Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 3: Plans, Potions and True Intentions

It was the weekend after Harry had first talked to Hermione and he, Crabbe, Goyle, and a very indignant Malfoy were headed to Ms. Figg's house. Harry was thinking how thankful he was that no letter from Dumbledore had in fact come, not even noticing the oddity of a three day delay in the Owl post. He didn't want to have to explain anything to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon after they already knew it was related to what they called his 'unnaturalness.'

This morning had been hard enough for them to even get out of the house, Harry having to distract his aunt and uncle during breakfast while Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had to sneak out. Malfoy's increasingly angry state of mind and the tense air around the group was just adding to the general uneasiness of the day.

It had been Hermione's idea for them to meet there instead of at his uncle's house. Harry had managed to sneak a phone call in when his aunt and uncle had taken Dudley out to lunch, one of the many 'special treats' that they seemed to give him for no reason. Dudley was still on his diet (and so then, of course, was Harry) so they had compromised with an all you can eat salad bar much to both Dudley and Vernon's dismay.

The diet had been a problem for Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle as well. Harry had not been able to get enough food to his room where they were stashed to keep them happy. Of course he was used to going without but they apparently were not and Malfoy's constant complaining about it had not helped matters. At least he had done it quietly, as to not call attention to himself. Although Harry figured it wasn't because he didn't want to get Harry in trouble, it was probably because of the tirade Vernon had upon finding Pig buzzing around the living room delivering yet another letter from Ron. It was all Harry could do to stop Vernon from killing him. He didn't even have time to send a return letter before he had to throw Pig out the front door. After finally getting rid of the annoying hyperactive owl he had to listen to his uncle yelling at him about his friends contacting here apparently forgetting Moody's threat for the moment. Harry hadn't cared he was so used to this that he was able to tune most of it out by now.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle on the other hand seemed to get what Harry meant about his Uncle and the wizarding world. Crabbe and Goyle had stopped complaining about the lack of food altogether evidently thankful that they had a place to stay at all.

Harry hadn't been surprised that the Dursleys' hadn't ventured into his room while his three guests were there. They had barely ventured there before, only when they wanted to yell at him. Being that they were scared to death of Moody, not to mention the rest of the wizarding world to which Harry had become a major part of. Because of that they had stepped into this room maybe twice over the course of the summer and that was usually to yell at him to get his owl Hedwig to shut up. Hedwig was off delivering the return message to Ron, and so conveniently she had not been there most of the time to get them caught.

In any case the phone call to Hermione had gone quite smoothly and they had agreed to meet at Ms. Figg's house that following Saturday. Hermione's parents had even agreed to drop her off without much fuss. Although Harry could tell that it was reluctantly. He had no idea where Hermione lived, and so he had no idea how far out of their way they were going having only had real contact with her at Hogwarts or through the order.

Ms. Figg's house was just another typical muggle house. With the same simple two floor design as the Dursleys' house. The main difference was that most of the furniture was scratched up and the house was filled with cats.

No one looking here would think anything of any wizarding world. They might think the owner a bit odd, but that would be quite understandable. Harry had always thought Ms. Figg was odd, even when compared to most wizards he knew. What with her blatant obsession with Cats and all.

Hermione and Ms. Figg were drinking tea in a kitchen that Harry vaguely recognized from his unhappy childhood. It wasn't particularly different from his kitchen unless you counted the fact that most of her shelves had different kinds of cat food and that her countertop was laden with random cat dishes. They seemed to be having a quite happy conversation about something, Harry guessed cats, since that was Ms. Figg's obsession and Hermione did still have Crookshanks.

Malfoy seemed even more appalled and unhappy about his situation than previous now that he actually saw Ms. Figg's house and Harry could see why one would be. He certainly wouldn't want to live here for any amount of time if he could avoid it. He would rather live here than with the Dursleys', but that's wasn't really saying much as he would rather live just about anywhere then with them.

Crabbe and Goyle on the other hand, still seemed rather relieved just to be alive, and Goyle in particular seemed even to smile a bit.

