A/N: This was my first ever loyal-to-the-book fanfic, I've done researches and everything, and this was supposed to be continuation of the fourth one but..meh..i procrastinated. I finished this months ago and many of my friends have finished it..so if it may seem a little dragging at first, I'm sorry :P

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters.. except the new ones ()

chapter one

AUNT PETUNIA'S DISTRESS

The mid-Summer vacation had come unusually and slightly quicker than normal, and though it was dreadful for most students that it was only a few more weeks before they return to school, it was quite a relief for a certain youth, who hadn't bothered to know what day it was since the start of the summer break, because he was involuntarily stuck in a residence he was expected to call home of his irritating cousin, aunt and uncle. He was wondering when his days at his school will come again, the days that he will be with his friends and when he will be, once again, in full contact with the wizard world, because that was exactly what he was…a wizard.

A boy of sixteen sat on the bench sited in the back yard of number 4, Privet Drive of the Dursleys, staring at the bushes. A few weeks ago, he had thought that he'd rather stay at his cousin's house rather than return to the wizarding world where he would be carrying the burden of protecting himself and others from being killed by the followers of the Dark Lord or Voldemort himself, and it was said he alone is the only one who can defeat Voldemort and liberate their kind — but coming back to Privet Drive, having to endure the hatred of the Dursleys towards him, reminded him that Hogwarts, under normal circumstances, was the lesser of the two devils.

He continued to stare at the bushes, trying to make his mind as blank as possible, in unwavering hope to forget about everything for once — to make the time fly by more rapidly than ever. It wasn't working though, and memories of people dying all around him the past six years…Cedric Diggory and his godfather Sirius Black…and Voldemort rising back to power, regaining his followers — they were haunting his mind still, not wanting to leave, not wanting him to forget —

"HARRY POTTER!"

Harry ignored Aunt Petunia, returning to his thoughts.

Things were better now than last year, aside from the fact that he had witnessed someone die again, not really sure that he was dead. At least now he wasn't left in the dark — the Ministry of Magic had come back to his, and Dumbledore's, side, and now he needed not worry about false accusations and the criticizing articles about him — this time people believed, and more people were now willing to participate in finally defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Ron Weasely and Hermione Granger, two of his first and closest friends, were allowed to give him bits of information from the Order now, though oftentimes he was required to read between the lines of Hermione's letters to get them, but she knew Harry's level of thinking, and therefore he always got them right.

Harry wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and when his Uncle Vernon's bellow came he stood up, patting his cousin's oversized jeans that he was wearing clean, and casually walked back into the house through the kitchen backdoor, where Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley were already silently eating their breakfast, almost completely, as usual, ignoring him.

"Breakfast." said Aunt Petunia callously, pushing a plate of pancakes and a sunny-side up egg (since Dudley was no longer sticking to his unsuccessful diet, Harry was now allowed to eat normal food again) to an unoccupied space on the table. Harry took his seat and began slicing his pancakes, thinking of reminding the Dursleys that he had just turned a year older a day ago just to annoy them, but refused the urge to do so. His birthdays were more often forgotten by the Dursleys than not, and he couldn't see why it would be such a big deal if they continued to forget he was even growing completely.

An odd noise suddenly pierced the silence; the Dursleys suddenly jumped on their seats, and so did Harry. No one spoke nor moved, until they heard it again.

Meow.

Aunt Petunia give a small squeak — she hated animals in her spotless house, and was no doubt afraid of them; Dudley's head disappeared as he bent over under the table to see if the cat was there, and when his head popped back up disappointment was etched on his face. Uncle Vernon turned his rather small eyes to Harry in extreme dislike, his hands on the table, balled into fists whilst holding his fork and knife. "Did you forget to close that ruddy door again, boy!"

Harry pretended to think for a while to infuriate him, and shrugged his shoulders. He nearly laughed at his uncle's now purple face when the cat mewed again, making Aunt Petunia jump on her chair.

"Just — go get that stupid cat, I don't want any dim-witted animals in here!"

