Before Claire opened her eyes, she could hear the voices. They didn't seem to make any sense, so she decided to pretend to be sleeping until she knew she had control of her own senses. There was just no way this was happening…

"The Minister himself came in to check on her, but she was still unconscious. The potion should take effect any minute now, though."

"Good. Miss McCarty said Miss Gardner understood and accepted our offer, but the portkey transportation must have come as quite a shock."

"Do you think she meant to arrive in her knickers?"

"Ron, that is so inconsiderate! I'm not sure she knew she was going to come to England at all. She might not even realize she's a witch."

Claire took the opportunity to open her eyes. There were two men standing at the foot of her bed. One was over six feet tall and very lanky, with flaming red hair. The other was a little shorter with short black hair and glasses.

"Have you been talking to my roommate? It's her that's a witch, not me. I always clean up after myself when I'm done making dinner," she interjected sleepily.

The man with the red hair roared with laughter while the man with the glasses gave her a sly grin that seemed amused. Then he spoke.

"My name is Harry Potter, and I am an Auror for the Ministry of Magic. This is Ronald Weasley. He runs a joke shop."

"Come on now mate! You have to explain it a little better than that! I do run a joke shop, but I'm here on behalf of my dad. He's a big-wig in the Muggle and Squib Relations Department. He meant to be here but he ran into a spot of trouble with a cursed toilet. Someone made it so the flush knob does the opposite…"

Claire allowed herself to accept the impossible, for it seemed the only possible explanation for her current predicament. "So that Renada woman was telling the truth. I'm a witch."

Harry answered, "Quite right you are! I am here to help you with your training. As an auror, I'm generally occupied with catching dark wizards. However, business is slow at the moment, and quite frankly, I'm sick of thinking about villains all the bloody time. When I heard about you I thought I would pitch in a bit."

"My dad is going to check in on you periodically and help you acclimate to the wizarding world," said Ron.

"Do you have any questions right off the bat?" Harry asked.

"Yes… Do I get a phone call? My mom has some explaining to do."

As Ron sniggered to himself, Harry reiterated what Renada had told Claire earlier in the week. Electronics don't work around magic. "We can get you set up on the floo network later so you can talk to her. That's a type of communication that wizards can do by fire. What we need to do right now is get you out of here and over to your new flat."

Harry and Ron presented Claire with some long robes to change into. As she took a better look around her, Claire realized that everyone in the wizard hospital was wearing robes. What seemed to be the magical version of doctors were walking briskly down the hallways barking orders at cowering orderlies. The three of them walked down several flights of stairs to reach the ground floor. There were several roaring fire places located along the walls. Ron threw some powder into one of the hearths and the flames turned green. He instructed her to pay attention and then stepped into the flames. He shouted "Southbridge Place!" and vanished. Harry watched Claire step into the flames and calmly mimic Ron. He smiled to himself. She should be a real breath of fresh air.

Harry Potter was 22 years old and in the prime of his life, but he was not happy by any means. His longtime girlfriend, Ginny, had called off their relationship six months earlier and he had still not been able to move on. Ginny was partly worried that they hadn't seen enough of the world to settle on each other. When you're the only person I've ever really been with, how can I know if you're the person I want to be with for the rest of my life? Harry respected and loved her, so he let her go. They hadn't spoken in a month, and the only reason they had was because they were both at a Weasley family get-together.

To top things off, he was beginning to regret becoming an Auror. His entire life, up until five years ago, had been devoted to defeating the most powerful dark wizard in history. Now, after revamping the Auror department at the Ministry, he found himself mostly unoccupied. The department ran like a well-oiled machine, even though there were very few threats to be found. It was because of that amazing efficiency that Harry was able to take some time off to help a former squib develop her true powers.

When Harry had heard about Claire Gardner, he had felt that they shared some life experiences that would make him a good teacher for her to learn from. They had both grown up in the muggle world without ever being aware of their magical gifts. They had both lost parents without getting a chance to get to know them. They both had had terrible home situations before being whisked away to a brand new experience…

And she's very pretty, he thought to himself as he watched Claire examine her new flat. He couldn't help but notice the curve of her waist and the way her dark aubun hair fell in her face as she looked about each room.

