Harry's Working Day
"Why can't they simply leave me alone?" asked Harry as he read the morning's paper. It had been a week since his sham 'trial' and the papers basically called for a team of Aurors to find Harry and bring him back to the Wizarding population by force if needs be.
"Maybe they are frightened" suggested Nyssa as she looked in the mirror in the hallway to make sure her uniform was in place. After that night between them, they'd been keeping to their own rooms – mainly because Harry explained his magic was going occasionally haywire and she'd be in a bit of danger. The girl had noticed objects flying around the living room often over the last few days, and Harry had explained that it was a way of burning off the excess magic that had built up in him through immense anger.
"Of what? Of me…?" Harry snorted as he picked up his car keys. "This is one of the reasons why I left and came here, Nys. Okay, there is a very small magical community on the island, you and a few others know about my abilities and that's how I like it. It is calm, quiet and peaceful – I like working long hours on the footplate"
"But you miss some stuff, right?" Nyssa asked as she stepped outside and walked to the car.
"I miss Hogwarts, I miss some of my friends, I miss the Leaky Cauldron, the Three Broomsticks… I miss a lot of it, Nys, but what's the point in fighting for it if I can't enjoy it?" Harry tapped the door with his wand which made it lock before heading out to the car. They both got into the two seater Spitfire and were soon going down the roads to get Nyssa to school.
"Will you ever go back?" asked the girl.
"I don't know" he replied. "I suppose I will in the future, but I don't think so for now. There is too much bad blood between the ones that actually battle against Voldemort and his lot and those that either declared themselves neutral or simply ran away and hid. According to the Auror Register, we had just under two hundred Aurors and Hit Wizards – only a handful of those died as the rest either defected to Voldemort or ran away and hid – the majority did that. After the war, they simply came back to work and thought they could get away with it" Harry shook his head as he turned into the town.
"Hermione didn't" Nyssa said. "And Susan didn't have a choice in the matter"
"Hermione was with me… Susan, on the other hand, was a prisoner of war" Harry slowed as they neared the school. "Anyway, do you have your keys with you? Don't forget that I'm on a late finish, so you eat when you want and just save some for me"
"If I have lost them, I can always use the Portkey"
"That's for emergencies only"
"You coming home hungry? I'd say that's an emergency" Nyssa laugh. Harry smiled but was reminded, somewhat painfully, of Ron and the friendship that had been lost…
"Well I'll be a little later than what you might expect because the line between Hoo Junction and Crovan's Gate is closed for repairs, so we're going through Ballahoo which will take longer" Harry said.
"Are you stopping and passing through?" Nyssa asked as the car stopped and she undid her seatbelt.
"I think we might be stopping there in order to give people a slightly better service. Story going around the Mess that we might even run a modified express service through Ballahoo if the extra passengers prove its doable" Harry shrugged as Nyssa opened the car door, got out and then closed it behind her. "Listen, if anybody tries to grab you, use the Portkey, get home and ring the emergency number above the telephone"
"I will" Nyssa promised, said goodbye and walked through the gates to school. Harry watched her for a few moments, put the Spitfire into gear and drove off.
#
As he parked the car up, headed into the office and booked on, Harry couldn't help but feel that something was going to go very wrong that day. Still, he kept up a brave face as he checked the late notices board and case for anything he might need to know about, found his Driver and, in the most time honoured of traditions, put a brew on and sat back. Nearer the right time, Harry got up with Driver, a stout man named Lyle Barr, and walked out to their assigned engine – on this occasion it turned out to be Henry.
"Hello, Mr Fireman" the engine said to him.
"Hi, Henry… Hows tricks?"
"Better than previous" Henry replied. "I had some trouble with one of my cylinders, but they fixed it alright in the works"
"No trouble?"
"Nope"
"Well that's good" Barr said. "Now how do you feel to a nice run to Barrow? He asked.
"I would love it a lot… Its been a while since I went there" Henry chuckled as Harry and Barr checked him over.
"Well at least there is no snow around this time" Harry sniggered – Henry stared at him but said nothing.
