Clearing Out HP

Harry wasn’t really sure how it happened but he was suddenly standing in the middle of muggle London, well more like a deserted alley in muggle London. Which was a decidedly good thing considering he was less than half of his original height and his clothes were practically falling off him. 

His first coherent thought as the situation seemed to catch up with him was ‘shit’. 

After a minute searching for his wand holder which had slipped off his now slender wrist, he shrunk his clothing to fit him, but the spells were a little harder to perform than normal. He then searched his satchel to make sure his invisibility cloak was still there, because yes he did carry it with him at all times because the war had made him a paranoid little bugger, and yes it had come in handy more than once.

He muttered an incantation which made the air in front of him turn into a mirror to have a look at himself. It seems like someone thought it would be funny to slip him a deaging potion. He wasn’t amused. The only thing he’d had so far today had been his daily morning coffee that he got every morning from the same new coffee shop in Diagon alley. That's a disappointment, looks like he’s going to have to switch coffee shops -again. 

As he examined himself he could hardly believe he had looked like this when he was younger. The Dursleys had never taken any pictures of him, the only ones ever being the one that he had gotten taken in elementary school but they had never bought those so he had never had anything to look back on besides his memories. 

He had never looked this good when he was this age, which he suspected was around 10 years old. He had always been covered in bruises and dirt, and couldn’t have hoped to have as much weight as he did now from the malnourishment he had growing up. He had also never had clothes as nice as this before since he was always wearing Dudley's ragged hand-me-downs, but the big difference may be the lack of glasses. 

He had gotten his eyes fixed a couple years after the war ended in a very difficult and expensive procedure. It had been worth it though, not only was he not as recognizable but it also made his work and his life easier. Working as an auror was difficult, add in the possibility of not being able to see and you pretty much have a death wish.  

He dismissed the mirror then heaved his satchel over his neck, and started to take a step to apparate only to find himself thrown back into the wall. Ouch. It looks like his magic is acting up, it may be best to not try anything too complicated right now. 

He hid his wand in his shrunken holster and walked out into the populated streets of London. He still had to get to his job, and find out where he was. He idly wondered if he should be worried about changing back and ruining his clothes but he figured he would feel the change start to happen before it did and would change them back then. 

As he made it to a busy street with other people around he froze then had to start his brain back up again. This… was not right, not right at all. He could tell it wasn’t a film set because even though he was a wizard he did enjoy muggle technology and this was not the way things worked on film sets. This was also not some sort of strange festival, first because there were no signs or booths to suggest such a thing but also because this was way too convincing. 

There were old fashioned cars that looked like they should be in a museum, and the streets weren't paved like they were supposed to be. He started running through the street trying to find some place that was different, some place that was like where he was from.  

There were boys on old fashion bicycles delivering mail and newspapers, children running through the streets rolling around one of those wooden circular thingymabobs that you see in movies. And the way everyone was dressed, it was like he just got transported back in time. 

Shit. 

He suddenly stopped and someone behind him bumped harshly into his shoulder calling out to him to watch where he was walking. He turned around and ran up to one of the boys who was only a little taller than himself at the moment and was selling papers.

“What's the date?” He asked panicking. The boy gave him a look of confusion before answering. 

“December 11, only 13 more days till Christmas!” He added excitedly. 

“No, no, no.” It was early spring where he had been. “And what’s the year?” 

“Uh? 1937, you all right kid?” 

“Yeah I’m fine, thank you.” He was already running away from him dodging through people until he stepped into an alley and leaned against the wall panting harshly. He needed a plan, and needed one fast. 

