Disclaimers: I do not own Harry potter or any of the other characters. They belong solely to J.K. Rowling who I am not.

Author Notes: Thanks again to Gothgurl666 a great beta and a great friend. Also this is a replacement chapter. I ended up messing with the timeline a bit to give me a bit more time to do what I want with a character that will appear in the next chapter. Sorry it took so long to get back into this after I post chapter 4 I'll be updating regularly. Hopefully my readers don't linch me or stop reading my works all together. 3 all

Chapter 1

Harry began slamming all his belonging angrily into his trunk. He'd just received yet another predictable and completely pointless letter from Remus saying the usual; be good and listen to the all powerful, all knowing, practically god, Dumbledore!

It's like they think I routinely walk blindly into death eater meetings. He thought bitterly throwing his remaining robes into his trunk and slamming it shut.

Well at least the Weasley's are coming soon so Ron, Hermione and I can get our school supplies. Harry thought calming down a little. He sat down on his trunk and started thinking about the fun he'd be having in a few short hours when a handsome tawny owl flew in his window. Harry didn't have to wonder who it was from, for the parchment bore the Hogwarts crest. He reluctantly removed the letter from the envelope

Dear Mr. Potter,

Professor Dumbledore regrets to inform you that you will not be going with the Weasley's as previously arranged. A ministry official will be there tomorrow morning to collect you along with your school supplies for your sixth year at Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore believes it would be beneficial for your protection.

Yours Sincerely,

Professor M. McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress.

Harry crumpled the letter in his hand and let out a frustrated growl. He grabbed the lamp on his bedside table, the closest thing to him, and hurled it across the room. Hedwig gave an indignant hoot as the lamp shattered on the wall behind her, sending pieces flying across the wall. Leaving a bunch of scratches and indents on the wall as well.

Protection my arse. Harry thought angrily as he stared down at the crumpled piece of paper in his hand and paced back and forth across his room. More like their protection. Don't let anything happen to the boy who lived. He's got to save us! Why can't they save their own damn asses for once? Dumbledore didn't even have the decency to tell me himself, the manipulative bastard. Harry seized his alarm clock off the table and threw it full force at his door causing it to explode, sending pieces flying like bits of shrapnel. He continued pacing and breathing deeply once in a while huffing like a caged animal.

He had no trouble at all believing that the one thing he had to look forward to had been stripped from him at the last minute. After all he had been secluded all summer locked away with the Dursleys. That in itself was a misfortune Harry wouldn't have wished on anyone, save Dumbledore. It had been bad enough spending all summer with the Dursleys, however add on the recent death of his godfather and it was nothing short of torture.

Remus was another cause to Harry's morbid thinking. It seemed, to Harry, that Remus hadn't gotten over Sirius' death any better then he had. Remus had become distant in the months following Sirius' accident. He'd write to Harry every now and then, but nothing worth reading. His letters consisted of nothing more then be good and listen to Dumbledore. Obviously Remus was distancing himself from Harry. He never included anything personal in his letters anymore.

To top it all off, his friends had only written to him once all summer and that had been at the beginning of the summer break! They had both written to him from the burrow, telling him that they would pick him up two weeks before term started so they could hang out, get their supplies, and go to the train station together. They made sure to include they were having a blast with out him. Why was it that Hermione was allowed at the burrow but he wasn't?

Oh, I know! It's because I'm a bloody pawn in Dumbledore's master game of chess! Harry thought bitterly as he threw the letter on the ground and flopped angrily onto his bed. He glanced at his bedside table before remembering that his alarm clock was currently residing in pieces on his floor. Great know I need a new bloody alarm clock! Harry huffed and looked at his wrist watch. It was only 4:30 in the afternoon, to early for bed.

"At least I don't have to worry about doing my homework." He muttered to himself. All summer he had studied to keep his mind off Sirius. He had thrown himself into his studies, read all of his books and did some of the reading assignments in the books. He wouldn't be surprised if he surpassed Hermione's knowledge in their subjects this year.

Harry got up off his bed, opened his trunk and extracted a pair of tennis shoes. I have got to stop thinking about Sirius. He thought lacing up his shoes.

He had been doing this all summer. Whenever his thoughts drifted to dwell on Sirius' death or his summer misfortune, he would take out his anger by either running or doing his homework. He would gladly do anything to stop thinking, and since he had already finished his summer homework he did the only thing he had left, run.

As Harry started to leave for his ritualistic jog Aunt Petunia yelled at him to get in the kitchen. Harry sighed as he walked back to the kitchen, where his aunt was waiting. Knowing her, she would want Harry to do more work, most likely some manual labor of some sort.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the kitchen Aunt Petunia barked at him to haul up Dudley's new computer. He picked up the heavy box with little effort. The one bright side to his running and the work the Dursleys had him do was that he had become, for lack or a better word, buff. All the while as he climbed the stairs he was thinking of ways to hex his aunt when he came of age for making him do things like this. He finished hauling the box up to Dudley's bedroom then hurried outside before his Aunt found something else for him to do.

Harry woke up extremely sore and exhausted the next day. He had run for three hours the night before. He groaned as he realized that today was the day that the Ministry official would come to collect him. He winced as he heaved his trunk off the floor and carried it down the stairs to the living room. Making sure to scrape the walls on the way down to leave marks and dents. He chuckled to him self as he observed his handy work after setting his trunk down in front of the door. Then he sat down on his trunk and waited.

He was staring at a space above the doorway, thinking, when the sound of the doorbell startled him out of his thoughts, almost falling off sideways off the trunk. He let out an exasperated sigh as Aunt Petunia's shrill voice yelled at him to answer the door. Harry reluctantly got up mimicking her voice and making a face quietly to himself and opened the door.

"Hello Potter, have a good summer?" Lucius Malfoy asked smirking.

Author Notes: I know this is like exactly the same as the first chapter 2. I ended up messing with the timeline a bit to give me a bit more time to do what I want with a character that will appear in the next chapter. Sorry it took so long to get back into this after I post chapter 4 I'll be updating regularly. Hopefully my readers don't lynch me or stop reading my works all together. 3 all oh and review if you want.