Disclaimer: I swear that someday I will own something, until then I'll settle for mucking up other people's life's work and run like hell if I see their lawyers coming.

A/N: A couple of reviewers have mentioned that it doesn't look like Harry is becoming muggle. Please stick with the story; it's going to take some doing on his part to get there. I have the story outlined almost to the end, and he will get to where he's headed but as you will find out in this chapter he will have to have some magical contact in his life for a while.

There have also been a couple of questions about possible ships in this story. At this time there are no plans for any romantic pairings with Harry, though the outline is loose enough to for one to happen I don't see it at this time. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing.

Chapter 6

Harry cringed as he looked in the mirror, and once again told himself that he would let the Weasley twins disguise him if he ever needed it again. Either that or just dunk himself in a vat of acid, he couldn't decide which would be more painful. But no matter what, Tonks had both options beat hands down. He now saw an extremely over tanned bleached blond idiot staring back at him from the mirror. This was not how he thought he should look if he wasn't going to be noticed. Tonks on the other hand seemed to think that the way to remain incognito was to stand out like a sore thumb. The worst part is that she left his eyes the same. If he saw the person in the mirror coming down his side of the street he'd move to the other side in case it was contagious.

They had stayed up late the night before talking about anything and everything that came to their minds. Harry had finally gotten up the courage to ask her about her constantly changing hair and found out about metamorphmagus'. He had also started trying to sort out his feelings about everything. For her part Tonks had found out that the person in front of her was for the most part a typical teenager, confused as hell about just about everything. She had offered him some advice but for the most part just listened and told him that unfortunately there were no right and wrong answers, he just had to figure out what path he wanted to take and then try to not regret anything later. She figured he'd be upset with that, but was surprised to find out that it was just what he wanted to hear. He had said that it was the first time that someone had told him to go make his own choices and his own mistakes, learn from them, and then move on from there to make more mistakes. Any way that he looked at it, it was someone telling him to live his own life.

Then morning came, and with it the search for the best disguise. Harry still couldn't figure out how two hours could feel like three days, but he at least knew it was possible and that he never wanted to have it happen to him again. The worst part was when Bill had stopped by to tell them that their appointment was for one thirty. The moment he saw Harry he started laughing and took ten minutes to calm down, but every time he looked in Harry's direction he would start again. All in all it took him almost another hour to tell them everything they needed to know and to let them know that it was alright if Rebecca came along. He was also happy that she was willing to check out Ginny. The goblins were apparently great at most magic but healing wasn't something that they spent a lot of time on, if a warrior died of his injuries then it was his time to die.

Amelia showed up just as they were making lunch. After settling down from her laughing fit she gave them her news. "We may have a small problem with getting rid of Fudge. I've been quietly feeling people out all morning and found that the only people who stand a chance of getting elected are as bad or worse in their own ways. We have nobody who can get the job that I would trust having it."

"What about you boss? You'd do good job."

"I don't have the backing to get it and even if I did the next person in line for my job is Scrimgeour."

"Ouch. Ok you keep your job, I don't want to have to quit yet."

Harry asked "How does Fudge keep his job anyway? I mean the guy seems to be pretty incompetent."

"Mainly through support from people like Malfoy. I have no proof but I know that he's been receiving bribes for years."

Tonks sat there thinking for a few minutes. "What if we used Fudge instead of getting rid of him?" They both just looked at her. "Think about it. Right now You Know Who is lying low building his forces and making plans. We can't find out what his plans are but we can start building our forces to counter him and make plans of our own. We can have plans in place to take out everyone that was in the graveyard at the same time. If the ministry keeps saying that he's not back we can really surprise him when he shows his ugly face."

"How do you suggest we get the funding for the buildup?"

"What's Fudge want more than anything? His job. We have enough evidence to make sure he loses it but we're also in a position to help him become known as one of the greatest Ministers in history." Madam Bones looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "Just think about it. If we make him keep saying the same things he is now and have him raise the budget for the Auror forces at the same time, we can start our plans and nobody will know. Once he finally shows his face we're more prepared to face him and Fudge can say that it was all part of his plan to lull him into a false sense of security. We're taught to fight fire with fire, so to fight a snake shouldn't we be a bit more Slytherin about it?"

"You want me to blackmail the Minister?" When Tonks nodded with a huge grin Amelia looked to Harry for help.

Harry shrugged. "It should work and you know that Fudge knows how to keep his mouth shut. You just need to convince him that when it's over he's going to be known as the greatest. If he ever did accuse you, who would believe him? You're all about obeying the law and everyone knows it. I would like you to get rid of that Umbridge woman though."

