Harry spent the remainder of the holidays at the hotel and enjoyed his freedom immensely. He never left the hotel but did opt for some new clothes. He didn't get a lot so that he wouldn't draw more attention to himself but at least he now had some nice things. When it was time for him to go back, he asked Dobby to pop him to the castle where he quickly made his way to the castle and back into the betrayers stronghold.
Harry's sudden exit from the ball and the fact that he had completely disappeared ever since did not go unnoticed. His absence spurred several groups to comb the castle in search for him with obviously no luck. The motivation and intent were different for each group but they were similar in the fact that they all wanted Harry Potter for their own reasons.
Dumbledore was upset over Harry walking out of the ball and saw it as a direct act of trying to make him look bad in front of the other Headmasters as well as the ministry representatives who were on hand to take part in the celebrations. In his anger he ordered the staff to find Harry Potter and bring him to his office. He thought that Harry's little rebellion had gone on for long enough and it was time to return to his place under Albus' thumb.
The attempt by the staff was half hearted at best especially when Minerva pointedly refused to help and walked out of his office. Since Minerva was the one who truly ran the school, the rest of the staff followed her lead in all things and this was no exception. Of course, on her way out, she left a parting shot of "Since you're so confident in her abilities, I'm sure Sybill could find him using her gifts."
Minerva was well aware that there was a prophecy surrounding Mr. Potter but not the exact wording of the first two lines and was not aware of the last two lines. She knew Albus' decisions concerning Harry's life was based on this and Albus had painstakingly manipulated every aspect of Harry's life from where he lived to who his friends were. Albus even used his status as Harry's magical guardian to block any attempts to teach Harry about his family and their place in the world. The fact that the Weasleys were on board was a given. Molly had a blind trust of Albus and practically bullied Arthur into going along.
Minerva watched during first year as Miss Granger became a friend of Harry's despite Ron Weasley's multiple attempts to keep Harry away from each other. Even Minerva could see the obvious affection grow between the two in the last few years. On the other hand, Albus also saw how her influence could derail his plans so he set out to get control over her as well. Between her insecurities and her thirst for knowledge, Albus knew just which buttons to push through special instruction or rare books and eventually swayed Hermione to accept his view of how Harry's life should be. After that meeting, Hermione had a strong compulsion to help her friend and do what was best for Harry at least as Albus Dumbledore saw it. It was evident to Albus that his words worked as the compulsion charm he sent her way was still been active until recently. Albus learned at an early age how to manipulate people with his words but the added compulsion charm every now and again always managed to cement his views.
When the staff was fruitless in their search, Albus tried to enlist some of the 'old' crowd to help. His two best candidates absolutely refused citing that their already fraying relationship with Harry was the reason. The two Marauders were easily capable of recreating a device which would help in the search for Harry and would make life easier for Albus. To be told no by these two aggravated Albus to no end which only frustrated him more since the devices he used on Harry only worked when Harry was not hiding.
While this was one of the main reasons they declined, the meeting held in Albus' office before Christmas raised several alarms for them. It was then they realized they had been effectively neutralized when it came to Harry or his rights. Between Remus' status as a dark creature and Sirius' status as an escaped prisoner, Albus would never allow them to gain custody of Harry.
They say time heals everything but Sirius was not so sure. He was mostly recovered from his stay in Azkaban but he never regained his complete mental focus. In his good moments, he realized that Albus was playing politics with him by paying him lip service on the topic of getting him a trial. But the reality was that even if he was exonerated,
it was doubtful that he would gain custody of Harry as he knew Albus would make sure he was judged as mentally compromised. They were Marauders and should have been above being manipulated as effectively as they were. Sirius knew without a shadow of a doubt that Harry's situation was his fault. If he had done his duty to Harry instead of running after Peter, maybe this whole mess could have been avoided. Yes, Albus being the opportunist that he was used this to his advantage to permanently get Sirius out of the picture.
His and Remus' failures with Harry had him dreading the day they met up with James and Lily again and he didn't want to add to it by having Harry wanting their hides as well. The one thought that went through Sirius' mind was that he should have just stayed in Azkaban and succumbed to the inevitable for all the good he was doing Harry.
****
Cedric and Megan also searched for him but as you well know, came up empty. They checked their hiding place daily to see if he was there but were disappointed every time. Cedric tried to remain calm and upbeat for Megan's benefit but he was beginning to get concerned for the young man who was quickly filling the role of a little brother for him.
A few days after Christmas, they took a stroll to their meeting place to see if there were any signs of Harry and ended up sitting down and having a long talk. During their talk, Megan broke down and admitted her feelings for Harry and how his disappearance had her scared with everything that she now knew of his life. After some hugs and comforting words, she began to settle down and had an idea. She said "Dobby, can you come here please?"
Dobby popped in and said "Harry Potter's Megs calls me?"
Cedric laughed but then said "Brilliant Megs. Um…Dobby, do you know where Harry is and is he okay?"
"Yes Mr. Cedric. Dobby knows where Harry is and Harry is safe."
"Can you tell me where he is?"
Dobby shook his head. "Dobby sorry but Harry not be giving Dobby permission to tell this secret."
Megan asked "Could you take a message to him for me…I mean us?"
Dobby grinned. "Yes Mistress Megs. Dobby be glad to. Dobby thinks Harry be missing his Megs too."
She blushed but said "Tell him I…we miss him and to be safe and come back soon."
Cedric smiled at her slips. He was protective of her but couldn't think of a better guy he would trust his sister with than Harry. "Before you leave Dobby, do you know if he went to Gringotts and how it went?"
Some of the happiness dropped from Dobby's face. "Harry not being happy when he left Gringotts. They be trying to keep Harry's family from him."
Megan asked "What do you mean?"
Dobby looked down at the floor. She said "I'm sorry for asking you something like that. You're a good elf who keeps Harry's secrets. I'm sure Harry will tell us when he gets back but I'm just worried about him."
Dobby gave her a sweet little grin. "Dobby knows yous will probably be his mistress one day but cannot say anything until then."
She blushed as Cedric laughed. Once Dobby disappeared, they walked back to the Hufflepuff common room. As they were about to enter, Cedric grinned and said "After you Mistress Megs." She smacked his arm and stomped off but he could tell she was much happier knowing that Harry was fine.
...
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