QUICK RECAP FOR THOSE THAT FORGOT: Harry came back from his fourth yeah to find Dick Grayson staying at his house. Dick and Harry bond and it's super fab. The Dursleys are mean and rude and Dick steals Harry with the help of Bruce, so now our unlikely trio is going to Bruce's hotel to spend the night and plan what happens next.
Pulling up in front of the hotel was a surreal experience. It was surprisingly high class considering the mostly suburban area around it, with elaborate lights and architecture. It wasn't a very big hotel, but it made up for its size but stuffing every single corner with something beautiful. Even the outside with filled with beautiful art, elaborate design features, and flourishing fauna. Wayne pulled the car up right in front of the door, under a little roof that was over the main entrance. Immediately, there were two smartly dressed men, one opening Wayne's door and then moving on to Harry's and the other opening Dick's door.
"You should probably leave the cage in the car," Dick suggested right before he got out. "She's smart, we'll give her free range of the room. Plus it would be weird to bring in empty birdcage." He exited the car laughing, and Harry got out too once his door was opened.
"Is there any luggage that needs to be brought up, sir?" The man on Dick's side asked as the other one took the keys from Wayne.
"Ah, yes, in the trunk. I'll just open that right up," Wayne answered, but that confident tone had all but disappeared, and Harry really didn't understand. Harry made his way around the car and over toward Dick, who was looking at a rather interesting sculpture of a man riding a dolphin. "If you could take that to 529, I need to ask the desk about more room keys."
"Of course, sir," one of them answered, and honestly they sounded so similar Harry couldn't tell which one spoke.
Harry heard the men grunting, very unprofessionally, as they hefted out his heavy trunk, but was distracted by Wayne as the man came up between him and Dick and put a hand on each one of their shoulders before leading them into the nice hotel. The doors opened automatically and Harry had an odd vision of Uncle Vernon screaming about them doing magic and how unnatural it was. The door at their local grocery store did the same thing and Harry had always wondered if that was why only Aunt Petunia and himself really did any shopping there.
The inside was somehow more splendid than the outside. There was an elaborate fountain taking up the center of the room. Four beautiful women in flowing gowns carved out of the stone were pouring water out from buckets they were holding, and it was rimmed by a bench done in a brilliant red cushion. The whole lobby seemed to be done in an elaborate reds and bold golds with some dark woodwork when the decore called for it. There were some high backed chairs done in red fabric with gold trimming that briefly made Harry think of a more sophisticated Gryffindor common room.
Bruce's hand fell away from his back as the man took the lead to the main desk across the room. Harry and Dick trailed Wayne passed the fountain and up to the desk, standing a bit awkwardly behind him as Wayne smiled at the woman there and explained how he needed a few more room keys. Harry turned his back to the desk to look more at the sophisticated atmosphere. He wondered how anyone sat in the high back chairs, they looked so elaborate it was almost a crime to ruin them by actually using them. And he could not comprehend anyone actually putting their feet on the beautiful matching footrests.
"Oooh, cookies." Dick was still facing the desk, and off to one side there was a large plate of chocolate chip biscuits with little tongs and a pitcher of ice water. Dick's hand closed around Harry's wrist and he tugged causing to Harry turn around and see the biscuits for himself.
"Do you want one?" Dick asked, but continued before Harry answered, already dragging him by the wrist over to the plate. "Cause, I want one."
"Are you sure we can just take them?" Harry asked unsteadily as Dick released his wrist to grab a biscuit. There was no helpful little sign saying to take one, but no one was yelling at Dick.
"Of course," Dick answered through a mouthful, picking up another for Harry to take from him. "Come on, they're good!"
"But, are you sure it's allowed?" Harry asked weakly. He wasn't a huge stickler to the rules, that was Hermione, but this was a very strange place and he doesn't really know what the rules were here, or how he would get punished for breaking them. Plus the inside of this place was shiny and spotless, and Harry was still covered in dirt from their earlier games. Even though he was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt, it felt like Harry could feel the clothes weighing him down.
"Harry, there are cookies on this table, and they are supposed to be eaten," Dick said more seriously. Then he waved the biscuit in his hand in front of Harry. "And, this one is for you."
Harry felt uncomfortable, but took it anyway and managed a small bite. They were good, and Harry tried a small smile that Dick returned as he ate another biscuit.
