Thank You to all those who reviewed Chapter one. The reviews were much appreciated.
CHAPTER 2: UNEXPECTED FACE OF RESCUE
The sun was already high in the sky when Harry awoke a few days later. It was July 31, exactly three weeks after he had left the Dursley's, and it was Harry's birthday. He'd been woken up at midnight by a small group of owls bearing presents, including his own Hedwig, who had looked at him sternly as if to say 'Why are sleeping in the middle of a wood?' To which Harry had replied that it was better than Privet Drive. The snowy owl hadn't been convinced. Harry had been delighted to hear that the wizarding world and presumably Dumbledore had yet to hear about his disappearance from Privet Drive, which made his job of hiding from everyone a hell of a lot easier. He was also pleased to note that his friends were worried about him and his mental state because of the events of the third task; it made him happy that at least some people cared about him. Harry had also been unsurprised to learn that Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, had been adamant in his denials of the Dark Lords return, a view that had been backed by the Daily Prophet. As a consequence, most people had refused to believe the claims that the headmaster made at the leaving feast, and according to Hermione there was even a small campaign to get Harry convicted of Cedric's death led by one Marus Avery, who Harry assumed to be the Death Eater of that name who had present at Voldemort's rebirth.
Settling down under a tree, Harry looked through his birthday presents. Picking up the book on Self Defence that Hermione had sent him Harry began to read. Half an hour later he was thoroughly engrossed, and as a consequence barely noticed that someone was coming towards him. It was only the crack of a twig, which alerted him to the coming intruder. Cursing silently the raven-haired boy dove into a nearby clump of bushes, hoping the intruder would go away and in doing so forgetting the small collection of objects that he had received that morning.
"Harry," a familiar voice called. Harry groaned silently as he recognised the voice of his dreaded Aunt Petunia, probably here to take him back to Privet Drive, before the old bastard, as he'd come to nickname the headmaster, realised he was missing. "Harry," she repeated. Harry parted the bushes slightly to see her scanning the woodlands as she stood by the old oak tree that Harry had been sitting under moments earlier. "I know you're there." she said slightly quieter then before, she seemed to be studying the base of the oak tree intensely, presumebly She had spotted the pile of presents and letters. Harry swore under his breath, annoyed at his forgetfulness and stupidity. The muggle reached down and picked up the book that Harry had tossed aside in his hurry to hide, the boy couldn't see her expression but noticed that she placed it neatly with his other belongings. "You can't stay here forever." she said in an attempt to get him to move. Harry rolled his eyes at how obvious the statement was, besides he didn't intend to stay on the run forever, merely for the rest of the summer holidays after all he did have an education to finish. There was a pause, while each waited for the other to react. "I'm not going to take you back to Privet Drive." The black-haired boy doubted the sincerity of those words. Neither person had moved since Petunia had put down the book. "I'm not going back to Privet Drive either. I've finally left Vernon." Harry couldn't entirely restrain his surprise at that statement, causing the bushes to move slightly, even though he believed it to be a lie. Harry's Aunt turned to face directly where Harry was hiding and began to edge forward, a look of determination on her face. Fearing he would be discovered, Harry decided to change his approach.
"Why should I trust you?" he spat fiercely as he stood up straight his arms folded against his chest, power flowed off in waves causing Petunia to falter slightly. The fierce glare and the harsh voice showed the depth of the boy's hate for the woman. All in All he looked quite imposing and very powerful.
His aunt at least on the outside remained undaunted, "You don't have a choice. What will happen when Dumbledore finds out your missing? Or what about that Dark Lord?" She asked. She didn't appear to be particularly worried about the boy.
Ignoring momentarily the fact that his muggle aunt happened to know the headmasters name, and about Voldemort, Harry simply gave Aunt Petunia an even fiercer glare. "By the time he finds out I'll be at Hogwarts. If the deceitful bastard hasn't discovered my disappearance by now he never will."
Much to Harry's surprise Aunt Petunia gave a bitter laugh, "Albus Dumbledore may be deceitful and too trusting but he's not stupid."
Harry gaped at her, "How do you know the old bastard?" he sneered, his hatred for both the woman and the headmaster evident in his voice.
