Disclaimer:
I do not own the world of Harry Potter, and unfortunately, I never will. I
am just one of the sad people who have to make themselves content with
borrowing him every once in a while.
I'm sure I'll return Harry and most of his world quite unscathed.
A/N: Okay, this is my first try of writing a complete novel. And as you can see, the first chapter is up. I've finished the outline for the entire story, and it'll probably be around 35 chapters. However, none of the upcoming chapters have been fully written yet, so comments are welcome and taken into account, if at all possible.
I'm Dutch, and so I'm not a native English speaker. Please forgive me if I make any mistakes concerning grammar or spelling, I do my best to avoid those. If, however, you pick up any major recurring mistakes (no nitpicking!) please let me know, so that I can try to avoid those later.
For now, I hope you will enjoy the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Blessing of Merlin. Please feel free to review!
Chapter 1 Mysteries
'SIRIUS! NO!' In a bedroom at 4 Privet Drive, Harry Potter awoke with a start. Only a few seconds later, his Uncle Vernon burst into the room.
'What are you up to, boy?' he shouted. 'Like it isn't bad enough we have to keep your unnatural self in our home, you start waking us up in the middle of the night too?!'
Harry muttered an apology and turned his back to his uncle. With a snort of contempt, Uncle Vernon left the room.
He could have explained to his uncle why he woke up screaming every night, but he had no desire to do so. After all, it had been his fault that his godfather had died in the Ministry of Magic, not too look ago. Harry felt no desire to provide his uncle with even more ammunition to harass him.
His mind wandered back to that fateful night in the department of mysteries. He had been so foolish to believe his vision of Sirius being tortured, and even more foolish to have believed Kreacher, the house elf.
If it hadn't been for his hero-complex, Sirius wouldn't have fallen through that mysterious veil, and his friends wouldn't have been hurt.
It was obvious Harry wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again. As he turned over, and reached for his glasses, he saw that it was 4:30 AM. 'Good,' he thought. 'I've had a whole three hours sleep.'
He got out of bed, got dressed and, sticking his head out the window, searched the sky for a sign of Hedwig, his owl.
She had been gone four nights now, ever since they'd returned to Privet Drive. Harry couldn't really blame her though, after all, who would want to stay at the Dursleys. He only stayed because Dumbledore had asked him to. Once again, his mind wandered off, this time to the conversation he'd had with the Headmaster at the end of last term.
It had been during this conversation that Dumbledore had informed him of the prophecy. And finally, he had also been given the reason as to why he had to return to the Dursleys every summer. Apparently, by living with his aunt, he was still protected from Voldemort by his mother's blood. Harry had his doubts about this, as Voldemort had been sharing his blood for over a year now.
A soft hoot from a strange owl shook Harry from his memory. He put some money in the leather pouch the owl was carrying, and took his copy of the Daily Prophet. And finally, he saw the news he had been hoping for for months on the front page.
Fudge resigns as minister for magic
iAfter having been publicly embarrassed by the return of You-Know-Who, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge has resigned. As he said in his resignation speech: "...my denial of the return of You-Know-Who was most unfortunate, and I fear that in my denial, I might have given him and his followers an advantage." However noble this sounds, Fudge wasn't prepared to step down until he was pressurized by members of the ministry and Wizengamot. On the question if he had anything to say to Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the ex-minister scowled, and answered "No comment". As hopeful eyes already started looking for a new minister for magic in the direction of Albus Dumbledore, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts has given a short statement: "I will not be available for the position of minister, as I feel I am more needed at Hogwarts. However, I will be helping with interviewing potential candidates, so that we may have a new minister very shortly." Dumbledore might find this harder than it looks, since no one within the ministry seems eager for the job now that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned. Although the refugee Sirius Black was not captured at the ministry, officials have confirmed that they're hot on his trail. If the Aurors succeed in taking out Black, this would be a serious blow to You Know Who./i
A smile spread across Harry's face as his hopes were confirmed. There would be a new minister, and Dumbledore would remain at Hogwarts. He could not yet face the fact that all these changes were occurring because of his stupid rescue mission. Nor could he face the fact that Sirius died a hero, but was still considered a criminal. 'If only they knew,' he thought.
