Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot…not that I wouldn't want to. Hehe.

*~.~* Chapter 1: Arrival in the Wizarding World *~.~*

Harry sat alone, once again, on his sixteenth birthday, on the second floor of the Dursley house.  He received both letters and gifts from his closest friends, not to mention a birthday sweater from Mrs. Weasley.  Of course he got nothing from the Dursleys, but he hadn't expected anything in the first place.  He was still in mourning from his godfather's death.  He usually received his best presents from Sirius, and during the past couple years, hearing from him was what Harry looked forward to in the long summer nights.  Now he had nothing…not a speck of loving family left. 

Throughout the summer, Harry kept in touch with the Order, just like he promised he would.  Though he was still enraged with Dumbledore and intentionally stayed out of touch with him as much as possible.  There were very few bad run-ins with Dudley this year.  As a matter of fact, whenever Harry's temper went completely out the window, he generally won the fist fights with Dudley.  The Dursleys stopped tormenting him for the most part.  He figured they were scared of the threats they received at the train station last year.  Harry never really had pleasant moments anymore.  He was always filled with a mixture of emotions of sadness and anger. 

He would be going into his sixth year at Hogwarts, which means a break from exams until the next year in which the N.E.W.T.s took place.  To Harry, it seemed like summer lasted an eternity.  Every day seemed like a year, and every night was even worse.  But of course, his birthday marked the summer's near-closing time.  He had not been able to visit Ron or Hermione this summer, under Dumbledore's request.  Although, he was permitted in two days time to go to Diagon Alley to pick up his school supplies.

Hedwig chirped from the cage next to Harry's bed.

"Shh, Hedwig," Harry spoke quietly.  He always spoke in an irritated tone now.  It seemed like whenever anyone spoke to him, he would snap back at them harshly.

Harry leaned back against his pillow and fell into a blissful slumber.  He dreamed of Sirius's return.  Sirius would rescue Harry from the horrible muggle home he was forced to reside in.  They would live at number twelve, Grimmauld Place.  They constantly talked of petty things, and laughed wholeheartedly.  Any happy dream Harry might have, seemed to make Harry's reality even worse.

Harry had this dream quite often.  It was almost as tormenting as the dream he had constantly last year about the Department of Mysteries.  In the same way, he wanted the dream to last forever.  The difference is, though, he could go to the Department of Mysteries and bring his dream into reality, but sadly, his dream about Sirius could never be a reality.  He always woke up ready to murder the next person to walk through his bedroom door.  And he probably would if anyone had actually come to see him.

His last days at Privet Drive felt longer than the whole summer.  Harry was extremely anxious to leave, but he had mixed feelings about seeing his friends again.  He decided he would like to see them, since they are the only people he has left who care about him.  Harry had not thought about quidditch at all since Hogwarts.  Who could blame him?  He had no time to think about leisure activities.  He was far too busy plotting out revenge on the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort.  He was just remembering the events of last year during the car ride to London, and thinking to himself how thankful he was that Professor Umbridge would be gone at last.  He felt a rush of excitement course through his body, imagining himself soaring through the sky on his beloved Firebolt, though it didn't even come close to drowning out his depression.

Before Harry knew it, he was outside of the Leaky Cauldron once again.

"Good riddance, boy," growled Uncle Vernon.  "Now hurry up and get your trashy things out of my car!  NOW!"

Harry did as he was told, though not out of fear of Uncle Vernon.  He simply wanted to get away.   

A hush ran over the Leaky Cauldron when Harry appeared in the doorway.  The room was silent, and all eyes were upon him.  He took a couple steps in and closed the door behind him.  It was dark compared to the outside sunshine.  Only a few candles lit the room.  Harry stared around, seeing some familiar faces, though he never knew any of them by name.  He was feeling uncomfortable and wanted to shout at all of them to stop staring and let him be.  His gaze fell upon the massive, hunched over wizard in the corner of the pub.  He took a few more steps toward the figure, and Hagrid turned around to meet him.

"HARRY!!!" Hagrid roared from the corner he was still hunched over at.  He didn't look as beat up as the last time Harry had seen his extremely large friend.  He figured Grawp was learning to control himself a bit more.  Hagrid stomped over to Harry and surprised him with a tight embrace.  "Well then, are ya ready ter go, Harry?"

"Of course, Hagrid," Harry replied trying to sound more pleased to see him than he actually was.  He was very eager to go to Diagon Alley, and to be surrounded by familiar people.  With that, they headed through the back door and towards the brick wall.

As soon as they walked through the barrier separating the muggle world with the wizarding one, Harry's heart leapt and he felt better than he had in months.  His new found feeling of a weight being lifted off his chest lasted only for less than a minute.  Harry was soon snapped back into his melancholy state and he felt like his heart had been ripped out once again.

"Hello, Harry!" a familiar voice came from behind him.  It was Ginny Weasley, accompanied by Mrs. Weasley and Harry's best friend, Ron.

"Hey, Ginny…" Harry was utterly amazed at how much Ginny had grown and matured over the summer.  At first Harry turned around and expected to have to look down at Ginny, but when he did so, he seemed to be staring right at her chest.  She was now around 5 feet 8 inches, almost as tall as Harry was himself.  He shook his head and came back down to earth.  "Hello, Mrs. Weasley.  Hey, Ron…" but he was interrupted.

"Oh, Harry, dear!  How are you?!"  Mrs. Weasley sounded genuinely concerned.  He didn't think he looked THAT bad.

"I'm alright," he responded, a little questionable like, as if he wasn't sure himself.

"Me and Harry are gonna go get our things now, Mum.  We'll meet you guys later,"  Ron said and rather hastily grabbing onto Harry's arm and pulling him away.

Harry gave Hagrid and Mrs. Weasley a weak wave goodbye and went off with Ron, who was still tugging at his arm.

A/N: I don't mean to bore you guys to death (and I made it short so it wouldn't be too bad), but bare with me, it's only the first chapter.  :^)