought.
Voldemort was not just any dark wizard; he was the most powerful and most feared dark wizard of his time. And as Harry grew-up Voldemort grew stronger, every year making Harry's life more miserable.
But in just 2 days Harry was turning 17 and would come of age in the Wizarding world. This scared Uncle Vernon the most as it meant that Harry could do magic all he pleased, and in fear that Harry might Blow up the house, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia tried their absolute best to be as nice as possible to Harry, which wasn't that nice at all. In fact just earlier that day Uncle Vernon fumed at Harry for letting Hedwig, Harry's owl and only friend on Privet drive, out while it was still day light outside.
As for Dudley, who had stopped growing vertically but forgot to stop growing horizontally, was no where to be seen half the time and the other half he was so scared he practically forgot how to speak around Harry.
This situation would have usually been hilarious and incredibly fun for Harry, but none of this mattered to Harry, only one thing mattered, avenging Dumbledore's death and finding the last of the horcruxes. Ever since he left the school he felt as if he was alone in the world, as if the world's fate, wizards and muggles alike, was on his shoulders. After all he was "the chosen one!" The one who was destined to defeat Voldemort or as the prophesy fortold, it could be Voldemort who is destined to defeat Harry, either way it did not look good for him. Many nights now he had stayed up trying to figure out exactly what it is he was going to do now that there was no more Hogwarts and in just two days he would be on his own.
He figured that he could go to the Borrow to visit Ron, one of Harry's best friends, and go to Bill and Fluer's wedding, which Harry was very happy about. He was glad to see that there could be some normal and beautiful things still happening even though there was a war going on, a war between Voldemort and his death eaters and the rest of the Wizarding world. The only thing that really worried Harry about going to Ron's for the summer was seeing Ginny again, it was hard enough trying not think of her and the things he had to give up, but having to be right there with her in the middle of such a romantic setting was going to be worse torture that even the Cruciatus curse would be more pleasurable.
That is exactly what Harry was thinking about this evening, Ginny, Ginny in her beautiful bride's maid's dress and how exactly he was going to control himself. Harry aloud himself very few moments to day-dream now-a-days, but this night was particularly quite as the Dursleys were watching their favorite TV show, so it was the perfect time to devote to his love, the only light in a sea of darkness now.
Just then an owl pecked at the window for Harry to let him in, as Harry detached the letter from the brown barn owl he noticed it was from Hermione, it had been quite a while since she had contacted him, he figured she was busy trying to find out how she was supposed to finish her schooling if Hogwarts was now closed, her parents were muggles so obviously they could not home school her, where would the get the resources?
Harry,
How are you? I'm very sorry that it's taken me so long to write to you, I have been trying to get students to sign a petition to get Hogwarts open again, I've had much success believe it or not and even some teachers, Professor Bins and Professor Sprout to be exact, have signed! There is just no way is Hogwarts going down like this, Professor Dumbledore would have fought for it, and so will I!
Any way Harry I think it would be a good idea for you to come back to Hogwarts if we do manage to get it re opened, you haven't learned every thing you need to know yet, you haven't gotten to your full potential. Now I know what you're thinking, there's no way your coming back to Hogwarts, it's too dangerous and you don't want any one else hurt. I do understand this, but Harry please, if Hogwarts re-opens, only the people who have signed this petition will be going, and they are all willing to stand up to Lord Voldemort by your side! Your Birthday marks the end of your childhood and the end of the protection left upon you by your mother, but as long as you have friends that will stick by your side, as we have done for 6 years now, there may be a chance for all of us to live in peace again!
I've already spoken to Ron and he said he is going to come and get you, along with Lupin and Hagrid, for extra protection, on your Birthday. I expect you will want to have your final words with your Aunt and Uncle so I'm just warning you ahead of time. And Harry it is ok for you to laugh once in a while, all is not lost!
Love, Hermione
P.S. When I get to The Borrow for the wedding, you and I need to have a private talk!
Harry sat for a long time with this letter in his hand, wondering weather or not to write back to Hermione and tell her that it was useless to try and re open the school because there just wouldn't be enough students that would want to go back. And no matter how much Hermione said things were going well Harry just could not see how on earth he was supposed to go on with everyday life, school, and friends and possibly love when there was a job, better yet, a mission he had to do.
