CHAPTER ONE

Prelude to a Fight

For centuries, Magical Britain has kept itself hidden from the Muggle world. It was nothing a regular Obliviation could not fix whenever some hapless bystander witnessed seemingly impossible feats from a five-year old child. Aside from the fact that countless muggle-born children and half-bloods have been attending Hogwarts and that the Muggle prime Minister was always made aware of certain magical developments that could affect Her Majesty's Government, Wizarding Britain has endured and maintained the very fabric of its society: largely unknown but thriving either way.

That was until Tom Riddle came along.

A brilliant, albeit power-hungry scoundrel, he and his followers; his so-called Death Eaters, have wreaked havoc across the nation and dragged British citizens from all walks of life into the crossfire.

At first, the Ministry of Magic assured its Muggle counterparts that the situation was under control. That was before the attack on Parliament in 1980. The strange occurrences all over nation, the sudden earthquakes, spikes in cases of chronic depression, an outbreak of 'lupus' and the horrific damage caused by these "ultra- terrorists" as aptly put by the upper echelons of the Muggle government, was enough for the Muggle Prime Minister to convene a meeting with the Ministry of Magic, the Queen and Her Majesty's Armed Forces.

It was on that day when the then-Minister of Magic, with great reluctance and against the counsel of his advisers, agreed to a limited deployment of Muggle military units in Wizarding Britain. The goal, as proffered by the Muggle government, was to assist in containing the threat to Her Majesty's Government and citizens.

This turn of events exacerbated an already difficult situation.

With Muggles put into the mix, the Death Eater insurgency grew in scale and in destruction.

Pureblood supremacists and their supporters began joining in droves, raiding Muggle military outposts and killing allied witches and wizards alike. Muggle casualties were so high that Ministry Aurors and Hitwizards have called for an immediate withdrawal of muggle forces because they were simply 'liabilities' on the field.

Despite these setbacks, the Muggle government refused such calls and ordered a 'Surge' of forces into the Wizarding world.

With prospects bleak, the Ministry turned to Albus Dumbledore, the Leader of the Light and Order of the Phoenix. He too was waging a secret war against Voldemort's forces; collecting valuable intelligence and eliminating his support base. Albus had experience dealing with Muggle militaries in the Second World War, hence, he was able to gradually reorganize the muggle and magical forces under a unified system. Eventually, this system would sow the seeds of Magical-Muggle Cooperation.

With this renewed effort, the Allies turned the tide against Voldemort and significantly reduced his fighting strength. In desperation, the Dark Lord sent his agents to find a prophecy that would help the Dark Lord ultimately defeat the Light. They succeeded in delivering to him a portion of it.

Then, on Halloween of 1981, Lord Voldemort disappeared in a small cottage in Godric's Hollow and the rest, as they say, is history.

September 1st, 1996- Hogwarts Express

"No….NO!"

"Please! Stop-GAAAAH!"

"CRUCIO!"

"HARRY!"

"Gaah!" Harry woke up in a sweat.

He blinked and saw blurry figures in front him against the shining sun. He remembered now, he was on the Express going to Hogwarts.

'Where the bloody hell was I? It sounded like a Yank.'

"I—glasses. Thanks." He said hoarsely as Ginny gave him his glasses. He took in his surroundings noticed five sets of eyes staring at him in concern.

"I'm all right. Really." He blurted out at Ginny's glare. "Just a dream."

"You looked like you were having an attack, mate." Ron said worriedly.

Harry blew out a breath as he looked at his friends. He'd been having more and more of these visions the past summer. It was all made worse after Sirius' death. The bespectacled boy noticed the increasingly disturbing nature of the dreams

'-visions- not dreams.' He thought to himself.

Hermione spoke up, lifting him from his musings "Was it about…..You know?"

At her look, Harry shook his head.

"The Wrackspurts must be getting to you, Harry. I can see them all over the compartment flying overhead." Luna said airily, with a hint of worry, Harry noticed.

Ginny held his right hand, which was rather sweaty, "I'll get you some water, okay?" she offered.

His gaze softened at her "Water would be nice. Thanks, Gin." He gave her a small smile as she squeezed his hand and left the compartment with Luna.

Neville moved towards him and offered Harry some chocolate he hid in his pocket.

"I've been told it helps." He said. He winked at him and Harry chuckled lightly, understanding the reference back in their third year.

