The war that dictated their life is over, and Harry Potter is more of a celebrity than ever. But with the loss of so many they loved, none of the six friends can stand their sudden burst of fame. Upon Harry's suggestion they journey to America, to a city where they are entirely unknown. But not all of life in the big city is easy. Will two friends have room to fall in love amidst the chaos of a completely new life?
Escape
The three story brownstone stood in front of them, but none from the small group of friends could move to open the door. If they never opened the door, they could still turn back. Run to the airport and hop on a plane back home. But they knew that the life waiting for them back in England would always be there, and what they needed at the moment was something different.
The youngest, a redhead, watched as the raven haired leader inhaled a deep breath and stepped forward, climbing the short set of steps and placing his hand on the doorknob. Of all of them, he needed the change the most. It was his escape that had led them all to this large and dangerously new city.
He turned, and they all peered into the dark hallway. His fingers met a switch and the pathway turned warm with fake candle lights. Hesitant, he dropped his suitcase, smiled at them and stepped further into the house.
The young redheaded girl, Ginny to her friends, Virginia to her enemies, followed, and soon heard her brother and his girlfriend's footsteps, and those of the others close behind. She followed the leader round a corner, and saw before her the most beautiful welcoming kitchen she had ever laid eyes on. With a small squeal, she too dropped her luggage, and ran forward to feel the deep green counters and the warm yellow backsplash on the wall. She could really live here.
Harry, her dark haired friend smiled, and she grinned as broadly as she could back at him.
All her homesickness melted on the spot and she let out a joyful gasp.
"It's absolutely perfect."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter one: Groceries
"RON!" A high pitched scream rang in her ears, and she moaned and threw the pillow lying next to her across her ears.
"Did you get the bloody groceries?" a more muffled, yet still high-toned yell met her ears again. Hermione was on a tyrant, and that meant NO ONE would be sleeping late today.
"I thought Harry was doing it!" Her brother, Ron of course, yelled back to his girlfriend, a bitter, grumpy tone in his voice. Ginny jumped out of bed and slammed the door shut, before she had to listen to the rest of the conversation. Pulling her short hair into a stubby ponytail, she threw on the bathrobe (with actual moving snitches) that her best friend had given her last Christmas over her shoulders and jumped into the fireplace whispering "Harry's Room".
After a brief whooshing sensation, she jumped out at the foot of said best friend's bed. To her slight frustration, she found that he was still snoring. She turned towards the door, and noticed a soft golden glow around it. Once again he had been wise enough to set up silencing charms, unlike her completely idiotic self.
But if she had to be up, so did he, so she stepped over to his bed, and snuck under the covers next to him. Then she placed her tiny pink lips on his ear, and blew a raspberry as loud and wet as she could.
He rolled over, slid open one eye, and growled loudly at her. She giggled and he rubbed his wet ear on his midnight blue pillow case.
"Reeeeal pleasant Gin. That was exactly the kind of wake-up I wanted."
"Well at least you didn't wake up to the sound of your evil brother's name, in the equally evil high pitched voice of his girlfriend" she shot back at him.
"Yuck. Are they at it again?"
"Yup, forgot to get groceries I gather. He claimed you were supposed to do it."
Harry let out a harsh laugh, and she realized that for once, her brother was telling the truth.
"Oh Harry! You're rotten. Come on, throw on a pair of pants and we'll go get them before Hermione has time to strangle Ron."
"Ugh, but I thought he was evil!" Harry whined.
"Yes, but no one deserves to suffer the wrath of Hermione." They both grinned, and Harry went to his drawer to grab a pair of shorts. He threw them over the boxers he had worn to bed, and then gave Ginny a look-over.
Dropping her bathrobe to the floor, she winked, and the pajama bottoms she had been wearing paired with a normal tank top turned into a simple denim skirt.
"Nifty trick" he said, winking himself before dissaperating.
Moments later they were both standing in the wizarding grocery store, "Hewingways", where they often purchased food. It was practically like any other muggle grocery store except that it was accessible by apperation, which made it all the more convenient for a bunch of lazy college-age students.
"You do fruits and veggies, I'll hit the dairy isle, and we'll meet in wheats in five minutes. All right?" Harry posed with a sly grin on his lips. Ginny rolled her eyes, and turned to walk towards the produce section, humming to the tune of the classic weird-sisters song playing on the radio.
She summoned a basket with the flick of her wrist, and gathered in it apples, plums, grapes, and pears. Then dancing down the isle, she picked up salad supplies, and a bunch of extra vegetables that she needed for some of the recipes she was hoping to test out this weekend. When she reached the wheats, Harry was already there with his own basket filled with milk, cheeses and yogurt. Together they picked out some boxes of pasta, and Ginny's favorite cereal Smart-Start, while Harry insisted on buying these ridiculous little microwavable things called easy-macs, ignoring Ginny's protests that she could make him real macaroni and cheese.
They made a final stop at the deli before heading to the register to pay. Harry pulled some sickles out of his wallet to pay, and they returned to the apparition room.
When they popped into the kitchen, they found all of their fellow housemates sitting around the table. Ron and Hermione were splitting up the sections of the Profit while Luna sat with her knees up, eating Lucky charms, and flipping through the latest book her father had sent her. Neville sat next to her mixing some sugar into his bowl of oatmeal.
