Blacks and Green

August 10 1993 10:35 am

Sirius was confused. Why were they here? Who was this man? How did Harry know him? “Motherfucker” The man looked at Harry like he was a ghost.  “You’re alive” Why wouldn't he be?

“Your offer still stands?” Harry asked the guy with a tentative smile. The man smiled at Harry. He was a young man with dark skin, short black hair, tall, maybe 1.80 meters, he was wearing old, worn out blue baggy pants, a white tank top with motor oil stains that left visible a tattoo on his right shoulder.

“Of course, kid” The man replied, going to the trunk to help Harry with it “Where are your glasses by the way?” The man yanked the cap off Harry’s head and inspected his face, tensing at what he saw. Harry had flinched at the sudden movement but none of them reacted to that.

“I think I’ve what's left of them inside my cheek” Harry answered, snatching the cap off the man’s hands. The man huffed, shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s just so disrespectful. First you have to take the glasses and then punch. There is no respect no more” The man said and Harry raised a mocking eyebrow “Who’s your friend?” The man glanced at Sirius.

Harry stopped and fidgeted a little with his hands “Err… I haven’t given him a name. Can he stay with me? He’s very polite” Harry assured. 

“Well, that can’t do” the man said and Harry and Sirius tensed “I mean the name thing” the guy smirked “Sure, he can stay. Where’s your owl?” On cue, Hedwig landed on Harry’s shoulder “Hi beautiful” the man said with a chirring voice. “Come on, I want to introduce you”

The four of them entered the building. The first thing Sirius saw was that it was huge but it was nearly empty. Inside were like five people that Sirius could see. All of them purposely standing as far away from each other as possible. Each one looked worse than the last, three of them reminded Sirius of his days in Azkaban. The other two were in better shape but that wasn't much to say.  There were four men and one woman. The hair on the back of Sirius' neck stood up. I don’t like this.

The man guided them to a more private zone that was like an office. He knocked at the door and when he opened it, some kind of alarm sounded, which turned out to be some canisters hanging on the door. The place was big and kept better than the rest of the building. Sirius saw a desk and behind it was a woman.

She was young, maybe in her early twenties, she was black too but had white patches on her skin, on her face, hands and neck, maybe on all her body, Sirius thought. Her black hair was short too and she had the same light brown eyes as the other man.

“Roses, meet Matilda” The man introduced Harry “Matilda meet Roses”

“He's Matilda? Really?” The woman, Roses in plural?, raised her eyebrows with a smirk.

“Apparently” Harry answered shyly “Although, I think I’m more like James or Charlie, but Matilda is way cooler than them” he shrugged. 

“I can call you Charlie if you want, or James, or Jimmy, or Henry, even Harry! Harry is diminutive of Henry right?” The man interjected playfully.

“Matilda is fine!” Harry hurried. What are they talking about?

“We can always call you ‘Mat’ or ‘Mati’” Roses added helpfully.

“Whatever” The man rolled his eyes. “Mat here urgently needs your services, madam” He said gently pushing Harry to sit in front of the desk.

“It shows” Roses said, Sirius thought that she was going to stand up from her chair but instead she pushed herself off the table and surrounded the desk in a wheelchair. She hummed seeing Harry’s face. “Can you-”

“Here” The man handed her a kit of first aid. “Here” He gave her a plastic bag and put a bottle of water on the table. “And here” He handed Harry a black headband “Keep your hair out of your face” Harry did it.

“Thanks, Tea” Then Roses addressed Harry. “Why does he call you ‘Matilda’?” She smiled and everyone in the room knew she wanted to distract the little kid with the smacked face.

***

June 13 1993 (Last day of school) King’s Cross Station

Harry wanted to die. A part of him thought that maybe he was being a little dramatic, but the other parts were burning. The other parts were screaming, begging for it to end. Now was exactly a week since the trip to the bloody Chamber of the Secrets and each day, hour, minute and second since then was agonizing . 

