Living My Life... Again

Disclaimer: If you don't already know, I don't own Harry Potter.

Prologue: Leaving

Harry listened as his housemates conversed with each other. He isolated himself from them. He had nobody to talk to as Hermione and Ron was at the prefects meeting. Not that it would have made any difference. Since the start of the new year, he has withdrawn into himself, speaking only when absolutely neccessary.

At first, it was either unnoticed or dismissed. Then, after a few weeks, people started noticing. After noticing, his housemates tried getting him to talk. There were several attempts but they all failed. The Slytherins taunted him but they received no reaction. Snape became even more biased than usual which caused extreme reactions from the Gryffindors but Harry would just sit there without a sound. Weeks after weeks, these continued.

Weeks turned to months, and now after 3 months, it stopped. The Gryffindors stopped trying, even his closest friends gave up after trying non-stop and getting negative results. The Slytherins got tired and stopped their tauntings, even Snape lost his interest and turned to poor Neville instead.

All was quiet for a while until people started talking about him when they thought he couldn't hear. They came up with reasons why he wouldn't talk. He must have become mute, he must have forgotten how to speak, he must have gotten so crazy that he lost his ability to speak. There were so much more and they were most amusing, to Harry at least. His friends most certainly do not find them amusing. In the end, all the houses, even Gryffindor, lost so many points that should they lose a couple of hundred more, they would be back at zero.

Almost everyone blamed him for it, even if it is so obviously their own fault. Hatred, bias-ness and unfriendly-ness was so thick it almost replaced the oxygen in Hogwarts. It was so thick it was almost hard for Harry to breath.

He was getting tired of it all, and with Voldemort gaining power and Sirius' death, it's weighing him down. It was like hidden poison, invisible yet deadly. If this carries on, he would surely break. There was only one solution. Just one. He had to do it, and he had to do it tonight.

Soon, it was half past midnight. The noise died down as the last of the student left for the comfort of her bed. He walked into his dorm, making as if to go to bed. He packed quietly, pausing occassionally to listen for anybody coming up. Ron's snores filled the dorm which hid Harry's shuffling perfectly. For once, he thanked god Ron snored as loudly as an elephant stumps his feet hard. Quietly he threw his invisibility cloak onto himself and headed into the common room.

He stopped and held his breath as McGonagall came in and closed the portrait behind her. After a short while, she opened the portrait wide enough for Harry to slip out. He made sure she was out of hearing range before starting for the hidden entrance to Hogsmeade.

Along the way, he had to stop a few times due to Filch, Mrs Norris and some prefects patrolling the corridors. He had even been almost caught by a Ravenclaw prefect and Snape.

Harry looked at his watch, a present from Hermione to cheer him up. It was a quarter past one. He tapped the statue of the one-eyed

witch lightly with his wand while whispering "Dissendium" in a voice that hinted that he had not use it for a long time. The hump opened and Harry hoisted himself in. Clutching his trunk and cloak, he pushed himself forward.

With a whisper of "Lumos", he walked quietly and quickly without taking off his cloak; he could not afford to be careless now, not when he is so close to his freedom.

Coming out from a trapdoor, he glanced at his watch again. Fifteen minutes to two o'clock. He knew for a fact that there would be making another check in the house common rooms to see if the students were asleep at exactly 2.30. He had to hurry. Stifling a yawn, he crept down the empty pathways, making sure to stay invisible; it would not do to get caught by the Death Eaters or Aurors.

After some time, Harry finally made it out of the wizarding world and into the muggle one. He glanced at the watch again. 2.25 am. Exactly 5 minutes before they find out that he was gone. He made sure nobody was looking before taking off his cloak. He glanced back at the bar. It would be some time before he would see anything magic besides his own things.

Shaking his head, he looked at the still-busy streets. No point dwelling on the past. It was time to create a future for himself. Starting with a new life.

And of course he needed a new name to go with his new life.

World, forget about Harry Potter.

Meet Dave Veans.

End of Prologue