Based off a challeng by NHunter in Whitetigerwolf's forum. Consider it the first chapter.
Harry Potter sighed a bit as he wandered the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. The past year had been an interesting one to say the least. He had gone from the unwanted Freak ward of the Dursley Family, to being the Hero of a secret world of agin users. Harry had gotten to experience the feeling of being a part of something. It was different than anything else that he had been a part of. There was now Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger the Quidditch Team and the Gryffindor House. For a child that had little experience in being around people it was amazing. What's more they had actually wanted him around them. When someone had threatened the sense of safety of a place that he had started to see as home. He had responded to the threat by doing his best to head the threat off. It had ended in a confrontation with the Dark Wizard Voldemort, or at least a shade of him as he had been possessing his Dense Against the Dark Arts teacher. In the ensuring meeting Harry had ended up in the hospital wing. While recovering he had talked with the headmaster. 5he man had explained that he harry had to either stay with his aunt and uncle due to some ancient protection magic that his parents had activated The night that Voldemort had killed them. It was that or be at school according to the headmaster. He wasn't really looking forward to the idea of returning to number four. He was brought out of his musings as he ran into someone. He looked up to see Roger Davies the Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
"Potter." The older boy grunted, as he grabbed at some papers that had tumbled out of his hands.
Harry knelt down to help the other boy. He paused as he looked at what looked like a flyer. He turned it right side up and read.
CHARMS SUMMER SCHOOL. TRAIN YOUR MAGIC TO NEWT HEIGHTS.
Along with it was a series of details about the summer school.
"Find something interesting?" The boy asked bemusedly as he held his hand out for the flyer somewhat suspiciously.
"There are summer schools for our sort?" Harry asked curiously as he eyed the flyer
"Of course there are, they hand the flyers out during the last few nights." Roger explained with a roll of his eyes. "Where have you been?"
"Hospital Wing for the last couple of nights." Harry returned to the other boy.
Roger flushed slightly at that. "Er yes, well that does explain why you missed them I guess." He Looked thoughtful for a moment before he reached Into his bag and pulled out a large catalog. "Professor Flitwick usually hands these out to those in our house that he thinks might be interested. It could be that McGonagall didn't think that you would be interested."
Harry nodded his thanks and began skimming through the various camps. There were dueling camps, charms camps, magical beasts, dragon observing, Ministry Training, Quidditch, alchemy, camps about something called runes and arithmancy, and even more. "There's so many of them." He whispered, as he looked at the various descriptions on each of the camps. So many options.
Roger chuckled as he watched how big the eyes of the Raven haired boy got. He thought that only the people of his house got like that about the idea of some of those camps. Maybe there was more to the boy than met the eye. Both of his parents were supposed to have been incredibly skilled according to their chocolate frog cards. "Be sure that you check the age restrictions." He advised him. "Some of those camps are to advanced for a first, well nearly second year. Some of those subjects deal with things that you don't start learning about till your third year."
"Does Hogwarts have a camp?"
Roger looked somewhat disgruntled by that question. "No, they were stopped during the war with You-Know-Who. Times were dangerous back then and the Headmaster was needed to help in a lot of things he wouldn't normally have had to. The Ministry never gave approval for the reopening of the summer school though. My father seemed to be of the opinion that the school board isn't interesting in having to provide funding to keep the school going during the summer." He added in.
"Can you talk me through the process?" Harry asked the older boy hopefully.
Roger sighed, while not the most fun of things to do he'd also rather the kid not try and get the help of someone like the Quidditch obsessed Gryffindor Oliver Wood. The boy would be convinced that Harry would need more training. The fact that the kid was a natural on a broom and could already handle a high speed broom like a Nimbus 2000, was proof enough of that he didn't need a training camp. Percy Weasley would have been helpful, but likely would get superior and only let the kid consider camps that would help him in the ministry or a career. Neither of them would be content with helping unless they were browbeating Potter until he agreed to their idea of a fun camp. It seemed that it was up to Ravenclaw to take care of this matter. "Fine, lets go and look through this in the library." He declared to the younger boy. He hoped his little cousin Tracy didn't hear about this, as she was likely to have an opinion on Potter. The Slytherian first years were a particularly vocal and opinionated bunch this time around.
Harry nodded and clutching the catalog followed after the older boy. Once the pair were situated, Roger began explaining the pros and cons of the various camps or schools. "Some of these focus on specific branches of magic or skills." He lectured, showing the boy one that was all about transfiguration. "Others focus on all of the subjects and work on trying to even out your school scores. Lets take potions for example, I doubt any potion camp would take you unless it was a remedial potion school/camp. Even with your reputation." He noticed that the boy grimaced slightly at that and wondered if the boy wasn't as fond of his fame as he thought that he might be. Then again he was only 11, hardly at an age where he could really enjoy any of the benefits of being a hero. It could also have to do with the fact that they were talking about potions though. From what he'd heard from the other first years, Potter's biggest weakness was potions. Something that Snape didn't make any easier. "Here's one that actually dabbles in several different branches of magic. You take your end of year results to them and they make a summer experience that will work on getting all of your grades up."
Harry looked on with interest as Roger highlighted those particular options. Roger had to admit he was surprised that the Gryffindor hero hadn't complained, he had been sure that the idea of more schoolwork would have sent the other boy fleeing back to his tower. Instead, he seemed even more interested. It was the sort of thing that he had expected from his friend Granger, but not from Potter himself. Perhaps there was more to the boy than he had originally thought. He explained each form to the younger boy explaining what each one meant and what he would have to do. He coached him through the writing process of the various forms required telling him how to do things like authorize the payments through Gringotts. It was about two hours later when the pair finally finished. Roger headed off one way back to Rabenclaw Tower, while Harry headed off towards the owlery to mail off his application for the summer school. The only part that would be somewhat difficult would be getting his relatives to sign the permission forms. He figured that there was a chance that he could manage it though as it would mean that they wouldn't need to see each other over the summer either. In this case they would all win. The Dursley's wouldn't have to worry about him causing troubles and he would be away from them as well. It was what everyone wanted.
The train ride back was somewhat different. The Gryffindor trio managed to get a compartment together. None of them wanted to talk about the dangers of their recent adventures and how close they had all come to death. Fluffy could very well have tried to eat them, Harry and Ron had nearly been strangled, Ron had nearly been beaten to death by the chess set, had Harry been less skilled on his broom he could have easily ended up plastered to the wall of the room, the Troll could have easily killed them, had Hermione messed up on the potion challenge it was likely that she and Harry could have been burned alive or poisoned. All of that was before Harry had even confronted Voldemort. They had been lucky that they had all managed to survive the various obstacles that had been put up. With those thoughts in their minds, they were working on discussing anything but the quest that that they had gone through. It led to long periods of quiet. Ron wouldn't even get his chess set out of its box. It was almost with relief for the trio that the train stopped and they all clambered out of the coach and towards their families.
"Uncle Vernon." Harry called out to the large walrus of a man who on seeing him had begun leading the way to the outside and car.
Vernon Dursley scowled as he turned to look at the small boy as he scurried up to him. "What is it Boy?" He hissed in annoyance. The idea of being near so many freaks frightened him.
Harry swallowed nervously before he found his courage. He was Harry Potter the Boy-Who-Lived, he had faced down Fluffy, Snape, and Voldemort. In comparison, his uncle was not that scary. At least three of them were more scary than anything his Uncle could ever try and be. If he could face those, then he could face the overgrown walrus that was towering over him.
"Well?" Vernon demanded, his face getting red at the thought that the boy was wasting his time. If that was the case, he would see to it that the boy paid for it later. He didn't care if he did have the freak stick of his, he would find some way around that.
"Uncle." Harry started with a slightly stronger voice. "I have a suggestion."
"And what might that be boy? Trying to figure a way to get out of the honest work I have planned for you? Then again, I doubt your kind knows much about honest work." The man growled.
"Something like that." Harry agreed, knowing it was better to agree with the man when he wanted something. "What would you say if you didn't have to deal with me at all during the summer?" He questioned the man.
Vernon's eyes narrowed at that. "If it means spending money on you, then the answer is no." He growled at the boy. "When that savage broke in on us and assaulted us, we told you that we wouldn't waste hard earned and honest money for you to learn some gimmicks that have no use in the real world."
"Everything has been taken of on that matter." Harry assured him, hoping that his uncle didn't ask how. He doubted that his uncle's dislike of his sort would extend to piles of golden coins at the bank. Though he doubted that the goblins would let him get in at it easily. It would be amusing to see his uncle try and bully the creatures into handing over the gold. He would almost pay to see it.
