We Met In The Shadows.

Runagate

The moon’s soft glow cast a delicate blanket of silver over Harry, as he sat on the curb, contemplating his situation. He had accidentally made his Aunt Marge age rapidly and had no idea how to reverse it. So, as any self-respecting 13-year-old wizard would do, he had chosen to run away instead of facing the consequences. In his defence, however, Aunt Marge had been the one who provoked Harry in the first place.

~

The Dursleys had invited Marge over, who had kept on insulting Harry and his parents. It had managed to reach a point where Harry just couldn’t take any more insults, and had blown his fuse.

“Shut up! SHUT UP! How DARE you spout such nonsense about my mother?!” Harry had had enough of this woman.

“Oh? You’re speaking to me-” Marge had not finished speaking, when her hair had begun to grey and fall out of its own accord, and so did her teeth. Dudley and Petunia had merely watched in horror as Marge grew frailer and weaker. Vernon on the other hand, was purple with fury.

“What’re you doing? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Vernon had almost strangled Harry while questioning him.

Harry, however, hadn’t waited around to be the target for more attacks. While the Dursleys had been preoccupied, Harry had packed all his belongings in his trunk and run off, not paying any attention to a screaming Vernon Dursley.

~

Harry had spent the last 10 minutes playing with a large, black dog who had shown up all alone on the street. It had been very friendly, licking Harry’s hands and rubbing its head against Harry’s feet. He liked the dog a lot, so much so that Harry impulsively decided to take it with him.

“Hmm. I don’t see a leash or a collar on you, so you must not have any owners. Do you want to come with me?” asked Harry, petting the dog, who seemed very enthusiastic and immediately started licking his face.

“Alright, alright, now sit.” laughed Harry.

He needed a name for his new companion, and all he could think of was ‘Fuhrer’. Why? Because Harry had watched a World War II movie on the Dursleys’ television. Well, the Dursleys had watched it, Harry had snuck in and stood behind the couch under his Invisibility Cloak. The movie featured Adolf Hitler as a villain and Harry, for the life of him, couldn’t think of anything but the German warmonger at the moment.

And thus, the black dog was bestowed with the name, ‘Fuhrer’.

“Fuhrer it is. I’ll call you Fuhrer from now on. What, don’t like it?” Harry was amused by the seemingly shocked expression of the dog.

“Hail Fuhrer!” said Harry, lifting his right arm in a mock nazi salute.

At that moment, there was a deafening BANG which startled Harry. He had to shield his eyes against the sudden blinding light that followed. A moment later, an enormous triple-decker bus screeched to a halt in front of him. It was painted a shocking purple and the gold lettering above the windshield read, ‘KNIGHT BUS’.

Harry began to wonder if he was hallucinating, when a man in a purple uniform, presumably the conductor of the bus, sprang out and began screaming at Harry in the dead of the night.

“Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand-” Harry interrupted the conductor by flailing his arms wildly and shushing.

“Keep your voice down, or the Muggle police might show!” explained Harry.

“Well, the Muggle police haven't shown up for me yet, so I s’pose I’m a-okay. As I was saying, my name is Stan Shunpike, and I’m your conductor for the evening.”