Discalimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

May Lose Everything

Number 4 Privet Drive...

Harry Potter felt weak and tired as he lay beneath his blankets, his room dark. Rest, however, could not have been farther off. The welcoming abyss of sleep after a horrible day was calling the teen in an almost teasing manner, as if Sleep wanted to purposefully taunt Harry with what was out of reach. For hours, Harry had remained still with only the ceiling to preoccupy his tiring mind. Hedwig had taken off as soon as Vernon and Petunia Dursley climbed into bed. Of course he had been hesitant to release his friend, but she had seemed eager to take flight once more. And if Harry were honest with himself, he could have sworn that Hedwig couldn't wait to get out, as if she'd known something he did not. Maybe she had a new lead, and this time her return would be fruitful with a long-awaited response from Remus. There were only a few places left that Hedwig had yet to visit in search of the Marauder.

Harry sighed, closing his eyes in an attempt to will sleep to come. He had learned that such morose thoughts about his solitude did not ease his mind... But it was so hard to remain kept out of the loop. Sirius could not contact him and vice versa, leaving him to worry about the Animagi's well-being every day that passed without word. Not even Ron or Hermione had been able to find the time to write him, and the Order still refused to involve him in their summer patrols and meetings, standing by the sorry excuse of it being 'too dangerous' for him. That absurd thought alone was enough to make Harry laugh. His entire life was dangerous, for Merlin's sake! What harm would befall him within Number Twelve Grimmauld Place that could be any worse than the Triwizard Tournament, or the fight in the Department of Mysteries?

Why couldn't the Order trust him? Why couldn't Dumbledore? Wasn't he the leader of the Order of the Phoenix? Didn't he understand that Harry deserved to help out, that he needed to help out? He still remembered how Cedric had been killed because of him, he could still hear Mr. Diggory's cries of anguish as he held the cold body of his son, the real Champion of Hogwarts. How could Harry avenge his friend from the confinement of Number Four Privet Drive? How could-

Harry's darkening thoughts were suddenly halted as a sharp pain errupted in his chest. He clenched his eyes, willing the biting pain to go away. Slowly, he sat up to clutch his chest just over his heart. The pain stabbed into him once again, feeling remarkably similar to the Cruciatus Curse, while the sensation caused him to fall back and arch up from the pain. He could not help but groan as the pain intensified, spreading across his entire chest, up his throat, and slowly into his head. He tossed and turned, fighting back tears of pain as he tried to calm his screaming. Uncle Vernon would not care that his nephew's body was being torn apart from the inside, Harry weakly thought, he would punish Harry for waking him up regardless.

Harry was thrown from the bed as a burst of pain exploded behind his eyes, causing them to forcefully open as he screamed his torment. The air around him began to crackle with raw magic as his scream melted into a pathetic whimper...

"Boy! What have you done now?" Uncle growled vehemently as he threw Harry's door open. His nephew didn't even flinch as he arched off the ground in pain. While Vernon approached the teen, any cruel comment on his state of unease was left unspoken as a bright stream of white light suddenly tore itself from Harry's chest at the place above his heart, sprinkling Vernon with a few drops of blood as he was thrown back out the door. Harry screamed as the light continued to pour from him, barely having time to see his uncle laying in the hall unconscious before the door slammed shut once more.

"Ahhh!" Harry exclaimed as the pain and amount of light shooting from his chest increased tenfold, enough to swallow the room in white light for a few brief seconds before disappearing completely. Not only had the light suddenly stopped, but it had taken the sharp pains, and the crackling of raw magic had stopped along with it. Harry lay a broken mess, panting and whimpering in pain as he was left alone in the darkness once more. He could feel blood rushing from the closing hole in his chest. Too weak to even lift his head, he vaguely registered the sound of his Aunt's screams of concern as she found her husband on the floor. She made no attempt to enter his room.

Harry had no idea how long he remained on the cold floor unmoving, but the thought no longer concerned him as Sleep finally claimed him...

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Office of the Headmaster...

Albus Dumbledore had never been one to worry over trivial matters. The only things that held precedent in his world were his beloved school and being sure that the Light won the present war. Any other matter was not worthy of his attention. He only cared that his recruits faught with all they had and remained faithful to the Light. While Voldemort purposefully sought the aid of unwilling creatures such as Giants and the darker Vampire clans, Albus only found it necessary to avoid involving other magical beings; it was not their fight, after all... He did not want to worry about which creatures were friends or foes, which creatures would choose the Light over the Dark. None of his plans had failed without them before, so why should he worry to involve them now? His better instincts had never led him astray in the past, but...

There was no way around it: Albus could not help but to worry about the newest obstacle he and the Light had been faced with...

He never would have thought that a simple diagnostics test would cause such disarray, especially one cast on Harry Potter. Though Albus supposed Harry never could seem to catch a break. He was orphaned at one, targeted by a deranged Dark Lord every year following, and though it was a bit unfathomable, he would be receiving a Creature Inheritance in exactly- Albus looked down at the Muggle watch he had a taken a liking to- ten minutes.

