AN: this is rewriting and combining the two France? stories. Content hasn't changed.

Summer , just before Harry's 10th birthday

'Petunia, I'm home!' Shouted Vernon Dursley as he walked into number 4 private drive. 'Where's my boy?

'Dudders is out with Piers, he should be back soon.'

'And him?'

'Cupboard.' She said, jerking her head in the direction of Harry's home.

'I have some wonderful news for you my pet, a way we can escape from all this freakishness...'

'We are not abandoning the boy again Vernon... you do remember what happens every time you try that?

*Flashback*

Summer just after Harry's eighth birthday

Vernon had driven out to the countryside late at night with Harry. After making sure he was miles away from anywhere, he took Harry out of the car, ordered him to never come home and swiftly drove away.

'He's gone, Pet, we never have to worry about any of this freakishness again.'

The next day.

Vernon awoke in the morning to the smell of bacon frying.

'Boy! What have you done!'

'I d-d-don't k-know U-uncle Vernon... I was j-just making your b-b-reakfast'

At this, Uncle Vernon grabbed young Harry by the arm, and roughly escorted him to his cupboard, where he would remain for the remainder of the day.

When he closed the door, he could see Petunia with a confused, almost pitying expression on her face.

'I thought we had managed to squash this freakishness out of him, Pet...'

'We can't Vernon...'

'I'll find a way, something will be able to do it, I will not have him going to that crackpot of a school, he does not have...magic...magic does not exist!'

*end flashback*

'No, not abandoning him, I have tried that too many times, his freakishness prevents it. No, I have been offered a promotion to manager in a different branch. It does mean we have to move though.'

'Oh, how wonderful!' Petunia said smiling. 'Move? Where to?'

'France. I have found this wonderful seaside house we can move to, and there is small local primary school nearby.'

'France...France!' I though you meant maybe down to Devon or somewhere, but France!?'

'It will be an experience for Dudley, and we will have much more money.'

'But what about Harry?'

'Harry? Oh the boy... he will have to come with us I suppose, it's not like we will be able to get rid of him..'

'But what about his mother's protection?'

'His mother is dead Petunia. I really don't think her protection will do anything for him now. And even if it did exist, I doubt moving house would affect it...'

'What about Dumbledore?'

'Who? Oh the supposed headmaster of this Pigwarts. He won't be able to find us in France... you should tell Dudley about the move, I'm sure he will be excited.'

Later on in the day

'...So we have found a lovely house Dudders, with plenty of space for us to live, and there is a nice school for you to go to. We will have a lot more money as Daddy is going to be the manager! Won't that be nice?!'

'What about him? Is he coming with us?'

Petunia looked at her son, and nodded her head. 'Yes, he is sweetums...'

'But I don't want him to! Mummy why does he have to ruin everything?!' Dudley began to bawl, tears filling his eyes.

'Ssh, ssh, Dudders. Look, there are 4 bedrooms there, that's enough for mummy and daddy to have their room, for you to have your two rooms like you do here, and you can also have a games room! Won't that be nice!?'

At this, Dudley's eyes miraculously dried, and he looked up at his mother smiling.

'I can't wait to go! Will I be able to get a new computer to go in my games room?'

'I'm sure we would be able to do that. What colour would you like your rooms Dudders?'

Harry was sat on his mattress under the stairs, listening to his aunt and cousin talk.

'And freak will get his wonderful room under the stairs, painted in a wonderful concrete colour. But in a different country.' He muttered darkly under his breath. 'At least the children there won't know about Harry Hunting. For a while at least.' Harry sighed, and left his cupboard to go and make the Dursley's dinner.

One month later.

Number 4 privet drive was packed up, moving boxes littered the halls, and 3 large piles of suitcases were sat outside. Vernon, Petunia and Dudley Dursley were walking out the front door, to go to lunch before they left for France. As Vernon left, he yelled back at Harry, 'you had better have packed all our stuff before we get back, freak!'

Harry sighed, and turned to pick up the first of many suitcases, before wheeling it down the drive to the moving van that was parked next to uncle Vernon's car. This short journey was repeated many times, until all of his aunt, uncle, and cousin's belongings were out of the house. He then ventured back into the house, to find his belongings. As he had not been given a suitcase, he placed his meagre possessions inside his pillow case. He only had a few items of clothes, that had previously been Dudley's, and few odd memories he had picked up, such as shells from the only time he went to the beach, and school books, that he had hidden from his family. This was also placed in the van, before a tired Harry returned to the house for the last time, to wait for his family to return from their meal.

'Boy! Where are you?'

'Here, U-Uncle Vernon.' Harry quietly said as he walked out the house.

'Have you packed everything? Is it all in the van?'

'Yes Uncle Vernon..'

'Well, get into the car then! And don't make a sound for the whole journey.'

'Yes Uncle Vernon.'

The family drove to Dover to catch their ferry. Dudley sat stuffing his face with sweets, whilst Petunia and Vernon talked about their new home. Harry, meanwhile, sat quietly, staring out of the spotlessly clean window, wondering if his life was going to be any different in France. Just over an hour later they arrived at Dover Wharf, where Uncle Vernon showed the officials the paperwork for their journey, before driving the car onto the ferry, closely followed by the moving van.

