Chapter 13: XIII
Notes:
I feel generous today, so here's another chapter :D
I think this is the longest chapter yet! I don't even know why I didn't split it... but I guess I wanted t get this all over with.
Also as a quick heads-up. We're now entering book-territory. Although Kakashi being there will change things, much will also go very similar or unchanged to canon. I decided against marking direct or verbatim quotes from the books, but especially in the dialogue, you'll recognize quite a bit from the Prisoner of Azkaban. I try to give my own spin on it, adding Kakashi's perspective. But tell me if it becomes too much of a book-retelling. I expect (or at least hope) that the more time passes, the more we'll leave the actual book plot not just with Kakashi, but also with Harry and Co. Though key-elements will remain.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
This time, luck was on Kakashi's side. He had no idea where Surrey was, but he decided that orientating himself via street signs had led to success before. In London, the signs were a mess, so he quickly left London towards the southwest. It was just a wild guess. He had entered London from the northeast and hadn't seen a place called Surrey on that side of London. Therefore, going southwest seemed reasonable.
He had barely even left the city when his stars finally aligned. Surrey was on none of the street signs, and he was already a little disappointed, when there, just to his left a huge car pulled out on the motorway. It was a big rectangular vehicle as high as two men standing on each other's shoulders. It looked old and made more noise than any of the other cars around it. Bright red paint and a big advertisement on the sides made it stand out. A bus. He had seen these vehicles before in Cromer and again in Aylsham. They were meant to drive around passengers, and conveniently for him, they often had their destination displayed in bright letters above their front window. Convenient for Kakashi, because this bus, in particular, read 'Sutton, Surrey'.
Following the bus, he reached Surrey in no time. It wasn't so much a town, but rather an area just to the south of London. That was a little discouraging. Kakashi had hoped for a small town like Cromer with only a few thousand people. Instead, there were dozens of towns and small villages and Potter could be in every one of these. For a moment, he considered that he had miscalculated. He didn't know where Potter lived, he didn't know how he looked nor did he know his scent. All he knew, was that he lived somewhere in this area, a wizard living with a family of muggles.
In a town called Leatherhead in Mole Valley, Surrey he stopped following the Bus to Sutton. This place, he thought was as good a place as any to start. It was early morning, and the first people were already on the street.
"I'm looking for a boy called Potter, Harry Potter," he asked a girl his age in a garden across a big schoolyard. After getting no satisfactory answer, he had decided asking people his own age might promise more success. If Potter lived in the area, there was a chance, this girl might have gone to school with him. She needn't know much about him, but the name would maybe ring familiar.
"Never heard of him," the girl said, walking all the way up to the fence. "How old?"
Kakashi gave a short shrug. Sirius had been rather vague with his age. "Thirteen, fourteen? Around our age."
The girl frowned a little. Her nose crunched with the grimace. "You don't know? What do you want with him?"
Kakashi didn't have an answer to the question. Next time, he should prepare a better story. In any case, the girl had already answered his question anyway, so he quickly left her ("Hey! Where are you going?" she yelled after him.) and her neighborhood and asked in a different part of town.
An hour later an eighteen-year-old boy suggested he could look in the phone book and even pointed him to a phone booth. Kakashi quickly leafed through the pages. There were eight Potters, he saw. Interestingly, their addresses weren't just listed at Leatherhead, but in the surrounding areas as well. The phonebook was apparently for the entire Surrey area. That would make things a lot easier for him.
Happily, he started dialing the first number. Thankfully, the phonebooth gave clear instructions on how to use it, and he still had a little cash left.
A woman picked up, reading a number to him that he only realized after four digits was her own phone number.
"Hello, I'm looking for a boy called Harry Potter?"
"I'm sorry. This is Augustine Potter on Bridge Street. There's nobody called Harry here." Her voice had the distinct throatiness of a chain smoker.
"Okay. Thank you for your help. I'm sorry for the disturbance."
"No worries, no worries."
Kakashi hung up and tried the next number.
Eight phone calls and all his coin cash later his excitement had deflated considerably. He had called all eight Potters in the area, but nobody knew a boy called Harry. However, one of them had reacted rather annoyed, that he was sick and tired of having kids call him every summer holidays, just because this Harry-kid couldn't give out his number correctly. So, obviously, Kakashi wasn't the only one who had tried and failed to reach Potter this way.
According to the census in the back of the phonebook, there were roughly 10 000 people living in Leatherhead and two hours later he was reasonably certain, that Harry Potter wasn't among them. He left the town and followed the signs to a town called Redhill. On his way, he made sure to ask at least one person in every village he passed by.
Redhill was double the size of Leatherhead, so therefore he took twice as long to decide that Harry Potter didn't live here either. By the time he reached a town called Horley, the sun was already starting to set.
"Do you know a kid called Harry Potter?" He called out to three other boys on a playground. They were kicking a shiny leather boy from one to the other. "I found this, and it says his name, there…" he pulled out his medkit. A quick genjutsu and as the boy looked up at him, he could read 'Belongs to Harry Potter' written with a black marker across it.
