The Paranoid Harry Potter

He sighed and stalked around the room. Bloody incompetents, all of them. Even Snape had not managed to inform him of the fact that Potter had vanished. Well, he would soon make the filthy, greasy half-blood pay for his incompetence. It was absolutely ridiculous that he had to learn about Potter's situation from a newspaper. The Prophet - of all despicable rags. What was the point of having a spy in Dumbledore's school if not to inform him of things like this?

Oh yes, he and Snape would be having quite a long discussion about this.

Speaking of Potter, should he task his Death Eaters to search for him? It would probably be useless to send them out looking for him. Potter could be anywhere. No point in wasting manpower and resources to look for him. No, instead he would contact his informants and sympathisers discretely and have them keep an eye out.

Yes, Potter's disappearance was...inconvenient and might make it necessary to change his plans regarding the prophecy. There was also the annoyance that he no longer knew where Potter was at all times. Knowing the location of your enemy had inestimable value after all.

Still, there was no real hurry, Potter was only a boy. It would be years before he could truly pose a credible threat, especially as that blood protection of his had been negated. Sooner or later someone would spot Potter. Either that or he would find a way to lure him back. Then he would find him and kill him, publicly and brutally.

He sniffed the air, the blonde ponce had soiled himself to boot. Useless, absolutely useless. He really should move up his plans to break Bella and the others out of Azkaban. She was far more competent, though a bit over-zealous, than this...this weak excuse for a pureblood. Such a pity that he still needed Malfoy to influence Fudge and the Ministry or he would happily spend the next week or two slowly flaying the gurgling idiot inch by painful inch.

He should probably call an elf or someone to come take care of the idiot. A few healing potions should have the moron up and about in a few days. Then he would set him to the task of finding out exactly who was responsible for this debacle. Someone would pay - Pay dearly. He would prolong their torture for months. Yes, that was what he would do.

Oh for the love of...when would Lucius stop that ridiculous moaning? Honestly, what was wrong with the man? It was only a little crucio.

....

Harry finally found the book he had been looking for in a little magical bookshop in San Fransisco. He'd been raiding bookshops at every city he visited but this was the first time he had found one which contained a description of the ritual he needed.

It had taken him a long time; weeks upon weeks spent scouring dusty piles of books. Weeks spent trying to decipher old books printed in archaic fonts. Long, long days which usually ended with him collapsed with tired burning eyes in rented motel rooms.

"Still", he thought, "looking back it's been interesting researching this. Not only did I pick up a ton of useful spells along the way but I've also managed to build up quite the collection of books. I bet Hermione would be incredibly jealous."

He quickly squelched that train of thought. Thinking of Hermione just made him feel lonely. His anger towards her had long since faded and when he thought of her now he tended to focus on only the good memories. He did miss her a bit, but what could he do? There was absolutely no way to see her again. He couldn't just waltz back into Hogwarts after all. It was best he put her out of his mind.

For a brief moment he wondered whether he could visit her and Ron after he had completed the ritual. "It should be safe then but it wouldn't be the same", he thought, "Not after I've done it. It would probably be too strange to see them afterwards. No, it was probably best to make a clean break of it. Best to totally forget about Hogwarts and the burrow and...everything"