The sound of the telephone's ring startled Harry out of his reverie and he suppressed a sigh. Dudley waddled to the phone, snapping a harsh "What?" into the mouthpiece. A minute later, Dudley pulled away from the phone and yelled, "Dad! Phone's for you!" Harry grimaced at the loud noise and his cousin smirked.
Sorry, Dudley, but your smirk has nothing on Professor Snape's, Harry thought, continuing the arduous task of cleaning the entire kitchen.
"Hey, freak, you missed a spot," Dudley jeered. Harry ignored him. "I'll tell Mum, freak." Harry continued with his cleaning as Vernon finally entered to answer the phone. "Dad, the freak's ignoring me!" Dudley immediately whined. Vernon whirled around, his arm flashing out fast to strike Harry, who made no effort to get out of the way.
Harry's head snapped back from the force of the blow, and he barely managed to keep his anger from flaring to life. Somewhere within the depths of his mind, he knew to stop and focus on something else, so he did just that: he went back to his cleaning.
"Next time Dudley tells you to do something, you do it. Got that you miserable brat?" Harry flicked his eyes in the general direction of his uncle and nodded, not daring to speak. Vernon grunted and answered the phone. "Yes, Vernon Dursley speaking?"
Jamilene Dawson, or Jami as she liked to be called, looked around blandly. All she could see was mist, or was it fog? Either way, she couldn't see clearly. In fact, the only things she could see were a few shadowy forms and a pinpoint of light here and there. She vaguely wondered if this had anything to do with her unknown father. Since it had only been a drunken one night stand, and since her mother had been thoroughly sloshed, she knew nothing about the man who was her father. She had no knowledge of his looks or his name, and it wouldn't have mattered either way. She was the spitting image of her mom, everyone said so.
Jami looked up, startled from her thoughts, when a voice as soothing and quiet as a balmy breeze drifted to her ears. "We have been waiting for you, young Jamilene. Please, come in." (A/N: Don't do it, Jami! No, don't do it!) A large set of double doors appeared in front of her and as Jami moved slowly forward, so, too, did the doors slowly open.
Jami walked in and took a cursory glance of the room. It was a circular chamber with stands all around, so there was no way to protect her back with a wall. People of all races filled the stands, and when Jami said all, she meant it literally. There were humans, humans with magic, elves, vampires, werewolves, veela; every type of ethnic group seemed to be in attendance.
"May I inquire as to why I'm here?" Jami asked. As soon as she spoke, her hand flew to her throat for the voice that spoke wasn't hers. Her voice was low and slightly rough, and could easily be described of as almost male.
The voice she'd spoken with, however, was very different. The voice she'd had was light and airy. Musical, like the sweet notes of a flute or piano, or like the tinkling of wind chimes. It was soft, beautiful, amazing…almost ethereal, and compared to the loud obnoxious words the other voice formed, this was, quite simply, the best.
Jami broke from her analytical musings and forced her thoughts back to the subject at hand. The men and women around her seemed to be waiting patiently and she looked to the far wall where a slightly larger chair was located. A young man with dark hair to match his dark eyes sat watching her. When he noticed he had her attention, he smiled.
"The differences are a bit hard to take in at the present moment, but I ask for your patience and for you to retain your questions until I am finished. At that point, you may say anything you wish. Will you please do that for me?" Jami nodded in reply. "I thank you, young one." He paused for a moment, as if pondering what to say.
"I suppose I should start at the beginning but sometimes the beginning is the end." Another pause. "Have you ever done anything strange or unexplainable before?" Jami nodded and the man seemed to think some more. "Would you believe me if I told you that there was such a thing as magic?" Again, the girl nodded. "And if I told you you could use, control, and manipulate it?" Now it was Jami's turn to think. Did she believe she could use magic? The answer was immediate.
"Yes, I suppose so," she said in her new voice. The man nodded, obviously back in his own little world.
After a few more minutes, he looked back up at her. "And angels?" he demanded. Jami frowned in confusion, wondering just what this had to do with her, and if the man was even sane.
"Sorry?"
"Do you believe in angels?" He repeated.
"Yes, sir, yes I do."
"Good, good. Not many people do, these days, I'm afraid. Now let me tell you a rather short story. There was once a young couple, a witch and a wizard, who loved each other very much. One was born of two non magical people, while the other was born of one magic and one non magic. Their love for each other was, sadly, looked down upon, but neither cared. A war was going on during this time, and the man joined with the wrong side to spy while the woman became a healer.
