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Disclaimer: This story is based on characters, ideas, and situations created by JR Rowling and owned by her and her publishers. I own the original elements & characters. No money is being made by me, and no trademark or copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter II
Monday, August 14, 1995


To any casual outside observer, Harry did very little of real note between Friday afternoon and that next Monday morning after putting the Fidelius on Friday at tea time. What he was mostly doing was assimilating the two personalities he now housed, plus brewing some powerful potions, which he started taking Saturday night. Older Harry had mentally and magically prepared his mind for just this melding, so it did not drive the combined Harry insane, as it could have.

Younger Harry had been very shocked at certain details; the death of Sirius had been especially hard to remember. Snape's murdering Dumbledore, on the other hand, had been easy to believe. Younger Harry also understood why Older Harry had been so harsh on Umbridge.

Harry's future love life had also been surprising. Cho had been a complete disaster. Ginny had used several enticement potions to draw Harry closer than he otherwise would have been from the spring of his Fifth year through most of his Sixth year. Each time he had unknowingly fought one off, Molly Weasley had supplied a stronger one. Harry had been surprised to learn that after Ron's murder near Christmas in 1997, he and Hermione had become each other's first actual lovers -- it had been Hermione's murder by Bellatrix Lestrange which had sent Harry into a killing frenzy which had ended up destroying Voldemort as well as most of his Death Eaters.

Younger Harry had, of course, not even really registered Luna Lovegood. It was she who had nursed Harry mentally back to health in the Yukon and who had had his only child. Their death at the hands of a British Ministry assassination squad had had the opposite effect of what it had been supposed to do -- instead of frightening Harry off of the impending civil war in Britain, Harry had come back to lead it.



Harry spent all day Monday making lists to make certain he did not forget anything important, and also reading over the transcriptions of the conversations which had happened in Grimmauld Place since Friday evening. He was glad the twins had come up with such an amazing bugging charm in 2002.

Neither Snape nor Dumbledore had been back to Grimmauld Place as far as Harry could tell. Mrs. Weasley was fairly strong in her conviction that Harry needed to be 'helped'. Most of the Order members who dropped by, who were not close to Harry (at least not yet), agreed either with her or Dumbledore. The two exceptions were Moody and Tonks, with Mr. Weasley right in the middle between his wife and Remus. Tonks was leaning towards Remus' and Sirius' position, and Moody kept his own counsel.

Harry had hoped that the five teens would be totally on his side. To his surprise, the twins were more in between their father's and Tonks' position, ie willing to believe in Harry, but worried. Harry couldn't really fault them for that. Ginny seemed to be between the twins' and Mr. Weasley, mostly because (as Ginny explained to Mrs. Weasley in private), Ginny was worried that a really independent Harry would not fall for her. Mrs. Weasley had suggested a mild enticement potion, and Ginny had agreed to consider it.

Hermione was a more vocal version of Moody, willing to wait and hear Harry out and demanding that others do the same, but still very concerned for him. In fact, Remus and Hermione seemed the most concerned, even more so than Sirius, who was confident that whatever had happened, Harry would just have to be fine.

Ron was just plain confused.

Now of one unified mind, Harry decided to put off a visit to Grimmauld Place and study the situation a bit more. Instead, he went outside of the Fidelius and managed to summon Dobby to him. The elf was more than happy to come to work for Harry Potter. Dobby brought Winky, who was thrilled to bond with a family again, as opposed to taking Harry's first offer of employment.

Harry took the elves to meet the two elderly Potter elves. He left Winky to get to know the two elves and took Dobby aside. Dobby was eager to go back to Hogwarts to keep an eye on Harry's interests. Harry made certain to tell Dobby what not to do, as he did not want the elf taking any risks at all. Dobby would simply tell Dumbledore that he hoped that Harry would contact him and would ask if he could stay and work without pay until Harry contacted him, or until September 1.

