"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even."
-- Muhammad Ali (b. 1942), Cassius Clay American prizefighter

I walked out of the room slightly exhausted from letting my emotions run away with me. Sirius had an arm around my shoulder, glancing at me every now and then. He spoke to me for only a little bit because we were going to visit the Weasleys, but he said that the conversation wasn't over, I inwardly groaned but was subconsciously relieved.

I had a slight hope that maybe I won't chicken out and maybe I'll just tell him everything. Maybe. I started to regret banging my head against the lamp stand as a steady ache formed on my head. Everyone was glancing at it, I was used to this, of course, you can't not be used to it with a lightening bolt-shaped scar on your head.

By the time I entered the living room so we could floo to St. Mungos, Remus walked up to me looking at my forehead with concern.

"What happen there?" he said lightly touching as I winced a little bit. Remus glanced accusingly at Sirius; Sirius gave Remus a "Do you really think it was me" look.

"Lamp stand." I said simply. Remus raised an eyebrow, seeing I wasn't going to explain any further he shrugged.

"Well we better get going." Said Remus grabbing some floo powder, and handing some to me. It was nearing evening by the time we got there, they led us to the room, and apparently they placed them in the same rooms. When we walked in they were all awake except Mrs. Weasley. Ron looked extremely bored along with Ginny; they showed almost no sign of injury, except a few faded scars. Visiting them made me feel a bit better. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were a bit off color but they were recovering.

Mr. Weasley was reading the Newspaper while Ron and Ginny were playing chess.

They both looked at me and smiled. Ron got up and patted me on the back.

"Hey mate, it's a good thing you came, I was almost sick with boredom. I smiled.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, Ron shrugged.

"Not much different, they healed everything; we just have to sit around until they release us." Said Ron flopping on his bed sighing. Remus and Sirius were currently engaged in a conversation with Mr. Weasley.

"Checkmate." Said Ginny grinning mischievously, Ron turned back to the chess game and glared at his little sister.

"Hey, you rearranged the pieces!" he said irritably. Ginny gave him an innocent look, "What makes you say that dear brother of mine?" She said. Ron just rolled his eyes and muttered "mental" to me. I just laughed.

"Blimey Harry what happened to your head!" Ron said looking at my bump, my smile faltered.

"Err; I was hitting my head on a lamp stand." I said hesitantly.

"Oh so that's what happened." Said Remus, eyeing me curiously. I smile sheepishly and nodded.

"Why the heck were you hitting your head on a lamp stand?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Err; it's not a big deal." I said quickly, Neither Ron or Remus look satisfied but they dropped it.

After spending time with the Weasleys we headed home, I felt a whole lot better. Mrs. Weasley was more worried about how her children were than her. She seemed to have some of her color returning to her.

………………………………………………………………………….

"Hey Harry what's that on your hand?" asked Sirius while we were eating dinner. I looked at it, I totally forgot about that. That hag who made me write lines with a blood quill. I rubbed it subconsciously.

"Harry?" asked Sirius, grabbing my hand before I could pull it away. It was slightly faded but you could still read it.

"I must not tell lies? This looks familiar; I saw something like this on my grandfather's hand." Said Sirius, he looked a little startled. I pulled my hand away.

"Sirius it's- it's nothing, really I'm fine." I said anxiously, avoiding Sirius' gaze. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Right Harry, just because our bond is temporarily unavailable doesn't mean I can't tell when you're lying, now what was that." Said Sirius he thought for a second, Remus grabbed my hand and looked at it, he paled.

"Harry, have you ever experienced a blood quill." Said Remus urgently, Sirius was sharply taken out of his thoughts. "Blood quill!" said Sirius as his eyes widened. I bit my lower lip.

"Err; it was just a few unpleasant detentions, nothing bad." I said quickly hoping on all my luck that it would blow over. Apparently I didn't have much luck.

"Who! Who did it, was it Snape, give me one reason to hex him into oblivion and I will!" said Sirius angrily.

