Harry Potter and the Trail of Stars

A SHOWER OF SPARKS

"Y-You, boy! Get inside the house. They might see you!" snarled Vernon Dursley. "I've been doing a lot of thinking on the way back now, and I've finally come to my senses," said Uncle Vernon, calmly, but Harry wasn't fooled. He politely waited for his uncle to finish. "I've come to the conclusion that you're nothing but a little runt! Trust Petunia to keep you here! Why I swear I don't know what's going on inside her head! You must've hoodwinked her, boy!" yelled Uncle Vernon, clearly thinking he'd been so clever to think this through. "Don't know what I was thinking when I gave you Dudley's second bedroom! Get in your old cupboard and you stay there! Oh and I'm locking up your ruddy owl!" called Uncle Vernon, now starting to walk away.

"Blasted bird! Bringing up dead animals all the time, making your aunt work night and day to clean up your smelly room. I wouldn't have kept the boy if it were up to me..." muttered Uncle Vernon as he made his way into the usual gleaming kitchen.

Harry made his way into the old cupboard under the stairs. He walked closer to the door. The floor beneath him creaked. He opened the door. The doorknob came off right into his hands. He entered the room. A couple of spider webs stuck to his face. He looked around at his new 'paradise.'

"Yuck," he muttered, bringing in his trunks, one by one. "Room looks a lot smaller than the last time I've been here," he muttered, clearly longing to be in Dudley's second bedroom. 'He must have gotten some new welcome-home presents to have to use his old bedroom again,' thought Harry, sitting on the floor. (The old bed was half Harry's size and moth eaten.)

Harry suddenly sat up. Burglars! Death Eaters! He heard the loud thumping of footsteps. He then relaxed, mentally hitting himself for thinking it was Death Eaters coming to get him. The door burst open, and Uncle Vernon looked around.

"You, boy. I'm not coming inside this smelly closet. Get outside!" said Uncle Vernon, he face in disgust at the state of the cupboard. Harry slowly made his way towards his uncle, clearly enjoying the fact that Uncle Vernon wanted to get away from the room as fast as possible. Harry wondered why his relatives were treating him so, after that small talk at Kings Cross about Harry's mistreatment. 'Oh well,' he thought, he'd just have to write to Lupin or his friends. Suddenly happy with the thought, he smiled.

"What are you smiling 'bout, boy?" questioned Uncle Vernon.

"Oh nothing," replied Harry, "except..."

"Except what, boy?" snapped Uncle Vernon, losing patience (not that he ever did have any).

"Oh...you remember what those people at Kings Cross told you..." said Harry, watching his Uncle.

"And what...exactly...is it?" replied Uncle Vernon.

"You really don't remember?" asked Harry, remembering the fond words of Mad-Eye and Lupin. "They don't want you mistreating me, and locking me up in this dusty old broom closet is violating it, and they'll find out...oh yes...and if you lock up Hedwig, they'll be coming for me in three days if they don't hear from me. Don't be surprised if they do...you-know-what on you lot," said Harry, smiling mischievously.

"How many times do I have to say 'NO TALKING ABOUT BROOMS AND YOU-KNOW-WHAT UNDER MY ROOF'!!" roared Uncle Vernon. Harry could hear a couple of spiders fall to the floor behind him. His hearing was quite acute. "DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER MY ROOF, YOU HEAR ME?" It took several minutes for him to cool down, and he opened his fat mouth again. "And as for that conversation with...them...It just shows what you know," said Uncle Vernon, not threatened by it. He had a lot of time to think about a plan while driving. Harry stared, and wondered, 'Wait...this is supposed to be the part where he gets scared.' Confused, he let Uncle Vernon talk on.

"Ah...you see...there's a small problem with the 'letting them know' part. Of course you'll be writing to them! HA HA...HAHAHAAAA!" laughed Uncle Vernon, his laughter echoing the hallways menacingly. Harry strongly suspected that his uncle was a bit mad, and was about to request to accompany him to the nearest loony bin, but Uncle Vernon interrupted his thoughts.

"See here...You'll be writing them letters now...but here's the best part! You'll be writing them under my supervision, boy!" snarled Uncle Vernon, with mad gleam in his eyes, and mustache quacking with laughter again. Surely, this was not the moment to suggest a tranquilizer. "So there! Now...you'd be writing that letter, and I'll be watching! Go on...get your filthy bird, or it'll be worse for you. And gimme that stick thing!" said Uncle Vernon, pointing to the wand in Harry's hand. He handed it over to Uncle Vernon, who, took it and with extreme strength, snapped it.

