I am so very very sorry for the delay in this chapter, things have been very rough in my personal life over the past year, and I developed a mental block on this story. This chapter is just a filler, but it gives hints about who my Harry will be. The story will hopefully speed up in the next few chapters, the first of which is already written and will be uploaded next week.
Chapter 11:
The summer had passed quicker than he would have liked, but even in that short time he had grown and developed more than he had in all the years before. Cassandra had been a really big help to him, talking him through a lot of things and had become a steady part of his life in the last month of the holidays. She was a wealth of information, knew about everything from pureblood manners to how he could make some of his muggle appliances work with electric. Popping over in the evenings after she closed the shop, they would sit for hours and talk about whatever topics came to mind. Endlessly entertaining, it was also educational and left Harry with a more pure and realistic understanding of magic and the world than he had ever gained from Hogwarts.
Harry had enjoyed living at Potter manor, and was nervous about leaving it behind. Although he knew technically he could return at any time as the head of the Potter House, to reveal that he had taken the title would ensure even more problems found their way to him. He had discussed for hours what his best course would be, first with Gripnook, and then as she gained his trust with Cassandra too, and they had decided that it would be best to keep it hidden from most. The worst thing for his case would be for Dumbledore to stick his nose in again, and that was inevitably going to be the old mans plan. He would be stepping on eggshells whenever he walked through the halls, but there were things he needed to do.
Even though it had only been a few weeks, Harry had a lot clearer path of where he was heading and what he was planning on doing with his life. Taking the space away from the world to clear his head, and talking to people who were honest with what they wanted him had given him the time to breath and really look at things rationally.
Staring out of his window on his last night at home, sixteen year old Harry Potter was lost in thought about what was to come.
He would go back to Hogwarts, yes. But he would not tell anyone where he had been or what he had been learning. He would withdraw into himself and play on his loss of Sirius, it might be wrong on a lot of levels but it would be the easiest way to ensure he survived the coming year. Things would be dangerous, he knew that, and he would have to be on the look out constantly, but it would all work towards his greater aims.
Yuck, no. He shook his head, that was getting way too close to the "greater good" and that was one place he wasn't going to end up. He turned, instead to the plans he had, to what he needed to do and how he was going to go about it.
Malfoy would be his priority, the most important part of the puzzle and would have to be taken care of on the Express. He had spent way too much time researching that boys family and their role in the war, their political views and who they were to not need the boy on his side. Cassandra had been invaluable in that respect, working in Diagon Alley meant she heard the things not usually spoken, the darker little secrets that noone should. From his knowledge of the boy at school, his research and Cassandras words it was clear that there was a lot more to Draco Malfoy than met the eye, and he would be a valuable ally, as well as a good friend. Reading through all the books he had found, as well as journals had made him realize just how much he had wronged the boy, and how much he had to atone for. He would have to be approached in a very specific way, but without him non of the plans would work.
He would have to cut off Ron and Hermione completely. He could use Sirius death to help with that one; it was hurting him and it might even do good to have a chance to really let it out, to show some emotion. All the better if that mess of emotion was all his so called friends ever saw. He hadn't liked the idea at first, wanting to preserve everything in his shell, but Dinky had talked him through a lot of things. There had been nights he had cried, nights where he had wept his heart out and screamed at the top of his lungs to try and let it all out, and in the mornings he had been hurt and ashamed of his actions. But he was never judged, his loyal house elf always there to wipe the tears away and calm him down, tell him it was okay to cry.
He needed to make proper contact with the other pureblood heirs too, after all they were his peers, the people he should have been spending his childhood with, and he was starting to understand just where their dislike for him had come from. Turning down the hand of Malfoy on that first Hogwarts Express trip had turned his fortune in the pureblood society more than anything else he could have done. Hopefully, once they understood how little he had known about their culture they would be willing to accept him as one of their own, but he would have to be careful because if the old man found out what was going on he would inevitably try to put a stop to it.
Gringotts were dealing with his financing and his estate, so that wasn't something he would have to deal with, but he would still have to try and gain some support without anyone noticing. Building support for his own agenda without being noticed was going to be the challenge of all challenges as the most watched boy in the world, but it was something he knew he needed to do.
Harry rose from his seat, and smiled softly to himself. Tomorrow the game began, tomorrow he would walk out of his safety net and face the great wide world. They knew Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, but noone would be prepared for Lord Potter.
You Don't Need To Read This:
Yes, the Draco aspect. Out of nowhere, but I was sitting struggling with this chapter for the past four months, and then suddenly in walks Malfoy with a big smile and fixes all my plot issues. Brilliant creature that boy.
I would like to apologize wholeheartedly for my utter hopelessness when it comes to uploading this story or sticking to one style of writing. I know my uploading is sporadic at best, and I jump around a lot.
I started writing Effect of Lies over a year ago, when I was at a very bad time in my life and needed something to distract myself from what was going on around me. While I haven't updated it for long periods of time it has been a constant throughout some of the worst moments.
Writing this story and all the amazing reviewers has been a lifechanging experience for me, this story has gained more attention than anything else I have written put together, and I appreciate each and every one of you who adds this story to their watch list, gives it a favorite or leaves a review. 100K views was something I never even dreamed of achieving, but thanks to each and every one of you I've done it.
I can't promise it will be regular, I can't promise you'll get updates all the time, but this story will be finished, no matter how long it takes. And Thank You, each and every one of you, for standing by me this long.