Disclaimer: I am poor and own nothing. Everything and every
character belong to their respective rich owners.
A/N: considering that I've got one more review, I continue this.but
one is not quite enough. . . so I hope that anyone who come across
this story and bother to read this would also kindly leave a review
or two. . .
A/N2 This is the revised version of chapter three. Again credits goes to the author of 'Family Tree', Rawiya! **********************************************
Harry flew high up above the Quidditch pitch, looking furiously for the Snitch. The crowds below were making a lot of noise as the game turned increasingly boring.
That's it! Harry thought as he determinedly dived for the spark of gold just above the ground. The other seeker was also in hot pursuit of the Snitch. He leveled with Harry as they both dived in neck-breaking speed. Harry turned his head slightly.
'Cedric? You are alive! How?' The ground was still far away from them although it should not have taken them long to reach it. Where is the Snitch?
'Kill the spare! KILL THE SPARRRE!!!!!!!' bellowed the crowds. And blinding green light filled the stadium. Cedric gave Harry one last look with his hollow grey eyes before falling off his broom.
'NO! Please don't be dead!! No. . . ' Harry dived frantically for Cedric's body. He had to catch him before he hit the ground. He had to bring his body back!
He got it! He caught him! Without warning Cedric turned his head up to Harry. The only thing that Harry could see was his hollow eyes. 'Why did you kill me?'
Harry released his grip in a mixture of horror and surprise. He could do nothing as Cedric's body fell down through the air, then collided with the ground at an incredible speed together with a sickening crash.
'NOOOOOOOOOOO!' Harry sat up in his bed, panting and gasping heavily for oxygen. His racing heart only slowed down a bit as Harry kept wiping off the cool sweat rolling down his scarred forehead.
Nightmare had become a regular component of Harry Potter's everyday life in Privet Drive. Harry had nearly forgotten how it felt to have dreamless- or rather 'nightmareless'- sleep or a peaceful rest. There were only forty-seven hours left before his fifteen birthday as the clock struck 1:00am. Harry sighed and then drew his knees close to his chest. What can I do now? He asked himself silently. Risking another nightmare by trying to sleep again, or just sit there until morning?
All his homework had been finished during the long sleepless nights he had had before. He even started to revise the textbooks of last year, which he felt was a too 'Hermione' thing to do. But what else could he do anyway? The Dursleys had more or less ignored him, except for making him do all the chores. Maybe they thought that he was not worthy of their attention. Not that he minded that much.
On the other hand, Ron, and sometimes Mrs. Weasley, sent him daily owls, which was comforting and a bit annoying at the same time (especially when the post was delivered by Pig- dealing with this practically mad owl was no laughing matter). They seemed determined to convey the idea that Harry was not responsible for what happened at the Triwizard Tournament. But it was certainly no one else's fault but his that Cedric took the cup with him. How stupid he had been to not to notice that the imposter Moody was not the real one. . . Why hadn't he thought of and looked at the Marauder's Map more often last year? Everyone told him not to dwell on the past. . . it was easier said than done.
Harry peered out of the window at the moonlit sky. Something glimmering against the bottomless dark blue sky caught his attention. It was only a white spot in the distance but then it became steadily larger as it approached. It was a white owl. He would have thought that it was his owl Hedwig, who had been out hunting, if not for the way it flew - it was different from that of Hedwig's. Also it seemed a little smaller than Hedwig.
Harry opened the window as the snowy owl gracefully flew past him to land on his desk. He detached the package and letter that the beautiful and well - nourished owl delivered and offered it Hedwig's tray of water. From the neat writing on the envelope, Harry knew that it was from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
How are you? You don't have to answer cause I know what you would say. I understand. Just give it time. It's not yet your birthday yet, I know, but Terence seemed eager to deliver something, and I've already bought your birthday present, therefore I sent him. ('So it's a "him",' muttered Harry while gently patting the snowy owl) I bought Terence a few days ago in Diagon Alley. Crookshanks is none too pleased with it. However, he is clever enough to know that he can never get its paws on Terence. Anyway, I wish you a very happy 15th birthday! Hope that you will find my present to you an interesting read. I got one for myself, and it certainly was a great read. Not to mention that reading book is a good way to keep your mind off certain things.
Now, promise me to be careful and do not do anything rash or stupid, OK? Hopefully we'll meet soon. Take care!
Love from, Hermione.
