A/N: Wow, just posted yesterday and here I am again. I guess what they say
is true, reviews are addicting, and to get reviews I've got to post. You
get your chapter, I get my reviews, now we are all happy. Just since this
is my first post if anyone could tell me how to add font attributes I will
personally thank-you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything else you recognize (as much as I wish I did). That all belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.
/Harry's Thoughts/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 3: Face To Face With A Stranger
With a groan Harry hoisted himself up onto his elbows from his awkward position on the bedroom floor. His head was pounding like an anvil, a steady beating drum that sent pain flaring across his face in unison with his heartbeat. Harry groaned again and lifted his hand to his face, but stopped with a start at the strange green symbol on his palm. For a full two minutes he sat staring at his hand before the memories came flooding back in. The power rushing through him, and his uncle squeaking with fear at the sight of him. For a minute Harry was delighted at having faced his uncle down like that until he remembered what happened afterward. Falling like a useless rag to the floor of his room, the fog surrounding him, that half-familiar voice saying something. something important Harry knew, but he just could not remember. Every time he thought he remembered the words just slipped through his grasp, like trying to grab onto air. Then Harry returned to the symbol on his hand. It appeared to be some sort of golden lion with scarlet wings with an emerald green curled around its legs, not as if it were attacking the lion, but as if it were protecting it. Harry frowned at it for a moment before deciding to think more of it later.
Harry heard a soft hooting from the corner of the room and turned his eyes to the snowy white owl nestled in a small metal cage with a large padlock on the door. "Don't worry Hedwig, I'm fine," Harry's voice sounded rough as if over-used to him, and he winced at how dry his throat was. Harry turned his attention to repaired wall clock and sighed with relief when he realized he had only been out for about twenty minutes.
"I'm just going to get a drink, Hedwig." She gave a satisfied hoot and settled herself to return to her daytime slumber. With much effort, Harry pulled himself up, only to fall down with a hard thud to his knees again. Trying to will the weakness away Harry forced himself back up and contained the wobbling in his knees. After a few moments of striding around his room he purposely strode down the stairs with a fierce scowl on his face. /Well, now that they are afraid of the all powerful Harry Potter we might as well keep up the charade./ Harry thought with a sneer.
As Harry entered the kitchen dead silence fell. Dudley looked at him with a terrified look and a piece of meatloaf halfway to his mouth and the part of Vernon's face that he could see had turned a deep purple (from fear or anger Harry could not tell) and Petunia stood gawking at him from over the stove where something was know spewing off black smoke. /Wow, I knew I made an impression on Uncle Vernon, but was it really that much of one?/ After his own momentary shock Harry gave a forced growl and strode over to his uncle.
"Where is my trunk?" Harry asked in a deadly whisper.
"I t-told you I burned it!" Vernon tried to pull a scowl of his own but failed miserably.
"I will not ask again. Where is my trunk?" Vernon face drained to a shade of mustard, and he pointed up the stairs to the attic entrance. Harry growled again and Vernon ran up the stairs to pull Harry's trunk down and into the room. After Vernon had left Harry's knees buckled and he flopped down onto the bed with a sigh that was half relief and half weariness. But he did not rest for long, quickly he popped open the lid of the trunk and dug through the various schoolwork to find the black bound photo album. He sighed in complete gratification when he saw the many pictures of his parents waving up at him.
Harry sat there for long minutes flipping through the pages slowly until he came to the one of Lily and James' wedding. There not far from his best buddy James stood a cheerful handsome man with dark hair. /Sirius/ Harry felt a burning in the back of his eyes but he pushed it away. Every night Harry had nightmares, most of them of Sirius falling through the veil, but others that Harry knew were totally of imagination floated around too. One was Voldemort leaning over him and laughing at him as he ruthlessly killed his friends and family. Ron, Hermione, Lily, James, and Sirius all screamed in agony as fire engulfed them, those nights Harry would wake up screaming and cursing at the top of his lungs. Those were the nights Harry got the worst beatings. /Not anymore/ Harry thought with fury. /Not anymore/. Harry carefully placed the album under the loose floorboard and then dug into his trunk. With a smile he pulled out his wand, he had many restless nights thinking of what he would do if Death Eaters ever arrived and he had nothing to defend himself with, despite the safety of being with blood relatives. Harry grinned and twirled the wand with his fingers, and a sudden burst of gold light blew from the end of his wand and hit the wardrobe. Harry scrambled to his feet and went to inspect the damage, but when he got there not a mark was to be found, and he gave a puzzled frown. Turning back to sit on the bed again, Harry saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned to look. What Harry saw made his jaw drop in surprise, looking back at him from the mirror was a complete stranger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Well I hope you enjoyed that chapter, I decided to follow up on the advice of Me222 and not worry if my chapters are short but update often. One day is often enough right? (Though notice how they are gradually getting longer?)
A Special Thanks To The Following Reviewers:
Kemenran
Steffi Snape
Wuzup13579 (anonymous)
Melwasul
Me222 (I hope this chapter answered any worries you might have had, and I know your wondering why didn't he use the Sirius excuse to keep Hedwig from being locked up I'll answer that in the next chapter.)
