Harry Potter and The Magical Light

Harry, much to his dislike had spent almost his entire summer stuck at number four Privet Drive. No matter how many owls he sent to Dumbledore, the answers always came back the same. He would only be allowed to go to The Burrow when there were two weeks of the summer remaining. He told him that it was for his own safety after the events of the Tri Wizard Tournament. Harry had no choice but to accept this. The days seemed to get longer and longer and Harry started to feel that even time was against him. But finally it was two weeks before another year at Hogwarts would commence. Harry was lying in his bed that morning having a very weird dream. This dream was different from the ones that he had in the past. Lately Harry found himself waking up more often with sharp pains in his scar. Before this would happen he would have dreams that showed him glimpses as to what Voldemort was doing. But this dream was not showing him what Voldemort was doing at the moment, but instead it was different.

Harry walked into a dark room but he wasn't alone. There were three other people with him. He couldn't see who they were but he felt that there was no danger. Although he couldn't see them, he knew that he could trust them. There was a wooden box in the center of the dark room that had an eerie glow to it. The four people approached the box and tried to figure out what it was. There were symbols on the box. Ancient runes perhaps. One of the people (a female) from the group translated the symbols and told them what needed to be done to unlock the box. That voice was so familiar. But he couldn't figure out who it was. They had to point their wands to the box, close their eyes and clear their minds. They had to be totally focused for the spell that they were about to cast to work. "Quaternium poderesa," they all shouted. What happened next took them all by surprise. Four different beams of light expelled themselves from the little wooden box and each of them got hit by one of the light beams...

At that moment Harry woke up. He didn't know what it was that he had just seen. Had this been a dream or was it a vision of what was to come? A tiny little owl fluttered through the window at that moment and snapped Harry out of his confusion. Harry knew exactly who the little owl belonged to. His best friend Ron had finally written him a letter. It was a little late, but late is better than never.

Dear Harry,

How's it been going buddy. I'm sorry I haven't written to you lately but I have been kind of busy. Ginny has been helping me with quidditch practice the entire summer. As you already know, there is going to be an opening for keeper now that Oliver Wood is done with school. There also needs to be a new team captain. Hmmm I wonder who it will be? But anyway, Hermione has been staying with us these past two weeks and we are going up to Diagon Alley to buy our school supplies next week. Take the knight bus tomorrow and come stay for the rest of the summer. I owled Dumbledore already and he told me that you were allowed to come for the last two weeks of the summer. Well, hope to see you tomorrow.

Ron

This letter made him the happiest he had been all summer. He would finally be able to spend some time with his best friends and then he would start his fifth year at the place that he loved the best in the world. But he knew that this year would be different. Now that the dark lord had a body, he would begin gathering followers on his quest for world domination. It was a scary thought but he knew he was safe under the protection of Albus Dumbledore. But Harry still wondered if things would be different because of the events that happened during the Triwizard Tournament. Will anyone blame him for Cedric's death? Harry stopped blaming himself but he didn't know if other people did. But Harry didn't want to think about this right now because it was depressing. The only thing that he wanted to think about was going to his best friend's house.

As usual when you are waiting for the time to go by, time seems to stop. But the day passed with no real "action". The only thing that happened was that the Dursley's told him that for the rest of the summer they were going to make him work extra hard so that he could earn his stay with them. At this Harry wanted to burst out laughing because he knew that he wouldn't be staying with them much longer. After much waiting the night finally came and he was ready to go. He waited until everyone was asleep and then he took all his belongings and went downstairs and out the door. He had to move really carefully as to not wake anyone because then there would be hell to pay if they found him about to leave. Fortunately no one heard him. Once outside, Harry looked around to make sure that there was no on watching and flagged the knight bus with his wand. He stepped inside and it was exactly as he remembered it. But instead of acting like his name was Neville he could just be Harry. Harry got to meet very interesting people and got to see many places that he had never seen before. The ride was also as bumpy and noisy as he remembered it.

He was jolted to a sudden stop as he reached his destination. He was at The Burrow. The Weasleys (having heard the knight bus) were outside their house waiting to greet him. Mrs. Weasley immediately engulfed him in a huge hug. "Oh Harry you are so thin. Those muggles must have been starving you. Don't worry I'll take care of that problem" said Mrs. Weasley. Everyone else gave him normal greetings except for Hermione which gave him a kiss on the cheek (Harry found himself blushing deep red at this). This action got a very hurt look from Ron. "She didn't give me a kiss when she got here" Ron thought bitterly. Harry was too busy staring at Hermione to notice Ron. "Wow Hermione looks great, I can't believe I've never noticed how pretty she is!" thought Harry. But Harry just kept walking like nothing happened. Harry noticed that Ginny wasn't outside to see him arrive. He wondered why. Ron led him to his room which he would be staying in as usual. It was very late and they both went to sleep immediately.

