Chapter 3

Unknown Location, Somewhere In The Tropics

Harry appeared in a small wooden shack and immediately keeled over at the waist as he lost his supper all over the floor.

'Gods, I hate magical travel. How is it that no one has figured out how to make portkeys more pleasant yet? If I invented a spell which involved the feeling of your entire body being squeezed through a garden hose, I would NOT consider it a finished product.' he thought to himself.

Harry wiped the spittle of vomit from the corner of his mouth and steadied himself.

'Well first things first I guess. A quick Evanesco charm should clean up the mess.' Without thought, Harry reached behind to his back pocket for his wand.

As he found his hand gripping nothing but open air, he could only chuckle to himself.

'Ha ha ha...well that's one habit I'm going to have to break. I guess it's back to doing things the hard way for me. There's gotta be a rag or towel around here somewhere to clean this mess up. Now…..where exactly am I?'

Harry called out for Sirius, but was met with only silence. Realizing that his godfather was out for the moment, Harry decided to familiarize himself with the cozy little hut. Two bedrooms, one bath, a small kitchen and even a little extension which revealed an office/den area.

'You know...for a shanty on the beach it's really not that bad. A bit filthy though… I swear, how is it possible to track this much sand inside?'

Eventually, deciding that dealing with the vomit situation was not nearly as high a priority as finding his godfather, Harry opened the door to the outside and….

'BLOODY HELL it's bright out here! It was just about nightfall when I left Britain. Good lord, what time zone am I in?'

After what seemed like an eternity, his eyes adjusted to the unexpected sunlight. In the distance, he was able to make out three figures down the beach, resting in the shade of some trees. One of which was considerably larger than the others. As he approached, the previously indistinct silhouettes became more defined. A tall lanky man in a Hawaiian shirt swaying slowly in a hammock, a hippogriff snoring lightly, and a black dog curled up in himself. Additionally, scattered around them were several empty bottles of firewhiskey.

'Oh great! They're all drunk... except Buckbeak...probably… hopefully. Would a hippogriff even drink alcohol? Every instinct says no… but knowing him the crazy mutt would try and get a beast drunk just to see what happens.'

Harry slowed his pace and crept on his toes towards his resting godfather. When he reached within 10 paces, he decided it was time to gently and lovingly wake the one he was here to see.

He took a deep breath.

"SIRIUS YOU MANGY DOG YOUR GODSON IS HERE TO SEE YOU!" Harry bellowed from the top of his lungs.

The dog shot up with a panic in his eyes; and all his fur stood on end. The man in the hammock twisted out and fell on his face, whilst Buckbeak merely opened his eyes slightly. However, even through those tiny slits Harry could clearly see annoyance and perhaps even the smallest touch of hatred.

'Note to self.' He mentally told himself. 'Don't ever wake up a sleeping hippogriff like this again. Bad things could follow.'

Sirius transformed back into his human form, swayed a bit and then fell back on his bum onto the sand.

"Oh lord my head...Harry?...What are you doing here? Are you okay? Were you attacked? And do you happen to have a hangover potion on you? Good god my head is splitting." Sirius said while cradling his head in his hands.

"I'm fine Sirius. Well not really... but physically speaking I'm fine I guess. What's with all the empty bottles?"

"My fault." announced the man in the Hawaiian shirt who was slowly getting to his feet.

"It's a bit of a tradition of mine. I always drink heavily on this day. Anniversary of the day all our lives were ruined." The man cracked his back in an effort to fully wake up. "How are you Harry?"

"Professor Lupin!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. "I hardly recognized you in those clothes. How long have you been here?"

"I'm not your Professor anymore Harry. You can call me Remus, or even Uncle Moony if you like." Remus said while doing some stretches. "To answer your little inquiry, I've barely been here a week. Had some things to take care of back in Britain before I took this little extended vacation. But more importantly why don't you tell us why you're here."

"Alright, but you may want to come back inside first. Doesn't look like Sirius can pay much attention to anything in the state he's in."

"Have either of you found that hangover potion yet?" Sirius grumbled from the ground squinting from all the sunlight.

