A/N: thanks guys for all the reviews, responses at the bottom. Slight disclaimer, there is a name in the Chapter and rest of the story that I borrowed from Beyblade, the name seemed fitting so I used it. Enjoy the rest of the chappie!

Harry Potter and the Rising War

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Chapter 5: Wormtail and Mark

Once Harry had gotten back to the Dursley's he had settled into a new routine. Dumbledore had visited him and told him that he would need to keep fit if he wanted to keep his magic in peak performance. Dumbledore explained that the more fit you are the easier the magic will move around your body when you summon it so Harry had taken to going to a gym every other week day and running in the morning or when he couldn't understand something he was researching. In the research department he was making excellent progress. He now had a very good understanding of the theory behind spell development which helped him understand more and more about magic in general and how it worked. The book he had picked up about the history of magic was proving to be very interesting; it seemed that the first magical people were not wizards, but sorcerers and sorceresses who had no need to use a wand. They developed ways to channel their magic through their bodies after their 'awakening' as they called it. In order to create the channels for the magic however they would have to put themselves into a trance-like state and then find their magical centre and push and change it around the body until it was as they wanted. That bit of information together with the wand transfiguration got Harry thinking about wandless magic, and how reliable it would be. Of all of the time he had been in the wizarding world he had never heard of magic without a wand, so he decided he would have a go at the trance thing.

Harry's magical database and general research on his laptop was becoming so in-depth that he was amazed at what he had created, and even more so that he understood it all. He was sure that he knew more than Hermione about unconventional magic… 'Hermione… why was she and Ron so horrible to me? I didn't ask for all of this, they have no idea about what it's like to be in the papers and public eye for everything he did.' Harry thought to himself and then shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. 'Now is not the time for this.' He told himself.

That night Harry settled into a calm, comfortable position and began clearing his mind and searching for his magical centre. It felt like hours until Harry located it, and it looked like how Ginny had described his aura, it was a large ball of emerald green-silver magic, constantly flowing. Harry spent a few minutes just gazing at it, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, it was very calming for him and he felt he could relax and let all of the burdens he carried go while he was there. Snapping out of his daze Harry began to experiment with what he could do. It turned out that he could pull strands of magic away from the main ball, however it was extremely painful for him to do so he would have to pull a little at a time so he wouldn't loose his concentration. Dragging it a little every now and then Harry finally managed to guide a thin strand from his core, up his body and then down his arm to his hand. Not knowing what to do with it now he decided to try a little experiment and summoned magic up the thin strand to his hand. Once it got there he moulded it to make a little pool for the magic to stay whilst he is casting the spell he wants. 'The finished product was a thin strand or channel of magic that went from his core or main pool all the way up his body to his hand where a much much much smaller ball, or pool was for a temporary holding place.' Was the final paragraph on his computer for the research on what had happened after he had recovered from exhaustion. From then on when ever Harry needed to rest he meditated and went to his magical core and when he woke up no matter how much time he spent there he would always feel refreshed and ready to face the new day (or night depending on how long he was there for).

It was a week after he had got back to the Dursley's when he received an owl that had a package attached to it, Harry was going to just get rid of it in case it was something unpleasant from Riddle but noticed that the owl was a school one so with more confidence he took the package and the letter from it and let it get something to drink from Hedwig's old cage. 'Suppose I should get myself a new owl?' Harry asked himself looking over at the school owl in Hedwig's old cage. With a sigh Harry picked up the letter and opened it immediately recognising Hagrid's untidy scrawl.

Dear Harry,

            Happy Birthday! Sorry that this is late but I had to wait until it was safe to send your present. I heard about your owl, poor thing, so I decided to get you another companion. Hope you like it and remember to bring it (don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet) to see me when you get back to school. I love the things, so beautiful and smart. Well enjoy and treat it well.

                                    Hagrid.

Harry was very worried at this point. Hagrid's idea of beautiful creatures usually meant something that had at least claws and some form of dangerous magical attribute. Looking hesitantly at the package Harry thought about what he should do with it, he could get rid of it, he thought, but then Hagrid wanted to see it when he got to Hogwarts. He had no choice but open it and hope it wouldn't attack him so with careful hands he pulled the lid off of the box slowly so as not to frighten and provoke whatever creature might lie within. The first thing Harry noticed when the lid was full off was the heat, it wasn't hot enough to burn right through the box, but hot enough to make you sweat. The second thing he noticed was that there was no creature inside, but an egg, it was gold and red, about the size of an ostrich egg. Harry let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding and carefully pulled the egg out of the box and set it down on the pillow on his bed. Also inside the box was a small note from Hagrid.

