Cadence pulled into a gas station half an hour later and turned to look at his sleeping brother.
"Harry?" He said softly, not wanting to wake up his brother but knowing he should.
Harry groaned in protest and snuggled closer to the bird in his arms. Cadence grimaced slightly before raising his voice.
"Harry you have to get up,"
Harry opened his eyes to look at the brownish red-haired boy blankly. Harry sat up in the car and unbuckled, gently placing Hedwig and Clarence on the seat beside him.
"Let's get lunch, okay?"
Harry nodded and unlocked his door before stepping out of the grey car and stretching. Cadence stepped out of the car and made his way to the gas station, Harry following at his heels. They stepped inside and Cadence turned to hand Harry a 50-pound note. Harry looked down at the paper in his hands with a confused frown.
"That's part of your allowance," Cadence said turning to grab some drinks and sandwiches from a cooler nearby "I'm giving you this week early,"
Harry stared at the money with a blank expression before looking back up at his brother and blinking expressionlessly at him.
"I know you haven't had an allowance before," Cadence said scratching his cheek awkwardly "it's for helping out around the sanctuary, feeding and bandaging animals, training them, working in the nursery, you know that type of stuff,"
Harry looked down at the money again.
"Don't worry," Cadence said with a smile, "it's not hard work there are just so many animals we need help sometimes. You can get whatever you want and tomorrow we will bring you to set up your very first bank account,"
Harry looked up at Cadence his eyebrows drawn together in confused concern.
"Muggle bank account," Cadence amended watching Harry mouth 'oh' and wondering why the boy was so quiet "Dad likes us to have backup plans in case of an emergency. We each have several bank accounts with several hundred pounds in each all under different identities."
Harry frowned a little wondering where they got so much money but decided he'd ask questions later as he was still starving and he knew he'd pass out soon if he didn't eat as soon as possible. Harry grabbed a water bottle from a fridge nearby and opened it. He began chugging the water as fast as he could, the frozen water cooling his burning stomach and filling it with something besides bloody vomit for the first time since he left Hogwarts. He let out a painful gasp and felt his body absorb every amount of water he could squeeze out of his stomach. He gasped for breath before attacking the bottle again and swallowing the rest of it. He was about to grab another bottle when Cadence covered Harry's hand with his own and stopped him.
"You'll get sick, Har," he said softly.
Harry frowned but nodded and grabbed another water from the fridge. He picked up a chicken salad sandwich and a bag of crisps as well. Cadence grabbed a coke and added it to his growing pile of food. He had sandwiches as well as several bags of crisps, sodas, waters and premade snack cakes, and even a container of ice cream. They made their way to the checkout and Harry placed his pile on the counter and handed over the note, his eyes pointed at the floor. The young man behind the counter looked Harry over and frowned at his abused appearance before looking at Cadence and glaring at him. While bagging Harry's items he leaned forward making Harry tense.
"Are you safe with him?" The man whispered softly and glancing suspiciously at the other young man "do you need help?"
Harry looked up at the dark-skinned Indian man and smiled a tiny bit before leaning forward.
"I'm safe," he whispered back to the scruffy young man "he's my brother,"
The Indian man relaxed and nodded at Harry, handing him his change and smiling at Harry.
"If you ever are in the neighborhood please come again," he said with a wink "I live in an apartment above the shop so I am always here to help"
The man emphasized the word help and always before handing Harry the bagged items and looking in his green eyes seriously. Harry nodded back and stepped out of the way to allow Cadence to pay for his own items, Cadence receiving glares the entire time from the man who still wasn't confident that he hadn't done that to the skinny, bruised boy in front of him. He threw the change in the bag and threw it back at Cadence before turning to look at Harry for an uncomfortably long time, a worried frown on his mouth as if remembering every detail of the child. Black hair, green eyes, a white button-up shirt, black slacks, dirty green shoes, pale, skinny, around 12 years old. It was something Khameil (Kah-Meal) did for every child he saw in a similar shape who entered his store. A girl whose father touched for too long when holding her shoulder, a boy who mysteriously "tripped" and fell in an aisle near his mother, the toddler who began to cry when her babysitter grabbed her already bruised legs too tightly. He remembered the details of the children. He made sure they knew they could come back if they needed help. He asked if they wanted help right then. And when they left he wrote down all the details on a piece of paper along with their names if he caught them. Later he printed off their picture from the security system and added them to a wall of ever-growing children in his apartment above the gas station. He wanted to be sure that if that child's face appeared on the news a few days later he could help. If they went missing he could help. If they had run away he could help. He watched Harry walk out of the shop and get in a grey Honda civic. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down everything he could remember from the last few minutes. Harry
Along with the description date time and description of the man he was with. There had been a few times that the child or young teenager had actually said yes and he had had to drag them behind the counter and hit the panic button. He kept the child at his side while the cops talked to the parent or guardian and usually it ended with them being taken away in cuffs and the child crying in his arms. It was a small town outside of Surrey that he resided in. One of close-knit people who knew Khameil and knew he did this and allowed him to continue. His older brother was a caseworker for child protective services and he kept track of every child he had helped. He had been doing this for the last five years and had seen almost every case imaginable. Khameli had no doubt that Harry was being abused, but he wasn't so sure whether or not he should trust the "brother" that had brought him in. Something about the young adult unsettled him in a way that was new to the man. As if the entire world was screaming that the seemingly innocent boy in front of him was unnatural, and the same feeling was received when Harry turned to look back at him from the car as they were driving away. Khameil realized that this child may be the one child that he did not need to help. The green eyes had a great power in them and even invisible, kind, and helpful muggle Khameil could see that the boy would do great things. Only time would tell if they would be good or bad.
