A/N: Lest you think I am getting carried away, please allow me to emphasize that everything that happens in this story is something that could have or could still happen in Final Protocol.

PARALLEL PROTOCOL

Lord Silvere

Chapter Three: Doubles

Within minutes of the Dursleys' departure, Romilda transfigured one of their living room's couches into a bed and moved Harry into it before plopping down into a nearby armchair for a breather. As far as she could tell, Harry was miserable and confused, but stable.

Romilda realized that it was a strain for Harry to communicate with her, but she could see no other choice. Decisions needed to be made, and Romilda was not about to violate her magical oath to the leaders of the Order of the Phoenix by inadvertently countering Harry's wishes.

Harry, Romilda said telepathically, beginning what was likely to be an intensely lengthy discussion because of Harry's mental limitations. I know you wanted me to brew potions for you instead of taking you to St. Mungo's, but I've just realized that I don't have the recipes memorized. So, it may be that going to St. Mungo's is the only choice. I'm sure they are capable of looking after you. I'm sure we can come up with some explanation for the situation.

Harry's response came relatively quickly and proved to be emphatic. No.

Romilda was sorely tempted to demand an explanation, but in the alternate future, she had learned that explanations sometimes had to wait. In this situation, she was fully aware that each word was costing Harry tremendous energy. At this moment, she needed Harry's directions more than she needed his explanations.

How am I to get potions for you, Harry? Romilda asked, hoping either that he would have a useful answer or that he would realize he was being unreasonable and consent to go to St. Mungo's.

Harry's response to that question was much slower. Romilda was not sure whether it was slow because Harry was having to think or because Harry had expended too much energy while insisting that he not be taken to the hospital. Finally, the response came. Bank.

That gets me money and, eventually, ingredients, Romilda acknowledged, taking comfort in the reminder that Harry was not without funds on which she could draw. It does not get me any potion recipes. I need recipes. The recipes I had were tailored for you or were only recent inventions. They cannot be duplicated. I could try generic potions. Is that something you are willing to risk?

There was no response. Romilda cautiously probed Harry's mind using whatever connection it was the two now seemed to share. From her probing effort, Romilda could tell that Harry's mind was in overdrive. Concluding that Harry was working on an answer for her, Romilda patiently leaned back in her chair, wondering whether he would settle on a solution or give in and allow her to take him to St. Mungo's.

After a couple of hours, Harry presented his solution.

Buy pensieve, Harry instructed in a clipped telepathic communication.

Romilda could not recall ever hearing of such a thing, but she supposed the goblins would be able to help. She made her way to the Dursleys' kitchen and rummaged around in the drawers until finding a pen and notepad, which she used to write out a note for Harry to sign.

Returning to living room, Romilda read the note to Harry.

I, Harry James Potter, hereby designate Romilda Vane as my agent for all intents and purposes. She may access my vault(s), funds and property and use my funds and property.

Harry did not say anything, but Romilda could sense that he approved of the note.

Placing Harry's signature on the note proved to be a chore, particularly since Romilda was relying on a Muggle ballpoint pen. Eventually, Harry, with Romilda guiding his hand, achieved what barely passed for a squiggle. For good measure and with relatively little extra effort, Romilda added a drop of his blood.

Soon, Romilda was on her way.

Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived at the Vane family's small flat in Diagon Alley to discover that they were not precisely in hysterics as had been described to him. It was true that Mr. Vane was crying and taking long draws from a bottle of firewhiskey. But Kingsley, who had come across Mr. Vane before, thought that was about par for the course, aside from it being early in the day.

Mrs. Vane was not hysterical. Rather, she was furious with her husband for being a bum and with her daughter for sneaking away.

"When did you discover that your daughter was missing?" Kingsley asked after greetings and introductions had been exchanged.

"This morning," Mr. Vane said with a sob. "She vanished from her bedroom."

"How would you know?" Mrs. Vane demanded, directing a glare at her husband.

"So, was it this morning or not?" Kingsley asked.

"Yes, it was this morning," Mrs. Vane confirmed, her voice steely.

"Any signs of foul play?" Kingsley asked.

"No," Mrs. Vane responded as her husband blubbered.

