Ghost to Host

So this came out of nowhere, I decided to give my old hard drives and burned CD's a look through to free up some room and behold, one of my old stories that I didn't upload to .
I won't lie, it sucks but I did write this around a decade ago when I was still just getting use to writing fanfiction.

A young nine year old boy by the name of Harry Potter was currently running as fast as his legs could take him, ten minutes ago, his cousin Dudley had taken a swing at him for no other reason than his Mashed Potatoes were a little lumpy, Harry however had seen the swing coming and had moved out of the way causing Dudley's fist to hit the fridge, Harry wasn't sure but he could have sworn he heard something crack,

Dudley's scream of pain had alerted his parents, Petunia went to attend to her son but Vernon took one look at Dudley before turning to Harry and roared as he dived at the young man, survival instinct kicked in and Harry ran for the door and out into the evening, He had looked behind him and Vernon had chased him to the end of the road before the man's weight became to much of an issue and all but collapsed onto the ground.

Harry continued to run for a good ten minutes or so before he had all but left Little Winging, Harry slowed his pace and soon arrived at the little park area and found a quite spot at the foot of a large tree and sat down in order to regain his breath properly.

It took him a while but he realised just how much trouble he was in here, on the one hand this was his chance to leave the Dursleys forever but he would have no where to go, on the other hand Harry seriously doubted he would survive whatever 'punishment' his uncle Vernon would give him, Harry debated with himself the pros and cons of both choices and in the end leaving won.

"That settles it, never again will that place be home to me" Harry said quietly to himself, the repocutions of these words however would never bee fully known to Harry.

ooO~Ooo

Albus Dumbledore rubbed his forehead in annoyance, he had just had to listen to a report from Minerva about several complaints students had with his Potions teacher Severus Snape, Why wouldn't people listen to him when he told them he trusted Severus, Albus was aware Snape wasn't the most well liked person in the world but he seriously doubted the man was half as bad as people complained,

Albus all but ran up the stone steps to his office looking forward to hot cup of tea and taking it easy for the rest of the day before he would retire to bed, his plans were changed however the moment he stepped foot in his office.

A dark yellow light was glowing brightly and rapidly from one of his devices which indicated trouble. He practically jumped across the room and inspected the device, his face instantly becoming devoid of colour when he realised what had just happened, with a speed quite surprising for someone his age he leapt into action and approached his fireplace before disappearing in a puff of green fire and smoke.

ooO~Ooo

Harry continued to wander the streets, it had been several hours now and the sun had all but set leaving very little light apart from that of the street lamps, Harry had a plan that even he admitted was rather risky, he was currently staying close to Privet Drive so that when it was late enough he would sneak into the Dursley's and get the few belongings he had, stepping onto Privet Drive, he was surprised he could hear his Uncle shouting in the distance, he leapt behind the hedge of one of the neighbours before peaking through the leafs, Harry had to do a double take, at the front door of number four was his Uncle who had gone as red as a tomato in rage with his arms flaring in anger but what really caught Harry's attention was what had caused that anger, stood in front of his uncle were two men both wearing what appeared to be bathrobes or something similar, one was pure black but the other bright red, the one in the red robe appeared old and had more hair then Santa clause, after another minute or so of watching the three men, the other two left and began making there way towards Harry's direction, the closer they got the more he could hear and Harry was shocked when he heard his name mentioned.

"Well that was a load of good Albus, the fat prick couldn't help us find Potter at all" The darker haired one said and much to Harry's shocked realised the man had some sort of deformed eye, the older one named Albus sighed sadly before replying,

"Sadly you are right old friend"

"Did you managed to get anything from his memory at the very least?", Harry flattened his body onto the grass as much as possible, for some reason his survival instincts were at full alert and were telling him to avoid been seen by these two,

"Only what transpired sadly, it appears young Harry was the cause of a injury his cousin suffered earlier today, Harry appeared to have ran away with Mr Dursley giving chase for a short period, before losing him" , the other guy snorted,