"Fire's burning nicely, but put a little bit more on so we have a little bit more steam when we set off" Barr said to Harry. "If we can get a bit of an early arrival at Barrow, we can get a swift half in before we turn round"
"Right behind you, Driv" Harry said as he reached for the shovel.
#
"The bloody bobby will have gone to sleep" Barr muttered as he looked at the signal which still showed it set to danger. "I bet its Bill Smythe and the silly sod has gone to sleep in his box. I've said for ages that he should have been pensioned off, but the Old Man won't part with him for some reason" he shook his head and turned himself around so he could see the train behind Henry.
"Maybe he's fallen ill" suggested the engine.
"Mebbe" Barr grunted. "You keeping pressure up, Harry?"
"Aye, but I only need to put the occasional shovel in… There's more than enough in here already and you know the standing order for Henry"
"You do it just the once" Barr smiled and then shook his head. "Look, pop down to the SPT and ring up the bobby will you?"
"Sure" Harry climbed down from the cab if Henry and went down to the end of the platform, walked down the slope and to the signal and opened the box containing the telephone. It started ringing automatically and Harry got through to the signal box controlling the station at Knapford. "Hello, Signaller, this is the Fireman of One Alpha Niner One standing at your Kilo November One One signal"
"Hello Fireman of One Alpha Niner One standing at my Kilo November One One signal" the cheerful tone of the signaller came through.
"I've a passenger train waiting to start and the signal hasn't been cleared for us. Is there any trouble at all?" Harry asked.
"I've lost positive control of the signals and can't tell if they are clearing or not" came the reply. "I've set everything to danger until the S&T chaps have finished. You DO NOT have my permission to pass Kilo November One One signal at danger"
"I understand you have problems with the signals and I do not have your permission to pass Kilo November One One signal at danger"
"I'll get the station staff to pass on any messages. Knapford Box out" and the line went dead. Harry hung up the phone, closed the door of the cabinet and went back to the train.
"Signaller can't be sure he has positive control of the signals, so he has everything to danger until the S&T chaps have had a look at it" Harry said as he climbed back into the cab.
"Ah" Barr shrugged. "Well if that's the case, I'd rather be delayed then have an accident. You tend the boiler and I'll go and let the guard know so he can do an announcement or something"
"Sure, Driv… I'll blow the whistle if it clears before you get back"
"Fair do" and Barr climbed out of the cab walked down the train.
"Do you think we might stay here for hours?" asked Henry.
"Who knows" shrugged Harry. "The main thing, though, is that we don't we do not cause confusion or an accident"
"Indeed" Henry agreed quickly. "I still remember the time the signal broke and I had to go to Crewe to be fixed" he added. A minute later, one of the porters came up to the cab side and looked up.
"Got a message for you" he said. "The signal man thinks the points are set in the right position and the fault is in the detector circuits. He wants to know if you'll take your train forward and examine it"
"I'll have to ask the Driver when he gets back, but I can't see why not" Harry agreed. He said goodbye to the porter, stepped over to the whistle and gave it two short blasts and a single longer one.
"Signal hasn't cleared has it?" Barr asked as he came up into cab a few minutes later.
"No – but the signaller thinks the points are being set and its just the indicators that are playing up. He wants to know if you'd be happy to go forward and stop and examine" Harry said.
"Might as well" Barr grunted.
"I do hope we will not get into trouble from the Fat Controller for being late" Henry said.
"I'm sure he'll know its not your fault, old boy" Barr patted the regulator. "Go pass the message" he said to Harry.
"Right-oh" Harry got out the cab once more, went to the SPT and passed on the acceptance. He was soon back and, although Barr knew what was going to be said, listened to Harry giving him authority from the signaller to pass the signal at danger and to stop and examine the points up ahead.
"Here we go" Barr pulled both the regulator to start Henry off on his delayed journey and the whistle for five seconds to let the guard know they were passing a signal at danger. They crept slowly out the station and stayed at a little over walking pace before they came to the faulty points. Harry climbed down and went ahead to check them. The points were indeed broken, but a little repairing spell soon had it working like new again.
