~*Harry Potter and the Second War*~

Well I piqued the interests of my four first, and positive, reviewers (thank you very much) and just had to make a new chapter... but of course this type of story has been done before... or something pretty close to it. For those whacked-out fluff maniacs, I would like to address my utterly poor ability at writing romance (never experienced it, I'm a loner) just so you know it's gonna be pretty pathetic in the future course of this fic. Anyway, we're past the introduction, here comes Chapter 2!

Funny Part of Book Five: "We saw Uranus up close! Get it, Harry? We saw Uranus –– ha ha ha ––" –– Ron, Order of the Phoenix  p 795

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Chapter 2- Digression from the Real

A shining glass orb lay smashed on the ground.

The prophecy was lost to the sounds and lights of battle around it, the message said and the Seer's ghostly apparition gone forever. Anger rose in him. He did not hear the prophecy, and could not defeat his only true enemy without the secrets of those words. Pain greeted these raging thoughts.

The dream changed, became darker, and hurt more. Memories, each coming closer and closer to revealing Trelawney's first prediction, began to flash before his eyes. Voldemort was trying to reverse the dream. He was trying to enter Harry's mind, looking for the secret of the prophecy-

"NO!"

He awoke in a cold sweat, looking around the dark room for where he was sure that Voldemort should be standing. Gasping, he checked his clock. It was 3 o'clock in the morning and dead silent. His birthday had come and gone, and, of course, he had written back to Sirius. As he was writing the very vague letter back earlier the day before, he had felt a numbing sensation that maybe Sirius was hiding behind that whispering veil all along, and that Lupin was wrong. Sirius couldn't be gone forever. It was just. . . . impossible.

Harry finally began to lie back down, satisfied that he was in no danger. There was a reasonable explanation for that nightmare, most likely. He did learn enough about Occlumency that he should have known better than to fall asleep with any emotions. Or maybe Voldemort really was trying to force entry into his thoughts and memories. In all the confusion he had felt, he didn't notice a stinging pain in his lightning-bolt scar.

Cursing profusely, he turned on his side. He wondered what all his friends were doing. He assumed it had to be somewhat more exciting than spending day after day trapped in the care of spiteful relatives. Maybe Fred and George had invented another miraculous device like the Extendable Ears. Ron and Hermione could be doing anything, even talking about him behind his back. . . .

Punctuating this thought was a dizzying feeling of anger. For a second, Harry thought he was imagining it, but then he realized he was having a strange double-vision. He knew he was still sitting in his dark room, but he was also seeing two people sleeping in the darkness of Ron's bedroom overlapping what he was meant to see. Eventually, all the sights and sounds of Harry's surroundings faded, and he felt as though he was in the Burrow quite solidly. Whispering filled his ears, sharply magnified.

"When are they're bringing Harry here, do you think?" murmured Ron.

"Probably soon. For all we know they're going to get him tomorrow," Hermione answered quietly. "He'd be glad to know that there's been no sign of V–– You-Know-Who, at all."

"Has he been nicking papers out of bins again?" Ron yawned sarcastically.

"Oh come off it, and go to sleep! What do you think Harry would say if he heard you mocking him?"

"Nothing remarkably cheerful, that's for sure," Ron remarked. "You know Harry."

"Good night."

"Yeah."

And just as soon as it had appeared, the Burrow vanished and his imprecise sight focused on his bedroom. This was no dream, he thought. Somehow, he had the power to see exactly what people he was thinking about were doing, which he was sure he had never been able to do before. There was something about the way he had overheard that conversation that made it seem as though he was forced to, but he didn't think that Voldemort could reach him in his relatives' care in any way.

There was something peculiar about all of this, and the only person who probably had the answer also had the means and aspiration to kill him.

* * *

Harry didn't mention any of what happened the night he could overhear Ron and Hermione to anyone in letters. Sirius had received his letter, evidently, and the same black owl returned with another one.

    Thank Merlin you survived, I was beginning to worry that you might not have

    been alive to receive my letter. Again, we could easily be intercepted, so disclose

    no addresses or important names. I'll be on the lookout for you.

      Padfoot

Harry wondered if maybe Sirius could talk through a fireplace, as soon as he got to one. Keeping in mind Tonks' hint and Hermione's prediction, he expected that he could talk to Sirius quite soon. Before he had gotten the first letter, he had been utterly devastated. It seemed that no part of his true family was allowed to live out their lives. Rather, they were all murdered.

If only the prophecy hadn't meant that he, Harry, was the sole person with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord! He was being driven insane with all the pain and bickering and hate that seethed all around him. He could have been living a normal life, with parents and a godfather that weren't in danger, and no stupid scar, either. Those people who led normal, safe lives didn't know how lucky they were to have them.

He decided had better get packing. If another advance guard came by to take him somewhere, he thought maybe he could be at least somewhat prepared.  

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In the real OotP, a little mistake on Rowling's part was that Tonks died (or fell off a balcony and rolled down a few big stone stairs, same thing) and then was alive again a few chapters later... Oh and if you look closely at what Lupin starts to say about Sirius. "He can't come back, because he's d––" ... D-what? Not necessarily dead. Hah. I have plans, mark my words.

Review or my twisted and spiteful characters will be forced to take action.