Ch 4: Outlaw

Somewhere in the countryside, Present Day (Day 3)

Harry woke up with a start to find himself in a pitch black place. Having just had a nightmare involving Dementors and the hollow laughter of Voldemort turning his insides to lead; his initial thought was of being trapped in a dungeon until a sudden jerk caused him to bump his head against the roof with a dull thud. He was clutching his head while swearing at the roof when someone slid a curtain in front of him. Harry was momentarily blinded by the sudden exposure to light. Through the blinding flash, he heard a loud, heavily accented voice;

"You all right there kid?"

As his vision returned, Harry looked at the speaker. Peeping in with a concerned look was a massive face. It was about half a foot long and easily as wide as Harry's waist, the creature's small black eyes peered from under bushy eyebrows and its round meaty nose sat atop an even bushier moustache. Combined with messy brown hair and a long brown beard all but covering his mouth gave Harry the impression that it was a massive bear. Still a little shaken, Harry merely nodded. A wide grin immediately spread on the giant face;

"Good for ya. Now crawl outta there, it's a lovely day." Saying these words, the face disappeared behind the curtains once more.

Harry was reluctant about being in the company of a giant stranger but with his head swarming with countless questions, he needed some answers. So, he chose to comply. After he has somehow crawled out of the place, he found himself in a mundane horse-drawn cart. It was about mid-day and they appeared to be in the countryside. Just as Harry had imagined; his companion was a mountain of a man. His paw-like hands were clutching the reins of two horses and his potbelly wiggled with every movement of the cart. Harry felt sorry for the poor duo of horses forced to carry this man's weight and more.

Presently, the man shifted the reins to one hand and offered the other to Harry in greeting;

"Name's Hugh Dodd. Pleasure to meet you."

Harry reluctantly took the hand and gingerly shook it with both his hands.

"Harry Potter. Nice to meet you too." He mumbled.

Satisfied; Hugh went back to driving the cart. Having been occupied with the giant man sitting beside him; Harry had momentarily forgotten about the dull ache in his head from the bump earlier. Now that he was idle however; it returned, worse than before. Carefully massaging it, he turned to Hugh;

"Could you answer some questions if you don't mind? For starters, how did I get here?"

Hugh raised both his eyebrows as if he had forgotten Harry had been unconscious.

"Oh sure! Let's see, found two shady looking rascals trying to put you in the trunk of a car two days ago. You were unconscious. So I stunned them and brought you with me. This is the first time you woke up since."

"Two days? I have been unconscious for TWO WHOLE DAYS?" Harry's shock was evident in his voice.

The last thing he remembered was leaving his home because the voice in his head. Recalling this, his eyes widened.

"My family? Where are they? Are they all right?"

Hugh thought for a bit and replied; "Yeah, I thought of trying to find your folks a while back but decided it would be worse for you, with the mess at Gringotts and the posters and all."

If he had been shocked before, Harry was completely dumbfounded now.

"Gringotts? Mess? Posters? What are you going on about?"

Hugh took a deep breath. His voice was serious when he spoke next;

"Suppose you don't know. A short while before I found you, there was this big blast at Gringotts. First of its kind in history. Killed loads of people and goblins. Trashed half of Diagon Alley. Word has it that some elf saw you enter the bank last and now all the goblins think you did it. The Ministry has sent some of them Aurors to find you so that they can hand you over to the goblins as a peace offering. To reopen Gringotts. There are posters with your face and name everywhere. Your people probably think you're either dead or a criminal. Can't blame them. If I hadn't seen those bastards hauling you away; I would've believed the Ministry too."

He turned to give a brief comforting look to Harry, who was trembling from head to toe.

"Sorry to be the one to break the bad news but you are a fugitive now Mr. Potter."