Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise, that honor belongs to J.K. Rowling. I just own this fanfic and OC Hailey. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to Supernova2015. No copyright intended!
Warning: This chapter will mention references to the 1977 Disney movie, Pete's Dragon and have spoilers from the movie itself. Don't read if you haven't seen it before.
Ch. 11
More Troubles
Back in the prison out in the middle of the North Sea, the man with shaggy, long black hair was looking happy. He had lost some weight, but it still wasn't enough to accomplish his plan.
"One more week, just one more week at least and I should be able to slip through the bars." the man whispered to himself.
Meanwhile, the Dursleys and Dudley's gang were still driving around, looking for 'the freak' and his friend. They were desperate to find them, so they could use 'the freak' as a slave again and for Dudley and his gang to beat up 'the freak' and his friend. Marge was still mad that the 'ungrateful brat' and his friend defied her and ran off.
"The boy can't be too far," said Vernon as he looked around while driving. "Where did he go?"
"And could any kid be stupid enough to be friends with a freak?" wondered Dudley.
"That one was," said Piers. "How this friend of the freak's befriended him without any of us knowing? Surely we had eyes and ears around school and the other kids obeyed our demands, unless…"
"Unless," said Dudley. "The freak and his friend must've befriended each other… in the library."
"Pretty much," said Piers. "The freak must've used the library as some kind of loophole. How dare he?"
"Once we get reinstated at St. Grogery's, we can talk the headmistress into forbidding the freak from going into the library ever again." said Dudley with glee.
"If we have to," suggested Dennis. "We can split up and it would make patrolling the hallways much easier."
"Yeah," agreed Malcolm. "The freak needs to learn the phrase, 'what goes around, comes around.' Since he disobeyed us, we'll tell him that."
"Oh goodie," said Gordon with delight. "We'll teach the freak a lesson, once and for all. This friend of his will also get a beating, which can be a lesson to the other kids of what'll happen to them if they don't comply with our demands."
"Yeah, and we can get that librarian blacklisted. Right, dad?" said Dudley.
"That's right, Dudders." said Vernon.
"That's my little neffy-poo," said Marge, patting her nephew fondly on his porky shoulder. "You and your friends will be the top boys once more!"
"And we'll be the top residents of Privet Drive once more, too." said Petunia.
So Vernon drove on as he and everyone else in the van kept a lookout for 'the freak.' Meanwhile, Harry and Hailey continued following River Marden once Hailey finished grieving for her mother. There was another city in which the river ended, forcing the runaways to stop before getting too close.
"I guess we should go south a bit and see if we can find a way around." said Harry.
"Yeah," agreed Hailey. "I don't see another river around, and we can't backtrack because we'll run into your so-called relatives more than likely."
"Wait a minute," said Harry as he remembered another two way. "Maybe we should backtrack a little."
Then he got out the magical map they'd use to look for more shortcuts and what-not. Indeed, there was a lake close by called, Bowood Lake. Hailey looked at the map and thought the decision over.
"Yeah, let's backtrack a tad," said Hailey. "Then follow the river to that lake."
So she and Harry went to do that. It didn't take that long to make it, even by foot since the beginning of their journey had been helping the two runaways stay in shape. They were on the east side of the lake, but they decided to follow it south. While they were doing so, Harry and Hailey saw another manor. Remembering their determination not to return to the past, they walked a little ways from it, while still going south. Harry and Hailey also spotted three kids outside, looking for plants from the looks of it. Two of them were girls, who Harry and Hailey somewhat recognized (as one of the girls had blonde hair in pigtails and the other one had red hair). The girls were accompanied by a portly boy, who might've been living in this manor. Harry and Hailey were still within the trees, so they were hidden. The three kids who were looking for plants were talking, so Harry and Hailey opted to listen.
"So Susan," said the blonde haired girl who Harry and Hailey remembered was named Hannah, as they heard her and her best friend talk about them some after they had crossed River Otter. "I've heard that the Weasleys are looking for Harry Potter. Mum and dad have been discussing that for a while. His disappearance even made the headlines on The Daily Prophet."
