Harry Potter and the Sketchy Resorts

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of the Potterverse!

Chapter One

Severus Snape looked around the room in the back of the Three Broomsticks and finding nobody but Albus Dumbledore in it sat down and said quietly, "Albus I found a note hidden in my room at headquarters just before we left to deal with that mess at the Department of Mysteries."

The headmaster replied equally sotto voce, "Was it addressed to you or just left there?"

"It was left by Regulus and addressed to Sirius," Snape replied. "The dumb mutt never cleaned out the room or he would have found it. Most likely he never entered it in an excess of maudlin sentiment."

"Now Severus," Albus chided. "Let us not speak ill of the dead."

"Fine," Severus said and sighed. "In any case it seems Regulus was more like the mutt than we knew. He wasn't killed trying to leave the Dark Lord as I first thought and reported to you."

Albus sighed at the insult but focused past it on the news, "No? What happened then?"

"Apparently he'd learned about the Dark Lord's horcruxes and had stolen all but two and replaced them with fakes when he was caught trying to get the diary from Malfoy," Severus Snape had a look of grudging admiration on his face.

"That is very surprising but pleasant news," Albus said. "We know the diary to be destroyed, what was the other one he missed?"

"The snake familiar," Snape replied. "Obviously he did the easy ones first."

"I doubt any of them were easy," Albus said. Then he continued, "I guess we won't need to roust Slughorn out of retirement then since we know there is only one left and what it is."

"Albus!" Snape cried out, shocked. "You promised me you'd get someone to fill in at potions and I could finally teach Defense this year." Seeing the expression on the older man's face he knew he would need to give more reasons than that to keep his promise. Fortunately he had just the thing. Unfortunately it would also help Potter.

Snape sighed and said, "He didn't destroy the ones he took, just hid them. And this letter does not say where." He made a face, "You'll have to spring the boy from his prison early and get him to claim the house he was almost certainly left in the mutt's will so I can search for clues to where the others were hidden."

"Now Severus I've told you many times that the house on Privet Drive is not his prison, it's his home," Albus said. "Still you may be right. I'll see if I can bring him along to recruit Horace then have him claim the house. If you'll be searching there I guess he'll have to stay with the Weasleys the rest of the summer but I doubt he'll mind."

Severus muttered something about redheads and birth control then seeing the look on the older man's face he sighed and nodded, "Fine, I'll go along with that plan. Just let me know when I can go back to Grimmauld street and search." He stood up, "Now if you'll excuse me I have to be going. Potions to check on."

Albus knew that Harry had stay with his relatives for at least two weeks in order to fully charge the wards so he couldn't get him just yet. But that gave him time to find Horace first so that was all to the good in his opinion.

Sometime in the second week of June Albus strolled up to #4 Privet drive in a set of rainbow colored robes and knocked on the door.

Petunia opened the door and hissed, "What are you doing coming to our house like this? What will the neighbors think?"

"Well," Albus said cheerfully. "If you let me in they won't see me standing outside your house now will they?"

Petunia scowled but knowing she couldn't make him leave she let him in, "What do you want?"

"To take Harry with me," Albus said. "Until next summer at least."

Petunia turned towards the stairs and shouted, "Boy! Pack all your worthless belongings and get down here pronto!" Turning back to Albus she said, "He's all yours and if we never see him again it will still be far too soon."

Soon Harry came down with his trunk and Hedwig in her cage, "I'm ready to go headmaster."

Albus nodded, "Good! We'll need to go to headquarters first."

"But we're not staying there?" Harry asked.

Albus took hold of Harry's arm and apparated to the sidewalk in front of the house on Grimmauld place. Then he continued, "We are here because with the tragic demise of your godfather we cannot trust the wards on this house until we know who now owns it. His will would make that clear, of course, but it is tied up with legal wrangling over whether it is valid or not. So we are here to see if the house has been willed to the most likely heir, you."

Harry swallowed a lump in his throat and forced his mind to concentrate on what the old headmaster was saying and not on Sirius, "But if the will hasn't been read yet then how can I claim anything left to me in it?"

