Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

...

While it had been a touching reunion a decade in the making (three years for Harry) all good things had to come to an end. He had tried to make a play for staying with Sirius for the rest of the holidays but Fudge had put his foot down at that. When forced to explain Fudge had simply stated that there would be no way for Harry to return to the rest of the world which was slowly how Harry came to understand just where they were.

This safehouse was arguably one of the most protected places on the planet, not due to an innumerable amount of wards or a Fidelius Charm, but rather its location. Simply put, it was nowhere. The images of the outside of the window hadn't moved the entire time he had been there and Harry understood that whatever was on the other side of the pictures would not be as pleasant. The only way to and from Sirius' location was the portkey that Amelia possessed.

Thus Harry had changed tactics, requesting that he spend the rest of the holidays with Amelia where he could have access to go see his Godfather at any given time. Before she could state why such a thing was not a good idea, Fudge had said that it would be best both for Harry to reconnect with his Godfather while it would likely help Sirius' rehabilitation, despite the fact he was already far too sane for someone who had spent the last part of their life around Dementors. Treating it as an order, Amelia agreed to take Harry in only if his guardians agreed.

Which was how we ended up in this situation.

"Good riddance, get the freak out of my sight, we don't want any of his kind under our roof!"

Harry closed the door to his room before Amelia could launch into her retaliation. While it would have been interesting to listen in on (and especially interesting once Vernon learnt of the position Amelia held) he didn't want to spend a second longer than he had to in his relatives' house. Now though he had the conundrum on his hands regarding all of the books that were too far above his current recommended reading level.

A hoot from Hedwig sprung Harry into action like a starting pistol. His extra curricular books were quickly buried at the bottom of his trunk, his recommended reading being placed on top and hiding the other literature. To further hide their existence he shoved the contents of his wardrobe (ignoring all of the belongings that were 'given' to him from Dudley) before slamming the lid down, locking it only seconds before the door opened.

At first he thought that Amelia had entered to gather him up and get him out of here but he was surprised to find his aunt standing there. "So…you're leaving us then," she declared slowly as if unsure about how to proceed with this conversation.

"I guess so," said Harry as he got up from his kneeling position. Opening Hedwig's cage, he gave the snowy owl her orders to meet him at the Bones' residence and watched as she obeyed, flying out the window in all her glory.

"Off with you then," dismissed Petunia as she stepped out of the doorway allowing him free passage. Grabbing his trunk and Hedwig's cage, Harry puffed out his chest as he walked out of his prison.

"Stay safe."

The words were so soft that Harry almost missed them entirely but paused as he turned to look at his aunt who had already begun moving to another part of the house. Harry never thought he would feel this but he was conflicted in regards to his mother's sister. Arguably this was a lot better of a farewell then he had expected but for a moment it sounded as if his aunt actually cared for him, as preposterous as that sounded.

At the end of the day she was family.

He was leaving his family.

A small smile painted across his face before he made his way downstairs.

Perhaps part of his extended wasn't so bad after all. The other part meanwhile had managed to infuriate the wrong witch.

...

"The utter nerve of that man!" shouted Amelia as she apparated to her front doorstep, Harry by her side with trunk in hand. "How dare he make such bold-faced, utterly preposterous, highly offensive…"

"That's my uncle in a nutshell," said Harry as he released his grip on Amelia's hand.

Realizing what she was about to say in front of a child, Amelia did her best to control her temper, but it was still evidently apparent that her 'conversation' with Vernon had rattled her. "My apologies, I nearly lost control of myself there," she said as she straightened her attire. "I believe I now understand why you are much more mature than any other child I have ever met. The sheer willpower you must have just from having to put up with your uncle's blatant hate against wizardkind without retaliation would have driven me mad."

"That's one of the reasons," said Harry. "Perhaps this is why you were so confident allowing me to sleep in Susan's room without fear of any 'problems.'"

