Five miles just outside of London a small brown rat scurried down the lonesome path towards a clearing in a forest. The rat was acting very nervous and scared as it quickened it's pace. As it reached the clearing he looked behind him as though expecting someone to suddenly appear. After a few moments of silence the rat began to transform. A small, balding man slowly began to form. His pale complection reflected that of a full moon and his hair, that which was left of it, was seemingly colorless. His blank watery eyes darted again behind him. Silence and darkness was all that they met. He turned and faced the clearing and reached out his silver hand and knocked the air three times. A loud bang sounded on each knock. Suddenly, as though it had been there all along, a large house appeared and the door clicked open.

"Peter, we've been waiting for you," came the cold voice of Lucius Malfoy, "come in."

Peter walked in the house and was met with a very cold wind. Lucius shut the door and the house disappeared once again. Lucius walked quickly towards a room at the end of the long hallway with Peter in his wake. Peter glanced around nervously as he approached the doorway. The door opened suddenly.

An unknown deatheater was holding open the door for them. Lucius nodded slightly to the man as he passed him. Peter quickly nodded to him as he entered the room, but it wasn't as pronounced as Lucius's had been.

"So, you have returned," came a voice like a hiss, "and what have you found out?"

"M...master the Fidelius Charm used on Harry Potter is a modified version," came the shaking voice of Wormtail.

"What do you mean?" hissed Voldamort.

"D...Dumbledore changed it so that only those who mean him no harm can find his home," he whimpered.

"What of the secret keeper?" came Lucius's voice.

"I..It's r..rumored to be D...Dumbledore himself," mewled Wormtail.

"This does not make me happy," hissed a venomous voice, "Crucio!"

Peter fell to the ground in pain as he began to twitch slightly.

Miles away a teen-age boy awoke in a terrible start. His forehead was damp with sweat and his head ached in pain. The thin, lighting bolt shaped scar upon his forehead twinged in pain as he stared into the darkness of his tiny room. He thought to himself, I should have studied Occlumency better.

Outside the twelve small street lamps shone brightly in the dark. A dark and dreary silence had fallen over the small neighborhood. Not even Vernon Dursley could be heard snoring. The boy turned on his light and looked at the small alarm clock next to his bed, 3:00 a.m. glistened brightly in red. He sighed as he looked at the empty cage on his desk, Hedwig must still be out, he thought to himself as he slowly got out of bed.

Harry Potter sat down at his desk and stared blankly out the window. He sat there not really thinking about anything, more like trying to keep his mind off his godfather. Than suddenly Harry's mind jumped back to what had awoken him. His scar no longer hurt and the sweat had passed. But his mind lingered on the thought of Wormtail being tortured and Harry laughed a little. It wasn't an evil laugh, it was a more of he-deserved-it laugh. And that he did.

Harry opened his desk drawer and removed a small quill and a bottle of ink. And thought of doing some holiday homework. But than he remembered that he didn't have any. He frowned as he remembered that last year he took his OWLS and had to choose what profession he wished to do after Hogwarts. He wished to be an auror, but in order to do that he needed to get an O in Potions and he very much doubted he'd achieve that. So instead Harry took out a piece of parchment and started to write a letter to Remus.

Dear Remus,

I'm fine and bored. There's nothing to do here, for once I actually wish I had holiday homework. Don't tell that to Hermione or Ron, they'd never let me live it down. The Dursley's are treating me okay, well if you call ignoring me completely okay. Since I know that this most likely will be intercepted I better wrap it up. Hope to see you soon.

Harry

Harry looked it over and decided that even if intercepted that it contained nothing important and therefore ok to send. Harry yawned slightly and rolled up the paper. He'd send it in the morning, but for now he'd go to sleep. Harry crawled back into bed and fell asleep in a matter of minutes.

"BOY! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" roared Vernon Dursley up the stairs.

Harry awoke to his uncles yelling and rolled out of bed. His hair was messier than usual, and his clothes were an a few inches to short, he had grown during that summer and the Dursley's didn't care that none of his clothes fit. Harry put on his glasses and went up to Hedwig's cage and awoke the sleeping owl.

"Sorry girl, but I need you to take this to Remus, Voldamort won't expect me to send it during the day."

Hedwig hooted softly as Harry tied the letter to her leg.

"Thank you," he said as Hedwig flew out of his window. He turned around and opened his bedroom door and ran right into his Uncle.

"Watch where you're going boy!" snarled Vernon.

"Sorry," replied Harry coldly.

"Don't take that tone with me boy," snapped Vernon.

Harry rolled his eyes slightly, "I was just on my way down to see what you wanted."

Vernon seemed to swell up as he took a large breath and glared at Harry, "Your aunt and I are going into London today to buy Dudley his Birthday present, and we are leaving you here. If any funny business happens while we are gone, you can kiss your freedom goodbye. Ever since we found out about Mrs. Figg being one of your lot, we don't want you to go to her house any more." He said this in one long breath and Harry was mildly impressed but didn't show it.

Harry wasn't interested in this conversation, let alone where his uncle and aunt were going. "Alright," was all Harry said hoping it would end this little conversation.

Vernon's face seemed to twitch slightly as he hissed at Harry, "NO funny business ," and with that he turned on his heel and set off downstairs.

