Disclaimer: I am merely playing with other people's creations, I don't own the game/book/anime/TV-show I am borrowing from, nor am I making any money with this. I am writing for fun and practice, as fan-fiction to be shared with others if I feel like it.

Chapter 04: Alternate End - Leaving Wizarding World

With the last ugly chapter in his life over back, Harry Jameson rested back in the armchair before the television, catching up on a few movies he had heard about during the years but never got to see. He wanted to spend time to see some of it, just as he saw to it he finished his magical education on his own time, at least to the point the rest of that world would leave him alone. Harry James Potter was dead, and Harry Jameson would not be one to foolishly rush to adventure.

He chose his last name to honor his father, and also to avoid playing around with variations of his name including 'Potter, Black, or Evans' as a family name someone clever could have tracked. Jameson was common enough and still paid homage to his father, without revealing much about him. Goblins had arranged for the paperwork, he was emancipated and got himself a place to stay in the United States.

Although he appeared underage to the mundane world, he had a named guardian who was actually a goblin in disguise willing to jump in his role in exchange with a suitable sum of money paid, and a runic gauntlet that let him disguise himself to appear like an older version of Harry's healthy figure. The black hair had finally been tamed, his scar was gone, and his brilliant green eyes were full of life.

He was attending a mundane school starting this fall, coming as a transfer student he had a lot of reading to do to catch up but thankfully he no longer had to dumb down his accomplishments for Hermione or Ron. He was free to pursue his own life as he saw best. He would continue practicing magic in the evenings, with a weekly visit from his tutor to see how far he had progressed. He would finish his magical education to OWLs, perhaps even go for his NEWTs, but he had no intension to truly stay in the magical world and he had found this was hardly uncommon in the States.

Pureblood lords had come in the past to try and build up their fortune in a land fresh for the taking, only to find themselves hilariously outmatched by the native American magicals, who had trashed the British and French purebloods in such a ruthless fashion that those who managed to flee to tell the others found few people willing to risk a long voyage against such dangerous foes. Some attempts were made over the years, but ultimately the purebloods had been destroyed every time they tried to cross over. The first-generation wizards and witches, as well as half-bloods had been more successful, and eventually paved the way for some more moderate purebloods to find themselves accepted, though with a strict warning to mind their manners.

Harry found it refreshing, the country had its own scars from the civil war, the slavery, and its share of scandals and such but at the same time it was a country that had lived through those times aiming for the better. Wizarding World in Britain had stagnated, and it was dying out. The boast 'greatest school in the world' that Hogwarts held in Europe was a laughing stock abroad, and the ICW's presentation and reach didn't get much beyond the European borders.

"Dobby?" Harry smiled as the pop of his last faithful friend's appearance made him feel a little bit more relaxed. "Yes master Harry Potter sir, how can Dobby help you sir?" The excitable young elf inquired eagerly, making Harry chuckle slightly. "I was hoping you'd bring me the daily newspapers from the bank if you would please?" Dobby nodded eagerly and vanished with another pop.

Harry's will had left a fair share of money to those who used to follow him, but other than leave a note in Hermione's vault suggesting she leaves Britain and seek to finish her studies elsewhere, he had not done them any real favors.

He had left brochures of other magical schools the goblins had managed to acquire, most of them scattered around the world, but the most promising one he had suggested in his hasty note in the vault her 'inheritance' was in pointing out towards the Academy of Magical Arts in Sydney. From what he had heard, she had taken his advice, and left Britain much to McGonagall's sorrow. Evidently without her there, and Harry as a seeker, there would likely be no chance for the House of Lions to get either the Quiddich or House Cup in the coming years.

Ron didn't concern him anymore, and the last he had heard of Ginny she had began to see a mind-healer to undo the damage the possession had left behind. Why nothing was done before, Harry would never know. Molly Weasley's blind faith in Dumbledore had to be behind a lot of it, he thought to himself grimly.

The Marauders Inc. had caught his attention, and the portrait on an earlier Daily Prophet article showcasing Sirius Black and Remus Lupin in mundane tuxedos besides similarly attired Fred and George Weasley had at least earned a laugh from him, as had the large top-hats and the silly handlebar moustache Sirius was holding under his nose and then lowering to let out a short barking laughter in the image, as they stood before their store.

The Marauders, both the old and the new, were doing their part to bring laughter to the society, but apparently also plotting for the downfall of the formerly respected Headmaster Dumbledore. Apparently the word of the Head of House Black carried a lot of power, especially when people woke up to the fact how many votes he held as both Black and Potter votes were in his grasp, and with the dissolution of House Potter those votes became bound to his lineage.

As Dobby popped back with the few magazines Harry nod his head gratefully and chuckled. "Thank you Dobby, take the rest of the day off, I think you have built up a fair bit of coins already to build up your collection of socks further." The happy house elf nod eagerly before vanishing with a pop, as Harry turned his attention to the newspapers.

