chapter two

chapter two

Tea Time with the Muggles

Mrs. Figg was indeed a mad woman if she thought that her niece was a little girl, for she wasn't a little girl at all. In fact, Harry thought she looked as though she was his age. And oh, did he think she was pretty! She had dark blond hair that fell in a bob at her shoulders. Her eyes were a sparkling sapphire blue. And her smile….oh! Harry had never seen a more genuine smile!

"Hello there! You must be Harry Potter!" She said with a small skip over to him and an extended right hand asking for a handshake. "My aunt told me you'd be joining us. I'm Daphne Affigo."

Harry just stared with wide eyes. Then, after realizing what he was doing, quickly grabbed the girl's hand and shook it more rapidly than he had intended.

"Are you ok?" She was still smiling.

Harry stammered. "Er…yeah." He grinned sheepishly. "It's just that she said…er…I thought that you'd be…er…little."

"I know," she said sitting on the sofa. "She still thinks of me as a little girl. I think she stopped remembering how old I was five years ago!" Her slight chuckle made Harry smile.

Sitting down on the cat-hair sofa next to Daphne, Harry asked with slight hesitation, "So, how old are you?" Then he added quickly, "If you don't mind my asking."

"Not at all! I'm fifteen," she answered.

"Really?" Harry's voice showed his excitement as much as his face did. "I'm fifteen, too!" Harry hoped that his face wasn't as red as it felt.

"Well, I see we're all gathered!" Mrs. Figg came into the room carrying a tray with all the usual tea items and placing it on the coffee table. She then sat in the armchair, which left Harry between Mrs. Figg and her niece, with one small cat at his feet.

"Cream and sugar, Harry?" Daphne asked, pouring him a cup.

"Just sugar, please," Harry replied.

"Cake, Harry?" Mrs. Figg asked, filling up a plate.

"Yes, please," Harry felt very strange being waited on like this. At the Dursley's he was lucky to get leftovers, and at Hogwarts the food sort of served itself.

"So, how far away do you live, Harry?" Daphne asked as she passed the cup to him.

Before he could answer, Mrs. Figg cut in, "Just a few streets away on Privet Drive," she handed a plate to harry and began preparing one for Daphne. "But Harry's only around in the summer time. He is away most of the year at school."

"Oh really?" Daphne looked to Harry with expectation of an explanation. Harry looked from Daphne to Mrs. Figg and then back to Daphne again.

"Yes, it's a boarding school," then, hoping to end the school conversation, he looked to Mrs. Figg and added, "It's very far away."

"But it must be exciting!" Daphne was now pouring her aunt a cup of tea. "What's your favorite subject?"

Harry almost choked on his cake. Subject? What was he to say? He couldn't very well say Defense Against Dark Arts or Care of Magical Creatures. So he said the first purely muggle subject that popped into his head. "Arithmetic." Harry knew his smile must have seemed phony from the strange look Mrs. Figg was giving him.

"I enjoy History," Daphne said, pouring herself a cup of tea and adding, "The past is so very fascinating to me."

"Yes, well…" Mrs. Figg interrupted as if wanting to change the subject. "Do you play a sport, Harry?"

"Er…yes." Harry continued to force a smile because he knew what was coming next.

"What do you play?" asked Mrs. Figg.

Harry could just see their puzzlement if he said he was the seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. So instead he said, "Soccer."

At that moment the telephone rang and Mrs. Figg excused herself in order to answer it.

"I adore Soccer! We'll have to play it sometime," Daphne smiled at him, which made his ears turn pink. Fact was, Harry wasn't that good at soccer. He wasn't really any good at any sport but Quidditch, but he didn't was to tell Daphne that.

After an awkward silence, Mrs. Figg returned with a sigh. "Oh, dear. It's seems Mrs. Miller down the street isn't feeling well and needs me to run an errand for her. She doesn't drive, you know," she whispered the last part as if she were telling them something bad that shouldn't be said aloud. "Do you think you two will be alright without me for a while?"

"Don't worry, Aunt Arabella. We'll be fine." Daphne nudged Harry's arm and added, "We'll even clean up the tea for you."

