Chapter Four
Harry landed in the foyer of his new home and immediately took his trunk out of his pocket and expanded it. Going down to his lab, he approached his droid and checked to make sure the upload completed with no errors.
All was good so he powered his droid back up and they both went to work on cleaning the house. Unfortunately, the droid had no magic so had to clean by hand. However, it never grew tired so that was not a burden for it.
It took a couple of days to get the house completely clean, but it was nice and shiny when they finished. There was an office in the house on the first floor so Harry's trunk was put in there.
Harry decided to keep his lab in the trunk so he wouldn't have to move everything back and forth whether he was in school or at home. It was much easier to just move the trunk. The droid would always go to its stand in the lab at night and temporarily shut down while Harry slept, unless Harry had something else for it to do at night, of course.
The droid was also assigned to take care of the garden, shrubs, and flowers. During the summer the grass needed to be trimmed pretty much once a week. There was already a self-propelled mower, weed-whacker, and gardening tools they found in the shed so the grass was kept nice on a regular basis.
Harry bought additional clothes for the droid so it would have its own. He needed some new clothes anyway so bought the extra while he was out. While spending more time together Harry felt it was time to name his droid. The best he could come up with was Number One or just One for short.
One could follow recipes to the letter and was pretty intuitive so it turned out to be a pretty good cook, even though it couldn't eat any of it. It made sure Harry was fed though when he got too carried away in his work and forgot to eat.
Harry was constantly writing new code and testing it. He was still a good ways off from his ultimate goal but he was making steady improvements.
As the summer progressed, Harry found that he had grown taller than the droid so he made plans to make it taller and upgrade it at the same time before returning to Hogwarts. With all his work on the new code he had more he wanted to add to the droid during the upgrade.
Toward the end of summer, Harry noticed someone seemed to be watching his house over the course of three days. He looked Muggle but Harry wasn't positive about that. He decided to have his droid stay up at night for now and watch the house and the outside in case the man tried to break in. He asked One to be as quiet as possible while doing this to keep from waking Harry from his sleep.
Harry was putting in very long days working on his project and other important things so he definitely needed his sleep at night.
On the third night since he had One keeping watch, Harry roused from his sleep briefly because he thought he heard a noise but nothing else happened so he turned over and went back to sleep.
The next morning he got up and went downstairs to find the man he had been seeing outside trussed up in the foyer not very far from the front door. Harry walked over to him and checked to see if he was still alive.
He was so Harry went to find his droid to find out what happened. He found One in the kitchen cooking breakfast. It knew Harry's schedule very well so knew when to start breakfast for him.
"Number One?" Harry asked.
"Yes, Harry?" One responded.
"Did you happen to record the incident with the intruder you had to deal with last night?"
"Yes, I did. I knew you would want to watch it for yourself," One said smiling.
"Excellent! I'll watch it now," he said reaching across the counter for his iPad.
Harry connected his iPad to the system in the trunk and played the video of the drama that unfolded in the house while he was asleep last night.
When the video started, One was watching out the window. He suddenly walked to a different window at the front of the house. It was a window not far from the front door. What was interesting was the would-be thief using a tool to unlock the window from the outside. That would have to be looked into to avoid it happening in the future. The man opened the window, then proceeded to climb through the window and into the house.
What he didn't see was One standing there off to the side. One was very close to the window, but in dark shadow, and was dressed all in black.
When One came out of the shadow, the man saw him out of the corner of his eye and made a sound but One hit him quickly in the head to shut him up and knock him out, catching the man as he fell to prevent additional noise.
One then tied him up nice and tight and left him in the foyer.
The video ended.
"Great job, Number One! Now I need to figure out what to do with him. I suppose he should be turned over to the police, but I'm not sure that would be the best idea."
"I've been giving it some thought, Harry. I don't think you should involve the police. That would bring attention to you living by yourself at the age of twelve and could also alert the news to a burglar being caught at this house. You don't want the police questioning you due to your age and you don't want to be on the news again, so I believe that will not be the best option."
"I agree. Thanks for your input One. I appreciate you looking after me."
"I can take him somewhere far away and leave him there, Harry. I'd be glad to do that for you," One offered.
"Thanks, but I believe I should do that myself. You've done your part so it's my turn."
He was thinking about putting him in his trunk, shrinking it, then apparating the man a good distance away. He didn't think he could apparate him at normal size, not the both of them anyway. He would then cancel the shrinking spell, remove him from the trunk, untie him, and leave him there before apparating back home.
"As you wish, Harry. Breakfast is ready!" he said putting Harry's plate in front of him loaded with food.
"Thanks again, One. By the way, I'm almost ready with the upgrade for you. I'll have to make you taller too. I guess I'll be doing that on a regular basis as I continue to age and grow. I'm sure I'll continue to have upgrades for you too."
"I'm looking forward to being made better, Harry."
"That you will be," he smiled and saluted One with his fork before taking a bite.
After returning to school, Harry stuck to his plans and kept up the charade of One being him for his non-wanded classes. He did this through the years at Hogwarts, always continuing to upgrade and grow One to match with his own growth. The upgrades were getting closer to his ultimate goal and everything was going smoothly too, well, at least until fourth year.
Two things happened in fourth year that were memorable. The first thing that happened is One was the object of flirting by a fifth year, a girl named Cho Chang. This would normally not be that big of a deal except One, like Harry, had no experience with this sort of thing.
Harry could have stumbled and muddled his way through the awkward situation but One simply froze not knowing what to do at all. He had zero programming for this type of behavior. Luckily, Harry had improved their communication devices they both wore while going to classes. It allowed them to converse with each other easily without anyone knowing.
One's plea for help came in loud in clear to Harry who had to drop everything and walk One through the problem.
Cho was flirting big time with Harry's stand-in. She was pouring it on strong too. Harry nearly laughed at One's predicament, it was so funny the look One was giving Cho. He was able to see One's face through the reflection in Cho's eyes when he zoomed in. But he knew he had to help One and fix this.
"Tell her, 'Thank you Cho for your interest. You are a very lovely girl, but I simply do not have the time for dating anyone right now. I'm way too busy with everything I'm working on.'"
"But, can't you make an exception for little ole me?" she asked eyeing him closely.
"Tell her, 'I'm truly sorry, but the answer is still no. What I'm working on is way too important. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to get back to work.' Walk off now and head back here, One."
"Well, I never," Cho said in frustration.
Harry managed to talk One off the ledge with that disaster, but the second problem that happened was far worse.
The Ministry, the Board of Governors for Hogwarts, and three headmasters, including Dumbledore decided to host the Tri-Wizard Tournament at Hogwarts that year. This was the same tournament that killed many of its contestants and even a good portion of the crowd watching the tournament at times. It's the same tournament they stopped doing hundreds of years ago due to the death toll.
Now, they're bringing it back.
To make it safer, only students seventeen years of age or older could put their name in to compete. Since Harry was only fourteen he planned on just watching. That of course was not how it played out. Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire as the fourth champion when there was only supposed to be three. There were only three schools so only three champions, supposedly.
When his name was called, Harry refused to go up to the front. When asked why he told them.
"Because I didn't put my name in. Whoever put my name in is the one under magical contract. Not me."
"Can you tell me then if this is your handwriting?" Dumbledore held up the small piece of paper.
" I will come and verify for you," Harry told him then marched up to the front and held out his hand. "May I, Headmaster?"
The slip of paper was handed to him so he studied it carefully. When he looked up, he was livid and everyone could see it on his face.
"What's wrong?" asked Dumbledore.
"The instructions were to write your name and school on a slip of paper and put it in the cup. Correct?"
Dumbledore nodded along with practically everyone else in the room who heard that instruction.
"This slip of paper has my name on it and is in my handwriting, but it has no school. Why? Because this slip of paper with my name on it was torn from a piece of my homework or test. I write my name at the bottom of both. This means that it is highly likely that one of the professors here put my name in."
There was a collective gasp from the crowd in the Great Hall.
"Well, I doubt you will get a confession from whomever did this to me," Harry continued, "so we need to approach this from a different direction."
