The Journey Home
It was after midday, as the sun was past its highest point in the sky. The Gulfstream had flown out of Costa Rica as Harry enjoyed another bird's eye view of San Jose.
He decided to hold off on asking questions until Dr. Malcolm had woken up. Yet when Malcolm finally awoke, Mr. Hammond had fallen asleep, twirling his cane in his hand.
Malcolm and the others sat tightly as Harry told them of his experiences in the Wizarding World. It was mainly simple things, since he wasn't sure how far he wanted to take it along.
He started with what he'd already told Lex and Tim on the way to the airport. It was mainly because Malcolm asked him pointedly about the "little hooter in the cage". Harry explained it briefly, but everyone else filled the cabin with laughter, turning the story session into a joke session.
"Unbelievable…" Dr. Grant murmured. "I mean, first there's homing pigeons, now homing birds of prey…"
"In America, do wizards use eagles to send mail?" Sattler quipped.
This was a question Harry couldn't answer or believe, judging by the dumb expression on his face. His look made the others burst out in more hysterics, except Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks, who appeared just as stumped as him.
They gave in after a few seconds, although it didn't last very long.
"I don't get it," Tonks exhaled when she finally caught her breath.
"Care to explain, Padfoot?" Lupin requested, elbowing Sirius's shoulder.
"Sorry Moony," Sirius sighed. "If I'd ever been to America, I'd have the answers."
"You'll see what she means," Dr. Grant softly promised. "Just wait till you get there."
Hedwig let out an irritated screech instead of a hoot, finally cutting off all the laughter. But she stopped when Harry picked up her cage again and held it in Dr. Grant's direction.
"No need to offer you the chance to pet her?" Harry offered.
"No thanks," Grant declined, shaking his head. "If it's all the same to her, I'd rather avoid any discussion of her relatives."
Hedwig looked offended as Harry placed her cage down, but he ignored her glare. He was too busy continuing with the story of how he was gifted Hedwig for his birthday. Since Hagrid was in this story, he realized he'd have to go a little more into detail on what exactly Hagrid did at Hogwarts.
Of course, Hagrid was gamekeeper, but Harry decided to only mention Hagrid's smaller pets. Namely his dog, a large, black boarhound called Fang.
"The only pet he'd ever been without is a dragon," Harry concluded with a nervous laugh.
It wasn't a true statement at all, but Harry thought it was the perfect joke to end the tale on. Unfortunately, he hadn't noticed Dr. Grant leaning up from his chair, looking the same as when he discarded his raptor claw.
"That reminds me…" Grant whispered. "You told us you've 'been there, done that' when it came to dragons."
"…Yes," Harry answered slowly.
"Is that true?" Grant continued. "Do they really exist?"
"I'm afraid so," Harry confirmed. "But I'm sure you've heard we've run into worse than dragons last year."
"Terrific," Grant sighed, leaning back. "When you're a kid, you see something that excites you, and then, as an adult, you end up hating it for whatever reason. I mean, there's tooth and claw, and then there's fire."
Harry was relieved that Dr. Grant asked no further questions. After a day of being chased by dinosaurs, dragons were a subject he'd want to forget. Still, he hadn't forgotten how curious Tim and Lex could be, Tim even more so.
"Is that really all you have to say about it?" Lex nervously pressed.
"I've only ever seen one dragon before, anyway," Harry whispered. "It wasn't much, just a baby the size of Hagrid's hand."
"I wonder if he could eat a few compys alive," Tim suggested over Lex's squeals. "They're the really tiny ones, about the size of chickens…"
"It's gone now," Harry concluded, shaking his head. "So, let's try and talk about some normal things?"
"Like what?" Lex questioned.
"Sweets, maybe?" Harry suggested, raising his voice. "There's one I remember having that I'll bet even Dr. Grant couldn't resist."
He slapped five fingers on Tim, gave a wink to Lex, and shared a quiet laugh with them. He was also pleased to see Dr. Grant's head shoot up again.
