Year of Discovery

Title: Year of Discovery

Chapter: (1) Leaving the Wizarding World

Author: Laen

Editors: Laur-Laur, Zim

Summary: When given a chance to leave the Wizarding World once and for all, Harry decides to take it. But what happens when he ends up bumping into one of his closest friends from Hogwarts at his new school? Will he ever escape magic? Or Voldemort?

Disclaimer: If I were J.K. Rowling, do you seriously think I'd be writing fan fiction?

A/N: I decided to edit and re-post. Had some extra time. So yeah, enjoy.

*****

“Potter...” Harry shot up from his bed, groaning as he reached over to grab his glasses. He missed the target, and fell off of the bed in a tangled mess.

“Potter...” Harry got up from his bed, squinting to see in the dark. He grabbed his glasses and pulled them on.

“Who's there?” Harry looked around blankly, wondering if it was just his imagination. Silence fell on the room.

“Uggg...I'm hearing things...” Harry mumbled to himself as he got up from the floor, staggering to crawl back into bed.

“Potter...” the voice spoke again, and Harry spun around with an angry expression on his face.

“Bloody hell, Dudley, quit it already! I'm not in the mood to—”

“Silence!” the voice cried out. Harry fell back onto his bed from the sudden cry, and grabbed his wand off his nightstand immediately, pointing it around trying to find the source of the voice.

“Who's there?”

“Potter...” the voice was quiet, barely heard through the whishing of winds outside the room.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Harry asked, still looking about trying to find who had spoken.

“I do believe the correct question is: What do you want, Mr. Potter...” the voice replied.

“What?” A look of confusion appeared on Harry's face. He grabbed onto his pillow with his free hand, ready to throw it at any moment.

“If you were given a chance to start a new life, away from the Wizarding World, would you take it?” the voice continued to question.

Harry's grip on the pillow loosened, and his eyes widened.

“That...that's not possible! Who are you? Show yourself! You're trying to trick me again, aren't you Voldemort!” Harry exclaimed.

“You dare to speak the name of the Dark Lord... they were correct, you are brave Potter...”

“Who are you?” Harry found himself asking again.

“My name is Kazu, young Potter...they call me the Dragon Master...” a sudden flash of light appeared in front of Harry, and the boy-who-lived raised his hand to cover his eyes.

When the light faded, a man with gray robes stood in front of him, with a weak smile on his face.

“Mr. Potter, it's nice to finally see you face to face...” Harry raised his wand so it was at eye level with `Kazu'.

“What are you doing here? How did you get in here! What do you want?” Harry began to rant, his wand still pointed at Kazu.

“Calm down Potter, I'm not here to hurt you... can't you see? No wand!” Kazu raised both his hands, and Harry frowned.

“What do you want?” Harry repeated.

“As I said earlier, Mr. Potter, the correct question is what do you want?”

“What?”

Kazu sighed, as if frustrated by Harry's stupidity.

“Potter, what would you say to a well deserved vacation? Away from the Dursleys and the Order of the Phoenix? Away from Voldemort and his Death Eaters?”

“I'd ask you what's the bloody catch? You're here to kill me, aren't you?”

“Merlin's beard, boy! Of course not!” Kazu exclaimed, giving Harry a strange look.

“Why should I believe what you say? Why should I trust you?”

“A big suspicious aren't you there? I'm not surprised... after all, you just lost your God-Father...”

“How did you know that?” Harry asked in disbelief. He had been under the assumption that no one besides the Death Eaters, the members of the Order of the Phoenix and his friends had known of his loss.

“Merlin, Potter, where did you think he learned it all?”

“Learned what?” Harry asked, this conversation suddenly sounding very familiar.

“Wandless magic, Potter! What else?”

“What are you on about? I don't—”

“Oh bloody hell...accio!” Harry's pillow suddenly went flying past his head towards Kazu, who caught it easily in one hand.

“No wand. Get it now? Wandless magic!”

“But...Sirius never knew wandless magic!”

“Yes he did, boy! You just never knew! Listen... we're running out of time here... just answer my question, do you or do you not want to leave?” Kazu asked, staring Harry in the eye.

“Of course, but—”

“Then let's leave!” Kazu cut in, grabbing Harry by the arm, and disappearing with him alongside momentarily.

Seconds later, the members of the Order of the Phoenix appeared in the smallest room of number four, Privet Drive, but Harry Potter was nowhere to be seen.

*****

“What the... where am I?” Harry wrenched his arm away from Kazu, who stepped back from Harry (who was still in his baggy pajamas).

“Hmm...Sirius would be devastated if he saw you wearing those...” Kazu mumbled, sighing deeply.

Harry's attention suddenly shot towards Kazu when he heard Sirius' name.

“Why am I here?” Harry asked, looking around carefully, his wand his tightly gripped in his hand.

“Under the request of your late God-Father, I was instructed to rescue you from those... muggles.” Kazu spat the last word out, reminding Harry of the way Draco Malfoy had once referred to the non-magical people.

“Why should I believe you?”

Kazu's hand reached into his robe, but before anything else could happen, Harry shot a disarming charm at Kazu.

“Expelliarmus!” Kazu went flying back, crashing into a couch.

“Bloody hell! What was that for?” Kazu asked angrily, getting up from the ground in pain.

