Inspired by "Meant to Live" The Beautiful Letdown. Switchfoot but unable to put the song on the site because of the ridiculous rules. If ShivariBlue weren't so incredibly nice, this story wouldn't be up for your enjoyment.

Meant to Live

Chapter Three: Getting Settled

by V. C. (Velvet Curtain)

Words: approx. 4250

Microsoft Word Web Pages (9 font): 4

Rating: PG (according to me, not the site)

Reasons: Harry's kind of ticked, there's light romance, and a few things I don't think would be appropriate for very young children. It's my personal feeling, but feel free to disagree.

Relationships: Harry/multi, Ron/Hermione, OC/OC

Summary: Harry gets ticked at having no control over his own life, so decides to take a bit of a trip to regain that control. On the way, he makes some pretty amazing discoveries. Some tragedy, lots of drama (a lot like a soap opera, I think), light romance (for now...), slight OOC (no one can be completely IC, I don't think), etc. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned this, I would not be writing this.

A/N: Wow! Ok, I'm MAJORLY sorry for taking so long! It was crazy! My mum dragged us summer shopping, we went to the 75th anniversary picnic (of our church), my mum made me clean my room (be glad I made it out alive- it's still not finished and I worked all day yesterday), and I got spacers in just this morning so I'm in horrible pain. For those who don't know, spacers are annoying blue rubberbands that the orthodontist puts between your back molars to seperate them so that they can put the braces on. It hurts like none other! I can't eat at all. Seriously, I'm dying here! And my mum just had a big fight with my sister about mowing the lawn (threatening to take away all her summer privileges, waving wooden cooking utensils, calling my father who's in Alaska for work to convince her, loud yelling, the usual), so I'm wiped. Hope it isn't too badly written, though.

Oh, my lovely, lovely reviewers! I love you all so much! I don't know how I'd survive the week without you! gual1, you'll just have to wait and see what Ginny does with that portkey. ;D Or perhaps you'd like to write a piece? Shinigami, I did think of that, actually. However, Neville can't do that because he has to do something else. Besides, I can't have anyone over there yet. And you knew his Gran would never let him. ;) korrd, you're welcome! potterfanforever, he's learning Occlumency! Give him some time! He did have Snape as a teacher, after all. Don't worry; all will be fine. Ginny couldn't go with him. That would completely ruin everything I have planned. And I apologize, but this will in no way have Harry/Fleur. Sorry, but she just doesn't fit. Besides, Bill's already claimed her, remember? DemonicK, I'm glad too! You really should be an official compliment-giver. Seriously. You'd be awesome at it! PsychicLunar, Yeah, Ginny's pretty much the best. :D I'm pretty excited to see Bumbledore's reaction, too! It's so wonderful to have such a consistant reviewer! Thank you! cat, thanks! Here's your reaction:D Also,lots of thanks and tons of hugs to LiLy MaLfOy13, N (sorry, but it won't put your name right- I tried a dozen times), nandhp, Matt101, and Seattlite! I'm SO glad you're all reading and liking what you're reading:D Also, I think you reviewers might enjoy this, I've set up a game sort of thing on my profile. Check it out! Be Sorted into your House at nimbo . net, then tell me which House you're in, and then try to spot my foreshadowing! 5 points if you catch onto the general idea, and 10 if you nail it! I'll put your names under your Houses on my profile and update it with points regularly. Sound fun? I thought it might be a challenge. I'd like to see the way you lot think! Thanks again! Here's chapter three:

3. Getting Settled

The week Harry received the replies to his letters, he was a very busy boy. Tim had convinced him to join the Art Club, insisting he was brilliant at it, and Harry had found that he very much enjoyed it. It was very relieving for him to let out his emotions on canvas, paper, or any other material that he could find. Ryan found it amusing. Art Club met every Tuesday and Thursday night at seven o'clock in the twelfth grade corridor Astronomy classroom, which was quite large, and where the ceiling and walls were duplicates of the night sky so that the students could study there at any time of day. Also, the review week was now over and classes were becoming much more interesting and difficult. They had lots of homework now. Wednesday held the basketball team try-outs, indoor soccer try-outs, and swim team try-outs. Harry had made the basketball team, much to his surprise, with Ryan, while Nathan had made the soccer team and Tim had made the swim team. Even the older members had to try-out, otherwise Ryan, Nathan, and Tim would have been very bored that night. On Friday night the eleventh graders took a field trip to a Muggle movie theatre, Regal Cinemas, to see a film. It was near a mall, the Fairfield Commons, and afterwards they chanced a trip to the food court. Harry was stunned, having never been in a mall before, and took Ryan's advice to try Chick Fil-A, which he found wonderful. He tried some of Tim's dinner from the Cajun Grill, and Nathan's from Subaro, both of which were just as marvelous. He found that not all the girls in his class were as mad as Irene, and he soon became rather attached to Jennifer and Ashley London, identical twins with opposite personalities. Jennifer was bubbly and excitable, constantly on the move. Her blonde hair was curled tightly and bounced, seeming to match her personality. Her smile was white, straight, and filled with laughter all the time. Ashley, on the other hand, was quiet, shy, and very observant. She was a part of the Creative Writing club, aspiring to be an author one day, and the Drama Club. She loved to have fun, but she was much more thoughtful than her sister and didn't curl her hair, which was stick straight. A few of the twelfth graders had invited him to join them at the Seniors' Café, which was located on the roof next to the theatre. Only the seniors were permitted, though they could bring younger guests. It was crowded, with constant dancing and a good selection of desserts and drinks. He was pulled onto the dance floor by at least a dozen girls in the first hour. Once he had enough caffeine, dancing wasn't quite as hard as he thought it was at first. After his first day (Monday), Harry was common guest at the Seniors' Café. Ryan, Nathan, Tim, and Jennifer were extremely jealous, but Ashley, Rachel, and Julia just waved it off, saying that it wasn't their thing.

Harry was thrilled to receive the letter, but he wasn't very surprised when Ginny told him Remus knew who his contact was. He figured he might, considering all the hints that must have been dropped. I've recruited all of them to make sure you aren't left alone, especially Ginny. She'll need someone to talk to, since I know that as much as her brothers love her, she's still the youngest and only girl in that family and it gets really lonesome … You can just leave your letter on the table at Grimmauld Place and it will get to me. Please though, don't try to watch for whoever gets it or try to attach a portkey or something to it, because if you do I won't be able to write to you anymore. Besides, if no one else can find me, Voldemort can't find me, right? Please don't try to bring me back before I'm ready- I've only just begun to live my life, and I want to enjoy it for as long as I can …"You would think they would understand, but not even Ron and Hermione can give him space. Personally, I'm glad he left. He was getting a bit moody, and it would be nice for him to actually have a life." Remus told him that he knew as well, and it was a shocker to discover that both Remus and Ginny knew about the prophecy but a relief. It was good that they knew. Harry didn't know how he was going to keep it to himself, but at the same time, he hadn't known how to tell them. It was … amusing to hear of Dumbledore's reaction to his disappearance, to say the least.

Ginny's Flashback-----

"He's gone!" It was the first thing Ginny Weasley heard on the morning of August first when she went down for breakfast in the morning. She smiled, but she quickly yawned as she came face to face with a frantic Tonks, who had just barged in the door and tripped over the umbrella stand. Again.

"Who's gone?" Ginny asked, feigning ignorance. Tonks tugged at her bubble-gum pink hair in distress.

"Harry! He's disappeared! I don't know where he is!" Tonks screeched. She stood and stumbled into the kitchen, where she was immediately questioned by the others. Ginny joined them after working up her most concerned, shocked expression.

"What do you mean you don't know where he is?"

"Where could he possibly have gone?"

"How could he get out?"

"Where were you?"

"What about Mrs. Figg? Surely she saw something?"

"What about the Dursleys? Where were they?"

"Now? How could he?"

"What if he was kidnapped?"

"Did You-Know-Who finally breach the wards?"

"Does Dumbledore know?"

The room went on pause as Kingsley dove for the fireplace to floo-call Dumbledore. Ten seconds later, Dumbledore's head was floating in the fireplace, his silver beard trailing in the ashes, an un-phased smile on his face.

"And how may I help you this lovely morning?" he questioned with twinkling eyes. "I would offer you a lemon drop, but I'm afraid I'm not in the position to do so."

