Harry looked at the yellow sock but didn't immediately touch it. He didn't want to go home.
"The sock knows where my home is?" he asked Severus.
"No. The sock knows where King's Cross Station is," Severus said in a clipped, no-nonsense tone. "You'll be telling me your address. Grab on."
Harry also knew where King's Cross Station was. They had to memorise a list of them in school. He sighed, defeated, and took hold of the sock's toe.
They disappeared and reappeared again with all the little fiddly bits in-between, though this time the fiddly bits took longer. When he opened his eyes they were on a quiet platform under huge domed glass ceilings. It was his first time in a railway station and he looked curiously around him at the brick walls and peered at the empty tracks. There was no one around, and Harry shivered.
"I thought it would be busier," he told Severus just so he could hear some noise.
"This is the secret part for wizards and witches," Severus said. "We're going to walk through a wall in a moment to where more people are, and I need you to behave normally. We don't need to attract attention."
Whenever Severus said that, he meant they would be dealing with Muggles. Harry said he would behave. He didn't want Severus to go to jail because of him but honestly magic was a hard secret to keep. What would Dudley say if he knew there were witches and wizards!
"Let's go," Severus said.
And they did exactly that. They walked through a red brick wall onto a new platform, only this one was crowded, people going to and fro. Harry tried to think of them as Muggles but they looked like any normal people he had ever seen so he soon gave up. The people bustled around, bumping into Harry and apologising before rushing off again, and for once Harry was glad when Severus took hold of his hand.
Severus led him out of the station, down a few busy streets, and into a much quieter one. "Let's have your address, Harry," he said and raised his wand into the air.
A loud clang and a bang prevented Harry from answering and the next moment a purple triple-decker bus appeared in front of them. On the side in big golden letters were the words: 'Knight Bus'.
"Your address," Severus reminded him as the doors opened.
"Number 10, Sea View Avenue, Mousehole, Cornwall," Harry said.
Privet Drive was closer to the railway station, he knew. It had taken them hours to get to Mousehole; at least it felt like that with Dudley pinching him in the back of the car. But the sea-side cottage had been booked until the last week of the summer holidays and he hadn't been gone so long yet.
Severus looked at him as if he thought it was made up and he totally understood why. When Uncle Vernon had told Aunt Petunia they were going on holiday to a place named Mousehole, she nearly had conniptions. How did he expect him to tell her friends she was going to Mousehole! But the holiday cottage was already paid for and she stopped complaining when she learned Harry would have to come with. She had other things to complain about then. Harry shrugged now, he couldn't help the name, and Severus helped him up the steps.
The bus driver, a middle-aged man in purple livery, was busy squeezing lemon into a dainty porcelain teacup. Next to him, a yellowed handwritten sign said:
'JOB OPENING: Conductor.
Must be willing to put up with all sorts and Mrs Longbottom.
Salary negotiable.'
Harry wondered if he could apply. Buses traveled after all… but no, he'd miss the motion of the ocean under his feet.
"Find a seat and sit down," Severus told Harry, pushing him along while he stopped to pay the bus driver, dropping a handful of silver coins on the plate.
Harry moved deeper into the bus and found chairs of every size and shape he could imagine. There were little ones for babies and large sofas that could seat his whole class, and short ones and tall ones and even a garden bench. They were the only people on the bus so he could pick and choose what he wanted. He chose a dark green sofa in the middle because it looked soft and stared sadly out of the window at the dirty little alley beyond.
"Number 10, Sea View Avenue, Mousehole, Cornwall," Severus said, expecting to be told such a place did not exist. He would not have put it above Harry to lie; he knew the boy had no wish to go home.
"Right you are," the driver said to his surprise. "Take a seat. Would you like some cocoa?"
No, he would not. He couldn't stand the cloying sweet drink but the sad little boy on the green sofa's ears twitched hard enough for him to see it from where he stood and Severus sighed.
"We'll take one mug," he said. "With marshmallows. Would there be tea?"
There would not be tea despite the fact that there was a great big pot of it next to the driver's elbow. Complaining never helped on the Knight Bus, quite the opposite, turns would be taken sharper and the length of the ride might be doubled or tripled depending on how much you bothered.
A tea-less Severus sad down opposite Harry. He scarcely noticed that he sat on a lurid pink love seat and watched Harry perk up when a mug filled to the brim with hot cocoa levitated over. Spoiled brat, he thought, but not unkindly. He found the child hardworking and eager to please; much, much different than his father who he had known in school. Thinking that, he cast a stabilising charm on both their chairs and the mug of hot cocoa before the bus started moving.
And how it moved! At speeds faster than the eye could see it zipped through traffic, past skyscrapers, fields, and surprised cows. Harry was hard-pressed on what he should pay attention to, the lovely sweet cocoa that made him feel better or the scenery that zipped past in a kaleidoscope of colours.
