Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…

Placing: Seventh year.

Challenge: 'Prompt of the day'. Prompt: (setting) exhibition. 2000 words. Gryffindor, Hogwarts.

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sSsSsSsSs

HIDING PLACES

sSs

Dean Thomas groaned inwardly when he noticed the Snatchers on his trail. Since Voldemort had taken over the Ministry, more and more muggleborn and different thinking half- and purebloods had gone into hiding.

The Snatchers were Voldemort's people, send out to find and retrieve muggleborns so that they could be sentenced by the new 'Ministry'.

Dean as one of the suspected muggleborns – his mother was muggle, but his father was an unknown – had decided on fleeing instead on waiting for his imprisonment. His family on the other hand, had left Britain on his advice and was currently settling in the United States of America. Dean might have joined them, but to integrate as a wizard was a lot harder than as a muggle, so he had left them and stayed in Britain.

And now, Snatchers were on his trail – again.

It was the eighth time in two months.

Dean loathed it.

"Well," he thought to himself. "Hiding place… hiding place… hiding place?"

His eyes scanned the buildings in his area.

Nothing.

Well, he wouldn't give up, so he had to move until he found what he searched for.

"Hiding place… hiding place… hiding place?"

No, not here as well.

"Hiding place… hiding place… hiding place?"

Again, not what he searched for. He rounded a corner and entered a new street in high speed, fully aware of the Snatchers just a block behind. He was also sure that they either had a tracking spell on him or something told them that he was magical and they followed his magical trail. Whatever it was, it was hard to get rid off.

"Hiding place… hiding place? Hiding place!"

Finally!

The house he was looking at was nothing special in muggle eyes. It was a typical house, maybe bigger, but all in all nothing that stuck out in the middle of muggle London. If you were muggle, you would see a normal house, nothing special to look at – and if you were magical –

Well, there was a reason why Dean had decided that this house would be the one he would use to hide in.

sSs

When Dean had been little, he had lived with his mum and step-dad, unaware that he was magical. Normally it wasn't that much of a Problem for muggleborn to fit into the muggle world, but Dean had to live in one of the oldest parts of London – and hidden in some of those old buildings was some very quirky magic.

Dean guessed that a lot of those old buildings had once been the property of witches or wizards. Those witches and wizards had put up wards to hide their buildings. Some of the buildings had wards, hiding the building from muggles – Dean had always seen them and confused his parents by pointing at them and asking about those odd houses.

Others on the other hand, had been hidden from muggles and wizards alike. When the family died out, the wards hiding the property from muggles had slowly eroded – this happened because every contact with a muggle triggered the ward into reacting until the ward was depleted and finally snapped. There was a reason why wards had to be renewed after some years and why some wards held up longer than others.

The wards against wizards on the other hand, mostly held up longer than those against muggles – simply because they were triggered less often and therefore were able to keep their strength a lot better than the anti-muggle ones.

Young Dean hadn't been able to see those houses, something that confused him and his parents greatly. Seeing houses that weren't there was one thing, since Dean was young and prone to imagine things, but not seeing houses that were there… well, that was definitely odd.

So little Dean had done what he had to do: He had trained himself to see those houses. In other words, he had trained himself to hide his magic enough so that the wards didn't react to him anymore.

And it was this ability that had saved Dean's life not just once since the day he had started his run from Voldemort's people.

sSs

The house Dean was aiming for was one of those houses. Dean always saw an odd shine, as if someone decided to surround the building's structure with LEDs, surrounding the house or the property. Dean guessed that those were the wards he had learned to hide from when he was a little boy.

Again, Dean looked over his shoulder, then he slung into the alley next to the house he was aiming for and searched for a window.

He didn't have a lot of time. The Snatchers were hot on his heels.

The windows were closed.

"Damn," Dean whispered to himself. The house was alight with light, meaning that he simply couldn't break into the house by throwing in a window and using magic while trying to hide from Snatchers was never a good idea. "Damn… damn… damn… damn!"

He had nearly reached the end of the property, when he finally saw a way to get in. Up on the first floor, a window wasn't fully closed.

Dean looked around, then he took a deep breath, sped up and, using a car and a dumpster as a jumping aid, flung himself up towards the first floor window.

His hands got a hold of the window sill, but for a moment, Dean had the dreaded feeling of slipping. Then his body was stopped by the wall beneath the window and his hands tightened around the window sill.

He breathed in relieved, before pulling himself up and onto the window sill. The window creaked open when he pushed against it and he slit into the building. The moment he had solid floor beneath his feet, he turned around again and looked outside the window.

Beneath him in the alleyway, five confused Snatchers stared at the dead end in front of them in confusion.

"He must have apparated," one of them finally said growling.

"We would pick up his trail if he had," another one pointed out irritated.

"So what? You want to tell me that he managed to hide from us without using any kind of magic?" The first one growled.

