"You did what?"
Sirius sounded past anger.
"Revealed myself to Harry. Are you deaf or something? I've literally said it like, three times."
"Are you mad?" He snarled. "He'll tell the Ministry! They'll find us! We'll be sent back to bloody Azkaban! You idiot!"
"While you're busy shouting at me, I thought you'd like to know that I did it to save his life!"
Sirius' face instantly stilled, like ripples stopping after a stone sinks all the way to the bottom of the pond. "What? Someone tried to kill him? Is he all right?"
"Yeah, he's fine, of course he's fine, he was with me. I knocked the bastard out, calmed him down as much as I could, then took him down to the bar to tell the innkeeper. He's in the VIP room downstairs in the Leaky Cauldron now, with an Auror guard 24/7. I'm not stupid, thank you very much." Elena countered with a stroppy expression, arms crossed.
"Well how did he react? Was he okay? Did he look okay? I mean, you know what I mean, it's just, like, what did he say?"
"Well…"
An hour later Elena managed to get past the Auror guarding the door to Harry's room by sneaking under his chair and slipping through the gap in the door that the Auror had been using to check on Harry every hour, like a creep, but a paid one. She shut the door quietly, snatched up Harry's wand from the bedside table, locked the door with a click and went into the bathroom.
Elena then turned on the shower, as high as the pressure would go, spraying herself with water as she did so, and skipped back into the bedroom, approaching his bed and saying cheerily:
"Morning Scarhead!"
The sound of the shower starting had startled him; Harry had sat up in bed and swore loudly.
"Language, snowflake. You're what, twelve?"
"Thirteen actually." He muttered.
"Oh, so old and full of wisdom. What are you learning at Hogwarts, Wingardium Leviosa?"
Harry scowled. "I know you're an Animagus."
"I took you that long to figure it out. Geez, you're not exactly lightning fast, are you? See what I did there? Lightning fast?" She did finger-guns at him and smiled encouragingly. "Because you've got a lightning bolt…oh forget it."
Harry goggled at her. "How…old are you?"
Elena decided not to take that as an insult. She'd changed a lot.
"Here's a tip for you, dove. Dating advice, free of charge. Unless you have a galleon, because I wasn't joking about that pumpkin juice. What was I saying? Oh! Yeah! Never ask a lady her age. Unless you want to know whether she's legal, in which case, definitely ask. Azkaban sucks, trust me."
He spluttered. "You're…I mean…"
"Got a girlfriend? Cute girlfriend?"
"No, I mean-"He coughed, flushing red. "I don't-"
"What's her name?"
"I don't have a-"
"Of course you don't." She whispered with an exaggerated wink to suggest secrecy. "So are we going or what?"
"What? What are you talking about? The Auror told me I shouldn't go anywhere…"
"Which is exactly why you go somewhere! Come on, Scarhead, that's bad boy trick number one!"
"You're mad…" He mumbled as if it were a new revelation, with expression of complete and utter amazement at the realization.
"Probably!" She agreed. "Now, are we going or not?"
"We have to stay in Diagon alley."
"All right mum." She grinned.
"I could still tell of you, you know." He nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. I could!"
"Ooh I'm quaking in my boots. If you were going to tell of me then you would have done so yesterday. Besides, I saved your life. You owe me. And we're friends, and friends don't report each other to the ministry. So where do you want to go?"
"You escaped with Sirius black! He killed my parents!"
"He killed my boyfriend." Elena said brightly, but her eyes were hollow.
He narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you."
"Of course you don't. Why would you? But I'm don't want you dead, Scarhead. You're kind of adorable, in a confused mole kind of way."
"What? Did you just…call me a mole?"
"An adorable mole. Keep up!"
There was a knock on the door. Elena transformed with a hiss and darted behind the bed.
"Oh thanks you're so helpful," he whispered venomously, and clutching his wand, opened the door
the Auror the Ministry was behind it, face stony.
"I heard a noise. Are you alone?"
