Year Six At Hogwart's
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters except Renaiconna. All else are intellectual property of Mrs. J. K. Rowling. (Thanks for the great reads, Jo!)
CHAPTER ONE
A Guest for Tea
It was one of those hot summer days that made you want to drag out the kiddie pool and fill it with water to bask in while reading a trashy romance novel bought of the corner five and dime. In fact, more than one of the inhabitants of the large, square houses of Privet Drive were doing just that. And Dudley Dursley seemed to be having a fine time running around in a ski mask wearing all black (never mind it was the middle of summer) with similarly dressed friends, drenching the kiddie pool loungers and their respective copies of the latest from Danielle Steele with ice cold water. One teenage boy, however, seemed content with writing a letter in a somewhat cramped bedroom on the second floor of number four Privet Drive.
It had been only two weeks since he had bid farewell to his friends from school and the Order of the Phoenix, and Harry Potter was already bored out of his mind. Mr. Weasley had promised to rescue him from Vernon and Petunia Dursley, Harry's uncle and aunt, as soon as possible, but nobody had sent precise word on when that would be.
A large, snowy owl hooted softly from her perch on the open window's sill.
"All right, all right, Hedwig, I'll get you another treat…" Harry complained good-naturedly as he paused in his writing to fetch another owl treat from a small leather pouch strewn amongst other belongings on the bedroom floor.
As Hedwig nibbled happily on her treat, Harry heard the front door open and close, followed by the tell-tale squelching of Dudley's soaking wet socks in his similarly conditioned shoes. Harry's large, pig-faced cousin rushed to the kitchen sink to fill up his water pistol, Aunt Petunia clearly ignoring his highly suspicious behavior. Harry heard the front door open again, but was amused at a high-pitched, surprised squeak emitting, he assumed, from Dudley.
Probably got soaked by his own friends, thought Harry with a smirk as he made to head downstairs to see Dudley after getting a taste of his own medicine.
Harry was at first a bit disappointed that Dudley remained dry, but the disappointment soon faded into curiosity as he noticed Dudley staring, almost dreamily, at someone standing in the front door.
As he came into the front hall, he could see that person clearly. She stood at about 1.65 meters (about 5'5") and looked like a beautiful statue, much like the Venus De Milo, Harry mentally noted, which would explain Dudley's dreamlike staring at her. She wore a tight-fitting grey T-shirt that showed her belly button a little and loose-fitting olive green cargo pants with black boots. She ran a hand through her thick, long dark red hair from her hair line to the back of her head before scratching that area and smiling, her pearly white, almost perfect teeth highlighted against soft-looking rose-colored lips. Her large hazel eyes twinkled as she saw Harry.
"Harry Potter? she inquired with an American accent that was a light mix of southern and east coast. Harry nodded wordlessly and gulped. Well, at least Dudley didn't have horrible taste in women.
"Duddykins, please close the door on your way out!" came Aunt Petunia's voice as she headed towards the front door. She nearly dropped the dish she was toweling off when she saw Harry's mysterious visitor.
The visitor just continued to smile charmingly. "Ah, Petunia Dursley, Harry's aunt, I'm guessing? If you don't mind, some tea while Harry is getting together his things would be greatly appreciated, thank you." Aunt Petunia just stood there, gaping. The stranger suddenly slapped herself on the head. "Oh, damn, I forgot! My name is Renaiconna Silvryn. I've been sent by Albus Dumbledore to-."
The young lady hadn't even finished her sentence before Aunt Petunia rushed her into the house, clearly uncomfortably spurred on by the mention of Dumbledore and not wanting to displease anyone associated with him, as six years of unpleasant results in doing so had taught her. Renaiconna was seated at the kitchen table as Aunt Petunia hastily made a cup of tea.
Harry shut the front door and stood gawking along with Dudley at the beautiful newcomer. Renaiconna glanced over at the two and smirked. "Harry, your things? Pack them. The suburbs kinda creep me out." Harry nodded dumbly and dashed up to his room to throw things in his school trunk. By the time Harry had finished packing and dragging his trunk and Hedwig's cage down the steps to the front hall, Renaiconna was finishing her cup of tea and was smiling over her shoulder at Aunt Petunia. "Thanks for the tea and biscuits, Pettie! See you later!" Aunt Petunia shivered at the thought and visibly relaxed as soon as the two had left the house. Sinking into a kitchen chair, she had no idea what to think about what had just happened and who that strange girl was.
"First things, first, Harry, no, I actually wasn't sent by Professor Dumbledore, but I knew that was the right name to drop if I wanted to get some respect around here. I'm actually here to take you to the Weasley's; I know Arthur, er, Mr. Weasely. Now, get in." She motioned to a black El Camino parked on the street in front of the Dursely's home. Renaiconna had probably brought it with her from the United States, as the steering wheel was on the left, not the right, side. Harry just blinked at the car.
"Um, we're not gonna… fly in the middle of the day, are we? And I thought enchanted cars were illegal," Harry finally managed to say something.
"Fly?! Good Lord, no! We're driving to the Burrow, hon." Harry cautiously slipped into shotgun after Renaiconna had strapped his trunk and Hedwig's cage into the open back of the El Camino. She started the car.
They were almost halfway to the Burrow before Harry spoke again. "Um, so, how do you know Mr. Weasley? You look like-."
"I'm your age? Yeah. S'because I am. Well, okay, I'm about a year older, but still. See, Mr. Weasley helped me have a smooth transfer into England through the Ministry of Magic. We got pretty close in only a few weeks. They all treat me like I'm part of the family now." Harry smiled. The Weasley's were very friendly and hospitable and had treated him like family almost as soon as they met him.
"But you're using Muggle things?"
Renaiconna smirked. "Heh, funny, though, because I'm pure-blood. But, I pretty much grew up Muggle. Besides, the Ministry's given me a one year grace period to get into the swing of things here. See, in the U.S., the Department of Internal Magical Affairs allows a bit more freedom as far as intermingling with Muggles and their things, anyhow." Harry nodded, intrigued. Was America really that different from here?
After a few minutes of silence, Renaiconna turned to Harry. "So, you're, like, world-famous, huh?" Harry dreaded the stream of questions that was bound to follow, but he wasn't expecting Renaiconna's follow-up…
"Dude, that's gotta suck!" Harry laughed. That was the first time he ever had somebody understand that it was harder being him than most people thought.
"Well, Harry, it's gonna be about 2 and a half more hours by roads, so you might as well nap, or something. I promise I won't run into a Mack truck, or, what d'yall call 'em, here? A lorry?"
As Harry nodded off in the passenger seat, he smiled. This Renaiconna Silvryn seemed all right, if not talkative. Not to mention she was pretty. And if he got to spend a few weeks in the same house as her, he would be a happy 16-year-old boy.