Chapter- 72 : Misunderstanding Part - 2

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Harry closed his eyes and breathed in deeply to restrain his frustrations. Another problem on top of the ones he already had. Still, it was not an immediate one so he could figure out something later.

"Brian," he said instead, breaking the heavy silence. The boy jumped in his seat in the corner where he had been trying to become one with the wall, not making a move and trying not to draw attention to himself. "The Aurors are already looking for your dad and I'm sure they'll find him soon. Do you want to call your mum in the mean time?"

The boy's eyes filled with tears and he nodded emphatically without speaking a word. Harry stood and reached out a hand towards him. "Come on then, let's go steal Rosie's Floo powder."

He turned to both officers. "I take it we're free to go?"

Stevens again looked quite ready to object but Thompson just nodded solemnly. "More people will want to ask you questions later but you're good for now."

Hand in hand Harry led the younger boy out the door and into the tavern itself, shooting him worried looks all the while. He looked younger than ever, lost and wounded like a rabbit only just having escaped a predator, but not quite convinced he wasn't dead yet.

"It'll be all right," he murmured softly. "You'll see."

The boy didn't say a word, but did clasp his hand tighter in response. Harry squeezed back.

It took a little while for the Floo to spit out Brian's mum, but not a second later he was in her arms, crying his heart out. As succinctly as possible Harry whispered to her what had happened before leaving the woman alone to comfort her distraught son.

He watched the pair for a moment, wanting to say something but not sure that there was anything to say to soothe away the hurt and grief. Nothing, except maybe there was something the boy needed to hear.

"Thank you for saving my life, Brian," he said quietly. "Without you there I would most certainly have died. So thank you."

The boy didn't respond, but his mother's eyes warmed and she nodded at him in thanks. Harry deemed it enough and turned to leave the pair alone. There was nothing left for him to do here.

Making for the exit he was stopped by Amanda who practically flew out of the booth as soon as he passed by and she saw him. She was wearing robes – the first time he had seen her in traditional wizarding wear and looked highly upset.

"Harry!? Are you all right?" She gripped his shoulders with both arms and her eyes roved worriedly over every inch of his body.

"I'm fine," Harry murmured, letting her confirm it for herself. "Really would like to get out of this place though."

"Oh thank god," she said before drawing him in for a fierce hug with more power behind it than he had expected. "I'll walk with you."

Together they made it outside and ambled along the main street, away from Hogwarts until they reached the end of the village apart from the Shrieking Shack where there were no people to be seen. Both were silent, Harry lost in thought and Amanda shooting him worried looks until she could no longer contain herself.

"Are you really all right? What happened?"

Harry let out a pent-up breath. "A Death Eater under polyjuice took me by surprise and drugged me. Apparently Voldemort found out about the summoning and he's curious about me."

"How did you get away?"

The corner of his mouth quirked upwards. "Divination."

Amanda raised both eyebrows and shot him a pointed look.

It was enough to make him smile, if faintly. "It's true. A vision of a goat and a snake I had a while ago finally made sense and I used a bastardised version of the Mind Arts to have someone there summon a bezoar. After that he sucked at duelling and I took him out under a minute."

She clung to his arm as he retold the story. "Merlin, I heard a rumour that the new Divination Professor should be teaching Defense instead because he was duelling Death Eaters in Hogsmeade."

"The Ministry rumour mill is that fast?" Harry asked, before adding, "And that inaccurate?"

Amanda snorted. "Aurors yelling orders at each other, I expect."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I swear I'm almost more annoyed at the two that showed up than about being attacked by one of Voldemort's flunkies. It's like a bad joke. 'Two Aurors and a Death Eater walk into a bar.' The punchline? 'They both attack the same innocent bystander.'"

"Stun them all and ask questions later," she mumured and Harry nodded in agreement. Suddenly she flung her arms around him and molded her body to his. "I was worried. You're not a fighter."

She took a step back and softly punched him in the chest. "No more fighting Death Eaters."

Harry grasped her arm before she could hit him a second time and yanked her body flush to his again. Arching her back so she could look him in the eye she quirked an eyebrow, a little of her playfulness reasserting itself now that most of her worry was allayed.

Instead of answering Harry bent forward and kissed her. For a moment there was nothing but her soft lips barely touching his and then she yanked her arm free, flung it around his neck and practically climbed up his body as she tried to inhale him with a passion.

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If you're eager to delve deeper into the story, consider joining my Patreon for exclusive content and early access to new chapters

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