prisoners of dark lord 1-10

8/9/2019 Prisoners of Dark Lord 1-10

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Gazing up at the stars for most people could be as casual as eating, but there was a portion of people, no matter how few they are, consider staring at the stars as a distraction, as a feeble escape from loneliness, pain and vivid images that one could do without them.

Harry Potter, though he hadn't reach his sixteen birthday yet, was one of thosefew people, and that, considering his age, was strange, but then Harry was not a

boy you could call normal by any standard. He had, just two weeks before, admitted to himself that he couldn't stand being 'the Harry Potter' anymore and thatwas saying a lot. He had had enough, wanted it all to stop, and claimed that hedidn't care anymore.

He had sneaked away from his so-called relatives, the Durselys, without them noticing, perhaps, Harry mused looking at the bright dots gracing the black sky above him, perhaps he had done that to avoid Uncle Vernon's rant, which he would hear if he got back 'home' after Dudley as that meant, using Durselys' unique dictionary 'you are late', that meant controlling and Harry didn't like to be controlled in anyway, it was enough that one member of the order of the phoenix, at least, followed him around each passing day. They even changed shifts every four h

ours!

Ever since he had set a foot in Uncle Vernon's car till then as he watched a somewhat blue star, 'spies' from the order watched him. The spies, Harry admitted,were excellent in hiding. He would never have physically seen them that would have been impossible. Rather he felt their presence surrounding him, always watching, and never confirming that they were actually there. By time, he could tell where the spies hid, and who they were, and because he had the advantage of knowing the surroundings better than them, he was able to watch them back without them realizing that. He even memorized their schedule and positions, for example; he knew that Mrs. Figg was standing in the supermarket, buying cat food, and thatRemus Lupin was watching him from somewhere in the hedges.

That, of course, made him feel even more trapped than in all the past summers put together and that was saying something, he probably was watched those summerstoo, but then he didn't know, and that made a big difference. , for example, hethought that she was a mere old mad muggle, and he saw her as his old baby-sitter, but she turned out to be a squib, and she must have done the job of watchingover him for the past 15 years.

Why were they watching him anyway?Harry thought suddenly glaring at the stars asthough it was their fault, did they think that he couldn't take care of himself! Didn't he prove that he was not a stupid child by now? If he wanted, he couldgo wherever he wanted without them realizing that.

Maybe they want to prevent you from doing something stupid, a voice in his headtold him. Like what happened in the Department of the Mysteries?

A vivid image of his godfather, Sirius, falling in that God-damn-it Veil flashedin his mind, and the laughter hadn't quite left his handsome face, making Harryflinch and close his eyes as a desperate attempt to block that memory.

No, no, no. Harry scolded himself. Don't think about that! Don't you dare!

He refocused his attention on the stars looking for an interesting looking star,he found a bright orange star twinkling down at him; he thought it looked somewhat . . .wicked? Was it Mars?

Mars is bright tonight. Bane, a centaur, once said that when Harry was a first year at Hogwarts, Centaurs were always interested in stars and predicting the future but never said much. Prof. Trelawny, the Division teacher at Hogwarts, predi


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cted, mostly his death, practically everyday, but then again she was a fraud.

Except for two times. Harry thought dryly, then, involuntary, a precise part ofthe prophecy rang in his head. Either must die at the hand of the other . . . for neither could live while the other survives. Quite a bright future, Harry thought sarcastically, either including a murder or ending as a victim. Interesting.

Harry then noticed that he was thinking about things that couldn't be changed and thinking about it would do harm more than good, and he really, really didn't need that.

Realizing that stargazing could no longer help him clear his mind, Harry sighedgetting up from the only swing that escaped Dudley and his gang's wrath, stretched and scowled; he had to look for another distraction, which was NOT easy.

His scowl vanished and was replaced by surprise when a shorter-than-him figure ran into him and fell to the ground.

"Urgh!" Harry grunted, "Are you okay?" He nearly smacked his forehead in frustra

tion at his stupidity; the boy will probably wet himself when he notices that he's the 'Potter boy'; the Durselys told the neighbors that he attended St. Brutusfor Incurable Criminal Boys. To the Durselys being a wizard is worse than beingcriminal, and that resulted in the children fearing Harry.

So the boy's reply came as a shock.

"Please!" He whimpered, "Hide me!"

"Hide you?" Harry repeated incredulously "From who?"

"Dursely's gang!" The boy gasped.

Anger flared in Harry's chest watching the boy shivering piteously in front of him. How the hell could they do that!

Just like Voldemort and his followers could torture and kill, a voice in his head told him. They enjoy it.

It was then that Harry's grief for Sirius' lose took an abrupt turn, and so didhis feelings toward the burden that was laden on his shoulders since he was born; he COULDN'T avoid thinking about what had happened, he couldn't pretend that nothing had happened, he shouldn't forget Sirius, his parents and all the peoplewho were hurt by Voldemort or his followers, he should decide what to do, and hedid watching the tormented boy.

But first things are to be done first. He should help the boy, shouldn't he? Give Dudley a lesson that would stay in his mind unlike the academic and moral lessons?

"Where did you last see them?" Harry asked gently, his eyes, which for the pastdays were dull and painfully empty, twinkled mischievously.

"There!" The boy pointed at a dark alley. Harry thought that they'd probably stay there for ten minutes trying to find the boy, not realizing that he had escaped them and that was more than enough. The fact that the alley had four ways to get out from it made Harry hope that they'd be able to take Dudley and his gang down one by one.

"You want to revenge?" Harry asked casually.


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The boy looked slightly reluctant.

"I'll do all the work; I just want some help from you." Harry added. The boy beamed.

"Of course!" he exclaimed his clear blue eyes gleaming, "You've got a plan?"

"Sure!" Harry said grinning.

The boy grinned back, his clear blue eyes gleaming.

The plan worked far better than Harry expected.

He crept in the shadows of the ally, straining to hear any sound, and then he heard something that he could recognize anywhere

It was Dudley's voice.

"You lost him!" he snarled, Harry could practically hear them fidgeting, he crep

t a little closer and saw the out-line of four huge figures: Dudley and his gang.

"He's really small, Big D." Gordon whined.

"Yeah, he could be in the midst of the trash lost in it!" Piers grunted, "He must be feeling lost!"

"What are we going to do, Big D?" Malcolm asked probably eager to know that theywere not to go back home.

"Find another hit-bag!" Dudley said in a voice that suggested that that was a great plan, "We'll have more fun if we find a girl."

The gang cheered and Harry felt suddenly sick. He looked down at his wrist wherea black snake had wrapped itself, he managed to find it in the park, not easily, of course; he had to hiss to call any snake and that was difficult without onein front of him.

"You know your part, right? " He hissed gently.

"Yes master. "

"Not master"Harry said feeling offended, "Harry will do"

"Yes, sirI mean, Harry! " The snake hissed awkwardly.

"Go! "

The snake left his wrist and slithered down to the ground.

Dudley could be really thick, but, unlike a Troll, could feel it if things wrapped around his leg. He looked down feeling his blood run cold and saw a black shiny thing that was hissing.

"Snake!" Dudley screeched, "Around my leg, help me!"

But his so-called friends didn't comply; instead, they turned shouting bloody mu

rder and each hurried in a different way to get out, if the rocks he placed in the end of each way didn't fail him, each of the three boys had got at least scratched knees, hands and, if lucky, face.


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Harry checked on the other three boys, he wasn't worried about Dudley; the snakewas not poisonous, and Harry told it to get away as soon as it felt that Dudleywas scared senseless, not that that boy had any sense whatsoever.

The three boys were out cold; they probably ran too quickly, well, quicker thanusual.

Running, Harry returned to where he left Dudley, only Dudley was nowhere to see,again he ran fearing that Dudley had gotten out of the alley, found Markthatwas the boy's nameand beaten him into a pulp!

His first fear came true: Dudley had found Mark, and was advancing on him but, luckily, Mark was still in one piece, but that didn't make Harry happy enough toignore his cousin.

"Dudley!" he snarled causing the other to turn around and face him. "Don't you dare to even touch him!" he threatened.

"You?" Dudley sneered looking at Harry's skinny somewhat-tall figure. "You couldnot stop me from hurting him, you can't defend even yourself!"

"A stick can do wonders, Dudley." Harry said coldly, and his cousin visibly paled. "And our brains by the way" he added pointing at his own head. "Took care of your so-called friends. And I don't think you would dare to hit me without your gang's help."

That was, apparently, the final straw for Dudley.

"ARE YOU BLOODY CHALLENGING ME!" He yelled, and Harry was pleased to hear the panic in his voice.

As it was only 9:30PM, people in Privet Drive didn't get to sleep yet, that waswhy people's heads up and down the street appeared out of the windows or doors,looking around curiously.

"Of course I'm challenging you, Dudley!" Harry sneered, neither of the teens noticing the neighbors' interested faces. "It's not difficult to challenge a cowardboy who hits kids just because he can and enjoy that, a boy who smokes and throws stones at passing children and cars!"

"Stop pretending to be so self-righteous, Potter!" Dudley snarled. "You are annoyed because we threaten the children we hit to tell their parents that it was you who hit them!"

Harry's eyes flared with anger.

"You stink!" He said in a forced calm voice.

"No need to be upset!" Dudley sneered. "That's a good credit for you."

