The Brave New World

by Harry-Draco-Freak

Growing tired of the constant pressure and pain of losing those that he loves. Harry decides that enough is enough, making the decision of leaving it all behind for a chance of a relatively normal life without a manipulative headmaster and a murderous dark lord. USA here he comes.

3. The Shoe Begins It’s Descent

Chapter 3: The Shoe Begins its Descent

Peter and the elves sat in the room quietly, almost afraid to move. After about a minute Harry seemed to stiffen, and looked up, no longer crying. Peter softly asked, "Did that help Harry? Letting all of that out?"

"Yes it did, I feel a lot better thank you... and thank you for listening. whenever I try to talk about these things to other people they are always dismissive. How can they expect anyone to ever calm down after their feelings are dismissed or disregarded?"

"I wouldn't know, as one of the requirements of my job is understanding and acknowledging my clients' feelings and experiences." Peter laughed and some of the melancholy in the room dissipated. Peter leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment, lost in thought. "Ok, here's the thing... I'm going to ask a few questions, both for my own information and to get you thinking about what to do next. What we have here is a broad plan, which we need to narrow down. After that, I'm going to leave for the night, and come back tomorrow. I want to give you the night to think about some things Harry: whether or not you really want to do this, perhaps this talk was the catharsis you've needed to carry on; how far you're willing to go to defy Dumbledore... now don't even say it, I know he isn't your boss, but he acts like it and his people are going to enforce it whether you and I like it or not; where you want to go if you get your freedom; if you don't get your freedom in the next month, are you willing to live as a muggle for a year and wait these people out, I'm positive I can get you emancipated in the muggle world as long as your Aunt and Uncle agree to it. Speaking of which, that's why I'm coming back tomorrow, we need to talk with them and apprise them of what's going on. I'll speak to your Aunt on my way out and assure her that they will like this discussion since it involves you leaving and never coming back... I am right in thinking that you never want to come back here. Right?"

Harry nodded, the idea of willingly coming back here made his skin crawl. "Ok, what do you want to ask me?"

"First, how good is your Occlumency... be brutally honest here Harry, this is important, and not for the reason you're thinking."

"My Occlumency needs work Peter, there's no way I can keep Voldemort out if he really wants in."

"That's not who I'm worried about Harry, it's Snape and Dumbledore. If they get a hold of you they can break through your mind like a pinata and easily discover all that we've been talking about here. Now you said that Snape is due here a week from today?"

"Yes, Dumbledore only wants him to teach me, he says there's no one else that can do it, and he won't do it himself."

"Well that's one of the few decisions I agree with, given what you've told me about the Order... no, not the Snape part, I mean about Dumbledore not doing it himself. He wasn't telling you the whole truth when he said that no one else can do it, only a sheltered teenager would believe that there are just three Occlumency experts in the wizarding world, and our Headmaster has done everything in his considerable power to keep you sheltered. There just don't happen to be any other Occulumency experts in the Order or at Hogwarts... which I still have trouble believing, but that's a debate for another time... Now, are you absolutely positive that the Order are outside right now?"

"Dumbledore said things that make me assume it, yeah. Why?"

"Because of the two groupings out there, the Order must be one of them... now who is the other? The Ministry? Death Eaters? I'm thinking the Ministry, given that the two sides out there have to be aware of the other, and no attacks have been reported from around here. Tomorrow before I come back I'm going to go to Flourish and Blotts and buy some books for you, both on Occlumency and Defense. Don't worry about the cost, I'll just add it to your bill at the end, I make a nice living and can front the cost of a few books. Then starting next week I'm going to spend an hour a night teaching you Occlumency myself, all wizarding solicitors must demonstrate competence in it before we can get our licenses. This isn't designed to protect you from Voldemort Harry, it's designed to protect your plans from invasive and nosy Headmasters. I have an idea to get Snape out of here, but I'll have to run it by your Aunt and Uncle since it technically is their house. That, however, will only delay the inevitable, but it will give us an extra day or two. Now, back to Fudge and how this whole thing got started. The reason we want Fudge still around for a few weeks is that one can work with Fudge. Contrary to what you may think, he can be reasoned with, and I'm not just talking about with money. I'm aware that Fudge isn't the chairman of your fan club, but you are offering him two things that he greatly would benefit from: a breach between you and Dumbledore, and you leaving the country for at least two years. The first one alone is likely enough to get him on our side since he will have to approve our petition to have you emancipated... though that's a grey area really, I've no doubt that all Ministry workers are instructed that anything dealing with your situation is to be sent to his office. Fudge doesn't hate you, Harry, he just sees you as a threat, even though I can't see him still wanting to be Minister of Magic in 20 years when you're eligible for it. He fears you and Dumbledore together, and he's seen how Dumbledore has made you so loyal to him over the years. I'm half tempted to give your petition to him right away and skip the Ministry bureaucracy. Now, on to other matters, I noticed in your file an entry about an underage magic violation from four years ago, what was that about?"

Harry and Dobby looked at each other and smiled, this was the first night that they had met after all. Harry told the story of how he and Dobby had first gotten together and the dropping of the pie. Dobby freely admitted that he did the deed, looking a bit sheepish that he had gotten Harry in trouble.

"Well that's easily fixable, we'll do that first thing when we go to the Ministry. Dobby, you'll come along with us and tell Madam Bones your story, though that might not do it. Harry, you might have to be willing to take some veritaserum to confirm this, but I'll make sure she doesn't ask anything too risky or irrelevant." Harry and Dobby both nodded, that didn't seem too bad. "I'd better be going now Harry, I've been here over three hours it seems and your friends outside might scan us any minute and notice that there're three more magical beings in here than there are supposed to be. Do you have any questions for me?"

"One thing that you brought up earlier I'm curious about, you said that our shields can't stop bullets, can you explain that?"

"Sure Harry... you see, our spells aren't solid in their natural form, they are more or less concentrations of air with a lot of energy. That's why Protego works against most spells because it's made of the same material. Bullets are solid, and they move at a speed our shields don't recognize or can adapt to. There are advanced shields of course that can deflect solid objects and more powerful spells... before you ask, no shield invented thus far can deflect Avada Kedavra or Cruciatus, and believe me, they've tried to come up with some... anyway, those solid shields work more in the matter of muggle shields from the Middle Ages, like from the muggle movie Braveheart. None of those would stand up to bullets either. For 3,000 years wizards had the edge over muggles when it came to fighting, even as their population grew and ours barely did. Did you know that in 1900 there were only 2 billion muggles worldwide? There were 900,000 wizards at that time, but we've increased only 10 percent and they've tripled. But 450 years ago, the gun was invented, and our advantage has been slipping away ever since."

"Why can't we use guns against Voldemort? Won't that kill him?"

"No Harry, guns won't work for one simple reason... wizards have always held guns to be unacceptable for any reason whatsoever. Look at how muggles have butchered each other since the gun was invented. In World War II over 40 million people died Harry, and that's just one of their wars... one of too many if you ask me. The industrial revolution has in some ways been the best thing ever to happen to muggles, but one day they're going to wipe themselves out." Peter paused for a minute and tried to think how he would frame this. "We wizards seem very quaint at times, we don't use electricity mostly, we don't use automobiles or guns or anything that most muggles consider 'modern'. Muggle-born and raised wizards and witches often have a hard time adjusting to wizard life because they don't have all their conveniences. With a few notable exceptions, we have changed very little in the thousand years since Hogwarts was founded and wizard life in Britain truly came together. One might think that wrong since we're not evolving to meet the changing of the times, but we look at it as why should we mess around with what works? Now you were asking why someone can't just take a .45, walk up behind our buddy Voldemort and pull the trigger... because it crosses a line that wizards for the last 450 years have agreed not to cross. Even Voldemort himself has never used one, to my knowledge. The only wizard in recorded history to have crossed that line was Grindelwald, and he rarely used one himself, and never on wizards. You see, Grindelwald loved killing, and when he came to the height of his powers 70 years or so ago, there was relative peace in the wizarding world, so Grindelwald insinuated himself in the muggle world. He saw that there was to be another large war coming, and he attached himself to a man that was very powerful and liked killing as much as he did. The muggle's name was Adolph Hitler, and Grindelwald was known in the muggle world as Heinrich Himmler. Together they were responsible for the deaths of over 25 million Jews and Russians. Dumbledore stopped him eventually, I love how they called Hitler's death a 'suicide', only because muggles can't explain an Avada Kedavra death. What I'm trying to get across Harry, is that even for dark wizards there are rules, and Voldemort may not follow any rule but that one, but he does follow it. Now you or I, or anyone else could kill him with a gun, but we would automatically become pariahs in our world, the most wanted and hated person in the history of wizard culture. You'd be better off using the next bullet on yourself if you were to do that. This is a war between Voldemort and Dumbledore, it's not much more than a muggle gang war. Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix on one side, Voldemort and his Death Eaters on the other. Of the 20,000 wizards and witches in Britain, maybe 500 are directly involved in one way or the other. 500 Harry, less than 3 percent of our population. Now, most of the rest want Dumbledore to win mind you, I know I do, after all, he was either our Transfiguration teacher or our Headmaster, he's touched all of our lives with his twinkling eyes and love of muggle candy. But ask yourself this Harry, why aren't more people getting involved? Because the pure-bloods only see this as a battle for the future of muggle-borns in our world, that's Voledemort's whole platform... and regrettably, most wizards don't see that as worth dying over."

