Harry Potter and the Legend Lost
A Night of Mourning
"My Lord…" The hooded figure paused, waiting for permission to approach the man shrouded in darkness, on the opposite side of the room. All the others would be terrified to approach the Dark Lord tonight, but he was not. He knew that he would be rewarded for his unwavering loyalty.
The man across the room slightly inclined his head acknowledging his permission. These little pathetic beings that he controlled were completely meaningless, yet they still have their uses.
"The rumors were true… we have found the remains of their last dwelling place, if all is correct then only one survived. It will be within our grasp soon my Lord."
The hooded figure swept quickly out of the room, his long cloak billowing as he rushed out the door. The man turned slowly facing back into the darkness. 'If he could acquire this new ally then his force would be complete. No one could even hope to stand in his way any longer. With the powers of his soon to be pet he could crush absolutely anything.' From the darkness two small slits appeared, glowing a particularly evil shade of bright red. A smile curled across the man's face. 'With this new pet he would be truly invincible; no one could defeat him… not even…'
It was early. Way too early for this. Exactly 3:02 A.M according to the alarm clock on the stand next to his bed. He could barley see the clock from the awkward position he found himself in upon the cold wooden floor. A pain was searing in the back of his head, it seemed he had managed to roll right off of his bed and use his head as a cushion to the cold floor. The boy lay there for a minute, letting the pain subside as he tried to recall the events of the dream that had painstakingly left him in heap on the floor.
The boy looked roughly sixteen years of age, although in reality he wouldn't be for about another week. His muscles had toned out a bit over the years and he was no longer the scrawny little kid he once was. His dark hair lay in a complete, uncontrollable mess. His face looked sunken in due to the shadows around his brilliant green eyes; the long sleepless nights had obviously been taking a toll on him. There was a lightning shaped scar etched into the side of his forehead, the one thing that set him apart from everyone else, for this was no ordinary boy, no, he was a wizard and none other than the famous boy who lived, Harry Potter.
Harry had been laying there for the better part of thirty minutes. The events that recently took place at the ministry were taking a large toll on him. After fifteen years, no more than six attempts had been made at his life, five of which were from the most powerful dark wizard of his time, Lord Voldemort. The first when he was just one year old, he was the direct recipient of the 'Avada Kedarva' curse; 'The Killing Curse'; But through his mother's sacrificial love when she and his father died for him that faithful night, Harry survived and Voldemort was reduced to nothing but a cursed soul. Harry's life was tested once again in his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when the very same cursed soul of Voldemort tried to regain life by stealing a legendary artifact called the Sorcerer's Stone, yet Harry managed to thwart him once again.
Yet another time in his second year, the remnants of Voldemort's young self tried to take his and one of his friend's lives, forcing him to face the deadly Basilisk, Yet against all odds once again, Harry had managed to triumph. In his third year he was forced to fend off over a hundred dementors, dark soul stealing creatures used to guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. Yet in these past two years things had taken a turn for the worse. In his fourth year, Harry was used as a pawn to win the tri-wizard tournament, and upon touching the tri-wizard cup he and a fellow student were transported to the grave site of Lord Voldemort's parents, they were surrounded by the followers of Lord Voldemort, more commonly known as Death Eaters, and his fellow student Cedric Diggory was killed. The Death Eaters used the blood that flowed in Harry's veins to resurrect their fallen leader, Lord Voldemort. Harry only managed to escape that dire situation through luck and instinct.
Harry lay there on the floor silently brooding these past events in his head. The most recent weighed him down the most though. Throughout his fifth year, Harry slowly discovered that there was a connection between Voldemort's mind and his, he was able to feel what Voldemort felt and sometimes even see what he saw. Voldemort also began to realize this connection and began to use it to manipulate Harry to his advantage. He sent Harry false images of his godfather; last know wizarding kin to Harry, being tortured. Naturally Harry went to his rescue along with several other students from Hogwarts wanting to help him. He, of course, walked right into Voldemort's trap and eventually, though they fought bravely, he and his friends were defeated. When all looked lost, the members of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret group against the dark Lord, arrived to save Harry and his friends.
