Chapter 9: Harry
Mira let out a barely-audible gasp. She couldn't believe her eyes. He looked almost exactly like James. From his height and the shape of his face, right down to the way his hair stuck out at the back. There were only two differences she could see, though. She could just make out the lightning bolt scar on his forehead and she could see his eyes behind those glasses. Lily's eyes. Lily's beautiful, enviable, bright-green eyes. She had always envied Lily's eyes, the way they could get the attention of all the boys at Hogwarts. And now her son had inherited them, and she was willing to bet that he got the attention of all the girls with them, too.
It was about a minute before she realized that her bottom jaw was hovering close to the ground. She closed her mouth and looked at Remus. Remus smiled knowingly and nodded.
Mira turned back to look at Harry. She was glad she got to see him before she spoke to him, because she probably wouldn't have been able to speak if her life depended on it. After examining his face, she looked at the rest of him, and she suddenly felt a pang of anger. He was wearing a t- shirt that was too big for him, pants that were too short for him and trainers that looked like they only just fitted him. She knew that the Dursleys were treating him badly, but she at least expected them to clothe him properly!
If she hadn't known the reason why Dumbledore made him stay with the Dursleys, she would have almost certainly have stalked up to him right there and then, told him to pack his trunk and leave with her. But it was all she could do to stop herself, anyway.
She suddenly, desperately wanted to talk to Harry. She wanted to tell him who she was, what she was and get to know him, too. She also regretted, for the first time ever, leaving all those years ago. This had never happened before. She may have regretted not telling Remus she was leaving, she may have regretted not believing Sirius' innocence and she may have regretted many other things, but she had never regretted leaving.
Now, she wanted the time back. She wanted to experience the excitement of watching Harry's first step, hearing his first word, seeing his first tooth falling out, she wanted to see his reaction on finding out he was a wizard, watching him discover his destined wand. She wished she could have been there to comfort him when he found out how his parents died, when he left the Chamber of Secrets, when his fellow-champion was murdered by Voldemort and when she saw Voldemort rise again. When Sirius was killed.
At this stage, Harry had hidden himself behind a hydrangea bush under the window-sill, where he lay with his eyes wide open, obviously deep in thought. He stayed like this for a while, which allowed Mira to compose herself.
At around four o'clock, though, Harry crawled out from behind the bush and headed to the street. Mira and Remus exchanged significant looks and Mira silently opened her backpack and got out her invisibility cloak. She put on her cloak before she emerged out of Moody's. She looked back and couldn't see Remus anymore, and this made her slightly nervous, so she turned around and followed Harry, making sure she kept to his left.
Mira and Remus silently followed Harry around Little Whinging. Mira had the ability to walk stealthily if she wanted to, so that Harry couldn't hear her. A lot of the time she kept about ten paces behind him, but sometimes she quickened her pace so that she could see his face. He was lost in thought and was totally oblivious to where he was going. He looked worried and angry and like he hadn't slept for a while.
After a few minutes Harry seemed to be making for a park. Harry sat down on a swing. Making sure that she didn't step near the sand that could reveal her footprints, she made her way to a tree a little distance away from the swings. As she was walking, she bumped into something she couldn't see. It had to be Remus. She grabbed a handful of Remus' cloak and breathed, "Sit down under the tree on the right."
Harry's head jerked up, looking around. Mira held her breath, hoping he wouldn't get off the swing. Harry, probably thinking he was imagining things, looked back down at the ground.
Mira sat on the ground under the tree and felt Remus sitting next to her. After a few minutes, Harry, not looking up, said, "I know someone's there. Dumbledore's still having me talked. Is there just one of you or a while army of you? I think I heard someone say something before, but I guess you weren't talking to me. Dumbledore probably doesn't want you talking to me. Am I right?" Silence. "I thought so."
Well, at least he's not daft, thought Mira.
Harry fell silent again. After a little while, he got off the swing and made his way out of the park. Mira got up, and felt Remus stand up, too. Mira followed Harry, again keeping to his left. Harry, again, seemed lost in thought and was unaware as to where his feet were taking him. Mira soon found out that they were taking him, and them, to Wisteria Walk. Harry seemed slightly surprised when he found himself at Mrs Figg's door, but he knocked anyway.
