Lydia sighed, gazing up at the clouds. She was completely and utterly bored. Everything around Privet Drive was quiet. Well, except for that rude boy next door. What was his name again? David? Duncan? Dugan? Dudley! What a stupid name. She twirled her blonde hair, white in the sunlight.

"Liddy, I'm almost done making dinner" her mother called from the kitchen window.

"Ok" she answered as she stood.

Yes, she was still there. "Hello Mrs. Dursley." She stifled a laugh as the woman on the other side of the fence jumped nervously.

"Oh, hello." Her beady eyes watered as she looked down at the slight girl in overalls.

"I'm Lydia. I live here now" she stated quite simply.

"I didn't know they had a daughter. How interesting! Have you met my Dudders yet?" she asked, beaming proudly as she went on about her 'dear, sweet little boy'. Lydia waited politely and patiently for the old crone to take a breath before interjecting.

"Yes, I met him just yesterday." Finally, that stopped her bragging for a moment.

"Oh, how wonderful!" She looked like she was about to launch into another speech about how great her Duddykins was when a booming voice shouted for her. She sighed in relief as the woman ran back inside to serve her family dinner.

Rolling her eyes, she turned around and smacked right into something.

"Ow!" She'd opened her mouth, but the voice wasn't hers. Looking around carefully with her hands, she found her glasses. With a relieved sigh, she slid them back onto her face, but they didn't feel quite right.

Something touched her foot and her instincts took over. Next thing she knew, there was a person pinned under her.

"Sorry" the boy grunted out.

"Say uncle."

"What?" he asked in disbelief.

"Say uncle, or is mercy more your style? Either way, you're not moving until you say it. The boy squinted up at the strange girl sitting firmly on his chest, her knees pinning his arms down.

"Uncle Mercy?"

She giggled in amusement. "You only have to say one, silly" she said, dismounting her accidental victim, helping him to stand. He looked up at her, or at least tried to.

"I'm over here" she said, a bit to the left from where he was looking. As he turned to face her, she could see his black hair move away from his green eyes. "Oh, I think these are yours" she said, sliding the glasses off of her face. She tried handing them to him, but with the blind leading the blind, it didn't work out too well. "Hold still for just a moment" she commanded. The boy nodded, then held perfectly still as she slid the glasses onto his face while squinting. "Alright, you can move now."

"Thanks. These must be yours then. Don't move" he said, returning the favor with her glasses.

"Thank you" she said with an apologetic smile as he drew away after her eyes were restored. She took every detail of him in. He was slightly shorter than her with jet black hair that stuck up all over the place, reminding her of a porcupine. His eyes were a pretty green, like soft moss in a forest. He wore beat up clothes that were ten sizes too big for him and his shirt alone was like a tent in comparison to his scrawny-looking body.

"I'm Harry" he held out his hand, his lips turning up weakly at the edges.

"I'm Lydia." She took his hand and shook it, as her parents had taught her to do when meeting someone new. He shook back with a friendly light in his eyes. She giggled as she looked down at their hands and they were still shaking a few beats longer than necessary. With a chuckle to match hers, Harry let go.

"So where do you live?" she asked curiously. She'd never seen this boy before, and her parents had been quite sure to introduce her to every kid around her age within a one-mile radius in the last few months since they'd moved there.

"Next door" he answered somewhat reluctantly.

She had a good feeling about this boy, so she couldn't help it when her mouth opened up into a great big grin. "That's great! Can you come over tomorrow? I've gotta go in soon for dinner, but I'll be out here tomorrow."

He looked at the ground. "Um… I'm not sure."

"How come?"

"I can't tell you."

Thinking for a moment, she nodded at coming up with her solution. "Then I'll just wait for when you can come out, ok?"

Harry smiled and nodded back. "Ok" she waved goodbye as she skipped inside.

For the next week, she spent every single day playing outside, waiting for him. He rarely came out, but she found out why the next time she saw him.

"My aunt and uncle, they don't like me. I don't know why, but they hate me for all the weird things that happen around me as if it's my fault" he told her as they lay in the yard one day.

So, she'd patiently wait for him every day, all summer long, until one day, he'd just stopped coming altogether. Something strange was happening around that house. Every day, she'd see owls flying to the Dursley's house, dropping envelopes. Now, she gazed up in wonder at a whole flock of them, perched on the rooftop next door. What were they waiting for?

As if to answer her silent question, Mr. Dursley stepped one foot out of his front door and the owls descended. One by one, they dropped their letters on him while he covered his head and ducked behind his car as though this were and avian air-raid. A giggle escaped her throat, although Mr. Dursley was far too distracted to notice.

"That does it," he said in a forced calm tone to his gangly wife who had come out at his frustrated shouting. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" Everyone inside sprung into action. Her grey eyes darted from window to window, searching for Harry. Everything happened so fast! When her gaze finally found him, he was being roughly shoved into the car by his trollish brute of a cousin.

"What's going on? Where are you taking Harry?" she asked frantically, running around the fence to stand at the end of their driveway.

"We're moving! Somewhere far, far away!" Mr. Dursley roared with laughter, then slid into the driver's sear. Lydia's eyes went wide as Harry turned to face her.

"I'm s-" he started to speak, but Dudley punching him hard in the stomach.

"Who's that, Potter? Is that your girlfriend?" he laughed maniacally as he and his mother got in. Mr. Dursley backed the car out of the driveway, almost running her over. He turned the car right and before long, the car and Harry were out of sight, leaving her in the middle of the road, alone in the world.

She stood there for hours, hoping beyond hope that the large walrus of a man would come back, having forgotten something important and valuable. No matter how hard she wished, it didn't come true. When the sun set, she was guided inside by her father.

He held her close, laying her head on his chest as she cried it all out. Even though it was his favorite concert t-shirt, he let her tears fall all over the Celtic Thunder insignia. Her eyes finally left with no tears to cry, she rubbed her nose on her sleeve and looked up at him, her eyes now the color of storm clouds. He gently kissed her on the forehead and carried her up to her room. Laying her on the bed, he tucked her in and caressed her tender cheek.

"I never got to say goodbye…" she mumbled.

Smiling kindly, he ran his fingers through his sand-colored hair. "Well Liddy, then you're going to see him again one day. If you never said goodbye, he's never truly gone, see?" She nodded. He leaned down, gently kissed her on the cheek, then left. Sleep pulled her down, exhausted from all the tears she'd shed that day.