Harry Potter And The Secret Of The Scar

Prologue

A shrill laugh pierced through the air. The man named Wormtail shivered and glanced fearfully at its originator, Voldemort. He shifted his glance, and looked below at the magnificent looking castle that gleamed in the moonlight. Voldemort spoke, with a cold, piercing voice, which punctuated the red slits he had for eyes on his pale, white face. “Wormtail, I noticed that Nagini was a little underfed today.”

Wormtail let out a whimper and cowered, making his short frame seem even shorter. “Sorry, master, extremely sorry. Won’t happen again, master, I promise you.”

Voldemort let out a cold laugh and said something that sounded strangely like hissing. Wormtail knew immediately what it was. It was parseltongue, the language of snakes. A moment later, something slithered through the grass of the cold hilltop. It was a gigantic snake, almost five times as long and three times as thick as most snakes are. Voldemort laughed again. “Nagini will stay here and make sure that you don’t carry out any strange fancies of yours and run away.” He laughed cruelly.

Wormtail shivered again. “Wouldn’t dream of leaving you, master.”

Voldemort looked at him with cold fury in his eyes. “Be a good boy, Wormtail, and wait here. I have work to do.” He let out another cold, piercing laugh, and then he was gone.

Chapter 1 OWL POST FROM HOGWARTS

Harry Potter gazed expectantly into the darkness outside his window. It was his seventeenth birthday, and he couldn’t help it; he was looking forward to receiving some presents. But he couldn’t see anything that looked remotely like an owl. His own owl, Hedwig had been away for a few days now, Harry guessed she had gone to make sure Sirius gave him a present. All he could see outside was the full moon, the rooftops of the other houses in Privet Drive, a flying tennis ball… Wait a minute, that couldn’t be right; tennis balls couldn’t fly! Peering closely, he realized it was Ron’s owl, Pigwedgeon.

He zoomed in through the window, and began flying round the room at top speed.

“Come off it, Pig!” said Harry peevishly. But Pig only stopped when he became quite dizzy and he flew right into Hedwig’s cage, still teetering dangerously, and sipped some water, still having a small, grubby package tied to his leg. Harry carefully removed the package (In case Pig fancied his chances as a cannonball again), and with trembling fingers, opened it.

He almost screamed with horror (and it was good he didn’t, because Uncle Vernon would probably have come in and smashed something over his head). It was a human hand. His heart started beating normally however, when he realized it wasn’t real. He picked up the note, which had come tied to the package.

Dear Harry,

Happy birthday! Hope you like the present! It’s a Wishum. Dad brought it in last week. He said some poor old Muggle fainted when she found it in a trunk in her attic. Anyway, all you have to do is hold one finger and make a wish. (Make small ones though, big ones don’t work). So all in all, you have five wishes. Use ‘em well!

With love, Ron

He placed the Wishum on his desk, still regarding it with some suspicion. Soon, three more owls had arrived: A barn owl, with Harry’s favorite magical sweets from Hagrid (he felt a bit relieved that Hagrid hadn’t sent some of his own cooking, Harry didn’t quite feel like paying a visit to the dentist), a tawny owl brought a handsome set of Gobstones from Hermione, and… Hedwig! She had brought in a long, thin, package. Wondering what it could be, Harry eagerly ripped it open. His mouth fell open. It was a broomstick, the best he had ever seen. A small card attached to it said: LIGHTNING 2002 Phenomenal acceleration(500 mph in 10 sec) Pinpoint braking and turning, Obeys your thoughts, Comfortable Cushions of Air, to make yourself at home

He put it down, feeling slightly dazed. But he already had a Firebolt, why did Sirius have to give him a new one? Before he had time to ponder properly over this, another handsome barn owl had flown through the window. Harry felt his mouth drop open again. The letter was unmistakable, with its purple color and seal. It was a letter from Hogwarts, a fortnight earlier that it usually was.