Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the intellectual property associated with Harry Potter.

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Here's the next chapter. Dumbledore is closing in, but Harry gets a cool new ability that may just help him escape.

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Chapter 4

July 27th

Dumbledore stopped when he saw three disreputable youths smoking in an alleyway. They looked like the kind he was looking for, so he stepped into the alley and approached them. It was necessary for him to talk to people who were familiar with the streets. If Harry was in the vicinity, someone likely saw him.

Unfortunately, he had not made any headway so far. With his flamboyant blue one-piece suit, he stood out like a sore thumb, attracting the wrong people. He was confronted by some individuals who tried to rob him of his possessions. A compulsion charm was enough to send them on their way.

"What do you want, old man?" one of the teenagers asked, blowing smoke into his face.

Dumbledore tried not to show his disdain for the pieces of garbage standing in front of him. They were the perfect example of the most undesirable kind of Muggles. Their actions were utterly destructive, and they had no sense of self-control or morals at all.

He reached into his suit and pulled out a photo. Since Harry was always in disguise, he didn't have a photo of the boy or a clear idea of his current appearance. But as a baby, he shared similar features with his father, so he found an old photo of James and hoped the resemblance was enough to locate Harry. There was only one thing different about him, and that was that he had his mother's eyes.

He and his subordinates had been searching the Chelsea streets for the last few days looking for the boy. Dumbledore had chosen the area closest to the orphanage, as it was likely that the boy had not gotten very far. Unfortunately, nobody had seen him, and he had used Legilimency to scan people's minds to ensure they were telling the truth. He was not surprised by the lack of results, as Harry had looked quite different until he escaped the orphanage. He hoped that someone had seen him after that moment that would lead him to the boy.

"Have you seen this boy?" Dumbledore asked, holding out the picture for them to see.

"Why are you interested?" The boy spat at his feet. "Could it be that you are a pedo? Get your jollies by fondling little boys' parts, eh?"

Dumbledore felt his temper rise. What an utter gutter snipe. "Have you seen him?"

"What's in it for us?" one of the other boys asked.

Dumbledore, growing impatient with them, used Legilimency on the first one to determine whether he had seen the boy or not. When he came up empty-handed, he exited his mind and tried it on the others, but they had also not seen the boy either. When he turned around to leave, he felt something sharp press into his back as he turned around to leave. How careless of him.

"Did I say you could leave?" The teenager grinned. "I will need compensation for taking up my precious time."

Dumbledore's temper finally snapped. He summoned his wand and quickly cast some notice-me-not charms at the alley entrance so he wouldn't be disturbed.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing with that stick? Turn around," the boy ordered.

Dumbledore slowly turned, but his eyes lost their usual twinkle. They were cold and remorseless. "You should have let me go when you had the chance."

Dumbledore pointed his wand at the teenage boy, who screamed when his wrist snapped like a twig. The knife fell limply to the ground, and the boy fell to the ground, crying in pain.

"What the hell?" One of the other two boys yelled, rushing towards Dumbledore. He screamed as his leg snapped, and he joined his friend on the ground.

The last one looked at him in horror, and a trail of wetness trickled down his leg as he pissed himself. "Oh, man. It's fucking aliens."

Dumbledore stunned the boy, and he fell limply to the ground. He pointed his wand at each one in turn and wiped their memories of the last few minutes. With his mood restored, Dumbledore whistled as he left the alleyway. The incident was instantly forgotten.

Honestly, why was he searching for the boy himself? He had better things to do with his time. Perhaps he would search a little longer before handing it over to one of his subordinates.

Harry sat at the small table in the kitchen area, concentrating on a piece of parchment in front of him as he carefully wrote a character on it. He wrote with a quill, an unusual writing instrument, to say the least. It took him a lot of time to adjust to holding the quill properly. In contrast to his ability to use his hands for technical work, he had difficulty learning how to master the skill. Thankfully, he was adapting at a reasonable pace, in part because of his Dexterity skill.

During the past few days, he began to understand more about how the skill worked. He did not have the automatic ability to succeed at anything that required his hands. It did, however, reduce the amount of time he spent learning a new skill like Calligraphy. He didn't know what effect it would have at higher levels, but it already showed its usefulness.

It didn't take long for him to discover that writing with a quill was much more challenging than he had ever imagined. As it turned out, the final outcome was influenced by various factors, such as the quality of the materials used. As he was just learning how to write neatly using a quill, he did not have to worry too much about that for the moment. He found the most difficult thing to grasp was that the size and shape of the strokes could be changed by putting more pressure on the quill or by changing the angle slightly. This would result in a huge variation in the letters and make his writing appear messy. It was essential that he completed and learned this properly since it was a task given to him by the Source.