"You got the groceries?" Hermione asked, not looking up from the front page when she finally realized that they were standing there.
"Yes, and good morning to you too" Ginny said with a laugh, going to the fridge and taking out eggs, cheddar cheese, mushrooms and onions. Harry began to stow the groceries in the cupboards while she pulled out a pan to make herself an omelet.
"You've all had breakfast?" she asked to the room, "Because I'm making omelettes if anyone wants.
"I'll have one"
"Me as well"
"I could go for another breakfast I think"
"MmmHmm"
Ginny smiled. All but Luna had responded, as the girl was too absorbed in whatever she was reading. Taking more ingredients out of the fridge, Ginny turned on the stove and began to crack the eggs. Ever since she was a little girl, she had loved the kitchen. When they had moved to New York, she had decided to attend cooking school to make a career out of her passion. After only a month of school, she knew that it was one of the best ideas she had ever had. Cooking with her mom had taught her many things, but the kind of gourmet cooking that she learned from her professional chef teachers set her spirit and taste-buds on fire. Everyone else in the house seemed to love it as well.
When she finished her first omelet she passed it to Harry, knowing that he hadn't eaten yet that day. The second one went to Ron, the biggest pig of the house, then Neville whose mouth was beginning to water, then finally Hermione, and herself.
As she sat down to breakfast, she considered asking for a bit of the paper, but then decided it was best not to break her friend's concentration on the events of the wizarding world. Instead she partook in her second favorite activity, people watching. She first watched her brother. He was looking through the sports pages and scowling at the quidditch stats. His hand reached under the table and instinctively, he locked fingers with Hermione. Ginny had noticed recently that the two of them often did this, and she was fairly sure that neither of them knew. She smiled a secret smile, and moved onto Hermione. She was reading the front page, her lip was twitching, her eyebrows furrowed. Undoubtedly, she was reading about something no one else would find particularly fascinating, but which captured Hermiones intense attention.
Then Ginny turned her eyes to Luna. The strange blonde had switched positions, and now sat with her legs crossed and her elbows leaning on the table. Her pale eyes were glazed over and she fiddled with a lock of hair. Next to her, Neville was watching out of the corner of his eye. It broke Ginny's heart to see him like this. She had known of Nevilles crush on Luna since the end of her fifth year, but their friend was still completely oblivious. Luna had dated several people she had met in New York, but never settled down with any of them for very long. Ginny always wished that Neville would just make a move, because she could tell there was chemistry between them, even if they didn't really see it.
With a deep sigh, she turned her gaze toward the final person sitting at the table, Harry. She was surprised that his eyes met hers when she looked at him, but realized after a moment that Harry was the type of person who might observe people too. Their eyes locked for a moment, then they both grinned and turned back to their food.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ginny scrambled up the stairs of the subway station Monday morning, and rushed as fast as she could towards her school, ignoring the streetlights entirely, and praying to whoever was there, than she didn't get slammed by a bus. She had woken up late again after hitting the snooze button on her damned muggle alarm clock three times, then stupidly burnt her oatmeal trying to shower and cook at the same time. Then when she had gotten to the train station, the subway had been too packed for her to even push her way in, so she had had to wait for a second train. Then finally she had ripped her jacket on the turnstile. Cursing more than she had in weeks at least, she pushed the button to the elevator over and over again.
"You know love, it doesn't make it any faster if you keep doing that."
She growled back at her classmate and friend James. He laughed, and they both got onto the elevator.
"So why are you late?" she asked, her tone still edgy.
"Had a lady friend over last night." He said with a wink. She rolled her eyes back at him. He always had girls over at his house, and he was almost always late to class.
"Why am I not surprised?"
"How bout you Gin? Was it a fellow who kept you waiting this morning?"
"No. It was a snooze button."
James shook his head, and they both jumped off the elevator, put away their bags and coats, and speed-walked down the hallway to their first class of the day, knife skills.
They slid into an empty counter as inconspicuously as they could, and watched as the teacher was performing a demonstration at the front of the room. After the twenty minutes or so of the lesson, Ginny pulled the proper knife out of the drawer. Her fingers slipped unfortunately, and she sliced the palm of her hand.
"Augh!" She burst out, as quietly as she could. James turned to her, with fake concern in his eyes. "Now Ginny, I know you haven't slept with a man in two weeks, but that is no reason to hurt yourself!"
She made a face at him than rushed her hand under cold water. "Two and a half for your information, stud. And I wasn't trying to hurt myself, but I think if this day gets any worse, I soon will be!!!"
"I'd yell at you love, but thankfully, I know you don't mean that."
Ginny scowled, bandaged her hand, and then turned back to the task at hand. At least she'd have a movie with Harry to look forward to when she got home.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Ok, so that's chapter one, not much story in it, I know, but I hope it's a decent set up. The next chapter will be Harry's perspective of the day, as long as you like this of course.
Obviously, this isn't going to be an adventure. It's just a story of six people trying to survive living in a normal life, when they've done nothing of the sorts for the bigger part of their life. There will be romance, but no thrilling battles or anything, and hopefully only mention of death. I just wanted to warn you, in case you only want to read adventure stories!
Oh, and I like reviews as much as the next person, especially if they're constructive! Talk to you again soon hopefully!
Your Author,
Samantha