Harry Potter and the Prism of Light

by Leaky Cauldron

Harry is in his fifth year. Strange things begin happening to Harry and his friends and enemies - no Snape, a mysterious curse, and a too-strong spell are just some of the strange things. Eventually the pieces of the puzzle come together to form... the

1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: J.K.Rowling and Scholastic own the characters and settings and all that. All I own are Stinko Mints and Voodoo Lollipops, but you're free to use them if you want.

A/N: This is the first chapter, and it's kind of boring, in my opinion, but the next chapter will be better. This is also my first fanfiction.net story, and I hope it's all right. Please read and review- constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Harry Potter and the Prism of Light

CHAPTER ONE

The boy named Harry Potter awoke with a start. He had just heard a loud noise- someone bumping into the heavy, beat-up wooden dresser in his bedroom. Harry held his breath, not daring to make a noise.

Harry was quite afraid of who or what was creeping about his bedroom at 4 Privet Drive in the early hours of the morning; the thought flashed through his mind that it was one of Voldemort's Death Eater's trying to capture him, or something equally terrifying.

"Ouch!" a voice said as Harry heard the person trip over his heavy trunk, which was at the foot of his bed.

At once, Harry recognized the voice, and breathed a sigh of relief as he realized who was stumbling around his bedroom.

Harry decided to find out exactly what this person was doing and, quietly and slowly reaching out his hand, turned on the lamp on his bedside table. Light flooded the small room, and Harry heard a gasp.

Harry sat up in bed, fumbled for his glasses, and glared at the intruder- none other than his meddling cousin Dudley. "What are you doing in here?" Harry said, annoyed.

"Nothing," said Dudley, his round cheeks turning bright red as he hid his hands not-so-inconspicuously behind his back.

Harry rolled his eyes, climbed out of bed, and walked over to Dudley, who was sitting by his trunk, to see what he was hiding in his hands.

Harry's eyes widened as he saw that his trunk was open, and he said in an exasperated voice, "Hold out your hands."

Dudley slowly pulled his hands from behind his back. Clutched in one of Dudley's porky, greedy fists was Harry's own wand. In the other hand was one of Harry's schoolbooks, An Intermediate Guide to Transfiguration.

"Dudley! Why were you trying to steal my stuff?" Harry exclaimed, walking closer.

Dudley narrowed his pale blue eyes, trying to look menacing. "Back off or I'll zap you with your own magic wand! I'll... I'll... turn you into a frog!" he said pointing to one of the pictures on the cover of the Transfiguration book.

Harry grinned. "Dudley, that picture is of a toad, not a frog. There is a difference. And, anyway, you couldn't turn me into a frog or a toad, so threatening me with magic is not going to work. Now please tell me why you were going around my room, stealing my stuff, at 3:00 in the morning?"

"Just curious about what sort of stuff they teach you at that Pigfreckle school," Dudley muttered.

Harry rolled his eyes. "It's Hogwarts, not Pigfreckle. And Dudley, even if you found out a simple spell, you wouldn't be able to do it, because you're a Muggle- er, I mean, a non-wizard. It wouldn't work," Harry explained, exasperated. "Now will you please leave me alone and go back to bed?"

"Fine," Dudley muttered, tossing Harry's wand and schoolbook onto the floor and lumbering out the door.

Harry sighed. It seemed Dudley, his one-hundred-percent Muggle cousin, was interested in magic. But Harry couldn't pity him, because even if Dudley had been a wizard and could do magic, he would only use it for his own good and his own amusement. Harry could just see him, hexing the neighbors with the Jelly-Legs Curse if they drove over his bicycle and turning his dad's necktie into a fish until he gave him whatever new toy it was that he wanted.

Harry piled his schoolbooks and wand back in his trunk, and closed it, making sure to lock it and hide the key. He hopped back into bed and stared at the ceiling. It was no use trying to fall asleep; he was wide awake.

Harry reached his hand over to his owl Hedwig's cage, which was on the floor next to his bed, to pet her. He remembered that she was out delivering a letter to his friend, Ron Weasley, when his hand petted nothing but air, and sighed.

Harry missed the world he was now most used to- the wizarding world. He wished he could go back to his school, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but it would be a month and eight days before that; Harry was counting.

Some people would find it unusual for someone to be counting down the days until school began, wishing for summer to go by faster, but Harry Potter was a very unusual boy. First of all, he was a wizard. His parents had been Lily and James Potter, two of the bravest, most talented wizards ever. They had been killed about fourteen years before by the most powerful dark wizard of their time, maybe even ever- Voldemort. Harry had been just one year old at the time, and Voldemort tried to kill him too, but it didn't work. Instead, it backfired onto Voldemort, reducing him to a nearly dead form of a creature.

