DISCLAIMER: Okay, bad Escaflowne pun, but I couldn't help myself, it fits two perfectly. ^^;; I'm redoing the fanfic, since I got an incredibly good idea to use with it.. @.@;; Anyways, hopefully this version is much better than the last. ^^; And no, Harry's not going insane. Just read it and it'll all begin to make sense some time.. This prologue takes place right after the end of Book 3 and before the beginning of Book 4. Dashes, such as - - these, contain thoughts. And fanfiction.net says that there can't be any prologues (Stories must have prologues for crying out loud! It's the best way to write!), so I guess you can consider this to be chapter one if you want.. Although it's hardly long enough. There's a few spelling mistakes, probably, so please ignore them... Oh well. Read and Review, please!
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Prologue: The Dream

Harry gazed up at the house before him, a wide grin on his face. It was good to be home, even though he missed Hogwarts dearly. Then again, while he was at Hogwarts, he missed his home instead. It looked the same as it had when he had left for his third year at school, unchanged in the slightest, except the summer flowers were now blooming in the flowerbeds out in front. But in all his happiness, a dark glimmer of a shadow darted across one of the upper-story windows, and Harry blinked, scowling at it slightly.. "What the..?"
He snapped back to reality as an older, male voice shouted at him. "Harry, get over here and help me with your trunk, unless you want to carry it yourself!"
Looking back, Harry grinned, pushing the though of the shadow to the back of his mind. "Coming Dad!"
James laughed, shaking his head as the two of them lifted the trunk out of the back seat of the family car, which they had taken since Harry didn't like Floo Powder in the slightest. "Seriously Harry, I don't know what you pack in this thing! Yours weighs twice as much as Drago's!"
"Well, he's got the Firebolt and your cloak in it among some other stuff Dad; of course it's going to be heavier!" Retorted a voice beside Harry.
Harry turned his head and stuck his tongue out at the blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy beside him, causing him to laugh.
"Well, it's true!" Drago said as if it was obvious, with a grin that made Harry severly wish he had a pillow to throw at the other boy.
"Oh you be quiet you prat!" Harry laughed back. "It's because you put half of your books in it!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Stop it with the bickering Harry, your hold is slipping!" James sighed in annoyance, stopping the teasing before it escalated into a shouting fest.
"Oops, sorry Dad." Harry recorrected his grip on the trunk and helped his father carry it into the house, Drago following them, having already taken his trunk into the house with James' help.
And immediately upon putting his trunk down next to the inside of the door, Harry was swept into his mother's arms along with Drago.
"Gah! Mom!"
"We like breathing!"
"Leggo!"
"GAH!!"
James chuckled. "Quit it you fakers, we know you're just playing around."
"No really Dad, Mum's choking us to death!" Harry exclaimed.
Lily sighed in exasperation. "... I'm not even hugging you anymore."
"..... Oh." Harry said, laughed nervously.
Drago rolled his eyes. "C'mon, let's go and put Hedwig in your room, Harry."
He got the hint, and nodded as he grabbed Hedwig's cage and followed Drago upstairs.
Immediately upon reaching Harry's room, Drago dropped his voice to a low whisper. "... When are we going to tell them about Sirius?"
"Tonight.. We should tell them tonight.. And about Wormtail.. I don't know how they didn't know that Wormtail and Sirius switched.."
"Yeah, I know what you mean.. Why didn't they tell me about my parents though..?" Drago replied.
Harry shrugged, "Probably because they didn't want you to know.. I wouldn't have wanted to know if *MY* parents were like that.. But you're part of the Potters now, so don't worry.."
"Yeah... But still.."
"Harry! Drago!"
Harry looked up as his named was called. "Uh oh.. We'd better get back downstairs, Mum's calling us."
Drago nodded, and followed Harry down the stairs.

Harry woke up suddenly, his eyes flashing open in surprise as his dream suddenly ended. Groaning, he sat up in his lumpy excuse for a bed the Dursleys made him sleep in. He stared at his clock.
"Three in the morning.. Great.."
Annoyed by being woken up, Harry tried to remember his dream. He knew it was one of those that he had at least once every night, but he always woke up at the end of them.. Not only that, but he could never even remotely remember what they were about. He always tried to, but the memory of what happened in them escaped from his grasp every time.
It was the first night back at the Dursleys house, and Harry was already missing Hogwarts dearly. He wished he could have just stayed there the entire summer, but he just wasn't that lucky..
As he sighed, Harry's mind trailed back to the dreams he couldn't remember. They weren't always good; sometimes he would wake up in a cold sweat with fear gripping his chest. The ones with the sense of fear always happened after something that scared him in real life had occured. There was some obvious connection, but he couldn't figure out the cause.. He would've remembered any other of his nightmares.
The same went for the good days he had experienced as well. On good days, he'd suddenly wake up at night with a feeling of contentment and annoyance at having been awakened.
He tried to think about what all of it meant for a few minutes, but finally gave up to his tiredness, laying down and pulling the covers around him as he closed his eyes to fall back asleep, gone back to the realm of dreams .

