Harry Potter knew how to steal. He'd learnt how to when he was younger and the Dursleys hadn't fed him in a few days. He and Ginny had eaten all of the chocolate frogs that they had had. Even if they hadn't, they were gone now. He wondered if Sirius had got their things. He was so grateful that he'd left the marauders map with Ron, otherwise he was sure it would have been gone forever.

Ginny sat on the bench outside the shop, while Harry sneaked into the shop, under his cloak, straight behind another customer. Clearly, they were in a touristy village because there were souvenirs available in the shops. Harry eyed a backpack, with a picture of Ben Nevis on it. They needed a new bag. He kept his eye on the shopkeeper, but she had no reason to look over where he was. He was invisible. He pulled the bag under his cloak, feeling a sense of guilt in his stomach. There was nothing else they could do.

In the end, Harry thought he must have stolen over £50 worth of things, most of them decorated with the words "Ben Nevis" or a picture of the famous mountain. There were lots of camping things in the shop, being that lots of people camped around the mountain. Harry had taken a Ben Nevis cutlery set and a plate each for himself and Ginny. He'd grabbed a raincoat each, too, and an umbrella, as well as a water bottle each. There was also lots of food in the shop, albeit not good food. There was fudge and sweets, but there was no pasta or anything that would actually fill them up. It was a warm day, so Harry had taken them some ice cream as well.

Once he'd filled the bag, he stood by the door and waited for almost ten minutes before somebody came in and he could slip out. Ginny was staring at Ben Nevis from the bench she was sat on. He sat next to her on the bench and squeezed her knee. "Let's go, Gin."

They walked along the road until they found a discrete alleyway. Harry took off the cloak and showed Ginny what he'd got. Firstly, he gave her a plaster to put over the cut she'd got in the chase and then he offered her a tub of ice cream and a spoon. She grinned at the sight of the treat. Sitting with their backs against the wall of the alleyway, knees folded in front of them, they dug into their ice cream, not speaking about what they were going to do next.

"Oh, I saw a calendar in the shop. It's been two days since we left Hogwarts. It's the 27th of April," Harry informed her. Ginny nodded.

"Okay, then, what should we do next?" she said, looking into her empty ice cream tub.

"Well, the muggles know who we are. We're in their papers, so we can hardly ask for help."

"I was thinking, Harry. Do you remember when Sirius was on the run? He bought you that firebolt didn't he? So you must be able to access your Gringotts vault even if you're a criminal?" Ginny hypothesised. Harry nodded slowly.

"You're right, but he can't have actually gone to Gringotts," he said, confused. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"No, silly, owl order forms!" Harry looked at his ice cream pot as if that were going to give him the answer as to what owl order forms were. Ginny seemed to understand that he didn't know what they were. "You just put your vault number on the form and write down what you want to order. Then it takes some of your blood to check that you're allowed to take money out. I mean, we'll have to order some forms, so we'll need an owl, but it's something at least."

"Yeah, that is something. Ginny, we'll get some brooms!" Harry enthused. "Then, we'll be able to fly from place to place." Ginny nodded enthusiastically. The thought of flying was incredible to Harry. When he went home in the summers, he missed it desperately.

"Right, so we need to get somewhere where we'll be able to find an owl."

"Edinburgh should do," Ginny said with a grin.

XXX

Sirius sat at the table, staring at Harry's belongings. Tonks had managed to get Harry and Ginny's things when she was obliviating the police officers. Just before they were all murdered by death eaters. Fortunately, all four of them had gotten away and it seemed that Harry and Ginny had too. Sirius was cursing himself for not grabbing the pair of them and apparating away as soon as he'd seen them.

"So, they've got nothing," Sirius said flatly. "No money, no way to contact us, not even a spare pair of clothes." Sirius wondered what James and Lily would think of him. What would they be doing now, if Harry was missing and they were still alive? There was no way they'd be sat in a kitchen waiting around. In his head, Sirius knew that he was a wanted man and that he'd be no use to Harry if he was sent back to Azkaban but that didn't stop him from wanting to get out and search for Harry.

Finally, Dumbledore arrived, swooshing out of the fireplace. He didn't look happy, but no one did. They'd lost Harry and Ginny. It had been two full days now since they'd had to run. The pair of them must be starving.

