AN: I Finished! La-la-La-la-la la! I'm so happy! I finally finsihed something that's not a one-shot! Unfortunately what i finished is not this story, it was the prequel story to this one, it's very interesting and marvelously popular if i do say so myself. anywho this chapter is just the Prologue (what you missed from the last story), enjoy!
It was weeks after the mysterious incident at Number Twelve Grimauld and though Dumbledore, as well as many qualified healers, had declared Harry to be back to normal you could still find a messy, raven haired boy sitting by himself staring off into spaceor elsehiding in broom cupboards. Harry had grown a few more inches in the past year which now put him at a rival height for Ron. It was quite evident to all those who took note of the boy that he was quickly leaving childhood and maturing into a man. His shoulders were broader, his messy hair nearing shoulder length, his body toned from quidditch practice and too many impromptu adventures. But the most notable change in the boy's appearance was his emerald green eyes. The sparkle was all but gone from eyes that were now sunken in and haunted.
His eyes had good reason to look haunted for at the tender age of sixteen he had already experienced more horrors, more traumas, and more heartache than many grown wizards. At age eleven he had faced his parents murder, at twelve a deadly snake, at thirteen the coward who betrayed his parents, at fourteen he witnessed the return of power to his greatest enemy and the death of a fellow student. It would seem, to any outsider, that the boy should have been well used to nasty shocks and unpleasantness. And even without all the magical nonsense the boy had to deal with, growing up with the Dursley's should have jaded him beyond measure. However, by some miracle of moral character, Harry was able to cling to an innocence that should have been stripped from him by all those years of abuse. Unfortunately, though, it was not. And perhaps it was this, that his innocence was still intact, that made it so hard for Harry to lose his god father weeks ago.
The hard shell that should have been developed of many years of mistreatment had not formed over the boy's heart. It was vulnerable and unprotected when Sirius was killed. The tearing of Harry's heart in two was almost audible that night that Sirius died. If one listened close enough one could almost hear the sound of innocence lost, torn from him the way that only watching a loved one die can steal one's innocence.
So when Harry had returned to Privet drive for the summer holidays the Dursley's couldn't quite understand what was different about the boy. Though they didn't dwell on it long, Vernon decided that his horrible treatment of Harry was finally taking its toll, Petunia contented herself by thinking that going to a freak school wasn't as fun as the boy had pretended, while Dudley, not accustomed to thinking very hard about anything, decided that Harry didn't have any friends there just like in elementary school.
For the most part Harry avoided the Dursley's, avoidance had become something of an aptitude for Harry since he had spent a lot of time practicing it during his years at Hogwarts. Avoiding Colin's camera, avoiding the Slytherins, avoiding the school during those brief but frequent stretches of time when they all hated him. Harry would sleep late, eat alone, read in his room or just stare at the walls.
This was all working well until that fateful day when Harry was having another lapse into memories of Sirius and a letter came by owl. This was not an entirely unusual occurrence in itself; however, it was what was contained within the letter that brought Harry back to himself with a nasty shock. Remus Lupin had invited him to join everyone at Headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix. Harry noted that the address for headquarters was still Sirius's old house. This struck Harry as odd and cruel, for who could stand to spend so much time amongst things that reminded them so much of his deceased godfather.
Days later, much to Harry's horror, he was tucked safely in bed in one of the many rooms at Headquarters. Harry's mood, which was always mournful these days, took an even worse turn when he arrived. He stopped talking, stopped eating, stopped living. During one unusually vivid reprieve of reality in which he relived Sirius's death, Harry decided that life had become too painful and decided to end it.
Harry had snuck away from his big sixteenth birthday celebration after being comforted by Mad eye Moody who had showed him an entire album full of laughing, crying, smiling, waving Sirius's. He locked himself in the upstairs bathroom taking the shaving kit Ron had been using lately from the shelf and removeda razor. He climbed into the bathtub and attempted to end his life. Watching his life slowly drain down the bathtub drain Harry's thoughts returned once again to his godfather and how he would soon be seeing him again, and a ghost of a smile graced his lips for the first time since Sirius's death.
Harry, who usually succeeded at the things he set out to accomplish, would fail in this attempt. Mad eye Moody, who had followed his progress upstairs with his magical eye, alerted the party to the boy's activities in the bathroom and Dumbledore was able to save the boy before he had lost too much blood.
Although Harry had failed in his attempt to free himself of the burden of guilt Sirius's death had caused, the damage had been done. Harry had slipped into a catatonic state unreachable by even the most expert healers. Harry spent weeks in this likeness of death before Hermione had the brainwave to try Leglimens to try and reach Harry. Unfortunately Dumbledore, the most accomplished Leglimens belonging to the order, was away on business. And since time was of the essence the task fell to professor Snape to try to rescue the boy's mind.
After only a few days locked in the boys mind, they both emerged from Harry's room with their minds intact. Harry returned to his usual solemn self as withdrawn as ever but functioning again. Snape however seemed thoroughly disturbed by the entire encounter. He was often seen looking at the boy with an expression close to pity or compassion on his face.
With only two weeks left to the summer holiday another unfortunate event has occurred. Harry has gone missing nobody has any idea where he went, his broom, invisibility cloak were found to be missing as well.