If you look past my grammar etc, you may find a story, when Harry Potter learns just a little too much in more than one place and usually too late. This is a AU with a lot of girls and a lot of character bashing, character death and not book compliant, but as Marcus Aelius Aurelius said "Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart."

This is defiantly NC-17/Mature so be pre-warned. NO SLASH! With 600,000 HP stories out there I have probably stepped on someone's toes, for that I apologize. To tell you the truth I would love to be able to copy some scenes into this work that I have read from other people's works. Some have a touch for fight scenes while others erotic writings but if you continue you will just have to put up with my attempts. It's all for fun right?

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners i.e. J.K. Rawlings, etc. The original characters and plot are the property of the author i.e. J.K. Rawlings, etc. This work is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Not for sale or profit but hopefully for the enjoyment of the reader.

~ represents mind speaking

Chapter 1-I was strolling along

Harry Potter was a beaten and abused ten year old, forced to stay in a cupboard under the stairs at #4 Pivot Dr. He had enough of the beatings, chores, lack of food and the general abuse. Harry's library at primary school and the library in the neighborhood had taught him he was not a Freak and that there were avenues available to get himself help. The one time he had tried to get out from underneath was through a schoolteacher who went to the child welfare agency. Harry was eight years old at the time.

Harry was removed from the Dursley's but had been returned to their loving care soon after. It took a week in the cupboard to heal from the beating for telling lies. Harry was no slouch, he was observant and he had seen two things that stood out in all of the hearings and his subsequent return to #4 Pivot Drive. One was an old man who looked like he was hundreds of years old. The other was how a number of the people involved were not dressed right. The old man was in a purple suit made of what looked like velvet and had a long white beard. Another had on a kilt and a T-shirt with a striped tie. Even at eight Harry noticed these oddities and those weird people. When he returned to school, the teacher was gone and no one knew why or where she went.

Harry had planned for a long time to run away and now was the time. Vernon was at work, Petunia was out shopping and Dudley was with his gang. Everything Harry owned was in one pocket; in the other was food he liberated from the kitchen. If anyone were looking out at Pivot Dr, all they would see would be a small child walking with a determined stride down the street. It would be a long time before he would return to Pivot Dr.

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Later that evening the floe of the Great Albus 'always open for an additional middle name' Dumbledore, at Hogwarts school for magic, announced a caller. "Mrs. Figg how nice of you to check in, how are you?"

"Not worth a farthing, and your little trouble maker has done a runner".

"What! Screamed Dumbledore as he sprang from his majestic chair in his opulent office…back up, I am coming through". Within the hour, the 'Order-of-the-Phoenix' was called and were franticly in search of one Harry James Potter.

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Harry was getting tired; he had been walking and thinking very hard. Where was he going to go and should he just go back to Pivot Dr? No! Never go back but where to go? Passed exhausted from all the walking Harry looked for a place to sit down but stay out of sight in case someone was looking for him. On the other side of the street was a long building with large doors running down one side. Many doors had Lorries parked in front of them, some of the Lorries were already loaded. Harry found one and climbed in to the rear of the huge truck, sat down to rest and promptly fell asleep.

The truck being moved and the doors being closed did not wake Harry. The driver never noticed the little kid as he closed the massive back doors of the Lorrie and drove off to his destination.

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Harry awoke later to the vibrations of the moving truck. The darkness was like his cupboard so caused him no alarm. By the time, the truck was opened Harry had found a hidey-hole in the middle of a pallet load of goods. Harry was determined not to be found and be sent back to Pivot Dr. Surrounded by boxes of goods that were strapped tightly to the pallet, no one notice him, as the pallet was hoisted onto a freighter bound for Singapore. The ship set sail that evening.

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The great 'too many names' Dumbledore had started a physical search of the neighborhood and Harry's school but found nothing. The great Albus 'too many names' was in panic mode when he returned to Hogwarts that evening. He foresaw his plans for Harry Potter going up in smoke; one had to have Harry for Harry to sacrifice himself for the greater good. About that time he started to kick himself as he sat down in is throne like chair, the monitoring charms and of course 'THE LOCATOR TRINKET'! While the 'locator trinket' only gave the general area, that would be enough, to find his problem child. Calling for Professor Snape via a Patronus charm and using the floe to get Mungus Fletcher at #12 Grimmauld Place gave Dumbledore the time to make the coordinates for their retrieval of Harry Potter. Severus was given the coordinates for apperating and Mungus was given a return port-key to Harry's location. Albus was feeling greatly pleased with himself until both of his minions returned soaking wet and dripping on his polished wood floors. Both had arrived in the harbor, not on the docks nor on a ship but in the water of the harbor, neither were happy. The 'locator trinket' was deemed faulty after further wet and unproductive trips.

