The Start of a New Reality

Prologue

  I, Harry James Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, Gryffindor Golden Boy, am just lying on my bed gazing up at the ceiling of my small, barely habitable bedroom at Number Four Privet Drive, affectionately known as Durzkaban. I have been lying on my bed mourning Cedric Diggory for Merlin knows how long, a boy not that much older than myself, who I have basically killed. Sure it wasn't me that said the killing spell that sealed Cedric's fate, but I did persuade Cedric into taking the cup together. For once in my life, I wish that I had been more selfish. I wish that I had taken the cup for myself. Why did I do nothing while the bright green spell zoomed past my head and crashed into Cedric's still body.

Looking over at the clock I noticed that I would be officially 15 in exactly 15 minutes. I got up from where I had made myself comfortable and wandered over to the broken window and glanced up at the sky. Taking a moment to think about what I wanted to say I said

"Mum and Dad if you are up there, hearing me now I would like to thank you for giving up your lives for the chance of mine being spared. Thank you for protecting me and I will do everything in my power to make your sacrifice worth it. Thank you".

Checking the clock again it was still another ten minutes to go. Feeling a bit down, I got up and walked to the other side of the room where underneath my bed was a loose floorboard. Stored in the space below are the few possessions I hold dearly in my heart. I keep them there so that if the Dursleys come snooping around in my bedroom they wouldn't find anything of value. I grasped the corner of the board and picked it up and gently put it aside so I don't wake up my relatives. The overloud snoring is coming particularly loud from the rooms that the Walrus and the baby whale resides in.

Buried within is my most prized belongings, my broomstick, the marauders map, my invisibility cloak, wand and my photo album of my parents Hagrid gifted me. Gently lifting the worn leather covered book I made my way back to the warmth of my bed and resting the album on my knees I opened the album to the first page, the first picture I ever saw of my parents. The picture captured the scene of my parent's wedding.

Lily Evans, newly wedded to James Potter, stand side by side at the front of their celebratory feast. In the background, one could make out the faint outlines of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, James' best friends since he was 11 years old. Flicking through the yellowing pages of parchment I go through pictures of Lily and her best friends Alice Longbottom and Marlene Mckinnon laughing and smiling together, and the self-named Marauders joking around and having a good time. I stopped near the end of the book to gently caress the picture of my parents holding me, who was smiling at the camera. Blinking back tears I put the album away and snuggle down under the covers. 

Then as the clock struck midnight the pain began.