Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling deserves that honor, I just own the story and OC Hailey. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to Supernova2015. No copyright intended.

Ch. 14

Surprise For The Ministry

Harry and Hailey couldn't think of any solution to their problem (one that could work at least). Due to how big the city of Reading was, it was an almost 100% guarantee that they'd get caught by police and taken to an orphanage. While pondering over their thoughts, Harry and Hailey also couldn't stop thinking about the girl named Tori asking them if they wanted to play.

"If I'd known how difficult this part of our journey was going to be," said Harry. "I wouldn't have turned down that girl Tori's offer to play with her."

"Yeah, me too," said Hailey. "In spite of our determination to stay away from anybody, I do admit that maybe it wouldn't have hurt to take a little break from our journey. Maybe that girl Tori would've been fun to be around."

"But unfortunately, it's too late to go back," said Harry, rather reluctantly. "The Dursleys could find us again with much more ease."

"Passing through Reading will be much harder than passing through Newbury and Thatcham combined," said Hailey. "It was hard enough passing through those two cities."

Harry and Hailey started feeling guilty over the possibility of having made Tori cry. They weren't trying to be jerks, but they were too paranoid that they believed anybody could try to turn them in for a reward. They also admitted that Tori had a nice smile (not to mention that she even had something like a bubbly personality). But Harry did have a point, it was too late to go back and reconsider the offer. Not only that, but their current situation was worse than possibly (and accidentally) making a girl cry. If Harry and Hailey didn't come up with a solution soon, then their journey was bound to come to an end.

"Maybe we need to backtrack a little and find a different way to River Thames." suggested Harry.

"That is probably bound to be a somewhat easier solution," said Hailey. "Let's give it a try."

So the runaways backtracked some to find another route to River Thames. They made it to just outside the city limits of Theale, so Harry checked the map to look for any routes.

"There is a river called River Pang," said Harry. "That might help us get to River Thames."

"If we followed it to the east, it will lead us to another town called Pangbourne," said Hailey. "Maybe we should follow it west."

So the runaways made a beeline for River Pang. They were outside of a town called Bradfield when they came across the river. It turned out to be leading them away from River Thames, but Harry and Hailey didn't care, as long as they were least likely to be spotted. Once another town came into plain view, Harry checked their magical map and saw that the town was called Bucklebury.

"Shall we travel north?" asked Hailey.

"Might as well," said Harry. "The Dursleys could be anywhere, so we need to avoid going west for a bit."

This turned out to be a good idea because there were some trees that allowed the runaways to hide if it was needed. Soon, they saw a highway with part of it built over a bridge. Harry and Hailey ran like heck toward the bridge and under it, leading them to a settlement that looked smaller than a village. The map revealed it to be called Burnt Hill.

"Burnt Hill?" said Harry, checking the settlement. "It looks fine to me. I don't see any indication of a fire having broken out once."

"Me neither," said Hailey. "Maybe it should be called Clean Hill or Green Hill."

The runaways laughed at their joke and continued on. Meanwhile, the Weasleys, Longbottoms, Lovegoods, Remus, Susan, Hannah and Hannah's parents continued the search for the runaways. It was becoming a hassle to keep at it, but they thought about continuing a little while longer. They were fifteen miles east of Bristol when they came across a tall man, who could be a half-giant.

"Hagrid," greeted Molly, Remus, Augusta, Xenophilius and Hannah's parents. "Are you looking for who we are looking for?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," said the man named Hagrid. "Minerva told me about viewing memories of Harry Potter and how many people are looking for him and his friend."

"Did Minerva say what his friend's name was?" asked Remus.

"Yeah," said Hagrid. "Some girl named Hailey. Minerva even told me about viewing her memories. Her memories and Harry's were brought to Albus' office by a man named Xander Scamander."

"Ah!" said the adults at the same time.

"That's another step closer," said Molly. "Now we just need some proof to confirm that Harry is the black haired boy who Ginny, Luna, Neville, Susan and Hannah have spotted after all."

"But, be warned Hagrid, those two kids are fast runners," stated Augusta. "Neville, Hannah and Susan tried to catch up to them without success. Even when Amelia, Lord and Lady Abbott, as well as myself tried to help out, it was still a futile attempt."

