Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character, story element or plot item originally published in the Harry Potter books or movies that I may refer to in this story. I'm merely playing in the sandbox.

Luna touched Harry's arm, but he stood stock still, his eyes slightly unfocused. "Harry?"

If she weren't worried, this would be the point where she might joke that someone had broken him. Unfortunately, this was no time for her quirky sense of humor.

"Dumbledore did this. To me." Harry took a long moment, then looked to the others in the room "To them."

Luna watched her uncle nod slowly, then reacted before she was consciously aware of Harry's weight shifting backward. With the extra mass he was now carrying, she barely managed to catch Harry as he crumpled, easing him to the ground. She was surprised to see Vernon jump to help her, guiding the boy to a chair. "Why?" She was silent as Harry looked to her. "Why does he hate me so much? Hate them? Why does he want me to suffer?"

Petunia leapt to her feet, walking into the kitchen. Luna sat on the arm of the chair, next to Harry. "Breathe, Harry." This time, her saying it wasn't quite as funny as the last time she'd had to say it. She reached up and touched his face lightly, brushing her fingers through his hair. "We'll get through this." His head leaned against her and her heart broke as he just sat there, silent as he seemed to try to process the situation.

Petunia was suddenly next to her, handing over a glass of water. Luna took it from her, thanking her quietly, then held it up to Harry's lips. He seemed to stir, looking at it, then taking it from her, sipping it. Luna stroked his hair quietly, holding him tightly from her perch next to him.

"Everything in my life has been a lie."

Luna winced as he said that, then sat on the arm of the chair and put her arms around him. "Not everything, Harry. You are a powerful wizard, that's true."

He sat rigid in her grasp. Dudley finally spoke. "I don't understand…why…why do I suddenly feel guilty about beating Harry up when we were kids?"

"Dudley, that's not how good people act!"

Luna rolled her eyes, forcing herself to not just pull the borrowed wand Harry had given her and curse the lot of them. She definitely understood Harry's story of Hagrid giving him a pig's tail now. No, they're being manipulated.

Luna went to speak, but her uncle explained. "You may not be aware of this, but your aunt may understand due to her sister's schooling. There are a class of spells that manipulate people. Usually, we limit usage of them to protect ourselves. You might not have noticed before, but there may be a part of London you feel a sense of dread about and don't want to approach. Or, you may get there and suddenly have remember an appointment."

The three nodded, Vernon mentioning that that had happened to him a few times in town. "These are annoying to you, but generally benign. Sometimes, even helpful, as the effect can be designed to nudge you towards something you forgot that you needed to do. What was done here was magic to convince you to do what you didn't want to do or to exacerbate your normally negative traits," Algernon continued and Luna turned her attention back to Harry, who was simply sitting rigid in the chair, holding the glass like it was forgotten.

"Drink another sip, Harry." Harry did as Luna said, but was otherwise unresponsive. Luna sighed and tightened her grip on him for a second.

Algernon spoke again as Luna took the glass from Harry, setting it behind her on the coffee table. "It's actually fairly easy to sculpt these, but it's almost impossible to go so wrong with them by mistake. Mine typically include a reminder to check on family, as I have none of my own."

"You have me," Luna said.

"True now, Luna. Before this summer, I was alone." The man smiled at her. "Based on what I found, Vernon, you are a driven man who wants the best for his family and work hard to gain it. Petunia, you are very proud of your family for making it without any assistance from the outside and you had some jealousy of your sister. Dudley has a desire to prove himself and follow in his father's footsteps. These wards and compulsions have been tailored to exacerbate traits until they become negatives and to encourage you to blame Harry for everything."

"How can a good thing become a bad thing, though?" Dudley said, confused.

"Everything in excess can be a negative." Vernon looked down at himself, as though he'd never really seen his own body before."

Petunia sighed. "I was jealous of Lily. She was pretty and smart and then she had those powers. I regret that I pushed her away…but I was a child."

Luna watched as the three took a moment, voicing thoughts as they examined their lives. Petunia wept and Vernon put his arm around her and held her.

"My weight problems," Dudley said. "I just wanted to take everything from Harry, so I would eat everything I could. I knew I was fat and hated that everyone at school made fun of me…of Dad, too."

Algernon nodded. "Your father, probably as well."

"I've always been heavy, but I admit this is…excessive." Vernon frowned.