"Good credit?" Mark repeated incredulously. "Harry, this boy is so"

"Don't dare call me boy!" Dudley shouted whirling around and raising a fist to hit Mark, but Harry was faster and caught Dudley's fist.

"I said" He whispered. "Do not touch him!"

"Don't touch me! "


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"As if I'm dying to do that!"

"You freak, son of a bitch!"

CRACK!

Harry had hit Dudley with all the strength he could muster; Dudley goggled at hi

m fingering his sour jaw.

"Don't you dare insult my mother again, Dursely!" Harry growled surprised at hisown action.

The neighbors, Harry learned later, had called the police, which was why, at that precise moment, the command of "You two! To the police station!" was snapped by a police officer.

Harry sighed in defeat and got in the car quietly causing the policeman who hadescorted him to smile in amusement at his partner, who was having a harder timetrying to get Dudley in the car.

"Get in the car, sonny." The policeman tried at first. But Dudley wouldn't hearof it.

"I'M NOT A CRIMINAL!" Dudley screeched.

"Of course you are not, but"

"I'M NOT GETTING IN WITH THAT FREAK!"

"You should, or you'll"

"I'LL TELL MY DAD AND YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS HUMILATION, FREAK!"

"GET IN THE CAR!"

And Dudley was pushed roughly into the car, causing Harry to nearly let out a snigger.

After a snarl of "You'll pay!" to him, Dudley kept silent, but Harry couldn't care less; he had glimpsed Remus' worried face in the crowd who had moved to follow the police car acting as witnesses, they probably wanted to tell the police about Dudley hitting their children.

Dumbledore will have a shock. Harry thought gazing absently at the passing cars,

the 'spies' not being able to stop the policemen from taking me is no cause forcelebration. In not time at all Harry found himself being interrogated by middle-aged officer.

"Your full name?" he asked in a bored voice.

"Harry James Potter." Harry said just as dully.

"Age?"

"Nearly sixteen."

"School?"

Harry hesitated, and then he decided on the safest lie that could not be discovered.


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"I don't go to school." He replied steadily.

The policeman perked up.

"You don't?" He repeated incredulously.

"No, sir."

The officer stared at him, and then he frowned down at the paper.

"Well," He said slowly. "We can't force your family to send you to school now, you had passed your fifteenth birthday." Harry stopped himself from letting out asigh of relief.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I met a boy called Mark in the park, he asked me to hide him because Dudley Dursely and his gang were following him to hit him, I asked him where he saw them l

ast so I headed there, only not to find them there so I got back quickly and I found Dudley advancing on Mark, and" Harry told him what happened quickly.

Silence then

"Jack!" The officer barked, "Take him outside!"

Jack stood beside the door of the office, and made him sit outside. Harry caughta glimpse of Dudley entering the room he was just in, and he didn't have to wonder what Dudley was going to say, because he did the favor of talking loudly.

"Dudley Charles Dursely!"

"Sixteen!"

"Smeltings!"

"He attends St. Brutus for Incurably Criminal Boys!"

Harry heard the officer's voice.

"Jack!" He growled from inside, "Bring the Potter boy!"

Harry got up and headed toward the door, with Jack who took it and led him inside.

"What's this about you attending St. Brutuswhatsoever center!" The officer growled.

"That's a lie that the Durselys, my relatives, invented to cover the fact that Iwouldn't go to school, sir." Harry said calmly ignoring Dudley's glare.

"You do know that we have record of the boys attending centers for criminals inSurrey?" the officer warned.

"I trust that you have, sir." Harry said politely. Dudley paled visibly, but didn't try to stop the officer from ordering Jack to check for Harry's name.

Five minutes later made it clear to the officer that 'there was never a Harry James Potter in any Center of criminals '.


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"Take Harry outside, Jack!" The officer said, though it was in a gentler voice.

From outside Harry could still know what was going inside.

"HE CHALLENGED ME!" Dudley shouted in an apparent response to the question of 'what happened?' "HE HIT MY JAW! HE HURTED ME!" In a very not unlike Uncle Vernon's rants, Dudley was deadly unreasonable. After some five minutes of Dudley shout

ing and the officer trying to reason with him just as loudly, Dudley screeched,"LET ME OUT, FOOL!"

Uh-oh! Harry thought, as the quiet before the storm fell.

Then it came.

"JACK! WALLECE! LUIS!" the officer shouted. "TAKE THIS BOY TO THE PRISON FOR INSULTING AN OFFICER!"

Harry felt horror disbelief as Dudley was escorted outside surrounded by the three policemen.

"LET ME GO!" He roared. The officer got out of his office. (That was where Harryand Dudley were interrogated.)

"I have some news to you" He said to the neighbors that the police took as witnesses.

"DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU BASTARD!"

"Dursely is to be held for further questioning, but he's to be punished for insulting me!" the officer fumed. "As for Harry Potter, he's to be released, and bythe way, he didn't, at any point in his life, attend a center for criminal boys.We hold a record of those!" He added over the incredulous whispers of the crowd

. "The Durselys lied! Probably to hide the fact that he didn't go to school." The officer gave Harry a warm smile. "You may go."

Still whispering, the crowd strode out, with Harry not much behind.

"Harry?" the familiar voice of Remus Lupin stopped him.

He looked at Remus closely, the man looked thinner and shabbier than ever, his face still young, but tiredness and illness had made their lines. He was about tostep a bit closer but stopped; how could he know that this was the real Remus?

"What should you do to wipe a parchment blank?"

Remus looked confused at first, probably wondering why would he ask about a correcting spell, Harry thought, but then realization dawned on his face and smiled,somewhat sadly.

"Mischief Managed!" He said quietly and looked at the ground. Remus was startledwhen he felt an arm warping around his shoulders in a brotherly half-hug; he looked up at Harry who was smiling grimly.

"I would ask you how did you find me"Harry said quietly, deciding that he wouldn't tell them that he knew about their presence. "But knowing you, you wouldn'ttell me if Dumbledore ordered you not to, but I suspect that has a hand in that, she heard about it, didn't she?"

Remus nodded and Harry felt a bit satisfied that he had figured out that they were watching him. "Let's go back to the Durselys" Remus added, "I have somethin


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g to tell you."

Telling truths or lies, Remus? Harry wondered silently, but really if the lies continued to be exchanged, Harry felt that it would be difficult to trust them; the negative thoughts were interrupted by something Dumbledore once told him.

The truth? It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated

with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a verygood reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie.

Considering it carefully, Harryfound that Dumbledore never lied to him, hide yes, but never lie, well, Harry was really sick of having to wait for something bigto happen before things were explained to him. He'd be damned if he waited forinformation to come; if not told, he will look for another source of information.

Apparently the police had summoned the Durselys; they had found the house deserted.

"Tea?" Harry asked the moment they entered the over-clean kitchen.

"Yes, please!"

Silence fell as Harry poured some water in teapot.

"Placed any silencing charms?" Harry asked after a while. Remus looked slightlystartled, making Harry smile in amusement.

"Yes, something similar." He said carefully, and Harry's amusement grew.

"Good," he said now handing Remus a mug full of steaming tea. "Because I don't w

ant to be kept from satisfying answers because of the danger of being overheard."

Remus looked annoyed now.

"I want you to explain why the hell didn't you write a single letter for the past week!" he demanded. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"What's wrong with that?" He asked faking puzzlement; he knew exactly what was wrong.

"Alastor said that we'll 'pay a visit' if we didn't hear from you three days in

a row!"

"I thought that was to scare the Durselys." Harry said calmly holding Remus' gaze, in part that was true, but also he didn't feel like writing because of the 'spies' watching him and reporting his every move to Dumbledore.

Remus leaned forward.

"Harry" he said solemnly. "Have you been reading the Daily Prophet?"

Harry nodded. It was full of articles about the Death Eaters' attacks, but 'no sight of Voldemort'.

"Well, then you do realize that we can't afford any Phoenixer to watch over you,don't you?"


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"Phoenixer?" Harry asked curiously.

"The members who fight in the old crowd." Remus explained.

"What the spies and doctors are called?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Spies are called Snakes" Remus said. "And correct me if I'm mistaken; Doctors

are Healers, right?"

"Errsort of," Harry said not wanting to get in a discussion about the difference between the two groups.

"Healer is to be called a healer!"

"Oh!" Harry muttered, hearing that information made it clear that Remus didn't lie; maybe the Snakes are watching him not the Phoenixers, and that meant Remus was a Snake, well, he's probably spying on the werewolves. "Well, Professor Lupin"

"Remus."

"Huh?"

"Call me Remus" He smiled. "I'm not your professor anymore."

"Well, IRemus," Harry added making Remus' smile widen, "I don't need to be watched over! That happened last summer to stop me from doing any magic, Dumbledoretold me about the wards!"

"Ahyou are safe in the house, Harry." Remus reminded him.

"Ah!"

"We can't ask you to stay in the house." Remus added reasonably. "And we can't afford for a Phoenixer to follow you around and protect you, so I asked you to send the letters so we could know that you are fine, see?" he finished in a near plea.

Harry leaned back watching Remus thoughtfully, why was it so important for them?Why make him write a letter each three days at least? If he didn't know that hewas being watched, he would have been suspicious that no one was worried that Voldemort could attack the area, torture people making Harry step out to stop himthus getting himself killed, that meant that the insistence on writing letterswas to keep Harry from wonderingas self-centered it might seemwhy no one was

worried about him.

