Author: mony2208
Rating: PG-13
Summary: 'In the past decade, the indications have been that wizard kind is living through nothing more than a brief calm between two wars' as Firenze said in Divination class, fifth year … In Harry Potter's 6th year, will this 'brief calm' end and the 2nd war finally begin? Will he have the power to become the murderer or the murdered? … All that can be said is Harry's sixth year proves to be his most difficult yet, with his connection with Voldemort growing stronger everybody and his worst nightmares haunting him at every turn. Ootp spoilers.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Forewords: Well I wasn't going to update for another few days, but last night I became sick and have been stuck in bed ever since, which may I add is driving me nuts!! Anyway, sorry for the long wait. I've had exams up until end of last week, and then I had to update my other story. And another thing, I have started a yahoo group for my stories, where I'll post all my chapters of both stories, answer any questions, and post snippets of future chapters to soften the blow of waiting so long, lol. Anyway, the address is on my bio page. I'd love for people to join. It's always refreshing to talk to people who have read either one of my stories.
Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch
Chapter Eight
Unwanted
The next two weeks passed relatively fast and uneventful in Harry's opinion, with little to do but clean the house and read up on the upcoming year's subjects at Hermione's insistence of course. Sirius's name had been officially cleared by the Ministry of Magic in the second week, but as Harry was stuck at the Headquarters, nothing further happened.
Harry still experienced the odd nightmare of Sirius or his parents, but waking up in the same room as Ron and listening to his rhythmic snores usually lolled him into a relaxing and secure state of mind. As much as Voldemort wished to see Harry break, Harry wouldn't allow it … not when he still had his friends by his side.
With this determined attitude, Harry carried on with his life with as much normality as possible. There were times, however, when this attitude wavered, especially one afternoon one week before school was to start, when he was called down to the dining room for some kind of a meeting with Remus. The night before when he had asked Harry to come to him a few hours after lunch, Remus had sounded alarmingly serious, so when Harry slowly walked downstairs that afternoon, he was feeling quite disturbed.
Even more so when he walked into the dining room to find Remus, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Dumbledore and Snape all sitting around the Order Headquarters table.
He cleared his throat as he entered and all their heads shot over to look at him. "What have I done now?" he asked exasperatedly.
"Nothing," Remus reassured him quickly, before eyeing Dumbledore who motioned for Harry to sit down beside Mrs Weasley. He did so, but not after frowning slightly at the seriousness of their expressions.
"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?"
He could see that Remus was hesitant, and that Mr Weasley was rather blatantly avoiding his eyes. The only person looking at him directly was Snape, who was scowling as usual. So all in all, nothing too reassuring.
Dumbledore was the first to speak, and Harry turned all his attention to him.
"Harry," he began softly. "Now that Sirius' name has finally been cleared, there are some matters, which need to be discussed."
"Like what?" Harry was confused, and he frowned again. What were they all going on about?
This time Mr Weasley spoke up and he smiled, albeit nervously. "You see Harry," he said, "before Sirius … died, he made a will. Up until now that will was invalid as all his possessions were supposedly claimed by the Ministry. However," and Mr Weasley took out a parchment from his old carry bag that was lying by his feet.
"However, now that his name has finally been cleared, that Will has now been validated."
"So?" interrupted Harry slowly, finding his eyes unwillingly glued to the parchment. "What's that got to do with me?"
Arthur unrolled the parchment with no ceremony and cleared his throat.
"I, Sirius Black," he recited, "do hereby relinquish on the event of my death, my family house, 12 Grimmauld Place and a third of my fortune in vault 713 to my godson Harry James Potter. The other two thirds of vault 713 I bequeath to my second cousin Arthur Weasley, and to my dear friend, Mr Remus J. Lupin; the latter I also include any personal belongings remaining in the Ministry of Magic's possession."
He stopped, and everyone turned to look at Harry, who was now determinedly studying the table in front of him.
"Harry?"
The voice made Harry snap his head up in sudden anger, and his eyes were flashing.
