Three

Party Up

That night, Harry didn't get to bed until ten-thirty. He may have been comfortable, but he was dwelling on Anna's response to most of what he'd told her.

She'd mostly said, "Oh my God." She was like a broken record. Harry thought this was really annoying, but couldn't help what others did. Besides, she was pretty nice to him- and it helped that she was beautiful, too.

Harry was caught between hate and love with her. He had no idea why, but he was strangely drawn to her. He always heard girls talking about 'the One' and it sort of made sense. Was this the feeling you felt when you met your One? Could Hermione's cousin really be his One?

Glancing at the clock, Harry said it was 11:59 P.M. His eyelids were becoming heavy. Sleep was upon him…

Harry trudged up the stairs. He hadn't looked at the clock, so he didn't know what time it was, but it appeared that everyone else was up if the voices he heard upstairs were any indication.

"Morning, Harry," said Hermione. "I expect you had a good night's sleep?"

"Good night's sleep. Right. I still feel like I'm going to fall over."

"He's never been overseas before," Hermione explained to her cousins. "He's still got jet lag, doesn't know how to get over it."

Harry sighed and took a seat in one of the reclining chairs in front of the television.

"What time did you go to sleep last night, Harry?" asked Anna.

"About midnight."

"Are you serious? You were asleep for ten hours!"

"Ten hours? That's crazy. I haven't slept that much in nine or ten years."

"Are you kidding me?" Anna looked flabbergasted. "That's forever."

He ignored this. Harry could sleep for all of the Christmas holidays and he would still be tired. He'd been tired his entire life.

"Harry?" said Hermione. "Harry, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"Good, because Anna's got a great schedule planned for us today."

Harry shuddered. He couldn't wait until he found out what this "great" schedule was…

Harry didn't get the answer to his questions until six that evening, when Hermione barged into his room and shouted, "Harry! Get dressed! In something… attractive! Come on, hurry up! Let's go!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Hermione? Get the hell outta my face, I'm kind of doing something!" Harry yelled back, certain that she was going to barge in at any second and stuffing his notebook under his pillow.

Right on cue, Hermione banged in and when she saw Harry, her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"What? You've never seen a guy without his shirt on before? I find that hard to believe."

"Of course I've seen a guy without his shirt on. What are those?"

She pointed to his bare chest. Harry looked down.

"This? Well, you know. Will quidditch, and everything-"

"I know about your chest you idiot, I'm talking about those."

Harry realized she meant his tattoos.

"Your mum can't approve! Your mum would never approve!"

"Chill out Hermione. Mum'll find out… eventually…"

"As in never? Harry, have you got any clothing besides hoodies and baggy jeans? Because if you don't, I'll get Aaron to lend you some clothes. He's got some really sexy stuff, nice shirts and jeans."

"I do have boxers-"

"Harry!"

"Sorry. But, yes, I have hoodies, jeans and underwear. But I can still wear my own clothes, can't I?"

"No!" Hermione screamed. "No, no, no! You can't wear hoodies and baggy jeans clubbing!"

"Clubbing? Clubbing! You're taking me clubbing? Hell no!"

Harry turned tail and walked into Anna's bathroom, slamming the white door behind him.

"Harry? Harry, please come out!" Hermione knocked on the door.

"Hermione, you've known me for five years. You know there is no way in hell I will go clubbing."

"Harry! Quite being an arse and get out here! You need a girlfriend and there will be plenty of girls at the club that will be willing! Please!"

Harry opened the door.

"Fine. Once. Just once and if any sleazy American girls try to bed me, I'll deck 'em."

"Fine, Harry. I give you permission to pummel any sleazy American s that start hanging off you. Because there will be a lot of them."

"Oh, thanks Hermione. That's really reassuring."

An hour later, Harry was sitting in the backseat of the McEvoy's Land Rover with Anna, Hermione, Ron and Aaron, wearing a pair of tight jeans and a t-shirt that Aaron had lent him. He stared glumly out the window. The sky was grey and his window was blurry with raindrops.

"Harry, please cheer up," Hermione whispered. "You're ruining the holds for everyone, come on!"

"These jeans are hugging my ass."

"That's the point."

"I have to say, I prefer my own jeans, thank you very much. This is all your fault. Girls will be staring at my ass all night and it's all your fault."

"You're welcome."

Harry didn't answer her.

"This is going to be the best night your life, wait and see," said Hermione, just as Harry was thinking, This is going to be the worst night of my life, wait and see.