"What is it?" one of the boys asked, kicking the ball to one of his friends, before running up to Kakashi. Kakashi opened it, quickly revealing a few bandages. "A first aid kit, I think. A woman said a boy forgot it at her bakery, but she couldn't describe him."
The other kid gave an uninterested shrug. "Why bother. Just keep it or throw it away. Looks rather worthless anyway." He pointed at where Kakashi had repaired it after a shuriken had hit it during a mission half a year ago. "Already all stitched up. He can just buy a new one."
Kakashi frowned. He felt almost insulted the way the boy dismissed his med pack like that as if it held no value. "Well, maybe it has personal value if he bothered to repair it," he suggested, quickly shoving the pack back into his pouch before the boy could continue to insult it. "Well, do you know him?"
"Harry Potter?" He shook his head. "Never heard of him. And I know almost all the boys here in town. Don't know you though." His eyes narrowed suspiciously at Kakashi.
"I'm just here for the vacation," Kakashi quickly said. "I'm from Japan."
"Ah, that's where the accent's from. Sounds about right. What are you doing in Horley of all places?"
Kakashi was unhappy with how the conversation turned away from his search for Harry Potter. "I was in London earlier. It's just a day trip. So, you don't know him?"
The boy laughed. "Yeah, can't imagine why you'd leave London for this backwater town." He shook his head. "No. I know there's a Potter over in Lingfield. Martin Potter…" He waved towards the west as if that was where Lingfield was. Kakashi had read the street signs and was certain Lingfield was in the east. "Don't know a Harry, but maybe it's a relative."
"It's not," Kakashi said dejectedly. Martin Potter was the guy who'd been so annoyed over the phone. "I already called him."
"You called old Martin?" The boy snickered. His freckles danced across his cheeks as he laughed. "How was it? He's pretty nasty, isn't he?" Kakashi didn't disagree. "Anyway, you're taking this way too seriously. That what they do over in Japan? Come on, just throw it away. Or keep it if you think it's of value. You asked around, even called old Martin. Nobody can expect more than that."
Kakashi made a face. "I thought it would be cool," he said, trying to mimic some of the language he had heard all day from other kids his age. "Like I could make a friend."
The boy frowned at him. Then he turned around. "Hey, Carl! Ted!" he yelled out to his friends. "Know a kid called Harry Potter? He's supposed to live somewhere around here."
Kakashi looked over to the other two boys who were still kicking the ball. One of them, a tall lanky boy with curly black hair, dug the tip of his foot below the ball, kicked it up, and then caught it with his own hands. "No idea. Never heard of him, why?" he said, throwing his ball from one hand to the other.
"He lost some first aid kit or something like that," the freckled boy yelled back, pointing at Kakashi. "He wants to give it back."
The lanky boy gave a shrug. The other kid, much shorter but with strong arms, waved for him to kick, then he suddenly stopped. "Harry Potter?" he asked, turning to Kakashi. "I think I know that name."
"You know him?" Kakashi quickly ran up to him. "I've been looking all day, but nobody knows him."
"As I said, man, you're taking it too seriously," the freckled boy said running after him. "Damn you're fast."
"Not sure," the short boy said. "I think there was a boy with that name in my primary school. Just a year below me. Over in Little Whinging."
Kakashi had never heard of that place. "Little Whinging? Where is that?"
"Halfway between here and Guildford. You can't miss it. Most boring place you've ever been to I promise." He laughed.
Kakashi had no idea what to imagine with that description. "You know anything else about Potter?"
The other boy shook his head. "Nah. I'm not even sure, he still lives there."
Kakashi thanked him and quickly looked for the way to Guildford. He quickly ran along next to the main road. Halfway, the boy had said. Guildford was about 25 miles away. After roughly half of that, he came upon a town called Dorking, and there… A sign pointing north told him he was about five miles outside Little Whinging.
**
It was already getting late, as he entered the small town. Kakashi hadn't known how to picture the most boring town ever, but now that he was here, he decided the description was fitting. Little Whinging were rows upon rows of single houses with hedges, with neat little gardens of the greenest grass. It was smashed smack between the motorway on one side and a small river on the other. The most striking landmarks were the church (that was one of the least impressive churches he had seen in the last days) and a big company called 'Grunnings'. ("Grunnings," he whispered to himself trying to make it sound appealing.)
Grunnings seemed like a good place to start his search. So just when all the workers from the company left the grounds, he jogged up to a young lady in high heels and a skirt suit and asked the same question he was already sick of asking:
"Excuse me? Do you know somebody called Harry Potter?"
The woman looked at him with an expression as if he had said something scandalizing. Her nose scrunched up a little. Her eyes roamed his face, then she quickly pressed her suitcase closer to her body and marched on with hurried steps. Kakashi looked after her in confusion.
He was about to follow her to ask again when instinct made him dodge a man who suddenly grabbed for him. "Hey boy!" The man yelled out in an angry voice. "What are you doing here? Trying to steal, are you?" Kakashi glared at him. "It's all the same with you people!"
"You people?" Kakashi asked because he had no idea what he was referring to.
The man didn't answer. "Where are you from, huh? China?" He made to grab for Kakashi again, but Kakashi quickly evaded. "Some good for nothing are you? Get lost, boy!"
