The Cracked Twilight

The sun trickled into the room and onto steven who still slept , fo the first time undisterbed by nightmares for the first time that he ahd woke, feeling the cotton sheets against him he turned and rubbed his eyes deciding to just lay and gather his thughts before makng any sort of move. Asmile crossed his face as he felt the warm sun on him in his mind he felt as if Janet caressed him threw the sun beams. With a sigh he threw back the covers and made his way acros to the bathroom to freshion up he ad decided he had to go back to the alley , his mother had sent some things he needed but not all and he was not reay to return to his farm to get them so the next best thing was the alley.

Stepping out of the shower he quickly dried himself and dressed in blue jeans , black polo shirt and a light blue denium shirt and his ushuall cowboy boots. making his bed he moved out he room and down to the kitchen where he grabbed a single cup of coffee he ahd noticed the house was rater empty but he didn't mind he was use to the quiet, Khaat he presumed would ether be asleep or at work the same for her mother and father. leaning against the counter he drank his coffee slowly going over in his mind just what it was he needed.
"Razors, Shaving foam, Toiltries" he repeated then he smiled "something to cook to say thanks to the Lupin's for putting up with me" he thought as he took another drink.

Finishing his drink he placed his empty cup in the sink and moved to the fire place taking some greenish powder from a small pouch he had hung from his belt he threw it into the flames "diagon alley" he said and then was gone from the house.

next thing he knew he was stod in the alley Khaat and Robert had took hism to two days previose , much to his relife he had not used floo travel in along time and was not sure if he'd even done it right, till now. He walked down it and looked in each of the windows til he found what he wanted , a small coffee shop , stepping inside he ordered a large french roast and sat down to wait.

Andrew was lost. He had this big list of junk he needed to buy for school and he had no clue what 90% of this stuff was. He was still ticked they wouldn't let him bring his frog. A toad was close, but it just wasn't the same as his really great frog. And besides, the frog liked him. No toad was gonna like him like his frog did.

He'd found the candy shop and had gotten the gist that he couldn't just help himself without giving them a sickle for some of it. and he'd gotten a huge handful of candy and shoved it in his improvised backpack. Lunch, maybe.

His plan was simple. The letter said all his school supplies could be found in Diagon Alley. So he planned on just walking up and down the alley until he found it. He hoped he could just put some of it in his pockets and keep some of his sickles. He might need them for later.

As he walked, his thoughts wandering, he bumped into somebody. He looked up. Oh, jeez! Another big dumb guy. And this guy looked even bigger with that weird hat he had on. Just what he needed. two big dumb guys in one day.

Walker had finished his coffee and now heading down the alley again , as he walked something soft bumped into him. Looking down expecting to see a goblin or some other small person but he saw to his suprise a boy with brown hair looking no older than 10 or may be 11. "Hello " he said smiling "ya lost or sumumit?" he asked thinking a boy of that age should be with his perants at the very lest, Looking around he saw nobody that even seem d intrested in him and turned back to the boy "whats ya name son?" he asked hoping to be able to find his perants among the miread of people that now moved up and down the alley around them.

For a momment an image of his own son flashed in his mine, the boy lookng some what similer but he pushed it out of his mind and stood looking down the the boy, it was then he noticedit looked like the boy hadn't had a good meal "ya know i was about to grab some grub but i so hate to eat alone, don't think im some mean evil guy im not I'm a texas ranger.." he paused and smiled "erm Auror, i guess you'd call them, so ya'd be safe with me " he stood looking at him hoping even for a street urching he'd want a free meal no strings attached "just grub nothing else " he said smiling at the boy.

"I'm not lost," Andrew lied, "I'm never lost. I just have a bunch of junk to find. That's all. " He knew what an auror was, but just what the heck was a Texas Ranger, anyway? Had to be something American, because this guy had a twang to his voice a mile wide and just about as deep. "Uh..you're American," Andrew frowned, fascinated. He remembered his New York baseball hat in his pack. Maybe Texas was close to New York? He had no idea. But he bet this guy could tell him. He squinted at him, sizing him up, "Just how American are you, anyway?"

