Chapter 01: The Enchanted Journal

Harry Potter woke up early in the morning with a splitting headache. This headache was not like his 'scar pain' but was more like the headache one would have when you go many days without adequate sleep. Harry recalled that he had had nightmares the last couple of days and his mood kept swinging between anger, sadness and frustration. The more he thought of his current situation, the more he was furious!

Harry was furious at himself for letting his friends follow him into danger at the Department of Mysteries and getting hurt while battling Death Eaters. He was furious at Severus Snape for making his life miserable at Hogwarts. He was furious at the Drusleys for making his life miserable at No. 4, Privet Drive. He was furious at Albus Dumbledore for hiding the prophecy from him for so long. He was furious at Lord Voldemort for his innumerable attempts to kill him. Most importantly, he was furious at Sirius Black for dying.

The thought of Sirius Black dying brought over him an overwhelming feeling of melancholy and frustration. He had lost yet another connection to his parents and he was responsible for it. Harry could count on his finger tips the number of times he had interacted with Sirius Black. Yet his death seems to have affected his soul. He was the beacon in his life, someone who was willing to share his home with him and love him unconditionally. Sirius was Harry's desperately needed anchor in life to ground him and now he had lost him too. 'Had I listened to Hermione, Sirius would have been alive', he thought. 'How could I have been such a fool and run straight into the trap?'

Harry desperately needed someone in his life with whom he could discuss things. His blood relatives, the Drusleys, were terrible and were just waiting to throw him out of their home. His godfather, Sirius Black, was dead and Remus Lupin, the other good friend of his parents hardly ever wanted to play any major role in his life. The Weasley elders were a good substitute, but Molly Weasley was quite a mother hen who never liked her chicks to wander. Harry never built the rapport with Mr. Weasley to have a tete-e-tete. Ron was a good and loyal friend, but as Hermione put it, had an emotional range of a teaspoon. Hermione was a good friend, the intellectual powerhouse of the Golden trio, except that Harry wasn't as comfortable sharing things with her. Once she made up her mind, she would not stop badgering until you cave in. Ginny Weasley seemed to have lost her crush on the boy-who-lived and had recently developed the ability to speak in his presence. What Harry needed was either a parent figure in his life or at least a twin, someone who would understand him and help him find his path in life.

It had been three days since Harry had come to #4 Privet Drive and he always found a plate of food on his table three times a day. 'Bill Weasley, Tonks and Moody must have scared Uncle Vernon real good.' Harry chuckled at the thought. After washing up and downing a couple of Aspirins that he stole from Dudley's bathroom, Harry devoured the cold plate of Shepherd's pie and orange juice that Aunt Petunia had left for him last night.

Harry's vision rested on the black leather bound journal that Ginny have given him on the train journey back. Her only instruction had been 'Use it!' He was surprised to see it on top of the table when he remembered having had carelessly discarded it on the floor of his room. His curiosity aroused, Harry flipped the pages of the journal and found it to be empty. The only instruction in Ginny's handwriting was found on the first page under a galleon sized red circle. 'Say the password and touch the circle'

'Password? Hmm...' he thought out loud.

"Harry James Potter?" Harry touched the red circle on the page.

'Sorry! Incorrect password. Please try again' said the new instruction on the page again in a very familiar cursive handwriting.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley"

'Sorry! Incorrect password. Please try again'

"Ronald Bilius Weasley" "Hermione Granger?"

'Sorry! Incorrect password. Please try again'

"Hogwarts" "No. 12, Grimmauld Street" "No. 4, Privet Drive"

'Incorrect password given seven times in a row. Please try again after three hours.'

Harry got frustrated and threw the journal back on the table which upset Hedwig who hooted in indignation. "Sorry girl. Didn't mean to wake you up" Harry sighed and went back to his bed to a dreamless sleep.

Tap... Tap... Tap...

Harry woke up groggily and realized that the sun was up. He guessed that it must be around mid-afternoon. Realizing that the noise was from two owls, he opened the window and let them in. Hedwig hooted trying to scare the other owls away from her treats. "Easy girl, they are just delivering the mail"

"Ah! A letter from Ron and another from Hermione. I know what they are going to say"

Harry mocked Hermione before opening her letter. "How are you? Are you eating well? Are the muggles treating you right? Are you sleeping? Are you having dreams? Write to us. Let Professor Dumbledore know" True enough that was exactly what she had said. Harry balled up the letter in frustration and threw it into a corner. He opened Ron's letter and began to read.

Dear Harry,

How are you doing? Life here at the Burrow is very boring without you. It is just Ginny and me ("That's Ginny and I, Ron", Harry mocked.) at home now. Did I tell you that the twins have moved out to their own flat above their shop in Diagon Alley? Talk to Professor Dumbledore about when you can come over to the Burrow. We can play lots of Quidditch when you come over here. I hope the muggles are treating you right.

