Chapter 4 : Goodbye Privet Drive

Harry had expected his uncle to be livid with him when he returned to Privet Drive from the Weasley's celebrations. However, rather than rant about it, it appeared that Uncle Vernon was trying to block his ill-fated excursion to Diagon Alley from his sub-conscious in a desperate attempt to convince himself that 'abnormal wizards' didn't exist. So, as he frequently did, Harry found himself preparing lunch for a family who didn't acknowledge his existence.

Vernon Dursley was reading The Times, and Petunia was testing Dudley on his Highway Code in advance of his umpteenth attempt at his Driving Theory Test. Harry thought that the Driving Theory Test was a good idea, as it was unlikely Dudley would ever pass it and be legally allowed to learn to drive. He pondered whether maybe the wizarding world should introduce something similar before allowing anyone to fly a broom. It would have been amusing seeing Crabbe and Goyle attempt it, and quite frankly, without them on brooms the world would be a safer place.

Harry started dishing bacon out to Dudley, amused at how he was struggling with the latest question his mother had asked. "You are waiting at a pedestrian crossing when the lights turn from red to flashing amber, however there is an elderly lady still crossing the road. Do you (a) wait patiently for her to cross before continuing, (b) rev your engine to let her know you are there, (c) blow your horn and swerve round her using the pavement if necessary, (d) run her down because its your right of way." Aunt Petunia looked expectantly at Dudley, obviously not expecting any delay at this point.

Harry started passing round the fried eggs while Dudley pondered the question for an unusually long interval. Finally he answered, "Definitely not 'a' probably not 'd' or though she'd deserve it. I don't know I think both 'b' and 'c'."

Harry almost dropped the frying pan, as he suppressed a laugh at his cousin's stupidity. However, he recognised the irony of the situation. The Dursley's were unwittingly helping him to learn the Highway Code, something which would be useful when it came to inheriting Sirius' motorbike.

Harry had mentioned being left Sirius' old bike to Remus and Tonks at the wedding, and surprisingly Tonks had told him that her father owned something similar. She also offered to give Harry a lesson, on her father's bewitched Triumph. Harry couldn't imagine how anyone so clumsy could ride a motorbike, so he had been less than enthusiastic when agreeing. However Harry had no other options when it came to learning the ride flying motorbikes. Tonks' mother had bought it so her Muggle husband could experience flying. Ted Tonks, in turn, had given young Sirius rides on it, and Sirius had liked it so much he'd bought one.

As he waited, regretting his decision to allow Tonks to teach him, Harry briefly wondered just where you went to buy a flying bike. But this train of thought was driven from his mind, as the Dursley's and all the other residents of Privet Drive were disturbed by the deafening, yet unmistakable roar of an un-silenced motorbike.

Harry rushed to the window as the sound increased, being impressively amplified within the confines of the street. He watched open mouthed as the rider slammed on the brakes, laying an impressive trail of rubber and swerving skilfully around Mr Tibbles, who shot off in the direction of Wisteria Walk at top speed, no doubt to report this strange occurrence to his Mistress. Just before it reached a standstill the bike turned sharply into the garden of number four, completely flattening Petunia's prize winning Hydrangea bush in the process.

By now every window in the street was wide open as the locals took in the bizarre spectacle. The leather-clad rider wrestled the bike to a stop in the middle of the neat lawn, blipping the throttle loudly one last time for effect, before turning the engine off and stepping away from the powerful machine. The effect was nearly ruined as the mysterious biker stumbled briefly onto the path, before regaining balance.
As the final echoes of the engine roar abated, Privet Drive was overcome by an expectant silence as the residents waited with baited breath to see who the newcomer was. The gossip-mongers were not disappointed as the rider's helmet was removed to reveal lurid bubblegum-pink hair, shaved in fetching strips. Tonks had arrived for Harry's riding lesson!

