A/N: Right, first off apologies: I put the wrong draft of the prologue up last time so the author notes I had included to tell you what the hell was going on where missing. Also I have officially decided that this fanfic is cursed. Every time I start to really get going something happens; first I realised how bad the first edition (so to speak) was and stopped. Second my computer decided to wipe itself. And now, when I finally got it how I wanted, while trying to connect my cousin's sons xbox 360 to the internet while they were staying here I managed to block the entire internet. I have no idea how, and its taken me this long to get it back.
So I am really sorry for the long wait you've had for this chapter.
Secondly; explanations – I just want to make it clear this is not a crossover. It is purely harry Potter added with my own crazy inventions. I am also declaring that this is AU. Iam going to be changing a hell of a lot.
Ok, quick word of pairings; pretty much cannon i.e. H/G, R/H
Finally: I hope you enjoy this, its my first real fanfic I've decided to post online (despite theres been two different drafts on different sites…sorry bout that…) please review and let me know what you think, even if it is the very likely and expected death threats *grin* Any questions let me know.
P.S. if anyone can help me beta read this drop me a message; the friend who normally helps is quite busy with work etc so I need some help.
Harry potter lay stretched out on his bed (which was no more than a small camp bed frame with a mattress so worn down some of the springs were poking out), the room in Semi-darkness as the only bulb working was a small lamp on a desk in the corner. All over the floor lay newspapers and clothing, the pictures and headlines on the newspapers moving and changing. They were mostly along the lines of attacks and lists of the dead. Hedwig hooted softly from atop of the wardrobe next to the door, which again by the looks had seen much better days.
Harry was trying to read a schoolbook but before long his mind once more drifted onto Sirius.
In the two weeks he had been back at Privet Drive he had done anything and everything to occupy his mind, rather than let it drift onto painful memories. He had owled numerous stores and acquired a large collection of books delivered by the return post.
All around the small room any available space was crammed with books and parchment, ranging from 'The animal within – a guide to becoming an Animagus' to an old Aurors handbook thanks to Tonk's.
He had read and re-read all of them, reading well into the night just to avoid nightmare filled dreams, before finally resorting to reading his school books until his next load of ordered books arrived.
He had a feeling that they would not nearly take as long to arrive if the order was not confiscating and scanning them first. Though he had not been told much, un-surprisingly in his opinion, he knew they were doing so thanks to a slip up during a vist from Remus Lupin.
Dumbeldore had promised to keep him in the loop, and had various order members talking to him often, mostly during his now daily run (yet another attempt to keep busy) but Harry was having none of it. What they did tell him was plainly only part of the story and they often avoided many direct questions.
In his opinion they simply didn't trust him. 'With good reason' a little voice in his head often told him.
While part of him still strongly blamed Dumbeldore in part for what had happened, for keeping him in the dark, the fact remained if it hadn't had been for him, the entire fiasco at he Department of Mysteries would never had happened.
Determined not to start thinking about it again, Harry quickly got back up and went over to his desk and began to write another letter to Ron.
Everyday since he got back from hogwarts he was having to constantly fight to keep his mind off that night. He hardly slept anymore, as his dreams were full of images his godfather falling though the veil. The department of mysteries had taken the closest thing to a father he had ever known from him. And as far as Harry was concerned it was his fault. He should have listened to Hermione and realised it was a trap. He had gone to the ministry to try to save Sirius and instead he had died trying to save harry.
It was his fault Ron had nearly been killed by the brain thing, his fault Hermione had nearly been killed by the Death Eaters, Neville nearly suffering the same fate as his parents at the hands of the same person; Bellitrix Lestrange. His fault Ginny's ankle had been broken and her and Luna almost being killed.
And then, the prophecy. He was constantly thinking about it. Maybe even more than Sirius. It echoed round is head all the time; for neither can live while the other survives. Dragging his thoughts away once more, Harry bent down and concentrated on his letter.
The next day Harry woke after another restlessness night to find two owls waiting for him.
Grabbing his glasses from an old stool he used as a bedside table, he quickly got up and took the first letter. It had been typed so it wasn't until he turned it over did he know who it was from.
