Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way shape or form.
Authors note: This is my first attempt at a fic for Harry Potter and would appreciate any pointers anyone may have for improving it or possibly working with me on it as I admit I am not as familiar with the Harry Potter world as most of the writers here appear to be. Also note that the language is U.K English, not U.S English before anyone picks me up on that.
Beginning Summer
Summer in England, the weather was terrible, rain pounded the window to his small room, downstairs noises were deafening as his overweight cousin and uncle shouted at the English football team as they played their latest international match, the noises were getting louder the worse England did. But with all the noise, all the distraction, Harry managed to force himself to concentrate on his work.
Only three weeks had passed since the end of term at this point, but Harry had not wasted them, his dreams about the Third Task had mixed with dreams of his parents, the chamber of secrets and all his other adventures. The resultant nightmares had forced him to confront his fears, the dreams still plagued him, but they drove him on, no longer would he be weak, no longer would others control what was happening to him.
Looking at the small table covered in books, notes and ink, Harry thought about how little help he had been given in training to face Voldemort, "Dumbledore seems to think I can just be a normal student and still come out okay, after the third task, how can he think that, it was luck I managed to get away, just like luck has carried me ever year since I went to Hogwarts, but has he given me extra training, no, has he taken me away from this stupid muggle family, no, hell the only member of Hogwarts staff who ever helped me worth a damn in the last few years was Professor Lupin, and he got forced out cause he was a werewolf"
Harry broke from his thoughts to look at the work on his desk, piled carefully in one corner was all his homework for the summer, already completed, strangely the Dursleys had allowed him to keep his school stuff in his room this year, so he was able to work. His new resolve to take control of his own life had driven him to not only finish the standard work, but to extend it, each essay had at least an extra roll of parchment, in most cases several extra rolls. He had found out about the library in Diagon Alley, and while he could not visit it himself, they had allowed him to borrow books via owl, similarly Flourish and Botts had allowed him to buy books in a similar manner.
"I'm turning into Hermione here", Harry thought, a wry smile forming on his face as he thought his best friend, unconsciously touching the spot where she has kissed him.
The books he had borrowed from the Diagon Alley library were in one pile on the floor next to him, his books from Flourish and Botts were in another and in a third pile was a set of muggle books. The books all had one thing in common, they all contained information to help him fight Voldemort. He reasoned, if the school isn't going to help me, then I'll do it myself.
The books included "World War II: An Allied Victory", "The Rise and Fall of Grindewald", "Ancient Legends", "Fitness: A Guide to Simple Workouts", "Defensive Spells: Countering any Offense", "Curses: The Basis of a Good Defense", this was but a small sample of his books, many were also books that would be restricted in Hogwarts, books on Animagi, Aurors and Hit Wizard tactics and spells. Harry was not reading these exhaustively, there were too many books and not enough time, especially as his fifth textbooks had been sent to him by Dumbledore for the next year, he wasn't allowed to leave Privet Drive this summer, and would be taken to Hogwarts via a portkey, when he had heard this, he had a panic attack, memories of the cup surfacing uncontrollably.
Instead of merely glancing at or browsing the books, Harry was in the process of taking all the relevant information he needed out of the books and writing it into one of several large notebooks he had acquired. Each of the notebooks had a different topic, clearly labeled on the front, these included, "Healing", "Attack Spells", "Tactics and History", "Defensive Spells", "Combat Transfiguration" and "Misc. Magic". Each notebook was a summary of the information he read, each useful spell copied into the relevant book, its incantation, its wand movements, its effects and limitations. He had gone through all of his textbooks from his first four years and found very little useful in a real fight, but now he had a whole new set of books and was rapidly filling his notebooks.
He was under no illusions, much of this would not be relevant to his school studies, his knowledge in potions was becoming limited to healing and combat potions, his charms and transfiguration abilities were also becoming more focused on combat, being unable to practice was a limit of his progress but he knew how to pronounce the incantations and make the wand movements, once at Hogwarts he would be able to practice for real.
The only other new thing he had taken to doing was a new routine to get fit, his Quidditch was not getting him fit enough for his liking, he had no expectations of being a star athlete or becoming really muscular, he just wanted to get a good level of stamina and agility for when duelling. Mostly his routine involved circuit training and running, occasionally borrowing the light weights kit, the Dursleys had bought for Dudley.
One thing he never noticed was a raven on a tree outside his window, the raven had been there for four days now, since the last time he had been to the muggle library, it just sat there and watched him, as if waiting for something.
He sighed, he thoughts turning back to the books in front of him, as he picked up a book on "Celtic History: Wars and Warriors of the Isles", a smaller book fell out, its was bound in black leather, emblazoned on the cover was a Trinity knot and a raven. He set his history book aside, drawn to this smaller book, it was very thin, only a dozen pages at most, he opened the cover and was actually surprised to see English written in it. For some reason he read it out loud,
"Over his head is shrieking
A lean hag, quickly hopping
Over the points of the weapons and shields;
She is the grey-haired Morrigu."
As he finished reading, the raven outside let out a mighty cry and flew at the window, startled by the noise, Harry turned to see the raven go through the window and he screamed as the raven entered his chest.
