Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter characters. I only own the ones that come from my own delusional fantasies.

A/N: This is my first fan fiction so please review. This story takes place or will take place in Harry's fifth year. Words in italics are the characters thoughts. I would also like to note that this story was originally under the author 'emily potter'. That's me but I changed my account. The plot has also changed a bit.



Chapter One: Birthday Presents

At three o'clock in the morning Harry Potter woke with a start. He had been having the all too familiar nightmare of the Triwizard Tournament. The third task played over and over in his head, starting with Cedric's death and ending with it again. Harry blamed himself for that; he always if he'd only taken the cup himself, it never would have happened. Even though he had no way of knowing that the cup was a portkey that would take them to Voldemort, he still felt the guilt.

Harry got up and looked around his room; there were many extraordinary things in it. In a trunk at the foot of his bed, lay his wand, school robes with the Hogwarts emblem on them, and his dad's old invisibility cloak. On his desk lay spellbooks, quills, and spare bits of parchment scattered all over. In the far corner was a birdcage for his owl, Hedwig; beneath that was his most prized possession, his broomstick, a top of the line Firebolt. He received this from his godfather as a Christmas present two years ago. Of course at the time he didn't know it was from Sirius; Sirius was thought to be out to kill Harry. In reality he wanted to help Harry and kill Peter Pettigrew; a short, fat man who framed Sirius for his own death and twelve other muggles.

Of course Harry himself, was as far from ordinary as it was possible to be. He was a wizard, and was currently attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As an infant Harry survived a curse and sent Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard of the time, into hiding. Voldemort became a barely living thing with no power. For this Harry became famous and was known as The Boy Who Lived.

After sitting and pondering about his dream he decided he better get as much sleep as he could before his aunt came in and woke him up. As soon as his head hit the pillow he passed out. He didn't hear Dudley's snoring, or see the dog lurking outside his bedroom window. He just fell into a deep, blissful slumber.

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After what seemed like hours he saw it, the golden snitch. On his Firebolt he raced towards the sky. The other seeker saw him and followed at a record speed. But it was no use. Harry was too good; the opposing team had no chance.

"He got the snitch!" The commentator shouted at the top of his lungs, "Potter got the snitch! Ladies and gentlemen this is a record breaking moment..."

He jumped off his broom and held the Snitch up high. The crowds roared again. He began to walk off the field and then he saw a girl about his age just standing there. Her back was turned so he couldn't see her face. His curiosity got the best of him and he walked up to her and asked her name. Without turning around she simply said, "Sara." Before he could see her face, he heard an awful screeching.

"Get up you miserable wretch! Get up!"

"Come on, give me a break." He grumbled, climbing out of bed. His Aunt Petunia always knew just when to wake him up during a good dream.

"Did you say something, boy? Hurry up or you'll miss breakfast." She hissed through his bedroom door.

"Yeah, I'm coming. Let me wake up." He heard her going down the stairs grumbling about ungrateful children. He wasn't looking forward to breakfast, if you could call it that. It was more like rabbit food. He got dressed in his clothes that were at least five sizes too big and went downstairs.

As always everyone ignored Harry when he came into the kitchen. But to his astonishment there were two packages on the table. It was them he realized it was his birthday. His Uncle Vernon grunted and pointed at the parcels. "Those came in the mail for you."

Harry was surprised. Who did he know that sent mail through the muggle system? He grabbed the smallest package; it was from Hermione. He grinned as he read the letter:

Dear Harry,

Hedwig didn't come and I couldn't find another owl so I sent it by muggle post. Hope it didn't get wrecked or anything. You didn't have time to finish with it before Snape took it away if I remember correctly.

Anyway, how are you? Are your aunt and uncle treating you all right? I hope so, just in case my parents sent some food. You'll never guess where I convinced my parents to take me this summer! We went to Bulgaria! I owled Viktor and he met us at the airport and he even invited us to stay at his place. We didn't, but we did go visit. Oh, Harry the city, it's so beautiful. Viktor took us to all the best places and I had a splendid time. I do miss you guys though. I wish you could have come with us, it's so interesting. Although I doubt Ron would've wanted to. Anyways I got my Hogwarts letter and you won't believe it, I'm a prefect! I wasn't expecting it at all.

Harry, have a good birthday and enjoy yourself this summer. I hope to see you at the Burrow!

Love, Hermione

Harry wasn't at all surprised that Hermione had been chosen as prefect.. She had perfect marks and basically clean record when it came to breaking rules. He opened her package; it was a book. Predictable, he thought as he turned it over he realized it was Quidditch through the Ages. Then he opened the other package.

Dear Harry,

Sorry it's been so long since I've written but I've been busy with work for Dumbledore. I don't have much time, so happy birthday. Hope you like the present. It was all I could find on short notice.

