Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, otherwise I would not have had such a large number of fellow fanfiction authors. Plus this story would never have been written.

~~SSHP~~

Chapter 2: Arriving at Privet Drive

As Harry was driven home by a grumbling Uncle Vernon, he grinned privately, as he thought back to the best spell he found in the Marauders Journal...

~FLASHBACK~

Harry. Ron and Hermione settled in an empty compartment at the back of the train. Hermione as usual, pulled out a large book from the top of her trunk, where it left on top for easy access, so far as Harry could tell. Once she had settled back into her seat, Harry glanced over at Ron who was staring bemusedly out the window, before rummaging in his own trunk for his defence text. He settled back down into his seat and flicked through the back pages of the Marauders Journal behind the cover of his textbook. He wasn't sure yet why he was keeping the Journal secret from his friends, but decided that he'd probably tell them when they met up at the Burrow later in the summer.

The back page of the Journal was the spell he noticed earlier when he was in the library. He thought this spell would ideal to hide notes that were passed between him and his friends as well as hiding things that he didn't want his so-called 'family' to see. Thinking more about it now, however, he realised one flaw in his plan... underage magic. He and his friends couldn't do magic outside school until they were 17. He moaned quietly to himself. Damn it... there goes the plan of learning that spell over the summer. Oh well... I could just look at the theory then and make notes on the spell Hermione is always telling us that the point of essay's is, to make sure that we memorize what we've read or been taught. Hmm... The Marauders were pranksters... I wonder..

Harry continued looking at the secrecy spells section of the journal. Five pages further into the Journal he stopped and stared at the page. Holy Merlin! I was right. They did practice during the summer holidays and this is how they did it.

The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery

The restricted section of the library has a collection of books on laws, in it we found a description of this law. A summary of the law at its most basic is that no wizard or witch who is not 'of age' is not permitted to use magic unless their life is in imminent danger.

The book also provided a reference to another book which explained the tracking method 'The Trace' that the ministry is rumored to use. It turns out that 'The Trace' is cast on each witch or wizards wand as they arrive at school the first time. The Trace will in fact detect all spikes of magic near the witch or wizard.

We spent months looking through the restricted section and eventually found an obscure book that has the counter charm. The only problem we could see is that is required two wands to cast it. One the wand that The Trace was to be removed from, the other to perform the counter charm.

To do this borrow your friends wand. (We MEAN borrow, as permission to use the wand is required for the spell to be cast effectively, although we are not sure why) Point the borrowed wand at the tip of your wand and cast the following spell. No wand movement is required.

patet foci tracius

If cast correctly a purple glow should leave the target wand. You should be aware that this should only be done where magic is permitted as this spell will still be detected.

That explains how Dobby's Hover Charm was mistaken as me casting. The charm just detects spikes in magic.

Harry nudged Ron in the side. "Ron!" he said "can I borrow your wand for a moment?"

Ron stared at Harry, muttering. "What could you need my wand for you've got a better one than I do!"

"I wanted to test something I have been thinking about." he replied.

Harry used his own wand to cast the spell on Ron's wand. The wand glowed briefly purple before the glow became a tiny ball and shot out of the wand and faded away. "Hmm..." he muttered.

"Hermione do you mind doing the same to my wand?" he asked the bushy-haired witch that was peering round the side of her book in curiosity.

"What are you doing? and why did you do it to Ron's wand first?" she asked suspiciously.

Harry sighed. She never can just help she always asks questions. Out loud he said "I'm trying to remove tracking spells off of my wand. I got a warning for house-elf doing magic in my Aunt's house. I do not want that to happen again. Also, Ron's wand is broken anyway so casting a spell on it to test it is not going to be a problem."

"Oh. That's actually a good idea. We cam do that to mine as well, then I can show my parents what I have learnt this year." Hermione said with a touch of excitement. "I don't know why the ministry doesnt allow muggle-born and muggle-raised witches and wizards to use magic in their own homes."

Harry and Ron shared a slight grin. It appeared they had finally managed to get Hermione to relax about rules a bit.

~FLASHBACK END~

Uncle Vernon pulled into the driveway of No.4 Privet Drive and stopped with an angry screech of his company car's brakes. He immediately opened his door and half-stood/half-rolled out of the car door which was only just big enough for him to fit through. He stormed away and walked into the house slamming and locking the door behind him.

Harry got out of the car clutching Hedwig's cage and pulled his trunk out of the boot. The moment the boot was shut the car was mysteriously locked, as though someone was watching him shut it. Harry just rolled his eyes and dragged his trunk round to the back garden and sat on it. By his Uncle's actions he assumed that he was supposed to wait outside until he was let in. Then again, his 'family' was probably hoping that he would take this opportunity to leave them for good. As much as Harry would have liked to do this he knew that he needed to stay there as he knew that his 'Aunt' and 'Uncle' were in fact his legal guardians. There was also the fact that he had not yet been invited to one of his friends houses so he really didn't have anywhere else to stay at the moment.

~~SSHP~~

By the time his 'family' let him in the house it was already getting dark.

"Get in here and leave your trunk under the stairs." 'Aunt' Petunia shrieked as she opened the door and craned her neck out. "Vernon will explain this summer's rules to you later."

"Yes Aunt Petunia" Harry replied dully. Knowing that it was better to reply like that or else risk his Aunt getting his Uncle to start the beatings early. He dropped his trunk into his old bedroom, noticing that the padlock was already hanging on the door ready to lock it in. He quietly moved up the stairs to the smallest bedroom, as if, thinking that if he didn't make it obvious that he was there to his Uncle, he would forget about him entirely.