Harry Potter & The Power Of Hogwarts

by Prabal

[COMPLETED - EPILOGUE ADDED] Harry has finally got over Sirius's death. His 6'th year has started but Hogwarts seems to be in grave danger. What is it that Voldemort wants this time?

4. A New Beginning

Ok. Everyone knows the drill. Still here goes nothing -

Harry Potter & the other characters of J.K. Rowling are strictly hers (though this plot here is mine J). I am not the original writer (though I wish I could be) & I do not wish to make money from this. Most Importantly, I DO NOT want to get sued. So if anyone has any problems with anything I write, then just tell me.

There's plenty more...blah blah blah....forget it & let the story begin :).

Note: US English has been used here.

HARRY POTTER & THE POWER OF HOGWARTS

Chapter 4 – A New Beginning

That night, no one noticed a skinny 15 year old boy walking up to the house 1, Grimmauld Place, dragging a very heavy trunk since he wasn't allowed to do magic outside school until the age of 17. That boy stuck up a wand, paid the conductor & got onto the bus for an unknown location. If someone had looked closely at him, they would have been able to see a satisfied smile on his face.

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"Hey Neville. Your destination." Stan Shunpike shouted over to the boy he knew as Neville Longbottom. Harry looked to Stan and nodded. He picked up his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage (Hedwig had gone along before him) and proceeded towards the door as the Knight Bus ground to a halt. An ear-shattering bang behind him announced the departure of the bus.

Harry looked around to see the place. There were some houses here and there but not many. The signboard on the streets looked quite old and the road seemed to be in a bad condition. There were many oak trees around which looked hundreds of years old. The place had an eerie feeling to it not to mention that it was 2:30 in the night. It had taken almost 1 hour for Harry to get there. All-in-all, this place seemed one straight out of the horror movies with great big trees added in the surroundings. Finished with his inspection, Harry dragged his trunk along the street with as little noise as possible. His destination was a 5 minutes walk from the outskirts of the village. With great difficulty and paining limbs, he finally reached the house he was looking for, finding Hedwig sitting on the front gate. Harry looked at the house. It looked similar to the other houses which were at the village – old, rusty gates and battered by the weather. But this one looked like no one had touched it for many decades. He could see large pieces of the plaster had crumbled down and the walls had a lot of damp in them. The windows were all boarded up. A look at the house made Harry feel gloomy. This was not what he had expected when he had gone through the estate papers of the Blacks. It had mentioned that the Blacks had used this for refuge during the goblin revolutions. Harry had the notion that it may have been some kind of a castle since it was supposed to have held the whole of the Black family which wasn't small in any sense. But what he now encountered was a small house like that in the rest of the village. Also, it seemed that no one had been near this house for many a year, he thought looking at the weeds around the house. Of course, this was a two storied building whereas the houses in the village were only single storied but this did not help Harry's mood. He had not expected 3, Sunshine Villa to be so gloomy.

With a nod to Hedwig, who also hooted her disagreement at the house, he proceeded to open the door. Once inside, he saw a small fire flicker to life. Ok, at least something around here works, Harry tried to convince himself. He put his trunk on the floor and took out the estate papers. According to them, it was supposed to be 7-stories high along with a basement and dungeons. It was also supposed to be fully decorated. Well, maybe the building got destroyed in the goblin war and they had to rebuild it in this manner, he thought. He also started wondering whether Professor Binns, their History of Magic teacher, had ever mentioned anything about a place named Sunshine Villa (why does he make it so boring that I fall asleep?). He sat down on a couch near the fireplace pondering these thoughts. Suddenly, he saw a tapestry on the left hand side of the fireplace. He went over and had a look at it. It was similar to the one he had seen at 12, Grimmauld Place except for the fact that it only contained the names of the legitimate owners of this particular house. Harry was wondering whether being an owner of this house would make one proud or sad when he saw the name Sirius Black near the bottom-end of the tapestry. He touched the name, moving his fingers over it gently and all the emotions of Sirius came back to him. Maybe Sirius wanted to share this place with Harry. If Sirius had been there, then even this gloomy place would have looked so much better. When Harry opened his eyes after a few seconds, he saw that another name was present beneath Sirius's name. Upon closer inspection, he saw his name present there. Obviously, this had to be a magical self-updating tapestry. But his name seemed to be of a different color than that of the others. It was emerald green in color. He touched his name and absent mindedly said what was written on it (in a very emotional voice) "Harry James Potter". No sooner had he said this that a strange light started emitting from it. Harry staggered back at this effect. He hadn't been expecting something like this. This light seemed to spread all over the house. It seemed to light up every nook of the house in a brilliant emerald green light. Harry closed his eyes at this sudden effect. He could even feel the light hitting him. A strange kind of warmth spread through him. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around. The light had started to fade but what greeted him left him speechless. As the light was fading, each part of the wall or furniture which it had touched was starting to change. Fires flickered alive in every parts of the house along with the appearance of a staircase. The whole of the house seemed to have been rebuilt and redecorated in a matter of seconds. Even the fireplace now had a bright look to it with its frame seemed to be made of what looked like a metal like steel. The couch, on which Harry was seated a few minutes, earlier seemed to have been replaced. The 'new' couch was made of the finest fabric with the sides been made of the finest wood. A look around the house gave Harry a glimpse of a huge cupboard, knight armors, 2 staircases – one going upwards and one going downwards (must be going in to the basement, Harry thought), 5 doorways –one of which seemed to lead to the kitchen, one to the bathroom, one to a drawing room and 2 guest rooms. One look at the staircase which led upstairs and Harry could see that the railings were made of the finest bronze available. He peeked upstairs and saw that there were at least 3 storey's. After his small inspection, he went back to look at the tapestry. His name was now written in the same color as that of the others. It also knew that the new master of the house had arrived.

Finally, exhaustion got the better of him. He dragged himself to one of the guest rooms, undressed and put on some pajamas and a tee-shirt. Without looking anywhere else (he knew that Hedwig had found herself a cozy place near the fire), Harry took off his glasses, threw himself on the bed and instantly fell asleep.

Next morning Harry woke up feeling a bit relaxed. But he couldn't recognize the place. How come Tonks or Remus hadn't shouted at him to get up? And…where the hell was he? He searched for his glasses and suddenly the whole world came into his view. Now he remembered. He was at his new home. He looked at his watch and was shocked to see that is was 7:30 in the morning. I should have got up at 5:30, he thought. But remembering how long he had been awake the previous night, he instantly forgave himself for been late. Ron would have cursed me if I had got him up at 7:30 during the holidays, Harry thought recalling the days he had spent at The Burrow. With these thoughts, he got up, brushed his teeth, did what-you-know and had a shower. Finally, as he was getting dressed, he felt very fresh. Today was going to be a new beginning for him.

Going to the kitchen, he found that there was only a single cupboard-type thing apart from the fact that it was kept on a platform which was about the height of his waist. He opened the door, thinking how nice it would be to have some toast and eggs and that was exactly what he found inside. He was a bit surprised to see it. He closed the door and opened it again, this time having a glass of orange juice in mind. This time his confusion was cleared as he found the required glass of juice waiting to be taken out. So, this is some kind of a magic food store, he thought. "Well, that's just the kind of thing I need till I can get someone to work for me. But who? Of course, it has to be Dobby. I'll have to ask Dumbledore to send Dobby over." Harry muttered to himself feeling quite pleased. He quickly finished his breakfast and wrote a letter to Dumbledore.

"Hedwig, please take this to Professor Dumbledore and wait for his reply." Hedwig took the letter and with a quick peck on Harry's fingers, went flying out of the window. "Now, to finish of the most important part of my first day here." With this Harry got up to inspect the house.

The house was really big. It was just like what had been written in the estate paper, it was a 7-storey building. The 7'th storey was a special one. There were more than 48 bedrooms present in the first six storey's, along with 1 common room on each floor. Each floor had 2 luxurious bathrooms – both large enough for a football team to have a shower together. Plus, there was a similar 'magical refrigerator', as Harry had started calling it, in each of the rooms. All the rooms had wonderful views of the surrounding area. As Harry peered outside, he noticed that the surroundings were not as bad as he had thought it had been. A little cleaning would make everything ok but as he did not wish to attract any attention, he let the idea go. Maybe when the war is over and he returns here…

The seventh floor was the most luxurious. It had just 2 suites, each having a luxurious bathroom attached to it. Both had their own common rooms and drawing rooms. Harry found it hard to imagine how the 2-storeyed house he had seen the previous night could have so much room and luxury. Harry peered into each and every corner of the house. Every nook of the house surprised him with the amount of decorations that were present. He even wondered why people spent so much money on decorations when many people did not get enough to eat or wear. He himself had wanted many things in his life but seeing so much luxury as this was also becoming a bit of a headache for him.

After having satisfied himself with all the floors, Harry went through the staircases which led towards the basement of the house. The basement seemed a huge room with nothing in it. It was almost the size of the quidditch pitch in Hogwarts, Harry thought. There seemed be one door at the far end of the basement. On opening the door, Harry found a staircase leading further below the house. Carefully climbing down, he saw that he had come to a place which looked like a log corridor. But as the fires on the walls flickered to life, he saw the view that was exactly the opposite of what was on top of him. The corridor had a long line of doors on either side but as he came up to the first door, he found that he was very much mistaken. These doors did not lead to any luxurious room or bathroom. Instead, they lead to some of the darkest dungeons Harry could ever imagine. Many of these dungeons had clamps on the walls which suggested that they had been used as prisons. With a grim smile, Harry completed his inspection.