As dawn approached, Harry looked to the sky once more, and to his surprise saw Hedwig approaching the window.
As he carried her to her cage, he removed the three letters that she was carrying. They seemed to be from Ron, Hermione, and someone who's handwriting he didn't recognise right away.
Both anticipating and dreading news from his friends, he opened the first letter, which was obviously from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
How are you? That's a silly question, as you're probably not that well. But how else would one open a letter? I recalled that I hadn't told you that IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT, HARRY! No one blames you for what happened that night in the Ministry. Now I know that Dumbledore told us not to speak to you about it until you were ready, but when do we listen to him anyway?
Harry's lips outlined a weak smile as he tried to remember an occasion in which Hermione had NOT listened to Dumbledore.
I have no idea how you must be feeling, but I can imagine that you might be feeling guilty about Sirius' death. Please don't feel guilty, Harry. I don't know what else to say, I'm not so good with all this emotional stuff, but I just wanted to let you know that there are a lot of people out there that care so much about you, and don't want you to blame yourself, including me.
Love, Hermione
Harry's faint smile grew a little stronger at Hermione's uncharacteristic, clumsily written letter. Even though he did indeed blame himself, it was nice to know that she didn't.
Then he opened Ron's letter, and started reading.
Hey mate,
How have the holidays been treating you so far? I know we're not supposed to talk to you about what happened that night, but I figured writing isn't talking, right? So here goes. Firstly, I wanted to let you know that I'm doing alright. That brain has done dome freaky stuff to me, but they all explained it yesterday. Apparently, I'm suffering from brainscarring. Those brains contain memories and emotions of certain wizards and witches. The one that attacked me stored emotions and memories from the last war against You Know Who. Some of those were somehow transferred into my own brain. They're not very happy, but Dumbledore reckons they might prove useful during this war. So maybe I'll actually be able to do something to help now. Secondly, none of us blame you mate. My mum's worried you might be blaming yourself for what happened (and my mum's usually right) but you shouldn't. We all decided to come with you on our own accord. On a happier note, mum's trying to get you to our summer hideaway before your birthday. And you know mum, when she sets her mind to something, not even Dumbledore can stop her. Hope to see you in a couple of weeks! Ron
Another faint smile traced Harry's lips. He was happy his friend was dealing with the brain-attack, although he felt Ron might be making some understatements. But the thing that was the greater cause of his smile was the removal to Grimmauld Place, which might come sooner than he had anticipated. Feeling even more cheered than he'd felt after Hermione's letter, Harry opened the last one. He saw, to his surprise, that it was from Lupin.
Dear Harry, Although Dumbledore has informed everyone not to disturb you, I felt you might like a visitor during your summer holidays. After what I've heard about your aunt and uncle, I cannot be convinced that they'll be able to support you in this troubling time. I just want you to know, Harry, that you are not to blame for what happened at the ministry. If you want, we'll talk some more about that when I come to visit. Look out for me tomorrow, around midday. You can also expect a visit from Dumbledore soon. Remus.
After reading Lupin's letter, Harry couldn't help but feel almost giddy with the knowledge that his friends were sticking by him.
As his stomach made an odd rumbling noise, Harry decided it was time for some breakfast.
Walking into the kitchen, he saw that Aunt Petunia, too, had had an early start.
Harry decided that this would be the perfect time to subject his aunt to the cross-examination he had been preparing for days. Ever since he had gotten home from school, he had wanted to ask his aunt a lot of questions. Only last summer, he had found out that she knew a lot more about the wizarding world than she had led him to believe. But even though he had been home for four days now, Harry hadn't been able to corner her on her own.
For some reason, every time he tried to ask something, his uncle would show up. And Harry knew better than to talk about magic or anything related to it, in front of his uncle. Also, he felt like his aunt might have been avoiding him. More than usual, that is.
