Harry Potter and the Golden Book of Thoth

----CHAPTER ONE----

An Unexpected Visitor

The rain pelted against the windows, the faithful droplets increasing the miserable mood of those inside the house. For the fifth day in a row, the dutiful weather managed to make Privet Drive appear as if it were a swamp. A tall woman, with an abnormally long neck, peeked through the closed curtains with a look of disgust. She made sure that the curtains were fully drawn before settling herself on the stainless, flower-patterned sofa, trying to keep herself occupied by reading a book.

Petunia Dursley was anxious for the weather to return to normal. She did not like anything strange, and a five-day rain period was definitely peculiar. It was even worse than the drought from the previous summer, where at least then she was able to spy on her neighbours.

Across the room paced a restless fifteen-year-old boy. He ruffled his hand through his messy jet-black hair; also looking for a way to keep occupied. The woman threw the boy a look of disgust. She looked at him as if he started the rain, and was keeping it going on purpose. He knew what she was thinking. As if he wanted to stay cooped up inside the house with her.

Harry Potter sat down across from her, thinking that all this could have been easily avoided if it weren't for his stupidity before the summer holidays. "No, I shouldn't think that, I'll make my self more miserable." he thought quietly to himself.

Thoughts like that kept transpiring the previous few weeks of his summer holidays. He couldn't help but feel miserable at the thought that maybe he would have been able to stay at his godfather's residence in London, instead of the Dursleys' house on Privet Drive. "Not like Dumbledore would have let me anyway," Harry thought in spite of himself.

Harry had somewhat of a feeling of resentment toward his headmaster at the present moment. After all, if it hadn't been for him, Harry might still have a godfather. "No, don't blame things on Dumbledore. It's your fault Sirius got killed," a voice at the back of Harry's mind insisted. "Oh shut it."

His aunt looked up from her book, apparently affronted. "Not you." Harry said quickly. He didn't want to get on the bad side of his aunt.

The last few weeks had been oddly tense. However, the relationship between him and his relatives had never been normal. In fact, Harry hated living with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. The three of them made his childhood hell, and he could never remember it without a feeling of hatred bubbling up inside him.

His cousin Dudley Dursley, although adored by his parents, was nothing but a fat, lazy, no good scoundrel, whose favourite activity was punching people. Harry was no longer one of those unfortunate souls Dudley punched anymore, but that was only because Dudley was afraid of him.

Harry, who was at least three times smaller than Dudley, would definitely not win a fistfight against his cousin. But he, unlike his cousin, had something other than his fists to fight with. Harry was a wizard.

For five years, Harry has attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, accompanied by his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Actually, Harry was at the moment waiting for replies from the owls that he had sent them. He was getting particularly anxious to hear from them.

The reason Harry didn't want to get on his relatives' bad side was that they were actually being somewhat decent to him this summer. Unlike last year, at least now he could watch the news, or read the paper. He only received furtive glances, instead of rude remarks, and just plain not letting him do anything. Harry needed to know what was happening in the wizarding world for one main reason, Voldemort.

Suddenly there was an enormous crack like sound causing Harry to lose his train of thoughts. He recognised the sound almost at once. It was the sound of someone Apparating.

"Harry!" called a red-haired man. Harry looked stunned, along with his aunt Petunia. Her eyebrows were so high on her forehead that Harry could have sworn they almost disappeared. The shock of seeing his best friend's father appear so suddenly took his mind off his forlorn thoughts.

Aunt Petunia looked in horror at Mr Weasley, and checked behind her to make sure the curtains were tightly drawn. Harry noticed her glancing at Mr Weasley's somewhat shabby appearance after the shock of him standing in the middle of her living room wore off.

"Er...hi Mr Weasley. How are you?" asked Harry warily. The last time Mr Weasley entered the Dursleys' house he blasted apart their electric fireplace, not to mention the rest of the living room. Aunt Petunia looked like she was thinking along the same lines.

"Jolly good thanks! And how have you been Harry? Well I hope." He glanced sideways at Aunt Petunia, who took some offence. She put her book down, and stood up slowly.

"Ok I guess." After a moment of silence while Mr Weasley glanced eagerly around the room at all of the electric things, Harry hopefully asked, "Er, is there anything you wanted?" Maybe Mr Weasley was here to take him away!

"Oh no, just checking in of course, making sure that nothing's amiss," he replied slowly as he craned his neck to see the fridge in the kitchen.

Aunt Petunia took this as a hint. "Would you like something to eat, or tea maybe?" she offered politely. It was Harry's turn to be surprised. His aunt offering Mr. Weasley, a wizard, hospitality? Something was definitely amiss, as Mr. Weasley put it. But then he remembered the threat that Mr. Weasley and his wife, and many of the other adult wizards with whom Harry was friends, imposed on Mr and Mrs Dursley if they didn't treat Harry all right during the summer holidays

Harry smiled. That must be it, no other reason could induce her to act in such a manner. After Mr Weasley accepted the offer of tea, she led the two of them into her spotless kitchen and put the kettle on.

