Disclaimer: Remember the muggle girl at the beginning of the Half Blood Prince movie? Well, here is what would have happened if Harry had been able to keep that date with her! All characters are property of J.K.R and Warner Brothers.
"So, where to now, Professor?" Harry said as Dumbledore reached the end of the street after having had that interesting conversation with Horace Slughorn.
"That is entirely up to you, Harry. I can either take you to the Burrow or I can drop you off at the coffee shop, where you might be able to catch up with that lovely girl." Dumbledore replied mildly with an odd twinkle in his startlingly blue eyes. "You might still be able to have a nice evening after all."
As much as Harry would have liked to go to the Burrow, the idea of being able to actually spend time with a girl (even though she is a muggle, he thought briefly) in a private setting was too much for the teenager to resist. "Take me back to Little Winging." Harry finally said after a moment of thought. Dumbledore nodded in consent, taking Harry's arm and together, they whirled into the darkness of the night and when it finally stopped, Harry was outside the coffee shop again. He looked up and down the side walk, on the edge of the train tracks of the Underground. He was about to give up hope when he heard a voice behind him.
"Did you just appear out of no where?"
He turned and saw the lovely young African American woman standing near by at a train terminal, waiting for the next train to come in probably. She was still dressed in those jeans and the white shirt, perfect for summer wear. Harry smiled and walked over to her, his hands in his pockets. "No, I just came in from behind that pole, see?" He pointed back behind him. "I am a bit skinny." He then turned to the side, showing how his body could have hidden behind the pole almost perfectly. She giggled.
"Funny that I didn't notice you. I thought you had left and forgotten all about me." She said with a twinkle to her dark brown eyes. "Come, sit with me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and Harry didn't reject the invitation. He took a seat next to her, resisting the urge to check his breath again. "So, what's your name, handsome?" Harry went quiet. How much should I divulge to this girl? He thought. I don't even know her! He looked into her face, searching her features for an appraisal. She seemed interested, and innocent enough. So, he decided to take a pluge and go for it. "Well," He said slowly. "Remember when we were talking about that nutter, Harry Potter?"
"Yeah? What about him?" She said, leaning forward in interest.
"Well, I'm that nutter."
She leaned back and stared at him for a moment, before smiling brightly. "You're on a news paper? Wow! What did you do? Save some kid from a burning building or something?" Harry laughed and shook his head lightly.
"No, it's...well...kind of complicated, actually." He said slowly. "I am sure you don't want to be bothered by a nutter like me."
"It's not a bother! Besides, a cute guy like you can't be too much of a nutter." She nudged him in the side lightly, making him laugh a bit nervously.
"Well, you kind of have to promise not to tell anyone. It's a bit of a secret." He said slowly, looking up and down the walk to make sure they were really alone. They appeared to be, but he had learned long ago not to trust what appearances meant. There could be someone hiding in an invisibility cloak for all he knew.
She seemed really interested at that, her eyes shining as a smile broke across her face. God, she really is cute, he found himself thinking. "Sure! No problem, love." She winked at him.
"Well, it all starts with my parents death, I suppose."
By the time he was finished with his story, it was all ready past one in the morning. She had been so engrossed in his story that she had completely missed her train. When he went quiet, she sat up and looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Here it comes, she's going to call me crazy, slap me and leave, Harry thought in a sudden bend of depression. "So, you can do magic for reals?" She said suddenly, making Harry blink at her.
"Yes, but I'm not allowed to outside school. Not until I'm seventeen at least."
"Aw," She said, her lips curving downward into a pout. "That is a shame. I was hoping to see you turn something into something else, like," She paused, taking a look around and spotting a news paper rack. "Like turn that into a dog or something." She said with a vague wave to the newspapers. Harry chuckled a bit.
"I have never been that good at transfiguring things." He admitted with a shy little shrug of his shoulders. "Well," He said finally, looking at her with a little smile on his face. "You know everything there is to know about me and I know almost nothing about you, not even your name, so how 'bout it, love?" Harry said with a wink back at her, imitating what she had done not too long ago herself.
"Well, first of all, my name is Lauren." She said with a smirk in reply. "And I'm nothing too special. I mean, I'm not a witch or anything like that." She nudged him again, giving a light laugh. "But I do think I'm a bit older then you. You're what, sixteen, right?" She said, tilting her head to the side.
"Yeah, just turned sixteen." He returned.
"I'm about to turn eighteen." She returned. "So I am a bit older then you, sweetheart."
"Well, age isn't that important." Harry replied with a mere shrug of his shoulders. "We're having a good time, right?"
"Right." She returned with a chirp to her voice. "But I fear I need to find a new way to get home now. They don't run trains this late." She said with a quick look at her wrist watch before giving a shrug.
"Well, where do you live?"
"Magnolia Crescent." She replied.
"Well, that is not too far from Privet Drive. I'll walk you home, how 'bout that?" He said with a smile. She smiled back and stood up, picking up her purse.
"Yeah, I'd like that." She returned. Harry stood up after her. Being shorter then her was a little intimidating but he kept his cool.
They talked all along the walk to her house. They talked about muggle things like what the Prime Minister was doing to him divulging a little more about the magical world, but he kept all the scary things like Voldemort and his death eaters out of the conversation if he could. When they reached her house, a small but ordinary looking two story building, Harry looked at his feet a bit shyly. "Well, this is me." She said, looking at the darkened windows. "I hope mum and dad aren't too hacked off with me for being out so late."
"Yeah, hopefully not."
Lauren watched him for a moment, like she was thinking of something. Harry lifted his head and looked back at her. She stared at him for a moment, slowly moving closer. "You know, you have the most beautiful green eyes I have ever seen." She breathed, her dark cheeks flushing a little as heat rose up into her face. Harry just realized how close she was, and he could smell her perfume; a nice, heady mix of flowers and cinnamon. It was similar to what Ginny wore all the time, and it made his heart flutter in his chest.
"Thanks." He said back thickly, keeping eye contact with her. She had very dark brown eyes, much darker then her skin. "My mum had the same eyes." She smiled again at him, and she surprised him with a kiss flush on the mouth, having to lean down just a little bit to reach him. Harry was shocked but kissed back, looping his arms about her waist. They snogged about five minutes before the sound of the door opening shocked them back to reality.
"Lauren! Just what do you think you're doing out at this hour, with a boy no less!" A woman in her late forties to early fifties said as she stood in the door way, frowning heavily. "Get in this house!"
"Sorry. I'll come by your house some time." Lauren said in a whisper, before hurrying away inside. Harry watched her go sadly, before making his own way back home with a spring in his step.
It was about late in the autumn months at Hogwarts and Harry was reading the daily prophet or once. He started to skip the front page but he saw something that made his heart stop, so he stayed on the front page for a moment. There, placed in a lower right hand corner, was an unmoving picture of a muggle family with the caption that read thus: "Death Eaters slay African American muggle family." He didn't recognize the man and woman, but the face of the friendly girl smiling up at him made his heart clench in his chest.
It was Lauren.
"What is it, Harry?" Ron said as he looked at his friend, his toast paused half way to his mouth. "You look like you just found out that your broom got smashed."
"Nah, I'm fine. I...Death Eaters killed another muggle family." Harry said thickly. Ron looked at the picture, frowning a bit.
"Rotten luck, mate." Ron said, unconcernedly. "But don't worry, you know who will fall eventually and all those people will be avenged."
"Yes, they will." Harry said passionately, before turning his attention back to his food.