"Yeah, auntie Amelia even brought that up," said the red haired girl who Harry and Hailey remembered was named Susan. "From what she said, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley mentioned that Ginny was downhearted when she saw the boy who she believed was Harry run away, with a girl who was accompanying him. The girl was said to have light-brown hair. I wonder if those two kids who we saw all those weeks ago must've been who the Weasleys are currently looking for."
"Could be," guessed Hannah. "I'm surprised that they were long gone, fairly quickly."
Harry and Hailey gulped nervously, realizing that a third stranger had spotted them when they came across the Burrow shortly after the start of their journey. This Ginny's father must've been the driver of that ford anglia they spotted before coming across the Burrow.
"Yeah, me too," said Susan. "I do wonder how they managed to slip by pretty fast, since auntie Amelia didn't get to get a look at them."
"What made Harry disappear?" asked the portly boy.
"I have no idea, Neville," said Hannah. "It could be any number of reasons."
"Auntie Amelia also mentioned something else," said Susan. "Mr. Weasley told her that the Lovegoods are also helping out. Apparently, Luna figured out that the black haired boy she saw was Harry, but he and his friend panicked and ran off before Mr. Lovegood came out to look."
Harry and Hailey felt their legs trembling, realizing that there were alot more people looking for them than they thought. Were these people trying to get them to take them back to their respective 'families?' Were they just going to diss them the first chance they got? Or were they really trying to help them? Neither Harry, nor Hailey could come up with any answer to their questions. Regardless, they decided to continued sticking to their plan not to trust any one (at least easily), terrified that anyone offering assitance would be a ruse.
"Gran did tell me something once before," said the boy named Neville. "My mum was said to be Harry's godmother, and Harry's mother being my godmother, which also means that he and I are godbrothers."
"Then why didn't Harry go to you and your gran, Neville?" asked Susan and Hannah.
"From what she also said," Neville continued. "Harry apparently was living a good and healthy life, at least that's what Professor Dumbledore said to her once, but if Harry disappeared, then how could he have lived a good and healthy life?"
"I wish I knew." said Hannah.
"Auntie Amelia told me that she was one of Harry's possible guardians should something happen to his parents," said Susan. "They even told her that."
Harry and Hailey were gobsmacked at what they were hearing. This Neville, Harry's godbrother? His mother, being Neville's godmother, and Neville's mother being Harry's godmother? No, it couldn't be, could it? It was a trick, right? If Harry did have other guardians who wanted to look after him, then why was he stuck with the Dursleys for all those years? How could Harry trust them? The only one he trusted entirely was Hailey and they've been by each other's side since they met, and that intensified when they ran away from Little Whinging. Believing themselves to be in danger, they looked each other in the eyes.
"We'd better sneak away," whispered Harry. "They could be trying to trick us."
"You're right, Harry," Hailey whispered. "Any one of those kids and/or their guardians could turn us in."
Before trying to sneak away, Hailey double-checked Harry's forehead to make sure the makeup still covered his scar. Once they were certain, they tried sneaking out of the trees, making sure to be as stealthy as possible. During the attempt, the kids named Susan, Hannah and Neville would perk up and look into the trees (since the twigs snapping and leaves rustling were audible). Luckily they didn't spot Harry nor Hailey, but the process repeated twice more. Once Harry and Hailey managed to make it to the edge of the trees, they checked their surroundings and looked over at the three kids looking for plants again. Luckily they were still distracted, but Harry and Hailey started backing away slowly so neither Hannah, Susan nor Neville would spot them. Unfortunately for Harry, he was still backing away slowly that he didn't notice a tree root sticking up. This made him trip over it, falling onto his back in the process.
"Oof!" Harry blurted out.
This also got the attention of Neville, Hannah and Susan. They turned around just as Hailey went to help Harry up.
"You okay, Harry?" asked Hailey, not realizing she had said it loud enough for it to be heard.
"Yeah, thank you Hailey for…" said Harry as he got back onto his feet.
"Harry?!" Neville, Hannah and Susan blurted out simultaneously, as they got up and started walking toward Harry and Hailey.
The two runaways gasped in horror as they spotted the three kids and immediately made a run for it. Neville, Hannah and Susan ran after them a little bit.