"Harry's gone."

"Of course he isn't," smiled Dumbledore pleasantly. "Tonks was on duty last night. I'm sure he just went on a walk."

"No, he's gone," insisted Tonks, falling to her knees in tears in front of the fireplace. "I'm so sorry! Really, I don't know where he could have gone! One minute he was there, and next thing I knew he wasn't! Really! And the Dursleys have gone to retrieve their sister from the airport, so I really don't-"

"He's probably with them, then. I'm sure he's fine," Dumbledore reassured her calmly, his eyes still twinkling behind his half-moon glasses. "No need to panic. Kingsley, Tonks, please wait for them outside the airport to give them extra protection. We don't want anything to happen to him, do we? I'll stop by for lunch and you can tell me all about it."

That said, Dumbledore nodded to the others in the room and disappeared.

new flashback

"He… He…" Dumbledore stumbled over his words as Ginny had never heard before. She stifled her laughter, knowing that her mother would kill her if she were caught with the Extendable Ears. "How could he possibly have…? There was no way for him to… He… How…?"

No one answered. It seemed that everyone was stunned that Harry had gotten on a plane to somewhere and the Order had no clue.

"Tonks, you need rest," said Dumbledore, coming back into his regular self, though he seemed a bit put off. "Kingsley, Remus, please go to the Dursleys and search for clues. Perhaps if he had a journal or if he wrote something down…."

There was a shuffling, and Ginny quickly withdrew the Extendable Ear, stuffing it in her pocket and going back to playing with Crookshanks. Tonks, Kinsley, and Remus came out of the room and smiled at her, Remus's the grimmest. He gave Crookshanks a quick pat as they left.

Ginny smirked as he left with Kingsley, and Tonks had stumbled up the stairs.

Twenty minutes later, the Order left the room and Ginny got her first chance to see Dumbledore since Harry ran away. She had to cough to hide her laughter. He looked like his favorite toy was taken away!

"Ginny, will you set the table, dear?" asked Mrs. Weasley, leaving no room for argument and giving Ginny an opportunity to regain her self-control. She chuckled under her breath as she grabbed a large stack of plates and began to place them around the table. She couldn't wait for Remus and Kingsley to get back.

When Remus and Kingsley got back, Ginny had finally regained her self-control and was fully prepared to burst into heart broken tears when she "learned" that Harry was gone and read his letter. Remus and Kingsley both looked worried and disappointed. Remus passed out the letters while Kingsley toldthem that there was no trace that he had even lived there for the past few years, save the letters that were on the desk. Ginny put on her best worried expression and took her letter from Remus. She read his letter carefully and burst into fake tears, but they were apparently realistic enough for her mother to rush over and envelope her in a large hug while she herself cried. Ginny's choking sobs were laced with laughter, but she didn't think anyone could tell the difference.

"He says not to look for him," said Dumbledore, looking put out. Ginny rolled her eyes into her mother's shoulder.

"Albus! Surely you won't just give up on him!" Mrs. Weasley cried, sounding horrified and betrayed.

"Of course not, Molly," replied Dumbledore with a "reassuring" smile. "We will, of course, continue the search for Harry. If he is not found within Britain, I'll call a meeting with the representatives of all the other wizarding countries. Do not fret, any of you. I'll make sure that Harry is back safe and sound."

Ginny snorted, but she quickly covered this with a sniffle and another sob. Dumbledore patted her on the shoulder on his way out, flooing back to his office. What a fake! He put up such a perfect façade that you wouldn't know it was fake if you weren't looking for it. Whoever knew such a kind old Headmaster could be so manipulative? Harry had better be on his guard. Dumbledore was, after all, an old master at this game.

End Ginny's Flashback-----

Needless to say, Ryan found Harry in a humorous mood on Saturday afternoon, which was not what the red-headed boy was expected. He raised a curious eyebrow in his friend's direction. Harry laughed and handed him Ginny's letter, which took a few minutes for him to read. While he was reading, Tim and Nathan joined them in the ring of sofas in the floor room a few feet from the foosball table that they had officially claimed as their own territory. They chatted for a while about the next drama production that would be held on Halloween in which Rachel and Julia would both be taking part in. It was supposedly a Shakespeare play, which seemed to have Ryan in a very tense mood. He knew that his sister always got the lead roles, and many of Shakespeare's plays were romantic. Ex: Romeo and Juliet. Needless to say, the over protective side of his siblingship came to the forefront in the past few weeks. Rachel put up with it, but she occasionally did lose her temper with him.

