Harry Potter & The Awakening

Prelude

Harry watched the blonde from a distance. He didn't know who she was, but he did know that she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen-including vela. The girl was curled up under a shady tree, deeply engrossed in a thick book. Soft blonde ringlets framed her heart-shaped face, and when she looked up, Harry could see gorgeous sapphire eyes.

Harry wanted to just walk over and wrap his arms around her, but he held himself in check. He would seem like some psycho stalker if he did that. He would wait and introduce himself later. For now, Harry simply leaned against the tree behind him and watched.

* * *

Harry crouched behind the headstone and knew the end had come. There was no hope... no help to be had. And as he heard Voldemort draw nearer still, hew knew one thing only, and it was beyond fear or reason: He was not going to die crouching here like a child playing hide-and-seek, he was not going to die kneeling at Voldemort's feet... he was going to die upright like his father, and he was going to die trying to defend himself, even if no defense was possible...

Before Voldemort could stick his snakelike face around the headstone, Harry stood up... he gripped his wand tightly in his hand, thrust it out in front of him, and threw himself around the headstone, facing Voldemort.

Voldemort was ready. As Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Voldemort cried, "Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light issued from Voldemort's wand just as a jet of red light blasted from Harry's-they met in midair- and suddenly Harry's wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it; his hand seized up around it; he couldn't have released it if he'd wanted to-and a narrow beam of light connected the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold. Harry, following the beam with his astonished gaze, saw-

"Raven!" a voice called. Raven looked up, putting her book down with her finger stuck between the pages. Her two best friends were heading over, obviously done with throwing their Frisbee around.

"What?" she asked, grinning. Both hurried closer, sitting next to her.

"Some guy's watching you," Eve whispered excitedly. Her green eyes sparkled as she threw her waist length red hair over her shoulder.

"Oh?" Raven sat up and began looking around. "Where is her? Is he cute?"

"He over there," answered her other best friend, Emily. She pointed her finger at a dark haired teen around their age. He was leaning against a tree and- even from this distance- Raven could see eyes of a green she'd never before seen.

"I think he's cute," Eve giggled. Raven, entranced by the boy's eyes, nodded without breaking eye contact. Emily snorted.

"Depends on what you like," Emily replied. She shook her thick, black hair out of her face and eyed the boy. "He's okay, but not really-"

"Shh!" Raven interrupted, waving her had at Emily to silence her. The boy had noticed Raven looking back and was now starting toward them. Spellbound, Raven dropped her book on its bindings as she stood.

Her mind went numb and her only thought was of this mysterious boy and his emerald eyes. The world vanished around them and she stepped toward him. Bit by bit they closed the distance, till they were almost touching. Then, as they moved their hands to join-

"Harry!" a voice cried. The boy jerked his head to look at the origin of the cry and Raven saw a flash of red underneath his flying bangs.

"Ron!" he exclaimed, pulling away from Raven. Following his gaze, Raven saw a red haired, freckled faced teen staring at them.

"Oi!" the redhead shouted. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Raven recognized a distinctly British accent.

"Uh..." Startling green eyes flashed to Raven before turning back to the redhead. "Nothing!"

"Then come on! Mione's waiting at the hotel!"

"Coming!" Those green eyes turned to her once more, this time filled with remorse. Before Raven knew it, he grabbed her hand, slipped a piece of paper in it, and darted off.

Raven stood, transfixed, her hand tingling so much she thought it would explode.

* * *

"Who was that?" Ron asked, staring at his best friend.

"The most beautiful girl in the world," Harry said dreamily. Ron eyed him warily.

"What's her name?"

"I don't know," came the entranced response.

"Harry, are you okay?" Ron looked him up and down, noticing that Harry was rubbing at his hand. "What's wrong with your hand? You smack it up against something?"

"Nuh huh..." Ron sighed at his friends answer and looked around discreetly, making sure no one was around.

Suddenly a small explosion went off in front of Harry's glazed eyes. The dark haired boy jumped and seemed to come back to himself, glancing around briefly before glaring at the snickering redhead.

"What was that for?" he demanded. Ron grinned innocently.

"Just making sure I didn't lose ya back there to that girl," he answered, chuckling. "Why are you rubbing your hand like that?"

"What?" Harry looked down at his hand and froze, as if just realizing what he'd been doing. Then he looked at Ron with a curious expression. "I- I touched her with my hand. Ron, it feels like my hand's going to explode!" Ron looked at him dubiously, but Harry pushed on. "Ron, I touched her and it felt like... I don't know what it felt like, but I've never felt that way before! My nerves exploded! It was almost magical!"

"Hmm..." Ron said, his tone non-committal. He had an amused grin on his face as he looked at Harry out of the corner of his eye. Harry looked about to comment, but Ron was faster. "We're here."

* * *

"What was that?" Emily asked, coming up to Raven with Eve.

"You should've kissed him!" Eve told her. "He was so obviously into you!" Eve looked her up and down, taking in the entranced expression and glazed eyes. She exchanged glances with Emily before noticing the paper sticking out of Raven's hand. "What's that?" she asked, reaching for it curiously.

"Huh?" Raven suddenly snapped out of her trance. Looking oddly at her hand, Raven saw the paper clutched tightly in her grip. She hadn't realized it was there. Turning slowly to face her friend, she looked up at them.

"Well, see what it is," Emily said, realizing Raven was too out of it at the point to think for herself.

"Oh." Raven numbly unfolded the paper and stared at it for a moment. "I- it's a number."

"A phone number?" Eve inquired, eyes wide. Raven nodded. "Wow!"

"This guy's really into you, huh?" Emily said, eyeing Raven.

"I guess," the blonde answered. There was a moment of silence.

"Let's go call him!" Eve yelled. The three giggled and grinned at each other and took off, stopping only long enough to pick up their Frisbee and Raven's book, Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire.