A/N: Well, here it is, the time travel story I managed to stick with. It's about 80.000 words long and complete. But posting it will take time. In this story I went as far as I was comfortable with, bashing-wise and with what many consider to be tropes. I really don't care to be honest. I like bashing and I like some tropes, like helpful goblins, etc. So if that isn't you cup of tea, please look for something else to read and don't complain about it later. :)

Warning: Swearing. Especially in the beginning. That's why I choose the M. There is no other adult stuff except for a few suggestive words/jokes, I guess. As it happens occasionally, there will be some humor sneaking in, too.

This story also was looked over by the lovely randomskittles (not from this site), who taught me more about punctuation and contractions. All spelling and grammar mistakes that are left are mine. I'm still learning.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of and in the Harry Potter universe and I make no money with this hobby of mine.

Spoiler: Here some of the people that get bashed: Molly, Ron, Hermione, and Albus. But first and foremost this story is about Harry and how he handles being thrown back into his 15-year old body. Hindsight turns into foresight. Quite handy. But he also finds out some stuff he didn't know about as of yet and needs to adjust a few things in his mind he thought were true before.

Waking Up

The teen sleeping on the rickety single bed slowly blinked his eyes open and stared across the small room he was in. He blinked again and said slowly, "What the fuck?"

Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and looked around the room frowning. Then at his beat-down nightstand, where he found some black, round glasses which he put on and looked around again.

"What the FUCK!"

Rustling came from an open cage sitting on an ugly brown dresser.

"Hedwig?"

The white owl blinked her big yellow eyes and bobbed her head.

The boy rushed to her and started babbling, "You're alive? What happened? Why am I here? Am I still sleeping?" he carefully stroked the soft feathers.

The bird nipped his finger.

"Ouch!"

The bird looked at him as if saying, "Well?"

"Shit!"

He was awake!

The bird clacked her beak and managed to look worried.

"Hedwig, I am freaking twenty-eight years old! And I haven't lived at fucking Privet Drive for a decade!"

The teen looked down at himself, at his hands, his clothes, and sighed, "I sometimes hate magic! How did this happen? I remember celebrating my birthday at the Weasleys and going home alone. Ginny tried to come, but I managed to escape. I went to sleep and then there was some disturbance at the wards. Someone who was allowed to enter came in, I think. Ron? And he brought Ginny? It's kind of hazy. And they threw something at me? Some powder? Sand? And were chanting something? Fuck! Did they send my consciousness back in time? How? Why?"

The owl had no answer.

Harry, for this was the boy's name, looked around and asked, "So, what year is it? It's summer, early in the morning if I remember the layout of the house correctly. – There is some ripped wrapping paper. So my birthday was recently? What else, it's early morning, and there are Daily Prophets. I got a subscription before my fifth year and then only read the headlines if I remember correctly. So, it's either 1995, 1996, or 1997? No. Not 1997. And not 1996. I was at the Burrow for those birthdays, I think… 1995 was my last birthday at the Dursleys. Idiot, just look at the dates of the papers on top. Ah, there, the last one is from July 31st1995. So, it's probably August 1st or 2nd."

Harry tried to remember what had happened at that time and flinched. The Dementors! Fuck! He couldn't remember the exact date of the day they had come. Just that it had been shortly after his birthday… And the Order had picked him up about a week later. So, did he and Dudley encounter them already?

He looked at his desk, which was full of letters, and looked through them. There was none from the Ministry or Arthur.

"Okay. I don't remember what I did with those letters back then, so it's probably before their appearance. Fuck! What now? Was that time-turner sand? Hermione does work at the DoM, after all. But she hadn't been part of this clusterfuck, had she? What the fuck did they try to accomplish anyway?"

Harry couldn't fathom any reason for sending him back… what? 13 years? If this really was the case that was. Even with Hedwig's nip, he couldn't quite believe it. But his mind was in problem-solving mode, ignoring all the repercussions and heartache an actual time travel entailed.

"Hermione probably left her shit lying around again and they mistakenly took it, thinking it to be something else… But the only powder that they… Shit!"

Harry rubbed his face (nearly dislodging the glasses he wasn't used to anymore). There was a ritual to subjugate someone to someone else's will. Basically turning them into slaves. It was old and as the main ingredient – some sand-like powder – couldn't be sourced anymore, because the creature supplying it was extinct, it wasn't even illegal to perform it anymore. Harry and Ron had learned about it during their Auror training.

"Fucking idiots!" Harry whisper-yelled. It was a wonder the Dursleys hadn't complained yet...if he really was where all his senses were telling him he was.

"Br'ck!"

"Sorry, Hedwig. I'll try to stop swearing so much. But I just realised that I cannot return to my time if they used time-turner sand. I have to go through time once again. And this is my teenage body. Not my adult one… So, it's different from a time-turner, right? But that means, Riddle lives and so many others do, too… Like Sirius, Fred, you..."

Harry stared unseeingly out of the window.

"Well, at least I know where the fu… Horcruxes are."

Another pause.

"But I can't do magic at the moment. First order of business, I need to get rid of the trace."

Hedwig blinked.

"Yeah. You see, I am an Auror, and I know how that shit works. I just need to get to a place with a high enough density of magic and I can get rid of it."

Harry looked out the window again and remembered that people watched his house to 'protect' him and keep him ignorant. He remembered his anger at being kept in the dark. His friends and godfather doing everything Albus fucking Dumbledore wanted them to. Damn, he was back in the era of two competing personality cults of Riddle and Dumbledore.

Ok, first order of business, get out, get to the Alley, and get rid of the trace. And the Horcrux in his scar. Fuck.

Harry looked around again and packed his most important stuff into a messenger bag that Dudley couldn't use anymore (the strap was too short, and it always slid down his round shoulder), his wand and his photo album. He would be using his invisibility cloak, so it didn't join the rest.

He said, "Hedwig, I'll come back soon, but why don't you rest somewhere outside? I just don't trust what they will do when I am gone and not cooking their breakfast. Hm, I better write a note, or the Order will be informed very quickly by the ruckus they will make."

Harry scrawled a note with,

Aunt Petunia, sorry for leaving without notice. The m. world unexpectedly came calling. I'll be back this evening, I hope. Harry

Harry then got ready for the day, pulled his invisibility cloak on, and let Hedwig fly out of the small window. He then snuck to the kitchen, left the note, and quietly exited through the backdoor. He just hoped Moody wasn't on duty at the moment. That eye could see through the enchantments of a Deathly Hallow for some reason.

Harry frowned while walking towards the train station. How was that even possible? Maybe he needed to check the cloak for tampering. It didn't make sense otherwise, and the artefact had been in Dumbledore's hands for a long time. Maybe the man had found a way to enchant it somehow.

At least, no one seemed to follow Harry. But he couldn't be sure, could he?

He had decided to use Muggle transportation to leave no magical trail and easily lose any tail from the wizarding world.

Gringotts 1 - Healing

Everything went without a hitch, and an hour and a half later Harry snuck into Diagon with no one the wiser.

Harry thought about it for one last time and then walked to the backdoor of Gringotts which he - as an Auror - knew about. People who didn't want to be seen publicly went to this entrance and could enter even under spells or with artefacts hiding their identity. And Aurors couldn't stake out this area, much to their annoyance; too many goblin enchantments were covering it.

Harry rapped on the door which opened immediately and let him in.

When inside, Harry went to one of the cubicles that indicated they had no customers at the moment and entered, still under the cloak.

Inside, a goblin sat behind his desk and was writing into a huge ledger, while his left hand was flipping the beets on an abacus very quickly. The goblin, whose name plate said Manager Grobhook, barked, "Take off your disguise and sit."

Harry took off his cloak and quietly sat down, waiting for the goblin to finish.

He had to sit there for about five minutes but didn't complain. He didn't have an appointment after all.

When the goblin looked up at last, he didn't show any surprise. At least, Harry couldn't detect any.

"Mr Potter, what can Gringotts do for you? But first, answer the question, how did you know about this entrance?"

Harry had decided to take a chance and tell the truth and trust the goblins, rather than the Ministry or Dumbledore. Even if the name Grobhook made him doubt his decision.

He explained his predicament and the goblin nodded, "It is not the first time this mistake was made. That future you come from is now gone. Eradicated. No way to return."

Harry nodded, feeling deep sadness wash over him. He had come to the same conclusion, but he had managed to suppress the emotional impact until now, so hearing it spoken out loud was quite painful.

"Gringotts will help you, for a fee."

Harry nodded, "Thank you. My first question would be, what are your policies regarding Horcruxes?"

"Did you make any?" the goblin barked, looking at Harry with narrowed eyes and a sneering mouth.

"Certainly not."

"Good. Gringotts abhors them. They are against magic and nature. Forbidden. What your kind does above ground is not of our concern. But within Gringotts walls, they are destroyed."

Harry gulped, "Is there a way to destroy the Horcrux without harming the vessel?"

"Vessel?" the goblin narrowed his eyes even more. "There is a way."

"Even if the vessel is alive?"

There was a moment of silence and then the goblin simply answered, "Yes."

Harry slumped in relief, "Thank god!"

"Who is the vessel?"

"Me."

"Then follow me, we will get rid of it now. It will hurt."

"I don't care."

"Good."

The goblin brought Harry into a huge cave-like room and started talking to a fellow goblin in light-brown robes. Harry had a vision of Master Yoda flash through his mind but that was gone again quickly when he was led to a stone slab, and chained to it with iron shackles.

"It is in his scar," one of the gathering goblins commented.

"We could try cutting it out," another said grinning.

"No. That would have worked at the beginning. Now it's intertwined with the boy's magical core. We need to do this the hard way. You may scream, Mr Potter. It will not disturb the ritual."

And scream he did. It took some unknown amount of time of Cruciatus-like pain to perform the ritual, but in the end, a black cloud erupted from Harry's scar and dissolved into nothing. At least, that was what the goblins later told Harry. He had his eyes squeezed shut at that moment, panting and whimpering.

He then felt soothing magic wash over him and relaxed as the pain left him and he was cleaned throughout with another wave of magic washing over him.

"It is gone now."

"Let's never do that again," Harry croaked weakly, and the goblins laughed viciously and freed him.

"Now, you need more healing. Come," the Yoda-like goblin led Harry to a small, rather low bed and asked him to lie down.

Harry was too groggy to disagree and just followed the instructions after he was told the price they would extract from his vaults for this service.

His glasses were snatched off his nose again, and diagnostic magic was cast throughout while he dozed a little.

After a while, he heard, "Drink."

Harry felt something nudging his lips. A vial? He drank and smiled, "That tastes so much better than what Madame Pomfrey or the Ministry healers ever gave me."

A goblin laughed, "It tastes vile to us."

"Maybe we should switch?"

Barking laughter could be heard all around.

"I wish we could. Our potion ingredients grow underground and are much easier to source. And cheaper."

"Okay, that explains a lot," Harry nodded. Expensive medicine didn't work for many after all.

Five tasty potions later Harry fell asleep for about two hours, and when he woke, he was fed a delicious lunch that a little house-elf brought to him.

