Harry Potter lay on the bed in his room, at his supposed "family's" house, and contemplated his life so far. Nothing ever seemed to come easy for the young wizard. No matter how hard he tried something always went wrong.

The most painful error lately was the battle at the Department of Mysteries, a battle which led to a single casualty.

Sirius was dead.

No matter how many times it ran through his head it still seemed so surreal, and yet, in his heart, he knew it as fact.

That knowledge was a sitting within him like a boulder, unmoving and excruciating.

Harry cried himself to sleep for days blaming himself for the events and actions of that night.

He barely left his room for almost a month, eating sparingly, going to the bathroom, occasionally showering, he had reached a deep dark sadness that took a while to navigate through. But soon, as all things do, the grief gave way slightly, he had run out of tears for a time. It was in that moment he began to look past his guilt ridden grief. Something wasn't adding up, the events of that night went too wrong too fast. So he decided he needed to deeply analyze what happened on that fateful evening in June.

He went over the battle meticulously. Found and examined everything he did right, everything he did wrong. Every reckless risk he and his friends had taken. He tried to find ways it could have been different and came to a few unsettling realizations.

First of which being Occlumency, he should have made an actual effort to learn it, to block his mind from the visions Voldemort continued to send to him.

Yet at the same time he should have been told why it was so important. He should have been warned that the connection could be tampered with.

He should have been told of the prophecy.

That blame was squarely on Dumbledore's shoulders and Harry felt a strong loss of faith and respect in his headmaster,

a lack he wasn't sure would ever return.

Dumbledore wasn't the man Harry had once believed he was, too many mistakes and half truths had opened his eyes to the reality

that Dumbledore could be wrong. As a result it led him to questioning every encounter he ever had with the man.

He carefully went through his memories, every event that seemed suspicious or odd, that he brushed off for various reasons, were re-examined.

Once he had his list he carefully put it all in chronological order. Afterwards he took a good look at the final list it was far longer than he could have ever imagined. He read the list several times both surprised and appalled. How could he have been so blind, it was all so obvious,

First off there was the Dursleys and the hell he'd been through living in their prison they called a home.

Second the sending of his Hogwarts letter to the cupboard under the stairs, yet forcing him back to them year after year when he must be aware of the abuse.

Then sending Hagrid, of all people, to show him the wizarding world,nothing against Hagrid

but Harry was fully aware the man was extremely biased towards Dumbledore.

The list went on and on,

Meeting the Weasleys at Kings Cross, he loved them but it was obvious they were looking for him. Molly Weasley had been to Hogwarts many times with her children. She wouldn't have been loudly yelling the name of the platform in a muggle area unless she was trying to catch someone's attention.

Then of course Ron quickly finding him on the train and bad mouthing anyone from Slytherin

The cloak, The mirror, The stone, all things that Dumbledore setup to test him.

Second Year and the Basilisk, there was no way a second year, should be able to figure out Slytherin's monster so easily, no matter how intelligent she is.

Not to mention shouldn't the castle be protected from dark artifacts and creatures.

Third Year, Sirius, Dumbledore should've been able to get the man a trial it was in his power as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.

Fourth Year, that damned tournament, another test Dumbledore should have been able to prevent but didn't even try instead he allowed the abuse from the other students. He never said one word in his defense. Then after the damn tournament he made his friends promise to ignore him while he spent a hellish summer at Privet Drive.

Fifth year, Umbridge and her damn slicing quill, it all could have been prevented and Dumbledore did nothing. Hell the man wouldn't even look at him for the entirety of the year.

Lastly moments after he had lost Sirius, Dumbledore dumped the prophecy on him. Like it was automatically expected for Harry to sacrifice his life for the Wizarding World which in many ways had done nothing for him.

It shattered the poor wizard's belief system, he felt like his whole life had been one giant game and he had been the perfect dancing puppet.

