Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and
owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to
Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros.,
Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is
intended
I only own the plot and some characters; I don't own Harry and co.
The Mark of Merlin
By: Kakole
Chapter Three: A New Day
As Harry was packing he was startled to hear a knock at the door. With instinct that he didn't know that he had, Harry was on his feet, wand drawn and in a battle stance before the knob of the door started to turn. Harry was surprised to see his aunt coming into his room carrying what looked like a shrunken trunk. He put away his wand as she sat on his moth eaten sheets. "What do you want" questioned without even stopping his packing. "This belonged to your mother; she made me swear to give it to you if anything should ever happen to her." Harry stopped packing and looked at the trunk, and looked at the woman for a long time and asked "Why have you treated me so bad.I just don't understand." Harry's aunt let out a long sigh, stood up, and said "I don't know" before leaving him to pack. Harry looked at the shrunken trunk, then he put into his other trunk. As he was packing away his parchments, he made a quick decision to send a message to the Order so they wouldn't send someone to drag him back Privet Drive.
Dear Order Members,
I'm fine, the muggles are treating me okay.
Harry
He tied the letter to Hedwig's leg, and told her to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron. After letting her out the window, he finished packing away his things and made his way downstairs. His aunt was the only person still at home, and when Harry asked her about it, she said that Vernon and Dudley went to the real estate agent as soon as he went upstairs. As Harry shrunk his own trunk, his aunt crossed the room and did something unexpected; she hugged him and told Harry to be careful. Harry nodded, took one last look at his aunt and walked out the door. He then made his way to the end of the street, took his wand out and summoned the night bus. After ten seconds, the purple bus arrived and Harry boarded.
While paying, he thought aloud "I wonder where Stan is?" The conductor then told him that Stan was in St. Mungo's because he was attacked after a death eater attack. Harry thanked the man, paid his fare and said that he wanted to go to the Leaky Cauldron. After getting to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry asked Tom for a room and dinner, and made his way to his room. After about ten minutes, Tom appeared and asked "Is there anything else I can do for you Mr. Potter?" Harry thought about it for a few minutes and replied "Actually, there is.If anyone comes here looking for me, will you tell them that you haven't seen me?" "Sure thing Mr. Potter." After saying that, Tom bid Harry a good night and left. Before going to sleep, Harry placed several locking spells on the door, took out his mother's trunk and changed into his sleeping attire.
When Harry enlarged the trunk, he realized that it was one of those expensive, multi-chamber trunks. Instead of having a keyhole, this one had a handprint and dial. Harry placed his hand on the dial and turned it to the first compartment. This one was filled with his mother's school robes, and all of her old books. The second one was filled with pictures of when she was in school. Harry marveled at the fact that he and his father looked so much alike, and it brought him to tears when he saw pictures of his parents laughing, holding hands or kissing. In the third compartment all he found was a book that had a gold necklace placed around it. On closer inspection, Harry realized that the book was his mother's diary. Harry was filled with trepidation as he picked up the book. As he opened the diary, the chain slid from the book, and something caught his eye. On the necklace there was a small tarnished key that Harry immediately recognized as being a Gringotts key; he picked it up, and made plans to go to Gringotts the next day in addition to shopping. He put the necklace on, and reopened the book, and the first page was dated January 7, 1962, and it read.
Dear Diary,
Today something spectacular happened. I was eating breakfast this morning when an owl came through the opened window and delivered a letter and left. After opening the letter, it said that I was a real witch and that I was allowed to go to a special school. Mom and Dad were so happy for me that Mom gave me her favorite necklace. She then told me that it had been passed down in her family for centuries. I am so happy, but Petunia seems to be mad at me for something. Well, I am going to bed now so I will write to you tomorrow.
After reading her first journal entry, Harry had tears in his eyes and decided to retire for the evening.
Harry slept in the next morning and didn't wake until twelve noon. The first thing he wanted to do after dressing and eating was talk to his best friend, so he flooed the Burrow. No one was in the kitchen, so Harry made his way to Ron's room intending to wake his friend. Before opening the door, Harry heard voices so he stopped and listened. "Don't you think we should tell Harry that we are together" asked the first voice which Harry knew to be Hermione's. "No, Harry keeps secrets from us. Bloody hell, he didn't tell us what the prophecy said." "I know, but when." her voice was cut off when Ginny yelled up the stairs "Hurry up you two, we have order training, animagi training with Minerva, and the order meeting later on." "Give us a minute." Harry heard shuffling, so he quickly snuck down the stairs. He didn't even notice that Ginny saw him. When he finally did see her, he shrugged and said "I guess I'm not the only one with secrets." With that he took some floo powder, ignored her pleas for him to stay, and returned to the Leaky Cauldron. 'So that's why they haven't returned any of my letters.I can't believe they didn't tell me' Harry thought as he went to his room and packed his things. He knew that they would tell Dumbledore as soon as they got to Grimmaud Place and that they would be there soon looking for him. Harry went back downstairs dressed in a cloak, settled his account, and went into Diagon Alley. As soon as he entered Diagon Alley, he put his hood on, and made his way to Gringotts, he made his way through the crowd and entered the goblin run bank. Harry took out his moneybag and dumped all the money onto the counter and said "I would like to have this transferred into muggle currency." The goblin counted the money and handed him a stack of bills that was four inches thick, he also gave him a sheet that said that Harry was a legal adult at the request of his supervisor. He gave the goblin both keys, and made his way to the vaults with no trouble. In his regular vault, there was so much gold that Harry couldn't sell the walls of the vault. Harry didn't have his moneybag with him either, so he took out his new trunk enlarged it turned the dial to an empty compartment and started shoveling money sacks into the trunk. After filling the compartment to the brim, Harry was panting so he shrunk his trunk and made his way out of the vault. The goblin was staring at him like he had a second head. Nothing was said when they got to the second vault.
In the second vault there was an uncountable amount of money, but what attracted Harry's attention was the amount of books, Harry without thinking took out his trunk and started loading the books into the second to last compartment. There were so many books that Harry didn't have the time to look at the titles. After finishing, Harry looked around the room and was drawn to some shiny puzzle pieces that were on the only table in the room, since he knew that he didn't have a lot of time before Order members came so he put the pieces into his pocket, went to his trunk, took out his invisibility cloak, shrunk his trunk and returned to the cart. Before closing the vault, Harry saw a picture of his family crest. He took the picture, and locked the vault.
