Summary:

When Harry blows up Aunt Marge, he runs away- and finds the Knight Bus. But what if Stan Shunpike recognized him? And what if...Fudge had a more clever and conniving voice whispering in his ear? Alone and hunted, Harry does what he can to survive. Of course, now he has Aurors, a mad serial killer and his best friends on his trail. Everyone, meet Harry Potter, the blameless fugitive.

Ok- so this story was up for a long time, and I accidentally deleted it...I don't know how or why, but I did. So here it is again, and it's updated whoo hoo! Ok...I am still trying to figure out how on Earth I deleted this story!

"What's your name- eh?"

Harry looked nervously around him. "Er- Neville Longbottom."

The wizard peered at him closely, and Harry gulped. Unconsciously, he wiped his forehead, unknowingly allowing the conductor a glimpse of his lightning bolt scar.

"No! No you aren't! Your arry Potter!" The wizard gestured excitedly. "Hey, Ern, guess who we 'ave here? It's 'arry Potter!"

Harry backed away slowly. What if the ministry already had people looking for him? He didn't want to be expelled! No- or worse he'd be sent to prison. Suddenly Harry gulped, and his face turned very white. 'What if they send me back to the Dursleys- for the rest of my life?" No, that would not do. The Dursleys would massacre him- and without magic, Harry would be a lamb served up for slaughter.

So he bolted.

"Hey! Come back here! Ern- 'arry's bolted!"

Harry ignored the shouts behind him, and focused on running as fast as he could with his trunk behind him. Taking a shortcut, Harry ran out of Privet Drive, through the streets, and towards his old school. From there he would assess what to do.

"We must find him at once! With that murderer out there- Sirius Black….Well who knows what he'll do to Harry if he finds him." Fudge shuddered, and dismissed the Auror that was in charge of finding the boy.

Sipping his tea, Fudge pondered on the enigma that was Harry Potter. He had met the boy briefly when he was a small toddler. James and Fudge had never gotten along, which already went back to their school days, but then, of course there was the lovely Lily Potter to contend with. Her lovely green eyes peered out from this child, but no matter how hard Fudge tried he couldn't like the boy. The child seemed- odd in a way. Like he knew what Fudge really was inside.

When Voldemort had been killed, Fudge had rejoiced. However little Harry Potter still remained. Fudge remembered frowning at the newspapers one morning that had proclaimed his name. This boy- this toddler- in Fudge's mind was a threat, and threats needed to be eliminated.

So, when he found out Dumbledore had taken charge and put the small boy with his muggle relatives, Fudge had breathed a sigh of relief. Years would pass before he had ever thought of this boy again. Once Harry had entered Hogwarts though, Fudge had begun, once again, to get paranoid.

Defeating a troll? Saving the school from a deadly monster? Every year that the boy had been at Hogwarts, the public's admiration of him grew. So Fudge knew he had to get the boy-who-lived in his pocket….before it was too late.

Which brought him to this moment now. Fudge genuinely did not want any harm to befall the boy. However he was annoyed that yet again, this year would most likely focus on the boy-who-lived.

"Minister?"

Fudge snapped out of his reverie, to see Lucius Malfoy standing in front of him.

"Ah, yes, Lucius! Forgive me, I had forgotten I asked you to come here."

Lucius smiled- a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, but a smile nonetheless. "No matter. What is it you need, Minister?"

"Well- as I'm sure you've heard, Sirius Black has escaped. Alas- so has his prime target, Mr. Harry Potter. He performed a bit of magic this afternoon- seems to have blown up his muggle Aunt." Fudge chuckled slightly, thinking of his own youth and the time he had made his cat swell up to twice the size it should have been when it had nearly scratched his eyes out. "Anyway, he's missing, and that simply will not do, not with that murderer out there."

Malfoy's eyes narrowed, and Fudge thought he saw something gleam in there for a second. "Blew up his….aunt did you say? And will he get punished for this? As I recall, Draco who is in Mr. Potter's year is not allowed to do any magic. Blowing up his...muggle aunt no less….well he should get expelled for that!"

Fudge chuckled nervously. "Now Lucius, what would people say! The boy-who-lived expelled? The public would simply not agree!"

Malfoy sat down in one of the opposite chairs. "Yes...but what would they say should they hear that young Mr. Potter blew up his aunt? They might say…..he was going dark."

Fudge stared at him, gobsmacked. Harry Potter…..Going dark? No, the thought was simply inconceivable.

Fudge gave a nervous laugh. "If I didn't know any better, Lucius, I'd say that you were going off your rocker. Come now- Lucius, this is Harry Potter we are talking about. The poor boy has saved us more times than Albus Dumbledore! I mean, haven't you heard the stories about his years at Hogwarts?"

