Okay, been a bit of a wait for this chapter, I know, and I'm sorry. Unfortunately, writing Harry Potter fanfic is not my full-time job, so updates will come as I can write them. But hey, Chapter Four is here! Yay! Enjoy.
Chapter Four: FINDING SAFETY
Harry sighed as he realised it was time to return to Private Drive. He gave the Alley one last glance, wishing he didn't have to leave, but knowing he had to get back to Hedwig. He brightened when he remembered his plan; wait for the Dursleys to go to sleep, then just leave. He still didn't know where to go, it wasn't like he could apparate yet, his core wasn't mature enough to handle that amount of power even if he did know how to actually do it.
He summoned the Knight Bus again and rode it back to Private Drive. Checking the time, he saw that it was still early enough that he wasn't late, but knew that Aunt Petunia would still be mad at him. Harry still wondered how Dumbledore had thought it was a good idea to leave him with his aunt, knowing that she and his mother hadn't gotten along, especially towards the end of Lily's life.
Upon arriving home, he wiped his feet on the door mat before entering the house. Dudley was watching TV in the lounge and didn't even acknowledge his return. Petunia was no where to be seen so Harry headed up the stairs to stow his new bag in his room. Later that night he would unpack and repack everything and make his escape. But for now, he had to hide his new purchases in his old trunk.
'Hey Hedwig,' he said, seeing his snowy friend was awake and watching him. 'How was your day girl? I had a pretty good day. Guess what? Hermione's back too. Like us, really back,.'
Hedwig made a happy chirp at him and ran her beak through his hair.
'I know,' Harry said happily. 'She'll be so happy to see you too. Just one more week to go, don't worry. And we'll be free soon.'
Harry opened the window so Hedwig could go flying if she wanted, but the owl stayed in the room, knowing that her wizard had a plan and would need her close by. She could hunt later, when they had found a new home. Harry smiled at her and gave her some owl treats instead.
'Boy!' Screeched Petunia from downstairs. 'Get down here and start dinner!'
Harry sighed, cooking dinner under Petunia's watchful eye was always a painful experience in one way or another.
'See you later girl,' he whispered to Hedwig. 'Not long now.'
Leaving the room, Harry made sure the window was open in case Hedwig had to make a quick escape from Dudley or Vernon, and closed the door.
'Get to work,' Petunia hissed at him as he entered the immaculate kitchen. 'I want dinner ready by the time Vernon comes home.'
Harry didn't bother to respond and instead began perusing the fridge and pantry for ingredients. While he would have loved to have made a curry, he knew that he wouldn't be getting much of anything he did cook, if he got anything at all, and he didn't want to smell the amazing aromas of something he couldn't enjoy, and Vernon was coming home soon enough, so it had to be something quick but still good enough for his relatives. In the end he grabbed some steaks and set to seasoning them while also making chips and a salad with a side of mushrooms and steamed asparagus.
As predicted, once Vernon arrived home and dinner was on the table, he was sent up to his room with nothing but a stale crust of bread. Rolling his eyes, Harry mounted the stairs and tossed his bread out an open window on his way to his room. He had bought some pastries and meat pies in Diagon that he was planning on eating when he and Hedwig settled somewhere for the night. The pies were in a box with a warming and stasis charm on it, so when he eventually got around to eating them they would as fresh as when they had come out of the oven.
He listened as the Dursleys loudly ate the dinner he had prepared, then retired to the lounge to watch TV. Rolling his eyes, he decided to start repacking his trunk as they wouldn't be coming up the stairs for a few hours yet.
First Harry unpacked everything from his old trunk onto the bed, then he unpacked his new book bag and placed that on the bed too. Next he resized his new trunk and opened it up. He packed his clothes into the wardrobe, his books into the library, all his pens and quills and things into one of the storage compartments for now, grabbed the pillow and blanket off his bed (no point leaving anything useful behind he figured) and packed those away too. Perusing the room, he tried to decide if there was anything else he wanted to take. Most of the junk in here was broken thanks to Dudley, except the books, which were untouched. Harry drifted over to look at these. He didn't remember checking them out the last time he'd lived this life.
The books were stacked onto the lowest shelf of a tall bookcase, and after pulling them out Harry realised they were double stacked, so there were more than he'd originally thought. He put the picture books aside without looking at them too closely, he had no need for those. Spreading the rest out, he gaped at the range of fiction available to him. There was a set of Lord of the Rings, including The Hobbit, a complete hardback of Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, The Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, Black Beauty, a set of books by Jules Verne, a wide range of books by Enid Blyton, and a quite a few others. Harry grinned and began to load them all into his library, no reason to just leave them here.
