Abyssus Abyssum Invocat

Originally by: VHDL

Continued by: Lady Kanko Wildstar

Disclaimer: All publicity recognizable characters, settings, etc. are property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Whoever said revenge is sweet, knew what he was talking about. Follow Harry Potter as he fights to gain control of his destiny, understands the meaning of manipulation, and on the way discovers heaven as well as hell..

Note: I'm not really changing the first couple of chapters, it will be the later chapters that will face a major rewrite's. I've also put several chapters into one file, the chapters that are together will be clearly marked. The note's from the previous copies of the chapters will be at the very end of each file/chapter so it's still there but out of the way. If there are any questions, just send me a message and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can. Please remember that I'm also a full time student, so please be patient.

Chapter 1 – 5

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Chapter 1:

It was to a hot, dreary summer morning that Harry Potter woke up screaming out. His godfather's name on his parched lips, he sat up straight on the rickety old bed graciously provided to him by his only living relatives, the Dursleys.

Hedwig, his beautiful snowy owl sat cautiously on a wooden perch he had made himself, his first week back home after doing some cleaning chores in his Uncle Vernon's all-purpose garden woodshed.

She gave a feeble hoot and hopped slowly to him, whom she had fondly christened 'Harry Wizard'. If Harry Potter had understood owl-speak he would have realized just how much she had come to love him ever since his first year and understood the mental anguish he was going through.

Gently rubbing her soft head against his hand, she looked at him questioningly as if asking him if she could help him in any way possible. Harry slowly drew his hand from his forehead which he had been pressing with his fingers and gently stroked Hedwig, reassuring her that he was all right.

With a disbelieving look, she gave him a gentle nip on his ear and flew back to her perch, her amber eyes looking out of the window as if daring anyone to come and disturb the quiet yet intimate moments she shared with him.

Harry slowly climbed out of his bed and stretched his limbs, loosening his joints and put on his weather beaten trainers. He opened the small closet in his bedroom and took out a protein bar from a big box and carefully un-wrapped it.

He had bought himself some nutritious food items on his second day home after visiting a local grocery store knowing fully well that the Dursley's fear of 'those awful freaks' as Uncle Vernon had so succinctly put it, would soon vanish after a few weeks at home. He treated himself to a cold glass of orange juice downstairs and made his way out of Number 4, Privet Drive.

It was well after an hour that Harry came back home, with sweat glistening on his face and a wet T-shirt clinging to his chest. For the past few days he had been going for morning runs to rid himself of his frustrations and fears that slowly built up in his subconscious mind in the night and gnawed away his few hours of sleep. It gave him some time to clear his mind and think about nothing except feeling the oddly comforting wind carrying through his ears.

This was his second week back from Hogwarts and Harry had decided to make some changes in his life. This change in his attitude was however not brought forth overnight. He had been reading some of Dudley's discarded books to take his mind of things, when he came across a speech by a famous and well admired leader of men, Abraham Lincoln.

He had been so thoroughly moved by the speech that he had in fact memorized it in its entirety. Slowly, word by word he recited it in his mind:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. "

'Yes', he thought, 'Sirius had not died in vain. He had died protecting him, Harry Potter. He had died protecting a way of life. He had died for love.'

'James Potter, his father had not died in vain - he had died protecting his wife and their one year old son. He had died protecting his family. He had died for love .'

'Lily Potter, his lovely redheaded mother had not died in vain – she had died protecting her child. She had died for love.'

'Cedric Diggory, his Tri-wizard competitor and fellow Hogwarts student had not died in vain. He had died with honor, showing till last the qualities that Helga Hufflepuff so fiercely admired.'

'But none of them got to live their lives to it's fullest. They were all victims of hate and one way or the other – Voldemort.'

'Voldemort. The word immediately brought to fore a mixture of feelings in Harry's mind. Anger, hate and an extreme need to be wipe him off the face of Earth. He wanted to banish him to the depths of hell, from where he would never return and suffer punishment for his sins and innumerable crimes till the end of all existence.'

'But how am I going to do that', he thought. 'That vile creature has had so much time to learn and master the dark arts; whereas I am just a nobody in front of him. What can I do? Will Dumbledore help me learn? Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody? Professor McGonagall? WHO WILL HELP ME? They can't just think that I will clear my NEWT's and go fight him off and face his army of Death Eaters. WHAT THE BLOODY HELL SHOULD I DO?'

His thoughts immediately went back to the duel in the graveyard at the end of his 4th year. 'Wait a second! I do have a few advantages over him. Our wands don't work against each other. He is too proud to just go and get another wand because of poor, pathetic Harry Potter, the perpetual thorn in his side. Plus the prophecy that Dumbledore mentioned. The power that the Dark Lord know not. Yes. I definitely have some advantages. I need to learn more about this.'

He had resolved to tell Hermione about the prophecy. She had always supported him even when Ron had backed out of his friendship during the Tri-Wizard tournament. He knew Ron would also support him in his endeavors and stand by his side but for some reason felt it better that only Hermione know about it. Her vast knowledge and razor sharp intellect had helped them time and again in many a tight spot. 'And this was as tight as it gets', he thought with a mental sigh.

Her unwavering loyalty was what finally made him decide that she was the one he had to share the prophecy with.

'So that's that. What should I do with my summer then? Ahh. But, of course. Learn to hold my own when facing Death Eaters. Bellatrix LeStrange, Lucius Malfoy, Avery, Nott, Jugson, Mcnair. So many of them. They all tried to hurt me, hurt my friends. Bellatrix killed Sirius. I will get her for that.'

The D.A. had helped him better some of his offensive and defensive skills but after having the duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore, two of the most powerful wizards in Europe, he realized he still had a long way to go.

He was abruptly broken from his thoughts when he heard a loud shout from downstairs. "POTTER, COME AND GET YOUR LUNCH!"

And with that Harry went downstairs. After quickly finishing his lunch, he came back to his room and fed Hedwig some of the meat-pie from lunch and a few owl treats from his trunk.

The day had just started and Harry Potter had some serious planning to do.

The next day a parliament of owls could be seen going in and out of the window of the second bedroom at Number 4, Privet Drive. Harry had requested a mail-order catalogue from Flourish & Blotts and ordered a number of books from them on a wide variety of subjects. Some of the books were quite expensive due to their rarity but Harry had spared no cost in getting what he needed.

He soon started arranging the books in order on a small shelf by his bed. Advanced Dueling for Hit-Wizards by Hugo Colterus went to the top row. Placed closely by its side were Occlude your mind by Ursula Bathbarry, The Lost Arts of Leglimency and Aura Reading by Septimus the Third and Explore your Inner animal by Tobias Wilomonta.

The second row comprised of The Complete Laws and Statutes of the British Ministry of Magic by Lego Legalius, Charm Your Way to Victory by Rosamunda Whitle, Transfiguration Secrets by Robertus McGonagall, and finally the previous year's prescribed sixth and seventh year textbooks for DADA, Transfiguration and Charms.

He neglected buying any text for Potions and other subjects like Arithmancy because he knew it would take him lot of time to gain a thorough understanding of them and they would not be particularly useful to him in a duel.

Giving his new acquisitions a satisfied look, Harry took out his old Hogwarts textbooks and started categorizing them subject-wise form Grade 1 and so on.

"Hey girl, you must be pretty tired", he fondly asked Hedwig. She gave a feeble hoot of affirmation and he refilled her water bowl and put in a few extra owl treats in front of her perch.

By the next week Harry finished reading his old Hogwarts texts. He practiced his wand movements with the leg of a broken chair Dudley had managed to break after sitting on. He lightly fashioned it into a close replica of a wand, enough to get his grip right and the weight balanced out.

He kept up with his morning runs and managed to squeeze a dozen of push-ups every few hours in his room. Harry kept dropping subtle hints to his Uncle and Aunt about the man with the bowler hat who would be coming to check up on him sometime soon. 'The power of plausible deniability' he thought with great relish after seeing the nervous condition of his relatives. He thought this was a fitting payback to them for all their harsh remarks about his kind they had managed to squeeze in their short but cruel conversations with him over the period of five years. This also ensured he was getting second helpings at lunch and dinner to the great distaste of darling Dudders.

Even though his frame was still short and slightly skinny he was from the under-nourished kid he had been earlier. His nightly exercises to reign in wandering thoughts and clear his mind, which he had learned to do from his Occlumency book, had helped him get much needed rest that had been viciously eluding him since last summer.

Another two weeks later, Harry has gleaned all the important information in the sixth and seventh year curricula. With some actual practice with a real wand for sometime, Harry thought he could actually pass his NEWT's with an acceptable grade and an exceeds expectations grade in DADA. He had also gained some stamina and his muscles though not really developed, were starting to harden and show cuts though not very visible.

By the time the wane end of July approached, he had mastered Occlumency and could build impenetrable mental walls at a seconds notice. He practiced his Leglimency skills on his relatives especially Aunt Petunia. Looking deep into the eyes of the fat blob of an Uncle and the whale clone of a cousin that had somehow managed to learn to walk on land, was not very appealing to Harry. Vernon's twittering moustache always managed to distract him from his goal. So completely unknown to the Dursleys, they were the test subjects of their famous wizard nephew. The only useful thing that he learnt from them was discerning between truths and lies, and reading their emotions the back of his hand.

Harry was surprised to learn that Vernon feared him even though he put on his most fearless and imperial expressions when trying to order him around. This was nothing compared to the shock he got when he figured there was a distinct feeling of pride underneath his Aunt's contemptuous glare that she frequently gave him. After learning that, however harsh her tongue he always answered her politely and without asking her, helped her in her chores from tie to time. The flare in the feelings of affection and pride he picked up from her, only served to reinforce his resolve that he would anything to protect her from Voldemort and his minions.

Harry, even though having theoretically mastered the wand techniques and movements that accompanied various curses, jinxes, hexes and counter-curses from his highly advanced dueling, charms and transfiguration books, was feeling severely handicapped by not being able to perform actual magic wit his real wand.

He was itching to animate Dudley's broken toys that were lying in his room and practice some extremely advanced shields, like the one he had seen Voldemort holding at the battle at the Ministry. Harry knew he could perform most of the spells but seeing the fruits of his hard labor first hand had a different feeling of its own.

The book on British Wizarding Laws also provided him with some very useful insight into the existing legal system. He had some ideas running around his head about some legal loopholes he could exploit, but wanted to confer with Lupin first. After all, failing short of being actively persecuted for being a werewolf, Lupin he thought must have had quite a few run-ins with a law and other legal hassles werewolves were subjected to. 'Yes, Lupin is the best person to talk to about this', Harry thought.

He didn't want Dumbledore to be privy to his plans because he was the newly re-instated chief of the Wizengamot. Dumbledore would be an integral part of his future plans but he still needed to maintain some distance from him, so that when he dropped the bombshell on the Order, they would not be able to stand in his way and Molly-Cuddle him.

With a hearty chuckle, he took out a quill and some parchment and started writing a letter to Moony.

Dear Moony,

I was hoping we could talk to each other about some things. I can't write much in this letter though. Hedwig will wait for your reply. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Harry.

Satisfied with the slightly ambiguous tone of the letter, he turned to his owl. "Hedwig, take this to Professor Lupin. Be safe. Okay?" She faintly bobbed her head conveying to him that she would all right and swiftly flew out of the window with a mental picture of Lupin in her mind.

Late in the evening, Harry received a response from Lupin saying that he would be there to talk to him the following day around noon.

It was sharp at noon the next day that the front door bell rang. Dudley, thinking it was Piers and Polkiss immediately went to answer and was horrified to find a shabbily dressed man with graying hair. He immediately recognized him as one of the freaks from King's Cross Station and ran to call his mother with one hand on his backside.

"MUM, MUM," he shouted halfway through the way to her room, "ONE OF HIS KIND IS IN THE HOUSE!" Petunia immediately got up on hearing this and went to confront the visitor.

Looking up and down at Lupin with great distaste, she called out to Harry who was just waiting by the end of the stairs trying to sense the new wave of emotions that she was now wearing on her sleeve.

It turned out that the disgust that she showed on her face for Lupin was also what she was feeling in abundance. Momentarily disconcerted by the sheer intensity of the off-putting emotions that were rolling of her in waves, he quickly put his Occlumency shields up and turned to face Lupin.

Lupin's first reaction on seeing Harry was that of complete and utter astonishment. 'Here was a young man, barely sixteen years old, with the weight of the world on his weak shoulders and he was THE picture perfect definition of tranquility'.

But after a brief glance at his new frame and build he thought, 'did I just say weak shoulders, WOW, - scratch that, looks like Harry has done some serious growing up!'

"Hello Moony, how are keeping up?" Just a simple sentence. But the power hidden in his tones was apparent to anyone with a good ear. 'Merlin, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS KID IN JUST TWO MONTHS?' Lupin reflected on Harry for the third time in two minutes.

After a brief embrace in which Harry projected his love and respect for his old Professor and best friend of his parents, he asked Lupin if he would like any refreshments.

Lupin politely declined and asked Harry if he would like to continue the conversation in his room, after seeing Harry's Aunt and cousin standing close by and looking at him with a mixture of fear and hate.

"Sure, let's go upstairs", Harry replied. Once comfortably settled in Harry's room, he gave out a low whistle when his eyes landed on his Harry's tiny library. "Merlin Harry, some of those books you've got there are really rare", Lupin told him appreciatively.

Harry shrugged but inwardly he was thinking about whether or not the owner of Flourish and Blotts edited the mail-order catalogue for him, since some of the books he had were really quite old and would have been sold out instantly had they been on display in the shop.

"Thanks" he answered after a brief pause. "Moony, I want to get straight to the point with you. You are one of the few people I trust and there are some things I need to discuss with you. But first you must swear that what I am going to tell you doesn't go out of this room. No one in the Order should know anything related to our conversation especially Dumbledore".

To say the least, shocked was an understatement for what Lupin was feeling right now. Here he was thinking that Harry would want to talk to him about Sirius or try to get news about Voldemort and his lapdogs. 'This day is certainly turning out to be different'.

'Oh well, might as well see what the cub has to say'. "Okay Harry, I promise I will keep our conversation absolutely private except if you are planning to do something really dangerous, like going after Voldemort!" he answered back with complete honesty.

Harry sensing his sincerity went on about why he originally asked him and what he was planning to do in the coming week.

By the time Harry had finished his explanation, Moony was looking at him slack jawed and after closing and opening his mouth a few times, gave a hearty laugh and finished with a wolfish grin.

"Harry, you are definitely the son of Prongs", but immediately his expression turned serious. "I know this is a really clever idea and quite well thought out Harry, but things could get really nasty if something goes wrong".

"What if –", but Harry instantly cut him off before Lupin could start voicing his objections. "NO MOONY, I've little left to loose now. Sirius is gone now. I have to do this for him and it's time someone took a stand. I choose to be that person. I never asked for it, but I've to do it. Either you are with me or not Moony. I HAVE TO START TAKING CONTROL OF MY OWN GODAMN LIFE".

Realizing he was loosing his control, he calmed himself before continuing and softly asked his mentor and friend, "what will it be Moony?"

With a contemplative look on his Lupin took a deep breath and replied in the same soft tone, "I am with you Harry, all the way".

Harry's serious expression immediately mirrored the same wolfish grin he had seen on Moony's face after he had just finished telling him his plans and said, "Okay. Let's go over what we've got to do".

Lupin shuffled closer to Harry when he beckoned him, his finger tracing over a paragraph in his recently acquired book - The Complete Laws and Statutes of the British Ministry of Magic.

"In the context of emancipated minors, emancipation is essentially a legal procedure whereby children become legally responsible for themselves and their parents are no longer responsible (financially or otherwise) for their children.

Thus, emancipated children are freed from parental custody and control and essentially become "adults" in many ways.

As soon as wizard or witch turns 17, he or she legally becomes an adult and is automatically emancipated from parental custody and control.

To become an emancipated minor, the child over the age of 12 has to petition the Familial Affairs Wing of the Wizengamot and obtain a declaration of emancipation from a judge, which can sometime be a complex proceeding."

Harry then flipped over to another chapter relating to muggle-born wizards and witches and eagerly showed an underlined paragraph to his father's best friend.

