A.N.: A little cliché every now and then never hurt anyone... Ug. Not sure I like this chapter, but it get's the job done, and at this point I can't ask for much else.

thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter!


Back at the Little Hangleton graveyard, a now conscious death eater prodded gently at the infantile body of his fallen master. A diagnostic charm confirmed his suspicions; Voldemort had died at the hands of Harry Potter. Again.

He apparated away. The others would have to be told.

~§~

Harry cast a wandless tempus and a warming charm. Wherever Fawkes had taken him, it was colder and about five hours earlier. Somewhere in North America, then... He improvised a four-point charm using a twig, silently thankful that he'd taken the time to memorize so many runes. With no particular destination in mind, he headed south.

He'd been walking for two hours when he encountered the first signs of civilization: some shoe prints in a small stretch of mud. Unfortunately, they didn't lead very far, and Harry lost track of them after a few meters. He found another sign only a few minutes later. This one, however, caused him some alarm. All the trees in a small vicinity had broken branches, oddly shaped gouges, and occasional burn marks. Harry wasn't sure what he'd expected to find in these woods, but remnants of magical combat hadn't been high on the list.

A little more apprehensive, Harry switched on his glasses and continued walking, scanning the area for magical signatures as he went.

By the time the sun started to set, he was growing impatient. Now much more desperate to find shelter, he searched for the tallest tree he could find and, with the help of some featherlight and balancing charms, swiftly climbed to the top. From his new vantage point he could see what appeared to be a small town. Making a note of the direction, he climbed back down and began walking with renewed vigour.

Finally, the faint light of someone's magic appeared in front of him, growing brighter as he approached. Not wanting to be recognized, Harry transfigured his hair to a dark auburn, removed all Hogwarts related trim from his robes, and cast a semi-permanent glamour to hide his scar. Happy with his appearance, he silently crept up on the other figure, who turned out to be a boy roughly his own age. Harry couldn't help but notice how strange the other boy looked, with his wispy black hair, hollow cheeks, and vibrantly bloodshot eyes.

A branch snapped under Harry's feet, and he was immediately spotted.

"Hello," the stranger cooed, "What are you doing out here? Did someone get lost?"

His voice remind Harry of someone talking to a child; gently and friendly, but annoyingly patronizing.

"Yes, actually, I was hoping-

"Poor thing... someone must have let you out," interrupted the other boy as he stepped forward, "Don't worry; we'll get you back to your room."

As he approached, Harry couldn't help but notice that he smelled faintly of rotting fruit.

"I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding," Harry said, taking a step back when the smell became too strong, "I was just wondering if you could tell me where I am."

"My my, you're quite lucid!" exclaimed the other boy, "You must have been out for some time. Stay put, now." He kept approaching.

Harry tried to step back, but found that his legs were firmly rooted to the spot. Shit! What did he do?! My occlumency shields are fine, and I didn't see him cast any spells. Fuck that smell is gross...

The stranger was standing uncomfortably close to him, now. Every fibre of Harry's being wanted to get away from him, but for some reason his legs were completely immobile.

"What the fuck did you do to my legs?!" he demanded, trying desperately to keep his growing fear out of his voice.

"Poor little human..." muttered the stranger, who was now less than a foot away, "So helpless and confused."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise as his brain immediately went down the list of all the humanoid creatures that he knew, trying to remember something that might help him.

"Let's put you to sleep," the dark haired boy drawled, as condescendingly as ever, and pulled a wand from his robes. "It's not polite to play with your food."

Harry reacted instinctively with a push rune, effectively knocking the stranger away from him. The other boy immediately fell into a defensive stance and cast several shielding charms. Noticing that Harry was still struggling to get his legs moving, he abruptly switched to the offensive and hit the incapacitated young wizard with a stunner.

~§~

When Harry woke, he found himself tied to a chair, alone, in a room not entirely dissimilar to Dumbledore's office. This is really not my day... Hoping to find some clue as to his current location, he looked around the room. The few patches of wall not lined with cluttered shelves were filled with rune covered chalkboards, and the ceiling was tiled with bookcases that somehow seemed to work in spite of being horizontal. Magic... right... I really should be used to this sort of thing by now. Apart from that, the room was sparsely furnished (a single desk and a few chairs).

Harry was about to try a cutting spell on the ropes binding him when he heard the sound of a door opening behind him.

