Chapter 1: Lost Memory

The first chapter of my story. Ignores the events of OotP and any future Harry Potter book. Begins the summer after fourth year.

Much of the summer holiday had passed and there were only two weeks left before September started and they were all shipped back to school. Of course, some had already started school again but for those who didn't enjoyed their last days of freedom and loathed the homework they didn't do. However, most weren't even out of bed yet though it was past noon. So much for "seizing the day."

Among the sleeping was a teenage boy. His jet-black hair lay on the pillow and eyelids fluttered over bright green eyes. He wore clothes much too large for his pale, almost unhealthily thin frame that he had fallen asleep in. Though he was fast asleep, he relished the fact. It was one of the few nights he had without nightmares.

However, he did not stay sleeping forever. He slowly cracked open an eye and rubbed at the sleep that had crusted in his eye. He groped blindly for his glasses and slid them onto his face when he found them. Then blinked in sleepy confusion at his surroundings.

Pale yellow walls glowed cheerily in the bright sunlight and handsome oak bedroom pieces shined. Thick curtains that hung at the large windows were tied back to let the sun in and warm the large room. A large silver mirror glinted from by a door that seemed to lead to the bathroom and ornate carpets sat on the smooth wood floor. Crisp, clean, warm, pale-colored sheets wrapped themselves around him.

Harry Potter stared listlessly at the room. He vaguely recognized room as one of the Leaky Cauldron's inn rooms. But why was he here? He groaned as he climbed out of bed. He couldn't remember a thing that happened. All he knew was that he wasn't with the Dursleys anymore. Half of him wanted to know and half of him didn't particularly care.

"Why on earth am I here?" he muttered to himself as he picked out clean clothes from his trunk. Yet another thing he wasn't sure on. How did he manage to dragged his trunk all the way to the Leaky Cauldron? He added that to the list of questions forming in his mind.

He pulled on the clean clothes (though still grossly oversized) he noticed a large bird cage sitting on the unused dresser. He stared at it for a moment before looking at the window. Where was Hedwig? He sighed and left the room.

He was mildly surprised when he entered the dining area of the Leaky Cauldron. It was almost empty. He blinked in surprise and looked around to be sure. The only customers were a group of wild-looking warlocks that Harry thought he had seen here before. Tom the toothless bald bartender placed plates of something in front of them and walked back to the bar. Then he caught notice of the still half-asleep boy.

"Ah, Harry, would you like some breakfast?" Tom said as he approached Harry. "Or perhaps lunch?" He nodded his head towards the clock that read two o'clock.

Harry winced when he looked at the clock. He never slept this long before. "Sure," he said, "lunch sounds good." He sat down at a nearby table as Tom took his order.

As he waited for Tom to return with food (he had just realized how hungry he was when he heard "breakfast" and "lunch") he rested his head in one hand and twirled his fork in his other. He let his mind wander to why he was at the Leaky Cauldron. However, the most he could remember was that something happened at number four, something that had made him leave. But whenever he tried to figure out what happened, something blocked it. A shooting pain didn't end his train of thought like it had other times in his life but rather something curl possessively around him. Protective but dark.

Harry scowled as he thought about this. Why would something dark be protecting him of all things? Wasn't it always trying to kill him? At least, the Dark Lord Voldemort was always trying to do him in, and didn't he count as dark and evil?

Maybe that the difference, he thought, his scowl deepening. Whatever dark thing that was being possessive and protective didn't seem to be evil. It was just dark. But was it possible for something to be dark and not evil?

Yes, answered the rational part of his brain. Strangely enough, the overwrought, irrational, panicky, and a lot of other emotions situated with being in life-threatening situations part of his brain that always disagreed with the rational part stayed silent. Was it agreeing with its opposite for once?

"Maybe I am a bit mad," Harry thought aloud when he wondered about this. Did other people have parts of their mind that contradicted each other? Did sane people have this? He doubted it.

"What was that?" Tom said. He was balancing Harry's meal in one hand and carried a bottle of pumpkin juice in the other.

Harry jumped, literally, out of reverie. "Nothing," he lied as Tom placed his order of fish and chips in front of him. All his thoughts about the night before and his musings on sanity vanished into thin air as he attacked the plate with gusto. He swore he heard a chuckle come from Tom but by the time he looked up Tom was already behind the bar.

"Hmm," was all that came out of Harry. Of course, that was all that could come out of him since his mouth was full of mashed fish and chips. It would be rude to open his mouth. Not to mention disgusting.

A few days had passed since Harry had awoken to find himself in Room 11 of the Leaky Cauldron. He wandered around Diagon Alley (and London one day) without much purpose, waiting for Hedwig to return from wherever she was. After racking his brain all of his first day for what had happened the night before and getting absolutely nothing in return, he decided not to wonder as much anymore. He reserved that for at night when he was through wandering around.

It was mid afternoon and Harry now sat outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor with a large sundae in front of him and several bags at his feet. He had discovered the day before that several things had gone missing. His school robes, books, dragon hide gloves, cauldron, and more weren't in his trunk. He had a strong feeling that these had been left behind at the Dursleys' and knew better than to expect seeing them again. They would probably destroy them, or at least attempt to (he wasn't quite sure how they would destroy the gloves or the Monster book). All that was in his trunk were some clothes, his photo album, Firebolt, his wand, and a few Christmas and birthday presents.

