AN: I got the sequel written! I hope it is as much liked as Chance Meeting. I'll also take the time to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed Chance Meeting. I really appreciate it. This one will be a twoshot, mostly because I decided this was going to be too big for one chapter. This part covers what's changed, the next part will cover Harry's promise.

It would forever amaze Harry how such a simple thing could change someone's entire world. He never would have thought that a few kind words from him could have altered the course of another person's entire life, but Kevin was progressing with leaps and bounds.

It hadn't even been a full sixth months since that day Harry first sat down with the shy, timid Ravenclaw boy and yet the person he was now was close to unrecognisable. For nearly five full years, the guy had been a wall shadow, quiet, intimidated by the very nature of his own House and everyone around him, horribly doubting his own worth. Too much so to even try to draw proper friendships from anyone.

But now, there he was, talking animatedly with the Boy Who Lived himself as they walked towards their Transfiguration class, Harry's arm comfortably draped over his shoulder. Harry didn't seem to be taking much in, but Kevin didn't care, he was bouncing randomly around five different topics anyway. He'd taken to excited babbling lately. Half the time even he wasn't sure what was going to come out of his mouth next, but Harry didn't usually seem to mind. Kevin was even happy to notice that Harry retained a lot what he said, though the bespectacled boy never realised it until much later. It was funny really, someone would be in the middle of a discussion or ask him a question and he'd blurt out the answer before staring stunned at whatever was in front of him.

"And just like that, the internet became huge." Kevin finished, beaming brightly at his overwhelmed best friend, not entirely sure how he got on that topic, but just going with it. "If only the Wizarding World would develop something like that. Could you imagine how easy life would be if the entire world's supply of libraries and media sources could all be accessed from one place? You could learn absolutely anything in moments! And emails go instantly to anywhere in the world, as opposed to waiting possibly days just to get a hello with owl mail."

"Oh yeah, absolutely brilliant! If you gave Hermione something like that, we'd never see her again." Ron grunted, rolling his eyes and earning a wack to the back of the head, courtesy of the aforementioned Granger.

"I think it's a brilliant idea and that the idiots holding back progress are denying us all a lot of advantages." Hermione retorted, glaring at the redhead before turning a bright grin to Kevin. "I agree, that would make it so much easier for everyone to learn and communicate. It could so easily be incorporated into and assist with the Wizarding World's culture."

"Exactly! Too bad our boys thought of it first though. Now the 'traditional Pureblood' families won't allow it's 'Muggle influenced'." Kevin drawled, rolling his eyes. "I really don't get it. If a wizard or witch came up with them, the idiots would have declared it a remarkable invention and bragged about its greatness, but if a Muggle invents it, no, it's a lowly, disgusting thing that not only will they have nothing to do with, but they will make it their business to ensure no one else does either! Here's a thought, the first clothes were the pelts of animals worn for warmth in the winter by cavemen, back before any pre-evolved human could use magic. So, by their logic, should we boycott clothes and run around naked all day? They are a Muggle invention after all."

"They'll just claim that there were magical Neanderthals or that their bloodlines existed and invented clothes before the cavemen did." Harry responded, tugging his own clothes a little tighter around his body. He guessed Harry didn't like the idea of losing them.

"Or bring up how the different designs were the wizards' idea and declare that enough." Hermione agreed. "Or something equally preposterous. As they would with half of everything else we use."

"Well who's to say they're always lying?" Ron retorted grumpily. "I mean, wizards did invent a lot of things themselves too you know! And you never know what was first made by a wizard or Muggle, no one alive was there when it was first made."

"True, but that's not the point." Kevin sighed exasperatedly. "The point is that shouldn't matter who created it. If it's useful, convenient and not dangerous, why toss the idea aside? An idea is an idea, plain and simple."

"I couldn't agree more." Harry nodded before either of the others could respond, right as they reached their classroom. "People are people, ideas are ideas. I'm sure that we agree on that, right?" Well, neither Ron, nor Hermione could argue with that, ending the topic, which was probably for the best. Ron was far from a prejudice pureblood, but he still had wizard family pride and it seemed that they might have set it off with a non-intentional suggestion that Muggle ideas were better than wizard ones. Then again, Ron might have just been moody and taking what he could to complain about, Kevin could never tell, no matter how much time they ended up spending together.