It was still an hour to go before lunch so Harry decided to arrange all his things. He took his trunk to the room on the first floor which was the closest to the stairs. He didn't like the thought of climbing all these stairs every time he needed something. Also, he didn't want the suites on the 7'th floor because he found them just too much for his taste. "Maybe Draco Malfoy, but not me" Harry thought "and what the hell am I supposed to do with that huge place when I have the required space down here?" After setting down his trunk in a corner, Harry took out all the stuff one by one and started to arrange them in an orderly fashion (been with Hermione sure helps in many ways). Firstly he took out some of the books he had brought with himself. He placed the books he had brought over from the Potter Family Vault into the first and second rack of a cupboard. Then he took out all the books he had taken from the Black Family Vault and placed them in the third and fourth rack. Lastly came the books which he had taken from the Black Manor. The number of these books was relatively small, it took only one rack on the cupboard. After having finished, he looked at the books in the racks. There was an average of 28 books in 5 racks. "How the hell am I going to read all this?" He shrugged his shoulders in despair at the thought of having to read all this. But he knew that if he had to fulfill the first goal which he had set for himself at Privet Drive, then he had to go through all this. At least some of the stuff seemed to be an exciting read. He looked at the titles of the books he had – An Auror's Handbook, Auror's Advanced Handbook, What To Expect From Dark Wizards, How To Keep Your Mind Clear, Occulmency & Legilimency – Their Relations, Emergency Healing Techniques, Advanced Healing Techniques & Potions – these were some of the books he had brought from the Potter Vault. The Black Vault had supplied some very important books too though some related to dark magic – What Your Opponents Don't Expect, Using Magic To Clear Mudbloods (as if they were some insects, Harry smirked), How To Use The Unforgivables Most Effectively, Magical Objects & Their Powers, Alternative Use Of All Spells (Harry quickly made the relation between the word alternative with the word dark), What You Should Do If You Want Power. The other books which he had bought from the Black Manor were mostly related to Buddhism, Occulmency and the Fidelius charm. All in all, these books would provide him with some interesting reading, he thought. But the one book which was the most important for Harry right now was the one which he had taken from the Black Family Vault – "How To Do Magic Without Anybody Noticing". This book contained the recipe of a potion which, when taken by someone, kept him from been detected by others for doing any magic. It was a very ancient potion which took about an hour to prepare, which was really surprising because the potion seemed quite powerful in its effects. Harry had decided to prepare the potion after he had had his lunch. He had been collecting the ingredients for this potion for quite some days now. He took out the ingredients and the book and kept it in on the top-left corner of his bed.

He then took out a box with the initials S.B. on the top. He had taken this box from Sirius's vault. He had just one look inside it at that time which had made him take the box. Now that he had the chance, he wanted to explore it fully. Inside he found an assortment of dragon hide clothes. He knew that Sirius's was a more outgoing person than any of the other marauders. These types of garments could only have been in his possession & something which he must have been very proud of. Dragon hide garments were very expensive too. Harry knew that dragon hide clothes could reflect many curses & spells effectively. He checked out the things inside. There was a pant, a vest, a pair of boots, a belt, 2 wand hostlers which could be fitted on any part of the body and a pair of gloves. There was also a cowboy style hat and a cowboy style pistol hostler which could be attached to the belt. Trust Sirius to be stylish, Harry thought. At the bottom of the box lay a jacket. As Harry took out the jacket, he saw a note lying on the bottom of the box. He took out the note and opened it. He could recognize Sirius's handwriting immediately. Slowly, he started reading it.

Happy 16'th Birthday Harry. Sorry for giving you used things but I thought you would like it. I bought this whole thing when I got out of Hogwarts. But I want you to use it before. Dragon hide is highly magic resistant. So, make it a habit of wearing it all the time. I don't mean to sound like Moody but he has a point about been 'always ready'. Anyway, dragon hide clothes get used to your skin in about a week, so it doesn't matter which size you buy. Also, wear them just above your skin for more protection but you can wear ONE thing inside if you get my meaning. Just wear it and show me, ok kiddo?

Love,

Sirius

Harry finished the letter with tears streaming down his face. He re-read the letter once more. Sirius must have done this while he was at the headquarters' last year. Harry had known that Sirius used an owl mail to communicate with Gringotts. Maybe he had done it at that time. He had been so angry those days because he had been stuck up at that place, maybe he had just done this so that he could have rid himself of some boredom. Harry could clearly visualize the smiling face of Sirius when he was writing the note. As the face of Sirius came into his mental vision, the floodgates which had been holding for so long burst open, thinking and imagining – how happy he must have been when he was doing this.

It took Harry about 10 minutes to get a grip on himself again. He did what was going on in his mind at that time – undressed and put on all the pieces of dragon-hide clothes except for the jacket, hat & pistol hostlers. He fixed one of the wand hostler's to the inner side of his right forearm and placed his wand in it. It seemed to be the only thing that fit. All the others seemed to be large in all the places, after all, Sirius himself must have worn it a number of time, Harry thought. After putting on the all-black dress, he put on his tee-shirt. Even though it was feeling uncomfortable, he still liked the feeling of having something all the time which had been once Sirius's own. In a way, he felt Sirius was with him. He was about to put on his pants (the baggy ones of Dudley), he noticed a piece of parchment sticking out of one of dragon-hide jacket's pocket which he had failed to notice before. He stopped and read the parchment "Touch the wand to your pant and jacket and say I solemnly swear I am up to no good". Harry re-read the note once again, he knew that Sirius had the ability to pull any kind of pranks when he felt like doing it. Only Fred and George Weasley could give the marauders some competition. If truth be told, then everybody thought that Fred & George were the leaders. Harry decided to try it on the jacket first (better not try it on my pants while I am wearing it, he thought).

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good". As soon as these words came out of Harry's mouth the jacket seemed to change shape. Suddenly, all kinds of pockets appeared on it along with another note sticking out of one of the new pockets saying "Use this well". After seeing this, Harry managed to put together enough courage to touch his pants and say "I solemnly swear I am up to no good". As he looked on, he saw similar kinds of pockets of various sizes and shapes appearing. Again, there was a note in one of them.

Harry, this is my favorite pant. It has many charms on it. Dragon-hide is a very powerful magical object in itself. I had got this custom made from a very powerful wizard-tailor. It takes on the shape of any design which you want. All you have to do is touch the portion of the pant whose shape you want to change with the wand and say "Incline Formatura". After that, just move your wand and the material will stick to your wand and change shape. Only the outside appearance will change, it will still stick to your skin on the inside. After you after finished say "Comprobo Formatura" and it will take on the shape permanently until you want to change it again. If you want to change the color, then just touch the pant with the wand and say "Incline Infucatus" and then the color name. It will take on the color. And, whenever you put anything inside one of the pockets, the pocket immediately takes on the shape unless you disable it by saying "Abdico Formatura". All these things go for the jacket too. Use it with style, will you?

A small smile crept on to Harry's face. Only Sirius could have thought about anything like that. "Well Sirius, I will take good care of this." Harry said this to practically nobody but felt as if Sirius was listening to him.

He then placed all his clothes into one of the other cupboards present in the room. He took out his school books and but them in 6'th rack of the cupboard which held all the other books. Finally it seemed that everything was in place. Just one last box remained in the trunk with the lettering's in gold saying "From The Gryffindor's to The Potter's".

Harry took out the box which twice as long as that of his palm and had a thickness of about 5 inches. The box seemed a bit heavy for its size. He placed the box on his bed and turned to put away his trunk. After he had placed the trunk at an appropriate place, he sat down to open the box. He slowly opened the box and peered into it and found a note was placed on an object which was rolled up in a golden colored velvet cloth. He took the note in his left hand and took out the object, rolled in the velvet cloth, in his right hand. He rolled out the velvet cloth so that a golden object came into his full view with a dazzling flash of light. He closed his eyes in a reflex and opened them again when the light had faded, which resulted in his seeing one of the most beautifully crafted objects he had ever seen. It was shaped like a glove with holes at the required places for the fingers to move freely. He looked at the glove for a moment and opened the note to read.

Dear Simon,

This is a small gift from your friend whom you saved from a horrible death. The manner of the death would not have been as horrific as the cause. I just didn't feel like living anymore after her death. I loved her more than anything else. But you showed me the right way. I know that she too would have wanted me to do this. You have been my leading light and will continue to remain so. Please accept this gift with my humblest thanks.

Your indebted friend,

Godric Gryffindor.

Harry had read this letter previously at the Potter Family Vault too without checking the contents in the velvet cloth. But reading it now raised the same questions in his mind again. Was he the direct descendent of Simon Potter (he was sure that the Simon in the letter was a Potter)? Who was the she in the letter for which Godric Gryffindor was ready to risk death? Or was it that Godric Gryffindor had been trying to commit suicide? He found no answers to these questions.

"Must ask Hermione about how I am linked with Simon Potter. She knows more about me than anyone else, including me. I can trust her to dig up anything in any library to find out the answer to this." He made a mental note of this. He knew that he would get the answer as Hermione never shied away from the challenge of gaining knowledge and finding out the truth. Satisfied with the way he would find Simon Potter's relation with himself (he felt that he will have to get answers to his other questions in some other manner), he proceeded to working out what the glove was all about. It seemed to be made out of solid gold with red rubies near the tips of the fingers. Also, the other end of the glove, which would be near his wrist and was circular in nature, was fully covered with green emeralds. All the precious stones were polished to the highest degree possible. There were no inscriptions on the glove. Harry wasn't sure whether this was just a glove or whether it had any magical powers but he knew that this was a prized possession of the Potter family. The glove seemed to be shaped for the left hand of a person. Obviously, Simon Potter must have been left-handed. Though it seemed too big for Harry's left hand, he slowly Harry put on the glove.

As soon as he put on the glove, he felt a tightening effect. It seemed like the glove was adjusting itself according to Harry's left hand's size. Harry started to panic. What if this glove never came off his hand? How would he explain a golden hand? What if this glove had powers which he wasn't supposed to know? Hundreds of thoughts, both positive and negative, started crossing his mind. After the glove had strapped itself tightly but comfortably on Harry's left hand, its movements seemed to cease. Harry's panic also ceased for a moment but as soon as he relaxed a bit, the glove's emerald plated circle started to elongate itself. It came to a stop only when it reached Harry's elbow. Again its motions stopped once it had strapped itself comfortably against Harry's relaxing muscles. Once all movements had stopped, Harry looked at his left arm – it was now golden in color. He was wondering what was going to happen next when, with a small flash of light, the color of the extended glove turned to his own skin color. He blinked at his left arm for a moment. Had it all been a dream? Where was the glove? Suddenly he saw a tiny green spot on the inside of his elbow. Tentatively, he touched it. With a bright flash of light and a tingling feeling, the glove came off his hand. This time Harry did not panic. As Harry stared at the glove, he recalled the feeling which he had had when the glove had been there. A calming and warm feeling had swept over him. He had suddenly felt quite confident. For a moment, he had felt as if he had enough power to take on the whole world. He tried on the glove one more time. Yes, there was this feeling again. As Harry stared at his left hand, where he knew the glove was, he knew that he was now the owner of a very strong magical object, an object which can be used for either good or evil, an object which probably had immense power. He was sure of at least one thing, this was an object which had to be used very carefully.

As he looked around, the golden velvet cloth came into view. On closer inspection, Harry notice that some letterings had appeared in silver coloring. He took up the cloth to and started reading the text.

Hello,

It seems that another Potter has decided to wield the Glove of Gryffindor. Only a true Potter who has courage, honesty and has the best wishes for mankind may wear this glove. This glove is useless on any other person's hand. The person who has been able to wear this glove must understand its true powers. He/she has to believe in himself/herself to make this glove help them. If one's will power is not strong enough, then this glove will provide very limited results. But if one has enough mental strength and belief in himself/herself, then this glove can do many things. Not all of its powers are known to me but some of its powers, which I had been able to reveal, are mentioned below to help you. This glove has many more powers but I have been unable to discover them. I wish you best of luck with your progress. Take care of this Glove since it represents friendship, loyalty and love for mankind.