He reached level four a couple of days ago, and as a result, he unlocked the Tasks feature. Upon receiving the reward, he was immediately prompted to complete a task.

Task #1 - Calligraphy.

Objective: Use the provided quill, ink and parchment to practice and learn the art of calligraphy.

Reward: 200 general experience; 10 Shop Points.

One of the rewards definitely confused him. What was a Shop Point? Would he get access to a shop in the future? Since the Source has been very deliberate in its actions so far, it should become useful at some point.

In order to focus on the task at hand, he immediately stopped working on his small construction projects. There was a feeling that the Source was leading him in a certain direction, and it would benefit him to complete the tasks. In the last couple of days, he put a lot of effort into learning Calligraphy. However, it wasn't worth the small amount of experience he would gain from it. Nevertheless, there was no rush for him to reach level one hundred or anything like that. Building a stable foundation of skills sounded like the right path, considering they were the bread and butter of this ability. Ultimately, they made the greatest impact on him in practical terms.

Harry put the quill down and massaged his sore wrist. As he had been practising for a few hours, the pain in his wrist made it impossible for him to continue. After storing the materials back in the inventory, he poured himself a glass of water and wandered into the store area. Honestly, even with the cool ability to keep him distracted, he was starting to go a little stir-crazy from staying inside for so long.

He earned the experience to level up to four by dismantling some shelving and using the wood to make smaller shelving that he hung upon the walls. While they were crude, they were solid and could hold a good amount of weight.

Harry's head turned towards the door when the doorknob rattled. Momentarily, he froze in fear. After regaining his wits, he reached beneath the counter and retrieved the gun from under it. After a couple of days of dithering, he finally decided to load the gun and keep it more accessible in case he ever needed it. The smartest idea was to run. However, he had come to like this place and wasn't about to run away at the first scare.

He crouched behind the counter and jumped in surprise when the lock clicked open. Had Lewis returned? The huge armoire he placed in front of the door slid across the floor as if it weighed nothing. A middle-aged woman appeared, holding a stick in her hand. Who the hell was she?

"Lewis? It's Violet. Where are you?"

Was this his sister? He had forgotten that she may visit the store. Harry popped his head up, and Violet pointed her stick at him.

"Who the hell are you?" Violet asked suspiciously, stepping closer. Now that he could see her more clearly, he could see some resemblance to Lewis, although she certainly looked prettier than his plain old face. Moreover, her demeanour was more refined as well, and she was dressed elegantly in a grey pantsuit and wore a string of pearls around her neck.

"Harry," he replied. "Why do you keep pointing that stick at me?"

"Great, I have to wipe his memories," Violet muttered, but loud enough for Harry to hear.

"You aren't touching my memories, lady. Are you the sister Lewis mentioned? The witch?"

Violet looked shocked. "He told a Muggle about the magical world?"

"He said I'm a wizard. What's a Muggle?"

Violet sighed before waving her stick at the door, which closed and locked itself. In his astonishment, Harry gripped the gun so tightly that he almost pulled the trigger. Was that magic?

Violet turned back to him with a frown before looking around the store in confusion. "Okay, would you like to tell me what's going on here? Where is Lewis?"

Since she didn't look like she was planning to attack him, he placed the gun on the counter. It was likely that he would end up shooting himself the way he was handling it. However, he kept one hand in his pocket where he kept the penknife.

"Lewis did a runner. He left a letter for me, saying some bad guys had caught up to him."

Violet swore, and Harry raised his eyebrows at the word emerging from such a refined lady. She approached the counter and stared at him. "You are going to show me the letter and tell me everything you know."

"What's the magic word?" Harry asked sarcastically.

Violet laughed softly. "You're such a brat."

"How about answering some of my own questions, a trade of information?"

"Very well. Why don't we go out back and sit down?"

Harry made a mistake by turning his back and leading her into the back room. Unseen by him, she cast a mild Confundus Charm on him, so he would trust her more easily. It was slightly distasteful, but she needed him to tell her everything, and this was the easiest way. However, she was unaware that the spell's effects were negated by his mental resistance.

It was completely unnecessary anyway. Harry would tell her what she wanted to know. Maybe he put too much faith in Lewis' words, but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. In spite of the way he was raised, he didn't grow up to be completely cynical.

Violet sat down at the table. Harry was about to sit down when she coughed. "Lewis usually offers me a cup of tea."

