Chapter Four - Harry's Dream

Harry awoke the next morning feeling very refreshed. Recalling what had happened before he went to bed, he remembered that he would have to sleep during the day, too. Putting on his glasses, Harry realized that he had never changed into his pajamas.

There was a hoot to remind him that the owl from the day before was still there with its package, waiting. "Okay, okay," Harry said to the owl. He opened the package, and found a note from Hagrid:

Dear Harry,

Happy birthday to you. I trust you've been having a good one, regardless of the folk you stay with. I thought, since you probably won't be getting one from that lot, that I'd give you a cake. I also got you a present. It's not like the one two years ago, but you'll still be needing that book. I hope you like it.

Hagrid

Harry could remember all too well Hagrid's present for him two years ago. It was called "The Monster Book of Monsters," and it lived up to its name. The book was really a monster. Or, it acted like one, anyway. Hagrid had opted not to use it last year, especially with Rita Skeeter, the reporter who twisted everything to make it look bad, lurking around the school. But, apparently, he thought it was time to use it again.

Harry looked into the box to find a wrapped package. Apparently, just because his friends couldn't give it to him personally didn't mean they would strip him of the joy of tearing off wrapping paper. Harry removed the paper to reveal a voucher and another note. The voucher read, "One kitten at the Magical Menagerie - Paid in full."

Harry was surprised. He already had a pet, which was also bought by Hagrid. On his eleventh birthday, when he first found of that he was a wizard, Hagrid had bought Harry an owl, Hedwig. Harry found a note under the voucher.

Harry,

Thought you might be liking one of these. With all that's going on, it'll help lighten things up a little. If you don't want one, let me know, and I'll get you something else. If you do get it, just remember that I'm allergic. Cats can be very loyal to the one who raised it, if you treat it right. And smart, too. Just look at Mrs. Norris. You may not like her, but think what you could do if you had a cat like her.

Hagrid

Harry looked at the voucher. He wasn't sure that he wanted a cat. He decided to wait until he got to see Hermione, who owned Crookshanks, a huge cat, and see what she had to say. Maybe he'd even talk to Ron. Then he'd decided whether or not he wanted a kitten.

Returning to the box, Harry found a cake, and by the looks of it, Hagrid had made it himself. He put it under the loose floorboard with the other cakes and food. Looking at the amount of food, Harry thought that he would never go hungry for the rest of the year.

Harry pulled out a quill, some ink, and a piece of parchment. He quickly wrote a letter back to Hagrid, so that the owl could finally go back.

Hagrid

Thanks a lot for the cake. As for the cat, I need a little time to decide whether or not I want one. Thanks a lot, regardless of my decision.

Harry

P.S. - I can't wait to be back at Hogwarts.

He gave the letter to the owl, who hooted and flew out Harry's window, which was still open from the night before. Watching it go, Harry continued looking, just to make sure there was no more owls coming. He couldn't think of anyone else who would send him a present.

Harry got changed into some different clothes and went downstairs to eat. Putting up with his aunt and uncle was hardly worth the half of a banana he would get, but he had to go. He didn't want them getting suspicious. They might find out that he was getting food.

When Harry got to the table, he found an envelope at his spot. He wondered what it was, and picked it up. Aunt Petunia saw him, and spoke up. "They finally found your parents' will," she said. It was obvious that she could care less. "There wasn't an official reading. Just a letter to notify you of anything you received."

Harry opened the letter, and it looked like he inherited most of his parents' stuff. He got their house, everything in the house, their property, all their money, and so on. Looking at the list, Harry remembered that he could not actually inherit the house or anything in it. This was because Voldemort destroyed their house the night he killed his parents. He wondered if there was such thing as wizarding homeowners' insurance. The letter also indicated that he was supposed to be under the care of Sirius Black. The writer indicated that since Black was a wanted murderer, and was nowhere to be found anyway, this request could not be fulfilled.

Harry looked back into the envelope and found another piece of paper. It was the deed to his parents' house. The house itself no longer stood, but it was an official document stating that he owned the property where it used to stand.

After eating his half of a banana, Harry returned to his room. He closed the window, and shut his curtains. He threw his pillow off the bed, and grabbed his new blanket. He folded it up, and put it where his pillow used to be. Harry crawled back into bed, resting his head on the soft pile of feathers, and tried to sleep until it was almost noon.

He got out of bed and went back downstairs to have lunch with his relatives. It wasn't a whole lot to eat, because of Dudley's diet, but Harry didn't care. He returned to his room, very hungry because he hadn't had a decent breakfast. He went into his stash, and ate some chicken, an apple, some cake, and got some water from the bathroom. Upon returning from the bathroom with a final glass of water, he closed his door, put away the rest of his food, and climbed back into bed to get some more rest. While he rested this time, he fell asleep. While he was sleeping, he had a dream.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry was walking through a hospital. It was a wizarding hospital, Harry realized, when he saw a man with some bad hex marks. It wasn't until he walked right through a man he hadn't seen that he realized that he was simply an observer, not really a part of the scene.

Harry walked around a bit until he reached a section where everybody seemed to have the same disease. They all had these purple spots on them, all over. By observing them for a bit, Harry guessed that the bigger spots meant that the disease had progressed further. These people seemed to be thin, tired, and Harry thought that they had other flu-like symptoms.

Harry was looking at someone whose spots took up most of his skin. The man fell over suddenly, with a crash. Then, with a bang, the man exploded and disappeared. Harry was surprised. Some of the people around him had jumped, but were not overly surprised. A couple to the side, with no spots, began to cry.

Harry heard a crash, a bang, and then a scream. Harry could have sworn he heard a very faint pop just before the lady screamed. He looked towards the screaming woman. She had bright green eyes that were filling with tears. The scream turned to a sob as Harry approached the lady. She was clutching a baby, only a few weeks old, in her arms.

