Prologue: Get What You Give

Harry's POV

You would think that vanishing from a society that is quite literally hidden from the regular world would be a task only achievable by someone who could slip away from even the most effective intelligence agencies. You would think a kid who is only fourteen would never be that skilled and would need to outsource and end up caught in the act and then subsequently questioned as to why he is trying to leave. Neither of those things turned out to be true in any form. As well hidden as they might have been finding a way out was fairly easy, and considering most of the society didn't even know that the outside world had evolved well beyond just inventing electricity it wasn't too surprising to see how a fourteen-year-old could manage to get away. One would ask just why a fourteen-year-old would even want to escape to the outside world, especially when you take into account the secret society they were currently in was a magical one.

A magical world that had cost him his parents by allowing a madman to continue his reign of terror and forcing adults, who the majority of weren't even in the police forces, to fight back against the man and his followers and end up being executed for their trouble before the man turned his attention to himself. On top of that while the old man who had an amazing amount of power wasn't totally to blame for the lack of honest attempts against the madman, the government should have acted, however, what was the man's fault was the fact that someone was getting unfettered access to his account, and while his families account was locked down and unable to be accessed by anyone aside from him once he turned eighteen, he still couldn't trust the man to do what he was supposed to do, keep him or anyone safe. He had a suspicion it was said old man or one of his cronies, but all the Goblins were able to trace was where the money went after transfer, of course, while they couldn't care is one human stole from another they were outraged it was being done in their own institution.

As luck would have it one of the constitutional rights they were given after the war was the unilateral control and ability to do whatever was necessary to ensure that the accounts of ancient families those with prominence were safe and secure and that any action can be taken to guarantee their monies were safe. He was able to retrieve a majority of the lost monies but the fact the action happened in the first place, with the inclusion of the fact his friends had broken away from him due to the tournament, made him finally give up on the possibility that this world was any different than the last. Plenty of times before when he was young he had dealt with Vernon demanding things unreasonably, theft of his own money whatever he made around the suburbs, and he had learned the man was gaining a stipend to take care of him, and disregarding the order inside to use the money however he wished.

After having known all that he was excited to go to a new world so to speak, a place that would hopefully be new and wonderful, someplace that hadn't already lost his trust. However, in only a few years he had already been proven wrong, it was a little surprising that a new world needed such a short time to prove him wrong. Before he had found this world he had been on the brink of giving up on being able to honestly do anything but with this action he found himself so far over the line he couldn't see it anymore. If they wanted to steal from him, that's fine, he would steal from them and he would continue to do so until they found themselves penniless and wondering just why they lost it all, and in the end, he'd have all the money he would need to find a little happiness. Of course getting as far away from the world as possible was the first thing he needed to do, but being fourteen made it a tad difficult to do, until learning that in the wider known world he was already emancipated with the death of his parents, it didn't kick into effect until his fourteenth birthday, in order to ensure he was mature enough to make good choices.

Of course, his little meeting with the Goblins did help to explain some of that too him. It being without any controlling elements like his aunt or even Dumbledore's Ilk, for obvious reasons, made his experience much easier to handle, and keep secret although that was an obvious benefit. Although he could admit the room he had been in when he was meeting with his family account manager was something to be desired, ignoring the very costly looking desk and chair the rest of the room was sparse aside from several different weapons hanging in the room denoting the Goblins obvious battle experience. He wasn't really surprised by that revelation and it was on that note that he found himself staring at the weapons in curiosity and wondering just how much use each weapon had over the years they had been sitting on those racks.

"Mr. Potter, If I could regain your attention, we have much to discuss as far as your plans." Rockjaw said his lips in a frown as he stared intently at him.

"Right, Sorry." He said getting a small nod in return.

"As far as your accounts are concerned that is fairly simple, you will have minor access, until you reach the age of seventeen. Also should any legal trouble come in the Muggle world you need not be concerned, with you monies being in the magical world they cannot be seized." Rockjaw said slowly seeing him smile a bit.

"What about the Emancipation and further than that going unnoticed in the muggle world?" He asked getting a small grin.

"Your emancipation is a fairly simple thing, these dcuments you will sign and the copies will be sent to the Ministry to be offcialy recognized, we will also be sending the documents to the muggle side of things, it may take a few days for the process to finish. You may also require a signature from your current guardians notating they are disolving all responsibility of you." Rockjaw explained making him nod slowly as he took the document.

"The muggle world issue?" He asked getting a roll of the eyes from the Goblin.

"We do not normally concern ourselves with your rules and how your ministry is run, aside from relations, however we have researched this exstensively for our own purposes. The ministry catches those in the act of using magic around muggles using Muggle intelligence agencies and the media to find the magical issue at hand and using magic to find out the perpetrator and then wipe the memories from the minds of those who witnessed it as well as suppressing the media's release of the article." Rockjaw explained making him nod slowly.

