Cautiously, Harry made his way down the stairs and into the living room. At first he only saw his uncle, looking as if he were about to have an apoplectic fit, and his frightened aunt who remained white-faced at the door. Then he caught sight of two people standing in the doorway, and he knew whose voice it was that he'd recognized.
"Lupin?"
His old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher grinned at him. "Hullo," he greeted Harry, "Having a nice holiday?"
Harry returned the grin. Lupin knew that he was definitely not having a nice holiday. "It's OK," he said off-hand, "Especially since I haven't been attacked in the street by any Dementors yet."
Harry gestured them in, and Lupin and the other person, who had previously been hidden in the falling darkness, stepped inside. It was a woman, about eighteen or nineteen, and Harry was very interested in her for three reasons. One, she had very short, very spiky, very black hair with long bangs, and through these bangs ran two bright red streaks, one on each side, that seemed to nearly glow in the soft light. Two, she was dressed in a pretty, flowing black shirt and regular jeans, but a wand was sticking lopsidedly out of her pocket, so Harry knew she must not really be the Muggle she appeared to be. And three.she was very pretty.
"Harry, may I introduce Persephone Peanuckle? She's a very good friend of mine, and, er, I think she'll probably end up being a friend of yours too, because-"
"Harry!" Persephone jumped forward and wrung his hand. "I'm soooooo happy to meet you, I've always wanted to talk to you ever since I heard such great stuff about you from Remus! Everyone's always told me how totally cool you are, and I'm soooooo totally looking forward to getting to know you!" She spoke in a rapid, jumbled, breathless way, which gave Harry the impression that she was one of those people who were always excited about everything, and she had a very thick American accent, so it was a bit hard to catch everything she said without concentrating a bit.
"Er.hi," Harry said, feeling foolish.
"Harry," Lupin said, "I am so glad you're home. I was rather worried you might be out and about somewhere and we'd, ah-" he glanced apologetically at the Dursleys, who seemed to have turned to stone for all the movement they made, "We'd have to call again."
"Oh Remus, this whole town is absolutely adorable!" Persephone beamed around her as if she couldn't thank Little Whinging enough for existing. "Harry, you have no idea how totally fascinating Britain is to me. I'd only ever been to London before this, and these cute little town are just so.quaint!"
Harry was at a loss for words.
"And," Persephone continued, "My friends are going to be soooooo totally jealous when I tell them I've met you.oh gawd, just think.they'll just DIE when I tell them this! Little old me, living with Harry Potter!"
There was a silence. Then-
"Uh, what do you mean.living?" asked Harry.
"Yes!" roared Uncle Vernon, unfreezing himself from his standstill position and hurtling over to Harry, "I don't even know who the hell you are! I've bloody well had enough of you freaks, it's bad enough that you all send him messages and call him on the telephone and even show up at this house, if you please, but there's no way I'm taking any more of you lot in, one of you is enough to-"
Suddenly he fell silent again. Persephone had marched straight up to him, looked him in the eye (which was rather challenging, as she was very short) and gave him a steely gaze. All of a sudden she seemed less kooky and more powerful, and the Dursleys all shrank away as an aura of power and confidence radiated outward from her. Slowly, she drew from her pocket a small scroll, never letting her eyes leave Uncle Vernon's face. Then, she unfurled it and held it out, and said in a voice that clearly told everyone that she was in charge, "This is an official notice installing me as Harry's personal bodyguard. I am to reside with him, make sure no harm comes to him, and notify certain persons of any evidence I may come across regarding any plotting by Lord Voldemort and his followers against Harry. It is signed by the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and Albus Dumbledore, headmaster at Harry's school."
Harry felt almost as shocked as the Dursleys looked. For one thing, Persephone had said Lord Voldemort's name, as if it were absolutely nothing to be afraid of, when most people in the wizarding world were afraid to even hear the name much less speak it. Also, her powerful presence, the notice she was waving at the Dursleys, and the way she'd confronted Uncle Vernon without the slightest sign of intimidation, made Harry think she must be someone important. No ordinary wizard, powerful as they might be, could just casually ask Fudge and Dumbledore to sign an official notice.
Uncle Vernon looked as if he'd just swallowed a barrel full of lemons. His face worked furiously for a moment, and his eyes darted from Persephone to Lupin to Harry and then back to Persephone again. Finally-
"Alright, then.if.if it's.if you promise not to.ah, what I mean to say is."
"Excellent," said Persephone, brandishing the scroll with a very satisfied air. The aura of power and mystery dropped almost instantaneously, and suddenly she was just a short witch with strange hair again. She whipped out her wand (causing Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia to flinch and cover their faces) and pointed it towards the door, muttering "Accio trunks!" Four large scarlet trunks with gold tassels came floating in, bumping and jostling each other in their haste to enter. "Harry," Persephone trilled brightly, "Why don't you show me your room? Do you mind if I stash my stuff in there?"
