[Author's Note] Once again, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, you guys are the greatest! And because of that... chocolate for everyone! *hands virtual chocolate bars* Now, before I start, I would like to say that there's a new summary up because of this plot twist that came into my head just recently. I don't know if you'll like it, but I just hope you will.

Now, off to my comments on your reviews. At the moment, I will not say anything about who Artemis' father is, but I will be dropping hints all over the chapters as much as I could without ruining it, which I'm sure will help you figure the whole thing out. I know you're all brilliant. *grins* And yes, I HAD to bring Remus back, he's my favorite character, after all --- and he'll have an important role in this fanfic, along with Sirius and the rest.

About Artemis... well, I'd have to agree, don't trust your first impressions too much. I still don't know what will become of her, though, if she'll be loved or hated, or perhaps both. We'll all have to wait and see. And don't worry, she's not a Mary-Sue, although she might seem slightly like that at first. *smiles* Now, I'll stop talking so you can read what I've written, as Harry makes his appearance in this chapter. He'll be in for a nice surprise.

Please review! *waves virtual chocolate bars around for everyone to see*

[Disclaimer] I own Harry Potter, really! You gotta believe me, I swear, I own it! It's mine! *men in white look at Kaz weirdly as she tries to pull off the bars* Get me out of here! Honest, I own Harry Potter! I'm really serious about this! *men in white shrug*

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

:: Chapter Two ::
Chance and Choice


"Where are we?" Harry Potter asked as he let go of the Triwizard Cup and raised his head, staring into the shadowy face of the other Hogwarts champion --- and who would soon be the other Triwizard Tournament champion --- Cedric Diggory.

Cedric shook his head in reply, however. He got up, pulled Harry to his feet carefully so as not to injure the other's leg even more than it already was, and looked around. They obviously had left the Hogwarts grounds completely, and traveled hundreds of miles, for they were standing in a place they have never been in before. They were in a dark and overgrown graveyard, and Harry could just make out the outline of a fine old house on the hillside.

The older champion looked down at the Cup, and then up at Harry. "Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?"

"Nope," the younger replied, his eyes still darting around the graveyard. It was completely silent and slightly eerie, to Harry's utter discomfort. He then met the other's gaze. "Is this supposed to be part of the task?"

"I dunno," Cedric said with a shrug, sounding slightly nervous. "Wands out, d'you reckon?"

Harry was glad that Cedric made the suggestion, rather than him. "Yeah," he answered, pulling out his wand as the other did so. However, he kept looking around, as he had the strange feeling that they were being watched. Then suddenly, he saw something. "Someone's coming."

They squinted tensely through the darkness, but to Harry's surprise, everything began to spin very fast. He saw a figure drawing nearer, yes, but in no time, it was merely a blur in his spinning world. He turned frantically to check if Cedric was still beside him, but the other's figure, too, was just a blur ---

--- then his scar exploded with pain.

A high, cold voice Harry was so familiar with then exploded in his ears, in the midst of the fit of excruciating pain. Although the voice seemed just a little above a hiss, the young wizard heard its words with much distinction, and those words were enough to send shivers down his spine. "Kill the spare."

There was a swishing noise --- whether someone waved a wand, or an animal scurried past the bushes, he couldn't tell --- and then a second voice, which Harry, too, had heard many times before, at different instances. He wanted to know if it was who he thought to be, but the fangs of pain continued to bury themselves in him, through his lightning-shaped scar. In no time, he heard two words that made his eyes snap open.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry looked up, just in time to see a very familiar blast of green light streak past him from out of nowhere, and just in time to hear something fall to the ground beside him shortly after. It was also in that span of time when the pain became next to impossible to bear --- he felt as if his head was about to split open --- and at the next moment, it was gone. He then forced his stinging eyes to open up, to take a look at what happened... and the sight that greeted his emerald eyes terrified him.

Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO! CEDRIIIIIIIIIIC!" Harry screamed at the top of his lungs as he bolted up, green eyes wide open. His hands quickly traveled to the table at his bedside, fumbling desperately and carelessly for his eyeglasses that he knocked down all the other objects that were situated near it. In one swift movement, it was on his face, and he looked around to check if he was where he believed he was.

