Harry Potter and the Zyorious Scepter

Chapter 1

The rain came down in sheets. Harry Potter gripped his Firebolt tightly as he soared through the air, squinting for the snitch. In the background he heard Lee Jordan commentating on the game.

Where is it?!? Even on my Firebolt, I don't think I can fly very long in this weather! Harry thought.

Harry was concentrating so hard on finding the Snitch, he didn't notice the two Bludgers headed for him. Fortunately, Fred and George Weasley did. Just as both the Bludgers were about to knock Harry to the ground 100 feet below, they both deflected the Bludgers toward the opposing team. Harry looked at them gratefully.

"Thanks!" Harry yelled over the rain.

"No prob! Just bag us that Snitch okay?" either Fred or George said, in this weather Harry couldn't tell which.

Harry thought he saw a glint of gold on the opposite side of the Quidditch field. He raced as fast as his broom would take him there (which was pretty fast, mind you! It is a Firebolt and all...).

I cannot let Malfoy get the Snitch! Slytherin cannot win the game!! Harry thought.

"Hey Potter!!" a voice called.

Harry looked up. It was Draco Malfoy.

"You are so pathetic! You will never find that Snitch!" Malfoy taunted.

Harry blocked out Draco's words when he saw something gold glittering above Draco's head.

The Snitch! Harry thought.

Harry zoomed forward on his broom and pushed Draco out of the way. Draco grabbed his Nimbus 2001 and careened to the side attempting to regain his balance.

"You will pay for that Potter! You won't get away with this!" Draco yelled.

But as Harry's fingers closed around the Snitch, Draco's words were drowned out by the cheers that filled the stadium. Harry could hardly believe it was finally over. He pulled his broom toward the floor of the stadium and felt his feet touch the ground. Lee excitedly yelled about Gryffindor's triumph with the crowd. The whole crowd seemed to envelope him. Through all the happy cheers and shouts, he heard Ron's voice.

"We won! We beat Slytherin 250 to 40! We won! We won the Quidditch cup!" Ron cried happily over the crowd.

He gave Ron a smile, but he found himself searching the crowd for another face. Suddenly he saw her. Hermione approached him. She looked like she would burst with happiness.

"That was a great game of Quidditch! You are the best Quidditch player I've seen!" she said as she threw her arms around his neck, giving him a huge hug.

Suddenly she pulled back and found that both Harry and herself were blushing.

"Oh wow..." she said nervously, avoiding eye contact and trying to fill the awkward silence, "The way you handled you broom...it was amazing...could I hold it?"

Harry grinned.

"Of course, Hermione." he said as he shyly handed it over.

Hermione was careful to keep her eyes on the broom and off of Harry. Harry, sensing the opportunity, haltingly lifted his hand and put it on Hermione's shoulder, which brought her gaze to his face. Both he and Hermione tried to speak, but just couldn't get the words out.

Harry finally said, "You know...well, I just...I love..."

Then suddenly, Hermione shook the broom in both of her hands and whacked Harry really hard over the head. Harry rubbed the spot where she hit him and looked her in anger and surprise.

"Hey!! What was that for?!?" Harry asked.

Suddenly there was a loud banging noise.

"Wha -?" Harry muttered.

"Wake up!! Wake up right now!! Your toast is getting soggy!!" said Aunt Petunia.

Harry dragged himself out of bed. He rubbed himself on the head where Hermione had hit him.

If that was a dream, then why does my head still hurt so much!?! Harry thought.

He soon got his answer. Hogwarts, A History was lying on his pillow.

I have got to move that bookshelf! He thought.

Harry quickly got dressed and came downstairs. Vernon's fat head was hidden behind his newspaper. Petunia busied herself piling various kinds of fruit on a plate for Dudley's breakfast, due to the fact that he was on a diet. Dudley took one look at his plate and he started to pretend to cry.

"Mum! I want some better food! Harry took all the g-good f-food! And I didn't get enough birthday presents this year! Only three8! That's two less than last year!" Dudley whined.

Petunia threw a dirty look at Harry when she saw him suppressing a giggle then she said, "Oh Dudleykins! You know you have to stay on this diet! We'll go buy you two more presents tomorrow, okay?"

Dudley immediately stopped whining. Harry quietly ate his soggy toast trying very hard not to laugh. Then he realized tomorrow was his own birthday. He sincerely doubted that the Dursleys would even care, let alone remember. He made up his mind. He would ask if he could stay at Ron's for the remainder of the summer. He cleared his throat attempting to get their attention. When that didn't work, he tried a more direct approach.