"What do you want me to say?" he demanded, clenching his fists as he stared at no one in particular. "That I'm happy that I get this hellhole that Sirius hated? That I get more money?"
He continued on spitefully, not watching as everyone stared at him in alarm. "All I ever get is inheritances from dead people. You think I want that?
"Here's your dead parents fortune Harry. They died to save you, but I'm sure they won't mind if you take all their money … Why not take Cedric's prize money Harry? He's not gonna be able to get it anytime soon." He stopped to take a deep breath, and he looked straight down at the table again, taking care not to catch Remus's eye.
"And now this? You think I'm happy that I've inherited half his fortune and this stupid house. You think it makes up for him being dead? It was partly my fault that he's not even here, and after all that, you want to me take his money?"
Lupin sighed. "It's not your fault he died Harry." he replied softly, but firmly. "I've told you that already."
"Oh yeah?" Harry challenged furiously, white hot anger forming in his chest, making it ache so much that he felt like exploding. "So he didn't die because he followed me into the Department of Mysteries. It wasn't my fault that I led him right to the death eaters and Bellatrix. Ask Professor Snape, he'll agree with me." He tossed that last sentence to Snape, with a distasteful sneer.
His arms crossed over his chest, Snape glared back at Harry in return, and opened his mouth to most likely agree.
"Remus is right Harry." said Dumbledore, deftly cutting Snape off from any scathing comments with a meaningful glare that Harry didn't miss. Snape leaned back into his chair with a low growl but shut his mouth with a reluctant snap. "We went through this last year in my office. There were unfortunate circumstances that we all were fooled into, not just you."
Harry wasn't reassured in the slightest. "Then tell me, there must be one person whose mostly at fault here. Who is it if it isn't me? Is it you? Tonks? Professor Moody's? Or lets go out on a limb here. Could it be the Department of Mysteries for having that veil there in the first place? I mean after all, they should have known that we'd be there. Where's Trelawney when you needed her, hey?" A bitter chuckle, and he bit his lip at how heartless he sounded. "You know, maybe there should have even been a guard on the veil or something … A Sirius-proof lock perhaps?"
Harry knew he was babbling, but he was beyond caring. Tears of frustration were threatening to spill any moment now, and the ache in his chest was so strong it was making breathing difficult.
"Be reasonable Harry." Remus said softly.
Harry exploded. "I am being reasonable! I don't want any money or property or whatever else there is. The only things I want I can never have, and nothing, NOTHING will ever change that." Harry rose up abruptly, intending to walk back upstairs. He just couldn't handle anything anymore, and he wanted to be alone. Alone where he could just pretend that for one heartbreaking moment, Sirius was still there with him, and that they lived together in this house just as they had planned back in third year.
"Harry please." Mrs Weasley begged, pulling Harry out of his fantasy. She was in tears, desperately trying to grasp onto Harry's jumper, but he ignored it, pulling away.
"When you see Sirius or my parents … when you can bring my family back to life … then I'll listen. Anything else – I don't want it. Give it to somebody else. I don't need any stupid money or this house. I – I've had enough."
Walking away, he eventually stopped at the base of the stairs and waved his arms around, gesturing to the house.
"This doesn't mean anything to me." With a whisper he added in anguish. "Not without him in it."
Nobody stopped him as he rushed upstairs and he didn't stop either, apart from a well-timed punch at Mrs Black's portrait as she started screaming again. By the time he reached his room, the tears had dried up, and he was left feeling unnaturally hollow, with only the dull ache of his chest reminding him that he still lived.
He ignored Ron as he walked into the room, and rolled over onto his bed with the pillow over his face. Why must there always be some sort of problem in his life that will make him come crashing back into the ground, like he had pulled up too late from a Wronskei Feint?
Harry spent the next few days alternately locked up in his and Sirius' old room, careful to avoid contact with anyone else. The pain of finding out about the will had dwindled, and Harry began to feel ashamed at how he had yet again lost control of his emotions.
He began to wonder in that time if Voldemort could feel his emotions, like he did when Voldemort was particularly angry or happy. Harry hoped he did, hoped he could feel the pain and torment that Harry had to go through every day, for the rest of his life.
