My Soul, Your Heart

Port Angeles and a bad taste in cars

Sheltered under the thick leather of Sirius' old biker jacket Harry, clad in muggle skinny jeans, a shirt and dragon hide boots (Norberta's baby tooth dangling from his ear), made his way through Port Angeles in the drizzle.

Harry was beginning to regret leaving the house to find the alley, it had been easy. A simple glamoured archway that muggles couldn't see, similar magic to 9 and 3/4 really. So now he was trying to make the trip worth while by book shopping.

The sweet bookshop had nothing of real interest but had a few course books for muggle school which he bought, seeing how far behind in muggle learning would give him a better idea if school was worth his time or not.

The main problem with being out was the stares. Harry was far to used to stares so he could ignore them, but that didn't change the fact they made him distinctly uncomfortable. A brown haired, brown eyed girl in the bookshop couldn't seem to stop staring at him. Harry made accidental eye contact with the mortal while he was paying for his books, her reaction horrified him. She blushed and hurriedly looked away, the same way Ginny did when she was 11.

Harry didn't waste time leaving the shop after that, the reminder of his childhood sweetheart was deeply unwelcome. While she looked nothing like Ginny, the action triggered a pained response in him.

It was a Sunday so he wasn't able to kill two birds by visiting the school today, he had wrongly assumed the alley would give him more trouble than it did. Murmurs of 'new kid' and 'troubled sort' followed him to his bike. Harry ignored the judgemental mutterings of middle aged muggles who assumed things from a motorbike and his long hair.

Hair that he didn't have the heart to cut after a tearful Molly had told him he looked 'so like Sirius, James and Lily all combined' Harry silently supposed the scars on his face and body made him look like Remus.

Harry mounted his bike and returned home as fast as he was legally able. He didn't feel like getting pulled over today, regardless of how proud it would make the ghost of his god father.

When he entered his home he was met with Buckbeak staring accusingly at him from the top of the stairs. The beast couldn't be hungry as the food delivery had arrived 2 days ago and Harry had given him plenty of chicken and even leftovers from the meals he often couldn't make himself eat.

That left only one reason Buckbeak was looking at him like that, he noticed Harry's absence.

"I needed to run errands." Harry defended before turning into the living room to investigate his new books, Buckbeak gave a snort in response and descended to the stairs to follow Harry into the living room.

Not for the first time Harry was grateful for his foresight of high ceilings and wide spaces for the creature to fit. While Harry settled in his favourite armchair, Buckbeak settled at his feet like a vastly overgrown dog.

With an eye roll Harry set about reading his new books, he wasn't as far behind as he would've thought. The concepts that the muggle textbooks spoke of was easy to understand, so school was potentiality a possibility.

Harry couldn't deny that a few more options in the muggle world would be nice, and education could offer him those possibilities. An opportunity to leave the magical world altogether if needed. It was nice to have options. Harry knew he'd still be alone but he could at least find things to occupy his eternity.

Harry went to bed that night feeling a little less dead than he normally did, Buckbeak slept by the fire place in Harry's bed room.

***

Harry lent against his bike, cigarette in hand and examined the dull red brick building. It was no Hogwarts that was for sure, but it might have to do. It was late morning so all students would be in classes.

He examined the car park with a keen eye, all old or classic cars made in the 60-80's. the only new car was a horrific sliver Volvo that had zero personality and looked even uglier parked next to a classic Chevy pick up. Harry tsked under his breathe at the silly teenagers buying flashy cars. His own inherited bike was a 1977 Triumph. It was also the only motorbike in the car park.

Harry, dressed identically to how he was the day before, finished his smoke and strolled toward the ugly building. Following signs for front office.

Soon enough Harry was stood in front of a woman in her late 30's with a sugary sweet smile sitting behind a large desk.

"How may I help you?" she asked politely, a nosy look in her eyes as she examined him.

"I wanted to ask about enrolling." he replied, his English accent blatantly obvious. She smiled and passed a bunch of papers his way.

"These are our enrolment forms, just fill them in and get them back to us. It's still early in the term so it's likely we'll be able to squeeze you in." Harry didn't enjoy the look in her eye when she said the word 'squeeze'.

He nodded in absent thanks and left before she could ask any prying questions. Muggles always seemed to have prying questions.

Harry subtly shrunk his papers and slid them into his pocket before he got to his bike.

He was met with an unusual sensation when he returned home.

Something had passed his wards, but his wards had allowed it in without any fuss. Slipping the elder wand into his wand Harry entered the house with cautious steps. Buckbeak was was again occupying his living room rug like the cat he secretly was. There was a flash of red and something landed on the back of the armchair nearest to him.

Harry whipped in that direction and was met with the ever caring gaze of-

"Fawkes?" Harry asked incredulous. The Phoenix trilled Happily back to him.

Harry lowed his wand and almost tripped over himself in his effort to get to the huge bird. Reaching out a gentle hand to stroke delicate feathers.

A warmth filled him to have another old friend join his household, though he didn't know if Fawkes had the same intentions as Buckbeak when it came to sticking around, he hoped he would stay. Buckbeak already made him feel less alone.

So with his two loving companions Harry settled to read through the enrolment papers, they were simple enough to fill out. Harry had spent a few days with Bill tweaking his muggle records so that any muggle who saw them would see what they wanted or needed to see rather than the truth of Harry's birth date or personal situation. Though here he was a emancipated minor living in a house he inherited.

Harry decided he'd drop the papers back when he next felt the urge and see where it took him, he could always change his mind later and drop out.