"Because the magic will know Harry," Albus said. "Regardless of how long it takes the Ministry to recognize the fact the wards on this house will recognize you if you are the owner of the house. We just need to check on that. If it was not you then it went to a relative and we'll hope it went to Andromeda or Nymphadora Tonks."

"Because the rest of the family is pretty dark," Harry finished. He sighed then put his trunk down. Putting Hedwig's birdcage on top of the trunk he straightened up, "Okay, what do I need to do?"

"Walk forward toward the door," Albus said. "If you feel anything try to stop you or barring your way then stop and return to me here. If you make through to the front door without incident then place your right hand on the door and say, 'I claim this house and all its environs."

"And that should do it?" Harry asked.

Albus nodded, "Yes."

Harry walked up to the door and did that with no problems. Albus walked up next to him and smiled, "Thank you my boy! Now you just have to give us permission to use it as our headquarters and we'll be done here."

Harry stepped sideways away from the door, "Not unless you swear to me that we'll not go back to Privet Drive. I'm going nuts there headmaster. I need something to do to distract me from my grief. If you got me just for this then screw you and your order. You can meet in Petunia's kitchen for all I care."

"Harry," the old man chided. "Be reasonable."

"I am," Harry stated. "I know you would not have come at all if the wards weren't already charged so I'm free for the rest of the summer. I'm willing to help win the fight against the current dark lord but if you don't have anything for me to do other than stay at Privet Drive or go to the Burrow and listen to Ron and Hermione argue then I'm leaving. I hear the Bahamas are very nice. Vernon talks about them being full of people who aren't his sort at all so it's likely I'll fit right in. I've sent Hedwig with a letter to Gringott's and their answer shows me to be well enough off to tour the world if I want. So money's no problem. If you need me for this fight, and you certainly do, then it behooves you not to annoy me so much that I'll tell old pasty face that he can have the bloody island as long as I get to leave safely along with the only five people I give a damn about in this world."

Albus looked shocked, "Harry! You wouldn't actually do that would you?"

"Want to find out?" Harry replied.

Albus sighed, "No, I do not. Very well Harry, as soon as something worthwhile comes up I'll tell you about it and you can join if you want. As long as it is during the summer. You're schooling is more important."

"If you really thought that you would hire a competent and non death eater teacher for Defense this year," Harry said.

Albus smirked briefly, "I take it then that you would not be willing to help convince Horace Slughorn to come out of retirement so Severus can teach Defense this coming year?"

"Hell no!" Harry said. He would have said more except that he saw the smirk on the headmaster's face widen at his outburst.

Albus smiled and said, "Oh well. I tried at least. It's too bad but Severus will have to remain Potions Professor."

Harry snickered, "Do you do this to him every year?"

"No," Albus replied. "Some years he hasn't asked."

Harry laughed, "Well now that we've cleared that up what else have you got?"

Albus shrugged with exaggerated casualness, "Nothing really. Why not wait at the Burrow and if something comes up I will come get you."

Harry shook his head, "Not good enough. If you have nothing for me to do right now I'm off to Heathrow." Harry started walking back to his trunk and Hedwig.

"Well there is one thing," Albus started. "It could be very tedious work but it is undoubtedly important."

Harry stopped and turned, "What is it?"

Albus told him about the letter and finished with, "If you'll allow him back in we may find out where Regulus hid them."

"I'll let you in to check the room or I can go," Harry said. "I'd really rather not let him in any house of mine."

Albus nodded, "I will go look then. To allow only one other person through the wards say I allow, the person's name, free passage into this house."

Harry walked over and put his hand on the door and said, "I allow Albus Dumbledore access to this house for the next week." He felt the wards accept this and smiled. "I hope that's long enough. If not you can come and ask for another week."

Albus smiled, "Very clever Harry. That should be sufficient. Once I find out where he took them I will contact you."

"That's satisfactory," Harry said. "I guess I can listen to Ron and Hermione argue for another week."

The headmaster laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, "Good, then let's get to the Burrow. Grab your stuff and I'll apparate us over."

Albus apparated them both to the kitchen door of The Burrow and knocked while Harry was finding his balance. Molly opened the door and pulled Harry into the house and into a hug.

'Oh Harry!" She exclaimed. "It's so good to see you! I was hoping you'd get to spend the summer here."