It was then, in that moment, that Harry decided enough was enough. Sirius was dead,

some of the blame for that death lay on Harry's soul and yet, after analyzing the battle, he realized it was Sirius's fault too.

He shouldn't have toyed with Bellatrix, he knew she was insane, but he treated their duel like a game and he suffered for it.

Some of the results of that night rested with Dumbledore, because he had trapped Sirius in a house he hated,

with no one to really talk to, while doing nothing to allow him any semblance of freedom or justice.

But mostly the blame lay with Voldemort, for being evil, and encouraging people like Bellatrix to be the same,

none of the manipulation and pain of Harry's life would exist if he didn't.

The realizations gave Harry strength and resolve, he was the Chosen one,

a title he hated more than anything. He may dislike a lot of people in the Wizarding World others were innocents.

He couldn't allow them all to die because he ignored his destiny. So even though he wanted to be just Harry not some hero

that's who he was and it was time he began acting like it.

No more mistakes he vowed to himself.

Once Harry had reached the end of his internal brooding he finally began to function as a person again. That involved racing from his room to go to the bathroom, thankfully the door was unlocked, and taking a much needed shower.

When he arrived back into his room he walked across the room to his desk on it was a array of letters. Harry grabbed the top most and quickly recognized his headmaster's writing he sighed to himself and opened the letter, ~best to get it over with~ he thought to himself.

Dear Harry,

I am writing to inform you that you will be remaining in your relative's care for the entirety of the summer.

With Voldemort increasing his attacks it imperative that you remain at the Dursleys for your safety.

That also means leaving the house as little as possible, I'm sorry Harry but it's for the Greater Good.

Also it has been decided that no contact will be made with you by anyone unless it's an emergency for security reasons.

I have already contacted Miss Granger and the Weasleys.

See You September First,

Albus Dumbledore

Harry stared at the letter in disbelief, then the anger set in, to say he was pissed was an understatement.

To be trapped here for the entire summer with no outside contact was a sentence from hell.

He was very aware he was being watched, and knew he more than likely couldn't escape the house without being caught. He literally just became a prisoner in Privet Drive. He crumpled up the letter and threw it in the trash completely disgusted.

Unfortunately the next letter was from Ron and it did not improve his mood,

Hey Mate,

I wanted to let you know Dumbledore had asked us not to contact you this summer.

So this will be the only letter I send to you.

But don't worry the summer will fly by.

See you on the train

Ron

That was it, no inquiry into how he was or anything just a notice saying Dumbledore told me not to talk to you so see you after the summer.

Yet again Ron was abandoning him, he wasn't truly surprised,

it had already become apparent that Ron wasn't the friend he thought he was.

This wasn't the first time Ron had put himself or someone else's word above what was truly best for Harry's own peace of mind.

That and the fact that the prat was still jealous of him and his "undeserved" and highly unwanted fame. Ron never could understand why Harry hated it, he felt fame was everything you needed to be happy in life.

He always forgot that Harry was famous because he was an orphan.

He survived while his parents were gone, frankly that wasn't something anyone should want to be famous for.

Not to mention the git was lazy and had no manners. Harry found himself, very early on, hiding his intelligence and skills so as to not offend Ron.

It was irritating having to hide his true self because of the idiot's jealousy.

But at the same time, Ron was his very first friend and a large part of him was very reluctant to let that go. But Harry knew it was only a matter of time, things needed to change.

Harry was ready to step out of the shadows and Ron wouldn't take that well.

Maybe it really was time to let the friendship go, it was clear it meant more to Harry than it did to Ron. Harry had reached a point that he needed more from his friendships especially with the war heating up.

Harry shook his head and turned back to his desk, he moved Ron's letter aside and picked up the first of two letters from Hermione

Dear Harry,

I am so sorry about Sirius. I wish it could have been different but here we are.

I hope you aren't blaming yourself for what happened but I'm sure you are.

IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT HARRY!

