Undelivered Albus, undelivered. Why would the owl not be able to find Harry? Something has happened to him. At the very least this means that Harry is out there somewhere thinking that he's been expelled. There's no telling what he might do," said Arthur Weasley.
Dumbledore was barely listening to Mr Weasley, he was much too impatient to get his hands upon the deluminator. He waved off Arthur's concerns. "We shall soon sort all that out Arthur, now if you excuse me I must talk to Alastor," he said as he rushed to meet Moody who had followed Arthur into the house.
Dumbledore pulled Moody to the side and discreetly asked him for his deluminator. He did not want the fact that the deluminator was a tracking device to become common knowledge. Once he had it, he entered one of the side parlours which was thankfully empty and immediately triggered the deluminator.
He sighed in relief as a ball of light shimmered into existence. The deluminator would take a few seconds to get a fix on Harry's position. A few seconds...Just a few seconds...What was wrong with the bloody thing? Had Alastor somehow managed to damage it? He shook it forcefully and tried triggering it again but all that happened was that the ball of light flickered into existence again but still refused to give him a fix on Harry's location.
With a growing sense of dread and disbelief he took out his wand and cast a few diagnostic charms upon the device. His legs went weak with shock when they reported that the device was working perfectly. He had to put out a hand to steady himself.
What had happened? The deluminator should be able to give him an immediate fix on Harry's location. He had tested the charm work extensively. As long as Harry was within Britain the deluminator was capable of finding him. He sat down heavily and put his head in his hands. Was Harry dead? No, that could not be. With a sense of relief he remembered that the blood wards had still been standing around Privet Drive. That meant that Harry could not be dead.
What option did that leave? Could Harry be under a Fidelius Charm? No, that was highly unlikely. The Fidelius was still a rather obscure charm. What was the likelihood that Harry had found someone able to cast it? No, it was quite improbable that Harry was hidden under a Fidelius. So, what could have happened to Harry? The deluminator should be able to find Harry anywhere within Britain...within Britain...within...within...Oh dear God...No...No...This could not be happening.
Harry Potter was no longer anywhere within England, Scotland or Wales.
...
It was a highly annoyed Harry that Dobby had apparated into Diagon Alley a few hours earlier. It had taken them hours to find the Burrow, hours of popping all over the Devon countryside, only to eventually discover that the Burrow was locked up tight and abandoned.
"Typical, just typical," fumed Harry. "Every single bloody time I really need Ron, he's not there. Right from first year when he got himself knocked out by the chess pieces. Then in second year he's on the wrong side of the rock slide, and third year when he gets his leg broken and can't come with me to rescue Sirius and let's not even talk about last year. Every bloody single annoying time, without fail. Why on earth do I hang around with someone so totally useless?"
"Dobby does not know Harry Potter sir. Harry Potter is a great wiz..."
"Yeah, yeah," interrupted Harry. "Let's just get some money from Gringotts and get a room at the Leaky Cauldron. Probably not the safest place but we don't really have much of a choice at this point. Do you know if Gringotts will be open at this time?"
"Yes, Harry Potter, Gringotts is always open. Vampires also need to keep their gold in Gringotts."
"Okay, great," said Harry as he continued moving down the alley.
But at that precise moment a screech owl swooped down out of the sky. It soared across the street, dropped the large parchment envelope it was carrying in its beak at Harry's feet, turned gracefully, then zoomed off into the sky again.
Harry picked up the envelope and ripped it open, pulling out the letter inside.
Dear Mr Potter,
We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area.
The seventy of this breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery has resulted in your expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ministry representatives will be calling at your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand.
As you have already received an official warning for a previous offence under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy, we regret to inform you that your presence is required at a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic at 9 a.m. on the twelfth of August.
Hoping you are well,
Yours sincerely,
Mafalda Hopkirk
Improper Use of Magic Office
Ministry of Magic
Harry read the letter through twice. He could not believe his eyes. What the hell was this? He hadn't been in a Muggle area for hours. Why would he be performing a Patronus Charm anyway? He snorted - Patronus Charm, indeed, couldn't they have come up with something more believable? Why on earth would he ever perform a Patronus Charm at Privet Drive?
He read the letter through again. What the bloody hell was wrong with the Ministry? He knew that expulsion was supposedly the punishment for breaking the Statute of Secrecy, but what the hell was that bit about the disciplinary hearing.
If they'd already expelled him, why would they need to have a disciplinary hearing? Shouldn't expulsion be punishment enough? This looked like not only were they tossing him out of Hogwarts but they also seemed to want to punish him further. Maybe even throw him into Azkaban. His eyes widened in fear.
This was solid undeniable proof - The Ministry was obviously totally under the thrall of Voldemort and was manufacturing a reason to get him expelled from Hogwarts and thrown into Azkaban. It stood to reason that they must have panicked after he escaped from the Death Eater at Privet Drive and this was their next attempt at getting rid of him.
His eyes flickered nervously around the alley. He quickly got his invisibility cloak out, which he had previously put away once he reached the Burrow, and covered himself. He hoped that nobody had seen him. He had to change his plans. Forget about the Leaky Cauldron. He had to get away from Britain immediately. He would go back to his original plan, well truth be told until then it had been little more than a pleasant day-dream, and just leave the country.
"Come on Dobby, I'm going to need your help with a few more things" he said as he scurried towards the goblin run bank. "First, can you fix it so that no owl can find me? I don't want the Ministry to be able to find me by sending me any more owls."
"Yes, Dobby can be doing that. Should Dobby be doing that now?"
"Yes, please go ahead and do that," said Harry. Dobby flicked his fingers and Harry felt a tingle as Dobby's magic settled around him masking his magical signature so that no owl would be able to find him. Miles away an owl that had been heading straight towards him suddenly lost its bearing and flew around confused in circles before it gave up and headed back to its owner.
"Next, we need to empty my vault completely. Do you think you'll be able to fit all the gold from my vault into this backpack? I mean it's already really full, after all you managed to fit everything from my room including my trunk in there..."
"Yes, Harry Potter, Dobby can be doing that easily, there is plenty of place left in Harry Potter's bag," said Dobby.
"Excellent, come on then, let's hurry up. We need to empty my vault and then the two of us are going to head to Heathrow airport."
Ten minutes, several surly goblins and a cart ride later, Harry was watching in astonishment and wonder as all the gold in his vault swirled up into the air and started funnelling into the open mouth of his backpack.
"You know Dobby, you are really one incredibly useful person...err...elf to have around. I don't suppose you'll be willing to come with me and work for me full time? I could pay you just as much as Dumbledore was paying you to work at Hogwarts"
Dobby hopped up and down in excitement. The flying Galleons crashed to the floor as he jumped at Harry in glee. "Master Harry Potter wants Dobby to be his elf and wants to pay him as well. Oh, Dobby is so happy..." and with that the tiny elf burst into tears of utter joy.
Once Harry had settled Dobby down and gotten him to finish emptying the vault into his backpack, they hurried back into the cart. Harry had left out a large bag of galleons which he was clutching in his hands. He would need to convert those into regular muggle money. It was high time he headed to the muggle world. Every minute he spent in the magical world the danger increased. Not only did he have to worry about Death Eaters but now he had the Ministry out to snap his wand as well. He would be leaving as soon as he could figure out how to get on a plane.
....
Join my P@treon FOR FREE and get 5 advanced chapters.
Paid members can get upto 60+ chapters ahead of the public release.
Link : [email protected]/thebookaddict