Harry worked quickly grabbing his wand and cloak from inside of his trunk. He strapped the wand to his thigh in a makeshift holster, threw the invisibility cloak over himself and made to leave. He hesitated, not wanting to leave his trunk and possessions where the Dursleys could get to them. Deciding anything was worth a try, he quickly spoke, "Dobby?" nothing happened, "Dobby, I need you," still no response. Sighing, he grabbed his trunk and began lugging it behind him; inconspicuous he was not.

Exiting number 4 Harry had decided he would leave his trunk with Mrs. Figg; as a member of the Order, she would at least see to it that it was not destroyed. Serriptishly dragging the trunk behind his invisible body, he began his escape. A total of four steps later, a voice rang out from behind him.

"Where ya going Harry," Tonks disembodied voice rang from somewhere off to his left.

"I can't be here anymore Tonks," he replied, listening closely for audio clues about where she was.

"Dumbledore…" she did not get more than that word out.

"Can kiss my ass," he growled, "if he likes the Dursleys so much, he can stay here himself; I'm leaving."

Harry heard Tonks mumble slightly under her breath, obviously annoyed, it was enough to tell him where she was, he made his decision. "I'm sorry Tonks," he said.

Her eyes widened under her invisibility cloak as he said this, but she had no time to react as suddenly she found Harry's trunk flying through the air directly at her.

Harry heard the thump of his trunk making contact with the female auror, and her subsequent crash to the ground beneath it, he made haste throwing the trunk off her and simultaneously grabbing her invisibility cloak. She staggered to her feet; all traces of the clumsy, upbeat young woman were gone, replaced by an enraged and highly trained witch. He gulped silently as he drew his wand; slowly making his way behind her, she jumped slightly and turned towards him; obviously, he had not been quiet enough. He backed away and approached her again, this time straight at her, she had heard him again, but assumed incorrectly that he was trying to get behind her; he barely avoided her wand arm as she again jumped and covered her back. Slinking the rest of the way to her back, he pressed his wand firmly against her neck, anticipating her reaction, he struck her wand out of her hands when she spun, his wand remaining trained on her, now pressing against her cheek.

"I'm sorry Tonks," he said sadly, "please take my trunk with you to where ever you report to." With that, the auror felt the wand pressed painfully into her face slowly back away. Sighing in resignation, the auror got to her feet, retrieved her wand, grabbed his trunk and disapparated, all the while not relishing having to tell Dumbledore that Harry had disappeared, not to mention the dressing down Moody would be giving her for being bested by a 15 year old boy.

Harry had backed away several paces and watched guiltily as Tonks got up, retrieved her wand and his trunk and disappeared. Shaking his head clear of the feeling, he replaced his wand and began to jog away, knowing a search party would be looking for him very soon.

As he accelerated, the wind began wipping through his hair and the silky fabric of his invisibility cloak against his body and trailed off flapping behind him. Concerned he may be seen from behind, he began fiddling with the cloak, bunching it up as much as he could while keeping up as brisk of pace as he could. It was because he was distracted so that he did not notice the red sports car that flew around the corner and rammed into his legs, sending him flying through the air.

"Shit," Harry said as he flew through the air, unwittingly voicing the same thought that Piers Polkiss had when he heard the thump against the car. Piers considered stopping briefly, but considering that he was driving a stolen vehicle, he quickly decided against it.

Harry landed roughly, his momentum added to that of the car causing him to tumble for several feet before coming to a complete stop. Thankfully for Harry, he had hit his head on the curb during his landing, knocking him out and keeping him from experiencing the full range of pain such an accident presented him.

Harry groaned as he returned to consciousness, expecting to be in a great deal of pain and still lying on the side of the road somewhere. He slowly opened his eyes only to see a sterile white ceiling, taking a deep breath he smelled sterile air mixed with the lingering scent of several healing potions, including, to his disgust, skele-grow. Tilting his head slightly, expecting to see several cots lining the wall of the Hogwarts hospital ward; instead he sighted a white wall with a door. Confused, he turned his head the other direction and saw a window that looked out over the dark city of London.

"What the hell?" he said to himself.

"Indeed," stated the aged voice of the old man sitting next to his bed.

