The new version of 'Forged in Fire' is now up! Here's a tease of the new Chapter 1, an entirely new scene, one of many to come, I've added to make the story, more developed.

Leaky Cauldron / 31.07.2008

Harry Potter was no ordinary thirteen year-old.

After all, how many thirteen year-olds would spend the early hours of their birthday pouring over books of spells and potions hungrily, desperately searching for answers?

Harry squinted, his eyes stinging with tiredness, as he tore through page after page, searching for the answer.

"Damn it," sighed Harry, closing '328 Uses of Phoenix Tears' carefully, he did not want to deal with the hassle of waking other patrons.

At least he didn't have to deal with the Dursleys' shit anymore.

Not since.

Harry raised a hand, flexing it, before a ball of orange flames suddenly sprung from it, hovering an inch above his palm, unaffected by the blistering heat.

Ever since that day, the day he'd gone down into that Chamber, the day he'd fought Voldemort, and won, again.

Ever since the day he should have died.

The Basilisk venom that almost killed him, and the Phoenix tears that saved him.

Harry closed his hand into a fist, extinguishing the ball of flames.

If he thought his life was crazy before, it had only got worse when he woke up the day after the Chamber incident.

Agony.

Pure agony.

Like his body was freezing and burning at the same time.

When the pain had finally subsided, Harry had found his body changed, he was stronger, faster, his stamina was vastly improved.

However, the most alarming changes were his new ability to summon flames without his wand, and that all his injuries were completely healed, barring any scars from before the Chamber incident.

After that he'd torn through the library with fervor that made Hermione proud, looking for answers.

But none had come, not even when he'd

recruited Hermione and a very reluctant Ron into helping. However, he'd managed to convince Madam Prince into letting him take a small library's worth of books home with him.

As for what had happened after he returned to the Dursley, the less said about it the better.

Despite all that Harry still hadn't found the true answer, but he had made some progress.

One of the reasons Basilisk venom was so deadly was that when Herpo the Foul had bred the first Basilisk he'd enchanted the species so that its venom perpetually remained in the victim's body, making any antidotes useless.

On the other hand Phoenix tears self-regenerated until all injuries remained, thus meaning that both the Basilisk venom and Phoenix tears were still in his body, fighting for dominance.

Harry had even gone as far as to deliberately cut his palm to test if this was the case, the Phoenix tears healing the wound almost instantly. This, however, still didn't explain why his body had changed and he could summon flames at will.

At least one good effect of all the reading was all the new factoids he now knew, like the fact male basilisks could generate ice, making him glad at the one he'd faced had been female, and that Phoenix tears were the key ingredient in an addiction curing potion, and one that cured erectile dysfunction.

No wonder Dumbledore was always so cheerful.

A smashing sound suddenly echoed from outside his door.

Harry jumped out his seat, grabbing his wand and slowly creeping towards the door.

Carefully, Harry pushed it open, to be greeted by a red light, and then his world went black.