Chapter one

When Harry Potter first realised that he was a metamorphmagus, he planned to tell Hermione and Ron, he also figured he would tell Sirius. Now after a week of reading up on what a metamorphmagus could do, he decided that being able to change his appearance would give him some privacy. He had only researched it because of all the times Petunia hacked off his hair, and it grew back overnight. It took him a while to find out how he was about to regrow his hair back, now he knew it would come in handy.

After the rebirth of Voldemort and the murder of Cedric, Hermione and Ron hardly left him alone. Harry knew they cared but he was beginning to feel suffocated. He would move away from them or wander off in a different direction. He sent Hedwig out for a few extra books that mentioned metamorphmagus, but he learned to charm the covers so no one would realise what he was really reading. Because of the triwizard tournament, Harry learned a lot more spells that neither Ron nor Hermione knew. Even the teachers didn't know some of the things he had begun to study. Using his cloak he often snuck into the library of a night, and usually into the restricted section. He didn't just go for those types of books, he also got a lot of books that the seventh years would study. He needed to learn as much as he could to survive the tournament.

After the escape from the graveyard, and how Fudge refused to believe that Voldemort had returned. Harry knew the following school year would be just like in second year. He would have half the school against him. Now he could change his features, even his body so no one would see Harry Potter when they looked at him. It would give him a bit of peace and a bit of privacy.

It was the night before he was due to leave Hogwarts to return to Privet drive that Harry realised just how his new gift could give him a better summer than he's ever had. He just had to wait until he got into his room at the Dursley's before he could use his new ability.

Before everyone woke up, Harry used one of the spells he learned on his school bag. He put a feather light charm on it, along with an undetectable expansion charm. He wasn't going to leave his Firebolt at the Dursley's, so he needed a way to take it with him without any muggles seeing him.

The following morning Harry finished breakfast, his friends beside him, chatting away about the holidays. Harry was quiet, he mainly stared around to see how people were taking the news about Voldemort. Dumbledore had informed the school, even if the minister told him not to. Dumbledore always did what he wanted. In some ways Harry liked the way the headmaster went about things, and didn't care what anyone thought of him. But there were many things that the headmaster did that Harry hated.

Harry had stopped trusting the man when he never tried to get Harry out of competing in the triwizard tournament. It wasn't until after Cedric died that Harry did some research into the tournament. He found out that the three headmasters or headmistresses could have agreed to cancel the competition, then the goblet would relight. Harry realised that if he was going to have a chance at surviving what was to come, he needed to keep his idea's, his plans, and his gift a secret, especially from Dumbledore. He knew Hermione would tell McGonagall, who would tell Dumbledore. Ron, he would probably let it slip to his parent's or one of his siblings. No, Harry had to keep this secret from everyone. This was his life, he couldn't trust anyone with his life so now he would remain silent about any plans he had.

Harry hurried up to his room at Privet drive, then using his cloak, snuck into Dudley's room. He needed to see the front of the house. He had a suspicion about something and needed to see if his gut feeling was right. He stood staring down at the front garden, waiting and watching. He knew Dudley had gone to his friends, so he had some time.

It only took Harry twenty minutes of watching before he was proven right. A woman appeared in the yard before she slipped an invisibility cloak on. After what happened in the graveyard, Harry had a feeling that Dumbledore would have people keeping an eye on him. But this time Harry was not going to do what was expected, he had his plans, at least the beginning of his plans ready. Now he just had to work on sneaking out of the house at the right time so no one would get suspicious.

Harry moved to Dudley's wardrobe where he found one of his cousin's backpacks. He knew it meant leaving behind his trunk, unless he could find a place to hide it, at least for a while. He had his bag, but having a second wouldn't hurt. He also found some of Dudley's money, which would help him escape until he got to Gringotts. First he needed to get back to his room before his uncle found him.

Harry didn't bother having dinner with his so called family. He had bought a few things of the lady with the trolley from the Hogwarts express. So he sat, ate and drank while he waited. He had told Hedwig to stay at Hogwarts until the following day, then she could find him. Harry still had no idea how post owls could find someone, but Hedwig always knew where he was. Harry would just need to keep a window of his hotel room open so she could sneak in. He would explain to her that she would have to leave in a hurry if anyone from the hotel wanted to clean his room. They couldn't see a white owl sitting there. Most hotels didn't allow pets, but having an owl would be suspicious. It could mean the cleaners might mention it to someone else and the wrong person might overhear. Harry knew not many witches and wizards stayed in muggle hotels, but he couldn't take the chance. He had plans and nothing was going to stop him.

Harry found a place in the garage that he knew the Dursley's wouldn't go near, at least he hoped. It was the rear of the garage where a lot of things were stored. It took Harry a while to move everything so he could hide his trunk, he had to lift everything out of the way, and do it quietly as the Dursley's were asleep. Once he had his trunk hidden behind everything else, he went back to his room, packed up his few things in the backpack he took from Dudley's room and his old school bag, then headed downstairs. He left the note he had written earlier on the kitchen bench where his aunt would find it. Now he just hoped none of the Dursley's saw the witch outside and told them Harry had left. Harry didn't think they would, the Dursley's hate anyone from the magical world.

Changing his appearance, Harry was able to slip passed the person under the cloak. Even though he hated it, he made himself look like Dudley. He knew the woman hiding, if she was still here, she wouldn't think twice about Dudley heading out somewhere late at night. Sneaking away was too easy. He had to walk for a while to get to a public phone box where he called a taxi. He had taken enough money from Dudley for a taxi. He just hoped Gringotts was still open so he could visit his vault to get more money.

When Harry, in his disguise as a twenty year old man with brown hair slipped through the Leaky Cauldron, it made him smile. No one looked twice at him. It was late, but there were still people in the pub. He got through into Diagon alley and to his relief, found Gringotts still opened. He knew he had to time it right. So he nodded to the two goblins standing at the door. He opened the door, but made sure the goblins went back to facing the cobbled street, then let his body morph back to Harry Potter. He went straight to the counter, holding out his key and telling the goblin he needed to visit his vault.

After a very fast trip down to his vault, Harry piled his pouch and a small bag with galleons, sickles and knuts. He exchanged every bit in his pouch from magical money to muggle money. Once that was done, he left, ready to find a hotel. He decided to use his metamorph ability and just get a room at the Leaky Cauldron, just for the night. He would get a muggle hotel the following day.

It didn't take Harry long the following day to get some shopping done for some decent clothes. Then he found a nice hotel where he planned to stay for a couple of weeks, maybe longer. He still wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do. He had a few plans already but he knew he would need to work on others, especially with Voldemort back. He needed to be ready for anything, but he also needed a way to get another wand and a wand that could not be traced. Neville had told him not long after the weighing of the wands for the tournament that Ollivander was the best wand maker in the country, but he wasn't the only one. Neville had heard there was one in Diagon alley, illegal and mainly dark witches and wizards used it. The aurors would close it down, but the owner would open using his fake book shop or something similar, at the front while the back of the shop was for wands. Harry would need to use his gift to get into Knockturn alley and find the wand shop. He would need to put on the perfect act and not act suspicious. Even if the owner was dark, he couldn't allow the owner to suspect he might be someone trying to close him down, or work for the aurors. So even though he had to be careful, he also had to make sure to act the part.