Chapter Text
Harry didn’t even bother to shut the door behind him as he fled Number Four. As the screams and shouts of various Dursley family members faded away, the sound of his own ragged breathing filled the night, and a litany of swears ran on repeat though the boy’s mind.
He didn’t slow until half a dozen turns and several roads were in between him and Privet Drive, when the laces on one of his too-big trainers came undone. Unwilling to stop completely but against the idea of losing one or both of the shoes, Harry settled for a calmer pace. His trunk scraped and rattled against the pavement; Hedwig hooted with concern from her cage.
That finally got the boy to stop. Harry settled Hedwig on top of his trunk, stooping slightly in order to reach his fingers through the cage bars for her to rub against. “Sorry, girl. When I know where we’re going I’ll let you out, okay?” White feathers fluffed and settled, and the snowy owl bobbed her head reassuringly. Then she paused, head swiveling around, in order to stare at a patch of bushes they’d just passed. “Hedwig?”
A rumbling noise answered him, coming from said bushes and too deep a sound for any owl, Hedwig or otherwise. Harry stiffened.
After a moment, a patch of shadow detached itself from the shrubbery. Shoulder nearly even with Harry’s waist, the massive black dog slunk close enough for Harry to see the glint of its eyes. He swallowed, one hand slowly reaching for his wand. The dog stopped several paces away, and dropped to lay on the ground, head balanced on its paws. It whined.
Well. Never let it be said Harry wasn’t Gryffindor to the core. He carefully stepped around his trunk in order to put himself between Hedwig and the dog. When a great big tail startled to gently thump against the pavement, he dared to take another step closer.
“You’re not a mean dog at all, are you,” Harry murmured, slowly crouching. The tail continued to thump. “I’ve really only known Marge’s dog, Ripper, and he’s as nasty as they come. ‘Course,” the boy added, “If she stays blown up like a balloon, maybe he’ll get better just from her being gone.”
Probably a foolish hope, but he was allowed to have those from time to time. Harry curled his hand into a loose fist and held it out. The dog leaned upwards, nose tentatively sniffing, and then he gave Harry’s fingers a quick lick.
“Yeah, you’re definitely friendly,” he grinned, as the tail thumping turned into tail wagging, and the dog stood properly in order to sniff and lick his face. “Alright, alright, enough of that, I don’t need a bath right this minute.”
Subsiding, the dog sat back, head tilted to one side as it looked him up and down. When Harry stood, it copied him. When he picked Hedwig’s cage and his trunk back up, the dog moved to his side. And as Harry set off once more, it trotted along too.
“Guess we’ve got a new friend,” Harry said to Hedwig. She clacked her beak in reply.
They kept on another twenty minutes, gradually leaving houses and neatly trimmed lawns behind in favor of busy roadways, though those were mostly empty as the night got later. Eventually, the boy and pair of animals reached the edge of Little Whinging, with a spread of pastureland before them.
“Shall we stick to the road, or take our chances in the fields?” Harry asked. Hedwig shrieked, as the dog huffed. “Yeah, I think so too. Streetlights it is.” They turned onto the first road that seemed to be heading away from civilization, and kept onward. Overhead, clouds drifted across the moon, as more and more stars slowly became visible. Harry, head tilted back in order to squint at them and mention various Astronomy tidbits out loud for his companions, didn’t notice the car until it was nearly upon them.
Expecting it to pass as all others had so far that night, he blinked as the vehicle slowed to match their walking speed. The driver’s window rolled down, revealing a young woman with short dark hair and a concerned expression.
“Alright there, kid?” She asked.
“Yeah, we’re just fine.” Harry tried to offer her a vague smile, before looking forward again resolutely.
“Y’know there’s not much out this way but old houses and sheep, right?”
“Sounds great, thanks.”
“...ah,” she said, the concern morphing into understanding. “First time running away?”