Harry rushed to out of the kitchen, and by some miracle made it to the front door before Uncle Vernon. He opened it in time to see Tonks being berated by the elderly next-door neighbour. Harry watched in disbelief as Tonks offered Mrs Fortesque-Smythe some decidedly un-neighbourly advice, backing it up with a particularly descriptive hand gesture. By this time Uncle Vernon had squeezed his way through the front door into the garden. "What in God's name is going on here?" he bellowed, causing Tonks to turn around and notice Harry.

"Wotcher, loverboy," she yelled, charging across the lawn towards him. Uncle Vernon seemed momentarily stunned – hovering between thinking Tonks was addressing him, and wondering who on earth could think of Harry in such a way. Harry struggled to swallow a chuckle, and was returned to his senses as he felt himself captured into a passionate embrace, complete with wandering hands on his bum.
Harry eventually squirmed out of Tonks's grip, and noticed that even Dudley had now made it to the front door, and was staring open mouthed at Tonks, along with every other resident in the street. Uncle Vernon was still blustering loudly, that was until Tonks turned to him and told him to, "Keep yer 'air on, Granddad. Well the bit what you've got left."
Tonks grabbed Harry again and dragged him towards the bike announcing to the neighbourhood that she needed a "good long hard ride." Before he knew it, Harry found himself perched on the back of the machine, a helmet on his head and his arms wrapped suggestively around Tonks, as they sped back up Privet Drive.

Tonks pulled the bike over into a deserted lay-by soon after they left Little Whinging. She turned to Harry with a characteristically goofy grin, and opened her mouth to speak. But Harry beat her to it. "What was all that about? Are you trying to advertise my whereabouts to every passing Death Eater?" He stammered, still blushing a shade of red which would have made any Weasley proud.

"Don't be stupid! There aren't any Death Eaters in Little Whinging: I should know; I've been on duty watching the place for most of the last month." Tonks shook her head in a resigned sort of way. "My dramatic arrival was just to repay the Dursley's for how they've treated you this summer. The neighbours can't fail to have seen me. They'll be talking about it for months; it's not as if anything else ever happens there."

"So you had to embarrass me at the same time?" retorted Harry in a petulant tone. "What would Remus think of his girlfriend carrying on like some... some scarlet woman?"

"Your embarrassment was an added bonus; and you can tell Remus if you like, it was his idea!" As Harry seemed unable to speak, Tonks started instructing him on how to ride the bike.

He soon found that Tonks's bike had a number of non-Muggle enhancements. Not only could it fly, but it had an invisibility booster, a permanent sticking charm to ensure you never fell off and the same anti-crash system that the Knight Bus had. In fact, it was so remarkably similar to Arthur Weasley's car that Harry couldn't help wondering if Mr Weasley was running a small illicit business from his shed. Harry's balance and bravery on a broom transferred well to the bike, and before long he was riding and flying proficiently, bar several occasions when he was glad to see a tree and an errant car conveniently sidestep out of his path. Although not as exhilarating as Quidditch; Harry could understand why so many Muggles rode motorcycles. He was definitely going to have some fun when he inherited Sirius's machine.
Finally it was time to head back to Privet Drive, so he could go and meet Slughorn. Harry had changed his plans and had arranged for his Potions Professor to stay with Mrs Figg instead of living with the Dursleys. It had seemed a safer option – at least for Uncle Vernon's heart - and was more likely to lead to a calmer environment, where he stood a chance of learning Occlumency. Also, Harry suspected that breaking into Dudley's mind wouldn't be too big a challenge. If he could find any thoughts inside his cousin's head, they would likely revolve around the contents of the fridge. Tonks amused Harry with some mild Muggle baiting on the way back home. Firstly she used the bikes phenomenal speed to overtake a group of Muggle bikers and leave them wondering how their bikes could not catch up. Then there was the incident where they sped through a police speed trap, and used the invisibility booster to just disappear from the pursuing officers.
Unfortunately it was over all too quickly, and he found himself back on the doorstep of number four. "Goodbye my little Nymph," called out Harry as he tried to squeeze past Dudley, who was alternating between sending Harry respectful looks and Tonks admiring glances, while she in turn she blew Harry kisses.