“You... you were going to attack me... weren't you?” Harry asked, confused when no wand came flying towards his direction.

“Of course not! I was just—” Kazu paused as he pulled something out of his robe, “—grabbing this for you!”

“What is that?” Harry asked suspiciously.

“A letter from him.”

Harry didn't need to be told who he was. He ran forward, grabbing the letter out of Kazu's hand, and began to read.

Dear Harry,

If you're reading this, then by Merlin, I'm dead. Don't start sobbing away now, Prongslette! You're sixteen! A man, in the muggle world! In case you're wondering what's going on, allow me to explain…the man who gave you this letter is Kazu—one of my mentors. Don't judge him by his looks; just because he looks young, doesn't mean he's unskilled. Blimey, you should've seen what happened to me the first time we dueled...but that's another story for another day.

Now, allow me to explain why you've gotten this letter... I've asked Kazu to deliver this letter to you on your sixteenth birthday if I had died before then, for you see, I wanted to give you a grand present for your sixteenth. I wanted to give you a new chance. Unfortunately, I'm unable to be there to help you along your journey...so that's why Kazu's there, to help you out. Now before you start asking question after question, keep on reading, all right?

I've no idea how I'm going…or…um...how I died...but I just want you to know it's not your fault! Unless you were the one who held the wand that kill me (which I hope you weren't—just joking there Prongslette...), it was not your fault!

All right then...I haven't done much explaining about why you're with Kazu...but, long story short, he's going to help you start a new life. Once summer ends, you'll be going to a muggle school. Now, before you start wondering what kind of muggle school, allow me to continue explaining...

The school you'll be attending will be Scotland High. Now, Scotland High is a private school, somewhat like Hogwarts, but a lot better. It's somewhat like the Universities in America... but for kids your age. Scotland High was opened about two decades ago... your grandmother (God Bless her) was one of the people who had donated a large amount of money to the funding of it, and she always hoped that one day you would be able to attend there.

Now I've probably bored you to death with all this detail (I know I am, no pun intended), so I'll just wrap things up. You'll be spending the rest of your summer with Kazu. Don't worry, he's a good wizard! I wouldn't allow him to take care of you if he wasn't. I hope you the best, and I apologize for not being able to be there with you.

Love always, Your God-Father, Sirius Black

Tears streamed down Harry's face, many teardrops splattering the ink on the letter.

“Harry...” Kazu whispered, looking at the young wizard with a pained look on his face.

“I'm sorry...” Harry apologized, falling to his knees, and beginning to sob.

“I shouldn't have attacked you...I'm so sorry...” Harry said between sobs, struggling to control his tears.

“Let it out, Harry, just let it out...” Kazu mumbled, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry did as he was told.

*****

“Dad, I'm not leaving!” Hermione Granger screamed as her parents continued to knock at the door.

“Sweet heart, we know you don't want to go... but I thought we talked about this last night already...”

“No! You and dad talked about it! I didn't have a say in anything!” Hermione yelled through the door.

“Hermione! London isn't safe anymore! Your mother and I know what's best for you! Trust me when I say this! Going back to Hogwarts is out of the question!” David Granger cried out, continuing to pounding away at the door.

“Hogwarts is the only place that's safe now that Voldemort's—” Hermione began, but her mother cut in.

“If Hogwarts was safe, Hermione, why did you come home with an injury this year?”

There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke.

“Hermione, love, the movers are here already. Please, just open the door...”

“Dumbledore would never allow this to happen...Harry and Ron wouldn't let you do this either...why aren't they here to stop you?” Hermione asked in barely a whisper, wondering why her friends and her Headmaster weren't there yet.

“Dumbledore can't do anything! When we sent you to Hogwarts, your Headmaster signed a magical contract saying that if anything dangerous occurred while you were at Hogwarts we would be able to pull you out immediately, no strings attached. We would've done so earlier, but apparently your Headmaster thought that three-headed dogs, trolls, large human-eating snakes and werewolves weren't dangerous enough to alert us of the situation!” Mr. Granger stated angrily.

“Mum...you can't really agree with him! Please don't make me leave! This is my life!” Hermione pleaded, tears streaming down her face.

“We're sorry Hermione, we really are. But you'll understand in the future. This is for the best. I promise you, you'll love Scotland High!” Evelyn Granger said.

“I hate you both!” Hermione sobbed, sliding to the ground tearfully. “Hogwarts is my second home! All my friends are there—you can't force me to leave just because I came home with an injury and—”

“Get in the bloody car Hermione Jane Granger! Before I smash this door open!” David Granger suddenly shouted, glaring at the door as if demanding that it opened on its own.

A soft click was heard as the door was unlocked, and the door opened with a soft creak.

“Hermione...”

“Don't talk to me,” Hermione whispered back to her mother, who flinched at her response.

Holding tightly to her cat, Crookshanks, Hermione stepped out of her room and into the hall. She walked past her parents, who both moved to let her pass, and down the stairs silently. When she had reached the front of the house, she looked up at it in tears.

Her home. The house she had lived in for the last fifteen years. She might never see it again. Ignoring the movers that stared at her with looks of pity she got into the car, praying that one day she would be able to return to Hogwarts. Someway, somehow.