Disclaimer: How the marvelous JK Rowling keeps and coming with refreshing ideas, I will never know. And it goes without saying, I do not own Harry Potter and his world...she does.
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In the End
Liberation
Harry Potter, black haired, green eyed, and bespectacled, lay sprawled on his hand-me-down bed. Surrounding him were all of his school things, still neatly kept within their casings and trunks, all ready to go. His only clattered belongings were newspapers that he had been receiving by owl over the past week. Though only days after his release from Hogwarts, Harry already felt awful. He was clumped together by anger, sadness, and worst of all, self-hate.
Harry hated himself for all that had happened nearly in the past month. He allowed Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, to weaken uselessly and then die at the hands of Severus Snape, the murderer whom Dumbledore foolishly trusted. Then, he allowed Snape, Draco Malfoy, and a band of Death Eaters to escape from Hogwarts without paying the price for their wrongdoing. Worst of all, Harry allowed himself to rid his life of one of the best things he ever had, Ginny Weasley.
Ginny Weasley was Ron’s younger sister. Though they had been friends (only because of his connection to Ron), Harry had never though much of her and her childish crush on him. It was only half through last year that he saw her with a proper eye. And for blissful weeks, they were together. But when Dumbledore died and left Harry with the quest to find and destroy all of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, Harry knew that his mission would have to be one without Ginny. He could not endanger her life when already so many people left him. He could not deal with such a loss.
Of course, Harry’s two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, forced Harry to take them along with him, he could not refuse. Though he would love more than anything to keep them out of harm’s way, he knew that he could not refuse them. Their stubborn attitude would prevent him from doing so. Then again, he would love to have them with him, by his side during these perilous times.
Harry sighed. Only a month ago, he would have considered himself the luckiest boy in the whole world. Now, he was back at rock bottom, covered in piles and mounds of dirt and rubbish.
He was half asleep when a sudden tapping came from the window. He jolted with a start and after discovering the source of the noise, he came to the window. There, he saw two owls, one reddish-auburn and the other deep gray.
The red one supported a tight scroll tied around his right leg. The gray one, however, looked faint and weak. It was barely hovering above the windowsill, frantically waving its wings just to keep up. Harry opened the window allowing the red one to fly in. As he grabbed the gray one with his hands, he discovered why it was so frenzied.
A great parcel hung from its legs by weak strings. It was almost two times the size of the owl, and it was bulging from heaviness by the looks of it. The box was labeled Lucinda’s Fancy-Day Wear: Attire for Everyday Fancy Occasions. And scrawled messily beneath the great slogan was Harry Potter.
“Come on in, you,” Harry said, pulling the owl in as he untied the box.
As soon as the box was taken off, the owl dropped to the floor with a big thump. It flew back up, now graceful in flight, glad to be relieved of its burden. It soon flew up with the red owl to Hedwig’s cage, where they shared water.
Harry set the box aside and approached the red owl. He untied the letter attached to its leg and plopped on his bed. He greedily tore the envelope open and pulled out and piece of parchment within.
He eagerly read:
Harry,
Ron here! How are you? Probably miserable, aren’t you? Not to worry, you’ll be rescued from there on Monday so that you can come to the wedding as planned.(Harry grinned widely; Monday was tomorrow!) Anyway, Hermione’s already here helping Mum and Dad around the house. Also, Fleur and her family have come from Paris. They’re here to sort out the wedding. I swear, I’ve had enough French for one lifetime.
You’ll also be glad to know that Hermione and I have kept that whole Horcrux quest under wraps. We’re prepared and just waiting for you to tell us what we need to bring on this. Apparently, Hermione didn’t really understand that whole “waiting” part and she brought practically her whole closet from home with her. Not to worry, though. She was brilliant at coming up with an alibi. You’ll be seventeen by the time that we’re ready to leave. That means that the three of us will be permitted to use magic without being bothered by the Ministry. We’ll just probably Apparate to Godric’s Hollow or to wherever it is that we need to go to first. At least now the journey for the Horcruxes won’t be so hard!
We know that it will be hard but it’s the best plan we’ve got. It’s good enough that Ginny doesn’t know. I’m really sorry, mate. Hermione just told me about your…you-know. I’m sorry. Ginny’s not too swell, as well. But she’s coping. It’s good enough that she didn’t know. Trust me, it’s fine.
Anyway, I guess we’ll see you on Monday. Take care, mate! Until then!
Ron
Harry sighed heavily and painfully. He knew that he hurt Ginny but to hear from her brother that she wasn’t doing well, it was just painful.
He put the letter on his bedpost and turned to the box in front of him. He untied the string keeping it from falling apart. He ripped off the duct tape wrapped all around it and finally opened the box. After removing the order sheet nestled on top, inside was the best looking clothes that he had ever seen in his entire life.
These were the clothes he had ordered from a catalog Hermione sent him. He chose them for the wedding’s theme: fairy wonderland (Fleur’s idea, not Bill’s). The tuxedo was all black on the outside with the lapels ironed nice and neat. The lining inside, however, was pale pink silk, smooth and perfectly appropriate for Fleur’s dream wedding of pinks, purples, blues and greens. A tie came with it, made of the same material as the inside of the tuxedo except a dark maroon color.