His dreams in those past few days weren't helping things much either. Just the night before, he had dreamt about Sirius again … watched him fall through the veil … but this time he was screaming and pleading to let him come back to Harry … even after he had fallen through, Harry could hear the whispers of agony …
Not even looking through Sirius's present or photo album helped him feel any better. They were just material possessions, and he had way too many of them now; he just wanted the real thing back.
"Lunch is ready." Hermione's voice suddenly came through his door and Harry reluctantly opened it to face her.
"I'm not hungry." he mumbled, before going to close it again. Hermione stopped the door with her foot as his stomach suddenly betrayed him with a low growl.
"Your stomach begs to differ," Hermione remarked dryly, grabbing a hold of Harry's arm to steer him out of the room. She began talking a mile-a-minute as they walked downstairs, and Harry forced himself to listen.
"Look I know you – you've gone through a lot, and obviously whatever happened the other day must have got you upset, but you shouldn't neglect yourself like this." She stopped to give Harry's body a look over, and then frowned. "You look as bad as you did when you first came here." she said bluntly, still pulling him until they reached the dining room door.
Here she let g, and Harry was tempted to back away, until he was dissuaded by a glare from Hermione. He gave in with a sigh, and sat down beside Ron who gave him a small smile. Hermione sat on the other side of Ron with a satisfied smile on her face and Harry saw her nod briefly to Remus who was just about to sit down himself. Harry quickly turned to Ron again.
"How are you feeling mate?" asked Ron, passing him a plate. "We've been missing you these past couple of days, and mum's been on the rampage with you not coming to any meals and all."
Harry accepted it with a soft thanks, and placed it down onto the table. He looked down at it for a few moments before looking back up at Ron.
"Not too good, but I'll live," Harry almost winced as he said this, and he cleared his throat. "Sorry for ignoring you, I've just –"
But Ron waved him off. "I know. I wouldn't have any idea on how you feel at the moment, so I don't blame you for leaving me all alone with Hermione and Ginny for the past two days." He emphasised the 'and', as Ginny and Hermione began giggling wildly with Tonks over something.
Ron leant over at that and whispered, "Now they're the ones who've been driving me nuts."
Harry took a few spoonfuls of mashed potato. "Where were the twins?" he asked around a mouthful of food.
"At their shop," Ron grumbled. "They had a fight with mum the other night over their application to be inducted into the Order-"
"-Oh they finally did it?" Harry interrupted.
"Yeah, and mum's not too pleased about it. She doesn't want any more of us in the Order, and she's trying to force that opinion onto us." Ron shuddered. "Another reason for the mood she's in, and I can tell you now, it's not pretty."
Harry couldn't help it; he laughed. "Are they gonna let Fred and George in though?"
"Seems that way, but we won't find out until we get to Hogwarts," answered Ron, "The next Order meeting isn't until the night we return back to Hogwarts, and I suppose Fred and George will try and owl us."
Nodding, Harry returned to his meal, and surprisingly ate a larger serving that could almost rival Ron's for once. He and Ron talked for a while more, catching up on all the little things Ron had heard with the Extendable Ears, and after lunch he joined in with a few games with Ginny, Hermione and Ron, who never once mentioned his recent absence.
It was good to have friends like those, Harry thought, as the next couple of days flew past quickly.
The night before they were to return to Hogwarts, everyone was in a frenzy.
On Hermione's orders, Harry and Ron had spent half their day organising their trunks until she and Mrs Weasley were satisfied with them, so at first everything seemed to be in order. Unfortunately, just before dinner, when Harry and Ron were about to walk downstairs, a loud bang erupted in their bedroom. Smoke began to pour from the cracks at the bottom of the door, and without looking twice at each other, Harry and Ron had pulled out their wands and stormed back into their room.
What met them had been an unmitigated disaster area; Ron's carefully folded clothes were flung across the room, along with books, and quills and so on. At the very centre of the disaster was his open, and smoking trunk. It turned out that before leaving, the twins had given Ron a new prank item of theirs, Smoking sticks. Unfortunately, they'd forgotten to mention they'd hadn't been tested yet, and they had untimely blown up in his trunk.
