Privet Drive
It was a cold windy summer's day in the little suburban town of Little Whinging. The breeze and the cold air was making the trees groan out. It was not a normal day, not at all. The summer's were usually hot and dry in Surrey but even the weather must have noticed the panic in the air and the tension because the whole summer had been cold and windy. Very few people were going outside because of the weather and there had been some strange things going on recently. Houses were locked up and several of the more paranoid people had bordered up there windows. There had been a lot of people varnishing in the town of Little Whinging and no one knew what was going on. Know one except a raven haired teenage boy who was lying on his bed in his room at this very moment.
See this boy was not normal. He was as far from normal as it was possible to be. He hated the summer holidays and relished doing homework when he was in them, he wore circular glasses and had a small lightening bolt scar on his forehead that he had got when he was nearly one years old and he lived with his relatives because his parents had died 15 years ago and his beloved godfather had died last year. Oh yeah, he was a wizard as well. His name was Harry Potter and he hated everything about his life right now.
Harry was just lying on his bed thinking about last year. He had been doing a lot of that recently, thinking about how Sirius had died and the prophecy that Dumbledore had revealed to him at the end of his last year at school. Why did everything seem to happen to him? He supposed he knew the answer now. It all led back to that damn prophecy, the one that had caused so many people he loved to get hurt. His parents had died trying to protect him from Voldemort when Voldemort had learned the first part of the prophecy, Sirius had died trying to protect Harry from death eaters when he had stupidly gone to London to try and save a Sirius from a dream. Ron and Hermione had been hurt countless times from knowing him and going on all those adventures with him. Harry wondered how badly they had been hurt after his last adventure. He couldn't understand why they still wanted to be friends with him with the danger they got into on his adventures not to mention the threat of death eater attacks for being so close to him.
Being close to him probably didn't put them in much more danger than they already were in Harry reasoned with Hermione being a muggle born and the Weasley families closeness to Dumbledore, not to mention death eaters and some other people thought they were blood traitors. This led Harry to start thinking about Dumbledore and how much he hated him at the moment for only just telling him the prophecy and not telling him that Voldemort might try and trick him into going to the ministry to get the prophecy until it was to late. He wished he had trusted Hermione when she told him not to go to the ministry but he hadn't, he had been to caught up in his saving people thing to believe her that it might just be a trick.
Harry started to stare out the window, he still had nightmares about what happened at the ministry. It was like a pensive, you could see everybody and what was happening but no-one could see you. The only difference was that you couldn't chose when to wake up, you had to let the nightmare run its course. Harry often woke up sweating and screaming from the latest nightmare. He had wondered why the Dursleys didn't shout at him for the noise he must have been making. They hadn't talked to him much and it felt like they were avoiding him even though he had locked himself in in his room and hadn't come out yet this holiday. As well as all that they were feeding him three times a day (a record for them when he had been in his room) and had let him keep his books in his room and let him let Hedwig out to stretch her wings. Harry realized why they were doing this 5 days into the holiday when aunt Petunia had asked him to sent a message to those people to say he was being treated well. It was then Harry remembered the scene in kings cross when he had got back from his fifth year with the order. Harry had obliged because they were treating him quite well even if it was very forced.
But Harry supposed he had been quite annoying this summer; staying in his room the entire time; waking up in the morning at around 5 o'clock screaming his head off; needing food and water to be taken up to his room three times a day, then the bowls to be taken down again; not to mention the bucket and toilet roll that they put in his room for him to go to the toilet in. That bucket must really stink thought Harry as he took his eye's away from the window to look at it. Then again I probably do as well thought Harry, he hadn't washed himself in weeks never mind having a shower or a bath.
Harry hadn't done much over the last few weeks since he had got back from school. He had been mourning his godfather's death so he had stayed in his room to grieve and to try and forget the cruel outside world. The only things he had done was; read the daily prophet (which now seemed to have lost Fudges influence and was actually telling the truth, not lies or rumors) which he had subscribed for a week into the holidays because he wanted to know what was going on; read all the books on magic he had over and over again until he could actually remember most of the facts he had read; as well as that he had already done all of his homework Hermione would be proud; the only other thing he had done was to train with the weights and punching bag Dudley had let him borrow for the holidays. Harry found both excellent ways to relieve all the stress he was under with the prophecy and the rage and anger he had in him.
Even with the Dursleys being so nice Harry was still having his worst summer yet because of all the attacks. Roughly by his count a hundred wizard's had died and around 250 muggles had been killed not to mention the thousands injured. Harry found the weights and punching bag good for taking out his anger from the attacks so he had been doing quite a lot recently. Harry looked at himself in the mirror, he could see the difference the weights had made in his toned torso. He now had broader shoulders and a faint six pack was starting to appear on his stomach. With all the attacks that had been happening recently Harry had decided he needed to train himself up and learn all the spells he could so he could defeat Voldemort when he faced him again in the future to put a stop to the attacks. This is why he had been reading all the books he had not to mention a few others that Fawkes has stopped by to deliver one day. Harry still blamed Dumbledore but he could understand his reasons for doing what he did even if he didn't like them. He thought that Dumbledore had been trying to make up for his errors by sending Harry some books that had a lot of useful spells in and he was probably right though he didn't know how Dumbledore knew he was reading all his books very carefully and had nearly run out.