You acted on the information you had, you questioned and looked for more answers and they all led to the same thing.

You were tricked plain and simple.

Now we need to move ahead and hopefully prevent such a thing from happening again.

I want you to know Professor Dumbledore asked me to not contact you this summer.

I've decided to ignore his request.

I think it would be a grave mistake to isolate you like that and after last summer I've learned my lesson.

I Love You Harry, you're my best friend and that means more to me than anything.

I'm going to give you some time to grieve as I know you probably need it but I better hear from you soon, or else.

Xoxo

Hermione

Harry laughed softly and grabbed the next letter,

Dear Harry,

STOP BLAMING YOURSELF AND WRITE ME BACK!

Honestly Harry it's been a month since we left school and I still haven't heard from you.

I'm beginning to get really worried, I understand you need time to grieve but you need your friends too.

Hope to hear from you soon, very soon, like as soon as you finish this letter pick up a quill and write me.

Xoxo

Hermione

The fact that she was ignoring Dumbledore's orders made him smile.

His Hermione had become quite the rule breaker since they'd met and he felt like that was for the best.

She needed to learn how to live life outside of her books.

She was really growing into herself these last few years, something Harry was really proud of.

He realized that she was really his best friend.

She always stood beside him no matter the situation. He vowed to himself that he'd always do the same for her.

Chuckling to himself he set about writing her a letter before she did something crazy like send a Howler.

Dear Hermione,

I got your letters, obviously because I'm responding, I'm ok, better than I was last time you saw me.

I think I've accepted Snuffle's death, not to say it doesn't hurt,

because I feel as though a hole is inside my heart where he should be, but I'm moving past it.

I don't have a choice.

There's a lot I have to tell you, but not in a letter, words cannot describe how much your faith in me after the Ministry makes me feel,

Just know I thank you.

Anyways before I get too sappy, I'll see you on September 1st and I promise to write more.

Xoxo

Harry

He sealed the letter and put it to the side, Hedwig looked at him when he finished it, she looked enthusiastic to have something to do. She had spent the last month in the room with him occasionally leaving to hunt but otherwise keeping an eye on her wizard. Now that he seemed to be over the worst of the grief she could leave to do her job.

"Hold on girl, I want to finish reading these in case I have more letters to send out with you." he said stroking her neck.

She hooted at him in understanding and he went back to his letters.

Dear Harry,

I hope your summer is going well,

I am doing great my Gran was so proud of me for joining you at the Ministry,

I didn't even get in trouble for breaking my dad's wand.

She's going to take me to Diagon Alley to get a new wand later this month.

I'm very excited to finally have a wand that suits me.

I hope it helps me in classes

I'm sorry about your Godfather, from what you told me he seemed like a great guy.

Write back when you can

Have a good Summer

See you at Hogwarts

Neville

Harry quickly grabbed another sheet of parchment and wrote Neville back, he really was a great friend,

"Dear Neville,

Thank you for coming with me that night in June,

it truly showed Gryffindor courage to stand up to those men.

I am immensely proud to call you my friend.

Good luck with the new wand, I bet it takes a while for Ollivander to find one for you.

I practically went through the whole store before we found mine.

I'll see you September 1st, enjoy the rest of your summer.

Oh and Happy Birthday.

Harry.

Next letter on his desk was from Luna, she was a unique spirit that was for sure,

Dear Harry,

I hope you are doing better, remember that those we love never truly leave us and it is our job to live for them once they are gone,

or so the Nargles tell me.

I know I won't be hearing from you till the end of July but I wanted you to know that I was thinking about you

and hopefully you'll have gotten rid of the Wrackspurts.

Daddy and I are going to Sweden this summer to find the crumpled horned snorklacks,

hopefully they'll come out to see us as we are good wizards.

Thank you for being my friend, I like having friends,

Enjoy your summer

See you on the train

Luna

Harry smiled he knew Luna seemed out of it but he believed it was an act to protect herself from being hurt by anyone

and he intended to make sure he got to know her better this coming year.

