It was nearly midnight, and Harry Potter, a thirteen year old wizard, was lying on his front in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a torch in one hand and a large leather-bound book propped up against the pillow. The book was A History of Magic by Adalbert Waffling and Harry was secretly doing his homework for Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry. It was dark outside and nothing moved in the entire house, silence reigned, until … CRASH!

Harry jumped and cursed because he had spilled some ink over his pillow. Where had that noise come from? It had been too close for his taste … Harry stood on his bed and searched the room with his torch.

He didn't have to search for long: In front of him stood a boy. It was rather obvious that it was no average Muggle boy, for on the one hand that strange boy had glowing neon blue hair and on the other hand he was wearing a black cloak, as wizards usually did, and was holding a wand in his raised hand.

"Who are you?", Harry asked puzzled and disconcerted because his own wand was locked away in the cupboard under the stairs.

"Um", said the boy and put a hand in front of his eyes to shield them against the light of the torch.

Sure enough, in that instant the door of Harry's room was thrown open and uncle Vernon appeared in a fury. He stopped for a moment in the doorframe, turned on the light and gaped at the strange boy. The blue haired lad looked just as baffled as uncle Vernon (who was turning redder and redder every minute) and a grin he couldn't fight down stole onto Harry's face. They did look kind of funny, after all.

Then, however, uncle Vernon recovered and started to yell at Harry: "Enough! Enough is enough! Enough of that magic nonsense! You are leaving the house right away, boy! And you are taking this misfit with you!" During the last words he was pointing at the strange boy. In the mean time aunt Petunia appeared in the doorframe. She was about as white as Vernon was red.

Harry lowered the torch. To explain to his uncle that he had no clue where this strange boy had appeared from (who did not only hold a wand in his hands but also an old sock) was pointless. He quickly accepted his fate, took his homework and Hedwig's cage and let his uncle herd Blue and himself down the stairs and outside.

"My things", Harry said coolly to his uncle as they stood in the chilly night air. "If you don't bring them outside, I'll make such a racket that all the neighbours will fall out of their beds."

Vernon grumbled, and a moment later Harry's suitcase came flying out of the open door, which closed behind it with a bang. The other boy was gaping at the closed door. At last he started talking. That was actually the first sign that he had command over the English language: "I'm sorry. The portkey should have brought me to my godfather. I'm not quite sure what happened there. I didn't want you to get into trouble with your dad … is he always that quick to anger?"

"Hm, vou've probably done me a favour", Harry said and shrugged. "That was my uncle and I hate living here. I'm actually quite happy that they've thrown me out."

He bent down, shoved his History of Magic book into the suitcase and took his wand out. Then he started walking down the street with suitcase, cage and strange boy in tow. "Don't you want to take the Knight Bus?", Blue asked.

"The what?"

"You don't know the Knight Bus? Well, no wonder, living with these weird muggles and all … Well, you haven't missed much. Listen, if you don't have any place to stay, you can come with me to my godfather's. He is really chill and won't be bothered if there's one more kid to house and feed", the boy said. "I'm Ted by the way."

"Harry", Harry said and they shook hands while they kept walking. It would be best to get far, far away from the Dursleys as soon as possible. "Where does that bus leave?", Harry asked.

"Stay put for a moment", Ted said and made a sign for him to step off the street. Then he swivelled his wand while making a pompous face. At the same time, Harry gazed down the alleyway behind them with narrowed eyes. He had sensed rather than heard it: someone or something was standing in the narrow gap between the garage and the fence behind them. "Something's back there", Harry whispered. But at the same time doubts began to rise in him. What if Ted, if that was even his name, was not as harmless as he looked and knew exactly which friend of his was waiting back there? What if no Knight Bus was coming?

Then there was a bang and a sudden blinding light and in front of them appeared a unsteady triple-decker, violently purple bus. Surprised, Harry took another step back.

"Hi Eleanor", Ted called happily through the open bus door.

"Who is Eleanor?", the young conductor in a purple uniform asked as he jumped out of the bus.

"Where's Eleanor gone off to?", asked Ted, looking past him. "She's the conductor of the Knight Bus!"

"No, that's me, Stan, pleased to make your acquaintance."

Ted furrowed his brows, shrugged and entered the bus. Stan took Harry's things and asked for their names.

"I'm Ted", the boy said. "Ted Lupin."

"Neville, Neville Longbottom", Harry said as soon as he had entered the bus. Maybe just a little bit too fast. He had decided to stay incognito. Ted looked at him strangely, but did not say anything.

"And where do you want to go off to, Neville and Ted?", Stan asked.

"Edinburgh, Princes Street", Ted said. Stan named the price, upon which Ted widened his eyes. Harry understood and paid for both.

"Okay, back there you will find some free beds. Make yourself at home", Stan said and while they made their way to the back, the bus started. They were catapulted straight onto their beds next to the curtained windows. Wide awake they sat next to each other. "Why did you tell them that your name is Neville Longbottom?", Ted whispered, looking at Harry strangely.

"Um, long story", Harry said. He was in fact rather content that Ted did not seem to have recognised him as the famous boy-who-lived yet.

"Two boys like you should not be travelling alone", a hoarse voice said from in front of them. A man with crazy white hair and a scarred face had woken up. "Why not?", Ted asked with defiance.

"Haven't you heard?", the man asked. "Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban … big follower of You-know-who …" After these words the man turned around and fell back into an uneasy slumber, sometimes mumbling to himself.

Ted sniggered into his hand. "What's so funny?", Harry asked with a low voice.

"Well, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban about twenty years ago. That guy seems to be slightly touched in the head … and Sirius turned out to be completely innocent as well …", Ted said rolling his eyes.