"Muggle-born wizards or witches or any other wizard or witch who was brought up in muggle world with their traditions and who satisfies the set condition of not having been in any intentional contact with the magical world for 10 or more years can choose to be judged by muggle laws, under the strict condition that he or she has not intentionally caused harm to any magical person.

For guidelines of what constitutes willful harm see page 378."

"Come on Moony, why am I showing you this again when you just read it 10 minutes back", Harry asked.

"I don't want you to get into undue trouble if we read a clause wrong, Harry".

"Remember, that is why you asked me to come here in the first place, who is the legal veteran here, Huh?" Lupin answered back with a patient voice.

"All right, here's the other book". With that Harry passed over another heavy book on muggle laws to Lupin which he had obtained from Vernon's collection of books he had proudly arranged downstairs to impress visitors about how well-educated his family was.

"In the case of an orphaned minor, he or she can become legally emancipated simply by declaring themselves emancipated at a court's registry, unless he or she is under the age of 14. "

"Yes, that pretty much covers it. You, Harry are absolutely correct in thinking that you have met all the conditions and will be recognized legally as an adult by the muggle world.

The Ministry of Magic will be forced to grant you all the privileges that come from being an adult wizard. I can see nothing in these laws that can be turned around by Fudge and his associates to cause you any further grievance".

Harry gave a triumphant smile and enthusiastically pulled at Lupin's sleeve. "So what are we are we waiting for Moony? LET'S GO TO THE COURTHOUSE!"

An hour and a half later, Harry entered #4 Privet Drive with a huge smile on his face. The moment he stepped in he was confronted by Uncle Vernon.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN BOY?" he shouted in his face, moustache quivering dangerously as if it was in total agreement with its owner.

Without batting an eyelid, Harry took out his wand, and waved it in the air. With a complex movement and a softly uttered spell, "CAPILLATUS", Vernon's moustache gained length at an incredible speed and started wrapping itself around his head over and over again, firmly sealing his mouth. It left a small gap just below his nose so that he could breathe properly.

For the next few minutes, utter silence reigned in the house only to be broken by a flapping of wings of an owl carrying a letter that was addressed to Harry Potter.

Harry slowly read through the later and as expected it was from the Department of Improper Use of Magic. He was going to a hearing.

'And so it begins', Harry Potter said before his face schooled into a blank slate.

The ensuing silence was once broken by the sound of three simultaneous cracks that originated at the back yard of Number 4, Privet drive.

If Ronald Weasley had ever been asked what he thought of the notion of the Dark Lord reading the Lovegood owned newspaper The Quibbler, he would have probably given that person a funny look and turned to his best friend Harry Potter and earnestly told him "Mental, That One!"

Harry Potter would then have suppressed a grin so as to not annoy his other best friend, Hermione Granger.

She would have been watching them joke and after giving them both a fake exasperated look, would immediately reply "Honestly, you two! We have this assignment due tomorrow. Stop chit-chatting and do some work".

However, two days from the incident at Privet Drive, the day when Uncle Vernon found his moustache to have come alive and claimed his entire head as its own, Lord Voldemort, one of the most feared Dark Lord in recent English history, was sitting in an old mansion overlooking a graveyard doing something Ronald Weasley would have considered mental.

He was reading The Quibbler.

'Ah, Harry Potter. So you make your first move. A very interesting move, indeed. Most interesting! You are surely turning into a worthy opponent. '

'Looks like that blasted Dumbledore has trained his golden boy well.'

'But mark my words BOY; you WILL suffer the same fate as your foolish dead parents - for they also stood in the way of Lord Voldemort.'

Meanwhile, Albus Dumbledore, considered by many to be one of the greatest wizards of the modern times was sitting on a conjured chair with a slightly amused look on his face at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black and presently, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.

Sitting on the other side of the room with the same amused look was Remus Lupin, former prankster, Hogwarts prefect, werewolf, best friend of Sirius Black and the Potters', and secondary godfather to their son, Harry Potter.

They were both listening to a motley collection of people shouting and a few words could be easily heard every now and then over the cacophony.

"TOO YOUNG", said a voice that could easily have been identified as belonging to Molly Weasley.

"BLOODY BRILLIANT HARRY" shouted another voice that belonged to her youngest son.

"MERLIN, WHAT A STUD!" said a voice that belonged to a short haired witch whose hair colors were cycling through all the rainbow colors at an incredible rate.

"TONKS!" shouted ten different voices at the same time.

Meanwhile the object of their conversations was sitting at Number 4, Privet Drive, subconsciously charging the magical wards that protected the Dursley's residence from harm and consciously doing what he had wanted to do for the last two weeks.

Dudley's broken toys were now all repaired and engaged in an intense duel with each other.

They were silently watched by Harry Potter fro above as he idly waved his holly wand and orchestrated the fight.

As Dudley's favorite action figure of Superman flew up and down making circles and then suddenly charged at a metal dinosaur that had been desperately trying to get on miniature Harley-Davidson in an attempt to flee the impending attack, Harry silently reflected on how the last two days had changed his life irrevocably and forced drastic changes at the British Ministry of Magic.

'Enjoy your happy days in hell, Fudge.'

'That was for you Padfoot, just for you. For all the misery that scoundrel made you go through. Now he will suffer from what he dreads the most, public ignominy'.

As loving memories of his deceased godfather flooded back into his tired mind, a silent tear dropped unnoticed on the ground.

Soon Harry Potter went to sleep with a heavy heart and an overworked mind that desperately tried to visualize about how different his life could have been if his parents and godfather had been with him and Voldemort had never happened.

The door to the backyard flew open and three breathless Aurors rushed in.

"Harry Potter, under the powers invested in us by the Ministry of Magic, you are hereby placed under arrest for breaking the Decree of Underage Use of Magic.

You will now surrender your wand and accompany us to the Ministry of Magic where you will be placed under confinement until your hearing tomorrow".

After reciting out the memorized speech the Auror looked keenly towards Harry as if expecting this to be a simple everyday happening. He could not have been more wrong.

"If you attack me or try to use any kind of force on me, I will have to take legal action against you for wrongful imprisonment and misuse of official powers", Harry calmly replied back.

The flabbergasted Aurors turned towards each other and after a silent signal surreptitiously took out their wand from the holsters. They were met with the sight of the Boy-Who-Lived standing in a perfect dueling stance, wand aimed at the leader and ready to fire off curses at the slightest movement.

Meanwhile the Dursleys had retreated to the back of the living room with the now temporarily sight deprived Vernon clutching his wife's hand as if they were his only lifeline.

"STATITIUS TOTALUS" - The momentary standoff was suddenly broken with a loudly uttered jinx from the Auror at the rear end of their leader.

A calm Harry softly muttered something under his breath and simultaneously waved his holly wand in a slight 'O' shape and thrust it at the imaginary centre. A dazzling white light sprang forth from it and shot towards the three Aurors. Never having seen such a display of magic before they had no idea how to react and their weak impromptu shields shattered like millions of pieces of glass. They were absolutely stunned and froze for what seemed like an eternity. When they came to their senses they had been tied and bound by conjured ropes and neatly placed one beside the other on the sofas in the living room.

"All right, you wanted my attention. You've got it all now. Now let's get you somewhere you will be more appreciated."

"You! Fond of making dramatic entrances, aren't you. How does a flying carpet sound to you?"

"PORTUS". With a less than humored smile, Harry touched the doormat with his wand and made it glow blue after converting it to a portkey.'

He then proceeded to unceremoniously dump the three Auror's sticking very close to each other onto the doormat.

"Okay, now you three valiant upholders of the law have got a long day ahead of you. My business with you is very short though. I want you all to behave yourselves like good children. Any rowdiness and Voldemort will be the last of your concerns. Am I clear?"

"Crystal", the Auror in charge replied with a bitter tone, though the anxious look on his face betrayed his nervousness.

"Off we go then. One. Two. Three". With a thud the Aurors landed right in the centre of the offices of The Daily Prophet. Harry quietly apparated behind them. By now a small crowd was gathering at the scene of disturbance.

"I want someone to go and fetch Rita Skeeter", Harry told the swelling number of people grouped around them in a commanding tone. A young witch nervously nodded and ran to try and find Rita Skeeter.

"Make way, make way - Coming through", the voice of the Ms. Rita carried across from the end of the mob. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Harry Potter surrounded by three immobile Aurors desperately looking towards the crowd, all pomposity and self respect forgotten.

"Ah, Harry. My dear boy! Why don't we go somewhere more private?" she questioned him, though she had no intention of doing so. Harry sensing her intentions and also thinking it would be more fruitful of washing the dirty laundry in public, politely nodded in the negative.

"Ms. Rita Skeeter. I know you are an honorable reporter and always try and stick as close as possible to the truth. That is why I am personally requesting you to tell the public how deplorable the condition of the Ministry of Magic had become.

Voldemort is out there, killing innocent men and women.

Orphaning children. Maiming innocents. Spreading terror through the Wizarding world.

He hides behind his minions and like a plague destroys the very fabric of our life.

And here we have the Minister of Magic sending three class 'A' Aurors to fetch the only one who has ever successfully opposed him for a hearing.

Last year he tried his best to ridicule and slander me and Professor Dumbledore.

Dolores Umbridge sent dementors after me and my muggle cousin. Just for defending myself, I was tried at a full hearing of the Wizengamot.

Tell me - How many of you knew that? Your very own newspaper was in league with him and helped Fudge a great deal with his scheming and plotting.

And what is the crime I am being accused of now. Underage magic!

I may not be a fully qualified adult wizard but according to British Laws, I am fully entitled to use magic whenever and wherever I want.

Fudge has gone on long enough as the Minister of Magic, a position he isn't even fit to handle.

He accused me of being mentally unstable. I ask you, who is the mentally unstable person here?

One of our laws that has remained unchanged since ancient times is that any wizard or witch who feels he or she has been unjustly wronged by another person has a right to challenge that wizard or witch to a public or private duel.

For insulting my family name, I Harry James Potter, hereby challenge Cornelius Oswald Fudge to a magical duel in public tomorrow at 10:00 clock in Diagon Alley.

Let the citizens of the Wizarding world know that no one is above the law and how pitiable our Minister of Magic really is for he is going to be loose to a 6th year student of Hogwarts.

There will be no hearing tomorrow. Let it be known by all that the charges against me are groundless.

I am going to submit the entire proof of this along with other interesting tidbits about Fudge to Ms. Skeeter who will be reporting this in tomorrow's edition of the Daily Prophet.

Since you are all extremely fond of reporting on my antics, I am also going to give to your newspaper my complete story since starting first year at Hogwarts.

Now, as an act of good faith I am going to release these three Aurors.

Anyone who tries to interfere with my business will know the full extent of my anger.

Right now I am not really feeling very sociable, so if you will all excuse us, Ms. Skeeter and I have something to contribute to your esteemed newspaper. Thank you all for your time."

After two hours in the office of Rita Skeeter, a tired Harry quietly apparated to the Leaky Cauldron and after a brief conversation with Tom, the barkeeper, proceeded upstairs to rest.

Next Day - Diagon Alley

A quiet and composed Harry waited patiently outside a shop called Magic Menagerie in the middle of Diagon Alley.

Almost everyone in Diagon Alley had a copy of the Daily Prophet in their hands were looking at him with awe clearly written across their face. Teenage witches were giving him adoring glances every now and then.

A huge crowd had collected around him, but everyone was at a safe distance as if expecting the Minster of Magic to try some dirty trick when he made his appearance there.

After reading the day's edition of the newspaper, there was growing dissent among the Wizarding population against Cornelius Fudge.

The tales of Harry Potter and his two loyal, steadfast friends and their adventures they had been on, was now known by all the children who had in turn been told by their parents after their cries of outrage at Fudge turned to cries of wonder when reading about Harry's school years.

Loud cracks announced the arrival of Fudge and his entourage. His face was swollen with anger and disbelief.

How and when had he been totally and utterly outwitted and outmaneuvered by a mere sixteen year old boy?

He knew his position in the ministry would not last another day but this was his chance to get back at the impudent brat for the public disgrace he had been caused.

"AURORS – ARREST THIS BOY!" However not a single person stepped forward to do his bidding.

In return it was Harry who responded to him.

"What happened Fudge? Are you also afraid like Voldemort to come out and fight in the open? Or are you just plain scared of old plain me? Come let's settle this dispute like men.

Take out your wand Fudge. You have done enough harm trying to hush up things and spreading lies. Sometimes I think you are acting on the orders of good ole' Snakeface!

Come on Fudge. Duel me".

"WHY YOU!'"

"CAMINUS INCENDI".

As a bright orange flare rushed towards Harry Potter from the wand of Cornelius Fudge, Harry waved his wand and a bright blue shield of water that covered his entire frame appeared.

The flames instantly disappeared.

'My turn now…'

What happened next would be told over many a drink at the Leaky Cauldron with laughter echoing through the entire inn.

Without batting an eyelid, Harry weaved his way with the grace of a professional dancer not giving Fudge even a remote chance to retaliate.

"PULSARE"

"BATTUERO"

"CATENA RESTRICTO"

"FERA BESTIUS"

"FRIGUS"

"TERREUS"

A jet of yellow light emerged from Harry's wand and hit Fudge right in his stomach.

As he fell down with a terror struck face, another beam of light which was making his way towards him sent him flying.

Just before he could impact with the windows of Flourish and Blotts imaginary chains confined him.

A huge black grim like dog sprang forth from a pebble and with a vicious growl proceeded to bite his shoes.

As the dog kept trying to dismember his nether regions, a pillar of ice squeezed Fudge in effectively preventing his escape.

The earth suddenly split open and Fudge rocked dangerously left and right before falling right in.

With just his head sticking out of the brick lined alley, Fudge remained encased in his tomb of ice and sputtered stupidly, before realizing that the face of Harry Potter was peering closely at him.

"LEGLIMENS". It was a minute later Fudge realized that he was wailing loudly and somehow sharing his most embarrassing moments with his sixteen year old nemesis.

"Next time Fudge, choose your enemies carefully".

That was the last Cornelius Oswald Fudge ever heard from Harry Potter, The Boy- Who-Lived, Saviour of the Wizarding world before he resigned from his position and disappeared from public life.

"VOLDEMORT I KNOW YOU WILL HEAR ME. SO LISTEN TO ME CAREFULLY. I AM COMING FOR YOU. IT MAY BE TODAY, IT MAY BE TOMMORROW, IT MAY BE ONE YEAR LATER. I AM COMING FOR YOU".

That was the last the Wizarding public gathered at Diagon Alley heard from Harry Potter, The Boy- Who-Lived, Saviour of the Wizarding world before he retired to his abode at Number 4, Privet Drive for the remaining summer.

The moment Harry Potter disappeared from Diagon Alley, an old wrinkled face sporting a huge white beard broke into a proud smile and disappeared the same way as his protégé.

I am a silent spectator to my own self,

I see things happening to me.

I merely watch.

It is all powerful chain of events

Taking toll of me.

Spectators others too are

That is but unreal.

I watch my bare self

My bare truth, only I

When I am absorbed

In the heightened glory

Time gets lost, uncontrolled

Paining sole

I try to grab

I reach out to hold time

In a vain attempt

The events unfold

Starting a saga of millions

I am only a repeat

A silent spectator.

-Harry Potter, May 28th 1996.

The chain of events that happened after Harry's departure from Diagon Alley had left the Wizarding world in a daze.

After Fudge booted himself from office and Madam Amelia Bones was elected the new Minster of Magic, Aurors were placed at strategic places of importance all over the magical parts of Britain.

Checks and balances were placed into affect at the Ministry to flush out spies and Voldemort sympathizers.

Suspected Death Eaters were taken into custody and after heavy doses of interrogation in which Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody had a major role, released when all manner of useful information had been be extracted from them.

The dementors had already deserted Azkaban, and guard trolls along with specially trained Aurors patrolled it now. Numerous security charms and wards were placed over the prison to make it impenetrable and prevent possible break-outs.

The Order of Phoenix was recruiting new members - wizards and witches who had proven themselves loyal to the light side or were considered extremely trustworthy by the present members.

Voldemort on the other hand, was maintaining a steadfast silence and it was anyone's guess what he was up to.

The Order suspected him to be recruiting his own Death Eaters from different parts of Europe and was keeping a strict watch on the Death Eaters released by the Ministry after their interrogations.

Our hero on the other hand was spending quiet days at his only living relative's house at Privet Drive in Surrey, contemplating life and his future.

