Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot of this story. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling. There I've said my piece; please don't sue unless you really want the lint that lines my pockets.
Chapter One: The Assignment
Harry Potter was falling asleep again. He was stuck in the middle of his History of Magic class, listening to one of Professor Binns' less than stimulating lectures. Today's lesson of boredom was on the family lineage of some of the more famous wizards and witches. Harry suppressed a yawn, although not very well, and looked around the room. Sitting beside him, Harry's best friend Ron Weasley had given up struggling against sleep and was dozing lightly with his head propped up on his elbow, and a drop of drool forming on the corner of his mouth. Most of the other students in the classroom were in the same state as Ron, or close to it. Even Hermione seemed less than enthralled by today's lesson.
Harry slumped back in his chair and allowed himself to get lost in his own thoughts. Everyone was on edge since Voldemort had returned to power only a few months earlier. Although there hadn't been any sightings of him or any deaths that anyone could attribute to him or any other Death Eater, many feared there soon would be. Harry on the other hand was not as worried, which was ironic, as he had the most to fear. Harry reached up and touched his scar, something he had been doing almost constantly since the night of the Triwizard Tournament. Chills still ran through him every time he remembered that night, and the pain associated with it. Ever since the tournament Harry had expected to feel that familiar pain in his head, but never did. Harry took this to mean that Voldemort hadn't increased his powers yet or was lying low. At least Harry liked to think this was the reason.
"…and that concludes the lineage of Sir Elwood the short-toed knight." Professor Binns' voice brought Harry back to the present. He nudged Ron who stirred and lazily opened his eyes.
Professor Binns continued, "For homework I would like each of you to come up with your own family tree and present it to the class two weeks from today. Class is dismissed."
Harry along with his other classmates gathered his belongings and headed for the door. A family tree? Harry thought. How am I going to do a family tree? He was so preoccupied with this thought that he ran into a first year girl as he stepped into the hall. His books as well as the girl went falling to the floor. "I'm so sorry." Harry said, offering his hand to help her up. The girl started to take his hand until she saw who offered it. Seeing that it was Harry who stood before her, she quickly withdrew her hand and ran over to her group of friends who were all whispering nervously.
Harry stood there for a few moments staring at the wall. This type of reaction to him happened a lot since the Triwizard Tournament, but it took him by surprise every time. He understood why people were nervous around him, and why some even feared him. If Harry knew someone who was a beacon for Voldemort, he'd probably be a little weary around him also, but that didn't take the sting out of watching people run away from him. He heard Hermione and Ron come up behind him, Hermione put a hand on his shoulder and Ron picked up Harry's books.
"Don't mind her Harry." Hermione said. "You know first years are always a little jumpy."
"Its ok, I'm used to it." Harry said. He took his books from Ron, "It really doesn't bother me anymore." he lied.
Sensing the tense moment Ron searched his mind for something to break the silence following Harry's statement (which both he and Hermione knew was a lie). Unfortunately all that he could come up with was...
"So, what do you all think about this family tree assignment? "
Hermione glared at him, motioning her head towards Harry with a "now-is-not-a-good-time" look.
Ron got the hint. He hadn't thought about how hard the assignment was going to be for Harry. Besides the fact that both his parents were dead, his only living relatives, the Dursleys, would certainly not help Harry trace down his family history. Especially if they knew it was an assignment for Hogwarts.
Harry had also seen Hermione's glare at Ron. "It's okay," said Harry interrupting Ron's attempts to change the subject, "I know that finding out anything about my family history is going to be hard, but I am actually looking forward to doing a family tree. Maybe Siri- err- Snuffles can help me out."
"Good idea." Hermione said.
Harry thought it was a good idea. He was actually excited by the thought of maybe finding out some information about his family and was surprised that he hadn't thought about it before.
