Chapter twenty

Over the next three weeks, Harry and Cathy saw each other every night. She had asked Harry about his job, he just said law enforcement. She asked about friends and when she might meet them, he said soon. She asked about where he grew up and went to school and Harry explained how he grew up with his aunt and uncle, but ignored the school question and asked her about her life growing up.

Harry realised how much he cared about her and had seen some looks from Cathy, so he thought she cared about him, so he knew it was time to talk to her. He invited her over to his place for dinner, but the moment he got home, he blocked the fireplace, stilled all the pictures, then made sure his friends couldn't apparate in.

When Harry heard the knock on his door, he smiled as he opened it, 'Hi,' Harry took Cathy's hand and they stepped into the living room.

'Hi, this is nice. Have you lived here long?'

'I bought it a few years ago, would you like a drink?'

'Thanks, just a small one,' Cathy sat on the sofa, then Harry handed her a drink, 'Something smells good.'

'Thanks and I hope you like it,' Harry smiled as he sat next to her, then their drinks were on the small table and they were kissing passionately.

After some more snogging and talking, Harry and Cathy sat at the table and enjoyed a nice meal, but they still talked and again Harry was evasive about parts of his life. When they finished, they sat together on the sofa.

'Um, where's your television, or stereo?'

'In the other room, I don't use it very often, after work I usually read or visit friends,' Harry knew it was time.

'I don't think I've ever met anyone that didn't own a television in their living room, but I do enjoy reading as well. There's something I want to tell you Harry and I know we've only been seeing each other for a few weeks, but I thought you should know.'

'Okay, you can tell me anything.'

Cathy smiled, then leaned in and kissed Harry very softly, 'I'm in love with you.'

Harry's smile got bigger, 'I'm in love with you as well, I was planning on telling you tonight.'

'At first, even though I knew I liked you, I did try to fight my feelings, now I should explain why. You see, apart from that day we met, a year before I lost my godparents, they were killed in an accident on holidays. My best friend died a few months before that. I was seeing a man a few years ago, we met at school, we even talked about marriage, he was killed, the shop he owned was robbed one night and he was shot. So I started to think I couldn't get close to anyone, that I would lose them again. But I felt myself being drawn to you, even if I am scared something might happen to you. But I don't want to be alone, I want a life with someone, so when I realised I loved you, I thought I'd take the chance.'

Harry had been holding Cathy's hand while she talked, 'I'm glad you did, but what you just said Cathy, well, I've had the same things happen to me and I wasn't sure I could get close to anyone. As you know my parents died when I was a year old, but for reasons I'll explain later, I never got to know my godfather until I was thirteen. I loved him so much and he died, when I was fifteen. Then a few friends died, I saw two die in front of me. A man, he was my mentor, my friend, he died and I saw it. So I basically did the same thing, I thought I couldn't get close to anyone apart from the few good friends I'm close to. But there was this man, he was good friend with my parents and my godfather, I was wary of getting close to him, then he died, along with his wife. I happen to be godfather to their son. I was engaged for a while, to a girl I'd been dating since school. Now she never died, almost, but we both realised we didn't love each other. She's now with a friend of mine and we're now friends, but she's also the sister of my best friend Ron. So you see, we both have similar lives in that aspect. I was talking to a friend a couple of weeks ago, about us, by that night I realised I would like a life with you I just needed to get over my fear of losing you.'

'So do you think this will work with us Harry, I would like it too and we do have similar backgrounds?'

Harry smiled, 'I think it will, but there's something I need to tell you, something that will be a shock for you, surprise you and you might not believe it, or maybe think I'm losing my mind. I'm hoping it won't change your mind about me and it will explain why I've been a little evasive about certain details about my life.'

'I have wondered why you never told me the name of your school, or which law enforcement department you work for. But I will tell you this, I went online and did a search of your name, I couldn't fine much. A bit about you living with your aunt and uncle in a place called Little Whinging. But from the time you were eleven, nothing, I couldn't find anything. I thought maybe it was a cover, you might have been a child of a diplomat or something, maybe a son of a spy.'

Harry laughed, 'That would have been easier to explain then what I do have to tell you. But first I need to ask you something. Do you remember a few years ago, things like bridges collapsing, or tornado's, hearing about strange deaths, well they reported in the papers that people died but couldn't find out why. Does any of that sound familiar?'

'I remember the tornado's, I watched it on the news. It was the first time we'd had them in this country. But I don't get why tornado's have anything to do with the reasons you've been evasive about your life.'

'Because that wasn't a tornado, it was caused by some people, some really bad people. This isn't going to be easy and you probably will think I'm crazy. But there is another world that you never see Cathy, maybe see the odd strange thing or hear about something that can't be explained. It's the reason why the only electrical items are in one room only. See I'm from this other world where we don't need things like electricity or cars. We travel differently from all of you, faster as well. Now you're probably thinking alien or something, but no, I'm human. This other world inside your world is there, but it's kept secret. Now we have a name for what you would be, muggles, meaning non magical. Me and my friends, family, we're called witches and wizards, we use magic and it's not the type of magic you've seen on tv. We are truly magical people.'

'Magic, sort of like making woman disappear, that type of stuff?'

'No, I mean real magic. They are just show people, illusionists you could say, they don't have any real magic. I'm born magical, my father was born magical, my mother was, but she came from muggles, non-magical parents. I know this is all confusing and hard to believe, but I will prove it to you. I just want to explain everything first. I went to a school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it's a castle in the Scottish highlands. If people like you saw it from the gates, all you see is a ruined castle, but it's the magic around the place to stop muggles getting inside. From the time I was eleven I went there, we live there for the whole year. We learn how to use our magic safely, how to do spells, potions, everything we need.

'Now my job is what you call an auror, their dark wizard catches. Just like any world, you have good and bad people, I deal with the worst there is in our world. We have a normal law enforcement squad, they deal with normal crimes, we deal with the worst there is and it's dangerous work. I'm very good at my job, but it is dangerous. If you went into my bathroom, you wouldn't find a towel, we don't need them, because we can use a drying charm. We don't drive because we can either apparate, that's disappearing from one place and appearing in another within a few seconds or we floo, which is traveling by fire through the fireplace and it's networks. I know all this sounds farfetched and ridiculous, I thought so too when I was first explained when I was eleven. But I think it's time I showed you and proved that I am a wizard and from a secret world most non magical people ever see.' Harry could see shock on Cathy's face, but he could tell she wasn't frightened, just not sure he was telling the truth or he didn't have something wrong with him and now Harry just hoped she handled what he was about to show her.