He smiled down at the boy when she said he wasn't lost and had things to find "yeap know that , I have the same and got no idea where to find it" he looked around the alley on hearing the boys next question he grinned "born and branded kid , born and branded" he said with grin "Im as much american as apple pie" he said hateing to use such a common term. He was begining to like this kid "say how about we find the things we both need together, ya can show me this, Diagon alley, ya seen I have never been here before, just pot luck i found the cafe"he leaned down to him "witch by the way do great coffee " he winked and stood back up.

He looked up and down if the boy wasn't lost he sure was he had no idea where to start he had thought just walking up and down few times may have helped but so far he was still as lost as he had been when he first arrived.He looked down at the boy before speaking again " son, your what 10..11 years old, that would mean ya go to the local school right" he asked rembering when they had walked from the hospital he had seen a great school in the distance.

"Nah," he said, "Not yet. My dad just never took me. But I'm supposed to go to some school soon, though. Got a letter and everything. But they want a bunch of stupid stuff. And they wouldn't let me bring my frog. I had a really great frog, too. He liked me. I don't want no stupid toad. I want my frog. He was just the right size to fit in my pocket. And I was training him too. He knew tricks. Grown ups stink!" He kicked at a loose piece of brick in the alley, frustrated. "And nobody here knows what baseball is. There aren't any trees to climb. Not in London anyway. No places to fish. London stinks too..." As he was talking his stomach growled loudly enough for them both to hear it quite clearly. He put his hand over his stomach, as if that would silence it. "Did you say food?"

He stood listening to the boy rubbing his semi bearded chin deep in thought. "well can't help with the frog thing but i sure know baseball and i know of some where ya can climb as many trees as ya want " he said chuckling thinking back to what he had seen on Khaats farm when he was shown around "as fur fishing ,nothing like throwing out ya line and sitting back to wait" he said now grinning he chuckled hearing the boys stomach growl "yeah I did didn't I " he motioned back to the cafe he had come from "ya fancy the cafe for hot grub or ice cream?" he sked partial to ice cream himself ether woud be find with him "then if its ok with ya we could get those things ya need and ya can show me the alley, kill two bird with one stone kinda thing" he said holding out his hand he spoke again "Names Steven by the way" he introduced himself.

Standing there he caught the smell of fresh backed bread and fresh coffee and his stomach gave aloud growl too "oops" he said chuckling "guess thats what i get fur missing breackfast" he could not help but smile. Some thing about the boy to him felt comfortable and he wanted to help him.

"Andrew," Andrew finally allowed himself to give a little. Shook his hand even. That took a lot. He'd seen his dad do it, but nobody had ever wanted to shake hands with him before. Now how the heck was he gonna let this guy know he didn't know one ounce more about where they were than the big guy did? And was the guy gonna cuff him for, well, he hadn't lied, he just hadn't told the truth. Lying was against the rules. but not telling the truth, well, that was different. He just hadn't admitted he was lost. He hadn't really lied. Still following the rules.

And he sure didn't want to go back where that first big dumb guy had chased him out of. "How about fish and chips?" Andrew suggested, hoping they could find some good pub grub instead. Now, bars were something he knew all about. Friendlier ground, in Andrew's mind. And he might not be able to find anything else, but he did know where the pub was. Had been there. Hoodwinked a drunk there into signing the last of his Hogwarts papers by stealing a glass of firewhiskey from some passed out old sot to give to the drunk in payment to sign the papers. Well, now the old buggar that was passed out didn't need that last drink, now did he? Andrew was just making sure it went to a good cause. That made it more like borrowing. He was getting good at not breaking the rules.

He looked down at him "fish and chips?" he said slowly having never heard of it "is that some sort of english thing?" he asked but then smiled "any way sounds good , ya wanna lead ?" hea sked not even knowing where that would be.

He noticed how the boy hardy spoke except when he needed to and that was rearly a good thing meaning he ahd thigns he though about though Steven could related to that and just smiled at the boy.

Andrew didn't know much else about Diagon Alley, but he had found the Leaky Cauldron. He went inside like it was old home week for him. He knew more about bars than most grownups ever had to know. He found a table far away from the rowdy side of the bar, just not in the mood for all the drunken yelling or the smell, either one, and sat down. "You never had fish and chips? Americans must be weird. How do you ever get any decent food if you don't have fish and chips? I eat a lot of 'em when I'm down at the pubs."