77Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters from the books. Those belong to the official creator JK Rowling. I do own the plot of this story. I'm just a reader of fan fiction and Harry Potter books.
Chapter 1 – And so it begins
Harry awoke with a heavy head. It was still early in the morning. The hospital wing was empty and he was glad. He needed time to think. Voldemort was reborn, the bumbling idiot of a Minister was on a mission to make him out as a lunatic, Dumbledore was assembling some old crowd to counter the raise of Voldemorts influence and Harry was going to be carted off to the Dursleys. While he trusted Dumbledore in his assessment of being safe there, he was disturbed by the fact that Voldemorts rebirth was accomplished by a potion using Harry's blood. Dumbledore did not address that at all. And he expected him to trust him without a doubt, even though he had been in life-threatening situations at least four times within his time in Hogwarts. What could Voldemort do to him with his powers in full force and his supporters on a coordinated mission?
Harry had no doubt that he would be on the top of Voldemorts hit-list next to Dumbledore and Karkaroff. And he had seen Voldemort in action. He had no wish to be in that situation again. His skin was crawling in fear and revulsion even thinking of it. And he made his mind up.
He had to study hard to prepare every possibility to escape the next time, to divert attention from him.
Harry knew that he was no match for Voldemort. Neither in knowledge nor in magical strength. But he also knew that he had the willpower to achieve almost anything he wanted if he set his mind to it. He wouldn't have driven the images of Cedric and his parents out of Voldemorts wand if he was weak in will. So he had to study to escape, had to study stealth and disguise, misdirection and playacting.
Suddenly a thought struck him. He was thinking like a Slytherin. He couldn't bring anyone into this. Not even Ron and Hermione. Ron would preach Gryffindor bravery and Hermione would insist on consulting Dumbledore about this. It would certainly be of big help to have Dumbledore in this scheme but if Dumbledore had any plans for him but sending him helpless to the Dursleys, he would have said so. And Harry was stubborn because it were his very own head in the firing line. No Gryffindor bravery would help him until he was at Voldemorts level of magical ability and he doubted that he ever would. He wasn't especially powerful or knowledgeable even within his year mates but he was smart. He just had to stop trying to be the perfect Gryffindor.
The epiphany made him feel ashamed. He had tried for four years to fit into this world and had made Ron his perfect Gryffindor example. But when he looked at how he had acted before he had come to Hogwarts, he had to admit, it was a completely different Harry. He was never so rash in acting as Ron. He had rather ignored stupid comments meant to bait him into a fight then reacted. He had rather run for all he was worth then fight for any honour. Before he came to Hogwarts he had no honour to fight for. Sure he was good in school but he couldn't have achieved higher marks than Dudley, so he studied alone and faked his level in the tests. Once again: "quite Slytherin!". He had nothing to fight for, but his own health. He groaned aloud. "How stupid can you be, Potter, to think that people would be different in the magical world? They are even more biased, just look at the whole pureblood litany, look at fudge!". And Harry came to one conclusion, like in Little Winging he would save his own ass and let the others have the honour. That would certainly expand his lifespan.
And the fact that he had held high to the Gryffindor standards certainly worked in his favour now that he had devised his rather Slytherin plans. He had to keep up the charade for another week before the holidays started. And he had to prepare for his studies at the Dursleys. He had to copy as many books from the library as he possibly could, because there was no time to be fussy. He had to find a copy spell. And he needed help, how could he possibly transport all the books to the Dursleys without arising suspicion? He needed someone who was loyal only to him, no one else, not even Dumbledore.
"Dobby!" Harry called carefully.
And Dobby popped into the room. "Harry Potter, sir, How can Dobby help Harry Potter Sir?"
Harry was glad. Dobby had arrived. "Dobby, I have to talk to you in private, can you put up silencing charms, please?"
Dobby snapped his fingers and hopped onto Harry's hospital bed. "Silencing charms are active, Mister Harry Potter, Sir."
Harry relaxed slightly. "Dobby, If I asked you for help now and during the summer, would you be able to tell no one about anything you or I did?"
"Dobby is a free house elf, Mister Harry Potter, Sir. Dobby chooses to tell whomever he likes. If Harry Potter needed Dobby's help, Dobby would work for Harry Potter Sir and tell no one. Dobby was waiting for the day that Harry Potter Sir would ask Dobby!"
"Dobby, I need to copy as many books as possible and get them to the Dursleys without anyone the wiser. I probably need an extra trunk with a large room to put the books in. If I give you my Gringotts key, would you be able to buy such a trunk? And could you help me copying books?"
"Dobby knows everything about buying this for wizards, Dobby was business house elf at his former masters manor, Mister Harry Potter Sir!"