Startled, Harry nearly tripped over thin air. “Erm, pardon? No, nothing like that! I’m just- well-”
“S’okay, kid,” the woman smiled. “Started running away myself when I was a bit older than you. Took a few times before it stuck, but definitely worth it, each one. Do you actually have someplace you’re going, or is this a get-as-far-away-as-possible trip?”
The dog barked twice. Harry shot it a scowl as the woman chuckled. “No one asked for your input.” A lolling tongue and doggy grin answered him.
“Right, then.” The car stopped. “You and the mangy beast want a lift?”
A sudden vision of getting in and being taken back to Privet Drive filled Harry’s mind. “Um- no, it’s fine- we’re fine walking-”
“I can get you farther away from whatever it is you’re running from,” the woman offered, staying put despite opening her door. “And I won’t ask what that something is, if you don’t feel like sharing. But I wasn’t lying before: I’ve been where you are. I got out. I don’t mind helping another do the same.”
Harry just stared at her for a long moment. Then the dog leaned against his leg, unexpectedly. The sudden weight caused him to wobble and take a step towards the car, which was apparently the whole point, if the tail thumping against him was any indication.
“...yeah,” Harry finally sighed. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” The woman got out of her car, then, and offered him a hand to shake. “I’m Eleanor Kegs, but I make all my friends call me Norie.”
Her grip was firm, and the calluses on her palm and fingers weren’t the sort to belong to someone unused to working hard. “Harry, Harry Potter.”
“Nice to meet you, Harry. So who’re the helpful mutt and this lovely creature?”
“She’s Hedwig,” he replied. “I’ve had her for two years now. The dog showed up about an hour ago, and he doesn’t have a collar.”
“Ah, two strays in one night,” Norie smirked. She also reached down to the dog, who dutifully raised a paw for her to clasp. “Look like you’re getting out of a bad situation too, love. Fancy a good meal and a bath, don’t ya?”
Several barks answered her, causing the woman to laugh again. She helped Harry get his trunk situated in the boot, then Hedwig and the dog into her backseat. Harry nearly sat back there himself, too, but Norie insisted on him sitting up front with her, so he could see where they were going and know how to get back, too.
“Always important to know where you are,” she said, putting the car in gear. “And your orientation too; if you’re heading someplace west and know what direction it is, just keep following roads heading the right way, and you’ll get there eventually.”
Harry nodded slowly, and glanced out his window in order to double check which way they were facing compared to the North Star. Norie nodded her approval.
“So,” she spoke up as they got underway. “Any injuries, allergies, or criminal records I ought to know about?”
-any further use of magic will result in expulsion from Hogwarts-
Harry sighed. “I probably won’t be allowed to go back to my boarding school after this. And if my relatives ever find me, it’ll be bars on the window and food through the catflap again.”
“...you should know, I really want to ask several questions right now, but I’m leaving it to you to decide how much or how little you want to explain.” When Harry stayed quiet, it became Norie’s turn to sigh. “Right, then. I mentioned I started running away a bit older than you, yeah? Well, couple years before the first time, my dad got remarried. Utter angel in front of him of course, but behind his back, when it was just her and me? Devil woman. Made me clean up all her messes, and if it wasn’t done before Dad got home, guess who got blamed?”
“You,” Harry said.
“Spot on. Never could dress or talk or act right for her, which led to ripping my clothes, slouching when I sat, swearing every other sentence - you get the idea. Dad couldn’t stand it. Demanded to know why I’d changed, but wouldn’t hear a word against his new bride, either.” Norie smiled bitterly. “When it got to the point that he slapped me right across the face, I knew I’d had enough. Didn’t bother to pack a thing that first time, just took off out the back door. Only lasted a day before I got picked up for truancy and taken home, ‘course, but that just meant I got craftier the next time.”
“Did they- I mean- what did your Dad do?”