Padfoot

Harry wondered why Sirius would send his present by muggle post, but he didn't let this bother him because as Harry opened the box he could feel a faint vibration. He stared with his mouth wide open. He couldn't believe it. It was a broomstick, not just any broomstick though, a Firebolt 2000. He realized he probably looked pretty stupid just staring at the box and with his hands shaking picked it up.

"A broomstick? You got a broomstick for your birthday! Hah, what a rip!" Dudley exclaimed.

Harry didn't say anything; instead he went upstairs to examine his broom. In his bedroom were two owls, one he recognized as Ron's and the other was an official Hogwarts owl. Ron's letter read:

Harry,

Happy Birthday! Mum said that you have permission to come over to our house on Friday. Dumbledore finally agreed. We'll be by your house Friday evening, so be ready.

So have you heard from Herm? I wrote her a letter but she never returned it, not that it matters or anything.

Ron

Harry knew that it did matter that Hermione never wrote back to Ron. It meant she was out somewhere having fun without Ron. Even though Ron would never admit it, Hermione meant more to him than he let on. But Harry was more excited about returning to the Burrow than to dwell on the subject. It was a second home to him. He opened Ron's gift; it was a nice chess set.

The other owl hooted impatiently. Harry removed the envelope from his foot, and the owl took off. Inside was the usual list of supplies and his train ticket. To his surprise another letter fell out, it read:

Dear Mr. Potter:

Hogwarts is pleased to announce that you have been chosen as one of the two new prefects for your house. We trust that you'll obey the rules and be a good influence on the other students. You have also been chosen as the new Griffindor Quidditch captain. If you have any further questions please ask the head of your house.

Sincerely,

Professor Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft

He couldn't believe it, a prefect. I must have broken every rule at least twice. Although, he thought, my dad was a prefect and Head Boy and look at the messes he got into. Harry decided to thank Ron in person for his gift. Hermione would probably come too, so he sat down at his desk got some spare parchment and wrote a letter to Sirius.

Dear Padfoot,

How have you been? Thanks for the broom. I didn't really need it, my Firebolt was just fine. But thanks just the same.

I haven't been having any dreams if you wanted to know. Not any that you'd want to know about any way. If you want to reach me I'll be at the Burrow.

Harry

After sending the letter with Hedwig, Harry realized that today was Friday. The Weasleys would be there any time. Harry hastily packed all his stuff to take to the Burrow. He opened his hiding spot, which was under a loose floorboard under his bed, and pulled out all of the food and letters he had received over the summer from his friends. With much time and effort Harry dragged the trunk out of his room and into the hallway. Unfortunately when he got to the door his Uncle Vernon came to see what all the commotion was. He saw Harry and got very angry.

"Boy! What do you think you're doing?" he bellowed.

"My friend Ron and his family are coming over to take me to their place." Harry replied.

"You didn't bother mentioning this to me? Why should I let you go?" Vernon asked.

"I just found out this moment and because if you don't let me go I will tell my godfather. The Weasleys will tell Professor Dumbledore that you won't let me go and that you are mistreating me. I don't think that you want to be dealing with a bunch of fully grown wizards any time soon." With that Harry again started to drag his trunk downstairs. But Vernon apparently wasn't as easily swayed by Harry's outburst.

"I'm beginning to think that you're bluffing about your godfather. I bet you don't even have one. You just want us to think that you have protection. Well I'm going to show you what I think of that." Vernon slowly moved towards Harry in a menacing way. Just as Harry thought he was going to be beaten to a bloody pulp, the doorbell rang. Vernon glared at Harry and opened the door. It was Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh good Harry dear you're ready to go. I didn't let anybody else come because I figured Arthur would probably start babbling about muggle appliances and whatnot. And Fred and George, well I'm just not going to go into that." Harry remembered the day when Fred and George came very well. Fred had 'accidentally' dropped some candy, which turned out to be ton- tongue toffees. Dudley's tongue grew to be about four feet.

Uncle Vernon became very purple in the face. "He's not going anywhere."

Mrs. Weasley turned to Vernon. The look that she gave Harry's uncle was very familiar to him. He'd seen her use it on her son's many times before. "What do you mean he's not coming?"

"He's not going. If we have to put up with him going to that school we will not tolerate him going to a family of y - you - you're kind." He spat out.

"He is coming and that is final. It is obvious that you don't give a damn about him. I am taking him where he will have decent meals every day not the rabbit food that you give him. Just because you're son needs to go on a diet, doesn't mean Harry does too." She said all this while slowly drawing out her wand. "I am firmly against using magic on helpless muggles like yourselves, but you are pushing it." Her wand now directly in Vernon face. For once it seemed as if he had nothing to say. Her face grew into a large smile. "Harry dear, let's go. I still have to make dinner."

"Bye everyone!" Harry called through the house; he grinned at the still stunned Uncle Vernon. "See you next summer."