Chapter 1 –
Remembrance
Lily Potter was rushing around the house cleaning every
bit of furniture and cooking dinner at the same time, she paused now and then
to smile at Harry who lay in his cot in the sitting room, she wanted to make
everything perfect for that evening, James had just got word from Dumbledore
that he would be welcome to come and teach at Hogwarts next year as defence
against the dark arts teacher. Lily
leant over and tickled Harry's bare toes lovingly, Harry's smooth scar less
forehead crinkled in laughter, he reached out and grabbed some of his mothers
long hair, but soon he realised that the dream was slipping away and that Aunt
Petunia's banging was going to tear him away from his mother once again.
Harry had stared to dream about his parents more than ever
now, he kept trying to imagine what they must have done, what they were
like. He had so many questions, he had
wanted to talk to Sirius about them, but his godfather was still on the run and
Harry didn't want to send him too many owls, especially not now that Voldemort
was back. Aunt Petunia could be ignored
no longer, she screeched through the door that Harry had better be up or he'd
miss the trip to London after all!
Dudley had protested long and hard about this but Harry, determined to
go, had used his most effective weapon, Sirius, his 'murderous' and 'vengeful'
godfather!
Harry grudgingly got himself up and dressed, as he stood in
front of his mirror trying to flatten his hair he looked at the lightening
shaped scar on his forehead and ran his finger along it, he remembered how fond
he'd been of it before he'd found out why he had it, before he'd found out that
he'd gotten it from the evil wizard who'd killed his parents, Lord
Voldemort. Harry hurriedly got ready
for the trip, he was really excited to be leaving Privet Drive and he ignored
the slither of grapefruit Aunt Petunia had left for him allowing Dudley to
guzzle it down greedily. Harry had been
hoping that he'd be able to escape the Dursleys for at least some of the
holidays this year, but Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley had been too busy to
arrange anything and Harry had been obliged to stay where he was 'for his own
safety'.
Dudley moaned and complained all the way to London but
Harry didn't care, he was thinking about all the things that he'd have to do
when he reached Diagon Alley, not only did he have to buy new things for his
fifth year at Hogwarts but he needed to catch up on all the latest news from
the wizarding world and he knew the best place for that would be the Leaky
Cauldron.
The
Dursleys sniffed haughtily as they dropped Harry off outside the dingy
bookstore on their way to Harrods to buy Dudley a new laptop computer. After having his called goodbye angrily
ignored by the Dursleys Harry turned and entered the concealed pub next to the
bookstore, The Leaky Cauldron.
As
Harry entered the pub a strange hush fell over the wizards and witches who all
paused their conversations to look at Harry, Harry was used to this and just
made his way over to a booth at the back which was empty, the noise started
again and Harry ignored the whispering and pointing around him, when Tom the
bartender came over and seemed extra jumpy that Harry began to get suspicious,
"Hi
Tom, what's wrong?"
Tom
fidgeted and ran his hand through his hair nervously,
"hello
Mr Potter, um, well it's just, what with all that's been going on, I didn't
expect to see you out here alone, that's all."
Harry frowned,
"Why? What's happened?"
Tom
seemed confused,
"Haven't
you heard? They're all saying that
You-Know-Who has returned, that the Death Eaters have been gathering to re
establish his power. I thought you of
all people would have heard!"
Harry
frowned again, he knew all too well that Voldemort was back, but not many
people knew that Harry himself had been present at Voldemort's rebirth and
indeed that it had been Harry's own blood which had ultimately revived
him. Harry coughed and muttered that he
had heard that You-Know-Who might be back but that he doubted that he was in
much danger here. Tom looked unconvinced
and smiled nervously,
"So,
anyway, can I get you anything?"
Harry
sighed, "Do you have a copy of the Daily Prophet? Oh and I'd love a butterbeer."
Tom
nodded and rushed off to serve a tall witch who'd just come in. Harry sat back in his seat and rubbed his
head, he wondered how much about Voldemort's return everybody really knew.
Harry
was just settling into his seat when he noticed that the people who'd been
sitting near to him had gotten up and moved away from him to the other side of
the room and that everyone around him was eyeing him suspiciously, Harry
frowned but shrugged it off, he thought about Sirius again, he really missed
his godfather, and the last time he'd seen him he'd said that it wouldn't be
long before they saw each other again, Harry hoped it was the truth. He shuddered; thinking about what had
happened at the end of his fourth year at Hogwarts always gave him the feeling
that he'd swallowed a bottle of skele-grow.
He'd seen Cedric Diggory, one of his school friends killed by Voldemort. Harry's feelings must have appeared on his face
because Tom who'd arrived with Harry's butterbeer and the Daily Prophet was
staring at him. Harry jolted and took
the butterbeer and the paper from him, Tom frowned and slid away hastily, Harry
took a long gulp of butterbeer, which instantly warmed his insides and helped
to reduce the nagging feeling of guilt in his stomach.
Harry
leafed through the Daily Prophet, there wasn't anything that really surprised
or shocked him, he suddenly realised that this was because of his friend
Hermione, she'd managed to catch Rita Skeeter, the daily prophet's
sensationalist writer, using her illegal animagi form to snoop for stories and
convinced her to stop writing her shock stories, but also because The Ministry
of magic had obviously succeeded in covering up most of Voldemort's activity.
