Harry Potter: The Summer Before Sixth Year
Eighteen days. It had been eighteen whole days since the term had ended for Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. A lot can happen in eighteen days: the Olympic Games had encouraged many children to become involved in local sports teams; the spice girls were again number one in the charts and Independence Day had taken more than $300,000,000 in the cinema box office. However Harry Potter wasn't interested in any of that he was interested in the "strange cloud formations" which were appearing in the night's sky with more frequency above houses wherein dead bodies could always be found. He didn't know what the death count currently was but he knew that every day he sat on the lawn, or in his bedroom at number 4 Privet Drive more people were going to die.
'Either must die at the hand of the other' those 9 words were the reason for all of these inexplicable deaths, for try as they might the various coroners throughout the country could find no cause. Harry pitied the muggles he really did, they didn't know what was happening and rumours were being whispered of a government cover up and chemical warfare. Which many people would probably choose to believe even if they were confronted with the truth: that a rouge group of wizards and witches were responsible for these murders; that all the people they had killed so far was just the beginning of another racially aimed war.
Harry was a wizard he knew exactly what the skull above the homes meant, he was at the centre of this war it wouldn't end until he ended it or died trying. So you can understand how infuriated he was at being stuck at his Aunt and Uncle's home in surrey unable to train, unable to communicate with his friends, unable to walk into a room without feeling unwelcome, unable to do anything whatsoever for the war effort. He was going to have to get out of here and as each day passed it looked more and more like he was going to have to do things for himself. Lying on the grass in the back garden he snorted in disgust. He (for the most part) understood why Dumbledore had done what he had but he certainly didn't like it. He didn't however, understand why after telling him that the fate of a great number of people lay squarely on his shoulders he hadn't heard another word from his headmaster about extra training he should undoubtedly be trying to do.
His Aunt was calling for him now. Uncle Vernon should be returning from work shortly so Harry was to make himself scarce. He trudged into the house and sealed himself in his room for the evening. Looking around his walls he decided that tomorrow he would leave whether he heard from the order of the phoenix or not, he would go to the local library and get the appropriate forms for the Dursley's to sign then he would go and train to save the world. And so he began to pack. Everything he owned still fit into his school trunk so it didn't take him long. He took down all the newspaper clippings from his walls and placed them along with his fourth year texts. He understood things a lot better now having gone back over all his notes from his first three years had given him a better understanding of the rules behind magic, the reason for that wand movement with that spell and had learnt that the wand wasn't actually necessary for just about every spell he'd reviewed so far. Either he was magically stronger than he had been when first learning these spells or he was once again just different being able to influence his magic by forcing enough intent behind his thoughts. In this though he didn't care if he was just different because he had yet to receive any notices from Mafalda Hopkirk telling him off for improper use of underage magic. With his packing complete save for a change of clothes he closed his trunk and decided he might just as well try getting some sleep just now. Tomorrow he would take control of his own life.
In the lane at the bottom of the garden stood a figure covered in an invisibility cloak staring intently at the small window he knew was Harry's. The boy was asleep now, early as it was, so all there was to do was keep an eye out any possible external threats.
"Constant vigilance" the figure muttered to themselves then sighed and got settled for another boring night. He certainly wasn't going to mention to anyone that he'd watched Harry pack up all his belongings. Just like he hadn't mentioned the almost constant magic Harry had been performing without being pounced on by ministry officials.
Alastor was retired now so he didn't have to even pretend to agree with the ministry's policies. He did still have to look like he agreed with Dumbledore though, so when the boy left the next morning he would have to make sure his shift was over. He shuddered at the thought of all those Weasley's anger on the watcher that Harry would slip by.
"Snape can handle it I'm sure" he chuckled to himself. It would do the boy good to be away from this place. In Alastor's opinion the boy had proven he can take care of himself so he saw no harm in allowing Harry to continue with whatever his plans were. He'd send someone to keep a tail on the kid someone who agreed this place was not what was best for Harry.