"Harry who used this on you?" asked Remus suppressing his anger.

"It was, um, Professor Umbridge.' I said barely over a whisper. Great, how do they find every horrible moment of my life! Sirius eyes lit with a deadly fire, Remus looked between calming Sirius down or joining Sirius in his indignation.

"What didn't you tell anyone? Someone could have helped you! Heck! We could have helped you!" said Remus. I closed my eyes tightly desperately trying to grasp a reason; words just tumbled out of my mouth without a second thought.

"It wasn't a big deal; I didn't want to bother anyone. I've been through worse with my uncle anyways." I said quickly, my eyes widened. I did not just say that, I did not. No! No! No! No! Now both Sirius and Remus eyes blazed with anger. I cracked my knuckles nervously.

"Your uncle!" said Sirius through gritted teeth. I looked down at my hands, blocking the memories.

"What could you uncle possibly have done Harry?" said Remus, I inched away from them shaking my head. "I- I can't!" I said loudly.

"Harry, please tell us, please. You can't keep on avoiding these things! We want to help you!" said Remus frantically I looked at them, my eyes were full of pain and hurt. They stared at me determinedly. They're faces seemed to soften a bit.

"It hurts too much." I said quietly, they looked at me their unease taking over their anger.

It was quiet for a while. Sirius eyes lit up in determination.

"Maybe we could do a pensieve, I mean you'll still have to remember them, but you could give us a few, just a few." Said Sirius rubbing my shoulder, I looked at them and slowly agreed. Sirius ran to his room and grabbed his pensieve. He gave me his wand and explained how to do it.

I concentrated on the ones that hurt the most. They put them in the pensieve. I just stared at them as the looked into them. (A/N: Warning, if you would like to skip the two abuse scenes wait till the italics are gone, for those who don't like abuse that is)

: Memory 1:

(Third person POV)

It was Christmas, Harry was Four years old. He waited for his cupboard to be open; it was briskly opened earlier than usual. Dudley had been talking about Christmas all month, Harry never remembered getting presents, but he didn't really remember much.

He went in to the living room and watched from a distance.

Dudley, the size of a baby whale, looked at his presents and smiled widely. Harry looked at the presents in amazement. Harry's uncle and aunt were not there yet; they were grabbing some strong tea, because it was so early. Harry hesitantly walked to the tree in awe as he saw all the presents.

Dudley picked up a package and ripped it open, not caring if his parents were there or not. Harry watched excitedly as he saw him rip it open and take out a brand new ball. Harry looked at the presents and grabbed one. He started to rip it until he heard someone scream out.

His aunt and uncle rushed in, looking fretfully at Dudley.

"What's wrong Dudley dear!" said Petunia nervously. Dudley pointed at Harry.

"He stole my present, look he ruined it!" said Dudley in a whining voice. Harry was shocked; before he could react he was roughly picked up by his uncle.

"You think you can steal Dudley's presents you brat!" Vernon roared as he smacked Harry across the cheek. He threw him down, Harry's eyes filled with tears.

"I- I thought it was mine." He said fearfully. His uncle glared and picked him up and brought him into the entranceway. He threw him against his cupboard door.

"You think you'll get present you ungrateful wretch! You and your freakish ways have caused us enough! Haven't we done enough for you? We've dealt with you as a burden far to long!" He yelled, he grabbed Harry by the hair took a broom that was near by and smacked across Harry's back repeatedly. Harry began to scream out in pain, as the blows rained on his back. He was thrown into his cupboard afterwards, unconscious.

: end memory 1:

: Memory 2:

Harry was seven years old, he was heading home, his ears were ringing. It was that day he got so upset that he somehow made himself appear on the school roof. He wrung his hands; His uncle had just gotten out of the meeting with the principal and was driving Harry home. His uncle was the warning color purple.

Fear was evident in Harry's eyes, he hid his emotions very well but fear was very hard to hide. When they got home Harry was roughly taken into Dudley's second bedroom. He was thrown on the floor, sharp toys imbedded into his back. His uncle was furious, Harry trembled at the sight.

