Chapter 7 guys, and there's a major time skip ahead! Just so you guys are warned.

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Q/A TIME

Guest: Good question! Well, I didn't really go in too much depth about his college classes (and wasn't really planning to) 'cause that would mean a shit load of work for me hahaha.

Kami no Kage-Sama: Thank you! You're so Kind! and to answer your question: Kukukuku…. I won't tell a thing Kukukukuku 'Cause that might spoil things for the future kukkuku… Feel free to speculate though!

Fairygirl34: Sorry for breaking your heart Fairygirl34-chan! :'( And thank you! And to answer your question: Hmmm… most likely he will bring it with him yes, though I won't say anything more on the matter cause spoilers! XD

MirrorShard: Welcome back! Glad nothing happened to you, pfew! Sorry for killing him off, I felt so bad for doing that. And that cucumber thing was a good idea, hmm…. XD Anyway, we're having a major time skip this chapter, and things are finally moving on. Soooon, sooooonnn…

trueimpa: Sorry if I depressed you, please don't hate me! Death didn't stop after that event, but I can't really tell when or how they'll meet again. And yeah, I didn't want to make it any worse by letting Vernon smack a four-year-old around. That would be just plain cruel.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and I never will. I only own this story, which is to say not much. I also don't own the cover image, I only edited it some.

Warnings: Slash in later chapters! Major time skip! Plotting, politics, raising the dead, violence, character death, animal deaths, a bit of Dumbledore bashing (Maybe a lot), A little bit of Weasley bashing (Not sure though…), other character bashing (not sure who) Cussing and OC's

(Update: 03-05-2016) Beta: This chapter has been beta-ed by my friend, the lovely Anki. Please give her a big thanks!

Previously:

"A Ssspeaker,"

~§~

"Do you have any mice?"

~§~

"Go clean that up boy!"

~§~

"E-Emerald?"

~§~

"C'mon, this isn't funny anymore,"

~§~

"Wake up, wake up. Get up!"

~§~FiliusMortis~§~

Chapter 7

"Sane is the insanity most call normality put forth by society." ~ Erik Till

~§~FiliusMortis~§~

"I presume that everything is set?"

There were some shuffling sounds in the otherwise silent room as the other occupant moved in his seat. "Everything is ready," he rumbled in a gruff voice, giving a sharp-toothed grin. "only thing left is for you to play your part until the trial. If that goes well, nothing will be able to stop us."

A soft hum was his only response, but it was all the Goblin needed. The chess pieces have been set, the players have taken their place (even if they're not aware of it yet.) Now all that's left is to wait for someone to make the first move and everything will slowly fall into place.

Green eyes shone with glee, a small grin blooming on a young face.

He couldn't wait.

~§~FiliusMortis~§~

Emerald-green grass shone in the late afternoon sun, a small summer breeze gently blew a few leaves across the ground, making them dance around each other. Roses grew in small pots, lined on either side of the door. A stone birdbath stood on the left side of the front lawn, a single sparrow twittering inside it. Movement from inside the hedges separating that house from its neighbour caught Harry's gaze. It was a cat. A grey - very fat – downy cat. Its blue eyes were focused on the small bird; it's behind shaking from side to side in preparation of an attack. A leave crunched under Harry's foot as he took a small step forward.

A split second later the sparrow flew away, the cat springing after it as if it hadn't had a meal in weeks. (Which seriously couldn't be farther from the truth as far as Harry could tell. I mean, look at it! It was probably the chubbiest cat Harry had ever seen!) Its paws knocked into the bird, making it lose its balance and flounder around in the air for a second.

It was enough for the cat to make a second attempt at it and this time succeeding in capturing the flailing bird.

Harry watched the cat disappear between the bushes, head held high with the sparrow clutched between its jaws. Well, he blinked slowly, bringing his thoughts back to what he was supposed to be doing. That just happened…

Harry stood before his destination, a scowl slowly forming on his face. Come on Harry, you know you have to go there. His encouraging thoughts didn't really help him in finding the will to step up to the all too familiar wooden door. He didn't want to be here, not now- not ever. He really didn't want to be here. Harry breathed harshly through his nose. He didn't have much of a choice and he knew it.

Moving his shoulder bag to a more comfortable position, Harry slowly walked up the stone path, glancing for only a second at the car parked in front of the garage attached to the house. That could mean one thing only, and it soured Harry's mood even further than it already was.

