A/N: Next chapter will be on the 22nd! (Hopefully.) Enjoy!
THE BARRIER
It was a tired Harri who stared at the entrance to Kings Cross as the family car finally pulled to a full stop.
"Get out." Uncle Vernon bit out from the driver's seat.
With haste Harri unlocked then opened her side door, scrambling to grab Hedwig's cage and get her bird to safety. The boot had popped open as she passed behind the vehicle, revealing the large trunk filled with her school things that she hadn't seen since she'd last stepped off the Hogwarts Express. A small thrill went through Harri at the sight of it, just as it also reminded her of just how much trouble she'd be in with her Professors when they found out how she hadn't done any of the summer assignments. For a moment Harri wondered if she could visit Diagon Ally during the school year, before she was abruptly brought back to the present when a porter made his way towards her with an empty trolly.
"Good morning, young sir? Would you like some help?" The young man asked as he offered the trolly for her bird.
Internally Harri winced. The first thing Aunt Petunia had done at the start of summer was sit Harri down to cut her lengthening hair until it was shorter than the tops of her ears. It was a shoddy job at best, but Harri supposed it was better than the time Aunt Petunia had taken the electric razor to her head.
She had been so embarrassed at the time that when she'd gone to bed that night, she hadn't the courage to call Goku and his Grandpa and dreaded going to her very first day of school the next day. Luckily her hair had mostly grown back by the next morning, the inky black locks falling just past her ears in that naturally messy way that they wanted to, saving Harri from any public embarrassment and she'd spoken to Goku briefly that morning. Even after the flogging of her life when they'd found out about her hair, her Aunt never took a razor to Harri's head again. That didn't stop the woman from cutting it impossibly short though.
The clothes Harri wore were also ones that were once Dudley's. They were three sizes too big for Harri so the shirt hung off her slim form like some formless dress that Harri had to tuck into the pants to avoid it falling off completely and she'd had to use another one of Dudley's old shirts as a belt to keep the pants from falling down constantly.
The nice clothes Harri had taken the time to buy for herself before the term last year had been in her school trunk under the stairs. But as Harri thought about it, she'd probably not fit in those either at the moment. She'd need to regain the weight that she lost first.
Still, gratefully, Harri set Hedwig down on the trolley, nodding her head. "Yes, thank you." She said softly, cringing somewhat at the grate on her throat talking produced. Harri still wasn't sure if it came from not talking for almost all summer or from all the crying she'd done recently. It also didn't help with strangers thinking she was a boy.
They got Harri's trunk out, the task made much easier for the girl when she let the porter do the job for her, and closed the car boot. As soon as it shut the car took off and Harri coughed some from the emissions left behind. She caught the porter staring off at the vehicle with a look that could have been disbelief but the expression had disappeared quickly as he noticed her stare.
"And where will the young sir be going this day?" He asked her, giving a warm smile. "I can accompany you there."
"Platform nine." Harri responded after a moment of silent debate.
There was no point in trying to tell him she was a girl, she'd tried it several times with the adults at the school she had gone to before Hogwarts and they either didn't believe her- and thought that she had some sort of problem in the mind- or they'd start asking a bunch of questions that made Harri uncomfortable. There was once even a teacher who made a house call to the Dursley's. It's result had forced Harri to stay in her cupboard under the stairs for two weeks straight. When she'd eventually returned to school she never saw that teacher again and she quickly stopped correcting people all together after that.
Instead she turned her attention to her current predicament. Once she'd get to the platform Harri would have to get rid of this porter somehow; there was no way he had magic as he hadn't recognized her like all other magicals seemed to be able to. She'd have to think of a way to ditch him as they walked.
A pleasant enough conversation was kept up, though. The porter taking responsibility for pushing Harri's trolley- much to the silent relief of the young witch.
