Prophesy of the Serpent

Author:  Gryphnwng

Rating: PG- PG-13 for now

A Severitus Challenge Fic

I'm back, as promised, with chapter 1 of Prophesy of the Serpent.   I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the prologue, thankies so much!!  Makes me feel so chipper ^^ lol.

Kateri:  Yeah!  A fellow Ravenclaw!  *grins*  I do like to portray Dumbledore like that, it's fun, and different too.  Glad you like so far ^_^

Lei Dumbledore:  Thanks!  BTW- I love your stories!  They, and Severitus' stories really inspired me to write this one.

Kaat Shadowlover:  Hmmm….we'll see ^_^  Maybe he doesn't want too? *grins* 

Qusha:  Yeah, I know he is, but this is kinda an AU fic, so…^_^  There will probably be some other chars who will be ooc, but only the ones directly involved.  Everyone else will be normal-ish.

Kouryou Sanomi:  Foreshadowing!  Heh heh heh,  I really do like Sevvie, mostly because we don't know him all that well.  He could be so many things, that it is just fun to play around with him when writing ^_^  I do like Dumbledore though, he just turned into this manipulative geezer in this for some reason… not really sure how… lol.  Thanks you !

Kit:  Ahhh..you again ^_^  Look!  I'm updating!

Seems I've been forgetting something…what was it?  Oh yeah!  I don't own Harry Potter or his friends!  :-P 

Chapter One

Harry shifted slightly on his bed, trying to find a position that wouldn't aggravate the muscles in his bad.  After the ton tongue toffee incident the previous year, he knew this summer was not going to be easy.  He winced as his abused muscles sent another twinge.  His Uncle Vernon had been in a particularly bad mood this summer, blaming Harry for his company's bad luck.  And thus, he was more determined then ever to beat the "freakishness" out of him.  By whatever measures necessary.  Harry grimaced, thoughts turning dark as he thought over the events of the summer so far.  His very first night back wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't had that nightmare.  The one of the third challenge where Cedric was…killed.  He had woken the whole house with his screams.  That hadn't gone over well at all with his Aunt and Uncle.  That was the first beating.  And it wasn't just the beating either, it was his Uncles taunting voice that had scarred him the most.  Professor Dumbledore had sent them a letter, describing all that he had gone through.  His Unc…no, Harry refused to call him any relation of his now.  Vernon had called him a worthless, lying murderer, told him he deserved this.  He refused to let the man see how badly that had affected him.  He refused to shed tears for him.

Perhaps that was why the summer was so bad now.  Perhaps, if he had let Vernon see him cry, it wouldn't be so bad? ~Nah.  Knowing that sadistic bastard, he would have done it anyways.~  The list of chores he had to do now had more then tripled, mostly hard labor in the yard, or the worst of the cleaning jobs inside.  He even had to do Dudley's job!  One of the neighbors had asked him to walk their dog during the day, as they were busy with work.  Mr. Morris had promised to pay Dudley 10 pounds a week for doing this.  So who did they job?  Harry.  Who got the money?  Dudley.  Dudley was still on his diet, so Harry wasn't getting fed very well either.  At least it seemed to be working for Dudley- he had lost a good amount of weight, though he was still hefty.  The downside?  The flab had been replaced with muscle.  Muscle which welded his smelting stick with much greater force.  Ouch. 

Early on in the summer, Harry had been able to pry the bars on his window far enough apart to allow Hedwig access to the outdoors.  He had sent a letter to Dumbledore, asking if he could be allowed to stay at Hogwarts for the summer, describing some of what had been happening.  The reply he had received had been rather disappointing.  Apparently the Headmaster would not be there most of the summer, same as the other teachers, so Harry wouldn't be very well protected.  He was still safer at his Aunts home.  Harry got the distinct feeling that underneath all the niceties and caring words, Dumbledore was writing the whole thing off as an adolescent's over-active imagination.  ~That proves it, then.  Nobody cares.  Why should they?  To them, I am just a murderer.~  He had come to terms with Cedric's death, so he still had nightmares over the whole thing.  That, and the fact that Voldemort was being rather active since coming back to full life kept him up at night.