The saddest part was that, at that point Harry didn’t care anymore, he was just waiting for his death. Nothing good to live for anyway. He wasn’t a Gryffindor anymore, Ron hated him now, half the school feared him and the other half despised him. Dumbledore, once again , had disregarded his pleas to not return with the Dursleys. 

Harry was sure he was going to die, he remembered wanting that since he was nine, he just wanted it to be quickly and painless. But as always, he never got what he wanted. He could feel the burning fever giving way to the chilliest electricity running through his veins. Small flashes of white pain assaulting him without warning. 

He was trembling and gritting his teeth so they wouldn't chatter. Harry left the book he had grabbed to distract himself while he waited for the Dursleys on his legs and hugged himself waiting for the worst waves to pass. He absently heard Hedwig in her cage but a sudden dizziness made him close his eyes. 

The train had arrived around one in the afternoon and, last time Harry had checked, it was half past four in the afternoon. He was so tired of everyone, of everything, of him . He felt pathetic at the brink of tears at the unfairness of all, at his loneliness, at his incapability to do something, ANYTHING , to improve his situation.

That’s life freak, get used to it now. Harry whimpered as a sudden pain went through his back. Yeah, get used to it, It's not gonna change. If you had asked for help… But I asked. Don't deserve it. I’m so stupid. 

Harry had been terrified when Ginny hadn’t woken up in the Chamber after he had defeated Riddle again . He had to take her unconscious body to Ron and Lockhart where Fawkes took them to the Hospital wing.

But Harry only had time to settle Ginny into one of the beds when Dumbledore literally dragged him to his office. Asking question after question about the Chamber and the diary. And, why did he care about that right now?! Ginny was injured! He was exhausted and hurting (not that he was going to say that to anyone, no one never cares anyway) So when Dumbledore wanted answers, he decided to omit all possible information because he was upset. Maybe it was childish and stupid to do it, Dumbledore wanted to help right? But he did it anyway.

What happened, my boy? “Voldemort, Sir, he was behind the attacks, using Ginny through his diary” Where is the diary, my boy? “It was destroyed, sir” What happened to the Basilisk, my boy? and wasn't that a strange question? So, he really knew about what was behind the attacks. It wasn’t a surprise, the diary had shown him that. It was the fact that Dumbledore knew and had played dumb that bothered him.

Because, Harry was twelve, Dumbledore was what? At least one hundred right? The most powerful wizard? The only one Riddle was afraid of? And where was him? Why didn't he do something knowing that history was repeating itself? 

Then the headmaster went on a speech about the sword of Godric Gryffindor and being a worthylion. For some reason (he didn’t pay attention at that moment, If he had done so, he would have joined the discussion, no matter how useless it was) the Sorting Hat went into a rant with Dumbledore about Harry being a Slytherin now.

Later he freed Dobby, and the House Elf swore loyalty to him. At the end of the day he kept the diary and went to Slytherin. There was still a week of school left but classes had been canceled and Harry isolated himself. By the end of the school year he had returned to the Chamber more than a couple of times. Mostly just to suffer alone and to cover his screams. 

That was his lowest, he had been so close to end it all, so so close. It was the perfect place really, no one would ever find his body. He would just disappear and never be found. Alone-

“Hey, kid” Harry jerked his head up at the sudden voice. The man was watching him weirdly. “Can I sit here?” Harry saw the man sit next to him without waiting for an answer.

“Sure” Harry huffed, the man gave him a smirk. Harry was hunched over and tried to sit more properly. The book he was reading, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , fell to the ground and the man picked it for him.

“You like to read?” the man asked friendly, handed him the book without looking at it once. Harry relaxed a little at the nonchalantly attitude.

“I used to do it a lot when I was young” Harry answered without looking at him. The man laughed. 

“Pff you are young, how old are you? Ten?” The man joked.

“I’m twelve! Almost thirteen” The man only smiled at him.

“So, you’re like Matilda?” Harry stared at the man incredulously. 

