Blondie

Boy eventually stopped crying and stood up not sure what to do when a woman saw him. He flinched back from her instinctively. But she gave him a kind look. She was older than him. She had light blonde hair and understanding blue eyes and very pale skin under the muck and grime. She had a backpack and wore old, torn jeans and a dark jumper. She looked at him as if she knew what was happening with him. She was kinder than his family he decided. She was younger than they were but very obviously a woman. She held out a dirty hand with bitten nails. He didn't bite his nails anymore after Aunt Petunia caught him doing it and held his hand to the cooker. Boy just looked at it not sure what to do.

'Blondie,' she said.

Boy looked confused and looking at her and the hand. He'd never met anyone outside the Dursleys and they didn't like him talking so he didn't talk much if he could help it. When he continued to look blank she gave a sigh and a sad smile. She realised that the kid was afraid and was obviously not well socialised. She could see the black eye and the way he leaned very tenderly on his right foot and held his left arm. He had obviously been abused. Seeing the tears she wondered if he had run away like she had when she was ten or was he left by whoever had hurt him. So she offered the hand again.

'You shake it,' she said kindly.

Boy did so nervously looking up at the woman through his own eyelashes. She wondered why you did this. What was the point of it? And why was she being so nice to a freak? Freaks don't deserve kindness that what Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had always told him. Good little boys like Dudley deserved everything and more bad freakish little bastards deserved to be punished. Aunt Marge had agreed. The two of them looked at each other. Boy nervously and Blondie kindly. Blondie was the one to end the handshake as the kid had no idea what to do. So she decided to elaborate on her sentence.

'Name's Blondie,' greeted Blondie.

'Unca Ver-non call me Fweak. Aun' Petuna call me Boy,' Boy said nervously. 'Dunno others.'

Just what she thought the boy was abused and badly. She was angry at these people. The boy didn't even know his own name! Boy saw the anger on the woman's face and realised that he had made her made. Oh why was he such a freak? He backed away whimpering. Blondie saw this and realised that she was scaring the child. Forcing the anger at the kid's home situation away she held her hands up in surrender and smiled kindly at the boy. Boy saw this and felt a glimmer of hope maybe she would help him. He stopped backing away at least but he still scrutinized Blondie warily. Blondie knew that he would never fully trust other people. But on the streets that was good it made you more likely to survive.

'Hey it's okay,' smiled Blondie, 'I'm not like your aunt and uncle.'

'Weally?' asked the boy hopefully.

'Really,' Goldie smiled, 'I'll call you Raven.'

'Ray-Van,' smiled Boy, 'like dat.'

'So do I come on you look hungry and I'll help you get your injuries tended to,' she added with a smile. 'Don't worry I ran away from home as well.'

'Didnae,' Raven said suddenly, 'dey lef'.'

'I won't,' promised Blondie.

'Will,' Raven shook his head.

The lady would leave too. Everyone did. His mother and father he could barely remember apart from a wave of red hair and the laughter of a man. There were others just beyond Raven's memory. But he couldn't quite catch hold of anything definite; silver hair he thought. A grandfather? He may have hated the Dursleys but they left just like everyone did. Blondie would too. Blondie crouched down staring into the child's bright green eyes which had entirely too much a pain and age for a child that size. He couldn't be much more than three. She was sure at that age she hadn't looked like that. But then again her mother hadn't remarried until she was ten. It was because of her step-father that she ran. She wouldn't let a man touch her ever again she had vowed!

'I promise you Raven that I'll never leave you,' she kissed his head.

Raven stiffened for a second but decided he quite liked that. Goldie held out her hand and Raven hesitantly took it. The two homeless kids walked down the street together. A few blocks away Goldie suddenly stopped she looked left and right to make sure no one was with her before entering an old abandoned Chinese. Seated about the place were children and teenagers from seven to nineteen. Raven looked around nervously when the tallest man stood up. He was muscular and had a skin head. He looked frightening to look at with his muddy brown eyes and the scars adorning both cheeks. Raven ducked behind Goldie cowering. As the man dressed wholly in battered leathers greeted them.

'Hey Goldie who's the kid?' greeted the man.

Raven whimpered.

'I call him Raven,' Goldie replied. 'Doesnae know his name; abusive family. The usual,' shrugged Goldie. 'Hey its okay Raven Brock isn't as scary as he looks; he's really a big softy underneath.'

The man called Brock snorted, 'unless you're with Guy's crew.'

