Funds
Two weeks
Harry had now been homeless for two weeks now. He had decided stay in the park, making sure to sleep underneath his cloak and he had this far been able to escape any notice. He knew that he should move on and that staying put only increased the risks of being found. But he didn't actually think that Dumbledore would find him, he were actually more worried about the muggle authorities.
He planned to stay incognito which would be harder if french muggles would try to look for him. He knew that he also had become paranoid during his stay in Paris. And he had still not been able to find any magical stores and the like here, he had even tried to see if he could recognize witches and wizards. As those in Britain were quite… recognizable.
It was in the middle of august now and while the weather were still mild, he knew that he had to find somewhere else to stay. He had actually thought of catching a train and taking it to some other country further south. But he were also becoming comfortable France, leaving would be a risk itself. He had missed his hearing and the ministry would surely be looking for him now. Staying away from any kind of transport could actually be smarter right now.
Harry sighed and pulled down his cap a bit, it wasn't as yellow now that it was covered in dirt. But it served it's purpose by hiding his hair och pushing it down och by that extent hiding his scar. He didn't know if foreigners would recognize the scar, was it big headed of him to think that they would?
He had practically lived beneath his cloak during his stay in France and had quite stealthily managed to steal quite a lot. He had tried to widen his perimeter to not make the park seem suspicious. His goal today was to steal a jacket. The jumper had been through quite a lot and now that he had backpack he could start finding clothes. He nicked the black backpack three days past. It was perfect and currently stored his cloak. It was completely new, directly from a store.
The cloak is truly a blessing.
Harry made his way through the store, his head down while trying to find a good jacket. He soon found one, it was a bit big but it looked warm. He inconspicously took it off the hanger and made his way to the dressing rooms, making sure that no one saw him enter. He took of the backpack before starting to search the jacket for any alarms hidden within it. He couldn't help but grin when he didn't find any. He cloaked himself and left the dressing rooms. He brimmed with excitement as he exited the store but it was quickly dimmed by the sound of alarms going off. Harry felt his heart pounding as he lengthened his steps to quickly get away from the store.
He berated himself as he made his way back to the park, the success of gaining a new jacket felt grim at the thought of his carelessness. He knew that no one would be able to see him but he should have been smarter than activating the alarms. He should have checked the jacket more closely.
He had become cocky.
Not wanting to play with faith, Harry decided to spend the rest of his day by the pond in the park. The cloak were back in the backpack together with the new jacket. He felt his hunger grow but managed to ignore it, something he was quite good at. The water in the pond were still, it reflected the lights in the park quite well. It looked peaceful. He wondered if he would ever feel that peaceful. Harry doubted it.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a man. It was quite a tall man dressed in black. Harry could hear him talking with him as the man's eyes were watching Harry intently. He felt his blood run cold. This was the first time someone had tried to strike a conversation with him and he had no idea what he was saying. He tried to think about what to do, maybe he could pretend being deaf and mute? The man seemed to have tired of trying to talk to someone unresponsive as he bent down to reach for Harry's backpack.
Harry quickly grabbed it before standing up and backing away. The man frowned at him and said something else.
"You don't speak french?" the words were tinged with an heavy accent and Harry's plan of playing deaf failed as the man seemed to notice Harry's comprehension of the words.
"I work for the french police and I need to check your bag and see some identification"
Harry didn't say anything, he only stared while trying to figure out which direction would be the best to run.
"I can see that you understand what I'm saying, give me the bag boy"
Harry felt a spark of anger at the condescending tone, he were treating him as if he was some delinquent. Which he technically was, but still.
"On what grounds?" Harry raised his chin stubbornly at the policeman.
The tall man narrowed his eyes at Harry. "On the grounds that you match the description of a suspect perfectly"
Harry made a swift turn to bolt, only to almost run into another man who had stood behind him. He felt despair and anger, he was cornered. He hadn't even noticed that there were more than one police here. Harry closed his eyes as the man he almost ran into took a hold of his arm. The other one who had spoken to him practically ripped Harry's backpack from him and emptied it's contents. The new jacket, his invisibility cloak and a half eaten chocolate bar fell out.
