Authors Notes: Chapter 3. Enjoy, review, whatever. Umm, please be nice, I'm nice to you aren't I? Merry Christmas, or whatever you celebrate.

Chapter 3: And So it Begins

When Harry James Potter was arrested and relocated to Azkaban, everyone in the wizarding world was outraged. Not because he'd been arrested, but because they'd trusted him so entirely. In the Muggle world however, no one particularly cared. They all had their own worries, whether they were political, social, economical, or as simple as being slightly pissed off that the neighbors had again parked in front of the driveway. None however possessed as much rage as the Rothemans.

Mr. and Mrs. Rotheman had woken up on the very day of Harry's arrest, to discover a disaster. Three years ago, upon their retirement, they had purchased a large mansion near a beach in the Bahamas. They had lived here quite peacefully… until now. Directly in front of their property, immediately between them and the beach, someone had staked out plans for a new home. Their worries were increased a few weeks later once the foundations had been completed when they realized that (if the depth of the foundations were any indication) the structure was going to be bigger then their own home.

Over the course of a year they tried everything. They sued, they conducted a protest, they organized a neighborhood watch service, they bribed councilmen, they sabotaged the builders efforts, everything. Nothing they did succeeded though and on the 31st of July, pretty much exactly one year after the beginning of construction, twenty three year old Hamish Partridge and his twenty one year old fiancé Diana Griffins pulled up separately in a C3 Pluriel and a Mini Cooper Cabrio and soon began directing the removalists with clear instructions as to where to place each item of furniture from the three large trucks which had pulled up after them. A few hours later their close friend (who the Rothemans later learned was planning on living with them for several months) Drew Morton pulled up in a taxi and leapt out to great both new residents with startling enthusiasm.

At the end of the day, the Rothemans watched as all three cheerfully waved goodbye to the removalists and disappeared out of sight. After a bit of wandering around on Mr. Rotheman's part, they soon knew that the three were relaxing on their front deck overlooking the beach, talking quietly.

Over the course of a few days, the Rothemans got used to their new neighbors and their occasional idiosyncrasies such as the broom they put in a display cabinet, or the mounted television screens which seemed to show a constant video of an animation designed to look like a portrait of some form. They knew these things because the day after they moved in, Diana came to visit the Rothemans to apologize for any inconvenience their home's location may have caused and to invite them over to see the interior of the newest house in the district, well before any on else from the neighborhood got the chance. Mrs. Rotheman, being a complete socialite, was quite naturally delighted by this and over the course of a few short hours, she and Diana became good friends and could often be seen together along the beach.

So, after a couple of weeks, life settled back into a rut. The Rothemans were after all amongst the world's richest retirees and as such, if a young couple came and built a huge mansion in front of theirs, they could always add a tower to their own mansion, thus proving themselves better. Besides, they had a bigger yacht. Life in the Bahamas was truly a lot more simplistic then other places.

- - - - - -

21st August

"Albus it's been three weeks! Why haven't you found them yet?" Fudge slammed his fist down on the desk of Albus Dumbledore while the man himself sat as calmly as he could and looked out at the rooms occupants.

They had been searching non stop since the disappearance of the three youths and as of yet, they had seen no signs of them. It had not taken them long to figure out that the three couldn't possibly see everything with their long distance spying abilities and must just be watching important events. Thus, if they made sure that more then three groups always went out, they had a chance that one would be able to sneak up unawares. They were all fairly certain that this particular meeting was being monitored. After all, the rooms occupants included Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge, Percy Weasley, and (as the leaders of the five main search parties) Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, and Alastor Moody. Harry would have to be mad not to be interested in how this meeting went. It probably helped that he would realize that Severus and Poppy were once again using their eavesdropping abilities and this time had been joined by Narcissa who was their coincidently to heckle Albus but had decided eavesdropping was more interesting.

"Cornelius, please calm yourself, this is not beneficial in any way, shape, or form." Albus began but was unsurprisingly interrupted by Sirius Black.

"How can you expect anyone to be calm?" He shrieked waving his arms about girlishly, "My godson has gone missing! After this ordeal he would already be suffering from a load to emotional distress and this isolation cannot be helping!"

"Let's all try to be rational here." Alastor said, "We've all read his letter, we all know how powerful he is, what are the chances really that he's sitting around crying his little heart out ands moping because none of us are there to comfort him? Is anyone else thinking that's not really in his nature?"

Sirius spluttered momentarily before calming down.

"Good point." He muttered, "Harry is like James in many ways and he probably loves that we're all so worried about him."

"Look, we only have a few weeks left to search before term starts." Minerva began, "Why don't we just keep looking and put notices in the papers asking that anyone with information or who has seen him sends us a letter?"

