Home is an escaped convict
Savi is walking with Rati. The clouds above are turning dark suspiciously fast and Savi curses the incorrect weather news— she has her laundry drying in the goddamn backyard. She hopes it won't rain before she manages to reach home.
It's when she sees that kid Harry running that she stops short.
She doesn't know much of him, only ever knows him because he used to trail after that horrid woman— Petunia Dursley. Savi remembers the confused look the boy had when his supposed aunt insulted Savi for the first time. Before that, during their short isolated meeting, Harry had always known her as the woman who always had flowers on her.
She began seeing him less and less over the years as she was posted from place to place and only heard from the neighborhood that he was in a boarding school for some troublemaking boys. It's only three years ago that she requested a work from home documents verification work because of Nathaniel's death, in order to look after Rati.
But right now, Harry is running with Dudley in tow, the other kid almost stumbling over his steps.
They're running from something.
Her fingers go on the gun that she always carries at her waist holster and Savi pushes Rati behind her. "Close your eyes, baccha. Run as far as you can if I tell you to, okay?"
She hears her daughter's assenting whimper.
She removes the gun from the holster and undoes the safety. Harry seems to see her as she takes a firmer stance and he looks panicked even more. They're nearing her.
Her wound starts to go chill and ache at her knee. She doesn't know why but she feels dread curl up in her spine. Behind her, Rati wraps her arms around Savya's thigh and starts silently crying. The tears at the back of her trousers burn her like acid.
"Ms. Mikaelson!" Harry shouts at her frantically as he nears. He seems even more panicked. She can't see anyone behind them— he probably threw them off or they stopped persuing.
Harry stops dead mere twenty feet away and as absolutely crazy as it sounds, Savi sees something akin to a ghost hovering above the two kids. Two other entities that look identical corner the boys and Savi doesn't know what to do. It looks like a hooded rotten skeleton.
Her wound burns under the colder temperature and Savi readjusts her hold. She sends a mental prayer to Shiva and takes a deep breath.
Dudley falls down, unconscious, and Harry whips out a stick. She doesn't know what it's gonna do but she hopes he intents to stick it in the eyes of the entity, hopefully to slow it down.
Savi tries to move but her hands seen frozen. Behind her, she feels Rati's tiny fists around her pant legs.
For her, she tells herself as she sees Harry fall to his knees as well. As she struggles to move, to overcome the paralysis that has taken over her, she sees the figure lean down to Harry, still hovering in air.
The gun is loaded and with all the might she has, Savi raises her arm.
She shoots.
The entity that was hovering above Harry screams and shrieks— something that makes Savi want to kneel as well. She barely holds on, grabbing Rati's fist in her free hand.
The entity turns to ashes and crumbles, falling onto Harry and the pavement.
Harry shoots her a panicked look but lifts the fucking useless stick and waves it, probably preparing to throw it at the other one. Savi raises her hand again, the rebounding pain from the shot was normal once but Rati isn't used it now. She fights through it and gets ready to shoot again just as Harry shouts something.
She doesn't catch what he's saying but some light comes from the stick—is it some new torch?— and the whispy white light flows like a river and turns to a motherfucking stag.
The stag chases off the other two hooded entities.
Slacked jawed, Savi blinks thrice before she rushes towards Harry, mindful of her pace since Rati's hand is in hers.
"Harry!" She calls him beforehand to alert her about her proximity in case he is in shock. "Kid, you okay? Dudley?"
Harry is shaking, trembling extremely obviously all over and Savi kneels beside him instinctively. "Can you breathe with me, kid?"
She takes an obviously deep breath and continues the exercise until he starts to copy her. Meanwhile, Rati goes over to Dudley. Out of the corner of her eye, Savi sees Rati put her hand on the boy's chest— probably listening for his heartbeat. Her clever little girl.
When Harry finally stops shaking.
"Thank you, Ms. Mikaelson." He sighs shakily. He gets up and looks down at his cousin, still sweating and his t-shirt clinging to him. Rati makes a gesture that Savi recognises as 'sleep'. Harry makes a questioning noise.
"The boy is unconscious," Savi says. "Come, I'll help you two get home." Rati stomps her foot. "Apologies, I mean we will help you."
"You...you saw them." He says it almost unbelievably, sounding terrified. "You saw me doing that."
"I did. And you saw me shooting something dead. Balance tallied." She tries to brush it off as something that she won't lose sleep over because it obviously isn't even her top ten moments of horror. She can deal with hodded rotting corpses. She just hates Rati was anywhere near this.
Behind them, they hear a thud of something falling. Savi points her gun at the noise, aware that those entities may be back.
It's just Mrs. Figg.