"Okay …", Harry said. "How old are you anyway?"

"Eleven. This September I'm starting Hogwarts. What house are you in?"

"I'm a Gryffindor", Harry said.

"I'll see you there then. The best house!", Ted exclaimed happily.

"So, your godfather, what kind of a guy is he?", Harry asked. "Are you sure that I can stay at his place just like that? I mean, I could write to one of my friends …"

"Yes, of course you can come stay with me", Ted said. "He's great. He's got this awesome family. Three little kids and his wife is a professional Quidditch player! He himself is an auror."

"What's an auror?"

"They catch dark wizards …"

"Wow, sounds nice."

"Hey, what's that on your forehead?", Ted asked suddenly.

Harry pushed his hair down over his forehead and mumbled: "Nothing." He looked away from the other boy, out of the window. Ted was looking at him with his mouth agape. Harry lay down, pretending to fall asleep. Ted did not say anything anymore and so they drove on through the night.

….

At dawn, Harry was ungently shaken awake by Stan. Ted was already ready to go. Harry took his suitcase and the two boys left the bus. They stood on a big street. On their left were house facades, on their right a park sprawled beneath a castle on a hill over an old town.

"Come", said Ted. "Over there's a wizard's café, the "Firebreather", there we can travel through the fireplace to my godfather." His glance wandered once more to Harry's forehead with a questioning glance, but then he turned around and crossed the street towards the coffee shop.

Harry followed in silence. They were nearly the only ones in the dim joint. Some scattered witches and wizards were drinking their first cup of coffee of the day and browsing through newspapers. Ted marched straight past the tables and to the chimney at the rear of the joint. "Morning, Sascha!", he called in passing towards the counter.

A man with a gigantic moustache appeared behind the bar and scrutinized the two boys. "Well then?", he said. "Whither goest thou in this early hour of the morning, milords?"

"We know Sascha", said Ted casually. "We only need to use the fireplace."

The innkeeper told them that he knew no Sascha and named the price to use the Floopowder.

"You will have to pay that …", Ted mumbled out of the corner of his mouth. "My godfather will repay you, of course."

Harry paid. He was feeling a bit queasy because he remembered the last time he had travelled by floopowder.

"Griffin's nest", Ted called and stepped into the fire. It spit him forcefully back out.

"Griffin's nest?", the innkeeper chortled. He was cleaning a glass and shook his head buoyantly. "The things the youth of today thinks up …"

"But that's how I get to my godfather's place", Ted said, furrowing his brows exasperatedly as he picked himself up from the floor and dusted some ash from his coat.

"It does not seem to work very well, my boy", said the innkeeper. Ted threw an annoyed glance in his direction and sat down on a chair. Harry sat down next to him and studied the paper that was lying on the table in front of them. On its front was the picture of a malnourished man with long, filthy dark hair. "SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN", it said with big letters.

"Um, are you sure that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban twenty years ago?", Harry asked, holding the paper up for Ted to see. Curiously Ted bent forward and looked at the headline. "Sure", he said at last. "Look at the date."

Harry couldn't see anything peculiar about the date. "Yes, that's today", he said calmly.

Ted answered his questioning look with a wide eyed expression on his face. Then he looked pleadingly at the innkeeper and said: "Tell me, is that an old paper?"

"No, no, it's today's paper", he answered and looked at him with a puzzled frown.

Ted opened his mouth, shut it again and at last took Harry by the arm. "Come with me", he whispered and pulled Harry outside. He pulled him over the street and into the park. There he stopped and said: "You are Harry Potter, right?"

"Um, yes", Harry said. He was slightly surprised by Ted's sudden disquiet.

"We've got a problem", said Ted. "Yesterday, I wanted to take a portkey to my godfather's. And that godfather is no other than Harry Potter. However, he is 28 years old. He's not a scrawny little boy like you."

After that torrent of words, Ted was silent and ran a hand through his blue hair. Harry was gaping at him. "Do you want to tell me that you are a time traveller?", he asked at last with some doubt in his voice.

"Yes, exactly", said Ted and looked at Harry as if the older boy was supposed to know all the solutions for his problems. Harry did some math in the mean time. "And your parents were wacky enough to make me your godfather when I was just seventeen?", he asked warily.

"They knew you'd be the best", Ted said with a sad smile.

"Do I know them?", Harry said and tried to think of some acquaintance who might end up making him godfather in about four years time.

Ted considered the question for a moment. Then he shook his head: "Not yet."

"And do you have any way to prove that you are indeed my godson?", Harry asked.

„Um", Ted said and thought for a bit. Then his face brightened: „In your first year you helped Hagrid to smuggle a dragon out of Hogwarts ..."

"Draco Malfoy knew about that."

"Okay … um … Hermione and you, no, wait a minute, that was in your third year … Ha! Once upon a time you let a snake loose on your cousin in a muggle zoo … it was on his birthday. And you've coloured the hair of one of your muggle teachers blue!" Now Harry ran a hand through his unruly hair. With wide eyes he looked at the boy that seemed to be a time traveller from his future.

Ted wandered to a park bench and sat down heavily. "And you're not Fred or George in disguise?", Harry asked faintly, as he sat down next to his godson. For a while they sat in silence and considered their options.

"We need help. I mean … I need help", Ted said finally.

"Yeah", Harry said.

A plan was forming in Ted's head: "The best thing would be to go to my grandma. She will know what to do. I don't want to go to my parents … what if I end up never being born or something?"

Harry decided to hope that Ted's grandmother was a capable witch and agreed with the plan. The two boys trudged back to the "Firebreather". Ted led the way through the fireplace and Harry followed.