"I just feel terrible leaving children alone, but I don't expect that you'd want to go," she said as she started gathering up her hat, purse, and gloves from various parts of the foyer, lingering a moment on a large photo album.

"Well, if you get bored, you're more than welcome to look at the album here." She patted it for them to see. " I know you always like looking at it when you're over here, Harry."

Harry smiled at her and nodded politely, secretly hoping he would never have to look at that ruddy old album of cat pictures ever again.

"You behave now," she said as she kissed her niece on the forehead. She stepped out of the house and shut the door behind her.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I certainly do NOT want to look at pictures of cats all day!" Daphne looked to Harry as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad you said that! I can't stand looking at those cats!" Harry laughed.

"I know!" Daphne was laughing, too. "She sits for hours talking about them. I just want to die sometimes!"

They cleaned up the tea things and returned to the living room for another awkward silence. This time it was Daphne that broke it. "So, what's fun to do around here?"

"Er…here?"

"Well, not in Aunt Arabella's house, but around here."

Harry thought for a moment. He'd never associated Privet Drive or its surrounding area with fun before. "There's a park, but it's a good walk away."

"Ok, let's go there then," she headed for the door. "It'll be good to get out of this stuffy house for a while." Harry couldn't have agreed more!

So out they went for their walk. Harry noticed that it didn't seem nearly as hot now as it had earlier. But then, he wasn't dragging a large trunk anymore, either!

The conversation was still a bit stilted. It was difficult for Harry to answer most of her questions because his life in the wizard world was so different from her life as a muggle. He felt so badly about having to lie to her, but he did manage to work in some truths. He told her about Ron and Hermione and how they all went to school together, but he omitted any information regarding magic.

As they reached the park, the conversation turned to pets. "Of course, I have a cat, Pepper," Daphne said with a roll of her eyes. "A gift a few years ago from my aunt after my dog, Princess, died. How about you?"

"Oh, I've just got Hedwig, my owl." Harry almost froze. He couldn't believe he had said that! What kind of a nit was he and how was he going to explain a pet owl?

"Really? An owl? Fascinating!" She seemed very interested and not at all puzzled.

Hoping to cover up some of his mistake he added, "She flies away a lot though. And she's really very tame, so you needn't worry about her causing problems."

"I'd love to see her! Is she at my aunt's?"

"No, like I said, she flies away a lot. But I'm sure she'll be back soon."

The afternoon continued almost uneventfully. They enjoyed the playground, not caring that they were the oldest ones on the swings, and had fun watching a boy make mud pies and get himself very dirty. After a while Daphne thought they should head back before her aunt started to worry.

On the way back, she asked which house was Harry's. He pointed in the general direction and said, "The Dursley's live over there."

"The Dursley's? Your aunt and uncle, you mean?"

"Yeah, and my cousin, Dudley," he said the name as if spitting out a rotten piece of food.

"You don't seem to like them very much," her voice had grown soft.

"I'd rather live anywhere but number four, Privet Drive," Harry looked down at his feet and kicked a rock out of the way.

Daphne's eyes flashed to the scar barely visible through Harry's long bangs. "My aunt told me that your parents died along time ago."

Still looking down, Harry said, "Yeah, in an accident when I was a baby. That's how I got this silly scar."

"I'm so sorry," now it was her turn to look down towards the ground.

Harry looked over and felt bad for making her depressed. "It wasn't your fault, and don't feel sorry for me. I'm doing better than most people know," he gave her a small smile.

"Do you remember them?" She asked.

"Not really. Just…a few…images." He couldn't tell her that what he did remember was his mother pleading for his life, a flash of green light, and the high pitched laugh of Voldemort.

"Harry…I…" She looked as though she had something important to say, but just couldn't find the words. "I…I think…we better hurry home." She said quickly.

"Aunt Arabella will worry."

And she was right. Mrs. Figg was worried, but after a small lecture on leaving word about being late for dinner, they sat at the table eating quietly and listening to Mrs. Figg explain all about Mrs. Miller's health problems.

Dinner was followed by a long evening of looking at photographs of Mrs. Figg's cats and even longer stories about their mischief. Harry could feel his eyelids droop as boredom settled in.

"I better go up to bed," he stood up feeling very drowsy.

"Of course, you're both probably very sleepy." Mrs. Figg closed the book and looked at her niece who was barely awake. "Daphne, could you be a dear and help Harry with his trunk?"

"Oh, that's not necessary. I'm used to lugging it around!"

"No, I'll help," Daphne stretched he arms before picking up one side of the trunk leaving Harry with the other. They had that trunk up the steps and into Harry's temporary room in no time.

"What d'ya got in there that's so heavy?" Daphne asked before leaving.

"Just all my school things." Harry gave that phony grin again, hoping she wouldn't ask to see inside it.

"Well, maybe you can show me in the morning." She turned to leave with a soft, "Goodnight, Harry."

* * * * * * * * * *

Harry couldn't sleep. He was tired enough, but he just couldn't sleep. He wasn't sure if it was the unfamiliar surroundings, the cabbage-smell of the house, or the new friend asleep in the next room. Deciding it was probably the last one, he thought he'd find a distraction by looking for something to do.

Harry started rummaging through his trunk when a rapping at the window startled him. It was an owl, but it wasn't Hedwig. He opened the window quietly, took the letter, and gave the owl a pat on its head before it flew away. Eager to hear news from the wizarding world, Harry ripped it open.

Dear Harry,

Glad to hear the Dursleys won't be around to torture you. I know you're not happy about your current situation, but you're in good hands. Oh, and on that note, I'd like to ask you not to go to Ron's this summer. You're safer with Mrs. Figg. There is so much going on right now that it's hard to trust anyone. Fudge and the Ministry aren't taking the necessary precautions they should be taking at a time like this; we need to prepare for what's coming and Fudge just doesn't see that. Remus and I have been working on something, though. You understand that I can't go into detail in case this letter doesn't reach you. Just trust me for now and I promise I'll explain everything later.

I'll try to meet up with you before you go to Hogwarts. Say hello to Ron and Hermione for me.

Sirius

Harry looked puzzled. What was his godfather up to? And why was he safer with Mrs. Figg than at Ron's house?

The sound of a crash downstairs told Harry that he wasn't the only one awake. He decided to go down and see if everything was all right. As he approached the kitchen, he froze at the sound of his name.

"Do you think Harry heard that?" Daphne said quietly.

"No, that boy's fast asleep. You saw how tired he was," Harry could hear Mrs. Figg cleaning something up. Probably whatever it was that had broken. "Incidentally, what were you thinking wondering all around town like that?"

"We just went to the park!" Daphne countered.

"He has been placed in my safe keeping and I will not have him endangered for a few moments of fun!"

Harry took a step back. What was she talking about?

"Do you think he suspects anything?"

"Heavens no." Mrs. Figg didn't sound her usual self, but rather a very stern version of herself. "I've taken great precautions over the last few years to ensure he knows nothing."

"But what will he think when he finds out the truth?" Daphne's concern sounded genuine.

"He'll think that Albus is a very clever man. And he'll most likely wonder at how he didn't figure it out sooner!"

Did she say Albus? Harry could have sworn that's what she had said. Surely she's not talking about…Dumbledore?

After a moment of silence Daphne's hushed voice said, "He's so different than what I expected. I thought he'd be stuck up or something."

"Why ever would you think that? I told you that Harry was a very nice and somewhat shy boy. You didn't believe me?"

"Well I thought he just acted that way in front of muggles."

"AH! Don't forget, Daphne, that we are muggles."

Harry heard a small giggle from Daphne before she said, "Oh, right."

"Now, take this letter out to that owl, and give him this biscuit, too.

Harry heard Daphne go out the back door. "I only hope that letter gets there in time," Mrs. Figg said to herself. The sound of footsteps coming towards Harry made his heart race even faster than it already was. As quickly and quietly as he could manage, Harry ran back up to his room, disappointed that he didn't hear more.

Who were Mrs. Figg and Daphne really? And why were they hiding the truth from Harry?

**Daphne Affigo is an Alphie creation. Harry Potter and all other characters are property of J.K.Rowling and Warner Brothers.