A Close Call by the Coast

Somewhere outside Dover

Harry Potter, now fully visible without his cloak, found himself standing in another isolated, grassy area. He could smell salt in the air, and assumed he must be near the coast. Dinesh's hand had not let go of his arm, and Harry could tell that his wand was out and ready to fire a spell. He could hear heavy breathing beside him, and detected a faint smell of cigarettes.

That had been a close call, and now Harry felt incredibly vulnerable out here in the open.

"Stay quiet," Dinesh whispered. "We may have to move again in a hurry. They know you've got help now. If they can still track you, they may wait a few minutes and try to set up some wards on this place without us knowing about it."

"Can they do that?" Harry asked, alarmed.

"Not easily," came the curt reply. "Whatever you do, don't draw your bloody wand unless they show up. It never leaves your holster, got it?"

"Got it," Harry nodded. He wasn't about to screw this up by absentmindedly casting a 'lumos.'

The duo waited in tense silence for the next half hour, jumping at every small noise or movement in the night. Finally they concluded that no one had been able to follow them. After all, Harry's wand was now the only thing in his possession that actually belonged to him.

Harry could sense Dinesh relax slightly next to him. "Alright, Harry Potter, it looks like you're going to make it. I'm going to take us somewhere safe, and then we're going to talk. If you use that bloody wand, though, I'm going to snap it and kick you out in the street, got it?"

"Understood," Harry said, "and thank you."

There was no reply, but Harry felt himself compressed into a small tube again. This time he came to his senses in a small, sparsely-decorated room.

Merlin, he sighed. I did it. I got away.

.....

Hogwarts, Gryffindor Girls' Dorms

While Harry was breathing a sigh of relief at his escape, Parvati Patil was staring at the lace above her four poster bed in apprehension. Hermione was not in her bed, but that didn't necessarily mean that Harry's plan to trap them in the Come-and-Go Room had worked. Her shift of prefect patrol didn't end until 2AM, and it was still a few minutes until the hour.

By now Harry should have escaped the castle and met up with Dinesh in muggle London. Had he made it? Parvati wondered. Or were Harry and her uncle sitting in a cell somewhere, watched over by Dumbledore? She hadn't heard any alarms or noticed any unusual activity, but then again she hadn't expected to.

Now that she was alone in her bed, her attempt to help Harry Potter seemed a lot more dangerous and foolhardy than it had a few hours ago. It had felt a little like an exciting game when they were planning, but she hadn't given much thought to what would happen to her and Padma if Harry were caught. She had been offended by Harry's initial rejection of her help, but now she wondered if he had been right. Had she just put her entire family in mortal danger?

Belatedly, she realized just how precarious her position was, and was starting to lose her nerve. Would someone come to her room in an hour, wand drawn and ready to take her prisoner? Would she wake in confusion, obliviated of her recent memories? Would she have a fatal 'accident' in tomorrow's potions class?

The possibilities were endless, and they depended on just how ruthless the Headmaster and his allies were willing to be. Parvati, like almost everyone in the wizarding world, had an instinctive reverence for Albus Dumbledore, but her eyes had been opened in the past few days. If he was capable of plotting to have Harry Potter killed, he was capable of anything. She knew this before she agreed to help Harry, but the full truth of it was only now hitting home.

Parvati shivered and hugged her pillow more tightly.

She really, really hated being a part of this, but felt she couldn't just leave Harry to his fate. Like most girls at Hogwarts, she had been in awe of Harry's celebrity at first, and harbored a small crush for The-Boy-Who-Lived for her first four years. That crush did not survive the disastrous Yule Ball, as she had discovered the significant gap between her image of The-Boy-Who-Lived and the real Harry Potter.

When Harry apologized at the beginning of term, she had been pleasantly surprised. His personality seemed so contradictory; he was painfully shy, yet uncompromisingly fierce or standoffish at other times. Not knowing anything about how Harry had grown up, Parvati didn't understand this strange behavior.

Now she had been drawn unwillingly into the chaos of Harry Potter's life. She had no desire to get involved in magical fighting, whatever the cause; her aspirations were decidedly domestic. And yet here she was, waiting for the hammer to fall.

Merlin, what have I gotten myself into? she wondered.

.....

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