Official Note From Lord Dreadnault:
This is a fic that I've been co-authoring for about a week when I've burned out for the day on HLH. :) It is in no way connected to any of my other written works and it certainly will not be updated as often. Please review so we know whether or not to continue it. :)
Disclaimer: The authors recognize that they don't own HP or any associated characters. No profit is being made, blah blah blah.
Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes blearily late one night as he woke up to an insistent tapping at his bedroom window. He had arrived home at Privet Drive precisely one week ago and had not done much since. The events of the last year still somewhat depressed him and nightmares of Cedric's death and Voldemort's rising still haunted him rather than the dreams of Voldemort and the pain of his scar. He had been lucky as far as he was concerned.
Climbing out of bed, he yawned and proceeded to walk towards the window to open it and admit the owl entrance. It was a rather handsome and official looking owl and Harry figured that it was not a letter from Ron or Hermione.
He took the stiff parchment letter from the owl's leg and broke the Ministry of Magic seal as the owl let himself out of the open bedroom window. He unfolded the letter and began to read the formal letter.
Mr. Harry J. Potter,
The Office of Magical Law Enforcement formally and officially
charges you with the murder of Cedric Diggory on the night of
the Tri-Wizard Tournament at an un-determined location.
Ministry law enforcement officials will be arriving at your
place of residence shortly to take you into official custody
where you shall be detained until your trial.
You will be briefed more completely upon your arrest.
Harry stared at the letter in shock and slowly perused the contents of the indictment a second time around. His mind reeling, he set the letter down slowly and began to numbly think. How. . . could they? Thanks to this charge he wouldn't be able to show his face anywhere in public and could expect no help from the Ministry or anyone not with Voldemort. Then again, Voldemort was trying to kill him as well. Not only that, if he didn't move quickly the Ministry would get him.
Harry quickly began to pack. He would think once he was safely away from the Ministry's grasp. Using a quick Organization and Packing charm he packed his trunk with all of his belongings that he remotely valued. Textbooks, robes, broomstick, and other various things. He left his Invisibility Cloak and wand outside of the trunk. It would be wise to keep those objects close at hand.
After checking the small room for any sign of his belongings, including the floor board under his bed he turned his wand towards his trunk and shrunk it. It was not as small as he had hoped but it would have to do. He quickly dressed and shoved the shrunken trunk, which was now about the size of a medium-sized pocket book, into his pants pocket.
After taking one last look around his room he noticed Hedwig watching him from her cage. Harry grimaced as he came up with an appropriate solution. "I'm sorry Hedwig, but I must go." Harry whispered to the white owl. "It's dangerous for me to stay. Go out into the wild and stay there for a few days before coming to find me. That way it'll be safe."
Hedwig hooted reproachfully at the prospect of having to leave so quickly, but nevertheless complied to Harry's request. Harry watched as she flew away after exiting the window. It was almost like losing a friend for a short while. However, they wouldn't be able to trace him now.
Harry unfolded the Invisibility Cloak with a flourish and set it upon his shoulders watching himself disappear in the cracked bedside mirror. First objective, Harry though hurriedly. Get away from this location and then plan your next move. Fortunately he knew just the place to go to.
*
Harry looked left and right to check for any people out for a late stroll. Seeing none, he relaxed and sat down on the playground bench. He was a goodly distance away from the Dursley's and so long as he didn't practice any magic, the Ministry would not find him. He drew the cloak tighter around him in an attempt to insure that he was as invisible as possible.
Both Voldemort and the Ministry of Magic wish to apprehend me, Harry thought dully. It's simple enough to flee from the Ministry's grasp, just leave the country. Voldemort will chase me though. His evil knows no bounds. Perhaps I could leave the country, change my name and hide, and even then, be prepared.
