Harry sighed. It was going to be a long summer. He had just witnessed the death of Sirius, the closest person he had to a parent. It was just not fair and to add to his miseries Albus Dumbledore had just told him about the prophecy. He remembered the wordings clearly, 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ……born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…'

And now sitting in the back of his Uncle Vernon's car, he remembered the face of Sirius as he went through the veil, the laughter frozen on his face while his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange laughed. And there in the back of his Uncle's car he made a resolution to himself, he may die trying to kill Voldemort but he would make that bitch pay whatever it cost him.

'Boy, get in the house before the neighbors see you,' his uncle barked.

After years of being addressed this way, Harry had no doubt that his uncle was talking to him. He dragged his trunk out of the boot of the car and pulled it all the way to the front door and rang the door bell. His elephantine cousin answered the door, his triple chin wobbling and a sandwich in his left hand.

'Mom, the freak's home,' he announced in a loud voice.

Harry just rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and dragged his trunk up the stairs to his room. Or rather what was called his room. It had just enough space for his bed and a wardrobe full of Dudley's hand-me down clothes. That being the reason Harry had to fold his shirt thrice at the sleeves and had to wear a belt to save his pants from falling down not to mention the three fold-ups in his pants.

He let his snowy white owl Hedwig out of her cage and she soared out into the dazzling bright sky.

Harry then plopped down on his bed and returned to his musings about the prophecy. It referred to him and Voldemort. One of them had to die at the hands of the other in the end. Harry wondered how a wizard who was still in school was supposed to defeat the darkest wizard of all time. And the added problem was that the wizard was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin.

'You will not be alone,' whispered a small voice in his head.

Harry jumped, 'What in the name of Merlin was that.' He was pretty sure it was not part of his mind.

'Going barmy are we?' said the voice.

'What are you?' Harry asked, well thought.

He received no reply. He sighed. Maybe he was just tired because of all the stress of the past few days. He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.

He woke up hours later. The reason – his aunt knocking on his door. Or rather banging.

'Get up boy we will not have you dying of hunger in our house,' she said.

Harry sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. He rolled out of bed and trudged down the stairs at a snail's pace. He really doubted he could even down one bite of food at the moment. Apparently Dudley's diet had gone out of the window, as he was downing the mashed potatoes in heaps.

'Just like old times,' said the dry voice in his head. 'Those were the days.' It sounded like an old women reflecting over her life spent happily on a farm with her loving husband. Harry did the only thing he could do, he sniggered along with the voice in his head. His aunt glared at him and he stifled his laughter.

After diner Harry returned to his room. He lay down on his bed and tried to keep his eyes open. He did not want to sleep. His sleep was haunted by nightmares about Sirius. He wondered why he had not had a nightmare while sleeping previously. He shrugged it of. 'Good for me,' he thought.

His eyes were getting heavier. He tried to fight it but darkness engulfed him. A moment later he was standing in front of the veil through which Sirius had passed only a few days ago. 'It's all your fault,' said an apparition which looked like Sirius. Moments later his parents and Cedric joined in. Chanting over and over again that it was all his fault.

Harry jolted awake drenched in sweat, the tears on his face mingling with his sweat. He groaned and said to the darkness, 'I cant wait to go back to Hogwarts. There at least, his dreams were lesser in number. He sank back down and fell into a disturbed sleep with dreams haunting him.

He woke hours later in the pre dawn light again drenched in sweat and his own tears. He knew that he would not get any more sleep and that it was useless trying. He pulled on some clothes and went down stairs. He got out of the wretched house where he had been tortured the whole of his life. And there glaring at the wretched house that had been his home for fifteen years he made a decision. He would not be intimidated any more. He would play this game according to his own rules, not cowering behind other people while they died. If he was going to fight Voldemort, he needed to be fit, not only magically but also physically. And after making this resolution he started jogging the surrounding area. Everyday.

While jogging, he found himself to have a lot of free time to sort out his thoughts. 'Might as well get started on the occlumency, also,' thought Harry to himself grimly. He sorted out his emotions and stored them at the back of his head, paying no attention to them. He suddenly found himself floating in a void. No emotions were touching him, it was as if his body was some one else's, as if he was disjointed from it. He was now calm as he had never been before. After an hour Harry felt dimly tired of all his running. He let go of the void and gasped he was so tired. He had a stitch in his side and he was panting. He did not stop but he started walking slowly towards Privet Drive. He knew that if he stopped walking his muscles would seize up and he would be very, very stiff the next day.

Once he reached no.4 he saw that his aunt was cooking breakfast. Today he ate properly. If he wanted to be intimidating he had to look intimidating and he could hardly look intimidating if he was scrawny and had glasses. He also needed a new wardrobe with clothes that actually fit him and he would not have to worry about his pants falling of during a duel and him dying of embarrassment because of that.

Gone would be the scrawny little bespectacled boy. The next year Hogwarts would see a new and improved Harry, a Harry who could not be intimidated, not by Snape and not by anyone.

T.B.C.

Sorry for the short chapter will make it longer next time.