[FFML] [FFML][Fanfic] [HP/BtVS] "Harry Potter and the Exiled Slayer" Interlude One

[disclaimers, et al. are listed before Chapter One: the entire story as far as it has been completed can be found at: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2778565/1/]
HARRY POTTER AND THE EXILED SLAYER

INTERLUDE ONE: DUELING NEWSPAPERS AND A SMALL ROOM

[from the "miscellaneous events" section of the London Times, p. 23]

[LITTLE WHINGING] The quiet of a small neighborhood was shattered early this morning when the perfectly ordinary house at Number Four Privet Drive was blown into oblivion by what is being called by authorities "an unfortunate result of a natural gas leak." Early reports of some kind of small arms fire from callers to the authorities from the surrounding neighborhoods turned out to be false, as witnesses near the scene were interviewed and indicated that there was no warning of the explosion. The house was reduced to its foundations, but none of the nearby houses were damaged. There were no reported deaths or injuries, as the occupants of the house-Vernon Dursley, his wife Petunia, their son Dudley, and their nephew Harry Potter-were apparently away at the time. Attempts to locate the Dursleys and their nephew are in progress, but so far have been unsuccessful.

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[Banner headline of the July 31, 1999 afternoon edition of The Daily Prophet, accompanied by a large photo of Aurors searching through the rubble of Number Four Privet Drive, and a photo of the Dark Mark fading from view as Aurors directed dispelling magic at it]

BREAKING NEWS!!! DEATH EATERS DESTROY HOME OF HARRY POTTER!

By Rita Skeeter

The Daily Prophet has learned that the ordinary-looking house in Little Whinging that was attacked early this morning by Death Eaters and destroyed-requiring the services of a team of dedicated Obliviators to deal with the Muggle witnesses in the area-was the residence of Harry Potter's guardians, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, who are both muggles, as is their son, Dudley. Petunia Dursley is the older sister of Harry Potter's late mother, Lily Evans Potter. As we all know, the Potters were murdered by You-Know-Who sixteen years ago this Halloween-only to have young Harry somehow turn his Killing Curse back on him, which apparently almost destroyed him and caused him to have to spend almost fourteen years in a ghostlike state before his return to corporeal existence two years ago. It is well known that You-Know-Who would like to see Harry Potter dead, and the destruction of Number Four Privet Drive is believed to have been the result of an attempt to capture or destroy Harry just as he turned seventeen. However, the house was apparently empty when it was destroyed, and no one has seen any sign of the Dursleys since the evening before the attack.

Arthur Weasley of the Ministry of Magic gave a public statement about the well-being of Harry Potter this morning: "Harry is quite all right-he was at the Ministry at the time of the attack, having arranged to take his Apparation exam just after midnight on his birthday. After passing the test, he received word from the Auror Department that his home had been attacked. He received the news calmly, and informed me that he was not surprised, and that his relatives had been spirited away to a safe location beforehand, as he was aware that the magical protection placed around Number Four Privet Drive would lapse at the moment he turned seventeen and was no longer a child in the eyes of the Wizarding World. Harry would like to thank everyone who is expressing their concern for him, but he has indicated his wishes to stay in seclusion for the near future, while he contemplates recent events." Mr. Weasley had no comment on where the Dursleys might be, or about persistent rumors that the Dursleys abused Harry while acting as his guardians.

The Daily Prophet is actively pursuing all angles of this disturbing incident, and will pass on any news that we obtain on the matter.

[further stories on this subject on pages 2, 3, 5, 11, and 15]

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"Enervate!!!"

The three spoke as one, and spells darted over to the slumbering persons on the beds. As one, the Dursleys sat up and looked around in confusion.

"Hello-hope that sleep did you some good."

The Dursleys looked to the doorway of the room, where Harry stood next to Hermione and Ron. Dudley opened his mouth to say something, but the blazing glare from Hermione caused him to close his mouth silently and cringe away from the doorway. Petunia took one look at her nephew and swallowed hard-she knew that something important had happened, and that it was unlikely to be pleasant for them. Vernon-clueless as always-ignored the obvious danger signs and pulled himself to his feet as he bellowed: "BOY! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE IN THIS GODFORSAKEN-!"

"Careful, Vernon-you're a long way from any doctor to help you deal with your high blood pressure." Vernon turned an odd shade of purple, and seemed about ready to charge at Harry and throttle him for the impertinent comment when Harry leveled his wand and added, "Oh-and I stopped being a 'boy' in the eyes of those 'freaks' twenty hours ago. Take one more step, and I'll turn you into a constipated toad." Vernon stopped, paled, and sat down on the bed he had been sleeping on. Harry nodded approvingly. "Good. Now I can tell you what is going on. Remember how Professor Dumbledore told you that the wards that protected your house would last until my seventeenth birthday?" Vernon and Petunia nodded, and Harry pulled out a copy of The Daily Prophet and tossed it to Petunia as he concluded, "Well, they came down at the stroke of midnight, and someone was waiting."