"Right," Harry said. He put the kettle on and grabbed a cup from the cupboard. After asking for her preferences, he made her the tea and placed it in front of her.

"Where are my manners?" Violet said. "My name is Violet Rosier."

"Harry," he replied. She raised an eyebrow in response, waiting for him to elaborate. He hesitated for a moment. "Harry Potter."

Violet raised her cup to her mouth when she heard his full name. Her hands shook, and she almost dropped the cup. She quickly placed it down and looked at him in disbelief. "I thought you looked like Charlus, but I never imagined you were Harry Potter. You are supposed to be dead."

"Who is Charlus? Was that my father's name?" Harry leaned forward eagerly.

"No. That was your grandfather, but he was killed by Voldemort in 1976."

"Voldemort? Is that some kind of disease?"

"I suppose he could be considered a disease," Violet sighed. "Or a blight on humanity. No, he was a dark wizard."

Violet proceeded to tell him his entire sordid history and the basics of the magical world and how it worked. Harry sat in stunned silence after she finished talking. There was so much to process that he didn't know where to begin. He eventually clutched onto the thing most important to him.

"My grandmother is alive?"

"Yes. Minerva McGonagall is one amazing witch. However, she has been struck by a string of tragedies over the years that have greatly affected her emotional state. First, she lost her husband, then the double tragedy of losing both her son and grandson in 81'. A lesser woman would have been completely broken. Although, she will be overjoyed to know you are alive."

"Do you know her?" Harry asked.

Violet hesitated, taking another drink of her tea to give her some time to answer."No, we do not know each other very well. We do not travel in the same circles. As you may already know, my family is not pleasant, with the exception of Lewis. They are pure-blood extremists, and my older brother was a Death Eater who was killed during the last war."

"But you are not like them," Harry stated.

"No," Violet said, gripping her cup tightly. "I never believed the nonsense that Muggleborns were inferior. But I am not completely innocent. I've never hurt a Muggleborn directly, but you could say I did indirectly by holding onto information that could have saved lives."

A moment of silence followed as Violet seemed to have recalled something in her mind, her face displaying an expression of anguish. Harry gave her some time to think while he processed the information he received.

"So it was Dumbledore that announced I was dead?" Harry asked finally.

"Yes. He was the first to arrive on the scene," Violet confirmed.

"Then he is the one that placed me in the orphanage. He is the one who gave me the necklace and made my life miserable."

"What are you talking about?"

Harry told her about the necklace with carefully edited details so he did not reveal his ability. Violet looked disturbed, rising from her seat and beginning to pace. Muttering to herself, she occasionally glanced at the door as if she suspected someone would appear.

Finally, she stopped and looked at Harry. "While I am not sure what game Dumbledore is playing, I do know he is not someone I want to cross. I will see if I can find your grandmother and let her know you are alive."

Violet made to leave, and Harry scrambled up from his seat.

"Hey," Harry protested. "Are you just planning to leave me here with people coming after me? At least put some magical protections or something."

"Magical protections? If I do that, it will be like drawing a moth to a flame. Dumbledore is far more capable than I am, and no protections I put in place will stop him from getting at you. No, they will only lead him straight to you."

"What about moving me somewhere else?" Harry asked. He was loath to leave the place, but from what she told him, Dumbledore was a formidable wizard. He had no desire to meet him anytime soon.

"I could apparate you elsewhere," Violet said thoughtfully before dismissing the idea. "But that may leave a trail. It is best to stay here and wait. As long as you don't show your face, you should be fine. I will find your grandmother quickly, and then she will come and get you."

Harry watched her leave in frustration, but he could not stop her. There were still so many things he wanted to ask her, especially about magic itself. But it looked like he would have to wait longer. Hopefully, she would find his grandmother soon.

He didn't know how to feel about having a relative out there. On the one hand, it was nice to know he had a connection to someone, but he didn't know her at all. What if she wasn't a nice person? What if she didn't care about him? Was she going to try and control him and take away his freedom? He shook his head, dismissing his concerns. It is not something he could change, so why stress out about it?

Harry pushed the armoire back into place and returned to the table to continue practising Calligraphy. He might as well distract himself while waiting.

July 29th

Harry carefully affixed the door to the miniature model house, completing the project that had consumed his time for the last couple of days. After finally learning the Calligraphy skill and completing the task, he turned his attention to levelling his Construction skill. Since he was getting bored with doing simple things, he decided to do something more elaborate. In the process of dismantling things in the store to use as materials, he learned another skill. That gave him two new skills in a short amount of time.