But then why was it important for them to keep him from suspecting of spies fromthe order? The answer came quickly: so as to not to make him feel even more trapped

That's very clever, Dumbledore. Harry thought looking up at Remus who was waiting for an answer. Harry let out a faked sigh of frustration.

"Okay!" He said smiling grimly, Remus looked relieved and took a sip of the tea.

"Hmm!" He said savoring the tea. "So what happened with the Durselys?"

Harry told him what happened. Remus nodded cheerfully.

"Sirius would have approved" he stopped and sighed. "Sorry."


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Harry let out a sigh of his own.

"How have you been coping?" Remus asked quietly after a while.

Harry observed him for a moment, then

"Bad at first" He admitted. "I simply refused to think about Voldemort, Bellatrix" he spat the second name even more hatefully than Voldemort's, "The prophecy, and Sirius" by Remus' face he could guess that he knew the contents of theprophecy. "But tonight, I woke up." Remus listened with rapt attention lookinglike a 'Hermione-in-an-important-class' making Harry smile warmly.

"Woke up?" he repeated curiously. Harry sighed.

"Ashamedly admitted, Remus, I never thought of revenge before Sirius' death" He visibly gulped. "I never thought ofhurting Voldemort for all the things he did, sure, I saw it important to stop him from stealing the Sorcerer's Stone thusstopping him from returning, bought us some time, didn't I? Anyway, on the othe

r occasions I had faced Voldemort, I didn't plan to meet him, and in each occasion, I thought that death had claimed me, that there was no way to escape. So mainly, I concentrated on my survival, Sirius probably told you what happened two years ago" Remus nodded, and Harry met his gaze steadily. "As for now, Remus, Iwant revenge not only for my parents, or Sirius or Cedric, but for all the people who were affected by him, directly or indirectly." He fell silent then added,"We should always accept facts, and it's a fact that Voldemort won't rest tillhe kills me, never mind if I'm a threat or not. I want to be trained, I want tobe prepared, 'constant vigilance!' I need help, can you help me?" Harry was paleby then, but his eyes were glittering with determination.

Remus was, he could see, impressed, slightly thunderstruck even, and then thoseebbed away and something new shown from his eyes; respect.

"Of course!" he said. "And I'll see if we can manage to make Tonks, Alastor andKingsley to train you, they are excellent, and, well, they do train the new Phoenixersnot that you are going to be one!" he added quickly.

Harry snorted.

"I might not be able to be an active member in the old crowd," he said calmly, "But really, Remus, I'm far too involved in this, and you know it!"

Remus sighed, "You can talk to Dumbledore if you want." He said, "I'll talk withDumbledore, Tonks, Alastor and Kingsley about your desire to be trained. See yo

u next Saturday." He got up and Harry followed his motion.

"Remus"

"Hmmm?"

"Is there a way to talk to Severus Snape?"

Remus stared at him.

"What for?" he asked incredulously. Harry smiled tightly, he knew he couldn't blame Snape for Sirius' death, so he can, wellcooperate at least.

"Well, I'd like to ask him to teach me Occlmency." He said as casually as possible.


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Remus now gapped at him.

"Veryvery wise." He stammered. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Sois there a way?"

Remus titled his head to the right thoughtfully.

"We should take you soon from here" Harry tried not to brighten too much. "SoI think you could talk to him then."

"Don't tell him anything." Harry requested.

"I won't! I won't risk him bellowing in my face, thank you very much!"

The sound of the door being opened reached them.

"BOY!" Uncle Vernon's voice roared from the hallway.

"That's me." Harry murmured darkly. "I'm in the kitchen, Uncle Vernon!" he called.

His purple-faced uncle barged in the kitchen, his mustache twitching with rage.

"HOW DARE YOU" he began but then he spotted Remus and his robes, making him turn white.

"Dursely." Remus acknowledged coldly. "I wonder which part of 'don't mistreat, Harry' you didn't understand?"

Uncle Vernon turned purple once more, but said nothing, Harry noticed Aunt Petunia and Dudley were attempting to hide behind Uncle Vernon, but failing miserably

.

Remus turned his back to them and faced Harry.

"This is a joke!" he mouthed, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

"You know, Harry" he said in his clear audible voice. "The ministry allowed for the underage wizards to use magic." Harry smiled widely catching on Remus' joke; he wanted the Durselys to believe he could use magic, so that they'd stay outof his way.

"I could use magic!" he exclaimed in faked happiness.

"Yes," Remus said smiling, "Use it well!" he vanished with a faint pop making the Durselys shriek with fright.

Harry looked innocently at Uncle Vernon.

"You were saying, Uncle Vernon?" he asked politely.

Uncle Vernon merely gawped at him.

"Good night!" Harry said feeling his heart lighter than any time during the pasttwo weeks (since Sirius' death), he headed upstairs, and in his room, there hepicked in the lock of the door till he managed to close it, he stuffed some parc

hment in the key hole, so a key can't get in, but, he, Harry could get the parchment out tomorrow so he could get out (by picking the door yet again), if they tried to open the door, they would think that he had locked it magically, he got


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in the bed and watched the stars through the window.

He didn't like the fact that he hid the fact that he knew about the Snakes watching him, but don't they say, 'You don't have to say everything you know, but youhave to know everything you say'?

What about the prophecy? Apparently, the order knew that there was a prophecy ab

out Harry and Voldemort, but they couldn't have known the whole contents or Pettigrew would have known the piece of the prophecy that Voldemort didn't know about.

He'll ask Dumbledore, there was no other way.

He cleared his mind and when it did (after an enormous effort) he allowed for the sleep to takeover.Chapter two: family.

The next day Harry woke up as refreshed as he could ever be. True, the grief ofthe recent loss didn't disappear, and it never would, but he mustn't crumble dow

n, not now, not with the burden on his shoulders, and definitely not with thirstfor revenge, a very fair revenge; eye for an eye.

He glanced at his watch: it read 8:30AM.

Stretching, he strode toward his closet and glared at his Hand-Me-Down old clothes of Dudley.

Should get new cloths as soon as possible, he thought in disgust, and then he pulled on his best less-baggy shirt he owned and jeans; before, when he was a delinquent to the neighbors, it was no problem to wear anything, but now, the case was quite different.

He then looked at his reflection: as far as he's concerned, his eyes were the same bright green, his face still thin, but Harry groaned.

He got small dark hair on his upper lips.

How didn't I notice that before, and when did I get them anyway?! He thought incredulously, now he needed shaving!

He shrugged, and looked at his hair, like his father's, it was messy jet-black,and some voices echoed in his brain. . . .

'How touching' Snape sneered 'but surely you have noticed that Potter is very li

ke his father?'

'Yes, I have.' Sirius replied proudly.

'Well then, you'll know he's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him'

'I expect you'll tire of hearing, but you do look extraordinarily like James. Except for the eyes. . . .You have your mother's eyes'

'Who wants to see me take Snivelly's pants off?'

Harry's eyes glittered with shame and renewed suppressed anger.

"I don't want people to hate or love me, because I look like you, Dad!" he saidquietly. "Sirius died, so I don't think the he'll mind if I change a bit, Hermione was right; he probably thought that he got you back looking at me, I don't wa


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nt to look extraordinarily like you." He suddenly remembered that he always seemed to grow his hair whenever Aunt Petunia cut his hair, maybe he could grow it magically? Now?

He closed his eyes and concentrated on his hair getting longer. He felt some tingling in the skin of his head. He kept the image of how long he wanted it to be,his face scrunched up, and finally the tingling stopped. He carefully cracked a

n eye open, then both eyes snapped open in shock.

His hair was still messy as far as he could tell, but it was more controlled, sleek-like and shinning. It reached just above his shoulders. Excited, he tore a piece of the sheets, and used it to tie his hair, and then he inspected his reflection; with his hair like that he looked less like his dad. He was about to leave his room when he thought about the situation; how could he explain to the neighbors the sudden growth of his hair?

Sighing, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his hair getting back to its usual length, and when the tingling stopped, he opened his eyes to see his hair back to normal. If he wanted to grow his hair, he should do it slowly so the muggle

s wouldn't notice anything.

He looked at his upper lip and grinned: he could get rid of those magically, couldn't he?

He, yet again, closed his eyes and concentrated on getting them to vanish, thistime, he felt tingling in his upper lip, he opened his eyes and inspected his reflection.

Satisfied, he closed the closet, got out and listened, his brows meeting in a frown; how come Aunt Petunia was not up yet? Shrugging, he decided that she had slept in due to the 'excitement' of last night.

After making a quick sandwich and eating it, he glanced at his watch and saw that it was 9:20AM, shouldn't Uncle Vernon go to his work? Did he already go?

Looking outside proved that his Uncle had left (the car was not there), now thatwas weird, Harry thought raising an eyebrow, how come he got out without wakinghim or his Aunt up? He can't have left without breakfast! Not that he was worried, but that was a weird behavior coming from his Uncle, Harry then did a doubletake; how come he didn't hear Dudley's snores when he left his room?

Harry hurried upstairs and listened; there was no sound, he crept to Dudley's room and peered through the keyhole; as far as he could see the closet was open and the bed empty, he opened the door and sure enough, there was no Dudley and no

cloths.

Did they leave?

Unable to believe his luck, he opened the door of his Uncle and Aunt's room, same result; bed and closet empty.

