A hooting sound woke Harry the next morning. He rolled over, intending to send a nasty hex back to the witch or wizard who had dared send him anything by owl post. He received quite a shock however when he saw a familiar snowy owl perched on the windowsill.
"Hedwig! I missed you!" Harry quickly moved over to the window to check out his beloved familiar and make sure she was ok. "How did you know I was out? How did you know where to find me?"
Hedwig gave him a look as if to say 'Silly human, I can always find you'. While she looked a little thinner and scruffier than he was used to, Harry could tell that she was pleased to see him as well. Holding out his arm for her to use as a perch, Harry brought her into the small bedroom.
Showing her the transfigured bedroom Harry asked. "What do you think, girl?"
The snowy owl's head twisted around, taking in the changed surroundings. Hedwig bobbed her head and gave an approving hoot.
"Give me a moment and you'll have a proper perch." Harry transferred the owl to the back of the chair before picking up one of Dudley's broken toys.
As he transfigured the broken remote control car into a perch, Harry smiled at the memory of Dudley huffing and puffing as he moved most of the junk out of the second bedroom. He had no doubt that it was the first real work Dudley had ever done.
Once Hedwig was settled on her new perch, Harry told her, "I'll be right back. I'm going to get you some food and water."
Remembering all too well what had happened before when her Harry snuck in food before, Hedwig gave him a concerned sounding hoot.
"Don't worry, girl." Harry was quick to reassure her. "The Dursleys and I have come to an understanding. If they don't bother me, I won't turn them into mice for you."
Harry had to laugh as Hedwig suddenly looked very predatory. "Sorry luv, but they're still human. At least for now."
...
Once Hedwig was settled in for the day, Harry went down and made himself some breakfast. The Dursleys studiously tried to ignore his presence. He was a bit surprised that Marge wasn't down in the kitchen stuffing her fat face like Dudley was.
Maybe she was waiting until he was gone to put in an appearance. Given that she had all the tact of a rampaging hippogriff, it was very sensible of her. Harry had no doubt that Marge Dursley would be unable to control her mouth.
Vernon and Dudley left as soon as they finished eating, leaving Petunia alone with her nephew.
After he finished his breakfast, Harry told his aunt, "If anyone comes around looking for me tell them I'm out and you don't know when I'll be back."
"Will they at least dress properly?" Harry could tell that she really wanted to say 'the freaks' but didn't dare.
"I don't know." Harry sounded as though he didn't care. "Probably since they don't want to stand out in a muggle neighbourhood. I did warn Dumbledore that I didn't want to be bothered by anybody from the Wizarding world and what would happen to anyone who was stupid enough to ignore the warning, but given that they've never cared about what I wanted before, I have no doubt they'll think I'm bluffing. At least at first anyway."
"You sound as though you're not too fond of those people any more." Petunia observed softly.
Surprised by her unexpected comment, Harry responded honestly. "I'm not. While I loved the magical world and still do love being able to do magic, I hate the people in it. The ones I trusted the most turned out to be backstabbing hypocrites."
He half-expected to hear 'I told you so' coming from Aunt Petunia, but oddly enough she didn't say a word and Harry thought at least for brief moment, he had seen a look of sympathy on her face.
"I assume you're referring to those Weasels." Harry didn't bother to correct her mispronunciation.
"Yeah them and the rest of the people of Hogwarts." Harry muttered. "Fortunately for me, I only have to put up with them for one more year. Then I can tell the Wizarding world to go to hell."
"If you feel that way about them, why go back?" Petunia couldn't help asking.
"Because I don't feel like destroying Hogwarts, just to get out of a magically binding contract." Harry admitted. "The castle has done nothing to harm me. Besides, doing it this way, I'll have a chance to see that justice is finally done to those who tried to destroy my life."
Petunia shivered at the cold, vengeful look on her nephew's face. As she turned back to the breakfast dishes, she almost felt sorry for those freaks… Almost.
How I spent my summer vacation
As Harry stepped outside #4, he was still marvelling over the fact that he and his aunt had had a somewhat civilised conversation. For the first time in his life she had talked to him like he was a human being with feelings, instead of a thing she had to deal with.
After doing a quick check to make sure there were no watchers magical or otherwise, Harry vanished from sight. He reappeared a moment later in an out of the way corner of King's Cross Station.
It was rush hour, so no one paid much attention to the slender young man in jeans as he headed for the loo. Nor did they pay any attention to a man with close-cropped, brown hair, hazel green eyes and wearing a business suit who came out a few minutes later.
Since he intended to eventually disappear off the wizarding world's radar, Harry knew he was going to need to open an account in a regular bank. He had decided on Barclays because they were supposed to have branches in most countries and the larger cities there.
As he stepped out of King's Cross station, Harry added a note to his mental list of things to do, about seeing if Gringotts could transfer monies directly to the account and what information they would need to affect the transfer.
.....
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