Dear Luna,

I'm not going to ask how you knew I wouldn't write until the end of the month because I believe I have an idea.

I think your a seer.

But I won't pry, that's your personal business.

Thank you for coming with me to the ministry, I'm grateful you weren't seriously injured.

Next time I will be smarter about my decisions.

I shall see you on September 1st.

Have fun hunting creatures with your father.

Harry

Lastly was a letter from Remus,

Dear Cub,

I am soo sorry about Sirius.

Also I'm sorry if you're angry with me for holding you back that night, but I just couldn't lose you too.

Sirius died the way his wished, he always said he wanted to die in the heat of battle or under a good woman or two.

A detail I'm sure you don't want to know, but he made sure to tell me about it, often, in explicit detail.

He loved you Harry, more than anything and he wouldn't want you to stop living.

He would be very mad at both of us if we fell into a hole of grief.

I miss him and I'm sure you do too.

I hope to see you soon, Dumbledore's being rather stubborn about it,

but I won't give up no matter what he says. You shouldn't be alone right now,

I should know,

Be Well Harry

Moony

P.S. I would be honored if you would call me Moony

Harry could see the pain in each word, Moony was hurting and they should be able to be together and grieve but as usual Dumbledore prevented that.

The letter caused a rush of new grief and guilt to rush up through him but he pushed it down ruthlessly.

Yes he was to blame,partially, but so were others and he wouldn't let it tear him apart again, Sirius wouldn't want that.

Moony,

I miss Sirius too, I keep thinking I'm going to get a letter from him.

We've been apart for so long that it would be easy to believe he's just stuck in some place away from me. Alas it took me a while but I've accepted that he's gone.

I don't like that fact but there it is.

I'm sorry for the role I played in getting him to the Ministry. I am so sorry he died leaving us alone.

I know it's not all my fault but some of the blame rests on my shoulders. To move on I need to accept that fault and grow from it, so nothing like this ever happens again.

I hope you're holding up ok. You're right that he wouldn't want us to mourn too much,

in fact I have a feeling he's berating us from Heaven for taking this long to be upset.

I'm sorry Dumbledore is being difficult, I hope you can get through to him as I would love to see you.

Be well Moony

Hopefully I'll see you soon.

Harry

Once the last letter was sealed Harry tied them to Hedwig and she flew off into the night.

It was late and Harry was tired, he felt like he might be able to sleep without dreams for once. So he laid down and crashed.

Harry slept through the night and into the next evening without dreams, when he woke he realized he'd been asleep for almost twenty four hours,

it was 8pm on the thirtieth of July just four hours away from his sixteenth birthday.

On the floor of his room next to the door was a small plate of food. Harry ran over and scarfed it down.

He'd been locked in his room since he got back, the Dursley's essentially forgot he was there.

Petunia unlocked the door for a few hours in the afternoon so he could go to use the bathroom but other than that he was locked in.

Harry was still hungry when he finished his pitiful plate of food, but he was used to that.

So instead of getting upset Harry pulled a book out of his trunk, thankfully he did manage to keep his school supplies with him this time,

and decided to do some self study. He began with charms as it was his second favorite subject with Defense being the first.

Hours later he looked at the clock, he was so absorbed he didn't realize how much time had past, it was now 11:58, there was only two more minutes until he was 16 years old.

For some reason Harry felt like something important was about to happen.

It both scared and excited him because surprises in his life had a tendency to come with a bad side, a painful bad side.

But Harry decided to focus on the good, it was apart of the new attitude he was adopting.

He watched the clock and prepared his mental countdown, Harry closed his eyes and listened to the sounds that surrounded him.

All you could hear was the silence of the night from outside and of course, his relatives snores from the other room.

30 seconds to go, was it just him or was it getting really hot, strange as it wasn't that warm out, actually it was pretty cool outside for a evening in July.

