Mental as Anything.
Harry was left in peace
until someone knocked on his door.
"There's a girl to see
you Harry," said Dudley gently. Harry realised that Dudley was not always so
mean and smiled to himself for this quiet moment.
Dudley stopped Harry on
the landing. "Are you okay Harry? I hear you had an accident?"
"Y-yeah."
"Well, look. If you need
to borrow my bike, feel free."
Harry must have looked
shocked for Dudley suddenly snarled "Look, I can be nice too can't I?"
Harry looked around
flustered and managed to say "Thanks" and then the pair of them laughed,
nervously at last. The nerves shook open locked feelings between them and they
hugged each other, laughing happily.
"You're mental as
anything sometimes, cousin Harry."
"And you're a right pain
too, cousin Dudley!"
Harry felt better and
Dudley helped him downstairs. Waiting inside the front door was Jasmine.
"I heard about the
accident Harry. Are you okay?" she said, rushing over to cuddle him.
"Really? Who from?"
"Well, your cousin
popped 'round to tell me about my bike."
Dudley blushed, to Harry's
surprise, and decided to leave at that point.
"Come on Harry, let's go
to your room," said Jasmine.
Harry numbly let Jasmine
drag him to his bedroom. Somewhere in the house was his aunt and uncle. Harry
was very wary of the fact but seeing Jasmine smiling at him again was
reassuring.
Jasmine hugged him and kissed
him. "I wanted to see you again anyway," she sighed.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Sorry for hitting
you Harry. You just, well surprised me when you leapt on me!"
Harry could not remember
too well until he saw the scratches on her shoulder visible under her low top.
Harry instinctively
touched the scratches. "These are claw marks," he said absently.
"Yeah, from a wild,
randy animal!" sneered Jasmine. "Call me old-fashioned, but… well, you did
pounce on me."
Harry was feeling tired
and confused. "A dragon swooped down at us. I tried to protect you."
Jasmine cuddled Harry as
his eyes welled with tears. Some sensible part of his mind told him he was in
shock from the accident. Memories of Hogwarts came flooding back along with the
painful realisation that everything he owned had disappeared.
"Am I a wizard?" sighed
Harry "Or just mental."
"You're both!" joked
Jasmine and her warm tender laugh relaxed Harry.
After a short sleep in
Jasmine's arms, the pair went downstairs to inspect the bike. It was ruined –
the frame was bent nearly in two, the handlebar had fallen off and both wheels
were buckled and the tyres shredded.
Jasmine sighed
tearfully. "My god. How did you survive?"
Harry shrugged. "I can't
say." From inside his mind, a dragon smiled evilly at the truth of Harry's
words.
Jasmine went to the bike
and hugged it. "This was my brother's. I used to clean it a lot, after he died.
I used to look at it and remember him."
"I'm really really sorry
Jasmine."
"Oh, I'm not that
worried. Mum and Dad will be upset, but they'll understand it was just an
accident. Like I said before, when Daniel died, it was the memories of him that
were really painful to hang onto. But you have to hang on. Don't you?"
"Course you do. Look, I'd
like to go meet your mum and dad and apologise."
Jasmine looked a little
startled "Really? Well, it's okay. You really do not have to you know"
"No. I must," resolved
Harry.
"It's okay. Really," pleaded
Jasmine. If truth be told, she was a little embarrassed of her parents and
their love for everything eighties: Jasmine had the awful fate of being the lovechild
of New Romantics. However, Jasmine noted the determination in Harry's eyes. "Okay.
Just don't get talking about music," she sighed.
Dudley saw the pair
leave from his bedroom window and sighed. He turned back to the handwritten letter
addressed to him and read it again. Dudley was in love.
TO BE CONTINUED…