Harry Potter and the Refuge
by DaBear

This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter One
~~The Arrival~~

After giving Fred and George Weasley his TriWizard Tournament winnings of 1,000 Galleon, Harry good naturedly pushed the Weasley twins out of the trains' compartment. He had some things to do in private before he went to the Dursley's and unfortunately he only had a few minutes in which to do them. Shutting the compartment door after having a grin at the still unconscious forms of Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabb and Gregory Goyle, Harry pulled his robe off and after having opened up his trunk he folds the robe up and stuffed it inside. He then scrounged around inside of the trunk before pulling his Invisibility Cloak out from underneath his school books. Standing back up Harry let the slick silvery fabric flow through his fingers while he briefly considered just putting it on and avoiding the Hell that is his family, the Dursley's, altogether this year. Maybe he could stay in Diagon Alley again, at the Leaky Cauldron, spend his time studying at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, and browsing around in Quality Quidditch Supplies, just like in his summer before third year, after blowing up Auth Marge.

After having pushed that lovely daydream from his mind Harry held the cloak up and carefully folded it lengthwise until it resembled a sash rather then a cloak. He then pulled up his shirt and wrapped the cloak around his middle twice before he tucked its ends securely into his pants. After letting the shirt fall back down, he was; for once, grateful to his whale of a cousin, as he couldn't see any discernable difference in the way the shirt lay.

Harry then turned back to his trunk and the textbooks that are lying just under the robes Harry had just placed in there. Harry glanced out the compartment window and saw that the Weasley's were still on the platform saying their final goodbyes he quickly picked out both his Transfiguration and his Potions books. He then gave his wand a flick and with a muttered "Minutum," he shrunk both books and then he quickly lightened them as well with the Gravisarto charm that he and Hermione had run across in their frantic four days of study for the Third Task in the Library. Harry tucked them into his pocket now that they were the size and weight of a box of matches. Harry bent over and raised up the hem of his pants leg, he then stuck his wand down his sock so that if the Dursley's did take his trunk away from him this summer he would not be without his two most important magical items nor the books for his two most demanding classes.

He grinned in amusement as he noticed that he was wearing Dobby's Christmas presents, Quidditch socks, one green with Snitches and the other red with broomsticks. He had not been paying attention as he had dressed himself this morning, apparently. Harry chuckled to himself as he picked up one end of his trunk and opened the compartment door. He made sure to drag his truck across the three unconscious Slytherins as he exited the train.

Uncle Vernon was waiting beyond the barrier in King's Cross station. Mrs. Weasley was close by him. She hugged Harry very tightly when she saw him and whispered in his ear, "I think Dumbledore will let you come to us later in the summer. Keep in touch, Harry."

"See you, Harry," said Ron, clapping him on the back.

"Bye, Harry!" said Hermione, and she did something that she had never done before, and kissed him in the cheek.

"Harry - thanks," George muttered, while Fred nodded fervently at his side.

Harry winked at them, turned to Uncle Vernon and was surprised by a hand on his elbow. Turning back around, he saw Ginny Weasley standing before him blushing. He hadn't realized how tall she had grown over the school year. While not a very tall person himself this was the first time that he had found himself looking at her chin rather then he forehead. Before he could open his mouth to say anything to Ginny, she had ducked her head shyly and kissed him quickly on the cheek opposite from Hermione; then while managing to blush even redder then before and squeaked out a quite, "Bye, Harry," before she dashed off after her mother.

Harry touched his cheek lightly in wonder and stared after her, not believing that Ginny had gotten up the nerve to not only speak to him, but kiss him as well. Uncle Vernon harrumphed loudly from behind Harry and Harry smiled to himself while he turned back around to follow him from the train station.