"Great idea Minerva," Albus looked at her gratefully for actually contributing a rational suggestion, something that was yet to happen in any of these meetings, "Percy!"

Percy looked up from his note taking (he was the official scribe) in surprise as he was addressed. He was obviously unhappy to be here, much preferring to be doing something useful within the ministry rather then sit around taking notes on people arguing over three seventeen year olds.

"Yes Sir?" He raised an eyebrow in unspoken amusement over the whole thing.

"Percy, when you get the chance would you please write out a letter to be printed in the Daily Prophet asking people to come forward on information about Harry?"

"And Miss Greengrass and Mister Malfoy I presume." Percy prompted.

"Yes of course." Albus looked slightly uncomfortable, having been caught out.

"I will do so as soon as I return to my office Sir." Percy replied.

Percy had been promoted a week ago to Legal Representative for Underage Victims and Offenders. This position had never before existed. Percy had suggested it, having recently finished his legal training (he studied throughout his internship with first Crouch and now Fudge) and it had been decided that he would fill the much needed role. He still assisted the Minister in visits such as this one but was finding he had less and less time to do so as he found just how many children and young adults he was now required to assist. The letter however was clearly his responsibility as Harry was both an offender and a victim and was underage at the time of his arrest.

Outside the room Severus, Poppy and Narcissa quickly leapt back from the door and into a shadowed corner as several individuals marched purposefully toward the room.

"Sweet Merlin." Severus murmured, "The castle is being taken over by red heads.

"Albus!" Molly screeched as she shoved the door open, "Why haven't you found my baby boy yet?"

The rooms occupants looked on in shock as Molly marched forward, followed by Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny, along with Fleur, Neville, and Hermione. They stopped a few metres into the room and looked around. All were doing their best to appear determined and foreboding.

"Molly, we are all doing our best-" Arthur began but she cut him off with a glare. Unbeknown to them all, the three eavesdroppers had now returned to the other side of the door and were grinning to themselves as they watched most of the rooms occupants ease away from the irate woman nervously.

"Doing you best?" Molly started again dangerously, "You've been searching for three weeks and now, once my companions and I decided to try looking for him ourselves, we have found more then you have done in this entire time… in the past three hours!"

"I- I'm sorry?"

"Look," Bill stepped forward, "You lot were doing such a piss poor job that we decided to team up and have a look at things."

"We think to ourselves, hey, the search parties consist of intelligent people, they've probably looked in most logical places, let's get the information they've already got." George continued, "So we decide to do what we assume was your first step and see if Harry's bank account has been accessed in the past few weeks."

"So we all head over to Gringotts," Hermione continued in a singsong voice like she was telling a story to small children, "Thinking that you would have already been which would make it easy for us to find what we were looking for. But guess what we discovered?"

"First we learnt that not one of you thought to look there." Ginny shouted at them, "Do you all have cabbage for brains? He's obviously left the country. Wouldn't you think he'd need finances to be hidden for this long?"

"Then we learnt that Harry has indeed been making financial movements. The largest of which has been the purchase of a large piece of property in the Bahamas and the construction costs on the area." Fred glared at them all, "These costs were almost surpassed by the huge amount he then spent on furnishings but not quite."

"Honestly." Charlie threw his hands up in the air dramatically, "You've been accessing his funds for the past three weeks to help pay for the search teams and for assorted running costs in rebuilding after the war, didn't it occur to you to check if he was accessing his own funds?"

"Wait a moment." Percy looked up furiously as outside all three gasped in shock, "Do you mean to tell me that you've all been pilfering from Harry Potters bank accounts?"

"Percy," Fudge turned to him, "We've only been using it to find the boy. I think we are entitled to use his money to assure his own safety."

"And the money used for the post-war effort?" Percy queried in a dangerous tone.

"Before his imprisonment Harry was very active on the light side of the war." Dumbledore rationalized, "We are certain he wouldn't protest to contributing to its recovery work."

"Are you all mad?" Percy cried, "What you've done is illegal on so many levels. It is my job to make sure you don't abuse this boy's legal rights and you've now informed me that you have all done just that!"

"We're trying to help Harry Perc." George said scornfully, "More then you've ever done. Who asked you anyway?"

"Oh I do not believe this." Percy muttered packing up his gear, "Dumbledore, I will write your letter up and have it ready for tomorrow morning's paper. I am going to try and contact Mister Potter and inform him of all this. I can pretty much guarantee that you'll all have to pay back every penny. With interest. Good day."

"Is anyone else here thinking that those were the most clichéd final words ever?" Narcissa questioned her two companions after Percy had stormed passed them.

Inside the room there was a momentary silence before they all got back to business.

"You say he's built a house in the Bahamas?" Remus confirmed, pulling out some parchment and a quill to take notes.

