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

Chapter 9: Catch Me If You Can

The sun cracked through the windows right in to the eyes of the sleeping teen. Harry rolled over and groaned. He was having a rather nice dream and was intent on doing back to sleep until a rather bubbly house elf's voice broke through his current thoughts.

"Harry, sir! You're awake! I haves your breakfast!"

Harry just moaned again before deciding to face the day. After taking a nice long shower and getting dressed, he noted the rather late hour, well, late for him. It had to be nearly noon. After having a nice English Breakfast, Harry put on his shoes and the rest of his disguise and sat down on the edge of his bed with all the catalogues that he had marked the night before. He tapped the top of each catalogue while saying "Order Finished" and watched as the catalogues spit out a completed order form.

Harry gathered them all together and sealed them before handing them to Dobby. "Dobby, would you mind giving these to the shop owners? I'll stay here and look through this book," he said, holding up his Trunk Manual. Dobby quickly agreed and a few minutes later, he was back.

"The owners tells Dobby, Harry sir, that they'll have the orders delivered here todays," the elf said with a grin.

"Brilliant," Harry said, adding a bit under his breath, "now I just have to figure out if I can do a bit of magic without anybody knowing." At this, the elf grinned.

"Harry Potter, sir, if Dobby could help, I could do magics," said Dobby, bouncing on his toes. Harry looked at the house elf and gave an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry, Dobby, but I have to do the magic, it's for the trunk."

The house elf frowned before breaking out into another grin, "Master Harry Sir! Yous magic is only traced in the British Ministry's Area!"

"I can't just leave the country for a few hours, Dobby, I'm pretty sure international travel for minors is regulated or something. Besides the fact that Dumbledore would have access to any Ministry records I produce before my birthday..."

The house elf adopted a most mischievous grin, "Yes, but Gringotts is owned and operated on its owns."

Harry just looked at the house elf with a raised eyebrow before it clicked. Gringotts wasn't within the Ministry's control. In fact, if he remembered correctly, Gringotts could be technically called its own independent nation, since it was outside of both Muggle and Magical Law. That was why Gringotts was allowed to deal with theft as they saw fit.

"You're brilliant, Dobby, I hope you know that," and with that, Harry grabbed his shrunken trunk, put it in his pocket, while Dobby took his previous purchases and they went along to Gringotts.

A half hour (and about a thousand galleons in ... incentives) later, Harry had an official permit to use 'underage' magic with in Gringotts as long as he was within one of their deluxe meeting rooms (named such for their price tag of 25 galleons an hour). He was within one of those 'deluxe' meeting rooms at the moment with the trunk in front of him. After an hour of activating the various wards he thought would be useful, he turned to the last compartment of the trunk. Though all but the first three compartments were hidden from view, he could still see the markings on the trunk he was suppose to press in order to access that part of the trunk.

Once inside the compartment, he brought down the potion supplies he had purchased earlier and started to un-shrink everything. Against the wall opposite of the portal which would allow him to exit the trunk, he put the potion ingredient cabinet in the left hand corner. In the right hand corner of that wall, he put the potions storage cabinet. He figured he would need to get a table to put between the two, with a working sink. Turning back to the wall with the portal, he transfigured some of the discarded packaging into hooks where he could hang a few cloaks or aprons.

The next task would be to store all the potions ingredients. While Adam had informed him that the ingredients could last up to a week before the stasis charms on them would stop protecting them from hostile environments, the sooner they were in the proper storage device, the better. Luckily, all the ingredients were already labeled, though in the store packaging. He would have to write his own labels for the shelf, take the ones in bags and put them into more stable containers, and figure out his own system for arranging them at a later date.

Doing all he could do at the time, he left the trunk and shrunk it. He then pocketed the trunk and then he and Dobby left Gringotts. Today would be the most tiring of his days, after all, he did have to buy a brand new wardrobe. With a sigh, he looked at the alley before him. It wasn't like he could go to Madam Malkins, he wasn't going to take the chance of running into somebody he knew, or the chance of her being a gossiper. However, there were no more clothing stores, besides the second hand shops, that carried clothing, and he didn't want to even contemplate secondhand underwear. That left only one option though.

Making sure his hat and glasses were on correctly, Harry headed off to the opening of Knockturn Alley. Suppressing a shiver, he took a few tentative steps into the Alley before finding what he was looking for in a shop named 'Vasons' that had displays of animated mannequins posing in different robes. A few quickened steps later, he was in the door and what he saw was rather surprising. Not only did it carry robes, it seemed to have a rather nice muggle clothing selection.

The clerk, with a smirk plastered on her face, walked over to Harry. "Surprising, eh?"

Harry jumped and turned to the person, "Wha? Erm, right. It is rather surprising. I though Knockturn Alley's stores would be... different."

