Chapter Two - Thirsty
Time was everything. Harry had been told that, over and over again. Drilled into his head ever since he was a child learning to take his first steps. When you lived a hard life like he did, every second counted.
Harry sat on the curb of the busy street, messy black hair threatening to cover up his emerald eyes. The man who had just bought his last statue was stopping at the Café that Harry was no longer allowed in. It was complete rubbish, he thought to himself with a half grin. He had not been the one to light that firecracker!
Putting his right hand down on the curb to boost himself up, Harry headed towards the Allegheny River. He knew of a spot along it's shore where driftwood would routinely get caught. Not that he expected to find the right piece today. That was one thing has father had taught him.
"Hey Birdman," came a holler from behind Harry. He turned around and smiled as he saw Nick approaching.
Growing up homeless on the streets of Pittsburgh was not fun, but having friends like Nick made up for it. A hippie in every sense of the word, they had known each other for most of the 17 years Harry had been alive. Long dirty blonde hair ran wild down Nick's back, with shades of blue clothing gracing his slim body. In a lot of ways, Nick was even more of an outcast then Harry. Nick grew up in a house, with parents and all the luxuries that such an upbringing provided. He choose to hang out with Harry. He just did not care. It was a type of bravery that Harry wished he could emulate.
"Did you sell it?" Nick asked as he came up beside Harry and they started to walk.
"50 dollars."
"Rub a dandelion fur on my cheek! That's awesome. That will be enough to fatten you up some." A car beeped in the background, cutting him off. "Or maybe get you a haircut."
Harry laughed. "You are one to talk." No matter how much Harry cut his hair, it always seemed to grow back at a much faster rate then the hair of those he knew. It was maddening. Eventually he just gave up until it started to make funny animal shapes.
"Indeed." Nick paused to wave hi to Lenny, the hoagie vendor. "Any idea what you are going to make this time? You are going to the river, right?"
"Yeah, I was thinking about making a pirate. And if that works, maybe start a long term side project of a pirate ship or something."
Harry was rewarded with a slap on the back by Nick's left hand. "Finally graduating from animals huh? I like it!" Nick flipped his right wrist and it cracked. He was constantly doing that.
The animals Nick was referring to were wooden statues Harry carved out of driftwood recovered from the rivers. It was his main source of income. And by that, he meant his only source of income. He had made just about every animal possible.
"Let's hurry up," Harry muttered as he started to jog. Nick groaned as he picked up his pace to match his friend's. "I think it's going to rain!"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Nymphadora Tonks winced as she saw the flash of green highlight the wall behind her. She hoped that none of the Order had been hit by that. These Death Eaters were throwing killing curses around like they were candy! Did they not care if they hit one of their own? She snorted. They probably did not give a griffin's ass. They were winning. Nobody wanted to admit it, not even Dumbledore, but it was true.
Tonks peeked out from behind the stone she hiding behind to cast a curse in a Death Eater's direction. Their mission was simple. Defend the cache. The mission was what it had been for years now, it seemed like. Defend, defend, defend. Never attack. The Order never had enough people to attack. But, it was like Remus always told her. "It is the quality of one's convictions that determines success, not the number of followers."
In this, they were defending a box. It was directly behind Tonks, which made her nervous. But Dumbledore said it was to be kept safe; that You Know Who could not be allowed to have it's contents. They had no idea what Dumbledore had in it. So for the past year Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley and herself had been moving this box around once every two days to a new location. At first she had tried to give herself a new, unique hair color every time they changed locations, but even her active imagination could not come up with that many colors!
Out of the corner of her eye, on her right side, she saw Remus stand up, and then instantly duck to avoid a curse. She swore to herself as she started firing off spells at the 5 or so Death Eater's that had found them, trying to cover him. Arthur was doing the same. Damn him for trying to be a hero!
As Remus brought his wand forward, wordlessly casting the spell, water flew from the tip of it. Not just a little squirt either. TONS of water, a river gushing out from him. As it hit the Death Eaters, who tried to ignore it, they started to scream. She watched as the water hit a Death Eater's hand. Instantly, the skin started to peel off, hanging off his wand which was still held up by his bones. The man's howl was excruciating. Tonks eyes widened. An acid like substance in the water? That was particularly nasty. It saddened her, in a way. When she first met Remus and got to know him, she could never imagine him doing something like that. But it was necessary. Protecting this box was essential.
With a nod from Remus all three of the Order advanced forward, shooting spells at the retreating Death Eaters who were trying to avoid the water and deflect the Order's attacks. Two of them disappeared, apparating away. The one grabbed the other way and did the same. The final one started to warp when Tonks cast her spell at it. It just caught up and he was whipped back, hard onto the ground, wand falling forgotten away from the creature.
Remus, Arthur and Tonks all approached the collapsed Death Eater, wands pointed at the pile of human waste.
"Remove it," Arthur said in a steely voice. Dark shadows dominated his eyes. Tonks knew he missed his wife something fierce. She gave an almost imperceptible look towards Remus. She could not imagine being away from the one she loved for that long.
