Chapter 8: Bal Harbour, Florida, Part II

The next morning, Harry woke up to one of Sarah's trademark tickle fights. He wasn't expecting Hermione to jump up and down on his bed, begging him to get up, and, naturally she didn't. In fact, no one felt any need to get up right away. This trip was, in fact, more of a vacation than the trip to EuroDisney, so they didn't have to worry about getting up too early.

It was warm out, so Harry ended up wearing a red t-shirt with blue swimming trunks, a pair of black sandals, and his Lucky Lennon hat. Hermione wore a periwinkle blue t shirt with jean shorts, a pair of blue flip flops, and a pair of Cobain-style sunglasses. It was too warm for her beret.

There wasn't much to eat in the apartment, so Lily and James decided to go grocery shopping later. They ended up settling on buttered toast for breakfast before going down and outside to the pool area.

When they got to the pool, Harry and Hermione were surprised to find out that the cushions on the lounge chairs had towel-like covers with "Potter" embroidered on them. All the adults were relieved, or at least the women, as it gave them the chance to stretch and relax. The three men made a dash for the pool. Remember, they never lost their childlike energy.

"Come on in," James called. "The water's fine!"

"In a few minutes," Harry called back.

Hermione was still reading her Beauty and the Beast book from EuroDisney. She loved this book so much, she refused to put it down and even when she finished it, she just had to read it again. Harry laid back in his lounge chair and enjoyed the weather, until a paper blew in his direction. He picked it up and considered throwing it away, until he saw what was on it; drawings of lions. If you know Harry from my other stories, lions are his favorite animals and he loved wearing shirts with lions on them. Even when he saw Aladdin the other night, he saw the trailer for The Lion King and decided that this was going to be his favorite Disney film when it was released.

Don't take this the wrong way, though. I would never even think of making him a furry. He's just your friendly neighborhood heterosexual white male, without any offense to any other ethnicity, gender, or orientation.

Anyways, Harry liked the details in these drawing. They weren't drawn photorealistic, but they had that almost Disney-esque quality that he was so looking forward to seeing in The Lion King. He couldn't put this drawing down, he didn't even hear some footsteps on the floor.

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted.

Harry put the paper down and saw another boy in front of him. He was very tall for his age, but he looked about Harry's age, or perhaps a year younger. He was athletic, but not too muscular, with brown eyes and parted, shoulder length dark brown hair. He was wearing a pair of purple ski shades, a purple t shirt with light blue swimming trunks and black sandals with purple trim.

This boy also spoke with a completely American accent, so Harry assumed he had to be a local boy.

"Hi there," the boy continued. "Pardon me, but those are my drawings."

"Your drawings?" Harry asked. "You mean you made these?"

"Yeah," the boy replied.

"They're brilliant," Harry remarked.

"Thanks," the boy replied. "Are lions your favorite, too?"

"How'd you know that?" Harry asked.

"Lucky guess," the boy replied. "Only someone who liked lions as much as I do would look at my drawings like that."

The boy held out his hand.

"I'm Danny, by the way," he introduced himself. "Danny Kahn."

Harry held out his hand to shake.

"What's your name?" Danny asked.

"Harry," Harry replied. "Harry Potter."

Part of Harry couldn't believe he was shaking hands with a boy who had to be a Muggle, but still, he thought, "Who Cares?"

If the Ministry of Magic has a problem with that, remember, I can write this story so that they can stick it up their arses.

"I haven't seen you here before," Danny commented.

"My parents just bought 8A," Harry replied. "We got here yesterday."

"So, where are you from?" Danny asked.

"Liverpool," Harry replied.

"Where's that?" Danny asked.

"Somewhere in the North of England," Harry replied.

If this were in the other timeline, Hermione would complain about how little this boy knew about locations in Britain, until she'd realize that this boy was clearly American. But this isn't in the other timeline, plus, he hasn't been introduced to Hermione yet.

"You're going to love it here," Danny promised. "This palace has everything; great food, great weather, great shopping… tell that to the girl next to you."

This made Harry remember that Hermione was sitting next to him.

"Is she your sister, or something?" Danny asked.

"No," Harry replied. "She's my best friend. That's my sister, over there."

Harry pointed to Sarah who was just about to go jump into the pool. Danny noticed the book Hermione was reading.

"Your friend likes Beauty and the Beast too, huh?" Danny observed.

