DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT CLAIM OWNERSHIP OVER THE ORIGINAL COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IN THIS STORY. THIS IS A NON-PROFIT FANDUB CREATED BY FANS, FOR FANS. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. FAIR USE ONLY. I DO, HOWEVER, CLAIM SOME COPYRIGHT OVER HARRI SINCE SHE IS HALF BASED ON MY ORIGINAL VALKYRIE CHARACTER, PRINCESS HARRIETTA.

KEY: Passages from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

CHAPTER ONE: THE MYSTERY STRANGER

Harry closed his eyes against the now blazing evening sky as the newsreader said, '- and finally, Bungy the budgie has found a novel way of keeping cool this summer. Bungy, who lives at the Five Feathers in Barnsley, has learned to water ski! Mary Dorkins went to find out more.'

Harry opened his eyes. If they had reached water-skiing budgerigars, there would be nothing else worth hearing. He rolled cautiously on to his front and raised himself on to his knees and elbows, preparing to crawl out from under the window.

He had moved about two inches when several things happened in a very quick succession.

A loud, echoing crack broke the sleepy silence like a gun shot, a cat streaked out from under a parked car and flew out of sight; a shriek, a bellowed oath and the sound of breaking china came from the Dursleys' living room, and as though this was the signal Harry had been waiting for he jumped to his feet, at the same time pulling from the waistband of his jeans a thin wooden wand as if he were unsheathing a sword - but before he could draw himself up to full height, the top of his head collided with the Dursleys' open window. The resulted crash made Aunt Petunia scream even louder.

Harry felt as though his head had been split in two. Eyes streaming, he swayed, trying to focus on the street to spot the source of the noise, but he had barely staggered upright when two large purple hands reached through the open window and closed tightly around his throat.

'Put - it - away!' Uncle Vernon snarled into Harry's ear. 'Now! Before - anyone - sees!'

'I would be more concerned about someone seeing you strangling a youth than the wand in the boy's hand.' stated a calm, but cold voice.

While Uncle Vernon was distracted, Harry took the opportunity to get free from his uncle's grasp. Once he was free and had straightened himself up, he looked at the new comer and felt his jaw drop.

Standing in the Dursley's front yard was none other than Hogwarts' feared Potions Master, Severus Snape. However, that is not what made Harry's jaw drop. It was more the fact that Snape was wearing Muggles clothes and they all went together, unlike the wizards Harry saw at the Quidditch World Cup. Snape was wearing a stripped grey suit with a dark green tie; however, he still wore the same sneer that Harry got whenever Snape saw him.

'I'm sorry, but may I help you, sir?' inquired Uncle Vernon in his politest tone.

Harry had to try and hold in his laughter as Snape raised an eyebrow, for Harry knew, and he knew that Snape knew as well, that the Dursleys did not take kindly to people from the magical world. Harry assumed that his uncle thought that Snape was a rich businessperson or something along those lines, but whatever he was thinking soon changed with Snape's next words.

'Mr Dursley, I am here in regards to your nephew as I'm a professor at Hogwarts...'

'Whatever the freak's done it's your problem!' bellowed Uncle Vernon. 'Now, I demand you leave this instant for I will not tolerate...'

What Uncle Vernon was not going to tolerate was silenced by a cold, hard glare from Snape.

'For your information, Dursley, I'm here to take Potter off your hands, now if you'll excuse me… Potter!' Snape barked all of a sudden. 'Don't just stand there like an idiot, get upstairs and pack your belongings. We leave in ten minutes.'

With that, Harry bolted upstairs and started chucking his belongings into his trunk. Once his trunk was packed with everything he owned, for he knew that he was never coming back to the Dursleys, he let Hedwig out of her cage, telling her to meet him at the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters, as Dumbledore told him to.

Eleven minutes later, Harry arrived downstairs with all his belongings only to find his uncle and Snape glaring at each other. Death glaring to be precise.

'I thought I said ten minutes, Potter!' snapped Snape once he caught sight of Harry. 'Well come on, we will be Apparating to the Headquarters.'

Snape then shrunk Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage and put them in his pocket, before grabbing hold of Harry and Apparating him away.

A/N: If you send me a review anonymously with a question for me to reply to, add a way of contacting you to answer it, otherwise I will just ignore it. In saying this, you can also ask me questions on my Facebook page.

Facebook page: link on profile
Azaelia Silmarwen facebook page: link on profile
Written: 4 January 2011
Updated: 13 May 2012
Beta: alex rider junkie