A year in the life of Harry Potter
Chapter 6: August, 3
Like the day before the gang washed themselves at Trafalgar Square, and then he went off with the twins to the Tower of London.
"Don't use the same excuse as yesterday and, if you should see any people you saw yesterday, try to stay clear of them," Emmett advised Harry.
"Why not?" Harry asked.
"Cause it'll seem suspicious if you loose your parents two days in a row," Frederick said.
At lunch time they met again, and the three of them walked to Waterloo Station where Henry, Abigail and Francis were already waiting. They gave the money to Henry who pocketed it.
"Where is Miriam?" Emmett asked.
"A woman recognized her," Francis said. "There was a policeman at Paddington Station where Miriam and I had gone to, and he took her with him to the nearest police station. I suspect she'll be brought back to the children's home."
"Did you - did you ever loose someone before?" Harry asked in a low voice. He hadn't wasted a single thought about what would happen if he got taken to a police station.
Henry nodded solemnly. "When we ran away we were eight in total, but two talked too much and got taken back by the police."
That afternoon none of them were in the mood for begging, fearing that they'd get taken back. They walked across London, following Henry who led them towards Madam Tussaud and then 221b Bakerstreet, but Harry didn't even look at what was supposed to once have been his hero's home. At evening they reached the Globe Theatre, and Henry led them along a narrow passageway to the back of a pub.
"Hey, Ernie," he called to a drunken, old-looking man who lay in a pile of rubbish.
"Henry, dear Henry," the man replied, staggering towards the gang, a half-ful bottle of beer in his hand. "My, my. You've found 'nother one I see."
"And lost Miriam," Abigail reported.
"That's a pity, is it not?"
"Got a few scraps of paper here?" Henry questioned.
"Depends what comes out for me," Ernie said, nearly falling over as he tripped over an empty can of baked beans.
Henry fished a coin out of his pocket and tossedit over to Ernie who caught it.
"Two pounds?" he asked, turning the coin to look at every single angle. "Not more?"
"Two pounds and not a penny more," Henry said firmly.
"Well, then. Let's see what I have." Ernie turned around on his heels, finding it hard to keep balance. He staggered back to where he'd lay on the floor and fell on his knees, rummaging through the piles of rubbish. Occasionally he threw some paper or card board over his shoulder, and Henry gestured to the twins to pick them up.
"All I can find," he said apologetically.
"This'll be enough," Henry said, throwing another fifty pence at him which he manged to catch.
"This'll be enough to buy me another bottle of beer," Ernie muttered as the gang left.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked as he tried to keep up with Henry who strode past the Globe Theatre and behind a nearby building. There was an empty bin, some left overs of wood and a lot of ash. The twins put the paper and cardboard down, and Abigail started to build up a pile in the bin. Henry pulled a packet of matches out of his pocket and set the pile on fire.
"We're doing this to show Miriam that we remember her," he said, taking a big cloth which lay beside the bin. He gave it to the twins who started to slowly wag the cloth above the fire, making middle-sized black clouds of smoke appear. They flew up in the cloudless sky.
"When we first ran away we swore that if anyone should be taken back the others would do this to show them how much their loss meant to us," Abigail whispered, trailing the smoke with her eyes. "Though we never hoped that it would ever come to that."