Harry Potter and the Light of the Istari
Chapter One
To be or not to be?!
The rain was pattering on the roof and in between its splotched patterns on the window pane of number four privet drive, a fifteen year old boy stared absently out in to a dreary July morning. Summer had been and gone in a two week heat wave and now the whole country was once again subject to typical British wet weather.
Harry Potter sat with his elbows on the window ledge and his hands propping up his head as he leant against the cool glass and pondered his fate as he waited for the morning post. So much had happened in the last year and he was still trying to come to terms with it. He supposed that really he never would fully understand all the things that had happened to him. He still felt an enormous amount of pain whenever he thought about Sirius, his godfather.
Harry had been out for a walk very early that morning before the rain started, trying to calm his nerves. He had only just got to the end of Privet Drive when he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a large black dog go tearing across a neighbours garden and then start barking. His first thought, again, was that Sirius was back and had come to find him, just as he had thought every time he heard a dog bark since he had returned home from Hogwarts.
Harry tried to push the painful memories from his mind and concentrate on looking out of his bedroom window for the owl. He could hear Aunt Petunia singing, very badly, downstairs in the kitchen preparing the breakfast, whilst Dudley and Uncle Vernon were yelling at the WWE wrestling on the television in the living room. "Breakfast is ready" Aunt Petunia called through the house. The television went off and after a stamping of feet, the roars of the WWE audience resumed slightly quieter on the TV set in the kitchen. Harry took one final glance out of the window, then trudged downstairs to join his relatives.
Harry was not really very hungry but at least eating would pass some time. Sliding in to his chair at the kitchen table Harry looked around at what remained of his 'family'. When Harry had been growing up he used to dread the table 'get-togethers' as every time it was "look at your hair", "tidy up your clothes" or "don't look at me like that, you should be more grateful", and Dudley would be pulling faces at him over the table, trying to get him in to more trouble. Now, however, Harry was just ignored, not that he didn't prefer it this way.
Dudley sat staring at the television, fried egg dripping down from his many chins, silently mouthing insults at the television because Aunt Petunia wouldn't allow him to shout while he was eating. Uncle Vernon had disappeared behind a copy of the Daily Mail that he had propped up against a vase in the middle of the table, adjusted ever so slightly, so that Harry was obscured from his view. Aunt Petunia was the only one to make eye contact with Harry, if only brief glances, seeming anxious that Harry might ask her something when she caught his eye. She would quickly get up to do something at the sink then sit down again, have a mouthful of her breakfast, glance at Harry then the whole sequence was started over again.
"Petunia will you stop flapping and eat your breakfast" Uncle Vernon's voice boomed over the top of the newspaper. "Yeah mu.. ur boking my voo" said Dudley with a mouthful of sausage and bacon, spraying bits over the table.
Harry had had so many questions for Aunt Petunia when he had first come home from school but Uncle Vernon has banned him from asking them. At first Harry had tried catching her on her own, but she must have known what he was going to do because she kept shooting from the room. It would have been much easier if Harry could have used a summoning charm to bring her back and keep her there but underage wizards are not allowed to use magic outside of school. Harry had already nearly been expelled the previous year when he had saved his cousin Dudley from a dementor attack. But, Uncle Vernon had threatened to throw him out on the street no matter what Aunt Petunia had promised. Then, like all the other times since Harry had come home and his relatives had raised their voices, Uncle Vernon glanced quickly at the fireplace and Aunt Petunia ran to the window to check the garden path. So far there had been no sign of the Dursleys' warning committee that had greeted them at King's Cross when they met Harry from the school train.
So, as much as Harry would have liked to leave number four, he thought of what Professor Dumbledore would say if he got himself thrown out of the house. And besides, where else would he go? He didn't think going to Ron's house would be such a good idea because Voldemort was still out there and he could be putting the Weasleys in more danger than they already were. And he really didn't want to return to number 12 Grimmauld Place at the moment, it was too soon. Again Harrys' thoughts turned back to Sirius and the pain came flooding back. It was best, as Dumbledore had said, to stay where he was so that he was protected and so that he couldn't cause the death of someone else he loved.
Harrys' thoughts were soon brought back to the kitchen at number four, when Uncle Vernon suddenly boomed out "Petunia! Open the blasted window quick, don't let the neighbours see them" Aunt Petunia spun around and two owls landed on the window ledge next to the kitchen door; they were closely followed by a third. Aunt Petunia rose immediately and flung open the door. As the owls flew in she retreated behind Uncle Vernon. "What in blazes are you playing at Potter" Uncle Vernon screeched across the kitchen, "Nothing for weeks and then three of the damn things turn up at once AND in broad daylight!".