There had been a long-winded speech on Mrs Weasley's part before Ron was made to repack his trunk, which Harry had helped him with. So by the time dinner was ready for everyone to ear, it was quite late.
It was halfway through eating dinner when a bout of weariness hit Harry and after taking a few bites of his meat casserole, he felt like he could no longer stay awake. His head was throbbing and his hands had even begun to shake uncontrollably, but luckily his scar didn't seem to be the cause of it.
Must be all of that packing Hermione had them doing today, Harry thought, pushing his plate of food away. In an attempt to disguise his weariness, he slowly stretched, before standing up. Remus, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, was watching him closely, and he smiled reassuringly at him. The day before he had bumped into Remus after successfully avoiding him for almost a week, and he had apologised and had a long talk about Sirius. They'd talked for hours, and Harry was finally convinced that he was not solely to blame for Sirius's death and that Sirius wouldn't want him to mope around for the rest of his life, blaming himself for everything that went wrong in the world. It had made him feel better about dealing with the whole situation and it had made himself silently promise not to be so childish about it anymore.
Harry looked away from Remus, and surprisingly caught Snape looking at him too with an undecipherable expression on his face. As Snape jerked his gaze away, Harry realised with newfound curiosity that Snape had been watching him more lately … ever since he'd broken down over the will - no actually … ever since his birthday party.
"I think I'm just gonna go lie down again for a while Ron." said Harry, breaking his thoughts of Snape, whilst he watched Ron down his second helping. "Got a bit of a headache."
Ron nodded in reply, but after swallowing he whispered anxiously, "It's not a scar-ache though, is it?"
Harry shook his head. "Nah, nothing like that. Just a normal headache." He stopped then added wryly. "For once."
As he turned towards the staircase he almost toppled over from tiredness and had to steady himself slightly on the wall before continuing upstairs. Thankfully he made it up alright, with only a few mishaps and eventually collapsed onto his bed, not bothering to go under the covers.
He should have known that it was all too easy for him to get to sleep, when all the other nights it had taken him over an hour of uneasy tossing and turning. If he had, he would have tried with all his might to keep himself awake ...
He was sitting in a semi-dark room, which was filled with a low hissing noise, but one, which he could understand.
"Hush, Nagini." he hissed, reaching out with his long white fingers to stroke the large snake that had wrapped itself around his ankles.
"I waaant blood, massssster." Nagini hissed back, her voice laced with obvious desire.
"Not long now." he crooned back lovingly. "They're bringing you some fresssh meat ssssoon."
A tentative knock suddenly interrupted their conversation, and as Harry raised an arm imperiously, the door opened without a sound to reveal three death eaters dragging along something large.
He smiled, and beckoned for them to come closer. The death eaters slowly walked in, and bent forward to kiss the hem of his robes. The third death eater rose up again and pulled off her mask. It was one of his most loyal followers, Bellatrix Lestrange. A rage he could not quite place suddenly rose into his mind, but disappeared as quickly as it came.
"Ahh Bellatrix. You have finally managed to comply with my wishes." He drawled, motioning towards the unmoving lump in front of him.
"Yes Master." she whispered, bowing again. "As you wished, he is not dead yet."
"Good," he breathed before standing up and reaching the body of the man he had been searching for. He flicked his wand casually towards the man and kept his wand trained down at him. "Enervate." The man's eyes opened and he flinched back when he caught sight of Harry's face before him.
"So, you think to have hidden yourself completely from me, did you?" Harry asked coldly, his loud voice emitting a strange set of echoes around the room. "Did you not think that the Dark Lord would find you wherever you were?"
"No Master," the pitiful man on the ground gasped, hanging onto Harry's robes in fear. "I- I've been trying to – to help you."
"And how is that Karkaroff?" Harry asked, his long, white and pointy fingers still holding his wand directly at Karkaroff, for that was who it was.
"I've tried to find the – the green flame torch – for you, my Lord." He cried desperately.
