Chapter 44- for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction( part 2)

Harry frowned lightly, running his fingers over Dumbledore's statement about the Dursleys and Hogwarts. In the past, when some witch or wizard mentioned the Dursleys, and the phrase "sorted out" in the same breath, it meant someone was planning to go soothe his family's ruffled feathers and ensure that Harry could return the following summer. The green-eyed boy had never understood this. He'd made no bones about the fact that he was unhappy with his muggle relatives, and the Dursleys couldn't have expressed their feelings on the matter more plainly if they'd hired a skywriter, but it hadn't mattered. Every summer he'd been forced to return to Surrey.

Still frowning, Harry tidied the parchment into a stack, then regarded it thoughtfully. He knew what they wanted. They wanted him to admit where he was so they, who were older and wiser, and knew much better than he did what he needed and what he should do, could swoop in to "save" him.

They wanted him to return to the Dursleys.

Besides the fact that he recoiled automatically at the very notion, Harry had a strong suspicion that going to Privet Drive this summer would have been the worst possible thing for him. He'd been in no condition to deal with their derisive scorn and neglect at the beginning of the holiday, and he certainly didn't want to now.

Recalling the little flare of temper he'd had earlier, Harry pulled a face. He might not have been a flawless example of poise and manners just now, but he didn't even want to consider the state he might have been in if he'd been isolated on Privet Drive all summer. The Mountain Troll that he and his friends had taken on in their First Year probably would have seemed a right sweetheart by comparison.

It wasn't perfect. He still had nightmares and visions, and things to sort out, but Harry knew instinctively that working this summer had been good for him. The physical demands helped keep his grief and despair at bay. The fact that he was doing something useful and making his own way had been an enormous boost to his confidence, and being viewed by Tom and the others as worthy and capable, and normal was a gift without price. It was like a soothing balm to wounds on his soul he hadn't even realized he possessed.

His life wasn't perfect, it might never be actually, but it was getting better.

He'd have to come clean once he returned to Hogwarts, but that was more than a month away.

It might be selfish, but he didn't want to give up the scarlet and gold room over the kitchen. Not until he had to.

I'm sorry sir, but no, Harry thought regretfully as he slipped the stack of parchment into one of the desk's drawers. I just can't. Not this time.

Back at Hogwarts, the headmaster's office was completely silent.

No one knew what to say.

No one knew what to do.

Dumbledore had just cast a locator charm, with very unexpected results.

Harry Potter

Location: Unknown

Status: Unknown

Trying again, Albus stood, waved his wand and commanded, "Point Me, Harry Potter!"

Again, the spell didn't perform as expected. The old wizard's wand jerked out of his hand, then began to spin aimlessly, acting like a compass exposed to a magnet. "Finite Incantatem!" Dumbledore finally ordered, making his wand drop back into his hand. He frowned at it a second, then tried, "Point Me, Arabella Figg!" Within seconds, his wand had oriented itself, and was pointing steadily at the gray-haired witch. "Finite Incantatem." Shaking his head in confusion, he met Professor Snape's eyes at random. "Would you be so good as to try, Severus?" he requested, unable to keep the bewilderment from his voice.

Dumbstruck, the potions master nodded, and raised his own wand. "Point Me, Harry Potter!" he commanded, with similar results.

"Is Harry doing this, Albus?" Arthur whispered in awe a few minutes later when everyone had tried at least one charm without success.

"I do not know, Arthur," Dumbledore said, absently stroking his beard. "It seems unlikely, but I don't suppose we can discount any theories at this point." Wearing a thoughtful frown, the old wizard headed over to his fireplace and threw in a handful of Floo Powder. "Nathaniel Baker!" he called, and a few seconds later, his sandy-haired colleague's head was floating in the flames.

"Hey, mate!" he greeted cheerfully. "I cast a few charms around that muggle family for you. They won't be going anywhere without us knowing."

"Thank you, Nate. I was wondering if I could ask a favor?"

Nate pretended to consider. "Dunno, mate," he said with a cheeky grin. "The last time you wanted a favor, I wound up walking all the way across the bloody city!"

"This won't be nearly as involved," Albus said with a small chuckle. "I merely want you to attempt casting Point Me."

"Attempt?" Baker scoffed, looking slightly affronted. "I'll have you know that's one of me best spells. So what am I pointing to?"

"Harry Potter."

Nathaniel's eyes widened, but he did not question further. If Dumbledore didn't have the kid at Hogwarts by now, something was seriously wrong. "Point Me, Harry Potter," he ordered, then broke off staring at his wand as it jerked out of his hand, and repeated the aimless spinning motion shown by the others just a few minutes before. "It's not working!" he exclaimed unnecessarily. "But it was working earlier! Albus, what's going on?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, Nathaniel, but I intend to find out."