He had barely fished out the last marshmallow with a sticky finger when they stopped in Sea View Avenue with another clatter and a clang. Outside a muggle lad of Harry's age fell over in shock. Severus tsked. The driver called out their destination and the doors opened with a dry screech.
"Shall I wash the mug first?" Harry asked, trying to delay the inevitable although he didn't know the word.
"You may put it next to your sofa," Severus said. "Let's go."
Harry sighed.
Severus sighed also but for a different reason. He was starting to have a bit of a headache right behind his left eye. The Knight Bus was no way for sensible wizards to travel even when the driver was in a good mood. And he wasn't looking forward to meeting Harry's aunt. Again. He had known her as a child and she had been an unpleasant sort then and he couldn't imagine her changed. Not that he considered himself more pleasant, he knew who and what he was. He was feared in school and rude when he could get away with it, but much like most people, he tended to want others to be nicer to them than they themselves were to others, that was just the way of the world.
"Thank you," Harry said when they passed the driver. "That was fun!"
"Thank you," Severus said and nodded a polite goodbye, but only because he would most likely need to take the bus again once he had dropped Harry off.
Number 10, Sea View Avenue was much the way Harry had left it. It stood in its little garden looking peaceful, its yellow walls gleaming in the afternoon sun. They went through the little white gate, stepped over a broken toy spade, and up to the door.
Harry noticed the windows were shuttered and he started to hope. Truth be told, Harry didn't expect anyone to be home. Oh, the summer holidays were still for a while longer but he knew his aunt. Once she realised he wasn't there she would leave and hope he wouldn't find them.
Aunt Petunia never considered Harry to be very smart and would imagine he'd not find his way home. As if they didn't teach them in school what to do when they were lost! He pulled a face. He could go to the police or get an adult—
"Don't pull such a face," Severus told him. "If they are upset it's only your own fault for running away. Take your punishment like a good lad and do your best to behave in future." He promptly knocked on the door.
No answer.
He called.
Silence.
Harry tugged at his sleeve and pointed to a note pinned on the wall next to the door. It said:
'FOR RENT.
Call Suzy:
xxxxx…'
Severus frowned. He read the words himself and looked at the telephone number below it.
He looked at the shuttered windows.
He tried the door and found it locked.
He called but no one answered.
He looked at Harry. "Are you sure this is your home?"
"This is where I left them," Harry said as truthfully as he could be.
Severus might think himself not a kind man but Harry had come to like him in the last week and hated lying to him. Still, it was for a good cause. Perhaps if Severus thought this was his actual home all year round, and that he had been abandoned by his family, he would take Harry back to the Nektons to be their cabin-boy.
Harry might not admit to it but he was a little bit sad, knowing that he had been right about his aunt. No one liked to be left behind. Since he was still a small boy, he didn't hide these sad feelings too well, and it was this that convinced Severus he was telling the truth.
"I suppose we had better call the number and find out where they are," Severus said.
His headache had expanded to his right eye. It twitched behind it and made itself comfortable for a long stay. Out of his pocket, he dug up a pencil and a scrap of paper and wrote the number down. He looked around them for a phone booth.
"Oh, I say," said someone from the street. "Is that little Harry, returned?"
Harry turned to see Captain Sparrow, leaning over the garden fence. "Oh, Captain!" he called happily and ran out the gate to hug him. "I've had the best adventure!" he said and started to tell him everything.
Captain Jack was delighted to see him again. He invited Severus and Harry over for tea and toast, and they all sat in his comfortable living room with its many treasures and the flickering fire in the hearth, and he listened to their adventure.
Then he told them that Captain Tom and the sailors were all alive for which Harry was very thankful.
He also had news about Harry's family. After Captain Tom's call about the stowaway, it had taken the police a week to find Harry's aunt and uncle. They had simply not missed him and thought he was being good at staying out of their way. And when they all heard about the storm at sea, they insisted that Harry had drowned, no matter that Captain Tom had been picked up in the lifeboat two days after and said he had not. His family had moved out the very next day and put the cottage back up for rent.
"Did they look sad?" Harry asked.
He hoped they did at least a little. He might not like them and they might not like him but they were still all the family he had.
They hadn't but Captain Jack told a white lie and said they had. He gave Harry a sip of his rum. Harry looked into the flickering fire and thought and thought very hard on what to do next.
He needn't have bothered, for Severus was on the case.
"Harry," Severus said. "Kindly tell me your actual address, and I'll return you to your family. Don't be a little brat."
But Harry was sleepy from the fire and the sip of rum and closed his eyes. He didn't want to say anything, so he slept instead. Was being a brat so bad?
"It's very bad," Severus said when Harry woke and found himself still at Captain Jack's. "Well, no matter. I know how to find it," he said and clapped his thighs and said goodbye to Captain Sparrow. "Let's go, Harry."
Harry said his own goodbyes coupled with a hug and went after Severus. "Will we take a ship and travel the world looking for them?" he asked hopefully.
"Don't be silly." Severus took Harry's hand and led him down the street to a quiet alley. "We will visit the Headmaster."