Petunia's eyes fell on the headline and the photos, and her eyes bugged out in a manner that made Luna's look ordinary by comparison. Vernon scowled at the sight of the magical paper, but one look at the front page caused him to go silent. It was left to Dudley to look at the pictures and read the paragraphs underneath with some difficulty, then look up at Harry with a dazed expression as he asked quietly, "They blew up our house?"

"Yes-and they would have killed anyone they found there, too. Fortunately, by the time the clock struck midnight no one was in the house. The three of us were at the Ministry of Magic, and you. . .you were already in this room, where we had left you a couple of hours before." The Dursleys stared at Harry, and Harry shook his head in amusement and commented, "Thank goodness for magic-we would have ended up with hernias trying to drag you around without it after Ron and Hermione Stunned you."

"Why in the world would you knock us unconscious, Harry?" Petunia asked quietly, trying to grasp the situation she and her family found themselves in. "We've lived up to the truce you imposed on us last month-why would you attack us now, when you were hours away from being able to leave us completely in any event?"

Ron snorted. "We weren't attacking you-we just had to get you out of that house quickly and we didn't have time for stupid arguments. Easier to Stun you and wake you up when all of the arrangements had been made."

"What arrangements?" snapped Vernon, trying to gain some kind of control over the situation. The cold expressions of the three teenagers caused him to hesitate, then ask in a quieter tone: "What is this place? Why are we here?"

"You're in one of the guest rooms at The Leaky Cauldron." Harry was not surprised at the blank expressions his explanation produced, and he elaborated, "It's an inn that serves as the entrance between Muggle London and Diagon Alley-the center of commerce in Wizarding London."

Petunia paled, and asked quietly, "You mean you took us to a place that hundreds of. . .hundreds of your kind pass through every day, and that anyone could gain entrance to?"

"If we had done nothing else, yes." Harry's voice was calm. "However, I am fortunate enough to have the most brilliant witch I have ever met at my side-" Hermione's cheeks reddened slightly, but her expression remained stern and her eyes never wavered as Harry continued: "-and you are fortunate that she was able to cast a very, very powerful and difficult protection charm before midnight struck and Voldemort started actively hunting for you away from Privet Drive. It's called the Fidelius Charm-it's what Professor Dumbledore used to protect my parents."

"A lot of good it did them!" Petunia almost shouted, before glancing at the walls and remembering that she was in the midst of people whose attention she did not want to attract. She took a deep breath and asked urgently, "Isn't there anything more reliable?"

"It's completely reliable-unless you trust the wrong people." Hermione spoke, sensing that Harry needed a moment to deal with the mention of his parents. The Dursleys frowned in incomprehension again, and Hermione explained quietly: "The Fidelius Charm hides the place or the persons protected by it from everyone except those who have been given the information of the location by the Secret Keeper-the person designated by the caster of the spell to protect the secret from those who would harm those the Charm protects. The Potters had three close friends, and chose the one who had turned traitor to become their Secret Keeper. That choice led to their deaths at the hands of Voldemort."

Vernon and Dudley were silent, but something seemed to flicker in Petunia's eyes as she turned to Harry and asked quietly, "Is the traitor still alive?"

"Yes." Harry's tone was guarded, and his expression was equally so as he responded to the uncharacteristic question from his aunt. "He's in Voldemort's inner circle."

"When he dies, will you send word to me?" Harry blinked at the request, and Petunia noted the response and said softly: "I don't like you people much-and I never got along well with Lily. . .but it doesn't seem right that the person who arranged for my sister's murder should get away with it, and I have a feeling that you're planning on doing something about it, Harry."

Harry hesitated, then nodded once. Petunia seemed to slump a little with the effort of what she had just said, then asked, "Why here, Harry? I can guess that the magic might not have worked at Number Four Privet Drive, but there must be any number of places you could have taken us to hide."

"I needed a place with someone I could trust to take care of your needs while you were in hiding-Tom the barman will be bringing your meals to you." Harry paused, and a slightly nasty glint appeared in his eyes as he added, "Of course, the meals will be magically prepared-it's either that or gnawing on the furniture for meals."

"And what if we decide to take our chances on our own?" snapped Vernon, who was still trying to recover his lost authority. "The bloody lot of you. . .wizards have been a plague on our lives-why shouldn't we just take the insurance payout for the house and head out of the country until the shooting stops?"