"He expelled me from that damn school." She sounded extremely bitter, "Expelled me for a crime I didn't commit, for no reason. They said I tried to kill Narcissa. Hah! I wish. Evil bitch…" Her tone had gradually got louder and far bitterer as the rant went on. She was obviously very bitter about the whole affair, an emotion that probably explained her hatred for the wizarding world. She must have jealous of his mother, which probably explained why she hated her so much. And to have a wizard in her own home must have been hell for her, no wonder why she hated him so much.
"Narcissa?" Harry questioned "As in Narcissa Malfoy?"
"Probably." Aunt Petunia hissed, "One rich arrogant snob marrying another rich arrogant snob."
"Pity you didn't kill her while you had the chance." Harry muttered darkly, his anger hadn't dissipated at the revelations, "I wouldn't have to deal with Malfoy then, arrogant prick."
Harry swore his aunt gave him a look of sympathy, "If it hadn't been for them I wouldn't have been trapped by that damn muggle and got pregnant with his son," Harry noticed she emphasised the 'his', as if to say Dudley wasn't hers, "I can't believe the bastards actually proud of him. He's an arrogant fat bully with the mind of a pig…" Harry noticed the beginnings of another rant and distracted his aunt before she got loud enough to be heard by everyone on the near vicinity.
"So you've never actually liked either of them?" He said coldly, his anger towards Petunia was beginning to dissipate now that he realised that she was just as much a victim of Vernon Dursley as he was, and although she had never been pleasant towards Harry over the years, she'd never been as bad as Vernon who basically treated him as if he were dirt. His aunt on the other hand probably treated him more like the average witch would treat a house-elf, treated shoddily and expected to do all the work, but never abused, that was always Vernon's speciality.
"Yes," Aunt Petunia hissed vehemently, Harry doubted that Dumbledore could fake such a forceful tone let alone his relative. "He's an abusive, stupid, arrogant prick…" Again she was beginning to rant. Harry wasn't particularly surprised she'd probably been bottling up her feelings to Vernon for years. Not needing to be reminded of the pathetic excuse for a human that called itself Vernon Dursley; Harry once again interrupted her.
"Yes, I know all about that creature." Harry hissed his eyes flashing at the thought of his Uncle. The raven-haired boy wanted him dead, just as he did Voldemort and Wormtail.
"I suppose you do." she replied with an emotion approaching sympathy. An emotionless mask fell upon her face as she made her next revelation. "Well I've left him now as I should have done years I ago. If only I hadn't been so damn honourable, then I wouldn't have married the monster in the first place. Well I've left and I'm not going back." She continued forcefully
Harry merely smiled out of empathy. He knew of the dangers of being honourable, it had killed Cedric Diggory. He'd decided during his period of reflection of the summer to stop being honourable and to think of himself first. It was selfish, but it would mean fewer deaths and a lesser likelihood of him dying. "So, what are we going to do now?" he said almost pleasantly
Harry's congeniality did not affect his Aunt, however. "You are going to stay with my parents, I will be living with my ex-boyfriend." she responded in the bossy tone Harry was familiar with.
"Your Parents?" Harry questioned, his surprise causing him to forget that Aunt Petunia hating him asking questions, "They're alive? Why haven't I heard anything about them before now?"
"They hate me and I hate them, we have as little contact as possible." She snapped, "I'm surprised Dumbledore hasn't mentioned them to you."
"Why would that prick talk about your parents?" Harry asked intrigued.
"They're wizards."
"I have living wizarding relatives!" Harry exclaimed his anger at Dumbledore increasing, "Then what the hell was he doing placing me with you." He cried.
Aunt Petunia shrugged, "I don't know. I would have expected him to place you with Sam." She obviously didn't like 'Sam' whoever he was. "But then he was a Ravenclaw, with Slytherin friends."
"Ah! Wouldn't want me becoming anything other than the perfect Gryffindor would we." Harry drawled sarcastically with more than a hint of bitterness, "Manipulative bastard."
"I suppose. Now come on. I'd like to be gone before Vernon returns from work, and hopefully before Dudley gets up." She turned to leave, Harry followed.