What was more, how was Hogwarts going to be with out Dumbledore? For generations Dumbledore had been the definition of Hogwarts, he was the greatest wizard to ever run Hogwarts and the only man the Dark Lord, Voldemort, ever feared! But as Harry thought about it he could see some positive points to opening Hogwarts, after all where were all the witches and wizards supposed to go now to learn how to use their powers? Home schooling, but what about the ones with muggle parents who would other wise have no clue they were magical if it weren't for Hogwarts. Plus who was to fight against Voldemort or you-know-who, as some people say, the mature wizards were low in number and dieing fast, the resistance seems futile if they don't include the younger generation, especially since they had already put up quite a fight now 2 years in a row!
"Well," Harry thought," if they do let students back in, it better be ones who are ready to train in defensive and offensive magical skills."
Harry felt a little more at ease now for some reason, having read Hermione's letter put him in a better mood, as if now he felt more connected to the Wizarding world. Harry still received "the Daily Prophet" which was the Wizard's news paper, but every time he looked at it made him sick to think that the ministry of magic was still doing nothing useful towards ridding the world of Voldemort. Now Harry was in bed, hopping the next day would go bye fast and smooth so he could leave this place and never look upon it again, but mostly he wanted to do as much research as he could and get to solving some of the mysteries that were on his mind.
In the morning Harry found four packages on his bed, the first one obviously from Dobby the house elf Harry had rescued what seem like decades ago. It was badly wrapped in plain tan parchment paper with little drawn pictures of Harry all over it and a big sign that changed colors ever few seconds that read "Happy Birthday Harry Potter" on it! When Harry finally opened the package he saw that it contained a silver ring with a light blue gem stone on it. Attached to the ring by a string was a note from Dobby:
Mr. Harry Potter sir,
This ring will help you absorb information out of a book instantaneously, just put it on your finger and pass that hand over the pages of a book you wish to retain and in just seconds you will have it in you memory! This ring does not however work on test booklets, text books or examinations!
Just like any other thing you wish to memories however, you need to review and practice going over the information. I hope this helps you in your quest to find He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and vanquish him for good. Dobby is behind Harry Potter and is at his service!
Love, Dobby
Harry was deeply impressed by this gift and made a mental note to personally thank Dobby later. This ring will defiantly be a key factor in Harry's plot to find as much information as he could. Harry now was even more curios what his other presents will be. But before he got a chance to open up another package there was a tap on the window and a black and brown owl swooped in and dropped a small piece of parchment on which a note was written and obviously in a hurry. The note said simply, "We'll be there at 2 pm sharp, by private car.-Ron"
With this he looked around and saw that in his bitterness he had not bothered to clean up or get anything ready at all, his first thought was how boring his birthday will be spending half of it cleaning and getting ready to leave! But he remembered with a slight smile that he was no longer forbidden to use magic out side of school. And with a flick of the wand he started gathering up his cloths and belongings! Harry pointed his wand at Hedwig's cadge said out loud "Scourgify!"
Moving around his room he cleaned up the place so well you could not even recognize that someone had been living there, the cloths folded themselves up in neat piles and put themselves in his trunk, all the dust and crumbs that were left over from food Harry had been given from Mrs. Weasley had disappeared and there was not one thing out of order anywhere. This put Harry in a better mood and thought of Ron coming to pick him up made him think that maybe some good thing can still happen and that maybe his birthday could be well spent.
As Harry finished cleaning he noticed once more his unopened birthday presents. One of which was a very interesting shade of purple that seemed to change as you touched it. He picked that one up and opened it to reveal a book titled: "Seek and you shall find."
The book was sealed shut and had a note attached to it describing its purpose. Apparently the book could only be opened by the owner who had to speak a secret message, once opened any object that was placed on the book would then sink into the pages and become like a picture and when tapped by a wand would then again rematerialize itself! This did not however work on living things.
At the end of the description, in big bold letters was written:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!!!
Love, Hermione.
This was obviously a exceptionally clever piece of magic that he could already see was going to be more than useful to him.
He began looking around the room and thought about testing his new book out. He grabbed a stack of books he had laid out on the table that he had been trying to study, placed them one by one on top of "Seek and you shall find" and found him utterly bemused as they sank away into the pages and become nothing more than pictures! He took out his wand and jammed the pictures of each book one by one and they were returned to normal!
