Ok. Everyone knows the drill. Still here goes nothing -

Harry Potter and the other characters of J.K. Rowling are strictly hers. I am not the original writer (though I wish I could be J) and I do not wish to make money from this. Most Importantly, I DO NOT want to get sued. So if anyone has any problems with anything I write, then just tell me.

There's plenty more...blah blah blah....forget it and let the story begin :).

Note: US English has been used here.

HARRY POTTER & THE POWER OF HOGWARTS

Chapter 1 - The Homecoming

Number 4 Privet Drive looked just like any other ordinary house, but not everyone in the world knew that it was the home of one of the most famous people in the Wizarding world, the world which had people who could do magic. Number 4 Privet Drive was the residence of the Boy-Who-Lived from the time when he was just over a year old – a boy who had survived the killing curse cast by Lord Voldemort.

No one had ever lived after they had been cursed by the "Avada Kedavra", as the green light from the two most feared words in the Wizarding world instantly took away any life force it hit. Everyone knew it was impossible to survive the killing curse, but one boy had survived it, and no one knew how he had done it. This event had become a part of the wizarding folklore and the theories were as weird as the concept that people could fly on broomsticks, but none of the myths ever mentioned the name of the person who had cast the spell. He was known as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" because the terror which rose in the minds and hearts of the people when the name Lord Voldemort was mentioned was unimaginable.

Lord Voldemort was one of the most powerful wizards in wizarding history, but alas, he used his magical abilities only for gaining power. He was one of those people who were ready to do anything and everything to reach their goals, but the goal of the Dark Lord was one which everyone thought was impossible - immortality. Everyone knew that Voldemort would stoop to any level to get to his target, and he had also made sufficient progress on that. He had gained many supporters - some of whom were too cowardly to stand up against him, some too greedy for the rewards which Voldemort had promised them, while some others who were acting under the effect of one of the unforgivable curses, which let Voldemort have complete control over their minds. Voldemort seemed to be succeeding in his efforts when suddenly his attention turned towards the Potter family. No one knew what exactly happened on the night of Halloween in the year 1981, but many thought the Dark Lord had finally met his match, though what surprised everyone even more was that the Dark Lord was defeated by a child. For all everyone knew, Voldemort was gone and the child was left with a scar on his forehead (where the killing curse had hit him) in the shape of a lightning bolt. That child was Harry Potter.

Harry Potter hated it at Number 4 Privet Drive, but his headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, had said it was one of the safest places for him to live. Professor Dumbledore was one of the most powerful wizards of recent times and all knew that if Voldemort feared anybody, it was Dumbledore. After all, Dumbledore had been a teacher at Hogwarts when Voldemort, who was then known by the name of Tom Marvolo Riddle, had been a student there. Dumbledore knew that Tom would be a great wizard one day, but he had never been too sure of Tom's intentions. His worst fears had come true when, many years after Tom had gone missing, he returned in the form of Lord Voldemort. No one could recognize Tom when he had returned as he had gone through a lot of transformations to become Voldemort. The handsome face of Tom had been replaced by a pale face with red eyes like a snake, slits for a nose, and a thin line of an opening where a normal person's mouth would be. Even after becoming so powerful, Tom knew that Dumbledore should not be challenged unnecessarily. After all, he didn't want to challenge Dumbledore unless he was sure that he had become immortal and only then would he face Dumbledore with confidence and hope to win.