"Mind if I take a look at the bedroom?"

"Not at all."

Kingsley was soon in Romilda's bedroom and wishing that he could run away from Mr. and Mrs. Vane, too. He cast a few detection charms. The results came back negative for any magic or any other signs that something untoward had occurred.

"Well," he said as he returned to where he had left Mr. and Mrs. Vane, "it does look like a simple runaway case. I'll send some folks from my department to ask around with the neighbors. But, primarily, I think we can just wait for her to turn up. She cannot have gone far."

"My poor baby," Mr. Vane sobbed as Mrs. Vane glared at him.

With Harry's note in hand, Mr. Vane's poor baby apparated to the steps of Gringotts, trotted into the bank, and approached what appeared to be the receptionist goblin.

"I need to meet with a personal banker," Romilda said.

With a small amount of curiosity and plenty of thinly veiled disdain, the receptionist goblin eyed the young and somewhat shabbily dressed witch before him.

"Do you have an account here?"

"Not precisely," Romilda hedged.

"Silveredge can help you," the goblin said, smirking and pointing to the area of the lobby where the tellers worked.

"Thank you," Romilda said, not out of gratitude, but because she could not think of any other way to terminate the conversation.

She made her way over to Silveredge, a forlorn-looking bank teller and presented Harry's note to him. "That receptionist over there says that you're my new personal banker. I am going to need some extensive services, if you would be so kind."

Silveredge read over the note and directed a grin of malicious glee toward the receptionist before turning his attention back to Romilda. "As soon as I verify the authenticity of this note, we can get started."

Ultimately, it took about a minute for the bank to verify the authenticity of the note that granted Romilda authority to act as Harry Potter's agent. It took another three minutes for the sullen receptionist goblin to set up Silveredge in his new office. Once Romilda and Silveredge were alone, they got down to business.

"Harry Potter needs to purchase a pensieve," Romilda announced.

"Does he have a specific pensieve in mind?" Silveredge asked.

"He did not say," Romilda admitted. "Is there any chance you can tell me what a pensieve does?"

"A pensieve is a receptacle in which one may view and store their memories or the memories of others. In a way, it lets one relive the past. The bank would be happy to make inquiries and prepare a list of purchase options for your or Mr. Potter's review," Silveredge responded.

Romilda winced. It seemed Harry's pensieve idea, albeit good, was likely to be about as difficult as any other option. She stifled a sigh, knowing that the transaction was about to become expensive. "He needs a pensieve urgently. Today, if possible."

"I had better start making the inquiries now," the goblin said as he stood and departed from the office.

After about half an hour during which Romilda poked and prodded at her link with Harry, partly to monitor his status and partly to try to understand the link itself, Silveredge returned.

"It appears that it will not be possible to purchase a pensieve today," Silveredge said. "But, we can arrange for you to borrow a pensieve until a purchase of another pensieve is achieved."

Romilda felt relived. Realizing that she and Harry were not likely to need the pensieve after she had recreated the potion recipes, Romilda asked if she could just pay to borrow the pensieve and forego the purchase.

In response to Romilda's question, Silveredge shook his head in the negative. "It will be no small feat for the bank to arrange for you to borrow a pensieve today. The only way we will do it is if we can be assured that we will be collecting a commission for brokering the pensieve purchase."

Romilda was not pleased. She was not a skinflint, but she was well aware of the value of money and had already concluded that she and Harry were going to be relying on Harry's money quite a lot in the coming months, if not years, in their quest to prevent Lord Voldemort's rise to power. "Can Harry Potter even afford to buy a pensieve?"

Silveredge rushed to reassure Romilda that Harry's fortune was more than adequate enough to support the purchase of a pensieve. That led to an in-depth discussion of Harry's assets. Silveredge would have liked to discuss a new plan for managing and investing the Potter fortune, but Romilda settled for committing to the pensieve transaction, setting up channels for her to withdraw or spend funds anonymously, and vaguely promising to return to the bank for further discussions.

Regrettably, the loaner pensieve had not become available by the time Romilda's meeting with Silveredge concluded.

"We can owl it within a few hours," Silveredge promised as he and Romilda stood up from their respective chairs. "Shall we address it to you or Mr. Potter?"

