Harry Potter and The Secret of The Heirs

Harry Potter and The Secret of The Heirs

Prologue

'Now this bell tolling softly for another says to me, thou must die'

The bells were tolling.

The church tower appeared as though bewitched. It was all that remained of the old medieval church that had been destroyed over and over again by constant war and bickering of the people. It stood in a clearing in the wood. All alone. The blocks of stone were crumbling, falling. They had not wanted to rebuild the church; most of them did not even want to step anywhere near it. They were frightened of the bells. The inscription said it all. They were just plain scared. There was no way to ring the bells, either. No rope, no stairwell to lead to the bells.

Yet the bells tolled.

Local villagers knew what the tolling meant. A sign of death. A sign of evil. They were all aware of the superstition, surrounding the enchanted old church tower. The bells would toll all night. They no longer bothered to go and search for the bodies. It was rarely one of their people anyhow, and even if they searched high and low they rarely found the body. But they knew what had happened. The inscription told them. And even though it was rarely one of them, it did not stop children from running to their parents' side for comfort, nor did it stop them from cringing every time they heard a bell after they had left the village.

The bells were tolling.

*~*

Miles away a young man awoke with a start. The pain was intense; he clutched at his forehead in agony. The world around him was dark. All that was there was a sound of agony. The pain overwhelmed him. The vision was haunting. Blackness enveloped him.

*~*

The traitor was running. He had escaped from those guarding him, only by a small stroke of luck. He knew he had to run fast and hard to escape, but where could he go. He had walked into a trap and they had caught him. They had thrown him in a cell, and then questioned him for hours on end. He refused to talk. Then they had tortured him, deprived him of food and water and still he refused to talk. Finally they had cursed him. He tried to resist, however the temptation was too strong. He had told them everything. He had not wanted to, however he had been weak, unable to resist. It would not matter now. His master would be disappointed in him. His master would kill him, or send others to kill him. His only hope was to escape and find a safe hideout. If only he knew where he was. He could hear bells tolling; perhaps he could run towards them.

He had never been so scared before in his life. He had felt fear before, that fact was certain. But never before had he felt the fear that was rising inside him now. Escape was impossible. Especially when running around the wilderness, not knowing where he was headed. His captors would find him easily at this rate.

Perhaps death would be a better option. If his pursuers captured him, they would kill him, it may not be painless, but at least it would be quick. If they did not kill him, he would be placed in prison, where he would serve a life sentence. Another form of torture. If his followers found him, they would torture him, his death would not be painless, nor would it be quick.

He stopped to take a breath. He looked around. They were behind him, in front and on either side of him. He was surrounded. He began to scream.

One of his pursuers removed its hood, leant over and kissed him.

The local villagers could not hear the scream of the man, nor the deadly silence that followed it.

The bells were tolling.

*~*

The traitor's master sensed something was wrong.

He knew that fool of a servant would betray him. He was weak and spineless.

'If only I had not been so stupid as to confide in him, but then he was the least suspected accomplice.'

Thoughts plagued the master's brain.

There was nothing he could do about it now; he would just have to be careful for a little while longer before the time came to strike.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp, stabbing pain attack his body. He was in overwhelming agony. It felt like part of him was dying. The pain increased reaching every corner of his body.

He vowed revenge.

Chapter One

A Time of New Beginnings.

Harry looked glum as he greeted the Dursleys at Kings Cross Station. He had not been looking forward to spending this summer with them, but he was not yet of age and apparently had little say in where he could stay. He had to stay with them. It was inevitable. Harry accepted the fact after his Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of the age, had explained to him in his fifth year the reason. He needed to stay there for protection. His aunt and he were the only two people in which there was a trace of his mother's blood. This was important because his mother had sacrificed herself for Harry when he had been a baby and this sacrifice had provided him with a protection against the dark wizard who had tried to kill him. Hence he understood the importance of going to stay there, however that didn't mean he had to like it. At least he wouldn't have to stay there all summer. In a few weeks he would be going to stay with his godfather, Sirius Black.

Sirius Black.