"A short period, I'm betting that whale didn't make it to the end of his garden before collapsing" Albus narrowed his eyes,

"This is no time to be joking Alastor, right now young Harry is out on his own somewhere, we must return him to his family before it's too late for me to fix the wards", Harry eyebrows narrowed in confusion, he noticed that both men had passed him and were starting to get a little too far to hear, he crawled as quietly as possible,

"Even if you get him back there Albus you know that they won't just take him back, remember what happened last time?" Alastor replied,

"Sadly yes I do, hopefully though the Dursleys won't give us as much hardship as last time"

"How did they manage to break your compulsion charm though?"

"I suppose Vernon's dislike of our kind is just that strong, it makes no matter however, I'll simply apply a stronger charm this time", neither man spoke for a moment before Alastor broke the silence,

"So what now?"

"We search for Harry, Vernon's memory was less than an hour old, Harry couldn't have gotten far, if the fates are on our side we'll be able to find him before the night is over",

"Fine Albus, if I remember from last time didn't we find Potter at that park"

"Yes that's where I'll head first, you go check near his school, I'll meet you back at my office in a hour".

Harry's confused mind almost blew up as he watched both men disappear from the spot they had been standing at, his mind was working overtime but only one thought was at the forefront,

"What the hell is going on here?"

ooO~Ooo

Harry wasn't quite sure how he had managed it but somehow he had avoided detection from those two men all night, Harry only had one goal and that was to get as far away from Privet Drive as he possibly could and as fast as he could, he had managed to stay in back gardens and took to taking as fewer trips on the main road as possible and other than one close call several hours ago he had achieved his goal, Harry didn't have a clue as to where he was now, the furthest he had ever travelled was school and that trip barely took twenty minutes, the sun was now beginning to rise and Harry had been walking for close to seven hours, his legs were exhausted and he was feeling hungry, he had somehow found himself in some sort of industrial area,

He recognised many of the parking areas were filled with larger vehicles like cement trucks and steam rollers, there was smog coming from several of the buildings which meant , whilst run down many of the places were still been used for work, the rest of the area however was all but abandoned,

He made his way towards a rundown building with a cylinder shaped roof and after removing a rotted plank of wood from the broken window he entered as quietly as possible, taking a look around it appeared he was the only one there and made his ay up to the second floor, all that was left was some rusted cabinets and a few broken pieces of furniture such as desks and chairs, entering a room that Harry guessed had once been a office he found it was smaller and didn't have any damp, settling him self down near the window, he stretched out his legs and sighed in pleasure as his legs were now getting a rest,

It took several minutes to register before Harry realised he was now completely homeless, surprisingly however fear didn't have chance to settle in as his exhaustion caused him to fall asleep as the sun light hit his face.

ooO~Ooo

Albus Dumbledore was more than a little concerned now, it had been four days since Harry Potter had disappeared from the Dursley's home, the wards were completely dead and Albus knew even if he managed to get Harry back there, it would take him all day to place new wards back up.

He had hoped to find the lad within the first day but sadly neither he nor Alastor had been able to find the boy, he hadn't used any magic either so his other tracking device and been practically useless, however it appeared to still be operational so Harry was still alive at the very least,

The major problem however was he was running out of options, he had informed several close allies and friends that Harry Potter and gone missing, said people were not out hunting for the boy but the longer they went without success the closer he was getting to have to informing the ministry about the boys disappearance, sadly this would raise questions he didn't want to answer but if it came to that then he would have to plan a way out of any inquires about several of his actions in regards to young Potter.