After he had finished the Yoda-like goblin healer sat on a little stool next to Harry's bed and said, "There was much wrong with you. There was abuse during your childhood, breaks, malnutrition, bad eye-sight–"

"Woah, my eyes! When did that happen?"

"During your sleep."

"Great! Thank you. I thought my eyes could only be fixed after I had fully grown."

"Not with goblin-made potions."

"Fantastic! I had gotten used to being able to see without glasses. Do you still have the frames? I don't want anyone to know about it yet."

"Here," the goblin handed Harry his glasses.

"Thanks. Sorry for interrupting. You were listing what was wrong with me and what you have healed?"

"Yes. Eyesight, the wound on your forehead, all the dark magic residue from various sources. What we didn't touch were the Basilisk venom and Phoenix tears. They have neutralised one another but cannot be extracted fully. They changed how you are reacting to potions, though. That was probably the reason why goblin-made potions work for you so well. Wizard-made potions still work too but are not as effective anymore. You come to us for healing and regular healing scans now," the goblin ordered.

"That would explain some things. I believe someone tried to give me love potions at some point, but they didn't work. At least not really. There was some infatuation, but nothing lasting."

"In your lost future?"

"Oh yes, sorry. Not as of yet, I think."

"Read the scan results later. If you get infatuated again, come and get a scan to see if it is real. You also need to re-establish the rule that all Potters need to get a scan before marrying. It has fallen to the wayside."

"Oh, okay. I didn't know."

"Speak to Grobhook. He is investigating the Potter accounts at this moment. We had been wondering about them and because you came in via the backdoor, we can look at your finances and how they are handled now."

"Yes. Someone had bled them nearly dry by the time I turned twenty-one," Harry kept quiet about his standing with Gringotts in the "lost future", as the goblin had so aptly named it. It hadn't been very good.

The goblin-healer barked something in gobbledygook. Harry knew he was cussing quite badly. Having learned some from Bill in his future. Lost future. LF. Yeah, let's call it LF, Harry decided.

"You will grow during the next couple of months. Eat enough. Not like a Muggle. Like a wizard."

Harry nodded, he had learned that magic needed quite a lot of fuel and good, filling food. No wonder the Hogwarts elves cooked as plentiful as they did. "So, eat lots and come to you for healing. Anything else?" he asked.

"No, that is it for now. You go back to Grobhook now. A guard will bring you. Here take this with you. It's your scan results."

Harry took the roll of parchment and said, "Thanks, Healer… would you tell me your name?"

"It is Healer Yordam. Some of the humans call me Healer Yoda for some reason. You can call me that as well if you want."

Harry bit the insides of his cheeks and nodded wide-eyed, squeaking a "Thanks!"

The goblin laughed his barking cackles, and Harry was led back to Manager Grobhook's cubicle.

Gringotts 2 – Horcruxes and Money

After Harry had settled in his chair again, the goblin behind the desk looked at Harry and said, "Much better."

"Yes, definitely. Thanks for arranging this. Before we start, could you re-establish the rule that any Potter about to marry needs to have a health-scan first? Especially for love potions?"

"Yes, I will do that. The other Potter family rules can be looked over later. We have many matters of more immediate concern to address. Tell me, did you solely come because of the Horcrux in your scar?"

"No. That was just the absolute first thing I wanted to be taken care of."

"Understandable. What else?"

"I need the trace removed off my person and wand."

"Already done, we removed a lot. I will tell you later."

"Oh? Great. From my wand as well?"

"I believe so. Show it to me, to make sure."

Harry opened the messenger bag he had carried everywhere he had gone to today, took out his wand, and held it out to Grobhook.

"Put it on my desk."

Harry did so, and it glowed for a few seconds after Grobhook had held his long-fingered hands over the wand for a minute.

The goblin removed his hands and said, "The trace is now fully removed. Don't tell anyone Gringotts did this. We only could do so because of your special circumstances."

"Thanks, I will keep mum about it. It is quite necessary to make sure it is gone as the Ministry is looking to hamstring me. An expulsion from Hogwarts and the breaking of this wand would be right up their alley right now," Harry took his trusted wand back and re-packed it, being careful not to cast any spells at Gringotts. He added, "well, as that is taken care of, the next point of order would be to inform you that there is another Horcrux in a vault of your bank"

Half an hour later, Grobhook had sent a phalanx of goblins to collect Hufflepuff's Cup from the Lestrange vault, ordered a copy to be made and placed in the vault, and had the original cleansed and put into Harry's family vault (with the costs for the copy extracted).

Meanwhile, Harry had been tasked to write down anything else he knew about any Horcruxes he knew about, which he did. Spending most of his time writing about the Gaunt family ring and Nagini. He ended his recollection with a list of all of Riddle's Horcruxes that he had written about:

Diary – destroyed
Hufflepuff's Cup – destroyed
Scar – destroyed
Slytherin's Locket – Harry
Ravenclaw's Diadem – Harry
Gaunt Ring – Gringotts?
Riddle's Snake Nagini – Gringotts?

When Grobhook returned, he read through Harry's writings and nodded, "Gringotts will handle the last two. The first should be easy, and the snake could meet its end at the Department of Mysteries if it is sent to investigate there, shortly before Yule at the latest. We can make it look like an accident or a defence by the DoM with no one the wiser. We will look for her before that at Malfoy Manor as well."

"That would be perfect. Riddle doesn't do anything obviously bad before Yule. At least he didn't in my LF."

"LF?"

"Lost future."

"Ah. Things will change now. They always do. No reason to try to keep things happening as expected. Some tiny thing differs and a whole event changes so much, it becomes unrecognisable."

Harry nodded, "At least he cannot make any more Horcruxes. At least that's what Hermione Granger in my LF concluded."

"Was the diary his first?"

"We thought so."

"Then it makes sense. More than six shouldn't have been possible. Only because exactly half of his soul had been destroyed had he been able to make one more, would be my guess."

"Yes! That's what she said, just in many more words. – Now, I can get the other two within one month, I think. Do I need to bring them here or could I do something else?"

"Like what?"

"I always wanted to try casting an Avada Kedavra on a Horcrux and see if it worked in my later LF."

"Ha! That is the quick-and-dirty way to handle a Horcrux. Ask any curse breaker working in Egypt."

"Fu…," Harry coughed, "So, Bill Weasley would have known if we had just asked him?"

"Most certainly. He had a run-in with a Horcrux at a dig site on his first day in Egypt not long ago."

Harry gritted his teeth but then took a deep breath. That future was gone and only real in his memories. He started to wonder, "How come you don't want to know any hints about what the future will bring? Financially, I mean. You must be dabbling in the Muggle stock market."

"We are. But we learned the hard way not to depend on such knowledge."

"I see. Hm. You are right. But if you decide to invest my money, do place some in IT companies, like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Just a conservative amount. Would that be possible?"

"Yes. Was this all on your side?"

"I don't know. The most urgent matters are addressed and I haven't really come to terms with my arrival here, but I think I need advice about my godfather Sirius Black."

"The escaped convict?"

"You see, that is the problem. He never was convicted. He is innocent and the truth would have emerged at his trial. Now my question would be, can Gringotts do anything about it? But be warned, the Minister will fight it. His reputation hinges on this whole case. He was the Hit Wizard who arrested Sirius and he built his whole campaign around that fact. Well, he wasn't really a Hit Wizard. Only a temporary one, I think. Due to the dark times back then. They needed all hands on deck," Harry rambled wanting the goblin to understand.

Manager Grobhook nodded thoughtfully, "We wondered about Sirius Black's incarceration. But as neither his Head of Family nor the Leader of his resistance group protested, we let it go. Human politics don't interest us much."

Harry nodded agreeably, "I thought so."

"But we certainly can do something. You just need to hire us. We will request the records of Lord Black's trial and conviction and see what happens. We can sue the Ministry for quite some money if they don't comply. It's in our treaties that Gringotts gets the documentation of any criminal conviction of our clients. We did for all the other criminals, as far as I know."

"Good idea. Madame Bones – the current head of the DMLE – was supposed to be impartial. But she did play the game, too. Hm, she was known to be fair and honest. Feel yourself hired for the standard fee."

"Very well. We will see to it. It will come to her desk. Sign this."

Harry did and then said, "Thanks. Let's see what happens. Fair warning, I have the feeling that the Minister isn't alone in wanting Sirius on the run."

"Who else?"

"Albus Dumbledore. But I don't have any proof."

"That man might have a good reason for wanting your magical guardian in conflict with the law. He is the one bleeding you dry."

"F… right. Can you stop it?"

"Yes."

"Please do. Could you leave me out of it, though? Maybe an audit and inventory, the Potters do every 100 years?"

Manager Grobhook cackled and said, "I like the way you think. Yes, we can do that. Maybe make it a Potter rule? Then it wouldn't even be a lie. We just don't say how old the rule is."

"Perfect! But please document everything and recover any money you can. I hate cheaters and thieves!"

"As do we."

"How is it even possible that he was able to do so?"

Manager Grobhook bared his teeth and snarled, "My nephew, Griphook, betrayed his family, you, and Gringotts. He is in goblin custody and will face trial as soon as we have all the facts.

Harry winced; he knew Griphook from his first visit to Gringotts and later in the LF.

"He was my account manager?"

"Yes, that honour was his until recently. The Hook family always was the Potter family's financial advisor. It is a great dishonour to find a traitor in our midst. If you want another family to take over, we will not fight you."

Harry nodded and looked at the goblin in front of him for a while. That admission and offer couldn't have been an easy one to make. He then asked, "For how long has your family worked with mine? And how often did such a thing happen?"

"1678 years, and this was the first time. There were two mediocre managers, but they were replaced quickly and found professions better suited for them."

Harry's eyes bulged, "Whoa! That's a long time! I wish to keep working with the Hook family for now. Let's revisit this in, let's say, ten years."

"Good. I agree. At that time, you will know if we handled the problem to your satisfaction."

Harry nodded and said, "Do I want to know how much he stole?"

"We need to look at the ongoing withdrawals first, I would say. Here is a list."

Harry took the parchment and swore internally.

500 Galleons per month to magical guardian Albus Dumbledore, since 1981-12-1 – 82.500 g
250 Galleons per month to Muggle guardian Petunia Dursley, since 1981-12-1 – 41.250 g
50 Galleons per month to Molly Weasley (future mother-in-law), since 1991-10-1 – 2.300 g
250 Galleons per month to Order of the Phoenix (Safety of H.J.P.), since 1995-7-1 – 500 g

= 126.550 Galleons by 1995-8-1

Harry couldn't believe his eyes, "This is nuts. This is fucking nuts. I don't know where to even start!"

"I'll ask. Did you know Albus Dumbledore named himself your magical guardian?"

"No."

"Did you receive any care that would warrant his monthly stipend?"

"Not to my knowledge, no." Harry fell into the mindset of getting interrogated. It helped him not to explode.

"Did you ever receive anything from Albus Dumbledore? Money, presents, instructions for example?"

"He gave me my father's invisibility cloak, in Yule 1991."

"Nothing else?"

"No."

