1 Chapter 1
Harry walked into the house, careful not to track any mud in with him. He was at the Dursley's for the whole summer. He couldn't go to the Weasely's, for some reason no one had told him, that bothered him a bit…but there wasn't much he could do. The summer had been complete boredom until a martial arts and fencing gym moved into the vacant building behind the Dursley's house. Harry spent all the time he had learning what he could, knowing how to defend himself without a wand sounded useful. Dudley was taking lessons there, but Harry wasn't allowed to. Instead he spent the days outside watching Dudley's class through a window that was always open. If the Dursley's wouldn't let him take the class one way then he'd find another. Besides, this was a good way to keep his mind off the almost constant pain in his forehead. There was a constant pain in his scar, like it was being deeply scratched with needles all the time. Occasionally the pain became more severe, once or twice he'd collapsed from agony and one time, just the day before, he'd lost consciousness completely. Harry did his best to keep the Dursley's from knowing about the pains in his scar, he'd taught himself not to scream when he woke up from dreams feeling like a hot brand was on his forehead. Over the summer the amount of pain issuing from his scar had steadily increased. He wasn't sure what it meant, but he'd told Sirius about it. Harry trained himself as often as possible, which was most of the day, as long as the Durselys didn't see it was okay. So far he had progressed far beyond Dudley, who couldn't walk halfway around the block without breathing hard. Harry went up to his room, Hedwig sat in her cage, Harry wrinkled his nose and threw the dead mouse on the floor out the window. She had never learned not to bring home her dead prey. The Dursley's had left for the rest of the day, after threatening Harry with decapitation if anything unusual happened. So he had the house to himself for a change. Harry opened his dresser, hidden in the back was a lock pick. Making sure the Dursley's car wasn't in the driveway he went down to get his stuff.
Harry spent the rest of the day studying, he'd taken about 30 books out of the library, having memorized all the spells in them he'd traded with Hermione, who had taken out 10. Having just finished with these Harry was going through all his school books, making sure he knew every spell mentioned. He'd made his own book, with notes on all the spells he knew and the ones he'd learned over the summer. The book was now 350 pages long and he intended to memorize every book in the library at school once he got back. There were some difficult ones that he wasn't sure if he could do, but he had decided to try them all.
Late that night Harry was sitting in his room, polishing his wand. Or rather, he had been polishing it. Then he'd fallen into a sort of trance, trying his hardest to control the agony, which had suddenly washed over him. Harry started and came out of his trance with a jump, the pain was gone, for now. Taking a quick look at the clock he saw that it was 11:58, two more minutes till he was 15. He put away his wand and the polish under his bed. RAP! Harry looked up and opened the window for four owls and an eagle. The first owl dropped its letter on his head and soared out again. The others waited to have packages untied. Harry nervously went to the eagle, its talons were huge and looked extremely sharp. It had already hit one owl (pig) over the head for flying into it. Harry slowly reached out, the eagle stayed still. It let him untie that package on its leg before leaving. With a sigh of relief Harry turned to the other owls, one was Ron's owl Pig, the Eagle had been from Sirius, and the first had been the form from Hogwarts. That meant the others were from Hermione and Hagrid. Harry started with his letter from school. It was a lot bigger then normally. He opened it, it had the usual list of books and supplies then came the interesting part. Batting pig out of his way Harry read.
Dear Harry,
You have been chosen as one of the Gryffindor house Prefects. Congratulations! The other prefects are Hermione Granger, Ron Weasely. Your badge must be worn at all times, except for quidditch matches. The first day of school there will be a meeting of all the prefects in the staff room right before lunch. The new password to Gryffindor tower is Bravery.
Sincerely,
Prof. McGonagal
Harry looked in the second envelope that had been inside the first. His prefect badge had a red and gold Gryffindor lion over a purple H under the word PREFECT, also in purple. Next was the list of supplies.
Fifth year students will require.
Four sets of robes (black)
One set of dress robes
Wand
Caldron (Pewter size 18)
One set of healing ingredients (set 4)
One set of muggle clothes, dark green or blue. (Can be bought in Madam Malkin's Robe shop)
Standard book of spells grade five
Advanced Potion volume 1
Defend yourself against dark magics
Transfiguration Guide
Next he turned to the eagle's letter and package, Sirius's letter read.
