DISCLAIMER: I only wish I owned this! Anything you may recognize belongs to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, UbiSoft, or Marvel and I ain't makin' a dime off of this. Wish I was though, then maybe I could move out of this spacious cardboard box, lol!

A/N: Just a quick note stating that I'm moving everything up 15 years. That puts Harry's birth at 31/7/95. For those who pay attention to disclaimers you should be able to tell why.

Chapter 4: OWLS, Emancipation, and Sirius Black!

The week of his exams had both sped by and dragged on. Each exam was split into two halves, with the exception of arithmacy. He would take the written exam in the morning which usually included an exhaustive exam on everything that should be covered in the first five years of schooling, as well as several essay questions that required 12 inches of parchment on the a spell, it's effects, and the laws surrounding it. Runes was slightly different in that it required explanations of all the runes taught from 3rd year through 5th, but it also required essay questions about when setting runes which language would be best for a certain scenario and why. Given that fact Harry had, had only a week to study Runes it was the exam he was the most worried about. Only arithmacy had offered a break in the afternoon as the 'practical' portion was covered in the written exam. Unlike when students take their exams in school the people that come into the Ministry to take them are given their scores the same day as there are far fewer tests to grade. This gave Harry an added benefit the day of his arithmacy exam as he had already completed his core courses, all 6 of them, and had received an O in every single test.

This was fortuitous due to the law stating that any heir of a Pureblood house that was orphaned could petition for emancipation upon completion and passing of 5 OWLs. With 7 done, and an afternoon off, Harry quickly made his way towards the Ministry's Social Services department. He knew he was on borrowed time, and had gotten lucky that Dumbledore had not shown up before now.

"Next," the clerk called, breaking Harry out of his reverie. He quickly walked up to the desk and pushed his completed paperwork across, hoping that things went smoothly.

"Hello ma'am," Harry greeted her as he waited for her to review the paperwork.

"Good day young man. Aren't you a little young to be applying for emancipation," was her quick reply, although the quick wink she threw him took some of the sting out of her question of his age. It took a moment, but he realized he had met her before. She was the woman on the bus that identified the language on his scrap of paper.

"Yes ma'am, but I just finished 7 of my OWLs with only 1 more day of testing to go, and this seemed like the best time. I would also like to thank you again for your help translating that sentence. It allowed me to get the rest translated much more quickly."

"Are you saying that a 13 year old boy has already taken his OWLs? And passed them," her disbelief was in no-way feigned this time.

"Yes ma'am, all Os," Harry told her with a grin before handing her a stack of paperwork that verified his claims.

"Congratulations Mr. Potter, I think this will be quite the talk of the Ministry for some time. I'm actually surprised it isn't already."

"I convinced my examiners to keep it under their hats, so to speak, until I had finished everything," was explained with a sheepish grin by our intrepid hero.

"I see no reason not to grant your request. You are, after all, a Potter. If everything I've heard is true Midas would be one envious king. I only want to ask one question before I grant your petition. Why?"

"Why what ma'am," he asked her, slightly confused.

"Why are you seeking emancipation now, instead of in three years like most people would. It must be something pretty extreme as I'm sure you've had to study your little butt off to be able to pass so many OWLs."

"I just want to be able to make my own choices. I'm already a member of the Dark Forces Defense League due to what happened at Hogwarts last term, and I'm sure that I will be facing even more danger as I grow older. Being able to make my own choices, even if they are mistakes sometimes, would mean that instead of it being someone else's fault if I'm in danger I would have nobody to blame but myself. I've been betrayed by everyone I know, I just want to know that nobody has any leverage over me that I don't give them," Harry explained in a fumbling manner.

"I quite agree with you if that pin is anything to go by. Very well," she said before stamping the paperwork with a spell, "You are hereby considered an emancipated minor, you have all rights and responsibilities of an adult wizard with exception of age specific things, like apparition."