Wayne approached them from behind and caught a biscuit that Dick through over Harry's head at him. "They gave me some extra room keys," Wayne said, holding the biscuit in one hand and two plastic cards in the other. Harry really didn't get what they were supposed to do with plastic cards, but he took one when Dick did.
Wayne took a bite of the biscuit and led them over to the lifts. The lift came quickly and they rode up to the fifth floor in silence. Harry marveling at how their was even a beautiful painting in the elevator. When it opened on their floor, Wayne led them through a hall, where the bottom was paneled in a nice wood that was shined to almost look bronze and the top had a nice warm yellow that was accented by light fixtures on the walls every few paces, as well as more artwork. The doors were darker with bronze numbers on them. At the very end was room 529.
Wayne used his little plastic card to open the door by putting it in a little slot, which answered Harry's questions about it. He walked in, turning the lights on and talking over his shoulder. "My business partner reserved a suite for me, so we have a kitchen in the common space as well as two bedrooms. I'm staying in the one with a king, and the other one has two doubles, so that works out well. Each bedroom has a bathroom, so both of you can wash up and change."
Harry followed him in, and the room looked about as put together as the rest of the hotel. There was a small kitchen on his left, it had a full sized fridge and stove and a table that could seat up to four. There was a nice sitting area with a large TV right in front of them, and behind that was a sliding glass door that opened onto a balcony. On either side of the room were doors, each seemed to have a bedroom behind them. The whole suite was done in varying shades of blue, which some green accents here and there. It looked more liveable than the lobby, but the furniture still looked too new, and the room too clean. It felt too perfect to disturb with occupants.
Dick was looking around the kitchen, examining the coffees and teas in a little basket on the table. He didn't seem to have any qualms about messing up the room, since he was sitting at one of the kitchen chairs to do that, dirty pants and all. Wayne looked into the room on the left. "Ah, they put your luggage in this room for you. Get cleaned up, and then we'll order room service."
Dick finished his examination of the table and stood back up with a fake salute. "Solid plan, boss."
Harry was distracted from their weird interactions by a white blur landing on the balcony railing. "Hedwig!" He had almost forgotten about her in the excitement of getting there. Harry made his way over and opened the sliding door. He heard Wayne mutter "A very smart bird" to Dick but Harry ignored it. Hedwig took off from the balcony and soared over his head and into the room. Making herself comfortable on the back of the kitchen chair next to Dick.
"Wow, she found us pretty fast," Dick said as he started stroking her feathers. Harry shut the sliding door again and couldn't tell if Hedwig's pleased posture was from Dick's physical attention or his praise, but Harry decided she deserved it either way.
"Showers?" Wayne pointed out to them again. He had moved to sit on the couch and seemed to be perusing the room service menu.
"Right," Dick answered and stroked Hedwig one last time before he moved to the room where his suitcase was. Hedwig put her head under her wing again, and Harry spared her a glance before he followed Dick into their room.
Harry's trunk was at the foot of the bed closest to the door. He was glad to see it was still securely shut, but he undid the latches to grab a change of clothes and some toiletries. Dick's case was on his bed and he was already rummaging around for clothes. He didn't look much more organized than Harry's, but it was smaller so he found what he was looking for faster.
"I'll use Bruce's shower and you can use this one," Dick explained as he made his way out of the room with a bundle of clothes.
It only took Harry a couple of minutes to find everything he needed, then he headed to the bathroom in the room. The bathroom was spotless and the towels hanging were fluffy and smelled wonderful. Harry put his clean clothes on counter by the sink before stripping out of the dirty ones. Harry showered quickly, but was distracted for a bit by the amazing water pressure. He had only ever really stayed in the Leaky Cauldron, when not at school or the Dursley's, and this was much, much nicer. When he was done he put his dirty clothes back in the trunk and wasn't totally sure what to do with the towel he used, so he hung it on a hook on the bathroom wall.
Making his way out into the common space, he found Wayne still on the couch and stood awkwardly in the doorway, unsure of what to do.
"Oh, you're out," Wayne said when he looked up from a magazine that had been on the table. He picked up a menu and held it out to Harry. "Pick out something you like and then I'll order."
Harry glanced at the menu and winced when he saw it lacked prices next to the items. Did that mean it was more expensive? Probably. He didn't want to inconvenience Wayne anymore than he already was. He shoved the menu back into Wayne's hands, not reading any more. "I'm not really hungry," Harry explained hastily to Wayne's raised eyebrow, but the eyebrow rose higher, so Harry felt the need to defend himself. "We had a big lunch earlier."