"Would you say the 82.500 Galleons were reasonable for covering your care since December 1981?"

"Absolutely not."

"Moving on to the next point. You lived with the family of Petunia Dursley after the death of your parents?"

"Yes."

"Did you receive the necessary care they got the monthly stipend for?"

"No."

There was a slight pause and then, "Please elaborate."

"Well, regarding housing, they made me sleep in the cupboard under their stairs 'till the age of 11. Afterwards I was moved to Dudley's second bedroom that they furnished from things bought at a charity shop. Aunt Petunia bragged that they had spent less than 20£ on me that day. I never got anything else in terms of accommodations. Regarding my care, I was fed very little. Much too little for even a Muggle child. Maybe worth 15 – 20£ per month? I don't know."

"So less than 500£ overall? Please go on."

"Well, I never received any new clothing, and all medical stuff was taken care of by the NHS, like my glasses."

"The clothing you received were hand-me-downs?"

"Correct. Even shoes and underwear."

"Can you think of anything else?"

"I got some lunch money when I was in primary school. Well, Dudley did. That's my fat cousin, who never shared the money with me."

"Did your guardians know?"

"Not officially, but Uncle Vernon always winked at Dudley when he handed him the money. And they could have applied for money from the state, I guess. Not sure about it. But what would the neighbours say?"

"Did they receive money from the state for your care?"

"I don't know, doesn't everyone? Or just the oldest child? I'm not sure."

"Did child services ever visit your home?"

"No. The first school nurse told me she would call them, but soon after, she got transferred to another school. And the new one didn't care. She was very spaced out. Anyway, I wanted to add that I did earn my keep there. With cooking, cleaning, gardening, and any other housekeeping task they could think of."

Harry was asked to elaborate on many details about his tasks at the Dursleys and about Dudley's non-existent ones. He got the impression Grobhook would add the value of Harry's labour to the amount of money they had received when he made hismove against the Dursleys.

Harry felt rather vindictive about all of it. Poor Diddy-poo wouldn't get spoiled as much in the future. Even if his cousin and he had come to some kind of understanding in the LF, Harry still felt rather salty about the treatment he received at the hands of all three of the Dursleys. And who knew how Dudley would turn out, now that he might not have an encounter with the Dementors. That experience had been a turning point for Harry's cousin. Hm…

"We will thoroughly investigate this. But let's move on for now. Molly Weasley received 50 Galleons per month, 2300 in total. Did you know about this?"

"No."

"Are you betrothed to her daughter Ginny Weasley?"

"Whoa! No! Not that I know of."

"Gringotts has no documentation about this, either. Your parents didn't sign any marriage contacts, this is certain."

"That is a relief. So, it was Dumbledore?"

"That would be my guess, but we don't know."

"Is it legal?"

"No. Only your legal magical guardian could have signed a contract and you would need to agree."

"A Potter rule?"

"Indeed."

"So far I like my family's rules."

"They are quite sensible. So, Molly Weasley has no claim to your money?"

"Not as a future mother-in-law. I lived with them for a few weeks in the summers of… uhm… 1992 and 1994, I think. They took me in and fed me. So, I don't begrudge them taking that money too much, to be honest. At that time, they were very decent to me. Even if neither Molly nor Arthur Weasley did anything about my living conditions at the Dursleys, now that I think of it. Dumbledore was probably telling them that I exaggerated," Harry scowled.

Manager Grobhook nodded and said, "The newest monthly payment is to the Order of the Phoenix. It started last month. Do you know what they mean about the safety concerns?"

"Yes. Dumbledore has multiple people watching the Dursley house to make sure I don't get attacked or disappear. I learned that in my LF, but it is happening right now."

The goblin grinned toothily, "Didn't you say Dumbledore returned your father's invisibility cloak?"

"He did," Harry grinned back.

"Did anyone inform you of the guard?"

"No. As I said, I learned about it later in the LF."

"So, no one asked you to pay for your security?"

"No. But the Ministry did send two Dementors after me, but the guard had disappeared to do some business at that time."

"When did that happen in your LF?"

"Either tomorrow or the day after I think."

"We will guard the neighbourhood."

"For a small fee?"

"One Knut only. We do this as reparation to compensate for the damage done to your vaults by our family. Taking care of the Horcruxes was and will be part of it as well."

Harry looked at the goblin and nodded seriously, "I accept." It would help to balance the power dynamic between them. They needed to become equals, but with the current situation the Hook family was beholden to Harry, and that would not do him any favours in the long run.

"I better stay home tomorrow and the day after, anyway. The wards should keep me safe. – Right, the wards. Could you please have someone check them? I was told they are blood wards or something like that and that I need to call that house my home and stay there for about a month each year for them to work, but I never found any reference to them even in the Black Library. Anyway, Tom Riddle a.k.a. Lord Voldemort took my blood during his resurrection ritual, so I doubt the protection works, and Dumbledore knows it. Why else would he guard me now?"

"We will examine any ward on the property. I also want to know what those so-called blood wards are. Now, back to the monthly payments. How do you want to proceed?"

"The payments for this month have just gone out already, right?"

"Yes, today. It is August 1st."

"Hm, to distance my person from any suspicion, it would be best if the monthly payments stop in … no. If they stopped in September, it still could have been me to stop them. And I don't want you to pay even more money after this month. Okay, to keep the peace this summer, stop the payments for the first of September and leave the ones for this month. I want them all stopped for September. But only the ones to Dumbledore and the Dursleys returned to my coffers. The ones to Molly and the Order can be written off. That way, I will not feel beholden to her or the Order in the future."

"Good. We will start the audits today. Should we recall anything that was taken from the Potter family without consent?"

"You can do that? Then yes! But please do that in September, after I am back at Hogwarts."

"We need your authorization to do so. Here is the form, but be warned, it needs to be signed with a Black Quill in blood. Do you know of these highly regulated artefacts?"

"Oh, yes. I encountered them in the LF. Dolores Umbridge had some students at Hogwarts write with them during detention."

The goblin gaped at Harry.

Harry had never seen such a sight.

"The Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic had children use a Black Quill for detention? This is beyond the pale. We will investigate her at once. Even the possession of such a device outside of Gringotts is forbidden! That is a serious breach of the treaties!"

"Do tell Fudge that if he tries to interfere, but please don't go and rebel, okay? Not with Riddle still at large."

"We will see," Grobhook growled.

"But taking her out wouldn't be bad, I guess. She is the one who authorised the Dementors to attack me in the LF."

Grobhook narrowed his eyes dangerously and then nodded, "We will thoroughly investigate her."

Harry grinned quite viciously, "It couldn't happen to anyone more deserving."

Grobhook grinned back just as nastily and then returned to the matters at hand, "Very well. We can even say the request for Sirius Black's trial records is due to an audit we are conducting just now. We don't have to tell which client we are auditing."

Harry nodded, "That fits the narrative. Sirius is my legal magical guardian, after all. It would be negligent not to have the complete parchment work regarding a minor client of a family Gringotts had very long-term dealings with."

"It would and was."

Harry nodded, "Now, I believe there is much parchment work to sign?"

"Oh yes," the goblin grinned toothily, pushing his heartache to the back of his mind to deal with it later. The Hook clan had always been so proud to be trusted by the Potter family and were normally very loyal to this client.

Harry signed many forms. The first one made Grobhook the account manager for his estate for the next decade. The next one was the authorization to recall all of his family's unlawfully taken things. Another was the re-implementation and amendments to the Potter family rules. Harry then commissioned Gringotts to check his wards and keep his neighbourhood free of Dementors officially. They also set up a contract for Gringotts to hunt and destroy Horcruxes for Harry. Namely the Gaunt ring and Nagini, but more if the need arose. Harry thought that would help if the prophecy was legit.

Harry stretched and said, "I think we need to call it a day. Or my disappearance will surely get noticed. At least I can Apparate to a close-by spot, now. But, should my disappearance today have been discovered they will try to take my cloak and I can't let that happen. Hm, do you have any bag or satchel for me that cannot be taken or opened by anyone but me? Like a mokeskin bag?"

"Yes. We have the Gringotts wallets. They are nearly bottomless. They always return to their owner and can only be opened by them. If cursed objects are put inside, they cannot influence the outside, anymore. If more than one object is in it, there will be no interference with one another. You can even put a Horcrux inside without any negative repercussions. At least with the more expensive kind. We have one version, which looks like a plain, black Muggle wallet without any identifier like a Gringotts' emblem and it has the extensive enchantments. It can even be used as a wallet for Muggle money. But that money can get stolen, so my suggestion would be to only put some coins into it. Interested?"

"Definitely."

"Anything else?"

"An invisible wand holster?"

"There might be some in your vault, but Gringotts doesn't sell those."

"Understandable. Well, I could put the wand into the wallet when I am close to the house and there is any commotion."

Harry got the wallet, which he was handed immediately, and repacked his things.

"Please read the scroll Healer Yordam gave you. We didn't talk about the scan results as of yet and you need to know."

"I think I know most of it, but better make sure."

"Right, your lost future."

"Exactly. I might come by on the fourth of August. Would that be okay for you?"

"Certainly. Maybe we'll know more about the wards and the Dementors then. Just ask for me in the Backdoor Entrance Hall while still under the cloak. I will come and get you."

"Thank you. Good day, Account Manager Grobhook."

Back to Surrey

Harry changed his glasses to plain window glass, put them on his nose, and Apparated to Little Whinging under his cloak. Luckily, he was powerful enough to do that without making nearly any noise.

He cast a silencing and notice-me-not on his person and walked up to Privet Drive.

Harry stopped in front of No. 2 and listened for a moment.

All was quiet.

Harry studied the surrounding area, looking for the best places for a stakeout.

In a small patch of grass was a dent in the vegetation the size of a human butt and two smaller ones in front. It was quite obvious someone was sitting there, maybe cross-legged. Well, it wasn't Moody, that was for sure. Probably Tonks. Or Remus...

Sloppy, he thought, and tried not to let his sadness for the death of the couple in the LF distract him. It then hit him that he had also forgotten about Teddy in all the surprising events today. Would he come to exist in this timeline? Harry hoped so but determinedly turned his attention back to the Dursley home. Now was not the time to mourn his LF.

He cast some detection spells and found a few common wards against magical enemies and creatures but not magical beings, like house-elves. There also was a detection enchantment reporting to its caster if magic had been cast within the house and by whom. There was no exception woven in for Harry. So, the caster knew of every time Harry performed any magic within. Damn, that wouldn't do.

The next enchantment told the caster about Harry's health status.

Fuck. Someone knew about Harry's life there and hadn't interfered. That made them an enemy in his mind. He just hoped the goblins would discover the identity of the caster. He had a good idea but needed to be sure. But right now, these enchantments wouldn't do. Harry was much healthier now, which would raise some questions. And he certainly wanted to use magic.

Another enchantment was covering the whole neighbourhood. It was set to make the Muggles ignore Harry's condition, appearance, and treatment by the Dursleys and increase distrust and dislike of him.

