"Daniel, inside, now!" Ginny commanded from the kitchen doorway. Halie looked at Daniel with worry, and noticed his resignation. "You are grounded until further notice. I heard from Mrs.Heartman about the incident this afternoon, and I can assure you that Luke will be getting the same treatment. I'll bring you your dinner." Dan looked down a little sad and angry. He stomped up the stairs to his room, slamming his door. Ginny flinched at the familiar sound.
"Why don't I make dinner," Halie offered, Ginny looked like she was going to object before changing her mind and accepting.
"Thank you." Forty minutes later Halie announced that dinner was ready, and Harry arrived home at that moment. He and Ginny entered the kitchen to see a full steak, and potatoes dinner.
"I hope you like your steak well done; I didn't know everyone's preferences so I just made them all the same."
"This is wonderful, Halie," Harry replied sitting with a smile. "Where's Dan?" he asked a few moments later when he noticed his son was missing.
"He played tricks on the neighbors again. Honestly, I don't know why he acts this way," Ginny replied sadly.
"Teen-age rebellion," Harry replied stoically.
"Pressure," Halie answered firmly. Harry and Ginny looked very confused. "Well Dan has a lot of pressure on him. You have expectations, as his parents, you want the best for him, so you want him to make good decisions. Then his friends expect him to be a certain way, and then there is the larger wizarding world. He is the son, and until very recently the only child, of the famous Harry Potter. Everyone watches his every move; you should have some idea how that feels. He has all of these people telling him how to act, think, and feel. Telling him who to be, never letting him be himself. So instead he acts out, does things he wouldn't normally do because he wants to feel like he can make his own choices."
"How could you possibly know all of that?" Harry asked in awe of Halie's understanding of all the social pressures that Dan was under.
"I watch people, and after years of doing it, it's easy to understand their motivations for almost everything," Halie replied lightly. She was given the task of taking Dan his dinner.
"Come in," Dan answered when he heard Halie's knock.
"I would but I only have two hands," Halie replied. Dan opened the door and looked surprised to see Halie standing there instead of his mother. "I brought your dinner."
"Thanks, you can put it on the desk," Dan mumbled standing aside so that Halie could enter his room.
"I think your room is bigger than mine, if that's possible," Halie commented looking around. Dan sat down at his desk to eat and took a few bites before answering.
"Maybe… are they still mad at me?"
"I don't know that they were ever really mad at you, but I think I convinced them to let up on you a little." Halie was still walking around his room looking at the posters and pictures he had up on his walls.
"Oh yeah, how did you do that?" Dan asked skeptically.
"I told them that the only reason you act like that is to get away from all the pressure everyone puts on you."
"How could you possibly know that?"
"I have a pretty good understanding of human nature. I used to watch people, sat in shopping centers for hours, just watching. It made it easier to understand why everyone I ever met hated me."
"What do you mean everyone hated you?" Dan had only really known Halie for a day, and already it was inconceivable to him how anyone could hate her.
"Hang on a tick," Halie walked into his bathroom, and he could hear water running. After a minute Halie came back into the room, reluctantly, Halie showed Dan her arm. There were circular burn marks on her arm, along with several scars he hadn't noticed before. "Some of the more inventive boys used to burn me with their cigarettes. People did worse, and the girls usually left the kind of scars you can't see."
"How could you stand to let that happen to you?" Dan demanded, sounding as angry and confused as he felt.
"I got worse at home, it was like I was the Dursley's personal beating post. They hated me more than, I think, anyone could ever grasp. I've heard how my grandparents used to treat Harry, and he got it easy." Dan was incredulous; he was having trouble taking in what she was saying. "I don't want you to worry about it, or get angry or anything. All of that is my past, and that's where I want it to stay, in the past." Halie smiled at Dan, and left the room. She walked straight down the stairs and said goodnight to Harry and Ginny.
"Good night Halie," Harry replied giving Halie a small hug.
"Sleep well dear," Ginny told her with a small kiss on the cheek.
"You too," she replied before heading upstairs to her bed. The next morning Halie woke with her hands shaking, and broke out in a cold sweat. "Oh no," she muttered to herself before clawing her way out of her bed. She stumbled down the stairs unsteady on her feet as the shaking got worse.
"Halie?" Harry asked confused and worried as Halie stumbled into the kitchen. "Do you need me to get you something?"
"Milk," Halie said before collapsing against the wall. Harry brought her a glass of milk, and put it so her lips. She gulped it down greedily. It took a minute after she finished for the shaking to stop. Halie stood up and moved to the kitchen table to take a seat.
"Halie are you okay?" Harry asked kneeling in front of Halie to look into her lowered eyes.
"I'm fine," she assured him with a smile. Halie stood quickly and moved to the jug to get another glass of milk.
"Are you sure? Because that looked like something serious," Harry tried to meet her eyes again, but she turned away and drank her glass of milk before answering.
"I'm perfectly alright, nothing serious, nothing to worry yourself over." She told him with a mixture of civility and icy coolness that Harry knew the topic was over. "I am going to get ready for the day, um, when I get back why don't I make you breakfast?"
