Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling; the original characters are completely mine.


Author's note: I already guessed that I would never continue/finish this story because I obviously lack the talent most of the other fanfictions writers have. Still, I'm determined to bring this FF to an end. Wish me luck! ;-)

Also, thanks to all the reviewers (not that many...XD), especially XspazzyX (nowadays "Namu the EDOD and Kamizuki", I believe)who awakened me from my premature hibernation. ;-)

Please look at my profile for the NEW POLL "Where should harry travel to next?"!!!


Last time:

" I mean we are all strong enough to protect ourselves, especially when we stay together. How is Harry supposed to have much fun when he is constantly under the thumb of Dumbledore and his cronies?"

"I agree", came the silent reply from Shun, "Harry is one of my best friends and I know he is responsible enough to make his own decisions."

"Then the only question remaining is: What do you want to do, Harry?", Alec spoke up for the first time during that discussion.

Harry considered only for a short time.

"All my life I had to be careful and follow the orders of someone else while being kept in the dark about the consequences my actions might bring. Now that the threat of the Dark Lord is removed, I think that it's my right to make my own decisions. As long as I don't hurt others I don't think that there will be problems."

"Well then it's agreed", Skye concluded " We're all making a world trip. And since there are seven strong people defending our poor little Harry-kins, we can do it without a bad conscience."

With that said, they sat back down and finalized their plans.


First Destination

After the group of friends had discussed for some time and decided on several destinations to travel, Harry went back to the Dursley's in order to pack his things. Since he wasn't too keen to stay any longer than necessary at Privet Drive and none of his friends had any important duties to fulfill, they agreed to immediately start their travels.

"You WHAT?!", screamed Vernon Dursley, "You think you can just tell us you're leaving after everything we've done for you...who is going to paint the garden shed, wash my car, mow the lawn. You can't just leave without a reason!"

"Actually, Uncle, I thought you would be happy to have me gone. After all I'm just a freak, right?"

"You ungrateful brat! If you leave now, you better never come back."

"That's fine since this is exactly what I planned to do."

Harry calmly walked up the stairs and packed all his things, making sure he emptied all of his secret 'stashes', like the loose floor board besides his bed.

Then he pinned some letters to the people who had either gained or actually never lost his trust within the last year (there weren't that many).

He notified Remus of his absence and also mentioned that he wasn't sure if he would come back to the final year at Hogwarts. Then he also wrote Neville, Luna and the Weasley twins. These were the only people who had proved that they wanted to be his friends because of him not his fame. He had had his doubts about Fred and George for a while, fearing that they might have accepted Dumbledore's bribe but since they were off well enough with their joke shop and were more interested in playing pranks than joining this manipulation game, he decided to put his trust in them. Up until now the twins had proven to be worthy companions.

With that said and done he told Hedwig -his faithful owl- to stay with Remus for the rest of the holidays and sent her to deliver the letters.

As he left the house on Privet Drive for the final time, not once feeling sentimental or looking back, Harry felt carefree for the first time in his life.

Two crossroads away, Caleb picked him up and together they made their way to the bus station. From there they took the bus to Hastings -on the southeast coast of England- in order to get an international portkey to their first destination. A few stops after they boarded the rest of their group entered the bus.

Late at night they finally arrived and Skye led them all to a small wizarding shop. An old and shady looking man looked at them and asked gruffly, "Where to?".

"Dubai.", answered Skye.

"That's 15 galleons.", rasped the man and went to the back of the shop to retrieve an old-looking book, "Here it is."

Tia silently payed the price and the group went outside into a small alley. There they activated the portkey and were swished away to the United Arab Emirates.

Review, anyone??? Maybe you have some ideas what should happen to our traveling group or where else they should go to...

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