Harry, in case you haven't already figured it out yet that egg is a phoenix egg. I found a small nest in the forest and saw the egg along with three or four others, but unfortunately some animal had got to them, the mother fought it off but also died. It should be ready to hatch very soon. Take care of it, it will eat worms and other things like them until it is big enough to hunt for itself. Hagrid.

'A phoenix egg! Wow' Harry thought to himself. This was amazing, he now had a phoenix. Harry couldn't believe his luck, he had always been amazed by the animals and now he had one of his own. Harry sat and admired the egg for a few moments before getting back to his research (he was researching spells and techniques from the book Dumbledore had given him, and also from the book Sirius and Remus got him the year before) and inputting data into his computer.

It was the next day when the egg had hatched, Harry had just got out of the shower after he got back from his run (it was a Tuesday so no gym work today) when he heard a beautiful sound, it was phoenix song but was different from the one Fawks, Dumbledore's Phoenix, sung. Rushing to the bed Harry leaned over the egg waiting for the baby phoenix to push it's self out. It took a few moments and some help from Harry but finally the phoenix had arrived. All thought it was skinny and small and fragile Harry could already tell that it would be a beautiful phoenix (even by their standards). He knew this from its eyes. They were a shinning silver colour, not the normal black. Picking up a tub of worms he found before he went for his shower Harry began to feed the magnificent creature. The rest of the day was spent trying to figure out a name for him, he was sure it was a him as he had discovered the old fashioned way. After much thought he finally settled on Tronza. Tronza seemed to like the name as well as he let out a few notes of his phoenix song when Harry asked him. So it was settled and Harry continued with his invisibility practice, he nearly had it down perfectly, except for his upper clothes. After getting frustrated with the process Harry decided on a run to clear his head and calm his temper so he dressed himself in some running trousers and a white t-shirt he placed Tronza in Hedwig's old cage and exited the house. He went on his usual route which finished at the park he sat at last year, expecting to find it empty but it wasn't. Dudley and his gang were there and so was a little kid. It looked like Mark Evans, the kid Dudley and his gang usually went after. The gang had circled around him and were shouting at him about something, the kid was visibly shaking and already had a black eye and cut lip. Seeing enough Harry decided to help the kid out.

'Well well well, if it isn't big D and his band of merry men?' Harry said approaching them all. He had no idea what he was going to do, but he wanted to do something to help the Evans kid. Ever since Harry's transformation people had been more afraid of him as he looked very intimidating, they often walked on the other side of the street when he went out on his runs, even Dudley and his gang were afraid if they were on their own.

'Oh no! the Potter boy, please, sir don't hurt me, please?' Mark begged. 'Damn those Dursley's and their lies!' Harry thought. He smiled what he hoped was in reassurance to the kid and then glared at Dudley.

'Don't worry, despite what everyone thinks I am not the criminal of the family, big D here is!' Harry replied without taking his eyes off Dudley.

'Get lost Potter if you know what's good for you!' Peirs Polkiss sneered. Harry was just about to reply when there was a swarm of red lights shot towards the whole group. All of Dudley's gang was hit by them, but luckily Harry had managed to make his way to the Evans kid and get him out of the way and hid behind a bush.

'Stay here and don't move, and for goodness sake don't make a sound!' Harry said to the trembling kid.

'Please, what's happening? What were those red lights?' he asked and then under his breath added 'Wizards?' Harry was a little surprised that he knew about magic but didn't want to think about that at the moment, he needed to get rid of those death eaters. He was sure they were death eaters when he heard one tell the others to search for 'The Potter brat'.

'I'll explain later, but for now stay put.' Harry said as he took his top off. Mark looked confused at what Harry was doing but did as he was told and stayed quiet. Once Harry had his top off he scrunched up his face in concentration and within a few seconds Harry was gone. Mark gasped when he saw what happened and started panicking until he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Harry reassure him that everything would be all right.