After dinner, Harry collected two Horcruxes, Slytherin's ring and Gryffindor's knife, which had been turned into a Horcrux the night Harry's parents had been murdered. He quickly and safely destroyed the soul fragments inside the Horcruxes, took another set of potions, and then went to sleep early.



At first, Harry was slightly surprised the next morning when Hedwig showed up, despite all the magic hiding him. Still, their bond was strong. A few quick checks showed that all the letters had tracking charms on them, as did Hedwig, and two of the letters held portkeys. Hedwig's magical ability to detect her owner had also been enhanced somehow, magic that Harry didn't know. He therefore transferred the tracking charms to a bone left over from his steak the night before. When Harry told Hedwig why he was doing these things, he saw that Hedwig had an idea what Harry was talking about. She looked very offended that people had tried to use her to betray her owner. She took off, and would deliver the bone to just outside of the Riddle House.

Harry then deactivated the two portkeys and read his letters.

Dumbledore's note, unsurprisingly, was meaningless platitudes, as it had been sent merely to draw Harry to Hogwarts via the portkey spell which had been attached. Harry was surprised that the other portkey was attached to Ginny's note. He decided not to read much into that, as Sirius and Remus would have been leery of letting Dumbledore near their letters. Harry did wonder how Dumbledore had gotten to Hedwig, as none of the transcription spells had noted Dumbledore being in the house. Still, those were far from infallible, as many portions of the house were not covered.

Ginny's actual note was not very informative, basically merely hoping that he was not injured and would come back to Grimmauld Place soon. Harry frowned when he read Mrs. Weasley and Ron's letters, as they expressed the same sentiments, in the same order, as Ginny's, although with (mostly) their own phrasing. Harry wondered if this and the portkey were all Dumbledore's doing, or if Mrs. Weasley had a hand in it. Not to mention wondering about Ron and especially Ginny's motives. At least Ron had expressed some genuine concern about Harry's welfare in his note, as opposed to mere rhetoric on the subject, like Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione's note was the shortest letter, other than Dumbledore's faux message. She merely hoped he was well and healthy, and asked that, if he was, that he contact them all as soon as possible, so they would know what to do next.

And that she missed him very much. Harry smiled as he remembered Hermione's confession to him as they had laid in bed together for the first time, after their first night of lovemaking. She had been attracted to both himself and to Ron, much more to him, until his anger during their Fifth year had sent her to Ron.

Harry cast a spell on Ginny's and Dumbledore's messages to reveal the magical signatures left over from their being made portkeys. He was far from an expert at the reading the results, but he could tell that the portkey spells and the tracers on Dumbledore's letter were all cast by the same person. All the other tracers were cast by a second person, most likely, Harry guessed, Mrs. Weasley. Harry frowned, and wondered why Sirius and Remus would have allowed her access to their letters and Hedwig, but then realized that either they didn't know how compromised Mrs. Weasley was, or perhaps Ginny had helped out.

Sirius' letter congratulated Harry on doing at 15 what he himself had done at 16, ie tossing over the traces and running away. Sirius did admit that Harry might have even better reasons than he had had, and warned Harry to be careful, and to get in contact with Sirius soon. Remus spent more time urging Harry to be careful, and not to trust anyone, including himself, unless Harry was certain of their motives. 'Of course, if you are under any sort of control, the odds are you either will never get this letter or else will have extreme difficulty getting to us,' the letter ended sadly.

Harry made certain he wrote good letters for Remus and Sirius.

Wednesday, August 16, 1995
2:06 am
From what Harry could tell from the transcription spells, Moody was probably not in the house. That left Kreacher and Buckbeak as likely problems, and Remus, Sirius, and Mrs. Weasley as possible ones. Harry placed himself under special silencing, scent removal, and disillusioning spells, and then apparated into the top floor of Grimmauld Place. Harry moved silently down the stairs and picked up the locket Horcrux Regulus Black had stolen. Just as silently Harry went upstairs and slipped into the girls' room. He placed voiceless silencing spells on the room and a sleeping spell on Ginny. A wave lit one candle.