"So what you are saying is that so long as I am not obvious about the usage and dont attract media attention I will be fine with using it after the trace has been lifted?" He asked getting a short nod.

"Once the Ministry recognizes the emancipation we will begin the ritual on your wand to lift it's trace." Rockjaw explained making him relax a bit.

"Well it's been a pleasure." He said getting a small chuckle and nod.

"Good luck Mister Potter." Rockjaw said as he left them man to his work.

With all of that in mind he took as much money as he could out of his trust account and converted it to pounds, he figured it would at least be enough to get him set up in some place far away. That someplace being North Yankton, United States. Well as close to the state as possible, since most towns were too small to have an international airport he had to fly in from a state to the south and decided that the perfect way to disappear would be to go to a state where the towns are small, everyone knows everyone, and with it being that way, would be the last place to ever expect or look for someone. Which would explain why he was sitting on a plane with headphones in his ears for a cd player and leaned back in the chair trying to relax. He ignored the curious looks he got from most of the people on board and held his backpack in his hands tightly. It is the only thing carrying quite literally all of his money, or at least all of what he was allowed to take. He had already called ahead with plans to buy a small little house on the outskirts of the city of Ludendorff.

Aside from setting up a house, he knew well enough that the government would be on his ass if he didn't decide to sign up for school, and while starting at muggle school didn't sound all that interesting or even remotely what he wanted to do, it was better than nothing especially since he could at least take the fast track to become a citizen by finishing school and using the opportunity to separate himself from his old life. It was actually a little liberating just to be on the plane, while he abandoned his place in his school and turned his back on his friends, he still felt like he was finally taking his life into his own hands. He opened his eyes as he felt a hand touch his shoulder for a moment.

"Young man, would you like something to drink?" A flight attendant asked standing behind a cart.

"Uh sure, a water." He said having the bottle handed over quickly. He handed over the required amount of money and watched her walk away.

"So what are you on this plane for? Don't you got family?" A man to his left asked.

"Yeah I'm returning back home to them, they are supposed to meet me at the airport." He said lying through his teeth as he looked over at the guy.

"Huh, never expected a kid to be by themselves though." The guy said making him laugh slightly.

"Yeah, it was an interesting little trip they wanted me to take, see some family back in England." He said quickly getting a small shrug.

"Eh, whatever." The guy said before turning back to his side and seemingly dropping into sleep almost instantly.

He shrugged slightly and relaxed back in his seat He figured where ever he ended up probably couldn't be nearly as bad as where he was before, at least the smallest improvement would be the lack of his relatives or a world that wanted to blatantly use him in any form the could at the time. That thought actually made him fairly happy with his choice even if it meant starting over from the ground up and having to just disappear without any word to those who he thought might be on his side.

Sirius came to mind but he was a little weary since the man got out of twelve years of a prison that would be considered unethical and highly disturbing to the wider known world, and due to that he couldn't trust the man not to spill to someone, not on his side, Remus was fairly well known for trusting Dumbledore a little too much. Aside from the man's obvious choice in who to side with he doubted Remus would be willing to accept his newfound look on how to deal with problems and the fact that certain laws or moral leanings were willing to be thrown out the window in order for him to both live and continue having his freedom. He had heard the whole an eye for an eye quite and he snorted in amusement at the stupidity of the quote. Letting someone walk all over you and abuse trust or their position was one of the things he had come to hate more than anything else.

Hell, he liked his relatives more than those who abused their power or believed they could walk all over him, aside from Vernon at least the man did both and was no way near above his hatred for others who did the same.

"If everyone would please fasten their seatbelts and raise their seats to the upright positions we will be coming in for a landing shortly." A voice said over an intercom just loud enough to sound over his headphones.

He pulled them down and let them sit around his neck before blinking in surprise for a second as the plane shook a little rough for a moment. He tensed a bit before a few minutes blew by and he could feel the tires touch down and relaxed as the plane slowly reduced speed before slowly making its way across the taxi towards the arrival gates. He smiled slightly as he walked off the plane and relaxed as he grabbed his checked luggage.

He pulled out his new phone and clicked through the keys filtering through his contacts until the realtor agents number was highlighted.

"Mr. Potter, I was so very surprised when the money came through from your accountant and you managed to pay for the small home in full, how may I help you?" The man asked a little excited.

"I just arrived at South Yankton International Airport, I was wondering who I should call in order to get a ride to the home." He said getting a small laugh.

"Dont even worry about it, I'll have a cab come by and pick you up, the trip from the airport to your house shouldn't cost too much for you, and it should only take you an hour or two to arrive." The Realtor said making him nod slowly.

"Alright, well how long should I wait at arrivals?" He asked getting a small sigh.

"The cab company normally has a few cabs near the area, they shouldn't be more than a few minutes." The Realtor said before the line cut out and he sighed lowering the phone.

