Digital
Chapter 6
Hide and Seek
Edited on: 6/3/11
A/N: Thanks to: everybody who reviewed the last chapter.
Previously on Digital:
A second later she was connected to Order HQ.
"Ah, Arabella, How are you?…. "
"Oh I'm fine...it seems Dumbledore isn't though...
...he's just been arrested."
And now the continuation:
Somewhere, near the Granger residence, London, in the early hours of the morning.
'It should be somewhere around here. I'm almost positive,' thought a lone digital feathered fox as he stood in the shadows of a tree. The half bird-half fox hybrid was currently studying a nearby sign post for directions, just not having much luck finding where he wanted to go.
Harry had been travelling for most of the night and wanted nothing more but to reach his destination soon, preferably before too many people started to get up for work and the possibility for him to be seen increased.
The last thing he wanted was to be the cause of a mass outbreak of hysteria because somebody saw a 'monster', a red feathered fox like himself.
Unfortunately for him, it didn't seem to be going too well.
He simply couldn't find where he wanted to go.
'Are you sure you remembered the address correctly?' asked a patient voice, the voice of his second conscience from the deep depths of his own head.
'I'm positive, Hermione said that she lived somewhere in this area...'Crescent Lane,' Nr. 15, or something like that,' he thought back, annoyed that he couldn't find the right road or the right house.
'Why do they all have to look the same? Why do there have to be so many of them?' he wondered as he looked up and down, at the endless rows of nearly identical houses. Cautiously, his senses wide open, ready for any trouble at a seconds notice, he continued to check any house numbers which he came across.
Even though it was currently night time and everything was dark, Harry was somewhat concerned that he could still, at any second now, be noticed by a late night wandering pedestrian, spotted by a driver of a passing car, or indeed sniffed out by a passing dog who would then, in turn, alert their respective owners to his presence.
Luckily, the largest threat; animals in general, seemed to sense Harry's digimon side and the fearsome predator within, and so made an extra effort to stay well clear of him. The same could, however, not be said for any passing pedestrians on a night time stroll.
For most of the night Harry had been on the move, first phased and invisible, then when he became too tired to use his newest ability (it was still new to him and therefore needed to be trained like any other new ability), by moving from bush to bush, tree to tree and shadow to shadow, always doing his best to keep out of sight.
He quickly noticed that, even while invisible, he could still be heard by passing dignitaries, or in rare cases, if not careful enough, spotted via his shadow. For some reason a strong light still caused him to leave a faint shadow behind, even when phased, which while faint, could still be seen if you were looking for it, especially in well lit areas. It was something which annoyed Harry a lot. After all what good is being invisible if your shadow could still gave you away.
Harry vowed to practice his skills in stealth, especially his phase cloak ability whenever he could, especially after a close encounter with a passing walker, who was on his way home from a pub.
Only the stares of the man when he saw Harry suddenly appearing out of thin air beside him, alerted him to the problem that he was too physically tired to keep his cloak up any longer.
Luckily the man thought he was drunk and simply seeing things. Harry could not however allow that to happen again. A mistake like that could quite possibly cause mass panic, or quite possibly even cost a life.
EGO had told him in no uncertain words that if he practiced enough and became stronger, he would soon be able to keep his phase ability up indefinitely and would even be able to walk soundlessly through any area, something which Harry was looking forward to immensely.
It would be especially useful against the order or any other wizard who wanted to find him. Too bad he couldn't attack while phased, something about not being solid enough to attack while cloaked, or so he was told.
'If only we could ask the man over there?' thought Harry seeing a man who was waiting near a bus stop.
'I don't see why not...' Ego thought back after a brief pause.
'Huh?... Your joking... right?' thought Harry surprised. Surely he had to be joking.
'Judging by the fact that he seems to be half asleep there is a high chance he probably wouldn't notice you if you did... go ahead and ask him, just try not to actually let him see you and you should be just fine.' EGO thought explaining his motives.
'You do realise that people normally like to see who they are speaking to...right? Something tells me he will notice a large red feathered, sharp clawed fox, if one just happened to appear beside him,' asked Harry
'It's your choice...do it or leave it, phase if you have to, you should be able to do so again by now. Just remember it's getting late...I mean early, so make up your mind,' EGO answered back while mentally shrugging.
'I hope I don't regret this,' Harry thought as he moved forward.
Grimauld place, Order of the Pheonix Head Quarters
It didn't take long for Albus to escape from the muggle police. Even without his wand he was still a formidable wizard and it was no problem for him to escape from the clutches of the evil eye of the law. At least that's what he thought of the muggle law.