"When you get those books tomorrow will you throw a couple of history books in with them? I want to learn more about this."Harry said with wonder in his voice.

"Sure thing, heaven knows Binns wouldn't have gotten that across very well. I honestly don't know how Dumbledore can preside over a staff meeting with a straight face: Lousy teachers in Potions, Defense, Divination, and History, it's a wonder that Britain's test scores aren't the worst in wizarding Europe. One thing I would like you to consider tonight Harry, I think you should let one of your friends in on what you're planning. Preferably someone in the Order or close to it, so that you can get a pulse of what you're up against... sorry, what WE are up against. I realize you don't know Bill that well, but I think he could help you a lot, as could Fred and George. Those guys know Dumbledore better than I do, and perhaps better than you do. You may think you would be getting them in trouble with Molly if she finds out, but those three more than the others are willing to stand up to her."

Harry smiled at that, too true he thought. He racked his brain to think of any other questions, but couldn't come up with any that couldn't wait a night to ask." Thanks Peter, I'll think about that, it might be a wise move. What time should I expect you tomorrow?"

"I'll make it at 2 pm if I can, when I leave I'll make sure with your aunt that they will both be here."

"Oh yeah, how did you know that I had those 'minders', as you called them, out there?"

"I picked up on their magical signature with my scan. They could do the same here if they scanned your house. You said that Dobby and Winky have been here since yesterday and nothing has happened. I think they would notice two house elves. They really are counting on that blood protection, aren't they? The guards outside must be to keep you inside, not keep others out, since they've done a darn poor job in prevention. Have you left the house since you've been back?"

"No, I haven't, I just figured that they wouldn't let me."

"Well, no point in testing them out now. There is going to be a confrontation soon Harry, between you and Dumbledore, we need to have everything in place that we can before that happens. Figuratively we need to be able to pick the weapons and we, sure as anything, need to control the battlefield. I'm not exaggerating Harry, you know better than anyone about Dumbledore's obsession with keeping you safe, he's not going to take any of this lying down."

"I understand, I'm ready to do what is necessary, short of killing Dumbledore of course."

"Well, it won't come to that Harry, if he really believes you're this superweapon, he won't risk alienating you too much. The hardest part will be convincing him that you're serious and not just indulging in some childish whim, I need some time to think about that, how we're going to handle that. In the meantime, think about the things I asked you to, I'll see you tomorrow at 2 pm."

He reached out his hand and Harry shook it, he then surprised Harry by doing the same with Dobby and Winky. Peter walked downstairs and saw Petunia sitting in the living room. "Mrs. Dursley, Harry and I have had a talk and I'm going to be representing him in some legal matters. I would like to talk with you and your husband tomorrow afternoon around 2:30 pm, will you both be home?"

"I believe we will, yes. What is this all about? Is the boy in any kind of trouble?"

"No ma'am he isn't, Harry is just interested in taking a bit more control over his affairs in our world. Believe me, when I tell you, Mrs. Dursley, you and your husband will like this conversation. Harry has told me of your hostility to our kind, and given your treatment by some of our people I don't especially blame you. This is designed to fix that Mrs. Dursley, we just need 30 minutes of your time tomorrow."

"I suppose that will be fine, I'll tell my husband when he gets home. Does Dudley need to be there as well?"

"Not necessarily Mrs. Dursley, but if he is here and you would like him to attend, Harry and I certainly have no objections. I must stress that what happens stays between the five of us, no matter what any white-bearded wizard may tell you otherwise."

Petunia smiled faintly at this, finally, a freak who had manners... though in her heart of hearts, she acknowledged that Harry was very polite as well, even if she never would admit it to Vernon. "Ok Mr. Tyson, I can speak for my husband and me on that count."

"Thank you, Mrs. Dursley, I'll see you tomorrow, have a nice evening."Without another word or gesture, Peter left the house and walked down Privet Drive, presumably to a secluded spot where he could apparate back to his office.

Harry returned to his room without looking at his aunt and shut the door. He took some time to digest what had happened that day, and all he had learned about himself. Harry mentally patted himself on the back for asking Madam Longbottom for her advice, his meeting with Peter Tyson could not have gotten better. Harry was aware that he had struck a chord with Tyson, but he still knew Tyson was doing what he thought practical. He also sensed some resentment of Dumbledore, perhaps some incident in the past. Maybe they had knocked heads at Hogwarts or something, he didn't know... and wasn't sure if he wanted to ask. All he knew is that he had hired a professional advocate, someone, who did this kind of thing for a living and would give him solid advice. This had been a good day.

Grimmauld Place, 6:30 pm

Remus sat at the dining room table, lost in his own little thoughts as Order of the Phoenix members filed in and sat down for their weekly meeting. Snape was still in Canada, but the rest of the core members were here: Dumbledore, McGonagall, Molly and Arthur, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Tonks, Hestia Jones, and many others, including Bill, Fred, and George Weasley. Molly hadn't been happy with the twins joining the Order, but after they had not-so-subtly threatened to go Percy on her, she had relented. Remus couldn't understand her frustration with the twins, surely grades didn't matter to her that much? Gred and Forge, as they referred to themselves, were adamant that they wouldn't return to Hogwarts for the last two months of their 7th year, they said they had no interest in NEWT scores or dealing with any more rules than they had to. Their business was up and running quite well, Remus reminded himself to get a care package of WWW items to send to Harry for his birthday... or perhaps Harry would allow him to visit by then. His estrangement from Harry was puzzling to Remus, he had gotten the 'don't write me for awhile' letter Harry had sent out and was worried about Harry being stuck there all alone with no one to talk with.

Dumbledore stood up, "Well my friends, let us get this meeting underway. Kingsley, I believe you and Hestia had guard duty today?"

"Yes we did, as usual not much happened. To our knowledge Harry has not left the house since he arrived from Kings Cross two weeks ago, his days of gardening appear to be over. Harry has sent his owl on an average of a delivery every other day. Lately, the only owl other than Hedwig to appear there has been one that we now know to be Luna Lovegood's."This raised some eyebrows among the Weasleys, who had been forced to listen to Ron go spare when Harry had asked to be left alone for a time, Harry had not written to anyone else since. Shacklebolt continued the narrative, "There was one visitor today, we didn't recognize him and he was dressed in a very nice muggle suit. Petunia Dursley let him in the house right away and he stayed for about three hours, no screams or shouting going on, so he couldn't have been one of us. He's the only visitor that we've noticed in the last two weeks, other than several of Dudley Dursley's friends. Nothing unusual has gone on."

"Well good, young Mr. Potter appears to be developing a cautious streak. Who is on duty right now Tonks?"

"Moody and Dung, Moody won't let Dung do guard duty without him there to supervise him, he doesn't trust him after last summer."

Everyone in the room chuckled, Moody had been enraged at Fletcher's screwup last August and had to be talked out of killing the smuggler. Molly Weasley spoke up:

"When are you going to let him out of that awful place Albus? You know it's not good for him to be there with those nasty people."

"Sometime in mid-August Molly. We will remove him from Privet Drive and bring him here. He needs to be there at least a month this time, then we can take him out. Harry is safe where he is now, and he hasn't written anything to me complaining. Severus is going to be going there next week to begin his Occlumency lessons again, he will observe things and find out if it's necessary to remove him sooner."

This caused consternation among the Weasleys, all of whom knew how much those 2 hated each other. Fred Weasley couldn't restrain himself and burst out. "Really Professor, does it have to be Snape? We all know how successful that was the last time you tried it."

Molly initially looked as if she wanted to smack Fred for his tone of voice, then realized that she agreed with what he was saying. In fact, the entire room agreed with Fred, Snape was easily the most unpopular person in the Order and was only tolerated because Dumbledore insisted on it. They knew that Snape was spying on the Death Eaters, but he had been finding out little, as Voldemort was slow to trust Snape again.

"Professor Snape, Fred, is the best Occlumens we have available to teach Harry. He has assured me that he will strive harder to get his message across, and I believe him."

Remus couldn't take this any longer and spoke up for the first time at an Order meeting since the death of Sirius Black."I want the record here to reflect my view that putting the two of them in the same room, with no supervision, is a recipe for disaster. One of two things will happen: either Harry, Snape, or both will be taking a fast trip to St. Mungo's... or Harry will be hauled in yet again before the Wizengamot for use of underage magic defending himself from your friend Snape and his neuroses. This is a mistake Albus, and I want you to remember what I just said so that next week you'll be quiet when I'm telling you 'I told you so' while we're cleaning up another Snape mess."

The room was deadly silent as Remus and Dumbledore stared at one another. Pretty much everyone in the room agreed with what Remus had said, but they were not used to Dumbledore being challenged in such a way. Fred, George, and Bill Weasley couldn't (or wouldn't) stop the smiles of satisfaction from their faces.

"Be that as it may Remus, my decision stands. I am confident that both Severus and Harry can work together long enough to see this part through."

Remus didn't respond, much to the disappointment of the Weasley sons whose collective eye-rolling was remarkably in sync, and the meeting went on for another 30 minutes, discussing more mundane matters. After it was over, Remus pulled Bill and the twins aside.

"Have any of you heard from Harry?"

"No we haven't," George replied, "He's been silent as the grave... though we'd better not let Ron and Ginny know about Luna, they'll hex him into next week."

"I think she's good for him on the whole, I imagine she doesn't badger him with questions about his feelings and about the war," Bill noted. They all nodded. Fred and George had told the Order that they couldn't believe Luna of all people was handy in a Death Eater attack... though they could have said the same thing about Neville as well.

"Bill, next time you're on guard duty (Fred and George had declined guard duty shifts because of the opening of their business) approach Harry and try to see what's going on with him. I got a letter from him yesterday and he wasn't too happy with me... or any of us for that matter. Something about this bothers me guys, last summer was mad beyond belief because we left him alone, and now he wants little to do with us."

"Are you worried that he might try something foolish?" Bill asked.

"Not exactly, I just have a funny feeling that there's more going on there than meets the eye. I don't want Dumbledore to know about this, he and Harry are having some difficulties and that's where I think a lot of this is coming from, Harry just doesn't trust us anymore... if he ever did."

"My next shift is tomorrow afternoon Remus, I'll look in on him then. It will be interesting to see those muggles I've heard so much about."

Fred and George grinned, and said in unison, "Say hi to Dudley for us!" Bill laughed, and added that he would bring some candy along with him this time. That brought a smile to Remus' face for the first time, and they parted, the twins to go back to their store, so they could send Ron home. Bill went off to his girlfriend's place, Remus went upstairs for a nap, the full moon three days earlier had still tired him.

Saturday, July 21, 1996 Privet Drive, 2:00 pm

Vernon Dursley sat in his kitchen chair, eating his lunch and wondering what the heck was happening. He had returned home yesterday to his normal house and his normal life, other than his freak nephew. He was astounded when Petunia told him about Peter Tyson's visit and what was to happen today. His first instinct was to say no, no freak was going to tell him what to do, but one thing stuck in his mind 'you will like this conversation'. That gave Vernon pause, those freaks knew that the only way he would like the conversation was if it meant getting Potter out of here forever... surely they couldn't mean that? Not that Vernon didn't dearly wish for that, but he knew that Dumbledore wasn't big on respecting his wishes. Vernon wasn't so dumb that he wasn't aware that most of his hate of Harry came from habit, after all the kid was such a quiet little thing, didn't eat much, and from what Petunia said hadn't even left the house since he got back from that place. He had always known deep down that he couldn't stamp the magic out of Harry, and he did (even deeper down) dread what Harry might do to him when he was allowed to use that stick of his... maybe this would be an out for him there. He sighed and decided to just find out when he found out, the freak was supposed to be here in 30 minutes, he could wait that long.

The doorbell rang and Petunia went to answer it, wondering if it was that wizard here early. It was.

"Hello, Mrs. Dursley, lovely to see you again."

Out in the yard, under an invisibility cloak, Bill Weasley was awestruck, was this who he thought it was? He remembered Tonks' description of yesterday's visitor, and this matched it, but his eyes must be playing tricks. He hadn't seen Peter in about a year, though they continued to exchange their monthly owls, catching each other up. Bill had only been permanently living in London for a month now, and he, Peter, and his wife were due to have dinner the next night. He reacted as quickly as he could when he saw Peter disappear inside.

The doorbell rang again, 10 seconds after Tyson had walked through the door and was saying hello to Vernon Dursley.

"I know you, you're one of those Weasleys from the train station."

"Yes Mrs. Dursley, I'm Bill, may I come in?" He didn't wait for a reply and walked in..." Peter, what on earth are you doing here?" Harry went pale and Peter didn't look much better, Vernon and Petunia just looked confused. They had never met Bill before and Vernon was still getting used to the idea of Peter looking so normal for a wizard.

"I could ask you the same Bill, it's good to see you," Peter replied, deciding to keep Bill off balance. The 2 approached each other and shook hands warmly. The two shared wary smiles, Bill was slowly realizing what was going on here, while Peter knew exactly what Bill was doing there, he was Harry's guard dog for the afternoon. He turned to Vernon and Petunia:

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley I apologize for the confusion, I'm aware I said 2:30 and I'm early, but I wanted to confirm a few things with Harry in private before we talked, so I told him I would be here at 2 pm. If you would be kind enough to give us some time to talk we'll be back down here at the appointed time. I stress again to you both: You will like this conversation. Will your son be joining us?" He hadn't seen Dudley yet and was admittedly curious after hearing Harry describe him.

"Yes, he will Mr. Tyson, after what happened last summer we feel he has a right to know what's going on."

"That's fine Mrs. Dursley, I happen to agree with you completely on that. If you will excuse us, Harry, Bill, and I will go upstairs and have our meeting. We will be back down soon. Our talk with you won't take too long, so any evening plans you have will not be interrupted."

Petunia and Vernon looked at each other and nodded to Peter, the wizards proceeded up the stairs and into Harry's room.

Peter made sure to let Bill go in before him and made a quick move to grab Bill's wand, and before Bill knew what happened, Peter was holding onto it. Harry closed the door behind them all and Peter reinforced Dobby's silencing charm on the room.

"Ok Pete, what the bloody hell is going on here? You were the guy here yesterday weren't you?"

"Yes I was, I see there must have been an Order meeting yesterday, your colleagues took note of me?"

"Yes they did, though they pegged you for a muggle visitor, they had no idea you were here to see Harry."

Peter looked at Harry and said, "Well Harry, have you thought about what we talked about, letting one of them on the inside? Now is the time to decide."

He had thought about it all last night, what to do about telling a friend. Again, he had gone over the list of his friends in his mind and boiled them down to five that he could dare confide in: Fred, George, Luna, Neville, and Bill... Bill only because he and Peter were friends and Harry liked how cool he was. He looked at the two of them and decided. "Yeah, I suppose we can tell him... as long as we have his word that he won't tell anyone without or express permission."

"Well, is what we tell you going to stay between us? I don't want to have to threaten you, but you can't tell Dumbledore or his minions about this at all. I assure you it's nothing heinous or illegal, in fact, Harry is bending over backward to keep it legal. It's your choice, but just know that we do want you on our side."

Bill wasn't as torn as one might think, Fred and George had been working on him ever since summer ended and he was becoming quite the Harry partisan. He had been appalled while listening to the twins describe how Harry was treated here and was more than willing to get him out of this despicable home life if that's what was going on.

"Ok, you've got my word, I'm on your side and I won't tell a soul till you tell me otherwise... but I want the twins to be let in on this Harry, you don't know this but they're your biggest advocates in the Order... plus you're their business partner, they will always stick with you."

"That seems acceptable to me, but I want to be the one to tell them, not you, we'll set this up as soon as possible with them, and Luna and Neville too, I want their help as well."

Bill noted the names Harry mentioned, and couldn't help but notice the absence of some significant ones. "What about Ron and Hermione? What happened between you three?"

"It's complicated, I'll explain it all to you I promise, but they can't know anything until it's done and settled."

"Fair enough I suppose, you've got my curiosity peaked completely, what's going on?"

"I'm leaving Britain, I'm dealing myself out of this war."

"Ok, of all the things you could have told me, that was the one I wasn't expecting. Is this for real?"

"Do you see me smiling Bill? This is no joke."

Bill looked at the faces around him and indeed no one was smiling. He closed his eyes and silently cursed Dumbledore for putting them all in this situation. He had no doubt that the old man had dropped some kind of bomb on Harry at the end of the term that put him in this mindset, he and the twins had speculated on it but couldn't come up with anything definitive. "What happened Harry? What changed you? And you Peter, what do you have to do with this?"

Peter and Harry looked at each other, expecting the other to speak first. Peter nodded at Harry and he began. "I'm 15 years old Bill, and in the last year, I've watched two friends die, one of whom was also my godfather. I've been the most hated person in our world; been possessed by Voldemort; had a blood quill used on me by some psychopath who had official permission to torture me; and oh yeah, I was banned, along with your brothers, from Quidditch for defending your mother from the slandering of a Death Eater in training... all of this happened in the last 13 months Bill, that is what has changed." Harry's voice had grown more and more hateful as he spoke, chilling Bill with its tone. Why would I want to stay in a school, in a society that would allow ANY of that to happen, let alone all of it? I might consider staying in Britain if I didn't have to return to Hogwarts Bill, but I've been incredibly lucky to survive my five years there and I'm not sure I want to press my luck. I didn't ask for any of this fame crap, and I'm no longer willing to suffer under its burdens... seeing as how I don't see any benefits coming from it."

"Harry, what did Dumbledore lay on you in his office?"

Harry's and Peter's jaws dropped as they stared open-mouthed at Bill. How did he know about that? What the heck happened? Harry reacted first, with a rage Bill had never seen before in the brief time he'd known him.

"How on earth did you know about that? What has that crazy old bastard told the Order!"

"Easy Harry, we don't want any accidental magic to happen, I'd rather not be blown up like your Aunt Marge." Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say to an already irate teen, Peter had to physically restrain Harry from punching Bill for that one. He rolled his eyes at his friend and commented:

"Save the witty repartee for your witch of the moment Bill, let's not poke a sleeping dragon ehh?"

"I'm sorry Harry, that was poorly timed, forgive me?" Bill hit him with that Weasley grin of his, and Harry couldn't help but smile back and nod his head.

"His language aside, Harry asked very relevant questions, what do you know and how do you know it?"

"First of all guys, Dumbledore hasn't said much of anything to us regarding you Harry. We've only had the two Order meetings since the Department of Mysteries and pretty much all that gets said about you are reports from the watchers outside; and when he told us that Snape was coming here next week for Occlumency. You should know that no one in my family is especially happy about that Harry, and individually we've told Dumbledore as much. Ron is who told me, he was in the hospital when you got back from Dumbledore's office, but Seamus and Dean noticed that you seemed quite upset. They told Ron the next day when he got back to the dorm. He and Hermione watched you pretty carefully and agreed that you seemed just as angry as you were sad. Sad they could understand, having watched what happened to Sirius... angry was what they couldn't understand, they didn't think that Sirius' death was something that you would be angry about. Ron told the twins when he got home, and they told me. Fred, George, and I have been pooling our information about you lately, we're on your side Harry, and I have no doubt that if Charlie was here he would be as well, I can speak for him."

"I don't know what to say... I never realized that Ron was so observant."

"Oh c'mon Harry, think about what you just said. Ron is the one person who should know you the best, he's been your best mate for five years. I think you owe him a little better than that, and that doesn't even touch on how you've been ignoring him the last two weeks."

"He ignored me most of last summer Bill... and before you say it, I know he was doing it on Dumbledore's orders, but he still could have found a way to owl me if he had wanted to."

"Is that what your silence to him is about Harry? Payback?"

"No, it's not payback... well not merely payback. Answer me this: if push came to shove Bill, and Ron had to support me, or support the combined efforts of Hermione, your parents, and Dumbledore, who would he choose?"

Bill considered this for a moment, he had never thought of the problem framed as Harry had framed it. "I don't know Harry, I never thought about it like that. Is that really how you see it, all of those people, my parents even, lined up against you?"

"Answer my question first, then I'll tell you what I'm thinking, and why."

"Since you put it that way Harry, I don't know who Ron would side with... that's a lot on the 'other side' that would be swaying him, but I know how much he cares about you."

"That's the problem Bill, I don't know who he would side with either, and until I do, I just can't share my plans with him. Heck, if push came to shove I don't know whether he would pick me over just Hermione, let alone everyone else. I wouldn't be a bit shocked if those two are a couple by now and just haven't told me yet. You and I both know that if I try to leave Britain, legally or illegally, Dumbledore is going to try to stop me, by any means at his disposal. Your mother and father are very closely allied with Dumbledore, your family is a very old, pureblood family, one of the few openly on his side. Your mother, bless her heart and I love her to pieces, would agree that I belong here, no matter what my wishes would be. And your father, he would do what she said, I know how it is in your family."

Bill chuckled at that, of all the Weasley children he was probably the closest to his father, partly from having come first, partly from the fact that Bill looked at his father and saw his humanity, and how it attracted people. Arthur Weasley was not the most ambitious wizard in their society, but he was one of the most liked and well thought of... but Bill acknowledged the truth in what Harry said. "You're right, I guess I've never thought about it that way. In your place, I would be a little cautious around Ron as well. But why are you putting Hermione so solidly in Dumbledore's camp? Do you really think she's against you?"

"It's not so much that she's against me Bill, in fact, I'm sure she's not, but it's that she's so much for Dumbledore. You're not around her on a daily basis, she thinks the man walks on water. She's read Hogwarts a History too many times I suppose. Over the years Ron and I have loosened her up to the point that she'll break rules... but none that Dumbledore lays down. Our first year and the 'no going up on the 3rd-floor corridor or you will suffer a most painful death', she only violated that by accident, and when something had to be done and Dumbledore wasn't around to tell. That's the only time she's come close Bill, and I know that if Dumbledore told her to draw her wand on me, for my own good he'd say of course... she'd do it." He showed Bill and Peter the two letters he'd gotten from Hermione, badgering him for information on what he was feeling and if his scar had hurt. They looked at each other and nodded, it certainly looked like Harry at least had justification for thinking that way, even if Bill didn't want to believe it.

"I see your point, I do. I'd like your acquiescence to at least sound out Ron... only in the vaguest of terms at first, but at least let me try."

Harry sighed, Bill had tugged on his heartstrings in the ablest way. He didn't want to keep Ron out of the loop, and he knew that the consequences for their friendship would be terrible if Ron learned about the plan after the fact. He had to at least try.

"Ok, I'll leave it to your judgment on that... but I want you to be prepared to use a memory charm if you have to if it looks like Ron will betray us. Oh, and find out for me if those two are a couple will you."

"Fair enough, I'll do that for you... now no more delaying, I want to know what Dumbledore told you, what made you so angry with and distrustful of him."

Harry girded himself and told Bill the Prophecy. Bill listened to it with horrified fascination, putting his head in his hands as he heard the last of it. "I suppose it's way too much to hope that you made that up just to amuse yourself?"

The others smiled, Harry could understand why people responded to Bill, he had a way of making things less tense. He shook his head in the negative, as Bill looked up.

"So this is why it has been so important to protect you all these years? Dumbledore believes you're the final weapon against Voldemort?"

"Yep, in a nutshell, that's it. I'm stuck here, under the blood protection of my aunt, so that no Death Eater or Voldemort himself can harm me. The old man has gotten a bit sloppy at school though, given how many times I've almost been killed there. I'm not sure I believe in the Prophecy Bill, but I appear to be the only major player who feels that way."

"Well it explains a lot, that's for certain. Is that why you want to leave?"

"I want to leave, because I don't trust any of the people who've been making decisions on my behalf. I also would prefer to go to a school where I'm not famous and the epicenter of everything that happens. In other words, I want to be a normal teenager for a couple of years. If the war is still going on when I'm done with school... well I might be open to cooperating with the Order, though I will never join it as long as Dumbledore is leading it, and I mean NEVER."

Bill sighed again, he was getting good at that particular emotion. Between Ron and the twins, Bill had a pretty good idea of Harry's adventures and sufferings over the years, and he had witnessed firsthand the aftermath of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He didn't really blame the kid for wanting out of something he'd never signed up for in the first place. "Ok, that doesn't change what I said before: I'm with you. What's the plan?"

Harry looked at Peter, who took a shrunken bag out of his pocket and enlarged it. "Here are those books I promised you, Harry, there are 10 total: Five of them are on advanced Defense, including an Auror training manual from three years ago; Two are on history like you asked for, they detail most of our wars and many of our great wizards and witches; Two are on Occlumency, those I want you to start first; The last one is a career handbook, you need to figure out what to do with your life once school ends. I know you have enough money that you don't have to work, but you need to fill your days with something. I'm coming here for your Occlumency lesson at 5 pm on Monday, which gives you 50 hours to memorize those books. Looking around here it doesn't appear as if you have much else to do, and the books aren't that thick, with maybe 400 pages between them. I want you to at least know the principles and theories behind it before we have your first lesson. Ok, next phase: what to do about Snape. How much do you hate Snape Harry?"

"More than anyone in the world not named Voldemort. I hate him even more than Bellatrix Lestrange or my relatives."

"Well that's certainly definitive, isn't it? The plan I have in mind is to send our friend Dumbledore a note next week, probably Thursday, saying that Snape isn't welcome here. We'll get you and your Aunt and Uncle to sign it, something tells me they won't be averse to the idea of banning a particular wizard from their home."

"Dumbledore and Snape won't care about that Peter, they'll simply ignore it like they do every other Dursley complaint," Harry pointed out. Peter grinned broadly:

"That's the point Harry, Snape will come here in direct violation of the wishes of the owners of the house... even in our world Harry, that's against the law."

Harry and Bill looked at each other with slight confusion, they knew this was going somewhere fun, but couldn't quite tell where. Peter put them out of their misery. "As soon as Snape shows up, alone I'm going to assume, we send one of your elves, with a pre-prepared note, straight to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The head of that department is one Amelia Bones, who is if I'm not mistaken Bill, not an Order of the Phoenix member."

Bill nodded, and Peter went on. "The note will say, in so many words, that Snape is there against everyone's wishes but his, and is threatening you with his wand, whilst knowing that you're not allowed to use yours. I daresay you won't have to do much to elicit this threat Harry, but goad him if you need to. With any luck he'll try to curse you right as the Aurors show up to investigate, we can't be having the 'Boy Who Lived' assaulted in his own home, by a Hogwarts Professor no less."

Bill and Harry burst out laughing as Peter sat back looking very satisfied with himself. Harry was the first to catch his breath. "Oh that is so very, very, very cruel... I love it. Are you sure you weren't a Slytherin?"Peter grinned and shook his head in the negative. Bill was next.

"You really think we can pull that off? I mean, you have Snape pegged pretty well, I have no trouble believing that he would do everything you described... but what if the DMLE doesn't respond as quickly as you think, or respond at all? After all, the Aurors on duty might include Tonks or Kingsley."

"That's why we're going to have a backup plan Bill... us. Early next week I'm going to file a petition with the Ministry of Magic to have Harry legally emancipated. Ideally, I'm going to have the hearing as close to Snape's visit as possible, so that they don't have advance warning and a chance to interfere. Snape being arrested will be a very demonstrative way of showing that Harry isn't safe at Hogwarts, when one of its professors, Dumbledore's pet, has attacked him in front of his muggle family. We might even arrange for The Daily Prophet and The Quibbler to get some photos, taken on the sly of course. Harry will feed his friend Luna's father an exclusive recount of the events, and chaos will ensue, making our young friend here a martyr for the abuses at our beloved alma mater."

Bill was awestruck at how well thought out this plan seemed to be, except for one thing. "What do you mean 'us'?"

"I mean that if the Aurors don't respond like we want them to, you and I will have to step in. Snape is capable of harming Harry you know, and he would have a good time doing it too. Harry's dueling skills are already a minor legend, but Snape is an expert. So we can't allow him to incapacitate Harry and start in with the Occlumency, he'd find out our plans easily enough and run off to his mentor and start blabbing. Plus there's the real possibility that Snape might be working for the other side. Harry told me that he wouldn't put it past Snape to kidnap him and deliver him to Voldemort, such a feat would put him above all other Death Eaters; he would be set for life if he had the inclination. Dumbledore might be insane enough to allow Snape to be alone with Harry, but that doesn't mean we have to let him. I have every confidence that Snape is me good duelist, but I don't see him taking out both you and me at the same time Bill, assuming he can even take Harry."

"So you're saying I can respond to his attacks?" Harry got an immediate dreamy look on his face after saying that.

"Only if we get you emancipated first, and only if Snape attacks first. Without the emancipation, Dumbledore can twist things until your house arrest here, which this more or less is, becomes legal and binding... and without Snape attacking first, well then you could be tried for assault, which would not look good on your applications to other wizarding schools."

"I understand."

"I knew you would, now Harry, on Monday when I get to the office I'm going to send some owls to various schools in America. I want permission from you to ask my wife about this, she has relatives over there that can better tell us about the benefits of the various schools, and hopefully, if any of the heads of the schools have any problems with Dumbledore. All I really know is that there are four wizarding equivalents of Hogwarts in the United States, plus another in Canada... speaking of which, I noticed that you have a vault in Toronto, do you know anything about that?"

"I have no idea, it's the first I've ever heard of it. I know nothing really about my family histories, though I have to assume that it's a Potter vault, not an Evans one. And yes, you can tell your wife about it, I'd figured that you had already."

"No, I haven't, I take my professional word very seriously, though I did tell her that I've taken you on as a client of course. She asked me what you were like as a person, though not about the case, she knows enough not to. She remembered your mother, from when she taught at Hogwarts, my wife was a Hufflepuff in Bill's year, one ahead of mine. Do you remember Lily Potter, Bill?"

"Yes I do... in fact I remember when she was pregnant with you Harry. Kids would come up to her and pat her belly" Bill smiled in remembrance "we weren't used to having a teacher at Hogwarts young enough to be pregnant. I was in my first year and I was in awe of her, wife of a famous Quidditch star, a teacher at Hogwarts, and only 20 years old, it was amazing to us. I never got a chance to have her as a teacher Harry, I was a 3rd-year when she went into hiding and soon thereafter was killed. Ancient Runes ended up being my specialty and I would have gotten to know her pretty well... and you too I guess, had she lived, had none of this mess ever happened." Bill's eyes misted up, as did Harry's. Bill continued. "Peter, do you remember the night Harry defeated Voldemort? I can still see it like it just happened. Professor Flitwick made the announcement at the Halloween feast "Voldemort has been defeated! Harry Potter has destroyed the Dark Lord!" The entire hall went into a massive cheer, even most of the Slytherins looked happy. We all hugged each other and threw pumpkin juice up in the air. I found Charlie, he was a first year then, and he was so happy that he was crying... and Harry, this was a kid who never cried for any reason. Flitwick didn't give us any details of what happened and we didn't care, the celebration went on through the night, and the professors just sat there in a daze and didn't bother trying to send us to our beds. The next morning at breakfast we found out the reason for that daze, as Dumbledore explained to us what happened, and why one of our most popular teachers and her husband were never coming back. As loud as the hall had been the night before Harry, that's how silent it was after he told us. Gryffindor House went into mourning, and it lasted all year. We didn't care about Quidditch or House Cups or any of that bother. Our icons were dead and our little brother was orphaned, it was a large price to pay for the defeat of Voldemort... I have to wonder if some of the disbelief this past year that he was back stemmed from that, such a high price paid, and ultimately for nothing, just for a delay."

"Why is it that no one else will talk to me the way you two do? I've learned more about my parents and about our world in the last two days than from five years of conversations with Remus, Sirius, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and all the rest, even your parents."

"I don't know Harry, I wish I did. Maybe it's just bad luck, maybe the others have been under some kind of instruction from Dumbledore to mushroom you, I don't know. I know my parents think of you like another son and only want to protect you... but now that I've listened to you, I don't know if that's what you've needed. I know that Sirius and Remus were/are very dependent on the old man for their survival, it wouldn't take much to keep them quiet. They could always rationalize by thinking they could tell you when you grew up."

Peter looked at his watch, it was almost 2:30 pm. "Ok, we can't afford to keep your relatives waiting much longer Harry, we need to wrap this up. Bill, when is your next guard shift after today?"

"Monday night, starting at 6 pm I think."

"Perfect, I'll still be here and we can finalize our plans. I want you to tell Fred and George to get over here as well, and have them close the shop early if need be. Harry, if you want your friends Luna and Neville to be in on this, I suggest you owl them tomorrow and have them take the Knight Bus over here. Bill only bring Ron if you're positive about him, and I mean dead positive, we don't want to have to Obliviate him if we don't have to. Your OWL results should have arrived by then, so we'll know better what your options are. Make sure that Luna and Neville don't get here before the shift changes to Bill, we don't know if Dumbledore will allow you visitors or not and I would prefer not to find out if we don't have to. Everyone clear?"

Bill and Harry looked at each other, nodded, and snapped off identical military salutes, in unison they cried. "Yes sir!" Everyone in the room dissolved into laughter as they left the room and headed downstairs. They saw Harry's relatives in the living room and entered it.

Peter spoke up. "Ok Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, let's get started. Is Dudley going to join us?"Before they could answer Dudley came in from the kitchen, he flinched when he saw Bill's red hair, memories of the Ton Tongue Toffee coming back to him, but he rallied and approached Peter with his hand outstretched. They shook, and he did the same with Bill. "Good to meet you, Dudley, I'm Peter Tyson, Harry's solicitor, this is Bill Weasley, a friend of Harry's. You must be wondering what this is all about, it's really quite simple: This is about getting Harry out of here and him never coming back... ever."Vernon and Petunia looked at each other very hopefully, they had discussed this possibility the night before, but couldn't believe that it would be that easy. If there was one thing that they had learned in their dealings with the wizarding world: What they wanted didn't matter one bit. Vernon made the first Dursley sally into the conversation:

"Just how are you going to do that? That old man ordered us to keep him here."

"We're going to do this the old-fashioned way Mr. Dursley, we're going to do it legally. We are going to file a petition with your Child Social Services agency, hopefully, obtain a positive ruling, then do the same in our world, and then Harry will be free, and I have no doubt that once he's free he will elect to move out, as he has made us aware that you and he aren't the closest."

Vernon had to smile at that one, he looked over at Harry and decided that the kid wasn't as dumb as he'd thought, he'd either planned this out very well or found someone who could. He still thought it sounded too easy though:

"Is that all? Do you really think it will go that smoothly? What about that Dumbledore fellow, won't he object?"

"Oh, he most certainly will. I feel though, that a combination of legal tactics and not-so-judicious threats will either bring him in line, or we'll prevail in spite of him."

"This still sounds too good to be true... what do you want from us?"

"Just to sign your name to a few pieces of paper, and put up with having a few wizards visiting your home for the next week or two."

"How is the boy paying you? We don't give him any allowance to pay for solicitors."

"Harry will work it off by volunteering in my office next summer, I have a lot of little things around there that I could use some help with, he'll pay my bill that way." Harry admired the smooth way Peter had come up with that, and tried to look as though this wasn't news to him. Vernon wasn't even looking at him, he was lost in thought as he contemplated what he'd heard.

Petunia spoke up."Won't the boy be in danger if he doesn't come back next summer? That's what Dumbledore has been saying all of these years."

"Well yes, Mrs. Dursley, Harry will be in greater danger... but he is prepared to accept that as part and parcel of the deal. Let me assure you Harry isn't simply doing this to sever ties with you, he has some issues in our world that make him need to have more legal say than he has. That said, you have made him fully aware of your aversion to anything 'wizardy', and he is willing to respect your wishes by leaving... going through these proceedings will allow him to. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, you must have realized by now that whenever Harry becomes of age, be it next year in our world, 1998 in yours... Dumbledore will keep putting him here for whatever time is needed to renew these blood protections... in spite of the fact that everyone in this house wishes otherwise."

Vernon nodded at the logic of that statement, he'd been dreading that same thing for years, ever since Harry had gone to Hogwarts. "You're right Mr. Tyson... but what are you going to do to protect us from Dumbledore if we let Harry do as he wants? He'll blame us somehow for the boy's doings."

" You raise an excellent point, and I'll tell you this: he won't do a thing, he can't. If it got out that he had harmed you in any way he'd be finished. Now I'm not going to lie to you Mr. Dursley, this might not work, we might not get Harry emancipated, and there are no guarantees in this process. That said, we are going to try, and as I said, all we need from you is a few signatures when the time comes. With any luck, this will all be settled by Harry's birthday on the 31st."

Petunia and Vernon looked at each other again, what did they have to lose? If it failed it simply meant a continuation of the status quo, if it succeeded... happiness, with no wizards around them forever. Vernon looked at Harry. "Ok Harry, I know that you and I rarely agree on anything... but we agree on this. We'll sign what we have to in order to make this happen... I promise."

Harry stood up and approached Vernon Dursley, the bane of his existence for years. He steeled himself and reached out his hand to Vernon... with a blank look on his face Vernon shook it. They were in this as a family, and hopefully, the last thing they did as a family together. Peter and Bill both looked outside to see if it was raining frogs or something, but sadly it wasn't.

Peter took a couple of pieces of paper out of his briefcase and handed them to Vernon. "This is a boilerplate emancipation request that I've had typed up... yes we use typewriters in our world Mrs. Dursley... it's not a bad piece of fiction if I do say so myself, and I'm betting that it will be convincing enough to the civil servant who has to rule on it. You four will need to appear in some sort of hearing, but that will at most take an hour. You just need to pretend for one hour that you get along decently, but that there's been enough friction between you to merit a favorable decision. In broad strokes, we'll tell them the truth, that Harry is going away to boarding school, and that he doesn't want to rely on the phones and mail to execute his decisions. I need you both to sign this paper so that we can get the process started. I have some contacts in the Social Services office and we can expedite this and do it this week."

Vernon couldn't sign fast enough, and Petunia followed suit after a slight, but noticeable hesitation. Harry then put his own signature on the document, and at Dudley's curious look, passed it over to him so he could read it. His eyebrows rose a few times as he read Tyson's fiction, but he made no comment out loud. Bill and Peter took their leaves soon after, walking out with Dudley. Harry immediately went upstairs to begin his reading, while Petunia and Vernon just sat there staring at each other.

Monday, July 23, 1996, Privet Drive 4:30 pm

Harry lay on his bed and re-read his Occlumency notes for what seemed like the 20th time. The books that Peter had given him, A Beginner's Guide to Organizing Your Mind, and Advanced Theories of Occlumency, had been very helpful, and Harry had taken over 20 pages of notes in the muggle-style notebook that Aunt Petunia had given him. More than once Harry had had a 'light bulb' moment when reading these books, and not for the first time cursed that numb-wit Snape and his "Clear your mind Potter" crap. It turns out that Occlumency is not about clearing the mind at all, it involves setting up defenses and barriers, for the twin purpose of keeping memories tucked away; and more easily forcing intruders from the mind. It was much like a muggle alarm system Harry realized, involving detection, protection, and eviction. All clearing your mind did was allow the intruder to stick around longer, without fear of penalty, and give them time to find what they're looking for. Harry wondered if Snape's way of 'teaching' was really how he had learned, he would have to run this by Peter when he arrived, the 'Snape as triple agent' theory that the two had been bouncing around was gaining more and more credence.

The day before, Harry had sent Hedwig on her rounds, with letters to Luna and Neville, asking them to show up today at 6:30 pm.

Dear Luna,

Hi there, how are things going? I'm having a small get-together at my relatives' house tomorrow at 6:30 pm. I have something that I'm working on and I would like your input and advice. The best way I can think of to get here is to take The Knight Bus and say you need to go to Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. They've picked me up here once before, so it shouldn't be a bother. I'm also inviting Neville, so hopefully, you'll see them on the bus as well. I must ask you this though, please keep this invitation to yourself. I know that you likely will have to tell your father but please no one else. I'm not sure if my wizard jailers here will allow me visitors, but I have that part arranged, as long as no one on the outside finds out. The meeting shouldn't last too long, afterward, we can sit around and catch up, it will be good to see you again. If you're in, just do nothing and send Hedwig along to her next stop. If you can't make it, write me a note saying so and give it to Hedwig and we'll figure something out for another time.

See you soon,

Harry

His letter to Neville was much the same the only difference being he added an extra bit at the bottom suggesting to the boy that he bring his O.W.L results with him so that they may compare scores.

Hedwig had returned from her Ottery St. Catchpole to Brighton (where Neville lived) to Surrey run in short order, with no notes attached to her, so Harry assumed that everything was a go. His own OWL results hadn't come yet, which was putting him on edge a bit. Even if he didn't return to Hogwarts... if, because he hadn't missed Peter's caution to the Dursleys that this scheme might not work... he would need good grades to get into whatever school in North America that he would ultimately choose to go to. Harry had also written short letters to Ron and Hermione, telling them in vague terms that he was having a decent summer. He hadn't mentioned a whiff of his plans and had resisted the temptation to throw a false bone at Hermione, to try and smoke her out. He had talked about how there had been no Voldemort visions, that he and the Dursleys were engaged in a form of détente (though not why), and that he had come to grips with what had happened to Sirius... all of which was true, more or less. Harry rationalized that he wasn't exactly lying to his closest friends, he was just telling them only certain true things. He had seen on a muggle American cop show, how they make you tell 'the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth', but in reality the truth and nothing but the truth, but not the whole truth might sound like a lie, but really wasn't. He knew that Ron and Hermione would not appreciate that kind of hair-splitting, but he decided to kick that can when he came to it.

Harry looked up at hearing tapping at his door. He got up to open it and saw Dudley there. "Hey Dudley, no work today?" Dudley's job at the cinema had become an all-consuming thing, so much so that Harry wondered if there was a particular girl there that Duds was interested in. He'd been putting in over 50 hours per week there since he'd returned home, in addition to all of the free movies that he was watching. Harry himself was itching to see Independence Day, after seeing posters all over King's Cross when he had returned from school.

"No, not today. I usually take one day off a week and it's been Mondays since it's the time when we're the least busy."

Harry looked at Dudley a bit more closely. He had lost quite a bit of weight over the last 2 years, and while no one would call him thin, he could be thought of as simply husky. There was also a calmness to his cousin that he hadn't noticed before. Usually, Dudley sneered at him, when he bothered to look at him at all. Now though, Dudley was looking at him with curiosity, as if he too was seeing his cousin for the first time, or in a new light.

"What's on your mind, Dudley?"

"Are you really leaving next week? Forever?" To Harry's great surprise, his cousin didn't look gleeful at the prospect, if anything he looked a bit concerned.

"If everything works out as we hope to, yes. I'll be gone sometime in the middle of next week. We're doing our court petition at the end of this week like Peter mentioned Saturday... after that is when the fireworks are going to start."

"I heard Mom and Dad talking yesterday... they're worried about you Harry, they think that bad wizard your lot are so worried about is going to get you now since you won't be here." Harry had never been more flabbergasted in his life, so much so that he couldn't help the words that came out of his mouth next.

"What do they care? I would have thought that they'd be happy about that."

Dudley looked at him like he was about to unload on him for saying that, but his face changed and he didn't.

"I guess I don't blame you for thinking that Harry, I know none of us have been very nice to you over the years. I mean, no matter what may have gone on between all of us... none of us want you dead. After all this time would it make a difference if I said I'm sorry? The brutal truth is that while I'm sorry now Harry, I can't really say I was sorry then."

"It wouldn't make a difference in me wanting to leave Dud, but it would be nice to hear if you really mean it."

"Then I'm sorry Harry... I never knew you were a wizard until that giant man came and told us, I just knew that Mom hated your mom and dad. I don't think Dad even met them more than a few times, but he didn't like them for some reason... a reason that I found out when you did like I said. I saw pretty early on that the meaner I was to you, the better things would be for me. Anytime I wanted something new all I had to do was do something to you and I would get it. Maybe deep down I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but it was pretty deep." Dudley sighed and continued "Part of it might also have been that I was afraid that Mom and Dad would turn on me too if I was nice to you, they weren't going to like you no matter how close you and I were. I'm sure you're wondering why I'm telling you all of this now. You probably think that it doesn't mean much now, since you're leaving, and maybe it doesn't... but every time I think about last summer, and I think about it every day, I remember that you saved my life, or my soul, or whatever those Dementor things take. The irony of the whole thing and that meeting the other day made me think of this, is that if you'd let them get me... you'd have been out of here forever just like you're wanting. Mom and Dad never would have let you come back, no matter what your school guy said."

Harry was at a loss for words, the thought behind the words aside, Harry had had no idea that Dudley was this articulate. He knew Smeltings was a good school, some of it must have rubbed off. Harry smiled. "You've been practicing that speech haven't you?"

Dudley laughed. "A bit yeah, but I meant it. I'm not that good at speeches, I didn't do so well in my Speech and Communications class at Smeltings, but I did learn a lot in it. Speaking of speaking, you know this is probably the longest conversation we've ever had?"

"And it only took 15 years... well, 14 after we learned to talk."

The doorbell rang, both of them knew it was Peter coming for Harry's Occlumency lesson. Dudley made to leave Harry's room.

"Let's hope that it doesn't take another 14 years to have another one."

"Yeah, I know what you mean Dud... oh yeah, the Weasley twins will be here later on tonight, I'll tell them not to do anything to you, but just make sure that you don't eat anything tonight that you're not sure of, Ok?"

To Harry's surprise, Dudley burst out laughing, Dudley really had grown up and gotten a real sense of humor in the bargain, this was nice to see.

"I don't suppose they'd give me some of their stuff, so I could take it to school?"

"I'll ask, but I don't think so, you'd have a hard time explaining the effects of some of their products."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Worth a try though. See you later Harry, don't blow anyone up." With that Dudley opened the door to see Peter there, they exchanged greetings and traded places, with said man sitting down on Harry's bed.

"Getting along with them better? He doesn't quite come across as the monster you made him out to be."

"I think the prospect of me leaving has given all four of us a bit of a pause, Dudley more so than his parents. I think if none of this emancipation stuff had come up Dudley might still have been easier to deal with than in the past. My aunt and uncle... I don't know about them, I'll just be glad to be away from them."

"Are Luna and Neville coming tonight? Have you gotten your OWL results yet?"

"Yes and no. Luna and Neville are coming tonight as far as I know, and the OWL owl hasn't gotten here yet. I read over the Occlumency books you gave me, I made some notes if you want to look at them." Harry handed over his notebook and watched Peter try to decipher his chicken scratch.

"Well, it looks like you're understanding what to do. I think Snape's half-baked lessons probably opened your mind more to Voldemort, not less. 'Clear your mind' and nothing else, honestly." Peter shook his head in exasperation. "Ok, are you ready to begin building your barriers and alarms? Today and probably tomorrow I'm only going to be lightly probing your defenses, making you aware that there's an invasion in the first place so you can have everything in place as quickly as possible. Then on Wednesday and Thursday, we're going to practice with me doing full-out assaults. This doesn't have to be complete Harry, but given that we have only four days to do this, and for only an hour at a pop at that. I would schedule more, but as you discovered with Snape, learning this tends to tire out your mind. I know Voldemort hasn't tried anything so far this summer, but that's not bound to last. It wouldn't do to have you more vulnerable to his tinkering. I have little doubt that if he tried it tonight while you're in bed, he'd find out what's going on here. That's a chance we'll have to take though... though I don't think he'd rat you out to Dumbledore Harry." They both smiled at that one, knowing that however much hatred Voldemort had for Harry, he hated Dumbledore 10 times as much. They spent the next hour practicing barriers. Peter put very little force in his Legilimancy, getting Harry accustomed to another presence in his mind before actually moving about in it. Snape had adopted to use the 'throw them in off the deep end and see if they swim' technique, the same technique he used in his potions classes to varying degrees. The older man preferred to dip Harry's head in and let him be wet for a while before making him do any work. It was now 6:00 pm and Peter signaled that they were finished.

"That was a good start Harry, I think by Friday you'll be fine... as long as we can get rid of your favorite professor quickly enough. Bill should be getting here any minute, and the twins too." Just then, a tapping could be heard on the bedroom window. Winky went over to open it and let the large grey owl inside. The owl had with him an official-looking envelope with the twin crests of the Ministry of Magic and The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry took the envelope with shaking hands, and the grey owl went on his way. The doorbell rang at the same time, Peter went downstairs to go get Bill.

Harry looked at the envelope with dread, and all of the sudden he began to think that he hadn't done very well. Reason after reason invaded his mind about why he had done badly on this test or that. He waited for the others to come up so that he could have some moral support. The bedroom door opened again and the room was full of Weasleys, well three of them anyway. Bill came first, followed by Fred and George. To Harry's disappointment, there was no Ron.

"Hiya there mate," Gred and Forge said in unison, each slapping Harry on the shoulder. They looked around the room they had broken Harry out of 4 years earlier.

"It looks better without the bars on the window Harry, that wasn't a nice decorative touch." Fred did as he gave Harry a small smile. Harry pointed to the wall around the window, the scars of the bars were still there as the twins admired their handiwork. Bill saw Harry looking questioningly at him.

"I'm sorry Harry, I didn't get much of a chance to talk with Ron, Hermione was there yesterday and most of today. I can tell you that they're pretty worried about you, they commented on your lovely vague letters that they got yesterday. Hermione, surprise, surprise, was on pins and needles waiting for the owl scores. I told them I was going to talk to you tonight, so they wrote down what they got so that I could show you. I'm supposed to take back a copy of yours as well. Have you looked?"

"No, I'm afraid to. You'll still talk to Ron though, this week? I don't want Friday to happen without him having some advance warning if possible."

"I will, Hermione went home right before I left, her parents picked her up, so she won't be seeing Luna or Neville on the Knight Bus... they're coming right?"

"I hope so, they haven't told me they're not. Oh, one more thing... Ron and Hermione... they weren't... how can I say this...?" Bill knew his answer wouldn't be what Harry wanted to hear, so he figured he should soften it as much as he could.

"Did I catch them snogging at all? Is that what you want to know?"

The whole room started giggling as Harry had a revolted look on his face. "That's not how I would have put it Bill, but I guess that's what I mean."

Bill and the twins looked at each for a moment, and that's all the answer Harry really needed. Bill felt he should say something though.

"Yes Harry, they are together. They told Mum, Dad, and Ginny last night, apparently it's been going on for a couple of weeks. I asked them if they had bothered to tell you yet, but they pointed out that you had asked them not to write... which is very convenient I know, but try not to kill them the next time you see them."

"Just for the record mate, the three of us didn't know before today. George and I aren't at The Burrow much, and when we are we have better things to do than follow those two around... but I promise you that we would have said something if we'd known about it." George nodded in agreement, as did Bill. Harry just shrugged, and silently told himself that what he was hoping to do was made a little bit easier.

George decided that a change of subject was in order:

"Out with it mate, open up the golden envelope, let's see what you got."

Harry closed his eyes and said a silent prayer, then he opened the envelope. He couldn't find his voice, so he handed the letter to one of the twins to read. George started reading aloud:

Dear Mr. Harry James Potter,

Enclosed are your scores from the June sittings of your Ordinary Wizarding Levels. The exams were graded impartially and all judges and examiners were tested with veritaserum to ensure no bias. This step is undertaken each year to guarantee reliability in our tests. We look forward to testing you again two years hence in your Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, good luck with your academic career at Hogwarts.

The grades available are as follows:

O – Outstanding

E – Exceeds Expectations

A – Acceptable

P – Poor

T – Terrible

N/A – didn't take the exam offered

An 'O' score is worth 2 owls, and an 'E' or an 'A' is worth one owl. 'P' and 'T' scores are worth zero owls. The difference between an 'E' and an 'A' may be seen in the NEWT classes you are eligible to take. The difference between 'P' and 'T' is solely for your own knowledge, to see how close you came. In addition, the highest score of the year in each subject will receive the Governor's Award, those recipients, along with the Top Ten overall scores, will be honored at a banquet to be held at Hogwarts on the 3rd Sunday in September. If you received the highest score of the year in a particular subject, a score of 'OO' will be shown, as well as your name being on the list at the end.

Scores for Harry James Potter, are as follows:

Ancient Runes: N/A

Arithmancy: N/A

Astronomy: A

Care of Magical Creatures: O

Charms: OO

Defense Against the Dark Arts: OO

Divination: A

Herbology: E

History of Magic: A

Muggle Studies: N/A

Potions: A

Transfiguration: E

You have received a total of 12 OWL's Mr. Potter, congratulations.

The Top Ten students of the year are as follows:

1. Lisa Turpin, Ravenclaw

2. Terry Boot, Ravenclaw

3. Hermione Granger, Gryffindor

4. Harry Potter, Gryffindor

5. Blaise Zabini, Slytherin

6. Michael Corner, Ravenclaw

7. Ernie MacMillan, Hufflepuff

8. Hannah Abbot, Hufflepuff

9. Stephen Cornfoot, Ravenclaw

10. Draco Malfoy, Slytherin.

The Governors' Awards go to the following students:

Ancient Runes: Terry Boot, Ravenclaw

Arithmancy: Lisa Turpin, Ravenclaw

Astronomy: Lisa Turpin, Ravenclaw

Care of Magical Creatures: Hannah Abbot, Hufflepuff

Charms: Harry Potter, Gryffindor

Defense Against the Dark Arts: Harry Potter, Gryffindor

Divination: Parvati Patil, Gryffindor

Herbology: Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor

History of Magic: Hermione Granger, Gryffindor

Muggle Studies: Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hufflepuff

Potions: Blaise Zabini, Slytherin

Transfiguration: Lisa Turpin, Ravenclaw

We congratulate these winners, and look forward to dining with them, along with Mssrs. Corner, Cornfoot, MacMillan, and Malfoy, at the banquet in September.

Griselda Marchbanks

Ministry of Magic

So no Potions, he hadn't even been close to Snape's cutoff. Harry had been waffling about being an Auror, this cinched it, he was going to have to find something else to do with his life after school. Oh well, he'd think about that later, once he looked at the career manual that Peter gave him.

"12 OWL's Harry, that's double what we got... combined!"

Bill looked at George like that was something to brag about, getting only 3 OWL's apiece. "Congratulations Harry, and 4th in your class to boot, that's terrific."

"How did Hermione react Bill? She didn't do as well as I thought she would. And just out of curiosity twins, I never found out what your OWLs were in."

Bill and Fred looked at each other, Fred spoke first "We each got an O in Charms and an E in Potions. Snape couldn't believe it, but Flitwick was delighted. I heard he was bragging in the staff room that he was the one professor to have actually gotten through to us."

The room got a laugh out of that one, Harry looked at Bill.

