Chapter Three

Albus Dumbledore sat behind his desk at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry poring through the mounds of paperwork that littered the desk. He read a letter from a concerned parent about the safety of their child at Hogwarts the following year and dipped his quill into his ink bottle writing for what seemed the hundredth time a letter of assurance that there was no safer place. A snowy white owl disturbed his calm demeanor as it dropped a letter on the desk in front of him. At first he paid no attention to the extra letter on his desk until he did a double take to look at the now retreating form of the owl. He recognized the owl immediately and tore the parchment apart. His eyes darted back and forth across the page as he sunk lower and lower in his chair. "What in the name of Merlin, have I done?" Dumbledore whispered.

"Something bothering you, Headmaster?" a silky voice said from the doorway.

Dumbledore looked up startled by the sudden presence of a member of the staff. "Severus, What a surprise!" Dumbledore said. Snape stood in the door way with one eyebrow raised.

"Something's wrong isn't it?"

"I just received a letter from Harry."

"Always about Potter isn't it?" Snape snarled.

"Perhaps you will think differently once you hear this." Dumbledore said his voice thick with sorrow, "Dear Professor Dumbledore, You told me at the end of last term that you would tell me everything, but now I have discovered yet another secret you have kept from me. You may continue using my home as Headquarters, but from this day forward we are nothing more than Headmaster and Student. By the time you get this letter I will have left my Aunt and Uncle's House never to return there. Do not worry about my safety as I can assure you I will be perfectly safe where I am going. Do not attempt to look for me because you will not be able to find me. The only letter that will get through to me will be my official Hogwarts letter. I will see you on September 1st and not a day earlier. Harry Potter."

"Is the boy mad?" Snape hissed. "He'll be killed for certain!"

"I'm not so certain, Severus."

"What do you mean? There are no safe places other than this school, headquarters and his aunt and uncles!"

"Unless of course, he feels I have betrayed him in some way and wants revenge."

"You're not seriously suggesting…"

"I am." Dumbledore said with a hint of finality. "Though how I have betrayed him I can only guess."

"Dumbledo…" Snape began but cut off immediately as an owl flew through the window.

Dumbledore read the letter carefully, becoming paler as he neared the bottom. "Bloody Hell." He whispered.

Snape looked taken aback by the use of language by the headmaster. Dumbledore looked up at him and said, "He's found out about his inheritance, I was supposed to tell him three years ago."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Surely the boy isn't mad over that tiny little…"

"And with the assets come the revelation that he's the heir of Gry…" Dumbledore cut off horrified at what he had said, hoping that Snape hadn't caught it.

"He's the Heir of Gryffindor." Snape said. "I should have known."

Dumbledore looked at Snape and sighed, "I am calling a meeting of the order in an hour. Would you go and try to find out if Voldemort knows anything?"

Snape nodded and swept from the room.

An Hour later the Order of the Phoenix was gathered in the kitchen of Number 12, Grimauld Place. The members were muttering amongst themselves trying to discover why a meeting was called on such short notice. Dumbledore entered and they immediately quieted down.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news." He said. The members braced themselves, their eyes darting around looking for missing members. "Harry Potter has run away." The order looked dumbstruck. Molly Weasely was the first to say something,

"WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD HE RUN AWAY!"

"We have reason to believe that he might join Voldemort." Dumbledore said sadly. At this comment Chaos broke out among the members.

"PROPOSTEROUS!" Tonks shouted.

"HE WOULD NEVER!" Molly Weasely screeched.

"THE HEIRS OF GRYFFINDOR AND SLYTHERIN WILL NEVER GET ALONG!" Remus Lupin shouted, causing everyone in the room to go dead silent. "Oops." He muttered.

"What do you mean Remus?" Arthur Weasely asked. "Harry is the heir?"

"Yes," Remus said looking towards the floor. "And legend has it in the Gryffindor line that Slytherin swore that one day, his heir would exterminate the Gryffindor line. But that's beside the point, Albus what makes you think that Harry would join Voldemort?"

"I received a letter from him stating that by the time you get this letter I will have left my Aunt and Uncle's House never to return there. Do not worry about my safety as I can assure you I will be perfectly safe where I am going. Do not attempt to look for me because you will not be able to find me."

Fred or was it George snorted. "How in" George said

"the world" Fred continued.

"did you"

"Come to that"

"Conclusion."

"Sounds like." Fred laughed.

"Harry's finally" George hissed

"Taking control"

"of his"

"own life."

Bill Weasley nodded, "Just because Harry's found some place to be safe doesn't mean he's gone to Voldemort."

"Though it does cause some speculation on to where he is and what his motives are." Charlie added.

"The only place I can think of where I would not be able to reach him is the lair of Voldemort." Dumbledore said.

"You have no faith in him!" Arthur Weasley shouted. "After all he's done! YOU of all people Dumbledore should have a little faith in him. Without him on our side You-Know-Who would have came back five years ago! FIVE!"

"We can't just throw out the possibility." Moody barked. "Potter has enough hate in him to easily become a dark wizard, perhaps not a follower of You-Know-Who, but a dark wizard at that."

"He's not with the Dark Lord." A cold voice said from the doorway, "Though I suppose it's only a matter of time." Several heads spun to face the speaker.

"What do you mean?" Tonks asked.

"The Dark Lord has been monitoring Potter's home for weeks. His alarms went off early this morning. He currently has at least half of his death eaters out there searching for him." Snape said in monotone. The members of the order gasped. Just then Kingsley Shackbolt stormed in.

"Harry's missing, and his relatives are dead!" He yelled.

"If you had been here earlier you would have known that we are aware that Harry is missing." Tonks said coolly.

"Oh."

"I was just getting to that." Snape said softly. "The Dark Lord had just returned from an attack on Potter's family. He killed them all personally."

The room broke into a series of whispers.

"We have to send a search party out." A witch said, many members nodded their heads in agreement.

Meanwhile while the order was busy discussing Harry Potter, the boy was flying over the English countryside. Unknown to him he was slowly being surrounded by no less than thirty death eaters bent on bringing him to their master. A signal was sent to the other death eaters and the ringleader shot a stunner out at Harry. It hit dead on and Harry fell, over a mile from the ground. His shrunken trunk fell out of his pocket as he fell and his broom fell alongside it, but a death eater caught Harry and the group made their descent.