It wasn't until Harry was in his third year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry that Harry even learnt of Sirius Black. Sirius had been his father's best friend and best man at his parent's wedding. Sixteen years ago, the Dark Lord Voldemort had been after Harry because of a prophecy that involved Harry and Voldemort. It had said that "neither could survive while the other lives." His parents were lucky enough to learn that they were being targeted by the Dark Lord and hence the hid using a very powerful charm known as the Fidelius Charm. This involved a person, known as the Secret Keeper, who was the only person who knew the whereabouts of the hidden. The world had thought that Sirius had been his parents Secret Keeper and that he had blown up a street full of Muggles and hence Sirius was thrown into the wizarding gaol, Azkaban, without a trial. In truth, it had been Peter Pettigrew, otherwise known as Wormtail who had been responsible. Sirius broke out of Azkaban to protect Harry when he had learnt of Wormtail's presence there, as one of Harry's friend's pet rat. Harry had learnt that Sirius was not responsible and been in touch with him ever since, but they had been unable to prove his innocence. In Harry's fifth year, Sirius' cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange had hit him with a curse that had sent him flying through a veil in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. He had been taken for dead by everybody, including Harry. Somehow, last year he had been retrieved from the veil, however he refused to tell Harry how that had occurred. One thing was for certain however, it had occurred around the same time that Dumbledore's operatives, known as the Order of the Phoenix, had undertaken a comprehensive mission to capture Wormtail. The result had been that Sirius had been taken to trial by the Ministry and it had been proven that he had not been the responsible party. He had been pardoned officially just before Harry's end of year exams.

The wizarding world was not a safe place. Voldemort was alive and well and although he had been relatively quiet Harry had a bad feeling that it wasn't going to be the same this year.

He spied his aunt on the platform at Kings Cross Station and reluctantly made his way to the car which held his overweight uncle Vernon and his spoilt cousin Dudley. His Aunt Petunia had an unhappy look on her face that Harry could only attribute to her having to come all the way from Surrey to pick Harry up from the station. As they headed out of London, Vernon made some scathing remark about how disappointed they were that Harry had not managed to get himself killed this year. The remark didn't bother Harry, he was used to the constant abuse from his aunt and uncle, but what stunned him was Dudley's response.

'Lay off him,' he yelled at his parents. 'How would you like it if you two had died and his parents had treated me the way you treat Harry? You've never even thought of how your sister would feel about they way you treat even if Harry is a wizard. There, I'm not afraid to say it. My cousin is a wizard and I'm proud of it. I'll even make a badge and wear it around all the time that says; My cousin is a wizard! What do you think of that?'

Harry was absolutely shocked. Dudley was rebelling. Whether or not he meant what he said Harry did not know. He only wondered at the reason for the sudden outburst. Harry was certain it had to be magic. Dudley had next to nothing to gain from being nice to Harry, especially given that in all probability Harry would not be staying at Privet Drive for very long. But if it was magic that was working in Harry's favour, he was prepared to overlook it for the time being. There was no point worrying about something that might make his time at Privet Drive bearable. Harry glanced at his aunt and uncle's faces.

Both Vernon and Petunia were shocked. The thought had obviously never crossed their minds. However little they liked Lily and James, Petunia knew that there was no way that they would have treated Dudley this way. They didn't know what to say.

To Harry's surprise Petunia muttered that she might have overlooked that fact and perhaps he could do with some fattening up. She commented on his weight compared with Dudley who had at one stage been the size of a whale. He glanced at his cousin. He looked a lot better than he had previously. He had lost a lot of weight. I guess that's what liking girls did for you. Dudley looked great.

Girls.

Harry's thoughts wandered to all of the girls who had been in his life. The first one was Cho. Harry had liked Cho for quite a while in his fourth and fifth year but in his fourth year he had been upset to learn that she favoured Cedric Diggory, who was competing against Harry in the Triwizard tournament. Cedric had unfortunately been killed by Lord Voldemort and Cho had been devastated following Cedric's death. Cho had kissed him just before Christmas the next year. It had been an odd experience especially with Cho spending most of her days crying, since Cedric had died. They had had a date in Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day. Harry had felt awkward the entire time. And to top it off Cho had wanted to talk about Cedric, which wasn't exactly a subject that Harry wanted to spend his free time talking about. He felt guilty enough about it anyway. And he had made the mistake of saying he had to meet with his other good friend Hermione Granger and Cho had accused him of wanting to be with Hermione more than he wanted to be with her. Things had just gone from bad to worse with Cho after that.

Then there was Ginny. Well that was different. She had run after Harry for as long as he could remember, but it had just been a crush. Harry hadn't even realised it until Hermione pointed it out. Harry finally had seen Ginny in a different light, when they had been thrown together so much because of Ron and Hermione. They had a short but brief affair that really only consisted of one Hogsmeade visit and a few strolls around the lake, when Ginny had told him she didn't want to be with him, that she loved him dearly but only as a friend. He should have seen it coming. She told him that she was sorry, she had never wanted to lead him on, but she had come to realise that it had just been a crush. He was such a good friend, and she didn't want to loose him but she realised that she didn't love him.

