Title: Harry Potter and the Darkness of Life
Chapter: (1) Harry's Escape
Author: Laen
Summary: After Sirius' death, Harry's completely lost his will to live, so he decides to make an attempt to escape the Wizarding world. What happens when he becomes friends with a muggle, and travels to China? Will Hogwarts ever be the same after Harry comes back? Read to find out!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine! Neither is Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and definitely the country China! But 'Christine Parkers' is my own character. Don't sue!
Rated: At this moment? Probably PG, but later on in the chapter, it might change to PG13 or maybe even 14A, depending on how grim the 'murders' and 'deaths' of the death eaters are... *cough, cough*.
*****
Harry never thought that his life could get any worse. He always thought that losing his parents was the worse thing that could happen to him, always thought that life with the Dursleys was the worse part of his life. But now he knows… he was wrong.
It was one thing, losing you parents when you were just a baby, and another thing, watching your god-father murdered right in front of your eyes when you're fifteen years old.
His will to live, had slipped through his mere fingers the moment he stepped off platform nine and three quarters. He had lost him... Sirius Black. His god-father. The only person who Harry thought he could talk to, no matter what. And now he's dead... killed by his own cousin.
Pain surged through Harry as he thought back to the night it had happened... it was his fault that it had happened in the first place. His fault that Sirius was dead. He shouldn't have blamed it on Professor Dumbledore. The headmaster had nothing to do with it. It was all his fault...
All his fault.
*****
"Professor!" a voice rang out as the door to the headmaster's office exploded opened.
"Yes, Severus?" the headmaster's calm voice asked as the potions master looked straight into the twinkling eyes of the greatest wizard alive.
"It's Potter—he's gone missing."
*****
She watched as the young boy stumbled across the street, trying to avoid the cars that were speeding by tiredly. He had raven hair, green emerald eyes, and a strange lightning shaped scar on his forehead. He looked like he was about to collapse any moment, so she ran forward to help him. Just in time too... he fainted just as she reached him.
*****
"What do you mean Harry's gone missing?" George Weasley asked in shock as Dumbledore looked down sadly.
"Who was the git that was supposed to watch him when he disappeared?" Fred shouted as Severus Snape, the Hogwarts Potions Master, threw him a dirty look.
"It was me—Weasley. Say what you want to, but I don't care." Snape sneered as Fred approached him, raised his fist, and punched the professor across the left cheek. Hard.
The adults watched as the potions master fell to the ground, but none spoke. No one even intercepted the young Weasley's attack. They just stood there, watching, emotionless.
"How could you let him go missing you idiot?" Fred shouted as George walked up to him and placed his hand onto his brother's shoulder.
"Calm down Fred... you wouldn't want to dirty your hands by punching this death eater—let's go." George said coldly as he turned around to leave, ignoring all gasped and angry looks from his siblings, former teachers, and companions.
"George Weasley—you come back here right now and apologize!" Molly Weasley shouted at her son as he stopped in his footsteps and turned to face her.
"Over my dead body. If it wasn't for Harry, Fred and I wouldn't be where we are right now. He's the reason we have a future." George whispered darkly as his head snapped over to the direction of Professor Snape.
"If that asshole hadn't—"
"George Weasley!" Molly screamed angrily, cutting into her son's sentence, but the Weasley twins didn't bother to stay and listen to the lecture, for they both turned around, and walked out of the living room of the burrow silently.
"Severus—I'm sorry for their behaviour, they're really not thinking!" Mrs. Weasley apologized as Snape shook his head.
"It's ok." The potions master muttered as he raised his hand to feel the injured cheek that was beginning to swell up.
"You deserved it." A voice whispered as all eyes turned towards the direction of the speaker.
"Just because we're no longer in school, doesn't mean you can disrespect me Ms. Granger." Snape said as Hermione glared at him.
"Sod off." She snapped as she too, turned and left the room along with Ron and Ginny.
The silence was now so thick; a knife would've been able to cut it in half. Finally, Remus Lupin spoke.
"What if Voldemort's got him?" the werewolf whispered as everyone looked down sadly, not wanting to think about the thought of Harry being captured by the dark lord.
"Should we tell Fudge—get the ministry to search for him?" Tonks asked as Dumbledore shook his head.
"If Fudge ever got word about this, he'd let the world know about it... then everything would be chaotic, Voldemort may even begin attacking—knowing that Harry won't be there to prevent him." Dumbledore stated with a sigh.
"You make it sound like Potter's the only one who can defeat him Professor." Snape muttered curiously as Dumbledore nodded his head, causing everyone to gasp again in shock.