Regards,

Simon Potter.

Properties of the glove:

1. This glove behaves according to the intentions of the wearer. If the wearer wants to use this glove for evil purposes, then he/she will be unable to do so.

2. It can make the wearer invisible if the wearer is able to visualize himself as not been there. No one, with any magical object or magical powers, will be able to see that person.

3. It can set up shields around the wearer which are highly magic repellant. To setup a shield, simply visualize the properties of the shield you want and the curses it should reflect or absorb. Mind you, this glove does not have the ability to block the unforgivable curses.

4. The shields setup by the glove can block or diminish the effects of a curse depending on the amount of magical energy the wearer is able to focus on.

5. The magical energy radiated by the glove is non-existent. Thus no one can feel a magical object been in the hands of the wearer.

6. The wearer may perform any magic he/she wants to, without anyone in the surrounding being able to feel it.

7. According to Godric Gryffindor, only one object can be used to destroy the glove. That object is unknown to me.

Harry sat in stunned silence after he had finished the reading the silver words on the velvet cloth. He was astonished by what Simon Potter had written about this glove. According to point number 6, if he did any magic while wearing the glove, then no one will be able to feel it (unless they saw sparks of light emitting from his wand, that much was obvious to him). He looked at the glove and just wondered what a powerful magical object fate had placed in his hands, literally. With great hesitancy and wondering whether he was right in doing what he was about to do, he took out his wand and pointed to his trunk and said "Reducio". Instantly, the trunk shrank in size. He turned around and looked at all the windows in anticipation of ministry owls coming in and informing him of his suspension from Hogwarts. But nothing of that sort happened. He looked at his left hand with a numbed feeling in his body. After re-reading the writing a few more times, the only word which came out of his mind was "WOW".

After he had got back some of his common sense (he was still in awe), all sorts of questions seemed to popup in his mind. Points 1 and 5 were easy enough to understand. He had just now tested the point number 6 with success. But he was still unable to understand some things. How can he visualize himself as not been at someplace when he was in fact there? Had it something to do with Occulmency? If no one was able to see him when he became invisible (if he ever could do that), then will Mad-Eye be unable to see him with his magical eye? Would Dumbledore be unable to see him too (he always had the feeling that Dumbledore could see through not only invisibility cloaks but through anything and everything)? How was he to set up shields? How should he focus his magical energy and WHAT should he focus it on? Should he focus it on the glove or did he have to visualize it too? What was the object which could destroy this glove? Harry found no answers to these questions but he desperately wanted the answers. He then did what had become a habit of his by now whenever he felt restless or worried – meditate. He meditated for 5 minutes and after that, he felt very reassured and confident again. He knew that he will get answers to all these questions but he had to wait for them. But he felt very pleased with one thing – he could now do magic with this glove on which meant he had no need to prepare the potion which hides one's magical abilities. Well, maybe he would make some of it later but he didn't feel like it right now. With a smile, he took the ingredients and the book and replaced them at their appropriate places. Right now, he was feeling like he had just had the best time of his life…time…oh god, he thought as his stomach growled. It was one hour past his regular lunch time. He quickly placed the box, along with the velvet cloth inside, on one of the racks of an empty cupboard and hid it using the Fidelius charm. He also put away all the other things lying around into different racks. After finishing, he went to the magical refrigerator in his room and took out a Chinese dish of noodles, which he had seen in Hogwarts once, and a jar of pumpkin juice. He was really going to enjoy today's lunch.

Harry now got ready for the real task at hand. He had had a very satisfactory lunch after he had made his exciting 'discoveries'. But the real challenge, which would be his passport for staying here, was just ahead. He had to place this whole building under the Fidelius charm. With this target in his mind and a full stomach, he sat down to meditate. He meditated for over 30 minutes in which he skimmed through his thoughts to find the one's related to the structure of the house. He concentrated to complete the mental image of the full interior of the house along with the basement and the dungeons. Once this was done, he went up to the outside of the house and looked around the house from different angles. Once finished doing this, he sat down to meditate once again. Finally, after 45 more minutes, he could visualize the entire house. The visualization of the complete house had been a bit problematic because it looked a shabby 2-storeyed house from the outside whereas it really was a BIG, well-decorated house from the inside. After much concentration, he was finally able to visualize the 7 storeys inside the 2 storeys (phew!!). Once the full mental image was ready, he went on to complete the spell. Concentrating fully, keeping the image of the house in his mind, he said the incantation for the Fidelius charm. Then he went on to mention the password for the house. Finally, he put cast the final part of the spell which effectively secured the spell along with the password. After finishing the spell, he stood expectantly, with a thumping heart. Suddenly, the whole house vanished from its place into thin air (or so it seemed) and the surroundings closed on in that place. Suddenly all that was in that place were just trees, weeds and more trees.

"WHOA. I have done it…yes…yes…I have done it." Harry was leaping all over the place for about 2 minutes. After having calmed down, he went towards the place which he knew was, approximately, near the front gate (the whole house along with the gate and the surrounding walls had been hidden).

"Open Sesame" Harry said not expecting any problems this time. Out of nowhere, the trees and the surroundings were pushed apart to reveal 3, Sunshine Villa once again. Harry stepped inside as he knew for sure that the house would disappear as soon as he had entered inside. He was also pleased with his selection of the password which he had read once. It had been in a book which Dudley had thrown towards him with the intention of hurting him. Dudley had then forgotten to take away the book which was titled 'Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves'. Later on, Harry had read it and found the story very interesting. He had found the password in that book and knew that none of the wizards or witches, who were not from muggle backgrounds, will be able to guess it. Once inside, he was finally able to relax. It was 4:30 p.m. in his watch and he knew that now no one would be able to find him.

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Professor Dumbledore was seated in his office in Hogwarts when he saw Hedwig fly in. He felt it a bit odd as to why would Harry send Hedwig. Had Tonks or Remus been unable to do solve something which Harry needed desperately? Whatever it was, he was supposed to meet Harry in the afternoon after lunch. He was about to take the letter from Hedwig's legs when there appeared a face in the fire of his office.

"Remus. How nice to see you again. Is there something wrong? You don't seem too well." Dumbledore queried with a twinkle in his eye. Even Remus had noticed that the twinkling had slowly reduced as he saw Remus's concerned face.

"Professor. Harry…Harry…"

"What's happened to Harry? Hedwig has just come in with a letter from Harry, I presume. Is there anything else?"

"Another letter?" Remus seemed frantic.

"No Remus. This is the first letter I got. I haven't got any others."

"No Sir. What I meant was that I have one of Harry's letters. And this is the second one. Sir, Harry has left this place." Remus looked very concerned and frightened at the same moment as he made this statement.

All the twinkling in Dumbledore's eyes faded when he heard this statement from Remus. Remus had never seen Dumbledore so serious in all his life except for the time when he had first heard that Voldemort was after James and Lily.

"I'll be right there" Dumbledore stated. As Remus's face vanished from the fire, Dumbledore took some floo powder and threw it in the fire "Hogwarts Staff Room" he said.

"Minerva, Severus. I require you both at my office right now. Professor Flitwick, can you please take care of Hogwarts for sometime. We will be going on some important business" the face in the fire looked very concerned. Professors McGonagall & Snape just nodded their heads and headed towards the headmaster's office while Professor Flitwick said that Dumbledore can attend to any business without any concern. If there was really something urgent required, he would use Fawkes to contact Dumbledore. Dumbledore gave a slight nod and his face vanished from the fireplace.

Since it would take the two professor's around 1 minute to reach his office, Dumbledore decided to go through the letter in his hand.

Professor Dumbledore,

This letter may contain some unexpected things for you and the others. Maybe Remus or Tonks have already contacted you and said that I am missing. Well sir, I assure you that I went away with my own consent. I hope you don't think I had been kidnapped, did you? Well sir, you know that my initial life was dictated by my relatives. After that, you were the one who guided me when I came to Hogwarts. I am most grateful for that. I really considered you as the grandfather whom I never had known. You must have noticed my usage of the past-tense. This is because of some of the things which happened over the last summer having changed some of my previous opinions. I am having some doubts as to whether you guided me in Hogwarts or whether you were also dictating my life. I have seen in the past year what can happen when someone is not told about the whole truth. I have paid a rather heavy price for it. At the end of last year, you had yourself said that you had made a mistake for not telling me the whole truth. Sir, let me ask you a question – what price have YOU paid? Or for that matter, what price did Snape pay? I was not responsible for having been told the half-truth. You never gave me a chance to save my only family. I agree that if I had persisted with Snape, then I would have been able to block out Voldemort. That was my fault and I blame myself for it everyday. But Snape, what about him? He also didn't help me. He could have but he didn't. he is still keeping his childish grudge with him.

So sir, if all the three of us made mistakes, then how come I am the only one who paid the price? You always talk about fairness. What did YOU do to make that situation fair? Let me tell you what you did – NOTHING. You and all the other people think that I am some kind of mechanical object who has no emotions. All of you (except for Remus) think that I am just supposed to carry on my life just as before, that this is the one and only fate of the Boy-Who-Lived. Let me ask you something sir, have I ever been just Harry to you? Just Harry and not Harry Potter who is supposed to be part of some prophecy. No sir, I don't think so. Maybe you wanted to think of me as just Harry, I won't argue about that if it is true, but I think that you were always overcome by my Boy-Who-Lived part. I don't blame you for that because you are also human. But sir, I AM also a human. I also wanted some things. I wanted a life and not be someone who has to either kill someone or got killed. But I never got a chance for that life.

Sir, let me assure you that I never wanted anything materialistic. I never wanted money or a big house or anything like that. All I ever wanted was a bit of love. Not too much sir, only a little bit. And I was so close to getting it. And sir, all Sirius wanted, after his years in Azkaban & running from the ministry, was a family. You never looked into his eyes when he was falling through the veil, did you? Let me ask you, what would have you done if someone of your family had died in that manner and under those circumstances? If you have an answer to that and my other questions, I would like to hear about it in your reply.

So you see, I am a bit angry and sad. No one can share it. But sir, I have been unable to find the answer as to why only I should have to bear the consequences? Well, I just wanted to let you know that you people will have to suffer a bit too. I don't want to make you suffer. I am not god. But the problem is that you will suffer because you will be trying to find where I have gone. You will suffer mentally whereas I am sure that you will make Snape search for me. That will mean physical suffering as well as mental suffering for him. Just think about what he would feel like searching for me when it is the last thing he would like to do. Sir, give him a hint, tell him that I am just behind the veil and tell him that I can be taken back only by him.

