Title: Harry Potter and the Staff of Merlin

Author: Legolas-gurl88

Disclaimer: Just because I am trying to capture her writing style and am borrowing her characters doesn't mean I'm J.K. Rowing.

Author Note: Please read the bottom two paragraphs for important info!

Story time!

2. Sixteen

The rest of the day passed in a haze. The only thing Harry did was lie around the house. After Dudley had finished the enormous breakfast (in which he'd eaten seventh helpings before satisfied), Harry exited the kitchen and walked up to his room. Once there, he plopped down on his bed. When he was tired of looking at his ceiling, he went back downstairs and dropped onto the couch until Dudley and Uncle Vernon kicked him out to watch the television. The day went on like that and all Harry could think to do was… well… think. He thought about lots of things, like when he was going to get out, Sirius, what Ron's surprise was, if Crookshanks was still alive…

"You've been moping around all day!" Aunt Petunia said sharply, trying to clean around Harry's elbows, which were propped on the dinner table. "Move!"

"Huh?" Harry asked, jerking out of imagining what it felt like to be normal.

"Move! I've got to clean the table!" Aunt Petunia practically shouted.

"Oh," Harry said dully, dragging his elbows off the table and set them in his lap, watching Aunt Petunia scrub the oil from the bacon off the polished wood.

"Stop sulking," said Aunt Petunia, reaching around Harry to clean the other side of the table to save her feet the long trip around the chair Harry sat in.

"What else is there to do?" Harry asked, standing up and leaving the kitchen, walking back to his bedroom. Harry couldn't help but lie back into the pillow and close his eyes. He hadn't had a proper sleep in so long, it felt good to even close his tired, itchy eyes. Before he knew it, the dream world had taken him again. This time, Harry was in a very dark room in a corner…

"Tell me of Dumbledore," a dark-sounding voice, coming from a chair, commanded to a form on the ground.

"M-master," Harry heard Peter Pettigrew stutter, "he remains at Hogwarts, to my knowledge."

"Anything suspicious at all?"

"He has left every few days. We don't know where."

"Well, find out then,"

"Y-yes, Master," Wormtail whimpered.

"And what about my Nagini?" Voldemort hissed. He stood up from the chair and Harry hitched in his breath, afraid that the Dark Lord would see and hear him. Somehow, no one seemed to notice him.

"No one has seen her since Dumbledore made her disappear last year, My Lord."

"Keep looking." Voldemort ordered. "She must be somewhere."

"Yes, My Lord." Wormtail said.

"Good, good." Voldemort whispered under his breath. "Very well, Wormtail, you may go." Once Wormtail had disappeared from behind a door, Voldemort turned. His cold, red eyes gleamed in the direction of Harry. Harry felt as though he were being punched in the chest. Voldemort seemed to be looking right at him, not past him. Then, the hair on Harry's neck prickled when he heard Voldemort speak.

"Soon, Potter." he cackled. "You are not safe. I have spies everywhere. You cannot run… you cannot hide… I will get you… you cannot…" Suddenly, Harry felt as if his head were tearing in two at his scar.

Harry woke with a jolt, his scar hurting so badly that he rolled over onto his stomach and yelled into his pillow for several long seconds until his throat felt as if it would tear. Once the yelling stopped, Harry lifted his head and realized he was shaking. Banging his fist into the mattress, Harry growled loudly and angrily. The clock on his bed stand told him it was nine o'clock at night. The sun was just beginning to sink over the horizon, revealing a red sky, almost as red as Voldemort's eyes. The dream… what had that been about? Was it just his mind playing games on him or had Voldemort purposefully brought him there in his sleep to address him? What had the dialogue between him and Wormtail been about?

A banging on the door brought him out of his thoughts. Harry heard Uncle Vernon's voice from the other side of the door, "Quiet in there, boy!" Then, footsteps could be heard as Uncle Vernon made his way back down the stairs. Harry's face plummeted down to the pillow and his breath was blocked by the fabric and feathers. He did not know how long he sat there, lying in bed when Hedwig started to hoot uncontrollably.

