That evening, they paid Steve a visit to inform him they would be leaving the next morning before the neighborhood woke up and Severus handed him a large amount of cash. "In case anything goes wrong at the house and needs to be fixed. That girl you saw before shouldn't be coming around any more but if she does, make sure you don't tell her anything about us and do call the coppers on her because, no matter what she says, she isn't welcome here. But she is a very good liar if she thinks lying will get her what she wants." Steve nodded. He knew the type and would be on his guard against her if she showed up again.
"We'll be going on several safaris and staying in places well off the beaten trail. So we won't be easy to reach. If you need more funds, contact this person and he will set you up. He will also be able to get a message to us if you need us. It may be a few days or even a week or two before we can call you back, but we will get in touch as soon as we can." He handed him a creamy white pasteboard business card embossed with golden writing. The card was for Ragnok who was handling Harry's Estates for them as well as Severus' own banking interests. Steve checked to make sure Harry had his number and asked what to do if the Dursley family should show up.
"Remind them they signed the place over to me and it isn't theirs anymore. In exchange for them abandoning me and me not saying anything about it or calling the authorities on them, they agree to give me the house and the property it stands on," Harry said bluntly. "You might also remind them it was their idea to abandon a still fourteen year old boy who had no other living relatives anywhere in the country. I didn't suggest it to them. But I honestly don't think they will return. If they haven't done so by now, they're settled wherever they went."
Steve nodded and assured Harry he could handle them if they did return and tried to lay claim to the house and property again. He had his own plans for what to do to the couple for the way they'd abandoned Harry last summer. Though he was glad Harry had seemed to land on his feet and found a good protector in Severus. He knew the man was a teacher but he'd also seen the way the man watched over Harry and so he saw him as Harry's protector rather than his teacher.
It would be years before anyone in either society heard from either of them again. There had been a bit of a public outcry when Harry's emancipation and withdrawal from Hogwarts was announced. Mainly Hogwarts was upset because Harry had done so very well on his Owls and his teachers were looking forward to teaching him the following two years. But the public was only concerned over the issue of whether or not he would try to claim his Wizengamot seats while he was so very young still. When months went by without him appearing to claim them, they relaxed and allowed them to forget the Last Potter was now a legal adult in their world and one of their peers.
Very few people actually missed them though. Almost everyone wondered where they'd gone and what they were doing so the Daily Prophet made good money offer stories where they claimed the pair had been spotted in one place or another. Severus' name surfaced from time to time attached to a new potion discovery or an article in a potions related publication. A few sightings of Harry also made the news though most people had their doubts as to whether or not it was actually him in the photos. But for the most part, no one cared where they were or what they were doing.
As for the Dark Lord and his servants, Harry's words to Severus had proven true. The Dark Lord had never surfaced after freeing his servants from Azkaban. Gradually Amelia Bones and her aurors rounded up those freed followers and each one underwent a fresh trial. Some were returned to Azkaban but others went through the veil. One of them was Bellatrix LeStrange as she was caught red handed torturing a child for information on Harry Potter's whereabouts. A child who had no idea who Harry Potter even was. Let alone where he was.
And as for Albus, a few people questioned his disappearance but again not for very long. A tell-all book was released during what would have been Harry's sixth year exposing all Albus' secrets. Of which they were many. Including the fact that he hadn't defeated his former lover, Gellert Grindewald, in a fair fight as he claimed. Nor had he discovered on his own the twelve uses of Dragon's blood. Nor had he actually killed Grindewald as so many people believed he had. Just as he hadn't actually been trying to kill Tom Riddle the Dark Lord known as Voldemort. The book didn't come right out and call Albus a Dark Lord. Rather it let his true achievements and actions do that for themselves.
The uses of dragon's blood was actually nothing more but a compilation of discoveries made by others covering an entire century. These original discovers of the uses of dragon's blood were men and women who worked on dragon preserves around the world or worked with the blood to make armor, weapons and potions. Each had written a paper on what they'd discovered dragon's blood could be used for. And all Albus had done was compile those papers into a single document.
Gellert had been imprisoned in the prison he himself had commissioned under heavy wards that denied him visitors and the right to ever leave so long as a single breath of oxygen remained in his lungs or a drop of magic still lingered in his magical core. He had a house-elf that brought him food, fresh clothing, newspapers, books, parchment, ink and quills. But that was it. He wasn't allowed any visitors outside of Albus who came every once in awhile just to torment the man. Just because he could.