Anyway sir, I have gone away for sometime. I am absolutely safe here. No one can get me here. I will meet you as and when required but this time everything will be done according to my planning. I have learnt adequate things from you in the past few weeks. I will be practicing everything you told me about but I won't be living a life dictated by others from today onwards. Sir, you know what kind of a person I am. So please, believe it and don't try to force me back. And please assure the Weasleys that I am safe. If you don't want to subject yourself to mental suffering, then don't try to find me.

By the way, can you do me a favor? Can you send Dobby over? I want to keep him in my employment, if you don't mind. You can ask Winky to come and work for you. Sir, if you consent to this, then please ask Dobby whether he would like to come over and work for me. I think he can find me with his own bit of magic.

Thank you for understanding my points and apologize to Remus once again. I didn't have the time to write anything much to him. You can explain what I have mentioned here in your own way.

Harry.

Dumbledore suddenly looked far more aged than he was. There was something in this letter which pained him beyond words, something which made him realize the extent of damage done by his hiding of the contents of the prophecy from Harry. This was a letter from a boy named Harry and not Harry Potter, he realized.

He was re-reading the letter when Snape & McGonagall came in. He explained the situation to them.

"But Albus, Harry couldn't have…" Professor McGonagall didn't have any words for her feelings and fears. Dumbledore nodded in resignation while Snape was livid.

"Just like Potter. Goes out of the way to become the hero. Headmaster, you always gave him too much leeway and look what he has done for the faith you put in him."

"I am sorry to say Severus that I am responsible in a way for what has happened. Anyway, we should hurry over. Remus is expecting us."

[][][][]

Remus and Tonks had been jittery from the time they had found the note. It was Tonks who found it and had handed it to Remus. Harry hadn't come down for his breakfast. It was 9:00 when Tonks went up to call him giving him a 15 minute notice. After 2 more reminders, Tonks unlocked the door at 9:40. A look at Harry's bed provided evidence that it hadn't been slept in. Remus had started to frantically search the house for Harry when Tonks called him over. She had a note in her hand.

Hello Remus & Tonks,

I had said to both of you yesterday night that I will be becoming a little independent from now on. I had also asked you guys to have faith in me. Well, I am leaving this house for good. I have found an alternative place. Please, don't try to search for me as you won't find me. I will contact you guys later.

Harry.

p.s. Remus, I am really ok. I know what I am doing. Please believe me. I will get in touch soon.

As soon as both had got their senses back, Remus had notified the headmaster of Hogwarts and Tonks had called up her office to say she was sick and won't be able to make it today. Both were now pacing around the drawing room. Tonks was unable to look at Remus – he seemed a nervous wreck to her. Their unfinished breakfast had been cleared away by Dobby (How could I have had breakfast without Harry. He's such a nice kid and I didn't even wait for him, Tonks was thinking). About 10 minutes had passed before Professor Dumbledore appeared along with McGonagall and Snape.

"Alastor is on his way." Dumbledore informed them as soon as he had entered. Dumbledore went on to explain the contents of the letter he had received to all of them. Remus looked very agitated as Tonks explained what had happened from morning onwards. She intentionally left out their conversation of yesterday night. Professor McGonagall was doing all she could to pacify Remus but after some time she gave up. In another 15 minutes tie Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody had arrived (Had to finish some damn ministry work. When is Fudge going to stop meddling with auror's duties?).

"It's all his fault" a whisper came out of Remus's mouth.

"What was that? Why are you blaming Harry Remus?" Tonks queried

"I am not blaming Harry"

A tense silence was lifted when Dumbledore said "You are right Remus. I am very sorry."

"Remus, you shouldn't blame others just…" Professor McGonagall was cut short by Dumbledore.

"Minerva, I know what I am saying. Remus knows what he is saying. Thank you for saying it Remus. At least I now realize how wrong I was when I tried to have my own way. But I think I owe an apology to Harry too and for that we have to find him."

Dumbledore then informed Moody of all that had happened. Everyone was contemplating where Harry could have gone when Moody asked "Why don't we follow Dobby to Harry's place?"

"Alastor, the elves use a brand of magic unknown to us. We can never track Dobby." Dumbledore informed him.

"Then why not follow his owl?" Moody asked. No one had noticed Hedwig flying in through one of the windows when Dumbledore had arrived.

"Alastor, owls are magical beasts. They never betray their master's. Hedwig will never let us follow her. Even if we try, she will take us through a whirlwind trip until we give up." Hedwig had hooted in an angry voice as Dumbledore was explaining this.

"So, what do we do Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked the question which everyone was just about to ask.

"You people wait here while I check out some things." Without waiting for any comments, Dumbledore breezed out. He was back after half-hour. He gave instructions to everyone as to where they should direct their searches. Dobby wanted to join in too (I is helping find great wizard Harry Potter) but Dumbledore asked him to stay here in case Harry called. Dobby seemed content with his responsibility. All of them were asked to report back here after 4 hours.

4 hours later, everybody was back. After everyone gave their reports to Dumbledore, the scene changed to one which looked like they were mourning someone's death. No one dared to look another in the eye. Everyone was silently contemplating their next line of action with Snape passing some comments in between. He seemed quite bitter having to search for Harry, of all people, but Dumbledore ignored it.

"We have to send Dobby over. We have nothing else to do." Dumbledore broke the silence. No one argued with him. If Dumbledore had run out of ideas, then Harry must have surely done a good job of giving them the slip, everyone thought. They all nodded except for Remus who stayed deathly still.

"Remus. Don't worry. I'll ask Dobby to come back and inform us whether Harry is safe or not." This seemed to bring Remus out of his stupor.

"Dobby" Dobby appeared with a pop by Dumbledore's side. "Will you work for Harry?"

"But I is working for the Order. I is employee of Headmaster Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards of all."

"Dobby, Harry has himself asked for you." This statement made Dobby almost start bouncing on his legs. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. Ok, you are now free to work for Harry but I have a request for you. Can you please inform us whether Harry is all right or not?"

"Yes sir. I is doing it. May I go now?" Dumbledore just nodded his head as Dobby popped away.

Dumbledore also wrote a quick note and gave it to Hedwig who flew out of the window of 12, Grimmauld Place.

[][][][]

"HARRY POTTER!!! I IS SO WORRIED FOR YOU" Dobby was bouncing all around as Harry groggily looked about. He checked his watch – 5:30 p.m. He must have dozed off for a while. He looked up with a smile towards Dobby who was now beginning to pop all over the place in excitement.

"So, Dumbledore let you come and work for me?" Dobby nodded his head. Suddenly he became serious.

"Dobby is having to go back for a little while, Harry Potter Sir." At Harry's questioning look, Dobby went on "Everyone is worried about Harry Potter. Harry Potter's Remus is very sad. They want to know how Harry Potter is"

"Ok Dobby. Go back and inform them that I am ok but don't tell them where I am, ok?" Dobby nodded his head as Harry continued "And tell Remus that I will talk to him over the floo tomorrow evening at 8:00. Tell only Remus, no one else should know."

Dobby popped away and popped back in 5 minutes time. Harry learned that he had been able to successfully do all the things he had been assigned to do. Remus looked happier when Dobby had given him the news. Everyone else looked relieved at knowing Harry was ok. Harry had become very upset about the fact that he had made Remus so worried. He took out a book on charms and started skimming through the pages. After many unsuccessful attempts, he started taking out the books he had brought over from the Black Family Vault. He started to go through them one by one until he found the charm he was looking for – How To Charm Your Fireplace So That It Is Untraceable. With increased energy, he went through it. After all, he had to make up for making Remus worried and sad.

There were many spells which could be performed on a fireplace. All of them had their advantages and disadvantages. After going through all of them in detail, he decided to use 3 different spells which seemed to cover everything to keep the fireplace from been traced and its conversations recorded or heard by others. He finished his dinner early – Dobby had cooked up a variety of dishes from the ingredients he had found in the 'magical refrigerator' – and started to work on practicing the spells. It was almost 11:00 at night before Harry had mastered 2 of the 3 spells.

"That's enough for today. I should get back to my meditation." Harry thought. Harry meditated for another 2 hours before going to bed, exhausted by his whole day's efforts.

[][][][]

"Dobby…I would like some eggs today at breakfast" Harry said as he came down up from the basement. He had arranged his schedule to accommodate a 30-minute jog in the basement apart from his early morning meditation.

After finishing his breakfast, Harry went back to practicing the 3'rd charm required to protect the fireplace once and for all. He spent the rest of the morning practicing on the spell. At lunch time, he sat down with a satisfied smile. At last, he had mastered it and tonight he would talk to Remus. As he was finishing his lunch, Hedwig flew in. He patted Hedwig and took the note from her as she went out to hunt for herself.

Dear Harry,

Hope you are ok. I am sorry for whatever happened. Hopefully, some day you will be able to change the past-tense in your letter to present-tense. I am looking forward to that day expectantly. Please stay well and take care.

Albus Dumbledore.

Harry read the letter twice and felt a bit satisfied and relieved. At least, Dumbledore wouldn't spend time searching for him any more, he was sure of this. After finishing his lunch, Harry went back to his room and started reading. He had planned to dedicate his afternoon's to reading and his evenings for practicing the spells he had read about. This schedule got a bit mixed up as most of the time he read about a spell and couldn't stop himself from practicing it. At long last, he looked at his watch at saw that it was 7:30 in the evening.

"Phew…I have been reading and practicing for the past 7 hours. Well, it's for the best maybe." He said to himself as he went towards the fireplace. He had just enough time to put the spells on the fireplace before his scheduled talk with Remus. One by one, he successfully cast all the 3 spells. At 8, he threw in some floo powder (which caused the fire to turn a brilliant black. So, this must be how a protected fireplace looks in floo powder, he thought) and put his face in it.

"Hello Remus" Harry's face suddenly sprung into view. Remus, who had been sitting there for the past 3 hours, looked very happy and very pleased.

"Oh Harry…how are you…you had me so worried. Thank god you are ok."

Harry and Remus had a chat for around 15 minutes (during which Tonks stumbled in and was very relieved to see Harry was ok). Harry assured them that he was fine and asked them not to try to trace his call as it was impossible. Harry didn't reveal any of the things which he had found or discovered in the past 2 days. He just assured them that he will call them over as soon as the time was correct. Both Tonks and Remus said goodnight to Harry but only after they had made him promise that he will call every once in 3 days.

That night, as Harry went to bed, he was very pleased with himself. The dragon-hide clothes he was wearing seemed to fit a bit better now. He had been able to learn some good curses and spells. Also, he had been able to talk to Remus. Seeing Remus smile was one of the most important things in his life now. Also, he was happy to see that Tonks had been happy to see him again. Somehow, Tonks seemed more and more like a big sister to him – a bumbling, stumbling big sister, he thought with a smile.