"So what do you need from me?" Vernon demanded of the boy.
"I need your signature on these forms." Harry explained, as he held out a sheath of parchment.
"I sign these and I don't have to deal with you for the rest of the summer?" Vernon questioned him suspiciously. "You're not going to show up again a few weeks later and expect us to do anything for you?" He growled, as his eyes began to examine the papers carefully. Say what you like about Vernon Dursely, he was a good businessman and knew what the power of contracts contained. It was almost obvious some of the thoughts that were going through his head. Sign the documents and let Harry do something that he wanted to, or keep Harry at home and make him miserable. The flip side of the coin though was that Vernon would also be miserable because he would have to deal with Harry
"That's right uncle." Harry confirmed.
"And it won't cost me anything?" He pressed, as if he was expecting there to be some sort of hidden clause or something in the form.
"Correct." Harry nodded.
"Why didn't you just send me this rubbish and save me the cost of petrol?" Vernon demanded.
.Would you have accepted that type of mail after the summer?" Harry questioned, reminding both males of the reason that they had been out on that island on Harry's birthday in the first place.
Vernon grunted out his agreement at that as he continued to read the papers. "This place is out of country?" He noted.
"Yes Uncle, which means that we'll both be far enough away from each other that the likelihood of us seeing each other is about as likely as your accepting my heritage." Harry returned, as he thought of some of the words that Hermione had used when talking about the difference between Purebloods and Muggleborns. He hoped that they would help him here.
"Fine, if it gets you gone all the better." Vernon finally agreed as he scribbled his name in the required spots. "Maybe we'll get lucky and you'll get stranded somewhere without a passport." He suggested somewhat fondly. The man did make some grumbled comments about breaking the laws that people like him worked so hard to obey. His distaste for the ease that these people had bypassing laws that normal people had to obey. He then threw the papers at Harry and stalked away without so much as looking back at the boy.
Harry double checked all of the papers making sure his uncle had signed them correctly. He wouldn't put it past his uncle to sign it wrong just to make his life difficult. Everything was in order. He looked at the documents and saw that according to them in two hours he was supposed to be transported in some way. He was to go to a secluded place in which to use something called a Portkey. He was to close his eyes and hold onto the information packet with one hand and his trunk in the other as tightly as he could. Harry waited until it was getting close to time and as it was getting close to the required time he took his trunk to an abandoned parking lot. Once he was sure that it was empty, he gripped the papers tightly in one hand while clutching his trunk and Hedwig's cage. The application had given him an address that Hedwig would be flying towards. He closed his eyes tightly and as an added precaution decided to hold his breath. It was while he was doing this that he wondered if he should have told any of his friends what it was that he had planned. Oh well, he could always owl them about it later. It was as this thought was going through his head that he felt a strange tugging sensation at his navel and then a strange pulling and spinning sensation as he felt himself being pulled someplace.
Albus Dumbledore wandered through the halls of the third corridor, as he tried to figure where things had gone so wrong. He sighed as he looked around the place. They had outsmarted themselves it seemed in preparing the defenses. No one had truly thought that any of their traps would be needed, thinking Voldemort to be outside the wards. So very few of them had put in any true effort into the traps. They had thought that the first line of defense wasn't a door, but that it was the wards and other defenses that the castle held. Defenses that had completely ignored Quirrel, who was a teacher and one of the people that had helped set one of the obstacles. The weak locking charm had been meant to convince Tom that he wasn't in the right area. All of those tricks and ideas though had been useless against someone who knew exactly where they were going. He would have to thank Hagrid and Severerus for taking the task of guarding the place so seriously. Between them and his own obstacle things had been much harder. He did wonder though. The being that had slashed through the defenses was different from the one that had led the various Purebloods on their blood crusade. Tom had never been a particular fan of broom travel, or chess. He was much to impatient for chess, often using slashing tactics that would strike fear into any offense. As for flying, well Tom would never admit to having a wizard skill he was poor at, but that was one. It had been why near the end he had been experimenting with an alternative method of flight. It had unfortunately been either taken down to the deepest depths of the department of mysteries, or had been destroyed by those who either wanted to keep his secrets safe or those who refused to believe anything good might come from his studies. The tests had been meant to work on his weaknesses. Quinnius had given Tom the advantages he needed though. It seemed as he had been playing chess with Minerva all year, and had been the seeker on his house team even playing professionally for a while as he recalled. He had obviously kept some of the skills from his youth. Combined with Voldemort's own knowledge, the young man had moved through the obstacles.