"And it won't be a good idea to corner the runaway kids, even if it's our intentions to help them," stated Remus. "Otherwise, it would more than likely spook them into running away once more."

They all agreed with Remus, so they continued the search. Meanwhile, Harry and Hailey made it to two villages next to each other. Upon checking the map, they were just a little south of the village called Streatley and across a bridge stood the other village called Goring. There was a river going under the bridge that acted like a split in between the two villages. Harry and Hailey were relieved that the river was River Thames.

"Let's try going around Streatley first," suggested Hailey. "Before we try to follow River Thames north."

"That may not be a quick solution," said Harry as he continued examining the map. "It will flow through several villages. Let's try going west for a while and then northwest to see if we can find another part of River Thames. There are more trees to hide in if we do that."

"Okay." said Hailey.

While doing so, Harry and Hailey had to walk around certain areas. Some of the land happened to be made up of golf courses, due to flags and small sand pits. Some farmland had plowed dirt, with Harry and Hailey resisting the temptation to run across it. They knew it wasn't an option due to the fact that the farmer who owned it would know if somebody ran across it because of footsteps the runaways would leave behind. Harry and Hailey also realized that going west, for the most part was a better option for now, even if it went on until the next day. They eventually reached what they thought was a dirt road, but it turned out to be where train tracks once had been. This was evident when Harry found an old, rusted railroad spike and picked it up.

"The lack of trees," said Hailey as she looked all around. "Staying hidden is gonna be pretty hard."

"We could try following the path of the past train tracks," said Harry. "And maybe we can find another bunch of trees that are easier to hide in."

So they did just that, but Harry and Hailey opted to run as fast as possible. If they were caught, who knows what could happen to them. They were able to reach a bridge that the railroad once passed under. Harry and Hailey stopped once they were under the bridge, so they could catch their breath and drink some water.

"Shall we continue following the old railroad path," asked Harry. "Or shall we find a different route?"

"Let's follow the old railroad path a little while longer," said Hailey. "Maybe if we find another road, we can take that one."

"Sounds good," said Harry. "Shall we run like heck again?"

"Might as well," said Hailey. "If we don't wanna get caught."

After they finished catching their breath and drinking some water, the two runaways got ready for another fast run. This time, they decided to have a little fun while they ran. Hailey was in the lead with Harry trying to catch up. Then he tagged Hailey and took the lead, then Hailey would try to catch up. Anytime they'd tag each other, they'd start laughing some and then continue their game. When they reached a road, Harry and Hailey decided on going southwest. They checked for any vehicles, luckily there weren't any so the runaways, once more ran like heck. Upon spotting a dirt road going northwest, Harry and Hailey continued going southwest. Once they were far from the road, Harry and Hailey slowed down into a jog speed. When they stopped to catch their breath again, Harry and Hailey could hear vehicles speeding by. Harry got out their magical map to check for any better routes.

"We're close by a highway called A34," said Harry. "And there is a dirt road simply called The Ridgeway."

"We can check out that road tomorrow," said Hailey as she looked at her watch. "It's already a quarter after 4 PM."

"Yeah, I guess we shall set the tent up." said Harry.

Once they were within the trees, Harry and Hailey got the tent out and set it up. All that running caused the runaways to sweat, which they learned in primary school that sweating was good for you. This also made them exhausted, with Harry and Hailey believing that they would be sleeping like logs tonight. The sweating also resulted in body odour, also resulting in the runaways showering. Hailey went first since Harry was adamant on the ladies first policy. Once he finished showering, Harry went to the kitchen to fix dinner. After they finished eating, Hailey got the stereo set up.

"You wanting to dance again, Hailey?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," said Hailey. "Just thought dancing to some music before bed would help us sleep better."

Harry got ready to dance with Hailey, even before she gave him puppy dog eyes. As they danced, Harry and Hailey were laughing and smiling at each other like a couple of kids enjoying something they had in common. It was a quarter after 7 PM when Harry and Hailey decided to call it quits for the night. Their running like heck several times combined with dancing made them that exhausted. They were asleep within fifteen minutes or so.

