re-edited 2015 (see first chapter for notes)
Chapter 6: Down a Dark Alley
Harry wandered around the city. He walked and walked, but he couldn't find anyplace that seemed familiar. And finally, he came to a dark alley.
Then he was set upon by robbers! They stole his shoes. They didn't steal the few coins in his pocket, they didn't steal his clothes, or his socks. Only his shoes.
Why would they only steal his shoes? That made no sense, Harry thought. What did they want with a pair of old trainers?
Well, it didn't really matter. The more important thing was that he was lost. And that he was shoeless. Harry groaned.
He kept walking, and soon caught sight of a police officer.
"Why don't you have any shoes?" the police officer asked as he went past.
"Um, there were thieves," Harry explained. "Down a dark alley."
The man looked skeptical. "Why would they steal your shoes?" he asked.
"I don't know," Harry said.
"Where's your parents?" the man asked.
"I don't have any," Harry said, trying to slip away. The police officer grabbed onto him. "What do you mean, you don't have any?" he said.
"I mean I don't."
"What about your guardians?"
"I don't have any," Harry said. He wasn't going to go back to the Dursleys, that was for certain.
"You don't have any?" the policeman asked.
"That's what I said, isn't it?" Harry retorted. "Let go of me!"
"Come with me," the policeman said, dragging him along.
He pulled Harry around the corner, and Harry looked up at a place that shouldn't have existed. Not anymore.
It was very, very familiar.
The man walked into the building, and went to the lady sitting, bored, behind a desk. He spoke to her for a few moments, keeping a tight hold on Harry who was trying to slip away all the while.
Finally, the woman nodded and wrote something down, and the policeman left Harry.
Harry looked around, but he didn't need to. He knew where he was. He'd been here, in a memory. It was an orphanage—the very same orphanage Tom Riddle had grown up in.
.
.
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