When the cart was back on ground level, Harry made his way to the door, when he was stopped by Bill Weasley "Why are you here, you shouldn't be here without protection." Harry was too shocked to say anything, but when Bill tried to lead him to his office, he came to his senses and said "Why are you here, I thought that you were in Egypt." Bill shrugged and whispered "With Voldermort back, I thought that it would be better for me to be closer to home in case something happened. I thought Ron would have told you by now." "Well, there are a lot of things that your brother hasn't told me" replied seethingly. Bill looked at him strangely, then enlightenment came to his eyes and he said "I'm sorry Harry; it was for your protection." "For my protection.don't make me laugh, I can protect myself" replied Harry in a cold low voice. Bill was too stunned to say anything, so Harry used the opportunity to run out of the bank. Once he had left the bank, he ran into an alley and put on his hood. As Harry made his way back into the crowds of Diagon Alley, he noticed several Order members walking around scanning the crowd. To avoid being seen, Harry turned into Knockturn Alley.
Harry walked past groups of hags, and other creatures. On his left, he saw a store that interested him, so he went in. "Can I help you sir" said a little man behind the counter. "Yes, I was wondering what type of eggs those were in the window?" "Those are Acromantula eggs, there is a phoenix egg in the corner, and there is a griffin egg in the crate in the middle." Harry was shocked, he knew that it was illegal to have some of these animals, but he didn't care. "How much for the phoenix and griffin eggs?" The little man didn't even bat an eye; he just said "1000 galleons for the both of them." Harry thought the price was a bit high, but he took out his trunk, and got a full sack and handed it to the man. The man took it weighed it, and then helped Harry put the eggs and a surplus of food into the last compartment of the trunk. As Harry was walking out of the store, the man said "It was nice doing business with you Mr. Potter." Harry nodded, but didn't turn around to acknowledge the man. Once Harry was back in Diagon Alley, he made his way to Leaky Cauldron. When he got there, Harry ran into Ron, Ginny and Hermione. "There you are Harry, we have been looking for you for nearly three hours." "What do you want" asked Harry in a threatening tone. All three of his supposed friends were taken aback by his tone. "Well, Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to you, and he sent us to get you" replied Hermione sheepishly. "Well you can tell that old man that whatever he wants to tell me will have to wait until I get back to Hogwarts, that is if I go back to Hogwarts." Ginny and Hermione were shocked but Ron was mad. "Dumbledore wants to speak with you, and he will. You can come quietly or not it doesn't matter to me. I just need to get you there" said Ron with determination in his voice. Harry was beyond mad, he was livid, so he did what came naturally, he hit Ron as hard as he could. Ron dropped like a ton of bricks, and while Hermione tended to her unconscious boyfriend, Harry made his way to the door. While he was outside trying to hail a taxi, Ginny came and stood beside him. "What do you want" asked Harry. "Oh nothing, I am just going to go with you until you calm down and come to Headquarters" replied Ginny in a neutral tone. "Well come on then."
As they got into the cab, Harry asked the driver to take him to the closest mall. Once they got there the first place they went was the Optometrist and Harry ordered two pairs of glasses, and three sets of contact lenses. The next stop was a small electronics store, where Harry bought a laptop, a cd player, and a stereo. After exiting the store, Harry passes a tattoo parlor on his way to the way to the clothing store. Through everything, Ginny had observed him with amusement yet she said nothing. When Harry went into the store, he looked lost and one of the attendants took pity and helped him pick out a lot of trendy clothing. In total, Harry came out of the store with twelve pairs of pants and jeans, around thirty shirts, two pairs of trainers, and an assortment of sweats and undergarments. He also bought some things for Ginny so that she would shut up. Harry was satisfied with himself, so he went into the men's public bathroom changed clothes, and put the rest of his purchases into his trunk. After coming out of the bathroom, Ginny let out a low wolf whistle.
Harry ignored her and made his way to the tattoo parlor. By the time that they were at the counter, Harry looked at Ginny and laughed. She glared at him. "What are you laughing at" she asked with menace in her voice. "You look like you're in Knockturn Alley." "Well I would like to see you there and see how you'd do." "Well you should have found me earlier, because that's exactly where I was." All she could do was stare. When the woman came up to him, she asked "Are you old enough to be in here young man?" Harry didn't say anything, but took out the sheet that the Goblin had given him. Once she read it, she said "Well, what would you like?" Harry pulled out the picture that he had taken from the vault and handed it to her. She nodded and led him to a chair.
Three hours later, Harry walked out of the parlor massaging his arm and saying several curse words under his breath. He then went back to the Optometrist and picked up his order. Once done for the day, Ginny said that she was hungry, so they got some burgers from one of the local vendors. "Are you going to Grimmaud Place, or am I going to have to stun you?" she asked. "You're the one that wanted to come with me. I'm about to go get a hotel room, I don't know about you but I'm getting kind of tired." "Why not go back to the Dursleys or the Headquarters?" "Well, if you must know, I am never living with the Dursleys again, and as for the Headquarters, I don't want to think about Sirius right now.it hurts too much to. Another reason is I figured that I shouldn't go there because I am never going to join.Plus the fact that I will have a bunch of angry Weasley men to deal with, not to mention whatever Dumbledore wants to talk about.It's just not worth it" answered in a low voice. Ginny was quite while Harry hailed a cab. "Where are you going to stay then?" "I plan on getting myself a house that's unplottable and warded better then Hogwarts" replied Harry with a chuckle. Ginny smirked and asked "With what money?" Harry leaned over and whispered, "I have roughly 60,000 galleons on me, and if that's not enough, they can bill one of my gringotts accounts." Ginny gasped and her smile faded, and Harry smiled at her knowingly. "I never knew you were so wealthy" she whispered. "Yea, well it's not something I broadcast." "What about the prophecy? Don't you care about it anymore, or are you going to let Voldermort.Don't you care about the wizarding world anymore?" "What has the wizarding world done for me.I'll tell you what, I have been manipulated, lied to, called an mentally unstable murderer, nearly killed four times.you tell me, why should I go back" Harry yelled. Ginny bit her lip; she never knew that Harry had it that bad. "What about Cho" asked Ginny, but as soon as she said it, she regretted it. "What about her, I was never anything to her" Harry lowered his voice in a threatening manner and said "This conversation is over." Ginny knew that Harry would never go with her now so she turned around and started walking away. While she had her back turned, she took out her wand, activated a portkey, turned and called Harry and threw something to him. He caught it, and felt a tugging sensation coming from behind his navel. At that exact moment, he knew that he had been tricked.
