Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
By: Krystal Lily Potter
Chapter Four: The First Sign
Rating: PG-13
Couples: Lots of different ones...check out last chapter for a summary of it...

Summary: As Harry and his friends enter their sixth year at Hogwarts they don't enter the cheerful world they left behind. They enter a world covered in a thick blanket of fear. It only hits Harry now how important he truly is when people start seeing him as the light that allows them to see under this blanket. Along with his friends he must battle the horrors of the past, present and possible future to begin the end of a war, hopefully before it even starts. What happens when one of his friends disappear from under the protection of Dumbledore himself? It's up to the last two to find a way to fight this war, on their own...

Warning: OK I decided to change my warning? Why? Because I'm gonna start putting a lot of dark themes (Sorry, no sex scenes) in this story. Also there will be swearing...just a warning for those who don't like it. Once again if you think I should up the rating just tell me!

Author's Note

Hey people! Well it's 12:00 at night (or is it in the morning? Bleh) and I'm starting chapter four! Can anybody say I'm dedicated to writing? Lol! I should be...this is just practice for me...most of the time I can write much better then this if I but a lot of time and thought into it!

Well peoples I hope you enjoy this story...no clue if anybody liked the last chapter cause nobody's read it yet! LOL!

Just a question? Does anybody else want to see King Arthur too? It looks awesome!

Also, I don't really wanna use the title "Green Flame Torch" anymore...why? Because I wanted the real title to the story...the little explanation to that's below. Just so you know I'm not copying anybody that might have the same title...

I did hear rumors that the title for the sixth book is Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I even checked out her official site, JK Rowling said it herself! Also there's some information on the character of Dean Thomas, Ron's cousin Mafalda (who was apparently cut from the fourth book), some information on Theodore Nott, summaries about different ways she tried to make the first book and there's more thing's like that on it.

Here's some random facts I found (I'm just purposely wasting space now if anyone's wondering)

Mrs. Weasley's name was originally Molly Prewett before she was married.

Mr. Weasley has two brothers

Ginny's full name is Ginevra and the first girl born into the Weasleys for a couple generations

Fred and George were born on April Fools day (LOL! I'm dead serious)

Anyways that's enough retarded little things from me... I wasted about a page now...I'd just like to say I'll be having several songs (as in the lyrics) throughout this story...I love all the songs but then I look at the lyrics and wonder why sometimes...oh wells!

Please review!

Onward!

"Harry, Hermione, wake up," a female voice said.

Harry's emerald eyes snapped open to see Tonks (electric blue hair and startling orange eyes today) standing beside his bed. What surprised him even more was to see Hermione sleep about a foot away from him in the same bed! He wasn't embarrassed though, after she was his best friend, or at least one of them.

Hermione groaned and sat up beside him, rubbing her eyes.

"Bout time," Tonks said.

Harry nodded and looked around. Suddenly his eyes widened and he said, "What happened to my car?"

"Car?" Hermione asked.

"Don't worry bout it Potter," Tonks said. "I shrunk it and took it...it's over there on your dresser."

"I'm gonna get a shower," Hermione said, her voice slightly glum as she walked out of the room.

Harry sighed sadly and said, "What happened last night?"

"Well," Tonks said thoughtfully. "It just happened so fast. I closed off the fire to this place, only to find Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna about five minutes later. I realized, to my horror, we could get back to the fireplace then...they just came out of every direction."

She had tears in her eyes now.

Harry nodded and walked over to the window in the room. He opened it and shivered at the oddly cold air and looked at the yard below with surprise, it was large and would have been nice look had it not have been for the broken, paint chipped fence and the slightly over grown grass. Tonks looked over his shoulder and said, "I remember this yard used to look brilliant once. I had only seen it I think three times though."

There was along pause.

"Well I must be going. I have to help Remus downstairs with some Order work," Tonks said and strolled down the stairs.

Harry shivered again but felt the weather was perfect for his mood. He closed the windows and glanced over at his broken mirror.

"I forgot to get Tonks to fix it..." Harry mumbled and picked a piece of it up. "I'll ask her or Remus to do it later then."

About two hours later Hermione sat at the table picking at her lunch, which was only a sandwich. Harry still hadn't come down yet but she had heard him go in the shower a while ago.

She pushed her plate away and stood up, everyone shot her a worried look except for Fred and George who were pretty much lost in their own little world.