Ron

PS: Ginny says 'Marauders rule' whatever that means!

"Duh! The password!" Harry picked up the journal and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" and tapped the circle on the first page. Different set of letters start appearing on the page above the circle.

Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes

Present to you

The Enchanted Journal

Owner: Harry James Potter

Journal ID: 54SE2VE1F

'Wicked!!' exclaimed Harry. He quickly turned the page to read the instruction

'You may use any standard quill or muggle pen to write here'

Harry pulled out his self-inking quill from his trunk and wrote "Hello Journal"

'Hello Harry Potter'

Harry was so shocked seeing the new text appear that he dropped the journal on the table and jumped out of his chair. This journal freakishly reminded him of Tom Riddle's diary that had possessed Ginny and forced her to open the Chamber of Secrets during her second year. 'Could this be another dark object? Is this another of Voldemort's tricks?' Harry wondered. 'But that doesn't sound right. Why would it say it is a product of Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes?' As the realization dawned upon him, there was no way that Voldemort would have anything to do with the Weasleys. Harry wondered at the ingenuity of the twins to spin a past tragedy into a joke. The twins surely were geniuses. Harry was happy to have given his Tri-wizard competition earnings to them to start their new business.

Harry picked up the enchanted journal and flipped through the blank pages. "Cool! No exit password required unlike the Marauder's Map". He repeated the password again and tapped the red circle. 'This sure is an interesting toy. Let's see how clever the twins are...' he thought.

"Hello Journal", wrote Harry Potter.

"Hello Harry Potter. How are you?"

"I am fine! How do you know who I am?"

"You are fine? I suspect not. And by the way I know a lot about you."

'Pretty insightful journal' he thought.

"OK! I am not fine"

"Let me guess. Girl Trouble?"

'And a sense of humor too!' He laughed out loud. "Nope. No girl trouble here" 'Not had much luck there'

"Hmm... Would you say you are angry, sad, afraid, frustrated, worried, lonely, and vulnerable at least once in a day?"

Harry pondered about the question and wrote "um... Yes"

"There you go. Girl trouble. That explains it"

Harry burst out laughing for the first time in two weeks. 'This is childish, yet hilarious'

"No it doesn't explain it. I am angry at a lot of people. I am sad that my godfather is dead. I am afraid that my friendship will cause harm to my friends. I am frustrated that I am stuck here. I am worried and lonely because everyone who loves me ends up dying. I feel vulnerable because I have a mad hatter who is determined to kill me."

Harry was surprised that he was able to vocalize all his fears so easily to an anonymous journal.

"So, you see, it is not 'Girl trouble'"

"Ah! Point noted. So who all are you angry at?"

"A lot of people. My headmaster, my professor, my godfather, my relatives and my friends"

"My! My! I can understand about Snape but why are you angry at Professor Dumbledore? I thought he was your mentor"

"Wait! How do you know that? Who and What are you?" Harry asked suspiciously. This definitely did not look like just an enchanted object.

"Oh darn! I am stuck with one of those 'my life is private' ones. For lack of a better name, you started calling me 'Journal'. This journal was created by the smartest wizards and witches in this world. Ok, I had to say that or Gred and Forge would use me as their tester. I know about your professors because I know enough about your life. And you need not worry about me being a part of Tom Riddle's memory. What you share with me is obviously private and will not be shared with anyone. Nobody can see what you write in your journal except yourself. Happy?"

"Oh yeah? You know me, huh? When was I born?"

"July 31, 1980" 'Anybody could have guessed that. After all, I am the boy-who-lived'

"What position do I play in Quidditch?"

"Seeker! And you hold two records: to be the youngest seeker to play that position; and you have never ever failed to catch the snitch. Except once when you were out of the game due to a Dementor attack"

'That is pretty common knowledge too' Harry thought.

"Can I produce a Patronus charm? Who taught me?"

"Your Patronus is a full corporeal stag which you successfully used to prevent more than a hundred Dementors from attacking yourself and your godfather. Professor Lupin taught you the Patronus charm and Remus and I agree that you are a very powerful wizard."

'Flattery eh? I should ask some really tough questions' Harry wasn't ready to give up.

"Who saved me from Aragog?" Harry smirked as he thought up this trick question.

"Nobody. Aragog promised not to hurt you but could not extend that promise to his family. I would say that the Weasley's Ford Anglia and Hermione who taught you the Aranea Exumae spell saved your skin that night"

"Wow! That is pretty accurate. Didn't know that the twins had any seer or divination skills. OR there is someone else at the other end writing into another journal linked to this. Could only be Ginny Weasley!"

"Will I survive Voldemort?"

"Even I don't know that bit of information you seek, seeker!"