Harry knocked softly on the door, taking the time until someone opened the door to steel his emotions and plaster on an obviously fake, but still polite smile. The sound of footsteps made Harry straighten his spine. No turning back now, the door was opened, a familiar and unwanted voice greeting him.

"Yes, how may I- Oh… it's you." Petunia eyed up her nephew with badly hidden contempt. Harry could easily say that the feeling was mutual. "I thought you'd left for good."

Harry's smile widened a bit, feeling his mouth muscles strain with the effort it took to pull it off. "Great to see you too, Aunt Petunia." Her mouth was pressed so hard together it looked as if she didn't have any lips left (not that she had much to begin with, mind.)

"Well, come inside then boy. Wouldn't want the neighbours to see you out on our front porch too long." Ahh, same old Petunia. Ever obsessed with appearing 'normal'. Harry really hadn't missed this. Not. At. All.

Harry stepped passed her, placing his shoulder bag on the floor by his feet and taking off his jacket. Petunia gave a little sniff before walking through the hall into the living room. Harry picked up his bag again and followed her at a leisure pace. He glanced around in mild curiosity. Apparently in the year and a half he hadn't been here not much had changed. The same boring furniture with the same boring walls and floor. The only new things to the surroundings would be the addition of various family pictures hanging on the walls or pictures of Dudley standing on the cabinets.

"Petunia, dear? Who was that at the door? If it was those God awful- What is He doing here!?"

"Missed you too Uncle,"

"Harry?!" Said boy glanced at the third and last occupant sitting in front of the TV.

"Cousin." He hadn't changed much, just gained a few more pounds as far as Harry could tell.

It was silent for a few moments, the sound of talking and fighting coming from the TV which was turned on on some sort of action movie. Vernon was slowly turning red in the face as the silence dragged on, Harry cocked his head to the side in curiosity. He'd almost forgotten how many colours the mans face could turn into.

"I won't let a Freak like you into my house again!" Vernon snapped, standing up from his place in his armchair. Harry gave him an unimpressed look, holding it until Vernon finally sat back down again. Good, he thought. It appears that they hadn't forgotten.

"Believe me, Uncle," Harry started, walking to the only other available armchair and gracefully sat down in it. "If I had a choice in the matter, I wouldn't even be within fifty miles of this place." A disgusted look flitted over his face before he dragged a hand through his messy black hair and had it under control again. He gave them a small smile. "Alas, I'm still underage and you are still my current… guardians." He shrugged his shoulders, shuffling back a little and crossing his right leg over the other to sit a bit more comfortably in the chair. "So we'll have to… get on with each other. If only for a short while."

"Where were you last summer then?" A wave of irritation washed over him before he could suppress it again. Leave it to his Aunt to ask the annoying questions. Luckily, he had already anticipated it all.

"I stayed at a friend's place." Dudley snorted from his place on the couch, but chose to stay quiet. A surprisingly smart choice on his part.

Petunia eyed him suspiciously, apparently hard-pressed to believe he had any friends to talk about, much less stay at their place. Not that she was wrong or anything, but she didn't need to know that. He looked her in the eyes, before she finally glanced away with a flinch. His eyes weren't normal, and she knew that all too well.

Harry's lips twitched before he steeled his expression again. "Well, since that's been taken care of…" he stood up, taking his bag with him. "I sure hope that my room is still available and that my stuff is as I had left it. For your sakes of course…" He gave his aunt and uncle a warning look, relishing in the flinch it caused them to make. They're lucky that he hadn't had anything of value left here.

He left them all in the living room, let them alone to stew on their thoughts for now. They wouldn't be able to do a thing to him anyway.

He walked past his old room, the all too familiar door of the cupboard under the stairs bringing back memories long gone. He trailed his hand over it, before taking hold of the door knob and turning it. The small bed had been removed, cleaning utensils taking its place. The only thing still left of his time in there were the words 'Harry's Room' scratched in the wall above where the bed used to be. "Heh," Harry shook his head, dispelling any and all thoughts from his mind. He closed the door before walking up the stairs to the smallest second bedroom he had been given after the 'Incident'. He didn't look back at his old room, he wasn't the small, scrawny little boy anymore, after all.

~§~FiliusMortis~§~

It's been three weeks since Harry came back to live with the Dursleys. It's been three very long weeks. And today would be an even more tiring day than it usually is. What makes today so different from the rest, you may ask? Well, for the sole reason that today is the 23th of June. Today is Dudley's 11th birthday. Oh, the joy.