Sirius sat through the Order meeting. He listened to what Dumbledore said about Harry and Ginny, listened to Tonks give her report about what had happened. No plan was made. Once Tonks had finished describing what had happened, it was back to the schedule for monitoring the prophecy.

Sirius couldn't stand it. Molly was constantly crying. Arthur was weary. It seemed that the only people willing to go out and actually look for them were himself, Bill and Charlie. Even Remus had said that they should acquiesce to Dumbledore. Sirius understood why they shouldn't go. They might lead the ministry or Voldemort to them. But, in Sirius' opinion, that wasn't a good enough reason. They had to find them. They were just kids and they were on their own.

Molly started making dinner as soon as most of the Order had left. Dumbledore had a quiet word with Remus, during which they sent lots of looks over to Sirius. Sirius rolled his eyes frequently. He looked up and saw Bill and Charlie in the door frame, out of sight of Molly making dinner and Dumbledore and Remus. They beckoned to him. Sirius furrowed his brow and casually stood up and followed them.

Sirius' mother's study was the nicest room in the house, he had to say. It was the only room that Kreacher had cleaned in the ten years since his mother's death. Sirius leant against the wall after closing the door. Bill and Charlie perched on the desk. "We're gonna go and find them. They're just kids and the fact that we're leaving them on their own, it's despicable," Bill started. Sirius nodded vehemently.

"When are we going?" Sirius asked. Bill and Charlie exchanged a look. "Come on, guys. You can't expect me to stay at home while you're out looking for my godson!"

"Sirius, Harry would be heartbroken if you were caught," Charlie reminded him. "We need to find Pettigrew and then we can free you," the Weasley brother said passionately. Sirius was shocked. It was the first time anyone had suggested finding Pettigrew so that Sirius could be freed. In his shock, Sirius agreed to not leaving the house. "Bill and I are going to go to Fort William, now. They won't have anywhere to stay, so they'll be sleeping rough."

"Where will you take them?" Sirius asked them. Bill and Charlie shared another look.

"We're not sure. Mum reckons that the ministry will give them a fair trial. They won't. There's no proof that Ginny was possessed and Dumbledore's word isn't worth much to the Wizengamot at the moment. And we don't really trust him all that much right now," Bill explained. Sirius couldn't agree more. "Where do you think we should take them?"

"We'll buy a house, in secret. I'll give you the money," Sirius suggested. "Only the three of us will know about it. I know both of you can do wards, probably much better than I can, so we'll set it up perfectly. They'll need somewhere to be safe."

"Perfect," Charlie agreed. "We're gonna go. Cover for us, will you?" Sirius nodded.

"Bill, Charlie, thank you," Sirius told them, his voice catching. They both nodded curtly at him and left.

XXX

Harry and Ginny had decided that, despite their exhaustion, they didn't have time to stop for sleep, not in Fort William anyway. They'd made a plan in the alleyway. They needed to get to Edinburgh. There was a magical community there and a shopping street, including a branch of Gringotts. They would wait at the Fort William train station, under the cloak and slip onto the train.

It had worked perfectly. They huddled in the bike storage area. Their first train was to Glasgow, and then to Edinburgh. There wasn't a direct train. They'd been on the train for almost four hours when it finally arrived in Glasgow. Harry and Ginny were ready to go, having been paying attention to the announcements. They were the first people off the train, knowing that if they got caught up in a crowd they might lose the cloak and be revealed.

As quickly as they could without revealing themselves, they bustled to where the screens with the train times were. There was a train to Edinburgh from Glasgow very frequently, from platform 3. The platform was busy. Harry gave Ginny a look. The invisibility cloak was very helpful, of course, but in a crowd, they would be immediately obvious.

"We'll wait for a later train," Harry whispered. Ginny nodded and they scurried off the platform. Glasgow railway station was busy: the perfect time to do some stealing.

Harry left Ginny at the girl's bathroom and found a Starbucks. He grabbed each of them a bottled smoothie of some sort and a sandwich, stuffing them in the bag. There was a small chocolate shop, so Harry took a few bars of chocolate each. He was building up a resistance to the guilt of stealing every time he heard someone talking about "those awful school kids". Once he'd built up a meal for them both, Harry returned and picked Ginny up from where she was hiding in the toilets.

They found another alleyway by the side of the station and settled down together under the cloak. Harry let Ginny pick which sandwich she'd like first. They ate their meal in silence and then mutually agreed to have a nap. Using their raincoats as pillows, they leant against the brick wall and their exhaustion claimed them.