Harry quickly turned his back to the man and his eye fell on Hedwig, who was still perched contentedly on one of the chairs in the kitchen area. Harry made his way over and stroked her back as he continued reassurances. "So, really, thanks, but I'm good."
"I really think you should get something," Wayne insisted and Harry jumped a little because Wayne was right behind him and Harry had not heard him following. "Just in case you get hungry in a bit."
Petting Hedwig a little more vigorously, Harry tried to think of a polite way to turn down Wayne without being rude. Wayne sat down in the chair next to Hedwig as Harry thought about it. But the offer was clearly genuine, and Harry sort of was hungry again. "I guess that makes sense," Harry answered finally.
Wayne smiled, and his teeth looked a little too white and straight to be real for a second. "Excellent. What would you like then?" He put the menu on the table and pushed it towards Harry, but Harry ignored it, focusing very intently on Hedwig's feathers.
"Uh, I'll just have whatever," Harry answered vaguely. There was some dirt on the white feathers and that was taking a lot of concentration to work it out without pulling the soft down.
"Would you like a small whatever or a large whatever?" Wayne replied dryly. Harry startled at the words, a joke he assumed.
"What?" Harry asked, finally turning away from Hedwig to face the man. There was humor in his blue eyes and soft smile, but he also looked a bit pained in Harry's opinion. Harry briefly wished that Dick and his easygoing attitude could be here to help him out with Wayne, but he could still hear the shower going in the other room.
"Nevermind," Wayne answered with a wave of his hand. "Do you like pasta? Dick does and he wanted to try this dish." Wayne gestured to a dish with a hard to pronounce name and some harder to pronounce ingredients. Harry made a face at it and Bruce continued. "Or perhaps a steak? I'm rather fond of it and they serve a nice cut here." Harry had done some shopping before and knew how expensive beef could be. "Maybe a chicken dish? There are a couple to chose from here." The amount of choices of chicken was a little overwhelming and exceedingly extravagant in Harry's opinion. "A nice risotto, maybe?"
Harry couldn't stop the words from coming out of his mouth. "What's risotto?" The moment they left his lips Harry regretted it. He cursed himself for looking like an idiot. It was probably something simple and now Wayne would think he was an idiot.
"It's a rice dish where the rice is cooked in a specific way, usually slowly and in more liquid than normal, and generally has either meat, seafood, or vegetables mixed in," Wayne explained patiently. He didn't seem to think Harry was a moron for not knowing, or get angry at a question. "A well made risotto is very delicious, you should try it. There are a few choices here for you to pick from."
Harry couldn't respond. He looked over the choices on the menu that Wayne gestured to, but he found it hard to absorb any of it. This was strange. Wayne was strange.
The silence is broken a few moments later by Wayne. "There is also a chef's choice where the ingredients change depending on the chef, so you won't know what's in it if you can't decide. All the options look good, so I understand the hesitation." Wayne's tone was kind and helpful, while not being suffocating, and Harry appreciated the guidance.
"Yeah, that sounds good," Harry answered, letting go of the menu and turning back to Hedwig. "Thanks."
"Of course," Wayne answered as he rose from the chair and headed over to the phone next to the couch. "I'll put in our order then."
Harry didn't pay attention to the man as he dialed a number and told their order to the person on the other end. Hedwig had peaked out from under her wing again and was looking at him with eyes that always held more intelligence than Harry thought they would. Harry sat down in the chair Wayne just vacated and Hedwig jumped to perch on his leg. There was a brief pinch as she settled and made herself comfortable, but when she stopped moving her talons were safely out of his leg. Wayne came back over, done with the room service call, and sat down across from Harry.
"It should be here in about half an hour," Wayne told him, and Harry nodded.
Dick chose that moment to come out of Wayne's room. He was in fresh clothes and his hair was dripping still as he stolled across the room to them. Throwing his old clothes into the other bedroom, probably landing them on the floor, he took the seat next to Wayne. "The food should be here in half an hour?" Dick clarified.
Bruce responded, but Harry was focusing on Hedwig again, so he didn't catch the exact words, but he did catch Dick's reply.
"Wow, we are great kidnappers," Dick said with a grin, and Harry started a little bit at the word choice, but realized it was all in good fun as Dick continued. "Feeding our victim and everything."
