The Boy that Died

This chapter is dedicated to everyone who reviewed Chapter 1. Thank you so much, those comments made me feel warm and fuzzy inside! Please remember to review this chapter.

Green and Grey

10 years later

The skinny boy peeped out from the corner, a strand of dark hair fell over his eyes for a second and he brushed it away impatiently. Ahead of him was a deserted corridor with a dozen doors leading off on the left. It smelt strongly of detergent.

Confident that the coast was clear the boy quickly ran out, his eyes darting to each door he passed. He could see the double doors ahead of him and ran a little faster. Suddenly he thought he heard a noise behind him and glanced over his shoulder, nothing. He looked ahead of him again and ran straight into someone.

“Harry!”

The boy looked up, a growing feeling of apprehension in his stomach. A middle-aged nurse with short brown hair was staring down at him. Her face held a mixture of despair and affection.

She sighed and said, “Where are you going now Harry?”

The boy looked down and tried to fight the urge to shuffle his feet. She always made him feel guilty. “I … uh … wanted to go outside, please?” he finished, looked at her hopefully.

The woman sighed and ruffled his hair. “Oh go on then. But be quick! If the matron finds out I’ve been letting you out there’ll be hell to pay.”

The boy grinned. Yes!

“I’ll be back soon,” he promised her and ran out of the door before she could change her mind.

Nurse Sal sighed. What was she going to do with him? He was such a queer boy, always quiet, never speaking out of turn. His hair was always over the place, no matter how many times they brushed it; and his emerald green eyes always looked sad, as though he had seen things she hadn’t even dreamt of. But possibly the most curious feature was his strange scar, shaped like a lightning bolt, on his forehead. The first question Nurse Sal had ever asked Harry was how he got it, and all he had done was look puzzled and say: “I don’t remember.”

Poor Harry had been at the orphanage since he was just a year old. She had only seen him from when he was about four. Sometimes Nurse Sal thought that if she was looking to adopt a child Harry would be her first choice. Not many people seemed to share her opinion though. When Harry was young he was always the quiet one, he would never push his way to the front when people came visiting, he would just stay at the back with his back to everyone and wave his hand about and mutter strange words. If Nurse Sal ever asked anyone what they thought of Harry they would just look disinterested and shrug, or sometimes they would just say: “That strange boy at the back? Too quiet, he would never fit in”. And so Harry had stayed at the orphanage, every year he spent there making it less and less likely that someone would adopt him.

What Nurse Sal was really afraid of was that Harry would stay in the orphanage until he was 18. Forced out onto the street with no happy childhood memories … Nurse Sal wouldn’t wish that fate on her worst enemy, let alone Harry.

A door banging open behind the Nurse shocked her out of her memories. Glancing uneasily at the double doors she strode back along the corridor to return to her daily duties.

*

Harry ran out as soon as Nurse Sal relented. He pushed open the big double doors and let the wind blow through his hair. He stayed there for a bit, standing still with his eyes shut, just feeling like the world was perfect. But eventually, when his nose started to go numb, he had to open his eyes to the real world. A world where he was unwanted and always in the way, where nobody cared about what he thought and where he was likely to live in this depressing excuse for an orphanage for the rest of his life.

Harry sighed and pushed his hands deep into the green and grey compulsory orphanage uniform. No point dwelling on the past, or rather, life. He ran down the steps, trying to stay warm by moving. When he reached the big iron gates he glanced furtively around then slipped the bolt off and ran out into the street.

He wasn’t really meant to be outside, no one was, but he was 14 now and they couldn’t really stop him. He was walking along a well-worn route around the local town. Harry often needed time to think and he took every opportunity to get out of the orphanage.

Harry found a bench and sat down in it. He looked around the street. There were a few people determinedly battling against the wind to get to wherever they wanted to go. The sane people were probably all sitting inside watching TV or something.

“Excuse me?”

Harry looked up and into the eyes of a middle-aged woman. She was wearing a long dress, which was quite bizarrely combined with a hood.

“Could you tell me where I might find the nearest restaurant?”

“Um … yeah … it’s um …” Harry ran his fingers through his hair distractedly and looked around, gesticulating wildly. He looked back at the woman who suddenly froze.

“It-it’s you!” she gasped.

“Who?”