"Couldn't resist what?" interrupted Grant.
"These sweets we've got in my world shaped like dragon claws," Harry explained. "They're chewy and sugar-coated, so they taste like sour liquorice, right."
Grant raised his eyebrows, slipping the tip of his tongue between his dry lips, elbowing a softly moaning Dr. Sattler.
"Sour licorice dragon chews…" he pondered. "Ellie and I think we could do with a stash of those. Maybe you could mail us a few, Harry?"
"Your secret will be safe with us," Sattler added.
"Maybe…" Harry suggested. "If you think you can handle them."
He noticed Lupin was worriedly shaking his head, Tonks was covering her mouth and squeezing her legs together, while Sirius merely smirked and clapped his hands.
Harry simply winked at them, intensifying their reactions before gabbing Lex's ear back.
"I meant it when I asked if he could handle them," He whispered. "You've got to chew those things up before they grab your tongue. They won't let go until you swallow them, and then they turn blazing hot, like you're about to breathe fire."
"Like soft, chewy red hots?" Lex guessed.
"Yeah…" Harry confirmed, pulling away. "Whatever those are."
"Remind me and I'll put it on the list to take you to the biggest candy store in the city for your birthday," Lex promised.
"Brilliant," Harry uttered out.
"Yeah, our parents would flip if we did!" interrupted Tim. "What are your candy stores like?"
"I haven't seen any yet," Harry confessed. "I've only ever gotten sweets for Christmas, or on the way to school, or in the infirmary."
On the edge of his field of vision, Harry saw Sirius straightening up from the sofa. He waved his hand in the air like an older student trying to get the attention of an attractive teacher.
Behind him, Lupin and Tonks were nodding slightly with wide eyes. No doubt they were in on whatever Sirius was raving about.
"You're going into your third year, if I'm right, Prongslet?" Sirius interrupted. "You'll get to go to Hogsmeade come next term."
"What's Hogsmeade?" Harry queried for Lex and Tim's sake.
"It's only the biggest little village in the entire Wizarding World," Sirius stated succinctly.
"Home to over fifty pubs and shops," Lupin added, pulling Sirius down. "Be sure you visit every single one of them…"
"Except the Hog's Head," Tonks finished. "The dumping ground we all met in just two days ago..."
Harry leaned Lex off the edge of their seat as Tonks began to describe their experience in the Hog's Head. Right down to its last speck of dust, it sounded disgusting enough to the other adults, what with all their sour expressions.
To Harry, it sounded more like a seedy shopping alley he'd entered quite by accident the previous summer. In that alley, Knockturn Alley, to name a few names, he'd landed in a shop where a severed, shriveled hand on display grabbed him by the wrist.
That was another story he decided to save as Tonks continued with how she was recruited for the mission. Sirius and Lupin interspersed their sides of the story as well, including how Sirius was proven innocent with Lupin's photograph of the Marauders.
Harry could have easily wondered how Ron felt about keeping a transformed Peter Pettigrew on his lap for two years. But he was more amused by how much his three new companions sounded like Fred and George.
Equally impressive to him was how well Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks took to flying this way.
By the time they finished their story, their voices were beginning to sound slightly strained.
"Speaking of pubs, I've worked up quite a thirst," Sirius croaked, smacking his lips. "Have they got any Butterbeer on this plane?"
"Only you would ask the right questions in the wrong location, Sirius." Lupin chuckled, rolling his eyes.
"What's Butterbeer?" Harry asked. "Is that like Butterscotch in the Wizarding World?"
"Crikey, you have not lived!" Tonks exclaimed. "It's only the greatest, most sickeningly sweet drink known to drip through the entire Wizarding World!"
"How sweet?" Harry mused.
"Miles sweeter than Butterscotch," Lupin assured him. "You'll love the foam on the top, that's what really seems to sell it…"
"No Moony, the real best thing is that you don't have to be over seventeen to drink it!" Sirius laughed.
