Design for Life

Chapter 3 - In Your Shoes

The dining hall was empty when Wizard finally emerged from the small bedroom he had been allocated. He strolled down the centre aisle, thinking that the four parallel tables reminded him of something he couldn't quite remember.

Stephen was in the kitchen cleaning the post-breakfast mess, and Wizard grabbed a towel and started on the pile of washing-up.

"Not off duty yet?" he asked. "They sure like working you hard, don't they?"

Stephen looked at his watch. "I've got 10 minutes, then I'm away, thanks for giving us a hand, we were pretty full."

"No problem, call it thanks for saving my arse last night."

"You cleaned up well." Stephen said, motioning to his face. "It looked worse than that before"

"Yeah, well, I heal fast, don't I?"

"Sure you do... Hey, you hungry? You missed breakfast."

"I noticed." Wizard picked up a stack of plates and carried them to a cupboard. "Why?" he asked, guardedly.

"I said, I'm going off duty and I'm sure hungry. I'll buy you some lunch if you want."

"And why would you want to do that?"

"I don't know, I feel like it. Do I really need a reason?"

Wizard set the plates down and looked up at Stephen, his eyes were unreadable. "Everybody needs a reason..."

Stephen blinked at him, confused, and Wizard walked out of the dining room. A few seconds later Stephen heard the front door slam.

~~*~~

If anything, Harry felt worse by the afternoon. Madam Pomfrey took his temperature and looked quite puzzled by the results. "By the looks of this, your temperature is just fine... Interesting. What are your symptoms again?"

Harry coughed slightly. "Well, my sides really ache, like I've bruised them, I've got toothache and my nose is all bunged up. I just feel... awful."

Madam Pomfrey tutted over the vague terms. "How awful? Describe it..."

"Ummm... Like I've got no energy, I just feel like I've run a marathon and not had any sleep for a week. Will that do?" Harry asked hopefully.

"We'll see. The only thing I can advise at the moment though is plenty of rest. Drink some more of this strengthening potion. It should do you some good."

Harry nodded and drunk the potion and Madam Pomfrey bustled away.

A few minutes later Ron and Hermione came in to visit him between lessons.

"Oooh, you look awful"

"Thanks Hermione... You're always so charming. Remind me why I'm your friend again."

Ron spoke: "Sorry Harry, but she's right. You do look awful. How do you feel?"

"Awful. Nobody seems to know what's wrong..."

"We bought you some homework, Snape gave us a lovely long essay on ageing potions for Friday."

"Great" said Harry sarcastically. "What fun."

He realised that both Ron and Hermione were looking at him strangely. "What now?"

"Harry... You're bleeding..." Hermione grabbed a tissue from the side of his bed and held it to his mouth. A few seconds later she pulled it away, soaked in blood.

Harry gingerly put his hand up to his mouth. He could feel something moving that he was pretty sure shouldn't be. Putting his hand inside it he pulled out one of his teeth. It sat in the palm of his hand, drenched in his own blood, Harry realised was surprised that it didn't hurt more. He stared at it, not entirely comfortable with holding a piece of his own head in his hand.

Ron called for Madam Pomfrey who looked just as shocked as the three students.

"What on earth did you do, Harry?" she asked.

"N..Nothing. It just fell out. It doesn't even hurt! What the hell is going on?" he looked round at Ron and Hermione, who were looking puzzled and very worried.

"I've... I've never heard of anything like this happening before... Maybe..." Madam Pomfrey tailed off.

"Maybe WHAT?"

"Harry, calm down... I was just thinking that maybe you're not coming down with the flu at all. Maybe this IS magic after all. I think perhaps I better fetch Professor Dumbledore again, he might have a clue as to what's going on."

~~*~~

Dumbledore came back to the Hospital wing a few minutes later, deep in conversation with Madam Pomfrey.

"...and he says it just fell out? Strange."

"I just can't help thinking about what you were saying the other day, Professor. You can't seriously think that... well, you know how odd that sounds."

"I am perfectly aware of how odd it is, Poppy, but it seems more and more likely... Ah, Harry. How do you feel?"

"Pretty much the same as before, Professor... Except this..." Harry held his tooth up for inspection.

Dumbledore picked up the tooth and said "Hummm..." he held his wand above it and muttered a few words. The tip of his wand glowed a funny greenish-yellow colour. He hummed again and looked back at the tooth and then at Harry.

"And you say that it just fell out. No pain?"

"No, nothing. I didn't even notice until Hermione spotted the blood."

Harry was surprised to see Dumbledore looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"Right, well then... There's very little more I can do without some more information. I'll give my permission to Madam Pomfrey to fix your tooth and see what I can do. I'll have to send a few owls, so I probably won't know anything until tomorrow at the earliest. In the meantime, there's not much I can suggest except more rest. You do still feel tired, don't you?