But he wasn't in the graveyard where Cedric met his downfall, and where he himself nearly met his. He was in Number Four Privet Drive, in the company of his Muggle uncle, aunt, and cousin --- and Harry could not stop himself from sighing in utter relief, as he assured himself that he was far away from the dark lord, safe and sound.

He ran a hand through his face, stumbling upon beads of sweat that had been trickling down ever since the terrifying dream began, and that was when it hit him. Now that Voldemort was back to power, it will only be a matter of time before chaos, fear and confusion would explode in the Muggle world. Only his school and true home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, will remain safe by then, unless someone else will take Albus Dumbledore's place as Headmaster --- which was very unlikely.

Harry, however, had the gut feeling that it would not take long before Hogwarts would be the only safe place in the world.

The sun had just risen, and Harry had a few minutes more to doze off... but he did not want to go back in bed and clamp his eyes shut, afraid that he would witness the horrifying replay of Cedric's death once again. It was not Voldemort who caused him such apprehension; it was the fear that the guilt he felt over that tragic event would make him lose his mind, would tear him up from the inside until he would lose total control of himself.

THUD.

His heart began to pound as he heard the noise, and immediately, he jumped out of bed and peered out of the window. But there was nothing peculiar there, at least in Harry's opinion. He did not spot a shadow, an animal scurrying into the bushes, or a suspicious-looking person. There was... nothing.

Then, he heard voices.

"You should have taken him away the moment he was dumped on our doorstep," a male voice echoed angrily --- it was Harry's uncle, Vernon Dursley, no doubt. "and saved us from all that rubbish which came gift-wrapped with him! Why haven't you done so?! Why did you wait for fifteen years?! To make our lives miserable, is that it?!"

The voice which answered him belonged to an old woman, and Harry had to move closer to the door of his room so as not to miss a single word of their conversation. Her voice had a steely edge, however. "I was not permitted to do such, even if I had wanted to take him away from you scums badly! How dare you treat him like some street dog?! How dare you treat him as if he isn't human?!"

"Precisely! Because he isn't human!" Petunia Dursley countered, her voice sharp and shrilly. "He trapped Dudders in a glass cage for snakes in the zoo; he beckoned his friends to rescue him in a flying car; he blew up Marge like a balloon; he invited his friend's family over through the fireplace --- he isn't anywhere near normal!"

"You should have at least treated him---"

Vernon cut her off sharply. "You have no right to tell us what to do, so as much criticize how we've raised that boy!" he bellowed before he slammed his fists on the table. "We've seen more than enough hocus-pocus in this house --- go, TAKE HIM! Take him away, take him back to his hell-bound lot, and leave us humans in peace!"

"Then I shall," the woman stated in an equally stern tone.

Upon hearing that, Harry dove towards his bed, took off his glasses and placed it back on his bedside table, pulled up his sheets, and pretended to be asleep. He did not understand what was going on, but he knew that it was best to pretend that he did not hear anything, as it was for his own good.

The footsteps grew louder and louder... and then, it stopped. The door of Harry's bedroom opened with a creak, and a woman stepped in. She just stood there for a few moments --- admiring the boy's still form, perhaps --- and then, she turned on the lights, which illuminated the room, and exposed the familiar face of Mrs. Arabella Figg to Harry who was then squinting his eyes open, pretending he had just woken up. "Good morning, Harry," she greeted.

Harry blinked upon recognizing who it was. "M-Mrs. Figg?"

"Yes, Harry, it is I," she replied, smiling softly. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like you to put your things in your trunk --- and I mean all your things. You will be leaving this horrible place permanently, and you will be living with me until further notice."

The young wizard could not believe what he just heard. He will be leaving the Dursleys... permanently?

Mrs. Figg must have noticed how stunned the other was, for the smile on her face widened, exposing a few fake teeth. "I already spoke to your uncle, and he agreed on my proposal. Although of course, you have the final word. You can stay here if you like..." she paused to look at Harry in the eyes. "... but I don't reckon you'll get another opportunity as good as this one in another year or so. What do you say?"

In affirmation, Harry leapt out of bed and started filling his trunk with everything he owned. As he worked on putting all his possessions together in it, however, a thought struck him. True, Mrs. Figg had been a neighbor of the Dursleys for as long as Harry can remember, he had been with her lots of times in various instances, and she was very nice and friendly --- but was she someone to be trusted that much, enough for Harry to agree to live with her and leave the Dursleys permanently?