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Tom looked up from serving a customer, when the bells on the door leading to muggle London rang, and smiled automatically when he spotted Janet, Kitty, and Becky entering the pub.

"Well hello there," he greeted as they trooped in and took three empty seats at the bar. "Bit early, aren't you?"

Janet rolled her eyes in exasperation, while Kitty and Becky giggled amongst themselves. "I broke the First Rule of Parents With Small Children," she announced petulantly.

"Which is?" Tom prompted, amused.

"Never mention an excitement-inducing event more than one hour ahead of time. I mentioned that Steve was arriving this evening, and if that wasn't bad enough, I also verified that the Sparkster was coming over to babysit-at breakfast!" Janet moaned, holding her forehead, and mock-glaring at Tom when he began to chuckle. "That means my entire day has been one long ongoing variation of 'Is it time to go get Daddy?' and 'Is it time to go get Sparky?' I'm ready to strangle both of them."

"Now, now, they're just excited," Tom said bracingly. "Aren't you dears?" he asked, looking to the children for verification, and grinning at their exuberant nods.

"Oh, they're excited all right. They've been bouncing off the walls all day. Whatever he asks to be paid, I'm thinking of doubling it," Janet declared, raising an eyebrow at her children. "He's going to have a heck of a time getting them down for the night. Oh, speaking of Sparky, is he in the kitchen?"

"He's upstairs, I believe. Shall I fetch him?"

"Nah, I just wanted to show you something while he wasn't here. I'd probably embarrass him," Janet said, taking a quick peek around to make sure none of the other customers were watching. She unzipped the diaper bag and began to rummage through it while Tom looked on curiously. "I had some pictures developed while I was out today," she continued, removing a packet of photos and flipping through them, "and I got one of him by accident that was just too cute!" she grinned, finally locating the one she was looking for and passing it to Tom.

Not quite sure what to expect, Tom accepted the image, and studied it carefully. It was, a muggle photograph, completely still and unmoving, but the captured moment didn't disappoint. As Janet had promised, it was truly classic. She had somehow managed to get a shot of Harry while he'd been at her house a few nights ago. Tom grinned, then he chuckled, then he gave up and laughed out loud. Harry had a leggy plastic fashion doll in one hand, and a tiny garment in the other. He was holding both like they were somehow contaminated, and his entire bearing screamed 'You want me to do what?!'

Giggling herself, Janet filled in the back-story, while Tom whipped out his handkerchief and dabbed his watering eyes. "Both sets of grandparents threatened me with death if I didn't send lots of pictures. I was at a stopping point so I decided to grab the camera and see what they were up to," she explained before returning to the matter at hand. "He was so busy being scandalized, I don't think he realized I took it."

"So which one of you naughty things is responsible for this?" Tom said, still cackling gleefully as he turned the photo so the girls could see.

"Becky," Kitty said at once. "I told her he wouldn't want to play dolls, but she wouldn't listen" she grinned with relish, watching as her sister pouted and crossed her tiny arms on her chest.

"'Parky just silly," the toddler said, obviously dismissing the incident. "Dolly's fun."

"Hmm. Fun for you maybe," Janet grinned, kissing the top of her younger daughter's head, and sharing a commiserating look with her older child. "You don't have to dress the darn things!" She grinned up at Tom and elaborated, "Becky adores playing with those dolls, but she has trouble dressing and undressing them. That means she goes to the nearest big person and they get the honor." She glanced at the picture again, and waggled her eyebrows at Tom. "That night Sparky drew the short straw. Look at that face!" she crowed in delight. "Becky couldn't have gotten a better reaction if she'd asked him to swallow a live toad!"

Tom nodded, and stuffed his handkerchief back in his pocket. "May I see the others?"

"Sure," Janet said looking pleasantly surprised and handing him the packet. "There are a few more that have the Sparkster in them-they're near the back. The rest are from the trip over, and our first few days here," she explained, as Tom flipped though the pictures. He stopped to smile at one of Harry, Becky, and Kitty piled into an overstuffed rocker-recliner. Harry appeared to be reading a story in that one.

"I think that's the best one," Janet with a soft smile when she saw which one Tom was looking at. "He's good with them."

"Indeed." Tom finished flipping through the stack, and replaced them in their envelope. When he looked up at Janet again, he was surprised to see her expression was faintly troubled. "Is something wrong?"

Janet looked a little indecisive, then sighed. "How well do you know Sparky's family, Tom?" she asked quietly.

"Not all that well, I'm afraid," Tom hedged, a bit surprised at her sudden shift in topic and attitude.

"I usually get doubles made when I have film processed," Jan said, indicating another bundle of photos. "When I saw how good those shots turned out, I thought his family might like to have the duplicates. I separated them out, and put them in an envelope, but it wasn't until I tried to write a note that I realized I had no idea who these people are. None whatsoever."