When Ryan finished reading the letter, he was grinning as well.

"That Dumbledore guy is so weird," he announced with a disbelieving grin, shaking his head. "I'm glad you got out of there alive." Ryan sobered quite suddenly. "What was that about the prophecy? Is it true?"

Harry's face paled. He had forgotten that Ginny had written about the prophecy in her letter. Nathan and Tim looked at him with piqued interest.

"What prophecy?"

"Yeah. Whatcha holdin' back, Potter?"

"Let's go to my dorm," said Harry, looking around cautiously, his eyes wary and face tense. The boys agreed, and they all crept back to the dormitory that Harry and Tim shared. Tim flopped down on his bed, where Nathan joined him. Ryan sat on the edge of Harry's bed, looking tensely at his friend who sat next to him.

"So?"

Harry then proceeded to tell his new friends about the prophecy. He didn't have much of a choice, really. By the time he was done, they were stunned, to say the least. Tim was staring at the ceiling, flat on his back, with an expression of shock on his face, while Nathan was studying his hands thoughtfully. Ryan, however, looked like the bottom had just dropped out of his world. His face was pale and his emerald eyes wide. He gulped back what appeared to be a sob and turned to stare at Harry with fathomless eyes.

"So … you really have to kill him or be killed?" he choked, coughing a bit to cover up his shaking voice. Harry nodded slowly, wishing that he would stop looking at him like that. As though sensing Harry's thoughts, Ryan breathed deeply and rolled his shoulders back, managing to grin at him, if a little forced. "Well, glad you came here then. Will you be doing Occlumency and stuff?"

Harry shrugged. "I dunno. I'm going to talk to Ms. Davis about that tonight at our meeting about … Holy crap!" he shouted suddenly, jumping up and staring at his watch. "I'm going to be late!Merlin... See you guys later!"

Harry dashed out of the dorm and ran out of the floor room, dodging Ashley and Jennifer on his way out, and raced down the stairs to Lincoln Hall. He rushed into the Dining Room. He angled up to the portrait of President Jefferson and knocked on the frame uncertainly. The portrait swung open and Harry stepped in, looking relieved to see the grandfather clock behind Ms. Davis's desk read precisely five o'clock. She smiled at him and motioned for him to take a seat, which he did gratefully, still a bit out of breath.

"Dr. Keatley will be joining us shortly," she informed him. Harry nodded and relaxed in the chair, taking the opportunity to look around the room. It was furnished with cherry wood and mahogany, and the colors were deep maroon and navy. He couldn't help thinking that Ron would hate this room. Ms. Davis sat primly behind a cherry wood desk, upon which were many files and what looked like a recent letter. Five minutes later found Dr. Keatley in the office as well. He was a tall, imposing man with thinning dark hair, laughter-filled midnight blue eyes, and a genuine smile. Harry could tell immediately that he was a very different Headmaster from Dumbledore.

"Well, well, hello there, Harry," he greeted him with a grin and a firm handshake that Harry returned. "Good to finally meet the famous Boy-Who-Lived. How're you enjoying McKinley's?"

"It's marvelous, sir," Harry replied with an honest smile.

"Great!" he exclaimed, beaming with sincere pride. "Wonderful school, I think. Really lucky to have gotten this position. Now, let's get down to business. I spoke to Dumbledore not so long ago, if you recall." Harry nodded, remembering that Dumbledore had called a meeting in the UK Harry's first week at school. "He seems very concerned, but I can't say I blame you from wanting out. He seems like the controlling type."

"He is," agreed Harry earnestly before quickly adding, "sir."

Dr. Keatley chuckled and nodded. "I thought he might be. Anyways, he insists that you're in danger. He says Voldemort's after you. How much of that is true?"

"All of it," admitted Harry with a heavy sigh. "But I'm not in danger so long as he doesn't know where I am, and few people truly know that. I will have to learn Occlumency, though, to block my mind from his. Did Dumbledore tell you about the connection?"

