Disclaimer: (Steals Harry Potter) Hahaha all mine! I own everything! (Man in black suit takes Harry Potter off me) Awww… ok I don't own anything.

A Life Alone
Chapter Ten
By Loony

Harry had to do some very quick thinking. He could try and run now and risk being shot at by the dark haired wizard. Or he could go with him and try to run later, which might not be possible. Neither were particularly appealing. This wizard didn't look as if he would restrict himself to harmless curses if his determination to capture Harry was any indication. Then again, if he went with him, who was to say that he would refrain himself from cursing Harry anyway? The more he thought about it, the less he liked either option. It was run and risk being cursed, or go with him and risk being cursed. No, if he was going to run he had better do it now. As soon as Harry and the man entered the courtyard there would be no escape route. It had been the one flaw in their plan. It would be better to run now even if it put him in perfect range of the man's wand/ The worst that would happen would be getting caught while trying to run; even though the wizard was clearly wanting to curse him, Harry probably wouldn't be seriously injured, not after the wizarding world had been looking for him for so long. If he was caught again, he would probably just be sent to the same place anyway. Harry glanced behind him at the tall man who was walking with an air of superiority.

They were almost at the courtyard. It was now or never. Harry kicked blindly behind him and the man doubled over in pain for a split second. That was all it took for Harry to run with all his might towards one end of the street. The wizard was quick to fire spells after him and Harry heard him shouting more nonsense words and saw flashes of light as the spells missed him in his zig zagging path. He dove towards an alley at the end of the street for shelter and the wizard followed. It was a narrow alley with little room for maneuvering which meant that more than once Harry had to flatten himself against a wall while running to avoid curses that were still being fired like a machine gun firing bullets at him. At the far end of the alley there were some large bins blocking the exit and as he neared them, Harry jumped as high as he could to get over or onto them. He heard a gasp from below him. Wait, below him? Harry looked down only to realise that he was on top of a sloping roof of one of the nearby houses and that the man was gazing up at him in surprise. Harry swayed slightly. He was on the edge of the roof and even though the magic was unintentional, it still made him feel slightly faint to be doing it so soon after his magic on Mir. He gulped and staggered back a few steps up the slope. He didn't want to risk falling off.

Harry knew that the man would have trouble following him now and it would take him at least a few minutes to find the way up. By the time he managed that Harry would be long gone. Harry guessed he knew the streets better than almost anyone else now. He loved to go exploring during the daytime when it was vital that he wasn't seen. This being the case, he knew nearly every secret passageway in the immediate vicinity. The only problem was that Harry was not sure where exactly he was. He knew of course, that he was on a rooftop but he wasn't sure which house on which street it was. He decided that no matter what direction he went in was fine as long as it didn't lead him into the hands of the opposition. Looking at the surrounding roofs and chimneys he tried to judge which one was the closest. He chose one to the left and ran towards the gap between them. He only just managed to stay on the roof after sliding down a few feet after he launched himself at it. He collapsed as he landed and sat panting for a moment. He hated heights.

A loud crack cut the silence of the night like a knife. Harry spun around horror stricken. Surely the wizard hadn't found a way up so soon? He saw a dim outline on the opposite chimney. Of course! Wizards would surely know how to teleport if he could. What was he to do now? However fast Harry ran, he was sure the man would catch up… unless Harry took him by surprise. If he did something very unexpected he would buy a few more minutes. Harry gulped. He had to trust his magic a lot this time. He waved cheerfully to the roof opposite and, shaking violently, got up and launched himself off of the opposite side of the roof.

Harry closed his eyes, not wishing to experience the long, terrifying decent which he was sure would kill him this time. Memories threatened to engulf him as he remembered his last flight off a building. Memories that haunted his dreams. The air rushing around him stopped abruptly. He didn't bother opening his eyes, he just crouched on the ground trembling. He hated heights.

