Harry Potter – Hunter

By : Andor Swiftblade

Disclaimer : Harry Potter belongs to the beautiful blonde lady famously known as J K Rowling. No monetary gain is being made from this story. Any non-Canon characters belong to me. Certain creative terms which have been used probably belong to some of my brilliant fellow fan fiction authors. (I don't really know to whom, so please forgive me.)

Summary : After the DoM Mayhem, Harry decides that he is tired of the Dursleys and figures that he wants to take a unique summer job. Follow him as in his bid for freedom, he has the adventure of a lifetime. Post OotP. Probably AU. Might include crossovers.


We learn more from our mistakes than from our successes.


The errors of the past are the wisdom of the future.


Take an interest in the future - that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life.


* * * * * Chapter 2 * * * * *

*|* A Thoughtful Evening *|*

That evening, Harry was eating dinner with his cousin Dudley and his Aunt Petunia. His Uncle Vernon Dursley was out on a business and Harry was not informed of when he would be back. Today they were having all of Dudley's favorite food, all of which were full of grease. This was his demand after his diet regimen was over. (The school nurses tried for one full year to reduce Dudley's body size, and only succeed in converting a little body fat into muscles. After that, even they had to give up.)

Dudley was, as usual, stuffing his face full of all the food he could eat at one time and his piggy little eyes were concentrated on the TV, which was a few feet away from the dining table. (The TV was in the sitting room a few days ago, but Dudley started whining about not being able to watch his favorite shows - which were aired during their usual dinner time - so the TV was shifted from its previous place to its current home.)

Harry was surprised that Dudley could multi-task; he just didn't seem to have enough brain power for that. (Harry always privately thought that Dudley was a 'pig-in-a-wig that was taught to walk on its hind legs' when they were children, but now that could not be applicable. Dudley now qualified as a baby blue whale with all that fat he had in his body. Dudley could be compared with Malfoy Junior's gorilla-like bodyguards who went by the name of Crabbe and Goyle, who shared a few brain cells between the two of them.) But then again, eating and watching the TV were both Dudley's favorite hobbies, so he would have tried very hard in order to carry out both the activities at the same time.

Aunt Petunia was sitting in what she thought was a poised and elegant manner (to Harry she just looked constipated), and was surveying her household for any sign of dust or dirt. For a clean freak like his Aunt, even a small mote of dust was considered as a personal insult to her cleaning skill and had to be destroyed. (Harry often wondered if he should just invite Voldemort and his Death Munchers one day for dinner, cover them with a lot of dirt and see what his Aunt Petunia would do to them for desecrating her house. They would be completely annihilated.)

Harry quickly and quietly finished his portion of the dinner (which was not much) so that he could return to his room and proceed with detailing his future plans. Just as he was about to get up to wash his hands and take his leave, the lights in the entire neighborhood went off and darkness descended upon the house.

Suddenly, Dudley let out a wail of anguish so loud that Harry thought he was being tortured. Aunt Petunia was shuffling around the room searching for God knows what in the darkness.

"Mum! The TV and lights! I can't see the food! Do something, Mum! I wanna see!" Dudley wailed loudly.

"Hush, Duddykins! (Harry snorted to himself) I think that some power cables probably melted due to the head. I'm trying to find some candles to light," Petunia said in her horribly annoying screeching voice, trying to calm her precious Dudders.

Harry heard the sound of a matchstick being lit and suddenly the room was bathed in the yellow glow of candle light as Petunia made a noise of triumph.

"This will do till the power comes back. I told Vernon to buy that new emergency lights, but no! 'There are no power cuts here, Petunia dear,' he says. He should have been here now so I could give him a good talking to about not listening to his wife's advice," Petunia muttered to herself, and continued doing so until Dudley spoke again.

"Mum! At least start the fan! I'm feeling very hot! Dudley wailed again from his seat at the table. He was sweating buckets because of the sudden lack of cool air supply, which made the entire room a bit warm, but he was fat, and fat people and warm places was not a good combination. To him, it was as if he was sitting in an oven.

"The candles will blow out!" Petunia exclaimed in reply to her sweating son's demand.

Harry had to try very hard to hold in his amusement at his relatives' stupidity and he quietly wondered to himself if they could get any more stupid.

"Aunt Petunia?" Harry called out softly. In response, Petunia shrieked loudly and nearly jumped through the roof. Harry had to stop himself from wincing at the unpleasant noise.

"What are you doing, idiotic child? Keep quiet! Are you trying to scare us?" Petunia hissed in anger.

"I just wanted to ask if I can return to my room," Harry said, more than a bit annoyed.