As Harry landed with a thud, he let out a long, loud string of curses that could probably be heard by the neighbors. Harry was mad at himself for falling for her trick, and because he hated traveling by portkey. Harry took out his wand, and made his way to the front door; however, he ran into Professor Snape, and before his teacher could make one of his smart comments, Harry sent a stunning spell. Snape fell to the floor and dropped the platter that he was carrying. Harry cursed and started running toward the front door. Behind him he heard the sound of other footsteps and some shouting. Harry could just see the front door, when the portrait of Mrs. Black started yelling; Harry wasn't in the mood so he sent a reducto curse at the now shrieking portrait. The shrieking stopped, and Harry started unlocking the door when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder, Harry panicked and spun while sending and expelliarmus at the person behind him. Harry didn't even turn around fully to see who was on the receiving end of his spell; he only registered the thud as he went back to opening the door. As Harry was going out the door, he heard the faint voice of Remus Lupin. Harry turned, and saw the older man trying to get up. Against his better judgment, Harry went back into the house and kneeled beside his parent's last remaining friend. "Sorry that you got hit by my spell, but you shouldn't have tried to stop me from leaving." "I know that we can't force you to stay, but will you at least stay the night and hear us out" said Lupin in a labored voice. Harry shook his head, and started to stand when Lupin grabbed his arm. "If you will just stay the night, I will take you to wherever you want to go in the morning no questions asked" repeated Lupin. Harry' resolve buckled and he gave a slight nod. Harry helped Lupin up, and Lupin gave him a hug. Harry winced under the tight hug, and when Lupin let him go, Harry started sucking in air while massaging his arm. Lupin immediately noticed and asked "What's wrong Harry are you hurt?" "I'm fine" was Harry's only response, but Lupin wouldn't give up until Harry showed him the tattoo. "When, may I ask did you get that" came a voice behind Harry. Harry spun around, wand drawn, and saw Professor Dumbledore standing in the opened doorway. "I knew I should have left when I had the chance" muttered Harry. Lupin heard Harry and started laughing. Harry glared at him and replied "I have nothing to say to you except that you might want to revive Snivellus, he's upstairs on the second floor landing." With that Harry turned around and walked past all the surprised Order members. Ron tried to stop Harry, but Harry was quick and stunned him before he could get within two feet of him.
As Harry walked up the stairs, he could hear Dumbledore saying "This is going to be harder than I anticipated." Over his shoulder Harry replied "You have no idea.I have business to attend to and I will not be delayed by anyone here." When Harry got to his room, he put several locking charms on the door, even one that required a password. Once Harry was satisfied and knew that he wouldn't be disturbed, he took out his trunk and checked on the two eggs. After making sure that they were adequately cared for, Harry took out one of the books that happened to be a comprehensive book of obscure curses. After about twenty minutes, he heard someone sending counter curses at the door. He decided that he didn't want to be bothered so he took out his cd player and put on one of the cd's. Harry turned the volume up, and he began to read again. When Harry noticed himself dozing, he took off the headphones, and put them away. The noise on the other side of the door had ceased so Harry decided to get some sleep. Harry climbed down into one of the compartments of the trunk that acted like an apartment; Harry took a shower, got some food from the restocking refrigerator and made himself dinner. Then he went to sleep dreaming about what the next day would bring.
That night Harry had a strange dream about the puzzle pieces that he had found in his gringotts vault. When Harry woke up, he couldn't remember the dream, so he went over some of the curses he had learned in case he had to fight his way out. Harry steeled himself for the battle ahead and opened the door. Waiting outside the door was none other than a fuming Ronald Weasley, without even thinking twice, Harry sent a stunner that easily found it mark. Harry then proceeded to inch his way out of the door, scanning the hallway every couple seconds. Harry kept his back against the wall as he snuck down the first flight of steps. He made sure that he made little to no noise because he didn't want to give away his position, when he had reached the landing, Harry crouched low to the ground and listened for everything, when he was satisfied, he pulled out his invisibility cloak and put it on. The next person that Harry saw was his most hated professor. Before Professor Snape knew what happened, Harry had put him under a full body bind, placed a silencing charm on him, and taken his wand. As Harry made his way to the final flight of steps, he saw that Mad-Eye Moony was looking right at him. "You might as take off the cloak because it will do you no good." Harry knew that it was useless to keep the cloak on now, but he figured that he would at least be able to stun at least two of the five people in his way. Harry took out Snape's wand and sent off six quick expelliarmus curses, then varied his position while sending off a summoning spell. "ACCIO WANDS" shouted Harry, and he was surprised that he had gotten all of their wands except Mad-Eye who was actually smiling at him. Harry jumped over the banister, and said "Multiplus Serpensortia Maximus." Out of the tip of his wand seven gigantic snakes came, and Harry quickly told them to restrain his opponents without hurting them. The snakes went to their tasks, and in the end it was only Mad-Eye and Harry. "You have done well boy, but this is as far as you get until talking to Albus." "I told him that we had nothing to talk about last night, but if I have." Harry was cut short as he dodged a stunning spell, Harry sent off a stunner of his own, but Mad-Eye dodged it easily. Harry was getting tired after awhile, so he used another of his new spells, Harry dove toward Mad-Eye while whispering "Circus Pyrocatem"; before Harry could land, Mad-Eye was surrounded by a circle of blue flames that started to kindle his wooden leg. Harry was relieved when Mad-Eye uttered the counter curse, but he used those few seconds to send of an expelliarmus curse followed by a stunning spell. Mad- Eye was able to deflect the first curse, but was caught unaware for the second curse. Harry breathed deeply, and made his way for the door. When Harry got to the final intersection before the door, he was met by the remaining Order members. "You're not gonna make this easy for me are you" asked Harry while chuckling. "You bet your ass were not" replied Tonks in a comical fashion. "Well how do you want to do this, one by one, or all at once" replied Harry while taking out his wand from his pocket. The order members replied by sending a barrage of spells at Harry, and he responded by yelling "Protego", this shield repelled the spells back at the castors, and with his second wand Harry summoned more giant snakes and told them to ensnare people without hurting them. By this time, Harry was nearly exhausted, so he let the shield down, and started sending stunners flying fiercely, and from both wands. Again Harry dove toward the floor but this time he stuck to sending stunners because he didn't have the energy to send the complicated spell. Harry rolled out of the way as several stunners were sent toward him. Harry noticed that Moony was sitting off to the side, watching the battle with interest; so Harry took a breather while hiding behind the coat rack and yelled "Enjoying the show?" Moony laughed and nodded his head because he couldn't speak he was laughing too hard. Harry decided to get serious while he still had any energy, so with a lot of determination, he aimed one wand at the floor near the Order, and one toward the wall. He concentrated for a quick second, and sent out two reducto curses. It had worked, there was debris and smoke falling everywhere and there was a nice hole in the wall, in which Harry could see daylight. Harry knew that this was the final push, so tightened his grip on both wands and started firing stunners while running for the hole. Harry could see Order members converging on his position so he dove at the hole.
