Chapter Six
Springing Harry
It was dark by the time they arrived at the Dursley household, but since this helped them sneak into the house undetected by the people Dumbledore undoubtedly had watching the place it worked well with their plan. It had been decided that the smaller the group the less chance of them being detected so in the end it was Charlie, Bill and the twins who went. Severus had returned to castle since it was dangerous for him to be caught by either side helping the boy-who-lived leave the country. They wouldn't be able to use their wands without being detected once they crossed the wards surrounding number four so the twins would be picking any muggle locks that they encountered getting Harry out as well as creating distractions should they need a quick getaway. Molly had suggested using some of their more experimental pranks on the Dursleys an idea everyone agreed with, no matter how surprised they were to hear it come from the matriarch. Not knowing what sort of wards the headmaster had placed on the building they decided it was best Bill come along as he was the expert in the family when it came to breaking into magically sealed places.
The twins made quick work of the lock on the backdoor and the foursome was sneaking past the living room where Vernon and Petunia were sitting watching television. They snuck up the stairs the twins having remembered to warn their brothers about the squeaky step. As they reached the second floor they heard a toilet being flushed so they quickly dodged into the nearest darkened room. The small room was filled with broken things that covered not only the floor and shelving but the desk and bed as well. Bill noticed the locks on the door and let out a whispered question to the others "Why would put locks on a room that only has broken stuff in it?"
"This was Harry's bedroom after he got his invitation letter, they used to lock him in here. There were bars on the windows at one point at well but we had to pull them off when we came for him a few years ago." One of the twins explained.
"The locked him in a room and he says they haven't done anything to him since he got his letter?"
"Bill, I think you're underestimating how bad things were before he got his letter. You've never seen Harry mid-nightmare, he had one while we were at the quidditch cup last summer and it was bad enough when we thought it was to do with you-know-who but knowing it was caused by that pig downstairs makes it a hundred times worse. It's a miracle that he survived let alone turn out as well as he did."
While the older two wanted to interrogate their siblings on just what they thought had happened to Harry when he was growing up, the sound of Dudley making his way back to his bedroom made them remember that time was a precious commodity that they had little of. With a look that said they would be finishing the discussion later Bill motioned for the other's to keep moving. Fred lead the way to a door at the end of the hallway that was covered in locks similar to those on Harry's old bedroom door. He quickly worked through them and the group headed up the spiral staircase that was hidden behind the door. The group tried to be as quiet as possible expecting Harry to be asleep by this point.
They of course were wrong, Harry was wide-awake and waiting for the group to reach the top step. He had detected four magical signatures entering the house, he had no idea they were the Weasley's since he had not seen them since he had gained this level of control of his magic. As the four reached the top of the stairs Harry was ready with some of the pranks the twins had sent him. He had covered the windows with his robes so it was to dark to see anything more than the vague outlines of the intruders. He launched his first line of attack, exploding snap cards rigged to spew dye at the victims, having expected Harry to be asleep the boys were not prepared for the attack. The others quickly ducked back down and to the side but George, who was the leader, was covered in a dark dye. Charlie realized he needed a quick way to let Harry know that they were friend and not foe. Norbert was the first thing that came to mind that would help prove their identity. "Norbert, Harry Norbert."
Harry paused with his hand poised mid-throw, four people one of whom knew about Norbert. He studied the signatures closer, not just four people but four people who have signatures with similar feels, two of which are nearly identical. "How did you get to Hogwart's to collect him?"
"We used brooms."
Harry decided to ask questions relating to tiny details that no interrogator would think to ask about to determine whether these were real Weasleys or impostors. "Where did you find the Marauder's Map?"
"Filche's office."
"What did you tell Ginny you would send her in first year?"
As the dyed twin answered a toilet seat both a smile and a blush spread themselves across Harry's face. "Sorry about that, I didn't know who you were."
"Perfectly fine Harry, these two don't get enough of their own medicine." Bill laughed as he made his way back up the stairs "Good job defending yourself, how'd you know we were coming though?"
"I was meditating extending my magic out when you entered the house, I could feel your guys magic." Harry turned on the small lamp that Hermione had sent him so that they could actually see each other. This of course caused everyone but George to break out in suppressed laughter as the realized that the dye had in fact been purple.
"Cool, and how did you figure out it was us."
"Well all of your signatures have a similar feel and the twins' are almost identical, so I just figured that it was likely you guys."
"When you say almost identical do you mean that you still can't tell the difference?" George asked
"Nope, and unless you want me to call you grape-boy from now on I would recommend letting me know which one you are."
He humphed "You won't tell people and ruin our fun will you?"
"And miss all the laughs caused by the confusion? Merlin, no."
"Brill, I'm George."
"As much as I don't want to break up the fun we did come here for a reason." Charlie interjected quickly quelling the light mood
"Yeah isn't it kind of dangerous for you guys to be here, what with jerk off keeping such a close eye on me?"