"Be quiet, Hedwig," Harry said, his voice muffled by the pillow. Hedwig did not heed him and hooted louder, banging her wings on the bars of her cage. Below, Harry could hear Uncle Vernon yell, "Stupid owl!" Harry lifted his head up to look at Hedwig, hoping his angry-looking face would calm her. Instead, what he saw surprised him. Hedwig was looking out the window, trying to get Harry's attention, hooting and occasionally screeching. When Harry looked over at her, he saw what she was making the racket at. Outside Harry's window, there must have been at least ten owls. They were all making a racket, scraping their sharp talons on the window, Harry figured he must have been deep in thought to miss the sound.

Jumping up and rushing to the door, to stop the owls from making loud sounds, every single one flew in and landed on his bed in a mess of feathers, parchment and packages. Harry tried to calm them from hooting at each other loudly, probably daring the other birds to deliver their gifts before them. From below, Harry heard Uncle Vernon roar with anger.

"Damn it, boy! Can't you keep quiet for once! And shut that bird up too!"

"Sorry! I'll be quiet!" Harry yelled, frantically trying to shush the birds. To quiet them, he pulled off all their packages and letters and notes. Once they were no longer attached to the post, the owls would ruffle their feathers in an important manner and fly off out the window before Harry could get a good look at them to determine who they belonged to. As soon as the last owl was out of the room and Harry and Hedwig were alone once more, it seemed oddly quiet to Harry. His bed, which had been neat and tidy only a few minutes before and now it was strewn with feathers. There was even a large hole in the sheet where it looked as if an owl had had it's claw ensnared.

Forgetting this, Harry turned to the rather large pile of cards and boxes he had thrown to the floor in order to get the owls out quickly as to not get the Dursleys suspicious. The first note Harry saw was one from his best mate, Ron. Picking up the letter, he opened it and read;

Harry,

How're you doing, mate? I'm sorry I haven't written in a long time, but it's harder to sneak any of the stupid owls out, now that You-Know-Who is on the loose and my Mum is on the watch. Well, you know how she is--

Mrs. Weasly was incredibly kind, but very severe with her children and it still amazed Harry at times that the plump woman whose cheeks were always tinged pink in cheerfulness, could turn into an absolute monster within the time range of a few seconds. Most (or all) of the time, it was when one of (or both of) Ron's twin brothers had done something.

--Anyway, Happy Birthday! Wow! I can't believe your sixteen! I remember when I first met you. We were little midgets at the time, eh? So, here's the deal. Hermione and I went to Diagon Alley to get your birthday present. They were sold out, so we ordered one to be sent to Hogwarts a few days after we've been there. So, sorry, no present right now. Anyway, Harry, I have to go. Mum's yelling at Fred and George again and I want to see what they did this time. Bye! See you in six days!

Your mate,

Ron

Harry laughed to himself. Fred and George must have joined the Order of the Phoenix. There would be no other reason for them to be there. Putting Ron's note aside, he picked up one from his other friend, Hermione.

Dear Harry,

How have you been? Has your summer been better than the last one? I hope no Dementors attacked you! Life has been pretty boring, since we aren't allowed to actually join the Order. But we try to help out as much as we can. Ron and my job is to feed Buckbeak and take care of him.

One thing that makes me mad, Harry! I've worked so hard keeping S.P.E.W.--

Harry rolled his eyes. Could she even write one letter where at one point, she didn't refer to spew?

--I've worked so hard keeping S.P.E.W. up and Dumbledore thinks it best that Kreature not help anymore! Do you know what he did? Well, obviously, they couldn't give him clothes, because he would just go help Lestrange, so he was beheaded! Under Dumbledore's orders! I was so mad and still am! Everyone else seems quite happy, though…

Well, Happy Birthday! I'm not sure if Ron told you or not but, your present from us will be coming soon after we arrive at Hogwarts. We split the cost between us because it was really expensive and a few of the Order members chipped in a bit too. I think most of them got you their own present too. We've all been really secretive about what we were giving you for your birthday for some strange reason.