Shit, I never had a chance! This explains so much, Harry thought but pushed the anger and grief for his lost childhood away for now too. Now is not the time, he told himself, and put his mind to the other two enchantments. The monitors for magic and his health.

Luckily, he knew of a very obscure and undetectable charm that put any unwanted enchantment on a person's home into stasis without alerting the caster. Harry had found it in the Black Library in his LF and had looked it up quietly at the Ministry. It was not illegal but labelled Dark and was therefore frowned upon. Luckily it could only be cast by someone living at the house, or it would have made any ward obsolete.

Harry cast it and sighed in relief.

What he hadn't found were any blood-related wards. Well, maybe the goblins were more successful. Or the healing Harry had received broke them? But then, there would be much more activity around the house now as Dumbledore certainly would have known about it, right?

Well, nothing to it, he thought and walked to the back and snuck into the empty kitchen, where Harry took off the cloak and looked around.

The note on the table was gone and Harry wondered where everyone was.

Maybe they went to eat at a restaurant because their in-house cook was gone?

It wasn't as if Aunt Petunia couldn't cook, but he knew she didn't like to. As for Harry, he didn't mind cooking at all. He just liked to eat the meals he had prepared, afterwards.

Maybe they could reach a compromise, he thought while he took out some food and prepared a healthy and plentiful dinner for himself alone.

He did it without magic, the familiar tasks soothing his busy and whirling mind.

I need to meditate, he thought, or my head will explode. And amp up my Occlumency skills; Dumbledore and Riddle are masters in Legilimency, after all.

He thought, if it was up to me, I would hide for a year and work on coming to terms with being thrust into the past right before it got really ugly. But I need to hit the ground running. Like always. And I need to familiarise myself with the fact that I will meet many dead people.

"Fuck."

If Harry didn't come in contact with the Dementors, would Dumbledore even have the Order get him in about a week? Or was he to rot at the Dursleys for the whole summer?

But Harry wanted to avoid that encounter, even if it was unclear what the toad would try then, and Dudley wouldn't get shocked into becoming a decent human being.

And Dumbledore usually "rewarded" Harry with at least two weeks at the Burrow, so they probably would get Harry in a few weeks.

Which was for the best, wasn't it? A couple of weeks to come to terms with the unexpected turn of events was better than nothing.

Another thought hit him. He would not only meet the people who died in his LF but also the ones that had been alive. Like Molly, Ron, and Ginny. And Hermione. That was another loaded gun to go off.

"Bugger!"

Maybe he could do as before and be angry at them, but not forgive them like last time?

Harry nodded to himself, cleaned the kitchen quickly, and went up to his room.

He opened the window wide, hoping that some of the heat that had accumulated in his room would… "Am I a wizard or what?" Harry huffed and cast a cooling charm onto his ceiling. It would hold for a while.

Quickly, the temperature in the room was much more comfortable and Harry sighed in relief.

Ok. The first order of business was safety.

Harry cast a rather ingenious spell onto his body that would turn his skin iron-hard for the moment when hit with malicious intent, regardless of the blood status of the one doing the punching. Muggle, Pure-blood, or even house-elf (not that they ever would).

He might carry a wand, but the Dursleys were three against one and they had absolutely no qualms to injure another human being as he had learned.

When he read about this spell Harry immediately thought of the Dursleys back in the LF. It was a spell that needed time to be cast, so it was only useful if a physical altercation could be predicted to possibly happen during the next twelve hours.

Harry would need to recast the spell every morning and evening as long as he stayed at the Dursley abode, he decided.

He then took off his glasses and studied them. They could come in handy. Maybe a permanent human revealing Spell? At least, as long as he was at Privet Drive?

He nodded and cast the spell on the glasses.

He had the suspicion that Dumbledore had that spell in his glasses too. Or maybe a mage-sight enchantment?

Harry huffed and dispelled the spell he had just cast and practised a little, so only the lower third of his glasses would show any magic in his vicinity. That way, he just would push the glasses up, tilt his head back a little, and would see all the magic surrounding him. He now was very glad to not have basked in his fame, as Ron had, but had actually learned all the stuff expected at his Auror training and more.

Let's test it, he decided and went to Dudley's room and looked out of the window. He didn't try to hide. Let the Order see him, that would assure them that he had been at his home for the day.

Ah, there was a blob of high magical density sitting cross-legged on the ground and the person was... reading?

Huh? Must be one of the women. It looked like Tonks. And she hadn't even noticed him!

Harry laughed and turned to go back to his room, but his eyes caught sight of Dudley's old plushie through his pushed-up glasses.

It glowed with magic!

A few detection spells later and Harry cursed loudly, "Fucking manipulative arsehole!"

He so wanted to blast that horrible bear apart but caught himself and instead cast a duplication charm.

He magically transferred the scent of the original bear to the copy and packed the original one into his wallet. Magic was amazing! Even if the opening of the wallet was much too small, the teddy fit in easily.

Harry decided to check the rest of the house and found some more items personalised to each of the Dursleys to negatively influence their feelings about Harry. Even Marge had one. A small porcelain dog sitting innocently on a shelf in the rather floral guestroom.

Harry duplicated all the items he had found and exchanged them. Gringotts could investigate and record. Harry was much too angry about the whole thing to rationally do anything else.

He wondered how quickly the Dursleys would change. Or if they would at all. Their behaviour had to be ingrained by now. But that Dudley had changed even with that plushie next to his bed after the Dementor attack... That spoke for the teen. And he had a chance to slim down a little, now. The enchantments hadn't given Dudley one, before.

Harry went back into his room and sank onto the old rug into his meditation pose and closed his eyes. For the next ten minutes, he just breathed – in and out – trying to calm his mind.

He started meditating on his and his cousin's lost childhood. At least his personality hadn't been changed so fundamentally, but Dudley needed to learn who he was once again now. Harry just hoped it wasn't too late.

The enchanted items had made his relatives into caricatures of themselves and had deprived Petunia of the possibility of getting pregnant again.

The caster probably thought they were just Muggles and irrelevant and forgot all about them as soon as he saw that his fucking plan had worked. Damn. – In and out – Harry tried to calm his breathing once more.

After half an hour he had relaxed enough to start sorting his memories methodically. And felt much more like himself after. His mind was used to all of this, but his physical brain wasn't, so it took longer than it normally did.

Just when he had finished, he heard the Dursley's car doors slam shut and waited until they were in the living room and Petunia had time to close both sets of her curtains.

Slowly he walked down the stairs and into the living room with his wand out.

"Boy! Where were you? You can't just leave! And put that stick away!" Uncle Vernon bellowed.

Harry, who had cast a silent Muffliato answered calmly, "I was out. And I won't put my wand away, I don't feel safe around you."

Vernon laboriously hauled himself out of his armchair and walked menacingly toward Harry. Dudley was watching gleefully and obviously waited for Harry to get beaten to a pulp. But he didn't get his wish. When Vernon swung his meaty fist to bash it into Harry's stomach, he got a surprise.

Harry was not the one howling in pain. No, it was his uncle. Vernon fell to his knees and clutched his hand to his stomach while cursing quite badly.

Dudley came thundering towards Harry and tried the same. Soon the two of them were kneeling in front of Harry and cradling their right hands while Aunt Petunia was screeching in the background.

Harry looked coolly at her and asked, "What? No frying pan?" which shocked her into silence.

"Boy, you cannot do magic in our home. Your kind doesn't allow it," Vernon gritted out.

"Well, that has changed. I can do magic now," Harry answered and waved his wand over Dudley's hand, healing it.

Dudley didn't seem to know how to react. Hit Harry again? Thank him? Cover his fat bottom? He went with sitting on the floor and staring at his hand.

Meanwhile, Harry waved the wand over his uncle's hand and said, "This is the final warning. I will not heal your hands again.

Uncle Vernon nodded dumbly. Hitting the freak had been his only way to keep him reigned in. He was very afraid of what was to come now.

"Could we all take a seat and talk for a moment?" Harry asked.

The Dursleys exchanged looks but it seemed they saw no other option but to comply.

Soon all sat at their usual seats with Harry in the one for guests. Petunia huffed but kept quiet.

"I would like to spend the rest of this summer in peace for as long as I have to stay here. My guess is I will be allowed to leave in about two weeks at the latest. I will not do any more menial tasks. I did my share for the summer, I think. And don't tell me how much I cost you or I will contact child services and tell them about my time here, understood?"

Petunia growled and Vernon blustered, "Now listen to me, boy–"

But Harry went on talking, "I don't care what you have to say. I will get enough food for a magical child during that time."

"And I have to cook it?" Petunia sneered.

Harry tilted his head to the side and said thoughtfully, "I like cooking dinner. What would you say we share cooking duties as long as I am here? You do breakfast and lunch, and I will make dinner. I can even eat in my room if you want me to. I don't mind. I am not part of this family, anyway."

"Agreed!" Petunia said quickly.

Vernon looked rather unhappy about it but said nothing and Dudley just watched the changed power dynamics with a stupid look on his face.

"Very well, then I wish you good night. And don't bother to enter my room. I warded it against you," Harry bluffed and jumped up to leave and go back to his room.

Once there, he did ward the room for the night, charmed the mattress to be less lumpy and more comfortable, and went to bed.

Demented?

The next day went rather quietly. The Dursleys left Harry alone and he spent the hot summer day in his cool room, doing his summer homework.

Luckily his handwriting hadn't changed much over time, but he did some writing exercises to explain the small improvements he had made and now that the bones in his right hand had been reset and healed too, his writing had a chance to get better.

The homework itself was laughingly easy and Harry had to force himself to dumb it down. He even read a few of his old homework assignments to get a feeling for his level of knowledge and intelligence at that time. He would need to slowly increase his learning curve, or Dumbledore would smell the rat and recast the enchantments he had on Harry.

He also studied the parchment with the scans Healer Yoda had done. There was the same stuff he had known about.

Recklessness
Decreased intellect
Lowered mind barriers

But also

Low-level love potions keyed to Ginny
Loyalty potions keyed to Dumbledore, the Weasleys, and Gryffindor
Hatred-increasing potions keyed to Snape and Slytherin

Well, shit. So, they had used even more personality-changing means than he had known about. The potions must have left his system when he got checked during his Auror training in the LF. Or whoever kept dosing him made sure he was clean of any potions for the scan but didn't know about the enchantments on his person? What astounded him was that they had started with the love potions this early. He hadn't felt a thing for her at that time, had he? For him, it started in his sixth year. They probably had gotten frustrated and amped up the dose, Harry thought scowling.

Harry made a note to ask Grobhook about a possible defence against getting potioned against his will.

But wait, hadn't there been a ring in his vaults that did exactly that and Ron had discouraged Harry to use it?

"Damn!"

Maybe he needed some kind of decoy enchantments that read like he was still under their control? Also, he wanted the goblin to wait with going after the Dursleys until they had a chance to adjust to the personality-altering influence being gone after he had gotten rid of them and see what happened first.

He also read the Prophet and scoffed at the obvious digs at him. That paper needed a readjustment for fuck's sake. Maybe he could task Sirius with developing something. That man was brilliant. If he sold it as a prank… hm.