"Well, he seems to be awake," said a woman's voice, "You need to work on your stunners. And don't bother with the ropes, kid, they're magic resistant."

Shit...

The woman pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Harry. She looked remarkably like the stereotypical librarian: horn rimmed glasses, brown hair tied back in a bun, sensible shoes. And yet, her scowl made Harry feel more threatened than he'd been facing Voldemort.

"I really should keep some of this stuff in my office," she said in a monotone, pulling a small glass bottle from her robes, "Veritaserum does come in handy rather often. Oh, wipe that look off your face; you're lucky Aurel didn't kill you on sight."

She turned to the boy standing in the doorway, "Where did you say you found him?"

"He was in the northern woods," came the reply. Harry couldn't help but notice how different the boy's voice sounded now, polite and quiet.

"Um... can someone tell me where I am?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Tch- as if you don't know," spat Aurel.

"You don't ask the questions here, wizard," answered the woman, ignoring the boy's outburst. "That's my job. Now open your mouth or I'll have to break your jaw."

Harry did as she asked. He wasn't sure if she'd been joking or not, but he didn't want to find out.

"Now then. Let's start with the basics. Who are you?"

"Harry Potter." Harry frowned. He hated veritaserum.

"Really? The british kid who's been in the wizarding news?" She seemed mildly surprised. Aurel didn't react at all. Maybe I'm not very well known here. Harry pondered. That would be a nice change... The woman didn't give him time to dwell on it.

"What are you doing here?"

"Running from the law. Shit... that's not- I'm no a- a- damnit! Ok, I am technically a criminal, but I didn't commit the crime that I was accused of."

Aurel chuckled softly at Harry's frustration. The woman ignored him and continued her questioning.

"What were you accused of?"

"Murder. I didn't, though. I-

"Falsely accused, yes. I heard you the first time. Why are you running?"

"I don't trust the ministry. They've sent two people I care about to Azkaban under false accusations, and they seem to think that I'm some sort of threat to society."

"Are you here to spy, infiltrate, expose us, or otherwise compromise our security?"

"Umm... no. I don't even know where I am."

"Hmmm... How did you get here, then?"

"A phoenix brought me."

The woman's eyebrows rose fractionally. "Really... who else knows you are here?"

"No one."

"Does anyone else know how to get here?"

"I can't answer that unless you let me know where I am."

The questions continued in this way until, at long last, the woman seemed convinced Harry wasn't any sort of threat. She finally relented and answered his initial question.

"You are at a hidden school for non-human magical beings. Does anyone know we exist, where to find us or our community?"

"Well..." Harry thought back, trying to remember anything he knew about magical beings. "One of my professors spent time with some vampires in Albania, and there are a few other witches and wizards who've lived with other species. I've never heard anything about a school, though."

"Well, that clears that up, then." The woman stood up, and the ropes binding Harry vanished. "Now, if you were a muggle, we would obliviate you and send you on your way. But since you have magic, and are being unjustly hunted by wizarding society, I am obliged to offer you sanctuary."

"What?! You can't be serious!" Aurel interjected, "He's one of them!"

The woman turned to the incensed boy.

"Do I need to remind you," she began in a growl, "why this school was founded?"

Aurel glared at his feet. "No, headmistress," he bit out.

"And who is in charge of admissions?"

"...you are, headmistress."

"Indeed I am. Now, then," she turned to Harry, "You are on the run from the wizarding world, and in need of an education. As your luck would have it, we are a school dedicated to offering a safe learning environment for magical beings hunted or otherwise persecuted by the wizarding world. So, if you desire, you may stay here. However..."

Her gaze became hardened.

"Be aware that we take our privacy and security extremely seriously. We have managed to remain hidden from the general wizarding population for over eight hundred years, and we intend to keep it that way. If you are ever found to be engaging in any unauthorized external communication, everyone involved will be tracked down and silenced. Do I make myself clear?"

Harry nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"Good. Cara?"

A house elf (clothed, Harry couldn't help but notice) appeared at the headmistresses feet. As soon as it spotter Harry, it gave a small squeak and tried to retreat behind the woman's leg.

"Please fetch a book on the school history from the library. Something brief, if you can."

The elf nodded and vanished. Seconds later, the desired book appeared on the desk. The headmistress handed it to Harry.