When he did open his eyes Harry found that he was not at the foot of a block of flats like he had expected but he was in the hut in which he and Mir were currently staying. It was just that, a hut. Plain and empty with only a few blankets for bedding, the hut didn't even have a window, just four walls and a door. He looked round at the empty room. Something was amiss. Mir! Where was he? This was where Harry had sent him, he was sure, so where was he? He rushed out of the hut but there was no sign of Mir. He then proceeded to run the two blocks of run down shops and high rising flats and several back alleys to where the gang that had organised the car theft, resided. Surely Mir would go there after waking up in the hut? Harry rushed into the gang's lair, ignoring the knives and daggers that raised automatically to ward him off, and said breathlessly,

"Has – Mir – been – round – here?"

The gang's lair was similarly furnished to the hut; blankets were strewn everywhere, a couple of moth-eaten sofas, a well-controlled fire burned in the center of the room shrouding the ceiling in smoke and empty bottles and rubbish was seen a-plenty no matter which direction you looked in.

Nymph scooted over on the holey sofa she and a couple of others were occupying to make room for him to sit down. She offered him some of whatever it was she was drinking and, putting her knife away, said "Yeah, sure. He were round here 'bout ten minutes ago. Rushed off real quick though. Summit about you getting' caught an' we told him that t'weren't possible but he don' listen do he? Anyways park it here an' you can have some celebratory gin."

Harry declined politely and ran out of the lair, cursing under his breath. He ran a distracted hand through his short hair. He would have to go back to the courtyard now. Mir would have run off assuming that Harry had been caught. This thought angered Harry somewhat; even though he had just saved him from the wizard that had caught Mir not him, Mir still thought that Harry couldn't take care of himself. Hadn't he proven himself? How much did it take to show people that you weren't weak? Ignoring these thoughts he sprinted as fast as he could in the direction of the courtyard, knowing that the wizard was most likely waiting there from him especially if he had caught Mir. Fool, Harry thought to himself. He was so predictable; Mir would obviously be used as bait to lure him to the courtyard and here he was doing exactly what the dark man expected of him.

As soon as Harry neared the courtyard, he slowed down to a walk. The main reason for doing this was to formulate a plan as he could not expect to be able to walk in unnoticed. Another reason for slowing was so that he could check the state of affairs and the other reason was so that he could catch his breath. Inside the courtyard were the wizard and Mir.

The wizard was holding Mir to the side by his arm. The only position, Harry noted with glee, that Mir couldn't kick him from. Harry was please to see that the oaf had learnt his lesson. The man was shaking Mir and questioning him roughly.

"Where is your friend boy?" was the question he repeated the most to which Mir kept replying,

"Which friend?" which got the reply of,

"You know who I mean. The Potter boy!" At this Mir would ask,

"What do you want from me?" which would start the questions all over again. Harry watched them do this a few times but the wizard grew annoyed after repeating himself a couple of times. As he grew more and more frustrated, Harry could see his grip on Mir's arm tightening as if the small amount of pain were going to make the slightest difference.

"Well if you're not going to tell me then I suppose I'll have to take you with me instead and you can explain it to the owner of this car." Here the man shook Mir roughly. The deathgrip with which he was now holding Mir would be hard to break even if Harry were to run at him full-throttle.

Mir looked up at him defiantly. Sighing, he said with his fakest innocent voice that was clearly mocking, "I dunno where he is. Sorry."

The man almost exploded in anger. It would, Harry mused, be quite amusing if he did. Face contorted in rage, somehow his grip tightened even further on Mir into what was definately a very painful hold. He made a growling sort of sound and looked as if he were going to hit Mir. Harry thought it was best he intervened.

"I'm behind you," he shouted into the echoing courtyard. He smirked to himself in the darkness. This would be fun. He could really mess with their heads by doing this; there was no way to tell where he was. It had once happened to him. A rival gang to one he had been assisting had ambushed them in a dark shadowy courtyard. Each had called tauntingly at them making it appear that their numbers were twice over. Of course, Harry being the genius that he was, had borrowed knives of his companions and sent many spinning off in every direction as he whirled round in a circle whilst throwing them. That had been the end of that rivarly.