After writing a brief reply to Hermione to thank her for her present, Harry watched Terence gracefully take off. Harry found it strange that Hermione had not mentioned about schoolwork or O.W.L.s, but perhaps she thought that what he needed most now was to relax. That was thoughtful of Herminone.
Harry removed the wrappings of the package with mild interest. Unsurprisingly it was, as mentioned in the letter, a book. It was titled 'Ancient Myth- believe it or not' and on the cover there was a picture of a faintly glowing and rotating moon. Harry flipped through the pages of the book. It seemed to be about various myths about both the magical and muggle world and the possibility of such myth being real or just made up by ignorant people.
Harry stopped flipping as something caught his eye- 'Wizards, Witches and Mysteries of the Space '. The idea that witches and wizards can be in any way related to space exploration had never crossed Harry's mind, but if Muggles managed to travel to space, wizards surely could find a way to do so! Harry read with increasing interests, his previous nightmare now on the very back of his mind.
It seemed that wizards and witches succeeded in escaping the gravitational force of the earth by an extremely complicated form of apparition back in 1900. However, as the process and charms involved in protecting the space travelers from the harms of the space were so dangerous and difficult that it, like many other things such as being an animagus, was being closely restricted and monitored by the Ministry of Magic. The word 'ministry' made Harry involuntarily think about a certain coward who called himself the Minister. It still shocked him greatly that Fudge was such a selfish fool. . .Harry could not shake off the feeling that Fudge would be the downfall of the wizarding world if he was allowed to remain in power. Harry read on, 'Many witches and wizards prefer gazing at the stars and guessing the secrets they held rather than being on them themselves.'
'So, what are the myths related to the mysterious space? The most widely believed myth is that magic is extra-terrestrial. This is in fact one of the many speculations on how magic began on earth. Some of us believe that creatures from space passed magic to a select few people on earth.
'One of the most popular myths concerning the space dates back to the 1920's. The legend tells of the Silver Millennium. It was a kingdom started thousands of years ago when creatures, not unlike humans, lived on every planet in the solar system. Such creatures were able to survive the space because of their advanced level of magic. This kingdom included the whole solar system and its capital was situated at the Moon of the Earth. By then the magic on earth had barely begun and people on earth were completely blind to the existence of other beings other than that on the earth and they were oblivious of what was going on in the neighbouring planets.
'The Silver Millenium was ruled by the Royal Family on Moon while each planet in the solar system, except the Earth, was governed by its own Royal Family that obeyed the King and the Queen of the Moon. The magic possessed by the members of the Royal Families greatly surpassed that of ordinary people. The eldest daughter of each Royal Family inherited the immense power from the queen and was said to be chosen by God as the protector of the planet. Before these princesses married and became the queen, they protect the solar system from the attack of dark forces from outer space. They were said to be invincible and together they could destroy a whole planet. Peace and prosperity that no human beings on earth could even image were hence maintained in the Silver Millennium for hundreds of years.'
Then the book went on to describe the life of people living in the kingdom. Harry wondered what it would be like if such peace really existed. If life was free of dangers of being killed or worse - getting caught by ruthless death eaters. Only if his life had been Voldemort-free. . . If that kingdom really existed, the solution to defeating Voldemort would then be very simple- just ask help from those powerful princesses. . . Harry stopped his wondering and turned back to the book.
'The end of the Silver Millennium finally came when a powerful dark force invaded the kingdom. All the people living on the solar system except the earth were killed. All the protectors of the planets died fighting. But the dark force met its end on the last queen of the moon. On the last day of the battle, the queen witnessed the murder of her beloved daughter by the enemy. Stricken with unbearable grieve, the queen set loose the magic in herself through a crystal and destroyed all the enemies. . .'
'You may certainly be wondering what does the kingdom have to do with magic on earth? One version of the myth is that the last remaining members of the Royal Families escaped to the Earth, and that all of the magical populations on Earth are in fact their descendants. Another version is that the Royal Family of certain planets sent some of the most outstanding members to the earth during the invasion of the dark force in hope of continuing magic and to preserve the bloodline together with the power of the royal families. Upon the arrival on Earth, these chosen ones realized that though magic existed on the Earth, it was at a very low level and was completely unorganized. Therefore they started the first ever magic school on Earth- Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'
Harry widened his eyes at this, so the founders of Hogwarts were 'aliens'! It surely cannot be true, can it? At least Hermione had never read about this in other books (Harry knew as she would have told Ron and him if she discovered something like this).