Tom didn't know what to say to that, but Janet spared him the necessity of speaking.

"It just seemed odd you know?" she said, absently studying the contaminated doll shot. "He talks to us when we come by, he's been over to the house once, and he's babysitting tonight. I guess I just assumed that his aunt and uncle would want to meet me-look me over and make sure I'm not a serial killer or something. I'd want to check out anyone Kitty was that friendly with if the positions were switched." She shrugged and laughed nervously. "Maybe I'm just paranoid. Sparky's a sweet kid, and he's got a good head on his shoulders. Maybe they think he's responsible enough to make his own choices. I just thought I'd ask if you knew how I could contact them, or even if I should contact them about the pictures."

"Why not just ask the boy?"

"He doesn't seem to like to talk about his home life, so I've tried to respect that," Janet responded frankly, after motioning him closer and lowering her voice so that Becky and Kitty couldn't hear. "I thought at first that he was shy, or maybe he was just a private kind of kid, but that's not quite right. He'll chat about some things, but he doesn't discuss his family any more than he absolutely has to." Janet shrugged, then met Tom's gaze. "I don't even know their names. Is that normal around here?"

Tom blinked, realizing he didn't either. Harry typically referred to his muggle relatives as "my aunt and uncle." It was probably something Harry had been taught as a security precaution, it didn't do any good to have him in a secret location if every witch on the street knew the names of his muggle relatives. Of course Janet wouldn't know that. "It's the same here as it is anywhere else," he said, finally answering her question. "Some people keep their own counsel, and others are more open about their affairs."

"I suppose," Janet conceded, but she still looked uncertain.

"But?" Tom prompted, curious to know what was really bothering her.

Janet sighed. "Look I like him, and I trust him, or I wouldn't be leaving the girls with him tonight. There are a few things about that kid that I find a little strange, okay?"

"Such as?"

Janet pulled on one earlobe, mulling over what she wanted to say, before then noticed her daughters watching her avidly. "It's nothing big," she said, cutting her eyes toward the children. "I'm sure I'm just being silly."

Tom nodded his understanding, then excused himself to look after a hag who was signaling him.

Janet glanced up at the clock, then soothed her children's inquiries about Sparky's whereabouts, and gave them something to amuse themselves with. She supposed she could have taken Tom up on his offer to fetch the kid, but it didn't seem worth the trouble. Unless Sparky was running late, he'd be down in a few minutes.

Sighing a little, Janet tried to pinpoint what it was about the boy that she found so damn disconcerting. It wasn't anything obvious, nor was it anything having to do with him personally. Sparky had never been anything but nice to her. He was helpful, polite, patient with her children...no, it was as she told Tom. Little things. Like when he'd been over a few nights ago, and he and Kitty and Becky had decided to watch a movie. Becky and Kitty had come over to her asking for snacks, so they'd all gone into the kitchen, leaving Sparky in the living room to fetch and load the video.

From her place in front of the microwave, Janet could see in the living room. The girls had been engrossed with the ever-expanding bag inside, but she'd taken the opportunity to watch the boy instead. He'd found the title without too much trouble, then gone straight to the VCR and tried to load it, but he had it backwards or something and it wouldn't go in.

That in itself wasn't odd. It was an easy enough mistake to make if you weren't watching what you were doing. The thing that bothered her was he didn't seem to immediately know how to fix it. Unless his household didn't have one for some reason, Sparky should have been exposed to the VCR at an early age. Loading and unloading tapes should be as automatic to him as tying his shoes. He'd figured it out, but it had taken him a few seconds to reason his way through it. By that time the popcorn was ready, and she'd had other distractions to deal with.

Then there was the movie itself. She'd expected typical adolescent disdain for the animated feature Becky had chosen, God knew she had seen it enough with her brother and nephews and cousins, but it hadn't come. Unless he was an absolutely flawless actor, he'd honestly enjoyed the movie-like he'd never seen it before. It had been the same with toys-not just dolls-but toys. Everything seemed to be a new experience.

And that was weird. She could buy off on the fact that a British kid might not have seen an American children's movie, but whoever heard of a boy, of any nationality, who hadn't played with blocks for Heaven's sake! Forget weird, that was just plain wrong!

"Janet?"

"Hey, Janet!"

"Mom?"

"Mama?"

"Janet, are you in there?"

Jan shook herself out of her musings, and blinked at the black-haired boy in front of her. Sparky was looking at her, concerned, as were her daughters.

"Alright?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Yeah, I was just off in Never-Never Land," Janet assured, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, I was just trying to work through a problem."

He seemed to relax at that. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting," he said, adjusting the strap of the bag on his shoulder.

"Your timing is impeccable, Spark. We were just a little early. So are you ready?"

Sparky glanced at Kitty and Becky, then gave her an uncertain smile. "I hope so."

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