Hello folks! Happy New Year!! Unfortunately I still don't own any HP or his world; however this is my humble attempt at another story. Hope you like it, and if there are any romantic's out there, I have written a romance on fictionpress.com which I do own, and I'm a little bit proud of even if it's not fabulous. Bye for now!!

Chapter 1 - Muggleville

Harry was sitting at his desk writing a letter to Lupin, telling him about life at number 4 Privet Drive. Thus far, it had not been as bad as previous years; the Dursley's were ignoring him. Aunt Petunia called him for meal times, and though Dudley was still on a diet so the meals were mostly salads and lean meat, at least they were regular.

Dudley spent no time at home, and as Harry rarely left his bedroom, they were never alone. This was an unexpected bonus. However the shadows in Harry's mind, the memories of Sirius's death tortured him constantly, he didn't need any help from Dudley for that.

The letters he received from Ron and Hermione didn't help much either, Ron skirted round the whole episode trying to write about general things never commenting on what had happened except to say "hang in there mate, don't let the muggles get you down."

Hermione constantly asked how he was doing, if he was talking to anyone. If maybe he should get some counselling? Suggesting he write and ask professor Dumbledore if he could speak to someone. What she didn't know was that Dumbledore had already suggested that if he would like to speak to someone, then it could be arranged. Harry had dismissed this idea. How could some stranger make him feel less guilty? How could anyone, when in truth he was guilty. Hermione had been right when she said Voldemort was playing to his weakness, his need to feel important and responsible for everything that happened in the magical world.

Harry sighed and looked down at the parchment in front of him, it read,

Dear Professor Lupin,

I am fine and the muggles are leaving me alone.
They even let me have my school books in my
room. Hedwig is enjoying the freedom to come
and go as she pleases.

It was a short letter and Harry wasn't sure what else to write, he hadn't studied because without his OWL results he could not pick his subjects. And life in muggleville was too dull to write to anyone about. He continued,

How are you? I bet you miss Sirius as much as
I do. I'm sorry for what happened, I should have
listened to Hermione!

Then had to stop as the familiar feeling of guilt washed over him, he recalled the scene from Professor Snape's pensieve, Lupin, Sirius and his father along with wormtail, they had been the best of friends. Harry tried to imagine how he would feel if Lupin had been responsible for Ron's death, Harry knew he would not want to read any letters from him, and with that he tore the parchment into small shreds. He suffered some more guilt for imagining his best friend dead. "Enough people have died already, without me imagining more!" he growled at his reflection in his bedroom window.

Harry paced round the room in circles, his mind wandering, trying not to focus on anything, because everything seemed to cause him pain these days, "And you earned every bit of it!" he exclaimed aloud.

He flopped down on the bed and thought about the prophesy, he would one day have to kill Voldemort, but as he recalled Dumbledore's duel with Voldemort, Harry wanted to cry, nothing but luck had let him survive this long, he had no skills and contrary to what Dumbledore tried to make him believe, he had no special powers either.

If Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard of their time could not defeat Voldemort, then what chance did a 15 year old boy have? Harry turned his face to his pillow and sobbed like a child, glad that no-one could see him, he was supposed to be HARRY POTTER, THE BOY WHO LIVED! SAVIOUR OF THE MAGIC WORLD! But at the moment he felt so totally overwhelmed, it scared him.

How much time had passed when he finally sat up, he didn't know, the sky outside was a dark navy colour and the moon was high in the clear night sky. Rolling off his bed he went to the toilet and returned to find a regal looking owl on his window ledge, the letter Harry removed from its leg bore the Hogwarts crest.

Harry opened the letter to discover his O.W.L results,

Harry Potter Ordinary Wizarding Levels

Astronomy ___________ A

Care of magical creatures ____________ E

Charms ___________ O

Defence Against the Dark Arts __________ O

Divinations ___________ F

Herbology ___________ A

History of magic ___________ A

Potions ___________ O

Transfigurations ___________ E

Mr Potter you may choose all but Divinations for your N.E.W.T level classes, you may also repeat divinations if you wish or study O.W.L level Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Muggle studies. You should have a minimum of 5 subjects for entering into 6th year. There are no longer any mandatory subjects. Please consider your options and reply as quickly as possible, we will then send you a book list for next year.

Harry re-read his results shocked that he had managed to pass so many of them, particularly Astronomy. Even more shocked to see he had gotten an O for Potions, he wasn't sure how he'd managed that one, but he wasn't going to complain.

Harry Potter had achieved 8 O.W.L's that was amazing; he wondered how Ron had fared. Hermione was a dead cert for an O in all 10 she had taken.

Harry took out a fresh piece of parchment and wrote down the subjects he wished to study.

Defence against the Dark arts. N.E.W.T

Transfigurations N.E.W.T

Charms N.E.W.T

Potions N.E.W.T

Care of Magical Creatures N.E.W.T

5 subjects didn't seem like a lot somehow, but he was relieved that he would never have to suffer Trelawney or Firenze again! Snape however would be furious when he discovered Harry was still in his class. 'Good,' thought Harry, 'he deserves to be miserable for the way he treated Sirius!' But even as he was thinking this the memories of how Sirius and his own father had tormented Snape came to Harry and he felt miserable, it was hard to feel anger about something Sirius had done all those years ago especially when he was ...Harry couldn't bear to think about it all, it hurt too much.

He quickly rolled the parchment for Professor McGonagall and tied it to Hedwig to deliver. Lying down again Harry tried to sleep, and eventually just before dawn he closed his eyes, and fell into a fresh torment, his dreams were much worse than they had ever been, although now they were his own dreams not something Voldemort was projecting, yet somehow that scared Harry even more.