The woman had turned pale and was grasping the park bench so tightly her knuckles had turned white. Harry hoped she wasn’t going to faint and his worst fears seemed confirmed when the woman sank down to the ground, still clutching the bench. Harry stood up quickly and reached out his hand to pull her up. The woman however recoiled before he could touch her and stood up, still shaking slightly.

“No, no. You-you don’t exist. You’re just trying to frighten me... No! Don’t touch me! I’m going … I’m going.”

And with that the woman turned and ran, almost tripping over in her haste to get away form him. Harry just stared stupidly after the retreating figure. Then he recovered his senses and ran off in the opposite direction, back towards the orphanage.

When he reached the orphanage he sat down heavily on the steps to try and get his breath back. Once he had calmed down he began thinking about what had just happened.

The woman seemed to almost have a heart attack on seeing him. What was so amazing about him? Harry couldn’t think of a single thing, maybe she was just mad? Yeah that was probably it.

Satisfied now, Harry pushed open the door and went inside. But he knew in his heart of hearts that that wasn’t the real reason.

*

A knock sounded at the door. An irritable red-haired young man looked up at the door over piles of paper. He had huge purple bags under his eyes and looked exhausted.

“Yes?”

He was sitting at a weather beaten desk covered with paper, paperweights, pens, complex drawing equipment and … you get the idea. A maroon nameplate with the name ‘Ronald Weasley’ inscribed on with gold letteringwas threatening to fall off from its precarious position at the end of table.

Ron worked in the Ministry of Magic now, in a small department involved in stopping underage magic. It didn’t really matter where he worked however; Ron was actually there working as a spy. Lucius Malfoy had become increasingly interested in becoming Minister of Magic and Ron was there to inform Dumbledore about his advances. To Ron’s disgust Dumbledore had also insisted in employing Draco as a spy as well. They were both working in the same department.

The man looked up again. “Yes?” he repeated testily.

The door opened a little, paused, and then opened fully. His small and timid secretary was standing in the doorway looking like she might faint at any moment. She raised a trembling hand and Ron saw that it contained a letter.

“Well for god’s sake woman! What is it?”

The woman whimpered but sucked in a breath and said, “A-a letter came for you sir. I-I didn’t recognise the owl.”

Ron rolled his eyes and grabbed the letter off her. The woman looked nervously at him and when he glanced at her she practically fled the room. Ron unrolled the parchment and skimmed the letter.

Dear Ron,

How are you? Sirius contacted me a few weeks ago about someone with a lightning bolt scar but it turned out to be a fake, just some wizard making trouble.

I think I’ve got some good news though. We know there have been various sightings during the last year but I think this is him! A witch said she saw a thin, pale young boy, in his early teens with dark hair and the lightning bolt scar. Apparently she almost had a heart attack when she saw him and ran off! The boy was wearing green and grey (the uniform of the local orphanage). I know Harry would be an adult by now but we have to check this out. Even if it isn’t Harry this boy may know something about the whereabouts of Harry. The sighting was in Cornwall, a long way away, I know, but Ginny is keeping an eye on this boy – we need to find as much about him as possible before we try and contact him. Meet me at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow at 8.00 p.m., and bring your broomstick.

Love Hermione

Someone knocked on the door. Ron sighed and put the letter down.

“Piss off Triny.”

The door opened and a tall man with silvery blonde hair stepped in.

“Oh, it’s you.” Ron’s eyes returned to the letter. “Piss off Malfoy.”

“I just wanted to borrow a file.”

“Honestly Malfoy. Just because we work in the same department doesn’t mean you have to act chummy. Anyway you’ve got your own office, use it.”

“Just because you like working with me doesn’t mean I do,” and with that Draco grabbed the files and strode out making sure the door slammed.

Ron rubbed tiredly at his eyes and quickly scanned the letter once more. Not again … Hermione must have said she had found Harry every week for about 5 years now … and every time it was just a confused Muggle or some wizard impersonator who thought he was funny. Ron knew he was the one who had first raised the possibility that Harry was alive but he didn’t really believe it any more. Harry had been gone for 10 years now, surely they would have found him by now if he were alive?

*

Harry woke up early the next morning. He was determined to get out today, crazy woman or no crazy woman. He changed quickly and opened the door slightly. He wobbled slightly as he struggled to put on his trousers but he still managed to see the deserted hallway.