“I'm not even close to being like her, she’s a genius” Harry smiled at the memory of the book “I just like to read” Harry’s smile dropped “I don’t read much now though”

“Why not?” Harry shrugged. Yeah, why not? . He really used to read a lot in primary school. He sure as hell spent as much time as he could away from the Dursleys house, meaning that he left at seven for school and returned as late as possible. Without counting the weekends and vacations, the Harry Hunting days and the days that he was threatened with death if he did not return after the school, Harry spent the afternoons reading whenever he had time after the chores.

He had begun to read when he was five, maybe, he didn’t remember really, it was when he began to assist school. He had been amazed by the books, with the stories they told. And he began to have hope. Hoped that maybe one day an oldman would give him a paper bag with thousands of green things and he could escape his relatives. He hoped that he will have a family that will love him, care for him and support him no matter what. Maybe a grandma somewhere, who will tell him about the bad witches that murderer children, but she would protect him too and would never let him go. 

Later when he read Matilda, he hoped and hoped to find someone who would care for who he was. Who would see his “powers'' and would stay by him anyway. Matilda was a special book to him. Harry had read it when he was nine, and that book had the special meaning to him that maybe someday he was going to meet his “Miss Honey”. And that kept him away from the knives in the kitchen and away from the edge of the library roof.

And one day he found his “Golden Ticket”. His opportunity to be more than the freak that lived under the stairs, more than the boy who no one wanted. The letter came and the world brightened. Magic was real and accepted! He was going to a world where he was going to be normal! Where he was going to learn magic! Where he was going to be just Harry!

But then the other foot fell on him like the boot of uncle Vernon. He wasn’t Harry there either. He was The Boy Who Lived. The boy that was marked by a mad man. The boy who could speak to the serpents. And, yes, he had adventures, just not like the books he had read. Harry literally murdered a man with his bare hands, didn't he? And he didn't feel bad about it. It was in self defense right? It was like killing the bad witches, just that that kid hadn't murdered them directly right? He smartly had led them to their deaths by others' hands. In Harry's case, it was his hands that burned the bad wizard.

And now the same man has attacked again, and he, again , had stopped him. Seriously, why can’t he just be a kid with magic?. Maybe his story would be like the kid from The Witches, he would die young fighting a bigger evil. Only that he didn’t have a sweet and awesome grandma with him, who would help him and love him, who would stay with him until the day of his early death. No, he was going to die alone. Maybe before he was seventeen too.

“You’re ‘kay, kid?” The man asked when the silence prolonged too much. Harry just nodded, what was the question? . The man sighed. “You’re waiting for someone?”

“My relatives” he said with a resigned tone. They aren’t coming for you, freak .

“Look, how about this” The man began “My turn ends at six, if your relatives don’t come for you at that time, I will help you to your house, okay?” Harry was going to refuse but was interrupted “It's that or I’m gonna call the police”. 

Harry greeted his teeth. He hated the police, one time someone called them saying that he was being abused. Like always, they believed the Dursleys and then was hell on earth. He had scars from that. He nearly died. He never recovered from that call, not completely, the constant pain and tightness on his back was proof of that. 

“Okay. Don't. Call. Them.” The man just smirked at him and went to do his job, he was the janitor judging by the broom and cleaning cart he was carrying. Harry thought of running. He sure could figure out how to go to the Dursleys without the help from a stranger. But he didn’t have money. And really, he didn’t care if the man kidnapped him and murdered him. At that point, it would be mercy.

So Harry sat still, stroking Hedwig, waiting for the Dursleys. And what a surprise, They didn’t come. The man went to sit next to Harry again, now without his uniform. “What’s your name, kid?”

“What is your name?” The child countered. 

“Right, my bad” The man hummed  “I’m Tea, yours?”

“That’s not a name” Harry deadpanned. 

“Sure it is! I’m a special agent from MI6, that’s my name cover” The man, ‘Tea’ said mockingly outraged.

“I’m a spy too, call me whatever you want, don’t care” Tea thought for a moment.

“I will call you Matilda then” Tea smirked.  

“Why Matilda?”