And also, we've met the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. You'll be quite surprised, Harry, I'm sure of it.

Have a wonderful week, Harry and I can't wait until you come here!

Love from,

Hermione

Harry folded the letter calmly. He was half annoyed at the fact that they both had been speaking in riddles again. He understood why, but he couldn't help but feel a bit angry that he was stuck at Privet Drive for one more week when they had already visited Diagon Alley. The anger subsided quickly as he picked up the other letters and gifts.

The next letter was from Hagrid. It said the same things as Ron and Hermione's and Harry had the suspicion that the Order was just as bored as he was. The only thing that was different was that Hagrid said that Grawp, his half brother (who was half taller), had found a lady friend at last. Harry couldn't decide whether to take this as good news or bad news. He ripped open Hagrid's present to find a box of homemade rock candies (as he usually sent to help Harry get food) and a hand-knitted scarf of a pinkish gray color. Harry thought that it might go well with Hagrid's pink umbrella.

The next letter was from Mad-Eye Moody. His letter wished Happy Birthday to Harry and told him to stay alert. As a P.S. Moody added 'Constant Vigilance, Potter.' Tonks' letter was a bit more friendly, telling him all about the different potions they were using to try and get Mrs. Black's (Sirius's mum) painting off the wall so they could burn it to stop her from laughing every time someone mentioned Sirius. Along with the letter, Tonks sent some of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish as a birthday present. Lupin's letter was exceptionally long, including a congratulations for becoming the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He also took up Sirius's role of constantly saying 'keep your head down, Harry,' or 'stay out of trouble, Harry.' Along with the letter, Lupin sent a large book on magic defense spells. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sent a large box of food. Dumbledore sent along his first ever birthday present for Harry. It was a book of some of the best Quidditch players of all time.

As Harry put the book down on his night stand, he reached for another large box, wrapped in brown paper. To his surprise, the box squealed loudly as his fingers grasped it and Harry let go in pure shock. The box started quivering uncontrollably and Harry could feel the vibration of it on the floor. Putting his hand on the lid to stop it from making loud noises, it squealed and shuffled away from him very fast. What was going on? Who sent this to him? Harry stood up and paced around it. Hedwig watched him interestedly. Mustering his strength and bracing himself, he jumped on top of the box, surprisingly not smashing it flat under his weight. It kept shivering until finally, it emitted a dark smoke and opened the lid, as though it had hinges, throwing Harry hard on his back.

Panting, and ignoring Hedwig's amused hoots, he cautiously approached the box and peered inside, seeing the one thing he least expected; absolutely nothing. Well, almost nothing. There was a note. Being careful, Harry reached inside and grabbed the note, unfolding it.

Harry,

What do you think, eh? It's called the Bouncing Birthday Box. We only just invented it. Business is good as much as Mum is angry with us for the business. Hope you have a good birthday!

Fred and George Weasley

The Bouncing Birthday Box… odd, yet still, Harry managed a chuckle. For a little bit, Harry wondered if Fred and George's idea of a thank you for the gold he had given them in his fourth year was to test all their new products on him. There was one last letter. Harry reached over to it and picked it up. He read 'To Harry Potter' on the front and nothing else. With curious fingers, he opened it and read;

Dear Harry,

How have you been? I'm really, really sorry for the way I acted at the end of last year. I'm still a little mixed up after what happened to Cedric--

Ah-- Cho Chang…

--and I've only just begun to get my life sorted out. I remember someone telling me your birthday was sometime this month, so I thought I'd wish you a happy birthday and see if you would like to start over. Michael Corner just wasn't the person for me after all. After my anger had burned out, I noticed he was insulting you a lot, so I dumped him. I think he's after Padma Patil now. They'll be perfect for each other. But I was wondering if, on the next Hogsmede trip, you would like to go somewhere. Ron and Hermione could come too; it doesn't matter. But I would rather try our date over again and start over, but if you don't want to, I understand completely. Anyway, I just wanted to say that and happy birthday. Well, bye.