"What do you suggest?" Dumbledore asked him.
"I recommend you take away the flask from Professor Moody and see if he stays Professor Moody in about an hour or from the last time he drank from it."
"Are you suggesting Professor Moody is under Polyjuice?" asked Dumbledore incredulously.
"No, I'm simply suggesting that since he takes a swig from that flask pretty much on the hour every hour that it's a very strong possibility that he is not who he appears to be. Also, he's new this year and I've never experienced any type of sabotage from any of the professors over the years I've been here. That makes the list very short. On the other hand, someone could have stolen my homework from one of the professors and put my name in too. That opens it up to more possibilities. Perhaps one of the ministry workers?"
"Now see here!" said Crouch.
"Easy Barty," Dumbledore told him, "he hasn't accused anyone …yet."
Moody pulled his flask and started to take a swig while attention was elsewhere. However, Harry was watching him carefully. With a silent and strong summoning spell the flask left Moody's hand and landed in Harry's.
Harry took a sniff. "I'd say that's polyjuice potion. What do you think, Headmaster?" he asked letting him have a sniff.
Dumbledore took a sniff then looked at Moody while whipping his wand out faster than you could blink. The stunner that left his wand was going at a speed few had ever seen. While Moody's staff came around to cast a shield to block it, he was too slow. The stunner hit him and he was out cold on the floor.
Dumbledore then had Snape smell the flask contents. His expert opinion was that it was definitely polyjuice.
So they all waited and about 20 minutes later, after Ron Weasley had another helping or two of dessert, Professor Moody began to change shape and looks. When he was done, the man who replaced him had both legs, two real eyes, and a complete nose. It was Barty Crouch, Jr., a supposed dead man and a known Death Eater.
"I rest my case," Harry told them.
Barty Crouch, Sr. was surprised to see his son, to the say the least. He would be questioned later when they questioned Jr.
Dumbledore sent an Incarcerous to tie Jr. up then asked McGonagall and Snape to go to Moody's office to find him. He suggested they check his seven compartment trunk for the real Moody. He then turned to Harry.
"Let us confer on this first, Harry," said Dumbledore. "Since your name is on the paper in your handwriting and the Goblet chose you then we need to determine if you are truly safe to not compete."
"You have got to be kidding me," Harry responded as Dumbledore, the other headmasters, and the ministry officials conferred with each other under a silencing spell.
After a few minutes, they determined that Harry would still have to compete just to be safe.
Harry said "No!"
"Mr. Potter! You risk losing your magic if you don't," Bagman told him.
"Why can't the selection process be declared null and void and then redo it? Or how about this? We play Gobstones, Exploding Snap, and Rock, Paper, Scissors. Something simple to get this selection process done with. After that, you put just those three champions back into the Goblet and do the selection process again. We'll be back on track and they can then do the real challenges without me."
This put the organizers and judges back in the huddle to consider Harry's suggestions. When they finished it was decided to play the games Harry suggested as that was the safer option. They planned to do that the very next evening.
Harry ended up winning all three by simply playing the odds. In fact, it didn't even take that long.
The three champions then met in the antechamber at the back of the Great Hall for their instructions concerning the first task. Harry left with the other students back to Ravenclaw and went down to his lab to work some more.
Everything went pretty well with the three tasks the champions had to face. The first was nesting mother dragons where they had to collect a golden egg in order to learn the clue to the second task. The second task was in the Black Lake where they put hostages the champions had to find and rescue within an hour's time. The third task ended up being a maze with lots of traps and beasts to get past. The Triwizard Trophy was hidden within the maze so the first one to it would be the champion.
Harry was busy and a bit bored with all of it so he had One go to the task events for him. He kept the screen active so he could see what One was seeing on occasion when he looked that way while working. Toward the end of the task that looked like Cedric Diggory was winning, Harry was concentrating more on his project and not the screen.
Suddenly he heard One in his head calling him. Harry immediately looked up at the screen only to see that One was no longer in the crowd near the maze. He was in a small cemetery instead.
"Where are you, One?" Harry asked him.
"During all the celebrations after Cedric won, someone stuck a portkey on my back and it sent me to this place. I didn't see who did it."
"Stare at a spot out of the way close by to give me a place I can concentrate on so I can apparate in. Play along for now with whoever did this to not blow my cover. If they hit you with a spell, react accordingly like a wizard would. So if they hit you with a stunner then fall down like your unconscious. You may have to take advantage later. I'll be there as soon as I can though. I'll use my new broom to get me past the wards faster so I can apparate."
"Will do. I'll await your arrival Harry."
Harry looked at the spot One showed him then grabbed his new broom and headed up out of the trunk. He opened the window in the dorm and flew out of it as fast as he could go. He went high and used a somewhat circuitous route to avoid being seen by the crowd near the Quidditch Pitch which was currently where the maze was that they used for the third task.
He found that he really liked flying so he put on the speed to get close to Hogsmeade and outside the wards. Harry landed and applied a strong Disillusionment Charm on himself before he apparated.
It was dark so his charm was working great. He found One tied to a tall tombstone and seemingly stunned. Wormtail, the traitor who gave up the secret to where he and his parents lived, was brewing a potion in a massively large cauldron.
"I'm here, One. What did I miss?" Harry asked silently between them as he hid behind the tombstone where One was tied.
"The short fat tubby one put a very ugly baby into that cauldron and then started the potion. It appears it's for resurrecting Voldemort," One explained. "I believe he was possessing that baby's body. I even heard him speak to Wormtail."
"I see. Go ahead and open your eyes and record all of this. I may want to view it again later. Let's just watch for now and see what happens."
They watched as Wormtail summoned a bone from the grave One was tied above. He was saying words to go along with his actions. He even cut off his left hand with a magically sharpened knife and let it drop into the overly large cauldron. He whimpered and wrapped his robe around the stump to try and stop the bleeding as best he could. But then he headed toward One with that knife in his hand.
"Be ready to take action on my signal, One. I believe he's about to get a shock."
"I'm ready."
Wormtail ambled over in pain with his arm bleeding. He lifted up the knife and cut One's sleeve away. He then tried to cut One's arm to get some blood on the knife but it wasn't working. The blade was making a tink sound every time he touched the arm with the knife.
Wormtail said, "Huh?" with a very confused look on his face.
"Now, One! Take him out."
One lifted his hands as he broke the ropes tying him. He then knocked Peter over the head with one of his fists. He hit him just hard enough to knock him out cold. Peter, otherwise known as Wormtail, crumpled to the ground.
"Give me your robe, One, so we can switch places."
One handed over his robe and watched Harry put it on. Harry then cast a strong Disillusionment Charm on One and had him hide in the same spot Harry was hiding previously without moving.
Harry noticed Peter was still bleeding badly from his stump. So Harry cast a cauterizing charm on it to stop the bleeding. He then tied him up and stunned him for good measure. Next he conjured a nice comfortable chair to sit in so he could take a seat.
"I think we'll wait and see what Voldemort does now that his ritual and potion were interrupted. Or, should I add some ingredients of my own? Nah, I'll just put out the fire to speed things up."
Harry waved his wand and the fire went completely out. He then cast a cooling charm on it to quickly bring the temperature down really low.
It didn't take too long after that before Voldemort's wraith came out of the cauldron and looked around. The baby's body he possessed was no longer viable once placed in the boiling potion.
When he saw Wormtail trussed up while out cold on the ground and Harry Potter just sitting there in a chair, he became a bit irate, especially when Harry wiggled his fingers at Voldemort in a silly wave.
"Hello there! Long time no see. Why it's been around thirteen years since I saw you last. How have you been holding up? I see your back to playing a wraith again. That can't be very fun."
Voldemort just stared at him with all the hatred he could muster.
"I suppose you'll find someone else to help you now so you can try this again. I'm afraid Wormtail's coming with me so he won't be available. After all his hard work and giving you a hand too." The double meaning was not lost on Voldemort. "Such a pity."
The wraith headed toward Wormtail to possess him, but Harry was quicker. He had turned Wormtail's shirt into a portkey while waiting for Voldemort. He activated it and that whisked him away to the gates of Hogwarts before Voldemort could reach him.
Voldemort then turned on Harry but he was ready with a modified banishing spell that tossed the wraith about a kilometer away from Harry, end over end. Once that was done, Harry turned One's shirt into a portkey, grabbed a hold of it, and they both landed just outside the wards of Hogwarts right in front of the gates.
Wormtail was there waiting on them.
"One, stay close to the trees and take the long way around to the back of the castle before approaching it." Harry then recast the Disillusionment Charm on One. "That should help prevent anyone from seeing you and it shouldn't take you long with your speed. My floating Wormtail up to the castle should keep their eyes on me for the time being. Make your way inside but keep out of sight until you get inside the trunk. If too many people are still up and about then just wait until you can sneak past or until I get inside the trunk."
"See you in a bit, Harry," he said then took off at an incredible speed sticking very close to the trees. With the darkness of night, One's speed, and the trees providing a dark background, no one would be able to make him out.
Harry pointed his wand at Wormtail and floated him off to the side of himself as he walked from the gate to the castle. He was met by Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape as he neared the castle. They walked out of the doors and met him a little ways out from the steps.
"Who do you have there, Harry?" asked the headmaster.
"Peter Pettigrew," they gasped at this revelation, "the very Death Eater who betrayed me and my parents to Voldemort. He was trying to resurrect that evil menace when I stopped him."
"Where have you been, Mr. Potter?" asked McGonagall.
"At a cemetery. I believe it was located in Little Hangleton, if memory serves. And, of course, with my memory you can bet on it."
"You were at the Riddle property, weren't you?" asked Dumbledore. "Where Tom's father is buried?"
"Yes, I was," he said nodding.
"I think we should take this to my office so we can floo the DMLE to pick up Peter. Do you need me to float him the rest of the way, Harry," thinking he may be tired at this point.
"I've got it. I'm not tired at all."
"Very well, let's go everyone," he told them and took off walking with them following.
They didn't notice Peter was missing his left hand until Harry laid him down on the headmaster's office floor. He had to explain that he wasn't the one that removed it and how Peter willingly gave it for that potion/ritual he was performing. He did mention that he cauterized it, though, to stop the bleeding. Of course, he then had to start from the beginning and tell how a portkey was attached to him from behind that sent him to the cemetery.
After he finished his story, letting them know that he wasn't positive he could take a restored Voldemort down if he allowed the ritual to continue. That was why he put a stop to it by taking out Wormtail and reducing Voldemort to a wraith again.
They all considered the ramifications of those actions. They also agreed that Voldemort would likely find another Death Eater to help him so he can try the ritual again. They doubted he would try to capture Harry for this next time. That would be too risky and possibly inviting more failure.
There were plenty of people out there who were enemies of Voldemort and their blood would work just as well. No need to take the risk by capturing Harry again. Of course, how long it would take Voldemort to try this again was unknown, but they suspected he would be in an even bigger hurry this time.
The question remained, who then was the one on Hogwarts grounds who placed the portkey on Harry? They would need to get to the bottom of that. It wasn't but two days later that Colin Creevey went to the hospital wing complaining of someone being in his head.
As it turned out, Peter had put him under the Imperius Curse to tag Harry with that portkey. He was always trying to take pictures of Harry anyway so was usually always somewhere close by to the super genius.
Madam Pomfrey immediately noticed Colin's eyes and recognized the telltale signs of the curse. She quickly bound him to a hospital bed then the headmaster and deputy head were called to the infirmary to be informed. They also watched while she removed the curse and verified he was back in complete control of himself.
McGonagall noted that Peter was never all that powerful so that was likely why Colin started breaking the control on his own, especially since Harry stunned Peter at the cemetery. They called on Harry to let him know they found the culprit.
Harry took it in stride and told Colin to not worry about it. He assured him he held nothing against Colin, only Peter who was at fault. Colin was relieved but disappointed that Harry still wouldn't let him take a bunch of photos of him.