Disclaimer – Really now, must I say what everyone else says? It should be pretty darn obvious. Stuff you recognize (meaning published literature) not mine, never will be…although I can hope. Stuff you don't recognize (meaning stuff that's not published) mine…which is just pretty much the plot…and some OC's. I'm only putting this up in this chapter, so don't go looking for this in any other chapter. Anywho, on with the story!

The Phoenix Ancients

Chapter 01 – Some truths and some deceit.

In a 'perfectly normal' house on Privet Drive, in Surry, England, a boy of the age of fifteen, almost sixteen, woke with a start from his dream. Normally, he would have woken up in a cold sweat or in pain, but none of that was present this time. The reason he had woken up was because he had a dream that seemed like he was looking into the past at a previous battle and power transferring ceremony. He had felt the power behind the ceremony as if he had been in the room, shaking his head to dispel the uneasy feeling of déjà vu, the boy climbed out of his bed and stood by the window.

It seemed, that after the death of his godfather, Harry had been experiencing dreams and visions almost regularly; occurring practically every time he closed his eyes for a kip. Visions of how he had wronged his parents, Cedric, and Sirius flooded his mind night after night, never seeming to fail to appear every night. Except for this night, tonight he hadn't had a dream of his parents, or Cedric, or Sirius. No, he had dreamed, or rather Saw, an odd man transferring his powers to his chosen descendants. Now the only question was: Why?

Sighing, Harry leaned his head against the cool window hoping the cold would stem the headache that seemed to be forming. He was stuck in his room for the night, since Uncle Vernon had found it prudent to 'lock the murderer up'. Harry's forehead left the window for a brief second before making contact with it again…sharply.

If one were to look down on the street below Number Four Privet Drive, they would have noticed a worried looking Auror watching one of the windows on the top floor of the house. Or, if one were to look outside of the bedroom door with several locks, deadbolt, chain, and padlocks alike, they would have seen a woman with light hair standing with her ear pressed against the door with a look of concern on her features. Now, the Auror, who had blue curly hair at the moment, would be seen scribbling something in a notebook while still throwing worried glances to the window. In that notebook were her observations of the boy that resided in the room behind that window, she was recording everything that she witnessed while on 'Harry guard duty', trying to find reason to get him away from his horrid relatives. And so far, she had a journal and half of a notebook filled with worrying thoughts, actions, and numbers of times she had unobtrusively assisted Harry when he was injured, exhausted, or otherwise indisposed.

The woman with light hair was now back in her bedroom, quietly looking for her husband's keys that locked the door that she was previously at. She had been watching her nephew since they had brought him home from the train station for two reasons. One, she was curious as to what had happened at school that had caused him to look so depressed, and two, she was finally seeing her lost sister in him. She had cursed herself one day, when Vernon was gone and she was alone in the house, having felt horrible about the way that she had been treating her sister's son. Now, when she thought about it, she couldn't understand in the least why she had treated him in such a way or why she had allowed Vernon to abuse him physically and emotionally. Perhaps it had something to do with the influx of magic that had occurred that day that stopped whatever had made her feel like that, she wouldn't know. Especially since she didn't know the first thing about sensing anything like that, seeing as she wasn't magical…right? Finally finding the keys, she tip-toed out into the hallway before swiftly unlocking and unchaining everything from her nephew's door, when everything was undone she opened the door before peaking her head in to see Harry leaning against the window with silent tears running down his face. Petunia gasped softly before shuffling into the room to take the boy into her arms.

Harry, having heard his Aunt, had tried to wipe the tears off his face, but froze when she had took him into an embrace, one filled with sorrow and the love of a mother. Sensing his distress, Petunia ran a calming hand over the back of Harry's head, smoothing down the cowlick in the back in the process.

