Harry woke the next morning with a new sense of purpose and happiness. The weight of the world seemed to have lifted from his shoulders. Sirius and he had stayed up late into the night making plans and deciding what needed to be done and while Voldemort was still after him and he was still being controlled by Dumbledore he now had a new feeling of hope that it would all be over soon.
After showering and dressing for the day it was with a much lighter heart and a smile on his face that Harry went downstairs to join his relatives for breakfast.
Vernon ignored him as he had done the day before hiding behind his newspaper while he ate. Dudley sent a smile and a nod towards Harry and didn't even complain when Harry received a full plate of eggs, bacon and toast from his aunt while he was eating half of a grapefruit. Petunia continued to give him odd looks and seemed anxious about something.
Breakfast ended quickly and after placing his plate in the sink Harry returned to his room to talk with Sirius some more. They were working on their plans for the summer when there was a knock on Harry's bedroom door. Sirius quickly became invisible while Harry went to see who his visitor was. He was surprised when he opened the door to find his Aunt Petunia standing in the hallway holding a small grey book and looking rather nervous.
"Aunt Petunia."
"Harry, may I speak with you for a few minutes." she asked trying her best to keep her emotions in check.
Harry nodded and let her in directing her to his desk chair where she took a seat. Taking a seat on the bed just across from where she was sitting he waited patiently for her to begin.
"Harry," Petunia started before pausing while she tried to figure out how to say what she wanted, "I… I don't like you." She grimaced at her choice of words and the sad but accepting look on her nephews face.
"No, wait, you don't understand." Petunia quickly added watching his look change to one of confusion.
"I mean it's not that I don't like you, I don't but, I mean I don't know why I don't like you, Oh, I mean something's not right about it."
Harry watched his aunt curiously as she fumbled around trying to find the right words. "Aunt Petunia, are you ok?"
She took and deep breath and released it slowly before beginning. "I received a diary from a friend for Christmas." she said holding up the grey book she was carrying. "It seemed like an odd gift at first but with you and Dudley away at school and Vernon at work all day I decided to use it to pass some of my free time and started writing in it every day." Petunia ran her fingers lightly over the embossed cover of the small book as she spoke.
"There's not a lot that goes on around here during the school year so I mostly wrote about Dudley and Vernon and you. Here, look."
Petunia moved to sit on the bed next to Harry and opened the Diary to various pages showing him what she had written about him.
January 7th
I was walking down the hall past Potter's bedroom and started thinking about him today. I will be so glad when that awful boy never has to return here anymore. Why we didn't just ignore that old man and send him to an orphanage I'll never know.
January 12th
I was working in the garden this morning and discovered a broken plate hidden among the bushes. I just know it was that Potter brat. That boy is no good and I wish he was never born.
January 22nd
It's Potter's fault, I know it. I don't know what he's done to make it take this long but I'm sure he used his unnaturalness to break the toilet. He has to tear up everything we own. Why can't he let us decent people live in peace? The ungrateful brat, and after all we've done for him.
The entries went on and on, each one confirming the others and Harry felt a weight settling in his heart as he read them. He had always known she didn't like him but for some reason hearing her talk about it and seeing it written in her hand made it so much worse.
Seeing him becoming more and more dejected she pulled the book away and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Harry I'm not trying to be mean to you by showing you this, there's a point I'm trying to get to."
Harry nodded still clearly upset and she continued.
"In February Marge broke her leg and needed some help around the house. Not having anything better to do I went to stay with her for about a month. Since I was in the habit and enjoying writing in my diary I took it with me. Here," she said showing him the book again after searching for the right page, "this is after I was there for a week."
Harry read the entries from a week after she had gone to Aunt Marge's and was surprised at what he read.
February 11th
I found myself thinking about Harry earlier, I hope he's alright. I think he's had a rough couple of years at his school. He reminds me so much of James, except for his eyes which are most defiantly my sisters. I miss her.
February 15th
I went shopping today and came across a shirt that I just had to buy. I think it will look very good on Harry and should match his eyes perfectly. I find myself worrying about him more and more, I hope he's ok.
February 19th
Marge started in on Harry today and it made me so mad! I can't believe some of the things she said and won't repeat them here. When she started comparing him to my sister, and not in a good way, I had finally had enough and stormed off. The nerve of that woman!
