Notes: Post DH, Epilogue compliant. Pre-Sherlock. Young!Sherlock Mentions of drug abuse. Short chapters, not a long story overall.
It is the drawl that reaches out and hits him. The kind he has heard for the majority of his life from one sarcastic source or another but has been notably (painfully) absent in recent years. A tone he has often tried to mimic for entertainment purposes as well as to threaten and tease.
'Spare change?'
He knows all of the "rules", even as he bends down with the paper note squashed in his palm. To give money is to enable the habit which is obviously killing what's left of the pitiful rags and bones. He does it though, not caring that the pupils are the size of shiny black pins or that the mouth is loose and lopsided. He presses the money into the man's hand which should, he can tell, be bigger than his by genetics but feels weak and useless thanks to the abuse. His fingers curl around the cold ones, forcing a fist to be made around the lifeline. Unsure of whether or not his presence has even been noticed, he stands straight and walks away.
Because there is little anyone, even the great Harry Potter, can do for a drug addict.
It's not his problem.
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