"If you're referring to what I believe you are, I should warn you that any attempts to do anything I deem inappropriate will have very severe side effects," said Amelia with a predator-esque grin on her face as if daring him to try something. "It's just amazing what some wards inside a bedroom can accomplish."

Harry brushed off the comment as he dragged his trunk inside. While the threat was likely very much real he had no intention of taking advantage of the situation in front of him. Despite what a certain mirror had tried to tell him.

Ignoring the lingering thoughts, Harry greeted Tiddy who quickly took his belongings as Madam Bones closed the door behind her. "Susan will be home in time for dinner," she said. "She's spending the day with a friend."

"Fair enough," said Harry, recalling how Susan didn't particularly like being alone while her aunt was at work. As he wandered into the kitchen the Daily Prophet was lying on the bench with one soon to be Defence Professor plastered over the front. "Now this could be interesting," he mumbled under his breath before seeing Madam Bones enter behind him. "Who is this guy?"

"Who?" asked Amelia before spotting the Prophet. "Gilderoy Lockhart…how do I put this nicely?"

"Please, be as blunt as possible," said Harry as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Very well then, I do hope you will pardon my French" said Amelia as she cleared her throat.

"Mister Lockhart is the epitome of self-centered arseholes and when I work with the likes of Lucius Malfoy that is saying something. I have had the unfortunate pleasure of having met him in person and he is every bit the braggart as he is portrayed, believing wholeheartedly that he is the most important person on the planet and that I should have been honored to be in his presence. My sole regret when meeting him was not breaking his teeth and destroying all hopes he had of winning yet another pointless award. Have I gotten my point across?"

"Yes you have," said Harry as he picked up the paper and saw the image of Lockhart smiling and waving at his adoring fans. "I think it's time that Mister Lockhart was brought back down to reality."

A smirk crossed Amelia's face. As she had been unable to actually cause harm to the Muggle that had insulted her very way of life, getting one up against an arrogant celebrity seemed like a good way to blow off some steam. "Just what do you have in mind Harry?"

"Well, a man such as Lockhart will likely do anything to save face; last thing they want is a bit of bad publicity after all. I think a trip to Diagon Alley later this week is just what is needed."

…

Stepping through the fireplace, Susan could smell something delightful coming from the kitchen. "What are you cooking for dinner, Tiddy?" she yelled out before noticing that the family house elf wasn't in the kitchen but rather was sweeping up miniscule pieces of dust.

"Tiddy not be's cooking tonight. Tiddy be asked to not be in kitchen until dinner be served," said Tiddy as she continued on her way, seemingly disgruntled by the fact that she was temporarily banished from the kitchen. Susan meanwhile could only pause in confusion, clearly unsure about just who would be slaving away in the kitchen. Surely it wouldn't be her aunt, vivid memories still recalled the terrible time when Tiddy had been sick and Amelia had taken it upon herself to prepare the meals.

Takeaway food had been the much more viable option.

Gingerly stepping into the kitchen, Susan couldn't help but swallow a lump in her throat as she spotted her aunt cutting away at vegetables with the use of her wand. Her nervousness shattered however into shock as she saw that there was somebody else in the kitchen who seemed to be doing a much more important job than her aunt as flames leapt about the frying pan he was using.

"Harry?" she said in disbelief causing the boy to look over his shoulder at her.

"How's it going?" he asked casually, a flick of the wrist sending a dash of seasoning over the meal he was preparing.

Susan meanwhile just stood there, doing her best imitation of a fish on dry land.

"Dinner will be ready soon if you'd like to go wash up," said Amelia as she passed the sliced vegetables over to Harry. Susan just nodded her head in understanding as she fled to the safety of the bathroom, giving herself time to contemplate the fact that Harry Potter was once again staying with her.