"Nah, that stuff starts a bit more down, the first 10 stores are all pretty decent, then you hit Borgins and Burkes and everything past there starts to go downhill. My name is Veronica, can I help you with anything?"

Harry looked around the store, "Well, I wouldn't claim to be a fashion expert, but I am looking for some new clothes. Could you point me to the mens section?"

The selection there was incredible. Harry decided to start with the muggle half of the mens department, as he had the most knowledge of what to get there. He loaded up on boxers, sweats, slacks, and jeans. The amount of clothing he had in his hands from those alone were more than he ever had before. He then headed over to the socks section and got a selection of socks that were nice and warm, and best of all, not old and holey. His favorite section was the shirts. He selected a few turtlenecks, polos, and sweaters before looking through their selection of T-shirts. He got a few that alluded to Quidditch and Gryffindor before getting a few more 'muggle' ones.

Once he finished putting all his 'muggle' clothing into a never ending basket, he went over to the pre-made Wizarding robes. He first went through the casual section and picked out a few plain robes (in black, forest green, maroon, and midnight blue) before getting to the dressier robes. He had loved the ceremonial robe and wanted a few more robes he could wear in case he had any important events he had to go to as the Head of the Houses of Potter and Black.

By the time he was done in the clothing shop, he was midway into the afternoon, and while he had a late breakfast, he was getting hungry and decided to head off to lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. Once there, he ordered some Fish and Chips. Not really feeling like he wanted to go back to his room, he sat in a corner booth and just watched the people around him while he ate. It was amazing to watch the world when they weren't watching him. A mother was holding onto a small child while her slightly older son dragged her towards the back exit exclaiming about the new practice brooms available at Quality Quidditch Supplies. An older gentleman was laughing with his buddies talking about what sounded to be a mishap in the Department of Magical Transportation involving a broomstick and their supervisor. Harry wasn't quite sure he wanted to know.

His blissful snooping ended when two blondes walked into the inn. With identical smirks on their face, they walked over to Harry's booth and took a seat.

"Well Well, if it isn't Mr. Potter..."

Harry raised his eyebrow before squinting at the pair, eyeing the familiar faces. Then, with a hint of disbelief, he whispered, "Fred? George?"

The blond duo's smirks, if possible, grew wider, "Yep, How do you--"

"--Like our Blond Blondies?"

"They just came out--"

"--Only 4 sickles for a two pack."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at them before turning a bit serious. Before he could question them, one of them started to talk again.

"Don't worry Harrikins"

"We're not going to snitch on you"

"Besides, we'd like to help you"

"Yeah, if you need anything this summer, feel free to owl us."

"Don't worry, we'll slip the items to Professor Lupin"

"And he'll be able to give them to you"

Harry just sat gobsmacked. Were the twins more perceptive than he had been during the years? The possibility was there.

"Oh Brother Mine, I do believe we've broken him"

"Well, we did need a tester for the Gender Changing Gum..."

The twin adopted a contemplating pose, "Hmm, his mouth is open..."

Harry snapped out of it, "What?"

"Oh, wouldn't it be a brilliant joke? Hand one of the gum-chewing gossips a stick and then they spend the next hour as the opposite gender"

"I don't know what to say? Thanks. I'd ask how you know about all this, but I don't think I want to know," said Harry, ignoring the part about the gum, though he wouldn't mind slipping a stick to Rita Skeeter. Harry looked at his watch, "Why don't you guys join me for lunch?"

The twins agreed and soon enough they were having a lively discussion about Umbridge and which products they would love to test out on her. At the end of the discussion, Harry walked with them back to their shop before he went across the street to the Cauldron Shop. The shelves were packed with cauldrons of all sizes and makes. Picking up a never-ending shopping cauldron to hold his purchases, he started his little potions shopping spree. He already was stocked up on most of the ingredients he could ever need, now he needed a nice selection of cauldrons so he didn't have to owl-order a new one every time he wanted to make a potion that required something other than the standard pewter cauldron he bought back in his first year.

He picked up a few more standard pewter cauldrons, so he could have more than one potion going at a time, before he picked up one standard cauldron for each of the materials the store had - gold, silver, bronze, copper, crystal, and stone. He would have to read up later how each material affected the potions and why some potions required one cauldron over the others, but with his current knowledge, he figured the standard ones would be fine. The next area he went to were the accessories area where he picked up a dozen stirring rods in various materials, some more dragonhide gloves, some cleaning supplies. The last thing he needed to buy in the area were some magical flames, so he didn't have to use his wand. He ended up buying 5 adjustable cauldron flames that came with cauldron stands.

