Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the characters, the story background, etc. I simply added my imagination to her brilliant thoughts. Also, I do not own any of the King Arthur's legends/story or things that are in reference to Avalon
Chapter One
One would think that compared to the previous summer, the heat surrounding Number Four Privet Drive could not have possibly escalated. Unfortunately for Harry Potter, it seemed that the warnings of his friends had caused living in the Dursley's house to be similar to that of living in a pressure cooker. Nearly a month had gone by since Harry had come home from his beloved school of Hogwarts, but in that month nearly nothing had happened.
The Dursleys although stupid, were not stupid enough to ignore the threat made to them at King's Cross station. Therefore, Harry was technically being treated the best he had ever been treated. He received three decent sized meals a day, allowed to keep his school things with him, and was only responsible for the maintaining of his room. However, it was clear from the moment that Harry got 'home' that the Dursleys' tempers were on very short leashes. The rules of Harry's summer stay were clearly laid out for Harry that summer: where ever Harry was, the Dursley's weren't. The first few days of summer the Dursleys had made the point of being out of the house as much as possible under the guise of getting Dudley some exercise so that he may continue his boxing championship title. However, this avoidant behavior ceased when it became obvious to the Dursleys just how unnecessary that behavior was.
All day, every day Harry would confine himself to the four walls of Dudley's second bedroom and every day the walls in the room seemed to close in upon Harry. The death of Harry's godfather, Sirius Black seemed to eat away at Harry in a way that could only be described as birds picking at your bones while being chained to railroad tracks. Regardless of this feeling, Harry faithfully wrote to his friends every other day with assurances of his well being. Had this been any summer prior, Harry would have loved to receive as much mail as he was getting. However, in Harry's current mood, the task of getting out of bed seemed to be more strenuous then was really worth and; therefore, made answering of letters a tedious and genuinely lied-filled experience.
As it was Harry's birthday was due to begin within the next fifteen minutes, but Harry's thoughts were clearly elsewhere as he rolled around his bed in a vicious nightmare.
"Ohh," Harry moaned slightly in his sleep before reaching over to the bedside table and knocking over a box of Owl Treats.
"I'm sorry…please I never meant for this to happen," cried Harry before jerking up in bed with an, "Ah!"
Harry's breathe was labored has he ran his hands through his raven colored hair. Harry was unsurprised to find himself drenched in sweat and a feeling of nausea that usually accompanies stress and guilt. After taking a moment to collect himself and realizing what he saw was only a dream and could not possibly happen, Harry looked toward the bedside table to see was time it was.
The clock read a blurry 11:52 pm. Harry sluggishly climbed out of bed and went towards the window to allow the owls that were sure to come into his room. After opening the window, Harry took a moment to look around the room and observe the damage his dream trashing had caused. Harry was pleased to see that only the Owl Treats had been knocked on the ground this night. Harry had knocked a bottle of ink over a few nights ago and then forced to re-write all the letters he had planned to send to his concerned friends being as the letters were the landing ground for the spilt ink bottle.
As Harry scooped the scattered owl treats back into their container, he felt a slight wind pass through the room and was mildly startled to turn around and find Hedwig had returned from Hermione's house with a package and note. Harry quickly relieved Hedwig of her load in time to see four more owls coming towards Harry's window.
Once the owls had entered the room, Harry was immediately able to take a guess as to whom the senders of the mail were. The first owl was Ron Weasley's own owl Pig, and since Pig's patience is about as short as his owner's Harry made haste to untie his parcel first before attending to the other owls in the room. Once Harry had untied all the parcels, the two more official-looking owls immediately took flight once more. Leaving Hedwig, Pig and the easily recognized Weasley family owl, Errol in Harry's room. Harry gently picked up Errol's nearly unconscious body and placed him in Hedwig's cage which she vacated when seeing Errol's state.
"There drink some water. You will be okay," Harry spoke to Errol as he encouraged the owl to drink some water in hopes of reviving Errol of his now more comatose-like state.