'Where do I go from here Padfoot? I have bettered myself in mind and body this entire summer. I can handle any Death eater Voldemort throws at me and maybe even his most evil Lordship himself. Do you think it will be enough?'

He let out a soft sigh and got up from his rickety wooden chair from were he had been staring out of the window for the past hour.

After refilling Hedwig's water bowl with some fresh water he made it way to the bed and lied down after letting out another barely inaudible sigh.

Hands crossed behind his head and legs bent over in a perfect imitation of the alphabet X Harry thought fondly about Ron and Hermione. Their smiling faces succeeded in bringing out a gentle smile on his chiseled face.

For some unfathomable reason another picture immediately came to his mind.

Waist length dirty blond hair, wide doe like eyes and a wand stuck behind the ears. The image then focused on soft cherry colored lips and they opened up to reveal a set of pearly white teeth. "Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure", said a soft voice.

'Now where I have heard that before? WAIT A SECOND HARRY! YOU WERE JUST NOW THINKING ABOUT LUNA LOVEGOOD!'

With a start of sudden realization, Harry immediately jolted from his bed.

"AAh", he shouted after hitting his head on the edge of the study table.

He rubbed the backside of his head, his disobedient unruly hair standing up even more after rubbing it repeatedly with the palm of his right hand.

'First Snakeface, then an idiotic Minister of Magic, then the overly secretive Order of the mighty Goose and now LUNA LOVEGOOD. Why does this only have to happen to me?'

"Bloody hormones!"

'Do I like Luna?'

'Does she like me?'

As question after question raged in his mind, the Boy-Who-Lived never realized when he had assumed his position back in the bed and fell asleep with lips curved into a contended smile.

To any casual observer, it would have seemed that it was just some teenaged boy thinking about his first love and wondering what the future would bring for them.

He could not have been more right as the last thought in the mind of the barely conscious Harry Potter, was that of a dirty blond haired and emerald eyed little girl pulling the hair of another black haired and wide eyed little boy.

As Harry woke up in the morning after his best sleep the whole summer, last night's thoughts came rushing back to his head.

He shook his head as if it would get rid of strange thoughts he had dreamt about, only to find Hedwig looking at him quizzically.

She turned herself around imperiously, her entire demeanor suggesting to Harry that she thought he had finally lost it.

After she flew out of the window to hunt something for her early morning snack, Harry got up and after a quick shower decided he needed to do some quick shopping for school supplies and more importantly, check up some things at Gringotts.

He realized that the new school term would be starting in just a few days and morning was the best time to avoid the usual rush of eager students and their harassed parents.

Just a few days back he had politely rejected Ron's offer to meet up at Diagon Alley. He knew Mrs. Weasley would want to confront him there and he was in absolutely no mood for providing explanations, however much he adored her.

Thinking that he should be getting a move on, Harry went downstairs to inform Aunt Petunia that he would be leaving for the better part of the day to get his school supplies.

"Aunt Petunia", he called out to her as she was making breakfast.

"I will be gone for most of the day to get some stuff for school".

Seeing Vernon's hand suddenly start to shake nervously a wicked smile made its way into his features and after some effort to fight back the smile he innocently continued, "Actually, I think I will leave just now".

And with that he apparated to Diagon Alley, leaving behind a broken teacup, a rapidly staining carpet and an uncontrollably shaky Vernon Dursley.

Harry apparated directly in front of the Gringotts front entrance.

He made his way to the head goblins desk and called for his attention.

The goblin looked up from some jewel he was carefully inspecting and on recognizing Harry Potter, immediately went on his best behavior.

"Mr. Potter, what a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you today?"

"Good morning. I am here to inquire about the state of my finances and to get a complete statement on my list of possessions", Harry replied in a business like tone.

"Of course Mr. Potter! If you could just wait for a minute."

He opened one of the many hidden drawers underneath his huge desk and took out some parchments.

"As you have amply demonstrated that you are of eligible age Mr. Potter the sum total contained in your vaults now amounts to four hundred and sixty five million galleons, ninety four thousand sickles and twenty two knuts".

Harry slowly let out the breath he had been holding and in a voice that could have been described as distinctly girlish asked the goblin – "could you repeat that figure for me again please?"

"Certainly Mr. Potter. The sum total contained in your vaults amounts to four hundred and sixty five million galleons, nine hundred four thousand sickles and twenty two knuts".

'Breathe Harry. Yes that's the way, in and out, in and out, in and out'.

'Holy silver haired mother of all beautiful beautiful BEAUTIFUL GODS!'

'I AM RICH. I AM RICH. Harry Potter of cupboard under the stairs, Number 4 Privet Drive – YOU ARE ONE BLEEDIN RICH KID'.

'Wow, what would Sirius have said to that?'

The moment Harry thought of his deceased godfather all exuberance at his newly discovered wealth went out of the window and he immediately sobered up.

"All right. Thank you very much for your time."

As Harry left Gringotts with a whirlpool of emotions raging through his heart, he spotted the shop for all kinds of options ingredients.

Harry had made it though to the NEWT level potions class after receiving an Outstanding in his potions OWL examination.

He had decided to take Advanced DADA, Transfiguration, Charms and Potions. He only took COMC as his elective because he wanted as much time as possible in pushing his magical limits and learning anything of value from the library at Hogwarts.

He had also planned to study Animagus Transformations in honor of his father and Sirius. He knew with all the extra work he was going to be doing; he would have very little time for other subjects that would be of little value to him in his fight against Voldemort.

After buying all required potion ingredients, Harry made his way to the Quality Quidditch Supplies to check on the latest broom.

'Bloody Umbitch', he swore mentally at Dolores Umbridge, the former Hogwarts High Inquisitor.

She had not only confiscated his Firebolt but also destroyed it.

'Can't even do anything to her now. Let her come out of St. Mungo's. This time it's going to be me who will send her back there, not the Centaurs.'

He quickly found what he was looking for.

"Moonbeam X – Fastest broom in the world. Can outstrip any other model of broomstick out there. Guaranteed!" announced the owner proudly.

After shelling out six hundred galleons for it, a very satisfied Harry shrunk the broom and put it in the back pocket of his jeans.

'Moonbeam. Hmm, wonder what Luna would think of that!"

Harry sighted a jewelry shop and walked in with thoughts of the dirty-blond haired witch haunting him. His eyes fell upon a pair of dazzling white diamond studded ear-rings shaped like the moon and made a spur-of-the-moment decision to buy them as a present for Luna.

A quick trip to Ollivander's added wand polish and a brand new, charmed dragon-hide wand holster to his list of acquisitions.

'That's all for today I guess. Time to do my final packing for Hogwarts', Harry silently contemplated on the day.

Two days later, with a quick peck on the cheek and an absolutely astonished Aunt later Harry silently apparated to Platform nine and three quarters.

Most of the platform was empty except for a few students. Harry decided to settle in a compartment and make himself comfortable.

Half hour later, the door to the compartment slid open and Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood walked inside hand in hand.

I opened the door

You did not even knock

But I heard it

Your heart beat

Your calling me loudly

Seeking my soul

My body and the rest

I let myself believe you

Your madness shocked me

The shock was my joy

I am closing the door

For you never knocked

- Harry Potter, The Ride To Hogwarts

A burning hot iron rod slowly twisting its way through the guts and making its way upwards, to where the heart resides and staying put till the frail organ finally stopped beating. That is how Harry felt when he saw the clasped hands of his clumsy friend who was finally coming into his own and the girl who had taken away his peace of mind for the last many days and made a place of her own in his burdened heart.

For a brief moment he stiffened like an ironing board till conscious thought finally kicked in and looking at Luna with downcast eyes he softly said, "Hello Luna."

"Neville."

"I hope your grandmother wasn't angry at you for breaking your father's wand?"

Neville who was blissfully ignorant of the gigantic blow his and Luna's entrance had caused on Harry, jovially replied – "Oh No Harry! Grandma was so proud of me when she heard of what exactly had happened. I never really thanked you for giving me the confidence to face my fears. So here it is – Thanks Harry. Thanks so much!"

Harry gave a small smile and replied "Glad to have helped."

He briefly looked up at Luna only to find her giving him an extremely scrutinizing look that turned into a questioning look and finally gave way to a curious mix of sadness and apology.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the compartment that was choking him until the doors slid open to reveal the smiling face of his best friend Ron Weasley closely followed by his other best friend Hermione Granger. Just the sight of the two was enough to change his whole demeanor, which went from miserable to extremely content in a matter of seconds.

"HARRY! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" shrieked Hermione with so much worry on her face that he was briefly taken aback.

"Listen guys. There are some things I need to talk to you about. Let's go outside for a minute."

Without waiting for their answer he gently pulled along his two friends from the compartment and shut the door close.

"Harry Wha-". Before Ron could complete the sentence, Harry placed a finger on his mouth indicating them to be quiet.

He took out his wand from the holster and cast a privacy bubble along with an eavesdropping deterrent charm and after pocketing it back in his wand holster turned a soft gaze towards Hermione.

"My beautiful Hermione," he said tenderly caressing her cheek. "Do you know how much I love you? If my parents were alive and I had a sister I would have wished her to be just like you."

"so perfect…" He said the last part so quietly that both Ron and Hermione barely heard it.

Hermione had silent tears flowing down her cheek and gave him a tight hug. "Why are you saying this Harry? What's wrong? Tell me. Did someone say anything to you? I WILL KILL THEM."

"No, No Hermione. Let me finish first. No one said anything to me."

"Ron", he said keeping a firm hand on his shoulder. If I would have wished Hermione as my sister, then you would most definitely have been my brother. I don't care if I am not related to both of you by blood. You are my family. My only family."

"Take care of Hermione for me Ron. And Hermione will you take care of Hedwig for me?"

Hermione nodded silently. Harry gently brushed away a tear from under her eye.

"I have to go somewhere. There are some things I must do. Don't try to find me. PLEASE. I have to do this."

"Promise me. Both of you. You will not try to find me. Promise me."

"And. And I will come back."

Ron nodded dumbly, not knowing how to react for this was one situation he was not prepared for when he boarded the train. All he could understand was that their was an inner fire in his best friends, no, not best friend, his brother's bright emerald eyes and that he had to go somewhere.

Harry pulled them both into a tight hug and suddenly let go. He turned toward the outer doors and after casting a cushioning charm on the ground next to the railway tracks, he jumped from the speeding train.

'IF A WEAPON I HAVE TO BE – THEN A WEAPON I WILL BECOME. After all, that's all there is to my wretched life…'

The month of October is usually associated with a cool breeze flowing across a serene landscape dotted with flaming trees that are ready to shed their leaves till the rejuvenating season of spring brings them back to life with soft childlike innocent leaves take their place to repeat the endless cycle of life and death.

Harry Potter was not feeling too much of the light wind though. He was in a terrain where snow clad mountains competed with lush coniferous forests to provide an overall awesome view. He was at the Himalayas.

Sheltered in a cave from the howling winds that raged from the north and then mellowed down enough by the time they reached the great Indian plains, he was kept company a man who very well could have passed off as the prominent English wizard Albus Dumbledore with his bright twinkling eyes and outsized white beard.

The only difference being that this man was in a partial state of undress with only a carroty loin cloth, which would seemingly have offended western sensibilities, to cover him and possessed a light brown tone of the skin. No, Harry Potter was not here to test his gender orientations. Rather he was in an extreme state of meditation softly chanting an ancient Hindu hymn that was to aid him in his purposes of concentration.

Suddenly after a day long span of absorption in his ritual which he had been going over for the past month and a half, he felt as if ants were slowly crawling along his back. An intense heat in his spine as if molten lava was softly making its way down took its place and a soft buzzing echo in his ear slowly rose in crescendo to reproduce a roaring sound that finished with a clap of thunder. This was immediately followed by a feeling of pure bliss that gave way to millions of bright flashy lights in his head that revealed to him the creative, intellectual and spiritual side of life.

With an extremely content smile on his face, Harry slowly lowered his chin to reveal a set of beautiful glowing green eyes and was met with the sight of the Indian version of Dumbledore proudly beaming at him.

"Did you see, my child?" he asked of Harry. Harry slowly nodded.

"You are now one with yourself now child. You must learn to harness the energy you have been gifted with. Your magic is only worth so much. But the energy within us all is so immense, so powerful yet so beautiful. Each of us is enough to create a star by ourselves just by harnessing all which we have. Go now. Go in peace. May the blessings of the gods be with you."

Harry slowly got up and wrapped his arms around the wizened Indian hermit to give him a gentle hug.

"And child, you don't need that stick you carry around with you anymore. Nor those silly words you keep uttering with that stick. Will it. Ask of your being for it to happen and it will happen……"

With a trusting nod, Harry took out his wand from his holster and giving it one last loving look. He then gripped the sides of the wand and with a slight effort bent it at the middle. What happened next would remain firmly etched in his mind as an everlasting memory.

The wand broke with a resounding CRACK and exposed a stunning red and gold feather from Dumbledore's pet phoenix. The feather immediately burst into flames and all of a sudden, exploded into millions of red and gold sparkling lights. The glittering lights soon turned into a phantom figure that took the shape of a majestic phoenix. It slowly drifted upwards and just when it was about to touch the ceiling of the cave, it gave a mighty screech and without another warning rushed towards Harry.

The moment it entered Harry, he felt as if all his pain, all his sorrows, all his misery was had been washed away. He felt rejuvenated as if he had suddenly found an oasis of water in a hot sterile desert.

"My child! Oh my! Do you realize what has just happened?" the hermit suddenly exclaimed.

Without waiting for Harry to answer, the positively gleeful man clapped his hands and continued talking – "Look what it did! This celestial creature cleansed all the darkness that was trying to take hold of you. When you first came to me, lost and miserable I questioned myself whether I should teach you the ancient ways. I sensed a great amount of inherent righteousness in you, but that was slowly being eaten away by your rage and anger. Sooner or later, these would have led you to the path of self-destruction. It seems I made the right decision, for only someone absolutely pure of heart could have received such a wonderful gift from this creature. Now I have nothing to worry about. You must go and solve that which earlier troubled you so greatly."

With a silent nod and a barely audible pop, Harry left.

"Rise oh tortured soul,

The brunt's you have borne enough

It's time taming

Wisdom and faith in you

Floating on towers of imagination

Success, failure, adventure

Risen you Have now

Vision of your glory, is there

It is now an eternal story."

With a soft sigh, the old man finished his song and slowly made his way out of the cave to collect fruits for the day's meal.

--------------------------

Lavender Brown always considered herself to be a very sociable and gregarious girl, whose zest for life could only be matched by her best friend, Parvati Patil. No wonder that she was now fervently kissing her fifth selection of a boyfriend in the past two weeks at the window facing the north side at the infamous Astronomy tower.

She suddenly felt warmth creeping up her face till she chanced a look outside to see a majestic figure making its way through towards the outer doors of the great hall. With an impatient huff she broke away contact with her male companion and felt a growing good pleasantness as the figure approached closer. This person was walking with a naturalness and grace that only the noblest of blood and the highest order of royalty could even think to imitate.

There was an extremely powerful aura surrounding him and she suddenly felt loved and wanted and that everything in the world was all right. Her natural instincts kicked in and she realized she must find out who this person was. With an unnatural burst of speed she raced down towards the great hall, just in time to see the doors of her school - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, gently opening.

'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'. Had Hermione Granger ever been questioned as to what was so special about the sentence in pertinence to English Grammar, she would have thought with a slight frown for a minute and then brightly answered – "Why of course! It contains all the letters of the English alphabet".

If that sentence managed to display all the letters of the English grammar, then the moment the great doors opened and the person who had caused Lavender Brown to rush all the way down from the Astronomy Tower gracefully stepped in, all shades of admiring emotions that were humanly possible for a normal hot blooded sixteen year old girl managed to openly display themselves across her face.

Any professor of human psychology would have killed to be there at that moment in time as parallel expressions adorned themselves on every teenage witch present in the great hall.

Draco Malfoy, the self proclaimed Slytherin prince of Hogwarts started out with outright disbelief and the incredulity somehow managed to transform itself into an unmatched fury.

