~ Chapter One ~
_Birthday Catastrophes_
Harry Potter awoke with a hiss of pain; he rubbed at his scar. He was surprised; his scar hadn't hurt like this for years. It just didn't make sense. Harry looked at Ginny laying in bed next to him, she was awake too; looking at him knowingly, "It's your scar isn't it?" Harry sighed, he never could keep things from her, "Yeah, I don't get it, it hasn't hurt since Voldemort died," he shoved his glasses on and stood up out of bed. Ginny's eyes followed him as he went downstairs; Harry turned the corner heading for the kitchen when Albus and James, Harry's youngest and eldest sons respectively, came bolting through the hall, James was chasing Albus around. Harry sighed as he reached out and grabbed both of them by the collars of their shirts; they stopped immediately, "What is going on?" his voice was carefully stern as he looked slowly back and forth between the two boys.
James and Albus remained silent as they looked up at their father, "Well? Are you lot going to tell me?" James shrugged, "Albus insisted on getting the cake to the table himself," Harry blinked, "But it never occurred to me that a wizard who hadn't started his training would be dense enough to try levitating the cake to the table instead of just carrying it, I just thought he was being extra helpful for some reason," Harry chuckled, "And am I to assume that the cake never made it to the table?" he couldn't stay mad at them, this must be why they were so tight lipped a second ago, they meant it to be a birthday surprise for him. "It's all over the floor," Harry smiled as he ruffled the boys' hair. "Not to worry, I can put it to sorts," he stepped into the kitchen and looked around. The cake had indeed not made it to the table, it was covered with bright red frosting with golden icing that spelled the words: 'Happy Birthday Dad' he chuckled as he flicked his wand casually at the mess; it vanished on the spot. He set his wand down on the counter and looked at his sons, he was halfway between amused and touched; his sons had tried to surprise him with a cake.
Harry shook his head, smiling, "Well, I think I know just what I want to do for my birthday boys," they looked eagerly at their father, Harry smiled wickedly, "We're going to go see uncle Ron and aunt Hermione, they would jynx me if they didn't see me on my birthday anyways," the two grinned widely as they rushed upstairs, Harry chuckled lightly. Almost an hour later the Potter family was up and dressed. "Morning Dad," a sweet voice yawned, Harry turned to see little Lily Potter stepping out the door. "So how are we getting there this time Harry?" Ginny asked with a wide smile; Harry had taken to trying a different method of travel with each time he visited, it was something he had suggested in a Ministry Of Magic leaflet a few years back, when he had first become an Auror. Harry grinned, "Well..." he reached into an inside pocket of his robes and pulled out a small worn down key, "...I thought we could try the Corridor of Compendium," he smiled as Lily jumped up and down in excitement. Harry turned from them all and stuck the key out, as though trying to stick the key into an imaginary key hole.
The second he stuck out the key, a great stone door appeared, with the key in it's key hole. Harry turned the key and after he extracted the key, the door swung open, a clicking sound told him that it had locked in preparation for it being closed again. "Let's get moving," the Potter family stepped through the doorway; the door slammed shut behind them the second they stepped over the thresh hold. As soon as they were inside, the three children gasped; they were inside a giant corridor with millions of doors, "So this is the Corridor of Compendium," Ginny said with an impressed expression; Harry just shrugged as he stowed the key inside his robes, "Anyone who opens their door to us while we are in here will see the Corridor, but they will not be allowed to enter it, also, all doors are locked to us while we are inside the Corridor, even if they are unlocked anywhere else, I myself added that particular feature, to prevent misuse of this power," Ginny smiled, "And using it to travel to a friend's house isn't misusing it?" Harry shrugged, "It was only meant to prevent people from going where they didn't belong, from raiding homes," the Potter's all laughed at this as they stepped through the Corridor, "The trick..." he began as he drew his wand, "...is finding the right door," he smiled, "Accio Ronald Weasley," he said as he flicked his wand. There was a loud thud against a door to their left, "What the hell-?" said a voice from the door, Harry smiled as he stowed his wand away inside his robes, "Must be the door," he stepped up to the door and knocked on the door, after a split second, the door was wrenched open by none other than Ron Weasley, he looked wild eyed and confused, it took him a moment to register his friends' face and then he glanced around and noticed the Corridor, "Bloody Hell Harry, I should hex you for that," he smiled and grasped Harry's hand, "It's good to see you mate, happy birthday by the way," Harry smiled as he and his family stepped over the thresh-hold and Ron closed the door. "Where's Rosie?" asked Albus shrugging out of his cloak, "Upstairs, I wouldn't bother her if I were you though, she's reading, and you know how she is about that," Ron chuckled. Albus rushed up the stairs while Harry and Hermione hugged briefly. Ginny smiled as she hugged her brother, "It's good to see you Ronald," they all stepped into the kitchen and Hermione started to brew a pot of tea, "Everything going alright in the Auror's department?" Ron asked as Harry sat down, Harry sighed tiredly, "Well we've certainly been busy lately, that's for sure, there've been fifteen Minisrty inquiries this week alone," Ron whistled, "That's enough to have anyone else tearing their hair out mate," Hermione walked into the room, she was levitating a tray with cups of tea on it, "Now let's not be talking about work on Harry's birthday Ron," Harry chuckled as he accepted a cup of tea from Hermione.