After thinking the same thoughts over and over, Harry finally settled on what seemed to be the only option. Flee the country, change his identity, and always be ready for the worst to happen. How would I survive though? Harry wondered. Suddenly a thought occurred to him, if he changed his identity he could certainly change his age. It would be simple enough to get a job in another country. He could train to be an Auror. That seemed to be the only thing he had an aptitude for. Well, there was Quidditch, but that was very much too public.
Harry continued to plan for a couple of hours before standing up and making his way to Muggle transportation systems. If he changed his identity he would need to know what documentation of him already existed. That sort of stuff most likely had been stored in Gringotts after his parent's death. He would need to get into Diagon Alley early before many people were present.
*
Harry looked around at the street before dodging into the public restroom within Diagon Alley. It was well that Gringotts opened before normal business hours. Very few people were out and about yet and likely the public was not aware of the charges brought before him.
He nervously jabbed his hands into his pants pocket and pulled out a sheaf of various official looking pieces of parchment. Harry began to quickly sort through the documents. The first three documents were his and his parent's birth certificates. The other papers were official documentation of various things, grades, genealogy, and business transactions. Basically useless! Harry then came to the last document which turned out to be a very long list titled, "The Potter Estates."
Harry raised his eyebrows as he scanned the long list. It was a list of various bank accounts, vaults, properties, and investments that seemed to be all his. The vault he had access to seemed to be the smallest of them all. After the initial surprise wore off he began to scan the list for anything outside of Britain, and preferably outside of Europe.
Finally a name from the list popped up. Creswell Manor in the American state of Massachusetts. He also had a sizeable bank account at the Salem branch of Gringotts. That would do fine. What about a job though? Harry decided that the subject could wait until he was actually in the U.S.
He then turned his attention to the immediate situation. He would need a disguise. Hopefully the Ministry wouldn't notice any un-authorized magic within Diagon Alley. He pulled out the shrunken trunk, brought it back to its original size and then pulled out a basic spell book. He flipped to the index and looked up 'appearance'.
"Hair. . ." Harry muttered. "This one shouldn't be too hard. . ." He studied himself in the mirror and pointed his wand at his hair and prayed that nothing bad would happen. The spell provided the desired effect. His hair was now a little longer and no longer it's typical, messy, self.
Harry grinned, this was turning out to be a cinch. He returned to the book and picked out an eye-color charm. Since everyone was always talking about his green eyes he might as well make sure that they weren't conspicuous. This time he was vaguely nervous as he pointed the wand at his eyes.
What if something went wrong? Would he be blind? He quietly said the spell and suddenly color exploded in his eyes blinding him. He put his hands over his eyes to block the bathroom lights which were making his eyes ache. After a minute the discomfort went away and Harry opened his eyes and looked into the mirror. The book had said that the color would be randomly chosen depending on the person. His eyes were now a brilliant shade of blue. Anyone worth their salt would spot it as magical. Perhaps Muggles would mistake them for contacts if they thought them strange.
They won't mistake them for contacts if I'm wearing glasses, Harry realized. He quickly thumbed through the book and found a spell that would act like Muggle contacts but would wear off after six months. Harry shrugged and performed it. After taking off his glasses, which were now blurring everything up Harry returned to taking care of the rest of his appearance.
Next he looked up 'aging of appearance' in the spell book and found several charms and spells that might accommodate him. This one he had to get just right. Not too old and certainly old enough. A very fine line indeed. He once again pointed t he wand at his face and muttered the incantation and then opened his eyes. The spell had aged him about two weeks. Harry rolled his eyes. "Get your act together Potter."
This time he was less nervous and shot the spell at himself quickly. When he opened his eyes he found a face old enough to be retired staring back at him. The spell had also touched his hair. It was now salt and pepper. "Bother!" Harry exclaimed in a voice that didn't match the face at all. He concentrated and performed the spell's remedy but not as strong as needed to restore him to his teenage face. When he opened his eyes he found the face of a person in his early twenties. "Absolutely perfect!" Harry declared.
