Chapter 206

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of JK Rowling's of the Criminal minds writers' fabulous characters. I do however own this story; I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

As keen as he was to be off the train, and as nervous as he was about meeting Spencer in person, Harry climbed off the train in Union Station, Central Los Angeles hoping that Spencer had come to meet him even though he'd insisted that the older boy didn't need to, and he didn't want him skipping classes for him. He thought that he wouldn't have much difficulty following the clear instructions Spencer had given him to catch the A line train and what stop to get off at along with directions to Caltech and where to meet him, but he wasn't keen on the idea of making his way on the crowded public transport system when he was feeling so tired and overwhelmed by yet another strange city.

Harry looked up at the sound of someone calling out his first name, and smiled when he saw a tall, thin, almost sixteen-year-old boy with long curly hair smiling broadly and waving a handwritten placard with his name on it. Harry recognised him at once as the friend he'd last seen five and a half years ago in spite of how much he'd grown. Spencer was considerably taller than Harry was but still as thin and lanky as he had been all those years ago when they'd met in the Hideout.

"You came, thank you!" Harry said fervently, reaching out to hug his friend awkwardly, his gratitude breaking his usual barrier of polite reserve, and allowing him to show just how pleased he was to see his best friend.

"I know how tiring even the train back from Vegas can be and how much I hate strange bus and train stations, and I figured you'd be exhausted and overwhelmed," Spencer replied, hugging back equally self-consciously.

"Yeah, I shouldn't be so tired, the bed on the train was decent and I felt safe in the compartment, but I was just about to say to hell the expense and grab a taxi just so I didn't have to think about how to follow the instructions about trains and buses to get to your dorm," Harry agreed.

"You do look exhausted," Spencer agreed.

"Yeah, I don't know why. Sleeping on the boat was difficult but I got plenty of sleep on the train, I should be caught up by now and instead I feel worse than I did the day I spent in New York," Harry said. The truth was that now that he thought he'd successfully got away from Dumbledore and whoever else in England who was trying to harm or control him, he'd started to look at the future and had no idea what it would actually be. He'd been jittery since the train left Chicago his mind conjuring multiple ways that meeting Spencer in person again could go wrong. He knew from the last couple of weeks that he could do this on his own but emotionally he needed someone to be there for him. If he and Spencer couldn't get along in person, or Spencer didn't like the person Harry had become then he would lose the support that he'd been depending on since they'd started writing to each other. If they couldn't get along in person, would they be able to keep their online conversations or would their new impressions of each other ruin everything?

"It's probably the adrenalin wearing off after the stress of the journey now that you're almost at the finish line. It's the main reason that so many long car trips end in tragic accidents within the last few miles of home as people relax too soon," Spencer replied.

Harry laughed. "I'm sure you're right," he agreed, though he personally didn't know anything about driving statistics. His nerves had settled a little since they'd met. Spencer seemed genuinely pleased to see him and had come to meet him without being asked. He liked the way the older boy showed his caring and concern without overly babying him, prepared to give him choices even though he undoubtedly knew the most efficient way to accomplish the task in front of them.

They reached the right platform and sat to wait, chattering about the last few days since they'd been able to email each other. Harry was interested in everything Spencer was saying to him but he was just so tired and now that he'd arrived safely, the adrenalin driving him to keep going was wearing off and he was starting to crash.

"Sleep on my shoulder if you want, I'll wake you when the train comes," Spencer said.

Harry protested that he wanted to stay awake and talk to Spencer but was eventually persuaded to lean on his shoulder and Spencer gingerly wrapped his arm around his smaller friend to keep him safe. He led his half-asleep friend into a seat on the train and through the transfer from train to bus then off at the stop near the dorms. "You have to wake up. I can't be seen carrying an unconscious boy into the dorm building, someone would call the police and child protection," Spencer said shaking him slightly.

"They don't need to see me at all," Harry said grinning. He looked around and pulled Spencer into a gap in the bushes before throwing his invisibility cloak over himself. "I'll follow you."

"You told me about this but this is amazing but how will I know you're following?" Spencer asked wide eyed. "Could I carry you like this?"

"It's better if I walk you would look ridiculous carrying a heavy invisible object, and there's a risk of the cloak slipping off one of my arms or feet. Go slowly and I'll touch your arm after you turn so you know I'm still with you and make some excuse for holding doors open, pretend to look at your phone or drop your keys or something, once I'm through any doorway I'll touch your arm to let you know you can close it. Don't talk to me, or it will look like you're talking to yourself," Harry said.

"Okay then, but don't fall asleep again on me until we get up to my room," Spencer said smiling.

They entered the house without issue and Spencer showed the still invisible Harry how to lower the ladder to the attic and followed him up watching Harry emerge from the invisibility cloak and look around. Spencer motioned him to be quiet for a moment while he pulled the ladder up into the attic.

"I see what you mean, unless someone arrived with a whole house full of furniture and everything they own, most of this space won't be used. The only problem I can see is if they notice the lack of dust. I'm going to have to vanish it all so my footprints don't show up," Harry said walking across to the corner with the dormer windows that would give him good natural light through the windows inside the tent.