Hermione was instantly awake, and sitting up, wand in hand. "Har. . . ." she managed to stop herself, glancing at Ginny and the door.

"I put up silencing wards, and put Ginny into a deeper sleep," Harry said.

"Why?" Hermione asked simply.

"So we could talk a little," Harry answered.

"Just a little?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"Have you ever heard of Legilimency?"

Hermione's frown deepened. "It's some sort of mind-magic. . . ." After that, she came up blank.

"A novice can break into your mind with the spell," Harry said. "An expert can read your surface thoughts without verbalizing the spell. A master can use that as an entrance to direct your thoughts to some particular set of thoughts. You can fight it, and if they want to remain undetected, you can win easily. If they don't mind being detected, it's harder to fight than the Imperious."

"And?"

"And both Snape and Dumbledore are masters, and constantly practice it. Dumbledore's giveaway is that damn twinkle, Snape's is that little movement he does with his eyebrow."

Hermione face-faulted, and then demanded, "You mean . . . you mean they've been reading our minds?"

"Yes," Harry said. "Snape from that first day in class. So, anything you know, they will know."

"There must be some way to counter it," Hermione protested.

"It's called Occlumency, clouding your mind. I could probably teach you at least the basics in the two weeks we have before class starts," Harry offered. The older Hermione had easily learned the basics, since she had a very organized mind, and Harry was betting this Hermione could as well.

"But not here," Hermione said.

"If you trust me, and prefer to help me, yes," Harry said. "If not, believe me, I'll understand. This must look very odd from your point of view."

"When do we leave?" Hermione asked without hesitation.

"Pack Hermione's things," Harry commanded, and instantly Hermione trunk was perfectly packed. "I wonder how the magic knows what's yours?" He shrugged off the problem. "I'm going to silence your footsteps, disillusion you, and then do the same to myself, plus mask our scent, after you take my hand. Then I'm going to slip some notes under doors, and then we're leaving."

"I wish I knew why I always let you talk me into these things," Hermione said with a sigh. "Let me leave a quick note so they know I wasn't kidnapped. I'll have to owl Mum and Dad later." Hermione frowned. "Harry, you packed all my clothes."

"I didn't pack your slippers, and you'll want to go back to sleep, anyway. I promise, you won't be cold."

"Oh, very well." She paused. "There is one thing you should know."

"Let me guess," Harry said with a small smile. "Dumbledore sent out the prefect badges, and while you of course got one, Ron got the other."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said. "You deserved it, not Ron. He's been quite the prat about that."

"It's alright. I expected both."



Fifteen minutes later, Hermione appeared with Harry in the front entrance hall of Potter Manor. Harry showed her to the bedroom next to the master suite, and she quickly settled into trying to catch some more sleep. As much as she needed to ask many questions, she was just too sleepy.


7:40 am
Albus Dumbledore frowned mightily, although his twinkle was sparkling at full-blast. Hermione Granger had disappeared and Harry had left three notes, to Ron, Sirius, and Remus. All three said basically the same thing -- that Harry was fine, he wasn't under any coercion, that he was asking Hermione to join him until the First of September to help him research some problems, and that he was currently planning on coming back to Hogwarts. Sirius' also mentioned that Harry hoped to stay with him over the holidays if he did return to Hogwarts.

Ron's note also contained an apology for not taking him as well, basically because Harry didn't want to cause a rift between Ron and his mother. Ron didn't like that very much, but he did have to acknowledge, seeing the glower on his mother's face, that Harry was probably right. Harry had added a PS to the twins in Ron's letter, telling them to be prepared for a tough year. Hermione's note -- to be sent on to her parents' -- merely agreed with Harry's main points.