The door creaked slightly as he opened it and Harry winced. He grabbed his shoes and tiptoed towards the door. No one stopped him this time.

He ran through the town and stopped at the library. He looked upwards at the huge imposing stone walls and stepped inside. The beaky-looking librarian looked up when she heard the door open but her expression softened when she saw it was Harry.

“Need any help Harry dear?” she asked kindly.

Harry shook his head and walked to the back of the library. It was a small dusty section labelled ‘Mythology’. Harry doubted whether anyone apart from him even knew this section existed.

Harry absently dragged a finger over the books. “Which one today?” he muttered.

His finger stopped at a particularly scruffy book: ‘Wizards and Witches – Myth or Truth?’ Harry pulled it off the shelf; this was one of his favourite books. As he flicked through the pages he remembered something he’d thought he’d forgotten years and years ago…

“And stay in there!” The door slammed and Harry could hear the woman’s footsteps fading off.

Harry looked around. He felt very scared all of a sudden. The cupboard was very dark and stretched off for a good while behind the walls. Harry couldn’t see the end of it and he thought he could hear something scurrying around. He hugged his knees and leaned back, glancing fearfully at the long tunnels on either side of him, expecting at any time a monster to appear out of the gloom.

Harry bit his lip and buried his face in his knees. The darkness was stifling and soon Harry had to lift his head up to breathe properly. He looked down one tunnel and it seemed to jerk towards him and back again. Harry felt sick and looked ahead of him but he could still feel the tunnels closing in on him. He stifled a cry and bit his knuckle. Harry trembled and wished with all his heart it wasn’t so dark.

Then Harry felt something unseen slowly crawling over him. He gasped and crawled backwards as fast as he could away from it. Suddenly the cupboard was filled with light. Harry covered his eyes and looked up. The light was coming from a globe near the top of the ceiling. Harry’s fear was gone and he was filled with wonder. He tentatively stretched out his hand and touched the globe. His hand went straight through it. Harry seemed to remember something and on instinct he pointed his finger at the light and whispered ‘Nox’.

The light immediately went out and Harry was left sitting in the darkness again.

Harry’s finger stopped at a random page. An illustration of a man dressed in a cloak with stars on it filled up much of the page. A tiny bit of writing was squashed underneath the picture. Harry leaned back against the bookshelf and tried to clear his mind.

He raised one finger and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. His finger seemed to glow and it popped suddenly and sparks shot out of it. Harry opened his eyes and grinned happily at his finger.

*

The red-haired woman squinted slightly and stared at the young boy. She had just seen the seemingly impossible. A Muggle boy had just been doing wandless magic right in front of her. Very simple magic but it was still magic. Ginny wondered for a moment whether Hermione might be right about this one. He certainly looked like the Harry she remembered from Hogwarts; he even (and she squinted even more now) he even had a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.

Suddenly the boy looked up and saw her looking at him. His eyes narrowed suspiciously but he let it pass and returned to his book.

Ginny glanced at the section he was in, ‘Mythology’. Odd, she wondered. Why would a teenage boy be interested in that sort of stuff?

She looked at the boy one last time then walked off. She seemed to disappear before she reached the door but nobody noticed ... except Harry.

*

“Triny, cancel all my appointments today and tell Malfoy that he’ll have to manage on his own today. Please don’t disturb me and have there been any owls?” Ron stopped and looked expectantly at his secretary.

“Y-yes sir,” she held out a letter and Ron snatched it off her impatiently. He tucked it in his pocket and went upstairs to his office.

Once inside he sank into his chair and quickly checked the room for any eavesdroppers. Satisfied that there were none he opened the letter and read it.

Dear Ron,

I’ve just seen that boy for the first time. I think that Hermione might be right about this one. He was in the library in the ‘Mythology’ section. As I was watching he did some wandless magic! It wasn’t proper magic but a few sparks shot out of his finger. He can’t be a Muggle, but then what’s he doing in a Muggle orphanage?

Send a copy of this letter to Hermione please. I know you two haven’t been getting on very well but I think she needs to know this.