"Don't you want him to stop smearing you in the Profit?"

"Why? I don't read it and didn't even know he was doing it until Tonks told me. I'm used to them printing things about me that aren't true. Besides, if he stops then that might tip someone off to what's really going on."

While she sat there thinking about it Rebecca showed up and just stared at Harry for a few seconds before bursting out in her own laughing fit.

"That's it; you're going to change this Tonks. Just lighten the tan if nothing else, but I'm not going out looking like this."

Amelia took pity on him and darkened his hair so that it wasn't so bright and lightened his skin to look like a normal tan, she also changed his eyes to brown. Once Harry checked himself out in the mirror, they left for Diagon Alley. Bill met them at the door and led them to a meeting room were Ginny sat looking scared.

"Hey Ginny are you ok?"

She looked up at the people who had just come in. "Harry!" She jumped up and ran to hug him.

Madam Bones looked confused. "How did you know that it was him? He doesn't look anything like Harry."

Bill answered for her. "She could probably feel him. There's some residue left in her from the diary, it doesn't seem like much but she can feel the others when their close by."

Harry tightened the hug. "I'm sorry Gin." He looked at Bill. "The goblins can get it out of her too, right?"

"They can, it should be easier than yours since it's just some residue. She didn't show up when we did the location spell this morning. We already have a team checking a vault in the bank for one and one heading to a town called Little Hangleton. The fourth one seems to be at Hogwarts and You Know Who is currently at Malfoy Manor."

Tonks spoke up. "I thought you needed the one in Harry to find the others."

Bill looked surprised. "I thought I told you earlier, we found one at headquarters yesterday, that's how we know that Ginny reacts to them. I must have been laughing to hard and forgot to mention it. I am glad that you didn't keep that disguise Harry. I don't think the goblins would have let you in looking like that."

Ginny spoke over Harry's mumbling. "So you have one with you? What are they anyway?"

It was Bill who answered. "They're a part of his soul that he ripped apart and stored in different objects to help keep him alive. He must have been preparing to make another one the night that he killed Harry's parents but he obviously didn't get the chance because of his curse backfiring. From what the goblins can figure without having seen it, when the killing curse hit him it finished splitting his soul and that fragment latched on to Harry, embedding itself in his scar."

"You mean that's why I…" Ginny looked down, her face turning red.

"Why you what?" When she didn't answer Bill turned her to face him. "Princess, this could be important, we need to know any information that you might have."

Ginny blushed deeper. "Well I always had a crush on Harry, even before I met him. But after what happened I started thinking that he was mine, and that no one else deserved him. You, Dad and Charlie always call me princess, and Harry came in and rescued me, he used a sword to kill the monster just like in the stories that Mum used to tell me. Harry was my knight so he was supposed to end up with me. Now you tell me that it's probably because of You Know Who that I think he's mine." Tears were coming down her cheeks and Bill pulled her into another hug.

"Hey, I saw his memory of what happened remember. I don't think anyone will blame you for thinking of Harry as your knight, I know he impressed the hell out me. Why don't we wait until we have you fixed up and get rid of that thing in Harry to see how you feel about it all. Then you'll know that it's your own feelings and not some outside influence, ok?"

Ginny nodded and looked at Harry. "Sorry."

"It's all right, Ginny, I'm finding out that these things can really mess with emotions. He seems to be making it easier for me to get angry, and making me get angrier than normal. I don't want anyone to hold it against me if I blow up at them, so how can I hold it against you? Ginny, would you let Rebecca check you? She's a healer; she fixed me up after my uncle, well after my uncle, and she's the one that found this thing in me. She might be able to help."

After she said yes Rebecca asked if there was a room they could use and was led to a small antechamber. Bill started telling the others what was going on.

"The goblins want to destroy them all at the same time. They said that if we destroy them one by one he'll start to feel them dying. They think we can kill one or two more before he notices but after that he'll probably try to get them and protect them. That means that when one of the experts gets here we can get the one in Harry, but the rest will have to wait until we have them all. They think that we can isolate the one in you so that it won't be able to affect you before we take it out. That's why we still wanted you to come in."

"That's ok; I need to talk to them about what I have in my vault and whether or not I can stop the tuition payments for Hogwarts. I need to find out how much I have to live on while I get some muggle tutors; I'm behind four years on my muggle education."

"Why would you stop going to Hogwarts?"

Amelia answered for him. "Harry has some really good reasons for what he's doing and Tonks, Rebecca and I are going to support his decision. If you had seen all of his memories and heard his arguments you'd probably support him too."