"I'm gonna get something to read," she said and walked up the stairs. As she did she suddenly remember the OWL results! She had to see what Harry had!

Hermione quickly ran up the stairs and to the door of Harry's room when she heard him mumble, "Fuck, that stings."

"What the?" Hermione said to herself and pushed open the door. Much to her shock she saw him sitting in black shorts and a dark t-shirt pretty much carving something into his arm. Luckily it wasn't on the side with all his veins.

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed at him and slapped the piece of the mirror away. It landed on the floor and shattered even more. She then looked at Harry's face and noticed it had a blank look to it, like he wasn't there.

"Harry?" she whisper, shaking slightly when she noticed his eyes weren't green anymore but pale blue.

"I'm not Harry," he said, but it sounded like someone was speaking with him. "I'm the one who will win it all in the end! My mark will be left on the boy-who-lived forever!"

Hermione shivered then gasped as Harry's eyes turned green again and some type of magic shot away from his body. He groaned and leaned forwards some.

"FUCK!" he yelled when he got control of his body back, including the pain in his arm. "Where the hell did this come from?"

"There was something controlling you," Hermione said and got up. She ran to the bathroom and came back with a wet towel and put it on Harry's arm.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"I don't really know," Hermione whispered. "Well I know there was something possessing you. He cut something into your arm and said his mark will be left on the boy-who-lived forever."

Harry moved the towel from his arm and stared with surprise at the three words carved into his arm. It said 'Half Blood Prince'.

"Half Blood Prince?" Hermione whispered and touched it slightly, causing Harry to wince. "Oh I'll get bandages." She once again ran to the bathroom and came back with the bandage wrap.

Harry held out his arm and she wrapped it around and said, "Should we tell anybody about this Harry?"

"No," Harry said. "I'll just say I tripped and cut myself when they see the bandage." Something else had Hermione worried. It was the way he was looking at his arm and then at the mirror with a guilty look on his face.

Suddenly she gasped and yelled, "HARRY!"

"What?" he said sounding extremely confused.

"You were planning on cutting yourself, weren't you?" Hermione yelled.

Harry looked at the floor and said so he could barely hear it himself, "Yes...but I didn't want to kill myself."

"WHAT?! THEN WHAT THE HELL WE'RE YOU THINKING?!" "I NEEDED TO PUNISH MYSELF HERMIONE! LOOK WHAT I'VE GONE AND CAUSED! YOU KNOW DAMN WELL THAT THOSE DEATH EATERS WOULDN'T HAVE ATTACKED THE HOSPITAL IF I HADN'T OF BEEN THERE!"

SMACK!

There was along, surprised silence after Hermione slapped Harry across the face. He had a stunned look on his face as did she. Her hand was still in the air a couple of inches away from Harry's face, including his now bright red cheek.

Suddenly the door flew open and Remus ran in.

"We heard yelling from downstairs and..." he stopped and observed the scene in front of him. His eyes fell to the shattered mirror on the floor (the piece Hermione broke as well as the rest of the original pieces). "What happened here?"

"I fell," Harry said. "And cut myself on that stupid broken mirror which I forgot to ask Tonks to fix this morning. Hermione was growl at me about being careful and I growled back then she slapped me."

Hermione couldn't help but giggle innocently at the last part. Remus rolled his eyes and said, "Nice morning eh? Harry be more careful, you just got out of the hospital. Hermione...please don't abuse him anymore then he needs?" "Yes sir," they both sounded off together, causing Lupin to chuckle and walk out of the room.

The second they were sure he was downstairs Hermione rounded on Harry again and growl in a whisper, "Don't ever think of doing something like that again, you understand me? If you even think it you'll regret it for the rest of your life. I'll make sure of that. Understand?"

Harry gulped nervously and said, "Yes ma'am!"

"Good," she said and walked out of the room.

Harry stared at her for a second then the semi cheery look he put on for her faded into a dark look and he stared down at the bandage on his arm and said, "Not like I've got that long to live anyways...I'll never be able to beat Voldemort."

Fred and George had went to Hogwarts were all of the surviving patients of the attack at St. Mungo's went. They went to see exactly how Bill was doing.

Mark sighed and said, "Poor Charlie. We met him. He seemed really nice."

"Yeah," Nicola agreed.

Harry and Hermione nodded silently. Harry was staring at his bandaged arm with a blank look and Hermione kept glaring at him.

Mark and Nicola shared an odd look with each other but said nothing.