End of Prologue
Authors note: This is my first attempt at a fic for Harry Potter and would appreciate any pointers anyone may have for improving it or possibly working with me on it as I admit I am not as familiar with the Harry Potter world as most of the writers here appear to be. Also note that the language is U.K English, not U.S English before anyone picks me up on that.
Beginning Summer
Summer in England, the weather was terrible, rain pounded the window to his small room, downstairs noises were deafening as his overweight cousin and uncle shouted at the English football team as they played their latest international match, the noises were getting louder the worse England did. But with all the noise, all the distraction, Harry managed to force himself to concentrate on his work.
Only three weeks had passed since the end of term at this point, but Harry had not wasted them, his dreams about the Third Task had mixed with dreams of his parents, the chamber of secrets and all his other adventures. The resultant nightmares had forced him to confront his fears, the dreams still plagued him, but they drove him on, no longer would he be weak, no longer would others control what was happening to him.
Looking at the small table covered in books, notes and ink, Harry thought about how little help he had been given in training to face Voldemort, "Dumbledore seems to think I can just be a normal student and still come out okay, after the third task, how can he think that, it was luck I managed to get away, just like luck has carried me ever year since I went to Hogwarts, but has he given me extra training, no, has he taken me away from this stupid muggle family, no, hell the only member of Hogwarts staff who ever helped me worth a damn in the last few years was Professor Lupin, and he got forced out cause he was a werewolf"
Harry broke from his thoughts to look at the work on his desk, piled carefully in one corner was all his homework for the summer, already completed, strangely the Dursleys had allowed him to keep his school stuff in his room this year, so he was able to work. His new resolve to take control of his own life had driven him to not only finish the standard work, but to extend it, each essay had at least an extra roll of parchment, in most cases several extra rolls. He had found out about the library in Diagon Alley, and while he could not visit it himself, they had allowed him to borrow books via owl, similarly Flourish and Botts had allowed him to buy books in a similar manner.
"I'm turning into Hermione here", Harry thought, a wry smile forming on his face as he thought his best friend, unconsciously touching the spot where she has kissed him.
The books he had borrowed from the Diagon Alley library were in one pile on the floor next to him, his books from Flourish and Botts were in another and in a third pile was a set of muggle books. The books all had one thing in common, they all contained information to help him fight Voldemort. He reasoned, if the school isn't going to help me, then I'll do it myself.
The books included "World War II: An Allied Victory", "The Rise and Fall of Grindewald", "Ancient Legends", "Fitness: A Guide to Simple Workouts", "Defensive Spells: Countering any Offense", "Curses: The Basis of a Good Defense", this was but a small sample of his books, many were also books that would be restricted in Hogwarts, books on Animagi, Aurors and Hit Wizard tactics and spells. Harry was not reading these exhaustively, there were too many books and not enough time, especially as his fifth textbooks had been sent to him by Dumbledore for the next year, he wasn't allowed to leave Privet Drive this summer, and would be taken to Hogwarts via a portkey, when he had heard this, he had a panic attack, memories of the cup surfacing uncontrollably.
Instead of merely glancing at or browsing the books, Harry was in the process of taking all the relevant information he needed out of the books and writing it into one of several large notebooks he had acquired. Each of the notebooks had a different topic, clearly labeled on the front, these included, "Healing", "Attack Spells", "Tactics and History", "Defensive Spells", "Combat Transfiguration" and "Misc. Magic". Each notebook was a summary of the information he read, each useful spell copied into the relevant book, its incantation, its wand movements, its effects and limitations. He had gone through all of his textbooks from his first four years and found very little useful in a real fight, but now he had a whole new set of books and was rapidly filling his notebooks.
He was under no illusions, much of this would not be relevant to his school studies, his knowledge in potions was becoming limited to healing and combat potions, his charms and transfiguration abilities were also becoming more focused on combat, being unable to practice was a limit of his progress but he knew how to pronounce the incantations and make the wand movements, once at Hogwarts he would be able to practice for real.
The only other new thing he had taken to doing was a new routine to get fit, his Quidditch was not getting him fit enough for his liking, he had no expectations of being a star athlete or becoming really muscular, he just wanted to get a good level of stamina and agility for when duelling. Mostly his routine involved circuit training and running, occasionally borrowing the light weights kit, the Dursleys had bought for Dudley.
One thing he never noticed was a raven on a tree outside his window, the raven had been there for four days now, since the last time he had been to the muggle library, it just sat there and watched him, as if waiting for something.
He sighed, he thoughts turning back to the books in front of him, as he picked up a book on "Celtic History: Wars and Warriors of the Isles", a smaller book fell out, its was bound in black leather, emblazoned on the cover was a Trinity knot and a raven. He set his history book aside, drawn to this smaller book, it was very thin, only a dozen pages at most, he opened the cover and was actually surprised to see English written in it. For some reason he read it out loud,
"Over his head is shrieking
A lean hag, quickly hopping
Over the points of the weapons and shields;
She is the grey-haired Morrigu."
As he finished reading, the raven outside let out a mighty cry and flew at the window, startled by the noise, Harry turned to see the raven go through the window and he screamed as the raven entered his chest.
End of Prologue
