"The last time you saw the child, what did you notice?" Silvio asked as he sipped tea from an expensive-looking, silver-plated teacup.
Mrs. Hunter looked puzzled, not registering the question. She almost said something before Silvio spoke again.
"The child, was he happy? Did he look scared?" Silvio said.
"In truth, he looked somewhat happy …" Mrs. Hunter said begrudgingly, "but I have reason to believe something foul is afoot," she asserted.
"Why, if I might ask politely?" Silvio said as he lit his pipe, expecting Mrs. Hunter to stretch out her story.
Mrs. Hunter gave Silvio a testing look, she was a serious woman, and if the man was turning her money away then she would not want to waste her time. She also didn't like his attitude. "I haven't seen the child for months, and whenever I ask Penunia she changes the subject. And when he was here, it was only rarely that he was outside." She paused for a second, as if to remember something very important, "and of course," she said, "I see the family spoiling their other child, but this one … This one they treat unkindly," she said.
Silvio seemed to consider everything Mrs. Hunter said carefully. "And you are worried that the child is in danger?" He asked.
She have him a sad look, "I think they might have kidnapped him as a child, they've kept him a secret. That Petunia, she's a horrible monster to him and I want to know why, no matter how much it costs me …"
Mrs. Hunter spoke with grief, but she wiped it off her face quickly, "so will you help me or not?" she asked sincerely.
"Normally," Silvio began, but paused to puff on his pipe, "I do not pursue family cases," he said in a cloud of smoke. "But considering the mystery of this situation, I myself am a bit curious as to the state of this child. Although to be truthful to you, I don't expect a big reveal, only a lot of hours on my end that you will have to pay for," he finished, now looking at Mrs. Hunter to measure her response.
"I appreciate your honesty," Mrs. Hunter said, sounding a bit annoyed, "in those hours you speak of, you will be working to help the child?" she asked.
"Find him first, I should hope," Silvio said.
Mrs. Hunter seemed relieved. "Good. Shall we meet one week from today to discuss your findings?" she asked.
"I look forward to it," Silvio said as he tipped his hat at Mrs. Hunter and headed to the door. But before he exited, he looked back at Mrs. Hunter, "what's the child's name?" he asked.
"Harry," Mrs. Hunter said.
Silvio spent the next two days planning his next moves. He made several calls to Mrs. Hunter asking for more details, but she didn't know much. So he knew he had only one option, it was to visit 4 Privet Drive.
Finding the house was not difficult, He'd been looking at it through the window half the time Mrs. Hunter was talking to him. He put on a white button-up shirt, black slacks and sported a fake badge that spelled, "Mr. John Henderson - Program Director - Child Protective Services." He rang the bell, then heard a nasally middle-aged lady's voice exclaim as to who might be there. "Dudley ...Are you expecting anyone?" she sounded like she was screaming up the stairs. Silvio heard four steps, followed by a click, and the door opened.
"How may I help you?" The lady asked.
Silvio assumed it was Petunia, only he didn't know her last name, so he decided to get to the point. "My name is John Henderson, I'm a program director …" Silvio paused for a second when he noticed the lady getting white in the face as she must have gotten a glimpse of his badge, "… at child protective services, he finished.
"H— How can I help you Mr. Henderson?" Her voice shook as she spoke.
"Can I please speak with Harry?" Silvio said plainly. Petunia was too stunned to talk, then her face started getting red, "he's fine," she snapped, "he's in a boarding school for lousy children, you can check the city files, now please leave and don't come back again," Petunia tried to sound tough, but she was clearly scared as she said the words. She didn't expect Silvio to give up so easily, but he had no other option. "Thank you madam, sorry for the bother, he said.
Petunia sighed slightly, but she didn't seem less scared, "thank you …" she said absentmindedly as she closed the door. Silvio stood for a few seconds, then he turned and started towards the street.
"Pssh, hey …" a faint voice came from behind Silvio.
S looked back and saw Dudley's burly looking face peaking out of the window, "What do you want kid?" he said.
"Why are you looking for Harry?" Dudley asked.
"Oh," Silvio didn't expect that question, "I want to find out if he's ok, and if he's not happy, maybe take him away somewhere where he will be," Silvio decided to be honest, thinking the kid might at least be nicer than the mother.
"I see," Dudley said, thinking that helping might not be such a bad idea, if it means Harry going away for good. He thought it would surely even please his parents, but he didn't have much. "The only thing I remember," Dudley said, "you know .. about my cousin's school, is something about a platform nine and three quarters," he finished.
"Nine and three quarters?" Silvio gave Dudley an inquisitive look, "what kind of platform?," he asked. Dudley shrugged, it was all he knew.
"You said he was your cousin?" Silvio asked.
"Yes," Dudley said regretfully. Silvio tipped his hat at Dudley, thanked him and walked away.
For days, Silvio pursued dead-end leads. He walked around the playground and visited Harry's old elementary school, but he couldn't anything new. The words "nine and three quarters" crossed his mind every now and then but he couldn't make anything out of it. His meeting with Mrs. Hunter came and he had nothing to present to her. Another week went by and he decided to call off the search, as he saw no reason in billing Mrs. Hunter this much money. He assured her he would keep his mind on the case, and if he ever learns anything new, he would resume looking. He also asked her to let him know if she learns anything. After that, he slowly forgot about the missing boy.
