Easy Mistake ; Harry Potter

F I F T Y | A Very Weird Day

"What?" Harry said blankly.

"He left!" said Mrs Figg, wringing her hands. "Left to see someone about a batch of cauldrons that fell off the back of a broom! I told him I'd flay him alive if he went, and now look! Dementors! It's just lucky I put Mr Tibbles on the case! But we haven't got time to stand around! Hurry, now, we've got to get you back! Oh, the trouble this is going to cause! I will kill him!"

"But-" The revelation that his batty old cat-obsessed neighbour knew what Dementors were was almost as big a shock to Harry as meeting two of them down the alleyway.  "You're - you're a witch?"

There was that word again; witch. Eleanor's mind was reeling as fast as her foggy brain would let it. She could barely comprehend that she was still sat on the floor in the alleyway. She was shivering, though although she felt weak and hopeless, since Harry had sent that light thing after the invisible things that attacked her and Harry (Dementors, she heard the two saying, whatever those were.) she felt significantly less cold and less like she was going to die.

But one thing did remain clear in her confused and shaken state; magic, it was real! She had seen it, with her own eyes! Harry wasn't lying. He was a wizard, there was no other excuse for it. Eleanor had no other choice but to believe because she had seen it. She was having a very weird day and right now all she wanted was one of her fathers hot chocolates and to curl up in bed.

"I'm a Squib, as Mundungus knows full well, so how on earth was I supposed to help you fight off Dementors? He left you completely without cover when I warned him-"

"This Mundungus has been following me? Hang on - it was him! He Disapparated from the front of my house!"

Eleanor was trying to keep up with the conversation Harry and the old lady were having, but it was impossible. Harry was being followed? And what the hell did Disapparate mean?

Eleanor could feel her head going dizzy with confusion, so she decided to tune out what they were saying and focus on trying not to feel like shit. Whatever those things did to her, she never wanted to feel it again. She felt like she could burst into tears at any moment.

"You!" The old lady suddenly shrieked after a moment of Eleanor ignoring what they were saying. "Get off the ground, quick!"

Eleanor jumped and tried to get up but her body was still trembling.

"You know Dumbledore?" Harry said, staring at Mrs Figg.

Who the hell is Dumbledore? Eleanor thought as she tried unsuccessfully to get her useless limbs to work and allow her to stand up.

"Of course I know Dumbledore, who doesn't know Dumbledore?" The lady said.

"Me." Eleanor muttered but it went unheard.

"But come on - I'll be no help if they come back, I've never so much as Transfigured a teabag."

Finally, Harry saw Eleanor struggling and quickly wrapped one arm around her waist and helped her up. Eleanor weakly wrapped one of her arms around Harry's shoulders to give her some support.

"Is there any point trying to figure out what is going on?" Eleanor said to Harry, her voice croaky and weak.

Harry regarded her and Eleanor saw many emotions cross his face - guilt, sympathy, worry and was that fear? "El, I'm so sorry, I should never have told you and brought you into this mess."

Eleanor could barely comprehend Harry's words, her head kept going foggy. "No, don't apologise. I'm glad, no more secrets."

Harry only wished that were true.

Mrs. Figg eyed Eleanor with curiosity. "Is she a Squib too?"

"No, a Muggle." Harry heaved as he lifted Eleanor up to stop her stumbling over the curb.

Mrs. Figgs eyes went wide and flashed darkly. "Does she know?"

"She does now." Harry said.

"Oh, Dumbledore won't be happy. Not at all. First Mundungus and now this." Mrs. Figg muttered fretfully.

"It's okay, she can be trusted." Harry argued defiantly. He wasn't stupid. He wouldn't tell just anyone about him being a wizard. He knew the law about keeping magic a secret for the protection of everyone.

Mrs. Figg and Harry continued to talk but Eleanor had given up on keeping up. She had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. She briefly heard the words Ministry of Magic and remembered Harry telling her that if he were to use magic, he would be in serious trouble. Well as confused as Eleanor was right now, she wasn't going to let that happen.

"Don't worry, Harry. You won't get in trouble, I'll stick up for you." Eleanor said, and felt her head drop on to Harry's shoulder. She felt drained and so incredibly tired.

"Thanks, El." Harry offered her a small smile but his mind was racing. He couldn't stop thinking about that if the Ministry got involved, surely they would Obliviate Eleanor and he would be banned from seeing her and Harry really didn't want that to happen.

Then suddenly out of nowhere, a man appeared right in front of them with a loud crack. Eleanor screamed and Harry had no choice but to put his hand over her mouth so she didn't wake up the whole neighbourhood.

A strong smell of alcohol hit Harry and Eleanor's noses mixed with stale tobacco. A squat, unshaven man in a tattered overcoat had materialised right in front of them. He had short, bandy legs, long straggly ginger hair and bloodshot, baggy eyes that gave him the doleful look of a basset hound.

"S'up, Figgy?" He said, staring from Mrs Figg to Harry and to Eleanor who was trying so very hard not to fall asleep. It had hit her so suddenly, she was fighting for her eyelids to stay open. She stumbled into Harry more and she felt him tighten his arms around her.

It was very hard to say awake. With her foggy and drowsy mind, her weak body, the warm night air and the secure arms wrapped around her, she felt very safe despite what she had been through twenty minutes ago.

"What happened to staying undercover?" The man who appeared out of nowhere questioned Mrs Figg.

"I'll give you undercover-"

But what Mrs Figg or any of the others said next, Eleanor didn't know because her eyes were fighting very diligently to stay closed and soon, her body won the battle, lulling Eleanor to sleep.

She would just have to get answers off Harry tomorrow.

(How did you like these past couple of chapters. Are they okay? The story should be going back to letters shortly. The next chapter will be set out like this to begin with, then go back to the letters.)