“Tyls.”

“Harry,” breathed the blond boy, dark eyes wide in pure surprise.  He then looked down at the scarred hand gripping his grimy shirt then back up at his old friend.  Harry followed his gaze and grimaced, dropping his hands and stepping back.

“Sorry.”

“S’alrigh’, ‘Arry,” said Tyls, rubbing at his shoulder.  The gesture caught Harry’s attention – which had been focused on his shoes – and made him frown.

“Did I hurt you?”

“Oh…s’nothin’, mate.  We’ve ‘ad worse from Argil, remember?”

Harry nodded and looked down at his shoes again, shuffling one foot nervously.  He mumbled, “Yeah.  I remember.  So…so he’s still around?”  Hell’s bells, why in Slytherin’s name was he so bloody nervous!  This was Tyls, for Merlin’s sake!

“’Round, alive, an’ still takin’ in orphans.”

“And your…?”

“Still pickin’ pockets fer ‘im?”

Harry nodded and Tyls did so in return.

“Yeh.”  Tyls eyed Harry’s clothes and well-groomed appearance and said in a slightly bitter voice, “I see ye found a good home after ye ran off withou’ me.”

Harry winced, remembering the morning when he had set off onto the London streets without Tyls, rushing to get back to the Leaky Cauldron.  He felt a twinge of guilt that he had not thought to find his friends before going to the Burrow with the Weasley’s three years ago.

“I’m sorry, mate.  I – I should’ve told you.”

“Bloody righ’ ye should ‘ave.  Three years, ‘Arry.  Three years.  Y’know wha’ Argil did ter me when ye did’na come ba’?  Can ye guess?”

Harry did not meet his friend’s eyes.  He knew well enough what Argil had done to Tyls.

“’E did’na jus’ beat me,” continued Tyls, eyes burning brightly.  “’E did tha’ an’ more.  Ye know wha’ its like ter be raped, ‘Arry?  Well I do.  I know i’ all too well.”

Harry’s eyes widened in shock at the unexpected omission.  He had expected the beatings but…rape?  RAPE?!  And he’d hardly have expected Tyls, his friend or not, to admit that!

“I’m sorry,” mumbled Harry.  He finally lifted his head to look at his friend and continued, “Merlin’s beard, Tyls, I’m sorry.  I’m sorry any of this happened to you.”

Tyls frowned at his friend for a moment then asked in a low, concerned voice, “’Arry…do ye thin’ I blame ye?”

“Well, you sort of made it seem that way.”

“Heckering sod, ‘Arry, are ye mad?  I’m glad ye got out o’ tha’ ruddy place ‘fore Argil got a ‘old on ye.”

Harry blinked.

“Me?”

“Yeh.  Tha’s all ‘e talks abou’ sometimes.  Ye.  ‘E’s always sayin’ tha’ ye were ‘is favorite.”

Harry’s stomach twisted and he was sure he turned a lovely shade of green.  What Tyls had just described wasn’t…hell, it just wasn’t right!

 Anger flared suddenly and green fire leapt into Harry’s eyes.  His hands clenched convulsively as he growled, “We can’t let him keep doing this.”

Tyls frowned at the angry boy and asked, “How are we going ter do tha’?  I’ve tried ter ge’ away from ‘im.  ‘E knows this city better than me.”

“But not me,” growled Harry.  He scowled at a garbage can and hissed, “He’ll pay.  I’ll make sure of it.”

“’Arry,” said Tyls in a warning tone, “ye can’na kill ‘im.”

“Whoever said I was?” asked Harry with a feral grin.

“Well, wha’ are ye gonna do?  Turn ‘im in ter the Yardies?”

“After I’m done with him, I will.”

“’Arry…”

Harry snarled, “I’m not going to kill him, Tyls!!”

Tyls took a step back from the other boy.  Harry could say that, but the dark glimmer Tyls saw in his eyes said otherwise.  He didn’t know if Harry even knew it was there.  That look made the rather gentle but hot-tempered boy he had befriended even further away than he remembered.  The Harry of then was long gone.  And the Harry of now scared Tyls stiff; not for his friend but for whoever got in his way.

“HAROLD JAMISON POTTER!!”

Harry’s head snapped around at the loud female voice, the dark gleam vanishing from his eyes.  Tyls was surprised by the voice as well – it sound oddly familiar…

“Aw crap,” muttered Harry, causing Tyls to let out a bark of laughter.  Harry’s head snapped around to glower at him but the other boy didn’t notice through his laughter.

Harry arched an eyebrow and asked in a condensing tone, “Is there something amusing you?”

