Harry Potter and the Traitor in Power

Harry Potter and the Traitor in Power

Chapter 1

The Birthday

It was a cold night on privet drive. Colder than normal but not greatly so. It seemed even the weather preferred normalcy on this street. For that's what this street was. Normal. All the houses, people, gardens, lawns, pets, and apparently even the weather, were so normal that it was almost as if they were making up for something. For there was one thing, a person actually, that did not belong on this street. One person that was so completely not normal it was frankly astounding that he was allowed within fifty miles of the place. That person was currently sitting on his bed with his homework spread out before him. That person was Harry Potter.

Now, as I said before, Harry was not normal. In fact, he was probably as far from normal as you could get. There were several things that made him different. One was the fact that he hated the summer more than any other time of the year. Another was that he really liked to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, often in the dead of night. He had an escaped convict for a godfather, granted Sirius was innocent but few people knew that. He also happened to be a wizard. He also happened to be the boy who lived. He also happened to be the biggest target on Voldemort's hit list.

He also happened to be having trouble concentrating on his confounded potions essay.

'Bugger, how the h*ll am I supposed to know what steps to take in making Veritaserum? It isn't even really taught till seventh year. Maybe I should owl Hermione about it.' He looked up at the clock, then did a double take and almost laughed at himself. '12:01. Missed it again. Ah well, happy birthday to me. Now I'm fifteen.'

Harry looked at the open window as five owls soared in and landed on his bed. He untied the packages they were carrying and watched again as two of them soared back out of the window. Hedwig, his owl, flew over to her cage, as did Pig, Ron's tiny owl, and a lovely eagle owl that he didn't recognize.

He picked up Ron's gift and opened the card.

Hey Harry,

How are things? The Muggles treating you okay? You're going to have to unshrink your gift. It's a good thing that we were allowed to use magic this summer or there's no way I could have gotten this to you. I wish that you were allowed to come over here but Dumbledore is still sure that its safer for you there. Speaking of Dumbledore. Did you hear? Fudge put out a death warrant for him. It was all over the Daily Prophet! Some nonsense about treason and conspiring against the Ministry I think. Anyway, tell me how you like the gift.

Ron

'This is really not good,' thought Harry reading again over the part about Professor Dumbledore, then thinking that there was nothing that he could do, he turned to Ron's gift. It was rather small but as he had said it needed to be "unshrunk", he really didn't think that that was much to go on. He unwrapped it and saw that it was a trunk. 'What the h*ll?'

He set it down on the floor and, not bothering to grab his wand, pointed his right hand at it and whispered "enlargio." He had discovered early in the summer that he didn't need his wand for magic, though doing it without took more effort. Since then, he had been avoiding using his wand and was instead practicing wandless magic as often as he could, in case he was disarmed or attacked when he didn't have his wand with him.

He looked at the trunk, there were five locks, all differently shaped, and on top of the trunk was a key ring, set into a groove that seemed to be made for it. The keys were also all different shapes. Harry grabbed the keys and fit the first one into the first lock, when he opened the trunk he found a compartment with a cake and several meat pies, with a note saying "happy birthday dear, from Mrs. Weasley." He took the food out and set it on his desk. He didn't have to worry about anyone coming in and finding it. Since he had gotten the letter at the beginning of the summer telling him that he was allowed to do magic over the holidays the Dursleys had completely left him alone. He suspected that they were afraid of him, or at least his magic. Yes, the day the letter had come had been a very good day.

Flashback.........

It was the second day into the holidays and Harry was outside, mowing the lawn for the second time that day. It wasn't because the grass had grown any since the last time he'd done it an hour ago, but the Dursleys wanted him out of the house and Vernon thought that he might as well be doing something useful.

When he finished, he went over to the garden and began to weed. Weeding aunt Petunia's garden always took him about two hours, today was no exception. When he finished, he stood up and stretched, popping his back and neck as he did so. He headed back inside, grabbing a snack from the kitchen and heading up to his room.