*******
Harry's excitement soon faded because after two weeks he still wasn't any closer to even starting his family tree. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried. He had looked through what few pictures he had of his parents, but found nothing. He had thought about talking to Dumbledore and seeing if he knew anything about his family, but Dumbledore had seem too preoccupied as of late to talk to. His biggest disappointment was that because of a freak course of stormy weather, they weren't allowed to send owls out. This meant that Harry hadn't been able to contact Sirius.
"I'm almost to the point of writing to the Dursleys and asking Aunt Petunia about my family. Not that she would bother to reply..." Harry said voicing his concerns to Ron and Hermione during dinner.
"Don't let it get to you Harry, you'll find something." Ron said
"It's due tomorrow, Ron" Harry said looking up from his plate.
"You could always go to Professor Binns and explain the situation." Hermione added.
"What's wrong Harry? Can't find anyone in your family that is still alive?" said a sly voice from the Slytherin table.
Harry knew the owner of the voice without even looking.
"Shut up Malfoy." Ron said through a mouthful of potatoes.
"Just ignore him." Hermione said to Harry.
Ron swallowed and then added, "You have it easy Draco, to find your closest relatives you just have to look under a rock or wallow around in the mud."
Draco's ears turned bright red, which made his blond hair stand out even more. Draco then turned to Harry, "Well at least they're all alive, everyone around you seems to die, right Potter?"
Harry felt a rush of blood flow to his cheeks and tried to conceal a wave of fury that swept over him, "Go to hell Malfoy."
"All right, Potter" Malfoy hissed, "I'll be sure to tell your mum hi."
Harry felt another wave of anger that could not be suppressed and slammed his fists on the table. Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Gryffindor table paused. They all stared at Harry wondering what he was going to do. He got to his feet and walked over to the Slytherin table.
"Take that back Malfoy!" Harry said between clenched teeth.
"Why? Did I hurt poor little Potter's feelings?" Draco said mockingly. He then turn back to his food and added "Go frighten some small children, isn't that what your good at? Scaring people?" Draco got a few laughs from his fellow Slytherins at the table.
Harry was furious and with out thinking, pushed Draco's head into his plate of food. This time the laughs came from the Gryffindor table. Draco wiped his face with the sleeve of his robe and looked at Harry furiously. He was quite a sight standing there with his now red face dripping with gravy. Once Draco retained his composure he walked up to Harry and shoved him backwards into his own table.
"Stand up, Potter!" Draco shouted with wand raised.
Harry grimaced and rubbed his lower back which had just encountered the back of a chair. Harry looked up at Draco's raised wand. If it was fight Draco wanted, then a fight he would get.
"I said stand up!" Draco repeated, this time gesturing with his wand.
Harry stood up and approached Draco and aimed his wand at him. Draco and Harry were now no more then a couple of feet apart. Harry tried to quickly think of a curse bad enough to put on Draco. Finally he came up with something perfect for Draco, something he knew Draco desperately deserved. Draco opened his mouth to begin the duel, but before Draco could get a word out, Harry let his wand fall out of his hand, and made his hand into a fist. Before he knew it, Harry felt his hand encounter Draco's face, specifically his nose. There were immediate cheers from the Gryffindor table as Draco stumbled back shocked and holding his bloody nose. Harry's hand hurt like hell but he wasn't going to let Malfoy see it. The hoorahs quieted down as Professor Snape came in. He didn't even ask for an explanation. All that Snape needed to see was Draco's bloody nose and Harry beside him to come to a conclusion.
"FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR, AND DETENTION FOR YOU, POTTER!" Snape screamed at Harry.
Harry didn't even try to fight the punishment; he knew it wouldn't work anyway. He picked up his wand and walked out of the room, paying no attention to Ron who was smiling broadly at the fact that Draco Malfoy was bleeding.