XXX

It was dark when they finally reached Edinburgh at eleven o'clock at night. All in all, it hadn't been too difficult to get there. Their major problem, they realised was getting out of the station. There were ticket barriers, and obviously they didn't have a ticket. Despite the time of night, there was a man stood watching. "What are we going to do?" Ginny whispered.

Harry looked at the man. He was bald and quite fat. Harry reckoned he could run faster than him. He nodded to himself. "What?" Ginny questioned.

"I'm gonna distract that guy. You get under the barrier and wait for me on the other side. Don't worry. I'm a fast runner," he assured her. Ginny protested, but Harry was out from under the cloak too fast. He gave Ginny enough time to get under the barrier, wincing as he saw it move slightly as she got underneath. He thought he might have seen her shoe peek out at the bottom as she got away.

"Are you alright there, laddy?" the man asked him and Harry nodded contritely. The inspector looked at him strangely and, in the second that the man looked away, Harry sprinted, reaching the barrier before the inspector began to move. He swung under the barrier and continued to run. As he did so, he saw another inspector, this one younger and more agile.

"Fuck," Harry muttered, running even faster. He'd find Ginny in a little bit. He had to get away from this guy first. Harry was more grateful than ever for Dudley chasing him when he was little. Harry had become an excellent runner because of it. He just kept running. He knew the inspector would give up eventually.

After what must have been ten minutes of running, Harry took a sharp turn left and noticed that the inspector wasn't behind him anymore. He didn't know when he lost him but all that mattered was that he had. The problem now, however, was that he had to go back to Ginny and to the station, where the inspector had undoubtedly returned.

Harry was creeping towards the station, his eyes well open for either of the inspectors. He was about three minutes from the station when he got slugged in the arm. "Ow, fuck," he swore. Ginny lifted the invisibility cloak slightly and Harry slipped underneath it. "What the hell?" he asked her.

"We're a team in this and you decided to risk yourself! What the hell was I going to do if you were caught? We've only just got away from one police station - we don't need to go into another!" she told him harshly. Harry put his hand on her arm.

"Gin, I'm sorry," he said, "but it was the only thing I could think of doing at the time." Ginny harrumphed. "We should find somewhere to sleep for the night," he suggested softly. Ginny nodded once. Harry could've cursed himself for pissing her off so early in the game.

XXX

A bench was not the comfiest place to spend the night, Ginny considered as she woke up. She supposed she should be grateful, however, that it hadn't rained. They really would've been fucked then. She pulled away from Harry. He was still sleeping peacefully. He looked younger when he slept, she considered.

While she watched Harry sleep, she thought through her plan again. It wasn't great. There were so many risks, but they needed money and Harry had it. If they could convince the goblins not to send for the ministry at the sight of them, then they could have full access to the bank. She hadn't proposed this to Harry yet, having only thought of it as she was trying to get to sleep in the cold last night. She wasn't sure how he would feel and, if he thought it was too much of a risk, she would understand. It was a risk.

"Gin," Harry muttered as he woke.

"Morning," she replied with half a smile.

"Have you forgiven me yet?" he asked her sleepily. Ginny nodded.

"Just don't do that again, okay? I can't do this without you," she reminded him.

The two of them set off for Edinburgh Castle under the cloak as usual. Ginny recalled Harry's reaction when she'd told him that the magical part of Edinburgh could be found underneath Edinburgh Castle. King David I of Scotland had developed it when he had built the castle, being a wizard himself. There was a secret entrance on the east of the castle that was visible exclusively to those who had magic in their blood.

The castle was beautiful and Ginny thought she might have liked to visit it if they hadn't been in such a situation. She'd always been interested in history and had loved reading books about it when she was little. Her uncle Fabian had been an avid reader and had given all of his books to his sister when he'd been murdered. Most of them were in Ginny's room at home now.

It wasn't hard to find the entrance to Castle Street. There was a little wooden sign sticking out of an alleyway. Harry laughed quietly to Ginny as they entered, "I feel as though we're living in alleyways." Ginny had to agree. They wandered down the dank alleyway for a few minutes, before it gave way to a beautiful cobbled street with shops lining each side. The street was long and widened at the end, where there was a pretty courtyard, decorated with bunting. It was quiet, being early in the morning, but there were a few witches and wizards wandering about.