The policeman picked up the jacket and said something to his partner who had a tight hold of his arm, Harry felt his heart pounding as he then picked up his cloak. It didn't take long before the realized what it was.
"How is it that a young wizard living on the streets acuired an invisibility cloak?" The man who held his cloak looked at Harry with sharp eyes. But Harry didn't know what to say. They knew about magic?
His surprise must have showed as the policeman holding him chuckled.
"We've gotten quite a few reports of theft from this area recently. Stuff have disappeared almost - magically - and we got our first clue today with the help of a security footage without expecting to see something. You can understand our surprise when a young man entered without ever leaving" The man holding him had a lighter accent than his partner. Harry stayed quite. He had been more of a fool than he first thought, not realizing that his thieving had attracted the authorities - the magical authorities.
"What's your name?"
Harry didn't want to answer so he kept his mouth shut.
The policemen - aurors? The aurors spoke with each other before the one holding him held on even tighter and before Harry could react he felt something sucking him away. It took seconds but it was enough to make Harry feel sick. What was that?
The auror held Harry upright as felt the dizzines making him unsteady.
"What was that?" He couldn't help himself.
The auror holding his backpack with his stuff in it gave Harry a smirk.
"Apparating, you are muggleborn?"
It took a second to register that he both answered and asked a question. Harrys hesitated before nodding his head.
"What's your name?"
"James" He could almost smile at his ingenious answer because it was true. His name is Harry James.
"Last name?"
Feeling proud of himself he repeated himself.
"James"
He heard a snort.
"So your name is James James?" The auror holding Harry asked. Harry opened his mouth to say something but then decided to simply nod. James James wasn't that weird, was it?
"So Monsieur James, what bring's an english teenager to France?" Harry didn't have to think long before answering, he had played with the thought of what to say if he had to.
"I'm travelling europe"
"And decided to make a stop in paris to steal?" The other auror asked, eyes piercing him. Harry shook his head in denial. "I'm sorry, I don't have a lot of funds and stealing the jacket is the only theft I've done. It was a mistake" He tried to sound sincere but by the way they watched him, he didn't think that they believed him. Not that he could be surprised. The knew that he were a lowlife thief no matter how much he tried to deny it. The aurors spoke to each other before starting to lead him away. They walked through a empty hallway, it looked quite impressive to be honest. The auror holding him had relocated his hand to Harry's shoulder, looming behind him.
They soon reached a big door, one of them knocked on it and a couple of seconds later a voice answered. Harry felt nervous as they entered a room, it looked like an office. His eyes searched the room before staying on the man sitting behind a giant desk full with documents. The aurors spoke with man whose eyes seemed to study Harry.
"Hello Mr. James, you've managed to give my aurors quite the headache" The man's voice were gruff but it didn't seem angry, more humored than anything. "Mind telling me how you think we should take it from here?"
Harry simply stared at the man before straightining himself.
"I can pay you for the jacket and any problem I've caused before you let me go, I have a train to catch tomorrow" Vernon had always spoken of how politicians could be paid to sell their souls and this man definitely felt like on, he called the aurors 'his' and any higher position would entail politics. Wouldn't it? Harry didn't know how much money they would want but he had enough.
"Auror Fusina said that you stole the jacket because of your lack of funds, have your funds miraculously refilled themselves?"
Harry decided right then to do somtehing that he later would recognize as foolish. He reached his hand into his pocket and brought out the small pouch he bought from the goblins. His hand reached into it and grabbed as much as it could. He held his hand up, showing the several galleons he had in it.
"I meant a lack of muggle funding" He smirked at the dumbfounded expression on the man's face. He could feel the auror with his hand on Harry's shoulder faltering. He could almost taste the victory when the man behind the desk narrowed his eyes at Harry.
"A young teeanager with a goblin-made purse and a high-quality invisibility cloak, who are you?" His tone cut trough Harry's smirk. The man said something to the auror holding him and before he could react his cap were practically ripped of his head. Harry panicked and dropped the galleons on the floor and tried to back away. The hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Harry Potter"