"What'd she say?" Harry asked nervously. He still wasn't quite sure what was going on, but being homeless looked to be even more dangerous here than it would be back in Surrey. At least in Surrey he was pretty sure there weren't packs of wild animals lurking in the forest waiting to eat you.

"She agreed," The Leewit replied as if there wasn't even a chance of her mother saying no. The young girl poured herself another cup of tea and felt Harry's desire for a cup conflict with his desire not to be a bother.

"Would you like a cup?" The Leewit asked, already knowing the answer.

"If it's not too much trouble," Harry said politely.

"I don't even need to get up," The Leewit said, deciding to show off a little as she made completely unnecessary gestures with her hands and telekinetically poured Harry a cup of tea as he stared wide eyed.

Toll came in, saw what her daughter was doing and let a small amount of amusement leak out as she left.

The Leewit ignored it, she wasn't trying to impress Harry no matter what her mother thought, she was simply trying to put him at ease by showing how little effort it took to pour him a cup of tea.

"Wow," Harry said in wonder, causing the corner of The Leewit's mouth to turn up which she quickly covered by taking a sip of tea. "I always got into trouble when I did strange things at home." He picked up the cup and took a cautious sip, smiling as warmth filled him.

"Nothing strange about moving objects with your mind," The Leewit told him, "it's something everyone on the planet can do."

"How about turning someone's hair blue?" Harry asked cautiously.

The Leewit snapped her fingers and her long blonde hair turned bright blue.

"Whoa!"

The Leewit took another sip of tea as she let her hair change back.

"So, healing overnight and growing all your hair back after it's been all shaved off is normal?" he asked hopefully.

The Leewit took a few breaths to master her emotions while making a mental note to do something appropriate to his relatives if she ever ended up in their time period. "Of course," she assured him, "dead useful skills, those. Not everyone can do them, everyone's got their own talents, but they aren't ones anyone would turn down learning."

"You can learn them?" Harry asked wide eyed.

The Leewit nodded. "Here on Karres everyone is a witch, unless they're just visiting and they often become witches as well." She felt a little of his nervousness return as she used the term witch. "I'm not sure what the word witch means on Earth, but on Karres it doesn't even mean someone who can do things with magic, it means someone who helps the people around them."

"Oh," Harry said as he considered the idea that they were using the same word for two different things, "so… people who can't do… magic can learn?"

The Leewit nodded. "It may take some time, but I've seen it happen. My brother-in-law started off not able to do a thing and he's become a talented vatch handler."

"Cool," Harry said, not sure what a vatch was but thinking it sounded impressive. Harry's stomach decided it was time to speak up and growled loudly. "Sorry," he apologised, embarrassed.

"You've been starved," The Leewit reminded him, "it's going to take some time before you're full. Now, if your stomach wasn't upset by oatmeal, you should be good with some eggs. Over easy?"

"Please," Harry replied.

The Leewit stood up, unaware of the smile on her face as she got ready to cook. "Tell me about yourself," she requested, though it came out sounding more like an order.

"Well, I was raised in Surrey England," Harry began, "and I've pretty much told you about that."

"I'm not asking about all that," she assured him, "I'm asking about you. What do you like to do? What do you enjoy? Do you have a favorite color? You know, small talk."

"Oh," Harry said surprised, "well, I've been forced to cook and garden as long as I can remember and the cooking is fun, I often snatch a bite of food or two, not so fond of pulling weeds, though I did like some of the other things involved. I didn't really have a whole lot of things to like at the Dursleys."

"We'll find things you like to do here," The Leewit told him. "Hunting and camping are some of the things I like."

"I've never done either of those, though I have read about them in school," Harry offered.

"I'll teach you and see if you like it," she said, already planning it in her head. "I like being able to see the stars, pick fresh berries, and cook what I've caught. We should probably start you out on fishing and trapping, it takes a while to learn to use a bow right."

"You don't use a gun?" he asked, thinking that since they were in the future there had to be all sorts of ray guns.

"No skill in it," The Leewit replied, as she flipped the eggs, "food tastes better when you've earned it."

Harry winced, thinking over what his relatives had told him.

Not even looking behind her The Leewit could feel his turmoil. "Not like the crap your relatives no doubt said, I mean food you've caught, prepared and cooked yourself. Pretty sure they were just being bastards and never gave you anything you earned."

