Disclaimer: Neither I, nor my psychotic partner Emily, own any of the brilliantly awesome Harry Potter characters, except the even cooler ones that you've never seen before. Emily is getting very excited about the new Harry Potter movie, which comes out in less than fifty days. She is almost hysterical with all the pent up energy and hyperness. I however have - cough - remained dignified - cough - and have not succumbed to - cough - bouncing off the walls … yet.

Chapter Three is dedicated to the author neutral, for her brilliant Of Western Stars series. What would have happened if Sirius Black escaped Azkaban six years earlier and rescued Harry Potter from the Dursleys? Throw in Remus Lupin, soccer and the abused six year old savior of the wizarding world and you've got the first story in the Western Stars universe. Read on to watch as Harry makes his way through Hogwarts, aided and abetted by an over protective godfather and an only slightly less protective second godfather who both attempt to spoil him rotten. Hilarity ensues. Includes the Pantry of Doom featuring many cannibalistic gingerbread men and a colony of rabid chocolate frogs.

Warning: Craziness Factor - 83.33333333333333331675489023% - Quite a bit crazier than the last chapter - as you can probably tell by the number, lol - although we still haven't reached maximum mayhem yet.

This chapter of the ghoulish FF, Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch (GFT for short), brought to you by,

Abby

AND

Emily

Chapter Three

When Owls Attack And Introductions Get Really Messed Up

A full moon shone ethereally above the rooftops of the houses in a silent suburb. The wind blew gently, rustling the branches of a severely trimmed tree. A few leaves came loose and fluttered down to rest on the face of a thin teen, sitting in the midst of the tree's arms, bathed in the brilliance of the moonlight. His eyelids, pale and waxy from lack of sleep, flickered open and he wearily lifted up his hand to brush away the leaves.

So tired … sleep … if only I could sleep … The boy shook his head sharply, futilely fighting the inevitable. So exhausted …

Sleep was looming over him like an ominous cloud … The cloud shifted and fluttered, like a veil in a high wind … Ghostly shadows were drifting through the veil, faceless beings, meaningless vagabond souls … Four of the shadows was gliding towards him, becoming clearer the closer they came. He could make out two men and two women … The men both had black hair - one's handsomely long, the other's untidy and wild. One woman had long, vibrant red curls and the other whitish blond tresses. Two pairs of vivid green eyes stared out at him from their slightly blurry faces … The straight black haired man's slightly haunted black eyes were lit with laughter … The red head and the other man were clutching each other like they were afraid if they let go they would loose themselves … The man's hazel eyes held his gaze and he was drowning, falling through clouds of icy fog …

Then the scenery changed … he was surrounded by trees … agonised howls rent the night air … a large greyish-black wolf was dashing through the underbrush … yowling, crying to its kin … but no answering calls came …

He was in a small room in a stone castle, facing a desk littered with stray bits of parchment and large heaps of paperwork … he turned around to see a woman with long dark brown hair gazing out of a large window at the serene celestial body above her, the moonlight reflected brilliantly in her silver eyes …

Another woman stood alone on a hilltop … she had her face to the moon … she was howling … howling like a wolf … calling to them … a young boy was standing beside her, shaking slightly as the magical creatures crept up to the hill … they gathered around woman and child in a circle … the moon's rays made their motley group intimidating, outlining the shadows of the trees around them, their keen eyes shining with the excitement of the night …

A girl with gold streaked brown hair was lying on her stomach on a red and gold four-poster bed, watching the moon outside her window with a faintly frustrated look … she was twirling the amulet on a necklace around her neck between her fingers … In the room across the hall from the girl's a woman lay in a bed, decked out in colors identical to her daughter's, golden brown hair tumbling down onto the red, gold fringed pillow, looking at a picture of a young man and herself. The man was laughing and waving, black eyes radiating happiness as he slung his other arm around the woman's younger-picture-self's shoulders only to have her shove him to the ground before helping him up and kissing him lightly on the lips. Old tears stained the picture as well as fresh ones …

He was in a small, dank room … the air was heavy with a strong silencing spell … a black wolf, who was streaked with silver, the same shade that painted the tip of its tail and paws, was ripping apart the scant amount of furniture scattered around the room … the creature had a chain around its neck, adorned with two pendants which glittered faintly in the meagre silver light …

