He spends his time until 3pm thinking, and then takes up his computer and begins his preparations.
.:-o~o-:.
His uncle arrives after he plugged the phone back in, Harry pretends to still be knocked out.
.:-o~o-:.
His uncle has gone to bed, and the clock has passed 12am. Harry stealthily gets up, and sneaks into his uncle's room.
His hand sneaks into his uncles emergency fund and pulls out eight 20 pound notes. He then takes Dudley's backpack, stows his computer, modem, charger, and books inside of it, and leaves.
He walks for 2 hours before reaching London Proper at 2AM, and from there he takes a taxi to a hotel, into which he sneaks and borrows a room to use until the next day.
The next day began at 6AM, when he snuck out of the room (After eating all the food, and taking most of the drinks in the mini fridge and placing them in his bag.)
He hailed a cab, and went to Heathrow International Airport. From there on, he knew what he was doing.
He put on a brave face, stepped up to the counter, showed his passport and said his mommy wanted him to pick up his own ticket and here was his passport and the ticket is for the 9AM flight number AA3540 to JFK and was there anything else they needed?
The lady at the checkin smiled at him, slowly typed some letters into the computer, smiled, and printed his ticket.
"Here you are, dear."
.:-o~o-:.
He went past security, found his gate, plugged in his computer, and continued to program.
.:-o~o-:.
He boarded at 8:45 after closing his computer, and, after taking his seat (number 7C), he continued his program. He (reluctantly) stowed his computer for takeoff and landing, and kept at his task in between (He had 2 extra batteries to keep his computer running during the 6 hour flight.)
.:-o~o-:.
His landing was uneventful. He passed through customs, answering questions such as "Do you plan to assassinate the president of the united states? Do you intend to commit acts of terrorism? Have you worked with livestock recently? Are you affiliated with any communist groups?", and most importantly "Did any unknown persons give you anything to place in your bag?" No, no, no, no, no, and no.
"I'm just coming to visit my uncle!" he answered with a great smile
A taxi took him all the way to Manhattan and, with his wallet 35$ emptier, he exited in the central park at 9PM.
And he realised he had no idea what to do now.
.:-o~o-:.
An hour later, he was on his computer again, sitting in the park, all depressed like. The hotels wouldn't accept an unaccompanied minor. He didn't have access to the internet. He held his head in his hands and started crying, the light of his laptop casting a bluish glow on him.
That's how Kate later found him.
"Are you OK?" she asked.
"Yes, of course I am" he answered.
She notices some recent scars on his arms. She thought back to her own childhood, and how after her father had beaten her, she had run off, and must have looked very similar.
"Do you have somewhere to stay?" He shakes his head. He found himself trusting her for some reason. "Do you want to stay at my place?" He looked up, slightly hopefully, and nodded.
"I'm Harry" he said, holding out his hand.
"Hi Harry, I'm Kate" she answered, shaking his hand with a smile.
.:-o~o-:.
Her apartment was a small dorm in NYU - the university she was attending. He slept until almost noon.
When he woke up, he saw the apartment was empty, and so he connected his computer to the modem, and once more injected himself with the sweet data of the internet. He was looking up all he could find on his host. And it wasn't much.
He went back on IRC to speak with those he knew. Acid wasn't online, but that wasn't odd. She rarely was at this time of the day.
Kate returned and found him entering NASA again.
"Just make sure you ping it off a few unis so they can't trace you." she said.
He jumped a tad, in surprise - he hadn't even noticed she was home.
"You're a hacker!" he exclaimed, surprised. She answered with a smile.
"Yep, I didn't know you were too. You want some eggs?" He answered positively, and she went to the kitchen to make him some food.
"Do you want some help?" He asked, and was answered that it was fine.
.:-o~o-:.
Well, it turns out that she actually was the hacker who went by the name of Acid. When he introduced himself there was a lot of laughter. She ruffled his hair and said it was nice to meet another hacker.
The handle he went by was Wizard, because he felt that the power of computers to fix everything was almost magical.
.:-o~o-:.
The hour was approaching 3AM. His computer was currently connected to the University of Oxford, which connected to the university of Melbourne, which connected to the University of Harvard, through which he was attempting to break into the DoD's network.
It was quite fun, really.
ENTER PASSWORD:
Well, he tried Sex, Money, Secret and God (It's that whole male ego thing), and none worked so he tried to regex his way through and that did work.
.:-o~o-:.
Acid and Wizard were at HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) when it happened: An owl swooped into the room they were in and presented him with a letter. A man at the end of the table gasped.
Harry opened the letter and read it.
"What the hell is Hogwarts and who is Albus Dumbledore?"
The man at the end of the table rose and moved towards Harry.
"Do not speak of this to others. You shall know soon." He then moved over to a phone and let out a rapid series of 17 whistled notes.
"The Masters of Deception shall be meeting in this room in 7 minutes."
A pointed look the man gave to the others convinced them to leave. The MoD (Masters of Deception) were known as one of the best hacking groups in the world. Their only rival with the LoD (Legion of Doom).
7 minutes later, a series of people entered the room. A greater variety of people would be hard to find. 2 were in immaculate suits, 1 was in old, dirty, holed T-shirt and jeans, 1 women was in a tiny mini-skirt, and almost bra-like shirt, while another women was dressed in well kept jeans and a sweater. The last two were dressed in some sort of long dress-like thing. Robes. The man was dressed in a standard jean and black T-shirt, while his shoulder-length hair was tied back into a ponytail.
"Hello, I would like to welcome you all to this meeting of the MoD. For the two new people, I am Kevin." The eyes of Wizard and Acid widened dramatically as they realised who they were talking to.
"H-hi" Harry managed to say "I'm Harry. Harry Potter."
"Are you really?" one of the men in a suit asked. The question appeared the surprise Harry greatly, and before he could answer, that man said "Ah, I see."
"What we are about to reveal to you two must not be told to anyone you know, is that understood?" He is met with nods. "What that letter you received means is that you are a wizard."
Harry answered with a big. blank state. "A wizard." he answered incredulity.
"Yes. Magic exists." he said, before pulling out a thin, long stick "Watch closely"
He pointed his wand at the vase on the table, swish and flick'ed and the vase began floating towards Harry. He quickly caught it and checked it for ropes, magnets, or other ways it could have done that. "How..."
"Magic."
"Now, listen up right here," Acid interrupted "Do you really expect me to believe that there is this mystical force that exists and that no one knows about?"
"Yes. What could we do to prove it for you?"
"Well... Change that vase into a pig."
"Very well," Kevin said. He started muttering a series of latin words.
Acid just looked at him with amusion. That is, until a loud POP was heard and the vase transformed into a pig! A real, live, pig. Full size.
"Want some pork chops?" he said with a smile.
.:-o~o-:.
A/N:
Thanks for all the reviews I got. Based on what I've heard, I'll try to make longer chapters (This and last one my goal was over 1k words (I have about 1400) - I'm now aiming for at least 2000 words.
Any suggestions, please give them! (I try to answer all reviews (And I believe I succeeded in doing so (Other than guest reviews.))
Also, and resemblances to real or fiction people are intended, but non-existent. (Peopl such as Acid and Kevin are inspired by real or movie characters, but that's all. No more. They aren't those people - just inspired a bit (Who here can tell who Kevin is inspired by (No googling.))
Next update will happen by Saturday January 25th. I might update before that, but I'm not even done writing Chapter 3 - and I try to be a chapter or two ahead to keep to a regular schedule. If I do get a few chapters ahead, I will post pre-schedule, and on schedule. But don't count on it.