NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42: Planning Escape
An hour later found Harry on the same couch, surrounded on both sides by the Patil twins, while Dobby sat on the floor in front of the fire and listened intently. A dozen books lay before them on a small table. Padma had not been happy at being summoned by Parvati, and seemed less eager to get involved in Harry's troubles. Nevertheless, just as Parvati had said, Padma had immediately set to making a list of Harry's assets and liabilities.
He had a house elf, an owl, a Firebolt broom, the Marauder's Map, an invisibility cloak, his wand, 75 galleons, and his vault key. The Patil twins were helping him plan, but they were working against Dumbledore, the Weasleys, Hermione, and who knew how many others. Plus Harry's magic wasn't working properly. They knew Harry's magic could be tracked through his wand when he exited the castle, but they didn't know whether Dumbledore had placed tracking charms on Harry or his things.
They also didn't know where Harry could go and remain safe from Dumbledore. He could probably have Aurors hunting Harry within minutes of his departure. Harry had no allies in the muggle world and most of the wizarding world thought him an attention-seeking liar or worse. And who knew what Voldemort and the Ministry were capable of with Harry on the run? After looking at the list, Padma sighed and summed up her opinion, matching Harry's own:
"You're pretty well screwed, Harry," she sighed, rubbing her eyes.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Padma. I could have told you that."
Outside of finding a safe place to go, the biggest problems were that Harry couldn't apparate and that they did not know how to identify or remove tracking charms. Each could perform 'specialis revelio' to identify whether or not an object had magical properties, but thereafter they could not tell what kind of advanced magic had been performed.
Unfortunately Dobby could not do so either; he could recognize his master's magic and sense it from far away, but he was unable to recognize general enchantments.
They had discovered, upon looking through several books, that tracking charms were very finicky spells and didn't 'take' well when cast on living things. That made it unlikely that Harry had tracking spells on his person, but it also meant that almost any or all of his belongings could have them. He could check each of them for magic, but the complicated magic on his invisibility cloak and robes made it impossible to know for certain what enchantments they possessed. They concluded that his glasses were also a strong possibility for tracking charms, as he was half blind without them. The group was unsure whether Hedwig could be tracked or not.
While Harry was musing over whether he would have to leave the castle stark naked, Parvati cleared her throat and motioned Padma over to a corner of the room. They held a whispered conversation for a few minutes, and judging by Parvati's gesticulations, Padma was reluctant to agree with her on something.
They returned and Padma seated herself with a glowering look on her face. Parvati stood before Harry and wrung her hands before she began speaking.
"Harry, we think we might have a place for you to go. We have an uncle who is a bit, er, dodgy. My dad won't let him in our house because he doesn't approve of him, but he dotes on the two of us and sends us things all the time…"
"Why is he dodgy?" Harry interrupted.
"Well, er," Parvati continued, "we're not entirely sure. I know that he imports potion ingredients and things like that from Asia, and some of it is probably illegal…but, well…dad says he knows a lot of bad people and he sometimes disappears for months at a time. I think he has to go into hiding when some deal or other goes wrong…"
"The point," interrupted Padma with irritation, "is that our uncle Dinesh might—might—be able to hide you successfully if you can get out of Scotland. But we would have to ask him, and he'll probably want to be paid for doing it. He's not very wealthy."
"But if he does this," Padma continued with some heat, "and someone finds out, our entire family suddenly becomes interesting to Dumbledore, You-Know-Who, and the Ministry. I think it's a bad idea, but Parvati insists," Padma said with finality and crossed her arms.
Harry was unsure what to think of this proposal. On the one hand, this might be his chance to hide successfully. On the other, he didn't know this Dinesh person and he did sound dodgy. Did he have connections to Death Eaters? Plus, Padma was right. Hiding with a member of the Patil family would make them a target, and Harry, despite the desperation of his situation, was noble enough to think of the safety of others.
Parvati could virtually see the thoughts passing through his head from the conflicted expression on his face.
"Harry," she said gently. "You don't have to worry about us. No one is going to find about it from us; we'll be very careful. And I think you'll be safe with our Uncle Dinesh until you figure out what to do. You don't have to stay there long, but you have to get away from here right now."
Harry nodded in agreement; that was certainly true. And yet…
"Er," Harry began hesitantly. He had already offended Parvati once tonight, and he didn't want to do it again. "Are you sure that he's not too dodgy? I mean, he wouldn't just try and turn me over to…somebody?" Harry trailed off, letting them complete the thought on their own.
Parvati shook her head. "No, Harry. If we can find a way to get in touch with him, he'll help you because we asked him to. He's not a bad guy; he's just a little…I don't know…rough around the edges, I guess. He knows how to take care of himself."
"Okay," Harry sighed, resigned to trying this, since it seemed to be his only option after he left the castle. "If you tell Dobby where he can find your uncle, he'll probably be able to deliver a letter from you, and then we'll see what he says."
And so Padma gave Dobby very specific instructions on the various places where he might find Dinesh Patil at this hour of the night, while Parvati quickly penned a letter. Dobby informed them that he would find him as soon as possible, but that it might take a few hours.
Harry thanked Dobby and then rose from the couch. He was absolutely exhausted from the constant stresses of the day, and it was approaching curfew. Desperately hoping that he would have a workable plan soon, he thanked the twins profusely for their help and they made plans to meet again before breakfast in the morning. After checking the map, Harry had the twins leave first so that they would not be seen with him, and then he too left the room five minutes later.
On the long walk back to Gryffindor tower, the surreal nature of the situation took hold of him again. His best friends were conspiring to get him killed, and he was going to leave Hogwarts with the help of the Patil twins and a house elf. Harry shook his head, trying to wrap his head around the truth of it. As angry and betrayed as he felt, this still seemed like an absurd hallucination.
Harry desperately hoped that Dinesh Patil would be able to hide him. He needed to escape this damned castle immediately. But whatever happened, he was certain of one thing.
Before he fled Hogwarts, he was going to have a "conversation" with his best friends.
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