Harry had been sent to live with his completely Muggle (non-magic) aunt, uncle, and cousin. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon despised Harry and always treated him unfairly, forcing him to live in a cupboard, that is, until, Harry began getting strange letters in the mail that he wasn't allowed to read. Then, at least, he got to have a bedroom. Soon after that, Harry found out he was a wizard. This was on his eleventh birthday. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had known that Harry was a wizard, but kept it a secret from him, as they liked to live as completely normal a life as possible.

For the past four years, Harry had gone to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or Hogwarts. In one month and eight days, Harry would begin his fifth year there, and he could hardly wait to see his friends, school, and teachers again... well, except for Professor Snape, who disliked him immensely (the feeling was mutual).

It wasn't as if Harry didn't make contact with his friends over the summer; he did send an owl to his best friends, Ron (whom Hedwig was off delivering a letter to at the time) and Hermione Granger, about once a week, but it wasn't the same as seeing them in person.

Harry decided to try to fall asleep and was just dozing off when he heard a tapping noise on his window. He realized what it was at once- Hedwig- and raced over to the window to let her inside.

Harry carefully pulled the rolled up piece of parchment off Hedwig's leg, and she immediately hooted hello and flew into her cage to settled down to sleep.

Harry opened the neatly rolled parchment and turned on his lamp. He grinned happily as he read it.

Dear Harry,

I have great news! Yesterday afternoon, Mum and Dad got an owl from Dumbledore saying that you can come stay with us, finally! We're coming to pick you up July 22 at noon. Fred and George aren't coming; Dad reckons the Dursleys didn't take a liking to us last time we came, and he doesn't want any trouble. Since Fred and George are the definition of trouble, Dad thought it best if they didn't come. Oh, and please remember to make sure the fireplace isn't boarded up; we don't want a fiasco like the last time. Well, have a nice day; see you on July 22!

Ron

Harry's eyes widened and he grinned. July 22 was the next day- well, actually, that day, seeing as to the fact that it was 3:30 in the morning. He was glad to be going back to Ron's house (which was dubbed the Burrow), and he fell asleep with that happy thought in mind.

* * *

Six hours later, Harry awoke to a loud exploding noise. He fumbled around his night stand for a moment before finding his glasses and looking around wildly. Sunlight streamed into his room through the curtains, and all seemed peaceful.

"Ha ha, evil King Luglinch! I've taken over your kingdom!" Dudley's voice sounded from his bedroom.

It was just Dudley, playing his newest video game. Harry yawned, climbing out of bed and stretching. He dressed and fed Hedwig from the bowl of food next to her cage. He looked at his clock, seeing that it was 9:30 in the morning. He'd be off to the Weasleys' in two and a half hours, and the Dursleys still didn't know. Harry decided that it would be best if they didn't know until Harry was leaving, or preferably until he was gone; then at least he wouldn't have to deal with Uncle Vernon yelling at him.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were having company that evening, and they would be quite busy all day preparing. That meant that they hopefully wouldn't notice if Harry took the boards off the fireplace so he could leave.

Harry sneaked a hammer out of Uncle Vernon's tool chest. He waited until Aunt Petunia was in the kitchen making the roast chicken and Uncle Vernon sat in his study, writing up some papers for his job. Dudley was still playing video games, so the room was empty.

Harry quietly crept over to the fireplace. He took the hammer and slowly pried the six boards of wood off the fireplace. They made a slight creaking noise when Harry pulled them out, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear. Harry took the stack of boards up to his bedroom, shoved them in the dusty closet, and put Uncle Vernon's hammer back in the tool chest.

For the next hour and a half, Harry packed his things and put them right next to his bedroom door. He would need to get them downstairs as quickly as possible when the Weasleys arrived, so Uncle Vernon wouldn't have enough time to injure or throw anything at anyone.

After that, Harry watched the minutes tick by on his bedroom clock. Soon, it was five before noon, and he decided that he should go downstairs to wait.

Harry sat anxiously on the couch. He counted down the minutes. 5... 4.... 3... 2... 1... thirty seconds... twenty seconds... 10 seconds... 5 seconds... 1 second... Pop!

Harry's eyes swung from the clock to the fireplace. Ron Weasley stumbled out of the fireplace into the living room.