The sweetness upon Harry's tongue grew and judging by the spots on Tim's lip, his mouth was also watering. He unbuckled and slid out of his seat, though it was a wonder it hadn't dropped upon the floor.
"Well, we don't have any Butterbeer," He apologized with a smile. "But I'll go grab a few sodas and you can see what you like."
"Hold it, you're gonna need my height," Lex insisted, unbuckling herself.
She escorted her brother to the back of the cabin, opening a small cupboard and secreting several bottles into a wicker basket.
When they returned, Harry and the others poured over the names upon the bottles to be Diet Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, and Snapple. Harry seized a bottle of Diet Coke, Lex grabbed two red Snapple bottles, leaving the basket with Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks.
"Does this look buttery to you?" Sirius complained, spinning another Coke bottle around. "There's no foam!"
He unscrewed the cap from the bottle, jumping in his seat at the sound of fizzing carbonation bursting out. He was pleased to notice the drink fizzing up as well but frowned when it was done.
"It's no use crying over stilled drinks, Padfoot," Lupin teased.
Remus chuckled over his pun and took two Sprite bottles. He handed one to Tonks, both lighting up when their drinks reacted similarly. They each took a small swig before Sirius tried nursing his. The tiny drop quickly turned to increasingly larger gulps, which Harry could hear clear as crystal.
"I'm gonna go see if Dr. Grant wants any," Tim declared after the loudest one.
He snatched the basket off the sofa, while Sirius let out an unpleasant belch. His disgust aside, Harry decided not to make himself more parched trying to answer to Dr. Grant and the others again.
He kicked the seat away as Lex clicked the cap off her Snapple bottle, which did not produce the same sound as before.
"Had enough of that?" Harry insisted.
"Yeah," Lex replied. "I'm just glad I picked fruit punch instead."
"Come on, let's take a look at what's outside," Harry suggested.
They must have been talking for a while. Peering out the window together, they were now flying past the flat-topped red mountains of Western Texas, where the fabled moondogs wailed.
As the hours passed, Harry traded stories with Lex of the views from the Hogwarts Express, from the busy streets of London to the green flecked hills of northern England into the Scottish Highlands. In return, Lex flooded his mind with the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, which Harry realized he should have expected from a young hacker.
They stopped for breaks, turning back to the window as the red deserts became dotted with green. But instead of crossing into amber waves of grain, they traversed over rolling blue, green, and yellow valleys.
It was such a different view from the last set plane journey that Harry wondered if they'd hopped the wrong plane. When the plane began its descent, Harry felt sure of it, since they were landing in green plains with yellowish mountains in the distance.
He turned to ask Lex where they were, but she responded with yet another shrug.
"Ladies and gentlemen," spoke the voice of Fobbs over the intercom. "We are now beginning our descent into Choteau Airport. On behalf of InGen, we welcome you all to the state of Montana, the Big Sky Country, home of the Badlands. To Drs. Grant and Sattler, another chopper awaits you on the helipad outside to return you to your origin point. Thanks again for flying with us, and welcome home."
As the plane touched down, Harry noticed Lex's eyes slightly dewing as Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler unbuckled themselves and retrieved their bags. Dr. Grant shook hands with Dr. Malcolm, but while he wasn't watching, Dr. Sattler gave Malcolm a quick peck on the cheek.
Mr. Hammond shuffled towards the front of the cabin, beckoning out the open hatch with his cane.
"You're not coming with us?" Harry asked them.
"I'm afraid not," Sattler sighed.
"I wish we could," Grant added. "But Ellie and I have a dig we've got to get back to."
"Don't worry about me, though…" Hammond stiffly promised. "I'm just seeing to it that they make it to their helicopter."
Tim dashed into Dr. Grant's arms, staring back up at him much like he did when they'd met.
