Perhaps he had been naïve, to think there was anywhere he could run to. Anywhere they wouldn't be able to find him.
Still, he thought, he'd had a good go at it.
"Do you know who I am?" The man repeated, and Harry found himself struggling to form words. He had been here so long. At first, it had seemed lonely, but before long he had found this new place suited him. Or old place, should he say.
Very old. It was night time, but he could still hear the pterodactyls calling to each other out in the dark. When the war had reached its peak, the Order had sent him away with directions that he not tell anyone where he was going. And so, with the help of the Time Turner, he had fled. At first to times not too long gone, but with each discovery he had delved deeper and deeper into history.
Until he made his way here. To this time, where dinosaurs and dragons still ruled the lands and people were but a twinkle in Mother Nature's eye. It felt odd to see another human being. He stared openly at the man before him, at his scratchy beard, and hard eyes. He hadn't seen any face other than his own in so long, and even then only reflected in the surface of a pool.
His only company had been a small saturnalia he had found as an egg. Now his closest friend and ally, he had raised her and together they lived their simple life. He heard Satura, as he'd named her, wake and shift behind him.
Then it all happened so fast. The man must not have noticed her curled up in the recess of the cave, but as she emerged his strange face changed and with a sudden movement his wand was pointing straight at her. Harry had forgotten wands. Forgotten the destructive power of fear. Of man.
Without a thought, his own wooden instrument of death was in his hands and with one swift movement he loosed an arrow straight into the stranger's chest. The fear in his eyes turned to shock, and they opened wide for just a moment before he fell back. Dead.
This had become the only language Harry knew. Kill or be killed. Survival. Eat, sleep, repeat. Just him, Satura and the wilderness. It didn't seem bad, to kill the intruder, but he soon realised his mistake.
Too early the sun began to rise, and it blistered and burst out across the horizon. Blood red, then sickly yellow it oozed like the burst yolk of an egg. The sky lit up with raining stars, and a chorus of sounds met his ears. The panicked cries of so many wild beasts, the dragons' fearsome roar, a deafening rumble as the forest outside was wrought apart by the cracking earth. Deep rents swallowed mountains and streams as all at once those with wings took to the sky. There was no where they could flee though, that death wouldn't find them.
Terrible things happen to wizards who meddle with time, Harry.
Those long-forgotten words came back to him, and in a rush he remembered everything. This was not his place. He had to go back. He had to return home, or risk losing it forever.
Written for: 'The Game of Life' Challenge. Prompts: dinosaur, arrow, and "Do you know who I am?" (dialogue)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
CC cover image (entitled 'Dragons breath sky') courtesy of Neil Moralee on Flickr.
A/N: Not sure how I feel about this. I rushed it out, and the prompt set was really odd so if it sucks I blame that ;p Thanks for reading, let me know what you thought. GG x