"They seem set to me" Harry said as he got back into the cab and got ready to start work. "I've let the box know what I saw and he said to go and obey all other signals and cautions"
"Well lets see if we can recover some of this lost time" Barr said.
"I'm game for a fast run if you are, Driver" Henry put in.
"What does the Fat Controller say about going too fast?"
"Not to get caught?" Henry chuckled.
"Aye… Come on then, old boy, lets get you off" and he opened the regulator once more and they set off to try and get back some of the time they had lost.
#
By the time they reached Barrow in Furness and the passengers had got off, they'd managed to make up nearly twenty minutes of the hour they had been delayed by leaving Knapford. After shunting the coaches, they took Henry to the turntable, turned him so he was facing the right direction and then into a siding where he could have a much deserved drink of water and topped up with coal.
"Not long to go until we have to set off" Harry said to his Driver.
"Let's hope the signals and points are all sorted" Barr said.
"They'll most likely flag us through" Henry said. Although he had greatly enjoyed his running at fast speeds, he did appreciate the time to rest his aching valves and pistons.
"Maybe" Barr grunted and looked at his pocket watch. "Say, lad" he added, looking at Harry, "You pop over the lines and to the station buffet – see what you can charm out of the lasses there"
"If they have some, you want some pie and mash?" Harry asked as he started climbing down the cab side to the trackbed below.
"If they have some" Barr agreed. Harry nodded and made his way carefully over the tracks, up the end of the platform and into the station buffet. He came back a few minutes later carrying two foam containers and two foam cups of tea. "That's champion, that is" Harry's Driver said. "I don't feel so good, but I reckon that some grub inside me will do wonders" and Harry simply nodded as he perched on his own seat in Henry's cab and ate his food and drank his tea. As he did so, he couldn't help but wonder why he felt something was wrong.
"Signals cleared for the shunt move" Harry said. Barr looked up, stood to place his half eaten meal on the seat and opened the regulator only a small fraction. Henry moved forwards very slowly and they moved out of the siding towards their coaches which were being pushed into position by a faceless diesel. Once coupled and the brakes tested, the pair quickly finished their food before they got ready for the return journey.
"I do hope this would be more slower" Henry said.
"I thought you liked to go fast" Harry asked.
"Yes, but I think that run to here made me leave half of myself behind" the engine replied. Harry chuckled as he built up the fire and double checked the gauges to make sure they had enough water.
"Alright, mate" the station master came up to them. "Just had a message from the local box that the road to the bridge has had a short circuit at Bravo Foxtrot Three Seven. There's a handsignaller there, but the bobby just wanted you to know about him before you got there because your lot don't have a booking on point here, do you?"
"No" Barr said simply.
"Well its not the done thing, but local management has cleared it for you to pop into the booking on point and have a quick look at the late notices. We'll send your owner a letter, but if you could let people know, it will get things going faster"
Righty-oh" Barr said. The station master nodded once and then went away to let the guard know as well. "It never rains but it pours" and Harry looked at his Driver with a sympathetic expression.
"Well we shouldn't lose too much time – maybe a minute or two at the most" and he returned to stoking the fire bigger and hotter. Henry had a full head of steam as they pulled out of the station and headed towards the bridge. As he took a moment's rest, Harry marvelled at the magic of having a job that was actually better than the Auror positions he had had over the years. Ever since his first sight of the Hogwarts Express, he'd fallen in love with steam engines and their old style trains. Once or twice at Hogwarts, Harry could be seen reading the latest edition of some railway magazine that Hermione's parents ordered for him and delivered by Hedwig. An hour and a half later and as they were coming up to Crovan's Gate, Harry heard both a thudding and a popping noise. Standing up and looking around, he said the Driver with his eyes closed on the floor of the cab. "Fuck!" he cursed.
"Is something wrong?" asked Henry.