Harry looked at his newly repaired alarm clock and decided to start cooking dinner.

In the kitchen, the first thing he did was cast the cooling charm at the ceiling and then he started cooking up a storm.

The result and the cool kitchen were greatly appreciated when he put the food-filled bowls and platter on the table. He wordlessly took his very full plate up to his room and enjoyed it with gusto. Since Healer Yoda had healed him, Harry's stomach seemed to be a bottomless pit.

After he had finished, he returned his plate and served the pudding from which he took some for himself as well and left again. The Dursleys ignored him.

While he cleaned his trunk he idly wondered if the Dementors had been apprehended already but soon returned his mind to the task at hand. Damn, how much waste can one teenager collect? Harry vanished the heap of broken quills, single socks, and quite a bit of other rubbish, cast a cleaning charm on his empty trunk, and started repacking it manually. Taking every item he owned into his hands and deciding if he still would need it or if it could be chucked. He kept one set of Dudley's castoffs and started to transfigure the rest into more fitting clothes and changed all their colour to black. In the end, he applied the enchantment that would make the changes permanent and not dispellable by anyone but him.

Let's go through a goth phase now, he decided. I am fifteen years old, so it's expected.

Maybe I should get an earring and a tattoo, he thought and sniggered at the vision of the look on Molly Weasley's face that popped into his mind.

The next day went like the day before. Homework, Prophet, meditation, and dinner.

No Dementors showed up and the Dursleys spent most of their day in the cool kitchen until Dudley broke and asked Harry if he could magic the rest of the house cool, too. Harry agreed at once and told his relatives that he wouldn't be there tomorrow, but he would return in time to cook dinner.

Gringotts 3

On August 4th, Harry returned to Gringotts as planned. He Apparated under his cloak once more when he saw that Tonks had a shift again and had walked the appropriate distance to keep the noise of his departure hidden. So far, he had identified Tonks, Fletcher, Arthur Weasley, and Diggle on guard duty. And Mrs Figg walked by quite often too. But they weren't really on the lookout. Tonks read, Fletcher slept or disappeared for hours, Arthur wandered off to look at Muggle things, and Diggle napped or read, like Tonks.

Harry stood in the backdoor entrance hall of the bank and said into thin air, "I would like to see my Account Manager Grobhook," and was immediately led to a new office deep inside the bank.

He was quite amazed they let him wear the cloak in their hallways. That showed much more trust than he had ever earned in the LF with the goblins.

After the door had closed behind him, he took off his disguise and said, "Good day, Account Manager Grobhook, I hope you are well."

"So-so. Sit. There is much to discuss. I will start."

"Please."

"First off, the Dementors came to Little Whinging in search of Harry Potter in the evening two days ago. We managed to communicate with them and got it on record that they had been sent by Dolores Umbridge to eliminate you. Or at least make you defend yourself magically.

"We documented this and then sent an emergency note to Bones, who took care of the Dementors quickly. Efficient woman, that. We handed a copy of our documentation to her and told her of our suspicion that the woman had some Black Quills in direct violation of the treaties.

"We got permission to search Umbridge's home, while Bones searched Umbridge's office. The Head of the DMLE agreed to keep quiet about the Dementors for the time being, because your location should stay secret, as Umbridge's deeds proved quite clearly."

"Good thinking."

"The Undersecretary had three Black Quills at her home, and she tried to murder one of us, so she will stand trial at Gringotts and not the Wizengamot."

"I couldn't think of anyone more suited to receive your kind of justice."

Grobhook barked a laugh and answered, "Yes. We told Bones she certainly could talk about the quills and the treaties."

"Perfect."

"Next are the wards on your relatives' property. There were the more common ones against enemies and creatures and some uncommon ones keyed to you."

"Alerts about me casting magic and my health, as well as an area-wide enchantment covering the whole neighbourhood, to turn a blind eye to my plight but increased distrust and dislike of me?"

"Those. You found them."

"I did. But not who cast them."

"Albus Dumbledore. We have found and documented his magical signature."

Harry nodded. Who else? But it still was harrowing to learn. The enchantments on his body had been done with more stealth and the signature had been masked. "I did put the health and magic alerts in stasis."

"We saw. You would have been discovered quickly otherwise."

"Yes. I thought that the stasis spell was undetectable."

"Not for Gringotts."

"Ah. But it is for wizards."

"Indeed."

"And the so-called blood wards?"

"There are none. We found some attempts to set something like that up keyed to the protective magic cast by your mother, but it never worked as intended and failed completely a couple of months ago. It's an active enchantment and needs to be powered by magical residue close by. Your aunt and cousin aren't enough to power this non-working ward. There is an alert keyed to the magical levels of this non-working enchantment. That might be why you have to return once a year."

"Does he know it is broken?"

"If he didn't check on it personally, no. The alert wasn't affected. It only measures its magic level, not its state of functionality."

"Typical. He is sure he couldn't have failed in casting it."

"That was our conclusion. But it doesn't harm you, as it is powered by the ambient magic you shed."

"Now I feel like a cat shedding hair."

"You said it."

Harry sniggered and said, "So, we leave all of them? Or would it be possible to at least dampen the area-affecting one? Or is it keyed to alert him, as well?"

"No, it isn't. We could slowly erode it so no one would be any the wiser and think it just faded in time."

"Good idea, please do that."

"We will. By next summer it will be gone."

"Perfect. I have something to add before we go on with the rest. I found four personalised items keyed to each one of the Dursleys," Harry told the goblin and went on to explain what he had done to hide his 'theft'.

Soon, a teddy bear, an antique hairbrush of his grandmother, an old Smelting stick, and a porcelain dog sat on Grobhook's desk.

"We will examine these items and report back to you."

Harry nodded, "Thanks. Please extract the fee for it from my vault."

"I will do so."

"And maybe treat the Dursleys according to your findings. They shouldn't keep the money they got, but I don't want them ruined if they couldn't have helped themselves but had to be the worst versions of themselves that they could be."

"Understood. But we still go after Dumbledore?"

"Head on. I want him and his reputation ruined," Harry said with emphasis.

"Very good. The audit of your vaults and holdings is still ongoing. Your investments are in shambles and Dumbledore is using your properties to house his cronies free of charge."

"That's why they were so run down? Fuck. Evict them when the summer is over."

"We will. And we will ask for compensation."

"Good. And if they say Albus as my magical guardian allowed it, ask for the legal documentation."

"With pleasure. They are squatters, nothing else."

"Oh, but if children are involved, handle it more humanely. The Potter rules probably contain something like this, or we will establish a new one."

"No children."

"That's a relief. Hm, I should establish a foundation or something that helps children who live in poverty…"

"There was one. The Peverell Foundation. Dumbledore stopped it. It will get reinstated as soon as the audit is done. Next week at the latest."

"Unbelievable! He, the headmaster of the most prestigious school in Britain, stopped a foundation helping poor children? That is disgusting! Please calculate any back payments and help those kids. Even the ones that are grown-ups now. But make sure the parents can't squander the money away if they are so inclined."

"We will. This will be good for our economy."

"But why is it called that and not Potter Foundation?"

"Would you want to go to school with children that feel they need to be grateful because you essentially pay for their education?"

"Whoa, no! Good point."

"Your forefathers thought so. And the Peverells did marry into the Potter line and are extinct."

"Right, makes sense. Anyway, all money you collect from Dumbledore's cronies, which is not used to fix up my properties again, can go to that foundation."

"So noted."

"We covered the wards, the Dementors, the audit. Anything else? The Horcruxes?"

"We found the Gaunt Shack yesterday, August 3rd. The information you provided was more than enough. It took us about an hour to enter the hut without disturbing the wards. We then opened the small case sitting under the floorboard, stepped back, and one of our human curse-breakers cast the killing curse on the ring in that case. We left after setting everything back to as it had been with no one the wiser."

"Perfect."

"There have been no sightings of the snake as of yet."

"So, you are staking out Malfoy Manor?"

"We are."

"If Riddle is there, Peter Pettigrew isn't far. He is an Animagus. A common house rat. So, you might want to warn your colleagues of that."

"We will watch out for him. Do you want him caught?"

"Very much so. It would be perfect to catch him alive."

"We will try."

"Is there a goblin way to stop him from transforming?"

"We have iron collars that do that. We can use those for Pettigrew. But only Gringotts can operate those."

"Perfect."

"But we would need a contract for finding, catching, and collaring him."

"Sure, I am the aggrieved party, so that would work. Could you keep my identity secret?"

"Yes."

They wrote up the contract that Harry signed three Xs with a Black Quill to make it legal and assure he actually had been the aggrieved party. Otherwise, the contract wouldn't have been legit, but now it would hold up in court.

"Good. That is done. We sent the request for Sirius Black's trial records and conviction notice to the DMLE but haven't heard back yet. But Bones was made aware to expect them."

"Good. You have been quite busy in the last three days."

"Yes. Gringotts could use the wake-up call. We had a Horcrux in one of our vaults, and we didn't notice. One of our vault managers was embezzling funds with the help of a wizard, and again we didn't notice. You can imagine what these discoveries did to our leaders. Heads will roll. Literally. Keep that information to yourself. We will deny everything."

"Understood," Harry nodded. And he would honour that request. These were internal goblin problems, and he was sure they would establish a failsafe for every issue they had discovered, now. That was all he needed to know.

"Are there any issues you like to take care of today, Mr Potter?"

"Hm, yes. I need to go to the family vault later to look for a ring I remember seeing there, which warns the wearer about potions, and I wanted to look for a wand-holster and get some money. But first I wanted to ask if Gringotts could craft an item or spell that imitates the enchantments I had on my person but that doesn't actually affect me."

Grobhook looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded, "I think we can forge something like that. It will be sent to you tomorrow if you buy a Gringotts mailbox. Or there might be one in the vaults. You should look there first."

Harry nodded, "Very good. Thanks." He didn't care much about the cost. Such an item was necessary and therefore he would buy it. Goblins didn't haggle anyway.

"Would it be possible to commission a trinket that disguises me as a 28-year-old man? Maybe blonde and blue-eyed? Just looking very much unlike myself?"

"Were you that age, at the time you left your lost future?"

"Yes."

"Then yes. But only for you, due to your special circumstances. A loophole in our treaties with the Ministry."

Harry grinned, "Perfect. Then no one will expect it. What about mage sight? Can it detect the artefacts I am wearing?"

"Not if you commission an anti-mage-sight enchantment for them. But fair warning, a magical being with true mage sight can still detect them. Nothing can ward against that. But to our knowledge, there isn't anyone like that at Hogwarts at the moment."

"There might be, I think, but she can be trusted."

Grobhook's eyes shone, "It gladdens me to learn this. We feared that ability to be lost to your kind."

"It isn't. But no one is instructing her, so she interprets things she sees quite strangely. Could Gringotts teach her?" Harry had never thought about the possibility to help Luna with her plight via Gringotts and wondered why she had never come to the attention of the goblins.

"We certainly can and will. We will send an instructor to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Would that work?"

"I think so. I will ask her and come back to you via the mailbox. I just wonder why she never came to your attention in my LF. Why would she avoid you?"