"It's true—Harry is the only one who can defeat Voldemort. No one else can."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Moody asked as the headmaster sighed again.
"I don't know... I really don't know." Dumbledore replied as everyone's face darkened.
*****
Hunger overcame him as he woke up, his first reaction was to jump to his feet, pull out his wand and look around his surroundings quickly.
He was now in a small room; the room had a square table, two chairs around it, and the bed that he was lying asleep in minutes ago.
Quickly checking his robes to make sure that his money was there, Harry sighed. He hadn't been robbed.
"You're finally awake—I was getting worried there for a second." A voice said from the exit of the room.
Harry turned his head towards the direction, and pointed his wand at the speaker without any second thoughts.
"What are you doing with that stick? I haven't been able to wrench it out of your hands for the last few hours. Are you hungry? I've got some pizza in the kitchen if you want to eat it." the teen said as Harry slowly lowered his wand.
"Who're you?" he asked as the muggle smiled. He saw that she was around his height, probably eighteen, if not nineteen.
"My name's Christine. Christine Parkers." She replied as Harry slowly nodded.
"How'd I get here?" Harry continued to ask as the girl continued to smile.
"I found you in downtown London—you fainted." Christine explained as Harry nodded.
"What were you doing downtown by yourself at a time like that? You could've been killed—not to mention running across the street while cars were zooming by—"
"Are you from around here?" Harry asked as the girl shook her head.
"I'm from America. Just graduated this year." Christine replied.
"Where am I?" Harry questioned as the teenage girl chuckled.
"What is this, twenty questions?" she asked as Harry looked at her in a confused expression.
"Never mind..." Christine muttered under her breath before speaking up, "You're at a cheap motel in London, I'm going to be staying here for the three days or so before travelling down to China to spend the rest of my summer—"
"I know this may sound crazy, but can I come with you? I need to get out of here!" Harry cut in as the teenage girl stared at him in shock.
"Why? What are you, an escaped convict?" she asked as Harry shook his head.
"I'm just a fifteen year old kid who's trying to get a new life—"
"Go home kid—your parents are going to be worried sick about you." The eighteen year old muttered as Harry looked down with a pained expression.
"My parents died when I was only a few months old—I've been staying with my abusive aunt and uncle since then." Harry whispered as he blinded back the tears.
"What? But—I don't even know your name!" Christine said as Harry looked up at her.
"Are you saying if I tell you my name, I can come with you to China?" Harry asked as the girl frowned slightly.
"I'd be able to pay everything myself! I've got the money!" Harry said as he pulled out a couple rolls of muggle pounds out of his pocket.
"Holy shit! That's the most money I've ever seen in my life!" Christine gasped in shock as Harry stared at her, his eyes full of hope.
"Please, I'm begging you—I need to get out of here. I need a new life." Harry whispered.
"What's your name?" Christine asked at last.
"James. James Potter." Harry said, replying with his middle name.
"Okay James, care to tell me where in the world you got so much money? What'd you do rob a bank? Oh God, please tell me you didn't!" Christine begged as Harry shook his head.
"I inherited the money from my parents—this isn't even one-fiftieth of the entire sum." Harry said as Christine stared at him in shock.
"I don't believe what you're saying. Let me see what's in your backpack—check if you've got any weapons—you do have your passport right?" Christine asked as Harry nodded.
After pocketing his wand, Harry walked over to his backpack, which was lying on the table, and opened it. Inside, was the photo album that Hagrid had given to him back in his first year, the mirror Sirius had given to him, his father's invisibility cloak, and his passport.
Harry handed his passport to Christine, who looked at it slowly.
"You said your name was James Potter. But it says Harry James Potter here." She said as she pointed at the passport.
"I go by James." Harry lied as Christine nodded her head and handed the passport back to him.
"I trust you—but James, don't you think your aunt and uncle will be worried about you? And why are you carrying so much money around with you? You've got enough cash there to last you this lifetime!" Christine said as Harry nodded his head slowly.
"I know—I'm hoping that it will." Harry replied as Christine sighed deeply.
"They won't let a kid like you onto the plane unless you've got a guardian with you—we'll have to dye your hair, and get you color contact lenses so you look more like me. I'll say you're my cousin or something." Christine said as Harry smiled, for the first time in weeks.
"Really?" Harry asked in shock as Christine nodded.
"Thank you!" Harry said happily as he grabbed Christine and gave her a huge hug, before realizing what he was doing.
"I'm sorry—I was just... overexcited." Harry mumbled as he stepped back embarrassingly.
Christine laughed slightly, before heading towards the door.
"Come on, I ordered some pizza. I hope you like cheese. Because that's the only kind I'll eat." The teenager said as Harry's smile widened.