As Harry was going through the hole, he was put in a full body bind, and levitated back into the house. As he was levitated to the center of the room, Harry was so mad that his aura was easily showing. Lupin spoke "Sorry Harry, I couldn't let you leave without talking to Dumbledore, you are too important and powerful to loose.in other words you have to be protected." Harry felt betrayed and cheated, he had won his freedom, and he had faced down a good portion of the Order and made his way out, only to be captured by the one person that he wouldn't jinx intentionally. All of a sudden, all of Harry's repressed feelings came out with his anger, and he was able to overcome the body bind. The only thing Harry could say before several stunners hit him was "Why Moony, why?" After the stunners hit him, Harry stayed on his feet but he looked really disorganized. From out of nowhere, Ron came running through the crowd of people and hit Harry with all his might and weight behind it. Ron's smirk had just set in when Moony stunned him and said, "That was a bloody sneaker, Harry was barely conscious." The other Order members agreed, and wanted to be there when Harry found out who had broken his jaw.
When Harry woke up and opened his eyes, he immediately closed them wishing that he hadn't woken up here. "Ah, I see that you are finally awake Mr. Potter. You put a lot of Order members through a good workout yesterday. May I ask why though?" "No." That was the only word Harry spoke before he started rubbing his jaw. "Oh, sorry about that, it seems that when you were out of sorts, Mr. Weasley chose to repay you for a past transgression. Harry's eyes filled with rage and hatred. Harry gritted his teeth, and said I want out, making sure that he didn't even look in Dumbledore direction. Harry knew that Dumbledore was an accomplished legumens, so he didn't want to give him the opportunity to look into his eyes. "That I just cannot do Harry, you know the prophecy.If you do not live to defeat Voldermort, what chance does the rest of the wizarding world have?" "I don't care about the wizarding world, I don't care about you or anyone else in the Order for that matter.I am tired of being a weapon, I am tired of being manipulated.do you hear me, the next time I see Voldermort I'm not even gonna put up an effort unless you let me live. You think I like this life, you think I wouldn't like to be someplace where no one will lie to me, where I am loved.Hell death is better than this hell" shouted Harry. By this time there was a very sizeable crowd around the door. "I know Harry, that's why we have to keep you here until you change your mind." "You can't keep me here" said Harry with so much defiance that the people at the door thought that he was going to make a break for the exits at that exact moment. "Where are my things?" "Your belongings will be returned to you when you agree to stay here" stated Dumbledore resolutely. Harry's aura started to flare up, and within seconds, several stunning spells were hurtling toward Harry. Harry didn't want to get hit, so he threw up his hand, and much to everyone's surprise, the spells rebounded toward the casters. Out of pure instinct, Harry threw up a mind shield, a protego shield and raised his hand while yelling "ACCIO HARRY's BELONGINGS." Harry hadn't been expecting it to work, so he was really surprised when his wand shot to his hand, and his trunk came toward him, knocking everyone out of his way. Dumbledore was shocked; in fact, he could only watch as Harry resized the trunk, opened it, and climbed in sealing himself off from the entire Order. "Well done Harry, I guess you win this round" muttered as he exited the room.
Time flew by at the Headquarters, Voldermort was attacking families every night, and there wasn't a night where Harry didn't wake up screaming. It had been ten days since Harry had locked himself inside his trunk, and he had spent the entire time studying or practicing his spells. Harry also spent a lot of time just sitting by the eggs, just talking. In a way, it relaxed him almost as much as flying did. On the eleventh day, Harry finally decided that today would be the day that he left Grimmaud Place. As Harry put on his cloak, he felt something sharp poke his side. Upon closer inspection, Harry realized that these were the puzzle pieces that he had gotten out of his mothers vault, and the same pieces that he had been dreaming about for the last two weeks. As Harry tried to put the pieces together, his dreams became very vivid in his mind. His dreams had been the steps needed to put the puzzle together.
In no time, all the pieces had been assembled it the correct order, and amulet started glowing. After the amulet stopped glowing Harry took off his necklace, and placed the amulet on the chain. After that, Harry waited but nothing happened so he exited the trunk, shrunk it and put it in his pocket. There was nobody in the room he was in, so Harry opened the door and looked both ways. There was no one there so he went inched out the door, but as soon as he was completely outside the door, an alarm went off. "Ah, you have finally decided to grace us with your presence, I hope that you have reconsidered my offer" said Dumbledore. "No, I just figured that I should get a fresh start on my birthday, you know the whole dark and gloomy house bit isn't necessarily inviting.Don't get me wrong, I like my house and all, but I want a clean slate to go along with my new life" replied Harry in a calm manner. As the clock struck twelve, Harry muttered "Happy birthday, Harry", while the Order members prepared for a fight; but unseen by anyone, the amulet under his shirt began sending off pulses of raw energy. This caused most of the Order members to stop and just stare at Harry. "That can't be" muttered a member named Hestia Jones. Others agreed with her, but they didn't have a chance to examine the pulse, because when the next one came it was accompanied with a bright light. When the light dimmed, Harry was gone.
Merry Christmas everyone, this is the last chapter I will add for a couple of days. I hope you like it. Oh, all gifts can be sent to.just kidding. Anyway enjoy your holidays and review.
