Chapter two:
By the time the sun had come up the next morning Harry had come up with a plan. A good one even. He had even made a list. A list. Him. One of the most impulsive Gryffindors to date according to Professor McGonagall had made a neat little list to follow. Harry really thought that Hermione wouldn't believe him when he tells her about it when he speaks with her next. Not that he quite believed it. Harry didn't think he'd ever made a list 'for fun' in his life.
Every year on his birthday since he had started Hogwarts his aunt would tell him to go the shopping centre. Not to do something nice for him. No, aunt Petunia would make him go so she could go there too and get her nails and hair done while Harry had to do their groceries which he barely got to eat. No thoughts spared to his birthday but he was used to that. He was already happy he was allowed outside his cupboard or Dudley's second bedroom this summer. Even it it meant he had to do his chores.
Before Hogwarts he'd have been locked in his cupboard for this day. It had taken him a long time to understand that no matter what he did, his aunt and uncle could and would never love him. It wasn't possible with their hatred for everything special. Or as they called it, 'the freaks'.
He was also beginning to understand the harm they did to their own son. Dudley was fast underway to obesity or a heart attack because of his weight and eating habits. The way that they raised his cousin made him a spoiled, bratty and a bully. Which had started going criminal when puberty started. But Harry still had hope for his cousin. Dudley had gotten quieter since the Dementor attack. He'd gotten a bit kinder to the people around him.
Not that his aunt and uncle noticed anything. They just thought that their sweet little Diddikuns was the same as always. Their perfect little prince. All the while still blaming Harry for the Dementor attack that harmed their precious Dudders.
Honestly, Harry should already feel pity for his cousin just because of the horrible nicknames alone.
He didn't know where their hatred came from exactly but it wasn't really his fault that they did what they did to him. Hermione helped, unknowingly, with that realisation. She used to read self-help books about abuse and self-image in their last year at Hogwarts and sometimes leave them out in the common room for him to find. He didn't know why she read them, perhaps she had been insecure about something, but Hermione did love her books no matter their subject. And they'd helped.
But back to his totally awesome non-impulsive plan. This time he would take the money aunt Petunia would give him so he could buy a train ticket to London and take a cab to the London town house of the Black family. This was the perfect day to do it, he hoped, because all the owls his friends would send him for his birthday would be underway to him. They would not expect him to respond for another day or so after.
"Are you ready, Hedwig?"
She barked back with enough fire that he had to laugh. Of course she was ready to leave this place. Hedwig had been ready years ago.
Harry would only take his most important possessions with him as otherwise he would have to drag his trunk with him and that would be way to noticable. So only his cloak, photo album, the map, his Gringotts key and his wand would go with him. Luckily Dudley's old clothes had big pockets.
First decided to write the list of what he needed to do this summer:
1. Get to the Black town house
2. Claim the Black heirship magically
3. Talk to some portraits who are sane for information
4. Find a untraceable wand that works for me
5. Study like Hermione before the end of year exams
6. Practice magic with the untraceable wand
He also decided to write a letter for his Aunt and another one for the Headmaster for when the professor would come looking for him. This would be his last opportunity to tell his relatives what he truly thought of them. The last opportunity to let it all out and tell them the truth. Perhaps this could serve as a wake-up call for them.
Aunt Petunia,
You and your family have never treated me like a normal family would treat their orphaned nephew, so I decided to leave you to your very much abnormal ways. Only the worst kind of people could harm a child the way you did. My mother would be ashamed of you and absolutely furious and you know it. I will not come back to this house.
But for the sake of my mother, your sister, I will warn you this one last time: The Dark Lord Voldemort has returned from the dead and has declared war on Britain. If you value your life you will be better off in another country far away from here.
I hope to never see you and your family again and I'm sure that the feeling is mutual. May we never meet again.
Your nephew,
Harry James Potter
PS. Included is a message for the Headmaster for when he comes looking for me. Which he will. Do tell him hello from me.
It felt good to write it all out in a letter. He wished he could see his aunts face when she read his letter. He bet she would purse her lips so hard they would disappear. He kinda hoped that uncle Vernon would turn so red he would explode. Vernon would make a good ballon just like his sister.
He hoped that they would finally understand that what they did to the innocent child in their care was wrong but he wouldn't hold his breath. Soon this chapter in his life would be over and done with. He wouldn't miss it.
Harry did hope that Dudley would continue to better his life. His cousin had changed his ways a bit since the thing with the Dementors. Harry didn't think he'd want to see any of them again but he still hoped that Dudley would grow up to be better than his parents.