Harry
sighed and put down the paper, he felt suddenly lonely, he wished that Ron or
Hermione was with him; he'd missed them over the holidays despite their
numerous owls. Although because his
family were involved with working for the ministry Ron hadn't had much time to
write and his letters had all seemed as though they'd been written in a
hurry. Harry noticed again how everyone
seemed to be avoiding him; he didn't understand it. Why were they all so nervous?
Harry
looked back down at the paper and suddenly he chocked on his butterbeer, he saw
his own name, the article read
'The only known survivor of an attack by You-Know-Who Harry
Potter, has been in confinement since headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore
discovered about the rumoured return of the dark wizard. It is believed that Professor Dumbledore
ordered the boy to remain in hiding throughout the summer and is concerned
about his safety, should we take this to mean that there is real danger of the
rumours surrounding the dark lord being true, or has Dumbledore taken a leaf
from his good friend Mad Eye Moody's book and overreacted? Only time will tell. In the mean time is Harry Potter really in
danger, well, a reported sighting of the escaped Azkaban prisoner Sirius Black
–still at large- could well be a better reason for 'the boy who lived' to be
afraid.'
Harry gulped, so, Sirius had been seen, Harry's stomach
felt as though it had flipped over, he hated the fact that everyone thought
that Sirius was a murderer when really it was his traitorous friend Peter
Pettigrew. Well, at least now he knew
why everyone was avoiding him, they were worried that either Sirius or even
Voldemort himself would show up in a mad frenzy trying to kill him. Harry frowned; it just wasn't fair. Harry gulped down the remains of his
butterbeer and clunked his cup down in frustration, he sighed.
Within an hour he'd done most of his shopping and had
joined the crowd who were congregated around the front window of Quidditch
Supplies, Harry looked down at the beautiful brooms that were displayed, the
Firebolt, the Nimbus 2002 and the newest broom the Cleansweep Tornado, it was
gleaming beautifully, Harry yearned to feel the smooth wood beneath him and
feel the wind through his hair as he flew, he thought of his treasured Firebolt
and wished desperately for a chance to play quidditch again. He wondered how good the Tornado really was,
Cleansweeps had never had the best reputation, but apparently they'd been developing
the Tornado for 10 years, Harry wished Ron was there so they could discuss it,
come to think of it, he wouldn't care what they talked about if he could just
see his friends. Harry tore himself
away from the crowded window and made his way back over to the Leaky Cauldron,
he would be meeting the Dursleys in half an hour.
As he entered the dark room, he wasn't surprised to see
that the same reaction as earlier was repeated as people recognised him, but
even worse, this time the Minister for Magic himself was one of them, Cornelius
Fudge sidled towards him, Harry, expecting a reprimand or strange comment stood
aside, Fudge came up to him and did something that completely shocked Harry, he
took a good look at him, then turned and walked away again with an extremely
agitated look on his face, he called the tall witch Harry had seen earlier over
to him, pointed at Harry and hurried out without a backwards glance.
Harry, now very confused looked back to the tall witch who
was now striding purposely towards him, she drew up to him and grabbed his arm,
"Come with me!" She
urged.
Harry didn't have the chance to argue and was dragged
swiftly out of the pub; he glanced back in time to see the apologetic face of
Tom the bartender straining after him.
The witch turned and looked down at Harry
"Now, we can talk."
Harry blinked up at her, "Who are you?"
The witch smiled slightly, "My name is Dawn, and you are
Harry Potter I believe."
Harry nodded; he was about to ask what she wanted when Dawn
answered him,
"The Minister asked me to meet with you, I am an auror, and
I need to ask you some questions, Professor Dumbledore was not very helpful."
Harry frowned, "I can't tell you anything more than
Professor Dumbledore can."
He wasn't happy hearing anyone badmouth his
headmaster. The auror returned his frown,
"I'm sure you'll want to help all you can, this is a good
will gesture by the minister, you know he isn't too pleased about last year's
incident at the Triwizard Tournament."
Harry bowed his head. Dawn looked politely sympathetic,
"You should tell me about it, everything that you can."
Harry blinked back the brewing tears that were making his
eyes sting,
"Why? You obviously
didn't believe Dumbledore, why would you believe me?"
Dawn clicked her tongue impatiently, "Look, this is you're
last chance to convince me. I suggest
that you co-operate." Harry sighed,
"Will this take long?"
Dawn whisked him over to a table and sat opposite him
staring piercingly at him,
"Start, let's get this over with."
Harry shifted "Where shall I start?" Dawn shook her head and released her tensed
shoulders,
"The moment you took the cup with Diggory."
Harry shuddered, he closed his eyes and started to speak,
it was easier to talk about what had happened now, but it still made him feel
indistinctly sick, he could see what had happened in his mind, Cedric's face,
Voldemort rising from the cauldron, Wormtail cradling the stump of his arm in
agony, he reluctantly described seeing his parent's emerge from Voldemort's
wand and saw their faces swim in front of him.
When Harry had finished speaking he glanced up at Dawn, he'd almost
forgotten she was there, she was looking at him impassively, Harry felt anger
boil inside him, he resented having to go through it all again, he stared back
at her desperate for a response, but none came, she simply stared at him. Harry wiped his face and stood up,
"If that's all I'd better be going," he said at last.
Dawn's eyes followed him and at last she spoke, this time
her voice was slightly ragged,
"Yes, until next time then Mr Potter."
And before Harry could say, "next time?" She had apparated.
I hope you guys enjoyed reading my 1st attempt
at a fanfic! Please read and review…. I
don't mind any advice/constructive criticism/etc.
Thanks a lot!
Jona
xxx
Harry Potter and the Dawn of Realisation
By: jona