"The cost if we did nothing outweighed any potential risk." Charlie explained
Harry's face quickly contorted in worry. "What's happened now?"
"We just found out from a reliable source that Dumbledore has agreed to allow Fudge to have you committed to St. Mungo's psychiatric ward, indefinitely."
"Bloody hell. What am I going to do?" Harry ran a hand over the top of his head "Fuck. When?"
"Tomorrow afternoon, don't worry Harry we have a plan." Charlie reassured him
"You do?"
"Of course. As members of your clan there's no way we could let them do that to you. I've got to ask you though, what's your opinion on Romania?"
"Romania? You mean where you used to work?"
"Yeah, I have some friends there that owe me some favours that I could get to take you in. I'd have to stay here in order to keep from raising Dumbledore's, sorry jerk off's suspicion."
"What kind of friends? Other dragon keepers?"
"Uh actually, it'd be with some unspeakables."
"Unspeakables?" Bill exclaimed and the quickly lowered his voice, "How the hell did you wind up with unspeakables owing you favours?"
"I'm actually sworn to secrecy on the matter, I promise you can trust them."
"Okay how are we getting there then?" The others were surprised at Harry's quick agreement and it showed on their faces. "What, I trust you lot and if you say that Dumbledore is about to allow Fudge to admit to St. Mungo's really I'm going to agree with any plan you come up with."
"Alright then, I figured I would apparate with Harry. We can't apparate onto Mihai's property, he has anti-apparition wards set up around the place, so we'll need you three in case we run into trouble of the death-eater variety."
"You think we were going to allow you to go without us? How are we getting there though it's to dangerous to do cross continent apparition without having seen your arrival point before."
"I thought I'd make you guys a portkey."
"Isn't that illegal?" Fred piped up
"Oh, like you two have never broken any laws." Charlie laughed in response
"Maybe I should write a note so that everyone will think I just ran away."
"Good idea, you okay with us packing up your things while you write it? It's getting on ten now which means it's nearing midnight in Romania, and trust me you don't want to see Mihai when he's been woken up." Harry didn't have any problem with the other's packing up his things, seeing as how his most personal items were his dad's invisibility cloak and the photo album Hagrid had given him. It was moments before ten by the time everything was ready, the boys quickly snuck back down out of the house and out past the wards. Hedwig watched from the upstairs window as her master and his friends disappeared into the thin air before taking off towards the daily prophet headquarters.
The next morning Hogwart's staff member's saw a sight that they had never witnessed before, headmaster Dumbledore not only shocked but speechless as well. Severus after seeing the front page of the morning's newspaper gave Harry a little internal cheer and made a promise to himself to describe in great detail the headmaster's reaction and if at all possible obtain a pensieve so the boy could witness it himself.
Minister of magic Cornelius Fudge had a slightly different reaction. Instead of being stunned silent the man went into a full rage causing two secretaries to break down in tears, one owl to be hexed quite horribly, and three house elves to cower in fear. Not realizing that Percy Weasley, who had recently been appointed as his aid, was in the room the minister went on a full vent about Harry's ability to get away from him. Hearing this Percy realized that he had been a fool to believe the minister's lies and gave Harry his own little personal cheer.
The Daily Prophet
Monday July 17, 1995
FAREWELL LETTER FROM THE BOY-WHO-LIVED!!
To Whom It May Concern:
You call me your saviour, but the moment I tell you something that you don't want to hear you call me a liar and believe me to be 'unstable'. If I am at all unstable then it is not because of my connection to you-know-who it is from seeing someone whom I considered to be a friend murdered before my very eyes, and then having to witness the creature that murdered my parents regain his body. I do not say come back to life because you-know-who was never really dead, yes he was without physical form and very weak but his spirit still remained and had the ability possess mother nature's children. There are people who do not want to admit that this madman has returned for fear of creating panic amongst the people. The problem is you need to prepare and you need time to do this. You need to bond together with your friends and neighbours and protect your homes from this madness. United we are strong but divided we will fall.
I am leaving for now, though I will return once I have the knowledge to defeat this monster. Hogwarts will not provide me the skills that I need to do this, charming feathers to float and transfiguring quills into porcupines will not help me destroy you-know-who . Hopefully, once I return and we are once again in times of peace you will take the time to see Harry and not the boy-who-lived, but until then fare thee well.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter
Author NotesI know technically it's no longer Saturday and that I had promised to post by then but it turns out the five week old babies are a little more distracting than I realized, so it's an hour late but hey that's better than tomorrow evening though someone's gotta explain to my manager tomorrow morning why I got no sleep tonight. Just a couple of notes regarding Dumbledore's evilness in my fic. I personally think that no person in their right mind would fail to check on child whom they had left at the doorsteps of relatives believed to be the worst sort of muggles. And if he did check on Harry even if he wasn't being abused then leaving a child in a home where he was forced to do all the chores and sleep in a cupboard is still slightly evil, and if he did so with the level of abuse I've created for Harry's childhood then he's really evil. Also when it comes down to it this is fiction and au at that.