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Ashley replied after giving some thought to it for a while, thinking that it wouldn't hurt to tell Evan as she trusted him with her life. It's not like he was going to know anyway…
"It's called Hogwarts…"
Chapter Nine: Reactions
The reactions of everyone in the room seemed to slow down, as if time itself wanted to savour the varied responses to Ashley's almost innocent statement.
Evan had just picked up his glass of wine to drink some before Ashley answered, unfortunately for him, he had already taken a rather large gulp of the liquid when her final reply came thus leaving the poor man choking on his drink.
"Gah…wha? What!?" Evan managed to blurt out while Natalie was smacking him hard on the back in an attempt to encourage the wine Evan had just drunk to go down.
"Ashley!" Jade admonished, "they don't know!" she said jerking her head towards Evan and Natalie.
"Did you say Hogwarts? Please tell me I'm hearing things…please…" Natalie begged.
"Umm…whoops?" Ashley said uncertainly.
"Hog…Hogwarts?!" Evan gasped out.
"Yea…Hogwarts…I'm going to transfer there…have you heard of it?" Ashley said the last part with a hopeful expression adorning her face.
"Course they haven't!" Steve answered for them.
"Umm…yea, we have…" Evan said quietly.
"What?" All three members of the Wilson family looked at Evan and Natalie in complete and utter shock.
"Why does everything have to happen to me? What did I do wrong? Who the bloody hell did I piss of in another life!?" Evan said to no one in particular.
"Evan!" Natalie said, "Language!" reminding him that a 14 year old heard everything he had just said.
"How do you know about Hogwarts?" Steve asked, getting straight to the point.
"Well…it's like…err…should we tell them everything?" Evan asked Natalie.
"Umm…maybe it's best if we do…" Natalie replied.
"What's going on here?" Ashley's confused voice rang around them.
"There's a lot that we've been hiding form you, especially me…" Evan explained.
"Like what?" Jade queried.
"I'm a witch for starters…I went to Salem's Institute," Natalie replied. "But Evan here had a lot more to hide…so please don't worry it's nothing life threatening or anything."
"Gee, thanks Nat…" Evan said sarcastically, "nobody else knows the truth about me except for Nat and her parents."
Jade, Steve and Ashley were listening to Evan with the up-most attention, determined to find out what their favourite intern-doctor was hiding.
"Let's start with the easy stuff aye?" Evan said under his breath. "I'm from England, I'm a wizard and I went to Hogwarts…there that wasn't too bad, was it?"
Natalie was stuffing her fist in her mouth to stop herself from bursting out laughing.
"I'm glad you're finding this funny," Evan said to Natalie whilst gesturing towards the Wilson's who were looking at Evan as if he had grown another head.
"Are you…serious?" Jade asked Evan, looking shocked.
"Yea I am…though that's not even then tip of the ice-berg…" Evan replied.
"What do you mean…what could be more shocking than finding out that your muggle doctor was really a wizard from England who went to one of the best magic schools in the world?" Steve asked rhetorically.
"Finding out that not only is he a wizard from England that went to one of the best magic schools in the world but…he's famous as well!" Natalie grinned triumphantly.
"You're not helping," Evan muttered so only Natalie could hear.
"That's why I'm here," she replied cheekily.
"Just wonderful then." Evan said, "Merlin only knows why I fell in love with you…"
"Because I'm absolutely beautiful, charming, witty and just an all round marvellous goddess of a women!"
"What! I've never heard that you were famous Evan…" Ashley said, interrupting Natalie's rant of vanity.
"Umm…about that…my real name isn't Evan…"
"What is it?" Ashley asked.
"It's Harry Potter…" He said cringing slightly just waiting for the blow to fall.
"What!" shrieked Jade.
"Prove it!" challenged Steve.
"Fine…" Evan started to slowly change back to Harry, glowing brightly for several seconds before the changes finally settled.
"Holy shit!" Steve yelled.
"Steve!" Jade scorned but she too was equally as shocked.
"Oh my god…" Ashley said with her mouth hanging open.
"It's truly a beautiful thing isn't it?" Natalie said while she wiped away a fake tear.
"You're really Harry Potter?" Steve asked uncertainly.
"Yea I am…I'm guessing you guys know who I am then…"
"Know…know who you are!?" Ashley said incredulously.
Harry grinned.
"YOU'RE HARRY POTTER!" Ashley said wildly as she pointed at Harry, "HE'S HARRY POTTER!" and with that she flung her arms around a very bemused Harry.
"Ummm…are you okay?" He asked.
"Yea…wow…that's so cool!"
Harry and Natalie exchanged a look clearly unsure whether or not Ashley was sane.
"I'm really sorry that I didn't tell you all the truth sooner but I didn't want anyone to know…and I didn't even know you were wizards…" Harry admitted.