"I'm sorry Uncle Vernon" Harry replied "I was only expecting one".
"Well its still one too bloody many. I agreed to you letting your wretched bird out during the night but I WILL NOT have them turning up during the day!".
Harry turned to the owls. One was light brown and wearing a Hogwarts crest; the next was a sort of small white version of Pigwidgeon (Ron's owl) and the last was a tawny owl. Harry removed the post from each. The Hogwarts owl took off immediately, did a lap around the kitchen, double flapping his wings as he flew over Uncle Vernon, then darted back out through the kitchen door back in to the rain followed by a roar from Harry's Uncle "That damn bird, I'm all wet! He did that deliberately". The other two owls stayed to eat a bit of bacon rind that Harry offered them but at Uncle Vernons roar they took off out the kitchen following the first owl. Aunt Petunia moved quickly to close the door behind them.
"Well what is it?" spat Dudley spraying bits of toast all over the table this time. "I don't know" replied Harry staring at the third envelope. "I think I'll go back up to my room".
Harry gathered his post together, picked up the scraps from the side of his plate that he was saving for Hedwig, then turned and left the kitchen, feeling the glares that were aimed at his back as he went.
As Harry entered his bedroom Hedwig hooted from her cage in the corner. Harry crossed over his room and put the scraps in for her to eat. Then he went and sat at his desk. He moved aside his History of Magic essay on 'Centaurs and their relationship with the Wizarding community over time' that had been set to do over the holidays, and put his post down. He opened the copy of the Daily Prophet that Hermione had forwarded to him first. He had had to cancel his own subscription because Uncle Vernon had tried to shoot one of the delivery owls with Dudley's slingshot. He scanned it to see if Voldemort or any of his death eaters had been caught yet but it was full of the same usual articles. Reported sightings of You Know Who at different end of the country at the same time, home security tips issued by the Ministry of magic and reports of dementor attacks on non-pure blood wizarding families.
Harry looked at the picture of Cornelius Fudge that was on the front page. He was running from side to side urging people not to panic; he had bags under his eyes and didn't look at all well. So far he had managed to keep his job as Minister for magic because of the support that Dumbledore had given him. Many people had written in demanding that he should be sacked and replaced by Dumbledore, but Dumbledore had insisted that his place was at Hogwarts and running the Order of the Phoenix, which was now openly recruiting members. Dementor attacks had also increased since the beginning of the holidays. They had all abandoned Azkaban, the Wizard prison, and joined forces with Lord Voldemort. The prison was now being run by goblins and ministry officials including Aurors. Because of the the ministry was having to increase the number of people accepted on Auror training programmes and they standards had been slightly lowered because security staff were spread so thin. Harry sighed, at least now he had some idea of what was going on, Mrs Figg wouldn't tell him too much. He just hoped Hermione was okay.
Harry moved the paper to one side and opened the next envelope. This one had arrived with the small white owl and Harry didn't have a clue who it could be from. He knew this wouldn't be from Ron or Hermione as they had made their once a week telephone call two days ago. Communication was still being kept to a minimum in case it was intercepted, and they used the telephone because Dumbledore thought that Lord Voldemort would be less likely to tamper with muggle technology rather than the owl post.
Harry slid the letter out of the envelope and gasped with surprise. Staring up at him was Luna Lovegood and a tall skinny man with thick-rimmed black glasses and light brown hair. Both of them were waving and pointing to a sign in the background that said 'Welcome to Sweden'. Harry turned to the letter that came with the picture.
Hi Harry, Dad and I have been here for a week now but we still havent found any Crumple Horned Snorkacks. But Dad was talking to this old man yesterday and he's going to take us on a trail through the woods where, he said, he's seen a colony of them. Anyway, just thought I'd write to see how you were because I know how your feeling. Good luck with the OWL results I'll see you soon.
Luna XX
Harry put down the letter, it was definitely the last thing he had been expecting. But it was now or never, he had been waiting for the last envelope for a month and now it was here he wasn't really sure whether he wanted to open it. He pictured Ron and Hermione sat in their homes holding the envelopes and wished he could be with them both so that they could open the envelopes together. But it was now or never.
Harry took a deep breathe and tore the Hogwarts seal on the envelope.