Harry considered that and slowly nodded, understanding what she meant and pushing what his relatives had told him from his head. "It sounds like fun."

"We need to teach you to swim and there are some great lakes that have plenty of fish and aren't too cold," The Leewit said, recalling one of her favorite camping spots that she hadn't been to in a while since her sisters had moved out.

"Okay," Harry agreed, his stomach growling once more as he glanced at the fresh meat on the table that he was guessing Leewit had caught herself and wondering if it would taste better over a campfire than properly prepared and cooked in an oven.

"Almost ready," The Leewit told him as she got a couple of plates from the cabinet to serve the eggs on.

The eggs vanished quickly as did the glass of milk and Harry sighed happily, glad Leewit hadn't asked him anything while he was eating.

The Leewit finished her own eggs and noticed Harry was yawning and looked rather tired. After everything he'd been through it wasn't that big a surprise so she decided she could learn more about him later after he'd gotten some sleep. "Let's get you to bed, we can talk more later."

"Alright," Harry agreed, getting up and gathering the dishes to put in the sink, moving on autopilot.

"I'll get the dishes later," she told him, turning off the faucet before he could start washing them and taking his hand.

Harry developed tunnel vision, barely noticing the world around him as she led him to a large bedroom with two beds, both of which looked like heaven to the tired young boy.

"In you go," The Leewit ordered, pulling back the heavy comforter and pushing him into one of the beds.

Even half asleep Harry started to look nervous and an edge of panic was flavoring his thoughts.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.

"What if I swim away again?" he asked nervously. "I don't want to end up back there."

The Leewit had a flash of insight that there wasn't going to be an explanation that would set his mind at ease. "Scoot over, I'll hold you and make sure you don't go anywhere."

Harry found himself at a loss for words as the wiry blonde kicked off her boots and climbed in next to him. "Are you sure this will work?" he asked.

The Leewit didn't hesitate to squeeze up behind him, taking off her belt and lengthening it to tie them together. "There, if you swim away, I'll come with you and I know the way back." She felt him relax at that and fall into sleep between one breath and the next. She was so surprised at the trust he'd placed in her that she didn't even notice her mother enter the room and begin to tuck them in.

"There's a perfectly good explanation for this," The Leewit said.

"I'm sure there is," Toll said softly, but in such a way that even though she couldn't feel it, The Leewit was positive she was laughing at her.

Rather than argue or attempt to explain things, The Leewit simply closed her eyes and wove a quick sleep pattern to avoid having to discuss it, her arms tightening on the smaller boy as she lost consciousness.

"Wait till Threbus hears about this," Toll said to herself, amused. Sure she could reach out to him and let him know, but the expression on his face was sure to be priceless if she told him in person.

0o0o0o0o0o

Harry slowly regained consciousness, feeling safe and warm for the first time he could remember. He kept his eyes closed, wanting to stay like that as long as possible before he had to wake up. For some reason the dream didn't fade as most did and he felt arms around him and someone's breath on the back of his neck.

He could even smell the faintest whiff of sweat and berries. He'd never smelled anything in his dreams before.

"That's because you're not dreaming," The Leewit told him.

"I'm not dreaming?" Harry asked as he began to remember the events of the day. "Are you sure? Cause really it comes off more as a dream than anything real. I mean, I found people like me and I'm not even in the same time or solar system anymore."

One of the arms wormed down and gently squeezed his side making him wince.

"And now I have to pee," Harry said as he opened his eyes.

"I'll untie you and show you where the bathroom is," The Leewit told him, "if that doesn't convince you you're awake I don't know what will."

"Untie me?" he asked in confusion.

"You were worried you'd swim the Egger Route back to your relatives in your sleep," she explained. "I promised I'd come with you if you did and swim us back."

"Oh," Harry said embarrassed as he began to remember what he'd said while half asleep and grateful she had listened.

The Leewit unhooked her belt from around him. "It's the door right over there," she said with a wave. "Best take a shower too, I'll get some clothes that will fit you."

"Thanks," Harry replied, a bit embarrassed as he rushed for the bathroom.

"He really does need looking after," The Leewit said with a smile, looking forward to being the older sibling for once. Sure she'd had to look after her older sisters as often as they'd looked after her while growing up, but for once she'd have someone who'd listen to her without wasting time arguing about it.

"So that's Harry?" a deep male voice asked curiously, causing The Leewit to jump.

"Dad?!"

