(This is an AU story. Sirius Black is still alive and will continue to be alive. He was however seriously injured at the Department of Mysteries. HHr pairing

Note: I do not own any of the characters in this story except Olivia. All other characters belong to J K Rowling.)

The clock struck twelve. It was now the 31 July. Harry Potter was now sixteen years old. Stretching lazily, Harry got up from the tiny chair he had been huddling in for the past two hours. "Well, it was a good two hours of work. That was quite a bit of interesting information. No wonder Hermione is always hooked on one of these books!" Harry muttered to himself. Glancing at the clock, he muttered a sarcastic "Happy Birthday to you, Harry!" and decided to turn in.

Usually, Harry was not so unenthusiastic about his birthday, well at least not since he had been to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At the age of thirteen, Harry had found out that he was a wizard and started his training there. Having been living the Dursleys since his parents had been murdered by Voldemort, Harry had come to expect nothing from them except sarcasm and orders. At one time, he had been heavily bothered by these remarks and behaviour but all that had disappeared with the incident that had occurred during his previous term at Hogwarts.

Having been unable to master Occlumency, Voldemort had managed to send him deceiving visions which caused him to believe that his godfather, Sirius Black, had been captured and was being tortured by him. Coupled with the deception of Sirius' house-elf , Kreacher, Harry and some of the DA members had been trapped into entering the entering the Department of Mysteries. When the Order had come to save them from Voldemort's Death Eaters, many of them had been injured but the worst case had been Sirius. The incident kept replaying itself in Harry's mind and he was constantly tortured by the image of Sirius' agonized yell as his on cousin and one of Voldemort's most loyal Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange had attacked him. Since then, Sirius had been bed-ridden and no one had been able to cure him.

Having had to return to the Dursleys during the school vacation, Harry was purely agonized and guilt-ridden by his own actions. Not only had he hurt the man who had done so much for him but he had also endangered the lives of his friends who had trusted and supported him. To make matters worse, he had later learnt about the prophecy which merely summed things up in the bleakest possible way for him, kill or be killed. Either he would end up killing Voldemort or Voldemort would succeed in killing him.

Harry choked back a sob and shut his eyes tightly. Taking deep breaths, he willed himself to calm down and remember the promise that he had made to himself recently. Whether he liked it or not, many things kept happening to him. Voldemort had marked him and that meant that the lives of all who cared for him and whom he cared for were in danger. He remembered the words of Rowena Ravenclaw, "Harry, you are not responsible for any of Voldemort's actions. His actions and those of his Death Eaters are entirely their own and only they bear responsibility. You, Harry, however have the power to stop Voldemort, if you are prepared and ready for him when he challenges you."

"Rowena's right, Harry. With the help of all who are willing, you will be able to prevent Voldemort from rising to power and destroying the wizarding world."

All this had happened many days ago, the first night that he had arrived at the Dursleys after his fifth year at Hogwarts. Since that night, Harry had stopped moping around and begun seriously training with the founders of Hogwarts, including Salazar Slytherin who told Harry, "I might not agree with Godric on everything but I have no desire to see so many innocent people dying or suffering. I will help you in every way possible".

Using a Portkey, Harry had been transported to Merlin's Isles every evening, where he received training and instruction in many areas of magic, including Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions. It had been quite difficult for Harry at first. He was not Hermione and such a great depth of intellectual training was not easy for him. He was using a time turner every three nights to help him. Nevertheless, he knew how important all this was and he conscientiously trained every night. Silently, he also prayed that he could upon some way to cure Sirius but he didn't dare hope too much.

Sighing, Harry turned in his bed and sleep came slowly but peacefully. Salazar Slytherin had taught him to make a potion, which shut out all painful dreams and memories. Harry was thus able to enjoy a few good hours of complete rest everyday.

The next night, when he arrived at Merlin's Isles, he was greeted by all four wizards. This was slightly different because he met no more than two of them every night for training. Harry realized that something was up.

"Hi, Harry! You must be wondering why all of us are here. It has got to do with your training and er.... something else. Come along, you will find out soon enough!" Professor Ravenclaw said brightly as all of them headed towards the palatial building where Harry trained every night. Utterly perplexed at these words, Harry followed in silence.

Within a few minutes, everyone was inside the common room of the Godric Gryffindor's chambers. It was Professor Hufflepuff who broke the silence. "Harry, you must have realized that this training will be coming to an end soon. In a few day's, you will be leaving for Grimmauld Place and then to Hogwarts. Before you go, there are a few things that you should be clear about. ."

"First of all, Harry, what you have learned so far is by no means exhaustive. Voldemort had spent years traveling around the world and gathering vast kinds of knowledge. You should therefore not stop training. We have prepared for you a schedule and a set of books that will aid you in your training while you are at Hogwarts. We will meet every Friday night using the same Portkey."

Harry nodded silently and accepted the chest of books that Professor Ravenclaw handed him. Professor Gryffindor continued, "I must also caution you Harry that by now you have gained knowledge and skills far greater than any other student at Hogwarts, well maybe not every other student. One must not forget Hermione Granger. Nevertheless, you are still quite advanced in your skills. I must caution you Harry that you must realize that there is always something to be learned. Never ever make the mistake of becoming arrogant or complacent. That is what always causes the downfall of anyone, no matter how great."

Finally, Professor Slytherin spoke, "There is one more thing that I want you to know. It is about your godfather, Sirius Black." Upon hearing this, Harry's heart gave a lurch and his head shot up. "Was this what he hoped it would be?" Not even daring to breathe, Harry waited expectantly for Professor Slytherin to continue.

"He had been hit with two Unforgivables and no one has yet been able to cure or even treat him. I just don't know what to do", Harry said, his voice breaking.

"There is a way, Harry. But, it will require tremendous effort on your part and.. you alone cannot achieve anything", continued Professor Slytherin mysteriously.

"Just tell me what I have to do. I'm willing to try anything to help my godfather", Harry replied eagerly.