A few hundred miles away at Potter Manor, Harry was staring around at the entrance hall they'd landed in.

Just a few seconds after appearing, the lights had all sprung to life, though whether by some magic of the house detecting that someone had arrived, or the invisible work of house elves, he didn't know. Like he'd thought before the lights came on, the entire hall was built out of marble, and was very extravagant, like something he expected Draco lived in.

But his surveying was cut short by Minkey saying, "Welcome home, Lord Potter, to Potter Manor. The second largest of the manors in the Potter Estate behind Peverell Manor, and where your father grew up."

Harry looked down at his house elf, and said, "Thank you. For bringing me here, and everything." After a second, he had a thought and asked, "Can I perform magic here?"

"Unfortunately we cannot ward against the Trace, and as there are no adults here, you cannot perform magic here without the Ministry detecting it with the Trace. They cannot make it onto the property without a long fight against the wards and magic of the manor, but they would know you performed magic and that you are now here," answered Minkey.

"Okay, thanks," replied Harry. "Now, uh, where might the bedrooms be?"

Minkey pointed off down a long hallway, and Harry drug his trunk off with him to find somewhere to sleep.

After finding a bedroom he liked, he found one of the house elves walking by in the hallway outside, and asked, "Can you bring me a quill and some parchment, and also can you deliver a letter to someone?"

"Right away, Sir!" squeaked the house elf. "And I can deliver to whoever you like, Sir!"

Then she disappeared with a loud crack before Harry had a chance to thank her. But she reappeared only a few seconds later, and so he thanked her then, before she told him just to call her when he was ready to send the letter, and disappeared with another crack. Harry picked up the quill, and began writing.

~.~

Hermione,

First off I'm completely safe, but I was attacked by two dementors near my relatives' house earlier this evening. I fended them off easily enough, and then found out my crazy old cat-lady neighbor is actually a squib, and someone named Mundungus Fletcher was supposed to be following me but left looking for cauldrons, leaving me alone to fight the dementors.

Once I got back to my relatives' house, I got a Ministry letter saying I'd been expelled from Hogwarts and they were coming to destroy my wand. So I knew I had to make a run for it. Fortunately I remembered I have houses, and house elves, and figured out how to call one. He came and apparated me and my things to Potter Manor, where I currently am. That was all at about nine-thirty this evening, and I haven't heard anything in the ten minutes or so since I arrived at Potter Manor.

My house elf said the Ministry can't make it onto this property without a serious fight against the wards and such, which presumably would also mean the same for any Death Eaters if they discovered I'm here, and there's apparently house elf security here as well, as the elf that rescued me is the head of security. So point being, I'm pretty sure I'm safe from everyone at the moment.

But I just wanted to let you know what had happened, I know Mundungus was supposed to be going to report what had happened to Dumbledore, but I don't know if you'll hear anything about this from them, and even if you do, they won't know where I am and that I'm safe, and so won't be able to tell you that I am. But I am safe, both from the dementor attack and the Ministry, so you don't have to worry.

Love you and miss you,

Harry Potter

~.~

Finishing up his letter and quickly reading back over it, he rolled it up and sealed it, before calling for the house elf.

"Please deliver this to Hermione Granger, and please deliver it when she's alone and no one else will know about it. It is fairly urgent, but secrecy is most important. And give her a chance to write something back if she likes."

"Of course, Sir! I'll deliver it right away to her alone!" squeaked the house elf, before disappearing again with the normal loud crack.

After that, Harry got ready for bed, wondering if and hoping that Hermione would be able to reply before he actually went to sleep.

~HP~

At Grimmauld Place, Hermione was reading alone in the library when there was a loud crack, and a house elf not named Kreacher was standing in front of her.

"Letter from Lord Potter, to be delivered to Missy Hermione alone," squeaked the house elf. "And I'm to wait to allow you to write a reply should you so desire."

Hermione looked at the house elf in surprise for a second, before reaching out and taking the letter, and giving the house elf a small, "Thank you."

Hermione's eyebrows nearly shot into her bushy hair at the news that Harry had had to fight off two dementors, and resolutely remained there for the rest of the letter.

Rereading the letter once she'd finished, Hermione mumbled to herself, "So that's why Dumbledore was so furious with Mundungus when he arrived a little bit ago. I did wonder what that was all about." She then looked over at the house elf and said, "Give me two minutes, and I'll have a reply for you to take back to Harry."

Pulling out a blank piece of parchment, she began writing. Once she'd finished, she sealed it up and handed it over to the house elf.