"Shh, Harry. It's ok, let it out, I'm not going to hurt you." Petunia spoke softly and gently, pouring all of her regret of not getting to know him into her voice. After several minutes of silence, Harry finally relaxed into his Aunt's embrace and started crying again. "What's wrong, Harry? Why are you up this early?" Petunia was worried, she couldn't remember ever seeing Harry cry like this since he was little, after one of the beatings Vernon had given him.

For a moment, Harry wasn't sure whether to tell her what was wrong, but felt that he could trust her, that she hadn't meant how she treated him. The next thing he knew, the words came fumbling out of his mouth, causing him to sound like he was babbling. When he got to the end of his tale, they were both crying, and both for different reasons, Harry because of his loss and sense of helplessness, and Petunia because of the sorrow for her nephew having to deal with all of that at such a young age. No wonder he acts nothing like a fifteen year old, he was forced to grow up and face horrors no one should have had to have faced. Petunia thought to herself as she walked Harry to his bed and sat him down, rocking him back and forth, whispering words of comfort to him. After a while, his breathing evened out signaling that he had fallen back asleep. Making sure he was comfortable, Petunia walked to his desk and found a spare piece of parchment and a quill. Scribbling a quick note, she blew on the paper so that the ink dried before placing it on the pillow next to Harry's head, then quietly leaving the room before redoing all of the locks on his door. She was going to have to do some serious thinking and she was going to do it now before her whale of a husband and son woke.

&.&.&.&

Four hours later, a new guard was put on 'Harry watch' while the previous one left to get some sleep. Or that was what the new guard and Dumbledore thought, in reality the last guard went to find one Remus J. Lupin, who just so happened to be at his own personal cottage. Apparating into the kitchen, she found herself at wand point.

"What did I talk to you about last night?" This coming in a cold voice that sounded ready to attack at any given moment. Knowing Remus, he probably would.

"That we need to keep an eye on Harry, Dumbledore, and Harry's supposed friends, seeing as there seems to be something amiss." Tonks raised an eyebrow before she smirked and then added, "Now, are you going to invite me for tea and ask why I showed up like I did or are you just going to stand there?"

Remus looked at her incredulously before it turned into a look of amusement then nodded before leading her to one of the kitchen tables, wondering the whole time what Tonks could have possibly wanted to talk to him about that she didn't want the others hearing about.

And so, for the next hour, they had tea and biscuits while Tonks told Remus of everything that she had seen and done concerning Harry, she had even showed him her journal and notebook that were filled with her observations. Unfortunately, Remus seemed to have taken the news a little too seriously and was now in a rage.

"Remus." No reply, just mutters about ways to get back at Dumbledore and to remove Harry from Privet Drive. "Remus!" Still nothing. "REMUS JOHN LUPIN!" That did it, Remus looked at Tonks sheepishly.

"Sorry." Tonks rolled her eyes before telling him to sit before going over her plan to help Harry, or as Remus referred to it 'Operation: Rescue Prongs Jr.'

&.&.&.&

At Privet Drive in the kitchen, Petunia sat with a cup of tea cradled in her hands. She was sure there was some sort of Charm or something placed on her. For she couldn't think of any reason as to why she would love Vernon, he was the complete opposite of what she had looked for in a man, that and the fact that he hated magic and anything to do with it. That was another thing, she had never disliked magic…until she had met Vernon. Petunia's eyes narrowed, something was amiss and she didn't like it one bit.

Hearing Vernon's heavy foot falls, she quickly emptied her teacup and placed it on the table before going to the stove to work on breakfast, not wanting to face Vernon without thinking more over her and Harry's little problem.

"BOY! WAKE UP AND GET DOWNSTAIRS AND FIX OUR BREAKFAST!" Vernon roared before he came trudging down the steps, already ready for work. "Morning, Petunia dear. Leave the cooking to the freak, let him earn his keep."

