Harry Potter awoke early one morning when he heard the sound of owls pecking at his window. He went over to the window and let the three birds in. One of them he recognized one of them as his own owl, Hedwig, and one of the others as his friend Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon. They flew over to his bed and landed on it. Harry walked over to the bed and untied the letters. One he knew was from Hogwarts because it had the Hogwarts symbol on the back. After taking the letters, the owls flew over to Hedwig's cage and started drinking some of the water. Hedwig got mad and started squawking at them. Harry just went about reading the letters. The first he opened was from Lupin, who had been sending him at least one letter per week, asking how the muggles were treating him and asking him if he had had any weird dreams.
Dear Harry,
Just checking up on you. If I don't hear from you soon, we're coming right away. But we'll be coming anyway in five days time to pick you up and take you back to headquarters. Can't say much in this letter. Write back soon!
--Lupin
Harry grabbed a piece of parchment and started writing his letter back to Lupin.
Lupin,
I'm fine. The muggles are all right. You don't need to get me early. Can't wait to get away though.
--Harry
Harry then took the next letter he saw on his bed, which he knew must've been from his friend Ron.
Harry,
Headquarters has been acting really crazy lately. Everybody has been acting very strange. Hermione is going crazy over the fact that she hasn't gotten her OWL results yet. Did you hear they're electing a new Minister? Dad's running. The Order is trying to get him to win, since he would be able to give insight as to what's going on in the ministry. That b Umbridge is running. I hated her. Well, I hear you'll be here in a few days. Can't wait to see you, mate. Anyway, don't let the muggles get you down.
--Ron
Harry looked at the letter and then put it back down on the bed, not writing a reply to this one. The last letter was very thick and held lots of parchment. The first inside it just told him that he was expected to be at Platform 9 3/4 on September 1st, just like always. Then he took out the second letter inside the envelope.
Mr. Harry Potter,
You have been chosen as Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. We know you will be an excellent captain and know that you will be able to step up as a leader and bring your team to success.
--Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House
The last letter in the envelope Harry knew must have his OWL scores. He took it out and closed his eyes. He did not want to know how bad he had done.
Defence Against the Dark ArtsO
TransfigurationO
CharmsO
PotionsE
Care of Magical CreaturesO
History of MagicA
HerbologyA
AstronomyCannot be determined, for there happened to be a huge disturbance during the examination. We are sure the candidate would receive an O however.
DivinationT
Subject is accepted into six NEWT classes: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and Astronomy.
"What? How did I get an E in Potions? Well, it does mean Exceeds Expectations, and Snape does have pretty poor expectations of me. So I guess it wasn't that hard for me to do better than what he expected of me," Harry said, talking to himself. He tied his letter to Lupin onto Hedwig and Hedwig left for headquarters along with Pigwidgeon. The barn owl left too, but was destined for Hogwarts. Harry lay down on his bed for a few minutes and then felt energy surge through his scar and fell to the floor. His scar burned as it had when he was at the Ministry last year. He heard Voldemort's laugh. It was right behind him?
He turned around to see about four death eaters who took him and dragged him downstairs. What he saw was unexplainable. Voldemort was standing there in the middle of the living room, with his wand pointed straight at him. All the noise must've woken up the Dursleys, for he saw them start to come downstairs. Voldemort ordered his death eaters to grab them, and they did so.
"Crucio!" Voldemort screamed, pointing his wand at Harry. Harry could feel the pain. It was causing him to have so much pain, but he would not give in. He would not scream because he knew that would only give Voldemort pleasure. He let go of the curse. "So, Potter can stand the pain? Well let's see if these muggles can stand it as long as you could!" Voldemort cried out, very angry. He pointed his wand at Uncle Vernon and shouted, "Crucio!" Uncle Vernon fell down at once, and started to scream. "You worthless, good for nothing muggle! Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort screamed and he shot a green jolt of lighting at Vernon. His uncle became silent and Harry knew he was dead.
"I think it's time to play now, don't you Potter?" Voldemort asked him. Harry just lay there, not doing anything. "You will answer when spoken to!" Voldemort said. He moved his wand and Harry could feel a force trying to make him nod his head yes. But Harry was too strong. "Fine. I'll play by myself. Imperio!" Voldemort said, pointing his wand at Aunt Petunia. Aunt Petunia was now obeying Voldemort's every command. She picked up a knife that happened to be lying there. "Potter, watch. This is my favorite part!" Voldemort said, laughing his normal evil laugh. Aunt Petunia took the knife and started to stab her son, Dudley with it. Harry could not watch anymore. He closed his eyes and turned away. He could hear Dudley's cries.
