I don't own Harry Potter, I just own this story and everything in it.

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The Treasure Hunter.

Harry stretched out on his beach chair, looking out over the beautiful scenery. He wasn't doing anything, he wasn't planning on doing anything except lay on the beach and get a tan while he read a book. School had let out three weeks ago, and despite the efforts of Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius and Remus, the adult Weasleys, Harry had left Britain with the aim of just enjoying a holiday where people wouldn't meddle in his life. He had done his bit for King and Country, surely they could just leave him be?

Sadly that kind of logic escaped someone as boring as Dumbledore. The wizard really needed to change his game plan rather than use the same tactics time after time. The old man's desire to control Harry just didn't make sense. The only theory that Harry possessed about the reasons behind the old man's questionable logic was Dumbledore regretted not keeping watch over other powerful people such as Tom Marvolo Riddle, but while Voldemort had always been a problem even as a kid, Harry had no doubt Dumbledore just liked keeping watch over witches and wizards who possessed a power greater than the average. Getting away from him now might be a risk, but after the year he'd had, it was merely prudent and expected. The Triwizard Tournament had tried every last ounce of patience he had for the magical world, and if they thought he was going to play bludger with them, then they were behind the times.

But Harry was mystified by the attempts of the others. McGonagall was just simply following Dumbledore's lead, like usual, while Sirius and Remus had been desperate to ask him to come on holiday with them, but he hadn't been interested. He had been hoping for a nice long holiday for months ever since the Triwizard Tournament began.

There was no way he was going to be locked up in some….cage, put in there by somebody like Dumbledore.

There was absolutely no chance Harry was going to be taken to the Burrow, although he wondered if that was Dumbledore's backup plan in case his own plan failed.

Okay, granted, he knew he was being harsh on the former Marauders, but Harry just could not help himself. He knew it was slightly petty, but he just didn't like the way they kept trying to ride roughshod into his life and expected him to be happy about it; he had lasted for a decade without them, and they'd had their chance to care for him after mum and dad were both murdered, and now he had two people who just wandered in like nothing had happened.

Harry shook his head.

It didn't matter now.

It was firmly in the past, where it all belonged.

Resolving not to think or dwell on Voldemort or Dumbledore, Harry smiled to himself as he looked out over the Australian beach. He had never been to this part of the world before, and he had planned to use the Australian magical community to move on a kind of tour around Asia, like Thailand, Japan, China, and perhaps even India included so he could soak up the local customs and the cultures on both sides of the looking glass dividing the magical and muggle worlds, Harry knew he had plenty of time. He only had a month to get through his plans, but he was going to enjoy it all.

And even if he decided that he wasn't going to move off to the rest of Asia, there was plenty for him to do in Australia. He was young, he was near the prime of his life and he had plenty of time on his hands. In the future, he planned on having a home stuffed full of treasures he'd acquired over the years and kept for the sake of keeping them; rare or forgotten tapestries and paintings, sculptures, ancient weapons and books, souvenirs from various countries.

While he was thinking about his future, Harry thought about another side of it that he usually tried not to dwell on. Was he going to remain single, or was he going to get married?

Just because he'd gotten into a relationship with Parvati and Padma and had a fling with Fleur, Harry didn't know if one of those girls was the one, and truthfully he got the impression they felt the same. The sex had been fantastic, especially since the twins had been incredibly creative, what with Padma's knowledge of the Kama Sutra, and Parvati's general enthusiasm, to say nothing of Fleur's natural abilities as a Veela.

But somehow he didn't think they were potential Mrs Potters, or he wasn't sure yet. He didn't know for certain. Harry sat up in his beach chair, and he looked at the sea around him, wondering.

X

Harry sat with the others on the diving boat, listening to the instructors as they lectured him and the others on the boat with him. While he'd gotten some experience diving in the Caribbean which made the instructors pleased since he and a few others were experienced with the equipment so they only had to emphasise the collective dangers of diving in Australian waters.

"Alright, now listen very carefully," Charlotte, one of the two diving instructors and a woman who truly enjoyed life, smiled at the students in front of her, but her eyes made it clear she wanted them all to pay attention. "We'll be diving in groups. Do not wander off. There are some serious threats down there and if you see a shark, do not panic; sharks are not the monsters you see in movies like Jaws, they won't automatically attack you and eat you, but they are wild animals and you will be diving in their home. Treat them with respect and they will not hurt you. At the same time, don't swim anywhere near jellyfish; they might be beautiful, strange, and otherworldly, but they can be extremely dangerous. Don't swim anywhere near their tentacles."

Harry leaned forward curiously, already promising himself to avoid any contact with some of the more dangerous marine creatures. "What's currently underneath us, Charlotte? I know you described a coral reef, but I would just like to know what else to expect."

"That's okay, Harry," Charlotte smiled, nodding in approval at him, clearly she didn't get that many people who were curious about what was beneath the surface. "There is a coral reef down there, but there is a wreck as well. A great place to gain new skills."

"At the same time, we'll be showing you how to basically behave underwater and when you return to the surface," Mark, her fellow instructor added, looking over all of them. He was tall and leanly built, showing a man who worked out extremely hard while showing he was dedicated to living the good life - sun, surf, and underwater. Like Charlotte, he was welcoming of the others and he was more than willing to teach those who wanted to learn, but Harry knew like Charlotte, Mark was unwilling to come down hard on those who caused problems. "Remember, when you begin to surface… do not, I repeat, do not, shoot up to the surface like a cork out of a bottle. We do it all slowly. It's quite deep down there, and I don't want anyone to take any foolish risks."