Mrs Figg could be seen through the glass walking to the door. She opened it, but didn't look surprised to see Harry. "Hello, Harry. Come in, come in, I've just made a pot of tea."
Mrs Figg stepped aside and allowed Harry in. she waited a few seconds longer to allow enough time to let Mira and Remus in, too. Harry didn't seem to notice anything.
When Harry went to the kitchen and sat down, while Mira found a seat against the wall next to Mrs Figg's china cabinet she guessed would be for one of Harry's guards when Harry came over. There was another seat next to the hallway entrance that she guessed Remus would sit in. From where she was sitting, Harry could have looked directly into her eyes if he could see her.
Mrs Figg put the teapot on the table, along with two cups and saucers, and said before Harry could open his mouth, "I've heard word from Professor Dumbledore that there have been no attacks by You-Know-Who or his Death Eaters lately. Dumbledore seems to think that You-Know-Who is laying low for a while, waiting for his Death Eaters in Azkaban to escape. He also hasn't yet told me when you're leaving the Dursleys'."
Harry nodded sheepishly. "Thanks, Mrs Figg."
"That's quite alright, Harry."
"Mrs Figg - er - do you, er, know who Professor Dumbledore has, er, guarding me today?"
"Harry, you know I can't tell you that. Professor Dumbledore has expressly forbidden me to tell you who's guarding you. You don't need to know who's guarding you, so you'd have to accept the fact that I'm not going to tell you."
Harry fell silent. He again was deep in thought. "What are you thinking, Harry?" asked Mrs Figg kindly.
"Nothing," he replied. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You miss him, don't you?" asked Mrs Figg. "Of course you do. I have to admit I didn't know him very well. But when Dumbledore calls you back to the wizarding world, I'm sure that there will be more than enough people to tell you about him and his time at Hogwarts."
"I said I don't want to talk about it," he said in a raised voice. "You sound so much like Dumbledore! You know what? Maybe I don't want to return to the wizarding world! Maybe I don't want people feeling sorry for me all the time, with people saying, 'Oh, look, there goes Harry Potter, poor boy, he's lost so many people.' And I already know what Sirius was like at Hogwarts! He was just like my dad. A bullying git!"
Harry was standing up by this time. Mira looked over at Mrs Figg, who looked slightly surprised, but not upset. Mira couldn't understand why Mrs Figg wasn't more upset. She felt as though her heart had been ripped out. She wondered how Remus was feeling at the moment, and it was all she could do to stop the tears from rolling down her face.
Harry continued. "You hear me, whoever's 'guarding' over me? I don't want to return. I don't want you to watch over me anymore. I don't want to be pitied. I WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!"
Harry walked over to the chair where Remus was meant to be sitting and punched the back of it. There was nothing there, so he obviously moved in time. Harry knocked the chair over in his frustration and made his way over to Mira's chair. Mira moved as quickly as she could and headed towards the back door. She bumped into something she couldn't see, and she guessed it must be Remus. He grabbed hold of her arm through the invisibility cloaks and pulled her outside. She heard Mrs Figg saying, "That's enough, Harry!"
"Fine!" she heard Harry saying. "I'm leaving."
The front door slammed shut. "Go after him," shouted Mrs Figg.
Mira went back inside and Mrs Figg opened the door and looked out, allowing Mira and Remus to inconspicuously leave. They saw Harry walking fast half-way down the street. Mira almost ran after him to catch him up. She couldn't believe Harry could act to irrationally. Then again, James was known to have a fiery temper, too. But still.
After walking the streets in a huff for about half an hour, muttering to himself about how he didn't need sympathy, it finally looked like Harry was heading home. He kept walking at a brisk pace as he turned onto Privet Drive. He went straight to number four, stalked up it's garden path and went inside, slamming the door behind him.
After a minute, Mira heard Remus whisper, "Mira, let's go back to the hedge and sit down."
Mira made her way back to where she and Remus were sitting when they began their shift. She felt her way, trying to find Remus. When she found him she sat down next to him and began searching for the bottom of the cloak. When she found it, she looked around, lifted it up and went underneath it before taking off her own cloak. She looked into Remus' eyes, which looked sad and hurt. Mira said nothing, but put her arms around him.