"Yeah, the Driver is ill" Harry replied and closed the regulator and eased the brakes on – pulling the whistle repeatedly as he passed the signal box to let them alert the station they needed help. A porter and the station master came up to see what the matter was as the train wasn't supposed to stop there. Harry quickly relayed the situation and the porter ran down the train shouting for a doctor whilst the station master went to his office to send for an ambulance and to call for the station's first aid team to turn up. Once it was quiet for a few seconds, Harry risked using his wand to scan Barr and found he'd had a heart attack. Deciding to break the rules, and knowing that it worked, he hit him with a few low powered Crucios which got the heart beating. Harry kept doing CPR related stuff until trained medical people arrived and took him away.
"I hope he doesn't die" Henry said quietly. "I was really fond of him"
"Well he might survive, Henry, but never work again" Harry listened as the ambulance team took Barr away.
"Well I'd still like to see him again. I miss all my crews when they die"
"We all die, Henry" Harry said and gently gave him a pat on the cab side.
"That's why I sometimes wish I was never a steam engine – I outlive all of my friends" and Harry had no reply to Henry's comment. The station master came back up to him along with the guard and they discussed what to do next.
"I've had control on the phone" the station master went first, "Asking if you were fit to proceed"
"I'm a little shaken" Harry said, "But I'll be happy to fire the express home"
"But we need a Driver" pointed out the guard.
"James just came into the works for an examination, so they are sending his crew over as quickly as they can" the station master said. "His Driver will take over from Driver Barr and the Fireman will travel in the cab and watch you as far as Wellsworth – control have given orders that he's to take over there if he feels it's necessary. I know you say you feel fine now, but it might give you the shakes when you get going" and Harry, for a moment, considered telling both men about how much death he had seen in his life so far.
#
In the end, the station master was right and Harry had to be asked to be relieved by James's Fireman before they even reached Cronk. He didn't know why, but the fact of being so close to death had unsettled him greatly.
"Sorry about this" he'd said.
"Nay, lad" James's Fireman said to him kindly, "I've seen that look in many a person's eyes. I remember it from the last war" and he flipped his overall pocket flap open to show the unmistakable top of a Magic Awareness Card. "You sit in your seat and I'll get Henry home for you"
"That is very kind of you, Sir, to help my Fireman" Henry said as he sped through the country side. "I really don't think he is well at all"
"He isn't" said James's Driver. "Your Fireman has had a very nasty shock"
"I understand" Henry said. "I do hope you get over your shock soon, Mr Fireman" he whistled good naturedly.
"Thanks" Harry smiled weakly. Despite his insistence, nearly all of the engines called him 'Mr Fireman' or 'Sir' – the only two that didn't were Thomas and Edward. The Fat Controller also called him Harry, though this was interspersed with the occasional 'Mr Potter'.
#
As they pulled in, the Fat Controller was waiting for them at the platform end. Harry guessed that he was going to relay some news about Barr to him and Henry. Once the brakes had been set, he climbed up into the cab despite the suit he was wearing.
"I've spoken to the signing on point, and they've booked you off work, Harry" he said. "I've had word from the hospital about Lyle Barr" and he hesitated. "I'm sorry to say that he died shortly after reaching the hospital" and Henry gasped. It had been many years since one of his crew had actually died on duty, and it made the engine question its own possible immortality.
"Did he come round?" Harry gulped.
"No" the Fat Controller shook his head. "Although his heart was restarted, they think there was too much damage done"
"Have they said what it might be?" asked James's Driver.
"Sudden heart attack and a ruptured heart" the fat Controller said. "Look, why don't you get changed in my office and we'll get what you know down while it is still fresh in your mind?" he suggested to Harry.
"My stuff is at the sheds" he replied.
"Fair enough" the owner of the railway said to him. "Would you mind if I came back to the shed with you, Driver?"
"Not at all, Sir" James's Driver agreed readily. "Would you like to take the Driver's seat?"
