"If you dare walk out that door, don't you ever co back! I don't have any legal adoption papers for you anyway!" Vernon Dursley dropped the TV remote and shouted at the thin figure standing in the hallway.
Kane Heath stood by the entrance. After finishing putting on his shoes, he turned to look at Vernon and Petunia Dursley, who was busy in the kitchen.
"In any case, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, I am grateful that the two of you provided with a place to stay for this past month without asking for anything in return. Please rest assured, I won't be coming back. When Harry and Dudley return later, please say goodbye to them for ."
After speaking, Kane pushed open the door and left the Dursley house, stepping onto the sidewalk of Privet Drive.
In the afternoon streetscape, the shadows slowly coalesced into a tall, elegant man that only Kane could see.
The man raised an eyebrow and said, "Kane, you don't look very well right now."
"If it weren't for you, Maxwell, I wouldn't be doing this poorly. Do you have sothing to say?" Kane glanced at the man only he could see—the King of the Constant, hailing from that world of famine.
"Of course I do," Maxwell said. "Find sothing to eat before dark."
"Thanks. I'll just rummage through the trash cans alone at night," Kane said gloomily.
"What I an is, you're only eleven years old. Can't you find a more dignified way to live?" Maxwell replied, his tone equally dark.
"If you're trying to convince to accept the shadows of the Constant and let them haunt , please keep your mouth shut. I worked hard to escape that place," Kane said coldly.
"Ah," Maxwell sighed. "Kane, oh Kane. You are so naive. From the mont you stepped into the Constant, you were marked by them. It doesn't matter if you escaped.
The only reason you haven't seen them is because I've been blocking them for you. But now, I think it's ti for you to take that step yourself."
Kane looked up at Maxwell. "So?"
"The advice remains the sa: find sothing to eat before dark." As Maxwell spoke, he reached into the shadow beneath Kane's feet and pulled out a shadow shaped like a lock, smiling.
In an instant, Kane felt as if he had been reconnected to sothing terrifying. The shadows that had been suppressed erupted from within him, flooding into his own shadow before he quickly forced them back under control.
"It's ti to embrace our true nature, Kane. Farewell." With a bang, Maxwell vanished.
Kane turned around and looked at his shadow, which was beginning to claw and writhe. He frowned and clicked his tongue. "Behave yourself!"
The shadow shuddered and imdiately beca submissive.
At dusk, Harry and Dudley walked into the Dursley ho. Dudley headed straight for the kitchen, ransacking the fridge before finally pulling out a bottle of cold cola and chugging it.
Harry, anwhile, carefully brushed the dust off his clothes. He grabbed the mop from his bedroom under the stairs and wiped away the footprints Dudley had left on the floor.
After finishing, he cautiously poured himself a glass of water, drinking as quietly as possible, and began searching the ground floor for a certain figure.
Unfortunately, he couldn't find him.
"Uncle Vernon, where is Kane?" Harry asked slowly but firmly, walking up to Vernon Dursley, who was reading the newspaper.
"Ran away," Vernon said, flipping a page.
Harry frowned. "You kicked him out? Why?"
Vernon angrily crumpled the newspaper and threw it into the fireplace. "I didn't take you two in just to be questioned. I didn't kick Kane Heath out; he chose to leave on his own."
Harry dropped his timid act. "So you just let him leave? He has no money, he hasn't had dinner, and you aren't going to look for him!"
"We never adopted him anyway," Vernon snorted, picking up the remote to watch TV.
Dudley ca charging over then, hitting Harry with the force of a locomotive and nearly knocking him into the fireplace.
"Isn't it good that Kane's gone? Our house isn't an orphanage." Dudley sat in his father's lap; the poor sofa groaned under a weight its designers had never anticipated.
Petunia ca downstairs just then and stood by the staircase. "No need to worry about him. Mrs. Figg said he's over on Plum Cross Street performing magic tricks. He'll co back when his stomach starts growling."
Vernon snorted again. "Hmph. He lived here for over a month and never perford a single trick for us. What an ungrateful brat."
Hearing that Kane was at Plum Cross Street, Harry didn't say another word and headed for the door to put on his shoes. Seeing this, Vernon felt his authority being challenged. "If you dare go out today, don't you co back either!"
Harry didn't back down an inch. "I'm not like Kane. You are my legal guardians. If you don't co looking for , the police will co looking for you!" With that, Harry bolted out the door, leaving Vernon Dursley fuming in impotent rage on the sofa.
Soon, Harry reached Plum Cross Street and saw Kane standing on the corner, surrounded by several young girls.
Kane was standing on his tiptoes, placing a pitch-black hat onto the head of one of the girls. He then lifted the hat; as it rose, the girl's loose hair was swept up by the motion.
Miraculously, her hair had been styled into a youthful, cute bun held by a hairpin.
The girl's friends gasped in amazent. The girl herself pulled out a mirror, looked at her new hairstyle, and in her excitent, hugged Kane and planted a kiss on his cheek. She then took a ten-pound note from her purse and dropped it into Kane's hat.
"Thank you, my elegant little magician," she said, stepping back slightly to let her friends have a turn.
Just as another girl excitedly crouched down in front of Kane, he spotted Harry Potter standing nearby. He looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, but I think special magic should only be given to special people, don't you?"
"I think you just think Emily is prettier than us, which is why you only did it for her. But we've been waiting here so long, you owe us a consolation prize," the girl crouching before him said, resting her chin on her hand with a playful pout.
Kane looked at the approaching Harry and sighed. "Of course, there's a consolation."
Kane extended a hand, the back of it facing the light of a nearby streetlamp while the shadows in his palm twisted slowly.
With a swift flick of his wrist, three jet-black roses appeared in his hand. He gave one to each of the three girls, then pulled his hat low and imdiately walked away toward the unlit areas of the street.
"Hmm, what a cute little guy. Is it just , or does it feel like he's avoiding us?" Emily asked, holding her black rose.
"No, he's avoiding !" Harry's voice ca from behind them as he sprinted past the three girls.
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