Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 2 Settling In

Albus Dumbledore was preparing for the upcoming school year while sucking on lemon drops when a couple of his silvery instruments started whirling quickly and whistling loudly. He briskly strode over to the instruments preparing to cast spells to determine where Harry Potter was located since they were tied to him. Just as he was about to cast the first spell, 1 of the instruments exploded while the other two completely stopped. Since Fawkes was nowhere to be seen, he grabbed one of the broken instruments, muttered, "portus" while touching the object with his wand, and disappeared from his office.

He landed in front of Number 4 Privet Drive and rang the doorbell. A minute later, the door opened slightly and Vernon Dursley poked his head out. Before the man could speak, he asked, "May I come in? I would like to speak to your family about Harry."

Vernon grunted and opened the door a little wider. He followed him into the kitchen where Petunia was making breakfast. As soon as she saw Dumbledore, she started looking pale and Dudley covered his backside with his large hands and began to move himself away from the old man as far as possible.

"Good morning everyone. I would like to inquire about Harry. I understand he left."

"The freak just left while we were asleep. He left a letter though," Petunia said.

"May I see it?"

She nodded and pointed to a piece of paper on the table. He picked it up and quickly read the letter addressed to him and the Dursleys. He appeared to look calm and thoughtful but inside, he was seething with anger.

'Damn! Whoever is teaching him will teach him powerful magic and I need him to be weak and easily controllable. This will not do at all!'

The Dursleys flinched when he quickly burned the note and banished the ashes wandlessly. He ignored their reactions and calmly stated, "I would like to search his room and then I'll be off."

Not waiting for an answer, he climbed the stairs and entered Harry's room which happened to be the smallest bedroom in the house. He took out his wand and started casting complex diagnostic spells on the wards surrounding the perimeter of the house, looking for Harry's magical signature. Unfortunately, all he could find was the use of an untraceable portkey. With a sigh, he apparated back to the gates in front of Hogwarts.

He went back to his office, and tapped his pendent with an engraved phoenix with his wand, alerting all the members of the Order of the Phoenix that an emergency meeting would be held. Next, he tossed a handful of Floo powder in to the fireplace, stepped in to the flames, and yelled, "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place."

The order members arrived at headquarters in small groups wondering what was so urgent that required an emergency meeting. As they were waiting, they chatted amongst themselves in small groups. In a corner, Mundungus was talking to Sirius about sneaking out of headquarters and on the other side of the room, the Aurors were discussing the ministry's incompetence. A couple of minutes later, Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace and wandlessly cast a cleaning charm on his robes.

"Good morning everyone."

Everyone quieted down and looked at him waiting for him to continue.

"Thank you for coming to this meeting in a timely manner. This meeting will be short since we are only discussing 1 issue. Early this morning, the Wards on Harry Potter's home collapsed and he is nowhere to be found."

Pandemonium erupted around the room. It took a few loud bangs from the headmaster's wand to quiet down all the people. Sirius, Remus, Molly, Author, Bill, Alastor, Minerva and Tonks looked worried while everyone else looked slightly intrigued or indifferent. As usual, Snape was sneering at everyone while muttering, "Arrogant stupid brat," under his breath.

"I believe you were on guard duty Nymphadora." Dumbledore looked at her with a piercing gaze. "Please tell us if he gave any indication that he was leaving."

Everybody's eyes were focused on her.

"Well, he was as usual doing chores all day. If he's not working, he's upstairs in his room or he's getting smacked around by his fat cousin."

Snape snorted and Tonk's's gaze lingered on him for a split second, daring him to dispute that statement.

"Do you think he left because his cousin was hurting him?" Dumbledore queried.

"I don't believe so. I think he's used to his cousin picking on him. He just endures the beatings and continues to do his chores. I don't think that's a good enough reason for him to leave."

Dumbledore nodded. "His safety is of the utmost importance. I would like everyone who knows him to go search all the places he would go. Thank you everyone for coming to this meeting. If you see Mr. Potter, please contact me immediately."