Fawkes was of no use as it was a burning day last Monday. By the time Fawkes was fit all Dumbledore could get was a negative shake of the head from the bird. Fawkes was around too many discussions over Harry Potter and 'The Greater Good' to get involved in something so disgusting.

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It took over a day at sea before he was found and taken to the captain of the vessel.

"Well what have we here, a stowaway, do you know the punishment for being a stowaway young lad?" the captain was really joking as many captains just threw the stowaway overboard as they were nothing but trouble and a money loss.

"No Sir" Harry replied and chuckled to himself as to how bad could it be. Was he going to make him clean, beat him, hell it could not be as bad as Pivot Dr.

Well it was not as Pivot Dr. but the captain had a real problem. The ship had a schedule and the faster he got to his next port the more money the shipping company made. The quicker they unloaded and brought on fresh cargo and provisions and got underway the more money the shipping company made. To turn around, give the kid back to the right authorities, and fill out the paper work was lost time, time that cost the shipping company money and possibly him his job.

So since he was not going to cast the stowaway overboard and he was not going to loose time, he decided to press on and turn the kid over to the next English speaking port that would not cause him or the kid problems.

Harry was now the official cabin boy for the freighter 'New Horizon'.

The captain did not want to punish the kid but this was not a cruise ship. He set working hours, and even had the crew train the kid as if he was at school, not all of his crew were morons. Now the school hours were seven days a week as was the ships schedule but a normal school it was not. When you have a crew made of many nationalities, customs, and languages, school was odd and diverse. One side effect was Harry lost his English accent. Not that he did not have one but it was a mixture of the crew and his stay on the freighter. Girls were talked about in Harry's presents but as Horney men not as adults.

The Captain did rethink his opinion of his crew a couple of times when reports of people appearing in mid-air and falling into the sea were reported. He did check the locks on the liquor cabinet but no bodies ever turned up and the liquor was still there.

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Albus 'I haven't given up hope' Dumbledore had another great plan to obtain control of his wayward Harry Potter, the school letters. The letters were magically produced and addressed from the master book of magical children born in Great Britain. Dumbledore could not make sense of the address, "Harry James Potter, New Horizons, third bunk from the right, In-route". Then the owls just refused to accept the letter for delivery. Little did Dumbledore realize that the owls were not stupid enough to attempt a flight of that length over open waters, what he did remember later was the no-owl spell he had used on Harry Potter. The portraits were smirking at him as he banged his head on his opulent desk. Fawkes just shook his head at the blind single mindedness.

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Fate had throw another twist at Harry Potter's life, the freighter never made port in a port the captain felt was civilized and English speaking, but finally it did three years later.

"Harry my lad, we are making port in America and while I would like to not have to do this but I must turn you over to the proper authorities when we dock".

"I understand captain"

"You have been a good cabin boy and all around good lad, and if I could I would just let you stay but I just can not. Now, when you come of age and wish to rejoin the motley crew you will be more than welcomed back. As you are being discharged tomorrow I want to give you your pay before we make land fall".

"Uh…I…didn't…"

"NO, you earned it and I don't want anybody saying that this captain shorted his crew their just due, so here and good luck".

"Thanks Captain, I enjoyed myself and I can not say thank you enough".

Harry just walked off the ship, through the security gates and headed west. He did not think the captain would have notified anyone but he knew it was time. Harry was again walking aimlessly. He felt good thinking that he was walking further and further from England and those torturers. There could never be enough of anything to make him return to that hell hole. Finding a bus station, he hopped a greyhound to get out of New York. The first bus to a smaller U.S. town was to Manchester but Harry got off early and headed to Salem based on a feeling. He had read some things about the town in his reading in the library in England. The library was his safe place in England, so Salem was attractive, when you did not know where to go, head to where you think it is safe.

Again, Harry was wandering ala foot. He made a turn into what he thought was a park but turned out to be a cemetery. Sitting on a bench for a short rest his casual viewing of the place centered on a headstone. Herald John Packwood born 2/6/1980 died 2/6/1980 'may he rest in peace'.

Same initials as mine but no life, maybe he was lucky while I was not. Oh well I had best be sorting out this town and my life.

Well many places were not hiring, some recommended to go to the unemployment office. That office wanted identification. To end the vicious cycle Harry went to the county court house and spent most of what he had left to purchase a copy of his new birth certificate, Harry was now Herald John Packwood born 2/6/1980.