"I'll come by in the morning and fetch you. We'll go visit Diagon Alley and get you a wand, then we can exchange some of your muggle money." Harry wasn't sure she had heard him. Claire was momentarily enchanted with a beautiful shelf that already contained all of her books from home. She decided that magic was pretty awesome. After a pause that seemed too long, she turned to Harry with a smile and replied "I'm looking forward to it."

That night, Claire wrote several letters to various people. Her boss and her friends were notified of her absence, where she tried to explain it away by claiming she was too stressed out by her new job and needed a change of scenery. The letter to Katie was the hardest. Claire told her that she wanted to explain everything, but she couldn't for a while. With a promise of full disclosure at the proper time, Claire finished the five page letter and put them in her bag to be dropped at the post the next day.

Ron had shown her how to work the floo system, so she popped her head into her mom's usually unlit hearth in her living room.

"MOM!" she yelled at the empty room.

"Claire? Where are you?"

"Right here. In the flipping fire. Magically. Is there something you would like to tell me?"

Her mother knelt before the fire, a silly grin on her face. "Did something happen? Can you do magic?"

"Yes mom, apparently I can. Why didn't you ever tell me that dad was a wizard?"

"Oh honey, would you have believed me? I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. And when the letter for school never came, I just assumed it would be best if you never knew what you were missing out on."

"Fair enough. The main point of this visit is to tell you that I moved to England. I've got myself a magic tutor. We're going to get a wand tomorrow. And magic stuff. I guess."

Claire spent the rest of her evening reading up on the world she was now going to live in. There were a couple of books on the history of magic in her new bookshelf. One of them she found particularly interesting. It described the latest wizarding war, and outlined the heroic efforts of her new friends, Harry and Ron. She couldn't believe two heroes like them would drop everything to help a stranger. She felt a deep surge of gratitude towards Harry. She looked forward to getting to know the real him, as opposed to the stark facts that the history book presented.

Harry arrived at Claire's flat at 7am on the dot the following morning. He was surprised to see she was awake and moving about her new kitchen. He had always heard that Americans were rather lazy and enjoyed sleeping in. The reason for Claire's sprightly attitude soon became clear.

"HARRY! I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Er… It's been about twelve hours. Are you alright?"

"Well..." she paused and made a sweeping look around the room. Pots and pans were strewn all over the countertop, and it seemed as though the stove had been recently moved from its spot against the wall. Two untoasted poptarts lay abandoned on a cookie sheet.

Claire continued, "I forgot wizards can't use electricity. I had kind of counted on having some modern appliances in the apartment. I went around the corner to the grocery store to buy some provisions…"

"And by provisions you mean poptarts…"

"Right! Anyways, I bought all these things without realizing I don't have a toaster or a microwave anymore. A refrigerator would also be helpful. I was hoping you could show me how to work this oven. Words cannot express how hungry I am right now."

Harry put his face in his hands. Of course she doesn't know how to cook anything on wizarding stoves! How could I have been so stupid as to leave her here without proper instructions! "I am so sorry, Claire! I should have realized you would have trouble with all these things. I grew up in the muggle world, as well, you know."

"Really? So you kind of understand how I'm having a little bit of culture shock right now."

"Of course. It took years for me to become at ease in the wizarding world. Everything still seemed so new and strange. How about we pick something up on our way? There's a wonderful little bakery in Diagon Alley that you might enjoy."

"Oh, thank God!"

The two stepped into the fire and floo'd to Diagon Alley. Harry marveled at the sense of wonder that appeared on Claire's face as she arrived in the bustling shopping hub. That must have been what I looked like eleven years ago.

As they ate breakfast and walked around, Harry was shocked to discover how comfortable he was around Claire. He had forgotten what it was like to talk to someone who didn't know all the sordid details of his past. There were very few secrets in the wizarding world. Even those portions of his life that happened to stay out of the history books were well known in his community.

