"It's raining out." Kevin observed thoughtfully as a flame flared in the darkness of an alley. Hagrid lit his cigarette in the darkness of the flame. The light snapped out and the two faces disappeared in the darkness.
"Why do I have to do it?" Hagrid protested. He was wearing a light brown trench coat. It was wet from the rain. Kevin was wearing one, too, and it clung to his wet frame like a cellophane wrapper.
"It's not like we have a choice, you're the only one he'll listen to." Kevin said as he wandered over and sat down on the lid of an open dumpster. "Its destiny, Hagrid, and you can't fight destiny."
There was a quick flash of light as a car whizzed by the alley. In the distance a car alarm went off.
"How am I supposed to tell him that, though?" Hagrid asked wearily as he inhaled the fumes of his cigarette butt. "What if he doesn't believe me?"
"You know Harry Potter like you know no other man."
There was a smash of glass and a car alarm went off.
"He is not prepared." Hagrid replied.
"None of us were. But events are moving too quickly, and we must move on him before they do" Kevin said as he climbed the ladder of a fire escape and sat in the darkness, with "they" being emphasized emphatically, like it was written in italics.
The two sat there in silence.
In the distance, a dog began barking.
"Alright, I guess I have no choice." Hagrid sighed as he dropped the empty cigarette. He ground it beneath his foot like an orphan's face.
"I'll be in touch once it's done." Kevin said. He then turned and began walking out of the alley.
"I'm going to find him…" Hagrid whispered as he turned and started making his way to the other side of the alley, "… and when I do…"
He clicked the lighter shut.
It was raining out. The rain rapped against the tin roof of the corrugated tin metal shack. Harry couldn't sleep. Something was off, he could feel it. Dudley snored loudly next to him, sprawled out on a mattress. They had had lost nearly everything.
On the advice of William Taggart, Vernon and Penny had fled the United England and come to hide in the United States. It had been brutal thus far, living in poverty in a foreign country, with no common ground or even a common language. They quickly fell to the bottom rung of society and held on with their teeth to prevent falling any further.
Harry wondered if he would dream that night. In his mind of minds he could see the nightmares he had had in the past, about cold metal running in rivulets down his wrists, up his arms, smothering his face with the glossy, glass-like reflections cast on the metal as it poured down his throat. Harry did not like to dream. He tossed, restlessly, watching the shadows move across the ceiling as cars sped past on the nearby bypass.
Suddenly there was a noise.
Harry sat bolt upright and reached under a pile of grubby laundry for his 34. Automatic. He aimed it at the door. Then the door opened, revealing the silhouette of a gigantically proportioned man backlit against the neon.
*Click* *Click*
"Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ, Harry, You nearly shot me." Hagrid said as he stood in the doorway, outlined against the city lights and his wet, rain-soaked navy blue raincoat was soaked from the rain and dripping wet.
Harry lay back and tossed the gun aside, where it fired twice in quick succession, punching holes in the corrugated wall. He stared at the ceiling with his eyes closed as the shots ricocheted around the tent camp.
"What do you want, Hagrid?" Harry asked wearily, resigned, without hope.
"You need to know."
Harry sat up again, reaching for a shirt. If he must endure this, he would do so without his nipples being exposed.
"Know what?"
"There's no easy way to tell you this."
"Tell me what?"
"It's going to be hard, harry. Verrry hard." Hagrid replied, rolling his "r" with gusto.
Harry pulled on a grubby shirt and looked at Hagrid with suspicion in his eyes and his body language..
"Tell me what?" he asked again, this time conveying his urgent impatience.
"There's no easy way to tell you this." Hagrid said again.
Harry and Hagrid stared at each other in silence for what seemed an eternity. Then Hagrid began.
"Ten years ago, at the Black Mesa Research Facility, the event horizon began."
Harry went cross-eyed, and tried to shut the memories out. Staring at the floor, he spoke.
"I don't care about that, Hagrid. It was in the past. Sure, the hospital bill was high but I want to forget, Hagrid."
Hagrid stared long and hard at Harry before he began again.
"There's no easy way to tell you this."
"Tell me what?"
"Ten years ago, during the Black Mesa incident, you were fatally injured, but you went to the hospital."
"The price was expensive but I am alive. So what?"
"Harry," Hagrid hesitated. "Harry, the cost was your humanity."
"What do you mean?"
"You're a Hanzer, Harry."
"I'm a what?"
"A cyborg, Harry. A machine."
Harry stared at Hagrid with a cold expression. The cameras that were his eyes dilated.
"I never asked for this."