"Yes?" the broad shouldered, blond man asked innocently, trying to hide his smile in his beard, which was much too short and well trimmed to take that kind of load.

The Leewit sighed. He was in a playful mood, which meant a lot of teasing. She found it much more amusing when he pointed his sense of humor at her sisters… which was a bit difficult to do as they were both moved out and married now, leaving her the only target.

"Well, you are just about that age," Threbus teased.

The Leewit buried her head under the pillow.

0o0o0o0o0o

Strangely enough despite being thousands of years in the future the bathroom was just like the ones from the twentieth century much to Harry's relief, as the last thing he wanted was to have to ask Leewit for help.

He was used to taking cold showers and having only five minutes to get clean so a proper hot shower with no one banging on the door to make him hurry was heaven.

After a glorious nine minutes of washing up with hot water, Harry dressed in Dudley's castoffs and exited the bathroom.

The Leewit looked him over and checked under his nails and behind his ears before giving him an approving nod. "I stacked some clothes on the bed, find a set that'll fit you and then we'll burn the rags you're wearing."

Harry looked over and saw a collection of clothes in dark blues and greens laid out, none of which looked like they'd fit a whale and he found himself smiling.

"I'm going to shower, I'll be back in a minute," she told him before vanishing into the bathroom.

Harry nodded and examined the clothes. The quality of the materials were much better than the trash the Dursleys dumped on him and while they weren't new they were obviously taken care of and after putting on a dark almost black shirt and a similar pair of pants, he decided that he preferred these to anything new he could have gotten.

"Does it fit alright?" The Leewit asked, startling Harry who hadn't realized he'd taken so long choosing what to wear.

"It fits great," Harry said as she examined him.

"Sit down and let me see your feet, I'm pretty sure I've got some boots that'll fit you as well."

Harry sat down and stuck out his feet for inspection, but The Leewit barely glanced at them before diving into the closet and coming out with a pair of what looked like dark brown leather boots that she tossed to him before opening the top drawer of the dresser and getting out a pair of thick grey wool socks which he quickly slipped on.

"How do they feel?" she asked as Harry stood up and walked around in his new boots.

"They feel good," Harry said with a broad smile. It was much easier to walk in shoes that weren't a couple of sizes too large.

"Good," The Leewit said with satisfaction, "now we just need to get you a backpack, knife, and bow and we'll be in business."

"Business?" Harry asked.

"I mean we can escape into the woods before my parents can embarrass me," she said honestly.

"Embarass you?" Harry asked. "Why would they do that?"

Toll's voice called out something in their language and The Leewit sighed. "Parents like to embarrass their children, I think it's to encourage them to leave home as soon as possible, at least that's the only explanation I can come up with." She turned and called out something back in their language.

"Sorry to be such trouble," Harry apologized.

The Leewit glared at him. "You are not any trouble," she said firmly, "so wipe that thought from your fool head. Witches help people and you're people. I like being a witch and I like helping people."

"Okay," Harry quickly agreed.

"I'm going to teach you loads of stuff and it's going to be fun," The Leewit told him though it came out sounding like an order even if Harry could tell she hadn't meant it that way. "If you want trouble try having parents who both have strong premonition abilities. It's hard to get away with anything when they know what you're going to do before you do it."

Harry found himself grinning at that statement. Leewit was definitely the strangest person he'd ever met, but it was a good strange. She turned away, her cheeks taking on a pink hue and he wasn't sure why.

The Leewit quickly walked to the door, waving for him to follow. "Let's go get some dinner, we're going to need our strength to put up with their so called humor."

"Do they speak English?" Harry asked.

"Not being able to speak the same language doesn't mean you'll be spared the knowing looks and smug grins," The Leewit warned him. "In fact I'll be sure to translate for you, so I don't have to suffer alone."

"Thanks…" Harry said slowly as he followed her.

"This is not a thanks situation," The Leewit admitted, "though it will help you deal with situations like this in the future."

"Suffering builds character," Harry offered, recalling hearing that phrase somewhere before.

"Yeah, let's go with that," The Leewit agreed as they stopped before a door. "Alright, best behavior, try not to laugh, it just encourages them and eat everything you can, you'll need the strength for later."

"What are we doing later?" Harry asked.

The Leewit turned and looked him right in the eyes. "Planning our escape," she said, sounding dead serious.

Typing by: fyrewolf5