"You're arm alright there Harry?" Tonks asked him.

"Remus told you?" Harry asked.

"Yup," Tonks said. "I always told ya to Wotcher."

Harry smirked at her and said, "Sorry...imagine what Mad-Eye would say."

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

That caused everyone in the room to jump and Harry, Hermione and Tonks all shot around with their wands in their hands.

Mad-Eye Moody smirked and said, "Not bad for reflex, but it should be slightly faster."

Tonks sighed and said, "Don't scare us like that again old man."

"Old Man? I have you know that I trained your father!" Moody growled.

"I know, I know," Tonks said with a sigh.

"Now Potter, Granger," Moody said. "You know what happened at the hospital. To avoid something like that happening again we need to train you. Yes I know you're all sad and angry about what happened to your friends but do you want to be ready to get them back or not?"

There was along silence, Harry stared at Moody with surprise. Hermione looked extremely hesitant and said, "We can't do magic in summer."

Moody smirked and said, "Dumbledore cleared that up. As long as you're in this house you're fine."

The two soon to be 6th years looked at each other nervously. They didn't want to forget Ron and just go on like nothing had happened but they knew they needed more training; this was war they were in after all!

"We'll do it," Harry said and Hermione nodded.

"That's what I like to hear," Tonks said happily and clapped her hands together. She then got a serious look on her face and said, "You have to be ready for anything. I know from stories about your school years that you, no doubt, will go to find the Weasleys."

The two shared a look. They had both been thinking about that for awhile and they knew the other was thinking it too.

"Now listen and listen carefully," Moody said in a low voice. "We will be training you in many things and you will find them difficult at first, even you Granger."

"Don't feel frustrated," Tonks said. "You'll get the hang of it."

"What are we learning?" Hermione asked.

"That's a surprise," Tonks said. "Now why don't you open up those nice little OWLs you two got...Hermione's been dying to open them but she's been waiting for you Harry."

Harry looked at her with surprise then said, "Thanks Mia."

"No problem," Hermione replied. "Bye they're up in my room."

"You two go open them," Tonks said. "Moody and I have to talk to Nicola and Mark."

"Alright," they both said and walked up the stairs.

Tonk's smile disappeared as soon as they were out of view. "We'll talk to you two in a minute." She led Moody out of the room and into a room where Dumbledore, Lupin, Kingsley, Snape and McGonagall were waiting.

"Falling onto a broken mirror, that's bullshit," Tonks said.

"I told you," Remus said with a grim look. "You think he's been hurting himself?" McGonagall asked with an alarmed tone to her voice.

"I honestly don't know," Remus said with a thoughtful look. "I saw the blood; it was on the top of his arm away from his veins. If he wanted to kill himself he would have done it then and there so no one could stop it. I think Hermione knows what's going on though."

Dumbledore stayed silent then said with a sigh, "We must keep him under constant supervision."

"Are you mad?" Tonks shot back. "He hates that!"

"It doesn't matter what preferences Potter has," Snape growled.

"Yes it does," Tonks argued.

Soon everyone in the room was arguing with each other.

Nicola and Mark had been listening the whole time and Mark asked, "Do you think Harry hurt himself?"

"Not purposely like they think," Nicola said wisely.

Mark nodded with her but he couldn't help but worry for his cousin.

Harry sat nervously across from Hermione on her bed. Both were holding their letters.

"I thought Tonks said, you hadn't opened yours already," Harry said, nodding to the open envelop in her hand. "I didn't look at my scores yet," Hermione objected. "I just had to look at the class lists."

"Oh, that's what you were reading along with that bloody book?" Harry said, referring to Hogwarts a history.

Hermione giggled and just nodded. She then got a serious look on her face and said, "Open it."

Harry chuckled and opened the letter but did nothing to read it.

Hermione was looking at hers like it was about to explode and threw it at Harry and said, "I can't do it. You look at them first."

Harry took out her results and looked at them. Hermione held her breath, waiting for his reaction.

His eyes widened and he said, "What the fuck?" He quickly opened his OWLs and looked at them too. His face looked even more confused. "What? What?!" Hermione asked.

"Hermione, something wrong must have happened here," Harry said.

"What?" Hermione asked again.

Harry, with a look of amusement on his face said, "You didn't get straight Os on your exam! You got Os and Es...what happened there?"

She lunged forwards and grabbed her results and read it over.