Next Chap. Harry goes to the Lodos Realm
Kakole
I only own the plot and some characters; I don't own Harry and co.
The Mark of Merlin
By: Kakole
Chapter Three: A New Day
As Harry was packing he was startled to hear a knock at the door. With instinct that he didn't know that he had, Harry was on his feet, wand drawn and in a battle stance before the knob of the door started to turn. Harry was surprised to see his aunt coming into his room carrying what looked like a shrunken trunk. He put away his wand as she sat on his moth eaten sheets. "What do you want" questioned without even stopping his packing. "This belonged to your mother; she made me swear to give it to you if anything should ever happen to her." Harry stopped packing and looked at the trunk, and looked at the woman for a long time and asked "Why have you treated me so bad.I just don't understand." Harry's aunt let out a long sigh, stood up, and said "I don't know" before leaving him to pack. Harry looked at the shrunken trunk, then he put into his other trunk. As he was packing away his parchments, he made a quick decision to send a message to the Order so they wouldn't send someone to drag him back Privet Drive.
Dear Order Members,
I'm fine, the muggles are treating me okay.
Harry
He tied the letter to Hedwig's leg, and told her to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron. After letting her out the window, he finished packing away his things and made his way downstairs. His aunt was the only person still at home, and when Harry asked her about it, she said that Vernon and Dudley went to the real estate agent as soon as he went upstairs. As Harry shrunk his own trunk, his aunt crossed the room and did something unexpected; she hugged him and told Harry to be careful. Harry nodded, took one last look at his aunt and walked out the door. He then made his way to the end of the street, took his wand out and summoned the night bus. After ten seconds, the purple bus arrived and Harry boarded.
While paying, he thought aloud "I wonder where Stan is?" The conductor then told him that Stan was in St. Mungo's because he was attacked after a death eater attack. Harry thanked the man, paid his fare and said that he wanted to go to the Leaky Cauldron. After getting to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry asked Tom for a room and dinner, and made his way to his room. After about ten minutes, Tom appeared and asked "Is there anything else I can do for you Mr. Potter?" Harry thought about it for a few minutes and replied "Actually, there is.If anyone comes here looking for me, will you tell them that you haven't seen me?" "Sure thing Mr. Potter." After saying that, Tom bid Harry a good night and left. Before going to sleep, Harry placed several locking spells on the door, took out his mother's trunk and changed into his sleeping attire.
When Harry enlarged the trunk, he realized that it was one of those expensive, multi-chamber trunks. Instead of having a keyhole, this one had a handprint and dial. Harry placed his hand on the dial and turned it to the first compartment. This one was filled with his mother's school robes, and all of her old books. The second one was filled with pictures of when she was in school. Harry marveled at the fact that he and his father looked so much alike, and it brought him to tears when he saw pictures of his parents laughing, holding hands or kissing. In the third compartment all he found was a book that had a gold necklace placed around it. On closer inspection, Harry realized that the book was his mother's diary. Harry was filled with trepidation as he picked up the book. As he opened the diary, the chain slid from the book, and something caught his eye. On the necklace there was a small tarnished key that Harry immediately recognized as being a Gringotts key; he picked it up, and made plans to go to Gringotts the next day in addition to shopping. He put the necklace on, and reopened the book, and the first page was dated January 7, 1962, and it read.
Dear Diary,
Today something spectacular happened. I was eating breakfast this morning when an owl came through the opened window and delivered a letter and left. After opening the letter, it said that I was a real witch and that I was allowed to go to a special school. Mom and Dad were so happy for me that Mom gave me her favorite necklace. She then told me that it had been passed down in her family for centuries. I am so happy, but Petunia seems to be mad at me for something. Well, I am going to bed now so I will write to you tomorrow.
After reading her first journal entry, Harry had tears in his eyes and decided to retire for the evening.
Harry slept in the next morning and didn't wake until twelve noon. The first thing he wanted to do after dressing and eating was talk to his best friend, so he flooed the Burrow. No one was in the kitchen, so Harry made his way to Ron's room intending to wake his friend. Before opening the door, Harry heard voices so he stopped and listened. "Don't you think we should tell Harry that we are together" asked the first voice which Harry knew to be Hermione's. "No, Harry keeps secrets from us. Bloody hell, he didn't tell us what the prophecy said." "I know, but when." her voice was cut off when Ginny yelled up the stairs "Hurry up you two, we have order training, animagi training with Minerva, and the order meeting later on." "Give us a minute." Harry heard shuffling, so he quickly snuck down the stairs. He didn't even notice that Ginny saw him. When he finally did see her, he shrugged and said "I guess I'm not the only one with secrets." With that he took some floo powder, ignored her pleas for him to stay, and returned to the Leaky Cauldron. 'So that's why they haven't returned any of my letters.I can't believe they didn't tell me' Harry thought as he went to his room and packed his things. He knew that they would tell Dumbledore as soon as they got to Grimmaud Place and that they would be there soon looking for him. Harry went back downstairs dressed in a cloak, settled his account, and went into Diagon Alley. As soon as he entered Diagon Alley, he put his hood on, and made his way to Gringotts, he made his way through the crowd and entered the goblin run bank. Harry took out his moneybag and dumped all the money onto the counter and said "I would like to have this transferred into muggle currency." The goblin counted the money and handed him a stack of bills that was four inches thick, he also gave him a sheet that said that Harry was a legal adult at the request of his supervisor. He gave the goblin both keys, and made his way to the vaults with no trouble. In his regular vault, there was so much gold that Harry couldn't sell the walls of the vault. Harry didn't have his moneybag with him either, so he took out his new trunk enlarged it turned the dial to an empty compartment and started shoveling money sacks into the trunk. After filling the compartment to the brim, Harry was panting so he shrunk his trunk and made his way out of the vault. The goblin was staring at him like he had a second head. Nothing was said when they got to the second vault.
In the second vault there was an uncountable amount of money, but what attracted Harry's attention was the amount of books, Harry without thinking took out his trunk and started loading the books into the second to last compartment. There were so many books that Harry didn't have the time to look at the titles. After finishing, Harry looked around the room and was drawn to some shiny puzzle pieces that were on the only table in the room, since he knew that he didn't have a lot of time before Order members came so he put the pieces into his pocket, went to his trunk, took out his invisibility cloak, shrunk his trunk and returned to the cart. Before closing the vault, Harry saw a picture of his family crest. He took the picture, and locked the vault.
