Ok. Everyone knows the drill. Still here goes nothing -

Harry Potter and the other characters of J.K. Rowling are strictly hers (though this plot here is mine J). I am not the original writer (though I wish I could be) and I do not wish to make money from this. Most Importantly, I DO NOT want to get sued. So if anyone has any problems with anything I write, then just tell me.

There's plenty more...blah blah blah....forget it and let the story begin :).

Note: US English has been used here.

HARRY POTTER & THE POWER OF HOGWARTS

Chapter 2 – New Resolutions

"COME OUT, you little bastard" shouted Uncle Vernon. Harry looked at his watch to see that it was 12:15 p.m. and time for his lunch. He had been awake from 5:00 in the morning and had been thinking about what had happened over the summer and somehow, he just wasn't able to get his mind off Sirius. 'Why did Sirius have to die?' this was the question for which Harry found no answer but he was sure of one thing, today he will have to make some decisions.

Also on his mind was the vision he had yesterday night. What was it that Voldemort had asked Wormtail to do? Whatever it was, it was very well protected since Wormtail hadn't been able to reach it. Even Voldemort had been skeptical of the chances of Wormtail getting them but what if 'it' wasn't a thing? What if it was a person?

NO, it can't be. Or rather, it shouldn't be. I can't afford to lose another person close to me, Harry thought with the face of Sirius coming up fresh in his mind. Or was it another of Voldemort's tricks? "He has penetrated my mind before also. He had shown me the DoM and Sirius" Harry thought. Maybe it was just another trick of Voldemort, he tried to convince himself about this but what if it really was someone or something that Voldemort was planning to get? "Maybe I should tell Dumbledore" Harry thought. "But do I trust him to do the right thing? I trusted him for all these years and what have I got till now? Misery, grief, loss of the person who meant the most to me…no, Dumbledore will have to wait until I figure out if it was real or not" Harry found himself muttering these things to himself. "BUT how can Voldemort start to plan something again? He has lost most of his followers and they have to be in Azkaban right now. Hopefully the minister…oh my god…Fudge…he surely couldn't have messed up again and let some of them run scot free" Harry reminded himself of the times when many death-eaters had gone free saying that they were acting under the effects of the Imperius curse. "If something of that sort happens then surely Ron or Hermione will inform me. Without his most trusted supporters, Voldemort won't do anything foolish…but he still has Bellatrix with him. Hopefully he has killed her for not getting the prophecy." Harry wished.

"GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW OR YOU WON'T HAVE ANY LUNCH"

Uncle Vernon's words brought Harry back to reality. "Uncle Vernon at home at this time?" thought Harry but his growling stomach made him forget the question and he went down for his lunch.

"What took you so long? Eat something and get back to your room. We can't wait for you all day long" Uncle Vernon spat out.

Harry didn't bother to answer his uncle's question as he quickly started eating. After staying with the Drusley's for so long, he knew when they expected an answer and when they expected Harry to stay quite indicating he had done something wrong (again!). For the first time in around 24 hours, he noticed just how hungry he really was but he knew that he wouldn't get more than the 2 sandwiches which had been kept on his plate. Whenever he had asked for more, he had been ordered to leave the table without even finishing his meal. He knew that he could argue now. After all, he wasn't the same meek 11 year old boy who could be forced into doing anything his relatives wanted but he was so busy grieving Sirius that he didn't want to get into an argument now. All he wanted to do now was to finish his meal and go back to his room work out his priorities. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Uncle Vernon peering out of the windows from time-to-time. He could also feel that Uncle Vernon was a bit nervous.

"So, Moody's warning has had an impact" the truth dawned on Harry. "So much so that Uncle Vernon didn't even go to his office today. Well, who cares?" With this thought, Harry finished his meal, left the table and went up to his room.

For the first time since coming back here he looked around his room and found that Hedwig was sleeping in her cage. He felt guilty for ignoring her last night and understood that she had been unable to go out and hunt herself any food. Even then Hedwig had remained silent though she must have been feeling very hungry at night. "Good girl, she understands me so much. I have to make up for that today." With that in his mind, he started to think what he needed to do today.

"First things first, have to take a shower and then unpack my things". With that Harry went down to take a shower. Aunt Petunia was extremely angry when she saw him coming out of the shower at that time.