…

Dinner that night had been an interesting affair, Susan unable to believe how well the meal was considering it had been made by human hands. The conversation had mostly surrounded the fact of how Harry had somehow managed to be staying with them and how Amelia would be working on a way to provide more suitable long term arrangements for him. When Susan had tried to pry into why Harry needed new arrangements Amelia had cut the topic right there and then, not wanting to subject her niece to the atrocities that she had witnessed at Harry's 'home.'

After dinner, Amelia had said that she had some work to be done down the office and had asked the two children to behave themselves. Susan took this at face value but couldn't help but wonder why her aunt had taken a spare plate of dinner with her when she had activated a Portkey. Deciding to think nothing about it for the moment, she and Harry had retreated to the lounge room where she was doing her homework. Harry meanwhile…

"I can't believe people actually two knuts for this dribble," scoffed Harry as he read through one of Susan's copies of Teen Witch Weekly.

"Some of us actually like to read about the latest trends and gossip," said Susan, defending her choice of literature.

"And about how fashion never changes in the magical world," mused Harry as he flicked a few pages through.

"Shouldn't you be working on your homework?" asked Susan.

"Already finished," said Harry before coming across a relative article. "Oh isn't this interesting, Hogwarts Students reacting to Potter Club."

"Don't you dare read any further!" warned Susan as she put her quill down.

Harry ignored her as he began to read from the article aloud. "Dear readers, when we learned of the existence of Potter Club some weeks ago we asked our readers to express their opinion on the matter." Harry paused momentarily as he rolled off of the couch and quickly sprung to his feet in order to avoid Susan who was scrambling for the magazine he held. He continued to read as he managed to dance around Susan's attempts to tear the magazine away from him. "'Our world is full of magic but because of that we have forgotten the true meaning of the word. Potter Club seems like they know what magic really is and are trying to share it with everyone,' writes Susan Bones, a first year Hufflepuff student."

Lowering the magazine from his eyesight, Harry could see that Susan was no longer chasing him having already blurted out the passage she had sent to the magazine months prior. Instead she was glaring at him, her face red due to a mixture of rage and embarrassment. "For what it's worth, I think you're right," said Harry confusing Susan momentarily and allowing her rage to temporarily drop.

"What?"

"If I had been raised by a wizarding family I would have witnessed magic all day every day until it was commonplace," said Harry. "In Muggle terminology, the word magic can be used to describe any event in where the person watching is unable to understand just how it's happening. For us as witches and wizards, we watch such spectacles and say, 'Oh, in order to do this we just need to do this wand movement and say these words.' Magic, as you wrote, really isn't all that magical. Now from what I understand, Potter Club is doing their best to ensure that whatever it is that they do can't be easily replicated, causing people to wonder just how they did it. As Muggles would describe it, 'it was just like magic.'"

Susan simply stood there for a bit as she tried to come to grasp with what Harry had said and how he had pretty much struck her own beliefs square on the head. She was snapped out of her stupor as Harry lightly bopped her on the head with the Teen Witch Weekly magazine before offering it to her. "Did any of your friends make any comments about what you said?" he asked.

"Nothing to my face," said Susan as she turned her attention towards the ground. "I did hear snickering behind my back though for a while."

"Well then, we best hope that Potter Club does something astounding once more to prove your beliefs right," said Harry. "If you'll excuse me I've had a pretty tiring day and reckon I'm gonna crash early. Have fun with your homework."

Just like that Susan found herself standing in the lounge by herself wondering exactly what had been accomplished by Harry. She had spent enough time with him to know that he didn't simply do stuff for the sake of it so just what had he put into motion.

"Tiddys be thinking young Missus has a crush," said the House Elf as she shambled into the room with a duster in hand.

"Tiddy!"

…

As planned, Amelia, Susan and Harry left several days later to scrounge up their supplies for the coming year at Hogwarts. After having gotten a new set of robes done up to adjust for the increase in height, Amelia directed the two children towards Flourish and Blotts in order to collect the necessary texts for the year ahead. Susan meanwhile had no idea that Harry and Amelia had already ordered the majority of textbooks required and that all that remained were the Defence Against the Dark Arts books of which there were seven.