"Hello, why don't you come and have tea with us?" Ms. Figg said as soon as she noticed the four of them. "I wouldn't want you boys to feel left out."

Harry walked up to the table and after a slight hesitation Crabbe and Goyle also followed. Malfoy, the ever present stick in the mud refused to move and seemed even more appalled at his lackeys than when they stood up to him those three days ago.

Hermione, as Harry expected was the first start talking as she explained their situation to Ms. Figg. Who seemed to listen intently to her. Harry had not remembered her ever listening to him with any intent at all. Then again he had been younger than ten then and probably wouldn't have had much to say to her of relevance anyway.

After she was done Ms. Figg looked at the four boys with the same look she had given Mundungus Fletcher a year ago when Harry had first found out she was more than the crazy old cat lady he had always seen. This isn't a good sign. Harry thought tentatively.

"Harry Potter!" Harry flinched as he was reminded of Ms. Weasley. "I am appalled at you! Foolish boy! You very well know why I cannot take care of these three. It is the same reason why you cannot stay here for the summer instead of at those horrible Dursleys'!" Ms. Figg looked at him very much like Hermione did when she was angry at his sillyness. Hermione seemed shocked at this out burst and was sitting there staring at Ms. Figg like she had just leveled a grenade launcher filled with water balloons at her. Crabbe had hidden behind Goyle who had tried quite in effectively to hide behind Harry.

Ms. Figg then seemed to calm instantly as she said. "But of course you can make your potion here. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of your great career as an auror. Not after watching you grow up so quickly." in a very mothering tone. If he hadn't just seen it happen he never would have believed that Hermione could have a more shocked expression than at her previous outburst but sure enough she did. He felt Goyle's hand fall on his shoulder stiff as a board and he figured that she wasn't the only one. He of course had been with her many a time and had seen Mrs. Weasley do a similar turn around many a time and so was only mildly surprised.

Hermione was the first to snap back to reality and she quickly said. "While that is good it still does not solve the obvious problem of convincing the Dursleys to let the three of them stay." Hermione was back to her old intelligent self instantly.

"Hmm…" Ms. Figg contemplated. "Well I suppose they COULD stay here it wouldn't help protect them any, nor me for that matter, squibs are useless for protecting anything from full blown wizards and certainly dark lords. Everyone knows that! Whereas if they were to stay with Harry it is unlikely that You Know Who could get anywhere near them. At least that's what Dumbledore says anyway. And if we can't trust him then who CAN be trusted for questions like this?"

Harry was getting impatient. That was the obvious thing now that he thought about it. Otherwise why would Dumbledore send them to him in the first place? The problem was that stating the obvious, that as long as they are with Harry and he is protected from Voldemort that they would be protected to, gets them no closer to finding an actual place for the three to stay. Hermione's house was obviously not an option as nothing protected it from Voldemort's wrath and they were probably prime targets enough with her connection to him without sending people they are actively looking for there. And even though he knew his uncle would never allow it he could think of no other option other than throwing them out on the street. Which even if he could live with doing that he didn't think Dumbledore would be pleased at all, or anyone else for that matter.

Hermione thought for a while taking notes and eventually said, "Well I can't think of any place for them to go besides the Dursleys'. So we should probably try and figure out a way to get Harry's uncle to allow them to stay there rather than sitting here arguing over who would be in more danger where." Hermione was deep in Hermione mode as she thought about the situation. Harry would have thought it was funny if the situation wasn't so grim. For some reason her hyper controlling planning mode had often amused him and Ron, although that could be because it was usually in a situation where he had to find something to amuse him when ever she got into that mode. It was rarely a happy time.

"Can you think of something?" Crabbe's voice sounded as he stepped out from behind Goyle. He obviously trusted Hermione's brain even if he didn't trust her blood.

"Of course…she's Granger." Goyle's voice seemed a bit less tense with Hermione on the job. Everyone knew that short of a Ravenclaw, Hermione Granger was your best bet if you needed a clever idea to get you out of a jam even those people who hated her. Goodness knows she had gotten Harry herself and Ron out of plenty.

