Harry Potter and the Dark Lords Return

1 Protective Beans?

Harry Potter lay awake one summer night afraid that if he fell asleep again, he would have another nightmare of the way Cedric Diggory had died. Cedric had been the real Hogwarts Champion in a tournament between the three wizarding schools of Britain: Durmstrang, Beuxbatons, and Hogwarts itself. This competition had been held in Harry's fourth year and at his age; he should not have been aloud to participate in it. But the Goblet of Fire had chosen his name and when it did, he knew some one had it in for him. Cedric's had happened so quickly in the final round of the tournament. One second both Cedric and Harry had grabbed the Triwizard Cup and the next, there was a flashing green light and Cedric's twisted body fell to the ground beside Harry. Harry didn't understand how he nearly killed Lord Voldemort -the most feared wizard of his time- and now he couldn't go back to sleep because of a memory. But Harry had not completely destroyed Voldemort; it was true that he had come back. Harry had been an ingredient for Voldemort's rebirth. He had seen the ugly creature rise from a cauldron and call it's servants to it. The Dark Lord had returned, even more powerful than before and ready to kill again. But no one, but Harry, a few wizards, and Harry's best friends knew. no one.

* * *

Hedwig, Harry's white owl, shuffled continuously in her barred cage. Harry stroked her through the open cage door. 'I'll let you out tonight, Hed. But no noise!' He told her firmly. 'Or Uncle Vernon will strangle me.' Hedwig hooted and when Harry flinched and tried to clamp her mouth shut, she flew out the window and into the distance until Harry couldn't see her anymore. Harry lent out the window and looked up at the full moon. It reminded him of Lupin, Professor Remus Lupin. He was Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry's third year at Hogwarts. The reason the moon reminded Harry of Lupin was because werewolves (actually humans who had a curse on them so that they would change to werewolves on the night of a full moon) would be howling at the moon or something right now. Lupin had left Hogwarts after he had tried to get Sirius, Harry's godfather, a life away from the Azkaban prison and its guards. Sirius had escaped the Dementors, but people were still looking for him. Harry missed him. Harry wondered where Sirius and, if he was with him, Remus could be now. Looking for trolls or fighting Voldemorts Death Eaters? Harry went to lie down in bed again. He checked his clock. It said 12:55. It was Dudley's birthday today; they were going to watch a soccer game. Harry was pretty excited to be going. Harry laid his head on his pillow and after the clock read 12:59, Harry's mind was drifting off to the morning of the final round of the Triwizard Tournament.

* * *

Harry woke up after a few hours of an awful sleep. His scar tinged a bit at first, but it went away as he got up. He went to the room across the corridor and took a nice refreshing shower. After brushing his teeth, he went down the stairs to make his breakfast. He made himself a peanut butter sandwich and went to get the post. There were three letters; one addressed to Dudley (obviously for his birthday since it had little presents on the front), and the other two -funnily enough- addressed to him. One, Harry soon recognised, was from Ron. It was small, dirty, and bulky. Harry inspected the other package and discovered that it was from Dumbledore. Harry, who knew better than to tell Uncle Vernon that he had letters from his friend, took them both upstairs quickly. He opened Ron's letter first and a small, green pouch fell out of it with a letter attached to it. The letter read:

Hey Harry, Can you come over on the 15th? Good. I know it's early in the month, but Dumbledore says it's Ok. He says he has devised a protection service thing for you, but he only told mom and dad what it was. He probably knows that you'll tell me and Hermione anyway. Hermione says that she is going to a thing called a soccell game or something! Ha! That sounds like some sort of girly thing. Anyway, enclosed in this package is a little pouch of Floo Powder. You know how to use it. So, on the fifteenth, at 2:00 in the afternoon, shout 'the Burrow' as you throw your Floo Powder in the fire place. Remember to say it CLEARLY! 'Cause mom will have a fit if we have to retrieve you from France! Hermione's coming too. We are going to have fun celebrating your birthday! Fred and George are up to mischief again. Probably more of that Weasley Wizard Jokes or whatever it was. See ya! Ron

Yahoo! So Harry was going to Ron's house on Saturday and Hermione was going to the soccer game today! Harry opened Dumbledore's letter with a brighter spirit:

Dear Harry, For the last few weeks I have been organising a special protection device for you. The packet with the three multicoloured beans in it is very important so you must not loose it. The beans are called Pretectatus Beans. If you eat these beans, you will have a very good source of protection. Reflection: When you have eaten the beans and are facing an enemy -only an enemy- you will shout Protectatum, cross your arms in an X shape, and a light blue bubble will form around you. All spells, but the three Unforgivable Curses -you know what they are- will be bounced off you and hit back at your enemy provided you keep you arms crossed and pay attention. Defence: When you are duelling -with an enemy only- , you may shout Protectatum and a thin blue light will shoot through the end of your wand and hit your opponent who will be thrown backwards and become unconscious. Their wand will be hovering in front of you by the time that they are knocked out and you may put a few hexes on it.

Under the circumstances, you and your year will be learning to apparate this year in your Transfiguration classes. Please swallow these beans as soon as possible. Swallow all three of the down with water and they will last three years. Sirius and Lupin have made friends with a few giants, but are still looking for Hagrids mother. Yours truly, Dumbledore

The letter was ripped at the bottom. There was a P.S. sign, but Harry couldn't figure out what it said. It must have been unimportant because Dumbledore would have included it in his paragraphs. Harry was soon brought to his senses by Aunt Petunia's shouting, 'Boy! Get down here! Now!' Harry, wondering what he had done now, walked hurriedly down the stairs and into the neatly decorated living room where Aunt Petunia was standing with a letter in her hand. Hedwig was sitting on the other side of the room casting mean looks at Aunt Petunia. 'This retched owl dropped this letter in my hair!' Aunt Petunia said to Harry, spitting a bit. Hedwig shuffled and Harry heard a sniffle from her. An unmistakable snigger at her wonderful timing and aiming. Harry apologized for Hedwig's misbehaviour and Aunt Petunia gave him the letter that Hedwig had dropped in her hair. Hedwig followed Harry upstairs into his bedroom. Harry opened the letter and read Hermione's neat handwriting:

Hey Harry, We are going to a soccer game today in the outskirts of London. Are you coming? 'Cause it's the only game that the Manchester United team has ever played so close to us. I imagined that you are coming because it is Dudley's birthday today and his parents are undoubtedly not going to miss this game. If you are going, meet me at the entrance at 10:30. See ya, Hermione

Great! Today won't be so bad after all, Harry thought.

* * *

At 8:15 that morning, Harry, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley (who was eating an ice cream and eyeing the many presents in front of Aunt Petunia's feet) set off for London. Harry was really looking forward to seeing David Beckham play.
2 'Can We have your autograph?'

At 10:30, Harry met Hermione at the entrance and she shoved an ice cream in his hand and took him to meet her mother and father. Hermione had changed, she had grown a few inches and her chest was very different. She was slimmer and had lost her childish face. Her skin was tanned from her trip to France. Uncle Vernon didn't even pay attention when Harry told him he was going to sit with his friend from school. Uncle Vernon's face just went purple and Harry left him alone very quickly. Hermione's parents were very normal. Her mom was tall, blonde haired, and slim with straight hair. Harry saw that Hermione got her hair from her father because he had a mess of hair upon his head. He too, was very slim. Harry and Hermione sat behind her parents and talked about the beans. Hermione, as Harry would have thought, knew what the beans were straight away thanks to her book called Shielding Plants and What They Do. Harry had not eaten the beans yet because he wanted to show Ron and Hermione their funny colours. They had fun watching the beans because, to their amazement, the beans changed colour every five seconds. Harry hadn't seen that when he had seen them first. Hermione told him what had been on the news. Mysterious Attacks on Muggles was one of the headings on the front page of the last newspaper. And Death Eaters Seen Terrorizing a Muggle Child was one too. The thought of death eaters turned Harry's mind to the Malfoys. Harry knew that Lucius Malfoy was a death eater. Harry thought that Draco Malfoy (Harry's worst enemy at Hogwarts) would be here today because this was a not-to-miss game and the Malfoys were overflowing with wizard galleons. Hermione also told Harry about her visit to Viktor Krum (one of the four champions at the Triwizard competition and Hermione's new boyfriend). Apparently Krum was going to a school in France this year because Durmstrang had been closed down because they couldn't find a headmaster to look after the students. After a long time, trumpets sounded, signalling the beginning of the game. Harry's heart lifted. It was lighter than it had been for months (because he was worrying about Sirius so much). The Brazilian Team came on first and there was a loud roar from the crowd, including a dark haired man sitting next to Harry who was shouting like there was no tomorrow. Then the Manchester United team came on and there was such a wild roar from the crowd that Harry thought his ears would split open. He, of course was yelling himself hoarse as well. When the game had started, Harry saw Beckham get the ball first and Harry watched him as he took the ball to the goal and. 'GOAL!!!!' The commentator shouted, although he was not as loud as the supporting English who were all wearing T-Shirts with Beckham, I Love You! and Beckham, will you Marry Me?! written on the front. When the crowd had died down a bit, the commentator replayed Beckham's fine goal on the large screen in front of the crowd.