Dumbledore unsuccessfully tried maintaining a neutral expression as his eyes kept darting about the hall in utter confusion when he felt the familiar calming presence of his loyal and steadfast friend Fawkes nearby, the same time his most favorite student in all of his many decades of teaching experience entered. 'Well, almost most favorite…', he thought mischievously as he secretively braved a sideward glance at Professor McGonagall.

Hermione and Ron were showing utter relief on there faces and when they turned to each other to express their utter delight at Harry's return, somehow managed to get completely lost in each other's eyes. Completely oblivious to what was going on around them they were now singularly involved in repeating what Ms. Brown of Gryffindor was so busy in a few minutes back.

With a happy grin Harry saw them and slowly breathing in the wonderful atmosphere, let out a slow breath. Piercing green emerald eyes slowly turned towards the Ravenclaw table and tried scanning the table for straggly waist length dirty blond hair.

"Where is Luna?" he politely asked a fourth year Ravenclaw girl sitting closest to where he was standing. The girl's eyes widened like those of a deer caught in the headlights when she realized HE had chosen to speak to her.

As a soft blush made its way through her face, she managed to stutter out some incomprehensible words. "I am sorry. Could you repeat that again for me please?" he asked of her.

Soft giggling noises brought the girl back to the great hall and her immediate surroundings and she finally managed to blurt out - "Hunting for her belongings. Someone managed to hide them again tonight!"

Moments after the Ravenclaw divulged Luna Lovegood's whereabouts, the walls started rumbling and all of the glass dishes at the Ravenclaw table shattered sending glass everywhere. The merry atmosphere in the great hall instantaneously turned dark as shrieks of the students went up. Any student who had ever played around with Luna's belongings or mentally tortured her was shivering uncontrollably. A few first year's who had recently been introduced into the favorite pastime of Luna baiting by their seniors were sobbing quietly.

McGonagall got up fuming and with a wary glance at Dumbledore, who silently nodded his assent, turned towards Harry Potter. "MR. POTTER! STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY!"

In a soft tone of voice that even Severus Snape, potions master extraordinaire and resident expert of the noble art of intimidation, would have been hard-pressed to copy, Harry gave a unsettling look to those affected by his recent magical outburst - "Touch so much as a hair on Luna's head and that will be the last thing you do in this lifetime."

The cold fury etched in every line of Harry Potter's youthful face was the last thing a worried Cho Chang saw before he slowly shimmered out of existence in front of the entire great hall.

Harry willed himself to be at Luna's side as he noiselessly left the great hall. He reappeared in a deserted corridor with just a portrait of what appeared to be a goblin haggling over some gold with a clever looking wizard. Looking around he thought he had made a mistake when he saw no sign of Luna.

He was about to leave when his right leg touched something soft on the ground. With a start he realized that it was Luna, the girl who had made a very special place in his heart.

Harry was absolutely furious with the people who had caused her so much suffering and pain and his heart almost broke in two when he realized that she was trembling slightly in her sleep with dry tear marks running down her eyes. He gently picked her up in his arms as if she was a fragile piece of glass and softly kissed her forehead.

'NEVER AGAIN! NEVER EVER BLOODY AGAIN! I SWEAR NO WILL DARE TO LAY A FINGER ON YOU AGAIN LUNA'

The next second Harry appeared with Luna resting gently in his arms at the old dilapidated structure that was the Shrieking Shack. With a mental thought the entire dust vanished and the whole place was sparkling clean.

Blue and gold competed with each other for the upholstery and a merry fire cackled in the now repaired fireplace. A bed fit for a queen appeared along with a comfortable looking couch by its side. With a final kiss on her forehead, Harry softly placed Luna on the bed and covered her with sheets of the finest silk. With a sigh he settled down on the couch, her hand entwined in his.

Two days after Luna woke up to be greeted with the sight of Harry Potter smiling at her endearingly…

Harry entered the Dungeons and walked up to the Potions classroom for the sixth year NEWT students conducted by Severus Snape. Murder was written in his eyes as he stood outside the closed doors.

He lifted his hands to his chest and violently pulled them apart. The same time he did so, the doors blasted apart from the hinges and swept all the way behind him. His cloak angrily billowing in the non existent wind, he indifferently stepped into the classroom and fiercely eyed the students, all of whom were now turned towards him and looking at him with a mixture of fright and curiosity clearly written across their faces.

One student in particular was desperately trying to cover his frightened features with a smug expression on his face.

"POTTER, HOW DARE YOU COM-". Before Snape could even complete the sentence, he was brutally sent flying across the dimly lit classroom into the moss covered stone walls, with an impatient wave of Harry's hand. A sickening crunch announced to theclass that the Potions master would not be able to attend his classes for the next one or two weeks, depending on the skills of the healers at St. Mungos.

Harry had not broken his eye-contact with Draco Malfoy throughout the entire ordeal and after giving him an intense look finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Come Draco. We have some things to talk about. Come with me."

Malfoy realizing that the next few minutes were probably going to be his last, after seeing the battered body of his Head of House, was stupidly nodding no. He got up from his wooden stool and without more ado ran and crouched underneath the bench.

The bench he was hiding under lifted up in the air and flew towards Snape's table where it softly landed, harmlessly spilling a few half-made potions from their owner's cauldrons.

"I SAID COME HERE YOU PIECE OF SHIT". With a snarl Harry lifted his right hand and Malfoy came flying through toward him. With an iron grip Harry caught hold of his neck and slowly pressed it tighter and tighter, choking him with the intent to kill.

Malfoy's eyes were bulging out from their sockets and his pale face rapid turning blue. All the students were transfixed with the sight before them and when Hermione thought that enough was enough, she proceeded to take out her wand.

To her horror she realized that she was totally immobilized as were the rest of the students. With a final sputter, Draco Malfoy finally breathed his last.

Like a rag doll, Harry tossed the corpse of Draco Malfoy aside and left the classroom as quickly as he had come.

Harry Potter, the golden boy of Gryffindor, had consciously committed his first murder…

Meanwhile in Dumbledore's office

Albus Dumbledore, the most revered wizard of his age lied back on a chair with a completely defeated look on his face. Minerva McGonagall was furiously debating whether she should mouth her growing concerns or not after seeing her mentor in such crushed position.

Finally, her Gryffindor traits won, and she went on to speak – "Albus, we must do something about the boy. I fear he will completely loose control over himself if you don't talk to him NOW. Albus! Please do something. Anything".

Elsewhere at Voldemort's secret hideout

An evil cackle echoed off the walls of a shadowy mansion. The entire atmosphere was thick with sinister malevolence and the dampness in the air because of the light rain outside the confines of the man-made structure only served to reinforce it.

A skeleton thin man with slits for his nostrils and a high forehead stood at the forefront of a dozen people in black robes. "Good job Malfoy! For once your incompetence at getting things done right seems to have taken a back-foot."

As if imitating a cheap 'B' grade movie villain, Lord Voldemort a.k.a. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named a.k.a. You-Know-Who, spun his hands from behind his pitch black robes,

and pretended to squeeze an imaginary object with his spidery fingers. "If you can't stab them from the front, then stab them from the back. Just make sure it reaches their heart."

"Excellent!"

'Harry Potter, I have broken your spirit. The game has begun. It's your move now', he silently contemplated on the brilliant happenings of the day.

While still thinking about how Lord Voldemort was the most brilliant and powerful Dark Lord in centuries, You-Know-Who got his wish granted unknown to him as a seething figure of Harry Potter shimmered and took physical form in the dark shadows near some chipped Romanesque pillars.

Even with Voldemort's presence, the temperature suddenly seemed to drop a few degrees. His Death Eater's were nervously looking around as if they sensed something was not right in their master's public chamber.

It took the fanatical hissing of Nagini to alert him to the presence of his arch nemesis. Hesss here master. Hesss here master. Canss I sink my fangsss in hisss legssss

With a sharp nod he jerked his neck towards the dark shadows. "Harry - my Boy! You honor me with your presence. Let's have a spot of tea dear boy. Nothing like a round of torture and pain to wash it all down with."

"Come out, Come out. Little Johnny wants to play the Big Bad Boy today. Let's all humor him, my loyal Deat-".

As Harry Potter stepped out of the shadows, an involuntary shiver ran down almost every Death Eater present. Lord Voldemort stopped mid-sentence and did something he had never done after being trashed by the warden in the old orphanage, at the tender age of four.

He gulped.

On the Flames we glare

Passing faces

So cold and speechless

They look

It is breaking away

A passionate past

The silence of burial

Fragrance spreads

Pushing a stone wall

With bare bosoms

Bleeding

Falls the wall

Glares strengthen wounds

Healing becomes an endless process

Calling futuristic path

We tread so softly

-Harry Potter, The Murder of Luna Lovegood

Harry watched Lord Voldemort with detached eyes. For a moment everything seemed to have a come to a complete standstill as if time itself was frozen. And in that moment Harry remembered.

Flashes of the last two days.

Days that would not return, ever.

A dream of a happy life left unfulfilled.

Luna waking up with Harry's hand entwined in hers.

Luna breaking down and crying in his comforting embrace.

Luna holding him close as if her very life depended on her grip.

Llifting her chin to meet his eyes.

The Kiss.

His first real kiss.

Luna blushing slightly.

The day spent comfortably snuggling into each others arms next to the fireplace.

Escorting her back to Hogwarts.

Whispers flying about their closeness as they entered the great hall together.

The joyous look sent to him by his friends.

The amused look sent towards him by the headmaster.

The apologetic look sent by Cho Chang.

The deriding sneer sent towards by the Potion Master.

The malevolent glare sent towards him by the ferret.

Taking Luna to the kitchens.

Laughing together at Dobby's antics.

Waking up the next morning in the room of requirement with her warm presence close to him.

Dropping her off to her first class.

Leaving for the Dursleys to strengthen the wards.

Coming back to find an unsettling hush over the entire school.

Leglimencing the students.

Running towards Madam Pomfrey's office.

Luna covered with white sheets.

Lifting the sheets.

Luna's lifeless body carved with tattoos. Tattoos of his scar.

The cry of anguish. The cry that shattered everything innocent left in him.

The tears. The tears that flowed from his eyes. The tears that swore revenge.

Revenge for those who had died a helpless death.

Revenge for everything dear that was snatched unfairly from him.

Discovering magical signature residues of both the Malfoys' on her.

His first murder, Draco Malfoy.

Lord Voldemort before him.

And the way a dam bursts everyone suddenly leapt into action. Though to their discredit, every Death Eater found themself unable to move - just like the students had in the dungeons at Hogwarts a few minutes back.

Except for Lord Voldemort. He eyed Harry nervously and with a huge effort forced it down. His Slytherin instincts screamed at him to flee and come back for a fight later.

Looking over at the whelp, he couldn't help but admire how far the brat had come from the strangely calm baby he had attempted to murder sixteen years ago. Before him stood a tall, well built man. His frame was that of a seasoned athlete yet the impression he gave was that of an extremely well bred royal. His eyes... They were glowing dangerously. Like the waters of a deep ocean. Rough and perilous on the surface, with the promise of hidden horrors underneath.

"AVADA KED – ". Harry never gave him a chance to finish the fatal spell as he faded to a soft red mist with a swirling gold and black centre, and calmly stepped into Lord Voldemort's skeletal frame.

The Dark Lord's wand dropped to the floor with a clank and he screamed in agony with his hands on his forehead. "NO MORE. PLEASE NO", he cried desperately.

Meanwhile Harry was rapidly thinking of every loving emotion he had come across. His mother softly cooing to him. Ron and Hermione helping him shoulder his burdens. Sirius offering a place to live with him after he was rescued. Mrs. Weasley hugging him tightly at the end of the third task. Luna's soft loving embrace.

With a final yell, Lord Voldemort stopped clawing his bloodied face and fell lifeless to the ground. Harry tried getting out back to his own body but he found that he was trapped.

A bright light was shining at the end of long dark passageway. An invisible force gently pushed him towards the bright glow. Time had no meaning as Harry finally reached the brightly glowing source of light. A silent tear made its way down to the ground as Harry felt the sheer intensity of the love that the huge orb of light was projecting.

He felt invisible hands gently ruffling his hair. Not a moment too soon a dainty invisible hand lightly caressed his cheeks and softly touched his lips.

"Go Harry. They are giving everything another chance. Make things right. I will meet you soon. I love you".

Harry was violently pushed back and with a groan he opened his eyes.

"Ah! Harry my child. You are finally awake. The stone is safe."

When Harry looked up into the eyes of Dumbledore to confirm whether he had heard him correctly, he was suddenly assaulted with an onslaught of foreign memories, though it has a distinctly familiar tinge to it.

With a start, the eleven year old boy realized that these memories were his own and not someone else's. Year's worth of experiences, good as well as bad, trickled and settled in his conscious mind. It seemed like an eternity to Harry but to any casual observer it would have appeared as if Harry had simply spaced out for a few seconds.

Albus Dumbledore however, wasn't just any casual observer. He was watching the boy with something akin to pride when he felt a strange change come over his eleven year old ward in a matter of mere seconds.

Albus Dumbledore who prided himself in being able to scrutinize and decipher even the slightest bit of human expressions found himself stumped when a completely unreadable expression came over the child.

His shock was furthered when the tiny boy suddenly got up from his bed and hugged him tightly around his waist and softly said, "Thank for taking care and watching over me Professor Dumbledore. I must be going now. Have to meet my friends."

No questions were asked as to what happened to the stone.

No questions were asked as to how Harry was able to defeat Voldemort's shadow.

No questions were asked as to why Voldemort tried to kill him that dreadful Halloween night.

Albus Dumbledore was left completely surprised.

While Dumbledore was staring off into space with a blank expression into space trying to sort out and analyze the very recent events, Harry softly made his way out of Madam Pomfrey's domain.

He realized he needed more time to think about the future that had been revealed to him and he didn't want to take any drastic steps to alter it without understanding the consequences of his actions. So the entire time, till he reached Privet Drive, he acted in a similar fashion to how his past self had which included winning the house cup, thanking Hagrid for the photo album and almost every other minute detail that came to mind.

Back at the Dursley's

Harry realized that he could not perform any magic in the summers till he was at least fourteen years of age, which was the minimum age of emancipation for an orphaned minor in the muggle world. So unwittingly, he still had to perform Aunt Petunia's chores and listen to the Dursleys verbally pick on him.

One good outcome of having the memories of his other self was having his advanced knowledge. In a matter of minutes, Harry re-taught himself Occlumency and Leglimency. He had all the advanced knowledge of the highly powerful spells and other subject matter that he had learned over the years.

However, somehow he had lost the lingering shadow of Fawkes, the headmaster's magnificent phoenix and also the complete transformation he had gone though at the Himalayas under the guidance of the wizened sage. He knew how to go about it but he understood it would take him a great amount of patience and solitude to achieve it again - something for which he had no time.

He had thought long and hard about his future course of actions and he understood that there was no possible in hell that he would go through all that mental anguish throughout his Hogwarts years.

He would not let the future turn out the way it did if he had any say in it, and he had a very big say in it he thought with great mental relish.

Taking out a quill and some parchment, Harry made a list of things that he knew he would have to sort out in the not too distant future.

1.Sirius & Azkaban

2.Wormtail, the traitorous rat…

3.Dobby/freedom from Malfoy

4. The Chamber of Secrets & the Basilisk

5.Tom Riddle/Diary & Ginny Weasley

6.Lucius Malfoy & the Diary

7.Reveal Parsletongue abilities?

'Phew! That's quite a list I've got there. How in heavens name am I going to do this?'

Like a bulb being switched on he was suddenly struck with an idea. 'The summer after the fifth year, when I was a complete emotional heap and this summer really have distinct parallels. Let's see. Aha! GOT IT!'

With a calm expression on his face, Harry neatly penned a letter –

Dear Ms. Rita Skeeter,

There are some things I would really like to discuss with you. I am sure on fully hearing me out; you will not be disappointed with what I have to offer to you.

If you are in acceptance of my offer, I will expect a "bug" in my hands tomorrow at 3:00 pm near the swings at the public park near Privet Drive,Surrey.

yours humbly,

Harry Potter.

'BUG! -that'll remind her not to - not come…,' he thought with a proud smile adorning his boyish looks his.

A minute later a disappearing white speck could be seen in the sky carrying a very important letter.

