The Cracked Twilight

He folowed the young boy down to a local pub , he noticed the boy new it well he never aproved of children in pubs but was glad in away he did know it , it was one more place he knew about. Walking in he saw the place was almost full and a pack of roudy men sat in the corner. He moved with Andrew to a table far from the men "nope we have steaks and chilly, burgers, fries a lot of other things but not fish and chips" he said his eyes watching teh en his ranger and auror Instincts kiking in as he didn't want any harm to come to him.

A young watiress walked over to them and he placed his order. "two plates of fish and chips, a milk shake in what ever flavor the boy wants and i'll have a coffee franch roast" he said smiling to Andrew "I did promise ya ameal might as well make it a good one"

A milkshake? Andrew thought. He'd never had one of those. He'd seen others drink them once in awhile, but his father just bought him beer with the other men. Or one of the other men his dad drank with would force him to drink firewhiskey just to see Andrew look stupid. Andrew didn't like firewhiskey. It tasted nasty, and it made him stupid. Made people make fun of him when they made him drink it. And he didn't want to be the source of anybody's entertainment anymore.

He wasn't sure about this guy. Steven. Nobody had ever bought him a milkshake. What exactly did this guy want from him? Nobody ever did anything just to be nice. Andrew decided he didn't want to think about it. "So--how far is New York? Is it near here? Or Texas?"

he looked at the waitress "what ever ya got , nope its far far away from her across a whole ocean " he said taking the napkin and a pen from his pocket he drew i kind of map placing a star on each plasce "here, there is england and way over there is america" he placed his pen on a second spot ," this is where i'm from" he said hoping he'd understand beter now.

The waitress returned with there order and placed his coffee in front of him and a banana milkshake in front of Andrew. "ah fries, those i know" he took his fork and touched a long batterd thing that lay on his plate. "fish?" he said sightly suprised but he cut it and ate it any way "its good" he said as he felt the batter crunch and the soft fleash of the fish inside "I could get use to this" he said with smile, his head snapped to one side as a loud roar erupted from the men on the other side of the room.

Andrew tucked into his fish and chips and a big slurp of the milkshake. He liked its sugary goodness. Better than beer. Way better. He barely noticed when the men roared across the room. As long as it didn't require him to duck under the table to avoid being hit by some flying bottle or something, he was good with it. "You gotta get used to that, Dude," he sighed, half reprimanding this big guy that seemed a little jumpy to Andrew. He picked up the malt vinegar and poured it over his fish and chips and then picked up his fish with his fingers and crunched away on it. "That's just the way it is in a pub. Its no big thing." He ate the fish thoughtfully for a moment and said, "I've never had a milkshake before. My dad just buys me a beer when he gets his."

He sighed and looked back at the boy "yeah guess i should , kinda been out of it for a while" he frowned when he said that his father bought him beer "what, ya not old enouph to drink that, don't he know that" he said now wishing he could meet Andrews dad so he could thump him for giving such a young boy beer, " ya should be drinking soda and milkshakes eating sweets and like ya said climbing trees fishin" the annoyance clear on his face now "not drinkin beer "he shook his head "if i come acroos ya dad god help him" he said frowning "I would never think of givin ma son beer, ever , not till he was old enouph, dose he know its against the law?"

He calmed down as he fished his fish and sat back to drink his coffee that too helping to calm him he looked at Andrew slightly glad he was in hogworts now and not with his father.

"Yeah, well, he wasn't..isnt worth much. Like I said. Never was. Useless old sot," he said quietly, picking up a chip. "Good riddance, that's what I say. Never did much for me. That's why I'm on my own.. I take care of myself. I do a good job too. People don't mess with me much. I make my own rules and do it all by myself. I don't need him. I don't need anybody."

He took another slurp of the banana milkshake. He dug out his Hogwarts letter and handed it to Steven. "This is the junk they say I have to have. What is all this stuff? I never needed it before. Why do I need it now? I'm never gonna use it. Heck, don't even rightly know where to find it all."

Steven ealised from his words his father was no longer around "good riddens" he thought he listened to the boy talk "some rules are made to protect ya like the one about no beer till ya 18, some yeah i'll agree are rediculus but they're there to help ya, I knda know what ya mean , back when i was a ranger I kinda did the same thing, broke some rules but i got results, never the less they were there to protect the likes of you " he saw the letter and smiled as he took it "ya need to read and write and to control those skills ya have"he looked down at the letter and the list "Humm i think i passed some where that sold this stuff , up yonder way" he said "theres no rush ya finish and we'll take a wonder back" he handed Andrew his letter "ya gonna need this when ya sorted" he smiled "yeah i went to this school, long time ago mind you"

"My dad never sent me to school. It wasn't important...Well, til now, that is. Til I got my letter, "he corrected himself. Andrew felt like that letter had been his ticket out of Hell. He hadn't cared what he'd had to do to get those permissions signed. He just had wanted out. His dad probably would have signed them all, had he lived long enough, Andrew knew. He knew he could get him drunk enough that he'd have signed anything and not have one bloodly clue about what he had signed. Would not remember it in his rare sober moments. Would not have cared.

He looked back at the map Steven had drawn. It was a long way to get from England to New York. A lot longer than he'd thought. If he was going to ever go there, that would take a lot more planning than just getting to London. Well, now that was a frustrating proposition. And this time, though, they couldnt tell him he couldn't have a frog. Well, for now, though, the fish was good, and the milkshake was better. Maybe he'd think about New York another day.

"I don't think all that junk is going to fit in my pack," he sighed.

Steve looked down at the hodge podge back pack "nope, its not, looks like ya gonna need a new one" he said and smiled "but for now i would be happy to carry ya things for ya " he said now thinking to say thanks for showing him around and keeping him company he'd by a new back pack one he would be proud of, for him to start school with. with his mind made uphe just smiled as he sipped his coffee.

Finishing his coffee he paid for the food and slipped on his jacket again "ya ready, i got all day, but was thinking we could have ice cream later, if we get done quick enouph" he said grinning , "now i hate to eat ice cream alone" It wasn't that he hate to eat alone but he wnted to give the boy a chance to sample what a boy of his age should be eating and doing.

"I'm full anyway," Andrew said, making sure to get the last little sip of his milkshake. He got up and hoisted his backpack over his shoulder, possessively. He felt like he'd left his old world behind and that this was all he owned now. Well, he supposed he could go back if he had to, but he wasn't choosing to. And he needed to know nobody had that little bit of stuff he had left. Besides, he had some really cool stuff.

He led the way out of the pub, and as they were leaving, a small bar fight broke out over in the corner, and one man slugged another with a right hook to the jaw that sent the second man sailing across the room, onto the floor and sliding across Andrew's path.

Completely unphased, Andrew merely stepped over him and out again into the sunshine.