Harry groaned, out of every person in the entire universe, there were precious few Harry wanted next to his bed at that moment less than Albus Dumbledore.

"I did not realize my presence caused you so much grief," the elder wizard said in response to Harry's groan.

"It didn't used to," Harry replied, staring hard at Dumbledore.

The headmaster looked older to Harry, more bent by age and emotion than he was used to. "I suppose I can understand that," he said evenly; after a moments pause, he asked, "Harry, why did you leave your relatives?" His tone made clear he was disappointed in Harry.

"Do you remember you once said that people are often given the choice between what is right and what is easy?" Harry asked.

Surprised by the non-sequitur, he hesitated a bit before answering, "I do remember saying that," he paused, "it is true," he added.

"Now tell me, when you chose to leave me at the Dursleys, was that because it was right, or because it was easy?" Harry asked, then, not giving Dumbledore a chance to respond, he continued, "was it right or easy to drop the prophesy on me when I was already so distraught I couldn't see straight? Was it right or easy to imprison me at the Dursleys? Surely, somebody could have actually checked on me; but nobody did. Did nobody find it odd that I did not even send a letter to the order saying I was fine? Did my guards not notice I had not left my room even to eat or go to the bathroom?" His voice was calm and quiet, carrying only the slightest hint of the rage boiling just under the surface, "Do you even know what is right when it comes to me headmaster?"

"Harry, I only tried to do what was best…"

"What you felt best?" Harry hissed dangerously, "that is all the answer I need." He turned from the headmaster, and focused on combating his increasing rage.

"What would you have me do Harry? Let you roam freely where any dark wizard can get at you?" Dumbledore asked serenely.

Turning back to face the elderly man, staring in to his eyes challengingly, Harry replied calmly, "how is that any different that letting me roam the halls of Hogwarts? It seems any dark wizard that wants to can 'get at me' there any time they like."

"Harry, you must understand…"

"I understand that you are incapable of protecting me without imprisoning me."

Dumbledore had no response for the accusation and began pondering several recent incidents, growing more concerned by the actions words of the young man in front of him.

While the old man sat in front of him, worry evident on his ancient features, Harry sat contemplating what he wanted from the man, it would not due to merely run away with no long term or even short plan for his future living arrangements. He did not want to go to the Burrow; while he liked spending time there, and spending time with the Weasleys, they could be overwhelming, and he did need time alone to figure things out in his own head.

Both Dumbledore and Harry made to address the other at the same moment, bringing a faint twinkle to Dumbledore's eyes and a quirk of Harry's lips. Dumbledore continued at Harry's gesture, "Harry," he said earnestly, "while I can see your point about your isolation while in the care of your aunt and uncle, it really is the safest place for you to be."

Harry growled, the old man had not listened to a word he had said; as much as he did not want to do this, it seemed the only way he could properly convey his message. "Do Legilimency on me, call up all of my memories from the time I returned to Privet Drive this year until I left," he said, radiating anger at the fool before him.

Dumbledore was confused by the request, but seeing how Harry was staring at him expectantly, he could not really think of a reason not to. Drawing his wand, he pointed it at Harry and quietly spoke the spell. The boy had made it easy for him, pushing the memories he wanted to see to the front of his mind, obviously Severus had been less than forthright with his charges capabilities.

This thought quickly left him as he saw a defeated looking young man walk into an unnaturally tidy house, only to be immediately set upon, humiliated, made to feel worthless, and locked away by a much larger man.

The memories he sifted through were mundane after this, a day passed with absolutely no contact, no way to contact anyone or signal for help, just a bed and a window. Another day passed, as the little bit of hope he felt from the young man that somebody might check on him began to fade. A third day passed; then a fourth; finally five days had gone by with absolutely no contact from anyone. The dread, despair, and self-hatred he felt from the boy were overwhelming. The words of Vernon Dursley began to constantly repeat in his mind. The fifth night the boy collapsed into a heap while pacing; given that the boy had not slept in those five days, it was not so surprising, though it disturbed him greatly that the thought of actually attempting to sleep never entered into Harry's mind.

