Chapter Text
Escaping from Hogwarts had been easier than I had been expecting. After months of going back and forth with Gringotts to get my affairs in order, I had expected more resistance in my escape.
The hardest part was escaping from my friends. My former friends, anyway.
Five months ago I would have laid down my life for Ron and Hermione. I had been prepared to do exactly that on several occasions. In my opinion, we were more than friends, we were family. I didn’t know myself without them.
I could hardly believe it when I walked in on one of their late-night conversations. They had been complaining, according to Ron that they hadn’t been paid yet. I don’t know what possessed me to press myself against that stone wall instead of continuing down into the Gryffindor common room. I steeled myself in place and listened intently. Dumbledore had been paying them to be my friends. It had started before they had ever met me on the train. Nothing had ever been genuine between the three of us. They had been reporting to him weekly for the past six years, my every move and our every conversation. For six years.
Tears slid down my cheeks as I continued to listen to them talk. I had never known a proper family. My home life as a young boy had been beyond horrible, my Hogwarts letter had been addressed to The Cupboard Under The Stairs for Merlin’s sake. But meeting Ron and Hermione changed my life. I had spent so long feeling unwanted and unloved…
Hermione and Ron were the family that I had gotten to choose. And I had always thought that they had chosen me too.
“God, my family is going to have to put up with him for another Christmas, aren’t we? There’s barely enough for us as it is! Mum practically works herself to death for that git! And does he appreciate it? No!” Ron hissed.
The common room grew silent for a moment, all that could be heard was the crackling of the fire in the enchanted fireplace.
“It’ll all be over soon Ronald.” Hermione cooed. “You heard Dumbledore, in order for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to be defeated Harry has to die. We’ll finally be rid of him then. We simply need to be patient.”
And that was it. That was the last straw. I was done, beyond done but I couldn’t just leave. I was an underaged wizard with nowhere to go. Luckily Gringotts was more than willing to help me set myself up for a new life. For a hefty price they had declared me an emancipated minor and worked with MACUSA to help me become an American citizen. What a shame the process had taken months on end. Months of pretending. Months of sitting through meals with Ron and Hermione as if I wasn’t absolutely heartbroken.
The hardest part had been proving to MACUSA that I was magically independent enough to be on my own. I put myself through hell for months, studying harder than I had ever thought was possible. American wizards were surprisingly a lot like their American counterparts. Watch ten minutes of BBC News and you’ll learn just how much they like their guns. American Wizards were head over heels for Defense Against The Dark Arts and they were at a much more advanced level than we were over here in Scotland. I had always considered myself fairly advanced when it came to combat magic. I spent more than my fair share of nights in the library much to the confusion of Hermione. I had done my best to convince her that I finally taking my academic studies seriously. I hoped that she bought it. Unlike Her and Ron I wasn’t a very experienced liar.
Sneaking away for the testing proved tedious but doable. I took an arranged portkey set aside for me at the three broomsticks. The test had taken hours and I left feeling as though I might throw up. The test administrator had offered no indication of whether or not I had passed and I was going to have to wait for several weeks to find out.
Everything about our friendship had been a lie and that was a wound that I wasn’t sure if I would ever heal from.
Finally after weeks of waiting for my results, I had been approved. Gringotts moved quickly after that, declaring me legally emancipated and working to purchase a home for me in Washington State. I felt it the moment the monitoring enchantments on my magic lifted. It felt like being headfirst into freezing water.
Dumbledore wouldn’t be able to reach me in America, and thank fucking god of that.
Listening to the snoring of my dormitory mates, I stared longingly at set of photographs that had been sent to me by owl of my new home. Even in the wandlight it looked magnificent. It was a two story log cabin backed up onto the shores of the Calawah River. It was beautiful and it was all mine. I had asked the goblins for something out in nature with no immediate neighbors and they had delivered.
I thought the waiting would kill me. But when the notice arrived that my portkey was set and waiting for me, I practically squealed in joy. I just had to wait until midnight tonight. I could do that.
In the dead of night I snuck out of the dormitory and down into the grounds, my hair whipping in the cool breeze. I jogged downhill past Hagrid’s hut and for the first time I felt a bit sad about what I was doing. I would never see the man again. I would never see this place again, the castle that had given me a home when I had none.
Up ahead I could see the glimmering boundary that protected the school from mortal eyes. The massive trees of the forbidden forest were creaking and swaying around me as if bidding me goodbye. Waiting for me on the other side was a portkey set to take me to the MACUSA offices in Seattle, Washington in the United States.
Funnily enough, Washington state had a very low magical population. In fact with the exception of California, most of the west coast had very few witches and wizards. MACUSA was actively doing its best to encourage magical immigration to Washington State in particular hoping to help balance out the growing population of magical creatures.
I looked back to the castle one last time. Even from here, it was beautiful, shining like a beacon in the pitch-black darkness. I would miss it here. I would miss the moving staircases. I would miss Professor McGonagall who had looked after me since the moment I had stepped foot inside the castle. Hell, I would even miss Peeves.
“Leaving without saying goodbye are we?” Came a sneering voice from the darkness behind me.
It whirled, raising my wand arm high and concentrating on the dark figure at the edge of my field of wandlight.
Professor Snape. Just my luck. Even with all of my studying over the last few months I had very little hope of beating him in a duel.
“You knew all along what he had planned for me, didn’t you?” I asked, my voice cracking sharply.
The potions master stepped forward. “I did.”
His voice was softer now and not at all unkind. It was unnerving.
“You tried to warn me. You and Malfoy both. He told me on my first day that I was choosing the wrong friends. And you- You’ve been telling me for years that sticking with the two of them was going to get me killed.” I was openly crying now but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
“I dislike you Potter. I won’t deny that. You have far too much of your father in you. But I promised your mother that I would protect you. I knew the minute you reached out to the Americans for sanctuary and I sent them a letter recommending that they allow it. I explained what our dear headmaster is trying to pull. I will not see the son of Lilly Potter be made a martyr. But be warned, Dumbledore will not be content to simply just let you go. You are his claim to legitimacy and he has far bigger ambitions Headmaster of Hogwarts. I’ve reached out to an old friend. He and his family are moving to Forks as we speak. In fact two of children will be picking you up in Seattle. They are vampires, vampires who have chosen to abstain from human blood. I hope you have paid enough attention in my class to understand all that entails. They will protect you, Potter.”
My brain short-circuited. Did he know my mother? He knew vampires? What the hell was going on?
“Go Potter!” The potions master growled. And so I did.