"Listen boy, this house won't run according to your rules. From tomorrow onwards you won't be able to take a shower unless you take it at the right time in the morning" Aunt Petunia's eyes were full of hatred as she shouted at Harry. Harry just turned away and left.

"How can one human hate another so much?" Harry found no answer to this question which had popped up in his mind. "If there is a hating contest, then my uncle or aunt will give Voldemort a run for his money. Who knows, Voldemort may even lose." With a small smile on his lips, Harry went into his room again. Once inside, he got dressed in Dudley's old shirt and trousers (these are so BIG and…are these wearable clothes? rags maybe, but certainly not clothes for wearing. And then they blame me for looking odd in front of visitors??) and took out the required things from his trunk and placed them at their appropriate places. Certainly, no one would call his stuff 'normal', not when there is a book which bites, a broomstick which is used to fly whereas people use it for cleaning rooms, books on creatures such as unicorns which people thought were myths…but when was his life normal?

After he had finished clearing up everything and his room looked to be in some kind of order (at least to him), he sat down on his bed. NOW was the time for some serious thinking if he was to make something out of his life. NOW was the time for some decision making. But he wasn't finding it easy to think about anything other than Sirius but no, Harry decided, now was not the time for grieving any more. Knowing fully well that he would never forget what had happened at the DoM, he pushed away the thoughts regarding Sirius and concentrated on the bigger picture.

Many people had given their life protecting him as they all thought he was going to be the savior of the wizarding world (ha!). The weight of this seemed too heavy for his soon-to-be 16-year old shoulders but he knew he had to do something. He didn't want to be any savior or hero but he just couldn't let down all the people who had died for him. There were far too many people who believed that he was 'something' even though they didn't know the exact contents of the prophecy or even its existence. "What should I do? Go out and kill Voldemort." His heart tried to tell him whereas his mind started reason with it "Am I mad? I saw what Voldemort is capable of. Even Dumbledore couldn't stop him and everyone expects me to go and kill him. Who do these people think I am – some wizarding version of Clarke Kent who will transform into Superman?" Harry thoughts were getting desperate by the moment as he was finding it very hard to come up with a solution. He then tried to relax as his mind got the better of his heart. There was no reason to panic as most of the damage had already been done, he reminded himself. "Maybe not for the wizarding world, but for me the damage has really been done. Who cares about me after all? Everyone expects me to see things, bear pain, see my loved ones die AND then stand up strongly against Voldemort. Everyone wants me to save the world in some way, but what about MY life? Who do I have to live for and why the hell should I try to protect others?" Harry thought as he started getting carried away in his emotions once again. "Dumbledore – he had said that I am destined for great things. Yeah yeah, I may live long enough to see those great things I do." Harry thought sarcastically. "Ron, well, he is my best mate but he too is jealous of this goddamn scar" Harry knew that Ron was jealous from the 4'th year when Harry's name came out of the goblet of fire for the Tri-Wizard tournament. "Hermione, she is always studying and always wants me to follow the rules. How can I follow the rules when I am destined to fight someone who doesn't follow any damn rule in the world? What would Ron or Hermione have done if they had lost someone close to themselves? All the Weasleys were almost at their breaking points when Mr. Weasley got hurt last year. Even Hermione seemed shocked. And here am I, without parents, without my godfather, but still expected to be strong. But if I am supposed to be the one who is the main thing Voldemort is after, then no one else should get hurt. Mom and dad loved me and they died. Sirius loved me and he died. Maybe Remus, Ron, Hermione, Ginny...Noooo" Harry started sweating at this barrage of disastrous thoughts. "I'll have to stop this in some way. Someway or the other it has to come to an end. But I have to go through many things even before I can expect to challenge a 7'th year student, let alone Voldemort. Maybe I should set some targets for myself." Harry thought to himself knowing fully well that his thoughts were now back on the right track. He took out a parchment and started thinking. "What the hell I am doing. Writing targets to fight Voldemort? That's easy as there can be only one target – staying alive and killing Voldemort." he thought sarcastically "If only life had been so easy…" But a voice from deep inside cut him off - "Do you really wish to give up so easily? Can't you do anything against Voldemort without complaining so much? Doesn't the life of your parents and godfather mean anything to you?" – this voice sounded so much like his own but just a bit deeper. Knowing fully well that whatever the deep voice had said was true, Harry gave in to direction in which his life was destined to go "I'll try." he said to himself.

