A/N: A quick note for my fellow Americans

A/N: A quick note for my fellow Americans. I decided to 'go British', as you might say, so wherever you see the word 'football', it means 'soccer', or 'soccer ball'. 'Kay, just to let you know.

Chapter 12: Welcome to the Rileys'

Harry walked off the plane and instantly spotted the Rileys. It wasn't hard; the little girl was holding up a sign that read 'Gary Trotter'. He waited a moment, looking them over. After all, he hadn't had the best experiences with muggles. First there was Edward. He had light brown hair and eyes to match and was at the moment speaking happily with his wife. He kind of reminded Harry of Ludo Bagman; while his hair was thinning, his midsection was thickening. Unlike Bagman, however, Mr. Riley seemed to be willingly accepting the aging process.

The woman next to him had a cheering smile on her face and her deep blue eyes were sparkling with pleasure. Her raven curls were tied in a bun, but not a tight one like Professor McGonagall's. It looked, rather, that she had quickly piled her hair up so that it would be out of her way. There were a few strands of gray, but she didn't seem to mind that the world could see them.

Eric was looking around nervously, trying to spot Harry though he didn't know what he looked like. His hair was identical to his father's, but his eyes were a strange gray. In a way, he reminded Harry of himself at fourteen, small and scrawny. The girl had long locks of red hair and sparkling blue eyes like her mother. She held the sign up as high as she could, a sight that would make anyone laugh. Her face was, however, very serious at the moment, as though she knew the importance of her job. Finally taking a deep breath, Harry walked up to them, holding out a hand.

"Hi, I'm Gary."

"Pleased to meet you, Gary," Mr. Riley said warmly, shaking his hand, "I'm Edward. This is my wife, Margaret. And these are Eric and Janie."

Harry shook each of their hands in turn. Janie beamed brightly at him while Eric's eyes held nothing short of reverence at seeing the 'much older and more mature' boy.

"Well, hope you don't mind rooming with Eric, Gary," Mr. Riley continued as they made their way through the airport, "It shouldn't be too cramped, I should hope."

The sun had risen by the time they reached the house. Harry looked at it with a touch of apprehension. It looked almost like a cottage from a fairy tale, and Harry had long ago decided never to trust fairy tales. Then, as they walked to the front door, Harry spotted a small, half-melted snowman on the front lawn. It looked as though every scrap of snow had been sacrificed in its making. For some reason, it comforted Harry. It was now less a house and more a home, something number 4 Privet Drive could never be.

As he went through the door, Harry noticed smudges around the doorway and his smile grew. The living room was slightly crowded with furniture, none of it matching but all of it looking like it belonged together.

"I'll show you to my room, Gary," Eric said, beaming.

He led Harry up the stairs and to a room at the end of the hall. Eric opened the door for him and Harry took a step in, but paused, looking down. His foot was in the middle of what looked very much like dog droppings.

"Sorry, I meant to clean that up, but I guess I got sidetracked by going to the airport," Eric said, turning bright red, "You take off your shoe and I'll grab a rag."

Eric quickly left as Harry began untying his lace. He slipped out of the shoe and then looked around the room, keeping his mind off of what he had just stepped in. The wall was split into halves by a small wallpaper border of footballs. The top half of the walls was painted a deep forest green while the bottom half was a wallpaper of green, maroon, and beige stripes.

The bedspread, made of the same color green, maroon, and beige stripes, was at the moment flung on the floor. The walls had several pictures of football players tacked on them that looked as though the person had been leaning when he had put them up. Eric's dresser had nothing but football trophies on it, none of them upright. There was a tall bookshelf in the corner, but many of the books seemed to have migrated into a stack on Eric's nightstand. In splotches all over the floor were piles of clothes that had been tossed aside lazily. Even the stereo had jumbled stacks of CDs on it.

The only thing in the room that contained an ounce of tidiness was the cot that Harry assumed was his own. He smiled, thinking about how this was exactly the kind of room he had wanted when he was little. Eric finally returned carrying a rag and some carpet cleaner.

"I just hate it when this happens," he moaned as he cleaned the floor and Harry's shoe, "Hope you don't mind the smell, though. Football seems to think this is the bathroom."

"Football?"

"Oh yeah, you haven't met him. Hey, Football!" he called out the door, "Come 'ere, boy!"

A loud bark echoed through the house, followed by such loud footsteps that Harry could only assume Eric had a pet triceratops. Through the door bounded the largest dog Harry had ever seen. It tackled and pinned Eric, licking the boy's face happily.

"Off, boy!" Eric laughed, "I already washed my face this morning!"