Harry was just as relieved at this as Crabbe and Goyle were as he had no idea how he was going to pull this one off. Pulling one over Filch or most of the professors at school was one thing. Pulling one over on the Dursleys' was another and he to his knowledge had yet to ever really do anything tricky on purpose that had got him anything from them other than being locked in the cupboard. They may be horrible, but they're not stupid. Well, Vernon and Petunia aren't anyway. He had very quickly stopped trying realizing that since they never trusted him anyway actively trying to trick them was nearly as pointless as trying to tell them the truth.

Malfoy seemed to be the only one who was not at least slightly relieved to be thinking about the current situation. He remained standing in the doorway to the Kitchen brooding the with the Malfoy signature scowl silently.

Then he spoke with a tone that said that he wanted this over with as quickly as possible. "Why don't we just use Obliviate or Imperius on them? It would be a lot easier than actually trying to get along with them."

Everyone in the room, even Crabbe and Goyle looked at him like he needed his head examined.

"IMPERIUS!" Hermione exclaimed. "Are you TRYING to get sent to Azkaban or are you just THAT stupid!"

"Well considering that the Dementors have gone over to You Know Who I doubt I have to worry about being sent there." Malfoy cocked a smile at this, obviously happy that he had caught Hermione on something.

"Well you should be glad of that, because I don't see why they didn't send you there ages ago." She shot back at him pointedly. At that Malfoy shut up again, returning to his former scowl.

Goyle went back in his 'attempting to think' pose again before he said. "Casting Imperius is a bad idea. But what about threatening them?" He looked to Hermione for confirmation. Harry expected Hermione to scoff at that idea, but to his surprise she just looked intrigued and pulled a pen and notepad out of her pocket and wrote something on it.

"You know that's not a bad idea. I wouldn't jump on it just yet, as there is probably a more diplomatic way of doing this, but yes I do think that threatening them might work if we can't think of anything better." Hermione seemed to be talking to herself just as much as the rest of them. But Goyle seemed quite happy that Hermione had even given his suggestion any thought at all. Harry knew that as dumb as they seemed Crabbe and Goyle had to be aware of everyone's feelings towards them by now and he assumed that getting Hermione Granger to acknowledge an idea of theirs would certainly make either of them happy especially if they themselves bought into the idea that they were stupid.

Harry's opinions on Crabbe and Goyle, Goyle in particular were beginning to change drastically. Unfortunately Malfoy, the one who he really had actually hoped would change to be a bit more bearable, had not. Something Harry knew was going to be a problem regardless of what they decided on here.

"Well, this is a conundrum if I have ever had one." Hermione said her face obviously deep in thought. Then her face changed to that expression that let Harry know that she had come up with something. "Brilliant! Just brilliant! Oh I am such a fool!" She said staring at Harry with that expression she uses when something is painfully obvious to her regardless of whether it is obvious to everyone else. Harry was just more confused at this.

"Do you remember exactly what Snape said when he told you why Dumbledore sent them here?" Hermione was adamant so Harry rummaged through his memory for it.

"I think he said…'They were sent here to be protected by the very thing that has protected you in the past.' Or something to that effect."

"I thought as such. And what pray tell Harry has protected you in the past?" Hermione's voice was prompting him, he knew that. She was trying to get him to figure it out himself.

"Well, the connection to my family, my mother's death. But unless they were living under the same roof as me I don't see how those could…" Hermione cut him off.

"Of course you thought about that! That is what Snape wanted you think. It was actually a brilliant move on his part, revenge for getting out of his general rule about NEWTs. Oh come on Harry you can't be this blunt!"

Then it hit him. It was as Hermione had said, totally obvious so obvious in fact that his brain had totally ignored it, "The people who have been watching me all summer! Of course that's what Dumbledore meant!" Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle looked completely lost as he said this. Hermione just gave smiled at him.

