Harry Potter and the Betrayal of the Phoenix
Chapter 1 - Summer of O.W.L.s and Books
Although it seemed to be any ordinary day in the middle of summer, with its heat, humidity, and thunderstorms, it was completely different from a year ago. The Dursely family, of number four Privet Drive, was gathered around the television to watch the latest reports of death and destruction. It appeared, according to the experts paraded from show to show, network-to-network, that a new breed of terrorists has declared war against Britain, and all of her inhabitants. Even though none of the experts were certain of the cause of the terrorist attacks, they all knew one thing, they revolved around a group who were represented by a skull and a serpent, for on all of the victims of the deceased, a tattoo was engraved on their forehead of the same symbol.
But one boy knew better than anyone else in his neighborhood, and knew what was happening more than the so-called "experts" on the television. He knew the reason why these fifty or so people have been murdered, and that's because they were simply who they were: Muggles. Muggles, who have no magical blood in them, were being attacked by a radical group of wizards known as the Death Eaters, with the evil Lord Voldemort at the helm.
"Well boy, last year you kept on wanting to watch the news. You happy with what's happening out there?" grunted a mean, short, fat man by the name of Vernon Dursely.
"No, Uncle Vernon, those people on the TV don't know what's going on…" replied a lanky boy with dark hair, glasses, and a scar on his forehead, named Harry Potter.
"You think YOU know better? That's it…I am tired of your countless rebellions against us. We may have to keep you here for another couple of years, but no one said how. Upstairs with you…we will feed you and let you use the toilet, but beyond that you will not be leaving your room and putting our innocent family in danger! " And at this point Harry Potter tuned Vernon Dursely out and walked upstairs to the smallest bedroom, his home for the next month.
Harry walked straight to his bed and plopped down. Lord Voldemort with his evil Death Eaters have struck the defenseless Muggles again. It had been only a month since Lord Voldemort has tricked Harry into the Department of Mysteries, inside the Ministry of Magic, and killed his godfather Sirius Black, the only person Harry could ever claim as a father figure in his life.
Harry had kept his word and owled the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix every two or three days, but he wrote no more than the basic "everything is still normal, when can I leave?" and the only response he seemed to receive was "Patience Harry, you will be able to leave in time to get to Hogwarts."
Harry was desperate to get back to Hogwarts; it was the only place he felt close to safe at all. Even though he was supposedly safer in his Aunt's home then anywhere else, due to his blood bond, we was always scared something would go wrong, and Lord Voldemort would be upstairs trying to kill Harry once and for all.
As for Harry's best friends, Ron and Hermione, he was not able to contact them very often, for they were holed up in the headquarters of the Order, and were not able to OWL him, for only one owl was allowed in for any reason, and that was Hedwig, Harry's owl, at least that's what the Order told him. They had apparently placed another spell on the house that only allowed Hedwig in and out more than once every two or three days. And Hedwig was only allowed to go to the Order and back. They didn't know what Harry was going through: Lord Voldemort had to kill Harry, or Harry had to kill Lord Voldemort, and there were no other ways around it. A prophecy, which Lord Voldemort was after only a month ago, had stated such and there was no way to avoid a prophecy. He still hasn't told his friends about the prophecy yet…they thought it was destroyed in the battle, but Harry had heard it from Dumbledore's pensive.
Just as Harry was about to get stuck in another rut about his situation and get really angry at the Order and at all of his friends because of the loss of Sirius, Hedwig flew up to his window and began to tap on it. Harry grudgingly got up and opened the window. Hedwig flew in and presented her letters to Harry. Wait a minute, thought Harry, letters? It looked like there were about ten different letters that Hedwig brought.
He grabbed the pieces of parchment and turned on the lights, then sat down on his bed to read. The first letter was the usual one from the Order that it was good of him to check in, and to not forget to write back in a few days.
The next letter was obviously from Hogwarts, because it had the Hogwarts Seal on the envelope, and Harry would never forget that beloved seal.
"Dear Mr. Potter,
Enclosed you will find the results for your latest OWL exams, and what they mean with respect to your class choices next year, and what electives it is suggested you take. With your special circumstances, you are to owl your reply back with your regularly scheduled letter, and you will receive our response back in a week's time.
You may also not be aware of the latest decree from the Ministry, but students above fifth year at Hogwarts are now allowed to use magic, as long as it is not in the presence of Muggles, and not against any sentient being if not in any danger. Any abuse of this privilege will have it taken away.
-Prof. Minerva McGonagall"
"We can use magic outside of school! Awesome." said Harry to the only thing that would listen, Hedwig. Finally, he thought, his OWL results. He has been waiting on these results for the past month. He flipped to the next sheet and began to read.