On his way up to the counter to pay, he noticed a side doorway with a sign telling Harry that it was a laboratory equipment area. Remembering his earlier thoughts, he segwayed into the room and grinned. It had everything he needed. Once in the door, he was nearly tackled by a sales person. The guy reminded him of his Uncle whenever they had guests over for dinner and he cringed.

Harry quickly shook off the salesman and picked up enough shelves to line an entire wall, as well as a few workstation tables and a counter that came with a 'No-Water Connection Required' Sink. He quickly paid for his purchases before giving them to Dobby, who quickly put them in his room at the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry then spent the rest of the time before dinner browsing through the various thrift shops in the Alley, buying things if they caught his interest. With just one shopping bag filled with a few old journals that looked interesting, he made his way to the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry and Dobby spent the rest of Saturday shifting through the delivered catalogue orders and setting up the remainder of the potions lab. A light dinner and some bedtime reading, Harry headed off into dream land.

The next day went buy rather quickly, as Harry explored Knockturn Alley during the morning, he even dared himself to go beyond what Veronica (from the clothing store) had told him were the safe shops. The only purchases he was really excited about were the vision correcting glasses and the Mind Protection arm band. The glasses claimed that when you wore the glasses, they would adjust and tap into your magic to help heal your vision. According to the sales lady, she estimated that with his power, that he wouldn't need to wear the glasses after 3 months, though he could if he wanted to, but he wouldn't need to wear them. The Mind Protection arm band he found in a shop that didn't have a name, though it looked a bit shady, Harry decided that it had looked safer than Borgins and Burkes. It claimed that it would prevent Legilmens from being able to access your mind though eye contact, anything stronger and it wouldn't help, but Harry had figured that the headmaster wouldn't have the guts to actually cast the Legilmens spell on him. It turns out it use to be a training tool at the Auror Academy to get the fledgling Aurors use to the feeling of blocking low-level Legilmens. The other 'safe' shops had turned out to be a few restaurants, the eye wear shop, another thrift shop, an independent mediwizard clinic (it looked to be for those who didn't want their injuries reported to the Ministry), an appliance shop, and a jewelry shop. It wasn't any wonder why he felt encouraged to go a bit deeper into the alley, after all the build up, what was available was a bit... disappointing.

Sunday afternoon found Harry lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, he couldn't believe he didn't have anywhere else to go, and he was technically still 'free' for another day. While it was true the longer he stayed away from Privet Dr, the higher the chance that he would be caught, but he had been doing fine so far, and really, who would want to go back early? 'Maybe I'll just stay here tomorrow until I go back, at the very least I'll be able to drink butterbeer... Plus I could brew a quick potion and test out the equipment. Or I could read without the Dursleys breaking my peace...'

Harry's eyes diverted to the pile of books he hadn't gotten to the previous night that still had to be entered into his trunk. It was something to do, so Harry got started. A while later, Harry had almost finished the pile when his eyes looked across a title he hadn't thought about since he bought it, The Big Book of Magical Communities. 'Hmm, maybe I won't need to stay here tomorrow After all...' the thought went through his mind as he opened up the book.

Harry immediately opened to the Chapter on Shopping Districts. Out of curiosity, he looked at the pages for Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley. He couldn't help but chuckle at the description of Knockturn Alley, 'A wonderful alley with many unconventional stores... Indeed, and Voldemort's Death Eaters are an alternative government revolution'

He turned the page and then smiled, it seemed that Diagon and Knockturn Alley weren't the only Magical Shopping Districts in England, and this one looked like it would be interesting to visit.

...Elegiac Alley is a small shopping district in Ireland that caters to those looking for a selection of magical muggle technology. There are only three shops, located in an isolated community of squibs. Established in 1576, it's named after the man who opened the first shop there, Ulric Elegiac...

The page went on to list the history of the alley as well as the establishments that have made the alley it's home. It sounded like it would be worthwhile to check out, and so Harry made a mental note to go back to the Travel Shop and see if he could get a portkey to the alley.

Before Harry knew it, it was Monday morning. He had spent the remainder of Sunday packing up everything and making sure he didn't forget anything. Doing a once over of the room, Harry slipped his trunk into his pocket and left the room. He settled his tab with Tom the barkeep over breakfast. Once finish, he made for the Travel Shop, where he purchased several portkeys. Due to the fact that the portkeys were monitored by the Ministry, he had them accredited to 'Black Family' which was less likely to be watched than 'Harry Potter'.

