Chapter One

Ahead of Schedule

Harry couldn't believe his luck. He had been home a whole two hours and he was shoved back into the cupboard under the stairs. Serena's knowledge of him being able to use wandless magic seemed to be a bit more of a curse than a blessing. All he had been doing was playing a little bit. By Hogwarts standards it wouldn't even be worth mentioning.

But he wasn't at Hogwarts. He was stuck with the Dursley's. He had become bored since he came back, so he started doing random things to make some fun for himself. Changing channels while flicking his wrist was massively funny. Listening to his uncle complain about the tattoos he sported on his arms had been almost hilarious. Especially when he told Dudley he had them done the muggle way.

None of this caused him too much trouble. Cleaning the dishes with magic was really rather boring actually. Then came the real fun. His aunt stormed into the kitchen watching him do the dishes his way and had a fit. She went on about how Harry would not be doing magic in her house. Told him to drop dead.

He did.

The second she said drop dead, Harry collapsed on the floor. He had gotten used to doing this by now and decided to watch the fun. Aunt Petunia thought she had done magic and was shaking all over. Vernon came into the room, his eyes wide, screaming about what Harry's friends would do if they found him dead on the floor. Petunia told him what happened and he went white and started backing away from her.

The second Vernon did this, Harry entered his body. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to end the joke. That determines exactly how funny a joke is, and Harry learned quickly last year that timing is everything. Just as Vernon decided he was going to have Harry buried quietly and got near Harry to check his pulse first, Harry struck.

Harry transformed into the panther instantly, and began growling and hissing violently at the two. His uncle fainted quickly and his aunt ran from the room screaming in terror. Laughing to himself, he decided there was one more person left to pull this prank on. He walked lazily into the living room and looked confused at Dudley, his head tilting from one side to the other. Then he began to growl at Dudley, baring his teeth. He made a move for Dudley and Dudley ran screaming from the house.

Harry transformed back and started laughing, quickly in hysterics. His aunt found him laying on the floor, clutching his stomach. She immediately woke Vernon and showed him what Harry was doing. That was how Harry came to be in the entirely to small cupboard under the stairs yet again.

He knew he would have to work quickly now. He couldn't stay here one more day more than he had to. At the moment one day seemed too long. But he had to wait. He needed some things before he could initiate the plan. He figured this was a good time to do so, as no one was going to let him out soon.

Harry appeared in Diagon Alley, stretching quickly. He felt more than a little uncomfortable still, but he was happy enough. He handled all his business here, which meant collecting a few necessities from his vault at Gringotts, and getting some food to fight the fact that he was going to be starved because the Dursley's couldn't take a joke.

After an hour, he was locked up tight back in the cupboard under the stairs. Now all he had to do was wait for the opportune time to do this. The plan had been perfect, but it was taking to long already. He didn't know how much longer he could keep himself from going mad. Not to mention being stuck in this cupboard most of his life, he had developed a bit of claustrophobia.

When he heard the Dursley's go to bed, he quietly slipped out of the cupboard again. He looked around making sure no one was still awake. He decided It was time to act, and act quickly. He already had his trunk in his pocket. After a few small pranks, like unplugging the refrigerator and leaving the doors open, and preparing for an explosion of dung bombs in the morning he smiled, and went to his room. Not here at the Dursley's but at his true home. His room at 12 Grimmauld Place.

He smiled happily as he saw his room. Nothing was touched or out of place. He missed this place as soon as he stepped off the Hogwarts Express. Knowing he didn't have much time to do what was needed, he silently called for Dobby.

"Yes, Harry, sir?" Dobby said cheerfully. "You is not supposed to be here yet. Shall I tell everyone Harry sir is home?"

"No, Dobby. I need you to tell only one person. No one else can know, that's very important. Tell Serena I'm here, and I'm ready to go along with the plan. Please, Dobby, don't let anyone hear you." Harry said, pleading in his voice.

"Yes, Harry, sir. Tell Miss Serena you is here, but not let no one hear that but her." Dobby said smiling. He snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Harry laid down on his bed and sighed contently. Now this is comfort, he thought. Becoming slightly curious about who was there, he slipped out of his body, through the floor, and into the kitchen. He saw a meeting taking place. He was a bit disappointed that he wasn't invited, but then he realized Hermione wasn't there either.