"No funny business," mocked Harry as he shut his door.

A few minutes later Harry heard their car pull out of the driveway and set off down the street. Harry stayed in his room for a few minutes thinking about what he as going to do today. After deciding to watch the morning news he set off downstairs. He walked into the living room and turned the television on. A cartoon was playing, Harry glanced toward the clock hanging on the wall which told him that the news would start in 10 minutes. His stomach growled slightly, he turned and walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door.

After Harry made a hearty breakfast of sausage and eggs, he quickly did the dishes and made his way back into the livingroom. The news was just starting, "A devastating crash kills 5 people last night. A stoplight lost power as a pedestrian crossed the street. She was instantly killed as a blue sedan hit her, which caused four other cars to slam into each other. This station sends our hearts out to the victims families." Harry sighed and thought, great just what kind of devastation will Dudley cause when behind the wheel. Harry had a sneaking suspicion that's what his Uncle was going to buy in London. Harry shook the thought from his mind as the next story came on, "On a lighter note, the circus has come to town. From acrobats to zoo animals, this event is for the whole family." Harry rolled his eyes, just like a muggle to follow up a devastating crash with news of a circus. "An escaped monkey ran havoc in London this morning, after a humorous chase Bobo the chimp was captured by zoo keeper Thomas Fletcher."

Harry watched the rest of the news, apart from the devastating crash, nothing of interest caught his attention. Voldamort seemed to still be keeping a low profile, thought Harry as he made his way upstairs to take a shower. Nothing since summer began, no news, no unexplainable deaths, or dark marks. Harry was restless, while he was glad nothing like that happened he was uneasy with the thought that Voldamort must be planning something huge. After all he wasn't doing what he loved, killing muggles and muggle-born.

After Harry took his shower and got dressed he sighed. There was nothing to do. He really didn't want to go outside. The neighbors stared at him as he made his way anywhere, just to keep an eye on the miscreant. He didn't feel like watching television, or listening to music, and he couldn't play on Dudley's computer. (He threw it out his window after he lost his last life on the last level of Tomb Raider.) Harry looked toward the small pile of school books near the end of his bed. He picked one up and gave a disgusted look at the book and set it back down. Harry sighed, he was really bored.

Harry made up his mind to go and walk around Little Whining, after all that's what he did last year. Harry went downstairs, and headed outside. The sun shone brightly as he headed down the street. A few neighbor's were outside watering their plants, washing their cars, or just enjoying the morning. They stared at Harry as he made his way down the street. Harry ignored them as he headed toward the old park.

Just as he was approaching the low wall of the park Harry heard a small scream from his left. Harry whipped around and reached for his wand. But before he even touched it he saw Dudley and his gang advancing on a 10 year old boy named Evans and two girls about the same age were cowering behind him. Harry immediately walked towards them.

"Hey Big D!" called Harry.

Dudley whirled around to see who had called him, so did the rest of his gang. "What do you want?" snapped Dudley as Harry walked up.

Harry stepped in front of Evans and the girls and stared directly into Dudley's eyes. They were a mix of anger and fright. Harry held in a laugh. "Whatcha doin?" Harry said in a singsong voice.

"None of your business," growled Dudley, "get out of my way."

"Why should I?" asked Harry in a more serious tone. "So you can beat up a ten year old? Or maybe the two girls?"

Dudley sneered at Harry, but a voice came from behind Dudley. "Harry, I haven't seen you in a while. I hear you go to St. Brutes."

It was Piers Polkiss, Harry smirked a little, "Something like that."

Dudley was fuming, he did not like where this was going. "Go Away!" He practically growled at Harry. "Ah, "Ickle Diddykins", your not being very nice, why what would your mom say."

Dudley's gang started to crack up, "What did he call you?" asked Gordon.

"Shut it," he snarled to the group. They stopped laughing but they were still smirking. "You'll pay for that!" Dudley raised his fist and attempted to hit Harry.

Luckily for Harry he was a seeker. He saw Dudley's fist in slow motion, Just as it was about to hit Harry square in the jaw, He caught it. Dudley's mouth dropped open. He somewhat stumbled backward as Harry let go.

"H...how did you do that?" asked Malcolm.

Harry smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know, I suggest you leave now," it wasn't a suggestion. The boys turned on their heels and headed off in he opposite direction occasionally looking back toward Harry till they turned the corner and were gone. Harry shook his head and turned back around to see the three kids staring at him.

Harry smiled at them and started to walk away, he was about to jump the low wall when he heard Evans yell something. "I'm Eleven!" Harry looked back at him and nodded.

"Thanks!" cried the girls as Harry disappeared from their sights. A neighbor came running out toward the three kids.

"Are you three alright?" came the woman's voice. They all nodded. "What happened!"

They all started telling how Dudley and his gang had pushed the girls and how Evans had yelled at them to stop and just as they were about to beat Evans up Harry Potter showed up and stopped them.

By the time they were done with their story the woman was looking off in the direction Harry had disappered in. She nodded. "Are you sure your alright?" They again nodded. "Well Why don't you three head home, It's about lunch time."

The three kids headed off in different directions, while the woman went back to her house and called some other neighbors and started to tell them what had just occurred.