Dr. Keatley shook his head negative, looking interested. "Connection? I've never heard of a teenager learning Occlumency before."

"When Voldemort tried to kill me, he left the curse scar, but it isn't just a curse scar. Dumbledore says that supposedly Voldemort transferred some of his abilities to me through my scar, therefore connecting our minds. It's one of the few things from his mouth that I truly believe. I have nightmares in which I can see what he's doing, normally through his own eyes, as though I'm him. He can plant images in my mind to lead me to believe something that isn't true, and I'm afraid that he can see things through my eyes. I need to learn to block my mind from him as quickly as I can. I had lessons at Hogwarts, but my teacher hated my guts and I didn't learn anything worth while."

Dr. Keatley seemed to be absorbing this information like a sponge, looking almost excited. "Fascinating!" He was beginning to remind Harry of Mr. Weasley. "I'll see what I can do. I know a fair Occlumens, an old friend of mine, and I might be able to recruit him. What else isn't Dumbledore telling me?"

"Did he tell you about the prophecy?"

"Prophecy?"

Harry sighed heavily. Here we go again…

Harry then proceeded to fill in Dr. Keatley and Ms. Davis on everything he knew about Voldemort, sharing his adventures from his first year to the recent skirmish at the Ministry of Magic. By the time he was finished, Ms. Davis's grandfather clock was reading eight o'clock. Dr. Keatley had conjured a glass of water for him as he spoke, which Harry gulped down gratefully. The two adults seemed to be seeing Harry in a new light.

"We'll arrange for Occlumency lessons immediately, Harry," Dr. Keatley assured him. "Now, on to the matters at hand. I heard that you wished to reveal your history to the other students?"

"Well, sort of, sir," admitted Harry, sitting up straighter. "I ran into some boys at the Sports Shoppe earlier in the summer and they wanted to know all about Harry Potter, since they didn't know that it was me at the time. They were asking a lot of questions, so I said that I'd answer all their questions at McKinley's. Of course, I won't be telling them all about the prophecy, but I do want them to know about my first few years at Hogwarts."

"You know, I think it would be much more effective if you simply transformed your story into a play," suggested Ms. Davis out of the blue, shocking both Dr. Keatley and Harry.

"That's a superb idea, Jocelyn," exclaimed Dr. Keatley, looking thoroughly surprised but excited nonetheless. "I know the Drama Club has been working hard on that Shakespeare play, but do you think we could substitute that with Harry's?"

"Quite possibly," Ms. Davis said. "I'll speak with them about it. I'm sure we can come up with some scripts, and the sets shouldn't be a problem if Harry headed up the Art Club's services. Props aren't an issue. I do believe we'll have a good many students jumping at the opportunity to be in the play, as well. Would you be comfortable with this, Harry?"

Harry shifted his weight, thinking. "I suppose. As long as I can, you know, make sure everything is right."

"Of course!" declared Ms. Davis, looking excited. "You'll be in charge of the whole thing! You can help us pick out the cast, paint the scenery, create the props, write the script, etcetera. After all, the last thing we want is to put lies in their heads. Perhaps you could even narrate it?"

"Sure," Harry conceded. "It'll be hard-pressed, though. Really, that will be hard."

"Well, surely you can't deny a challenge?" grinned Dr. Keatley with great amusement. His eyes traveled to the grandfather clock. "Ah, yes, well, I must go. I have a meeting at nine o'clock with the board of directors. Is there anything else?"

Both Harry and Ms. Davis shook their heads. Dr. Keatley smiled, shook hands with each of them, and left the office. Ms. Davis smiled at him and dismissed him, saying that she was going to get right to work on the play. Harry nodded and ambled out of her office, through Lincoln Hall, and up the stairs to the eleventh and twelfth graders' floor, where he found Ryan, Tim, and Nathan seated in their usual circle with Jennifer and Ashley, chatting about the next swim meet. Both Tim and Ashley were on the swim team, so the prospects were very exciting to them. They greeted Harry brightly when he came in, and Jennifer immediately went to sit on his lap. The first time this had happened, Harry had been shocked and a bit scared of this girl's forwardness, but he soon became used to it. Jennifer was the flitty type, and she never stayed put for too long. She sat on everybody's lap; according to Ashley, she had even sat on Dr. Keatley's lap once in the middle of dinner.

