Harry was sitting in the drawing room of Grimmauld Place immersed in his bitter thoughts and feelings that he had had ever since returning from the hospital. He could hear Sirius's voice echoing through the floor from downstairs as he watched the sky grow whiter with the threatening snowfall. Suddenly there was a flash of blue and gold temporally blinding Harry from his spot by the window. Listening intently for any dangers that could have occurred in the room while fingering his wand, he realised that whatever just happened, it happened silently, explaining the lack of shouting and running footsteps. Blinking rapidly as his sight returned Harry scanned the room for any changes and was shocked to see three books piled on the desk, spines facing away from him. On top was a letter addressed to himself. After completing a check of the room Harry edged toward the desk and using his wand slide the letter off the books, being careful to avoid all contact with them. Slitting it open Harry began to read.

Dear Harry,

We know this might be hard for you to believe but we're sending you this note from the future, along with several books detailing your final years – including this one – at Hogwarts. This is a summary of everything that happens and what you need and deserve to know, we know some of these have already happened but bear with us.

Dudley gets attacked by Dementors, you get tried at the ministry but get cleared of all charges, Umbridge starts working at the school where you get those awful detentions and you finally get a vision of Mr Weasley being attacked by Nagini while on guard duty. Now is time for the things you haven't been clued in on and the stuff that happens in the future.

Sirius has told you about the weapon but it is in fact a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries which is where the Order are guarding it. If you think about it you should recognise the corridor from your dreams. The prophecy was told to Dumbledore by Trelawney and it said that a child would be born at the end of July to parents that had thrice defied Voldemort, he would then mark him as his equal and you would have a power that he doesn't know about (we're afraid it isn't something really cool, it's simply love); finally neither can live while the other survives. Voldemort only heard half the prophecy which is why he came after you and he wants to hear the other half which is why he's dwelling on the door.

You should know that Voldemort isn't possessing you, he tries to once in the future but both of you end up in absolute agony which is why it doesn't happen again. Dumbledore is going to come to you before the end of the Christmas holidays – we're sad to say he still won't look you in the eye until the end of the year but hopefully with the books help you'll be able to change that. He will tell you that you've got to take Occlumency lessons with Snape. The point of the lessons is that you're meant to close the connection to Voldemort's mind but it isn't because of Voldemort possessing you but rather that he can send you a fake vision. They obviously neglect to tell you that and in fact the lessons actually widen the connection rather than close it. Snape, whether it's because he's a bad teacher or because he hates you due to your father never really explains how you're meant to close your mind off so each time he attacks your mind it makes you instead more open to the connection. Many things happen this year which results in most of the Order members stationed at Hogwarts to be out of commission when you finally receive the false vision. You try to validate whether it's true or not even though you've not been told it could be a mistake, but in the end you go to the ministry to rescue Sirius as the vision told of him being captured and tortured there. When the Order find out they come to help and it results in Sirius dying at Bellatrix's hand. We're hoping with this knowledge that you can now prevent this.

The next year Dumbledore shares his theory on how Voldemort is still alive. He creates something called a Horcrux. This is very Dark and Evil magic which involves him splitting his soul apart and locking it away in an object so he can't die as long as it is intact. 7 is the magic number Harry. 7 horcruxes which are: obviously Voldemort himself, Nagini, Riddle's diary, his Grandfather's ring, Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's locket and Ravenclaw's diadem. The diary you've obviously already destroyed, the ring is found in Gaunt Cottage, the locket … well it's actually at Grimmauld Place but you'll have to ask Kreacher – nicely! – where it is, the diadem is in the room of requirement in the place of hidden objects and sadly the cup is in the Lestrange Vault at Gringotts. To find out how we know all this you'll have to read the books but you should read them with the Order, Weasleys, Hermione, Neville and Luna. A lot of people are damaged or die during the course of the war; you in fact are hit with the killing curse again but survive and do end up defeating Voldemort. The reason for this will become clear in the end but that particular piece of knowledge isn't really needed yet in this letter. We hope that you will be able to build a better future and prevent the death toll.

Love from,

The Future

P.S. A new timeline sprung up the moment we sent this so we can't send you anymore information or help. Oh and something we should probably mention, make sure no-one attacks Snape. Dumbledore does something stupid which results in him dying slowly next year. He arranges his death with Snape so Voldemort thinks he knows where his true loyalty lies. Unfortunately Dumbledore doesn't feel the need to tell anyone else this so no-one knows, at least not until the end of the books. You can tell people he's innocent when it comes to it to stop people attacking but keep the information here secret from everyone but Hermione and Ron, Ginny is also trustworthy but we know that she isn't really included in the group yet. Hermione will be arriving later today so you don't have to worry about finding her. They'll all the know the truth in the end and we agreed that it'll probably do Dumbledore some good to be kept out of the loop for the meanwhile.

Harry stared at the letter not really comprehending it. Was it some kind at sick joke? So much of it made sense, like the prophecy. It felt like a confirmation of everything he already knew and yet it said that Sirius dies in the future. How could that be? He only just got him back. Harry could remotely still hear him singing from somewhere in the house. He read it again. They knew about his dreams. No-one knew about them. Then again if this was some trick of Voldemort's and he could possess him like he had been fearing not 10 minutes ago then surely he would know about Harry's dreams. Hermione will be arriving later today … the letter said. Well there's nothing else for it Harry thought, he would just have to wait and see if she would come, if she did then he would believe the letter wholly, if she didn't then he would show Sirius the letter and leave it with him to decide what to do with the obvious trap. Glancing at the books Harry realised that trap or not he couldn't just leave the books out in the open like that and so grabbing one of the sacks left over from the cleaning purge he nudged the books inside before exiting the room. Half way down the corridor he heard Mrs Weasley call him down for lunch but half out of the left over resentment and half out of fear for their safety he instead retreated further upstairs before reaching the refuge of Buckbeak's room.

