Harry Potter and the Heir of Hogwarts

Author: Gryffindor Sebastian.

Author's notes: This is set post- HBP. There are some spoilers, so if you are reading or are yet to read that book, please do so before reading this story. I can't promise that it will be any good, but it won't be a one-shot and I hope to update regularly.

Harry Potter stared at his own reflection in the mirror as night settled over Privet Drive. In the dwindling light, he could make out his pale face, punctuated with brilliant green eyes and emblazoned with a scar on his forehead, in the shape of a lightning bolt. It was this scar that had caused him the pain and suffering he had endured the last seventeen years. Well, almost seventeen…

Harry looked at his watch. It was 11:30pm. Hermione had said in her last letter that she and Ron were going to pick him up on his birthday. Well, he still had half an hour to wait and Hermione had never broken a promise to him.

Tired of remaining stagnant, Harry turned away from the mirror and walked to the open window. Hedwig hooted softly in her cage as she followed him with her golden eyes. Harry rested his forehead against the cool glass and stared across the empty street. Everything seemed to feel so… lifeless. He cast his mind back to the last term he had, for lack of a better word, suffered at Hogwarts. Dumbledore… Harry felt his eyes burn. How was he to go on looking for the Horcruxes without Dumbledore there to guide him? Harry sighed. All he had to go on was what Dumbledore had shared with him… if only he had told Harry sooner, he might've been able to help him more.

The quiet beeping of his watch told Harry that it was midnight. Midnight. He was seventeen. The protection of his mother's blood could hide him no more. Harry drew a deep breath. He was truly alone now.

A heavy creak from outside his door told him that Dudley had got up to use the bathroom. Harry grinned to himself and clutched at his wand. Just a little prank… surely it couldn't hurt?

Before he could even move, though, something caught his eye. Something that made his blood run cold. A figure, cloaked in black, had suddenly materialised out of nowhere next to a lamp post. The figure turned its head towards the Dursley house, withdrawing something long and thin from inside the folds of its cloak. Harry felt out of breath. It was times like these that he hated being a wizard. Hated Voldemort, the vilest wizard to ever exist, for tearing every shred of hope he ever had for a normal future away from him.

As Harry watched, more dark-cloaked figures began appearing in the quiet street, converging on the house. They're after me, he thought, desperate for escape. There was no other way he could escape. He'd have to…

'Harry, mate,' came a voice from behind him. Harry whirled around and fired off the first hex he could think of. Hermione easily deflected it. Harry stared at his two best friends through the dark.

'What are you doing here?' he asked, amazed. Hermione took his hand in hers.

'We came to get you. From the look of things, we need to get out of here quickly or else you won't be celebrating your 17th at all,' she said quietly.

'We're Disapparating?'

'We have to,' Ron said, stepping closer to Harry.

'Those are Death Eaters out there and they're looking for you. We need to go now.'

As much as Harry had tried, he had never quite been used to Disapparating. The feeling that his whole body was being forced through a long, narrow tube wasn't the same as an invigorating flight on his Firebolt, the broomstick that his godfather, Sirius Black, had bought him. Harry dragged his trunk over to his friends with a thud as he thought painfully about the night that the Death Eaters had stolen the one person who had been more like a parent to him than anyone else. Including Dumbledore.

Hermione casually flicked her wand at Harry's trunk and it disappeared.

'We all ready?' she asked softly. Harry nodded mutely.

'Where are we going?'

Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

'Well, mate, mum would like you to come back to our place first before you go back to Godric's Hollow. For Bill and Fleur's wedding, y'know,' Ron said, running a hand through his shaggy red hair and down across his long nose. Harry nodded. He was safe at The Burrow. Temporarily.

'Okay, one, two..' Hermione counted. Harry turned on the spot and felt the squeezing feeling he always felt. Suddenly, he felt his lungs fill with air as he stood silently outside The Burrow, the house where Ron and his family lived. The three looked on quietly, not willing to move yet unable to stay out in the open.

'We'd better get inside. Mum went crazy when Hermione and I said we were going to apparate at your place alone,' Ron said. Harry looked at Hermione, who had been watching him closely for the good part of five minutes.

'You go on a bit, mate. I need to talk to Hermione in private,' Harry said, not taking his eyes off her. Ron shrugged and headed towards the house, hands shoved carelessly into his pockets. Hermione and Harry watched as their friend stepped inside his house and closed the door. Hermione reached for Harry.

'No, Hermione,' Harry said quietly, still watching the house. He could tell she was tearing up even without looking at her.

'Why?' she asked, her voice shaking slightly. Harry turned to her. Before they had left Hogwarts the year previous, Hermione had taken Harry aside and given a tearful confession that she had fallen in love with him, that she knew Harry loved Ginny and that she understood if Harry didn't feel the same way. Luckily for her, though, Harry had just broken up with Ginny and to his own surprise, Harry had found that he did feel the same about Hermione.

'You know why,' Harry said, turning to her and touching her cheek in the darkness. Hermione touched the hand at her face.

'I'm not afraid, Harry. Ron and I are with you to the end. You know that.'

Harry sighed.

'I know that. But I can't get involved right now. I really wish I could, but Voldemort will be searching for a way to get to me. I can't let him use you against me, first as a friend, then as a girlfriend.'

Hermione let her head drop and cried silent tears into Harry's wrist. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him and praying that soon, the danger would be over with. He stepped away as she wiped her eyes.

'Come on, Mrs. Weasley will be waiting for us,' he said quietly. Hermione nodded and followed him quietly into The Burrow. As they opened the door, Ron's mother bore down on them like an over-sized hawk.

'Oh Harry, dear, do come inside! It's terribly dangerous to stay outside these days and you really can't afford to take too many chances, can you?' Mrs Weasley said, hurrying them inside. Harry avoided eye contact with the other people in the room, which happened to be his old Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin and his new girlfriend, Nymphadora Tonks.

'Wotcher, Harry?' Tonks said nervously as Harry slid by the table and headed up the stairs towards Fred and George's (Ron's older twin brothers) old room. Harry didn't say anything as he climbed the stairs. He was too tired to care about anything at the moment.

Harry dropped tiredly onto the bed and closed his eyes. He heard the creaking of boards outside his room and heard timid footsteps enter. The bed dipped slightly and he felt the soft touch of Hermione's hand on his.

'Happy birthday, Harry,' she whispered.