A minute later, Ginny and Luna came back with water.

"Here you go," Ginny said.

Harry took the cup and drank from it greedily. He never realized how thirsty he felt after that episode. "Thank you, Gin, Luna." He told them earnestly.

"No problem." Ginny replied, while Luna just gave him a small thumbs up and proceeded to read her Quibbler magazine upside-down.

Once everyone in the compartment was situated, he began recounting the dream to them.

"I don't exactly remember who was in the dream- or vision, whatnot. But it felt real. I was in some basement; wet and dark and I can smell everything; then I heard a couple of voices. It sounded like they were being tortured. I heard them begging someone to stop. And another weird thing was, the victim sounded like a Yank." He finished and absent-mindedly rubbed his scar.

All five friends were disturbed by this. Since the beginning of Harry's fourth year, they have gotten increasingly worried over Harry's connection to Voldemort and the nature of his visions. They also wondered why an American was involved in it this time.

It was Hermione who figured it out. "Wait. The Muggle Prime Minister did announce that there will be foreign soldiers deployed this year, to help augment the British Army's numbers."

This was news to everyone, except for Harry, who was made aware when he saw it on Uncle Vernon's television set. He had to clear his ear drums over the tantrum Vernon made over the living room.

Harry's hands starting sweating again.

"They're bringing in more of them?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Well, the more help, the better right?" Neville supplied, though he felt that their arrival did not bode well.

"Daddy says the Ministry is only allowing more Muggles into our world to help with the Goblin Financial Conspiracy. They say more money flows while they're around, the muggles I mean." Luna replied serenely, ignoring Hermione's protests while the rest of the compartment giggled. Harry remained silent, however.

As the conversation in the compartment continued, Harry began thinking about the men in the vision. This can't have been in the future, which meant that there have already been casualties among the muggles and they haven't even started school yet.

He felt sick again. If there was one bad thing about Harry's sense of nobility, it was his constant feeling of guilt over things beyond his control.

'Useless…useless…..useless….'

He wondered if this was all a ruse to force him to act off on his own and drag his friends with him again.

Like last year.

Sirius….

He felt someone tap his shoulder. A flowery scent came over him.

"You okay?"

Harry blinked a couple of times and stared into her eyes. He looked around and saw the rest of his friends chatting about their summers.

He was silent for several seconds, until he shuddered out his reply.

"N-no…no, I'm not." He felt a weight lifted off his chest as he admitted it to the redhead looking at him. He couldn't bring himself to lie to Ginny, not when they both had experienced Riddle's influence inside of them. It was one of those things she reminded him of when he was being an emotional prat last year and he was forever grateful for her putting him in his place. No one understood him better than the youngest Weasley before him.

She palmed the left side of his face, rubbed her thumb over his cheek and gave him a soft smile. She brought her hands to the sides of his face and pressed her lips over his scar. For now at least, it was all she could do to ease him from his worries. Ginny let his head lie on her lap, lightly caressing his unruly locks as he drifted to sleep.

Hogwarts- Headmaster's Office

Albus looked at the clock; the Express should be arriving any minute now. He sat on his chair, contemplating on how he was to deal with the arrival of foreign muggle soldiers into the school. It was definitely a cause for debate during the last Board meeting. Many parents were already reluctant to have their children attend Hogwarts the last several years and with more muggle soldiers arriving, the enrolment rate was expected to be at its lowest in years. The faculty and staff in particular were extremely worried over the implications of more troops making camp in and around the increasingly crowded Hogwarts grounds.

"This school is not an army base, Albus! While I can see the perceived benefits of having muggle military assistance, we cannot possibly hope to accommodate even more muggles, foreign ones at that! It was already difficult enough dealing with the fixed number of deployed troops from Her Majesty's Armed forces and now you expect us to handle more men from the other side of the pond?"

He remembered the lashing he received from his Deputy Headmistress; yet it wasn't enough to change his mind. It was not the first time he had to question his own decisions, but he always told himself it was for the greater good.

"I hope you can forgive me, my friend." He spoke to his Phoenix, Fawkes, which trilled a mournful tune.

Author's Note: I replaced the whole chapter and reuploaded it entirely. I'm sorry for the delayed update. It's still the same plot and it's mostly AU. Hope you enjoy it, hehe.