Eric managed to get the dog off him and turned to Harry.

"He's a Great Dane," Eric said proudly, "We just got him this summer; he's still a puppy."

"A puppy?" Harry asked, gaping.

"They grow really fast. I've taught him a lot of neat tricks. Hold out your hand to him."

Harry held his hand out to the dog as Eric said, "Shake, Football!"

The dog turned a circle.

"Er…I'm still working on that one."

Harry tried to hold back a laugh. Suddenly a shout came from the hall.

"Gary, Gary, you just have to meet BBMac!!!" Janie squealed.

Harry looked wide-eyed at Eric.

"You'll see," he moaned, holding his hand to his head.

Janie practically flew into the room, a bundle of brown in her arms.

"Isn't he adorable?" she giggled, plopping what looked like a hairy hotdog with legs into his arms, "His name's BBMac, but we just call him Mac. He's a Dachshund."

Harry laughed. "Football is the largest dog I've ever seen, and Mac is the smallest."

"Yeah, well I told her that Football would think Mac was a snack, but she wouldn't listen."

"My grades were better than yours, snail brain, so I can have any dog I want. Besides, Football's afraid of Mac."

"He is not!"

"Oh yeah?" She promptly snatched Mac from Harry and put the tiny dog on the ground, yelling, "Get him, Mac!"

The dog just stared up at her a moment and then rushed over to Football. He began chasing the larger dog's tail around as it waged, snapping at it playfully. Mac finally caught his 'victim', causing Football to yelp and bolt out of the room, Mac waddling after him.

"Any dog would be afraid of that little terror," Eric pouted.

"He's not a terror; he's a sweetie!" she said, sticking out her lip defiantly.

Harry stared at her, hardly believing his eyes.

"What?" she asked him, perplexed.

"You're…you're so much like a girl I once knew," he said, smiling slightly, "She was my best friend's little sister."

"Wa-?" Janie began to ask, but Eric elbowed her, seeming to realize it was a touchy subject.

"You ever played Playstation?" Eric asked.

"No, but I've seen it."

"It's so cool! Come on, let's go downstairs and play. I've got this football game that is just plain awesome."

They rushed down the stairs, Eric explaining the benefits of different gaming systems. As he faced Eric in a virtual football game (Ireland vs. England, of course), Harry knew he was going to like it here.

****

"I've never been caroling before, but that was fun," Harry said as he, Eric, and Janie took off their winter coats.

"We do it every Christmas Eve," Eric explained, shrugging, "It's a tradition, I guess. Mum should have the cocoa ready now. And then we open the gifts."

"Gifts?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yeah. We open one gift each on Christmas Eve. It's always pajamas or something like that, but it's still fun."

Harry suddenly felt awkward. He didn't have any gift to open. In fact, he wasn't even sure if he'd have any gifts in the morning. All of this raced through his mind as they grabbed their hot chocolate and sat down in front of the fire.

"Okay, youngest to oldest," Mrs. Riley smiled, "You first Janie."

Mr. Riley handed her a gift and she eagerly ripped off the paper.

"Oh, thank you, Mum and Dad!" she squealed, pulling out a pair of slippers.

"She's been hinting about getting 'more adult' slippers this whole year," Eric whispered to Harry, "One of her friends got them for her birthday or something, so she had to follow suit of course."

"And here's yours, Eric," Mr. Riley said, handing a gift to the boy.

Eric opened it and found, just as he had predicted, a new pair of pajamas. Harry bit his lip, hoping that the Rileys would realize he didn't have any gifts and just skip over him. However, Mr. and Mrs. Riley gave each other a gleeful smile and then brandished a gift.

"Here you are, Gary," Mrs. Riley beamed.

Harry took the gift, gaping. Now he felt worse than before.

"But I didn't get you anything!" he said, going pink.

"Oh, that doesn't matter," Mrs. Riley said, shrugging it off, "Christmas is a time for giving. We don't need anything. Open it."

Marveling that there could be muggles this nice, Harry gingerly pulled off the paper. Inside was a football.

"Oh, wow. Thank you."

"We figured that if you're going to be here, you have to have a football. Especially since you're rooming with Eric," Mr. Riley grinned.

"I don't know how to thank you," Harry said, giving Mrs. Riley a hug of gratitude.

"Oh it's nothing, dear. Having you here has been such a pleasure."

"Now off to bed with you," Mr. Riley said, "Father Christmas won't come if you're awake."

The three kids trooped up the stairs and off to their rooms. Harry and Eric sat on their beds, talking about everything. A small knock came at the door and in walked Janie with Mac in her arms.

"I don't feel like sleeping right now," she said, "Can I talk with you guys?"