When Amelia had seen just what was required she had nearly lost her temper before remembering that this was exactly what Harry had predicted. She couldn't understand just how he had foreseen that Gilderoy Lockhart would put his entire collection up as 'necessary texts' to get through the school year when every other professor only asked for a single book, many of which could be used the following year. Harry had quickly stated that it was all to bump up his sales prior to his next release to get everybody back on the bandwagon.

It had taken a lot for Harry to persuade Amelia not to go Lockhart hunting right there and then.

The plan he had instead would make Gilderoy suffer a lot more.

Susan meanwhile just wanted an autograph.

"Harry!" waved Hermione from a few places in front of where he was standing, the brown-haired girl spotting Harry stepping into the store. She wasn't just by herself however as it seemed as if she had convoyed along with Misses Weasley, Ron and Ginny. Unsurprisingly, Ron looked like he wanted to be on another continent while Fred and George were checking out some books that were by no means necessary for Hogwarts students. Extracurricular activities whilst at Hogwarts however was a distinct possibility, he would have to check at a later date. The eldest Weasley still at school was also in attendance but seemed to have no intention of even glancing in Lockhart's direction. Did Percy know something that he wasn't privy to?

"Hey everyone," said Harry as he politely waved back but knew better than to try and cut in line. Gilderoy's fangirls would tear him apart.

"This is so exciting," squealed Susan from next to him. "I can't believe he's going to be teaching us this year."

"Yes…teach," said Harry sarcastically though the wording was lost on Susan as Gilderoy Lockhart stepped into the room through a set of drapes, a picture perfect smile emblazoned on his face. Almost immediately as the man showed himself a photographer stepped into view claiming to be for the Daily Prophet. Harry wasn't so sure about that and figured the man simply worked as a freelance operator and would sell his pictures to the highest bidder but that was beside the point.

He stepped out of line by the barest of margins and ensured that his scar was in plain view.

It only took moments for Gilderoy to latch on.

"It can't be. Harry Potter?" said Gilderoy trying to be as charismatic as possible, as if this were the first time he'd ever met someone who could compete with him in regards to popularity. Harry simply accepted the ragdolling as he was yanked to the front of the store by the photographer only for Gilderoy to latch onto him.

It was then that he struck.

"Take your hands off me," he said quite firmly as he tried to pull away from Lockhart's grip, the fame seeking wizard wondering why anybody would want to get away from him.

"Come now Harry, we'll make the front page," said Lockhart as he tried to pull Harry closer, the young boy deliberately allowing his feet to give way beneath him as he crashed to the ground, his glasses shattering upon impact.

From his position, Harry could already hear the whispers between patrons, many of them unable to believe that their idol had manhandled the child who saved the wizarding world and tossing him to the floor. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I assure you this was just an accident," said Gilderoy as he did his best to reign in the situation.

"Ahhhh!" cried out Harry from beneath the table before he reappeared clutching at his fingers. "You stepped on my hand you prick!"

What were once whispers seemed to escalate in pitch and volume, Lockhart looking about confused about what just was happening. This was supposed to be a simple book signing with a good splash of publicity thrown in. He could already read the crowd and knew that he'd be lucky to even sign a single copy of his text at this rate. Knowing he had to do something impressive, he whipped out his wand. "Come now Harry, let me fix your hand for you."

"Get the hell away from me," said Harry as he scrambled away, partially because of the act and partially because he knew how incompetent Lockhart was with a wand. Storming through the crowd that parted ways for him, Harry sat down on the staircase however he soon found himself surrounded by many of the Weasley brigade along with Susan, Amelia having marched to the front of the rabble to have very serious words with Gilderoy.

"Are you alright Harry?" asked Ginny.