"Yes. I was just…talking to my owl?"
The Auror frowned with the air of is…is he okay?
"I'm going to go down to Diagon Alley and do my homework, if that's okay with you?"
"Fine. But you have to stay in my sight at all times. It's for your safety."
This was with the air of a man that didn't really give a crap about anyone's safety and just sort of wanted to go home and be with his wife and kids.
The Auror shut the door. Harry dragged himself out of bed and trudged into the bathroom, then slammed the door so hard the walls shuddered. Elena transformed and curled up on top of his pillow, snoozing until he stormed back out again, his clothes too baggy and big, hair a spiky mess.
She transformed and jumped off the bed, clapping her hands excitedly like a child.
"Can we go now? Canwegocanwegocanwegocanwego?"
"It's early-"
"Canwegocanwegocanwegocanwegocanwego?"
But I don't want to-"
"Canwegocanwegocanwegocanwego-"
"Yes! Fine." He whispered venomously. "Fine."
Grinning, she whispered, "Carry me past him, walk really fast, then put me down when you get downstairs, and he won't look twice."
She transformed, and looked up at Harry expectantly. He awkwardly held out his arms and she jumped up and clung to his t-shirt sleeves, claws obviously digging in him, because he winced.
He practically ran down the stairs and the Auror jerked up out of his seat and followed, as Harry rushed down the stairs into the bar, where a few of the other guests were sitting around having breakfast. Harry immediately ent straight for the bar to order breakfast, and Elena made an exasperated noise like she had a hairball
Elena pushed at his legs towards until he changed direction and stumbled towards the boy's bathroom and Harry stumbled in. She wasted no time in hissing, snarling and swiping until the terrified man standing by the urinal yanked his pants up and ran out of the bathroom, dodging her clawing attacks. She then swiftly transformed, and pointed at the door, whispering furiously. "Lock it!"
"But I don't know how to-"
"Oh, give it here-"
She said impatiently, snatching his wand and waving it at the door. It shut, tight, and clicked.
"Now," She smiled cheerily, sitting abruptly on the floor, cross-legged, like a child. "How are we going to escape Mr Sunshine outside?"
"I don't know." Harry huffed. "Why do you care? You're a fugitive. You're lucky I haven't reported you. Leave me alone. Go away."
"Well that's not very nice." She said, unwavering. "You'd think you'd be a little bit nicer to the girl who saved your life."
"I didn't need your help."
"Alright, and your scar is actually the remains of a cut off unicorn horn. What's it like, being a unicorn, by the way?"
Harry looked baffled. "What…what are you even talking about?"
"You could have a cat, right?"
"What?"
"You have an owl, grouchy little shit, she is, but you could also have a cat. Especially if you kept it a secret."
"What…have a cat? Why…?" He realised where she was going with her question, and tensed involuntarily. "Why would I let you come to Hogwarts with me? You could start killing people, you could do anything."
"That's not a very nice thing to think. You should know me better than that. Of course that's not why I want to go to Hogwarts."
"You don't know you at all. Why would you want to come to Hogwarts, other than to hurt people? You're a murderer!"
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, cupcake."
She waggled her finger patronisingly. "And for the pumpkin juice, of course! It's like I told you." Elena winked. "I'm obsessed."
"But…but…" Harry spluttered, then folded his arms. "No."
"Grumpy." She retorted. "Why not?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Just because."
"Why just because?"
"Because." He said impatiently.
"Well that's not a very good reason, is it?"
There's was an aggravated knock on the door, and the Auror's gruff voice sounded annoyed. "Mister Potter? Is everything fine in there?"
"Just peachy." Elena muttered. "Don't worry, he's just taking a particularly difficult shit."
Harry glared at her before replying, irritated. "Yes, I'm fine. No one's trying to kill me."
He then added darkly. "Yet."
"I'm really not appreciating this constant battle, pumpkin."
"I have to go!"
