AN: This story has been thoughly planned (I hope) and should have no mistakes like I made in PMP
Chapter 1 – Offer to leave, birthdays and worries
For once, there was silence at the breakfast table where four people sat quietly (for now anyway). A fat man with a moustache and thinning hair who was reading the paper and drinking tea; a tall skinny woman who was slowly eating her breakfast with thin, willowy fingers; an extremely obese boy of around sixteen who was stuffing food into his mouth at an excessive rate; and finally, a thin boy of around sixteen with shocking longish-black hair and emerald green eyes who was eating the scraps these people had given him.
"Boy, pass the juice." The fat man ordered. The thin black haired boy picked up the jug of orange and passed it over the table to the man.
"A thank you would be nice." The boy muttered under his breath.
"What was that boy?" The fat man asked acidly.
"Nothing Uncle Vernon." The boy replied in a bored tone. It had been like this for the past month, the boy, Harry Potter, getting consistently glared and shouted out whilst the obese boy, his cousin Dudley Dursley, watched and sniggered.
The room was silent again for a moment until an owl swooped through the window and landed on the table, holding a leg with a letter on to Harry, who took the crisp white envelope from it's bindings on the owls leg.
See, Harry wasn't a normal teen like his cousin Dudley (though Harry would claim he was more normal than Dudley would ever be). Harry was a wizard who had recently come home from his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school Harry attended with his best friends Hermione Granger, a pretty muggle-born witch and Ron Weasley, a dopey pure-blooded wizard.
Anyway, Harry read his name on the back of the envelope and then turned it over, and, recognising the seal as the Hogwarts seal he ripped it open. Inside were a few letters, and then Harry realised the envelope was a bit bigger than usual.
He dug his hand into the envelope and pulled out the usual letters- supplies list and introductory letter- though then he tipped the rest of the contents onto the table and pulled open the next letter.
Dear Mr Potter,
It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been selected as this years Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, enclosed in your usual envelope is this letter and your badge, which you shall be required to wear at all times during school hours. Enjoy your holidays and I shall see you again in the new school term. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonnagal, Head of Gryffindor House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry slowly picked up the badge and stared at it. "Shouldn't Katie have this title?" He asked himself, Katie was the only seventh year on the team, though Harry had been in the team for the same amount of time as her, so that was probably what counted.
Harry ignored the Dursley's and quickly ran upstairs to his room and pulled out some parchment and a quill from his trunk before leaning against his desk to write.
You'd never guess what, I'm Quidditch captain! Cool huh? See you soon -Harry. He quickly jotted down, before giving the note to Hedwig.
"Give this to Si-" He stopped, the note was meant for Sirius, but Harry had forgotten he wasn't there anymore in the excitement of becoming Captain. Harry took the note back from Hedwig. "Never mind Hedwig, just being stupid." He ripped the note up and threw it in the small bin he had in his room. "Just stupid." He told himself again, before going back into the kitchen downstairs, grabbing his school letters and leaving the house.
Harry walked around Little Whinging for a while, wandering aimlessly through the streets until lunch, when he started to head back home. 'Well, not home.' Harry thought, 'Hogwarts is home.' He told himself.
As Harry reached the door of Number 4 Privet Drive, the door was wrenched open and a very red-faced Uncle Vernon stood there.
"Hurry up boy!" He hissed, Harry, confused, quickly hurried in and followed his Uncle to the lounge.
"Wotcher Harry!" said a now black curly haired Tonks. She looked beautiful with her hair put into a messy ponytail with some strands down the side of her heart shaped face.
"Hey Tonks, Remus, Moody." Harry said politely, nodding to the three, "What're you doing here?" He continued, Remus and Tonks shared uneasy glances.
"We're here to take you back to Order Headquarters Harry." said Remus uneasily, Harry frowned.
"I'm not going." He stated stubbornly.
"C'mon Harry, we all miss you there!" Tonks told him in a false cheery tone, Harry shook his head and looked down.
"I'm fine here, can't I just see everyone at Kings Cross?" He asked pleadingly, "I don't think I could go back there just yet, I'd prefer to stay in this hell compared to what that place would be."
"It was worth a try." Said Moody.
"Oh well." Tonks muttered.
"We have some things to bring anyway Harry." Remus stated with a grin, Harry looked curious.
"What exactly?" He asked.
"Well, I'm sure it'll be someone's sixteenth tomorrow." Stated Tonks thoughtfully, Harry hit his forehead.
"Damn! I forgot!" He exclaimed.
"Oh poor you." Tonks said without really registering what he had said, "But we have presents!" She exclaimed.
"Oh, you didn't have too." Harry muttered embarrassedly, he knew he'd be going a shade of red to rival the Weasley's.
"Yes we did." Remus stated, eyeing the over-sized clothes Harry wore. "Most of the Order chipped in."
"Oh, thanks I guess." Harry muttered.
"Don't thank us yet." Moody said, then went back to enlarging the ever-growing pile of presents.
"What's so good about turning sixteen in the muggle world then?" Remus asked, "It really means nothing in the wizarding world."
"Well, you can smoke legally." Harry said thoughtfully, "You can buy a house with a parents permission in your name, um… you get free ID cards." Harry stopped, a huge grin forming on his face, "And you can have legal sex." He continued slyly, Moody spluttered, Remus choked on his drink and Tonks burst out laughing.
"Great one Harry!" She said through her laughter, Harry grinned impishly at her.
