Heroes Assemble!

Just People With Different Agendas

Harry's head was already turned towards the end of the alley when he stepped out of the door to the kitchen. Slight movement told him that whoever was there had their head over the side of the dumpster, meaning that his presence hadn't been detected.

A quick look around confirmed that there were no others about anywhere in the alley.

Thrusting his hands into his pockets, he slowly began to traverse the length of the alley. As he did, he examined the person who'd tripped his wards.

They were small. Slim, too, but whether that was due to genetics, age or lack of food was next to impossible to tell. At the moment, they were barely managing to stay on the very tip of their toes without falling in, the upper part of their body and their arms invisible to him, being as they were inside the dumpster.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

The unexpectedness of his voice startled the person in the dumpster to such an extent that Harry found himself darting forward to help them. First had come an echoing squeak of fright; then the person had overbalanced, their feet leaving the ground as they seesawed dangerously towards tipping the person completely into the dumpster. Only Harry grabbing their leg stopped their movement, eliciting a second high-pitched shriek from them.

Gently, Harry pulled the person back until their feet were firmly back on the ground. It was only when they'd completely righted themselves and turned around that Harry realised that the reason the person seemed so small was because they were young. And female.

"Are you alright?" he asked again, his eyes roving over her form.

She had short hair, although working out the colour in the dim light was impossible. And as for her clothes, the best that he could tell was that she was wearing some kind of jacket over her shirt, jeans and boots.

"I'm fine," the girl replied quickly.

Harry gave her a dubious look.

"Aren't you a little young to be out at this time of night?" he asked.

"No younger than a lot of others," she shrugged.

Harry could already tell the way this conversation was going to go; no matter what he asked, she was going to be evasive and defensive.

"I'm guessing that you're hungry," he said and he noted the accuracy of his statement through the way that she looked away and down. "Look, I've got a few leftovers in the kitchen that I'll just end up throwing out tomorrow; how about me giving them to you now instead of diving through the bins for them tomorrow?"

She looked everywhere but at him before her eyes settled on his face and she shrugged.

"I guess," she said, "if you were just going to get rid of them anyway."

With a nod and a smile, Harry turned and headed back to the near-concealed door leading to the kitchen. Soft footfalls behind him told him that she was following. He waited for her at the door, but she stayed stubbornly just out of the light. Realising that she had no intention of entering, Harry quickly ducked inside, gathering up a couple of rolls and filling them with slices of beef and putting them into a bag. His hand barely paused before he grabbed the leftover apple pie and putting it in a container and adding it to the bag.

The 'leftovers' gathered (as well as a bottle of juice), Harry headed back to the door. As expected the girl was waiting for him, shifting nervously from foot to foot. At first he thought that there was a small movement near the top of her jacket when he first went out, but it could have been a simple trick of the light, at least, that was his guess considering that there was no repeat when he was looking at her.