Chapter Text
The morning of August fifteenth was overcast and foggy. It had rained the night before, and everything was damp and dripping with moisture. It looked as if more rain was on the way as well, if the cloudy sky was anything to go by.
Howard shivered as the unseasonably chilly wind blew droplets of water his way. He stood on the front steps of his house, watching the sky. He was waiting for the morning post. His annual Hogwarts letter was due to arrive any day now, but more importantly, so was Vince’s letter. It had been almost three weeks since the last one, and Howard was worried.
Last summer Vince had written almost every day, sometimes twice or more, always with something to talk about. But this summer, Howard had barely received a letter at all. He had a total of six stored away from the smaller boy. Each letter seemed longer than the last, with at least two pages. Like all the rest, the subjects flowed from one thing to the next with no rhyme or reason until finally the point of the letter became clear. They always made Howard smile though, even when Vince complained about having to write so much. At least his spelling had improved slightly.
In the last letter, Vince promised another one soon, and now three weeks later, still nothing. It was due, Howard was certain. Which was why he stood on his front steps watching the drizzle and fog. His attention switched to the field across the lane when he heard voices. Five or six boys had started a game of football in the wet muddy grass. They were the same boys that he had tried to befriend last summer to no avail. He had been laughed off the pitch, called a loser, and a freak.
He watched them for a few minutes until he heard a screech and the flapping of wings. A large brown horned owl was passing overhead, dropping an envelope at his feet. Checking to make sure no one saw the delivery, he bent down and plucked the envelope from the damp pavement. Just then another screech could be heard overhead, only this time the owl came diving down towards him in a flurry of feathers.
It was Lester, his owl. Sometimes he thought Vince might’ve been right, the owl was most likely blind or half blind. He sighed and stepped off the step to help it up. Damp but unharmed, Lester was fine and had the envelope Howard had been waiting for. He let Lester fly off before heading inside with his mail.
“Mum? Hogwarts letter is here!” he called without looking up. He left the Hogwarts letter on the table so he could rip into Vince’s letter.
It started as most of Vince’s letters do.
Hiya Howard!
Everything alright? Sorry I haven’t written in a while . It's been mentil here. The others keep steeling my things. As if I don't know there hiding spots. At least they didn’t steel my wand. I’d curse them if it weren’t against the rules. Wish you were here Howard, you would show them a thing or two I know you would. Tricia says that being one of the oldest kids I shouldn’t start fights. I think there just jellous that I’m a wizard and they ain’t.
Howard frowned as he read over the letter. He knew Vince didn’t get on with his foster siblings. He wasn’t sure how many there were but he had never heard the Ravenclaw talk like this and it worried him slightly. This wasn’t like Vince’s usual letters, usually they drifted from one subject to the next. Either the smaller boy had been distracted and in a hurry, or something was wrong.
The rest of the letter, thankfully, became lighter. There was some stuff about a zoo Vince had visited, new music he had found, sweets he had tried. The stuff that made Howard smile and miss him terribly.
…And I finally got Tricia to sign that purmission slip for that Hogs place you talked about! Promise we can go every weekend? It sounds genius. Oh, Tricia also says I can go to Diagon Alley next weekend, you better be there!
Vince xxxxx
Reading that Vince did in-fact plan on visiting Diagon Alley filled Howard with nervous excitement. Ever since he found out the smaller boy's birthday, he had been racking his brain for the perfect gift. After much intensive thought he had finally hit upon the perfect gift idea, but he would have to wait for the perfect opportunity.
He left the front hall and trudged back to his room. His slippers were damp from being splashed, he toed them off, threw his dressing gown over the bed and sat at his desk to pen a response. He paused in thought, contemplating what he would start with. Might as well start with pressing matters, he thought while picking up his quill and grabbing some spare parchment.
Dear Vince
Don’t let the other kids get to you. You’re better than that. I don’t want to see you expelled because of something like that. Instead of fighting you should try and make friends? You're so good at that any other time….
He always had been. Even when they were bullied, Vince still had more friends than Howard could shake his wand at.
….I know it's hard without much in common but I'm sure you'll figure that out, you're more clever than you know...
Howard hoped that was enough to lift Vince’s spirits on the subject, he didn’t have much to go on after all. He noted his interest in visiting the city zoo, having never visited one before. Asked about the music with enthusiasm, and told Vince about the Hogsmeade sweets shop Howard was excited to visit. It wasn’t much but it was something. At the end he wrote that he would indeed be at Diagon Alley next weekend and that he looked forward to seeing Vince again. After all 13 was an important birthday in some cultures, he’d read, and he was excited to finally gift Vince with something.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
The week came and went and soon Howard and his mother stepped out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron. Like last year she let him go off by himself. Howard wasn’t sure if Vince was there yet, it was so early. The usually crowded alley was mainly empty, a few families were out shopping already, and Howard went unnoticed as he followed the uneven winding path that made up Diagon Alley.
The first thing he did was purchase Vince’s present, he’s used all his own birthday money to do it but he knew it would be worth it. After that it was easy to find Vince sitting outside of the small sweet shop at the end of the street. The smaller boy sat against the wall with a bag open in his lap, people watching as he ate sweet after sweet. He was so consumed with his treats that he didn’t see Howard approach until Howard was right in-front of him.
“Howard!” Vince exclaimed, putting the sweets aside to jump up and throw his skinny arms around Howard’s shoulders. It was a stretch for the smaller boy since Howard had grown at least a foot in the last few months. Howard forced himself not to reel back from the hug, he knew how Vince was and after all they hadn’t seen each other since May. Pulling away, Vince started telling Howard all about his summer. Most of it Howard had read about in their letters but he let him talk, waiting until he could change the subject.
While Vince talked and ate more sweets Howard gave him a once over. He might’ve grown a foot or two but so had Vince, at least it looked like he had. He was still too skinny, all sharp angles and interesting features. Dirty blonde hair, and large blue eyes that were focused solely on Howard. He was wearing jeans that looked like they belonged to a girl, one of his band t-shirts and a jacket that looked two sizes too big on him. His trainers were scuffed and drawn on, happy faces smiled up at Howard.
Finally Vince noticed that Howard was holding something behind his back as he talked.
“Hey Howard, what's behind your back?”
Howard smiled, he was willing to let Vince talk forever, it was clear the smaller boy needed it. It made him wonder how much positive attention he got at home. “This Vince, is your birthday present.”
“Birthday? But Howard I...I nev-” his words cut off as Howard revealed a medium sized bird cage which housed a beautiful tan and white barn owl. His mouth dropped and he stared at the owl. “Is...is that for me?”
“Uh yeah, since you don’t have one and have been asking for one I thought it would be a good idea, because we can’t share Lester. I do think he might actually be blind.”
Vince laughed. “You got me an owl!?”
“Yes!” Howard replied offering Vince the cage. Vince took it and held it up to his face, the owl’s large black eyes gazed back at him for a moment before it blinked slowly and closed them again, seemingly bored about the whole thing. Vince beamed.
“He’s amazing! It is a boy, right?”
“Think so, that’s what the witch at the shop said. It’s a barn owl.”
“It’s the best gift anyone’s ever given me, Howard! Even better than that cassette player from last Christmas. But how did you know my birthday?”
“I asked your foster mom at the end of term in May when I met her on the platform. If we’re going to be best friends I need to know.”
“I should’ve told you,” Vince said with a shrug before looking back at the owl. “He’s so cool!”
“What are you gonna name him?”
Vince took a long moment to mull this over before he grinned. “Bowie! He looks just like the owl from Labyrinth ! Which I have got to show you! It’s amazing!”
Howard had no idea what any of that was but he nodded in agreement anyway. “Have you bought your school supplies yet?” he asked, knowing the answer would be no.
“Ah no, but it's all just books Howard, that's boring.”
“So you got sweets instead?”
“Yeah! Look,” Vince said, putting the cage down and grabbing the bag and pulling out a handful. “These make your tongue change color every second! They’re genius!”, he stated, showing Howard his tongue that slowly changed from yellow to green.
“Charming,” Howard grimaced. Vince laughed and went back to digging through his bag of sweets. “Come on, let's do the books first and then potions”
Complaining the whole way, Vince followed Howard from shop to shop. Howard made sure they both got everything they needed for the school year ahead of them. They even stopped back into Eeylops Owl Emporium to buy some more owl treats and things for Bowie and Lester. It was nearing 4 by the time they finished and Howard was due back at the Leaky Cauldron to meet up with his mother.
“Do you want to come with me?” Howard asked Vince as they sat outside of Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor. Vince had a perfect mountain of mint chocolate chip ice cream in front of him. Three large scoops piled high on the cone. Howard had a modest scoop of vanilla slowly melting on his fingers. At their feet, packages and bags sat crowded around. Bowie sat in his cage on the third chair, cooing softly and watching Vince eat his ice cream.
Vince looked up from his ice cream with a surprised but pleased look. “You mean home with you and your mum? To Leeds?”
“Yeah? Why not?”
“What about my school things?”
“Oh yeah,” Howard said with disappointment in his tone. “Forgot about that.”
“Well hold on, I could run back home and grab it all? Meet you back here before you’ve got to leave?” Vince suggested excitedly.
Howard thought about this for a moment until he realized something. “I could come with you? Help you collect it all and carry it here?” He hoped that Vince would say yes. Howard was desperately curious about the smaller boy's home life. Plus getting to see Muggle London with Vince was also something he thought might be interesting. He could see Vince thinking hard about the suggestion. “Your foster parents wouldn’t mind, would they? After all, I did meet them at the beginning of the summer. Plus you really don’t want to carry your trunk all the way back here right?”
“No I guess not,” Vince concedes after a moment, still looking concerned. “Your mum and dad won't mind?” he asked as Howard finished off his ice cream. He took a few bites of the cone and tossed the remainder into the bin next to them. Then he grabbed a napkin from the stack on the table that had gone untouched by Vince and tried his best to clean his hands.
“Course I’m sure, you know they love you.” he said, knowing that it was true. He sometimes wondered if they liked Vince more. “We’ll drop this stuff off at the Leaky Cauldron with my mum and then we can go get your stuff, okay?.” He really did want Vince to come home with them for the remainder of the summer but more than that, he needed to see his home, his room, meet his foster siblings. Maybe hex a few of them. He knew he couldn’t, but just the idea that he could if he really wanted was enough to satisfy him.
Vince finally relented with a smile and a soft ‘yeah alright’
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Asking his mother about their idea had gone about the way Howard thought it would. On one hand she was perfectly happy to have Vince stay with them, but she wasn’t so sure about letting two 13 year old wizards wander the streets of London. Vince assured her, in his own unique way, that he was used to it and knew a bunch of short cuts, they would be fine.
“Alright, but if there's any trouble, just stick out your hand for the Knight bus”
“Yeah, mum.” Howard agreed as they left the Leaky Cauldron for the bright unfamiliar London. “Where to, Vince?”
“To the record store.” Vince answered as he took a left.
“Whoa there! What do you mean the record store? We’re meant to go to your home for your things.”
“We will, but come on Howard. It’s your first time alone in muggle London, you can’t tell me that you aren’t curious.” Vince said as he turned and fixed Howard with a knowing smirk.
“Of course I’m curious, but if we take too long mum will be worried.”
“It’ll be fine Moon, come on,” Howard hesitated “Come on!” Vince urged again, clapping his hands together as if calling for a stubborn dog. Howard sighed and jogged after his friend.
They walked maybe three streets before Vince stopped and turned right down a small side street. At the end of that street he stopped at the front doors to a record store. The outside was nondescript, with large glass windows with many pictures and posters plastered over it. Howard noted that none of them were moving and even though he knew muggle pictures didn’t move he still found it odd. It made him feel uncomfortably out of depth.
Vince was already entering the store without a backward glance. Howard followed after him, the bell above the door jingled merrily as he entered. The shop had rows and rows of records all stacked together in alphabetical order, and by genre. Vince was slowly making his way down an aisle labeled Pop. Howard stood just within the area of the front door, unsure if he should follow or not.
"Hey mate, you need help finding something?" The muggle at the front counter asked. He was Irish and skinny with long curly hair that hung down to his shoulders. He was clean shaven and his t-shirt said Mavis Staples. He looked nice enough but Howard edged away from him anyway.
"Uh eh no thank you."
"Howard's never been in a record store Andy" Vince stated as he bent over a row of records to look through them.
"That's crazy mate. What music do you like?" Andy asked with an amused smile.
"Jazz." Howard answered seriously. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate other genres, but jazz had been playing around his house since before he could remember. His mother was a fan and taught him all the great artists both muggle and magical. He could remember afternoons in the living room listening intently to the wizard’s wireless for hours.
“Well, lucky for you we’ve got a full section choke full of every jazz artist you can think of.” Andy told him gesturing to the far side of the shop. On the wall in funky letters it said “jazz”.
For a moment Howard wasn’t sure if he should but the amused and slightly proud look on the muggle’s face ultimately assured him it was fine. So Howard smiled shyly, thanked him and made his way quickly to the back of the store. He breezed past Vince who he saw out of the corner of his eye was smiling in that same prideful way. Of course once he got to rows and rows he was suddenly overwhelmed. A few names were familiar but he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. He finally decided to just browse through them.
He must have gotten lost in the thrill of the search because a few minutes later Vince was at his side, three albums tucked under his arm still looking amused.
“Find anythin’?” he asked.
Howard didn’t answer for a moment before shrugging and plucking a random album from the row in-front of him. “Yup.” he answered with a smile. He didn’t much care what the album was, just the knowledge that he could buy his own records was a novel experience. He was now glad Vince had taken him to the shop.
“Great! Let’s buy them and then we can go to my place to get my stuff.” He said leading Howard back to the front counter. Andy was watching them with a smirk.
“How did we make out?” he asked, putting down his magazine.
“Pretty good since we’re out of time.” Vince said putting his albums on the counter for Andy to ring out. As Howard watched he realized he didn’t have any muggle money on him.
“Vince,” he whispered, tugging on the boys jacket, “I’ve no mug...um, I’ve no money.”
“It’s okay Howard, I’ll get them.” Vince responded, pulling colored pieces of paper from his pocket. Howard hadn’t ever needed to know muggle money, but Vince seemed to know what he was doing. Howard remembered back in first year, how long it took him to make Vince understand wizarding money. Vince handed Andy the amount and then all four albums were being bagged and handed back to them. “Cheers Andy.”
“Come back any time kid, both of you.”
“Eh, Howard lives in Leeds, he’s just uh….visiting for the week.”
“Ah, well either way come back when you can, hey?” he said with a welcoming smile. Howard finally smiled back at him, genuinely this time.
“We’ll try,” he said with a nod as they left.
Once back on the street, Howard paused to inspect their purchases. He didn’t know the albums that Vince had bought but he was sure he would hear about it soon.
“Where to, Vince?”
“See the thing is Howard, we need to catch a bus. It’s in another suburb”
“I thought you said it was close by!”
“It is, by bus.” Vince said, looking sheepish but still amused.
Howard rolled his eyes, “Lead the way then.” He knew it would take longer than they said it would. “How are we meant to drag your trunk onto a bus?”
“I do it all the time when I go to Kings Cross, besides Naboo taught me a spell last year.” Vince said, his amused grin turning cocky. Howard had no idea how anyone -let alone Vince, a 13 year old wizard- managed to look like that. Every time Howard tried, and he had, it just looked stupid.
“You can’t do magic outside of Hogwarts, Vince.” Howard informed him in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Then what good is having magic, then?” the other boy asked as they walked down the pavement a little way.
“When we’re older and of age then you can use it to your heart’s content, but until then we’re much too uneducated for every day spell use.”
“Ugh, you sound like McGonagall, don’t do that.”
“Sorry Vince. Wait, you think so? Maybe I should become a teacher one day?”
“What happened to us being Aurors together?” Vince asked as they came to a bench with a sign that said bus stop. There were a few people milling about waiting for the bus as well.
“We’re only 13, we could be anything we wanted. Besides, you need good grades to be an Auror.” Howard teased.
“I do get good grades.”
“Only Merlin knows how.”
He could see the large city bus ambling along down the road, headed straight for the stop. Howard tensed, he’d never been on a muggle bus. He hadn’t even been on the Knight Bus before. He wasn’t sure of the proper procedures. It made him anxious. It stopped beside them and opened its doors. Vince tugged Howard along as he climbed the stairs and then handed the driver two coins.
“Cheers.” Vince said. Then he tugged Howard down the center aisle of the bus before claiming a seat at the back.
“Alright two things,” Howard started watching as more muggles boarded the bus. “One, where did you get so much muggle money? And two, you have to teach me how it works.” He wasn’t proud of asking Vince to teach him, He could probably figure it out on his own, but 10 blocks was 10 blocks and they had the time.
Vince laughed and relaxed back in the seat as he crossed his arms, that cocky grin was back. “Now look who don’t know nothing
“Just teach me alright?”
“Yeah, alright,” he said, pulling out some more notes and a few coins from his pocket. “To answer your first question, this is what's left over from the money Tirica gave me for my school things.” he explained sorting through the money.
The rest of the ride consisted of Vince teaching Howard all he knew about muggle money. By the time they arrived at the stop, Howard felt he had a good handle on it. Even if he felt like it was complicated and a little silly, muggles were just like that sometimes.
The subject of bus rides and muggle money was forgotten as they stepped off the bus. Howard looked about the area. It all looked the same to him.
“Where to now?”
“Just around the corner,” Vince answered, “And Howard, when we get there, try to be cool yeah? Don’t say nuttin’ to anyone and don’t try to tell any stupid stories? We’re just getting my things, yeah?”
Howard could tell that if he refused Vince would only argue back so he simply nodded and gestured down the street. They still had another bus ride and a short walk back to the Leaky Cauldron. “Duly noted.”
Vince nodded and led them down the street and around the corner. The house they stopped at was four stories, painted a lovely beige, and had a iron fence gate separating the steps from the pavement.
“Whoa, this is where you live?”
“This is where they stuck me.” Vince answered as he opened the gate and went to the door, produced a key and let them in.
“But your foster parents, they own this whole house?”
“Yeah.” Vince shrugged. Howard followed him in.
The front entryway smelled musty and damp. To one side was a staircase, and along the other wall a dozen or so trainers littered the floor. Most of them were dirty and crusted with mud. There were sports balls Howard had no name to, other than the black and white football that sat at the bottom of the stairs. A few umbrellas lay forgotten, scattered on the linoleum. A scratched red bicycle sat against a door at the end of the hall. Coats of every size and color were thrown against the wall.
Vince kicked the football away gently, it bounced against a rickety table that held a pea green muggle device that Howard couldn’t name.
“Come on then Howard, we’ll go to my room and hopefully not run into anyone.” Vince said as he climbed the stairs. Howard followed, suddenly feeling nervous. What if they ran into one of the other foster kids? He supposed they all knew about Hogwarts right?
“Um, Vince the other kids? They know that you're a wizard right?”
“Eh no, Tricia and Ray haven’t told them. They just think I go to this super fancy far away boarding school all year, which I guess I do?” They’d entered a nicely decorated living room, it was empty but Howard could hear yelling and footsteps above them. Vince continued on up the next set of stairs until they arrived at a new landing. Two boys were watching them from inside a doorway down the hall, they looked to be about 10.
“Wotcher Vince, who's your friend?” asked one of the boys.
“None of your business, just came to get my things. Tricia and Ray ain’t home are they?”