A pale man with glowing red eyes was laughing cruelly as a person writhed and shrieked at his feet … as he watched the man's right arm caught his eye … an arm made entirely of silver … then the red-eyed man turned on him and he was struggling in vain, trying to stop the agonised yells that were torn from his throat … then the pain was gone and all that was left was the dull throbbing of his scar …

The boy in the tree awoke with a jolt, his green eyes snapping open and blinking rapidly in the early morning sunlight. He took a shaky breath looked around disorientedly, his wild black hair even messier from his night in the tree. He was drenched in sweat, the lingering images of the nightmare fresh in his mind.

Slowly he lowered himself down from his perch and made his way towards the house, shoving the memories from the dreams out of his mind. It was useless trying to figure out what they meant. He didn't even recognise most of the people he dreamt about. He began to make breakfast, working to stop his mind from drifting … but the pair of hazel eyes haunted him throughout his waking hours …

"Ron!" Hermione ran over to her friend, who had just gotten on the Hogwarts Express and was looking for a place to sit. "Here, this compartment's free, drop your stuff off in."

Ron smiled and dragged his trunk into the room with one hand, while balancing a cage with the other. Inside the cage was a tiny little owl, who did not make Ron's job any easier by flying around the small enclosure, hooting rapidly.

Hermione took the cage, whispered, "Hush Pig," and put the unreasonably named creature on one of the seats. Then she turned around and made for the door. When Ron didn't follow, she sighed exasperatedly and yanked his arm. Hard.

"C'mon Ron, we have to go to the prefects' meeting!"

He followed her reluctantly down several of the train's corridors in silence. Finally he voiced the question that had been on his mind since he had reached the platform. "'Mione, you haven't seen Harry yet, have you?"

Hermione shifted anxiously and kept walking briskly towards the prefect carriage. "No, I haven't. You?"

"No," Ron frowned slightly. "Shouldn't he be here by now?"

"Hermione shook her head slowly. "Probably. But he'll be here. He wouldn't just not come. What I'm worried about is how he'll turn up."

Ron looked at her curiously. "Hmmm?"

"Well, you know Harry's never really had any family," Hermione swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. "And when he met Sirius, it was a sort of life saver to him. But now … Ron, I wish we had been able to go to the Burrow with him!"

"Eh?" Ron noted at her sudden show of emotion curiously.

"I'm worried. If we had been able to see him, maybe we could have helped somehow! I'm afraid that … you saw what Cedric's death did to him."

"You know if it hadn't been for Dumbledore's orders we'd've gone for him in a flash," sighing, Ron looked gloomily out a window, looking at the crowd on the platform. Harry was not among them. "But what, you think Harry's gonna come back and be a raging lunatic?" his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Hermione shook her head, sending bushy hair flying. "No …" she murmured. "I'm hoping against hope that when he come back he won't shut us out."

Ron stopped and stared at her until she continued.

"Harry and Sirius were really close, Ron. Do you think his death is going to be taken lightly? Harry's only real relative is dead and he's had two months to brood on that while in the company of his despicable aunt and uncle. If he had come to the Burrow - which probably wouldn't have happened even if Harry had been allowed to leave that cursed Muggle house -"

"Why wouldn't he be allowed to come to my house?"

"That's just it. Ron! You're on of Harry's best friends, so your house is probably the most dangerous place for him to go, with Voldemort - get a grip, Ron - back. They would've made him stay at Grimmauld Place and that would've killed him." Hermione took a breath, to stop the flood of anger rushing through her. "Anyhow, if he had some to the Burrow, maybe we could've helped, just by being there. But that didn't happen. Why did Dumbledore do this?!"

Ron raised his eyebrows. "What if he wanted to give Harry time to think, to sort it all out?"

Hermione stared at Ron incredulously. "You've been hanging around me too much," she muttered. "If I don't watch it, you'll be smarter than me."

Ron gave her a rough punch on the shoulder and ran frantically for the prefect compartment as Hermione drew her wand.

Abby looked excitedly out of the window beside her, watching the countryside flash by. When the train had left the station she had felt all of her nervousness slip away, replaced by a wild exultation, with the closed rackety city behind her and the open wilderness dead ahead. One chapter of her life was ending and another, crazier period lay before her. The solid elation pulsed through her veins, like waves tumbling down on top of her incessantly.