Harry shrugged. "You're welcome to try-I've arranged through the Ministry for the insurance money to be deposited in your bank account, and for your passports to be there ready to pick up. All you have to do is go there and get them, and run." Vernon's eyes widened in surprise and relief, and Harry paused for a long moment before adding, "Of course, the Death Eaters are probably waiting outside the bank to grab you the second you leave, without even mentioning the tracking spells that Voldemort has access to that could spot you the moment you leave this very room." Vernon paled dramatically, and Harry asked, "Did I ever tell you what Voldemort likes to do to muggle families, just because they're muggles and he hates them on principle?" The Dursleys shook their heads, and Harry swallowed hard and recited the fate of a family of four in London-who had no ties to the wizarding world whatsoever, but who had simply been unfortunate enough to be in the path of a group of Death Eaters on a rampage. When he had finished, even Ron and Hermione looked nauseated, while Vernon and Petunia were staring at him in silence, and Dudley was shaking like a leaf, accompanied by a familiar and unpleasant odor. Harry sighed and said in a sympathetic tone, "The bathroom is behind you, Dudley-there are some clean clothes in there, too." Dudley nodded once and fled, and Harry shook his head sadly and concluded, "That was for a family who had had no specific reason to hate: what do you think he'd do to muggles who have been hiding his worst enemy all these years, and who he thinks might know where to find me?"

The muffled sound of vomiting came from behind the closed bathroom door, and Petunia looked as if she wanted to join her son in that very reasonable reaction to what they had heard. She closed her eyes and shuddered, then forced herself to look at her nephew again as she asked, "So, we have to stay here until Voldemort and his followers are dead?"

"The choice is yours," replied Harry. "I'll have the Daily Prophet delivered here daily, so you can follow the news if you choose to. They make a lot of stuff up, but if Voldemort dies and a lot of his men die in the bargain, you'll know it. If you want to grab your money and leave the country then, it'll probably be safe-the surviving Death Eaters will have a lot bigger problems than tracking you down at that moment. If it's me who goes first. . .well, Tom will keep delivering meals to you as long as the Leaky Cauldron stands. The spell will keep this room intact even if the inn is blasted to pieces, and I've made alternate arrangements to keep you fed if that happens. You'll always have the option of going out the door. . .but if Voldemort wins, you'll be a lot better off staying in here. Trust me."

Vernon nodded slowly. For the first time he could remember, he actually did trust what his nephew was telling him. A thought occurred to him, and he asked, "So-this spell will keep us protected unless the person with the secret sells us out?" Harry nodded, and Vernon asks, "So if this Voldemort freak captures that person and tortures him for the information--?"

"I wouldn't worry about that, Uncle Vernon." Harry replied, shaking his head and looking at his aunt and uncle with an unreadable expression. "As it happens, Voldemort is far more interesting in making your Secret Keeper very dead than in torturing the location of a few muggles out of him." The Dursleys' eyes widened in comprehension, and Harry nodded in confirmation as he concluded, "So-your safety is secured by my sense of honor towards a group of people who made my childhood a living hell. I hope that makes you feel secure."

Harry watched the faces of his aunt and uncle as they looked back at him, and for the first time he saw genuine shame on those faces, instead of the fear that he had anticipated. He sighed and shook his head in disgust. -Too little, too late-- His expression turned cold, and he spoke for the last time: "When I leave this room, you will never see me again. If you need to get a message to me, Tom will arrange it." With that, he turned and left the room, with Ron and Hermione silently following, their backs contemptuously turned to the Dursleys as the muggles were left alone in their new refuge and prison.

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Harry paused in the hallway and leaned against the wall, breathing slowly. He felt Hermoine's hand close on his shoulder and squeeze gently, and he turned to her and demanded in a soft voice, "Why was that so hard? I've wanted to be free of them since before I met you two."

"Because-as much as they were bastards to you-they're your family." Ron walked around Hermione and looked at Harry as he shook his head sadly. "Deep down, you were hoping that the idiots would come around and start treating you like a person, not a burden who represented something that your uncle couldn't understand and that your aunt was jealous of. It was never going to happen-they are what they are, and you've done right by them. They'll have to make their own way now-and you've got other family to worry about."

Harry nodded slowly, and there was only a hint of tears in his eyes when he turned back to smile at Hermione, then turned again to look at Ron as he replied, "Yes, I do-and we have a lot of work to do. Let's go."

The three walked out of the Leaky Cauldron, then as one they Apparated away.

. .to be continued

As always, comments are welcomed and desired.