Chapter One: Not so sweet summer

It was by far the hottest day of the summer yet.

Temperatures were in the high thirties and the weather forecast promised that they'd be scratching the forty degrees mark this weekend.

Yet despite the blazing heat that was scorching all of south England, Harry Potter still sat on the swings in the far back of the playground.

The metal and the plastic seat he was sitting on were uncomfortably hot and the dead yellow grass at his feet scratched his bare feet.

The soil was dry and hard and cracking open in many places.

Nobody had been allowed to use their sprinklers to safe more water in this draught.

The hinges of the swing creaked as he gently swung back and forth.

His gaze was locked on the ground where his discharged shoes and a newspaper lay next to a bottle of water.

The front page of the newspaper kept moving and changing.

Harry watched as once more the picture of Dumbledore and the headline: "Is Dumbledore losing his mind?" got replaced by a picture or him with a new headline reading: "The boy who lies?".

He studied the picture of himself.

It didn't look anything like him.

The hair was shorter, the eyes so much clearer and brighter.

It was an official photo, taken after the second task last year.

As the picture and the headline changed once more, Harry sighed and pushed the newspaper away with his foot.

Three weeks.

Three whole goddamn weeks since they lot their only witness to the return of Voldemort.

Three weeks of them trying, in vain, to get the message out there.

Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard since Grindelwald, was back. Reborn on the night of the third and last task of the Triwizard Tournament. His followers stood string as ever behind him and he was set out to finish what he had started all those years ago.

But nobody knew.

Harry had been the only one to witness his return.

Well, there had been someone else.

Barty Crouch Jr., an escaped convict from Azkaban and right hand to Voldemort, had been their key evidence.

But Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic in Great Britain, had ordered his execution by Dementor Kiss before he could testify or really do anything.

Not it was Harrys word against that of the head of their state.

Well, not his alone, Harry had the support of many that knew him, his friends and family.

But Fudge was backed by far more many people.

Among them the very men and women that supported Voldemort and who did everything to keep his rebirth quiet.

And really, they didn't have a difficult job.

Those who feared Voldemort and didn't wanted him to be back, they just closed tehri eyes and called him a liar.

An attention seeking child.

A disturbed victim of a horrible accident.

A crazy lunatic.

The range of sympathy for what they had done to him covered a wide spread.

But in the end, they all agreed that he couldn't be believed.

He'd been traumatized.

He'd made that story up to deal with the trauma of being kidnapped and tortured by the man who had aided in his parents' death.

Three weeks of being ridiculed, attacked, dismissed and ignored by the press.

Three weeks of not being able to walk down Diagon Ally without either being yelled at and insulted or being told to seek out professional mental health help.

So Harr had taken to avoid the magical world.

He had spent his days either at home, in the garden or like today wandering the streets and parks of the neighbourhood that he lived in, distancing himself from everything that was magical.

And yes, that included at times even his friends and family.

But Harry couldn't deal with most of them right now.

While they believed him, they were in a different way unbearable.

Ever since he'd given Dumbledore his memories of the night at the graveyard and he and several other people had watched them, the grown-ups around him walked on eggshells even more then before, treating him like some kind of fragile doll. Harry was sick of their pitying and sympathising glances and their attempts to be kind and understanding and accommodating in every way.

His friends were difficult in the way that they tried to pretend that they could understand and relate when in reality they had no idea.

Every night Harry kept waking up soaked in sweat, crying out loud, thinking he'd been too late, that he hadn't managed to safe Cedric. Or he just vividly relived being tortured.

They had no idea.

Sirius and Remus were probably the worst.

In the graveyard, Harry had been aided by the ghosts of his parents.

They had been there, fending off Voldemort and his followers to buy him some time to escape.

It was a bittersweet memory for Harry, who had never known his parents.

But Remus and Sirius…well, James had practically been their brother.

They had been inseparable since their first year at Hogwarts.

Sirius had even lived with his father after he'd run away from home.

To them, seeing Lily and James once more, almost alive…it had hit them hard.

More than once Harry had caught both of them staring longingly at him or at pictures of his parents around the house.

They had always tried to treat him as himself, as Harry.

But Harry knew that his similar looks to James and his personality that was a mix of both his parents, were sometimes overwhelming to the two men that raised him.

