Chapter 1
Harry gazed gloomily outside his window. It had been almost a month since he got back from Hogwarts and he had indeed been frequently writing to Lupin, Ron, and Hermione. Since Hermione's neighbors would find it odd if an owl was delivering letters to her, Harry sent Hermione's letters to Ron and asked Ron to mail it, specifically mentioning to only add one stamp. He had sent a letter to Hagrid for the first time a few days ago and was now impatiently waiting for Hedwig to return to him, hooting happily and showing some sign of affection. The Dursleys have been avoiding Harry ever since they got back from King's Cross. They obviously thought that Harry had asked Moody and Lupin to threaten the Dursleys and Harry wanted to keep it that way. He would much rather have Dudley ignoring him than finding new ways to pound his head into the wall with his gang. He stared into the clouds with a blank look on his face. He was thinking of what would've happened if Sirius were here. He would have been free. He could walk the streets again in his human form and he could come visit Harry. For a fleeting moment, Harry thought that he could have lived with his godfather, but he knew that to be safe from Voldemort, he had to stay with Aunt Petunia, who had his mothers' blood.
Harry felt something wet on his face and awoke from his daydream. It was drizzling slightly. Harry didn't bother to close the window; instead, he got out a box of the most recent letters from the loose floorboard and decided to re-read them for the umpteenth time. He had nothing better to do. He was banned from leaving the house, in case he formed a secret meeting with some 'maniacs' to form an evil plan to bring doom and destruction to the world. He could only leave his room twice a day for bathroom breaks, and all his meals were usually either a few slices of bread or cold canned vegetables served through the cat flap from Aunt Petunia. As soon as he mentioned this in his letters, Ron, Hermione, and Lupin had sent him generous amounts of food, which were his real meals. There were varieties of cakes, candies, large assortments of fruitcakes, some meat (which Harry ate right away because he didn't have a place to keep them from rotting), and hot, steaming, delicious looking loaves of bread that Harry dug into as soon as he caught hold of the scrumptious smell. He left all the food that Aunt Petunia sends him for Hedwig to eat after she's finished with the new victim of her everyday hunt. He could leave all the food out in the open since none of the Dursleys dare come into his room, afraid he might jinx them or attack them in some other way.
Harry heard a flutter of wings and looked up halfway into Ron's letter about how Percy sent letters apologizing to the Mr. and Mrs.Weasley and insisted that they come down to the Ministry for lunch next week. Ron included that she had burst into tears again, tore out a piece of 2-foot long parchment, and immediately started writing a letter on how much she loves him and that they accept his apology. Hedwig was back, accompanied by another, elegant looking barn owl who landed right in front of Harry whereas Hedwig zoomed onto the bed and flopped down at the end of it. The barn owl placed his foot at Harry's feet and turned his head to face Hedwig and gave a soft hoot that sounded a lot like a This-is-how-proper-owls-are-supposed-to-behave-like hoot. Hedwig glared at the owl and swooped down onto Harry's shoulder and tugged at his shirt with her beak as if saying 'He's mine'.
Harry smiled and took off the letter tied to Hedwigs' foot first as the barn owl gave a reproachful look and Hedwig gave a look of glee right back at him. Harry laughed as he opened the letter and started to read the messy handwriting scrawled on the paper clearly recognizable as Hagrids. Harry felt a warm feeling of content, as if being near magical folk again, and carefully slid Hagrid's letter into the box and turned to the barn owl. Hedwig flew immediately to her cage and looked everywhere around the room expect the place the barn owl was standing at. The barn owl raised his foot to Harry and Harry untied the letter, staring at the familiar crimson emblem at the back of the letter with the Hogwarts symbol. It couldn't be the list of supplies already; they had another month and a half until school started. Harry's attention turned to the barn owl that was nipping at the fudge cake Ron had sent him. "Hey! You can't eat that!" Harry put down his arm in between the owl and the cake. The owl glared at him and stared longingly at the cake. "Here, I guess you deserve some bread and water. Sorry Hedwig…" Harry had removed one slice of bread from Hedwigs cage and her water bowl and set it in front of the barn owl. Hedwig glared at him and hooted dolefully. Harry smiled, returned to the letter, and opened it carefully.
He then gasped as a wave of excitement and anxiousness flooded over him. It was his O.W.L results. Knowing not to expect high marks in Potions or Divination, Harry unfolded the letter and scanned the piece of parchment. He had received Outstanding in Defense against the Dark Arts (which was no big surprise), Exceeds Expectations on Transfiguration, Acceptable in Potions (Harry had to reread this part several times for it to sink in), Exceeds Expectations on Charms, Outstanding in Care of Magical Creatures (Harry made a mental note to mention that to Hagrid the next time he wrote to him), Poor in Divination (Harry was shocked he hadn't received a Dreadful), Exceeds Expectations in Herbology, Dreadful in History of Magic (Harry was surprised he didn't get Troll since he never took in a word Professor Binns said), and Acceptable in Astronomy.
Harry thought his O.W.L grades were extremely good, in fact, much better than he thought he would get. Harry still couldn't believe he passed Potions, Snape surely would've failed him, unless Dumbledore had a say in this. Harry was glad that he wouldn't be able to take Potions this year. Snape had said last year that he would only take students who had received Outstanding into his N.E.W.T class. Harry stuffed the letter into his letterbox and left it lying in the middle of the room. Harry sighed and looked out the window again. He was wondering what Ron and Hermione were doing. Ron was probably playing Quidditch with Fred and George. Hermione was probably having lunch, laughing and talking with her parents who loved her. And he, Harry, was half-dead, confined to his room, surrounded by people who shudder at the sight of him or the sound of his name. Harry looked at Hedwig who looked as if she has just read his mind and was giving him a look of pity.
"I know girl," Harry said as he dug in his suitcase for a few sickles for the barn owl who was now waiting impatiently on the windowsill, "But what can we do about it? But look on the bright side; we only have to stay here this summer and then the next. Then we can go wherever we please!"
Harry put the two sickles into the small pouch attached to the owl's ankle and watched it take off into the saltwater-blue sky. He then laid his elbows on the windowsill and rested his head on his hand. He closed his eyes and listened to the clanging of the sickles in the pouch until it was just a faint tinkle and then turned to nothing. He let the light pitter-patter of the rain flood his mind and he tried to concentrate on just the rain, washing away his memories. But then, Sirius' face mingled in with the thought of rain. And then the archway, which Sirius had fallen through, flashed, just for a second, inside Harry's eyelids. Harry then felt more wetness on his face as he shut his eyes as tight as he could. But this was not the rain.