“Shouted and said I was grounded for two weeks. Devil woman took that as an opportunity to pick at me as much as she could, it was awful. Did my best to ignore her, but, well, when she decided to start insulting my dead mum-”
“That’s what Marge did!” Harry sat up straighter. “She just, she kept saying all these awful things that I know aren’t true, but it’s all any of them have ever said my whole life and I just- I just-” I blew her up, he couldn’t say, not when Norie was in all likelihood a muggle, and he couldn’t break the Statute of Secrecy, not twice in one night!
His new friend just nodded, though, as if she knew what he couldn’t say. “I get it, kid. That’s why we run - when the shite just gets to be too much, and no one listens, you decide there’s no point in relying on anyone else to help and just go.”
Both of them fell silent for a bit. The car slowed to make a left turn. A wet nose nudged Harry’s arm, and he reached behind himself to pet the dog’s ears.
“Granted, sometimes you do find someone who listens,” Norie mentioned. “I was seventeen the last time I ran away, following these very same roads out into the middle of nowhere, bag of clothes and nothing else to my name.”
“What happened?”
She shrugged, a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “I got picked up, same as you. Absolutely barmy woman, who insisted on taking me to her home once she realized I didn’t have a destination of my own. Gave me dinner, a shower, a warm bed... and I woke up before dawn the next morning, figuring I’d swipe any valuables in easy reach along with some food and be on my way before she wisened up.”
Harry blinked. “Did you?”
“Nope. Found a ten pounder on the table downstairs, with a note saying 'there will be twenty pounds tomorrow'. Well, I figured I could wait another day for twice the cash, no problem.” Norie grinned. “She came down a little while later, smiled at me, and asked if I’d be willing to pitch in with breakfast. I was, so I did. After, she asked if I would be opposed to helping with the dishes. I was, so I didn’t. The whole day went by like that, her asking if I could give her a hand with something, and just smiling whether I agreed or not.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah. So, next morning, sure enough there’s twenty pounds - and another note saying there’d be thirty the following day. You see the pattern here?”
Harry nodded.
“Well, time went by, and I helped with more things, and she got me clothes and new shoes and even some replacement hair dye, since mine started fading after a while. And, eventually, I stopped bothering to get up before dawn. Think we’d gotten up to over two hundred pounds by then, but I just kept justifying that there would be more if I waited, until it finally hit me that I just didn’t want to leave.”
Harry stared down at his hands. “...is that what you’re gonna try with me?” He saw Norie shrug in the corner of his eye.
“Nah. I was an angry teenager putting myself in harm’s way ‘cause I didn’t think anyone would care. Melissa proved me wrong, but she had to do it slowly. You, though... I dunno, I don’t get quite the same impression. Might just be since you’re younger, but you don’t seem the type to be hellbent on self-destruction quite yet.”
He didn’t have an answer for that. A minute later, it didn’t matter, as Norie turned right onto a gravel drive, and the noise became a bit much for conversation. They wound between some trees, over an arched wooden bridge, and through the open gate of a stone wall. Even in the darkness, Harry could vaguely make out a large garden as they passed, and then the car pulled to a stop in front of a three-story house.
“Home sweet home,” Norie smiled. “C’mon, let’s get you lot inside, and we’ll see if Melissa’s still up - she usually waits for me whenever I’m late coming in, but this time of year is always hard, and she might have fallen asleep on the settee or something.”
Harry frowned as he got out of the car, and opened the rear door to retrieve Hedwig. “This time of year?”
“Yeah. Anniversary of her husband and kids dying - they passed away in some sort of accident about twelve years ago.” Norie glanced at him with a mixed expression. “Part of why she opened her home to me, y’know; I reminded her of her daughter, and was about the same age her son would’ve been.”
They got Harry’s trunk out, and headed up the short steps to the front door, which Norie opened with a large key dragged out of her trouser pocket. A lamp by the front door got switched on for light, but down the hall to their left, Harry could see a shifting orange glow - fireplace, most likely. Norie had him leave his trunk by the staircase, along with Hedwig’s cage, the bird herself let out to climb up onto his shoulder. Then, the woman led all three of them down the hall.