"You have until morning to make your decision," she said, "If you choose to stay, I will arrange for someone to get you up to speed on our cultural and academic expectations. If you refuse, you will be obliviated and moved to a different continent."

She turned to Aurel.

"Please take our guest to one of the student rooms in the western block."

Aurel, who had been silently fuming till that point, nodded stiffly and walked out the door without a word. Harry hesitated for a moment before a sharp look from the headmistress prompted him to run after the boy.

Neither of them spoke as Aurel lead Harry down a series of long narrow hallways. The school had gothic architecture similar to Hogwarts, but featured significantly more marble. Unlike Hogwarts, however, the walls were bare. No portraits, no hanging tapestries, no suits of armour. Had his guide been less hostile, Harry might have asked about the lack of decor.

FInally, they arrived at a particularly long corridor lined with hundreds of tightly packed doors. Aurel chose one towards the end and directed Harry inside. As soon as the young wizard stepped inside, Aurel slammed the door behind him.

Harry scanned the room. Considering how little space there had been between the hallway doors, the room was impressively large. Probably some sort of space expansion charm, he reasoned. It was furnished with a bed, desk, several empty bookcases, a large table, a couch, and two well-padded armchairs. One corner of the room was lined with counters and cabinets that Harry could easily see converted into a small potions lab. Two doors lead to an extremely spacious walk-in closet and a large private bathroom.

"This place is a school?" he exclaimed in disbelief to the empty room. "Their student rooms are bigger than the Griffindor common room..."

After a bit more searching, he found a small handbook for new students which described the features of the room and school housing rules. It also contained a list of charms that were incompatible with school wards, and a rather extensive set of suggestions for keeping one's room safe.

"We highly encourage new students to invest the time to set up their own private wards and security systems. While theft, vandalism, and other violations of property are strictly forbidden, students should keep in mind that these rules are often impossible to enforce. Moreover, the school will not be held responsible for any damage to personal property or any injuries incurred outside of classroom environments."

Harry reread the passage a few times. So basically... if someone steals your stuff, it's your own fault for not setting up wards. Noted.

He turned his attention to the history book he'd been given. A quick skim through the first chapter was enough for Harry to conclude that it continued in the tradition of every other history book he'd ever read (which is to say, it was an exceedingly boring read.) Nevertheless, he did learn quite a bit.

Tillflykt, as the school was officially called, had originally been built as a shelter for refugees during The War (which always written with capital letters. Of The War itself, the book said very little, other than implying that it was fought between wizards and other non-magical beings.) After the wizarding side won The War, a new country, Fristad, was founded around the castle, and the building itself was converted into a school. To avoid any further conflict, the entire country was hidden.

Much to Harry's surprise, Fristad occupied the space that most people though of as Hudson Bay, in Canada. (In reality, the bay was nothing more than a large lake, made to seem enormous through a clever mix of wards, illusions, and space expansion charms.) The entire country was surrounded by a colossal set of wards that monitored all cross-border traffic, and prevented anyone from entering or exiting without permission from the government. Unless you have a phoenix, Harry mentally supplied.

The school itself was much larger than Hogwarts. Over the centuries, so many buildings had been added to the original castle that it was now the size of a small city. It was the only major educational institution in the country, and acted as both a high school and a university. Because of this, most citizens preferred to call it "the school". In keeping with it's history, it also served as a home for orphans, runaways, or anyone else seeking asylum.

All things considered, Harry was hard pressed to think of any reason to reject the headmistress' offer. Here, he could get an education safe from the ministry, Voldemort, or anyone else who wanted to find him. Besides, he reasoned, it's not as if I'm leaving much behind. The only people who really cared much about me were Sirius and Dumbledore (maybe Malfoy), and I'm sure they'd rather I be safe than in prison. Some day when he was older, he might return to England. But for now, he was better off here.

~§~

Harry woke the next morning to the sound of someone knocking frantically on his door. He stood abruptly, nearly lost balance as the blood rushed from his head, before hauling on his robe and answering the door.

"Hi! You're the human, right? I mean, obviously you are. Duh. That was a stupid question. I'm Zae. Zaraphradaeily, really, but Zae is easier. Fey names, you know. Always much longer than they need to be. The headmistress sent me to get you. Are you okay to go?"