"I'll be out in a sec—I don't think I've ever tasted pizza." Harry said truthfully as Christine gave him another shocked look.
"That's crazy... I don't know how I'd live without pizza!" the girl said as Harry laughed.
"Anyways, I'll be right out afterwards—what time is it by the way?"
"It's eleven o'clock. Nearly noon. You've been asleep for the last few hours." Christine explained as Harry nodded.
"No wonder I'm starving—Christine, I was just wondering... can we also go shopping after lunch? I look like an idiot wearing these clothes." Harry said as he looked down onto the hand-me-downs the Dursleys had given him.
"Of course—you're paying for your own stuff though. I'm saving my money for pizza and souvenirs I'm going to buy down in China." Christine noted as Harry nodded.
"Not a problem, as you can see, money is not a problem at all." Harry grinned as Christine nodded, before turning around, and walking out the door.
Harry sighed in relief as he looked down onto the bed, where the three rolls of cash here. That wasn't even half of what he had brought with him. Earlier that week, the boy who lived had paid Gringotts, the Wizarding bank a visit; and had swapped over five thousand galleons into pounds.
The goblins were so happy that Harry could get the muggle cash off their hands, they even gave him a free magical backpack.
The backpack, on the outside, looked absolutely normal. But on the inside, it was huge—it had secret compartments for money, and what made this backpack so special was, only the owner could see the compartments. Therefore, only Harry had access to his new 'life savings'.
Sighing as he stuffed the cash into his pocket, Harry headed towards the door. He was in a way, worried. He didn't know if he should keep his wand, or chuck it. He was scared the Ministry of Magic was going to catch him, and bring him back to Hogwarts. Into the Wizarding world. Back into Voldemort's world.
"Are you okay?" a voice asked as Harry snapped out of his thoughts. The fifteen year old suddenly realized that he was in a kitchen, one that didn't look half as nice as the Dursleys, but was still, all the same, homey.
"Try a piece. I guarantee you'll fall madly in love with it by the end of this hour." Christine said as Harry sat down at the table, and grabbed a piece of cheese pizza, before biting into the delicious bread.
"Who was the genius who invented this? And where was I when all this happened?" Harry asked with his mouth full as he began to stuff food into his mouth.
"I've got no idea who invented it, but it's the Italians." Christine explained as she watched Harry finish his first piece of pizza in less then a minute flat.
"It's bloody delicious!" Harry said as he grinned.
"Help yourself—I doubt you've eaten anything for the last few hours. Want anything to drink? I've got some coke In the fridge if you want any." Christine said as Harry frowned slightly.
"Coke?" he asked as Christine got up from the table, walked over to the fridge, and pulled out two cans of 'coke'.
"Jeez, your aunt and uncle must've starved you or something. How can you not know about coke? The next thing you ask is what McDonalds is." Christine said sarcastically as she handed a can of coke to Harry, who opened it and took a sip of it slowly.
"Yum!" Harry said as he took another drink of it.
"Slow down, you're going to choke yourself to death." Christine joked as Harry slowed his eating pace.
"Sorry, can't help myself. This stuff is delicious!" Harry said as he took a bite of his second piece of pizza, and chewed it slowly, his taste buds melting from the wonderful taste.
"I'm glad you like it." Christine said as she opened her coke, and took a small sip of it, before continuing to eat her pizza.
*****
"I can't believe that man! How could he—this is—this is absolutely stupid!" George said as he stormed into his room.
"I hate him!" Fred said as he walked in after his brother, and slammed the door behind him.
"Ouch! Watch it will you?" Ron's voice said from the other side.
The door to the Weasley twin's room was opened, and Ron, Hermione and Ginny stepped in.
"What do you want?" George snapped.
"What did you mean, by 'if it wasn't for Harry, we wouldn't have a future'?" Ron asked as George frowned and looked up at Fred.
"We're not in the mood right now Ron. Maybe later. We need to think up a plan on how to find Harry." Fred said as Ginny giggled.
"Does it hurt to think?" she asked as both the twins leaped to their feet to glare at her angrily.
"Ginny, we're not in the mood right now to joke around. As shocking as it may be, George and I are serious!" Fred shouted angrily as Ginny stopped her giggling immediately.
"What can we do to help?" Ginny asked in a serious tone as the Weasley twins looked at each other for a moment, before walking over to their desks to pull something out—something big.
"What's that?" Hermione asked as Fred and George unravelled the large roll of parchment.
"You know the marauder's map? How it shows a map of Hogwarts? Well, Fred and I made one for England. We've been working on it since we gave the map to him. Finally finished it last week." Fred explained as Hermione's eyes widened in shock.