He had found quite a few useful and funny spells while looking through the books Dumbledore had sent him. Harry had paid particular attention to the one about water because he found it interesting and enjoyable to read. He knew how to move water derivatio, freeze water durescius dusri agua andto breathe underwater adfluarias. Of course he couldn't do magic at home so he had practiced saying the words and doing the wand movement with a pencil.
Harry thought he heard a sound in the distance so he sat up and looked out the window just in time to see his owl Hedwig fly in threw his open window. She dropped the letter on the growing pile of letters from Harry's friends that he hadn't opened then stopped and rested on her perch next to her cage. She was looking proud of herself and started clucking her beaks obviously expecting praise. Harry got up of his bed and went over to his cupboard to get some owl treats out for Hedwig. When he gave them to her she hooted once nipped his finger appreciatively then jumped into her cage, which closed behind her. "Hi girl. Where have you been?" Harry looked over to the letter she brought and noticed that there were two there, Ron and Hermione he guessed. Harry walked over to his wardrobe and looked at the big pile of letters he had received from his friends. He had only opened the first few from the Weasley's and Hermione. They were all saying the same thing, how sorry they were and that it wasn't his fault. Even before he had been in a terrible mood at the start of the holidays he knew it was at least partly his fault. That's why he had not been opening there letters. He did not want to hear their condolences. He hadn't written to anyone apart from the order so far this holiday. He had hoped that if he had not replied to their letters they would stop writing and leave him be. He knew what a load of rubbish that idea was now.
The more he thought about it, the more he thought it would be a good idea to write to everyone that had cared enough to owl him to see how he was doing. So far he hadn't because of his bad mood and he was grieving but now he thought he was ready to move on. Sirius and my parents would have wanted for me to move on he thought. So that was what he was going to try and do. He got out some paper and a quill and looked over at his letters. He needed to write 6 letters, one to: the Weasley's, Hermione, Cho, Neville, Hagrid and Dumbledore. He was just about to start a letter to Dumbledore when he realized he better read the letters they wrote to him first. He started reading them one by one, there had to be at least 30 there.
It was 15 minutes before he had finally read all of them. Though there didn't seem to be much point because they were all saying sorry and were offering condolences which was exactly what they had put in those few letters Harry had opened over 3 weeks ago. He picked up his quill and started his first letter (Dumbledore's). He was sweet and to the point.
Dear Dumbledore,
I am sorry for not writing sooner but I was very angry with you. I am just a little bit annoyed at you now. Thank you for finally telling me about the prophecy (I know you did what you thought was for the best for me) and for those books you have sent me. They have really come in handy.
Yours sincerely Harry
As soon as he had finished writing the letter Fawkes appeared again with another few books which he dumped on Harry's bed then took the letter addresses to Dumbledore. In less that a second the fiery phoenix had disappeared in a small ball of flames. Harry picked up one of the books Fawkes had left and a small bit of paper fell out onto the floor. Harry picked it up and read it an apology. He heard a little CRACK and looked over onto his bed again. There was a yellow egg with red spots on itlying on his bed. He picked the egg up and immediately felt a sense of power and energy run through not unlike when he had first picked up his wand. The egg was very hard and quite cold so he got one of his massive hand me down jumpers from Dudley to wrap around it to keep it warm. He looked at the books Fawkes had gotten him and saw on further examination that a few of them were about taking care of a phoenix. Harry froze, had Dumbledore really given him a phoenix. It certainly seemed so.
Harry knew very little about phoenix reproducing apart from their babies were born in eggs and that they could only ever have one child. He was about to start reading up about taking care of a phoenix when he remembered he was going to write those letters to say thank you. The first four he wrote all basically said the same thing: thanks, he was fine, how are you doing. Then he came up to the final one to Cho. Cho's letter had talked about what had happened with Cedric and how she had moved on. It also asked him if he wanted to be friends. Harry felt bad when he remembered how he had treated her on that date with the whole Cedric thing, now he knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. Harry felt Cho might want to be more than friends again but Harry wasn't sure so he would agree to try and meet her if he could when he went to Diagon Ally.
In Harry's letter to her he just basically said he was sorry for the date last year and a few other things. When he had finished he got Hedwig out of her cage and tied all five letters to her leg. "Now you have a rest after you have delivered each letter ok". It looked like Hedwig nodded before she took of. Harry wasn't sure when she would be back because he knew Ron was on Holiday in France after his dad won the ministry lottery.