“You like to read and clearly your ‘family’ is shit. For that you have the honor to share her name'' And I have “powers” too, Harry thought with a smile.  

“Okay then, I’m Matilda because of that. Why are you ‘Tea’?”

“I love tea!” Tea said and stood up “Come on kid, you look like you need a twelve hour nap” Harry scoffed, he didn't even remember the last time he slept for more than four hours straight. “Where’s the garbage?” Harry looked at Tea confused. “Your shitty relatives, where are they?” Tea looked pissed, but not at him.

“Surrey? Why are you mad?” 

“Kid, you have been here for like six hours. Aren’t you mad?”

“I guess I'm used to his displays of affection” Harry shrugged “I’m more disappointed” Tea  looked at him unimpressed but Harry could see something in his eyes. Tea grabbed his trunk and Harry picked up the cage with Hedwig.  

“That’s all?” Harry nodded “Okay, we'll take the ferry. Meanwhile, you can tell me about how you own a fucking beatiful owl” and Harry told him a story of a man who gave him his best friend. They talked about insignificant things on the way to the Dursleys. 

When they arrived at Surrey, Harry thanked Tea and promised to return him the money off the ferry ride. Unsurprisingly Tea didn’t want to hear any of that. Tea offered to accompany him home, but Harry politely declined, claiming that it was not very smart to bring a stranger to his house. Tea laughed at that and gave him an approving nod. 

They had gone to the nearest park. “Here” Tea said, giving Harry a piece of paper  “If you ever need a place to sleep or to hide, that’s my place” Harry gave him a thankfully nod. “And do not let them break you kid. You have to keep fighting”

“Why though?” Harry asked without thinking. The look of concern in Tea’s eyes was so strong that even Harry could identify it. Tea squatted to be face to face with Harry and held his gaze searching for something.

“Because you owe that to yourself” Tea said with such solemnity that Harry didn't have any choice but to listen “Life is hard, sometimes it's awful, but life is beautiful too. Just look at your best friend to remember that. What if you weren’t there to meet her? Think about all the things you would not see and eat, or the people you won’t meet if you’re not here. Think of the things you like, the books you haven’t read. And if all that doesn't lessen the pain of where you are right now, think of the things you want to do, good or bad. Live for you and yours. Don’t let anyone break your spirit. They don't matter any more than you want them to matter”

Harry was silent. He didn’t know what to say. “Understood?” Tea asked and Harry nodded fervently. “Good” Tea sighed heavily and chuckled a little at the end. “Good” Tea ruffled Harry's hair “I’m going now, take care of yourself and Hedwig, kid” Harry nodded again, lost of words. Tea smiled at him and walked away.

“Thank you!” Harry yelled “For- For everything!” Tea stopped for a moment to wave at him and kept walking. Harry waited until he could no longer see Tea. Then he opened his trunk and took his cloak out of it. He wished it were smaller so he could hide it better and, surprisingly, the cloak reduced to the size of a big handkerchief. “Brilliant” He wished to go its normal size and it did. 

At first he just wanted to take off the cloak but then Harry thought better of it. It was late so no one was at the park but he went to a private place first. Harry took his books out the trunk. He almost immediately threw the books of Lockhart again in the trunk. Then he was going to throw his book of A History of Magic too, but what was one more book?

Then Harry arranged the nine books and wrapped them in the cloak, closed the trunk and opened the cage of Hedwig “I think it’s better for you to not be there for the moment” Hedwig beaked at his finger “I would be fine, I promise” Hedwig looked at him sadly but went flying. 

Harry went to the Dursleys and hid the books in the bush under his window. Then he went to the front door and knocked. Live for you and yours, Harry, you owe that to yourself. And Just like that, his best and worst summer began with a welcoming beating, his trunk on the cupboard and, of course,  without dinner. 

***

August 10 1993 10:35 am (Present day)

“Why does he call you ‘Matilda’?” Roses smiled. The kid’s face was a disaster. Looking carefully she saw an old strange shaped scar in the middle of his forehead that was weird but didn’t matter. What did matter was that a little to the left the child had a deep cut, maybe a little less than four centimeters. His left eye was deep purple and swollen, half open with a cut on his upper eyelid and another smaller on his eyebrow. 