He knew the other members of the staff were more than a bit embarrassed at the ease with which a group of first years had breezed through the defenses that they had set up as well. It was one thing for a powerful dark wizard to blow through their defenses, but a group of students who had only just finished their first year of magical study was another thing all together. Of all of them Severus had the best obstacle and had he used his logic puzzle on almost anyone else then he had no doubt that they would still have been waiting in front of the fire enchantment. It was more than a simple fire spell, but was actually cursed flame in a bottle. One of a handful of flames that the various flame freezing charms didn't work on. Fiendfire and dragon fire being some of the only other flames that were more powerful. It seemed that Hermione Granger was more than just something capable of quoting facts back at people, as Severus had made more than a few comments on. In private, the man had even given her grudging praise. Had he not then made snide comments about Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter bringing her intelligence down, he would have been impressed. They were a truly gifted and powerful group of young magic users to manage all that they had. Should they live through Tom's return, he expected many great things from them.
He didn't deny that he had hoped that Harry and Tom would meet, but he had wanted it to be in a time and place of his choosing. He would have loved to have been able to see what had become of his former student. It might have answered so many questions on how he might have survived his supposed death ten years ago. From what he had gathered from Harry, his student was both stronger and weaker than he had originally thought he would be. He had hoped that Tom would stay gone until Harry had finished his Hogwarts training, and maybe even had a few years to master any other magics. If he was making moves now, he was several years ahead of the schedule that Dumbledore had put together. Ideally he would have liked to train Harry in advanced magics. For that to happen though, Harry first needed to understand the basics of magic. One needed to learn how to walk before they could run. Even wizards. It made him wonder if he had theorized wrong about other things involving Tom. He was going to be spending a lot of time checking these things. As things he had thought he knew were wrong.
Molly Weasley had already flooed him, and had reported that Harry had made it to the platform and back to his family alright. Her opinion on the gruff manner that Vernon had greeted Harry had been long and drawn out, as she listed many of the things that she disapproved of with the muggle. By tonight, the wards around Privvet Drive would begin charging again, and Harry would be safely ensconced behind some of the best protections that anyone could find outside of Hogwarts. Once the wards were suitably charged, he would consider moving him elsewhere.
He was only sorry that all this had happened and his mentor would be the one that was going to die. He had seriously thought that the Flamel's would be around another 600 years. The idea of a world where his mentor was not around, was one Albus wasn't ashamed to admit that he was more than a little unnerved by. For the past hundred years the Flamel's had helped him, or at the very least been the sounding board for his plans often times helping him sort out some of his thoughts. While he was glad that they had finally decided it was time to take that final adventure, he was sad as well. He would likely be spending a large part of the summer with the pair, as the entire Wizarding world made preparations for what was to come. He did hope Harry enjoyed his time in the muggle world with his family for when he came back people would expect even more great things now that one of the legends would be gone.
Speaking of family, he supposed that he should head over to see his brother before he had to head for France and begin dealing with people over this mess. Perhaps their conversation would even manage to be more civil than they normally were. Not that he expected much.
Harry groaned as he felt himself fall face first into the ground. That had really not been comfortable and he had tripped over his trunk. He pulled himself and looked around. He appeared to be in some sort of clearing. There was a older man looking slightly concerned at him but as Harry was climbing to his feet the man settled back into his seat.
"Alright there?" The man asked with somewhat accented english.
Harry nodded as he tried to place the accent, but for someone who had never actually spoken with anyone out of country that was a trick. The Dursley's in their quest to prove themselves normal had very little good things to say about anyone or anything that wasn't British. It seemed like Vernon knew every derogatory comment about every nationality and how best to use them. He also seemed intent on teaching all of them to Dudley.
"First time using a Portkey?" The man asked sympathetically.
"Is that what it is?" Harry asked, shaking his head to clear his head.
"Yes. Do you have your paperwork?" He asked the boy casually. Harry nodded and handed him the scroll filled with all of the required information. Along with the papers Vernon Dursley had signed, there was a seal of approval from Gringotts for a transfer of funds, and a copy of Harry's transcripts for the last year. The man flipped through the various items for a minute making sure that everything was in order. He glanced at the boy slightly when he realized that the paperwork and funds meant that the boy would be with them for nearly the entire summer. There would be a couple of weeks near the end of the summer before most schools should start back up that he would be wherever. His eyes also widened slightly as he read the name. His eyes flipped back to the boy and examined his forehead where his famous scar rested.
