Harry stalked the streets quietly, trying to figure out why no one had thought to contact him about anything that was going on. He figured, Oh hey! I only made you aware of the fact that the person you're now searching for is alive, it's only right for me not to know ANYTHING!
Harry grimaced at his own thoughts. Then he came to one he had often thought of in the past two weeks since he had gotten home from school. Was that someone behind me? No, probably not. Yet again my imagination making things up in my head. Wait. I didn't make that up. There IS someone behind me.
Harry turned around slowly to see a girl with light blonde hair walking towards him angrily, with her head down. He saw something glistening running down her cheek. A tear?
Suddenly, the girl looked up and gasped. Breathing frantically, she wiped the tears away form her face and walked over to him.
"Are you spying on me?" Jessica asked this mysterious boy. Boys-ugh. Who needed them? She certainly didn't want anything to do with guys after tonight. The boy stuttered before finally saying, "As a matter of fact, I was out here on my own, trying to get away from everyone. What's your story?"
Jessica scoffed and said, "Just because you're open about why you're out here, doesn't mean I have to be."
When he didn't respond, she rolled her eyes and walked off, muttering, "Can't stand boys…"
The girl walked off and muttered something that quite sounded like, 'Can't stand boys…' Harry growled and grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards him.
Jessica was almost home free when the boy grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him. She scowled and said, "Do you mind letting go of my arm? Because if not, I'd be all too glad to call 'rape'." The boy looked at her, concerned for a moment, but didn't get a chance to respond when a woman ambled over to them.
Jessica stared at the woman. She was wearing slippers and carrying a bag full of-cat food? But the woman looked frantic and said, "You two! You're not allowed to be out of your houses this late! What is a Death Eater saw you? Really, I'm getting too old for this."
Jessica looked at the old woman for a moment. Death Eaters? Here? In Little Whinging? Impossible. The whole point of Jessica being sent to Number 6, Privet Drive was so that the Death Eaters WOULDN'T find her. "How do you know that they wanted to find me?" Jessica asked, frowning.
The boy just looked from Jessica to the old lady, mouth agape. "How do I know? How could I NOT know? Really, Dumbledore told me ALL ABOUT YOU Jessica Anne Rade, and since I know this, and I know that Death Eaters are ALSO following Harry here, Little Whinging isn't as safe as your idiotic Minister for Magic thought it would be. Honestly, if the man had done some RESEARCH…but no matter. You two are going to be at Headquarters soon enough. You'll be safe. Now, come with me and we'll wait in my house until Dumbledore sends orders."
Jessica looked at the old lady, but followed her, for lack of a better thing to do.
Harry had just stared at the two women as they talked. Mrs. Figg was working for Dumbledore? Since when? And he was being FOLLOWED by Death Eaters? How could he not have picked UP on that? But I did…I've been saying for weeks that I wasn't alone…I just wrote it off as foolishness. But if I wasn't alone, wouldn't they have attacked me by now?
He shook his head and started walking after the two others, although considerably farther behind than 'Jessica Anne Rade'. Well, at least now he knew her name.
They arrived at the house (at different intervals, of course) and as soon as they walked inside, meowing cats surrounded them. Probably all waiting for their food, which resided in Mrs. Figg's plastic bag.
Jessica looked around the house, petting a cat here or there, until a burst of green fire from the fireplace caught her attention. Albus Dumbledore, her grandfather, stepped out. She walked into the living room and looked at him.
He had aged significantly and had rings under his eyes. She frowned, her grandfather was always smiling, always had a twinkle in his eyes, he was NEVER stressed. Something, something very serious, was wrong. "Grandpa?" she asked quietly.
She heard the boy gasp and start stuttering, but she paid him no mind. She was focused on why her grandfather was so…worn out looking.
Grandpa? GRANDPA?!?! I never even knew he had CHILDREN! Harry thought wildly as he stared at Dumbledore and Jessica.
"Jessie. I'm sorry we had to meet again under such…aggrieving circumstances. Jessica looked at Dumbledore and said, "Aggrieving? What's wrong?" She sounded close to tears. "I cannot tell you. Nor can I tell you Harry, and for that I'm deeply sorry, but you will both find out as much as you are allowed in due time. Now, come with me and pay CLOSE attention to where I go and what I say."
He walked over to the fireplace and dipped his hand in the powder. Stepping into the grate, he threw the powder down and yelled, "NUMBER 12, GRIMMAULD PLACE!" And in a whirl of emerald flames, he was gone.
Jessica understood immediately. She walked over to the fireplace and copied her grandfather, knowing she would arrive there unharmed, as the Secret Keeper had told her exactly what she needed to get in.
She just hoped that the boy-no, Harry- wasn't an idiot and would catch on. Although, she wasn't quite sure why she wanted him to catch on. She didn't even know him.
Harry had caught on-he was supposed to floo to 'Number 12, Grimmauld Place', to find Jessica and Dumbledore. Although he had a feeling they weren't going to be the only ones there waiting for him.