"All right, I won't argue with you about it, but you should be prepared for a fight. I think a few people are going to try to keep you in Hogwarts whether you want it or not. I'll help if I can, but I don't know how much I'll be able to do. With Sirius being wanted that would probably make Dumbledore your magical guardian, so you'll have to go through him unless you change that."

Harry looked at Madam Bones. "Will I need one if I'm expelled and can we change it if he is?"

"Yes, you'll still need one. You're a wizard because you have magic so it doesn't matter if you go to a wizarding school or a muggle one. But it's really easy to change guardians actually, I'll get the paperwork when were done here, you just need to think about who you want to change it to. It has to be someone who can support you if you need it. With your upcoming hearing you probably need to think about someone that you can say will help keep you in line from now on. The fact that Dumbledore doesn't have a lot of contact with you outside of school and that you have a hearing to begin with should make things go pretty smoothly."

"Ok, so when can we do this isolation thing? I can get mad enough on my own; I really don't want his help."

"They should be ready in about fifteen minute. Ginny will go first and should only take a couple of minutes. They want you to stay in here when they perform the ritual because they don't know if having a horcrux in the room will affect it. We'll come get you when hers is done. Now you won't be able to have any prolonged contact with her until we can get the one in you out. If the two of you spend more than a few hours in the same area the ritual will start to come undone. I don't see a problem with this because of your living arrangements, but it's something to remember. As it is, isolating yours will only last about two weeks; the bad part is that the earliest we can get one of the experts here is five days. Both of them are currently on jobs that they can't leave; you don't have enough gold to outbid the current potential of those jobs. If those jobs take longer to complete we have to wait, all right?" When Harry nodded Bill turned to Madam Bones. "The goblins would like to coordinate with you when they destroy the horcruxes, they say that it will weaken You Know Who permanently but he'll be disoriented for about a day and may even be unable to perform magic. We can locate him before they destroy them, so they want you to hit him right after it happens. They said that you'll be able to tell that the horcruxes are all destroyed because his scream should make a banshee jealous." Bill finished with a grin.

"If they give me a two or three weeks we should be able to get enough forces. But to do it that quick I'm going to have to figure out how to get some foreign help here without any one noticing. Could I give them a better time frame in a couple of days?"

"That should work, if you need some help from outside the country you should talk to Fleur, her father works for the French ministry, I don't know how high up he is but he may be able to help."

The door to the anti chamber opened and Ginny and Rebecca came in, the healer speaking when everyone looked their way. "She's in good health, I was able to find the residue, as you put it, but like Harry I don't know how to deal with it. I hope the goblins can do what you say."

"They can."

"Good, if I give you an address can you bring Ginny to see me at the clinic I work at?"

"Why? You just said that she was fine."

"Physically she is, but having someone take over your mind and body has to have a way of hurting you psychologically. She said that she's never spoken to anyone about everything that happened; I just want to give her the chance. The clinic I work at is in a pretty poor neighborhood so all of the Doctors have to have some training in psychology to work there. It makes it easier to help the patients. I'd offer to come to her but she says that it's impossible for her to say where she's living right now. Some sort of charm?" Bill said yes. "I'd like to talk to her for about an hour each day next week, we'll see how things go before we decide on a schedule after that if that's all right?"

"I'll have to check with our parents first but I don't see them having a problem with it." He looked to Tonks. "I may have to have Remus take her a couple of times because of work and I'll have to tell Mum and Dad something."

"I'll release you from your oath but you can't mention Harry. Ginny, you're released from yours to talk to Rebecca, is that good?"

They both nodded and the healer spoke again. "Two o'clock good for you? Then we can start on Monday."

They discussed the details until a goblin came in. "Were ready for the girl." Then he turned and walked out and Bill, Ginny and Rebecca hurried to follow. Madam Bones told Harry and Tonks that she would see if she could meet with Fleur when they took Harry in. It was only five minutes later when the goblin came back and said "It's time for you." And left them to hurry after him.

When they entered the room for the ritual they saw Rebecca already there. Harry was surprised to see that it was just a small room with only one goblin in it. It didn't even have any runes or symbols anywhere.

"Sit." The goblin growled pointing at the floor in the center of the room. Harry hurried to obey him. "Close your eyes and nobody speak." Once his eyes were closed he heard the goblin start muttering in a low growl that he couldn't understand. It seemed like only a couple of seconds when his head slammed back striking the floor. He bit back the pain so he wouldn't make any noise. "You're done." With that the goblin walked out the door.

Tonks and Rebecca hurried over to help him. "Harry?"