Dear Harry,
I hope you've had an okay summer, try to be patient with the muggles. I've captured Wormtail, and asked for a trial. I went to the Aurors first though, they believed me, I was after all an Auror before being sent to Azkaban. They've pulled some strings at the Ministry, Fudge was powerless to stop them. The right people are very much in control now, and will remain so until my trial is over. Since you are a part of it you'll be asked ot come. Mundungus Fletcher will arrive in two weeks and bring you to the Auror Court. After the trial, regardless of result, you'll go to Hogwarts for the remainder of the summer.
Look at your present, it should help you remember any dreams you have. Just sleep with it under your pillow each night. It's very powerful and will be able to record any dreams of Voldemort or his supporters that you may have. It records dreams as they are, not in writing but in pictures, like muggle movies. To see a dream you don't remember just tap it with your wand and say replay. When you get to Hogwarts I'm sure that Dumbledore will want to see any dreams you've had. Don't worry about using magic, the ministry won't detect the magic used for this. See you soon.
Thank you,
1.1 Sirius
Harry look at the parchment, it was pure white and the edges were blue. Harry put Sirius's letter on his dresser, it certainly was the longest letter he'd ever gotten from Sirius. He put the dream recorder under his pillow and turned to Ron's present. Ron sent him a very large cupcake and a set of ten quills, you could suck on them during class, each had a different taste, and you couldn't taste any ink. Hermione sent him a book of useful charms, jinxes, curses, and hexes. Hagrid had sent him a never- melting ice cream cake, a dozen cookies, an apple pie and a Magical Animal Identification book. Harry was relieved to see food, Dudley was still on a diet, he'd lost twenty pounds over the year, but he was still too big for a normal chair. Harry flipped through the book quickly, suddenly Hedwig woke and gave a small hoot. Harry put everything under his bed as he heard Dudley wake. After a second he realized that Dudley was just talking in his sleep and relaxed.
That night Harry was almost eager to dream, he wanted to see if Sirius's gift really worked. On the other hand that pain that went with his dreams was awful. He didn't have long to wait, he was barely asleep when he felt his mind seized by the dreams. This time he was watching a Ministry meeting.
The Minister was speaking, "how can he be back?" His voice was filled with pleading, hoping that someone would say it was all just a joke. An old Ministry member stood up to speak, he looked angry.
"Minister can you deny the evidence? Prof. Dumbledore gave the story of what happened to Harry Potter last year at the end of the Tri Wizard Tournament while under two truth spells and Veritaserum. How could he lie? Then there's that attack a week ago, three squibs and one muggle killed. What about Bertha Jorkins? Barty Crouch? His son? Dumbledore gave us the whole story yet you still say that it's just a bunch of lunatics thinking he-who-must-not-be-named has returned, or lies! Admit it, you're scared of loosing your position, you don't care what happens so long as it doesn't harm you!" The Minister looked pitiful under the glares of the 24 others at the meeting. Arthur Weasely stood up.
"We must turn to the aurors for help, they stood by us until you started this silly nonsense about Voldemort's return as a plot to get at you. If you are not willing to help, to save wizarding kind then I suggest that we pick a new Minister, a better one!" Cheers rang out in the meeting hall. A young Ministry member on the Minister's left held up a hand.
"We'll vote on the matter. Those who think that we ought to elect a new Minister raise your hands." Every hand but three went up. 51 to 3. Lucious Malfoy, Macnair, and one other sat still. Fudge trembled in his seat, frightened. The Ministry member on Arthur Weasely's right stood to speak but Harry's dreams didn't wait. They brought him ahead in time, now the building was filled with people, standing on platforms in front of them were four people. Arthur Weasely, Malfoy, and two others. Harry tried to read the names written on the front of the platforms, but there were to many people in the way. Looking at the two he didn't know Harry realized that one of them was familiar. Then the man turned so Harry could see his face, it was one of the death eaters he'd seen the year before. He was missing a chip from his ear on his left side. The crowd watching quieted. A Ministry member standing in front of the four people called for silence and began.
