…Seven Years Later

“Diddy! Come and eat! Breakfast is ready,” shouted Petunia up the stairs.

As Dudley stampeded past his former second bedroom, Harry Potter awakened from his slumber. Piercing green eyes came into focus as the boy put on his black rimmed glasses and ran a hand through his dark black hair. The glasses emphasized the dark circles under his eyes, proof of his ongoing nightmares. Since he lost his godfather during the battle at the Ministry in the Department of Mysteries, Harry had trouble sleeping and relived Sirius’s final moments almost nightly. Through his link with Voldemort, Harry also watched Death Eater meetings, finding himself waking up at all hours of the morning in a cold sweat, screaming and thrashing in his bed. There hadn’t been a meeting in a week, making Harry more anxious about Voldemort’s next move.

At first, Vernon would come rushing into the room, worried, not for his nephew, but that someone had broken into his home. After a week of this, he had progressed to verbal threats of no food and a 24 hour vacation in the cupboard under the stairs.

Harry had finally changed into his work clothes and entered the kitchen. All three Dursleys were already eating and looked up from their full plates of food at the scrawny boy that entered the room. Harry grabbed a quarter section of grapefruit and a leftover burnt piece of toast and sat at the far end of the table. As Harry gathered his food, Vernon’s face had slowly begun to turn an unflattering purple color.

“Boy! I’ve had enough of your racket!” shouted Vernon as Harry took a seat. “But Vernon, those freaks…” Petunia looked at Vernon and tried to interrupt him. “No, Pet, I don’t care what those freaks think. I can’t take anymore of his nightly shouting! Boy, if it happens tonight, you’ll be out of this house and sleeping in the shed!” “Got it?” he snarled, as a speck of half chewed egg flew out of Vernon’s mouth and onto Harry’s glasses.

Harry stared back at his uncle, shocked that he had lasted this long before threatening to kick him out of the house. He took a bite of his dry burnt toast and nodded as he wiped the egg of his face. “Yes, sir,” he mumbled.

“And do something about your hair. It’s getting too long. What will the neighbors think?” Petunia added.

“Too right you are,” Vernon replied as he stood from the table, kissed his wife goodbye, and headed out for work.

“Now you heard your uncle,” Petunia said to Harry as she added the last grapefruit quarter to Dudley’s plate next to his half eaten pile of eggs. “Go outside and finish your chores. I won’t have you lazing around all day.” Harry nodded, threw the grapefruit rind in the trash, and headed outside. He found the best way to handle his aunt and uncle this summer was to keep quiet and pretend he didn’t exist.

Once Harry was outside, he put on a pair of gardening gloves and crawled into the flower bed between some hydrangeas against the Dursley’s home. If anyone asked, he’d look like he was doing yardwork, but Harry had other things on his mind. He was worried about the lack of Death Eater activity. What had Voldemort been doing that was so important for him not to continue his almost daily raids of muggle neighborhoods? Did it have to do with the prophecy?

Harry was shocked when he found out about it. Sirius had just died a few days earlier and Dumbledore had told him the prophecy. How was a soon-to-be 16 year old boy supposed to destroy someone so vile that people were afraid to utter his name?

Harry had spent the last two weeks of summer holiday thinking of ways to defeat Voldemort. He knew he had to get extra training this semester and focus on learning more advanced defense techniques. Dumbledore should hire a competent professor for the upcoming school year, Harry thought, as he viciously yanked a dandelion weed out of the ground. The force of his pull on the weed caused dirt to fly up and scatter across his head and shirt. Harry sighed, pulling off a glove and swiped the sweat off of his brow. He brushed the dirt out of his hair, which had now grown a few inches longer. His hair was just another mystery that Harry spent time thinking about. For as long as he could remember, his hair was exactly the same length. It never grew long and when Aunt Petunia had cut his hair short it had grown back literally overnight. As he contemplated his hair in the hot July sun, he noticed that it was darker than normal, too. Strange. And what were the strange, faint red markings that were appearing on his skin, Harry wondered, as he stared at his arm.

Harry glanced at his watch and saw that several hours had passed since he went outside and that it was now almost time for lunch. Knowing that Uncle Vernon would be coming home for lunch, Harry sighed and headed to the shed to begin mowing the lawn.

-333-

At around the same time, Severus Snape was rushing towards Hogwarts castle from the gates. He had just apparated from his laboratory at his home on Spinner’s End and was anxious to meet with the Headmaster. When he reached the gargoyle, he scowled and bit out the password, “Fizzing Whizbee.” He took the stairs two at a time and knocked urgently on the door to Dumbledore’s office.

“Ah, Severus, what can I do for you?” said Dumbledore, as he repositioned a glass orb on a silver stand behind his desk. Severus looked around at the Headmaster’s desk, shocked by the large pile of broken magical ornaments. Taken aback, Snape asked, “Did you have a Muggle duel in here that I didn’t know about?”

With a sad smile, Albus replied, “You could say that. I’m afraid I dealt our dear Mr. Potter quite a shock the last time we met. His anger was quite understandable.”

Severus scoffed and mumbled, “Spoiled, attention-seeking brat,” under his breath. Before Dumbledore had a chance to admonish the Potions Master, Snape stated, “I’m afraid this is not a social call. I have just finished that potion that the Dark Lord requested. He’s planning on using it to bring down the wards sometime shortly after midnight tonight.”

Dumbledore walked out from behind his desk and went to the window. He stood silent for several seconds, then drew his wand and conjured a magnificent silver phoenix. He watched it float gracefully and vanish. He then turned to Severus.

“The appropriate contacts have been notified. I know you will not be there tonight when the wards fall, but I wish you luck when you deliver the potion to Tom.”

Severus only nodded and began to head towards the door.

“Oh. Severus?” Dumbledore commented. Snape turned back around to face the Headmaster. Dumbledore continued, “Do be sure to stay in the castle for the next few weeks. Tom should not suspect that you gave us forewarning, but if something goes wrong, I would feel better if I knew you were safe here in the castle.”

“I shall see you after they have been retrieved,” Snape replied and exited the office.