"Thank you for doing this," she said. "Also, if I may ask, how can you come here? We were told you had to be told the location by the secret keeper, and I'm assuming Dumbledore never told you."

"I'm a house elf, ma'am — wizard Fidelius charms don't affect us," answered the house elf. "Tell us a location, or give us a person, and we can go there regardless of wards and enchantments — same as owls can delivering mail."

"And like you can apparate inside Hogwarts," nodded Hermione in understanding — house elf magic clearly wasn't like wizarding magic.

"Yes ma'am! Exactly, ma'am!" replied the house elf excitedly, clearly happy to meet a witch who understood the magic of house elves.

"Well, I'm really glad you can," said Hermione. "The adults here don't think we're old enough to tell us anything, and also won't let us send hardly any letters out because they think the owls will be captured, so I don't know if I'd have ever found this out from them."

"Missy Hermione is welcome to call a Potter house elf to deliver a letter to Lord Potter any time she likes," said the house elf. "Just say, 'Potter house elves, I need to send a letter to Lord Potter' — or just Potter or Harry instead of Lord Potter," she added onto the end quickly.

"Thank you! I really, really appreciate that," answered Hermione brightly. "I was wondering if I was going to have to wait for him to send me something through one of you to send him anything back. But that's so much better!"

Once the house elf had disapparated away, Hermione looked over at the clock and realized how late it was, and headed up to her room wondering if the adults were going to consider her and the school-aged Weasleys there old enough to ever hear about Harry defending his life from two dementors.

And they refuse to tell us anything that's going on, so why should I tell them anything I know about his change in location? she thought to herself as she climbed into bed a few minutes later, after the thought had popped into her mind while she was brushing her teeth that maybe she should tell someone that Harry had moved to his house. If he's at his real home, surround by his house elves, he should be and sounds safe enough, so not telling them won't put him in any harm. And maybe I can make a trade of information sometime with it — Harry's location for what the Order's doing in the war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

With that hopeful thought in her mind, and knowing that Harry was finally away from his abusive relatives and with house elves who seemed to like him, and would at least help him, she quickly fell asleep happier than she'd been since she had been taken away from her parents' home and brought to Grimmauld Place.

~HP~

At about the same time, in Number Four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, the Dursley's were sitting in their kitchen.

It had been half an hour since Harry had disappeared with the vile creature he'd summoned probably from hell, and since the second owl that had come to their strictly muggle house that night had crashed into the window before immediately turning around and flying off again without deliver its letter, when another owl swooped into the Dursleys' kitchen, dropping a red envelope on Aunt Petunia's head before flying out the chimney. The three of them stared at it for a second, before Aunt Petunia slowly stooped down and picked it up off the kitchen floor.

"It's addressed to me. It's addressed to me, Vernon, look!" she said in a shaky voice. "Mrs Petunia Dursley, The Kitchen, Number Four, Privet Drive —"

But she suddenly cut off, horrified, as the envelope began to smoke. She instinctively dropped it on the floor, looking around wildly for an escape. But before she could actually move, the envelope burst into flame, and an awful, echoing voice boomed from the now burning letter.

"Remember my last, Petunia."

Aunt Petunia practically fainted into the kitchen chair next to her, as Uncle Vernon and Dudley both stared at her in shock, and the letter smoldered into ashes unnoticed where it lay on the floor.

Finally, Uncle Vernon stuttered out, "What — What is this? I don't — Petunia?"

"It means we're all in trouble," replied Aunt Petunia in a tiny voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Uncle Vernon, terrified sounding. That letter had obviously come from wizards, and now his wife, who did have some understanding of the wizarding world they tried so hard to pretend didn't exist, was saying they were in trouble.

"By taking Harry in fourteen years ago, I made a promise to give Harry a home, and therefore protect him. And now he's gone — Dumbledore will blame me if anything happens to Harry," whispered Aunt Petunia, like she was about to burst out in tears and trying to hold it in. "We should have tried to make him stay. It's our fault if something happens to him —"

Bewildered, Uncle Vernon just stared at her for a while longer, before finally saying gruffly, "There's nothing we could have done. He just disappeared, with that strange creature he called for, and there was absolutely nothing we could have done. And if his kind are so keen on keeping him safe, why not do it themselves instead of sticking him with us? And what the bloody hell did happen tonight, anyway?!"

But Aunt Petunia didn't respond to any of this, not knowing how to and not in any state to try explaining to her husband why Harry was with them instead of in her sister's world, and knowing no more about what had happened to cause all of this than her husband did.