Cho

Harry closed the letter silently. His heart burned with a few different emotions that he never thought would go together: Admiration, anger, happiness and doubt. He would never have had the courage to apologize like that, but he couldn't help but feel still feel a little miffed; after all, she had embarrassed him in front of the whole coffee shop last year and then gone out with another person. But she did apologize… Harry decided he would think about it; he had plenty of time, after all.

The clock close to Harry told him that an hour had passed and it was about ten o'clock. Not wanting to go back downstairs, he decided to dress in his pajamas and crawl into bed and finish some more homework. The only thing he had left to do was the History of Magic homework and only just a little bit left of the potions homework. Also, he had nothing better to do anyway. And that's where Harry was the rest of the night, pausing at one o'clock in the morning as Uncle Vernon made his nightly trip to the bathroom, checking for signs of life in Harry's room on the way.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Well, how was this chapter? Kinda boring, but I hope it still met you guys' expectations. It was just kinda fun writing all the letters and stuff. I would like to thank all of you for your positive input on my story! It made me really happy to see that you liked them, because that is what I was aiming for! Well, review time, eh?

The evil witch queen- Yay! Only a little more time and Harry can leave the Dursleys! Hermione was a good guess for the next DADA teacher, but, sadly, it wasn't the correct one. You'll know who it is in a few chapters. It would have been cool if Hermione had also been a DADA teacher. But she's done her fair share of work overload. Okay, I'll have to go read your leggy fic. Bye!

Leggylover03- Thanks! I will!

Starsmiles- Thanks for your review! I enjoyed reading it over and over and over and over and… etc. It was fun doing the research for this story. It took me a week to find a suitable English-Latin online dictionary to make up spells, but when I did, I was really happy. I never really paid attention to Harry yelling 'Ow' when Fawkes bit him. Thanks for letting me know about that! For now, pretend the Dursleys were sleeping REALLY heavily! Again, thanks!

Mistopurr- Thanks! I love putting myself in other people's shoes. J.K. Rowling is one of the easiest person's writing to mimic. Since I had read her books 20 times each, I stopped noticing the storyline and started noticing the details, which helped me find out how to write the stories. Well, I told you all I could in my e-mail. Talk to you later! Until then… Loadsa Legolas!

Trinityelf- I hope you really did have a good time at Lopez and aren't really saying that you did to not hurt my feelings, 'cause you wouldn't if you didn't! Anyway, thanks for the review! I hope you have a GREAT time at New Mexico and I'll send you the new chappies for my story when you're gone if you really want me to!

Crane- Thanks, Crane! It was fun reading this over the phone! Congrats yourself on becoming a sophomore! Can't wait to see Harry Potter with you!

Thanks again for all the reviews, guys! I'll try and post the next chappie on the 18th. The reason the date is so specific is because I'll be visiting my family that lives across America, leaving on the 19th of June and returning the 27th of June. On the 28th of June, I'm getting my wisdom teeth out (shudder) and I'll be out of it for the next few days. My mom is threatening to put a video camera on the dashboard of the car to film me on the way home from the doctor, to catch anything I say or do that will embarrass me later on. I'll try and post as soon as I possibly can, but expect one more chapter on the 18th. At that time, wish me luck on getting my wisdom teeth out (shudder!).

One more thing; I update my bio page every week, to let you know what I've been working on (if any of you are anticipating any postings for other stories). It tells you truthfully, if I have been working on something or not. Let me know if you visit it. But I do update it every week, so keep on lookin'. I put the date of the last time I updated it at the top so you'll know. Anyway, I'll talk to you later!

Luv,

Legolas-gurl88