"Aunt Petunia," Harry asked as they emerged onto the path out if the woods, "I owe you my life. If you hadn't intervened I would have committed suicide."
"I may not like you, Harry, but you're still family, and I'm not having my family dying on me, even Sam." Aunt Petunia explained without any viciousness, "Forget about a life debt though. I doubt we'll ever see each other again after today, even If I will be living with my sweet Harry."
"Harry?" the raven-haired boy queried, "That was the name of the man by the river, who talked me out of wanting to commit suicide."
"Yes, he mentioned that incident, he also told me where you were." the blonde woman commented.
"You know him!" Harry exclaimed as they walked up to a red Ford Fiesta that was parked in the woodland car park. Petunia indicated for Harry to get in the back as she opened the passenger door. Harry looked over to the driver to see none other than his namesake sitting in the driving seat.
"Yes, she does know me." he said, while smirking, as his younger namesake looked at him, surprised that he was driving. "And just because I'm a pure-blooded wizard, it doesn't mean I can't drive. I learnt while I was living in the muggle world, besides I'm not the only one. Your godfather can drive as well, but then he was always fascinated by motorbikes." Harry pictured a younger Sirius on a motorbike, probably a flying one, somehow the picture looked right. He laughed.
"He even used to own a flying motorbike, he was famous for it." the elder man replied, "In fact the ministry altered the law on the enchantment of muggle artefacts because of it."
They headed back to Privet Drive first, to collect Harry's belongings and, on the elder Harry's insistence, to conduct revenge on Uncle Vernon, something both Aunt Petunia and her nephew were more than willing to participate in. Fortunately Dudley was asleep, and remained so throughout the time the three remained at number four, even when they were smashing the electronics in the fat boys room. On Aunt Petunia's insistence, the younger Harry had to take a shower, but after three weeks on the run the green-eyed boy was more than desperate to take up the suggestion, and it felt glorious to be clean again. Harry was also surprised to learn that those possessions, which he hadn't hidden under the loose floorboards in his room hadn't been burnt, something he was more than thankful for. After helping destroy all of Vernon's prize possessions, and watching as the elder Harry redecorated the house using an old and somewhat battered wand, and then repeating Hagrd's example of giving Dudley a tail, this time a long rat tail, the three left the house satisfied that their revenge was complete. The fact that Harry felt nothing but satisfaction and glee while conducting the revenge did not bother him as it would have a few months earlier, nor as much as it would Ron and Hermione. Their attempt at a clean getaway however was foiled however by Old Mrs Figg who happened to be walking past number four at the wrong moment. She stopped to talk to Aunt Petunia, and enquired about the elder Harry's identity.
"I'm leaving Vernon, and taking Harry with me. It's not safe for either of us here." Aunt Petunia answered in response to the mad cat lady's first question.
The stranger was less truthful, saying that his name was Rupert Johnson, an old friend of Petunia's who lived at Llyn-y-Fach in Llangynider, Pembrokeshire. The name seemed significant to Mrs Figg, who hobbled off back to her house at number ten. Aunt Petunia also seemed to recognise the name, and looked at him strangely, as if to say he'd gone mad.
"Arabella Figg is one of Dumbledore's operatives," the elder man offered as explanation to his ex-girlfriend, when they were on the move, "She recognised me, I'm positive of it. Dumbledore is convinced I'm a death eater, so I had to tell her where we were going otherwise she would have taken Harry off us."
"But we're going to have to deal with Dumbledore when we get to my parents house." Aunt Petunia countered, "and he'll want us to go straight back to Vernon."
"Sam is more than capable of dealing with Dumbledore, trust me on that. I know him better then you do."
Aunt Petunia sighed as she gave in, "OK. I trust you, but not Sam."
The younger Harry was still processing the information that Old Mrs Figg was a witch assigned by Dumbledore to protect him. It was clear she hadn't done a good job, if she and the wards hadn't noticed that he'd run away, or tried to commit suicide. This revelation was yet more evidence that Dumbledore didn't actually care for him personally, and was merely using him to defeat Voldemort once and for all.