Sorry for the long wait everyone but I had to re-write this chapter 3 times and I'm still not totally happy with it, but there you go.
Thanks to all the reviewers, it really keeps me going.
Chapter 4 –A Potter Legacy.
Harry's feet pounded on the cold wet slabs of the pavement that led down the small country road through the middle of Ottery St Catchpole. He stopped only to check the streets were clear before heading down a road that seemed to head north. He didn't know exactly where the village was located but he knew it was in the south somewhere and so his best bet was to head north and figure what he was going to do then. He stopped suddenly when he spotted the light form a Muggle vehicle coming towards him on the road causing his levitated trunk to slam painfully into his lower back. Ignoring the pain he jumped behind one of the large trees, that were situated all along the northern road out of the small village, until the tractor had passed by.
Harry soon slowed down to a brisk walk panting heavily. He had managed a few miles but wizards weren't renown for the fitness, as they didn't see the need to be able to lift heavy weights of run long distances as they could just use magic instead. In fact the only reason he had come so far was the he was on the school Quidditch team which whilst played on brooms had given him some sort of exercise. He sat against the trunk of an upturned tree and pulled a sandwich from the small backpack that he had placed a few essentials in, and began contemplating the situation he once again seemed to find him self in. For the second time in as many days he found himself alone in both the Muggle and the Wizarding world with nothing but his trunk for comfort. He only had a few galleons and next to no Muggle money so that was his first priority. He somehow needed to get to Gringotts and get some more money from his vault as well as some new equipment as he didn't know how long he would have to fend for himself before he could make Dumbledore see reason. He had seriously believed that the old man was trying to act as best as possible and even Harry had realised that there was no getting rid of his friends but never in his wildest dreams would he have ever thought that Dumbledore would actually contemplate training all of them to help in the fight against Voldemort. The headmaster of all people knew what this war entailed and it didn't involve any of his friends aiding in the final battle. The best thing they could do was stay out of the way. Over the summer he had realised that he needed there support badly if he was ever to succeed and come out of this in one piece, Both mentally and Physically, and if any of them got injured or died during any of the fights then there was no way Harry could go on. He had seen them injured in a fight that was never theirs to fight and then seen his own godfather killed before him because he had been stupid enough to believe everything he saw without telling anyone. He kept telling himself to listen to Ginny's words and not push them further away as then he would be unable to protect them but if by being close to him they had to train to fight with him then he would rather leave them where they would be safe from him. He would rather die than bring harm on any of his 'Family'. With this though aside his slowly re-shouldered his backpack and took his broom out of his trunk. Right now he didn't care who saw him and as it was dark he doubted very much if anyone would any way. He had decided through all his musings that he would go to Diagon alley under his cloak and stay at the Leaky Cauldron as he knew that Tom the Barkeep got lots of 'Unusual' customers and so wouldn't ask to many questions so long as he was paid. So he kicked of from the ground and felt a small tug around the waist as he trunk sluggishly followed as he ascended as high as he could.
Several hours later Harry was beginning to regret his choice to take of in the middle of the night. He was cold, hungry and tired and to top it of all off he had absolutely no idea where he was. He had flown over endless bands of shadowy forests and fields outlined in the moonlight. Every now and then he had spotted a small patch of light that due to there infrequency told him he was still deep in the middle of the country and not in an area full of large towns and cities where he might hitch a ride. He started looking for a place he could spend the night when he spotted a patch of land the reflected the moonlight and at first thought it to be a large lake, but when he spotted the waves breaking on the beach he realised that he had reached a coast. During the course of the night he had been travelling slowly north and east, as he knew the Burrow was in the Southwest somewhere. So he knew that he couldn't have reached either the north of Scotland or the East Coast so he began puzzling where he might be. He cursed silently that wizards didn't deem it necessary to learn Geography as they could usually travel by Floo, Portkey or Apparation so he had top rely on the limited knowledge he had gained at his primary school. So as he made a mental note to suggest to Dumbledore he flew lower towards what he could see was a road to look for some type of road sign to give him some sort of hint as to where he was wishing more than anything he could have taken the night bus. When he had made his plans earlier that day he had decided that it would be to risky to take the knight bus as if anyone was trying to track him down they would be sure to check there first. So it was a demoralised Harry that flew down towards the road and spotted a small light illuminating a green road sign that might aid Harry in his escape. However Harry almost fell of his broom in shock when he read the names of the list:
Cardiff M3 13
Bristol M6 24
Godric's Hol' A32 3
L'pool M5 49
M'Chester M5 38
St Hogret A43 4
M'mead A203 11/2
He was shocked when he realised that he had been to the burrow several times and no one had bothered to tell him that the Village where he parents hideout was, where his parents had died, was only a few tens of miles down the road. This thought only caused Harry's anger towards Dumbledore to grow exponentially. He knew deep down that the Headmaster was only trying to ease the pain Harry had always been forced to face throughout his life but he couldn't help but think that he would have preferred that he had been told before rather than find out like this. So Harry decided that he would go and stay there first as it was near by and Harry was too tired to go any further. So Harry flew down the road where he had spotted the sign post and followed the directions that appeared randomly along the lonely road. Just as the cold greyness that was dawn was making its presents felt in the coolness of a midsummer morning he spotted he destination and decided that it would be prudent to walk the short distance to the village so as to not draw the attention of any early risers.
