Summary: Harry Potter ran away from the Dursleys at the age of six, shortly after discovering magic. Now, 9 years later, he is found to be living in America. Of course being the hero that Harry is, he will immediately go to England and rid the world of all dark wizards, right? Not so fast.

A/N This story will be taking place in the present, because I keep getting J.K Rowling's dates confused. So Harry would have been born in 1990.

Chapter One

Little Whinging, Surrey, England, June 25, 1996

Harry Potter was cleaning. Again. This was the fourth day since school had gotten out since the summer and the only things that he had done the whole time were clean the house, weed the garden, and cook the meals. His guardians, The Dursleys, weren't his biggest supporters often treating Harry as though he was a slave. Today, he had finally reached the last room of the house he had to clean. However, it would also be the hardest. Today, Harry was cleaning out the vast attic of Number Four, and was supposed to sort all the boxes and items into piles according to what they did or were for. Harry had almost finished after several hours of extremely exhausting hard work when he saw one final trunk in the corner, covered in so much dust that he could hardly make out the name, Lily Evans, on it. Harry was shocked. Was there finally something that had belonged to his mother in this house telling him about her? Now, Harry was quite smart for his age as well as quite cunning. Being left on his own by his guardians so much had made Harry grow up very quickly. Thus he quickly resolved to hide the trunk in his bedroom, or his cupboard depending on your point of view until he could open the trunk and investigate its contents without the threat of the Dursleys finding out about it. He quickly brought the trunk downstairs and shoved it into the cupboard, before going to find his Aunt Petunia to see what unmanageable task she had come up with for him this time.

Harry finally made it back to his cupboard after having to only cook dinner for the whales masquerading as humans that were his uncle and cousin, and for his aunt. Once inside, Harry waited several hours before he was sure the Dursleys had gone upstairs to open the trunk. Harry found himself unable to guess what could possibly be in side and was thus shocked to find on top of a bunch of books and envelope which said, "Read me First". Deciding to follow the instructions and read whatever was inside, Harry was shocked when a piece of parchment fell out.

Harry,

If you are reading this, my son, then I fear the worst has happened. James and I are dead and you have been sent to live with your Aunt. Harry if she is treating you fine, then ignore the latter contents of this letter. But first, Harry, I wish to tell you how sorry I am to be unable to tell you this in person or to see you grow up or to see any of the great things that you will have accomplished in life.

Now, Harry you must let go of all thoughts you have about magic now, for what I am about to tell you will shock you. Harry, I am a witch, James is a wizard, and you are a wizard. We are all able to do magic. There is another underground world made up of witches and wizards. We conduct ourselves in much the same way as muggles, or non-magic people with our government being the Ministry of Magic. We have schools where everybody goes to learn how to control their magic, such as Hogwarts where your father and I both went. Basically, Harry, there is a hidden world which you are a part of. Now this is the part of the letter that you should ignore if Petunia is treating you fine. However if she is not, read on. Harry, I have always feared that Albus Dumbledore, a friend of ours and the headmaster of Hogwarts, would go against our wishes and place you with the Dursleys where I fear that they may at the very least neglect you. Therefore in the case that such a scenario should happen, I have made preparations. This letter will turn into a portkey, which is one way to get around in the magical world, and take you to Boston in America. It should deposit you into the house of another friend of mine, who will be able to help you get settled. After that Harry, I suggest that you learn as much magic on your own as possible until Dumbledore finds you, in order to return to England. However I must insist that you keep going to muggle school. Harry, the password for the portkey is Magic. Say magic after you have gathered all your belongings and are ready to leave for your new life.

With love,

Your mother

To say Harry was shocked after this would be an understatement. It was finally the opportunity he had been waiting for. He was able to escape the Dursleys! Gathering up all of his clothes, which was 2 shirts and one pair of jeans, Harry grabbed the trunk and the letter. Taking one final look around his bedroom for the last five years, Harry uttered the word that would send him into another chapter of his life. "Magic".