"There are old tales of goblins imprisoning people with this ability. We never did. But some we instructed then gained independence from their head of the family, parents, and spouses and left to work for us. The ones that were left retaliated by spreading rumours. And untaught beings with mage-sight avoid magical sites as best as they can. They try to surround themselves with nature and magical creatures and steer clear of Diagon Alley as a whole."

Harry nodded. This sounded like Luna, "I will ask her."

"Good. Tell her we will send only one goblin and that she is safe with us. The Nargles will assure her of that if she listens."

"She wears a butterbeer cork necklace to ward them off."

"Understandable. They are said to be quite the chatterboxes."

"Huh, okay, we always thought she was just strange. But Nargles do exist? Wow, it must be so strange to see stuff no one else does."

"So my wife tells me. She will probably be the one to instruct your friend."

"Perfect. I will tell her once I have actually met her."

"It must be strange. To know people you haven't met yet."

"Yes. And people who had died in my LF. I am not looking forward to that. And seeing the people who betrayed me. That might be the hardest."

Grobhook nodded and said, "Do you want to go to your family vault now?"

"Yes, please."

"Follow me."

The Vault

One fun ride later, Harry entered the vault and stopped short. There was much more money in it than he remembered. Maybe Gringotts had fined him for the damages they had caused with the dragon? Or Griphook had become much greedier. Or both. But either way, Harry was filthy rich now, it seemed. Being the Potter account manager must be rather prestigious. At least now it was, he mused.

Harry walked to the huge shelves full of jewelery chests and opened the inventory on the stand in front of it. He called for all the rings with enchantments that detected potions in food and drink and quickly found the one he had wanted to take in his LF. It was a plain-looking ring made out of silver or something similar.

"It goes on the right-hand middle finger."

"Appropriate."

"Indeed. It's close to any nourishment taken but doesn't hinder the use of a wand."

"That too."

Grobhook looked a little baffled but let it go, "Wand holsters should be over at those shelves. They do contain miscellaneous items. If the Potters own a mailbox, it should be there as well."

They walked over to the huge shelves at the back of the cave, which were full of strange things and Harry went straight to the inventory again.

He quickly found a holster and put it on right away. It was invisible when worn and warded against disarming and mage-sight and could be personalised so only Harry could use it. It had belonged to his Great-grandfather Charlus Potter in the past, the inventory said. It felt immediately like it belonged on his arm, not like the scratchy Auror-issued one in his LF.

A mailbox was found as well and Harry keyed it to his person with a drop of blood, like the holster, and Grobhook showed him how to link it to his account manager's box.

"How come I can use the items now even if they had been keyed to someone else? Is it because the person is dead?" Harry asked while putting the box into his wallet.

"That, too. But this vault's rules state that items returned to it have to get de-keyed."

"That's a word?"

"It is here."

Harry chuckled and studied the items on the shelves. He wanted to investigate some more, but he didn't have the time, he thought mournfully.

"I would suggest you take the Potter family Grimoire."

"Huh," Harry blinked, he had no idea he owned such a thing.

Grobhook led Harry to a stand even further in the back, but it was empty.

"Someone took it," Harry growled.

"A great crime. It will return when we recall your things in September."

"Good. September will get quite uncomfortable for someone. With the payments stopped, the squatters evicted, and the stolen items gone."

The two grinned evilly at one another.

"Can he even read it?"

"He shouldn't be able to, but who knows."

"Bastard."

"Indeed."

Harry walked to the bookshelves and collected quite a few books and put them into his wallet, "Some light reading. But I better go now."

"After you took some money."

"Huh, right. I forgot for a moment," Harry walked to the piles of money and stuffed quite a bit into his wallet. Into the space reserved for money, to be exact. It wasn't like he dropped everything into it like into a black box. No, there were compartments within, that he could access. He had absolutely no idea how it worked, but it did. He just understood there wasn't a pile of stuff at the bottom to be forgotten about, but a much more orderly system and he became aware of its contents when he opened the wallet.

"Could I exchange some into Muggle currency?"

"Certainly. But there is a chest with current banknotes on this shelf here. No need to pay exchange rates."

"Perfect," Harry opened the box and took out a wad of fifty-pound notes worth 5.000£. "Well, fuck me," he muttered and placed the wad in his wallet after taking one note and putting it into the decoy pocket of it.

Soon they were back in the goblins office and Harry removed the cowl of the cloak he had worn on the way and said, "Well, I think that was it for now. It was great doing business with you again, Account Manager Grobhook."

"And with you, Mr. Potter. A guard will lead you to the backdoor. Have a good day."

"Good day to you, too."

Back at the Dursleys, no one had noticed Harry's disappearance and Harry wondered again when they would come to collect him now that no hearing at the Ministry had to be scheduled.

Rest of the Summer at the Dursleys

He spent the next few days finishing his homework, meditating, taking walks, cooking, and reading his books.

He also went shopping after he had received the disguise pendant from Gringotts. He just had to tap it with his finger and have the intention to change his looks or to look like Harry again.

The pendant only changed his face a little. Aged it and turned him into a blonde. So, he looked like a lanky, gangly 28-year-old when he activated it. At first, he hadn't understood why that was, but it became quite helpful when buying clothes.

He stayed with the black colour scheme (hurray for cooling charms). It made shopping much easier. He could understand Snape much better now and no one would notice if he had one or ten sets of clothing. And it beautifully would distract from his changed new healthy looks, he thought, amused.

He also saw a piercing studio but decided against an earring at the moment. It wasn't such a lifelong decision as it was in the Muggle world, but he didn't care for the hassle it would cause. Even if it would work well with his planned rebellious phase.

What confused him a bit was that none of the guards were ever any the wiser. Most treated their times watching him more like downtime than sentry duty. They also didn't seem to have a clear objective on what to actually watch out for. Maybe Dumbledore didn't explicitly tell them they needed to know about his whereabouts at all times, just to watch out for dangers approaching the house, and they felt safe under their flimsy cloak? Because he never found any wards monitoring him cast by them.

The only one who seemed to take his job seriously was Moody, but Harry only saw the outline of the Auror twice. At least he guessed it was the man, as he seemed to have conjured a chair or brought one with him and sat there under his invisibility cloak, watching the house. Those two days Harry didn't dare to leave and checked the vicinity for spells very thoroughly after the old Auror had left.

But the others were a joke and clearly had no idea what they were doing. Not even Tonks, who really should know better.

During this time, he got two letters. One short and inconsequential one written by Ron, and a very long, rambling one that still managed to contain nothing of consequence by Hermione. In most of her letters she was admonishing him to do his homework and keep his head down. She didn't sound like a friend, more like a stuck-up parental advisor, he thought.

He didn't bother to answer.

All he had gotten for his birthday had been some chocolate from Honeydukes that his younger self had chucked into the bin which he then hadn't bothered to empty, it seemed. They did know how he was treated by the Dursleys, didn't they? And no one else had sent food, this time either. Neither Molly nor Hagrid. At least there was no evidence of it. And they didn't know he got enough food now, did they? (He made sure to eat less those times Moody was on duty.) But maybe they sent him some? Harry couldn't remember his fifteenth birthday very clearly. To him, it had been 13 years ago.

Why 13 years exactly was anybody's guess. Maybe the amount of time-turner sand they used? Well, he could never ask them now. That future was done and gone.

Harry scowled.

Fucking arseholes, trying to enslave him! At least Hermione didn't seem to have been part of this idiotic scheme. She never would have made such a blunder using the wrong main ingredient and slavery was abhorrent to her.

He wrote a note to Grobhook and asked what could be done to prevent getting thrust back in time again.

The answer was disheartening: Nothing but an instant vanishing charm on the sand.

Well fuck.

Harry spent an hour a day learning to cast that charm wandless and silent from then on. He concentrated on casting the spell with his left hand.

On Saturday the 19th of August, the Dursleys got quite excited because they got invited to the prize-giving of the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition in London proper. They were short-listed to win it!

"I didn't even know such a competition existed!" Petunia exclaimed.

Harry, who was eating breakfast with his much-mellowed relatives, said, "It could be a hoax by some magical people who need you to be out of the house and think it's funny, I am sorry to say. They probably want to come and collect me."

Aunt Petunia looked rather disheartened, so Harry added, "But it would be best to leave if you don't want to meet them, anyway. Maybe make reservations at that restaurant you wanted to try, so should this really be a 'prank' you have an alternative?"

Dudley scowled and said, "We could prank them back. You could come, too. Let them eat their 'prank'."

Harry sniggered and said, "That would be great! Would you mind?" He looked at the adults.

Uncle Vernon, who now turned into a rather jovial and friendly man chuckled and said, "I like that idea. Pet?"

Petunia looked a little worried, "But what would they do then? Come to the restaurant? Make a scene?"

Harry slumped, "Probably. I better stay here, then. Most have no idea how to behave in the Muggle world. And who knows how many will come?"

Dudley pouted, "Man, I would have loved to see their faces. And who will run with me in the morning if you're gone?"

Harry and his cousin had just started to 'run' a week ago. Not that Dudley got very far. It was more like a brisk walk, but it helped. The teen had decided for himself to get fitter for the next boxing competition and worked diligently to reach that goal by exercising and trying to eat healthy.

"Hogwarts starts in two weeks, so you would have had to find someone else then too," Harry reminded him.

"I'll walk with you, son. I need to lose some weight as well."

Dudley nodded, feeling a little appeased. He had liked the walks with Harry. His cousin had become much more likeable in the last few weeks, but his dad would do for now.

"Oh, and I need to take down the cooling charms in the house. I don't want them to know I did magic."

"Oh no! That is the best magic there is! But at least the heatwave has mostly ended, now. But say, Harry, did you do anything to us or yourself to make you more likeable?" his aunt asked haltingly.

Harry, who had expected that question, answered honestly, "Not exactly. Someone else did something 14 years ago and I took that down. I can't tell you more, but you should know that the people you are now are your real selves."

Petunia blinked and looked at her husband and Dudley, "he made us hate you."

"And more."

"But, why?"

"I can only guess. To keep me downtrodden? Make me love the magical world? Become malleable? I don't know."

Petunia started crying, "I feel like a puppet strung along and made to do horrible things."

Dudley grunted, "me, too."

"He made you into the most horrible versions of yourselves. And you had no chance of fighting against it. If you want to, I can commission the goblin nation to watch you and your home and get rid of any enchantments that are malicious or not in your best interests in the future. They are honourable. They also are investigating the items that changed your personalities. I will not let this stand."

Vernon and Petunia looked at each other and Vernon answered, "Can we get back to you tomorrow?"

"Sure. You also need to know that the goblins are my financial advisors and handle my money. They will come to you and ask for receipts that warrant the monthly payment of 1.250£ per month and probably will ask for most of it back as I didn't get much of anything but was made to work extensively for my 'care'."

Dudley looked at Harry in horror, "But… 1.250£ per month? That is…"

"More than 200.000 £ plus any child benefit you received for me over time."

Petunia and Vernon looked very pale now.

"And that money came from your accounts?"