One second he was sitting quietly, locked securely inside a police van, brooding over his most recent mistakes, the next he was gone.
A small flash of red flames was the only warning the current lone resident of Grimmauld place, Order of the phoenix Head Quarters, received of the arrival of the powerful man.
"Thanks Fawkes," Dumbledore said giving his familiar a small pet, then watched as the phoenix flamed away. Only then did he notice the lone occupant of the room.
"Hi, Albus, I hear you were arrested? Is everything ok?" Sirius asked sweetly from his seat, a cup of what looked like fire whiskey in his hand, a photo on the table in front of him and a sweet smile all over his face. Not just any smile, but a full marauder - I promise humiliation in the near future - sort of smile.
For a second Albus frowned. How the hell did he know about that? he asked himself. Then he cringed as he noticed the photo on the table.
'OH NO!' he thought in dismay, closing his eyes as he realized what it was; a photo of himself being lead away in handcuffs by those wretched please men. NO!, Police men, never please men, he reminded himself. Never would he make the same mistake again. Such mistakes were much too costly…and embarrassing.
With a quick wave of his hand, the photo burst into flames.
"Pfff...please old man, I have many more where that came from," said Sirius, waving his hand dismissively at the burning picture, a comment which made Dumbledore growl.
"Where did you get that?" he asked menacingly.
"Now, now, none of that, bad doggie, down boy!... "said Sirius waving a copy of the photo through the air, then a second as that too burst into flames.
Realizing defeat when he saw it, Dumbledore closed his eyes and sighed before sitting down in a spare chair.
"Who else knows about this?"
"Everybody!"
"So obliviating you won't help... right?"
"You Bettscha"
"I see... Your not going to let me forget about this, are you?" he asked quietly, another groan on his lips.
"Never!" said Sirius, grinning evilly.
'What a dreadful day,' he mumbled through his hands, doing his best to ignore the ever increasing smirk on the marauders face.
Meanwhile back with Harry, near the Granger Residence
Invisible once more, Harry slowly edged forward until he was right behind the man.
"Er...excuse me, sorry to bother you but… can you please tell me where, Crescent Lane is please?" Harry asked from right behind him.
"Sure ... Down the road, turn right, follow the street until you reach the library, first lane on the left you can't miss it, "The man said pointing down the road while stifling a yawn.
"Thanks,"
"Your welcome... the man said turning around to see who had spoken only to find nobody there.
"Em...Hello?" he asked, looking around himself, surprised to find nobody near by. The whole road was empty.
Nobody answered.
"HELLO! who's there" he called out again frowning.
Still nobody answered.
Shrugging the man turned around again. I really must stop watching those horror movies,' he thought to himself. "God knows why Hermione likes them so much...ah well..."
Back at Order Head Quarters
"Thank you all for coming to this emergency order meeting," Dumbledore said, looking around the room. There really weren't many present yet, then again it was all on very short notice…
"I know it's on a really short notice and yes I know it's very early in the morning but it really couldn't be helped," he continued only to be interrupted.
"Has this got anything to do with three powerful muggles and one weak silly old man?" somebody asked from the crowd, a comment which was instantly followed by a few giggles from some and a few stern faces from others.
Dumbledore frowned but didn't reply.
"As I was saying, I called you here today to...oh for Merlins sake, please stop passing those darn photos around," he said, summoning all of the photos to him with a wave of his hand.
"AWWWW!" came a few cries from around the room.
"Bloody hell, its like talking to fu..."
"ALBUS!" Minerva Mc Gonagal said, looking at him sternly.
Now red faced and flustered, trying to ignore the disappointed moans from a few order members, the laughs of others and the shocked faces of a few more, Dumbledore continued to speak: "Well...em..right... if we can finally continue, as I was trying to say for the third time today..."
"Don't worry everybody I have many more where those came from." This time it was Sirius's voice which came from the crowd.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore roared. This time he had had enough, he slammed his fist on to the table then pulled out his second wand, a quick silencing charm later and the whole room was quiet.
"Now! If you have all finally stopped acting like little children...this is serious...for the forth time; I called everybody here because Harry Potter has, once again, run away from his home..."
Back with Harry
"So this is number 15 Crescent Lane, nice place." Harry said as he looked at the house.
'Finally, I was beginning to wonder if we would ever find the place today. Now, what are you waiting for... get inside already,' Ego said from inside his head.
Harry started to walk to the front door. He was just about to ring the door bell when EGO stopped him.
'STOP! What do you think your doing?'
'I'm ringing the door bell...' Harry thought confused.