Harry followed his Uncle Vernon out of King's Cross Station in Merry Old London, England in a much better mood then any he had been in since the 24th of June. Harry grinned to himself at Ginny's actions, while he could expect a peck on the cheek from Hermione as a friendly gesture, devoid of any romantic overtures, the same could not be said for the young Miss Weasley. Ginny's feelings for him were well known to Harry and, her predilection for singing cards aside, he felt that he could possibly return them. But, he had been at a loss on how to respond to her obvious feelings since his second year. His home life had left him without knowledge on how to deal with any emotions other then the negative, and even after four years Harry was still not used to Mrs. Weasley's hugs, he clenched up every single time. They felt good but he was so used to physical touches only bringing pain that he was afraid that he would never get over that initial flinch at contact. He had no clue on how to go about initiating anything and her shyness had stopped any advances from her side so they had been stuck in a limbo. He had noticed her of course, her hair made it rather hard not to, and he had realized that she was a very pretty girl, with her copper colored hair and slim body. He would have thought to ask her to the Yule Ball, after finding out that he had to go, except for the way that Ron had been acting this year Harry had wanted to avoid any further chances for arguments. Also the tendency for the twins to play pranks had made up Harry's mind that it would probably be safer to avoid Ginny and ignore his strange, mixed-up feelings that he had whenever seeing her.

Then, of course, he had noticed Cho, and she was as different from Ginny as night and day, while Ginny was rather tall now and had hair to rival the sun, Cho was smaller then Harry and her hair was black enough to shame a raven. Both equally pretty, yet different. Then he had found out Cho was going to the Ball with Cedric and after the events during the Third Task his brief attraction had died a horrid death along with Cedric.

Exiting the train station Harry was suddenly struck by the difference between the Muggle world and the Magical. Stepping through the barrier on Platform 9 ¾ was like waking up after the tornado in the movie 'The Wizard of Oz.' One world full of color, wonder and a feeling of life and magic and then there is the other; a drab and dreary world, seeming to lack the vitality and the simple and pure wonder that Harry has come to crave. Hermione doesn't seem to mind coming back to the Muggle world, but then again she didn't have to deal with a family as unimaginative and repressively Muggle as the Dursley's.

Harry just shook his head at that thought, and glanced up at his uncle Harry while thinking back to what Hagrid had said before the train ride; what would come, would come… and he would just have to meet it when it did.

Lugging his trunk up and into the boot of the car Harry went around and climbed into the back seat of his Uncle's car with Hedwig, and after placing her cage on the seat beside him Harry looked forward to see that his Uncle was frowning at the bird in the rear view mirror of the car. Vernon failed to say anything though to Harry about her as he started up the car and pulled out of the car park and pointed the car towards Little Whinging, Surrey.

Harry was staring out the window of the car and idly watching the landscape and buildings pass by while trying not to think of anything in particular, and the Third Task in specific, when his Uncle began to speak, "Listen up Boy, your Aunt and I spent some time over the this last year coming to a decision on what to do with you after the incident last summer." After looking in the rear view mirror to confirm that Harry was indeed listening to him Vernon continued, "We have decided that the best thing to do... is to ignore you since those… freaks won't let us get rid of you. So that's exactly what is going to happen. You will be left a list of chores each morning on the kitchen table, and you will have these chores done before five in the evening when I get back from the factory. Also, we will not be cooking you any food, and you will not be eating with us, you will cook your own meals with food that we have set aside for you and if you use all that up at breakfast you will not be getting any more for dinner. Furthermore, you will be locked in your room after supper. I don't care what weird and disgusting things you want to do in there as long as it doesn't smell, sound or the neighbors can see… that your doing you know what. We will not stand to hear anything about… your freakishness from the neighbors. Is that understood?" All this was said in a very calm and very even tone but Harry could see that the back of Vernon's neck was getting red. Harry nodded in understanding when his uncle again caught his eyes in the rear view mirror.

It was actually a better situation then he had hoped for, especially after the tonne-tongue taffy incident with their precious Dudleykinns. As long as he wasn't back in the cupboard under the stairs Harry felt that he should be able to deal with it.

"My sister Marge is here for the next week," Vernon continued. Harry rolled his eyes in frustration and sighed quietly. "And after talking about it we, Marge, your aunt and I, have come to the conclusion that it would be best for all involved if you were out of the house by next summer. We do not want you back after you leave this summer." Slashing his hand through the air he continued, "We will hear nothing more about you, your school, or your freakish friends ever again, do not come back and do not ever ask for anything ever again. Am I making myself clear?"

"As crystal," Harry said quietly while nodding his head. ~Nice to know I am loved isn't it?~ With his hand on Hedwig's cage and his fingers poking through the bars he started stroking her head feathers softly as he turned his head back around to view the passing scenery, refusing to give Vernon any response other then calm acceptance.