Albus still found himself shell-shocked with the news that his favorite pupil had the blood of a Magical creature running through his veins. Lilly Evans Potter had been completely human, there was no doubt in that... Yet, not even an extensive look into the Potter family's past could reveal where the blood had originated. Albus knew it was not uncommon for Pureblood families to have nonhuman lineage- as long as no Muggle blood was added to the mix, they were still considered 'pure' because of the magical core present within every creature of the Wizarding World- but there was not a trace of such a heritage anywhere within the Potter family tree. Albus was thouroughly stumped, but he had always found himself able to adapt to any situation...

The Headmaster eventually concluded that it was better for him to know of Harry's Inheritance before it had actually taken place. This gave him time to prepare accordingly. There was no way he could hope to remain distant from whatever creature's blood Harry would be inheriting, whatever creature it turned out to be would want to keep close tabs on it's newest offspring. If only the diagnostics spell could have told him which creature he would need to be in contact with! All he had seen from the spell was that Harry's human blood was battling for dominance with a magically signatured blood Albus could not recognize during the test, and there was a lot of it... He had immediately known that Harry's seventeenth birthday would bring about a few changes in the teen. The Light, however, depended on Harry to have any chance at winning, so Albus could not let him be taken away or persuaded to leave by his new blood. That is why he and Minerva had spent the entire afternoon searching into the family trees of the upcoming seventh years. Surely some of them would have a bit of creature blood was well. Shockingly, Albus and Minerva had not been let down. A good number of Harry's year-mates had traces of creature blood in their veins; however, he was unsure as to how many of them would be as affected by their Inheritance as Harry would be in just a few short moments.

Albus looked down at his watch and counted along as the second-hand met the minute- and hour-hand at the twelve, signifying that it was midnight.

The old Headmaster waited with anticipation as his eyes darted around his office. As he expected they would, the random silver trinkets scattered all around the room began to come to life of their own accord, whistling and spinning. The portraits of prior Headmasters and Headmistresses began to wake up at the noise and cursed at the trinkets. While they, and everyone else who looked upon the trinkets, viewed them as useless junk, Albus understood their true purpose: the alarms at Number Four Privet Drive were going off... Albus ordered the portrait of Headmaster Fidelius Thwarting to awaken Poppy and inform her to prepare a bed. The former Headmaster nodded and hurried off. Albus watched him disappear form his portrait before he Disapparated with a loud pop.

The silver trinkets calmed down, becoming lifeless once more...

Number Four Privet Drive...

With a soft pop Albus found himself in the bedroom of Harry Potter. A heavy stench of raw magic and the faint stench of blood immediately assaulted the Headmaster as he took in his surroundings. The bed was empty, the blanket and pillows tossed into disorder. Just above his head there was a rather large hole, as if something had recently exploded through the ceiling. He hurried to the other side of the bed, stopping cold as he saw Harry laying stone-still on the floor.

"Poor child," Albus whispered as he pulled his wand from his robes. With a quick charm, the bloodied hole in Harry's shirt was made whole. Strangely, the wound beneath it had managed to heal on its own. Albus bent down next to the sleeping teen. Despite being a ghostly shade of white, he could see no noticeable differences with the teen's appearance... but perhaps the changes appeared later. After all, Harry had only received his Inheritance- he looked down at his watch- five minutes ago...

Harry, regretfully would need to be removed from his family's care. The only other safe place for him to go was Hogwarts. Poppy would be waiting for them upon their return. Reaching down to carefully take Harry's hand, Albus used Side-Along Apparation to get to the castle. He would send Severus to retrieve Harry's trunk in the morning. He could deal with the Muggles as well...

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: the Dungeons...

Severus Snape had been asleep all of ten minutes when he felt the burning sensation on his left forearm. With an annoyed exhale of breath, he opened his eyes. Dumbledore could not let him have a moment's rest; it only made since that Voldemort would do the same. He held his arm up to glare at the offending summons. The damned Dark Mark stood out on the Potion Master's pale skin even in the darkness of his bedchambers.

Severus got out of bed to put on his customary black robes and cloak that served the purpose of not just hiding his Dark Mark. They hid his scars from the past, everything that could mar his skin or reveal too much about his life. There was a reason why he chose to sleep in the dungeons with his young snakes instead of the tower preserved for Professors. There was a reason he kept to himself and became a master of Occlumency. His past was just that, his. He saw no point to bother others with tales from his childhood, often times the memories were to painful for even himself. And there was certainly no reason for events that were better left forgotten, to interfere with the present. Why live in the past? That was the motto of Severus Snape.

So gently pressing his wand to his Dark Mark, Severus prepared to be whisked away, having no idea what new task Voldemort would have in store for him or what Albus planned to have him do the next day...