After helping Claire exchange her money and set up a small vault in Gringots, Harry led her towards Ollivander's. Although Ollivander had a devastatingly traumatic experience in the war, he had returned rather quickly to his wand-making. Harry had been pleased to note, in the years following the war, that Ollivander had managed to right his store, which had been ransacked by Death Eaters, so that it looked exactly the way it had when Harry had gotten his wand.

A small bell chimed as they opened the door to the rather dusty store. As the two took a seat on an ancient sofa, Ollivander quietly emerged from the depths of the building. His wide eyes seemed to stare straight into his visitor's souls. Just like old times…

They left an hour later with a 9" wand made of willow, with a core of unicorn hair. Harry could tell Claire was itching to try it out, especially after the amazing first impression that it managed to make…

"I mean, did you see all those bubbles? How cool is that!" Claire exclaimed as soon as they were hearing distance away from the shop entrance.

"I don't think Ollivander was all too pleased with them."

"Oh, I'm sure they'll pop eventually! Anyways, didn't Ron say he worked around here? We should go say hello!"

"Actually, I had planned for that to be our next stop."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Weasley's Wizard Weezes seemed to burst into view. Inside, amongst all of the magical gizmo's Ron and George made their living selling, Ron was making a well rehearsed sales pitch.

"Well I know the price is a bit steep, but it is well worth the splurge. Just picture it!" Ron put his hands out in front of him as if he was framing an image. His eyes seemed to stare off into the distance. "Whenever you want to skive off an essay, all you have to do is whisper the subject at the Mind Rewind. The important bits that you've learned appear. All you have to do is go through it and edit as needed."

The two third years exited the store, excitedly whispering about their new purchase and attempting to hide it from their mums.

"It's a good product, one of our top sellers," Ron said to Harry when he spotted them. "The trick is to actually listen in class. How are you two, then?"

"Really excellent! I bought a wand, look!"

"Yeah, but don't wave it, unless Ron decides he's alright with eternal bubbles floating around his shop," Harry pointed out.

Ron thought for a moment. "I might be alright with that, actually, but I'll ask you to restrain yourself for now. George and I have been thinking about relocating to a bigger location and the bubbles might make this place a bit hard to sell."

As Claire showed off her new wand, Harry regaled Ron with the tale of Claire's cooking disaster.

"Oi! You should have invited her over for dinner! Where are your manners?" Turning to Claire, Ron continued. "My mum's throwing a big party for Harry's godson. It's his fifth birthday. Should be a great turnout. If anyone can teach you how to cook, it would be my mother."

Harry's insides squirmed, but years of practice had taught him how to keep his feelings under wraps. "Yes you should come! You'll get a chance to talk to Arthur without him bursting in on you randomly during the week. And Teddy, my godson, is really great. I'd be glad for you to meet him."

"You can meet my wife!" piped in Ron. "She's been itching for a new girl-friend ever since my sister's been away with the Harpies. Ginny should be there tonight, but she has to get back to training in the morning."

Harry couldn't hide how he felt about this statement. His face dropped as he avoided eye contact with his best mate. Ron knew how he still felt about Ginny, but there was nothing Ron could do to protect his feelings. It was apparent from the beginning of the break-up that the two would be thrown together at Weasley family gatherings regularly. There was a party at least once a month to celebrate the birthday of some child or grandchild.

The first few meetings had been especially painful. Harry had spent most of his time pleading with Ginny to rethink their separation. She stubbornly refused. Her voice still rang through his mind… I just can't do it, Harry. Long distance relationships make no sense. I'm always busy with Quidditch while you're stuck in London at the Ministry. I can't get by on letters.

Since neither of them had agreed to forgo their current occupations, Ginny had refused to reunite with Harry. He left every event feeling as though his heart was crushed into even smaller pieces. Mending it seemed impossible.

Their random meetings had been, if possible, even more uncomfortable in recent months. Ginny obviously didn't want to talk about the past anymore and made it a point to refrain from being alone with Harry. Or she avoided him altogether.

Claire didn't seem to notice his change in mood. "That sounds like a lot of fun! Thank you so much for inviting me. What time should I be over?"