Harry nodded. In truth he felt like he could sleep forever, all his limbs felt so heavy it took all his effort to just sit upright. Dumbledore gave him, Ron and Hermione a friendly smile that didn't quite conceal his worry and walked out of the Hospital.

Madam Pomfrey looked at Ron and Hermione. "Come on you two, I need space to work, and I'm sure you have classes to get to. Out."

"Hang on a minute, please. Can I just ask them something?" asked Harry.

"Well make it quick. We need to fix your teeth and the sooner the charm is performed, the better."

Ron and Hermione went over to the bed. "What is it?" Hermione asked.

Harry lowered his voice to a whisper. "I need you to find out what Dumbledore is thinking. The password to his office should still be 'Pear Drop'. I need to know EVERYTHING, and I don't know if he'll tell me all that he's found out."

Ron nodded. "Sure Harry, we're up for a little reconnaissance. Permission to use your cloak though?"

"Sure. Go ahead. Come back when you've got something, anytime."

Ron and Hermione assured him that they would and left the ward. Harry lay back and let Madam Pomfrey go about fixing his tooth.

~~*~~

Harry hadn't thought that it was possible for him to be more ignored at school, but somehow it was. After his fight with Jason, for which he was forced to take all the blame at the insistence of Jason's father the school governor, people started to actively avoid him instead of just pretending he wasn't there. He had handed the letter from the Headmaster to his Aunt who had promptly locked him in his cupboard for the rest of the month and only allowed him out for school...

"But the other boy started the fight, Aunt Petunia..."

"Liar! I know what a menace you are, boy. I'm frankly surprised it took this long for them to notice. Vernon! Have you heard what this brat has done now?" Petunia grabbed Harry by his ear and dragged him into the front room, where Uncle Vernon was reading the newspaper. Vernon looked up.

"What's all this? You know how I hate to be disturbed while reading the paper."

"Go on. Tell him. Tell him how you repay our kindness."

"Owww... But I didn't do anything! I swear! I didn't even touch him!"

"Oh, and that's how you threw him across the playground, eh? Detention! For a month! Who do you think is going to have to cook darling Dudley his dinner now, eh?"

"But..." Harry stammered miserably

"That's it. I'm tired of you talking back to me. Cupboard. Now. For the month, and if I hear one single word from you, you're going to be VERY sorry indeed."

Petunia dragged him back to the cupboard under the stairs again and threw him in. As Harry heard the bolt slide home, he wondered what on earth he could have done in a previous life to deserve this one.

~~*~~

Dumbledore sat at his desk trying to compose a letter to Sirius. In the end he decided and wrote:

Dear Sirius.

Thank you for your owl. What you said is all beginning to make sense. To put you at your ease, I will let you know that the Harry you know is here and he is safe. He is however feeling quite unwell and I think I now know the cause. I must ask you to find this boy you saw, and watch over him until I can come to London to collect him. I know you must be worried, and I know that you understand the need for secrecy, but I must ask you, please, don't risk coming north yourself, I'm not sure it will be safe for you here yet and not even I will be able to protect you if you are found.

Contact me as soon as you know anything. You can trust this owl.

Yours,

Albus.

Dumbledore folded the message and put it inside an envelope addressed to Sirius before leaving his office to head for the owlery. Less than a minute later, the door swung open, apparently by itself.

~~*~~

Ron and Hermione carefully closed the door behind them, pulled off the invisibility cloak and hurried over to Dumbledore's desk.

"He must have been writing a letter." whispered Hermione. "I'll try a reveal spell on his quill. It should show us what it wrote last."

She waved his wand over Dumbledore's quill and whispered the words of the spell. The quill rose into the air and with a flourish, started writing glowing words in the air.

"Look! It's working!"

"Mind... Your... Own... Business..." Ron read. "Damn, it must be enchanted with the counter-spell. Now what can we do?"

Hermione thought for a few seconds then grabbed the top sheet of notepaper. "Let's go."

They covered themselves with the invisibility cloak again and slipped silently out of the Headmaster's office and back to the Gryffindor common room.

~~*~~

Ron and Hermione sat at one of the tables arranged around the common room and Hermione pulled the sheet of paper taken from Dumbledore's office out of her pocket and flattened it out. She laid it on the table and looked up at Ron.

"I've just got to fetch something from my room. Hang on."

She came back a few minutes later clutching something in her hands. "I never thought this would come in handy again, especially here." Ron looked confused.

"What is it?" he asked.

"My old pencil case. I remember reading something about this when I was little..." She pulled out a soft pencil and began lightly rubbing it over the paper.

Ron watched as her actions revealed faint white lines of writing...

When Hermione had finished, she held it up to the light to inspect the finished results.

"Where on earth did you learn that? Not at a Muggle school, I hope!" asked Ron, impressed.

