Dobby and Harry apparated straight back to Harry's rom.

"AH!" screamed Dudley toppling over himself. Harry had jumped slightly but sighed and walked over to his cousin on the floor.

"Big-D, what ever are you doing in my bedroom?" Harry offered his hand to Dudley who was hesitant to accept, but did after a few seconds.

"I just wanted to ask you something…" he looked over at Dobby with a questioning look, then turned back to ask. "Wha-"

"It's a house elf," Harry explained, sitting on his bed. "He is a friend of mine. Dobby, this is my cousin, Dudley. Dudley, Dobby."

Dobby stared down Dudley, "Is this the mean brat who was nasty to master Harry?"

Harry snickered. "Yeah, but don't worry about it Dobby. And don't call me master please. Anyway, back to more pressing matters, do you need something?" He turned back to Dudley who was still studying Dobby.

"Yeah…" he looked at Harry. "Um, well, I know that your God-father died," Harry took a far away look into Sirius' face as Dudley continued, "And I just was wondering if you could tell me what happened."

Harry looked at Dudley as if he had dumped a bucket on him. "What?"

Dudley sighed. "Well, it's just that last year you were talking about that Voldy guy and how your friend Ceder died because a war was starting again or something… and…" he looked away, "well, two of my friends died this year in 'accidents' but I don't think they really were."

Harry nodded, understanding what Dudley was talking about. "Yeah, yeah Voldemort is after muggles and muggle families with wizards in them."

"Muggles?" he asked.

"Non-magic folk."

"Oh." he nodded. "Well, could you just tell me what has really been going on? I hate not knowing…"

Harry looked at Dudley and studied him. He looks so much different. Had Harry really not realize how much Dudley had changed? He must have noticed something because in the letter he said Dudley lost some weight, but this was the first time it was really registering with Harry. He was much more muscular and less fat. There was no acne on his teenage face, and the hair that Harry had been snickering about all summer actually looked good groomed up in wavy locks. "When did you change so much?"

Harry hadn't actually been talking only about what Dudley looked like, but as a person also. Now that he thought about it, Dudley hadn't been nasty once this break. He was even being moderately nice. And the conversation was being held without anyone screaming or punching.

Dudley shrugged. "I don't know. When my friends died I just realized that I had wasted my life being ignorant I suppose. It's not all my fault mind you, but I just stopped hanging out with that crew and thought that I would shape up before I got picked off as well."

"That's quite the change you made. I have to say that I am impressed. I really would have never expected this from you."

"Yeah. Well, anyway… is there a war?"

"Yes. And quite frankly, I am the only one who can stop it, and I am the only one being held back."

Dudley looked at him, suspicious. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, Voldemort, the super evil magic guy, he killed my parents because of a prophecy that was told about him and me, and when he tried to kill me, he died." Harry revealed his scar. "That was how I got this. But I am the only person ever to have had the killing curse cast upon me and survive. So because I killed Voldemort when he tried to kill me, basically I have to kill him again."

Dudley really didn't know what to say to that. He opened his mouth a few times and nothing came out. Finally he said, "Why can't you do anything?"

Harry looked away, glaring at the wall. "Dumbledore, that really old guy with funny clothes, he is in charge of the Order, the people who are going to kill Voldemort and his followers, and he isn't letting me join because he thinks I am still a child!" He shook his head and looked back at Dudley, expecting him to say something.

"So he's treating you like a weapon?"

Harry gaped for a second, and then came back to his senses. "Exactly."

"Where were you today?" Dudley asked after they both finally gripped the unbelievable reality.

"I was a at bank. Apparently, I am the wealthiest man in Britain."

Dudley's eyebrows skyrocketed. "What are you doing here then? If I could, I would be gone," he snapped his fingers, "like that."

Harry smiled, liking the new Dudley. "Well, what would you do with all of the money in the world then, Dudders?"

"Get a car first!" Harry laughed at him, but then got a good idea.

"Can you drive, Dudley?" he asked him.

"Yeah, learned last year. Why?"

Harry thought about it for a minute, and then decided it was a good idea. "Well, I really have nothing to spend this money on anyway, so if I bought you a car, would you agree to teaching me how to drive?"