When he got there he was surprised to see an owl sitting on his bed. 'Sirius perhaps?' He untied the letter and the bird flew out the window. He opened the envelope and unfolded the letter inside.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC

IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC DEPARTMENT

Mr. Potter,

Your school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has asked me to inform you that students are allowed to use magic outside of school this summer. I am also to inform you that attacking anyone will result in the immediate suspension of these privileges and that, in accordance with the Magical Secrecy act of 1367, you are to avoid using magic in front of Muggles.

Thank you,

Melinda Monroe

Improper Use of Magic Office

'Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Awesome!' Harry thought, immediately going over to his trunk, which he had been allowed to keep in his room this summer due to certain comments about his godfather, opening it and pulling out his wand. He put it in his pocket and turned around, spying himself in the mirror.

"I'll tell them, but first I have to fix this," he said softly while looking at his reflection. His aunt had shaved his head when he got home and, unlike the other times he had had his hair cut, it had not yet grown back. He pointed his wand at his head and muttered a hair growth charm. He felt a tingling sensation on his scalp and after a few moments it stopped and he opened his eyes and surveyed his reflection.

"Oops, I guess I overdid it a bit." He had. His hair, instead of going back to the way it had been, was now down to just below his shoulders. He raised his wand again, and cast a spell to make it fit the image in his mind. He decided that, rather than having the same style as last year, he would have it slightly longer, just grazing below his cheekbones and cut close to the skin wherever hair grew below that. He was pleased to see that his hair, rather than going everywhere, was relatively tidy, though no where near the sleek perfection of someone like Malfoy.

He then looked down at his clothes. 'Well, if I changed my hair I might as well change my clothes too.' He transfigured his VERY baggy jeans and t-shirt into a pair of well-fitted black pants and a Navy button up shirt. He then went over to his dresser and pulled out all of his clothes, which were mostly Dudley's old things, and transfigured them into similar outfits. He stuck to dark colors, Navy, black, and Deep Emerald green so as to keep it simpler when he got back to school. He then took out all of his old robes and readjusted them to fit.

'That's good enough for now' he thought. He grabbed the letter and went downstairs to tell the Dursleys his "wonderful" news

End Flashback.....

Harry chuckled softly at the memory. The look on the Dursleys' face when he told them had been priceless. He shook his head and went on to the next compartment. This one was exactly like the first only it was empty, as were the third and fourth. The fifth held a room. It was bare, with wood-paneled floor, ceiling, and walls, except for a small pile of sweets besides which sat another note.

Harry,

Here is our thanks for your generous donation. This, along with our offer for you to become a Silent Partner in our business Weasley Wizard Wheezes, co-owned and operated by Frederick and George Weasley. You will, from this date forward, receive 5% of all of our business' profits paid directly into your vault, until such time as you either terminate the partnership or the business itself is terminated.

Yours,

Gred and Forge

PS We did remember to get Ron new dressrobes, don't worry. See you at Hogwarts!

Harry smiled. He wouldn't decline their offer, or terminate the partnership. At least for a little while. He knew that these type of things had another side to them. If the business was in trouble, financially that is, he would be called upon to help. Also, he knew it would offend them if he were to deny their offer to repay him.

He looked around the room. There were a few rocks littering the floor and he decide to put them to good use. First, he enlarged the room and put up a wall in the middle, with an open doorway. He then transfigured one rock into a rather lovely oriental rug, which covered most of the floor in one room and another rock to do the same in the next room. He then put up bookshelves, also transfigured from rocks, and summoned his books from his old trunk upstairs. He turned the rather old and warped ladder into a spiral staircase. He finished his transfiguration with changing 3 of the larger rocks into a bed with pillows and rather luxurious bedding, a dresser, which he packed full of his transfigured clothing, and a desk, into and onto which he put his homework and current schoolbooks. All in all, it turned out rather cozy. He then summoned the rest of his things from his room and situated them in his new trunk, including his old trunk which he decided to put at the foot of his bed to hold his robes and certain miscellaneous possessions, such as his invisibility cloak and marauders map.