Harry examined himself closely in the mirror. There was only one thing left that anyone could connect to Harry Potter. The scar. Harry tapped his finger on the sink as he studied the scar on his forehead. He perused two books but could find nothing that could hide it. He sighed, and tried to think. Finally he decided that once he left the country, it would not be as well known.
He glanced at his watch as he quickly packed his trunk and shrunk it to fit into his pocket. The next step would be to get out of the country as soon as possible. There had to be some sort of place where one could get magical transportation to another continent.
Harry paused as he shoved everything into his pockets. What was him name now? James, he decided quickly, after his father. Middle name could simply be Harry, and he could draw his last name from where he was going, Creswell. James H. Creswell. Harry grinned and strode out of the public restroom and into Diagon Alley.
*
Members of the Order of the Phoenix were rushing in and out of Grimmauld Place in a panic. Hermione pressed herself against a wall as another nameless member of the Order sped past and down to the kitchen where the Order was holding an urgent meeting. No one would tell them anything and the twin's Extendable Ears weren't able to pick anything up.
She made her way upstairs to the room where Ron and Ginny were waiting. She slipped in and sat down on a very worn chair. "They won't say anything and I can't hear what they're talking about. It can't be something that You-Know-Who did or it would have hit the front pages." she said to them.
Ginny sighed and Ron growled and began to speak angrily. "This is big! Why won't they let us in on it? And what about Harry? He should know about it too. Do you think he even knows that something is going on or is Dumbledore keeping him in the dark still?"
"Maybe it is something to do with Harry himself," Ginny said softly from the bed on which she was sitting.
Hermione shrugged and folded her arms trying to keep her composure. "I think that it may be connected to the Ministry somehow. Your dad is basically the only person not there and he sends an owl from the Ministry almost every fifteen minutes."
"That's it! Ron exclaimed. "Fudge has gone and done something stupid and now we're all in trouble or worse. Either that or Voldemort is up to something right now."
Suddenly there was a loud pop and the twins appeared near the door. "Dumbledore just arrived!" Fred said excitedly. "Whatever has happened, he is really mad at Fudge."
"From what we can tell," George said, "Fudge made a really big mistake and now Dumbledore is trying to fix it before it leads to disaster."
"What kind of disaster?" Ginny asked.
"The worst kind," said Sirius Black as he entered the room catching them all by surprise. He grinned and Fred and George as he closed the door behind him, "You two, always eavesdropping. Just like the old days with James and I." He smiled at the memory.
"Will you tell us what happened?" Ron demanded half pleadingly and half demandingly.
Sirius sat down in another chair and cleared his throat, he appeared to be very angry and worried as well. "Late last night, the Ministry indicted Harry for the murder of Cedric Diggory."
The boy's mouths dropped open and Hermione and Ginny gasped loudly. "Is he going to Azkaban?" Hermione asked urgently.
"Well, that's the problem, isn't it?" Sirius answered. "Harry fled upon receiving the notice. Technically the correct thing to do if he wants to not be caught or sent to Azkaban, yet. . . it doesn't help us any either."
"Of course it's the best thing for him!" Ginny exclaimed. "What else would he do?"
Sirius grinned, "That's what makes it so complicated. In his flight from the Ministry he has put himself in danger from Voldemort."
"What is the Order doing? Can't we help?" The twins asked simultaneously.
Sirius shook his head, "That would be up to your mother. As to what the Order is doing, we're trying to find him before he goes to far or gets into any trouble." He stood up to leave. "I'll keep you updated on any developments. You might also think about where he might flee, that could help." The door closed quietly leaving five extremely shocked teenagers.
*
The transportation official examined Harry's ticket before saying anything. "Welcome to the United States of America Mr. Creswell." He stamped it with an official seal and date. "If you intend to remain in this country for more than six weeks, kindly register with the Office of the Secretary of Magic."
A's/N: Please review. :)