"Ron!" Harry whispered, "good to see you!"

Ron grinned, beginning to talk loudly, "'Hullo, Harry! How are you?"

Harry frantically looked around, motioned for Ron to be quiet, and said, "Ssh, Ron, the Dursleys don't know you're here!"

Ron nodded and looked around cautiously. He then went on, this time in a much lower voice, "Dad and Ginny'll be here any second."

Suddenly, two more pops sounded. Ginny and Arthur Weasley arrived, staggering out of the fireplace. Mr. Weasley had soot on his cheek, and Ginny's fiery red hair was in a disarray.

"Hit a bit of turbulence," Mr. Weasley muttered in explanation.

Harry nodded and gestured at the stairs. "My trunk is up there."

"I'll help get it," Ron volunteered.

Harry and Ron lugged the trunk downstairs. Mr. Weasley handed each boy and Ginny a pinch of Floo powder and tossed some into the fireplace for himself. "The Burrow!" he said, and hopped inside.

Ginny followed Mr. Weasley, and then went Ron. Harry began heaving his trunk to the fireplace when he bumped into an elegant mahogany end table. It shook, and a fine china vase that had been on it tipped over and landed on the hardwood floor with a crash. It shattered into millions of pieces, and Harry's eyes widened in horror.

"WHAT HAS HE DONE THIS TIME?" Uncle Vernon shouted, charging into the room in a rage.

Harry gasped, threw the Floo powder into the fireplace, and shouted, "The Burrow!" He shoved his trunk into the fireplace and came in right after it. The last thing he saw before he whirled away in a funnel of bright colors was Uncle Vernon's angry red face and shaking fist as he roared furiously, "You'll pay for this, boy!"

* * *

A few moments later, Harry reached the Burrow. He fell out of the fireplace, into the warm, comfortable Weasley kitchen. Ron was sitting in a chair, waiting patiently, chewing on an Every Flavor Bean.

"Disgusting, fried rice... What happened to you?" Ron said, staring wide-eyed at Harry, who was panting like he'd just run a marathon and had hair that was messier than usual, if that was possible.

"Uncle Vernon... nearly caught me... only just escaped," Harry said, between gasps. "Thought he'd... get me... for sure."

"Oh, wow!" Ron said.

Harry sat down as the rest of the Weasley family entered the room. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley carried his trunk upstairs, Ginny sat down at the table, and Fred and George pulled a box from behind their backs.

"What's that?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Chocolate Frogs," George said innocently. "Want one?"

"No," said Harry quickly. He was all too familiar with what happened when you ate candy Fred and George gave you. It usually contained a secret spell that made something embarrassing happen to you.

"Why not? We haven't tampered with them, if that's what you're afraid of. See, the box is still in its packaging," Fred said.

Harry realized that this was true, seeing the neat cellophane wrapper still intact. He was actually a bit hungry, once he thought about it, so he accepted one of the frogs. As soon as he'd swallowed it, Ron, Ginny, and the twins burst into laughter.

"Fred! George!" Harry said, his eyes widening. "What've you done to it?"

"You'll see," George said mysteriously.

"It's been 6 seconds.. seven... eight... nine... ten!" Fred counted down looking at his watch.

Suddenly, Harry stood up. "What?" he said, looking at his feet. He began tap dancing around the room, as his audience looked on. "I can't control my feet!" he exclaimed. He took one look at the Weasleys and began to laugh with them as he spun in circles.

A few minutes later, Harry's feet calmed down. He sat back in the chair.

Fred and George high-fived each other. "The Fancy Feet potion worked!" Fred exclaimed, a toothy grin on his freckled face.

"Fancy Feet potion?" Harry asked.

"It's a potion used to make the person who digests the potion's feet go crazy. It's a rather complicated, clever concoction, and its effects last a few minutes," Hermione Granger said, stepping into the room.

"Hermione!" Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George exclaimed at the same time.

Hermione's face broke into a smile. "I've just arrived. My parents dropped me off. Why were you talking about the Fancy Feet potion, anyway? There wasn't anything about it in our summer homework or anything," she said. Hermione did very well in school and always got good marks. Harry and Ron thought she worked far too hard.

"Well, Fred and George put it in some Chocolate Frogs, and I stupidly ate one. It made me tap dance!" Harry explained.

"Oh, my," Hermione said, struggling not to laugh. Her struggle failed, though, and she burst into a fit of laughter. "If only I had been here to see it!"

The six children talked for ages, catching up with one another, until Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen. "I'm about to prepare supper," she said. "Will you please bring the tables outside and set them?"