That had hurt. It had hurt a lot. It had taken him a long time to muster the courage to kiss her and ask her on a date. Then, after her 'confession' it had taken Harry some time, a glimpse of Ginny with another student, a glimpse of a stunningly pretty girl and a long time spent crying in Hermione's arms to realise that he didn't love her either. He had just been amazed by how quickly she had matured into a stunningly beautiful young lady. Harry realised that this had stemmed from the fact that Ginny reminded him of his mother. Well not reminded so much, but looked like her in the photos Hagrid had given him. He must remember to ask his aunt for any photos she might have. He felt a need to see them; he missed his parents so much.

Now he was confused.

Recently he had discovered that his two best friends Ron and Hermione had been secretly been going out behind his back. It wasn't so much that they had been together, it was that they hadn't told him about it. That additionally had hurt. By the time the Valedictory dinner had come around Harry was so confused that he had done something extremely impulsive.

He had kissed Lavender Brown.

And to his surprise she had kissed him back. Kissed him back in a way he had never imagined. It awoke something inside of him that had left him dreaming about her ever since. Someone that he barely knew and didn't really care much for. But nonetheless he was dreaming about her. Well to be honest, dreaming about the way she had kissed him at the Valedictory Ball. That's what it had taken for her to get Harry to notice her. He hadn't ever seen Lavender as anything else than a bratty girl obsessed with Divination.

Harry had grown up a lot during the time that had elapsed since Voldemort returned. He had discovered girls, and it was actually this discovery of girls that had brought him and Dudley together. Last summer, Dudley had been forever pestering him to make him a love potion; Harry's standard response was along the lines of 'You know I'm not allowed to do magic away from school, I'm still underage.' But Dudley wasn't so sure, as Harry's green eyes glistened with a hint of mischief when he replied, and Dudley thought that if Harry had the chance, he might just perform some magic, without the authorities knowing, and if he was nice enough Dudley might just reap the benefits.

Soon they arrived at Privet Drive, when Harry finally pulled himself out of his dream state. He was certain there would be plenty of time to daydream about what had happened the past few weeks. Truthfully he had been on edge since the night he had had that vision of Voldemort clutching in agony. Harry hadn't known what to make of the vision, nor did he fully understand all the events that had unfolded that evening. He knew the result of it meant that Sirius was now free, but Harry wondered at the cost. Voldemort had seemed enraged, determined to seek revenge and what Harry feared, and had told no one, was the Voldemort would seek his revenge on Harry. Sirius had asked Harry to be patient and reassured him that when Harry came to stay they could sit down and discuss everything, but warned him that if his scar hurt again to owl Dumbledore immediately. Harry had thought that this implied that he wasn't able to look after himself properly. Basically that meant Sirius would owl him when he was ready for Harry to come and stay with him, but until then Harry should only bother Sirius if it was something extremely important. Hence Harry would just have to put up with Privet Drive until then.

On reaching his room Harry owled his friends to let them know he had arrived safely, told them about the way Dudley was behaving and got settled in for what could be a long wait. He hoped that Ron and Hermione could work things out over summer; he really didn't care to spend the best part of the year acting as a go between the pair of them. The tiff they had had on the train had been almost unbearable for Harry to listen to. They definitely weren't suited to each other and he hoped they could see it.

*~*

A week later, Harry was surprised by the time he had spent with Dudley. He had enjoyed the time with Dudley, the boys having spent most of the time reflecting on life at boarding school and of the two girls who had captured the young men's hearts. However Dudley still remained selfish and spoilt. Taking a break from the English sun one afternoon after sitting outside and talking, Harry wandered inside for a drink, when three owls flew in with letters for Harry. Harry recognised one as the owl he had bought Sirius, when he had been pardoned, one from being Ron's owl Pig, and the other was possibly a school owl. Harry thought he had better read the school one first.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Dear Mr Potter,

I am writing to inform you that you have been selected as Head Boy for the coming school year. It is a responsibility, which I know you will not take lightly. Your mother and father would be extremely proud of you. If you wish to accept this position please reply with this owl immediately.

The Head Girl upon acceptance of the position will be Hermione Granger.

Your fellow seventh year prefects will remain unchanged, however to remind you they are:

Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson from Slytherin House

Ernie McMillan and Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff House

Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw House

I await your return owl,

Yours Sincerely

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Head Boy?

Harry hadn't even considered the possibility. He hadn't even been a prefect. He was ecstatic. He almost couldn't believe it. And Hermione would be Head Girl. It was wonderful.

He quickly ran and grabbed a parchment and replied in the affirmative to Professor McGonagall's letter before she had time to consider that he may not be the most appropriate appointment.

Then when he actually thought about it, what about Ron? Ron had been the Gryffindor prefect from their year, why had he been made Head Boy?

He tore open Ron's letter.