It was to a brand new day that Harry woke up feeling full of excitement and an overwhelming sense of anticipation about the shape of things to come. He was justifiably feeling a little nervous; though with a few claming breaths he managed to reign in his perturbing emotions lest he loose control of himself, which could eventually lead to an unmitigated disaster when the time came for Rita Skeeter to print her piece in the Daily Prophet.

After all, the way he presented himself and his case to her would determine the future flow of events. And Harry had no intentions of screwing things up before hand.

The previous day he had made a list of things to think about and act on. He had arrived at the conclusion that exposing Wormtail for who he was would eventually lead to his capture and his godfather's freedom.

But he could not afford to do that, not yet. Undoubtedly Sirius would still remain a captive and later on a fugitive, but at least he would be assured that if things happened the way they already had, Wormtail would try and bring Voldemort back to life during the third task at the Tri-wizard tournament and he would have a chance to save Cedric Diggory's life, now that he knew what to expect.

Otherwise, Voldemort could eventually be brought back to his full powers at any other time and he would have to live his entire remaining years on the edge thinking about when Voldemort would be brought back and who else might die because of so many unknown variables.

All he had to make sure was that Barty Crouch Jr. was exposed for who he was without Fudge getting his hands on him and therefore, shutting him up permanently with a Dementor's kiss. He also had to include Dumbledore in his future plans and let him know about the tri-wizard cup being a portkey before hand.

That way they could take care of the powerless Voldemort and finish off the looming threat of his return once and for all. But that was a story for another day.

Right now he had to think of a way to save Ginny and give Lucius Malfoy what he oh-so-thoroughly deserved – a long term in Azkaban in his own personal cell, without Dobby to as a punching bag.

And that brought him back to Skeeter. Everything thing now depended on how he handled her.

With his thoughts well chartered out in his mind, Harry confidently closed the door to No. 4 Privet Drive and set off to meet Rita Skeeter at the local park.

At The Park : 2:55 pm

Harry slowly made his way to the birch tree near the broken swings and sat down with a huff. No sooner had he made himself comfortable, he heard a twig snap behind him and without a moments hesitation he had his wand drawn and pointed between the shocked eyes of none other than Rita Skeeter.

"Why, hello Miss Skeeter! I see that you are five minutes early for our appointment. How do you do?" Harry asked her with false cheer - something which both of them saw through.

"I am terribly good, this fine evening Mr. Potter," she replied back in the same tone, though she had a sickly sweet smile plastered on her face.

"Well then I don't plan to BUG you too much today and spoil this wonderful day for you, but could you tell me what is the punishment for being an unregistered animagus these days? A short term in Azkaban I presume? Or is it just a heavy fine that the Ministry imposes on offending individuals if they are caught?" he asked her with heavy emphasis on the word 'bug'.

"How diiid did youu you knoww," she stuttered.

"Well Ms. Skeeter, I am sorry my secrets are my own – But I would like to offer you a deal – a VERY fair deal. I promise that you have nothing to loose and everything to gain. You will undoubtedly make the biggest story of the decade, i.e. after the defeat of Voldemort by me, The-Boy-Who-Lived, and it will be completely to your credit. A salute to the brilliant investigative journalists of our time and their undying devotion to give the truth to the citizens of this great nation. AND, I will completely forget that some of these reporters become unregistered animagi like BUGS to uncover the truth. So, what say you?"

To say that Harry had managed to whet Rita Skeeter's appetite and arouse her curiosity would have been an understatement, for she was just one step away from actually drooling on Harry's feet. With a wary glance at his legs he quietly managed to take a few steps back giving her time to think about his proposal and possibly save himself the burden of cleaning up his shoe laces later on.

"All right Harry, Can I call you Harry? What have you got for me?" she carried on without acknowledging his nod about her calling him Harry.

"Well, then listen carefully Rita. Can I call you Rita?"

At her eager nod he continued, "Lucius Malfoy is in possession of a Class-I Dark Artifact which he will intentionally place into the possession of one Ms. Ginny Weasely, only daughter of Mr. Arthur Weasely of the office of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. This will happen when Gilderoy Lockhart has his signing day gala at Flourish and Blotts at the end of this summer, before the new Hogwarts term starts."

"Now you will ask me what is so special about this particular dark artifact. You see, this artifact comes across nothing but just a simple diary to the innocent eye, with the original owner's name written on it in silver – Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"This diary contains all the memories of the owner – in a nutshell the entire essence of his being as a sixteen year old. The essence of this person can interact with anyone who writes in this diary and slowly takes over the writer's will as time passes by stealing his or her life energy. Of course, if have a strong will, nothing will happen to you. But Rita, imagine what will happen if you place this diary in the hands of an innocent, gullible eleven year old girls who will be attending Hogwarts for the first time."

"THAT BASTARD!" she exclaimed loudly, scaring some of the nearby birds away.

"Calm down Rita! We aren't even hot yet."

"Do you know why this story, i.e. if you publish it - by catching Lucius Malfoy red-handed, will earn you so much acclaim? No? Let me tell you then. Do you know who Tom Marvolo Riddle was?"

"Here hold your wand," he asked her soothingly.

"Oh! For Merlin's sake - I can't do underage magic away from school!" he replied seeing her questioning look.

"All right then, I am now going to show you something."

With a gentle grip on her wand arm, he slowly wrote TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE in burning letters in the air. With a smooth flick of her hand, he slowly rearranged the words to form I AM LORD VOLDEMORT in place of the old letters.

With a horror struck look on her face, Rita Skeeter turned towards Harry and then promptly fainted.

Rita Skeeter was mildly surprised to wake up to the sight of seeing the Boy-Who-Lived whistling merrily to some odd tune with his back resting against a grand birch tree.

"How can you be so calm after what you told me?" she asked him indignantly.

"Well, Rita if you have seen what I have seen, then you learn to accept things and make the best out of a given situation. So I understand that you will be doing the expose on Lucius Malfoy, pureblood and upstanding member of the British Wizard Community?" Harry asked her with a smirk.

"Of course. How could I not?" she finished with a dangerous yet oddly determined glint in her eye.

Harry gave her a calculating look and then proceeded to get up from his sitting position and after dusting off the dust from his hands; he made a gesture to shake her hand.

"All the best then!" With a firm handshake, he sauntered walked off towards Number 4 Privet Drive without turning around.

The day finally arrived when Vernon was to make his business deal and Dobby his dramatic appearance in Harry's bedroom.

Counting down the minutes Harry softly cursed his bad luck and slowly climbed upstairs after the verbal bout with his Uncle about how he was supposed to be a good boy, pretend he did not exist and stay in his room all evening.

The moment he opened his door he was greeted with the sight of Dobby jumping up and down like there was no tomorrow on his rickety old bed. Without making a sound he silently closed the door and leaned against the cupboard.

"Hello Dobby," he said with a slight smile on his face.

To say Dobby was surprised would have been an understatement.

"HARRY POTTER KNOWS DOBBY?" he exclaimed with his eyes pooping out.

"How can that be? Dobby has never met Harry Potter before. Such a great wizard he is. But Dobby is not supposed to be here! Dobby must warn Harry Potter that he must not return to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. Evil is being plotted and DOBBY MUST WARN HARRY POTTER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE," he said shrieking out the last part.

Before the little house elf could bang his hand on the dresser table about how he must not betray his masters, Harry quickly caught hold of him and gently placed him on the bed by his side.

With a soft sigh, Harry gathered his thoughts and wondered how he was going to get his thoughts across to the easily excitable house-elf.

"Listen Dobby, the powers-that-be have informed me all about the evil plot that you are warning me about. I know everything there is to know about who is going to do what at the end of the summer holidays and the consequences of that. But don't worry. I have a plan and already set it into motion. Everything will turn out to be all right. OK?"

Dobby by this time was looking at the wizard he had heard so much about from his fellow house-elves with wide wondrous eyes and without warning started bawling like a small child. "Harry Potter is a great wizard – that he is. Dobby trusts Harry Potter. But Dobby is sorry to have stolen Harry Potter's letters." He removed a huge bundle of letters from his back and apologized profusely about how he thought that if Harry Potter thought that his friends don't like him, he would choose not to go to Hogwarts.

Before he could start banging his head for the third time that evening, Harry caught hold of the dirty pillow case that covered his body and with a hard look in his face that softened when seeing the house elf's wide eyes, softly told him "Don't punish yourself Dobby. You have done nothing wrong. Although I am slightly angry with you, I won't hold it against you. Go back to your home and wait for the events to unfold. I can promise you one thing. I may not be able to get you your freedom but I will help your kind and YOU for that matter, whenever you need me. So just give me my letters and leave with goodwill. Consider me indebted to you for your concern and your warning. HE will get his comeuppance soon."

Tears flowed gently down the little house-elf's eyes and with a serene expression he folded his hands across his chest and vanished into thin air.

Harry had written to Ron about staying with him at the Burrow. Ron whole-heartedly greeted the idea and managed to surrey him to his house with the help of his twin brothers and a flying Ford Angelica. Though Mrs. Weasley was none too pleased with her sons for taking out their father's enchanted car without permission she forgave them immediately when she saw Harry and with a bright expression proceeded to pamper him with food and other motherly gestures that Harry had missed out on for so long.

Finally the day arrived when they were to go to Diagon Alley and Rita Skeeter was to carry out her part of the deal.

Harry stepped into the grate and clearly shouted out 'DIAGON ALLEY', careful that he would not land up in Knockturn Alley, like he had last time.

After buying all their nitty-gritty's the Weasley's and Harry proceeded towards Flourish and Blott's where they met Hermione and after warm hugs went inside the bookstore. Mr. Weasley immediately struck a conversation with the Grangers about various muggle contraptions and how they were finding the wizarding world. Harry meanwhile had been spotted by Gilderoy Lockhart and was compelled to get his photo taken with the man.

No sooner had Lockhart's vice like grip released him and a swooning Mrs. Weasley offered to get his books autographed by him, he heard someone whose head he literally wanted to bash in.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you Potter," he snarled.

'Draco Malfoy. Oh Shit. Here goes nothing. Where are you Rita? You better not mess this up.'

When Ginny came to his rescue, Draco gave them all a look as if they were filth - "Oh look , Potter's got himself a girlfriend!"

"Now, Now Draco," a cane with a snake with its fangs protruding out made its way over the little squirt's shoulder and a older replica of Draco Malfoy made his appearance from behind him.

"Be polite! Ah. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lucius Malfoy. You must be the Harry Potter."

"Your scar is a legend Mr. Potter," he said revealing it with his cane, "As was the wizard who gave it to you."

"Ms. Granger, I presume?" he said turning towards Hermione. "Of course, Draco has told me all about you."

"And red hair, hand me down clothes and tattered books. You must be the Weasley's!"

While Lucius Malfoy was busy removing the few books from Ginny's cauldron and then putting them back in with a new addition, he didn't notice a witch with huge glasses and a exquisite dragon hide purse coming closer towards him, along with another middle aged wizard with a huge camera in his hands.

It was only when the camera went off with a bright flash that Lucius Malfoy realized his actions had been caught on official Daily Prophet record.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy. I am Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet. Might I have a look as to what you just now put into this unsuspecting little girl's cauldron? It seemed to me that it was a diary of some sort," she finished with a sweet smile on her face.

The expression on Lucius Malfoy's was very reminiscent of the one time in his childhood, when his most strict mother had caught him with his hand stuck in a cookie jar.

'Take that you piece of Thestral Dropping!' Harry thought with a innocent expression mirrored on his face.

SHOCKING PLOT UNEARTHED TO BRING BACK

YOU-KNOW-WHO

Rita Skeeter

On assignment to The Daily Prophet.

We live in peaceful times; well-liked by the rest of the wizarding world and known for our kind, good hearted people, and wise leaders. But everyone once in a while, a Dark Lord comes along who manages to tear apart our cohesive nation into a fragmented land, whose fearful people are torn apart by pure-blooded assumptions, ethnic issues, or simple economic division. Corrupt politicians are pawns to be played in the hands of such Dark Lords, and are taken advantage of by whispered promises of further power and wealth. The minions of such Dark Lords kill freely and sometimes in these times of grave peril, there is no end of the slaughter in sight as they roam about the country unhindered.

The most recent example of such a Dark Lord has been You-Know-Who. The reporter, herself admits to being scared stiff of using the Dark Lord's actual name alongwith thousands of other citizens of the British wizardry world. Such is the fear we are in of someone who has been long gone since more than a decade!

But that is not what I want to talk about here in these pages of The Daily Prophet that will be circulated freely among the wizardry poplulace of Britian.

After the demise of You-Know-Who, a number of trials were conducted for his captured minions. A fair number of them were given the Dementor's kiss, while some were carted of to the dark fortress of Azkaban to remain under the watchful eyes of the Dementor guards. We were assured of a peaceful world once more where our children could grow up without the constant threat of torture or the black shorud of death surrounding them. The Ministry of Magic had fulfilled its solemn duty to guard and protect us from these Dark Wizards who lacked basic humanity and operated without a shred of conscience.

Or has it?

What many of us don't know is that a small number of the Dark Lord's captured minions are still living amongst us under the guise of upstanding members of our society. They claimed to be under the effects of the unforgivable Imperious curse. Yes, it is true that the Dark Lord used the Imperious curse to control people who resisted him, as was made abundantly clear when the confessions of his Death Eaters came out. But were our prudent politicians, who were in such a hurry to deliver free and fair trails to all and quickly done over with delivering justice and pass their sentences, careful enough to check the testimony of these 'upsatnding wizards' under the truth serum Veritaserum?

Sadly the answer to the question posed above is a big NO. "Give Veritaserum to these pureblood pillars of our society. It's an outrage! Shocking absolutely!" That was the reponse of some of our politicians at that time. And so without checking for the truth and accuracy of the testimonails given by these Dark Wizards and Witches, they were given apologies by the Ministry of Magic for their erroneous capture and let off scott-free.

Without their master to guide them, every once in a while these power hungry wizards, who secretly have dreamed their entire life of just once having total control over the lives of other human beings, eagerly hatch horrendous plots to savor that feeling of power that was abruptly snatched away from them, after the Dark Lord's sudden demise by the Boy-Who-Lived.

One such plot came to light yesterday under the very eyes of your devoted Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter and Daily Prophet photographer, Clipeus Adlevo.

Lucius Malfoy, earlier suspected of being one of the Dark Lord's Lieutentant, was caught red-handed trying to implant a Class – I Dark Artifact into the possesions of an eleven year old, unsuspecting witch, Ginny Weasely - only daughter of Arthur Weasely, an honest and hardworking wizard in the Department of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. The artifact in question is rumored to be a diray of the You-Know-Who's sixteen year old self and is enchanted to possess whoever writes into it for too long a duration by stealing their life force and thus possibly re-incarnate the Dark Lord.

The evidence for this shocking act of cruelty, which could quite possibly have led to the poor girl's untimely death, has been captured on camera and before the Minstry could cry foul and tamper with the evidence, a unanimous descision was made by the Daily Prophet staff to print these photgraphs. Turn to Pgs. 2-3 to see how Lucius Malfoy skillfully planted this Diary into the hands of the first year Hogwarts student.

The question we must ask ourselves is now will our legislators, some of whom are believed to have been already purchased by the deep pockets of Lucius Malfoy and his associates, apologise to him once again for damaging his reputation, for his capture by the Department of Law Enforcement just like sixteen years ago, or will true justice finally be served?

The choice is yours my fellow citizens, to reclaim the Ministry from few corrupt heathens who control it, and see that the guilty are made to pay for their unpunished crimes.

'Masterful, simply masterful Rita! One down, many more to go…' sighed Harry mentally in the comfortable bed that had in placed in Ron's shocking orange room at the Burrow.

"Sweet dreams Malfoy," he softly uttered before closing his eyes and preparing to goto sleep.

"What was that Harry?" Ron's voice queried.

"Huh? Oh nothing. Just thinking is all. How's Ginny taking all this Ron?"

Ron's face darkened immediately at the thought of Lucius Malfoy planting the diary in his sweet, innocent baby sister's cauldron. "She's fine. A bit dazed by it, but I guess she will be fine when things settle down. I must thank that reporter Harry some day. What was her name? Oh yeah, Rita Skeeter."

"Mum once told me that she was a no-good woman. Guess her opinion must've changed by know. Whaddya reckon Harry? We are really indebted to her for saving Ginny!"

"Oh yeah, she must have been a terribly brave and nice person to have written that article. I must thank her some time ..."