*Calligraphy [120/500] - The art of calligraphy can be defined as beautiful, stylised, and elegant handwriting that is done with a pen, quill, brush, and ink. There may be situations in which this skill can be applied in other fields as well, so it is a useful skill to have.

*Dismantling 1 [82/500] - The art of scavenging, recycling, and repurposing parts of objects, such as machines or furniture, to use for something else. Determines the host's ability to quickly and efficiently break something down while recovering the maximum amount of materials possible from an object.

The symbol on his hand lit up, letting him know he had another message. It occurred to him that he didn't know if this symbol would attract attention in the future by lighting up at the wrong time. Although, it was possible that the symbol could not be seen at all. He had spent some time with Violet, after all, and he had not tried to hide his hand. Surely she would have said something if she had seen it? The same could be said for Lewis when he was here fixing the clock. He did not notice anything. It looked like it was only visible to him, but he wasn't completely certain.

Harry retrieved the book and opened it up.

The host has built a small model one-storey house.

General Exp: + 420

Skill Exp: [Construction 1, Dexterity 1] + 210

The host has reached Level 5!

The host has learned a new magical skill: Animagus!

***Animagus [xxxx] - An animagus is a skill that allows the host to turn into an animal at will. The animal form is not chosen by the host but determined by their personality and inner traits. Depending on the form he takes, he may gain some physical aspects of the animal itself.

Animagus Potion (Harry Potter) obtained!

Progress to level 6: 20/2400

Level 6 Unlocks:

Feature: The Magic Emporium

Item(s): The Runic Languages (Book)

Considering the amount of work he put into the project, he expected to earn more experience than he did. However, he imagined that the quality of the work was also a factor in how much he received overall. Since his ability was still lacking, and some of the materials used were subpar, he couldn't really do any better at the moment. But he still learned a lot in the process, so if he built another one, it would be better.

He finally reached level five, and now he could satisfy his curiosity about the Animagus ability. In theory, the ability sounded wicked, but that depended on what animal he turned into. What if his form was a rat? And how did he even use it? Did it have something to do with the Animagus Potion he received?

Harry accessed his inventory and looked at the description of the potion. There is no way he would drink the thing unless he knew what was inside. The description was surprisingly detailed.

The Animagus Potion (Harry Potter)

Recipe: Mandrake Leaf; a strand of hair; a teaspoon of dew; death's-head hawk moth.

The Animagus Potion allows a witch or wizard to transform into their animagus form. The recipe is very complex and involves a number of elaborate steps. The mandrake leaf, for example, had to be soaked in the recipient's mouth for an entire month without pause. The dew had to come from a place that had not been touched by sunlight or humans for at least seven days before the dew was collected.

Within a few minutes of consuming the potion, users will experience an intense double heartbeat and fiery pain. Immediately before they went through the transformation, they would see in their mind's eye the shape of the creature into which they would transform.

If the person succeeds in their endeavour, they will be able to transform from human to animal by visualising it with the intention of transforming in mind, and the reverse would also be true. In the case of failure, the drinker may suffer from gruesome mutations and become permanently stuck in the form of something half-human and half-animal.

Harry swallowed heavily. The price of failure was certainly gruesome. He would not want to be stuck in some hybrid form between an animal and a human. How would he even live? Would he be shipped off to the circus to be pointed and stared at him like some freak show?

He didn't think the Source would give him something disadvantageous, but he hesitated to drink the potion. How was this made anyway? According to the scroll, it needed a very specific step involving him holding a mandrake leaf in his mouth for an entire month. While he was happy to skip that step, it was still strange.

Finally gathering his courage, he stepped into the back room, where there was some space. Then he got an idea and rushed back into the store and grabbed a small palm-sized mirror. He wanted to see what his animal form was like after he transformed. He leaned it against the wall and stood in front of it.

Looking down at his clothes, he frowned. Was he supposed to take them off? There was no mention of it being necessary, so he decided to keep them on. Taking a breath, he opened the vial and swallowed the entire thing in one go. Harry grimaced in disgust at the horrible taste. However, that soon turned to a grimace of pain when his body seemed to ignite from the inside out, and he fell to the floor. He opened his mouth to scream, but all that emerged was a grunt. His body jerked uncontrollably as if he were having a seizure.

He saw a brief image of a shape in the back of his mind, but he was so distracted by the pain that he did not notice it. Over time, he felt his form shifting and shrinking, and he was relieved to find that the pain was disappearing.

A minute later, a head poked up and looked around in curiosity. The new perspective was much lower than before, and he struggled to adjust. He peered curiously at his arm, which was covered in a coat of white hair that ended in a small human-like hand. He cocked his head in curiosity, trying to figure out his animal form. Was he some sort of primate?