“Melissa?” She called, just before they rounded the corner.
“Eleanor, dear! Goodness, I didn’t even notice the time- aren’t you running a bit later, than...” The older woman curled up in front of the hearth trailed off as Harry and his companions appeared. “Oh.”
With dark blonde hair going silver at the roots and faint lines around the corners of her eyes, Harry guessed her age to be somewhere around fifty. Her clothes were pretty similar to Norie’s: soft, comfortable t-shirt, trousers with deep cargo pockets, but fuzzy socks and slippers rather than thick-soled boots. The surprised expression only lasted until Norie started to explain, and then the old woman smiled, her wrinkles crinkling and eyes gleaming softly.
“I understand, dear,” she said once Norie had finished, setting aside the photo album she’d been looking through and rising to her feet. “My name is Melissa Ollivander, Harry, and you’re welcome to stay as long as you need.”
Harry choked on air. “Ollivander?”
Norie frowned, and Melissa blinked, before she glanced at Hedwig and her eyes grew rather wide. “Oh,” she breathed. “Oh dear. You’re a Hogwarts student, aren’t you?”
“Hog-what now?” Norie asked, as Harry took an abrupt step back. “Wait. That’s the school your kids were enrolled at, wasn’t it?”
“Indeed,” Melissa whispered, gaze still locked on Hedwig. “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I’ve never been myself, of course, but my boy Gavin took such lovely photographs for me...” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Opening them again, she met Harry’s panicked eyes, and was quick to smile reassuringly. “It’s alright, Harry dear. Eleanor and I may be muggles, but you don’t have to worry about the Statue in front of us.”
The boy opened his mouth- closed it. Opened it again. “You- don’t know- I-”
Impossibly, Melissa’s expression grew even softer. “Dearheart. You’re safe here. Whatever it is you’ve fled from, you won’t be found by muggle or magical authorities, I promise.”
Harry shuddered, and had to take a moment to orient himself past that sudden blast of shock. They didn’t know. They didn’t know who he was.
“It-” He swallowed. “It could be dangerous, letting me stay here-”
“We have wards,” Melissa said proudly. “Some of the best in Britain. My brother Mark was born a wizard, which was how our family learned about Hogwarts and all the rest. He loved his runes and arithmancy, not least because he could practice designing ward arrays during the summer months, designs that were put to good use during the War. Trust me, Harry, this place and everything inside is completely hidden: only muggles with the right keys can find their way in, while the defenses block all sorts of tracking and detection spells.”
“Funniest thing in the world,” Norie mentioned casually, “Sitting by the drive when I was a teen, waving at the police going by looking for me, laughing when they didn’t see a thing.”
Harry wasn’t sure what to make of that, though the dog pressed against his side huffed, the sound remarkably similar to laughter. He leaned over just a bit, in order to better pet the dog’s head, and nearly swayed into falling over for his effort. Norie quickly caught him by the shoulder Hedwig wasn’t sitting on, the owl screeching in alarm. Melissa moved closer as well, reaching to brush back his fringe of hair, dry fingers checking the temperature of his forehead. They went right over his scar, never hesitating, never lingering over it. Completely unaware.
“You’d best be getting into bed soon, dear,” Melissa murmured as she lowered her hand. “I daresay you’ve probably had a long day. Come along, now, there’s three guest rooms upstairs you can have your pick of. Eleanor?”
“I’ve got him,” the younger woman assured her, looping an arm around Harry to help him stay upright. As they headed back down the hall to the front foyer, she whispered in his ear, “So, being a student at that Hogs place means you’ve got a wand, right?”
He nodded, still faintly stunned.
