Harry gazed silently out the window making no movements or noise. Vernon stared pointedly ahead as he drove down the streets of London. Harry cast him a quick glance and saw the man was irritated. But he always was around Harry.
Harry looked back k out the window and wondered how Sirius was doing. He knew the man had to be quite a long ways away from London at the moment with Remus, on the run still. Harry knew that was partly his fault. If he had let Sirius kill Peter then at least the corpse would have most likely gotten suspicion on who was guilty. Sirius probably would have got a trial for the suspicion of why the corpse of a so called blown up man had appeared eleven and a half years later.
Harry bit his lip and looked blankly at the sky. He'd been so happy when Sirius had asked him to live with him. Not because he liked the man. He didn't know him at all. But it had been a way to get out of the Durselys. A way to escape.
'I would have went with him if he had asked.' Harry thought. 'I would have become a fugitive with him if to get away from the Durselys.'
Harry blinked and straightened.
'I…I could do that on my own.' He thought. 'I could run away! I have money and I know the magical world now. I could find someplace to stay!'
His eyes opened wider in excitement. He quickly covered the emotions though as he noticed Vernon's eyes glancing at him in the rear view mirror. He didn't want that man to know he was excited.
"Uncle Vernon." He said shakily, none of his anxiety fake.
Vernon didn't reply just stared ahead as he drove.
"Uncle Vernon. Could you drop me off here?"
He noticed the corner of his uncle's eyes crinkle into a frown. The car was swerved into a parking lot where Vernon slammed the brakes. He turned to Harry, one arm reaching back to grab the seat back to steady himself. Harry flinched automatically waiting for the hand to smack him for speaking when not spoken to. The hand didn't move from the seat back though.
"Explain boy." Vernon growled.
"Well, if you leave me here you won't see me for the summer."
Vernon's eyes narrowed and Harry quickly ploughed on.
"I wouldn't have to bother you and your lovely, kind family!" He said laying on the flattery thickly. "And if any of my kind bother you, you can say I threatened you and ran away. Then I would get in trouble not you."
Vernon frowned in thought and Harry's hand twitched to the door handle. The man's hand lashed out and smacked him hard across the face. Harry took it without even a gasp and resisted clutching his now aching cheek.
"You listen boy." Vernon growled. "If they find you and bring you back I'll kill you. Got it?"
Harry nodded viciously.
"Go."
Harry scrambled from the back seat and tumbled from the car. He quickly pulled his trunk from the trunk and slammed the door just as Vernon drove off, leaving Harry alone in the middle of London.
Harry bit his lip a moment and wondered how he was to get back to Diagon Alley. He sat down on his trunk and just thought a minute. Hermione had praised him as intelligent more then once. She had always told him he could be the top of his classes with her but he just wasn't ever that motivated. It hadn't been that he hadn't been motivated. He just hadn't wanted to show up Ron and Hermione. Both would have been jealous.
He knew he would have beaten even Hermione if he tried. Because he'd always been able to get the spell on his very first try, even if he had hidden that fact. Even the ones Hermione had had trouble with he had gotten. He wasn't illiterate either. He just made sure to do a bad job on essays. He'd been reading since he was very little though as books were one thing Dudley had never gotten jealous about and Vernon and Petunia had never thought about. He could write well and structure paragraphs perfectly.
He hadn't tried to get top marks though. Hermione would have been jealous and always harping after how he had done it. When he'd say he just had she would have explained there had to be a logical reason she couldn't do just as well or better then him. Ron just would have been jealous. He was already jealous of Harry's fame and wealth. His intelligence would have created a large rift between them.
Harry loved both his friends, but they had their faults.
He sighed and stood. He popped his trunk open and dug through to try and find all his spare change from the year. He found some sickles and a galleon or two. No muggle money. So no taxi or bus. Harry straightened and blinked. Bus…
Harry quickly shut his trunk and pulled his wand from the pockets of his hand-me-down trousers. He saw a few people on walks casting him odd glances but ignored them. He was glad for the fact he'd let Hedwig fly home instead of riding in her cage. It would have been hard to fit in with an owl in a cage with him. He raised his wand straight out in front of him and pointed it up. In a 'bang' a familiar purple bus appeared. Harry grinned happily in relief. He'd almost thought it might not appear in areas with muggles. But as it appeared everyone around seemed not to see him or the bus.
The doors of the bus swung open and Harry turned back to his trunk in a moment of brilliance. He yanked it open and pulled out the standard black pointed hat he'd bought first year as his list had said. He pulled it on, pulling it low and letting the rim hide his face. He snapped the trunk shut once again and quickly stepped on to the bus, dragging his trunk with him.