Her musings were interrupted as she heard a knock on the compartment door. A boy stepped in, wild black hair shifting with the train's movement. He looked to be about her age, but had the tight, thin look of someone who hasn't been eating properly. His eyes were a bright green, but looked as though they had shutters drawn down over them.. His skin was tanned from days spent outside doing chores and he looked weary.

Abby nodded to the seat opposite her, indicating her could take it. This solemn, quiet boy smiled slightly in thanks, intriguing her. He looked like -

"I'm Harry."

She shook her head to clear the muddle of thoughts within it and watched as the boy dropped his trunk and went back out into the corridor. "I'm Ab-" she started as he re-entered but she was cut off when a wild shriek sounded from the cage he was holding and an oddly murderous owl burst out.

She was a beautiful snowy feathered bird, with large, intelligent eyes. She was probably one of the smartest creatures Abby had ever had the fortune - or in this case misfortune - of seeing. She was loyal, brave and a good friend in peace or war. Abby could tell all this just by looking at her, the way she held herself regally in the air, the way her eyes glimmered with knowledge …

The image of beauty that Abby had seen in the female owl was not so eloquently ruined as the creature dived at Abby's face, attempting to acquaint her with an owl's sharp talons, screaming and clawing the whole way.

Abby put up her hands to shield her head and watched the bird nervously. Animals didn't normally like her, but they mostly just watched her warily or at worst ran away. This owl must have a strong bond with her human. Abby started thinking of her own animals companions back home and didn't notice the snowy owl swooping down again, talons raised.

Claw met flesh and Abby gave a yowl of pain. "GET OFF ME YOU ACURSED PIGEON!" She reached up and clasped her bleeding cheek with one hand, reaching out with her right one to catch the owl.

The winged being circled warily before swooping in again. This time Abby was ready. She met the light feathery body with a swift kick, which was meant to only make the thing back off. However, she must have misjudged her own rapidly escalating anger, and the owl reeled back, momentarily stunned.

Harry, who had been standing in the door, unsure of what to do, seemed to regain some life in his veiled eyes. They shimmered a brilliant green for a moment, but then Abby's view of him was cut off by the attacking owl.He looks fair angry, Abby thought grimly. Not even at the school and I already have an enemy!

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" he demanded as Abby clawed at his owl's throat.

"GETTING THIS BLASTED RAT-EATER AWAY FROM MY DAMNED FACE!"

The bird rose into the air, away from Abby's reaching arms and then shot at her fiercely. Abby ducked and failed to see Harry as he crept up behind her and tackled her as she attempted to swat the aforementioned demon possessed animal. They fell to the floor, hard, and Abby had just enough time to scramble up again before the owl came at her. The creature's wings whacked her head harshly and beak and talons were blurs, opening shallow cuts on Abby's arms. Finally, with a wild surge of strength Abby lunged for her tormentor.

She stood there for a moment, panting, holding the still bird by its talons in her right hand. The small being gave a feeble hoot and Abby wondered where the cage was. Obviously she wasn't going to kill it, she had never killed an innocent animal - although innocent certainly wasn't the word she used - before. But the teen, who had just gotten to his feet, mistook her intentions entirely.

He gave her a punch to the shoulder which sent her careering into the door. She released her hold on the bird and stood still. Her amber eyes lingered on the murderous look in the boy's eyes and the blood dripping from the owl's talons. Drat! She cursed. That stupid, cursed little owl! Why I oughta -

Suddenly the door behind Abby gave way and she fell backwards, landing at the feet of a girl with brown hair that had gold streaks in it.

Rose stared down at Abby in shock, then amusement. "Abby! What have you gotten yourself into this time? Oh, honestly …" she peered into the compartment and saw the boy and owl. "Holy house-elves," she laughed. "Can't you go one day without wreaking havoc?"

Said havoc-wreaker grumbled, stood and dusted herself off. Both Harry and his companion remained where they were, the bird's wings flapping the only sound. Abby gave a theatrical, world-weary sigh. "Rose, I was just in here, minding my own business -" Rose gave in to a coughing fit and recovered with a full-fledged smirk on her face "- when this kid's owl attacked me! And now look! They're ganging up on me!"

