A/N: This is my first fanfiction that I have decided to publish. Please feel free to let me know if you see any mistakes and typos, so I can fix them. Enjoy!

The New Neighbors

A scrawny, messy-haired seven-year-old jabbed at the hard dirt with an oversized shovel, the summer sun beating on his back, watching discreetly as a family moved in next door. They had been at it for around a day and a half now, and it was the talk of Privet Drive. It had been a long time since someone new had come to the neighborhood, and everyone was curious.

Harry had managed to gather a bit of information so far. The new people had a daughter, who looked to be a little older than Dudley, a girl around his age, and two twin boys, who looked around five. The children were all pretty short, the girl his age was even shorter than him! The mom looked a bit strange to him. She was only about four feet tall, and Harry could have sworn she had pointed ears! He wouldn't mention that little fact to anyone, though. Uncle Vernon might hear, and he knew what the consequences of that would be.

Pointy ears aside, nothing else seemed terribly out of the ordinary. They were finishing getting the last boxes out of the very back of the rented moving truck, from what Harry could see. To little Harry's shock, the older girl started walking in his direction. She stopped when she was just on the other side of the fence from him. She had hair as black as his own, but it was neatly combed, and fell down to just past her shoulders. She had rounded features and cherubic lips, with hazel eyes.

"Hello!" She chirped, "My name is Diana Fowl, my family just moved in next door, though I'm sure you know that already. What's your name?" Huh, the girl had a very Irish accent.

"My name's Harry." He answered simply, torn between hoping the girl would go away, so he wouldn't be punished for speaking to her, and hoping she would stay, because it was nice to have someone to talk to for a change.

"It's nice to meet you, Harry!" Diana seemed like a very cheerful sort of person, quite unlike the Dursleys. She put out her hand for him to shake. "How old are you? I'm nine, and I can't wait until I turn eleven, because that's when I can go to a special boarding school. It's the same one my grandparents went to!" Harry's earlier thoughts on her age were correct, then. She was a year older than Dudley. He shook her hand tentatively, the blisters on his hands hurting a bit as he did so. She gave him a small worried glance. He wasn't used to people worrying about his injuries, these weren't even that bad. It was worse when he burned his hand on the frying pan a few months ago.

"I'm seven."

"So you're only two years younger than me, then!" The perky girl looked like she was about to say more, but she was interrupted.

"Diana! Could you watch the twins?" Her father yelled. Like his daughter, he had an Irish accent. He was, unlike his wife, tall, with straight black hair and angular features. Upon further inspection, the man did not have pointed ears, but it seemed like his eyes were two different colors. Strange.

"Sure Dad!" Diana called back. She turned back briefly to address Harry. "See you later! It was very nice to meet you, if you want, I'll come out around noon tomorrow."

"Maybe." Harry wasn't sure if Aunt Petunia would let him come out. Maybe he would get lucky, though.

"I will take that as a yes! See you then!" The girl jogged back over to her house, black hair streaming behind her. Harry had the strangest feeling that there was more to the new family than what he saw. There was something... almost magical about them, and he really wanted to find out what.

He did manage to meet her the next day without Aunt Petunia noticing. He had gotten lucky, and his aunt had gone off for a few hours to gossip with the other neighborhood busybodies. She called it 'going to book club' but Harry wasn't stupid. He went outside to find Diana already waiting for him. He walked cautiously over to her. Dudley was inside, watching TV, so, he would probably be fine, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

"Good afternoon, Harry!"

Harry echoed the greeting.

"How are you doing? I saw your mum this morning, what is she like?"

Harry looked down at the ground. " That's not my mum." He said shaking his head slightly, "My parents are dead, that's my Aunt Petunia, she's not very nice."

Diana was clearly subdued by his response. "Oh, I'm sorry, Harry."

"That's okay, you couldn't have known, they died in a car crash then I was a baby. I don't really remember them." He lifted his shaggy black hair up so she could see his forehead. "Aunt Petunia says that's where I got this scar." Diana's eyes widened slightly, she seemed to be hiding shock. Harry wasn't sure why. People died in car crashes all the time, and he was no one special. There was a moment of silence as Diana seemed to be pondering something. Finally, after a silence that seemed like in eternity, even though it truthfully only was a minute or so, Diana spoke. When he glanced back at her, he caught a glance of the tip of her ear. It, like her mum's seemed to be as well, was pointed. He decided to try and ignore it.

"What's it like living with your aunt, Harry? You said she wasn't very nice."

Harry breathed a small sigh of relief at the change of subject. "It's okay, I guess. They make me do all the chores, though. Dudley never has to do anything." His voice dropped to a whisper. "If you ask me, I think he looks like a walrus. Aunt Petunia is always trying to 'fatten him up', though he really doesn't need to be. The school says he needs to go on a diet." Diana giggled. Harry decided to change the subject back to her. "What about you? I saw yesterday that you have siblings."

"I have three siblings," she began "first, there's Iris, she's seven, and really likes to read, she hardly ever comes out of the house. After her, there are the twins, Alex and Apollo, who are too smart for their own good, and are always getting into trouble. I have to watch them when mum or dad are doing something, so they don't do anything they aren't supposed to." She paused, so Harry would have a chance to speak. Harry decided to ask another question.

"Why did your parents decide to move here?" That seemed like a safe enough question to ask.

"Mum and Dad wanted a change of scenery, and there's a pretty good school system here. Dad wanted to scope out local businesses to see if he wants to invest in some of them. We'll probably live here for around three or four years, then we'll move again." It seemed a bit strange to Harry, but Diana acted like it was normal for her family. It probably was.

"So, your dad invests in businesses?"

"Yeah, he says it's to give back to the community. Kind of like charity work." That was interesting. Before he had to say anything, Diana's watch let out a shrill beeping sound. She glanced at it.

"Drat, I've got to go back inside to help unpack. Same time tomorrow?" Harry blinked.

"Uhh, sure, I'll try to get out here."

"I hope to see you then!" Like she did the day before, she jogged to her house, leaving. What was with that watch? Could she receive messages with it somehow? He decided that she probably just had an alarm set with the time she had to go back inside. After all, watches couldn't sent messages. People don't have pointed ears, either. A small voice in he head said. Shush. He thought back.

A/N: Like I said back to the top of the page, this is my first fanfiction! Let me know what you all think, and let me know if you think I should change anything! Constructive criticism is encouraged!