Chapter One
Harry sat and stared gloomily out the window. It was only three o'clock yet it was dark as if it was midnight. Rain poured down and fiercely hit the window Harry was leaning on. A steady clinking of iron came out of Dudley's room, which meant he was lifting weights again. Down in the parlor, Uncle Vernon was lazily watching TV while Aunt Petunia was making afternoon tea in the kitchen. Harry continued to gaze out the window. He was waiting for the latest issue of the Daily Prophet. Since the wizarding world had decided to recognize the existence of Lord Voldemort, there had been a new article almost daily.
After watching the muggle news in the morning, Harry patiently waited for the wizard newspaper. Suddenly a bolt of lightning lit up his room as it struck a nearby telephone pole. Immediately, all the lights went out on Privet Drive. Harry didn't pay any attention to the sudden darkness around him. He liked his room dark anyway, that way no one would bother him. In fact, most of Harry's days were spent sitting alone in his dark room, thinking. Thinking and brooding seemed to take up a lot of Harry's time. Occasionally he sent owls to his friends, but his messages always seemed short and stupid because there wasn't much that he could write. One of the main things that he had to watch for was tampered letters.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Dudley poked his head into the room and smiled weakly. Harry nodded at him and Dudley came in and sat on Harry's bed. Since last summer, Dudley's attitude towards Harry had somewhat changed. In public Harry and Dudley continued to act as they always had, but back at 4 Privet Drive, things were very different. Dudley was still scared of magic, but since Harry had saved his life the summer before, Dudley seemed to have decided it was better to be closer to Harry than farther away. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia didn't like Dudley to get too close to Harry but there was nothing they could do about it. Since Moody's warning, Harry was able to come and go as he pleased. To the Dursleys' delight, he stayed in his room most of the time.
"Got your newspaper yet?" Dudley asked.
"Nope."
"Oh. You, uh, don't happen to have yesterday's do you?" Harry turned around abruptly.
"Yeah, it's over there," he said, pointing to the top of his desk.
"Thanks." Dudley picked up the newspaper and felt his way to the bed.
"Since when do you read these?" Harry said, staring at the dark shape of Dudley in complete disbelief.
"Since always. Can you, uh, do that light thing?" Dudley asked.
"Can't, I'm still underage. There are candles in that drawer over there." Harry turned around and kept staring out the window. 'Why is Dudley reading my paper?' he thought to himself. Harry turned back around. Dudley had set up the candle on his dressing table and was reading as close to the light as he could. There was an urgent tapping on the window and Harry turned around and opened it. In flew two owls. One was Hedwig, his own owl, and the other was delivering his Daily Prophet. He took the Daily Prophet and gave the owl two coins. It flew back out the window and Harry slammed it shut. Harry quickly skimmed the front page checking to make sure there was no major news regarding Voldemort and then walked over to Hedwig and untied the letter from her leg.
"Who is this Malfoy?" Dudley asked.
"One of the richest and oldest wizarding families. That's Lucius Malfoy, he got arrested and is being sent to prison."
"I can read."
"Then why'd you ask?" Harry said rudely. He quickly unfolded the letter that was obviously from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
How are things going where you are? Father, Mother, and I are currently on holiday in Rome. It's so beautiful here. The sun is out almost every day. (Harry snorted as he glanced out the window.) I hope everything is going better. Don't be too upset. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday one day in advance, although I'm not sure when you'll get this. You'll get your present when I see you at the house. Don't worry, that will be soon.
Guess what? Malfoy's going to jail. There's a whole article on it in the Prophet. I'm not sure if you get it, so I sent the clipping for you to read. Good luck with your summer work and see if you can find out who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher is! Don't' neglect your studies!
Best Birthday Wishes, Hermione
Harry stared at the letter. Tomorrow really was his birthday. His sixteenth birthday to be exact. He had forgotten. Well, not that he was turning sixteen, just that he was turning sixteen TOMORROW. But another part of the letter stuck out as well. What did Hermione mean by 'the house'? Did she mean the Burrow or 12 Grimmauld Place? Thinking about Grimmauld Place reminded Harry of Sirius and he immediately crumpled up the letter and threw it into a corner. Then he went back to leaning against the window.