"Thank you ma'am. I really appreciate everything you've done for me," he said with a slight bow before taking his copy of his grades and proof of emancipation and leaving.

(Break)

It turned out to be an extremely good thing that he had taken the time to do that. Dumbledore came sniffing around the Ministry the day after his exams ended. The only reason Harry knew is because he had gotten an owl from the woman who granted his petition telling him. Turns out she was another parent of one of his classmates. Tracey Davis to be exact. Ms. Davis had explained that Dumbledore had been sighted and heard in every department except, strangely, hers. She went on to explain that she felt even better about granting his petition knowing that it put a knot in the old wizard's beard.

With the OWLs and his emancipation taken care of, Harry figured now would be a good time to review his list and decide what he should concentrate on tomorrow before sorting his memories and going to bed.

Empty vault at Gringott's (damn goblins wouldn't let him until he was 17)

Buy school books through 7th year (taken care of)

Buy law books on underage magic and emancipation (done, and done)

Find a way around laws (done)

Rent a room in London, muggle side (it might not be the Ritz, but it worked)

Practice Occlumency (done nightly)

Call Hermione (Not going to happen)

Hire a solicitor if needed (probably needed, talk to Tom about recommendations)

Study through 5th year material (thankfully all done)

Take OWLs (Never want to go through that again)

It looked like he was pretty much done. The solicitor could probably help with the damn Boy-Who-Lived books and probably help with his image. NEWT material could be studied a bit slower than the OWL material was. That was something to take care of once he had found a more permanent residence. Now that he was done with his OWLs he no longer needed to return to Hogwarts, and his emancipation meant the world was his oyster. Too bad the goblins didn't have anything like credit cards, because that would make things so much simpler. Within a week the muggle side would be notified about his emancipation, and he would be able to stop at Social Services and get proof so he could set up a bank account. While the goblins could stop him from removing the bulk of the Potter fortune his trust vault, which is where the basilisk proceeds went, was fair game. Granted, he would lose a bit due to fees converting it to muggle money, but from what he read that was only 1% for large transactions.

Looks like the next step was to see about getting a solicitor. With that decided Harry went about sorting his memories before laying down hoping that tonight was more restful than the previous 2 weeks had been. Every night he'd been having more dreams about people from the past, and every morning he woke up sore. Hopefully it would end soon.

(break)

Time skip 2 weeks

Ok, I'll take more dreams if it means I can keep doing this. The this of Harry's thoughts, as it turned out, was a new ability it seems he picked up. He was now quite good at free running and parkour. His current position was evident of that as he ran across the rooftops of London without breaking stride. He also seemed to be gifted with the ability to be a exceptional rock climber. He could run, jump, climb, flip, bounce, roll, and tumble his way from one end of London to the other without worry. The first time he accomplished that feat he was sweating like he was in a sauna, but the fact that he had done it meant he was smiling from ear-to-ear. It had started by accident when he was nearly runover by a car running a red light. Harry had jumped and tumbled along the hood of the car without so much as a scratch, just as he had seen in his dreams. From then on his physical training became working on getting as far as he could without stopping, or being stopped, by an insurmountable obstacle.

This actually took up most of his days instead of reading. Since there were no wizarding solicitors, with the exception of criminal defense, it seemed he was stuck with people printing what they wanted about him. Well, it didn't matter for now, he would figure something out later that would allow him to debunk those stories. Either that, or he would start acting like that Tony Stark bloke he saw on the news. Apparently he knew people were going to write garbage about him, so he embraced it. That would probably be a better way to go. Although, emulating himself after somebody who just shut down his company after escaping captivity in Afghanistan might not be the best idea.