Remembering the mirror, he moved towards it, only to fall flat on his face. He squeaked in outrage, placing his hands on the floor to lift himself up. It seemed that this form moved naturally on all fours. It was another thing he had to get used to.

Harry crawled forward until he was peering into the mirror, and a pair of large golden eyes looked back at him. He looked like a monkey, except his entire face was covered in white hair, including a facial beard. A long bushy tail could also be seen at the back, resembling a dog's tail. What the hell was he? It didn't look like any primate he had ever seen.

In an effort to adjust to this new form, Harry began to move around the room. It was slow going, as it was incredibly difficult to transition from walking on two legs to scampering around on all fours. Gradually, he adjusted to the change, and his movements became more fluid. A couple of hours later, he was moving around like he had been born in this form. His agility was amazing, and he found that he could leap up onto the table with ease and even the top of the fridge without a problem.

Just as the novelty began to wear off, and he was thinking about returning to his human form, a clear image appeared in his mind, and his surroundings disappeared. The unfolding scene halted him in his tracks, and he was completely captivated.

Harry climbed to his feet, stumbling a little as he tried to get used to his actual body again. His head jerked as he heard a sound coming from the front. He crept to the doorway separating the store and the back room. He peered out and saw the armoire shifting to the side, revealing an old man who had stepped inside.

Immediately, the old man focused his attention on him and smiled. His eyes were completely devoid of any warmth, and it was truly chilling to look at them.

"Mr Potter. You have been difficult to track down. Now, come with me so I can return you to the orphanage."

He raised his wand, and Harry was slowly pulled forward, unable to resist...

Harry squealed as the scene came to an end, and his instincts screamed at him to leave. He didn't understand it, but the feeling was so overwhelming that he stopped thinking and reacted.

Harry raced into the toilet, where the window was left open, and leapt up the window sill. There was a sound from inside the store, and he scrambled out the window and dropped to the ground. He needed to escape right now, so he didn't care if he was seen by someone. Unbeknownst to him, another one of his animagus form's abilities kicked into action, causing his physical body to vanish from sight.

Harry scrambled up the chain link fence and dropped to the other side. As he raced down the alleyway, he didn't give a damn where he was going. It was important that he distanced himself from that old man as much as possible.

Minerva and Charlus collapsed onto the sofa in their apartment after another fruitless day searching for Harry. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. They were unable to determine what should be the starting point, so they chose London, as it had the largest population in Britain. If their grandson still lived, he could be located almost anywhere. Their motivation had been high at first, but after a few days, that slowly waned, and now they couldn't help feeling discouraged.

"We need to change our methods," Charlus said, rubbing his tired eyes. "If we continue with a haphazard search like this, we will die of old age before we find him."

"What can we do?" Minerva scowled in frustration. "If he is out there, he won't be known as Harry Potter. Dumbledore is too smart for that. He may even have him under disguise.

Charlus looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression. "What about his allies or someone from the Order of the Phoenix? Could he have entrusted Harry with one of them?"

"It's possible," Minerva nodded sharply. "But it would have to be someone completely devoted to him. This person must be privy to the secret, so he is putting a lot of trust in them."

A hoot from the window attracted their attention, and they saw a handsome Eagle-Owl perched on their window sill. Minerva crossed the room and opened the window, and the owl flew in and settled on the bed beside Charlus. The owl held out its talon to Minerva, where there was a letter attached. As soon as she removed it, the owl flew out the window again.

Charlus asked curiously, "Who is it from?".

Minerva unfolded the letter and began to read it out loud.

Dear Mrs Potter,

I am writing to you about an urgent matter. Initially, I searched for you since there is a chance this letter would be intercepted. It sounds paranoid, but after I share with you the information I have, you will understand. However, you are a hard person to track down, and you haven't been back to your home in days. So I decided to take the chance and send the letter to you.

Listen carefully. Your grandson Harry Potter is alive.

"What?" Charlus roared, snatching the letter from Minerva, who stood there, trembling. In desperation, he finished reading the letter.

I met the boy. It seems that Dumbledore kept him in an orphanage in Chelsea. But he escaped and is currently staying in my brother's abandoned junk store. I suggest you get to him quickly before Dumbledore does. Here are the directions...

Violet Rosier

The Most Ancient House of Rosier

Charlus dropped the letter and grabbed Minerva's shoulders, and shook her slightly, breaking her out of her stupor. "Come on, love. Let's go find our grandson."

So, what do you think? I suppose it's not difficult to guess his animagus form.

Thanks for reading.