So yeah, he'd been distancing himself from society, his friends and his family.

.

Harry bent down and picked up the botte of water.

The water sloshing around inside was warm and stale but water was water.

As he closed the cap once more he looked around the abandoned park.

The only good thing?

Voldemort and his followers were so hell-bend on keeping a low profile right now that ironically it was relatively safe for him to be out here alone.

Sure, they were still after him and any chance they'd get to kill him they would take but here in the muggle neighbourhood with its newly installed protective perimeter, he was relatively safe, not to mention the new fortifications that had been added to their house as well.

The breeze shifted and the smell of barbeque reached Harry.

His stomach growled.

He'd been up since sunrise and his last meal had been a quick snack around lunch-time.

He was hungry.

Maybe he should go on and head home.

The sounds of voices, several of them, laughing and chatting as well as the sound of bicycles and skateboards rolling across the cemented pathways through the park, made him look over his shoulders.

The group of teenagers that appeared from somewhere behind him, were known to Harry only by sight.

He knew that they were neighbours of his, living up and down the street around him.

But he didn't know their names or their families or in which houses they lived.

He'd seen them hang out around the corner down by the local grocery shop.

They were usually talking and smoking, listening loudly to music while some of them performed tricks on their skateboards and bikes.

They seemed okay but Harry had never felt the need to introduce himself.

He'd never had been friends with the neighbour-kids when he'd still lived with his aunt and uncle and cousin in Surry. All his friends were at Hogwarts, where he spent most of the year anyway. There was really no point in making friends with these teenagers.

He bent down, gathering the newspaper and his shoes in his arms, together with his water bottle.

Yeah, it was probably time to head home.

He could use a shower, he was covered in dust and dirt and sweat.

Slowly he walked towards the park entrance, ignoring the grassy spikes that poked his feet.

He was already walking up the road that ran parallel to the park and let straight onto the street that he lived in, when behind him a girls' voice shouted out: "Oi, you there, boy with no shoes and the newspaper."

He knew that she probably meant him, so he stopped and turned.

It was the group of teens from the park.

Maybe ten boys, half as many girls.

The one that had call out to him was in the lead.

She was uncommonly tall, just shy of seven feet maybe and by the looks of it the oldest in the group, nineteen, maybe twenty?

She had dirty blond hair with pink tips and brown eyes and was dressed in shorts and a tank-top. Several necklaces and rubber bracelets decorated her neck and wrists.

"Yes?" Harry asked, unsure.

The group came to a halt just in front of him.

"You're that kid from Nr. 28, right?" she asked.

She was chewing gum.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, we moved in last summer." He muttered.

"With Remus and Sirius, right?" she asked.

"You know them?" Harry asked slightly surprised.

She shrugged. "They came around the neighbourhood to introduce themselves last fall. I thought they mentioned you but I never saw you until a couple of days ago."

"Yeah, well, I attend a boarding school, got back only a few weeks ago..." Harry said awkwardly, not sure where this conversation was headed.

She nodded.

"Anyway, I keep forgetting to come by and give this to your folks" she said, reaching into her pocket "It's and invitation to Mrs. Henderson's annual summer-barbeque next week." She handed him a paper envelope.

"Right." Harry muttered, taking it. "That all? I really should get going."

"Walk with us, we're headed the same way after all." She suggested.

Harry wasn't too thrilled about that idea but he could hardly say no.

"Okay." He said.

"So what's your name?" she asked as they walked on.

Behind them the rest of the group had fallen back into their own conversation but a few of them were still listening.

"Ahm, I'm Harry."

"Just Harry or is it short for something like Harrison or Hardy or Harold?" she asked.

"Ahm…I think it's just Harry." He muttered.

"Cool. I'm Gina. And these are…" she rattled off a dozen different names, which Harry all forgot instantly.

So he just nodded at the ground and said: "Hey."

He got a few 'hey's back.

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

Harry was glad when they finally reached his house.

"Well, thanks…nice meeting you all." He offered as their group came to a stop.

"You should hang out with us tomorrow. We could show you around if you want."

"Sure, whatever." Not.

He couldn't get inside fast enough.

.

Remus was setting the plates outside on the terrace when he entered the living room.