Harry gasped. His wand! His faithful wand! The one that helped him escape Voldemort in the graveyard. Inside, he screamed with anger, but tried not to show it. 'Perhaps there's a way to put it back,' Harry thought. Uncle Vernon watched Harry with an evil grin, clearly satisfied, and threw the two pieces back at Harry, who caught it with ease, almost as if the wand was seeking its owner. Harry had no choice but to go get Hedwig. 'Great,' he thought. 'Now they'll never know about this!' He desperately tried to think of a way to write his situation without Uncle Vernon understanding. 'But I'm going to need a concealing charm for that,' groaned Harry. 'Why didn't I take up Ancient Runes? I could've wrote in a different language, and Hermione would've understood it, and I could've told Uncle Vernon it was something to identify that it was the real me. Wait a minute,' thought Harry, 'That's it! Harry, you're bloody brilliant! I'll write clues, and they can try to figure them out. Pretty soon, I'll be competing with Hermione on thinking skills.' Worries put aside, Harry got his owl, a piece of parchment and quill, and calmly walked up to where Uncle Vernon was.

"Good...and tell their lot that you'd be writing a bloody letter every couple of weeks, mind you...I don't have the time to watch this all the time...and the less we associate with...them...the better we're off. I warn you boy, any funny business..." said Uncle Vernon, the letting the threat hang unfinished.

"Right. Okay," replied Harry, in what he had hoped was an obedient tone. Harry quickly thought about what he wanted (needed) to tell them, he began to write...

Hoping that they understood his clues, he let Uncle Vernon read the letter, who took two minutes, and then...

"Alright...now send it."

Harry put the letter in an envelope, and wrote a little extra something on the back, hoping Hermione would see it. He attached the letter to Hedwig, who soared out of the window and into the afternoon sky, and soon disappearing from view. Harry sighed, and walked back to his cupboard.

''''''''''''''''''''''

He was dozing off, and having nothing to do at the time, he checked his watch (it was magically fixed by Hermione before they left), and saw that it was about 6:00 P.M.

"Dinner!" shouted Aunt Petunia, her voice echoing throughout the cupboard. Harry got up from the floor, and walked to the dining room. He saw Dudley already eating his little heart out (not that he had a heart), and stuffing his face, his lips stained red. Harry looked down at the table, and gasped...Four grapefruit quarters and a bowl of salad in the middle of the table. Harry noticed there wasn't any plate for him; he suspected that the salad wasn't for him. On top of his mistreatment and broken wand, he was now supposed to starve this summer...again. Unlike other summers, this time, his friends wouldn't be able to send him his lifesavers: cakes and sweets, and Mrs. Weasley's cooking. Harry finished his dinner in no time (he hadn't eaten anything the whole day), and went up to his cupboard. It wasn't until much later in the day, that he realized he had forgotten one major thing. His wand.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Professor Lupin!" shouted Hermione, who was currently residing at Grimmauld Place, along with the whole Weasley family, whose house is currently in danger to Death Eaters, as most of her family was in the Order. Mrs. Weasley had softened up a bit.

"Is that letter from Harry?" asked Ron.

"Yep," replied Hermione, "And it's addressed to us, Professor Lupin, and others, so, the whole gang probably. He also wrote my name in capital letters telling me to read it carefully. It's writing on the envelope, Ron," she added, looking at Ron's face.

"Here comes Lupin. Hermione, he's not 'Professor' anymore. He told us to just call him Remus.

"You called?" asked Remus, with curiosity.

"Yes. We just got a letter from Harry, and it's addressed to us, and you know...the ones that talked to Harry's uncle."

"Indeed? I wonder..." muttered Remus. "Alright then, let's read it." Hermione opened up the letter, and the three of them read.

Dear Professor Lupin, Ron, Hermione, and the others,

I'm writing to tell you that I'm fine, and the Dursleys are treating me well. THANK YOU for HELPING me, not that they DON'T treat me well. I think I'm going to use most of the time here to brush up on my thinking and logic skills. They would be fine traits to have as an Auror, you know...tracking down dark wizards need to look for CLUES as to what's REALLY happening, and of course, 'reading between the lines.' Uncle Vernon has been really helpful, carrying my suitcases, being well-mannered, offering to clean Hedwig's cage, helping me with my grammar errors, especially on this LETTER. Anyways, Uncle Vernon doesn't want me to write too many letters, so I'll be writing a letter every two weeks. He doesn't want the neighbors to get too suspicious. And don't bother writing back, unless if it's something that can't wait. Uncle Vernon is watching out for my safety, so he'll be checking every letter to see if it contains death threats or anything peculiar that might endanger me. Isn't that so thoughtful of him? I got to go unpack my stuff. See you SOON.

