Chapter 4

Harry gulped audibly by the sight of the slightly chubby, older man in a pinstriped robe and lime green bowler hat that was in his hands at that moment. The said man was looking down at him like an indulgent grandfather to a rather mischievous grandchild.

"Um…g-good evening, Minister." He stammered out.

"Oho, you know who I am?" The man clearly was very pleased about the fact.

"Um…yeah, I have seen your picture in the Prophet." Harry lied, he couldn't say that he and Ron were hiding underneath an invisibility cloak when he came to arrest Hagrid now, could he?

Minister Fudge opened his mouth to reply but was cut short by Stan's excited shout –

"'Ey, Earnie! Git outta 'ere! It's the Minister!"

Cornelius Fudge seemed to puff up even more than before. Harry understood his behaviour, he had seen Vernon acting the same way when someone gave him even the slightest bit of compliments, out of politeness, of course. No one in their right mind would complement a whale-like Vernon Dursley. He shook his head to get rid of the stray thoughts and concentrated on what was going on.

"Glad ta meet ya, Minister. I dinnit think of ya to be 'ere." Stan was gushing. Ernie also was scrambling down the steps to get a look at the man.

"Yes, well, I had to come and see if Mr Potter is here by myself. And what do you know, I do find him here." He patted heavily on Harry's shoulder, making him wince.

"'Arry Potter?! Wha' choo callin' Pafoo 'Arry Potter fer?"

"Pafoo?" Fudge was bewildered by that word, looking confusedly between Harry and Stan.

Harry cleared his throat, "I was essentially running away from home. You do not expect me to give away my real name, did you?" He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Ah, yes, yes. We need to have a chat about that. Do come inside, Harry. Tom has a room waiting for us. Gentlemen, always a pleasure." He gave the men a nod before hurrying Harry along with him.

Harry could hear Stan's excited voice while he followed the Minister of Magic –

"Did ya 'ear that, Earn? 'Arry Potter ran away fram 'ome! Wait till I tell the lads 'bout tha'…"

Harry suppressed a groan at that, very soon the entirety of England would come to know that he ran away from home it seemed. Cursing himself, he went with the Minister towards the upper floor of the inn. He found the owner, Tom, to stand in front of a door. He gave them a bow as they approached and opened the door for them.

"I have the food delivered as you requested, Minister."

"Thank you, Tom. That will be all." Fudge didn't even spare a glance to the man. Harry gave him a tight smile on his way.

"Please, take a seat, my boy." Fudge waved his hand towards another chair at the table, "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I could eat…" Harry nodded, his stomach also growled in tandem by the smell of food, Fudge magnanimously smiled down at him and indicated for him to take a seat at the table laden with food.

He had let Harry eat his fill while he sat back relaxed with a cup of tea. It was when Harry had slowed down a bit from inhaling the food in front of him that he spoke –

"It was quite dangerous for you to run away like that, my boy."

Harry looked up to the man from his plate and nodded his head. He swallowed his mouthful and said, "I-I know that, sir. That is why I took the bus as quickly as I can."

A little white lie can't hurt anyone. And Fudge doesn't need to know that I found out about the bus by accident – thought Harry.

Fudge nodded, "Yes, yes you did. Quite a resourceful young man you are. I could use someone with your spontaneity at the Ministry, you know. What with the people I have to deal with every day…" He shook his head in mock sadness. Harry had spent enough time with Vernon to tell the difference. Fudge continued, "You'll also be glad to know that the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad had set Miss Marge Dursley to the right in no time."

So that was them turning up on Privet Drive – thought Harry.

"…and they have also agreed to host you the next year." Fudge had continued to speak while Harry was musing about a veritable horde of magical people invading Vernon's precious home.

"Um…do I have to?" Harry couldn't help but grimace at that thought.

Fudge was forced to stop in the middle of his flowing speech. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before clearing his throat and putting up a forced smile.

"Er…while my people told me about the unpleasantness about your…um…situation? I am sure that they do not hold any ill wish for you, Harry." Harry knew the amount of verbal, or even maybe physical abuse that Fudge's people had experienced at the Dursleys'. He was kind of taking a vindictive pleasure out of that. In his head, he thought that now they had come to taste the Dursley experience, maybe Dumbledore could be swayed to have him stay somewhere else.

"Although, I think it is for the best that you spend the rest of your summer holiday elsewhere. Give everyone some time to, you know…cool off." He looked at him expectantly.

"Oh," Harry rapidly started to think about wizardly places he could go to spend the rest of his holidays. "Umm…Hermione has gone to France with her parents, and Ron is visiting Egypt. The entire Weasley family is visiting Egypt."