Winter came, and on Christmas eve, Silvio went out for a walk. He walked along the vintage shops and the breweries, all closed and completely dark. Then he decided to get a slight change of scenery. He took an old path that weaved itself between old buildings and lead to the train station. As he walked on the quiet, fluorescent-lit platform, his eyes caught the sign for Platform Nine. He paused for a second, having a childish moment where he knew there was nothing there for him, but he went for it with a giggle anyway. Being the calculating person he is, he noticed that the ticket booth was three quarters away from the pole. He figured a child might come up with a funny name for it, nine and three quarters, he thought, finding it funny this time. North London, Silvio thought, that's one place the child could be. But it wasn't a true lead.
For the next few days, Silvio took the same path on his walks, as he appreciated the serenity of the platform on Christmas day and the days after before the end of the year. On December 26, he noticed something new. After walking next all the platforms several times, he spotted two parallel lines, tracks engraved into the concrete by repeated motion, stretching between the entrance to platform nine and the ticket booth. He observed it closely. No similar tracks existed next to other ticket booths, and Silvio saw no reason for the tracks to be there.
For the next couple of days, Silvio kept studying the tracks, coming up with a few theories that didn't satisfy him. One was that a mentally-ill person had dragged a cart over and over at that spot, or that a large structure was there that was moved away, but he remembered no such thing, and he'd lived in London his entire life. On the first day of January, he had a strong urge to go back and check out the tracks. He got near the ticket booth and saw something that made him beam for a second, although unsure of his finding. He saw what seemed like fresh tracks in the faint layer of dust over the platform, slightly next to the more permanent track. He went to a far corner of the station and stood there, watching the platform.
He almost gave up hope and left, but something else happened that made him look. A miserable looking child, pulling a cart with a large box on it, and two grim looking parents. Silvio's heart dropped. Perhaps his first theory was correct, only it was a very troubled child and very supportive parents, bringing him here to drag his card back and forth. The three stood by the entrance to platform nine, then the child started pushing his cart towards the ticket booth. Silvio was in disbelief, he was sad that this is what it all turned out to be, and he'd already decided to walk a different way from now on. A small crowd passed between him and the platform, and when they passed, the child and the parents were all gone, leaving Silvio plainly confused. He ran to the platform, looked around, then looked as far as he could but spotted nothing.
He went back to his first spot and sat down on a ledge, not because he wanted to keep watching the platform, but because he'd grown tired and just wanted to sit down all of a sudden. At that point, he noticed a group of five red-headed children and two parents approaching the platform. Four carts with boxes were being dragged. Silvio thought it was strange, but he was excited that the answer to his question was close, and that it wasn't a crazy kid. He got closer to the platform to avoid missing what happens next. He had a clear view. The first child ran with his cart towards the platform. Silvio vision blurred, and the child was gone. The parents and the other kids looked happy, still chattering, not like they just lost a family member. Silvio grew more curious, he stared closely at the next child setting to run at the booth. He ran, and Silvio blinked despite his efforts to keep his eyes open, and the child was gone, and soon, they were all gone the same way.
Silvio was bewildered at this point, he approached the ticket booth, touched it, smelled it, and found nothing out of the ordinary. He looked behind him to the entrance to platform nine. He wondered if they had gone in there and that he was just going mad. He went back and stood where the family was. He looked at the tracks under his feet and they all led to the booth. He closed his eyes and ran towards it. Next thing he knew, he'd tripped and fallen. But he didn't hit the booth, he hit the ground, he thought he must have fallen short.
He opened his eyes and saw a sign that read 'Nine And Three Quarters." He was stunned, but he composed himself and stood up. He looked around and saw people dressed in strange clothing, pointy hats, and large robes. He saw a rat running across and owls flying around. But what baffled him the most was the massive train standing in front of him, loading up children, all looking happy and intelligent.
"Harry!" Silvio heard someone scream out of one of the train windows at a skinny young boy walking towards one of the train carts, "did Mrs. Weasley cook her famous roast duck for you?" the kid asked. The other child, Harry, Silvio assumed, laughed and went on about the roast duck and other roast things he'd had. And something told Silvio that he'd found Harry, and that he seemed perfectly fine.
But when he saw a spark fly out of a stick and shove a child five feet back, and then an angry looking, surely to be teacher, scolding the child, but not screaming in terror, he decided he'd seen enough. Silvio realized that he'd stumbled upon a different world, one where he had no business. His question about where Harry was were answered, and the answer was that he was in a different world, clearly better than 4 Privet Drive. He turned around, and without thinking for a second that the wall would stop him, he walked back onto Platform nine. Unlike many Hogwarts students who hesitate before rushing the wall, Silvio's mind understood right away that he'd found an open gate to this world, and that one day an answer to one of his questions will lead him there again. Perhaps he'll meet that Harry one day, but it wasn't today, that he knew for sure.