Hagrid walked with Harry to his motorbike, a giant hand on Harry's back, gently guiding him to their destination without having to say a word. * He swung a leg over it, and revved the motor, before looking at Harry Potter. "Well, what are ye waitin for? Hop on behind me!"

Harry Potter stood still as a statue, looking at the huge man on the motorbike. It certainly didn't look safe. And how he had gotten here on a motorbike... and without a boat. At least the dock only had the Dursley's boat attached... Perhaps his was on the other side of the island. "Sir, that doesn't look quite safe." he said doubtfully.

"Hasn't failed me yet! In fact, I took ye on a ride when you were just a bairn!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was right after your parents..." Hagrid looked sad. "Well, never mind that now. Explanations can hold for later, you must be sleepy. Hop aboard."

Harry Potter closed his eyes, gulped, and then sat himself on the motorbike.

"Hold on tight now!" Hagrid cried, and he pushed on the gas. For the first twenty seconds, Harry was completely occupied with making sure that he had a good hold on Hagrid, and not on a woolen dreadlock that was likely to come off if he tugged on it twice. It took him a few moments before he could look down - the wind being what it was, and Hagrid's bulk making certain that he couldn't see straight ahead. All Harry Potter saw below him was water, He felt his heart squeeze, hard, to the point of pain. Opening his eyes again, he realized that they hadn't crashed into the waves yet. "We're- flying?" He asked.

"Whazzat?" Hagrid responded, turning his head (which had the rather misfortunate side effect of banking them upwards and to the right), "Yes, this is a magic motorbike." Hagrid turned towards the front again, and the motorbike was rather reluctantly wrestled into flying straight again. Harry Potter's heart squeezed hard again, and he resolved then and there not to talk to the driver on this mad contraption. To Harry Potter, this was the first magic, the first real magic, that he'd ever seen. There were schools that taught you how to make flying motorbikes?

They got off the bike in an alley (Harry Potter had nearly felt the shingles as they slid into the narrow bricklined crevasse. "Stay behind me, now." Hagrid said, "and look down at the floor, and do just what I tell ya." Hagrid muttered to himself, "Save the crowds for the morning." Hagrid walked into the inn, "The Leaky Cauldron" (Harry certainly hoped the rooms didn't leak), and asked the innkeep about a room for the night.

"Yeah, we've got a room, what's it to ya?"

"I've money ta pay, and that's the truth. Dumbledore's business, if you haven't guessed."

"Well, now, I guess that's different, you old drunken fool. Git upstairs, and take - who is that, anyway? Can't possibly be yours!" She said with a laugh.**

"Never you mind that. Thanks for the room."

As Harry and Hagrid climbed the stairs, she shouted out, "Anytime! Provided you've got sickles that is!"

Harry Potter was relieved to see that their room did have two beds, because he hadn't quite fancied the idea of lying in a bed with the "built like a wall" man. He might get squished in his sleep. He resolved to thank Hagrid for the extra expense, getting a married couple's bed had to cost more than a single. On second thought, they both might not have fit in a single.

The next morning Harry Potter woke, made the bed, and was fixing a tear in Hagrid's laces when Hagrid got up. "Boy, you're up early. Couldn't sleep?"

Harry Potter shook his head, not rising from what he was doing, and his stomach gave a loud growl.

"I oughtta send down for something to eat, lemme get my pouch." Hagrid said, fumbling at his waistline pocket (which he wasn't wearing yet, of course).

"I'll get it!" Harry Potter said with a grin, happy to have something to do. Hagrid raised an arm, and got out, "Now Harry" before the door was open and Harry was running down the hall. His head turned back, he called, "I'll have them put it on your tab!"

Harry rushed into the public house part of the inn, where there was a noisy crowd of people. He was soon lost beneath the heads and shoulders of the preoccupied drinkers and noshers, popping out only when his direction sense had led him to the bar.

"I'd like two of your best meals, and you can charge it to Hagrid." Harry Potter said, effecting a confidence he surely didn't feel. Still, if the man was paying for extra room, he probably wouldn't notice paying for a bit of extra food. And if Hagrid, by some miracle, didn't eat all of his, Harry could certainly find room in his aching belly.

"You..." Tom said, still polishing a glass as he peered down at Harry, "Harry Potter." he said louder, drawing looks from people around them.

Harry Potter didn't much care for the staring, and so said, "Fraid not, that's my cousin. Dudley Dursley at your service." He'd deal with the fallout later.

"But... your scar..." Tom said, pointing at Harry's head.

"Oh, that's just magic marker. I put it in yesterday for a laugh, and now it won't come off. I guess that's why they call it magic. Harry'll be by tommorrow if you're looking for him - my parents were concerned he had gotten sick and had him stay home to sleep it off." At least, that's what Harry wanted his aunt to do, though it never really happened.

"We'll send the meals up, and nothing but the best in service and speed." Tom said with a smile. Harry was relieved to note most of the people turning away from him at his words.

Harry moved through the crowd like a fish through water, his mind on one objective. Why the bleedin' hell do people I've never met know my name? Harry needed answers, and he swore he'd get them out of Hagrid, one way or another.

*animal trainer. nonverbal communication is instinctive, by this point

**Tom's not always up. this is the nighttime innkeep.

[a/n: leave a review! Harry said that he didn't like staring, and if he could go even one day without it, he'd lie to do it.]