SmacksKiller
MaryRussell
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything else you recognize (as much as I wish I did). That all belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.
/Harry's Thoughts/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 3: Face To Face With A Stranger
With a groan Harry hoisted himself up onto his elbows from his awkward position on the bedroom floor. His head was pounding like an anvil, a steady beating drum that sent pain flaring across his face in unison with his heartbeat. Harry groaned again and lifted his hand to his face, but stopped with a start at the strange green symbol on his palm. For a full two minutes he sat staring at his hand before the memories came flooding back in. The power rushing through him, and his uncle squeaking with fear at the sight of him. For a minute Harry was delighted at having faced his uncle down like that until he remembered what happened afterward. Falling like a useless rag to the floor of his room, the fog surrounding him, that half-familiar voice saying something. something important Harry knew, but he just could not remember. Every time he thought he remembered the words just slipped through his grasp, like trying to grab onto air. Then Harry returned to the symbol on his hand. It appeared to be some sort of golden lion with scarlet wings with an emerald green curled around its legs, not as if it were attacking the lion, but as if it were protecting it. Harry frowned at it for a moment before deciding to think more of it later.
Harry heard a soft hooting from the corner of the room and turned his eyes to the snowy white owl nestled in a small metal cage with a large padlock on the door. "Don't worry Hedwig, I'm fine," Harry's voice sounded rough as if over-used to him, and he winced at how dry his throat was. Harry turned his attention to repaired wall clock and sighed with relief when he realized he had only been out for about twenty minutes.
"I'm just going to get a drink, Hedwig." She gave a satisfied hoot and settled herself to return to her daytime slumber. With much effort, Harry pulled himself up, only to fall down with a hard thud to his knees again. Trying to will the weakness away Harry forced himself back up and contained the wobbling in his knees. After a few moments of striding around his room he purposely strode down the stairs with a fierce scowl on his face. /Well, now that they are afraid of the all powerful Harry Potter we might as well keep up the charade./ Harry thought with a sneer.
As Harry entered the kitchen dead silence fell. Dudley looked at him with a terrified look and a piece of meatloaf halfway to his mouth and the part of Vernon's face that he could see had turned a deep purple (from fear or anger Harry could not tell) and Petunia stood gawking at him from over the stove where something was know spewing off black smoke. /Wow, I knew I made an impression on Uncle Vernon, but was it really that much of one?/ After his own momentary shock Harry gave a forced growl and strode over to his uncle.
"Where is my trunk?" Harry asked in a deadly whisper.
"I t-told you I burned it!" Vernon tried to pull a scowl of his own but failed miserably.
"I will not ask again. Where is my trunk?" Vernon face drained to a shade of mustard, and he pointed up the stairs to the attic entrance. Harry growled again and Vernon ran up the stairs to pull Harry's trunk down and into the room. After Vernon had left Harry's knees buckled and he flopped down onto the bed with a sigh that was half relief and half weariness. But he did not rest for long, quickly he popped open the lid of the trunk and dug through the various schoolwork to find the black bound photo album. He sighed in complete gratification when he saw the many pictures of his parents waving up at him.
Harry sat there for long minutes flipping through the pages slowly until he came to the one of Lily and James' wedding. There not far from his best buddy James stood a cheerful handsome man with dark hair. /Sirius/ Harry felt a burning in the back of his eyes but he pushed it away. Every night Harry had nightmares, most of them of Sirius falling through the veil, but others that Harry knew were totally of imagination floated around too. One was Voldemort leaning over him and laughing at him as he ruthlessly killed his friends and family. Ron, Hermione, Lily, James, and Sirius all screamed in agony as fire engulfed them, those nights Harry would wake up screaming and cursing at the top of his lungs. Those were the nights Harry got the worst beatings. /Not anymore/ Harry thought with fury. /Not anymore/. Harry carefully placed the album under the loose floorboard and then dug into his trunk. With a smile he pulled out his wand, he had many restless nights thinking of what he would do if Death Eaters ever arrived and he had nothing to defend himself with, despite the safety of being with blood relatives. Harry grinned and twirled the wand with his fingers, and a sudden burst of gold light blew from the end of his wand and hit the wardrobe. Harry scrambled to his feet and went to inspect the damage, but when he got there not a mark was to be found, and he gave a puzzled frown. Turning back to sit on the bed again, Harry saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned to look. What Harry saw made his jaw drop in surprise, looking back at him from the mirror was a complete stranger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Well I hope you enjoyed that chapter, I decided to follow up on the advice of Me222 and not worry if my chapters are short but update often. One day is often enough right? (Though notice how they are gradually getting longer?)
A Special Thanks To The Following Reviewers:
Kemenran
Steffi Snape
Wuzup13579 (anonymous)
Melwasul
Me222 (I hope this chapter answered any worries you might have had, and I know your wondering why didn't he use the Sirius excuse to keep Hedwig from being locked up I'll answer that in the next chapter.)
SmacksKiller
MaryRussell