"O.W.L. results for Mr. Harry James Potter,
Potions: Outstanding
Defense Against the Dark Arts: Outstanding
Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding
Charms: Exceeds Expectations
Transfiguration: Exceeds Expectations
Herbology: Exceeds Expectations
Astronomy: Poor
Divination: Dreadful
History of Magic: Dreadful
Total amount of OWLs: Six"
Harry had to stop reading there…All in all they were what he had been around what he had been expecting…but outstanding for potions? Are they insane? There must have been some sort of mistake in his Outstanding for potions…Snape kept giving him D's. Thank Merlin Snape was not one of the examiners. Dumbfounded, Harry moved to the next piece of parchment.
"Suggested Schedule of Courses for Mr. Harry James Potter:
If you have a problem with the level of the courses you are taking, you may appeal to the professor and to the Headmaster to determine which level is appropriate. The levels, in order of difficulty, are Intermediate, Advanced, and NEWT Preparatory.
NEWT Preparatory Potions (Prof. Snape)
NEWT Preparatory Defense Against the Dark Arts (Prof. Moody, Prof. Lupin)
NEWT Preparatory Care of Magical Creatures (Prof. Hagrid)
NEWT Preparatory Charms (Prof. Flitwick)
NEWT Preparatory Transfiguration (Prof. McGonagall)
NEWT Preparatory Herbology (Prof. Sprout)
Suggested Elective Classes
Please note that not all courses all year around - some are only for certain, noted terms. You may have no more than three elective courses a term without prior approval from both the Professor and the Headmaster. If you wish to take more than what is listed below, please inform both the Professor and the Headmaster:
Occlumency (Fall Term, Prof. Dumbledore)
So you want to be an Auror? (Spring Term, Moody)
Apparition (Summer Term, Prof. Flitwick)
Animagi and Metamorphmagi (Year Round, Prof. McGonagall)
Dueling and the DA: Highly Advanced DADA (Year Round, Prof. Dumbledore, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger)
Special Seminar in DADA: The Return of Lord Voldemort (Year Round, Prof. Moody, Prof. Lupin, Prof. Dumbledore)"
Harry also read below his suggested schedule a hastily written note, signed by Prof. Dumbledore,
"Harry, I am sorry to say you have no choice in your electives. You must take these courses, even though they are more than the average load. If you have a major problem, you may appeal, but you must put faith in your professors and the Order who have mapped out these classes for you. You are listed as a co-professor for Dueling and the DA, along with Miss. Granger and myself, for reasons that will be explained in a future meeting. Your books will be arriving in a week with your confirmation of classes."
Harry dropped the last parchment out of both surprise and anger. He was angry that people had once again planned out his future, but as he looked at what classes he will be taking next year he got excited. He could not think of any other classes that he would like to take; although he would be interested to see what classes his friends Ron and Hermione would be taking.
His next letter was from Hermione and Ron.
"Hey Harry,
We are back where we were last summer, although it is a much more dismal mood. We can't talk about the details, but his death has affected everyone here, and the house is a much different place without him. That being said, we thought we would tell you what classes we've decided to take and how we did on our OWLs. Its too bad we won't be having as many classes together as last year, but we can still hope for the best. Dumbledore told us to tell you that you can respond to us in your response about your classes next year, but that will be the only time you can owl us for the summer. We both wish we could be there with you, but the circumstances have changed.
Hope to see you soon!
-Hermione & Ron"
The writing seemed to be from Hermione, but there were two attached parchments, one obviously in Ron's handwriting and the other in Hermione's.
He read the letter from Ron first.
"Hey Mate,
Here are my results:
Defense Against the Dark Arts: Outstanding
Care of Magical Creatures: Exceeds Expectations
Herbology: Exceeds Expectations
Transfiguration: Acceptable
Astronomy: Acceptable
History of Magic: Acceptable
Charms: Poor
Divination: Poor
Potions: Dreadful
6 OWLs and only 1 D, I'm satisified, although it looks like my hopes for becoming an Auror have been dashed.
Ill be taking:
NEWT Preparatory DADA
NEWT Preparatory Herbology
NEWT Preparatory History of Magic (that'll be torture!!)
NEWT Preparatory Astronomy
NEWT Preparatory Care of Magical Creatures
Advanced Transfiguration
Intermediate Charms
Dueling and the DA: Highly Advanced DADA (I CANT BELIEVE YOU ARE TEACHING A CLASS)
Career Guidance Continued (that's only one semester)
No more Potions and Divination!! I can't wait!!
See you soon!
