Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Hello! First Harry Potter fic! HarryxGinny RonxHermione, but from a much different perspective. Made a quick change thanks to one review, rofl! R+R
Vernon Dursley was the least magical person in England, and that was something he was very proud of. He worked for Grunnings, a company that sold drills, and in the past seventeen years, despite his nephew's interference, he had moved up the corporate ladder so much that he was now in an executive position. In his self-regard, this achievement took second only to his "Least Magical Person in all of England' title.
His wife, Petunia, would soon be celebrating her 50th birthday, and he had gone to London to buy her a present. He thought a necklace would look rather lovely on her. Where he had so little neck it seemed almost invisible, his wife had twice the neck of a normal person. A simple string of pearls or other beads would be a perfect present. He parked his car and moved along the street looking for a jeweler.
His hair seemed to have regained some of its color, he noted looking into the reflective glass storefronts. It must have been the stress that had accelerated the graying process, and now that his stressors were gone, his color was beginning to soak back in. Dudley had gone to live in his own house, and worked at Grunnings with his father. His son was not the greatest inducer of stress for the past seventeen years, though.
For seventeen long and painful years, Vernon Dursley had to open his home for his nephew, who seemed to want to leave as much as the Dursleys wanted him gone. It had been two years since they had last seen… Vernon gulped before even thinking the name… Harry Potter. When he was eleven, he had been sent letters from some blasted school for magic, and as he attended it he became progressively stranger. They told the neighbors that he attended St. Brutus' Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys, and that provided a good enough excuse. Petunia was able to evade the worst gossipers of Privet Drive, at least.
For the last year, they had not ever thought of Harry, did not remember his frustrating owl, his oafish friends who didn't even know how to use a telephone, or any of the other oddities. They looked back on it as if it had been a rather unhappy dream.
That is why, walking about London, Vernon Dursley was rather upset by a most particular sight. He looked down the road he was now on, and saw a flat row of stores, but no jewelers. He blinked for only a second, and when he looked back up, a new door had formed, out of nowhere in particular. It seemed like a rather dirty tavern on the inside. It opened, and Vernon needed to rub his eyes, to make sure this hadn't all been a dream.
First, a girl with red hair hopped out, and the next person to leave was none other than- Harry Potter. His nephew was a little taller and older looking than Vernon had remembered, but that tousled black hair that stuck out in every direction and the round glasses that were slightly askew were unmistakably Harry's.
Harry put an arm around the redhead, and the two waited for their other friends to leave "The Leaky Cauldron" as the sign read. Another boy, with hair as red as the girl with Harry, held the hand of a girl with very curly brown hair. Vernon didn't realize he was following right behind them.
He overheard their conversation, "With N.E.W.T.S. like that, Ginny. You could do anything you wanted. I do regret not being able to take mine. I think I could've beaten that highest Tranfiguration grade McGonagall was talking about," said the brunette.
"Hermione, you'll always be a student at heart," Harry said, over his girlfriend's shoulder.
"Well, I was thinking," said the redhead girl, Ginny he remembered, "it can't hurt to take a few years off, not applying for a job, and maybe tryout for a Quidditch team."
The redheaded boy punched her shoulder affectionately; Vernon guessed they were siblings. "I'm sure you'd make one too."
Although the rest of the conversation was full of words like "Muggle" "Diviniation" and "Quidditch" Vernon got the main idea. He hadn't even remembered to look for jewelery stores anymore. He was too interested in following his nephew: someone who he had wished for so long didn't even exist.
Harry looked over his shoulder at one point, and noticed Vernon for the first time. "Uncle Vernon?" he said in disbelief. He smiled and held out his hand. Vernon took it and shook it. His friends had all turned and had very warm smiles. They were dressed in jeans and sweaters, and looked perfectly normal, almost as though they weren't witches and wizards. "These are my friends, Ginny and Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger" Harry introduced them. Vernon shook hands or waved to each of them.
"Pleasure to meet all of you," he said, almost breathless with surprise. It must have been some magic trick they were performing, but they blended into the London crowds even better than Vernon did. They didn't look at all like four mature citizens of the wizarding world.
"What brings you to London?" Harry asked.
"Just buying Petunia a birthday present. It's her 50th," Vernon explained.
"Oh, I should buy her something, too!" Harry exclaimed delightedly. "Oh no! I actually bought just the thing for her already," Harry held up a finger and then rummaged in one of the shopping bags he had, pulling out a cloth. "It's a Super-Clean towel. It'll clean itself and any dishes or other household messes without any work from you. I bought a few for the Burrow, but I think she would like one." Harry folded it up and handed it to him.
Vernon took it, not wanting to ruin the small amount of tolerance he had managed to develop for the boy and his friends. He stored it in his pocket. "Well, I'll be on my way then," Vernon said, bowing once to them, "It really was a pleasure meeting all of you. Wouldn't happen to know where I could find a jeweler around here?" he asked.
Hermione's hand seemed to have flicked behind her back toward the store next to them. "There's one right here," she gestured to the store they were standing near, and sure enough, "London Jewelers" read across the top. He was fairly sure that it had been a clothing store only moments ago. "Well, nice meeting you," she said. The four waved and continued on their way. Vernon entered the shop and found exactly the necklace he had been picturing, at a greatly discounted price.
When he returned home to Number Four, Privet Drive that night, he was sure not to tell Petunia about the four new acquaintances he made. He threw the towel in a trashcan, hoping that Harry wouldn't be able to see him. Petunia would not be thrilled about getting a magic towel for her birthday. It was still a complete shock to him that the day had even happened. He fell asleep immediately that night, and dreamt of N.E.W.T.S. and Quidditch and Chasers and Transfiguration.