Sighing, he had made a list of everything that needed to be replaced (including the Weasley jumpers though wouldn't ask for replacements) and bought for the school year. He set out the next day to get everything on the list. He managed to replace most of his books (besides the Monster Book of Monsters which the manager of Flourish and Blotts refused to stock again but promised to send him a copy), his supplies, and his school robes. He also got himself a red dress robe that didn't look much different from his school robes besides the gold bands woven at the sleeves because his green one had gone missing and dress robes were a requirement that year again.

His heart fluttered rapidly when he saw this requirement on this year's requirement list. Was there going to be something like the Triwizard tournament again? There seemed to be something special going on that year if dress robes were a requirement. He groaned aloud at this. He'd have to get a partner this year again.

Forget about the robes, he told himself. Concentrate on finishing the sundae. He shoved the long spoon into the sundae and started eating it. Since his time at the Dursleys and the diet Dudley was still on (Aunt Petunia had forced everyone yet again to participate in the suffering) Harry thought his stomach was shrinking. He had stocked up on food at the beginning of the summer as to not be caught off guard again but eventually those ran out. So when the food ran out all he had to eat were the small portions of food and his body seemed to grow accustomed to this. He could only eat one full meal and a snack a day without feeling sick (as he discovered his first day at the Leaky Cauldron). This sundae was his snack for the day.

He watched the people in Diagon Alley as he slowly ate his sundae. He recognized a few classmate and waved. He was also approached by complete strangers who shook his hand vigorously as soon as it was free from the spoon. Although the conversations never went past "Hello, how are you?" and "You're Harry Potter!" he didn't mind all that much. He was rather happy actually, as this meant that a portion of the magical population seemed to believe him about Voldemort's return. Though the attention was something he really could do without.

By the time Harry finished the sundae and paid for it the sun was just beginning to set. He headed back to the Leaky Cauldron, slowed down because of all his packages. He received a few odd stares as he trudged up to his room but nothing more. But when he entered his room he got a rather pleasant surprise.

"Hedwig!"

Harry dropped his purchases and hurried over to the dresser where his snowy owl perched, waiting for him. She hooted and flew to his shoulder. She nipped him softly on the ear after dropping a letter in his hand. She seemed so happy to see him that she didn't bother to keep up her usual "post owl" appearance and continued to nip at his ear as he sat down on the bed. Harry opened the letter and read it.

Dear Harry,

Are you okay? You seem pretty upset. I could barely read your writing it was so shaky. What happened? Did the Muggles do something to you?

We're going to Diagon Alley on the 24th and Mum and Dad say it's okay for you to come back to the Burrow with us. They asked why it was so urgent (I kind of ran downstairs and tackled Bill out of the way to ask them; they thought something was up) and I just told them that you might like to spend the last week of the holiday away from the Muggles.

We'll (Hermione's coming too) meet you outside Gringotts, okay?

Seen you soon-

Ron

Harry stared at the letter. He wrote to Ron? He looked over at Hedwig, who had stopped nipping at his ear and gone over to her cage in search of food. He absentmindedly wandered over to the cage and started feeding her owl treats.

What did I say in my letter? he thought, slightly mortified. But from what he could understand from Ron's letter, he hadn't said anything in his letter. Only that something had happened and (possibly) that he was going to be at the Leaky Cauldron. Did he ask if he could come to the Burrow as well?

Harry groaned as he crumpled up the bag of owl treats. He would get some more for her tomorrow. He dragged himself back over to the large bed and plopped face first on it. More groans muffled by the bed sheets could be heard.

What the hell did I say in my letter? he thought, more forcefully this time as though he would suddenly be supplied with an answer. He waited but nothing came. Yet another groan.

Hedwig watched as Harry began changing into pajamas. He petted her for a bit before climbing into the large bed and falling into a fitful sleep. She flew over and perched on the headboard. She looked quite like a ghost haunting him, her pale feathers almost glowing in the dark room.

She stayed perched on the headboard all night, watching her master with large, amber eyes. She stayed as he tossed and turned fitfully in his sleep and even stayed when he started to mumble incoherently in his sleep. Only when he awoke did she move, and that was only a slight twitch of her stiff wings.

Harry's bright green eyes were wild and he was drenched in cold sweat. The dream disturbed him. It disturbed him greatly. Then he blinked and, as his train of thought hit a penny on the rails and became dislodged from the tracks, ran a bemused hand through his even more tousled hair.

He could not remember the dream at all.

Not a single, bloody thing.

He blinked in surprise and held his head in his hands. This never happened before! He could always remember the gist of his dreams when he woke up, even if most of the details were lost. But he couldn't remember a single thing about this dream.

He let out a groan, something he had been doing a lot lately. Hedwig hooted softly and concernedly as he pulled his legs up to his chest. He hugged them loosely and rested his head on his knees.

Why can't I remember anything anymore? he thought as the sun began to rise on his pale and weary face.

The end of chapter 1. Not much of an ending (or a chapter). It will go faster. By chapter 3, I think they'll be at Hogwarts, or at least on the train.

If you want a summary because you haven't read the books, go read them! If you don't want to read them, then why are you here?

If anyone is willing to beta-read, that would be great. If you do, please say so in a review. Thanks for reading. And I don't own Harry Potter (as much as I wish I did). J.K. Rowling does.

Reviews aren't necessary but welcome. Constructive criticism is very welcome but any flamers will be set on fire by their own flames.