Harry Potter and the Defeat of Lord Voldemort

Seventeen-year-old Harry Potter sat up straight in bed. In just a few days, he would be heading back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his final, seventh year.

He looked over at the clock on his bedside table that read almost two o'clock in the morning. Harry sighed as he stared around his new bedroom. He was now living with his godfather, Sirius Black.

Sirius had been his father's best friend and he and Harry's mother had named Sirius Harry's godfather when he was born. Unfortunately, Sirius Black had been convicted of a horrible crime in which he did not commit, and was sent to the deadly magical prison called Azkaban for several years, until he managed to escape.

But it was only just last year when Sirius was proven innocent of the crime. So now Harry got to live with him. It was much more pleasant to live with Sirius Black than to live with his relatives, the Dursleys.

When Harry's parents were murdered by the most feared, dark Lord Voldemort when Harry was just a baby, he was sent to live with his Uncle Vernon Dursley, Aunt Petunia Dursley (Petunia had been Harry's mother's sister), and their spoiled son, Dudley Dursley. Since the Dursleys knew about Harry's magical side, they absolutely hated him. They couldn't stand anything that had to with magic or anything that was out of the ordinary. And they obviously thought that wizards and witches were not normal.

Ever since the Dursleys took Harry in, he had believed their story that his parents had died in a car crash. But at age eleven, when Harry got his letter to be accepted into Hogwarts, the whole truth had come out.

In the magical world, Harry Potter was famous, because after Lord Voldemort had killed his parents, he was about to use the same killing spell to kill Harry...but miraculously, it hadn't worked. Instead, the spell backfired and Voldemort lost most of his power. He had fled the house, leaving Harry unharmed and the only mark left by him was a lightning bolt scar in the middle of Harry's forehead.

Harry Potter had been the only person to ever survive the killing spell.

What had woken Harry Potter on this night was a dream he just had. In the dream, he and his best friend, Ron Weasley, had been attacked by Lord Voldemort and Voldemort had just murdered them.

Harry had woken up, shaking and in cold sweat. He had been getting a lot of dreams like that lately...and they all ended with him and Ron dying.

Why am I having these dreams? He asked himself silently. Why? What do they mean?

Harry knew he should probably go and tell Sirius about them, but Sirius was asleep and he didn't want to wake him. It was probably nothing, anyway. Just another one of those stupid dreams.

Sighing, Harry laid back down on his bed and tried to fall back asleep.

Meanwhile, at Ron's house, called the Burrow, Ron and his mother were having a bit of an argument. Both of them had woken up from sleeping. They had been having a lot of arguments recently because Mrs. Weasley was upset that Ron hadn't been made a Hogwarts prefect student, while all the rest of her children had.

They were sitting in the family room and staring angrily at each other.

"Mum, I don't understand why you're so hung up on this prefect thing!" Ron burst out. "So what if I didn't get picked to be a prefect...does that really matter?"

Mrs. Weasley frowned. "Yes, it does matter, Ron dear...you are the only Weasley who was never a prefect! And that means that you didn't try hard enough in school!"

"I was caught up in other things, Mum! Besides, I always manage to pass, right? I don't have to stay back a year and I haven't gotten expelled!"

"If you tried harder in school you could've received more O.W.L.S.," Mrs. Weasley went on, ignoring her son. "Why, even Fred and George managed to become prefects and now Ginny is a prefect, too - and she's younger than you!" Mrs. Weasley paused. "In fact, you didn't even take the damn O.W.L.S.! Where were you when those exams took place?"

"I was...I was..." Ron started.

"You were causing trouble," Mrs. Weasley answered for him.

Ron shook his head. "No, I was helping Harry..."

"Well the both of you should've taken those exams!"

"Argh! Mum, stop it - you're starting to sound like a maniac!" Ron shouted. Immediately he knew he shouldn't have called his mother a maniac, because she suddenly got red in the face and glared at him. Ron slumped back in his seat.

"I am not a maniac!" Mrs. Weasley roared. "I just want the best for you!"

"If you want the best for me then you can stop giving me second-hand stuff and buy me brand new things!" Ron exclaimed. This was totally off the subject, but Ron was sick and tired of being poor. He was sick and tired of getting all of his older brothers' clothes, school supplies, books, etc. He wanted something that was brand new and that could be his own. Not something that had once belonged to Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, or George.

Mrs. Weasley was outraged. "YOU CAN ONLY GET NEW THINGS IF YOU BECOME A PREFECT!" she bellowed. "AND YOU CAN GET EVEN MORE NEW THINGS IF YOU BECOME HEAD BOY, WHICH OBVIOUSLY YOU WON'T BECAUSE YOU WERE NEVER A PREFECT FIRST!"

"It's not fair, Mum!" Ron declared.

"Life is not fair, Ron!" Mrs. Weasley shot back. "So just deal with it!"

With that, Ron stomped out of the family room and up the stairs to his very small bedroom. After walking inside, he slammed the door hard behind him. He was sure that the whole family had heard their argument, but he was tired of his mother nagging at him for not being named a prefect student at Hogwarts.

Ron wondered if Harry were awake or not. He went to his desk and decided to write a quick letter to Harry about his argument with his mother. Ron and Mrs. Weasley's relationship was going down the drain, and if they couldn't patch it up soon then they might never be able to stand together in the same room!