When the cart was back on ground level, Harry made his way to the door, when he was stopped by Bill Weasley "Why are you here, you shouldn't be here without protection." Harry was too shocked to say anything, but when Bill tried to lead him to his office, he came to his senses and said "Why are you here, I thought that you were in Egypt." Bill shrugged and whispered "With Voldermort back, I thought that it would be better for me to be closer to home in case something happened. I thought Ron would have told you by now." "Well, there are a lot of things that your brother hasn't told me" replied seethingly. Bill looked at him strangely, then enlightenment came to his eyes and he said "I'm sorry Harry; it was for your protection." "For my protection.don't make me laugh, I can protect myself" replied Harry in a cold low voice. Bill was too stunned to say anything, so Harry used the opportunity to run out of the bank. Once he had left the bank, he ran into an alley and put on his hood. As Harry made his way back into the crowds of Diagon Alley, he noticed several Order members walking around scanning the crowd. To avoid being seen, Harry turned into Knockturn Alley.
Harry walked past groups of hags, and other creatures. On his left, he saw a store that interested him, so he went in. "Can I help you sir" said a little man behind the counter. "Yes, I was wondering what type of eggs those were in the window?" "Those are Acromantula eggs, there is a phoenix egg in the corner, and there is a griffin egg in the crate in the middle." Harry was shocked, he knew that it was illegal to have some of these animals, but he didn't care. "How much for the phoenix and griffin eggs?" The little man didn't even bat an eye; he just said "1000 galleons for the both of them." Harry thought the price was a bit high, but he took out his trunk, and got a full sack and handed it to the man. The man took it weighed it, and then helped Harry put the eggs and a surplus of food into the last compartment of the trunk. As Harry was walking out of the store, the man said "It was nice doing business with you Mr. Potter." Harry nodded, but didn't turn around to acknowledge the man. Once Harry was back in Diagon Alley, he made his way to Leaky Cauldron. When he got there, Harry ran into Ron, Ginny and Hermione. "There you are Harry, we have been looking for you for nearly three hours." "What do you want" asked Harry in a threatening tone. All three of his supposed friends were taken aback by his tone. "Well, Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to you, and he sent us to get you" replied Hermione sheepishly. "Well you can tell that old man that whatever he wants to tell me will have to wait until I get back to Hogwarts, that is if I go back to Hogwarts." Ginny and Hermione were shocked but Ron was mad. "Dumbledore wants to speak with you, and he will. You can come quietly or not it doesn't matter to me. I just need to get you there" said Ron with determination in his voice. Harry was beyond mad, he was livid, so he did what came naturally, he hit Ron as hard as he could. Ron dropped like a ton of bricks, and while Hermione tended to her unconscious boyfriend, Harry made his way to the door. While he was outside trying to hail a taxi, Ginny came and stood beside him. "What do you want" asked Harry. "Oh nothing, I am just going to go with you until you calm down and come to Headquarters" replied Ginny in a neutral tone. "Well come on then."
As they got into the cab, Harry asked the driver to take him to the closest mall. Once they got there the first place they went was the Optometrist and Harry ordered two pairs of glasses, and three sets of contact lenses. The next stop was a small electronics store, where Harry bought a laptop, a cd player, and a stereo. After exiting the store, Harry passes a tattoo parlor on his way to the way to the clothing store. Through everything, Ginny had observed him with amusement yet she said nothing. When Harry went into the store, he looked lost and one of the attendants took pity and helped him pick out a lot of trendy clothing. In total, Harry came out of the store with twelve pairs of pants and jeans, around thirty shirts, two pairs of trainers, and an assortment of sweats and undergarments. He also bought some things for Ginny so that she would shut up. Harry was satisfied with himself, so he went into the men's public bathroom changed clothes, and put the rest of his purchases into his trunk. After coming out of the bathroom, Ginny let out a low wolf whistle.
Harry ignored her and made his way to the tattoo parlor. By the time that they were at the counter, Harry looked at Ginny and laughed. She glared at him. "What are you laughing at" she asked with menace in her voice. "You look like you're in Knockturn Alley." "Well I would like to see you there and see how you'd do." "Well you should have found me earlier, because that's exactly where I was." All she could do was stare. When the woman came up to him, she asked "Are you old enough to be in here young man?" Harry didn't say anything, but took out the sheet that the Goblin had given him. Once she read it, she said "Well, what would you like?" Harry pulled out the picture that he had taken from the vault and handed it to her. She nodded and led him to a chair.
Three hours later, Harry walked out of the parlor massaging his arm and saying several curse words under his breath. He then went back to the Optometrist and picked up his order. Once done for the day, Ginny said that she was hungry, so they got some burgers from one of the local vendors. "Are you going to Grimmaud Place, or am I going to have to stun you?" she asked. "You're the one that wanted to come with me. I'm about to go get a hotel room, I don't know about you but I'm getting kind of tired." "Why not go back to the Dursleys or the Headquarters?" "Well, if you must know, I am never living with the Dursleys again, and as for the Headquarters, I don't want to think about Sirius right now.it hurts too much to. Another reason is I figured that I shouldn't go there because I am never going to join.Plus the fact that I will have a bunch of angry Weasley men to deal with, not to mention whatever Dumbledore wants to talk about.It's just not worth it" answered in a low voice. Ginny was quite while Harry hailed a cab. "Where are you going to stay then?" "I plan on getting myself a house that's unplottable and warded better then Hogwarts" replied Harry with a chuckle. Ginny smirked and asked "With what money?" Harry leaned over and whispered, "I have roughly 60,000 galleons on me, and if that's not enough, they can bill one of my gringotts accounts." Ginny gasped and her smile faded, and Harry smiled at her knowingly. "I never knew you were so wealthy" she whispered. "Yea, well it's not something I broadcast." "What about the prophecy? Don't you care about it anymore, or are you going to let Voldermort.Don't you care about the wizarding world anymore?" "What has the wizarding world done for me.I'll tell you what, I have been manipulated, lied to, called an mentally unstable murderer, nearly killed four times.you tell me, why should I go back" Harry yelled. Ginny bit her lip; she never knew that Harry had it that bad. "What about Cho" asked Ginny, but as soon as she said it, she regretted it. "What about her, I was never anything to her" Harry lowered his voice in a threatening manner and said "This conversation is over." Ginny knew that Harry would never go with her now so she turned around and started walking away. While she had her back turned, she took out her wand, activated a portkey, turned and called Harry and threw something to him. He caught it, and felt a tugging sensation coming from behind his navel. At that exact moment, he knew that he had been tricked.
