As the world comes to crash around you…

You slowly learn who your real friends are…

Above all else, you find a place to call home…

A Soft breeze flitted through the village of Little Hangleton that night, it was the perfect setting for the end of the summer. A loud hissing sound encompassed the night, leading the scene to be drawn out into a tiny kitchenette area. It was the blandest looking kitchenette that one might ever see. White countertops, white cupboards beneath these, all that led to the rusty stove stop currently housing a boiling kettle.

A man with greying hair looked out into the distance, his dark optics meeting a large manor estate on the hill which overlooked the countryside. A light kept appearing and vanishing every few seconds, the man released a small groan, finding his voice a moment later, "Bloody kids," the man grunted.

He tossed the tea-towel he'd been holding against the counter, then headed out of his home into the night. His path being lit by the lantern he'd grabbed from the hook just before the doorframe of his small home.

The scene rapidly shifts to a short, rotund man with long, messy blond hair complete with a spot of balding in the centre of his skull. The man approached the large armchair at the edge of the room and bowed his head, putting his hands together out of nervousness, this also revealed that the man was missing his ring finger on his right hand.

"Perhaps if we were to do it without the boy milord?" Wormtail said, almost quivering out of the fear he held for the unseen figure seated in the large armchair.

"NO!" another voice exclaimed powerfully, causing the first man to retreat timidly, whimpering all the while, "The boy is everything! It cannot be done without him and it will be done as I said!"

A third man spun into the scene, dropping to his knee before the large seat, "You have my word that will be done that way, milord."

"Good, at least I know that one of you can do their jobs properly."

In the next few moments, loud hissing could be heard throughout the entire room, then the second voice, a high-pitched cold one, spoke again: "Nagini tells me that the old Muggle Caretaker is standing right outside the door. Step aside, Wormtail so I can give our guest a proper greeting…"

"Avada Kedavra!"

A rush of sickly green light rushed throughout the entire area, engulfing it in the magic of the spell which had just come from the seat.

A pair of bright emerald eyes snapped open, beads of chilling sweat trickling down the individual's forehead, it almost gleamed under the moonlight wafting through the gap between the room's closed curtains. Harry Potter had been brutally awoken from another nightmare. His vision was fuzzy but…the image of the dream was firmly implanted in his mind. A muggle man, Frank, had gone into the seemingly abandoned Riddle estate, only to meet his bitter end at the hands of what Harry could only assume was Voldemort, though Harry's mortal enemy had been not visible in the dream, Harry could not think of anyone else it might be. Especially since one of the other two men in the room with the unseen figure during the dream was Peter Pettigrew, whom Harry knew as one of Voldemort's most loyal servants.

Groaning some, Harry fumbled around his bedside table, a lame attempt at hunting down his glasses, which luckily, he found without too much difficulty. Harry forced the specs onto his face then heaved himself into a seated position. The dream had not been fun in any sense of the word and Harry silently thanked Merlin that neither his Uncle Vernon or Aunt Vernon had been awoken by the nightmare, he'd never hear the end of it if they did.

Harry rolled over, turning towards the clock sitting on his bedside table, the numbers were displaying that it was quarter past three. Harry had gotten used to the nightmares waking him at random times by now, it'd been happening roughly four days after getting back from term and the first time he'd not been particularly quiet, causing Vernon to lock Harry in his room and the door was only unlocked yesterday. Harry hated being caged in, but at the same time he didn't mind because it'd meant that the Dursleys' would leave him alone, even if only while the duration of the time that his door was locked, and he was barred from escape.

Why did the Dursley family treat Harry so badly? Well, Harry Potter was no ordinary boy. He was, in fact, a wizard who was due to start his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in a few weeks. Yet, this Summer hadn't been as bad as the last few, at least in Harry's mind. He'd been allowed to receive regular responses from his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, if Hedwig travelled at night so that the Dursleys didn't detect that he'd been doing so.

Speaking of which, Harry turned his head towards the window just in time to witness a mass of white approaching Privet Drive in the distance. Knowing immediately what it was, Harry unlatched the window…just in time to find various other masses of colours following the first. Arching an eyebrow inquisitively, Harry rose the window up to give access to his room. The closer the group got, Harry finally divulged that the group of colours were in fact owls, the primary use for the postal service in the wizarding world.

Hedwig was the first to land, she happily hooted at her master before hopping off to the side waiting for Harry to free her of her burden. Next was a strange owl that Harry had never seen before, it was tiny and seemed to be full of energy. The final Owl was a rather large one shaded a deep hue of black with bright amber eyes which Harry did not recognize.

Deciding to relieve the small energetic one first, Harry quickly pulled the letter free from the birds leg, it took a drink from Hedwig's water bowl, then shot back out the window as fast as it had come in. Next Harry untied a letter from the large black owl, it's amber eyes peered in his direction for a moment, before it too took a drink from the water bowl and flew off into the distance. Finally, Harry reached over and untied the string binding Hedwig's package to her leg, he rewarded the owl by petting her head softly. The Snowy affectionately nipped at Harry's fingers, then hopped over to her cage to take some water.

Harry pulled the letter off the package and smiled softly, he recognized the handwriting immediately. Harry opened the envelope and extracted the letter within.

Harry.

I managed to find this, I felt that you should have something to pass the free time this year and to prepare yourself for later in life, given that things seem to be happening to you on a regular basis over the years from what you've told me. Look after yourself Harry and keep your friends close.

Sirius.

Harry was in utter shock, he'd not been expecting to hear from his godfather so soon after he and his friends had rescued him from the Dementor's kiss the previous year. Harry took the package and hastily unwrapped it, immediately his jaw dropped. The book was entitled: Coraetha: A Legend of Light Magic. This would come in handy. Harry put the book to one side and focused on opening the letter that had been delivered to him by the little owl of seemingly boundless energy.

Harry!

DAD GOT THE TICKETS! IRELAND VS BULGARIA!

Anyway, I hope those relatives of yours aren't giving you too much trouble, oh before I forget, sorry about the owl, it's the one that Padfoot left with us last year, it wouldn't leave me alone and I decided that I needed one of my own. Dad says to be prepared and we'll pick you up at five o'clock tomorrow. Don't worry too much about them not letting you come, Mum wrote to them asking you to stay and Dad said even if they say no we'll come and get you at five o'clock tomorrow night anyway. Everyone wishes you the best and say they'll see you soon.

See you tomorrow,

Ron.

Harry's eyes widened in excitement, leaving the Dursleys' earlier than planned? That was something that he could look forward to for sure. Harry placed Ron's letter down beside Sirius' one. Now was the time he was going to have to investigate the letter which had been sent to him via the mysterious black owl that he'd never seen before in his life. Was it a dangerous one? Had it been sent from Draco Malfoy to further antagonize him? Sighing some, Harry decided to just bite the proverbial bullet, he reached over, taking the envelope into his trembling digits and peeled the seal back, opening the envelope and extracting the letter inside.

End Chapter One.

I apologize it's short, this just seemed like a good enough starting point.