"A few months later, the woman found out she was pregnant and on the way to tell her lover, her memories were wiped and replaced with those of another man. The woman married the other man and all believed the child she bore was her husband's. Her lover was heartbroken and became very bitter. He accidentally gave his love's location away to the evil wizard of the time and the woman and her husband were killed." Here the man stopped and stayed silent. Jami opened her mouth to speak, but remembered her promise to stay silent until he was finished and subsided.
"The child lived, as did the child's true father. And ever since then, the child has nearly escaped death every year." He paused. "You may ask one question now." Jami almost blurted all of them out but stopped and picked through them to find a relevant one.
"What, exactly, does this have to do with me?" Jami inquired.
"Ah, I had hoped you would ask me that. Do you remember when I mentioned angels earlier?" The man's smile was like those ones in the movies, where the bad guy smiles a smile filled with blackened teeth that bodes ill for the hero/heroine, except a bit…nicer, sort of.
"Yes, sir."
"Well, it appears that you are an angel. A guardian angel, to be precise. And you are not just any guardian angel, young Jamilene; you are the boy in the story's guardian angel. He's not much of a child now, but he is in definite need of an angel, especially since his godfather died last year."
"I see." Jami stopped, not about to ask questions when the man had more information to give.
"The child's name is Harry Potter, and his biological father is Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts. Harry lives with the Dursley family on Number 4 Privet Drive. I'm warning you now, young Jamilene, his home life is not ideal, and no matter how angry you become, you must not hurt them, for they will take it out on you. Harry is an honorable lad, and he will try to protect you. Do not let him do this. Ever, no matter where you are or even who it is."
"Yes sir." Jami nodded but internally she wondered just how awful the poor boy's life was.
"On a slightly brighter note, no one knows what exactly your gifts, due to your status as guardian angel, will be. They will show themselves in time."
"May I ask another question?" The man grinned.
"You just did. But yes, you may ask your questions now."
"Thank you." Jami paused, pondering how to phrase her next inquiry. "If I am an angel, does this mean I have passed on to this life?" That made everyone in the room laugh.
"Don't worry, child, we were not laughing at you," the man said, seeing her put-out expression. "We merely found the phrasing amusing. In answer to your question, no you are not dead. I am assuming your next question will be how you can be an angel, yes?" Jami nodded (A/N: she seems to be doing that a lot). "Well, your father is an angel, also a guardian, so it is only natural that you might be one as well. Any more questions?"
"Oh, may just a few thousand more," Jami muttered sarcastically. The man chuckled. "What are my duties as Harry's guardian angel?"
"It normally depends on the charge. For you, it would be to provide support, give him somebody to lean on, so to speak. At this present time, he's following Albus Dumbledore, but Dumbledore's time is fast approaching, and Harry must learn to make his own decisions. Let him stand on his own but catch him when he falls, and lead him gently through the rougher points of his life." Jami thought about what he said and nodded.
"Are there any goals?"
"I'm sorry, I don't understand." The man replied.
Jami elaborated. "Is there a point he needs to reach, as in emotionally or mentally? Do I eventually need to inform both him and his father of their blood-ties or something similar? Or should I just be there for Harry and let the Fates take it from there?"
It was a long time before the man replied. "I would suggest talking to Harry's mother about that. I also think you yourself should make goals after you meet and get to know him. Speaking of, you will be going to live with the Dursleys under the pretense of your mother not wanting to deal with you and paying Vernon for it. You will be keeping your name as it is, and you are supposedly an American and are on your way to their home as we speak. If you wish to speak with Lily Potter, or your father, Richard, you'd best get moving as you will need to be at the Dursleys in a half hour." Jami nodded sharply and briskly left the room, hoping to be able to speak with Harry's mum quickly so that she could finally meet her Da.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Like? Don't like? Lemme know, please, 'cause otherwise I don't know what you like. And this really isn't meant to be religious, if it bothers you. I just thought Harry could use somebody to lean on and this popped into my head.
Side note: For future reference, angels are immortal, meaning they know a lot and they jump from subject to subject because most everyone they meet knows what they're talking about. While Jami's only half, she got the gene of jumping from topic to topic. I plan to have her piss off Snape by doing this, but it might not work out, we'll just have to see…Also, Jami's not immortal. She's immune to the Killing Curse, but can still die *hint, hint*.
REVIEW!!!!!...pweese? *gives extremely convincing puppy pout*