As it's his birthday, they'll be going to the zoo. You'd think that he wouldn't mind much, as he probably would be able to stay at Privet Drive, reading the day away. Sadly, Petunia didn't trust him on his own at the house, Merlin knew why. So here Harry was, dragged noncommittally along with his cousin and his friend Piers Polkiss on the way to the zoo in the back of the car.

Oh Woe Is Me! To have to put up with these awful, awful people!

He really has to distract himself with something, or else he might start spouting poems at random.

Luckily, for Harry's sanity- and everyone else's- they arrived at the zoo. Dudley and Piers were already whining about ice-cream, and Vernon being the indulgent father that he is quickly bought them some.

It was fairly boring, but Harry amused himself by comparing the animals to his 'family'. One Gorilla reminded him especially of Dudley. They eventually reached the Reptile House, where Dudley was going from glass cage to glass cage, tapping on the glass to make the animals do something interesting. Harry was walking slowly after them, stopping once he reached a cage holding a big boa constrictor.

Harry felt commiseration for the animal, and could relate to it on some level. After all, he had been locked away for part of his life, and this snake was apparently raised within these four walls.

"Hello," The snake raised its head, flicking its forked tongue in and out of its mouth. Harry gave it a small smile, he had more with animals than he had with people. But that's nothing new. Apparently, Piers had seen it move and was yelling to Dudley to take a look at the giant snake.

Dudley, in his excitement, pushed Harry out of the way to press his face against the glass, his warm breath misting it over.

Harry frowned, he had caught himself in time from stumbling to the ground, but apparently Dudley had forgotten who he had just pushed away. His lips twitched up at the corners before he looked back at the glass. Maybe Dudley needed to… cool off a little bit.

Before anyone knew what was happening, the glass windows separating the cages all disappeared. Dudley stumbled forward, falling into the small water basin at the base of the cage and was left spluttering and flailing around. Meanwhile all the animals in the reptile house were let on the loose, the ensuing chaos the result. People were running towards the exits, stumbling over one another. One guy almost lost a leg because an alligator snapped at his legs and a few of the poisonous frogs were causing quite a lot of panic. Oops.

The boa constrictor and a few other snakes were heading his way, snapping at a few stragglers feet. Dudley was still in the cage, shivering from fear. Harry wouldn't be surprised if he'd done it in his pants. Piers had long since fled for the entrance, leaving his best friend to fend for himself. Oh! How the colours of humanity shine through in such beautiful ways! Acting like the beasts they all were.

The small gathering of snakes stopped in front of him, before the biggest (which would be the boa) raised itself up and spoke for the rest of them.

"Thanksss,"

Harry gave a small grin, "It was my pleasure."

The snakes all nodded their heads before taking off towards the exit. Harry hoped they wouldn't get caught. It would be such a shame, he really liked them…

"Well," He said to Dudley, who was staring wide-eyed at him. It made him look like a Tarsier* in Harry's opinion. "That was fun!"

Dudley promptly fainted.

~§~FiliusMortis~§~

The heat was everywhere.

Fire was licking at his hands and feat, leaving burns and pain in their trail.

He wanted to scream, but as he took a breath of air, smoke filled his lungs that left him coughing. He couldn't see a thing, thick smoke filling his vision and left his eyes stinging and burning.

He needed fresh air.

He stumbled forward, soon tripping over something he couldn't see. He hit his head on something hard as he hit the ground, leaving a sharp pain in its wake and causing him to feel even dizzier than he already was. Fire was already taking a hold of him, leaving painful burns all over his body. He could almost feel his blood boil beneath his melting flesh.

The last thing he saw before sweet, blissful unconsciousness overtook him was a faint outline in the dark and a whisper, the sound of a million voices in one but still oh so soft, "Soon, my child. Soon."

And he knew no more.

~§~FiliusMortis~§~

Harry woke with a start, taking in a harsh breath of air before letting it out in a slow exhale. He did this a few more times, feeling his heart-rate slowing down with the meditational exercise. He'd been meditating since he found a book on occlumency, a way of keeping intruders out of his mind and helping with organizing one's thoughts. He's still at the beginning stages, meditating and clearing one's mind. He couldn't really do much else without a proper tutor. That was something he'd found out pretty quick. But until he found someone competent and willing enough, this will have to do. And it's not like it didn't help, his thoughts were much less jumbled than they had previously been.

