Boundaries of Dreams
Child of the new Dawn
Disclaimer: Don't own don't sue
A/N an August update just like I promised! Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Harry waited until his guardians had closed the door, save for a small sliver allowing light to come in from the hallway, before he sat up. He stayed still for a few moments, listening for the two men. When he heard the tell-tale sounds of the dishes being done in the kitchen, Moony's work no doubt as Padfoot rarely cleaned willingly, he knew it was safe. He rolled to his knees and stood up on his bed. Stepping up on top of his pillow, Harry moved some of his toys on the shelf out of the way and grabbed his helmet. Underneath the helmet was a skull about the size of Harry's fist.
Harry held up the skull to his face and whispered into the skull's 'ears,' "Meet me at the crypt. I've got to tell you guys something."
The skull's empty eye-sockets glowed white, before fading back into darkness. He quickly hid the skull, a gift from Khalil and Rustan, back under his helmet. After he moved the toys back to their original positions on the shelf and gave the slightly glowing chest a pat for luck, Harry slipped off his bed and on to the floor.
Harry didn't need light to navigate his room. His bed was in the center with the shelf above it and a nightstand to the right of it. A bin for his clothes was beside the door next to his dresser and then there was his toy box. His toy box which sat directly under his window.
On his tip-toes, Harry pulled out the clothes Moony had thrown into the hamper and quickly changed out of his pajamas, leaving them on his bed for a quick change when he got back. He walked over to the other side of the room, crossing the thin beam of light from his door with a jump. Here came the tricky part. Very carefully, Harry raised his right foot and placed it on top of his toy chest, then put his weight on it. Silence. Harry released a breath and reached up for the window frame picking up his other foot- creeeak!
Harry froze and listened carefully. The sound of running water and clinking dishes had stopped, but there were no footsteps approaching. He finally released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding when he heard the sound of the wireless and Moony's voice telling Padfoot to keep it down or he'd wake Harry.
Pushing the window all the way up, Harry slipped through into the night. His footsteps silent in the sand, Harry didn't wait to see if his guardians had heard him drop and hurried down the street.
The crypt was and wasn't a crypt at the same time. Rustan had made the discovery not long after he and Khalil had met Harry. He had been told that the place was originally meant to be a crypt for a wealthy, Egyptian wizard noble who died before it was finished. However, he was so despised by his workers that they stole all the gold and artifacts that were meant to be placed next to him and left him to rot. Of course all of them were horribly cursed for doing so, but the half-finished crypt remained as it was, tucked into one of the corners of the residence floors. A perfect secret hiding place and club.
The crypt was little more than a large stone box with the door, a large slab of stone, half crumbed across it only allowing a small crawlspace to enter. It had the usual spells and wards chiseled into the stone along with bits of gold and gems spelled never to be removed, but was definitely not as grand as some of the pyramids Harry had seen.
Khalil and Rustan were already there when Harry arrived. Rustan had lit a small fire in the middle of the crypt and was just putting away his golden rod when Harry crawled through. He grinned and held up a skull, identical to Harry's, and said, "We got your message!"
He promptly tapped the skull on the top of its head and it immediately spoke with Harry's voice, "Meet me at the crypt. I've got to tell you guys something."
"So what's up?" asked Khalil, shifting to make room for Harry near the fire, "What do you need to tell us that couldn't wait till tomorrow?"
"For all I know I might not be here tomorrow. We're moving again." Harry said darkly.
"What?" Both boys looked shocked.
"You can't just leave! You just got here!" Rustan exclaimed.
"I know." Harry answered sullenly.
"But why would your guardians want to leave so soon, it's stupid!"
"I know."
"You should run away."
"Run away?" Khalil gave Rustan an incredulous look, "Run away? You idiot, he wants to stay here, how will running away help?"
"Don't call me an idiot!"
"I'll call you an idiot if you come up with stupid ideas!"
"What I meant was he could leave his house and live somewhere else in the Hive so they couldn't go because they couldn't find him!"
"So what we're going to lock him up in a pyramid?"
"Do you think that would work?"
"STOP!" Harry shouted.
Khalil and Rustan looked sheepishly at him.
"Look hiding from Sirius and Remus wouldn't work. They're both wizards, they would find me a second if I tried to hide."
"But what if we-" Rustan tried hopefully.
"No." Harry said, hanging his head, "I don't wanna hide from them. They're not doing this on purpose."
"Do they have to move a lot because of Mr. Lupin's job or is the trade not as good as Mr. Black had hoped?" Khalil asked.
"We have to move because- because… yeah something like that. I just know we have to move all the time." Harry lied lowering his head. Merlin he always hated this part. He shouldn't have even asked them to come.
"We've got to think of something." Rustan cried, he frowned and looked at Harry, "You don't want to leave, do you?"
"No!" Harry assured, "But- I don't even know why I dragged you guys out here. There's nothing we can do about it. They won't change their minds, I already tried asking them to, but it didn't work."