"Wow." She said as she looked at the large map.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to some good." George said as he pointed his wand at the map.
"Some good? I thought it was no good." Ron said as he frowned.
"Had to change the password somehow. Even if it was just one word." Fred muttered as he waved his wand at the map.
"Show only the Gryffindors
that are going into their sixth year in Hogwarts please." The red head said as
practically all the dots on the map disappeared, and around eight golden dots
appeared onto the map.
"Let's see... Dean Thomas... no... Neville Longbottom... no... obvious not at the burrow, only you and Hermione are here—wait! I've found him!" Fred said happily as he pointed towards the golden dot on the map that read 'Harry James Potter'.
"I wonder what he's doing." Ginny muttered as George grinned.
"We can find out." He said as he pointed his wand at Harry's dot and muttered 'show us'.
The map blurred, and the next thing they saw, was Harry Potter. Staring into a mirror wearing a pair of red and gold sweat pants, and a white t-shirt with a lion's head on the back of it; a girl around the ages of eighteen stood next to him saying something.
"Wow—how'd you do that?" Hermione asked, but no one answered.
"Let us hear." Fred said as he swished his wand at the map.
"Seriously James, what's with all the red and gold? And the lion Symbol—you're always asking for the same clothes." The girl said as Harry smiled at his reflection.
"It's a lot better then green and silver. I'd take a lion symbol over a snake any day." Harry said truthfully as the girl gave him a confused look.
"You're strange you know that?" she asked as Harry laughed.
"I haven't seen him smile since Sirius—since the incident." Hermione whispered as she watched what was happening.
"Well, as your um... cousin, I think I should be strange, after all, it runs in the family. Practically all your clothing is pink Christine!" Harry said as the girl frowned at him.
"Oh shut up James Potter!" she said as Harry laughed again.
"Why does she keep calling him James?" Ginny wondered out loud, but no one answered.
"I think I'll buy this stuff. Some bigger clothing wouldn't hurt. I've no idea how tall I'll be by this time next year." Harry said as he walked over to a rack of t-shirts and jackets to start picking clothes out.
"James, choose some other colors will you? I'll even buy something that's not pink of you buy some clothing that isn't red and gold!" the girl, Christine said as Harry smiled.
"Sure!" he replied happily as he began to take a ton of clothes off the rack.
"Are you mad? We're going to end up having to buy two extra trunks! I'm not going to pay for the next fees at the airport!" Christine said as Harry laughed again.
"I've got it covered. I reckon I can stuff all of it into my backpack." Harry said as Christine frowned at him.
"Even if you did, that's impossible. Your backpack is too small." Christine said as Harry shook his head.
"Nothing is impossible, and you never know what kind of magical tricks I've got up my sleeve for you, dear cousin." Harry said as Christine gave him a look.
"I'm watching you—Potter. Don't try anything silly, or no pizza for you!" Christine threatened as Harry's face turned to horror.
"No! You wouldn't! Anything but the pizza! You can throw me out of the motel if you want!" Harry said as Christine laughed.
"What's pizza?" George asked.
"Muggle food, it's really good." Hermione explained.
"What's an airport?" Ron asked, but Hermione shushed him and continued to watch and listen to the conversation.
"I think this is enough." Harry said after around three minutes, he had a huge pile of clothes there, ranging from red to gold to dark blue and even black..
"Well, better go pay... I swapped a few of my pink outfits for some different coloured ones. I hope your happy." Christine said as she threw Harry an annoyed look, causing the boy to laugh.
"Yes, I am indeed happy, for the first time in a long time." Harry said the last sentence quietly, before grabbing the large pile of clothes and heading towards the cashier.
After around ten minutes, the cashier had gone through all the items and added the amount total together.
"That'll be um... two hundred pounds sir." The cashier said as Christine's eyes widened.
"What? I'm taking some of this stuff back!" she shouted as she attempted to grab some of Harry's clothes.
"No! I can pay for it!" Harry said as he held her back, reached into the pocket of his old grey pants, and pull a roll of cash out.
Slowly counting up the cash, Harry pulled the notes out of the roll, and handed it to the cashier, who was shocked that a young boy like him had so much money with him. Harry had even given her a few pounds for a tip.
"Come on Christine, we can walk back to the motel, it's only a few minutes away. That is, if you can handle carrying all this stuff." Harry said as he looked at the bags of clothing.
"Oh yes, of course I can!" Christine said sarcastically as she grabbed two bags each hand, and headed towards the door, leaving eight bags behind for Harry to carry.
"Thanks!" Harry said with a smile as he grabbed the other eight bags and chased after her.