"Mr. Potter," Romilda said as she realized that it was already past time for her to follow the best practices that had been drilled into her as part of her training as a fighter with the Order and cast a number of stealth and anonymization charms on herself.

"We will send it to Mr. Potter, then," Silveredge said.

"Thank you," Romilda said as she allowed herself to become distracted by thoughts of the various charms she should use to protect herself and Harry.

Before returning to Privet Drive, Romilda made her way to the apothecary, which appeared to be having a slow day. An inquisitive clerk helped Romilda assemble an array of potion brewing implements and ingredients.

"First year at Hogwarts?" the clerk asked, sounding doubtful but not sure why else a young-looking witch would be purchasing such a broad array of products from the shop.

"No. Wedding gift for my sister from my parents," Romilda said as she picked up a store catalog and thumbed through it. She then picked up a small stack of order forms and slipped them under her arm. "My mum is busy preparing for the wedding."

"Congratulations to your sister, then," the clerk said, smiling as he finished wrapping up Romilda's parcels.

"Thanks," Romilda said as she gathered up the parcels, left the shop, and disapparated away as soon as she was out of sight.

By the time Romilda had returned to Privet Drive, reported her progress to Harry, and fed herself and Harry, the pensieve had still not arrived. So, Romilda set out to erect wards and cast charms to ensure security and privacy. She did not get far.

When evicting the Dursleys from their home, Romilda had envisioned that she would keep the Dursleys away from Privet Drive for the rest of the summer while she worked in the comfort of their home to help Harry achieve a full recovery.

The more Romilda thought about the Dursleys and the spells she wanted to cast on their house, the more she realized that sending them away and camping in their house had been a bad idea. Summer would not last that long, and then, if Harry had not recovered, she would have to deal with the Dursleys or move out. And, there was no guarantee that the Dursleys would stay away for the entire summer.

With a sigh, Romilda concluded that she had best move herself and Harry away from Privet Drive so that she could care for Harry in a protected location without having to worry about hostile Muggles underfoot.

Instead of erecting wards and security charms, Romilda set about to restore the Dursleys' house to pristine condition so that, when they returned, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley would have no reason to doubt that Romilda had been a Ministry worker who had kindly purged their house of all pests, including the one known as Harry.

Romilda also placed a few extra charms on various items around the house. With Romilda's charms in place, those items would constantly emit auras that would serve to make the Dursley family feel secure and superbly satisfied with their lives. With any luck, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley would be in so much bliss that it would never occur to them that their nephew's disappearance seemed fishy.

With a Gringotts-issued credit card in hand, Romilda strolled into the lobby of The Savoy. Instinctively, she gravitated to a corner of the lobby and observed the comings and going at the front desk for a while before seeking out a public phone in the lobby. Disguising her voice, she phoned in a reservation for a suite, hoping that it would have enough room to set up temporary potion lab.

Reservation in place, Romilda proceeded to the front desk and announced that she was none other than Jane Doe, the daughter of one John Doe, who had dropped her off at the hotel with his credit card so that she could check-in while he attended an important meeting.

The clerk was skeptical, but her suspicion melted away as soon as Romilda dropped Harry's black-painted Gringotts credit card on the counter with a loud, metallic clang. The clerk confirmed the reservation on her computer, checked Romilda in, and summoned a stiff bellhop to show Romilda to her suite.

After locking the door behind the bellhop, Romilda apparated back to Privet Drive, where she found an irritated owl from Gringotts waiting to be relieved of its burden. Romilda accepted delivery of the loaner pensieve and sent the owl back to Gringotts with a note asking Silveredge to locate her a large flat in London that could be rented for an indefinite period of time.

Then, gingerly, Romilda climbed onto the transfigured bed next to Harry, put an arm around him, and apparated him to their suite at The Savoy. Romilda's aim was true, so the two of them appeared atop one of the beds in the suite. She then apparated back to Privet Drive to collect the pensieve and cast the last spells to eradicate any hint of her having ever visited Privet Drive.

