Disclaimer: I'm just a poor fan. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling!

Author's Note: As I'm rewriting and there are things that remain the same or almost the same, I might be posting frequently or so I hope, for now. These first chapters, if you read the previous version, you might notice that they haven't changed much. Hope that doesn't offend anyone. If you consider I need a beta, please say so. If you are good with grammar and punctuation and would like to be my beta you can say so too of course. Thanks.

Song: 'Be Somewhere' by Buzy (From Rockman / Mega Man)

Ch. 2: In the Muggle Hotel

Harry rented a car, having gone to the Rental Center by cab. He wished he had his Apparition license, but his exam was going to be in September. He wasn't seventeen yet, so he had to admire his aunt. Petunia had persuaded the people that gave the driving exams to help Harry get his license even though he wasn't seventeen. She told them that he was going to be seventeen soon, which was true, but they still had to consider until she made them give in. Harry had never expected to see his aunt insisting like that. She had used the same persuasive skills with the staff from the Eye Surgery Clinic. Harry had never expected his aunt to be such a great manipulator. He chuckled while he drove to the designated hotel where he, Ron, and Hermione were going to congregate. It was a small place, but at least he was sure that no wizard would even consider that Harry Potter would be in a small Muggle hotel... Although Harry remembered how the Hogwarts letters seemed to find him anywhere he went when his uncle didn't want him to find out that he had been accepted in a school for Witchcraft and Wizardry, but that was when it came to letters from Hogwarts. In this case, it was Voldemort who would be looking for him and the idea of Voldemort looking for him in Muggle hotels was simply hilarious.

Driving felt nice, it relaxed him. Sometimes Harry wondered what he would do after the war was over if he managed to survive. Would he stay and live as a wizard or would he disappear into the Muggle world? The second sounded more appealing. If he did manage to vanquish the Dark Lord, he would be a hero to the Wizarding world and the fame would drive him insane. At least with Muggles he would be invisible. The idea could easily seduce him, even though he did love the Wizarding world with all his heart.

Soon Harry arrived at the small hotel even though it was more like a Guest House rather than a hotel. He parked, stepped out of the car, entered, and smiled weakly. Right there were Hermione and Ron sitting in a waiting area that the Guest House's lobby had. They immediately stood up and walked toward him.

Hermione beamed and hugged him. "How did you get here? I'm curious! Ron and I Apparated close by. No one saw us. Well, actually I made us both Apparate. Ron has to re-take his exam with you in September as he..." She gave the redhead a sympathetic look and Weasley shrugged. Still, she decided to omit the word 'failed'.

"I got here by car," Harry stated in an almost proud tone.

"Taxi?" Ron asked curiously raising an eyebrow.

Harry shook his head. "I rented a car. We can use it for a while. Aunt Petunia allowed me to be included in her credit so I have a credit card under her charge..." Thoughts of Vernon being dead and Dudley being in a Young Offenders Centre suddenly crept in his mind, but he put them aside, trying to grin at the fact of having a credit card.

"You have a driver's license? Cool!" Ron seemed amazed, while Hermione smiled. Then the redhead asked: "But what's a credit card? Credit under your aunt's charge?" The young Weasley looked honestly confused.

"It's a Muggle card that can replace money and..." Hermione was looking for a way to explain it, but frowned.

Harry decided to change the credit card subject. "Alright then, tonight we'll sleep here. I called ahead and reserved a room. Hope you two don't have any problems with the three of us being together... I ask more because of Hermione..."

"It's alright, Harry," the girl reassured him.

"Okay then. Let's go to our room and discuss what we are going to do." Harry then went to the front desk and after confirming his name and credit card number, they gave him a card key. He then signaled for Ron and Hermione to follow him. When he opened the room, he checked his friends and sighed in relief. Just like him, they were only carrying backpacks. At first, he had been afraid that Hermione would be carrying luggage, but she was going light. She had never been the kind of girl to carry too many things except when it came to books. In the room, the three friends sat on one of the Full sized beds. By the looks of it, Hermione figured that she would be sleeping in one and the boys in the other. Harry then got his friends' attention from studying the room. "Tomorrow we'll go to Godric's Hollow. I've had this strange feeling for many weeks now ever since... Ever since Dumbledore died. I feel that I have to go there. I actually wanted to go alone, but..."