"I'm back." He shouted.

Sirius, who was standing in the kitchen, poked his head through the door.

"Hey kiddo. How was your day?"

Harry shrugged. "Same as always."

Remus stepped inside through the widely opened patio door.

"I saw you coming with some of the kids from around the street. Making new friends?"

He tried to keep the excitement out of his voice but Harry knew that both his guardians were worried about his increasing solitude and reclusiveness.

Harry shrugged. "Not really, they just wanted you to have this" he handed Sirius the letter "It's an invitation for something at a neighbours' house next week." He explained dismissively.

As Sirius read the invitation, Harry dropped his shoes, newspaper and water bottle on the kitchen counter.

"You shouldn't read those things Harry." Remus said quietly upon seeing the front page.

"Nothing I haven't heard them shout in my face before so I'm good." Harry muttered.

He grabbed the bow of salad that stood next to the fridge and brought it outside to the table.

Sirius followed with the pasta.

They sat down and Remus began distributing dinner.

"So about later…" he began casually and Harry knew immediately where he was going with this "Are you sure you don't want to stay with Ron?"

Not looking up from his plate Harry reminded: "Andy said it was fine."

"I know what she said, it's just…Molly says Ron's been asking about you a lot, you hardly reply to letters written by him or Hermione or pretty much everyone else."

"I'll do that tomorrow." Harry replied moodily.

"Harry…" Sirius said warningly.

"Look, I'm going to do it, get off my back." Harry snapped.

"That's what we have been doing for the past three weeks Harry. We've given you all the space you could possible have. But slowly it's becoming a problem." Sirius said curtly, putting his fork down.

"We get that you are in a rough place right now but you can't expect it to get better if you keep shutting everyone and everything out. And I don't like the attitude you've been developing so far. So no, you are not staying with Andromeda tonight, you are staying at the Burrow, you will spend time with your friends and you will write Hermione. A bit company will do you good." His godfather announced.

Harry glared at him from under the fringe of his hair.

"You know what, I'm not hungry anymore." He snarled, pushing back his chair.

"Harry Potter, sit your ass back down in that chair and eat your dinner."

"Make me." Harry hissed, turning on his heel and disappeared upstairs.

Yeah, this summer had been great so far.

.

Ron looked very happy to see him, so happy it almost made Harry feel bad that he had avoided his oldest friend.

Almost.

The evening was alright, they played Quidditch with the twins and Ginny and ate outside but things took a turn when there was a knock on the door.

Next thing Harry knew Cedric Diggory stood in the back door with his father behind him.

Harry hadn't see Cedric since the graveyard.

The cucumber-sandwiches suddenly felt like stones in his stomach.

Cedric looked okay.

A bit tired maybe but healthy.

A reminder that he had managed to push him out of the way just in time.

Cedric came straight at him.

"Hey." the older Hufflepuff said.

"Hey." Muttered Harry back.

With a side glance at the others, Cedric asked: "Can we talk? Alone, I mean?"

"Sure."

Harry let him away a few meters, just out of earshot.

Expectantly he looked up at Cedric.

"I…I'm really glad you are okay Harry." his friend admitted, putting a hand on Harrys shoulder.

Feeling uncomfortable, Harry shrugged it of by crossing his arms.

"Yeah, you know…healers and potions and all that…"

Cedric nodded.

"I…I never got to thank you. You saved me twice. You know, when we were…there." He finished lamely.

"Yeah, I remember." Harry muttered.

Cedric swallowed hard.

"I just…I know you probably don't want to hear it but…I'm sorry I didn't stay to help. I would have, I swear…"

"Cedric, I didn't want you there. You'd be dead if you had stayed. So don't apologize for it." Harry interrupted him.

Cedric looked like he wasn't sure what to say.

"Besides, that's all in the past now." Harry added.

"Well, I also wanted to give you this." Cedric said, obviously trying to change the topic.

From his jacket he pulled a small leather pouch. The sound coming from inside sounded a lot like coins.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"It's the prize money from the Tournament. Fudge visited me a few days after they'd found you and gave it to me. Said normally there would have been a huge ceremony but considering what had happened they weren't going to do one this time. Anyway, I figured you could use it more."