Albus and let his mind slip and thought what might happen should they not be able to find Harry and what it could mean for the Wizarding world, Lord Voldemort was not dead and he needed to keep his plan for Harry and the Prophecy intact, Albus shook himself from these musings, no for the greater good Harry Potter had to be found, no matter what the cost.

ooO~Ooo

It had been several days now and Harry's feelings were mixed up, on the one hand he wasn't in constant fear of his uncle and cousin, on the other hand he was hungry and beginning to smell,

It had taken almost a day but he had managed to find some food in the form of a thrown out pizza bits, Harry had managed to make it last two days but after almost two days of nothing to eat he was getting hungry again, thankfully his Uncle's punishment of not allowing him to eat for days on end had Harry trained to withstand hunger quite well, water hadn't been much of a problem since it had thankfully rained three of the last four days, finding a discarded cola bottle he had managed to catch enough rain to not go thirsty, his appearance however was terrible, his hair was dirty and skin musty from his living surroundings as had his clothes,

Harry found himself musing about his life, from what his relatives had told him his parents had been nothing but layabouts but Harry's heart desired nothing more than to be with them, Harry wasn't stupid either he knew he could end it all and he had thought about it on more than one occasion but something always seemed to hold him back,

His thoughts took on a different tone as he began to ponder where to look for food next, his plotting however was put on hold as he was shocked back to the world by tapping on the window strangely enough by an owl, Harry looked at the creature, from what little he knew about owls were that they came awake at night, whilst is was late in the afternoon the sun still hadn't set yet, Harry was also in awe a little as this had been the first time he had seen a real owl, the bird began to tapping the window in annoyance as if telling Harry to let him in,

Harry gingerly opened the window and watched as the owl flew to the desk standing there, it was only then Harry realised that the owl was carrying and envelope of some sort, Harry as none threateningly as possible approached the owl and removed the letter from it's mouth, to his surprise the owl didn't make any noise or movement, infact it seemed Harry's actions were what the owl was expecting,

Harry's eyes widened to almost comical sizes when he noticed his name was on the front of the envelope, his hand shook as he removed the strange looking paper from inside, the contents of the letter left Harry even more confused,

Dear Mr Potter

Enclosed are your currency transactions for the month of March1 1988,

Guardian payment - Petunia Dursley - 42 Galleons (Requested currency transfer to British Sterling £750.00)

Magical Guardian Payment - Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore - 20 Galleons.

If you have any inquires please contact us at Gringotts.

Account Manager

Gnash

Harry scanned the letter several times, apart from the fact that none of the letter made any sense to him, two things stood out, the word magical and the name of one of the men he had come across several nights ago, Harry felt his heart race with excitement, with a bit of luck his questions could be answered, right now he didn't have a lot to lose, the only problem was that this Albus man might find him and take him back to the Dursleys, however he now had a place he could hide should it come to that, taking a leap of faith he stood and found a pen he had salvaged and flipped the paper over,

Dear Mr Gnash

My name is Harry Potter and I just got a letter from you about some banking transactions,

Sadly sir I don't have any idea what this is about, I wasn't aware I had a bank account at all,

Also I am unaware of what you meant by magical, sir I won't lie, I'm confused beyond belief and would appreciate some help regarding some questions.

I would like to speak with you but sadly I have no idea where you bank is, is there any chance you could bring me to your bank.

Thank you in advance

Harry Potter

P.S. Also here is the address of my current location.

Harry gave his reply a once over, he had tried to sound as polite and intelligent as he could, he placed the letter back inside the envelope before returning to the owl that continued to obediently sit there watching Harry,

"I don't know if you can fully understand me but can you return this letter to the person who gave you the original?" Harry asked feeling slightly awkward talking to the owl, The owl however seemed to understand him and leaned forward with it's beak open, Harry gave it the letter and it suddenly flew off out of the window into the sky, Harry watched the owl fly off before he could no longer see it, he noticed a surge of excitement flow through him, there was something going on that involved him and Harry wanted to know exactly what.

ooO~Ooo

Accounts manager Gnash was currently attending to several clients accounts all the while taking sips of tea from his cup, he was disturbed from his work however by the presence of an owl, The Goblin narrowed his eyes as he recognised the creature as one of the ones owned by Gringotts itself, it was also carrying a letter,

Sighing in annoyance, he got up to allow the owl entrance to his office before extracting the letter from the owl who made it's way to the owlrey.