Most of it hardly interested him. He had sold all his properties in Europe after instructing the heirlooms to be moved into a vault, and he had sold the shares he had no interest in keeping to increase his funds greatly. He had kept a few companies, most of them mundane, but he had also invested heavily in the American companies, both mundane and magical. Even if he had no real interest to return to living among magical people for most part, he could invest on good ideas and if he was likely to make some money doing so, all the more reason for him to do so.

Finding out he had owned not only Privet Drive #4 but the Grunnings, both bought by his parents to make sure Lily's sister and her family would always have a home and so that Vernon couldn't be fired from his job as long as he did at least half-way decent job in order to support his family. They had apparently taken it all for granted and believed the House was rightfully theirs, even though Lily's parents had only rented it in her childhood and it was only because the Potter family bought it for them that they had been able to live rent-free.

Harry wasn't in the mood to be charitable. He had called in an investigation on the Grunnings accounts on suspicions he had gained from listening to his uncle and seeing what all he signed off on his business account. Soon enough, the police had arrested the man for fraud, grand larceny, and tax evasion. Right in the middle of a busy business day. The fact the police then appeared at Privet Drive to throw Dudley and Petunia out of the house informing them they were staying illegally in a house owned by their late nephew and now in the hands of a new owner who wanted to have the place demolished, they had been humiliated in front of the entire neighborhood.

Not that it helped when the newspapers in Britain caught wind of a son of a late gentleman of Potter lineage who was a lord had been living with these people for years while they stole from the boy's trust fund and beat and mocked the child, up until the point the boy's trust fund demanded he attend a private academy. The fact the boy had been later declared dead before he could reach the age where his trust could have turned over to him, and the few whispers it was a murder by Dursleys so they could lay claim to the vault, the family had dire problems.

It didn't help that the police found a secret bank account that Vernon claimed he knew nothing about, that held a lot of money that was supposed to rest in the young lord's trust account. It was amazing with a few connection with goblins with their fingers in mundane banks as well could do. Not all the charges would stick but the general image of the Dursleys was tarnished to the point that they would be pariahs for the rest of their lives.

Checking out the magazines one at a time, Harry smiled at the news article showing a screaming image of now late Lucius Malfoy being executed in France after trying to free the death-eater trials that had began with the memories that Sirius Black and Remus Lupin provided, showing several unmasked death eaters during the war in obvious full control of themselves.

Combined with Amelia Bones' policy for calling for veritaserum and the Black votes supporting her each time along with the Longbottoms and a few like-minded families, the death-eaters were being captured, questioned, and imprisoned or executed in numbers. Dumbledore's pleading for second chances fell to deaf ears when people took up telling him it was 'for the Greater Good'. Apparently Albus hadn't taken it well.

Harry kept tabs on the magical community, both back in his former homeland and in the States, but things were looking up for Harry Jameson. He was willing to admit he might miss some of the people now and then, but ultimately in order for the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived to die, he had to, well, die. There was no way he was going to go back to the misery of being gawked at for something he was fairly sure was not his doing at all but something his mom did to save him.

Another nail on his decision had been to recover his parents portraits in his new vault after moving to the states, and learning that they had hoped if they fell that Harry would run. All the lies about his parents wanting him to stay in Britain and learn at Hogwarts had been shattered like glass, and further cemented his loathing of the old head bastard.

With all the raw power burning through him, the training the abuse had provided him to not care for people other than himself, and the disappointment at learning something that Sirius and Remus should have known too but hadn't told him, well it was suffice to say Harry lost all interest in contacting even the old Marauders anymore. Sirius might have sworn an oath, but he had left Harry in Hagrid's care and chased after Pettigrew. He had believed the old man and not done anything to free himself and Harry from the headmaster's leash. Remus had felt he owed the man, choosing the old bastard over the child who had been the cub of his wolf-pack. Their choice was made, and Harry had made his own.

He could have taken that road, grasped to the power at his fingertips, and gone truly dark, and began to prepare for his return to exact vengeance on all that were guilty of condemning him to the hell he had been through. Yet he had already forgiven a lot, and truthfully, he was not a malevolent person by nature. He had seen little sense in holding back from killing those who were already ready to kill others. Those who sought to kill others should also be ready to be killed. Harry had taken a step, but he had no wish to carry on killing.

Slowly the time spent near his parents portraits, and watching on the news on the wizarding world warily but hopefully had began to heal him, and by the time he left to study in the mundane world, he was ready to face the world again, and see if this time, he could make true friends. School was unlikely to be all cheer and laughter, but after what he had been through at Hogwarts, he was fairly sure he could handle the American school system.

End Chapter

Alright, this is an addition to the tale, a replacement for the previous, 3rd chapter if you will. I have to admit it felt like the 3rd part was not quite fitting for the story, it was an idea and an option but at the same time I'll just come forth to say it that my original intension was something closer to this chapter.

I considered adding the bit of planning at the end here that I did in the 3rd chapter about the ideas set against Dumbledore in the coming year, but left it out in the end. Harry's gone from Britain, is paying attention to things but learning different things and preparing for a life that doesn't involve risking death year after year while dancing to the whims of an insane puppeteer.

Oh, I imagine my writing has already shown, but just in case it's not come out in my writing for some reason?

I really despise Dumbledore.