The rest of the items in the room were either too broken to bother with, or too childish to interest him. He kinda wished the camera still worked, but figured he could always get himself a wizarding one if he really wanted. He also packed up Hedwig's cage, she wouldn't be needing it. Taking one last glance around the room, Harry nodded and shrunk his trunk and placed it in his book bag along with the shrunken tent. He was ready to leave at a moment's notice.
Hedwig hooted at him softly, knowing not to be loud in case Vernon heard her. Harry looked at her, and she looked at the window, which was still open.
'What?' Harry asked her. 'Do you want to go hunt now?'
Hedwig clicked her beak, obviously she didn't want to hunt now. She wanted to know why they were still here. Her wizard had packed up everything he needed, so why weren't they leaving? The window was open for heaven's sake. She flew over and landed on the bag her wizard had packed everything into. Grasping it with her claws, she lifted it and flew over to the window, struggling only a little with the large (for her) bag. She looked back at Harry and hooted.
'You want to go now?' Harry frowned, watching as Hedwig nodded her head. 'I was going to wait for the Dursleys to go to sleep, but yeah, why not? It's not like they're going to check in on me before they go to bed, are they girl?'
Harry headed over to the window and stuck his head out. He knew he could easily fit through the window, he had in his first second year after all, when the Weasley boys had rescued him. Frowning, he put all thoughts of Ron out of his head. The twins were okay, as far as he knew, but Ron wasn't.
'Alright then,' he said mind made up. 'Let's do it then. You first Hedwig, and I'll follow you out.'
Hedwig soared silently out the window and landed on a low branch in the tree outside. Harry glanced around the room one more time, and turned back to the window. He grinned as he dropped his bag into the bush below. Any sound he made would be muffled by the loud sounds of the TV. He hoisted himself up onto the windowsill and turned before dropping himself softly to the ground below. He grunted a little on impact, but had remembered to bend his knees upon impact, so it wasn't that bad, Grinning, he grabbed up his bag and held out his arm for Hedwig. She glided softly onto his offered arm and shuffled her way up to his shoulder, hooting happily.
'Let's get out of here then,' Harry grinned as they set off past the house and out the front gate. 'We need to get off the streets fast though, can't have anyone seeing us now.'
Once hidden in the shadows of the trees that bordered the local park, Harry stopped to think about his next step. He needed somewhere to set up his tent and be hidden from the muggles, but also close enough to King's Cross that he wouldn't miss the train.
Luckily the local bus stop by the park was one of those ones that had handy foldout maps of London available for tourists. Harry was happy to see that the maps had been restocked recently and not ransacked by Dudley and his friends. He eagerly grabbed one out to see if he could find somewhere he could set up camp for a few days until the train left.
Harry quickly dismissed the more popular parks, sure his tent had muggle repelling charms on it, but he didn't want to tempt fate. Just as he was about to give up on somewhere close to Kings Cross, (who was he kidding thinking he could camp within walking distance to the busy train station?), he saw a cemetery north of the station which was close enough to public transport that he could easily get to Kings Cross on time for the train.
Islington & St Pancras Cemetery* had a rich history according to the little info box for the area. It was the third-largest single cemetery in London, but had areas of neutral open grassland, wetland, and ancient woodland. The areas that were not in active use for burials had been allowed to grow wild, resulting in a steady population of natural wildlife amongst the sycamore, ash, oak, hawthorn, and willow trees.
Harry was astounded to see that along with a vast array of birds (which included both green and great spotted woodpeckers, and kestrels) that Muntjac deer were also frequent visitors. Not to mention all of the different plants that would be growing around the area. From the photos provided with the map, he saw that the more forested areas would be perfect for him and Hedwig to stay for a while. He'd figure out next summer closer to the time.
'Alright girl, what do you think? Shall we go with this cemetery?'
Hedwig nodded and hooted happily. She could feel that her wizard was happy and excited, so even though she didn't understand the words he was saying she understood his intent, that he had found them a place to stay until they were to return to the giant magical nest full of other nestlings like her wizard and his mate, who she couldn't wait to see.
'Okay, guess it's time to call the Knight Bus then. Sorry girl, you're probably not going to like this trip at all, but there's not really another way for us to get there.'
Harry stuck his arm out and summoned the bus.