Hermione looked sheepish. "Actually, it was Enid Blyton... An author." She said, pre-empting Ron's next question.

"Anyway, what does it say?"

The pair read and re-read the letter.

"Now that IS odd... I wonder who the boy he's talking about is... and why has he sent Sirius to fetch him?" said Ron, Hermione however was silent for a long while. Finally when she spoke she said: "It's interesting, Ok, but I'm more interested in this bit..." She pointed at a line of text. Ron read it out loud.

"...the Harry you know is here and he is safe. Well, what about it?"

"Don't you see? Doesn't that strike you as odd? I mean, 'The Harry you know' He's speaking as if there's more than one of him."

"I guess... Hey, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Ron, if you're thinking that the boy Sirius is supposed to meet is... well, is Harry, then yes, you are."

"But that doesn't make sense. How can there be more than one? Maybe he's got a twin brother he's never told us about!"

"Possible, but very, very unlikely... Why would it be kept secret? And where was his twin living when Harry was at the Dursleys?"

"Oh, yeah, I see what you mean. But then who the hell IS Dumbledore talking about?"

"I don't know, Ron, but I've a feeling that we're going to find out..."

~~*~~

Sirius prowled the streets of night time London hoping for a sign of his quarry. Dumbledore's owl had found him in the early evening and he read the letter with a mixture of relief and horror. Relief that his godson was safe, and horror at the possibilities that the news had forced him to consider. He trusted Dumbledore completely, but as night fell with no hint of the boy he was searching for he was beginning to feel very worried indeed.

Finally he caught the scent of something familiar on the wind, and followed it along darkened streets and back alleys until he came to a closed door. The scent was strong here and it seemed to Sirius' dog-like mind that the boy had stayed here for some time before leaving earlier that day. He quickly transformed and looked around. A sign to the side of the door read 'Cross Street Homeless Shelter - Please Knock'

Sirius deliberated for a while. It had been several years now since his wanted poster was circulated in the Muggle world but he was unsure if anyone would remember him. Eventually he decided to knock, if the Muggle police were called he could easily run and transform to escape. He lifted his hand to the knocker and let it slam against the wood of the door.

~~*~~

Stephen was on duty again, and heard the knock. He got up to answer the door, wondering briefly if Wizard had come back, but when he opened the door another man was standing on the step. Stephen later tried to recall his first impressions of meeting Sirius, but words always failed him

When Stephen opened the door, the man looked at him hesitantly but made no move to come in. Stephen was obviously going to have to make the first move.

"Errr... Hello?"

The man, who had been glancing nervously behind jumped and stared at Stephen. He tried again.

"Hi? Was there something you wanted?"

The man spoke, in a very croaky voice that couldn't have been used for a long time. "Yes... I'm looking for someone, a boy. I'm afraid I don't know his name... he..." Sirius tailed off in his explanation, aware that his description of the way the boy smelled wouldn't be very useful.

"...he has glasses?" Sirius finished hopefully.

Stephen looked at the man on his doorstep; gradually realising that there was something not quite right about him that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Not particularly threatening, but definitely odd. He remembered Wizard's words from last night, and wondered if this was one of the men who had come after him.

"Please... I must find him, it's very important." the guy looked desperate.

Stephen found himself making a sudden decision.

"I think you had better come in." he said, holding the door open to allow the other man inside.

The two men sat opposite each other, midway along one of the four tables in the dining hall. Stephen had made some tea and had handed a steaming mug to the stranger who had introduced himself as Sirius.

"I'm Stephen, Stephen Cartwright... Sirius, that's an interesting name. Very unusual..."

Sirius looked at him, warming his hands with the tea mug. "There aren't many of us about..." he conceded. "I must ask you though, do you know the boy I'm describing?"

Stephen decided to trust him, he didn't believe that the man sitting in front of him meant Wizard any harm.

"I think I know who you mean... No one knows his real name, but he's known around here as 'Wizard'"

Sirius gave a short, harsh laugh. "Yes, that would be him. Sounds about right."

"He was here yesterday. He got here early in the morning and left about midday. He said someone was chasing him but I didn't see anyone. He was pretty beat up though... I'm afraid I don't know where he is now, sometimes he just vanishes for a while. I guess he must go somewhere else."

Sirius nodded and Stephen noticed that he held the mug awkwardly.

"Then I shall go and find him... I don't suppose there is anything you could tell me about the boy, what he's like?"

Stephen was surprised by this question and took a long sip of tea as he contemplated his answer.

"I don't know him much at all..." he conceded eventually. "He comes in here off and on a few times a week. He's nice enough but always looks like he's been in a fight... and..."

"Yes?" asked Sirius, his eyes dark.

"Well... I don't think he trusts anyone. At all. I've tried to be nice to him, try to talk to him and the like, but he always just blanks me out."