Disclaimer: I don't own a thing, except for maybe my own original characters and such…

Harry Potter and the Second Target

Chapter One

The Surprise

She pressed back into the wall, terrified at what had just transpired. Sweat tainted with her tears soaked her face, which gazed down upon the lifeless body before her. Blank eyes stared at her, angry, fierce, and in a state of shock. The girl sank into a corner of the dank room, sobbing. What had she done? But she knew what she did. She killed her one and only guardian. What puzzled her, not to mention frightened her, was how she did it. Trying to remember exactly what had happened, the girl shut her eyes tight.

Lightning.

That was it. She had somehow conducted the energy around her to course through her body, quickly charging it up. It was quite painful, but she could not help it, it was too late. Before she could prevent it, she had done it, and she collapsed against the wall in tremendous fear. She couldn't help but cry after that. She cried in that corner the entire night, until she finally fell asleep.

"My Lord."

"Yes, Wormtail…what news do you bring me tonight?"

"It—it is good, Sir. The girl, she has killed the woman."

"Ah. That is good news. Perfect. Everything is going as planned. Tell the Death Eaters to begin preparing."

"Yes, my Lord."

The summer sun was creeping its way past the horizon and over Number Four, Privet Drive, where a boy woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside his window, and was slowly crawling out of bed. His dark hair was rebellious, but it was always like that, so his attempt to flatten it ended in expected failure. The boy yawned, and put his round glasses on over his fiery green eyes. He sat on the edge of his bed, in deep thought. He had had another strange dream again. That night he had dreamt about a dark, dank room, so dark that he couldn't tell where exactly it was, and in that room there had been a girl. He couldn't remember what she looked like, but the sound of her crying was very pronounced in his mind. It was quite awful, he thought, the sound of her pathetic, heartbreaking sobs. In them was a hint of hopelessness and sadness beyond words that made Harry feel her loss and pain. He felt terrible. Trying to remember the girl's face, Harry screwed up his own in contemplation. But it was no use, he just couldn't remember. He sighed as he gave up.

Looking around his room he saw Hedwig, his beautiful snowy owl, resting on the bedpost at the foot of the bed. Harry reached out an arm to stroke her pearly white feathers when he noticed a very tiny sandy-colored owl standing on an envelope placed beside her on the comforter.

Must be a new owl, Harry thought. He picked up the envelope and his face lit up when he realized the untidy scrawl was the handwriting of none other than Ron Weasley. Full of excitement, Harry tore open the letter, eager to see how his friend was doing these holidays. It read:

Dear Harry,

How are your summer holidays going? Ours have been great so far. Dad brought home another one of his fascinating Muggle devices, though I don't think Mum appreciates it. Listen, we were wondering if you wanted to come to the Burrow sometime soon (Mum's feeling kind of lonely now that she is short one son). Hermione should also be visiting. We would all like to see you. Hope you can come.

Ron (and the family)

Suddenly Harry felt a warm sensation swarm his insides, crawling up his neck. Finally, a reason to leave this place. Looking forward to seeing his friends (not to mention the wonderful meals Mrs. Weasley had a knack for conjuring up), he grabbed a feather quill and a spare piece of parchment from his desk and quickly scrawled his reply:

Dear Ron,

I would love to visit your family at the Burrow. Please tell your mum I said "Hello" and "Thank you," and make sure to also tell Hermione that I'll be coming. I'm so grateful knowing that I am welcome in your family, I really appreciate it. Just one thing: we won't be taking the flying car this time, will we? Just kidding. Well I hope to talk to you soon. I can't wait to see you and your family (and your Dad's latest fascination).

Harry

P.S. Sorry about Percy.

Harry folded up the parchment, sealed it in an envelope, and sent it away with the tiny owl. He stroked Hedwig's feathers, grinning.

"It'll be nice to get out of here, won't it, Hedwig? Nice to have a bit more excitement."

