The summer sun was beating down in Little Whinging as sweat rolled down the face of a raven-haired boy, his green eyes crinkled as he frowned, his glasses slightly askew. He huffed loudly when the weed he was pulling on refused to budge, Harry let go of the infernal thing and sat back on the grass for a moment to wipe at the sweat on his brow.
As Harry sat there thinking about how he was going to get that weed loosened before his aunt and Uncle got home, his mind drifted to other things. He thought about the past year at Hogwarts, looking back on the events that transpired, Harry sighed deeply, his shoulders sagging under an invisible weight.
He remembered getting his face stomped on by Draco Malfoy and the obsession that ensued all because he believed that his classmate had become a Death Eater, in the end he had been right of course. This thought lead Harry to the bathroom incident where he nearly killed Malfoy, he had no idea what that spell would do, it just said it was for enemies.
The Half-Blood Prince had caused his fair share of drama, suggested dark spells and told you how to accurately brew the best version of potions, which Hermione had hated. Harry remembered the lessons he had with Dumbledore, viewing memories and learning absolutely nothing that would keep him alive in the war that was now raging in both the Muggle and Wizarding World.
Although Harry did not want to think about what came after all that, unbidden the weary face of Albus Dumbledore crept its way into his mind. He could still see the green flash of the killing curse that flew out Severus Snape's wand and it crashing into the chest of the beloved Headmaster, sending him tumbling over the railing of the Astronomy Tower and out of view.
Harry heaved another heavy sigh; the past year had been... he didn't even think their words to describe how bad it had been. Looking back at that small insignificant weed, Harry squinted both his eyes in determination and hurled himself forward latching onto that weed and yanking with all his might. In one swift motion, the weed came free of the earth and the force of which it did so sent Harry falling backwards onto the lawn behind him.
"Ouch!" Harry exclaimed, rubbing at the back of his head where it had made contact with the ground.
Getting up from the ground, Harry picked up the weed that now lay limp and carried it over to the bin. Dusting himself off, Harry went over to the backyard tap to wash his hands free of dirt and as he did so he heard the Dursley's car arrive out the front.
"Great," Harry mumbled to himself, he could not wait to get out of this place and never see them again.
The Order of the Phoenix were supposed to arrive in the next few days to transport Harry to the Burrow, which now had wards protecting it. The whole plan was a secret, except to those who knew about it, Harry only hoped that there were no traitors amongst them.
"Boy!" Boomed the obnoxious voice of Harry's Uncle Vernon, Harry rolled his eyes and turned around to face the whale of a man who had just come through the back gate.
"Yes," Harry acknowledged, his voice stiff and his body rigid as he glared at his uncle.
"Don't 'yes,' me boy!" Vernon growled deeply, pointing a chubby finger at Harry in a disrespectful manner. "You better have completed all the chores we set for you! Or..."
"Or what?" Harry interrupted, not caring for one second about what his uncle thought or what he was going to be threatened with this time. "You'll send me to bed without dinner? You'll kick me out of the house? Well guess what, I'm not to bothered with either of those things! In fact, I would rather walk around in the dark all night if I didn't have to deal with you three!"
"How dare you interrupt me, boy!" Harry's uncle hollered, taking a few steps towards him in a threatening way, raising a thick fist into the air as if he was going to throw a punch.
"Vernon!" Aunt Petunia whispered sharply, she had come out of the back door to see what was happening when she heard raised voices, "You know we can't do anything to the boy, now get inside the both of you, my poor Diddy Dinkums is getting hungry."
'Diddy Dinkums,' Harry thought with disgust, as he grudgingly followed the orders of his aunt and went inside. That was her new pet name for her son, Dudley, Harry's fat cousin. Harry on autopilot went over to the kitchen cabinets, opened one and pulled out a frying pan.
Tonight, was his cook night, his Aunt Petunia insisted that he cooked dinner at least twice a week. Setting the pan on the countertop, he opened another cabinet and pulled out a pot to boil some veggies in. To be honest though, Harry didn't mind cooking all that much even if the Dursley's complained non-stop throughout the entire meal and never said thank you, as if it would kill them to do so.