"Yes. To be honest, if I hadn't found the mind-altering enchantments keyed to you, I would have the goblins come down at you like a ton of bricks. Asking for all that money back immediately. Now that I found that all of our lives have been manipulated, I won't."

"Thank god!" Petunia sighed.

"Harry, I am sorry for what we did. Looking back, I just cannot fathom my behaviour. It was despicable. We will do our best to pay you back quickly," his uncle added.

"My account manager will contact you and he knows I don't want you to suffer in any form now. Oh, and fair warning. I stopped the payments from September onwards. Should I need to stay next summer we can come to an agreement about my expenses then, I am sure. So, do you want the goblins to watch out for you? You should decide soon. Remember, I might not be here the day after tomorrow."

"Yes. Have your manager contact us. We will handle that directly and pay for their services. I just would like you to check us and our home next summer, too."

"Can do. I will ask him for a method or item that helps you to keep it secret that you know all of this. That headmaster of mine can read minds and he has no qualms in doing so."

"The magical world doesn't endear itself to me, Harry."

"Nor to me. It is a backward and corrupt place that I don't like much either. But magic has its perks, as you learned with the cooling charm."

"Yes. It's not magic that is at fault, it's the people," Vernon agreed rather insightfully. "And people with power become corrupt. Our worlds aren't so different in that regard, it seems."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, "That is true. And their backwardness could be explained by their longevity. The headmaster is over a hundred years old, and his formative years were spent in the 19th century."

"Isn't it your world too?" Dudley asked wide-eyed.

"Not really. I am more like a Muggle who happens to have magic. I feel like a tourist there for the most part."

"That's what Lily said one time, too," Petunia said and then stared at Harry. It hit her that this was her little sister's son. Whom she had treated like vermin. Even when he was a little toddler, she had…

Petunia sobbed, jumped up with her chair clattering to the ground, and ran to the bathroom with her hand over her mouth.

Vernon got up as quickly as his heavy body allowed him and went looking for his wife, while Harry and Dudley stared cluelessly at one another.

"What just happened?" Dudley asked.

Harry was just as baffled, "No idea."

"At least it's not morning. You know? We learned about morning sickness and stuff last year."

"Ugh. Yeah. But… uh oh."

"What?"

"Erm, one of the enchantments that aren't active anymore was… like… a contraceptive?"

Dudley stared at Harry in horror, "I don't want to think about my parents doing that!"

"Me neither!"

"Oh god! She might be…"

"Psst. I'd rather not talk about it with them," neither 15-year-old nor 28-year-old Harry wanted that.

"Right!"

The boys put on blank faces when Petunia and Vernon returned. Vernon narrowed his eyes at them but kept quiet and helped Petunia to sit down again.

Petunia had red-rimmed eyes that she examined Harry with, "I just realised that…," sob "Lily…," sob, "your mother… my sister," she blew her nose, "Sorry, Harry. We should talk later when I have," sob, "pulled myself together again."

Harry nodded big-eyed. His aunt seemed to have realised something. Likely their relation. How absurd was that?

"Maybe you could tell me about her and my grandparents some time next summer?"

"I will. Gladly. And show you the pictures if you want."

"Yes, very much so."

The two smiled haltingly at one another and something within Harry tentatively started repairing itself.

After a moment he went back to the matters at hand, "so, let me recap. You will leave the house tomorrow evening to go to the prize-giving or a restaurant, while I will take down the charms on the ceilings and probably leave. I will have my account manager contact you, Uncle Vernon. I also will tell you in a timely manner if I come to stay for the summer and we will talk about expenses then. Did I forget anything?"

"I don't think so, Son," Uncle Vernon answered thoughtfully.

Harry blinked. His uncle had never called him that before. He felt warmth blossom in his chest. That was what he had always wished for, and even at the age of 28, it somehow pleased him to no end. Not that he had overcome his traumatic childhood, that would be incredibly absurd. But it was a start at least, right?

"You wanted to get us something that helps us keep all this secret," Dudley reminded Harry.

"Right! I will do that as soon as we have cleared the table. I think we have finished breakfast by now, don't you agree?"

"I'll help Mum. You go and write to the goblin... Huh, never thought I would ever say something like that."

Harry sniggered and jumped up, "Thanks! See you," and rushed to his room upstairs.

He wrote a quick missive to Grobhook asking for secret-keeping help for his Muggle relatives and to contact his uncle about financial settlements, but not to make his relatives hurt monetarily.

Luckily Hedwig was out, so he could use her new archenemy – the mailing box – to deliver the missive without any hassle.

Off to the Black Abode

After going for his last walk/run with Dudley for the summer, Harry spent the Sunday taking down the enchantments in his room and on all the ceilings in the house. Mad-eye had certainly been with the group that collected him in the LF. And the charms would be visible if he had a mage-sight enchantment on his fake eye. Even if Harry had no idea how the man managed to function with all the crazy stuff the eye must be showing him at all times. Like a second point of view. Crazy colours whirling because of mage-sight (if he had it) His own brain? Naked people? Organs? Skeletons? Ugh! Harry only found the thought of naked people interesting but then the image of a naked Headmaster Dumbledore talking to an equally naked Professor Sprout popped into his mind and he was cured of any envy.

(He just wondered why his dorm mates and him hadn't spent their 4th year discussing if Moody could look through clothes. It was rather obvious now, wasn't it? Seamus would have loved the thought and maybe would have tried to recreate something like it instead of creating alcohol.)

After lunch, Harry spent time with his relatives and did some meditation on the mindset he wanted to portray and the fact that he wasn't supposed to know many of the people he was to meet tomorrow and the others only in passing as a professor. Like Remus. NO! 'Professor Lupin, Professor Moody, Mr Weasley, Mrs Weasley' he practised in his mind. And his young self didn't know Tonks, Kingsley, Fletcher, etc., at all.

Best he kept quiet and scowled angrily, he decided.

In the evening, his relatives got dressed to the nines. By now they were quite sure it just had been a hoax, but had decided a nice dinner would be great too. They had reserved a table for three, close to the place the award show was said to be happening.

They said their goodbyes and left, curious to find out what was awaiting them.

Harry and Dudley had agreed to write to each other when they were back at school. Harry would send Hedwig to start them off.

After they had left, Harry checked who was on duty and found no one was watching the house at the moment.

"Sloppy. I could have used that time to walk off," he told Hedwig who looked at him with her amber eyes and Harry remembered her looking reproachfully at him with a frog in her beak. Huh? Right, he had sent her to Grimmauld Place quite rudely, with demands for answers after the attack in the LF, hadn't he?

Another memory surfaced and he waved his wand and locked himself in.

But the Dursleys wouldn't have locked his door if the Dementor attack hadn't happened, right?

"Ugh," he unlocked the door again and looked around the room. Did he put everything from his vault into his wallet?

Yes, he did. Except for the holster. Damn. Better put it in there, too. At least for tonight. Later, I can make Sirius give it to me or something.

He looked down at his clothes and grinned. He was dressed all in black as was his new normal. He loved it. Even if he didn't really look like a goth, he was the picture of a sullen teen now.

"We both are rather without colour except for your amber and my green eyes, aren't we?" he asked Hedwig who managed to look amused.

"We do make such a striking picture, though. The moody, teenage 'goth' and his beautiful snowy owl."

The owl preened.

He looked around his room if anything showed up in his mage-sight and found nothing. Luckily the mage-sight spell wasn't visible with all the Oculus Reparo and Impervius charms his glasses had seen.

Everything was in order. His room looked like a teenager's den, messy and slightly dirty and no books that shouldn't belong to him lay around anywhere.

He flopped down on his bed and read today's Prophet. Wow, they really had it in it for him and Dumbledore. But there was also an article about the arrest of one Dolores Umbridge. Hah. Couldn't keep it under wraps, could you, Minister? Harry thought gleefully.

According to the paper, Umbridge was charged with breaking one of the major agreements in the latest treaty Gringotts and the Ministry had signed after the last goblin war. The writer of the article tried to thread the needle with their reporting. It was obvious they didn't want to antagonise either Gringotts or the Ministry.

Harry knew she had already faced her trial at the goblin court and been sentenced to 30 years of working in the mines. But the Prophet didn't seem to know that, as they speculated when her trial would be.

They just need to ask the goblins, but no one's had that rather far-fetched idea yet, Harry thought cynically.

Griphook's trial had been on the 10th, four days before Umbridge's. He had been interrogated and executed. His crimes of theft, corruption, and colluding with a wizard were the worst a goblin could commit. At least, in their understanding.

Dumbledore really had done it here. He had managed to make a whole nation declare him to be their archenemy. (And the man wouldn't be able to hide in Harry's wallet like Harry's mailbox did.)

Harry looked at his alarm clock. They really did take their time with this. It was 11 pm already. How long did they think the Dursleys would be gone if the invitation was made up?

Harry listened to the quiet outside until he heard a crash coming from the kitchens.

Klutzes. He remembered now how afraid he had been, thinking burglars had broken in.

Voices could be heard, and Harry decided to change the events a little. He turned off the light and quietly waited next to his door. He heard a few people come up the stairs. At least they didn't all come up to stare at him and his room.

When the door opened at last, he stuck out his foot and someone promptly fell over it. He quickly turned on the light and pointed his wand at Remus, who stood in his doorframe, looking down at Tonks in surprise, who lay there with her face squished in one of Harry's dirty socks.

Harry bit the inside of his cheeks and then yelled, "Who are you? What do you want here? Get out! Help! Police!"

"Harry! Harry! It's me, Remus. Shhh."

"As if! Professor Lupin wouldn't have come here without a warning. Who are you? Did you take Polyjuice? Is the Professor alright?" Harry spat at the man.

Remus winced, while Tonks got up carefully trying to appease Harry, "Wotcher, Harry. It's really us. We are coming to get you. Hermione and Ron are there, as well, waiting for you."

"You captured them, too? Who are you? Death Eaters?" Harry pressed his back to the wall and pointed his shaking wand at the two confused-looking people.

"This isn't going like I thought it would," Remus muttered.

"We didn't capture your friends! They live at your godfather's house at the moment, and we want to take you to them."

"In the middle of the night when my relatives are away? Right," Harry said sarcastically.

"Yes! We thought it would be safer, don't you see? We lured the Dursleys away, telling them they were short-listed to win the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. We sent them a letter inviting them to the prize-giving," Tonks beamed at Harry.

Harry hardened his heart and face and said, "Muggle-baiting. I see."

"What? No! …I thought you would find it funny."

"Haha, I am in stitches," Harry said glumly.

They heard thumping steps coming up the stairs and a gruff voice calling out, "What's taking you? Get the boy and come down. We need to go! And you lot stay downstairs. This isn't an exhibition!"

Remus winced, Tonks frowned, and Harry inched away from the door some more with his back still pressed to the wall.

"How many people are here? See, this isn't an escort to Sirius's home. Who needs more than two people for that? It's not like we would fly there with our brooms. That would be stupid."

Remus winced again and Moody came thumping into Harry's small room, "Whom are you calling stupid, boy?" he barked.

Harry flinched. He didn't even need to pretend.