The wax seal on the back was that of the ministry of magic. Figuring he had never had anything good from the ministry he put it on his desk and took the next package; the daily prophet. Giving the owl some money, he once more sat down on his bed and read the front page.
ATTACK ON CONFRERENCE!
Minister Cornelious Fudge was holding a press conference to talk about his plans to stop you-know-whoyesterday when fifty death eaters stormed the building. Despite the many wards and enchantments half of the two-dozen aurors on duty were killed quickly and the attackers gained entry to the main conference room. The minister, instead of remaining to help his guard fled quickly by way of portkey and left the sixty reporters and guests to fend for them selves. Reinforcements arrived quickly however, due to the quick thinking of Aurors Shacklebolt and Dawlish who managed to hold the main passageway while sending a message to the ministry. Dawlish and seventeen other aurors are amongst the forty-four dead, while two death eaters were killed in return and four more captured. It is estimated that perhaps a dozen more were injured before escaping. For a full, more detailed report turn to page 2.
Harry sighed. This was the third attack like this, while there had been over a dozen smaller attacks and disappearances in the last week. There was no doubt anymore; Voldemort was moving in full force and in the open. Fudge was in his last few days in office, and after he had been forced to admit Voldemort was back, he had tried to carry on discrediting Harry and Professor Dumbeldore.
That had just angered the public who was once again looking toward the headmaster for guidance, and a vote of no confidence was put to notion. He had six days before the vote and was so desperate he had even tried to get Harry to support him and the ministry. Harry had just sent a letter back telling him firmly, and not so politely, no. The scar of ' I must not tell lies ' was still plain on the back of his hand.
Harry still shook his head at that letter; Fudge really was stupid. Deciding to get it over with, he picked up and opened the first letter. Though it was from the ministry for the first time it was good news;
Dear Mr. Potter
We are pleased to inform you that due to the compelling argument of Albus Dumbeldore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, you have been given special permission to use magic freely. As you know, normally you may not do so until you reach the age of seventeen but due to your heavy involvement in the fight against he-who-must-not-be-named it has been agreed that you should be able to do what you need to without restrictions (note that you must still follow the law that applies to off-age wizards such as charms on muggles). Also note that your friends that fought at the ministry recently have also been given permission. Once again you are expected to follow the magical laws with this responsibility.
Yours sincerely,
Amelia Bones, head of magical law enforcement
Mafalda Hopkirk, Improper Use of Magic Office
Harry read in surprise before a small smile crept onto his face. He could use magic out of school. Glancing round his small room he decided to start right away. The next half-an-hour was quite busy for Harry as he whirled around his room, enlarging it, transfiguring his bed into a replica of the four poster beds at hogwarts (that took him quite a few times; Hermione was much better at transfiguration than he was), repaired some of the things left over from Dudley's use of the room as a dump, which included a television which previously had its screen kicked in.
He already admitted to himself that his spree of reading was turning out to be extremely useful. A lot of the changes he was implementing in his room was being aided b the knowledge he had picked up.
He also repaired a broken chair that had been in the corner and improved his desk with some transfiguration and finally put a charm on the wardrobe that made it like a small room on its own in the inside, turned hedwigs cage into something that could only be described as a palace for birds and changed the wallpaper to light red and gold; he was feeling nostalgic of Gryffindor tower. After a few other smaller changes he sank into the repaired chair (that now looked like an armchair from the griffindor common room), and revelled in the quiet and the feeling of content as he peered around his now well furbished room.
The peace did not last.
"OI! What's all the noise…wha!" Dudley poked his head though the door and stopped in mid sentence as he noticed the changes. "You can't use magic out of school!" He flinched a little as he said the so-called 'M word'. Harry just gazed steadily at his cousin until Dudley looked away. Then he broke into and evil look Harry knew far too well.
"Oh, wait until I tell dad!" Dudley's piggy face quickly disappeared from the doorway and Harry could hear the thumping as he ran down the stairs.
Harry's uncle had been even meaner to harry since some of the 'freaks' had dared to threaten him. Petunia and Dudley had taken to ignoring him but Vernon had carried on as usual apart from to make sure Harry wrote the letters that he was ok and they didn't need to come around and check on him.
