taking control

Chapter 5:What Once Was Home

A/N: Finally I get to post this. You may be asking why I'm saying finally, since I just posted chapter 4 a couple days ago, but I had actually finished editing this chapter a day ago, but I again ran into trouble trying to upload the file. Grr. But oh well, we're up now, so I guess that's all that matters. I was actually pretty happy overall with my first draft of this chapter, which is why the editing went so quickly. I barely made any corrections or changes.

I want to thank all of you who have left me reviews. I appreciate every single one of them. And I'd love to keep hearing all your comments and/or criticisms, so keep sending them my way. Now, onto the story. Enjoy.

Chapter 5:What Once Was Home

The last week of summer passed by without incident. Harry continued to read and practice diligently. He finished writing the magical contract with all the spells attached with a day to spare, of which he was quite pleased. He was confident that no one of questionable loyalty would even be able to sign the contract. And those that did manage to sign would be bound pretty tightly. They definitely wouldn't be able to switch sides in the war without finding themselves seriously disabled magically. The penalty for talking about the club was much less severe, but anyone who breached that clause would regret the decision, and wouldn't be able to get away with it without his notice.

The day before he was set to leave, Harry packed up all the loose objects in his room, which wasn't very much at all. Most of his possessions were in his trunk already. He pulled all the normal things he would have for the school year in his old trunk. He decided that he would continue to use this trunk as normal so as not to arouse undue suspicion. His school robes, cauldron, course-related books, and a few personal effects went into this trunk. He kept the rest of his library, his invisibility cloak, marauder's map, and anything else that might be considered either unusual or particularly valuable in his new trunk.

He passed the rest of the day as he had passed every other day of the summer: reading and training. The next morning, Harry started his morning routine as normal. He went for his normal jog, and he said his goodbye to an invisible Tonks. He thanked her for watching out for him all summer. Despite the fact that he felt it wasn't necessary, he still appreciated the fact that she was there for him and ran with him every morning.

After he finished his workout, he showered and got dressed and ready for the day. He wore some of his casual khaki pants and a plain blue shirt that fit him a bit snugly. His hair was nice and long, reaching down to his shoulders. He put in his clear contacts and wore his new trainers. He also strapped one of the wand holsters onto his wrist and slipped his wand in place. They promptly disappeared from view. He didn't need his wand but wanted it on hand in case there was a need for him to perform magic. He didn't want anyone to know he could do wandless magic, so he'd have to at least pretend to use his wand.

He read until 10:30 when he decided it was time to leave. He had no idea if the Order had plans of their own for getting him to the train station or not. He planned on just apparating there. If anyone asked him, he would just tell them that he left with his uncle that morning under his invisibility cloak. His uncle had not wanted anyone to see him.

He asked Hedwig if she'd rather go with him or fly to the school. He heard a brief reply of "Fly" in his head, so he nodded and saw her out the window. He added her cage into his trunk and apparated just outside of King's Cross station. He wandered through the crowd and across the platforms until he came to platform 9. He saw the barrier that separated platforms 9 and 10 and walked slowly towards it. As he walked right into the barrier, he found himself standing in platform 9 ¾, the scarlet engine that was the Hogwarts Express was ready and waiting for students to board.