The three sat in silence for a long time, the crackle of the fire making them jump occasionally.
Finally Rustan lifted the skull up and tried to smile, "Well these work over long distances, we could give messages to each other."
"It won't be the same." Khalil said sullenly.
"Remus told me that change helps you grow more. That it makes old things become more special and gives us new things to try." Harry said, trying to make what was happening sound better. It didn't really.
"But, you'll come back right? To visit as least?" Rustan asked hopefully.
Harry bit his lower lip uncertainly. While Sirius and Remus would always encourage Harry to keep in touch with his old friends, they had never returned to one of their homes. "I hope so," Was all he could say, and he really did hope so.
There was silence again, save for the occasional soft sniffle and rustle of robes due to 'sand in the eye.'
They all jumped when the lifeless skull suddenly jumped to life, "Midnight kiddies, best be getting back to yer beds!" It gave a little cackle and fell silent with a soft 'click' of its teeth.
"Come on," Harry said rising, brushing the sand off his robes, "Sirius and Remus would kill me if they caught me out late twice in one night."
Rustan about knocked Harry to the ground in a sudden hug, causing him to stumble back against the crypt's walls, but Khalil did not rebuke him for it. He put his hand on Harry's shoulder for a moment before tugging on the sleeve of his robe playfully, giving a sad half-smile, and said "We'll hang out tomorrow, yeah?"
Harry nodded with a grin and crawled out of the crypt first. He was the first to see the man.
"Out past your beddy-by time aren't we sonny Jim?" He crooned through broken and crooked teeth.
Harry backed up against the crypt, hoping he was blocking the exit to prevent Khalil and Rustan from coming out as well. No such luck. Rustan crawled out right behind him, giving a cry of surprise to see the man not three feet in front of him. Unfortunately, it was that cry that caused Khalil to come out quickly to see what was wrong.
"Well, well, well… what have we got here? Three little kiddies missing from their beds? Oh what will your mummies think when they go in to find three empty beds I wonder?"
"Leave us alone!" Khalil shouted, no doubt hoping to get attention from the nearby neighbors. Yet all the windows and doors remained darkened, with no one rushing to the boy's aid.
The man tsked, waving a finger back and forth at the boys, "Now, now we can't have any of that." He pulled out a long dark wand from the folds of his cloak.
Rustan gasped as his rod was suddenly ripped from his fingers by an invisible source. The man chuckled as he inspected his prize. That was enough to send Khalil in a rage and he went to attack the man.
With a wave of the man's wand, Khalil was thrown back against the crypt, his head meeting the stone with a sickening 'crack'!
"Khalil!" Rustan ran to the fallen boy's side, which prompted the man to raise his wand again.
"No! Stop it! Just leave them alone!" Harry cried throwing himself at the man, trying to wrench the wand from his grasp.
The man flung Harry off his arm, and shot a bright blue light at Rustan. The boy crumpled into a heap at Khalil's side.
The man turned to look down at Harry, who was staring in horror at the sight of his friends.
"Wait a sec…" The man whispered, then suddenly wrenched Harry up by the elbow and pushed back his fringe. He tapped Harry's forehead with his wand and his face lit up with glee at the sight of the lightning bolt scar.
"Harry Potter! So we finally found you!" He threw back his head and roared with laughter. "Potter, Potter." He leered down at Harry and suddenly pulled back the cloth on his free forearm, "See what this is Potter?"
He shoved Harry's face closer to see a black tattoo of a snake coming out of a skull's mouth, "That's the dark mark Potter. The sign of the great Lord Voldemort! And your death sentence!"
"Drop him Avery!" A new voice called out.
"Who's that? Show yourself!" The man, Avery called out.
A pale man with dark hair and a large, hooked nose walked out of the darkness.
"Snape? Severus what are you taklin- ah! I see! You just want the glory for yourself, that's it!" Avery tugged Harry closer and leveled his wand at Snape's heart, "Well forget it! The dark lord will know that it was me, and me only, that found his wayward little pest!" He shook Harry harshly at the end of his tirade.
"You insolent little fool! You-" Snape shouted, but whatever he was going to say was lost as Avery sent a bolt of yellow light at Snape's chest.
"Look out!" Harry warned, but Snape had already waved the light away as if it was an annoying fly.
Avery began to back up, keeping Harry half in front of him and half at his side by a hard grip on his arm. None of them expected the twin bursts of red light to come flying through the darkness hitting Avery straight in the middle of his chest.
The man dropped, dragging Harry along with him. Harry kicked himself free and made to run over to his friends, only to be grabbed by Snape.
"Let him go!"
"Sirius!" Harry cried out in relief.
Sirius and Remus both approached quickly, wands out, looking angrier than Harry had ever seen either of them.
"I said, let him go." Sirius repeated, looking very much like the bear-like dog he could transform into.
