After about an hour of existing half in and half out of consciousness, Harry finally woke up to see that the car he was riding in was rapidly approaching Surrey, and Privet Drive. He groaned mentally, wondering what on earth he was going to do to survive the summer. He stayed laying down in the seat, hoping his uncle would just leave him alone, at least until they got to the house. Then all bets were off.
Vernon looked back into the rear view mirror to notice his nephew lying curled up in the seat, shaking slightly, his eyes scrunched shut tightly, as if to prevent any light at all from penetrating his eyelids.
'How peculiar. Must be something they teach them at that freak school.' His thoughts morphed over to that letter he had received from that nasty animal the other day. 'That school...How dare they think it's all right to send me a murdering, lazy, good-for-nothing, no good...Just you wait Potter. You are mine now!'
He turned off the main highway to head down to Little Whinging and home. He noticed now that Harry had sat up, rubbing his forehead slightly.
"So, freak. You decide to get up now?" He noticed how his tone of voice had made the boy's eyes open widely, and what little color his cheeks held, now were quite pale. Vernon laughed heartily. How easy it was going to be to break this freak once and for all!
Harry sank back into the seat, wishing once more that he could have convinced Professor Dumbledore to have let him stay with the Weasleys this summer. His uncle was sitting up in the front seat laughing in a way that he'd never heard before, and it frightened him more than he wanted to admit. He'd rather face a Death Eater before dealing with his uncle. At least he'd be able to use his wand and defend himself without getting expelled.
Finally, too soon, the car pulled into the driveway, and a lumbering Vernon crawled out of the front seat and yanked open the back door, grabbing Harry by his arm and forcefully throwing him out of the car. Harry tumbled onto the ground a couple of times, then sat up and blinked owlishly at the huge man looking down at him with such contempt in his eyes.
Vernon wiped his hands on his pants, as if wiping something foul off his palms, and then hissed at the young boy in front of him, "Now boy, get that trunk out of my car and put it in the cupboard. Do it now, boy, and no funny business, or you will rue the day you were born!"
With that, Vernon turned and walked into his house, leaving Harry outside to struggle with a too heavy trunk filled with his school supplies, books, and other Wizarding goods. He hoped to be able to take his backpack out and get it to his room upstairs before anyone saw him. It contained his most prized possessions: His invisibility cloak, the photo album that Hagrid had given him in first year, and his wand. Oh, and a few galleons, knuts and sickles, just in case.
Harry finally wrestled his trunk out of the boot and slowly dragged it up the sidewalk and to the front door. He sighed deeply, took a deep, cleansing breath, opened the front door, and dragged his trunk into the house, closing the door behind him. Then all hell broke loose.
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Dumbledore sat in his office, slumped down slightly in his chair as he watched Sybil Trelawney's misty image hovering above his pensive.
"One who has led the school of light for so long is being led astray...his flame is about to go out permanently. One who is young will become a defender of the light at a young age of a decade and one half... Yet only if the two who are dark yet light band together will the young one live," she croaked out.
"Alas, Fawkes, I am most concerned about this. Is Headmistress Maxime wavering?" he murmured to his pet, well aware that the animal couldn't possibly understand him. "One must also wonder why our Mr. Potter is mentioned in a prophecy with Mdm. Maxime." he smirked.
Fawkes screeched and turned his back to the old man, becoming more and more fed up with the human. His human had already been led astray, there was so little light.
Dumbledore looked at his phoenix with a bemused expression. "Yes, Fawkes, it is quite disturbing."
The more the man spoke out his denial of the facts, of the truth and the light, the angrier Fawkes got. The phoenix began to smoke, causing his human some amount of confusion. After all, burning day had been just two years ago.
Finally, Fawkes burst into magical flame. The flame spread through the room, destroying the desk, the books, the papers. In a final demonstration of anger, Fawkes shrieked again, and flew out of the office, leaving a very angry, very sooty Headmaster Dumbledore in his wake.
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As Harry turned around in his now too small cupboard, he heard and saw the door slam shut and the locks click in place. Harry sat down and sighed deeply: how was he going to sleep in this tiny space, let alone how was he going to get though the summer if he had to spend it's entirety here in this spider infested hole in the wall?
It had only been thirty minutes when Harry heard the door to his cupboard being wrenched open. His uncle reached in and grabbed his arm and dragged him out, his fingers digging into the boy's arm painfully.