A wonderful idea shown in Harry's head; they were scared off, they probably leftto the beach, well, they would be safe from Death Eaters there, hey! Where didthat come from? He didn't give a damn about them!

But then, Harry reconsidered as he walked downstairs, he didn't want them tortured and killed, no one deserved that!

Except for Voldemort maybe Harry thought savagely.


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Maybe?! His inner voice asked incredulously.

Well yeah, I'm not a criminal, so I'm not going to do it because I want to, butbecause I have to Harry argued absentmindedly. It's either him or me.

So given the choice, you won't kill him? The voice asked curiously. It sounded annoyingly like Albus Dumbledore.

I have to, there is no choice, idiot! Harry's eyes widened wait a second! I can't argue with myself! Cut it off!

Oh you are worthy, it snickered bye!

I'm definitely crazy He mused to himself.

You are, never doubt that! The voice told him.

I thought you said bye? Harry asked sardonically.

All right, don't nag! Stupid! The voice cursed him.

Idiot! Harry retorted, then he groaned.

"Where are the Durselys when you need them to distract you?" he asked, as if oncue, the bell rang.

"Coming!" Harry called, already betting that these were the Durselys, but they weren't.

Clear blue eyes met his gaze.

"Mark?" he said, slightly uncertain, what is he doing here? He wondered silently

.

"Hi, Harry!" Mark said brightly, "This is my dad!"

Mark's father looked in his mid thirties, clear blue eyes, and like Mark, he wasblonde.

"Hello, sir." Harry said politely, and stepped out of the way. "Please, come in!"

Once inside, Harry extended his hand, Mark's father smiled and took the extendedhand.

"I'm Edward Evans!"

"Pleased to meet you." Harry said struggling to act indifferent to his last name, "follow me, please." Not every Evans in this world should be related to your mother, Potter! He told himself.

In the spotless sitting room, Harry gestured for them to take a seat, and when they did, he sat opposite them.

"Want something to drink?" Harry asked, wondering why they came never mind thatearly.

"No, thank you, I'll make it quick." Mr. Evans told him, Harry leaned forward, looking politely interested, and Mr. Evans cleared his throat.


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"I want to thank you for defending my son and to pay you back."

"No need sir!" Harry said quickly, feeling offended.

Mr. Evans waved his hand impatiently.

"I say that you need work, don't you?" he asked.

Harry considered the situation, he needed something to do, well, till Remus began training him, and that won't happen before the end of the month, he could study in the night, not homework, those he won't have till the O.' results come outand he selected the subjects he'll have N.E. in them, he would study new cursesfrom the books Remus and Sirius gave him last Christmas. It could be useful. Harry nodded carefully. Mr. Evans beamed.

"I own a library" he said, " I need someone to help me."

Harry snorted.

"I don't want to be rude, sir" he said catching the annoyed expression on Mr.Evans' face. "But I don't know much about literature. I would not be able to help you." That would be Hermione, he thought.

"You'll be able to learn." Mr. Evans smiled. "Do you agree?" handing him a form."If you do, sign here!"

Harry wanted to sign, but he had something to say.

"Sir, there is the possibility of someone taking me after a month, is that okaywith you?" he said, thinking of the Weasleys.

"The contract is for one month." Mr. Evans told him, "If you don't want to conti

nue after a month, that would be fine."

Harry smiled and looked down at the form, he read it and agreed to the terms, they were fine to him, but then he remembered something.

"Sir," he said, "I'll have to ask for permission, can I give you my answer tomorrow?"

Mr. Evans smiled and nodded.

"I expected that" he confessed, "I'll come tomorrow, if yes, I'll take you tothe library, it's only two streets away so it would be easy for you to go there,

if no, I'll take the form back!"

"Thank you, sir."

"No need, you protected my only son, I owe you that." Mr. Evans reminded him. "Come on, Mark!"

"Bye, Harry!" Mark smiled up at him.

"Goodbye, Mr. Evans, Mark!" Harry said walking them to the door. "Thank you, again!"

Both nodded and left.

Harry closed the door feeling slightly annoyed and happy; annoyed because he hadto ask Dumbledore if that was safe, which was probably not, and happy because h


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e was asked to work, if that meant anything, then the neighbors didn't seem to hate him.

He sighed and walked to Mrs. Figg; she was one of the spies, isn't she? Maybe hecould contact Dumbledore some way or another.

Five minutes later found him knocking on 's house. She opened the door and beame

d.

"Hello, Harry." She greeted him. "Come in!"

Once inside, Mrs. Figg watched him, looking worried.

"Is there something wrong, dear?" she asked concerned.

"No, Mrs. Figg." Harry said smiling; apparently, she knew that him visiting herwithout a reason is quite impossible, and she was right.

He gestured for her to come close, she did.

"Is there a way to talk to Prof. Dumbledore?" he whispered. She jerked away staring at him.

"Why do you think" she began.

"Shhh!"

She waved her hand dismissively.

"No one can hear us here." She told him. "Dumbledore had placed powerful charms,anything we say will sound something else for anyone trying to eavesdrop!"

"Okay," Harry said feeling relieved. " Now is there a way to talk to Prof. Dumbledore?"

"There is no need, Harry, I'm already here." Harry whirled around and his gaze met the old face of Albus Dumbledore, his eyes were twinkling slightly.

"Hello, sir!" Harry greeted him, meeting his gaze, if Prof. Dumbledore peered inhis mind, even though he's a master legilimency, he would feel it, he quickly cleared his mind.

Dumbledore smiled.

"I see that you could successfully clear your mind," he said. "That is a start incase you want to resume your Occlmency lessons, anyway, it would be safer to talk in your house."

"If you say so, sir." Harry said shrugging.

"Take care, Arabella." He said kissing her hand, she giggled and he smiled.

"Bye, Mrs. Figg." Harry said nodding. Five minutes later, the kitchen found Harry making tea for the two of them.

"I take it that you wanted to ask me some questions, Harry? Thank you." He addedwhen Harry placed the steaming tea in front of him.

"Yes, sir." Harry said nodding.


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"Fire away!"

Harry smiled.

"Well, the Durselys had left this house," he said. "Does that mean I'm no longersafe here?"

Dumbledore smiled.

"That's not how it works" he said sipping from his tea. " You are safe where your Aunt took you in thus sealing the protection charm that I placed on you, where her blood dwelled the moment she took you in, now she has no role in protecting you, if you go each year to this house, here you'll be fine, no one could hurt you in here." Harry nodded.

"Sir" he said. "What part the old crowd knows from the prophecy?"

"The same that Voldemort knows" he said. "Only your parents, Neville's, you and I know the whole contents, it was just too risky, and I was right."

Silence, then

"Did Remus tell you?"

"Yes, he did" Dumbledore interrupted gently, "and I approve, Tonks, Alastor, Kingsley and Remus will take turns in training you, I believe that the back garden is wide enough, we'll put up wards so the muggles don't see or hear anything,but we'll have to wait one monthwe can't do anything before your birthday"

"Why not?"

"There is no wards to block underage magic from the magic-detectors in the minis

try, but the ministry decided that whoever is 16 and above could do magic, so they could defend themselves."

"That means that Ron can use magic already" Harry mused, and Dumbledore's eyestwinkled even more brightly.

"Well, he can't use that privilege yet," he beamed. "Molly won't hear of it!" Harry chuckled.

"I figured" he said amused, then he turned serious. "Did Remus tell you aboutwhat happened yesterday?"

"Yes"

"Well, the boy's father came here today, and he offered me work, and I" Harrystopped, feeling suddenly selfish; what if the Death Eaters attacked him there?Mr. Evans could get killed, along with the customers that might be in there, just because the grand 'Harry Potter' wanted to work. Pathetic.

"If you could accept without the danger of getting who are around you killed?" Dumbledore stated more than asked. Harry waved his hand.

"I understand" he said feeling bad. "That's not possible, I'll talk to him, and"

Dumbledore raised his palm, making Harry stop.

"Harry" he said gently. "You being under a prophecy don't mean that you can't


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have a 'no-serious' job! In midst gravity, one must have a distraction, or else,you'll crack, I can make you a portkey and" Harry shook his head making Dumbledore stop questioningly.

"So I can escape with my own skin?" he asked smiling grimly. "I don't want to have that on my conscious, thank you!"

"So you are going to stay here for the required time, then get you Grimauld Place, then straight to Hogwarts? That's impractical, Harry"

"But"

"I want you to promise me something" suddenly sounding as stern as McGonagoll."You are not get apart of everyone with the nation of 'they'll get hurt becauseI'm near them', if anyone gets hurt, or die, it won't because of you, it wouldbe Voldemort's fault"

"But look at what happened two weeks ago!" Harry said quietly. " Voldemort got me to believe that Sirius was in his handsand look what happened! Next time cou

ld happen for real, he could kidnap Ron or Hermione or"

"If you learn Occlmency and master it" Dumbledore interrupted uncharacteristically and Harry stared at him. "You'll be able to block out any images that Voldemort might send to you, as for your friends, Voldemort won't be interested in them just because they are your friend! They'll be in danger as long as Voldemortis around, and so is the entire wizarding folk who are against Voldemort."

Silence, then

"How much longer to stay here?" Harry asked.

"Not before your birthday."

"That means that I'll be trained in Grimauld Placeso why did you suggest the back garden for training?"