Harry couldn't say who was right the next morning, him or Hermione. What he did know what that he was still in Aaron's ass-hugging pants and clingy t-shirt.

His head ached and his stomach hurt and he recalled several trips to the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning.

His father had come home like this more than once. Harry couldn't help remembering the ordeals when he saw his reflection in the mirror. He looked just like James had- extremely messy hair, pasty skin, bloodshot eyes… how could Harry forget?

There were two things he did remember about the past night: that at about eleven, he and Anna had gone off to make out in a dark corner; and that Anna made a scene that ended up getting them kicked out of the club. That had happened at one that morning.

It had definitely been quite a night.

Harry shook his head, his wavy bangs covering his green eyes, and he slowly proceeding to the bathroom, peeling off Aaron's shirt as he went.

To his utmost horror, when he opened the door, Anna was getting out of the shower. Even more to his horror, she had yet to wrap a towel around herself. She screamed and grabbed one off the shelf, wrapping it around herself.

Harry snapped around and covered his eyes, saying, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I'm so, so, so, so sorry!"

"Harry! What are you doing in my bathroom!"

"You said I could sleep in your room! Any normal person would assume that also implies free usage of the bathroom!"

"I was showering!"

"The door was unlocked! What did you expect me to do, knock!"

"Kind of!"

"Anna, are you an imbecile? Good god!"

"Well, I guess we're kind of even, since you aren't wearing a shirt-"

"Not even, Anna. I saw you completely naked, the only way we'd be even is if I showed you my dick!"

"Then start stripping."

"Shut-up! It's not fun! Jesus."

Coming up behind Harry, Anna wrapped her arms around him and rubbed his chest.

"The best thing for a hangover is a hot shower Harry. Why do you think I was taking one?"

"Do you have a guest bathroom, Anna?"

"Yeah…"

"Then why couldn't you have used that one!"

"I like this one better. And, you know, when it's a sexy guy like you that sees me naked, it's really okay."

Harry pulled away from her, shaking his head.

"You're nuts."

"Man, you're really pathetic. Can I kiss you?" Harry turned to face Anna.

"What do those two things have to do with one another?"

"In my mind, quite a lot. Now, can I kiss you? Come on."

"No."

Anna narrowed her eyes and to Harry's utmost surprise, kissed him anyhow. Then she jumped up and walked out of her room.

"What the hell is wrong with American girls?"

That question would bother Harry all day.

Four

The Christmas Tree

So much happened between that day and Christmas that Harry and Anna were almost never alone together. Harry didn't know whether to be extremely happy or extremely sad about this.

During this time, Hermione was unusually nice to Harry. He was extremely surprised and a little freaked out by this, as it was extremely out of character for her.

It was Christmas Eve day and when Harry arose, he found the house deserted.

That is, until he was getting dressed.

He was just pulling up his comfortable, baggy jeans when the door to Anna's bedroom- currently his- was flung open.

"Shit!" he shouted, hastening to pull up his pants all the way and his zipper. However, he only ended up tangled in a mess of sheets and comforters.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" he shouted, buttoning his pants and standing up to face Anna and Hermione in horrified wonderment.

"Hurry up and get dressed, slow-poke," said Hermione with a smile. "We've got a big day ahead of us!"

"I'd ask what we're doing, but I'm too afraid of what the answer will be."

"We're going to buy a Christmas tree, silly," Anna said, giving him a little push on his chest. "Dress warm, it's absolutely pouring out."

Harry walked over to the curtain and pulled it back to see that Anna spoke the truth. You couldn't even see the beach, barely a hundred yards away, through the downpour.

"Hermione, grab me a black hoodie, would you?"

She approached his trunk and stopped. "They're all black."

Clenching his fist, Harry continued, "The one with the sign on it."

After a few moments, she said, "There are three."

Rolling his eyes and giving and exasperated sigh, he muttered, "Why do you have to make this so fucking difficult?"

"Well, which one!"

Turning around he pointed to the one lying right on top and said, "That one."

"What about a shirt?"

"A black one." Not wanting to go through the entire ordeal again, he added, "Any black one."

Hermione tossed the bundle of black at her friend.

"Thanks much," said Harry, separating the t-shirt and the sweatshirt.

"Anytime," she replied, walking over to his and giving him a kiss- and not on the cheek, either. Harry turned a violent shade of red.

"What, Harry, never been kissed before?"

Harry replied by avoiding her eyes.