'So it is a story after all.'Harry muttered as he set the book aside. He closed his eyes unknowingly. The more he read, the harder it was for him to keep his eyes open.
Just as Harry nearly fell asleep, he was startled by a large and approaching voice down the street. It was a high pitch voice laughing hysterically. It made Harry, for the briefest moment, think that it was the cruel laughter of Voldemort. His hand automatically reached to the wand placed securely in his pocket, which had not left his side since the holiday began, and grabbed it tightly. He slowly loosened his grip as his brain told him- it was only the laughter of a girl. But then it asked, 'who would be so inconsiderate to make such an annoying noise in the dead of night?'
Harry's curiosity drove him to get up from his bed and walk to the window.
'Hey, Jason, can you see that?' a teenage girl, apparently drunken, was shouting excitedly and waving her arms madly, 'stars are falling upon us! It's funny! I want to have another beer! Give me another-' the young man supporting the girl covered the girl's mouth with his hand.
'Shut up, Jean! You're waking the neighborhoods! They may call the police. . .' Harry could no longer make out what he was saying because he had lowered his voice. The two of them just stood immediately under Harry's window.
'Jason, look!' the girl got rid of Jason's restricting hand and pointed to an alley across the road, 'that black dog is grinning!'
Indeed, there was a gigantic black dog sitting across the road. . . and yes, the black dog did seem to be grinning. Wait, thought Harry, a dog cannot grin. . .but what about an animagus? Harry strained his eyes to try to get a better look at the dog in the dark alley.
'Nonsense' said Jason while dragging the hopelessly drunken girl away. Harry did not notice their departure as his attention was entirely on the black dog that was his godfather Sirius Black, also nicknamed Padfoot or Snuffles. He intended to turn around, dash downstairs and out of the house, but he stopped at the shaking of his godfather's gigantic hairy head. He didn't lift his eyes off Sirius as he crossed the road swiftly. Harry couldn't make out what he was doing at the front door, but after a minute or so, something - apparently a dog's paw - scratched on his bedroom door. Harry quickly ran to the door then opened it - and wished he hadn't.
****************************************************** It maybe an odd place to end. . . but who cares! If you want to know what happens afterwards, or you want to see Sirius, or you want to see something less boring, then review please and it would give me a reason to continue.
A/N2 This is the revised version of chapter three. Again credits goes to the author of 'Family Tree', Rawiya! **********************************************
Harry flew high up above the Quidditch pitch, looking furiously for the Snitch. The crowds below were making a lot of noise as the game turned increasingly boring.
That's it! Harry thought as he determinedly dived for the spark of gold just above the ground. The other seeker was also in hot pursuit of the Snitch. He leveled with Harry as they both dived in neck-breaking speed. Harry turned his head slightly.
'Cedric? You are alive! How?' The ground was still far away from them although it should not have taken them long to reach it. Where is the Snitch?
'Kill the spare! KILL THE SPARRRE!!!!!!!' bellowed the crowds. And blinding green light filled the stadium. Cedric gave Harry one last look with his hollow grey eyes before falling off his broom.
'NO! Please don't be dead!! No. . . ' Harry dived frantically for Cedric's body. He had to catch him before he hit the ground. He had to bring his body back!
He got it! He caught him! Without warning Cedric turned his head up to Harry. The only thing that Harry could see was his hollow eyes. 'Why did you kill me?'
Harry released his grip in a mixture of horror and surprise. He could do nothing as Cedric's body fell down through the air, then collided with the ground at an incredible speed together with a sickening crash.
'NOOOOOOOOOOO!' Harry sat up in his bed, panting and gasping heavily for oxygen. His racing heart only slowed down a bit as Harry kept wiping off the cool sweat rolling down his scarred forehead.
Nightmare had become a regular component of Harry Potter's everyday life in Privet Drive. Harry had nearly forgotten how it felt to have dreamless- or rather 'nightmareless'- sleep or a peaceful rest. There were only forty-seven hours left before his fifteen birthday as the clock struck 1:00am. Harry sighed and then drew his knees close to his chest. What can I do now? He asked himself silently. Risking another nightmare by trying to sleep again, or just sit there until morning?
All his homework had been finished during the long sleepless nights he had had before. He even started to revise the textbooks of last year, which he felt was a too 'Hermione' thing to do. But what else could he do anyway? The Dursleys had more or less ignored him, except for making him do all the chores. Maybe they thought that he was not worthy of their attention. Not that he minded that much.