The man, Snape, simply sneered at the two of them, before shoving Harry towards them. The next thing Harry knew, he was in Remus' arms. Harry clung to the werewolf, burying his face into Remus' neck trembling.
"Are you okay, Harry?" Remus asked softly.
"Khalil and Rustan" Harry said, suddenly pointing to where his friends still lay.
There was a movement behind them and Harry saw Khalil and Rustan's parents hurrying towards the fallen boys. Harry remained tense until he saw both of them sit up. They both looked around for Harry and returned the little wave he sent them. Once they were in their parent's arms, Harry allowed himself to go limp and cuddled closer to Remus. He only looked up again when he felt Remus' arm tighten around him.
Sirius and Snape were still glaring at each other.
"So you and Avery decided to have a little get together and beat up some innocent little kids huh?" Sirius snapped at him.
"Padfoot he helped me." Harry said softly.
Sirius snorted, "Oh? So you wanted to be the one to hand off a child to be murdered?"
"Sirius." Remus warned, arms tightening around Harry when he shuddered, "Leave it, let's go. Harry should get inside now."
"Yes Black, do as the werewolf says. After all your parenting skills have obviously paid off. You and the wolf do such a good job of keeping Potter out of trouble don't you? At this rate, the dark lord need not do much, but send out his lowest lackeys to wander about the towns and just pick him off the streets. You did receive Dumbledore's message did you not? Or are you just incapable of following directions?"
Sirius opened his mouth to snarl back a reply, but Remus quickly said, "Yes Severus, we did in fact get Dumbledore's message and have made arrangements. Thank you very much for assisting Harry, but I'm afraid we're going to have to cut this reunion short as he needs rest now. Sirius."
Remus turned and began walking away, but Harry looked over Remus' shoulder at Sirius who muttered something to Snape and began to follow them.
"Such a good dog to heel Black." Snape called.
Sirius clenched his fists, so Harry quickly yelled "Thank you!" then burrowed back into Remus' cloak.
The walk home was silent and Harry nearly fell asleep after Remus had wrapped him in his cloak. He awoke when Remus pushed the door open and set Harry down on the couch.
Sirius shut the door while Remus knelt down and made to look at Harry's arm, pausing, when he recognized the clothes Harry was in as being the one's he left out.
Harry gulped, but Remus said nothing. He helped Harry out of his shirt and made a soft noise in the back of his throat when he saw the bruises covering Harry's arm. Sirius had already gone through their first-aid stash of potions and handed Remus a balm.
"Should help with the worst of it." He muttered softly, before sitting in one of the chairs with his head in his hands.
"I'm sorry." Harry whispered hoarsely.
"You planned this?" Remus asked softly, "Is that why you left your clothes out?"
Harry nodded biting his lip, "I didn't mean for this to happen, but I thought- I thought that I might not ever see Khalil or Rustan again and I wanted to say goodbye." Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes, "I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't. Will- will they be okay?"
"They seemed okay when they left," Sirius said wearily, "Their parent's will take care of them."
Remus wrapped Harry's arm so the balm wouldn't rub off onto his pajamas and closed the jar of balm, setting it on the table. He put his head in his hands.
"Are you mad at me?" Harry asked softly.
"Do you have any idea, any at all, what that man could have done to you? To all of you?" Sirius asked in a deadly quiet voice.
"You are never to sneak out again Harry." Remus said, "Do you hear me? Never. Do you have any idea what it was like to find your bed empty? What were you thinking?"
Harry lowered his head miserably.
Sirius shook his head and rose, "You're grounded. You'll stay in your room and will not leave the house without one of us and never without our permission again."
"Yes, sir." Harry whispered, refusing to look up.
"It is very late," Remus said softly, "Get into your pajamas and go to bed Harry. You really disappointed us today."
Harry flinched and quickly walked to his room and changed. His hands were shaking as he put his clothes away into the bin and climbed into bed. Remus came in a few minutes later and strode over to the window, shutting it firmly. Harry didn't need to watch to know he spelled it closed, before he returned to Harry's side.
He didn't say anything at first, just ran his hand through Harry's wild hair. Then his sighed and kissed Harry's forehead. "I love you," he whispered and tucked the blankets in around the boy.
"I'm sorry Moony."
"I know pup."
"Why-"
"We'll discuss this tomorrow Harry."
Harry flinched at the cold tone and nodded.
Remus took off Harry's glasses and set them on the nightstand. He brushed Harry's hair back once more and then left the room, leaving the sliver of light once more.
Harry laid his head back onto the pillow feeling horrible about what had happened when the sliver of light suddenly grew wider then shrank again. He jumped when he suddenly felt that mattress dip, and then relaxed when his hand touched soft fur. He felt Padfoot curl up into a ball with his head on Harry's feet and smiled to himself as he fell asleep. Padfoot was going to sure Harry didn't leave this bed again tonight.
A/N Poor Harry got into trouble! Please review!!