"How did Harry get that much muggle money?" Hermione asked in shock.
"Hermione, he's Harry Potter! He probably went and swapped a couple hundred galleons at Gringotts." Fred said, not realizing what he said.
"A few hundred galleons is a lot of gold you idiot!" George said as he swatted his brother across the head.
"Oh shut up." Fred muttered as he continued to watch.
"I feel like I'm watching TV." Hermione muttered to herself.
"How can you handle carrying so many bags? I'm only carrying four and I'm close to falling." Christine complained as Harry gave her a smirk.
"Didn't you know, I'm athletic. I play for the best school sports team in all of England." Harry said as Christine stuck her tongue out at him.
"Come on, hurry up. I want to go buy some hair dye. Like you said, they'll never let me onto the airplane if my guardians aren't with me. I'll have to look like you! And where in the world would I go to get coloured contacts?" Harry asked as he continued to walked, slowly down every once in a while to let Christine catch up to her.
"Enough questions already! Follow me—I know a short cut." Christine said suddenly as she turned into an alley, with Harry following her.
"It's not safe to go into alleys like that—they could get mugged." Hermione said in concerned, but before she could finish her sentence, two rough looking guys jumped out of a corner holding metal crow bars.
"Hey there beautiful... I saw you back in the store—you looked damn fine." One of the men said as Christine's expression turned into a look of disgust.
"How about you hand those clothes over shrimp? And all that money we saw you have? Or we'll get the pay in full from your girlfriend." The other man said as he approached Christine with a look of danger in his eyes.
"Get your hands off me you son of a bitch!" Christine shouted as the man grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him.
"Christine!" Harry shouted as he dropped the bags onto the ground, and reached into his robes.
But before Harry could do any damage, Christine kneed the man who had grabbed her straight in the nuts.
"Ouch—that's got to hurt." Ron said as his two brother nodded.
"It does—remember when Ginny got mad at us when she was five? Boy—she had one heck of a powerful kick." George said darkly as Ginny laughed.
"You bitch! Ryan, beat the shit out of her for me" the man shouted in pain as he fell to the ground grabbing himself between his legs.
"You little whore—I'll show you!" the other man, Ryan obviously, said as he approached Christine with his crowbar.
"Stupefy!" Harry's voice cried out as the five kids watching the map gasped in shock.
"He'll get expelled!" Ginny whispered.
"Who cares? That was cool!" Fred said as Ginny and Hermione both threw him an angry look, causing him to shut up again.
The man fell to the ground unconscious, and Christine turned back to face Harry in shock.
"What the hell did you just do?" she asked as Harry pocketed his wand, and picked up the bags of clothing.
"Come on, let's go—I'll explain when we get back to the motel—the ministry of magic's going to be here soon—I refuse to go back with them." Harry said as Christine nodded her head slowly, and followed him out of the alley.
"You there! Stop!" a voice behind them shouted as Harry and Christine began to run like crazy.
At that moment, the map began to blur vibrantly.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked as Fred and George both groaned.
"The ministry! They're there—they've prevented us from watching at this moment. Maybe we'll be able to see what happens after a while. I hope Harry doesn't get caught." Fred muttered as he tapped his wand on the map a few times.
"Un-blur! Un-blur! Oh for Merlin's sake. We'll try again in half an hour. I'm putting this away in case mum walks in on us." Fred said as George pointed his wand at the map, and whispered "Mission accomplish", causing the parchment to go blank again.
"Where do you think Harry's travelling to? America?" Ron asked.
"I don't know—that girl he was with—he called her his cousin." Hermione said as everyone frowned in confusion.
"Her name was Christine wasn't she? She kept calling Harry James too—you think Harry's using his middle name to avoid suspicion?" George guessed as practically everyone in the room sighed.
There was a moment of silence, before Hermione spoke.
"George—Fred—your map, does it only show witches and wizards?" she asked as the Weasley twins shook their heads.
"Only those who have wands. We can lock into their magical signature. If they don't have a wand, or it's been snapped or broken, we can't watch them." Fred explained as Hermione nodded.
"Do you think we should tell the adults what we know?" Ginny asked, causing everyone to sigh again.
"I donno Ginny... and I bet no one here knows either..." Ron muttered as he sighed again, and looked down onto the ground.
'Where ever you are Harry, be careful.' Ron thought to himself before sighing once more.
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I had the idea in my head for a few days now, and just decided I might as well write it down. Also...
SEE THAT THERE? CLICK IT AND REVIEW PLEASE! THANKS!
| |
| |
| |
-- --
\ /
\ /
\ /
\ /
\ /