Chapter One: Running

Harry groaned as he struggled to wake up and pushed himself up off the lumpy mattress on which he had slept for the night. He looked over at Ron and Hermione sleeping on the bed next to him as yesterday's events came back to him. He groaned again and set about waking his companions, who were just as tired as him. Finally, after threatening to get a bucket of cold water, all three of them were awake.

"Look we need to talk," he began.

"Oh no, not again Harry, listen," Hermione interrupted him.

"No you listen, I'm wanted for murder! They know that you left with me! If you return now you can just, I don't know, say I kidnapped you or something!"

"Harry stop!" Ron said, interrupting him again, "We've talked about this, we've gone over this, we're not leaving! We're your friends Harry we're in this together."

"You weren't so keen to be my friend when you found out I was in the Tournament," Harry said, trying to make Ron angry enough to leave.

"Yeah, well, I've already apologized for that haven't I, I was a right git too."

"The point is we're staying Harry," Hermione stated.

He looked at both of his friends determined faces, "Fine, what do we do now? We can't stay here," he stated, looking around the rundown muggle hotel room they had stayed in for the night.

"I say we find a muggle apartment and move in," Ron suggested. "I mean they'll never think to look for us in the muggle world."

"That's true," Hermione agreed, "the problem is we're minors, they won't let us just waltz in and buy an apartment."

"What about glamour charms? We could make one, or even all of us appear older."

"I think all of us, they're more likely to give an apartment to three young adults than one young adult and two teens."

"Yeah, we'll also need false names, if we accidentally run into a wizard they'll know who we are right away."

"OK, I'll be James Potterson."

"Not bad, I'll be William Redbird."

"Why William, isn't that your brothers name?"

"Yeah but my middle name is Bilius and I figured you guys could just call me Bill."

"Well if we're going by middle names, I'm Jean," she made a face.

"I agree," the boys said, also making faces.

"How about Jane, it's close enough and not to bad?"

"No, I think I'll go with Amy, I've always like the name."

"OK, Amy what's your last name?"

"How about, . . . Stevenson, Amy Stevenson."

"I like it."

"By the way I think we should change your last name Harry, I mean James."

"Why?"

"I agree with her mate, it's a bit obvious."

"How about James Redbird, we can be brothers."

"I'm OK with that mate, so how about those glamour charms Herm-, er Amy?"

"Well, since your brothers how about I make you twins?"

Harry and Ron shared a glance, "That would be wicked," they announced together, "we could fool people just like Fred and George do," Ron added.

"OK," Hermione said pulling her wand out of her bag. Thankfully they had managed to get all their things, including their school supplies, before leaving (or rather being chased out of) Hogwarts.

"Wait!" Harry shouted, "Won't the ministry know you did magic?"

"No, since it's still during the school year the ministry won't have it activated yet. They don't bother activating it during the school year because you're surrounded by magic." After finishing her explanation she quickly got to work on the glamours. When she had finished they were both identical. Their hair was a dirty blond similar to Harry's previous haircut but a bit longer and not as untidy. They both had a slight tan and stood at 5' 8". Their eyes were a light blue. They appeared to be about twenty years old. If she had not known where they had been standing before she would not know who was who. "Proudly presenting James and William Redbird, twins, both 20 years of age," she announced.

"Brilliant," they said looking at each other. "Do yourself now."

She then turned her wand on herself and began again. When she finished a 21-year-old woman stood before them at 5' 5". She had blond hair, but it wasn't the silvery blond of Malfoy, it was duller yet not quite dirty blond. Her eyes had stayed brown and she too was slightly tanned. "I'm going to be 21," she announced.

"How come you get to be older," Ron asked.

"Because I'm more responsible," she said smirking.

"She's got that right mate," Harry admitted as they both chuckled.

"Next step is finding some where to live," Hermione said, shrinking their belongings and putting them into her pocket.

"I agree with Ron, I mean Bill, we should live with the muggles."

"No offence Bill but you don't know that much about muggles."

"I can learn," Ron said stubbornly.

"Very well." They spent the rest of the day shopping for an apartment. Luckily for them Hermione had made them stop at Gringotts yesterday and they had withdrawn a lot of money from Harry's vault – transferring some of it to muggle money.

Eventually they found a nice place that would fit all of them and, after some bargaining, wasn't too expensive. It had four small bedrooms, each with a small closet, twin bed, desk (with chair), and small dresser. There were also two full bathrooms. The kitchen wasn't much but it had a fridge, stove, microwave, and sink. The main room only had a couch and a stuffed chair but it would door. Each of them claimed a room and Hermione unshrunk their things so they could unpack. They met back up in the small main room, Harry and Ron sitting on the couch while Hermione claimed the chair.

"So what do we do now?" Ron asked.

"We need to train," Harry stated, "We're the only ones who know that Voldemort has returned, besides his Death Eaters."

"Do you think you could tell us what happened?" Hermione asked, sharing a glance with Ron, "If you don't feel up to it that's OK."

"No, you guys need to know," Harry took a deep breath and began to tell them every thing that had happened in the graveyard. "When I got back I think Moody hit me with a silencing charm, I couldn't say anything. They took me up to the hospital wing and when I woke up Moody was alone with me. He told me that Voldemort had originally wanted me dead, but I was much more useful to him alive now. He did something with my wand and the next thing I know I'm one the run with you guys after being accused of Cedric's murder. They even used Prior Incantato to prove that the last curse I had used was Avada Kedavra."

"Moody?" Hermione whispered, "Moody is a Death Eater?"

"I don't think so," Ron said, "I've heard a lot about him and from what I know he's no Death Eater."

"Maybe, maybe he is," Harry said thinking hard.

"What!"

"No listen, Voldemort said he had a Death Eater at Hogwarts AND Moody kept helping me. Wait Ron, I'm not saying Moody is a Death Eater, I think someone was impersonating him."

Hermione gasped, "Polyjuice potion, Moody only ever drank from his hip flask, it would be easy to fill it with polyjuice."

"Snape said someone had stolen Boomslang skin from his stores!"

"It all fits!"

"But who was impersonating him?"

"I saw Barty Crouch in Snape's office on the Map."

"Barty Crouch?"

"But it can't have been him, I mean he was totally against the dark arts!"

"What was he like when you saw him in the forest James?"

"I don't know, it was like he was delusional, he wasn't making much sense."

"Maybe he was under the Imperious Curse?" Ron asked.

"Yeah! That makes sense, he must have known something so they tried to control him, but he was fighting it." Hermione said looking at Ron proudly.

"And Moody was the one who went after him, he probably killed him."

"But it had to have been Crouch in the office, the Map never lies, remember, it saw Wormtail."

"Crouch had a son remember? Maybe it was him."

"Sirius said he died in Azkaban."

"Maybe he snuck out?"

"I don't think so, it's very hard too-"

"Wait, I think it is him! When Moody was gloating to me he was comparing himself to Voldemort. He told me that both of them had been named after their fathers and both of them had the pleasure of killing their fathers."

"But how'd he get out of Azkaban?"

"I don't know, but we can't rule him out can we?"

"No, we can't, he's a definite possibility."

"Well it's getting late, we can go to bed and finish planning everything in the morning." Hermione said reasonably. They all said their goodnights and headed off to their respective rooms.

A/N: I'm not British, I am American, if you want to point anything out feel free. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.