But now, she was there, and alone. And Uncle Vernon was most likely still in bed. It was the perfect time.
'Er-Aunt Petunia,' Harry started, as his aunt gave no evidence of noticing Harry was in the room. 'Er-Aunt? Can I ask you something?'
His aunt turned to face Harry, looking at him like he was a bug that needed to be squashed, as usual. Only this time, Harry thought he saw something else in her eyes as well. Understanding, pity? He couldn't name it.
'What is it?' his aunt spat.
'Well, you know, last year, with the Howler and all,' Harry began carefully, 'you seemed to know much more about the w-, about my world than I ever suspected. I mean, you know about the Dementors, and Azkaban, and you didn't seem too surprised when a letter shouted its message in you face. How do you know all that? And why didn't you ever tell me?'
It seemed as though his aunt had been preparing for this conversation too.
'How do I know all this?' his aunt said. 'I thought you were a bit smarter that that. After all, you got those unnatural powers from my own sister. She was a born w- w-,' Aunt Petunia struggled to get the word out, 'w- witch. As sisters, we lived in the same house for years. After she went to that school, as you call it, she only came home during the holidays. Of course, I wanted nothing to do with all that deviant stuff, so I was away as often as I could. But there were always the summer vacations. I had to listen to her tell all kinds of stories about spells, charms and what went on with your kind.'
Harry had listened to his aunt intently, eyes wide open with her candour, gobbsmacked at the normalcy of her tone of voice. He also wondered if he should take the part about him 'being smarter that that' as a compliment.
'But,' he asked, 'what happened?' Why didn't you ever say something? After you found out I was a wizard I mean.'
'First of all, I'd like to make clear,' his aunt answered, her tone matter of factly, 'that I always knew you were one of them. Vernon believed he could beat it out of you, but I never really believed that. Somewhere I always knew. The final break with my sister and parents came after I had met Vernon. He took my sister's situation even worse than I did. But as I found out that there was some dark wizard out there, who was after those who were born from normal people, and their families, I decided I didn't want anything to do with it anymore. I hated Lily for putting us all in danger because SHE had to be different.'
Harry was startled at his aunt calling his mother by her name. She never did that.
'You know,' he said, 'he's back. That dark wizard you talk about. The one that murdered by mum and dad.'
'I know that too,' his aunt said. 'I'm not stupid. Your Headmaster sent me a letter about it (by normal post, very considerate), informing me. But I already suspected something after those Dementors-'
CRACK!
At first Harry though that someone had apparated into the kitched, but as he turned, wand drawn and raised, he saw his cousin Dudley. A plate was shattered at his feet, and he was trembling like a leaf.
As Harry met his cousin's eye for a split second, a strange sensation took hold of him. Falling back into a chair, images took over Harry's head. Images of Dudley.
Dudley, walking though a long corridor filled with boys in Smeltings uniforms. As Dudley passed the boys, they hit his kneed with sticks, threw sandwiches at his head and made sounds like pigs. 'Oink oink, Dudley! Can we get some of your bacon? You seem to have plenty!'
Flash! Another image filled Harry's head. Dudley was stuck in his school bench. As he tried to suck in his stomach and wrestle himself out, his classmates and teacher were howling with laughter.
Flash! A new image, of what appeared to be an interschool dance, and there were girls there, and music was playing. Dudley walked up to a group of girls, and tapped one of the prettiest girls Harry had ever seen, on her shoulder. Dudley managed to blurt out 'Dyouwannadancewimme?' The girl pulled a face as if she was considering the request, and as the music stopped yelled, 'How dare you touch me, you walking pork chop! What makes you think anyone would ever dance with such a chunk of lard!' Dudley looked as though he was nailed to the ground as the whole gymnasium roared with laughter.
Flash! Harry was once again back in the kitchen, where he was still looking into Dudley's terror-stricken face. So one seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Realizing what had just happened, Harry sprinted out of the kitchen and hurried upstairs.