“Wicked. Melissa’s moving photos are brilliant and all, but I’ve always wanted to see the real thing in person-”
“I can’t,” Harry interrupted. “I can’t use magic outside of school- that’s why I had to run, I blew up Marge, I’ve probably been expelled already-”
“Well, it’s not like they can expel you twice, can they?” Her abrupt comment left him caught between dismay and amusement, and Harry couldn’t make up his mind whether to laugh or shout before Melissa led them up the stairs and into a plainly furnished bedroom.
Both women worked together seamlessly to get him settled, and as soon as Harry’s head settled on the pillow, everything faded into sleep.
-M-
Birdsong reached his ears, and Harry squinted in the faint light of early morning. He’d have to be up and moving shortly, to get breakfast ready before Vernon left for work-
Something thumped against his legs.
Blinking, Harry pushed himself up on his elbows, and peered down the length of the bed. A large black shape lying alongside him shifted, tail thumping up and down repeatedly as it stared back. Reaching out, the boy’s hand encountered soft fur, and then a wet nose. The dog huffed.
Right. Right, he’d run away. And wound up in the home of a couple of muggles who knew about magic. Right.
“Reckon we ought to get up, then,” Harry muttered to the dog, who grumbled before standing and hopping down off the bed. Reluctantly, the boy followed. Warm sheets were exchanged for a cold hardwood floor, at least until his feet encountered a pair of felt slippers, which Harry quickly slipped on. He found his glasses on the bedside table, and took a minute to simply stare at the room around him.
He’d vaguely noticed the minimal furnishings the night before, but not the small pile of boxes stacked between the closet door and chest of drawers. A sturdy looking desk took up the space beneath the room’s window, a cup on the corner holding a mixed assortment of quills and muggle pens. When he stepped closer, the faint layer of dust became visible, as well as the sun-faded labels on the boxes: Robes, Textbooks, Potions, Quidditch.
Biting his lip, Harry cautiously reached to lift open a few of them. Sure enough, he found various bits and pieces of the wizarding world: books he’d read or seen older students reading, a cauldron with stirring rods and expired ingredients tucked inside, Quidditch robes and gloves and a couple old posters.
Hogwarts uniforms.
His fingers stilled against the frayed strands of a Ravenclaw tie, as Harry abruptly remembered something Norie said the night before.
Anniversary of her husband and kids dying... they passed away in some sort of accident about twelve years ago...
Right at the height of the War against Voldemort.
A soft whine drew Harry’s attention before he could get caught up in things he didn’t really want to think about. The dog edged into his line of sight, and started wagging his tail when Harry crooked a slight grin. “Hey, you. Reckon it must be breakfast time, yeah?”
He made sure to put the boxes back the way he’d found them before tip-toeing out into the hall, dog trotting at his heels. Careful of creaking steps, they eased downstairs and started poking around to find the kitchen.
The dog managed to locate it first, nudging Harry towards a cracked door, and when he gently pushed it further open the warm scent of baking bread unfurled into the corridor. Hedwig perked up where she sat on a stand by the wide picture window, and hooted cheerfully. That drew Melissa out of the walk-in pantry, who jumped when she noticed Harry standing awkwardly just inside the doorway. “Goodness!”
“Sorry,” he immediately apologized. “I just-”
“Oh, not to worry, dearheart,” Melissa waved him off, letting out a shaky breath as she smiled. “I’m always getting startled by the smallest things. Come on, come in, bread’s just about done, and I was debating which meat to pull out - would you rather a sausage or bacon butty?”
Harry hesitated. “E-either’s fine. I can help, if you, if you’d like.”
Her smile grew a little wider and steadier. “That would be lovely, dearheart. Why don’t we have both, then, since it’s a full house today? I can handle the sausage if you don’t mind managing the bacon.”
“I don’t mind,” Harry said quickly. And he didn’t, really. She’d been willing to let him spend a night in her house, the least he could do would be to help with breakfast.
