Rediscovering the Past

Chapter 1-Changes

When Harry returned from his fifth year at Hogwarts, there was something different about him. He had changed, a lot.

It started with his attitude. Harry didn’t seem to care about anyone or anything. All that mattered was revenge. Revenge on everyone who had hurt him and everyone who was going to hurt him. In the end, no one would be safe from the fury of his wrath. Harry had a list and at the top of that list were Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. The Lestrange bitch would pay for what she did to Sirius.

Harry didn’t care about the Order anymore and he made a point of it to let them know this every chance he got. Apparently Moody’s warning had gotten through to the Durlseys because they hadn’t given him any chores or asked him to do anything at all this summer.

Harry took advantage of this by leaving number 4 early every morning and returning late every night. He knew that the Order was still following him everywhere he went but he didn’t give a damn. It was easy enough to shake them off anyway.

The next thing to change was the clothes he wore. Before the first week of the summer holidays was over, Harry had thrown out the old cast-offs of Dudley's and replaced them with lots of baggy jeans, most of them black with lots of chains and straps, and band shirts. Most of the shirts had logos, pictures, or taglines from various bands and solo artists he listened to now. The ones he wore most often were Linkin Park, Eminem, and Three Days Grace.

Shortly after the change in his attire he added a couple things to his new look. He had given up on his hair and decided to let it grow. With the added length, he was able to pull it back in a ponytail. When Harry had discovered that his hair was long enough to pull back, he made another trip to muggle London. His first stop was a hair salon where he had bright green streaks added to his hair. His next stop was a tattoo parlor where they did not only tattoos, but piercings as well. Harry could guess that whoever was tailing him that day, would have loved to go into the shop and pull him out as he handed his money to the guy behind the counter. He decided to get a couple tattoos and a couple piercings. He knew that he would probably get yelled at for getting them but that wasn’t really his problem.

Harry got two tattoos. The first was a green snake outlined in black, wrapped around a sword that covered his entire back. The sword looked exactly like Godric Gryffindor's sword which Harry had pulled out of the sorting hat in his second year. The second was of the Marauders, minus Pettigrew, with a lily in the stag’s antlers on his left arm. After he got inked, he received his piercings. A dangling silver lightning bolt was inserted into his left ear and an ice blue stud was inserted into the left side of his nose.

The last thing Harry changed about his appearance was to visit an optometrist to see about getting rid of his glasses. While he waited, Harry flipped through a catalog of contact lens choices. He picked the ones he wanted just as the doctor entered. The doctor examined his eyes and asked which contacts Harry had chosen. The boy proudly told the older man that he wanted the ones that would make his pupils appear black with a red outline.* The doctor laughed and informed him that the contacts could be expected to be ready the next week.

Harry thanked the doctor and headed back to the Dursleys’. Uncle Vernon wasn’t home yet so Harry went up to his room until supper was ready. Dudley was out with his friends, probably beating up Billy Templeton who had just moved in down the street. Lying down on his back wasn’t an option at the moment so he grabbed his laptop, laid down on his stomach on his bed, and logged on. Popping Meteora in the disk drive, Harry skipped ahead to song 5, Hit the Floor, and clicked play as the music washed over him. He opened instant messenger to find that some of his friends were on. The computer had been a welcome addition during the first week of vacation. It gave him endless hours of worry-free time. Time he spent studying everything the internet said about prophecies. Most of what he found was related to religion. The other thing he researched was fighting techniques in case he had to use hand-to-hand combat.

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So what does everybody think about this story so far? I like the HP books but it seems like JK doesn’t really let Harry show what he could truly be. Sorry about the shortness of chapter 1. Please don't judge this story on one chapter alone.

*When I wrote that part, I was thinking of Queen of the Damned and vampires.