A Quiet Observer

Steve was a quiet man who kept to himself. He didn't gossip as so many of the residents around here did. He was observant but he never told anyone what he saw or heard in the neighborhood. He didn't care for gossip because he said those who gossiped quite often missed the forest for the trees. Nor were they any better than the people they talked about behind their backs. Quite often the very things they trashed others for doing they themselves were also guilty of. Harry often wondered if that was why Steve never spoke of his family. If he even had one.

Harry knew he was divorced but also knew he took care of his ex-wife and made sure she had a comfortable life. And when she'd passed away last fall, Steve had made and paid for her funeral arrangements according to her specified wishes.

They didn't have any kids together and as far as Harry knew, Steve had never had any from anyone else either. Nor did he seem to have any brothers or sisters. Which might actually account for why he had taken to providing food for Harry when he noticed him looking pinched. Because in his own way Harry was just as alone in the world as Steve was.

Yes, he had the Dursley family but everyone knew they didn't care for Harry and would be delighted if he was someone else's problem. So Steve had quietly stepped in when they were failing in their duty to Harry. Never quite doing enough to put their hackles up but always making sure Harry remained alive and reasonably healthy.

The realtors would take care of the yards supposedly and if a window got broke or the house was broken into, they'd replace the window, door lock or whatever needed it. They'd also keep an eye on things that could cause problems with the season changes. For that reason, Harry told them about the hose in the shed and why it was to be kept in working order. If they thought it strange he had an owl, a snowy owl, he was providing shelter in the garden shed for, they kept that opinion to themselves.

Avid bird watchers weren't so uncommon in England and were well-known for their odd behavior patterns. In the opinion of realty companies, bird watchers were weird and usually troublesome if you had a property in their bird watching area you wanted to sell.

Other than that, there was nothing he could do that hadn't been done to keep the place available should he actually be able to return at the end of the year. He'd kept the house neat and tidy since the family had left so there was nothing that needed cleaning. He'd given the yards their final trimming yesterday so that was all finished. And he'd done his laundry in the days leading up to today so he could properly pack his trunk.

He then got dressed in the clothes he had chosen to wear so as to keep up appearances that nothing had changed over the summer, ate the food he had decided on last night and shut the house up nice and tight, waving to Steve who waved back as he got into the taxi that was waiting for him. He knew Steve had only been sitting on his porch waiting for Harry to leave for his school. The arrival of the taxi had told the man all he needed to know.

Harry took the taxi to the bus depot in Greater Whining. He had changed the reservation his Aunt had made for him so he could spend a day taking care of business for himself he didn't trust anyone else to handle. He had some banking business to take care of and he wished to spend some time on the Alley before catching it. He needed new reading material for this year as he had every intention of acing his Owl exams.

Because no matter what marks the teachers gave, or how stupid and worthless they thought he was, they wouldn't be the ones administering the exams this year. Owl exams, just like Newt exams, were given and watched over by the Ministry and the personnel of the Department of Education. Not the Hogwarts staff. No matter what Hermione and the rest of his year believed, Harry wasn't stupid and he rather thought that with his last vulnerable people out of reach, it was finally time he took the gloves off. It was time to show people just who they'd crossed. Just who they'd been trying to push around all these years.

Trying hell. They had been pushing him around. That was over with now though. This year he would push back. No more would he meekly stand aside and let them do as they like with his name, reputation, person, health and life. He was a person just like everyone else and it was time they recognized that.

He'd considered calling for the knight's bus but decided that was too risky and it was behavior out of character which might alert the wizards to the disappearance of his relatives since they always took him to and from the station.

So he sat in the back of the taxi cab paying strict attention to the route the driver was taking so as not to get over charged by a driver looking for an easy buck. But the driver seemed to be an honest sort and took the straightest route to the bus depot he could take. He even helped Harry carry his trunk into the depot and up to the ticket counter where he watched to make sure Harry ran into no problems getting the bus to London.

Harry was unaware the driver was a personal friend of Steve the neighbor who had called him and asked for a favor in getting Harry out of Little Whining with the least amount of trouble. Since Steve had helped him out of a spot of trouble, the cabbie, Ajax, had no problem returning the favor today.

Steve had explained the boy had been left to find his own way back to school and needed a safe driver to get him to the bus station. Ajax had even pretended to believe Harry's story about his Aunt being unavailable to drive him to the city as she was sick with the three day flu which had told him, even without Steve telling him the truth when he'd asked for the favor, louder than anything the boy had been abandoned by his kinfolk.

Especially since Steve said he'd seen the family drive off at the beginning of July and not return. Steve said they were in the wind and as far as he knew there was no expected return date set. Steve claimed he expected them to return while the boy was away at school since they had another child who needed to attend school as well.

He'd told Ajax the boy was mature and responsible but that he was only fifteen and small for his age. Old enough to know the rules but looked young enough to tempt the predators. Therefore, he was a prime target for them and needed watching over even if he didn't know it or believe it.

Harry settled into the bench seat cautiously knowing the driver was keeping an eye on him but not able to fully relax so long as he was in open transit like this. Public transit drivers always watched kids and teens traveling alone. Too many times those kids behaved badly and caused a ruckus that resulted in property damages and a loss of money. Then there was the danger of the wrong sort of person approaching a kid travelling alone. All transit drivers were supposed to watch for that sort of thing and head it off before another kid could go missing or wind up dead.

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