Harry jumped back onto his bed and started reading one of the two books he had on phoenixes and taking care of them as soon as he had sent Hedwig off with the letters. He was just about to read the first word when he realized something. You weren't allowed to take birds to school. Harry was really starting to panic about where his phoenix that wasn't even born yet would live when he realized that Dumbledore would not have given him a phoenix in the first place if he could not take it to the school he was at for over 9 months every year. He started to read the book entitled 'your local guide to phoenixes'. A phoenix is one of the most beautiful creatures on earth, its golden feathers are extremely powerful and can propel it along so fast you hardly see it move. If phoenixes need to go somewhere far away very quickly they can teleport there but it will take up a lot of there magical energy and will tire them out very quickly………
Harry folded the top of the page over and put the book down. He had been reading for hours and needed a break from it. He decided to use his weights for a bit then to go out of his room and downstairs for the first time since he arrived at Privet Drive at the start of the holidays. He chose the 6kg ones. He pulled them up to his shoulders then brought them down until they were level with his waist, he did this fifty times before he put them down again. He wiped the sweat of his forehead then walked over to the door. He took a few seconds to compose himself then pulled open the door and walked onto the landing. He could hear a TV going and the sound that Dudley made while he was drooling so he crept as quietly as he could up to Dudley's room then he poked his head through the open door. "Oh yeah baby, harder." Harry quickly pulled his head out of his cousin's room. Porn. His cousin was watching porn in the middle of the day. Watching porn wasn't an unusual thing for Dudley to do just he usually watched it in the dead of night when he thought everyone was asleep. Dudley would usually be with his gang smoking or beating some poor kid up at this time of day and Harry wondered why he wasn't doing that today. Harry wouldn't ask of course because Ron had told him that sixth years get to go on a trip some time in the year and he would need a slip from his parents or in Harry's case guardians to say he could, so Harry was going to try to be on his best behavior until his uncle or aunt had signed the slip. He went downstairs and was about to walk out the door when he remembered that me stunk. So he quickly ran upstairs to take a shower
About 20 minutes later Harry walked out of the bathroom clean as a whistle. He was about to go outside when he heard the familiar bark of his fat uncle. He turned round and slowly walked into the kitchen so he could here him better. "Where do you think you are going boy?" Harry could see the look of utter loathing on his face and wondered what he had done this time.
"I was just going outside." Uncle Vernon's face was slowly turning a dark red (because always red) and continuing until it reached purple.
"Why?" Harry did not have a clue why it mattered but he would answer truthfully anyway.
"I was just going to get a bit of fresh air," Harry replied as innocently as he could. Vernon teeth were grinding together and it looked like he might explode until a mechanical grin started to appear on his face and it's colour returned to normal.
"Yes you haven't had any fresh air recently you must need an awful lot." Harry thought he heard Vernon mutter something like hieving ugrateful mastard but that didn't make sense so he ignored it. Something about his Uncle's grin made him wonder if this was a bed idea but Vernon was agreeing with him.
"Yes I do." Harry was wondering what Vernon was planning now because he only ever had a grin that was bigger than his face when he had a good or evil plan.
"Well then you can tidy our garden after you have cleaned the dishes…… and don't forget to get rid of the horse shit that somehow made it onto our front lawn by hand." Harry was expecting something like the first two his uncle had said but he had nearly choked when he had heard the final one.
"You know what will happen to you if you make me do that." Harry replied thinking about the order. But then an idea struck him. "How about if I do some chores, write those letters to those people, and behave well but you would have to keep being nice to me and give me a permission clip to go on this school trip." Harry looked at his uncle's face and saw he was still not convinced so he decided to lie a bit to get Vernon more interested. "It's very dangerous where we are going, there might even be a chance that I wouldn't make it back alive." When a grin started to appear on his uncle's face Harry knew he had said the right words to make a deal.
"Fine I will sign the letter now just because I trust you." Harry knew that the real reason was because he said he might die but he didn't really care as long as he got to go.
"Ok, I will get it from upstairs." Harry bounded up the stairs to get the permission slip before his uncle thought that he might be lying and changed his mind. He got it of his wardrobe and took it downstairs into the kitchen. His uncle was waiting there with a pen and an evil glint in his eye's. "There you go." Bye the way he grabbed it out of Harry's hand it looked like he was even more keen that Harry was for him to go the this schooltrip.
"Here." He quickly scribbled something then held it out for Harry to take.
"Thanks." Harry quickly took it and positively bounded up the stairs to his room. He was so quick he didn't hear the evil little cackle that came from the kitchen. It also looked like they had both been to happy to remembered that Harry was supposed to be doing chores in the garden.
The holidays certainly looked a lot better now with Harry being able to go on the school trip and getting a phoenix from Dumbledore. Harry sat up on his bed and looked around for something to do. He no longer felt like going on a walk and he had already read for about 5 hours today. He looked at his watch and saw it was 17: 00. He slowly took off his clothes and got into bed. He was quite tired at the moment because he had not been getting much sleep because of the nightmares but he had a feelings he would have a peaceful nights rest tonight.