Rose shook her head. "He doesn't even have his wand drawn, moron," her smirk widened. "How could an owl and a guy your own age give you any trouble? Has all that training Cass gave you washed away? Why, I should owl her right now -" Rose was slightly interrupted when Abby spun around and kicked her feet out from under her. The black and silver haired girl grinned wolfishly. "Touché," Rose muttered as the other girl helped her stand up. "Well, how 'bout we agree that we're both washed up idiots who can't tell one end of a foil from the other until it runs us through?"

Abby nodded gravely. Then she turned to look back at the green-eyed boy. He was looking very confused. His owl had landed on his shoulder. Abby heard him whisper, "Stay, Hedwig."

Rose, too, looked at Harry. Her smile only grew. "I hope you won't judge my esteemed colleague Abbika by her exhibition in here," she addressed him cordially. "And I beg for your forgiveness in our hasty retreat, but we really must be going."

Abby raised her eyebrows and Rose stepped on her foot, which was impossible not to notice because Abby immediately growled and lashed out with the foot in question, catching her vengeful peer in the shins.

Grabbing the glaring teen's arm, Rose began to lead her - or drag to be more precise - down the empty corridor. "Now Abby, we really must be going. You said you had some - ah - items of interest to show me, hmm?"

Abby, who had realised it would not be the best or choices to raise her eyebrows again, merely glanced questioningly at the shorter girl. "Oh, erm - ya, sure, eh …" Abby rubbed her side, which had just been elbowed harshly. "Er, gotta go, I guess then …"

Her incoherent mumblings were interrupted as a red headed boy yelled out and raced towards their compartment, hitting the half-opened door solidly. A bushy brunette followed more cautiously in his wake.

Rose winked at Harry and dragged her friend into another compartment. Harry sighed in curiosity and bewilderment as he watched them. He didn't have much time to think however, as he was soon engulfed in a group hug, Hermione and Ron nearly suffocating him.

Several silent minutes passed. Ron shifted uncomfortably in his seat and shot a glance at Harry, who was gazing out the window of the compartment. Despite all of Hermione's suspicions, he had never actually expected Harry to be all that different. Sure, he had kind of blown up at them last summer and there had been other times that they were at loggerheads with each other, but the three of them had always pulled through. And Harry had suffered losses before, so surely this wasn't all that different.

But nothing could've prepared Ron for the sight that greeted him and Hermione as they pulled back from the hug they had given Harry the moment they had seen him. Tanned yet undeniably tired, he looked like he hadn't slept properly since he had left Hogwarts. He seemed somehow even thinner and smaller than usual, under all of his cousin's clothes. And his eyes … they looked like some inner light inside them had been snuffed out, boarded up windows in a deserted house.

Ron had seen Hermione's lips thin and her eyes flash slightly as she too took in their friend's appearance. It looked like those Muggles had barely given him enough food to survive, Ron thought angrily. But then Harry had smiled and he and Hermione smiled back. It had been a real smile, not forced or pained, although somewhat weary. But it had been real and so they had all traipsed back into the compartment. That was when the awkward quiet had descended.

"Uhhh …" Say something! Anything to break this bloody silence … "So, how was your summer?" Ron asked Harry.

Thwack. Ron cringed as Hermione whacked his shoulder. She was sitting beside him and Ron was beginning to wish he had sat down on the other bench. He glanced incredulously at her.

"What?" he whispered.

"Stop being insensitive!" Hermione hissed back. She looked over at Harry. If he had heard their whispered exchange of words he gave no sign of it. In fact, he hadn't moved once since sitting down in the compartment, occasionally giving a reminiscent sigh. Hermione was sure that while he was looking right out the window, he was seeing none of the vivid scenery, but something else entirely.

"All I did was ask a question," Ron muttered darkly.

Thwack.

"What did I do now?"

This was going to be a very long ride. A very long and quiet ride. (A/N: But of course, no trip to Hogwarts is complete without our favorite little ferret-boy …)

Suddenly the door slid open and an all too familiar young wizard strode in, followed by - oddly enough - only one of his rather large cronies.

