After the graveyard, the Dursleys leave Harry with a muggle spanish family for the summer. There, he meets a muggle girl who thinks (british) wizards have no common sense, and turns his world upside down while helping him deal with his life. After this, Hogwarts will have to prepare for the new and improved Harry Potter. How will his new maturity and take on life affect the war? Manipulative/Good Dumbledore! Inconsiderate/Good Ron and Hermione! Final pairings are undecided! R&R

WARNING: This is not a "Harry becomes a genius, allies with the goblins and discovers a giant inheritance or mysterious powers" story, as much as I like those. It is only a story where Harry learns how to think more rationally and for himself before acting, opening his mind to other possibilities and standing up for himself instead of following Dumbledore blindly, and finding peace with himself, instead of feeling everything is his responsability and fault.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter (sadly), or any places, companies or characters you recognize from anywhere else. I'm not making profit with this story.

Chapter 1: An unexpected trip

Harry turned towards the Dursleys resignedly, with a last look at his friends. Hermione was talking animatedly with her mother while they left the platform, and Ron was arguing with the twins. He followed his relatives mutely, and hoisted his trunk up to put it in the car. None of them asked how he was, or anything else for that matter, not that he expected them to, or paid them any attention. Instead, he tuned out his Aunt and Uncle's conversation and looked out the window. He dreaded the nightmares that were sure to come about the graveyard, with Cedric dying all over again every day. If only he hadn't been so bloody chivalrous and just taken the cup himself! Why did he keep making mistakes like that? Hadn't he learnt anything from the second task? And now because of his stupidity, another student had died. He didn't even want to imagine how it would be now with Voldemort back. He definitely had an obsession with Harry since he had defeated him as a toddler, and would stop at nothing to kill him. What worried Harry most about that was that it would put everyone who was close to him in danger. Who knows what families would be the first attacks now that he had the support of the death eaters and a body…he would have to keep an eye out for the news, muggle and magical.

While Harry was immersed in his thoughts, he didn't notice right away that the streets were unfamiliar, but after a while, it became evident. He paused, nonplussed. The Dursleys had never taken a detour before when they went to pick him up. They preferred to forget he ever existed and frankly, he preferred it that way. Since asking his relatives questions had never got him anywhere, he decided to enjoy the new scenery, wherever in London it was. Anyway, knowing the Dursleys, it was probably a completely boring reason. How wrong he was.

When they finally parked in a giant parking lot in front of a big building, Harry was just as confused and disinterested as before, but his uncle telling him to get out of the car got his attention. Why on earth would they want him to come with them? His relatives took each one a big suitcase out of the car, and passed him an old, battered one.

'Put your stuff in there, we're leaving your trunk here. And get rid of that owl' Uncle Vernon said roughly.

'Why?' asked Harry, annoyed. It was way past the time that he would do whatever the Dursleys told him without question. He was not getting rid of his trunk, and definitely not Hedwig.

'We're going on a vacation and we don't want to find the house on fire when we come back, so you're coming' Aunt Petunia replied looking none too happy about this fact 'your trunk and owl are too freaky not to attract attention, so do as your uncle says' she finished shortly.

Harry could not believe his ears and stood there in shock. Had his aunt said he was being included in a vacation? That did not make sense. Were these death eaters impersonating them? If so, they were doing a poor job of it. He was about to take out his wand when he realized that the death eaters wouldn't know how to drive respecting the traffic rules, and they didn't know what his relatives looked like anyway. He reluctantly started doing as he was told, still suspicious. It couldn't be that they were going to leave him stranded somewhere, since he would have gladly left on his own account had they asked him to. Then again, there was a small chance that they were telling the truth, and no one was available to watch over him like when they had taken him to the zoo. Then again, a vacation? That seemed like too much.

'Hurry up boy!' said his uncle furiously 'we're not missing the plane because of you!' So there was a plane, which meant the big building must have been the airport. Against his better judgment, he felt slightly excited. He'd never been in a plane before. Then again, a vacation with the Dursleys would probably be just as bad as Surrey with them, so he shouldn't get his hopes up.

He finished packing, closed the suitcase and snapped at his uncle that he was ready. He asked his aunt for a pen and paper, which she provided with a glare, and penned a quick note to Hermione. The Dursleys are taking me on a vacation, believe it or not. If you send me a letter back Hedwig will know where to find me. I Hope your summer goes well! Please keep me posted if you hear any news. Harry. He tied it quickly to Hedwig's leg and told her to give it to Hermione, ignoring his relatives' furtive looks to see if anyone was watching.

They all walked towards the airport in a sour mood, Harry still thinking he should run away, and entered the building. His first thought was that it was enormous. Second, that there were so many people. He didn't know how Uncle Vernon made his way easily through the crowd, but he figured, bitterly, that they had been here many times, without him. His aunt ushered him into a queue that read "Iberia" on a screen and they waited until they made it to the end, where a flight attendant smiled at them from her desk.

"Passports please" she requested, and Aunt Petunia handed them to her. Harry vaguely remembered when she had taken him to get one when his mysterious letters had started to arrive. At the moment he hadn't paid much attention to it, mainly because the affair had been extremely boring, but now he realized they must have been prepared to send him (or all of them) abroad just to avoid them. This thought startled him slightly.

The flight attendant dispatched their suitcases and handed Aunt Petunia the tickets, apologizing because his seat was separate from the Dursleys. They all said it was all right quickly, before she tried to do something about it, and Uncle Vernon promptly guided them through the airport to another queue that read customs. They filled out forms and the man in the cabin stamped their passports before arriving in front of a sensor, where they had to take out their shoes and hand luggage. When they had everything back on, they walked for what seemed like a long time and finally arrived at gate 41. Harry had no idea it took so much hassle to travel by plane, but was slightly entertained by the whole experience. Once they sat at the gate, Uncle Vernon turned to him.