"Oh yes, Draco was certainly….informative about them." Lucius said, a sour note in his voice.

Fudge sighed. "Look, even if he was going dark, what could I do? This is Harry Potter. Honestly, this boy is some sort of god to the public."

Lucius raised one eyebrow. "I'm going to be frank with you, Fudge. With all my years as an….imperiused Death Eater, I managed to notice a few things." He shuddered, and Fudge leaned in, his eyes wide, trapped by the soothing voice. "Of what a true dark wizard is. And….Harry Potter exhibits all of them. He is cunning. He can speak parseltongue. And he has the public at his feet. If I didn't know any better- well, Cornelius I'm going to be honest, but I'd say that he's all set to overthrow this ministry."

Fudge spluttered. "Lucius, you must be joking! The boy's 13! And he's a Gryffindor!" However, there obvious doubt in his voice, and Lucius was quick to strike with the final blow.

Lucius leaned back in his chair. "And yet, he blows up his Aunt, possibly endangering her life. Is that any way to treat family?"

There was a long pause, as Fudge's face turned pale. He knew, deep deep down that there was no way that Harry Potter could be dark...and yet he wanted to believe it so badly.

"I….I can see your point. If I could, I would try to get rid of the threat that is Harry Potter. For many years I have thought about somehow proving to the public that he is dark…." Fudge rambled on, oblivious to the fact that Lucius had a half smile on his face.

'The fool is as gullible as a baby.' Thought Lucius with a half smile. 'All that is left is to propose my plan of action, and then all will be set for the Dark Lord to return without any resistance from that….boy.'

"If I may interrupt, Cornelius."

Fudge stopped his rant, and sat down heavily, his face slowly turning a normal color again. Tomato red wasn't exactly a flattering color on him.

"Certainly Lucius. We need to find a solution to this, as soon as possible."

"Well Minister, we first need to talk to his friends. If they don't want to give any evidence we can use…..other means. Then, we must talk to the press, naturally. Evidence from his friends will sway the public easily, as you must have experience in." Lucius inclined his head towards Fudge, who blushed. He himself had given evidence against a friend of his who had been suspected of Dark Activities. He was from a well known light family, and nobody had believed that he had been involved, until Fudge had given the final piece of evidence. As it turned out, he was not guilty of those crimes, but the public had been easily swayed, and to this day that man was avoided like the plague.

"Well, anyway, once we have the public fully convinced of Harry Potter's 'dark activities', then we give the order to bring him in no matter what. Of course he will put up a fight, and in the process he will hurt several Aurors using very, very dark magic, that will no doubt land him a cell in Azkaban."

Fudge gasped. "But- he's only 13!"

"And a Dark Lord."

Fudge gaped again. "Wha-What? No, Lucius don't you think that you are taking this a bit to far? I mean, I am as fond of Harry Potter as you are, but I mean really-"

Lucius sighed. "Minister, the boy speaks parseltongue. His godfather is a murderer, and was once loyal to….the Dark Lord. Who knows what Sirius Black might have done to the Potters before his ultimate betrayal. Look, while I was imperiused- And please minister, I would like this to remain confidential- but I overheard Sirius Black bragging to the Dark Lord about how Harry Potter was beginning to show signs of Dark magic- magic that he Sirius Black had taught the young boy. This was before the Dark Lord made plans about attacking the Potters, so naturally he was pleased, thinking that somehow he could turn the Potter's dark."

Fudge nodded in agreement. "I always knew something was off about the boy! I bet that his parents used some sort of Dark Ritual to allow Potter to survive the curse! Thank you Lucius- this information is invaluable. The boy will be in a cell in no time, and a threat to the wizarding world will have been stopped again. I won't lie to you and say that this is perfect timing. The boy was adored by the public to much for my liking. Who knew, perhaps he was planning to lead a revolt against the ministry!"

With that, Fudge walked out of the office, with an air of purpose around him. Lucius Malfoy watched the door close, and allowed himself a small smile.

"Really, it was just too easy." He said, a cold smirk playing around his lips. Taking a handful of green powder from a small jar, he threw it into the fireplace, and in a cool, calm collected voice said "Malfoy Manor!" Lucius's smile before the green flames swallowed him was not a pleasant one at all.

Harry wheezed for air as he ran into the school yard. Three miles of sprinting was taking it's toll on the scrawny boy, and he collapsed on a bench, his chest heaving. Once he had caught his breath, he stood up and looked around him. No one was about- well no one should be about as it was 11 o'clock at night- but Harry wanted to be cautious.

Harry glanced distastefully at his large trunk that he had lugged behind him for the best part of an hour. It really was too heavy. Harry opened it, and took a belt and his Nimbus 2000 out. Then Harry grasped his wand, and muttered,

"Reducio"

The trunk shrunk to about a half a quarter of it's size, and using the belt, tied it to the end of his Nimbus. With a sigh, laid the broom down on the picnic bench.