"It has been three days since we decided to elect a new Minister, due to Cornilius Fudge's incapability to handle he-who-must-not-be-named's return. The entire Wizarding World has voted, the results are in and I'm proud to announce that the new Minister of Magic is Arthur Weasely!" The people erupted into cheers, the other three candidates looked unhappy, but the one Harry didn't recognize was shaking Arthur's hand. Malfoy and his fellow death eater were glaring at Mr. Weasely. The Ministry member called for silence again. Harry could see the dark mark burning into Mr. Malfoy's arm. The other death eater left as quietly as possible, walking toward the nearest exit. Mr. Malfoy stayed where he was, the fact that the death eater had not apparated out but had walked told Harry that it was impossible to apparate into or out of this building. He looked back at the meeting, and man he didn't know had come to the center of the floor. "Members of the Ministry, you have elected a new Minister, who will hopefully take Voldemort seriously. I have been sent to represent the aurors in dealing with you. We have watched the rest of the wizarding world since Voldemort's downfall and we have plans for keeping him from taking over. These involve recruiting anyone who is willing to fight, there are not many of us left, we have had a hard time finding new ones until very recently since people don't think that we are needed anymore. I know many of you are parents and you are concerned for your children, most of whom attend Hogwarts. Rest assured that all the enchantments protecting the school have been strengthened, the new DADA teacher and the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher are both Aurors of high rank and ability.
We will be talking with Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts on other plans. We suggest for your safety that you keep away from hooded strangers and go nowhere without making sure that help will be nearby. We'll be meeting with the Ministry members privately over the next few months to arrange Dark Mark checks on everyone and protection spells against capture. You will see agents occasionally patrolling around everywhere in the wizarding world, please try to not hinder them and assist if needed, good luck to you all." He walked over to the new Minister and everyone began to leave. Harry felt a sharp pain across his scar and woke with a start.
Harry completely forgot about his dream after he checked it again using the replay spell. He spent the day finishing a little homework and teaching Hedwig to fetch.
Late that evening Harry went outside, while he'd been at school a fence had been erected around the back of the house and on the sides. He could practice quidditch here at night and be sure no one could see him. The yard was about 30 yards by 20 yards so he had plenty of room. The fence was wood and about six inches think. There was not a single opening in between the boards. The boards were at an angle so each one overlapped the end of the one before it. The fence was nearly eight feet high so Harry didn't have to worry about anyone looking over. The houses on either side were one story and didn't have any windows, or very few, on the side near the Dursley's house. Harry used glow-in-the-dark gold balls which he would throw and catch. Since it was no challenge to throw a golf ball and fly to where he could catch it Harry had started to teach himself some of the more dangerous seeker moves. He'd get up to top speed and roll over, kneel on his broom, dive at the ground to practice quick turns, and a variety of other things. When Harry had first asked the Dursley's if he could practice flying by night they had been shocked and angry. "And risk the neighbors finding out about your abnormality?????" Uncle Vernon had roared at him. Harry had explained that if he didn't fly his broom for at least seven hours a week it would start flying around of its own accord uncontrollably.
"Then why hasn't it done that before?" Vernon had asked nastily, though he'd been very pale at the idea of a out-of-control broom.
"Because this is a new broom, my godfather gave it to me, it's the best type of broom there is, very fast and very high strung." Harry had replied, trying to keep a straight face, Dudley had nearly wet himself when Harry mentioned his broom going haywire.
"Fine, but it had better not go…go haywire anyway boy! And if the neighbors say just one word…!" He left the rest unsaid, Harry grinned, since he'd learned to pick a lock they couldn't lock him up anymore, though they'd probably bar up his window and lock him in as best they could. Since then he'd been allowed to fly for two hours on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and one hour on Wednesday.
Late that night Harry went to bed, if you could call it that. Every half an hour or so he woke up, sweating from pain, it had been like this for three weeks now. He got what sleep he could and suffered through the rest. Hedwig hooted from her cage, Harry sighed and got up. No use trying to go back to sleep for half an hour, or until the pain eased enough to. Pacing back and forth Harry thought angrily, it wasn't fair, he hadn't done anything to deserve this almost constant pain.