As he was still furious at Malfoy and Snape, plus the fact that he still did not have a family tree to present the next day, Harry found it impossible to sleep. Around midnight Harry crawled from his bed and opened his trunk. Harry pulled out the picture album of his parents. Looking at the pictures of his parents at their wedding always made Harry feel happy and sad at the same time. Although he had studied the pictures numerous times, this time something caught his eye. He looked closer and beside the picture of a younger Sirius there was a young woman he hadn't noticed before. She had her back to the camera and looked as if she was chatting to someone. Harry looked peered closer at the picture until the tip of his nose touched it. Suddenly the woman turned around and looked at Harry dead on. Ahh! Harry yelled and threw himself back so far that he and the book fell off the bed and landed with a thump on the floor. On his back, Harry looked around and realized, thankfully, that no one had witnessed his fall.
"Stupid." Harry said to himself. He was used to seeing people in pictures move around, but this was different. There was something about her eyes, something odd, and yet something familiar. Harry picked up the book and stared back at the picture, but it was the same as it always had been. The woman's back was towards him again. "I need some sleep." Harry said aloud and closed the book. However, there was something sticking up on the inside corner of the cover. "Great." Harry thought, "I broke it." Upon closer inspection he found that it wasn't broken, but there was a little piece of parchment sticking up from the corner. Harry pulled and pulled on it gently until he held a decent sized sheet of parchment in his hand. He unfolded it and his green eyes grew large. Harry realized he was holding a Potter family tree.
"Wow." Harry whispered. It was a beautiful rendering of the branches of a tree and it had all the names of his family going all the way up to his great great grandparents, Robert Potter and Sarah Grey. As Harry looked over it, he realized that he only held a section of the entire tree (the corners were torn and some of the names were cut off), but Harry thought what he had was incredible. Harry read it over in amazement, starting at the top he traced his father's family line, but stopped at his parents' names. Harry frowned; he had never realized that they had been so young when they died. Harry then started to read down his mother's lineage. He then saw something that made his heart beat faster, "Oh my god." he said aloud, "oh my god."
********************************
This is my first fan fic. How am I doing? Please review, so I know if I should continue or just leave the story to run amuck in my head. :)
Chapter One: The Assignment
Harry Potter was falling asleep again. He was stuck in the middle of his History of Magic class, listening to one of Professor Binns' less than stimulating lectures. Today's lesson of boredom was on the family lineage of some of the more famous wizards and witches. Harry suppressed a yawn, although not very well, and looked around the room. Sitting beside him, Harry's best friend Ron Weasley had given up struggling against sleep and was dozing lightly with his head propped up on his elbow, and a drop of drool forming on the corner of his mouth. Most of the other students in the classroom were in the same state as Ron, or close to it. Even Hermione seemed less than enthralled by today's lesson.
Harry slumped back in his chair and allowed himself to get lost in his own thoughts. Everyone was on edge since Voldemort had returned to power only a few months earlier. Although there hadn't been any sightings of him or any deaths that anyone could attribute to him or any other Death Eater, many feared there soon would be. Harry on the other hand was not as worried, which was ironic, as he had the most to fear. Harry reached up and touched his scar, something he had been doing almost constantly since the night of the Triwizard Tournament. Chills still ran through him every time he remembered that night, and the pain associated with it. Ever since the tournament Harry had expected to feel that familiar pain in his head, but never did. Harry took this to mean that Voldemort hadn't increased his powers yet or was lying low. At least Harry liked to think this was the reason.
"…and that concludes the lineage of Sir Elwood the short-toed knight." Professor Binns' voice brought Harry back to the present. He nudged Ron who stirred and lazily opened his eyes.
Professor Binns continued, "For homework I would like each of you to come up with your own family tree and present it to the class two weeks from today. Class is dismissed."
Harry along with his other classmates gathered his belongings and headed for the door. A family tree? Harry thought. How am I going to do a family tree? He was so preoccupied with this thought that he ran into a first year girl as he stepped into the hall. His books as well as the girl went falling to the floor. "I'm so sorry." Harry said, offering his hand to help her up. The girl started to take his hand until she saw who offered it. Seeing that it was Harry who stood before her, she quickly withdrew her hand and ran over to her group of friends who were all whispering nervously.