He then remembered the other gifts and letters that were still on his bed in his room. He climbed the spiral staircase and locked the trunk.

Harry turned back to the presents on his bed. He grabbed the nearest one and saw that it was from Sirius. He opened the letter.

Hello Harry,

How are you doing? I'm still hiding, Albus Dumbledore is with me and I assure you that we are completely safe. Do Not write to me by my real name and especially don't write to Albus, it's a risk for me to mention him at all here. If you have any dreams or your scar hurts, write to either Snuffles or Padfoot immediately. I will inform Albus, don't worry. Also, if anything odd happens at Hogwarts then I want you to write me about it.

I am sorry to be writing like this on your birthday but I am afraid it can't be helped. Don't use owls to write to me with, use your gift. I have one of the other ones in this set. Happy Birthday Harry.

Padfoot

'Set of what?' he thought as he opened Sirius' present. 'Journals?' Then he saw another note.

Harry, these are not ordinary journals. They come in sets of 5 and are called message senders. Whatever you write in one will appear in all of the others unless you write a specific number or code name. Your number is 1. I want you to give the others to Ron and Hermione, their numbers are 2 and 3 respectively. My number is 4. Write to me at noon on your birthday as Albus has something to give you.

'Okay then, I'll do that.' He thought. He turned to the nest present. It was from Hagrid. There was a note assuring him that Hagrid was fine, but he had been sacked along with Dumbledore. It also wished him a happy birthday among other sentiments. Harry opened the package and saw that it was a holster for his wand like the ones that Aurors use, He placed his wand inside and saw that it fit perfectly.

The next was his Hogwarts letter. He noted that it was lumpy and thicker than usual before opening it.

Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry

Headmaster: Cornelius Fudge

Minister of Magic, Order of Merlin 2^nd Class

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen as a prefect for Gryffindor. We know that you will take this responsibility seriously and that you will not embarrass your fellow prefects. Your badge and supply list are enclosed. Term, as usual, starts on September 1^st, the train leaves from platform 9 ¾ at 11 o'clock.

Sincerely,

Professor Minerva McGonagall,

Assistant Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House

'Fudge is Headmaster? Damn, damn damn damn.' He placed the supply list on his bedside table along with his other letters and his prefect badge.

The last gift was from Hermione. It was obviously books, looking at the package, probably two of them. Harry opened Hermione's letter first and watched as several newspaper clippings fell onto his bed. Sighing, knowing that they were, without a doubt, bad news, he picked them up, promising himself that he'd read them in the morning. Then he turned to the letter.

Harry,

Happy Birthday. How are you doing? Has your scar hurt? If it does then you'll tell someone right? I know you don't get the Daily Prophet so I sent you some clippings I thought were important. I'll try to send you more information if there are any changes.

Guess what! I'm a prefect! I'm so pleased. Are you one too? McGonagall hinted that you might be. I'm so looking forward to the beginning of the school year. Even if Fudge sacked Dumbledore. Oh well, I'll see you at the start of term.

Hermione

PS. I'm going to Diagon Alley on the last day of vacation. Can you meet me there? Ron will be there too.

Harry then turned to the package. He opened it and looked at the title of the top book. How to become an Animagi by Felorse Kimman. 'wow, Hermione....' He lifted the Animagi book of the second book and read the title Advanced Dueling and Defensive magic by Amie Bidorlan. 'How practical' he thought, slightly amused. He flipped through the book.

"Wow, when they said advanced they sure meant it," he muttered quietly. All of the spells in the book were extremely difficult and well above 7^th year level. 'It figures that Hermione would get me a book this advanced. Oh well, I'll practice them anyways. Without a wand and with one.'

Harry placed the new books on his desk along with the rest of his presents and banished the trash into the wastebasket by his door. He decided to get some rest, promising himself again that he would read the articles and study his new books tomorrow.