I do not own the rights to any of the Harry Potter characters or places. The aim of this fan fiction is to come as close to what JKR will be writing in the 7th book by mixing rumors, hints from interviews, and foreshadowing in the previous 6 books. It will have to include a lot of my own personal ideas and speculations. It wont be as long as the actual book but I think he will still be quite extensive and I hope you enjoy.

This will probably be the shortest chapter, I just wanted to get things started, I've already wrote a few more and they're alot longer.

Chapter 1

Harry was cold with sweat when he woke up; looking over at the clock beside his bed, he saw that it was two in the morning. This was no surprise to him; he had been jerked out of sleep every night since he returned to the Dursley's. Nightmares of all the people he had lost constantly repeating in his head, he saw Cedric lying lifeless next to the Triwizard Cup, he saw an empty black veil, he saw Dumbledore falling to the ground, and he was always helpless to save them. Always just out of reach.

This dream had been different though, he had had dreams like this before, they were due to the connection he and Lord Voldemort shared. This usually meant that they were real, but he silently prayed that this one would not come to be. He could not handle such a loss.

A horrible thought passed through his head: what if this was not a premonition but a vision of something that has just occurred. He suddenly sat upright as if there was something he could do at that moment to prevent it. It was then that he realized he had been writing a letter when he fell asleep. He looked down at what he had written so far:

Dear Ron,

I hope all is well at the Burrow. Things have been dull here and I will be glad when I see you next month. I hope the plans have been going well for Bill and Fleur, I am glad to hear that she and your mom are still getting along well. Not much progress with my studies but I'm sure all I need is a bit more practice.

Most of what he had written was not even true. He had not wanted to right anything important in case the letter was intercepted. Truthfully, the Weasley's were all staying at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters. Harry was very pleased when they were convinced to move there, as he was concerned for their protection. Nobody, especially Fleur, wanted the wedding to be held there, nobody wanted to be there at all, but they had all felt the loss of protection after Dumbledore's death. The tension had certainly increased in the weeks since it happened. Whatever constraint Voldemort had shown before, he now felt free to do whatever he wished. The Daily Prophet, under orders from the Ministry, tried to make things sound better than they actually were but even they had to report some of the killings, which Harry estimated had reached almost a murder a day.

Harry suddenly realized that it had indeed only been a few days since he returned to the Dursley's. It had seemed like so much longer to him, with the constant fear of attack, willingly confined to his room at all times, always on alert. He knew that until now he had always felt safe knowing that Dumbledore was looking out for him. Despite all the danger he had faced he felt that somewhere in the back of his head that if he was in any real danger Dumbledore would appear at his side to save him. He would never feel that way again. He consoled himself with the fact that the second part of his letter was also a lie, he would not have to wait a month to see them, he would be leaving for number twelve Grimmauld Place the very next day.

The others had wondered why he had even returned to the Dursley's at all. Harry did not have an answer for them because he genuinely didn't know. All he knew was that Dumbledore had expressed a wish that he return to them one last time. He had explained to Harry that there was protection at number 4 Privet Drive as long as he could call it home, but with Dumbledore gone he had been unable to shake the feeling that his protection went with him.

His thoughts lingered back on his dream, the last part of his letter was telling of his progress with Occlumency. Although Dumbledore had suspected that Voldemort was trying to close the connection they shared, Snape still held a power over Harry while his mind was open to him. If he hoped to defeat them both he would need to learn to close it, although after his dream it appeared that his efforts were not going well. He decided that finishing his letter might calm his worries. He dipped his quill into a bottle of ink beside the paper and continued: "Just checking to make sure that everyone is okay and in good health." He knew he had not made this sound as casual as he would have liked but it was much better than what he was truly feeling: He hoped that nobody was dead. As he tied the letter to the leg of his snowy owl Hedwig and watched her fly into the night he relived the nightmare in his head. He could see it very clearly, his dream of a giant misty skull with a snake protruding from his mouth hovering menacingly over one of his favorite places in the world, the Burrow.