Kakashi was utterly confused. "I'm not sure what you're—" he started to say, but at that point, another woman joined their conversation.
"Henry, leave the kid alone." Her long fingers clamped around the man's arm pushing it away. She was much shorter than him, but he seemed to follow her command anyway. Glaring at her he pulled his arm back. Then he muttered something about "thieving pack" and turned away.
"Racist asshole," she whispered after him. "Sorry about that," the woman then bowed down a little toward Kakashi to be eye level with him. "You're not from here, are you?" She pointed at her own face. "Mixed race, hm? I bet the mask didn't help either. Why are you wearing it?"
Kakashi had no answer for that. Maybe he should stop wearing his mask, he thought. In this world it made him stand out, rather than help him hide. He had already noticed that.
"Is it some new fashion? I see more and more of your people walking around London with masks. You're a tourist, I guess?" Again, he had no idea, what he meant with 'your people'. Still, he nodded. It wasn't the first time, he used the tourist excuse, after all. "So, what did you want to know?"
She pushed up her glasses, as she waited for him to answer.
"I'm looking for somebody. His name is Harry Potter. He lives somewhere around here?"
Her face seemed confused at first, then her brows moved towards her hairline in a show of surprise. "Potter? I think I know that name. That's Mr. Dursley's nephew, isn't it?" She looked to the company. "He's the director and my boss. I guess that's why you came here, hm?" She shook her head. "What do you want from him? I hear quite bad things about him."
"I just wanted to return something to him, that he lost," he said not bothering to show her the medkit, because he wanted her to give him more information, and distracting her with a fake lost-and-found item wouldn't help. "What bad things?"
"Ah, that's not for young ears…" she started, but then she continued anyway, her tone turning confidential as if she was revealing secrets. "Mr. Dursley certainly tries his best with the boy, but a hopeless case from what I hear. They had to send him to St. Brutus's." She said it as if he had to know what that was.
"St. Brutus's?" he asked, having trouble with pronouncing the double s-sound.
"Oh dear, of course, you wouldn't know." She clapped her hands together. "St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys." She shook her head. "Poor boy, there seems to be something wrong with him." She pointed at her head. "Up here I man. But it can't be helped. Mr. Dursley hopes some discipline might help him. But you never know, right? If the nature is already rotten from the start…" She let the sentence hang in the air unfinished. "He's been making trouble ever since he was a small boy, I heard."
Kakashi had quite enough of her. The way she spoke to him, the way she had even defended him earlier, she seemed to be nice enough, but now her words were all rubbing him the wrong way. She was a gossip. Clearly, she believed just everything this Dursley-person was telling her. If Harry Potter was in fact a wizard, he probably went to Hogwarts. Kakashi already knew that much about the wizarding world. With the Statute of Secrecy in effect, the Dursleys probably tried to hide that by making up some insane story about Potter being in this St. Brutus's facility. This woman ate all these scandalous stories up and apparently loved to share them with every stranger that happened to come by. At multiple times she expressed sympathy for her boss, but there was also a glint in her eyes that spoke of spiteful glee that her boss had these troubles with his nephew.
Kakashi decided not to believe anything she said. It probably wasn't true, and he didn't think she cared much about whether it was true or not herself, as long as she had a nice story to gossip about.
"Can you tell me where they live?" he asked, not interested in the rest of her story.
She seemed somewhat put-off by his lack of interest. With a huff, she straightened up to her full height. "If he's home for the holidays… Privet Drive… I don't know the number off the top of my head."
Kakashi thanked her for her information, despite feeling already very annoyed with her.
"If you meet Mr. Dursley, don't tell him I told you anything," she called after him sounding a little worried. There was no reason to worry, of course. Kakashi had no intention to become friends with this Dursley and even if, he didn't know her name anyway.
**
Kakashi didn't know much about Harry Potter. A boy roughly his age. A wizard. An orphan who lived with his uncle, who was called Dursley on Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey. Most importantly, he didn't know how the boy looked, which made searching for him difficult. Ultimately, he decided his best chance was to just walk down Privet Drive and read the names below the doorbells and mailboxes.
It was already dark, but the streetlights made his task easy. Still, it was a boring task. Privet Drive was the most boring street in the most boring town. Everything looked the same. If it weren't for the changing numbers in front of the driveways, he would've been certain that he ran in circles checking the same three houses over and over, again. It was also a long street. He started checking number 121 on one end and had made all the way to 30 when he was distracted by noise.
Glad for the distraction he looked up.
"MARGE! Nooo!" It was a man's voice. The yelling came from one of the gardens a bit further down the road. "Bring her back down! Maker he normal again!" Kakashi didn't know who the command was intended for.
He heard a dog barking, but he was immediately certain that it wasn't Sirius. This was a much smaller dog, his barking high pitched and painful for his ears. Still, curious about what was happening, Kakashi jogged down the road. He peered over the neatly trimmed hedge into the garden of number 4.