"She didn't take it too well Harry, I didn't want to mention this before you opened the scores since I knew from looking at Ron's and Hermione's letters that you had gotten the two OO's and 4th overall in the class. I will tell you there were tears and yelling, and she mentioned it more than once about protesting the results. Ron was a bit quieter, as you're about to see." With that, Bill took two folded pieces of paper out of his pocket and gave them to Harry. Harry opened the first one, which was Hermione's, and with a nod from Bill began reading aloud:

Ancient Runes: O

Arithmancy: O

Astronomy: E

Care of Magical Creatures: A

Charms: O

Defense Against the Dark Arts: E

Divination: N/A

History of Magic: OO

Herbology: O

Muggle Studies: N/A

Potions: E

Transfiguration: O

OWL total: 16

Class Rank: 3rd Gryffindor Rank: 1st

"Well I know she was hoping for all O's, but I hear that's practically impossible. The 'A' is a bit of a shocker, and how did she only get an 'E' in Defense?"

"Oh Harry my friend, she's wondering those same things herself. If she knows how to make a howler, I pity poor Griselda Marchbanks. To be honest, I was kind of glad she left, it was getting tiring listening to her complain about the whole situation. Better open Ron's and get it over with."

Ancient Runes: N/A

Arithmancy: N/A

Astronomy: A

Care of Magical Creatures: E

Charms: P

Defense Against the Dark Arts: E

Divination: N/A

History of Magic: P

Herbology: A

Muggle Studies: N/A

Potions: E

Transfiguration: A

OWL total: 6

Class Rank: 30th Gryffindor Rank: 8th

"Yikes, that's not good at all. Is he still alive? Did your mum kill him?"

"No, she didn't, she was actually pretty calm about it. Ron has been preparing her for it, or so he told me. He rationalized to her that at least he did better than the twins, even though he didn't get any O's. He would get this twitch in his eye whenever Hermione went off on a rant about 'only 16 OWL's', but he somehow managed not to snap at her. I wasn't the only one ready for her to get out of there Harry, and I was only there for 30 minutes with her, imagine poor Ron having to listen to it for the full two hours... if nothing else it's proof of how much he loves her I suppose."

Harry and the twins shuddered, and Harry quickly scribbled down his scores on two pieces of paper, so that Ron could see and copy, and sent Pig to Hermione with the other. They heard a squeal of tires outside and saw the Knight Bus pull up, discharging Neville and Luna. George went downstairs to let them in. He saw Dudley on his way through the living room and absently slapped him on the back as he passed by. Dudley looked a hair nervous at first but calmed down once he didn't change into anything. Luna and Neville gave polite greetings to the Dursleys, whom neither of them had ever met but heard much about, and received them in turn, they then proceeded behind George upstairs to Harry's room. They looked at the gathering of players in their little drama, and immediately noted the absence of Ron, Ginny, and Hermione.

Neville walked up to Peter. "Hello Mr. Tyson, how are you? Gran was wondering whether Harry had hired you." said as he held his hand out for the older man to shake.

"I'm fine Neville, please call me Peter. Hello Luna, a pleasure to meet you again."

"And to you as well Peter. Hello Harry."

"Hi Luna, hello Neville... I'm glad you two could come, please have a seat."

Neville and Luna looked around and couldn't see where to sit down. Bill took that hint and waved his wand, magically expanding the room to double its size. Peter conjured up some chairs and everyone sat down, the twins sitting on the bed.

"Luna knows me because I've done some work for her father in the past. Folks, we're all here because we, in effect, are the people that Harry trusts most. Some of you have noted the absence of people like Ron and Hermione, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Molly, and Arthur. Our opponent here isn't Voldemort, it's Dumbledore. We're going to get Harry free, and we're going to need the counsel and help of everyone in this room. Here's the plan..."

Peter proceeded to lay out the strategy, including what Harry was studying, and the events that were to take place on Friday and hopefully the following Monday. Neville was the only one of the newcomers to speak during this presentation, asking a couple of questions about the Snape plan, otherwise, they were silent and contemplative.

"You said this would be huge, big brother... and you underestimated it. Peter, you've laid out quite a detailed strategy, full of pitfalls and potential consequences. What do you feel the odds are for success?" Fred asked as scrutinized the older man.

Peter looked at Harry, he had never discussed the odds with Harry, and the lad had never asked him for any. This was the time, to be forthcoming though.

"I would say we have about a fifty percent chance of total success. By total success, I mean getting Harry out of here, out of Hogwarts, and out of Great Britain... the latter two of which are pretty intertwined, but not completely. I think getting Harry out of here will be pretty easy, probably 90 percent. Dumbledore is a formidable adversary, and he'll use all his pull on Fudge and the Wizengamot to keep Harry at least at Hogwarts. The important thing to remember, even if this doesn't work, you can always leave next year. Once you turn seventeen your life is yours to do as you will. Leaving you to attend any school you wish for your seventh year."

"I know, and I'm aware that this might not work. But as long as we give it our best shot, I'm prepared to deal with what happens, either way."

"If it comes to it Harry, can you handle a split decision? Leaving here but staying at Hogwarts?"

Harry hesitated for a minute, he looked at the faces around him, the people he trusted most in the world.

"To be honest, no, I don't think I could handle a split decision if it came to it. I've been thinking about this ever since Friday and I've decided that if I can't leave Britain as a wizard, I will leave it as a muggle, and go to a muggle boarding school somewhere else."

Nobody said anything for a moment, and Peter decided that he had to get control of the situation quickly. "Well let's hope that we don't have to test that out. Ok, back to this coming Friday, is there any one of you who can't be here? Snape is supposed to arrive at 7 pm, according to Bill." Everyone nodded their assent that they could be there at the appointed time.

"One more thing troops." The group smiled as Bill said that. "Bring your wands, even those of you who aren't allowed to use them... just in case."

It was now 7:00 pm, and Peter made to leave before turning and addressing those still present. "Well I must be going, I have my own set of twins, that need to be tucked in, they're going to be the death of me when they start dating, so I'm appreciating them that much more now." Peter grinned at the twins before bidding everyone a good night, leaving with the sound of laughter at his back.

The six of them sat around for another two hours chatting, talking about their school experiences. Neville showed off his own OWL results, Harry and the twins had already seen his Herbology award. Harry and the others were very impressed with Neville's scores, only one less owl than Harry himself. It had helped that Neville hadn't failed any classes, unlike Ron. He had wondered about Neville being 11th in their year and him 4th, with only one OWL between them, but Bill explained that they took overall scores into consideration, that was where the difference between E's and A's, and P's and T's came into play, even if the pairs were worth the same number of OWL's. Bill allowed that he had received 18 OWL's, which went a long way to making him Head Boy.

By 9:00 pm everyone was getting ready to leave, Bill to go back outside to be on guard duty, Fred and George to make sure Lee and Ginny hadn't burned the shop down, and Neville and Luna to go back home. The 'adults' had left, and Neville, Harry, and Luna sat there for a minute, contemplating. His friends were sitting quite close to each other. not touching or holding hands mind you but close all the same.

"So are you two official yet?" He said this with a smile, and Neville and Luna looked at each other nervously... nervously, Harry had never seen Luna nervous before. Even before the DOM she had looked serene.

"Well not really, we've been owling a lot since summer started. Neville answered as he tensed up a second, and took Luna's hand, which caused her to blush furiously, but she squeezed it back.

"I'm really happy for you guys, I think you make a great couple." Luna smiled at hearing that.

"Thank you, Harry, for inviting me, it means a lot to me to know that you trust me so much."

"You're welcome, you and Neville have shown me time and time again that I can count on you both. I hope you know that I'd be there for you too."

She and Neville both nodded before the former asked what she and Neville had both been thinking since the meeting had started. "Harry, are you sure about Ronald and Hermione? What will they say Friday when they learn you kept them out of it?"

"They'll be hurt, of that, I have no doubt. I would hope though, that they'd be mature enough to understand that I had my reasons for going about it the way that I have, even if they don't agree with the reasons themselves. And we still might reach Ron. Bill and the twins are going to see about it."

" What if they aren't mature enough... I know he's your best friend, but I just don't see Ronald being mature enough to deal with this. And Hermione... you know I don't like talking badly about anyone Harry, but she's..."

"I know Luna, and in my heart, I agree with what you just said. If they don't understand?... then a nice five-year friendship will be over. I believe I've earned some slack from those two, as much as they've been there for me guys, I've been there for them just as much. I doubt Hermione would have any friends at Hogwarts if Ron and I hadn't taken her in, Parvati and Lavender can't stand her, and Dean and Seamus can't either. You seem to tolerate her when you are around, but I've noticed Neville, that you didn't stick up for her tonight. And Ron... Ron has been my best friend and he has given me a family. I hope Bill and the twins can get through to him. I would give my life to save Ron's, but I won't risk it just to please him."

"I understand Harry."

"What about those two as a couple? Are you upset about that?"

"Not really, if anything I'm happy that they finally did something about it. That they didn't tell me about it... well, it's done now, the toothpaste is out of the tube."They chatted about inconsequential things for a few minutes, the kind of relaxed talk that friends have... even if two of them are holding hands.

Neville looked at his watch and discreetly coughed. "We'd better get going, Luna. See you, Friday Harry, I'll tell Gran you're doing just fine."

"Thank you, Neville... for everything mate."

"And you as well Harry," with that, Neville walked downstairs.