Dudley looked like dementors just attacked him again. "Would I ever! Harry, are you being serious?" He nodded. "When can we go?"

Harry laughed. "When do you think your Dad can take us?"

He shrugged. "He'll go tonight if you want. Are you sure you want to get me a car? I have only been a prat to you all my life."

"You may not know it Dudley, but sometimes I wish for the good ol' days when you would try to punch me, and I would run away. Before all this 'funny business' and especially before this damn war."

"Oh. Well, can you go tonight? Shopping usually helps me feel better."

"Alright. Just go ask your Dad."

Dudley ran downstairs. Harry could hear the muffled voices, but not really what they were saying. Hedwig flew through the window with a letter. "Thanks girl," he said taking the letter from her and giving her a treat. She hooted and went to her newly cleaned cage.

"Mr. Harry Potter, would you be needing anything else?" Dobby asked him.

Harry smiled. "No, but thank you very much Dobby. Today was the best in my vacation yet. Would you mind coming back tomorrow though? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Dobby would love to Harry Potter!" He bobbed his head, said goodbye, and disapparated.

Harry looked over the letter Hedwig had.

Harry,

I was very surprised to see Hedwig back with a letter for me. I didn't think that you would write back, but I am very happy that you did. To answer some of your questions, no, Fred and Gorge have been 'accepted' yet. Yes, I saw Remus and Tonks with my own eyes. No, Ron and Hermione haven't declared love for each other yet. Buckbeak is doing well, I hang out with him a lot. It is very busy right now, and I know you are going to get mad, but I really can't tell you too much about that… And, yeah, I think I have accepted the death of Sirius.

Sirius and I did talk a lot last year. He would always talk about you though, always so proud. He thought that you and I were going to get married one day, but only because I have red hair. Do you believe that? I know, it was barking mad (lame one, I realized after I wrote it)… nonetheless, Sirius is probably very thoroughly enjoying his time with your father and himself.

Mum has been going crazy trying to get Dumbledore to get you to come back here. He just won't budge. Keeps saying it would put the wrong 'ideas' in your head. I honestly have no idea what he thinks those ideas would be, but never mind that.

Gorge almost blew up Kreature yesterday. It was an accident, but very funny. We'll end up telling you about it probably, but I thought it was great. Hermione- not so much.

It's good that your family hasn't given you any problems. Unlike my family. Can't they just give a girl some space? Honestly, it is truly ridiculous. Whenever I want to hangout with someone, they are always being all secretive, and then when I want to be left alone, they want to know what's 'wrong'. Bloody annoying.

I hope to see you soon though. I'm not worried, you'll come up with someway to see my by the end of the summer, I'm sure of it.

With love,

Ginny

Harry chuckled at the letter and decided that he would write to Ginny tomorrow. Dudley and Uncle Vernon were both up the stairs a few minutes later.

"Harry, tell him, he doesn't believe me."

"What? That I'm buying you a car?" He looked at his stout uncle. "I'm buying him a car."

At that the man gave a smirk. "With what money, boy?"

Harry smirked right back. "The fortune that makes me the riches man in Britain. That money."

His uncle looked shocked then said, "Prove it."

Harry pulled out his wallet, hoping that it would be able to give him muggle money instead of the galleons he had experimented with earlier. "Ten pounds." He said to the wallet. When he stuck his hand in, he grabbed the paper money and took it out.

"Nonsense, that was already in there."

Harry sighed, pretending to be bored after he realized that his wallet would indeed change the money. "One-thousand pounds," he said. He pulled out a few hundred pounds. His uncle gasped and his cousin looked like he won the lotto.

"Can we go?" Harry said, getting off his bed, "I may not feel this generous later." He winked at Dudley.

They were at the car dealer almost as quick as by magic. Harry told Dudley to pick out any car. He picked an Audi TT. It was expensive, but Harry got a great deal since he paid full in cash.

"I really don't understand you, Harry, but this is amazing!" said Dudley, and then he turned serious again. "Thank you."

Harry smiled again. "Your welcome. Now, lets you and I go for a ride. I want to see what that girls got!"