"That would be in the days you are to stay here after your birthday"

"How much?"

"Depends."

"Sir?" Harry said awkwardly.

"Hmmm?"

"Is there a spell to correct your sight?" he said quickly.

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes."

"Can-can you correct my sight?"

"Reason?"

"Oh well" Harry sighed. "Can't risk getting killed just because of my glassesfalling or somethingI'm blind as a bat without them!"

"Logical" Dumbledore said, but Harry suspected that Dumbledore knew what was coming, and that those questions were just teasing, he smiled. "Okay" Dumbledore continued. "Take off your glasses, and hold still"


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Harry did as he was told.

"Close your eyes"

Harry did that.

"Corecttarous!" Harry felt some tingling in his eyes, not unlike the one he feltwhen growing his hair. It stopped.

"You can open your eyes."

Harry opened his eyes, and he grinned slightly; he liked the feeling of seeing properly without glasses.

"Thank you, sir." Harry said gratefully.

"I have to go, Harry." He said gently. "I have some things to do, I'll pay a visit if I can."

Harry nodded, knowing that was a polite gesture and not something that is likelyto happen. "Have a good day, sir."

"You too, Harry." And he disapprated with a low pop.

"Now what I'm going to do?"

Next day, at 9:00AM, Harry got in Mr. Evans' car, the signed form in his hand.

"I'm glad you accepted" Mr. Evans said after exchanging greetings. "I do needhelp in the library, it's always full!"

Indeed it was, the people seemed to like sitting in the library, and they kept asking if a book was there, when it would be if out? Some people were playing chess, (For a moment, Harry didn't comprehend why they were not moving.) Some people drinking coffee, tea, juiceyou name it, Harry was expecting a real library,but, for him, this was a very big and excellent sitting room, and Harry enjoyedit, he was not the only assistant of course, there was another 10 teens at least, Harry was to work from 8:00AM to 3:00PM, from 11:00 to 12:00PM was a break. Hewas enjoying it.

You have one month to enjoy your time, Potter. He thought grimly drinking his coffee, and then the real work begins.

In the afternoon, however, he would grip Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts, he even asked Hermione to send him her copies of The Raising and the Fall of the Dark Arts and Hogwarts: a history, knowing all the available about Voldemort and Hogwarts was not a bad idea, after all Knowledge is power.

He easily fell in the routine of working, reading, eating and sleeping, but he did break out of it as soon as he realized that his birthday was five days away,he did when a painfully proud owl soared in his room with a letter in it's beakbearing the Ministry's crest, and it was followed by a Hogwarts' owl.

For a moment he feared that the Ministry's letter was asking him for a trail forsomething who-knows-what, and that the Hogwarts letter was to expel him, then h

e remembered.

"Oh boy." Harry muttered staring at the letter: O.


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"Which first?" Harry wondered looking between the Hogwarts letter and the Ministry's, he decided the Ministry's first, but he quickly relieved the other owl ofits burden, surprisingly it stayed put.

"You'll have to wait." He told it.

Now he looked at the letter with O. results in it. Better get on with it.

He opened it, and unfolded a single piece of parchment, and read:

The Results of the

Ordinary Wizarding Levels.

Name: Harry James Potter.

School: Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry.

Key:

{O = Outstanding

Success.{E = Exceeding Expectations

{A = Acceptable

{P = Poor

Failure{D = Dreadful

{T = Troll

Subject Grading

Transfiguration E

Charms O

Herbology E

Potions O

DADA O

History of Magic D

Division A

Care of Magical Creatures O

Astronomy A

You've got 10 O.

Congratulations!

By the time Harry finished reading the letter, he had his eyes wide open, his marks were overly good, he can't have got an E in Transfiguration, much less an Oin Potions, did the examiners get soft with him because of who he is? He felt su


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ddenly sick, and threw away the parchment.

He took the letter of Hogwarts, it asked him to write the subjects he wanted totake N.E. in them, sighing, he wrote that he wanted to take N.E. in Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Herbology, DADA and Care of Magical creatures. He then noticed a P.S

Prof. Snape had gone directly to the Ministry when he saw that you got an O, they showed him your answers, so rest assured, you did get an O fairly. A.D

Feeling assured, Harry sent the letter with the Hogwarts' owl.

Thinking that he would write to Ron and Hermione later about his results, he gotinto his bed to catch some sleep, before going to work.

Seven hours later, he woke up, and got ready for his work, and not a long time later, Harry was smiling at Mr. Evans.

"Good morning, sir!" he said cheerfully, Mr. Evans looked up and smiled back.

"You know that you can call me Ed when we are alone Harry," he reminded him gently. "But good morning anyway!"

Harry sat comfortably in the chair facing his boss, and who became close to a mentor to Harry, despite being young, Mr. Evans was wise, and he, Harry, learned to like him.

"You never told me that your mother's maiden name is Evans, Harry." Edward saidsuddenly, Harry stared at him, he almost forgot about that.

"There weren't any occasion that required that my mother's maiden name was Evans, Ed." He said raising his eyebrows. Ed frowned, something that rarely formed on

his face.

"From what I know, Harry" he said quietly, a sure danger sign. "I understood that you always liked to have relatives other than the Durselysme being an Evans might mean that I'm your relative, don't you agree?"

Harry settled on shrugging, Edward leaned forward.

"Tell me something, Harry" he said, "What does Wingardium Leviousa mean?"

Harry started to smile remembering the Troll from his first year, but then he stared at Edward

"You" Harry started, but Edward chuckled.

"No, I'm a mere simple muggle" he said beaming. "But a certain Lily uttered that word and Vernon began flying around our living room, I think he insulted a certain James, oh that was priceless!"

Trying to get the funny image of Uncle Vernon flying in mid-air, he struggled for words.

"You knew my mum?" He said indignantly, "Why didn't you say anything?!"

"You'll let me explain, won't you?" Edward asked warningly, he somehow reduced t

he desire of exploding in Harry, since he knew him, Harry felt more like the oldHarry who existed before the 4th year, before all the trouble began: a calmer more reserved Harry.


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Harry took a deep breath, and nodded.

"I wasn't allowed near you in the past years, Petunia always said that I would tell you about the other world, and thatin her opinionwould ruin the chancesof squashing the magic out of you," Edward snorted, "I told her about thousand times that that wasn't how it worked, but would she listen? Heavens no!" Edward s

ighed. "Then the Durselys said that they sent you to St. Brutus whatsoever center, I then thought that you were a-a-a squib? Lily told me that that could happen, and then the truth came out

"I didn't know what to doI didn't want you to reject me, so I tried to get tobe friends before telling you that Lily and I were cousins so you don't get angryDid I succeed?"

Harry smiled; he couldn't bring himself to be angry.

"So you are my second cousin?" Harry asked cheerfully. "It's cool to have a cousin other than that Dudley."

Ed looked relieved.

"Thank you." He said gratefully.

"Oh, no" Harry smiled slightly. "Thank you for telling me, cousin!" He said the last word with affection.

"If I'm not mistaken" Ed said gently, "Your birthday is five days away, right?" Harry raised his eyebrows; "Lily made me memorize it, not very difficult." Heexplained, and then he disappeared under the desk to emerge with a carefully warped package. It felt really magical.

"This is not from me" Ed confessed, "Your mother left it in my care, told me to give it to you after you reach your 15th birthday, but before your 16th, I couldn't have given it to you before, could I?" Harry stood up and quickly hugged his newly found uncle.

"Thank you"

"No need, I'm your cousine after all" Ed looked sternly at him, "Off to work,I'm not going to be easy on you!"

"Aye, sir!"

After a long period of reading Hogwarts: a History, Harry looked at the packageUncle Ed gave him, he didn't know why, but he felt as though he didn't want to discover anything about himself, or his pasthe can barely cope with the presentnever mind the future, but then, he should know everything about his past, while he can explode and rant without anyone hearing him.

He reached out, grasped the package and placed it in his lap. After staring at it, he sighed and thought better now than later trying to reassure himself, he took off the warping to reveal a wooden box, he lifted the lock which glowed a bitwith a soft click, indicating that he could open it now.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

What do you think there is in the box? Review please. Tell me whatever passed inyour brain.Chapter Three: Late Inheritance


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Bracing himself, Harry opened it. It was full of parchments as far as he could tell, but there was a pretty normal envelope on the top of them, he slowly reached out and grasped it, and just as slowly he tore the envelope open and from it fell two sheets, he stared at them as though fascinated.

Perhaps, his numbness was due to the fact that he couldn't remember his parents

talking to him except when he was in the maze, but that didn't count, he felt terrible, were they so sure of their death and of his survival that they wrote a letter? Did they suspect the Wormtail would betray them? What would they tell himanyway?

After complete long 5 minutes of staring, Harry unfolded one of the sheets.

24th of October 1981.Harry stopped, suddenly breathless; this was written a week before their death,and, if he remembered correctly, that was the day the Fidelius Charm was performed, he took a deep breath, and continued reading:Dear Harry

I hope this will find you completely fine and happy, I'm Lily, by the way, the other paper is from your Dad, I do hope that this is given by me laughing at my apprehension of dying before you reach your 15th birthday, if so you'll probablyknow all of this, but I'm not so sure; we escaped from Voldemort's clutches three times already, our luck could not go on for so long.