Even with finally getting bigger meals Harri still found doing normal tasks much harder to carry out after a summer of meager scraps and no exercise. She had become tired after simply getting down the stairs that morning. Harri suspected a lot of her lethargy came from the fact that her body had been trying to heal and recover it's magic while not being given the proper tools- Madam Pomfry's potions, actual food, proper rest- to do so. She might have had done accidental magic the other day, but it hardly meant that she was fully recovered, which was why Harri had eventually decided not to call Goku. She couldn't take the thought of speaking to him for only a few seconds before she'd fall down dead- as she suspected that would happen if she strained her magic so much as to reach across realities- and he'd have no idea what had happened.
Last year she'd gorged herself on food in the Welcome Feast at Hogwarts, only to throw up most of it later that night. She'd only gotten better through the year by slowly increasing her food portion intake, and now knew that she'd have to start all over again this year. It was such a shame too because Harri knew that the food Hogwarts had always tasted good. Then again, all food tastes better then scraps, that the food Hogwarts gave her was hot was an even bigger bonus in the girl's book.
Harri suspected, like getting used to eating bigger meals, she'd have to use the same logic with her magic. Little spells that cost her nearly nothing to do would need to be exercised first, before she moved on to bigger demands like calling Goku. Which meant that Harri would be pushing herself to her utmost limit as soon as she was able to wield magic without the threat of the ministry looming over her- namely being, when she got to Hogwarts.
"You'll be alright here then?" The porter asked even as he looked around for the nearest bobby. Only when he spotted one did the porter finally turn to see Harri's nod of confirmation. "Alrighty then! An officer is right over there if you happen to need anything." And the man made sure to point out the bobby to Harri before he gave her a farewell.
With a relieved sigh that she hadn't needed to do anything, Harri turned towards the pillar that separated platforms nine and ten. As discretely as she could Harri made sure no one was paying her any mind before she began to make her way to the pillar. It'd be the second time that Harri would've ever gone through the magical barrier that separated those with magic from those without it.
Instead of the cool silky feel, like passing through a silk curtain, that Harri normally felt from the barrier, she instead nearly bit out her tongue at the jarring rattle of her full stop when the trolley crashed straight into the pillar and forcefully smashed it's handle into her chest. Wind knocked out of her, Harri only realized she'd fallen to the floor after the bobby pointed out to her earlier had helped her to her feet.
"Are you alright, sir?" The man asked her when he saw how Harri's eyes finally focused. He kept his hands on her shoulders for assurance as he bent to meet her gaze.
Unable to speak yet, Harri just gave a nod and rubbed tentatively at her chest. The bobby saw the action and grimaced.
"Got you good, didn't it? What were you thinking was going to happen, running at that pillar?"
At that Harri slowly shook her head. "L- lost," she took a moment to cough, words not quite wanting to force themselves out of her throat. She tried again, "lost control of the t- trolley."
The look on the bobby's face told Harri how he didn't quite believe her. It was a look she was quite familiar with, growing up with the Dursley's.
"Well, I'm glad you and your friend here are alright." Straining, the officer gestured to Hedwig, whose cage had been rightened quickly while he'd helped Harri stand. The bobby then looked around with concern before a frown pulled at his mouth. "Now, where are your parents?"
Eyes widening, Harri felt her heart skip a beat. Would the bobby take her back to the Dursley's if she told him that she was alone?
"Harri?"
Luckily the raven haired witch didn't need to panic any farther. With her name called, she turned towards the one who'd said it. Messy bushy brown hair obscured Harri's vision and the girl felt arms squeeze around her middle like a vice.
Immediately Harri knew who it was, she'd spent all previous year getting used to how her friend gave attack-greetings and attack-goodbyes. It was like she'd known how Harri hadn't received any hugs until then and was determined to make up for lost time in doubling down on them.
"-Nee!" Harri coughed her surprise, breath in even shorter supply now. She might know who was giving her a hug but it had still been very unexpected. That and she hadn't had any human contact all summer- the warmth it provided was another type of suffocation all on it's own.