On his way out of the Travel Shop, Harry encountered his first real problem of his entire trip, he saw Albus Dumbledore making his way down the Alley towards the Travel Shop - It seems the 'Black Family' was just as closely monitored by the Headmaster as 'Harry Potter' was. Harry scowled at his stupidity and grabbed a random portkey out of his bag before he whispered, "I don't know"... It seems the saleslady had a sense of humor and after Harry replied "I don't know" to her question of what to set the activation phrase to, she made the activation phrase 'I don't know'. Harry had, prior to that incident, requested that all the portkeys have the same activation phrase, so he wouldn't have to remember a dozen passwords. So, in all actuality, Harry had no clue where he would end up.

Carefully, Harry opened his eyes after falling onto the ground and looked around him. He paled when he saw where he had ended up - Hogsmeade. In the distance, Hogwarts was regally standing. The thought passed though his mind that he could take this opportunity to sneak into Hogwarts and check out the Marauders' Tower, but in the end he decided he would have to do that when he had a better escape route than a random portkey. Seconds later, an angry house elf popped up next to Harry.

Paling a bit, Harry tried placating him, "Sorry Dobby, I had to get out of there, Dumbledore was heading right towards me, I think he knows that, at least for today, I left my relative's house." The house elf just glared at him and started to mumble, "Dobby should be taking Harry Potter back home, disappearings withouts telling Dobby."

After a few more rounds of "sorry, I won't do it again" convinced Dobby to let Harry stay. After all, what better place to lay low for a few hours than Hogsmeade, it would be the last place the headmaster would look.

Under his disguise, Harry spent an enjoyable time at the familiar shops of Hogsmeade, even getting a few catalogues from the shops before having a nice lunch at The Three Broomsticks. The town seemed more peaceful without all his classmates running about and he had a nice time imagining what it would be like to live there, though, in the end the vision of the Headmaster trying to invite himself over for tea everyday ruined the image and he made he way outside the bar to find that a large portion of the Hogwarts staff that were also in the Order seemed to be combing the town.

'Seems my hiding place has been found,' and no sooner than Harry thought that, the headmaster made his appearance once again.

"Mr. Potter! What do you think you're doing here? You're suppose to be at home," the headmaster started on Harry, the twinkle in his eyes wasn't there and even a few of the order members were shocked at how much the headmaster was scolding Harry. In their folly, though, they placed it on the headmaster caring greatly for the young boy and that his worry was driving him to overreact. Harry was obviously okay and they chalked it up to being a teenager wanting to escape from his house arrest for a few hours.

For the headmasters part, he had been a bit worried about Harry. Once he had received a note that the Black Family was purchasing portkeys, he rushed to the shop, there were only three people alive who would be able to make that claim, one was more likely to buy them under Malfoy, the second a Death Eater, and the third shouldn't even know of his connection to the Black Family. So when he saw a figure that couldn't be the first two, he knew it had to have been Harry. Then that figure disappeared. The thoughts had rushed through his head 'Did Harry know about Sirius' Will? Was he breaking away from him? What if...' and before he could drown himself with possible scenarios, he went into the Travel Shop and got a listing of the Portkeys that were made before he signaled for an Order Meeting. At the Meeting, they had divided the search up and now that he had Harry almost in his reach, he wanted answers.

Harry whispered to the house elf, "Dobby, I'm going to do another portkey, then we can call the Knight Bus and go home, okay". Since Dobby was currently invisible, he felt a tug at his pants as a confirmation. Harry pulled out another random portkey and said the phrase, only to be blocked by an Anti-Portkey Ward. Harry cringed on the inside, this wasn't going to be good.

"I hope you have a good explanation for all this. The Order has been looking everywhere for you, you could have been kidnaped by Death Eaters," the headmaster continued. Harry panicked and whispered to Dobby, "Dobby, I hope you can do this, if you can't, that's okay too, but can you take me back to Privet Dr.?"

With a flash, Harry was at the front door of Number 4 Privet Dr. Harry quickly made his way inside, only to be faced with three Dursleys.

Back in Hogsmeade, the Headmaster took a step back, he had placed the portkey ward up himself, he didn't want Harry escaping like he had at Diagon Alley. He cast several diagnostic spells and couldn't find out how Harry had escaped. After a quick conference, he learned that Harry had returned back to Privet Drive shortly after he disappeared from Hogsmeade. This calmed the headmaster down, after all, if the boy were truly rebelling against him, he wouldn't have gone back to Privet Drive. He passed the adventure off as Harry letting off steam by taking a vacation. He would write the boy a letter and demand an explanation for his use of the Black Family's name as well as increase security measures, after all, we couldn't have him running off again. The headmaster left the Order to go about their business as he returned to Hogwarts, he had some plans to make.

Next Chapter: Prank 'n Plot-ters

- After a nice exciting weekend, Harry is back at Privet Dr and awaiting an appointment with Remus.
- Hmm, not to mention that Harry's got mail from Dumbledore...
- Ah, and the Marauders' Tower will make its appearance in Ch 12.