"How did he get so angry?" she whispered at last. "Sure, both James and Lily had towering tempers when provoked, but Mrs Figg did nothing wrong."
"That's Harry's way of dealing with things when his emotions get too much for him. He blasted Ron and Hermione a fair bit, too, over the past year. He thinks he can deal with everything by blocking everyone out of his life and pushing them away."
"It looks like I'm going to have to have a talk with him about it when we officially meet."
"I don't know if he'll listen to you. Hell, he doesn't listen to his own best friends, sometimes."
Mira didn't reply. After a while, Remus reached into his robes and pulled out his mirror. Instead of his reflection, she saw one of the twins' faces. The face in the mirror spoke: "Hey, Lupin. George and I are at Mrs Figg's place now. She told us about Harry's," he grinned, "pleasant conversation with her. How is he now?"
"After storming out of Mrs Figg's house, he walked around for a while before going home. I'd say he's probably up in his room, now, pacing and mumbling to himself."
"Always a quiet one, our Harry," Fred grinned, mischievously.
"Gets it from his father," whispered Remus, also grinning.
"Well, anyway, we should be at his place in a few. Is Mira nearby or should we contact her, too?"
"She's sitting right next to me, so no need."
"Lupin! Not getting involved in any extracurricular activities, are we?"
Remus laughed quietly. "I'll see you and George tomorrow. Finite."
Remus put the mirror back in the pocket of his robes. "Well, I think we should give the twins about 5 minutes, then head off."
Soon enough, they both carefully stood up, making sure that the invisibility cloak still fully covered them, and headed back to the alley way. Remus then quickly looked around and pulled the invisibility cloak off them.
"Let's go," he said, after folding up the cloak, and they both Disapparated.
A/N: Hey look, my first ever A/N! Sorry this took a little while, but I've been a little busy with work etc but now it's up! Yay! I don't know how long it'll take me to get the next chapter up, though. I've written most of it, but I'm really not happy with it, and I'm not even sure if I want to put it in yet or wait til later, and if I decide to wait, I'm gonna have to write another chapter. Ah well, I hope you enjoyed this one (
Mira let out a barely-audible gasp. She couldn't believe her eyes. He looked almost exactly like James. From his height and the shape of his face, right down to the way his hair stuck out at the back. There were only two differences she could see, though. She could just make out the lightning bolt scar on his forehead and she could see his eyes behind those glasses. Lily's eyes. Lily's beautiful, enviable, bright-green eyes. She had always envied Lily's eyes, the way they could get the attention of all the boys at Hogwarts. And now her son had inherited them, and she was willing to bet that he got the attention of all the girls with them, too.
It was about a minute before she realized that her bottom jaw was hovering close to the ground. She closed her mouth and looked at Remus. Remus smiled knowingly and nodded.
Mira turned back to look at Harry. She was glad she got to see him before she spoke to him, because she probably wouldn't have been able to speak if her life depended on it. After examining his face, she looked at the rest of him, and she suddenly felt a pang of anger. He was wearing a t- shirt that was too big for him, pants that were too short for him and trainers that looked like they only just fitted him. She knew that the Dursleys were treating him badly, but she at least expected them to clothe him properly!
If she hadn't known the reason why Dumbledore made him stay with the Dursleys, she would have almost certainly have stalked up to him right there and then, told him to pack his trunk and leave with her. But it was all she could do to stop herself, anyway.
She suddenly, desperately wanted to talk to Harry. She wanted to tell him who she was, what she was and get to know him, too. She also regretted, for the first time ever, leaving all those years ago. This had never happened before. She may have regretted not telling Remus she was leaving, she may have regretted not believing Sirius' innocence and she may have regretted many other things, but she had never regretted leaving.
Now, she wanted the time back. She wanted to experience the excitement of watching Harry's first step, hearing his first word, seeing his first tooth falling out, she wanted to see his reaction on finding out he was a wizard, watching him discover his destined wand. She wished she could have been there to comfort him when he found out how his parents died, when he left the Chamber of Secrets, when his fellow-champion was murdered by Voldemort and when she saw Voldemort rise again. When Sirius was killed.
At this stage, Harry had hidden himself behind a hydrangea bush under the window-sill, where he lay with his eyes wide open, obviously deep in thought. He stayed like this for a while, which allowed Mira to compose herself.
At around four o'clock, though, Harry crawled out from behind the bush and headed to the street. Mira and Remus exchanged significant looks and Mira silently opened her backpack and got out her invisibility cloak. She put on her cloak before she emerged out of Moody's. She looked back and couldn't see Remus anymore, and this made her slightly nervous, so she turned around and followed Harry, making sure she kept to his left.
Mira and Remus silently followed Harry around Little Whinging. Mira had the ability to walk stealthily if she wanted to, so that Harry couldn't hear her. A lot of the time she kept about ten paces behind him, but sometimes she quickened her pace so that she could see his face. He was lost in thought and was totally oblivious to where he was going. He looked worried and angry and like he hadn't slept for a while.
After a few minutes Harry seemed to be making for a park. Harry sat down on a swing. Making sure that she didn't step near the sand that could reveal her footprints, she made her way to a tree a little distance away from the swings. As she was walking, she bumped into something she couldn't see. It had to be Remus. She grabbed a handful of Remus' cloak and breathed, "Sit down under the tree on the right."
Harry's head jerked up, looking around. Mira held her breath, hoping he wouldn't get off the swing. Harry, probably thinking he was imagining things, looked back down at the ground.
Mira sat on the ground under the tree and felt Remus sitting next to her. After a few minutes, Harry, not looking up, said, "I know someone's there. Dumbledore's still having me talked. Is there just one of you or a while army of you? I think I heard someone say something before, but I guess you weren't talking to me. Dumbledore probably doesn't want you talking to me. Am I right?" Silence. "I thought so."
Well, at least he's not daft, thought Mira.
Harry fell silent again. After a little while, he got off the swing and made his way out of the park. Mira got up, and felt Remus stand up, too. Mira followed Harry, again keeping to his left. Harry, again, seemed lost in thought and was unaware as to where his feet were taking him. Mira soon found out that they were taking him, and them, to Wisteria Walk. Harry seemed slightly surprised when he found himself at Mrs Figg's door, but he knocked anyway.
Mrs Figg could be seen through the glass walking to the door. She opened it, but didn't look surprised to see Harry. "Hello, Harry. Come in, come in, I've just made a pot of tea."
Mrs Figg stepped aside and allowed Harry in. she waited a few seconds longer to allow enough time to let Mira and Remus in, too. Harry didn't seem to notice anything.
When Harry went to the kitchen and sat down, while Mira found a seat against the wall next to Mrs Figg's china cabinet she guessed would be for one of Harry's guards when Harry came over. There was another seat next to the hallway entrance that she guessed Remus would sit in. From where she was sitting, Harry could have looked directly into her eyes if he could see her.
Mrs Figg put the teapot on the table, along with two cups and saucers, and said before Harry could open his mouth, "I've heard word from Professor Dumbledore that there have been no attacks by You-Know-Who or his Death Eaters lately. Dumbledore seems to think that You-Know-Who is laying low for a while, waiting for his Death Eaters in Azkaban to escape. He also hasn't yet told me when you're leaving the Dursleys'."
Harry nodded sheepishly. "Thanks, Mrs Figg."
"That's quite alright, Harry."
"Mrs Figg - er - do you, er, know who Professor Dumbledore has, er, guarding me today?"
"Harry, you know I can't tell you that. Professor Dumbledore has expressly forbidden me to tell you who's guarding you. You don't need to know who's guarding you, so you'd have to accept the fact that I'm not going to tell you."
Harry fell silent. He again was deep in thought. "What are you thinking, Harry?" asked Mrs Figg kindly.
"Nothing," he replied. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You miss him, don't you?" asked Mrs Figg. "Of course you do. I have to admit I didn't know him very well. But when Dumbledore calls you back to the wizarding world, I'm sure that there will be more than enough people to tell you about him and his time at Hogwarts."
"I said I don't want to talk about it," he said in a raised voice. "You sound so much like Dumbledore! You know what? Maybe I don't want to return to the wizarding world! Maybe I don't want people feeling sorry for me all the time, with people saying, 'Oh, look, there goes Harry Potter, poor boy, he's lost so many people.' And I already know what Sirius was like at Hogwarts! He was just like my dad. A bullying git!"