Just as quick as it came the vice grip disappeared, leaving Harri feeling like she'd just come across a whirlwind of some sort. In front of her now stood her friend, a glare in her brown eyes and hands on her hips. The welcome Harri had received moments ago was now completely gone.
"Harri! Why haven't you answered any of my letters?!" Hermione demanded with all the authority of a twelve year old who acted as though they were already an adult. "I thought something had happened! I wanted to visit too, but you never gave me your address either!" She then seemed to give Harri a double take, "and why are you dressed like that?"
Between Harri's trolley hitting the pillar and Hermione's entrance then sudden anger, quite a crowd had begun to form. Noticing it for the first time, Harri felt her gut roll from so much attention after receiving none at all for the last three months.
A lot quieter than she normally would have, "hello to you too, Hermione." Harri greeted first, since her friend seemed to have forgotten that step completely. Hermione flushed at the reminder but didn't back down.
"It's- er- a bit complicated." Harri then said, glancing around at the crowd pointedly.
Before her friend could do no more than look around with realization, there was a call from behind.
"Hermione!" Huffed a woman as she slowed to a stop in front of them, face flushed from exertion. Brown eyes, the exact same shade as Hermione's, were set firmly on the young bushy haired witch. "Do not run off! What if I had lost you in this crowd?!"
"I take it this one is yours then?" The bobby made himself known by stepping forwards as he spoke. Hermione's mother looked a little alarmed at noticing the man but nodded.
"Yes, Hermione's mine." She confirmed verbally even as she stepped forwards protectively. Her brown eyes roamed and took stock of the overturned trolley and askew trunk and ruffled Hedwig who glared at everyone who dared meet her great yellow gaze. "Is everything alright officer? There seems to have been an accident here?"
"Hopefully it'll all get cleared up in a moment." The man replied kindly, "do you happen to know this young man here?"
Hermione was quick to introductions. "This is Harri mum! I didn't get to introduce you at the train last year because Harri had to leave rather quickly. Harri, this is my mum!"
"The same Harri Potter I was told about all summer?" Emma raised a brow at Hermione but stretched out a hand to Harri all the same. The raven haired girl blushed as she shook it and Emma smiled warmly. "It's nice to finally put a face to the name. I'm Emma Granger. Though I wasn't expecting to meet a young man-"
"Mum!" Hermione interrupted, face even redder than before. "Harri is a girl! She's just wearing bigger clothes and- Harri why is your hair cut short like that? It was so long and pretty just last year!"
It felt like the very air she stood in was on fire as shame crept up and stung her. Harri looked away from her friend's imploring-bordering-incredulty stare that seemed to have done it and shook her head.
"Hermione, Emma!" Came another call, though decidedly more masculine this time. A man had pushed his way through the slowly dispersing crowd, face flushed and a full trolley being pushed ahead of him. "Please don't just leave me at the stairs like that again. I needed to employ a porter to help me get this trolley the rest of the way up!"
"Sorry, love." Emma responded as she turned to whom Harri assumed was her husband. "I didn't want to loose Hermione."
He gave a look to his daughter, hazel eyes questioning.
"I told you both how I'd spotted Harri when we came in!" Hermione both whined and pouted as she explained, "I just wanted to catch her before she went on to the platform so that she can meet you..."
That's when Hermione's father turned his attention to the young witch that stood beside his daughter, glancing up at him and his wife with wide green eyes when she noticed him looking.
"H- Harri Potter, sir." She introduced timidly.
The man was not large like Uncle Vernon but he was quite tall and broad shouldered. There was no doubt in Harri's mind how this man could easily lift both her and Hermione up at the same time without issue. His short brown hair was styled off to one side. With a smile that showed off perfectly straight white teeth, the man reached out a large hand to Harri for a shake.
"You can call me Dan, Harri. It's nice to meet you." Dan greeted back with a firm shake. "We heard a lot about you and a Neville all summer long."
"Dad...!" Hermione did whine then and Harri saw how she seemed to be embarrassed now.
