Chapter 1
He didn't know how long he had been running, the Death Eaters were chasing him.
He lost sight of Hermione and Ron several meters ago, he couldn't leave without them, but they were catching up with him. For every one he knocked down, two more appeared, and he didn't think he could keep up much longer.
The cold winter air made his nose, throat, and lungs burn, and he could no longer feel his feet. He lost his shoes a few feet ago in a steep area (damn Muggle laces), and he was 80% sure he'd stepped on a sharp stone, so he was bleeding too.
Nothing was working, no matter how many spells he cast, they never seemed to be enough. He hadn't slept in the last 5 days and couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten properly, everything besides the water and the occasional supplement potion would come out again. He was on the verge of collapse.
He needs to get out of here.
The snow formed a layer thick enough to leave the surroundings completely white, and Harry was not able to see the vertical slope in time.
The fall was not high, it was about 6 feet or so, but he fell on his chest, which left him gasping for air. As he fell, he tried to hold himself with one of his arms.
It didn't hurt, but the snap he heard was definitely not a good thing.
He turns on his back and look at his hand. Yes, okay, his wrist shouldn't look like that, but that's something he'll take care of later.
He looked up and the first thing he saw was three black-clad figures approaching.
Shit.
A small light illuminated the alley, like a small, rampant vortex.
Harry looked around and slowly backed away until he met the wall, gently dropping to the ground. The alley was dark, the only source of light was the lantern around the corner.
“Lumos” he said, breathing heavily.
This place was definitely warmer, the sudden temperature change made him feel dizzy, his vision blurred for a few seconds, and he blinked several times.
He looks carefully at the alley.
It wasn't far from the exit, there were some trash cans on the side and the ground was wet (he doesn't want to think about that).
This place, without a doubt, was…
“Hey” a voice rang out from the entrance to the alley, he turned his head and could see a man staring at him.
… Muggle.
Well, shit.
Nothing goes right for him today, right?
Shouta was a few minutes away from finishing his patrol.
Surprisingly, there weren't many problems today, just a couple of idiots who thought that robbing a 24-hour store would be a fun thing and a bit of paperwork with Tsukauchi, but other than that, nothing.
He saw a cat run out of an alley at the next corner, followed shortly after by a light coming out of it.
He crept up to the entrance and could see a boy no older than 15 or 16 years old, he couldn't fully see the boy, but he could see enough.
He was barefoot, his feet were a little dirty and a little bloody, but the important thing was that they were blue. His clothes were dirty and torn in places, through the holes he could see some superficial cuts. His left wrist was bad, at best dislocated, at worst, broken. In his other hand he held a… Flashlight? Her hair was dirty and disheveled.
The whole panorama filled his vision with red flags, this kid was bad.
“Hey” she said as softly as she could so as not to scare him, but loud enough for him to hear.
His head turned so quickly and suddenly that he was frightened that the boy might break his neck.
Now he could see his face properly. An ugly bruise was forming on his left cheek, a cut on the right, his right eye was red and a little swollen, above it, a scar on his forehead.
God, what did they do to him?
Shouta felt a twinge in his chest at the sight of him.
Before he could take a step to get closer, the boy jumped out of his place and ran, barely 5 meters later his legs failed and fell to the ground.
On his wrist.
He could hear the boy let out a groan and breathe heavily. He approached slowly with his hands in sight.
“I didn't mean to scare you, I'm here to help” he said slowly as he crouched down to look less threatening.
The boy stared at him, following his every move.
“I'm not going to hurt you, I promise” he held out a hand for him to take.
He held his flashlight (was that a stick?) so tight that his knuckles were white. He looked at his wrist and returned to Shouta several times.
Slowly, he straightened up and stretched out his arm. He was shaking, but I wasn't sure if it was from pain or fear.
Shouta took his hand as gently as he could, now that he saw it up close he could see that if it wasn't broken before, it definitely was now.
The same for the boy, from a distance he looked bad, but up close…
Who would do this to a child?
“We need to take you to a hospital” Shouta said, staring at him.
The boy's eyes widened, if at all, and he tried to pull away, but his struggles grew weaker and weaker.
“No” his voice came out hoarse and painful, his breathing was rapid, and his eyes were fluttering to try to keep his gaze fixed.
He's about to hyperventilate.
“Okay, kid, no one's going to hurt you” he said softly, as he tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but the boy shuddered away.
“I'm breathing” the answer came out choked.
“I need you to focus on breathing slower, you're hyperventilating” he held his other hand trying to loosen his grip.
The boy looked into his eyes for a second before nodding.
“Okay, now, try to copy my breathing, 1, 2, 3, 4” he said softly as he breathed.
It didn't take long for him to calm down.
“Listen” he said, looking him in the eyes “we need to take you to a hospital to get your wrist fixed and your cuts cleaned”
Please.
Harry didn't know what to do.
He couldn't let a Muggle help him, he was already risking a lot by making an appearance and using lumos.
But this man had a… Relaxing aura?
He didn't know why, but for some reason being around him wasn't awkward at all, in fact, it gave off an air of confidence.
Anyway, he couldn't put himself in more danger, if he takes him to a hospital, they will definitely call his uncles and that's the last thing he needs right now.
On the other hand, he knew virtually nothing about healing spells and didn't have Hermione's bag (which absolutely has a couple of healing potions), so he didn't have much of a choice. He didn't even know where here was exactly.
So, he had two options:
- Escape and try to find Hermione and Ron, with no guarantee of finding them anytime soon
Or
- Accept help from the stranger.
In any case, he could go back to Hogwarts, but…
Damn his hero complex.
“Help me” he said softly, hating the sound of his voice.
The man helped him up, his feet burning, as if he were stepping on red-hot pins. Apparently, his body temperature was readjusting.
When they came out of the alley, he put his wand back away, he couldn't risk anyone else seeing him with it.
Once the adrenaline rushed out of his system completely, he could feel it all. His feet were burning, his face was burning, his wrist was torture, and he was sure he was about to vomit…
Forget it, I was already throwing up.
He leaned forward with heavy gagging, but all that came out was water and bile.
Merlin, if his throat hurt before, was now raw.
His body was twitching in strong spasms, the man lowered him to the ground and was gently rubbing his back. It was warm.
Harry looked at him for a second before looking away.
“I'm fine, come on” he got up, trembling painfully.
“You're not fine, but you will be, I assure you” he said in a firm tone.
Harry felt a pang in his heart at the stranger's palpable concern. It had nothing to do with him, but he still cared and was helping.
His last thought was "what the hell am I getting into" before his vision turned black, and the man held him firmly before falling to the ground.
Shouta caught the boy in his arms before he fell to the ground. His face turned very pale from one moment to the next, as if the blood had been drained.
I had to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. He lifted the boy up on his back, aided by his wrap scarf to hold him up, with the other end he gently wrapped around the injured wrist so that it wouldn't move too much.
There was a hospital about a 5-minute drive from here, if you rushed you could get there fast.
He started running.
The boy turned out to be lighter than he initially thought, he didn't like that, but it helped him in his running.
He walked through the door of the emergency room, and the nurses helped him lower the boy onto a gurney. Looking to his right, he could see Dr. Naomi Nakamura.
Well, at least he knew that if she was on duty tonight, the child would be in good hands.
“Eraserhead” she said, nodding in his direction and going to see the boy.
He stared down the corridor where they had disappeared, letting out a sigh he didn't know he was holding.
He needs a nap, luckily, his patrol was already over.