"Yeah, she loves it more than anything else… besides reading." Harry replied.

Hermione looked up from her book

"Are you talking about me?" she asked.

"Yeah," Harry replied. "Hermione, this is Danny. Danny, this is Hermione."

Danny smiled as he shook her hand.

"I've never met anyone named Hermione before," he commented. "I've never even heard that name before."

Hermione frowned at this.

"It's nice," he added.

Her frown was gone when she heard this comment.

"Harry tells me how much you love Beauty and the Beast," Danny commented. "Well, Rachel does too. You'll love her,"

He smiled.

"RACHEL!" He called

"Yeah?" another girl answered.

Rachel, last name Greissman, approached Danny as soon as her name was called. When you looked at the two of them, they looked like a perfect match, even though there were obvious physical differences. Rachel, too, was tall for her age, but not as tall as Danny. She wore a yellow t shirt with pink shorts, and a pair of yellow-trim flip flops. She had long, curly brown hair and sapphire blue eyes.

"Rachel, this Harry," he introduced, "His parents just bought out 8A,"

"Hi, Harry," she greeted as she shook his hand.

"And this is Hermione," he added "Take a look at what she's been reading."

He gestured to the Beauty and the Beast book she'd been reading and naturally got interested.

"Oh my gosh, Beauty and the Beast is my absolute favorite Disney movie! I was so excited when it came out, I had to pull Danny by the arm to get us in there first!"

"Me too, but I had to pull Harry," Hermione replied as her face lit up.

"Hey, I've never met someone who loved Beauty and the Beast as much as I do," Rachel stated, excitedly.

"Me neither!" Hermione replied.

"We've even got Belle's colors!" Rachel added. "We both have brown hair, but you're wearing blue and I'm wearing yellow."

Hermione couldn't believe it, even when she saw it.

"Wow!" she responded. "I can tell we're going to become lifelong friends from here on out!"

Hermione and Rachel hit it off so well, that Rachel asked her parents and grandparents if Hermione could join them for lunch. Danny asked them if Harry could also, and they accepted. Naturally, Harry and Hermione introduced Danny and Rachel and their families to their own families and got permission also.

While eating lunch, Harry and Hermione told their new friends all about their life in Liverpool and their trip to EuroDisney over the past summer.

"So, do you guys live here?" Harry asked.

"Not really," Rachel replied. "My grandparents have an apartment here and our whole family always comes down here, this time of year."

"And my mom and I always come with them," Danny added.

"So, where are you from?" Harry asked.

"New York," Danny replied.

"New York City?" Hermione asked.

"No, Woodmere, New York," Danny replied.

"Where is that?" Hermione asked.

"Out on Long Island," Danny added. "But it's not too far from New York City, so we do go there sometimes."

"How come it's just you and your mum down here with Rachel and her family?" Harry asked.

"Well," Danny explained, "When we were five, Rachel's mom started homeschooling us after my dad left. When he did, Rachel's mom let me and my mom come and stay with them."

"Do you ever miss your Dad?" Harry asked, remembering his life in the original timeline.

"Sometimes," Danny replied. "But Mom always said he'd be back someday."

"How could he just abandon you like that?" Hermione asked, sounding horrified.

"He didn't abandon us, he left us for some reason," Danny assured her. "I could tell that when I saw him go. I just couldn't tell what."

Hermione could tell that Danny was serious.

"It's interesting, isn't it," he suggested. "Even when you're only five, they don't think you'll understand stuff like that, or remember it."

"But for now, things are going really great for me and my mom, thanks to Rachel and her family," he added.

"We've been coming here for seven years now," he added. "How about we show you around town, while you're here?"

"Our mums love shopping," Harry suggested.

"There's a great set of shops across the street," Rachel suggested. "I'm going there with my Mom and my Bubbe (That's "Grandma" in Hebrew) tomorrow. Why don't you and your mom come with us?"

"And I'll get my mum to go with you," Harry suggested.

"And don't forget Dora," Hermione reminded him.

"Who's she?" Rachel asked.

"She's my dad's friend's fiancée," Harry explained, trying not to sound clichéd. "You'll love her, too."

"She's the woman with the pink hair," Hermione explained.

All Rachel could do about this was hold back a giggle. Harry and Hermione were glad to have found new friends and couldn't wait until they showed them everything this part of Florida had in store for them.

Tune in next time, where you'll start hearing of all the fun things to do in the Bal Harbour Area...