"How'd it go?" she asked him curiously, brushing her curls out of her face to get a better look at him. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair habitually.

"Ms. Davis suggested a creative way to tell people my life story, so now we're going to be doing a play of my entire life instead of that Shakespeare thing they were doing before. I get to head up the entire thing."

"Really?" inquired Jennifer excitedly, bouncing up and down in his lap and making him wince.

"Really," he confessed. She squealed happily and jumped up to do a dance that he had come to recognize as her "happy dance."

"This will be great! I wanna try out! Who could I be?"

"Whoever you want to be," Harry shrugged, sinking back into the chair wearily. "Hermione, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley, Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, Professor Trelawney, Parvati, Lavender, Padma, Fleur, Angelina, Katie, Alicia, Hannah, Susan, Aunt Petunia, Tonks, Cho, Marietta, Parkinson, for all it matters, you could be a Death Eater, a dementor, or whatever. There's a lot of roles. I hope we can just cut some of them out, 'cos I don't think we're going to be able to have that many people. Not to mention we'll people for each year, meaning that we need people of all different ages to be playing the same role."

Harry sighed heavily, suddenly very tired. "Hey, I'm going to bed. I'm wiped. See you lot in the morning."

"'Night," they chorused, waving him off to his dormitory before bursting into chatter about the play. Harry shut the door of his room and collapsed on his bed, quickly slipping into a dreamless sleep.

The next day, the announcement about the play was made at breakfast and flyers were posted on the bulletin boards. The entire school went crazy over it. Harry had to avoid Irene all day and really hoped she wouldn't try-out for a part in the play. He met Ms. Davis and the drama instructor, Miss Heinig, that night to work on the script, and they worked on it from five until ten. By the end of that session, Harry was extremely tired, but they had the script for his first year and his earlier childhood ready. Miss Heinig had wanted to put what happened at Godric's Hollow, but Harry didn't know anything about that, so they just settled on the opening scene beginning with a flash of green light and a scream. When Harry returned to his dorm, Tim was up in bed drawing.

"How'd it go?" Tim asked curiously, though, as per usual, his eyes didn't stray from his artistic work.

"All right. We scripted my first year and before. Monday we're going to work on my second year, Wednesday we'll work on third year, and Friday we'll work on fourth year. We'll probably end up spending all day on Saturday working on fifth year."

"Sounds like fun."

"Oh, yeah. Loads," agreed Harry sarcastically. Tim grinned and chuckled, finally looking up from his drawing.

"So, what d'you think?" asked Tim, turning the pencil drawing for Harry to see. "Does it look like her?"

Tim had drawn a pencil portrait of Ashley London, and Harry could practically see her personality in the simple sketch. Looking closer, Harry noticed that Tim had put details in there that Harry had never taken notice of before. He had never known that she had seven freckles on her nose, or that her eyebrows arched like that. Thinking back to her, Harry knew that Tim was right, but he was still shocked senseless by the detail yet simplicity of the portrait. It looked exactly like the shy, blonde swimmer.

"That's brilliant!" Harry finally exclaimed once he found his voice again. "That- that looks exactly like her! How the heck did you do that?"

Tim shrugged, a rosy blush tingeing his cheeks. "Dunno. So it really looks like Ashley?"

"Yeah! You should show her. She'd love it."

"Ya think?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe."

"'Night."

"'Night."

A/N:

Woohoo! Thank goodness I got that up! Everybody be sure to check out my profile for the game, and I'll start on chapter four ASAP! Expect it to be posted this weekend sometime, because I'm going to be really busy. My mum is calling a "family conference" now, which can't be good. First off, my father and little brother aren't even home, so it isn't really a "family conference," and secondly, we've only ever had a "family conference" when we were talking about getting an exchange student from Russia. My mother is a drama queen. How much do you wanna bet she's been reading books on parenting? Gotta go. Please Review! I absolutely adore it! And you, of course! ;D At least I know I'll get one review. Woohoo! All my love,

V.C.