"Dr. Grant," he breathed out. "Getting to meet you the other day was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Thanks for everything and thank Dr. Sattler too."
"Come here," Sattler giggled, pulling Tim into a tight hug of her own.
Lex pulled Harry along so Dr. Grant could wrap his arms around the two of them together.
"We're going to miss you and Ellie," Lex murmured.
"Alan and I will miss you three too," Sattler whispered.
"It's been quite an adventure," Harry added. "It'll be the envy of all my friends at school."
"Your friends have heard of me, have they?" Grant suggested, raising an eyebrow.
"Well… not really… you know what I mean…" Harry slightly stammered.
"You three take good care of yourselves," Grant instructed as he released them. "Especially you, Harry."
"You too, Dr. Grant," Harry replied.
Dr. Sattler pulled him and Lex into a hug of her own, looking like she was about to cry over sending her children off to school for the first time.
"And one more thing," Grant interjected, reaching into his pocket. "If you ever get into a new adventure, a new discovery, or you just want to talk… give us a call."
He handed the children three matching business cards, reading Dr. Alan Grant, M.S. and Ph.D. across the header. Below were two phone numbers for the home and business along with a fax number and mailing addresses.
"Thanks, Dr. Grant," Harry replied as Grant patted him on the back.
"Seriously Harry," Grant insisted. "I think there are a few more stories you haven't told us yet, so I'll be waiting on them."
"And don't forget somebody else," Sattler reminded him, handing the children three business cards of her own.
She leaned down and kissed Harry on the temple, which certainly made some extra heat swell up inside him. He hadn't spent as much time with her, but it seemed to make no difference to Lex, as she and Tim were also given a motherly farewell kiss. Although Tim made sure to wipe his forehead when Sattler wasn't watching.
She gave the children one last wave as Dr. Grant gently poked her in the back, out the plane door. They last saw Dr. Grant's face as he gave them one final salute before ducking out himself.
Opposite them, Malcolm leaned back with his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes with a proud smile as he let out a relaxed breath.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please return to your seats effective immediately," interrupted Phipps' voice. "We'll soon be departing for our next destination and should arrive in approximately five hours and thirty-seven minutes... If you're waiting on anymore farewell pecking, this is your last chance…"
Harry and the Murphy children burst into a round of snickers, not over what Phipps had said. It was more over the way Malcolm dropped his hands and double took, sputtering like a lovestruck fool.
"Honestly, are we all through with that?" interrupted Sirius. "Some of us didn't get enough of those when we left for school..."
Harry was amused to find Sirius was lying upside down on the sofa, acting irritated over being ignored. Lupin was sliding across in Sirius's direction, as far as he could. But Sirius's foot was handy, since it pushed him back the other way, until he and Tonks were rubbing shoulders.
"Try not to peep too early now, Padfoot?" Lupin panted as Tonks switched to a set of spacey eyes, locking them with his.
Her eyes were now the same shade of sapphire as Lex and Tim's, as Harry noticed. Like most boys his age, he understood why Tonks was smiling so widely and why Lupin was looking so nervous.
"Shall I leave the two of you alone for a while?" Harry teased.
He could have sworn he'd heard the words, "Good idea", muttered behind him as he was jerked backwards into his seat.
"Did you say something?" Harry when he faced Lex again.
She shrugged, but somehow her response didn't keep Harry second guessing. Lex kicked their chair away from the others, quietly stealing glances at Harry for the next few minutes.
For some reason, Harry wasn't feeling the heat as much as before. But the silence was finally broken by an electronic bleep, as another FASTEN SEATBELT sign flashed above their heads.
Lex reached for their seatbelt, but Harry suddenly remembered that someone was missing. He finally spotted Mr. Hammond dragging himself back aboard the plane with a worrying silence. Except for the sound of his shoes sliding across the carpeted floor.
Hammond tried to relax himself as he reclaimed his seat. But Harry could sense that something was about to go wrong again.
"Are you okay?" Lex queried, pulling their seatbelt across.