Shaking off the weird warmth as a weather increase Harry focused once again on his internal countdown.

10 seconds, wow he was hot, he could feel the sweat pouring down his face,

something was happening and he didn't have a clue what it was, if he could see himself he'd have noticed he was beginning to glow.

...5...4...3...2...1... BOOM!

Suddenly, as if massive floodgates had been destroyed, power he didn't even know he had surged from within his core through Harry's body,

into his blood, into every limb, soon it seemed to come out of his pores to surround his body and his entire room, covering everything in a pure white light.

Harry opened his eyes for a moment and was blinded by the bright light surrounding him, when his eyes adjusted he took account of his surroundings,

He couldn't feel his bed anymore and when he looked down he saw why. The magic had lifted his body to float in the center of his room.

~What the bloody hell is happening to me~ Harry thought to himself one second before the pain hit.

It was unimaginable, Harry screamed in brutal agony, everything felt like it was on fire, his body began to undergo changes.

He grew in length and built muscle mass, his hair grew longer and so did everything else, the magic was undoing years of malnutrition and abuse in moments.

Outside his room he could hear the Dursley's trying to get in to yell at him for waking them up but none of that mattered to him at that moment.

All he could feel was the pain, it did not take long before Harry felt like he could not endure anymore without going insane.

Then as that thought left his brain as suddenly as it began, the pain stopped.

It was like someone flipped the off switch, The magic returned him to his bed. He was on the verge of losing consciousness,

exhausted from the raw and powerful magic he had apparently inherited.

Unfortunately the Dursley's were still trying to get into his room,

Harry struggled to stay awake so he could explain that he had no idea what the heck just happened

but before he could he felt a tug at his navel taking him away from them just as his bedroom door opened.

He spun and spun as he traveled by the way of some unseen portkey, he landed with a crash onto a table in a room he didn't recognize.

Before he could question where the hell he was he felt a spell hit him dead on and all he saw before he passed out was 10 people standing around him.

Meanwhile back at the Dursley's the wards were failing and the house was shaking.

Petunia thinking quickly pulled her Husband and Son downstairs and out of the house before it collapsed in a heap, destroying everything.

She knew the freaks would be arriving by the hordes soon so she just stood looking at the wreckage,

~ Well at least magic will fix this mess so I don't have to.~ she thought to herself before shaking the traitorous thoughts from her head.

All they had to do was wait.

Albus Dumbledore rushed from his bedroom hearing the scream of the trinkets in his office.

He reached his office door in just enough time to see the devices explode.

He stood there in the aftermath for a moment in pure shock, those were the items tied to the wards at the Dursleys.

Them being destroyed meant the wards were down and Harry was unprotected.

Horrified he ran from his office, down the stairs sending his patronus to members of the order and the teachers he had staying in the castle

ordering them to go to privet drive because the wards at Harry's were down.

Dumbledore made it to the gates in record time with some of the teachers hot on his tail. They all looked grim, this couldn't be good news.

No one was prepared to find the house in ruins, or to find all three of the Dursley's miraculously alive with no Death Eaters attacking.

Vernon began screaming abuse at them the moment he saw them, Petunia was looking both terrified and annoyed, while Dudley was just clueless.

Finally after a few long minutes someone silenced Vernon so that they could figure out what happened.

The answers they received from the family only provided more questions, how did Harry screaming in pain cause the brutal dismantling of the wards?

How had the dismantling of the wards cause the total destruction of the house, leaving nothing but rubble and dust?

But the question that everyone was really asking was simple,

Where is Harry Potter?

Harry woke up on a soft bed covered with an emerald green duvet in the most beautiful room he had ever seen, wait seen, he could see, and his glasses weren't on.

He tried to move but it felt awkward so he glanced down, when he saw his body he nearly screamed, everything was different, bigger and stronger.