On the other hand, Ron, and sometimes Mrs. Weasley, sent him daily owls, which was comforting and a bit annoying at the same time (especially when the post was delivered by Pig- dealing with this practically mad owl was no laughing matter). They seemed determined to convey the idea that Harry was not responsible for what happened at the Triwizard Tournament. But it was certainly no one else's fault but his that Cedric took the cup with him. How stupid he had been to not to notice that the imposter Moody was not the real one. . . Why hadn't he thought of and looked at the Marauder's Map more often last year? Everyone told him not to dwell on the past. . . it was easier said than done.
Harry peered out of the window at the moonlit sky. Something glimmering against the bottomless dark blue sky caught his attention. It was only a white spot in the distance but then it became steadily larger as it approached. It was a white owl. He would have thought that it was his owl Hedwig, who had been out hunting, if not for the way it flew - it was different from that of Hedwig's. Also it seemed a little smaller than Hedwig.
Harry opened the window as the snowy owl gracefully flew past him to land on his desk. He detached the package and letter that the beautiful and well - nourished owl delivered and offered it Hedwig's tray of water. From the neat writing on the envelope, Harry knew that it was from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
How are you? You don't have to answer cause I know what you would say. I understand. Just give it time. It's not yet your birthday yet, I know, but Terence seemed eager to deliver something, and I've already bought your birthday present, therefore I sent him. ('So it's a "him",' muttered Harry while gently patting the snowy owl) I bought Terence a few days ago in Diagon Alley. Crookshanks is none too pleased with it. However, he is clever enough to know that he can never get its paws on Terence. Anyway, I wish you a very happy 15th birthday! Hope that you will find my present to you an interesting read. I got one for myself, and it certainly was a great read. Not to mention that reading book is a good way to keep your mind off certain things.
Now, promise me to be careful and do not do anything rash or stupid, OK? Hopefully we'll meet soon. Take care!
Love from, Hermione.
After writing a brief reply to Hermione to thank her for her present, Harry watched Terence gracefully take off. Harry found it strange that Hermione had not mentioned about schoolwork or O.W.L.s, but perhaps she thought that what he needed most now was to relax. That was thoughtful of Herminone.
Harry removed the wrappings of the package with mild interest. Unsurprisingly it was, as mentioned in the letter, a book. It was titled 'Ancient Myth- believe it or not' and on the cover there was a picture of a faintly glowing and rotating moon. Harry flipped through the pages of the book. It seemed to be about various myths about both the magical and muggle world and the possibility of such myth being real or just made up by ignorant people.
Harry stopped flipping as something caught his eye- 'Wizards, Witches and Mysteries of the Space '. The idea that witches and wizards can be in any way related to space exploration had never crossed Harry's mind, but if Muggles managed to travel to space, wizards surely could find a way to do so! Harry read with increasing interests, his previous nightmare now on the very back of his mind.
It seemed that wizards and witches succeeded in escaping the gravitational force of the earth by an extremely complicated form of apparition back in 1900. However, as the process and charms involved in protecting the space travelers from the harms of the space were so dangerous and difficult that it, like many other things such as being an animagus, was being closely restricted and monitored by the Ministry of Magic. The word 'ministry' made Harry involuntarily think about a certain coward who called himself the Minister. It still shocked him greatly that Fudge was such a selfish fool. . .Harry could not shake off the feeling that Fudge would be the downfall of the wizarding world if he was allowed to remain in power. Harry read on, 'Many witches and wizards prefer gazing at the stars and guessing the secrets they held rather than being on them themselves.'
'So, what are the myths related to the mysterious space? The most widely believed myth is that magic is extra-terrestrial. This is in fact one of the many speculations on how magic began on earth. Some of us believe that creatures from space passed magic to a select few people on earth.
'One of the most popular myths concerning the space dates back to the 1920's. The legend tells of the Silver Millennium. It was a kingdom started thousands of years ago when creatures, not unlike humans, lived on every planet in the solar system. Such creatures were able to survive the space because of their advanced level of magic. This kingdom included the whole solar system and its capital was situated at the Moon of the Earth. By then the magic on earth had barely begun and people on earth were completely blind to the existence of other beings other than that on the earth and they were oblivious of what was going on in the neighbouring planets.
