The Half Blood Prince Revealed
Summary :
Harry's summer before sixth year is no different from the others. Around every corner surprises, good and bad, and adventure of all kind await. And it looks like the gods have finally granted Harry a possibility for a nicer life. What will this mean for his 6th year at Hogwarts ?
General Disclaimer :
I am just playing in the sand of JKRowling's literary produced beach and am attempting to build my own sandcastle for others to enjoy.
01 The unexpected start to Summer
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Harry had reason enough to be sad, angry and upset. After all one of the two remaining friends of his parents and Harry's own godfather had been killed just a week ago. Mingled with the grief had been the knowledge for Harry that his death could so easily have been prevented. But despite of all the if only…'s the truth was that Sirius was gone forever. During the time between returning from the Ministry after the fight and his return to Privet Drive Harry had been on the slow but sure road to depression.
However something odd had happened when he returned to the Dursley home. Lack of sleep had caught up with him while still in the car and he'd dozed on and off during the trip to his holiday prison. He'd dreamed about a warm embrace and a woman's voice welcoming him back. Arriving at the house Harry had held his emotions in check until he was alone in his bedroom but then a wave of grief and despondency had hit him. He'd fallen on the bed in an attempt to keep the tears at bay and had had the eerie feeling of being once again lovingly embraced and tucked in. It left him with a warm feeling and in combination with the lack of decent sleep for far too long tiredness soon caught up with Harry and within moments he was deeply asleep.
The reason for Harry's tiredness soon became apparent as not long after falling asleep Harry once again found himself in the Ministry building, walking the now familiar hallways. For the last week he would see the fighting again, and that moment of surprise on Sirius' face when he realised what had happened. However although Harry did walk the familiar path to end up in front of the tatty veil unlike before Harry understood the voices from behind the veil. "Call and he'll come … Call and he'll come …"
And that was just what Harry did. To his utter delight Sirius appeared from behind the veil looking better than Harry had ever seen him. The first wave of pure joy though could not contain the swell of tightly buried emotions and Harry was bawling like a baby, powerless to stop even if he'd wanted to. But Sirius caught him in a fatherly hug and actually encouraged Harry to let it all out.
After crying for what felt like ages Harry was able to compose himself again and lessen the hold he'd had of Sirius. His godfather took this as a sign to start talking and to Harry's surprise Sirius apologised to him.
"I was on such a high with all these mixed feelings. The elation for being able to escape Grimmauld Place even for a few hour, the rush of being able to help and rescue you and the anxiety of getting caught as Azkaban escapee got to my head when I should have kept it cool and alert. I messed up seriously not so much by joining the others but by not concentrating on the job at hand."
They talked for hours and Sirius answered all of Harry's questions, telling Harry over and over again that Harry really was in no way responsible for his death, and that although he would have wished to be with Harry for longer, he was happy where he was, that James and Lilly sent their love, and so did his entire Potter family. And all Harry had to do was to think of him and his family and they'd be there in spirit to help him, guide him and watch over him.
When Harry woke up the next morning he felt refreshed and if not really happy at least in a better frame of mind than of late but a little light headed and he realised he hadn't eaten much in the last days. So he showered and dressed and started on cooking breakfast for himself and the Dursleys as had been his task in this family for a long time.
When his aunt appeared in the kitchen some ten minutes later she was soon followed by uncle Vernon and Dudley. Breakfast became a silent affair. When all four of them had had their fill Harry started clearing the table but his aunt stopped him. Harry was not to do any chores this year. Obviously the Talk they'd received when they picked Harry up from the train station had given the Dursleys the idea they were to leave Harry completely alone.