Thinking for a moment, he forced himself start writing on the parchment.

Things I have to do

1) Learn as much as possible.

Finishing this, he again got lost in his thoughts. "Whoever is close to me dies. What should I do...what should I do? It's not as if I want them to be hurt but…there MUST be some way". Suddenly a thought struck him "If I stay away from others, then they MAY remain safe. At least, they will have a chance then. With me around, they always get into danger" he shuddered from the thought about how his 5 friends had to fight for their lives at the DoM. His thoughts wandered to the times he and his friends had spent together and how much they had helped him in this past 5 years. "NO, I won't let them be harmed" He thought. "But how can I stay away from Ron, Hermione and Ginny?" He asked himself. A voice deep down replied that he should do so even if he didn't find an answer now. He made a promise to himself that he will do so though he had no idea about how he was going to keep his promise.

2) Stay away from my friends as much as possible…without hurting their feelings.

His hand almost stopped in the middle of writing this line but he forced himself to do it. He was very angry with himself that he was thinking of doing this. How could he ever explain this to his friends that this was for their own good? What will they think of his behavior? Oh yeah, Ron would say something like 'there goes our big hero who doesn't even have the time to talk to us'. These thoughts started bothering him very much as also the fact that he could end up as a loner. Neither did he want to be all alone with no one to talk to nor did he want everyone to think that he was trying to act like some hero. But he also didn't want them to be suspicious of his motives because he knew that if they found out even a single thing about this, then no matter what he did, they will stick by his side. He didn't want them to ever find this out, no matter what.

"BUT who ever cared what I EVER wanted? I never wanted this damn scar. I don't want to be a hero. Then WHY?" The memories of Sirius came flooding back. Why had it happened? "If I had just continued my Occulmency classes..." He thought bitterly as he remembered that he was thrown out of the classes by Snape – Snape, that greasy haired git. "He was always insulting me and my dad" Harry thought "Snape could have helped me if he could just have given up his childish prejudice, but he didn't. He must be now rejoicing the death of Sirius, maybe even having a little drink with his lord" Harry was almost beside himself with anger as images of Snape provoking him in the class came to his mind. He was angry – angry with himself because he hadn't put up with Snape, angry with Snape because Snape NEVER tried to help him. What's more, he didn't even trust Snape. Snape was acting as a spy for the order but in all probability, he could very well be a spy for Voldemort. Snape, that bloody greasy git. AND Dumbledore! He was getting weary of Dumbledore's methods of keeping him 'safe'. "Yeah, yeah...I will be safe and everyone I love dies around me. It will be such a nice world to live in then. Such a nice way of remaining SAFE" he muttered bitterly. And the worst thing was that Dumbledore always defended Snape. Dumbledore would even go to the extent of vouching for Snape when he knows how much I have suffered at his hands at Hogwarts, Harry thought with his anger rising again. Maybe someday Dumbledore will ask Snape to be Harry's bodyguard. That will be the day, smiled Harry grimly. Harry's moods were swinging too frequently for his own good. Sometimes he wasn't even able to think clearly because of his rage. He again tried to calm himself down so that he could think logically again.

Who can question Dumbledore's wisdom? He was the only one Voldemort feared, and that was in itself a lot. Harry had always viewed Dumbledore with a lot of awe. For Harry, Dumbledore was the greatest wizard of modern times but...but...why had Dumbledore remained silent this past year? Why had he avoided Harry? Why didn't Dumbledore just talk to him for sometime explaining everything before Sirius died? Dumbledore had a full year to help him out, but he didn't. For all Harry knew, if Dumbledore had even once said about what MAY happen if Harry didn't do his classes with Snape correctly, then Harry would have stayed put with that greasy git till death. Better Snape than Sirius dead. Alas, it was too late now.

"SOMEBODY should pay for this. SOMEBODY HAS TO PAY FOR MESSING UP MY LIFE..." Harry almost screamed out in frustration and anger. But who? "VOLDEMORT" the name started throbbing in his mind and ears. "He will eventually pay. He will pay for all his misdeeds. Voldemort – even if I don't fight you for the other people of the wizarding world, I will do so to get revenge for my family, the one that I never got to know." Harry's mind seemed sure about this last point. "But others will also pay. Others who have cost me Sirius...who could have saved him...everyone will pay." With this thought, Harry wrote down the third and probably most important point:

3) Revenge from EVERYONE.