A moment later there was a knock at the door, it was a normal enough knock yet the sound of it sent shivers down Harry's spine. Ron sighed as he stood up and went to answer the door. "I can't really help it Hermione, let's face it, something strange is happening, just last week there was a break-out from Azkaban and a few days later there were dementor attacks," there was a loud BANG in the other room and Harry drew his wand as he moved to the hall. Ron was covered with a black dust and in his hands was a large package that looked like something had exploded out of it. "From George then?" he asked with a laugh.
Ron glared. "I'm not so sure," he gestured to the man in the door way. "I assure you, if I was to do something it wouldn't be so crude," Draco Malfoy stepped inside the house with a curt nod. Draco looked every bit like his father Lucius Malfoy, albeit with shorter hair. "Malfoy, what do you want?" Harry asked. Malfoy brushed some black dust off his robes and looked Harry in the eyes. "I need to speak with you alone," he said with an urgent note in his words. Ron snorted, "You wanna curse'im more like, go soak your head Malfoy," Malfoy reached into his robes and drew out his wand. "Weasely here can hold onto my wand until I leave, does that make you feel that your friend is safe?" he asked with a sneer.
Harry shook his head, "It's alright Ron, I'll talk with him, could you go into the living room?" Ron hesitated a moment. "Fine, but I'll come back if I hear a struggle," he took the package with him into the living room. Harry turned to Malfoy. "So what is it?" Malfoy took a deep breathe, "I know we've had our differences Potter, and I don't expect we'll ever be friends, but that doesn't mean I'm your enemy," he took another deep breathe, as though gathering courage. "When The Dark Lord died, all of us who bore his mark noticed that the mark vanished from our arms," he rolled up his sleeve and showed his Dark Mark on his forearm. "Mine reappeared two days ago and it hasn't so much as lightened since,"
Harry watched as the snake in the mark swayed slowly. "Did you tell anyone else?" Malfoy shook his head, "My father is already very old, I didn't want to give him a heart attack, and fortunately his mark has not returned," Harry sighed as he nodded. He slowly reached out and touched the mark. The mark shone briefly and Harry's scar burned, it felt as though his head was going to split in two. Malfoy's eyes widened as he noticed Harry's distress, "Potter, are you alright?" Harry shook his head hard before everything went black. He was in a dungeon, surrounded by hooded men. "My Lord, the Potter family is not home, there is no evidence that they disapparated or used floo powder, and all of their broomsticks are still in the home," Harry hissed angrily, "So in short you are telling me that you failed, again!" he pointed a wand at the man, his hand was snow white and long. The wand was black and sleek with a skull design on the back end. "Crucio!" the man screamed in pain and fell down and began writhing in pain as Harry laughed mirthlessly.
The man screamed and sobbed as he begged Harry to stop, "PLEASE, MY LORD! HAVE MERCY PLEASE!" Harry scoffed, "If I show you mercy for your mistakes, you will make the same mistakes again," he cackled as he lifted the curse. "I will handle this mess myself, Potter's children will be going to Hogwarts this year, I will be sure to be there,"
"Harry? Harry!" Harry woke up with a start, he was covered in cold sweat and he was panting. His scar was burning still, "What happened?" Ron was standing over him, his wand pointing at Malfoy, who was standing back against the wall, he seemed at ease for the most part but his eyes betrayed his panic. "Ron put your wand away, he didn't do anything," Ron sighed and stowed his wand inside his robes. "What happened?" Hermione was rushing into the room with a bowl of cold water and a rag. "I saw something, I would swear it was Voldemort, but he's dead," Malfoy frowned as he glanced at Harry, "Wait you mean you saw the Dark Lord?" Harry shook his head, "I saw from his point of view, he was torturing a Death Eater," he glanced at Malfoy, "I don't know how it's possible...but I think Voldemort's back,"