Since he was just over a year old, Harry had lived at number 4 Privet Drive. It was the house of his aunt and uncle, who were muggles (non-magical people). One would have thought that an orphaned child would be well taken care of at the house of his relatives but then, that person had not met the Dursley's before. The Dursley's were his only blood-relatives but they didn't know the meaning of the term "blood-relative". They hated anything and everything about Harry since they had come to know about him. The reason for this hatred was that Harry was a wizard, and they hated (or were scared of?) the word "magic". It didn't matter to them whether Harry had defeated some dark wizard or not because, in their dictionary, the term "wizards" and "witches" were equivalent to the term "freak". The Dursley's abused Harry in all manners possible, physically and mentally, as they made him do chores round-the-clock, and said insensitive things about his parents. Harry had spent many days crying silently after they had told him (yet again) that his parents were good-for-nothings, that he was a good-for-nothing, and that his parents would be glad if he died. However he went through all this for 10 years of his life hoping that someday his luck would change, that someday someone will tell him what exactly his parents were like. One thing that he was sure of was that his parents were NOT at all like what the Dursley's made them out to be. Deep inside, he was waiting for something to happen when, on his 11'th birthday, something wonderful happened. For the first time in his whole life Harry came to know that he was a wizard and a famous one too. He fell in love with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the first time he saw it. It was a huge castle just like in fairytales and from that point onwards Hogwarts had become his "real" home.

After he joined Hogwarts at the age of 11, he had to come back to Privet Drive for his summer vacations, which was like hell for him. Dumbledore had said that it was necessary that Harry should spend his summer vacation at his relative's house and no one dared to argue with him because everyone knew that if Dumbledore had said it was necessary, then there had to be a very good reason for that. Still, Harry hated it very much here.

The only way he could keep in touch with the Wizarding world was through Hedwig, his snow-white owl. She had been a present to him from Hagrid, the former Groundskeeper of Hogwarts and the current teacher of the subject: "Care of Magical Creatures". Hagrid was his first real friend and Hedwig had become a part of his life ever since he had come to know (and own) her. Add to that the fact that Hedwig brought him news of his friends Ron (Ronald Weasley) and Hermione (Hermione Granger), there was no way Harry could think of Hedwig as an ordinary owl.

Ron, who was Harry's best mate, was crazy about quidditch, a game played by wizards on broomsticks and Hermione was a know-it-all. Ron used to initially mention that Hermione was mental but had lately started to keep these type of comments to himself, or used to say these only when Hermione was not around. After all, this insufferable know-it-all had saved their skins so many times with her knowledge that both Harry and Ron knew that she deserved a lot more respect than they had given her in the past. Ever since their first year Harry, Ron, and Hermione were an unbreakable trio and best friends, and had gone through a lot of adventures together. In their first year they had stopped Voldemort from getting the philosopher's stone. Then in their second year, they had saved Ginny (Ron's sister), which ended up with Harry killing a basilisk. The third year had been one of the best years of Harry's life as he discovered the truth about his godfather, whom he saved from a terrible fate. His fourth year saw Harry winning the Tri-Wizard tournament. It was the same year that he witnessed the rebirth of Voldemort, and had even dueled with the Dark Lord before finally escaping.

For the first 4 years (since he had joined Hogwarts), he always came back feeling a bit happy about at least something he had done. Even when Voldemort had regained his body and his power at the end of his fourth year, he still was able to come back alive with the dead-body of Cedric Diggory. Also, he had seen his parents when he had dueled against Voldemort and it was something to feel good about after all. Though he had been upset at the end of his fourth year, he still was a bit happy. But this year it was something else. It had to do with Sirius, his godfather.

This past year, Harry had been practically a pawn in the hands of Voldemort, who had shown him images, in his mind, of Sirius being tortured to death in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries. He had gone there to save Sirius, along with 5 others, since he couldn't ask Dumbledore to help him, after he had been expelled from the position of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Neither could he inform the Order of The Phoenix members who had sworn that they would fight all evil. Harry had found no help when he needed it, so he had decided that he would save Sirius. It was not that he wanted to act as a hero but it was the fact that Sirius mattered to him so much that he could even give up his own life to save Sirius. In DoM, he found nothing but a prophecy about himself and Voldemort, and it was only too late when he realized that this was a trap of Voldemort's. The prophecy was destroyed when Harry and his friends were escaping but something terrible happened in between. Dumbledore and the Order members had learnt that Harry was at the DoM and had rushed there to save him. Sirius was also among them. Oh…the joy that was on Sirius' face when he saw that Harry was safe and holding his own. Harry too, felt very proud of his godfather who seemed to be fighting the death-eaters with great ease. After all, Sirius had been practically locked inside his home for almost a year without doing anything and at long last, Sirius felt that he was able to do something for the Order. But both Harry's and Sirius' happiness were short-lived. Harry was saved, but Sirius was killed.