Harry and Ginny walked slowly underneath the cloak, careful not to even show a foot. They were heading for Gringotts. She'd explained her plan to Harry on the way and he'd agreed. It was the only way they could survive. It was a risk they'd have to take. If it failed, they'd find a way out of it. She knew they would.

Noticing Gringotts on the street Ginny saw that it wasn't quite as grand as the Gringotts in London. In fact, it rather blended in with the rest of the shops on the street. Inside was a lot larger than the outside, of course, and it matched the London Gringotts to a tee. To either side of them, there were goblins weighing coins and jewels. It was grandeur to the extreme.

They reached the desk at the front and took off the cloak. "We'd like to visit vault 7604, please," Harry said, his voice shaking noticeably. Ginny had explained to Harry that you could visit his vault at any branch of Gringotts. Harry had been mindblown.

The goblin looked up from his book of numbers. He looked surprised to see them stood there. Clearly, the goblin world had become aware of what had happened. "Yes, come with me," the goblin said, sweeping Harry and Ginny to the opposite side that they would usually go to. Quite quickly, they realised they weren't heading to Harry's vault.

The goblin knocked on an ornate office door. "Enter," a voice said from within. The door swung open without anyone touching it. Inside, another goblin, this one with bigger ears and posher clothing, was sat at a desk, looking up curiously.

"Frodrick, sir, the owner of vault 7604 has arrived," the goblin that had brought them informed the new goblin. The new goblin nodded.

"Thank you, Godnok. You may return to your duties."

Godnok nodded. He ushered Harry and Ginny into the room and then left, the door closing behind him. Ginny's hands shook. This could be their end.

"Mister Potter, is it?" Frodrick asked Harry. Ginny watched as Harry nodded, introducing himself to the goblin. "And this must be Ginevra Weasley?"

"Yes, sir," Ginny replied. Frodrick nodded.

"Please, take a seat," he said, gesturing to the two leather chairs in front of his desk. Confused, Harry and Ginny sat down. "Mister Potter, I received a notice two days ago from the Ministry of Magic, requesting that we would cut off your finances from your Potter vault, so that you would not be able to access them. The Potter vault was originally set up at this branch of Gringotts and, therefore, only we would be able to disallow you from accessing your vault. Gringotts has a policy when it comes to cutting off criminal finances: we require proof," Frodrick explained, looking straight at Harry. Ginny watched the goblin curiously.

"Now, I asked the ministry for this proof. They know that that is our policy. They could not provide sufficient proof. What they had was circumstantial at best and, so, I did not cut off your finances. The London branch received a similar notice for your trust fund, but, as it is connected to the Potter vault, they could do nothing unless we did," Frodrick continued. Ginny's heart lifted. They could use his money. They could survive.

"I'm sorry," Harry interrupted, "but what do you mean by the Potter vault?"

Frodrick shook his head. "I forgot, Mister Potter, that you were not raised by wizards. Wealthy families, such as the Potters, have a family vault and then individual trust funds. When you were born, your parents set up your trust fund. When he was born, your father's parents would have done the same. Your mother's vault, before she married your father, was set up by her parents on her first visit to Gringotts. When your father reached his majority, at seventeen, his trust fund was converted into his own vault, still separate from the Potter vault. However, when Fleamont Potter, your grandfather, died, James' vault was merged with the Potter vault because he was now Head of House Potter. Upon your majority, your trust fund will do the same, because you are Head of House Potter."

Harry was looking overwhelmed. Ginny understood all of this. It was the way of the wizarding world, but, obviously, Harry had never been taught about it. "Can I access the Potter vault now?" Harry asked. Frodrick nodded.

"You can, but we advise all minors to use their trust fund until they are seventeen." Harry nodded slowly. "But, Mister Potter, the purpose of this meeting was to inform you that you may access your money for as long as you like. The goblins do not care about crime within the wizarding world, but we have an agreement with the ministry."

"Just so you know, sir, you won't ever receive proof, because I didn't do it," Harry explained vehemently to the goblin in front of them. The goblin nodded with a scary smile. Ginny was quite disconcerted seeing a goblin smile; it was quite off-putting.

"Whether you did or not is of no concern to us. If I may inquire, Mister Potter, what are your plans now?"