On the inside, Petunia was fuming. How dare he treat her like that, like some incompetent doll! And how dare he think that Harry needs to earn his keep! On the outside, Petunia shook her head before replying. "Don't worry about it, dear. I feel like cooking, I miss it you know." Sure, her tone was a little colder than usual but nothing that would alert him to something wrong. Vernon just grunted and read the paper. Finishing up the feast she prepared, she looked up to see Dudley come barreling into the kitchen with a smug smirk on his face then Harry come in with an arm across his stomach and his other hand on his shoulder. His face was blank, but Petunia could see the pain in his eyes. Petunia and Harry's eyes met briefly, her eyes full of concern for his well-being. Almost unnoticeably, Harry shook his head, showing that he didn't want her to worry about it.

"I'll clean the kitchen, Aunt Petunia, sorry I wasn't up early enough to cook breakfast." Petunia's brow furrowed before nodding tightly as she left the kitchen.

When he was left alone in the kitchen, Harry let his emotionless mask fall, pain marring his features. He had been coming out of his room when Dudley had tackled him back into his room, causing Harry to hit his head of the corner of the bad. Then Dudley had proceeded to kick him in the ribs, then stomach, then shoulder. Dudley had left the room feeling satisfied after hearing a loud pop, signaling the dislocation of Harry's shoulder. He had laid there for a tick, gritting his teeth in pain, before forcing himself to go downstairs.

After cleaning the kitchen, Harry walked past the dinning table to grab his chore list, not even attempting to sneak some food. Before he could leave, however, Uncle Vernon spoke up. "Dudley and I are going on a trip tomorrow for Smeltings, while we're gone you're not to do anything freaky and are to mind your Aunt. Understand, boy?" Harry nodded mutely before shuffling out of the dinning room, a grin gracing his face before he schooled his features again.

An hour later, Harry was out in the garden in the morning heat, weeding the side flower bed, when he finally heard his Uncle leave for work and Dudley leaving to go visit Piers. A sigh of relief escaped his lips before he could help it, he truly didn't know whether he could have dealt with his idiotic cousin. Putting down the gardening tool that he held with his uninjured arm, Harry took a deep breath before his nose twitched and the weeding was done. Satisfied with his wandless magic, even if gardening was one of the only things he could do with it, he stood and put all of the tools in the shed before shuffling back into the house. What happened next caused Harry to nearly have a breakdown, whether out of surprise or out of gratitude, we would never know.

As soon as he had entered the house, Petunia was steering him to the dining table, being careful of his injuries, all the while muttering about an 'ungrateful, whale of a son'. After Harry was seated, Petunia had all but ran to the kitchen and grabbed several ice packs and bandages before running back to Harry.

"Harry, I need you to take off your shirt so I know where to put the ice packs and bandages." Harry looked at her dubiously. "Now there's no need to be giving me that look. I want to help you." Her eyes pleaded with him and finally Harry gave in.

"Alright, but you're not going to like what you see." Biting his bottom lip, Harry pulled his uninjured arm out of the shirt sleeve before sliding the shirt slightly so he could pull it off of his head. Harry was mindful of his injured arm, careful not to move it while he slipped the shirt off, even if it did look odd at how he took the shirt off. Petunia just looked at the boy's chest in horror. She had never witnessed what Vernon had done to him when he was having a fit. But here, in front of her, in her own home, a fifteen year old boy, no, young man stood covered in scars. Some looked as if they had been caused by something sharp to cut his skin, others looked as if they were burn scars, but there was one that she would never forget. On his chest, just over where his heart is, was a scar that looked as if the person who had caused it was trying to dig their way to his heart. A well was created after the muscle underneath had been removed. Petunia felt her eyes fill with tears as she looked up into the face of the young man in front of her.

"What did he do to you?" She asked incredulously before setting out to fix his new injuries. Harry just shook his head slightly and patted his Aunt on the shoulder with his uninjured side.

"Nothing that you need to worry yourself over although, I'll need your help with my shoulder, Dudley dislocated it." Petunia grimaced but nodded anyhow. "On three then? Good. One…two…three!"