"But we weren't going to let you, and believe me, if you had even tried that we would have gone looking for you like mad," Hermione spoke using almost dangerous tone that made Harry smile.

"I know that, Hermione. That's why I decided for you two to do as you wished. If you had gone, like mad, looking for me, you would have been targeted by Death Eaters. I am sure of that. Anyway, this feeling has been bothering me. Something tells me that we have to be there tomorrow by 2:00 PM. It's a strange feeling, but I also have a bad feeling that we might encounter something that won't be to our liking. No matter, I'll have to deal with whatever it is that we find there." Hermione and Ron nodded. They had decided to follow Harry anywhere he went.

During the rest of the day, the three friends went out. They used the car Harry had rented and decided to make a casual trip to the mall. They looked like ordinary Muggle teens that had gone shopping. They even ate in a Food Court and shared memories from Hogwarts. In the middle of the conversations, Ron asked about the Dursleys. Harry hadn't wanted that topic to come up, but he was left with no other choice than telling the truth. Hermione and Ron were speechless when Harry told them about how he had found his aunt and what she had told him. Even though Hermione and Ron had always hated how the Dursleys had treated their famous friend, they would have never wanted those people to end like that.

"Bloody hell, Harry! Then your uncle is dead? By Merlin... I never expected that to happen..."

"No one did, Ron. The only positive thing that has come from this is that now your aunt has accepted you, right Harry?" Hermione asked with hopeful eyes.

Harry nodded. He would have wished for Petunia to accept him in other circumstances, but it almost seemed like life had given her a chance to learn from her mistakes. He truly hoped she would learn from them, just like he hoped she would cope with being by herself. He really wasn't sure about leaving her after so little time, but he had to. He was going to go after Voldemort and that was that.

"By the way, Harry... Where are your glasses?" It was like Hermione had just realized that something was missing from Harry's face.

Harry chuckled and got a glasses' case from his pocket. "Right here, but these are not the same I've been wearing. These are to rest my eyes. I had laser eye surgery. Aunt Petunia paid for it. I'll still have to use these from time to time, but at least I don't have to use glasses all the time. The doctor warned me though... He told me that my eyes might still be growing and that if I felt discomfort in them it was possible that I would have to use these glasses a bit more. When I get to 21 I'll have to go back for a revision and it's possible that I might need a second corrective surgery, but for now I can see perfectly."

"Bloody awesome, mate! You know, my dad was always worried thinking that your need for glasses was a drawback. Your aunt has made like a 360 degree change, huh?"

Harry smiled at the redhead.

XxXxX

That night Harry was dreaming. He had seen Sirius falling behind the veil and he had seen the Avada Kedavra hitting Dumbledore, but the dream had changed and he was in the Pensieve looking at the scene when Hepzibah Smith was showing Slytherin's locket to a young and handsome Tom Riddle. There was something familiar about that locket and suddenly the dream changed again. He wasn't in the Pensieve anymore, but at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The last place he wanted to see in his life as it reminded him too much of his Godfather, but there was something important. He saw himself with his friends. They were cleaning and removing different items. A strange music box was making them sleepy, but Ginny had closed it. Then they were trying to open a locket that was impossible to open. They tried and tried, but it just wouldn't budge. It was covered with grime and dirt, but the form and shape were still recognizable.

Harry woke up gasping. It was like the dream had been a revelation. In his surprise, he didn't even notice that he was swearing out loud. "Sh-t, sh-t, sh-t! Holy sh-t!"

Hermione and Ron awoke with Harry's swearing. It was 6:00 AM. "What in Merlin's name is wrong with you, mate?" Ron, who had been lying next to Harry, was now in a sitting position staring at his friend.

"Slytherin's locket! We've all seen it! All of us!"

Hermione was alarmed. "What are you talking about, Harry?" Then her eyes widened. "Oh my God! You don't say... That dirty heavy locket that wouldn't open in the house of Black?"

