Chapter Sixteen: Sight by lightning

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,

Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.

It lies behind stars and under hills,

And empty holes it fills.

It comes first and follows after,

Ends life, kills laughter.

-J.R.R. Tolkien

The remaining portion of the school year was rather strange. Exams had been canceled, and none of the teachers were holding classes during the time period- not that there would have been any DADA anyway, since Lockhart had left. Fred, George, Harry, and Tracey spent a portion of the vast amount of free-time they now had putting together a description of Lockhart, and his not-so-many skills, complete with quotes from not only themselves, but also any student or teacher who would give negative comments on him, and a summary of his lessons. Having got this compiled to their satisfaction, they sent this in to the Daily Prophet.

All their teachers, and even the Headmaster, ended up contributing to this project. The twins took extreme satisfaction in ruining the career of the idiot fake who had abandoned the school, and their sister, in their time of need. And almost everyone hated the git anyway. Even Hermione didn't try to stop them, and even contributed a comment on the uselessness of Lockhart's curriculum.

Harry informed quite firmly by the Headmaster that he would not be sneaking off this summer, and he didn't bother to argue much. He wasn't sure his usual hideout would be particularly safe with Tom Riddle running around anyway. It seemed he would be spending the summer with the Weasley family. Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed to have warm feelings towards him for having killed the monster from the chamber of secrets. The twins, and even Ron, seemed both grateful and relieved at this news.

"Fred! George! Ron! Harry! Over here!" called a voice from the crowd at Platform 9 ¾. It was Mrs. Weasley, waving vigorously.

"You'd better write." Tracey informed Harry.

"I don't have an owl!"

Tracey just rolled her eyes, then turned to the twins, "you two as well, especially about any pranks or future prank ideas."

"You're encouraging them?" asked Hermione.

"Yep."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Typical."

"Well, see you all." Harry said, waving, and walked over with the Weasley children to greet their parents, Padfoot at his heels.

The burrow was probably one of the more interesting places Harry had visited, which was saying something. A wild looking garden, a pond, and a house that looked like something out of a fairy tale- tall, patchworked, and probably held up by magic.

"Awesome house." Harry commented.

"It's not much, but-"

"So you tell the street-kid," Harry replied, and Ron shut up. "I wasn't kidding, it looks great. Like a home."

Ron smiled. "Yeah, it is that."

Harry found the summer to be pretty enjoyable. He played mini Quidditch games with the Weasleys, spent a large amount of time annoying the twins that he could float around without being detecting, helped the twins brainstorm prank ideas, and tested the properties of basilisk parts.

Basilisk blood seemed to enhance immunity to poisons. He'd dosed Wormtail with basilisk blood each day, and then force fed the rat various poisons, observed, then given him the antidote. The tests had proved rather clearly that the basilisks blood was quite helpful. Harry was planning trying basilisk venom on the rat eventually to see if he could withstand that, but had decided not to for now, since having a human lab-rat was useful, and there was a good chance it might prove fatal. Perhaps he should let the twins test things on him as well…

Basilisk skin seemed to be pretty hex resistant. Harry thought that perhaps he would have a few sets of robes, boots, cloaks, and gloves made from the stuff for dangerous situations, but that would have to wait until after he'd returned to Hogwarts, as he'd only brought small samples of blood and scales with him to the burrow.

The Weasley family seemed very grateful for Harry's presence. Another voice to fill the silence, additional company, a friend to be there when comfort was needed, to be the one to be brave and smile for the others, and a place at the table that wasn't empty. The twins had thrown themselves into their experiments, which were as much of a distraction as a hobby now. Padfoot spent a lot of time watching them, except when Harry was experimenting on Wormtail, which was his favorite show.

Life was easier when he was awake. Harry was well accustomed to focusing on the present from years of merely worrying about surviving the day, and had studying and experiments to throw himself into as well. He was fine- most of the time… while he was awake. His dreams were filled with footsteps of unseen danger, the body of a redheaded girl, the streets, running… and sometimes, every so often, a house burning behind him as he ran, the screams echoing… please, leave me alone, just let me be warm, safe… There had been a time once, hadn't there? when he might have longed for someone to comfort him, keep him safe, be with him… but that was beyond both recall and comprehension now. But most of the time, when he was awake, he could keep focused on the present. He'd wake, curled up, heart pounding, wanting to run but then he'd calm himself.

He tried not to think of how he'd failed, of how, despite all his efforts, all he'd managed was… but that was what he was famous for, wasn't it? It's a strange reason to be called savior, being what I am- a survivor.