After Harry had calmed mark down he got up from behind the bush and surveyed the situation for a moment. There were 4 death eaters in total, and one was searching not far away from where they were. Thinking fast Harry ran over to the other death eater that seemed to be in charge and tapped him on the shoulder hoping his plan would work. Getting the reaction from the death eater he was hoping for which was for him to spin around and aim for where he thought he felt someone and start and incantation Harry grabbed his arm before the death eater finished the spell and aimed it for the other death eater that was searching the bush right next to where mark was hiding. The spell was fired, which was luckily only the stunning spell, and hit the target in the back causing him to fall over. So far his plan was working but he still had three to go, and it looked like the other two had seen what happened and were heading over this way.

Thinking quickly Harry moved silently away from the death eater that was in charge and waited until he was behind the other two death eaters. Sneaking up behind them he snatched their wands out of their hands which were dangling to the side of them and snapped them. Unfortunately a spell was fired at him as the death eater in charge had figured Harry's position from where he had been holding the wands. The spell barely missed him as he rolled to the side and as he was coming out of the role he pounced at the death eater in charge and pulled him down to the ground. It was a stroke of luck that his head hit a large rock on the floor, effectively knocking him out and Harry was truly thankful for it. Now all he had was two wandless death eaters to contend with. Thinking of a solution to his situation as the two death eaters nervously looked around their surroundings Harry came up with an idea. Pointing his arm out towards one of the death eaters he said quietly 'stupefy' hoping the wandless magic worked. Unfortunately for him it didn't work effectively, the death eater that he fired it at seemed a little more drowsy but shook it off quickly. Thinking for something else he decided to try a radical idea, he may not have anything to subdue them, but he was sure going to leave his mark, but unfortunately it meant uncovering himself. Moving behind the death eaters Harry concentrated on bringing the magic he was using for the invisibility back to his core and closing off the channels the process had created. Once he had become visible again he once more concentrated on transforming his hands into lion paws. Satisfied with the result, and just in time Harry slashed at the death eaters as they turned around. The first he caught across the face which effectively shattered his white death eater mask. The face behind the mask made Harry pause for a moment. The beady black watery eyes of Peter Pettigrew were looking back at Harry. The hesitation from sight of Pettigrew caused was enough time for the other death eater to swing at Harry. The blow wasn't enough to knock Harry over but he lost his footing and his glasses which was not good as he was practically blind without them. Not bothering to fumble around to find them Harry leapt at the blur he thought was Wormtail and started taking swipes at his face with his transformed paws, meanwhile the other death eater had ran to the knocked out leader and took his wand, but before he was able to use it he was struck by a red light from behind. Looking up to hope to get an idea of what just happening Harry felt the wait below him disappear. 'Shit! The bastard got away. Damn him!' Harry thought to himself as he realised just what had happened. Wormtail transformed and scurried away.

'Harry are you okay?' came the friendly voice of Tonks.

'Yeah I'm fine, can you find my glasses please? The other death eater knocked them off' Harry replied. Once Tonks had handed them to him he called out to the Evans kid.

'Mark, it's okay you can come out now.' On the other side of the park a small figure crawled out from behind a bush and made its way over towards them.

'Harry what happened?' asked a new voice. Turning around he came face to face with Remus. Hugging him in greeting first Harry began to explain everything that happened.

'How do you know about wizards Mark?' Remus asked after Harry was finished explaining. Mark dug around in his pockets for a moment and then pulled out a familiar looking piece of parchment.

'I got this today, but I thought it was a joke until I saw what happened here.' He said handing Remus his Hogwarts acceptance letter.

'Shouldn't a professor have visited him?' Harry asked Remus.

'Yeah, but if he wasn't at home at the time then they wait until the person is' Remus replied.

'Well I was walking down the street when the owl dropped this at my feet, I think that's when Dudley and his gang found me, after I had read over it.' Mark told them all and then added to Harry, 'So you aren't a criminal after all, you're a wizard?'.

Harry smiled at him and nodded his head. 'Sure am, your gonna love it when you get to Hogwarts, trust me.' Harry said.

'Will I learn how to become invisible and turn my hands into paws like you?' he asked eagerly. Harry was sad to have to disappoint him but it had to be done.

