After the Stone.
Harry waited until the Hogwarts express entered the platform before he effected his plan to escape - it wasn't much of a plan, and it required a great deal of stealth and speed, but since he had already taken care of the basics then the next stage should not be a problem.
Just before he had boarded the Hogwarts express, he had cast a spell the goblins had taught him when he had forced them to when they had detected the tracking charms Dumbledore had placed on him as a child.
At first, Harry had been surprised, but then after a few minutes of mulling over the matter, he had accepted it; thanks to his occlumency training he had found easy-to-break-into memories which showed 18 attempts to escape from the Dursleys after his initial pleas for the social workers to save him from the abuse but nothing ever happened which convinced him to take the law into his own hands, which led to him planning his own escapes from Number 4 and the evil dump that was Little Whinging.
Suddenly it all made sense.
So much sense…
If he hated the Dursleys so much, hated even looking at them, breathing the same air as them, and listening to their talks about being normal, then why did he live there?
They are your relatives…
That simple sentence had replayed itself in his mind over and over again until it dulled when he felt the abuse mount up. Over time Harry had been forced to push that irritating sentence out of his mind just so he could force himself to escape. But then why hadn't he? Why would he decide to stay unless he had a death wish? It hadn't made sense until the goblins helped him unlock the memories. And then it made sense.
Each time he tried to escape, Albus Dumbledore would appear with that same arrogant, condescending smile on his features, telling him that the Dursleys loved him and then everything would go blank and he would find himself back with those filthy muggle animals.
Back to cleaning that already spotless house until it became a joke to the point where he wished he could make it a pigsty out of spite against Petunia.
Back to listening to Vernon giving his fat pig of a son pointers on how to punch his freak of a cousin (him, Harry).
Back to being harshly criticised by Marge and attacked by her disgusting mutts.
Back to worrying about being punished for things he hadn't even done.
All because of Albus Dumbledore. But hearing about the tracking charms did make a sort of sense because it answered so many questions about how Dumbledore was able to find him when he escaped.
Finding the tracking charms on his person and his things angered him, especially when he considered the final number to be overkill. There were 24 tracking charms on him and his things. It was relatively easy for him to dispel them, but Harry knew the moment Dumbledore realised this tactic was not going to work, then the old wizard would try something else. But the goblins had helped him there. All he had to do was simply to ask the Dursleys to let him go and give him permission as his guardians to let him go on his own. Harry had the perfect means of making that happen. The Dursleys hated and were terrified of him, and they didn't want to know him any more than Harry wanted to know them. Getting their permission should be easy. And he had the perfect incentives.
"Harry, is everything okay?" Harry had to snap back in the present and found Hermione Granger's concerned look filling his vision. He smiled back as comfortingly as he could.
"Yeah, I'm okay," he said, mentally wondering if the girl truly was a spy for Dumbledore.
"I'll write to you both," Ron interrupted.
"Thanks," Harry nodded although he mentally asked himself how Ron could do that when he didn't have an owl. He doubted Percy would let Hermes be used by his younger brother.
After being greeted by Ron's family - Harry had to clamp down on his occlumency barriers when he saw the way Ginny wanted to see him like he was some kind of zoo animal and the way Mrs Weasley tried to force herself and her family down her throat - Harry was led away by Vernon.
"Uncle Vernon," Harry deliberately stopped.
"What is it, Boy? Did you not learn at that freaky school to tell time yet?" Vernon snapped, clearly biting his tongue to keep his voice level so then passersby wouldn't be alerted. If they were alone then Vernon would be bellowing at him, but like all Dursleys, Vernon cared about his image. Sometimes it was a good idea to take advantage of these moments.
"Oh, I knew how to tell time a long time ago, Uncle. Actually, I was hoping to ask you for a favour, a deal."
Vernon stopped and stared at him.
"Let's be both know a man with delusions of godhood is forcing us together. I found out you were my guardians, so how about you let me go on holiday by myself that way you won't have to deal with me or my freakishness for this summer, and if it works out for us both then we can do this every single year until I turn 17-18 years old. What do you say?" Harry asked, thankful he had already sent Hedwig along somewhere for the summer since he didn't want her hurt.
"You mean that, Boy?" Vernon demanded.
"Yes," Harry nodded in confirmation.
"You mean to say you forced me to waste so much time and fuel getting here-?!" Vernon began working up a rant, but Harry stopped him quickly.
"Be quiet or someone will overhear you," Harry said sharply in case one of his muggle-born schoolmates overheard. "It's not a complete waste of time and fuel," he said, looking over at Dudley and Petunia who were both wondering what was taking them so long. "You three could spend an hour in London. See the sights. Go shopping. Use it as an opportunity. Hell, we could make it a yearly event. It's up to the three of you, Uncle Vernon; we both don't want to be together, so why are we letting an old wizard with delusions of godhood force us on one another? This is a win-win deal; you have me out of your hair, you're sticking one up at that arrogant old lunatic."
Vernon frowned down at him before he grunted. "Very well, Boy. You can spend the holiday on your own."
"Great," Harry heard the implied and I hope you die that was unsaid by his muggle uncle, "all you have to do is to make it official, by writing a note."
"What for?" Vernon asked suspiciously.
Harry smiled. Thanks to the goblins he had learnt how to push magic into his speech, more or less compelling people into doing what he wanted them to do, but he had a good way of going about this. "Suppose another…freak," he stressed the insult that the Dursleys regularly threw out at him, to make Vernon pay attention, "forces us back together?"
Harry held out a notepad and a pen. He had bought them a while before he had gone to Hogwarts." Just write your name and that you are giving me permission to let me go off on my own for the summer holiday," he filled his words with magic and sent them against Vernon while he hoped there weren't any trained wizards nearby who'd know what he was doing.
Vernon did as he was told, and he practically threw the pad in his face before he walked off without a word of goodbye. He also didn't bother asking Harry what he would be doing for the holiday, he didn't care. Used to the attitude Harry scanned the notepad and smiled. He would go to Gringotts and get some muggle money for the summer and he would head down to the South Coast for a few weeks, all to enjoy himself. With a bit of luck, Dumbledore would not bother him and since he was paying the goblins a sum to stop anyone tracking him down, there was nothing the old wizard could do about this.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. It was time to leave. He had some muggle money to get to Gringotts. It shouldn't take too long before he reached Diagon Alley, to brief freedom.