Footsteps could be heard on the stairs and Dudley took both newspapers and shoved them under the bed. Then he picked up the candle.
"Dudley, Dudley are you alright? Duddykins where are you?" Aunt Petunia asked worriedly.
"I'm in here, mum." Dudley opened Harry's door. Harry grunted and turned around so he couldn't see the doorway.
"What on EARTH are you doing in there?" Uncle Vernon said harshly.
"I was just bringing a candle into Harry's room, he got frightened by the blackout." Harry snorted. Uncle Vernon looked at him quizzically.
"That's so nice of you Dudley," Aunt Petunia said. Harry could hear the phoniness in her voice. "Remember Vernon, we ALL have to be nice. You heard that, that-"
"Yes, I know."
"Anyway," Aunt Petunia said with her fake smile. "Tea is ready." Dudley followed Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia out the door, taking the candle with him. Harry sat alone in the dark. He didn't feel like sitting with the Dursleys and their quiet disapproval. Since Mad-Eye's talk with them at the train station, Harry received Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's fake generosity that is usually saved for the neighbors almost daily. Harry didn't go down for tea or for dinner. Instead he stayed in his room-in the dark, alone.
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As Harry was lying down in bed, various members of the Order were putting together and preparing for their trip. They had been tipped off that there was going to be Death Eater activity in southern Italy. Half of the Order was going to investigate and hopefully stop the Death Eaters from attacking any muggles or wizards. Lupin had to stay behind because it was going to be a full moon soon. Snape was in the kitchen brewing his wolfsbane potion, as everyone else was frantically searching for the wands that Kreacher had hidden throughout the house.
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Harry woke up the next morning to find that it had finally stopped raining. It was still cloudy out, but at least it seemed that the electricity had been restored. At the foot of Harry's bed was a white box. Harry smiled one of his infrequent smiles and opened the box. Inside was a large cake that read, "Happy Birthday Harry". He hid the box under the loose floorboards in his room when he heard Dudley waking up.
Besides the cake, Harry's day passed uneventfully- until the arrival of the Daily Prophet newsletter that is. Harry opened the newspaper and almost dropped it.
The War Officially Begins
"At about 1:1 this morning an army of Death Eaters attacked a small wizarding village in southern Italy. Ministry officials were tipped off about the attack and were traveling to Italy as the attack began. The officials were able to stop the advancement of the Death Eaters, but with many casualties. The Death Eaters finally fled several hours later, leaving the village in ruins. The Ministry is still investigating the attack and looking for potential survivors. The town, Diso, was considered one of the main wizarding towns that blended muggle and wizard life in Italy. It is still not certain why He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named chose this place as his first official attack.
The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, expressed his deep regret over the situation in a conference early this morning, but insists that ample measures are being taken in order to combat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his army. "I have confidence in our wizarding community and I feel that we can over come this great evil that has befallen us." Noticeably absent from the conference was Albus Dumbledore.
No casualties or deaths have been reported. For more information on the cause, turn to page 3.
Harry sat in shock for several seconds. He ignored the sound of the doorbell and turned to page three. Finding nothing on page three he resorted to skimming every page looking for possible names that could have been at the attack. Finding none, he threw the paper across the room.
"WHAT?" Harry screamed at whoever was knocking on his door.
"Uh, we're here to get you," Ron said as he opened the door.
"Oh, but I thought you weren't coming until next week."
"Dunno, Dumbledore just sent Lupin to get you. Technically no one in the Order can go on a mission without at least one back up, so here I am," Ron said rather proudly.
"Oh. So you uh, hear from Hermione lately?" Harry asked as he checked under his bed for some schoolbooks he was missing. Ron knew he was avoiding the subject but decided not to press Harry- he didn't feel like one of Harry's frequent screaming fits.