As he arrived in the house, he realized his assumptions were right. In front of him stood a big band of people, although he noticed Dumbledore was not among them. He saw Jessica standing next to a brown haired girl, and she was hugging a red headed boy. The brown haired girl turned around and yelled, "Harry!" And soon Harry was being engulfed in a bone-crushing hug from one of his best friends, Hermione Granger.
"Let the boy breathe, Hermione. He just got here, you have 6 weeks left to smother him to death." Harry laughed and gave Ron a 'man hug' after Hermione let him go. Ron grinned and grabbed Jessica's hand, saying, "Harry, I don't know if you've met her, but this is Jessica Rade. She lived in America before she moved here. She's the daughter of one of my mum's friends. We've known each other since we were born. Jessie, this is Harry Potter, one of my best friends from school."
Harry looked at Jessica. Apparently, she was only rude and conceited to him.
Jessica rolled her eyes at Ron and said, "We've met.", icily.
Ron looked a bit taken aback by her tone, but she didn't mind. Ron should know that she didn't take well to strangers trying to control her.
So what if he was THE Harry Potter, just because he was famous, didn't mean he could push her around. In her opinion, he was just another ego inflated moron.
Ron couldn't believe he had found someone who didn't know Harry. Every other person would have gasped and made a big deal about him being THE Harry Potter.
Hermione looked from Ron, to Jessica to Harry until she finally couldn't take it any longer. "What happened?" she asked.
She wouldn't stand being in a room with two people who couldn't get along. This girl obviously meant a lot to Ron, and so did Harry.
If Jessica was anything like Harry, a good friend, she wouldn't let Ron go. Which would mean big fights between them.
She was determined to get to the bottom of this. Whether they liked it or not.
Jessica stared at Hermione and said, "He was being a jerk, so I told him off and tried to walk away when he grabbed my arm."
"Oh, I was NOT being a jerk! I simply turned around to see who was behind me and saw you. It looked like you were crying and I didn't know if I should ask you what happened or leave you alone. Sorry for being concerned, even though I don't know you." Harry said, heatedly.
"Oh yea, you wanted to know how little insignificant me feels? Well, last night I caught my boyfriend of 5 years cheating on me, him calling ME a slut because I hugged my friend in front of him the next day, even though I TOOK HIM BACK after what he did, he broke it off and then I get hit by a car. The friend that I hugged just got MURDERED by Voldemort because of me, so SORRY if I'm not exactly TRUSTING every random guy I meet on the street!" Jessica yelled.
The tears from an hour ago were coming back up and she knew everyone in the room was looking at her. She wouldn't look at Harry so she ran out of the room, even though she didn't know where the hell she was.
Harry felt as though he had just been smacked in the face. Oops... Ron looked at him and gave him an apologetic look, running out after Jessica.
Hermione looked at Harry and said, "Harry, it wasn't your fault. You just caught her at a bad time. Trust me, she'll probably forgive you sooner or later. Don't worry about it." Harry nodded and looked up at everyone. He smiled sheepishly at them and they gave him sympathetic looks.
Molly ushered the children out of the room and told Harry she was glad to see him, but there was an Order meeting in progress, so he would have to wait upstairs in his room that he shared with Ron. Hermione would be able to take him there.
They walked up the stairs onto the first landing and Hermione walked over to the first door on the left. She pushed the door open a little and Harry looked into it.
Jessica was sitting on the bed opposite the one Ron was on and she was glaring at the floor.
Jessica heard the door slowly creak open and looked up from her glaring match with the floor. She saw Harry and Hermione in the doorway. She looked at Harry's face and sighed, saying, "Harry, can I talk to you for a minute? Outside?" After he nodded, she got up and walked over to the door, while Hermione gave her a slight nod on her way to the bed.
Jessica closed the door behind her and said, "Look, I'm sorry about blowing up on you and calling you a jerk, but it was just sort of the wrong time, you know? I just lost two really important people in my life and I didn't know how to cope with it, so I let it out on the first person who crossed my way. That person just happened to be you. So, I'm sorry. But you certainly know how it feels, don't you? I mean, when my parents died, I had no one, but at least I got to spend 13 years with them. You didn't even get a full two years. I'm rambling now aren't I? Sorry, I do that when I'm nervous…" Jessica blushed and looked down.
Harry took in Jessica's little speech before saying, "He was an idiot, you know."
When Jessica looked at him, confused, he cleared his throat and said, "Your boyfriend. He was an idiot. For cheating on you. He didn't deserve you."
Jessica opened her mouth and then closed it, trying to think of what to say to that probably. She did that a couple more times before she finally said, "Th-thanks."
Jessica was astounded. She hadn't even known Harry for more than two hours and he was saying things Ron wouldn't even say, even though Ron had known her ever since he was born.
She smiled nervously at Harry and said, "Well, we should probably go back in before one of them thinks we've killed each other." She laughed a bit.
Harry laughed as well and reached for the door knob.
Ron looked up as the two walked back into the room, laughing. "What happened? First you wanted to rip each other's heads off, and now you're laughing like old friends? Must have been SOME talk…"
Jessica laughed and said, "Ron, you probably wouldn't understand even if you tried."
Harry grinned and thought, This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…