Taking the parchment out of the envelope, he was confused to discover it was the monthly statement to Mr Potter he had sent off two days previously, turning the parchment over however he found that the young Potter had replied,

As he continued to read his frown got bigger and bigger, Gnash wasn't sure what was going on here, from the looks of the letter, the boy had never received anything from Gringotts in the past, no did he seem to be aware of magic, Gnash couldn't comprehend what was going on here,

"Why is the savoir of the magical world unaware of our bank?",

Gnash also saw the last part of the letter, the boy was all but begging for help in regards to his question, normally Goblin disdain for wizards would at most make him send another letter that he would need to make his own way to Gringotts but Gnash couldn't help but be intrigued by this boy, putting his disdain and pride aside he decided to adhere to the boys request once he was finished with his current work.

ooO~Ooo

Gnash port keyed himself to the location Potter had given him , his surroundings surprised him immensely, he found himself in some sort of non magical area and in front of a run down building, looking up he saw that on of the windows were open and pondered if that was Potter's current location, he quickly made himself invisible incase any muggles were inside and proceeded inside the building, he made his way to the open windowed room and could hear light snoring coming from within, only his Goblin background kept his face from betraying his utter shock,

Laid by the window wrapped in a old worn out cover was a young lad, Gnash proceeded inside quietly, looking at the young mans face he knew instantly that this was Harry Potter, Gnash had only met with James Potter a handful of times but it appeared his offspring shared a amazingly similar appearance, several questions were circling Gnash mind, why was Harry Potter in this old building on his own, where were his guardians, why did the boy look homeless,

Gnash approached the youngster and coughed before very gently awakening the boy,

"Mr Potter, Mr Potter can you hear me?" Harry stirred as he was awoken from his sleep, the first thing that hit him was the sunlight as he had taken to sleeping during the day, the second thing he saw however made his blood freeze at the sight of the one who had awoken him, he backed away finding himself trapped in the corner,

"Who…who are you?" Harry asked the creature fearfully, Gnash raised an eyebrow, the boy was afraid of him, had Potter perhaps never seen a Goblin before,

"Mr Potter my name is Gnash and you sent me a reply recently, you asked for some assistance so I 'm here to take you to Gringotts" Gnash explained, Harry was still afraid and weary however but this creature seemed intelligent, nothing like monsters he had read about in books at school,

"Mr Potter are you alright?" Gnash asked, Harry looked at the creature that was slightly smaller than him, it didn't appear to be threatening him in anyway, infact it was acting very professional, he decided to be very delicate with his next question,

"I mean no disrespect um sir but can I ask…what are you?", Gnash frowned, well that answered his question about Potters behaviour, he had seen similar things when muggleborns arrived at Gringotts their first time, usually it wasn't as bad as most had their parents with them, it appeared that Potter really had no clue what he was.

"I am a Goblin Mr Potter, my kind tend to the banking needs of the magical world" Gnash replied proudly, Harry had gained most of his confidence back but his confusion was overwhelming,

"Err…magical world…sir what do you mean?" Gnash frowned harder, first at a human offering manners and secondly and most importantly Harry Potter didn't know about the magical world, could it be he had no idea what he was,

"Mr Potter you are aware of the fact that you're a wizard aren't you?" Gnash asked, Harry felt his mouth hang open but was currently powerless to close it, the most he could accomplish was a slight shake of his head,

Gnash was uncertain of what to do here, apparently the vanquisher of the last Dark Lord, the boy who was hailed as a hero had no idea he was magical, Gnash sighed to himself, this wasn't going to be a quick trip it appeared,

"Mr Potter I can assure you, that you are indeed a wizard just as your father was, it appears that for some reason you have been left in the dark about your family and your place in the world" Gnash took the portkey from his pocket,

"Mr Potter this item in my hand is a portkey, it will take us instantly back to my office at Gringotts, I believe the non magical equivalent would be teleporting, please take a hold of it and hopefully when we arrive there I can answer some of your quires".