A/N: If anyone can explain to me how to do italics, so that the whole thing might be a bit more readable, I'd much appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I might have the next chapter up on either Wednesday or Thursday.
A/N: Okay, this is my first try of writing a complete novel. And as you can see, the first chapter is up. I've finished the outline for the entire story, and it'll probably be around 35 chapters. However, none of the upcoming chapters have been fully written yet, so comments are welcome and taken into account, if at all possible.
I'm Dutch, and so I'm not a native English speaker. Please forgive me if I make any mistakes concerning grammar or spelling, I do my best to avoid those. If, however, you pick up any major recurring mistakes (no nitpicking!) please let me know, so that I can try to avoid those later.
For now, I hope you will enjoy the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Blessing of Merlin. Please feel free to review!
Chapter 1 Mysteries
'SIRIUS! NO!' In a bedroom at 4 Privet Drive, Harry Potter awoke with a start. Only a few seconds later, his Uncle Vernon burst into the room.
'What are you up to, boy?' he shouted. 'Like it isn't bad enough we have to keep your unnatural self in our home, you start waking us up in the middle of the night too?!'
Harry muttered an apology and turned his back to his uncle. With a snort of contempt, Uncle Vernon left the room.
He could have explained to his uncle why he woke up screaming every night, but he had no desire to do so. After all, it had been his fault that his godfather had died in the Ministry of Magic, not too look ago. Harry felt no desire to provide his uncle with even more ammunition to harass him.
His mind wandered back to that fateful night in the department of mysteries. He had been so foolish to believe his vision of Sirius being tortured, and even more foolish to have believed Kreacher, the house elf.
If it hadn't been for his hero-complex, Sirius wouldn't have fallen through that mysterious veil, and his friends wouldn't have been hurt.
It was obvious Harry wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again. As he turned over, and reached for his glasses, he saw that it was 4:30 AM. 'Good,' he thought. 'I've had a whole three hours sleep.'
He got out of bed, got dressed and, sticking his head out the window, searched the sky for a sign of Hedwig, his owl.
She had been gone four nights now, ever since they'd returned to Privet Drive. Harry couldn't really blame her though, after all, who would want to stay at the Dursleys. He only stayed because Dumbledore had asked him to. Once again, his mind wandered off, this time to the conversation he'd had with the Headmaster at the end of last term.
It had been during this conversation that Dumbledore had informed him of the prophecy. And finally, he had also been given the reason as to why he had to return to the Dursleys every summer. Apparently, by living with his aunt, he was still protected from Voldemort by his mother's blood. Harry had his doubts about this, as Voldemort had been sharing his blood for over a year now.
A soft hoot from a strange owl shook Harry from his memory. He put some money in the leather pouch the owl was carrying, and took his copy of the Daily Prophet. And finally, he saw the news he had been hoping for for months on the front page.
Fudge resigns as minister for magic
iAfter having been publicly embarrassed by the return of You-Know-Who, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge has resigned. As he said in his resignation speech: "...my denial of the return of You-Know-Who was most unfortunate, and I fear that in my denial, I might have given him and his followers an advantage." However noble this sounds, Fudge wasn't prepared to step down until he was pressurized by members of the ministry and Wizengamot. On the question if he had anything to say to Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the ex-minister scowled, and answered "No comment". As hopeful eyes already started looking for a new minister for magic in the direction of Albus Dumbledore, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts has given a short statement: "I will not be available for the position of minister, as I feel I am more needed at Hogwarts. However, I will be helping with interviewing potential candidates, so that we may have a new minister very shortly." Dumbledore might find this harder than it looks, since no one within the ministry seems eager for the job now that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned. Although the refugee Sirius Black was not captured at the ministry, officials have confirmed that they're hot on his trail. If the Aurors succeed in taking out Black, this would be a serious blow to You Know Who./i
A smile spread across Harry's face as his hopes were confirmed. There would be a new minister, and Dumbledore would remain at Hogwarts. He could not yet face the fact that all these changes were occurring because of his stupid rescue mission. Nor could he face the fact that Sirius died a hero, but was still considered a criminal. 'If only they knew,' he thought.