"Can you help us? I know we don't deserve it, especially the way we treated Lily's boy, but we want to get out from under this," Petunia said, looking at the others. They all nodded.

"Harry?"

Harry turned to look at Luna. "What?"

"Did you hear what was being said?"

Harry nodded. "I just can't process it all."

"Okay," Luna said, speaking calmly, still running her fingers through his hair. She hoped it would calm him. It always had her when her mother had done it. "Your aunt and uncle want help getting away from this. My uncle may have more experience with this, but you know what's going on here."

"We…" Algernon spoke, but stopped as Luna shook her head.

"Harry knows this situation a bit better. Let's hear what he has to say."

Algernon got the hint and stopped. Luna smiled briefly at him, then turned back to Harry.

"They'd have to move." Harry said, frowning as he seemed to consider it. She could see Harry the planner take the lead, leaving behind the destroyed little boy that was there a few minutes before.

"Move?"

Harry nodded, standing, holding onto Luna's shoulder as he did. She went to assist him, but then realized that he was holding her steady, as though not to knock her over. She was touched by his concern.

"First of all, Dumbledore knows you're here. He may know I'm here, so we're ready to leave in an instant, right?"

Algernon nodded, holding up the soda can. "Voice activated."

"So, going back to Dumbledore, we can break these compulsions. He will put them back. You need to vanish. This isn't some kind of crime show drama where you change your names and such, though. Maybe see if there's a transfer available at work and just move. If you guys are out of England, you may not matter to him anymore."

He paused. "Second, this is going to cause some serious changes in your behavior. The neighbors are going to notice. Imagine if Mr. Allan down the street asked you about that 'nasty hoodlum boy' again? How would you respond?"

His point seemed to strike at her heart, and she bowed her head. "I did say that about you."

"That's not why I said it. Imagine how you would have responded before, then imagine how you might respond now. The difference will make them think I've threatened you with harm. That might get the authorities involved and would draw unwanted attention."

Vernon nodded slowly. "Grunnings has other offices and I've often thought of living at the shore. I'll call to check on that today."

"We can help things along. Some of the same spells that were used negatively can be used to nudge things. I or one of my associates can encourage one of the executives to grant your request without hurting anyone. That's the purpose of these spells if done right."

Vernon nodded. "That may help. I'm not aware of any projects I'm qualified for and I've not made a lot of friends." He shook his head. "I regret what I've said to you, Harry. What I've done, but I will stand by what I've said about Dumbledore. He's a quack and a monster."

"If we need to move quickly, how can we do that?"

"Dobby? Winky?" Harry spoke. The pair of elves appeared, and Dobby glared for a moment before Harry stopped him. "Dumbledore was using magic on them."

"They didn't want to hurt Harry Potter?"

After the moment of surprise, Petunia took a breath. "No."

"I'm sorry I dropped the pudding on your guest. Dobby wasn't a good elf that day."

Vernon looked up at Harry. "That was him? We blamed…"

Harry shook his head. "There was a whole long ordeal in that one. It ended up with me fighting a massive snake…I don't want to talk about it."

Vernon nodded. "Maybe one day?"

Luna slipped her hand into Harry's. "Remember, they're in the same boat as you. As anyone else Dumbledore was manipulating."

Harry nodded. "I just…I need time." He took a breath. "They can, along with a few friends, move the entire contents of this house anywhere we arrange."

"As for you three," Luna looked at Algernon. "He can…what would the muggle word be?"

"You mean for apparition?" Harry asked. "They might say 'teleport', like the sci-fi shows."

"He can teleport?" Dudley spoke with a sense of awe. "That is absolutely awesome!"

Algernon nodded. "I can return tomorrow to provide assistance. I might would suggest renting the house out and purchasing another. This would keep the house in your custody and would generate far less paperwork than a sale would."

"I can help them with the costs of the new house," Harry spoke, frown still on his face. "We have a problem, though. Arabella Figg."

"The squib?"

"Ms. Figg is a witch?"

Harry shook his head. "She's born to magical parents, but for some reason cannot use magic herself."

"Lily mentioned people like that. Said that the caretaker at your school was. I always wondered how he got anything done." Petunia shook her head. "I did my best here when…" She stopped, looking at Harry. "When it was just me, but I can't imagine taking care of a castle like that by myself."