Harry gingerly walked towards the goblin and taking a huge leap of faith took a hold of the item, the goblin said something in a language he didn't recognise and suddenly fell onto a carpeted floor.

ooO~Ooo

Harry had never had a more strange day in his entire life, he was currently sat in a very comfy chair a goblin sitting across from him with a desk separating them, he had been given a cup of tea and a plate of plain biscuits but after eating nothing they were a godsend, what was shocking however was the tale he was being told,

Gnash the goblin had given him a very brief explanation of what the magical world was, he was shocked to discover he was currently in the middle of London, all those strange things that had happened in his life now made sense,

Finding out about his parents however had been emotionally draining,

"Excuse me Mr Gnash, you've mentioned my parents several times, may I ask a question?" He politely asked, Gnash nodded in reply,

"What were their names?" Harry asked timidly, all his life he had wanted to know this, Gnash couldn't keep the shock off his face, the lad didn't even know his parents names he forced his shocked face back to a neutral one,

"Your father was James Potter, your mother was Lily Marie Potter nee Evans" Gnash felt slightly uncomfortable when he saw the young Potters reaction, tears hadn't spilled but his eyes were watery, Gnash had had questions of his own but procedure didn't usually allow for personal questions with clients, however this was anything but a normal meeting,

"Mr Potter may I ask a question of my own?", Harry not trusting his voice nodded,

"What were you doing on your own in a abandoned building?" Harry sighed and calmed his emotions and explained what had happened with his relatives, Harry wasn't sure but the goblin seemed angry when he mentioned what his uncle had planned to do, the next part he wasn't sure of but Gnash had been all business so far and didn't think he would tell anyone, he then told the goblin about the two men and what they had said, after Harry was finished silence settled in for several minutes,

Gnash thought about all the information Potter had given him, only one person matched the name Albus and the description given, Albus Dumbledore, for some reason Dumbledore was keeping Potter blind to the magical world,

"You said he mentioned that you leaving had happened before?" Gnash asked, Harry nodded,

"I don't really understand that part, I can't actually recall ever running away before" Harry replied honestly,

"There is a spell and several potions that can cause ones memories to be removed Mr Potter, it would appear that your memories have been wiped but unless we do some test I can't say for certain" Gnash explained, Harry looked surprise at the news of what magic could actually do,

Gnash was deep in thought, he was uncertain of what to do from here, the magical world believed that Harry Potter was happy and doing amazing things, Gringotts was aware he was living with his non magical relative but knew nothing past that, Albus Dumbledore however seemed to know far more and was obviously up to something, Gnash cared little for humans but younglings of all creatures were seen as precious gifts of the future, Potter had obviously been treated poorly at best at his former residence and Gnash was of no doubt that should Dumbledore find Potter he would return him there, There was something he could do but would it be right, it would go against goblin society and he would need to be convince Lord Ragnock of his idea, even if he managed to get his Lords blessing it would put them against the Ministry of Magic should they ever find out.

"Mr Potter, if I had a way to get you away from your relatives for good, would you be interested?" Harry's face left no doubt what his answer would be,

" I make no promises mind you, but should it not I'll think of something else, please excuse me Mr Potter but I need to speak with my superior, I should warn you, I may be gone for quite a while" Gnash explained, Harry who couldn't keep the look of hope off his face nodded eagerly as Gnash exited the room, Harry couldn't stop the tears of happiness that fell at the idea of being properly free from the Dursleys forever.

ooO~Ooo

"What your asking is absurd Gnash, it has never happened before" the Lord Sharptooth said, Gnash was currently appealing with the three lords of the goblins, Ragnock, Sharptooth and Grindstone,

"I'm aware of that Lord Sharptooth but may I present my statement first?" he asked, all three goblin lords allowed him to speak, he explained everything regarding Harry Potter and what he hoped to achieve here today,

"Whilst I admit I am repulsed at the idea of a youngling being mistreated in a such a way, should we really offer asylum to a human?" Lord Grindstone enquired, Gnash was prepared for this however and he was certain Potter would agree to it,