The man spun around alarmed until he was facing the completely wrong direction, dragging Mir with him. He still refused to let go of the struggling Mir. "Show yourself Harry Potter."

Harry waited a few seconds as if contemplating it then said, "Why should I?" He felt like picking up a stone to throw at the wall to confuse the wizard. Unable to resist this urge, he did so.

The wizard spun around again as the stone his the wall to his left, still not facing Harry, and let out a growl of frustration. "Argh-"

"Argh?" Harry asked barely containing his laughter. "What are you a pirate?"

Ignoring this, the man hissed at him rather like a snake. "If you don't show yourself this instant, Potter, then I will inflict such pain unto your friend that he will be screaming for mercy and it will be your fault." He raised his wand and pointed it at Mir's chest as if to emphasise this point.

Did he think Harry was completely stupid? Obviously if the man did such a thing Harry would be less inclined to show himself and the man might lose his bargaining chip. Only complete idiots would fall for such a blatant ploy. Harry told him as much.

"I suppose you think you're pretty clever?" the man asked with more than a hint of a sneer in his voice. "It's not enough to be famous for you, the great Harry Potter. You have to distract everyone in the wizarding community from their jobs to look for you, a worthless spoilt brat. You just can't stay out of the spotlight can you? Well then, if you're not going to show yourself to help your little friend then I suppose I will take him instead. That'll be a story to tell the wizarding world won't it? Harry Potter is too arrogant and conceited that he won't even save his friends. He only cares for himself."

That did the trick. Something in Harry snapped and even in the black night he saw red. He didn't care about his position any more. Flinging himself at the back of the wizard he sent them both to the ground. Somewhere in the tangle of arms and legs the wizard had let go of Mir and could only lie on the ground for a moment as Harry began to punch his face with all his might. The man quickly regained his sense and pulled his wand on Harry who was then sent flying across the courtyard and then slammed into one of the walls with a ghastly sounding crack. Harry couldn't move. He could barely breath. He could only sit against the wall, pain spiralling up his back, as the man came over to him, breathing heavily.

"Make no mistake you will not be getting away this time," sneered the man. He said something in gibberish and long ropes flew out of his wand and wrapped themselves around Harry. Pain flared up in almost every part of his body. "You're lucky that your friend isn't joining you. If he were more than a common street rat then he would be." Harry looked past the man and saw a dark heap lying across the courtyard, unmoving. A flash of anger seared through him. It was all very well for the wizard to injure Harry, after all he had just sent him to the ground where he had proceeded to give him a burst lip, cracked hooked nose and the beginnings of a black eye, but the wizard had no right to attack Mir who was, mostly, an innocent bystander. The wizard flicked his wand and he and Harry disappeared in a whirl of colours.

When they reappeared they were in a room so brightly white in contrast to the dark night that they had been in just moments before, that it stung Harry's eyes to look around him. He finally got a good look at the wizard. He was somewhat vampire-like and had indeed sickly sallow skin. His face was leering which only added to his vampire-like look along with the blood trickling down his chin. There was a large bruise around his left eye where Harry had hit him and there were several cuts and tears in his long black robes. How Harry hadn't noticed the fact that he wasn't wearing normal clothes was beyond him. To top it off his hair was sleek and greasy. All in all he was a very foreboding man.

A strict but kind looking nurse bustled into the room and dropped whatever vial she was holding in surprise. "My word Severus! What ever happened to you? Come lie on this bed immediately and I'll take a look at you."

'Severus' shook his head. "No," he said. "I need to speak to the headmaster. It's urgent."

Upon hearing the word headmaster Harry realised that this must be a magic school and that the headmaster must be the one that his aunt had told him about so very long ago. He struggled against the bindings to get free, wincing at the pain. This attracted the attention of the nurse who dropped the vial she had just picked up.

She paled drastically. "Merlin's beard!" she cried. "It can't be… It's not… Is that Harry Potter?"

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Thanks for reading, Loonz.