It seemed only Serena was involved from the newest members. Harry believed it was because she was the only one here. He decided to listen carefully to what was being said.

"Voldemort is not stopping." Dumbledore said. "He seems to be getting closer to Harry every time. Over the past week he must have found where the Dursley's live. This is very dangerous, since we don't know if he will be able to pass through the defensive spells in place there now-"

"Wait, you said he couldn't! You said that's why Harry had to go back, because he would be safe there!" Serena yelled, her eyes wide.

"I believe he will be." Dumbledore said. "As I said we are not sure however. Voldemort has Harry's blood, and that makes Harry's protection very difficult. The only place I feel he is truly safe is Hogwarts. I know how you feel about this, Serena, thinking he should be here. Sometimes I feel you are right. But here Harry can be free to move around. It seems for once that his families treatment of him may just keep him alive."

Suddenly two more Order members appeared in the kitchen. Harry had to jump back quickly. There was a small side effect to being in this condition. He was tied to the mortal plane by his body, and the tattoos on it, but if he walked into someone there was a chance he might get stuck in their body.

"Sir we have a problem." Kingsley said.

"Speak quickly then, as we have many problems." Dumbledore said.

"Harry was seen in Diagon Alley today." Kingsley said.

"So you told him, I see." Dumbledore said, looking calmly at Serena. "I had hoped you would have chosen safety over Harry's need for knowledge."

"I told him because he needed to know. He kept getting more depressed thinking about what they were going to do to him once he got back. He is too old to be locked in a cupboard." Serena said as calmly as Dumbledore. "He also seems to tall to be forced into that small space. I didn't know he would go around teleporting, or whatever he does, all around wizard London. Might help him to know, now especially. With Voldemort trying to find him, maybe Harry could help defend that place. Even you don't know exactly how strong his powers are. I honestly think Harry knows how strong he is now, and exactly how far to push himself. This could be good for him you know."

"I understand your motive, Serena. I wanted to tell him myself for many of the same reasons. However, I also knew what he would do if he knew. He is a bit...impulsive." Dumbledore said. Harry became angry that he couldn't defend himself. "Normally, I would shrug such behavior off to kids being kids. However, Harry could be in great peril by doing this. If he were to travel around Diagon Alley and be seen, then someone could alert Voldemort. Indeed, I'm wondering how Kingsley himself found out."

"I happened to be shopping at the time. Harry was unmistakable. Problem is, more than a few other people saw him as well." Kingsley said.

"What did he do?" Serena asked.

"Well, best I can guess, he went to Gringotts so he would have some money. Then he went to the Leaky Cauldron and ate a good meal there. I almost asked if I could join him, he looked so depressed. I was worried that I might cause a bit of a problem if I did that." Kingsley said. "Ever since that day, he doesn't seem to be to get on well with me."

He was referring to the day he yelled at Harry that the killing curse could not be blocked. Harry proved him wrong of course, especially when Harry, as well as Serena and Ginny, stunned him with all six of their wands. Harry kept the thought to start acting nicer toward Kingsley. After all, he was only saying what he had been taught all his life. Even Harry knew that a killing curse had never been recorded as being blocked in all of history.

"Well, you called him a liar, then sent a killing curse at him what do you expect?" Serena said.

"He told me to do it!" Kingsley said in his defense.

"Harry's word should have been good enough. When has he lied when it was important?" Serena asked.

"We are getting off the subject. We now have two very large problems." Dumbledore said. "Voldemort is getting closer to Harry's location, and Harry is deciding to go out whenever he feels he is being imprisoned. Serena, was Harry upset about going back to the Dursleys? More than usual, I mean."

"Of course he was." Serena said shaking her head. "How could you not see it. He accepted it before because, well Dad was an escaped convict. He knew he couldn't expect Sirius to just be able to take him on the summer, because no one could know he knew where Sirius was. But Moony is a teacher for god's sake. He could have stayed with him. That was the only thing making him happy about the summer. Once he found out he had to return, depression started sinking in. To him, it meant no Moony, none of his friends, he couldn't talk to Sirius because of the condition he would be in, and he wouldn't have my sparkling personality to look forward too."