Hogwarts School, Headmasters Office

Albus Dumbledore stood above his pensieve with a resigned look on his face. So many plans come undone. So much past work now wasted. How could it happen? How could 14 years of planning come crashing down in less than a few minutes? Harry Potter was gone. His magic stripped. Nothing more than a common muggle now.

'Or would a squib be the more appropriate term?' he mused to himself. Not that it made much of a difference. With a hefty audible sigh, he lowered himself into his pensieve to watch again the events of the evening.

He watched the boy work up a tirade. Watched him shout precious secrets to the entire student body, the foreign student bodies, the staff AND several ministry officials. There was no doubt in his mind that those allegations would be in the Daily Prophet's headlines come morning.

The-Boy-Who-Lived leaving the wizarding world because he felt Hogwarts isn't safe?

That would likely be weeks worth of headliners.

Albus groaned at the thought. It had taken all of his influence and more than a few favors to keep the incidents in question out of the papers the first time around. What will happen when Amelia Bones and her DMLE find out there was actually a Basilisk roaming the hallways two years ago? Albus decided it best to stop thinking about it for the moment. One catastrophe at a time…

Pensieves are not common devices. The enchanters and rune masters who craft them do so on special order only; and they demand money upfront. The fact that the amount of money they demanded was enough for a moderately sized house only added to their rarity. Due to these facts, many features of a pensieve are not known by the common wizard. Sure, many could tell you that a pensieve is used to view or store memories. But could they tell you that a pensieve can actually pause, slow, or speed up the memories in the bowl in order to examine them in detail? It was one of these features that Albus was using now.

Slowing the memory down to a tenth its normal speed, Albus watched the flames of the Goblet pulsate against Harry's chest. He watched in intricate detail how Harry's magic would leave his body, travel through the flame column and then be dispersed by the goblet on the other end. On the fourth pulsation of flame he witnessed something he had completely missed originally. A mixture of black ooze and green mist that was pulled from behind the boy's scar.

It was barely visible in all the bright light. Just as the ooze and mist came into view, it was consumed by the magical fire.

'Extraordinary.' thought Dumbledore. So the boy is free of Tom's soul shard. 'Well at the very least I don't have to worry about Voldemort trying to possess him. But more importantly, how does this affect the prophecy?'

Several scenarios now played out in Dumbledore's head. 'The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal.' If Harry and Voldemort are equals, then is Voldemort now powerless as well? Doubtful, but not impossible. 'He shall have power the Dark Lord knows not.' Is Harry going to discover some power in the muggle world and then fate will orchestrate Harry to defeat Tom anyway? It seems unlikely. 'Born as the seventh month dies.' What if Harry was never the chosen one in the first place? Is it really up to the Longbottom scion after all? And what if the entire prophecy has already come and gone? With it being so vague, one can make the argument the entire prophecy was completed back on that dreaded Halloween night in 1981.

Albus exited the pensieve and slumped down in his chair. For the first time in over a decade, Albus Dumbledore had absolutely no bloody idea what he was supposed to do. All he knew for certain, was that tomorrow...was going to be a rather long day.

Black Family Private Isle, Somewhere In The Tropics

As Harry finished his tale, Sirius held his head in his hands rubbing his temples. Remus sat stoically, arms crossed, eyes closed and deep in thought. They sat in silence for a few moments before Sirius raised his head to speak.

"But pup...surely there must have been another option? Did you have to go and do something so drastic?"

"Even if there was another way out of the tournament it doesn't matter anymore." piped in Remus. "It happened. The better question is what are we going to do about it now?"

Harry shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. "Well uh to be honest I didn't really have that much time to think ahead. I just knew I had to get away from it all. Where is this place anyway?"

Sirius looked puzzled. "I thought that would be obvious Harry. We're on an island in the tropics."

"Thanks. I figured that much out myself." Harry replied sarcastically. "I mean WHERE are we? You know...on the globe?"

Sirius stroked his chin and looked to the ceiling. "Ohhh. Not a clue actually."

"What? How can you not know?"

"Didn't really seem important to find out. The last time I came to this little getaway, before this past summer that is, was when I was nine years old. I'm sure my father probably mentioned it at some point but it was such a long time ago that I couldn't even begin to guess. The main islanders would know, but I mostly stay out of their hair. I only head over there to send mail and to occasionally pick up supplies."