There was nobody in the garden. Instead, he could see through an open window and terrace door into the kitchen. A huge woman flew bloated to the size of one of Jiraiya-sama's summoning toads just below the ceiling. The kitchen seemed cramped with her in the center bopping uselessly up and down as if she was entirely weightless. A fat man with a bushy mustache hung on her ankles, trying to pull her back down to the ground. Then there was a haggard woman standing to the side, watching it all with pure horror in her eyes.
Kakashi didn't know much about Harry Potter. But he knew he was a wizard… and this was clearly magic!
So where was the boy? There was a teenager, about the right age, sitting on the other side of the room, not concerned with what was happening, watching TV. He was almost as fat as the man, and the family resemblance was very obvious. A second teenager stood right across the bloated lady in front of the kitchen aisle. He had his fists balled at his sides. Unlike the other two males, he was thin, almost a little haggard. Wild black hair stood in all directions, reminding Kakashi a little of Obito. He was the right age as well.
That was him, Kakashi thought excitedly. No doubt. He had found him. Harry Potter.
Then Potter turned around, and Kakashi heard the door bang as he left the kitchen. There were more sounds from inside. Doors banging shut, the scraping noises of something heavy being dragged down a staircase.
"Come back here!" The fat man yelled after him. "Come here and fix her!" He finally let go of the bloated lady and hurried after the teenager out of the kitchen.
"She deserved it! She deserved what she got. And you stay away from me."
The teenager and the fat man weren't in the kitchen anymore, so Kakashi couldn't see them. Then suddenly, he heard the front door open and he quickly hurried across the street to hide.
Kakashi watched Potter drag a big trunk out of the house. It fell heavily down the single step onto the pavement. Then he took an empty birdcage in the other hand, and a neat and shining broom under his arm. He grabbed for the trunk again to drag it all down the driveway and onto the street. He watched as Potter dragged his belongings across the street and past where Kakashi was hiding in the dark. He was panting, having trouble with the heavy trunk and the different unwieldy items. Every few steps his broom slipped a little further and he had to stop to adjust it under his arm. Carrying the broom, birdcage, and dragging the trunk after himself created unshapely shadows whenever he passed a streetlight. Kakashi followed right after.
This was Potter, he was fairly sure. Yet, Sirius was nowhere in sight. He must have fallen behind. Was he still in London looking for Kakashi? Had Kakashi made a mistake leaving? He had assumed, that after not finding Kakashi Sirius would simply continue on his planned journey. Of course, Sirius moved much slower than Kakashi, but he wouldn't have to search through all these small towns and villages the way Kakashi had. Maybe Kakashi was wrong and Sirius hadn't even left London, yet. So, what was he supposed to do now?
He could stay here, wait and hope that Sirius would turn up within the next few days. He could go back to London and continue his search there. Or he could stay with Potter and rely on Sirius turning up where Potter was sooner or later. Even if Sirius wouldn't seek out Potter after all, if Kakashi was right, Potter would go to Hogwarts. And Sirius was definitely headed there. It seemed like the safest option to stay with the boy.
Should he show himself then? He had learned a lot through just talking to Sirius. A lot more than he could've found out on his own. Harry Potter hadn't spent the last decade in prison. It stood to reason that he could teach Kakashi even more about this world.
Something held him back, though. How should he reveal himself to Potter? Having spent almost two weeks in this world now, he had realized that in this world he stood out like a sore thumb. Kakashi wasn't shy, but he was a shinobi. Hiding and losing himself in the masses was something he could always use to his advantage. Not calling attention to himself would be better than standing out as an odd and strange character. So, the mask had to go. As did the bandages over his eye and even his grey hair seemed uncommon in this world. Showing his Sharingan openly, however, would be a constant chakra drain. An illusion, he decided.
He had already tested it with Sirius, so he knew, that genjutsu worked against wizards. Without further hesitation, he quickly transformed himself into a rather nondescript plain-looking boy. No mask, no covered eye, no wild grey hair. Instead, he turned into a tall boy his own age, with short brown hair, wearing jeans and a hoodie. It was a simple transformation and Kakashi was certain, that he could keep this up for days, short of being knocked unconscious. He just had to make sure, that Potter wouldn't see him sleep.
The boy's heart was racing. Kakashi could hear it all the way to where he was following a few paces behind him. He smelled of anger. Then, he kicked his suitcase, placed the birdcage on top, and sat down on the sidewalk just around the corner of Privet Drive. Quickly, as he put his head in his hands, dragging his fingers through his wild hair, his anger vanished, and Kakashi was certain, what he now smelled was full-blown panic.
He seemed to mutter something under his breath, but it was impossible for Kakashi to understand. Then Potter pulled out a wooden stick, holding it tight. He seemed to finally come to a decision, as he opened his suitcase.
Audibly, Kakashi sighed, wanting to get the boy's attention. He had apparently miscalculated. The panic wasn't over and the sound of somebody close-by shocked Potter right back to his feet, standing stiff as a board his stick pointed into the dark. Embarrassed, because he didn't want to surprise Potter like that, Kakashi scratched his head, stepping into the light.
"Uh, sorry—" he started.