Harry looked at his Aunt with a mixture of surprise, shock and hope in his eyes as he finished reading the entries she had shown him. Before he could say anything Petunia flipped forward through the diary and showed him another entry.
"This is from a couple days after I returned here from Marge's."
March 14th
I tripped walking past Potter's room this morning I just know it has something to do with his unnaturalness. Why he has to go and ruin our lives by staying here I don't know. I'll be forever grateful when he is gone from our lives for good.
"There's several more I won't bother to show you, I'm sure you get the idea. A couple weeks later I was reading back through everything I had written and noticed the abrupt change in my attitude concerning you. It didn't' take me long to realize that after I was away from here for about a week I didn't hate you anymore. Just to be sure I decided to spend another two weeks with Marge and after I was there about a week the hateful feelings disappeared again."
"Are you saying you don't really hate me? That you think something here is making you feel that way about me?" Harry asked hopefully.
Petunia nodded and held up her diary. "I know there's something wrong here, but I don't know what to do about it." Getting up from where she was sitting next to Harry Petunia walked to the door pausing as she left the room. "Right now I don't like you Harry." she said simply before closing the door behind her as she left the room. As Petunia walked towards her bedroom to put her diary away she felt a warm happy feeling in her chest. She hadn't failed to notice the smile Harry gave her at her parting words and it warmed her heart to think that after everything she'd done to him over the years he still believed and might even be willing to forgive her.
Sirius reappeared after Petunia left and took a seat in the desk chair across from Harry.
"Did you get all that Sirius?" Harry asked.
"Yes, sounds like an artifact of some sort, though it could be a potion in the water or food or something but I doubt it."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well your cousin doesn't seem to hate you anymore and if it was a potion being put in the food I would expect him to hate you too. Plus it would be a lot of work to have to keep dosing her I mean this has been going on since you were brought here right?"
Harry nodded. "Who did this and why?" Harry asked more to himself than anything. "Dumbledore, it has to have been Dumbledore there's no one else it could be. But why, what would he have to gain from my family hating me?"
Sirius sighed. "Well I would have to agree that Dumbledore is the only one who would have a reason to do something like this. So far everything he's done has shown that he has two basic motives concerning you, one to use you to hide his heir and two to keep you under his control. The first doesn't seem to apply so it has to be to keep you under his control. I'd say he wants you to see him as your savior when he takes you away from here each summer."
Harry grunted in frustration. How many more things like this has Dumbledore done to him over the years he wondered. Shaking himself from thoughts that weren't getting him anywhere he addressed Sirius. "So how do we find it and what do we do with it once we do?"
"It'll be easy to find if you can do magic all we need to do is cast a simple spell on you're eyes so that you can see magic. Then you just have to wander around the house until you find it. As far as what we do with it, well I don't know just yet. Once we find it we'll cast a few spells to identify what it is and go from their. It's a little like the curse breaking Bill Weasley does for Gringotts. I did some similar stuff with some of the junk at Grimmauld Place while I was stuck there so we shouldn't have much trouble if we can find it. But like I said we need a way to do some magic without getting you in trouble."
Harry let out a snort of indignation. "I don't think Fudge will be willing to give me an exemption any time soon."
Sirius chuckled. "There are a few ways around the underage law, the Ministry tracks underage magic in two different ways. There are charms on your wand to tell them when and where it gets used and what spell was done. Those are pretty easy to remove but you would need another wand to do it and you have to use magic. But even if we remove those they still monitor magic at your residence. If you lived with a wizarding family that wouldn't be a problem because they expect to see magic getting used at your home all the time but living here with muggles you'd get busted."
Harry nodded in understanding as he listened intently to Sirius every word.
"There are also ward's we could cast to prevent the Ministry from detecting any magic that took place here but we'd have to do the spells to create the ward which would get you caught, they've been illegal since the 1600's and I'd be surprised if Dumbledore's wards didn't notify him if they're modified. Come to think of it Dumbledore probably has his own wards to let him know if any magic is done here."
"The only other way I know is the Fidilius charm which would hide everything including magic but once again we'd have to perform the charm, Dumbledore would surely find out and I don't know how to cast it anyway."
"So it sounds like no matter what we do Dumbledore and probably the Ministry are going to find out and want to know what's going on." Harry said dejectedly.