"Why can't you send mail from here? And there's a main island?" Harry inquired.

"Ah yes. Time for a bit of a history lesson pup. I don't know when EXACTLY, but roughly two centuries ago my great-great grandfather bartered for this little island off the locals of the time. There's actually six little islands in this little paradise we have here. One of which is significantly larger than the other five. We call that one the Main Island. It has an actual name sure, but I've always found it incredibly hard to pronounce, so I just go with 'Main Island'." Sirius said with a shrug.

"Anyway my great great grand pappy made a deal with the locals. In exchange for a hefty amount of livestock my family would have the exclusive rights to this little place; and no one is allowed to visit without a Black's permission. Seeing as how pigs and cows are exceptionally hard to come across in the middle of the ocean, even more so two centuries ago, the muggles agreed. And then my ancestors decided to ward this island all to hell. Although...now that I think about it, the man was supposedly a real scoundrel. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if he just conjured the animals and they faded away after a few days." he continued while rubbing two fingers on his chin.

"Oh well...it doesn't really matter anymore, with it being 200 years later and all. Now due to the extensive wards on the island it's become completely unplottable. Which means you can't see the island unless you already know where it is. No one can apparate or portkey in or out unless a Black made the portkey and no post owls or other birds can find us here. House elves still can, but no one really knows why...Wizards have never really bothered to work out the intricacies of Elf magic. SO, what say we give you the grand tour ey? Then we'll find a room for you to sleep in."

Harry's eyes went wide at that last comment. "A room! Sirius, I left all of my stuff back in my dorm room! I didn't think to bring anything with me; AND HEDWIG, oh she's going to be pissed at me."

Remus placed a hand firmly on his honorary nephew's shoulder before the boy could work himself into a panic. "Calm down Harry. It's really no problem at all. Padfoot can get your things here in less than a few minutes." Remus said with a smile.

"Uh Moony must I?" Sirius complained with a grimace. "You know how much I hate calling him. There are other ways to get Harry's things here."

"Yes there are, but none nearly as expedient as calling him. Just get it over with."

"Uggggghhh fine. KREACHER!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Um... was something supposed to happen?" Harry asked

"Just give it a moment Harry. We are pretty far from Britain and it's going to take-"

A sudden *POP* interrupted Moony; and Harry found himself looking at the oldest, ugliest, and most bedraggled house elf he'd ever have the displeasure of laying eyes on.

"Dirty blood traitor master calls Kreacher? Master lives in filthy hut with beasts and muggles." Kreacher looked at Harry and Remus with disdain out of the corner of his eye. "Ohhh what would mistress say if she knew Kreacher must serve such an unworthy dirty-"

"That's enough you foul little monster!" Sirius snapped as his face began to color in anger. "I need you to go to Hogwarts and get my godson's things from his dorm room. You will bring them back here immediately without any other stops on the way; and then you will go back home and you will stay there! Do you understand your orders?"

Kreacher gave a sneer which was honestly worthy of Snape and gave a mocking sort of bow. "Of course Master. Kreacher understands. Kreacher will obey."

Another sharp *POP* and the elf disappeared. The next few minutes passed uneventfully for the trio in the house. Harry was shown where all the faculties were and Remus vanished Harry's mess from earlier with a wave of his wand. They even got in a few laughs imagining the public blowback Dumbledore will be receiving before they were once again interrupted by that sharp *POP*.

"GEROFF ME! KREACHER IS OBEYING ORDERS. LEAVE KREACHER ALONE!"

"NO! YOU MUST RETURN MASTER HARRY POTTER'S THINGS! MASTER HARRY POTTER WILL BE MOST UPSET WITH DOBBY IF DOBBY JUST LET OTHERS TAKE MASTER HARRY POTTER'S THINGS!"

The trio of men scrambled back into the main room and nearly keeled over laughing at the sight they found. Harry's trunk, books, Hedwig in her cage and various other things were placed on the side of the room, whilst Dobby rode on Kreacher's shoulders banging him over the head with a frying pan. The two elves were so focused on screeching at one another that they were unaware of their audience.

