Harry was locked in his room at the Dursleys feeling depressed about Sirius' death and the situation with Voldemort and the Prophecy. How long now that Voldemort was out in the open before the people of Wizarding Britain started demanding he take up the mantle of a hero and draft him into fighting Voldemort on his own? The Ministry certainly couldn't be counted on to support him, and Dumbledore had done nothing to help him prepare. Not only that, but since the Prophecy sphere had been destroyed when nobody could hear it, how did he know that the Prophecy that Dumbledore told him in his office was the real one? What if it was a fake or misinformation. After all that time insisting that Harry needed to learn Occlumancy to protect his mind, and all that effort to protect it , why would Dumbledore suddenly be willing to let him learn the contents of the Prophecy when it was proven hat Voldmort could access his mind. Wouldn't have made more sense to give Harry some misinformation so that Voldemort would invade his unprotected mind and steal it?
For that matter, how could he be a hero without the proper training to fight against evil?
He tried writing about this to Ron and Hermione, but didn't get any response from them. It seemed that Dumbledore had once again ordered them not to write him. Some friends they were, choosing Dumbledore over him. In desperation, he even wrote to Ginny, Neville, Luna, and the twins. It seems that they too had refused to answer. However, this day he got a surprise. A strange owl appeared bearing a large envelope and a smaller one marked "open me first".
It was a note from the twins, telling him they didn't agree with Dumbledore's isolationist policy and that it took some doing to be able to get a letter to finally to go through.
The letter went on to tell him about the new Joke shop, how their family were staying at 12 Grimwald Place again, and that not much was being done by either the Order or the Ministry about the increasing Death Eater attacks.
Then it went on to address his concerns about not being a hero. They said that they took the liberty to enroll him in the "Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School for Heroes-in-Training" in their accelerated summer learning program for magic users. The package contained most of the course materials he'd need to learn to be a magic using hero.
They went on to say that they had found a loophole in the Underage Magic laws. Since he's enrolled in a magic summer school and doing coursework for said school, he's allowed to do magic related to the course. He is not of course allowed to practice magic that isn't assigned by the course, but the benefit of being home-schooled via a correspondence course is that he can set his own hours for classes. As long as he sticks to the spells in the book, the Ministry can't tell if the spells he cast are for the coursework or otherwise. Of course, should he cast an unapproved spell not in the book, he'd probably get in trouble as they are extra careful to watch such students for attempts to take advantage of such things.
Realizing what a boon this was, and that hopefully this could help him prepare to face Voldemort, Harry eagerly accepted. The studies were going well, although learning the spells proved more difficult than he had hoped. It seems that they were teaching a style of wandless magic quite different from Hogwarts. It had the benefit of not needing a wand, but was more draining and difficult to learn from the scrolls provided. In fact, he'd only managed a simple light spell that turned out to be pretty much the same thing he'd performed on his own last year during the incident with the dementors. He was just finally starting to get the basics of the next spell on the list, called "Leyden's Latent Lectrical Discharge" that he had decided to nickname "ZAP". It would empower a weapon or his wand with magical energy that when striking a traget would cause some extra damage beyond what it would normally do. A wand would be strengthened momentarily and deliver the same damage as a normal dagger for a single hit, but afterwards the spell would discharge and the wand would become too fragile to parry any follow-up blow.
Unfortunately, between the chores given by the Dursleys, and the summer homework for Hogwarts, that was all he had managed to get down by his birthday. However, he had managed to pass everything else in the course, and so was given a provisional certificate as a beginning adventurer, since he had mastered the basic "Zap" spell. He also learned that a real hero was not somebody that starts out strong or powerful, but one who uses his courage, brains, and skills to become the best he can be.
Interestingly enough, the wizarding world didn't seem to believe in keeping such information as Harry's impending graduation private. Laws such as (insert UK version of FERPA) were unknown. Harry probably should had some clue, since the list of Hogwarts graduates usually made the papers, but he assumed it was a special case, much like many secondary schools.
In fact, unknown to him, the fact that he would graduate from the correspondence school around his birthday was published in such magazines as Witch Weekly and of course the Daily Profit.
Such information that Harry was training to be a Hero did not sit well with a certain megalomaniac half-blood hypocritical Dark Lord. He decided to personally give Harry a special Birthday/Graduation present.