The Death Eater slowly took off his mask, and all three of the Order stared in shock. This was their biggest catch yet. Laying on the ground, at their mercy, their prisoner, was Lucius Malfoy.
"Nymphadora, go back to HQ now. Get Mad Eye." Remus had a calm tone to his voice but she could tell he was worked up.
"We will apparate to the next point with the… cargo… in case they come back," Arthur added. "So meet us there."
Malfoy snorted. "Cargo?" A slimy smirk came across his face. "Did your precious Dumbledore even tell you what it is you guard with your pathetic lives?"
None of them cared enough to take the bait. They were all veterans of this terrible war now.
It was starting to sprinkle rain as Harry and Nick approached the river. "… so that is what I want to get father for his birthday, and what the spare money will be going for," Harry stated to Nick, who nodded.
"I like the idea." Nick laughed as he saw the river come into view. "We are at the river."
"Never fish in the river," Harry laughed.
"Never swim in the river," Nick added.
"Never have intercourse in the river!" they said together. That had become a routine for them. A few years back someone had spray painted those words on a nearby warehouse wall. So every time they came here, they just had to say it. Recently another artist had written MAKES MUTANNT CHILDURN across the phrase. Harry was not sure if the misspelled words made it better or worse.
Their laughter was cut off by a scream. Maybe a hundred yards downstream, Harry could see a rather large man, holding a woman by her arms, dragging her. She was trying to fight him off but it was useless.
Harry took off running, Nick right behind him. The large man heard them coming and punched the woman in the gut, causing her to kneel over on the ground. As he turned around to face Harry and Nick, Harry threw himself at the man, trying to knock him on the ground by running at him shoulder first. Kind of like a bull would. Except Harry was not a bull. The man took a step backwards at Harry's impact. Harry tried to back up but the man grabbed him by the throat and picked him up. Instinctively, Harry's hands went to his throat to try and pull the man's hand away while his feet kicked at the criminal, but that did not work. He gagged, starting to see colors. He was blinking his eyes furiously, so he missed seeing the rock make contact with the side of the man's face.
The criminal instantly dropped Harry, his hand going to the side of his head and coming back covered with blood. He growled and turned at Nick, who was preparing another rock. But the man reached him first. Harry started to try and stand when he saw the criminal's hand go into his pocket, and pull out a knife. It was cliché to state, but if Harry had to describe his feeling right then, his heart stopped.
"WATCH OUT," yelled Harry as the man brought the knife up, slashing Nick across the cheek. Nick stumbled back in shock. The man brought his knife up over his shoulder, ready to stab Harry's best friend with it. As he moved the knife forward, Harry felt… odd. He thought he screamed no, but he could not be sure. All he knew was that suddenly, the criminal was thrust backwards by some unseen force. His feet left the ground and he flew all the way across the river into a tree on the other side. He hung there on the tree, as if he had hit it as such an impact that he was somehow stuck on it. But eventually gravity took over and he fell face forward into the river, leaving a blood angel on the tree and a trail of red in the river as his body washed down stream.
Harry was in shock, still trying to get his breath back, and figure out what the hell had just happened. How was the possible? How could a man fly like that, with no obvious force propelling him? Harry thought he must be seeing things, that he was woozy from the thrashing he had received from the criminal.
"Hey Nick, you alright? Did you see that?!"
Nick was still on the ground. Harry hoped his cheek was alright. He jogged up to him, and looked down. The knife was sticking out of his cobalt sweater. There was no life in his best friend's eyes.
"No," Harry whispered to himself. "No no no no NO!" He grabbed his buddy's shoulders and started shaking them, trying to get him to wake up even though he knew it was useless. His mind went blank with terror. He had never seen anyone die before. And this was not just anyone.
Tears flew from his eyes as he stood up. He had to get help. He started to walk, which turned into a run. The woman who was being accosted by the criminal was nowhere insight. No doubt she had taken off as soon as she was able.
Harry tripped and fell, covering the front of his patched jeans and flannel shirt with mud from the sprinkling rain of the past few days. He got back up and kept running. His father. He would go get his father! He would know what to do.
It happened again, but this time it was a street curb. Harry fell and whacked his head off the pavement. "DAMN IT," he yelled as he sat on the side of the street, tears now running faster than the river. Why? Why did this have to happen?
Harry felt a hand on his shoulder, and a female voice spoke. "Are you okay?"
Harry shook his head, trying to get his bearings, to come to grips with what had just happened, but just mentally unable too. His brain just could not get there, it could not make the connections.
The voice spoke again, and Harry had no idea what she said. He turned to look at her, maybe just to distract himself. He had lost his glasses when he had fallen so he could not really see her that well.
"What did you say?" Harry asked, not all that kindly.
"I asked if there was anything I could do to help," she said, reaching out and touching his shoulder again. "My name is Hermione."
A/N - Thanks for reading! Please review and leave your thoughts, it pushes me to write more!
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