The Letter

His trunk was packed; Hedwig was in her cage, he had his wand in his pocket and his broom in his hand. It was 2 AM; the Dursleys were all sound asleep. He quietly went downstairs and left his letter to Aunt Petunia on the kitchen table.

He then grabbed all of his things, remembering to take his invisibility cloak with him, and went outside into the cold night. He wished he had a sweatshirt with him, but he did not feel like opening his trunk; it would be a waste of time and every second that passed brought more danger onto him. Harry had thought about this all last night, hoping that he was making the right decision.

He cast a disillusionment charm on himself and his broom, remembering to also include his trunk and Hedwig's cage in case the invisibility cloak slipped off while flying. He then took off into the night, hoping that it would all go as planned.

After about an hour of flying, Harry saw the train station from below.

'Well, at least I know where I am'.

He then made his way to Hogsmade. He planned on staying at the Shrieking Shack for the night, and then setting off in the morning to Grimmauld Place. Since the DE's somehow found out about the headquarters, the Order had abandoned Grimmauld Place for the time being (though Harry thought it was impossible for them to find out, since Dumbledore was the Secret Keeper, and he obviously couldn't tell them since he was dead). Harry decided to search the house for anything that could be helpful on his journey; after all, it was Sirius's old house.

The only thing he had to worry about was the Order finding out where he was, or else he was never going to be able to complete his task. Later, Harry found out that this was the last thing he should have worried about.

Petunia woke up with the sun shining on her face. She suddenly felt a lot happier than she usually did in the mornings; she concluded it was because of her talk with Harry and their developing relationship. Vernon had already set off to work and Dudley was at a friend's house, so she had the house for Harry and herself. This was the first day in almost a year that she did not wake up early to start cleaning. She assumed Harry was still asleep, so she took a quick shower and went downstairs to make some coffee.

After making her coffee and sitting down at the table to have breakfast, she suddenly noticed an envelope that had her name on it, which definitely was not present last night when she went to bed. Bemused, she opened the letter and began to read.

Dear Aunt Petunia,

I know this might come as a surprise to you, so please read this letter carefully and give it your full attention to understand what I am doing. Last night I received a letter from Ron: Death Eaters attacked his house, and they demanded to know when I was coming to stay at the Burrow. Ron's dad has been injured, and it seems that he was injured badly. Notice how many people are getting hurt because of me—my parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, many of the Order members, and now Ron's dad. Ginny also suffered from Voldemort, and so had many other students. I decided I couldn't inflict my presence on anyone that I care about. Even you are in danger, and I can't let anything happen to you. The Death Eaters will know that I have left your house. I do not know how, but they have means of finding out. If anyone asks where I am, tell them I left without giving any notice and that I am currently somewhere in London. That will probably cause their search to vary all over London, and will hopefully give me enough time to find a new hiding place. Please do not worry about me; I promise you that I will take care of myself, and I can assure you that I will kill Voldemort.

Take care, and thank you for everything you've given me (even if you were a little too strict sometimes) ;)

Love,

Harry.

At this letter, Petunia was shocked; she did not know what to do, or who to tell. She remembered Harry saying something about a man named Remus Lupin, so she decided to contact him and let him know what Harry did. She will not let him risk his life because some stupid, so-called powerful wizard is a threat to the rest of the community. She and Harry had just started to get along, and she did not want to let go of that relationship. Petunia decided that this was time to reveal Windex, her owl. Windex had been staying in the shed in the backyard for as long as she could remember. She tried not to give anyone reasons to go to the shed, so that no one would find out about her owl; she did not want to give her up, nor did she want to answer awkward questions. She hurried off to the shed, where she also hid parchments and quills, and started writing.

Dear Mr. Lupin,

I am sorry to bother you these days. However, I feel that this is a situation you might want to handle yourself. Harry left last night without giving any indication as to where he would be staying. He left a letter on the kitchen table, saying that he is out to find Voldemort, and kill him once and for all. He said he could not 'inflict his presence on anyone that he cared about', because more and more people seem to be getting hurt when he does; he said not to worry about him, and to tell anyone that asks where he is that he is staying in London (though I have a feeling this is not where he's staying). I am worried sick, but I do not know where to start looking nor do I know why he feels he should be looking for Voldemort when he hasn't even finished school yet. Please, please contact me if you find out anything about his whereabouts.

Thank you,

Petunia Dursley.

And with that letter being sent, she went back to her kitchen hoping for a fast reply. She did the only thing she could think of to distract her mind from thinking about Harry: clean the kitchen, once more.