Hi Harry,

I've got wonderful news. You know that man who watched our last Quidditch match? Well he was a recruiter for the Chudley Cannons! They've been looking for a back up Keeper for ages and he'd heard that I was a real Cannons fan and he offered me a position on the team. Can you believe it? I couldn't at first. I thought that it was just Fred and George playing their usual tricks but it turned out to be true. I've had a long talk to Dumbledore about it and he has reluctantly agreed to let me play, but only because the European Cup is supposed to be happening in Scotland over Christmas. Dumbledore says I shouldn't miss the chance to play if the Cannons qualify. So I get to play.

I've decided therefore that I should give up my position as a prefect. I want to remain as Quidditch captain and don't have time to play professional Quidditch, train a team, be a prefect and pass my NEWTs. Additionally, things aren't that good between Hermione and me. In fact we're through. And I don't really want to have to spend prefect meetings with her. I'm really sorry that we put you through all of that mate. It wasn't fair and I should have thought about what I was doing beforehand. I hope you can forgive me.

Ron.

Ron's letter made Harry feel better. He was very happy for Ron, but he was extremely surprised that he gave up his prefect position. Ron too had obviously grown up in the last couple of years. Harry could no longer contain his excitement.

He ran around the house yelling.

'Everyone, I just got a letter. I'm Head Boy'

Harry was completely shocked by his aunt and uncle's reaction.

'You, Head Boy?' Petunia asked.

Harry nodded.

Petunia ran up and hugged him.

'This is so wonderful. We'll take you out to dinner tonight to celebrate. Somewhere fancy.'

As Harry looked at her face, it was absolutely beaming with pride. Harry almost felt like gagging. He wondered whether or not this turn around was because of what Dudley had said, because he had been making an effort to get along with them, because they knew that he wasn't staying long, or because someone had fed the entire a household a potion or placed them under the Imperius Curse. Harry decided he didn't care; he was going to enjoy the time while it lasted.

While everyone was rushing around getting ready for dinner, Harry opened his letter from Sirius. Its contents just added to his excitement.

Dear Harry,

I have had time to sort everything out; your room is ready and awaits your arrival. I assume you have quite a few things to bring with you, so instead of coming to get you on my bike, I will borrow my sister's car and come and get you. Is Monday in a month fine? Dumbledore says that that is long enough to allow protection from your aunt. Please send a reply as soon as possible, so that I can make the arrangements.

I hope that everything else is going well, we will talk when you arrive.

Love Sirius

Harry went and asked his aunt straight away if it was all right. She replied that she thought it would be fine, as long as they could meet Sirius first, and he would have to stay for dinner. The look on her face said otherwise though. When Harry walked out of the room though he noticed a sad look on her face.

'Could his aunt really be upset he was going?' Harry wondered.

The thought would have been inconceivable to Harry a few years ago, but now the Dursleys seemed somehow changed. He must remember to come and visit them after he had left. Harry scribbled off a quick reply saying that that would be fine, except Sirius would be expected to stay for dinner. Harry laughed thinking of Sirius's face when he reads that. Sirius had never thought much of the Dursleys, but that had stemmed from what Lily had told him about Petunia and Vernon.

'At any rate,' Harry thought, ' it would make for an entertaining meal.'.

Dinner that night was also an interesting affair. They went to a fancy place in the village and Petunia was introducing Harry to everyone she knew.

'This is Harry, our nephew,' she'd say. 'You know he's Head Boy at his school this year! We're taking him out to celebrate.'

Harry was just waiting for someone to reply,

'Oh yes, Petunia, you must be so proud, Head Boy of a correctional institute, what did he have to do to get that? Have the least number of detentions?'

Strangely enough, no one made that remark, although that is where everyone had thought he had been they must have respected Petunia enough not to comment and just congratulated the Dursleys on having brought up the two boys so well.

The meal itself was delicious, although his aunt and uncle seemed to be going out of their way to be nice to him. They asked him questions about the subjects he was taking, his friends, his responsibilities as Head Boy and his final exams at the end of the year. They didn't even flinch when Dudley once again brought up the suggestion of Harry brewing him a love potion.

'Surely they won't expel the Head Boy!' Dudley had joked.

His aunt and uncle had joined in, and then commented that Dudley shouldn't have to resort to magic to get a girl. He was handsome enough to get a girl the traditional way.

'Perhaps, they don't really want me to go. Maybe I should stay. Dumbledore seemed to think it was safe. But then I won't get to know Sirius well and he is my godfather. It would hurt him so much, he was so excited that night when I agreed to go and live with him. And I want to learn more about my parents. I will go with Sirius, there are things I need to do and Sirius will be able to help.'

Even so, later that night, Harry couldn't help but feel a little guilt about leaving them. They hadn't exactly been generous, but at least they'd kept a roof over his head.

And with that thought he slept peacefully without the visions plaguing him for the first time since Sirius had been cleared.