He waited in silence as people moved around exiting and entering cars around him. He looked up as a horn honked and he saw a cab waiting with the cabby sitting in the driver's seat. He walked to the back and dropped the large luggage trunk into the trunk of the car before slipping into the back seat.

"So we're heading to 1572 Suffice Street in Ludendorff, North Yankton?" The cabby asked making him nod to the man who threw the car in gear and pulled out of the airport at a much higher rate of speed than he was normally used too.

"Don't worry kid, we'll be there within an hour an a half no need to take to much time, after all, I doubt you would like to sit in a car for too long." The cabby said with slight amusement making his eyebrows raise in surprise before nodding with a small smile.

Time flew by much faster than normal and he could tell that they went into the colder regions, while there wasn't any snow due to it being the beginning of spring and it had mostly melted away.

"Well here we are sir, have a good day and don't forget to call our company should you ever need a ride." The man said as he stepped out and removed his trunk. He watched the car leave quickly and sighed before turning around towards the house and shrugged to himself.

It was a little beat up, it certainly wasn't big either but the place was nice by comparison to some of the other places his Realtor could have suggested. It was also already furnished and the heat was on so he knew the moment he went inside it would warm enough for him. He tossed open the door cringing slightly at the pastel yellow color on the walls and made a mental note to recolor the walls at a later date as he dropped the trunk in the living room for the moment before climbing the stairs shedding his suits near the front door. He held his wand in his hand for a moment before shrugging and sliding it back up his sleeve. He slipped into the master bedroom and smiled at the massive bed inside.

As much as he wished he could have just switched to another magical school that would be far too obvious, and he wasn't too bothered to be throwing away magic, he was used to living a life without it before, he could become used to it again, besides he could always practice on his own. The trace wasn't able to work outside of a certain area on the planet established for that Ministry, and he highly doubted the American Ministry if there still was a large enough force, would even bother with him, if they could even detect his wand, he wasn't too sure if the trace could transfer ministries and he had doubts since it seems a little impossible, with how many people used magic if ever ministry could detect magic usage somewhere across the world, those ministries would be in a virtual hell since the report would go to every one.

He was about to drop on the bed before he noticed a small folded letter with a wax seal and sighed to himself before letting the wand slip into the open drawer of the nightstand on the left side of the bed. He opened the letter and quickly read through it a small smile on his face growing a bit as the one thing he asked of the Goblins to do before he left was taken care of. He dropped the letter to the side as he leaned back on the bed before feeling something sitting to his right and grabbed it before raising an eyebrow as it was a remote to a tv. He blinked in surprise as a noise came from a large cabinet across the room aimed at the bed and opened the doors seeing a tv inside playing a show. He smiled a bit as he relaxed into the bed mindlessly watching the show without a care in the world. He couldn't remember when he fell asleep but waking up the next day confused as to where he was before everything from yesterday and his whole plan came back to him.

He grinned brightly as he rushed down the steps into the kitchen and ruffled through the cabinet and grabbed something easy to eat, while not being so boring as just cereal. The only reason he had it was because he knew there would be a day he would be too tired or something to make anything, but he felt great and eggs and bacon were pretty easy to make. He enjoyed the food in the silence as he walked around the house getting used to everything inside the house. He tried remembering where each room was and before too long found himself back in the living room where another tv was waiting turned off. He should probably go out and see the town to learn where everything was as well as where the school he was going to be going to was. On the other hand, he could do what he really wanted to do and simply relax around the house putting it off for tomorrow.

'Besides I've got a few months until the next school year starts up, and this will be the first time I won't be going to school with summer homework.' He thought to himself. 'I could get used to this.' He thought as the tv played its mind-numbing programming.

'On top of having quite a bit of money right now, at least enough to last a good few years without to much concern if I am careful, the Goblins went and managed to get all my money back, as well as a few little surprises in the vaults of those who had my money. Even though I wanted to press the Goblins for the information on who took it all it was probably best for me not to push them too much.' He thought before sighing and fiddling with a small stack of money.

He had never really seen much need for it early on until he found out its true use, and while the amount he had could hold him over, it wasn't bad to have more, the only problem being his lack of job or skills. He looked up as a small news real played interrupting his channel about a group who decided to rob a small bank for several thousand dollars. He blinked as a small idea came over him. He wasn't averse to committing crimes like theft, he had done it several times to Vernon or people on the street when he needed a bit of money to buy his own food when they would keep him from eating for a week.

'Well, now I have some Idea, how to start.' He thought leaning back.

A/N: So this is a bit of a rewrite to see how the new writing style goes, it was suggested by a reviewer and I will say it works well enough. On top of that, I added in some more detail to this chapter to assist in going further to explain certain aspects that weren't explained the last time. like why the Ministry won't just find him if he uses magic, as well as where the trace went, what's going on with his accounts and just a general time point where he met his Goblin accountant to get all of that taken care of.