Harry had always been amazed with how sharp Hermione was. Nothing seemed to escape that girl. She always saw things that they didn't and she could always figure out things that they couldn't. The years had sharpened those senses in the girl. "Yes Hermione... I just figured... I dreamt about it! The golden heavy locket that Ms. Hepzibah Smith showed Tom Riddle is the same dirty heavy locket in my Godfather's..." Harry's eyes saddened. "Actually... my inherited house..."

Harry looked in his backpack. He still carried with him the fake locket with the note inside that was signed R.A.B. "R.A.B... Do you guys know what Regulus Black's second name was?" Ron and Hermione shook their heads. "Anyway, it seems that he might have been the one who found the Horcrux..." Harry felt sudden pain in his chest. He almost felt that Dumbledore had drank that horrible potion in vain, but he knew that the Headmaster would have never wanted Harry to think like that. If they hadn't gone through all that, he would have never found out about the locket. The truth was that it had been necessary, even if the locket found had been a fake. Everything had a purpose.

Ron looked at his friend worried. "You alright, mate?" Harry nodded. "Erm... So... Are we going to the Blacks' house then? To get that locket?"

"No. We have to go to Godric's Hollow first. Everything has to be done in an order and my instincts tell me that we still have to go to Godric's Hollow first. That is that." He suddenly cursed again and his friends gave him strange looks. "There is also Mundungus Fletcher! He took many things from that house! What if he has the damned thing?"

"It was quite dirty," Ron said thoughtfully. "Maybe he didn't take dirty artifacts?"

Harry pursed his lips and muttered: "I truly hope it's still in the house. That bastard Fletcher!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew that there was no way they were going back to sleep. Soon they showered and got ready. They would kill some time and at 2:00 P.M., they were going to be at Godric's Hollow.

"Can we actually get to that place by car?" Harry had expected Ron's question and grinned at his redhead friend.

"No Muggle can, but I can." Ron seemed confused at his friend's answer, but Hermione laughed. Harry was a Potter after all. If there were magic barriers that protected the place against Muggles or even wizards, certainly a wizard from the Potters' lineage could access the place in any way he wanted.

XxXxX

The man was completely covered with a hooded black cloak. He couldn't risk being identified, as his persona was the most wanted criminal right after the Dark Lord. He left the tavern after looking at the time. He had decided to arrive a bit earlier at the place that seemed to be calling him. The echoes had been in his mind for weeks and wouldn't let him sleep. Sleep... He silently laughed bitterly. That was something that had definitely been impossible for him lately. It was like a curse and the only way he would have been able to yield to that human weakness and necessity would have been with a potion, but it was a risk that he couldn't afford. He had to be alert, and so far he had been running, hiding. The night had turned into his best friend when it came to remaining hidden.

The place kept calling him and he swore and cursed in his mind. Of all places in the world and the universe as a whole, why did he feel that he had to go there? He despised that place. The thought of it brought revulsion and a desire to desecrate that place if he were able to, but at the same time, it brought guilt. Guilt was something that he despised even more as it was a feeling that he wanted to erase.

Why he had that desire to go there was beyond him. Perhaps he was going mental. Perhaps the latest events that had turned his comfortable life upside down were taking its toll on his mind, a mind that had been always organized and calm even in the direst of circumstances. The truth was that the cloaked man couldn't control the need to go to that place or even make it disappear. It had been his nightmares, his reason to live, what had held him standing ever since that night. That night... The man laughed silently again. At 1:55 P.M., he was going to be in Godric's Hollow. The place would have never accepted his presence, but he had a feeling that it was going to accept him that day. Someone had tampered with the wards and it hadn't been the Dark Lord years ago. Even if the Dark Lord had managed to go through them that October 31st, the wards had remained even after the place had crumbled, and only those close or with no bad intention against the family that had lived there could touch that place, but he was going to be received. He knew it and he didn't know why. He felt like a puppet being controlled by a powerful mastermind and puppet master. Still, just one truth and one fact remained. He would be there.