"What—" retreating backward, Potter tripped over his trunk and stumbled onto the street. He fell back, limbs flailing, the stick fell out of his hand and—
Kakashi didn't see it coming. There was a loud crack ripping through the atmosphere and just steps away from Potter a huge bus appeared, traveling towards the boy at a break-neck speed. It was fast! It was fast even for shinobi standards! And where the heck had it come from?
There was no time to contemplate. Lunging forward, all Kakashi could do was grab Potter's shoulder and drag him out of the bus's path. There was no time for anything else.
Tires screeching, a loud honking, and then the bus stopped right in front of them. With a squeaky sound, the door slid open.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go." A pimply-faced young man in a well-worn purple uniform the same color as the bus stood lounging in the doorway in front of them. He read his words from a tiny card in his hand. "My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening." With lazy eyes, he looked up at the two teenage boys for the first time then. "Blimey! You look as if you've seen a ghost!" He looked around as if looking for said ghost.
"Uh…" Kakashi's words utterly failed him. He only realized that he was still holding Potter's shoulder when the boy took a step back. Kakashi let go of him.
Potter picked the birdcage up, that he had knocked over as he fell.
"So, where can I take you?" Stan asked after giving up on his search for the ghost.
Nobody answered him. Kakashi didn't know where to go anyway. He wanted to follow Potter, so he would let Potter have the first word. Potter however seemed completely stunned still. Stan didn't seem happy with the ongoing silence.
"Which one of you called us, hm?" He frowned a little. "You did call us, right?"
Finally, Potter seemed to catch himself. "You said this bus drives everywhere?"
Glad that Potter had finally answered the conductor nodded proudly. "Yap. Everywhere you want to go, as long as it's on land. What's your name?"
Potter hesitated. "Neville Longbottom."
Kakashi was surprised at first. He had been certain that this had to be Potter. A fake name? But why?
"And you did flag us down, didn't you? Held out your wand?"
"Yes," Potter said quickly, although Kakashi knew for a fact that he had done no such thing. At least not on purpose. "How much to London?"
Shunpike's eyes traveled to Kakashi for a second. "Just one?" he asked. "What about your friend?"
"He's not—"
"Me too. To London please," Kakashi interrupted Potter immediately. "How much?"
"Eleven Sickle per person," Shunpike said completely ignoring the way Potter stared at Kakashi in surprise. "Thirteen if you want a hot chocolate and for fifteen you get a bottle of warm water and a toothbrush in a color of your choice." Kakashi had no idea what a Sickle was.
Potter nudged him in the side. "What are you doing? Who even are you?" he asked, but he whispered it so lowly that it was difficult for even Kakashi to understand. Obviously, Potter didn't want to create a scene in front of Shunpike.
Kakashi nudged him back, but he didn't answer. "Can I pay in Pound Sterling?" he asked looking in his pockets for the last bit of change he had.
Shunpike seemed put off by the question. "That's 3.20 each."
Kakashi nodded, he pulled out the last money he had. A single 20 Pound bill. Shunpike made a face. "Sorry, can't change that."
"I've got it," Harry said quickly. He searched in his pockets and then produced a number of silver coins. He stared at Kakashi, as he handed the money over.
Shunpike took the money, counted it quickly, then he stepped aside. "Alright, come in, come in."
"Wait, I need a moment. I lost my wand," Potter suddenly remembered.
Wand… Sirius had spoken about wands quite a bit he remembered. A thing he missed dearly. Kakashi had no concept of it in his head.
"You lost your wand, Neville?" Shunpike asked as if that was the most ridiculous thing ever. "You've got to hold on to that, man!" He turned towards the inside of the bus. "Ern, heard that? The boy lost his wand!" He snickered a little.
Meanwhile, Kakashi watched curiously, as Potter searched around the bus and on the street. He blushed a little from embarrassment. Then he went on his knees, searched with his arm under the bus, and finally pulled it back holding the wooden stick in his hand. "Got it!" Potter exclaimed. "Sorry for the wait." He held the stick up high. A wand…
"Okay, okay," Shunpike waved him back over impatiently. "Now, come in." He looked at Kakashi. "You too. What's your name?"
"Charlie," Kakashi said quickly. He didn't know why Potter needed an alias, but he decided to use one because Kakashi was clearly a Japanese name and he didn't look Japanese anymore. "Charlie Major."
"Well, come in Charlie Major. Ern, that's Charlie. Our driver, Ernie Prang." The old man in the driver seat gave Kakashi a toothless smile through thick glasses. "That's yours." He pointed at one of many empty brass beds that stood all across the inside of the bus. It seemed much bigger from the inside. "And that, Ern, that's… Bloody hell, what are you doing Neville!" Shunpike exclaimed jumping out of the bus. "Get inside. I'll take care of that! Ernie, Neville Longbottom. Your bed is the one next to your friend."
Potter was shoved into the bus and after Kakashi. He followed the directions, looking a little dazed. Multiple times, Kakashi saw him glance back towards his trunk, broom, and birdcage. The only thing he still had in his hand was his wand. Then he relaxed a little, as he saw Shunpike manhandle his trunk into the bus.
