FicWad

Chapter One

In a small house on the outskirts of Surrey, a young man of sixteen with a lightning shape scar on his forehead sat on his bed staring up at the ceiling. Harry Potter, the savior of the wizarding world, had yet again worked his magic to stop the plans of Lord Voldemort, but at a great cost. Harry had just completed his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and had lost one of his greatest mentors. He had been tricked into the Department of Mysteries just a few months ago, which had led to his godfather dying. At least he died in a hail of spells like he had always wanted. Harry tried to rationalize.

Harry stood up and started to pace his small room. He had so much crap running through his mind that he didn't know exactly what to do. He grabbed his wand from under his mattress, Moody would be proud, and stuck it in his pocket hidden by the back of his shirt. He slowly opened the door because it was still very early in the morning and Harry didn't want to wake up his whale of an uncle. He quietly crept down the stairs, skipping the second to last stair because he knew that it had a tendency to creak. He walked into the kitchen grabbing a glass out of the cabinet and walking over to the sink. He quickly got a drink standing thinking, again. He set down the glass and walked into the foyer. / I need to get out of this house... I don't even think they'd even notice if I was gone./

As Harry's hand touched the doorknob, he heard someone coming down the stairs. "What are you doing boy?" his rotund uncle asked him.

"I'm going on a run, I need to get out of the house," Harry tried to explain.

"No you are not! You are not exposing your unnaturalness around the neighborhood!" Vernon yelled at him.

Harry smirked, "You know that killer that was on the news last year?" After Vernon's distinct nod Harry continued, "He's my godfather, so if you want to, I can give him a call and see what he has to say..." he trailed off.

Vernon turned a very dark shade of purple, "Fine! But if you get yourself into trouble you are never leaving this house again..."

Harry rolled his eyes as he opened the door and quickly walked out. Harry stepped into the hot summer air having no idea where he was going. He started to slowly jog north. As he went further he picked up his pace, his exertion shown by the trails of sweat that now soaked his shirt. Harry quickly stripped of his hand me down shirt and tied it around his waist. I should probably get some new clothes while I'm out. I probably have enough money on me to get something. Harry said checking his pockets quickly to find the pounds crumpled in the bottom. Harry looked around to see if there were an outlet store or something where he was running. He saw a small shop on the corner he was approaching called "The Chamber of Secrets." Harry would've chuckled to himself if it had been any other time, but he was still feeling grief over killing his godfather. He may have lied to his uncle, but he felt that it was worth it. The look of terror on the fat tub of lard made my summer.

Harry pushed open the door to the store, holding it open with his foot as he pulled the shirt over his head. He walked in as the air conditioning crashed into his body making him feel as though he was in a freezer. It was better than being out in the summer sun though. He walked up to the front desk where a girl with black hair was stacking shoes and such with her back to Harry. He quietly approached, "Excuse me ma'am, but I'm looking for some running equipment."

The girl turned around and almost screamed in surprise. "Harry, it's so good to see you!"

"Parvati?" he asked, not sure which of the twins it was. He had never really taken the time to put a name to each twin. "What are you doing here?" he asked in shock.

"I work here, my parents made me get a summer job so I could 'learn a sense of responsibility' as they say. Do you live around here?" she asked almost shyly.

Harry smirked a little, "Yea, I'm the resident incurable criminal boy on Privet Drive."

Parvati gasped, "You mean you live with those things at Number Four? They're your family?" she asked in awe.

"I wouldn't go as far as saying they are family. I was lucky I even got out of the house today. I'm usually doing all of the chores around the house," Harry explained.

"We can hear that whale yell from where we live."

Harry just stared at her for a few moments, making her giggle. "You mean that you live in Surrey?"

"Yes," was her simple answer.

"Those bastards! They told me in my trial last year that no wizards lived in Surrey!" Harry clenched and unclenched his fists to control his temper.

"Well my dad has a very hush-hush job at the ministry, so they probably wouldn't reveal that..." she said trailing off. "So what was it that you came into the store for again?" she asked changing the subject.

"Well I need some clothes, but just for running right now because I don't think I have enough money on me right now for anything else. What do you have in stock? I really don't have any idea what I'm looking for," he admitted.

Parvati just smiled at him as she sat him down in one of the chairs and walked away. Harry just sat there dumbfounded trying to figure out what was going on. Parvati returned five minutes later with a two pairs of running shoes, a skintight sleeveless shirt, compression shorts, running shorts, and a pair of sunglasses. "I think this is what you are looking for?"

Harry looked at all of it, "You know better than I do, Parvati," he said as he picked up the stretchy material. As Harry was looking at what Parvati had brought him, another figure came up behind him. Harry turned around and came face to face with Padma. "Hey Padma," He greeted, totally shocked that both of the twins worked at the same place.

"My sister told me that you needed a new wardrobe," she said as she pulled out a stack of assorted clothes, "so this is what I picked out."

Harry looked through it, "I don't think I have enough money for all of this. I haven't been able to go to Gringott's since the beginning of last school year."

The girls just laughed. "We can access your account from here. We'll just send an owl to Gringott's with the check attached and they will deliver the money here." One of the twins explained.

"And I don't really have a way of getting it back to my house since I ran here..."

Parvati pulled a small running backpack from behind her back. "This running bag has a bottomless capacity. It won't make everything quite weightless; I think the ratio is every fifty pounds equals about two pounds."