'If I'm going to be expelled, then I might as well make use of magic while I still have it.' Harry thought, his eyes blurring with the thought of living with the Dursleys forever, without magic.

'I'll go to the burrow, I think I can trace my way there….I remember the route from last summer….I think. I'll ask Ron for help- maybe they can contact Dumbledore and he'll explain everything.' Harry thought, his face brightening. 'I can explain that I needed to get away from Privet Drive...I mean Uncle Vernon was going to kill me.' He shivered, remembering the look on his Uncle's face when he left the house. 'Yeah- everything's going to be fine.'

Harry's stomach rumbled, and he sighed. He hadn't gotten much to eat but...hey! He could sneak some food out of the school cafeteria. Merlin knew that although the school food was crap, he'd still get something in his stomach.

Harry snuck inside the school, using Alohomora to get inside. There, he made his way to the cafeteria.

Inside the kitchen of the cafeteria, there was boxes and boxes of food. Harry's eyes widened. If Ron can't help me then I'll have to fly to Hogwarts by myself. I'll need lots of food for that...Hogwarts is in Scotland and my Nimbus will only get me there within 3 days or so...I might get lost…" Harry cheerfully loaded boxes of food on top of each other. 'This is going to be a real adventure! Finally, something fun to do on my holiday.'

Finally, with boxes of chips, bars of chocolate,assorted fruits, pre-wrapped sandwiches, a boiler, some matches, some gasoline, a mini cooker he had found in the science lab- and assorted ingredients to make some proper food all shrunk and fit into his trunk, Harry was ready to go. He was rather proud of himself, and surveyed his floating broom with something akin to satisfaction. This was an adventure. And Dumbledore would sort this all out- explain that Harry hadn't meant to blow Aunt Marge up.

As he flew off in the air, and past the school, he failed to hear the distinct noise that signaled apparition. Down below in the school yard a platoon of Aurors were cautiously sneaking around the school yard- looking for Harry Potter, a most dangerous dark fugitive that had somehow managed to hide his dark abilities for 13 years.

A loud scream echoed from downstairs, and Ron awoke with a start. There was a loud noise of banging and tramping, that signaled someone running up the stairs very fast- and with a bang, his door flew open, and Mrs. Weasley rushed to his side.

"Oh my dear Ron- has that evil boy done anything to you? We need to bring you to the healer right now- who knows what dark spells he could have put on you…." Mrs. Weasley hugged Ron hard, smoothing his hair down.

"Wha-What's goin' on?" Ron mumbled tiredly, as his mother continued to fuss about him.

Mrs. Weasley's eyes filled with tears. "James and Lily were always so sweet, I don't understand how their son could have turned out like this!"

Ron's eyes widened, and his sleep ridden mind finally grasped what his mother was saying. "Mum….are you talking about Harry?"

Mrs. Weasley put a hand to her head. "Don't say that boy's name in front of me Ronald! He is an evil, vile being! Just look- look what they wrote about him in the Daily Prophet!"

Ron grabbed the newspaper that his mother was holding, and read the front article, his eyes growing wider and wider by the second.

Saviour of the Light….Or Dark Lord?

At 9:30, in Little Whinging Surrey, a family sat down to a meal, not knowing that it was soon to be disrupted in the most unpleasant way. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, Uncle and Aunt to the boy-who-lived served a delicious dinner, when Harry Potter, so called Saviour of the Light, decided to show his dark powers.

"He's always been a nasty little creature," Says Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. "I remember meeting him for the first time. He was 12, and he just had this air of...dark magic about him."

Marge Dursley, the sister of the boy-who-lived's Uncle, was enjoying the meal, when suddenly she found herself floating in the air. Mr. Potter had obviously become bored with the muggles, and had decided to amuse himself, by practicing a sport that the You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters commonly practiced. Muggle baiting.

The Aurors explained that Mr. Potter had used wandless magic to blow his Aunt up. This is not meant literally, I assure you dear readers that the poor muggle was quite unharmed. The ministry did a fine job of wiping her memory and reversing the horrible charm.

Potter then ran from the scene of crime, and summoned the Knight Bus- and tried to use false pretences to get on the bus.

"He said he was Neville Long-whatever." Says Stan Shunpike, conductor of the Knight Bus. "But me and Ern- we know our' celebrities. And he just wiped his forehead, and one look at that scar, well it was Harry Potter all right!"

The Aurors attempted to apprehend the Dark fugitive at his old muggle school, but Potter escaped before they could do anything.