"Um...Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked timidly.

Vernon grunted to show he was paying attention, not looking up from his paper.

"Could I spend the rest of the summer at Ron's house?" Harry asked, suddenly regretting that he did.

Hearing this, Vernon put down his paper and started getting very red in the face, hardly being able to speak due to his anger.

"You dare mention those cloaked weirdos in this house?!?" Vernon said almost choking on his anger, "You should be thankful we let you stay in this house! I would have thrown you out years ago if I had it my way!!"

Next ensued a glaring contest between Harry and Uncle Vernon. Harry had half a mind to tell Vernon off, but he suppressed himself. Even if he rather not think about it, this place was somehow protected and Dumbledore had his reasons for sending him back here every summer. He decided he had better not blow it for himself. Suddenly he had an idea.

I can talk to Hermione! He thought, She has Muggle parents who are as normal as can be! They're dentists after all...

Harry kept quiet, he needed to let Vernon calm down before he asked for anything again. Vernon took Harry's silence as agreement.

"Go to your room! You don't deserve any other meals today! Just hope I'm in a better mood tomorrow!" Vernon yelled.

Harry didn't need to be told twice. As he left the room, he heard Dudley's laughter following him.

Chapter 2

As Harry entered his room, he found Hedwig waiting for him to untie a letter and parcel from her legs. Harry found it was a small birthday cake and a letter from Hermione.

Harry hugged the cake and thought, Thank you Hermione! I could hardly take another day of Dudley's diet!

Harry decided to at least read the letter first before eating the cake. He opened the letter.

Dear Harry,

I hope those Dursleys aren't treating you too terribly! Oh by the way, Happy Birthday Harry! I hope you like that birthday cake. It's probably better than whatever horrible food they are giving you...Oh also Ron is in Romania with his family visiting Charlie, but I'm sure you already know this since Ron always owls you first about things like this. Since Ron is going to be gone for practically the whole summer, you are completely welcome to stay at my house. Maybe if Ron comes back soon enough, we can all go shopping for our school supplies together. Oh I feel so behind on summer work! I've completed everything that's been assigned, but I haven't even begun to memorize all the new spells we're going to cover next year! Well anyway, if you can stay the rest of the summer at my house, just send me an owl, okay?

Love from,

Hermione

Hmm...I think I'll do that. Harry thought, I wonder why Ron didn't send me an owl?

As Harry pondered this a moment, a large bird that looked like a raven flew into his window. It landed on Harry's bed. Surprised, Harry quickly removed the letter from the raven's leg. It seemed quite anxious to get on its way. Harry let it get a quick drink from Hedwig's cage and then it flew back out of the window. Harry watched the raven fly out of sight before opening the letter. Hedwig ruffled her feathers in annoyance because Harry did not even give her any special treat or even some praise. Harry absentmindedly gave her a small pat on the head as he opened his letter.

Dear Harry,

Happy Birthday! I hope this letter reaches you well. Fortunately I have reached Moony and I don't have to live off of rats anymore. Moony and I are both safe and we are working on the assignment given to us by Dumbledore. I just wanted to make sure everything is fine with you. Keep me updated on any weird happenings, okay? Please send me owls regularly, but try to alternate them so it isn't so obvious. I will be back to see you soon.

Sirius

Harry was very glad to hear from Sirius. He was afraid that something had happened to him. After re-reading the letter one more time, he folded it up and began to gather all of his things. He pulled out his trunk and began to load it.

Almost anywhere is better than here! Harry thought as he prepared to go to Hermione's.

As he packed his things, his thoughts turned to the dream he had that morning.

I really wonder what would have happened if Aunt Petunia wasn't banging on the door and the book didn't fall on my head? Harry thought, When did my feelings for Hermione change?! I thought I fancied Cho!

But thinking about it made him realize that his feelings for Cho began to fade after the Triwizard Tournament and Cedric's horrible death. He figured that she would not want to get involved with anyone very soon after all these events, and, although he never thought about it directly, the idea of dating someone whose previous boyfriend you watched die really creeped Harry out.

I think everything with Hermione changed when she kissed me on the cheek right before we came home for the summer... Harry thought, reflecting on that day once again, I don't know what it was about that kiss, but ever since I just can't get her off of my mind!