“Nah, they’ve been gone for hours.” the other said, eyeing them both curiously. “Thought you went to get some of those fancy boarding school fings?”
“I did but now I’m leaving with Howard to go to his house for the rest of the summer.” Vince explained as he led Howard past the two boys and to the end of the hall. There were only 4 doors in total, and they’d stopped at the last one. The two boys were still watching them as they entered the bedroom.
The first thing Howard noticed was how small and messy it was. There were two beds so he assumed that Vince shared with someone. Which explained the lack of magical items. The only thing that looked familiar was Vince’s trunk and his Ravenclaw scarf, hung at the end of his bed. The rest of the mess was devoted to posters of muggle musicians, magazine clippings, and clothing...lots and lots of clothing.
“Vince, it’s a mess in here. How are we supposed to get your things packed like this?” Howard asked, stepping over the piles as if they would explode.
“What do you mean?” Vince replied, already picking up random pieces of clothing and throwing them into the empty trunk.
“Don’t you wash and fold anything?”
“It all gets done at Hogwarts once I’m there anyway.”
Howard couldn’t argue with that, after all that's what the house elves were for. Still, he wasn’t happy with Vince’s laziness. He didn’t respond, he simply started gathering Vince’s things together. After a few minutes everything was in the trunk. And then, after another few minutes they had everything they needed. It all sat in a big pile in the middle of the room.
Vince fiddled with his wand. “You sure I can’t use a spell? It’ll make things easier.”
“Sure, if you want to be expelled.” Howard replied dryly.
Vince sighed, “Fine.”
There were four cases in all, and since Howard was the tallest, he lugged the trunk and second heaviest case down the stairs while Vince followed behind with the last two cases. By the time they got back down the entry hallway, they were both out of breath and sweating.
“Vincent? Is that you?” said a female voice from the end of the hallway. There was an older lady there cleaning up the mess on the floor.
"Yes Mrs. Pelham, can you tell everyone that I’ve left for Hogwarts?”
“Hogwarts? That isn’t till September.”
“I’m stayin’ with Howard until then.”
Mrs. Pelham smiled at them, “So this is your friend I’ve heard so much about.”
Howard could see that Vince actually flushed pink at the comment.
“Hello, I’m Howard Moon.” Howard greeted politely the way he was taught. Mrs. Pelham’s smile widened and she nodded back.
“You take care of Vincent there, alright Mr. Moon?” Mrs. Pelham instructed. Howard frowned in confusion but nodded all the same. “Good,” she said, nodding in satisfaction. “Send me a letter when you get to Hogwarts, is that clear Vincent?”
“Yes Mrs. Pelham, can we go now? We’re meant to meet Howard’s mum back at the Leaky Cauldron.”
“Yes alright, off with you, be careful.”
They both acknowledged her orders and left the house with Vince’s things. Once out on the pavement they made their way back to the bus stop.
“Vince, how come she knows about Hogwarts? And me?”
“Mrs. Pelham is a Squib?” Vince asked, obviously not entirely sure what that meant. He’d been informed by Mrs. Pelham herself when he started Hogwarts. And it was nice to have someone to talk to about that hidden world, but he still wasn’t all that sure what it meant. She wouldn’t elaborate.
“Oh well a Squib is uh…,” Howardn’t wasn’t entirely sure how to explain it either. “It’s when a witch has a baby and they turn out to NOT have any magical abilities? Kind of the opposite of a muggleborn?”
“Oh, that’s sorta sad innit?” Vince said as they lugged his things down the street. It was a relief to find the bus stop empty so they could take a seat on the bench to wait.
“I suppose,” Howard responded looking up and down the street, wondering how long they would have to wait for the bus. “They’re kind of looked down on in the wizarding world though, and are kind of rare.”
“Wot, why? They’ve done nothing wrong.” Vince started, looking worried and upset.
“Don’t know really.”
“Ya know, for people who are all magical and stuff, wizards are pretty horrible to each other.”
Howard could only nod as the bus pulled up to the stop.