The rest of his time had been spent going through the rest of the trunk he had gotten from his relatives house. It appeared to be some kind of grimoire, except instead of spell knowledge it contained training and weapon designs that he remembered from his dreams. Magic, as usual, made recreating things so much easier. It had taken a few trips to junk shops in Diagon Alley, but he had soon gotten everything he needed to create his own hidden blade. He was even able to make it invisible by using a wand holster instead of a bracer to contain it. The blade was only visible when he was using it, and once he was skilled with it he could hide his use of it. Starting off with a double wand holster Harry was able to build the hidden blade into one half, and place his wand in the other. Meaning that he could draw his wand or release the blade. After that had been completed Harry made sure to make another one for his left wrist using a standard wand holster. The hook blade was especially helpful for those hard to reach hand holds when he was climbing.

The only damper on the previous 2 weeks had been the shaggy black dog following him whenever he was out of his hotel. Although, a couple of times it had barked at just the right time allowing him to see he was about to be run over. It was obvious that the dog was some kind of animagus, but for some reason they weren't revealing themselves. It rankled that he seemed to have a bodyguard, probably an auror or someone on Dumbledore's orders, to keep an eye on him. Although, Harry thought, with Sirius Black loose it probably isn't necessarily a bad thing. Speak of the devil, it seems my minder was waiting for me. Time to find out just who they are, and who they report to. With that thought in mind Harry took off at a brisk pace towards an alley he knew was a dead end. Luckily, with his ability to go up and over buildings he knew that to dog usually tracked him by scent. As long as he ran down the alley and then doubled back across the fire escape he should be able to get behind his minder without any problems. Just as Harry predicted, once he had doubled back across the fire escape he was able to drop down behind the animagus with his left blade out to be sufficiently threatening.

"Who are you," Harry growled as menacing as possible, which honestly wasn't very menacing. There's only so much a 13 year old can do. The dog turned and looked at him barking while doing it's best to appear as if it was just a stray dog.

"Don't give me that look. I know you're a wizard. I just don't know who you answer to. Change back, now!"

"Ok, ok," a scratchy voice answered as soon as the dog transformed. It took mere seconds for Harry to recognize the face that he had seen in the Daily Prophet before he sheathed his blade and sucker punched the escapee in the nose. "Ow! Let me explain Harry!"

"Explain what," Harry retorted while kicking Sirius in the stomach and then double fisting the back of his head when Sirius went to one knee. "You want me to let you explain why you betrayed my parents?! Or maybe why you killed 13 muggles! Maybe I shouldn't have hit him so hard," Harry finished sheepishly when he realized that Sirius was, in fact, unconscious and unable to answer his questions. Before he could decide what to do with the unconscious wizard the other man seem to be coming to. Thinking fast Harry rolled him over, put a knee on his chest, deployed his left blade and placed it at the wizards throat.

"Oh, what hit me," Sirius groggily asked.

"Me, and I'll do it again if you don't start talking."

"Harry? You look so much like James, except you have your mother's eyes. Which look disturbingly like that one time when I raided her panty drawer," the more he talked the more coherent he seemed to become. It wasn't long before the whole story spilled out. Switching secret keepers, tracking down Wormtail, the subsequent framing, laughing himself silly in his shock that Wormtail of all people got one over on him, going straight to Azkaban, seeing that traitor in the newspaper with the Weasley family.

"How am I supposed to believe that load of shite," Harry asked incredulously.

"I, Sirius Orion Black, solemnly swear on my life and magic that everything that I've told Harold James Potter today is the truth to the best of my knowledge," Sirius quickly vowed. The flash of magic showed that the vow took effect even without Sirius having access to a wand. With a dubious look Harry stood up and sheathed his blade before offering Sirius a hand up.

"Why have you been following me," Harry asked while motioning for the gaunt man to follow him.

"Once I found you I wanted to make sure you were safe. You were one of the only thoughts that helped keep me sane in there. I couldn't keep my memories of you, but I knew you were alive. That and the thought that I was innocent kept me alive for the last 12 years."

"Change back and follow me back to my hotel. You can get cleaned up and get something to eat. We can discuss the rest later."