Wiping cold sweat from his brow, Harry set himself to the task of disentangling himself from his sheets. He'd been kicking around in his sleep again.

Harry had been wandering about his dreams (nightmares, whichever you want to call them.) They started from the first night he arrived back in the Wizarding world, and always had the same recurring theme.

He died in every one of them.

Granted it was always a new way of dying, it's surprising, the amount of ways one could die. Some were fairly peaceful, but others (like this one) were quite painful and had him tossing and turning in his bed.

There was also always the shadow appearing the moment he died. Always the same, silent shadow. And Harry had the strange notion that he knew it.

It's odd though, this was the first time it actually spoke to him. He wondered what that would mean for him, and what the thing had meant with 'soon'? Will he meet it soon? Will something happen soon? Will he die soon? He hoped not, he'd just begun with getting his new life back on track. He rather not have all the shit he'd done this past year been all for naught, thank-you-very-much.

He sighed as he sat up, looking at the old clock hanging on the wall by the door. It was early morning, the Dursleys wouldn't be up yet for another hour or two. Harry set about preparing himself for the day, and once he got downstairs he took an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter before going out for a jog around the neighbourhood.

It's been three weeks since the zoo incident, and the Dursleys were even more wary of him than before. Which suited Harry just fine, as it meant more time to himself.

A little less than an hour later he was done jogging and washing the sweat he had worked up from his body. He quickly dried himself, as Petunia would wake any minute now and threw on a simple pair of trousers and a short-sleeved shirt. He was already downstairs; reading, by the time that he heard Petunia from upstairs.

He was somewhere along chapter 34 of his Ancient runes tome (this one was the least magical and the Dursleys wouldn't know what it is about) by the time everyone was downstairs and setting up breakfast.

He shut his book with a loud snap, and placed it gingerly on the coffee table. Dudley had learned by now not to touch his books or any of his stuff, as it would result in a stinging hex coming from the book. It had taken some time for his cousin to learn though, and Harry had relished in the fact that he had been able hear his cousins yelp from across the house.

Harry took his usual seat at the table, across from Dudley, and helped himself to some food. He wasn't a very big fan to anything fat (like bacon) for any of his meals (courtesy to the Dursleys.)

Breakfast was a quiet affair; no one was talking much. Only Vernon making random comments about the news in the papers. It wasn't until the sound of the mail arriving that the serene (if one could call it that) atmosphere was breached.

"I'll get it,"

Harry stood up from his chair, not waiting for any confirmation that they had heard and slowly walked towards the front door.

He picked the stack of letters up and leafed through them. Walking back into the kitchen he handed Vernon his bills and card from 'Aunt' Marge and sat back down again.

He had a few letters himself, most from universities like Cambridge, Oxford and even Harvard in the Americas, asking him to consider their schools. He'd been receiving these letters for a while now, but hadn't answered any of them. Of course he had been noticed by the big Universities, he'd probably been on their radar for a while now. As a child genius, who had received various college degrees at the age of ten, that was to be expected. He hadn't expected to be noticed by schools from America though…

He came to the last letter when his eyebrows shot up in his hairline. "Huh," apparently his Hogwarts letter had arrived, which he had anticipated of course. He was about to break the seal at the back of his letter when it was unceremoniously ripped from his hands.

He stared open-mouthed at his uncle for a few long moments before annoyance took over his surprise.

"What are you doing?"

Vernon had apparently grown a pair of balls overnight as he didn't seem to falter under Harry's glare. Or the few brain cells the man had left had died a painful death overnight. Either way, the man was pissing him off.

"I won't stand for this! I won't! I won't let you go to that Freak school!" He proceeded to rip the letter in half a couple of times before shredding it in the blender for good measure. There was silence around the kitchen, Dudley had his fork halfway to his mouth, staring wide-eyed at his father as if the man had gone bonkers. Petunia was sitting rigidly at the table, gripping her tea-cup maybe a little too hard if the white knuckles were any indication.

Harry just sat with his eyebrows raised, blinking slowly at his uncle before shaking his head and taking a sip of his orange juice.

~§~FiliusMortis~§~

It's been one hell of a week.

In between reading, exercising and trying to keep his homicidal tendencies in check (lest he murder his only living family a little too early on in the story) the letters which came everyday since that Monday morning were getting more and more ridiculous.