Sirius listened to Harry and thought about what he said for several minutes all the while tapping a transparent finger on his chin. Finally he looked up at Harry and grinned. "So I think you're idea is the way to go."
"What?" Harry said wondering what the hell Sirius was talking about.
"Fudge." he replied simply.
Harry looked at his godfather like he was nuts. "You've got to be kidding me."
Sirius chuckled at the look on Harry's face. "Not at all, look it's no secret that Fudge doesn't particularly like you or Dumbledore he's been beat up politically to many times by the two of you. Now tell me, what do you think Fudge would be willing to do to encourage a split between you and the much vaunted Headmaster?"
A large grin appeared on Harry's face as he realized what Sirius had in mind. "I think he'd love to see a parting of ways between me and Dumbledore and I know something I can offer that I think he'd trade just about anything to get." Harry thought for several minutes loving the simplicity of it. "And if I have an exemption Dumbledore can't really say anything, can he?"
"Oh he can, and probably will but it won't do any good." said Sirius grinning like the Grim that chased the animagus cat up the Whomping Willow.
Cornelius Fudge Minister of Magic was sitting in his office thinking about the many important things he had to do when a snowy owl flew in through his window dropping a letter on his desk before landing on the back of an empty chair apparently waiting for a response.
'I think that's Potter's owl.' he thought. Curious as to what the boy who had caused him so much trouble in the past was writing to him for he decided to put off his important business for a few minutes to read Harry's letter. A large smile appeared on his face as he did so.
Dear Minister Fudge,
I am sure you are surprised to be receiving a letter from me and I am equally sure you will be happy with its contents.
I have learned many things recently and all of these things have helped me come to the decision that it would be in my best interests to sever all ties with Albus Dumbledore. His decisions regarding me and my care have been shaky at best and downright perilous at worst continually placing not only myself but those around me at great risk.
With that in mind I would like to ask a favor of you. I need an exemption from the underage magic restriction so that I may use magic during the summer holiday. It is my intention to attend a magic school outside of Britain at the start of the new term and I would like to practice over the summer to ensure my acceptance and placement. If you could see your way clear to granting me this request it would help ensure my ability to leave the country at the start of the new term and attend another institution for the remainder of my schooling.
I would also appreciate it if you could keep the information in this letter between us. I have no doubts that should Headmaster Dumbledore find out about the reasons for the exemption he would do everything in his power to prevent my leaving. In fact I would expect him to question you directly about the exception once he hears of it, should you choose to extend your generosity to me that is.
Thank you for your time Minister, I know you are a busy man.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter
Laughing out loud Cornelius pulled out his wand and pointed it at the letter he had just finished reading. "Incindio!" he said watching the letter disappear in a burst of flame.
After having his secretary provide him with the necessary forms he quickly filled out the paperwork. When he was finished he had his secretary deliver the forms to the proper offices while he penned a response to Harry. Once he had received the validated waiver and apparition license he placed them in an envelope with his note and gave it to Hedwig who quickly made her way out of the office.
"What a great day!" a smiling Cornelius said to his empty office.
Hedwig returned and after giving Harry his letter went to her cage for a drink of water and a nap. A smile lit up Harry's face as he opened the envelope and found the exemption and much to his surprise an apparition license inside along with a note.
Mr. Potter,
I was quite surprised to hear from you and not at all unhappy with what you had to say. I agree whole heartedly with your reasoning and proposed actions. Enclosed please find the approved waiver allowing you to use magic freely within the bounds of the law until you reach the age of majority at which time you will be able to use magic as a legal adult wizard. The paperwork has been filed with the appropriate offices and you are free to begin using magic immediately. The tracking and reporting charms can be removed from your wand by touching the waiver with its tip. Also enclosed please find an approved apparition license. I trust you will be able to find a suitable instructor. I wish you the very best at your new school.
On a side note I understand your concerns and agree with your assessment. You have a major threat against you with the return of he-who-must-not-be-named and I am happy to be able to provide you with this waiver as a means of learning to defend yourself. That said, I have used the Incindio charm on your letter to great effect and would suggest as your first legal spell outside of Hogwarts you do the same to this one.
Sincerely,
Cornelius Fudge
Minister of Magic
While Sirius read Fudge's reply Harry drew his wand and touched its tip to the waiver. A bright glow enveloped the piece of parchment and Harry's wand for several seconds before fading. As soon as Sirius finished with Fudge's letter Harry pointed his wand at it saying "Incindio!" and watched the letter turn to ash which he then vanished.