Harry was pleasantly surprised to see Slughorn sat on the sofa sipping a mug of tea when he arrived at Mrs Figg's house the following morning. He hadn't really expected the portly Professor to turn up without some persuasion, but as it turned out Slughorn seemed almost glad to see Harry. "I've been here since yesterday, Harry. The Muggle's, whose house I was living in, came home early from holiday. It was something to do with a bum scare whatever that is. Anyway, my detectors went off and I had three minutes to leave the place. You try getting a piano out of a thirteenth floor flat in three minutes." Slughorn gestured to his piano which was now in the corner of the living room. Mr Tibbles sat atop it, nonchantly washing his paw.

"Shoo! Scram! Scoot! You filthy creature," complained Slughorn as he rose and gesticulated at the kneazle which reluctantly hopped down onto the floor.

"Now lets get started, I understand you had lessons several years ago? Lets see what you know. Ready?"

When Harry nodded Slughorn started, "Legilimens." Immediately Harry felt something probing his mind, and the memory of his and Tonks's bike ride flooded through his brain. "Enough," cried Slughorn raising his wand. "That was truly pathetic Harry, we need to start again."

To Harry's surprise, Slughorn proved to be a good teacher of Occlumency. Harry wished that Slughorn had been press-ganged back to Hogwarts in his fifth year to teach him. The Professor's approach was totally different to Snape's all out mental assault on his mind. Once Slughorn had established that Harry was a complete novice he proceeded to teach him Legilimency.

"It's easier to learn how to attack a mind than it is to defend it," the Professor explained. "It is far simpler to break down a protective barrier than it is to create one, especially if you do not know how it is formed. Once you can break down the barriers of others, you will see how they are formed, and hence, how they could be strengthened." Once Harry had got the spell mastered, Slughorn set him practicing on simple targets, like Mrs Figg's kneazles.

Harry's first breakthrough was with Snowy who was sat by the front door. Initially Harry was able to see the animals current thoughts, "Why won't that fat human open the door, I really, really need to go out. If he doesn't open it in a minute I'm going to mess on his bed."

Harry sniggered to himself and walked over to open the door. The kneazle zoomed out into the garden at top speed. Harry turned and tried the same on Mr Tibbles who was washing his paws on Slughorn's piano again. This time he succeeded in seeing a memory and not just thoughts, a memory Harry thought was going to leave him scarred for life. He saw the door to Slughorn's room open and the overweight Professor waddled out and headed towards the bathroom. Mr Tibbles ducked into Slughorn's room and started ferreting in his trunk, emerging seconds later with a whole, cooked pheasant. The kneazle scooted out of the house and down towards Privet Drive, where it proudly deposited its pheasant at the feet of a tabby cat. The tabby, which had unusual ring-like markings above its eyes, looked distastefully at the pheasant for a second before hopping off the wall and disappearing.

Unable to curtail both his indignation that the Order was still spying on him, and the humour of seeing Mr Tibbles trying to get friendly with Professor McGonagall, Harry let his concentration lapse. Mr Tibbles was still sitting on the piano, but was looking suspiciously at Harry now, so he moved to the kitchen and tried his luck on Mrs Figg. All her memories and thoughts seemed to involve Professor Slughorn, the most prominent among them were images of Horace clad only in the small towel. Harry shuddered and gave Legilimency up as a bad job for the day. He had quite lost his appetite, and declined Mrs Figgs offer of dinner.

The following day Slughorn encouraged Harry to try to break down his own barriers. This was a considerable challenge for Harry as the elderly Professor put up more barriers and repelled Harry from his mind at regular intervals, none the less Harry was a fast learner, and eventually managed to disassemble the Professors protection.