Harry looked down at what he had written with a grim smile. Executing his 3'rd point on the agenda will require some wits and raw nerve. Maybe not everything which he was planning to do was correct but after Sirius, he felt that the time had come for him to pay back. He was sure of that. Since no more targets came to his mind (his O.W.L's scores and the subjects which he will pick for N.E.W.T.'s were the farthest away from his mind now) Harry started to sketch out a plan for these.

Learning new things, well, he was going to learn new things this upcoming year (unless he had flunked in all his .O.W.L.'s) but he needed to learn something more. He had to learn what dark wizards were capable of, what kinds of spells there are, how he could fight them…the list went on and on. Will Dumbledore help me in this, he thought skeptically. He decided to wait a bit before talking to Dumbledore about all this. Also, he would be observing Dumbledore's (and other people's) actions for the time being.

Avoiding his friends would be quite difficult, Harry thought with a pang of guilt but then, they might think that he was still mourning Sirius. It would be easier then. In that way, they would not be offended and he will be allowed to do whatever he wanted to without anyone interrupting him (unless he wanted someone to be there). This thought cheered him up somewhat. "Staying with Hermione for 5 years and getting into so much trouble does have some good side effects. At least, you can think up good excuses real quick" he smiled inwardly.

His final aim would be no easy meat either. He would have to be very careful about it as everyone would have to be dealt with carefully. Maybe he will have to take Remus into his confidence, Harry thought, since he was sure that Remus was mourning Sirius very much also. He knew that if he could trust someone with his life at this moment, then it better be Remus than anyone else – even Dumbledore didn't come close to Remus. But still, talking with Remus will have to wait for a while since he had to take care of some of the things before he started implementing his third target.

"5 years of hurt, hatred, half-truths...everything will be paid back", the look on Harry's face when he was thinking this was quite frightening. All this thinking finally drained Harry of whatever energy he had gained from his lunch as it seemed his mind had shut itself down. He couldn't believe that it was 6:00 in the evening and he had been doing this for over 4 hours at a stretch now. He stuffed away the parchment into his trunk beside his invisibility cloak and made a mental note to keep the parchment safe and out of reach of any of his friends. He also decided that as time went by, he would keep adding targets to that parchment and will also break-up his 3 targets into some smaller portions. He looked around and saw that Hedwig was awake and looking at him. As soon as he looked at Hedwig, she turned her head away from him. He gave a short sad smile towards her as he understood that she was a little bit angry with him. She was the only true friend he could count on now - someone who didn't hide her feelings, who didn't say half-truths, who loved her and who stood by him through thick and thin. He went up to Hedwig, gave her a few owl treats and let Hedwig out of her cage (she gave an angry hoot at him for his ignorance last night but seemed thankful for the owl treats). "Sorry girl, I was very upset and was totally lost in my thoughts. It won't happen again, I promise." Hedwig seemed to understand and knew that Harry won't break his promise to her. She gave him a short peck on his ear almost indicating that she could feel his pain. With that, she flew out to hunt for herself.

"This room feels very stuffy. A walk would be the right thing to do now." Harry thought to himself. With that he started climbing down the stairs.

"Where do you think you are going?" Uncle Vernon bellowed.

"For a walk. I'll be back in an hour" Harry replied with a hint of anger in his voice and opened the door.

"You better go up to your room NOW if you know what is good for you" Uncle Vernon almost seemed beside himself with anger. No one ignored his words, NOT this tiny 'abnormal' child.

"If I don't go out there, then the people who met you at the station will think something has happened to me. After that you will be responsible if anyone turns up asking for me. Don't blame me for anything then." Harry said as he stood by the door uncertainly, hoping silently that his uncle would let him go now.

Uncle Vernon seemed to contemplate his words carefully. He didn't want any 'clowns' to turn up asking for Harry, least of all the guy with the weird eye.

"Ok, go on. But get back here in 30 minutes or we'll lock you out." Uncle Vernon had no other choice but to do this.

Harry didn't say a word more and went out before Uncle Vernon had the chance to change his mind. He liked going for short walks sometimes. The air also seemed fresh that evening and he felt a bit relieved walking all alone enjoying the air blowing on his face. Also, he felt as if some of the burden of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. He went to the park nearby where Dudley with his gang used to hang out and luckily found that they were not there today.