"Come along Anna. We'll see you upstairs, Harry, darling."

"Darling?" Harry muttered as the girls left his room. "What the bloody hell?"

It was six o'clock by the time they got home with the Christmas tree. Without stopping to help put the tree up (as she felt this was a job for the men), Anna headed straight to the telephone, pressing a button on the speed-dial.

She had been talking for about fifteen minutes, Ron, Harry and Aaron done putting up the tree, when she shouted, "Aaron! Blair wants to talk to you!"

Aaron was sitting on the couch in front of the TV and groaned. Getting up to take the phone, he said, "What do you have to tell me that is so important you had to drag me away from my football game?"

Upon hearing the word football, Harry got off his stool at the marble wet bar and went over to the couch to watch. He wasn't really one for sport, but there were two they he did enjoy- football and Quidditch.

However, it was only after he had sat down that he remembered- American football was different from British football. He really didn't see the point in the game, but then, everything seemed asinine in comparison to wizard sport.

Deciding it would be pointless to return to the wet bar, Harry stayed where he was and watched. What else did he have to do?

Ordering in pizza, the five people watched the game and ate. Harry's eyelids were getting heavy and he finally said, "You know, I think I'm going to head to bed. See everyone in the morning."

"Bed!" exclaimed Hermione. "Harry, you can't go to bed yet. It's not even ten o'clock."

"Hermione," he objected, "I am about to fall over. If I don't go down and get in bed, I'll fall asleep right here. So, for once in your life, let me do what I want to do."

He stood and as he was going down the stairs, he saw Anna raise her eyebrows and mouth something at Hermione when she thought Harry wasn't looking. He sensed that there might be something going on between the girls and he didn't like the feeling it gave him.

"Harry?" He heard the door creak open slowly. "Harry, are you awake?"

Harry grunted.

"I am now."

Harry's face was pressed into his pillow. He was lying on his stomach, in his boxers, and had red marks from the creases in the sheets and pillow sham on his limbs and face.

Turning over, he couldn't tell if the girl at the door was Anna or Hermione. Their hair texture was similar and they had similar-sounding voices- except Anna spoke with an American accent. In the dark room where the only light source was from behind the figure, it was impossible to tell.

"Oh, I woke you up! I'm so sorry!"

It was Anna. Great.

She sauntered up to his bed and smiling in a way that was supposed to look shy, seeing as all Harry was wearing was his underwear. Despite her intentions, she didn't look shy.

"You have a teenage brother, seeing a guy in his underwear shouldn't embarrass you," Harry said in a drowsy but harsh tone. He didn't sound nearly as menacing as he would have liked. Damn you, jetlag! he cursed in his head.

"You have quite a lot of tattoos," Anna said sheepishly.

"These aren't all of them, Einstein."

"Oh? Where are the rest?" Crawling up on the bed, Anna got extremely close to his face and whispered, "Could you show me?"

"No," he snapped. They were both silent for a few seconds.

"Harry…" Anna cupped his cheek in her hand and looked him in the eye. Her unearthly orange eyes were glowing eerily.

Becoming suddenly very aware of the situation, Harry became extremely uncomfortable and self-conscious. But Anna wasn't stopping if she sensed his tension. She ran her hands up his chest and began massaging his shoulders. This did the trick.

Anna leaned forward and started kissing Harry, getting no reaction from him. After a few seconds, he loosened up and began kissing her back. She paused for breath and went back to kissing him, but this time there was tongue.

Anna began pulling her shirt off. When she was done, Harry took it and threw it across the room, where it hit the closed door. Then she started pulling off her skirt and pulled the sheet up over them.

Harry had his boxers off when there was a knock at the door.

"Anna, are you in there?" The voice was deep and gruff and came from someone who Harry was positive would kick his ass in a fair fight.

He pushed Anna away from him and took in a sharp breath. Was this Anna's father?

Anna, who still had her underwear on, quickly found her bra and multiple other articles of clothing and began getting dressed.

"Harry!" Anna hissed. "Get your damn boxers on, you shit-head!"

Harry glared at Anna- he did get his boxers on, then he pulled the sweet smelling sheets over his head.

"What the hell were you doing in there Anna? I thought one of Hermione's little boyfriends was staying in there."

"We were just talking, Dad. It's fine."

Dammit, he thought. I knew it. I knew it. She was just pretending to nice so she could hit the sack with me later. I can't believe I fell for that act! Now she's seen me naked. I guess we're even.