"Out of all the things you could've done you did that! We tried to take your freakish ways out but that doesn't work does it?" said Vernon deadly quiet as he kicked Harry across the room.

"No matter how much hard work we put into you, you fail us every time. How it is so hard for you to remember, that you are freak, I can't understand!" said Vernon angrily smacking Harry across the head, repeatedly.

"I guess we need a new method, now don't we? Make sure it gets into you." he said an evil smirk spread across his face. He took out a knife, and grabbed Harry around the waists pulled up his shirt. Harry screamed and pleaded with anguish as his uncle carved in the words. The memory faded.

: End memory 2:

They watched at least five scenes, they came back horrified. I watch them nervously, hoping their reactions were not to horrible. My shoulders were slumped not wanting to see their expressions. I wondered a lot for the next half hour as they watched, I wondered if they would think of me as what my uncle did. I knew it was a stupid thought, like most of my thoughts, but it passed for a moment, after that thought it was all I could think of.

When they were brought backed to reality, I avoided their eyes, I felt a tight hug. Two, in fact, one was tighter than the other, probably Sirius.

"Harry, how come you never told anyone!" said Sirius searching my eyes. I looked away quickly, biting my lip so hard it almost bled.

"I didn't want anyone to know, I didn't want to burden anyone with some bloody childhood memories." I said, my voice was shaking. I looked at them; I could see a lot of emotions, anger, regret, disbelief, sadness, and a few indiscernible ones.

"Harry, anything that causes you pain is our business, nothing too small." Said Remus. Sirius jumped up.

"Yeah also anyone who causes you pain will get our revenge! I'll make sure that he dies with the rest of them, that- that ogre!" said Sirius; he was red with anger, pacing angrily back and forth. I got up and stood right up to Sirius.

"No you can't! Don't leave me, they'll send you to Azkaban!" I yelled. I know it sounds childish, but Sirius is too big of a part in my life to go right now, I felt a hand on my shoulders. I turned around sharply to see Remus, he looked worn and tired.

"Harry we can't leave your uncle, I'm not saying we are going to kill him," Remus said glaring at Sirius, Sirius just snorted crossing his arms, "But he did horrible things to you, you can't just sit around and do nothing. He needs to pay!" Remus spat.

"But it's the past, it's no big deal, he's not hurting me anymore, isn't that enough." I said my voice cracking. Sirius walked up to me, looked me directly in the eyes.

"Sometimes, late at night right after your nightmares, it feels like he is right there hurting you and I can't do anything about it. But this I can do something about, I need to show him you can't mess with my Godson and get away with it." Said Sirius firmly. I sunk to the floor, not looking at anyone.

"Sirius is right Harry; something had got to be done." Said Remus softly. I nodded slowly, holding back my tears.

"So what's going to be done?" I said quietly. Sirius dropped down to the floor and grabbed me in his arms. "Justice, Harry, justice." He muttered.

………………………………………………………………………………………

That night they explained to me that they were going to bring this to court, I didn't have to attend, they were going to try and make it as private as possible. I gave them consent for the order to help, but not everyone. I didn't want to see any pity; I went to bed late.

That night I didn't have any nightmares, I wondered if this is what it felt like to get things off your shoulders.

The next morning it seemed the routine didn't change it was 5 a.m. in the morning and Remus still woke me up. I grumbled the whole way through getting ready and through breakfast.

"Come on Harry, do a few laps, I think we'll go a little more advance in training today." Said Remus. I jumped up, finally some action! I did my laps in record time, and ran up to Remus.

"Well let's do some fighting together see how much you've learned." Said Remus, He and I bowed and started. I went to hit him in the chest but he blocked me, he took his move but I blocked him. It went from hit to block for a while; Remus was bringing up the pace. I started to kick him, but he blocked those to, I dodged his kick, but barely. I was tiring slowly, I kept determined, going faster, my hits were not as precise but faster, I ended up blocking and dodging more than hitting. I saw my chance, he went to hit me and I tried to grab his arm to flip him to the floor, but he was faster and flipped me to the floor.