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Savi doesn't know what's gotten into Mrs. Figg but if she doesn't stop victim blaming the fifteen year old child, Savi will sin and hit the fucking old goat.
She keeps muttering something about some dude called Dumbledore and something about someone called Mundungus. Beside her, Rati childishly giggles at the word Dung. Savi doesn't chastise her at all, busy slugging around the unconscious teen.
"You do realise that this boy is a child and you're making him slug around his cousin?" Savi interrupts her on going scardy rant,"You should be acting like an adult and taking Dudley's other side, not forcing Harry to carry half of him."
Mrs. Figg huffs. "I am in my old-age. I'm sure you will know."
"I have a bullet lodged in my kneecap." Savi deadpans and pointedly looks at the arm of the boy around her shoulders she's using to support the kid.
Mrs. Figg colours with a blush but doesn't move to elivate Harry's burden.
Bitch.
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Savi ignores the fussing and shouting of the Dursley parents and goes to leave the house with her daughter the moment she deposits their son on an arm chair but takes a look at Harry.
"I'm going to wait up till midnight," she whispers to Harry discreetly as Petunia wails about her son and her husband goes off to get water,"if your bedroom light goes on and off thrice at midnight, I'll come resuce you. Same if I don't see you at the park overmorrow."
Harry looks surprised.
"I'll come for you, kid, I promise."
Because she has a child too. And the bruise at Harry's throat isn't how any child should be treated, ever. And she thinks it absolutely matches the shape of Vernon's hand.
Harry nods jerkily, almost robotic in motion. Rati waves bye at him and he flashes her a quick smile.
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It's far before midnight. She plans to go to the Dursley's in two hours, just in case Harry needs her earlier than planned.
Rati shifts in Savi's arms and she hears a knock at the door. She grabs the gun from under her pillow and moves out of the bed as swiftly as she can, making sure to put Rati nearer to the wall so she doesn't fall.
She creeps downstairs just as there's another, more urgent and more firm knock.
"Who's it?" She asks, hand on the table near the end of the stairs which holds a knife for situations like these.
"It's Harry, Ms. Mikaelson."
It's the kid, yeah, but he sounds nervous. Savi keeps her gun out as she opens the locks on the door and pulls it open. She has it instantly trained on the man standing behind Harry.
He's tall with sandy hair, perhaps her age, and has something about his aura that makes her hand stand on her arms. He reeks of danger.
"Ms. Mikaelson, don't shoot! He's my friend!" Harry says, panicked. "He said he wants to explain to you about the dementors, please, it would be a huge help for me, ma'am!"
"Deme what now?" Savi doesn't lower her gun but she looks at Harry. "I want to help you, kid, I do. But I need to know I can trust a stranger with my privacy and my family."
The man bows his head. "If it helps, I promise that you needn't invite me beyond this hallway. I will stay in your line of sight and I do not ask you to let go of your weapon."
Savi hears a tink upstairs, the thing that she'd taught Rati to signal that she is awake. She clenchs her jaw.
"I was in the army," she says,"I will blow your brains out and know how to hide your body if I see you making some unwanted actions."
He nods, completely serious. Harry gapes at her and she regrets that she has to do this in front of a child but Rati's safety matters more.
"You don't leave my sight." She says as she opens the door wider. She spies similar sticks in both their hands and narrows her eyes. "Give your play sticks over, messers."
"Ma'am—" Harry starts to speak but the man sighs and puts a hand on his shoulder. Reluctantly, Harry passes over his stick to the man, who hands them to her.
"You've got five minutes, boys."
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Remus, the sandy haired guy, had to show her that he could teleport before she trusted that they could do magic. Hearing Harry plead that her testimony would be extremely useful to plead self defence in his case of apparently performing magic without authorisation had made her melt.
Savi wishes that it wasn't the case as she walks into a grossly populated house. Harry is smothered with greetings and smiles but he doesn't stray from Savi's side. She's grateful, one hand holding Rati while other stays at Harry's elbow.
He only detaches himself from her when another man, a brunett this time, comes forward. He's got shoulder length hair and he looks lanky in a way that screams of malnourishment and Savi thinks she's seen him somewhere.
Her heart starts to beat faster in her chest as she realises just who Harry is hugging for dear life. She doesn't interrupt the moment but fingers her gun at her thigh holster.
"Harry," she says as he untangles from the beaming man,"why are you hugging an escaped convict?"
The cheerful atmosphere freezes and something hostile burns in the air. The man, she doesn't remember his name, gazes at her with piercing silver eyes. "And you would be?"
"The only goddamn adult in his life who asked him if he was alright after being attacked." She glances at the way the man has his hand on Harry's shoulder but Harry seems completely relaxed— at home, even.
