He lay there. Motionless. Face down.
"Probably just another drunk," reasoned the grocer who was closing up shop, " He'll just wake up with a massive headache."
He was right about the headache part.
His name was Harry. Harry Potter
He was still lying there. Motionless. Face down.
The grocer frowned. "He's not dead is he? Na, that's not possible."
He crouched down and patted the man on the shoulder. He didn't respond. The grocer grasped his shoulder and turned him face up and then recoiled in horror. A large scar ran from his brow to his jaw. The blood had coagulated around his eye though it was still quite fresh. The grocer, Nick, stared, paralysed. Snapping back to reality, he took his phone from his pocket and dialled for the emergency services.
The previous night
"Look I'm telling you, I need that shipment NOW!"
The loud, coarse voice snapped him out of his daydreaming. Or rather, night dreaming.
"Fine, fine, you'll have it within 48 hours"
"You better, or else."
"Or else what? You're gonna threaten me to a heart attack?!," said the young man in a dismissive tone. The next thing he knew, he felt a blinding pain on his face. He stumbled backwards.
"Or else I'll make sure your own mother don't recognise you!"
" Woah, cliché city much" he muttered sarcastically.
" Whaddaya say?"
"Nothin, nothin." He replied.
" Good. Anyway, you should get that cut seen to. It might get gange- gangr- infected," he stammered.
Harry walked down the alley, the man's words echoing in his ear. "I could take him any day of the week. Just need my wand. The detective said he'd give it back if I completed this mission for him.
And anyway, the cut wasn't going to get infected. He was fine. He took out a sachet of cocaine and started sniffing.
That day
"There are traces of cocaine in his system, which certainly didn't help him combat the infection," said the doctor. He continued, "Are you sure he has no close relatives he can contact?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I mean, I found him in an alley. I thought he was drunk," said Nick.
"I'm going to have to turn him over to the police. As I said, he has drugs in his system."
2 hours later
"Hey. Hey, wake up."
He opened his eyes. He felt as if someone had strapped a grenade to his head and set it off.
"Wh-. What?
"The cops are coming for you. Something about drugs in your system."
"Huh?"
"Come on, hurry up."
Harry grimaced as he stood up. It felt as if his head had split in two.
"Why are you helping me," said Harry, "you could get into a lot of trouble for this."
"You remind me of my brother. He went to prison on a bad rap. Died there."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
" It's okay. And anyway, I don't even know your name," Nick said.
"It's-"
He stopped abruptly. What was his name?
"I don't know."
Nick frowned.
"How can you not know your own name for Chrissake's?!? It's like, burned into your brain from the moment you can talk!"
Harry opened his mouth as if to say something, but stopped short.
"He's in room 233", echoed the doctor's voice down the hallway.
"Punch me," said Nick.
"What?"
" It's gonna be suspicious if I let you go without a fight. Punch me."
"Er… Okay."
He punched. As hard as he could.
" What the hell! My ear!"
But he was already gone.
Harry walked down the street, thinking but at the same time terribly self conscious. He was only wearing a hospital gown, after all.
"I can't remember anything. At all. There's gotta be something!"
He was still searching his memory when he seemed to walk into a brick wall. He lifted his head.
"What the…"
It was the biggest man he'd ever seen. He was dumbfounded. That's when the man seized him by the throat and threw him against the wall as his cronies looked on.
"What the hell…?"
" Hey, I know you. Youse is the scumbag who tried to trick my boss." He turned around.
"Boys, get him."
But he was already gone.
Harry ran down the street, thinking.
"Who the hell was he? He seemed to know me."
That's when he saw the white and navy car, with "POLICE" emblazoned on the side. He ran towards it and tapped on the glass.
The policeman didn't even lift his head as he seemed to be concentrating on the donut he was eating.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"There was this massive guy back there-" with this he gestured towards the alley where he had been accosted. "-and he threw me against the wall!"
"He take anything?"
"Well, no, but-"
" It'll take weeks to find him. No point." He continued munching on his donut.
" What do you mean? He's the biggest fucker in the city!"
" Then you better hope we find him first, eh?" He chuckled, as if it was funny.
No reply came. He finally lifted his head to see the man he was talking to.
But he was already gone.
He was examining himself in the bathroom mirror of the house he had sneaken into when he saw the had a bandage over the left side of his face.
"What is this doing here?" he said to no one in particular as he peeled it off his face.
There was nothing there. Not even a scratch.
The hospital
"Mr Andros, did he give any indication on where he was going?"
Nick shook his head.
The doctor came in and gestured for the policeman to come outside. The look on his face told the tale: Something was wrong.
Nick pressed his ear against the door.
"Officer, it is absolutely imperative that you bring him in."
"Why?"
"The amount in cocaine in the young man's system would have affected his body-"
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Please, try to remain civil." The doctor continued. "His body temperature would have skyrocketed, yet the last tests which were ran, showed his body temperature was normal. There was no damage to his sinus from the sniffing. His heart rate was normal. He was fine. And yet, he shouldn't be. We could cure diseases with is blood!"
Nick withdrew from the door. So this guy had some kind of regenerative power. Sounded like something from a bad TV show. But, if he could heal, would it work for other people?
She saw him. He was dressed in a hospital gown and was taking clothes from her neighbor clothing line.
"Hmmph. Serves that bastard right," she thought.
Harry walked down the alley where he had been attacked and looked for the hulk of a man who had punched him. He had found a penknife inside one of the pockets. Instead he felt a strange compulsion to go up on the roof of the building in front of him. As he climbed up the ladder, he nicked his wrist on a jutting piece of metal.
"Ow."
He gazed at his hand and saw the cut, still fresh. He continued climbing up.
He reached the top and saw a man standing there. He stood up and reached for his knife.
"Ah, Harry, just the man I needed to see!"
Harry showed him his knife silently.
"My friend, that is a nice knife, but this is an even nicer gun, and nobody tries to threaten me without consequences" he said as he took the gun from its holster. Ed dropped the knife and threw up his hands in surrender. That's when he noticed there was no cut on his hand. Not a scratch,
"Hmm. That's strange."
That's when he felt the bullet enter his skull.
James Gordon stood there, ecstatic. He had killed him. Now he could get the cocaine without even paying for it. He ruffled through the dead man's pockets. That's when he felt the cold metal of the knife enter his chest.
Harry grimaced and stood up. That's when he saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Then again he couldn't seem to remember any other girls, so, hey.
"Harry, do you remember me? It's Ginny," She stepped closer as he edged back.
"Look, you're in big trouble with the Muggle police, but everything's gonna be O.K."
Harry raised the gun.
" I don't know you."
"I know," she said, stifling back a sob, "but I do. And I love you."
Nick Andros heard the shot from where he was sitting alongside the SWAT's. The girl, Genny- or was it Ginny? Anyway, she had said she could get him down. She obviously hadn't. They rushed up the stairs and saw her body, spread-eagled on the ground, tears still on her face. She was still alive. Barely. He leant down and heard her whisper words into his ear.
"He…He ..jumped."
They rushed back down the stairs, but all they saw was blood already drying on the ground.
2 Years Later.
I finally found out who I was. Harry Potter, Wizard spectaculaire! Not likely. I had used magic in a public place, and a policeman had seen me. He demanded I help him take down a drug boss, and if I refused, he would revael me to the world. I did as he said. Soon after I shot Ginny, I stopped feeling pain. Stopped feeling anything really. I stood at her grave and wondered. Wondered if it could have been different. If I had remembered. I didn't feel a thing as I drew the knife up my wrist. I knew it wouldn't work, but I could always try. I was numb. Totally numb.