Dudley all but ran to the car and hopped in. They could hear Uncle Vernon calling out something, but it was lost in the roar of the engine, and squeal of the wheels. Dudley drove around for an hour or so, just getting used to his new car, slowly teaching Harry the rules of the road as they went.

A bit later that night, as Harry was reading his new book on Occumulancy, Dudley walked into his room again. "Harry?"

Harry looked up from his book at his cousin. "To what do I owe the pleasure Big-D?"

Dudley grimaced at the use of his old nickname. "Well, Dad and I had a fight over the car. And…" he looked at Harry, "Well, we had a fight about you in general. I think you should move out."

Harry just stared open mouthed at Dudley. "NO! No, not like, I-don't-like-you-leave, move out, I mean like you and I should go and get an apartment."

Harry just stared open mouthed at Dudley. "Well?"

"Sit down for a minute, D, let me think about this." And in fact, the more Harry thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He would be able to prove his ability to protect himself, maybe even get accepted into the order if he was living elsewhere. It would certainly make Dumbledore realize that he was not a little kid any longer. "You know, I like this idea."

Dudley smiled. "Brilliant! Well, I think we should search for a place in London, they have everything we need near them and we'll be able to get jobs and stuff."

"What about your school? You're not going to live there full-time, are you?" Harry was mocking Dudley slightly.

"Well, I'm not going back to school. Not after everything that has been going on in the world these past few weeks. I figure it is safer if I hide, that's if you said was true. I mean," he looked at Harry, skeptical, "If you really are the ONLY one who can beat that guy and stop the war, I figure I am in danger too. Dad won't listen, and if he won't listen, neither will Mum."

Harry shrugged, and then smiled. "You have thought about this quite a lot, haven't you?"

"Erm, well, yeah. That's what I was going to ask you about before, and then you were all, lets go get a car, and I didn't want to ruin it in case you didn't like the idea. But you do, and now that we have a car it will be fairly easy to leave."

Harry shook his head. "No, I am almost positive that there are people surrounding the house keeping a watch on me, it is going to be extremely hard for me to leave. " He ran a hand through his hair, a new habit he had after seeing his father do it. "But I am sure that we can come up with something."

"Do you have any idea's of places where we can live? I mean, I am sure that we won't have a problem finding a hotel, but since your rich and everything, do you have anywhere we can stay?"

Harry though about it and opened his drawer in his night table, taking out the paper with all of his bank information on it. "Have you ever heard of this place?" he said pointing to Trianly's Village on the paper. "I think it's near London."

Dudley nodded, "Yeah, it's about 15 from it. You have 4 houses there?" It was Harry's turn to nod. "Wow, you really are rich," he said, looking at the paper.

"Well, I can get Dobby to possibly move everything we need into the car and we'll be able to go if I go under the invisibility cloak…" Harry looked around and called for Dobby.

"Yes sir? Harry Potter called for Dobby's help, sir?" He said, then shot a nasty look at Dudley which made Harry chuckle.

"Yes, I was wondering if you would be able to move some things into Dudley's car for us without being seen by any of the people outside."

Dobby looked proudly at Harry, "Of course, Harry Potters things will apparate straight to the car!"

"Brilliant, Dobby! Thanks lots!" Dobby bowed and moved to Harry's things. He tapped all of the things on the floor that they had taken home from Gringott's and made them smaller and put them into Harry's main trunk. He tapped them and they disappeared. He tapped Godric's trunk and it disappeared the same way. Dudley just looked, amazed at what he was seeing. "I love magic…" Harry heard him whisper in wonder.

"Okay Dudley, this is what we are going to do. You are going to your car and pretend that you see something wrong with the light. Then you are going to go to the side of the car and open the door as wide as you can. Get out the car manual and start flipping the pages? Pretend to read something and nod your head, smile or what ever, but when you get back I will be invisible and in the front seat, so when you put the book back, just do it without really going into the car. Shut the door and go to your side and leave." He looked at Dudley. "Got it?"

"Yeah, I think I can do it. Let me just say goodbye to Mum, and I'll be right out. I'll say that I'm staying with my friend for a few days."