Entering the classroom, he walked right passed the back rows, happily letting Harry's arm guide him to the front row desks, where Hermione liked to sit, a major change from most of his school history and one that a number of people took a visible point of noticing, especially teachers. Back when their friendship was still new, Kevin had struggled against his flight instinct when Harry first guided him away from the shadows of the back, only managing to stay in the spotlight others were placing on him when he was sitting with Harry close on his left and his football mate, Dean, sitting on his right on Harry's request, one that Dean was happy to oblige and Kevin was extremely grateful for. He felt safer surrounded by people he trusted and unlike the short Potter, Dean was tall, all the better to hide behind. Even then, he'd always been resistant to it, fidgety and sunk into his seat. Now however, he was quite happy to stride right in. He even took on Hermione for the teacher's attention whenever the class was asked a question, further shocking the class and pleasantly surprising the teachers. It was always good to see their more timid, quiet students gaining confidence. And the only thing that made him feel good even more than hearing the teacher tell the class he was correct with every answer he supplied was the proud smiles Harry sent his way each time made an attempt.

...

It wasn't only in the classroom that Harry had made Kevin's life better. Not by a long shot.

It wasn't long after Harry and Kevin had set up their deal that Hermione and Ron started joining them in the library. When Hermione discovered that Harry had gotten a perfect score on his history essay without any of her help and, far more shockingly, actually retained the knowledge in his head, she immediately had to meet the miracle worker responsible. And of course, since both his friends were going, Ron had to meet him too.

At first that had freaked Kevin out a fair bit again, not really knowing how to handle the more dominating personalities of Harry's friends, but with Harry's help and reassurances, he adjusted quickly enough.

Once he got over and adjusted to just how intense Hermione could be, the two of them loved each other. Hermione was like the older sister he never had. A bit bossy at times, and loved to debate over far too many subjects, but she was quick to encourage and reassure him about everything from studying to socialising. The pair of them had found plenty of common interests in the books they clung to, be they fact, fiction, magical or Muggle, and she had offered to help him with his new dream of publishing the mixed human histories the moment she heard of it. He in turn, was a breath of fresh air to the witch, someone who thought a lot more like her. She went to him whenever Harry and Ron were carrying on about flying and Quidditch. He was more than capable of holding a number of conversations and debates with her that would send the other boys' heads spinning or dozing within moments. It was always a lot of fun for her. And he was the only one she'd concede to being wrong to, something Harry had taken advantage of more than once.

Ron on the other hand, wasn't so easy. He had a tendency to be a bit to gruff, moody and prone to jumping to wild conclusions. Also, he had no tolerance for almost any of Kevin's passions, so there just wasn't much connecting ground between them. They tried to be friendly enough, but everyone could see that they would never be too close. Still, they did enjoy playing chess together. Kevin was the most challenging opponent Ron had had in years.

Kevin would always gravitate most strongly to Harry of course, the Wizarding World's saviour was also his personal one, reaching out to him and forever being there to help him, but with the other two opening their lives up to him too, Kevin's days were definitely far more cheerful. And it didn't take long for his confidence to grow with other people.

As he promised, Kevin strived to teach Harry every football trick he knew, though Harry was proving to be a difficult student in that particular topic. Kevin didn't mind though, it just meant that they'd spend more time having fun out on the fields together. Harry may have been slow to progress, but he never got too overly frustrated with it and his hilarious screw ups were often joked about between them for weeks afterward. It was during one of these practices that Dean's attention was peaked.

Though originally, Harry was hoping that he could learn in secret and show Dean up, he had no problem with letting the African boy join them, especially when he noticed his roommate's surprised grin as Kevin happily greeted him. Even he could notice that Dean wasn't used to such an enthusiastic Kevin and everyone was keen to keep it going.