But tonight, the dreams didn't come. They were replaced by something else entirely.

The room was shabby and unfamiliar. There was a women standing there, looking at something in an armchair that Harry could not see.

"How are you, My Lord?"

"I'm growing stronger, Bellatrix, you've seen to that, though it took you long enough to find me," a harsh, high voice answered.

"I'm sorry, my Lord, for my incompetence."

"As the only ones to return to me, both you and your husband will be rewarded, not punished, although you will be rewarded the greater, being far more competent as well as the one to bring him here."

"Should we prepare to return to Britain soon?"

"No, it is best he not know, not yet. We'll conduct the ritual here, when I am strong enough, and then return after I have had time to further increase my power. We'll deal with Potter later, after we've dealt with him… but it is to our advantage to leave him alone for now. We'll strike when he least suspects it, and not even his allies will stop us…"

Harry was awakened, scar still burning, by a brown and gold long-eared owl knocking on the window of his room- the room which had been Ginny's. It seemed rather as if Molly expected to move in permanently. He opened the window to let it in. It was carrying a cage with a box of owl treats inside it, and a note. It made a rather strange sight. He opened the note, and read:

Hey Potter,

I had to read a history book to find out

your birthday, you prat! The cage and

the owl treats are for the owl, which is

for you. Her name is Harriet, Harry for

short, just to annoy and confuse the hell

out of you. I've already written Snape to

inform him that he has to let you bring

your third pet to Hogwarts, or I'll

have the twins prank him into oblivion.

You have no excuse not to write me

now. Ha! See you soon.

-Tracey Davis

Harry set it aside, deciding to deal with the matter of his dream first. He grabbed a spare piece of parchment from his trunk and scribbled a quick note:

Dumbledore,

V planning rise back to power (old one, not R).

Not in Britain currently.

-HP

He was quite sure the notes lack of detail would thoroughly annoy Dumbledore, and so, satisfied with it, took it over to his owl.

"Harriet-"

She gave a hoot, which sounded distinctly like the word 'who' spoken in an unearthly voice, as it always did.

"Harry, Take this to Dumbledore," he told the bird, glaring at her as he tied the note to her leg.

Several more owls soon arrived at Harry's window, bringing a book of magical theory from Hermione, a book of advanced hexes from Nott, a guide to experimenting with and finding properties of plant and animal parts from Neville, and a poster from Dean which the boy had drawn, depicted Harry surrounded by Nott, Tracey, the twins, Neville, Padfoot, Hermione, and Dean himself, with Silas as the border. Harry hung this on the wall. Apparently all of his friends had been informed by Tracey that it was his birthday.

Walking down to go eat breakfast, he could see from the stairs that the table was empty. Suspicious, or am I just paranoid?

He shifted to invisibility and floated down the rest of the way.

"When is going to get down here?"

"Shh, I could have sworn I heard footsteps-"

"There's no one there, look-"

He floated around, observing its semi-hidden occupants. The Weasleys, Hermione, Neville, Theodore, Dean, Tracey-

He floated over behind Tracey and gave her a slight shove.

She spun around. "What- who-"

He appeared floating cross-legged in midair, and exclaimed, "Surprise!"

She glared at him. "You're supposed to be the one getting surprised, Potter. Must you break all the rules?"

"That's what they're for, isn't it?"

He heard Hermione snort across the room.

"I'll have Snape take points for this." Tracey announced, almost convincingly solemn.

"From your own house?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. Hermione, the twins, and Nott were laughing.

"Hey, it was worth a try," she muttered, grinning. "Happy birthday, Harry."

A/N: Questions? Comments? Opinions?

By the way, does anyone have any suggestions for beginning-of-chapter quotes?

And, of course, many thanks to my reviewers:

Post-Scriptum, Amarylis Cemetery, Purple Artichokes from Mars, japanese-jew, wolfey141, The Sleeping Creature, Lagrange, The Wandmaker, BrightFeather, I-Y-T-Y, NamelessHeretic, Shiruba Fokkusu, Cherri202, Philip Jacobs, Shadow Lighthawk, Luc, MarauderinglyMagical, illachi, pazed, Whitetree-Nimloth, Lovegood Loves Good, Shadow Eclipse, Thestrals, I-want-to-fly azntgr01 Manatheron Aqua Mage , Nights Silhouette, ranma hibiki Louis IX JDZ GoddessMoonLady rayama,