Harry placed the clothes back in the box, very pleased with his choice. He clicked his tongue and the two foreign owls came swooping in. Harry gave each of them a small owl treat he kept in a jar usually reserved for Hedwig. They nipped at them happily, then flew out the open window.
He smiled to himself, though still troubled with thoughts of the past days. But he was enlightened; he would be leaving Privet Drive…forever. The idea whisked him to sleep.
**********
“Where are you going?” pestered Dudley, all of his chins flailing around in annoyed excitement.
Harry ignored Dudley as he had been for the last fifteen or so interrogations. He simply continued down the stairs heaving his trunk behind him and then outside to the sidewalk.
In reality, Harry did not know who was going to pick him up or how. But he did not mind taking his things outside. A few more minutes of labor sounded miniscule compared to a lifetime away from his cruel relatives. The sense of defying them was actually liberating. He also knew that whoever was going to pick him up, it was going to be something exciting, whether it be a great hole in the fireplace or by flying car.
As Harry went back into the house, Uncle Vernon approached him, beefy and red in the face.
“You, boy, where are you going!” It was more an exclamation of anger rather than question.
Harry shrugged to irritate his uncle and walked past him.
“Potter, get back here!”
Harry stood in his tracks, smirking.
“Tell me now where you’re going, boy, or I swear, I will throw you out of this house no matter what that old codger says-”
“You mean Dumbledore?” Harry said coolly.
“Yes, Doodledorr. Anyway, I’ll throw you out, Volderdorf or not-”
Harry cut him off once more. “It’s Voldemort and frankly, I don’t care at all if you throw me out.”
Uncle Vernon looked as if he had been slapped; his threats had not worked.
“But that Duddledorn said that you had to stay here until you were seventeen unless you wanted to be blown up by that Voldi fellow. You wouldn’t want him to come down here and curse you or anything like that, now would you?” He smirked.
From behind him, horse-like Aunt Petunia whimpered. The thought of Dumbledore, in all of his eccentricity, marching up their lawn was a nightmare.
Harry blinked calmly. “Dumbledore won’t come here and curse me. He’s dead.”
“He’s dead?” piped up Dudley, somewhat eagerly and nervously.
“Dead, died, killed, murdered…however you want to label it,” Harry said.
“But…how?” asked Aunt Petunia.
“He was murdered by one of Lord Voldemort’s followers,” Harry explained, confused by Aunt Petunia’s curiosity.
“So…you’re no longer protected?” she continued.
“I guess not,” Harry sighed, exasperated. “So it doesn’t matter where I go now, does it? I can be murdered any where.”
Aunt Petunia and Dudley whimpered. But Uncle Vernon took the news far too well.
“That’s that then! You’ll be leaving and we can carry on normally! Good day, isn’t it? Well, carry on packing! Can Dudley help speed things along in anyway-?”
“Vernon, stop it,” demanded Aunt Petunia coldly.
He looked absolutely terrified; so did Harry.
She approached Harry.
“Potter…I won’t lie to you. I envied Lily. Yes I did,” she confirmed as she looked upon Harry’s stunned appearance. “And I suppose just being around you…another wizard…it brought back feelings of hatred and admiration toward my sister. And yes, she’s dead. And yes, I miss her. And perhaps, everything I’ve done has been an insult to her memory. She was a brave yet daft, courageous w-witch. Most importantly, she was a wonderful sister to me, despite my cruelty towards her. So I’m saying this as an aunt…take care. I don’t have the slightest idea what comes after this. You’ll be leaving and…I suppose this is all one big apology, both to you and to Lily.”
She gave Harry and awkward pat on the back, but Harry could sense the odd authenticity beneath it. He smiled, Dudley smiled, and Uncle Vernon gaped.
She leaned in and whispered, “And you know, I won’t mind an owl once in a while.”
Harry grinned. “Thank you,” he whispered breathlessly.
As she stepped back with her husband looking frantically to her for answers, pudgy Dudley rose from the couch, a feat not witnessed by Harry in such a long time.
“Goodbye, cousin. Maybe…we’ll meet again soon.”
“Maybe,” Harry replied half-heartedly.
Dudley offered a hand, and Harry shook it. In that brief moment (perhaps Harry had gone crazy), but he felt a sudden rush of electricity travel through their bond. The feeling almost resembled the one he got when holding a wand…
“Well, I have to go,” Harry said.
Dudley stepped away, and both he and his mother waved goodbye. Uncle Vernon merely gazed at him callously.
Harry waved, and stepped out the door.
Waiting patiently by his luggage were the Weasely twins, Fred and George.
“Ready, Harry?” asked George.
Harry shrugged still gazing upon the house.
“You’re not getting cold feet, now, are you?” Fred teased.
Harry shook his head. “No, it’s just that…it could have been a home.”
The twins shrugged. “C’mon, Mum’s got us on a strict time limit,” said George.
“Wha- oh, yeah.” Harry came up to the twins where a small glass paperweight stood on top of his entire luggage, including Hedwig’s cage.
“Ready?”
Harry nodded.
He extended a finger to touch the paperweight as he looked behind him. In a swirl of color, number 4, Privet Drive, vanished, perhaps forever.
A/N: I know that it's not the most exciting chapter in the world and that there really isn't much action, but this is just the foundation of the story. Harry's eventually going to undergo all that he plans on completing, but he's going to have to do some of that "life-correcting" before the real adventure starts.