This is my First ever written story, and i do plan on making this a decent sized one. I would be happy to listen to suggestions, and please, be only as harsh as you need to be.

I am not J.K Rowling. I am not the owner of Harry Potter, the HP Universe, or anything else written by Miss Rowling... although i'd like to be. :) any character not owned by her, belongs to me, as does the plot.

Most people in the world would be excited to be with their family after spending ten months away from them at boarding school. Most people would look forward to getting back to their home, and eating a good meal. Most people would dread having to go back to school in two months. However, Harry Potter is definitely not most people.

The second Harry stepped into his relatives' house, his stuff was locked under the stairs, and was given a long list of chores for the week. Paint the shed, mow the lawn, trim the hedges, dust the house, all the chores he had been doing since he could walk. Some things just never change. Of course, after he had done these chores each night, he received only a meager portion of food, just enough to keep himself alive. After which he would be confined to his room until the next morning, where he would go through the same routine once again.

This went on for the next four weeks, with Harry getting more annoyed each and every day. Not at his aunt and uncle, however, he had grown used to this type of behavior from his relatives. No, Harry was annoyed at his supposed friends and headmaster. His friends, he supposed, were just being lied to about what was going on, so he wouldn't blame them too much. The headmaster, on the other hand, his refusal to send him elsewhere had been nagging at him. Ever since he had realized Dumbledore lied to him, he was thinking that he had lied before too. Unfortunately for Harry, it was at this time that his uncle yelled up to him, driving the thought from his mind.

Eventually, the morning of July 31st rolled around. Harry had expected to receive at least a card from his friends, considering they had never failed to send his one before. As the day wore on though, he started losing hope. No one had remembered his birthday, not one of his friends. Even the Dursleys remembered to give him the day off, sneering at him as they did so. Having nothing else to do, Harry went up to his room for a nap.

Later on that evening, the still form of Harry Potter lay thinking. Not thinking, really, more like just pondering whatever happened to pop into his head. He found that, besides doing nonstop chores, it was one of the only ways to relieve the boredom of living at 4 Privet Drive.

At the moment, he was thinking of his godfather once again. It had been almost a month, and still Harry had not gotten over the fact that his godfather would never be able to visit him again. Harry didn't blame himself anymore, but that didn't mean he couldn't still be mournful. After viewing the memory all summer, though, the pain was starting to go away.

"Sirius…" mumbled Harry, lost in his memories. "Sirius…I'm so sorry."

Deciding to turn to less morbid thoughts, he began to hope that his friends would be arriving in a few days time to save him from this prison of a house. Harry thought of what they would be doing right now. Hermione probably had her head in a book, just like always. Shame really, as she really did have a pretty face. Ron would be trying to get Hermione to play chess with him, or playing Quidditch. He really would be a good keeper, Harry thought, if only he would get over his confidence issues. Fred and George were almost definitely creating some new prank, and annoying their mother with it. Ginny…Harry wasn't sure about her, as he never really got to spend time with her. He would have to remedy that. God only knows what Hagrid did with his summer, probably trying to find more creatures for his class.

Thinking of Hagrid made him think of Albus Dumbledore. Of all the people that Harry would guess were lying to him, he never would have suspected the great "defender of the Light." He had sent Harry to a place where he was never loved, or even cared for. He put Harry through countless trials, most of them life threatening. He essentially fabricated everything that Harry believed to be real, except, hopefully, his friends. All for the sake of this stupid prophecy, a death sentence if there ever was one. While Harry knew he had little chance of getting revenge on the Headmaster as he was now, he vowed that, one day, he would return the favor.

Dumbledore didn't know it, but his precious pawn had turned on him. Harry had decided once he had arrived that he would forge his own path in the world, regardless of which side tried to manipulate him. He would take whomever still wanted to be allied with him, and ditch the ones that were still pawns in Dumbledore's game. He would no longer be limited by light or dark magic, he would simply become powerful.

In order to do that, however, he needed to get away from these people he called family. With them hovering over his shoulder, he would get nothing done. He highly doubted being called a freak would help his morale either.

"Ok then, I'll just wait until after my birthday, and then I'll be done. I'll find somewhere else, and become stronger than ever!" Harry said with enthusiasm. With this thought in his mind, Harry fell into a deep sleep, thinking of how great he would one day be.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the country, three things were happening. Albus Dumbledore received a feeling of great dread, almost enough to stop his work. Needless to say, he dismissed it, as Snape had said there were to be no attacks this week. In his castle, Voldemort, while lecturing his Death Eaters, suddenly collapsed in pain, convulsing for nearly a full minute. And, at the Burrow, a certain red-headed boy and bushy, brown-haired girl had the feeling that something was wrong with their friend, silently hoping that they were dead wrong.

Not too bad for my first story, right? the chapters will start getting longer, i just need to get through my Midterms first. :) Please review, suggestions are loved!