Glancing at the clock, Harry got up and grabbed a few things from around the room. He crept down the stairs and softly opened the front door. The Dursley's would hardly be pleased about being woken at 7:00 in the morning. In fact, he knew the only reason Dudley was up was to meet his usual gang of bullies for a morning beating of the other children around.
Setting out on the pavement, he began to jog down the street. After a few moment's he heard footsteps falling in behind and knew his 'babysitter' for the day was following. Slowing his pace slightly to allow whomever it was to catch up, he didn't even bat an eyelid when Tonk's appeared mid stride, hiding her invisibility cloak in her jacket.
"Wotcher Harry"
"Morning" he replied shortly.
"Harry, Dumbeldore want's to talk to you, nine o'clock at Mrs. Figg's house."
He carried on running without a reply and the two settled into an easy silence.
An hour and a half later and eight miles later they arrived back at Privet Drive.
"Well, I'll see you in a few days Harry, Dung should be along in about an hour to relieve me. You'd better go see Dumbeldore."
"Oh joy" Harry sighed, glancing in the direction of the street Arabella Figg lived.
"Harry…..Dumbeldore is just trying to protect you, keep you safe and away from this war"
"What?" Harry snapped around, looking in disbelief at Tonks.
"He said the other day he want's to make sure Voldemort can't get at you till your back at Hogwarts, where it's safe anyway. He was talking about finding a long term solution to keep you hidden until your seventeen." She said puzzled by Harry's strong reaction.
"Oh unbloody believable! He springs that dam prophecy on me and now expects me too sit on the sideline like a good little boy!"
Tonks was now looking decidedly worried.
"What prophecy? I thought the one at the ministry was broken?"
Harry froze. He desperately wanted someone to talk to, someone who would know just what he was going to need to face. But he had already got Sirius killed, and numerous others hurt. If he continued to surround himself with others, let alone close confidants, who knew how many would be just to get at him. He couldn't take the risk.
"Nothing….just Dumbeldore up to his usual tricks. He says he's trying to keep me safe and yet at Hogwarts alone I've faced trolls, giant spiders, mad and murderous teachers, overprotective dragons, Voldemort twice in some form or another. Not to mention being portkeyed away and facing Dementors both their and here, where Iam supposedly 'protected'" He said bitterly.
Tonk's raised an eye at all that. It did sound pretty bad security for the place regarded as one of the safest in Britain. And she had noticed the deviant in the conversation, away from the mentioned prophecy. Before she could say anything, Harry straightened and began to walk down the street.
"I got to go Tonks. See you soon. Oh, and thanks again for that handbook"
"Shush, they find out I gave you that I'll be in deep doo-doo" she scolded his back as he kept walking.
"Oh bugger it…Harry hang on a sec." She said, jogging toward him until they were level again.
"Dumbeldore never said to tell you, but he didn't say not to either. Remus thinks you should know…and now, so do I."
Harry just looked at her in confusion. "Know what?"
"It hasn't been reported in the papers yet, we think Fudge is hanging onto it to gain some support if the brown stuff really hits the fan but something's happening. We're not sure who or what exactly is behide it but recently a number of attack's have been carried, like nothing we've ever seen before.
"Tonks, Voldemort attacks somewhere nearly all the time, what's so different?"
She shook her head.
"No, you don't get it. It's not us who are being attack. It's the Death Eaters."
"Huh?" Harry blinked in surprise.
"The thing is, no one really knows who's behind it. In the last week or so we've had five reports of fighting in different locations around the UK but every time we get there the only things left is dead or captured Death Eaters. There's weird spell damage around as well, stuff we've never seen before, and always a mark left behind, a badge pinned to some Death Eater or another. Two swords crossed in front of a dragon. I think Dumbeldore know something, just the way he reacted when I got a copy of the mark for him. But he's not saying anything."
"I don't get it. Whoever's behind it is keeping hidden? Why? Wouldn't it be better to join forces with the ministry and all?"
Tonks cringed and glanced round.
