Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything, not making money off of it, etc.

Chapter 6: The Great Escape

The remaining days passed by without incident. Harry spent all his time just reading his textbooks and the information Glinhog had sent him. He had finished reading and making his own potions charts, he couldn't wait to see if there was anything available that was like a computer in the wizarding world. If there wasn't, he would have to see about commissioning it, after all, he did have money now. Now he was starting on his History books. It amazed him that he had relied on Hermione rather than reading the textbooks, some of the chapters were actually interesting and surprisingly enough, only a third of the book was on the Goblin Wars.

It was finally Friday Morning, he had spent the night tossing and turning in fitful dreams of being caught. When 4:30 AM rolled around, he got out of bed and got ready for the day. He pulled his book satchel out of his trunk and stuffed his invisibility cloak in it, his left over money from his last visit, some quills and parchment, and his shopping lists. By the time he was done getting dressed, checking to make sure everything was set, and then rechecking that everything was set, Harry sat on his bed, waiting for Dobby to arrive.

After several minutes, Dobby appeared with a soft pop. Before he could say a word, Harry motioned for the elf to be quiet and whispered, "Dobby, we have to be quiet to make sure we don't wake up my... relations. Can you do your magic?" To which Dobby nodded and snapped his fingers. Harry quickly put on his invisibility cloak. "Thanks Dobby, now we're going to walk to the muggle bus station, try not to be seen by the Muggles, though there shouldn't be that many out this early," Harry whispered as he snuck quietly down the stairs, avoiding the creaking stairs. Dobby nodded again and soon they were on their way.

As they were walking along Privet Drive, Harry started to hum a tune from a movie Dudley had watched that just came out in America, something called Mission:Impossible. Uncle Vernon had some connections at work that got a copy of it for him. Of course, Harry wasn't allowed to watch it, but he did hear it all the way from his bedroom and so he got the general gist of the movie. If nothing else stuck, the theme tune did. When Dobby inquired about the song, it led them into a discussion, or rather a one-sided explanation, about spy movies and how they were sort of like the spies and that they too were going on their own impossible mission.

They were so wrapped up in the world of espionage that they didn't notice when they arrived at the Fairlawn Drive bus stop. As luck would have it, for Harry at least, they only had to wait 15 minutes for the next bus to London. Though, the entire 15 minutes was spent by Dobby obsessing over being a secret agent for Harry. On the other hand, those were some of the tensest moments in Harry's life, he couldn't help thinking that somebody from the Order would catch him any minute now. 'It's rather odd, I wonder if this is how the Death Eaters feel like when they go out on raids, looking over your shoulder to see if your plans have been foiled,' Harry couldn't help musing. Harry looked around him, all the lights on the block were still out. He interrupted Dobby's humming to make sure nobody was watching them and then took the invisibility cloak off himself and let Dobby wear it. The house elf was bouncing, but wisely kept quiet after that, though he longed to tell Harry that it was an honor to use the cloak of such a great wizard. Once on the bus, the ride was rather uneventful, though Harry was content to watch out the window, he had never ridden one of the busses before and so most of the scenery was new to him.

A few bus switches and about two hours later, Harry and Dobby got off the bus a few blocks away from the Leaky Cauldron. As they walked along the muggle shops, Harry noticed a muggle thrift shop and decided to make a bit of a detour into the place. After all, the clothing there looked ten times better than the rags he was wearing, and at least they'd fit. He did reason he would be able to buy a top of the line wardrobe, if he so chose, in a few hours, but he was still a bit squeamish with the prospect of being rich and so he was quite content to browse the thrift shop. After picking out a nice black t-shirt with a cartoon Dragon on it and a pair of black jeans that fit, he made his way to the counter when he noticed an area with sunglasses. 'Well, they wouldn't hurt, plus they would hide my eyes, next to my scar, they're the second thing people look for,' he thought. He picked out a simple pair with black frames and tinted glass. He'd have to ask Dobby to transfigure or conjure a merge between the sunglasses and his glasses once they got to the Leaky Cauldron. As a last thought, he picked up a black hat that covered most of his scar, and if he positioned his hair right, the scar was completely covered. He brought his purchases up and bought them with the remainder of his Muggle currency. He asked the owner if he could change into his purchases and 27 minutes after he had entered the store, he exited the store with a new look.

The pair walked the rest of the way to the Leaky Cauldron and once inside Harry made his way over to Tom, avoiding the few people in the bar at the hour.