"Is it all right to talk now?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes."

"Good, OW!"

Rebecca waved her wand over his head. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks. That was it?"

"Seems that way, Ginny didn't take as long but she also didn't have her head hit the floor. You ready to go?"

"Oh yeah. I still need to talk to someone about my account though."

"All right, come on." They walked back to the lobby and found Bill and Ginny waiting.

After making sure that both Harry and Ginny were all right the two Weasley's left to take her back to where she was staying. Rebecca said good bye after agreeing to come to dinner and went back to her job while Harry and Tonks found a goblin to ask about his account. It was half an hour later before they were taken to an office with an old looking goblin sitting behind a desk.

"Mr. Potter, take a seat." Once they were seated he asked. "What can I help you with today?"

"I would like to know how much I have in my vault and whether or not I can stop tuition payments to Hogwarts sir."

"Sir is a wizard honorific, my name is Grimslash. You can stop tuition payment any time before August first when it is made to Hogwarts for the coming term. At this time you have fifteen thousand galleons in your trust vault with seven thousand of that set for tuition. You also have a one time allotment of ten thousand for the purpose of purchasing a broom. The amount is reset on June first for the next year from your family vault. At this time your family vault has a little over eighty four thousand galleons. It has grown at a modest rate over the last thirteen years due to interest and a couple of small investments. The last four years most of the interest has been being used to reset your vault. You will not be able to access your family vault until you become of age. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Harry blinked a couple of times trying to process everything that was said. "Uh, yes, I would like to stop the tuition and get five thousand galleons exchanged for pounds please."

"Very well, give me a couple of minutes." With that Grimslash left the office.

"Are goblins always like this or is it because of the horcrux thing?"

Tonks grinned. "This is considered polite for a goblin; you are a depositor after all. If he was going to be rude you wouldn't have even gotten in. Remember that wizards have fought several wars with the goblins, they're a warrior race. Now they have to settle for handling gold instead of swords and axes, it's bound to make them seem a little grumpy."

Before Harry could respond Grimslash came back to the office. "Sign this."

Harry signed and had a wad of pounds shoved into his hands. "Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

"No thank you Grimslash, have a good day."

The goblin didn't even respond he just started doing his paperwork again, so Harry and Tonks left and went back to the apparition point in Diagon Alley to apparate to home.

XXXXXXX

Bill and Ginny entered the kitchen at Grimmauld only to have her crushed in a Molly Weasley hug. Looking at Bill she was about to launch into her questions when he stopped her. "Not here. Is Remus around?"

"Yes he's with Sirius feeding Buckbeak, why?"

"I'll explain when we get him. Will you and Ginny wait in her room for us?" After she said yes Bill went to get Remus and joined them after a couple of seconds and put up some locking and silencing spells.

"As you know both Ginny and I are under an oath. I've been released from most of it. I still can't tell you where I got my information, and Ginny has only been released to talk to one person other than me. This oath is non negotiable, we were lucky to get the releases that we did so everyone still needs to lay off her with questions. She can't say and won't be able to for the foreseeable future. If anyone has any questions they can come to me with them and I'll answer if I can with what they should know. I'll tell Dad everything I'm telling you when he gets in tonight. Princess, are you going to be ok with me telling this?"

"I have to get used to talking about it. Yeah I'll be alright."

"OK, during her first year Ginny came into possession of an old diary that had once belonged to a Tom Riddle. Tom later became known as You Know Who. It was a lot more than a diary; it contained a piece of his soul. That was what possessed her during that year. When it was destroyed apparently everyone thought that it was over and that she was fine, unfortunately no one had her checked before making that assumption." He stopped to help his sister after their Mum started crushing her in a hug while crying over her poor little girl. "Mum, she's ok. There's a little bit of residue from the diary left in her but the goblins are going to be able to take care of it. We're just waiting on the ones who know how to do it to get here; it should hopefully only be a week. Other than that she's in good physical health." After making sure Ginny could breathe he continued. "We also met with a healer who was good enough to check her out that's how we know she's ok. The healer thinks, and I agree, that Ginny needs to talk to someone about what happened. After talking with Princess today I found out that she's been having nightmares since it happened. Growing up with six brothers she's had to be tough and talking about nightmares is a sign of weakness. We've discussed that Mum; she knows that even I have nightmares, mostly due to my job, and that I have people that I can talk to about them. She can't talk about these with anyone right now except the healer and I, but any others she knows that she can go to you and Dad or come to me if she's more comfortable with it. Is that alright?"

"Yes, of course, you can always come to us sweetie."

