Unity

Unity

Part Three-


Changes


Harry slept hard and awoke before dawn, knowing he would not be spending another night at number 4 Privet Drive. He used the reducio spell on most of the objects he wanted to take- not on the crystal. It was small enough anyway. Besides, he was unsure how shrinking might affect its properties. He picked up Hedwig\'s cage, then set it down again, and found a piece of ordinary paper and an ordinary pencil left over from his pre- Hogwarts days. He looked at the paper for a long time then simply wrote:

Thanks for everything.

Harry Potter

He left it on the bed. Of course it was a ridiculous note. It felt like good manners, all the same. He picked up Hedwig\'s cage again, and crept down the stairs hoping no one would be awake yet. Dudley, who had grown far too fat to walk upstairs or even move himself off the settee, which he occupied completely, all by himself, stirred and looked at him groggily.

\"Leavin\' then?\"

\"Yes.\"

\"Oh. Wish I could leave.\"

Harry stood for a moment, looking at the puddle of flesh his cousin had become. Dudley had never been even the slightest bit decent to Harry. Never once, even on accident, ever. Somehow, he could not help feeling sorry for him, though. Harry took out his wand and before Dudley could scream, cast,

\"Lipido semi reductus!\"

Dudley was shocked speechless, until he noticed that his girth had effectively halved. With great effort. Dudley stood up.

\"I can walk!\"

\"Try to keep doing that, Dudley. Tell Aunt Petunia that her diet finally kicked in, all right?\"

\"Yeah.\"

Dudley waddled over and punched Harry in the arm, hard enough to bruise but not as hard as Harry figured he could, then laughed, and waddled off to the kitchen to raid the fridge.

Harry picked up Hedwig and left 4 Privet Drive behind. Hopefully, Harry thought, forever. He caught the Knight\'s Bus to Gringotts, and applied for the new Wizard Triplatinum card, which he was assured, would catch up to him, by owl as soon as possible. He took the opportunity to review and update his financial portfolio, sinking some of his earnings into several mutual funds including the high risk Prometheus fund which provided start up capital for small wizarding businesses internationally. Harry really didn\'t follow everything his investment counseler was on about, but thought investing in small business made sense.

Weasley\'s Wizarding Wheezes was certainly doing well enough. It was also his next stop. In the window was a large flashing sign:

Room for let. Must have sense of humor!

\"Harry! You escaped the Dursleys!\"

\"Please don\'t remind me. Fred, thank you both again for remembering my birthday. I love the super size set of Smoke Smell and Don\'t Tell bombs. I\'ll endeavor to put them to good use this year, if I can catch Snape unawares. Where is George, by the way?\"

\"Out doing some new product testing. The local wizarding counsel prefers we do that very, very far from here.\"

\"I can\'t imagine why! I saw the sign in the window. I take it you did decide to buy that house?\"

\"That\'s right. Just not enough room upstairs to let our full creative potential run wild, and store all the junk we\'ve accumulated.\"

\"I\'d like to rent it.\"

\"Harry! You are our largest investor, and if you were any more a Weasley you\'d have red hair. You want that room, it\'s yours!\"

\"I won\'t hear of it. If I don\'t pay rent, I\'ll deserve ever practical joke you and George will play on me. I need a safe place, Fred. I need my privacy.\"

\"If we charged you rent, our mum would do her nut. We won\'t bother you, Harry. You\'d be doing us a favor. Much as we were looking forward to have a total stranger to cheer up with our wit and fine products, we\'d rather having you looking out for the place.\"

\"Thanks, Fred. Any furniture upstairs?\"

\"Not a stick, I\'m afraid.\"

\"I\'ll get Hedwig settled then and do some shopping. I\'ve never owned any actual furniture before. I\'m rather looking forward to it!\"

Upstairs consisted of a small hallway, with a large wooden door. Behind the door was nothing but a large room with wooden floors, a working fireplace that Fred informed him was not connected to the floo network, and a lavatory with both a tub and a walk in shower. There were two sets of French doors that opened onto a small balcony over the street, and a small frosted window in a door in the bathroom that opened onto stairs giving Harry his own private entrance through an alley off the street.

Harry thought it was perfect. He performed various protection spells, charms, and wards, including an ever noxing hex on the fireplace, that was sure to trouble any Death Eater attempting to connect the network to it through devious means. Harry hoped he would remember to undo it when it came time to give up the room. When he was satisfied that he wouldn\'t die in his sleep there, Harry left via the shop exit.

He shopped for a couple of hours, getting all the basics, including a decent sized bed, bedding, towels, a bookshelf, an attractive comfortable and spacious permanent residence cage from the Owl Emporium as a surprise for Hedwig, a comfortable chair, a writing desk and chair, and a Persian flying carpet, that though very beautiful, was ancient and had no flight left in her. He took lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, then returned to his room to await various deliveries. A few owls and a giant pelican were already waiting for him upon his return.

Harry used the rest of the day to unshrink and arrange furniture, to unpack, and to get settled in. He used his wand to light a fire, took a nice long bath, and slid into a new pair of silk pajamas. He opened the green bag and let the crystal out onto the foot of his bed. The crystal\'s display bathed the room in beautiful color. It was as comforting as memory itself, in this new and strange location.

Harry still had not decided whether or not to send the last memory he recorded to Draco. He wanted to, in his heart, he wanted to share the experience with Draco; but when he thought about that, it seemed inconceivable!

Draco gave him a taste, a tease. Did he really mean to reply to that with an entire sexual experience? On the one hand, it had been his honest reply. Besides, Draco would have to figure out a way to top it, wouldn\'t he? Receiving that would be worth turning off that nagging voice in his head, that might be called the voice of reason, but so often sounds as shrill as Hermione on a bad day, or as stubborn as Ron on any day at all. Harry took a deep breath, turned the bag inside out over his hand, grabbed the crystal with the bag, and carefully turned the bag right way out again. He tied the bag so that he could recognize if it returned opened, and gave it to Hedwig with the usual instructions.

Then, Harry Potter tried very hard to think about anything at all, except what he had just done.

*to be continued*