"Go!" she commanded imperiously, as if she was ordering her troops to the battlefield. Harry rolled his eyes and decided to quickly leave the table before he was caught in any more of this stupidity.

As he was walking up the stairs, carefully avoiding the creaky step just above the cupboard, Harry wondered whether stupidity was genetic or if it was infectious. To him both the cases seemed plausible. Living with Vernon and Dudley Dursley showed him that it was a genetic problem. Both were baby blue whales, both had similar mannerism and both had nearly identical personalities and looks that if not for the age difference, they could be mistaken for brothers. Both were a living proof that stupidity was a genetic problem.

But Harry had to wonder about his Aunt Petunia Dursley. She was the elder sister of Lily Potter nee Evans, who was said to be an extremely intelligent and bright student, sorted into Gryffindor House, who was the top of her class, and was also a Prefect and Head Girl during her seven years of study at Hogwarts. After Hogwarts, she was recognized as a Charms Mistress by many. She was also a capable dueler and was able to hold herself against Lord Voldemort - who was arguably one of the best dueler and an extremely knowledgeable and cunning person - not once, but three times. That had to count for something.

Looking at Petunia Dursley, one had to wonder if the woman was indeed the sister of Lily Potter. Petunia never showed any signs of what could be remotely considered as intelligence, except for her cleaning and household skills as well as her talent for spying on her neighbors for juicy gossip. She was just a common woman who had an occasional sharp-tongue that she never put to good use. It seemed to him that she did have brains, she just didn't use it. This just proved his point that stupidity was also infectious, because she was just wasting her useful talent in mindless gossiping.

Finally, Harry concluded that all the beauty and intelligence was passed to his Mum while the stupidity and ugliness was passed to his Aunt.

Snorting to himself, Harry entered the smallest room in Number Four Privet Drive, which was also what should be considered as his bedroom, his chain of thought derailed. Entering the room, he saw that the room was empty and concluded that his pet owl and familiar Hedwig was probably outside hunting for food. Looking at the window, which was only half open, he decided to open it fully so as to get the air in the room circulating. As he finally opened the window, a deceptively cool breeze entered the room, which surprised Harry to some extent. But he was only somewhat surprised. He was, after all, living in England, and here the weather changed like the mood of any person.

Harry ruminated if the weather pattern of England was in fact connected to the mood of some higher power. He reflected on England's constantly changing weather and finally surmised that whoever the higher deity responsible for England was, she was probably a female, which perfectly explained the mood swings of the unpredictable weather of his country.

As Harry caught on to the chain of thought which had been derailed upon entering the room, he contemplated that it was indeed true. The thought comforted him very much as it proved that he was somewhat resistant to the infectious stupidity of the Dursley family. He had initially been infected with some of the stupidity, but the shock of his Godfather's death had washed the stupidity away from him and freed his mind to the real world. His eyes were now opened to all the things and opportunities that he could use for a better life for himself and those close to him.

The Magical World considered Harry Potter to be a day-to-day wizard who had by some luck survived the Killing Curse from the Dark Lord when he was one year old. He would use this to his advantage, as no one would suspect him of being able to manipulate his way to the top. People considered Gryffindors to be always good and honorable. But Peter Pettigrew (aka Wormtail) was an example that it was not always so.

Harry decided that he would have his own code of conduct from now on. He was not going to be a stereotypic moron who was swayed by the opinion of people; people who he knew were biased and fickle. He had experienced their bigotry first-handed.

Even the so-called Light-sided wizards were not free from bigotry. Their bigotry was for other things, but in the end, it was still bigotry. They considered Werewolves to be Dark Creatures but they were just individuals who had a 'furry little problem'. They were only dangerous on full moon, and even that could be prevented by the use of the Wolfsbane Potion. Ron had thought that being a Parselmouth was the sign of a Dark Wizard. But Parseltongue was only a skill that was passed from generation to generation, a skill that some evil wizards had used for wrong-doing, and then the world condemned every Parselmouth as a Dark Wizard.

Then there was the topic of Dark Arts. Harry remembered his time during the Philosopher's Stone Fiasco in the Stone Chamber from his first year when Voldemort had spoken to him face-to-face. "There is no good or evil, only power and those too weak to seek it." While that statement could not be considered true, it did make some sense. Magic was just that, magic. It was with the intentions that it was used that mattered. Light Magic could be used for harm and Dark Magic could be used for good. Dark Arts were given a bad name because they were addictive. Dark Arts required emotions to properly channel the spell. This just proved that the wizards who used them had weak minds and they could not protect their minds from their own emotions, which led them to be seduced by the power. Tommy Boy was a special case though. He had a strong will and a strong mind, but because of the horrors of his childhood, he had become cruel to protect himself and then he had come to hate the Muggles. (He knew everything about Tom Riddle's orphanage life.) He actively sought power for the sake of power. But power without a purpose was pointless.