CRACK

Harry grunted in pain, his teeth clenched against the scream threatening to spill. It would do him no good to have his guard hear him scream in pain in the middle of the day. After several deep breaths, an ice pack, and some pain relievers, Harry was capable of thinking coherently and process what was happening.

"Why?" His voice was barely above a whisper and Petunia almost thought that she hadn't heard him, but before she could question it any further he spoke again. "Why are you being nice to me?" Petunia's face dropped, how was she supposed to answer that?

"Harry…I don't really know how to explain this…" She trailed off before standing and pacing the space of floor between the dining area and the kitchen. "One day, while Vernon was at work and you and Dudley were at school, there was this…surge of something…and I suddenly realized how horrible I had been treating you. My own sister's son!" She stopped pacing and stood facing away from him, but Harry could tell by her posture and her voice that she was regretful and that she was crying. "I couldn't help but feel like I've missed a major part of my life. I just couldn't understand why I would marry someone who hated magic, or why all of a sudden I hated magic and my sister." Petunia stopped for a moment before clearing her throat and continuing. "Harry…I don't know much about magic, but I think someone put a charm or something on me. Several perhaps. Because I don't remember much, other than I hated Lily for being a witch. But that can't be right, Lils and I were the best of friends, we never fought. Nothing! But here I am, married to someone who hates magic and anyone associated with it." At this point, she was openly weeping and Harry had stood up and hugged her, hoping to comfort her while trying to calm his anger.

"Harry…do you think that…Dumbles…or whatever his name is, do you think he was the one that put the charm on me?" Her voice sounded fearful for a minute but calmed when Harry hugged her tighter. "It had to have been him, Harry; he's the only one that could have turned me against Lily, and my parents."

Well, Harry was thoroughly confused…and angered. If his Aunt hadn't hated his mum then that could have only meant that not only his life, but his mother's, father's, Aunt's, and Godfather's life had been manipulated for a long, long time. What Harry didn't know, was that Petunia's thoughts were very similar to his and was glaring at the cabinets over the sink. Next thing that either of them knew, the cabinets that she had been glaring at exploded, sending splinters of wood flying about the kitchen. Petunia shrieked while she tried to protect Harry and herself from the flying wood, then shrieked again when the wood stopped about an inch away from them in a glowing purple shield.

"Ha-Harry, did you do that?" Harry blinked before shaking his head the negative.

"Aunt Petunia…I think…I think that you should have been at Hogwarts with my mother. That was accidental magic, and for once, it wasn't mine." He sounded gleeful, his Aunt wasn't a muggle! Not that being a muggle was bad, it just meant that it could have been possible that he was a pureblood, or that his grandparents from his mother's side were magical. This meant that not only should there be a family Grimoire for the Potter family, but there should also be one for the Evans'. Chewing his bottom lip, Harry grabbed his Aunt's hand before waving his hand and hers carefully, then watched happily as everything righted itself. "I need to go upstairs before Vernon gets home. You might not want to be upstairs tonight; he's going to be gone for a week and will want to take out some frustrations on me. And before you start protesting, don't worry about me. I've dealt with worse." He turned and exited the kitchen before turning back and popping his head back in. "I would suggest getting legal documents prepared for divorce, then get him drunk, have him sign them then go stay with a friend. I would hate for you to get caught in his cross-fire." And again, before she could protest, he was gone.

Well, he did have a point. There was no way that she wanted to be married to that…thing any longer. Quickly gathering her keys and some money, she walked out to her car and left. Trying her hardest not to speed away. In the bedroom with locks on the door, a young man sat with a sad smile on his face.

Harry looked at the calendar next to his bed; it was only a few weeks into summer break, meaning he still had two months of Hell to deal with. Hopefully, his Aunt's marriage would be dissolved. Collapsing from exhaustion, the last thought that passed through his mind was 'Tonight couldn't be worse than any other night…right?'