He held it out to Harry.

"I don't want it." Harry retorted, keeping his arms crossed.

"Besides, I got enough money to last me three lifetimes. Keep it. After all, now that you're done with school you can probably need it. Also, by the rules of the game you won it fair and square. You were the last one back with the cup."

Cedric snorted.

"I really don't need this as a reminder of my worst year at school." He told him earnestly.

"Well, then we have a slight problem. What do we do with the money?" Cedric asked.

"Donate it?" Harry asked with a shrug.

"Yeah maybe. But to whom?" Cedric asked.

A small crackling noise caught Harrys attention.

Across the yard Fred and George were demonstrating some of their miniature fireworks to Ginny and Ron.

The idea came to him almost instantly.

"Hey Cedric, how about we invest it?" he asked.

Cedric followed his line of sight and seemed to get where he was going and grinned.

"Sure, why not."

.

With Cedric and his father gone (boy, that had been an experience. Harry vowed that he would do anything to never have a fully-grown man sobbing into his shoulder ever again. No matter for what reasons. That was just plain awkward.) and the money secretly invested into the twins shenanigans and a new dress-robe for Ron, it was almost time for the secret meeting that Remus and Sirius were attending, to end.

Harry didn't say a word when they, Bill and Arthur Weasley finally appeared around eleven.

He just gathered up his stuff, nodded his goodbye and walked straight through to the fireplace and flooed home.

That could have been the end of a long day but there was a knock minutes later on his bedroom door.

Knowing that Sirius would come in either way he called out: "What?"

As expected Sirius walked in.

"Had a nice evening?" he asked.

"I don't know, had a nice meeting?" Harry asked back.

Sirius let out a long-suffering sigh and sat down on Harrys bed, watching as Harry threw his dirty clothes in the hamper.

"Harry, I know you want to help but right now there's not much you could do. We're gathering allies, trying to convince a few people at a time to strengthen our numbers. You know that."

"But you are also making plans and gathering information. But you won't tell me anything."

"Its sensitive stuff Harry."

"And you really think I'd go around and tell anyone? Like anyone will listen to me. I'm crazy, remember?"

Sirius sighed again.

"Harry, I know its frustrating but you need to…"

"If you say I need to get better first or recover, I swear, I'm going to jump out of that window." Harry threatened.

"You are not fine Harry. Physically you might be, but mentally…"

"Oh, so you too think I'm crazy? Thanks a lot, you can go now."

"Harry, stop. Just stop. Arguing isn't going to get us both anywhere. Just talk to me. You know you can talk to me, right?"

"There's nothing to talk about. I just want to help, what's so wrong with that?"

"You can't help us right now Harry."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do!" Sirius shouted, standing back up.

Involuntarily Harry took a step backwards.

Sirius groaned, rubbing his forehead with one hand.

"I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to shout…" he apologized "It's just that…"

"I'm useless. Yeah, I get it. Good night Sirius."

Harry turned around, pretending to be busy rearranging some books on his desk. He stayed like this until he heard Sirius get up and leave.

When the door finally closed behind his godfather he turned, fists shaking.

Just great.

.

He was up at the break of dawn again, his clothes so drenched with sweat he had to get up and change them.

Then he sat next to his window, watching the sun rise until it was time for breakfast, during which not a single word was spoken.

He got dressed and walked straight through the front door, not looking back.

His feet carried him almost on their own accord.

"Hey" he said when he got there "Do you mind if I'll join you?"

"Sure Harry." Gina said with a smile.

And Harry smiled back.

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AN: Welcome to the sequel, if that is what you want to call it. This time we'll be focusing on not only fifth year and what that will bring but we will also come back to Curse-Breaking a little bit more!

To this chapter: Yes, I know Harry is acting like a brat and maybe you'll find it out of character to me it's a logical defence mechanism, which we will dive in more deeply later on.

But this much can be said: Harry is going to change. As already said in the previous chapter, Harry is done playing defence, he wants action he wants to participate and be involved because he's done just taking shit and having to deal with it. So indulge me a little bit more as I keep on writing and explaining, yes?

Ideas and constructive criticism is welcome but no need to tell me how you want to gauge your eyes out because the story is so horrible.

Thanks you so much,

Love,

Kate