Chapter 1- Summer Dreams

He was standing in the veil chamber once again. Sirius was standing only 2 yards from him, in front of the veil.

"Harry, how could you have let this happen? Why didn't you save me?" said Sirius in a questioning, sorrowful voice.

"I-I couldn't have..." Harry tried to reply, but was unable.

With as outstretched hand and a fearful look, Sirius began to fall backwards, through the veil.

"Noooooooooo!" screamed Harry, stretching out a hand of his own, attempting to lunge, though he found his legs unmovable. "Sirius, come back!"

Despite his efforts, his legs stood paralyzed. "No, Sirius, don't leave me!"

At that moment, the veil began to slide aside. "Sirius?" Harry said desperatly hoping.

As the veil slid further aside, it revealed not Sirius, but Voldemort, his evil red eyes flashing with malicious mirth at the sight of Harry, and the terrified look on Harry's face.

"You see," hissed Voldemort as Harry doubled his efforts to free himself. "Even in your dreams, you are powerless against me."

Harry wasn't listening, though if he had been the word 'dreams' might have seemed strange. Suddenly, Voldemort began to laugh insanely, a laugh sounding like thunder. Voldemort pulled out his wand, still laughing, and pointed it at Harry.

Just as a jet of green light flashed out of Voldemorts wand tip, Voldemort's thunder-like laugh was replaced by real thunder, and the sound of rain pounding on Harry's window.

Harry had been having these dreams, or dreams very similar, all summer. He had told all his friends, and they all said the same thing, that it is to be expected after what had happened.

Harry, however did not feel guilty, or even sad most of the time. He most commonly had felt a kind of numbness. An absense of feeling. He had eaten little more than he needed all summer. He had not talked aloud to anyone but hedwig, and then rarely. He new the Dursleys were suspicious, but it did not register very much. He had even stopped counting down the days till his return to Hogwarts.

He seemed to cut himself out of the real world, submerged constantly in his own thoughts.

Harry, seeing it was only 3:00 a.m, layed back down and futily attempted to grasp sleep once more. So it was, when his alarm went off at 7:30 a.m, his body felt tired, even though his mind was to busy to.

Harry was about half way into his summer when something happened that brought him back to reality. He had been lounging around unconciously in the back yard. Suddenly, he heard someone shout, "STUPEFY!" from across the yard.

Even in the state of mind he was in, Harry had great reflexes, developed by his hours spent on the quiditch field. Harry dived out of the way as a jet of crimson red light streaked dangerously close to his head, making the hairs on his neck stand on end. By the time he hit the ground, Harry had his wand out and had pointed it in the direction the shout had come from.

No one was there. Harry lay there for 5 minutes before he decided to get up, still pointing his wand at that same spot.

"What the devil is going on here boy, put that bloody thing away," spat Harry's Uncle Vernon in a hushed voice as he, so as not to attract to much attention, as he led Aunt Petunia, and Dudley Dursley out onto the lawn.

" I was just attacked, but now my attacker has gone," explained Harry, still sparing only a seconds glance for Mr. Dursley.

"A-Attacked?! What the bloody hell do you mean, Attacked?" replyed Uncle Vernon, still keeping his voice just above a whisper.

"What does it usually mean when someone is attacked," said Harry in an expressionless tone as he cautiously moved forward to check the spot he still kept his eyes on.

"You don't think, the man, could still be here, do you?" said Dudley Dursley, Harry's cousin, in a fearful voice, inching back towards the house.

"It is possible, but not likely. If he or she was still here, they would have attacked again, no doubt." Harry said.

"Aren't you supposed to go to some blasted friends house soon?" asked Uncle Vernon, the eagerness for Harry to leave apparent in his voice. "Your enemies are starting to endanger my family again, just like last summer."

Harry had to think back to the last letter he had recieved from Mrs. Wesley.

Dear Harry,

Hello Harry, just thought I'd write you

to tell you, that Dumbledore says we can come

and get you on June 30th. It will be nice to see

you again.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Weasley

P.S. You'll be happy to know that we have

most of the cleaning done, so you will be

able to relax, no cleaning.

"Yeah, actually, they'll be here tommorrow, to escort me," Harry said, with some satisfaction at the terror in his aunt and uncles eyes, regathering the Harry that had been suppressed in thought all summer.

"H-H-Here!?" yelled Uncle Vernon in a outraged voice with a hint of terror. "And when exactly were you thinking of telling us about this? I wont have any sneaky buisness like last summer, or any horrible, disgusting gags your people find amusing involving swelling tounges, or demolishing living rooms and what not."

Harry was starting to think of Sirius again, but he didnt want to. He made an effort to force those thoughts to the back of his mind. "I actually forgot for a long time, if you absoltely must know," replyed Harry coldly.

"Watch your tone, boy. Your freaky friends might have your back, but im sure i can do a lot to you before anyone gets here, and it wont be pleasant," said Uncle Vernon in a soft but still threatening voice.

"Your empty threats dont phase me, and I will not be intimidated by the likes of you," replyed Harry, temper rising.

Uncle Vernon was turning red and then to purple at an almost alarming rate. He tried to speak, but was to enraged to mutter anything.

"It's probably best you cant speak, Uncle Vernon, because if you could, you would probably say something you'd regret."

Finding his voice, and forgeting to keep it down, Uncle Vernon screamed, "FIRST you speak to me in such a disrespectful manner, and now YOU threaten ME!?"

"No, uncle, I promise you. If you continue to treat me like you usually do, I will scream to high heaven and tell the entire neiborhood my secret, lets see how your friends and neighbors feel about that," said Harry in a calm voice that reflected the confidence he felt, making all the more impact on the Dursleys.

All the Dursleys paled at these words, even Uncle Vernon. They looked so comical with their pale horror-stricken faces that Harry almost laughed. He walked past them into the house, leaving them staring at the door.

Now that he was in the safety of his room, Harry had new things to brood over, such as, how had someone been able to get past his guards and watches to attack him. He was sure that he had been protected more than that this summer. He found himself still thinking about it when he nonchalantly began to pull on his pajamas and prepare for bed.

As he layed down on his bed, his scar began to pulse with a tinge of pain, as it had much of the summer when he found himself trying to clear his mind of emotion as instructed by professor Snape last year. He could feel sleep begin to take him again, he was a little excited to be leaving tommorrow, but he quickly smothered the emotion, and was left with an almost empty head when he drifted to sleep, though the little bit of emotion he left was enough, because he had another veil dream that night.