Title: Prologue: The Dream
Summary: Harry has a new and very disturbing dream. Is he more similar to Voldemort than previously thought?
Disclaimer: Not mine. You all should be glad, because I could never, ever write like JK Rowling!!
WARNING! OotP Spoilers!
// means a Dream
Like every preceding night since the beginning of the summer holidays, Harry Potter awoke in the middle of the night, sweating profusely and clutching the lightening-shaped scar on his forehead in cruciating pain. As he pushed himself slowly into a sitting position, Harry wondered once again what his newest reoccurring dream could possibly mean.
//
It was dark. He was in a thick forest near the entrance to a rather forbidding-looking cave. Harry could not hear anything but his own harsh breathing; no animals, no birds, not even the slightest rustle or breeze could be detected. All of a sudden a loud, heart-wrenchingly painful scream pierced the silence. It was coming from the cave. Harry sprinted towards it and deftly leaped inside. A small distance from the entrance, he saw a red-eyed, cloaked figure torturing somebody mercilessly. As the person wreathed in pain on the ground, Harry took his chances and ran forwards to attempt a rescue, ignoring the threat from the person whom he presumed to be Voldemort. As Harry set his hand on the victim's shoulder, the said person twisted around. Harry was shocked to see his own bright emerald eyes glaring accusingly back at him. His attention was distracted by a cackle of chilling laughter from the dark figure, yet it did not sound like Voldemort. Just before lifting his wand to Harry, the figure pulled back his hood to reveal Harry's own face only with cruel, gleaming red eyes flashing cruelly at him. Then everything went black.
//
Harry could not figure it out. He could, of course, understand the part with Voldemort torturing him, but why did the Dark Lord look like him? Harry knew that they looked alike back when Tom Riddle was in school, but they were never that exact. Come to think of it, Harry was sure that the Voldemort in his dream even had his unique lighting-bolt scar on his forehead.
He had considered writing to someone about the dream, but decided he did not want to have to deal with their most likely overblown reactions. He could just imagine Hermione's voice screeching, "What?? Harry, you have to tell Professor Dumbledore, this could be important! It could mean something! Maybe Voldemort has found out to control you through your scar, or" Harry was dead set against telling Dumbledore; his respect for the old wizard was rapidly decreasing since he had admitted to his mistakes that ultimately ended in Sirius' death. SiriusHarry choked every time he thought about his deceased godfather, the only parental figure he had ever had. Damn Dumbledore, it was all his fault!
Harry did not want to tell Ron either. If the Weasel didn't just run off to his dad or Dumbledore, he wouldn't be much help. When Harry really thought about it, he never really was. Ron was just fuelled by his jealousy of Harry, and would probably repeat a betrayal like in fourth year in a second.
So who could Harry talk to? The Dursleys? He snorted in disgust, "I'm beginning to see Voldemort's reasons for hating Muggles!" Harry fumed. His so-called 'family' was becoming steadily worse after the incident of the past summer, when Dementors attacked Dudley and Harry in the street. The Dursleys, of course, blamed Harry. He wouldn't have expected any less from them. They started feeding him less and less, and he had even been returned to his old cupboard, let out only to do chores and use the bathroom twice a day. To make it all even worse, Uncle Vernon had taken up drinking to help 'deal with all the stress of having an incurable freak around'. When drunk, the large man became very violent and would sometimes beat Harry viciously. Harry, of course, like a true Gryffindor pratt, had not told anybody.
Miles away, the newfound object of some of Harry's hate was in deep thought about his Gryffindor Golden Boy. While the boy was idolized as a representative of everything Gryffindor, and he had even pulled Godric's Sword out of the Sorting Hat, a decidedly Slytherin side had been becoming more and more prominent, especially in the past year. It was disconcerting Dumbledore just how much Harry was reminding him at times of a former student of his.
Ah yes. Tom Marvolo Riddle. Brilliant. Handsome. Ambitient. Not to mention extremely powerful. Dumbledore sighed. Tom was also very Slytherin in personality, not surprising considering he was after all the Heir of Slytherin. Back when Tom was at Hogwarts, Dumbledore had not realised until too late what Tom was. He had always been special, but Dumbledore had never thought he was that special. Just before his second-last year in Hogwarts, on his sixteenth birthday (which was, strangely enough, in July), Tom practically
blew up the orphanage in which he resided during the summer, then fainted when his power surge was finished. Dumbledore had known immediately what it was, he himself having been one of the very few to have undergone it himself, being the Heir to Merlin. It was a mark of the coming of age of a very powerful wizard, when they received their almost god-like powers from whomever they were heir to.
After his Inheritance, Tom was never the same. He had always been rather cruel but his new powers went to his head and he was soon notorious for torturing Muggles and Muggle-borns, not caring if teachers were around or not. After finished school, Tom disappeared. Several years later, he returned transformed as Voldemort; the worst threat that the Wizarding World had ever known. Dumbledore could only hope that Harry would never be tempted towards the Dark Arts. If he did, the entire world, including Muggles, was doomed.
A/N Dun dun dun! Oooh drama! Hey everyone! I'm so happy you took the time to read this!! *beams* Thank you!! Anywho, about the story, it isn't a guarateed Dark!Harry fic. You'll just have to read and see what happens! LoL
I think that it's pretty logical that Harry being abused would help push him towards the Dark Arts, so I've mentioned it in the Prologue. Later though, depending on where this story goes, it would probably make sense to describe some of the abuse, wouldn't it? Whaddya think? I'm not sure about my abilities to write some decent Harry-bashingI'd probably feel so guilty! Poor guy! Well, enough rambling, I hope you guys like the story so far, keep reading, I hope to update every week or so!