"I'll be fine, it's nothing I can't handle," said Harry mildly wishing he had retrieved his glasses earlier, even if they were broken. Nursing his hand, he could hear the footsteps coming from behind him and knew straight away who it was.

"Well played, Potter," said Malfoy as he strode down past him, not even bothering to look at the rest of the crowd. "Your fans may not have seen it but from up in the gallery I had a picture perfect view of what was going on."

"What's he talking about, Harry?" asked Hermione, wondering just what Draco knew.

"It's nothing," said Harry as he stood up so he could glare Malfoy in what he assumed was his eye. "And if Malfoy wants it to remain as nothing he will be very careful about what he says next."

Draco contemplated his next move wisely, well aware that he was vastly outnumbered even if they were all beneath a pureblood such as himself. It was because of that however he couldn't be too cautious, heavens forbid one of them actually try and strike him like a feral Mudblood. Before he could say anything however a cane was placed on his shoulder, the silver serpent head silencing him before he got a chance to counteract.

"Now, now, Draco, play nice," said Lucius Malfoy as he gently glided his son to the side. "Mister Potter, we meet at last."

Harry absolutely hated this as he allowed the scene to play out identically to the way it had before, or at least how he remembered it. The mere fact that a marked Death Eater could waltz around a bookshop and speak down to his friends in such a vindictive and judgmental manner almost demanded that he pull out his wand and strike him square in the chest.

Thankfully his thoughts were broken by the introduction of Arthur Weasley, allowing Harry to focus more on exactly what was going to happen. Even though he could barely see, he did manage to spot it straight away when the second book was dumped in Ginny's cauldron. A sleight of hand trick and one which basically nobody in the store would even recognize if they weren't looking for it. Harry actually had to admit that the ploy was rather well done and wasn't surprised that he had missed it first time round.

This time though, he was more than prepared.

As soon as both the Malfoy's had left, Harry ushered them all outside where they were all met by Madam Bones. "Well, in compensation for young Mister Potter here, I managed to get Mister Lockhart to gift each and every Hogwarts student his selected texts for the year in exchange for damages caused. I hope that you find this satisfactory," said Amelia with a little twinkle in her eye that went almost completely unseen.

"Well, that sounds quite great, well done," said Harry as he looked at the Weasleys around him before pulling some coins out of his pocket. "In celebration for not having to pay for Lockhart's books, ice creams on me."

Harry was well aware he could have pushed for more but knew that Arthur was too modest of a man to accept anything more than a treat for his children. Giving the money to Ginny, the young girl looked up to him in confusion. "Ginny, you're in charge of making sure everyone gets their fair share okay," said Harry as he took the cauldron from her.

"Okay Harry," she said happily as she ran off down the street, quickly followed by the rest of the Weasley mob, Hermione and Susan tagging on not too far behind.

"I take it there was no problem with Malfoy?" Amelia asked of Arthur.

"Nothing that hasn't been said before," said Arthur. "For once I'd like to see him at the bottom of the ladder and actually have to work his way up as opposed to paying for it."

"One day perhaps," said Amelia. "Now Harry, since your glasses were broken before I feel it only necessary that we go buy you a new pair."

"That'd be excellent," said Harry as he passed Ginny's cauldron to Arthur.

"I trust my niece will be safe in your hands until we return," said Amelia.

"I've looked after this many so far and done a damn fine job of it, what's one more for a few minutes," said Arthur cheekily as he stepped out of the way of women stepping out of Flourish and Blotts. As that as their sign, Amelia and Harry started walking down Diagon Alley with a small spring in their step.

"How's your hand?" asked Amelia.

"Untouched," said Harry, shaking it about for extra emphasis. "Nice work on the shattering charm on my glasses."

"I'd like to think I hadn't lost my touch," said Amelia. "I'm more surprised that everything went to plan."

"Yep," said Harry as he patted the diary that was hidden beneath his clothes. "Everything according to plan."

…

Hope you enjoyed.