The result was a lot of playful banter, teasing at everyone's expense and a lot of laughs that only ended when Harry tripped over the ball and needed to visit the Hospital Wing to fix his broken nose. After that, Dean joined every one of their practices, often bringing the mischievous Seamus for two on two games. Kevin had to admit, Seamus was a fun guy to be around. You know, once you got used to his sense of humour. There were a few jokes that had Kevin blushing for days. It was good having Harry and Dean there to remind him when to stop though. Kevin could only take so much of him at a time.

He was actually most proud of his newly formed friendship with Neville. Unlike the others, Harry wasn't right beside him, encouraging him as someone approached. In fact, no one was and he wasn't approached. It was at the end of fifth year. Most of the group Harry took to the Ministry was still in the Hospital Wing and Harry wanted to be alone for a while. Dean had gone up to dote on his new girlfriend, Ginny Weasley, so Kevin, for the first time in a while, felt a little lonely and opted to stroll around the castle. He'd eventually made his way down to the Great Hall to find a sad Neville sitting at the Gryffindor table. Feeling bad for the guy, Kevin had gathered every bit of courage his strangely lion centric circle of friends had given him and walked right up to the boy before offering a friendly face and a trip to the kitchens for some tea. Neville had gratefully accepted the company and the two quickly bonded then after. The first friendship Kevin made on his own and the first time he'd taken the first step in making it. As miserable as he was, even Harry looked incredibly proud of him when he found out.

Kevin and Neville had found it easy to bond, both of them having gentle, soft spoken natures and a history with self-confidence issues that they both were making progress getting rid of. And of course, Harry was responsible for both of them, so their admiration for him just added another similarity they could discuss without the fear of the other thinking that they were Harry's fan boys. Or at least, they were comfortable enough admitting that they were to each other. It also didn't hurt that Kevin had developed a lot of memory games and strategies he could teach Neville to help with his forgetfulness issue.

And so, by the time the year ended, he had a circle of lions as his friends, one of which gained him a lot of association with Ginny and Luna too. Being with them all at once in the compartment had been a bit nerve wracking for him, though a lot of their rowdy natures had been dampened by their sadness and wariness, what with Harry losing his Godfather and Voldemort now declared back and active again, but it felt good. And when he felt a little too overwhelmed, he leaned towards the quiet Harry and odd Luna, agreeing to do a few quizzes with her. It felt great to be accepted, especially by some of the wildest House members in school. Even Malfoy dropping by with his horrid claims hadn't killed his mood. He only wished that he'd joined the DA too, so he could have helped cursing the idiot.

...

Once sixth year started, he even managed to make a few friends in other Houses. Harry had been having a conversation with Justin Finch-Fletchley outside the Greenhouses before their newly constructed Herbology class and had beckoned Kevin over with a smile. It turned out that the two were in the middle of conversation about Marvel heroes. Kevin was sucked straight in. By the time Professor Sprout arrived, the three of them had gone through every reason why or why not Captain America, Thor or Ironman was the greatest of them all and gotten nowhere but a stalemate. As they made plans to get together and discuss the matter later, Kevin couldn't figure out for the life of him why he hadn't sort out the Muggleborn and Muggle raised students from the get go. Of all his friends, he felt the most comfortable around them, they could of made his entire life at Hogwarts very happy. Taking a table with his friends, Kevin vowed to never shut himself out again. And to convince Harry and Justin the Thor and Ironman couldn't hold a candle to Captain America.

...

Once again, it was Harry who got him a friend in his own House. Luna helped a bit too, he guessed he considered her a friend as well, but ultimately, it was Harry's plan to sit him down with Anthony.

Anthony was on pretty friendly terms with Harry due to the DA, the blond eagle holding the golden boy of Gryffindor in high regard and often helping him with his Transfiguration homework as thanks for help with Defence. No one was sure how that boy became a prefect, because, while not being at Kevin's level, the boy was shy, easily intimidated. The only real difference was that Anthony was confident in everything he could do, enough so that he always contributed what he knew, even if it did come out nervously. Harry had noticed their similarities and had Luna help bring them to the library for a joint study session. He encouraged them to talk to each other a lot, both about their best subjects and themselves. By the end of it, they were pretty relaxed and happy around each other and since then, it felt great to have someone in his dorm that he could confide in. Not long after that, the other Ravenclaws in his year all started including him in what they did too, especially Lisa, who wanted to learn about the Muggle sport he'd been playing with Harry, and Stephan, who had a fascination with studying ancient artefacts, including the history behind them, their use and their creation. The lap over with Kevin's own interest in history had resulted in a lot of discussions and cooperation with their pursuits. By Halloween, he was confused as to how he'd found his Ravenclaw year mates intimidating to begin with. They weren't even close to the image his memories painted of his House. Though he could still see some slight hints of it, especially around the other Houses, so Anthony and Luna were the eagles he stayed closest to. He might have been imagining it, but he still felt more comfortable around the most open and gentle members of his House.