Harry of course, knew none of this. He received his certificate showing that he had passed the course on being an adventurering hero the day before his birthday. Along with that certificate were to his surprise, several flyers from the school's placement service. They had some interesting things, such as this one that says
WANTED: HERO
NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY
VISIT BEAUTIFUL SPIELBURG
FIGHT MONSTERS, DEFEAT
BRIGANDS. REWARD
AND TITLE "HERO OF
SPIELBERG TO THE
SUCCESSFUL APPLICANT.
To accept the quest, add a drop of blood to this flyer to be transported to Spielberg.
Wondering if this was serious or not, Harry tossed the flyer aside along with several others. He was going through the rest of the graduation information when he heard a loud BANG as the front door exploded inwards. He tried the door to his room, but found that it was still locked. The windows were barred with an opening only big enough for Hedwig to slip in and out of. Starting to wonder if he should risk using an "Alohamora" since he hadn't mastered the wandless "Open" spell yet, as he still wans't sure what was going on. This changed when he heard his uncle yellwing "What the bloody hell have you done to my door, you bloody freak! Fix it and get out, your kind aren't..."
Only to be abruptly silenced as a somewhat familiar voice yells out "Avada kedavra."
Dudley screamed "What the hell did you do to my dad, you basta...."
only to also be silenced by an avada kedavera by what he now recognized as Voldemort's voice.
Petunia just started screaming before she was silenced by the same method.
Panicking, and hoping the Ministry would believe him about an attack by Voldemort this time, Harry cast Alohamora and opened the door, only to be promptly hit with a bludgeoning hex intended to break down the door that sent him flying back into the wall only to land bleeding in the wastebasket.
To both parties shock, a drop of Harry's blood fell down on the discarded flyer advetising for a hero for the town of Spielberg. Harry felt the familiar tugging sensation in his navel as he was whisked away to parts unknown.
Harry comes to outside what appears to be a midevil town that reminds him greatly of Hogsmeade except for the walls.
It seems like a quiet little town. On the porch ahead of him were two people. The standing one was large, rather ugly, and playing with a yo-yo. The seated person smoking a pipe looks like he might be a Sheriff.
The man with the pipe greeted him.
"Welcome to our town. Your are lucky to have made it down from the mountains before the snow blocked the pass. It's gotten pretty dangerous outside the town, I understand.
Many monsters have been trapped around here with the late snow. Between them and the brigands we certainly could use a Hero around here.
I am Sheriff Shultz Meistersson, and this is Otto Van Goon, my assistant.
You must be answering our ad for a hero to save our town. Good luck on your quest.
For that matter, how could he be a hero without the proper training to fight against evil?
He tried writing about this to Ron and Hermione, but didn't get any response from them. It seemed that Dumbledore had once again ordered them not to write him. Some friends they were, choosing Dumbledore over him. In desperation, he even wrote to Ginny, Neville, Luna, and the twins. It seems that they too had refused to answer. However, this day he got a surprise. A strange owl appeared bearing a large envelope and a smaller one marked "open me first".
It was a note from the twins, telling him they didn't agree with Dumbledore's isolationist policy and that it took some doing to be able to get a letter to finally to go through.
The letter went on to tell him about the new Joke shop, how their family were staying at 12 Grimwald Place again, and that not much was being done by either the Order or the Ministry about the increasing Death Eater attacks.
Then it went on to address his concerns about not being a hero. They said that they took the liberty to enroll him in the "Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School for Heroes-in-Training" in their accelerated summer learning program for magic users. The package contained most of the course materials he'd need to learn to be a magic using hero.
They went on to say that they had found a loophole in the Underage Magic laws. Since he's enrolled in a magic summer school and doing coursework for said school, he's allowed to do magic related to the course. He is not of course allowed to practice magic that isn't assigned by the course, but the benefit of being home-schooled via a correspondence course is that he can set his own hours for classes. As long as he sticks to the spells in the book, the Ministry can't tell if the spells he cast are for the coursework or otherwise. Of course, should he cast an unapproved spell not in the book, he'd probably get in trouble as they are extra careful to watch such students for attempts to take advantage of such things.