Hedwig gave a soft, agreeing coo.

All of a sudden a loud rapping sounded from Harry's door, a voice joined in with it.

"Get up, get up!" Uncle Vernon shouted.

"I'm up already," Harry answered back dully.

"Didn't you hear me calling you, boy? You've got visitors downstairs," Uncle Vernon said grumpily.

Harry's heart skipped a beat. This was unusual. Since when did he get visitors?

"What?" he asked, making sure he heard his uncle correctly.

"Visitors! You have visitors! Now get down there and entertain them. Your aunt and I are not doing that for you!" And with that, he stormed off.

Harry became very excited. Anticipating the visitors, whoever they may be, he quickly changed out of his pajamas and put on a tee-shirt and jeans. After one last failed attempt to flatten his hair, he raced downstairs.

At the bottom of the staircase was a rather scruffy man wearing a very scraggly trench coat. Standing beside him was a stern-looking witch wearing square spectacles, dressed in deep violet robes. When she saw Harry, she smiled.

"Harry, how nice it is to see you. I am sure your summer holidays are going well?" she said.

"P—Professor McGonagall? Lupin?" Harry was confused as to why his Transfiguration teacher and his family's friend were both standing there before him, in his aunt and uncle's house, in August.

"Hello, Harry," the man said, smiling.

"What's going on? Why are you here?" Harry asked, still confused.

"Well, Harry, I thought you'd be at least a bit more pleased to see me," Lupin joked.

"I—I am, but—"

"Harry," Professor McGonagall interrupted, "we feel you are not quite safe on your own, or at least with this particular—ahem—family during such circumstances."

Harry still had a look of puzzlement on his face.

"So in other words," Lupin interrupted, "I am going to be your guardian for the time being until the start of term."

"Professor Dumbledore thinks it best," Professor McGonagall added.

"How does that sound?" Lupin beamed.

Harry was happy beyond words, but it seemed very strange to him that Lupin would be his guardian for hardly a month, seeing as a good portion of the summer holidays had already come and gone. September first was not even three weeks away.

"Um, it sounds good, but Professor, why now? Why so late into the summer holidays?"

"There are specific reasons, Harry, that we will be sure to tell you when the time comes but shall remain confidential for now," said Professor McGonagall.

"Why? Did something happen?"

"Harry, we will discuss this later. I promise you. But at the moment we need a sure answer," said Lupin.

"Oh. Yeah, that would be great, Lupin." Then a thought occurred to Harry. "But," he hesitated, "but I already told the Weasley family I would go visit them. It's not that I don't want to be with you, Lupin, but I already sent an owl back and—"

"Harry, Harry," Lupin was smiling. "Just because I am going to be your guardian doesn't mean we can't go places, you know."

"Oh." Harry felt sheepish and turned slightly pink. "Whoops," he said and laughed.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Well then, I'll see to it that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley know that the both of you will be visiting. Lupin, I will inform Dumbledore and the Order."

"Thank you, Professor."

Professor McGonagall turned to Harry.

"Well, Harry, I look forward to seeing you September first. Have a wonderful remainder of the holidays." She smiled warmly.

And she left.

"So, Harry," Lupin said, "tell me what you've been doing. Anything interesting been going on?"

Harry thought about this.

"No, not really. Well, actually—" Harry was going to tell Lupin about the dream he had last night, but decided against it and keep it to himself. "Never mind."

Lupin briefly gave Harry a concerned look, then thought better of it and decided to change the subject.

"Think your aunt and uncle will mind if I stay here for the night before we leave for the Burrow tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Why yes, I'm sure the Weasleys will have gotten your letter by today and Professor McGonagall will have sent an owl as well."

"Oh, okay. Well, um, I'm sure it will be alright, as long as you stay in my room."

Lupin grinned.

So how bad was it, really? Yeah, short beginning, it'll get longer soon enough. Hope you liked it at least a little bit.

Sora