"Ms. Mikaelson, he is innocent!" Harry says frantically as his eyes go to her gun. "He was framed, I swear on this. He didn't even have a trial! The real culprit is someone else, please, trust me!"
"My friend is a victim of injustice, Ms. Mikaelson." Remus says, eyes blazing,"I understand your mistrust, but please, listen to the us."
The man she doesn't remember the name of scoffs. Savi keeps looking at Harry. "You'll explain what's going to me, and I promise to listen. I trust you, kid. Give me the truth."
A woman, ginger hair and wrinkles on her face, tries to usher them all inside. She touches Rati's shoulder and Savi instantly lifts her daughter in her arms. Her hand shoots out and she keeps the woman's hand away from Rati. "I'm going to stay nearest to the bloody exit. And the next time anyone tries to touch my daughter without her express permission, ask Harry what a gun can do."
Savi backs herself nearer to the door and let's Rati hide her face in her shoulder as Harry gives a rushed account of apparently what happened when some old ass dark lord killed his parents.
Sirius, she finds the man is called, flinches at points in the story. Savi sees his hand on Harry's shoulder tighten and tremble.
"I'm sorry you lost so much." She says at last, adjusting her sleeping daughter in her arms. "And I apologise for doubting you, Harry."
By this, they're the only people in the corridor, except for a pair of twin ginger haired boys that Savi thinks are the audacious woman's sons. "It's alright," Harry says bitterly,"At least you trust my word for it."
"Now that that's cleared with," Sirius says, eyes glinting,"who are you?"
"Ex-Sergeant Savya Mikaelson." She answers, shifting her jaw as if it could throw out the harsher accent she adopts during army business. "I live in Privet Drive, I've seen Harry around since he was a kid. Don't see him around much now— probably due to that school of witchiness."
"Magic." Remus corrects.
Savi waves him off.
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Rati briefly wakes up when Harry shouts at his friends about abandoning him after he witness his arch nemisis kill his friend.
The only defense they have is that someone, that fucking Dumbledore guy Figg was talking about, told them not to. It's during their weak defense that Rati wakes up and shifts, probably wanting to be put down.
Savya sets her down on her lap. "And what does my sweetheart want?"
Rati shows her throat and rubs it, a sign she copied off Nathaniel. Savi drops a kiss to her forehead and asks a newly dubbed Tonks to get her a glass of water.
She's only thankful that Rati has school off for the summer. Such interrupted sleep will make her cranky and irritated tomorrow (or is it today?). While Savi helps Rati drink some water, she hears more people enter the kitchen.
She spots Harry being ushered by the previous woman, Mrs. Weasley, and she waves him near.
Rati gives him an excited wave and grins at him. Harry chuckles back but Savi knows it's strained at best. He's tired and angry and probably drained, that poor boy.
"I hate to ask this of you, kiddo," she says, completely ignoring how Sirius and Remus immediately turn to keep track of Harry. "But can you look after Rati for sometime while I gather some more information over your situation? If you don't understand what she's trying to say, give her a pen and a paper, she will write it down."
Rati, that absolute clown, mimics writing something on the table. Savi recognises it as the Hindi word for 'tired'. She chuckles and kisses her head again. Rati sticks her tongue out at Savi. Harry laughs, freer now, and nods.
Rati readily hops down from Savi's lap and latches onto Harry's outstretched hand. Savi stops them with a hand on Harry's elbow. "No one but you touches her, okay?" Harry looks hesitant for a moment and she fully considers taking her daughter away but he nods and then nods again more firmly, pulling Rati closer.
She gives him a nod back and watches as he talks to her quietly as they walk, ignoring his friends altogether.
