My Soul, Your Heart

Settling in

Harry stared at the blissfully blank sky.

It was his second day in Forks, after settling into the house he'd bought (effectively turning it into a house sized Gryffindor common room) and he was actually enjoying himself so far. No one knew him, of course they were curious about the stranger in town, but he could cope with muggle curiosity.

He was currently lent against the pillar of his front porch and smoking, a habit he picked up when his hands wouldn't stop shaking constantly. One that he was prepared to accept he was addicted to, but it wasn't like it could kill him.

Harry's hand twitched at the unwelcome thought, the various scars from wounds that should've killed him tingling under his glamour's.

Many people had tried to kill him over his 57 years of life, himself included. After Ron died during a death eater raid Hermione couldn't go on without the love of her life. She was found dead just a week after he had died, Harry attempted to follow his two best friends, but fate had already decided he wasn't allowed that level of peace. He was just left with the scars on his wrists to remind him of his failure.

Ginny was murdered by Bellatrix at the battle of Hogwarts, the twins died together in the fight, Percy gave himself to save some second year Hufflepuff's, the only remaining Weasley's were Bill, Charlie, Arthur and Molly. All 4 knew about Harry's 'condition', Molly and Arthur sent him worried Letters sometimes, he made an effort to actually reply to them. Bill had a tendency to drop in uninvited and spend a week giving Harry the concerned big brother Treatment. Charlie sent him trinkets and charms from Romania, combined with photos and letters about the dragons harry had accidentally made friends with over the years.

Harry dreaded the day where these letters would stop, he had lost so many people now. Sure wizards lived long natural lives but in Harry's experience, the life of a wizard was too dangerous to actually live life to it's full 200 years.

Harry himself should have died a thousand times over and had killed plenty of dangerous wizards and magical creatures during his 30 year Auror career. He had only retired 10 years ago after Ron and Hermione's deaths.

Harry flicked the dead butt of his cigarette to the ground and watched the smoke die down. Sometimes he had little fantasies about the smoke not dying out but growing, the glow of the burn becoming a great roaring flame that would consume all of him in seconds. But alas, Harry knew he'd wake up again. Probably in a muggle hospital, them exclaiming the talent of doctors at his dramatic recovery.

Harry sniffed and turned back into his cosy home, bookshelves lined most of the walls, piles of books that didn't fit sitting in random piles scattered about the house. He couldn't bare to rid himself of the black and Potter family libraries, nor could he stand to allow it to collect dust in London. Squashy arm chairs in various shades of red that he could sink into dotted around. His many magical ornaments, trinkets and keepsakes filling shelves and covering side tables. The odd Photo or magical painting hanging from the warm wood-panelled walls.

The only two rooms free of books and tat were the kitchen (though a few more sentient items were starting to creep in, feeling the same tug of concentrated controlled emotion that cooking gave Harry) and the second bedroom that currently housed Buckbeak. His own bedroom of course possessed a large four-poster bed with the same Gryffindor patterned Curtains, the level of familiar security was needed.

The whole house was heavily warded due to his paranoia, though he had given his address to Kreacher after the elf guilt tripped him into it. Harry had grown to love the elf over the years, but he couldn't stay in London and the elf couldn't leave the great house of black. Harry could admit he felt better knowing the elf could contact him if needed.

Buckbeak gave a loud snore from upstairs causing Harry to roll his eyes. The overgrown budgie had turned up the same day Harry moved in, claiming one of the four bedrooms without an invitation. If Harry hadn't been so pleased to see the Hippogriff, he might have been a little annoyed at the intrusion.

Harry had enlarged all the doorways to allow the creature to move around the house freely and charmed all the doors to open and close for him. Buckbeak was completely free to come and go as he pleased, muggles couldn't see him so Harry had no fears of needing to obliviate anyone in he event he went for a fly. Harry was oddly touched that the stunning creature didn't seem to have any intention of leaving him.

Harry sighed as he lowered himself into an especially snug armchair, he'd need to leave his cosy cave soon to buy food and it would probably be a good idea to nip to the nearest magical ally to get some new potions ingredients. Though with modern muggle technology he could have a go at ordering food online.

Harry retrieved his muggle phone from where he'd abandoned it earlier, he'd been experimenting with magic and muggle tech. Figuring out how much magic they could take and seeing if any spells would counter the response to magic. He was on phone 7 currently and so far it had been holding out well.

Getting around the town wasn't a problem however. He'd spent months doing up Sirius' motorbike that Hagrid had given back to him, it flew and drove beautifully. Harry liked to think his godfather would be proud that he was keeping the bike running.

Harry was pleasantly surprised how easy ordering food online was. He ordered several chickens to give to Buckbeak whenever the creature didn't feel like hunting.

With that out of the way, Harry retrieved one of his books on magical Geography to locate the nearest Alley. There was a small one in Port Angeles and a larger on in Seattle. Harry made the sad decision to leave his home later that week to locate the entrance.

The next topic of thought was school, Harry had a significant gap in his knowledge when it came to muggle studies. He only had muggle education up to age 11 and was unsure if he actually cared enough to re-join it now. Though it would give him something to occupy his time with. Perhaps it would bring back fond memories, though those memories would be tarnished black with grief.

It was something to consider, maybe he could visit the local high school and decide whether it was worth it or not. A normal life was so obviously out of his reach but maybe he would be allowed to pretend for a short few years. Fill up his gap in knowledge then continue his eternity knowing he had tried once to be normal.

That seemed like the best course of action. Harry, settled in his decision to attempt normality, made a cup of tea and avoided eye contact with the photo of he, Ron and Hermione on the wall.