As Harry landed with a thud, he let out a long, loud string of curses that could probably be heard by the neighbors. Harry was mad at himself for falling for her trick, and because he hated traveling by portkey. Harry took out his wand, and made his way to the front door; however, he ran into Professor Snape, and before his teacher could make one of his smart comments, Harry sent a stunning spell. Snape fell to the floor and dropped the platter that he was carrying. Harry cursed and started running toward the front door. Behind him he heard the sound of other footsteps and some shouting. Harry could just see the front door, when the portrait of Mrs. Black started yelling; Harry wasn't in the mood so he sent a reducto curse at the now shrieking portrait. The shrieking stopped, and Harry started unlocking the door when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder, Harry panicked and spun while sending and expelliarmus at the person behind him. Harry didn't even turn around fully to see who was on the receiving end of his spell; he only registered the thud as he went back to opening the door. As Harry was going out the door, he heard the faint voice of Remus Lupin. Harry turned, and saw the older man trying to get up. Against his better judgment, Harry went back into the house and kneeled beside his parent's last remaining friend. "Sorry that you got hit by my spell, but you shouldn't have tried to stop me from leaving." "I know that we can't force you to stay, but will you at least stay the night and hear us out" said Lupin in a labored voice. Harry shook his head, and started to stand when Lupin grabbed his arm. "If you will just stay the night, I will take you to wherever you want to go in the morning no questions asked" repeated Lupin. Harry' resolve buckled and he gave a slight nod. Harry helped Lupin up, and Lupin gave him a hug. Harry winced under the tight hug, and when Lupin let him go, Harry started sucking in air while massaging his arm. Lupin immediately noticed and asked "What's wrong Harry are you hurt?" "I'm fine" was Harry's only response, but Lupin wouldn't give up until Harry showed him the tattoo. "When, may I ask did you get that" came a voice behind Harry. Harry spun around, wand drawn, and saw Professor Dumbledore standing in the opened doorway. "I knew I should have left when I had the chance" muttered Harry. Lupin heard Harry and started laughing. Harry glared at him and replied "I have nothing to say to you except that you might want to revive Snivellus, he's upstairs on the second floor landing." With that Harry turned around and walked past all the surprised Order members. Ron tried to stop Harry, but Harry was quick and stunned him before he could get within two feet of him.
As Harry walked up the stairs, he could hear Dumbledore saying "This is going to be harder than I anticipated." Over his shoulder Harry replied "You have no idea.I have business to attend to and I will not be delayed by anyone here." When Harry got to his room, he put several locking charms on the door, even one that required a password. Once Harry was satisfied and knew that he wouldn't be disturbed, he took out his trunk and checked on the two eggs. After making sure that they were adequately cared for, Harry took out one of the books that happened to be a comprehensive book of obscure curses. After about twenty minutes, he heard someone sending counter curses at the door. He decided that he didn't want to be bothered so he took out his cd player and put on one of the cd's. Harry turned the volume up, and he began to read again. When Harry noticed himself dozing, he took off the headphones, and put them away. The noise on the other side of the door had ceased so Harry decided to get some sleep. Harry climbed down into one of the compartments of the trunk that acted like an apartment; Harry took a shower, got some food from the restocking refrigerator and made himself dinner. Then he went to sleep dreaming about what the next day would bring.
That night Harry had a strange dream about the puzzle pieces that he had found in his gringotts vault. When Harry woke up, he couldn't remember the dream, so he went over some of the curses he had learned in case he had to fight his way out. Harry steeled himself for the battle ahead and opened the door. Waiting outside the door was none other than a fuming Ronald Weasley, without even thinking twice, Harry sent a stunner that easily found it mark. Harry then proceeded to inch his way out of the door, scanning the hallway every couple seconds. Harry kept his back against the wall as he snuck down the first flight of steps. He made sure that he made little to no noise because he didn't want to give away his position, when he had reached the landing, Harry crouched low to the ground and listened for everything, when he was satisfied, he pulled out his invisibility cloak and put it on. The next person that Harry saw was his most hated professor. Before Professor Snape knew what happened, Harry had put him under a full body bind, placed a silencing charm on him, and taken his wand. As Harry made his way to the final flight of steps, he saw that Mad-Eye Moony was looking right at him. "You might as take off the cloak because it will do you no good." Harry knew that it was useless to keep the cloak on now, but he figured that he would at least be able to stun at least two of the five people in his way. Harry took out Snape's wand and sent off six quick expelliarmus curses, then varied his position while sending off a summoning spell. "ACCIO WANDS" shouted Harry, and he was surprised that he had gotten all of their wands except Mad-Eye who was actually smiling at him. Harry jumped over the banister, and said "Multiplus Serpensortia Maximus." Out of the tip of his wand seven gigantic snakes came, and Harry quickly told them to restrain his opponents without hurting them. The snakes went to their tasks, and in the end it was only Mad-Eye and Harry. "You have done well boy, but this is as far as you get until talking to Albus." "I told him that we had nothing to talk about last night, but if I have." Harry was cut short as he dodged a stunning spell, Harry sent off a stunner of his own, but Mad-Eye dodged it easily. Harry was getting tired after awhile, so he used another of his new spells, Harry dove toward Mad-Eye while whispering "Circus Pyrocatem"; before Harry could land, Mad-Eye was surrounded by a circle of blue flames that started to kindle his wooden leg. Harry was relieved when Mad-Eye uttered the counter curse, but he used those few seconds to send of an expelliarmus curse followed by a stunning spell. Mad- Eye was able to deflect the first curse, but was caught unaware for the second curse. Harry breathed deeply, and made his way for the door. When Harry got to the final intersection before the door, he was met by the remaining Order members. "You're not gonna make this easy for me are you" asked Harry while chuckling. "You bet your ass were not" replied Tonks in a comical fashion. "Well how do you want to do this, one by one, or all at once" replied Harry while taking out his wand from his pocket. The order members replied by sending a barrage of spells at Harry, and he responded by yelling "Protego", this shield repelled the spells back at the castors, and with his second wand Harry summoned more giant snakes and told them to ensnare people without hurting them. By this time, Harry was nearly exhausted, so he let the shield down, and started sending stunners flying fiercely, and from both wands. Again Harry dove toward the floor but this time he stuck to sending stunners because he didn't have the energy to send the complicated spell. Harry rolled out of the way as several stunners were sent toward him. Harry noticed that Moony was sitting off to the side, watching the battle with interest; so Harry took a breather while hiding behind the coat rack and yelled "Enjoying the show?" Moony laughed and nodded his head because he couldn't speak he was laughing too hard. Harry decided to get serious while he still had any energy, so with a lot of determination, he aimed one wand at the floor near the Order, and one toward the wall. He concentrated for a quick second, and sent out two reducto curses. It had worked, there was debris and smoke falling everywhere and there was a nice hole in the wall, in which Harry could see daylight. Harry knew that this was the final push, so tightened his grip on both wands and started firing stunners while running for the hole. Harry could see Order members converging on his position so he dove at the hole.