Harry had heard of these dangers before, and it was a rule he had been following after reading what the effects of the bends were, and he had followed the rule even when he'd had Gillyweed. The magical properties of the mutating weed allowed a wizard or a witch to compensate for nitrogen build-up, so the bends didn't affect them as it did with SCUBA divers. But he had followed the rules because he'd known the more energy he used underwater with the gillyweed, the quicker he'd lose his gills and flippers.

"Phht, they say that to everyone," Harry heard someone say. He turned. The speaker came from a man who was with three of his friends. Harry snorted when he heard the arrogant tone in the speaker's voice, and he recognised the man for what he was; he was someone who believed he knew everything, and he believed he knew enough to throw the advice of those who knew much more out of the window.

What they were doing here, he didn't know, although he guessed from the looks they sent a few of the young, attractive girls who were in the boat with them, they were trying to show off. It was not going to work. Harry had no intention of seeing anyone die today. He merely wished to enjoy life and have some fun. He wasn't going to let this bunch of neanderthals get in the way of that.

"They have to," Harry interrupted, uncaring if he was being rude. But he was loud enough to be heard by the entire group as he stared at the fool. "I saw a rookie SCUBA diver shoot to the surface in the Caribbean last summer. The instructors had to rush to get her to a decompression chamber, and I do mean they rushed. The idiot tried to sue the club, but they had it on record they had told the dive students of the dangers."

"What do you know about it, limey?" One of the speaker's friends sneered.

"I was there, remember," Harry snapped back, his green eyes burning with an emerald fire that focused on the speaker and idiot friends. The intensity of his glare had the fool cringing, making Harry fight the urge to grin.

"That's enough!" Charlotte's voice cracked, and out of the corner of Harry's eye, he saw she was glaring at the speaker and his friends. "Harry's got a point; he knows the dangers of the bends, if you shoot up to the surface and we're nowhere near a decompression chamber to get you to recover quickly in time, you will die. It's nothing to joke about."

Harry narrowed his eyes when he caught sight of the looks he was getting from the speaker and his friends. He would have to keep watch on all of them when they dove down to the seafloor.

But if they tried anything, what would he do?

He could use magic, but the problem was he didn't know what the Australian wizards would do. Hopefully, he wouldn't need to use magic, especially since he had just noticed the two diving instructors send a look between the pair of them. They

"Right, let's get going," Mark smiled.

Harry had just finished getting his equipment checked out by the instructors - he noted Charlotte and Mark focused on the bunch of clowns who would likely make some stupid mistake down there, but he lost track of them as he got his equipment ready. He was just about to go over the side when he felt a hand roughly grab hold of his shoulder and swing him around. One of the idiots shoved their face in his own private space.

"You tell us what ta do, oh boy you're gonna get it-!" He hissed before he yelped in pain when Harry, reacting fast and quickly, punched him in the stomach before he delivered a few well placed Krav-Maga moves that had him and his friends back off. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed the diving instructors looking on; it seemed they had both noticed what was going on, and they'd been about to intervene when Harry punched that guy in the stomach hard enough to wind him.

"Stay away from me," Harry growled at the small group. "You might think by acting macho, threatening and stupid is a great way to get the girls, it's not. You act stupid down there and you could potentially put all our lives at risk. I hope everyone here keeps watch on you, god knows you're stupid enough to do something really thick."

Harry stepped back and well away from the small bunch of macho idiots and he walked over to the side of the boat.

"Enough, all of you," Charlotte quickly regained control of the situation. "It's time to dive. Everyone take their position. For the more experienced divers, please go over the side."

Harry was relieved by the suggestion, and he knew what Charlotte was doing; she was trying to make everyone see diving was easy, that anyone could do it.

He took his place on the rail with several of the other more experienced divers while the others were still on the boat, and he flipped himself over and he hit the water, and he swam down a few feet to get out of the way of any of the other divers. When they dove beneath the water churning the sea up in a froth of white bubbles, Harry swam down with the others while he helped a few new divers cope with the shift between the surface and the water.

Harry felt the warm water on his skin. He had dived in the Caribbean, off the coast of Britain, and he had dived into the Black Lake of Hogwarts, but the warm water here brought back some of the happy memories he had of the dives in the Caribbean.

He paused when he noted a shark, one with black tips on the fins. Besides him, one of the new divers - fortunately, not one of the idiots who mouthed off and acted smart, but one of the divers who genuinely wanted to learn - panicked, forgetting the last-minute lecture on the boat, forcing Harry to grab hold of them and shake them lightly and make them stare back at him while he shook his head lightly.

For the rest of the day, Harry had a wonderful time diving. He kept above the coral reef, knowing there were predators there, but it was marred by keeping watch on the bunch of idiots. They made the mistake of panicking when they saw a reef shark, but Harry grabbed them and pulled them back and he made sure they kept still to not attract the attention of the sharks, who'd just view them as a threat against them. One of them did try to shoot back up to the surface when it was time to return to the boat, but once again, they were stopped when Harry grabbed hold of their foot and pulled them back down and only went up with them slowly.