I don't own Harry Potter but I do own my feet.
NEED TO KNOW ∞ Takes Place after Order of the Phoenix ∞ WARNING implied sexual relations, some strong language
Those who really desire to attain an independence, have only set their minds upon it, and adopt the proper means, as they do in regard to any other object which they wish to accomplish, and the thing is easily done. – P. T. Barnum
Independence Day
Chapter 1: Thinking can be Telling
Harry was lying on his back staring at a crack in the ceiling above the bed; he was laying on in his cousin's second bedroom at Number 4 Privet Drive Little Whinging, Surry. Thinking. He did that a lot lately; of course he didn't have anything else to do. His darling relative had locked him up the second they had returned home. Thanks to Moody, Lupin, Tonks, and Mr. Weasley threatening them to treat him better or else. Yeah, according to the Dursley's locking him up with little food was treating him better than making him do endless chores with little food. And, what do you know, it was kind of in a twisted way better, of course it would be hard to treat him worse.
Or else, what an extraordinarily broad threat they used. They could have, should have made it specific. Treat Harry nicely or we will defenestrate you. That had a nice ring to it, but he doubted the Dursley's would recognize it for what it was, a threat to through them out the window. On the other hand they should have come up with something better than or else because that was nothing; he knew and so did they. Sure it kept the Dursley's away from him. But, he knew it was temporary.
Sooner or later Uncle Vernon would realize it was nothing more than an empty threat, and then Harry would be in trouble. He would be punished for trying to trick them never mind that he didn't threaten them or even ask that they be threatened. No, that didn't matter. What mattered was that sooner or later he was going to be beaten, badly.
Especially because Uncle Vernon would decide that it was Harry that wanted to get out of doing chores, and it was because he was a no good lazy brat that the family had been threatened. Oh, poor precious dinky doody poopy Dudley. But, for now he had no chores to do and plenty of time to think. So that's what he did. Think.
One of the things he came to realize in his solitary confinement was that his life sucked. Plain and simple. Anytime something good happened something worse would follow. What's that saying? Life's a bitch then you die? Yup, that rang true for him.
Next thing he realized was that it wasn't his fault. He was a kid as everyone insisted on pointing out and kids were supposed to screw up, but then they had parents to clean up the mess. Even other orphans had adults in their lives that were willing to help them out of sticky situations.
But, he didn't. Not anymore. Not too long ago he had Sirius Black his godfather, but then the other shoe fell and so did his godfather, right threw the curtain of doom or Veil of Death as the Unspeakables call it, Harry thought cynically.
He still felt raw from the grief just thinking about Sirius made him want to ball his eyes right out of their sockets, but there was one problem with that he couldn't cry. He learned when he was little not to cry there was no point he just got yelled at or beaten harder for being an annoying little sissy boy. After so long of not crying it seems as though his tear ducks have shriveled up into nothing, and now it was impossible to cry.
Well, that was beside the point. The point was that he had come to a conclusion. His life needed to change, and he had to be in charge of it, take responsibility for the things that went wrong and fix them. The question was how to do that.
He knew his Headmaster Albus Brian Sam Mathew John Luke Paul Dumbledore, okay he knew that wasn't his real name but really how many names does one guy need, had people stationed outside to "guard" him.
That was another interesting thought why did he needed guarded if he was there because of some sort of ancient magic that required blood relatives, ancient magic that supposedly protected him from all evil doers.
His Headmaster did several things that didn't add up. Like this past year "I pushed you away because I love you" sniffle, sniffle. No, he didn't buy that. You don't push someone away because you care, you pull them closer. So, close they never leave your sight if need be. You push people away because you don't want them to know what you're doing, or because you don't want them at all. The fact was there where thousands of reasons to push people away but only two to bring them closer, they're your friends or they're your enemies.
What Harry needed to do in order to take control of his own life was get to Gringotts. Money makes the world go round. Having money lets you do things that you otherwise wouldn't be able to do. Now to get to Gringotts he would need to sneak past his guard and that wouldn't work if Moody was on duty, damn that eye. Luckily Harry knew that he most likely came on Friday nights. He had no proof and it would be a risk.
It would be impossible for him to determine who was guarding him and when. Sure, there were those that would be easy to determine like Mundungus Fletcher, but most would be able to be discrete enough to at least hide their identity if not their location.
Today was Wednesday and hopefully he would be lucky enough to escape unnoticed as it would be a low risk night, Harry thought smirking to himself.
a/n: Brownie points to whoever can tell me what P. T. Barnum is known for.
