To change the future

A Knight and a mutt

The twins were several streets away before Harry collapsed onto a low wall in Magnolia Crescent, panting from the effort of dragging his trunk. Harry sat quite still, anger still surging through him, listening to the frantic thumping of his heart, Jason standing feet from him, eyes darting around them as he gripped his walnut wand tightly

But after ten minutes in the dark street, a new emotion overtook them: panic. Whichever way they looked at it, they had never been in a worse fix. They were stranded, quite alone, in the dark Muggle world, with absolutely nowhere to go. And the worst of it was, both had just done serious magic, which meant that they were almost certainly expelled from Hogwarts. They had broken the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry so badly, Harry was surprised Ministry of Magic representatives weren't swooping down on them where he sat.

Harry shivered and looked up and down Magnolia Crescent. What, was going to happen to them? Would they be arrested, or would they simply be outlawed from the wizarding world? He thought of their friends, and his heart sank even lower. Harry was sure that, criminals or not their friends would want to help them now, but they were both abroad, and with the owls gone, they had no means of contacting them.

"Someone's dramatic." Clint snorts, getting an elbow from his wife and all three of his kids

 He didn't have any Muggle money, either. There was a little wizard gold in the money bag at the bottom of his trunk, but the rest of the fortune their parents had left them was stored in a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in London. He'd never be able to drag their trunks all the way to London. Unless...

He looked down at his wand, which he was still clutching in his hand. If they were already expelled (his heart was now thumping painfully fast), a bit more magic couldn't hurt. He had the Invisibility Cloak they had inherited from their adopted father -- what if he bewitched the trunk to make it feather-light, tied it to his broomstick, covered himself in the cloak, and flew to London? Then he could get the rest of their money out of the vault and... begin their lives as outcasts. It was a horrible prospect, but they couldn't sit on this wall forever, or they'd find themseelves trying to explain to Muggle police why they were out in the dead of night with a trunkful of spellbooks and a broomstick

Harry opened his trunk again and pushed the contents aside, looking for the Invisibility Cloak - but before he had found it, Jason suddenly pointed his wand at a bush, the hair on the back of both boy's necks standing up as Harry straightened up suddenly, looking around him once more. A funny prickling on the back of his neck had made Harry feel he was being watched, but the street appeared to be deserted, and no lights shone from any of the large square houses.

 He bent over his trunk again, but almost immediately stood up once more, his hand clenched on his wand. He had sensed rather than heard it: someone or something was standing in the narrow gap between the garage and the fence behind them. Harry squinted at the black alleyway. If only it would move, then he'd know whether it was just a stray cat or -something else "Who's there?" Jason calls out, trying to appear stern but Harry could see him trembling, voice cracking as he pointed his wand in the darkness

"My voice did not crack." Jason protests, cheeks turning a slight pink color as Ginny mockingly patted his hand "Yes, I'm sure you were the picture of a terrifying and courageous warrior." she says

"Lumos," Harry muttered, and a light appeared at the end of his wand, almost dazzling him. He held it high over his head, and the pebble-dashed walls of number two suddenly sparkled; the garage door gleamed, and between them Harry saw, quite distinctly, the hulking outline of something very big, with wide, gleaming eyes. Both boys stepped backward. Harry's legs hit his trunk and he tripped. His wand flew out of his hand as he flung out an arm to break his fall, and he landed, hard, in the gutter. Jason quickly cast a look at his fallen brother before turning back to the creature, a spell on the tip on his tongue before