Harry stood there for a few moments staring at the wall. This type of reaction to him happened a lot since the Triwizard Tournament, but it took him by surprise every time. He understood why people were nervous around him, and why some even feared him. If Harry knew someone who was a beacon for Voldemort, he'd probably be a little weary around him also, but that didn't take the sting out of watching people run away from him. He heard Hermione and Ron come up behind him, Hermione put a hand on his shoulder and Ron picked up Harry's books.
"Don't mind her Harry." Hermione said. "You know first years are always a little jumpy."
"Its ok, I'm used to it." Harry said. He took his books from Ron, "It really doesn't bother me anymore." he lied.
Sensing the tense moment Ron searched his mind for something to break the silence following Harry's statement (which both he and Hermione knew was a lie). Unfortunately all that he could come up with was...
"So, what do you all think about this family tree assignment? "
Hermione glared at him, motioning her head towards Harry with a "now-is-not-a-good-time" look.
Ron got the hint. He hadn't thought about how hard the assignment was going to be for Harry. Besides the fact that both his parents were dead, his only living relatives, the Dursleys, would certainly not help Harry trace down his family history. Especially if they knew it was an assignment for Hogwarts.
Harry had also seen Hermione's glare at Ron. "It's okay," said Harry interrupting Ron's attempts to change the subject, "I know that finding out anything about my family history is going to be hard, but I am actually looking forward to doing a family tree. Maybe Siri- err- Snuffles can help me out."
"Good idea." Hermione said.
Harry thought it was a good idea. He was actually excited by the thought of maybe finding out some information about his family and was surprised that he hadn't thought about it before.
*******
Harry's excitement soon faded because after two weeks he still wasn't any closer to even starting his family tree. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried. He had looked through what few pictures he had of his parents, but found nothing. He had thought about talking to Dumbledore and seeing if he knew anything about his family, but Dumbledore had seem too preoccupied as of late to talk to. His biggest disappointment was that because of a freak course of stormy weather, they weren't allowed to send owls out. This meant that Harry hadn't been able to contact Sirius.
"I'm almost to the point of writing to the Dursleys and asking Aunt Petunia about my family. Not that she would bother to reply..." Harry said voicing his concerns to Ron and Hermione during dinner.
"Don't let it get to you Harry, you'll find something." Ron said
"It's due tomorrow, Ron" Harry said looking up from his plate.
"You could always go to Professor Binns and explain the situation." Hermione added.
"What's wrong Harry? Can't find anyone in your family that is still alive?" said a sly voice from the Slytherin table.
Harry knew the owner of the voice without even looking.
"Shut up Malfoy." Ron said through a mouthful of potatoes.
"Just ignore him." Hermione said to Harry.
Ron swallowed and then added, "You have it easy Draco, to find your closest relatives you just have to look under a rock or wallow around in the mud."
Draco's ears turned bright red, which made his blond hair stand out even more. Draco then turned to Harry, "Well at least they're all alive, everyone around you seems to die, right Potter?"
Harry felt a rush of blood flow to his cheeks and tried to conceal a wave of fury that swept over him, "Go to hell Malfoy."
"All right, Potter" Malfoy hissed, "I'll be sure to tell your mum hi."
Harry felt another wave of anger that could not be suppressed and slammed his fists on the table. Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Gryffindor table paused. They all stared at Harry wondering what he was going to do. He got to his feet and walked over to the Slytherin table.
"Take that back Malfoy!" Harry said between clenched teeth.
"Why? Did I hurt poor little Potter's feelings?" Draco said mockingly. He then turn back to his food and added "Go frighten some small children, isn't that what your good at? Scaring people?" Draco got a few laughs from his fellow Slytherins at the table.
