Chapter 1: Lots of Changes

Harry Potter was feeling particularly depressed tonight for some reason. He lazily walked inside a bar in Hogsmeade and sat down at the bar. It was almost completely empty. "Give me a butterbeer," Harry said to the bartender. The bartender got the butterbeer and set it down in front of Harry.

"You look pretty bad," the bartender commented. "Wanna talk?" Harry shook his head no. "Wait, aren't you Harry Potter?"

Harry groaned. He was so sick of people asking him if he was Harry Potter. "Yes," he mumbled.

The bartender smiled. "I thought so. I knew your father," the bartender said. This got Harry's attention. His head snapped up from his butterbeer.

"You knew my father?" he asked.

"Yeah, he came in here a lot when he went to school," the bartender explained. "Nice guy."

"You must have worked here for a long time then," Harry replied.

"Yeah, I own this place," he replied. "Your parents were great people."

Harry all of a sudden felt sour. His bad mood was coming back again. "Yeah well I wouldn't know, I've never known them have I?" Harry said.

The bartender stared at Harry. "You really would give anything to have known them, wouldn't you?" Harry didn't say anything. "Ya know, I've been experimenting on this potion for a while, and I really think you are the right person to test it for me."

Harry was a little surprised by his statement. He was about to say no way, he was not going to die from taking some potion with God knows what ingredients in it, but something changed his mind. Well, my life pretty much sucks anyway, I don't see what I have to lose, he thought. "Fine."

The bartender smiled. "Good, I'll be right back." He disappeared from behind the bar and returned a few minutes later holding a cup full of a blue liquid.

"What is this supposed to do?" Harry asked.

"Just drink it," the bartender replied. Harry shrugged and drank the whole thing in one huge gulp.

"Tastes good," Harry commented setting the glass down. Nothing happened, Harry thought. Guess it didn't work.

"So Harry, today was the last day of school right?" the bartender questioned.

"Yeah, I'm going back to the Dursleys tomorrow," Harry said, frowning at the thought. "Well, I'm gonna go, I have a bit of packing to do before tomorrow."

"See ya later," the bartender said smiling.

"Yeah, thanks for the butterbeer," Harry said. He reached into his pocket and started searching for some money.

"It's on the house," the bartender said.

"Thanks," Harry said a little surprised. With that, he turned around and went back to Hogwarts. He said the password and went inside the portrait hole. It was pretty late, so he was not surprised when he found the common room empty. He went up to the boy's dormitory and started to stuff things into his trunk. As he did, he noticed some clothes in his trunk that weren't his. Weird, he thought. He took the clothes out and set them on the ground. Harry put the last of his books in his trunk and closed it. He fell onto his bed and quickly went to sleep.

The Next Day

"Harry, wake up!" he heard a male voice tell him. He opened his eyes slightly and noticed it was Dean Thomas. "Come on, the train leaves in an hour, so if you want to eat breakfast before we leave you better wake up."

Harry grunted and sat up. He quickly got dressed and went to breakfast. He spotted Ron and Hermione and headed over towards them. "Harry!" he heard Hermione call. She stood up and walked over to him. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and began to kiss him.

Harry was in too much shock to push her off. Was Hermione kissing him? Why? His thoughts were frantic. She finally pulled away. "Harry is something wrong? You're not really kissing me back," Hermione said grinning. She stopped grinning when she noticed the look of horror on his face. "Harry, you're scaring me. Stop looking at me like that."

Harry wanted to talk, to ask her why she had just kissed him, but he couldn't make the words come out. "Wayakise?" he said it so fast she didn't understand.

"What?" Hermione asked confused.

"Why did you kiss me?" he asked.

She laughed. "Hmmm... maybe because I'm your girlfriend," she said smiling. "By the way, your parents owled me, and they said I was welcome to come over this summer whenever I want. I think they really like me, what do you think?" At this point, Harry was too bewildered to even show expression on his face. "Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked concerned. Harry didn't answer her, he just ran out of the Great Hall.

Is this a joke? he thought. Why would Hermione joke like that? She doesn't joke. Well, of course she is. There is no other explanation. It could not be her. No, of course it's her. She's trying to be funny or something. I bet Ron put her up to it. Well I'm not going to talk to her until she apologizes because that was really not funny at all, Harry thought.

Harry purposely avoided Ron and Hermione for the rest of the hour until the train got there. When he got onto the train, he sat in a compartment with some first years. He did not want to see, much less talk to Ron or Hermione after that joke.

The train finally stopped and Harry quickly got off. He looked around, hoping to see Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia. They must be late, he thought. He started to walk over to a nearby bench when a voice stopped him.

"Will you look at that Lily, he looks right at us, and then walks in the opposite direction," a male voice said. "Do we embarrass you that much?"

Harry turned around and was face to face with nothing other than his own... parents. No, not possible, not possible, his mind told him over and over.

"Harry, we missed you so much!" Lily said as she embraced Harry in a tight hug. "Where is Hermione?"

Harry shook his head. "No," he said backing up.

"What's wrong Harry?" Lily asked. Harry continued to back up.

"I... you can't be... no," was all Harry could manage right before he passed out.