"The thing is…Fudge is frightened. Ok, so there were some Death Eaters captured but they say there were more of them captured, taken by 'masked men'. We got a full description from some of them and who ever attacked them were armed with some seriously weird stuff. All masked no markings on their clothes. And for all the Death Eaters captured, we've found a total of 27 dead. Whoever this is, they don't mess around. Fudge has issued an arrest order for any suspected in these attacks. He doesn't want another force running around out there outside his control. We figure he wants to force them to his side, make it look like he's doing good."
Harry shook his head. Even now, Fudge was trying to stay in power.
"What does Snape know?" he asked.
"Not much. But the weird thing is that at first Voldemort was angry when he heard about the attacks but once he learned of the mark left behind each time…apparently he dismissed all the Death Eaters present at the time and retreated to his chambers. Whatever this is, it's at least given him pause for thought. Snape doesn't think he's scared exactly, just that whatever this is, it's not good for old voldie"
Now Harry saw part of the reason everyone was worried. If Voldemort was that effected by the mark of whoever was attacking the Death Eaters, then maybe they should be worrying.
"Harry, you'd better get to Mrs. Figg's. They're waiting for you"
He nodded and turned to walk off.
"Tonks? Thanks for telling me."
She smiled slightly and disappeared under an invisibility cloak.
Ten minutes later saw Harry being ushered in by the cat loving Mrs. Figg. He stopped dead in the door to the lounge as he saw his headmaster. The last time he had seen him wasn't exactly a pleasant memory; straight after Sirius had died and half of Dumbeldore's office destroyed in Harry's anger.
In the time since his feelings toward the elderly Professor hadn't exactly improved.
And Dumbeldore's taste in clothes wasn't really to be desired either.
The professors eyes were twinkling as normal, as if he knew what harry was thinking. He was wearing muggle clothes but it was obvious he had his distinctive tastes in fashion in both and muggle and wizard cloths; he wore a bright orange and red Hawaii shirt.
"Hello Harry, how are you?" asked Dumbeldore?
"Fine, sir. Iam sorry for what I did in your office after….that night" the twinkling in Dumbeldore's eyes were replaced by sorrow and regret for a moment before returning.
"Its quite all right Harry. It was understandable, and as I said at the time I have far too many possessions as it is. Now to more important matters; I take it you've received the letter about your permission to use magic?"
Harry nodded. Evidently Dumbeldore had known that was coming and yet again had decided not to inform Harry of things.
"Good. Please do not abuse the privilege you have been given. Now it had been suggested that in these holidays you and your friends should take part in training and lessons in order to help fight Voldemort.
However, while you do need training eventually, you do have plenty of time and I do not think your friends need to, as I cannot see any of them being involved any combat.
Harry was seething. Once more his headmaster was making decisions for him, let alone now choosing to leave him away from what he needed to do.
"Sir, I agree that I do not want any of my friends near the fighting, but if they themselves are attacked don't they need some kind of training? And I feel I need all the time possible to train so why do you want me to wait?"
"Harry, firstly you still are so young, please have a little care free time before you become dragged into the war to the point you cannot leave until it is over. Also, you must learn occulumncy before we can do anything else." said Dumbeldore in a supposedly kindly tone, but one Harry found mildly patronising
"With Snape?"
"Professor Snape, Harry. And perhaps not. We will see. Now before you get too angry at me, while I don't want you involved yet 'too late, thought Harry bitterly' I will ensure you know what's going on, to a certain extent at least."
He held up a hand before Harry interrupted.
"It's no slight to you my boy, its simply until we know you can stop Voldemort from entering your mind. Otherwise, much information I tell you can be used against us."
This Harry could understand and accept; look what happened the last time Voldemort got inside his mind.
"Sir, can you at least tell me about the attacks on the Death Eaters themselves."
Dumbeldore raised an eyebrow at that before understanding flickered across his face.
"Ah, Miss. Tonks has been talking to you I see. Very well, Voldemort will likely know by now anyway.