"Well, if it isn't the glorious golden trio," Malfoy drawled, leaning ever so elegantly against the wall. Crabbe stood, blinking stupidly and cracking his knuckles in the doorway. "A weasel," Malfoy nodded in Ron's general direction, " a mudblood," he smirked at Hermione, "and, of course, St. Potter. Still miss that mutt of yours, Potter?" Malfoy was grinning snake-ishly (A/N: For those of you who can actually imagine a snake grinning, congrats, you win … NOTHING, lol.)at Harry. "But I hear it was his own cousin that put him out of his misery, that must have been …" he gave a very melodramatic sigh, "traumatic, hmmm?"

Ron started to stand up, fists clenched, but Hermione grabbed onto his arm and held him back. Harry rose at exactly the same moment and Hermione groaned inwardly. How does one keep two angry young wizards from decapitating an annoying prat?! she complained mentally.

"Sod off, Malfoy," she ground out, gritting her teeth as she yanked Ron forcefully back onto his seat and reached over to push Harry down too. She was startled to find him shaking with suppressed rage. "Can't you tell you're not welcome here?" Then, because she couldn't help herself, she added, with a wide grin, "Mr. Bond."

The blonde headed boy glared at her fiercely, before turning on his heel and snarling over his shoulder, "I wouldn't spend any more time than necessary in the presence of a worthless little mudblood, like yourself."

It was just Hermione's luck that when she had pushed Harry back she had let go of Ron. World War III looks like a very likely path for this day to take, Hermione thought as she watched Ron stand, resigning herself to listening to whatever insult her fiery tempered friend was about to throw and getting in a few good hexes before Malfoy and Crabbe knew what was happening. At least being smart pays off when you're against opponents who have the mental capacity of fuzzy caterpillars. Hermione paused. Now where did that come from? Fuzzy caterpillars? Maybe hanging around with Harry and Ron is finally getting to me.

"Not so cocky now that your daddy's behind bars, are you Malfoy?"

In one swift movement Malfoy had whirled around and drawn his wand. Crabbe just stood by, not having noticed a fight was breaking out. Belatedly, Hermione realised her wand was in her trunk. Of all the times to be disorganised and scatterbrained! Harry had his wand pointed menacingly at Malfoy and Ron was hastily following his friend's example.

Malfoy flicked his wand idly from between Harry and Ron before settling his sights on Hermione. He smirked as he saw she didn't have her wand and began saying some sort of spell. But that was when Hermione decided to chuck the rules out the window. She dodged Malfoy's hex and kicked him in the shins. Some distant part of her mind recalled what an incredibly stupid thing this was to do, but why let Harry and Ron have all the fun?

It appeared that the element of surprise had worked in Hermione's favour. That, and the fact that she had kicked him very, very hard, sent the unprepared wizard sprawling into the corridor, causing Crabbe to fall clumsily into another compartment. Hermione slammed the door shut and turned to smile innocently at her stunned friends.

She walked back over to her seat and sat down serenely, graciously ignoring Ron's gobsmacked look.

"Bond?" It was Harry's voice that broke the silence and to Hermione's relief he was grinning broadly.

The resident muggleborn snorted undignifiedly. Then she began to tell Harry about Rose and their encounter with a certain Slytherin moron.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Eh, and you new students, too!"

A loud voice was ringing out across the platform. Through all the commotion Abby spotted a huge, giant of a man surrounded by a crowd of jittery eleven-year-olds. She tugged on Rose's sleeve and pointed.

"I think we should go that way!"

Rose smirked suddenly and gestured to a small, terrified looking blonde girl. "Hang on."

Abby grinned wolfishly. The two walked over to the girl and stood on either side of her.

"So, you're blonde, eh?" asked Abby, smiling evilly down at the unfortunate little girl. "I used to be blonde too, eh."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "No, you didn't."

She paused. Abby stared at her. The little girl tried to sidle away.

Finally Rose clued in. "EH!" she shrieked, realising she had forgotten her signature Canadian sign-off line.

The blonde witch backed away. "I-I gotta go." And with that, she turned tail and ran.

Abby and Rose high-fived. Then they broke out in a fit of laughter.

"So, that's what - twenty-six?" Abby asked when she had stopped laughing mindlessly.

"Nope, twenty-seven," Rose corrected, smugly.

"Meh, whatever."

"Oy, you two, ge' over here!"