"Thank god, at least I will be able to sit in peace here for the moment" Harry thought as he lay down on the green grass to look up at the clear sky. He tried to make shapes from some of the clouds which were there on the sky and found that one of the shapes looked like a man's face. Suddenly his thoughts shifted back to that of Sirius. He started thinking about how it would have been if Sirius had been beside him. Maybe they would have had some ice-cream and would have talked about his dad. Sirius always liked to talk to Harry about the time he spent with his dad and Remus, about what they did at Hogwarts, about how his dad would create trouble at school and then pretend to be an angel, about how Sirius would go after some of the Gryffindor girls but no one seemed interested in him, about how Remus used to mock him for being a playboy. Harry used to love those tales and a small smile crept on his face when he remembered the good times he had spent with Sirius. Though the time spent with Sirius had been quite short, yet they had been the most enjoyable moments of his short but adventurous life.

His most prized possession was the Firebolt broomstick which Sirius had given to him during his 3'rd year. At that time Harry had thought Sirius was the one who had betrayed his parents by handing them over to Voldemort but towards the end of his 3'rd year, he learnt that Peter Pettigrew (or Wormtail as he was known) was the main culprit. Peter had been the secret-keeper of his parents when their house had been kept under the Fidelius charm and had told Voldemort where his parents were hidden. The night on which Harry had discovered that Sirius was innocent had been an adventurous one. That night Wormtail fled to revive Voldemort but still that night had a bright silver lining to it. Sirius had informed Harry that he was Harry's godfather making Harry happy beyond words. He had a family, yes, he had a family, that was the only thought which seemed to come in his mind at that time. Sirius had offered Harry a place to stay, a place which both of them would be able to call a home and where both of them would be able to have fun. That was when Harry had felt joy beyond himself thinking that after all that had happened to him, he would at last have a family. He would stay with his godfather. At last he would have had a home. But Minister Fudge had refused to believe that Sirius was innocent. THAT MINISTER, he was a good-for-nothing. Suddenly he felt angry all over again. Fudge had made Harry lose his godfather and his dream home and had also had tried to administer the Dementor's Kiss to Sirius. Thankfully Harry and Hermione had been able to save Sirius's life. All of a sudden, Harry came back to reality. He quickly rubbed off the silent tears which he had been shedding almost subconsciously and looked around to find that no one had seen him. But if only Sirius had been alive Harry wouldn't have to be here. He would have been somewhere else with his loving godfather. But Sirius was now...

He was about to rise when he suddenly felt a pair of eyes bearing down on him. He couldn't be sure of the direction but he knew that someone was watching him. He silently got up and gripped his wand in his pocket and knew that at the slightest hint of danger, he would be able to pull out his wand to protect himself. Swiftly, he made his way towards his 'home' knowing that it was past 7:30. Uncle Vernon would be mad at him and Harry was already trying to think about some possible excuses. It was also not helping that he was subconsciously aware of the person following him. He could feel that there was only one person but wasn't too sure of that person's intentions. Was it a Order member or one of Voldemort's followers? Whoever it was, 'it' didn't seem to be taking any actions against Harry at the moment. As he turned the last corner before coming onto the street leading to his house, Harry's scar burnt like hell. He stopped in his stride and fell to the ground clutching his scar. It seemed like forever. The pain again faded away as suddenly as it had started. Slowly he managed to get up and started walking again. After walking just a few paces someone suddenly grabbed him from behind and threw him down behind some bushes on the roadside. Harry felt the person standing (or was it kneeling) beside him and he drew his wand and pointed it towards the place where he knew the person was. His quidditch seeking capabilities had made him do all this in a split second but before he could say a spell a tense voice spoke "Don't do it."

"Tonks? What are you doing here and why did you throw me like I was some garbage." Harry queried ad worry took over his thoughts. Tonks never sounded so serious, in fact she was one of the most cheerful person's who he knew.

"I was watching you. As to why I just threw you down, well...have a look for yourself" Tonks voice was seemed very tense. She was still under the invisibility cloak but poked out a finger to point out the direction to him.

Harry did as he was told. What he saw left him speechless and his eyes grew wide at the scene before him. Above a house, there hung a colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding out of it's mouth like a tongue. The whole thing was blazing in a haze of greenish smoke. The Dark Mark was above no. 4 Privet Drive.

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A/N:

Chapter 2 here :)

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