Chapter 33: Mind the Gap
Harry and Albus dashed down the stairs of number 12, through the gate, and stumbled out onto the pavement of Grimmauld Place. Albus yanked Harry to the left, and they tore off down the street with curses flying past their heads. Harry tried to shield himself and Albus while they ran.
Harry's patent leather shoes and Albus's boots pounded on the pavement for a block, and another. They ducked around a corner to their right and Harry immediately recognized where they were, though he hadn't recognized the direction they'd been going.
King's Cross Station loomed in front of them. They sprinted towards it, ducking to make their targets smaller. The heavy breathing of Cygnus Black began to fade into the background despite the nighttime silence around them. Harry took the lead.
"This way." He led Albus into the station. Instead of going towards the trains and Platform 9 and ¾, Harry and Albus ducked down the stairs to the Underground platforms. Once they were at the bottom of the stairs, they stopped.
"Why did we run? She needed our help! We could have taken him." Harry stopped talking to catch his breath, leaning against a bronze plaque with a raised diagram of the Underground map.
"Harry, those were Hogwarts parents. I ran because I thought it would be better if they didn't recognize us. What if they had recognized us and decided to take Andromeda out of Hogwarts? Or decide not to send Bellatrix and Narcissa? The best thing for them is to be out of that house when she is eleven. Do you suppose our Mr. Black would send his children to a school after the headmaster and one of the professors attacked him? He certainly wasn't going to listen to an explanation."
"So that's your solution? To just leave her with that horrible family where she is hurt and isn't fed and they make her do all of the chores and her cousin picks on her and they make her live in a closet under the stairs and lie to her about how her—"
"I beg your pardon?"
Harry didn't get to answer, because just then, a thick beam of light shot down the stairs and was absorbed into the floor in front of them. Footsteps pounded down the stairs. Harry moved to meet them, but Albus grabbed the back of Harry's vest and held him back. Albus cracked his wand over Harry's head, and Harry felt the distinct feeling of a disillusionment charm descend over his body. Before he could react, Albus dragged him backwards across the platform away from the stairs. They were thirty feet away when Cygnus came into view.
"I saw you bastards come down here! When I find out who you are, you're going to Azkaban!"
Albus was always right.
Cygnus stalked blindly in their direction, firing curses randomly across the platform or into the dark train tunnel. Harry backed into Albus who'd backed into a wall. Harry could hear Albus's breath ragged in his ear. They were both still slightly out of breath from their flight. Harry used his body aura to help calm and silence his own and Albus' breathing.
Both Harry and Albus, pressed against the wall, felt when the station started shaking slightly. The shaking was followed by a rumbling. The rumbling grew louder and was followed by…headlights from the end of the tunnel farthest from them. Cygnus looked around for the source of the rumbling and spotted the train. Noticing that Cygnus was distracted, Harry grabbed Albus's arm and pulled him across the wall at the end of the platform, until they were against the wall that paralleled the tracks. They crept along the wall towards Cygnus, passed Cygnus, and continued back towards the stairs to the rest of the station.
The train rumbled into the station. Its breaks screamed as it came to a stop. Harry and Albus reached the stairs, but stopped as they heard Cygnus roar in frustration.
"I WILL GET YOU. You'll pay for this. And if anybody finds out!"
He stomped towards the stairs and the invisible Harry and Albus. Harry and Albus backed away from the stairs towards the train to get out of his way. He stalked past them and stood at the bottom of the stairs. He looked around once more, scanning the empty platform. Seeing no one, he shouted an expletive, and sent a curse at the wall before trudging up the stairs.
The curse hit the plaque on the wall and ricocheted off to hit the train window. From there it reflected off again, and hit Albus squarely in the thigh. Albus gasped in pain and crumpled to the ground. Cygnus heard the sound and came running back down the stairs. He spotted a visible splatter of blood on the ground under Albus, and drew out his wand.
Harry saw the wand, and acted without thinking. He grabbed Albus around the middle, and carried him under his arm through the sliding double doors of the train. The doors slid shut, and the train started moving. Harry waited until the train was safely in the dark tunnel before he started breathing again. He immediately lowered Albus to the floor, placing his back to one of the walls.
"Where…where is it?" Harry asked.
Albus forced the air out of his lungs and gestured to his left leg. His hand shook.
Harry needn't have asked. Blood was soaking through Albus's white pants just above his left knee.
Harry didn't ask permission before severing the leg of Albus's trousers above the bloody patch. Realizing he wouldn't be able to pull the fabric down without aggravating Albus's wound, he wandlessly vanished it.
His eyes widened when he saw the source of the blood. A tangled web of cuts had minced the skin above Albus's knee. There was a patch at least ten centimeters square where the lines intersected. They were thin and clear, but deep enough to leave scars.
Harry tried to remember—what could have possibly made a wound like this? He closed his eyes and groaned.
It was a perfect map of the London Underground.
He bit his lip. "Alright, I'm going to heal you now, Albus."
Albus grabbed his wrist, and Harry met his eyes. "Leave the scar."
"What?"
"It might come in handy."
"Albus, you've lost a lot of blood. You're not thinking clearly."
"If I regret the decision, I can remove it later. Leave the scar."
Harry couldn't argue with his logic, but hesitated.