With a small smile on his face, Harry Potter slowly ambled off to the land of dreams, patiently waiting for the day when he would return for his second year at Hogwart's and a chance to see his sweetheart's sorting, something which he had earlier missed owing to Dobby's attempt at saving his life by closing the gateway.

Chapter 2:

Without the pressures of having to worry about Dobby preventing him and Ron from making through to the train. Harry relaxed, some of the worry easing from his heart. In a way his talk with Dobby had been a welcome release.

And then with Rita Skeeter actually helping him instead of hindering, he was able to prevent Ginny from being possessed by the memories of Voldemort. Doubt in Fudge's terms in office and of the release of Death Eaters who claimed to have been under the Imperious curse, like Lucius Malfoy, was running rampant. Many members of both the ministry and the wizengamot were calling for investigations, retrials and for Fudge's removal from office.

He got to stay with the Weasleys before having to go back to school. He got to play quidditch, eat huge helpings at meals and do whatever he wanted for relaxation. And using his trust fund money he finally got cloths that fit and were of the 'highest quality'! Now he was on the train to Hogwarts to begin another year.

Life was good.

Except for the tiny fact he had yet to take care of the basilisk and the Chamber of Secrets itself. Maybe there were more then just the main room. Imagine what could be found if anymore rooms existed. Slytherin himself was known for his extensive knowledge of not only potions but also the dark arts. The ancient books and knowledge that could be gained was enormous.

'That has to be one of the next things I do. Maybe during the weekend at Hogwarts.' Harry thought to himself. 'Oh, I have to contact Gringott's about my inheritance. And I've got to have another chat with Rita, to get started on freeing Sirius. But how will I prove that Pettigrew was the real secret keeper? Right now Pettigrew is in the form of Scabbers, so if I can get Scabbers away from Ron…………Then again Rita could be the one to ask Ron to had him over. If there are aurors and maybe Madam Bones there when she revealed him that could take care of two birds with one stone. I'll send Hedwig out with a note.'

Harry thoughts were abruptly cut off.

"TEN MINUTES TO HOGSMEADE! ALL STUDENTS BE READY TO DISEMBARKE. LEAVE ALL LUGEDGE ON THE TRAIN IT WILL BE TRANSPORTED SEPERATELY." A voice droned over the intercom.

"Geez, almost there already?" Harry muttered, pulling out his uniform and changing. Sure enough a few minutes later they pull into the station. Excitement began to build in Harry, for he was coming to his home.

Children disembarked, chattering back and forth while Harry moved swiftly and gracefully through the crowd to the carriages. So after settling in he was joined by a group of third year ravenclaws, who just seemed to stare at him with awed eyes. Harry merely stared out the carriage windows until they arrived at the castle. As he climbed out he briefly wondered where Ron & Hermione were before shaking it off.

'That just means I won't have to try to sneak around them as much. There still my friends but I've grown up and I have things that need to be done.' He muttered to himself as he entered the great and took his seat. Ron and Hermione sat across from him looking slightly pink in the cheeks. The other students doing the same within a few moments.

After all of the students and staff were settled into there seats, save for McGonagall of course. The doors of the great hall were opened and McGonagall lead in the new first years to be sorted. Including Ron's sister Ginny. Almost an hour later all the first years were at there house tables and Dumbledore rose from his seat.

"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we again our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

Noise filled the hall as the student chatted and ate there dinner. Catching up on time missed, and any big events that happened. As everything began to wind down, suddenly the tables was cleared and the dishes were again sparkling clean.

Dumbledore stood up and got the attention of the room, "Ahem-just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested should contact Madam Hooch." Dumbledore continued on, "And now before go to bed, the school song! Everyone pick a tune and off we go!"

The words appeared in thin spiraling gold script in the air as everyone started to sing, at a different pace and tune, the words.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."

"Ah, music for the heart an soul. I'm sure you're looking forward to classes tomorrow," many students groaned, "so off to bed with you."

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The next morning Harry rose with the dawn. Showering, dressing, grabbing his bag and leaving Gryffindor tower toward the great hall. Harry wondered how he should approach Luna, to let her know he was serious in his feelings. Maybe it was too soon. Maybe he should wait. Maybe……no, there are to many maybes in life. A plan I need a plan. For everything, not just Luna. Taking a seat, he toke out a piece of parchment and a quill.

To Do's:

Get class schedules from Prof. McGonagall)

Get catalogs from all the store in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade

Order copy's of all the books from Floursh and Blotts:

Tranfiguration

Defense Against the Dark Art

Art

Herbology

Potions

Ancient Runes

History of Magic

Magical Theory

Charms

Divination?

Care of Magical Creatures

Medimagic

Muggle Studies?

Languages (Latin, Frech, Greek, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Anglo-Saxon,…..)

Astronomy

Arithmacy

Muggle & Magical Geography

Magical Law

Goblin Laws

Goblin History

Goblin Etiquette and Customs

Magical Etiquette

Traditional Practices

Geneaology & Ascestral Magic

Horseback ridding & Pegasi-back ridding

Muggle Driving

Driving Magical Vehicles

Aparation

Animagus

Music books & blank sheets

Enchantments

Weaponry

Alchemy

Contact Music shop in diagon alley (cello, flute, violin, guitar)

Contact Apothercary for ingredients (probably get little of everything)

Contact Weapons Store (daggers, swords, bows & arrows, staff, throwing daggers & stars, sai's)

Contact Gringott's (inheritance, business exchanges, and financial records)

Get Gryffindor sword from the Headmasters office

Begin sending small 'tokens' to Luna (jewelry, flowers, books?)

Have a 'chat' with Rita Skeeter

Contact Remus Lupin

Send a 'tip' to Fudge about a death eater in Hogwarts

Capture Wormtail and hold him til Fudge arrives

Study Occlumency & Legimency

Get the map from the Twins

Go down to the Chamber of Secrets (chat with the basilisk – maybe contact a meat plant for it's food supply, explore for any hidden things that may be there,)

Visit Aragog (bring as much 'food' for his kids to make it back out alive – maybe contact a meat plants for it food supplies also)

Look for any of the other Founders Rooms (if there one there may be several)

Send another 'tip' about the hidden chambers in Malfoy Manor

Find and destroy Tom Riddle's (senior) bones to prevent ritual

Get the Dursley's to sign emancipation papers (maybe wait until winter break to do this)

Locate new home or fix up Grimmauld Place (minus Mrs.Black)

Drive Snape a.)batty with my 'sudden' expertiece in potions b.)pranks of all kinds

Work on modifying the Wolfsbane potion, for greater control

Visit ministry on pretense to see Fudge but also go to DoM for the prophecy orb (wait til winter break?)

'Well that's a list, and its not even done yet. This years definitely going to be busy. Thank merlin classes should be relatively easy.' Harry's thought were cut off by Ron and Hermione arriving. Harry quickly stuffed the parchment and quill into his pack. Looking up he saw Hermione's head was once again stuck in a giant book. And Ron was scarfing down food in a rather disgusting, earning disgusted looks from everyone at the table. Harry dug into his food, though with perfect manners and decorum, which gained him some interest from various individuals.

Soon after finishing eating, Professor McGonagall came with the schedules and began to hand them out.

Gryffindor 2nd Year Schedual

Mondays – Double Trainsfiguration (8 am – 12 pm)

Lunch

- Double Charms (2 pm – 6 pm)

Tuesdays – Double Potions (8 am – 12 pm)

Lunch

- Double Herbology (2 pm – 6pm)

Wednesday – History of Magic (8 am – 12pm)

Lunch

-Defense Against the Dark Arts (2 pm – 6 pm)

Dinner

- Astronomy (11 pm – 1 am)

Thursday – Double Potions (8 am – 12 pm)

Lunch

- Double Herbology (2 pm – 6 pm)

Friday – Double Transfiguration (8 am – 12 pm)

Lunch

Double Charms (2 pm – 6 pm)

Chapter 3:

Transfiguration and Charms was way to easy and very boring. Even though this class was mainly review from the last two years, having to have to go the 'lower' level classes again felt like a waste. He could do everything the first time around, both McGonagall and Flitwick seemed to be delighted that he had 'gained' an aptitude for both fields. After all his parents were both 'gifted' in each of the fields, so it was only right that he would be able to do both. He earned Gryffindor around fifty points for that alone.

So it was decided after much thought that he'd work on advanced levels when he received the books he was going to order.

He'd already sent out several school owls and letters requesting catalogs from the different stores in Diagon Alley and other locations. Especially the music shop, apothercary, and weapons store. Well except for his booklist of the different subjects he wanted to study, he sent that off to Floursh and Blott's already and a note that told them to charge it to his trust vault, also asking them to shrink everything down for transport to the school. Thankfully he knew that he had more than enough in the account for everything several times over. 'Thank Merlin!'

Checking off the first three things on his 'To-Do' list felt good. He could at least see what they had to offer. But he really had to contact Gringott's! It had was the next step for him on his list. He could always put it on hold since he wanted to take care of that during the weekend. Good thing he secured written permission to leave Hogwarts from his 'family' and that he be emancipated upon receiving his inheritance, whatever they thought that might be to them, with the promise of freeing them of his 'freaky' presence if they helped with everything. By the school rules he could go as long as he informed his head of house before. Though they didn't specify how long before.

But here he was, in the library, burrowing through countless bookcases filled with books and hiding from everyone. They just seemed so………childish to him now. He still loved everything, but it was so weird seeing everyone and everything like it was years ago, at least to him. Hermione was still.. bookish. Ron was his normal self, if you can call him that. Though Ginny did still seem to be very much like a kid sister.

"Ow. Damn book falling on my head." Harry rubbed the top of his head, then picked up the book from the floor. "Potions of the World A-Z and There Ingredients by Salazar Slytherin. What the hell?" He blinked before grinning evilly. "Snape would have a cow if he ever saw this! Better memorize the whole thing and really yank that stick out of his ass on class tomorrow. I wonder if there's a potion in this that helps me memorize things faster?"

Flipping through the book, skimming the pages to find what he was looking for. 'Aha! Found it!' Glancing over the ingredients and directions he hummed. 'This seems fairly simple. I can use my new truck's potions lab.' He hid the book in his robes, and leaving the library quickly heading back to Gryffindor tower.

Giving the password he went to his dorm and trunk quickly. Opening the fifth lock, he went down the stairs into the lab and began to make the potion.

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Three and a half hours later, he finished it! Pouring all of it into several phials he cleaned his equipment. Then waiting another ten minutes, he opened one phial and downed it in a single gulp wincing at the taste. Suddenly he got very dizzy, the world spinning before his eyes and then settling down back to normal. Grabbing Salazar's book he flipped through the pages within a couple of seconds, memorizing every minute detail.

"It worked!" He whopped with joy dancing around. Looking at the clock, which showed 9 pm, he weighed whether he want to get food from the kitchens and spend the evening in the library, or to go down to dinner. 'Lets go with kitchens and the library.'

Opening the lid to his trunk he looked around the dorm room. Good, all clear. He climbed out and then repeated the process with the common room. Dashing through the halls and stairs, he tickled the pair and walked into the kitchens. Some of the house elves froze.

"Is there being something we can be getting for you sir?" One asked timidly.

"Yes, I need some dinner that I can take with me. I have to work in the library." Harry said gently. The house-elves hesitated briefly before coming back with a rather large lunch bag. "Thanks." The elves nodded and bowed. Harry briefly bowed back, shocking all of them for no wizard had ever bowed to a house elf, and left for the library.

He munching on the food as he flipped through book after book within seconds of each other. This may still take a while……

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It took him til 2 am but he got through all of them. Even the restricted section! Though he had to hide from both Pince and Filch, well and Ms. Norris if count a cat. Pince when she closed the library, and Filch when he was checking for 'those misfits' who tried to stay out after curfew. They never even got close to him.

Harry crept through the halls and up to Gryffindor tower, and finally to his bed. After setting up an alarm spell to wake him in time for breakfast, he fell on the bed asleep as soon as his head touch his pillow. Dreaming of all that he could do with the knowledge he now had, and the greater knowledge he would gain.

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Harry blinked as a loud ringing sound came through the sleepy haze. Sitting up and stretching, he spelled his cloths clean and wrinkle free. He stood and began to move to the door when he heard a loud tapping sound from one of the windows. Looking he saw flock of owls. His orders he sent out!

Opening the window quickly, he soon relieved the owls of there burdens and let them fly back out. Going through everything quickly he sorted the packages into the different compartments of his truck. He checked off the next three things on his list before double checking the time. Quickly grabbing his book bag and necessary supply's for class that day, he rushed out of the tower and down to the great hall. Sitting beside Seamus he forced himself to slow down and eat slowly so as not to get an upset stomach. He didn't need to give Snape any chances to try and take points, well more then he normally did.

'Better leave little early. Want to have a chat with Snape. And give him the shock of his day.'

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Draco strutted along down the hallways, not caring that he was going to be late. Going to the potions classroom, he walked straight into a heated discussion between Snape and Harry, on advanced potions, almost a third year level if not higher. And it wasn't the usual sneer at Potter fight. All of the students were gaping at the two, as if they had gone mad.

"…It's dark brown! I've read it in five books!" Harry said frustration evident in his voice. Snape was glaring at him, his dark eyes glinting.

"The mind clearing potion is NOT dark brown! It is milky white with blue swirls that gives out a hint of vanilla." Snape said in an I-Know-Better-Than-You kind of voice. Harry interrupted the snarky teacher by banging his fist down hard on the table. The cauldrons set upon it jumped and caused many worried gasps, for fear that they would spill over or be completely ruined. Neville's cauldron emitted a high-pitched scream and soon had thick dark smoke billowing out of it. The boy slumped in his seat in defeat, Neither Snape nor Harry noticed though.

"NO! That's the basic Skin clarifying potion. For when you have the blue cough." Exclaimed Harry.

Snape opened his mouth to give a scratching reply but quickly turned around to get a thick tomb from his desk. Hermione meanwhile had motioned for Neville to sit next to her and was currently setting up a second cauldron for the nervous looking boy and spelling away the ruined one. Neville was obviously fearing Snapes reaction. Snape after consulting the thick book and no doubt finding what he was looking for, snapped the book shut after giving Harry a dark yet unreadable look. And continued with the class, order Harry to brew the correct potion.

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After that Snape seemed to constantly study Harry whenever he was nearby. Giving him unreadable expressions. And his Slytherin's sat up and took notice, even Draco seemed to become mature and observant, watching Harry as well. Harry noticed, made note of this but moved on to focus on herbology. Walking down to Greenhouse 3 with Neville, Seamus and Dean chattering back and forth.

Passing through the entrance, they moved to stand along side the large work tables place in the center of the greenhouse.

"Welcome to 2nd year herbology, today we will be repotting mandrakes. Now does anyone know what a mandrake is?" Sprout questioned, both Hermione and Harry raised there hands. Though this earned Harry a few curious looks. "Yes, Mr. Potter."

"Mandrake or mandragora. The mandrake root is a powerful restorative. It forms an essential part of most antidotes, including one for petrification. The mandrake restorative draught returns for people who have been transfigured or cursed, including those who have been petrified even by the king snake basilisk, to their original state. Mandrakes seedlings are tufty little plants, purplish green in color with what look like tiny babies growing where the roots would be. These creatures grow and develop over the course of several months until they mature and can be harvested and used for potions. The cry of a mandrake is a fatal humans, so special care must be taken when growing them. Even as a baby, the mandrakes howls can knock a person out for a couple of hours. The dugbog is particularly fond of eating mandrakes."

Everyone, including Hermione and Professor Sprout, stared at him in shock, jaws dropped and eyes the size of dinner plates.

"Um………yes, that's quite correct………um……… thirty points to Gryffindor for given such a detailed answer." Sprout stuttered. "Right, now then……"

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After class ended many of the students, especially Hermione, had questions for Harry and he did his best to answer them.

"Where did you read that? I don't think the assigned textbook was that specific." A random ravenclaw asked, with many others of different houses nodding in agreement, even some of the slytherin's.

"I read it in a book in the library. I don't really remember where I found it. I was just looking around when I spotted it. Though the book was kind of tucked away I think. I put it back right where I found it, so it should still be there. I think I can try and find it again. It really up to you guys, and girls, to decide who get it first." Harry answered before heading to the library with a few in tow, a few split off to go to the great hall.