"Yeah," Harry exhaled.
He never wanted his friends to worry too much about him, so he let Lex buckle them in with nothing more to say. They watched Tim to ensure he did the same as the plane engines started whirring again.
As the plane shot back into the sky, Harry could no longer see the sun. With his limited geographical skills, he hadn't realized they were flying eastward. The sun was on the other side, since the sky was turning from yellow orange to a slight magenta to a royal blue.
The changing sky darkened the green mountains of Montana, South Dakota, and Iowa below. All except a stone-gray peak with what looked like several heads carved into it.
This had to be another famous landmark in America, but it would have helped if Harry knew who any of the heads belonged to.
He let it go as the mountains switched to the brightly lit cities across Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Harry had never even seen London lit up like this and was eager to find the Statue of Liberty glowing splendidly.
They flew over a few more cities across Pennsylvania and New Jersey before Harry spotted the Empire State Building, then the Chrysler Building, and finally the Twin Towers again.
The plane circled the area as Harry spotted Lady Liberty, still green even in the dead of night.
"Lex, look!" he whispered.
But he was quite entranced and hadn't felt something extra press upon his shoulder blade. Lex had fallen asleep there, looking as peaceable as he'd ever seen her.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Fobbs announced on the intercom. "We will now begin our descent into John F. Kennedy Airport. On behalf of InGen, we thank you again for flying with us, and welcome you home to New York City."
As they descended again, Harry gently stroked Lex's cheek with his thumb, causing her to stir. He wasn't sure why he'd done it that way, but Lex didn't seem to mind.
When they hit the ground, Lex stood up to wake her brother, while Harry discovered his godfather asleep, flopping over the sofa's left arm. Lupin was snoozing against the right, Tonks laying upon his stomach with her arms sprawled around his neck.
He quietly chuckled to himself before grabbing a snoring Sirius by the shoulder.
"Padfoot…" He whispered to no reply.
"…Padfoot…" He continued, slightly louder.
"Five more minutes, mum…" Sirius murmured, tossing over, nearly hitting Harry's nose.
"Padfoot!" he finally shouted.
His voice triggered Lupin and Tonks upwards, and Sirius finally opened his eyes. But none of them were without a few stretches and yawns.
"Oi!" Tonks squeaked.
"What is it?" Lupin sighed.
"Wake up, we're there!" Harry ordered.
"Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up," Sirius grumbled, popping a few cracks. "I haven't been woken up like this since you were a baby, Prongslet."
Harry was ready to ask about that name, but it was late, and he knew Dr. Malcolm was still with them. He and the Murphy children retrieved their bags as Mr. Hammond hurriedly ushered them back through the hatch, down the stairs with the same tense look he had on the island.
Searchlights lit up the tarmac as another Rolls Royce Silver Spur awaited a few metres away. But next to it was a much smaller Toyota Crown, all in black. A more obscured figure emerged from the Crown, holding out a sign reading Dr. Ian Malcolm, as lit up by a torch.
As the searchlights pointed in their direction, Malcolm waved to the driver before starting off in that direction.
"You're not coming either?" Harry asked.
"No, I've got a lecture coming up at Brandeis University," Malcolm replied before smirking. "Good luck, you three… you're going to need it… chaos theory's been telling me so…"
He chuckled, although Harry knew what he was implying, albeit not perfectly well. He presented Harry and the Murphy children with the same hug, along with a firm handshake, and a business card of his own before getting into the Crown.
He rolled down the window, offering one last wave before pulling away from the gathering. Over by the Rolls Royce, Mr. Hammond held the door open as Harry crowded into the back row with Lex and Tim.
Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks seated themselves in the opposing row, while Mr. Hammond took the shotgun seat again, just in time for the limousine to drive off into the night.
Harry wondered whether it was Phipps or Fobbs driving them until, out his window, he saw the Gulfstream being towed across the tarmac. They still had to be on the plane, but Harry was too exhausted to ask about it.
