The Prophesy: Silent Shells

Prologue

On the night that ghouls awaken and play, the son of a stag and an ivory blossom will survive the jasper summons of death.

For a decade his identity will be concealed from all but three tormentors of the uncultivated world.

A half breed shall rescue him from a storm and his heritage shall become known.

He will meet the lion in a room of rushing steel and with the she-cat they will defeat what lurks beneath the turban.

He will hear voices that no other can hear and the blind will be deceived and believe him evil. Powers unconsciously transferred will be the defeater of the eyes of death. A book is the key.

The unwilling canine, left by his friends and forsaken by the world, will meet the trio in the room of rushing steel and they shall all learn the truth from the condemned dog.

The traitorous rodent shall be revealed and will bring about the return. More great and terrible than ever before.

The fourth of three will leap from the cup of fire and will unwillingly give his blood to revive the bane of living things.

The saviour will lie dormant for 28 days slain by the nightmare of guilt but will rise again by the hand of he who has devoured death. His companions, the Lion and the She-cat will battle the riddle with him.

The dragon will forsake his family, be re-born as a phoenix of the light and will join them in battle.

The lives of these for are sacred and their canine guardians will be forced to chose between their duty to them and revenge against the rodent Judas.

These six will determine the fates of the world in battle against the will of death.

When the battle is through the son of the stag and heir Gryffindor will seek solitude in the land of the uncultivated and the She-cat and Dog will join forces in order to save him.

- Rowena Ravenclaw

***************

Silent Shells

Chapter 1

'Kill the spare!'

A rush of green light flew past Harry and he heard a thump. When his scar stopped hurting Harry looked around and for the 5^th time that week he saw Cedric Diggory lying spread eagled next to him. Suddenly Cedric sat up and looked directly at Harry.

'Look what you have done!' said Cedric. 'This is all your fault.'

Suddenly his face changed into James Potters.

'Look you pathetic boy. Look at what you did to us. Why did we waste our time dying for you? It didn't achieve anything. The world would have been better off if we had just handed you over to him.'

The face faded and in its place was the face of Lily Potter. As she began to speak, her voice, unlike the enraged voices of Cedric and her husband, sounded sad and disappointed.

'Harry I died for you because I thought you would make something of your life. I wanted to give you the chance to prove yourself worthy of our love. And for a while you did. But for what? You defeated the Dark Lord only to have your own blood bring him back to life. And now he is worse than he ever was before. I am ashamed to have been the person to have brought you into the world when all you will do is eventually destroy it.'

Then all three voices started chanting.

'Your fault, your fault, your fault.'

Other familiar voices started to join them. First Ron and Hermione, then the rest of the Weasley family. Then Harry's godfather Sirius Black, his DADA professor and friend of his parents Remus Lupin. Then all the students at Hogwarts and the teachers until eventually the whole world, muggles and wizards alike were screaming at him from every corner of the universe.

'YOUR FAULT, YOUR FAULT, YOUR FAULT!!!'

Harry stumbled back away from the voices. 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' he sobbed as they started following him back.

'I didn't mean too. I never meant any of it. Please leave me alone. I'm just so sorry.'

Harry was on his knees begging as the voices pursued him through the blackness. Suddenly the ground fell away from him and he was sucked into a black hole with the voices of his loved ones tormenting him as he fell.

'YOUR FAULT'

Harry awoke with tears streaming down his face. He reached for his glasses and sat up. Although it was dark, his hand was still searching across the table at his side. He found what he was looking for and switched on the light.

Looking at his scarred wrists, Harry slashed through the skin three times. As the blood started to flow he let out all the pent up air inside him with a little relieved hiss. His shoulders relaxed and he started to smile.

Grabbing the sheet that he kept under his bed he wrapped it around his arm until the bleeding finally stopped. Then he carefully unwound his arm, turned out his light and went back to sleep. He wasn't troubled by nightmares for the rest of the night.

//////////

When Harry awoke the next morning he looked down at his wrist. The flesh around the new cuts was pink and enflamed. He ran his eyes up and down his arms. The scars were comforting and he got up and went down stairs to make the breakfast.

Every night since Cedric's death and Voldemort's rebirth Harry had been having the same nightmares. And every night he added fresh cuts to his already scarred arms. He had had to put a silencing charm around his bed at Hogwarts and he stuffed up every crack at night in his room at the Dursley's house so he wouldn't wake them by screaming in his sleep. He had been tempted to use a silencing charm on his room as well but he didn't want to face expulsion from Hogwarts for performing underage magic.

He only had two weeks to go and then he would be back at Hogwarts. Back with the only family he had ever really known.

He was flipping the bacon when his aunt Petunia entered the kitchen. She looked at him for a moment before turning to boil the kettle. This didn't bother Harry because he was used to being treated as if he wasn't in the same room as his relatives. He jumped however when his aunt spoke to him.

'Harry,' she began as she took something out of her apron. 'Harry, this letter came from your school yesterday. I didn't show it to Vernon because you know how he is with things like this. I wanted to ask you about it before I did anything with it.'

Harry was too startled by her almost kind tone to actually register what she had said. When it clicked he looked up at her and took the sheet of parchment from her hand and began to read it.

Dear Mr and Mrs Dursley,

I do not know if your nephew has already spoken to you about this matter but I feel it necessary to bring it to your attention.

During the course of this year Harry participated in a contest involving wizards from three other different schools. The tri-wizard contest is normally a very dangerous competition and has been abandoned until recently because of the height that the death toll reached.

However, even thought I put an age barrier around the cup that choses the contestants a dark wizard masquerading as a teacher at the school placed Harry's name into the cup under a fourth school.

We did not know who had done this nor why until the third and final task, when Harry and another student from our school touched a cup that had been booby trapped and transported them to a place where the other student Cedric Diggory was killed.

After this Harry was forced to witness and unwillingly participate in bringing back the Dark Lord Voldemort whom he defeated nearly 13 years ago. He risked his life by duelling with the Dark Lord in an attempt to return to the school and bring back Cedric's body.

I am writing to you to inform you of these occurrences because I was hoping that these holidays you might, as it were, 'cut him some slack' as he has been under an enormous amount of pressure. Also, Lord Voldemort may be looking for revenge against Harry for that fateful Halloween night all those years ago and for more recent events.

Please do not be alarmed as we have placed enchantments upon you and your family for protection. I am simply writing to inform you and put you on your guard.

Please allow Harry to leave for the school a week earlier than planned. A man with black hair will come to pick him up. This man is Harry's godfather Sirius Black. I do not know whether you have met with him. He was a close friend of James and Lily Potter. He was on your News reports as a wanted man a year or so ago but do not distress yourselves. He is harmless.

Yours Sincerely

Albus Dumbledore

Harry stared at the letter for a little while longer and then handed it back to his Aunt.

'So... what do you want me to say? It's all true, although I don't suggest showing the letter to uncle Vernon. He might not like the idea of being placed under enchantments. I'll go now if you want, I'm sure you don't want me hanging around and endangering you lives. I'll just go and pack shall I?'

He turned to leave but Petunia caught his arm. To his surprise and discomfort there were tears glistening in her eyes.

'I'm so sorry Harry,' she faltered.

Harry gave her a clumsy hug. 'I'll just go and pack.'

'No, stay here until this man, your godfather, comes and collects you. I don't want you wandering the streets with this Voldemort character after you. I saw what he did to Lily and I wouldn't wish any of that on you. Stay for the last week.'

Harry nodded slightly and gave her another hug before walking up stairs where he sat for the next 20 minutes with blood running down his arms.