As dawn approached, Harry looked to the sky once more, and to his surprise saw Hedwig approaching the window.
As he carried her to her cage, he removed the three letters that she was carrying. They seemed to be from Ron, Hermione, and someone who's handwriting he didn't recognise right away.
Both anticipating and dreading news from his friends, he opened the first letter, which was obviously from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
How are you? That's a silly question, as you're probably not that well. But how else would one open a letter? I recalled that I hadn't told you that IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT, HARRY! No one blames you for what happened that night in the Ministry. Now I know that Dumbledore told us not to speak to you about it until you were ready, but when do we listen to him anyway?
Harry's lips outlined a weak smile as he tried to remember an occasion in which Hermione had NOT listened to Dumbledore.
I have no idea how you must be feeling, but I can imagine that you might be feeling guilty about Sirius' death. Please don't feel guilty, Harry. I don't know what else to say, I'm not so good with all this emotional stuff, but I just wanted to let you know that there are a lot of people out there that care so much about you, and don't want you to blame yourself, including me.
Love, Hermione
Harry's faint smile grew a little stronger at Hermione's uncharacteristic, clumsily written letter. Even though he did indeed blame himself, it was nice to know that she didn't.
Then he opened Ron's letter, and started reading.
Hey mate,
How have the holidays been treating you so far? I know we're not supposed to talk to you about what happened that night, but I figured writing isn't talking, right? So here goes. Firstly, I wanted to let you know that I'm doing alright. That brain has done dome freaky stuff to me, but they all explained it yesterday. Apparently, I'm suffering from brainscarring. Those brains contain memories and emotions of certain wizards and witches. The one that attacked me stored emotions and memories from the last war against You Know Who. Some of those were somehow transferred into my own brain. They're not very happy, but Dumbledore reckons they might prove useful during this war. So maybe I'll actually be able to do something to help now. Secondly, none of us blame you mate. My mum's worried you might be blaming yourself for what happened (and my mum's usually right) but you shouldn't. We all decided to come with you on our own accord. On a happier note, mum's trying to get you to our summer hideaway before your birthday. And you know mum, when she sets her mind to something, not even Dumbledore can stop her. Hope to see you in a couple of weeks! Ron
Another faint smile traced Harry's lips. He was happy his friend was dealing with the brain-attack, although he felt Ron might be making some understatements. But the thing that was the greater cause of his smile was the removal to Grimmauld Place, which might come sooner than he had anticipated. Feeling even more cheered than he'd felt after Hermione's letter, Harry opened the last one. He saw, to his surprise, that it was from Lupin.
Dear Harry, Although Dumbledore has informed everyone not to disturb you, I felt you might like a visitor during your summer holidays. After what I've heard about your aunt and uncle, I cannot be convinced that they'll be able to support you in this troubling time. I just want you to know, Harry, that you are not to blame for what happened at the ministry. If you want, we'll talk some more about that when I come to visit. Look out for me tomorrow, around midday. You can also expect a visit from Dumbledore soon. Remus.
After reading Lupin's letter, Harry couldn't help but feel almost giddy with the knowledge that his friends were sticking by him.
As his stomach made an odd rumbling noise, Harry decided it was time for some breakfast.
Walking into the kitchen, he saw that Aunt Petunia, too, had had an early start.
Harry decided that this would be the perfect time to subject his aunt to the cross-examination he had been preparing for days. Ever since he had gotten home from school, he had wanted to ask his aunt a lot of questions. Only last summer, he had found out that she knew a lot more about the wizarding world than she had led him to believe. But even though he had been home for four days now, Harry hadn't been able to corner her on her own.
For some reason, every time he tried to ask something, his uncle would show up. And Harry knew better than to talk about magic or anything related to it, in front of his uncle. Also, he felt like his aunt might have been avoiding him. More than usual, that is.
But now, she was there, and alone. And Uncle Vernon was most likely still in bed. It was the perfect time.
'Er-Aunt Petunia,' Harry started, as his aunt gave no evidence of noticing Harry was in the room. 'Er-Aunt? Can I ask you something?'
His aunt turned to face Harry, looking at him like he was a bug that needed to be squashed, as usual. Only this time, Harry thought he saw something else in her eyes as well. Understanding, pity? He couldn't name it.
'What is it?' his aunt spat.
'Well, you know, last year, with the Howler and all,' Harry began carefully, 'you seemed to know much more about the w-, about my world than I ever suspected. I mean, you know about the Dementors, and Azkaban, and you didn't seem too surprised when a letter shouted its message in you face. How do you know all that? And why didn't you ever tell me?'
It seemed as though his aunt had been preparing for this conversation too.
'How do I know all this?' his aunt said. 'I thought you were a bit smarter that that. After all, you got those unnatural powers from my own sister. She was a born w- w-,' Aunt Petunia struggled to get the word out, 'w- witch. As sisters, we lived in the same house for years. After she went to that school, as you call it, she only came home during the holidays. Of course, I wanted nothing to do with all that deviant stuff, so I was away as often as I could. But there were always the summer vacations. I had to listen to her tell all kinds of stories about spells, charms and what went on with your kind.'
Harry had listened to his aunt intently, eyes wide open with her candour, gobbsmacked at the normalcy of her tone of voice. He also wondered if he should take the part about him 'being smarter that that' as a compliment.
'But,' he asked, 'what happened?' Why didn't you ever say something? After you found out I was a wizard I mean.'
'First of all, I'd like to make clear,' his aunt answered, her tone matter of factly, 'that I always knew you were one of them. Vernon believed he could beat it out of you, but I never really believed that. Somewhere I always knew. The final break with my sister and parents came after I had met Vernon. He took my sister's situation even worse than I did. But as I found out that there was some dark wizard out there, who was after those who were born from normal people, and their families, I decided I didn't want anything to do with it anymore. I hated Lily for putting us all in danger because SHE had to be different.'
Harry was startled at his aunt calling his mother by her name. She never did that.
'You know,' he said, 'he's back. That dark wizard you talk about. The one that murdered by mum and dad.'
'I know that too,' his aunt said. 'I'm not stupid. Your Headmaster sent me a letter about it (by normal post, very considerate), informing me. But I already suspected something after those Dementors-'
CRACK!
At first Harry though that someone had apparated into the kitched, but as he turned, wand drawn and raised, he saw his cousin Dudley. A plate was shattered at his feet, and he was trembling like a leaf.
As Harry met his cousin's eye for a split second, a strange sensation took hold of him. Falling back into a chair, images took over Harry's head. Images of Dudley.
Dudley, walking though a long corridor filled with boys in Smeltings uniforms. As Dudley passed the boys, they hit his kneed with sticks, threw sandwiches at his head and made sounds like pigs. 'Oink oink, Dudley! Can we get some of your bacon? You seem to have plenty!'
Flash! Another image filled Harry's head. Dudley was stuck in his school bench. As he tried to suck in his stomach and wrestle himself out, his classmates and teacher were howling with laughter.
Flash! A new image, of what appeared to be an interschool dance, and there were girls there, and music was playing. Dudley walked up to a group of girls, and tapped one of the prettiest girls Harry had ever seen, on her shoulder. Dudley managed to blurt out 'Dyouwannadancewimme?' The girl pulled a face as if she was considering the request, and as the music stopped yelled, 'How dare you touch me, you walking pork chop! What makes you think anyone would ever dance with such a chunk of lard!' Dudley looked as though he was nailed to the ground as the whole gymnasium roared with laughter.
Flash! Harry was once again back in the kitchen, where he was still looking into Dudley's terror-stricken face. So one seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Realizing what had just happened, Harry sprinted out of the kitchen and hurried upstairs.
A/N: If anyone can explain to me how to do italics, so that the whole thing might be a bit more readable, I'd much appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I might have the next chapter up on either Wednesday or Thursday.