taking control

Prologue

Harry learned later that night that the illustrious headmaster had been withholding quite a bit of information from him, not the least of which was the reason why Voldemort had tried to murder him almost fifteen years ago when he was only fifteen months old and the reason why Voldemort might want to lure Harry to the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. Harry learned that a prophecy was made before he was born about the one who would have the power to defeat Voldemort. One line kept playing repeatedly in Harry's mind: "And either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives." That is what Harry's life had come down to: kill or be killed. The entire war rested on Harry's shoulders, and nobody had saw fit to let him know or to help him prepare.

The headmaster thought it best to hide this from Harry for the five years since they had first met. Surely nothing bad ever came from acting out of ignorance, right? Dumbledore was the great puppet master in the story, and Harry realized that he'd been nothing but one of his puppets all along, his strings manipulated behind the scenes. Harry realized that the real weapon the Order had been guarding all along had been him and the knowledge that he was in fact their only weapon against Voldemort.

With this thought, Harry realized why he had been left with his viciously cruel relatives all his life and why he had no say even now in where he spent his summer vacations. No one ever worried about his well-being or happiness; they just wanted to make sure nothing damaged their precious weapon. Harry was sick of everything in his life right now: himself, his relatives, the Order, his headmaster, and more than anything else Harry was sick of feeling helpless and out of control in his life. It was this final thought that Harry focused on one night as he drifted off to sleep. Before sleep claimed him, he made a vow that no longer would he sit idly by and be manipulated. "From now on, my life is in my own hands. I'm taking control. If Voldemort wants to come kill me, let him come. Next time I'll be ready for him," Harry murmured as his eyelids began to droop and he finally succumbed to sleep.

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Visitor

Harry's dreams that night started out as they had ever since he had lost Sirius. He watched in despair, feeling helpless as his godfather fell through the veil again and again, when a familiar voice startled him: "You really do need to stop brooding so much like this, Harry."

Harry whirled around and felt his jaw hit the floor. "Si-Sirius?" He barely managed to whisper.

"In the flesh." At Harry's pained expression he hastily added, "Sorry, wrong thing to say given my current state, but yeah, kid, it's me."

Harry felt the tears welling up in his eyes as his all too familiar feelings of guilt quickly surfaced. Holding back his tears, he barely managed to choke out, "I'm so sorry Sirius. It's all m-my fault. If only I hadn't been so stupid...."

"Now hold it right there kiddo," Sirius interrupted. "I love you to pieces and all, but if you continue acting like this is all your fault, I'm not opposed to knocking some sense into you...literally," his trademark cocky grin firmly in place now.

"But...how...where...what..?" So many thoughts and emotions were racing through Harry's mind that he couldn't focus on any single one. Sirius was here talking to him, but Sirius was dead. It was his fault Sirius was dead, but Sirius didn't think so. But how was Sirius even here talking to him? Moreover, was it really even Sirius? Harry paused and took a breath. "How is this possible? ... Is it really you?"

"Articulate as always, I see. If I didn't know any better I'd think you were talking to a certain pretty Ravenclaw seeker." Sirius's smile widened as Harry's cheeks stained red behind the tear tracks. "You're better off without that one, Harry. She wasn't right for you. But to answer your question, it has to do with the veil and how I died. Because I still have my physical body on this side, I have stronger ties to this world than one ordinarily would. But before you go getting your hopes up, that doesn't mean I can come back, unless you want another dementor on your hands."