Ginny had not been left a note, and was still asleep from the charm whomever had taken Hermione had placed on her. She would not wake up until after noon.

Dumbledore finally toned down his Legilimency to its normal, fairly passive level. He had a headache. He had traced the tracking spells he and Molly had put on Harry's letters and owl to Little Hangleton, and had been given a hostile reception from the passive wards Voldemort had left in place, only to find that whoever had taken Harry had easily defeated the tracers.


Dumbledore took Remus and Sirius aside, and asked, "Were there no other notes or clues?" he almost begged.

"No," Remus said coldly.

"And you can stop your damn mind-probe," Sirius growled. After 13 years in Azkaban, mere passive Legilimency could not break into his mind. Werewolves, and vampires for that matter, were also immune to Legilimency.

Dumbledore glared at them and stomped away. 'Why can't people just trust me?' he basically asked himself angrily. He knew what struggles he had had with his power; the temptation of power at the level where at most few dozen wizards in the world operated at any given time (including himself and Voldemort, and some day, he believed, Harry) were great. Dumbledore believed they almost always went in one of three directions, and of those most commonly they chose behind the scenes manipulation or the Dark Arts. Harry would never be good at the behind-the-scenes work that Dumbledore practiced. He likely would never willingly be Dark. Dumbledore could not have known either when he abandoned the child at the Dursleys. That left the third option in Dumbledore's opinion -- Harry's power being used by someone else to advance their agenda, as he had been doing to Harry himself, although he rarely admitted that even to himself. That scenario now seemed to be in play, with someone else influencing Harry.

It wasn't that Dumbledore had wanted Harry abused, it was just that he wanted Harry to grow up without a knowledge of magic. He needed to be the one to control Harry, to guide him to the final confrontation with Voldemort, which would sadly end with the death of both. Dumbledore was not as comfortable with that as he had once been. He had come to care for Harry, although not really love him. In the original time line, that affection had interfered with The Plan, until the entire scheme had unraveled, leaving Harry unprepared to fight Voldemort directly and winning in large part because of the support of his friends and, of course, pure luck and raw power.

Now Dumbledore was in a panic. He had to find Harry and save him from any outside influences, even if it meant his own influence over Harry could end up lessened.



"What do you think, Paddy?" Remus asked once they were alone. He and Sirius had also received slightly more informative notes as well as the ones they had shown Dumbledore.

"I think . . . that I'm confused," Sirius admitted. "I think Harry's right, and we can't fully trust Dumbledore. I just don't know if we can trust he's as safe as he claims."

"I have to agree," Remus said, unhappily.


8:35 am
Hermione woke up in a bright, cheerful room, which confused her for a moment. Then she remembered what had occurred in the wee hours of that morning.

She had run away with Harry. Ron Weasley might have caused a few more naughty thoughts to cross her mind over the previous weeks, but Harry wasn't far behind in that department. Plus, Hermione had known from at least the time she had left Harry to confront Voldemort by himself at the end of their first year that Harry was her leader. She was called to him . . . to advise him and to follow him. She wasn't sure if it could be more than that or not, despite many fantasies, desires, and hopes on the subject.

She had often wondered how closely she might become with Harry. Now, it might just be the two of them for two weeks, and she would find out. Hermione blushed slightly as her body responded to that line of thinking.

She jumped slightly as a light knock came on her door. "Come in!"

Harry came up with a breakfast tray. "Good morning," he said, fully dressed and obviously wide awake. "I thought we could talk about a few things while you eat breakfast, if you don't mind."

"Let me run to the bathroom first," Hermione said.

"There's a private bath in there," Harry said, pointing. He enjoyed watching Hermione's body in nothing but very lightweight summer pajamas, and wondered if she was somehow cold, or just excited.

There was a small breakfast table for two in the large room, so Harry set the tray there and waited. A slightly flushed Hermione came back, hesitated over digging out her dressing gown from her trunk, decided not to, and finally sat, barefoot, at the table. "What should be talk about?" she asked.