'Sorry but no. what I did today isn't taught at Hogwarts, the first thing I did, turning invisible, takes a great deal of concentration, determination, will power not to mention magical so it has the potential to be very dangerous. The second thing I did, with the paws was only a half finished thing. See I'm learning to change myself into an animal, a lion to be precise, and this is about as dangerous, if not more so than the invisible thing. I won't go into great detail about it as the professor that will meet with you I should imagine will answer any questions you have, especially if you get McGonnegall, she can turn into a cat. But you have to promise me that you won't tell any one that I can do those things. Will you?' Harry said.

'Of course! I'm just so glad to be a wizard!' he exclaimed excitedly. Harry laughed at his eagerness and excitement. A big part of him wished he was in marks position, but what good was wishing when you were stuck with what you had? After Mark had gone home (Harry told him that there would probably be someone waiting for him) Remus walked Harry back to the Dursley's while Tonks took care of the death eaters.

'Remus, how come the order got here so late?' Harry asked him.

'Dung was on guard duty, and he wasn't as conscious or sober as we would have liked him to be, but the issue is being addressed and I dare say he won't be here on duty again, this is the second time he has fowled up.' Remus told him with a sigh

'Will you let me know what happens with the death eaters?' Harry asked as they approached the house.

'Yeah, but it will have to be the next time I see you. By the way professor Dumbledore said that you should be receiving your school stuff sometime soon.

'Okay, thanks a lot Remus, I suppose I'll see you September 1st providing everything stays as normal as it ever gets at the Durley's.' Harry said as he stood in the doorway.

'See you then hopefully, take care' Remus said and hugged Harry.

'You too!' and with a 'pop' Remus was gone.

The days that followed were more intense for Harry. After seeing how much more he needed to improve he began to practice everything he could, turning invisible, animagus transformation and wandless magic. He stepped up his research and magical knowledge when he received his school books (courtesy of Fawks who seemed to hit it off with Tronza straight away). When Harry finally finished with the invisible transformation he began creating spells on paper for now. All though he was getting very good at this branch of magic he still needed to keep referring to his notes for different wand movement. When creating a spell you have to create the right wand movement by combining smaller wand movements, for example a complete circle wand motion would set a parameter for the spell to continue in a loop forever or until the counter spell is used. The more complicated the spell the more intricate the wand movements were and the spells Harry was writing down were very intricate. The words to the spell only helped to focus your mind to draw the magic for the spell so they weren't always necessary. Harry read in the book that there were excuses for the rules, and they were the 3 unforgivables. Instead of the wand weaving patterns to draw the magic they were simply pointed, the magic was drawn upon simply by the spell casters intent to cause pain or suffering or even death to the victim which was why Harry was unable to do the Curciatus on Bellatrix Lestrange at the ministry.

Progress for his animagus transformation was slow and painful but things were getting done, he now had his lower body (minus tail) and front paws transformed which Harry assumed was quite a sight as on one of his sessions Dudley walked in took one look at Harry and screamed and then fainted. It had taken hours for Harry to persuade Dudley that what he thought he saw was not real, but in the end he caved and believed Harry when he suggested that it might have been the product of something that he had smoked.

Wandless magic training was by far the hardest to do, Harry had made little progress, the most he could do was light the palm of his hand for a few seconds before he fell to floor exhausted. Apparently the ministry was unable to pick up purposeful wandless magic which was good for Harry. The book he had been reading had told him that it would take a lot of time to get the body used to the flow of the magic through his arm without something drawing it. Pushing the magic himself was about as exhausting as his gym sessions but didn't have the bonus of making him look less like a tall lanky 16 year old but a lean 20 year old, especially now that he had gave up shaving and was just letting a beard grow.

The last of Harry's magical research that he was doing from both his transfiguration books was about improving his senses, Harry guessed that both Dumbledore and Riddle had undergone similar transformations. Dumbledore always seemed to know what was being said or done and Harry knew he could see through invisibility cloaks. He also wanted to find a way to fix his eye sight problem permanently and not have to rely on the sense heightening spell. So far he had found a spell for seeing through magical illusions, heightening the 5 senses at will and from the 'so you want to transform yourself to be better at stuff?' book he had found a spell that would let you be able to see magic at will, so Harry would be able to see if someone had been put under a spell, or something was changed into a portkey. He shivered at that thought, remembering the grave yard back in his fourth year. Slowly but surely Harry was becoming a very formidable opponent and earned the title of Sorcerer.