"Well, I'm off, then- just wanted to get the two of you settled," Lupin called from the doorway. "I'll see you soon, Harry. The Order's agreed to take it in turns visiting you, so I'll probably pop in and have a cuppa sometime next week." Uncle Vernon looked severely displeased with the idea, but before he could voice his objections, Lupin had Disapparated with a small pop.
"Er.right, I'll just show you upstairs then, shall I?" Harry turned and trudged upwards again. Persephone followed, her four huge trunks banging against the stairs and the walls. Finally, they reached Harry's bedroom, and instantly Harry wished he'd kept it a bit cleaner: his dirty laundry and haphazardly strewn spell books made him squirm with embarrassment. Persephone, however, looked around and beamed.
"Lovely! I must say, you've really done a lot with this room. I hate living in a place that's too clean and fussy- makes me feel uncomfortable, as if I'll break or wreck something if I so much as breathe." Still talking very rapidly about properly messy houses, Persephone threw open the first big trunk and pulled out what looked like a small shoebox. She set it down next to Harry's bed, took off the lid, peered inside, nodded appreciatively, and closed it.
"Now, Harry," she continued, changing topics at the speed of light, "I wanted to give you some proper instructions and maybe some idea of what to expect here. I'm going to be your legal guardian for this year, seeing as- well, your guardians here are hardly trustworthy, and they won't exactly understand any magically-oriented problems you might come across. She pulled a face at the thought of the Dursleys, then continued. "And also seeing as, um, your previous wizard guardian is, um, no longer with us-"
Here there was a very pregnant pause, and Persephone looked suddenly much older and worn than she had before. "Well," she said at last, "With these circumstances in mind, the British Ministry of Magic agreed that you ought to have a proper guardian for once, and in the interest of international magical cooperation, the American Ministry has extended-"
"Hang on," Harry interrupted, anger growing deep down in his stomach, "What do you mean, 'a proper guardian"? Sirius was a proper guardian, and he-"
"I know he was," Persephone cut in swiftly, "And I know for a fact he was an excellent wizard and friend. But the fact remains that"- she swallowed hard- "Sirius is dead, Harry, and you need someone to look after you now that Voldemort has returned. No, no arguments," she told him sternly, seeing the look on his face, "You'll just have to trust the Ministry, and trust Dumbledore, and, well, trust me too. Okay?"
Harry felt extremely irritated: did they think he couldn't take care of himself? He'd always survived Voldemort's most intense campaigns to murder him, hadn't he? To calm himself down, Harry tried to make polite conversation.
"Um, where- where do you want to sleep?" he asked hesitantly. "The sofa downstairs pulls out, and Dudley has another room downstairs for all his video games. The Dursleys just added it on this spring, and it's really quite comfortable."
Persephone looked amused. "Harry, sweetheart, I'm your bodyguard," she said mischievously. "I'll be sleeping right here, next to you."
"But we haven't got a cot or anything-"
"Don't worry, I've got my own place right here". Persephone pointed at the shabby old shoebox.
Harry gave her a look that plainly revealed that he thought she was barking mad.
"Look," she giggled, enjoying Harry's confusion, "If I step inside it like this." She opened the lid of the box, put both feet inside, and promptly fell right through the floor. Harry hurried over, poking his head in and staring down into the box. It was like looking through a small hole in the floor and seeing Persephone looking up at him from the floor below, except the floor below wasn't the first floor of the Dursley's house.it was a small, lavishly furnished flat, with satin drapes and a velvet rug and a fine crystal chandelier hanging inches away from Harry's head.
"Nice, huh?" Persephone looked around her with satisfaction. "It was a birthday gift from my colleagues at work. They all saved and saved to buy it for me. You can come visit whenever you want, you know." And with that, she waved her wand, Apparated right in front of Harry again, and replaced the lid of the shoebox.
"Anyways," she continued, looking pleased with herself, "I've got to be around you constantly in case Voldemort or anyone pops up, haven't I?"
Harry seized the opportunity. "Why do you say his name?" he asked quickly. "I mean, most wizards say 'You-Know-Who,' don't they? And you say 'Voldemort', as if it were nothing."
He trailed off. Persephone's face darkened, and when she finally replied, her voice was rougher and rather choked with tears.
"Harry," she whispered, her voice shaking with suppressed emotion, "We can't all choose the relatives we want.you should know that well enough, judging by the Dursleys.and, well, sometimes people in our families.they do stupid things.things that.well." and finally she fell silent, tugging her neon bangs and blinking very hard.
Harry immediately wished he'd never asked. "Um, I was wondering, would you like to unpack your stuff? I can help you, if you like. Alright.uh.Persephone?"
Persephone closed her eyes as if trying to shake herself mentally. "Of course," came the shaky reply. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and smiled. "And Harry.call me Percy, if you don't mind."