&.&.&.&

"Remind me again, why did I volunteer to follow you two?" A brown-haired witch asked two red-headed boys that looked the same.

"Well, Hermione, dear…" One started.

"We are sad to inform you," The other picked up.

"That our dearest brother, Ronald," Back to the first.

"And that our dearest sister, Ginerva," And to the second.

"Are not who you think they are." They finished together, both with identical looks of grief, sorrow, anger, and concern.

The brown-haired witch tried to process what she had just heard. "What do you mean, Fred, George?" The twins looked at each other before waving Hermione closer to them.

"It would be easier to show you." Fred said, as he pulled out a pensieve.

"Would you like us to join you?" George asked as he put his wand to his temple and withdrew a silvery thread before depositing it in the stone basin. Hermione took in their grim faces before she nodded.

As one, the odd trio entered the pensieve. Two knowing what was going to happen and one terrified at what she would see. Focusing her attention on the memory, she slapped a hand over her mouth at what she saw and heard.

"When are we getting our money, Dumbledore. You know I'll stop talking to that git if I don't get my money." Ron stated angrily.

"Yeah, I'll stop trying to seduce him if I don't get my money!" Ginny shouted mimicking her brother.

"You know what I have to say, Albus. So there's no use in keeping what is rightfully ours from us." Molly stated calmly, looking at Albus with a smug expression on her face. Albus shrugged, truly uncaring about what was happening.

"Then I suppose I have a trip to Gringotts to prepare for to make a withdrawal from Mr. Potter's account."

Hermione had tears running down her face out of anger and sorrow, Fred and George wrapped an arm around her as the scene around them dissolved and a new one appeared.

"Mum, do you really think this'll work?" Ginny asked her mother as they both leaned over a cauldron full of magenta potion.

"Of course, how do you think I got your father?" Molly said with a smirk that would put any Slytherin to shame. "Now pass me the rose petals, dear."

The scene disappeared and the trio found themselves back into the twins' bedroom. Hermione just stood there in shock. Fred knew what would be coming next so he snatched Hermione's wand out of her pocket while George put a silencing charm on the room and locked the door with several locking charms.

"HOW COULD THEY!" She shrieked before collapsing to the floor, sobbing. Fred and George sank to the floor, comforting the distraught witch, all three consumed by their depressing thoughts. Several minutes passed before Hermione spoke up again. "We should warn him…it's the least we could do. And tell him…that we're trustworthy and would never do what Ronald and Ginerva did." The twins nodded and stood up, helping Hermione up in the process.

"I'll grab a portable pensieve." George stated before leaving the room.

"I'll bottle the memories." Fred said as he walked over to a table with various potions equipment on it.

"I'll write the letter…we should sign it in blood…so he knows it's trust-worthy. Seeing as it's nearly impossible to lie under blood oath." She muttered to herself as she walked to the desk in Fred and George's room, pulling the supplies out that she needed, she wrote the worst letter that she ever thought she would have to write. A letter to her best friend, telling him that people that he thought he could trust had betrayed him.

&.&.&.&

A car door could be heard slamming outside the house where Harry lay. He knew what was coming; Grunnings had been going down the drain and were blaming it on Vernon. If the heavy footsteps on the stairs were anything to go by, Harry seriously doubted that he wasn't going to get beat tonight. I just hope he's not too terribly eager, was the last thought that went through his sluggish brain before his bedroom door was thrown open.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoX

Alright, first chapter up. A little fast paced but alls well. Reviews and critiques are welcomed.

Oh and, before I forget, POLL TIME!! xD

Who shall Harry be paired with?

Hermione

Tonks

Luna

Hermione & Tonks

Hermione & Luna

Tonks & Luna

Hermione, Tonks, & Luna

Original (if so what race)

Other Cannon Female

No pairing, just Harry, his powers, and his darling Aunt.

xD

Just had to give you lot enough to choose from. Now don't be shy dearies, I don't bite. D

Okay…that's it luvs.

Topsey