Unsurprisingly all Slughorn's thoughts revolved around food, he saw a rather scantily dressed Mrs Figg carrying in several saucepans for dinner one evening. The table had several candles on it, and the wizarding wireless was playing softly in the background. Mrs Figg dished out a large helping of cabbage onto Slughorn's dinner plate taking care to lean over him as she did. Then she fished the main course from the other pan, boiled tin of premium cat food. Harry lost concentration at this point, he was laughing so hard. Slughorn looked mortified and declared Harry an accomplished legilimens.

The next few days were devoted to Harry trying to defend and repel attacks on his own mind. Slughorn was more sympathetic than Snape, only increasing the ferocity of his attacks, if Harry appeared to be succeeding in defending them. Harry found it hard to keep Slughorn out of his mind, although he did have some success blocking when the motivation was strong enough; he was most successful when he felt some images of himself and Ginny by the lake and in her room at the Burrow, coming to the forefront of his mind.

By the end of the week, Slughorn was looking much slimmer and Harry was heartened to note that it now took the Potions Master several minutes to break into his mind. While a little disappointed that his shield was breakable, Harry took comfort from the fact that any attacker would likely have been killed, if he spent several minutes concentrating solely on Harry's barrier.

Before he left, Slughorn cautioned Harry about the use if Legilimency. "I taught it you because it is a vital part of the learning process of Occlumency, I wish I hadn't have to. As you have seen, sometimes some memories are best left uncovered. If you make a habit of using Legilimency, you will drive your friends away, making them uncomfortable around you."

As he lay in bed that night, in Dudley's second bedroom, at number four Privet Drive, Harry thought long and hard about this statement and vowed never to use Legilmency on his friends, or even let them know he could do it. He would tell them that Slughorn had taught him Occlumency as planned, and this was to protect him against Snape and Voldemort only.

His mind made up, Harry stretched and his green eyes shone through the darkness almost as brightly as the sellotaped, digital clock which was showing 23.52. Dudley and his Uncle and Aunt were snoring away peacefully, but 'The boy who lived' was not sleeping, because tonight was going to be the last time he saw Privet Drive, the last time he saw any of them. Harry gazed around the room that had been his home for the last six years, in a little under ten minutes he would be seventeen - he would be of age, and would be leaving Privet Drive forever

Harry considered the benefits of being of age. He could use magic at home. Harry briefly fantasised about the things he could do to Dudley before he left. Perhaps he would turn him into a ferret like Mad-Eye Moody had done to Malfoy in the fourth year, or maybe add another pig-tail like Hagrid had once done, or perhaps an engorgement charm on his backside this time. That would make his bum so heavy he'd have to waddle like a duck forever.

As he considered each of these in turn, Hermione's voice echoed in his head. "You can't Harry, you'll get into trouble with the Ministry. Just because you are of age, doesn't mean you can go about baiting Muggles."

Ron's voice drifted into Harry's subconscious. "Go on mate, if you turn him into a Hippo nobody will notice; mind you McGonagall would be impressed if you could transfigure a creature as big as Dudley."

Harry smiled and imagined cursing Dudley with Ginny's deadly Bat-Bogey hex. He briefly amused himself by visualising the Dursley family GP trying to prescribe a cure for a horde of bat-winged bogies.

Harry got up, 23.58, only two minutes to go. He moved to the window and released Hedwig, telling her to wait at the Burrow for him. He checked up and down the street, but all he could see on the lawn of Privet Drive, was a tabby cat. So Professor McGonagall was on watch duty for the Order tonight.

As the hall clock chimed midnight, Harry levitated his trunk, grabbed his Firebolt, and quietly opened the backdoor, but not before leaving Dudley some of Hagrid's home-cooked toffee and rock cakes. Harry jumped over the garden wall and slipped into Privet Drive. But before he summoned the Knight Bus to head to London, he looked back at number four for the last time. Years of pent up frustration boiled to the surface, as he declared under his breath. "Finally shot of them after sixteen long years! I'll never have to call this hellhole my home again." With these simple words, Harry Potter undid the most powerful of all ancient magic, which caused the protective wards around Privet Drive to collapse.