Seeing all was well, the bobby had explained to Emma of the crash and confirmed that the two children were friends before he left as Hermione tried to derail her father's attempts at embarrassing her in front of Harri. Eventually Hermione decided that she was ready to go. With a swift hug of goodbye to her parents Hermione took her trolley and directed it to the pillar between platforms nine and ten. Harri's eyes widened as, too late, she realized what Hermione was about to do.
"Hermio-!" Harri started, only to wince at the abrupt crash the other witch took as her trolley didn't pass through but bounced back painfully into Hermione's chest.
Her parents were the first to reach her, the father easily catching Hermione before she could fall and the mother at her side cooing softly as the injured area was tentatively probed. There was a flare of jealousy that Harri felt for a moment before she ruthlessly stamped it down and went to check on her friend herself.
"Sorry," Harri intoned quietly when everyone had been assured of Hermione's health. "It did that for me too."
"What's wrong with it?" Hermione gasped as soon as she could, "the barrier has been here for hundreds of years! Why would it stop working now?"
Harri gave a shrug, distractedly watching as Emma Granger kept the bobby at bay. Then her eyes went up to the station clock displayed proudly above the platform signs. "We still have time." Harri realized, "we can floo in from the Leaky Cauldron. That's how I went last year."
Nodding, Hermione slowly got back behind her trolley and guided it along side Harri's as they began to leave the station. Dan Granger told Emma of what was going on the moment that she had caught up.
"Alright Harri, it's time to give me my answer! Why didn't you write back to me all summer? You had Neville and I worried sick!" Hermione asked the moment that they were in the Granger's family car, on their way to the Leaky Cauldron.
Eyes on her lap, Harri played with the fringe of her shirt. She sat at the edge of her seat, uncomfortable with how comfortable actually sitting in a seat of the car was.
"I never received any of your letters." She eventually got out, "I had thought you both forgot about me, actually. But then a house elf showed up in my room in July..." here Harri paused for a moment, remembering how odd Dobby had acted when he spoke to her. Then she glanced up at the two sets of eyes that looked back at her from the front seat. Harri lowered her voice even more, "he told me how he didn't want me to go to school this year. And he showed me how he'd been taking all my letters."
Hermione looked scandalized, "he did what?"
"He kept gathering all my letters from you and Neville. There was an entire stack kept in his clothes." Harri explained. "But when I told him that I had to go back to school anyway, he wasn't very... happy. Dobby got me in trouble with my relatives- big trouble. I was kept in the spare room as much as possible for the rest of the summer."
"Oh, Harri..." Hermione frowned, "I know you don't like your relatives, I'm sorry you had to go through that."
Harri blinked. Her gaze rose and met Hermione's sincere brown, confused. It made no sense to her that Hermione was sorry; Hermione wasn't the one to have sent her back there, wasn't the one who made her work past being bone tired and told her to keep working, wasn't the one who kept medicine away knowing that it would only harm Harri in the long run, nor was Hermione the one who locked her up. Hermione's apology was unfounded. If Harri was to receive one, she'd like it to be from the ones who put her through it all. But even then Harri knew that an apology wouldn't be enough. If Goku were here with her, Harri knew what he'd do to them and without discrimination. The only pretense he needed was that he is her friend and she'd be okay with that.
"It's not your fault, Hermione." Harri eventually replied, puzzled.
It was nearing the end of the day. Goku and Kuririn had worked nearly the entirety of it getting the last of the fields overturned so that the fall crops could be planted.
As usual, he was exhausted. The extra weight of the turtle shell Master Roshi had him and Kuririn wear pulled down on his shoulders painfully and slowed him down. It felt like there was no extra energy left in him, even to eat.
The sun had begun to set as it was accustomed to doing earlier during the colder months of the year and Goku kept his gaze on it as he trudged back to Kame House with a weary Kuririn somewhere behind him. Deep oranges and reds had lit the sky on fire the farther the sun dipped down, making the green grass of the hills look golden. It cast dark shadows over the tree tops below. He found the sight quite beautiful.