"Wait, don't leave!" the three called out. "We just…"
Neville, Hannah and Susan realized that they wouldn't be able to catch up to Harry and Hailey, so they stopped to catch their breath. They were watching Harry and Hailey running further and further away, impressed that they were pretty fast.
"We'd better go inform our respective guardians." said Hannah. "Mum and dad will want to know."
"Auntie will, too." said Susan.
"And so will gran." said Neville.
After the head start, Harry and Hailey stopped to catch their breath. They weren't quite far enough from Neville, Hannah and Susan, but still a reasonable distance.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Hailey apologized. "I didn't realize I said your name that loud. I was just…"
"Don't worry, Hailey," assured Harry. "I understand you were concerned. If my scar had been exposed, we wouldn't have made it out here. They would've gotten their guardians in a heartbeat and prevented us from escaping."
"Yeah, but still, I feel guilty for that." said Hailey.
"Hailey, I'm not mad at you at all," assured Harry, giving Hailey a hug to prove it. "Maybe it was entirely my fault because I should've looked behind me from time to time."
"I can't let you take all the blame," said Hailey, hugging Harry back. "I'd say half of it was your fault and the other half my fault."
"I'll have to be more careful and make sure no more tree roots stick up wherever we walk." said Harry.
The two runaways were still hugging each other to the point where they were spotted again. When they noticed, they saw that the kids named Neville, Hannah and Susan had notified their respective guardians because they came out, too. Harry and Hailey again panicked, so they turned around and ran south. The adults tried to run after Harry and Hailey, but they noticed how fast Harry and Hailey could run, so continuing the pursuit was worthless.
"Geez, we were so close!" exclaimed Amelia.
"If that boy with the black hair had that scar, then he would definitely be Harry." said Neville's grandmother, then she turned to Neville, Hannah and Susan. "You three weren't kidding, those kids really can run and leave us in the dust."
"This means that we still don't know for sure if that is Harry." said Hannah's mother.
"Auntie, do you think the runaways have a destination in mind?" Susan asked her aunt.
"Who knows, Susan," said Amelia. "Given their reaction, they may not have one at all."
So Neville, Hannah and Susan (along with their respective guardians, and Hannah's parents) continued watching the running forms of Harry and Hailey getting smaller the further they got. Soon, Harry and Hailey were no longer in sight (having ran into another bunch of trees), so they all went back inside. While Neville, Hannah and Susan felt pretty sure they finally spotted Harry, they didn't have the proof to have it confirmed. Meanwhile, Harry and Hailey made it to the edge of the other bunch of trees and found themselves facing a clear patch of dirt going toward an actual road from the looks of it.
"We must be on some kind of farm." guessed Harry.
"Yeah, we must be," said Hailey as she pointed to plow marks. "That seems to imply it."
"I see another bunch of trees presumably 150 feet or so away," said Harry, pointing. "The bunch doesn't seem to be any bigger than this bunch."
"I wonder how we'll make it without getting spotted," said Hailey. "We'll be out in the open and your so-called relatives could be anywhere."
"I guess our only option is to make a run for it," said Harry. "We'll need to be quick, though. If we can, we can hide for a minute or something as a precaution."
"Let's do it." said Hailey.
So Harry and Hailey made a run for it, with one occasion where they crawled on their hands and knees to stay hidden. When they felt it was safe, they got back upright and continue running. Once they were within the trees, they decided on a late lunch and stopped.
(Line break)
Meanwhile at the Burrow, the Weasleys, the Lovegoods and Remus made it back. Despite having divided into groups, they still never found Harry nor his friend. Ginny went up to her room and shut the door, then she went to lay down on her stomach on her bed, put her arms onto her pillow and buried her face into her arms. It looked like she was on the verge of crying because they still couldn't find the boy she believed was Harry. Back downstairs, the fire in the fireplace lit up, with Arthur and Molly answering it. It turned out to be Amelia.
"Amelia," greeted Arthur. "What may we do for you?"
"I just fire-called you all to give you some news," said Amelia. "Susan and I were at Longbottom Manor. Susan, Neville and Hannah were outside when they spotted two kids, with one of them looking like who they believed was Harry Potter. He also had a companion with him, a girl with light-brown hair."