"No… Not today" and they all understood his meaning. A few minutes later, after Percy had removed the coaches, Henry slowly and mournfully puffed away to the shed for coaling and watering before his evening train. He briefly stopped to let Harry and the Fat Controller get off and go into the signing on point and crew rooms. The forms and interview, with Harry's shift supervisor acting as a witness, took an hour before he was allowed to go home
# # # # #
"Did you do as I asked?"
"Yes, Sir. The Muggle felt ill and then ended up dying from a heart attack and a ruptured heart"
"And the poison is undetectable?"
"Yes, Sir"
# # # # #
Harry sat at home with a glass of Firewhiskey in his hands, listening to the ticking of the grandfather clock, and thinking very hard about the day. Barr's death brought back terrible nightmares of going through Hogwarts and recovering broken bodies in all manner of condition – the fact he had died after he'd brought him back again was just upsetting. The fact he died so quickly made him think that some sort of poison must have got into his system and made a point to finding out if chemicals could have got into the food at either their own mess or the buffet at Barrow. He was taking another sip when the terrible truth dawned on him…
Only one sort of poison could kill somebody and yet leave them able to be active until the very end.
"Susan Bones – Ministry of Magic" he shouted into the fireplace. Green flames rose and Harry bent down and put his head in.
"Harry…. Whats the matter?" she asked.
"I think somebody I knew was killed by magical means" he said.
"Not Nyssa, surely…?"
"She's fine, but doesn't know about this yet… No, my driver for today had a heart attack. I brought him round using the low powered and modified Crucio but he died again after reaching the hospital from a ruptured heart"
"How does this concern us?" she asked, brushing a strand of red hair around her left ear.
"Because I think he was killed using Basilisk poison" Harry said and saw Susan give a start.
"The only source that's readily available is from the one under Hogwarts in the Chamber of Secrets" she said. "And only four of us know how to open it – Me, you, Hermione and Ron"
"Yeah… Although you might want to add Hannah to that list too"
"Hannah?"
"She's not the only one that's a cunning linguist, is she?"
"HARRY!" Susan squeaked in embarrassment.
"Jokes aside, Su, it wasn't me. I doubt it was Hermione as she's in Japan at that conference and you were at work"
"So that leaves only Ron Weasley"
"Aye… Now I'm just a private citizen, but back when I was in the Aurors, I'd have expected an entire squad to go and get him, dose him with truth serum and see what he said"
"As it would be today" Susan nodded as she regained her composure. "Look, I know you are a skilled wand user and the most talented fighter we have seen for a hundred years, but would you mind if I set a guard on your place for a few days?"
"Can you spare anybody?" he asked.
"Yeah – I can spare me… Fancied coming to your place for a while now" Susan said and Harry shrugged as much as he could and nodded.
"Nyssa will be back from school in a minute, so let me get off and I'll leave you to get on with what you do" and, after a goodbye, Harry closed the connection. He dusted himself off and went to sit in his chair – going back to the ticking of the clock and his drink
Back to the endless nightmares…
A/N:
Okay, a little bit heavy on the railway side, but I would like to point out that its Harry's job and, as a railway enthusiast, I took great pains to make it as accurate as possible regarding the telephone call to the signaller – its phrased in the correct manner according to the UK Network Rail rulebook. Also, the term 'bobby' is a very old term to call a signaller and is used even to this day!
The term "SPT" mentioned stands for Signal Post Telephone which is attached to the post holding the signal and will connect anybody using it to the nearest signal box or operations centre should the box be closed.
The signal Harry states, KN11, is, so far as I know, a fictional signal, but the headcode (the train's ID) is correct and the one I use a lot on my travels.
The point about there being no signing on point for the NWR at Barrow is certainly true as the railway only runs to there and doesn't start any services in the morning from there – hence why Harry goes to the buffet for the tea and food. This will change as, like the station master at Barrow says, local management have made an informal agreement to let NWR crews use the crew mess and check the late notice case there.
Harry's comment about snow is a call back to the events of Chapter 4.
Lastly, I said before that its heavy on the railways, but we really needed to see, in my view, just what a typical day working on the railway for Harry is…
As always, reviews please
Regards,
Pixel
