I don't own Harry Potter. It belongs to JKR.

Harry Potter and the Power of 3

1: Planning the Escape

"Are you completely insane?" The words echoed around the small pub. The voice was high pitched with shock and frustration and fear and seemed out of character for the petite, pretty, quiet girl in the blue dress. Anyone who knew her would have been even more shocked, at the emotion, if not the words. Anyone that is, except the two young men with her. They had heard her at her worst.

"Calm down, Hermione, please!" The smaller of the two hissed at her, casting worried glances around. His right hand, resting lightly on the table inched upwards and it was with a visible effort that he forced it down onto the table again. The third member of the party sat with the expression of someone who had had one too many shocks in a short space of time.

The smaller boy grabbed his glass and took a gulp of coke before looking beseechingly at the brown-haired girl. Slowly she sank back to the chair and quickly looked around, gauging the reactions of the other people in the dimly lit room. Her face had begun to take on a similar expression to that of the larger boy. And it had reason to. The girl was Hermione Granger and the two boys seated beside her were her best friends, Ron Weasley and the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter and Harry had just told them his plans for the summer, followed by the prophesy. Typically, Hermione had put it together first, "Now is not the time to run away Harry! You have to train and prepare and… and study!"

"Exactly and I can't do that at home", Harry grinned at the thought, "Or at Grimmuld Place." He shook his head, "Think about it Hermione; can you see Mrs. Weasley's face if I told her I couldn't help with the cleaning because I had to practise the Dark Arts?"

He paused again, "Even if Dumbledore stepped in and told her to let me, can you see her letting either of you?" Harry took another gulp of coke and continued, "You two have to learn too. I know I can't stop you coming with me or fighting with me, but that means that you have to be able to fight. Mrs Weasley's determination to keep all of us six years old is going to get you two killed. We have to get away. We have to grow up because I have to be the one to end it and I'm smart enough to know that you two are going to be right beside me when it happens, whether I want you to be or not."

Silence descended on the table. Each one lost in their own thoughts. "Harry?" Ron said suddenly, "Even if we did run away, how would we live? I mean none of us have jobs..." he voice trailed off. Hermione squirmed for a moment before looking up to see Harry's eyes close as if he was mentally bracing himself.

"I'll be able to afford it after my birthday, so we have a month to get organised."

"What do you mean; you'll be able to afford it after your birthday?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I come into my inheritance." Harry's eyes flashed open to look at Ron, "I'll be able to afford it and I want you two to live with me. I'm going anyway, I... I hope you'll come with me." He finished in a hurry.

"When did you find out?" Ron asked.

"I got a letter from Gringotts asking me to arrange a meeting with them. They wanted to go over the details of the Potter Trust before I get it at sixteen. Apparently it's easier to talk to teenagers before you hand them the key to twenty million galleons."

"You're expecting me to go off the deep end aren't you, mate?" Ron smiled.

Harry simply nodded. Hermione held her breath.

"It's alright. Dad told me last year that you were one of the richest people in the country. I've had a year to get used to it." A smile tugged Harry's lips as he looked at them. Then he reached out both his hands. Hermione reached out and slid her hand into his and then slid her other hand into Ron's. Ron hesitated for a second and then took Harry's offered hand in his other one. A faint trill ran around the circle and they shivered. "What was that?" Ron asked as he released their hands.

"I don't know." Hermione mused, "What do we do?" she turned her attention back to Harry.

They began to plan.