"They must be the kids who Ginny spotted," guessed Arthur. "Are they still close by Longbottom Manor?"
"No unfortunately," said Amelia. "Those two ran fast, we couldn't even catch up to them. Hopefully, they won't be terribly far. Augusta thought, if you all wanted to, you can come by Longbottom Manor tomorrow. She believed that the more help, the better chance we might have of finding Harry and his friend."
"Ginny will be happy to hear," said Molly. "She keeps saying that she wants Harry to stay in one place long enough to be found by one of us."
"I don't think that part will happen," said Amelia. "But, with more of us trying to locate Harry and his friend, we'll have a higher chance of succeeding."
"Well, okay," said Arthur. "I'll let Augusta know that we'll be more than willing to help."
"Alright, see you all tomorrow." said Amelia.
Once that fire call was finished, Arthur got ready to fire call Augusta at Longbottom Manor.
"So there's a little bit of higher hope of finding Harry." said Remus.
Molly went upstairs to give Ginny the heads up. Ron and Hermione were in the living room listening to the firecall. Soon, it was time for Hermione to go home (since her parents got off of work early). Back in the trees where Harry and Hailey were eating lunch, they had finished up their late lunch. Once they drank some water, they got up and resumed their journey. They decided to travel southeast a little bit to find another river to follow. Harry and Hailey even made sure to avoid buildings, not wanting to attract unwanted attention. Soon, they started walking up a hill, only to hear talking. This forced them to stop and start going south once more. After crossing some fields, Harry and Hailey made it to a street called Conscience Ln.
"I do wonder if people on this street develop a conscience." Harry joked.
"Maybe they do." said Hailey as she giggled.
So the continued walking south. Once they thought they could hear a river or something, they ran toward the sound. They found it, but they couldn't stand next to it, so Harry and Hailey decided to backtrack some and go west and follow the river, being careful not to approach any building. When another small town came into plain view, the two runaways started going northwest. The sun was getting close to setting, which meant that Harry and Hailey needed to find another bunch of trees soon, so they could get the tent set up and stop for the night. Realizing that, they decided to jog for a bit. They managed to find a small bunch of trees, which weren't quite big, but big enough to stay hidden and get the tent set up without attracting attention. Once they were in the tent, Harry and Hailey collapsed on the couch after they kicked their shoes off.
"What shall we do before we turn in?" asked Harry.
"Well," said Hailey as she looked at the TV that had a VCR hooked up to it. "Maybe we can watch a movie."
"That'd be swell," said Harry. "Maybe we can have some popcorn, too."
So Harry went to make a batch of popcorn while Hailey went through the VHS tapes to find a movie. She found one that seemed intriguing, a disney movie called Pete's Dragon, which had live action and animation in it. The smell of freshly popped popcorn made Hailey's mouth water. Harry also got out a couple drinking glasses and poured some lemonade into them (they wanted to reward themselves for making sure that they'd stay hydrated and ate more fruits and vegetables). Harry was also intrigued with the movie Hailey chose.
"Pete's Dragon?" said Harry. "I remember my year 4 teacher putting this movie on one day. That year it was only Piers who I shared that class while Dudley and his other gang members had different teachers."
"Did Piers keep you from watching it?" asked Hailey.
"He tried like heck to do so," said Harry. "It was only half-successful, I was able to watch some parts, but not enough to remember every detail."
"You won't have to worry about that now, Harry." said Hailey.
Harry smiled as he sat down and got comfortable on the couch. Hailey snuggled up to Harry and he put his arm around her shoulders. Despite the two being only nine years old, they felt like they'd known each other for years. It seemed like it had been years since they ran away from Little Whinging, even though it had been like four or five weeks. The fact that they've been inseparable since then made it feel like they've been with each other for the longest time.
