Harry Potter and the City of Masks
By Josephine Taylor
A/N - FanFiction to the great works of J.K.Rowling and Mary Hoffman. Please R&R to let me know what you think.
Chapter One
"Harry?"
Diagon Alley was full of noise despite the hour. Daytime shoppers outside in the late, sun-lit street filed passed, heading home after a day of shopping, chatting about purchases and calling goodbye to friends. Shops shutting down for the night, whilst others came alive. Restaurants, cafés and clubs, their lights glittering onto the long cobbled street.
In a modern and moderate sized cafe, new to the alley, three sat on a table by the window.
"Harry? Did you hear me?"
Harry Potter took his gaze from the lit window of Quality Quidditch Supplies across the street to look at the young woman sat opposite him. Her brown eye's wide with slight concern.
"Sorry Hermione, I was far away."
"I was asking what happened with Kingsley today."
"Oh," Harry rubbed his hand over his eyes. Hermione exchanged a knowing look with the third member of the table, a red headed young man dressed in a shirt and tie. Harry looked between the pair. "Well he didn't kick me from the training, which is a plus I suppose. He didn't tell me that I was on tender-hooks though, and that I might not survive on the course if I failed the next lot of assessments." Harry shrugged and leant back in his chair, as though it didn't really bother him.
"I wouldn't worry mate, your sure to pass, what with brains and skill's as yours. You've been doing all the prep work haven't you?" Ron asked lightly, loosening the black tie around his throat.
Harry just shrugged and smiled in a non-committal way. His friends, especially Hermione, would flay him alive if they knew that he hadn't done the preparatory work. He pushed his chair back and stood up. "I'll see you guys later, got to get an early night, you know..." Harry gave his friends a half-arsed smile, swinging his bottle green cloak about his shoulders.
Exiting the cafe, Harry stared up at the evening sky for a moment taking in the early stars. Giving a sigh he pulled his cloak closer about himself to ward off the gathering chill before turning left and towards Muggle London.
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"He's not getting better, is he?" Ron said quietly, his hands clasp on the table in front of him, his eye's down.
Hermione shook her head sadly and wrung her napkin to shreds, her gaze turned to the window. She ran a hand through her bushy brown hair. One of her best friend's was going through something terrible, that she could only sympathise with, and she had no idea how to help him through it, a feeling she never liked.
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Harry stood in front of a large building, leaning against the fence outside. The house was of a late Victorian style and Harry saw that only a few room's were awash with light, two downstairs and one upstairs. Shouts of laughter and chatter could be heard only if you strained hard enough to hear it. The curtain's were drawn so Harry couldn't see in. Not that he would want to anyway. It would have hurt too much. She had made her choice and Harry would have to bare it ... however much it hurt.
For a second Harry hesitated, torn by two conflicting emotions. Ring the doorbell and gate-crash their dinner, or turn and leave them in peace. After a second, Harry choose the latter. Turning with a sigh he made his way slowly down the street, his hands buried deep into his pockets and his feet kicking the odd pebble out of his way.
He should be happy for her, he knew. But the thought of what she had said when they had broken up lingered in his mind. What had changed? He knew everything had changed when she had met Richard. Bloody Richard and his perfect personality, his perfect looks, perfect job and perfect life! Harry cursed himself, it was his fault. He drove her away, claiming that it would be too dangerous to her safety if they had stayed together. But he knew in his heart he had just been scared of the commitment.
Putting a small ticket into a machine, Harry stepped through the turn-tile onto the platform of the London Underground. A minute later a train came thundering by, grinding to a halt. Harry climbed in through the doors and sat down on one of the hard plastic chairs, his throbbing head resting against the cool window.
He didn't blame Ginny for wanting a normal life, as normal as any Witch could hope for. Harry had known that it would have only been a matter of time before she met someone else. He just didn't expect it to be sooner.
Arriving at his stop, Harry got off the train and climbed up the broken escalator to the street above. Walking the short distance to his flat, Harry opened the door and was greeted to the sounds of silence. Sometimes living alone was such a complete mood killer. Closing and locking the door behind him, Harry stumbled through his ground floor flat and into his bedroom, falling face first onto his unmade bed. For a moment he just lay there until the nagging in his mind reminded him that he still had to do that prep work for Kinglsey. Groaning, he rolled over, his eye's shut. Drifting off to sleep he mumbled something incomprehensible.
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In a country far away, that could only be reached by one means alone, a young girl ran down a sunlit alley. Crossing over one of the many criss-crossing bridges that hung over the many canals that made up her city, the young girl turned down into another alley. Shadows filled it and she slowed down. Her blue dress swishing about her ankle's was the only noise she could hear, apart from her own heart beating.
Suddenly she started to grow quiet frightened. She had given her maid the slip and had disobeyed her Mother, but this was not what was making her feel afraid. She turned around sharply and crashed into something behind her, falling to the floor with a crash.
Slowly and trembling the girl raised her eye's to look at what she had crashed into. Before her stood a man dressed head to foot in a black velvet, his cloak billowing in the slight wind. Her young face turned pale at the sight of what he held in one of his hands. A large canvas bag, large enough to hold a small child.
He smiled down at her, his grin making her blood run cold. Slowly he knelt down and the girl opened her mouth to give off a yell, her scream echoing around the alley's as he vision went dark.