Harry remained unmoved, but he gestured for the other Death eaters to stand back.
"And what have you found?"
"It's hidden – where I – I do not – know exactly-" Harry raised his wand again, Nagini hissing menacingly alongside him.
"No, wait." Karkaroff begged, tears running down his face. "I can help you – figure out where it is. I can help you find out how – how to use it. Please don't – ki – kill me."
"Indeed?" whispered Harry. "Who are you to ask that I spare your life? … you betrayed me … you deserve to die."
"No, no please."
For a long while Harry stood, watching Karkaroff's prostrated form in front of him with pleasure.
"Very well," said Harry, finally moving to sit down on his chair again. "I will spare your life for now."
Karkaroff moaned in relief and began to thank him profusely, but mid-way he was interrupted as Harry continued on,
"However… this cannot go by unpunished … you displease me … and my Nagini … for yet another meal of hers has been denied to her."
Harry paused, watching for a few moments as Karkaroff stiffened in fear. Finally he said cruelly, "Crucio."
Amidst Harry's cold, heartless laughter from watching Karkaroff twitching on the floor, a searing pain began to burn deep within his head. He, himself began to scream in raw agony, his fingers clawing desperately at his forehead…
Harry woke up to two hands shaking him desperately, and as he began to drift to consciousness he became aware of loud screaming … realising all too late that it came from him. The pain had never been so intense in a vision before … it felt as though he was being possessed again … that his scar had split open … and to his shame, he could at some level, still feel Voldemort's exhilaration at torturing Karkaroff.
He involuntarily shuddered in pain, his eyes too watery and blurry to see who had woken him from the nightmare.
"Harry." He could hear faintly. The voice continued on as his glasses were placed carefully on his face. "Harry, come on. You've got to wake up."
With all his strength, Harry blinked again, and he was able to see who had been shaking him. It was Remus, and alongside him were Tonks, Ron and Snape. The shapes went in and out of focus, and a feeling of nausea suddenly began to rise up to his throat.
"Harry, look at me." Remus was saying. "Don't fall back asleep."
"Karooof" Harry managed to croak desperately, the pain in his scar so intense that it momentarily caused his breathing to seize up. He coughed in between gasps for breath.
"No, don't speak Harry." Tonks hushed, placing a finger to her own lips to indicate for him to stay quiet. "Just breathe."
As Harry regained his breath, the nausea hit full force and he struggled to open his mouth again to warn them.
"Sick." he rasped, one hand still gripping his scar, and the other moving to cover his mouth. A bucket was immediately conjured in front of Harry, and he retched in pain.
This continued on and off for another few minutes, before Harry almost dropped his head into the bucket in exhaustion. Eyes firmly closed shut, his head was gently guided towards his pillow again, and he groaned as another pain shot through his scar. He gritted his teeth. Seemingly, Karkaroff was continuing to be punished for his desertion.
The pain stopped soon after, and Harry couldn't help but sigh in relief as his muscles began to relax, and he was able to open his eyes again.
He took a quick glance at the people gathered around him, as the mist seemed to dissipate from his eyes, and he realised with embarrassment that he must have interrupted them from their dinner. It mustn't have been a long dream then, Harry thought. Strange, it felt like hours had passed, staying in Voldemort's disgusting body.
"Sorry," mumbled Harry, rubbing his scar in irritation.
"Sorry doesn't cut it Potter." Snape suddenly snapped, looking angrier than ever. "If you actually cleared your mind for once you'd-"
"Oh get that stick out of ya ass for once Snape." Tonks interrupted with a frown. "Even you can see that he isn't enjoying this or doing it for attention."
Snape sniffed but didn't reply.
If it wasn't for the fact that Harry felt completely drained, he probably would have found that comment and Snape's reaction extremely amusing. As it was, Harry heard Ron's stifled snort of laughter.
As Remus's voice softly interrupted, Harry could even detect a note of rare amusement in his voice as he shushed Ron, before turning to Harry. "Harry, what happened? Are you alright to talk now?" he asked, his voice growing more serious.
