HARRY POTTER AND THE FOUNDERS' GIFTS
by
Narnian Dreams
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J. K. Rowling.
1. The Awakening
"A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born."
― Antoine de Saint-Exuper
He was standing in a dark, shady graveyard and the glowing blue light of the Triwizard Cup gave a haunted look to the headstones while his companion held it in his hand.
"Did anyone tell you the Cup was a Portkey?" Cedric asked, momentarily voicing out Harry's thoughts.
"Nope" the younger one answered silently looking around and waiting for something to happen.
"Wands out, d'you reckon?" The other suggested and Harry complied without question.
It confused Harry, for he felt a sense of deja-vu as if something terrible was about to happen. He had a strange feeling that they were being watched.
"Someone's coming,' he said suddenly.
Through the darkness, they saw a dark silhouette drawing nearer, walking between the gravestones. From what Harry could understand, whoever they were , they were short and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over their head to obscure their face.
And then from far away, he heard a high cold voice saying, "Kill the spare"
And suddenly all Harry could see was a sickly green light headed next to him, and something fall behind him with a sickly 'thud'. When the boy turned his head, his breath caught in his throat.
Laying on the hard ground was a man, his blue eyes glazed over with a look of surprise, and his dark auburn hair looked lifeless. Harry felt his legs give out as he fell next to the red haired man.
"Rick" he gasped, his raw voice echoing in the darkness. He grasped the man's shoulders in a death grip. "Don't, Please"
Suddenly Harry felt an immense heat as a sudden light surrounded him. Orange and yellow flames of fire licked the green cloak which was draped on his shoulders. And Harry wondered how he has come to wear it.
Sweat covered his forehead due to the heat surrounding him had he felt his heart quicken as familiarity of the situation.
Abruptly, a hand grabbed Harry from his shoulder and he was dragged back towards the flames. He screamed when his hands made contact with the flames and pain exploded from his fingertips.
A high cruel laughter echoed in his ears and screams- men and women screaming as if they were tortured while Harry's raw scream drew parallel with the voices, and the boy opened his eyes, and he found himself in his bedroom in his relatives' home in Private Drive.
The boy blinked as he tried to make sense of what he saw in his nightmare. He looked around his room and noticed that his owl was not in her cage and she might have gone hunting for some mice.
Harry wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand and sat up on his bed to regain his bearings. He glanced at the repaired clock on the table which read thirty minutes past twelve.
He sighed. Usually it was the same nightmare, over and over again. But this time- that man- who was he? For Harry, he looked familiar, but he could not place whoever it was. The man looked almost like a strange, older version of his best friend -Ron Weasley - but he's different that Harry could not place his finger on whom it was.
Slowly he knew that the details of his nightmare was slipping away from him, except the ghostly face of the red headed man. Shaking his head he got up form his bed and walked over to the window.
Harry wondered where Hedwig has gone off to, as he didn't mind some company. The glistening light form the half moon gave an eerie calmness to the surrounding neighborhood as if mocking Harry for his quickening heart.
A small silhouette of shadows appeared in the sky and it increased in size as if it was coming closer. It didn't take long for Harry to notice it was a shadow of two owls flying straight towards his window.
A snowy owl flew into the room through the open window trailed by a small overexcited owl who swirled around the room and sat on Harry's bedpost clutching a small parcel in his claws.
Harry dared to smile when he got hold of the two small packages the owls brought to him. Ron's small owl Pigwidgeon was hooting enthusiastically and Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the owl's antics.
He picked up the letter attached to the parcel and felt the parchment. It was thicker than the normal paper which Ron uses, which Harry noticed a little odd, but he didn't take any notice of it.
'Happy Birthday Harry!' Ron's letter read. The boy's eyes widened in surprise. He almost forgot his birthday! Not that it was really surprising- given that his nightmares and life in the Dursley's household makes time pass almost at the rate of a snail.
Smiling to himself Harry read the letter.
'I hope you are doing okay mate, things are a little hectic here. Are the muggles giving you trouble? I hope not, if they do, you're one letter away from getting help.'
'Mom is trying to strip off the twins' merchandise, (I wonder how they got the money for the ingredients?) and she seems to be doing a poor job by the looks of it.'
'Hermione is here by the way, and she is wishing you a Happy Birthday. And blimey she's brought all the paper metrials needed for our OWLs. Mental that one, 'Come-on Ron we only hav eleven months to prepare' well, that's what she says anyway.
'Well, hope to see you soon mate, make sure that pig of a cousin of yours don't read the letter. Also don't forget what I always say, Don't let the muggles let you down.'
'Cheers mate'
'Ron.'
Harry finished the letter in confusion. There was something off about Ron's letter. True that all the details scream of his best friend, but his writing style seems different.
Caution ringing in his mind, Harry read the letter once again, carefully intercepting each word. The thick parchment almost looked as if it was pealing into pieces.
That was when he noticed that Ron's handwriting in some parts of the letter looked different. Grabbing a quill and some parchment for himself, Harry wrote down the suspicious words. It didn't take long for Harry to bring out the hidden message.
'STRIP OFF THE PAPER. READ THE LETTER'
Harry frowned. Not out of confusion, but out of a strange sense of unease. The Ron Weasley he knew did not send letters with strange messages hidden in them. So who was this? Why now? And most importantly what should he do now?
He once again picked up the strange letter and reread it. 'Strip off the paper?' It was then Harry noticed that the edge of the letter was peeling off, as if two papers were stick to one another by some Muggle glue and it was wearing off.
Taking its lead, Harry slowly started stripping the two parchment, and it easily came off, like a muggle sticker would. Now Harry had two letters, each written in two different handwriting, which he noticed was from both his friends.
'Harry,' the hidden letter revealed in Hermione's writing.
'Before we start, it's Hermione and Ron, and we helped you in sending a Norwegian Ridgeback to Romania, in case you are wondering whether we are not who we say we are. How we managed to make this letter possible is not important and what you need to know now is that we reached you, other than sending you bland letters.'
Harry nodded to himself. Indeed he did wonder how Ron managed to sprout a hidden message in a letter, but with Hermione- anything was possible, and he was glad they did.
'Now, take notice on this. Things are not going well, and the ministry is still in denial. The Weasleys and I were taken to a safe house, saying that 'These are dark times'.
'The worst thing is that, Dumbledore is trying to keep you in the dark. What he said was that, the letters could be intercepted, but now it is no longer a valid reason. He also said that you are safe in your relatives' house than where we are, but we certainly know that it is not true.'
The raven haired boy frowned. This was not good. He did respect Dumbledore, but even a blandly oblivious person would know that he had too much control over Harry's life. This made his blood boil over the headmaster's manipulations.
'We have big news to say, but we cannot put it in this letter.'
Since the return of Lord Voldemort and Harry being a reluctant participant in his resurrection, he tried to absorb all information on what's happening around, by listening to muggle news and ordering the Daily Prophet. This news of his friends knowing something him not being able to receive the news irritated him to no end. Sighing, he continued reading.
'Open Pigwidgeon's parcel, you'll find a mirror in there. Call out our names, we'll be able to see you.'
'Be careful Harry'
'Love,'
'Hermione and Ron'
See you next chapter!