Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Snape, Bill or Tonks... Mmmm Tonks...

Chapter 0 Burning

Harry opened the small cage door with a squeak. His snow white owl hooted gently before flying out to hunt. Harry set his trunk down with a heavy thud before sighing. His room was not used in over eight months and had the customary layer of dust he found every time he returned from Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry. The scarred boy leaned against the small desk across the room from his bed and repressed a sneeze from the kicked up dust. The last magical Potter looked over his shoulder. The window was wide open and allowed the small secondary bed room to have much needed ventilation. Harry eyed the trunk wearily. He did not like thinking about the amount of work he was given regardless of the fact he just tested for his OWLs.

Harry walked to his bed and let himself fall on it. Sirius' death replayed in Harry's mind and he grimaced at Luna's words that crashed into the memory. His mind wandered before it finally drifted across the prophecy. In a strange way, Harry was glad that he knew his fate. "It doesn't matter anyway. Voldemort will still come after me." Harry gave a long exhale. "I just need to focus and survive until I can repeat the victory my mother gave us."

It was oppressively hot outside and Harry felt tired from the mid-morning heat. His mind wandered about his fate and his mind drifted to sleep.

Harry felt like he was floating on air. Heat wrapped him like a blanket.

Aproaches...

as the seventh month dies...

while the other survives...

Harry looked in front of him and gasped. Voldemort stood silently watching him. His cold calculating eyes pierced Harry's soul. Harry shivered before staring back refusing himself to be intimidated. "You made me Voldemort." Voldemort smiled. The dark lord moved slightly as to gesture, 'what of it?'

Harry glared at the man who represented his fate. " I will fight you with every fiber of my being. You will fall!" Harry screamed the last few wards while charging at Voldemort. The powerful wizard simply smiled before he shattered into a thousand pieces of glass. Harry looked at him before gasping again. This time the warm blanket turned into an oven. The teens body felt heavy and he collapsed to the ground. His hands shredded from the broken glass from the mirror Voldemort was looking at him from. Harry ignored the oppressive heat and pulled a shard of glass from the palm of his hand. He was surprised there was no blood, but the emotion was forgotten when the shard of glass still held the reflection of Voldemort. Harry crushed the glass in his hand and the overwhelming heat burned. And consumed.

-o-

The wizard on watch as part of Harry's security detail apparated to his house when he saw the wards go off. The ward was a warning system to notify when there was magic occurring inside the house. It allowed Harry some peace for himself and the Order of the Phoenix to continue their monitoring while doing other tasks.

The Order member looked at the window to Harry's room. There were several flashing lights. The man tilted his head allowing his hair to fall off his shoulders. He finally rubbed his head before disappearing with a slight pop. Another accompanying pop could be heard inside the room. After several minutes the flashing lights faded and the window was opened by the Order member. He swore a little loudly and rolled his eyes when he heard the shouting of the Dursleys. Smoke emptied from Harry's room and the Order member could be heard speaking with the irritable family.

-o-

Harry woke not long after the ache in his back faded. He heard rattling from the kitchen downstairs and wondered suddenly who was working in the kitchen. He felt the sun hit him and his mind just puzzled over it until he realized he had slept the evening and night away. It had to be morning for the sun to peek through his window. He felt a gust of cool wind before standing to close the window. It was definitely morning. Harry thought to himself.

Harry passed the bathroom and saw the clock say it was nine a.m. It was unlikely it was Petunia, she would have left for her morning tea with friends. Uncle Vernon would likely yell for him to cook before considering going into the kitchen. Dudley might have thought of cooking once or twice, but would likely just complain to Petunia that he was hungry.

Harry gaped at the person in the kitchen. "Tonks?"

Tonks was wearing Aunt Petunia's pink apron that was nicely pressed over her Auror robes. The metamorphmagus had her hair matching the apron, and was busy cooking eggs. "Wotcher Harry." Tonks didn't look up from her frying pan and nudged the oven open revealing baked potatoes. "I got here a little while ago, and kicked out your relatives, they were ready to call the fire department."