Entering the library with the others following, Harry spent the next few minutes pretending to look around before finding the volume. He showed them the book and then set it on the table next to him before leaving quickly to get out of the way of the others in case some sort of fight broke out. His assumption was correct as many began to argue over who got the book first. He spotted Madam Pince coming to check what the disturbance in her library was, he made a dash out the doors running through to the great hall.

Sitting he dished up a big helping and ate it, as was becoming the norm, with perfect educate. Aware of the many stare he was receiving from many of the others in the room, and not just from the students either. Even Dumbledore seemed to be watching him, with that damned twinkle in his eye.

After finishing he whipped his mouth, pushed his plate away, and rose gracefully before leaving the hall, going back to the dorms to organize his new things into his various truck-rooms. He grinned as he scanned and then organized his new books into his study/library. There were at least a couple hundred to go through, and the note that came with the last box said more were on order, along with a list of contacts for some of the 'rarer' volumes. A few were of the very illegal variety.

'If some of the 'regular' books were dating back to well before the founders. I wonder what the rarer books are from. And where they had the illegal ones stashed.' Harry thought to himself briefly.

After finishing with all of the books, he used the connecting door to go the potions room where he began to organize all of the ingredients. Some were just as rare or as very illegal, as some of the books. As with the books it took some time to get things organized. And by the time he looked at the clock he reliazed that he better get ready to go to bed before the others arrived in the dorm room.

Going up the stairs with one of the new books, even if only to make it appear he was reading, after having changed into pajamas, he hopped into the bed under the sheets and read for a little while. Neville came in soon after, which made Harry glad he came up when he did.

"There was a big fight over that book you showed everyone. Even a few curses and hexes were thrown about too. Good thing you got out of there………and that I already have a copy of the book, so we didn't have to get involved." Neville blushed slightly and Harry chuckled.

"I had a feeling something was going to happen. And I didn't want to get blamed for the whole thing just because I showed them where the book was." Harry responded with Neville nodding in agreement.

"Even Hermione got into it."

"WHAT! HERMIONE TOO!"

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Even with knowing what was being covered in history of magic, he found it to be especially boring. Binn's voice just made whatever interest he did have, disappear. On top of that he was still getting odd looks all through breakfast and into class. Hermione, herself, was sporting a few bruises though she did ultimately when the fight for the offending volume Harry had so generously shared the location too with his fellow students. Harry also made the hospital wing a very popular location, though Madam Pomfrey would love to say otherwise. Plus he put Snape through his stock of basic healing potions too.

After grabbing a couple of sandwiches he headed to the owlry sending off a request for a meeting with the Goblins. The message stated the following:

To Whom it may concern of Gringott's Back, Diagon Alley Branch,

It has come to my attention that the will of parents was not followed. And I also just found out that I have some sort of matter involving an inheritance that I did not even know of. I have also received hint that others may be encroaching on my inheritance. I wish to meet to be set to discuss what actions will be taken to rectify the current situation, and past negligence's. As well as to get copies of all financial records pertaining to myself. If a meeting date is not set that match with my school schedule or with someone in an appropriate leveled position, I will be force to give an interview stating my displeasure, including that fact that I will remove all accounts from your companies and subsidiaries.

Sincerely,

Harry James Potter

Son of James Potter and Lily Evans Potter

He knew that would make the goblins sit up and take notice about several things. He only hoped a certain order members didn't take or mess with anything, including his money. Knowing Dumbledore, it was a possibility. Now he had to head all the way to DADA. To bad he wasn't able to get rid of Lockhart yet. Was that even on his list?

'I don't think it, Is I'll have to add that. Maybe I can draft the letters to Fudge, Rita, Remus and Madam Bones.'

Settling down into a seat he got out a quill, ink and parchment as he began drafting the various letters, waiting for the inevitable self-righteous-git-that-was-his-DADA-professor this year. He actually completed the various letters before even all of the students arrived. Everything in them was kept simple but eloquent, as was becoming his new 'style'.

The various portraits of Lockhart were showing off their overly-whiter teeth to everyone as they smiled exaggeratingly. The door to the private office opened and Lockhart strutted out as if the world was made to worship the ground he walked on.

'Yeah right.' Harry snorted silently, looking around at his classmates, most of whom seemed to agree with Lockhart. Some of the girls were even batting there eyelashes at the idiot! Sickening really! What were they? Whimpering buffoons?

'Well no they're not. I really shouldn't think that. There just………kids or taken in by Lockhart disgusting version of what he may think is charm.'

Though it did seem Draco and a few slytherins weren't impressed either. 'That's refreshing.' He thought before turning back to 'pay attention to the royal idiot.'

This was going to be a long class…………unfortunately.

Chapter 4

Well, Harry was right when he thought the letter would make the goblins sit up and take notice. It, quite frankly, made them freak out. Not only was several laws in the goblins law and charter were broken, but they could very well lose their largest account and gain great losses from others wizards if the interview took place, if they didn't take care of the situation properly. The young Harry Potter was known to be the heir of both the Potter and the Black fortunes and possibly even more. They could not lose him.

Investigations began immediately within mere moments of receiving the letter. The heads of every department were in the council room, and the goblin king himself was coming to personally oversee that the matter is solved.

Even from the beginning of the investigations they came across several discrepancy's were found already. Each and everyone of them were noted for further investigation. And a reply to Mr. Potter's letter was drawn up to be personally delivered to Hogwarts and to Mr. Potters hand directly.

Mr. Potter,

We, the goblins of Gringott's, have received you letter and have begun an investigation immediately. The one's who bear this letter also have with them a portkey that will take you directly to the Gringott's High Council. We have secured permission for you to come immediately if you so wish.

It is promised that we will find the source of these discrepancy's will be found and pushed to the fullest extent of the law, both goblin and wizard.

This matter will be resolved upon your visit to the High Council and we apologize for these troubles from ever occurring.

Sincerely,

Ragnook

Head of the Gringott's Consortium, Diagon Alley Branch

Member of the High Council of Gringott's

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And as promised the letter was delivered by three goblins in fine battle robes directly to Harry in the Great Hall at Hogwarts during breakfast. Both students and staff stared in shock as Harry read the letter and then nodded.

"I wish to leave immediately."

"Yes Sir." The three replyed in unison. But Dumbledore rose interrupting anything else that might have been said.

"I am afraid that Mr. Potter is a second year student and does not have permission to leave at this time."

"That is quite alright professor. I have a signed statement from my family…" Harry emphasized "That I am allowed to leave as long as I get approval from either my head of house or the ministry itself. As is stated in the school charter." Many jaws dropped at the statement. "The Goblin High Council has already done so for me, thank you for your…………concern."

A goblin held out a gold hoop and they disappeared.

Dumbledore was not pleased by this turn of events. Several of the staff and many students, after getting over there shock, had to hide grins and laughter until he left the hall.

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Reappearing in a room the size of the great hall, doors made of gold, and a large 'round' table. Harry noticed immediately that all in the room rose and bowed. Bowing back he took the seat that appeared to have been left available for him. All but one of the occupants of the room sat shortly thereafter.

"Mr. Potter I am Ragnook. we apologize for this inconvenience, and the mistakes that were allowed to occur. We have prepared the inheritance rituals. With the ritual completed we will be able to properly address any of your questions involving them." Ragnook bowed again.

"I understand that things will be rectified. The reason I wrote the letter in such a manner was because I thought it was the only way to find those responsible for this law breaking. If they are properly punished I see no reason why the Gringott's consortium should suffer." Many seemed to sigh in relief at Harry's words. "I do not believe that any goblin intentionally allowed this because you have always be a fair and just race on a hole as far as I can tell. I merely wish to have the situation rectified. And, to claim my full inheritance under the goblin laws and charter."

The other occupants gasp, eyes widening.

"You know our laws?" One in a red robes questioned.

"I have studied them, yes. The specific law is in article three, section five, paragraph two of the goblin charter. I believe." Harry shrugged.

"Um right then, let me introduce my fellow council members. In the green is Gaptooth, Head of Monetary Exchange. In yellow is Secrock, Head of the Investments & Stocks Department. In green is Toadmet, Head of the Accounting Departments. In black is Refrenck, Head of Security. In blue is Yani, Head of the Inheritance Department. Quanooth is Liaison to the Ministry of Magic. And our King Gerinoz." Ragnook motioned to each as he said there names, and each bowed slightly as they were introduced. Harry bowed in return, bowing slightly deeper to the king. "Let us complete the inheritance ritual, and then discuss what it covers."

Another goblin stepped forward with a tray that had a crystal beaker and a silver dagger on it. Picking up the dagger, Harry made a cut into the palm of his hand, allowing his blood to drip into the beaker before healing himself, cleaning the knife and placing the knife back on the tray. The goblin then set the tray aside after placing the beaker in front of Ragnook.

They waited in silence as the blood in the beaker turned black. Ragnook then poured the black substance which was absorbed into a parchment scroll in front of him. A rather long list appeared with the following,

Harry James Potter

Son of Lord James Potter and Lady Lily Evans Potter

Lord of:

Potter

Black (acting lord)

Dumbledore (by the breaking oath, and falsely giving an oath)

Gentry

Emerys

Slytherin

Gryffindor

Hufflepuff

Ravenclaw

Tenraoe

Merlin

Le Fay

Pendragon

Caer Azkaban

Rothwood

Warrien

Sakrath

Brentworth

Evans

Kerriworth

Antonini

Donovan

Romanov

Gondor

Rohan

Moria

Imaldalris

Lothlorien

Mirkwood

Ithilien

Heir of:

Lupin

Pettigrew

McGonagall

"Wow." Harry muttered "How, exactly, am I the Lord of some many families? Especially the founders, Merlin and Le Fay? And since when is the Evans family magical, Mum was a muggleborn or so I was told."

"It was most likely that several generation before her were squibs. And many bloodlines have been whipped out by one dark lord or another over the century's." Gerinoz responded not quite getting over the shock. The others merely nodded. "And with this revelation I would like to extend the post of the Ambassador of the Goblin race. I'm sure the others will agree with me. Many of the family's you are now Lord to have had earned there place among the goblin people."

"Yes I agree, I would be honored to work for you Lord Potter." Quanooth spoke up, the others also nodded in agreement.

"But how would I be able to do that, now I have not only school, the wizenmagot, the ministry, Voldy-shorts, the Lord of so many family's and now you ask me to be an ambassador. Plus Dumbledore would never let me complete such duties." Harry questioned.

"I may have an idea about that……"

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Harry reappeared in the great hall of Hogwarts during dinner that night. Several students shrieked in surprised and several had drawn there wands before they realized it was Harry. Fudge, Rita, Madam Bones and several aurors were present. Dumbledore rose from his seat, walked around the table over to Harry.

"Mr. Potter I wish to speak with you in my office immediately. That will be fifty points from Gryffindor for disobeying me earlier and you will serve a months detention with Filch." He spoke confidently and moved to leave the hall, obviously expecting Harry to follow.

"Now, now Dumbledore, the Liaison to the Goblins informed me yesterday evening that they wished to speak with Potter. Any punishment to Harry is unwarranted and voided." Fudge admonished lightly. "Good of you to get back Mr. Potter. How did it go?"

"Lord Potter will be attending the next wizenmagot session." Harry replied, and the others looked shocked.

"Mr. Potter, you are not old enough to do so." Dumbledore gazed sharply at him. Harry felt prick in his mind and brought up his shields. Dumbledore literally staggered slightly, others looked between them, only Snape seemed to truly understand what had happened.

"So you've come into your inheritance then?" Rita questioned.

"Yes, I have. Though Dumbledore doesn't seem to like the idea that I found out in the first place."

"What do you mean Mr. Potter?" Madam Bones asked sharply.

"I mean that even though he witnessed my parents will, he did not follow it. And did not prepare me for it in the slightest. With my relatives approval and coming into my full inheritance, I have become emancipated and now decide my own destiny." Harry's avada green eyes seemed to gleam with hidden power.

"Their will was not followed? Now see here Dumbledore, it is Harry's right to know of his inheritance and not yours to keep it from him!" Fudge bellowed. Rita and Snape both seemed to be silently cackling gleefully at Dumbledore's expense. Rita's quill going a mile a second in her never-ending notebook.

"I wished that Harry not to have that burden placed upon him so young. There would have been time enough to train him for his inheritance after he graduated." Dumbledore said 'serenely' though his eyes were sharp.

"You mean you wished to have even greater control over my life then you already did!" Harry snorted in reply before taking out a thick stack of folded parchments from his robe pocket. And reading from it for everyone to hear. "I have written authorization by another heir of the founders to have full authority equal to that of the headmasters. Any decisions made with that authority can only be overridden by a minimum of two heirs in unanimous agreement. And as per the contracted agreement I am here by removed from house rivalry in any fashion, including points, detention, any other punishments, and sports. Though I may act in an advisory capacity to any teacher or student. I will have my own apartment of rooms at an undisclosed location in the school, and may leave the school at any time to fulfill any outside obligations. If warranted I may remove any teacher or student from the school and, in case of the students expel them if need be. Anyone I choose to give permanent or temporary authority to may only be overridden by myself or two or more heirs. No one student or staff can say they act in my name for any reason without explicit written and verbal approval from me directly. And I may not be forcibly removed from Hogwarts in any way for any reason without multiple heirs unanimous agreement. Anyone in violation will be mine to punish in any fashion I see fit. So it is written, so shall it be."

Absolute silence reigned through out the hall as all felt the magic of what was said bind all of them irrevocably. Even Dumbledore realized the power Harry now had over everyone and everything in the castle.

"How……how is this possible? If you missed to many classes you'd fail out." Fudge stuttered

"As an heir of the founders and with the authority of the heir of multiple houses, I can be granted such rights. I also just completed full testing in both OWL's and NEWT's. If I have tested high enough I may even receive masters papers in whatever subjects I have qualified for. Oh, and Dumbledore, I'll be taking my sword back now." Harry shrugged as Fawkes suddenly appeared with the top of the sorting hat clutched in his claws.

"Welcome Founders Heir." The sorting hat greeted before a sword fell into Harry's expert hands. A sword of silver and rubies with the name Godric Gryffindor etched into the blade.

Chapter 5:

Harry was in his new rooms and boy were they big! He actually had around fifteen rooms. There was a study, a personal library, a giant potions lab, a sitting room, 2 bedrooms – one for him and another if he should have a guest, his own observatory and several small greenhouses with a large connecting balcony.

With his added knowledge he knew that for the bond he must form for the castle had to be done as soon as possible. It would help cement his authority in the castle and anything that pertained to it. So far he had only shown he was the heir of one founder and not all four. This could be used to his advantage in future, especially with that meddling old coot.

'I wonder if he's received the letter yet.' Harry mused silently as he prepared for the ritual.

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Meanwhile in another part of the school, the headmaster stared out a window clutching a letter he had just received in his hand. It read,

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore,

We would like to inform you that all of the accounts you opened in the Potter and Black fortunes have been closed. Upon the request of Lord Potter we have made duplicate copies of the records, and of the last will of James and Lily Potter. The Goblin High Council, with the support of Lord Potter, has removed you as executor of the estates and will be pressing charges for the return of all of the funds that you have with drawled and for your arrest on many other charges.

On behalf of the Goblin High Council we must also inform you that you have be been banished from the house of Dumbledore and all vaults, lands, and titles therein are forfeit to Lord Potter as temporary compensation for your many crimes against the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter.

Have a nice day.

Sincerely,

Gringott's High Council

"How could he do this?" Dumbledore seethed. The loss of the money was a great blow to both him and to the order. Many don't know that the Dumbledore estate was rendered almost Knut-less from the first war. When the Potters had died it was like a godsend, he would be able to continue in the lifestyle he had become accustomed to. Now he had nothing. All because Potter wouldn't be the good little pawn he was supposed to be. "I must do something; this can not be allowed to continue. I have to put Potter back in his place, one way or another." He looked to his potion cabinet smirking slightly. But then a rumble shook the school and he felt something tugging on his bond with Hogwarts. "What now!"

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In his private room, Harry was chanting in the middle of a sacred circle he had made. The symbols of the four founders were in each of the four degrees - north, south, east and west. Each symbol was glowing, and power literally cracked through the air. And then suddenly it was silent, everything just seemed to stop. With a final whoosh of power, the circle disappeared and Harry crumpled to the ground gasping for breath.