-Ron"
Well, thought Harry, at least I'll be able to have some classes with Ron, even though only four of them. Better read Hermione's…
"Hi Harry!
Here are my results:
Potions: Outstanding
Defense Against the Dark Arts: Outstanding
Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding
Charms: Outstanding
Transfiguration: Outstanding
Herbology: Outstanding
Runes: Acceptable
Arithmancy: Acceptable
History of Magic: Exceeds Expectations
Astronomy: Poor
That is 9 OWLs total, and McGonagall told me that's the highest in our year! I'm so frustrated I didn't get an OWL in Astronomy and Ron did! It's driving me crazy!
Anyways, here are my classes next year. Can you believe we're teaching a class with Dumbledore!! It'll be so exciting! It's a shame that's the only elective I can take…they all seem so interesting! I'm just taking too many NEWT classes to allow any more, and McGonagall told me that I'm lucky to be taking this many NEWT classes, they normally don't allow any more than 7 NEWT level classes.
Ill be taking:
NEWT Preparatory DADA
NEWT Preparatory Herbology
NEWT Preparatory History of Magic
NEWT Preparatory Potions
NEWT Preparatory Care of Magical Creatures
NEWT Preparatory Charms
NEWT Preparatory Transfiguration
NEWT Preparatory Runes
NEWT Preparatory Arithmancy
Dueling and the DA: Highly Advanced DADA
Hope to see you soon!
-Herminie"
Harry couldn't say he was shocked at how Hermione did, 9 OWLs. "At least we three will have four classes together, although Hermione and me will have more together than Ron," thought Harry.
Harry grabbed his parchment and a quill and replied back saying that the classes are fine by him, and he sent a copy of his results and his schedule back to Ron and Hermione, and then went to sleep.
Throughout the next week, Harry stayed in his room, ignored by the Dursleys except when food would be pushed through is cat flap at dinnertime, anxiously awaiting the 31st of July, which would be exactly a week later from his owl about the OWLs. And on July 31st, Harry's birthday, nonetheless, Harry was one his bed waiting Hedwig to come back. It seemed to take Hedwig forever to arrive, and when she did arrive he was highly disappointed.
All she carried was a piece of parchment and a small package, no bigger than a shoebox. How, Harry wondered, did all of his books fix in the size of a shoebox?
The letter answered his question.
"Dear Mr. Potter,
Enclosed you will find a small package. Please tap your wand to the package three times, and it will expand. Another note has been placed in the expanded package explaining more.
-Prof. Dumbledore"
Harry shrugged, found his wand, tapped the package three times, and the package grew to the size of his Hogwarts trunk, if not larger. He opened the package and found the note Dumbledore had mentioned and a set of ten keys.
"Dear Harry,
This is a trunk similar to Prof. Moody's in that it has multiple compartments. This particular version has a total of 10 compartments, progressively getting larger, until the tenth compartment that is about the size of the Hogwarts Great Hall. This is my birthday present to you, and I hope that it will replace your current trunk. You will find this trunk more and more useful throughout the semester, and throughout your life.
Enclosed in the first compartment are your birthday gifts from your friends, and in the second compartment your books for the upcoming year (which Mrs. Weasly purchased for you in Diagon Alley using your Gringotts account, in addition to other school supplies that will need.) Also enclosed in the second compartment is an order form and catalogue, in case there is something from Diagon Alley that you do not have yet. Send this out with Hedwig with your next letter to the Order.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore."
Wow, thought Harry, Dumbledore got him something for his sixteenth birthday, and it is something practical that he needed. Harry's current trunk seemed too small to last much longer.
Harry opened the first compartment and couldn't believe all the gifts inside, which was from "The Order." It turned out to be a collection of all sorts of Dark Detectors, ranging from a Foe Glass to items he had never seen before. He set these aside in his room and opened the next, from Ron, which turned out to be a collection of sweets from Honeydukes. Hermione gave him another book "Spells for the Home," a book which had all sorts of spells to use to spruce up the home. Inside, Hermione had written, "Thought this might come in handy someday." The Weasly family gave him a huge package filled with homemade goodies, and Ginny sent him a signet ring that had a very intricate design of phoenixes, snakes, and the words Harry James Potter around the edge.
What startled him the most was an envelope labeled "From Sirius Black." Harry thought that there must have been some mistake, but he opened up anyway. Inside was a letter that said Sirius had made his godson his heir in case anything had every happened to him, and that the entire Black estate, including the Black house at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, and that all money had been transferred to Harry's vault at Gringotts. Dumbfounded, Harry continued to read a note that the house deed would be transferred when Harry turned 17, and at the moment was in the hands of Dumbledore.