"Well, should we start looking for the artifact?" Harry asked Sirius.
He was surprised to see his godfather shaking his head no. "Not yet, you should work on some spells from one of your school books, charms or something. I suspect someone from the order or Dumbledore will show up soon to see what you're doing using magic."
"Oh right." said Harry.
"By the way, do you're best to avoid making eye contact with whoever shows up especially if it's Dumbledore. We don't want anyone to go peeking into what we're doing. It might make it easier if you play the 'I'm upset because I just lost the worlds best and greatest ever godfather who was so incredibly handsome and wonderful…'"
A grinning Harry barely managed to cut him off before he got any more carried away. "Easy Snuffles, down boy." he said laughing at the fake hurt look he received in response.
Sirius disappeared and after digging out his charms book Harry began working through the fifth year material. It wasn't long before there was a soft pop and Harry looked up to see Albus Dumbledore standing in front of him.
"Hello Headmaster." Harry said sullenly looking down quickly and acting depressed. It was taking everything he had to not start cursing the man in front of him into oblivion.
"Hello Harry. I'm sorry to bother you so early in the holiday but I detected magic being performed on the premises and wanted to make sure you were alright. I expected to find an adult wizard here seeing as you are still underage. Why are you doing magic Harry?"
"Don't worry its ok." Harry said keeping his voice sounding as downtrodden as possible as he retrieved his new waiver from his desk and showed it to the Headmaster. "I asked the Minister for a waiver so I could learn to defend myself. I thought it would be a good idea with Voldemort running around trying to kill me."
"I see." Dumbledore said surprised that Cornelius would go along with this for Harry. He was sure that the Minister despised the boy. "What are you planning to study this summer?" he asked. There was nothing he could do about the waiver since it had already been approved but he could at least keep tabs on what Harry was learning.
"I'm not sure yet. I figured I'd start with everything through fifth year and if I still have time see about getting someone to take me to Diagon alley to get some more books." Harry kept looking down idly playing with the wand in his hands thoroughly working the depressed about his lost godfather angle and hoping Dumbledore would leave soon.
"That sounds like a good plan Harry. I'm not sure if you'll be safe going to Diagon Alley though, however I would be happy to send you some books when you're ready."
Seeing Harry nod he continued. "I'm glad to see you're dealing with your loss in a constructive manner. I know you feel the need to study but please do try and enjoy some of your summer."
"Thank you sir, I'll try." Harry said closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose while giving the Headmaster a weak smile.
A moment later Harry heard Dumbledore sigh. A soft pop later he was gone and Sirius reappeared. As soon as the old man left, Harry fell on to his bed shaking from a combination of nerves and rage.
"You handled that perfectly Harry." Sirius said.
"Thanks. I'm not sure how I kept myself from hexing him." Harry growled.
"I know Harry, it took everything I had not to appear and go off on the old codger." Sirius said in a tone eerily similar to the one Harry had used.
Harry chuckled at the thought of a ghost laying into the most powerful wizard alive.
"Don't worry about the Diagon Alley crap Dumbledore told you, I'll teach you some disguise charms and to apperate so that won't be a problem. I'm not about to let you be cooped up in here all summer, once we get a few things worked out you won't have much to worry about anymore."
Harry grinned, the happiness he was feeling shining from his emerald eyes.
Harry and Sirius decided to wait until the next day to search for the magical object they suspected was somewhere in the house. Petunia was still under the spell and hating all things Harry so they thought it would be best to wait until everyone was gone and perform the search in a Dursley free house.
After breakfast Vernon left for work and Dudley went to meet his friends.
"Aunt Petunia." Harry said.
Petunia faced Harry with her dislike of the boy clearly showing. Harry was heartened to see she still wore the almost unidentifiable look he had noticed her with since Kings Cross which he now knew to be that of someone not happy with themselves for doing something they were unable to control. She didn't say anything, instead waiting impatiently for him to continue.
"That conversation we had the other day in my room, I think I know what to do about it but I have to use something you won't like so I was hoping you had some errands to run or something for a while this morning."
A brief look of hope flashed across her eyes before her mask of dislike reappeared. "As a matter of fact I do have some shopping I need to get done. I'll be back for lunch, do not destroy my house while I'm gone."