But the only thing that seemed to be going through his head at the moment was- 

Shit. 

~~~~~

“Let go of me!” Harry screamed before biting the hand holding him. The man let go of him in a hiss of pain and he took the chance to run. He was almost all the way down the street when a second police officer came around the corner looking around with a hand on his baton, he must have heard the commotion and come running. 

“Grab that little shit!” The cop from behind him yelled to the other already running back after him. The new man reacted quickly and was already after him, so Harry did the first thing he thought of and ran across the street, almost getting hit in the process. 

This was a pain in the ass, he would have just used magic and then obliviated them but there were too many witnesses. Damn he hated being a little kid. As he looked over his shoulder it looked like he was gaining distance from them, and just when he started thinking he was actually getting away he bumped into someone. 

He was about to fall down but was then grabbed by whoever it was, he thought for a second that they were just helping him up but then hands were holding both of his wrists. He opened his eyes to see an older looking cop with gray hair and a wrinkly face looking down at him. Harry reacted by trying to bite the hands holding him but then he just lifted his arms above him so that they were stretched above his head. 

“Chief, you caught him!” The second cop said in almost admiration. 

“He was a fast little bugger,” The first gritted out sounding frustrated.

“You both are after this little guy?” The one holding him asked, looking amused. 

“I didn’t do anything wrong! Let me go!” Harry shouted, then tried to kick the man in the shin, but he just chuckled and held him farther away so he couldn’t reach. 

“Is it true men? What did he do?” He asked the other cops. The second one just shrugged and looked at the first one who still looked pissed and was rubbing his bitten hand. 

“I was going to take him to the orphanage. I’ve seen him around for the past couple of days running around alone and I asked the vendors around here and they say they’ve never seen him with any parents.” 

“Ah I see, thank you Michel.” The older cop then bent down into a crouch in front of Harry still holding both of his wrists with just one hand. “So is it true? Are you an orphan?”

“Let go of me, I wasn’t doing anything wrong.” Harry told him trying to act as calm as he could as he glared at the older man. Something about him reminded him of Dumbledore, he seemed extremely friendly and sad at the same time. 

“I know you weren’t, it's not your fault you don’t have parents it doesn’t mean you did anything wrong.” He explained. Harry hated how he was being treated like a little kid, he was 25 for god's sake! “My name Jacob McClair, I’m gonna walk you over to the orphanage okay?” 

“I have parents.” He grounded out stubbornly, but McClair just gave him a pitying smile as if he didn’t believe him. 

“Then you have nothing to worry about and they will come pick you up once they realize that you’re missing. Michael and Joseph, thank you for bringing him to me. You two can go back to your posts.” Both of the younger men nodded a left with “Yes sir” leaving Harry alone with the man. Letting go of one of his wrists and holding on to his left hand with his right and standing up. “Come along.” 

Harry followed reluctantly, he couldn’t walk as fast as McClair but he seemed to have slowed down for him. He just kept his head down to avoid all the stairs he seemed to be getting. Everyone either assumed he was an orphan or a thief, or both, which resulted in either pitying or scornful looks. 

“So what’s your name kid?” Harry refused to answer the cop, he just couldn’t wait to get away, once he was dropped off and the cop was out of sight he was just going to run away.  “It’s ok you don’t have to tell me but you may want to tell the lady at the orphanage or they will just have to make one up.” 

Harry still refused to talk to the man so he just continued to talk for him. “And you could end up with a really terrible name, like Jacob.” Harry looked puzzledly up at the man who just grinned at finally getting a reaction from the boy. “I’m sure the last thing you would want would be to have the same name as me, that would be just awful. People may end up getting the two of us mixed up.” 

Harry couldn’t help cracking a smile at just the extreme silliness of the man. He wasn’t particularly humorous to Harry but he seemed like a good man who had done this with more than just a few times with other kids. 

“Aww look at that I made you smile,” Harry quickly grimaced and glared at the man, “Ain't you a feisty little one. Fine, fine, I swear I won't make you smile anymore, matter of fact, I don’t want you to smile, nope I’m going to keep all the smiles to myself.” At that Harry couldn’t hold back an eye roll. 

They continued that way for a while, the officer joking around while Harry listened quietly. It wasn’t until they were in front of the orphanage that the mood changed. Jacob crouched down in front of him again and looked him in the eyes, smile gone. 

“Now kid, I know that right now you are already planning to escape,” Harry gave him his best look of innocence but it didn’t seem to work. “Now, now, that look ain't gonna work on me. I’ve done this time and time again, I bring back the same kids all the time I know how your little mind works. But think about it, they will have food for you everyday here, even if it's not a lot or very good, but you will still be able to eat. It’s the middle of winter, and it will start snowing soon as well, and sorry little man but your clothes aren't gonna cut it.” 

Harry had to agree with that one, already he had been using heating charms to keep the cold at bay, but he could just steal or transfigure clothes for himself. He had been getting along just fine on his own, he could easily transfigure some garbage into pounds to buy himself whatever he needed. He was in the middle of London where hundreds of magicals lived, if the ministry bothered to trace his magical signature when he used his wand they would just think he was another magical adult. 

As for housing it was easy to find an abandoned building and put some simple wards around it along with cleaning charms and have yourself a usable home. He’d been walking around London trying to find a better place that he could turn into a more permanent place before heading to Diagon alley to try to find something that would explain what happened to him  

“And here you will have a bed and a roof over your head. There are tons of other kids here for you to play with as well. And I know you won't believe me, but I’m going to say it anyway, there is always a chance you could get adopted.” The look Harry must have told him that ‘no he really didn’t think that was possible’ because he just sighed. 

“Yeah I thought so, anyways kid. You should at least stay here for the winter, it's not safe outside right now. You must know about the war going on right now right?” Harry nodded, even if he hadn’t known his history, he would have to be deaf not to hear everyone else talking about it. “That’s all I’ve got to say kid, ok let’s get you out of this cold weather.” 

They both walked through the gate and up to the door, but before the officer knocked Harry spoke up. 

“I’m Harry.” In response the man looked down at him with a kind smile. 

“Nice to meet you Harry.” He said before following through on the motion and knocking. 

They waited a few minutes listening to the faint shouts coming inside before the door was opened and in the doorway stood an old woman who looked like she had a permanent frown on her face, and smelled of booze. 

“Hello Mrs. Cole, I got another one for you.” She turned to look Harry up and down and he felt himself freeze. No. no, no, no, no! This was too much of a coincidence, and if there was one thing he learned while being an auror was that there was no such thing. Slowly he found himself looking up at the sign above the doorway. 

No. 

“And just five days before Christmas,” She slurred. “Well, then come in boy, I don’t have all day.” He found himself following numbly. He looked over his shoulder and saw McClair smiling sadly at him before Mrs. Cole closed the door. She turned to look at him, with her hands on her hips, and spoke to him with a bitter sarcasm.  

“Welcome to Wool's Orphanage.” 

Shit.