Time was now moving on, as was Harry. From sweeping out stores to washing dishes, he made enough to survive. There was neither time nor money for further education or girls. Work for money, money for food and shelter, no frills, just save for a possible future. For the last six months, he had been working at a high-class garage. The pay was enough for a small apartment and he was the new proud owner of a 1980 Harley-Davidson XLS Roadster 1000cc, 'Ironhead Engine' bored 20 'Over', red with a black bottom, full seat with passenger backrest and built in saddlebags. Herald Packwood's first love. His second love was his martial arts classes followed by a gym workout. It did not seem that three years had passed since stepping off the freighter in New York.

One free day off work, Harry was cruising with his bike when a bookstore caught his eye, well out of the corner of his eye and then it vanished. Well that was enough; Harry pulled a U-turn, parked his bike, and went to check out the area. The bookstore was a bookstore but also an entrance to a shopping district. Upon entry to the bookstore, he spied a gorgeous female with silver blond hair that went to her waist. Approaching, to ask why the front of the store was doing a disappearing act, Harry found all kinds of weirdly dressed people just like the welfare hearings back when he was a kid. The sight and memories long forgotten hit Harry. The shock caused him to stumble.

"Hay, are you alright?" asked the gorgeous female that was now holding Harry steady and directing him to a chair next to her desk.

"Thanks Miss…?"

"Taycitah VanBrucken" she replied.

She took one look at Harry's face and said, "Yes my FATHER saddled me with Taycitah Taflyna VanBrucken, supposed to mean silent and peaceful.

"Glad to meet you Mrs. 'T', I am Herald John Packwood known to my friends as Harry, nice to meet you".

"Yea I guess its Harry and not 'Herald the John', so are you ok there Harry?"

"Only if you explain why the fount of this building keeps flickering in and out and all the weird dressed people," replied Harry.

"Your a squib?" she asked.

"Huh?" replied a confused Harry.

"Which school did you go to?" she asked as she drew out a long stick of wood.

"Never went since I was in primary, why"

"Oh Shit," she gasped. "Look I get off in about ten minutes, why don't you just relax there and we can go get a cup of coffee, I think you need some information".

Well Harry did need some information and Mrs. T provided it after she made the mistake of thinking he was a squib. Why would he not know anything about magic and not carry a wand so he was a Squib, right?

So Squib Herald aka Harry was curious and Mrs. T was happy to provide the information and boy meets girl, boy asks girl out, girl says yes and a romance started. After Mrs. T did a head slap on Harry (THWACK!), Mrs. T became "Tace".

It was hard for Harry to grasp that magic was real but after Tace demonstrated a number of spell Harry got the point via a few hexes.

Tace loved Harry's bike as she explained that she was 'little miss rich girl' and was always at odds with her filthy rich father who was a wizard. That is why she had the job at the bookstore, to piss off her father, as the job was beneath his station. Her mother was a witch and was just like a sister to her in their interaction.

Days turned into months and the two were a close couple. Finally, one Saturday morning Harry woke with silver blond hair spread across his chest, and a smile across his face.

"Morning love" she cooed.

"Yes it is my darling, so does this make us a couple?" asked Harry as this was their first full sexual interaction.

"Well a witch could wish of more, but…"

"Well wish no more, use that wand of yours and summon my pants my dear" smiled Harry.

"Well I would but it is on the night stand next to you, so you give me the wand and I will give you your pants you lazy lover".

Harry turned and grabbed the wand but while turning to give it to Tace, the wand exploded a spell and blew out the doors of the closet. He jumped out of bed to help Tace off the floor. Sitting this gorgeous and nude person on the bed, Harry grabbed his pants and removed the box and while kneeling he asked, "Tace my love, will you do me the honor and marry me?"

Tace was shocked, his using her wand made him a wizard not a squib and through this confusion, she heard a question that took a minute to comprehend. She leaped off the bed onto the kneeling Harry screaming "Yes, yes, Yes" and then snogged him until there was no air left in either.

While they were showering and getting dressed Tace started, "First we go to the mall and get you a wand, then we get you started on training to be a first class wizard and then we go see my parents and announce you being my fiancée and…"

"Slow down Tace, we will do all of that, then after we tell your parents you can bury me with my new wand stuck in my heart by your parents I have not met yet," grinned Harry not relishing the meeting with her parents.

Well Tace finally settled down so Harry could make his confession. Harry thought that Tace might leave but at least would be mad at him as he explained he was Harry James Potter and not Herald John Packwood. That he was an English run-away and an illegal hiding in America.

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