Over the next 5 days, Harry tried very hard to maintain his schedule. He had called Remus & Tonks on the third day over the floo network as he had promised. His Occulmency practice was coming along nicely too. Also, he had learnt quite a few number of spells some of which seemed very useful. One of them was the Disillusionment charm which Moody had performed on him when he had been rescued from Privet Drive last year. It made him a human chameleon whenever needed. He had frightened Dobby with it once. Other charms included the Sight-Multiplier curse – which made the cursed person see more than one opponent, the Sight-Twister curse – which made the opponent see the whole scene at a 45 degree angle, the Firebolt spell – which cast a bolt of fire towards the opponent but whose effect got diminished after the first 40 meters, the Reverse-Hand curse – which caused the opponent to believe that he had the wand in his wrong hand causing utter confusion for the cursed person, the Inverse curse – which made the opponent think that the world was upside down.

He had also learnt how to draw his wand from his wand hostler. He was now able to give a flick of his forearm and the wand came right into his hand. Initially, it would fly right out until he caught it after an hour of practice. At long last, he was able to catch the wand just in the right place as it flew out.

But the most difficult part of his practice had been with the glove. He knew that he would have to visualize the shield he needed. Once he had been meditating and tried to visualize a shield which would block all the curses of which he knew. It took him over an hour's meditation to get it right. The shield which he had created was a very strong one. He could feel the power of the shield around himself. But then came the part which took up nearly 3 hours – that was to get the shield down. This was something he had not expected. He had always thought that constructing something was more difficult compared to destroying. But in the case of this shield, he found that his mind's visualization had been so strong that he was now having problems in disintegrating the thought, the image of the shield. After he had successfully destroyed the shield, he found he was too tired to continue. He hadn't even done his meditation that night because he knew he had done more than enough meditation for one day.

Before he could realize, it was the seventh day he had been here and he readied himself for the next part of his plan. He knew he would have to start early next day which would mean less time for meditation. So he had decided to meditate a bit longer that day. He thought that it would be best if he meditated on what he had learnt that whole week.

[][][][]

Earlier in the week, he had discovered the formula for a very useful potion. It was the Charming Eyes potion whose different variations allowed a person to perform all kinds of spells on their eyes to make them more attractive. This potion had been very popular in the early 1600's when witches and wizards used it to bewitch each other. Later on, this potion seemed to have gone out of fashion and nowadays, almost no one knew that such a potion existed.

"Hermione would love to get her hands on books like these. She will be so angry when she finds out that I have been reading all this" a smile crept over Harry's face as he thought of this. "Better not piss off Hermione till I get to know the truth about Simon Potter"

He had learnt that one of the variations of this potion had been used to rectify one's eye's power. This intrigued him very much. Could he get rid of his glasses? It would be a nice surprise for everyone. Even though he didn't like to admit it, wearing glasses wasn't the most favorite thing about his appearance which he liked. When he was a kid, Dudley used to take away his glasses to tease him. At those times, Harry had a hell of a trouble doing his house chores. Sometimes he was so afraid that he made the glasses stick to his face accidentally, but his fear never left him. What if he lost his glasses in the middle of a duel? This fear had plagued him many times but he had always pushed it away as he saw no other way out – until now. He decided to work on the potion. The book said the potion would take 3 days to prepare. He asked Dobby to get the ingredients and had started on the potion as soon as possible. On the third day, the potion turned a bright orange (like it had been mentioned in the book). Asking Dobby to be around him as he didn't know what the side effects could be, he drank the potion. Suddenly the world faded away. It was a good 3 hours before he came back to his senses. Dobby was frantically jumping around in panic. But on seeing Harry stagger out of his bed (I is putting Harry Potter sir in bed), Dobby calmed down a bit. Harry looked around to see where he was since the last thing he could remember was been in the drawing room taking the potion. The room seemed strangely out of focus. Damn, where have I put my glasses now, he asked himself?

"Dobby, could you please get me my glasses?" Dobby looked like he had been given a shock. How could the great wizard Harry Potter ask such a dumb question?

"But Harry Potter sir is wearing them." Dobby replied in a surprised voice. "Is Harry Potter sir ok?"

Harry was a bit suspicious that Dobby was joking but when he touched the side of his face, he felt the spectacles near his ear. Slowly, Harry took off his glasses and looked around. "WOW. Dobby, I did it. I made the potion correctly. I have repaired my eye-sight. I don't need these glasses any more." Harry was virtually bouncing around more than Dobby had been doing about 15 minutes earlier. Dobby seemed to catch on what Harry was saying.

"I always have faith in the great wizard Harry Potter." He said as he too started bouncing in joy. It was obvious, the fact that Harry had given him his freedom was one which he valued more than his life and he had no qualms showing it.

The rest of the week had gone by with Harry moving around without his glasses for the first time in his life. The learning of different spells, the setting up of the shield and the 3 hour battle to get the shield down – all this seemed like a dream to him. At last he was living a life with a definite purpose. And he was following his purpose with true dedication. But he had his most shocking experience on Saturday night (which was the 5'th day since he had been here) after he had finished working on the Charming Eyes potion (he would take them the next day). He had been meditating for an hour when he started going through his thoughts of his 2'nd year at Hogwarts. He remembered the time when he was in the Slytherin common room as Goyle (under the effect of the polyjuice potion). He started to visualize his talking with Malfoy and how Malfoy's reactions had been. Slowly, his thoughts shifted wholly to Malfoy; as to how Malfoy walks, how he talks, his build, his hair color when suddenly he felt himself change which resulted in his concentration getting broken. He looked at his arms and legs and saw that they were unlike his natural self. He went up to the mirror and screamed – in horror. Looking back at him was none other than Draco Malfoy. He thought about what had happened and started to panic. Maybe this was just a nightmare, he thought, but when he pinched himself he knew that it was true. For all he knew, this had something to do with his meditation. But he was in no condition to meditate now. After all, seeing oneself transformed into one's worst enemy is not one of the best things to happen. He had then asked Dobby (who are you?) to pop into the Order Headquarters and request Tonks to be near the fireplace – alone. When Dobby returned, he had informed Harry that Tonks was ready.

"12, Grimmauld Place" Harry found himself face-to-face with Tonks who gave a shriek. "Hi Tonks"

"H…H…Hi. Is that you har?" Tonks asked tentatively not knowing what to expect. The face which was peering at her through the fire looked so much like a young Lucius Malfoy…

"Yes. And I am just as frightened at seeing myself in the mirror as you are now" Harry went on to explain what had happened. When he had finished, Tonks seemed to be contemplating something.

"Harry, how many times you have cut your hair in these past few months?"

"Months!!! I haven't had a hair-cut in 5 years" Harry said matter-of-factly. He then went on to explain the story about how Aunt Petunia had forced him to take a hair-cut some years back and how he had just willed it to grow back to what it had been previously. As soon as Tonks heard this she started jumping around in joy and excitement.

"At last, I got a partner…whoa…I got a partner"

"What do you mean you got a partner? You know how young I am compared to you" Even though Harry was nervous, he just couldn't let go of any situation where Tonks could be teased.

With a deep blushing (to Harry's satisfaction) Tonks continued "Well, I meant…I…don't make me angry har or I won't tell you anything."

"Well, do you like this face of your partner? If you don't, then you have to tell me something." Harry joked again. Seeing the look on Tonks face, he quickly continued more seriously "Sorry Tonks, just kidding. What do you think happened?"

"har, tell me one thing, why are you asking all this to me instead of Remus?"

"You are the shape-shifting specialist here, aren't you? If I had changed into a werewolf, I would definitively have talked to Remus."

"There you go kiddo. Welcome to the club." At Harry's puzzled expression, she added "of Metamorphmaguses"

"WHAT? But how? C'mon, just 'coz I was teasing you, you start playing games with me. Tonks, this is serious. I have to get my own face & body back."

"Hey, what do you think I am?" Tonks voice was filled with mock anger. "Just because I stumble around a bit doesn't mean I go around showing people the wrong way. Believe it or not, you have to be one. I change my body and hair in the same manner as you did. The only difference is I do it knowingly and you did it accidentally. Got it?"

Harry looked very excited on getting this knowledge. Last year, when he had met Tonks for the first time at Privet Drive, he had asked whether one could become a metamorphmagus and she had said that they were mostly born. He had felt a bit dejected then but now he felt elated. But suddenly his elation changed into concern "How do I change back?"

"Just concentrate and try to feel yourself again. Try to feel who you really are and you will be back to your old self. That's the only perfect thing which a metamorphmagus." Tonks said a bit dejectedly.

"What do you mean – 'the only perfect thing'?"

"What I meant was that when you change to a different person, you can never be exactly like them because you really don't know what they exactly are like. But when you change back to yourself, you can be exactly your old self again. If you are just concerned about changing some of your own features, then it's no big deal."

"That's ok with me as long as I can be back to my original self. But why do you make it sound like a problem? Did you fail in trying to change into somebody?" Harry asked. Suddenly a brilliant thought stuck him "Say Tonks, you didn't want to change into some movie star, did you? Or for that matter…a man? Harry paused for the effect, an evil prankish grin on his face.

"SHUT UP OR I'LL HEX YOU"

"oops, I better get going. I have to change back to myself again. Or maybe I'll try to change into you and see how you are like." Harry quickly took out his head from the fire as he had seen Tonks drawing up her wand. Well, there would always be a next time.

Harry had then meditated and done exactly what Tonks had asked him to do – feel who he really was. Suddenly he had felt a strange feeling coming over his whole body. He was back - and he now knew how to become someone else. Well, well, well, wonders never cease to happen, do they – Harry thought as he went back to sleep.

On the 6'th day, he was elated beyond reason. Just the day before he had learnt (and felt) being a metamorphmagus. Today he had been able to rectify his eyesight AND had able to successfully apparate for the first time. He had been trying to learn to apparate for the last 3 days but somehow he just couldn't seem to do anything. He hadn't even been able to splinch himself when trying to apparate (that was better than nothing, Harry thought). But today, he had read a book which was stacked on the 4'th rack of his book cupboard. Rummaging through it to find some useful spells and curses, he had come across a section which described apparition. It had said that, to apparate, one had to concentrate very hard and had to will themselves to a certain place at that time. It went on to describe that apparition was about moving one's mind first and then willing their body to come along. This piece of text made apparition seem easy for Harry. He had no problems in willing his mind someplace (his level of concentration had increased greatly with the regular meditation he was doing) but making his body follow proved to be the difficult part. After two and a half hours, he was jumping around in joy. He had apparated successfully from one end of the basement to the other end – that too without splincing himself. He practiced on this for the rest of the day. By the end of the day, Harry's speed of apparition had increased, with his increased control at willing his body to where his mind was. He made himself a promise to practice it more thoroughly in the coming weeks.