Harry put some carrots, corn and peas into the pot and placed it onto the stove to begin boiling. Next, he grabbed four pieces of chicken breast and placed them into the frying pan, he cooked them until they were golden on one side before turning them over.
When dinner was almost ready, Harry heard the sound of the tv clicking on. As he was filling four plates with food, Harry tuned into the news that was currently being broadcast. Harry was obsessed with the news lately, whenever it came on, he would do anything he could to hear it.
Like the other week when he hid himself in the garden underneath the window to the lounge room to listen in and Uncle Vernon had tried to strangle him for it. He needed to know what was going on in the world outside, and he especially needed to know if Voldemort was up to anything.
"Dinner's done," Harry called out to the Dursley's and placed their plates on the dining table, he would be taking his dinner to his bedroom.
"This it?" Dudley scrunched his nose up at the meal that had been placed in front of his seat, "Where are the ribs that we were going to have?"
"All gone, you ate them yesterday afternoon with Piers remember?" Harry replied flatly, trying really hard to keep from frowning at his idiot of a cousin.
"Did not! Mum he's lying again!" Dudley exclaimed loudly, Harry quickly grabbed his own plate and went upstairs to his room, there was no way he was staying down there with them.
Harry sat with his legs crossed on the bed as he slowly ate his dinner, he really hated this place and desperately wanted out. How could Dumbledore say that this was the safest place for him to be as long as he called it home, if only the old headmaster was still alive so that Harry could point a major flaw in that reasoning.
Number 4 Privet Drive had never been his home, while he was forced to come back here every year, Harry had never called this place home. Harry dropped his last bit of chicken when he came to the sudden realisation that if that was the case, then... then that meant there was no protection, right? There was nothing in place that actually stopped Lord Voldemort or any of his Death Eaters from accessing the house or him.
Harry sat stunned for a moment as he processed this disturbing thought, he slowly got up from the bed and pried the loose floorboard in his room up. He grabbed his wand and tucked it into his coat pocket. Next, he lifted out the invisibility cloak and held it close to his body for a brief moment as he thought of what he had to do; he could not stay here if it was not safe.
Harry knew he had to think carefully about what he had to do next, the thing was that he had to get out of here without alerting anyone or having it seem like him leaving was suspicious. Maybe he could gather all his things and be on his way, 'That's what I'm going to do,' Harry thought as he walked over to Hedwig's cage.
"Hey Girl," Harry whispered quietly as he slid a finger through the bars to stroke the soft feathers of his snowy owl. "I'm going to let you out of there, but you can't make a sound, okay?"
Hedwig clicked her beak at him and made a nodding motion with her head, Harry pulled his wand from his pocket and pointed it at the lock on the cage.
"Alohomora," Harry whispered as he listened to the sound of the Dursley's laughing at something on the tv, he watched as the lock on the cage unlocked without any protest.
Harry took the lock off and sat it down gently on the old worn dresser, he and Hedwig stared at each other in the eye silently communicating and then he opened the cage. Hedwig was a very intelligent owl and she knew the importance of doing what her master asked, as silently as she could she hopped out of the cage and unto Harry's outstretched arm.
"Okay, here's the plan." Harry whispered, carrying the beautiful owl over to the bedroom window. "When I open the window, I want you to fly out like you're going to find a mouse or something... So, it doesn't seem like I let you go. If there are Death Eaters watching the place, they might not think it's strange. What I really need you to do after that is to go to the Burrow, but only if nobody is watching you, okay girl?"
Hedwig clicked her beak in understanding as she bumped her head against the side of her master's face and gave him an affectionate nibble. When Harry reached out to open the window, Hedwig readied herself for the task ahead by getting into position, her wings already outstretched to take flight.
As the window opened, Hedwig jumped out and flew up to a nearby tree perching herself on a small branch. With a keen eye, she noticed robed figures gliding slowly around the sky that froze when she came out, friend or foe? Hedwig could not tell, but it was time to put on a show. While they watched her, they would take little notice of her master.
