Dear Readers. I don't own Harry Potter. Welcome to my first fanfic:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Princess

Chapter One:

Unlikely Addressee

Harry Potter opened his eyes, completely unaware of his previous nightmare, with only his lazy mood remaining. The world surrounding him was a maze of blur; as unclear as ever. Harry reached routinely for his glasses and placed them atop his face.

Harry stared at the completely white ceiling not bothering to focus neither his sight nor his thoughts.

Every morning... or after the very few hours of sleep he received at night; his worries returned to his unbearable faith. Lord Voldemort, the strongest wizard of the age had rid Harry of having parents at the early age of one. Voldemort was now destined to either die at the wand of Harry or (which seemed a lot likelier to Harry): murder the famous Harry Potter himself.

Harry decided that eating would have to do as a distraction to his buzzing brain. He entered the dining room. Though there were three people currently eating breakfast not one pair of eyes flickered his way. Harry calmly added a chair to the round table and sat down, helping himself to cold toast. He was also pretending that he did not see his uncle Vernon, aunt Petunia, and cousin Dudley.

Harry held no objection whatsoever to this daily routine for it enabled him to successfully eavesdrop on the muggle news. Because of his uncle and aunt's efforts to so fully ignore Harry's existence, He was free of disgusted looks or grunts pointed in his direction.

After being positive that no strange or suspicious events were mentioned on the daily news, Harry climbed the stairs retuning to his bedroom. On his bed he found an unfamiliar owl, with a single envelope tied to its leg. Harry gave the owl a treat, but didn't watch her go.

He knew who the letter was from. The envelope had a Hogwarts Crest on the right-hand corner, though he had expected various envelopes; his Ordinary Wizarding Levels were due. But in the middle, where it usually said "Harry Potter", there was a completely different name. It said: Maria Black.

Harry was confused. Was this some strange mistake? Or perhaps a strange practical joke. It looked quite official. Harry picked it up and debated whether he should open it. He knew for a fact it did not belong to him, but it had arrived here, in Harry's bedroom.

Right when he made to open the letter, an owl crashed right into him. It was the very same owl that had delivered the letter. She stuck out her leg with an angry look at him. He tied the letter back onto her leg, also annoyed. It had not been him, who delivered to the wrong person, he should have been angry at the owl if anything. Then the owl turned around and signaled Harry to untie what was on her second leg.

This looked correct. A matching letter to that of "Maria Black's" was there. But there was also a thick brown package which he predicted were his awaited OWL results. At the moment he was not thinking about them.

Maria Black. Black. Had this student been a relative of Harry's late godfather. Sirius... he had never told Harry about a Maria. Maybe he didn't have enough time. Harry stayed on topic. He had never heard the name before, so it must have been a new student. Considering the thought that he had to wait more than a month to find out did not amuse him.

Harry opened his OWL results. He had to admit, he was nervous. Surely, he thought, not as nervous as his friend Hermione Granger was. Or his best friend Ron Weasley, who had family to impress. But Harry was still nervous.

He surveyed the results. He had not done as bad as he sometimes had imagined: He did not receive passing grades in History of Magic nor in Divination, though it did not surprise him:

Astrology: Acceptable

Charms: Exceeds Expectations

Defense against the Dark Arts: Outstanding

Divination: Poor

Herbology: Exceeds Expectations

History of Magic: Poor

Potions: Acceptable

Transfiguration: Exceeds Expectations

These were satisfactory grades, but he knew that his Potions results were the downfall on his hopes for becoming an Auror in his future, just like his father had done. Precisely why he was shocked to see that one of his subjects was Advanced Potions. He did not know who had forced a professor that had loathed Harry into accepting him in his classes, but Harry was secretly grateful.

Harry returned to the thoughts he was having before his own letter arrived. At that exact moment he wanted more than anything to find out whom this Maria Black was and if she was connected to Sirius. This made him think of his two best friends at Hogwarts. He wanted to tell him of what had happened with the letter but what if Maria Black really was important. He could not risk his letter being intercepted. He was being thick; black is not a rare surname, if she was somehow related to Sirius what would it matter if someone else found out? He could not talk to his friends face-to-face. Before, every year he would wait for Ron or the Weasleys to come and rescue him from Number 4 Privet drive into The Burrow, but now he knew it was impossible. He had found out only prior to the summer that he was forced to live with his Aunt during as much time as possible in the summer due to their blood connection.

Harry decided to put off these thoughts until he returned to his school. This was, ironically, the first thing he had looked forward to in Hogwarts that he admitted to himself.

Dear Readers. I apologize for the inconvenience but because I am unsure of whether I should continue to write or not, I will need reviews. I think ten is a fair number, even though I will probably not wait that long, it will depend mostly on how much time I have. So tell me what you think, the rating is for later chapters, LATER. Tell me what you like and dislike, if characters are out of character and so on. No limits.

-Manichka