Harry put on the cloak and went down stairs. Shit! Hedwig! Harry almost forgot about Hedwig and ran up the stairs. "Dobby!" He called out.

"Yes master Harry?"

"Can you also invisibly transport Hedwig's cage to the back of the car please?" He asked taking Hedwig out of her cage.

"Certainly."

"Thanks Dobby. Thanks so much. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

Dobby looked overjoyed. "Of corses master Harry!" and with that the small elf made the owl cage disappear and did the same to himself immediately after.

"Hedwig, I need you to go out for the night. We are going to Trianly's Cove, will you be able to find me when we get there?" She hooted. Harry smiled, "Your so smart! Thanks a lot girl. Why don't you go out hunting a bit and find us?" She moved to Harry's shoulder and nipped his ear affectionately, then flew out the window. Harry ran down the stairs, whipping the cloak on as he did. Dudley was just walking out the door and Harry snuck out behind him. He crept very slowly into the driveway, being careful to get past Dudley without touching him. He maneuvered into the seat without making any of his body visible. He watched Dudley look at the car again, smile and walk around, placing the booklet back and shutting the door.

Dudley got in the car and buckled his seat belt, turning it on, and cranking the radio. He smoothly pulled out of the drive and drove away. "You here?" he said when they had gone a bit down the street, making a turn.

"Yes, that was brilliant Dud." They smiled having a small conversation. It took them a while to get to the Cove, but when they did they saw 4 completely vacant houses. "Those are mine I suppose."

"Which one do you want to stay in?" Dudley asked him.

"Well that one looks like the best." He pointed to the house that was neatly tucked away by trees. It looked very private. Dudley nodded and they pulled into the house.

"Woah." Dudley was looking at the house. Harry couldn't help but agree. The house was magnificent. It was tall, colonial looking house, but it had a very large wrap-around porch. Harry looked at Dudley with an idea. "Hey Big-D! CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!" and with that Harry sprinted to the backyard as fast as he could. He was surprised when Dudley started advancing on him, but remembered that his cousin had recently acquired health and all but slapped himself on the forehead. Harry jumped up the stairs but stopped abruptly after. A fire had sprung to life in a small fire pit built in to the porch. The porch lit up. Dudley stood next to him, admiring the wizarding world.

"Let's look inside!" Harry opened the door, anxious as to what he would find. He noticed that there was a lot of Ravenclaw colors and figured that this house must have belonged to the Smit's or the White's. They looked around and found that many of the rooms had enchantments to do something when you walked into them. All of the candles in the kitchen would light up when you walked in, and died out when you left. Dudley stayed near Harry, obviously scared at what he might find.

"Well, there's no food. Looks like we will have to wait until morning." Harry heard a tapping on the window and opened it to let Hedwig in. "You made it girl, good job!"

After Harry and Dudley finished looking around the first floor, they both agreed that they were knackered and agreed to getting Harry's things out of the car before deciding to do anything else.

With all of Harry's things in the living room, Dudley and Harry resolved that they would continue to look through the rooms tomorrow. Dudley started a fire, and Harry found some old blankets in a closet near the kitchen. When they each chose a couch to sleep on, they said goodnight and fell fast asleep.

Harry awoke early the next morning. The sun was just rising. He noticed Dudley start stirring as well. "Morning," Harry said, getting up to find the loo.

"MMhsmmallm…" Dudley grumbled, turning over. When Harry came back after cleaning himself up, Dudley was looking at the bookshelf. "Find anything interesting?"

Dudley jumped and turned to Harry. "Well, I'm not sure… I opened a book, and it yelled at me…" he said sheepishly.

Harry laughed. "Books do that sometimes. Do you want to get going? I'm starved."

Dudley nodded and they rushed out to the car. "It was weird talking to you yesterday when you were invisible." Dudley started when they left the drive.

"Just wait until I scare you…" Harry smirked at the look on Dudley's face. "I'm kidding."

"Oh, good… because I wouldn't have to hurt you…" they laughed and talked on their way to London.

