They waited a few minutes to make sure the giant scorpion was gone before speaking.

"I've never seen anything like that on Earth before," Harry said, relieved it was gone.

"Neither have I," The Leewit replied, "but then I haven't exactly studied it."

"If it's been less than a century since all this was built then it's somewhere in the 2100's," Harry said. "Maybe we can find out what happened to everyone."

"Didn't feel like we swam through time," The Leewit said, "but it felt kinda muffled, so I guess I didn't notice. Still… the great exodus happened at least a couple of centuries from now."

"So this is one of the cities they cleared out to make everyone move to… a mega city," Harry said, deciding to call the huge cities that as it seemed to fit.

"Sounds about right," The Leewit agreed.

"I'd feel a lot better about facing giant bugs with a ray gun," Harry admitted.

"A slug thrower should do just as well," The Leewit told him.

"A slug thrower?" Harry asked, confused as to how throwing slugs at giant insects would be a good defense.

"Slugs like small slugs of lead," The Leewit explained with a grin, amused at Harry's mental image.

"Oh," Harry said, realizing she meant a handgun. "So… do we have one of those?"

"Nope," she replied unconcerned, "we have klatha."

"Could you telekinetically lift that thing?" Harry asked curiously.

"Probably," she replied, "but that's not my only skill. I can whistle in a way that'll crack its shell, shift light so it sees a bigger scorpion, or throw a ball of fire at it to scare it off."

"Cool," Harry said, impressed and wondering how hard it would be to learn those skills himself.

"The whistle is part of my talent, but I can teach you the rest," she said cheerfully.

"Good, cause I don't think creating a ball of light would scare much off," Harry said.

"Stick it to their eyes and it would," The Leewit told him confidently.

"Yeah, that could work," Harry agreed, perking up.

"Let's find a way up onto the roof, so we can get a good look at the area," she said, adjusting her pack. "There's probably a ladder up in the back somewhere." A wave of her hand folded the blankets up and set them on the counter.

Harry followed the blonde witch behind the counter and into a short hall with two doors, one labeled manager and the other blank. The end of the hall opened up into the vehicle bay that had one car up on a lift and another having fallen off one, so it was upright leaning against it, the trunk crushed from the fall. Someone had stripped it of everything useful, going so far as to remove the banks of lights that should be overhead, fortunately one of the roll-up doors was open letting in more than enough light to see clearly.

"There," The Leewit said, pointing to the back wall where rusted metal rungs were set in the cinder-blocks, leading up to a hatch in the ceiling. She scrambled up the rungs and pushed on the hatch, which refused to open until she placed a palm against it and concentrated, whereupon it flung itself open with a screech. "Should have been more careful," she complained, "that was much too loud."

Harry hurried after her, not knowing enough about telekinesis to comment, and scrambled onto the roof, having to wiggle to keep his pack from catching on the sides of the hatch.

"That must be why everything was labeled Red Rocket," The Leewit told him as he closed the hatch, gesturing to the large red fiberglass model of a rocket that sat on the roof, mounted at a 30 degree angle like it was getting ready to launch.

The black tar paper roof was weathered and had holes in a few places as well as various trash and debris that had somehow made their way up there, but it provided a clear view of the surrounding area. They appeared to be on the outskirts of a large city, one at least partially destroyed and opening onto desert and scrub-land.

"It looks like dozens of battles have been fought here," Harry said, "some of them recent."

"Yeah," The Leewit agreed as they carefully walked around the edge of the roof, keeping an eye out for giant scorpions. "You can see recent damage on some of the wrecked cars and buildings, that means there's still people here, at least a few dozen anyway."

"We should probably avoid them," Harry said as he looked at a rusted-out wreck that was completely riddled with holes, like someone had taken a giant sewing machine with a needle hot as the sun and stitched multiple lines through it and into the pavement behind it.

"At least until I teach you how to listen to thoughts," The Leewit agreed. "It's a lot easier to figure out who's trying to tap your tanks when you can hear their thoughts."

Harry quickly puzzled out what she meant. "It'd have to," he agreed.