Using the loaner pensieve proved to be much simpler than Romilda had expected. Within an hour after transporting Harry to The Savoy, Romilda had extracted several potion recipes from her memory and had begun the process of brewing the potions. While those potions brewed, Romilda set about to casting various charms around the suite that would deflect unwanted attention and better enable her to brew potions without the hotel management learning that she had lit fires in their luxury suite.

With those tasks completed and nothing to do for a while, Romilda flopped onto the other bed in the suite, just next to Harry's bed, and napped until the timer on the brewing potions woke her up. Wasting no time, Romilda finished the potions and dosed Harry with them.

The effect on Harry was immediate. A ghost of a smile lit up Harry's face. Much better, he observed to Romilda through their telepathic link before plunging into a deep and peaceful slumber.

Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, Romilda continued to extract potion recipes from her memories, set potions to brewing, and sneak in sleep and food here and there while letting Harry remain in a peaceful slumber. At the end of those twenty-four hours, Romilda had the beginning of a modest stockpile of potions.

When Harry awoke, she fed him a full meal and dosed him with a full set of potions. The potions made Harry sleepy, but with having just slept for an entire day, Harry was able to resist the drowsiness.

What … … … happened? he asked Romilda.

Romilda eagerly began explaining the situation to Harry, but was soon disappointed. Although Harry was curious, he was struggling to comprehend and absorb the information. After about an hour, Harry had fallen asleep without learning much.

Sighing, Romilda returned to brewing potions and waiting for the next opportunity to discuss matters with Harry.

Romilda was feeding Harry breakfast and attempting to explain to him more about their situation when an owl delivered an invitation from Silveredge for Romilda to meet with him at Gringotts. Hoping that Silveredge had made progress with the search for a flat to rent and wondering if he had found a pensieve, Romilda finished up with Harry, checked the status of her potions, and then apparated to Gringotts, where she was promptly shown into Silveredge's office.

It seemed that the pensieve hunt was still ongoing. As for flats, Silveredge had compiled a list, which he provided to Romilda with the assurance that he could make arrangements as soon as she selected one. From there, Silveredge moved to advising Romilda on other matters.

"Your parents and the Ministry are becoming concerned over your disappearance," Silveredge informed Romilda in a markedly disinterested tone of voice as he produced a Daily Prophet from a desk drawer and placed it in front of Romilda. It had been folded over so that page three was showing.

Romilda pursed her lips as she glanced down at the newspaper and saw a small photo of herself with an article explaining that Romilda Vane had gone missing, had been thought to be a runaway, but was now feared to be the victim of foul play.

This triggered a storm of conflicting feeling that Romilda had been avoiding. Refusing to resolve this matter, Romilda shoved her feelings aside. "And?" she asked the goblin, daring him to meddle with her personal decisions.

"At the very least, you should be aware that people will be keeping their eye out for you," the goblin advised. "Perhaps we should arrange for a Daily Prophet subscription for you so that you may keep current on events. I trust that you know how to be discreet."

"Let's do that," Romilda said.

Romilda and Silveredge discussed various other matters that did not result in any immediate decisions before Romilda took the list of potential flats and departed from Gringotts. After checking in on Harry, she commenced with her tour of the flats on the list, spending a few minutes at each location.

Having visited each location, Romilda returned to The Savoy. There, she fed Harry and dosed him with more potions before going over the list and marking the listings that she considered acceptable. She then wrote and delivered to the bank a note to Silveredge instructing him to make arrangements to rent and furnish one of the flats she had marked.

While waiting for arrangements to be made for the new flat, Romilda quickly settled into the uneventful routine of preparing potions and caring for Harry while trying to help him comprehend their situation. He was making slow but steady progress with soaking in information and gaining control over his motor functions.

The routine only lasted a couple of days before Romilda was confronted with a conundrum. It came in the form of Harry's Hogwarts letter, which was delivered with breakfast one morning. Romilda did not initially identify Harry's Hogwarts letter as a problem.

Your Hogwarts letter arrived, she informed Harry as she fed him. At the rate you are progressing, I do not know that Hogwarts is in your immediate future. We can worry about that in a few weeks, though.

Harry became agitated. Though he did not say anything, Romilda could sense his feelings.

Is there something wrong? Romilda asked.

Wand … … … Pensieve, Harry said.