Tilting her head to the side, her white feathers glowing in the dark, Hedwig looked at the ground as if searching and it only got better, there actually was a mouse down there... The act would be believable and without further ado she dived for the unaware rodent.
While Hedwig was outside doing her thing, Harry had put his invisibility cloak on and was going down the stairs when he felt an emotion that was not his own... it was anticipation. Harry paused on the bottom step as he felt the lightning shaped scar twinge with pain, he only ever felt pain when Voldemort was either angry or was in close proximity to where he was and right now the dark wizard wasn't feeling angry, he was excited.
'That's not good,' Harry thought as he hurried into the living room where the Dursley's were, he pulled his wand out and kept it at the ready. 'Damn, I should've learnt occlumency.'
Did the Dark Lord know what Harry had been thinking about when he was eating dinner? Had Harry somehow made him aware of the safety status of Number 4 Privet Drive? Harry sincerely hoped not, if that was true then the Dursley's were in danger as well, for Voldemort would surely not allow them to live.
"You need to unlock the cupboard under the stairs," Harry announced to the living room, the Dursley's all froze when he spoke, "And then you need to get out of here and not come back."
"Now see here boy!" Vernon almost shouted as he got up from the lounge, rounding on Harry but stiffened when he saw a wand pointed in his general direction, "And put that freakish thing away!"
"You have to listen to me," Harry spoke firmly, looking past his uncle to his Aunt Petunia who had also gotten up, looking her in the eye he said, "You need to do as I say and do it quickly, you don't have much time."
Petunia's eye's widened, her lips opened but no sound came out.
"They're outside I'm sure of it," Harry spoke again, his eyes never leaving his aunt's face, he needed her to understand the importance of what he needed them to do, it was life or death after all.
"Vernon, unlock the cupboard under the stairs," Aunt Petunia whispered, her voice thick with shock. "Don't argue, just do it. I'll get the car keys."
Vernon grumbled angrily as he did what his wife told him to, throwing the door to the cupboard wide open he gestured wildly at Harry to get whatever he needed from it and Harry did so.
"If you want your family to live, I would get out now," Harry whispered to his uncle, Harry's aunt nodded and herded both her husband and son to the front door. "Don't look like your scared, they'll know something is up. Leave as if you were going to get ice cream or something."
Petunia nodded her head at Harry, but didn't say a thing as she walked out the door to the car, her husband right behind her. Dudley stopped before he went out after them, for the first time he seemed to realise the gravity of the situation that was unfolding around him.
"Will we ever see you again?" Dudley asked frowning slightly, as he stared with what looked like concern in his eyes, that was unusual.
"No, probably not." Harry replied truthfully, if he was being honest with himself, he did not expect to survive the war, and with those last words Harry watched his cousin walk out the front door.
Harry pulled the hood up on the invisibility cloak, completely hiding himself from view as his entire body seemed to vanish. Harry was hoping that Voldemort and the Death Eaters would be too busy watching the Dursley's leave as to not notice the back door opening.
Going through the kitchen to the back door left Harry feeling like his nerves were on fire, he slowly inched the door open a crack and peeked out. He could not see a thing in the darkness of the night, which was not at all good.
All the street lights were strangely out, hopefully that would aid him in going unnoticed as he slipped outside, without waiting any longer Harry did just that and quickly closed the door behind him making sure not to make any noise. Harry quietly edged himself around the perimeter of the yard until he came to back gate, which miraculously his uncle had forgotten to close earlier.
'Perfect,' Harry thought as he crept out through the gates and headed towards the trees in the park just up the road, he had taken no more than twenty steps away from the house when felt a surge of magical power behind him.
Turning around to see what was happening, Harry saw darkly cloaked figures wearing masks decsend from the skies above Number 4 Privet Drive and strike at the house with curses that lit the house up like a Christmas tree and they were not alone, the Dark Lord was with them.
Nobody had to tell Harry twice, he turned back around and fled into the night as fast and quietly as his legs could carry him. When Harry reached the park, he felt his scar burn savagely at the same time as he felt Voldemort's rage as the Dark Lord finally realised that Harry wasn't where he should have been.