"Yes, apparently someone has been acting on his behalf to get things going since the day he got arrested." Molly replied getting down to business as Ron handed out papers with the details to everyone in the room, "Hermione used the fellytone to call the real-estate agent to find out who it was and all descriptions we got pointed towards the Malfoy boy. I'm worried that this is an elaborate trap that has been set up to get to Harry. There is no other reason why two Slytherins would do this much for him."

"Two?" Minerva asked.

"The two we're talking of are Malfoy and the Greengrass girl." Ginny sniffed, "Obviously using him for some means. They can't care for him as much as we do."

"Can we go and get him now that we've got his address?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"I'm afraid not my boy," Albus sighed, "Going on this information," He held up the papers, "He's selected an area that is mostly used by individuals and couples at a retirement age. The usual residents are the richest of the rich. They've made the whole thing into a private estate that is inaccessible unless you live there or are specifically invited. Both Muggles and wizarding folk use it so, unless we want to get ourselves thrown in prison, we can't try and enter the area to recover him."

"Albus, I have to get back to work." Alastor said getting up, "And I'm sure the Minister here has better things to do then discuss a seventeen year old boy with a desperate need for an attitude adjustment."

"Yes, I too must get back to the Ministry." Fudge pulled himself up with a pained groan, "Albus, I am sure Weasley will post that letter so when do you want us to meet again?"

"I'm going to set up a directional devise so all owls will go to the Great Hall." Albus started, "So, what if we simply meet in the Entrance Hall at eleven?"

"That should work." Fudge nodded to them all and made his way out followed by Alastor who made a point to nod at the three eavesdroppers on his way out. Magical eyes can be very useful if used properly.

"Albus, we know where he is now. Do we really need to get assistance from the public?" Remus turned to their mentor who nodded gravely.

"If they know he's missing, they may send tips about where they've seen him. He's not going to just stay in the one place the whole time. Also, if someone who lives on the estate or is visiting there reads the paper, they may be able to talk to him and tell him how much we need to speak to him. I am certain he is not intentionally avoiding us. Harry is too kind hearted to intentionally cause us this much heart ache."

"I suppose you're right Albus." Arthur nodded and headed for the fireplace, "Come one kids, let's get back to the Burrow. When Harry gets back he'll need somewhere to stay so let's set up another room for him back home."

"Dad, we really can't fit another room on the end. The structure is unsound as it is." Bill protested but his father had already flooed back to their house.

"Everyone, let's get back to work." Albus spoke to the teachers who remained, "We only have a week and four days to be prepared for the students' return."

"Shit he's right." Severus cursed, "Come on Poppy, until later Narcissa."

"Toodles." The widow replied distractedly before starting up a conversation with herself, "Now, do I still want to bother the bumblebee or should I go home? Hmm, there is that new singles bar in Diagon Alley. Yes, I do believe Dumbledore can wait." She smiled to herself and wandered off down the corridor, remarkably remaining unseen by the three teachers and headmaster as they exited the room.

- - - - - -

"Aaaarggh!" Harry screamed as he broke the connection, "Those bastards are taking my money!"

"Harry? Sweet? Are you okay?" Daphne asked cautiously as she watched him throw what could only be described as a temper tantrum.

"No I'm not okay! Do you realize what they've done?"

"Of course I realize what they've done Harry I'm not deaf." She said calmly, "Draco, how did this happen? I thought you said they wouldn't be able to access Harry's account after his release?"

"I thought they'd feel too guilty after they took his money while they thought he was a murderer." Draco replied sheepishly, "I really wasn't expecting them to apply this much false logic. It doesn't matter, as the weasel said, there is no way they can get away with not paying the whole sum back once Harry informs them that he truly couldn't care less that the Ministry cafeteria needed rebuilding."

"Darn right." Harry pouted, "They will pay for this. Daphers, Draco, the revenge starts now."

"Whatever Harry." Daphne dismissed the comment and returned to her book.

"Daphne, how can you not be excited by this?" Harry practically wailed, "You've been asking for weeks when we're going to start dishing out punishments."

"I figured you'd be so pissed about this thing you'd take revenge by yourself and that we'd work together on the next one." Daphne explained.

"Actually, I thought you could decide on the first one… provided I get to pick who it is."

"Really?" Daphne whispered hopefully.

Harry nodded.

Daphne squealed.

"Thank-you Harry!" She leapt up and gave him a hug, "Who are we going for?"

"Well, the Weasleys just told them where we're living so I figured we could start with that."

"Coolies." Daphne calmed down again, "I thought we'd start with simple stuff they can't bring back to us. How about we go with what the oldest weasel suggested. That house is really not structurally sound and I doubt they thought to get a building permit for all those extensions." She grinned wickedly, "An anonymous complaint to the local wizard council should get a building inspector out there in record time."