The 7'th day had gone without any hitch in his planning's. He had spent the entire day practicing all the things, which he felt, would be necessary for the next day. But still, he concentrated mostly on apparition. Evening onwards, Dobby found him apparating all over 3, Sunshine Villa.

[][][][]

"Harry Potter sir is not going to apparate to Diagon Alley all alone, is he?" Dobby queried with concern.

"Dobby, I told you before also – don't call me sir. Call me Harry, just Harry. And stop worrying, will you. I know you are concerned but I'll be ok, you know that." Dobby nodded, his face still a bit red for been treated by Harry as an equal.

"Dobby is seeing Harry Potter s… Harry Potter practice all week. Dobby is sure Harry Potter will be ok but is concerned"

"Dobby, don't worry, I'll be ok. Besides, no one will be able to even recognize me. Just keep dinner ready for me when I am back, ok? I want something delicious today." This seemed to lighten Dobby's mood a bit.

With a quick nod, Harry apparated to the apparition point of Diagon Alley. Today, he had to make some serious purchases which he desperately needed. He took a quick look around. Seeing an elderly wizard coming along, he asked "Which way to Flourish & Blotts sir?" The man gave him a quick look and said "First left turn lad." There was a hint of dislike in the wizard's voice but Harry just said a quick thanks and went on his way satisfied. At least his first experiment had gone successfully. The wizard hadn't been able to recognize him, he thought triumphantly.

The first stop he made was Gringotts. He went straight to the first free goblin he came across "I want to make a withdrawal from my vault. Also, I wanted some muggle money. So could you please tell me the exchange rates?"

"Your name please" replied the goblin.

"Harry Potter" came the whispered reply. The goblin looked at him very carefully not trusting himself. The person in front of him was around 5 ft 7 inches tall, was beginning to fill out at his shoulders and seemed to have traces of moustache & beard on his face. All this fitted quite nicely but this guy seemed to have shoulder length black hair, some of which covered a part of his face and was wearing some muggle clothes. All in all, he seemed one of those rebellious new-age teenagers.

Noticing that the goblin was taking more than his usual time for his inspection, Harry parted the hair on his forehead and showed it to the goblin. One look at the scar and the goblin asked "Do you have your key?"

Harry handed him the key and said "Actually, I have to make some frequent withdrawals. I can't comedown here always. Can you help me out with it?" Harry asked politely. The goblin took a moment before saying "Can you please follow me to my office please." Harry nodded and noticed that the goblin was taking care not to say his name. Obviously, he had gotten the idea that Harry didn't want to be recognized. Smart creatures, these goblins – Harry thought.

When they reached the goblins office and taken their respective seats, the goblin said "I am Tevrid, Mr. Potter. So could you please tell me how you plan to spend your money? I will be able to help you better in that way."

"Well…" Harry thought for a moment and then asked "Do you know what a muggle credit card is?" Harry thought this was a ridiculous question since he assumed that goblins had some kind of trade with muggles too but he still didn't see any harm in asking. The goblin just nodded in reply.

"Well Mr. Tevrid, I would like something of that kind…something which will let me make withdrawals anytime I want to without having to come here. Also, something which would provide me with muggle money."

"Today may be the lucky day for both of us Mr. Potter. We have just launched one of these things today. We had both these things before but they have been combined to a single object after our market research showed that it had great prospect. Seems our research team was right." Tevrid said with an expression which Harry guessed could be called a short smile for goblins. "Just wait a moment while I bring it." With that the goblin left to return with what looked like a folded piece of leather to Harry. As the goblin opened it, Harry saw that there were various pockets in it. It was a wallet.

"Well Mr. Potter, this is something which is called a wallet by the muggles. They use it to keep their money. We have designed these exactly like theirs so that no one will suspect you when you open it in front of other muggles. All you have to do is open the wallet and say the specific amount which you require. Just say the currency and you'll have it. I should inform you that for every muggle money transaction, we charge a surcharge of 10% on the amount of transaction. If your transaction is over a 1000 galleons in muggle money, we charge a flat rate of 5% on the total amount of transactions. Whatever is the amount, it will be deducted from your vault in Gringotts automatically." With this, Tevrid finished his explanation.

Harry took the wallet and checked it inside out. It seemed very convenient. It seemed just like the one which his uncle had. He nodded to Mr. Tevrid indicating that he was ready to have it. On his nod, Tevrid started explaining again.

"Actually Mr. Potter, I would recommend a different wallet for you. The wallet which you have is the one which we have released to the public today but I would like to have you a prototype of a new wallet." At Harry's questioning look, Tevrid continued "You see, we were having a bit of a problem with our wallets. It's just like the problems which the muggles have – they can be stolen."

"What happens when someone steals it? They will have unlimited access to my vault."

"No Mr. Potter. Only your hand will be able to retrieve money from the wallet. You see, when you take a wallet, we insert your key in the outermost pocket. The key melts with your wallet and only a goblin is able to take it out. But the problem we are facing is that when a wallet gets stolen, the key gets stolen too. For getting a duplicate key, the customer has to go through a long procedure…which some don't like" The goblin paused for a moment indicating that he may have been at the receiving end of some of these 'procedures'. "But you see, we have developed this new wallet" he said handing Harry a similar looking black wallet. Harry couldn't see any differences.

"You see Mr. Potter, these wallets are made of dragon-skin. These have very high magical resistance. Whenever you insert your key in the wallet, the wallet gets a 'magical impression of the client' as we call it. It gets signed by your mark so that only you or a goblin will be able to touch it. Also, the master key gets transported back to your vault. A certain mark also appears on the wallet which is in accordance with your magical being. As for the key, it gets magically protected so that only a goblin or you can touch it. In that way, we keep your master key safe. Also, your wallet, if stolen, gets automatically destroyed if someone else tries to take money out of it." There was a finality in the voice of Tevrid which indicated that he was finished with his explanation and waited for questions from the client's side.

"So this is the first of its kind, am I right?" Tevrid nodded in reply. "How much do I have to pay for it and what are the transaction rates?" Harry had no idea what it would cost him.

"Let me answer your 2'nd question first. The transaction rates are similar to what I had mentioned earlier. To answer your first question…well…the price of this wallet is 300 galleons. This is a one-time fee. If your wallet gets stolen, then we charge only 20 galleons for the new wallet."

"Well, that's very expensive. I don't know how many people will pay 300 galleons for such a wallet."

"We know. We are targeting only the upper & the upper-middle wizarding families. We will be launching this product on January 1'st next year all over the world. Based on its success, we will be able to take future decisions." Still seeing Harry been a bit hesitant to use the prototype (because Harry was not used to spend so much money so easily), Tevrid added "We can offer you a special offer, Mr. Potter"

"Harry…please call me Harry"

This seemed to take aback the goblin but he quickly regained his composure and continued "We will offer the wallet to you at 25 galleons."

"And what do I have to do in return?" Harry knew that the goblins would never compromise unless they saw a profit in their actions.

"You seem very quick Mr. Po…Harry. You know that your face is one of the most recognizable in the wizarding world, be it in England or United States or Japan. Well, all we ask in return is the rights to use your profile to market this product." There was a bit of apprehension in the voice of Tevrid as he said this.

Harry was taken aback. "Mr. Tevrid, you know that I don't like too much publicity or having my pictures put on newspapers."

"I know Harry. What you can do is just give a couple of interviews about what you feel about this wallet. As for your pictures in newspapers, we will use them very sparingly."

"And you mean to say that just because you are giving me 275 galleons off, Gringotts will take all the profits from my advertisement? Gringotts is hoping to make more than 275 galleons, right?"

"Yes Mr. Potter. I get your point. Maybe we can work out something." With this, Tevrid started to work on some papers and talked to some of the other goblins for which he had to leave his office for some time.

Another half-an-hour later, Harry walked out of Tevrid's office with the wallet prototype. He had signed papers for the contract which included a certain percentage of the profits generated from the wallet sales. He was to appear in one interview per month and he was to be the official 'face' of the wallet. He had to appear in an advertisement once every 15 days.

When his wallet had been activated by inserting his key, a lightning bolt had appeared on the inside of the wallet which greatly displeased Harry. But Tevrid went on to explain that the mark which appears on the wallet is the one which had had the greatest influence on a wizard's life. Harry had no choice but to continue with it.

Before leaving Gringotts, Harry went to Mr. Larynth's office for a discussion.

"Are you sure Mr. Potter? Do you have any idea of what you are talking about?" Mr. Larynth's voice was higher than usual. He had never done anything of this kind. Harry's request had been very unexpected.

"I am sure about this and I know you are the best person for this. Please, help me with this. I don't want anyone to know about anything until the time is correct."

"If you have made up your mind then I can't help it, can I? Well, please contact me after some time while I will see what I can do."

"Thank you Mr. Larynth. But just keep one thing in mind, I want NO ONE to know about this."

"As you wish Mr. Potter"

With a smile on his face, Harry left Gringotts. He had managed quite a lot of things in the past one and a half hour and all the things were to his benefit.

"Next stop - Flourish and Blotts" He said as he looked at his list. Before he went in, he bought a featherweight charmed bag whose interiors were 300 times expandable when needed. When he came out of Flourish and Blotts, he had his bag almost full with all his 6'th & 7'th year books. He had also bought some books on advanced charms and defense against dark arts. A set of auror guides filled up the rest along with a pack of 5 self-dictating quills and a blank journal. With a flick of his wand, he shrunk everything and arranged them nicely in his featherweight bag.

He then went to 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions' and bought a pair of black school robes, a pair of dress robes (one emerald green with black borders and another full black with emerald green borders), a potions works robe and a simple black robe which could be worn daily. He was quite pleased with these robes. All these robes fitted him perfectly and were enchanted to grow an additional 8 inches (the normal was 4 inches, he had to pay extra for another 4). Unless he grew beyond 6 ft 3 inches, he wouldn't have to buy new robes if he took care of them. Another factor was whether he would live to buy new robes.

He again shrunk everything and put them in his bag. A look at the list took him to a shop which seemed to have opened recently.

"Self Defense Against Dark Wizards" Harry read the signboard as he went in. Inside, there were a variety of objects which Harry couldn't recognize. He saw a foe-glass like the one which he had seen in Moody's office. There were all kinds of weapons there under a category marked 'Dangerous Weapons For Dangerous Times'. He went straight towards a lady behind the counter and said "I would like to look at some of the things here." The lady, whose face had been hidden behind a magazine (the latest edition of Witch Weekly), looked up at him. Harry saw that she was a girl not more than 20.

"Sorry, we don't sell these to underage people."