Romilda paused Harry's breakfast and fetched the loaned pensieve. She placed it on Harry's lap and handed over her stolen wand to him.

With painstaking slowness, Harry brought the wand to his head, pulled out a memory, and deposited it into the pensieve. He repeated this process twice more before dropping the wand, leaning back, and slipping into a deep slumber.

Romilda set aside Harry's unfinished breakfast before taking the pensieve to a table and jumping into the memories Harry had provided. There, Romilda witnessed two memories that showed her what would happen if his Hogwarts letter was ignored. And then, she witnessed Hagrid's arrival with the final letter and the trip to Diagon Alley that followed.

Thoughtfully, Romilda exited the pensieve and stepped over to one of the suite's windows. As she looked out the window and over the city of London, Romilda stewed over her options. In light of Harry's apparent wish to avoid the consequences displayed in the pensieve and given Harry's adamant refusal to seek treatment at St. Mungo's, either the Hogwarts staff would need to be convinced that Harry Potter had received his letter and would board the Hogwarts Express without assistance or Harry Potter would have to disappear thoroughly enough to avoid more Hogwarts letters and a visit from the school staff.

Concluding that either option would require the assistance of Gringotts, Romilda retrieved her wand and apparated directly to the bank. There, Romilda was immediately shown into Silveredge's office, where she explained to the goblin banker the choice before her and requested a summary of various of means and costs to achieve the goal.

"Considering the amount of money available for Mr. Potter, the cost difference is negligible," Silveredge informed Romilda dispassionately. "The bank is prepared to help you pursue either strategy."

Romilda sighed, and, without the assistance of a tie-breaker such as cost, she began turning the options over in her head again. The option of simply disappearing seemed more attractive to Romilda. It was easier. She had the training and experience to remain in hiding for as long as necessary.

Silveredge cleared his throat. "If I may be so bold, I could hint at what you ought to do, Miss Vane."

Romilda gestured her assent.

"If Harry Potter goes missing, a panic will ensue," the goblin predicted.

With that, Romilda recalled that she and Harry were members of the Order of the Phoenix and were supposed to be actively engaged in fighting Lord Voldemort. With Harry incapacitated, command had fallen to her shoulders. His disappearance could prematurely embolden Death Eater sympathizers, as would the discovery and publication of the fact that Harry was all but mentally incapacitated.

"You are right," Romilda observed as she straightened up her in chair. "We must convince everyone involved that Harry Potter has received his Hogwarts letter and will board the Hogwarts Express in due course."

Silveredge nodded his approval. "Very good, ma'am. How would you like to proceed?"

This deflated Romilda a bit. "Well, how can we pull it off?"

A toothy grin broke across Silveredge's face. "Very easily."

After a couple of hours or so of careful planning with Silveredge, Romilda returned to her and Harry's suite at The Savoy with a small parcel in hand, which she put away before resuming her potion brewing duties. As soon as Harry awoke, Romilda approached him with a fresh tray of food and potion doses. On the tray was his Hogwarts letter.

Harry, I need you to open the letter, Romilda told him before launching into a full explanation of what she was about to do.

He seemed to approve and held out his hands for the letter. Romilda dropped the letter into his hands and watched as he slowly broke the seal. As soon as the seal was broken, Romilda took back the letter and opened it, not bothering to read the familiar text. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she set the letter aside and moved onto Harry's potion and meal.

The next morning, as soon as she had taken care of Harry, Romilda went to work. Instead of casting laundering spells on her shabby charcoal dress, she transfigured a number of towels from the bathroom into boy clothes and boy shoes before donning them.

Having dressed like a boy, Romilda retrieved the parcel she had brought back from the bank, opened it, and retrieved from therein a vial of Polyjuice potion. She plucked a hair from Harry's head and dropped it in before quaffing the contents of the vial.

As soon as the transformation was complete, Romilda proceeded to the bathroom where she examined the result in the mirror. The mirror revealed that Romilda had become a perfect duplicate of Harry, right down to the scar on his forehead.

With a broad smile, Romilda grabbed the parcel from the bank and departed for Diagon Alley.

