Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

-

The thunder roared around Harry. He just sat lying on his back staring at the sky. He knew that if he didn't get up from his spot it would start to rain, and he would get wet. He knew this, and yet he didn't care.

The thunder roared again and the lake shimmered as the first drops of rain fell down upon its glimmering surface. Harry continued to lay sprawled out on the ground staring upward, but still at nothing. He didn't care if he got wet. He enjoyed the rain.

The rain like tears from heaven, washing away every worry, every guilty thought, every stressful moment running through his mind. Harry purposely lay out in the rain to relieve him of everything that was happening. No spells or enchantments, no whispers of his fellow students and piers, no worries of what was to happen next.

Just peace.

Just the silent rustle as the rain hit the leaves, and the wind swept the and just as it has for millions of years. Just the simplicity of the rain was calming. Who was he to complain about getting wet and cold when such a simple little occurrence erased his mind of such painful thoughts that tore at him slowly, carefully torturing him to the fullest extent. That is what the normal person never realized. But Harry, of course, had never been normal.

"Harry?" called a voice at the top of the hill where as he was at the bottom. Harry ignored the voice and continued to stare off into space. He heard the sound of the grass crumpling under the weight of the being walking towards him. He could feel the magic of the water repellant that this person was wearing. The squeak as the sneakers slid on the wet ground. And suddenly it stopped and a face of a tall gaunt young man with fiery red hair peering cautiously at him.

"Its dinner time Harry, and your getting rather wet. You should really come inside." Ron said slowly. Harry nodded and put his arms under him to support his upper body into a slanted position.

"I'll be there in a second. Go on without me." Ron nodded and headed back towards the castle.

Harry sat up and stared out across the lake where the fog was slowly moving in over it. The fog slowly swept its way around Harry. His mind wandered to worried thoughts of the danger of not being able to tell if something was coming at him. He shook his head trying to clear such thoughts from him. He wasn't going to think about it.

He tried to think of something more pleasant than the ever present fear of Voldemort, but his train of thought always ended up back at him.

It was all Voldemort's fault that he couldn't be like the other students of Hogwarts. That he couldn't be sitting inside, warm and dry talking about the last Quidditch match.

It was all Voldemort's fault that he wasn't normal.

Harry had always wondered what it would be like to be normal. To not have to worry about life and death at every moment. To be able to get good nights sleep. To have parents.

Voldemort had taken them away from him.

Harry had always wondered what it would have been like to have had parents. Or at least to have known them. All Harry truly knew about his father was that he was a marauder with Sirius, Remus, and Peter (growls), he was a chaser and his animagus was a stag. He really didn't even know anything about his mother.

Times like these are when he truly wished he had had a chance to know them. To hug them, to be loved by them.

Harry closed his eyes trying to picture his mothers loving green eyes just like his own and his fathers mischievous grin. He didn't even notice that the fog had slowly grown thicker around him until even if Harry had had his eyes open he would not have been able to see a foot in front of him. There was one quick flash of light and then the fog slowly started to dissipate.

Harry finally opened his eyes and pulled himself from the wet ground, brushing off the loose grass that had managed to get stuck all over him. His stomach growled reminding him that he had probably missed dinner by now, and so with one last glance at the lake and the swirling fog hovering over it he started to make his way up to the castle.

-

When Harry finally made it into the entrance hall he heard chatter coming from the Great Hall and so came to the conclusion that he had been wrong about dinner having been done.

Not truly feeling like entering the Hall in the middle of a meal and making a commotion, he decided that he should probably go back to the library and finish what he had been working on before he had decided to take a break outside.

Harry entered the Library and made his way to the table where only a half an hour before all of his research books had been and found to his surprise, that they had all disappeared. Sighing he took to finding them again.

When he finally had gathered almost all of his books he realized that he almost forgot the book Dark Magic Almanac; The Curses and How to Stop Them which he had gotten special permission from Dumbledore to have. So he dropped off his other pile of books on his table and went into the Restricted Section to wear he had found it last.

That was where Madam Pince found him, holding the book in his hand. Needless to say he was quite startled when she tapped him quite aggressively on the shoulder. He was startled even more when he turned around to face a Madam Pince who looked twenty years younger than she had before. Needless to say he was rather speechless.

"What are you doing here, and who are you?" She asked harshly leaning in as if she had seen him somewhere before, but just couldn't place him. Giving up she took the book from his hand her eyebrows flying up. "This is an extremely restricted book! What are you doing with it?"

"Well…I was doing research wi-" He was cut off by Madam Pince grabbing his arm and leading him out of the library. She started muttering about the dark arts rising in the student population. And all Harry could do was sputter incoherently.

She brought him all the way through the school and finally came to stop at Professor Dumbledore's gargoyle in what Harry thought must have been record time. Unfortunately during this time Madam Pince wouldn't let him get a word in.

She pushed him up the stairs to his doorway and told him "Wait here." As she knocked and entered his office.

The doors closed and all Harry could hear was mumbling. Harry started to look around at his surroundings. Everything looked the same, and yet he could tell that there was something very different about the school.

Finally, the door opened and Madam Pince walked out of his office and motioned for him to enter. She gave him one last glare and then made her way down the stairs.

Harry entered warily. The feeling that there was something wrong became much stronger.  

"Mr. Potter, how nice to see you again, and so soon! It seems you gave Susan quite a fright!" Harry looked up into Dumbledore's eyes. They were twinkling with the same amusement as always.

"I am quite surprised to see that you were alone, normally it's Mr. Black who gets caught and your dragged along with him." Mr. Black? Sirius' last name is Black…Oh damn. Harry's eyes widened and his mouth made an o. Oh shit, I'm in the past!

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A/N: I'm back! Woot! With another short chapter at that! I was intending to make it much longer, but I figured that this would be the best place to stop. I know, Harry swore in this chapter. I just couldn't think of anything else to put in his mind. It's not like he's swearing aloud. Therefore, I am keeping the rating at PG until further notice. ^-^ Seeing how I popped this chapter out in a day, expect the next one out by either tomorrow or the next day! Yay! Go me! Lol.

Disclaimer: Anything that is in the Harry Potter books I do not own, everything that isn't I do.

Review please. I do enjoy reviews, but if you feel the need not to, I suppose that's good too. ^^;;;

-Hugh McDougal