A man approached the lady, trying to comfort her. He looked very sad, but tried to hold it in. Harry looked at the man, and he seemed very familiar. "Lily, Lily," the man said. He was James Potter, Harry's father. "Lily, it's okay. I know it's terrible, but there's nothing we can do."

"But, but," Lily, Harry's mother, stuttered. "But she was with him," Lily sobbed. It took James a minute to understand, and then his eyes filled with tears. He wiped his eyes, trying to look brave for his wife.

James composed himself, and said, "Harry may have this disease, but it's early. The doctors say that if they catch it early enough, they can save the patient. It's got to be within an hour of the spots appearing, but we saw them only forty-five minutes ago." He put his arm around Lily. "Don't worry, everything will be okay. Harry will live, Harry will live."

It wasn't until then that Harry looked at the baby in his mother's arms. It was him, still very young. And he could see little purple spots just beginning to form on his face. A thought of terror spread through his mind as he thought about how he could have been one of the people he watched with those spots, doomed to die. He pushed that thought out of his mind and focused on his younger self again. He almost didn't recognize himself without the lightning bolt scar on his head. But, he knew that he didn't get that until later.

"Lily, stay strong. It's still early, we can save Harry. He can live," James was reassuring his wife.

Lily looked into her husband's eyes. "But what will we tell Harry? It would be so traumatic." Harry agreed. Although it wasn't traumatic, it was very scary to see himself with those purple dots of death. It was scary to know that he could have died.

James took the small Harry from Lily. "We will tell him nothing. We will pretend it never even happened. All we have to do is destroy the evidence. One less name from the list. It will hardly be missed, there are so many. Very few people would even know that Harry was born, since we have yet to send out the birth announcements. All we have to do it ignore that it ever happened, and ask those that do know to pretend it didn't."

Harry knew that the disease was deadly, and was scary to know that he had it and could have died, but he didn't think that was a good reason to stop somebody from knowing that they had a disease early in their life. But now, all his parents' efforts had been in vain. He knew what had happened.

"This was no accident, James," Lily said. "Your father getting the disease, Harry getting the disease." Harry realized that the last crash and bang must have been James's father, what must have originally set Lily off. "It's a plot against us. They plan to get rid of everyone close to us, and then us. Dumbledore's right, as much as I hate to admit it. He's right, and we have to do the only thing we can. We have to hide, for Harry's sake."

"Let's go then, Lily. The window for saving a patient is very small. We've only got fifteen minutes left. Let us go now, while we can still save our baby boy."

Lily gave a small sob, and allowed James to lead her down the hallway.

Harry watched as Lily and James started to leave. He followed them, although he knew how the rest of story of his parents went. They would hide using the Fidelius Charm. At the last minute, Sirius would convince them to use Peter Pettigrew as their Secret-Keper instead of him.

Peter would in turn reveal where they were to Voldemort, and Voldemort would go to kill his parents. James would be the first to die, trying to give Lily time to escape. Then Lily would die, rather than let Voldemort get to Harry. And then, Voldemort would try to kill Harry. He would not succeed, because Lily's love would protect Harry. Voldemort would lose his powers and his body, and would not be heard from for almost eleven years. And only three years after that, he would restore his body and power, putting the wizarding world in fear once again.

Harry saw one more person crash and bang before the scene began to fade out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry awoke with a start. Looking at the clock, he realized that the Dursleys would have already started dinner. He got out of bed and walked into the bathroom.

He splashed some water on his face, which was hot and sweaty. Harry wasn't quite sure why, either. He hadn't had a nightmare. It was a bit scary, but nothing really bad had happened. He took a drink of the cool water from the faucet, and sat down on the closed toilet.

He sighed, and stood up again. He didn't really know what to do. He looked into the mirror, and in the reflection, he could almost see little purple dots beginning to form. He closed his eyes, and shook his head. Harry returned to his room to make a dinner out of his food stash. He wasn't very hungry, but made himself eat before he got back into bed.

Harry did get a little rest before he went to open his curtains and window. After that, it wasn't long before Sirius showed up. Harry jumped out into Sirius's arms, and the two of them flew off on Buckbeak for a wonderful night of fun.

When they returned, in the early hours of the morning, Harry was fast asleep. Buckbeak flew right up to Harry's open window. Sirius climbed in the room, carrying Harry with him. He pulled back the covers and laid the sleeping boy down. Sirius stayed for a few minutes, just to watch over his godson.

Sirius wished that he could save the boy from the inevitable, but he knew that it was impossible. The Dark Lord had returned, and he wanted his revenge on Harry. Sirius just hoped that any attack planned would be heard about in time, and could be prevented, or at least well defended. As he stepped out the window, he was glad that Harry would be going to Hogwarts in less than two months, where he would be under the watchful eyes of the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

A/N -I originally had that entire night written out. However, it made this chapter too long, and it didn't flow with the next chapter. So, for those reasons, I have cut it out. If anything important about that night comes up, I will make sure that part is explained. Other than that, all you need to know is that it was a night in which they really got to bond with each other.

Special Thanks - Where I thank those who have reviewed my story so far…

Well, I'd personally like to apologize to Brittany because I didn't know I had a review until I finally checked my e-mail. I guess you must have reviewed it on June 4th, because all the reviews from that day were accidently deleted. I'm sorry that your review does not appear on the list of reviews. Regardless, thank you very much for reading and reviewing my story.

Also, I'd like to say thank you to Sballkrazy229 and MARYELIZA5632037, although I doubt that they will ever read this. I sent them this story through e-mail when I met them in a chat room and they expressed interest in reading it. So far, I've only heard from Sball, so that's the equivalent of reviewing.