"There are elves there." Winky spoke.

Algernon waved a hand. "I'll handle her. I'm bringing in a few from my department to assist with some things. I want all of this documented. I want our next move after kicking Riddle's behind to be our taking down Dumbledore for his crimes."

"You won't get him in one sweep. Even if you prove all of this to everyone, he's got a massive reputation."

"Politicians." Vernon said with disgust. Harry nodded and then chuckled. "Never thought you and I would agree, did you?"

"Honestly, no."

"Why don't you stay for tea? It's early, but I want to know…I want to really know my nephew. Not what that old man made me think."

Algernon peeked out a window, pulling his wand. "Looks like the guard is changing…is that Fletcher? Why are they letting that drunk guard anything?"

Harry sighed. "He was the one on duty when the Dementors showed up."

"He could have helped. You and Dudley could have died!" Petunia said. Vernon stood and balled his fists. Harry tensed for a moment, then Luna squeezed his hand.

"Leave him, Uncle Vernon. I don't think he could have helped. The magic to drive them off is difficult."

Luna nodded, glancing at Algernon. He smirked and nodded, then Luna used her wand and thought of that first moment she felt safe, realizing it was Harry and that she wasn't with the Death Eaters anymore. She cast and a ghostly hare emerged, leaping around the room. "Harry taught me, but it was a large amount of work."

"What about the Ministry?"

Algernon shook his head. "I arranged for the monitoring here to be disabled after you were 'kidnapped'."

"Kidnapped?" Petunia looked up in shock.

"I…it's a long story. Dumbledore said I was kidnapped."

"That man." Petunia rose, heading toward the kitchen and paused. The elves were already making tea, a third popping into the living room to ask if they could use items from the Chamber's larder. Harry nodded and thanked the elf.

Luna stood and walked over to the kitchen, looking at the broom cupboard that Harry had claimed was his bedroom for most of his life. She imagined climbing into it herself now and she found she struggled breathing at the image. "The spiders were nice, they never bit me. Ron would have hated that part."

She started and turned to see Harry behind her, looking completely lost again. She hugged him. "Never again, Harry. This is a new start."

They were soon joined by the others, except for Algernon. Harry asked where he was, and Vernon answered. "Dealing with your guard."

Luna frowned and Algie walked in. "He was drunk. Easy to make him just go to sleep on the steps." He produced a muggle notebook and pen, making notes on a few things. As they were sitting there, two Unspeakables appeared. The muggles were startled, then Harry explained what was happening.

Luna sipped her tea, then sighed, skipping the snacks that went with it. In her mind, she could still hear the despair in his voice as he said that his life was a lie. She was part of that lie.

Snape sat in the Headmaster's office, having passed further information on to the Headmaster on a minor attack that Dark Lord was planning on a muggle neighborhood. He suspected both men were carefully parsing the information they shared to him but didn't care. He was just glad that his tasks had been relegated to glorified messenger and brewing potions.

Dumbledore had not been there when he returned from the last meeting, off somewhere on some secret errand. "So, Voldemort knows nothing."

"Regarding Potter, no." Snape sat casually, tea in hand. In reality, he wanted something stronger, but not with either of his masters present. His thoughts would remain his own.

"I had hoped…well, it doesn't matter. He will have to return to school. He's not capable of functioning in Muggle society in other ways. I'll reach out to…" The man frowned.

"His friends? Did you forget the shattering of the 'Golden Trio'?" Snape made sure the sneer was perfect as he uttered the words.

"I had not…but I may have erred in isolating him to those two as I did. Now, without others to go to, I don't know who he would approach."

Snape nodded. "What about the Longbottom boy? Lovegood's father is dead and based on Lestrange, the girl wasn't far from it, no matter who her rescuer was. Granger and the entire Weasley family except the twins have rejected him and I can't see Potter making it through Diagon Alley to that shop without being seen."

"I have been monitoring their shop. There is the usual grousing about my senility, but…"

The Floo flared and both men turned. Figg spoke. "Headmaster?"

She paused as she spied Snape, but Dumbledore waved her on. "He may hear. What is it?"

"Just thought you'd want to know the Dursley's are going on holiday. Said they'd be gone two weeks."

Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you, Arabella."

Snape thought the idea of going on a trip with a missing family member odd but held his tongue.