The dog stuck close to him at first, before gradually relaxing, and nosing around the boundary of the room. Somehow, he always managed to know when Harry glanced towards him, because that grimy snout would turn up and around, dark eyes peering back as if to say it’s alright, I’m still here. Ron would call him barmy, checking up on a mutt who’d been around less than twenty-four hours, but, well. It made Harry feel just a tad better.
By the time Norie came stumbling into the kitchen, hair squashed flat on one side and sticking out in all directions on the other, fresh rolls were waiting on the counter receiving three slices each of bacon or sausage. Melissa just snorted and moved to guide her into a chair, as Harry situated the rolls on a serving tray. The dog came closer with a hopeful expression.
“Ach, none of that now,” Melissa warned, sticking out a foot to keep him from getting within range to swipe some food from Harry’s hands. “I fixed some extra sausage for you, no need to go stealing our breakfast, thank you very much.”
The dog made a distinctly human sounding grumble of complaint, but settled himself beneath the table regardless, one head laid across Harry’s foot as soon as he sat down.
Norie seemed to wake up more once she’d downed three rolls, enough to go get herself a cup of coffee from the electric pot on the countertop. Melissa already had a cup of tea, and Harry tried to insist he was fine with water. (A cup of orange juice managed to appear before him regardless.) A shallow mixing bowl dug out from the cabinets served as a dog water bowl, and when she finished her own food Melissa fetched the extra sausage links to set down for the great black lump keeping all their feet warm.
“He’s rather well behaved, honestly,” the older woman grinned, stroking the dog’s head as he lapped at the offered water. “Do you want to keep him, Harry?”
“Erm. Maybe? I mean, I’ve never had a dog before...” He almost mentioned the probability of not being able to take such a large pet to Hogwarts, before the words caught in his throat. Expelled. Right.
“Well, we’ll give him a bath anyway, and feed him properly for a few days before you need to decide.” Hedwig fluttered over then to perch on the back of Harry’s chair, and he lifted his mostly cleared plate to let her snag the last couple pieces of bacon. Melissa smiled, watching them, her eyes going a bit distant.
Norie stretched with a massive yawn, before bringing her hands back down to scrub through her hair, making it- well, not neater, per say, but at least more of a symmetrical mess. “Right then, how soon are we thinking about the mutt’s bath? Because I could sorely use some time in the shower myself, but I’d rather not get clean and then immediately soaked again with dog-water.”
Melissa hummed. “Well, we could do it now, or if you’d like a little more time, Harry, it can wait until this evening.”
“Er, now’s fine, I suppose.” He leaned a little to one side to meet gazes with the dark eyes beneath the table. “You want a bath now, boy?”
The large tail suddenly thumping against their legs seemed answer enough.
-M-
The first part of the bath went well. But after sitting so well for the initial dowsing and shampooing and de-tangling, the dog decided he wanted to play.
There was more water sloshed across the entirety of the master bathroom floor than in the tub itself by the time the humans decided to call things good enough. Norie scarpered first for her hot shower while the other two slowly cleaned up the mess, and then Melissa nudged Harry on up to the guest bath for his turn. When he eventually got out, wrapped in possibly the softest pale green towel ever, it was to find the dog conked out dead asleep on his bed.
Somehow, Harry managed to get himself dressed without waking the mutt, figuring the bath probably wore him out as much as any of them. After all, despite his size, the dog was practically skin and bone underneath the thick black fur.
Just as Harry was about to open the door, a soft knock sounded, heralding Melissa sticking her head inside. “Sorry to bother you, dearheart, I just- well. I noticed your clothes seemed a bit worse for wear, and wondered if you might like some things a little closer to your size?”
It took a minute for Harry to find his voice. “I- I shouldn’t-”
“We don’t use ‘should’ turns of phrase in this house, young man,” Melissa smiled. “After all, I technically should go about reporting your presence to some authority or other, but I’m not going to.”
Well. That was one way to make him fold.