When they finally arrived, Dudley picked a small café to eat breakfast at. "Do you want to go shopping today? Dudley asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to get some new clothes. And maybe we should order some new things for the house, it didn't look like the stuff had been upgraded for a while."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Then he started whispering, "Do you think it's a good idea though? I mean… won't someone recognize you?"

Harry smiled and whispered back to Dudley. "Well I figured I would go clothes shopping in my normal appearance, but then just sneak around next to you all day in my cloak."

They left the café and Harry put on his cloak until they were in the clothes store. "Okay Big-D, you can pick out as much as you like. I'm going to look around. Don't worry about the cost, I'll pay for everything."

Dudley smiled and started looking at some jeans. Harry found a hat and put it on. He thought that he looked rather good in it.

After an hour or two Harry and Dudley had 3 carts full of clothes and shoes. "Your right, Dudders. This did make me feel better." Dudley just grinned at his cousin and they went to pay.

Harry and Dudley walked back to the car, Dudley carrying everything and Harry popping the trunk for him. "Thanks mate, I think I'm going to like this new friendship," Dudley said when they got in the car."

Next, Harry and Dudley went to an appliance store. They picked out all of the state of the art things they thought that they would need: a fridge, oven, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer. Dudley told the man where to ship it and Harry slipped the money into Dudley's pocket. They left and went to an electronics store where they bought a new HD telly, the best DVD player around, tons and tons of DVD's that Harry thought would probably never even be seen. The telly was going to arrive at their house later that day, but they packed everything else into the car. Well, Dudley packed everything else into the car.

After they had finished buying a telly, the boys decided that they would need to have a computer in the house as well. This was mostly for Dudley, but Harry thought that if anything 'fishy' was going around, it would be talked about all over the Internet. He did, however, make Dudley promise not to break it like he remembered had happen with quite a few Christmas presents.

Dudley was also able to talk Harry into buying a magnificent, and quite pricey sound system with a radio that would connect to the telly and computer so they could listen to music form the computer and have surround sound for those actions movies and TV shows that Dudley knew would need to have it.

When the boys had practically filled the small car with items, they decided that it would be good for Dudley to continue working out this year, and for Harry to join him. Harry had to admit that he was excited at the prospect at becoming a fit, brawny man, but he doubted that he would every be able to look brawny. They purchased tons of exercise equipment that was going to be delivered tomorrow.

The boys' last stop was at a grocery store. They agreed to picking out only healthy foods, but decided that chips and popcorn wouldn't be so bad to keep at the house.

Finally they left for home. It was around three when they made it back home. Dudley and Harry emptied out the car. Just as they finished, they saw a truck pull into the drive and a man step out. Dudley went over to greet him and the two men brought in the telly while Harry hid in the kitchen. After he left, Harry came back out.

"Well, I think today went rather well."

"Yeah, you could say that. Do you want to see what's upstairs now?" Dudley asked.

Harry nodded and they walked up the stairs. They looked around and found a few bedrooms, one which must have belonged to a girl, had pink walls with flower's who's colors changed when you walked out of the room. The other bedrooms were quite plain, but extravagant in the old antique style. The master bedroom was very large and included a private study, which had many books in it. Harry realized that the books were similar to the ones he saw hidden in the vaults.

When they were done looking around, Dudley decided that he liked the 2nd largest room. Harry thought that he liked the smaller, yet still extremely large for a bedroom, room because it had lush blue silk sheets and a four-post bed like the one he had at Hogwarts. It also was the only one with a balcony, which Harry liked best. He also liked the bathroom in that room best also. It was large and beautiful, but not over done like the other ones. The closet was a walk-in closet, and Harry saw something square in top corner of the room.

Harry decided that since he wasn't a cat, it wasn't too dangerous to be curious. He carefully climbed up to the square and gently pushed the square. It disappeared and widened. Harry climbed through the opening and into the space above. He looked around and found books upon books dedicated to potions. There were supplies everywhere, in jars and boxes. A large, golden potions set was near a window. Harry looked on the other side of the wall and found already made potions stored in chronological across the wall. Every potion that Harry could think of was there, even polyjuice potion. Not only was there every type of potion, but also there was an abundance of almost every one.

After a few minutes of looking around, Harry climbed back into the closet, and the square reappeared when he looked back up.