"Harry, dear, I'm about to slip into unconsciousness. If it's not too much to ask, would you please close that up…"
Harry mentally smacked himself and started working, careful to leave the scar. He knit the deeper tissue back together, and then began sealing the surface. The train slowed, stopped, and started up again.
Harry looked up to see Albus was frowning in pain. "Almost done," Harry muttered. Albus took a shaky breath.
Harry finished knitting the skin back together, leaving the scars suspiciously perfect. Harry could read the little letters carved into Albus's skin next to the little paths that made up the train lines.
"How does it feel?" asked Harry.
"Better," Albus grimaced as he sat up a little straighter. The train slowed again and stopped. Harry looked out the window and spotted the name "Holloway Road" tiled into the platform wall.
"Er, sorry. Do you mind?" Harry asked, gesturing at Albus's leg.
Albus chuckled, and Harry bent to examine the map now engraved over Albus's knee. Without much difficulty, he found King's Cross and then Holloway Road.
"It looks like we're going north," said Harry. "We can get off and apparate if you'd like or—"
"I would like to sit for a while, if that's alright with you, Harry."
"Alright."
The train started moving again and picked up speed.
"Are you sure you want that scar, Albus? You can't really want 'Queens Park' engraved on your leg forever."
Albus looked affronted. "I couldn't think of anything better than 'Queens Park' to be engraved on my leg forever. It suits me perfectly."
"Really, Albus? And what about 'Old Street'?"
"Clearly it means I will live to a ripe old age. You can attest."
"What about 'Arsenal?'" Harry asked, as they slid into that very station.
"Where would we be without it?" smiled Albus, gazing up to the sign.
Where would I be without you, thought Harry. He found himself opening his mouth to say it before he realized that it was Fawkes compelling him to do so. He slammed his mouth shut.
He realized that his legs were falling asleep. He'd been kneeling over Albus for quite a while. Before he sat down, though, he noticed that the floor of the train was still covered in blood.
"Do you still need any of this?" he asked Albus. He gestured to the blood. Albus looked up at him, confused. Harry tried to meet his eyes while keeping a straight face, but the look of pure confusion was too much for Harry. Harry lips quirked up, and before he knew it he was shaking with laughter. He put his hand down onto the floor to steady himself, but hit the slick of blood instead and slid sideways. He fell heavily, his head landing on Albus's chest. Albus wheezed as the air was knocked out of him, but then Harry felt his chest begin to shake as he chuckled.
Harry straightened up and leaned back against the wall of the train next to Albus. He looked at his bloody hands.
"Yuck." He wiped them on Albus's white vest. Albus turned his head very slowly to glare up over at Harry. He waved his hand, and the blood on the vest disappeared.
"Wow!" exclaimed Harry. "I didn't know you could do wandless magic yet."
"I didn't know I could either," said Albus. "You must be rubbing off on me."
"Obviously," said Harry, wiping more blood off his hands onto Albus's pristine vest. Albus waved his hand again, and all of the blood disappeared off his vest, the floor, and Harry.
"Maybe it's because you insist on prodding me with your magic every time you need to communicate something. I would suggest that if you want to continue dragging me into your scrapes that we should come up with a means of verbal communication." Albus shifted and winced.
"What's wrong? Did I miss something?"
"Ah, no. I'm afraid I'm just…sitting on my wand." He rummaged beneath himself and pulled out his wand. "I'd be quite morose if I'd have broken this," he said.
"Yeah. Makes you feel deathly hollow." Harry mentally slapped himself and started gibbering. "I mean. Uh. I broke my wand one time and I felt terrible. For a long time. Until I fixed it." Why were there still so many secrets?
"Deathly hollow indeed," muttered Albus.
They sat listening to the train rumble along for a few minutes. The train pulled into stations and left. The car remained empty except for Harry and Albus. As they were pulling into Arnos Grove, Harry asked, "What time is it?"
Albus pulled out his wrist to look at his watch.
The face had cracked—or had been smashed, rather. Pieces of glass were missing entirely, and the hands were bent in odd angles. The gold had deep gouges in it, and there was a piece of a spring emerging from under the surface of the face.
"Oh dear," was all he said.
"Albus, I can fix it. Look, see?"
Harry pulled Albus's wrist towards him, but Albus pulled his hand away.
"Don't. It's time has long past." He undid the clasp and slid it off his wrist. He slid it in his pocket. Harry didn't really know what to say.
"Tempus," said Albus. The time flashed in front of them. It was nearing four in the morning.
"Are you ready to go?"
"No," said Albus.
"Well, that's fine. We can just stay here until we get to…" He looked down at Albus's thigh finding the end of their train line. He spluttered and regained composure. "We'll just stay here until Cockfosters."
Albus's face remained entirely passive.
"Excellent."
"Are you sure you don't want me to get rid of that scar?" Harry asked.
"I'm sure, but we could get off on a different stop."
"Why?"
"Clearly it would make you more comfortable," he joked. "What's the stop before that?"
"Oakwood."
"And before that?"
"Southgate."
"And before that?"
"None."
"In that case, we'd best wait until Cockfosters."
Before they reached the stop, Harry helped Albus up to his feet. Albus flexed his knee a few times to make sure everything was working properly, and the train ground to a stop. The doors slid open.
"Mind the gap," he told Albus.
They disembarked. Albus turned to hold onto Harry, and they disappeared.
A/N: By the way, none of the stop names in this chapter were made up. They're all real.