He quickly cleaned the area, including the windows and set up his tent, inviting Spencer to come in and take a seat.

Spencer entered the small two-man tent and looked around in awe at the cosy living room with attached kitchen and dining area. Other than the lack of any electrical goods or even light switches and fittings, and the fact it looked like it had been decorated by a teenage boy, he could have been in any family home. Spencer had got used to the expansion charms on his satchel and the fact he was carrying around three or four times as many things as the bag should've been able to hold, and Harry had told him all about the flat in his tent when he purchased it but seeing it was still a shock.

"I know you told me about this but Wow! It's great, like having a hideout wherever you want it to be," Spencer said.

Harry grinned. "It has it's limitations in that I need a spot to set it up that nobody is going to walk through but yeah, it's made life in hiding much easier."

While Spencer was standing there gaping, Harry collected plates and tableware from the kitchen and set the table before he pulled steaming hot pizza out of his backpack and tapped the teapot initiating the charm to get it to make them a cup of tea, chuckling to himself at Spencer's reaction.

"Well, I see you will be perfectly comfortable here," Spencer said.

"Yeah, if I could safely teach myself how to aparate, that is use magic to travel from one place to another, so I could come and go without going through the rest of the house, then I could easily get a post office box for correspondence and live up here for the whole year," Harry replied.

Spencer laughed. "If you could aparate you could live just about anywhere, surely there'd be someplace better than this dusty attic."

"The attic is secure, we could see from the dust that nobody comes this far from the steps so even without wards nobody is likely to walk into the walls of the tent, or notice that the wards make them want to avoid this part of the room," Harry replied. "I'd have to be a long way from the city to find a public space like this."

"And it's actually safer than a cheap apartment, because nobody breaking in will try to get up into the roof and there's nothing near the tent for them to want to try to steal," Spencer agreed, he'd been worried about them renting an apartment. Harry said they didn't need much space or even a decent kitchen or bathroom because of the tent but they would still need to pay for enough security to discourage burglars or home invaders, and he didn't know how he was going to convince Harry of that without looking like he was taking advantage of him expecting him to pay most of the rent.

"Mmhm," Harry agreed.

"Do you think that you'll be able to get in and out of here without being noticed? What are the chances that you could safely learn to aparate? And what are the risks?" Spencer asked.

"I'll cast a mild notice me not on the ladder so people don't notice it unless they have a reason for wanting to access the attic themselves and a silencing charm so the noise doesn't disturb anyone and I can use my cloak to come and go. It should be enough, though I might need to wait for someone else to open the door for me sometimes. I'll have to keep an eye on people's schedules," Harry replied.

"Well you can always knock on my door to be let out and ring the house for me to let you in when I'm here," Spencer offered. "I take it you don't think you could learn to aparate?"

"I'm fairly sure I could do it but it's not the sort of thing that you should try to learn on your own. If you get it wrong you leave body parts behind and you need someone to get you and your parts to someone who knows how put you back together. It's also something they can't teach in time compression and Hogwarts doesn't teach until sixth year," Harry explained.

"So, by giving up magical schooling, you're giving up on learning to aparate?" Spencer said frowning.

"It's licenced and the licencing wizard from the British Ministry of Magic is the one who comes to Hogwarts to teach the class so I'm pretty sure that you could take lessons at the ministry before testing for the licence. I think that it's probably the same here," Harry said shrugging.

"Did you find any information on the American Ministry of Magic or whatever the equivalent is called?" Spencer asked.

"No not yet, there isn't much information about any other country in the books I've seen at Hogwarts or in the shops on Diagon Alley, Ireland was better but not by much. If we can find a magical shopping district there's fairly likely to be information or even a public floo we could use to get there once someone tells us the address," Harry said confidently.

Spencer loved the way Harry was including him in the visit to the magical shopping district and the magical government. He was extremely curious to see what the magical world was like but more than that he wanted to share Harry's explorations of his new country.

They talked until Harry literally couldn't keep his eyes open. "I'm sorry Spencer but I'm beat. I need to sleep," he apologised.

"It's fine Harry, I should be the one apologising for keeping you up answering all my questions, I knew how tired you were," Spencer reassured him.

"You can play with my cloak but be careful not to go into crowds with it, remember just because you can't be seen doesn't mean people can't feel you or hear you and be super careful if you cross the road, the cars can't see you either but it wouldn't stop them from hitting you," Harry said sleepily, falling into bed and passing out with exhaustion.

Spencer went to the bathroom and played with the cloak in front of the mirror, Spencer had been interested in magic tricks since he met Harry though he knew they were only illusions and Harry did the real thing but this was the ultimate illusion though there was no way it should be real, it defied belief. He didn't want to abuse Harry's generosity by going out in public with it. He knew how important the family heirloom was to his friend. He rolled it up and put it carefully into the top of his friend's bag, before settling onto Harry's couch and reading through some of the books he had in his bookcase. Spencer couldn't understand a lot of the books, the words all made sense to him but the concepts of transfiguration, let alone conjuration, defied all known laws of physics.

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