Ohh. The grief which Harry felt: the anger, the agony, and the guilt. He felt all this apart from hundreds of other nameless feelings. It was not like Sirius had been killed by Harry; rather he had been killed by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange who was one of the most trusted servants of Voldemort. Still Harry felt he was to blame for Sirius' death as he was the reason why Sirius had come to DoM in the first place. Later that night, Dumbledore told him what the prophecy Voldemort was after in the DoM said. It said "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives".

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"Sirius was the only family I've ever had, and Bellatrix killed him. Voldemort has been behind all this." Harry thought. "Dumbledore should have told me that Voldemort could mislead me by penetrating into my mind but he didn't. If he had said it earlier then I wouldn't have gone to the DoM" Harry felt his anger rising. "But I should have done my Occlumency lessons with Snape. It would have made me aware of Voldemort". This thought made Harry angry at himself. "If only I had tolerated Snape, then Sirius...Sirius..." Harry's thoughts broke off as he felt a wave of emotions rising inside him as he thought of Sirius.

"He used to love me so much...so much...and what did I do in return...WHAT DID I DO…oh Sirius, forgive me… ", Harry said to himself. "TAKE AWAY THIS DAMNED SCAR and GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE!", Harry almost shouted out in frustration. "Let me live a normal life like everyone else. Why...why...how many more do I have to lose?" These were the thoughts which plagued him on his way back to the Dursley's for his summer vacation. But today's ride "home" was a bit different. As Harry sat motionlessly in the backseat of the Dursley's car, everyone was very silent. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were scared, to say the least, by the warning given to them by the Order members at the station regarding how they treated Harry. Their pride in being "normal" had also taken a beating. Harry's cousin Dudley was not used to seeing his parents scared of hurting Harry, but he didn't notice their looks as he himself was being haunted by images of what it would be like if the man with the strange eye (Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody) came up to him. He shuddered at the very thought of it and didn't even have the courage to look at Harry.

Harry sat motionless even after the car had stopped. There was no Ron ,or Hermione, or Ginny to take his mind off from the events of the DoM, and to make matters worse everyone had thought that Harry had been able to overcome his godfather's death. But now, with no one around, the thoughts of his godfather's handsome, smiling face, the good times they had spent together and the fact that it would never happen again rushed backed into his mind. Only one thing occupied his thoughts and that was Sirius.

"Get out or I'll lock you inside the car!" Uncle Vernon shouted, but then started to look around in fear, almost thinking that some "weird" people would come out of nowhere and punish him for shouting at Harry. Harry slowly got his things and Hedwig's cage out and went in. He sat down on his bed in his room and put the trunk aside without even noticing Hedwig hooting in slight anger for his dropping of the cage onto the floor. He sat there as the sun set and didn't even bother to get up and switch on the lights of his room.

"Why does it always happen to me? First dad and mom, then this god-damn scar, then Sirius...WHY?" Harry was thinking this for the umpteenth time until all the lights of the house were switched off by Uncle Vernon indicating that it was time for bed. The growling in his stomach reminded him that he had had nothing to eat all day long but still he didn't feel like eating. He just took off his shoes and went to bed without caring to undress. He was still thinking when sleep engulfed him, bringing with it the scenes of Sirius.

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"Sorry Master, I couldn't get inside. They are there but they are too protected." the figure before him trembled. "But I tried."

"Don't worry Wormtail, I didn't expect you to get inside. But luckily for you have gotten me enough information." The lips curled up in a horrific smile.

Far away, a 15 year old (due to be 16 in a few weeks) woke up screaming in pain.

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A/N:

Ok guys, here's the 1'st chapter again. This was taken down from because of bad grammar and spelling mistakes. I think you won't find it that bad now. Just to inform you, this chapter and all the others has been spell-checked in MS-Word XP and if you think the spelling or grammar is not up to the mark then copy/paste this in your own word processor for verification.

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