Wayne sighed and blatantly rolled his eyes. "We didn't kidnap him," he said, enunciating his words clearly.
"Well, I guess I did all the work," Dick acknowledged. Wayne pinched the bridge of his nose. "You were just my get away driver."
"I don't think it is kidnapping if I go with you willingly," Harry pointed out to them, and Dick shook his head vigorously at him. Harry liked how Dick and Wayne interacted, it was easy and fun while somehow being serious.
"No, no, no, that's the best kind of kidnapping!" Dick explained. "We made you want to come with us." And the topic suddenly grew uncomfortable with the mention of how undesirable Harry's relatives were.
"Well, despite all that," Wayne said, and he seemed to be a voice of reason to Dick's exuberance. "You are here willingly, and we need to talk about if you would like to stay with us or if we can help you go somewhere else."
And that sobered up the conversation pretty quickly. Dick and Harry both grew serious as Wayne continued his line of thought. "Obviously, you will not be returning to your aunt and uncle but if there is a another relative or a friend you wanted to stay with here, I would be happy to stay and help out with the legal matters," Wayne offered and Harry was unexpectedly grateful to the man he barely knew for making the offer.
"Or you could come back with us!" Dick counter-offered excitedly. It was strange since he had really only just met them, but Harry didn't think living with these men would be that bad. They had been kinder to him in the short time they have known him than the Dursleys had been in his entire life. But still they had only just met, so Harry didn't really expect Wayne to want to offer up his home.
"Or you could come back with us," Wayne agreed to Harry's surprise. His voice wasn't cold persay, but it definitely didn't hold the intense warmth that Dick's did. However, the offer did seem to be genuine.
"Er," Harry wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do. On one hand it was crazy to go with these people, he barely knew them! But on the other hand, he wasn't sure if there was really anyone else willing to take him. "I'm not sure… I don't really know?"
"Well," Dick said, interrupting Harry's indecision. "You have a godfather."
Wayne looked interested. "If he was made your godfather by your parents, then transferring your guardianship to him would not be very hard." The man paused. "You should have been placed with him after your parents death instead of your aunt and uncle."
Harry looked back down at Hedwig so he didn't have to see Wayne's face.. "He's kind of on the run?" Harry explained tentatively.
"On the run?" Bruce asked sharply. "For what?"
"He was framed," Harry told him hurriedly. "He was accused of helping my parents murderer and of killing a bunch of other people, but he's innocent, really." Wayne looked at him doubtfully with narrowed eyes, and Harry suddenly felt very small.
"Well, innocent or not," Wayne said delicately after a moment of awkward silence where Harry continued to stroke Hedwig hoping that the awkwardness in the room would dissipate. "If he is accused of a crime that makes everything much more complicated. If he really is innocent, we could work on clearing his name, but you need to stay somewhere in the meantime."
Harry was momentarily stunned because no one else had ever suggested trying to clear Sirius's name. Most of them knew it would be almost impossible without Pettigrew, but no one even discussed that possibility.
"I don't think clearing his name will be too easy," Harry informed him after another brief silence.
Wayne waved his hand airily. "If he is innocent, I'm sure it could be proven by someone. I know a few good detectives" Dick choked out something that sounded oddly like a laugh, but stopped quickly from a sharp look from Wayne.
"Now," Wayne continued seamlessly. "We need to focus on our present situation. Do you want us to help you get somewhere, or would you like to come with us?"
The word situation made Harry remember that his staying here was indeed a problem that needed to be solved. Fancy food and excellent water pressure were great for the moment, but he really needed to figure out a way of getting out of Wayne's hair. Wayne didn't seem to have a problem offering his home, but plane tickets were expensive weren't they? It would cost a lot to go back with them, and he would probably need some identification, which he clearly didn't have. Harry didn't think a wand would really help him getting across a border. Plus that was just the travel challenges, living with them would present a whole host of other problems, like food and school. Plus Dick had already a little brother, two little brothers, and he didn't want to impose on any of that.
"I have some friends I should ask," Harry decided finally.
Dick's face fell a little bit, but he perked up right away. "Sounds good, Harry. Well, we are always willing to have you anytime. Do you want to borrow my phone to make ? I'll go grab my phone." Dick rose from his chair and brezzed out of the room in a flurry of words and over scented floral shampoo. Harry turned a puzzled look on Wayne.