Harry grinned at his aunt before returning upstairs to wait for her to leave. A few minutes later he heard the front door open and close.
"Ok Kiddo," Sirius began, "have you ever seen a magical aura?"
"Yes, I've seen Dumbledore's when he's upset."
"Right, well all magical objects have them it's just that they're so faint you cant normally see them. The spell I'm going to teach you is only temporary but will enhance your eyesight so that you can. The incantation is 'magicus visus'. Concentrate on your eyes, having perfect eyesight and magical auras while moving the wand tip in a clock wise circle in front of your face. Oh, you should remove your glasses first."
Harry nodded and removed his glasses placing them carefully on the nightstand next to his bed. After concentrating for several minutes he moved the wand as he was instructed and repeated the incantation. A soft blue light enveloped his head for a second and vanished. A moment later everything came into focus and several items around the room began to glow softly in different colors. "Wow!" Harry said looking around the room.
"I know." Sirius replied grinning. "You only have about an hour though so we better get a move on. Search every room in the house, closets and all. If you find anything glowing we need to figure out what it is."
Harry began working his way through the house finally identifying two figurines in the living room that glowed red with a black tint.
"That's dark magic Harry." Sirius said knowingly. "I've seen that loads of times at Grimmauld."
After a quick wave of sadness at how low Dumbledore had stooped and a deep breath Harry asked what they needed to do. Sirius had him cast a series of spells finally arriving at an unbelievably simple solution. Pointing his wand at each statue in turn Harry said the spells, "Finite Incantatem! Finite Incantatem!"
As he watched the glow slowly faded away until the aura's completely disappeared from the statues.
"Clearly Dumbledore didn't expect you to figure this out or he would have protected them better." Sirius said almost laughing out loud.
Harry was also grinning ear to ear. "It sounds like it will take a week or so for the effects to wear off. Why do you think there were only two? I would guess one was for Aunt Petunia and the other for Uncle Vernon but what about Dudley?"
"Dumbledore probably put those here about the same time you moved in and Dudley was just a baby then so there was no need. If he was keeping an eye on you, which he surely was, he would have seen Dudley picking on you so there was really no need to add another."
After making another quick sweep of the house and the yard Harry returned to his room to wait for the spell to wear off hoping that in a week life at Privet Drive would be a lot better.
-
AN: Hey all, you guys are completely awesome! I can't begin to thank you all enough for the great reviews I've received so far. You're incredible insights and suggestions have already helped me plug a couple small holes I had in this and upcoming chapters so thank you for helping make this a better fic!
I was originally going to respond to each of you individually here but as I read the reviews I find that in doing so I would give away much of where I'm going with this and that would suck all the fun out of it. So instead I'll do my best to address what points I can without giving too much away.
This story will not be your typical head to head Harry vs. Dumbledore story; though that is a key element (you'll understand as the story progresses). Also, Dumbledore isn't exactly evil, he has done something evil but he's still definitely a light wizard though a bit of a villain in this story. Unfortunately his justifications are weak to everyone but him but you'll have to wait until about chapter 29 to see what they are (ha ha ha Dumble may not be evil but I am). The plot is pretty aggressive and difficult to work with and stay within the boundaries of cannon so I may stray a bit here and there but I'll do my best, I would expect Voldy and Bella to be a bit outside of their normal characters but I will provide what justifications I can. Skip, I think you're right I'm probably due to read the books again, it's been awhile. I removed three words from that line towards the end so it works now. Thanks, nice catch.
Pairings: Thanks ever so much for everyone's feedback to my question. When I asked the question I already had my picks narrowed to two and now know which way I'm going to go with it. But once again I'm evil and not going to tell you. Regardless of what pairings you like or don't like please don't stop reading because you 'think' the pairing's going in a direction you can't stand, it might not be going there, Harry is after all a hormone filled teenager. The pairing for this story is a minor part adding a bit of tension and angst and really only affects a small part of the end that I can't tell you about yet. Thanks again for your input.
To beta or not to beta, that is the question. Currently I don't use one, I don't doubt that it would improve my work but I think I've gotten better since my first stories and like being able to post when I want without having to wait on someone else. Robin DeWynter, thanks for the offer, I'm not sure what I want to do yet, I'll think about it.
As always please review. I read everything you write and your comments help make this a better story!