"Hey Harry, start opening some presents." Remus suggested embarrassedly, Harry picked up the first one and slowly unwrapped it. Inside were a few casual robes he could wear. The next few packages he opened were all clothes.
"Wow. These are nice." Harry commented, holding a pair of jeans to himself. "Thanks."
"Thank you Harry. Me, Molly, Hermione, Ginny and Minerva spent ages trying to find the best things, Ginny said you'd look, I think it was 'Damn H.O.T.T' in her precise words, wearing fitting jeans, and Hermione agreed." Tonks stated with a mischievous smirk, Harry blushed.
"Right. Anyway." He muttered, hiding his blush by opening the next present, which was a large trunk with four locks. Harry stared in awe at the golden wood colour box with his name inscribed in the top in beautiful calligraphy. It had four golden locks and looked a bit like Moody's trunk. "Wow, this is amazing. Thanks." He said in awe.
"Thought you might like that." Moody stated with a scary smile that looked out of place on the disfigured face.
Harry also received a wand holster for his arm, "So it doesn't go back in your pocket again." Moody had told him, a new wand polishing kit, a broom servicing kit and some other odd items. What struck Harry as confusing however, was the hair gel and other hair products.
"Oh, I was hoping you'd cut your hair and try spiking it." Tonks suggested, to which Harry looked thoughtful to and nodded.
He also got some proto-types from Fred and George, along with a box and note attached.
Hey Investor, we thought you might like one of these jackets, it's like ours, only black not green. Make sure you don't tell Charlie it's dragonhide though, he's already lectured us on ours. Tell him it's leather or something.
See you soon, Gred and Forge
Harry grinned and opened the box, pulling out an impressively styled jacket. He slipped it on and even though it was slightly too big for him, it looked good.
"Nice, who got you that?" Tonks asked, circling Harry and eyeing the jacket.
"Gred and Forge did." Harry replied, admiring the jacket.
"Get some more muscle on ya, and it'd fit." Tonks continued. Harry blushed again and went back to opening presents.
He also received some weights, which Tonks told him would come in handy for getting girls (which Harry promptly blushed at again), he got books from Hermione, a book about Quidditch from Ron and other small things from his other individual friends in the Order. His favourite gift though, was a leather friendship band Ginny had made him, which he got Tonks to tie on his wrist for him.
"See you soon then Harry." Tonks said sadly, giving him a sisterly hug. Remus hugged him also.
"Shame you didn't want to come back to Headquarters. We'll see you at the station." The three apparated out with a crack.
"See you then." Harry muttered, looking at the spot where they left before going upstairs to his room, slightly regretting not agreeing to go.
Harry opened his trunk when he got into his room and pulled out some homework, 'Might as well get some more finished' he thought.
'Describe in detail the effects of these hexes and list them in order of destructibility' was the question he had gotten for DADA summer work, and the list had at least thirty hexes on it.
Harry spent four hours sorting out and researching the hexes and only stopped when he was called for dinner. Having missed lunch, he was incredibly hungry.
He sat eating his small dinner like usual, Dudley was once again flipping channels on his small T.V. On Vernon's command, he stopped it on the seven o clock news.
"Today, thirteen people were found dead and several others were found insane around the area of an extremely bizarre accident in Watford." Harry's head snapped up to the T.V, "Now to our reporter who is currently at the scene."
"Yes yes." The man who was standing in front of a taped off area around a street said, "So far, thirteen mysterious deaths have been reported and eight people have been found and classified as insane. Events like this have puzzled police for the past few weeks from all around the country, though none have been as big as this.
"Are these mysterious deaths, disappearances and insanity problems all linked? This reporter is determined to find out." The table sat in silence for a moment, until the phone rung, causing everyone to jump. Petunia went up to get the phone and came back a moment later with a sour face.
"Who would be calling you Potter?" She asked, Harry shrugged and went to the phone curiously.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Harry?" Came a nervous girls voice.
"Hermione? Is that you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, me." Hermione replied. "Did you just see the news?" Came her worried voice.
"Yeah I saw it. Obviously Death Eaters." Harry told her, he could almost see her nodding at him.
"Obviously," She replied, "It's strange, there have been disappearances here in Clacton too. I think Voldemort's trying to murder muggleborns, a friend of mine who I was the last to see went missing also, I'm really worried about her, I know Voldemort's got her, I owled Dumbledore but I don't think he can do much and I can't really leave the house if Voldemort's after me too can I?" Hermione started to sound near hysterical.
"Mione, calm down." Harry ordered, "I'll owl Dumbledore and tell him to get you to HQ, in the mean time, stay inside and stay calm, don't send any owls, ok?" He asked, he heard a muffled sob down the end of the line, "Mione?"
"I'm fine, sorry. Please tell him to hurry, I don't like it here." She said before hanging up.
Harry wandered back to his room and pulled a quill and some parchment from his trunk.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Hermione has just rung me on the phone and she sounds really upset and worried, her friend has just gone missing and was last seen with her. Hermione doesn't feel safe and she wanted to know if anyone could pick her up. Thank you,
H.PHarry wrote down before rolling it up and giving it to Hedwig.
"Hey girl, take this to Dumbledore for me please." Hedwig hooted before flying off. "Poor Hermione." He muttered to himself before getting back to his summer work.
AN: I was thinking of making this a long-lost-relative story. I have the basic outline but I'm not sure if I should do this or not, please review with responses so that I have slight indication on your views. I like the idea of long lost relatives popping up, but I'm worried that it'll seem too cheesy. Review! Please!