You see I had a….old friend, return recently, one who belongs to an order far older than ours. Older than Hogwarts, the ministry, going back thousands of years. During the first war against Voldemort they concentrated mainly abroad, on his allies in other countries and those who attempted to take advantage of the chaos. They proved to be quite a headache to Voldemort and his Death Eaters, forcing them to keep most of their operations in this country. A lot of damage was done to other countries, mainly in the middle of the war, but the ministry forces and this order managed to limit and eventually cripple the dark forces in such places."
"Professor, what exactly is this order?"
"Ah, alas I am oath bound not to say, but I can tell you the orders name; The order of the flame.
Shortly after the prophecy was made about you Voldemort struck the order a heavy blow, with the help of traitors within them. While they have many bases and holdings around the world, the very heart of the order was a bastion island called Khandale. Voldemort attack and razed the main fortress, though they fought bravely, a rear guard action allowing most to escape and alert the town and settlement's around the island. Though they lost many, enough escaped to ensure the survival of the order."
"But sir, where have they been? All these years, they could have helped, especially last year!"
"I cannot say Harry. I know to a small extent what they have been doing, mostly from common sense and deduction. But as I said I am oath bound not to say most of what I do know, and there is a great deal I do not know to start with."
They sat in silence for a while, Harry desperately trying to get his head around what he had just heard.
"Now, on to other matters" said Dumbeldore finally. "Harry, when Sirius died he left no reference to who should be your guardian. In fact he made adamant you should have none. Sirius, in his will, has made it obsolete that you should be your own man. And so after looking though every book on the law ever written, the ministry has not agreed that you should be counted as having reached majority, instead they are pushing for you to become a ward of the ministry itself. I believe Fudge is attempting to gain leverage over you. However, the goblins have accepted the will, as it is a document made with their own staff. Sirius always was quite clever. In the goblin's eyes you are off age. You know have full access to both the your trust vault, whatever is left to you in the reading on Sirius's will, which is in eleven days, and the Potter family vaults."
Harry stared at his headmaster in shock.
"What?"
"The vault you have been using during your time at Hogwarts is simply a trust fund for school. When you reached legal age you were to be given control over both the family vault and the estates owned by the Potter's. Due to the will, this has occurred now."
Harry was in shock. He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.
"I see you are surprised. Harry, your family was and is a very old and powerful one. There were Potter's attending Hogwarts as some of the earliest students. I believe that Potter Manor is one of the oldest magical buildings in the UK. Always a well respected family, when the current ministry of magic was established the Lord Potter at the time was one of the founding members."
"Lord Potter?"
"Ah, yes. Your family holds numerous tittles, including, that of …"
Dumbeldore stopped as a phoenix feather burst into the room in a flash of fire. Harry guessed it was from Fawkes, Dumbeldore's phoenix. Dumbeldore sighed at the sight.
"Well I guessed it would happen soon" he said seemingly to himself, then to Harry "Now I must be quick, events are happening at the ministry that I must prevent before they get out of hand."
Harry quickly stood as Dumbeldore moved to the fireplace.
"Sir, how long do I have to stay here?"
"Harry, you are safer here than most other places. You need to stay. However, I do believe that Mr. and Miss. Weasley are visiting tomorrow so I would advise you be around at eleven in the morning."
"Ron and Ginny? Really?"
Dumbeldore eye's twinkled. Despite everything, he did care for Harry. It was just that his safety must come before anything else. Still, he was glad the young boy, almost man, could find some happiness in such a situation.
"Yes Harry. Though Mr. Weasley will be leaving with Remus Lupin and a few others of the order, in order to collect Miss. Granger."
"What? Why? Is she alright?"
"Ah, sorry, I have given you the wrong impression. Do not worry, she is fine. Her parents are going on an anniversary trip and she needed a place to stay. I thought it best she stay here instead of headquarters, as until the reading of Sirius's will we cannot fully secure the premises until the matter of ownership is fully resolved. Now I must be going. Cornelious appears to be about to cause us yet more headaches."
He took some floo powder out of a bag in his pocket before turning back to Harry "A word to the wise; be careful Harry. You've no doubt seen the daily prophet and so you know Voldemort is moving in full force and there is little he will think twice about doing. Be careful". With that he was gone.