Now, dear readers, you may ask yourself the question- why would our previously loved hero suddenly turn dark? Why would he turn his back on his parents legacy, and their sacrifices? Nobody knows, but the Minister intends to find out. It is a well known fact that Sirius Black was Harry Potter's godfather- who knows what the murderer might have done to the Potter's before they were murdered?

A final warning, to everyone who knows Harry Potter. Look out for him. Do not trust him. And report any sight of him to the Ministry by waving your wand in a circular pattern and shouting 5048!

-Rita Skeeter

Ron read the article with growing confusion. 'Harry….dark? That isn't possible!'

Mrs Weasley, in the meantime was fussing around the redhead, her face pale. "I can't believe I ever thought of him as that 'poor boy'. Oh! And he came to this house last summer! Who knows what he might have done!" Mrs. Weasley looked positively faint by this stage.

Ron glared at his mother, feeling a sudden bout of loyalty to his friend. "Mum, be quiet! Harry's not dark! You'd be mad to think that! Who saved Ginny last year Mum? Harry! He's the best and most goodest-" Mrs. Weasley gave a slight protesting noise at the bad grammar but Ron continued regardless. "friend anyone could ever have! I can't believe that you would even think that Harry would do something like that! And his muggles, well relatives are just vile. Harry never really talks about them, but he said something about living in a cupboard- really mum!"

Ron ended his tirade, breathing heavily. Mrs Weasley looked at her son, a sad expression on her face.

"Ron… You forget that I fought against dark wizards. I should have known that….that boy was dark. I mean, the signs are all here!" She gestured wildly at the Daily Prophet. "I know it's hard to find out that your friend has betrayed you, but listen to who knows best. Minister Fudge and the Aurors. Come, let's get you a cup of tea and then I'm going to meet with a healer from St. Mungos. Who knows what kind of curses that thing might have put on you."

Ron deflated a bit, and his eyes looked rather watery. As his mother bustled out of his room, he gazed at the article once again. "You are wrong mum. Harry would never do that."

Harry lowered the hood of his oversized windbreaker. He was currently hiding in the tall grasses that surrounded the Burrow. He took a deep breath. Should he knock on the door?

Suddenly, the door to the Burrow opened. Harry quickly hid in the grass again, cautiously waiting to see who it was. To his relief, Ron appeared.

"Ron!" Harry whispered, urgently. "Ron!"

Ron looked around him, confused, but then spotted Harry hiding in the grass. He gasped.

"Harry!" He said, in a whisper. "What are you doing here?"

Harry gives him an odd look. "Well running away from my Aunt and Uncle, of course. What else did you think?"

Ron's face looks nervous, but he quickly hides it. "Harry…..the Daily Prophet ran an article about you. Said you blew up your Aunt. Is...is it true?"

Harry looked slightly guilty. "I feel really bad, Ron, honestly. It's just that she was saying stuff about my parents, how they were good for nothing nobodies. And….something inside me cracked, and the next thing I knew she was floating in the air." Harry grins at the memory. "To be honest, she deserved it. Anyway, I tried to run away- cause my Aunt and Uncle would probably lock me in my room and starve me for the rest of the holiday. So, I came here." Harry looks around him nervously. "I need to talk to Dumbledore. I don't want to be expelled Ron, for doing accidental magic. It was a mistake." Harry looks fearfully at his friend. "I can't stay at the Dursleys for the rest of my life without magic, Ron. I can't."

Ron looks at his friend, whose messy hair looked greasy, and his face pale. How could Harry, of all people, be dark? "Harry look, the Prophet said something about you being dark."

Harry's face turned red. "Wha-what?" He said, in the controlled manner that he often used just before he would fly into a rage. "I'm what?"

Ron grimaced. "They're saying that you turned your back on your parents sacrifices, and that you've plotting against the Ministry with Sirius Black."

Harry looks confused. "Sirius who?"

Ron waves the question away impatiently. "A Death Eater who escaped from prison."

Harry frowns. "I would never, ever ally myself with a Death Eater."

Ron grins. "I know mate, I know. But my mum believes that you are a Death Eater."

"What!?"

"Ok, look I've got to go back inside soon, otherwise Mom will get suspicious. But we'll get ahold of Dumbledore. There's an old shed in the backyard. Go there, alright? And whatever you do, don't use magic. Dad said that people under 17 have something called the trace, so the Ministry can track where you are."

Harry nods. "Ok Ron. Maybe we should talk to Hermione. She always knows what to do."

Ron's face brightens. "Perfect. I'll do that as soon as I finish my chores."

Harry sighs, and runs a hand through his hair. " This is going to be hard, isn't it Ron."

Ron pats his friend on the back, sympathetically. "Hermione will sort it out- Dumbledore will sort it out. Don't worry mate. I'll bring you lunch, ok?"

Harry nods dejectedly. "Alright."

End of first chapter! Reviews would be greatly appreiciated!