"Look Miss, I really need to buy some of the things here."

"Look mister" she said with contempt as she gave him a thorough checkup with her eyes. The guy had nice eyes but that wasn't a guarantee that he was no hooligan "we don't sell to rowdy teenagers here. Why don't you come back with your dad if you desperately need them?" There was a hint of superiority in her voice and face.

"My dad's dead" Harry said softly. The girl, who was not expecting this, suddenly lost the look of superiority on her face but was able to continue with a steady voice "I am sorry to hear that but still I can't sell it to you."

"And WHAT would be the reason for that?" the anger in Harry's voice was very clear now. The coldness in his voice seemed to make the girl quite afraid. One look Harry and she saw two cold emerald greens eyes looking back at her.

"Well…we…don't sell to underage people" she stammered.

"And how come you think I am underage?" the bitterness still prominent in Harry's voice.

"Because you…well…you look underage to me." Some courage seemed to creep back in her voice. She was a bit unused to dealing with customers. Today she had been forced to come here because her father was ill. Right now, she was cursing inwardly was to why today there were no other customer's here right now.

"OK Miss. You are right. I am underage." The girl had a triumphant look on her face which said 'I knew it'. "But you see, I still need this stuff. As for why I need it, I can show you the reason." Saying this, Harry raised his hair from his forehead. The girl gasped as she looked at the scar and then at the face. She was unable to relate them together but the scar was ample guarantee for her to be sure. After a few moments of stunned silence, in which she kept gazing at the scar and then at Harry's face, she finally said "Well Mr. Po…"

"Please, no names please. I am not going around like this so that people start calling me by my name. And hopefully now you understand why I can't bring my parents along."

The girl couldn't look him in the eye. She nodded in understanding. "If you want to, you can call me Harry" At this, the girl blushed a bit. Not everyday you get to meet Harry Potter in person and get to address him as 'Harry'.

"Please wait a minute" She said before rushing towards the door. She locked the door and put the 'Closed' sign on the door. She drew the blinds and rushed back without meeting Harry's questioning glance. "I didn't want anyone to come in and see you" she said, explaining her actions. "I am Sarah – Sarah Miller".

"Nice to meet you Miss. Miller" Harry's voice was back to his normal, the coldness gone now.

"Call me Sarah" she added before continuing quickly, hoping that Harry hadn't seen her blush "Please have a look at whatever you want Harry. What are you looking for particularly?"

"Well, I wanted some knives" Hearing this, Sarah directed him to the left had side cupboard in the 'Dangerous Weapons For Dangerous Times' section. Harry quickly went over all the knives. He picked up 10 of them – 2 were simple knives which did nothing other than cut, 2 were knives which caused the attacked person to go into a 3 day coma and the rest 6 were poison tipped knives. All the knives were self-sharpening and were made of magical metals. The poisoned knives never lost their poison. Harry pointed out his choices to Sarah and she laid them on the counter before him. He asked her for a board on which he could practice his targets. She came back with quite a large circular board which looked quite similar to a dart board. A knife came free with it which was to be used for target practice.

"How are you going to carry all these at a time? You will be better off having one or two at the most." She said, forgetting that more sales meant more allowance for her. Harry smiled at her, touched his wand to his dragon hide pants (which he had modified before coming here to look like Bell-Bottom pants) and whispered 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good'. Instantly, pockets seemed to sprout out of nowhere as Sarah gasped. "Harry, how did you do that?"

"Magic" came the reply. She immediately realized what a stupid question she had asked and closed her mouth shut.

Harry put all the knives in each of the pockets which readjusted their shapes to take the shape of the knife inside. There were 15 pockets in total leaving 5 empty for further us. "Is there anything else which can be useful? I mean something which would help me to detect the presence of wizards around myself."

"Well, we have got something new though it is awfully costly. It is something called wizard-radar. Please don't ask me the meaning of the name. Don't know how they came up with such a stupid name." She seemed to be muttering this last sentence to herself. Harry just smiled at her ignorance of the muggle world. "Let me get it for you." When she came back, she held up something like a chain watch to him. He took it and opened the circular cover. Instantly, a rectangular 2D image, perpendicular to the object and facing Harry, popped up into view. It seemed a bigger model of the Marauder's Map. And more detailed. Sarah then explained its features to Harry. The map could be switched between a 2D image and a 3D view. Also, touching on a certain portion of the map zoomed in on the location. The map could be customized to show the names of everyone who was around. Another thing which she pointed out was the password feature which allowed the radar to be used only by Harry and that the map would be visible to only to the one who owned it. But there was one button to which Sarah made no reference.

"What is this for?" he asked, pointing at a small black button.

Sarah seemed a bit uneasy but replied all the same "It detects the dark mark. When someone with the dark mark is nearby, it starts to vibrate. It keeps vibrating for 10 seconds" she said. Then almost in a whisper, she added "My father added it here after my mother was killed by death-eaters." She seemed almost on the verge of tears. Harry put a calming hand on her shoulders and said "Tell your father that this was one of the best things he ever did. By the way, who built this? Your father?" Sarah nodded in reply. "He must be a genius." Harry said with genuine appreciation in his voice. This caused Sarah to smile.

"I'll take it" Harry said and turned on the password feature 'I miss you Sirius', which Sarah didn't hear. Now, only Harry would be able to use the radar and only he would be able to see the map. This left Sarah speechless.

"You haven't even asked for the price"

"Ok, how much is it?"

"3000 galleons" Sarah said meekly. She looked up in astonishment when Harry said again "I'll take it. You know, sometimes it helps when your mum & dad are dead and don't ask you what you did with their money." Harry was trying to be as cheerful as possible as he mentioned his dead mother and father and gave an explanation as to how he could spend the money. Sarah just nodded speechlessly, she hadn't expected him to mention his parents so easily. Also, she knew her father would be very happy at the sale of this wizard-radar. It had been 3 years since he had made it but no one had been able to buy it because of its price.

"So, what is the total price?" Harry queried as he hung the wizard-radar around his neck with the help of a chain which Sarah had provided. He also shrunk everything else and put them in his bag. "By the way, do you keep anything muggle? I mean muggle weapons?" Sarah said a quick yes and led Harry to a door at the back. As they went towards the back, Harry made Sarah promise that she will keep his visit here a secret – she would tell him some weirdo with lots of money had bought the wizard-radar.

"My dad started keeping some of this stuff recently" she said as they entered a small room. Harry looked around quickly and found what he wanted. Two automatic pistols, which would fit nicely into the Sirius's pistol hostlers, along with some ammunition. He took those, along with a silencer and a manual with the title "How to use your first gun" and Sarah presented him with the bill. Harry took out his wallet and said "Three thousand four hundred galleons". The total amount appeared in a bag which he pulled out to the astonishment of Sarah. He handed her the money, touched his wand to his pants and said a quick "Mischief Managed" causing the pockets to disappear, said a quick 'Thank you' to Sarah and left before she could give him back his balance of 55 galleons and 13 sickles. Anyone entering the shop at that moment would have seen a young girl with lots of money in her hand and with her mouth open in shock. Today had been a day of surprises for her.

"Well, now only some items still left. I'll get them after lunch" Harry thought. He went into muggle London and had some lunch. Then he went to one of the muggle garments shops and bought a pair of jeans and a pair of tee-shirts. He also bought a pair of swat-shirts and shorts which he intended to use for his morning runs and exercises. Then he went into an electronics shop and bought a CD player. He asked the shopkeeper where he could find CD's of soothing music. He was planning to use them during his meditation. The shopkeeper helped him buy some CD's of music of certain bands and some solo performers. These had just music in them and no vocals. Harry tried out one of the CD's and was very pleased. He then went on to buy 5 mobile phones. He paid the shopkeeper and went looking for a shop which sold gym equipments. He bought a treadmill along with a number of other equipments. He waited for them to be packed and paid the shopkeeper. He then asked the shopkeeper to get him a taxi. When the shopkeeper went out, he just shrunk everything and put them in his bag. He went out and thanked the shopkeeper saying he won't need a taxi and proceeded towards Diagon Alley, leaving a stunned shopkeeper scratching his head and thinking where all the items had gone.

Once back in Diagon Alley, Harry went to the last shop he had on his list – "Botoman's Trunks and Equipments". Harry went in and looked around at all the trunks there. What he had in mind was a trunk like Moody's. Mr. Botoman showed him all the trunks they had but Harry didn't find anyone to his liking. At last, he said "Mr. Botoman, can I order a custom made trunk?"

"Of course sir. I take contracts for those also but I take 50% of the money in advance. Harry just nodded and gave his specifications. Once he had finished, a stunned looking Mr. Botoman asked "Sir, do you understand how much it will cost?" Harry shook his head to indicate that he had no idea. "It'll be…" Mr. Botoman started calculating very fast. Harry's specifications had taken him by surprise. "8,000 galleons" he said finally.

"So, I will have to pay you 4,000 galleons in advance right now?" Harry questioned as if this was the easiest thing in the world to do. Mr. Botoman just kept looking at him. "Mr. Botoman…MR. BOTOMAN…" This brought the shop-owner back to his senses. "Yes sir. You can pay the rest 2 weeks from now when you come to collect it. It'll be the best trunk I would have ever made."

"2 weeks!! Mr. Botoman, how about you deliver me the trunk in 7 days from now and I pay you 2,000 galleons extra. 10,000 galleons and 7 days delivery time?" Harry questioned to a surprised shop-keeper. Mr. Botoman pondered for sometime over this. It was not everyday that a client offered to pay 25% extra for speedy delivery, especially when the 25% extra amounted to 2,000 galleons. But to meet the deadline, he would have to work day and night for the next 7 days. Finally, he said "Deal. You will get it next Monday at this time."

Harry seemed very pleased with this and paid the shop-owner 5,000 galleons and left. As he left, he heard the shop-owner asking his apprentice to shut down the shop and to start work on this order. Mr. Botoman knew that the amount he was going to earn in 1 week was going to be more than his total earnings for the previous 2 months combined earnings.

One look at his watch showed him that it was 4:30 P.M. He now had about one and a half hour for his last task. With a concerned look, Harry started to look around for a secluded place. Ultimately he found a common gents toilet. He went in and found it was empty. He then relieved himself and changed his appearance. He also changed his dress which now had a hood and proceeded to his final destination.

"Master Malfoy. How nice to see you." said the shopkeeper when Harry pulled down his hood. Harry knew this man from the time when he had come out in this shop in his second year to find Lucius Malfoy there. Harry looked at the man and said in a drawling voice "Well, I wanted to take back some of the things father gave you. You know that father is in desperate need of help"

The man nodded and said "I have heard of the unfortunate incident. I…" Harry cut short the man saying "Look, I don't have much time. Just get me everything which father gave you. I have to meet ONE important person tomorrow with these things…I hope you under stand WHO that important person is" Harry said with a challenge and a threat in his voice. The man looked terrified beyond words and gulped. He understood what consequences could await him if he did not do as he was been asked too. He quickly closed the shop door with a flick of his wand and went towards a back door. When he came back, he had several bags in his hand. "These are all that I have."

