The Choices that Affect Our Lives

HUGE CHANGE: I have now made this fan fic Year 6 at Hogwarts! It just sounds better to have everyone older with the things I have them doing, and now I can go off on my own thing without worring about keeping things from OoTP! I went back and made changes to anything that needed changing in the chapters I had already posted.

Note: Hello, and welcome to my fan fic. It's hard to really describe that this story is about, but I'll give you some basics. It's year six at Hogwarts, and it's just as dangerous as ever. There is something lurking out there, on the search for Harry, but now all of his friends are getting involved too…The battle of life and death has begun…

There are some elements that I kept in that happened book five, Order of the Phoenix, but most is just from my imagination, since none of us really know what's going to happen in book six yet!

Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny…There are some other romances I make include, but I can not tell them now because that would be giving something away!

There is language, violence, and sexual content in this fic, so that's why I made it R…

Enjoy!

BTW, Characters and Places were created by the brilliant JK Rowling.

A/N: CHAPTER COMPLETE! More chapters soon.

Chapter 1: Harry's Life

Harry laid quietly on the bed, listening to the wind howling at an almost ear-splitting tone, and the equally loud snores of his uncle. There were car horns honking occasionaly, and a dog barked. It was just past 2am, and Harry was wide awake, with no desire at all to sleep…He knew what was waiting for him the moment his eyes shut.

Harry couldn't believe that he still had three weeks before he could leave this place for another school year at Hogwarts. It seemed that every summer at this time seemed to move incredibly slow, even slower then waiting for Christmas to arrive. He knew that Hogwarts was the best place to be, even with the upcoming O.W.L.S results that all the 5th year students were required to take last year. Even with Snape and Filch lurking around, ready to blame Harry for anything. Even with Draco Malfoy constantly breathing smart remarks down his neck, and taking every opportunity to poke fun of his mates.

Something he was looking forward to the most was seeing his best mates, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They were a bit of an odd trio, and most didn't see how they got along well. Ron was such a clown, and a bit of a slacker on his responsibilities….But none the less, he was someone Harry could really count on. Hermione must have been one of the most determined and smart people Harry had ever come across in his sixteen years. She disapproved of many of the things Harry and Ron got up to, but could eventually stir up a laugh about them. She, like Ron, was also extremely dependable. Harry had been thinking about Hermione a lot this summer actually, in different ways then usual. He pictured her sweet laugh, her pretty smile, and could not forget about her at the Yule Ball a few years ago. Harry tried to push these thoughts out of his mind as he jumped off his bed, which gave a loud squeak and immediately sunk back down as soon as he got off it (for it had once been Dudley's, and it was sunk many inches below it's regular height.)

"Bloody hell," Harry whispered as he caught his reflection in the mirror. Harry had never been concerned much with his outer appearance, but looking into the mirror and catching site of the medium-height, skinny boy, he couldn't help but groan. He fingered the scar on his forehead as it tingled at the touch of his cold fingers. His bright green eyes were hidden behind the glasses, and his dark hair flew out in every direction. He was tempted to kick the mirror, but decided he didn't need the shit from his aunt and uncle. Hedwig was cooing softly in her sleep as Harry walked over to her locked cage.

"Hedwig?" He said gently, sticking a finger in to caress her soft feathers. She continued to sleep quietly, and Harry felt a sudden twinge of loneliness. He had not heard from any of his mates since the firstfew daysof the summer holiday, and the only people he had to talk to all summer were his uncle, aunt, and Dudley, but they could hardly qualify for a decent conversation.

Then there was Sirius, and all the guilt that Harry was left feeling after everything that had happened. It was still bottled up inside, he never talked much about it except for when he talked with Dumbledore, but then his feelings were all over the place to really talk...

Harry sank back onto the bed, and closed his eyes, willing himself not to fall sleep….but he could already feel the darkness taking over….

"POTTER! ARE YOU GOING TO COOK OUR BREAKFAST OR ARE WE GOING TO STARVE TO DEATH?!" Harry suddenly heard his uncle's voice break his dream about Hermione yelling at Ron to do his Potions schoolwork.

"No Voldemort…." Harry whispered to himself.

"I didn't dream of him!" He bounced out of bed and proceeded to dress in the over-sized clothes that were once Dudley's.

"POTTER, DON'T MAKE ME COME WAKE YOU, OR IT WILL BE HELL TO PAY!"

"OH HUSH UP, IT'S NOT LIKE YOU COULDN'T BENEFIT FROM SKIPPING BREAKFAST," Harry shouted back.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY BOY?"

"I SAID I'M COMING!" Harry pulled the door open, and trudged down the perfectly white and perfectly clean stairs, and into the kitchen. Dudley had his TV on loudly (some kind of game show where a woman was screaming after just winning a brand new car), Uncle Vernon was reading the morning paper, and Aunt Petunia was starting the coffee pot.

"See, you made your Aunt have to start breakfast! Sit down Petunia, Potter's here," Uncle Vernon huffed, his large face barely hidden behind the paper. They obviously had not become any softer afte everything Harry went through.

"Mum, I'm hungry!" Dudley banged his fork on the table, causing his empty plate to jump in the air, then land loudly.

"Just watch your show Dudleyudlykins, Harry's here. Hurry it up!" Aunt Petunia sat down next to her son, and ran her hand through his blond curls. Harry's good mood couldn't be faltered, even with his family yelling at him as he flung bacon into the frying pan.

"I want my bacon extra crispy!" Dudley demanded, throwing a wad of napkins at Harry. Aunt Petunia didn't respond, but her face curled up at the site of the napkins strewn all over her neat kitchen.

"You going to pick those up?" She said to Harry. Harry hurried to plop the bacon on to all of their plates, bent down to pick up the napkins, grabbed the toast as it popped out of the toaster, and poured the orange juice into their cups, along with coffee for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. He ate his bacon quicker then ever, and then disappeared from the kitchen.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, BOY?" Yelled Uncle Vernon.

"MY NAME ISN'T BOY, NOR IS IT POTTER! IT'S HARRY! AND I'M JUST GOING OUT!" Harry yelled back, grabbing his jacket.

"DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! YOU BETTER NOT BE UP TO ANY MA….MAG….MAGIC!" He finally spit the word out.

"YOU KNOW I'M NOT ALLOWED!" Harry yelled. "But for you…I may make an exception," he muttered under his breath.

"DON'T LET THE NEIGHBORS SEE YOU!" Aunt Petunia squeaked.

"WHATEVER!" Harry said with a slam of the door. It was a warm day outside, and Harry jogged down the street, not really heading anywhere in particular. He just needed to get away from that house. Why couldn't these three weeks just hurry up and pass?