Eventually, as no more owls swooped into their pristine and thoroughly muggle kitchen, they eventually got up and went to bed, hoping that now that Harry was out of their house, they at the very least wouldn't have to deal with him or any more wizards until the next summer, or ever again if they were particularly lucky.

~HP~

Aunt Petunia wasn't the only person receiving a late-night letter that night.

The house elf who'd delivered Harry's letter to Hermione popped back to Potter Manor, quickly scampering off to find her master and give him the letter Hermione had written in reply. A light knock on his bedroom door proved he was still awake as he bid her entrance, where she quickly handed him the letter before promptly cracking out of existence, so he could read it alone — which he immediately did.

~.~

Harry,

I can't believe it! I'm so happy you're safe and have a new home, though!

And thank you so much for telling me, the adults haven't whispered a peep about it to us, or at least me, no doubt Mrs Weasley claiming yet again that we're 'too young' to hear anything so horrific as the fact you were attacked by two dementors and successfully defended your life against them, and probably saved the lives of several other people in the neighborhood as well, as dementors aren't best known for only kissing one person when they aren't being expressly ordered by the Ministry to only kiss a single prisoner.

I did see Mundungus arrive, and Dumbledore went into a towering rage, it was quite scary honestly, but Mrs Weasley had already exiled us all out of earshot of the kitchen early in the evening for another one of their meetings, so I couldn't hear anything that was actually said in the kitchens between Mundungus and Dumbledore. I only saw Mundungus arrive looking harried, then loud, angry yelling emanating from inside the kitchen, and finally Dumbledore storm out through the hall looking rather terrifying. And then haven't seen a single adult in the twenty minutes or so since then, but they certainly didn't immediately come tell us, your friends who care deeply about you (plus Ron and Ginny), that anything bad had happened to you.

Whenever you get a chance, I want to hear all about your house, and anything else. And since I can now deliver letters though your house elves without having them be read by the adults, I can write a full accounts of everything that happens here, though tomorrow morning when it's not so late and I have time.

But once again, I'm really happy you're alive and safe, hope you're having a much better summer now, and talk to you again soon.

Love, Your girlfriend,

Hermione

~.~

Smiling as he set the letter down on his bedside table after finishing reading it, Harry settled back into bed the happiest he'd been in the long weeks since Hermione had written to tell him that she wouldn't be able to visit him any more and had no clue how long it would be before he would be brought to her.

A few hours later, Harry was awoken by a sharp tapping against the door of his bedroom and the polite cough of the house elf doing the knocking.

"Come in," mumbled Harry sleepily, as he reached out to find his glasses and put them on.

As soon as the house elf entered the room the lamps lit dimly, and the elf quickly trotted over to the side of the bed.

With a bow, he said, "Dibby, Sir. And this letter just arrived for Master — the owl was very urgent that it be delivered to you immediately, that he was already several hours late delivering it due to your sudden move."

He held out a small roll of parchment, which Harry took and opened.

~.~

Harry —

Dumbledore's just arrived at the Ministry and he's trying to sort it all out. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE'S HOUSE. DO NOT DO ANY MORE MAGIC. DO NOT SURRENDER YOUR WAND.

Arthur Weasley

~.~

Well, half of that's out the window already, thought Harry to himself as he read it. But at least Dumbledore is, or was I suppose by this point, doing something about it. And they agree not to give up my wand, so that's good.

But before he could think any more on this letter, Dibby came rushing back in with two more letters.

"These just arrived as well, Sir! A Ministry owl and another owl saying he's several hours late from what his sender intended — the Ministry owl is too pompous to talk to a house elf like Dibby, Sir, but I would imagine he also is late delivering."

"Thank you, Dibby," replied Harry, taking the two new letters from his house elf.

He opened the Ministry letter first, finding that Dumbledore had apparently succeeded in talking to the Ministry, and they were no longer after his wand, or at least not until the trial in ten days. The second letter was from Sirius, and simply told him that Arthur had told him what had happened and not to leave the Dursleys' — so even less than what Arthur's letter had said.

Grabbing a sheet of parchment, he quickly scribbled out a short letter to Hermione informing her about these three new letters, and called for Dibby to deliver it to Hermione's bedside table, for her to find in the morning when she woke up. Then he returned to sleep, wondering what fireworks were going to happen when Dumbledore, Arthur (and of course Mrs Weasley), Sirius, and any of the other adults found out that he was no longer at the Dursleys.