Choices Not Made
Chapter 1
Author: yiota
Main pairing: HP-SS
Rating: R
Notes: beta-ed by my husband
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Harry Potter was positive that this was the longest summer in the history of mankind. It was also his very last summer with the Dursley’s. At the end of it he would never have to see them again. Not that they were bothering him thismer.mer. To tell you the truth, they hadn’t even acknowledged his existence. Well, they stepped out of the way if he was walking down the hall in the opposite direction, and moved over if he sat on the couch next to one of them. They also made sure that there was an extra plate of food at meals for him. But not one word had been uttered in his direction. He had done chores; not because he was asked but because he had finished his school work and didn’t have anything else to do.
Harry was positive that the reason that they were ignoring him more than usual was because he would be Seventeen tomorrow and would be allowed to do magic outside of school. They didn’t want him to have a single reason to curse them. Though he considered their treatment of him for the fifteen years that he had lived with them to be reason enough to curse them. But he wouldn’t do that.
The one thing that bugged him was that he didn’t entirely understand why he was even at the Dursley’s at all this summer. Voldemort was dead. Harry wasn’t sure why he was dead but he was. Snape had said it was because he had the dumbest luck. In the final battle Harry had attempted to cast -- Avadra Kedavra on Voldemort a spell he had never managed to successfully mplimplish and which had never worked on Voldemort before -- but it had worked. Alright, so it didn’t in any way resemble the spell as he knew it. The spell looked like white lightning rather than the green flash it normally was, so he was almost positive that it wasn’t actually the killing curse that he cast. Well anyway, Voldemort was now dead and the world was much happier for it.
Another thing was that most of the Death Eater’s had died in the battle, not that he had anything to do with that. After Voldemort died Snape ran up to him and apparated the two of them out of the battle. He then proceeded to berate Harry for being the luckiest idiot he had ever had the misfortune of knowing. Harry had thought that defeating Voldemort would earn him some respect on Snape’s part but instead the man seemed even more irritated with him.
So that was that, he could finally get along with his life and maybe find a girlfriend. So far his only relationships had been with Cho and with Hermione. Given his success with dating, though, he might want to reconsider it all together. He and Hermione had broken up shortly before Voldemort’s death, as their relationship had become a nightmare.
You see, Harry had waited for Ron to ask Hermione out, but he never did anything. Harry, figuring that maybe Ron wasn’t really interested in Hermione after all, took the initiative. She was a good friend and would probably make a good girlfriend, or so the logic went. It had not worked out. In two months the two had pretty much come to hate each other and Ron was furious with the both of them. So they broke up. The three of them still hadn’t recovered by the time Voldemort attacked Hogsmeade. But after the battle they realized how close they had come to loosing each other and soon they were as close as ever.
Things had changed drastically at Hogwarts after the battle. Dumbledore looked more tired than ever, and a week later died in his sleep the morning after the celebration ball. Professor McGonagall accepted the role of Headmistress and Professor Snape became the assistant Headmaster. McGonagall’s son, Matthew, became the new Transfiguration professor and head of Gryffindor.
Harry wasn’t a big fan of the new Professor McGonagall. That man, who was in school with his father and had played Quidditch with him, insisted on calling Harry \"Little James\" -- a name that Draco Malfoy adored. Truthfully, he reminded Harry somewhat of Professor Lockheart since he had the same sort of manner of speaking and the same \"chummy\" reactions towards Harry.
Matthew McGonagall also decided to recount the story of “Snivellusndernderpants” to his classes. Harry might not have liked Snape, but it somehow made Harry furious with the new Professor. The new Headmistress had been even less pleased than Harry and everyone within three floors heard her reaction when she found out. According to Hermione it was the only time in Hogwarts history that the Headmistress sent a Professor a howler. It was announced that anyone retelling the story or using Snape’s nickname would loose a hundred points each. Haconvconvinced Hermione and Ron, as prefects, to enforce the law.
As exciting as it had been, the year had come to a rather unexciting close. Harry and Ron were looking forward to Harry spending the entire summer at the Weasleys but had been disappointed when the Headmistress and the Weasleys said that he couldn’t go. He supposed that it had something to do with the remaining Death Eaters but didn’t think they were that much of a threat.
So here he was at the Dursley’s lying on his bed and starat tat the ceiling waiting for his Seventeenth birthday. Harry was getting bored of the ceiling so he rolled out of bed and grabbed some parchment and ink. He needed to write to Remus -- he hadn’t written in a couple of days and needed to make sure that the Werewolf wouldn’t be worried. Harry had thought that maybe he could avoid writing to Remus and then he would show up and take him away, but McGonagall had volunteered to make sure he was ok if he didn’t write. Harry hadn’t been pleased.
Harry wrote that he was ok and looking forward to next Friday. Remus was planning to take him from the Dursley’s to Diagon Alley and then to Grimmauld Place where he would stay for the rest of the summer under the care of various Order members and the Weasleys who offered to stay so they could see him. Harry was thrilled about this.
When he was done with his note he looked out of the window and noticed several owls heading in his direction. He quickly opened the window and put out a dish of water for them. They flew in the window and lined up on Hedwig’s perch with their package-bound feet held out for him to untie. They hooted in unison. He laughed, he knew this was Hedwig’s idea. She was a brilliant bird and liked to do nice things for his birthday. This year before heading back to the Dursley’s he had bought her a large perch, which she was immensely proud of.
There were six owls with nine presents... this was by far the most presents he had ever received. There was one each from Ron, Hermione, the Weasley’s, Ginny, Remus, Luna, Tonks, Fred and George, and Hagrid.
Ron had sent a ticket to the next World Cup along with an invitation to go with him. Harry guessed that he got the money from working under his brothers, so it was awfully nice of him.
Hermione sent a collection of artist renderings of the final battle from various countries saying that they were all done by famous wizard artists and that he should show his children when he had them.
The Weasley’s sent him a birthday cake, card, and fudge.
Ginny sent him a potion saying that it would make him hard to recognize. She said the potion would be good for going out in public. She had developed an interest in potions recently much to Ron and the Twins’ horror.
Remus sent him the deed to his parent’s land, he said he had access to it now that he was of age and that he would take him to see it if he wanted.
Luna sent him an amulet that the merchant said is supposed to ward off Dark Lords, he put it on -- the only trace of magic he could find on it was that he couldn’t feel it once it was on.
Tonks sent him his own biography along with a charm to alter his appearance, saying it had been a present from someone who obviously didn’t know her that well. The twins sent him some experiml cal candies and told him to leave a couple for his cousin.
Hagrid sent him some rock cakes along with a book on Owl Breeding which caused him to look at Hedwig and Tonks’ owl with some caution.
Harry was happy with his birthday and especially looked forward to his next birthday when he could celebrate it with his friends. With those thoughts in mind he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.