Suddenly Goku froze. Kuririn, who had tried to catch up to Goku, ran into the back of the raven haired boy's turtle shell with a groan. Not having noticed Kuririn's bump into him, Goku swiftly reached into his shirt with an energy he hadn't realized he still had left over. There he pulled out his precious Window Wood and stared with disbelief at the face that now looked back at him.
He had felt the wood grow warm against his skin, something he hadn't noticed it even did before, and checked just to be sure. Now a well of happy relief suddenly washed over him and a big bright smile lit up Goku's face.
"Ri!" He cried, just a little breathless. She was alive.
He looked over as much of her as he could make out with the little view the Window provided. It looked to him that she had the same idea as her eyes darted around his face.
First thing he noticed was just how thin she looked. He felt a surge of righteous heat rise in his chest at the thought- her relations had kept food from her again. There were no cuts or bruises though, that he could see, and that would be the second thing he would ask about. For now Goku contented himself with the light he found in Harri's eyes at the pure happiness she displayed there even though she never truly showed it on her face. Maybe, once he got her to be here with him, he'd be able to make her give an actual smile.
"Hi, Goku...!" Harri's own greeting was a little choked. He could see in her eyes the elation she felt though, despite her ingrained need to keep these things down.
Goku kept his wide grin though, "you beat the intruder." He stated, sure of it.
"I did." Harri replied, just as happy. Her background was somewhat dark but Goku could just make out the red curtains that surrounded Harri's bed at Hogwarts. At once he was glad to see her there, knowing that the place kept her well fed and gave her some sense of freedom.
His eyes settled on her own and the loud happiness he saw there had quieted. Something had happened and it bothered Harri immensely if that look had anything to say for it.
"Tell me."
Her expression crumpled, "I'm sorry, Goku..." Harri whispered and he noticed just how rough the sound was in comparison to the soft smoothness he was used to hearing from her. Had she been crying a lot? What had they done to her? A dark feeling settled on him at that. Savagely he stomped it down deep to examine further at a more convent time. At this moment Harri clearly needed his full attention. But ...those relatives of hers didn't know how lucky they were to be in another reality entirely.
"I wasn't strong enough."
What fell from her lips then was everything that had happened as she recalled it in as much detail as she could add for him to fully understand. Evidently Goku had sat himself down at the foot of a large oak as he listened intently, ignoring how Kuririn had curiously peered around Goku's head to see what was happening. Eventually Kuririn left, stomach growling, and Goku was left alone. Sat by himself, the moon went unnoticed as it rose higher and higher into the sky.
Unlike Goku, Harri didn't use her gestures to tell her stories. Instead she described things in detail, as best as she could, for Goku. It was born from being stuck in a small cramped space for so long and from not being able to let go of the wood she spoke to in order to see him. She spoke in hushed tones still, the habit only being reinforced as she spoke in a room filled with sleeping peers, but by the end of it all Goku was left seething at Harri's relatives and wishing he was able to be with his friend for once, all the while learning about how dangerously close Harri had come to death several times already.
Those relatives of hers were trying to kill her, he was sure. Again that dark thing tried to rear it's head. He wrangled with it, determined to make it quiet for the moment. It could be let out later. What he needed was to keep his feelings about it all known, but not taken out on Harri.
He would much rather loose his tail all over again, along with his dominant arm, than push Harri away with his anger.
She felt special to him in a way he couldn't put a name to, and that wasn't including the facts that she had magic and that his Grandpa had adored her too. To Goku she was just Harri, and ever since he could understand the severity of her life he has wanted her to be safe and happy.
Somehow, if it included Harri, those two things were never easy to get or keep for any long period of time.
"One day." Goku reminded his oldest friend seriously, making sure to catch her eye. He hadn't forgotten and she shouldn't forget either.
Harri nodded, like she often did during this ceremony of sorts, and relaxed.
With that task completed, Goku's smile returned and he told her his side of the story.