In the commotion of it all, his godfather, a member of the Order of the Phoenix was pushed into the veil of the unknown and lost to this world. As the Death Eaters began to flee, and in rage of his godfather's death, Harry followed the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange using one of the unforgivable curses on her. As Harry was about to attack again, Voldemort appeared, and fortunately so did Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of his time and also the headmaster of Hogwarts. A battle ensued, and when Voldemort felt he could not win just yet, he possessed Harry trying to get him to attack Dumbledore. It took every ounce of strength and will power Harry had to fight him off. Later that evening Dumbledore revealed a prophecy made about him and Lord Voldemort, 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…' The words still flowed freshly through Harry's memory, 'For neither can live while the other survives…' He was destined to fight, whether he wanted to or not, 'And he will have a power the Dark Lord knows not…' Why must it be him that is condemned to fight for his life time and time again? Why did that stupid prophecy have to be made? If it had never happened then he never would be here, Voldemort would not have killed his parents and he would have led a happy normal life with his real parents. He was sick of being known as The Boy Who Lived, all he ever wanted was to be normal.
And so it came to be that Harry lay there silently. Thoughts of his recent nightmare were flooding through his mind, He had saw a young girl no more than his age walking down the dark street back to her house, she was quickly glancing over her shoulder and she could see the two hooded figures that had begun following her, she knew who they were and what they wanted, they couldn't hide anything from her. She broke out into a run and dashed into the nearest alleyway, the two figures on her tail. Harry's perspective suddenly changed to that of one of the hooded figures, he had just rounded the corner and the girl was gone, disappeared from plain sight, they spent nearly and hour searching for her before giving up. There was going to be some hell to pay tonight.
Yet Harry's thoughts of this dream were beginning to fade away as he began to mull over his godfather's death once again.
Harry pulled himself up from the hard floor in his little room, the room his aunt and uncle were only so unwilling to give Harry. They hated him, they hated his kind. It was only when he had absolutely no where to go on that faithful night 14 years ago that they reluctantly took him in. These muggles didn't care for him, they only put up with him because they were forced to by Dumbledore. Sirius was the only wizarding kin that Harry had left, and now he was gone, and all because of Harry, if only he had listened to reason and saw through the false visions. Not being able to take it any longer he broke down and cried, this was the first time he had cried since the night Sirius died. He cried, letting all of his emotion out, it was all he could do.
Harry woke again around 4:00 A.M. that morning to a sharp tapping against his window. He sat up bolt right and quickly hastened to let the owl in. He let the brown own in his room and detached the letter from its leg. The owl hopped back onto the window sill and with a flap of its wings, was gone back into the clear sky. Harry looked over the letter closely; it was the first piece of mail that he had received since he returned to Privet Drive.
Harry Potter
The Smallest Bedroom
#4 Privet Drive
Harry opened the letter with anticipation; he thought he could recognize the handwriting.
Dear Harry,
I know you must be having a rough summer, just a little bit longer though and you'll soon have the Dursley's out your hair. I have good and bad news, I'll start with the bad; O.W.L. results are going to be here soon and I'm worried sick! I know if I had just gotten five more minutes on that silly little transfiguration one I could have made it so much better, and Defense Against the Dark Arts… well let's face it, I'm not you Harry. What did you put for that question about the differences between a transfigured werewolf and an actual werewolf? I feel like I'm about to bite my head off with anticipation, it's killing me here! I know you must be just as worried as I am, how couldn't you be? Well as for the good news… I've decided to keep that a surprise for the time being, just know that I'm thinking about you Harry. I'm sure Ron is too, have you heard from him lately? He wrote me not too long ago and he seemed to be very excited about something.