Harry paused a moment to think on what she just said. When she was not giving anymore information he finally asked. "About what?"

Tonks placed the eggs on two plates and dropped one potato on the plates for each of them. Tonks hummed to herself before saying "Bill spotted a lot of light coming from your room early this morning. He apparated into your room and almost got himself burnt."

"Bill?"

"Weasley."

Harry let that sink in before asking. "There was a fire in my room?" Harry thought back to his room. After a moment he realized it did smell a little like ash. "What happened?"

"That's what we are unsure about. Dumbledore said for me to wait to see if you can tell us something. Bill had almost had to call for help. The fire was scorching the floors and the walls." Tonks set the plates on two place mats, one in front of her and one on the other side of the table. She waved for Harry to sit and he promptly did so. "The fire was coming from you. You were sleeping on your bed and the fire swirled from you. When you didn't wake up right away... Bill had to make sure you didn't cause anymore damage. Sorry about that."

Harry looked at her and read between the lines. He stared at her before realizing why his head was sore. "He stunned me didn't he?"

Tonks smiled sheepishly. "It worked. Eat, I know you're hungry." Harry satisfied his curiosity about his sore body and smiled at her reply. With a clattering of silverware, they both started eating in peace. When they were done Harry began to wonder where the Dursley's were, they should be making a ruckus since Tonks was here cooking. He was about to ask when Tonks spoke. "They left for the day. The Order is paying their way for a small day get away. Harry, can you remember anything about last night? Dreaming or anything?"

Harry looked at her confused before he realized she might be referring to his scar. Harry subconsciously tugged a tuff of hair over his scar. "I didn't have a scar dream. I really didn't have a bad dream either. But it was different." Tonks waited while he thought about the strange dream. "It was like I was talking to a picture of Voldemort." Tonks looked alarmed before Harry just waved her off. "I told you, the dream wasn't caused by him. My scar would be throbbing if it did." Tonks looked at his scar through his thick bangs before she nodded in satisfaction. "I felt as if there was nothing else but me and that image of him." Harry stopped while trying to find the right words. His voice almost broke when he said, "There really is something special in my link with that man. But that doesn't mean I am like him. I know I mourn my losses. I felt Voldemort's glee when he kills.." Harry shivered to himself before he looked at Tonks. She did not look at him, but rather concentrated on eating even while listening. "Tonks do you believe in fate?" Tonks looked at him. "I don't know if I do or not. But I do believe that my life started and ended with Voldemort when he killed my parents. It will end or restart when I meet Voldemort again." Harry meekly returned to his food and ate silently. When the silence returned to a somewhat comfortable air, Tonks let go of her gaze of him.

The Auror thought of saying something to the boys musings, but let him to his thoughts. She stood up quietly and took his plate while thinking over what he had just said. She gave herself an irritated look. She was just glad she was facing away from Harry. No, I refuse to get him involved.

"Well, you are ok now."

Harry grunted while thinking about his dream. It started like he was reciting the prophecy. He felt warm. In his mind, Harry could see the picture of Voldemort staring back as if he was a reflection of a mirror. Harry glared at the man thinking of his resolve...

"HARRY!"

Harry jerked out of his thoughts and looked around him. The floor was smoking and the tiles in the kitchen carved out lines in a swirling pattern around his chair. "How?" Harry looked at Tonks slightly scared.

"What were you thinking about Harry?"

"My dream. I was trying to replay it. I was aware of me just thinking about it before I started thinking about charging Voldemort."

Tonks looked at him. "Well let me clean this up." She had her wand already out and was fixing the kitchen to its pristine condition. "I want you to not think about that dream until I speak with Dumbledore." Harry gave her a dubious look but nodded. Harry still was irritated that the Headmaster did not give him any answers that could have helped him over the year.