"Until you achieve some at least some minor success at Occlumency, I can't tell you how I know things," Harry answered as Hermione poured her tea. "I will when I can, but for a while, you'll have to take things on faith. I can test you after breakfast, if you like."

"Alright," Hermione answered. "Like what?"

"To start off, house elves." Hermione frowned. "First of all, let me say that as strongly as you despise abuse of any kind, I probably feel even more strongly." Hermione nodded, knowing that Harry had endured some sort of abuse over the years at the Dursleys. "And, if any being holds another as a slave, the possibility of abuse is possible, given the dynamics of the situation."

Hermione's eyebrows went up, as this did not sound like her Harry, but she said nothing.

"So, if all house elves in a country are slaves, some are going to be abused, and that is wrong. On the other hand, house elves do have the need to serve. They will never be fully independent creatures. The problem, therefore, is creating a system where they can serve but will not be abused."

Hermione swallowed her bite of egg and toast and agreed that was possible.

"Now elves are actually technically free in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. The governments there keep an eye on all elf 'sponsors' as they're called, to prevent abuse. There is a different system in Central and South America. Greater India and Tibet, and most of Africa, have altogether different systems as well, but the important thing is, any known elf abuse is punished. Elves cannot be really free. Even Dobby needs to serve someone or something."

"Like Hogwarts."

"Exactly. Now Voldemort is a more pressing problem, but the elf problem is one symptom of the bigotry embedded in wizarding culture in Europe. At some point in the future, we will need to help bring about a system where any elf abuse is reported and punished, and where an elf can freely leave any household if they wish. It isn't the sort of freedom you seem to have envisioned, where they're practically unionized. That would be far too impersonal for most of the elves themselves to handle, at least for a few generations."

"You could be right," Hermione said. "Somehow, though, I seem to think you're bringing this up first because you have elves here."

"I do," Harry agreed. "Most elves live until at least their early-sixties. Kreacher, I understand, is in his late sixties. These two are in their late seventies. They don't even really remember their genders, let alone their names. Cleaning this house is all they have left. I certainly couldn't free them, even if I begged them to stay on. It would kill them."

Hermione sighed. "You might be right."

"I also tried to hire Winky to help out. She refused and demanded to be bound. I agreed, but insisted that she take pay for her work anyway, and I told her she could leave whenever she wanted to be with some other family as long as she would still keep my secrets."

"And she agreed?"

Harry winced. "She did, on the condition that she not have to directly serve 'she-who-tries-to-trick-good-house elves-with words'."

Hermione flushed again. "Tell her I promise not to try and trick her."

"I will."

Hermione quickly finished her light breakfast, and then Harry tested her right there for Occlumency.

The key for the first steps in Occlumency were an organized and alert mind. Hermione had both. She was quickly able to recognized when Harry was trying to direct her surface thoughts anywhere she didn't want him to go. It also meant she would likely learn the next steps easily -- recognizing when anyone was touching her mind and diverting her thoughts in any way. The next steps, stopping a determined attack, would likely take months of hard practice. Still, Harry felt this was enough to trust Hermione with his basic story.

The pair moved to the small loveseat in the room and Harry told her a fairly detailed summary of what had happened at the trial and afterwards, and then gave her a slightly briefer synopsis of the alternate time line. By the time Harry was finished, it was nearly 12:45, and to their slight surprise, Hermione's breakfast dishes disappeared and lunch for two appeared on the breakfast table.

They also both only noticed then that they had been holding hands for some time.

"I suppose I should get dressed," Hermione said shyly.

"If you'll be more comfortable," Harry said, his thumb stroking the back of her hand. "I hope you don't mind my saying this, but I think you look adorable like you are."

"You have grown up," Hermione said.

"Thank you, I think," Harry said.

"Still, either you're overdressed, or I'm underdressed . . . eep!"