Harry nodded slowly and sobered up immediately. "It was Karkaroff." He answered as steadily as possible, "He – Voldemort had assigned Bel- a death eater to finding him.
"They caught him – and brought him to him – me … I – kept him alive for information about some – kind of – torch flame or something-"
"-Green flame torch?" Remus enquired anxiously, shooting a startled look at Tonks, who returned it with the same look.
"Yeah – something like that." Harry confirmed, before stopping. He wasn't interested in that torch … he just didn't want to explain the next bit. He didn't want to explain how he as Voldemort had felt when torturing Karkaroff … how he enjoyed it … the adrenaline and power rushing through his veins.
What made it worse was the fact that he knew all this tied in with his connection with Voldemort. He had even known how it had felt to cast the cruciatus curse on another human being … and still did. The only possible and absolutely panic-filled reason for this must be because the connection was growing stronger.
Tonks seemed to notice his growing silence and asked gently, "And then what happened Harry?"
Harry sighed, looking down at his hands, and thankfully noticing that they weren't white and pointy. He tightly clasped them together. "I – he allowed Karkaroff to live, but … punished Karkaroff for deserting him … severely punished." he corrected hesitantly, choosing only to go through the main points.
Besides, saying something about his increasing awareness of Voldemort's feelings and power in front of anyone other than Dumbledore would definitely complicate matters.
"Blimey." Ron breathed suddenly in shock.
Harry shifted uncomfortably, his gaze set anywhere but on the four people in front of him.
"I tried to get out," he mumbled in helplessness. "But I couldn't. It was as though I was him, in both body and mind. There was nothing of me left."
"It's not your fault Harry. We know how hard it must be for you, especially with …" here Remus trailed off, his face etched in sorrow. He straightened up after a while and added firmly, "but you will need to work on your occlumency more if you want these nightmares to stop. I'll have to inform Professor Dumbledore to reinstate your occlumency lessons."
Even in his state, Harry almost jumped out of his bed. "But at the – end of last year in – in his office, he said that when Voldemort possessed me – nothing li- like that would have helped me anyway."
Snape sighed exasperatedly. "Don't forget that it would have stopped your vision of Black and you wouldn't have gone careening on after him, only to get him killed in the end." he said waspishly.
Harry blinked twice, momentarily thrown at the blunt truth. Ignoring Remus and Tonk's scolding, Harry nodded slowly. However much he hated to admit it, Snape was right. He still wouldn't deny that he was partly responsible for the reason behind Sirius's death, and he couldn't afford to make the same mistake again with his occlumency … he wasn't playing around anymore, this was real and he could get another person killed.
"I'll do it."
His voice was soft and at first they didn't hear so he tried again, his voice rising above the other three voices. "I'll do it."
The three stopped to look at him, and Snape had an oddly triumphant sneer on his face.
Remus's expression softened at the determination Harry possessed, and nodded soberly. "I'll inform him at the next meeting then Harry. For now, you need to get some more sleep. You two Ron. You'll be leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow morning."
Harry nodded, rubbing at his scar absently. The pain was still there, but luckily it had dwindled to a mild throbbing that he had become accustomed to since the occlumency lessons with Snape. Sighing, he bid everyone else a good night, and went to lie back in bed. Sleep didn't come easy though, and after about an hour of tossing and turning he let out a frustrated sigh.
"Still awake?"
Ron's voice surprised Harry and he practically rolled out of his bed.
"Yeah." he replied, then had a guilty thought. "I didn't wake you did I?"
"Nah," answered Ron, and Harry could see Ron's outline rolling over to face Harry. "Every time I try to sleep, my mind overloads on all these … I dunno, things …"
Harry exhaled heavily. "Me too." He said, understanding Ron perfectly. Too many thoughts plagued his mind, and it was impossible to sleep.
Ron's voice was hesitant as he asked, "Do you reckon we'll make it through this year?"
"I hope so Ron … I sure hope so."
