A year in the life of Harry Potter
Chapter 6: August, 4
In the middle of the night Harry woke up from the noise of coughing. As he sleepily looked up he made out Abigail who sat up straight, a tissue in front of her face, coughing vigorously. Next to her was Henry, whispering things to her.
"Go back to seep," Henry whispered as soon as he noticed that Harry was awake.
Suddenly Abigail held the tissue away from her mouth, and, in the moonshine, Harry could see something red against the white of the paper.
"Harry, you go with Francis," Henry decided after breakfast. "We've got an even number of us, so we don't need to go in trios anymore. And please, for god's sake be careful all of you."
"We will," the others replied as they went away.
"We're going to King's Cross," Francis said, leading Harry away from the others. "There are always enough people there to get a few bucks off."
"What if one of us gets... you know... taken away?" Harry asked.
"Then the other one will try and find the others as soon as possible," Francis answered. "Though I do not think anything's gonna happen."
"Just to be on the sure side, where are the others?"
"Henry and Abigail are at the London Eye and the twins are in Hyde Park. Know where that is?"
Harry shook his head. "Never have been in London before," he replied.
Francis shrugged. "Won't matter, I guess. Nothing's gonna happen, I tell ya."
"How do you know when the other one is taken away?" Harry continued asking.
"There'll be a huge crowd, a policeman or two. Can't really miss it. When Miriam was taken away there was an enormous crowd of people watching coz she kept biting and scratching the policeman. Finally two thugs hit her round the head and she lost consciousness. "
Harry swallowed hard. He hadn't expected police officers to be so brutal. In the Sherlock Holmes books they'd always seemed to be nice people to him, but only now he realized that the world wasn't only white and black but had many, many grey tones in it.
Soon enough they reached King's Cross. In one of the newsagent stores Harry saw the headline of Fashion for Youth: CHILD MODEL MISSING. There was a big picture of him on it. He was just glad that Francis hadn't seen it.
"Twelve o'clock at platform 9," Francis said before they parted.
"Where on platform 9?"
"At that wall-thingy between platform 9 and platform 10," Francis decided. "Know where it is?"
"I'll be able to find it," Harry said. He looked around once he was on his own. It was early in the morning - only gone 8 o'clock. Not that many people were about, but he knew that from the few days he'd already spent begging that soon there'd be a huge amount of people.
He started walking towards a man, tall in height and as thin as a stick. Only too late did he realise that that man was holding a copy of Fashion for Youth, reading the article concerning Harry's disappearance.
"Yes?" the man asked.
"I - I lost my purse," Harry stammered, hoping that the man would recognise him. "Now I-I don't have any money to buy a train ticket home..."
The man looked hard at him. Then he suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Aren't you Harry Potter?" he asked.
"N-no!" Harry exclaimed.
"Course you are! Don't lie!" Just then an officer walked past.
"Hey, officer!" the man called out. Harry tried running away but the man had his hand firm on his arm. "Here, I've caught that missing Harry Potter boy."
The officer came over, looking in interest at Harry. He pushed the hair covering up his forehead out of the way.
"'Tis is him alright," he said. "The scar's telling it all. Come with me now, boy. You're gonna have to answer some questions, and then there's already someone waiting for ya."
"Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked, irritated. After what happened he didn't think they'd want him back.
"No, no. You're relatives gave you up for adoption, and a man and a woman have been waiting for a boy like you a few months now," the officer laughed.
Harry thought about the money in his pocket and about Henry, Abigail, Francis, Emmett and Frederick. As soon as the man let go of him so that the police officer could take him, he set off. Minutes later he saw Francis. He ran towards him, seeing him shake his head in fright as the other boy saw the officer running behind Harry who, seconds later, ran into him. As the two boys fell on the ground Harry pushed the notes and a few coins which he had left over into Francis' jacket pocket.
The police officer grabbed Harry's shoulders and made him stand up.
"Now I got ya," he said. "And don't try to run off again!" He pushed him towards the nearest exit. A police car was waiting outside. Seconds later Harry sat in it, and the driver drove away. Harry saw at the entry to King's Cross station Francis standing there, watching him.
"Harry, please cooperate," a man said. He was the head of the children's home Petunia and Vernon had told to get Harry adopted.
"Why should I?"
"I know that the past few days haven't been easy, but if you don't answer my questions with honesty there's nothing I can do to help you."
"Who said I want your bloddy help?" Harry asked carelessly. As soon as he had arrived at the police station he'd been handed into the care of a woman who had made him wash himself thoroughly and who had made him get changed into some of the clothes his relatives had, along with his books, given the children's home.