Love Hermione
P.S. – Make sure you have everything packed. You never know when you might just get to leave…
Harry sat back on his bed. It was typical of Hermione to be stressing over exams, especially ones that they had already taken. Hermione would have never admitted it but she was much smarter than Harry, well… maybe not at Defense Against the Dark Arts, but at just about everything else, she was the smartest witch he knew. Yet aside from Hermione's misplaced worries, something else was nagging at him, she led on that she knew something about him leaving… and that he should pack his bags. Does that mean that he would get to be leaving soon? He highly doubted it, his birthday hadn't even come to pass yet, and what was this 'good news' that she was so hyped up about. What was she planning? His thoughts began to drift over her last two sentences, Ron had not written him at all this summer, which was unlike him. He had a strong feeling that something was going on that he didn't know about.
Just as the thought crossed his mind though, a small pile of clothes that was sitting on top of his dresser against the wall jumped from some unseen force and landed in a heap on the floor. 'What the bloody hell was that?' Harry stood quickly his wand in his hand. He stood there stock still for nearly five minutes, finally deciding that the clothes must have been on the edge of the dresser and just been waiting to fall, he got up, folded the clothes back up and put them on top of the dresser. 'I could have sworn that I put those clothes up against the wall though'
He went back to his desk, pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and began to write.
Dear Hermione,
I'm not quite sure how all of this is about to come out so just bear with me. Thanks… I've never properly thanked you for everything you've done for me, especially a couple weeks ago. Even though you didn't believe that Sirius was actually captured and you felt that I was being misled, you stuck by me. You put your all into something I believed in, even if it turned out for the worst. I know that no matter what happens, you will always be there for me and I just want to thank you for being such a good friend, it means a lot to me. God knows I've screwed up so many times, and the only reason I'm alive today is by pure luck and the same goes to everyone who followed me to the ministry. I owe them all an apology and I'll start with you, I'm sorry.
I have something import to tell you Hermione, you and Ron both, but I'd rather it be face to face. Just know from that moment on, things are probably going to be different.
On a lighter note, Hermione… are you serious? If you didn't get at least and O on every single one of your O.W.L.s then something is seriously wrong with this world. Now quit worrying! Everything will turn out fine. Ron hasn't written me at all this summer, yours was the first letter I've received. Any ideas what he's up to?
Harry Potter
Harry carefully folded up the letter and set it aside, pulling out another piece of parchment he began again.
Dear Ron,
Hey mate, how it going? Haven't hear from you all summer, what's going on? O.W.L results come soon, Hermione seems like she's in a fit about them.
Hey I have something important to tell you, I'm going to wait until I can tell you face to face, but just know that after that moment, things are going to change.
Give everyone my best.
Harry
Short and to the point and just under the maximum length of Ron's attention span. Harry folded up the letter and pulled out one final piece of parchment.
Professor Dumbledore,
I had a dream tonight, well a different one at least. It seems Voldemort is after something, or rather someone. My dream showed two Death Eaters chasing this girls into a dark alleyway, and right as they were about to catch her she seemingly disappeared. I'm not sure why Voldemort is after her or what he is planning to do, but that is not my main concern. Just the fact that I had this dream still proves that there is a connection between Voldemort and myself, Professor, I need to finish learning my Occulemency lessons as soon as possible.
Harry
Harry had strained to find something to write for that final letter, he was angry with Dumbledore. Ever since Harry had found out that he was a wizard, Dumbledore had been hiding information from him that directly affected his life. This prophecy being the most recent, how could Dumbledore hide something so important from him? Dumbledore had said it was because he had grown fond of Harry and didn't want to hurt him any more, but hiding all this information from him seemed to be posing even more of a threat to Harry. For he was Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived and now that he knew the prophecy the impending fight between him and Lord Voldemort seemed inevitable. 'Neither can live while the other survives.' Voldemort had been alive for nearly a year now, this silent peace wouldn't last forever. Just thinking of the prophecy made Harry sick, it wasn't fair. Harry glanced over at his alarm clock, it read 5:15 A.M. Harry folded up the last letter and walked over to Hedwig's cage. He attached the three letters to her leg.
"You're in for a long journey girl. Be careful. These letters go to Ron, Professor Dumbledore and Hermione."
Hedwig nipped him on the ear affectionately. Harry sighed as he watched her fly off into the distance, what he wouldn't give to be carefree like her. Deciding to get an early start on his chores, Harry headed downstairs for a little breakfast.