"OOF." Was all I said before I got up, "looks like you won." I said a little bit disappointed.

"Yeah but you lasted quite a while. You need to concentrate better, and not focus so much on attacking." Remus pointed out, I nodded tiredly. "Well I think we are done for today, go inside and clean up, I think Sirius might be awake." Said Remus. I walked inside and cleaned up.

It was going to be my birthday in two days, I wondered if that centaur was right. Was I going to gain powers on my birthday? I wondered that for a while. I was excited to see Hermione; I hadn't seen her in a long time, I wondered how Italy was for her. The days passed by quickly. Sirius spent those days teaching me dueling techniques, martial arts was becoming more difficult, Remus mentioned something about judo, and I was excited. A lot of the nights were spent talking, and pretty much trying to re-program my mind from anything the Dursleys engraved into my mind. Half of me appreciated the talks but the other half of me got a little annoyed.

I didn't know which half of me was showing the most, I think it was the annoyed one, because Sirius seemed to get frustrated easily and Remus kept on rubbing his temples. Yep, I think it was the annoyed one. Sirius and Remus had been extra secret lately; I guessed it was for my birthday, I really hoped they didn't pull off some big extravaganza, with a million people invited. It seemed like something Sirius would plan.

On the day of my birthday, I didn't feel any different; that is if you don't count my ears ringing constantly, and a headache that seemed to try and make my head explode. It also seemed the wind kept on chasing me, I was constantly cold. I was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, so I was extra cold. Sirius and Remus kept on feeling my head in the morning. I just shrugged them off and rolled my eyes. I went down for breakfast to see a grinning Sirius and Remus. They both told me happy birthday. The house elves seemed to have outdone themselves. There was too much for an elephant to eat.

"Hey guys, what's with all the food?" I asked sitting down.

"It's your birthday, you need to fatten up some, you're sixteen and you're all bones." Said Sirius, I rolled my eyes and started eating.

"So, what are we going to do today?" I said, ignoring the pain in my head and the constant ringing in my ears.

"That's for us to know and you to find out." Said Sirius grinning mischievously. I just snorted and ate my food. After an hour of trying to eat most of the food, I said I was done.

"Hey you want to go fly brooms before we leave." Said Sirius happily. I nodded eagerly; probably get my mind off this headache and ringing. I shivered and Sirius went to feel my head but I ducked.

"Last one to the backyard is a flobber worm" I yelled running to the backdoor. I ran out and I froze in place.

"SURPRISE!" yelled a bunch of people. I just stared, shocked. Hermione ran up to me and hugged me, Ron walked up with a big smirk.

"Do you think he's surprised?" asked Ron, I got out of my shock and smacked him on the head lightly. I looked around; most of the order was here, except a few people, like professor Snape for instance. All the Weasleys were here, Hermione and her parents were here. Dean, Seamus, and Neville, were here also. The place was decorated in streamers; they even had the clouds shaped into happy birthday. There was confetti everywhere. A lot of people were wearing ugly birthday hats. There was a big cake; I almost threw up from looking at it because of my big breakfast. I looked back at Sirius and Remus, so that's why they made such a big breakfast. They were both grinning like idiots, Sirius gave me two thumbs up, and I rolled my eyes. I grinned widely and ran to everyone.

We spent the day hanging out, swimming, and eating. The ringing in my ears gradually got louder but I ignore it all, we went to open presents. I got books and stuff from my parents for Sirius. A lot of quiditch stuff from the Weasley, plus some food and a jumper. The order gave me assortment of defense items, books, and robes. My classmates gave me books and candy. By the time I was done with the presents I was pretty wiped out. Ron, Hermione, and I went out to a hill, we were pretty far but you could still see us from the house. Everyone was inside cleaning up but they knew we were outside.

"So, I guess that centaur was a fake." Ron said. I nodded, Hermione looked at us confused.