Kakashi sat down on the mattress. It squeaked horribly, and it didn't feel very comfortable. He had no intention to sleep on it, though, so he didn't mind. The walls of the bus were decorated in wood panels, there were candles next to the beds. A tiny wizard slept in one bed. He mumbled something, then turned and continued sleeping. Kakashi experimentally bopped up and down on the mattress, listening to the squeaking.
He turned to Potter when he heard him sit down on an equally loud mattress.
"Who are you?" Potter whispered silently, staring at him through wide eyes. The round glasses were still somewhat crooked on his nose from the fall.
"Charlie," Kakashi said in a lazy drawl.
Potter frowned. Obviously, that didn't answer his question. "You're a wizard?" he asked. "But I was certain I'm the only one!"
"You mean the only one in Little Whinging?" Kakashi asked, purposefully leaving the first question unanswered. He preferred not to lie if he didn't have to, and Potter would assume even without Kakashi having to say anything. "I'm not from here. I came from… Eh… I came from Horley."
The way Potter's eyes brightened as if Kakashi hung the moon made Kakashi almost regret his words. "But that's so close!" Potter exclaimed giddily. "And you're my age too. I never knew there was another… well, another wizard so close." He sounded almost embarrassed as he spoke the words with a similar tone of confidentiality that the woman earlier had used as she spoke of St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys. "Are your parents muggles?"
Kakashi nodded. At least that way, he could excuse his lacking knowledge about the wizarding world with his muggle parents. Why was this kid so giddy? Potter's excitement made Kakashi nervous. The way he looked at Kakashi. There was a longing in Potter's green eyes that was entirely foreign to Kakashi.
"That's—I mean, we're basically neighbors!"
"Hardly," Kakashi said because Horley might be close but not that close.
"Yes, yes. Of course… But it's just an hour on the bike. You have a bike?"
Kakashi shook his head. Immediately, Potter's enthusiasm deflated.
"Oh… Yeah, me neither. But still, Horley is so close, I could probably walk that. We could play together."
Was he in such dire need of a playmate he wouldn't mind walking ten miles there and back? Angrily, Kakashi remembered the way the woman had talked about him. A difficult incurably criminal child who gave his uncle trouble ever since being young? It didn't sound like that. The boy behaved like an isolated child in need of a friend. Uncomfortably aware, that he had awakened hope in the boy that he couldn't fulfill, Kakashi scratched his head. He didn't want to answer Potter's unspoken question if they could be friends. Either he'd agree and break Potter's heart when he ultimately revealed himself as a liar, or he would deny him right here.
Thankfully though, Potter didn't demand an answer right away. Instead, he continued his barrage of questions: "Do you go to Hogwarts? You're around my age, so you'd be my year, right? Or maybe fourth year? I'll start my third year soon. But I never saw you there. Which house are you in?"
"No," Kakashi answered, happy he could finally say something without immediately disappointing the other boy. "I'm not in Hogwarts." It would be difficult to believably pretend that he knew anything about this school. He didn't even know enough to answer this house question.
Potter deflated a little. Then he scratched his head in a way that made his hair stick out even more wildly. "How? I thought all kids—"
He was interrupted as Shunpike finally managed to secure all of Potter's belongings inside the bus. With a bang and a sudden force that made Kakashi topple backward and Potter perform a somersault off his bed, the bus shot down the road.
"Ouch…" Potter rubbed his shoulder using a nightstand to climb back to his feet. "What was…" But he cut himself off, staring down at the window. Kakashi followed his line of view. The streets, houses, cars – all of which were little more than blurry spots, rushed past so fast, it was difficult even for Kakashi to make out anything. Most surprisingly, however, they suddenly seemed to be somewhere else entirely.
These streets didn't look like Little Whinging anymore.
"That's where we were when you flagged us down," Shunpike said a pimple-faced smile spreading from ear to ear. "Where are we, Ern? Somewhere in Wales?"
"How can the Muggles not hear the bus?" Potter asked.
Kakashi turned toward the conversation, curious as well. He had wondered about that too.
"Them! Don't listen properly, do they? Don't look properly either. Never notice nothing, they don't." Shunpike was distracted when Ernie called for him to wake one of the other passengers.
Kakashi looked after him. Was that really it. Did muggles not notice magic because they were simply not aware enough. He doubted that could be all there was. How did one miss a bus teleporting right in the middle of a street or weaving its way through magic like this? He remembered the wizards teleporting…apparating in the middle of London. That couldn't be all there was to why the muggles hadn't noticed it.
Before he could think any further about it, the bus came to a sudden halt. Kakashi just barely had enough time to use a small burst of chakra to his feet to remain standing. Potter on the other hand smacked flat against the panel that separated the passenger area from the driver seat. The other occupant of the bus didn't react quite as violently. In fact, the wizard asleep in his bed just turned around with a little grumble and started snoring.
Potter quickly stood back up and sat down on his bed, clearly hoping that if he sat, he wouldn't be thrown around again. In fact, when the bus started moving, the entire bed slid forward a little, but Potter remained seated. He looked a little relieved.