A/N: This has been my longest chapter yet, as I couldn't cut up any parts of the chapter without people wanting to kill me because of another cliffhanger. Just consider it a little present to make up for another late update. Anyway, please review to tell me what you think, or at least join my club. I'll probably update the next chapter quicker on yahoo anyway.
As usual, thanks goes to Tropic, ER, Linky2 and Ocpawnmaster1 for reviewing.
And an extended thanks to:
Mella deRanged: I am not planning on a H/Hr story. In my opinion, it doesn't seem likely … R/H does, though I am going to try and write it like JK Rowling does; simple hints, etc, etc … Nothing will happen just yet. Hope you aren't too disappointed. It will be just like the HP books, where romance won't be the main focus.
Facade1: Thank you!! I was hoping people would like the present from Sirius and Remus. In the long run it will make Harry less bitter and grieved by Sirius's sudden death.
PhoenixPadfoot89: Lol ok then, I won't be saying anything else, other than here's the next chapter … so back off with the school bus, lol. Anyway, glad you liked the presents!
John: Great, glad to hear that, lol. Can't lose any of my reviewing readers, hint hint. And I think you'll find a few surprises with the animagi transformations. Not just yet though, you'll have to wait a bit longer. Anyway, thanks!
Aliba: Right well this is going to be a veeery long reply to the seven reviews you wrote to me. First of all though, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to review each of my chapters. I appreciate it very much! Ok well as for your reviews, I'll try and answer everything you asked. Ummm, about the little issue of Harry saying the Dursleys' place isnt his home … I don't think I specifically said it that way, other than he doesn't believe it is his place, which the Dursleys' don't really disagree with. It shouldn't matter too much in this story, because every year since he started at Hogwarts, he has pretty much said that Hogwarts is his only home, so I don't think anything will happen about it … but I liked your comment anyway. Made me think for a while, which is good! Oh and yes, there will be romance elements in this story, but as I said in another review it won't be a main focus for the plot or anything like that. It will just have brief mentions and so on. I will say that it won't turn out to be a H/Hr story though. I just find the hints that JK Rowling puts in her books leans more towards R/Hr, so I'll probably be working on that side of things more (discreetly of course). As for any relationships for Harry? Hmmm, I'm still working on some ideas, but I'll see how everything turns out. Often these chapters take a mind of their own sometimes, lol. Anyway, that's it for my review. Thanks for the belated birthday wishes, lol, and I hoped I answered all your questions. I was touched when you said that you hadn't reviewed for anyone else, so I thought I'd give you another thank you. Actually it's also for the part where you said you'd read any books I might write in the future, which I can tell you right now floored me. One day I am hoping to become an author, so if I do, I'll definitely be telling you, lol. How could I not, seeing as you've been so kind in your reviews!!
Janet: Thank you, I try!! And you'll find out about Harry's animagi transformation later … I still have yet to decide which path I shall take for his form.
Chantelli: Yes, it would, and you'll have to find out later on if that actually happens, because I can tell you now there will be trouble with their transformations. He he. Anyway, thanks for the house elf, lol. It can start by cleaning my room … my revision notes for the exams I just finished, are completely covering my floor. Anyway, I think I'll stop rambling for now. Thanks for another review!
Amy: Thank you, and sorry for the long wait. If you want to know when the next chapter for this story will be up, you are invited to join my yahoo group (the address is on my bio). I'll be putting up possible times for updates, and so forth, so you know the progress.
Tami: I think stabbing me is going to prolong the updates, lol, but I'm flattered nonetheless. I'm glad you liked the fic so far, and don't worry, I like having other peoples' opinions on it. I would like to say though that Harry's new behaviour isn't really all that unexpected considering what he's been known for. If someone had told me that in the fifth book, Harry was going to be an extremely angry boy, I would have said they were crazy. So I just reckon that after the events of the whole fifth year, he would be quite emotional … I mean now that he's lost his godfather, and the revelation of the prophecy, he's bound to not be completely immune to the emotions he's probably warring with inside.
Serpent of Light: Thanks for the review, and I have to agree that the fifth book wasn't entirely what I had been waiting so long for!! Anyway, I hope you keep on reading.