Chapter 018

"But, it's Albus," Minerva said in a pleading voice. "I realize he may have made mistakes but surely Harry cannot have lost that much – "

Shiva held up a hand and shook her head. "Min, he caught the old man in another half truth or outright lie earlier. He mentioned it to me to make sure and I have to say it does raise some questions..."

Minerva flinched back. "What?!"

"His scar." Minerva just furrowed her brow and Shiva sighed. "It's some variant form of a defense or protection rune. I've never seen something quite like it, but once Harry pointed it out I couldn't not see it. It looks like it's tied into something but I have no clue what. He said that Dumbledore implied the scar was a leftover from the killing curse...Look I'll be the first to admit the old man is a fantastic wizard and is on the right side but something about this whole Potter situation just smells funny you know?"

"I don't believe we have enough information to truly judge this matter. I think we will just have to wait and see where things lead," Minerva said rubbing her temples with one hand.

"Agreed. But just so we're clear, if it comes down to battle lines at some point in the future...I'm most likely going to be with Harry. That kid is looking more and more like the precocious little brother I always wanted. I'm not going abandon him for some nebulous Greater Good or other such bullshite."

"I can drink to that, Shiva. I can drink to that." Holding out their drinks, the two friends clinked glasses and moved onto less troublesome topics.

"Promise you'll write, Harry?" Neville asked as Platform Nine and Three-Quarters came into view from their window.

"I promise, mate," Harry replied with a smile. "Make sure you do the same."

"Harry, you're sure you're going to be alright?" Hermione asked staring hard at him and taking in the clothes that were far too large for him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Harry replied with an evil grin. "Just because I know that I can't do magic or activate runes at the Dursleys doesn't mean they know that."

Neville laughed. "Harry, I think you've spent too much time with the twins!"

Hermione didn't appear convinced though. "Well remember, my parents are Muggles so if you need us to stop by or anything just send a letter or give me a call."

"I promise, Hermione." The train puttered to a stop and the whistle blew. "I'm going to miss you guys. It was nice having someone to hang out with."

"I know what you mean," Neville said quietly. "But hey, it's only a few months till we can all meet up again! And I'll ask Gran about you guys coming over for a day or two at some point. The Longbottom manor can get kinda empty sometimes."

"Sounds like a plan!" Harry stood up and clapped Neville on the back. He grinned then turned to Hermione and accepted her bear hug. "Have a great summer, Hermione."

"You too, Harry, Neville."

The trio smiled at each other and stepped off the train headed back towards their lives outside of Hogwarts.

XXX

This had probably been the second worst summer that Harry could ever remember. Prior coming returning to the Dursleys, he had thought he had friends in Hermione and Neville. He had thought he had an ally in Shiva. He had thought that things would be different.

He had been stupid.

As soon as Harry had entered Number 4 Privet Drive he had been thrown against the wall, nearly breaking his arm. Harry had been expecting that and immediately brought out his Slow Burn. It was a rune stone that didn't do much of anything beyond keep a low level lumos going for an hour or so. It was basically just a fancy candle. But the Dursleys didn't know that…so Harry had activated it on the train hoping to intimidate his Aunt, Uncle and cousin into leaving him alone. A bit of misdirection and with any luck Harry wouldn't have to worry about his relatives at all for most of the summer.

Unfortunately, he had greatly underestimated Aunt Petunia. Upon seeing the Slow Burn she just sneered at him. "Idiot, boy, my sister went to that school as well. I know perfectly well you can't do any of that freakishness here!" Harry's eyes had widened as Vernon's smile practically split his face. Dudley cackled with glee behind him. The beating that followed left him sore for nearly two weeks and Harry had been let out of his room only for bathroom breaks and two meals a day.

Even that wouldn't have been so bad except that he had received no communication from any of his 'friends' at all. Not a letter, not a phone call, not a visit. He couldn't even send Hedwig to ask what he had done wrong since Uncle Vernon had padlocked his familiar's cage. Harry was given little enough to eat himself and he had to split that with Hedwig to ensure his poor owl could last until school started again. Having friends and then being stripped of them, yet again, had made this summer practically unbearable.

Harry's only retreat had been speaking to Hedwig and coming up with new experiments and applications for his rune stones. Whenever he got bored he tried branching out a bit into attempting to craft some ward schemes. While he couldn't actually test any of them, several designs were complete and awaiting etching. The Ninja stone had taken a while but it looked like it should work. The only problem was it didn't seem like it would play well with too many others so his father's Cloak would likely still be more useful until he could figure out a workaround. He'd come up with a Proximity Ping as well that would let him know whenever anyone not in the original bubble radius entered. A Lockpick stone was easy to set up and it seemed to have the potential to work on things specifically designed to block Alohomora as well since his rune stone incorporated a Suppression rune twined into the Spell rune. The improved barrier that he had originally thought of the first time he met Shiva was making progress but was still way too complicated to attempt.

Harry had considered playing around with more offensive designs especially after coming face to face with Voldemort but ended up deciding that was something better left for next year. A simple Blastor Concussor,and Disintegrator would have to do for the moment. Building up rune stones designed to explode had too much risk without a bit of oversight. At least, at first.