Shunpike leaned against one of the bed frames, standing utterly comfortable as if the bus wasn't a hell ride that made standing entirely impossible unless you knew chakra… or magic, Kakashi guessed. The conductor pulled out a newspaper – one of those magical ones with an unreadable script and moving pictures like the newspaper clipping Sirius had shown him days ago.
Kakashi threw it a quick glance, then noticed disappointed that he still couldn't read more than a few letters and was about to turn back to his conversation with Potter, when something caught his side. There the image on the front cover. He knew that image!
It was the same picture of Sirius Black that he had seen on the muggle newspaper, only here the image moved. He could see Sirius fight against his restraints, try desperately to shake off the hands that were holding him. He could see him scream and scream and scream. It was utterly soundless. The image didn't come with sound. Maybe it was that, which made Sirius eternally screaming on the front cover more devastating for Kakashi to watch. There was despair and grief in haunted eyes. He was screaming for help, screaming for somebody to listen… but there was no sound.
"That man!"
Kakashi flinched from surprise when Harry yelled out next to him pointing at the newspaper.
"That man was on the Muggle news!"
"Sirius Black," Shunpike nodded looking at the front page. "'Course he was, Neville. Where have you been?" With a chuckle, he passed the paper on to Potter.
Kakashi glanced over Potter's shoulder, but he had a lot of trouble deciphering the fancy letters. He had only barely made out the title when Potter was already halfway through the entire article. Potters lips moved slightly as he read. The article wasn't very long, but Kakashi stood no chance. Instead of reading it, he watched Sirius Black on the cover. A sunken face with shadowed, desperate eyes and waxy white skin.
"Scary-looking thing, isn't he?" Shunpike said watching the boys.
"He murdered thirteen people with one curse?" Potter asked in a dazed voice as he handed the newspaper over to Kakashi, who didn't even bother to try and read the article.
"Yep, in front of witnesses an' all. Broad daylight. Caused big trouble." He sat down in an armchair opposite Potter. "Black was a big supporter of You-Know-Who."
Kakashi didn't know who. Potter however seemed to know. "What, Voldemort?"
And with that single name, suddenly all color drained from Shunpike's face, and the whole bus made a sudden jump to the side, as Ernie jerked the steering wheel around. Kakashi was more intrigued by the way a farmhouse magically jumped out of the way, than he was by the name, though he remembered Sirius mentioning it once before.
Shunpike was yelling in anger and shock, Potter was apologizing hastily, quickly correcting himself.
Shunpike seemed to feel better with that. "Yeah, that's right. Very close to You-Know-Who, they say… anyway when little Harry Potter got the better of You-Know-Who all you You-Know-Who's supporters was tracked down, wasn't they, Ern? Most of them knew it was all over, with You Know Who gone, and they came quietly. But not Sirius Black. I heard he thought he'd be second-in-command once You-Know-Who had taken over."
Kakashi followed the explanation curiously. The way Shunpike told it certainly sounded a lot different from what Sirius had said. In fact, apart from saying that he was innocent and that his friend betrayed him, Sirius hadn't said much about the war that had preceded his capture at all. Kakashi remembered that he had mentioned this You-Know-Who-Voldemort-person. Kakashi however hadn't known, that Potter had ended this Voldemort. If Potter was a famous hero of the war, that would maybe explain why he used a false name.
Then again, hadn't all of this taken place over a decade ago? Kakashi had become a shinobi at five, but Potter would only have been a toddler… That would be too young to stop an enemy even for a shinobi. Maybe they were talking about a different Harry Potter. The father maybe, that was Sirius's friend… But no, Sirius had said his name. What had he said his friend's name was? He tried to remember. James. Luckily Kakashi had a good memory. James Potter.
"Anyway, they cornered Black in the middle of a street full of Muggles and Black took out his wand and he blasted half the street apart, and a wizard got it, and so did a dozen Muggles what got in the way. Horrible, eh? And you know what Black did then?"
Kakashi listened with bated breath. This was so different from Sirius's own explanation. Sirius had mostly talked about his friends, about the way Potter's parents had died. That they were betrayed by the rat, but Sirius took the blame for it. The only thing he had said about the twelve muggles who had died… Kakashi recalled his conversation with Sirius.
Sirius had hunted the rat down, the rat killed the muggles, faked his own death…
Sirius hadn't mentioned that it had all been just one devastating attack. One technique to kill a dozen people. Kakashi decided it was the last time he took magic lightly. He had played around with those two in London, but if they had skills to kill him and an entire street of people in the blink of an eye…?
"Laughed!" Stan answered barely giving the two boys any time to answer his question. "Just stood there and laughed. And when reinforcements from the Ministry of Magic got there, he went with them quiet as anything, still laughing his head off. 'Cause he's mad, isn't he, Ern? Isn't he mad?"
Kakashi remembered the anguish in haunted eyes, helpless screaming from a newspaper cover. He remembered the way Sirius had broken out into loud barking laughter when Kakashi first found out about him. Kakashi had stopped him, caught him in a genjutsu to quiet him because he hadn't been able to bear that gut-wrenching laughter. Kakashi hadn't seen madness in those eyes, hadn't heard madness in his laughter. Nor had he heard any amusement. Just pure, painful despair.