Tonks smiled and waved before she left with a pop. Harry looked around the room. It was clean, but still smelt like ash. He scratched his head and decided to clean. The Dursleys would likely be angry about the whole waking them up too early thing. It would probably help him if he started to clean. With that thought in mind Harry went to the bathroom and took out the cleaning supplies intent on cleaning the whole bottom level of the Dursley household.

-o-

That evening in London, a large office still had its light on after working hours. The lone man poured over his notes and papers looking at new legislation. One of his old rivalries kept pressing for a new change in his favorite policy that he had been championing for his whole administration. The man looked up when he felt a draft and sighed at the window. He had not noticed it was open until the wind blew against the shades. He looked back down to his notes and started looking at the next proposal. His head jerked up again when two loud slams echoed in his room. He saw the window shut tight and the door to his office closed as well. He stood and looked around. His office was empty save for him. He opened the door to his office and looked out into the hall. "Is anyone there?"

"Behind you Minister." The man gasped. He turned around back into his office and saw a man sitting on his desk. The man's bleached skull mask reflected the ceiling light. The glare made the Minister look away and he noticed the gun in the mans' hands. The masked man held a gun awkwardly as if he never touched one before.

"Who are you?"

"I am someone who has come to see you in person." The man looked at the small portrait behind the Minister. He laughed amusedly when the picture looked at the intruder in shock recognition before running off frame.

The Minister saw the picture too. "So you are one of them? The deathsomethings?"

"I am a Death Eater. Yes." He bowed his head. "My lord has decided to cut off support at it's source." The man pointed the gun at the Minister. "If it makes you feel any better, if you had been a wizard minister, I would have voted for you." The man pulled the trigger.

The bullet landed right at the Ministers' throat. He struggled for a moment on his knees before he fell completely to the floor and died. The assassin tried to cast a spell in the room and was rewarded with a small stream of sparks from his wand. Satisfied that the wards protecting the Minister of Britain were down, he sneered at the muggle weapon before he transfigured it into a quill and threw it against the door. It stuck strait out at a right angle. He smiled knowing only Aurors would know of its significance as a transfigured murder weapon. The man apparated from the office now that the wards were down.

The man reappeared in front of a mansion. It was already completely dark and the neighborhood would not notice a strange masked man appearing out of no where. The man walked swiftly to the main hall and entered the chamber room. He knelt in front of his lord. "It is done my Lord." The man took off his mask and his hooked nose and permanent sneer looked back at his master with patience.

"I expected nothing less from you Severus." Voldemort turned his slit gaze to the silver haired man glaring at the kneeling assassin. "Are you satisfied that Severus' cause is our own?"

Lucius glared one more time at the potions master before turning to his Lord. "Yes my lord. Please forgive me in my lack of faith. I only question his loyalty as a loyal Death Eater." Lucius bowed low.

Voldemort smirked at the display. No one willing to take a knee in his presence was a person he would question the loyalty of. He looked at the silver haired man and remembered when he recruited the upper class pureblood. "Be thankful for your years of service Lucius. You have already been punished for your lack of faith once as well as for your overestimation of your own strength. I will not see it again." Voldemort waved a lazy hand to dismiss the two.

Severus stood and walked out the hall. He was stopped by a gripping hand against his elbow. "Don't let this set back make you think I have given up on proving you are a traitor Snape." Severus returned the glare with a cool gaze.

"You are nothing Lucius. Our master trusts me. I do not need to prove my worth to the likes of you. You who needs your fortune to escape prison, or needs to find faults in others for your own failures. Your debacle in the Ministry was your own doing. Not mine. Be a Death Eater and admit that you were at fault." Severus broke his elbow away and stalked down the hall to the entrance of the house where he apparated away.

- - - End Chapter 0 Burning - - -

A/N: This really is more of a prologue than a true chapter. Chapter one needed this information, but with the way the story was written so far, there was no place to write it in. Which is why I posted another chapter of my Naruto story to get your 10k word fix. I'll see you all next chapter. It is a real chapter, I promise. 10k words.