Ginny

Ron let the letter fall from his hand onto the floor.He put his fingers to his head and tried to clear his mind. He quickly fell into a dreamlike phase and slumped down in his chair…

…A young boy with pale skin and dark hair was sitting on the floor leaning against an iron bed. The covers were a depressing grey, the pillow a pale green. The room was pretty much bare except for a small bedside table with only a lamp on it. It put Ron in mind of a prison cell.

The boy was muttering swiftly under his breath and as Ron moved closer he realised he recognised some of those words.

“Nox Imperio Petrificus Totalus Wingardium Leviosa Lumos Alohomora …”

The boy’s voice grew more shrill and faster as he went on, as though he was scared of something but suddenly the boy faltered. He tried to go on again but he seemed to have lost heart, or grown bored. Every spell he muttered grew steadily slower as though now the words had to be dragged out of him. Then the boy muttered his last spell (Avada Kedavra) and his body slumped onto the floor. A second later he stood up and climbed into bed where he fell asleep almost immediately.

Ron moved tentatively towards the boy. He looked over at his face, he was sure he’d seen this boy somewhere before. The boy moaned and turned over in his sleep, brushing a lock of hair away from his forehead as he did so. Ron froze. He knew who the boy was now!

Ron’s eyes flung open and he gripped the chair tightly. He felt slightly sick. He strode across the room and grabbed his broom. Then he opened the window and without looking behind him he jumped on his broom and flew straight out of the window.

Behind him he thought he could hear a tentative knocking and his meek receptionist whispering to get let in. Ron laughed as he looked back. He turned his head forward and headed into the wind.

*

Hermione tapped the table impatiently and stared intently at the fireplace as though it held all the secrets of the world. The bartender behind her coughed slightly. Hermione sighed, she hadn’t bought a drink and she was sure this was the bartender’s way of saying, ‘buy a drink or I’ll chuck you out’. Hermione spun round on her chair and was about to order a drink (pint of butterbeer) when Ron walked in. His hair was windswept, his cheeks were rosy and he was grinning widely. He walked over to her and just behind him walked a small woman with dark-red hair.

‘Ron! And Ginny!” Hermione exclaimed.

Ginny walked up to Hermione and hugged her tightly. She let go and Ron was left standing next to her, looking awkward. “Ron,” said Hermione and nodded her head. Ron did the same.

Ginny stared sadly at the two of them. Then she snapped into business mode.

“Alright. I saw the boy in the local library. Ron should have a copy of the letter I sent to you … have you got it Ron?”

Ron nodded and sat down in a chair. Ginny and Hermione did likewise. He fumbled in his pocket for a moment then pulled out a very dishevelled letter. Hermione raised her eyebrows.

“Got a bit squashed on the way here.” Ron muttered.

Hermione took the letter and quickly scanned it. “I knew it!” she exclaimed, “It is him!”

“I contacted the orphanage; they don’t know much about him but they told me that he was abandoned outside the hospital when he was a year old. He had a letter attached to him saying that his name was Harry. Look, he’s at this address,” Ginny pulled out a scrap piece of paper and handed it around.

Ron spoke first. “It doesn’t make any sense. Harry went missing when he was 14, not when he was 1.”

“Memory charms Ron,” muttered Hermione. Ron looked sheepish and shut up after that. “Anyway, that doesn’t really matter. I want to go see him. See if it is Harry.”

Ginny nodded. Ron paused for a second then nodded as well.

“I want Ginny to find out a bit more about him, maybe get a photo, before we contact him. We’ll meet in the village Aberporth in Cornwall in … 3 days? Yeah. And, um Ron?”

“Mmhmm?”

“I want you to bring Draco.”

“What!” Ron exploded.

“Yes Ron. We’re not in Hogwarts anymore. We’re mature, sensible adults. And anyway, Draco works in the same office as you, why can’t you just get along?”

“Because he’s a self-absorbed ninny?” said Ron hopefully.

“Not a good enough reason. We need Draco to help us with this,” said Hermione with an air of finality. She reminded Ginny of Professor McGonagall.

“Awwww. Do I have to?” whined Ron.

“Yes.” Hermione’s tone of voice shut Ron up and as he stared meekly at her Ginny felt like laughing.

“Okay then,” said Ginny, rubbing her hands in anticipation. “We meet in three days. And don’t forget Malfoy, Ron.