Harry narrowed his eyes slightly when he realized what the man was looking for. Since coming to the Wizarding World, he had become somewhat used to the people glancing his head over for his somewhat famous scar. It had taken about a month for people to stop doing it at Hogwarts. Even if he found them doing that a bit annoying himself. He looked the man over and was somewhat surprised. The man despite being a wizard actually looked normal. Since coming to the wizarding world he had yet to meet a person that looked so muggle. The man was clad in shorts and a T-shirt there were no robes cloaks or other medieval style of clothing on the man. It was a definite change from the flashy period style clothes he had begun to associate with adult wizards and witches.
"You okay kid?" The man asked casually looking at Harry in concern.
"Er yeah, your just not what I was expecting." Harry admitted sheepishly, as he realized that he had been staring at the man.
"Are you a pureblood?" The man asked. "If so I can explain some of the things I'm wearing." He offered.
"Er no, it's just you look so normal." Harry admitted somewhat embarrassed.
The man stared at him for a minute before chuckling. "First time I've ever been accused of dressing normal." The man noted amusedly. "Anyways," he mumbled, let's get you setup now. You speak any language besides english?" He asked curiously.
"Er no." Harry returned. "Is that going to be a problem?"
"No, it just means that we have to make sure that you don't get put in certain groups. You might not like it to much if everyone around you is speaking another language. I'll need to see your wand." He requested holding out his hand.
"Er why?" Harry wondered, as his hands rested on the end of his wand. One of things that they taught at Hogwarts was never to simply hand your wand over to someone. The wand was supposed to be an extension and tool that a witch and wizard shouldn't entrust to just anyone.
"I need to remove the trace from your wand, as it will be reporting all of your spell activity to your ministry otherwise." The man explained. "We also have to register the wand for in case it gets lost or misplaced. Your local wand maker provides a list to the headmaster for similar reason. It also lets them know to keep an eye out for people with legacy wands."
"Legacy wands?" Harry asked curiously.
"Yes, wands that belonged to someone else originally, and the family had decided that the new student should use the legacy wand for various reasons." He grinned at the boy. "It also lets them know which wands that the teachers have to reapply the trace to." He added.
Harry grinned while nodded in understanding. Ron used just such a wand. Although he figured that the reasoning was a bit different. He finally placed his wand in the hand of the councilor. The man waved his wand over it and a piece of paper appeared before them. "Let's see. Eleven inches made from holly with a phoenix tail core. Been in use approximately nine months. That sound right?"
"Yeah." Harry returned in surprise. The man then waved his wand and a golden ring covered the tip. "That will keep all forms of tracking spells from reporting your spell useage except for ours that is. Now follow the paper plane and it'll lead you to where you need to go." The man ordered, after he had handed the wand back to the boy.
Harry nodded his thanks and chased after the piece of paper.
Once he was gone the young man created another plane and sent it out in another direction. Having someone of the Potter boy's reputation was something that needed to be dealt with.
Through a hallway in the building passing various other people that were standing around and a variety of languages that Harry didn't know and couldn't place. He recognized one group who were talking french but none of the other languages were ones that he could understand. It was a bit overwhelming for the boy. He eventually found himself entering a room. He looked around and saw that there was a older girl that looked like she was maybe a 7th year or slightly older.
The girl looked up and smiled on Harry's entrance. "Hello.. She greeted. "Come on in, find yourself a bunk, and start unpacking." She suggested to him. "Alex is on his way and then we'll help you." She assured him.
Harry nodded and made his way towards a random bed. He took a moment to glance the room he found himself in. There were bunk beds with built in desks. The room also had a large table where one could work from. This place looked like it just might be an alright one. Considering that there was no Dursley's .
I opted for a misguided Dumbledore for the time being because frankly Evil Manipulative Dumbles is so common these days and there's only so many ways to write it. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole idea and consider it very likely. Even if I disapprove how casually a teenager usually trounces someone with over a century of experience in mental and political games and 10 years to plan in most fics. So I thought why not make it that he was lost without the man he had been looking to for answers on these long games.