Dudley finished unpacking and went into Harry's room and looked out on the balcony while Harry finished. Harry called for Dobby and asked him if he would be able to make dinner and bring it to them since they didn't have any appliances to do so yet.

Dobby was all too happy to be able to help Harry, and Harry and Dudley went downstairs to hook up their telly. Harry was surprised to find that it worked without plugging it in, and he realized that the house must do something to all electronics.

Dobby called the boys for dinner. They all sat around the story, Harry insisting that Dobby stay for dinner as well. They were laughing as Dobby told stories of things that happened when house elves had too much butter beer, and had some cake afterward for dessert. Dobby insisted on cleaning up before he left, while Harry and Dudley continued unpacking all of their newly acquired goods. After they hooked up the telly, Harry started getting to work on removing all of the speakers and the sound system from the boxes while Dudley worked on the computer. They were able to join a wifi-network from one of their neighbors' houses.

Everything was set up by the time it was dark outside, and Dudley and Harry went over everything that they were going to do tomorrow. With their new wardrobe, Harry very highly doubted that he would be recognized. They established a list of things that they should get done within the next few days. One was Harry figuring out how secure the house. The second things that they decided they needed were cell phones. Harry wasn't sure if he liked the idea, but said okay since they could pay for a phone and just go to the store on a pay-as-you-go thing. He didn't worry too much, Dudley sounded like he knew what he was doing. They also wanted to get other small items, like a blender for protein shakes, training and conditioning videos, and they agreed that Dudley should open an account at the bank and get a debt card which harry would put half a million pounds toward. They got the money set up first since it would look funny if he just pulled it out of his pocket. It did take a while for Harry to get all of the money out of his wallet, but they accomplished the task. Both of them were tired and retired to shower and sleep.

Before Harry fell asleep, he remembered to write back to Ginny.

Dear Ginny,

It's nice to have someone to talk to without the pressure of being forced to talk about things that are better left unsaid for the time being. I'm not sure if you know yet, but if you don't, please don't say anything. I'm not at the Dursley's. Dudley and I went somewhere else, but I can't say where. We are safe and no one knows where we are, but I would prefer people think I am with them as long as possible.

I'm learning how to drive. It's really fun, and I don't doubt that it will come in handy one day. Maybe you might be able to sneak out and I can drive you to some places. I have so many things that I want to tell people, but I don't think that telling Ron and Hermione would be the best thing right now. They would just freak out and try to get more information than I want to tell, but I am going to try to figure out a way to tell you.

Anyway, as it turns out, Dudley has lots a tremendous amount of weight. We are even going to start working out together once we are able. When my birthday comes around, I will definitely go to see you guys. I hope I can bring Dudley; it wouldn't be fair to leave him.

I have been doing some studying. Not too much, but enough where Hermione would be thoroughly impressed. There wasn't much to do the first two weeks, so I read through most of the books I had for my classes. It was a good thing that Remus decided to take me to the book store before he brought me to the Dursley's. I found even more interesting books, but I will tell you about them some other time.

I hope you don't mind that I am writing to you. And I know that my letters are long, so I apologize. There is just so much that I want to say, and even more that I can't write to you. Maybe I can figure out a way to find an enchanted mirror… do you remember it? Sirius had one and my father had the other. Sirius gave me one before he died, but he took it with him. I haven't looked at it since, but if you got one, I don't think I would mind as much.

I am going to figure out a way to meet with you soon, if you want. I don't think I can wait until my birthday. Dudley and Hedwig are the only people I have been talking to this entire time, and it's really starting to get to me.

Pretend you don't know anything is going on if people ask though, please? I just don't think it would be fun for either of us if people knew that you knew that I wasn't at the Dursley's and that you were the only one I was talking to. I am going to send a quick letter to both Ron and Hermione, but just saying that I am fine and don't want to talk about it. I'm sure they won't understand. ;)

Your friend,

Harry

After Harry finished writing the letter, he wrote one to Hermione and another to Ron telling them he was, in fact, fine and that he did not want to talk about Sirius, especially over a letter.

Before going to bed, Harry continued reading the animigus book and finished it, then slept.