"Hey Tom," Harry greeted, sitting himself up on a barstool, "I was wondering if I could book a room for today, tomorrow, and Sunday? I also wouldn't say no to a butterbeer and a nice English breakfast." Tom grinned.

"Harry, it's always a pleasure to see you. You can have room 7," he replied, tossing Harry the key, "I'll just make you a tab and give you a final bill before you leave, of course if you don't pay it within 24 hours, I'll just send the bill to Gringotts and have them remove it from your accounts, in case you have to suddenly up and leave. And I'll be right back with your order."

"Thanks Tom, I trust you'll be discrete, I don't want anybody to know I've been here, not even Dumbledore."

Tom raised his eyebrows at that statement, but wisely just nodded in acquiesced. After Tom arrived with the order, things settled down and they conversed about a variety of topics from Quidditch to the best way to eat a Chocolate Frog when Harry declared that he had to get to Gringotts. He bade Tom farewell and walked out the back door.

"Thanks Dobby, so far so good, you can take off the cloak now. Oh, and do you think you could somehow combine these sunglasses and my glasses, I'd like to see and be able to hide my eyes..." Harry trailed off as he folded his cloak and put it in his bag. Dobby grinned, "Yes, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby can combines them. Watch!' Dobby took the two pairs and in a snap they were replaced by one pair. Harry tried them on and found that he could see just like he was wearing his regular glasses. Harry grinned, "You're awesome Dobby, thank you!" to which Dobby blushed.

Harry took out his wand and tapped the bricks and in front of his eyes, the wall morphed into the familiar archway of Diagon Alley. Harry couldn't help smiling, it had been awhile since he had been to Diagon Alley on favorable business, but there would be time to browse later. The two made their way to Gringotts and entered, making their way to an open stall.

"Key Please," snarled the Goblin at the counter, though Harry wasn't fooled. It seemed that Goblins could snarl and sound bored at the same time without canceling out the effect of either gesture. This did bring up a bit of apathy towards the teller as Harry thought about how boring it would be day in and day out asking for keys. Of course, he had no idea about the Gringotts Teller rotation.

"Ah, sorry, but I'm not here to make a withdrawal," started Harry, pausing as the Goblin's eyebrow rose a fraction of a centimeter, "I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction to a Mr. Glinhog. I believe he's in the Department of Wills and Inheritances."

The Goblin looked up from his book and glanced at the customer, "Ah, Mr. Pot--" only to be abruptly cut off by Dobby, who, in a loud whisper, told the Goblin, "Shhh Agent Seeker sir and Agent Socks needs secrecy. Bad men could be after Master Agent Seeker sir!"

Harry had no idea when Dobby had given them 'Agent' names, or when he seemed to have agreed to them. Putting that aside, Harry looked back to the Teller who seemed to have a sudden hesitation in his speech. Harry didn't blame him either, it wasn't likely that Gringotts Goblins watched American Spy Movies.

"Ah... yes... I see... very well then...," the Goblin stammered, before pointing to an opening across to his far left, "Down that hall until you reach the first hallway on your left, go down that hallway until you reach a door on your right hand side labeled the Department of Wills and Inheritances. You should find his office in there." With that, he quickly looked back down at his book and ignored the two in front of him, in dear hopes that whatever they had caught wasn't contagious and that he wasn't going to visit poor Glinhog in the next month or so.

Aside from Dobby acting a bit stranger than normal, Glinhog's office wasn't hard to find. With a tentative knock, the two stood outside the door.

"Enter," came the brisk command from the goblin within. Harry opened the door and took a quick glance around the room. It was your standard office, a big wooden desk which screamed of wealth, cabinets full of files, and, of course, the various battle paraphernalia on the walls. He wasn't too sure if those were real blood stains on the armor, or if it was really magically preserved dried blood on the battle ax above the picture of what could have been Glinhog's family. In fact, he would rather not dwell on those things, and so he turned back to the Goblin in question.

"Greetings and Gold be with you Mr Potter, and guest," Glinhog started, humans could really be too slow at times, After all, time was as good as gold.

"Oh, sorry Mr. Glinhog, this is my friend, Dobby," said Harry, indicating the house elf at his side, before he took a seat in front of the Goblin.

"Indeed, now let's get to business...," and with that started the process that took a few hours of signing papers and various reports. It was mostly technical and boring. Dobby just nodded through the whole thing, being honored at getting to stay for the entire thing. Most of it just went over Harry's head. He had taken math in Muggle School, but they didn't exactly teach the sort of things that the Goblins were telling him. Even all the reading he had done from the recommendations Mr. Glinhog had given him had not prepared him for what was being spoken.