"If he weren't when he went to Azkaban, he will be now," Ernie answered from the driver seat. "I'd blow myself up before I set foot in that place. Serves him right, mind you… after what he did…"
Azkaban… That was the prison, he knew. Sirius had mentioned it, but never really talked about it. Whenever Kakashi thought about it, he imagined a regular prison, but the way Ernie spoke about it, it didn't sound like a regular prison.
A thirty-three-year-old looking like a fifty-year-old. The signs of meticulous, prolonged starvation. Kakashi had already recognized the signs though he hadn't been certain, yet. Torture… What was it with this place? What was there about Azkaban that made Ernie rather kill himself than step foot in it?
"Never been a breakout from Azkaban before." Kakashi had missed part of the conversation. "Beats me how he did it. Frightening, eh? Mind, I don't fancy his chances against them Azkaban guards."
Soon after, they changed the topic. Apparently, Azkaban wasn't something any of them wanted to talk about for longer than necessary. It was itching in Kakashi's fingers to ask more about Sirius. What kind of witnesses had there been, that Shunpike had mentioned? How had they proven that it was Sirius who had done the killing? What kind of technique had he used?
But he didn't find it in himself to ask. Part of it was because he couldn't risk revealing that he knew anything about Sirius, part of it was because the conversation had already dragged on, and he was just secretly glad they had finally stopped talking about Sirius Black.
**
Potter told them to drive him to a place called 'Diagon Alley' and Kakashi agreed deciding it would be smartest to stay with Potter until he at least knew where to find him. After that, he could still go back to the bridge and look for Sirius, as long as he knew where Potter was.
After they arrived, Shunpike groaned and complained, as he heaved Potter's suitcase out on the streets of London. It was almost midnight, Kakashi guessed. This morning, he had left London, and now he was back here. However, looking around this was a much different part of the city. A dingy dark corner.
They were dropped off in front of a small pub called the Leaky Cauldron. The name hung in crooked letters above the front door. The whole place looked very untrustworthy to Kakashi.
He was distracted when a man stepped out of the pub. He didn't at all look like he belonged in that establishment – or on this street. A portly little man in a clean pin-striped cloak, with a neatly parted tuft of grey hair on his head, standing in the entry to a shabby club that looked as if it was worth less than the bowler hat on the man's head. However, although well-groomed and in an official-looking cloak, he didn't look at all dignified. His face was red and somewhat puffy, with tired bags under his eyes and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. "There you are, Harry," he exclaimed, putting a hand down on Potter's shoulder completely ignoring Kakashi right next to him.
The man's appearance caused quite some excitement. Shunpike yelled out for Ernie to look who was there, and Potter paled as he looked up and obviously recognized the man. Kakashi seemed to be the only one who didn't know this guy.
Shunpike seemed confused why 'Neville' was called 'Harry'. So, the newcomer quickly cleared that confusion up and destroyed Potter's secret identity. The way everybody was suddenly fawning over him, Kakashi was quite certain that his popularity was the reason he had chosen an alias in the first place. Kakashi felt almost bad for him.
The newcomer seemed to have no interest to watch Shunpike and Ernie fawn over Potter, so he quickly pushed him inside. Kakashi made to sneak away when a slight tuck on his sleeve called him back.
Potter was holding on to him, and Kakashi didn't quite have it in him to abandon him to this portly little stranger.
Notes:
Harry's in the mix now. Expect some Harry PoV soon. Probably not the next chapter, or maybe even the one after, but I intend to put in quite a bit of Harry PoV while they are in the Leaky Cauldron. Don't worry about Sirius, you'll get a short update on him in the next chapter.
So, yes I already mentioned above, that I took a few quotes directly from the scene. In this chapter this pertains mostly to Shunpike, the next chapter it'll (to a lesser degree) also happen with Fudge. Maybe you noticed, that I changed some quotes... For example, I decided to ignore Shunpike's odd speech patterns in writing. Mostly because I have no idea how to write dialects or accents, so ... just imagine he has a dialect. Otherwise, I'd face the problem, that in the parts Shunpike says that I don't take from the book, I wouldn't know what to do with his dialect... I rather he has no dialect at all, than switching the dialect halfway in.
Also just as a warning. I originally didn't plan to spend all that long in Diagon Alley / the Leaky Cauldron, with Kakashi having to learn everything new and with some plot happening in between... So the holidays will last a bit longer than I hoped. We'll spend a few more (~5) chapters in the Leaky Cauldron.
Also as a quick explanation. While all this happened with Sirius and Kakashi, Harry had his normal Prisoner of Azkaban book plot happen to him. He celebrated his birthday roughly a week or so after Sirius' escape from Azkaban, Marge visited and he ran from the Dursleys. Unlike in the book, Sirius loses a bit of time. He spends a week in Norfolk, but he also then moves really fast towards London. In the book I imagined he spend the first few days, getting something to eat, and then he moved at a slower pace - instead of making 20+ miles a day on an empty stomach. Kakashi is a little faster than Sirius. He arrives when Sirius would've arrived in Canon. This of course changes things a little. You'll see the impact it has on Sirius' plot in the next chapter. (I think).