"Well, we haven't really thought that far ahead," Harry said, ruffling his hair. "We just knew that we needed to get some money and then we're going to find somewhere to go."

"If I may make a suggestion?" Frodrick said. Harry and Ginny both nodded eagerly. "You should purchase a property. You have more than enough money, Mister Potter, and it would allow you to hide more sufficiently. I assume that your eventual plan is to leave the country?" Harry nodded. "You'll need a passport each then," Frodrick continued.

"Yes, do you have any idea where we could get our birth certificates from?" Harry asked. Ginny had no idea what they were talking about now. What was a passport? She did know, however, that birth certificates were kept in the bank.

"They're kept here, Harry," Ginny muttered. Harry looked at the goblin in surprise and Frodrick nodded.

"There is a special procedure for magical passports. I can discreetly send for them if you would like?"

Ginny thought they might have met the kindest goblin that existed. They agreed to him sorting out their passports and both sat for a few moments while the goblin took a picture of each of them with a click of his fingers.

"Now, onto property, it's probably a good idea that you buy a few properties…"

XXX

Harry and Ginny spent over three hours with Frodrick, organising four properties across the UK and several fake identities. He helped them set up a bank account under a set of fake names that they would never actually use. Their passports were sent off under the names Clara Didsbury and William Masterson and Frodrick had edited the colour of their hair and eyes in the pictures.

Finally, they left the bank, with an address in hand for the house they had purchased in Edinburgh. Their first stop, however, was a beauty salon. The hairdresser almost weeped when Ginny told her that she wanted to die her hair a brown colour. If she was honest, Ginny nearly cried herself when she saw her hair for the first time. It was nice, cut to her shoulders and a pretty sort of honey brown with a full fringe, but she didn't feel like herself anymore. She didn't feel like a Weasley. Harry's hair was cut short and dyed a light brown. He purchased a gel to spike it up as much as he could. It was never going to lie flat so he may as well try it the other way.

After their hair was done, Harry left and headed to the options to get some contact lenses and new glasses. Ginny stayed at the beauty salon. They'd agreed that they needed to look older than they were. So, Ginny had her eyebrows waxed and tinted. They waxed her whole body, in fact, and then rubbed her with some sort of lotion. It smelled nice. Then, they put "semi-permanent" eyelashes on her. She didn't really understand what that meant but it looked nice.

She left the salon, after paying an inordinate amount, feeling not very like herself. Her next stop was a makeup store across the road. Harry had told her that it would probably make her look a lot older than she was. In the wizarding world, makeup was seen as quite promiscuous but Harry assured her that muggles disagreed, that it was the done thing.

Wandering about from station to station, Ginny felt out of her depth. She had no idea what any of these things did. "Can I help you?" a woman asked her in a deep Scottish brogue. Ginny smiled at the woman.

"My mum has given me quite a bit of money to get some makeup, but I have no idea what I'm looking for," Ginny lied, laughing at herself. The sales assistant smiled at her and began to show her around the station. She showed Ginny how to apply each product and Ginny left with makeup costing over £500. She was happy with the way she looked, though. She felt older than she was.

She found Harry in the clothes shop next door where they said they'd meet. He smiled when he saw her. "You look beautiful," he told her honestly. Ginny smiled at him. They browsed the department store for hours, stopping for lunch at the cafe. Ginny was quite enjoying having all this money. When she'd mentioned to Harry the money she'd been spending, he told her that he didn't care about his money and that, if it made her happy, she could spend it all.

Ginny tried on outfit after outfit, finding that she rather enjoyed muggle fashions. She became more daring with her choices as she went on, choosing skirts above the knee and necklines that weren't straight up to her neck. She bought bikinis and shorts and heels, and even pretty knickers and bras. She found herself enjoying it more than she would have imagined.

It was nearly five o'clock by the time they left, laden with shopping bags. They found a bus that would take them to near where they now lived. It wasn't far from the centre and, if they didn't have so many bags, Ginny thought they might have walked. The bus was full of people. Harry paid for both of them, because Ginny told him that she didn't really know how muggle money worked.

They got off the bus at the stop for Millar Place and dragged themselves to the house. Ginny's arms hurt by the time they reached number 22. Harry grinned at her as he pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. Pushing it open, Harry bustled in and dropped his bags down. Ginny did the same, closing the door behind her. She leaned back against the door and sighed. Home.