Goldie took Raven away and picked out some old, manky looking bandages and bandaged his swollen foot and broken arm before she found him a couple of bits of bread to eat from somewhere. Raven looked at them suspiciously before he took them and ate them hungrily. He hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and before that a whole week. Goldie then left to talk to Brock. A red haired kid took her place sitting on a pile of boxes. He looked at the young boy beside him with sharp, grey eyes. He had a red, grimy baseball cap on and a hoodie which looked it could have belonged to Brock before him. He appeared to be only a few years older than Raven and was the youngest apart from Raven.

'Lex,' greeted the red haired boy.

'Rah-vin,' Raven said through a mouthful of bread.

'You might wanna slow down make it last,' suggested Lex which the young boy promptly ignored. 'Fine don' listen I just wanna tae say yeh'll need tae stip hidin' behin' Goldie's skirts if yeh wanna survive here. It's no tae bad jus' now bu' in da winter,' he shuddered.

There was something about the other boy's tone that he took to heart straight away. That night Raven spent snuggled together with the other homeless kids. It wasn't too bad. It was no more uncomfortable than in the cupboard under the stairs. Then the next morning Brock took Raven out where he taught the kid how to steal. It seemed like everything went their way for once and at one point Brock was sure he saw the food leap into the green eyed kid's hand. But he thought he must be imagining it. By the end of the day they came back with more food than they'd ever come back before.

'T'was Raven he's my lucky star,' Brock tussled with the kid's mane of hair.

Raven beamed he'd never been shown so much affection in his life! He was chucked a burger. Raven realised that Lex had been right last night as he hadn't had anything to eat since the bread. Raven decided on only eating a fraction of the food before placing the rest in the bag he'd nicked off a funny speaking man's back. Brock had told him he was an American. American's sounded funny (AN: sorry if this offended anyone I don't mind the American accent I've got American friends I was just trying to get in the head of a five year old kid who's never so much as left his authoritarian family's house before) Raven decided before he settled down to sleep with a girl beside him.

The next day he went with Goldie to beg on the street corners. He saw a middle aged man with hair redder than Lex in a funny green dress. He pointed and giggled. She just shrugged as though this was completely normal. But then looking around he realised the red head wasn't the only one who wore the dress thing. She shook her can in front of him. The man stopped and looked between the two of them. Arthur sighed as he took in the two homeless children; the girl could only be a couple years older than Bill and the green eyed boy looked younger than Ginny. He chucked a gallon in hoping that would help them. Goldie looked at it then him outraged.

'Foreign money!' she shouted, 'what the fuck is that useful for we'll never be able to buy anything with it! Fucking pig headed, rich prick!'

The man looked slightly intimidated at the girl's attitude and literally disappeared. Raven who been feeling scared that Goldie would turn her temper on him. But then stopped and shivered feeling something strange click into place in his being as he watched the man disappear. It felt warm and good and something else like a half forgotten memory. Goldie opened and closed her mouth having seen it too. Both of them stared at the same spot for several minutes before they ran off round the corner gaping at each other. Then they started talking at once as though they'd known each other for years.

'Did you see that?' Goldie began.

'You feel dat?' shivered Raven.

'Feel wat?' demanded Goldie, 'but did you see him? He just disappeared; poof and gone! Maybe he was invisible,' she grinned.

'Cloak,' Raven said suddenly.

'What about a cloak?' asked Goldie.

'I don't know it felt like … like … magic,' he whispered the word.

His aunt and uncle had always been obsessed with making sure Raven was quite clear that magic did NOT exist. They refused to even let Dudley watch anything with anything magical in it. They hated it for reasons Raven had never understood. And when Harry said anything about anything acting strangely Vernon would beat him unconscious and then not let him out of his cupboard even for chores for up to a month. So saying it now was a huge step up for him and showed how much he was coming to trust the other homeless child. He watched her apprehensively as she started laughing.

'Magic nah if there was magic we could magic up a house or something,' she laughed.

'If der woz magic dey wouldna hur' us dey'd be too scared of us,' muttered Raven.

Goldie put an arm around the young boy's shoulder, 'no one will ever hurt us again,' she swore to him.

The two found their way back and placed their money in the kitty jar. And they told their story of the strange red headed man and his vanishing act.

'And then he looked at me all frightened and poof he disappeared,' Goldie said dramatically.

'How though,' frowned Raven as he lay down that night to fall asleep.

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