'The Silver Millenium was ruled by the Royal Family on Moon while each planet in the solar system, except the Earth, was governed by its own Royal Family that obeyed the King and the Queen of the Moon. The magic possessed by the members of the Royal Families greatly surpassed that of ordinary people. The eldest daughter of each Royal Family inherited the immense power from the queen and was said to be chosen by God as the protector of the planet. Before these princesses married and became the queen, they protect the solar system from the attack of dark forces from outer space. They were said to be invincible and together they could destroy a whole planet. Peace and prosperity that no human beings on earth could even image were hence maintained in the Silver Millennium for hundreds of years.'
Then the book went on to describe the life of people living in the kingdom. Harry wondered what it would be like if such peace really existed. If life was free of dangers of being killed or worse - getting caught by ruthless death eaters. Only if his life had been Voldemort-free. . . If that kingdom really existed, the solution to defeating Voldemort would then be very simple- just ask help from those powerful princesses. . . Harry stopped his wondering and turned back to the book.
'The end of the Silver Millennium finally came when a powerful dark force invaded the kingdom. All the people living on the solar system except the earth were killed. All the protectors of the planets died fighting. But the dark force met its end on the last queen of the moon. On the last day of the battle, the queen witnessed the murder of her beloved daughter by the enemy. Stricken with unbearable grieve, the queen set loose the magic in herself through a crystal and destroyed all the enemies. . .'
'You may certainly be wondering what does the kingdom have to do with magic on earth? One version of the myth is that the last remaining members of the Royal Families escaped to the Earth, and that all of the magical populations on Earth are in fact their descendants. Another version is that the Royal Family of certain planets sent some of the most outstanding members to the earth during the invasion of the dark force in hope of continuing magic and to preserve the bloodline together with the power of the royal families. Upon the arrival on Earth, these chosen ones realized that though magic existed on the Earth, it was at a very low level and was completely unorganized. Therefore they started the first ever magic school on Earth- Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'
Harry widened his eyes at this, so the founders of Hogwarts were 'aliens'! It surely cannot be true, can it? At least Hermione had never read about this in other books (Harry knew as she would have told Ron and him if she discovered something like this).
'So it is a story after all.'Harry muttered as he set the book aside. He closed his eyes unknowingly. The more he read, the harder it was for him to keep his eyes open.
Just as Harry nearly fell asleep, he was startled by a large and approaching voice down the street. It was a high pitch voice laughing hysterically. It made Harry, for the briefest moment, think that it was the cruel laughter of Voldemort. His hand automatically reached to the wand placed securely in his pocket, which had not left his side since the holiday began, and grabbed it tightly. He slowly loosened his grip as his brain told him- it was only the laughter of a girl. But then it asked, 'who would be so inconsiderate to make such an annoying noise in the dead of night?'
Harry's curiosity drove him to get up from his bed and walk to the window.
'Hey, Jason, can you see that?' a teenage girl, apparently drunken, was shouting excitedly and waving her arms madly, 'stars are falling upon us! It's funny! I want to have another beer! Give me another-' the young man supporting the girl covered the girl's mouth with his hand.
'Shut up, Jean! You're waking the neighborhoods! They may call the police. . .' Harry could no longer make out what he was saying because he had lowered his voice. The two of them just stood immediately under Harry's window.
'Jason, look!' the girl got rid of Jason's restricting hand and pointed to an alley across the road, 'that black dog is grinning!'
Indeed, there was a gigantic black dog sitting across the road. . . and yes, the black dog did seem to be grinning. Wait, thought Harry, a dog cannot grin. . .but what about an animagus? Harry strained his eyes to try to get a better look at the dog in the dark alley.
'Nonsense' said Jason while dragging the hopelessly drunken girl away. Harry did not notice their departure as his attention was entirely on the black dog that was his godfather Sirius Black, also nicknamed Padfoot or Snuffles. He intended to turn around, dash downstairs and out of the house, but he stopped at the shaking of his godfather's gigantic hairy head. He didn't lift his eyes off Sirius as he crossed the road swiftly. Harry couldn't make out what he was doing at the front door, but after a minute or so, something - apparently a dog's paw - scratched on his bedroom door. Harry quickly ran to the door then opened it - and wished he hadn't.
****************************************************** It maybe an odd place to end. . . but who cares! If you want to know what happens afterwards, or you want to see Sirius, or you want to see something less boring, then review please and it would give me a reason to continue.