He was fed up with his whole life.  The Boy-who-bloody-lived routine was highly overrated.  The past few weeks he had toyed with the idea of what it would have been like not being Harry Potter.  Not looking like a carbon copy of his father, James.  Why couldn't he have looked more like his mother?  Why did people expect him to act just as happy and carefree as his father?  ~I wonder what it would have been like if I had let the Hat sort me into Slytherin.  It did say I would do well there.  I'm tired of this pretending.~ 

Carefully rolling to his side, ignoring the twinges his bruised ribs sent, he glanced at the clock.  11:47pm.  In 13 minutes, he'd be 15.  Hopefully, this would be his last summer at the Dursley's.  He'd see about getting his own place when he turned 16.  Hopefully he would be able too.  Five more minutes.  Harry wondered how his friends summer was going.  He'd a few owls from Ron and Hermione, and one from Sirius and Lupin.  His Godfather had said that there would be a surprise when he got back to Hogwarts, but he wasn't telling what it was.  Hermione had gone to Bulgaria to visit Krum, and evidently had had a rotten time of it.  Ron had spent the time that she was there sulking, until she had come home, rather upset at how Icky Vicky had treated her.  Apparently, he had not wanted a girlfriend, but someone to show off to the media.  She and Ron had been together since, and about time too, Harry felt. 

His musings were disrupted by the soft sounds of feathers against feathers at his window.  Lined up, waiting to be let in, were several owls.  Being careful to be quiet, he got up and went to the window, opening it and letting the birds in through the bent bars.  Hedwig came in first, with a package and letter from Hermione.  Ron's Pig came in next, and for once, refrained from zooming around the ceiling like a nut.  Of course, that could also have been because he was exhausted from carrying a package that was bigger then he was.  Harry laughed softly at him.  His tiny tongue was sticking out of the side of his beak in a most comical manner.  While Pig moved to Hedwig's cage for some water, Harry relieved the next owl of it's burden- A letter and small package from Sirius and Professor Lupin.  The last was a rather large Barn Owl from the school, with the expected school supplies list.  Handing a few treats out, the owls left again, accept for Hedwig and Pig.

Opening Hermione's gifts first, he absently stroked Hedwig, getting a friendly nip in return.

Dear Harry,

Happy Birthday!  I hope those relatives of yours aren't treating you to bad.  I thought you might like this for your birthday.  When will you be getting to Diagon Alley?  I hope you can come with us, Mrs. Weasley is going to owl Professor Dumbledore to see if you can come with me and the Weasley clan.  How are you doing, really?  You know you can always owl me if you need to talk, okay?  Take care, and hope to see you soon!

Love from Hermione

Harry smiled as he read the letter, but it gradually twisted at the end.  He was fine, why couldn't anyone see that?  He would have been great if it weren't for Vernon, but you couldn't do anything about that.  Shaking his head, he set the letter aside to open the package.  He knew Hermione was just trying to be a good friend, and she did care for him; but he just got so sick of people asking if he was ok.  He grinned again as he opened the present.  Trust Hermione to get him a book.  At least this was something good.  Animagus: A Guide to Discovering Your Inner Animal  by: Uma Cornus.  He brushed aside a strand of hair, flipping through the pages briefly.  It looked like he could actually begin training for this now- it was mostly meditating and concentration exercises in the beginning.  Setting the book aside, he went on to Ron's letter.

Heya Harry!

Happy Birthday!  I hope Pig can make it- this package ended up pretty big.  Mum and the Twins sent you stuff too.  Guess what?  I've got new dress robes!  Somehow Fred and George came by some money, I don't want to know how.  But for my birthday, they gave me new dress robes.  Really nice too- royal blue with Gryffindor gold trim, and NO LACE!  Thank Merlin no more maroon.  'Mione's already here at the burrow, wish you could come too, mate.  Tough luck Dumbledore is letting you come early.  Mum is trying to get him to let you come for the last week at least, so cross your fingers.  Hope those gits aren't being to bad to ya, I sent some food to tide you over.  See ya soon!

Ron

Harry grinned, and set the letter aside quickly in anticipation of the sweets that were in the package.  He wasn't disappointed; he found chocolate frogs, Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans, a small cake made by Mrs. Weasley, and some others sweets.  Munching on a frog, he opened Ron's gift.  Letting the paper fall aside, he was greeted with a photo album.  Inside were moving photos of him, Ron, Hermione, and others people from the school.  There must have been over a hundred photos inside, each one with a funny caption written by Ron.  Harry had a hard time trying to control his laughter when he saw one of Malfoy sporting a red and gold Mohawk, his caption reading "The newest look in Fashion- Muggle Punk Rock."  The Malfoy in the picture was furious, gesturing up at Harry and stomping around.  From the twins he received an assortment of some of the pranks they had been working on, with a brief description of each.  He'd try them out when he got back to Hogwarts.