Rose turned and saw the man and the first years down by the boats. "Abby, why didn't you say they were waiting for us?" Without waiting for a reply the impulsive witch ran for the docks.

Abby rolled her eyes before taking off after her friend.

Rose was incredibly fast, and was waiting impatiently for Abby, tapping her foot. "Would you hurry it up?!"

"Nah, I think I might take the scenic route!" Abby hollered back. She turned and made her way towards the forest a few meters away. After circling a tree exactly seven times she ran down to where Rose was. "Ready?"

Now it was Rose's turn to roll her eyes skyward. "You took so long now we have to wait for these silly little munchkins to get settled before we get a boat."

And she was right. The first years were milling and swarming around the docks in little clusters, trying to find a boat with their friends. So Rose and Abby turned to the massive man supervising this chaotic event.

"So …" Rose began.

Abby reached out her hand, very seriously. "Abbika Artemis Serreda, sir. And whom might you be?"

The man looked down - quite a feat, as Abby was extremely tall - and smiled, black eyes crinkling above his beard. "'Ello, there," he reached down and shook Abby's arm. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid, but jus' call me Hagrid, ev'ryone does."

Rose extended her hand and smiled maniacally. "Rose's the name, pranking's the game."

Hagrid chuckled.

"If yeh like 'em pranks yeh should've ben 'ere las' year," he said, eyes roaming over the sea of midgets. "Two o' the students gave a profess'r a run fer her money. Bu' the students could tell yeh more 'bout tha' than I can. You two mus' be the new students. Canadians, eh?"

The two witches looked up simultaneously at his last word. "EH?!" they echoed in perfect unison.

Hagrid nodded bemusedly.

"You speak our language!" Rose yelled, throwing her arms wide open as though she had witnessed a brilliant spectacle.

Abby stood rigidly. "We salute you, sir!" She brought her hand to her brow in a sharp salute.

Rose lowered her arms and bowed deeply, nose almost bashing against the ground. "You have earned our respect!"

Then the two of them dashed off to the end of the dock to find a boat, leaving a very amused Hagrid in their wake. He shook his head and clambered into his own boat, leading the fleet out into the lake.

Rose reached the last little boat and hopped gracefully in while Abby, on the other hand, tripped on a rock and came hurtling through the air to land on the bottom of the dingy. The boat rocked and almost tipped but the fates appeared to be smiling down on them and it righted itself.

"Moron," muttered Rose as Abby plopped down onto one of the benches and their boat began to glide out into the lake. Then she turned to look at the slightly startled looking boy sitting in the boat with them.

He had reddish blonde hair that was slightly tousled after the near capsizing of the boat and brilliant green eyes - hadn't the boy on the train had the same colored eyes? - shining ethereally in the silvery moonlight. The moon's almost full, Rose thought thoughtfully, mentally counting down the days.

"I'm Rose and this is Abby, eh," Rose said to the boy who had been staring at them curiously. "We're Canadian, eh."

The boy smiled, clearly amused. "I'm Mark Evans … eh."

Rose gasped. Abby groaned. "You speak our -"

Thankfully, Rose was interrupted by Hagrid calling out from across the water, "Yeh'll see Hogwarts in jus' a mo' here."

Rose turned around and her breath caught in her throat. She poked Abby harshly and whispered, "Look!"

Abby turned. Mark turned. Hogwarts stood there on the hillside, flickering lights shining out of every window, colossal and magnificent.

"Holy freakin' beaver houses," Abby murmured in awe.

"Wow," gasped Mark, eyes wide.

Splash.

Abby closed her eyes, not even bothering to turn around. "ROSE?!"

"Eep."

(A/N: Wow, I said before that there would only be one more segment but there ended up being several. That explains why it took so long, lol. Ch 4 is also done (another wow, rofl) and will be up soon.

Later as you meet more of the characters that Abby and Rose know you will begin to understand Harry's dream. Remember, any reviews are much appreciated!

Hope the Harry and Abby bit didn't seem too strange, lol. Animals just don't like Abby and Harry's rather tired and angry, so he doesn't take well to his owl being attacked - even though she started it.

Eep, I gotta go, I was supposed to get off the computer like half an hour ago. Enjoy the Chapter, review and read neutral's fics!

C ya!)