Harry walked into the house, careful not to track any mud in with him. He was at the Dursley's for the whole summer. He couldn't go to the Weasely's, for some reason no one had told him, that bothered him a bit…but there wasn't much he could do. The summer had been complete boredom until a martial arts and fencing gym moved into the vacant building behind the Dursley's house. Harry spent all the time he had learning what he could, knowing how to defend himself without a wand sounded useful. Dudley was taking lessons there, but Harry wasn't allowed to. Instead he spent the days outside watching Dudley's class through a window that was always open. If the Dursley's wouldn't let him take the class one way then he'd find another. Besides, this was a good way to keep his mind off the almost constant pain in his forehead. There was a constant pain in his scar, like it was being deeply scratched with needles all the time. Occasionally the pain became more severe, once or twice he'd collapsed from agony and one time, just the day before, he'd lost consciousness completely. Harry did his best to keep the Dursley's from knowing about the pains in his scar, he'd taught himself not to scream when he woke up from dreams feeling like a hot brand was on his forehead. Over the summer the amount of pain issuing from his scar had steadily increased. He wasn't sure what it meant, but he'd told Sirius about it. Harry trained himself as often as possible, which was most of the day, as long as the Durselys didn't see it was okay. So far he had progressed far beyond Dudley, who couldn't walk halfway around the block without breathing hard. Harry went up to his room, Hedwig sat in her cage, Harry wrinkled his nose and threw the dead mouse on the floor out the window. She had never learned not to bring home her dead prey. The Dursley's had left for the rest of the day, after threatening Harry with decapitation if anything unusual happened. So he had the house to himself for a change. Harry opened his dresser, hidden in the back was a lock pick. Making sure the Dursley's car wasn't in the driveway he went down to get his stuff.
Harry spent the rest of the day studying, he'd taken about 30 books out of the library, having memorized all the spells in them he'd traded with Hermione, who had taken out 10. Having just finished with these Harry was going through all his school books, making sure he knew every spell mentioned. He'd made his own book, with notes on all the spells he knew and the ones he'd learned over the summer. The book was now 350 pages long and he intended to memorize every book in the library at school once he got back. There were some difficult ones that he wasn't sure if he could do, but he had decided to try them all.
Late that night Harry was sitting in his room, polishing his wand. Or rather, he had been polishing it. Then he'd fallen into a sort of trance, trying his hardest to control the agony, which had suddenly washed over him. Harry started and came out of his trance with a jump, the pain was gone, for now. Taking a quick look at the clock he saw that it was 11:58, two more minutes till he was 15. He put away his wand and the polish under his bed. RAP! Harry looked up and opened the window for four owls and an eagle. The first owl dropped its letter on his head and soared out again. The others waited to have packages untied. Harry nervously went to the eagle, its talons were huge and looked extremely sharp. It had already hit one owl (pig) over the head for flying into it. Harry slowly reached out, the eagle stayed still. It let him untie that package on its leg before leaving. With a sigh of relief Harry turned to the other owls, one was Ron's owl Pig, the Eagle had been from Sirius, and the first had been the form from Hogwarts. That meant the others were from Hermione and Hagrid. Harry started with his letter from school. It was a lot bigger then normally. He opened it, it had the usual list of books and supplies then came the interesting part. Batting pig out of his way Harry read.
Dear Harry,
You have been chosen as one of the Gryffindor house Prefects. Congratulations! The other prefects are Hermione Granger, Ron Weasely. Your badge must be worn at all times, except for quidditch matches. The first day of school there will be a meeting of all the prefects in the staff room right before lunch. The new password to Gryffindor tower is Bravery.
Sincerely,
Prof. McGonagal
Harry looked in the second envelope that had been inside the first. His prefect badge had a red and gold Gryffindor lion over a purple H under the word PREFECT, also in purple. Next was the list of supplies.
Fifth year students will require.
Four sets of robes (black)
One set of dress robes
Wand
Caldron (Pewter size 18)
One set of healing ingredients (set 4)
One set of muggle clothes, dark green or blue. (Can be bought in Madam Malkin's Robe shop)
Standard book of spells grade five
Advanced Potion volume 1
Defend yourself against dark magics
Transfiguration Guide
Next he turned to the eagle's letter and package, Sirius's letter read.