"The fines for something that unsafe and that overdeveloped would have to be massive." Harry murmured in awe, a smirk forming over his face in a decidedly Malfoy fashion.

"That's what I thought. And since Draco is going to cut all of their access to your funds… you are going to aren't you Draco? Good. Anyway, since they won't have that anymore, this could truly bankrupt them unless they all get well paying positions and the young ones get summer jobs."

"Arthur will have to go into one of the Departments he hates instead of the fun ones." Harry laughed suddenly, "If Percy asks Fudge nicely, Arthur may end up working for his own son."

Conversation stopped at this point to allow time for rounds of evil laughter.

"You're both bloody mad." Draco muttered before leaving to secure Harry's accounts.

- - - - - -

"Where are the Weasleys?" Dumbledore asked the group who met up in the Entrance Hall the next day, drawing a glare from Percy for his non inclusion in the family name.

"They're having some legal issues with their house." Fudge informed them straightening his waistcoat, "I'm sure Arthur will be along whenever he can."

"And Alastor?"

"He said he had better things to do then answer mail."

"I see, well then let's get started." Dumbledore turned and walked over to the double doors to the Great Hall. Pushing them open he was instantly surrounded by a whirlwind of owls.

The noise was deafening as over four hundred owls clamored to be the first relieved of their burden.

"Ho-ly shit!" Alastor exclaimed quietly from his hidden position with Severus, Poppy, and Narcissa.

"We told you this was the place to be." Poppy murmured.

"Alright, let's start working through this." Dumbledore sighed and he, Fudge, Percy, Minerva, Sirius, and Remus started forward to grab owls.

Several hours later, they were yet to find a decent lead. They had received useless spottings, lies, around forty people had claimed to have seen him as he "walked" out of Azkaban, and so far they had received sixteen howlers about how Harry had been treated by the Hogwarts community. They had started burning every red envelope they came across, willing to risk missing leads in order to protect their ears

Finally Remus came across a large blue envelope. We started to open it when it exploded, revealing yet another howler.

"HELLO ALL! I KNOW WHERE I AM! AREN'T I SMART? ANYWAYS, I JUST THOUGHT I'D LET YOU KNOW THAT I'M SAFE AND SO ARE DAPHNE AND DRACO. NOT THAT YOU CARE ABOUT THOSE TWO BUT HEY, EVERYONE LOVES RANDOM INFORMATION RIGHT?"

The letter exploded leaving a stunned Remus who was not quite certain his hearing would ever recover. Sirius looked at him in sympathy. If he didn't know better he'd say Harry had intentionally made it so the Lycanthrope would be the one to find his letter, but that was impossible.

Unless you were Harry Potter of course.

Remus' find must have set off some sort of trigger because sudden they were all finding the important messages.

Minerva was next.

"MINNIE!" Came the voice of a seeming delighted Daphne, "I JUST KNEW YOU'D BE THE ONE TO FIND MY LETTER. GOSH ISN'T THIS EXCITING? HOW COME YOU GUYS DON'T SEEM TO CARE THAT I'M MISSING? DON'T YOU LOVE ME AS MUCH AS YOU LOVE HARRY? I- I- I-" Her voice turned into deafening sobs, "YOU'RE ALL SO MEAN! WHY DON'T YOU CARE?" Almost instantly her voice became cheerful again, "I GOTTA GO NOW. ME AND HARRY ARE GOING SCUBER DIVING. TOODLES!"

"She stole my line!" Narcissa whispered, completely outraged.

"I'm sure you'll survive."

"Hello cousin." Draco's voice was soon heard in a slightly quieter, but certainly dryer voice once Sirius had split open his envelope, "I you would be so kind as to vacate my property I would be most obliged. You see, I've recently discovered that my darling Great Aunt left Grimmauld Place to me. Now, while I do not blame you for being confused, after all, we all thought the will Dumbledore found was the real one, I would appreciate it if you would get prepared to hand over the property, all my assets, and rent for the time you used it without my permission. Technically though, Dumbledore should pay the rent as his signature is on the deed as caretaker of the property. That's all."

They all sat in silence as, with the explosion of the final letter into the shape of a large snake made of smoke, all the other owls squawked in fear and exited the hall at top speed.

"Albus? Would you care to explain?" Sirius asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"Not particularly." Dumbledore murmured before straightening up to begin what promised to be a longwinded and ultimately illogical explanation as to why he'd forged old Mrs. Black's will.

- - - - - -

Enjoy the holiday season! This is my gift to you. Now how about you give me a review? That would be nice don't you think? It doesn't even cost anything.