For once Severus made perfect sense. What else was a teacher to do with a silly little brat but take him to the headmaster? Harry wondered if he would get lines.
This time there was no Portkey and no Knight Bus. Severus took Harry's hand, waved his wand, and they disappeared from the alley and appeared on a stone path in front of two tall wrought iron gates. To the one side was a forest and to the other fields and mountains that hid behind low clouds. Harry sighed when he realised there was no sea and no boats. He peered through the gate and saw neatly trimmed lawns and a castle. "Where are we?"
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Severus said. He let go of Harry's hand. "Come along."
"To the Headmaster?" He trotted by Severus's side. A Headmaster was scary and the teachers' last resort before calling the parents. Harry tried to be scared but he was just sad to be finally going home. "Will he make me tell you where I live?"
"He knows where you live."
Yes. Perfectly sensible. That seemed like something a Headmaster should know. They had never asked him his address or phone number at the school either whenever his cousin Dudley got him in trouble. Harry didn't question it further and sighed again.
"Stop that," Severus said. "You had your fun and went on an adventure that normal six-year-olds only dream of. Now it's time to face reality. Family, school—these things are unavoidable."
"They won't want me back," Harry said. "They don't like me—"
"Nonsense. You're likable enough when you don't sulk."
"—they never did. I bet if you asked Aunt Petunia she would tell you."
"Nonsense."
"I bet they moved."
"Best keep quiet if you're just going to spout twaddle."
Over the green grounds and into the castle-school they went. Harry saw many magical things, portraits that came alive and gossiped in their wake, gargoyles that raised their heads sleepily when they passed, and stairs that managed to move both sideways and upwards at the same time. They didn't meet one person until they came to the headmaster's office, though Harry did hear someone call for a Mrs Norris. He knew a Mr Norris, but that was one of Mrs Figg's cats.
"Severus," said an old man when they entered. He sat behind a gleaming desk in a room filled with books and whirring knickknacks. He wore a grey robe and pointy hat, which looked exactly as Harry pictured wizard's clothes should be, and had a long silver beard that he had tucked into his belt. His nose was as large as Severus's and on it perched a pair of half-moon spectacles. He peered over it at Severus and Harry. "Back so soon? Who do you have there?"
"Harry Potter, Headmaster. Run away to sea to become a sailor."
"Oh, dear." He peered more intensely at Harry and said, "I think this needs tea."
They had tea. Harry was introduced to the Headmaster, or rather: Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and they said their how-do-you-do's.
Tea and crumpets were ordered. The Headmaster waved his wand and said to no one that Harry could see, "Tea for three please, Oddment."
One moment the desk was empty and the next it had a tea tray wobbling precariously on a stack of papers.
They took it to the sofas next to the fire, and Harry's adventures were relayed a second time that day, this time by Severus. By now Harry was quite bored hearing all he had done and Severus sounded quite bored in the retelling of it.
Headmaster Dumbledore kept saying, 'Interesting, interesting', and his blue eyes twinkled over his spectacles at Harry. When Severus finished and the last tea was drunk and only crumpet crumbs were left on the plates, the Headmaster informed Severus that Harry lived in Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.
Harry sighed and tried not to look as miserable as he felt.
"Best to take him back," the Headmaster said. "He needs to be with his family."
"I intend to."
"It might be easier if you use the Floo," the Headmaster.
"They're connected to the Floo?" Severus was surprised. And rightfully so, for the Petunia he remembered did not like magic and Harry had not known it existed.
Floo was a new word and Harry perked up to listen.
But it turned out whatever the Floo was it was Mrs Figg who was connected.
"Mrs Figg broke her leg and is visiting her daughter in Devon," Harry said helpfully. Had she not gone to Devon, his aunt might have left him with her anyway. "She took all her cats too."
They took the Knight Bus.
This time Harry declined the cocoa. No little boy was ever too full for cocoa but there may come a time in their lives that they were too sad for even a nice hot mug of cocoa to help anymore and this was such a time.
They arrived with a loud clatter and a bang in front of a square little house in a street filled with square little houses that looked exactly the same as the ones beside it, from the neatly trimmed gardens to the blue-painted front doors. Harry sighed again, but softer this time, not to irritate Severus, and followed him down.
At the front door, Severus knocked.
No one came.
He knocked a second time, louder, his knuckles cracking against the wood.
All was quiet in the house.
Severus called, and when no one answered, Harry started to pay attention. He had imagined his aunt would move the moment he got lost, just in case he came back, he had even told Severus this very thing, but he dared not think it now. They were family and a kid should be with their family, he knew that, so he thought he was a bad little boy to wish it was true. For that reason, he stared at the scrap of paper on the wall next to the door for much too long with burning eyes before he read it.
'HOUSE FOR SALE.
Call Susan:
xxxxx…'
He tugged on Severus's sleeve and pointed.
Severus read the notice and said, "Oh, for… Pete's sake!"
"I told you so," said Harry.