Harry was furious and with out thinking, pushed Draco's head into his plate of food. This time the laughs came from the Gryffindor table. Draco wiped his face with the sleeve of his robe and looked at Harry furiously. He was quite a sight standing there with his now red face dripping with gravy. Once Draco retained his composure he walked up to Harry and shoved him backwards into his own table.
"Stand up, Potter!" Draco shouted with wand raised.
Harry grimaced and rubbed his lower back which had just encountered the back of a chair. Harry looked up at Draco's raised wand. If it was fight Draco wanted, then a fight he would get.
"I said stand up!" Draco repeated, this time gesturing with his wand.
Harry stood up and approached Draco and aimed his wand at him. Draco and Harry were now no more then a couple of feet apart. Harry tried to quickly think of a curse bad enough to put on Draco. Finally he came up with something perfect for Draco, something he knew Draco desperately deserved. Draco opened his mouth to begin the duel, but before Draco could get a word out, Harry let his wand fall out of his hand, and made his hand into a fist. Before he knew it, Harry felt his hand encounter Draco's face, specifically his nose. There were immediate cheers from the Gryffindor table as Draco stumbled back shocked and holding his bloody nose. Harry's hand hurt like hell but he wasn't going to let Malfoy see it. The hoorahs quieted down as Professor Snape came in. He didn't even ask for an explanation. All that Snape needed to see was Draco's bloody nose and Harry beside him to come to a conclusion.
"FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR, AND DETENTION FOR YOU, POTTER!" Snape screamed at Harry.
Harry didn't even try to fight the punishment; he knew it wouldn't work anyway. He picked up his wand and walked out of the room, paying no attention to Ron who was smiling broadly at the fact that Draco Malfoy was bleeding.
As he was still furious at Malfoy and Snape, plus the fact that he still did not have a family tree to present the next day, Harry found it impossible to sleep. Around midnight Harry crawled from his bed and opened his trunk. Harry pulled out the picture album of his parents. Looking at the pictures of his parents at their wedding always made Harry feel happy and sad at the same time. Although he had studied the pictures numerous times, this time something caught his eye. He looked closer and beside the picture of a younger Sirius there was a young woman he hadn't noticed before. She had her back to the camera and looked as if she was chatting to someone. Harry looked peered closer at the picture until the tip of his nose touched it. Suddenly the woman turned around and looked at Harry dead on. Ahh! Harry yelled and threw himself back so far that he and the book fell off the bed and landed with a thump on the floor. On his back, Harry looked around and realized, thankfully, that no one had witnessed his fall.
"Stupid." Harry said to himself. He was used to seeing people in pictures move around, but this was different. There was something about her eyes, something odd, and yet something familiar. Harry picked up the book and stared back at the picture, but it was the same as it always had been. The woman's back was towards him again. "I need some sleep." Harry said aloud and closed the book. However, there was something sticking up on the inside corner of the cover. "Great." Harry thought, "I broke it." Upon closer inspection he found that it wasn't broken, but there was a little piece of parchment sticking up from the corner. Harry pulled and pulled on it gently until he held a decent sized sheet of parchment in his hand. He unfolded it and his green eyes grew large. Harry realized he was holding a Potter family tree.
"Wow." Harry whispered. It was a beautiful rendering of the branches of a tree and it had all the names of his family going all the way up to his great great grandparents, Robert Potter and Sarah Grey. As Harry looked over it, he realized that he only held a section of the entire tree (the corners were torn and some of the names were cut off), but Harry thought what he had was incredible. Harry read it over in amazement, starting at the top he traced his father's family line, but stopped at his parents' names. Harry frowned; he had never realized that they had been so young when they died. Harry then started to read down his mother's lineage. He then saw something that made his heart beat faster, "Oh my god." he said aloud, "oh my god."
********************************
This is my first fan fic. How am I doing? Please review, so I know if I should continue or just leave the story to run amuck in my head. :)