Dear Harry,
I hope you've had an okay summer, try to be patient with the muggles. I've captured Wormtail, and asked for a trial. I went to the Aurors first though, they believed me, I was after all an Auror before being sent to Azkaban. They've pulled some strings at the Ministry, Fudge was powerless to stop them. The right people are very much in control now, and will remain so until my trial is over. Since you are a part of it you'll be asked ot come. Mundungus Fletcher will arrive in two weeks and bring you to the Auror Court. After the trial, regardless of result, you'll go to Hogwarts for the remainder of the summer.
Look at your present, it should help you remember any dreams you have. Just sleep with it under your pillow each night. It's very powerful and will be able to record any dreams of Voldemort or his supporters that you may have. It records dreams as they are, not in writing but in pictures, like muggle movies. To see a dream you don't remember just tap it with your wand and say replay. When you get to Hogwarts I'm sure that Dumbledore will want to see any dreams you've had. Don't worry about using magic, the ministry won't detect the magic used for this. See you soon.
Thank you,
1.1 Sirius
Harry look at the parchment, it was pure white and the edges were blue. Harry put Sirius's letter on his dresser, it certainly was the longest letter he'd ever gotten from Sirius. He put the dream recorder under his pillow and turned to Ron's present. Ron sent him a very large cupcake and a set of ten quills, you could suck on them during class, each had a different taste, and you couldn't taste any ink. Hermione sent him a book of useful charms, jinxes, curses, and hexes. Hagrid had sent him a never- melting ice cream cake, a dozen cookies, an apple pie and a Magical Animal Identification book. Harry was relieved to see food, Dudley was still on a diet, he'd lost twenty pounds over the year, but he was still too big for a normal chair. Harry flipped through the book quickly, suddenly Hedwig woke and gave a small hoot. Harry put everything under his bed as he heard Dudley wake. After a second he realized that Dudley was just talking in his sleep and relaxed.
That night Harry was almost eager to dream, he wanted to see if Sirius's gift really worked. On the other hand that pain that went with his dreams was awful. He didn't have long to wait, he was barely asleep when he felt his mind seized by the dreams. This time he was watching a Ministry meeting.
The Minister was speaking, "how can he be back?" His voice was filled with pleading, hoping that someone would say it was all just a joke. An old Ministry member stood up to speak, he looked angry.
"Minister can you deny the evidence? Prof. Dumbledore gave the story of what happened to Harry Potter last year at the end of the Tri Wizard Tournament while under two truth spells and Veritaserum. How could he lie? Then there's that attack a week ago, three squibs and one muggle killed. What about Bertha Jorkins? Barty Crouch? His son? Dumbledore gave us the whole story yet you still say that it's just a bunch of lunatics thinking he-who-must-not-be-named has returned, or lies! Admit it, you're scared of loosing your position, you don't care what happens so long as it doesn't harm you!" The Minister looked pitiful under the glares of the 24 others at the meeting. Arthur Weasely stood up.
"We must turn to the aurors for help, they stood by us until you started this silly nonsense about Voldemort's return as a plot to get at you. If you are not willing to help, to save wizarding kind then I suggest that we pick a new Minister, a better one!" Cheers rang out in the meeting hall. A young Ministry member on the Minister's left held up a hand.
"We'll vote on the matter. Those who think that we ought to elect a new Minister raise your hands." Every hand but three went up. 51 to 3. Lucious Malfoy, Macnair, and one other sat still. Fudge trembled in his seat, frightened. The Ministry member on Arthur Weasely's right stood to speak but Harry's dreams didn't wait. They brought him ahead in time, now the building was filled with people, standing on platforms in front of them were four people. Arthur Weasely, Malfoy, and two others. Harry tried to read the names written on the front of the platforms, but there were to many people in the way. Looking at the two he didn't know Harry realized that one of them was familiar. Then the man turned so Harry could see his face, it was one of the death eaters he'd seen the year before. He was missing a chip from his ear on his left side. The crowd watching quieted. A Ministry member standing in front of the four people called for silence and began.