Cheers,

HARRY

"Well," said Ron, who was the first one done. "Certainly seems like he's having a nice time there. So...do we have ice cream here? It's kind of a Muggle desert that I'm quite fond of. Dad brought it home one day from a Muggle shop. He had to run away from the place afterwards though, and out of sight before he apparated back home," said Ron.

"Ron!" shouted Hermione, "Do you ever think about anything other then food? And for your information, I know your dad isn't the genius at handling Muggle money, so he probably gave the wrong sum." Her face was flushed with anger. Remus chuckled at them, who both turned around to stare at him.

"Er...well then, are we all done reading?" asked Remus, changing the subject. "So. What did you think Hermione, about the letter?"

"Let me read it over," replied Hermione. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Honestly...It's just a letter. He's fine, Hermione. Look, it even says so!" said Ron, who was losing patience, and his stomach rumbled.

"Professor--"started Hermione.

"Remus, Hermione, just Remus," corrected Remus.

"Erm...yes...did you notice something strange with this letter?" asked Hermione.

"Well," answered Remus, "Does Harry usually write like this?"

"No," said Hermione, who was reading the letter over again, making notes in the margin. "I just don't get it. Harry's uncle's never been nice to him before, and Harry certainly doesn't talk nice about his uncle. And here's some rubbish that he wrote, that doesn't even fit with this letter, I mean, 'Becoming an Auror' and 'clues?' We know he wants to become an Auror, but isn't this letter supposed to tell us how he's being treated? I think we have to read between the lines, it's probably a clue to the rest of this letter." Ron read the letter over, and then suddenly paled.

"Hermione's right," said Ron, and Hermione beamed at him. "This isn't his usual letter. Look here. He's told us that his uncle was checking and reading grammar errors on his letter. Why would anyone do that on a letter? Hey...do ya think Harry wrote the 'grammar' thing in order to have an excuse to write that his uncle was reading this letter."

"Ron! Your genius is showing!" said Hermione, with excitement that her best friend was actually using his brain.

"Wha-where?" stammered Ron, who clearly thought she meant something else.

"Honestly Ron, not that, I meant brilliance...smartness...intelligence," said Hermione, with a laugh.

"Oh...right then. So...look at the first couple of lines...he capitalized 'don't.' I think he meant that they don't treat him right. Maybe that first sentence was a cover up so that his uncle wouldn't get suspicious?" suggested Ron.

"Yes...I was thinking along those lines too, but, we could be wrong...Dumbledore requested that Harry should stay there for at least a month," said Remus.

"Why?" asked Hermione and Ron, both confused.

"Why is it that he should always go there first?" asked Hermione, who clearly had no idea why Dumbledore wanted this.

"Harry didn't tell you then?" asked Remus. Hermione and Ron shook their heads. "Did he tell you the prophecy Sibyll made?" Again, they shook their heads.

"No. He told us that there was a prophecy made by Professor Trelawney that told of V-Voldemort, but he didn't tell us more," said Hermione.

"I don't know if it's my place to tell you this, but only the Order of the Phoenix knows about this, including Harry. I guess I should tell you, and of course, if the key events of the prophecy is told to any of the dark order, there could be trouble," said Remus.

"We won't tell or discuss this to anyone. Of course we won't. We're Harry's best friends. We swear we won't blab it out accidentally, right Ron?" Ron suddenly jerked out of his thoughts, and said quickly, "Of course not."

"Right. The beginning of the prophecy, is saying that the child born on the last days of July, whose parents have thrice defied Voldemort, will vanquish Voldemort young in life. And...that's why Voldemort went after the Potters, but he didn't know about the part where he is to be vanquished. The last part says that the dark Lord will come back, and neither Harry or Voldemort can live while the other is alive, meaning that--"

"One will kill the other," said Hermione and Ron at the same time. Their faces paled, "So...we don't know who's going live and who's going to die?" asked Ron.

"I'm afraid not," sighed Remus. "As for Harry staying at the Dursleys, it is because Harry's aunt shares the same blood as Harry's mom. That blood from Harry's mom and her love saved Harry from Voldemort the first time. Living with the Dursleys with that family blood present, gives Harry the best protection from Voldemort that Dumbledore could provide."