They agreed and lugged two tables out into the yard, next to a patch of fragrant flowers. They then set the table and sat down.

The meal was delicious, and Harry soon found himself stuffed. Fred and George excused themselves, most likely to cook up another confection for their future joke shop. Harry, Ginny, and Ron rode around on broomsticks (Hermione stayed on the ground for fear of getting in trouble) until they were caught by Mrs. Weasley and were forced to go inside and up to bed.

"We have to wake up early tomorrow," Mrs. Weasley said as she shooed them upstairs. "We're going to Diagon Alley, so get a good night's sleep."

Harry and Ron were quite tired and they fell asleep immediately.

* * *

Early the next morning, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Fred, and George were all awaken early by Mrs. Weasley.

"Up you get," she said impatiently, opening the drapes in Ron's bedroom, allowing the bright sunlight to stream inside.

"We're up, we're up," Ron mumbled sleepily, squinting because of the light.

The Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione went to Diagon Alley by Floo. Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to Gringotts, and Harry replenished his bag of Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts.

Then, they went to Flourish and Blotts, the book shop. After buying the necessary books, Ron and Harry pried Hermione away (she purchased about fifteen extra books for "reading in spare time") and headed for the Apothecary. There, they made sure to breath out of their mouths only, since the smell inside was enough to make anyone sick to their stomach. They quickly bought some potions ingredients that they were running low on and left. After that, they went to Zonko's Joke Shop to buy some amusing little things. They found Fred and George there (with Ginny tagging along), showing the owner some of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' products.

After buying some funny items at Zonko's, Ron gestured at the ice cream shop. "We're done buying things, come on. Let's get ice cream," he said.

Hermione's cheeks flushed. "Actually, I'm not finished. I've got to go to Madam Malkin's."

"Why? D'you need new robes or something? That's nothing to blush about," Ron said curiously.

"Er- no, that's not it," Hermione said. "It's- I-ve- well, I've got to pick something up there."

Suddenly it dawned on Harry. "I know what it is," he said, smiling. "It's your Prefect Badge, isn't it?"

Hermione blushed even brighter, but her face broke into a wide grin. "Yes," she said. She turned to Ron. "You're not mad, Ron are you?"

Ron looked at her, puzzled. "No, why?"

Hermione looked relieved. "Well, whenever you mentioned Percy being a prefect, you always seemed angry. I just thought maybe you'd be angry at me, too."

Ron shook his head. "Of course not," he said. He looked down at the ground. "And, er, congratulations, too."

"Yeah," said Harry.

Hermione was silent for a moment, but then hugged Harry and Ron tightly. "Oh, I'm so excited! Me, a prefect! This is wonderful!" She pulled away. "You two aren't, er, jealous or anything, are you? Of not being made prefects yourselves?"

Ron looked at her, revolted. "Me? A prefect? Come on! I prefer having fun!"

Harry nodded in agreement. "Me, too. I can't really see myself as a prefect, either. I break the rules too much."

Hermione put her hands on her hips. "Are you implying that prefects can't break rules? Because I most definitely can, even though I'd rather not. After all, sometimes it's just necessary to disobey."

Harry and Ron laughed. "We know you can, Hermione, relax," Harry said.

Hermione looked satisfied. "Right, then, I'll be back in a few minutes."

She quickly went into the shop and came out minutes later with a small leather pouch. Waving it in the air, she said, "I've got it! Now, let's go get ice cream."

They purchased ice cream sundaes and sat at a table. Unluckily, there was an unwanted person at the next table over.

"Malfoy," Harry said, groaning. "But- who's that girl he's with?"

Malfoy had obviously noticed Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, for he stood up and marched over, the girl following him.

"Well, if it isn't the orphan, the Mudblood, and the vagabond," he said, scowling.

"Here to pick a fight, Malfoy?" Ron said, his ears turning an angry shade of pink.

Draco's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

"Who are they, Draco?" the girl said.

"They aren't important," he said through gritted teeth

She rolled her eyes and began to speak again, but her brother interrupted her. "Let's go."

The girl shrugged and they left.

"That was odd," Hermione commented.

"Very," Harry agreed

"Oh, well, let's eat," Ron said.

The three children all shrugged and dug into their now melting sundaes.

Once Harry, Ron, and Hermione finished, they walked to the Leaky Cauldron, where they were to meet the rest of the Weasleys.