Hailey aimed a remote at the VCR and pushed the play button to get it to start. The movie was about a boy named Pete who was 'adopted' by a hillbilly family who treated the boy like a slave, somebody who Harry and Hailey could relate to. Then a dragon named Elliott came to Pete's rescue (which was shown after the credits at the beginning). After spending a night in the forest, Pete and Elliott decided to go to a town called Passamaquoddy. Aside from Pete trying his best at staying away from the hillbilly family, the town also dealt with a couple of con artists, as well as Pete clashing with the town's schoolteacher. Eventually, the hillbilly family arrived at the town, still eager to find Pete and use him. A lighthouse keeper and his daughter were interested in looking after Pete despite Pete's natural hesitancy. The hillbilly family eventually teamed up with the con artists in a last ditch attempt to use Pete and Elliott for their respective selfish gains. Both villains' plans were foiled, in addition to Pete getting a loving family and Elliott saving the town. Once Pete was finally in safe hands, Elliott left since it became obvious that he only went to kids who were in need of help.
Harry and Hailey enjoyed the movie and, at the same time, they realized that they had alot in common with Pete. They were surprised by that and they found much more as they continued watching the movie.
"Wow," said Harry. "I never would've known how much we had in common with Pete if we hadn't watched it."
"Yeah, me neither," agreed Hailey. "Like Pete, we were both abused and being treated like a slave."
"Did your father treat you like one?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, but he was always drunk when he would order me to clean the windows, wash the dishes, etc….etc," said Hailey. "He always hated me, even when he was sober, but he didn't dare show that in front of my mum."
"Gee whiz," said Harry. "I can't believe he'd manipulate your mum like that."
"Me neither," said Hailey. "My father's behaviour and the Dursleys behaviour gave them something in common with the Gogans."
"That's right," said Harry. "Pete's determination to stay away from the Gogans and traveling to Passamaquoddy is similar to our plan of running away. Pete's reaction towards Nora when she offers a hand is like our current ones when we'd notice somebody had spotted us."
"Yeah, and also Pete being treated like bad luck is like how we were treated in Little Whinging," said Hailey. "Our teachers were hardly better than Miss Taylor. The behaviour of the Little Whinging citizens toward us was like Passamaquoddy's behaviour towards Pete."
"Yeah," said Harry. "The difference between us and Pete is that Pete finally got a loving and caring family. That still has yet to happen for us. Pete was also treated decently by the kids of Passamaquoddy, but we were treated like a disease by the kids of Little Whinging, me especially because of Dudley and his gang."
I do wonder if Xander is like Elliott," said Hailey. "Their personalities are similar, since Xander told us that he'd help kids who were in trouble."
"Yeah, perhaps Xander is like a human and reality version of Elliott," said Harry. "Since he did allow us to use his tent. Hopefully he got through to Albus Dumbledore with those memories."
"I also wonder how many kids he'd helped before us," said Hailey. "Or if we were the first ones he decided to help."
"I have no clue," said Harry. "It would have to be an indeterminate amount if he helped any kids before us."
"Yeah," said Hailey. "Maybe asking him wouldn't be any of our business."
"Perhaps," said Harry. "But we still wonder how many."
So he got the dishes cleaned up, but Hailey fell asleep on the couch. When Harry returned to the living room, he saw Hailey looking all comfortable as she slept. She didn't even get out of her clothes and into her pajamas, but still he couldn't bring himself to wake her up so she could do so. Instead, Harry went into Hailey's room and pulled the blanket and covers on her bed back. Then he carefully picked Hailey up bridal style and carried her over to her room, set her down gently on her bed and tucked her in.
"Goodnight Hailey." Harry whispered to her sleeping form, making sure not to accidentally wake her up.
Once Harry left the room, the light turned off, then he went to get ready for bed himself. Once he was done, Harry climbed into bed and the light turned off, but he just laid there in the dark, pondering his thoughts. As much as he and Hailey wanted a loving family, they still had no idea who to trust besides each other. Even though Xander was helping out, it was still hard for them to trust him without reassurance. Eventually, Harry fell asleep after what seemed like hours, even though it was really like only twenty minutes.
To be continued!
Author's note 1: The movie Pete's Dragon was also something that seemed suitable for Harry and Hailey to watch. It did give them some clues that they have yet to figure out.
Author's note 2: Well, now the Weasleys and the Lovegoods have been fully identified, along with Neville and his grandmother. Will the Dursleys find Harry and Hailey first? Or will the Weasleys, Lovegoods and/or Longbottoms find them first? Stay tuned to find out more.