The next morning Harry had to almost throw Ron off the bed so that he would wake up and go down to breakfast. On their way down they went and got Ginny and Hermione. Harry didn't really have a close relationship with Ginny and he told himself that this year that would change. Once he saw Ginny his jaw dropped. He noticed how much Ginny had changed since the end of the school year. She was growing up and she looked very absolutely gorgeous. "What's wrong with me, this is my best friend and my best friends sister" thought Harry. Harry knew this was going to be an interesting year. Ron noticed that Harry was looking at his sister and stepped between the both of them. They all walked down to the kitchen and Harry had the most enjoyable meal he had all summer. He was with what he considered to be his family. They all laughed and had a good time. After breakfast Ron told him that he and Ginny were going to train for quidditch. Harry went along to watch. He was very impressed on how good Ron was. Ron was very serious about getting the position. Then his attention shifted to Ginny. He was also shocked on how well Ginny handled a broom. The broom was a very old model but Ginny made it seem as if it were a Firebolt. Harry hoped that Ginny would try out for the team. But deep down Harry knew that she would never do that. Ginny knew how much her brother wanted this position and she would never do anything to take that from him.

After a while they went back inside for some rest and relaxation. That week went by quickly. Mrs. Weasley woke them up very early on the next Monday morning. "Everyone up, we need to get going. I want to beat the rush at Diagon alley". At that note they slowly woke from their sleeps. Harry had been having the same dream that he had the day before he left for the burrow. He didn't tell anyone because he didn't think that it was that important. They had breakfast and were ready to go to Diagon alley by floo powder. Harry never really liked traveling this way but he really had no choice. They were going to go in pairs. Mrs. Weasley told them who to go with. Fred and George were going to go first, Ron and Hermione were going second, and Ginny and Harry would go last. Harry wondered why she didn't pair him up with Ron and Ginny with Hermione. But Harry was pretty happy about the person he was paired up with. Ginny even held his hand while they walked into the flame. He noticed her blushing profusely.

They went to Gringotts and got some money to go buy their school supplies with. As usual, Ron didn't have much money. Hermione didn't even have a vault. She just exchanged the muggle money that her parents had given her into wizarding currency. But when they went to Harry's vault they all saw the small fortune it contained. Although Harry had seen the vault on several occasions, it always surprised him to see the enormous amount of money that belonged to him. Once out of the bank, they each took out their lists to see what they had to buy. Other than buying their regular text books for fifth year students, they had to also buy a couple of extra books that would help them get ready to take their O.W.L.s. Hermione was very excited about this but Harry and Ron obviously were not. Fred and George had to buy books for their N.E.W.T.s. They were going into their seventh year and their mom was pushing them extra hard although she knew that she shouldn't really expect them to do more than average. The day overall was very enjoyable. They met up with a couple of their friends from school. Unfortunately they also met up with Draco Malfoy. As usual he had comments about each and everyone of them except Ginny. No one else seemed to notice this except for Harry. Harry noticed that Draco Malfoy was staring at Ginny the entire time. "Looks like your mother will have to sell herself on the street corner again to be able to pay for all of your second hand supplies" laughed Malfoy. All of the Weasleys were about to tear him limb from limb when Mrs. Weasley showed up. She saw that something was about to happen and told them all that she wanted to get home so that she would have time to cook Mr. Weasley dinner before he got home. That night after everyone went to sleep Harry went downstairs and sat in the living room by himself. He was having trouble sleeping.

"Harry, is that you?" asked Ginny. "What are you doing down here?" "I couldn't sleep." "How about you?" said Harry. "I saw you going down the stairs and I wondered what was wrong," said Ginny. They stayed up all night together talking about anything and everything. Harry was happy about this because this was exactly what he wanted. He now knew a lot more about Ginny than he did yesterday. He even found out that she was at the top of her class. She of course kept this quiet because her brothers would make fun of her. At that moment Harry realized how much he liked Ginny. But this would be a problem. If he and Ginny ever decided to start dating there would be conflict. Her brothers would have a real problem with that. Not so much Fred and George, but Ron would be the real problem. He would never approve of them dating. And Harry didn't want anything to come between their friendship. What would he do? He just kept running this through his mind while she talked. Eventually they fell asleep on the couch next to one another.