"So. Has anything new been happening with Voldemort?" Aunt Petunia dropped a spoon, while Mr Weasley shuddered at Harry saying the name. Mr Weasley took off his glasses, and wiped them slowly. Harry was oddly reminded of Dumbledore. When he was just about to give up hope of him answering, Mr Weasley replied in somewhat of a tired voice,

"Yes." Harry was shocked to get a straight answer for once. Last year, no one was willing to tell him anything except for Sirius...Harry shook himself from those thoughts.

"What is it?" Said Aunt Petunia quickly. Obviously, her curiosity got the better of her, because she would never have asked anything about the wizarding world.

"Same thing as before. Disappearances mostly, some strange accidents. I'm sure you've heard about the two Muggles that have gone missing."

"No! That has to do with... with wizards?" Aunt Petunia looked absolutely shattered to know that wizards had anything to do with her normal, perfect world. She glanced around the kitchen, obviously expecting something to jump out at her.

Harry was hungry for more information. The first time Lord Voldemort was rising in power, there were many disappearances, as well as many deaths.

"There haven't been any deaths," he read Harry's mind, "yet." The hissing of the kettle interrupted the silence that followed. Aunt Petunia busied herself by pouring two cups of tea, one for her and one for Mr Weasley. Obviously, the news was so startling that she forgot to be on her best behaviour to Harry and didn't pour him one.

Harry didn't mind, and Mr Weasley didn't notice. They were just about to discuss more when Dudley waddled into the kitchen. He went to the fridge and attempted to take out unhealthy food, before his mother yelled at him. Dudley was still following that diet. However, the diet had a reverse effect, and Dudley had gained even more weight. He turned around in order to plead with his mom.

His face went chalk white when he saw Mr Weasley. One hand automatically clamped his rear, while the other closed in on his mouth. Apparently he had not forgotten his last encounter with wizards, when his tongue grew well over a few feet long.

Mr Weasley smiled at him and Dudley scampered off into the hall still clenching his bottom. Harry believed that Mr Weasley thought Dudley was a bit odd, and who wouldn't? After taking a few sips of his tea Mr Weasley continued.

"The Order has been in a right state. The Ministry's a disaster area, and Fudge has been having a lot of inquiries at work. Not a lot of people have been happy the way he handled the whole Dumbledore affair. Not to mention yours," he added with emphasis.

Aunt Petunia was at a loss. Harry explained quickly that Fudge tried expelling him, several times over the previous year, and told everyone he was crazy. His aunt hid a small smile at this when she turned to get sugar. Harry noticed this and gave her a dirty look.

"Well the truth is out now, so you know who will have a bit tougher time getting followers, but he still will mind you. He already...well... that's not important" Mr Weasley sipped a bit more.

"What's not important?" Anger heated up inside of Harry. He hated being in the dark about things, which was how he felt all of last year. Well, he wasn't going to go through all of that again.

"Well," Mr Weasley took a deep breath, "we're pretty sure he has the Dementors on his side." Aunt Petunia gasped again, she could only too well remember the encounter her son had with dementors just the summer beforehand.

"Listen Harry. Dumbledore told me to keep you informed, but that doesn't mean you need to know every single detail of the Order." The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed five. "Uh oh. Molly's going to kill me if I'm late." He looked at Harry and smiled.

"You take care of yourself. Stay inside, we don't want last year repeated." Harry remembered the incident with the Dementors and his cousin, which almost landed him with an expulsion from Hogwarts. Mr Weasley got up and was almost about to leave.

"A member of the order will be checking up on you every so often. Oh, and here's a letter from Ron. Says you've been expecting it." He said a thank you to Mrs Dursley, with one more look at the fridge, he left with a "pop."

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

Harry was upstairs in his bedroom when he heard Uncle Vernon's car pull up and the door slam. Harry could tell immediately that his uncle was not in a good mood. It had been several days since Mr Weasley's visit, and his uncle had been particularly more nasty towards Harry then usual. Uncle Vernon had been appalled to hear that a wizard had appeared uninvited inside his living room, and was even more disgruntled when he heard there would be more visits. And Aunt Petunia had been swift to tell him all of the gory details about how wizards were corrupting the world on top of that.

The only consolation that Harry had to endure his uncle's constant ravings was that his birthday was coming up. Before, Harry would have looked upon it with the utmost dread. But since Dudley was on a diet the last few years, and the rest of the family had to bear with the experience too, Harry usually received supplies of cakes and actual food from his friends.

The letter from Ron didn't hold much information about anything. Clearly Mrs Weasley was still not permitting her children to know anything that was going on with the Order of the Phoenix. But something Ron mentioned was actually worthwhile, Harry forgot completely that he would be receiving his OWL results sometime during the month. A dreaded anticipation filled the pit of his stomach.