'Choo again?' said Stan when the bus screeched to a stop. 'What choo want to travel so much for?'
'I didn't realise it was part of your job to interrogate your customers,' Harry said snidely. 'Seems kinda rude and counterproductive to me.'
'Just take the kid's money and find out where he wants to go Stan,' called Ernie from the driver's seat. 'Merlin, if your mother wasn't my sister,' he trailed off in a mumble as Harry tried not to laugh.
'Where you want to go then?' Sulked Stan.
'Islington & St Pancras Cemetery in London please,' said Harry. 'And no more questions about my trip please.'
Stan rolled his eyes. '22 sickles then,' he said snidely, adding at Harry's look of incredulity at the price, 'Pets cost extra, as do night trips.'
Harry rolled his back in imitation of Stan and handed the pimply teen 22 sickles before making his way onboard. He went to sit in the nearest chair but Hedwig clenched her claws into his shoulder and pointed her beak at the stairs leading to the second level. Harry sighed and changed course, climbing the steep stairs and literally falling into a chair when the bus jolted into motion once more.
'Happy?' He asked his owl.
Hedwig hooted loudly, she definitely was, travelling at this speed while not flying was incredible.
Harry laughed and settled back into his chair, Hedwig moving to sit on his other shoulder so she could look out the window at the scenery rushing by.
A few hours later, Harry was starting to feel quite hungry, but he didn't want to eat his pies on the fast moving bus.
'Islington & St Pancras Cemetery!' Stan called up the stairs as the bus screeched to yet another jolting stop. Harry grabbed Hedwig to stop her from falling off his lap.
Settling his owl on his shoulder again, Harry disembarked the bus without another word to the rude Stan, but a thanks and a tip to Ernie which got him a rare smile.
The Knight Bus vanished with a bang, and Harry and Hedwig were alone outside a cemetery. Not creepy at all.
'Shall we then?' Harry asked Hedwig. The snowy owl just blinked at him. 'Right,' Harry mumbled to himself. 'Let's do this.'
The young boy with the white owl set off into the dark cemetery, completely alone in the world at that moment.
After wandering through the cemetery for a while, Hedwig hooted and flew off Harry's shoulder. She landed in a tree and looked back him.
'Want me to follow?' Harry asked his oldest friend. Hedwig bobbed her head and flew to the next tree. 'Alright then,' Harry shrugged, 'not like I had a real plan anyway.'
The owl led her wizard through the trees until they came the oldest part of the cemetery, where she settled again on Harry's shoulder and looked pointedly at the clearing she had found.
'Time to set up camp?' Harry hopefully asked his owl. Hedwig bobbed her head and made a weird chuffing sound, which Harry realised was laughter. 'Hey!' He exclaimed. 'I'm tired! Don't laugh at me.'
Hedwig just chuffed again and settled on a nearby gravestone to watch her wizard set up their temporary home.
The tent was surprisingly easy to set up. Harry had expected to put it together by hand like they had Mr Weasley's tent at the World Cup in a few years (time is confusing). But upon opening the bag, Harry discovered that this tent could be set up with a tap of his wand, using passive magic like when he shrunk and unshrunk his new trunk.
'Sweet,' Harry grinned as he tapped the tent and watched it all come together quickly and silently. 'I love magic.'
As soon as the tent was set up, Hedwig once again alighted on Harry's shoulder and the two headed into the tent.
It was just as the model in the store, only sparsely decorated and in need of customisation. Harry knew that he could tap his wand on the walls and carpets to change the colours, but he was too tired to do that now. So he sat on the rung in front of the empty fireplace and ate his hot pies, sharing with Hedwig when the owl wanted a taste. Then he stumbled his way to his bedroom, enlarged his trunk and pulled out his pillow and blanket and just fell into bed and slept. Hedwig settled on the bedhead to watch over her wizard while he slept. Finally, her wizard was safe.
*Author's note: Please forgive me for any and all mistakes regarding this location, I am not local to the area, I'm not even in the same country, I'm literally working from Google Maps and Images and from Wikipedia to make this whole camping thing work and I'm not sure why I decided to go down this route it's doing my head in but it is kinda fun too so please just bear with me and remember, this is a work of not only fiction but fanfiction, so while I've tried to make the locale as true as possible, but I simply cannot so I have taken some creative license. If you have been to this location please feel free to point out any innaccurcies so I can fill in my knowledge a little. Thank you for sticking with me so far!