If my fear is confirmed, and we do die before you are old enough, then we are sorry, and if I'm not much mistaken, Peter will have to have betrayed us, I thinkthat by the time you are reading this, someone will have bound to have explainedwhat have happened, if not, ask Sirius or Remus or Dumbledore, they are familiar with the arrangements that we did to protect ourselves, I just hope that theyare still around, Mia won't be able to help, she knows nothing about the Secret-keeper business, I didn't have time to tell her.

Mia? Harry stopped, wondering. No one mentioned her in front of me. I can ask Remus latter.

I'm sure that you'll survive, not only because of the prophecy, but because I'mgoing to place the Love-Sacrificing charm on you, I wish that there is a way around that, but the only last way that I could protect you with is that me gettingkilled for you, I want to stay with you, but I can't, you have to survive, that's why I left all the powerful spells that I ever learned written in the parchments you see in the box, and that's saying something, because, according to James, I'm a know-it-all.

Please don't let the prophecy affect you, don't let it stop your life, and don'tgo and feel bad about me using that charm, because if I don't, my fate will bemuch worse than death.

Voldemort doesn't want to kill me, as far as I could tell, even though I'm a muggle-born, he wants me to be at his side, because I'm a Charm Mistress, that is to say that my knowledge could possibly mirror Voldemort's knowledge of charms, he needs someone like me to invent new charms that could be deadly, he could do that of course, but he doesn't have the time, and he couldn't teach one of his Death Eaters, because it also needs talent, or so he told me, and if I survive andyou die, he'll probably force me to join him, I do know how to throw off the Imperius Curse, but I'm sure he has other ways of controlling that I possibly won't be able to fight.

In the parchments you see in the box, there are all the charms I ever learned asI told you above, I want you to learn them, Harry, if you are anything like you


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r father, then you are not an eager student for learning, more likely, you havea knack for poking around, your father never minded his own business, there is some parchments from James in there, none of them are pranks, I'm sure, they areall studying material, don't you groan boy!

Here, I'll explain from where your magic comes, that's important, Harry, I'll explain the basics first, shall I?

Now, let's imagine that the magic is stored in a room, which is locked with a door, the more the magic that is there, the quicker the 'door' bangs open, thus the magic flowing in your vines, it's normal for the magical babies to show signsof magic when reaching their first birthday, the more early the sign of magic show, the more powerful the baby is, and the opposite is right; a baby showing magical signs latter in life means that they are not that powerful.

There is limit to which the body can allow for magic to flow in it, but it's different from person to person, for example; a muggle can't stand the tiniest bitof magic in their bodies, that's why they can't have magical powers, as small asit can be, they can't stand it.

Now a wizard/witch can have more than one room to hold the magic, the earlier the signs appear, the more rooms you'll probably have, I believe that the magicalsigns showed up in Dumbledore when he was an 8-month-old baby, and he has two doors, and his parents had to 'block' one door because a baby's body can't take much magic, that takes time, Dumbledore's other door was unblocked when he reachedhis sixteenth birthday, by this age the body complete its preparation to receive the magic that is stored in the other 'room'. I hope that you understood all this, if you didn't, communicate with Dumbledore BEFORE your 16th birthday, and don't continue if you don't understand.

Harry, fully understanding what she had explained in the letter, felt numb, whatshe had written next?! His brain groaned.

Don't fly off the handle, Harry, please;

Uhoh! Harry thought numbly.

your magical signs had showed up when you reached your 5th month.

"WHAT?!" Harry shouted incredulously, staring at the letter. This was, in his opinion, a very bad joke, if he did understand correctly then that meant

"I CAN'T be more powerful than Dumbledore!" he said indignantly. "No way! That'sabsolutely absurd! What were you playing at, mum?" he shouted at the letter.

But then he remembered what his mum wrote, don't fly off the handle, Harry sighed; apparently, she knew what she was writing.

Rubbing his temples, he continued to read, disbelievingly

Yes, that means what you think it mean; you are more powerful than even Dumbledore, according to some sources, Voldemort's signs showed up when he was 4 monthsand 26 days old, so he's a little more powerful than you.

You have 4 doors, Harry, and we blocked 3 of them, they will blast open when youreach your sixteenth birthday, so you are now prepared.

No one really knows what happens when they are unblocked, Dumbledore told me that it's not the same for all people, by the way, Voldemort doesn't know about your magic sign appearing THAT early, he thinks that they appeared when you were 8


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months old, like Dumbledore, we, that is James and I, didn't tell anyone about you, we were afraid that this would give Voldemort an extra reason to kill you, and it's better that you keep it as a secret; it's better if Voldemort underestimates you, oh look at me, encouraging my own son to go and fight, what must you think of me?!

About the prophecy, I guess that the power which Voldemort doesn't know about is

Love, if there is one thing that Voldemort doesn't understand it is love, but how could you defeat Voldemort using love, I don't know, until now, I looked up all the charms in which 'love' is an essential, and I found the Love-sacrificingCharm, and I don't think that's the one you are to use to defeat that monster.

Talking of monsters, did you meet my sister Petunia; if you had the misfortune of meeting her, I'm sorry, should have made her accept magic a little more.

I don't have anything more to say, I love you son, never forget that, even if you were in the middle of the field.

And do be careful. No scratch that, do always be on 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE!' oh, I

love it when Alastor shouts that causing James to jump and squeak.

Love you, my little green flame torch.

Your mother,

Lily Evans: Mrs. Potter.

Harry bit his bottom lip, feeling the corner of his eyes prickling, his mother,he could guess, was a lovely woman, why didn't he at least know what she becomeslike when she's angry? Does her face become tomato-red? Or does she purse her lips like Aunt Petunia?

He stood up, wrenched the curtains open and looked up at the sky, much like whenhe mourned over Sirius' death.

"It's unfair!" he whispered, feeling like he was complaining to the sky. "Why should a prophecy control my life? Why should I have 3 blocked doors? Why I'm evena wizard? Why wasn't I born a squib? Why did you choose me Voldemort?!" he whispered the last bit fiercely, that it would have been much better if he had shouted.

Because it's your destiny. His inner voice told him.

"And I had already accepted it." Harry whispered in reply, he then looked at the

other sheet. Should he read it now?

"Better get over with it." He said, he picked up the paper and unfolded it quickly, and read:

24th of October 1981Dear Harry

I advise you to read your mother's letter before this, if you already did, and if I do know your mother good enough, I think that you are annoyed while readingthis, I could see how she explained the 'doors' and the 'rooms' thingy in a veryscientific way, honestly! That freaked me out, but according to Lily, that means nothing, because I'm a man with a mind of a kid, can you believe her?!

Anyway, I'm not going to add any information to this letter, all you might needabout Transfiguration is in the box, I even wrote how Sirius, Peter and I became


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animagus, that should be useful, and no, Harry, I'm not encouraging you to break rules, this is a good disguise in case you want to escape, I know now how my parents felt every time I caused trouble, and to confess something to you, I don't want to feel that way, or at least feel it the least possible.

I want to write some sort of a confession; this is about Snape.

Snape?! Harry thought incredulously what is he going to write about Snape?!

I bet that Sirius told you about Snape, whether he's dead or alive while you read this, I just feel that someone would tell you about how horrible I was to Snape, and I don't want to see the day that you look at me and say that I'm an ' arrogant brat' , I really don't.

Harry bet his lip, feeling suddenly guilty.

I won't lie and sayI mean writethat I was an innocent boy, who only fought back, that's not exactly the case.

You see, The Snapes were a very wealthy family, more like the Malfoys, Lucius Malfoy is 6 years older than me, and he is a well-known Death Eater and Snape's father was along the same way (he is dead now.)

So, dear old Snape, (I'm sarcastic here!), was a very spoiled child, if you knowwhat I mean, the first time we met, he arrogantly asked if Sirius and I wantedto join him, he insulted Remus and Peter, riffraff he called them, can you believe him? I still feel my blood boil whenever I think of that, at that time, whenI was a first year, Voldemort was gathering followers, and I knew all about Snape's father, so his offer was as good as he asking me to join Voldemort, we, thatis the Potters, are what they call 'pure-blood' wizards, and that's nonsense, if you ask me.

So from there that our enmity against Snape, at first it was very fair, he picked on us, we picked on him, he pulled a prank on us, and we'll do just the same,it's even fair to say that we wished that the other was expelled, and worked hard to do that, it was peaceful in a way, it was not 'harmful' , that is till ourfifth year, and precisely while we did our O..

In the summer before our fifth year, Snape's father was caught, the Ministry, after proving that he's a Death Eater, took all his goods and Manor, as a repayment for all the harm that he had caused, that left Snape poorer than even the Weasleys, I don't have anything against that, but in my opinion, Snape's father gotwhat he deserved, I think that his family shouldn't have suffered because of Snape's actions, but that's the law, if you ask me, I'd say take a bit of his fortu

ne, not ALL of it.