After several days had passed since he came back to the Dursleys', he thought of her much more frequently than he ever had before and every time he couldn't help but smile. Finally, when he caught himself wondering would it would be like to kiss her, he knew his feelings for her were anything but platonic.

I don't think it's even possible that she feels the same about me...I mean, why would she? She and I have been through a lot together, and our friendship has grown stronger because of it. Although, I think that's the extent of our relationship. Friendship. But I love the fact that she's my friend and she's not another one of those stupid, giggly girls that are usually after me. But after Rita Skeeter's article on how she was some sort of loose woman playing with Krum and I, I think that basically put her off of any possible relationship with me. Nevertheless, I guess I can always hope... Harry thought, smiling, finally finished with packing his things, At least I'll get to see her soon.

* * *

Violet Black frantically tried reviewing for the big exam she would have to take which reviewed all the spells she had learned in the last four years she attended Notalans, the best school for witchcraft and wizardry in the United States, on the first day back after her one month break. Notalans was a year round school. Violet's parents were Muggles and she was Sirius Black's niece. Sirius had a younger Muggle brother named Dalon. Sirius's mother was a witch while his father was a Muggle. Before they were married, Sirius's mother had gone to Hogwarts. She was head girl in her day. She met Sirius's father during a field trip for her Muggle Studies class. It was love at first sight. As soon as they finished school, they got married and after a long debate, they decided to live in a small wizard village that was near the Muggle world. They first had Sirius and four years later they had Dalon. They had a very loving family and Dalon felt no resentment toward Sirius for being a wizard. In fact, the whole family celebrated together when Sirius received his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. While Sirius went to Hogwarts, Dalon went to a regular Muggle school. In Sirius's 6^th year at Hogwarts and when Dalon was in the 7^th grade, Voldemort began to rise to power. Voldemort kept on gaining strength and people began to fear him. When Sirius graduated from Hogwarts for a year, he started spending less time at home. His parents were worried about his safety, where he was, and what he was doing because Voldemort was at the height of his powers. Then when Sirius was accused of being in Voldemort's inner circle and was thrown into Azkaban, the family was heartbroken. They felt so ashamed that they left England and moved to the U.S. and lived like Muggles to escape the shame of what happened to them. There the family lived, too ashamed to ever go back to the wizard world, so they remained cut off from all the information. Then soon after Dalon graduated from high school, both his parents died. Later he married a young woman named Sarah Williams and he settled down. Right after Voldemort's fall, they had a daughter they named Violet. Dalon told Sarah nothing of his past of wizard heritage, but soon he regretted this because strange things started happening in the house that he simply could not explain in Muggle terms. Dalon tried very hard to keep it all secret, but as Violet got older, it got harder. But finally when Sarah saw her daughter's cookies and milk floating around the room when Violet was 9, she fainted. Dalon thought it best to explain everything to his wife, but left out the fact that he had an older brother who was in the wizard's prison, Azkaban. After Sarah got over her initial shock, she accepted the idea. They then decided to send her to the year round Notalans Academy for witchcraft and wizardry, the best school in the U.S. It was different from Hogwarts in that besides being year round, the students all start at 10 years old and students in their four^th year were taught to apparate. Violet, having attended school for four years, now on her 5^th, had attended the same amount of school as the 5^th year students at Hogwarts while only being 1four. But right now, she was more concerned about reviewing everything she had forgotten the month before. All the incantations, the charms, the spells, the potions, everything.

I'm going to die in Professor Langer's test on Potions! It's my worst subject...at least I'll still do good in Divination with Professor Meylan... Violet thought as she reviewed her notes.

She glanced at her watch. What she saw left her shocked.

1:30 PM!! Oh man! I gotta get to sleep! She thought, I've got to get up early tomorrow!

Although she felt like she would fail all her subjects except Divination, she knew she needed some rest to at least do well on that test. With that, she turned off her bed lamp and went to bed.

* * *

Putting his quill back into his ink pot, Harry re-read his letter to Hermione.

Dear Hermione,

Thank you so much for the birthday cake! Dudley's diet was getting to be a little too much (or maybe I should say too little) for me. Also your letter was the first I heard about Ron's trip to Romania. I wonder why he didn't tell me of something so big? Well, he must have some good reason...Anyway, just have your parents pick me up at Privet Drive. I'm pretty sure the Dursleys will like them. They are dentists after all...the most regular, normal people you can find. Send me back an owl okay?

Harry

He folded up the letter and tied it to Hedwig's leg and she took off out of the window.

I hope she gets the owl soon... Harry thought.