With a thud, Harry landed on his backside. Nicholas chuckled and he glared at the old man. He looked around at the room where he was deposited and saw a plain door at the end of the room.

"Welcome to Flanel Mansion. This is the room where all portkeys are received. Pippsy!"

With a pop, a neatly dressed house elf appeared in front of them.

"Can you take Mr. Potter's trunk to the guest quarters in the west wing?"

"Yes sir."

The elf grabbed the trunk and popped away. He stood up and followed Nicholas through the door and out in to the foyer. He saw many old paintings and a large chandelier.

"Amazing isn't it? This mansion has been here for at least 2000 years now."

Harry nodded and continued to follow him through many passages that were twisting and turning. As they were walking, he saw many paintings studying him curiously and flitting from frame to frame speculating on his arrival.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I'm taking you to your quarters so that you can get settled in," Nicholas replied.

They arrived at the suite of rooms and Harry's mouth dropped open in astonishment. The room was spacious and looked luxurious. On the right side of the room, there was a large bed with thick covers and several fluffy pillows. The floor was carpeted with a thick blue rug and across from the entrance of the room, there were three doors which lead to a washroom, a walk-in closet and out onto the balcony which provided a view of the sea in all its glory. Located on the left side of the room, there was an oak desk for him to do his work. Also, the walls were charmed to display any images a person could think of.

"Once you are done unloading your belongings, call Pippsy and he will give you a tour of the castle."

He nodded and started unpacking the few possessions he had. When he finished, he called Pippsy who instantly appeared in front of him. Pippsy enthusiastically described a bit of the history of the castle and led him up and down several flights of stairs. When he passed some rooms, he could see that there were several potion labs, dueling chambers, recreation rooms and other guest rooms. Pippsy stopped at the library and showed him how the library was sorted. Harry could see that books and scrolls were crammed on many bookshelves which spanned from floor to ceiling. Even though he wasn't a bookworm like Hermione, he could appreciate the vast amount of knowledge the books and scrolls held. He spotted a pedestal in the centre of the room which held a thick book as well as a quill dipped in a pot of ink.

"What's that large book?"

"It is the library index. You just write the name of a book or a topic and it will display the book or books you are looking for. Then you tap the title with your wand which will summon the book to you."

"That's brilliant!"

The next place they stopped at was the kitchens where he saw a few house elves cooking a meal.

"Welcome young master. If you need anything to eat, you can come to the kitchens any time," one of the elves said while monitoring a pot of stew simmering on the stove.

"Thank you..."

"Binky."

"Thank you Binky."

Finally, they arrived at an indoor greenhouse filled with magical and non-magical plants which covered most of the room from floor to ceiling. The walls and the ceiling were made out of glass. Between the foliage, thin rays of sunlight could be seen.

'Wow. I bet Neville would really like this.'

Harry spotted Nicholas and Perenelle conversing while they were replanting some bubotubers. When Perenelle was finished with the plants, she turned around and Harry could see that she looked quite old. However, he could see that she had a sharp mind just like Nicholas due to the piercing gaze she gave him.

"Welcome my dear to my greenhouse. What do you think of it?"

"It looks amazing Mrs. Flamel."

"Thank you. By the way, you can call me Penny," she said.

"And you can call me Nick. None of this sir crap. It's almost afternoon. Why don't we get something to eat before we talk," Nicholas said.

All three of them made their way to the kitchen. The house elves set platters of food in front of them and without any delay all of them began to eat. During their lunch they made light conversation and Harry found that the way Nicholas and Perenelle were teasing each other to be quite amusing and refreshing. He could also see by their interactions that they both loved each other dearly.

Once they were finished, they went to a recreation room filled with wizard and muggle inventions. In fact, he could see shelves covering most of the walls holding wizard and muggle games. There was even a large television on a wall. Noticing his gaze, Nicholas said, "We used several runes to isolate the magic so that the television can run on electricity."

"That's cool," Harry replied.

Harry settled himself comfortably on a recliner waiting for someone to start the discussion.