"What centaur?" Hermione asked.

"Oh some dumb centaur came up to us saying that the stars told him that Harry would gain a bunch of powers." Said Ron nonchalantly.

"A centaur? Centaurs don't lie about what the stars say, you guys I bet he's right, just because Harry doesn't feel a change doesn't mean anything." Hermione said. Ron and I rolled our eyes.

"Hermione, I don't feel or see any difference in me, the only thing I got today is a headache. If that's a magical power then Merlin save me." I said. Ron snorted, and Hermione crossed her arms. We let it blow over and spent the next few minutes talking. My head started to pound harder; I kept on closing my eyes. Suddenly my head felt like it was about to explode, and ears were ringing so hard I could barely hear Ron and Hermione shouting questions about my well-being.

The wind seemed to be rushing through my body, it felt like it was tearing me apart, I was slowly lifted by the air inside of me, I couldn't scream. My eyes were starting to burn I tried to rub it away but it wouldn't leave. My brain was going hectic, ancient magic was intertwining itself in my brain. My muscles were not moving, they seemed to be loosening.

While floating towards the sky I heard voices.

"Relax Harry, it'll be over." Said a soft voice, "Come on, you can do it son." Said a voice that was vaguely familiar. "It's alright dear, we are right here." Said another familiar voice. "It is time my dear!" said someone who I could, he felt very powerful. Then this lady started saying words that sounded Latin. She was saying, "Proeliator de umbra, permissum luminarium ieri tui ducis." She said it slowly I felt the words be carved in my left forearm, all the way around. She began again, "Cum potestas imperceptus, hic volo debello cunctus peior." After she finished saying that it was engraved or burned into my right forearm. I screamed, finally able to scream, it hurts, my mind was aching, my arms burned, my eyes felt like they were gone. My muscles felt like they were taken away. The wind chilled my insides. I felt something being threaded through my back, I screamed as much as I could. After it was all done, I heard. "Wait, he will come, wait for the others." I fell to the ground, too weak to open my eyes. I could hear sounds of feet, I heard Sirius running, I don't know how but he seemed a bit far. I heard Ron and Hermione rush to me.

"Harry! Harry!" said Ron as he grabbed my arm. "Harry please wake up." I heard Hermione cry as she grabbed my other arm. The minute she did that, I felt a pain like someone was grabbing me and them. I tried to stop it but it was too powerful. I screamed as loud as I could before. Ron, Hermione, and I disappeared.

A/N: Mwhahaha cliffhanger! rubs hands together evilly. this is my first cliffhanger I have ever written, I hope you enjoy it. MWHAHAHA! I'm sorry I couldn't post this yesterday but I tried, you guys will have to deal with getting this today so there! Lol! Well the abuse shall dwindle further into the chapters, you'll see less of it and I think I'll try to the best of my ability to go further into the training, plus a certain favorite magical species shall show up later, I'll give you a clue it starts with an "E" and ends with an "F." Hopefully you'll get that so I won't have to question how much of brain you guys got. J/k. anyways, next chapter will be really cool, I really thought that my prophecy was too blatant in the beginning, but I guess you guys didn't catch on. If you are looking for clues read the prophecy on the first chapter. Ah yes the Latin.

First forearm said- Warrior of shadows, let light be your commander.

Second forearm- with power unknown, he will defeat all evil.

So there you go, now to the reviewers.

Okay luuvgurl: I'm so happy! I glad you loved it; I guess I'll be walking on eggshells until I finish the next chapter for you. Lol! 

Ambereyes: Yeah totally! Poor Sirius. Lol. Yeah and about who gets the powers, I hoping you'll figure out before the next chapter…lol yeah…I guess I didn't think about, I'm guessing Harry just hid the well…lol. I hope you like, I love your reviews! Thanks!

Gryfindor16: AHA there's where you went I was wondering if you were still keeping up with my stories….lol thank you!

Hmmm…I wonder where ickle-princess is. Well shout out to my first reviewers! Thanks for reading everyone! 