He wasn't quite sure what to write in Dumbledore's letter. On one hand Professor Dumbledore admitted he knew what Harry's homelife was like and he still didn't try to find him something better, not to mention the highly dangerous school years since Harry had come to Hogwarts. On the other hand Dumbledore was a powerful wizard who's help he might need in the future against Voldemort.
So he decided to try and be mature but cautious in his letter to the Headmaster. A school headmaster did not need to know everything about a student after all.
Professor Dumbledore,
After all this time in this horrible house I made the choice to leave. This is not a home. It is not my home. My parents and Sirius wanted better for me and honestly, I deserve better than these cruel people you left me with.
I know that leaving like this will not make you and the Order think that I am capable of behaving like an adult. But you forget one thing: you were the one that kept making me go to a house you admitted yourself was not a good place for a child. You were right professor, the Dursley family is not a good house for 'freaks' like me. So now that there was finally another safe option, I left.
Sirius and I had made plans for a safehouse before and now that he is gone I will live there. Being alone would be a lot better then living with the Dursleys after all, Professor. Number 4 Privet Drive is not my home. It never was.
I never got to be the child you wanted me to be.
I can not and will not tell you where this safe house is. But it is as safe as we could make it and no one but Sirius and I know where it is. I will board the train as usual on the 1st of September.
I promise to even make an effort with my potions homework now that my stuff is not locked away for the summer.
Hope you have a nice summer, Sir. I know I will.
Harry James Potter
He hoped that there was enough misdirection in the letter that it would take a while for the Headmaster to find him. At least long enough for Harry to get to the Black Town House and reset the wards so that no one could get in but Harry and those he felt he could trust. Which was no one at the moment.
Harry grabbed his possessions and hid them in his baggy clothes. He opened Hedwigs cage and told her to go to London and find him there as soon as she could. Hopefully his poor owl would finally be free to do what she wanted in their new home. She looked him straight in the eyes, hooted once and flew out of the open window.
When he got downstairs he got some money and a enormous list shoved in his hands for the groceries. He knew he was in luck, Mundungus Fletcher was his guard today. He would have been in trouble if it was Moody or Remus but Mundungus was too lazy to follow him seriously. Lucky for him, he could easily plan around Remus. The full moon was yesterday so Remus would not be there today to use his enhanced senses.
He had just put the letters on a noticeable place in the kitchen when his aunt called for him, "Boy, get moving! You need to get the groceries and I have a appointment in the nail salon in a few minutes. You know what you have to do for the rest of today, don't you, boy?"
As Harry walked to the front door he dutifully answered his aunt for hopefully the last time, "Yes, Aunt Petunia. My chores for today are to do the grocery shopping, cleaning the house from top to bottom and de-weeding the garden so that I'm not a burden for you and Uncle Vernon on my birthday."
Aunt Petunia looked at him, nodded her head once and quickly walked to the car so she could get to her nail and hair appointment. As always, Harry had to walk to the shopping centre. It was only a ten minute walk but the less time spent with his relatives the better and that feeling went both ways.
Harry knew he had about a hour and a half before his aunt would be back at Privet Drive and expect him to be there packing away the groceries or weeding the garden so he quickly went to the public bathrooms inside the shopping centre.
There he could change his appearance a bit and then wait for a big group of people to come by so he could disappear between them. While changing Harry took a deep breath to settle his nerves. This was it. The first step to freedom.
A few minutes later and it was finally time. A big group of teens walked by and Harry took his chance. He couldn't believe it was so easy but just a little while later he walked right out of the shopping centre without anyone noticing him!
After that he ran quickly to the train station and bought a ticket to London. He found a place in the back where he could sit alone and only when the train started moving he dared to breathe and finally relax. Who knew it would be this nerve-wrecking to make his own choices for the first time in his own life?
Harry knew the London Town House of the Black Family was close by but he still had to get a cab just to be sure he woudn't be seen walking London on his own. So when the train stopped in London he got out as quickly as he could, pulled the hood of his jacket up and went to rent a cab.
It was just ten minutes later he finally stood in front of the invisible Number 12, Grimmauld Place. He walked to where the door should be and put his hand on it. The door appeared and he put his hand on the antique doorknob.
Harry felt the doorknob growing warm and the air around him vibrate with defensive magic as he said, "My name is Harry James Potter, Heir of House Black and I demand entrance to this manor!" He felt a bit silly when saying the words Sirius told him to say but he also felt the power of the words as he said them.
He felt the powerful magic of House Black going through him, felt the acceptance just before he heard the click of the door opening. House Black had accepted his claim. Harry was safe.