Name: Granger, Hermione Krystal

Year: 6

School: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry

Headmaster/Headmistress: Professor A. Dumbledore

Deputy Headmaster/Headmistress: Professor M. McGonagall

Class: Ancient Ruins
Teacher: Professor N. Morgan
Theory: O (120)
Practical: O (98)
Overall: O (109)

Class: Arithmancy
Teacher: Professor A. Vector
Theory: E (93)
Practical: O (100)
Overall: O (96.5)

Class: Astronomy
Teacher: Professor H. Sinistra
Theory: N/A
Practical: E (94)
Overall: E (94)

Class: Care for Magical Creatures
Teacher: Professor R. Hagrid
Theory: E (88)
Practical: O (95)
Overall: E (91.5)

Class: Charms
Teacher: Professor F. Flitwick
Theory: O (110)
Practical: O (110)
Overall: O (110)

Class: Defense Against the Dark Arts
Teacher: Professor D. Umbridge
Theory: O (100)
Practical: O (100)
Overall: O (100)

Class: Divination
Teacher: Professor S. Trelawney
Theory: N/A
Practical: N/A
Overall: N/A

Class: Herbology
Teacher: Professor S. Sprout
Theory: O (99)
Practical: O (95)
Overall: O (97)

Class: History of Magic
Teacher: Professor G. Binns
Theory: O (98)
Practical: N/A
Overall: O (98)

Class: Muggle Studies
Teacher: Professor C. Lawrence
Theory: N/A
Practical: N/A
Overall: N/A

Class: Potions
Teacher: Professor S. Snape
Theory: O (98)
Practical: O (100)
Overall: O (99)

Class: Transfiguration
Teacher: Professor M. McGonagall
Theory: E (94)
Practical: O (100)
Overall: O (97)

Total OWLs – 19/20 (95)

Name: Potter, Harry James
Year: 6
School: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry
Headmaster/Headmistress: Professor A. Dumbledore
Deputy Headmaster/Headmistress: Professor M. McGonagall

Class: Ancient Ruins
Teacher: Professor N. Morgan
Theory: N/A
Practical: N/A
Overall: N/A

Class: Arithmancy
Teacher: Professor A. Vector
Theory: N/A
Practical: N/A
Overall: N/A

Class: Astronomy
Teacher: Professor H. Sinistra
Theory: N/A
Practical: A (80)
Overall: A (80)

Class: Care for Magical Creatures
Teacher: Professor R. Hagrid
Theory: O (95)
Practical: O (99)
Overall: O (97)

Class: Charms
Teacher: Professor F. Flitwick
Theory: E (90)
Practical: O (98)
Overall: E (94)

Class: Defense Against the Dark Arts
Teacher: Professor D. Umbridge
Theory: O (130)
Practical: O (130)
Overall: O (130)

Class: Divination
Teacher: Professor S. Trelawney
Theory: N/A
Practical: A (71)
Overall: A (71)

Class: Herbology
Teacher: Professor S. Sprout
Theory: E (89)
Practical: E (94)
Overall: E (91.5)

Class: History of Magic
Teacher: Professor G. Binns
Theory: E (85)
Practical: N/A
Overall: E (85)

Class: Muggle Studies
Teacher: Professor C. Lawrence
Theory: N/A
Practical: N/A
Overall: N/A

Class: Potions
Teacher: Professor S. Snape
Theory: E (91)
Practical: O (99)
Overall: O (95)

Class: Transfiguration
Teacher: Professor M. McGonagall
Theory: E (93)
Practical: O (99)
Overall: O (96)

Total OWLs – 14.5/18 (81)

"OH MY GOD HARRY!" Hermione said and launched herself onto her best friend and hugged him tightly.

"Hermione...need...breath..." Harry said.

"Oh, sorry," she replied and let go. Her eyes were shining with pride, "You got 81 overall! That's actually a very hard score to get, you know that?"

"Really? What did Ron get?" he asked.

"He got 72 or something like that," Hermione said. "I think you're in the top five. I'm first (she smiled with joy), then there's Padma Patil, Terry Boot, Mandy Brocklehurst and finally you."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked with surprise.

"Dumbledore told me," she replied. "I also know that you beat Draco by one! He got 80 percent!"

Harry stared at her for a minute before they both cracked up laughing.

Suddenly Harry realized the question he had asked before and said, "Ron..."