* * *

At the end of the game (Manchester United won: 56 to 19), Harry let the last of his voice shout with the English crowd. He and Hermione were chatting on Beckham's wonderful scoring. The met Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom on their way to get popcorn before the cheerleaders came out and did their dance. They went back to the stands talking excitedly. They sat together and watched as Beckham came out onto the field with his team. As Beckham looked around, he caught sight of Harry and stopped. He stared at Harry and Harry stared back. Then his team mates saw what he was looking at and they stared too. Harry felt really awkward now. He felt as if the whole stadium was looking at him. Then Beckham seemed to come to his senses and he rushed his team mates to where the judges were. Harry still felt weird. Why was the whole of Manchester United looking at him? Thank goodness the crowd didn't notice them looking at Harry or Harry would have felt really embarrassed. It was enough being stared at in the wizarding world. He didn't need to be stared at here either. He looked behind him to see if there was some actress or beautiful women or some one behind him. Nope, just a wrinkly old lady. Then the cheerleaders came on and Harry stopped worrying. They were really good. They did back-flips and sang a great cheer. There was one young girl with dark, sleek hair (who looked like she was 15 years old) who went cart- wheeling in a circle being supported in the air with the other Cheerleader's hands holding her up as she flipped sideways. When it was over, Harry was amazed. It was nearly as good as the Veela cheerleaders at the Quiditch World Cup last year. After leaving the stage, saying goodbye to Hermione, Neville, and Dean, Harry teamed up again with Dudley (who was holding a signed soccer ball), Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon. As they were walking to their car, in a deserted parking lot, voices behind Harry shouted for him softly. 'Harry Potter!' It sounded like Dobby, a house elf that Harry had freed from the Malfoys in his second year at Hogwarts who worshipped Harry and was forever calling him 'Harry Potter.' Harry turned around to see the whole of Manchester United standing behind him wearing dark glasses. Dudley and c.o. had all stopped too. Uncle Vernon had just opened his car door. 'My team, Harry Potter, has begged me to ask you to sign their favourite soccer ball,' Beckham told Harry, 'Could you, please, sign all of our soccer balls? We are inspired by you and for a long time, we have hoped for you to come and see our games. We thought that if we had a game in London you might come see us. And here you are!' Harry couldn't believe this! David Beckham was asking him for his signature. And not only Beckham, the whole team! Harry also couldn't believe that the whole of Manchester United were wizards! 'Yes! Sure I will!' Harry said to Beckham, 'And well done for your magnificent game! I really enjoyed it! Yes to where do I sign?' One of the players had come up and hugged him, followed by the rest of the team and Harry's face was full of soccer balls and pens. Harry could see that (out of the very corner of his eye) Dudley was very upset that they didn't ask him to sign their balls. Harry was feeling very happy now so he decided to be nice to Dudley. 'And my cousin Dudley wanted to ask you all for your signatures. It's his birthday today.' Harry pulled Dudley forward and watched as Dudley got a handful of signatures and Beckham's hat thrust into his hand. 'Bye!' Harry said as he got into the car and a crowd of people came running to see Beckham and his team. 'I will see you the next time you play again in London!' They waved good bye to Harry and Dudley. They shouted happy birthday to Dudley and then they were attached by a swarm of fans. They disappeared into the crowd. Harry was so happy! 'Thanks!' Dudley said happily to Harry. Uncle Vernon looked very strange at the moment. He looked half happy with Harry and half purple. He probably wanted Beckham's hat too. But Aunt Petunia looked the worst, she looked as though she never thought that the Manchester United team could possibly be wizards and on the way home, she wouldn't hear a word of that 'ghastly team!' and that she never wanted hear it's name again. Harry knew this was because they were wizards.