"Well next week the healer would like to see her for about an hour a day so that she can talk about it and anything else she needs to."

"But why can't she talk to us about it? We're her parents and she should be able to tell us anything. We don't even know this healer, he might not be able to help her properly and I think that we should be there to help her if she needs it."

"Mum, the healer's name is Rebecca and she's recommended by some good friends, the same ones that got me to check on this. She wants to do this just because she wants to help Ginny. She's helping one of these friends free of charge, just because that person needs it. From what I've seen she's good enough to have her own practice in Diagon Alley, but she chooses to work were she does because they need good doctors in that area and can't afford them. Apparently she works in a muggle clinic in a really poor neighborhood. Mum, this the type of thing that this family could have used when I was growing up. We had all the love we could ever want growing up, but both Charlie and I could have saved us a lot of money with a few less trips to St Mungo's, couldn't we? Well she and the other doctors at this clinic work there because people like us can't always afford to go to the hospital. They help people because it's the right thing to do."

Remus spoke up at this point. "Molly, I've had to work in the muggle world a lot. When I've needed healing after a bout with the moon I've had to go to some of these clinics. The majority of the one's I've been in were good places that helped all comers no matter what. If this Rebecca says that she wants to help Ginny, you should seriously consider it."

"I still don't understand why she can't talk to us about this; I don't like this family keeping secrets from each other."

"Mum, these are dangerous times, certain people and information has to be protected, just like we are by staying in this house. These people don't have the luxury of a Fidelus Charm so they have to use oaths for their protection. They have shown a lot of trust in me by releasing as much of the oath as they have. Please trust that I would never do something that would put this family in danger."

Remus had been thinking while listening to Bill, something suddenly came into place in his head and he gasped causing every one to look at him. "Sorry, I just thought of something. If I whisper something in your ear could you confirm or deny it? Not a who but a what."

Bill nodded and the werewolf whispered one word in his ear. "Horcrux." Bill nodded again and Remus asked. "Can I ask how many?"

"After we're done here we can talk about it."

Remus said ok and turned to Molly. "I know what these things are and no I won't tell you or anyone else about them who doesn't already know. Bill was right yesterday when he told all of you that they were vile. I have a feeling that I know who at least a couple of the people are, no Bill I won't tell anyone about them, I'll take an oath when were through if you want. Molly you can trust them, at least one of them is the most trustworthy person you could know. But they really need to keep themselves hidden right now even more so than any of us do with the possible exception of Sirius. If they recommend this healer then she's probably one of the best and I know I would trust her with my life based only on that recommendation."

Ginny spoke next. "Mum, I really want to talk with her next week. We talked a little bit about something that happened today that was a result of all of this, it helped. I like her and I'm comfortable talking to her. I know I can talk to you about anything, but she already knows about most of what I need to talk about. I need to talk to her Mum, please let me."

The site of her daughter almost in tears made up her mind. "Of course you can go next week sweetheart, we just need to know when and where so we can figure out how to get you there."

"Well that's were Remus and I come in. She gave me her address and wants to meet Ginny at two o'clock everyday so I was hoping you could take her if I have to work."

"I'd be happy to; I think I need to thank her for some things myself anyway."

"Are you ok with this Mum?"

"Yes, but I would like to meet this Rebecca if I can."

"She wanted to come here for her talks with Ginny, so finding a place for you to meet shouldn't be too hard. I think that we should limit the number of people going to the clinic though; I don't want to draw attention to it. Now can Remus and I borrow your room for a few minutes Princess? I think I need to hurt him for having a brain." Ginny said yes and after the door was unlocked the lady Weasley's left the room. "All right Remus what do you want to know?"

"Is Harry still doing ok?"

"The only thing I can tell you is the same as before, that he is doing good and is safe."

"Ok, I wish you could say more but its nice knowing he's alright. How many of these things are out there and what can I do to help?"

"He made six, the diary was destroyed and I found one here yesterday. We were able to locate the others today and have teams going after two of them right now. The last one will be hard to get. It's in Hogwarts so Dumbledore will have to be told about it eventually."

"That's only five, what about the sixth and why don't you want Dumbledore knowing about this?"

"We know where the sixth one is and can have it at Gringotts quickly. It has to be taken care of differently and I can't tell you why. As for Dumbledore, lets just say that right now there's some trust issues happening between him and a few of my contacts and leave it at that."

Remus got a look of understanding before nodding. "Do you need me to take an oath for all this?"

"I don't think so just don't tell anyone." The two of them discussed meeting the next day to go to the clinic so that they could find a good apparition spot before heading their own ways for the night.