This had it's bad effects on Severus Snape, the Slytherins no longer pretended to like him, they all gave their backs to him, the rest were no better, but who can blame them? He always hexed whoever walks in front of him, literally! We, theMarauders, took no pity on him, instead of him provoking us, we provoked him, the worst we did was hang him upside down from a tree, I admit, we were horrible,or at least Sirius and I, Remus never joined us in our pranks that year, he said that we did was very disgusting, and now that I look back at it, I agree, in fact, I realized that after we finished our 5th year, I no longer provoked him, Iignored him, that is till he insulted someone in front of me, specially Lily, I'm soooo in love with her, no I'm grinning like an idiot and Lily is giving weird looks, better rearrange my face before she become suspicious, there, I managed

to keep a straight face, so where were we? Oh yeah, if he insults someone, I would tell him to shut his face, if he hexed someone, I'd report him, but if he hexes me or one of the Marauders, I would hex him, so the enmity between him and I


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returned to normal, it sprang up, however, when Sirius tricked him into entering a hole under the Whomping Willow, you can ask him the story, it involved him more than me.

I hope, son, that after this letter you know that I'm not a 'bad guy', but really, neither a 'good guy' , people are not divided into 'bad guys' and 'good guys', there are people who make their choices depending on their interests, not out

of their morals or beliefs, and there's people who are not entirely good, but they do lean into that side, the same goes for the not entirely bad people.

About your mum calling you her 'Green Flame Torch', you were only a day old, when she woke up and said she dreamt that you were a green flame torch, I laughed so hard that day, but, despite that, she insisted that your nickname is Green Flame Torch, Greforch for short, yeah your mother is as mad as Dumbledore, but that's why I love her mainly.

Stay safe, my child.

James Potter.

Harry stared at the letter, a small smile appearing on his face; he felt suddenly relieved, his father at least had acknowledged that he was wrong, his father was not as arrogant as Snape seemed to think, but then, Harry was an 'arrogant brat' to Snape, and he was not.

"But I still don't want to look like you, Dad." He said determinedly, "I don't want to be judged or loved or hated or anything else, just because I look like you." He looked at his mirror, his hair now reached two inches above his shoulders, it was more tamed, he didn't want it long, but also long enough to tie it. A new question jumped to his mind, what would happen when he reaches his 16th birthday?

"All you can do is wait, Harry." He muttered to himself, deciding to look at thecontents of the box latter, he put two sheets back in the box and closed it, hethen dropped on his bed, and the sleep took him.Chapter four: The Guardians (PART I)

Harry, the next day, woke up feeling uneasy about what his mother wrote, but then he pushed it aside as he dressed to go to work.

"You came early today." Uncle Ed pointed out when Harry made his way in the 'library', making the other glance at his watch, and groan; it was barely 7:00PM.

"I could have slept more!" Harry grumbled, but he knew that he wouldn't have bee

n able to with the letter on his mind. Uncle Ed observed him carefully.

"You are preoccupied." He said simply, "anything I could help with?"

Harry looked up feeling amazed, if he didn't know better, he would have thoughtthat his Uncle was skilled at legilimency. "I'm a psychologist." He added, smiling.

"Oh!" was the only thing that Harry could say.

"So," His Uncle leaned forward, "Is it about your box?"

Harry merely nodded.

"I do hope that Lily didn't explain things to you in a very scientific way" headded smiling, "I know that she wrote you a letter," he added intercepting corr


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ectly the frown that formed on Harry's face.

"You are freaking me out." Harry confessed, "Are you sure you are not a wizard?!"

Uncle Ed chuckled.

"Your mother always kept asking that, I remember" he said his eyes twinkling in a very familiar way, " she suspected that I'mwhat was that? Oh yeah, skilled at legilimency."

"Exactly my suspicions."

"Your mother used to be able to block me out, don't know how, try to do that!" he challenged. Harry grinned; his mother was skilled at Occlmency. What for? He wondered, but then he suppressed all his feelings, then, remembering that Snape said that one could show false feelings, or something like that, he forced himself to remember something happy; the first time he mounted a broomstick, he couldn't help smiling.

"Now you are happy." His uncle Ed said, raising his eyebrows, "Something that Ididn't expect to happen today, but then, I think you'll have a harder time trying to block a legilimus, Lily told me."

"I believe so too" Harry said, "You were close to my mum?"

"Yeah," Uncle Ed sighed dreamily, "I fancied her actually." He chuckled at Harry's dropped jaw, "Don't look too dumbfounded boy! She was beautiful and smart, soanyone would fancy her."

"Did you" Harry began, but Ed interrupted him.

"No, I never asked her out." He said smiling, "the feeling was not strong enoughto ask her for a date, and above all she was my cousin!"

Harry shrugged, "I hardly think that mum didn't date any boy apart from my dad."

"You'll be stupid if you think sosay what happened to Remus, Sirius and Peter?They always were around James, I don't believe that Sirius is a dangerous murdererso what happened to them?"

Harry ended up telling him the story of Peter's betrayal, Voldemort's return andSirius' death, when Harry finished, he felt peaceful, as though saying it madethe bitter feelings get out.

"I'm sorry" Uncle Ed began.

"No need," Harry interrupted, "Thank you for listening, anyway."

"Any time, I'll kill any rat I see, hopefully that would be Pettigrew!" he spatthe name hatefully, his eyes glittering.

Harry smiled grimly.

"No need to do that" he said, "One, he won't dare to come around here, and two, the rat should have a silver paw, Voldemort had given him that one"

"That's rightoops! It's nearly 8AM, go off to work, quickly!"

The work blissfully succeeded in taking his mind off his responsibilities, which


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were to begin after his birthday, before, he didn't really look forward to hisbirthdays, and then he dreaded it.

Harry left the 'library' to his house, he knew that it was Remus' turn to watchhim, Harry frowned; he remembered that Remus promised to talk to him on a Saturday two weeks ago, but he didn't, why?

He finally reached Privet Drive number four, and he had barely gotten into the kitchen when the ball rang.

Could it be Remus? Harry wondered vaguely, he shrugged and peered through the window of the kitchen so he could get a clear view of the man standing there

It was Remus.

Back to the same problem, Harry thought, how could I know if he's the real Remus?

Moody obviously had a bad influence on you. A voice that sounded incredibly like

Ron's sounded in his head.

Well, he has a right to be suspicious, a voice like Hermione's sounded in his head.

Your opinions areerrquite interesting said a voice that sounded like Dumbledore's, Harry, concentrate on your task now.

Harry, feeling like he had just lost his mind, scratched his forehead.

Shut it, will you? He snapped, and the murmurs in his head stopped but he did distinctly hear someone drawl in his head, no respect for the elders!

Harry huffed and walked to the door, if it was a Death Eater, then it would havebeen long since he blasted the door open, and no one can hurt him there, right?

Harry stood in front of the door.

"Who is there?" he asked.

"Remus" he said, "Oh, well. That's not enough, right? ErrI know thaterroh, hell, is there is something that I know and no one else does?"

"Where did Snuffles keep Buckbeak?" Harry asked after a while.

"In his mother's room." Remus said quickly.

Harry was still suspicious, Remus didn't come when he did promise that he would,maybe they captured Remus and extracted the information existing in his head.

I'm being paranoid! Harry thought, but really, he couldn't help it.

"Why didn't you come the other Saturday?" he asked letting his suspicion show inhis voice, but the replay was the last he expected.

"Excellent, Harry!" Remus' voice said happily, "Albus is here with me!"

How do I know that for sure? Harry thought his eyes narrowing I didn't see him!

There was a faint pop behind him making Harry turn around only to see Dumbledoreand Remus in front of him, Harry quickly put his hand in his pocket where his w


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and was, but then Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, and Remus' face was wearing the same look he always had when looking at Harry, so he relaxed.

"Sorry" Harry began.

"Wait a sec Harry," Remus interrupted narrowing his eyes, "You don't know yet that we areus for real!"

"Oh yes, I do!" Harry said confidently, "I just know it."

Dumbledore nodded in approval, but Remus didn't look too convinced, making Harrysigh.

"Want something to drink?" he asked politely.

"No need," Dumbledore said smiling, "I'll conjure those in the sitting room."

True to his word, Dumbledore conjured three cups full of steaming mint tea, anda plate full of biscuits and yellow sweets.

"Help yourself," Dumbledore said before popping a yellow drop in his mouth, Remus didn't get near the yellow sweets, but Harry did; it was lemon drop, and Harryinstantly liked it.

"So, how did you know that it's us?" Remus inquired.

Harry smiled.

"Because I know you" he said, "I don't think that Polyjuice potion would be effective enough to make the eyes twinkle as in Dumbledore's case, and you, Remus,I know because no Death Eater can look at me with the warmth you have, see? It's that I know how you are, unlike the Death Eaters and Voldemort."

"Excellent, Harry," Dumbledore said approvingly, his eyes twinkling even more, "Someone may take our place, but the actions couldn't be copied."

"Sowhy didn't you come that Saturday, Remus?" Harry wanted to know.

"We wanted to see if you are careful enough," Remus explained, "Most people won't think of the absence of someone as suspicious, I'm glad that you did, that makes me more sure about your safety."

Harry nodded, fully accepting the answer.

"Soabout your training" those words from Dumbledore's mouth caught his fullattention, "It is to begin the 1st of August, and that's next MondayRemus, Alastor, Tonks, Kingsley and Minerva are the one's to train you, Minerva will trainyou on Monday and Thursday, Alastor on Tuesday and Friday, Remus on Wednesday,Tonks on Saturday, and finally Kingsley on Sunday."

Harry gulped.

"Doesdoes Minerva meanProf. McGonagoll?" he asked tentatively. Dumbledore smiled in amusement and Remus groaned.

"She won!" Remus moaned looking at Harry as though he had betrayed him gravely."How could you?!"