"You're really trying to make a profit off of me, aren't you?" Harry asked smirking. Harry stood up and walked over to the cash register with a twin leading the way. "So how much do I owe you?" he asked.

"Two hundred pounds," she said.

"That can't be right, I'm almost getting a completely new wardrobe," he said incredulously.

Padma started to grin, "Well with a preferred member discount, it goes down considerably."

"Well I won't have you losing money because of me." Harry pulled out the money in his pocket and quickly counted it under the counter. He had about one hundred and fifty pounds and he sneakily hid it behind one of the displays next to the register. "But if you insist..."

Parvati sent off an owl with the check. "Ok, now that's taken care of."

"Do you have a fireplace here?" Harry asked.

"Yes... why?" Parvati asked raising a questioning eyebrow.

"I'd like to burn these rags if I could."

Padma led Harry back into the dressing room in the back, leaving him with his new running clothes. "Just put the trash to the side," she said chuckling, "and we'll burn them later.

Harry quickly stripped, getting rid of the Dudley's humongous clothing. He pulled on the compression shorts and the black running shorts. He grabbed the bright green skintight sleeveless shirt. He looked at the tag, "Under Armor" it read. Harry pulled it over his head and laced up his new trainers. He walked out of the dressing room, and the girls couldn't pull their eyes off of his chest. "I see you like it," he said with a chuckle.

"That looks much better," they said in unison.

Harry chuckled, "You wouldn't happen to have a wand holster, because this has no pockets on it," Harry shrugged.

As if thinking ahead of him, Padma pulled out a holster that strapped to the upper arm. "It has charms the camouflages the holster to your body." Harry strapped it onto his left arm and slid the wand in, but it didn't disappear.

"I can still see it," Harry said disappointed.

"Well of course you can see it. It would be bad if you were about to enter a battle and couldn't find your wand. We can't see it though," she giggled.

Harry felt really stupid. "So how long do you two have to stay here? I'm kind of hungry and was wondering if you two would like to join me."

The girls tried to hide their excitement, but it was clearly shown in their eyes. "Just let us close up the shop and we'll be right out." Parvati handed Harry his running bag with all of his clothes within. "Don't go running off," she said as she hurried off to the back of the store.

Harry stood in the same spot rocking on his feet and quietly whistling to himself wondering what could be taking them so long. The twins came back into sight a few minutes later in skirts and a tank top, with Parvati in red and Padma in blue, or at least that's what Harry figured. Although to Harry's best knowledge, it looked as if neither girl were currently sporting a brassiere. Harry shook his head clear, "Are you two ready?" he asked offering both of the girls an arm.

The girls laced their arms through his as they walked out the front door. "So where is the nearest establishment. Wizarding would be better so I could just charge it to my account."

"You don't have to pay for us," Padma said.

"Let's just call it reparation for the dreadful nights you two had at the ball during fourth year," he said smirking.

"But that was almost more than two years ago!" Parvati claimed in disbelief of the offer.

Harry chuckled, "Well it's well overdue then, now isn't it?" Harry smirked at them, his eyes twinkling, "You aren't going to win, so you should probably stop while you two are ahead," both girls nodded in defeat. "So where are we going exactly?"

Both girls looked at each other, as if conferring through their eyes alone. They both smiled and got a tighter hold on Harry's arm before dragging him into the pizza parlor on the corner. Before Harry even had a chance to look at the menu the girls ordered. Harry didn't even say anything; he knew it probably wouldn't do him any good.

"So how's your summer been, Harry?" Padma asked to start up the conversation.

"Oh, the same old thing. My whale of an uncle telling me to do all the chores and me just sitting in my room doing nothing; this is the first time I've been able to get out of the house all summer," Harry said.

"I can't believe you have to live with those... those things," Parvati shuddered slightly.

"You get kind of numb to it after awhile. After the first beating it gets better."

Two pairs of hands flashed up to their owner's mouth. "They beat you?" Padma asked shocked.

"Sort of, I just let Vernon get out his anger. It's not really a beating because I could probably kick the tar out of him if I really needed to, but it gets him on his high horse so he thinks he holds power of me."

"That's awful! Who put you in that abusive household?" Parvati asked looking as if she were on the verge of tears.

Harry smirked, "Our dear old Headmaster. I don't think he knows half the things that go on under that roof or would even care otherwise. He has totally lost my trust this last year and it's going to take a lot from him to earn it back."

Before the girls could ask any more questions the pizza came to the table, still steaming. "Mmmm, looks good. What is it?"

"It's a pizza, silly. You've never had one?" Padma asked.

Harry chuckled lightly, "Don't really have the chance when my lard ass cousin is on a diet. It's not like my relatives would go out of their way to get something like this. They pretty much went out of their way not to feed me. But let's just eat now, we'll talk about this later."

In another half an hour the three teens were on their way out of the small pizza shop. Both girls had latched onto Harry's arm and were resting their heads on his shoulders. "I should probably be getting back to the Dursleys. Dumbledore may finally realize that I'm gone."

Parvati reached inside her purse and pulled out a pad and pen and quickly scribbled something down onto it. "This is our home address and phone number, you're welcome whenever you like," she said blushing slightly. She hugged him quickly then stepped back for Padma to do the same. "We'll see you later, Harry," they said as they parted ways. "Cya, girls!" he shouted as he started off at a jog back to Privet Drive.