Harry chuckled at the pun. The twins really seemed to have hit the jackpot with this journal.

"But I do hope you survive. We can't have such a cute, brave and handsome hero dying, can we?"

"Flirtaceous, are we? Ok, one last question before I believe you"

"What answer do you seek, Seeker! Ha ha"

"Where am I and how did I get here?"

"That's easy. You are at Number 4, Privet Drive. Your next question is kinda vague. You took the Hogwarts Express to reach Kings Cross station. From there, your Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley came to pick you up to take you home, but not before Bill, Tonks and Moody had a 'talk' with your uncle. They sure were surprised that your Aunt Petunia did not come there to receive you."

'This has to be Ginny! No one else knows all these details and Hermione would be pretty direct' "Why do you say my question was vague?" Harry was intrigued.

"Because... the first time you were brought there... Rubeus Hagrid picked you up from Godric's Hollow and traveled to Privet Drive on the Sirius's flying motorcycle. There he met Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. They left you on the doorstep, rang the doorbell and left."

"Sirius's motorcycle? Professor McGonagall? I cant believe it! They just abandoned me as a baby and left?" Harry felt his anger rising. He didn't notice the brightness of his aura or the crackling sound of his magic overflowing.

"They did not abandon you. Professor Dumbledore wrote your Aunt a letter. I am sure he made sure that you were accepted by your aunt into your family before they left."

"What letter? Do you know the contents of that letter?"

"I am sorry! I don't know the contents of the letter. Maybe you could ask your uncle or aunt about it."

"Are you crazy? My Uncle would skin me alive!"

"Has he been threatening you? Has he hurt you?"

"Not this time. I think Bill and Moody's threat is still holding. Even though he hates me, he is not stupid enough to harm me."

"Why does your uncle hate you?"

"What do you mean?" Harry was clearly stumped by that question. He wasn't sure of why his Uncle hated him. He always assumed that his uncle hated him because his aunt hated his mother. But then, it did not make much sense as his aunt had never really shown hatred towards him. In fact he had seen some semblance of pity or even sympathy on her face whenever his uncle mistreated him. And Aunt Petunia had been secretly serving delicious, yet cold food the last few days.

"Does your Aunt Petunia hate you?"

'If there is no live person on the other end, the twins surely deserved a Nobel Prize or its wizarding equivalent for this invention' Harry was proud of the twins. 'Even if there is a person on the other end, it still is a cool invention. Surprising that Ginny is using it after the whole Chamber of Secrets fiasco.'

"No. I don't think Aunt Petunia hates me. I think she is afraid of Uncle Vernon and won't stop him from hurting me. She obviously loves Dudley more than me."

'So why does his Uncle hate him?' Harry thought

"I think he hates magic. That's why he hates me"

"How much magic have you done while you were there? You know you cant do any magic during summers!"

"I haven't done any magic except when Dobby dropped the cake on my uncle's guest. But that was Dobby, not me. And there was the time when I blew up my Aunt Marge like a balloon. I really don't understand why he hates me though. May be I should ask him."

Knock... knock...

Harry immediately shut the journal and threw his quill on the floor. He jumped onto the bed and pretended to be asleep. He heard the door opening and his aunt walking into his room. He felt his aunt stare at his sleeping form for a few minutes before she left the breakfast tray she brought for him and took the dinner plate away. She closed the door without making a sound and walked away from his room.

Gasp...

"Harry, Are you there? Talk to me please"

Ginny Weasley was shocked when she read the last sentence. She was scared of what Harry's muggle uncle would do to him. 'What have I done? Harry is going to get hurt because of my stupid suggestion' Panic set in and she was getting hysterical.

"Oi Ginny, are you ok?" Ron saw his sister sitting at the dining table writing in a journal when he heard her gasp. 'Since when did Ginny start writing in a journal again?' She was almost in tears and looked as if she had just had an encounter with a Boggart. Ron walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder and asked, "What happened? Are you ok?"

Ginny saw the look of concern on her brother's face and she couldn't hold it any longer. She threw her arms around her bother and started crying.

Ron was surprised by this reaction. He had never been at the receiving end of her hug. Bill and Charlie were the only ones among his siblings who would always get a hug from her. In fact, Ron had never seen Ginny not in control of herself. In spite of all the bad things that happened during her second year in the Chamber of Secrets, or in the fight with death eaters at the Department of Mysteries, Ron had never seen Ginny afraid. 'Whatever happened, really scared her' he thought. He just held his shuddering and hysterical sister in his arms and let her cry.

"Ginny, calm down and tell me what happened. Is someone in danger?"

"Harry... His uncle... is going to... hurt him..." she stammered in between sobs.

Ron quickly ran into the living room and threw in some floo powder into the fireplace. "Gringotts, Bill Weasley"