A New Identity

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.

....

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.

Before going into Barclays, Harry got out his new wallet and made sure the initial deposit was there and that the ID he had duplicated from Vernon's wallet now matched his current appearance, instead of the one he originally intended to use. He doubted that Granger or the Weasleys had believed his denial about not being Harry Potter, given that Dumbledork had been with him.

This particular glamour was probably far safer, at least for now. The face wasn't quite so memorable as the other had been. He was keeping the name though. It had been a spur of the moment thing that night when he gave it to Tom at the Leaky Cauldron, but he liked it and in a way he felt the last year of his life had been comparable to that of the main character in the Count of Monte Cristo novel.

....

#4 Privet Drive

Wiping her hands on a dishtowel Petunia went to the front door. She hoped that whoever it was at her door this wasn't going to take long, because she still had breakfast dishes to finish.

There were four people, two men and two women, at the door all of whom looked vaguely familiar. Three of them had bright red hair while the fourth had bushy brown hair.

Before she could say a word, the older red headed man introduced himself. "Hello Mrs. Dursley. I don't know if you remember me, but my name is Arthur Weasley."

The name helped Petunia place where she'd seen the man. It had been here a couple of years ago when one of his horrible children cast a spell on her precious Dudley. She was grateful that her husband and son were out of the house and a quick glance at the sitting room told her that Marge wasn't in there.

She must have gone back up to her room, even though Petunia had told her that the boy was most likely going to be gone all day. Petunia was grateful for that, because the last thing Marge needed was another shock.

That might kill her and that would upset Vernon. She was also grateful that her nephew wasn't going to force her to be polite to these people. He had made it quite clear that morning those freaks could drop straight into hell and he wouldn't have cared.

Petunia didn't invite them in. "What do you want?"

"May we speak with Harry please?" The bushy haired young woman asked.

"He's not here. He left a couple of hours ago and didn't say where he was going or when he would be back." Petunia told them then started to close the door.

The older red headed woman stepped forward and put her foot in the door to prevent it from closing and asked. "Aren't you the least bit concerned about where your nephew has gone or what he might be doing? I mean anything could happen to him."

Opening the door a little wider, Petunia glared at the woman "No. I haven't worried about what happens to that little freak for almost sixteen years and I'm not about to start now. Besides, from what I saw last night, a person would have to be an idiot to want to attack him. Now, if you are quite through wasting my time…"

"Can we come in and wait for Harry?" The red headed young man asked.

Just how stupid were these freaks? Petunia asked sharply, "Do you not understand English? I told you I don't know when he'll be back, nor do I care. Nor do I want your kind cluttering up my sitting room."

Petunia glared at the foot that was still in the doorway and added, "Now if you are quite through, I have things I need to do and you are keeping me from them."

The older woman reluctantly withdrew her foot, when she saw she would get nowhere with Petunia.

Petunia slammed it with a great deal of satisfaction and headed back to the kitchen. It felt so good to put them in their place and know they couldn't do anything about it.

....

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