Harry knew that he was powerful, and he knew that if he was to learn the Dark Arts, he would not be seduced by the power. He could not allow himself to be seduced. He would not allow himself to be seduced. He would respect the Arts and use it rationally. And the use of Unforgivables was an option that was only to be used in a life or death situation, when he would be desperately searching for any means of winning. He knew that he had the will to hurt and kill - he had those impulses every time he saw Voldemort, the Death Eaters, Umbridge and Fudge - and he had successfully used the Cruciatus Curse for a short time on Bellatrix Lestrange. The only Unforgivables he could use properly would be the Cruciatus and the Killing Curse; he could not cast the Imperious Curse satisfactorily as he had no urge to dominate someone.

Harry knew that he had to control his emotions and not let them carry him away like it had happened with Sirius, or he would not be allowed to live to tell the tale the next time he came across someone he hated. He would be dead because he attacked without a plan in a fit of emotions.

Harry decided that he had to learn how to control his emotions and channel them, and for that he needed to learn Occlumency. He would not suppress his emotions. Instead, he would store his emotions in the corners of his mind and he would use them when he needed. Using the emotions in a combat-situation would be a two-fold advantage as it would stop them from affecting his mind and they would also make his spells powerful. If he stored some of his happiness away so that he could use them at some another time, then he could cast a powerful Patronus Charm when facing Dementors. He knew that when using Patronus, one had to actively think of a happy memory. This made them susceptible to attacks from the surrounding. So if he used his stored happiness, he would not have to actively seek a happy memory and he could concentrate on his surrounding environment. Similarly, he could store his hate and killing instinct to use them for Unforgivables.

The storing of his emotions had to be done passively, as he knew that people considered Harry Potter to be an emotional teenager and his lack of emotions would likely raise suspicion. Harry also reckoned that if he suppressed his emotions actively, he would likely become a nutter like Dumbledore who sucked on his tray full of Lemon Drops, or a snarky git like Snape who hated everyone, or a powerful mindless psychopath like Tommy Boy who wanted to rule the world.

Then there was the question about his dueling skills, as knowledge of spells was not everything in a battle. One had to have knowledge of when to use a spell depending on the situation. There was no need to use a Flame Spell when a simple Lumos would suffice. Harry considered himself to be average dueler, who could defeat his school mates and hold himself against a knowledgeable opponent for sometime. He had power, he knew that and he accepted it, but what he lacked was proper knowledge of spells. He resolved to himself that he would read every spell book in his possession and then he would probably visit Diagon Alley for more books. He also wanted to visit Knockturn Alley so that he could obtain books on the Dark Arts. Even if he would not use them, it was better to have knowledge of an opponents' weapons so that they could be properly counteracted.

But for him to be able to procure all these things, Harry needed money, and for money, he needed to go to Gringotts Wizard Bank in Diagon Alley. And to be able to go to Diagon Alley, he would need to get past his Order Guards undetected and come back undetected. If he was caught while leaving, the security would be tightened and he would not get another opportunity to escape. If was caught coming back with bags full of book, books regarding the Dark Arts at that, he knew that he was in for Hell.

In the end, Harry decided that he would study the guard shift of the Order members. If it was Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody, he knew that he would not be able to even leave the house because of that magical eye of Moody which could see through walls, and if he was not at home when Mad Eye checked, he knew that he would have to pay for leaving the house without permission. (Permission which, Harry was sure, he would not get even if he asked.) Same would be the case with the Order members who were Ministry Aurors. They were trained individuals and as such they would know some spells that would help them in determining whether he was present in the house or not.

Harry reckoned that his only chance of leaving Privet Drive and getting to Diagon Alley would be if the Order posted some less skilled members. Someone like Mundungus Fletcher.


AN : About Harry knowing Tom's orphanage life, he had seen his entire life when he had stabbed the diary as the soul was slowly destroyed. He saw the similarities in their childhood, but he knew that he had to be strong or he would become like Tom, which he did not want. That is why this story is AU. It is also minor crossover. The emotion talk may sound like Jedi talk of the force. Here Harry is not a pansy and he does not wallow in grief. He is intelligent and cunning, but he has honour. Some things will be changed from the events of the canon to for the purpose of my story, but most will remain the same. Whenever you come across the changes from the canon, if anyone has any confusion, please mention so in the review and I will try my best to solve your doubts. If you want I will PM you.

I would also like to thank all my reviewers for their encouragement. To all readers, please review!

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May your sword stay sharp!