The Heir

The Heir

Chapter 1 - The Dream

He was running down the Hogwarts grand staircase, he was going to be late. He ran through the Entrance Hall, the light spilling in from the many windows. The place was deathly quiet, not a sound could be heard except the pounding of his feet on the hard stone floor. He leapt down the front steps, landing hard and stumbling forward; he didn't care. He was going to be late. He sprinted down the grounds towards a large oval shaped building. As he got closer he could see flags flapping in the wind and the roars of several thousand students madly cheering. He raced through an archway bordered with red and gold, into a changing room where six people also clad in red and gold stared up at him. His Quidditch team, two Beaters (Fred and George Weasley, Seventh Year), three Chasers (Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, also all in Seventh year), and new Keeper (Ron Weasley) and himself, Harry, the Seeker for the team and newly appointed Quidditch captain hurriedly threw on his red and gold Gryffindor Quidditch robes and grabbed his Firebolt. Because he had been so late he had no time to say anything to his team before the match. Slowly they all rose seeing he was ready and grabbed their own broomsticks. They rounded a corner and stood in formation in front of a large wooden gate. Harry at the front with Ron, Fred and George next and then the three girls lined up at the back. Harry heard Lee Jordan's voice over the megaphone, "And here come Gryyyyyffindor!" The gate in front of Harry lifted up allowing the team to fly out; as they did Lee called out their names and positions to great applause. "Potter, Seeker. Weasley, Keeper. Weasley, Beater. Weasley, Beater. Bell, Chaser. Johnson, Chaser. Spinnet, Chaser." As they took their positions on the field, Ron down one end of the pitch, the Beaters and Chasers hovering anxiously above a quivering box and Madam Hooch, (the referee) Harry flew high above the rest of his team and looked around at his opponents. They were all clad in entirely black robes. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw one of his opponents draw up level with him, Harry turned and expected to see Draco Malfoy, instead he was face to face with Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, one of the best in the world. Before he could think why he was playing against Krum Madam Hooch blew her whistle, letting the balls out of the quivering box and starting the game. Harry watched the game from his spot high above, constantly looking for the Snitch. As he watched the game he silently congratulated his self on making such excellent strategies. He saw the three Chasers moving in perfect harmony, using all of the strategies he had come up with. Fred and George also kept to their tactic; smacking the Bludgers at the opposing Chasers whenever they got near the quaffle, it was working well. Each time a Chaser attempted to get the quaffle Fred or George would blast a Bludger at them, causing them to swerve and leave the Chasers with on open path, or in one person's case--get one right in the nose. Harry who was delighted at the score 100-70 didn't pay too much attention to the game, only listened to Lee's commentary. Harry hadn't seen the Snitch the whole game, he was bored and had to stifle a yawn, during that moment Krum had seen the Snitch, Harry saw him go into a steep dive. He followed Krum almost vertically. Harry's eyes were scanning the ground in front of Krum, the Snitch wasn't there! Harry suddenly remembered during the Quidditch World Cup when Krum had fooled Adrian Lynch, the opposing Seeker into thinking he had seen the Snitch and caused him to crash headfirst into the ground. Harry pulled up on his broom and not a moment too soon, he felt his feet brush the grass, and above him he heard Krum swear in Bulgarian and the Hogwarts students yell praise at Harry. He resumed his position directly above the pitch, closely followed by Krum who had an ugly scowl on his face. Harry faked a look of concentration and shot off towards the opposition's goalposts, Krum followed close behind. Harry was !dodging in and out of the players; he looked behind him and saw Krum mimicking his every move, Harry had an idea. He spotted George Weasley ahead of him, "George! Hit a Bludger at me!" he yelled. George looked behind Harry and saw Krum, "Ok. Whatever you say!" As the Bludger George had smacked headed for Harry's nose he prepared himself. Because he was so much lighter than Krum, he was a lot more agile. As the Bludger came closer and closer he heard the crowd go silent; they were waiting to see what would happen. At the very last second, he barrel-rolled and came up and felt the Bludger graze his scalp. Behind him he heard Krum give a yell; Harry turned around expecting to see Krum heading for the floor with blood streaming from his nose, instead he saw Krum flipping himself upright, he had an even uglier scowl on. Harry cursed himself and once again resumed his position above the pitch. He glanced down at the game for a brief second, the score was almost tied 130-120, Gryffindor in the lead. This was enough for Krum to spot the Snitch near the ground at Gryffindor's goalposts and to go pelting after it at break-neck speed. Harry whipped around and followed in the chase, he was no-where near as fast as Krum but he was twice as agile. Krum was about ten feet in front of Harry; they were gaining fast on the Snitch, whoever caught it would win the game for their team. Krum, not being quite as agile and quick at turning as Harry did not see the Snitch make a sudden dash underneath them. Harry went into a nosedive and turned his broom under him, missing the ground by a few inches. He was hanging upside down from his broom one arm grasping his broom handle, the other reaching for the Snitch. He looked back through his legs and saw Krum, his body flat against his broom gaining with unmatchable speed. Suddenly out of no-where, a Bludger hit Krum right in the side of the head causing him to lose his concentration and his broom handle to stick into the ground, he was flung off and rolled to a stop, unmoving. Harry! returned his gaze to the Snitch; it was fluttering ahead by about two feet. Harry was gaining but not fast enough, he flung his body forward and felt his fingers grasp the tiny ball, its wings stopped beating and folded into its body. With some difficulty he hauled himself upright and came to a stop in the centre of the pitch. He saw six blurs close in around him and heard Lee yelling, "Gryffindor have won! Harry potter catches the Snitch and leads the Hogwarts team to a 280-150 point win!" Slowly the glory, the people surrounding him faded away, Harry could feel a soft breeze on his face...

