Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling
The Heart of All
Chapter 1
The narrow stone hallway was dark and gave an eerie presence. Harry Potter walked slowly while candle light guided his path. What was this place? After walking for a few minutes he heard a voice. The voice was crying. Harry began to run down the hallway to see what was wrong. He stopped when he got to the end of thecorridor that opened up to a fairly large room. There in the middle of the room was a dead body of a man, and a girl kneeling sorrowfully before it. Harry couldn't see her face because it was buriedin the dead man's chest, but he was sad for the girl because she obviously lost someone very dear to her.
"Excuse me," Harry said. "But are you alright?" Harry was waiting for her to say what a stupid question that was,but the girl didn't answer. She was still crying,with locks of blonde hairescaping from her ponytail. Harry walked a little closer to the girl.
"Excuse me but what happened?" Still, there was no answerfrom the girl. Shewas stillsobbingover her loss. Harry was now beside the girl. He touched her shoulder.
"Are you all right, and who did this?" The girl stood up. Harry stillcould not see her face, but she stopped crying. It was a bit of an accomplishment. "Who are you?" Harry asked in a whisper.
"I think you know who I am," said the girl but it was not a girl's voice, but the voice of LordVoldemort. The girl turned around and Harry beheld,instead ofthe face of thegrievinggirl,the ugly face of Voldemort. Before anything else had a chance tohappen, Voldemort pulled out his wand and said, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" A flash of light came toward Harry, and then everything went dark.
Harry Potter woke up to his Uncle Vernon yelling at him to get out of bed. He jumped out of bed, still a little bit spooked about the dream. Who was that girl, and why was that man dead? He sighed, and promised himself he would tell Ron and Hermione.
Harry then put on a very baggy shirt, which used to be Dudley's, and very baggy pants that, surprisingly, also used to beDudley's. He didn't even bother trying to comb his hair, knowing that either way it was still going to be messy.
Harry was about to go down stairs when he hearda tapping at his window. Hedwig, his snowy white bird, was waiting patiently for him to open it. Harry walked across and opened the window. In came Hedwig, Ron's owl Pidwidgeon,and another that he had never seen before. He first went to Ron's owl, where he found a package and a letter.
Dear Harry,
Happy sixteenth birthday! I hope the Dursley's are beingokay, if not, Fred and George willtake care of them for you. They can give them some of their new treats. Mom made a cake for you which is in the parcel. She believes that they aren't feeding you enough. I'll give you your present later!
Ron
Harry opened the parcel and found a birthday cake that Mrs. Weasley made herself. He couldn't wait to have a piece, but he would save it for later. Harry took the letter from Hedwig and opened it.
Dear Harry,
I hope your summer is going well. I can't wait to see you again! Dumbledore is going to be in touch with you soon. He's already talked to Ron and me about it. I have been reading many fascinating books aboutthingswe should learn at the next D.A. meeting, that is, if we're still having it of course. Have a Happy Birthday Harry! I want to give you your birthday present personally.
With love,
Hermione
He now knew where the other owl came from. He quickly took the letter from it and tore the envelope open.
Dear Harry,
I will be picking you up from your Aunt and Uncle's house at eight o'clock this evening. Please be ready by that time. Just letHedwig go, andshe will find me.
Dumbledore
P.S. Happy Birthday!
Harry became excited by the thought that he would be leaving the Dursley's for another whole year. Every year, around this time, he was always feeling the excitement of leaving this god forsaken house that was supposed to be home to him.
He packed as quickly as he could, and double checked that he didn't leave anything behind. He looked at the clock, it read one. He headed down stairs where he met the Dursley's. Harry could no longer hide the grin that was on his heart as well ason his face.
"Why are you so bloody happy," asked an annoyed Vernon.
"Because I'm leaving today. Professor Dumbledore is coming for me at eight tonight."
Hearing this, all the Dursley's smiled as well, except for Dudley.
"But we were going to go to Aunt Marge's tomorrow, and Harry is always being chased by the dogs. Can't he stay one more day?" The fat boy looked at his father with his pleading eyes.
"No, Dudley I'm afraid that Harry will not be joiningus for that. As a matter of fact, he won't be joining us for another whole year!"
Even though the Dursley's wereobviously pleased,there was no one moredelighted than Harry. For the next few hours, until eight, he went around saying good-bye to everything and everyone that livedon Privet Drive. He was so happy, that he even opened his transfiguration book from last year and read it. By the time it was eight o'clock, Harry had read at least half way through it. He heard a knocking that the front door and raced over to answer it before anyone else could. At the door was no other than Albus Dumbledore himself,headmaster at HogwartsSchool ofWitchcraft and Wizardry.
"Hello Harry," said Professor Dumbledore pleasantly.
"Hello Professor." Harry was completely stunned to see that Professor Dumbledore was actually standing in his doorway.
"Are you going to let me in?"
Harry felt like a complete idiot for not doing it in the first place. "I'm sorry Professor. Come in." Harry stepped aside and let Dumbledore pass.
"Before we leave, I would like to talk to your Aunt and Uncle."
"Yes professor. I'll get my stuff from upstairs." Harry ran up the stairs, grabbed his things, andheaded backdownstairs as quickly as he could. He found Dumbledore and the Dursley's in the living room. Dumbledore sat on the two person couch while the Dursley's sat on the opposite side of him on the sofa. Dumbledore was happily sipping tea, while the Dursley's stared at the tea as if ithad sprouted three heads, simply because it was given to them by a wizard.
"Ah! Harry, justtheperson I wanted to see. Come, sit down and have a bit of tea." Harry sat down beside Dumbledore while Dumbledore poured the tea. "Its pumpkin spice, Harry. Its supposedly help my cough."
Harry took the cup and tasted the tea. The pumpkin spice was delicious! It warmed his body and no sooner had he received it, then it was gone.
"As you know, I am taking Harry to his friend's house and you will no longer have to care for him. Actually, you will probably no longer need to house him." The Dursley's looked stunned.
"What do you mean?" Vernon asked.
"I mean Harry will be seventeen next year and, in the wizarding world, he is of age. All I ask is that you keep him until his birthday next year. You see, when I left Harry here, I put a spell over the house to protect Harry until he was of age and, since Harry will be of age next year, he will no longer be safe here and he may leave."
"You bet I'll leave," Harry mumbled.
"Which brings me to another thing; It disturbs me to knowHarry has been so badly mistreated while here for all these years. Petunia, I thought you would be kind to your sister's only son, but all you have done is to be cruel to him, and not care for him. I am very upset with you," Dumbledore paused, "with all of you."
"Now wait just a minute," said Vernon, "What gives you the right tocriticize my family like that? We are not afraid of you."
"On the contrary, you are Vernon and you know it," Dumbledore said keeping his temper to himself. "You know that I could make your life a living nightmare if I wanted to, and trust me, if Idon't than another will."
Vernon said nothing. "Now Harry," Dumbledore turned back to him, "are you ready to go?"
"Yes sir."
"Well, let's get going then. We don't want to waste any time!" With that, Dumbledore and Harry walked out the front door into the darkness of the night.