The next morning Harry and Ginny woke up to find Ron and Hermione staring at them and giggling. They got up but received a very odd look from Ron. A little while later, they went to the dining room to eat breakfast. All of a sudden, while they were eating, two big owls flew through one of the windows. They each contained an envelope with the Hogwarts crest. The envelopes were addressed to Ron and Harry. After giving the owls a bit of bacon, they tore open the envelopes. The letters were exactly the same except for the names.

Dear Harry,

Congratulations. After careful deliberation, the staff has decided that you are to become one of the fifth year prefects. This is an honor that I know you will take very seriously. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with this position. You will be in charge of maintaining things in order. In order to do that, you are allowed to take house points away as well as give detentions. More information is to come when you board the Hogwarts express. We will have a little ceremony in the prefects carriage. The other Gryffindor prefects are Ronald Weasley and Lavender Brown. I will look forward to seeing you on the Hogwarts Express.

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Harry and Ron both looked up at the same time. They were in total shock. They were totally quiet for about five minutes but Mrs. Weasley broke the silence by asking what was in the letters. Ron gave his letter to his mother and Harry gave his letter to Hermione. Mrs. Weasley looked like she had never been happier in her entire life. The twins also read the letter and had a disappointed look on their face. "We never would have expected you to stoop so low," they both said. Hermione looked up from Harry's letter. Although she knew that her name wasn't listed as one of the prefects, she stared at the window for a minute then her eyes got watery and she ran upstairs to her bedroom. Harry knew exactly what was wrong. Hermione had been the perfect student ever since her first day at Hogwarts. It must hurt so much to know that all that was for nothing. And it must have hurt even more to know that Harry and Ron, who were always in trouble and had only average grades, got such an honorable position. Sure she was number one in her class but she wasn't the thing that she always wanted to be. Now that she wasn't chosen to be a prefect, she could never be head girl. Harry wanted to talk to her but he knew that she needed time for herself.

Hermione lay in her bed crying. A whole bunch of different emotions were surging through her. "How could they do this to me?" She was so devoted to that school. She set such a good example for other students and what do they do? They screw her over. All of a sudden she heard pecking at the window. She looked up and there was the most beautiful eagle owl she had ever seen. She opened the window and the owl flew in. He was carrying a rather thick envelope. It had the Hogwarts crest on it. But what the hell could be in that letter. She already knew that she wasn't chosen to be a prefect so what could it be. She gave the owl a snack and he flew out of the window. She tore open the letter desperate to know what was inside. She read:

Dear Hermione Granger,

We have some bad news for you. Unfortunately, the staff has decided that you are not fit for the role of prefect. I know that this might come as a shock to you. But I have some wonderful news for you as well. This year there has been a new position created. It is called "Master Prefect". We think that you are the perfect candidate. You have shown extraordinary talent. You are the most intelligent person that has come through Hogwarts in a very long time. The staff doesn't think that it would be fair for you to be just an average prefect when you can be so much more. Unlike prefects, there is only one person in the entire school that this position will be available to. You will be Master Prefect until you graduate from Hogwarts. But just because you are Master Prefect doesn't mean that you can't also be head girl. Being head girl is a very honorable position and we wouldn't take the chance away from you. But if you are chosen to be head girl in your seventh year you also will be responsible for your duties as Master Prefect. But you must understand that this position comes with much more responsibility than a prefect or even head girl. Much like prefects, you will attend every meeting. In addition to that, you will also attend staff meetings. Much like prefects and staff you are allowed to take house points away and assign detention. You will be part of the decision making in staff meetings. One big responsibility of your will be to substitute for any professor that is unavailable. You will only be able to substitute for years 1-4 because those are the only years that you have completed. You will have special recognition in the ceremony aboard the Hogwarts express in the prefects carriage. One thing that we ask of you is that you keep this a secret until that time. Even from Mr. Harry Potter and Mr. Ron Weasley. If you have any questions please send me an owl.

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster

Hermione was totally shocked. She didn't know what to think. She reread that letter about eight times still unable to believe it. She wanted to share this information so badly but she knew that she couldn't. She was going to be very distant with Harry and Ron until they boarded the train. She wanted them to think that she was upset about not getting the position as prefect. But she also didn't want to be around them too much because she thought that she might just blurt it all out. She wanted to see the look on her face when Dumbledore announced the news.

It was finally the day that they had to board the train. "I know I've been very distant, but you can understand. I am very happy for you though," said Hermione. "It's alright," said Harry and Ron. "I'm going to have a talk with Professor McGonagall. There has to be some mistake," said Ron. Hermione told him that he shouldn't waste his time. She said it was alright and that she had already gotten over it but both Harry and Ron knew that it wasn't true. And at that Mrs. Weasley started shouting that they were going to be late and they all got ready to leave the Burrow to board the train that would take them to their magical destination.