Dumbledore chuckled lightly. "I see. Why didn't you tell me this in your attempt to keep Harry from going there?" He said, still having a smile on his lips.

"We thought you would see it when Harry started begging you. When has he ever gone that far?" Serena said.

"Well, Miss Black, I thought he had...other reasons...for begging. Remember, I know everything that happens in the castle. Especially two particular Gryffindor's I tend to keep an eye on." Dumbledore said, Serena blushed and looked at the table.

Harry was shocked. He knew Dumbledore had a way of knowing what was happening in the castle, but he never thought he would literally know everything. Suddenly he was happy his body was upstairs, or he would be blushing as well. Harry respected and trusted Dumbledore, but did not want him to know all aspects of his private life.

"Oh...we didn't realize that you could...well that you could know." Serena said softly, avoiding everyone's gaze.

Harry became distracted at this moment as there was a tapping on the window that caused him to move his concentration. His eyes widened as he saw what was causing the noise. Hedwig was outside the window. No note was attached to his leg. Harry knew this because he hadn't sent any notes.

An Order member that Harry didn't know (he didn't know many of them) opened the window. Hedwig landed on Serena's shoulder and hooted happily. Serena just starred at the owl for a minute. When Hedwig didn't move, Serena looked at Remus, her eyebrow raised.

"Why would Harry send Hedwig here with no letters?" She asked.

"This is not good." Remus said.

"What?" Serena asked nervous.

"Harry has treated her well. He never sends her away unless he has a message he needs delivering. I've never seen Hedwig without a letter attached to her unless she was with Harry." Remus said.

"But no letter, and obviously no Harry." Serena said impatiently.

"That's why I'm worried." Remus said. "Albus, you don't think Harry would.."

"Feel he was being mistreated and leave?" Dumbledore finished for him. "Harry would do something like that. Since he saw us so adamant about him going back to the Dursley's, I fear he will not return here either. We should check this out of course. Harry might not have fastened the letter to Hedwig well. We shall have to wait till the morning to see. I will meet you there tomorrow Remus. We will discuss what to do if we find Harry not there. This meeting is over."

Harry jumped back to his room, as he saw everyone moving and saw Dobby standing near Serena. As soon as he got in his room, he fell back into his body, smiling. This gave him the whole night before he returned to the Dursley's. He decided he would go back. His plan couldn't work if the Order thought Harry was gone.

Serena came into the room quietly. Seeing Harry she smiled at him and ran to hug him. They laid on the bed smiling at each other. Harry knew if he asked they would go into action on their plan, but he needed this to work just right. Instead he lay there, quiet and happy for a while. Neither felt the need to speak until Serena remembered the meeting.

"Harry, we just had a meeting about you. They know you left today." She said quickly.

"I know. I was at the meeting. I can be quite stealthy when I need to be." Harry said smiling. "Sorry about Hedwig though. Didn't know she would take off if she felt I wasn't there. It's a good thing she is here, you can take care of her for a few days."

"Why do you need me to take care of her?" Serena asked.

"Cupboard under the stairs." Harry said sadly. "Good prank though. Teach them to tell me to drop dead!" He said laughing as he remembered the events that happened.

"They didn't!" She said, Harry nodded. "You did didn't you?" again Harry nodded. "Classic! Did you take pictures?"

"Kind of Hard to do when I'm dead, you know. After that I turned into Snuffles. They were going to get me buried!" Harry said, a look of nervousness on his face.

Serena started laughing. "That's what they do when someone is dead."

Someone knocked on the door at that moment. "Do you have your mirror?" Harry asked. Ginny had given it to Serena so Harry could talk to her.

"Yes, always keep it near for you." She said.

"Good I'll talk to you in a second." Harry said. He disappeared and found himself back in the cupboard. Quickly grabbing the mirror he said "Serena Black."

"Hi Harry." Serena said smiling.

"Get the door." Harry said.

"Alright." She said. Then looked away from the mirror. "Bloody hell Moony, just come in!"