Eric gave a huge I'd-rather-talk-with-George-W.-Bush sigh, but Harry nodded, smiling. She shut the door and walked over to Harry's cot, sitting on it cross-legged as Mac chomped playfully on her fingers.

"It must be awful, missing Christmas with your family," Janie said pointedly.

"Shush!" Eric hissed, "Mum told you not to bring that up."

"Sheesh! Well, he's gotta miss it, don't you, Gary?"

Harry smiled softly. "Yes. I'd give anything to spend Christmas with my parents."

Topics quickly changed and they stayed awake for hours, until Mr. Riley came in and told them to go to sleep. Janie rushed off and Eric and Harry slipped into bed. His last thought was of Sirius and what his Christmas Eve must be like…

Harry had a strange dream that night. He and Azar raced over the Hogwarts lake on a broom, skimming the surface with their toes. Harry smiled at her and Azar smiled back, before shoving him off the broom. He landed roughly in the water and felt himself sinking. Looking up, he found the surface was now far away. He started to swim toward it, but it seemed to be moving farther away. The water seemed to be pushing on his chest. He couldn't breathe. 'I'm going to drown!' he thought desperately.

He opened his eyes just in time to see a gigantic pink tongue come at him again.

"Oh, get off, Football!" he moaned, shoving the huge dog off of him and wiping his face, "I can take my own bath, you know!"

He sat up, realizing it was morning. Christmas morning. He looked over and saw that Eric was still asleep, his mouth in codfish position and arm dangling over the edge of his bed. Quietly, Harry got up and led Football downstairs, letting the dog outside to do his morning business.

Harry looked around the living room, gazing at the five full stockings hanging over the fireplace. Wait, five stockings? Harry walked closer and saw that one of them read 'Gary'. He just gaped and then turned to the tree. There he found further surprises. There were gifts for him.

"Your parents sent them," came Mrs. Riley's voice from behind him.

He turned, the first thought entering his mind about how much better Mrs. Riley looked in the morning than Aunt Petunia.

"We thought we'd surprise you," she continued, smiling, "They sent the gifts from your friends, too. Merry Christmas, Gary."

Harry blinked away the unexpected tears from his eyes, beaming back at her. "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Riley."

Soon they were all downstairs, Mr. Riley in the kitchen cooking up a big Christmas breakfast. Janie was busy sorting the gifts into five separate stacks while Eric told Harry what football teams he thought were best and why. Mrs. Riley just sipped tea peacefully.

"You got a card with this one, Gary," Janie announced, tossing it to him.

Harry eagerly opened it, recognizing the handwriting as Sirius'. He wasn't disappointed.

Merry Christmas, Harry!

Surprised with your gifts? I managed to intercept the distributor and send them to you muggle fashion. I hope you don't mind that I took a peek inside. We couldn't have anything too wizardry surprising the Rileys, eh? I'm just warning you now, you are not to, under any circumstances, use any of the things Fred and George sent you. I'm serious, Harry.

You were probably wondering about going back to school. Well, hopefully this whole thing can be over with before Christmas Holidays are over. But if not, then good luck at the muggle school!

Your Godfather,

-Sirius

Harry reread the last paragraph, hoping a 'just kidding' would be in there somewhere. It wasn't. He, Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, was going to attend a normal, muggle school. The thought was horrific! For one thing, he hadn't been to a muggle school in six years and had no idea what subjects he was supposed to know. For another, well…it was a muggle school. No magic, no quidditch, nothing.

"Are you okay, Gary?" Mrs. Riley asked, a little concerned.

"Fine," he said, giving her a forced smile, "My dad just wrote that Snuffles coughed up something horrible. He's okay, though."

She seemed satisfied with the answer and went into kitchen.

"It's me that's in trouble," Harry muttered to himself, turning glumly back to the letter.

~*~*~

A/N: *sigh* Poor Harry. I never give him a break, do I? ^-^

Well, I hope you all liked it. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! ^-^ Well, you might as well if you've read this far…

And thanks to all my reviewers!

Jeanne: Yeah, Fudge kinda does deserve it. But I'm not saying anything about it. ^-^

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Allison: *runs from pumpkin* Wowsers, thanks!!! I promise that I'll say 'hey' and that I'll remember you guys. I always will remember the little people. *g* And just wait for A, H, & R's response to all this. Mwa-ha-ha…

Abbey: *looks around nervously* I-I don't have any idea what you mean… *g* But, hey, tell me on the board what you're thinking. I may want to use it. ^-^ Thanks!

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Thank you all oh-so-very-much!!!!!!

-Ady