"I think the apartment building over there is empty, we can hole up in that while I teach you telekinesis," The Leewit decided.

"Okay," Harry said with a smile eager to learn.

"I'll light shift us so we're hidden and don't have to worry about attracting attention by walking in the open," The Leewit told him, before opening the hatch and climbing down.

"You have awesome skills," Harry said, "I can't wait to learn them!"

"Goth is way better at light shifting than I am," The Leewit replied as he climbed down, "the best I can do is static images or No-Shape, she can make a half a dozen people look and sound like anyone."

"No-Shape?" Harry asked, following her into the front of the shop.

"Bending light around us so we're basically invisible," she explained, while retrieving the blankets and tying them to the top of her pack.

"Don't some animals sense heat?" he asked.

"No-Shape isn't as useful on them," she admitted, "but then they can also track by scent and sound. No-Shape is mostly used against people and cameras."

Harry nodded. He could see why you'd develop a skill that only worked against people as barring a single dog, people were usually the only thing he'd ever had to worry about.

"Okay, take my hand," The Leewit said, pulling him close as she gathered klatha.

Harry could almost tell what she was doing, but it was like she was weaving a pattern… only not. He was still trying to puzzle it out when Leewit pulled him out the door and he got a close up look at the street outside.

"I'm not sensing any danger, my precog says we're fine," The Leewit said softly as they stepped around a burned out wreck, "but someone fought a war here."

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

The two continued silently, trying to look in every direction at once, until they reached the apartment building, a five story brick structure that had taken quite a lot of damage but was still mostly intact.

The Leewit kept a hold of Harry's hand, concentrating on No-Shape until they climbed the stairs and entered the building through the missing front door.

"This place is a mess," Harry said as he looked at the darkened interior, the walls covered in mold and damaged by the elements.

"Might be better or worse a few floors up," The Leewit said, "but at least practicing telekinesis in here isn't going to make it that much worse."

Harry grinned. He was far in the future in a place with giant insects and wrecked cities, but he was better fed and dressed than he'd ever been in his life and was learning magic! Best of all though was he had a friend by his side and not a Dursley in sight. Life was good for Harry James Potter.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

It'd taken the pair a little over an hour to find an apartment that was in good enough condition to use, since nearly all the windows in the place had been broken, letting in wind and rain, causing water damage and mold to flourish all throughout the building, but on the third floor they'd found one where someone had blocked the windows with plywood and while someone, probably several someone's, had taken anything of value, it was mostly intact and furnished still.

Harry's ball of light floated overhead, lighting the room, while The Leewit telekinetically rearranged the furniture so they'd have room to lay out their bedding, since the furniture had been tossed around and overturned sometime in the past.

"A little dusting and this place will be livable," The Leewit said, wondering why someone had decided lime green and plaid were valid decoration choices.

"I think there's a spell for that," Harry said before chewing on his lip. "How do I know that?"

"Your pattern," The Leewit reminded him, "it'll teach you things and occasionally even help you cast spells you are just about ready to learn but lack the control. I'm surprised it knows a spell for dusting though, seems a bit ridiculous to develop a spell just for that. It's like… designing a self aware robot just to pass butter at meals."

Harry considered that. "So either someone really hated to clean or was really bored."

The Leewit giggled. "Yeah, I could see that. I suppose if I'm ever really bored, I can entertain myself with coming up with unique patterns for things like that."

"Let's see if I can cast it," Harry said, eager to learn another spell. Closing his eyes he concentrated, moving his hand with two fingers extended just so and incanted, "Scourgify!"

Harry fell on his butt, feeling like he'd just climbed a dozen flights of stairs at once. "Did it work?" he asked eagerly, looking around but not seeing any difference.

"You cleaned half the coffee table," The Leewit told him, torn between amusement and concern for how much the spell had taken out of him.

"Oh," Harry said, a bit disappointed that he'd put in so much effort for so little success. He quickly brightened up as he realized it'd get easier and more effective as he got better at it, like his orb of light had.