Harry finally caught his breath and managed to ask a question. "Dobby what are you doing here?"

"Master Harry Potter sir! Dobby was watching master Harry Potter's things so no one would takes them when this one pops in and makes off with them. Dobby didn't know he was bringing them to master Harry Potter sir or else Dobby would do it Dobby's self."

"Err Dobby why were you watching my things? No. Wait. Before you answer that why are you calling me master?" Harry asked.

The Elf pulled down on his ears looking ashamed and tried to look anywhere that wasn't Harry's face. Kreacher seeing the opportunity shirked Dobby off his shoulders, gave the grumpiest scowl he could manage to all the occupants in the room and then popped away. Dobby stood up and wrung his hands together nervously.

"Master Harry Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby did not enjoy being free elf so Dobby decides to work for greatest wizard Dobby knows which is master Harry Potter. Dobby did not tell master Harry Potter because if master Harry Potter does not know Dobby works for master Harry Potter then master Harry Potter cannot set Dobby free from working for master Harry Potter."

"PLEASE DOBBY! Stop... stop calling me that. It's a mouthful and grating on the ears. Please just call me Harry. Besides I can't be the greatest wizard you know when I'm not even a wizard anymore."

"If master Harry is not greatest wizard then he is now greatest of squiby's. Dobby is still happy to serve master Harry even without master Harry's magic." He exclaimed whilst bouncing up and down joyfully.

Harry inwardly sighed at the title the Elf still called him. 'Well at least he shortened it. One step at a time.' "Okay we'll put that off for now. Also the term is Squib Dobby, not squiby or squiby's. Why did you feel it necessary to guard my things for me?"

Dobby began to squirm and look uncomfortable at the question. "Dobby is sorry to have to tell master Harry this but master Harry's Weasley was trying to takes them hisself. Master Harry's Weasley was saying master Harry ran away and no longer needed his special map or his invissy cloak so he was trying to takes them from master Harry's things saying real Gryffindors wouldn't run away and cowardly squiby's don't deserve magic things. Dobby was arguing with Harry Potter's Weasley when the other elf came and took master Harry's things. Then Dobby gets his frying pan and follows other elf."

As Dobby's story progressed Harry felt like he had been punched in the gut. Ron was trying to take his stuff? Ronald Weasley? His best mate for the past three years wasn't willing to wait even a single night before pilfering through his things? It shocked him. It infuriated him. It's not like Harry had died! Even if he had you don't go divvying up a person's stuff before some time has passed...and what the hell does he mean a squib doesn't deserve to have magical items? His cloak is a family heirloom! He's the only one with any damn rights to it! In addition how is it cowardly to run away from a tournament that will likely end in your death? Mentally Harry had a short list of people he had planned on writing to. That list just became one name shorter.

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking. "Thank you for telling me Dobby and thank you for being so watchful. But I'm afraid I really don't have anything for you to do on this island. Why don't you go back to work at Hogwarts until I need you again? Oh and can you watch out for Hermione for me? I'm worried the blond ponce of Slytherin and his two shaved gorillas will try something now that I'm gone."

"Of course master Harry. Dobby will protect master Harry's Grangy with Dobby's life." With that command Dobby bowed deep and quickly popped away.

'Well that was an ordeal.' Harry thought. He turned back to his godfather and honorary uncle and begun to ask. "So what were we doing before-" he stopped abruptly as the adults burst into laughter. "Care to share what's so funny!" he demanded.

Sirius attempted a straight face. "Oh nothing is funny master Harry Potter sir, why would master Harry Potter sir think there's anything funny-pffft Hahahahaha!" the laughter came back twice as hard as before and Sirius actually fell to the floor close to tears.

Remus looked at Harry as if he wanted to say something but could only muster the words "Master Harry–"before he also devolved into hysterics.

Laughter is infectious after all and soon Harry too was bent over at the waist laughing at the antics of the unusual elf. Eventually Harry caught his breath and began to feel the fatigue of the day. Certainly the longest day he's had in recent memory. He looked around the humble shack and thought of the lazy days on the beach that were sure to follow.

Life seemed like it would be simple here.

Harry could do with some simple for a little while.