Realizing what a boon this was, and that hopefully this could help him prepare to face Voldemort, Harry eagerly accepted. The studies were going well, although learning the spells proved more difficult than he had hoped. It seems that they were teaching a style of wandless magic quite different from Hogwarts. It had the benefit of not needing a wand, but was more draining and difficult to learn from the scrolls provided. In fact, he'd only managed a simple light spell that turned out to be pretty much the same thing he'd performed on his own last year during the incident with the dementors. He was just finally starting to get the basics of the next spell on the list, called "Leyden's Latent Lectrical Discharge" that he had decided to nickname "ZAP". It would empower a weapon or his wand with magical energy that when striking a traget would cause some extra damage beyond what it would normally do. A wand would be strengthened momentarily and deliver the same damage as a normal dagger for a single hit, but afterwards the spell would discharge and the wand would become too fragile to parry any follow-up blow.
Unfortunately, between the chores given by the Dursleys, and the summer homework for Hogwarts, that was all he had managed to get down by his birthday. However, he had managed to pass everything else in the course, and so was given a provisional certificate as a beginning adventurer, since he had mastered the basic "Zap" spell. He also learned that a real hero was not somebody that starts out strong or powerful, but one who uses his courage, brains, and skills to become the best he can be.
Interestingly enough, the wizarding world didn't seem to believe in keeping such information as Harry's impending graduation private. Laws such as (insert UK version of FERPA) were unknown. Harry probably should had some clue, since the list of Hogwarts graduates usually made the papers, but he assumed it was a special case, much like many secondary schools.
In fact, unknown to him, the fact that he would graduate from the correspondence school around his birthday was published in such magazines as Witch Weekly and of course the Daily Profit.
Such information that Harry was training to be a Hero did not sit well with a certain megalomaniac half-blood hypocritical Dark Lord. He decided to personally give Harry a special Birthday/Graduation present.
Harry of course, knew none of this. He received his certificate showing that he had passed the course on being an adventurering hero the day before his birthday. Along with that certificate were to his surprise, several flyers from the school's placement service. They had some interesting things, such as this one that says
WANTED: HERO
NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY
VISIT BEAUTIFUL SPIELBURG
FIGHT MONSTERS, DEFEAT
BRIGANDS. REWARD
AND TITLE "HERO OF
SPIELBERG TO THE
SUCCESSFUL APPLICANT.
To accept the quest, add a drop of blood to this flyer to be transported to Spielberg.
Wondering if this was serious or not, Harry tossed the flyer aside along with several others. He was going through the rest of the graduation information when he heard a loud BANG as the front door exploded inwards. He tried the door to his room, but found that it was still locked. The windows were barred with an opening only big enough for Hedwig to slip in and out of. Starting to wonder if he should risk using an "Alohamora" since he hadn't mastered the wandless "Open" spell yet, as he still wans't sure what was going on. This changed when he heard his uncle yellwing "What the bloody hell have you done to my door, you bloody freak! Fix it and get out, your kind aren't..."
Only to be abruptly silenced as a somewhat familiar voice yells out "Avada kedavra."
Dudley screamed "What the hell did you do to my dad, you basta...."
only to also be silenced by an avada kedavera by what he now recognized as Voldemort's voice.
Petunia just started screaming before she was silenced by the same method.
Panicking, and hoping the Ministry would believe him about an attack by Voldemort this time, Harry cast Alohamora and opened the door, only to be promptly hit with a bludgeoning hex intended to break down the door that sent him flying back into the wall only to land bleeding in the wastebasket.
To both parties shock, a drop of Harry's blood fell down on the discarded flyer advetising for a hero for the town of Spielberg. Harry felt the familiar tugging sensation in his navel as he was whisked away to parts unknown.
Harry comes to outside what appears to be a midevil town that reminds him greatly of Hogsmeade except for the walls.
It seems like a quiet little town. On the porch ahead of him were two people. The standing one was large, rather ugly, and playing with a yo-yo. The seated person smoking a pipe looks like he might be a Sheriff.
The man with the pipe greeted him.
"Welcome to our town. Your are lucky to have made it down from the mountains before the snow blocked the pass. It's gotten pretty dangerous outside the town, I understand.
Many monsters have been trapped around here with the late snow. Between them and the brigands we certainly could use a Hero around here.
I am Sheriff Shultz Meistersson, and this is Otto Van Goon, my assistant.
You must be answering our ad for a hero to save our town. Good luck on your quest.