'Okay, we can leave the car here, and go and get a drink. The journey should only take an hour.' Said Petunia as she opened her door. 'Come on then.'

'You can stay here, freak' spat Uncle Vernon as he strode away with his wife and son. Harry, who had left the car, hoping to be able to get a drink, stood still.

'Of course, freaks don't deserve nice things.' Harry whispered to himself. 'But I have an hour for myself, I'm not going to stay here.' After waiting to make sure that his family had definitely left, he decided to wander off by himself.

Harry was wandering the corridors of the ferry when he came upon a small room, in which were some comfortable chairs and a few books. A sign upon the wall, saying ' free, please take' highlighted a pile of booklets, titled 'Basic french for beginners'. Picking up a copy, Harry curled up in a blue chair, and began reading. 'I may as well be able to understand my new classmates.' He thought.

Around quarter of an hour later, a tall woman walked in the door. 'James?' She asked.

Harry looked up, shocked and scared. The woman was looking at him, confusion written in her brown eyes. 'No, not James, but you look so much like him. And those are Lily 's eyes. Are you their son?'

'You knew my parents?'

'Yes, I was in the same year as them at school, but a Ravenclaw. My name is Mara.'

'Ravenclaw?'

'Yes, we were friends although we were in different houses. Why are you here, are you going on holiday?'

'No, I am moving house, we are going to live in Dieppe, in France.' Harry didn't know why he was telling her this, but he felt like he could trust her.

'I would like to stay in contact with you, I live in France, and I could tell you about your parents.'

'Yes please! ...I don't know what my new address or telephone number is though. And my uncle probably won't let me use the phone, or let me have any stamps...' Mara was confused at this, but dismissed it, not wanting to upset Harry.

'Here, I'll write down my address and give you some stamps.'

'Really? You don't have to, I don't want you to spend money on me.'

'You are the son of Lily and James, if I want to spend money on you, then I will.'

Mara wrote down her address on a piece of paper, and gave it to Harry along with some stamps. They then began talking, with Mara telling Harry story of how she met his parents.

Half an hour later, Harry leapt up.

'I'm so sorry Mara, but I must go, I need to get back to the car before we arrive.'

'Okay. Wait, what do you want me to call you?'

'My uncle calls me either boy or freak, you can choose from one of them! Sorry, bye!'

Harry ran out the door, racing towards where the cars were.

'Boy or freak? I thought his name was Harry? Freak? Who is he living with, for them to disrespect him that much. By Merlin, he's the boy who lived! I'm going to have to do some investigations..'

Harry arrived back at the car, panting and out of breath, but thankful that his family weren't back yet. He sat on the floor outside the car, stashing the booklet, paper and stamps into the pocket of his trousers, so they wouldn't be seen. 5 minutes later a warning came on from the speakers on the ferry 'WE WILL BE ARRIVING IN FRANCE IN 10 MINUTES, PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR VEHICLES'. A few moments later, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley returned to the car. Once the ferry had docked, they followed other cars into France, then began the drive to their new house.

Upon their arrival, the Dursleys and Harry left to explore their new home. Harry followed the family around, seeing the kitchen, living room, study, bathroom, and bedrooms. Upon seeing Dudley's large three rooms, he wondered where he would have the pleasure of living. However the family were too busy helping Dudley decide what colour to paint the door to his second bedroom. So Harry decided to leave them, and explore by himself. Here, the cupboard under the stairs was a pantry, so he couldn't live there, food was too important to the Dursleys... There was however, a cellar, which was accessed through a door in the downstairs corridor. Upon exploring it, he found that it had no determined use, and also had a hidden exit to the garden. He hoped to 'encourage' his uncle to let him live in there. The garden was quite big, which meant more work for him to do, but had a path which led to the sea. When he returned to the Dursleys, they had decided on a colour for Dudley's doors and rooms.

'There you are, freak! Start bringing in our bags'

Harry began to begin the repetitive task of bringing in the Dursley's personal belongings, whilst the delivery men brought in the heavy furniture, under the watchful eye of Vernon Dursley. Once Harry had finished, he managed to find the courage to ask his Uncle where he would be living.

'You, boy, can live in the cellar. There is a mattress down there already. We will want dinner at the usual time, there should be some food in the kitchen.'

Harry left his uncle to go and settle into his new home. The spare furniture, a cabinet, wardrobe, desk and chair, had been placed into the cellar, meaning he had a few places to put his things. Once he had rearranged the furniture, he removed the paper and stamps Mara had given him from his pocket, and placed them into a drawer. The French booklet was placed on top of the cabinet. He then returned upstairs, to see what there was that he could cook for the Dursleys.

After rummaging around in the cupboards, Harry managed to find and cook tea. He then had to listen to the Dursleys eat it, as he cleaned the kitchen. However, as he expected he would not be offered any food, Harry packaged up the leftovers, and quickly smuggled them down to his room to eat later. Upon his return, he had to serve the Dursleys their dessert, which consisted of chocolate cake, which again, he was not offered any, as Dudley had finished whatever was left.

'Tomorrow Dudders, we will go and buy you some new clothes for the primary school. We don't need to buy uniform, as they do not have any, so you will be able to wear whatever you want.'