The Reunion at Privet Drive
The sun climbed over the roofs and the occasional weather vane in the houses of Privet Drive, illuminating the entire street with its perfect lawns and pristine road. The street looked the same as it ever had done, except for a few minor changes, and a house that looked like it had been hauled out of a different, more older part of town and placed at where number 4 used to be. The inhabitant of this ancient house emerged from the large oaken doors to casually pick up the morning paper - it was a tall, skinny man with hair as black as a raven's feather, eyes like emeralds rammed into his eye sockets and glasses perched on his nose. But the most prominent feature of this man was a large cut shaped like a bolt of lightning across his forehead, this was Mr Harry Potter. He gave a nonchalant wave to old Mr Romanda from number 8 who was up early walking his Chihuahua which began yapping menacingly at the newspaper Harry was holding. He gave the dog a condescending smile and went back into the colossal house that was Number 4 Privet Drive.
"Oh you're up dear," Harry said to an extremely pretty woman who was rummaging the shelves looking for cornflakes.
"Good morning to you too!" she said with a warming smile. This was Cho, who had been married to Harry for three years now.
Harry peered through the window and put a sudden finger to his lips. He could hear a rapid tapping, and was relieved to see a large eagle owl pecking at the sliding patio door overlooking number 4 Privet Drive's garden. Cho let the owl in and took a piece of paper enclosed in its beak. She began to read as the owl flew to a bowl of water where the absent Hedwig would normally sip from.
"Oh it's from Dean Thomas!" she read, "Him and his girlfriend can make it to the barbecue this afternoon. Hurrah!"
That afternoon, there was a lot more commotion at Privet Drive, there were three cars parked outside the Potters' house, getting disapproving looks from the neighbours. So far, Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley and his wife Hermione were at their house, as well as Lavender and her boyfriend, Seamus, who had known her for years.
First to arrive was Harry's old friend from school, Parvati who had brought her new artist boyfriend, Alexei.
"Alexei only drinks from wine glasses that have been licked all around the rim.ANTI clockwise, mind," Parvati informed Harry as he poured out some cognac for the guests. "He can tell when it's been done correctly, you know."
Harry gave a furtive glance towards Hermione and winked at Ron as he wiped a wet dishcloth around the rim of the glass. Cho and Hermione watched with baited breath as Alexei sipped cognac from the wet glass, waiting for him to crack.
"This is very nice cognac," he said with a satisfied look on his face, helping himself to more drink.
Harry and Ron each slapped each other a high five and grinned sheepishly at Parvati, who seemed positively scandalised.
There was a knock on the door answered by Parvati who was under the impression her new boyfriend would make friends with the lads in her absence. There was an assortment of four people at the large wooden doors of the Potters' house. There was a tall black man, smiling at Parvati, who had his arm held, nay CRADLED by a very large woman with a sour look on her face.
"Dean you made it!" Hermione said coming to the door as Parvati ran to the garden looking harassed, "and I see you brought Milly too. How you been Mill?"
"My name is Millicent, Millicent Bulstrode, Granger and don't you forget it, or I'll pound you," she growled. "I'm only messing!" She said catching the way Hermione's jaw dropped, cracking her face into a doughy smile that would have caused a mirror to be so offended, it would have smashed itself.
Behind the couple were two teenagers, both with charcoal black hair and various piercings and gothic clothes. They were hand in hand and had solemn looks on their faces, the black lipstick and white face make up made them both appear to be suffering from constant teenage angst.
"Ginny! Love the new look. and Colin? Colin CREEVY! Is that you?" Hermione said as the pair walked in without a word, chewing on gum casually. "Nice to see you too."
"Look who's here!" Hermione called to Cho and Harry who were busy preparing the barbecue with the unhelpful assistance of Ron who was utterly intrigued by this way of cooking.
"So you burn the meat on this large cauldron eh?" he remarked flapping about excitedly as Harry and Cho lit the charcoal, "HEY HERMIONE! Come look at this! Muggles these days, they don't realise how fascinating their everyday lives can be!"
Hermione was used to Ron talking excitedly about Muggles as if they were zoo creatures whose every doing was intriguing. He had inherited this enthralment from his father who used to work for the Ministry of Magic.
Later that evening Cho, Hermione and Lavender laid the table in the dining room for dinner with twelve places. Parvati was not helping as she said that it was against her beliefs to fit into the stereotypical role as cook and instead sat in Alexei's lap, fondling him lovingly. Ginny and Colin were in the lounge watching MTV with the speakers on maximum volume, watching a heavy metal music video.
Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean and Millicent were out in the garden on patio chairs, with Norah Jones quietly playing in the background. Dean and Millicent were sat next to each other, hand in hand. They had not been to Harry and Cho's house before and were somewhat impressed with the magnitude of the house.