...

Kevin often couldn't believe the circle of friends he'd managed to obtain. Considering that he spent almost five years basically alone, it was more than he'd ever imagined possible for him and he woke up thanking whichever deities that actually existed every morning and prayed that it wasn't a dream every night. With so many friends and acquaintances, along with a few other friendly faces they'd introduced him to, he was almost never alone. Yes, he most preferred the company of Harry, followed quickly by the Muggleborns, but all of them were greatly appreciated, even if they did nothing but sit together. Companionable silence was so much more pleasant than isolated silence. And the effect on him was astounding. No one would have recognised him as the wall shadow Ravenclaw he'd been not since months ago, all of his new friends had strived to pull him right out of that old life, creating a cheerful, talkative, much more confident teen. He didn't even study the way he used to anymore. Harry had gaped before smiling in their last study session when he noticed Kevin's notes. They actually looked like general summaries now, as opposed to completely re-written chapters.

"You finally bought your own books?" He asked jokingly, his smile growing as green eyes met bright blue ones.

"Nah, I just got full access to the library in my head." Kevin responded, not caring how lame that sounded. Harry never teased him much and never seriously, he was free to be as uncool as he wanted without any fear. "I don't need as many notes anymore. The information seems to stay in me head a whole lot better now. Must be all the great tutors I got helping me."

"Must be." Harry grinned before pulling some scrolls out of his bag and rolling them over the table. "Hermione wanted me to give you those. Apparently she found some records of a wizard who'd worked closely with Einstein, a few witches hidden amongst the French nurses and one that had a tendency to appear at all of Hitler's speeches. She's not sure if they did anything or how much, but she thought you'd like a few new leads to connect dots."

"Awesome!" The history buff was absolutely giddy at that. He'd gotten a lot of theories and suspicions about WW1, the Great Depression, NASA and the Cold War lately, but WW2 had hit a bit of a dry spell. Opening all the scrolls at once, his eyes danced back and forth over them at a pace that made Harry dizzy as he greedily took in the information, comparing it to what he already knew. His quill was in his hand and jotting down his next set of references and theories to look into before he'd even finished reading.

"And to think you ever had a problem soaking information in." Harry chuckled, shaking his head at the sight. The boy had been told more than once at these sessions together that he gave 'busy as a bee' a whole new, more intense definition.

"Actually...I always remembered." All movement came to a halt as Kevin let those words slip passed his lip. Setting his quill down slowly into the ink vial, he looked up to face a confused Harry. "Well, most of it anyway."

"Seriously?" Harry cried, straightening up and raising a concerned eyebrow. "Then why were you always so determined to write every word of the books yourself? And every time I asked a question, you'd always have your 'summaries' write in front of you to read off of."

"Because..." Biting his lip, he breathed in deeply, trying to settle his distress. He didn't really want to bring it up. It was stupid, partially only in his head, but it had ruled nearly five years of his life. He was basically over it now, but it still was hard, admitting to a shame he'd held for so long.

But this is Harry! He reminded himself, shaking his head. He'll understand. He won't think less of me. It would be good to get it off of his chest. Good to hear that he had just been stupid. Just to get rid of any lingering threads. Who better was there to confide his old insecurities in than the person who'd singlehandedly made his life wonderful, even when a Dark Lord bent on killing all of his kind was tearing through England?

"Do you remember The last time I was like...I am now, before we started talking?" He started slowly, mentally kicking himself for it. Even if Harry had paid attention to him so long, like he would even remember now!