" I think she said she was in Rome, right? She probably won't be coming back for a while. They are checking all magic that crosses the boarder. She could be there till school starts."
"Harry and Ron, let's go," Lupin called from down the stairs.
"Is that all?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, I think so." With that, Harry closed his trunk and started to take it down the stairs while Ron took Hedwig's cage and Harry's Firebolt. Out in the hallway, Dudley's door was shut and there was no sound coming from his room at all. Downstairs, Lupin was smirking at a baby picture of Dudley.
"Ready to go then, Harry?" Harry nodded at him. Lupin looked at him grimly before taking his bags and attaching them to the back of his own broom. Then he performed the Disillusionment charm on both Harry and Ron before ushering them out the door. The trip didn't seem to take very long and when they touched down at Grimmauld Place, Harry wasn't sure whether he felt relieved or not.
Inside the house was definitely different than the last time Harry was there. The curtains still covered the picture of Sirius's mother but other than that the house seemed different. Cleaner maybe? Harry couldn't decide, but it was definitely felt different.
"Right, well Ron, why don't you help Harry bring his things upstairs and then come down to the kitchen. There's someone there that you both should meet," Lupin said as he walked past the boys.
"Who are we meeting?" Harry asked slightly annoyed, as he picked up his trunk. It was really heavy and he didn't feel like carrying it so he resorted to dragging it along the floor.
"How am I supposed to know? Ginny and I aren't good for anything but getting locked into rooms around here and trust me, there are a LOT of them," Ron answered. Harry could tell how frustrated Ron was and he understood; he often felt left out especially when he was at the Dursley's. Ginny was reading a letter on top of Ron's bed when they entered the room.
"We have to go to the kitchen," Ginny said matter of factly.
"Hey, get down from there! What are you doing anyhow?" Ron screamed.
"Don't scream! Pigwidgeon just brought me a letter," Ginny said as she jumped down from the bed and shoved the letter in her pocket. Then she left.
"George found a letter of hers from Dean Thomas. Can you believe it?" Ron looked livid. Harry just steered him in the direction of the kitchen. Lupin walked out of the kitchen just as they turned the corner.
"Mundungus brought a girl back with him from Diso. She was found trapped in the orphanage. She hasn't spoken to anyone since she's been rescued. We're not even sure if she speaks any English. Just be nice to her," Lupin said.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked. Lupin just looked at him and left. "That's the I-Can't-Tell-You-Because-You're-Not-In-The-Order look. You'll get used to seeing it." Harry scowled, but walked into the kitchen behind Ron anyway. The usually chatty Ginny was sitting directly across from a girl- and Ginny was totally quiet.
"What do you say to someone who doesn't speak English?" Ginny asked. The girl turned around to see who walked in the room. She had long blonde hair and eyes that were a color Harry had never seen before. They were not quite green, but they definitely were not blue. Instead they were a mixture of blue, green, and yellow. Her eyes seemed to be the only thing with color left on her face and she looked awfully thin to Harry. Then he remembered that she was an orphan and that she had been trapped in midst of the fighting. An orphan, just like him. Although he doubted that she had been orphaned twice the way he had.
"Uh- HI," Ron said.
"Ron, don't be stupid, Italian people do not say 'hi'," Ginny said.
"Hi," the girl said, smiling. Both Harry and Ron noted that she looked kind of pretty when she smiled.
"See," Ron shot at Ginny. "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" Ginny rolled her eyes at him.
"She's not deaf, you know."
"It's Fiona and yes, I can speak English. Everyone in our house was taught English. I probably speak English better than I speak Italian. We weren't allowed to leave our village often enough to speak with other Italian people."
"You're rather pale," Ron said stupidly. Ginny scowled at him.
"That's not being nice Ron!"
"What happened?" Harry asked Fiona. As he looked at her, he felt his scar twinge with pain. Voldemort definitely wasn't happy.