"He gets attached to people," Wayne told him as if that explained all the confusion here. Yes, Harry already liked Dick quite a bit, and Wayne was growing on him, but he hadn't known them very long. Maybe they would all be able to keep in contact. Lots of people at school received letters from family, and even if they weren't related by blood, they seemed very kind.
Dick came back into the room as fast as he'd left. "Sorry, it was under the suitcase, no idea how it go there, but I found it!" Dick held out the phone triumphantly to Harry, but faltered when he focused on Hedwig. "Oh yeah, you have an owl," Dick pointed out unnecessarily. "Are you just going to use her?"
"Use her how?" Wayne asked, clearly surprised, and Harry floundered for a minute. With the way Wayne had unquestionably accepted Hedwig in the car, he had assumed the man knew about magic, clearly that had been wrong.
"Er," Harry started to salvage the situation, but was cut off by Dick.
"Hedwig can deliver mail, apparently most owls can," Dick explained, then he caught Harry's incredulous look. How could Dick just out the entire magical world to this man? "Oh, don't look so worried, Harry. Bruce already knows about magic."
Wayne nodded in agreement, but Harry wasn't so sure because how could people not know about owls if they knew anything about wizards? But maybe they weren't used as much in America? Maybe it was just a culture difference?
Harry decided to stop thinking about it and instead focus back on the situation. "I could send Hedwig off with a letter to my friend Ron, but he probably won't respond until tomorrow. I could call my friend Hermione in the meantime? I think I have her number somewhere, but I have to find it."
Wayne agreed to the plan and Harry quickly excused himself to find a quill and parchment so he could write his letter right away. Thankfully, his writing utensils weren't buried too far in his trunk because he had recently used them for exams and hadn't really rummaged around since then. Hermione's number was another thing entirely.
Harry was eleven years old and sitting in the first year boy's dormitory. There was a cacophony of sound surrounding him as all his dorm mates were running around gathering up their things and trying fruitlessly to shove to many things into already overstuffed trunks. Harry looked down at his own. It was messy, sure, but everything fit pretty easily. No shoving necessary.
Dean was swearing a blue streak as he realized that just dumping all his books in had folded and almost wrecked one of his football posters. Ron was chasing Scabbers around the room, trying to catch the rat while Seamus egged him on. Neville was carefully folding his robes and packing them in somewhat neatly. Harry lied back on his four poster and stared up at the ceiling. He had heard Seamus talking about how excited he was to sleep in his own bed and it caused an odd sort of ache in his stomach.
"Honestly, what are you all doing?" Hermione's pompous voice came through the open door way. Her hands were on her hips and her intimidating glare did nothing to stop the chaos in the room.
"Hi Hermione," Neville said with a small wave from his trunk. But the sound was almost lost by the other boys' voices. Neville's distraction caused the shirt he was folding to slip and he blushed before focusing back on the task at hand.
Hermione made her way over to Harry's bed, carefully stepping over a lose Scabbers and dodging Ron hurtling after him.
"Are you all packed, at least?" She asked as she sat on the edge of his bed, pulling her legs up to sit crisscross to avoid that hazard that the other boys had made out of the floor.
"Yeah," Harry answered back with his eyes still focused on the canopy above his bed. "Just finished. What about you?"
"I've been mostly packed for days. I just had to add a few things." Her eyes followed the debacle before her. "Honestly, you would think they just realized we were leaving."
"Days?" Harry asked, sitting up to face her.
She blushed a bit. "Yes, well," Hermione paused and turned to face Harry, putting her back to the rest of the room, which Harry wasn't sure was a safe thing to do. "I've been missing my parents, I guess. With the school year over, I just want to go back home." Harry was a bit dumbstruck by this. Leaving Hogwarts was pretty much his worst nightmare.
Hermione continued when Harry didn't. "I love Hogwarts, and I love learning, but this isn't really home for me. You know?" She looked at Harry for a validation he couldn't give. She seemed to understand that.
"I think Hogwarts is my home," he told her. "I don't want to leave." Confiding in Hermione was good. She seemed to know that he didn't want pity or a lecture, just someone to listen to him.
Hermione was about to speak again when Scabbers scurried across the bed and Ron jumped on top of Harry to catch him. "Oh, I just can't catch him! You can stay here and starve for all I care you ungrateful freeloader!"
Ron made to get up from his sprawl on Harry's legs, but stopped when he looked up and saw the serious looks above his head. "When did you get in here Hermione? What's up?"