Harry set the note down, and began to cry over his loss, which finally hit him after reading that letter. And he didn't stop crying for a couple of hours.
When Harry was able to regroup himself, he opened the second part of the trunk to look at his books for the upcoming year, and Harry immediately thought there must had been some kind of mistake. There must have been no less than a hundred books in this compartment, and the compartment was big enough for him to actually walk in.
Harry immediately grabbed the note labeled "Book List" to verify all these were right. He noticed that for each NEWT Prep class there was one main textbook, and anywhere from five to ten (for Potions) reference books. His Auror and Apparition classes only required one book, his Animagi class had 3 that went with the class, his DA class had about 20, mainly reference guides that he recalled seeing in last year's Room of Requirement, and all the remaining books were for his last class about Voldemort's return.
Harry read a quick note from Mrs. Weasley,
"Harry - Even though they have the Reference Books in the library, I thought it would be best to have your own copy since you could easily afford them. I bought you some robes that magically adjust to your height, so you don't have to worry about getting anymore for a while. All of the supplies for the classes, including potions ingredients, are in the third compartment. Love, Molly Weasley."
Harry stepped out of the trunk to open the third compartment of the trunk. At this sight of all of those supplies he immediately shut his trunk. There were just too many of them to phantom.
Seeing enough, Harry decided to call it an early night. He wrote a reply thanking everyone and saying he was OK but had enough reading to last the rest of his life, and sent it off with Hedwig. He went back over to his bed and passed out.
For the next couple of days, Harry decided to organize his new trunk and add his old trunk's contents. He decided to put the items he would use the most in the top level, the second level being for clothing and other items like that. The third compartment he put all of the dark detectors and other magical gadgets he had acquired over the years. In the forth compartment he stored all of his supplies for his classes (which was quite a task to move, even with magic), in the fifth compartment he set up a library of sorts. He conjured up some bookshelves, a couple of desks, and some chairs (using Hermione's gift as a guide) and organized his books by subject and year. In the sixth compartment he made up a bedroom of sorts, in case there was ever a need. He made the seventh compartment into a training area similar to the Room of Requirement last year, and since he couldn't think of anything else to do with the last compartments he left them empty (after a brief look around.)
Even though he pleaded in latest note, he was not allowed to go to back to the Order over the summer. Dumbledore himself told Harry that he could not leave until August 30th, in which he will arrive with Miss Granger and the three of them will portkey directly to Hogwarts to discuss the class they were to teach. Dumbledore also refused his request to subscribe to the Daily Prophet, and if there was any dire news he would let Harry know, and that no Hogwarts students had been directly harmed and they were all still safe.
So, to pass the time, he started to read. He began with the books for the DA and to practice the spells he learned. He managed to transfigure a piece of parchment into a target that he could practice against (with the aid of one of his new NEWT Transfiguration textbooks.)
He found an interesting book titled Spells that Should be Considered Dark but Aren't by Johanna Osmitilion, a book he found that was for his class on Voldemort. He flipped through the book and found a spell that looks pretty interesting. From his fifth compartment library, Harry went down to the seventh compartment (there was a magical staircase in the corner that he could use to go between levels, which started in the second compartment and goes down to the tenth. At the second floor he was able to step in and step out of the trunk.
"Cervix" cried Harry from the seventh compartment of his magical trunk. This spell was supposed to cause the caster to temporarily become much more physically strong than normal. After about the fifth time (the spell required a wand movement he had never seen before) he was able to cast the spell correctly, and he felt much stronger than normal. He climbed the stairs up to the sixth floor and ran over to the bed and was able to lift the bed over his head. He quickly set the bed down as he could feel his strength starting to fade. One of the nasty side effects of the spell, he read, was that although he was much stronger for that brief period of time, the strength can disappear without much warning and that whatever feat was performed would strain his muscles. Soon after he lifted up the bed his arms began to ache terribly, and he heard the familiar tapping of Hedwig at the window.
Harry's strength was diminished greatly, but was still able climb up the stairs and walk over to the window, lifting up the window to let his owl in. It was about a week after he got his trunk and his books, and Hedwig was bringing something that every student dreads, homework.
Inside Hedwig's package were pages and pages of homework that he had to complete. He didn't have homework in all of his classes luckily, but all of his NEWT level classes required at least three essays each (NEWT Potions had 10 three-foot long essays.)
With only twenty days to do about twenty essays, Harry had to get started immediately. He decided to do each essay for each class together, and he decided to start with the worst: Potions. "Describe why and how Mimbulus mimbletonia can be lethal when mixed with Wolfsbane." Harry sighed, went to the fifth floor of his trunk, and headed to the Potions and Herbology sections, found the books he thought he would need, and began to read and write.