Tyls managed to condense his laughter into a low chuckle then said, “Yer very eloquen’ when yer surprised.”

Harry snorted at the remark and made an attempt to scowl but failed miserably.  He sighed heavily and called out, “I’m down here, Ni!”

“Ni?” said Tyls in confusion.  He then paled and gasped out, “Little Niamh??  Tha’ was ‘er wallet I grabbed?”

Harry nodded solemnly and said in a sing-song voice, “She’s gonna kill you.”

“No, she’s na.”

“Yes, she is.”

“No, she’s na.”

“Yes, she is.”

“No, she’s na.”

“Yes, she is.”

“Yer still as bloody annoyin’ as I remember.”

Harry smiled and bowed mockingly.

“Why thank you.”

“Tha’ was’n a complimen’.”

“Is it my fault that I took it as one?”

Tyls looked thoughtfully upwards at the sky.  “Le’ me thin’,” he said.  “Yes.  I’ is.”

“I love you too.”

“Wha’ does tha’ ‘ave ter do wi’ anything?”

Harry shrugged, palms upwards, just as Niamh came barreling around the corner, eyes burning with the fury of a small sun.  Her gave settled on Tyls and she let out a savage snarl, causing the other teen to take a step back.

Harry quickly stepped forward, slipping Niamh’s wallet from where he had tucked it up his sleeve.  Tyls made an odd fluttering sound as Niamh grabbed the object from Harry, scowling.

She snapped, “You took it, Harry?!”

“Na,” said Tyls, taking a step forward in his friend’s defense.  “ I di’.  ‘Arry ‘ere snitched it ba’ off o’ me, bloody too-good-fer-is-own-good thief tha’ ‘e is.”  Here he scowled jokingly at Harry, who quirked a smile in response.

Niamh scowled at Tyls for a moment, blinked, then asked, “Do I know you?”  The question caused Harry to break into a half smile.

Tyls shrugged one should and casually said, “Per’aps.”

The dark-haired girl frowned at him for a moment then let out a squeal as she threw herself bodily onto him.

“Tyls!”

Tyls grinned and patted Niamh on the back.  Laughing slightly, he said, “Nice ter see ye too, Little Niamh.”  Looking up at Harry, he frowned.

“How’d ye two meet?”

“Long story,” replied Harry.  He glanced at his watch and added, “One we don’t have time to tell.”

“Huh?”  Niamh turned and looked at Harry in surprise.

Harry tapped the face of his watch and said, “Ten minutes to get back.”

“Ba’ where?” asked Tyls.

“To my da,” replied Harry.  “He’s probably waiting for us by now.”

“Yer da?  Did’n ye say ‘e was de’?”

“Long story.”

Niamh suddenly frowned and said, “Uh, Harry…”

“What?”

“Didn’t you tell me yesterday that your watch was ten minutes slow/”

Harry blinked then proved how truly eloquent he was in stressful situations.

“Bloody hell.”

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Severus was mad.

No, he was beyond mad.  He was crazed.  HE had arrived back at the Leaky Cauldron to find neither Niamh nor Harry anywhere in sight, outside or inside.

However, he did get a good clue from Rita’s sadistic smirk that she knew where they were.  Striding over to her table, the pouch of potions ingredients bouncing against his hip, he leaned on the table and growled, “Where.  Are.  They?”

Rita looked up at him in surprise.

“Why, Severus…  I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The hell you don’t.  Where are they, Rita?  I can tell from your smirk that you’ve seen them.”

Rita’s eyes hardened and she said firmly, “One night.”

Severus wasn’t sure if he should reel back in disgust or laugh at her.  Instead he settled for curling his lip in distaste.

“I am not going to sleep with you, Rita.”

“Then you won’t know where they are.”

“Ah,” said Severus with a half-smile, “so you do know where they are?”

Rita’s cheeks flushed pink and she hissed, “You bastard.”

Severus smirked.

“I am a Slytherin, you know.  Now, be a good lass and tell me where my students are so I can be on my way.”

Rita looked ready to object but froze when Severus leaned down and whispered, “Or else there shall be very…ah – dire consequences.”

Severus was playing a card here, running on old fears and memories.  Rita played right into it, too.  Her eyes flicked to his left arm and he had the satisfaction of seeing fear blossom in her eyes.

Rita sighed and pointed towards the Cauldron’s front door.  Severus smiled in a cruel sort of way and strode off, transfiguring his cloak into a Muggle jacket as he opened the door and stepped out into the bustling streets of London.