"It has been three days since we decided to elect a new Minister, due to Cornilius Fudge's incapability to handle he-who-must-not-be-named's return. The entire Wizarding World has voted, the results are in and I'm proud to announce that the new Minister of Magic is Arthur Weasely!" The people erupted into cheers, the other three candidates looked unhappy, but the one Harry didn't recognize was shaking Arthur's hand. Malfoy and his fellow death eater were glaring at Mr. Weasely. The Ministry member called for silence again. Harry could see the dark mark burning into Mr. Malfoy's arm. The other death eater left as quietly as possible, walking toward the nearest exit. Mr. Malfoy stayed where he was, the fact that the death eater had not apparated out but had walked told Harry that it was impossible to apparate into or out of this building. He looked back at the meeting, and man he didn't know had come to the center of the floor. "Members of the Ministry, you have elected a new Minister, who will hopefully take Voldemort seriously. I have been sent to represent the aurors in dealing with you. We have watched the rest of the wizarding world since Voldemort's downfall and we have plans for keeping him from taking over. These involve recruiting anyone who is willing to fight, there are not many of us left, we have had a hard time finding new ones until very recently since people don't think that we are needed anymore. I know many of you are parents and you are concerned for your children, most of whom attend Hogwarts. Rest assured that all the enchantments protecting the school have been strengthened, the new DADA teacher and the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher are both Aurors of high rank and ability.
We will be talking with Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts on other plans. We suggest for your safety that you keep away from hooded strangers and go nowhere without making sure that help will be nearby. We'll be meeting with the Ministry members privately over the next few months to arrange Dark Mark checks on everyone and protection spells against capture. You will see agents occasionally patrolling around everywhere in the wizarding world, please try to not hinder them and assist if needed, good luck to you all." He walked over to the new Minister and everyone began to leave. Harry felt a sharp pain across his scar and woke with a start.
Harry completely forgot about his dream after he checked it again using the replay spell. He spent the day finishing a little homework and teaching Hedwig to fetch.
Late that evening Harry went outside, while he'd been at school a fence had been erected around the back of the house and on the sides. He could practice quidditch here at night and be sure no one could see him. The yard was about 30 yards by 20 yards so he had plenty of room. The fence was wood and about six inches think. There was not a single opening in between the boards. The boards were at an angle so each one overlapped the end of the one before it. The fence was nearly eight feet high so Harry didn't have to worry about anyone looking over. The houses on either side were one story and didn't have any windows, or very few, on the side near the Dursley's house. Harry used glow-in-the-dark gold balls which he would throw and catch. Since it was no challenge to throw a golf ball and fly to where he could catch it Harry had started to teach himself some of the more dangerous seeker moves. He'd get up to top speed and roll over, kneel on his broom, dive at the ground to practice quick turns, and a variety of other things. When Harry had first asked the Dursley's if he could practice flying by night they had been shocked and angry. "And risk the neighbors finding out about your abnormality?????" Uncle Vernon had roared at him. Harry had explained that if he didn't fly his broom for at least seven hours a week it would start flying around of its own accord uncontrollably.
"Then why hasn't it done that before?" Vernon had asked nastily, though he'd been very pale at the idea of a out-of-control broom.
"Because this is a new broom, my godfather gave it to me, it's the best type of broom there is, very fast and very high strung." Harry had replied, trying to keep a straight face, Dudley had nearly wet himself when Harry mentioned his broom going haywire.
"Fine, but it had better not go…go haywire anyway boy! And if the neighbors say just one word…!" He left the rest unsaid, Harry grinned, since he'd learned to pick a lock they couldn't lock him up anymore, though they'd probably bar up his window and lock him in as best they could. Since then he'd been allowed to fly for two hours on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and one hour on Wednesday.
Late that night Harry went to bed, if you could call it that. Every half an hour or so he woke up, sweating from pain, it had been like this for three weeks now. He got what sleep he could and suffered through the rest. Hedwig hooted from her cage, Harry sighed and got up. No use trying to go back to sleep for half an hour, or until the pain eased enough to. Pacing back and forth Harry thought angrily, it wasn't fair, he hadn't done anything to deserve this almost constant pain.