Harry spent the remainder of the holidays at the hotel and enjoyed his freedom immensely. He never left the hotel but did opt for some new clothes. He didn't get a lot so that he wouldn't draw more attention to himself but at least he now had some nice things. When it was time for him to go back, he asked Dobby to pop him to the castle where he quickly made his way to the castle and back into the betrayers stronghold.
Harry's sudden exit from the ball and the fact that he had completely disappeared ever since did not go unnoticed. His absence spurred several groups to comb the castle in search for him with obviously no luck. The motivation and intent were different for each group but they were similar in the fact that they all wanted Harry Potter for their own reasons.
Dumbledore was upset over Harry walking out of the ball and saw it as a direct act of trying to make him look bad in front of the other Headmasters as well as the ministry representatives who were on hand to take part in the celebrations. In his anger he ordered the staff to find Harry Potter and bring him to his office. He thought that Harry's little rebellion had gone on for long enough and it was time to return to his place under Albus' thumb.
The attempt by the staff was half hearted at best especially when Minerva pointedly refused to help and walked out of his office. Since Minerva was the one who truly ran the school, the rest of the staff followed her lead in all things and this was no exception. Of course, on her way out, she left a parting shot of "Since you're so confident in her abilities, I'm sure Sybill could find him using her gifts."
Minerva was well aware that there was a prophecy surrounding Mr. Potter but not the exact wording of the first two lines and was not aware of the last two lines. She knew Albus' decisions concerning Harry's life was based on this and Albus had painstakingly manipulated every aspect of Harry's life from where he lived to who his friends were. Albus even used his status as Harry's magical guardian to block any attempts to teach Harry about his family and their place in the world. The fact that the Weasleys were on board was a given. Molly had a blind trust of Albus and practically bullied Arthur into going along.
Minerva watched during first year as Miss Granger became a friend of Harry's despite Ron Weasley's multiple attempts to keep Harry away from each other. Even Minerva could see the obvious affection grow between the two in the last few years. On the other hand, Albus also saw how her influence could derail his plans so he set out to get control over her as well. Between her insecurities and her thirst for knowledge, Albus knew just which buttons to push through special instruction or rare books and eventually swayed Hermione to accept his view of how Harry's life should be. After that meeting, Hermione had a strong compulsion to help her friend and do what was best for Harry at least as Albus Dumbledore saw it. It was evident to Albus that his words worked as the compulsion charm he sent her way was still been active until recently. Albus learned at an early age how to manipulate people with his words but the added compulsion charm every now and again always managed to cement his views.
When the staff was fruitless in their search, Albus tried to enlist some of the 'old' crowd to help. His two best candidates absolutely refused citing that their already fraying relationship with Harry was the reason. The two Marauders were easily capable of recreating a device which would help in the search for Harry and would make life easier for Albus. To be told no by these two aggravated Albus to no end which only frustrated him more since the devices he used on Harry only worked when Harry was not hiding.
While this was one of the main reasons they declined, the meeting held in Albus' office before Christmas raised several alarms for them. It was then they realized they had been effectively neutralized when it came to Harry or his rights. Between Remus' status as a dark creature and Sirius' status as an escaped prisoner, Albus would never allow them to gain custody of Harry.
They say time heals everything but Sirius was not so sure. He was mostly recovered from his stay in Azkaban but he never regained his complete mental focus. In his good moments, he realized that Albus was playing politics with him by paying him lip service on the topic of getting him a trial. But the reality was that even if he was exonerated,
it was doubtful that he would gain custody of Harry as he knew Albus would make sure he was judged as mentally compromised. They were Marauders and should have been above being manipulated as effectively as they were. Sirius knew without a shadow of a doubt that Harry's situation was his fault. If he had done his duty to Harry instead of running after Peter, maybe this whole mess could have been avoided. Yes, Albus being the opportunist that he was used this to his advantage to permanently get Sirius out of the picture.
His and Remus' failures with Harry had him dreading the day they met up with James and Lily again and he didn't want to add to it by having Harry wanting their hides as well. The one thought that went through Sirius' mind was that he should have just stayed in Azkaban and succumbed to the inevitable for all the good he was doing Harry.
****
Cedric and Megan also searched for him but as you well know, came up empty. They checked their hiding place daily to see if he was there but were disappointed every time. Cedric tried to remain calm and upbeat for Megan's benefit but he was beginning to get concerned for the young man who was quickly filling the role of a little brother for him.
A few days after Christmas, they took a stroll to their meeting place to see if there were any signs of Harry and ended up sitting down and having a long talk. During their talk, Megan broke down and admitted her feelings for Harry and how his disappearance had her scared with everything that she now knew of his life. After some hugs and comforting words, she began to settle down and had an idea. She said "Dobby, can you come here please?"
Dobby popped in and said "Harry Potter's Megs calls me?"
Cedric laughed but then said "Brilliant Megs. Um…Dobby, do you know where Harry is and is he okay?"
"Yes Mr. Cedric. Dobby knows where Harry is and Harry is safe."
"Can you tell me where he is?"
Dobby shook his head. "Dobby sorry but Harry not be giving Dobby permission to tell this secret."
Megan asked "Could you take a message to him for me…I mean us?"
Dobby grinned. "Yes Mistress Megs. Dobby be glad to. Dobby thinks Harry be missing his Megs too."
She blushed but said "Tell him I…we miss him and to be safe and come back soon."
Cedric smiled at her slips. He was protective of her but couldn't think of a better guy he would trust his sister with than Harry. "Before you leave Dobby, do you know if he went to Gringotts and how it went?"