"OK. Let's start again," the man said, ignoring him. "Why have you run away from your home?"
"Because I did."
"There has to be a reason for it, Harry. Children don't just run away from their home without any reason. Maybe a different approach will work," he muttered to himself. "OK. You've read the whole series of the Sherlock Holmes books, right? If you were Holmes, what would you do if you'd need to get information out of someone."
Harry shook his head, smiling. "I'm not stupid, Mr. Hatherley," he said. "I like the way you think. So I'll tell you what you want to hear. I ran away because I didn't like it anymore."
"With who did you hang around with?" Mr. Hatherley asked, surprised at the sudden change of mood.
"That is and will always be a secret." Harry gazed ruefully out of the window.
The man asked some more questions and Harry answered every single one with the utmost truth.
"Well, then," Mr. Hatherley said once they finished. " You want to meet your new guardians? Yes, of course you want to."
"No, not really," Harry muttered under his breath.
Mr. Hatherley gave him a warning look. "I act as if you have not said anything," he said.
The two left the police station. In Mr. Hatherley's car they drove out of London and about half an hour later they started driving up a hill*. Few minutes later they reached a house big enough to be a villa. Harry looked at it in awe. In front of it stood two people: a man and a woman.
"These are Mr. and Mrs. Snape," Mr. Hatherley said as he stopped the car.
"Hi Harry," Mrs. Snape said as Harry got out of the car. "We're glad to have you here."
"Hmmm," Harry muttered, not fighting as she embraced him.
"If you would sign this," Mr. Hatherley said to Mr. Snape, holding a piece of paper and a pen towards him.
"Of course," he said, taking both.
As soon as all was signed and Mr. Hatherley had driven away again, Mr. and Mrs. Snape went inside with Harry.
"Now we know that this isn't the most perfect thing that ever happened to you," she said. "We do not expect you to call us mum and dad, of course. It's enough if you call us by our first names. I'm Lucy and this is Severus." Her husband grunted in reply. "Our other child, Quentin, is at a friend's house at the moment and won't be back until evening, giving you enough time to settle down. You're bedroom is on the second floor, the fourth one on the right. Your things are there already. Oh, and there's a bathroom attached to it as well." Harry turned away. "And Harry? If there's anything you want to talk about, we'll always be there for you. I just wanted you to know that."
"What do you want?" Harry asked, hearing the door to his bedroom opening. He lay on his bed, his back facing the ceiling, his face hidden in a pillow.
"I wanted to talk," Severus said. "About today. And the last few days."
"There is nothing to talk about."
"There is more than enough to talk about, Harry, and you know it."
"No, there is not," Harry snarled into the pillow.
"This would be a lot easier if you'd be a bit more cooperative," Severus said, sitting down on Harry's bed. "You can't spend the rest of your life up here hiding in your bed."
"Can."
"Harry - why did you run off in the first place?"
"Cause I did."
"That isn't a proper answer."
"Is."
Severus sighed. "What's wrong? Don't you like it here?"
"I hate it here!" Harry screamed, pressing the pillow into his face as hard as he could, trying to suffocate himself.
"Give me that," Severus said, pulling the pillow away from Harry.
Harry sat up, glaring at Severus.
"I hope my mum comes and picks me up soon," he said icily.
Severus grabbed his shoulders. "Harry - your mum is not going to come back to get you."
"She is! She will come back!"
"She is dead, Harry. She has been for the last ten years."
"I - I don't believe you! It's not the truth. It is not -"
"Harry, it is the truth," Severus said, looking into Harry's eyes. Lily's eyes.
Harry pulled away, tears glistening in his eyes. "I wish - I wish I'd still be with my friends," he sobbed.
"On the streets throwing away your future?" Severus asked disbelievingly.
"I'm doing that right now," Harry huffed, standing up. He walked over to the bathroom door and locked himself in. Severus looked at it, sighed and walked out of Harry's bedroom, knowing that there was nothing he could do now.
That evening was, like the night before, cloudless. Harry spent the evening in his room. Lucy brought him dinner up but he didn't touch it. He stayed up late into the night. And as Harry looked out of his bedroom window he could see a few very small, black clouds of smoke fly into the sky, and he smiled ruefully, remembering what Abigail had told him days earlier, that this was how they showed him that they remembered him.
* That hill does not exist, and I only put it there for the purpose of Harry seeing the smoke.
A/N: I'm going on holiday tomorrow, and the next chapters will come next Monday