"Please call me Harry, Dobby, just Harry is fine. Maybe you can find a trunk that I could live in during the summer, You know with a bedroom and a bath, maybe even a kitchen. Can you look for such trunk, there is lots of money in my vault, it's high time the money is put to good use, You can take ever you feel is necessary to buy such a trunk."
"Dobby will find the perfect trunk for Harry Sir."
I think we should do it at night, when nobody is watching. Can you do that on top of your other duties? Maybe you should tell Dumbledore that you work for a nice family of wizards now and leave Hogwarts completely?"
"No, Harry Sir, that would not be good when Harry Sir returns to Hogwarts, If Dobby would be Hogwarts house elf, Dobby could go in Hogwarts whenever he likes. Dobby will manage other duties, Harry Sir."
"Very well, Dobby, if you can manage, I am very grateful for your help. You arrange for the trunk. And I will think how I can manage to perform magic during the summer without anyone picking up on it."
"If I may help, Harry Sir, There is trunks that shield magic from outside. I could by such trunk for Harry Sir."
"Thank You Dobby, that's a great idea, I didn't know that there was such a possibility."
Dobby's head suddenly snapped up. "Harry Sir, Your friends are coming."
"Put down the silencing charms, Dobby, and lets start our plan. I will have to be the Harry they expect." Harry said hastily. And Dobby snapped his fingers and vanished.
Not a minute later, Ron and Hermione entered the hospital wing.
"Ron, be silent, Dumbledore said, we can't ask him about what happened!" Hermione chided. Ron was unfazed. "But Hermione, he saw You-Know-Who and came back alive, it's a fantastic adventure, the first one that he was alone without us helping him. He has to tell us."
Harry pretended to be still asleep. And he was wondering why he wasn't annoyed about this childish statement. He had really an epiphany then, he mused.
When they still didn't stop bickering, he opened his eyes. He put on his face from the night before. The shocked and traumatized Harry. When he told them that he wouldn't go to the great hall because of all the attention, and rather eat in the hospital wing, they left without him. Harry had the strong urge to sigh. Ron was really still a child who thought that everything was an exciting adventure. Maybe he should polyjuice Ron into being him. That was certainly a good idea, they could switch and he would be out of attention. But he couldn't really do that to Ron, he was so naïve and he wouldn't survive a week at the Dursleys without the food of his mother.
He wasn't really hungry, so he dressed silently and got out of the hospital wing. He went out onto the grounds and inhaled deeply. The sun was shining as if it was the finest day in years, but the air was still damp from the night. He wandered aimlessly and strolled along the border to the forbidden forest. On a sunny spot, he found a big stone in the sunlight and sat down.
When he was just starting to relax, a hissing noise caught his attention, he strained his ears and listened again. "Stupid human stole my sunny spot." Harry jumped up. "Hello? Who are you?"
A black snake slithered in the sand at his right. "You speak?" the snake asked him, rising his head.
Yes, my name is Harry. What is yours? "I don't play your stupid games, human. Leave my sunny spot alone." Harry was impressed. The snake was witty and beautiful. It was about two feet long and had glossy black sales. "I did not intend to play games, beautiful one, I was asking how I should call you." "I am known as Black Racer. Now would You leave my sunny spot, This is my spot. You can search for another." The snake proclaimed. And Harry liked him immediately, he certainly had character. Harry stood beside the stone and watched, as the snake made itself comfortable. With caution to his own shadow he sat beside the stone so that he wouldn't disturb the snake again, lifted his face into the sunlight and closed his eyes contentedly. The warmth of the sunrays was sweeping through his skin and warming his very soul. He was just dozing off when the snake spoke again.
"You can call me Ray, You know?" Harry was baffled. He opened his eyes to look Ray in the eyes. "You can call me Harry, nice to meet you." The snake flicked his tongue out and Harry had the rather disturbing urge to do the same. He sat back again and closed his eyes. Then Ray said in a quiet tone. "I like your company, You don't assume to take my spot and don't talk about food all the time. I can tell you, there is rarely anyone of my kind who is capable of shutting their mouth." Harry didn't react. He just listened quietly and finally said: "There are rarely any humans who shut their mouths and let me be. Actually, at the moment there is nobody, Well, Maybe Neville. He seems to like the solitude as much as I do." They sat in silence quite a while after that, neither speaking, just enjoying the sun.
Harry was thinking how to proceed in his plan. He was going to be stuck at the Dursleys with no way to leave. But he had to train and that needed planning. He had lots of experience in preparing for the tournament and had hardly touched the amount of knowledge that resided in the library. And he couldn't just go on and learn new spells. He new that a vast array of spell knowledge wouldn't help him one bit if he was outnumbered or ambushed. He had to refine the art of vanishing. He started to sort through possibilities and finally decided to write it down. "See you later, Ray, he said. I have to get some things done. Will you be here tomorrow?" Ray lifted his head lazily. "Tomorrow then" he slurred and went back to sleep.