But it was the cut on his cheekbone that worried her. The cut was two centimeters long but the concerning thing was that it was infected because a fucking piece of glass was inside of it!. The child had a couple more tiny wounds here and there on his cheek and left side of his nose, and the last one on his lower lip. All in all, almost ten cuts covered in bruises and a black eye.

Taking a deep breath, Roses took one set of gloves and put them on. The noise of the latex brought the kid to the present. “‘Because I like to read and my ‘family’ is shit’” ‘Matilda’ (She couldn’t take that name seriously)  said, looking at Tea amusingly.

“Yeah, no shit” Tea and Roses said at the same time. She met his eyes and saw the hate lingering behind them. Roses sighed  “How long ago did these injuries occur?” She asked while wetting a piece of gauze with water to clean the dried blood from the cuts.  

“Yesterday?” He isn’t sure or what? “Is it important?” Ah, right. He just has questions. 

“Well, it is important to know how to proceed and if the cuts are healing properly” She answered “They’re not, by the way” She finished cleaning. “You have a piece of glass on your cheekbone, I have to take it off” The kid just nodded. 

Roses grabbed a small pair of tweezers to extract the object. She took it carefully with just an almost imperceptible flinch from her patient. Roses expected the blood to flow from the cut, but that didn’t happen. Then she put the piece on one of the used gauzes. The kid’s gaze never left her hands. And weren't his eyes the most beautiful and bright green she had seen in all her life? “Now, I’m gonna put this in your wounds to disinfect them, okay?”

“Okay” They only had hydrogen peroxide so that would have to be it. She put it in the cuts, moving the head of the child carefully. The kid didn’t make any comment, just a couple of hisses and bit his lip. Now and then, Roses saw his brother watching them intently. His fingers twisting in the air. His face, as always, revealed nothing. She took a deep breath.

“Now, I think stitches aren’t necessary, it will scar though” The kid shrugged. “We’ll wait a little and then I’ll put an antibiotic ointment in the cuts and then I’ll cover them up, okay?” The kid nodded and smiled at her. Roses returned the smile hiding her sadness at the mess that was this sweet child's face.

“So!” Tea interjected, clapping his hands loudly and locked eyes with the kid. Surprisingly the kid held his gaze until Tea smiled at him “Step by step, day by day, eventually they will pay” They both smiled viciously. 

“Tea!” Roses said indignantly, but she had nothing to say, even less so when two pairs of eyes looked at her expectantly.

“Ah, I have some things” The kid said after a moment of silence. He took off his backpack and began to take out its contents and place them on the table (in the farthest part of the medical kit and used gauzes). There were cans of food, beans, vegetables, and a pack of cookies. She was beginning to fall for this kid. Tea raised a questioning eyebrow. “I’m not a dead weight, I can earn my place” Roses heart broke a little at that statement.

The room went silent. Roses looked for Tea’s eyes but they were glued to the cans of food on the table. She saw how the child began to fidget with his fingers on his lap. “I- I have money too” He said, taking out a wad of bills from his pants. Tea locked eyes with him again and then took the money.

“Brilliant!” Tea said, putting the money in the pocket of his pants. “You can stay as long as you want” The kid relaxed and smiled at Tea. 

“Tea! I can’t believe you!” Roses said loudly “Give him his money back!” She couldn’t believe her brother. That was so low and so unlike him!

“Shut up” Tea said dead serious “You’ll bring unwanted attention” Shit. “Finish him off, we need to go” Sometimes she didn’t understand his brother at all. She sighed. Now it wasn’t the time. Roses put the ointment in the cuts and covered the one on his forehead and cheekbone with  gauze pads.  

“That’s it?” She asked when finished “Or are there other wounds?” She said as an afterthought.

“No, that’s it” The kid answered, smiling at her. “Thank you” But then the dog began to bark.