As he entered the out skirts of the small village he saw that it was barely bigger than Hogsmead. It contained a main high street with muggle stores lining the road on either side of the street. As he past a small store for baby clothes he amused himself with the thought that his parents may have bought many of his baby clothes there when he was younger. However this thought immediately turned sour at the thought that his parents didn't live long enough to use the store for more than one year. He was so deep in this depressing line of thought that he almost missed a completely out of place pub sandwiched between a grocers and a fast food restaurant. Chuckling to himself he paused to admire the lack of originality of the Wizarding world and really thought that the purebloods really didn't have much to fight for as it was all so dated. He supposed that most of the pureblood family's were fighting purely on principle and due to the conditioning and pressure they had received from the older generations of the families. With a quick glance up and down the street to check for nosy Muggles he swiftly entered the House-elf's Head, which showed a picture that reminded him all to much of Grimmauld Place and therefore of Sirius, though not before he had donned his invisible clock and placed his broom back in his trunk.
The inside of the pub was dark and dingy, much like its counterpart the Leaky cauldron. Harry quickly checked to make sure that the pub was indeed magical, but when he spotted a Butterbeer foaming enticingly in a the hand of a man dressed in lilac robes he pulled his trunk through the door praying that the barkeep would be as willing to not ask questions as Tom. He steeped up to the counter and rang a small hand bell on the counter. As he looked around waiting for the owner he noticed that very few people were staring at the lone floating trunk and for that he was glad. A small but broad man wiping a large tankard down with a dishcloth brought him suddenly out of his thoughts though.
"'Ose there. Show your self," spoke the short man behind the bar.
"I'd rather not if it's all the same to you. I would like to rent a room for one day, with breakfast and a seven PM alarm call. I promise you I have more than enough money to make it worth your while and you with be handsomely tipped if you could keep it all anonymous, Thank you"
The bar keep obviously was used to tenants coming and going one official or non official business as he merely requested that Harry follow him up some rickety stairs and into a small room towards the back of the building that was obviously magically enlarged as it was much larger on the inside than the outside would lead you to believe.
"In 'ear. The cost will be 1 galleon for the room and 5 sickles for the meal, 7 if you want a drink."
So Harry rooted around in his trunk for his moneybag and pulled out 3 galleons to the man and told him to keep the change. With that the squat bartender took his leave and left with a soft click of the door as he closed it behind him. Making sure that the man was definitely gone Harry removed his clock and sighed as he sank into a squishy armchair under the sole window in the room that looked out onto a small bricked yard with a few Dustbins piled against the rear wall, Wizards really were very boring.
Harry spent a minute making sure that his trunk was securely shut with one of the magical padlocks he had bought on one of the many trips to Hogsmead he had taken one he suddenly realised that he had completely forgotten about is beloved owl. He smacked his open palm into his forehead when he realised what a pickle he had put himself into with his rash thinking. Sometimes he wished that he would stop and think before he rushed off on a spur of the moment idea that popped into his head because he felt let down or angry about some thing. Now he found himself in a strange town in the middle of the Muggle and Wizarding world and he had no way of contacting anyone without raising suspicions by going to a post office to borrow a post owl. But now wasn't the time to worry about that, he had made his bed and he was just going to have to lie in it. He was here to find out where his parents had lived when they were in hiding. So with that he wandered back out onto the muggle side of Godric's Hollow and began walking down the street to find the area where most of the residential areas were. He soon broke out of the business district and began wandering aimlessly around the area looking for any evidence of the house. He was just glad that the village was so small or he would not stand a chance in finding the Potter's plot of land amongst the small quaint thatched cottages that were sprawled along side the wide sub-urban street with there large gardens with flower beds that Harry knew his Aunt Petunia would have given her left arm to own (If giving ones left arm for a garden was deemed Abnormal). He took his time to wander down the few streets that winded there way outwards from the centre and admired the beautiful cottage gardens radiant in the early morning sunlight when he spotted an open patch and as he moved closer he saw the remains of the foundations and the shell of the house covered in weeds and wild flowers as the spread across the rubble, reclaiming the land for nature and as he moved forwards he saw a small charred signpost to the side of the short drive that twisted through the unkempt flower beds that read 'Griffins Retreat' in rough scrawling script and the moment he laid eyes on the sign Harry broke down in the middle of the street and shed tears unashamedly for the family he had never been aloud to know. He had never cried before, not fully. He had learnt at an early age that it was best top suppress what ever emotion he was feeling and but on a blank look of indifference no matter what he was doing or how bad things had gotten. Though the Dursley's had never physically assaulted Harry to a extreme he had been on the end of Vernon Dursley's belt before after on particular incident that found the garden growing magically for three days before it was cut back and started to grow normally again. Harry had been whipped with the belt and forced to continually cut the garden to stop the neighbours from suspecting Harry's 'Strangeness' however that was usually the worst that he received though he had been threatened with more since he had started Hogwarts and only the thought of a full fledged wizard turning up on their doorstep stopped them from actual physically beating him and snapping his wand. But now, in front of the very building where his parents had been brutally murdered and somehow Voldemort had found his first demise, Harry wept. He wept for his family that he had never met. He wept for Sirius, the only father figure he had ever had. He wept for Cedric, the Hufflepuff that had trusted Harry so much that he had died because of a mistake that should have never of happened. He wept for the Longbottoms, for Neville, who would grow up never hearing he parents voices of fell their loving embraces but be able to visit them day after day and still never be recognised and lastly. He wept for every nameless and faceless individual and their families who had ever had the misfortune to have to find lose at the hands of Voldemort or his Death eaters. For a full Half and hour he aloud the grief and the anguish to roll out of him and for the first time in sixteen years he felt truly free. Not free from Voldemort or free from Dumbledore and his responsibility to the world but free from his pain and sorrow and guilt over all those who had died because he wasn't strong enough to take down Voldemort before there lives had been ruined.