"Harry isn't this where your aunt and uncle's house used to be?" Dean asked quizzically.
Harry reached down to get a glass of sherry he had left on the patio.
"Yeah they did," he said sipping the sherry, "but after I finished Hogwarts and Dudley went to Dover to run Grunnings ltd from there, the Dursleys needed a smaller house and were willing to sell the house. Well no one really liked the house and for six months, there had been no offers. So Cho and I discussed it and we agreed to buy 4 Privet Drive, it was the perfect location if we were to live in a normal Muggle city. The Dursleys refused the offer at first saying that he would rather have Mrs Figg live in their house than us. But he couldn't complain when we offered him over the asking price. "He's been quite warm to me and Cho since then actually. Aunt Petunia comes round every other month to give us some buns and currants, they live on the other side of town now bless them."
Dean looked questioningly at Harry.
"But Harry, this house was no where near this big when you showed me that picture years ago."
Harry gave a short chuckle and added, "Well we decided we didn't have to have our house looking like the rest of the street so we bought a large old house off this Banshee in Kilkenny who made a magical swap. So now the Dursleys' old house is on a hill in Ireland, even that blasted cupboard under the stairs."
"Guys! Millicent! Dinner's ready," Lavender called from the patio door.
The men and Millicent trooped back into the house, taking turns to wash hands and sit down near each other so that they could discuss Quidditch.
Ginny and Colin made their way to the table glumly but did not sit down.
"Colin and I do not want to sit on the table. We're going to eat in the lounge, if that's okay with you."
"Ginny!" Ron scolded, "Come and sit with the rest, it's rude to sit alone in the lounge!"
"No, really it's okay with me. Cho?" Harry said.
She smiled and nodded at Colin and Ginny.
"No Ginny is going to sit with the rest of us," Ron persisted.
"But the new Slipknot video is on!" Colin pleaded.
Ron suddenly perked up, "Slipknot you say? There space for three on that sofa?" he said running into the lounge with a bewildered Ginny and Colin and a plateful of food.
Everyone laughed except Millicent who did not find it funny and instead went to sit in the lounge herself. Parvati ate minimal, as she insisted that she could lose her figure since her metabolism was so slow nowadays but she fed Alexei, while on his lap.
And so the dinner at Privet Drive ended with everyone going home early the next morning, very content and happy.
The sun climbed over the roofs and the occasional weather vane in the houses of Privet Drive, illuminating the entire street with its perfect lawns and pristine road. The street looked the same as it ever had done, except for a few minor changes, and a house that looked like it had been hauled out of a different, more older part of town and placed at where number 4 used to be. The inhabitant of this ancient house emerged from the large oaken doors to casually pick up the morning paper - it was a tall, skinny man with hair as black as a raven's feather, eyes like emeralds rammed into his eye sockets and glasses perched on his nose. But the most prominent feature of this man was a large cut shaped like a bolt of lightning across his forehead, this was Mr Harry Potter. He gave a nonchalant wave to old Mr Romanda from number 8 who was up early walking his Chihuahua which began yapping menacingly at the newspaper Harry was holding. He gave the dog a condescending smile and went back into the colossal house that was Number 4 Privet Drive.
"Oh you're up dear," Harry said to an extremely pretty woman who was rummaging the shelves looking for cornflakes.
"Good morning to you too!" she said with a warming smile. This was Cho, who had been married to Harry for three years now.
Harry peered through the window and put a sudden finger to his lips. He could hear a rapid tapping, and was relieved to see a large eagle owl pecking at the sliding patio door overlooking number 4 Privet Drive's garden. Cho let the owl in and took a piece of paper enclosed in its beak. She began to read as the owl flew to a bowl of water where the absent Hedwig would normally sip from.
"Oh it's from Dean Thomas!" she read, "Him and his girlfriend can make it to the barbecue this afternoon. Hurrah!"
That afternoon, there was a lot more commotion at Privet Drive, there were three cars parked outside the Potters' house, getting disapproving looks from the neighbours. So far, Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley and his wife Hermione were at their house, as well as Lavender and her boyfriend, Seamus, who had known her for years.
First to arrive was Harry's old friend from school, Parvati who had brought her new artist boyfriend, Alexei.
"Alexei only drinks from wine glasses that have been licked all around the rim.ANTI clockwise, mind," Parvati informed Harry as he poured out some cognac for the guests. "He can tell when it's been done correctly, you know."
Harry gave a furtive glance towards Hermione and winked at Ron as he wiped a wet dishcloth around the rim of the glass. Cho and Hermione watched with baited breath as Alexei sipped cognac from the wet glass, waiting for him to crack.