'At six O' Clock in the morning...looking like half a fox and half a phoenix?'
'Oh!... Right... Harry blushed. What should I do so?'
'Well, your a digimon...right, Its time you started thinking and acting like one. Use your powers to get in, I'd advise jumping from that tree over there onto the roof,' said EGO.
'WAIT! I can't just break in...,' Harry said horrified at the thought of breaking into his best friend's house.
EGO sighed. 'Listen, your a red, two meter tall, sharp clawed, extremely dangerous, feathered fox headed monster, its not like anybody would let you in even if you asked nicely. It's simply not our vocation, simply not our way of life. Now stop acting like a goody two shoes human and get in there already.'
'But!'
'But what?'
This time it was Harry who sighed. 'All right...your right... your right, I have to start thinking like the digimon I am,' he thought as he jumped up the tree EGO had pointed out to him.
Another small jump later, no difficulty for a digimon of his type and he was on the roof.
'Not really how I pictured visiting my best friend in her own house for the first time, you know', he thought guiltily as he moved towards the nearest window.
Noticing it was slightly open; he forced it wide open and then pulled himself inside.
'There is a first time for everything, quiet now, we can not afford to make any more noise than absolutely necessary.' EGO said
Harry mentally nodded.
'Now where is her room,'EGO asked, as Harry silently crept along the corridor.
'No idea, never been here before' said Harry.
'Well no time like the present to find out then, open that door over there, quietly, check out the room, we don't want to wake anybody up now do we,'EGO said.
Not knowing what else to do, Harry complied and opened the door, only to close it twice as fast when he saw what, or rather who was inside.
'Sweet bloody mother of hell!...Not what I wanted to see, definitely not what I wanted to see, I really did not need to see that!' he screamed to himself in his mind, ignoring EGO's loud laugh at what had happened. He had just seen a woman, by the looks of it Hermione's naked mom, putting on some clothes.
'Why? Didn't you like what you saw?' Ego asked sweetly, mockingly, a comment which made Harry roll his eyes and blush fiercely.
"Hermione, dear, is that you?" the woman said as she opened the door.
Harry froze. Only the fact that he was currently phased and invisible saved him from being seen.
The woman looked up and down the corridor before stepping back into the room.
'That… was too close for comfort,' Harry said relieved.
'Don't worry what they can't see can't hurt them...or in this case mortify them,' EGO said laughing. 'Now...next room,'EGO answered with a mental smirk.
'Well at least we are in the right house,' Harry said, mentally nodding, then proceeded to the next door.
Slowly he opened the door and peered inside.
'There she is,' said Harry as he saw Hermione fast asleep in a bed.
Slowly, quietly he crept forward.
Order Headquarters
"Ok, so everybody is clear on what they have to do?" Dumbledore said, looking around the room again. He had just finished giving out some last second orders after explaining what had happened at the Dursleys. (Leaving out most of the embarrassing parts with him in the lead role)
Everybody had been horrified at the description of the damage Albus had seen and they all hoped Harry was still alright.
It had been surprisingly easy to continue the meeting after he had told them that Harry had gone missing… again.
Whether it had something to do with the silencing charm, or the fact that it was Harry who was missing, he didn't know nor did he really care, but everybody was now acting completely serious and like the adults they were supposed to be. Even Sirius, especially Sirius for that matter, though that was probably because it was his godson that had gone missing.
Everybody nodded.
Good! Shacklebolt, Dawlish, I want you to check out Grangers house. Beware that she is very loyal to Harry and she may help him, even against us. Remember what I told you. We don't know what to expect. Harry may not want to be found but he needs to be, for his own good.
If you find him don't simply take no for an answer. In fact it might be best if you don't take no for an answer no matter what he might say. If you have to you have my permission to use force to bring him in. If you have to search a muggle house then do so, I'll take care of any problems which may arise. If you must, shoot first, then obliviate later, there could even be Death Eaters around, so be careful.
The two aurors nodded.
"The same goes for the rest of you, while I don't expect any of the others to hinder your search, if you have any reason to believe any of his friends are hiding something, you have my permission to act accordingly.
A few more nods greeted him.
"Good, remember Harry is our first and highest priority, we need to get him back and to the safety of his relatives. Only there is he completely safe from Voldemort and his minions.
Everybody agreed, though a few looked unhappy about Harry going back to the Dursleys. However nobody dared to question the old man.
Albus nodded satisfied.
"Good luck, meeting adjourned".
'With any luck I'll have him back under my thumb soon,' he thought to himself as he walked away.
'Soon, I will be the greatest once more, soon,' he thought smiling to himself as he left the room.