Discaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything that's associated with that name. I do, however, own plot and the oc's occuring in this story.

oooooooo

Harry's summer had so far been the worst he could remember. His relatives had gone out of their way not to notice him, that included around mealtimes. He wasn't too bad off, he guessed, it could have been worse. He was mostly the one to prepare the food so he could sneak away a spoonful or two of whatever he was cooking. That was, of course, dependant on his uncle not being there. The only upside was that as long as

When it came to the magical world, he had had no news since he left the train on Kings Cross. Harry was just hoping that the old proverb was true, no news is good news, right? He was still required to write to the order once every three days but he never got any replies in return. Several times he'd wandered outside, alone, to see if he could catch any of his 'watchers' from the order but so far he hadn't been able to see neither hide nor hair, from anyone.

Almost a month and a half had passed since the… fiasco… in the Ministry of Magic. The fiasco during which Harry had lost his godfather, one of the last connections he'd had to his dead parents. Suffice to say that even without the Dursleys this summer wouldn't have been one of Harry's best. The Dursleys ignoring him also led to him having a lot of free time, time he spent thinking.

Harry was currently sitting in a swing at the playground at the end of the street. Dinnertime had passed an hour or so ago but since the Dursleys had eaten out to celebrate something or other Harry hadn't eaten anything. Twilight was descending and he hadn't really expected to meet anyone outside at this point but he was to be surprised.

Down the street came a young woman who looked more than a bit lost. She was rather short, even for a woman, but she didn't look young, not exactly. She had to be somewhere around 20. Her hair was long, almost reaching her waist, and it was a colour somewhere between blond and brown. She was wearing a pair of black trousers and what looked like a green blouse, and old-fashioned blouse at that. It even had embroidery along the cuffs and collar, it glinted oddly in the light from the streetlights that had just been turned on.

"Um… Excuse me." She said. "You haven't happened to have seen a really tall, pale guy with almost white hair down to his waist or a shorter, but equally blond man with short hair pass by here, have you?"

"No." Harry answered truthfully. He hadn't seen anyone in the last hour.

"Dammit! The first time I really didn't want to lose them and I manage to get lost." She sighed and looked at Harry. "Do you mind if I join you? I think my best bet is to wait for them to find me. No one had warned me that it was possible to get this very lost in the suburbs."

"Er, you can sit if you want to." Harry offered confused. This woman was nothing like he'd ever met before. The closest thing must have been Tonks but there was something about this woman that Tonks did not have.

"Thanks. My name's Alexis, by the way." She'd seated herself on the swing next to his.

"Harry, Harry Potter." He offered, waiting to see if she'd recognise the name or if she was a muggle.

"Nice to meet you Harry." She said and Harry noticed the lack of searching for his scar that noted her as muggle. "Do you live here?"

"I do." Harry answered. "Eh, it's nice to meet you too, Alexis."

"Good to know. I really don't know what happened to my companions. They did say two left and then the second street on the right, didn't they?" Alexis muttered partly to herself and partly to Harry.

"I wouldn't know." Harry thought it was an odd question to ask someone you'd never met before. "Where were you going?"

"I don't know, I think it was supposed to be a surprise. Some surprise, eh?" Alexis said with a bit of humour in her voice.

"I guess. But why would they leave you like that if you didn't know the way?" He wondered.

"I don't know, they're usually more considerate than that. Father really isn't going to like this." A rueful Alexis noted.

"Overprotective?" Harry asked. Overprotective was better than the other option.

"Yes, very. Though I have to agree that I might need it. I haven't really been the epitome of obedient daughter." She said with a slight wince.

"Doesn't it get… tedious? Having someone guarding you all the time?" Harry asked, knowing from his own experience that this was the case. He just wanted to know if this was usual or if he really was strange for feeling that way.

"To tell you the truth. It's very, very annoying. I've learnt to accept it, but sometimes I do try to get away, mostly when they've been on my toes too many times. I wasn't aiming for that today, though."

"You really do get annoyed?"

"I do, I also tend to spend a lot of time yelling at them when they do. Father's realised that sometimes I do need time to myself, no matter what he feels like. There you are!" Harry quickly looked around and he could barely see two persons moving towards them in the growing dark. He guessed that the two men were the two that Alexis had been looking for earlier. He was a bit unnerved though, how could he have missed them when he'd tried to adopt Moody's 'constant vigilance'?

"Where did you go?" The tall man asked, he sounded annoyed. Harry hoped that the woman wouldn't be in trouble.

"I got lost, you two moved too fast. I tried to follow your directions but I ended up walking in circles, all the houses look the same!"

"You ought to…" The tall man started but he never had time to finish.

"Don't try my patience." Alexis said with a soft voice but it did shut the man right up. He didn't look happy but he was quiet. The shorter man didn't say anything but he didn't look like he wanted to either.

"You've got spies." The tall man finally relented.

"They're not mine, they're Harry's. Though I think they're protectors rather than spies." How in the whole world had the woman known that? Harry hadn't seen them and he had been actively looking for them. Apparently his so called protectors didn't like it either because Mungdungus Fletcher, who according to Harry shouldn't be allowed to guard him, stepped out from the dark corner behind which he had been lurking. He smelled, his clothes left much to be desired and the line he walked wasn't really straight but he was angry. He was also determined not to make another mistake, which is why he had now brandished his wand and descended on the muggles.

"No!" Harry shouted at the same time as Alexis did but curiously enough she seemed to direct it at the tall man rather than the advancing wizard.

"It was nice meeting you Harry." Alexis said before turning around. "We're leaving." And for some reason both her companion's followed her without a word. The tall man glared a bit at Fletcher but followed Alexis. Harry didn't know why but Fletcher just stood there with his wand out. Harry hurried home, he'd had enough strange meetings to last him through the next week. He was the Boy-who-lived, though, so maybe this nights encounter should fall under the 'normal' label.