Chapter 2 - The Unexpected Letter

Harry Potter of Number 4 Privet Drive awoke early on the 31^st of July (his fifteenth birthday). He rubbed his eyes, trying to remember his dream; he knew it had been a good one. He yawned, stretched and looked up to see his snowy owl Hedwig sitting on the windowsill, staring at him with an intense yellow eye.

"Morning Hedwig," yawned Harry as she dropped several letters on his face. He sat up stretched and started to leaf through the letters. It was the usual list: Ron, Hermione and Hagrid. Then one other he did not normally receive, from Remus Lupin, the best teacher he had ever had and a good friend. Harry never usually got one from Lupin; he wondered what it could be about. As he was about to open it, his Aunt's voice shrieked up the stairs.

"Harry, get down here and make us breakfast!"

"Coming," answered Harry, reluctantly putting his letters down and going to make breakfast. Harry descended down the stairs as slowly as possible.

As he entered the kitchen he saw his Aunt Petunia with her bony fingers lighting the gas on the stove. Harry's Uncle Vernon (who was about the size of a juvenile blue whale) was engrossed in the paper and snapped at Harry, "Do get a move on, boy!"

Dudley, Harry's cousin, (who wasn't much smaller than Uncle Vernon) was watching him with his piggy eyes. He was starting to drool. Harry thought he looked as if he was imagining Harry to be a nice piece of bacon...

Harry sauntered over to the fridge and took out some bacon, slapping it into the pan, causing the hot fat to splash and sizzle. He then popped four pieces of toast into the toaster and waited a few minutes. The toast jumped out of the toaster. Harry, who was prepared neatly caught it on a plate and put it on the table, leaving a piece on the side for himself. When the bacon was done he served it onto a plate and placed it on the table, he glanced up and noticed the paper's headline:

Sirius Black Sighted!

Harry stared in horror; he wondered how and why Sirius had been spotted. He usually never went out during the day, especially where he might be spotted, but this was not a wizard sighting but a Muggle one. As these thoughts chased around his head he excused himself and ran up the stairs, his piece of toast forgotten.

As he entered his room he noticed there were two packages, one on his windowsill and one on the floor--birthday presents. He had no time for birthday presents at the moment. He snatched a piece of parchment off his desk and hurriedly wrote to Sirius,

Dear Sirius

I just saw the Muggle newspaper; it says you were seen, where? When? How?

Please reply soon, I will be at Ron's.

Harry

He hurriedly folded it and attached it to Hedwig's leg, after sending Hedwig off with the letter he turned to his presents. He grabbed the small, round one off the windowsill; it was from Dumbledore, the small note attached to it said 'Happy Birthday Harry, From Dumbledore.' Nothing else. He opened it, and out fell a small red velvet box, engraved on the back was; Warlock & Squire, Quality Crafters of Fine Jewellery. He popped it open and inside was a large, intricately detailed lion, and from the lion's mouth hung a silver chain with a pendant shaped like a lion. Harry extracted it from the lion's mouth and turned it in his hands examining it very closely; on the back of the lion was a motto 'Noli Timorem Timere' (Never Fear Fear). Harry attached it around his neck and felt a new heat flow through him; he felt as if nothing could ever frighten him. As he looked down at it, he could have sworn he saw it start to glow, but he thought nothing more of it. He looked back at the box and noticed a small bit of paper protruding from under the lion's foot. He wiggled it out from under it and unfolded it. It was a note written on a very old piece of parchment, Harry read it, and then had to re-read it several more times before he could grasp what it said.

To the person who has inherited my chain,

If you are wearing the chain with the lion pendant, know this, if you did not prior know, let you be told! You are my heir; the chain and pendant you have inherited are symbols of my bloodline. I created this pendant to arm myself against the greatest dark wizard of my time, Salazar Slytherin. This pendant will aid you in the battle between good and evil, use it wisely.

Sincerely,

Godric Gryffindor

Harry gaped at the letter for the fifth time, still not believing it. "I'm Gryffindor's heir?!" he closed his eyes and suddenly had a flash back to his second year when he had pulled Godric Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat and Dumbledore's words after, "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the Hat." Dumbledore must have known when he had told Harry that. Harry smiled and tucked the note safely back under the lion's foot, reminding himself to tell Ron and Hermione. He closed the little red box and dropped it into his jeans' pocket.