"Harry and I were just talking about leaving," Hermione told him. Ron rolled over so his back was crushing Harry's legs rather than his front.
"Oh come on, I'm not that heavy!" Ron told Harry at the other's groan Harry found it hard to get used to this weird causal contact with Ron. He supposed Ron did it because he was used to having brothers who probably took great joy in sitting on him. "But yeah, home. I can't wait to have my own room again," Ron laughed and Harry shoved his head down. "Plus mum's cooking is great, can't wait. I guess I'll have to look after my kid sister again, but maybe I'll convince her to sneak into Fred and George's room again! And, no essays from Binn's or having to be nice to Snape for a whole three months. It's going to be great."
"I guess I'm going to miss Hogwarts is all," Harry said, looking at Hermione's serious face and Ron's open one.
"We're going to miss you too, mate," Ron said, and Harry was amazed that it just rolled off of Ron's tongue so easily. "Even if I won't miss your boney knees!" Ron made a big show of sitting up and rubbing his sore back. "I'll just be an owl away. Well, your owl, Errol might get lost or croak on the trip." Ron's attention was caught by Scabber's mad break for where his food was hidden across the room. "Get back here you mangy little thing!"
At Ron's mad dash away Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry stretched out his legs to uncramp them. "Ron's right though Harry," Hermione said seriously. "We should keep in contact, my parents might find it weird, but I'm sure some owls will be fine." Her eyes lit up in an unmistakable glint that meant she had a brilliant idea. She had those rather often. "Oh, I can give you my telephone number too, since you live with muggles!"
Harry was going to try to explain that his aunt and uncle had never let him use the phone, and he didn't think they would start now, but Hermione was already reaching down into his open trunk and rifling through.
"Honestly, Harry, folding would do wonders for your organization," she didn't seem to need a response as she continued to talk as she rummaged, already pulling out a quill and a half empty bottle of ink. "I can't just write it on a piece of paper, you'll lose that for sure. Hmm, maybe on the trunk? But the ink would get rubbed off… Oh, I know!"
She pulled out one of Harry's textbooks triumphantly, and Harry had a moment of puzzlement before he realized that Hermione Granger was about to write in a textbook.
"A book?" He asked incredulously.
"Of course," Hermione replied loftily as she uncapped the ink. "No one would ever lose a book."
Opening all his books front covers took some time, but eventually he found it in the cover of his Hogwats A History book, and thought that he really ought to have looked their first. Her handwriting was neat and precise and Harry took a second to trace the numbers before putting the book aside and grabbing the ink and parchment.
SItting down at the desk in the bedroom, he uncorked the bottle and quickly penned a letter to Ron. Not totally sure how much to say, or how to say it, honestly, Harry kept it short and to the point.
Hey Ron,
I hope your Summer holidays are going well. Did you get to sleep for a full day yet like you planned? Or did your mum save the gnomes in the garden for when you guys got back again?
I'm doing okay, but I don't think I can go back to my relatives again. Could I stay with your family till school starts again?
Harry
Harry felt that maybe he should have added a bit more, but didn't really want to get into it. Before he could change his mind, he folded it up, smudging the ink a little bit with his lack of patience.
Leaving the bedroom, he made his way back out to the main room where Dick was still sitting at the table stroking Hedwig.
"Bruce had to make a work call, so he's in his room," Dick said to Harry's unasked question. "I guess you need her right?."
As if sensing they were talking about her, Hedwig hooted at them imperiously and spread her impressive wings. Taking flight, she made a few slow circles around the small room while Harry opened the balcony door. She landed gracefully on the railing and held out her leg for Harry to attach the letter.
"It's for Ron," Harry told her. "He's most likely at the Burrow right now." She looked down her beak at him, as if she already knew that thank you very much, and Harry smiled fondly at her as she took off.
"Wow, and she knows, just like that?" Dick asked, and Harry jumped about a foot in the air because he had not heard the man come up behind him.
"Yeah," Harry answered once his heart restarted. Hedwig was just a blur now up against the fading sun. "I'm not sure how it works, but she's never been wrong."
"That's really cool." Harry nodded and they stared after her until the white dot in the distance faded to nothing. Dick tapped him phone on Harry's hands over the balcony, and Harry took it from him because apparently this man didn't realize how delicate phones were and that dangling them over five stories was bad. "Now you can call your friend. Hermione, was it?"
