The Girl Next Door

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1- New Neighbors

It had been a long summer at the Dursley's and it was only two weeks into it. Rain poured against the windows putting Harry Potter in a more depressed mood than he already was. The forecast was nonstop rain for as far as they could see. Last year it had been extreme heat and this year was torrential downpours.

Harry's friends had sent him letters saying how much they missed him and that they would get him out of the muggles's house soon. The usual jibber jabber. No one dared say anything about Sirius. Harry tried not thinking about it, but every horrible detail would haunt him through nightmares or even when he was awake. His family wasn't making anything any better.

Aunt Petunia was making dinner, a stir fry of chicken and beef, while Dudley sat in front of a reality show he was hooked on. Uncle Vernon sat at the dining room table droning on about his boring day at work though trying to make it sound amusing. "Yes well, my associate, John Day, ordered four drills when I told him to order five! Ha ha ha… everyone at the office is so out of it lately ." Aunt Petunia giggled along with him. Harry found nothing funny about the matter and didn't think he would even if he were in a good mood.

Harry was getting very bored. Dudley cackling at the TV with his mouth full of candy was making him sick, Uncle Vernon was trying his patience with his stupid jokes and Aunt Petunia's cooking smelled a bit burned. Uncle Vernon stopped laughing for a minuet to glare at Harry. "Why don't you make yourself useful?" he asked. "The rain has cleared up a bit, go outside and mow the lawn like I told you to do this afternoon." With nothing else to do, Harry decided this was better than watching the Dursley's boring routine progress.

He went outside and took the lawn mower out of the garage. He didn't understand his uncle sometimes. How was he going to manage mowing wet grass? That made Harry decide to grab the old fashioned one instead. On his way out to the lawn, he noticed a large truck parked outside the house next door. He knew that the family next door had moved out and he was quite happy about it. They were like the Dursley's partners in crime. They also seemed to loath Harry and weren't shy about showing it. As Harry pushed the mower back and forth he saw the new neighbors get out of a shiny sports car behind the moving truck. They seemed like a decent family. A man, a woman and a baby. And walking from the other side of the car, a girl, seemingly about Harry's age.

Harry couldn't help being slightly taken by her beauty. Her long, sandy blonde hair cascaded down her back in soft curls. Her face was very proportionate. Everything was the right shape and in the right place. Her light, clear complexion seemed to glow under the overcast skies.

After a moment Harry realized that he had stopped mowing entirely and was just standing outside in the rain. He quickly got back to mowing. As the family dashed inside their new house, they waved to him. He caught the girl's eye and waved back, and hoping he was giving them a friendly smile. She smiled back.

Harry awoke in his room the next day to Hedwig picking at her cage. He glanced out the window to gray skies, but could tell it had stopped raining. He went downstairs to see if he needed to start breakfast or if Aunt Petunia had gotten sick of waiting and made it herself. To Harry's relief she had already cooked scrambled eggs.

He got himself a plate and sat down at the table with them. Uncle Vernon was reading the newspaper and Dudley seemed to already be on his third helping. "Vernon, I thought that we should go over to the new neighbors house and give them a warm welcome to the neighborhood," Aunt Petunia suggested. Whenever anyone new came around she always had to poke her nose into their business. "Alright, in a minuet," Uncle Vernon answered absently.

'In a minuet' turned out to be in a few hours. Harry found himself feeling quite impatient until at twelve noon, they all decided to go.

Uncle Vernon pushed the door bell, and Aunt Petunia and Dudley stood next to him. They kept Harry stuck behind them. They heard footsteps coming to the door and the man Harry had seen getting out of the car the day before answered it. "Hello," he said pleasantly in an American accent. "What can I do for you?" "Hello, we're your new neighbors. We thought we'd come over and welcome you to the neighbor hood," Aunt Petunia said. "Oh, wonderful! Come on in," he said opening the door wider.

He lead them to what seemed to be the living room. "Sorry it's such a mess, we just started unpacking," he said. "Quite alright," Petunia said though giving the messy room a disapproving glance. He disappeared for a minuet and came back with the rest of his family.

"Pleasure to meet you," the woman said. "My name is Claire Winston, and this is my husband, David, our son, Jason, and our daughter Whitney." They all shook hands. "Pleasure." Petunia said. "My name is Petunia Dursley, and this is my husband Vernon, and our son Dudley," Petunia said. "Oh, and that's our nephew Harry," she added as if it didn't really matter. Vernon started talking to David, Petunia struck up a conversation with Claire and started cooing over the baby, and Dudley sat on the couch, obviously very bored.

Whitney stood next to Harry but they were very quiet. Harry decided to break the awkward silence. "So…um…where are you from?" he asked. "Wisconsin," she simply answered. Harry figured that she must be shy. "My family moved here on business. They work together as managers of a department store chain and they want to branch out to other countries," Whitney said quietly. "Cool," Harry answered. He wished he could have thought of more things to say.

Petunia seemed to be getting along quite well with Claire as they took they're conversation to the kitchen so Claire could show her the 'lovely floral wallpaper'. Vernon and David continued talking about business and Harry was very embarrassed to hear that he was saying the same thing to David as what he was talking about this morning.

Harry figured he wouldn't get to know her very well if they just stood there saying nothing. "Er…what school will you be going to?" he asked her and then mentally smacked himself because he would have to make up a school that he went to. "My mom is going to home school me," she said. "What about you?" Harry noticed she seemed to be warming up to him a little. "I…go to a boarding school in Scotland," Harry said. "Oh." She seemed a bit disappointed.

After awhile they got to talking about muggle sports that they liked and books and movies. He was very careful about not mentioning anything about the wizarding world. Harry was surprised when he looked up at the clock and it was 2:30. Two and a half hours flew by so fast.

Petunia tapped Dudley awake. "We really should be going," she said. "Finally," Dudley muttered. "Yes it was wonderful getting to know you all," Claire said as she walked the Dursley's out the door. "Harry, thank you so much for coming over," Whitney said. "Sure…and…if you ever wanted to do something…I'm right next door." Harry said. "Of course, we could see a movie or something. We're just going to be over here packing so I probably can tomorrow," she said. "Great!" Harry hoped he didn't sound too excited.

They all said goodbye and went back to their house. Dudley teased him on the way back. "Harry's got a girlfriend!" Harry didn't say anything back to him. Let the great oaf laugh all he wanted. Maybe Harry did.

Thanks for reading and please review and tell me if I should continue!

EnglandGirl8990