Somewhere outside Birmingham
Harry Potter and Dinesh Patil reappeared in a field hundreds of miles from London. Harry stumbled for a moment, but quickly righted himself and looked around. He was in a huge open space, slightly elevated, and he could see for hundreds of meters in every direction. To his right he could see the bright outlines of a major city, its lights casting an eerie glow on the scene.
"Thank you," Harry said in a breathless voice to his still-invisible rescuer.
"I was worried that—," he started, but was cut off.
"Quiet, now," the accented voice spoke out of the darkness. "You're not safe yet."
Harry couldn't see it, but Dinesh Patil was waving his wand over Harry in complex patterns, trying to discern whether he had tracking charms on any of his clothes or belongings. So far he hadn't found any, but he couldn't be sure about the broom or the invisibility cloak.
"We're staying right here for the next half hour," continued the voice. "If someone shows up, you drop the cloak and the broom and I'll apparate us away again. We'll have to do this until no one follows."
"B-but," Harry stammered, "I can't just leave my cloak. It was my father's…it…and my broom…I won't be able to get away if something happens."
"Not my problem, lad," the voice responded. "Maybe you'll get them back later, or…Merlin, just call that bloody elf and have him hide them."
"Right," Harry responded, relieved and a little embarrassed that he had missed something so obvious. "But shouldn't we wait until we know for certain that someone's coming?"
"Alright…" the voice responded after a pause. "But when I tell you to drop those damn things, you do it or I'll leave you behind."
Harry nodded and called for Dobby. He popped in front of them and hugged Harry's legs excitedly.
"Oh, Harry Potter Sir has done it! Harry Potter is free!"
"Shh, Dobby, this isn't over yet. If someone tracks me, I'll have to drop my cloak and my broom. I need you to grab them and put them with the other things you're hiding, okay?"
"Dobby will do it," the elf nodded happily.
"But be careful, Dobby," Harry warned, "there may be spells flying and you'll have to hurry."
"Dobby will be careful, Harry Potter Sir," he said, and popped out to watch from a distance.
An uncomfortable silence settled on the scene.
"How long will it take for them to come?" Harry asked his invisible companion.
"Don't know," came the gruff reply. "Probably any time now, if they're coming at all."
The pair waited for another two minutes in nervous anticipation, when two soft pops from their left signaled the arrival of their pursuers.
"Drop 'em," Dinesh hissed, as Albus Dumbledore and Alastor Moody appeared thirty meters to their left and immediately fired off a pair of wide-area stunners. Both Harry and Dinesh dove to the ground, barely escaping the sweep of the powerful spells. The miss gave Harry enough time to whip off his cloak and toss his broom to the side. A split second later he was grabbed roughly and felt the nauseating sense of apparition again.
The moment that Harry and Dinesh disappeared, Dobby popped into the field and scooped up Harry's broom and cloak. He was gone before Dumbledore or Moody could think to fire a spell at him.
"Bloody hell," swore Moody. "He's got help. I couldn't tell who it was; he was disillusioned."
Dumbledore nodded in frustration and wished that Fawkes were here. He had begun his locator spell again the moment Harry had vanished.
"How is this possible?" he muttered under his breath, alarmed at the spell's results. "Alastor, try to locate him. Hurry."
Moody made similar movements of his wand for a few seconds and then shook his head.
"Nothing. He's gone, Albus. The stuff I charmed is somewhere in Hogwarts, looks like. That elf probably hid them in some little nook you'll never find."
Blast and damnation, Dumbledore swore mentally. How had the boy gotten rid of all his trackers? Practically everything he owned was trackable. Was he not wearing his glasses? Dumbledore resolved to review this memory in his pensieve and look closely at Harry's appearance when he threw off his cloak.
"We shall have to find him, Alastor," Dumbledore said grimly, his magic flaring in response to his anger. "Assemble everyone and put them in teams. We need to have eyes in Diagon Alley, especially on Gringotts. Have Bill Weasley ready to break down wards. We need to be ready to move the moment the boy uses his wand. It's the only way to track him now."
"Aye," Moody agreed, and apparated away to contact other Order members.
Left alone on this desolate field, Dumbledore stared up at the hazy sky and wondered aloud. "What have you done, Harry?"
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