* * *

Everyone went back to the Burrow, and soon the time came for Harry's fifteenth birthday. He didn't expect anything much; maybe a present or so, and possibly a cake. What he got, though, was much, much more.

That morning, Harry woke up to find Ron and Hermione standing over him, impatiently staring. "Get up, hurry. Mrs. Weasley's prepared a wonderful birthday breakfast for you, and it's ready to eat," Hermione said.

"Yes, and I'm starving," Ron said. "Mum said we can't eat until you're ready, so hurry!"

Harry rubbed his eyes, put on his glasses and told Hermione to leave the room so he could dress. A few minutes later, he went downstairs. No one was in the kitchen, but he followed the loud chatter of the Weasleys and Hermione to the backyard, where they had eaten the previous night.

Outside, everyone sat around the tables. Empty plates were at each place, but bowls and plates of delicious breakfast foods sat in a row down the middle of each table. On what Harry assumed was his chair sat stack of boxes in colorful wrapping paper. Harry gaped in awe and made his was over to the table.

"I... you... wow... thanks," Harry said, truly grateful for what had been done. He pointed to the stack of packages uncertainly. "Are... are these for me?"

Mrs. Weasley laughed. "No, they're for Crookshanks. Of course they're for you, Harry! Put them on the grass, it won't hurt them. Let's eat first, and then you can open your gifts," she said.

Harry put the presents on the ground and sat down in his chair. "Let's eat!" Fred Weasley exclaimed, and everyone dug in. The food was delicious, as Mrs. Weasley's cooking usually was.

After eating, it was time for Harry to open his gifts. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him a poster collage of pictures of the Ireland Quidditch Team. Percy sent him (he was away on Ministry business) a book about the Ministry of Magic (which looked quite boring). Charlie and Bill (who were also away working) collaborated to make him a model of a Hungarian Horntail dragon (in the previous year, Harry had defeated one in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament). Fred and George got him a plain white box. When Harry began to open it, Fred kicked him under the table. Harry realized it most likely contained joke items from the company (Weasley's Wizard Wheezes) they were starting up. When Harry put it down, Mrs. Weasley gave Fred and George a suspicious look, but said nothing. Ginny gave him an emerald green, velvet wand case that clipped onto the pocket of his robes ("I made it myself. It matches your eyes. And I made it so you wouldn't lose your wand again, like at the World Cup," she said hurriedly, blushing, in explanation).

Hermione and Ron's gift, though, was the best of the lot. It was a homemade book, clean sheets of parchment sewn together, with a shiny gold cover. On the cover was a photograph of Harry's parents, and above it was a title - The Lives of James and Lily Potter. Harry thumbed through the book in awe.

"We made it ourselves," Hermione explained. "We owled Hagrid, found out some of your parents old school friends' names, and then owled them."

Ron spoke next. "They sent back information about your mum and dad's lives, personalities, and anything else about them they could think of. We wrote it up on the parchment and made it into a book."

"Do you like it?" Hermione asked hesitantly

.

Harry looked at them, grinning broadly, and nodded vigorously. "It's the greatest! Thank you so much!"

That day, everyone had fun playing games and eating Mrs. Weasleys' delicious snacks. After Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went inside, Harry opened the twins' present. Inside, a piece of parchment lay on top. In swirling red letters, it said

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

Gift Set

It contained some Fancy Feet Chocolate Frogs, Canary Creams, a bunch of Voodoo Lollipops (as you sucked on one, the person you wanted something to happen to became drenched in sticky spit), two fake wands, a few Stinko Mints (they gave whoever ate them horrible breath for hours), and some other funny "wheezes".

After a wonderful feast, as the sun began to set, Mrs. Weasley brought out a glorious, large birthday cake. It was frosted with chocolate icing and said "Happy Fifteenth Birthday, Harry" in large red letters. They sang "Happy Birthday" to Harry and he blew out the candles, making a wish for a fun, peaceful, happy year.

As Harry lay in bed that night, he thought about how lucky he was to have had a birthday as wonderful as the one he had just had. As he drifted off to sleep, a content smile appeared on his face.

* * *

Throughout the remainder of the summer, Harry had fun with his friends. It was like a nonstop party (afterwards, looking back, he thought it was a wonder that they had all found the time to complete their summer work) at the Burrow, and it was his favorite summer ever (except perhaps for the previous one, where he went to the Quidditch World Cup).

Soon the time came to go back to Hogwarts- what Harry had been looking forward to all summer, ever since he stepped off Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on the last day of school to go back with the Dursleys. This was what he had been looking forward to all summer for.