The three then said goodbye and left. Hermione by Floo Powder, Ron and Ginny by broomstick.

*

3 days later

Today was a day Harry was actually allowed out. On Saturday all of the children plodded around the town for a day in twos. Harry chose Nurse Sal immediately partly because he didn’t have any friends and partly because she always let him go off on his own.

They reached the town in half-an hour and stood waiting outside the pub for everyone to go. When the other kids had gone over the hill Harry asked Nurse Sal if he could go off on his own. She agreed almost immediately.

Harry watched Nurse Sal go until she was just a spot on the long street. Then he finally relaxed and sat down on his favourite bench with a sigh.

He wondered vaguely what that woman had been doing in the library, had she been watching him? There was something confusing about her, Harry hadn’t heard her come in and just before she had reached the door she had seemed to disappear. Normally Harry would have just dismissed it as a trick of the light but then there was that weird woman he had seen four days ago. Were these two woman somehow connected? And what was it she had said? ‘You don’t exist’. What was that meant to mean? She had been scared to touch him and she seemed to recognise him. Maybe he just looked like someone she knew, a dead brother maybe? That would explain why she had said he didn’t exist.

But she hadn’t done anything at first; it was only when he’d pushed the hair back from his … maybe that was it! She hadn’t done anything when his scar was hidden but when she saw it she had really panicked. Harry remembered something he’d seen on TV. A man had had this birthmark and he’d thought nothing of it until this secret society saw it. It turned out this man’s birthmark was the same as their society’s symbol. And they immediately elected the man as their leader.

Maybe those women were a part of a secret society and when they had seen the scar they thought he was their saviour or something. It was a nice theory but Harry didn’t really believe it, he’d been wishing for his real parents to some and rescue him from the orphanage since he was a little kid. Why should anything like that happen now?

*

Ginny and the others had so far spent two hours wandering around the town looking someone they weren’t even sure would be there. They had a photo of the boy; he was sitting on the steps leading to the Orphanage looking sad. Sometimes he would flick a stone down the steps but most of the time he just sat still.

Everyone had arrived all right. Ginny and Hermione had taken Floo Powder from the nearest wizard house, Sirius had arrived by broomstick and Ron had arrived by broomstick looking mutinous with a confused Draco following.

“Okay, now will somebody tell me what I’m doing here?” Draco drawled. “Only I didn’t really understand it from Weasley with all those death threats.”

“We’re here to get Harry,’ said Ginny as if it had been obvious all along. “This is what he looks like,” and showed Draco the picture. He scrutinised it doubtfully.

“It really looks like him doesn’t it Draco?” said Hermione eagerly.

“It really looks like him doesn’t it Draco dear?” Ron muttered angrily. Hermione scowled at him but Draco just looked thoughtfully at the photo.

“What is it?” asked Ginny.

“I don’t know. It does look like Harry and if I didn’t know any better I would say it is him. But it can’t be him, it’s just too much of a long shot.”

“Well, we’ll just see about that, Malfoy,” said Hermione, her lips pursed determinedly.

*

Harry was still sitting on that same bench half an hour later when he heard a slight cough. He spun around on the bench and looked at the source of the noise.

A group of five people stood next to him, three men and two women. One of the men was slightly older than the other two, his black hair flecked with grey. His eyes were constantly looking around him, as though he was looking for someone or something. A tall bright red-haired man with piercing blue eyes stood next to him, he had bags under his eyes and a slight shadow on his chin. The other man was slightly smaller and he was standing a bit further away from the group as though he didn’t belong. His platinum blonde hair made Harry wonder whether it had been dyed. A short woman with frizzy mousy-coloured hair was trying to coax the blonde-haired man into the circle. Something about her was familiar to Harry; he wondered whether he had met her before. The other woman Harry definitely recognised, she was the woman who been watching him in the library. She was even taller than the red-haired man. She had dark red hair and the same blue eyes as him. Harry assumed they must be brothers and sisters. Four of them were looking at him eagerly but the blonde man was merely looking bored.

“Ah yes, we were wondering if you were Harry Potter?” said the black-haired older man.

Harry shook his head. “I’m Harry but I don’t really have a surname, I mean, I don’t know it,” he pointed at the green and grey uniform.