"Oh...er...so...what if Harry's in trouble right now?" asked Ron, who clearly disliked the Dursleys.

"We wait. We'll see if his second letter gives more clues, and hopefully, Harry isn't being too much mistreated," said Remus, looking more tired than ever. He told them he had more things to do, but that he'll talk to Dumbledore about it.

Ron and Hermione kept on decontaminating the house. Kreacher, if possible, became even more pitiful then usual. Contaminating the house, appearing now and then with some stolen treasures, and even Hermione was showing signs of dislike. (Stop it or I'll tie you up in the broom closet!)

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Cassandra had just woken up. She looked around, and saw the smiling face of Albus Dumbledore, and Madam Pomfrey looking irritated.

"Poppy, I need to have a few words with Cassy here." The nurse thought to yell at him for disturbing the patient, but then reluctantly left, and slammed the door on her way out.

"I trust the news has sunk in, and the sparks are almost right," began Dumbledore. "We have no choice but to wait for the Awakening to happen. Now, I've carefully looked over the prophecy again, and it has led me to believe that out of the three Magids, two will be on our side. One, we have to beware. The 90 degree magus will be twice a powerful as Voldemort if he is below the age of 20. Now if Voldemort is the Lord Magus...then there is nothing in the world that can stop him," said Albus, clearly not realizing that he had caused another panic to Cassandra. "The 60 degrees will be as powerful as Voldemort at first, and will then gain more power. The 30 degree magus will be able to take on a couple of Death Eaters at once, and mind you, that's pretty strong. I am as strong as Voldemort, mainly because I am a Sorcerer who has called upon the Puresma Power, the source of all good. Not all Sorcerers are able to achieve this. Voldemort,has called upon the Curse of Anathesti, a strength as powerful as mine, but cursed however, at first calling, the individual shall lose part of his soul.

"Oh my goodness. Are you telling me You-Know-Who doesn't have a soul?" asked Cassandra.

"Yes and no, and please call him Voldemort. As I've told Harry, fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself. Now I am most certain that he called upon that curse. Lord Voldemort was not the man he once was. And for that, she left him. From the moment one calls upon the Anathest and Anathesilist, a tenth of his good soul is given to the hell dimension. He now has half a soul. The other half of his soul was his conscience and all the goodness in one. The good Tom now exists in a spirit state with his full soul. Voldemort is not Tom anymore. The half soul he now occupies is his malice and will to dominate all. I have looked many times for a counter curse to bring Tom's Rectitudian Soul back, but I have been unsuccessful. There is only one way to do that, as I have thought about this many a decade," said Albus. He took a drink of pumpkin juice, which seemed to have strengthened him, and talked on. "You recall the Line of Lyre? The prophecy also speaks of it."

"Yes...there's another prophecy about that...twice it shall be assembled...What has that got to do with this?" asked Cassandra, clearly with wonder.

"Everything. This ancient prophecy states that on the Third War, the Magids will fight with the Line of the Lyre. Most people believe that this is the beginning of the Second War. They do not know about the First War. It has been lost of most knowledge. Only when the line is assembled, can the One of Souls, One of Spirits, One of Power, and Voldemort himself accomplish it. Only then, can his Rectitudian Soul be called back, but that odds of that happening are billions to one. To do that, the Four must fall into the Hell dimension and perform it there, and there is no guarantee that they will be able to come back. I do not know who and how many lines there are. This Lyre must be used as a last resort, I'm afraid." Cassandra nodded.

"We must focus on the task at hand," continued Dumbledore. "What we've discussed today is not to be spoken to outsiders, only the inner circle of the Order shall know. All of our Hogwarts teachers have joined our ranks, except Sibyll. I fear for her. I must go now. There will be a grand gathering about a month from now, when Harry is out of his relations' care. There, all the members of the Order will be made into our inner circle. I must ask Severus to brew a cauldron full of Occlumendis Potion, the strongest kind, in case if anyone of us is captured. It will repel truth potions and Legilimency. I must go now," said Albus, hurriedly standing up. BANG! They both looked at each other, and rushed out door. They watched the sky with awe, for they have not seen anything like this before. "So it has begun," muttered Dumbledore, staring at the sky.