"Mom! What are you doing?" Dudley was screaming. At last, the screams died out. But then he could hear Petunia screaming. She had noticed what she had done and killed herself. He was expecting to hear Voldemort laughing, but instead he heard five cracks. He opened his eyes to see no more death eaters and no more Voldemort. Instead, he was surrounded by members of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore was there along with Tonks, Moody, Lupin, Kingsley, and Mr. Weasley. Mrs. Figg was also there.
"I was so worried Harry!" Mrs. Figg cried out as she grabbed him and put him on the sofa.
"We shall be going back to headquarters now. Do you feel you have the ability to fly there?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, I think I can make it," Harry told them.
"Alright, go grab your stuff. We'll be waiting down here for you. Tonks will go help you," Dumbledore told him. He and Tonks walked up the stairs to his room and started to pack away his things. Tonks used a levitating charm that moved everything into his trunk. He grabbed the Firebolt he got back from Professor McGonagall the last day of school and went down the steps. Tonks took his trunk. Once downstairs, Moody used a charm to shrink the trunk so that Harry could easily fit it into his pocket. Moody then administered a charm on everyone that made them invisible to all muggles. They went outside and took off on their broomsticks.
It was the same method as used last year when he went to Grimmauld Place. They would rotate every once in a while to keep Harry safe from anyone else. They finally reached Number 12 Grimmauld Place, the one place Harry could find his friends, but he was also sad about going back there. It was the place where his godfather, Sirius Black, had lived. They went inside the house and Mrs. Weasley immediately took him into a giant hug. He went and ate some breakfast in the kitchen and then was instructed to go get some rest in the bedroom. He gladly did so, feeling very weak from being under the Cruciatus curse.
The days had gone by fast. Hermione had been very worried about him and kept asking about his scar. He kept telling her it was fine. They mostly just hung around and talked about their OWL scores and the NEWTs they would be taking. Ron got into four, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures. Hermione had gotten into eight. Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Potions, Astronomy, History of Magic, and Herbology.
"How can you take that many classes?" Harry asked. Hermione ignored him, not wanting to take any abuse because of all her knowledge.
Dear Harry,
Just checking up on you. If I don't hear from you soon, we're coming right away. But we'll be coming anyway in five days time to pick you up and take you back to headquarters. Can't say much in this letter. Write back soon!
--Lupin
Harry grabbed a piece of parchment and started writing his letter back to Lupin.
Lupin,
I'm fine. The muggles are all right. You don't need to get me early. Can't wait to get away though.
--Harry
Harry then took the next letter he saw on his bed, which he knew must've been from his friend Ron.
Harry,
Headquarters has been acting really crazy lately. Everybody has been acting very strange. Hermione is going crazy over the fact that she hasn't gotten her OWL results yet. Did you hear they're electing a new Minister? Dad's running. The Order is trying to get him to win, since he would be able to give insight as to what's going on in the ministry. That b Umbridge is running. I hated her. Well, I hear you'll be here in a few days. Can't wait to see you, mate. Anyway, don't let the muggles get you down.
--Ron
Harry looked at the letter and then put it back down on the bed, not writing a reply to this one. The last letter was very thick and held lots of parchment. The first inside it just told him that he was expected to be at Platform 9 3/4 on September 1st, just like always. Then he took out the second letter inside the envelope.
Mr. Harry Potter,
You have been chosen as Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. We know you will be an excellent captain and know that you will be able to step up as a leader and bring your team to success.
--Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House
The last letter in the envelope Harry knew must have his OWL scores. He took it out and closed his eyes. He did not want to know how bad he had done.
Defence Against the Dark ArtsO
TransfigurationO
CharmsO
PotionsE
Care of Magical CreaturesO
History of MagicA
HerbologyA
AstronomyCannot be determined, for there happened to be a huge disturbance during the examination. We are sure the candidate would receive an O however.
DivinationT
Subject is accepted into six NEWT classes: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and Astronomy.