All of a sudden, the idea did not sound appealing anymore.

"Don't worry, Harry, I'm not a Death Eater. Or a supporter of Voldemort for that matter. If this will help, I was part of the alliance Dumbledore established around a decade and a half ago against the dark lord, along with your former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin, and your godfather, Sirius Black," Mrs. Figg said out of the blue, which made Harry gape in utter surprise. He spun around to look at her, and he saw that the always-warm smile on her features was still intact.

Then it clicked in Harry's head. He remembered what Professor Dumbledore told Sirius the night Voldemort returned to power --- Sirius was asked to alert what Dumbledore called an old crowd, and one of the names the Hogwarts Headmaster mentioned, along with Remus Lupin and a Mundungus Fletcher, was definitely Arabella Figg.

"I know that's what's causing your hesitation, but I don't blame you. It's normal to be paranoid these days."

"You're a witch?!"

She did not hear that, however, as she was busy rummaging through the pockets of her robe for a certain piece of parchment. "Now, where did I put that... hmmm... ah, here it is," she muttered in triumph as she pulled out a small piece of paper, which was already crumpled. She handed it to Harry and told him, "That's from Dumbledore himself. You see, I wanted to raise you, right from the start, but he did not allow me. He told me that it was better if you'd grow up not knowing who you really are and all --- not that he wanted to hide the truth from you, but because he did not want you to grow up with a swollen head due to the attention you'll be given as The Boy Who Lived. So I decided to just live next door, and watch over you from there. When Sirius told me that Voldemort was back, however---"

"Sirius was here?! Here in Privet Drive?!"

"Well, yes, he came here, but that was before you returned from Hogwarts. It was a very brief meeting, though --- he was really in a hurry. He probably wanted the other members of our faction to know about it as soon as possible, and from a reliable source. It took me a while to believe him, though, as I still thought he was in league with Voldemort, and that he was plainly making some joke that's supposed to scare the hell out of us, like what he used to do in school..."

Harry looked up at her, the note in his hand immediately forgotten. "Like what he used to do in school? Mrs. Figg, aren't you---"

"HURRY UP, YOU TWO! I WANT YOU BOTH OUT OF MY HOUSE THIS INSTANT!"

Mrs. Figg scooped up the rest of Harry's things and dumped them into the trunk, which was already more than full. She sighed, pulled out her wand from inside her robe, waved it around while muttering an incantation --- and everything else slid down with ease, making the trunk easy to close, as if it wasn't anywhere near full. Smiling, she turned back to Harry and tucked her wand back in. "Don't want to frighten the Muggles, you know. Now, Harry, if you don't mind, can you please help me load this downstairs? I don't reckon they'd believe their eyes if they'd see an old woman like myself carry this heavy thing with much ease, would they?"

But Harry did not mind at all --- he was more than happy to leave the Dursleys, now that he was certain that Mrs. Figg was someone he could trust. He looked down once again to read the short message from Professor Dumbledore that the paper held, the message which silenced all his doubts, and smiled. It read:

Arabella,

Yes, you may take Harry, but make sure Sirius knows your whereabouts. If things get dangerous, Apparate to the Weasleys' immediately --- I shall inform them that Harry is with you. I shall await your arrival in Hogwarts on the first of September.

Professor Dumbledore

Humming cheerfully, he helped her bring the bewitched trunk down from his room, and he came face-to-face with his uncle and aunt as soon as he landed down from the lowest step, which made him stop what he was doing abruptly. Silence took over the room for a few moments as they looked at each other, and then, Harry broke it. "Well... er... I'll be leaving now. Thank you for taking care of me."

They picked up the trunk and headed for the door before any of the Dursleys could say anything, smiling at each other in triumph. Then, a thought crossed Harry's mind, and he stopped in his tracks. A mischievous smirk lit up his rather pale yet smiling face, and Mrs. Figg definitely knew what was coming --- James' genes had obviously kicked in.

Harry slowly turned around, the smirk on his features wide enough for his relatives to see. Pushing his glasses closer to his face in a semi-arrogant manner, he blurted out coolly, "Don't worry, I won't tell my godfather that I've been living off Dudley's leftovers and outgrown clothes for the past fifteen years. After all, we don't want him to soil the lovely yard with blood, do we?"