A small frown appeared on Fudge's brow, "You can't stay with any other friends than those two?"

"Er…I am not that close with anybody else…" Harry said looking down, thinking to himself why was he not closer with anybody else.

"That can pose a problem." Fudge said rubbing his chin, "Maybe Lucius could house you for the duration of the holidays. That too if he isn't already out of the country as well."

Harry's mind had gone back in time, thinking about the man with long, blond hair and raging blue eyes, aiming his wand at him, with the killing curse on his lips.

"Uh…Excuse me, sir, are you, by any chance, talking about Lucius Malfoy?"

"Oh, you know him, do you? Yes, and his son is your year mate if I am not mistaken." Fudge seemed to become very happy by this turn of conversation.

Harry grimaced, "Ah, yes, him. But I don't think that will be a very good idea. Since Draco Malfoy and I are not on friendly terms. The whole Gryffindor-Slytherin thing, I am sure you would understand."

Fudge gave him a knowing smile, "Yes, yes. Now I remember. Lucius was saying about how his son was quite miffed about you beating Slytherin house in Quidditch."

Harry nodded along, he didn't want to burst Fudge's bubble about the Malfoys, since, by his tone, he appeared to almost be a family friend to them. He wasn't sure if Fudge would believe him if he told him about the elder Malfoy trying to kill him. There was nobody there besides Dobby. Did the wizardkind even allow house-elves as eyewitnesses? He had no idea.

"I can stay here." Harry blurted out.

Fudge seemed to have taken aback by that suggestion, "Here? At this place? But it is quite open and insecure!"

Harry was feeling the tiredness creeping up to him. He wanted this conversation to end as quickly as possible so that he could get some shut eyes now that his stomach is full.

"Excuse me if I am treading on in something that I am not supposed to, sir, but are you feeling concerned about Sirius Black?"

Fudge turned around so fast that he would have toppled over had he not braced himself on the table.

"How do you know of him?"

"I read about him in the Prophet." Harry shrugged.

Fudge nodded, "Yes, yes. He is precisely the reason why you shouldn't stay here. Black is quite insane, and with him being You-Know-Who's right-hand man…what with the reason of him being -" He cut himself off in midsentence, "Uh…yes, because of him, you should stay somewhere safer."

"But this is way safer for me right here, sir." Harry pressed on, "Here, I will be surrounded by wizards and witches and won't be a burden on anybody during the holidays. Black will not even think about coming here. And even if by some chance he does come here, I am sure that I can slip away and take refuge within Gringotts. He won't be that insane to attack the Goblins."

Fudge thought very hard about what Harry just said to him. Harry increasingly became more fidgety as the man took his sweet time. When he finally reached a decision, he broke into a grin, "As I said before, quite resourceful young wizard you are, my boy. You would do very well in the Ministry when you grow up. Very well, you can stay here. But you need to promise me that you will not go out in the muggle world and remain here and the Diagon Alley."

Harry rapidly nodded his head in agreement, "Of course, sir, I promise."

Fudge's jovial demeanour came back, "Excellent. Now, if that is all, let us go and talk with Tom about your lodging for the rest of the summer."

"Um…one more thing, sir…" Harry hesitated while getting up.

"Yes?"

"Do you think you can sign my Permission Slip for Hogsmeade? Only my uncle didn't and it's my Third Year…" He trailed off.

Fudge put a hand on his shoulder with a solemn look, "I am sorry, my boy, but I can't do that. I am not your legal guardian. Yes, I am the Minister, but that doesn't give me the leeway. I am sure you'd understand."

Harry expected that to be his answer, he nodded his head in assent. Together they got out of the room and went downstairs, where Fudge talked with Tom the barkeep about Harry becoming a boarder in the Cauldron for the next month and a half. Tom was very eager to please both Minister of Magic and the Boy-Who-Lived. He swore to high heavens that he would take special care of him and won't let him out in the muggle world unsupervised.

Bidding Cornelius Fudge goodnight, Harry once again climbed the stairs behind Tom who led him to Room 13 which was to become his home for the rest of the summer. He didn't bother to change out of the clothes to his nightwear and dropped on the bed. The events of the day really tired him out as the moment his head hit the pillow, he was lost to the world.

[TUP]

Harry's eyes snapped open to the sounds of muffled and annoyed hoots. He jumped out of the bed and looked around. He spotted Hedwig sitting out of his closed window glaring at him with baleful eyes. Harry scrambled towards the window and opened it to let his feathery friend fly inside.

"I am so sorry, Hedwig. You were out and I didn't even think of leaving the window open for you once you arrive." He tried to stroke her feathers but his owl pecked at his hand to nearly draw blood. "Come on, Hedwig, I said I am sorry." Still, the owl gave only an irritated bark and turned around showing him her tail. Harry sighed and tried to rub the sleep off of his eyes. He needed to pay for his act of disobedience towards Her Majesty, Lady Hedwig.

"Ok, how about you come downstairs with me and I ask Tom for an extra plate of bacon this morning just for you? Will it suffice?" Hedwig didn't show any sign that she heard him.

Harry sighed, "How about I go down alone and bring you bacon here in the room?" Only a slight tilt of the head was given as an answer. Still, no turning back to face her wizard.

"Ok, I can get a hint. One plate of bacon coming right up…" Harry spoke while going for the door, only to be stopped by another bark, "Two?! Can you even eat two whole plates of bacon by yourself?" He asked incredulously.

There was a streak of white and suddenly Harry had to cover his head from sharp talons.

"Alright, alright. You can have your two plates of bacon. Gerroff me, will you?"

Hedwig relented her airborne attacks towards the highly disrespectful pet of a human and Harry bolted from the room. He grumbled to himself about finicky owls and their tempers as carried the tray of his breakfast with two extra plates of bacon back to his room.

"You are gonna get fat if you eat like this, girl." Harry observed unconsciously as he finished his own meal, then suddenly, he realized just what he actually said. Gulping, he looked up to see that his somewhat mollified familiar was once again looking back at him with fire in her amber eyes. "Did I say fat? You must have misheard, Hedwig, I didn't say fat. I said fun. You are going to have so much fun the more you eat. Heh, why don't I just go and return these empty plates to Tom."

Once again, the patrons of the Cauldron were witness to the scene of a harried Harry Potter running down the stairs as if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was after him.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Tom gave him a once-over.

"Yeah, just a little jumpy this morning, that's all." Harry tried to play it off.

"If you say so." He replied dubiously, "Your bedding is ok? It's not torn or anything, right?"

Now Harry was confused by the line of questioning.

"Um, yeah. They were intact this morning when I woke up. Why do you ask?"

"Some feathers are poking out of your collar." Tom pointed at his neck.

A chill ran down his spine, again? And what did he mean by feathers? His hand jumped up to his collar and sure as his magic, he felt tiny feathers against his hand. Panicking, he lowered his head in a bid to hide it, what if he had started to sprout feathers on his face too.

"Oh…yeah. My owl was mad at me for leaving her behind. She was kinda wrestling with me earlier when she arrived. That's why the extra plates of bacon, you see? Gotta go now, Tom. Have to get rid of these feathers and wash up. Yeah…gotta wash up."

He hurried back up to his room. Hedwig decided to go to sleep and had her head under his wings. Harry went to see the mirror in the toilet and there they were – tiny feathers were indeed poking through his collars. Thankfully, he had come back to his room before his face decided to play catch up with the rest of his body as he was staring at his reflection, he could see feathers. As tiny and hairlike as Hedwig had on her face, started to sprout from his face, all black in colour.

Harry splashed his face with water, although he knew it won't help him much, still, he futilely tried to wash those feathers away. His mantra Harry the Human was a constant on his lips. Maybe it was his wish to revert to human, or perhaps the cool touch of water had caused his rapidly pulsing heart to slow down a bit, but a while later when he looked back at the mirror, he saw that his face was once again feather-free. Sighing, he wiped his face and wet hair with the towel and came back inside of the main room to crash down on the bed bonelessly.

"What is happening to me, Hedwig? What kind of furry-feathery snake am I becoming? Is it even possible for something like that to exist?"

Hedwig was woken up when Harry thundered into the room, her indignant squawk of being rudely woken up went unheeded as Harry rushed right into the toilet. Now, his feathery friend had perched herself on the headboard once he came back and was looking down at him with concern clear in her eyes. She fluttered down on the bed and rubbed her soft head on the prone boy's cheek, all enmity from the breakfast was forgotten.

After a few minutes, Harry sat back up and rubbed his hand over Hedwig's head, "Thanks love, I am sorry for that joke I made earlier. You are the smartest and prettiest owl of the world and I would always have bacon for you." He bent down and placed a soft kiss on Hedwig's head, earning him an indulgent hoot.

"Go on, finish your nap. I think I'll head out for a bit. I wanna find out what the heck is wrong with me. And as Hermione always says, I should find my answer in a book."

Harry pulled the hood of his jacket on his head to hide his face somewhat and went down to the main floor of the Cauldron. He was lucky that there was a drizzle outside, it gave him the excuse of having his hood up. He told Tom about going into the Alley and walked out to the back. He tapped the bricks – three down, two across, to get access into the prime shopping district of the British wizarding world – Diagon Alley. He headed straight for the bookshop Flourish and Blotts. The man minding the store looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he entered the shop.