'Ok boy, listen to me' he said in a threatening voice 'we, as in Dudley, Petunia and I, are taking a two month vacation in the Canary Islands. I won it in the company after very hard work and you are not going to ruin it. I arranged for you to stay with some distant relatives of mine in Madrid, as we couldn't find anyone to take you in the UK. I told them you prefer staying with locals because you want to learn Spanish, so you better act the part. You will behave with them and act normal. Don't do any freaky stuff or you will regret it' he finished. Harry was stunned, mostly because Uncle Vernon had invented something positive about him, instead of the usual St.-Brutus crap. Then again, the other family wouldn't have taken him in if he hadn't, so he guessed he shouldn't be so surprised.

'Yes, Uncle Vernon' he said in a slightly sarcastic tone. There was really no point in arguing, since he was already in the airport, though he was panicking. How would he hear the news if he was abroad? And how long would his letters take to reach his friends? He hoped his uncle's relatives were nicer than the Dursleys, though, based on Aunt Marge, he doubted it. At least they wouldn't know about his "freakishness" so they had less ground to mistreat him. And anyway, he had never been abroad, so he might as well make it the best experience possible. He was definitely very curious about what Madrid would be like. While he was aware that other countries existed, if had never felt real until he met the Beauxbaxtons and Durmstrang students. Even then, he hadn't asked them too much about what their countries were like, just their schools. It sounded interesting to learn about Spain, provided that his hosts didn't treat him like a house elf or kept him locked up. Then it would be just like Surrey, but less familiar, farther from his friends and in a foreign language. He would rather be at The Burrow, but it was Dumbledore, not the Dursleys, who had forbidden it, and it was impossible to argue any point with him (Not that he had tried very hard).

With these optimistic thoughts, he boarded the plane and found his seat. He listened nervously to the safety instructions, feeling like the first time he had flooed. They were too many to remember all at once. He buckled his seatbelt, took a candy the air hostess offered to him, and prepared for the flight. He was not ready for the plane to start going so fast, and gasped slightly. The passenger beside him, a middle aged, balding man, gave him a sympathetic look, probably figuring out that it was his first time flying. Then, the plane turned upwards and lifted off the ground. Well, it was better than a hippogriff in any case. Harry felt slightly chlaustrophobic, but the view of London by night was amazing. He watched it until it disappeared in the distance and closed his eyes, trying not to fall asleep. He didn't want to wake up screaming in front of complete strangers, or even think about the Dursleys' reaction if he did. Luckily, his dozing was interrupted by the hostess serving dinner, and Harry tucked in greedily. It wasn't the best food, but he had been in the train all day eating nothing but pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes, so it felt filling. Not that he was picky. If he was at the Dursleys he would be getting nothing but soup and stale bread, so the plane choice was a great replacement. He ate slowly to pass the boredom, though still unable to believe he was on a plane. His evening had definitely gone different than he expected. He briefly wondered what Dumbledore would react like when, and if, he found out. Harry had never understood exactly why he needed to stay at least partly every summer at Privet Drive, but he was pretty sure the physical presence of him and his relatives was important for it, neither of which was being complied to. Oh well…the worst that could happen was that the protection would fail if none of them were there, and Harry would have to stay someplace else the two following summers. Not a bad thing in his books. And it wouldn't even be his fault.

He started feeling anxious when the announcement that they were going to land shortly was made, but enjoyed the descent of the plane nonetheless. It was strange how the cars and streets looked like toys from above, and started getting bigger and bigger every minute. Finally, he felt the impact of the wheels with the ground, and the plane started to lose speed, finally stopping.

"Dear passengers, welcome to Madrid, this is Barajas airport. Local time is 10.03 pm, local temperature 21 degrees Celsius. Thank you for choosing Iberia, and we hope you enjoyed your flight" said the pilot's voice through the loudspeakers. Harry stood up quickly, though it was for naught, as people were taking their hand luggage and thus taking a lot of time to walk through the aisles. He finally made it out of the plane at the same time as the Dursleys, who gave him dirty looks, as though it was his fault that he had come with them. They made their way in silence, until transit passengers had to separate.

'Well boy, we separate here! Remember, no freaky events or you'll be sorry' said Vernon angrily, in low tones to avoid being heard. Harry nodded, annoyed, and followed the signs saying baggage claim/exit. He searched for his bag in the correct section, which wasn't too hard to find. Finally, he passed through another sensor, and again, customs. He presented his passport, got it stamped, and headed towards the sign called exit. He then realized that there were so many people, and he had no idea what his hosts looked like or their names, something Uncle Vernon had no doubt conveniently forgotten to tell him. How could he have been so stupid? Why hadn't he asked? Maybe it was all a fake to leave him stranded in Spain. How would he explain this to the police? He had a suitcase full of magic things. He forced himself to calm down. He needed to get out of the airport first, in order to do anything. He kept walking, and found that many of the people had signs with people's names on them. He searched, just in case, and let an audible sigh of relief when he saw on the left side a big sign with the name Harry Potter. He walked towards it, and for the first time, noticed a blatant difference in Madrid that made him smile broadly. No one was pointing at the sign with his name, or staring at his scar.

This chapter is just the introduction, so it is fairly slow and a bit boring, but necessary to explain the rest of the story. Anyway, I hope you like the idea and continue reading it! Pairings and minor things in the plot are undecided so you can vote, though I will warn you that I hate Harry/Hermione so I won't pair them up. I don't like Ron/Hermione that much either, but it's possible, though not probable.