It Meant Family

31st of August 1993 - part 3

"[...] but it's not about seeing anything else. This is about turning off the lights." - Don't Kill Yourself Today, Hannah Dains

Leaky Cauldron, London, England

Harry was restless, he sunk into the armchair and cracked his knuckles nervously as he watched Cornelius Fudge pace around their private parlor. The coffee table in front of him held, on a silver tray, an ornate navy and gold tea set, composed by a magical teapot, charmed to keep the beverage hot, a sugar bowl and two saucers with its respective cups and a pair of little golden spoons.

The Minister finally came to a stop and turned slowly towards Harry, who straightened his back, ready for the lecture. Still deep in thought, he walked closer, sizing the boy up and stopping right behind the armchair across from him.

"Are you sure you don't want the tea?" Fudge asked, but Harry shook his head "Well than... I should tell you we've handled the incident with your uncle's sister. Members of the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad were sent to his house earlier tonight, her body's been deflated and her memory altered, so you are not to worry," Harry still didn't move, his eyes fixed on the Minister, unblinking "though your aunt and uncle were quite furious, you should still be able to return next year."

He couldn't help but smile at the thought of ministry officials barging into number 4, waving their wands at Marge as the other three Dursleys stood helplessly. He could picture his uncle's face turning a furious shade of red, his aunt faking bravery with her undefusable, chin-up, arms-crossed, arrogance and his cousin, scared as rat, hiding behind her.

After a glimpse of humor, confusion hit. The Minister had not yet talked about his expulsion or any other form of punishment, in fact, he had spoken as if Harry was in no trouble at all.

"But sir," he started "I broke the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry" Harry ran his hands back and forth on his pants trying to dry his sweaty palms "aren't I going to be punished?"

"Don't be silly" Fudge laughed uncomfortably "the Ministry doesn't punish young wizards for such trifle things."

"I got an official warning last summer," in a complete change of attitude, Harry raised an eyebrow outraged "for boiling up a glass of water at a muggle restaurant where nobody even saw me," Fudge stepped back awkwardly and started pacing again "it said I'd be expelled from Hogwarts if there were any other incidents."

"Things... change Mr. Potter," he refused to make eye contact with the boy again "it's important to consider these new... circumstances." He smiled, satisfied with finding a vague enough word.

"New circumstances?" Harry asked, but the Minister clenched his jaw and walked towards the door.

"We should see if Tom's got your room ready." The boy didn't move, utterly confused and taken aback. "Come on then."

Harry's mind wandered far as they walked through the narrow corridors of the Leaky Cauldron, he almost bumped into the Minister when he came to a stop in front of room number 11. His trunk and empty owl cage had been placed on the floor at the end of the four poster bed and Hedwig, who stood by the windowsill, hooted excitedly at the sight of Harry and flew to his arm.

Tom gave the boy a key and nodded both wizards goodbye, Fudge watched quietly as he walked in and scanned the room, until he turned around with a lost look on his face.

"Almost forgot," the Minister smiled "I've spoken to Mr. Black and he'll meet you here first thing tomorrow to take you to King's Cross." He nodded and made his way out of the room, but turned to him once more, seeming quite serious. "Don't go walking around here at night Harry, some of the people are a bit... odd." Finally, he left the boy alone in his room.

Harry laid in bed after putting on his pyjamas, but couldn't fall asleep. Thoughts of Peter Pettigrew and the "new circumstances" mentioned by Fudge left him restlessly tossing and turning for hours.

Eventually, he got up to watch the street from his window, accepting he wouldn't have any sleep that night. The world outside was mostly dark, a light post flickered a few houses up from the Leaky Cauldron which allowed Harry to see a man standing just below his window, he wore a police uniform, but his holster was empty and his hat sat awkwardly on his head. There were no other officers on the street and no police cars, leading Harry to a concerning conclusion.

"A wizard?" he mouthed to himself, he tried to see more, but the man's dark skin made little contrast with his uniform, especially with such little light.

After a while of squinting his eyes to see outside his window, Harry spotted a familiar big black dog sitting next to a tall wizard across the street, but a voice coming from outside his room startled him and when he looked back, they were gone. Perhaps he felt so desperate for his family that his mind had convinced him they were.

Shaking the thought, he turned to his bedside table for his wand and walked towards the door slowly. He leaned down on the floor and from the bottom clearance he saw a pair of large boots accompanied by an oddly shaped wooden cane.

"But do you really think he'll come?" The same person spoke again, it sounded like a woman and couldn't be much older than Remus and Sirius. Harry didn't think that voice fit the pair of shoes he was seeing, so he tried to angle his head to find the other person, but they seemed to be too far from the door.

"I don't know," the second voice sounded more like a growl and Harry was certain it came from a man "but he wouldn't have asked us to be here if he thought there was no chance of that rat showing his face." They were silent for a while, the boy sat up and leaned against the wall, all his energy focused on the conversation and soon the man spoke again "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you want him to come."

"They were my friends too," she replied "don't forget that."

"Oh, for crying out loud Mary," Harry could almost hear his eyes rolling "I haven't forgotten, but the boy's safety isn't worth your vengeance."

"I don't want vengeance" she said, mostly to herself "I want justice."

Harry sat by the door a little longer, hoping they would say something else, a magical sentence that would make everything clear, but there was just silence. So he climbed back onto his bed and spent the whole night awake there instead, trying not to think about the fact that he was clearly in great danger, but nobody would tell him why.