At Harry’s just-barely-there nod, Melissa fully entered the room with a box like the ones full of Hogwarts things. She set it on the desk, and started pulling out assorted soft shirts and folded trousers. “I’ve often thought it can’t possibly be healthy, hanging on to all these things without a use for them anymore, but, well. I think I’d break down for good if I tried actually binning any of it. Here, lad, try this on-”
They slowly worked through the box, Harry very pointedly not meeting Melissa’s eyes as he slipped different garments on and off, very aware of all the scrapes and bruises that came from a summer full of chores for the Dursleys, as well as the way his ribs were rather noticeable. But she didn’t say a word; just kept handing him clothes to try, and sorting them after according to suitableness. By the end, Melissa tucked the items too large or tall back into her box, while more than half stayed out for Harry’s use.
She picked it up and started to slip out, only to pause at the door. “Harry, dearheart... the War left you alone too, didn’t it?”
His throat suddenly felt inexplicably tight. “...yeah. My parents, they- they were-” He shook his head, trying to get the words out, but they wouldn’t- he couldn’t-
“It’s alright, lad.” Melissa’s warm hand curled comfortingly around his shoulder. A soft whine drew his attention to the bed, where the dog had woken up and squirmed right up to the edge, watching him with immensely sad eyes. “You’ve got us in your corner now, and that means you can stay as long as you need to. As long as you want to. I promise.”
Everything went decidedly blurry, even though Harry knew his glasses hadn’t gone anywhere. After a moment he managed a shaky nod, and Melissa set down her box in order to hug him properly. The dog even jumped off the bed to lean against the backs of Harry’s legs, a steady, grounding presence.
If either noticed the couple of tears that slid free when Harry pressed his face to Melissa’s shoulder, they didn’t put up a fuss.
-M-
Lunch went just as well as breakfast, and then Harry surprised and delighted Melissa with his gardening proficiencies, which ate up most of the afternoon and evening as they slowly worked their way across her entire sprawling backyard. “I normally don’t do it all in one go,” the woman laughed when they eventually returned indoors, stripping off muddy gloves and grimy shoes, “But goodness, that’s the most fun I’ve had in a good long while!”
Harry just grinned and ducked his head, petting the dog when he trotted over.
Norie returned from a quick trip to town, bearing several take-out bags as well as a new backpack hanging from one shoulder. “Trunks make for a nice aesthetic and all, but honestly, why shouldn’t you have something a little simpler to deal with?”
“Well,” Harry said as he looked over the new pack, “I think most grown witches and wizards tend to just shrink things down to stick in their pockets.”
Norie blinked at him. “Oh, that is brilliant and bloody cheating.” Harry burst out laughing at her indignant tone. “Come on now, you’ve got to show me. Even if it’s not that, I’ve been waiting very patiently to see my first bit of magic.”
The thought of expulsion rose up once again, but Harry suppressed it quicker than before. He pulled his wand out of his back pocket, considered possibilities, and then pointed it in Norie’s direction with a sly grin. “Wingardium Leviosa!”
The woman let out an ear-splitting shriek as her feet left the floor, but then her delighted laughter rang out instead.
-M-
When Harry crawled into bed that night, a small grin still on his face, he found himself drifting off far more slowly than usual, with vague half-dreams flitting through his mind.
First Norie, tip-toeing inside to set something on the desk, a muffled thud and muted swear marking her exit. Then Melissa, lingering at the bedside with her fingers ghosting over his hair for a while. It felt nice, but not quite firm enough for Harry to note more than the faint impression of touch.
But after that, someone else took up stroking his hair, fingers shaky but pressing just a tad harder. Barely awake by that point, Harry still turned his head into the strokes, and they obligingly covered more area, keeping up the half-familiar petting until he truly did fall asleep with only a vague whisper trailing after:
“You’ve got people in your corner again, Prongslet. And even if our hosts can’t manage, I swear, I’ll keep you safe this time.”