Vernon harrumphed again but Harry simply ignored him as he started to go over the letters of explanation that he will need to be writing to Headmaster Dumbledore, Sirius and the Weasley's tomorrow, in his head.

After arriving at 4 Privet Drive Harry was hustled upstairs while, to his disgruntlement, his Aunt Petunia pushed his trunk into the cupboard under the stairs before locking it in with a padlock. As Harry was turning back to his Uncle Vernon to ask why she was putting his things in the cupboard, Vernon continued to shove Harry up the stairs and said, "You'll get it back when Marge leaves in a week. You just be grateful we let you keep that ruddy bird in the house."

Upon reaching his room Vernon pushed Harry in roughly, "I don't want to see, or hear from you till tomorrow at breakfast, is that understood, Boy?" He then slammed the door shut and Harry could hear him stomping off down the stairs.

Sighing to himself Harry set Hedwig's' cage on the battered desk and opened the cage up, after he offered her his arm to hop out onto, Harry stared at his room in resignation while softly stroking Hedwig's feathers. She nipped at his hand in affection and then bumping him with her head she turned around on his arm and leapt up and fluttered over and on top of her cage where she stared around at the room, her eyes large. After surveying the room twice she blinked at him, briefly nodded her head once before hooting softly, almost to herself, and closed her eyes to settle down for a nap.

Harry laughed to himself at Hedwig's antics and then reached into his pocket for his spell books and after taking them out he bent over to retrieve his wand... before stopping mid-motion.

"Oh, bloody hell." Standing back up he stared at the books, which were no larger then a matchbook, for a second before sighing and smacking himself on the forehead. "I can't unshrink the bloody things without getting a letter from the Ministry." His shoulders drooped in despair at this major hole in what was his brilliant plan to keep his items over the summer, he could only desperately hope that he was allowed to go to the Burrow later on or he would not be able to do his summer homework for Transfiguration, or worse yet, Potions. Stuffing the books back into his pocket Harry sat mournfully on the bed before taking off his glass and then lying back he threw his arm over his eyes and tried to fall into sleep while in the background Ripper barked incessantly downstairs.

Harry's restlessness had made sleep difficult and his latest attempt was interrupted by a noise coming from the downstairs. It wasn't a loud noise but the house had been quite for the last few hours since Dudley had turned off his tele and gone to bed, so the noise stood out against the backdrop of the quite household. Drawing his arm back from over his face Harry strained his ears to discern the origin of the out of place noise. After a brief second he heard it again, a clicking noise, as of someone in healed shoes was walking across the kitchen floor downstairs. Harry's eyes widened in dismay as he attempted to convince himself that it was just Ripper making the noise, that the dog had just gotten himself lose and was running around downstairs. The noise was not Death Eaters and he was trying to convince himself that hanging around Professor Moody… er, Barty Crouch Jr. had made him just a tad bit paranoid, as he heard the sound again. He was attempting to convince himself of all these things but while doing this he was also slipping his glasses onto his nose and after glancing at the clock and seeing it say 2:20 in the morning he slipped from the bed as stealthfully as possible and bending over he pulled his wand out from his sock. He crept over to the door while muttering to himself "It's just the blasted dog, Potter, that's all it is, just the dog."

Slowly and cautiously he tried to open the door before realizing that Vernon must have locked him in. Realizing that if he used Alohamora and it turned out to be the dog he could get expelled from Hogwarts he was puzzled on how he was to check out the sound, before remembering the present from Sirius, the pocketknife.

After pulling it out of his pocket he tucked his wand under his arm before trying to figure out which arm was the one to open the door, the twins had helped him familiarize himself with his pocketknife but Harry was still a little bit sketchy on some of them. Finally finding the right one after a minute he gets the bedroom door unlocked he opened it just a crack after having listened for a few seconds. Looking up and down the upstairs hallway he fails to see anything moving around and was about to open the door further to go and check the downstairs, when, coming up the stairs, he saw the top of a black hood with a bone white mask shadowed underneath.

Spells and other Odd words:
1) minutum : To less, diminish, decrease, grow smaller
2) gravisarto : from gravis; heavy, weighty, and arto; to press together, reduce, abridged.