"Alastor don't scare him even more. Wait outside," Remus said with some authority and Moody actually complied while muttering, "what a clusterfuck."

They heard him thump down the stairs again and bark, "Show is over. Go back to the headquarters. There has been a change of plans. We will Apparate."

Some whining could be heard but then people were leaving.

Remus rubbed his face and sighed, "I am sorry, Harry. They all wanted to come and meet you. But they're gone now. It's really me and this is Tonks. Dumbledore sent us to get you to Sirius's home."

"And no one thought to warn me? Okay… Uhm, tell me, what was in the aquarium in your office when I first visited you and what day was that?"

"Good questions. It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of that school year. I don't remember the date. And there were Grindylows in the aquarium. Satisfied?"

"I guess," Harry answered mulishly. Inside he was quite amused by the events of the evening, even if seeing all the dead people come alive again was very strange and unsettling. Fortunately, he had meditated on that fact quite a bit.

"May I magically pack your stuff, Harry?" Remus asked.

"Sure..."

Remus waved his wand and Harry's things packed themselves, while Tonks muttered, "I wish I could do it this neatly."

"What about Hedwig?" Harry asked.

"Let her fly. Owls hate Apparition," Remus answered.

"Uh, ok. Hear that, girl? Fly to… uh... where are we going?"

"Just tell her to fly in the direction of London. She will sense you there soon enough."

"Heard that, Hedwig? See you soon."

Hedwig flew out of the window, which Harry then closed, and the three of them walked downstairs. Carrying Harry's trunk and Hedwig's empty cage. No one seemed to notice the seven locks that still adorned his door.

They walked through the hallway and Harry saw some pictures on the wall missing and said, "So you were burglars after all. Looks like people took some stuff. What else did they take?"

He went into the living room and the kitchen and saw some more of the decoration missing. And smashed plates on the kitchen floor.

He baulked, "I don't believe you are who you say you are. Your people steal and damage stuff in a stranger's home. Good people don't do that. Not even a repair charm was cast by anyone."

Remus quickly waved his wand to repair the plates, but the damage was done. Harry mistrusted them again.

"Tonks, go back and collect the stuff they stole. Harry is right. This is Muggle-baiting and theft. If we want to be the good guys, we can't do stuff like that."

Tonks nodded, her hair fiery red, "Sorry about the plates," she mumbled and walked outside to get the stolen goods. It had started being so much fun, but now… not so much.

"Did her hair just change colours?" Harry asked after they heard a cracking sound.

"She is a metamorphmagus. Her hair often changes with her mood."

"She's like a human mood ring?"

Remus laughed, surprised. "Exactly. I am sorry Harry. We really should have thought this through with your perspective in mind."

Harry nodded. "So, the whole thing was a prank? There is no one there where you sent the Dursleys? Or is some other event going on there?"

"Yes. It was a prank. A mean one."

Harry shrugged, "I wonder where they are. That place is only 45 minutes away, Uncle Vernon said. They must have gone to a restaurant after making a big fuss. I mean, they left at about seven."

"Oh dear. That means they could return at any moment?"

"Yep. Fantastic planning for how many adults?"

"I think we were eight."

"For one scrawny boy."

"They wanted to meet you."

"Oh, fans," Harry said derisively. "Would they have stared at me like the children do at Hogwarts?"

"I hope not."

"They should get tickets to the zoo. There they can stare at the exhibits and leave me alone."

Remus flinched. Harry sounded so disdainful and world-weary, "I am sure they meant well."

"Whatever."

They waited for a while, not talking.

Remus then said, "But you believe, I am me?"

Harry nodded, glaring at the floor.

"Good. I hope Tonks returns soon."

It was like she had heard him because a cracking sound could be heard and then Tonks came stumbling through the backdoor and would have fallen if Remus hadn't caught her.

Harry sneered at her, and she blushed while emptying her pockets carelessly, breaking some of the porcelain figurines and glass in the picture frames in the process.

"Oops, sorry!" She grinned sheepishly at Harry, who glared back at her.

Meanwhile, Remus cast another repairing charm at the broken items and said, "Could you put them back, Harry? You know where they go."

Harry nodded and gathered some of the items.

"I'll help," Tonks announced cheerfully. She wanted to show the two that she wasn't always such a klutz.

"Don't," Harry barked over his shoulder and went into the living room to return the things he had taken while Remus levitated the rest into the room for Harry to pick out of the air and put back.

Tonks felt very bad about the whole thing, now. She had lit a fire under the thieves' feet verbally while Sirius had cheered her on. The poor man had been devastated that they all had returned without Harry and then had learned that they had treated Harry's home like a free-for-all souvenir shop.

And then she had to break some of the things they had taken! – Remus just flustered her so much that her brain disconnected sometimes.

When the two returned, she asked, "Did they give everything back?"

Harry shook his head, "One picture of the family in front of the house is missing, and a little brass figurine of a cat. I think it belonged to my grandmother."

"Merlin!" Tonks yelped, "An heirloom and your location!"

"Yep."

"Let's go back and get them. Will you come now?"

"Yes. How will we travel? Will we Apparate?"

"Yes. You are an old hand at it, I am sure."

"Nope. Never done it."

"But Harry! All those books!"

"Fiction. Can we go now?"

Tonks gaped at Harry while Remus took the trunk and Harry the cage.

"Tonks, come," Remus called out and she scrambled to follow. Luckily, she didn't break anything this time.

"This will feel weird and slightly painful but it will be over quickly," Remus warned, took Harry's arm with his free hand, and without further ado Apparated them to the little park near Grimmauld Place.

Harry didn't need to pretend to feel ill. Side-along Apparition was new to his young body.

When he looked up, he learned that the secret of a Fidelius Charm carried through time. He could see Grimmauld Place No. 12. But he dutifully read the paper slip Remus handed to him and pretended to be a little bit in awe of the magical appearance of the hidden house.

"Come, it's late," Remus said, just as the church bells started announcing the arrival of the new day. It was midnight.

Harry followed him and was let into the dimly lit hallway where Tonks predictably stumbled over the umbrella stand and Mrs Black's portrait started screeching.

"Wakey-wakey," Harry muttered and earned a confused look from Remus. But his prediction came true as doors opened all over the house and pyjama- and nightshift-clad people started coming down the stairs to – predictably – stare at Harry.

Only Sirius and some of Harry's schoolmates reacted normally to the sight of him. Sirius jumped to the portrait and pulled the curtains over it while yelling back at it, and Hermione rushed toward Harry screeching, "Harry!"

But Harry stepped behind Remus and said, "leave me alone."

"What? Why? Harry! You don't mean that! I am your friend!"

"Debatable," Harry muttered and walked to Sirius, trying hard not to start bawling. "Hey."

"Hello, cub! Welcome to my humble abode! Follow me, I have a room prepared for you!" Sirius snatched Harry's trunk out of Remus's unresisting hand and led the way, squeezing past the watching audience.

Huh? This was new. A curious but outwardly scowling Harry followed and ignored the silently watching wizards and witches, leaving Hermione standing speechlessly in the front hall.

Sirius led Harry to the door close to his room and opened it dramatically, "Your rooms, good sir."

Harry sniggered and entered. It was one of the guest rooms, but Sirius had done quite the work to make it liveable and cosy. In a way, at least.

"Do you like it? Remus thought it was a little over the top. But you are a Gryffindor, so I thought…," Sirius babbled.

"Uh. Maybe it is just a bit over the top," Harry hedged.

"You think? To be honest, Remus said it looks like the inside of a brothel."

Harry snorted and answered, "I wouldn't know, right?"

"Ugh. Sorry. Right. Not age-appropriate?"

"After four years of living in a dorm with four other teenage boys?"

"Right," Sirius looked a little lost.

"The colours of the first sparks of my wand were green and gold. So maybe a light green colour? Not Slytherin green. More like the first green in spring?" Harry offered.

Sirius nodded and waved his wand to change the walls to neon green.

"Too bright!" Harry yelped, covering his eyes.

Another wave and the colours were more like Harry had envisioned. The gold didn't look too tacky now, he decided and nodded, "This room I can sleep in."

"I was afraid you wanted me to turn the walls black like your clothes."

"Heh, that's an idea."

"No! Forget what I said! Anyway, there is a bathroom attached to this room, so no need to brave the hallways. And no one can Apparate into this room and anyone, but you and I, has to be invited in. Molly wants you to share with Ron. You can decide what you want tomorrow."

"I like my own room during the holidays, to be honest," Harry answered while wondering where Molly had been when he arrived.

"That's what I thought. Oh, and Molly doesn't let her lot cast any magic, but the trace doesn't work in areas with a high magical density, like this house. So, you can cast magic to your heart's content."

"Never give up my guardianship, okay?" Harry declared.

Sirius laughed, "I won't, don't worry. I will not give you up."

"Thanks! And fair warning, I am very angry with my so-called friends. How long did they live here, anyway?"

"The Weasley family from the start of their holidays and Hermione three weeks later. Sometime during July."

"And no one cared to write anything of note for eight weeks?"

"I did, Harry. But the letters were destroyed. I am a prisoner here. Just with better food and hygiene than in Azkaban."

"And no Dementors."

"A plus."

"Ok, I forgive you. But not the others."

"Albus told them not to write anything of any importance to you for safety reasons," Sirius explained.

"Right. And they listened. Would you have, at the age of fifteen, if Dumbledore had told you not to write to James for safety reasons?"

"Well, I would have found a safe way to contact him, I'm sure."

"Exactly. Like the Muggle mail. It's not like Hermione doesn't know how it works. And I'm sure Mr Weasley would have been delighted to throw it into a public letterbox."

"Or Tonks. Her dad is a Muggle-born, and she wouldn't have taken the box apart first."

Harry grinned and nodded, "True."

"Alright then, pup. The kitchen is in the basement, for when you get hungry tomorrow morning."

"Okay. Oh, and Sirius?".

"Yes?"

"Could you cast a privacy ward, please?"

"Huh? Okay," Sirius waved his wand. "There you go. What did you want to talk about?"

"How is your Occlumency?"

"Bad. But I wear a ring keeping everyone out of my mind. I don't trust Snivellus."

"Ugh. Please call him Snape or Severus. This schoolyard bullying is beneath you."

Sirius frowned and then nodded resignedly, "Okay, but only because it's you who asked. Now, why don't you tell me what I need to keep to myself?"

"I might have managed to get a Potter family wand holster and might need a believable excuse for having it. Could we say you got it for me? It's not recognizable as a Potter heirloom when worn."

"Invisible?"

"Yep."

"Sure. Let's say I saw you carrying your wand in your back pocket like you did when we met before, and I immediately did the responsible thing and summoned a holster for you. Let's rub Molly's nose in the fact that her brood carries their wands that way all the time."

"Sure, go for it," Harry said, yawning. "But only if they notice it in the first place."

"Alright. Good night, pup. I am glad you were finally allowed to come."

"Me too. G'night, Sirius."

A/N: I loved writing the last sub-chapter. I was grinning most of the time while doing so. I just love it when Harry has the upper hand for once.