"BOY GET DOWN HERE!" Uncle Vernon's voice bellowed up the stairs. Harry was used to being addressed as "boy" or "him" as if he were something disgusting. He could feel anger pulsating under his skin. He was used to the names, but that didn't mean he necessarily liked being called by them.

Harry marched slowly down the stairs, wondering what he could have done this time, he met his uncle at the bottom. Uncle Vernon had very little neck, and a very large moustache, which he was stroking at the moment, that lay on his somewhat purple coloured face.

His eyes were bulging as he was looking at something, Harry followed his gaze to a crumpled letter in his hand. Harry saw the thick parchment that wizards normally used to send mail to each other. Had someone wrote to his uncle?

"Do you know what happened today at work?" Uncle Vernon asked, looking as though he could barely manage to refrain from yelling.

"Absolutely no idea," Harry replied, he was trying his very best to keep his anger down to a minimum. His uncle's face had gone a shade darker as his left eye started twitching.

"THIS!" His uncle hand shoved the letter under Harry's nose. Harry carefully took the letter and unfolded it slowly as he felt his uncle's eyes glaring at him.

Dear Mr Dursley,

We are pleased to inform you that Mr Harry Potter has passed most of his OWLs with exceptionable marks. His scores are as follows:

CHARMS--------------------------------Exceeds Expectations

POTIONS--------------------------------Acceptable

TRANSFIGURATION----------------Exceeds Expectations

DEFENCE AGAINST THE

DARK ARTS-------------------Outstanding

ASTRONOMY--------------------------Acceptable

HISTORY OF MAGIC----------------Poor

DIVINATION--------------------------Acceptable

HERBOLOGY--------------------------Exceeds Expectations

CARE OF MAGICAL

CREATURES------------------Outstanding

Enclosed are the lists of spell books and needed items necessary for certain classes this year. Please send a confirmation of which classes Harry has decided to take as soon as possible. Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross Station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock. Thank you for your co-operation and see you at the start of term.

Yours sincerely

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Harry wasn't totally surprised with his results, only transfiguration. It seemed as though McGonagall kept her word about helping him become an Auror. Unfortunately for Harry, he needed at least an Outstanding for his Potions and he knew he barely passed the exam, let alone being able to take the NEWT level potions class. In a way he was a bit relieved. No more Snape, the teacher he hated the most.

Harry was a bit disappointed with his History Of Magic score, the only failure he had, but he supposed that seeing Sirius lying on the floor of the Department of Mysteries during the exam had something to do with it, that plus he never bothered paying attention in class...

His attention shifted back to his uncle.

"A RUDDY OWL CAME TO ME, AT WORK!" his face looked as if it were about to explode. "EVERYONE STARED! HOW DARE YOUR, YOUR FILTH SEND ME LETTERS!" he looked as if he was running out of breath, he was heaving so hard. Uncle Vernon hated unusual things even more than Aunt Petunia did, and that was saying something.

Harry narrowed his eyes at being called filth but replied trying his bet to keep himself from getting nasty, which he knew he would eventually get anyways.
"I don't know why they sent you the letter. They're my results," he said coolly.

"RESULTS? RUBBISH! WHAT IS THIS? ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME THAT THESE ARE ACTUAL COURSES?"

"Yes," Harry replied simply. His uncle looked flabbergasted. He tried saying something, but nothing came out. Finally after a few minutes, his uncle managed to command, "Don't you ever let this happen again." He pointed up the stairs. "Go back to your room."

Harry raced back upstairs, eager to get away from his uncle, but not so eager to think about his results. Obviously, there was no way that he would be becoming an Auror anytime soon. The horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, that was filled with the dreaded exam results, became filled with dread of what he was to become in the future.

Sure he had thought about it before, but the seriousness that he had to pick out what was going to happen to him for the rest of his life was more than enough to make him feel sick. Harry never really thought about any career other than an Auror. What else was there that he could do? He loved Quidditch, but for the rest of his life? And did the ban his old Defence Against the Dark Arts still stay intact?

"No, Dumbledore will let me play again this year." Harry smiled at the prospect of flying, something that could take all his fears, and sorrows away. His thoughts trailed along a path of snitches, quaffles and the feeling he got when the wind flew against him.

He lay on his bed for what seemed like hours thinking before he attempted going downstairs to dinner, or more of a light snack because of Dudley's diet, where he received cold looks from his uncle and aunt.

Harry evilly considered bringing up his future career options at the table, but then thought better of it. If he was going to be stuck there for another month, he may as well not make himself more miserable than needed.

After dinner he went upstairs where he found himself sinking again into another endless swirl of thoughts. However, instead of them being on Quidditch, or his exam results, they were about Sirius. Sirius would have helped Harry plan for the future. Even if he didn't help, at least Harry would have had a reassuring feeling that someone cared what happened to him.

Harry felt the pang of guilt more than ever before when he thought of this, and with depressing thoughts, Harry fell into a somewhat restless sleep.