As Harry was going through the hole, he was put in a full body bind, and levitated back into the house. As he was levitated to the center of the room, Harry was so mad that his aura was easily showing. Lupin spoke "Sorry Harry, I couldn't let you leave without talking to Dumbledore, you are too important and powerful to loose.in other words you have to be protected." Harry felt betrayed and cheated, he had won his freedom, and he had faced down a good portion of the Order and made his way out, only to be captured by the one person that he wouldn't jinx intentionally. All of a sudden, all of Harry's repressed feelings came out with his anger, and he was able to overcome the body bind. The only thing Harry could say before several stunners hit him was "Why Moony, why?" After the stunners hit him, Harry stayed on his feet but he looked really disorganized. From out of nowhere, Ron came running through the crowd of people and hit Harry with all his might and weight behind it. Ron's smirk had just set in when Moony stunned him and said, "That was a bloody sneaker, Harry was barely conscious." The other Order members agreed, and wanted to be there when Harry found out who had broken his jaw.
When Harry woke up and opened his eyes, he immediately closed them wishing that he hadn't woken up here. "Ah, I see that you are finally awake Mr. Potter. You put a lot of Order members through a good workout yesterday. May I ask why though?" "No." That was the only word Harry spoke before he started rubbing his jaw. "Oh, sorry about that, it seems that when you were out of sorts, Mr. Weasley chose to repay you for a past transgression. Harry's eyes filled with rage and hatred. Harry gritted his teeth, and said I want out, making sure that he didn't even look in Dumbledore direction. Harry knew that Dumbledore was an accomplished legumens, so he didn't want to give him the opportunity to look into his eyes. "That I just cannot do Harry, you know the prophecy.If you do not live to defeat Voldermort, what chance does the rest of the wizarding world have?" "I don't care about the wizarding world, I don't care about you or anyone else in the Order for that matter.I am tired of being a weapon, I am tired of being manipulated.do you hear me, the next time I see Voldermort I'm not even gonna put up an effort unless you let me live. You think I like this life, you think I wouldn't like to be someplace where no one will lie to me, where I am loved.Hell death is better than this hell" shouted Harry. By this time there was a very sizeable crowd around the door. "I know Harry, that's why we have to keep you here until you change your mind." "You can't keep me here" said Harry with so much defiance that the people at the door thought that he was going to make a break for the exits at that exact moment. "Where are my things?" "Your belongings will be returned to you when you agree to stay here" stated Dumbledore resolutely. Harry's aura started to flare up, and within seconds, several stunning spells were hurtling toward Harry. Harry didn't want to get hit, so he threw up his hand, and much to everyone's surprise, the spells rebounded toward the casters. Out of pure instinct, Harry threw up a mind shield, a protego shield and raised his hand while yelling "ACCIO HARRY's BELONGINGS." Harry hadn't been expecting it to work, so he was really surprised when his wand shot to his hand, and his trunk came toward him, knocking everyone out of his way. Dumbledore was shocked; in fact, he could only watch as Harry resized the trunk, opened it, and climbed in sealing himself off from the entire Order. "Well done Harry, I guess you win this round" muttered as he exited the room.
Time flew by at the Headquarters, Voldermort was attacking families every night, and there wasn't a night where Harry didn't wake up screaming. It had been ten days since Harry had locked himself inside his trunk, and he had spent the entire time studying or practicing his spells. Harry also spent a lot of time just sitting by the eggs, just talking. In a way, it relaxed him almost as much as flying did. On the eleventh day, Harry finally decided that today would be the day that he left Grimmaud Place. As Harry put on his cloak, he felt something sharp poke his side. Upon closer inspection, Harry realized that these were the puzzle pieces that he had gotten out of his mothers vault, and the same pieces that he had been dreaming about for the last two weeks. As Harry tried to put the pieces together, his dreams became very vivid in his mind. His dreams had been the steps needed to put the puzzle together.
In no time, all the pieces had been assembled it the correct order, and amulet started glowing. After the amulet stopped glowing Harry took off his necklace, and placed the amulet on the chain. After that, Harry waited but nothing happened so he exited the trunk, shrunk it and put it in his pocket. There was nobody in the room he was in, so Harry opened the door and looked both ways. There was no one there so he went inched out the door, but as soon as he was completely outside the door, an alarm went off. "Ah, you have finally decided to grace us with your presence, I hope that you have reconsidered my offer" said Dumbledore. "No, I just figured that I should get a fresh start on my birthday, you know the whole dark and gloomy house bit isn't necessarily inviting.Don't get me wrong, I like my house and all, but I want a clean slate to go along with my new life" replied Harry in a calm manner. As the clock struck twelve, Harry muttered "Happy birthday, Harry", while the Order members prepared for a fight; but unseen by anyone, the amulet under his shirt began sending off pulses of raw energy. This caused most of the Order members to stop and just stare at Harry. "That can't be" muttered a member named Hestia Jones. Others agreed with her, but they didn't have a chance to examine the pulse, because when the next one came it was accompanied with a bright light. When the light dimmed, Harry was gone.
Merry Christmas everyone, this is the last chapter I will add for a couple of days. I hope you like it. Oh, all gifts can be sent to.just kidding. Anyway enjoy your holidays and review.
Next Chap. Harry goes to the Lodos Realm
Kakole