(A/n Hullo, I've pretty much abandoned all of my other stories, and this just sort of came to me. I do have a plot in mind, but I'm not sure if its worth continuing.. any thoughts anyone?)

Chapter one

That did it. He had no doubt about it now.

Hermione was on drugs.

"See you later Harry!" giggled Hermione maniacally as she tottered almost over the brink of the tracks at King's Cross.

Absolutely nutters.

Harry turned away and passed through the platform to greet his Aunt's family. As he passed through, a freezing sensation washed over him as though he had run straight through a ghost. It disappeared as quickly as it came.

All around him, hundreds of muggles busily parted around like water. But his relatives were nowhere to be found. Forgotten to show up, he was sure.

Harry walked outside to the curb and hailed a taxi. A grimy yellow cab pulled up with a tacky purple disco ball hanging from the mirror pulled up. The cab stank as if it had never been clean throughout years of use. Harry gritted his teeth and pushed back the smell and leaned back carefully against the seat as if it would break

As the cab sped up off to 4 Privet Drive, he pulled out a sheet of parchment and wrote to Dumbledore.

They forgot to come for me at the station, No worries, I'm taking a cab-

Suddenly, he crumbled it as an idea struck him. He spun around and took a goodlook into the car behind him. There, in the drivers seat sat Tonks, grinning cheekily at him and gesturing at him to turn around as she mouthed "secret guard" emphatically at him.

Harry turned back and sighed. Of course. After Ron's disappearance they wouldn't leave him alone. They might have even arranged for his 'family' to forget about picking him to make it easier to spy on him on his way home. Harry felt a pang as he though about the mysterious disappearance of his friend. It was happening everywhere now. People everywhere in Europe had begun to disappear. Ron was the third member of the Gryffindor house to go missing. Six from the school in total were now gone, including two Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw. And of course Malfoy smirked and laughed nastily at him, making comments like "Where's the weasel now Potter? His family finally realized he wasn't worth spending gold on?"

And Hermione… Hermione didn't take to it too well. She started experimenting with different sorts of magic. She needed to try and find Ron, Harry guessed. But then she started spending more and more time in the room of requirement with Luna… And as she and Harry drifted apart, Hermione became more and more like Luna each day. Not that there was anything wrong with Luna… Luna just wasn't Hermione. That and she was a tad bit bonkers. Truly, Harry was now alone.

As the cab pulled into Little Whinging, Harry realized that Tonks was no longer behind him, and that he had no muggle money. As the cab driver's patience wore thin, Harry ran through his options. He could not skip out on the bill, nor could he ask his relatives for money. Harry stalled.

"Er, I'm afraid I've got my cash inside, can you hold on outside here for a moment?"

Harry didn't wait for an answer, and fled outside the cab and into the house. As he slammed the door shut behind him, the cab began to honk angrily at the teenager.

"What's that Bloody Racket?" Bellowed Vernon Dursley as he followed the noise to the hallway. "You? What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be back until… Until…" Vernon faltered as he strained to remember when exactly his nephew was supposed to arrive.

"Change of plans", Harry said. With that, he ran into his room upstairs, took out a sheet of paper, and with a ball point pen, he drew a bill of money into the paper, colored it, and cut it out.

He ran into Dudley's room. "Dudley, I've got to pay the cab outside, can you change me this hundred bill for a twenties?" Dudley, who was greedy as well as stupid, refused until Harry 'relented' to just give him the hundred in exchange for a single twenty.

With the bill paid, Harry collected his things from the trunk of the cab, returned to his bedroom, and called for Hedwig.

"Hedwig, I've got to order a few things, so I need you to go to Diagon Alley and give this envelope to Gringotts." Harry produced a small envelope from his trunk which politely asked if a goblin could pay him a visit soon seeing as how he had no form of getting to Diagon Alley and attached it to Hedwig. Next, Harry asked Hedwig to collect a series of catalogues from all of the stores in Diagon Alley, and a few even in Knockturn Alley.

As he watched Hedwig soar away until she was no more than a tiny spec in the edge of his vision, Harry turned away from the window and said quietly to the room,

"Dobby?"