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So I really want to get another cat. Thing is, there’s several reasons why it’d be a good idea (boy has a playmate, I think my ideal number of cats is 2, and give a kitty in need of a home a nice one) but also a lot of reasons I know it’s not a good idea *right now*
First reason is I’m not sure I’m fully ready for it. There’s still a part of my brain that hopes that this new new cat (I’m gonna need another system when I do get one lmao) would act more like old cat and I’ve had enough pets to know that’s a red flag that means you’re not ready yet. It just leads to disappointment when your new pet doesn’t behave like the old one when they were never going to, every animal is a unique individual and no two will give the same experience even when they are similar. And I know this. But the heart still wants
Also two cats, especially when one is brand new to the living situation and is still adjusting, is more work than one and for several reasons my energy lately has been pretty low. So. Am I up for that right now? I’m not sure. I’m sure I could rise the occasion if it’s needed, but like. Would it be a good idea to put myself into that situation at the moment? I’m not sure it would be. Even if I do miss having two cats a lot
There’s also the matter of living situation. Last year I was hoping to move, as I’m getting to the point in my life where it is time to Purchase a living space instead of rent. Which is terrifying tbh lmao, but it is a thing none the less. Plus I just really want a bit more space at this point, and certain conveniences (oh how I long for my own laundry devices) that I don’t currently have. But with old cat, that just didn’t end up being in the cards cause my babies are always my priority above all else (the financial hit also didn’t help - I’m only just recovering from it now). I was simply not going to move while she was old and fragile and dying of cancer
However, my province also sucks! And it recently decided it’s gonna suck even more! Not as much as most of the US, at least not yet, but. It’s not promising. And the long term prospects are also Not Great (both in terms of social things and economically as well like, things are probably going to get worse long before they get better, if they ever do get better). And my city isn’t *the worst* but it’s more expensive than ideal. So it’s like. Do I want to buy a place here? I don’t know. But do I want to move out of this province? I also don’t know
Cause moving adds a lot of factors, even if I stay in the same province but look at a cheaper city. And leaving the province, okay, which to go to? This one’s nice but expensive and has weather I don’t like, and that ones cheap but also there’s a decent risk things will get worse there politically. And then there’s a risk the whole country will get fucked politically next year but I am doing my utmost to not worry about it until it is actually an immediate problem
And then there’s factors like, all the people I know are here (even if I’m bad at seeing them a lot). Familiar grocery stores and restaurants, other amenities, hell, my internet company is not fully national last I checked - will I have to switch providers? Work isn’t an issue as I work from home and we have people in multiple provinces, but like. Literally everything else is. I’ve lived here my entire life. I don’t know what it would be like to move that far. I’ve never done it
(And there’s also like. A sort of political responsibility. I read a lot after the shitty thing was announced and like. Some people are leaving. Some are staying because fuck you, bigots will not drive me from me home, I will fight back. Some are staying because they can’t afford to leave. And some are staying because if everyone who can leave does leave, then who’s left to at least try to fight this shit for those at risk who can’t get out? Especially as while I’m not in the demographic currently at risk, I’m in an adjacent one so it’s like. No, I’m not at risk yet but it’s possible I will be some day, but I also do feel some level of responsibility to try to help those who are currently at risk because I’m not)
And my dad is planning to leave (though unclear how firm that plan is right now and unclear exactly where) and is like ‘well come with me’ and I’m gonna be honest I. Don’t really want to like. I’m in my 30s. There is a part of me that feels like it’s time to get a bit more space from my family. My mom moved already for other reasons, so I don’t physically see her often, but technology is a thing so. Quite frankly my parents are both really bad at having friends so being literally the only person one of them knows in an entire city is kind of a nightmare scenario for me lmao. I need my space. I get annoyed when I get texted too often, I am NOT going to be your sole social contact. And I know that’s what would happen if we both moved to the same place with no one else. And even without all that, we have differences of opinions in “ideal place to live” so. I know they’re (dad goes by they/them) going to try to pressure me but if I’m sure of anything, it’s that I don’t want that
And, to circle this all back, there is also my kitty boy: he does NOT travel well. At all. He has panic attacks in the car that leave him panting and screaming within about 1 minute of being in there. We are trying to work on it, given transport is important for vet visits, but progress is slow. I was thinking he might have to get the old gaba just for me to be able to move within the city. He’s an anxious little guy. It’s gonna be tough for him, both the general realities of moving and the driving to the new place part. And I originally wasn’t really thinking of moving anywhere out of a 20 min or so radius of where I currently live partly for that reason
So to move to another province (and please remember Canada is Huge, like, this would be several hours or even multiple days of driving), I don’t know if I can even do that in a way that’s safe for him. Drugs are an option, but depending on where, it could be an unfeasibly long drive to do that with. And god, planes, I can only imagine how much worse he would be on a plane (even though I’d NEVER let him ride in the cargo, I’d buy an extra seat if I had to). He could have a stress-induced heart attack and die and if this is in transit, I’d be powerless to save him and I’d have to live the rest of my life knowing I killed him
And so with all of that, I’m like. I really can’t get another cat until I know wtf I’m doing and implement that because it would be awful for the new kitty if I got them and then immediately moved somewhere, either close or far. I can’t do that, it would be cruel. So like. Idk, I just don’t know what to do
I’m also aware that like. There are two problems in this ramble and the one I opened with is not really the larger one lmao but like. Genuinely I do not know what to do and that’s scary so I’m just kinda frozen here thinking how nice it would be to have a second floof gallivanting around the apartment but also knowing I can’t really have that right now (unless the cat distribution system decides to give me no choice in the matter lmao but I’m not expecting that to happen)
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