"Morning." Harry greeted the man.

"Morning. Aren't you a bit early for your school list?"

"Er…I am just browsing this morning. Want to get an idea of which books to get once the list arrives, you know."

The man nodded understandingly, "Uh, I get it. You are one of the bookish types. Ravenclaw?"

"Nope," Harry drew out his answer with a popping sound at the end while looking at the bookshelves, "Gryffindor, actually."

"Wow. Studious lions aren't that rare, but an eager one to visit the bookstore even before the list arrived, that is surely unusual."

Harry couldn't help but let out a snort at that. Clearly, this man hadn't had a chance to have a chat with Hermione, "You'd be surprised."

The man nodded his head, "Maybe things did change since my time at Hogwarts. Anyways, feel free to look around and if anything else that caught your eyes but shouldn't be on your list that you want them, let me know so I can hold on to a copy for you. What's your name, by the way?"

"Potter, Harry Potter." Harry said while absently thumbing through a book called Reptiles of Britain.

"Are you really?" The man was bent over the counter with an eager look on his face.

Harry groaned inwardly and pulled down his hood, "Please, sir. I just want to look at some books."

"Of course, of course, Mr Potter. Look at anything you want. And like I said before, anything you want to keep aside, just let me know. Jacob Blotts, at your service."

Harry gave the man a wide smile, "Thank you, Mr Blotts. Is it ok if I read a book or two in that corner over there? I wanna make sure I do understand them, you see."

Mr Blott stood up with his chest puffing out, "Not a problem, Mr Potter. Read anything you want. You can come in here anytime you want to have a read."

If he was Hermione, he would be jumping up and down in sheer joy of having the entire store at his disposal. I better not mention this to Hermione, she may just plainly beat me to death in retaliation – he thought to himself.

"Thank you very much, Mr Blotts. I am staying at the Cauldron till the school opens. Would it be alright if I come here in the mornings to check the books?"

Jacob Blotts looked like he was just declared to be the Minister of Magic, "It's more than alright, Mr Potter. Here, let me set something up for you." He hurried away from behind the counter and went to the corner Harry pointed out earlier. With a wave of his wand, he conjured a table and chair. A little more wandwork and he had a ward erected around the space. Sound from the outside of the ward would be muffled when Harry would be sitting there, having a quiet read.

"There you go, you have a quiet place to study to your heart's content."

Harry was feeling a little guilty by then. But the man didn't ask him to see his scar, so he was alright in his book.

"Once again, thank you, Mr Blotts. You don't know how much I appreciate it." He offered his hand to him.

"Think nothing of it, lad. It's no trouble at all." Mr Blotts gave him a hearty handshake, "You go ahead with your studies and if you want anything else, just call for me." He went back behind the counter whistling a jaunty tune.

Harry shook his head and gathered as many books on reptiles, furry creatures and avians he could find on the ground floor of the shop. A book or two on Animagus Transformation also joined the tower he was creating. Rubbing his face mournfully at the number of study materials in front of him, he dove headfirst to find out what was going on with himself.

[TUP]

He didn't know how long he sat there reading through the tomes. So far, he had only found books that discussed snakes and their various uses in potion-making. Same with the animals and birds. Their types, places of origin, magical or not. But none told him about the particular species he became that one time. Although he didn't look closely at his features, per se, what was with him freaking out of his head. But how many furry-feathery snakes could be out in the world?

He was about to reach for the books on Animagi when a shadow fell over him, startled him from his book induced stupor.

A lanky man with grey, untamed hair was looking down at him with a smile on his face. He was wearing knee-length boots that could be made of dragon leather, or at least Harry thought so from their unusual greenish-black sheen; a long coat covered most of his body and it was a well-worn one. From the look of the man, Harry surmised him to be a traveller, what with the sunburnt skin and the numerous cuts that he could see on the newcomer's hands.

He gave a nod to Harry and started to speak in a soft voice, "Forgive me for intruding in on you. But Jacob, back there, was gushing about having two celebrities at his shop in one morning and I thought I should come and say hello."

Harry was sure that the smile that he gave the man when he started to speak had turned into a grimace by the time he finished. Another Lockhart – he groaned to himself.

The man must have noticed his unease because his small smile faltered a bit, "I am sorry. I appear quite rude. I should have introduced myself first, Mr Potter. Newt Scamander, Magizoologist, at your service."

A.N. - Thank you for your reviews. Even if I do not reply to each of them by name, know that I have read every one of them and very much appreciate that you have taken the time to leave a word or two for me to know your opinion about the story.

The next chapter of the story is already posted in pay-tre-on. The link is available in my profile.