"Tonks, what are you doing here? How did you find us?" Harry sputtered out upon seeing the girl at the front door of Nott Manor.
"You have allies that don't wish to reveal themselves, they have given me your location. As for why I'm here, I came to make sure that you and your friends were prepared to fight in this war. Though I initially wanted to come and drag you back home and escort you to Hogwarts myself."
"While I appreciate the concern I have already run it past my family and they are supportive of my decision." Harry responded, not happy at being treated like a child.
"Not all of them. You do know I am your cousin right?"
"What! Did that slip your mind to mention?"
"It wasn't worth my job, former undersecretary Umbridge made it clear to me that if I was to display favouritism towards you then I would lose my job. I'm here now Harry, and I
If you ask me to, I will stay here with you and your friends in this war."
"If you wish to be an ally then I won't refuse you, I do wonder how you will be able to work as an Auror if you're in hiding with me."
"I can leave the Ministry if I wanted to, ever since Fudge was killed and Pius Thicknesse became the Minister it has become a very uncomfortable place for anyone of less than perfectly pure blood."
"That's awful, you shouldn't have to deal with that." Harry responded sadly.
"It's okay Harry, I have thicker skin than you would think." She placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, smiling at him. "You no longer have to be the sole leader of your team."
"My friends are relying on me being a leader."
"Yes Harry, a leader not the leader. You can send me away, but you must provide a way to contact you."
"No, please. I want you to stay. Take this ring, it has been upgraded since you last saw it, or more accurately it is a new set of rings."
"What have you done with the originals?"
"I keep one transfigured into a button that I keep on me, to contact Victor until I can give him his new ring."
"I will bring it to him if you want, he is in Britain at the moment. I can be back here in under an hour."
"Thank you Tonks." Harry whispered. Placing Victor's ring into her hand, noticing that Tonks' ring never settled on an icon, which he thought was rather fitting.
/_-^_;_/
September first was always a special day, in a tradition as old as the Ministry itself, the Hogwarts Express would pick up the future wizards of Britain and take them to Scotland to either begin or continue their education. It was well publicised that Harry wasn't returning to Hogwarts, with headlines like "The Boy-Who-Lived has become fed up." In the Prophet and "The Chosen One has chosen to live a normal life." In the Quibbler among other headlines and numerous publications.
What wasn't common knowledge was the fact that he was standing on Platform 9¾, disguised as an old man, to watch Elias leaving for Hogwarts, and to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. If there were any attacks from Voldemort or his men then Harry would be prepared.
He watched his younger brother and friends sit down in a compartment and made eye contact with Elias, sending a nudge through the ring and then nodding at him.
The telltale sound of the Hogwarts Express preparing to leave was heard and Elias realised he couldn't run over to Harry and go with him.
Derek placed his hand on Elias' shoulder and he broke eye contact with Harry, who had pulled his invisibility cloak over himself by the time Elias looked up again.
The train left without incident yet Harry remained until everyone had departed from the station and only then did he leave, his friends keeping a watch on the muggle side.
He stepped through to regroup with them, indicating his location using his ring so that they would follow him. The gateway sealed itself up, the Ministry Aurors taking that as a sign to leave.
/_-^_^/
"Hello, students, and welcome to Hogwarts. Before we begin our feast I would like to introduce you to Professor Amycus Carrow, he will be the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor for this year, please show him the appropriate amount of respect. Now… eat." Headmistress McGonagall welcomed the students, waving her hands with her last word to let the elfs know that they could serve the students now.
It didn't feel the same without Harry and Dudley, as well as the Vipers who left, but Elias decided to eat a Ron sized portion of his brothers' favourite foods.
When he went to sleep that night it was with a full stomach and an uneasy mind, though once he was asleep he was gone for the night.
/_^_^/
"My Lord, we have found an Individual that matches Harry Potter's description in a settlement named Blaiklock Island, a British field station in Antarctica, shall we bring him here?" A Death Eater, the sister of the new Defence Professor, informed Voldemort, who smiled wickedly and laughed at her.
"I shall pay this research station a visit myself, I will offer Potter the opportunity to join me and if he refuses… well let's just say I can make a very powerful Inferi from his corpse."
One of Voldemort's Death Eaters rose to his feet to talk with the Dark Lord, his legs shaking with fear.
"Bellatrix isn't in any Ministry prison, it is possible that she is in Nurmengard but more information is needed before we can confirm her status. Do you want me to send one of our men to the prison so he can investigate?" The masked Death Eater asked, knowing he could be tortured for simply speaking.
"That will not be necessary. I have been researching a certain magical item and my research has led me to Nurmengard. I shall go there between now and the end of the year, this Potter issue needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later." Voldemort paused, before turning to look at Nagini. "Soon my pet, we will be in control. You are coming with me to Antarctica, I will be leaving the other two here." He hissed to the snake, who climbed up his throne and settled in his lap.