"What? How did I get an E in Potions? Well, it does mean Exceeds Expectations, and Snape does have pretty poor expectations of me. So I guess it wasn't that hard for me to do better than what he expected of me," Harry said, talking to himself. He tied his letter to Lupin onto Hedwig and Hedwig left for headquarters along with Pigwidgeon. The barn owl left too, but was destined for Hogwarts. Harry lay down on his bed for a few minutes and then felt energy surge through his scar and fell to the floor. His scar burned as it had when he was at the Ministry last year. He heard Voldemort's laugh. It was right behind him?
He turned around to see about four death eaters who took him and dragged him downstairs. What he saw was unexplainable. Voldemort was standing there in the middle of the living room, with his wand pointed straight at him. All the noise must've woken up the Dursleys, for he saw them start to come downstairs. Voldemort ordered his death eaters to grab them, and they did so.
"Crucio!" Voldemort screamed, pointing his wand at Harry. Harry could feel the pain. It was causing him to have so much pain, but he would not give in. He would not scream because he knew that would only give Voldemort pleasure. He let go of the curse. "So, Potter can stand the pain? Well let's see if these muggles can stand it as long as you could!" Voldemort cried out, very angry. He pointed his wand at Uncle Vernon and shouted, "Crucio!" Uncle Vernon fell down at once, and started to scream. "You worthless, good for nothing muggle! Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort screamed and he shot a green jolt of lighting at Vernon. His uncle became silent and Harry knew he was dead.
"I think it's time to play now, don't you Potter?" Voldemort asked him. Harry just lay there, not doing anything. "You will answer when spoken to!" Voldemort said. He moved his wand and Harry could feel a force trying to make him nod his head yes. But Harry was too strong. "Fine. I'll play by myself. Imperio!" Voldemort said, pointing his wand at Aunt Petunia. Aunt Petunia was now obeying Voldemort's every command. She picked up a knife that happened to be lying there. "Potter, watch. This is my favorite part!" Voldemort said, laughing his normal evil laugh. Aunt Petunia took the knife and started to stab her son, Dudley with it. Harry could not watch anymore. He closed his eyes and turned away. He could hear Dudley's cries.
"Mom! What are you doing?" Dudley was screaming. At last, the screams died out. But then he could hear Petunia screaming. She had noticed what she had done and killed herself. He was expecting to hear Voldemort laughing, but instead he heard five cracks. He opened his eyes to see no more death eaters and no more Voldemort. Instead, he was surrounded by members of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore was there along with Tonks, Moody, Lupin, Kingsley, and Mr. Weasley. Mrs. Figg was also there.
"I was so worried Harry!" Mrs. Figg cried out as she grabbed him and put him on the sofa.
"We shall be going back to headquarters now. Do you feel you have the ability to fly there?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, I think I can make it," Harry told them.
"Alright, go grab your stuff. We'll be waiting down here for you. Tonks will go help you," Dumbledore told him. He and Tonks walked up the stairs to his room and started to pack away his things. Tonks used a levitating charm that moved everything into his trunk. He grabbed the Firebolt he got back from Professor McGonagall the last day of school and went down the steps. Tonks took his trunk. Once downstairs, Moody used a charm to shrink the trunk so that Harry could easily fit it into his pocket. Moody then administered a charm on everyone that made them invisible to all muggles. They went outside and took off on their broomsticks.
It was the same method as used last year when he went to Grimmauld Place. They would rotate every once in a while to keep Harry safe from anyone else. They finally reached Number 12 Grimmauld Place, the one place Harry could find his friends, but he was also sad about going back there. It was the place where his godfather, Sirius Black, had lived. They went inside the house and Mrs. Weasley immediately took him into a giant hug. He went and ate some breakfast in the kitchen and then was instructed to go get some rest in the bedroom. He gladly did so, feeling very weak from being under the Cruciatus curse.
The days had gone by fast. Hermione had been very worried about him and kept asking about his scar. He kept telling her it was fine. They mostly just hung around and talked about their OWL scores and the NEWTs they would be taking. Ron got into four, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures. Hermione had gotten into eight. Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Potions, Astronomy, History of Magic, and Herbology.
"How can you take that many classes?" Harry asked. Hermione ignored him, not wanting to take any abuse because of all her knowledge.