"I think I'll clean this place the normal way while you rest," The Leewit ordered him. "Remember you're still recovering from being locked up with those monsters."

"Alright," Harry agreed tiredly as he felt Leewit's emotions and knew she both had no intention of letting him help and was actually looking forward to cleaning for some reason. He laid his head on his pack and decided to take a little nap.

The Leewit smiled as she felt Harry fall asleep. 'I should have this place cleaned up and lunch ready before he wakes up.'

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Dumbledore frowned as he examined a silver armillary sphere on his shelf. The golf ball sized model of the earth floated in the center of seven sliver runic rings that were aimlessly spinning around it when they should have been mostly motionless showing the precise condition and location of his ward.

Concerned, he turned to examine a small crystal hourglass and frowned as he saw that the red sand inside had almost completely drained from the top half.

"This isn't good, this isn't good at all," Dumbledore said.

Fawkes trilled curiously on his perch.

"What's got me worried? The wards on young Harry are almost completely gone and the monitoring spell I've placed on him can't seem to locate him," the old wizard explained.

The phoenix ruffled his feathers and chirped.

"Yes, I'm afraid I'm going to have to investigate matters personally," Dumbledore said. "Hopefully they've just been disrupted by accidental magic again, but it's best to check."

Fawkes leapt off his perch and landed on Dumbledore's shoulder, the swan size bird staggering him for a moment as he let off an amused trill.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Eager to get out and stretch your wings? I can't blame you, it is a beautiful summer day. Well my friend, we're going to a muggle area so be on your best behavior."

Fawkes spread his wings and flames rose up in a circle around them before dying back down and revealing a muggle backyard.

"Look at how well kept everything is," Dumbledore said, "they really care for their home." He stepped up to the back door and knocked gently while Fawkes leapt to the ground to poke around in the grass.

After a couple of minutes had passed with no response Dumbledore waved his wand, casting several spells in quick succession. "It appears no one is in residence," he noted. After casting a few more spells to test the wards he frowned. "I hope the Dursleys return soon," Dumbledore said with a sigh, "I really need to check on Harry and determine why the wards are failing."

He turned to look at Fawkes and found him digging in the grass for insects. "I could summon them for you if you like," he offered his feathered companion.

Fawkes chirped and waved a wing at Dumbledore as he continued his meal.

The old man chuckled. "Yes, much like fruit, the ones you pick yourself are probably the most tasty."

He transfigured a patio chair out of a pebble and pulled a book out of the pocket of his robes to read while he waited. He needed to catch up on his reading, he'd been so busy lately that he'd fallen behind.

Sunset

Dumbledore chuckled. "Oh Garfield, you and your lasagna," he said, pocketing the book as it'd gotten too dark to read properly.

A few spells were cast, causing him to sigh. "It's getting rather late and they've yet to return. I wonder what could be keeping them."

Fawkes tilted his head and chirped twice.

"I suppose they may have decided to take a vacation," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "but they do know Harry is not to be outside the wards for more than three days. An extended absence could explain the draining of the wards. Do you suppose they forgot? I know in my old age I find things slipping my mind at times."

Fawkes let out a squawking laugh.

"Quite so," Dumbledore said, rolling his eyes, "it happens to most beings when they get old, not that you'd know about that you flaming turkey."

Fawkes just chuckled with a phoenix's assurance of its own immortality.

"I'll simply have to put up a notification ward so I can return once they've finished their vacation," Dumbledore decided. "The wards should be good for a few more days before I have to worry about them failing, so if they haven't returned by tomorrow evening I'll simply have to track them down and remind them of the need to return home."

Fawkes leapt off the ground and circled around Dumbledore as he cast his spell before landing on his shoulder, almost managing to knock him over.

"Must you do that?" Dumbledore asked in exasperated amusement, just before a circle of flames rose up around them and they vanished from sight.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

On a large, heavily cratered asteroid, an ancient device the exact size and shape of a 1957 King Cool refrigerator in orbit around Saturn hummed for a few seconds before falling silent, but as that had nothing to do with the current story it will never be mentioned again.

Typing By: Abyssal Angel