"Our very first couple of weeks at Hogwarts." Kevin actually felt his jaw drop at that. Harry had answered immediately. He didn't even need a second to think about it. "I remember on our first Transfiguration lesson, you practically ran to a seat up front. You were excited to learn, always waving your hand in the air like Hermione, only where she was eager to provide answers , you were excited to ask questions. But then you just...deflated I guess, and hid away at the back." He went on, his curiosity and worry only growing with each sentence. "I've been wondering about that since the day we officially met. Is it connected?"

"Very much so." A sad grin accompanied that confirmation as he rested his head on his joint hands. "I was so excited when I first found out I was a wizard. I was always a bit different. Weird things happened around me a lot, it scared a lot of people away, including my mother. I was so happy to know that I wasn't...abnormal. My Dad was especially happy that others of my kind gathered and could take me to learn about my powers. He was never scared away like Mom or anything, but he was always worried that people would discover and hurt me, or that I'd end up causing something I couldn't fix. The simple fact that this whole world existed and accepted me had us both so excited and I just couldn't wait to know everything.

"As I started to learn, I quickly realised that everything I did learn would only reveal that there was even more to be learnt. Had to learn about an entirely new world. That's a lot of information.

"Then I got here and I was sorted into Ravenclaw, the House of knowledge and wisdom. And I was happy about that. I mean, I thought this would mean that I had good grasp of the world and that I could learn more quickly. It was too good to be true."

"So what went wrong?" Harry asked, frowning hard. "I mean, your House is also known for being the House of individuals and acceptance, right? What could they have done to you?"

"Probably not what you're thinking." Kevin shook his head, smiling grimly. "The problem was that they knew too much. You know what it's like being around Hermione, someone who knows so much that you often feel like a brainless idiot. Now Imagine an entire House of people like Hermione surrounding you."

"Oh crap!"

"Yeah." Kevin nodded. "I was the almost the only Muggleborn in the House, all of the others being in at least the fifth year. The rest of my Housemates grew up in the Wizarding world, their knowledge and understanding of starting its development from birth. I was good with Muggle information, but that was of little importance here. I was in the House of intellect and I was clearly the dumbest person there, magically speaking. Despite all I'd read and learned, I basically knew nothing. And while Ravenclaws are accepting to, and encourage, individuality they also are still incredibly proud of their knowledge. Then of course, there's the fact that you get your share of egocentric jerks in every House, that not only flaunted their knowledge, but made it clear that they were smarter and therefore, better, than you.

"Most weren't that bad." He added quickly as he noticed Harry's eye twitch, trying to placate him. The last thing he needed was Harry losing his temper. "In fact, a lot of Ravenclaws told me to just ignore the windbags. But they left an impression that was amplified by the rest of the House. They tried to include me in conversations, but I never understood half of what they were saying, even our year mates knew things that went skyrocketing over my head. I was just the dumb Muggleborn and whether they meant to or not, that's exactly what they made me feel like. Every time they talked to me, or were within my hearing range, it was like they were taunting me, reminding me of how little I knew. I was so embarrassed and ashamed. So I did I everything I could to stop drawing attention to how brainless I was and did everything I could to learn every word of everything I could. It wasn't enough to get the basic understanding and ability, I had to know every detail, no matter how insignificant. I had to prove that I belonged in Ravenclaw. But I never believed that I did, never believed that I'd learned enough, remember everything I was supposed to. And no matter how hard I tried to learn, the others were always ahead of me. I couldn't miss a single word in any piece of information, because I believed that it only put me even further behind everyone else and I was always so sure that I'd forgotten everything important."

"Blimey, Kevin...I never thought..." Harry was well beyond any chance of making a complete sentence. All he could do was stare at him with wide, sad, sympathetic eyes. Pressing his lips together, Kevin had to look away.

"I never thought about what that would be like." Harry muttered a few moments later, when he finally got control over his gaping mouth. "A single Muggleborn surrounded by experienced pure and halfbloods. That would be harsh in any House. But in a place like Ravenclaw, where knowledge is the most respected of all traits..."