Harry nodded and Dick continued. "You can call out here if you want, I'll be in there waiting for the food."
"Her numbers in the room, but, Er, could you show me how to work this? I don't know how I even managed to call Mr. Wayne." Harry held out the phone to Dick who took it looking surprised.
After a quick crash course in smartphone usage, which included a few games that distracted Harry briefly from his goal of calling Hermione, Harry made his way back into the bedroom. Faking confidence he didn't have, Harry carefully typed in the number, making sure all the digits were correct, before hitting call. It rang a few times before someone picked up.
"Hello," a masculine voice on the other end answered. And Harry was unsure whether to be glad or horrified by that. He hadn't met Mr. Granger too many times, but this sounded like him a bit, so at least he got the number right.
"Er, can I talk to Hermione, sir?" Harry asked quickly.
"And, who, may I ask, is calling?" Of course her father would want to know who he was, Harry cursed himself, he should have introduced himself first.
"I'm Harry, sir, Harry Potter. Her friend from school," he added the last part tentatively.
"Oh, Harry," the man's voice became more inviting, clearly recognizing his name even though they had only met a few times. "Hold on one second." Harry heard the phone move and a muffled 'Hermione!' being called. "She'll be down in just a second. How are your holidays going Harry? Glad to be done with work? I know Hermione isn't, but she's always been a special one."
"Er, yeah, it's nice to not have to do school work everyday," Harry answered, unsure about how to act in this situation.
"Well, Hermione has already started on her Summer work, I'd wager you haven't?" The man asked with some humor.
"Not yet, sir." Harry heard a knock on the door to the hotel room and assumed from Dick's voice that the food was here. The mouthwatering smell confirmed that theory rather quickly and Harry felt his stomach rumble.
"It was nice talking to you, Harry, but Hermione's here, so I'll just hand you off to her. Have a nice Summer!" Harry bid a hasty goodbye before the phone switched hands and Hermione's voice came on the line.
"Harry? Is that really you?" She asked.
"Yeah." Even though it had only been a couple days, Harry missed his friend's voice.
"Are you okay? Do you need help?" She sounded worried and that gave Harry the confidence to ask his question.
"Could I stay with your family for the Summer holiday?" Harry asked hurriedly, scared that if he asked it too slowly he would lose his nerve. Just like ripping off a band aid. Fast and without thinking about it too hard first.
"Oh, Harry, yes! Of course you could stay with me!" Hermione answered immediately, and Harry was touched about how quickly she agreed. There was a momentary pang of sadness about leaving Dick and Mr. Wayne, but it was over run with a fondness for his best friend and how dependable she always was. Hermione was always someone to count on.
"But, ah," she started again before trailing off.
Not liking the hesitation in her voice, Harry pushed on. "But what?"
"I'm not sure," Hermione said after a second. "That is, I don't know if I should tell you over the phone, but I guess, no one who would care would listen to a muggle device, so it is probably safe," her rambling led to a conclusion and Harry waited to hear what she had to say. "You see, Professor Dumbledore approached my parents and told them that I could stay with," she paused, uncertainty filling her tone. "A group of people, for a bit of the Summer, my parents want to travel, you see. But, I'm sure you could come too Harry!"
Harry's fury rose at the mention of Dumbledore and secret plans and peaked when she didn't tell him the whole truth. "So now you're keeping secrets too, Hermione?" He accused.
"Harry, it's dangerous! You know that he's back we all need to be careful," she cautioned, but Harry felt the rage continue to build.
"Yeah, I do know," Harry snapped. "I was there when he came back, and he tried to kill me again. It's a bit hard to forget!"
"I know," Hermione hastened to assure him. "But I think we need to be careful, Harry."
"Why does being careful always lead to me being in the dark!?" He shouted at her.
"I'm sure no one meant it that way, Harry. I bet if we just talk to Professor Dumbledore-" He cut her off, not wanting to hear anymore.
"You know what? I'm done listening to Dumbledore. I'll just stay somewhere else!"
"Oh, wait, Harry!" But he had already pulled the phone away from his ear and jabbed the red disconnect button. He found himself oddly wishing he had the Dursley's house phone so he could slam it back into the cradle like Vernon did when those 'no-good, money-stealing' telemarketers called. Seeing the call disconnect didn't do anything about the rage boiling in Harry's gut. Now everyone was keeping secrets from him, even Hermione! Hopefully, Ron's letter tomorrow would have better news in it.