Having seen enough to concede that Harry was about as well off going to the Durlselys as he was being sent to Azkaban, Albus attempted to pull away from the memories; he was greatly surprised to find he was unable to do so. The remainder of Harry's summer played out to Dumbledore, through to his attack on Tonks. While just as vicious as she had described, he found himself empathizing with Harry, rather proud that the younger man had apologized, and impressed at the method used to take down a fully trained auror and invisible auror. Yes, Harry was indeed an extraordinary young man.

Dumbledore found himself released from Harry's memories a moment later and he took a moment to digest what he had endured. Staring at the young man, he could see in the dull green eyes staring back at him that it would take more than merely removal from the Dursleys and an apology to fix the damage done to both his relationship with Harry, and the young man's psyche.

"I do see now Harry, that that is not an environment that I can in good conscious ask you to return to. It strikes me to ask why you told nobody it was that bad," holding his hands up to forestall an objection, he quickly continued, "but I know you did and we were not listening to you. I am sorry for that Harry." He paused, trying to think of a good solution to the dilemma he had before him, to send Harry to Grimmauld place seemed on the surface a good idea, but then he did something he should have long ago; he envisioned what it would be like to return there from Harry's prospective and quickly found the idea distasteful. He could send Harry to the Burrow, but had a niggling feeling that this too was not something Harry wanted. "Alas, Harry, I am at a loss for what to do for you," he said eventually.

"Perhaps," Harry began, his tone quite icy, "you should allow me to decide, or at the very least, ask me. Did that thought never occur to you?"

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, the thought had indeed not occurred to him; flustered at himself, he sighed, "I'm sorry to say Harry, that the thought did not occur to me. What is it you want to do?"

Harry's eyes glassed over slightly as he thought. He was both angry at how much it took to get somebody to actually ask his opinion of what he wanted from his own life, but relieved that he had finally beaten it into somebody that he did have an opinion. Letting his feelings go, he thought about what it was he wanted.

The first thought he had answered that question; what I want is to be normal, to live like a normal person. He snorted; having no illusions any longer that he was anything but normal he moved on. The idea of living a life where he dictated his own actions appealed to him greatly, especially in lieu of the revelation of the prophesy; any modicum of control over his own life was golden to him. Slowly a plan formulated surrounding a theme of freedom.

"What I want," Harry began slowly, "is to have a chance to be alone with my thoughts, but not isolated from my world and my friends. I want to have a sanctuary where I can actually relax and let my guard down sometimes without worrying who is watching me. The best idea I can come up with that covers what security precautions I am sure you will insist on, is to move to some small property under the Fidelius Charm with me as the secret keeper. I would need floo access to the Burrow and Hogwarts and an emergency portkey. It would help if I could be given an exception to the apparation and underage magic laws as they make me a sitting duck. If it weren't for them, I would not need near the protection that I do now as I am quite capable at defending myself from all but Voldemort himself."

Dumbledore frowned; he had heard a similar statement from another young man with messy black hair and glasses. "I can not say that I like your solution any better than sending you to the Burrow or Hogwarts for the remainder of the summer, but I understand your want for solitude without losing touch with our world. I would like some concessions however; I would like to be the secret keeper myself, and I would like at least one order member permanently stationed where you are to be living."

It was Harry's turn to frown, he had expected Dumbledore to want further security than what he had originally stated, but a live-in security guard and Dumbledore as secret keeper seemed like just another prison to Harry. He was also rather perturbed by the avoidance of addressing Harry's requests about magic and apparation.

"Your conditions sound a lot like me trading in one prison for another with that has a better view," Harry stated. "I would like control over who enters my home and who does not. I will accept somebody living with me; provided I decide whom. I want to be secret keeper myself." Dumbledore looked at Harry with what he almost believed was hurt in his eyes, at this statement, "it has nothing to due with trusting you," he added hastily. "Even if we do not see eye to eye on my best interests, I know you care about me. I just want to be able to invite friends over should I want to, and it's easier and safer being my own secret keeper than it would be toting around a piece of paper with my address on it, so to speak." He smiled sheepishly at this, but thought he had made a good point.

Warily, Dumbledore thought about what Harry had said and found himself in negotiations about the young man's future living arrangements. While he had become accustomed to expecting people to do as he told them, it was not his place to dictate another person's life to them. The memories of what he inflicted upon Harry because of his decisions on how he was to live were still fresh enough in his mind to make him distinctly uncomfortable with how this conversation was going.