Harry Potter and the Duty of Prophecy

Chapter 01 – The News

It was a hot evening in Little Whinging, Surry. A 16-year old teenager was lying outside the dining room window in the garden of his home, listening to the news on TV. The reason he was lying outside the window to listen to the news was because his guardians, his Aunt and Uncle, forbade him from watching it:

"What boy needs to know about all that stuff going on, even one as abnormal as you," his Aunt had said.

This boy's name was Harry Potter, and the abnormality his Aunt was referring to was his magical ability. Harry Potter was a wizard. And not just any wizard, for Harry is The-Boy-Who-Lived.

When he was one year old, an evil wizard by the name of Voldemort came and visited Harry home. Voldemort killed Harry's parents, James and Lily, with the killing curse. He then tried to use the same curse on young Harry, but something went wrong. The curse rebounded and hit Voldemort. Voldemort was torn from his body and rendered almost powerless. The only injury little Harry received was a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on his forehead.

Harry was then sent to live with his Aunt Petunia (Lily's sister) and her husband, Vernon . Both Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were both muggles (people who can't perform magic), and hated poor Harry. They thought he was a freak and kept him in his room under the stairs except when they wanted something done. They never told little Harry about his abilities, nor did they tell him how his parents truly died (according to them, the Potters died in a car accident).

Then, just before Harry's eleventh birthday, something amazing happened (at least, Harry thought so, his Aunt and Uncle certainly didn't). Harry got a visit from Hagrid, the Half-giant. Hagrid told Harry the truth about his parents and his abilities as a wizard. He also gave Harry his acceptance letter into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hagrid became Harry's first friend.

Needless to say, Harry was thrilled.

Then, during his first year at Hogwarts, his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrel, turned out to be a follower of Voldemort (called Death Eaters). Quirrel was trying to find a stone that could return his master to full life. In the process of trying to retrieve this Philosopher's Stone, Quirrel came face-to-face with Harry. Luckily, although he nearly died, Harry was able to prevent Quirrel (and hence Voldemort) from gaining possession of the said stone.

The following year at Hogwarts was no less dangerous. Harry's best friend's (one Ronald Weasley) sister, Ginny Weasley, whose first year at the school it was, found herself in the possession of a magical diary which had been imbued with the spirit of Voldemort's 16 year old self (at this age, he went by the name of Tom Marvolo Riddle). Tom possessed Ginny, taking her down beneath the school into Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, and attempted to use Ginny's life to return to life. Harry saved her, but was unfortunately bitten by a Basilisk. Luckily, Headmaster Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, was able to save Harry's life with a few well placed tears.

Harry's third year was arguably his best year at Hogwarts to date. Even still, he had an insane criminal who had escaped from the supposedly inescapable prison, Azkaban, after his blood to content with. It turns out, luckily, that this insane criminal, whom everyone had thought had betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, was nothing more than Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. All Sirius had ever done was love the Potters. Furthermore, it was Peter Pettigrew, another friend of the Potters, who did the betraying. Sirius consequently spent 12 long, hard years in Azkaban for no reason.

The fourth year of schooling at Hogwarts for Harry saw the rebirth of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (what the majority of the Wizarding World calls Voldemort), and the death of—

Crack!

Harry jumped up at the sound of a nearby wizard (probably one of his "watchers") disapparating (the method of choice for wizards travelling). Mumbling to himself about why they needed to keep an operative on him at all times (Harry didn't very much like it), he settled back down under the window, trying to remember what part of his life's story he was up to.

Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts saw the return of Voldemort, and the death of Cedric Diggory, one of Harry's fellow students. There had been a Tri-Wizard Cup Competition that year, and both Harry and Cedric were participants. Unfortunately, one of Voldemort's death eaters turned the trophy into a portkey (another form of wizarding transportation). The plan was to abduct Harry and use his blood to bring Voldemort back. Cedric was just a "spare", and dealt with summarily.

The following year, Harry's fifth, could be described as one of his worst to date. With Voldemort back, the Order of the Phoenix reconvened. Their purpose: to defeat Voldemort. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Magic didn't believe that Voldemort had returned, and did nothing to assist them. The other problem, in Harry's opinion, was that Dumbledore and the rest of the Order didn't tell him anything. As such, he got extremely frustrated with them. In the end, Harry and his friends learnt that Voldemort was planning to visit the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, and decided to try and stop him. In the process, Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, was killed.

In Harry's sixth year, Dumbledore and he set out to destroy Voldemort. Dumbledore had recently discovered that Voldemort was keeping himself alive through means of Horcruxes. Horcruxes are ordinary objects imbued with part of someone's soul. They managed to find where Voldemort had hidden one of the Horcruxes, but retrieving it weakened Dumbledore considerably. When they returned to Hogwarts, they found the school under attack from Death Eaters. In the ensuing struggle, Dumbledore was hit with the Avada Kedavra curse (the Killing Curse, the same one that killed Harry's parents, and Cedric Diggory) and killed, but the rest of them managed to defeat the invading Death Eaters.

Harry swore after Dumbledore's funeral that he would stop Voldemort, no matter the cost. He ended his relationship with Ginny, thinking that it would make her safer, since Voldemort wouldn't hesitate to use her to get to Harry. Then, his two best friends (Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger) vowed to stand beside him, wherever his quest took him.

Ron and Hermione were going to accompany him back to

Privet Drive and his Aunt and Uncles house, but he managed to persuade them that it would be better if he went their alone. He agreed that he would meet them after he had stayed there long enough.

Thus began the last summer he would see his blood family.

Disclaimer

Except elements of my own creation, everything is owned by J.K. Rowling, et al.