"This is very nice cognac," he said with a satisfied look on his face, helping himself to more drink.
Harry and Ron each slapped each other a high five and grinned sheepishly at Parvati, who seemed positively scandalised.
There was a knock on the door answered by Parvati who was under the impression her new boyfriend would make friends with the lads in her absence. There was an assortment of four people at the large wooden doors of the Potters' house. There was a tall black man, smiling at Parvati, who had his arm held, nay CRADLED by a very large woman with a sour look on her face.
"Dean you made it!" Hermione said coming to the door as Parvati ran to the garden looking harassed, "and I see you brought Milly too. How you been Mill?"
"My name is Millicent, Millicent Bulstrode, Granger and don't you forget it, or I'll pound you," she growled. "I'm only messing!" She said catching the way Hermione's jaw dropped, cracking her face into a doughy smile that would have caused a mirror to be so offended, it would have smashed itself.
Behind the couple were two teenagers, both with charcoal black hair and various piercings and gothic clothes. They were hand in hand and had solemn looks on their faces, the black lipstick and white face make up made them both appear to be suffering from constant teenage angst.
"Ginny! Love the new look. and Colin? Colin CREEVY! Is that you?" Hermione said as the pair walked in without a word, chewing on gum casually. "Nice to see you too."
"Look who's here!" Hermione called to Cho and Harry who were busy preparing the barbecue with the unhelpful assistance of Ron who was utterly intrigued by this way of cooking.
"So you burn the meat on this large cauldron eh?" he remarked flapping about excitedly as Harry and Cho lit the charcoal, "HEY HERMIONE! Come look at this! Muggles these days, they don't realise how fascinating their everyday lives can be!"
Hermione was used to Ron talking excitedly about Muggles as if they were zoo creatures whose every doing was intriguing. He had inherited this enthralment from his father who used to work for the Ministry of Magic.
Later that evening Cho, Hermione and Lavender laid the table in the dining room for dinner with twelve places. Parvati was not helping as she said that it was against her beliefs to fit into the stereotypical role as cook and instead sat in Alexei's lap, fondling him lovingly. Ginny and Colin were in the lounge watching MTV with the speakers on maximum volume, watching a heavy metal music video.
Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean and Millicent were out in the garden on patio chairs, with Norah Jones quietly playing in the background. Dean and Millicent were sat next to each other, hand in hand. They had not been to Harry and Cho's house before and were somewhat impressed with the magnitude of the house.
"Harry isn't this where your aunt and uncle's house used to be?" Dean asked quizzically.
Harry reached down to get a glass of sherry he had left on the patio.
"Yeah they did," he said sipping the sherry, "but after I finished Hogwarts and Dudley went to Dover to run Grunnings ltd from there, the Dursleys needed a smaller house and were willing to sell the house. Well no one really liked the house and for six months, there had been no offers. So Cho and I discussed it and we agreed to buy 4 Privet Drive, it was the perfect location if we were to live in a normal Muggle city. The Dursleys refused the offer at first saying that he would rather have Mrs Figg live in their house than us. But he couldn't complain when we offered him over the asking price. "He's been quite warm to me and Cho since then actually. Aunt Petunia comes round every other month to give us some buns and currants, they live on the other side of town now bless them."
Dean looked questioningly at Harry.
"But Harry, this house was no where near this big when you showed me that picture years ago."
Harry gave a short chuckle and added, "Well we decided we didn't have to have our house looking like the rest of the street so we bought a large old house off this Banshee in Kilkenny who made a magical swap. So now the Dursleys' old house is on a hill in Ireland, even that blasted cupboard under the stairs."
"Guys! Millicent! Dinner's ready," Lavender called from the patio door.
The men and Millicent trooped back into the house, taking turns to wash hands and sit down near each other so that they could discuss Quidditch.
Ginny and Colin made their way to the table glumly but did not sit down.
"Colin and I do not want to sit on the table. We're going to eat in the lounge, if that's okay with you."
"Ginny!" Ron scolded, "Come and sit with the rest, it's rude to sit alone in the lounge!"
"No, really it's okay with me. Cho?" Harry said.
She smiled and nodded at Colin and Ginny.
"No Ginny is going to sit with the rest of us," Ron persisted.
"But the new Slipknot video is on!" Colin pleaded.
Ron suddenly perked up, "Slipknot you say? There space for three on that sofa?" he said running into the lounge with a bewildered Ginny and Colin and a plateful of food.
Everyone laughed except Millicent who did not find it funny and instead went to sit in the lounge herself. Parvati ate minimal, as she insisted that she could lose her figure since her metabolism was so slow nowadays but she fed Alexei, while on his lap.
And so the dinner at Privet Drive ended with everyone going home early the next morning, very content and happy.