Hermione, at the same time, also realized that she had just pretty much threw her friend away without so much as a thought.

"We're terrible," she whispered.

Harry hugged her and said, "Ron's strong, so is Ginny and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They'll make it through all of this. The way we can help them is to become faster, smarter and stronger so when we find them, we'll be able to get them out alive."

Hermione nodded and rested her head on his shoulder; she was starting to cry a bit. Looking up at Harry she asked, "What does it feel like not being able to cry?"

Harry looked extremely startled at her question. He had never told anyone about how after Sirius died he hadn't cried. He had never cried even once, which wasn't very healthy. All he did was let out waves of anger instead of tears. Then again boys never cry, right?

"I'll be honest Hermione, it's terrible. You keep crying, never let anybody tell you its being weak, because it's not," Harry said comfortingly.

They sat like that for awhile, not realizing they the clock slowly ticked away, seconds turning into minutes and minutes turning into hours. They also didn't hear Mark and Nicola running around like the kids they were supposed to be, or hear Tonks tripping down the stairs...twice in a row.

Soon it was past midnight and they both were asleep sitting up on Hermione's bed when Professor Dumbledore entered the room. He glanced at the two sadly and said, "Sleep well Harry, Hermione. Tragedies are approaching that no one will be able to comprehend unless they see them. Good luck to you both." With that he walked out of the room and closed the door.

Little did Dumbledore know but Harry's eyes snapped open and they were once again pale blue. "Show's what you know you old fool." His eyes turned green again, the magic flew away from him, and he collapsed into a laying position on the bed, accidentally brining Hermione with him. Surprisingly she didn't wake up.

Nobody in that house could guess the horrors that they were about to discover in the world. Everyone thought the war was already in a heated stage but really they were in trouble. Why?

Because this war had barely begun...

Author's Random Babbling

Alright I'm done this chapter! I know it's a little shorter then the others but the reason for that is I didn't really know what I wanted to put in here yet...

I'd like to say that I have the WHOLE story planned out chapter by chapter so I should be able to get it done. This means that for once I do know how it ends. I know who dies, I know who lives and I know what songs I'm gonna use. Now I promise you this is a dark fic...there will be many, MANY mentions of murder, there will be some spooky scenes, some more mature scenes (still not sex though...LOL!) and other things like that. (ie: torture, abuse, suicide, etc...)

Well the replies to the reviews are below and I hope you'll like this story...if I get enough reviews for this one I might make a sequel to it...depends on if I 1) finish this story and 2) if I feel like people would actually want to read it.

Please review!

Replies to Reviews:

Athenakitty – Hey! A pocket? A counter spell? Umm...well ya know I have no clue what your talking about but maybe I'm just forgetful. Harry's gonna try to keep his mind focused on training but guilt about what happened in the hospital will be haunting him a lot. Yes Charlie knew, all the Weasley kids except for Percy did! Bill might survive...not telling you the real answer yet! I do know what happens to the captured Weasleys but why would I tell anyone that? OMG! I DID THE UNTHINKABLE! I GOT YOU TO WRITE SOMETHING THAT WASN'T A QUESTION! WOOT! Lol! Jk. Thanks for reviewing!

Saxistwriterchick (Ch 2) – Yeah that quote is a pretty popular one...it was my friend's screen name! Thanks for liking my story so far!

Rasgara – Nah, Dumbledore wasn't lying. I know, poor Charlie...but he is dead. Bill isn't yet but he might be later on. I won't be brining anybody back to life in this story, I can tell you that. Thanks for liking my story!

Fallen Angel X (Ch 2) – Thanks for finding my story interesting and thanks for reviewing!

FRos – Thanks for liking this! Yes the 6th book is in fact called Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, hence my renaming it. It was actually posted on JKR's official site somewhere...came out the same day that Pillar of whatever the hell it was hoax did.

Destined Enchantress – I want a tattoo too but I'm not too fond of needles! LOL! Yes that is the title to the 6th book (and my title now too) and thanks for liking this chapter too! I'm doing the story justice eh? Well I'll try to keep it up! (me and my Canadian beer drinking hill-billy friends will keep it coming to this story...LOL! Kidden bout the beer drinking thing)

Shdurrani – lol! That makes me sound old! Yeah anyways thanks for reviewing and thanks for liking this!

Well I've gotta go and try to get back that stuffed animal from the dogs before they destroy it! Later!

Krystal Lily Potter

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"