Harry stood up to look for the cat that had entered their house and immediately found it lurking at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hullo, there." said Harry, scooping the black cat, which had green, almond shaped eyes, somewhat showing the creature more liking that he would have normally given, just because it had wound up Uncle Vernon. The cat, which seemed to have felt this, purred and started pressing its head against him.

"See you," whispered Harry, opening the door so he could put it out. But the cat would not allow Harry to let her go. He eventually was able to persuade her though, and he went back to eating with the Dursleys, who were now pretending that they could not see him.

In the middle of their otherwise mute breakfast — with the exemption of his large cousin's belching — to nobody's surprise but to everyone's but Harry's annoyance, two owls flew in, both being slightly burdened by the a letter each tied to their feet. One of them, Harry recognized, was his friend Ron's owl, Pigwigdeon, who had grown vaguely over the year… he headed for the floor and kept hopping as high as he could, as though determined to reach Harry's height. The other one was his own snowy female, Hedwig — she dropped the parcel on Harry's lap and settled herself on Harry's shoulder. She nipped him playfully in the ear and flew out the window, up to Harry's room. Harry took Pigwigdeon and chucked him out to the window after Hedwig.

"Get those ruddy owls out of here!" snapped Uncle Vernon without looking at him, seemingly a bit hesitant about yelling — Harry knew he hasn't forgotten the group of wizards threatening him a few weeks ago that they will most definitely take action if they ever hear that Harry is being mistreated. And if he did forget, Harry was willing to remind him.

"All right, I will." said Harry coolly while he took the letters from the owls. Receiving mail was the first good thing that happened today, and he wasn't going to let the Dursleys ruin it for him.

"Nothing to say?" asked Harry to the lot, standing up with a grin on his face to irritate them. They glared at him, inquisitive to why would he even think they wanted to talk to him. "Thought so." He shrugged and ran up the stairs with what was sent to him, the Dursleys throwing irritated looks at his retreating back.

"DAMN IT!" Harry said loudly as he entered his room, clutching the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead  it had burned so much the moment he had landed his right foot on the first step of the stairs. His head was spinning — things were flashing back in his mind —

"Harry,"

He looked up and realized only now that he had been clutching his stinging scar, kneeling on the floor, screaming  the voice had come from Aunt Petunia, who was peering at him from the door, and brought him back to reality. Her facial expression wasn't as friendly as the tone of her voice, but it wasn't too unsympathetic either.

"What?" asked Harry quite rudely  his scar was still burning, but he didn't dare let Aunt Petunia know that he was fighting a losing battle and that Voldemort could soon be able to overcome him.…if Aunt Petunia found it she would surely change her mind about keeping him and chuck Harry out of the house.…

No. thought Harry as he glared at Aunt Petunia, who was watching him like a hawk. If he's going to kill me I won't make things easy for him…He'll pay for killing — but not now — I —

"Are —" Aunt Petunia pursed her lips, as though unsure if she was going to continue with what she was thinking of saying. "Are you alright?" she asked finally, and Harry couldn't tell if she was just forcing herself to say it, or else she was a really good actress.…

"Er, what did you say?" asked Harry, not being able to believe what he was hearing.

"I said, are you — oh, never mind, you — you —"

There was an awkward silence before Aunt Petunia walked out in a huff and slammed the door shut behind her. It took him a moment before he realized that his scar had begun to feel normal again, and he only remembered about the owl post when Pigwigdeon landed on his shoulder.

Harry wondered what Ron and Hermione could possibly write to him about right now — he had only received a letter from them the day before, along with gifts from them, Hagrid and the members of the Order, which were lots of different types of food that did not spoil quickly, including two standard birthday cakes.

"Here," said Harry, putting the eager Pigwigdeon inside Hedwig's cage for him to rest after the long journey with Hedwig, who, although wanting to object, continued to watch Pigwigdeon with her amber eyes, still determined to show Harry what a good owl she is, especially compared to Ron's winged menace.

Dear Harry,

We're already at Leaky Cauldron, and I reckon Hermione's arriving tomorrow. How about you, mate? Do you reckon the muggles will let you? Well, whether they do or not, Hermione said she and her parents will be picking you up tomorrow, it'd be much safer traveling with muggles. (Besides, I don't think that those muggles you live with wouldn't want a visit from Mad-Eye Moody, would they?) I'm not sure really.