Still, as he tried to relax, his mind shifted to one of Sirius's more unpleasant jokes from the evening before.
Harry was grateful that Mr. Hammond was letting him, Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks spend the summer with him and his grandchildren.
Indeed, the Weasleys, the Grangers, and even Hammond and his people seemed to accept him perfectly fine. But that was before they'd heard of the calamities he and his friends faced at Hogwarts.
What would Lex's mother say to Mr. Hammond harboring him and Sirius after a weekend like this? In fact, Harry was beginning to recall how he found Dumbledore a bit odd with the words he used to open a Hogwarts feast.
He was fighting the urge to close his eyes and rest, but it was too dark for him to win the battle. The car began to slow as he opened them again, pulling up to a beautiful, pale yellow, Italian Renaissance-style mansion with arcades lining the exterior.
He and the others exited the Rolls Royce, as Hammond escorted them up a few more stairs to a black iron-gated door, not unlike the bars that used to be on Harry's window.
Hammond rang the doorbell as a somewhat older-looking, blue-eyed man in a tuxedo peeked out before answering.
"Welcome home, Mr. Hammond, Master Tim, and Mistress Alexis," he greeted in a slightly stiff voice. "As for the rest of you, my name is Denholm, and I shall be attending to your every whim during your tenure. Please come in…"
Denholm beckoned them into a marble foyer, lit by several tall, black candelabra. Somehow the place looked even cleaner than Hogwarts, but Harry hadn't enough energy to think much of it.
Denholm escorted them up a nearby flight of stairs, down a corridor up to a pale, pink door just opposite a pale blue door. Harry assumed this had to be Lex's room. He was right, as once Lex opened the door, the furnishings on the wall made it all come clear.
Instead of pink, the walls were painted in the same purple as her baseball cap. The bed was round, and the bedsheets were embroidered with the same paisley as Lex's clothes and rucksack.
Rather than posters of popular singers, the walls were decorated with framed photographs. One showed a wooden rollercoaster, which appeared to be called the Cyclone. Another was of some sort of sporting arena, labeled Shea Stadium, Home of the New York Mets.
One more photograph on the wall showed the New York Mets team, who were all wearing caps. Some of them were holding what resembled longer versions of beater bats.
Harry decided he'd ask Lex more about it in the morning, since Tim dropped something on the floor.
He'd dashed across to his room, rushing back with a pillow, a clean set of his camo pajamas, a red stuffed Triceratops, and a black sleeping bag printed with the Jurassic Park logo. The latter two items must have been some of the presents Mr. Hammond sent to them before they arrived on the island.
"I shall be attending to the rest of your group's needs now," Denholm announced. "Rest well, Mr. Potter."
He nodded before closing the door, leaving Harry to ponder how Denholm knew his name. It wasn't long before Lex returned through another door at the back of the room, in a pajama set that looked like the jerseys in the Mets photograph.
Her hair hung down as usual and in her arms was a folded plain black t-shirt. She offered Harry the shirt, opening the door to reveal a white bathroom with an ornate golden mirror, a set of Formica cabinets, and a forest green marble counter. On the end of the counter rested a stack of white cups patterned with blue and purple swirls.
Harry carried his duffel and the shirt into the bathroom, removing his shoes, socks, shorts, and t shirt for the day. Only his underwear was left as Harry pulled the new shirt on. He retrieved the toothbrush and toothpaste from the duffel, and a cup from the stack for a quick brush and rinse before rejoining Lex and Tim.
Tim appeared to be curled up on the floor in his sleeping bag, while Lex was lying upon the bed with her arms stretched out. Harry was too exhausted to consider where he'd sleep, so he didn't care that Lex pulled him onto the bed with her.
As she threw the duvet over him, the lights went out, rendering the room in total darkness. How that happened was the last thing Harry wondered before he was overcome by a deep, well-earned sleep.