Harry gaped in disbelief at the boy standing in his doorway. He was wearing muggle clothing, which was in itself unexpected. What really caught Harry off guard, though, was the fact that he was sporting a paisley blazer, leather pants, and nothing else (unless you counted the piercings, of which there were many).

The boy noticed him staring and his smile faltered a bit.

"Is it the hair?" he asked, "You'll get used to it. You should probably try not to stare at every new being you encounter. I don't really mind, but some students are really human phobic and might get offended."

Harry glanced at his hair and was once again surprised. It moved, the strands languidly winding around each other like snakes.

"Yeah..." Harry muttered dumbly, "I'll try to remember that. I'm just gonna... freshen up." He gestured vaguely behind him.

Harry closed the door behind him, cast several cleaning charms (they weren't as enjoyable as bathing, but they worked almost as well), took several deep breaths, and stepped back outside.

"Ready to go?" asked Zae, perky as ever.

Harry forced a smile and nodded. Truth be told, he was incredibly anxious to see the headmistress again.

"Great! Follow me, then. You're the first wizard we've ever had here, you know? I hope you're staying; we don't get exposed to a lot of human culture here. I have a bunch of books and magazines and things, but there's only so much you can learn from books. There's always the holding pens, I suppose, but they're all drugged out of their minds on pheromones and aphrodisiacs. Not very good for conversation. You don't mind if I ask you questions, do you?"

"Sure. Knock yourself out." Bloody hell, he talks fast...

"Oh, but you probably have questions too..." Zae added, almost sad, "I should let you ask the questions, since you're new and everything. Miss Roselund said you might need help adjusting."

"Who?"

"Helen Roselund. You've met her; she's the headmistress. I just realized I don't know your name! Sorry... I should have let you introduce yourself and do the human handshake thing."

He held out his hand to Harry expectantly. Chuckling, Harry shook it and introduced himself.

"So, what did you mean about the holding pens? I think Aurel might have mentioned them when he found me, but I don't really remember."

"Oh... well..." Zae's looked around uncomfortably. "I probably shouldn't have brought that up. It's not exactly a great topic for a first conversation. Promise you won't freak out?"

"I'll try not to."

"Ok. Right. So some species, mostly the vampires and incubi, consider humans to be... well... food." He winced a bit as he said it. "So we keep a small population of muggles here to feed them. They're all bewitched to think they're on holiday, but usually they're exposed to vampires and incubi so often that they couldn't leave even if they wanted to. It's not exactly humane, but it lowers our exposure to the outside world, and that's pretty much the cardinal rule around here. Isolation and defence. No negotiations, no cultural exchange, nothing."

Zae rolled his eyes as he said this.

"I take it you're not a fan of isolationism?" Harry asked, trying to suppress his shock at the thought of humans being kept as livestock.

"Heh... yeah, sorry. I kinda got on my soapbox there." Zae grinned sheepishly.

"It's fine. We had a similar thing back in the wizarding world, so I can see where you're coming from. I don't think our statute of secrecy was nearly as extensive, though."

"No kidding! You guys left so many loopholes and weak points that I'm surprised it works at all."

"Yeah," muttered Harry, thinking back to the many times the wizarding world had crept into the muggle one, "It doesn't really work that well. Not to change the subject, but what did you mean about muggles not being able to escape?"

"You're really good at picking terrible topics of conversation, you know that? You could have ask me about the history of the school, or fey culture, or the kinds of courses we offer. But no, you pick out all the little terrible things I mention in passing, and now you're going to end up with a terrible first impression of our world."

Harry was at a loss. The boy who had been obnoxiously cheerful moments ago was now glaring at the floor.

"Look," Harry began hesitantly, "I'm sorry if I... offended you, or something. I was just curious."

"It's fine," Zae sighed, "I just don't get to talk to humans a lot. I thought it would go better, that's all. But if you really want to know, vampires use a combination of pheromones and neurotoxins to induce temporary paralysis and weaken the fight or flight response, and Incubi have highly addictive bodily fluids. Muggles who get exposed for long enough become completely docile and depended. You don't have to worry about that, though. It's against school rules to use that kind of stuff on another student."

Well that explains why I couldn't run from Aurel...

"We're almost there, now," continue Zae, "Any quick questions before we see the headmistress?"

Harry shook his head. He still had lots of questions, but they could wait.