(Line break)

Meanwhile at the Ministry of Magic, a dark skin auror was looking through files of various documents when he noticed a glow coming from one of the folders. Upon picking it up, he saw that it was a file that kept records of elopements, mostly from teen or child wizards and witches. He opened the folder and looked through the documents and noticed two new names on page twelve of the elopement records.

"This can't be, can it?" the auror asked himself, gobsmacked.

He saw that the two new names were Harry James Potter and Hailey Katrina Brandwood, which baffled the auror even more.

'How can this be?' thought the auror. 'Harry and this Hailey, eloped? Amelia needs to see this.'

So the auror took the folder with him over to Amelia's office. He knew it needed to be done quickly, since their respective shifts were almost over for the day. On his way there, he accidentally ran into the woman in discussion.

"Kingsley," greeted Amelia. "Is there something going on?"

"This elopement folder," said the auror named Kingsley. "Two new names have been added to the list."

He handed the folder to Amelia, who then looked over the documents. Amelia's eyes widened in bewilderment when she saw not only Harry's name, but also the name next to it. The date next to the names said September 29, 1989, which meant that was the date the elopement happened. Amelia also came to realize that this must've been the date they ran away.

"Another clue figured out," said Amelia. "Augusta and Molly told me a little while ago that Hagrid was helping out and that he even mentioned that Harry's friend's name was Hailey."

"We're getting closer to figuring out that the boy who ran away was Harry after all," said Kingsley. "If this Hailey and Harry eloped, then they ran away together. Arthur was telling me what all was going on during our lunch break."

"Yeah, Susan and I tried helping out with looking for the runaways," said Amelia. "Something tells me that Ginny will be heartbroken once she learns that Harry eloped."

"Pretty much," agreed Kingsley. "She'll have to find out sooner or later."

(Two days later)

It was Wednesday, November 1st. Since the day before was the day Harry's parents were murdered, he and Hailey decided to spend the day in the tent. It was a quarter after 6:00 AM when the runaways finished breakfast, packed the tent up (with Hailey applying makeup over Harry's scar and resuming their journey). They followed the road that was simply called The Ridgeway, which even led them under the bridge that freeway A34 went over. They reached what looked like a parking lot of some sort. Since it was still morning, there wasn't any vehicle parked there, but that didn't stop Harry and Hailey from jogging. After a while of jogging, they came across another (but smaller) parking lot. There was another bunch of trees they could walk through, but then they spotted a sign pointing them to something called Scutchamer Knob. Harry and Hailey continued following the road instead, until they eventually spotted another road that intersected with the road they were following. Harry got out the magical map to find the name of the road, which the name of was called Coldharbour Rd.

"Shall we take that road or continue following the Ridgeway?" asked Harry.

"Maybe we should follow Coldharbour road north." said Hailey.

So they did just that since there were trees around that could allow them to hide if necessary. They walked northeast some, right by some more plowed farmland. They eventually began going north, doing their best to avoid trekking across plowed dirt. Upon spotting another town, Hailey got out their magical map to find out the name of it.

"According to the map," said Hailey as she examined it. "The town is called Hendred, an east and a west end."

"We probably should go around it," said Harry as he looked at the map. "Around it to the west would be the better option. We'll be least likely to get spotted that way."

So Harry and Hailey continued on and went around West Hendred. They managed to slip past two more towns, one called Steventon and the other called Drayton. Harry and Hailey were just northwest to another village called Sutton Courtenay when they spotted a river.

"It's River Thames," said Hailey when she got their map out and checked it. "Our efforts to find it really paid off."

So they followed the river for a bit. Then they checked the map once more as soon as another city came into plain view.

"The city is called Oxford," said Harry upon checking it. "If we continue following River Thames, it'll increase the odds of us getting caught."

"We may need to backtrack," said Hailey. "We could find another part of the river and follow it."

After backtracking for a while, they came back to the area where they saw River Thames. They were just outside the city limits of Abington. Once they were safe, they started going northwest once more. It was going to take a little longer than anticipated to find a river that wouldn't flow through any city all that much.

To be continued!

Author's note: Well, so far so good. Harry and Hailey have narrowly avoided a possible capture. Will they be able to make it or will they get caught? Stay tuned to find out more.