The letter circled around his head for the next few hours despite his attempts to not think about it. Hermione was skiing with her parents so why would she be here? If he wasn't being possessed then why would Mad-eye say something like that? Why wouldn't Dumbledore look at him? So many questions buzzed around his head that when the doorbell rang at 6 he hardly recognised it, it was only once Mrs Black started screaming that he realised what happened and scrambled up, grabbing the sack along the way, to see who had come to call. He was half way along the second floor when he saw her leaving his and Ron's room.

Heart hammering in his chest he called out, "Hermione, what are you doing here?"

Jumping about a foot in the air Hermione span around and gasped, "Oh Harry, you almost gave me a heart attack! I was just looking for you, I decided to come here instead." Lowering her voice she whispered, "truth be told skiing isn't really my thing but don't tell Ron that, I told him it's really good because he kept laughing so much." Returning her voice to normal volume she proceeded with, "Anyway lets go into your room, I don't really feel like talking in the corridor plus Ron's mum has lit a fire in there and she's sent up sandwiches."

Feeling incredibly numb Harry dumbly followed her into the room and was only slightly surprised to see Ron and Ginny already sitting on Ron's bed under the weight of all the confusing feelings, thoughts and revelations.

"I came on the Knight Bus," said Hermione airily, pulling off her jacket before Harry had time to speak. "Dumbledore told me what had happened first thing this morning, but I had to wait for term to end officially before setting off. Umbridge is already livid that you lot disappeared right under her nose, even though Dumbledore told her Mr. Weasley was in St. Mungo's and he'd given you all permission to visit. So…"

She sat down next to Ginny, and the two girls and Ron all looked up at Harry.

"How're you feeling?" asked Hermione.

Harry realised he was gaping at them all and also recognised that her question was probably related to how he felt before he had received the letter. Thought after thought swirled around his head before settling on the letter was real. It was telling the truth and before he realised he'd said anything he voiced the thought lightening his heart, "I'm not being possessed."

Looking at him wide-eyed Ginny suddenly shook her head and said, "Well of course not, it seems to me that you would know if that was happening, especially after what happened with me." All Harry's thoughts stopped mid-process as they heard Ginny's statement. He had forgotten. He was such an idiot. He had spent all that time avoiding them as much as they had apparently been avoiding him when he could have just talked to Ginny about it. "I'm sorry Ginny." Harry spoke while staring at her.

"It's OK Harry", Ginny replied simply.

Harry started to pace as the enormity of his situation began to catch up with him. Without even realising it he knew that he'd already accepted half of what was said in the letter before Hermione had even arrived.

"Harry?" Ron questioned as they all watched Harry's sudden change in behaviour.

Stopping and facing them Harry said, "just give me two minutes to sort my thoughts out. Something happened earlier that … well I …" and with that he resumed pacing while the others looked on in complete bewilderment. The letter was right so the books must really be about the future. It also said that Ginny could be trusted and after all wasn't she in the same boat as them. The Order refused to tell any of us the information we needed to hear, she too was treated like a kid by the majority of the Order when she obviously wasn't, hadn't she reminded him moments ago that she had already been through experiences that even some 'older and wiser' witches and wizards hadn't had. She was also a member of the DA, trustworthy and a friend. With that final thought Harry turned around and explained what had happened that morning.

"… the letter said that Hermione would be coming here today so I decided to wait and see if that was true before doing anything else. The weapon that Sirius spoke about is actually a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries, which was where your dad was while on guard duty when he was attacked. The letter also said that the books, which are in the sack over there," Harry said pointing to the foot of his bed where he had dropped it earlier "should be read by us lot, the Order, Weasleys, Neville and Luna. But that what was said in the letter should be kept between us for the moment. It said that everything would be revealed in the books but given they kept us in the dark, especially Dumbledore, it wont harm them to keep them waiting for the truth. There are some bits in here that I'm not sure even I understand fully but if you want to know something and I happen to know along the way of reading the books then I'll tell you away from the others."

As Harry finished his speech he looked at each of them and saw them all slack-jawed and wide-eyed in shock. The first to recover was Hermione who in a clear state of denial said, "It's impossible to send something back in time. I mean you can travel through time we know this, but no more than 12 hours into the past and if those books are written up til the end of our 7th year then that's 3 years! I mean –"

"Hermione, I know it sounds crazy, and if the books are cursed or something then Dumbledore will be able to tell us right? If these are just normal books then what's the harm in reading them? The letter said that people die two of them are at least Sirius and Dumbledore. I refuse to lose either one and can you really say that if the future plays out like it's said the books that we aren't to blame as much as their killers are when we had the tools to prevent it!" Harry exclaimed. "Let's just see what Dumbledore says ok?"

Exchanging glances with Ron – Ginny was looking fiercely at Harry, her decision already evident – Hermione could do nothing but nod her head in defeat of Harry's heated logic.