Taken aback he took a good long look and noticed that his shoulders were broader, his arms more muscular, his stomach flat with a nice six pack, and legs stronger than he remembered.

He had also grown about 4 inches making him about 6'0.

~What the hell happened to me~ he thought, though to be honest he was very happy with the changes.

A knock on his door startled him from his thought process.

Grabbing his wand on the side table he said

"come in".

The door opened and ten of the most beautiful men and women he had ever seen walked into the room.

They formed a semicircle around his bed and Harry took a good look at them,

on his left was a man who was wearing a dark emerald green robe with silver fastenings.

He had long blond hair that was loose around his face, which had an aristocratic look to it.

He had a small black snake wrapped around his arm, and his eyes were the color of fresh blood.

Next to him was a woman with very long blond hair that reached her waist, her dress was an aqua blue that reminded Harry of the ocean.

Her eyes were the color of melted silver, and she had a regal air about her but warmth in her smile.

Next to her was a man, he was tall and proud with messy black hair and green eyes,

he wore dark red robes with gold fastenings along with a sword attached to his side.

Next to him was a woman with long red hair and light green eyes, she wore a brown gown that had green leaves sewn into the fabric.

She made him think of the earth itself with a smile you could only see on a mother.

Next to her was a man with white hair and multi-colored eyes with a white robe and a staff.

His power rolled off him in waves scaring Harry slightly but his smile was gentle and welcoming and Harry relaxed and offered a tentative smile back.

Next to him was a woman with black hair that fell in waves down her back, she wore a stunning black gown that shimmered a little in the light,

she also had multi-colored eyes and a kind smile.

Next to her was a tall man with tattoos everywhere. He had fire orange robes and was completely bald, he had a tattoo on his head of a symbol of some sort.

His eyes were the color of flames.

Next to him was a woman with long brown hair wearing blue with a raven on her shoulder,

she had yellow eyes that spoke of knowledge, wisdom and power.

Next to her was a man in a silvery blue robe, his eyes matched his robe

and his hair was shorter with a windswept quality almost like he was always surrounded by a breeze.

And finally next to him was a woman with long auburn hair she work a dress of buttercup yellow

and she had the most beautiful sapphire blue eyes.

He sat there for a long time looking at their faces which seemed so familiar yet so distant.

Then all of a sudden as if struck by lighting all their names hit him in the order he looked at them

Salazar Slytherin, Lily Moon, Godric Gryffindor, Gina Demeter, Merlin, Morganna,

Blaze Ignitus, Rowena Ravenclaw, Caleb Winds, and Helga Hufflepuff.

Harry lowered his head once he realized who they were and what they meant to history and asked meekly

"What do you wish of me great ones?".

They laughed as one and Harry felt fingertips on his chin, he looked up into Merlin's eyes

" You Harry are the true heir of us all, we wish for you to learn with us, train to be a true sorcerer and bring the world to peace."

He stepped back and Helga took his place,

" We want you to be king of the wizarding world and before you protest" she said seeing words about to fly out of his mouth

" You will be ready to do so when you're done with us, we will teach you everything we know one at a time for a year apiece

and do not worry years may pass here but only weeks in your world."

She stepped back and Rowena stepped forward

" You will kill that thing that calls himself lord and be a great king but know this Harry because you are a piece of all of us you will have soul mates,

and must marry 10 times, I know that must seem like a lot but do not worry, they will love you, and you them, they will be your balance, your strength.

Five men, Five women to carry on our bloodlines and before you say men can't get pregnant it's untrue they can and we will teach you how."

Before she could carry on Godric stepped forward and silenced her

" Harry do not fear what will come, embrace it full heartedly for you are in safe hands. This is what your destiny is.

Now I believe we have said enough, tomorrow you will begin your training. Get some rest, you will need it. Goodnight Harry."

He turned around and ushered his companions out of the room but before he closed the door he turned back,

" Happy Birthday Harry Potter."