Warning: this chapter contains a bit of violence.

Having said that… Let the show continue!

Key:

"……" speech

…stuff…: thoughts or mental monologues

# Parseltongue or beast speech#

Stuff…written stuff

"What a Hero Needs"

Chapter #1: Familiar Strangers

The scorching sun hit the barren land's surface mercilessly making even the cobras, scorpions and other desert creatures take shelter in burrows and under rocks. A lone tall figure stood silently in the middle of the African sun-beaten land. The heat was such that anyone trying to drink from whatever container it was that they had brought with them to satisfy their thirst would find their drink had long since evaporated.

But the intense desert heat was the last thing in the man's (for it was a man what the figure was) mind. His only visible feature, a pair of brown eyes, seemed to hold a deep sadness and inner turmoil. The rest of his battle-worn features were hidden behind a crimson piece of cloth that was wrapped around his head that matched the long tunic he was wearing. Underneath this bright tunic he wore a pair of dark trousers and equally dark boots. Two really sharp-looking crossed swords adorned his back together with a quiver full of strangely decorated arrows. The thick black belt at his waist held a pair of throwing knives and a heavy looking axe. The grace and strength with which he held himself was that of a warrior, yet the emotions that ran across his eyes told of another impossibly different story.

As the man saw something he recognized as a falcon approaching him, the sadness in his eyes suddenly evaporated. In its place, an emotion that would have thrown even the most hardened men off their feet, except a certain Dark Lord. For in this stranger's eyes there was hope, the pure and undiluted hope anyone would expect to see in an innocent child.

The falcon landed on his extended arm and offered its leg so he could remove the load it carried. It was a rolled up piece of parchment that read:

Dear Daniel:

I was so glad to receive your letter. I was about to trample my roommates here at Harvard. I don't know how I've managed to keep my vocabulary from changing into that of these crazy Yankees, but I have seemed to manage up to now.

I was especially surprised at how we can keep doing this sibling-bond weird thing (it is still weird for me even after all this time, believe it or not) even while being so far away from each other. I received your letter just after I awoke from a dream, the very dream you wrote of. Five minutes later, Meg fire-called from Japan claiming that she had just experienced the very same dream-like vision.

So it seems to me, my dear big brother that we have indeed found the one we have been looking for so long. I'll meet you at our normal place so we can come up with some plan to finally meet him. Meg will be coming with me too.

Hope to see you soon.

Love,

Anya

Daniel smiled softly. It was good to hear from his younger sister, he hoped that her studies were coming along as she worked very hard on them. He wondered how he was doing. Daniel frowned, from what he had seen in his dream, they needed to get to work really soon or all would be lost. With a sharp whistle, a handsome golden-coloured stallion appeared in front of him and he jumped on, disappearing in a cloud of dust. There was no time to waste.

Miles away, a young woman with auburn hair and mischievous brown eyes was packing her things. Nineteen year-old Meg was flooing to her sister's. She frowned thoughtfully. That dream had been too real-like, she was sure their search had finished. It just had to be. Tears welled up in her eyes. She remembered him. Ever if she had only been three years old, she remembered him. His beautiful green eyes shining with laughter and innocence, his curious personality asking her anything he could with his adorable baby-talk… She missed him. Even after all these years, she missed him like hell.

She shut her eyes and breathed in deeply. She was awfully nervous. He had only been a year old, for Merlin's sake! He wouldn't remember anything before that terrible night… Still, maybe they could at least get close to him, if only a little.

She sighed as she grabbed her bag and hung it on her back. Taking a pinch of the Floo powder from the jar on top of the mantelpiece and stepping forward into the green fire, she called her destiny.

"ANYA'S PLACE!"

With a flash, she was gone….Only to stumble out of another fireplace and tripping on the carpet.

Cursing in fluent Japanese, and quite colourfully for a lady I might add; she stood and greeted her older sister, whose brown eyes were shining with amusement, with a scowl.

"It seems your Japanese is still as fluent as ever", Anya commented laughing.

"Baka", Meg muttered growling.

"Well, come on, Daniel should be arriving soon".

"No need to wait, I'm here", came a male voice from behind them.

Anya jumped, startled while Meg shot her fist at his face in surprise and winced as her prat of a brother got hit on the nose.

"Nice to see I'm still loved here", he growled holding his now bleeding nose.

"Well", Meg said smirking, "you did startle me. I have been training in martial arts you know."

"Yes", he said sarcastically as Anya healed his nose, "I can certainly see that, I'm not blind either, you know."

"Are too"

"Am not"

"Are too"

"Am not"

"Are too"

"Am not"

"Are too"

"Am not"

"Are not"

"Am too"

"Ha! Got you!"