He turned to the other present and picked it off the floor with difficulty. It was much heavier than he had expected; he looked at it. It had shiny green wrapping paper with a small note attached to it that read,

Dear Harry,

Happy Birthday, I hope you like it, your going to need this next year, sorry I cant be there, I am on a mission for Dumbledore. Olympe and I are off to get the giants' support for the upcoming war. Sorry I can't be there I will keep in touch!

Your pal,

Hagrid

He sat down on the corner of his bed and removed the wrapping paper and pulled out a heavy book. Engraved on the front was 'The Do's And Don'ts Of Beast Handling' by Grandis Belua.

Harry smiled and placed it on his windowsill. He looked at the letter again "...for the upcoming war," Harry thought aloud, "Sorry I can't be there. Great, now I get to spend Care of Magical Creatures with Slytherin and some stupid teacher, this is all I need."

He collapsed onto his bed and grabbed the first letter he saw. It was Ron's.

Hey Harry,

Happy Birthday! How are the Muggles treating you? My mum says you can come round ours for the rest of the summer, and we can go to Diagon Alley and meet Hermione about a week before school. Hermione will then come and stay with us until school. I have included a map so you can fly to our house. I hope it is ok!

See ya soon

Ron

P.S. Check your Hogwarts Letter

Harry checked Ron's map, it looked very basic, and it didn't look very accurate.

Harry had another glance at the map before reading the last part of Ron's letter. He didn't remember seeing a Hogwarts letter, but when he checked again he saw an envelope made of yellowish parchment, the address written in emerald-green ink. He flipped the envelope over and saw the usual Hogwarts stamp, a purple wax seal with a lion, eagle, badger and snake surrounding a large letter H. He opened the envelope and out fell a shiny silver badge with a P on it. Harry stared at this badge with astonishment...he was a Prefect? "They must have sent it to the wrong person," he thought, but sure enough, when he checked the envelope it clearly stated in green ink, exactly what it had stated in his first year.

Mr. H. Potter

The Smallest Bedroom

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

"Wow" thought Harry aloud. He took out the piece of parchment that came with the badge; it read,

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to congratulate you on becoming a Prefect. Please meet at the top of the North tower in Professor Trelawney's Room for your Prefect Induction. Please see below for a list of the other Fifth Year Prefects.

Gryffindor

Ronald Weasley

Hermione Granger

Harry Potter

Parvarti Patil

Hufflepuff

Justin Finch-Fletchly

Ernie Macmillan

Hannah Abbott

Susan Bones

Ravenclaw

Mandy Brocklehurst

Terry Boot

Stewart Ackerley

Padma Patil

Slytherin

Pansy Parkinson

Millicent Bulstrode

Malcolm Baddock

Draco Malfoy

Harry looked at the last name upon the list, a burning hatred welled up inside him, Draco Malfoy was his sworn enemy and had been ever since their first year when they had met on the Hogwarts Express. Harry could still remember it like it was yesterday, Draco had entered his and Ron's compartment flanked by his bodyguard look-a-likes Crabbe and Goyle, "...and my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Ron had then sniggered. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford." He had then said to Harry "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

Harry in his rage crumpled the parchment in his fist. Realizing what he had done, he carefully unfolded the parchment and smoothed it back out and put it back in the envelope, along with the Prefect badge.

Harry picked up the next letter; it was from Hermione

Dear Harry,

How are you? I haven't spoken to you in quite some time. Sorry about not replying to any of your letters, but I have been with Viktor. He has a huge house with a swimming pool and the lot! Don't worry, Harry, nothing has happened between us. I really miss you. Write to me when you get to Ron's and I will see you in Diagon Alley!

Hermione

Harry smiled at the thought of seeing Hermione again for the first time in three months. Her soft, caring brown eyes her soft bushy hair and her trim figure. Harry shook himself, what was he saying? Harry smiled again at the thought of Hermione and put her letter back into the envelope.

He grabbed Lupin's letter and tore off the envelope and tried to decipher the cursive lettering,

Dear Harry,

I hope all is well. Sorry I haven't written for a while but Snuffles and I have had some undercover work to do regarding Voldemort.

Harry remembered back to the end of last year when Voldemort had resurrected himself using some of Harry's blood. Dumbledore then sent Sirius to gather the 'old' crowd, Arabella Figg, Remus Lupin, Mundungus Fletcher.

I am writing to wish you a happy birthday and also to tell you to meet me in the Shrieking Shack on the first Hogsmeade trip. (I think it is about a month after the start of school) I am afraid that I have some bad news.

Moony

P.S. Congratulations on becoming a Prefect, Dumbledore gave me a list of the new Prefects, tell Ron and Hermione well done too.

Harry wondered what Lupin had meant by bad news...