Some of the happiness dropped from Dobby's face. "Harry not being happy when he left Gringotts. They be trying to keep Harry's family from him."
Megan asked "What do you mean?"
Dobby looked down at the floor. She said "I'm sorry for asking you something like that. You're a good elf who keeps Harry's secrets. I'm sure Harry will tell us when he gets back but I'm just worried about him."
Dobby gave her a sweet little grin. "Dobby knows yous will probably be his mistress one day but cannot say anything until then."
She blushed as Cedric laughed. Once Dobby disappeared, they walked back to the Hufflepuff common room. As they were about to enter, Cedric grinned and said "After you Mistress Megs." She smacked his arm and stomped off but he could tell she was much happier knowing that Harry was fine.
...
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Hermione was beside herself with worry ever since Harry disappeared from the ball. She exhausted herself looking in all of the normal places but Harry was not to be found. After admitting defeat, she went back to her dorm and thought about the situation she was in and how to get out of it. She finally had an idea and took out a piece of parchment and began a letter. Once she was finished, she ran to the owlery to post it. She saw Hedwig and asked "Hey girl, would you like to take a letter for me?"
Hedwig looked at her for a moment before turning her back on her. Hermione thought 'Great, even his owl hates me now.' She managed to call down one of the school's owls and sent her letter off.
****
Hermione wasn't the only Gryffindor looking for Harry. There was a group led by the three female chasers of the Quidditch team who were desperate to talk to Harry. While they didn't publicly ridicule Harry, they were guilty of not standing up for him and they knew in his eyes; they were just as guilty as those who had been so horrible to him. It was obvious how Harry felt when the Weasley twins shared their confrontation with the other team members.
If that didn't open their eyes, the confrontation in McGonagall's classroom certainly did. The three girls had always thought of Harry as their little brother much like the twins did and for him to no longer want to associate with them was a hard pill to swallow. The team was very close and with the loss of Oliver, who graduated, and now Harry, who no longer trusted them, their 'family' was becoming fractured and dysfunctional.
****
Harry returned to the castle on the night before classes resumed. His mind was on other things and he made the mistake of arriving at Gryffindor tower much earlier that normal. As soon as he stepped through the portrait hole, he realized his mistake as all eyes locked in on him so he tried to hurry through and make his way up to his dorm room. Harry hadn't made it half way up the stairs before everyone's shock at seeing Harry cleared and they went into action. Angelina asked "Harry, may we speak to you?"
When he looked up, he saw the entire Quidditch team along with Neville, Ron, and Hermione along with a few others. He shot them a look of disdain before starting up the stairs. Katie blurted out "Harry, we're sorry for everything. We don't want you to leave or quit the Quidditch team. You're family to us."
Harry stopped dead in his tracks and turned around while shooting them a glare. He snorted "Family? Is that what you just said? That I'm family?"
George quietly said "Yeah Harry."
Harry sneered "And I thought the Dursleys were bad. At least they never pretended to like me before attacking me."
Angelina softly said "Harry, we said we're sorry. Please come back to us."
Harry sneered "Why? Why would I want to do anything with you people? What would I have to gain by it?"
Alicia pleaded "We were wrong Harry. Please accept our apology. It is bad enough that Ollie is gone. We can't lose you too."
Harry closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, they could see the restrained fury he was holding back. He snapped out "I guess you should have thought about that before you made me an outcast."
He made eye contact with each one of them as he said "Of everyone in this school, you WERE the people I was closest too. You knew me better than anyone yet you still accused me of doing things YOU should know I would never do."
They winced as he stressed the words and hung their heads in shame as he said this. They thought he was done but never expected what came next. "It all boils down to trust and at this point, I can't trust any of you."
Hermione asked "You said you can't instead of you don't. Why can't you trust us?"
Harry sighed and thought that only Hermione would spot the difference. "It may have escaped your attention but I've had a Dark Lord after me for fourteen years. It's hard enough to deal with the frontal attack but it's even harder to deal with the threat from behind. This year has shown me that if I place my trust in someone who says they are my friend, I just may end up with a wand pointed at my back. Voldemort is a big enough threat without me having to worry about whether my friends are going to turn and run when things get bad."
They all gasped at his last statement as he turned and went up the stairs. He was glad there was no one in the dorm as he quickly changed and climbed into bed. Once the curtains were pulled, he charmed them silent and added one to keep anyone but him from opening them. He called for Dobby and said "It may be time to find me a new place to sleep. I think it would be easier on me if I didn't have to worry about running into them."
Dobby replied "Harry could always call the sword to him. It would let him in Godric's chambers."
"No, I don't think we can do that yet. They can't know that we know yet."
Down in the common room, the subdued group sat around on the couches talking about what had just happened. Almost all of them agreed that they had a lot to make up for with Harry and hopefully earn his trust one day. For now, all they could do was to try and support him as best they could. Angelina noticed Fred and George looking quite depressed which was usually against their nature. She asked "What's got you two so down?"
Fred answered "Well, Dad told us to fix things with Harry before the school term began. The problem is we haven't even seen Harry since the ball to try and now we are afraid that if we try, we may make things worse. With what happened in Ginny's first year, Dad is taking this as a mark against our family honor and is rather put out about the whole thing."
Hermione said "Your father is a very nice man. He wouldn't do anything too bad."
George grimaced. "Hermione, family honor is everything to Dad and he won't take this very well."
Hermione sadly nodded "I can understand that. My father is a decorated hero from the Falkland's conflict. The branch he served in places honor above everything. When he finds out about this, he won't be very happy with me."
...
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