Deciding that time would eventually heal Errol, Harry turned to his packages see what his friends had a bought him and, unless he was mistaken, what Hogwarts and the examination center had sent him. After a moment's thought, Harry decided that he would rather deal with worrying concerns of his friends before dealing with the detached nature that the other letters were sure to have. Harry began with Hermione's note and package:
Dear Harry,
Happy Birthday! How are you feeling today? I know you keep saying you are fine, but I have been reading up on the stages of grief and the general grieving process and sometimes grief can take you by surprise at times. When you finally think you are coming to terms with the death of your loved one; you crash and become sad and upset again. The research I have conducted has stated that it is okay to not be okay and not to be ashamed of your feelings of depression or anger. So, you will write or even call if you are not being okay, won't you Harry? I hope so.
I, myself, am feeling increasing feelings of anxiety as I await our test results. I am being to not only think, but know that I have failed everything. I can think of three points I forgot to mention on our history of magic exam that I believe with drastically result in a suffering of my grade. However, to ease my anxiety I have taken up other arts and crafts. I have really come to miss my knitting for the elves and decided to channel the frustration into, crocheting. Crocheting is very similar to knitting and I have been making some beautiful blankets for around the house and Gryffindor common room. My present to you is one of my creations and I hope you like it. Also I sent you a book to help you get over your loss.
Lots of Love,
Hermione
Harry opened the package from saw that Hermione had sent him a self-help book on conquering your grief. Harry chuckled at Hermione's gift and quickly tossed it aside convinced that no muggle self-help book could help him in any way. Then Harry viewed what he assumed to be the 'creation' that Hermione had sent him. Harry guessed that it was suppose to be a blanket, but it honestly resembled a flattened, very tangled piece of yarn. Harry too placed the 'creation' aside for the time being and turned to Ron's package.
Harry,
How are you, mate? I should warn you that mum is worrying about you constantly and is trying to get you a place on our family clock. Anyway, mum and dad say that You-Know-Who has been dead quiet since what happened at the ministry but we should all take care to be on guard. Dumbledore hasn't given us an answer about you coming to stay with us yet. (He hasn't returned any of mum's owls or fire calls) But I imagine it should be soon. I hope you like your present!
Ron
p.s. Word of advice, don't mention anything that could relate to O.W.L.s to Hermione. I mentioned something in my last letter about a ministry owl attacking me when I was little and Hermione's next letter spoke of nothing but our exams. Seriously, we are on vacation, why would we care about school now?
Harry somehow felt comforted by Ron's letter. It gave to Harry hope that regardless of what can happen outside of Hogwarts; Ron can still be as if nothing is going on.
"Or at least about to go on," Harry mentally corrected himself.
Harry was delighted to see that Ron's present was Weasley Wizard Wheeze products. Harry made a mental note to go through the entirety of Ron's present later, but at that moment Harry felt unease spread through him and he assumed that he was due to his test results sitting a few inches away from him.
With a deep breath, Harry opened the envelope and read through his results of his O.W.L.s
O.W.L results for Harry James Potter
Astronomy-A
Care of Magical Creatures-E
Charms-O
Divination-P
Defense against the Dark Arts-O
Herbology-E
History of Magic-D
Potions-E
Transfiguration-O
Number of O.W.L.s- SEVEN
"I actually did okay," Harry thought to himself.
Harry was actually extremely pleased with his grades except for his grade in potions. Harry's potion professor, Professor Snape, only accepted students that received an O on their O.W.L. into his potions class. Since Harry had only received an E, Harry's dream of being an Auror was quickly diminished by the letters on the page. Feeling as if there was nothing left to do but to crawl back into his bed, Harry slowly opened what he assumed would be his Hogwart's letter. After taking a moment of reading the letter, Harry felt the parchment slip from his fingers onto the floor.
"Oh My God!"
Author's Note: This is my first story, so any thoughts or critics are welcomed. I have had this plot in my head since before the 5th book came out and I just know found the nerve to actually write it done. I'm not quite sure when I will update next, it will probably depend on how reviews speak of my writing. (i.e. positive reviews I will write faster, lots of insults I may think that this plot of just a backfire in my brain and best to leave it there) Oh, and if anything is hard to read (format wise) let me know. I know that this chapter may be hard to read in general since I wrote it at 4:30 am, but still let me know what you think.