Finally Harry picked himself up from in front of the wall around Griffin's Retreat and prised the gate open with a loud creek and for the first time since he was a year old he stepped onto the property that held so many and yet so few memories. Slowly he made his way through the tangled mess that comprised the drive way and as he stared into the overgrown flowerbeds he imagined his mum weeding the garden whilst he sat in a small chair watching and imagined what it might be like to have grown up in a place like this full of love and warmth. But even as those thoughts crossed his mind the image of his mum changed to that of Mrs Weasley chasing around after all her children and how she had always made him feel part of the family and always made it known that their home was his home as long as he wanted it that way. He found himself thinking how lucky he was to have come from the Dursley's where he wasn't loved and wasn't appreciated into a family that treated him as a brother, a son and as he sat on a rotting bench he broke down once more for the family he loved but had endangered through his very existence. He cared more for the Weasley's than his own life and would do anything to make sure they were safe and if that meant he had to live on his own then so be it.
Three hours later he had sifted through the rubble, choking up when he caught glimpses of the wall paper poking through the blacked rubble and cradled slowly the ash coated mobile that comprised Snitches, Bludgers, Quaffles and Broomsticks in a delicate gold colour. He slowly made his way to the back garden and admired the size and what must have been originally beautiful flowerbeds as well as an orchard. However the biggest surprise came as he approached the rear of the garden and saw a small marble headstone that simply said 'The Potters. Loyal to a fault.' As he ran a finger across the engraved lettering he felt a sort tug behind his navel and was suddenly whisked through the air before landing with a thud on some ground in a light and airy patch of grass. However the moment he looked up caused him to snatch at his wand and spin around whilst forcing himself to repress the memories that were bubbling viciously top the surface. He found himself in a quite graveyard full of simple yet beautiful headstones with the occasional larger memorial. However as the names on the stones slowly filtered into his brain he gradually eased the tensed muscles in his arms and forced them to lower the wand though keeping it ready just in case. He laughed as he thought how proud Mad-eye would be as he had remembered his motto 'Constant vigilance' and the sound echoed morbidly across the quite plot causing him to stop suddenly.
In front of Harry was a sight the caused Harry's eyes to prickle all over again with unshed tears as he read the simple words that were engraved into the double white marble headstone not more than two meters from where he stood on shaky legs:
Under a small carving of a stag tossing back its antlers in a majestic pose were the words
'James H Potter 1947 – 1980 – Loving Husband and Dedicated Father. May he find rest in the world beyond.'
'Lilly V Potter 1947 – 1980 – Loving Wife and Protective Mother. May her love never cease to embolden the world.'
And above this was a small carving of a delicate lily in bloom. Harry cried openly for the third time that day.
"Mum, Dad. Why us. I try so hard to go on but it gets worse every day. How am I supposed to beat the darkest wizard ever when even Dumbledore and the order can't? I'm only a kid," that was all he could say before grief to him away. A grief that only increased when he saw a small statue of a dog standing beside it.
"I'm sorry Sirius. It was my entire fault. If only I had listened to Hermione or used the stupid mirror none of this would have happened and you would still be here. Please forgive me and take care of Mum and Dad for me." Finally he wiped his eyes on a sleeve and began to take in the multitude of graves that were arranged neatly from one wall in the far-left corner right to where Sirius' memorial was placed next to the headstones of his parents. However soon his eyes weren't focused on the graves or indeed even in the graveyard, but on the large whit house that stood at the top of the hill over looking the sight. He picked himself up and with a whispered goodbye made his way past the two Griffin statues that flanked the gate and up a small unused track that ran up to the house and around to the front. He slowly walked up to the front porch where a much-weathered swinging chair rocked slowly in the light breeze that blew around the building. He stepped tentatively up to the front door and lifted a shaking hand to the doorknob.
An: HA – Evil or what. Sorry for leaving it like that but what can I say, it's a great place to stop. Please place all your reviews (Good or bad) as they only help to improve the story. Thanks everyone. Also as some of you can tell my spelling and grammer is terrible so if anyone is better than me and would like to do some Betaing then drop me a line – Thanks