Daniel grumbled something about crazy women and how they thought they were all perfect.

Anya spoke up before another spat began, "If you children are done", she said ignoring her siblings' glares; "we do have some business to attend".

At those words, the playful look in their eyes disappeared to be replaced by a serious look that betrayed their previous mood.

"Yes, we do."

It was a warm day in Little Whining, so unlike the previous summer, and the neighbors of Privet Drive were enjoying the day outdoors sipping iced tea or lemonade and sitting under the sun. Children were running about playing with water-filled balloons, water sprinklers or hoses. Everyone was happy that the summer holidays had finally arrived.

That is, everyone except a certain jet-black-haired teen sitting on his bed in a tiny room in Number Four, who didn't even seem to care of what was going outside his window.

Harry James Potter, son of the deceased James and Lily Potter, lay on his bed, thinking.

Ever since he had come back from the ceremony, Harry had only gotten worse and worse. He barely ate or slept, the nightmares he had every single night were beginning to take toll on him. He once again suffered from insomnia and the terrible things he saw Voldyshorts and his Death Munchers do in their so-called "games" left him so sick, he had long given up on even trying eating anything at all.

As a result, he was thinner than he had ever bee before, one could practically see his ribs poking out. He had black bags under his eyes. But it didn't finish there.

After the Order's threat at King Cross's station, Vernon Dursley had been so short tempered he had decided to ignore everyone. He even included Dudley in his silent treatment, which of course didn't suit his spoiled rotten son, who wasn't used to being ignored in the least.

That peace had suddenly stopped when Vernon's drill company had become broke and he became unemployed, thus taking on the habit of drinking… Vernon started beating Harry, again. Harry remembered the first beating he ever received only too well…

Flashback:

A six-year-old Harry Potter had just come back from a walk around the park to avoid Dudley's gang. Harry frowned; he didn't like his cousin or his friends because they hit him every time they saw him. His aunt and uncle seemed to dislike him, too. He didn't understand why they were so mean or why they called him hurtful names like "freak" and "weirdo". He hadn't done anything bad, sure strange things happened to him but it wasn't his fault. It was as if they really did not love him. Once his kinder-garden teacher had scared him and, when she turned around, a bucket full of neon green paint had dropped on her head, seemingly appearing from out of nowhere. He had been locked in his cupboard for three days without any meals for that. His relatives seemed to think that everything was his fault when it really had been Dudley's and punished him for his grades even if he was top of his class.

Harry didn't know the answer to his question, so he decided to risk asking his uncle.

When he reached the kitchen table where his uncle sat, he asked:

"Uncle Vernon, do you love me?"

To his shock, his beefy uncle stood.

"HOW DARE YO- YOU FREAK!" he yelled as he raised his hand and slapped him, hard. So hard in fact, Harry's cheek started swelling right there and then.

But Harry had not even felt the sting until much later, he was shocked still.

When he hadn't responded, his uncle had become even more enraged.

He threw the little boy to the floor and proceeded to give him a sound beating, all the while screaming insults and saying they wouldn't even care if he dropped dead in the middle of the living room unless he left his dirt in the white carpet.

Tears flowed down Harry's cheeks until he blacked out…

The beatings had stopped when he had started attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry but as his uncle got more and more drunk, they now became stronger. Harry now sported a black eye and a cut lip as well as several cuts and bruises in different parts of his body. He was quite sore but he thought he deserved everything he got. He shouldn't have been so stupid. I should have continued with Occlumency lessons. He thought morosely.

Even as he lay in his dingy little room, his thoughts weren't on the events of the past school term, but on the strange dreams he had been having. In his dreams he saw a man and two women who seemed to have found someone important to them. The strange thing was that the three of them seemed very familiar, as if he had known them very well in an earlier stage of his life.

But that's impossible. I mean, come on Potter, you never had any social life before you started going to Hogwarts, unless…No… Could they be from when Mum and Dad were alive? Nah, that's just wishful thinking…

He was brought back to reality when he heard a tap. He looked at the window and rolled his eyes. Really, couldn't they just leave him alone? He had just sent them the requested letter, which was more like a "line".

Everybody:

I'm doing fine.

HP

Harry sighed as he let his faithful owl, Hedwig, in and closed the window before throwing the letter on top of his desk, where many more lay unopened. Hedwig hooted indignantly.

"Hey, don't give me that look. I'm not in the mood, O. K.?"

Hedwig ruffled her feathers angrily.

"Not you too…" Harry growled.

With that, he undressed himself and got ready for another long sleepless night.

A/N: That's it for this chapter. I hope you like it. PLEASE REVIEW!