Sure enough things stayed as normal around the place as normal could get at the Dursley's and time seemed to fly until September 1st rolled around. Harry was equally excited about returning to the magical world as he was disappointed and dare he admit it, afraid. Harry had got his uncle to take him to kings cross using a mild threat of Moody having to pick him up on a broom stick if he didn't agree and in no time at all Harry was at kings cross with a trunk packed full of all of his stuff (including stereo system and laptop) and Tronza asleep in Hedwig's old cage under Harry's invisibility cloak. Unfortunately for Harry his uncle only admitted defeat under his circumstances, which meant he had to be at the station early, very early.

By eight o'clock Harry had all of his things stacked on a trolley and was making his way towards the barrier to platform 9 3/4. Glancing around to make sure that no one was watching Harry walked through the barrier and onto the platform which was empty of any people so Harry decided on getting his laptop out and continuing on with some of his own research and magical theory. He had also taken Tronza out of his cage and placed him on his shoulder (the young phoenix had a full body of feathers and was now getting larger.) Harry found it easier to work when he had Tronza on his shoulder; he felt completely calm and could think clearly. It was another two and a half hours before anyone showed up and Harry was surprised to see that the first to arrive (after him) was Mark Evans and his family. Harry supposed the professor who had been to visit the family to make sure they believed the letter told them about the barrier, something Hagrid had forgot to mention to Harry when he had been collected from the 'care' of his blood relatives. Seeing the look of awe on their faces made Harry smile. 'Ah what it must be like to be a first year again' he thought to himself with a sigh. It was a few moments before mark recognised Harry but when he did he lead his family over to him to be introduced.

'Hello Harry' he said.

'Hello Mark, Mr and Mrs Evans' Harry replied politely

'Well this is certainly not St Brutus' or what ever Petunia had said was the school you go to!' said Mr Evans with a smile.

'Not quite sir' Harry said with a small chuckle and then added 'My relatives don't like anything to do with magic, they consider it abnormal so they tend to make up excuses for where I am most of the year or any odd behaviour.' Harry told them.

'I didn't realise that you used computers at Hogwarts, the man that came to see us certainly didn't say you did.' Mrs Evans remarked when she noticed the computer on Harry's lap.

'Well we don't ma'am, but I find it a lot easier to organise all of my thoughts and research' Harry said.

'What sort of bird is that on your shoulder, I don't think I've ever seen one before.' Mr Evans asked.

'It's a phoenix sir, still quite young. He's called Tronza' Harry told them. The rest of the time until the train left was spent talking about Hogwarts and magic and other things related. They were occasionally interrupted by a few people from the DA that was held last year. Close to eleven the order turned up with Ron, Hermione and Ginny, still not talking to Ron or Hermione Harry greeted Ginny and they boarded the train after saying a brief hello and good bye with the order for Harry and finding out what happened to the death eaters that they had caught from Remus. It turned out that Riddle had taken on an apprentice as well and Harry didn't need any one to tell him who it was because he knew straight away. Malfoy was his new apprentice and not Malfoy senior either. He supposed that the majority of his training was over the summer and that he would probably portkey or something at night. Unfortunately nothing could be done about it as the death eaters had been killed while they were being held at the ministry so there was no evidence left. As he stepped on the train the whistle blew and the train began moving. Harry was on his way home now.

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That's it for this chapter, hope it was up to scratch, here are the responses to review, and sorry this chapter took so long to post, I could list dozens of excuses but your not here to read them and I'm sure they aren't quite as interesting as the story. Also sorry guys but you are going to have to wait a few more chappies for the golden trio to be complete again.

Skaped: thanks for the review, I'm glad I got the balance right, I hate reading a story when it skips large chunks of time without very much information.

Brawn and Brain: thanks for the review, it helped me come up with the idea of the D.E attack on one of his runs. And I'll try not to contradict myself in descriptions in future.

MaidenMasherV: Sorry for the lack of detail there, I should have explained that Harry was surrounded by his aura and Ginny couldn't see him properly through it, just a shadowy figure. Thanking you for the review. :D

Huffy Puffy Mashmellow: thanks for the review, made me chuckle and get a few worried glances from my family. (they think I'm insane and chuckling to myself doesn't help my case)

Thanks for the support from Addicted to Coffee, pinata and Nefertiri Riddle, and in answer to Nefertiri Riddle's question yes they will in either the next chapter or the chapter after.

Next Chapter: Home sweet home.

Until next time.

                             GG