"Thank you, but I really have to get to work now. I'll see you tonight at dinner," Harry told her gently.
"Okay, I'll see you at dinner. Have a good day at work Harry," Halie smiled peacefully, and watched him step out the kitchen door. When Halie was sure Harry was gone she breathed a sigh of relief. "That was too close for my liking. Back to milk at every meal then," she went up the stairs to get ready for the day.
"Good morning Halie," Ginny commented when Halie walked back into the kitchen. Ginny was sitting at the table eating some toast and drinking from a mug, her quidditch robes were draped over the back of her chair.
"Morning, um, I was thinking of getting a head start on my school work, and do some studying. I should be done by the time you get back from work."
"How did you know I am going to work?"
"Your uniform is on your chair," Halie pointed out with a small smile.
"Right," Ginny said quietly. "So ask Daniel about anything you don't understand in the books, and be careful to not practice any spells until Harry or myself get home."
"I promise."
"Oh, and tell Daniel that we want him home for dinner, and that Harry and I will be having a little chat with him after."
"Okay." Ginny stood up, grabbed her uniform and was about to leave when she remembered something.
"Before I forget this Friday we're having the family over for dinner."
"Oh, okay, um . . . do you mind if I do the cooking?"
"No, I don't mind. I'll see you tonight at dinner."
"Bye Ginny," Halie let herself be pulled into a goodbye hug, and then Ginny disappeared for the day. After a moment of indecision Halie walked into the den and picked up on of the first year books. She settled in the biggest, most comfortable chair and began her day of reading.
"Hello?" Dan called out as he walked down the stairs several hours later.
"In the den," Halie replied and turned the page in the book she was reading. Dan walked to the doorway and stood there leaning on the post watching his sister.
"What are you doing?"
"I have to catch up on four years of school, what do you think I'm doing?" Halie countered finally looking up at Dan. She blushed slightly when she saw that he didn't wear a shirt when he slept. "Go get some clothes on and I'll make you breakfast." Halie ordered closing her book.
"Okay," Dan replied with a confused expression. Halie walked past him and into the kitchen, and then he went up the stairs to get dressed. He entered the kitchen fully dressed and sniffing the air. Halie laughed. "That smells great!"
"Go figure, a boy who likes bacon," Halie muttered sarcastically. "So notes from . . . mum . . . dinner is at seven, she wants to talk to you after, and on Friday we're having a giant family dinner."
"I assume you mean the whole family will be here?"
"Minus cousins, at least for dinner, I think." Halie replied watching Dan eat.
"What do I look like a total slob or something?" Dan asked when he noticed her watching him.
"No just thinking how odd it is to be sitting at the breakfast table with my brother." Halie's expression was wistful for a moment before she got back to business. "So you can go do whatever you want today, you're not grounded-"
"Yet," Dan mumbled, and Halie laughed.
"-and all I'm going to be doing today is reading, very boring."
"I guess I'll go visit Luke then, I bet you anything that he's grounded."
"I'll see you at dinner then?"
"See you then," Dan replied easily. Halie smiled and went back to her chair in the den.
"What is that delicious smell?" Ginny asked as she walked into the kitchen that evening.
"Dessert, I was hoping that you would make dinner," Halie replied stepping away from the oven, and turning to Ginny.
"Deal," Ginny replied taking out several pots and pans. "So what have you been up to?"
"I read all the books for the last four years."
"All of them?"
"Yes. So, mum I was wondering, how many people are coming to the dinner on Friday?"
"About 18 . . . wait; did you just call me mum?"
"I did . . . I just wanted to try it out."
"How did it sound?"
"It sounded good."
"It sounded good to me too," Ginny replied with a serene smile.
"I'm home!" Harry called out as he stepped in through the front door.
"Welcome home," Halie and Ginny called out together. Halie pulled the desert out of the oven as Ginny continued to work on dinner. "How was your day at work?" Halie asked taking a seat at the table.
"It was fine, nobody too evil popped up on our radar," Harry replied sitting heavily in the chair next to Halie. "Where is Daniel?"
"He spent the day at Luke's. Dan should be back any minute," Halie replied, and as she finished Dan walked in through the back door.
"Hello everyone," Dan greeted them all as he took a seat at the table.
"What did you do all day?" Ginny asked.
"Luke and I played some games, and we talked about school."
"Hey dad, how did you find out you are a wizard?" Halie asked turning toward Harry with a curious expression on her face.
"The grounds keeper, Hagrid came to get me after I failed to read my acceptance letter."
"How did the Dursley's react?"
"They tried to stop me from leaving. They said that when they took me in they had only done it to stomp the magic from me."
"I bet Grandpa Vernon had a nervous breakdown moving you all to some weird little shack, and bought a gun or something." Halie laughed to herself seeing it all before her eyes.
"Actually that's exactly what happened," Harry replied shocked that Halie could guess.
"You never told me that dad," Dan interjected.
"I never told you that I can talk to snakes either," Harry mumbled quietly.