"We would have much to gain my lords" Gnash stated,

"Really Gnash, what would we have to gain from Potter?" Sharptooth asked,

"Think about this my lord, Potter will have a lot of political strength when he is of age, he could assist us in achieving more equal rights" Gnash explained,

"I thought you said Potter was ignorant of most of the magical community Gnash" Sharptooth replied,

"As of this moment he is, what little he knows is what I've been explaining to him, if we offer him asylum with the goblin kind we can help him achieve better understanding and hopefully that understanding will lead to a better future for our kind" Gnash explained,

"Will Potter assist us though Gnash, and what is to stop him from turning his back on us in the future?" Grindstone asked,

"I believe as long as we don't betray Potter he will not betray us, right now he is a lost boy looking for guidance and help, I believe if we help him he will assist us in the future" Gnash explained, the three lords said nothing but there gazes turned to one another, Gnash kept his eyes on Ragnock however as he would have the ultimate decision, after several moments.

"Gnash, I will grant Harry Potter asylum with us on the condition that he agrees with what you have offered and that should he not fulfil his promise you life is forfeit" Ragnock said speaking for the first time all meeting,

"I agree to these terms Lord Ragnock" Gnash replied confidently,

"Very well, Gnash I will have a contract made up by tomorrow for Potter to sign, assuming he agrees with your idea of course, also we will meet again three days from now to execute your first idea" Grindstone replied, Gnash nodded in acceptance,

"As we said assuming Potter agrees with this you may take him down to one of the empty quarters tonight"

"Thank you my lords" Gnash said whilst bowing to each of them respectively,

"You are dismissed"

ooO~Ooo

Unsurprisingly the young Potter had very quickly agreed to Gnash and the goblins demands, and was now leading the boy towards the trolleys, he waited until the boy was seated and safe,

"I should warn you Mr Potter, these trolleys tend to go at a very fast pace" he explained

"What do you meeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaa….." Harry was cut off by shock at the velocity of the trolley, he had never been on a roller coaster before but he imagined it had to be very similar, he couldn't contain the glee that was etched on his face,

Eventually they stopped and Harry was standing outside of an open safe that had a room inside it,

"Mr Potter these will be your lodgings from now on, would you like me to explain them to you?" Gnash asked,

"Yes please Mr Gnash" Harry replied, they both stepped into the massive room, Harry realised it was roughly the same size as the Dursley's front room, the room probably looked bigger than it was due to amount of empty space, there was a very comfy looking bed with a desk of draws at its foot, across the room was a huge shelf that was currently looked bare apart from the three books residing upon it, at the back was a small cut off arch that led to a toilet and shower nozzle in the wall, Harry was astounded, was this really going to be his home from now on,

"We have used a little of you money to buy you a set of robes and pyjamas, we also purchased a small selection of books that will help you understand the Wizarding world better, I hope this is too your likening" Gnash stated,

"Yes thank you Mr Gnash" Harry replied politely, Gnash nodded,

"here will be a lot more to cover Mr Potter and I will make some free time to explain more tomorrow, will you require anything else Mr Potter?" Gnash asked,

"No thank you sir" Harry replied still overcome with all of this,

"Then I shall wish you a god night young sir, might I suggest you turn in for the night it is rather late" Gnash said as he left the chamber closing the door behind him, Harry was a little worried until a candle appeared to light itself up illuminating the entire room,

Laying gingerly on the bed Harry marvelled at it's softness, he wondered after everything he had found out today if sleep would overcome him, amazingly enough within minutes of his head hitting the pillow he fell asleep truly happy for the first time since he could remember.

OoO~Ooo

A/N: I'll be honest whilst I do remember writing this story I can't remember much of what the plan was (as I said earlier I wrote this almost a decade back), However I do recall that Hermione would be killed by the troll at Halloween, Harry wouldn't arrive until his fourth year and he would unravel all of Dumbledore's secrets including the newly blocked off girls bathroom on the 4th floor where he would meat and bond with the ghost of Hermione.