"It is done."

After taking a moment to gather himself. He grabbed a large stack of letters and product orders, along with the small cage he created to hold 'Scabbers', headed for the owlry to send them all out.

Pausing briefly at the entrance to his rooms he shouted,

"ACCIO SCABBERS!"

There were a couple of loud bangs before the animagus-man came flying at him. Catching the squirming rat he stuffed it into the cage before once again heading out to go to the owlry.

This would cross off several things on his to-do list. Including some gifts for Luna. It only really took a few moments to get done, so he headed back to his rooms to get some sleep before the next round of fun began.

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In the headmasters office all of the portraits, tapestry's, books, instruments – basically anything that was of Hogwarts glowed. The headmaster looked around, then reached out and tried to touch a book.

CRASH!

He flew back and slammed into the wall on the opposite side of his office. He could literally feel that his bond with Hogwarts was almost non-existent. What's going on?

Once again he tried to touch something but was thrown again, this time he was unconscious. And would wake up with one hell of a headache.

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What many over time did not seem to realize was that Hogwarts was actually sentient. The founders built her to be that way. So that if the castle or one of its inhabitants was attacked Hogwarts could respond appropriately to the situation.

And right now Hogwarts was not a happy castle. Thinking back on past events, many memories come forward.

The night was quiet and slightly chilly. She watched over her children, making sure that they were secure in their beds. She checked in on the house-elves, but they were busy cleaning and cooking. She smiled gently as they hummed cheerfully as they worked. She looked out farther and watched as the groundskeeper took care of a baby unicorn he had found injured in the forest.

She chuckled silently as the groundskeeper's bushy face broke into a smile as the unicorn nuzzled up to him. She had always been fond of him. He had a soft heart and a courage that matched the size of his body. With a soft sigh, she looked inward once more and went to check on her favorite children. She'd had many children over the years, but there were few that she would consider her favorite.

This group of young adults had to be her favorite to date. She chuckled as she saw the three of them sneaking into the kitchen to have a late night snack. They were hiding under the Invisibility Cloak, but she could still see them. Sirius Black was leading them and talking most excitedly about an upcoming prank. She sighed in discontent as she realized that he was once again going to prank Severus Snape. While not one of her favorite children, she had a soft place in her heart for the snarky Slytherin. If she could have, she would've shaken her head in exasperation.

She heard the news of Lily and James were getting married, and could feel the joy well up within her. One of her favorite children was marrying her other favorite child. She was so happy. The bloodlines were mixing again. There would be an Heir. She would finally have an Heir. With James Potter's Gryffindor and Hufflepuff blood mixing with Lily's Slytherin and Ravenclaw blood, Hogwarts would finally have an Heir; someone who would be able to fully access the powers of the castle, someone who could finally unlock the secrets that have been hidden for so long. She'd had hopes for Tom Riddle, but sadly that young man could never hear her, could never feel her magic.

Once James Potter and Lily Evans entered the castle, she knew that the possibility that she would have an Heir was there. Lily Evans was thought to be a Muggleborn, but She knew that Lily was from a long line of Squibs that dated back several hundred years. She had hoped that James and Lily would get together. She knew there was an attraction. She had seen it years ago, but they both fought it until they couldn't fight it any longer. Once they began to date in their sixth year, she had been ecstatic. Now, they were getting married. Hogwart's walls began to hum in joy.

She watched as they fell asleep. She would miss her favorite boys. The Marauders, as they called themselves, made the last seven years joyful. She was saddened to know that one of the Marauders wasn't as he seemed. She would've loved to have been able to tell James, but no matter how hard she tried, he still couldn't hear her. She just hoped that it wouldn't cause trouble in the future.

She decided it was time to leave her boys and check on Lily. She looked into the girl's dorm and saw that the red head was asleep in her bed. Lily has a small content smile on her face. Lily turned over and sighed in her sleep. She smiled as she heard "James" coming from Lily's mouth. This girl, no woman, was one of her favorite children. She had watched as Lily stood up to the Slytherins about her Muggleborn status. She would have loved to let them know that Lily had more right to be in this school than they did. She had watched as the young girl grew and got closer to the Marauders. She watched when Lily would secretly meet with Severus Snape. She had made sure to hide them the best she could. She agreed with their secret friendship. Severus was a different boy when he was with Lily.

She made the magic in the room pulsate and gently caressed the young woman's hair. She would miss her children, but she knew that their children would be coming here when it was time. She only had to wait a handful more years before the true Heir of Hogwarts arrived. She had waited this long, she could wait a little longer.

The next day, she watched as the children left for the summer. She was sad to see them go, but knew they would be back in the fall. She cried silent tears as her children left. The Headmaster could feel her sadness through their limited bond, but he couldn't understand why she was sad.

Over the years, she watched as children came and went. Her favorite children came to visit the Headmaster several times through the years. She watched in delight as James and Lily got married at Hogwarts several months after they had left. She made sure that the Great Hall was at its best. The magic that pulsated that day struck awe in most of the Witches and Wizards that attended the wedding. She overheard James saying Hogwarts must approve of their marriage, and she couldn't help but agree with him. She was very happy to see them married.

The days following the wedding, she watched as Dumbledore realized there was something unusual about the castle and the Potters. She watched as he studied the linage of both James and Lily. She didn't like his obsessive attitude.

There was two prophecy's declared, that would effect a child of Lily and James.

It was time to let her favored child know of the second prophecy. This time Dumbledore could not send Harry away from her. Dumbledore would pay for what he has done to us. It was bad enough the prophecy of Harry having to defeat the dark lord existed, much less that it was the younger of the two prophecies', and it could very well kill her heir. The prophecy of the heir was:

Born of the blood of the Founders,
Hogwarts will claim her child heir...
Through the child heir, shall she be unlocked,
the secrets and the powers shall belong to the child heir.
With the powers and the secrets, the child heir shall bring peace to all.
Overthrowing the Leader of the Phoenix, the one who hides his manipulations.
Through the scar, shall the child know the truth that was hidden from it.
The child will reveal all to the world and the world will make those who have hurt them face their wrath,
So that the truth may finally be known to all.
Beware those who try to harm the child,
as Hogwarts protects her own.

Hogwarts almost severed the bond that Dumbledore had with her, transferring it to Harry. For Harry was her true heir. When Harry began the bonding ritual Hogwarts had seen the life he had to endure. This was what truly made her angry. He had had to endure so much pain, torture, humiliation and bigotry. It was a wonder that he even survived it all, much less turn out as good as he had. If Hogwarts was a betting castle, she would think that Dumbledore used dark magic to make Harry's other relations act the way they did. If one checked the book containing the names of the magical children they would have found that while Petunia was on the original list when she was born, she was later found to be a squib like many of her family before her.

One of the few joys that she had was when she had seen Harry's care for the Lovegood child. He truly cared for her, and would give her everything he had just to have a chance. His father felt much the same about Lily when they were younger. These feelings would help both Harry and Luna realize that they could give love and receive it in return unconditionally.

There was much planning to be done. Not only to help the children but to get revenge on Dumbledore for his actions.

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The next day was a sight to behold as the owls were making there delivery's. Dumbledore had not only arrived late, but his robe were the same as yesterdays with wrinkles and stains all of them, looking disheveled and drawn. And then if that wasn't enough he was constantly glaring at Harry Potter, who in return just smiles sweetly at him. Dumbledore seemed to glare harder at that.

Then gasps and mutters went up all over the great hall as people crowded around copies of the Daily Prophet. There were several headlines blaring across the front page:

"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE STRIPPED OF LORDSHIP FOR OATHBREAKING",

"GOBLINS CHARGING MUGWUMP WITH THEFT FROM BOY-WHO-LIVED!"

"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE, CREATOR OF HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED!"

"BOY-WHO-LIVED, HEIR OF THE FOUNDERS!"

"BOY-WHO-LIVED TELLS ALL AND SPEAKS OUT! MUGWUMP USED DARK MAGIC ON BOY-WHO-LIVED'S RELATIVE TO ENSURE HE WAS ABUSED!"

The resulting articles were all written by Rita Skeeter, each article had a corresponding picture of the mugwump. Letters from those who were involved were also published. Several of the articles had direct quotes from Harry, while the last was actually from a tell-all interview about Harry's life, including the abuse and treatment he face from his relatives.

Needless to say Dumbledore was getting murderous looks from both students and staff. Even Snape! These articles shattered his reality and attitudes toward the boy-who-lived. If Harry Potter's life was really like that then there was no way he could hate him any longer as he had in the past.

Dumbledore also looked murderous, though for different reasons. 'First he took my hard earned things, now he wants to take my reputation I worked so hard to develop.'

Any further thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of an army of owls; at least twenty went to Luna Lovegood at the Ravenclaw table. The rest went to Dumbledore and Harry. The owls that went to Dumbledore had angry-red-smoking howlers, there had to be a couple of hundred of them. Harry was covered him in a mountain of envelopes and packages. Harry pushed his way out of the mountain and shouted on word……

"Dobby!"

The little bouncing house elf appeared, "Oh the great Harry Potter called for Dobby! How can Dobby help you sir!"

"Could you take all of these, go through them for any curses or hexes and then neatly stack them in my study."

"Oh yes sir! Dobby would be honored, sir!" With a snap of his small fingers both he and the 'mountain' disappeared completely from the great hall. Those students who were watching him turned there attention to the ravenclaw table when they heard a high pitched squeal.

There was Luna Lovegood with a pile of chocolates, really expensive cloths and jewelry, and………… a love letter. Blushing she put everything in her bag and ran out of the great hall to return to her house common room to put everything safely in her trunk.

'Who sent me all this? I hope this isn't some kind of sick joke.' She put several locking and security charms on her trunk, just in case. And then headed for her first class.

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Harry walked into his double Transfiguration class; he noticed that he was one of the first to arrive. Taking his normal seat he began to take out his textbook when Professor McGonagall walked over to him.

"Mr. Potter I must apologize to you. I was there when Dumbledore put you on the Dursley's doorstep. I tried to argue but I allowed Dumbledore to sway me. For that I am deeply sorry."

"I know professor. And there is no need to apologize. I know exactly how persuasive the old man can be." Harry gave her a gentle genuine smile; she seemed to smile back sadly.

"I was planning on having an open discussion today, so you will not need your books today. I was actually wondering if you would be willing to begin it. I wanted to cover the topic of blood purity births and power difference between them and the muggle-borns. It is a topic that should have been covered long ago in your first year."

"I would be honored Professor." Harry rose from his desk and went to stand next to McGonagall at the front of the classroom. They chatted idly as they waited for the last of the students to be seated.

"Today I wanted to have an open discussion on blood-purity and the differences between purebloods to muggle-borns to squibs and muggles themselves. Mr. Potter has been kind enough to volunteer to begin the discussions and answer a few questions, on this topic only."

"Thank you Professor McGonagall. Now, as this topic can also involve the dark lords supposed beliefs we will begin with him. Lord Voldemort, in reality, is actually born Tom Marvolo Riddle son of Merope Gaunt, a witch and Tom Riddle, a muggle. This makes him a half-blood." Cries of surprise and shock sounded throughout the classroom before settling down. "Yes, I do have proof of what I say. Now, Merope was intensely in love with Tom Riddle, but Riddle abhorred her as she was rather disgusting looking. With both her father and brother in Azkaban for various crimes she was free to chase after him as she wanted. She used a love potion to make him return her feelings, however shortly after she became pregnant she, for some reason, decided to let the love potion were off. When it did Tom Riddle abandoned both her and her baby. She eventually gave birth to there son at an orphanage, shortly before dieing she named him Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Harry toke a deep breath before continuing on, "Voldemort, much like myself was greatly abused in his early years, but he quickly became a bit of a bully years before even finding out about Hogwarts. And when he did find out, it was Dumbledore who told him and introduced him to the wizarding world. When he came to Hogwarts he was sorted into Slytherin. At Hogwarts he became obsessed with learning about his heritage. Although he had figured out in his first year he was an heir of slytherin, albeit a few times removed from direct ascension, he didn't learn the complete story of what had happened until he tracked down his uncle Morfin Gaunt in the summer of 1943, who by this time was out of Azkaban. Morfin told him who his father was and Tom stunned him. Tom went to the Riddle house that was not to far from where he was and killed everyone there including his own father. Before leaving Tom went back to the Gaunt shack and bespelled Morfin, taking his family ring as well at the time. When he was bespelled Morfin confessed to the crimes and was again sent to Azkaban. After leaving Hogwarts in 1945 Riddle began working at Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley. His job was to ferret out items of value and obtain them at the lowest prices possible. He suddenly left his job after he killed Hepzibah Smith for a gold locket that had once belonged to Slytherin himself and a golden cup that had belonged to Hufflepuff herself."

"In the ten years after he left Hogwarts he gave himself the name Voldemort and began to gather his death eaters or formerly the Knight of Walpurgis. Roughly ten years after leaving Hogwarts Riddle returned. He was no longer the handsome young man he had once been. He was deathly pale, he looked waxy and distorted, and the whites of his eyes now had a permanent bloody look to them. He asked to fill the DADA position but was denied. In his fifth year at Hogwarts Tom had created a magical diary that had a piece of himself within it, his memory if you will. It was Tom who had opened the famous 'Chamber of Secrets' all those years ago, and set the monster of the chamber upon his fellow students." McGonagall's jaw dropped at this. "Tom managed to 'place' the blame on another student of his own house, who was then expelled from Hogwarts and his wand snapped. Tom, a supposed lowly half-blood, became the supposedly feared Dark Lord Voldemort. Now I have a question for all of you. May I ask why would you follow him in the first place, if you liked his point of view?" A hufflepuff shyly raised her hand. And Harry nodded to her.

"Because of his whole blood-purity nonsense and the supposed inferiority of anyone else?" She asked timidly.

"Very good. Ten points to Hufflepuff. If a pure blood were to use a stunning spell it would have the same effect as if half bloods were to use it and muggles have their own kind of magic. They call it science and technology. With it they have the power to destroy thousands. To underestimate their value would be foolish. They have created weapons that could shoot thousands of killing curses per second. If a war was ever started it would be difficult to predict an outcome, and they also outnumber us by a great amount."

There were mutters from many of all houses, along the lines of 'never thought about it like that', 'that's a new twist', and 'he's got a point'.

"If he were to return and defeat the light. The problem is what he will do after he wins. If Voldermort were some how able to defeat every single muggle and half blood on the planet do you think his thirst for destruction and superiority would just end?" Harry said pausing for a second. "He would then come to the conclusion that the blood of some wizards would not be pure enough and destroy them, starting yet another war. It wouldn't matter how old your blood line really is. In some case you could most likely out live a large number of the other wizards, but eventually Voldermort would turn on you." Harry said with equal confidence. "Even if he stopped killing families would die out eventually anyway. After a time the blood lines would become weak due to inbreeding, and then there will be nothing living on this planet. Consider your chosen path very carefully, because you might not get the chance to regret it."

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Chapter Notes:

Chapter 1: VHDL said that if anyone wants to continue the story, they were welcome to. So I decided to give it a try. The first chapter is what was previously written by VHDL, everything after that is being written by me. Hope you like it.

Chapter 2: No note.

Chapter 3: There was a scene inspired from the story "Harry Potter and the power the dark lord knows not" written by poenix-child-mina. Let's see if you recognize which scene it was. And yes I got permission to use it.

Chapter 4: Stix-the-Rebel pointed out that merlin's name is myddrin emry. I want the bloodline to split into two lines before coming back together again.

Chapter 5: One the reviewers expressed a concern that I was stealing from others story's. I would like to put this argument to rest. If I do you use anything, even down to the smallest paragraph, I always contact the original author and ask for permission to use it in my story with the provision that they will most definitely me noted as the original creator in the chapter it is featured in.

Also, any reference to plants, creatures, potion, etc. is referenced from one main site. The HP-Lexicon. The Lexicon provides that information free of charge and for others to use for such references as they need. I apologize for the confusion and hope that this answers any question you may have. If not, send a message and I will respond as soon as I get it.

I did use some more parts from other stories. And I have been in contact with the authors for permission to use them, so no flames. The authors are mariesty2 and jumpin, both from You'll see how everything comes together in the end, I promise.

On with the story………Oh and I need a beta.