"It's okay; we understand…it's just so hard to get our heads around the fact that you're Harry Potter…" Steve said.
"By the way…if Ashley's a witch and you're both magical…how did she get cancer? It's a muggle disease so it shouldn't have affected her…" Natalie asked. Harry's expression of bemusement turned to mirror Natalie's of curiosity.
Steve sighed, "it's from my side, my parents are both muggle…I'm the only wizard in the family, Ashley got it through my genes because she is a half-blood, she can still be affected by muggle diseases. That and the fact that the magical community don't bother themselves with muggle illnesses…"
"Ohh, that makes sense." Harry replied.
Natalie seemed to be very deep in thought while Steve and Harry were talking. She finally broke out of her silence after minutes of discussion between Harry, Steve and Jade with occasional comments from Ashley.
"Jade," Natalie began slowly, "do you happen to work in the Department of Foreign Affairs?"
Jade looked taken aback for a second before she answered.
"Yes I do…how do you know?"
"My…Dad works there…" Natalie replied but Jade cut her off.
"Oh, of course! Your Dad…Mr. Hawkins …he's my boss! I never considered the fact that you could be his daughter because I thought that it was just a coincidence that Michael and you shared a last name…" Jade exclaimed. Natalie grinned.
"Oh gosh!" Natalie said while checking her watch, "it's late, sorry to have kept you all up at this hour. Thanks for everything…it means a lot that you understand. Come on Harry dear, let's go…"
Harry, however, was looking at Natalie in shock.
"Nat…" he said slowly, "you…said…gosh…" he trailed off.
"Yes I did…so?"
"You said gosh!"
"So?" Natalie repeated.
"You never say gosh!" Harry said wildly.
"And?"
"Oh forget it!" he flung his arms up in defeat. "Incorrigible women…" he then murmured.
Everyone laughed at Harry's expense.
"Anyway, thanks again guys," Harry said to the Wilson's, "see you in a month I guess."
"No problem Harry, it was a pleasure! See you in around then." Jade replied.
Harry and Natalie got up to leave. As they were just about to close the front door behind him the Wilson's heard Harry's disbelieving voice.
"Gosh!?"
A bit over a month later you could find the occupants of an inter-city apartment running around like headless chickens.
"Argh…shit, shit, shit, shit, bloody hell! Why didn't we pack last night!?" screamed a very frustrated female.
"Hey, don't look at me! It's your fault Nat…if I remember correctly you're the one who said; no leave it Harry, we'll be up early enough to pack!" Said the male.
"Humph…I did not!"
"Did too"
"Did not"
"Did too"
"Did not"
"Did too"
"Did not"
"Did too"
"Did not"
"Did not"
"Did too," Natalie gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth, "you tricked me!" she poked her tongue out at Harry which only made him laugh harder then he already was.
"Shut up and help me pack!" Natalie snapped.
"Alright, alright…keep your shirt on!" and so they began their running again.
As Harry passed his desk a photo caught his attention. In the photo there were two people; a male with an unruly mop of almost black hair and a female with vibrant red hair and sparkling green eyes. The remarkable thing about the photo was that the couple were moving!
You've got to be kidding me! We must've lost our minds or something! Maybe all the alcohol we had last night damaged our brain cells… Harry mentally slapped himself before flicking his hand upwards slightly which cause all his clothing to shrink and be packed into a suitcase along with his other necessary travelling items.
Well I'm done…wonder how long it'll take Nat to realise?
Harry took his suitcase into the lounge and left it there so he could make sure the apartment was locked up properly.
"Harry! What are you doing! We should be packing!" Natalie yelled at him.
"I'm done…"
"You're what!?"
"I've finished packing…oh bloody hell Nat!" and with that he flicked his hand upward once again so all of Natalie's belongings were packed into her suitcase.
"Oh…" she said slowly, "well…don't I feel dumb!" a faint blush rose up to her cheeks.
Before Harry could reply a car horn was honking loudly outside, signalling them that Natalie's parents were outside waiting.
"Come on then, lets go." Natalie said brightly.
Half an hour later, Harry, Natalie, Michael, Grace, Steve, Jade and Ashley boarded their plane to England. Thanks to a special little concealing charm with some adjustments, only the Wilson's and the Hawkins's could see Harry Potter and not Evan Black like everyone else could.
As they took their seats a feeling of dread could not help but pass through Harry, for he was finally returning home
Author's Notes: Wow…I finally got this chapter up! I wanted to get it up as soon as I could because of the little ending on the last one…I hope you enjoyed it. As I've got my school exams coming up in 4 weeks the next couple of chapters will take a long time to write and get up, so I'm apologising in advance. Thanks to all my reviewers and those who've taken the time to read my story. Special thanks to Quillian who brought the problem of using song-fics to my attention :-)
Fire-Pawz