Harry managed to slip out of the hug and catch his breath enough to say, "I'm happy to see you too but it's just for a week, Mrs. Weasley."

"So soon?" She said. "Little Ginny will be devastated. Do you have other plans then?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, I do. The headmaster might change my mind in the coming week but I have a plane ticket reserved to a resort in the Caribbean."

"Are you sure you have enough money to be doing that Harry?" Despite the fact that she named Harry, Molly was looking at Dumbledore when she said it.

Harry rolled his eyes but let Albus reply.

Albus nodded at her, "He has more than enough Molly."

Molly smiled, "Well then I hope you enjoy your trip."

Albus levitated the trunk and birdcage inside the door and said, "Well I must be off. Many things left to do." As he started to leave he suddenly turned back and said, "Molly? Can I impose upon you to house our newest recruit to the order?"

Molly nodded, "Why certainly Albus but isn't there any better place for him to stay?"

"No, our latest recruit is female and our only single female recruit is Nymphadora who only a tiny one room apartment," Albus said.

Harry saw the sly look on the headmaster's face and wondered what he knew that Molly didn't but should.

"Oh, of course then," Molly said. "More the merrier. How long will she be staying?"

"She'll be gone in a week as well," Albus said and apparated out.

Molly looked at Harry, "That almost sounded like she'd be leaving with you Harry."

Harry shrugged, "Well the headmaster mentioned the order needing me for a possible mission. I told him that I'd put off my trip for it if something came up before I left."

She frowned, "Well I certainly hope he wouldn't interrupt your vacation to ask you to do something for the order. That might be dangerous. Even with an adult along."

Harry shrugged, "I guess we'll see." He let Hedwig out of her cage and picked up his trunk and the empty birdcage, "Am I in Ron's room again?"

Molly nodded absently and barely noticed when Harry left. She was too busy worrying.

Albus entered the house at #12 Grimmauld place and went immediately to Regulus' room. He expanded an empty trunk to full size and placed it on the floor. With a few flourishes of his wand he shrunk the entire contents of the room, placed it in the trunk, then locked the trunk and shrunk that. Pocketing the shrunken trunk he left the house and apparated over to Spinner's end where Severus Snape lived.

He entered the house without knocking and finding Severus reading in his library he said, "I can't get you into the room but I've done that one better."

Severus lifted an eyebrow, "I suppose I am used to you just barging in but what do you mean about the room?"

Albus pulled the shrunken trunk from his pocket and tossed it in Snape's lap, "I shrank everything and stored it in there."

Snape scowled, "What you mean is that insufferable brat has declined to let me into the house now that he owns it even to help destroy the dark lord who wants him dead."

Albus sighed, "I think I may have overplayed my hand. He's very close to just leaving England and saying to hell with it." He held up a hand to forestall what Severus wanted to say, "I have checked with Gringott's and he has acquired a passport from them along with a plane ticket to the Bahamas. The most worrying thing is that when we got to the Burrow he told Mrs. Weasley he'd only be there for a week."

"What?" Severus Snape shouted.

Before he could continue Albus spoke, "Yes, so if you could find out where Regulus hid the horcruxes before then we might still salvage things as he promised to go on that mission if we discover where they are before he leaves."

"And who do we send with him?" Severus replied scowling. 'Or do we just hand him money and watch him disappear with our only hope of defeating the dark lord?"

"Well our newest recruit, Fleur Delacour, has also asked for a mission. She's eager to prove she can be of help," Albus said with a smile. "She comes from a wealthy family and Harry certainly needs no financial help from us so we can just send the two of them to retrieve the horcruxes and either bring them here or destroy them."

His scowl lessening a bit Severus said, "She does want to prove she's more than a pretty face. It might work." His scowl deepened again, "Are we going to tell him he's also a horcrux before he leaves?"

"No," Albus said. "No need to burden him with that knowledge at this time."

Snape snorted, "Very well. I'll go look through this no doubt jumbled mess now. I'm sure you can see yourself out."

Author's Note: This story is A.U. In this world Fleur did not come to Great Britain to look for work after the Triwizard. She came in the first week of June 1996 after Harry's Fifth year of school was over and did not come to work for the bank but instead joined the Order of the Phoenix right away.