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Someone was watching him.

Harry first noticed it a few days ago and actually assumed it was just the Order. It made sense, didn't it? They were supposed to be watching him, after all. But he knew they weren't. There was no way they were. If they were there, they would have seen how the Dursleys were treating him and intervened by now, and they hadn't. But if it wasn't the Order watching him, then who was it?

Fortunately, Harry only felt the eyes on him when he was outside. It was still disconcerting of course, but at the same time, he was kind of used to it, considering who he was and the two very different lives he lived in the wizarding world and the Muggle world. People were always watching him, so it was easy enough to ignore, for the most part.

Harry went on doing his chores and keeping to himself for the week, not wanting to anger the Dursleys so close to his birthday. He'd learned years ago that if he was well behaved enough, they'd leave him alone on the thirty first of July, and he was hoping for some peace this year. It wasn't something he achieved every year, or even most years, to be honest, but hey, it was worth a try.

One more month and he could go back to Hogwarts. Although, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to go back. Well, no, that wasn't true. He did want to go back-Hogwarts was his home, after all, but it was really going to suck if everyone treated him the same way as they had last year. And if Umbridge was still there, he thought he might actually leave and refuse to go back until she left. He wasn't going to be able to handle another year with that bitch. If there was any time for Voldemort's supposed curse to kick in, it was now, that was for sure.

...Maybe the dark arts weren't all bad.

"My Lord. You wished to speak to me?"

"Yes. Rise and sit down, Severus." Tom watched silently as Severus obeyed. They were in Number Two Privet Drive and while no doubt curious, Tom had to give Severus credit for not even blinking at the choice in location for the sudden meeting. "Tell me something, my dear spy. Where is the Order of the Phoenix?"

Severus frowned just slightly. Slightly enough that Tom knew very few would have even noticed it. "Where, My Lord?"

"Yes, where. Because wherever it is that they are, it isn't here."

Severus' frown only grew. "Not here?" he repeated, sounding surprised. "There is no guard?"

"No, and there has been no guard for at least the past week and quite possibly and most likely, longer. So where is the Order, Severus, and why was I not informed of their removal?"

Severus leaned forward in his seat, looking tense now, his brow pinched. "I was never told about this," he said, his voice even. "Dumbledore never said a word. In fact, I was told the opposite. I was told Potter was being watched at all times. I was removed from the guard due to other obligations Dumbledore wanted from me-the ones we have already spoken of."

Tom didn't need legilimency to realize he was being told the truth. Severus was never this open around him, or anyone else for that matter. He seemed legitimately confused. Well, wasn't this an interesting development?

Severus' words only brought up more questions though. Why had the Order guard been removed? Why hadn't the Order, and more specifically, Dumbledore, told Severus about it? If they suspected Severus would tell him about it, then that meant they didn't trust him as much as they said they did. Or rather, Dumbledore didn't trust him as much as he said he did.

But didn't this only jeopardize Severus' position? Why would the old man risk something like that with the only spy he had in his Order? And if he hadn't bothered telling Severus about the removal of the guard, what else was he keeping quiet from him?

It was a good thing the first of August was tomorrow. Tom had many questions and he was sure getting into Potter's house was going to be the quickest way to get at least some of the answers.

His behaviour changed again.

Dismissed from the two person meeting, Severus returned home with a frown plastered on his face now that there was no one around to see it. The Dark Lord's behaviour had changed yet again with no suitable explanation or reason.

This time he'd seemed more like his old self. His normal self. The charming and intelligent and powerful man so many, Severus included, had decided to follow. It was good to see, of course, but if things kept going on as they'd been for the past couple of months, then he had no doubt that that behaviour would change once more, and soon too. This wasn't going to last.

But why was it happening at all? Severus still had no answer for that. He'd been wanting to do some tests to see if he could figure anything out, but the Dark Lord kept refusing. It seemed he didn't even realize that there was anything wrong in the first place.

Severus didn't understand that either.

Harry was quite surprised when he was actually left alone on his birthday. Uncle Vernon had come home in a terrible mood, and while that was something that usually didn't end very well for Harry, this time he'd just been sent to his room with a few insults. He couldn't believe his luck.

There were no owls waiting for him in his room, but Harry wasn't surprised. Hermione was taking care of Hedwig for the summer, and he'd told his friends not to write to him or send him anything. Order threatening the Dursleys or not, Harry knew better than to risk it.

He spent the blessedly free evening reading a book from the untouched pile in the room. It was a book Aunt Petunia had probably bought for Dudley when they'd been kids and Dudley had likely never even touched. It wasn't the most interesting thing Harry had read but hell, it wasn't like he had anything better to do. Besides, even if it wasn't interesting, he had to admit it was pretty amusing.

As Harry read, he absently listened to Uncle Vernon ranting and raving downstairs and once again thanked Lady Luck for his good fortune for being exiled to his room for the night. This really was pleasantly unexpected.

He kept reading and just as he got to the part about the maid being told to take her time kneading the master's loaf, he heard a loud bang that had the bed shaking under him, and a loud yell.

"Damned, bloody owls!"

"Uh oh."

"POTTER!"

"Shit." Dropping the book, Harry left the room quickly and headed downstairs cautiously. All three of the Dursleys were in the sitting room and sure enough, there was an owl perched on top of the television. Fortunately, it wasn't Hedwig.

Face disturbingly red, Uncle Vernon said nothing and only pointed at the owl. Aunt Petunia's lips were pursed as she looked between Harry, her husband, and the owl, though she didn't say anything either. Dudley was staring at the owl, looking a little pale, but was silent too.

Harry approached the owl carefully, watching his uncle out of the corner of his eye, just in case. The owl, an unfamiliar and generic looking brown feathered one, hooted at him and flew off the second the envelope tied to its leg was removed.

Seeing as no one was saying anything, Harry decided to hurry back to his room before that changed, taking the envelope with him. He heard more yelling as he went up the stairs but luckily, he wasn't followed, allowing him to shut the door and once again thank his luck for the day.

Sitting down on the bed, Harry examined the envelope. Seeing as he'd told his friends not to mail him this summer, Harry's first thought was that this was from Hogwarts-the booklist or his OWL results or something like that. But the envelope was blank other than his name which was scrawled across the front messily. The usual Hogwarts crest wasn't on the back, which meant this couldn't be from there.

With his wand locked up and with him still being underaged regardless, Harry had no way to check for hexes or the like, and he supposed it wouldn't make much difference now anyway since he was already touching the thing. So he did the only other thing he really could and slit the envelope open.

There was a bit of parchment inside, and he pulled it out. But when he looked at it, he only grew more confused. It was only a scrap, the edges showing that it had clearly been torn. There was something written on it too, a single sentence in that same unfamiliar scrawl from the front of the envelope.

'Don't trust the old man.'

"...Huh?"

That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!