"What?" Harry asked puzzled.


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"Minerva, and no Harry, not Prof. McGonagoll, betted that you will think that she is going to be Minerva McGonagoll, Remus said that you won'tso he lostwasit 20 gallons, Remus?"

"25!" Remus pouted, making Harry laugh.

"Sowhat's her last name?"

"Miada."

Harry looked smiled innocently at Remus, maybe too innocently.

"What?" Remus said looking worried.

"I'll make her agree on a bet, she likes betting, doesn't she?"

"She even beat Severus" Remus warned him. Harry raised his eyebrows

"Are you comparing me to Professor Snape, Remus?" he said amused, "he'll bellow

up, if he hears that."

Dumbledore chuckled.

"No, boys" he began, then seeing their narrowed eyes he added, "You are boys to a 150 year-old man, anyway, Harry, did you receive the box yet?"

Harry frowned, and then he remembered that, in the letter, his mother wrote thatDumbledore already knew.

"I did, sir." He said. Remus looked puzzled.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, Harry sighed.

"Mum and Dad wrote letters before they died" he said.

"And they gave it to Edward Evans, you remember him don't you? In the box thereis the material that she and James ever learned about Transfiguration and Charms."

"That would take him ages to learn!" Remus exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"We shall see" Dumbledore pointed out. "Anyway, is there any question you haveHarry?"

Harry vaguely noticed that Remus knew nothing about the doors and such.

"Well, " he said slowly, "I have two questions actually, " he took a deep breath, "Is Sirius declared dead?"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"There is no body" he said gravely, "so there is no proof that he is dead."

Harry bit his lip.

"And" he said after a while, "Who is Mia?"

Remus looked startled.

"How do you know about her?" he demanded, surprising Harry.


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"Mum mentioned her in the letter" he said, "Who is she?"

"She" Remus sighed, "she was your Godmother, Harry."

"Was?"

"Died fourteen years ago."

"Oh!"

Silence, an awkward silence fell, then

"I'll see you next Wednesday, Harry." Remus said quietly, he got up, hugged a slightly stunned Harry, then he left.

Finally, the information sank in, and Harry covered his face.

"GreHarry?" Dumbledore said, concerned.

"I'm all right," Harry said rising his head, his face was blank, "I'm sorry, I justI never thought that I had a Godmother, that's all."

"Okay." Dumbledore said, but Harry could see that the older man looked worried,so, trying to change the subject, he asked, "Can I join the old crowd? After I'mtrained?"

Dumbledore looked at him warmly.

"Well, we'll see that when it's time." Dumbledore said, and he got up. "I thinkthat we'll meet soon, Harry." And he disappeared with a pop.

"Bye." Harry said to the spot where Dumbledore was standing seconds before.

It was the 30th of July, it was 11:55PM, and Harry was staring at the clock, urging it silently to move faster, but the seconds dragged by, he knew that watching the clock would not help, in fact it makes the clock slower, but he couldn't stop himself.

He remembered watching Dudley's watch, counting down to reach his 11th birthday,he remembered very perfectly that Hagird had burst in where they, that is the Durselys and Harry, stayed for the night, running away from the letters invitingHarry to Hogwarts.

The day he discovered that he was a wizard.

Wonder what I'm going to discover today, Harry thought, oops! Two minutes left.

One minute

30 seconds

15 seconds

5 seconds

4 seconds

3, 2, 1


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For a moment nothing happened, and Harry let out a breath he didn't know he washolding, but then he let out a gasp of surprise when his body began floating inthe air, wait a sechis body? But, where was he? He could see himself, floatingin midair, glowing red, gold, yellow, blue, bronze, silver, green and white, his eyes were closed, Harry felt puzzled and confused, where was he?

He looked down at himself, and saw the ghost of his body.

"I didn't die, did I?" Harry's voice echoed in the room, if he thought that he was alone, he was grievously mistaken; five ghost-like figures glided one by oneout of Harry's body.

"We finally meet, Harry Potter."Chapter Five: The Guardians (Part Two)

Harry could only stare at those five figures. They were not ghosts, well, they were not pearly white, but he could recognize the colors of their hair, eyes, robes and skin, so, Harry figured they were not ghosts.

One of them was a strong-built man, his hair was jet-black, his eyes were a warmhazel and owned tanned skin and he was wearing red robes.

Next to him stood a kind looking woman, her eyes were a warm black, a small figure, and she looked very peaceful, her gold hair was shinning despite the dark room, Harry could see that she was wearing yellow robes.

Next to her stood a tall man, thin, and very old, Harry was reminded instantly of Dumbledore: the man owned clear blue eyes, and his snow-white hair and beard could be tucked in his belt easily, his robes were white.

Next to him a very beautiful woman stood proudly, clever emerald green eyes sheowned, brown hair falling past her shoulders and to her waist, she was wearing r

oyal blue robes.

The last figure was smirking, he was clever, Harry could tell, and very, very cunning, he was wearing emerald green robes, owned a monkeyish face, with a very long beard that could rival Dumbledore's, but instead of it being white it was aninky black, his eyes were just as black as his hair, Harry could see some mischievous glint in there. Harry felt that face was familiar, then

Harry's jaw dropped.

"Salazar Slytherin!" he exclaimed, his eyes popping. Salazar smirked.

"I'm glad I still have this effect on people." He drawled laughter was obvious in his voice.

"Salazar!" the strong-built man said sternly. "Behave!"

"Spoilsport!" Salazar whined much to Harry's amazement. "Why can't you let me have fun with your descent, Gryffindor? Does it kill you?"

Now Harry stared at Godric Gryffindor.

"Merlin's beard!" he breathed. The old man chuckled.

"Merlin would be sufficient, Harry." He said gently, Harry rubbed his temple fee

ling utterly lost.

The golden-haired woman rose to the rescue.


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"Do be slow on him!" she snapped, sounding like Molly Weasley, and instantly destroying the notion that she was 'peaceful' "You poor dear," she added kindly floating toward Harry who now stared at her.

"You are Hegla Hufflepuff?" he asked tentatively.

"Yes, dear." She said warmly.

He smiled and turned toward the last one left un-introduced.

"And you are Rowena Ravenclaw?" he asked, a strange smile on his face.

"Yes," she said gently, "Are you all right, dear?"

"I'm dreaming," Harry stated, "or I'm crazy, the Wizarding world was right all along!" and he began laughing so hard that tears escaped from his eyes, the Founders and Merlin exchanged dumbfounded glances, then

"I told you" Salazar said, with an air of great wiseness, "Teenagers no longerhave respect for elders! Didn't your family tell you that it's rude to laugh without a reason?" he scolded the laughing Harry.

"Speak for yourself, Salazar," Godric said, amused, "you were laughing like thatwhen Merlin appeared of thin air in front of us."

Salazar glared at him, but Godric looked completely unfazed.

Harry began to choke, forcing Rowena to sigh pulling out her wand and to point at him.

"Calmelo!" she said, a white beam engulfed Harry's ghost-like body, his coughs a

nd laughter ceased.

"Thanks." Harry said, taking a deep breathe, then he looked at Merlin and the Founders, and snorted, "I'm still dreaming?" he asked, smiling.

Hegla sighed.

"No, you are not dreaming, and no, you are not hallucinating!" she added when Harry opened his mouth to speak, so he shut it quickly. "Your mother already explained to you about the 'doors', right?"

"Yes," Harry said, frowning, "But"

"We are, you could say" she continued ignoring his obvious confusion, " the guardians of these doors, each of us guards a door." Harry titled his head to theright.

"Buthow did you know about the letter?" he asked, "Where did you come from? You are dead, no offend meant! Are you ghosts? I have three blocked doors, not five, so two of you are extra, and"

"Waha, boy!" Godric interrupted looking slightly alarmed, "Hold your horses!"

Rowena chuckled.

"Back away" she said good-naturedly, "I'm the best amongst you in teaching andexplaining."


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"That's hardly something to boast about." Godric murmured distinctly, Rowena shot him a glare and he grinned sheepishly, so she pinned him with her gaze till heshifted uncomfortably, satisfied, she turned and smiled at Harry.

"I'll explain what's going on here" she said calmly, falling in a teaching mode, "But I want you to listen closelyI don't fancy repeating"

Harry gave her his full attention.

"You understood all about the doors, didn't you?" she asked, and Harry nodded, "there is something that your mother ignored, but is important, you see, your mother blocked the doors, all of them, don't interrupt" she added sternly, when Harry opened his mouth, so he closed it, yet again, "How come you were able to perform magic for the past years? You were using power that you inherited from your parents, the magic that was behind the 'doors' is not inherited so your mother didn't block three, as she thought, but all of them

"The magic that was behind your doors was given by us. Hegla is a Seer, and sheSaw that the time would come when a wizard will raise andmisuse his magic, as

the world can't be balanced with Dark forces alone, it was necessary to choose the one who could vanquish the Dark Lord, and we chose you

"Why you? A very important question yet hard to answer, it's the mixture of whatHegla Saw, Destiny, and fateHegla Saw that we will help you, and we can't question Fate and Destiny, no one can

"We were trying to find a way to transfer our gifts, talents, and power to you,but then Hegla saw something else that made things much, much easieryour father was a descent of Godric and Hegla, not surprising, since they are marriedandyour mother was a de

prisoners of dark lord 1-10

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