Chapter 1 - Without A Backward Glance
Harry Potter stared blankly at the ceiling. He was in his room at Number 4, Privet Drive, feeling extremely bored. There was no pattern on the ceiling. How dull. Even the air felt sleepy. But how could Harry sleep when he'd just woke up from a long siesta? And Hedwig was nowhere to be found. Damn it, she was the only living thing in the house he liked.
The other three living things, you know who they are, absolutely deserved to be crowned the three biggest gits in Muggle world.
All in all, it was hard for Harry to tolerate the dullness of his life at the Dursley's. Not just dullness, but also that kind of mingled dislike, vigilance, and annoyance he constantly received from Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley. They still hadn't forgot Harry's "weird folks" (particularly Mad-Eye Moody) and their promise to visit if anything went wrong. They were ignoring, or rather, avoiding Harry all the time. Sometimes Harry even felt like he was standing in front of them wearing an invisibility cloak.
Not that he cared, though. Harry secretly enjoyed being alone. Only at this time he didn't need to wear a mask to shield his fragile emotions. He would lie on his bed and let his tears flow freely down his cheeks, until it finally dried up. Then he would wash his face and pretended nothing happening.
Things went on like this for more than two weeks.
Harry tried to go through his tied-up emotions, but all these would bring him to the thoughts of… Sirius, over and over again, and it made his eyes blur and his throat tighten. Never will he see his godfather again. He missed Sirius so much, and tear wasn't enough to wash away the woes. Every time an owl mail arrived, he remembered how he'd waited for Sirius's mails before. Every time he saw a shaggy black dog on the street, he was painfully reminded of Sirius. If only it could turn into him…
Thinking of the loss of Sirius was unbearable, but Harry could do nothing to erase the haunting image of Sirius falling into the veil, ever so sad and chilling. He would never forget that horrible night at the Department of Mysteries. Day and night, pieces of it emerged frequently in his mind, as if someone was playing the same horror movie again and again. Apart from that, Harry remembered Sirius's lonesome life at Grimmauld Place. His last days were not pleasant at all.
Thinking of all these was quite enough to make Harry completely lose his mind. Seriously.
Oh no, I shouldn't have mentioned the word serious, 'cause it sounds so much like Sirius. Now that's a nice baloney.
Think of something to do, I've had too much thinking and now my thoughts start to get weird, Harry repeated to himself for what had to be the fifteenth time today. Sadly, his only options of something else to do were doing homework (boring) and reading his mails (for the hundredth time).
Harry sighed deeply and picked up a letter nearest to him. It was a letter from Ron arrived yesterday. His familiar handwriting jumped into Harry's eyes.
Dear Harry,
How are you? I hope you're doing fine. I guess your folks aren't bothering you very much. I hope so. Anyway, you won't stay there for long. Mum's already planning to get you and Hermione to Grimmauld Place, as soon as possible. Then we'll all be together.
Ginny and I are already living at Grimmauld Place – it's a bit boring, but the absence of Kreacher was a huge progress. (Harry's lips twitched – he loathed Kreacher for what he'd done to Sirius) Fred and George are working on their joke shop, which is going great. They are really rich now! Charlie doesn't have time for the Order so he's now in Romania. And Bill, well, you won't believe it, but he's actually dating Fleur Delacour now! And don't ask me about Percy. Mum said he'd return to our family anytime now, and alas, how I dread that.
Oh, I almost forgot – have you received your O.W.L. result yet? I haven't got mine and Hermione told me she might just die of anxiety. She must've told you that too. That's not very pleasant of her, is it?
Anyway, I'm sure that we're going to see each other pretty soon,
Ron
P.S. Write back using Pig, he needs some extra exercise.
Reading Ron's letter made Harry felt only slightly better. He wasn't sure if Number 12, Grimmauld Place would be any better than here at Privet Drive. To him, it just seemed that everyone and everything was so, so far away. Right now the Leaky Cauldron, where he could live alone, sounded much more appealing to him.
Whatever.
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Three days passed by and no one came to escort Harry away. No surprise visit. No "Hey Harry, we're here to bring you out of this stupid place". No nothing.
Feeling a little thirsty, Harry got up from his chair and walked downstairs. Not surprisingly, he got face to face with Dudley in the kitchen, who was nicking some cakes from the fridge. He smirked at the sight of Harry.
"You're not supposed to eat any snack," scoffed Dudley.
"Can I drink water, then? Will that kill you, Duddykins?" Harry snapped impatiently. "And do I need to remind you – for the millionth time – that you are not supposed to have anything out of the fridge?"
Dudley blushed and Harry ignored it. He poured himself a glass of water and headed straight back to his room. Dudley hissed after him, trying and failing to sound threatening, "Don't you dare telling mom, don't you dare…" He chanted the phrase annoyingly as Harry climbed the stairs, until Harry turned back abruptly and hissed back, "I won't tell Aunt Petunia if you'll shut up now! Stop annoying me or else I will tell my folks."
He turned and stomped back into his room. He wasn't in the mood of any further conversation with Dudley Dursley, thank you very much.
The moment he opened the door, Harry saw an owl knocking on the windowpane of his room. His irritation forgotten, he set down the glass of water and ran over to let it in.
The owl was delivering for Hogwarts. Harry untied an official-looking envelope from the owl's outstretched leg, then closed the window after the owl flew away.
Harry sank into his bed and started opening the letters, knowing perfectly well of what was coming. Sure enough, one of the three parchments was the usual reminder of term starting on the first of September, the other listing the books he would need for the upcoming school year, and the last was his O.W.L. results. Abandoning the first two letters, Harry unfolded the last piece of parchment with slightly shaky fingers.
Ordinary Wizarding Level
Examination Results of Harry James Potter, Gryffindor, Fifth Year
Astronomy: Acceptable
Care of Magical Creatures: Exceeds Expectations
Charms: Exceeds Expectations
Defense Against the Dark Arts: Outstanding
Divination: Dreadful
Herbology: Acceptable
History of Magic: Poor
Potions: Outstanding
Transfiguration: Exceeds Expectations
Total O.W.L.s Accomplished: 7
Harry didn't move for one whole minute after that. He was in a daze. Seven O.W.L.s? An Outstanding in Potions? Potions? How in the world did he do that? Feeling somewhat perplexed, he looked down again and noticed another piece of parchment attached.
Dear Mr. Potter,
Congratulations! You have achieved a total number of 7 O.W.L.s. Please be informed that during your sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you will be studying particular N.E.W.T. courses in accordance with your career preference. In your case, your career choice seemed to be of an Auror, and we are pleased to inform you that you have successfully passed all the four subjects required for further Auror studies. Therefore, in the upcoming school year you shall join your classmates in Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, and Transfiguration classes. Also, you can take an additional subject of your own choice. Further more, you will be taking private Special Auror Training lessons each week with your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Wish you a nice holiday,
Griselda Marchbanks
Head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority
A whirlpool of different emotions knocked Harry over. Surprise, delight, relief and excitement all swept over him. I passed! And I'll be taking Auror lessons! thought Harry, grinning heartily – something he hadn't done for months.
Still grinning, Harry carefully put all the Hogwarts letters back into the envelope and placed it securely in his trunk. He then lied down on his bed and gazed at the ceiling, having nothing else to do (he had finished all his homework yesterday). He closed his eyes and fantasized an adult Harry as an excellent Auror. And before long, Harry dozed off.
The veil was swinging in an innocent fashion… Voldemort was laughing into Harry's ear, with that screechy, merciless laugh… A foggy shape of Sybill Trelawney was spinning… Harry was qualified an Auror, along with Ron…
The sky darkened – Harry was riding a thestral to the Ministry of Magic… Sirius disappeared behind the veil… He was yelling… and waving wildly… Something was strange here… There was a faint voice Harry couldn't understand, yet he could sense it getting closer… Was it behind him? Or was it right in front of…
"HARRY!" said a female voice loud and clear.
Harry started. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was, bizarrely, some spiky electric blue hair. Nymphadora Tonks was standing beside his bed. Harry gasped, "Tonks! How come you're here?"
"Well," she replied casually, "of course we've come and pick you up!"
"Oh yeah," said Harry. To his surprise, it felt remotely good to see Tonks.
Tonks helped Harry to pack the rest of his things. Harry didn't bother to clean the floor or arrange his bed, which was in disarray. "How did you get into the house? Where are the Dursleys?" he asked Tonks as she lifted his trunk with a Levitation Charm.
"Old trick, Harry," winked Tonks. "Sent another Muggle post to the Dursleys that your cousin has to join the 'Annual Teenager Boxing Tournament'! I guess they left when you were asleep."
Harry could only snicker.
They met Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, and Kingsley Shacklebolt in the living room downstairs. Harry was relieved to see that there were only four people. He didn't feel like seeing many people now, not after Sirius… Harry forced the image out of his head.
Lupin, who looked tired but quite cheerful (was the cheerfulness pretended?), beamed and patted Harry on the shoulder. "Harry," he said. "Sorry about the delay. We were busy since last week. Anyway, let's get going."
Harry nodded happily, his upset feeling lessened a great deal. Well, it wasn't too bad seeing them, Harry mused and followed Lupin toward the door without a backward glance.
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A/N – Please, please let me know how you guys think about this chapter! I really need your opinions, especially suggestions for improvement! But I dunno if I should continue this at all, because HBP is coming out in less than one month!