Always, Snape

Kindness

 "Please, uncle Vernon, I swore I didn't steal." Harry whimpered the next day. "I wouldn't care even if Santa Claus brought you this stuff, you won't keep it. It is dangerous and your aunt want it out of the house." His fat uncle bellowed. "But-" Harry cried but his uncle interrupted him by slapping his fat arm across his face with a loud smack. "Don't dare to talk back to me! You won't go to that school and only come back when you got rid of this freakish things." The door closed the door shut behind Harry, who looked dazed into the rainy world that stretched in front of him. He felt like crying but he would never give his uncle such a pleasure. Determined he grabbed his trunk and left the valley. He knew he would never come back. Never.
Silently he went down the street til he stopped at the last house. It was little and old like its owner, the kind Mrs. Figg. The Dursleys like the other neighbors thought her thick and strange but to Harry she seemed the only decent person around. He knocked on the front door and waited. Mrs. Figg always needed some time to reach the door. Harry remembered his first visit at the old lady's still well. It had been the first time for him to be left by the Dursleys for more than a week. Since he hadn't known to whom to turn to he had waited at their house til he couldn't even stand anymore. That was when Mr. Figg had found him. She had brought him home and cared for him. Harry swallowed hard. He couldn't even imagined what could have been if she hadn't found him back then. He had visited her so many times he couldn't count them any more. In this moment the door swung open and the old lady appeared. Harry looked at her shyly. He thanked her with all his heart but their relationship was rather distant. "Hello, Mr. Figg." He said sheepishly. "I was wondering if you could do me the favor and drive me to Kings Cross." She glanced over him as if she was searching for something. "Yes, of course. But why don't you come in for a little while?" She offered. Gratefully Harry ushered inside his heavy trunk rattling behind him. "How would you like a piece of chocolate cake?" She asked. "Wouldn't say no, mam." Harry smiled. They went to the kitchen and Harry sat down onto the shaky table. As he had dug in his cake Mr. Figg asked him. "So why do you need to go to London?" Harry who was happily eating needed sometime to answer. "Well, you know I have been invited to some boarding school but the Dursleys don't want me to go and I..." He swallowed hard. He always refrained from telling her how his life at his relatives really were. "So you sneaked out?" She kindly offered. "Ehm. You could say that." Harry agreed mentally crossing his fingers. "Well then. Of course I will drive you. But aren't you a bit early? School will not start before September the first as I recall." Harry gave her a surprised look. "How do you know?" "Well that's a common thing with boarding schools." She smiled at the disbelieving Harry "And what will you do til term starts?" She queried. Harry looked at her ashamed. "I don't know. I don' to be imposing but I thought that-" He stuttered and felt himself went crimson. "You know I don't have anyone to turn to so I thought-" She twinkled at him. "Well. Can I stay here for a couple of days? I can work or make myself useful." "It's alright, Harry." She soothed him. "I don't mind company and I could have help with my garden, indeed." "That's gorgeous." Harry exclaimed. Suddenly he felt like hugging her. "Well then." She chuckled. "You could sleep in my sons old bedroom. He doesn't use it anymore." "That's very generous of you." Harry said awed. "Please don't mind, be my guest. I suggest you bring that trunk and owl of yours upstairs now. Make yourself feel at home. I will prepare dinner in the meantime." Harry smiled at her and went to fetch his few things. Later as he had settled in he went downstairs to help the old lady with her cooking. After a delightful dinner they watched a TV-Show together. All by himself Harry didn't trust his luck. Yesterday he had a fantastic day with Hagrid and today he had eaten probably plus would even sleep in a real bed. What had he done to deserve this? He excused himself early. He wouldn't miss an opportunity to sleep because the Dursleys never let him rest long. Before he went to bed he let his owl out of its cage. "How do you like to hunt your foot? He asked her. Because he found the owl hooted consensually he opened the window. "Please be back safe and sound." He said as he dismissed her. After that he lay down and fell almost immediately into a dreamless slumber. The next days Harry fast became used to his kind of knew life. He would wake up and was awaited by a cheerful old lady. After an extraordinary breakfast he would do the dishes and any task she assigned him. They weren't by far as hard as the ones he had to do at the Dursleys and so he always finished early but Mr. Figg didn't seem to mind. Due to his great fear to meet his uncle again Harry almost never left the house but it wasn't as bad as it could have been because he read his knew books extensively. One was more interesting than the other and Harry marveled how any subject could be boring at Hogwarts if even the textbooks were that entertaining. He even found his name written in the "a history of magic"-book. That got him pretty excited. Although the vague book didn't contain any new information. So the days passed away quickly. Harry was almost surprised as he packed his things and tried to maneuver his heavy trunk into the old lady's old timer. Their ride was almost silent. Harry felt pretty embarrassed since he didn't know what to say to his savior. Mr. Figg seemed nearly the same. She didn't smile as often as normally. Then the station King's Cross came into few. The car stopped in front of the entrance and suddenly it was time to say Goodbye. Harry forced himself to smile. "Thank you for taking care for me. Would you mind if I wrote you from time to time? My owl will deliver messages to you." He said and pointed towards the owl which slept in its cage. "It was my pleasure and I would love to hear from you." The old lady smiled. "Thank you. I can't say how kind you are." Harry said in a thick voice. "Nonsense. I don't want to hear it. Besides if you don't know where to go for next summer don't be shy, just tell me and I will come and fetch you." She smiled. "Really?" Harry asked disbelievingly. "Of course. And now go or you will miss your train. Goodbye, Harry, I hope you enjoy Hogwarts." She embraced Harry curtly. "Thanks, I wish you a great time, too." Harry called as he entered King's Cross. Much, much later it struck him that his old lady shouldn't have known what school he was going to...