Harry glanced at them and said "I'll verify this with my father. If anything is missing…" the man before him was trembling at the cold voice of Harry who, according to him, was Draco Malfoy. Harry went through the things in the bag which contained lots of papers and dark artefacts and said "Seems ok to me but I am not the one who decides what is ok or not. I am only a messenger. Hopefully I will bring only good news for you. If father sees that everything is ok then he will reward you beyond his dreams."

"Where is he and when will he come back?"

"Wherever he is, he won't be there for long. The Dark Lord is ready to bring him back." The mention of Voldemort made the man shiver. "Are there any spying devices with you?" Harry queried again in a drawling voice. The man nodded and came back with a bag which had a wide assortment of various sized devices which had various functionalities. He described every function to Harry. Harry seemed pleased with them. "I'll take them all. How much for these?" Harry said in a voice which left no room for any argument. After paying the man the required money along with a hefty tip for been helpful, Harry left the shop, pulling his hood so as to cover his whole face. Harry went straight for the gent's toilet and changed back to his previous appearance and clothes. He checked his watch to see that it was a quarter-to-six in the evening. He had finished all his tasks in 15 minutes lesser time than he had anticipated in the morning.

He looked at all the shrunken things in his bag and with a satisfied smile, started to walk back to the apparition point of Diagon Alley. Just as he was nearing the place, his heart started to thump very hard. He stopped in his tracks and pondered for a second whether he was having a heart-attack or not but then decided that he was too young for it. Also, heart-attacks didn't occur all of a sudden when the person had no past medical record of a bad heart condition (unless it was an exceptional case, which made Harry wonder for a moment – he was an exceptional case). Suddenly, he remembered that he had the wizard-radar around his neck which hung to just the right level of his heart. This could mean only one thing – a dark wizard was nearby. Harry thought for a moment and came to a conclusion. He started running to the apparition point thinking that he just couldn't start to fight a dark wizard and hand him over to the ministry. At least, not until Fudge was the minister. He wanted to capture the wizard for himself and take him back to his home. But he didn't know how to do it (he made a mental note that he would have to learn how to make portkeys) and the only one who could help him at this stage was…

"DOBBY…DOBBY" Harry shouted as he apparated back to his home. Dobby popped right in front of him, surprised at Harry's shouting. He seemed almost afraid that he had done something wrong. "I is…" Dobby began but Harry stopped him.

"Dobby, you can pop back here with a person, right?" Dobby nodded and said "But it is painful Harry Potter"

"Don't worry, the person will be stunned. Listen to me now. I am going to apparate back to Diagon Alley and you will pop right beside me. You have to remain invisible, can you do that?" Dobby nodded his head so vigorously that Harry wondered whether it would fall off but he continued all the same "There is a dark wizard there." Dobby seemed shocked when he heard that "I will try to capture him. If I manage to stun him, you will take him and pop back here. If I get injured, then you will take me and pop back here, understood? We have to hurry or he will get away." The finality in Harry's voice left no chance for Dobby to say that he preferred to have Dumbledore there. Before Dobby had any chance to think anymore, Harry vanished with a slight pop. Dobby blinked for a moment and seeing that he had no other choice, he too popped to Diagon Alley.

"You there?" Harry queried

"Yes Harry Potter." The voice came from an invisible spot. Harry felt relieved to have Dobby by his side. At once, Harry took out his wizard-radar (which had started vibrating again) and scanned for the dark wizard (maybe there are more, he thought). To his surprise, he saw Tonks, Remus and Kingsley Shacklebolt among the people present. There names were in grey color which meant they were under invisibility cloaks and scanning the area for trouble. There were also many green and orange spots. Sarah had explained that the green spots indicated people with low magical power whereas the orange spots meant people with moderate & more-than-average magical power. As he searched the map, he found the person he was looking for. It was an orange spot (thank god it isn't red otherwise the death-eater would have been very powerful wizard or witch) with the name as 'DARK WIZARD' underneath. Apparently, Sarah's father had thought that the dark wizards were all scum and weren't worth been named. He saw the label turned into the lane which proceeded towards apparition spot. Harry suddenly stiffened – the death-eater was approaching him directly.

He looked frantically at the map and found a U-turn detour which would enable him to approach the man from behind if he could make it in a run (Harry was afraid to use the invisibility shield of the glove as he had still not mastered it). He started to run as fast as his legs could take him. People around looked at him in astonishment but said nothing. As he came back into the alley, he checked the map to see that the man was a little ahead of them (Dobby was constantly beside him). Though it was past 6 in the evening, the place seemed a bit too crowded for any action right now. Harry quickly slipped behind some people and started to follow the man. The man was just a few steps from the apparition point when he knew he could wait no more. He didn't care what people saw or tried. He broke into a run (he was about 20 meters behind the man), pointed his wand at the man and quietly muttered 'Stupefy' under his breath. People around looked at him in surprise as they saw him running and sparks of light emitting from his wand. Some even screamed as they saw the spell hit the man, who fell to the ground instantly, but Harry had no time to wait. He saw the man vanish and knew that Dobby had done his job.

He was still about 10 meters from the apparition spot when Tonks came into view with her wand raised. Apparently, she had been nearby and had heard the screams of the people nearby. He saw her mutter something and he knew he was too late to produce some counter-jinx. Instantly, he willed his glove to block all the spells, curses and jinxes he knew (he now knew a lot of advanced auror spells too). The spell hit the shield (which was invisible) and was absorbed by it. Tonks seemed to be stunned as the spell seemed to vanish into thin air about 1 meter from Harry whom she didn't recognize in his disguise. Harry used the time to make a final jump to the apparition point, throwing himself head-first. He couldn't risk getting caught or his freedom would come to an end then and there. As he was landing, he saw Tonks raising her wand again and taking aim. Even as Tonks started to mutter a spell, Harry had landed at the apparition point. The spell which came out of Tonks wand seemed to be correctly aimed but hit the wall behind the apparition point as the person standing there apparated away seconds before the spell would have hit him.

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"What happened?" Remus asked Tonks as he came running to her. He had also heard some screams of the people.

"One guy stunned someone and then apparated away. I don't know how but the stunned guy just…just…vanished. He couldn't have apparated away, then how did he get away?" Tonks pondered aloud.

"A portkey maybe" Remus suggested as Kingsley joined them. Tonks updated him as well. "What was the guy like, the one who got away?" Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt asked Tonks.

"Long hair covering his face, 5 ft 6 or 5 ft 7 inches, muggle clothes, very agile. I couldn't see the guy who was down but the people around here said that he was about 6 ft tall, normal build and had a hood covering his face." Tonks said. She had asked some people about the stunned person before Remus had come running. "It may not have been a guy at all. Could have been a tall woman instead." Remus said as Tonks looked at him in surprise. Now that she thought about it, it seemed possible.

"Well, we can do nothing more. We should report this to the Order" Kingsley said as he led the way to the apparition point.

'But who was that guy who blocked my stunning spell without even saying a spell' Tonks was unable to find the answer to this question which repeatedly popped up in her mind.

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"Is Harry Potter ok?"

"Yes Dobby. Thank you for helping me. I really am grateful to you." Dobby seemed as if he would start crying at this complement. But the more urgent matter came back into his mind. "The bad wizard is over there Harry Potter" he said as he pointed to a stunned body lying nearby. Harry nodded and asked Dobby to follow him. Harry leviated the body and moved it to one of the dungeons below. He put multiple charms (along with the anti-disapparation jinx) on the dungeon so that the death-eater couldn't apparate away. He stunned the death-eater 2 more times to ensure than he didn't regain consciousness (Harry knew that one could throw off the spell if they had a strong enough mind) until Harry had returned from taking his dinner. After having a quick dinner, Harry quickly went through his purchases and arranged them as quickly as possible. He took about 15 minutes going through Lucius Malfoy's things. There were numerous artifacts and papers. As Harry went through them quickly, his eyes began to shine brightly. At last, he had something which he had desperately wanted for many years. He quickly said the password for his hidden rack which had the glove-box and put everything away on it. The rack then vanished from sight. He didn't want anyone near them.

"Dobby"

"Yes Harry Potter?"

"I am going to talk to the death-eater. It may take some time. Do you have any truth potion with you?"

"No sir, Dobby is not having anything like that but Dobby can get you the ingredients for making truth serums." Dobby was looking at the floor in shame as he said this. He had been unable to fulfill the request of his master.

"Thank you Dobby. I will require those ingredients later. I will talk to you about it tomorrow. And thank you for everything you did today. Go and sleep well." These comments brought Dobby back to his high spirits. It was not everyday that a wizard praised a house-elf in such a manner, and that too, twice in a time span of a few hours.

"Harry Potter is a great wizard who has an even bigger heart. Dobby is grateful for serving Harry Potter" Dobby said this as he popped away to his bedroom.

Harry's smile vanished as soon as Dobby vanished. Tonight was going to be a long night for him. He would have to interrogate a death-eater. He decided to change into someone else but then he realized that he was still in the same disguise as in Diagon Alley. At least, the death-eater will never recognize him. With a single black object in his hand, he proceeded towards the dungeons. As Harry was about to open the dungeon door he decided that he had only one option – to use the Imperius curse to get the death-eater to answer his answers. As much as he hated using an unforgivable, it was just impossible for him to avoid now. As he entered the dungeon, he saw that the death-eater was still stunned. Harry took the object in his hand – it was one of the spying devices he had got from Lucius Malfoy's things – and thought what shape would be the best one. This device could take on the shape of anything which Harry wanted. Harry turned it into a button and replaced one of the buttons on the cloak of the death-eater with his spying device. Anything transmitted from this device could be picked up by a receiving device which was also among Lucius Malfoy's things. With relief, hoping that the death-eater would not notice the difference between the buttons, Harry seated the death-eater on one of the two chairs (across a table) which Dobby had placed there. As he seated the death-eater, took away his wand from his pocket and de-stunned him, the death-eaters head rolled back causing his hood to fall back. His eyes were still closed and his face was drained of any color but the freckles on his face were unmistakable. Harry stumbled backwards at the man before him who was trying to open his eyes now.

Across the table sat none other than Percy Weasley.

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A/N:

Ok guys, here's the 4'th chapter. Sorry, it took me 10 days to update it but I couldn't stop writing. I didn't want you guys to be disappointed but if you are, then just say it in your reviews.

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