~~~~~

Harry learned that Wool's orphanage was even worse than he thought it to be when he saw it in Dumbledore's memories. Now it’s true he may be a little bit biased since he came from the future. World War two was going on and technology was pretty basic and this time. But there was just this smell that clung to everything, underneath the stench of alcohol on Mrs. Cole, the yellow walls, the bed he was now going to be sleeping in, the clothes he had been given. Even the food that the lunch lady scooped onto his chipped dish seemed to have a strange smell to it. 

Harry sighed quietly to himself before then walking to the only deserted table in the very back corner. No one looked at him as his smaller body drifted through the crowd of noisy children. None even seemed aware that there was a new kid, which was fine with him. 

He slumped down into a seat that faced the entire room so that he could keep an eye out on everyone, a habit he learned from Moody before he died. He slowly started to eat his food, not able to completely block out the taste like he used to be able to do when he lived with the Dursleys and then again when he’d been on the run. 

He kept focused on his food, but kept one ear open. So even though he didn’t look up when someone walked up to the table in front of him, he knew that they were there. He slowly looked up, trying to keep a blank face and he almost faltered when he saw who it was. 

Things just kind of got to the point in his life where he expected stuff like this to happen, it had become normal. He almost found it amusing. 

Almost.

The two boys looked at each other for a few seconds before the other frowned and spoke. 

“You’re in my spot.” He stated bluntly. Harry blinked, he guessed Riddle still had to learn to perfect his charming personality. 

“Does that mean you would like me to move?” He asked politely, the other boy narrowed his eyes before speaking again. 

“Yes please,” He added sarcastically. Harry just nodded, gathered his plate, stood up, and walked to the closest empty seat. Once he started eating again he made sure to discreetly look back at him. The boy didn’t even glance his way before sitting down and eating his own food with a blank sort of a detachment. 

If Harry had been younger he probably would have backed talked to him, refused to leave, maybe even made some stupid comment like “What? Your name is not on it.” But to be honest it wasn’t important to him. It was a seat, nothing more. But, to Riddle it was obviously important and Harry didn’t see the point in causing trouble or bringing any attention to himself. 

~~~~~

It snowed two days after that. 

While the other children played outside, despite the fact that it was below freezing, Harry was curled up in a chair he had pushed in front of the fire and was reading. He would have rather stayed in his bed but considering that he was in a room on the third floor that wasn’t really an option unless he wanted to lose feeling in his fingers. 

He could use magic but it was better to bring as little attention as possible to himself. He’d already taken risks using his magic to start repairing the building and doing things like fixing toys (it was almost christmas, the kids deserve something nice, sue him). He was still in the process of putting up wards, which was tricky to do on a building with muggles, in the middle of a war, while trying to avoid detection (from muggles and magicals), and having trouble with his magic. 

So instead he had put his only pair of clothes over his pajamas, wrapped himself in his blanket, brought down his floppy pillow, then searched the room for every other pillow and blanket he could find and cocooned himself in the chair with a stack of every newspaper he could find. 

Thing was, he wasn’t the only one who seemed to have the same idea. 

Riddle sat in his own chair draped in his own blankets on the other side of the fireplace reading a book and seemed content in ignoring his existence. Which was fine with Harry. 

Harry had made sure to keep an eye out for Riddle over the past couple of days, he didn’t follow him or anything but made sure to discreetly watch him when in the same room. He didn’t do anything suspicious, he just kept to himself either writing or reading. 

Everyone else was the arse. 

Sure they were all weary of him and you could see that there was fear but that didn’t mean they left him alone. The younger kids left him alone for the most part, which made up most of the children, but the older kids always had to add a comment or two. Riddle got the ugliest looks, rude hand gestures, and was pushed around all the time.

Shit, it really stirred up his ‘saving people thing’. It wasn’t like he’d ever rid himself of the habit of sticking up for the little guy (he did become an auror after all) and Tom was the little guy right now.