"Well, he is one of the more clever ones," the second one pointed out and then shook his head. "Let's wait in the main street. He will come out soon enough."

The others nodded and Dean closed the window so that it looked the same it had before he entered. Then he ambled cautiously down the hall.

"Sir?" Dean nearly jumped in the air when he was suddenly spoken to.

He turned around and saw a man in a suit standing not far from him.

"I am sorry, sir, but guests aren't allowed into this part of the building," the man said and Dean decided that it would do him no good to point out that he wasn't a guest in any way or form.

"I… er… I was in search for the toilet," he stammered.

"Ah, of course," the man said. "You must have taken a wrong turn on the stairs. Let me show you the way."

So Dean followed. In the loo, he at least washed his hands and inwardly sighed in relief that at least his hair and clothing didn't look as if he was a runaway or something like that. Funnily, the dirt strains on his jeans actually looked like being put there on purpose, not as if his trousers showed the results of his acrobatics.

The man – servant, Dean guessed – was waiting for him in front of the loo.

"Let me guide you back to the exhibition, sir," he said. Just two minutes later, Dean found himself in a wide hall, plastered with modern art.

"Thank you," he said and the servant inclined his head and left him.

Dean relaxed and started to wander so that he wouldn't stand out. When he found a buffet, he didn't even stop and think about it, but instead went for it enthusiastically. The most stuff was quite fancy, but if you had to live with irregular meals, you learned not to care what you ate, as long as the stuff was eatable.

Dean guessed that staying might actually be quite an interesting change of his current normal routine. He might not be a fan of modern art, but he guessed that he could learn to like it if it meant he wouldn't have to leave any time soon.

"Well," he mumbled to himself. "Looks like I'll have a quiet afternoon surrounded by modern art."

"I'd say you're not the only one who decided to have that," another voice said and when Dean turned, he could only stare at the speaker.

"Nott?" He exclaimed, a little terrified.

Nott nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I came here with Hannah, Dennis and Colin."

"Huh?" This time Dean only looked confused at the son of a known Death Eater.

Theodore Nott shrugged.

"I said 'no' to the Dark Mark and fled my home," he explained grimly. "There were a bunch of Snatchers after me, when I stumbled into Dennis Creevey. He took me here, telling me that other wizards can't see the building. Well, I couldn't as well until Dennis brought me in. He also told me that his brother and Hannah Abbott were here."

Dean blinked at that in surprise, then looked around the room.

"Huh," he said. "Never thought that anybody else would know how to bypass those wards."

But then, Dean guessed that it was logical. The Creevey brothers were magical like him. There was a possibility that they stumbled into wards like the ones surrounding them before their time at Hogwarts.

In that moment, Colin Creevey emerged from the crowd surrounding them.

"Hey Theo –"

When he saw Dean, he stopped in his tracks, then a smile spread over his face.

"Hya, Dean!" He greeted the older boy. "Fancy meeting you here!"

Dean snorted.

"Well, I could say the same, Colin," he said in amusement.

Colin waved it off.

"I live in a house hiding behind those damn wizard-repelling wards. I basically had to learn how to circumvent them or I would have always gotten lost just after leaving home," he grinned at that.

In that moment another voice spoke up.

"Hey, wait!" The speaker said surprised. "Aren't you two Gryffindors?"

Dean and Colin turned and Nott leaned forward so that he could look around Dean and see who had been speaking.

Dean frowned.

"Aren't you a Ravenclaw?" He returned the question.

The other boy blinked.

"Hufflepuff," he corrected. "I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"Ah, sorry," Dean said embarrassed.

"Don't worry," another voice said from the other direction. "If you need a Ravenclaw, I'm here as well."

Dean and the others turned to look at the newcomer, a girl.

"Su Li," she introduced amused. "Ravenclaw."

Dean blinked and then exchanged a look with Nott.

Nott shrugged.

It was then, that another voice spoke up from behind Dean.

"Tell me," the girl's voice said. "Did you plan a class reunion and forgot to invite us?"

Dean turned around again.

This time it was Nott, who spoke up surprised.

"Tracey," he said.

"The same," she replied and then gestured to the boy next to her. "And that's Oliver Rivers, another Ravenclaw. We're travelling together since we met."

Dean looked around.

"Well," he said finally. "Anyone else missing from those on the run?"

"Except of Potter and his little gang, no idea," Nott drawled.

"Ah, well," Colin said, waving off the question. "I'm sure that if there's someone else on the run from your year, you'll meet them here, considering that someone seems to have send out an invite to nearly anybody from Hogwarts on the run."

Dean snorted.

"Happy class reunion, huh?" He asked sarcastically. "Don't worry, boys and girls, the buffet is already open!"

The next person they met, was from Colin's year. It seemed as if truly half of those 'on the run' from Hogwarts had thought it a good idea to take a break at the exhibition.

Dean wasn't surprised after that afternoon, that he discovered a new found weakness for modern arts.

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Just a little idea

Hope you liked it

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