Harry wasn't even trying to get a letter anymore, too amused by his uncles rising frustration and downward spiral into madness. Really, the moment his aunt found letters inside the eggs, and the look his uncle and aunt had been sporting, had been Harry's breaking point. He could still feel the cramps in his belly from laughing so hard as tears had sprung from his eyes.

He'd never laughed so hard in his life.

And now it's Sunday morning, the 28th of July, and Harry would be eleven in just a few days.

His uncle was sat at the breakfast table looking worn and rather ill, but very happy nonetheless. It was an odd sight to see Vernon like that, it reminded Harry of someone from the loony bin.

"No post on Sundays," He told them happily, smearing butter on his bacon. Petunia looked as if someone had besmirched her favourite set of porcelain cups, while Dudley was simply stuffing his face.

Vernon opened his mouth to presumably say something non-sensible but was interrupted when something came whizzing out the chimney. It hit his uncle sharply on the back of his head and his face was planted in a conveniently placed bowl of porridge. Vernon slowly raised his head, porridge dripping down his quivering moustache. Oh man, this definitely made it up for the rest of the week, Harry thought. Or maybe even the entire time he had to stay at the Dursleys, as he watched Vernon slip over the porridge he was dripping on the floor.

Letters came pelting out the fireplace like bullets and everyone was ducking for their lives. Some glasses and picture frames were broken during the chaos. They eventually all ran into the hallway to evade the onslaught of letters. Vernon was heaving, already purple in the face. "That does it, we're going away. Just pack what you need. No arguments!" Vernon shouted when Dudley opened his mouth to protest.

Vernon stamped up the stairs, disappearing around a corner. The three of them stared after the man for a while before Dudley looked at his mother and asked in a dull voice, "Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Petunia didn't answer him.

Harry just simply laughed.

~§~FiliusMortis~§~

So here they are, two days later on Tuesday, all stuck in a shack in the middle of fucking nowhere.

Thank you Vernon, for this wonderful outing.

He wanted to deck someone in the fucking face… Preferably his uncle.

It's cold, it smells like seaweed and a storm was raging around them. Vernon and Petunia were asleep on a lumpy bed situated in the room next to this one and Dudley was laying on the sofa. Leaving Harry with, you guessed right, nothing but an old smelly blanket.

Luckily he had brought his shoulder bag with him. Checking to see if Dudley was really asleep, Harry dragged his bag closer to him and started to rummage through it. His arm started to disappear inside it when he finally caught it.

"Hah!" He quickly silenced himself when he heard Dudley moving on the couch. A groan and a snore later Harry slowly exhaled the breath he had been holding.

Pulling out the warm blanket from inside his magical bag, Harry almost cocooned himself inside it. He sighed in relief, burying further into the warmth of his blanket which was almost like a small heater. Man, he loved Magic.

Harry was dozing off, lulled to sleep by the warmth of his blanket and sounds of the raging sea hitting the rocks down below, when he was jostled awake by a loud noise- the sound of a battering ram hitting the door.

There was another knock- as it was apparently someone knocking on the door. Dudley jerked awake, yelling something non-sensible before reality settled in as he looked around himself, "Wha-?" Vernon came crashing inside the room, holding a long rifle in his hands.

Harry felt his eyebrows hit his hairline, but stayed huddled inside his blanket on the floor. He's staying out of it for now, curious to see how this would proceed. Though Vernon seemed a bit too trigger-happy at the moment for Harry's liking, with all the twitching the man was doing and all.

"Vernon-! What's going on?" Petunia asked as she walked into the room clad in a nightgown. Harry scrunched his nose, that was a sight he could definitely live without.

Suddenly the door was smashed off its hinges, and landed with a deafening crash on the floor. Dust rose up in thick clouds, a giant of a man squeezing through the doorway.

Petunia screeched, Dudley squeaked and Vernon made a sort of mix between a grunt and a yelp.

Harry just blinked.

Well, this is new.

~§~FiliusMortis~§~

*A Tarsier is a small (about squirrel sized) nocturnal primate with huge (and I mean HUGE) eyes. You should definitely look it up.

Oh Boy-! We're almost going to Hogwarts guys! And sorry for zero interaction of the locket this chapter, but don't worry it will come.

Anyways! Leave some love by pressing the button down below! Come on, don't be shy. I won't bite! Much… ƪ¬‿¬)