Although he heard the unmistakable pops of wizards apparating into Privet Drive, Harry thought nothing of it. He assumed that Professor McGonagall had somehow spotted him leaving and had alerted the rest of the Order to his escape. He was starting to get really fed up of them treating him like a baby. It was only when the whole area was illuminated in a bright orange glow, topped with a luminous green skull, interwoven with a snake; did Harry realise that he had made a dreadful mistake.

As he span on his feet to see what had happened, the ground shook slightly, causing him to stumble to his knees and his glasses to fall off. Harry fumbled around on the ground for his glasses and after a frantic few seconds found them and looked up, towards the place where the Dursleys house had stood, until a few moments ago. But there was no house there now; all Harry could see was a towering inferno. He stayed there, on his knees for a few seconds, as he pondered what had happened. While he had loathed the Dursleys, he would never have wished this on them. Three more people had died due to his own stupidity, when was he ever going to learn?

Although instinct told him to stay and help, good sense dictated that he just got out of here, and quickly. Harry had planned to hail the Knight Bus and head towards Diagon Alley, but this was no longer an option. Not even the stupidest of Death Eaters – because this is undoubtedly who had turned up - could fail to notice a purple triple-decker bus, especially one which was driven by Ernie Prang! He could apparate instead, but what if the Death Eaters had set up anti-apparation fields? How far would their trap extend from the house? The decision quickly became academic as a voice shouted out, "There he is!" Harry bent over to grab his broom and trunk just as a flash of green light shot past his ear. The wheelie bin of number eight exploded in flames.

Harry dodged around the smouldering bin, and thankfully took shelter behind a small garden wall. His training had taught him that there was a time to fight and there was a time to run. Peeking out from behind the wall he could see at least thirty Death Eaters advancing carefully towards him; now was definitely a time to run. He shrank the trunk and dropped it into his pocket, cursing that his invisibility cloak was folded neatly in the bottom of it. With no time to get it, he jumped on his broom and took off, figuring that the Death Eaters had probably apparated into Privet Drive, so they would not have brooms.

He shot into the air, lying flat on his broom as he urged it to fly up and away from the Death Eaters as quick as possible. Almost as soon as he had left the ground, Harry heard a cacophony of voices, as those behind him cast a barrage of spells. He looked over his shoulder, and all he could see was a rainbow coloured, wall of light, streaking towards him. Instinctively, Harry launched into a dive, aiming as fast as his Firebolt would carry him, for the far corner of the yard.

Fortunately, most of the Death Eaters were not used to a moving target so their spells went harmlessly wide, exploding into the roof of number ten. Harry did feel the broom judder as a several spells caught the tail twigs, and he had to fight hard to bring it back under control so he could pull out of the dive. Landing again, Harry gave a sigh of relief, not only was the broom still working, but it appeared that it really was jinx-proof, so had not suffered any serious damage.

He quickly took stock of the situation, he was in the front garden of number twelve, the Death Eaters were several houses further up, and separated by a large wall. Well they had been, thought Harry, as he heard "Reducto", and the wall disintegrated. Making his mind up, Harry ran up the path alongside the house, while the chimney fell crashing to the ground in the very spot he had stood seconds earlier. As he made it into the back garden, Harry jumped on his broom once again and took off. This time there was a house between him and the Death Eaters so they could not get any clean shots at him.

Harry turned and flew along Wisteria Walk, ignoring the surprised shouts from Muggles below who had emerged from their homes following the explosions. He climbed high into the sky, heading towards London. He wasn't going to fly all the way, just far enough to be safe so he could land and call the Knight Bus without being seen.