"What are you doing in here?" Remus asked. Harry decided to listen to the conversation.

"Just talking to Harry. Is that a problem?" Serena said smiling.

"How are you talking to Harry?" Remus asked.

"Mirror, mirror in my hand, who the thickest of the marauder clan?" Serena asked.

"I say it is Moony. Never much too quick on the pranks of our fathers!" Harry said jokingly, then started laughing.

"I see. Serena, you could have told us about that. Then we could have found out where Harry was." Remus said.

"I know where he is. He's locked in a damned cupboard, Moony!" Serena said angrily. She never liked hearing about how Harry had been mistreated.

"I will fix that tomorrow. Can I see that mirror for a minute?" Remus asked. Serena handed it too him and everything faded from Harry's mirror. Harry sighed.

"Remus Lupin." He said boredly.

"Harry." Remus said.

"GET ME OUT OF THIS BLOODY CUPBOARD!" Harry shouted.

"What did you do?" Remus asked, smiling.

"What I was told Moony, no more." Harry said, smiling himself at this.

"When have you ever been locked in the cupboard for doing what you were told?" Remus asked.

"Moony, I lived in this cupboard for 10 long, long years. Then I was all but a slave. Worse than house elves get treated." Harry said irritated.

"We can't do anything until tomorrow." Remus said. "Dumbledore and I are going to see you then. Think you can last that long?"

"No, Remus I can't. So I will visit you instead." Harry said smiling.

"Harry." Remus said sternly, but it was too late.

Harry appeared in the room and hugged Remus. Remus started laughing, and hugged Harry as well. Then he pointed to the bed. Harry sat obediently next to Serena still smiling. Remus shook his head, as was becoming his custom with these two. They are definitely going to be the death of me, Remus thought.

"How long have you been here?" Remus asked.

"Almost as long as I'd been locked in the cupboard. I was going to stay, but that cupboard has gotten quite small since last time I was in there." Harry said seriously.

"I see. How come you just didn't come and talk to me?" Remus asked.

"Because you would have made me go back." Harry said. "I just wanted some time to stretch my legs. Heard the meeting and all, so no need to catch me up."

"How was Diagon Alley?" Remus asked.

"Quite nice, quite nice. Would have liked Kingsley's company actually. It was very boring eating alone." Harry said.

"What did you need at Gringotts?"

"Well, since my things were upstairs, including my money, I needed more so I could eat. I was hungry, after all." Harry said.

Remus shook his head. "Harry, I'm sorry but you have to go back. By your birthday you will be here, and you will never have to go back there again. But for now, we need you to be able to stay there." He said.

"Fine, Moony. Don't want my company. I see how it is." Harry said. He smiled at Serena. "You will have some interesting people to talk with soon. Be ready, I will be back before you know it!"

"Of course, Harry dear. I will be counting the days." Serena said smiling. "If I want to annoy Moony, I'll just start counting minutes and seconds too!"

Harry laughed and took the mirror from Remus and handed it back to Serena. With a quick bow he disappeared. He did not, however return to the cupboard yet. Instead he appeared in Ginny's room smiling as he saw her reading a book. Quickly copying the mirror, he threw one on the bed causing her to look up. She didn't see anyone, and began to wonder if she had imagined feeling anything.

"Ginny Weasley."

Ginny looked around, confused.

"Ginny Weasley!"

Ginny started looking around her bed trying to find out where the voice was coming from.

"Ginny! Answer the damned mirror you git!"

Finding the mirror, she laughed. She knew this was Harry's doing. Only he could have popped in and out without a sound.

"Damnit Ginny, I'm growing old here!"

"Fine. Serena Black." Ginny said smiling. "Long time, no see. Must have been almost a whole day."

"Don't blame me, blame Harry, our ringleader!" Serena said laughing.

"Hey don't blame me, blame muggles." Harry said, appearing in the mirror for a second.

"Wait I thought only two people could use the mirrors." Ginny said questioningly.

"Well, can I be blamed for playing with them a bit?" Harry said. "We have some important news, and need you to tell Ron."

"What is it now?" Ginny asked, sighing.

"We are proceeding with the plan ahead of schedule." Serena said happily.