All five of them nodded knowledgeably. The mousy-haired woman stepped forwards and said, ‘Pleased to meet you Harry. I’m Hermione, this is Ginny,” she pointed to the red-haired woman who nodded. “This is her brother Ron,” and she pointed to the red-haired man. “This is your … uh I mean, this is Sirius,” gesturing to the older man. Sirius stepped forward and shook Harry’s hand. Harry noticed that his eyes were unusually bright. “And this is …”

“I’m Draco,” said the blonde man. “I’m just here for the ride.”

Ron sat down next to Harry and said: “Now Harry, umm … can we talk somewhere a bit more private?”

Harry felt immediately suspicious, he smelt a rat. He wondered whether they were in a gang. He gently eased himself up a bit and put his hands down on the bench, ready to run off at any moment. He chanced a glance at Ginny, she looked away and Harry wondered why she was following him.

“No,” he said firmly.

Ginny noticed that the boy stiffened as soon as Ron sat down. She gently nudged Hermione who moved inconspicuously in front of the boy, ready to block him if he tried to run away.

Harry noticed that the group were slowly closing in on him. He felt a bit scared, he had seen attacks like this on TV but he had never expected himself to become a victim.

The older man, Sirius looked nervously around. Harry knew what he was looking for.

“Okay then,” smiled Ron, but Harry could see how strained a smile it was. “I know you might not remember everything but we have to tell you that … you-you’re a wizard Harry.”

“What!?” yelled Harry, he felt angry all of a sudden, and “Remember what? I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about! I know this might have worked on some other stupid kid, but it’s not going to work on me.”

He stood up suddenly and Ron grabbed hold of his shoulders, forcing him down.

Harry struggled and when Ron looked into his eyes he could see fear. Ron glanced at Hermione. He was going to run off in any second, and they couldn’t afford that.

Hermione stepped forwards. “Harry, look I know this is hard but you have to believe us. Look!” and she pulled out a wand.

Harry looked at it incredulously. “What are you going to do? Poke me to death?”

Hermione exchanged a worried glance with Ginny and Harry seeing his chance suddenly ducked out of Ron’s grasp and ran out of the circle and straight into Draco. Draco grabbed hold of Harry, pinning his arms to his sides. Harry struggled but Draco was much stronger.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Harry struggled more than ever but Draco just held on tighter. Suddenly quick as a flash Harry brought his knee up right into Draco’s, ahem, nether-regions. Draco let go immediately and Harry made another bid for freedom. Draco swiped at Harry’s head but he just knocked Harry’s glasses off, smashing them on the pavement. Harry ran without a backward glance straight into the road. A car screeched to a halt and beeped its horn angrily but Harry didn’t care. He stopped only for a moment to make a ‘v’ sign at the driver and ran off in the general direction of the Orphanage.

“You won’t get away that easily!” yelled Ginny, shaking her fist. “We know where you live!”

“Yeah and that’s really going to make him want to meet us again. ‘We know where you live.’ Honestly,” said Hermione.

“You okay Malfoy?” asked Ron, while he struggled not to laugh.

“What do you think!” Draco wheezed. Ron broke out into laughter and held onto of the bench for support.

“Like father, like son,” said Sirius picking up Harry’s glasses and looking at them thoughtfully. He could just make out the small figure running off into the distance.

*

Harry’s vision was blurry but he still ran on. He wanted to get as far away as he could from those people. After he had put a few streets between himself and the group he stopped. He couldn’t read the street signs but he could tell he wasn’t far from the Orphanage. He wondered what Nurse Sal was going to say; he knew the Orphanage wouldn’t pay for some new glasses. Nurse Sal would no doubt have to pay for it out of her own pay packet. A surge of guilt swept through Harry.

What was it that man had said? He had said something about him being a wizard, what a load of rubbish. Maybe they were just trying to gain his trust or something. Harry hoped they wouldn’t try and find him. Good thing they didn’t know where he lived … did they?

Harry looked up and saw he had walked back to the Orphanage. He walked up the steps and fumbled for the door before it opened. Harry walked in and just remembered that he was meant to be out. Oops.

Luckily no one was in the immediate vicinity. Harry tiptoed down the hallway to his room and quietly shut the door, praying no one had heard him come in. He sank down on the bed and put his head in his hands.

What were those people trying to do?