Harry didn't know what it was that caused him to look over his shoulder; blind luck, higher guidance, instinct or maybe just years of anticipating petty hexes from Malfoy in school matches. He may not have known why he glanced behind then, but it saved his life as he was able to execute a sloth grip roll and dodge the bolt of green light which hit an unlucky bat just in front of him. Apparently Death Eaters did take brooms with them when they went on murder missions.

Harry felt his best chance was to utilise his flying skill and stay in the air. The moon which had been flickering in and out of some low cloud chose this moment to disappear again, so Harry climbed sharply. If he could hide in the cloud cover he could lose the Death Eaters. When the moon reappeared, he looked down and spotted four Death Eaters below him. His quick ascent had put him temporarily out of their spell casting range, but the re-emergence of the moon meant that they could now see him.

Harry was a quick flyer, and the Death Eaters could make little ground up on him, but it was with some relief that he found himself surrounded by damp, grey cloud. He waited for a few seconds to catch his breath, safe in the knowledge that he would be unlucky to be found in thick cloud. As he hovered there he thought, maybe now was the time to go on the offensive? So he climbed steeply again and within twenty seconds Harry found himself bathed in moonlight, as he hovered just above the cloud. Then, like one of Mrs Figg's kneazles, he waited ready to pounce.

Several times he thought he saw a shape approaching him through the cloud, but it didn't materialise. While he waited, Harry became more and more nervous, until finally he saw a dark cape emerge out of the cloud. Harry cast Stupefy and watched as the cloaked head turned towards him and then froze solid as the spell hit home. The Death Eater continued to emerge from the cloud as his broom unguided, relentlessly followed its upward path, until it hit a slight swell. The rigid Death Eater slid slowly off the side of his broom and still frozen, fell like a stone through the cloud.

Harry steadied himself, his heart beating rapidly. He knew it was the right thing to do, the only thing he could do. He'd told himself so after Quirrell in his first year. Even so, it didn't make it any easier. He took another deep breath, remembering Moody's instructions.

"Sometimes you've just got to do it, lad. It's no good disarming 'em and then having to fight 'em all over again. Remember they are trying to kill you, so sometimes killing them first is the only way to survive. I'm not saying you have to do it every time, and it should be hard for you. If you ever get used to killing, then get out of the job, you don't want to end up like me."

A movement below him got Harry's attention back. Stupefy, he cast again sending a red streak towards the hooded Death Eater, who had time to raise a shield, causing the spell to bounce harmlessly away. Before Harry had chance to cast again, the Death Eater had sunk back into the cloud, vanishing out of sight. Harry mentally kicked himself, for not staying focused, his cover was now blown, time to hide again.

He dropped down to just above the cloud level, wand poised and waited. After several minutes he caught sight of a figure emerging to his left. Harry sent a stunner at the figure and not waiting to see if he hit, dropped into the cloud himself. As he disappeared, he felt a spell whistle past his right ear. Clearly another Death Eater was behind him.

Harry sank slowly through the cloud, pausing only to cast the impervious charm on his glasses to stop them fogging up. It seemed almost certain that the third remaining Death Eater would be hovering below the cloud, blocking his descent. It was what he would have done in their situation, and as emerging into sight would result in instant death, Harry had little option but to wait in the cloud cover.

He tried Hermione's 'point me' spell and found the cloud was drifting NE towards London, so at least they were going in the correct direction. Unfortunately it would take a while, and he still had the problem of getting past the Death Eaters above and below him. The longer he stayed here the easier it would be for them to bring in reinforcements and flush him out of the cloud.

Once again his mind was made up for him, as he spotted a figure making its way through the cloud cover carefully. Thanks to the disillusionment charm, Harry spotted the figure a split second before he was seen. Instinctively, as if he's seen the snitch, Harry dropped into vertical dive. The Death Eater followed. As soon as he emerged out of the cloud, Harry pulled sharply out of the dive and found himself face to face with a jet of green light. He had been right about a Death Eater being stationed below the clouds.