Luck of Nines

17

      Ready and appropriately muggle, he exited the Leaky Caldron, he crossed the busy street, walked down to the end of it and turned, then walked up again, mentally sneering at how inefficient it was. Reaching the two storefronts again, he mentally prepared himself before slipping between the hair salon and coffee shop.

      "Back so soon, wizard?" The same gravelly voice greeted him.

        "I am here to see Harry Potter." He responded, drawing himself up as best he could in the tight space.

      "Oh are you?" The voice nearly mocked, "You search for one of your fantasy heroes here in the muggle world? You have been misled."  It chuckled, "But that is an amusing thought indeed.

      "I have with me his Hogwarts letter. It is law that all magical children attend a magical school, should he choose not to, he has until the end of August to submit proof of his registry in another school before he becomes a wanted man."

     Silence greeted that statement for a long moment, "I see..."

     He had found a weak spot, they didn't seem to be aware of that law, now it was time to take advantage of that and push, he didn't particularly care if that brat attended or not, only that the brat got the letter so he would not be sent back yet again. "Are you his guardian? You too will be held responsible for his non-attendance, possibly even given some years in Azkaban, and his magic may be bound."

      "Rather he is mine." Came the response.

      While he was still puzzling out that particular confusing statement, a light abruptly flicked on at the end of the cramped space. The light, with wires exposed had clearly been removed from somewhere else, a duffle bag was stuffed just below it. There was no place for a human to lay, let alone sit.

     "Hello," the voice, clearly that of a child, came from behind him, on the street, his head tried to turn about, but it was no use, being to cramped to fully turn his head to the other side without being stuck. "I'm told you were looking for me?"

      He moved to leave, nearly tripping over something that hadn't been there before. He found himself trapped by something behind him, he couldn't see what, some type of box, although it had to be very thin and tall.

      "Yes," his wand was once more in the hand that his head was turned towards, and it would be difficult to even decide which spell to use without seeing what exactly he would be using it on.

     "Why?"

     "As I said.  I have your invitation to Hogwarts, if you would unblock the alley, I will give it to you and then leave seeing as you already know about the wizarding world."

     "Not much, I stumbled upon the Leaky Cauldron when I was young, but that's all. Could you explain it to me as if I knew nothing?"

      "Very well. But first you must unblock the entrance."

      The item disappeared just as simply as it came and he inched out receiving his first glance of the brat. He was short. His hair was messy, but not in the same way as his father's had been. This was the messy that came with not having showered in a few days. It lay in a tangled mess, thick and dark, just about covering his face and falling to just past his ears. The hair did nothing to block the two painfully green eyes that stared out at him unblinkingly. 

    It took a moment after seeing them for anything else to register.

    The boy was thin. Almost unhealthily so, and barefoot despite being outside.  On his shoulder sat the ugliest cat Snape had ever seen, it's fur was multi-colored in such a way that it looked mismatched and patchy and it was missing most of one ear. Scars covered it's face, a few slashing diagonally across, but two of which were shaped as if in a large grin. The cat had medium length hair although it was uneven in length throughout its coat and average sized, but somehow managing to perch, almost sitting, straight forward on the boy's thin shoulder.

     "Hello, you were saying."

     "You will address me as sir," he sneered struggling to recover, "or professor."

      Silence greeted that statement where green eyes simply, silently, unblinkingly, stared him down. Finally, he had them take a seat at one of the tables in front of the coffee shop and went inside, bringing out a drink and two donuts for the kid and then explaining what he needed to do before going to Hogwarts.  He did not bother with the pamphlets, he could see from those eyes, the kid would not have believed they were the truth anyway.

     A fund was provided for those without the means, although he made sure to sneer that he was sure that Harry's father had left plenty behind. He had gone quiet when Harry had responded that, "My father was a bully and a drunk.  Why would he have left anything behind." The elder Potter had not been a drunk, although the former was true, but for some reason; maybe the plain, factual way it was said, maybe the green eyes that watched as Harry said it. All he could do in response was fall silent before continuing with the explanation. 

      He was happy when he finally got the chance to return to Hogwarts, pushing aside the fact he would be forced to teach the Potter boy come September first. And refusing to Acknowledge entirely where the boy had been said to live.