"It's a bit different from your group of wild children." Kevin nodded jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"And I still had Dean. And...I'll say Ron, because Hermione made us both seem like idiots." Harry tried with a small grin before frowning again. "Why didn't you try for friends in other Houses? The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors wouldn't have looked down on you for that."

"I think you're a bit bias." Kevin responded, suddenly turning a little shrewd. "Hufflepuffs might have been the way to go, I know I should have at least talked to Justin now, but Gryffindors are more like Slytherins than they care to admit."

"What?" Harry cried, thoroughly offended. "We are nothing like them!"

"You make assumptions and stick to stereotypes so stubbornly that it would take an event with the equivalent of an atomic bomb going off to change your opinions." Kevin deadpanned. "The Gryffindors all think the same things. All Ravenclaws are bookworms that would live in a library if they could, all Slytherins are Blood Purity extremist gits and all Gryffindors are greatness personified. And most of you don't like people who are different from your preferences or people who defy the stereotypes. Look at Hermione, she's far from the most popular girl in your House and even you and Ron didn't like her at first, while daring Harry was a lion stereotype himself, breaking curfew for an unauthorised duel against an idiot over a petty argument. You're own history doesn't do you or your House's rep any favours in this argument."

"And what's any of this got to do with our actual conversation?" Harry asked, getting a snort from Kevin. He had to admit, at least Harry had learned. For once, he was trying to back out of a fight he couldn't win before it got too embarrassing for him.

"The fact that most Gryffindors wrote me off as just another unimportant bookworm and ignored me." Unfortunately, the point wasn't flattering for the supposedly 'best House of Hogwarts' either. "The only time they cared to help me was if it meant they could get into a conflict with a Slytherin and be deemed a glorious saviour of the defenceless bookworm of a Muggleborn. After that, I never even considered trying Hufflepuffs and I'd never go near Slytherins if I could avoid it. They're not all bad, but it's tricky finding the more pleasant ones, especially because they try to hide the fact that they are pleasant from their Housemates. Self-preservation, you know? They live with the jerks."

"You've been hanging around us Gryffindors too much then." Harry grunted, staring at him accusingly. "You've embraced a generalised belief of Gryffindor. You've declared us all glory hounds and jerks."

"Not all." Kevin shrugged, grinning amusedly. "I can see exceptions to the generalisations. Hermione and Neville go against every part of the generalisation between them and I'm sure there are more."

"But I'm not one of them."

"I never said that." Kevin would never believe that. He would never have been to so kind to Kevin so unnecessarily if he fit the stereotype. And Kevin would never have felt comfortable enough to open up to him if he was. Looking Harry right in the eyes, he tried to convey all of that in a look and smiled brightly when Harry relaxed a moment later. "Besides," He added. "not all Gryffindorish tendencies are bad. They're the reason I'm very happy now after all. And the reason I don't doubt my knowledge anymore. I know I'm brilliant, even if it is in my own areas of expertise. Something that my Housemates expect of our own and greatly respect."

"And I'm the one who made it happen. My pride is restored." Harry smirked. "And what do you know, for once you brought it back to the original question. That's new, usually we end up talking about one thing and end up with five different topics being discussed without even realising that we never fully covered the original. You know, without study notes and essay papers to keep us grounded."

"Don't get used to it." Kevin laughed, turning his attention back to the scrolls and his list before heading towards the history section. "I've had too much to say for far too long to get stuck in one lousy topic."

"I won't. But I will demand it tomorrow." Ignoring the irritated grunts of the librarian at their noise, Harry followed him all the way to his desire shelf, his hand reaching into his pocket. Holding the curious brunette in place, he stuffed what felt like fabric into his hand and smirked. "I want you to meet me in the Great Hall tomorrow morning at eight. Remember to put that on, I got a surprise for you that I know you're going to love."

Curious excitement bubbled in his gut as Harry headed back to their table. Looking down to find what could only be a blindfold in his hand, his curiosity only grew. He couldn't wait to find out what this was about. If Harry promised he'd love it, he had no doubt in his mind that he would.

But that was tomorrow's joy. Right now, he had a little bit of homework and a lot of history records to go through.

AN: I hope everyone enjoyed it. I should have part 2 out before Christmas. Well, I'll see you next update.