"Ow, Uncle Vernon! What's wrong? I've been quiet!" Harry began fearfully. He was petrified down to the core of his soul that his uncle would do something dreadful to him, which was why he let his beloved owl go back to Hogwarts. He was swiftly reminded that he was at his uncle's house as he quickly found himself on the floor of the kitchen. He sat up slowly, silently massaging his arm where his uncle had grabbed him so forcefully.
Uncle Vernon stood over his nephew, his face purple with rage. In his hand, he held the letter from Hogwarts that explained what had happened at the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
"You are a murderer. How could you lead that boy to his death?" Vernon began to scream.
Harry felt hot tears form in his eyes as he remembered that awful event. "Uncle Vernon, I didn't kill anyone. It was Wormtail. And Voldemort. He portkeyed us to this graveyard and then he killed Cedric, and...and..." Harry could no longer continue as Vernon had slapped him across his mouth. Harry tasted blood on his lips.
"You killed that boy, you freak! I got this letter from that head leader, or whatever he is, Dumbledork, or whatever...he explained it all. You murdered that boy!"
Spittle now dribbled down Vernon's chins, and Harry knew he was going to be in big trouble. He began to scoot backwards, away from the raging man in front of him. This seemed to incense the out of control man, and much quicker that one would think, Vernon pounced on the terrified boy, and began punching him about his head, face, his chest, even a well placed knee to his midsection. Harry began to have trouble breathing and quickly his vision began blurring out. His glasses had already been slung away, so he just closed his eyes. He had only two thoughts that began running though his mind: How could Dumbledore betray him like this? His second thought came to him as he succumbed to the darkness, wishing with all of his might that someone would come and take him away from this house for good.
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Fawkes flew, knowing in his heart who he would go to. Certainly, Fawkes could manage well enough without a human, but in these troubled times, he found he wanted to be of some help, if only to give some peace through song. What his old human had said some years ago about music being a great healing magic rang true to Fawkes.
As he flew over the Forbidden Forest he caught sight of his new human, running towards the point of disappearance with the man-dog. Fawkes trilled and sped up his flying, he knew that if the two men disappeared it could take a very long time to find them again.
Finally reaching the men, Fawkes landed on Severus' shoulder, cooing and trilling contentedly.
"What does that old man want now?" Severus muttered, running a finger down the Phoenix's feathers, then frowning as Fawkes bowed his head, as if sad.
Sirius stepped closer, absently stroking the phoenix's feather's as well. "What's going on, Snape?"
"How should I know, mutt?" was the only reply before Fawkes sounded out loudly in song, showing both men what had just transpired in the Headmaster's office.
Several moments later found both men sitting on a fallen tree, feelings of betrayal and anger coursing through their veins.
"What now, Snape?" Sirius asked, getting up and pacing. "Nobody would believe that Dumbledore is corrupted by his power! And what about Harry! I know that winded rhinoceros of an uncle is hurting him! Now we can't take him to the castle because who knows what Dumbledore will do!" he demanded, looking slightly deranged.
"Calm yourself, Black. I am perfectly capable of treating any injuries the boy has acquired myself," Severus snarled, inwardly cursing himself for having gone out of the cauldron and into the fire all those years ago. "What is important now is to get the blasted boy out of Dumbledore's reach. Whether I like it or not, the brat is supposed to be able to defeat the Dark Lord."
"Yes, but what about Dumbledore! He's the opposite side of the same sickle!" Sirius demanded.
Severus stood up and stalked to the pacing hound. "I know that!" he snarled. "We can only deal with one disaster at a time! Let's deal with that godson of yours first. Where can we take him?"
Sirius sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "Grimmauld Place, I suppose. It's infested, brimming with dark artifacts, and Kreacher, but it's heavily warded, and the Headmaster doesn't know of it yet. I had planned to offer it as the headquarters for the Order, however..." he trailed off. "It will do until we can come up with something else."
"Very well, now let's go." Severus barked, and turned to continue on the apparation point.
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A huge thank you goes out to everyone who had read our story so far, and even bigger thanks to those who have reviewed it! We really do love to find out what you think! This postings story recommendation is: For the Dead Travel Fast, by Emma Lipardi. http/ don't forget to review the stories that you've read! It really does make an author's day to read what others think of their work!
Until next time, yours...CrystalLupin and NitaPotter