A brief letter from Sirius let Harry know that he and Lupin were all right, and that they wished him a Happy Birthday.  They had sent a book as well- one that they had written themselves.  It was the Marauders Best Pranks and Stunts.  Harry thought to himself that it would be great reading.  It was now past 1am, and Harry reluctantly put the gifts he had received under the loose floorboard and went to sleep, for once untroubled by dreams or visions of Voldemort.

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A few weeks later found Harry doing the same long round of chores, beatings, and periodic forced fasting.  But even though his life hadn't changed, he found he himself was changing.  It seemed his wish earlier in the summer was coming to pass; he was starting to look less like James Potter, and more like, well, himself.  He'd finally started a growth spurt, and had shot up several inches.  He was now 5'9, and still growing a bit.  He had lost the knobbiness that he had possessed before, becoming more graceful.  His hair seemed to have a life of its own as well.  It had changed to suit his present state of mind.  It was longer, sleeker, and more manageable.  Harry didn't really wonder about this- his hair had done strange things before, like growing back overnight when his Aunt had butchered it.  This knew look seemed to suit him better.  Darker, less innocent, cynical.  His growth had thinned out his boyish features, giving them a more elegant lines.  He definitely had more of his mother in him now.  His raven hair had red highlights to it in the sun.  He had to keep it pulled back in a bad now to keep it from his face.  Long hair was a nuisance when one was working outdoors.  All of his changes he passed off as puberty, while his relatives decided it was more of his freakishness.  Sigh.

He had received an owl from Ron the day before telling him Dumbledore would allow him to spend the remaining last week of the holidays at the Burrow.  ~Gee, the gracious Dumbledore comes to rescue to poor, poor Harry Potter, Boy Wonder and allows him asylum at his best friends house, despite the terrible dangers of Baldywart and his Deathsquad.~  Harry sneered at that thought.  ~I wonder how hard he worked to foster the image of The-Boy-Who-Lived?  Probably not too hard- the wizarding world seems pretty eager to dump all their problems onto a single person, never mind how he feels about it.~  He wished people would realize he was only human.  Even his best friend Ron seemed to think he was something super-human.  The only person who never treated him differently was Snape.  Ugg.  Too bad he wasn't someone he could confide in.  Harry stopped that chain of thought.  No need making his already bad day worse.  Oops, never mind, here comes Vernon.

Harry straightened from the garden he was weeding as Vernon approached, looking rather pissed.

"Boy, aren't you finished yet?  You lazy, useless freak!  I need the lawn mown before 5pm, we have dinner guests coming, and I want you out of sight!"  Vernon reached out, and cuffed Harry about the bed, as if that could make him work harder.

Harry turned cold, hard emerald eyes on Vernon, he sneered.  "Yes, Sir."  Lately his almost mocking attitude had begun to unnerve Vernon, who wasn't expecting it.  He was used to a scared, sad little boy who was easy to bully, not this self assured, mocking young man.  That had took all the fun out of beating him, especially since now, even though half starved, Harry could fight back.  His slimness hid the fact that he was all muscle.  Giving Vernon one more stare, he walked to the garden shed where the mower was stored and set about preparing to mow the already immaculate lawn.  Just two more days of hell, he thought to himself.  Two more days and I'll be at the burrow.

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 ~Somewhere in the French countryside~

In an abandoned shack, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin sat reading some correspondence that had caught up to them.  They were on a mission for Dumbledore, rounding up the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix, and looking for hideouts of Death Eaters.  Sirius raked one slender hand through the wild tangle of his black hair, staring at one letter in particular.  The parchment was yellowed with age, and spotted in places.  That wasn't the most amazing thing though.  It was addressed in James' handwriting.  Sirius stared a few moments longer, before finding his voice and addressing his friend.

"Moony?  You've got to see this…"

Remus Lupin looked over at Sirius, who was very pale.  Scared that something bad had happened, he quickly went over to Sirius' side.  "Padfoot?  What's wrong?  It's not Harry, is it?"

Sirius silently handed over the letter, showing him the handwriting.  "I don't know, Moony.  It's from…James."

"James?  How?"

"I think it had a time delay on it- you open it."

"All right then…"

AN:  That should be a good stopping place I think ^_^  Besides, my computer time is over.  Next chapter- the opening of the letter, arrival at the Burrow, some much needed food, and Diagon alley.  Thank you wonderful people for reading!  Please R&R ^_^

~*~Gryphnwng~*~