Harry was standing up by this time. Mira looked over at Mrs Figg, who looked slightly surprised, but not upset. Mira couldn't understand why Mrs Figg wasn't more upset. She felt as though her heart had been ripped out. She wondered how Remus was feeling at the moment, and it was all she could do to stop the tears from rolling down her face.
Harry continued. "You hear me, whoever's 'guarding' over me? I don't want to return. I don't want you to watch over me anymore. I don't want to be pitied. I WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!"
Harry walked over to the chair where Remus was meant to be sitting and punched the back of it. There was nothing there, so he obviously moved in time. Harry knocked the chair over in his frustration and made his way over to Mira's chair. Mira moved as quickly as she could and headed towards the back door. She bumped into something she couldn't see, and she guessed it must be Remus. He grabbed hold of her arm through the invisibility cloaks and pulled her outside. She heard Mrs Figg saying, "That's enough, Harry!"
"Fine!" she heard Harry saying. "I'm leaving."
The front door slammed shut. "Go after him," shouted Mrs Figg.
Mira went back inside and Mrs Figg opened the door and looked out, allowing Mira and Remus to inconspicuously leave. They saw Harry walking fast half-way down the street. Mira almost ran after him to catch him up. She couldn't believe Harry could act to irrationally. Then again, James was known to have a fiery temper, too. But still.
After walking the streets in a huff for about half an hour, muttering to himself about how he didn't need sympathy, it finally looked like Harry was heading home. He kept walking at a brisk pace as he turned onto Privet Drive. He went straight to number four, stalked up it's garden path and went inside, slamming the door behind him.
After a minute, Mira heard Remus whisper, "Mira, let's go back to the hedge and sit down."
Mira made her way back to where she and Remus were sitting when they began their shift. She felt her way, trying to find Remus. When she found him she sat down next to him and began searching for the bottom of the cloak. When she found it, she looked around, lifted it up and went underneath it before taking off her own cloak. She looked into Remus' eyes, which looked sad and hurt. Mira said nothing, but put her arms around him.
"How did he get so angry?" she whispered at last. "Sure, both James and Lily had towering tempers when provoked, but Mrs Figg did nothing wrong."
"That's Harry's way of dealing with things when his emotions get too much for him. He blasted Ron and Hermione a fair bit, too, over the past year. He thinks he can deal with everything by blocking everyone out of his life and pushing them away."
"It looks like I'm going to have to have a talk with him about it when we officially meet."
"I don't know if he'll listen to you. Hell, he doesn't listen to his own best friends, sometimes."
Mira didn't reply. After a while, Remus reached into his robes and pulled out his mirror. Instead of his reflection, she saw one of the twins' faces. The face in the mirror spoke: "Hey, Lupin. George and I are at Mrs Figg's place now. She told us about Harry's," he grinned, "pleasant conversation with her. How is he now?"
"After storming out of Mrs Figg's house, he walked around for a while before going home. I'd say he's probably up in his room, now, pacing and mumbling to himself."
"Always a quiet one, our Harry," Fred grinned, mischievously.
"Gets it from his father," whispered Remus, also grinning.
"Well, anyway, we should be at his place in a few. Is Mira nearby or should we contact her, too?"
"She's sitting right next to me, so no need."
"Lupin! Not getting involved in any extracurricular activities, are we?"
Remus laughed quietly. "I'll see you and George tomorrow. Finite."
Remus put the mirror back in the pocket of his robes. "Well, I think we should give the twins about 5 minutes, then head off."
Soon enough, they both carefully stood up, making sure that the invisibility cloak still fully covered them, and headed back to the alley way. Remus then quickly looked around and pulled the invisibility cloak off them.
"Let's go," he said, after folding up the cloak, and they both Disapparated.
A/N: Hey look, my first ever A/N! Sorry this took a little while, but I've been a little busy with work etc but now it's up! Yay! I don't know how long it'll take me to get the next chapter up, though. I've written most of it, but I'm really not happy with it, and I'm not even sure if I want to put it in yet or wait til later, and if I decide to wait, I'm gonna have to write another chapter. Ah well, I hope you enjoyed this one (