To Find the Way Home

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Notes: Well, it's been an awful long while. Just hoping someone will still read this. Hopefully I'll be updating this more regularly now.

Enjoy (I hope)

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Harry sat awkwardly on the couch as the large man, Lester, spoke in hushed tones with his aunt and another large man with the coloring of a grape.

In what must have been an odd case of family resemblance, the little boy sitting in the couch opposite of Harry had taken a cherry-like color after the tantrum he'd thrown upon seeing Harry.

Harry's aunt turned to look at him, and he smiled at her endearingly, but she only turned around without acknowledging it and nodded to Lester.

Harry turned back to what he had been informed were his two cousins and felt a sinking feeling. They boy refused to look at him, and would hold his breath whenever he felt Harry looked at him for too long.

His girl cousin on the other hand, was significantly younger and seemed to have a neck problem, because she just stared at him curiously with her neck tilted to the side and her nose scrunched up. Then again, it certainly didn't help that they'd been put under strict orders to sit quietly and not go near him.

Harry was broken out of this train of thought by Lester approaching him. "Harry," he said, "I'm going to leave you with your aunt and uncle now. If you have any trouble at all, just tap on the kitchen window, okay?"

Harry looked at him oddly, but nodded. Lester straightened up. "Thank you, then, Mrs. Dursley. It'll be just as we settled it. We won't bother you at all, and should anything out of the ordinary happen, please let us know."

"And this will just be temporary, right?" the big man grumbled.

Harry's aunt put herself between the two men. "Don't worry, Vernon, we have a deal with the old man and he has to keep his end of the bargain or we give him the boy back."

Harry frowned. His aunt did not seem that happy, especially with him, but he couldn't think of any way he might have misbehaved. This was different from Matt's indifference. And since leaving Matt, everyone he had met had treated him with kindness.

So wrapped up was he in his thoughts that when he looked up, Lester was gone and his aunt and Vernon were standing side by side in front of the door, both looking at him. They seemed upset, and Harry was frankly at a loss. He wanted so much to make his aunt happy with him, like Ernie's aunt. He jumped off the couch before he could lose his nerve and hugged her legs tightly.

Vernon turned purple.

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When Lester exited the Dursley house, he was greeted by the sight of Remus Lupin arguing with one of the Aurors setting up camp in the lawn.

"But who will be staying inside with Harry?" Lester heard Lupin ask.

"I'm afraid Mrs. Dursley and her husband were adamant that they did not want anyone to stay inside the house," Lester spoke from behind, "therefore we agreed that our people would camp outside and we'd place some concealment charms so as to make everything look normal."

Lupin looked unconvinced. "Even so, someone should stay inside with Harry. His safety is our priority-"

"They won't budge," Lester interrupted. "Harry will be very well protected. We have disabled apparating inside the house, and we will have six men out here on guard. The only thing he is in danger of is his family's thick-headedness."

Lupin frowned. "Did dumbledore approve this? I think it may be too soon to leave Harry alone with his aunt. I'm not at all convinced it's the best place for him to be."

"I won't lie to you. I'm fairly sure he won't be all that happy with his new family, but I have to follow orders. I told the kid to tap on the kitchen window if he needed anything. I'll be stationed there, and I can go in and check things out, maybe cheer him up a bit."

Lupin sighed. Something didn't feel right.

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"Fail," Lucius said quietly, "and I will kill you."

Peter Pettigrew said nothing and kept his head down.

"I did not like at all what you did today. You meant to run away, and you know what the Dark Lord does to those who betray him, do you not? This is your last chance, Pettigrew. Bring me Potter, and I may still let you participate tonight. But my kindness does have a limit. One mistake, and I will let the dark lord take care of you himself."

"I-I didn't mean to run, Lucius. I swear it! I panicked and knew if I transformed, they wouldn't see me-"

"Enough. Bring me Potter, or don't come back at all. And in that case, you had better hide well, because the Dark Lord will find you."

Peter nodded, "I'm only saying, Lucius, the house will be protected. Our spy said there would be aurors inside the house guarding him. How do you expect-"

Lucius smiled coldly. "I don't."

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Michael glanced at the tied-up deatheater and looked around, his pulse racing. Where could he hide him? If anyone were to come looking, they'd know immediately that he'd been attacked. And Michael had no way of knowing if Mathew would able to identify him.

Finally he settled for dragging him to the bedroom and covering the unconscious man with the invisibility cloak. That done, he walked over to the fireplace and with a spell blocked access to the Floo network. It might be days now before the man was found.

His plan was nowhere near perfect. In fact, it had more flaws than virtues. Would he really be able to stroll in, take Potter, and take him to Dumbledore, all without being found, or worse, identified?

Lucius would kill him.

But if he didn't do anything, the Dark Lord would kill thousands.

His choice was made.

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I know this was incredibly short, but I wanted to post it to really remind everyone of where all the characters at this point of time. The previous couple of chapters were all blurry and choppy to give that sense of confusion, and this chapter kind of clears that atmosphere. Anyway, reviews will encourage me to continue with this long-abandoned project, so don't be shy.