The sky had suddenly gathered clouds which swirled around the eastern part of the sky. As they watched, the clouds swirled faster, leaving a space in the middle, which widened and expanded, uncovering nine stars that shown the brightest. The sky became velvet, and lightning flashed across from star to star, until it reached the nine stars and was absorbed. The clouds, as quickly as it had gathered, had been swept away, clearing the sky. There was a sudden flash of gold, blue, and silver. The three streams of colors came from those nine stars and settled down to the earth. Dumbledore could see that the gold flash headed off towards the north, and the silver flash headed off towards the west. The blue flash, however shot towards Hogwarts. By this time, most of the teachers at Hogwarts had walked towards Dumbledore, including Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape. Sibyll however, only followed because she saw the others from the astronomy tower. They watched as the gold and silver flash disappeared from sight. They watched the Blue flash head down towards where they were, and circled around Severus Snape, who tried to run away and out of the flash's way.

"Stay where you are Severus," commanded Albus, who gave a significant look towards Cassandra, who slowly realized what he was thinking, and nodded. However, Snape didn't stay. He ran around in circles, screaming for his life. It was a side of Snape that none has seen, and they quite enjoyed watching.

"Albus! DO SOMETHING!" cried Severus. The blue flash chased him all around the Quidditch field, and kept following him. It was after ten minutes that he stopped running, catching his breath. Albus and Cassandra watched as the blue spark took this chance and zoomed down towards Snape's chest. In a moment, Snape glowed blue and the blue flash shot out of him and raced towards the sky. The others watched, and saw the gold and silver flashes do the same from faraway. The gold reached the 90 degree corner of the arranged star triangle. A second later, the blue flash reached the other corner of the star triangle, the third largest degree. They watched as the silver flash race towards the last corner, the second largest degree. The nine stars glowed with gold, blue, and silver, and shot down red sparks towards the earth.

Nobody spoke during this time. It was complete silence. Then...

IT HAS BEGUN...HEAR THIS MENTOR...I GRANT TO YOU THE TWO...BEWARE THE SECOND...I BIND YOU TO THE FIRST AND THIRD...TURN TO THE EAST...VOW TO FOREVER SERVE THE STARLIGHT...TALK MENTOR, AND BEGIN...

Dumbledore got to his knees, turned his eyes toward the east, "I am Mentor...I

shall accept...I forever serve the Starlight..."

IT IS DONE...THE HELIOMISTE SHALL BE FOR THE LIGHT TO COMMAND...

Dumbledore stood up, and looked at everyone, who was also staring at him.

"Well...I supposed I've got to explain this...now is not the time...however...stay for a bit..." said Albus, to the confused crowd. "Oh...don't worry about this. Sibyll, I know you do not know why everyone is here. And--"

IT HAS BEGUN...YOU SHALL AWAKEN ONE BY ONE...

"Er...now...I think Severus should go to sleep...after we have a private talk...yes...that would be the best...Oh look! It's still showering red sparks," said Albus, who was watching the sparks with delight.

"Yes...quite lovely..." agreed Cassandra, turning to the staff members. "I think...we'll offer an explanation of this on the next meeting.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Harry Potter was alarmed. First of all, he was still in his cupboard. He was just getting ready to sleep, when there was this sudden crash. He quickly listened for any signs of movement from the Dursleys. 'They probably didn't hear it,' thought Harry. Then suddenly, a flash of gold light went through Harry's chest, and Harry looked down at himself, and saw that he had glowed gold. He didn't know what to think. This surely wasn't an everyday thing! 'What to do?' he wondered. Then, the gold flash left him, and Harry watched as it soared away. Without a word, he stepped outside, and saw the gold flash zoom towards...why...it looked like a triangle constellation. The stars surely shouldn't be seen as this bright, and he watched as the gold flash was joined by the blue and silver flashes. They each occupied a corner. He watched as the constellation glowed, and a shower of red sparks zoomed towards the earth. At first, he thought it was a meteor shower, but he then saw the red sparks hit the ground and disappear. Why, it looked like rain to him, only a red color. Then, this deep voice came from sky.

IT HAS BEGUN...HEAR THIS MENTOR...I GRANT TO YOU THE TWO...BEWARE THE SECOND...I BIND YOU TO THE FIRST AND THIRD...TURN TO THE EAST...VOW TO FOREVER SERVE THE STARLIGHT...TALK MENTOR AND BEGIN...

"Er...whoa...calm down...what were they talking about...was it...Voldemort? No...couldn't be...could it...?" muttered Harry, clearly in shock. A minute later...a voice filled in his head...IT HAS BEGUN...YOU SHALL AWAKEN ONE BY ONE...

Now, he was scared. He suddenly felt really sleepy, and he closed the door and walked back towards his cupboard, and lay asleep on the ground. If he didn't notice, the sparks kept on raining down. It was really quite magnificent.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''