Ask her, will you? But I'm bloody sure she'll mail you anyway. By the way, I was hoping we could practice some Quidditch before the season starts — that is, if it's okay with you.

See you soon!

Ron

Another owl, one bigger than the first, flew in Harry's room as soon as he finished reading the first letter. Like Pig, he also had a parchment tied around its left leg, and when Harry relieved it of his burden, the owl ruffled its feathers, hooted and flew away. Harry didn't bother opening that letter, as Harry recognized the Hogwarts Crest on the envelope, and he instantly knew that his booklist has just arrived. He proceeded instead to the letter that was brought by Hedwig.

Dear Harry,

My parents are driving me tomorrow to Leaky Cauldron, and I'll be meeting the Weasleys there.

Do you think your aunt and uncle let you come with us tomorrow? If they will, my parents and I will drive by at around one in the afternoon. Just send an owl to me then of your decision beforehand, alright? I know it's a like I waited until the last minute— I've actually been meaning to write to you yesterday but I was busy trying to finish what was left of my homework so that I wouldn't have to do schoolwork while I'm with you and the Weasleys at the Leaky Cauldron; I can't believe I didn't finish all of it on the first week of school!

Well, I'll be seeing you!

Love from,

Hermione

He wrote his replies to both of them on separate pieces of parchment — he told Ron that it was fine with him to practice Quidditch at least once to get used to riding a broomstick again although he knew he was never going to become unaccustomed to it. To Hermione, he gave her the address and told her that whether the Dursleys liked it or not, he'll be ready at one o'clock with all his things when they come to pick him up.

As soon as Harry woke up the next day and was sure that the Dursleys were not awake yet, he quickly took a bath, put on his clothes, and stared at his reflection in the mirror — at his black untidy hair he had inherited from his father, his green eyes like his mother's and his lightning-shaped scar of which Voldemort 'marked him as an equal'. He hadn't bothered telling the Dursleys at all that he was leaving today — he'd rather just take off with Hermione without forewarning them as to receive less of Uncle Vernon's sermons.

He hurriedly put his clothes in his trunk, went downstairs and started picking the lock on the cupboard. As soon as Dudley saw Harry with his wand, his trunk and Hedwig's cage, and although Dudley said he wasn't scared of him anymore because he knew Harry wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school, Harry still noticed that he grabbed his big fat bottom and walked silently out of the room, calling his mum and dad. Uncle Vernon rushed out to the hallway straight away to see what was wrong, Aunt Petunia and Dudley tailing behind him.

"WHAT THE RUDDY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" he yelled upon seeing Harry trying to open the cupboard under the stairs. He was about to pounce on him but suddenly caught sight of Harry's wand in his hand— he immediately walked back slightly.

"Y-You're not allowed —"

"I know, but I'm still getting my stuff back." said Harry casually, starting to empty the cupboard of all it's contents and putting it all inside his trunk. After he got all of his things, as though on cue, he heard a car beeping at the front of their driveway. He turned to the Dursleys, grinned mischievously, and said, "Well, have a nice year." He walked out the door just in time to greet Hermione and her parents; they all grinned at him from inside their car the moment Harry left the Dursleys' house.

"Hi, Harry!" said Hermione, getting out of the car to hug Harry, while her father relieved him of his trunk. "You didn't ask permission from them, did you?" asked Hermione when they separated, smiling at the Dursleys, who were glaring at Harry furiously from the door, before she entered the car.

"I didn't bother." said Harry, and he entered after Hermione. "Good afternoon, Harry!" said a woman cheerfully from the front passenger seat. She had brown bushy hair like Hermione's, and, being a dentist, had model-worthy smile. "Hello, Mrs. Granger." greeted Harry politely, nodding his head. Hermione's father entered the car and said, "You alright, Harry? Better get ready for a catnap, it'll be a long drive." before driving them away from Privet Drive — away from the Dursleys.