It wasn't until they got to the part where Harry would declare himself Mr. Potter-Black did he start understanding what they were talking about.

"Okay, Mr. Potter, we have all the paper work done and sent off, now it's time to declare your name, if you'll follow me," Glinhog started as Harry and Dobby headed for the door, "Ah, Mr. Dobby will have to stay behind." Dobby was a bit upset by this, judging by his wide eyes and look for confirmation from Harry. Harry just nodded and followed the Goblins down twisting corridors before being loaded into a cart. He lost track of his surroundings before the cart halted in front of a door.

"Okay, we have everything set up, when you enter, you'll have to change into the ceremonial robes we have provided, which of course was already charged to your account. After you've done that, you will walk into the main chamber. Our Ritual Master will then instruct you in what to say. I'll be back in half an hour," and with that, Glinhog hopped back into the cart and sped off leaving Harry in front of the door.

Hesitantly touching the doorknob, after all, he wasn't sure if it was enchanted like a vault, Harry opened the door without being cursed. He looked around the antechamber, it was rather bare. The only thing of note was the rob hanging on the wall. It was beautiful. The outer robe was full length and in a rich purple color with a iridescent gold sheen with various gold runes stitched across the bottom. The inner robe was a pure white with a silver sheen to it with a gold sash to tie around the waist. He briefly pondered if he would be able to keep the robe while he was putting it on.

When he was finally ready, he went through the doors where an elderly looking Goblin dressed in white and gold and holding a gnarled staff was waiting, hovering over a book on a pedestal.

"Ah, the soon to be Mr. Potter-Black. I see you're ready. Stand in the middle of the pentagram, I will be chanting, when the presence of magic makes itself known to you, you have to say to it's representation the following: 'I henceforth and forevermore shed the name of Harry James Potter and declare myself to be known as Harry James Potter-Black, Heir of the House of Potter and the House of Black. In the presence of Magic I declare it to be so and so shall it be known.'" The elderly Goblin had Harry practice saying it a few times until he could recite it perfectly before ushering him into the middle of the pentagon.

Once Harry was in the middle of the pentagon, the Goblin started chanting, though it was so low and rapid that Harry couldn't make out what he was saying. He felt a bit foolish before he felt a sudden rush of energy. A bright light descended from the ceiling of the chamber before taking a corporeal form in front of Harry. For a moment, he almost forgot his purpose as he stared at the form Magic decided to present itself to him before the background chanting broke his thoughts.

Harry looked straight into the eyes of Magic and soundly stated, "I henceforth and forevermore shed the name of Harry James Potter and declare myself to be known as Harry James Potter-Black, Heir of the House of Potter and the House of Black. In the presence of Magic I declare it to be so and so shall it be known."

The presence of Magic smiled and lifted its hand and cupped Harry's cheek and smiled, nodded, and then turned back into a bright light before disappearing. With a final chant, the Goblin elder finished the ritual before turning back to Harry, "That was rather intriguing, it's the first time I've ever heard of magic choosing a human form. If I may ask, did you recognize the form it took?"

Harry just turned back to the Goblin elder, "Yeah, my mother..." before he turned back to the door and exited the chamber, his mind not fully in the present as his head went over the implications of the form Magic took. In his reading of the pamphlets, it said that Magic took the form of an animal and was rumored to be your animagus form, though it has not been proven as the ritual has never been performed on an animagus and recorded. He would have to do some research into it, but he did not know where he would start with it.

When Glinhog pulled up, Harry, still dressed in the ceremonial robes, stepped in and off they sped and in no time, they were back in Glinhog's Office. After having the Goblin shrink all the files and kits he had been persuaded to purchase into a bag, except for his Gringotts Bank Card, the pair left Gringotts. Putting his mother and Magic into the back of his head, Harry and Dobby, armed with his bank card, made their way down Diagon Alley, after all, he had the rest of the summer to figure that out, besides the fact that he really didn't feel up to dealing with it at the moment.

Story Notes:

Their Escape - Yes, it was a bit too easy. Don't worry, there will be a bit of trouble coming up.

Next Chapter: Do you smell what I smell?

Harry decides that money is really too much of a hassle and runs away to the Alps and lives as a mountain man... okay, not really, but if you haven't already figured it out, Harry and Dobby start their shopping spree!

Ut oh, who's that coming out of the Apothecary? And why do they recognize Harry? Oops, somebody forgot to put their disguise back on...