"God I want to hex that git! Making us waste all this time trying to get my uncle and aunt to let them live when all we really needed to do was get them to a place where my watchers can also watch them!"

"I was wondering when you were going to figure this out." At that Albus Dumbledore apparated into the room with a slight pop, his twinkling eyes beaming. Malfoy did not look pleased at this one bit. Crabbe and Goyle froze up as soon as he appeared.

"You planned this didn't you?" Harry asked smugly.

"I didn't plan it, although I must admit that it did intrigue me when Severus brought it up. It was actually quite the plan on his part. It very well could have served both of our purposes. However, you managed to completely dodge my original intentions and come up with everything on your own."

"So what were your intentions for this?" Harry asked.

"Why to get you to stand up to your uncle of course!" Dumbledore seemed quite giddy today for reasons unknown. "Unfortunately it didn't turn out as I planned. No matter, this is probably for the better anyway. I would hate to have to send your aunt another Howler." At that he looked toward Harry and winked. Harry smirked back remembering the anonymous Howler she had received the previous summer.

"Now for the reason I really came here. Arabella, would you mind taking in these three for the remainder of the summer? It would be a personal favor to me and it would save me a lot of effort trying to secure yet another location."

Ms. Figg nodded graciously at this smiling. "Of course," She responded.

Dumbledore then turned to Hermione, "Hermione, I know you want to spend more time with Harry this summer since you are at home with your parents. Because it is quite impossible for him to go stay with you for obvious reasons and to save your parents the hassle of muggle transportation I took the liberty of getting a special portkey authorized for you for the remainder of the summer. It is strictly for the purposes of visiting Mr. Potter, as I had to pull quite a few strings with the office of magical transportation to get it authorized at all." With that he handed her a small white badge.

"You activate it by tapping it quickly three times while thinking about where you want to go. This will only take you to either Ms. Figg's house or yours."

"Don't worry about waking me dear." Ms. Figg stated. "Albus has already cleared this with me and it will send you to a section of my living room which Albus has told me he has made sure will not disturb me with your arrivals."

With that Dumbledore continued, "It can be used to take multiple people simply by holding hands and forming a line. But that is only in case of extreme emergency as it has only been authorized for your use."

He then turned to Harry and said. "By the way how does it feel to be sixteen?" Harry realized that he had completely forgotten about his birthday with everything that had happened on it with Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle showing up. He felt silly about this, no matter. It wasn't like they were ever important before. Hermione on the other hand looked horrified that she had forgotten. Harry turned to her and motioned to her that they would talk about it later.

After that he turned towards the rest of them smiled and said, "I certainly hope you re prepared for your NEWTs next year. Good day to you all!" he then disapparated with a small pop.

Crabbe and Goyle let out deep breaths they had been holding as Dumbledore left. Malfoy just continued sneering. Harry was certainly relieved, what could have been a very hellish nightmare for him had turned out to be a simple matter.

The rest of the day was spent getting Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle into their new accommodations. Hermione called her parent and told them that she was getting home on her own. Ms. Figg invited Harry and Hermione to eat dinner, where they spent the entire time talking about Harry's birthday while he tried to tell them that it was ok and that it had never really been that special before so why make a big deal of it now. Malfoy unsurprisingly scoffed and spent the entire meal brooding silently. Hermione walked Harry home where she had finally agreed to not make a big deal out of his party as long as he accepted that she would send him a gift. Harry also noted that the Weasleys had forgotten his birthday as well. But he thought that was probably because they were on important order business. In any case he was kinda relieved that they hadn't done anything. The last thing he needed was another lecture from his uncle about keeping the house clear of strange owls.

Harry was thinking in bed before he went to sleep and he realized that Dumbledore was right. He was going to have to really stand up to his aunt and uncle at some point. Not throw temper tantrums, threats and hissy fits like he had previous summers. But really stand up to them. He also realized that he would have had to do it without magic if for no other reason than to prove to himself he could do it. It might even give them a little more respect for me. He thought. Show them that I can live without my 'unnaturalness.' Well…maybe not, but I can dream can't I?