Romilda entered the Leaky Cauldron. Playing the part of one who had never been to Diagon Alley, she made her way to the bar where she respectfully asked if she could have help getting into Diagon Alley.

The bartender looked at Romilda curiously. After a moment, his eyes made their way to her forehead, where he saw the scar.

"Bless my soul," whispered the bartender, "Harry Potter … what an honor."

With that, the customers swarmed Romilda, who politely returned the greetings before allowing herself to be escorted to Diagon Alley proper. From there, she proceeded to stop at the post office to send an owl to Hogwarts advising the staff of Harry's intent to matriculate. After that, she began shopping for all the items on the list. Per the terms of an agreement with Silveredge, Romilda stayed far away from the bank so that the goblins would not be implicated if Romilda's charade was prematurely discovered.

Everything went smoothly. No shopkeeper suspected for even a moment that Romilda was an imposter. Romilda was also able to get by without having to interact with anybody extensively. Because it was still July and only one day after the letters had been sent, Romilda was likely the first Hogwarts student to go shopping for supplies.

Romilda saved the wand shop for last. The wandmaker's penchant for guessing the identity of his customers and remembering their wands had worried her the most. But, Silveredge had been confident that the Polyjuice would do its job so long as Romilda avoided unnecessary conversation with Ollivander.

It turned out that Romilda need not have worried at all. Ollivander took one look at her face, eyes, and scar and identified her as Harry Potter. The measuring tape was soon measuring as Ollivander nattered on about the wands of Harry's parents and the wand that had given Harry his scar.

Interestingly, it seemed as if the measurements from the measuring tape mattered because Ollivander was relying on them and was not finding his way to the right wand. If Romilda remembered correctly, he had shown her an entirely different set of wands when she had purchased hers at the age of eleven.

An increasingly large pile of ill-fitting wands gathered on the counter as the wandmaker searched for a wand that would fit Romilda. Eventually, with an air of drama and foreboding, Ollivander produced a holly and phoenix feather wand eleven inches long. Romilda grasped it and felt a faint glow and a tingle in her mind.

Ollivander was frowning as he watched her grasp the wand.

"Is it a match?" Romilda asked.

"Not quite," Ollivander said, "but it is has come closer than any other wand. It resonates with you, but I do not think it is destined to be your principal wand."

"Why would it do that?" Romilda asked.

"Its brother gave you that scar," Ollivander informed Romilda.

"I see," Romilda said as she realized that she was holding Harry Potter's wand.

Ollivander took the wand back from Romilda, but instead of placing it in the discard pile, he set it by itself on the end of the counter. "We will find the perfect match," he reassured Romilda.

The matching attempts resumed. Eventually, Ollivander abandoned all pretense of trying to pick out a wand with skill and insight and simply began giving Romilda every wand to try. Eventually, a wand reacted well to Romilda—a feminine-looking, ten-inch wand of blackthorn and dragon heartstring.

"I think you will be able to go on to do great and powerful things with that wand," Ollivander observed.

Romilda shrugged and tried to act like an embarrassed child just on the cusp of attending Hogwarts. As Ollivander began to clean up wands from the discard pile, Romilda pointed to the holly and phoenix feather wand that had been set aside. "That wand was nearly a match. May I buy it?"

Ollivander seemed hesitant. "It isn't common for one to buy multiple wands at a time," he hedged.

Romilda suddenly had an idea. "Can I test it again?"

"I suppose," Ollivander agreed. He opened the box, plucked out the wand, and held it out for the person he thought was Harry Potter.

Before accepting the wand, Romilda directed her focus to the part of the mind that was Harry and plunged in like she had on the first day in the past. This time, instead of the chaos into which she feared she would fall and never return, she found that everything had slowed considerably.

Barely able to move her own muscles while focusing her attention on Harry's mind, Romilda gestured, and Ollivander placed the holly and phoenix feather wand into her hand. Warmth bloomed in Romilda's hand, and a stream of red and golden sparks exploded from the tip of the wand.

Quickly, Romilda disentangled herself from Harry's mind as Ollivander exclaimed over having discovered a double match.

"I will expect great and wondrous things of you," Ollivander told Romilda as she opened her parcel from the bank and doled out enough galleons to purchase the two wands.