After trying this with several other objects he went on to the next present which was from Ron. This package was not really wrapped, more like shoved into a plastic bag and closed with Spell-o-tape! Inside he found a note:
Sorry about the wrapping but I asked Charley to get this for you because he's the only one who could bring this here from Romania and he just got here today. Please be careful DON'T cut your self! (Seriously I'll explain later when I finally see you.)
Happy Birthday!!!
Ron
When he opened the bag further he saw that it contained a dagger, beautifully carved, with a gemstone covered silver handle. The odd thing about it was that it had a red tint when he moved it in the light. Harry decided he better wait until Ron had a chance to explain, but non-the-less having a dagger might defiantly come in handy.
Harry was really starting to enjoy his Birthday, all the presents made him feel like he really had support and people behind him even when he stood alone. His forth Present was bulky and misshapen in what seemed like a fine cloth sack tied at the neck with golden rope. Attached to the rope was an envelope which read: From Lupin. Harry opened the letter and started to read:
Harry,
I hope this helps you in your journey. This was actually Sirius', he gave it to me to pass on to you when you were ready to leave Hogwarts. And though I don't really think your ready to leave Hogwarts (and I don't think I'll ever be ready for you to grow up) it's inevitable and you have proved yourself more than capable to hold your own ground. Just make sure you don't open it inside.
Lupin
So Harry tucked it away in his trunk with all the rest of his presents. Now that he was in a better mood he figured he should go downstairs and see how frightened the Dursley's really were. In the Kitchen he found Aunt Petunia making breakfast, she pretended that she did not notice Harry walking in. He sat down right next to Uncle Vernon's seat which for the moment was empty. Dudley strolled in groggily and sat down not making eye contact with Harry. Harry smiled to himself and decided to wait until Uncle Vernon came down before he started any mayhem.
Uncle Vernon didn't come down until Aunt Petunia had already served Dudley his third serving. When he sat down he did what he usually did, completely ignore Harry and asked Aunt Petunia if Dudley had enough for breakfast. Then Aunt Petunia finally sat down, never serving Harry anything.
"Perfect," thought Harry. He took out his wand from underneath the table and conjured a blue frosted Cupcake with a single lit candle on it. Uncle Vernon turned beet red and Aunt Petunia with Dudley both seemed to have lost complete motor functions as they stared wide eyed and open mouthed at the cupcake.
Before Uncle Vernon could say anything Harry stood up and said, "For the past 16 years you've pretended that I did not exist unless you've need chores done or someone to scream at. You have never celebrated my birthday; you've never even acknowledged that it was my birthday. Well today is my birthday and since this will probably be the last day you will ever see me I figured it would be appropriate to force a little celebration on you, and then maybe you would realize how awful you have treated me over the years. If you would have been smart you would have treated me as your own and I would have been willing to give you riches and a better life, but I see now when I look at Dudley that I should be thankful you never treated me like your own because I would have never wanted to turn out like the pig you have raised!"
At this Uncle Vernon stood up and could obviously take no more and started to rant and rave! "How dare you! We took you in and fed you! And our Dudley is more of a man than you'll ever be! What better life could you and your kind ever offer us!"
Harry did not need words to show him how much he could have helped them, all he needed was his wand. He stood up too with his wand pointed at Uncle Vernon's dish and conjured a delicious pot roast then a fresh apple pie at which Dudley's eyes grew larger still. He then pointed his wand at the living room conjuring a big screen TV and a golden Chandelier. And then for the finishing touches he Turned to Kitchen where Aunt Petunia had not yet cleaning and said "Scourgify!" Instantly the Kitchen was spotlessly clean and organized.
He smiled at them in their baffled state and turned the living room back to "normal", then made the pot roast and pie disappear. Uncle Vernon sat back down dumfounded, and Harry began to talk again. "Maybe it is good that you did not get too close to me, because it seems the people closest to me are the most in danger, already Dumbledore is dead and my fate draws closer. But I do wish this could have been a happier good bye, Ron will be here at 2 pm to pick me up, I will be upstairs in my room until then" he said. He walked upstairs leaving them speechless.