"Lily, get Harry and Drago out of here, now! It's one of them! Hurry, I'll fight them off! Go, just go!"
James rushed into the other room, wand out and ready.
"Dad no! Mum, I gotta help him!" Harry shouted, trying to desperately fight against his mother's grip on his arm, his eyes widening with fear and horror at the sounds of wands blasting that was coming from the other room. -He's going to die! No!- "DAD!"
Drago hung back, his wrist also being held by Lily.. "Father..!"
"Drago," Lily tugged at his wrist, "we have to go and get help!"
"But Dad-!"
"-Please!" At the urgency in her voice, Harry stopped fighting against her, looking at his mother instead..
There were tears in her eyes.. She didn't want to leave James either, but she had no choice. She had to protect her children.. That was what her look was saying..
Suddenly, there was a male cry of shock from the other room, then a great wooshing sound combined with a flash of bright green light and the sound of a lifeless body falling to the ground.
"Dad!"
"JAMES!!" Lily let go of Harry's and Drago's wrists, pulling out her wand. "Run, run, and get out of here! Please, don't argue!"
"Mum, no!"
"Please!" And then she rushed to her doom as well, and with the same sound and the same light, joined her husband in eternal death.
"MUM!!" Harry let out a shout of horror, and tried to race into the other room, but Drago grabbed his upper arm and pulled him back.
"You heard her! We gotta get out of here, there's nothing we can do! They're gone Harry! Please!"
He was beyond reason now.. He knew they were dead; he knew he was being stupid.. But Harry just had to be with them! He couldn't leave their side, not after thinking them dead for seven years! There was just no way!
"No! I can't! You go!" Harry shot back, struggling.
"I'm not leaving without you! If one stays, we both stay! I'm either living or dying with you, make your choice Harry!"
He became suddenly plagued with indecision.. He didn't want Drago to die, but he didn't want to leave his parents either.. What could he do..?
.. Harry never decided what to do, because the decision was suddenly made for him. "Avada Kedavra!"
The words were shouted into the air for a third and final time, and a great wooshing sound, louder and nearer than the other two, rushed towards the two boys, who were frozen in horror. Death was speeding towards them, and they were seeing their lives flash before their eyes..
Suddenly Harry found himself able to move, upon realizing that the death spell was aimed at Drago not him. He couldn't let Drago die; he was the last member of his family left with him! Pushing Drago out of the way, Harry took the full force of the spell, not carrying if he lived or died. He only cared that Drago would be safe..
But unlike his parents, the spell didn't kill him immediately. He felt himself stumbling, then falling backwards, and Drago's arms shooting out to catch him and stop his decent to the ground.
"HARRY!!" Drago screamed, falling onto his knees, Harry leaning up against him.. "HARRY!!"
Harry felt his energy leaving him, his heart and breath slowing down as his body began to stop working.. Drago was holding him close in shock, and when he looked up, he realized in mild surprise that Drago's eyes were filling with tears..
This time, Harry knew, no Phoenix could save him, nor could any spell or magic stop his impending death. He was dying for real this time and there was nothing he could do to stop it..
"Harry, no! Don't die!" Drago cried, shaking Harry roughly. "Stay awake!"
"I.. I can't.." His eyesight was blurring now.. "I.. I guess I'm dying for r-real this time.." He was getting weak, he was trying to hold on.. But Harry knew his life was slipping through his fingers, and soon he would loose hold of it all..
There was angry footsteps drawing near... The man in the masked, hooded robe was coming at them, wand pointed at Drago.. He was going to kill him too, and Harry could do nothing this time to stop the second attempt at his brother's life.. They'd both be joining their parents soon..
-NO! No, he can't die! Please, someone, anyone, help him! Don't let that man kill him! Please!-
He knew it was stupid, calling out mentally in such a fashion.. No one could hear his thoughts. But he kept on wishing, praying that something would happen. He tried to focus all his being on it, even though it was unexplicable what such concentration on such a little thing as a hope, a dream, would actually accomplish.. He just wanted, with all his being, for at least Drago to survive.. If only he could survive.. Then it would all have been worth it.. If just one person..
Drago was crying and hugging Harry now, as if he didn't want to ever let him go.. He had to though.. He just had to.. "Drago.." Harry began weakly, his voice barely a choked whisper.. "G.. go... Run..."
"H-Harry.."
"G-go!" Harry begged. "I.. I'm already.. as good as.. dead.."
To his relief, Harry watched Drago stand, seeming as if he was watching the other boy from far off.. He couldn't even understand what Drago was saying anymore, his words echoing too much in Harry's head, becoming jumbled and confused with each other, his vision blurring out all detail, even with his glasses on..
-Please... Let something save Drago.. Please..-
And suddenly, answering his plea, a flash of blue light opened up under Drago, and he let out a cry as he fell into it, disappearing from view.. And the man tried to follow, but the light closed up upon itself, and Drago was safe from him..
Drago was safe from that man... Somehow, he was safe..
"Mum... Dad.."
Harry Potter, taking a last shuddering breath, closed his eyes as a single tear cascaded down his bloodless cheeks, and lived no more.

For the second time that night, Harry Potter awoke. This time it was different, however. He was drenched in a cold sweat that covered all his body, and his eyes stung as he sat up quickly in bed, breathing heavily as if he had nearly been smothered.
Harry drew a hand through his sweat-matted hair, before wiping away the sweat from his face. But then a new wetness trickled down his cheeks..
Tears... He was crying.. None of those dreams.. None of those dreams, nightmares in this case, had ever been so emotional as the one that he had just experienced.. He didn't know why, but he couldn't hold them back this time.. Surely some of them were upsetting, but never like this.. It was as if everything he had ever cared for had suddenly disappeared, and his world had utterly fallen apart..
Finding himself unable to contain it anymore, Harry buried his face into his pillow to muffle his heart-wrenching sobs.

End of Prologue

Confused? Good. Oh, and don't expect the first chapter for a bit.. I have a huge writer's block, and I can't get around it. But don't worry, I'll eventually get to it. This fanfic is going to remain confusing for a while. Be prepared for weirdness. ^^ Please, read and review!