Elena transformed with a quiet meow and jerked her small feline head towards his open arms. He frowned at her, moving his arms out to look at his chest like there was something there, and she leapt gracefully up in between his arms. He staggered with a quiet 'ah' of alarm, not knowing how to hold her, and Elena wriggled until she was comfortable and then pulled the hem of the jacket round with her teeth to cover her.
Harry scowled down at her, snarling, "Really?"
Elena meowed contently, and he sighed vehemently. "Oh fine. But don't move."
She made a little, indignant, affronted noise, which a disgruntled Harry took to mean that she wasn't stupid.
She was a tiny cat, skin and bone, and Harry didn't need to check in the grimy mirror over the chipped sinks whether she could be seen curled around his left arm under his jacket, but he checked anyway, then waved his wand with some difficulty and muttered, "Alohomora."
Followed by the Auror, Harry walked outside into the bustling Diagon Alley, rucksack with his work in over one shoulder and a small cat tucked under his jacket. She kept clawing at his jacket to keep herself stable, and Harry kept hissing at her to "Stop it!" which further reinforced the Auror's belief that the Boy-Who-Lived perhaps needed to see a doctor.
Harry laboriously made his way over to Florean's ice cream parlour and dropped his bag down on one of the empty tables out in the sun. The Auror frowned at him and then went to examine a stand of dancing golden cauldrons a bit further down the road. The ice cream shop had just opened, and so was empty, except for the wizened Mr Fortescue hurrying around lifting up shutters and throwing open windows and waving his wand to ignite the lanterns in the corners of the room. Unnecessarily, Harry noticed, as it was bright, warm day, but he didn't say anything; in fact, he almost didn't go in, seeing as Mr Fortescue was still in a bathrobe, hair all over the place, but the sign on the door was flipped to 'Open' and Harry wanted ice cream for breakfast. It was one of the only times he'd had to by and large do what he liked, and a sundae with extra sauce and nuts was calling his name.
Elena slipped out from under his jacket and slinked to curl up in the shadows under the old metal table as Harry wandered into the shop, asking a little tentatively:
"Mr Fortescue? I'm sorry, err…are you open?"
"What does the sign say?" Florean proclaimed loudly, flipping up the lid to show the large cauldrons of different flavours of ice cream.
"Urm…open?"
"So then I am open!" He declared, waving his hands with a theatrical flourish.
"Err…great. I just thought…"
"You just thought what, son?" Florean looked up, eyes wide and slightly crazed, glazed over with sleep, hair sticking up at all angles.
"It's just…you're still in your pyjamas, but if you're open, then-"
"Oh, yes, yes, of course!" He waved his wand and his bathrobe magically changed into his usual uniform. "Bloody rooster." He muttered as an afterthought and Harry didn't enquire as to what he meant.
Harry ordered a sundae and, after a moment's deliberation (I mean, what if drinking pumpkin juice would make her into some giant mutant cat that would go around killing people, and that was why she wanted it so badly?) and then also ordered a goblet of pumpkin juice, but "can I have it in a bowl?"
"A bowl? Are you going to be practising be a dog, son?"
"No, sir, it's for my cat."
Florean suddenly looked disorientated. "You have a cat?"
"Um…yes."
"What's it called?"
"Err…Fluffy."
An indignant sneeze from outside told Harry that Elena did not approve of the name.
Florean's expression displayed that his thought process was going down the same way as the Auror's. "…Lovely."
Harry fished in his money bag for some Galleons and tried to put them on the counter, but Florean pushed them back off into Harry's hands. "Nope! I told you! You killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! If he had kept wiping out people I wouldn't have half as many customers now would I?"
He winked at Harry, who smiled back a little uneasily, took his sundae and the dish of pumpkin juice, and went back outside, then popped the bowl on the floor and sat down to eat his ice cream before starting his holiday homework. Elena licked his leg once and Harry took that as a sign of appreciation, and smiled a little reluctantly as he shovelled extra sauce and nuts into his waiting mouth.
This chapter was a bit longer than usual- I hope you liked it!
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Fly xx