By Serendipity
Author's Note: It's finally finished!!! Sorry that this chapter took me so long to write. I got half-way through and then I started writing on Hogwarts High again, and then the war broke out and I started watching the news more than writing. But this is a long chapter just to make up for my absense.
Disclaimer: Here's the characters that I own: Hayden, Tristen, Tove, Tatum, Cameron, and some more characters that I have yet to put in. Everything else belongs to JK.
Like A Friend
I couldn't get my mind off of that girl. Who was she? I tried to remember everything from the way that her hair fell around her face to the bright spark that shone through her sad eyes. Unfortunately I have a terrible memory when it comes to facial features. I was pondering this, still standing on top off the Eiffel Tower, when Sirius broke my concentration.
"Harry, you weren't kidding when you said that this kid didn't talk," he said, nudging me playfully.
"Sorry, I was thinking about something," I said apologetically.
"Obviously!" Sirius exclaimed pointing to the east. "It's dawn!"
I looked down at Moony and watched extremely amused as he turned into a man. About Harry's height with grey, thinning hair, Remus looked much like Sirius save for eye color and a few other facial features. He smiled at me and offered a hand that I shook right away.
"So who's the girl?" he asked me winking.
"Girl?" I asked. Did he see us fall?
"Every time that James or Harry blanked out like that they were thinking about a girl, so spill. Who is she?"
"Oh, uh, just some girl back home," I lied. I broke up with my last girlfriend four months ago and didn't miss her at all. However, they all believed my little bluff and Sirius became practically giddy with delight.
"There's a girl back home?" he asked smiling like a mad man. "Who is she? Where is she from? How long have you two been together?"
"That's enough Sirius," Harry said, noticing my blush.
"Are you getting married?"
"SIRIUS!" Harry and Remus chorused.
"Merlin, Sirius, he's only seventeen!" Harry added.
"You were only seventeen," Sirius pointed out and Harry fell silent.
As a matter of fact we were all silent. I wondered vaguely if Harry was about to say something about me not needing to make the same mistakes that he did. Harry, however, was a smart cookie and said nothing. Saying something like that would be admitting that I was a mistake.
"I'm hungry," I said at last.
I found that those two words get one out of uncomfortable situations very easily.
"Yeah, we should be leaving anyway," Remus said picking up the bungee cords. We had to take the blasted stairs again.
"Good exercise," Sirius stated as I started to complain.
They decided on some nice outside café for breakfast. Sirius and Remus asked me a bunch of questions about my previous life as a muggle, but I only answered with one word for all of their questions so they gave up on me and turned to Harry instead.
"Heard that you were Auror of the year, Harry!" Remus said, beaming at Harry.
Harry smiled shyly.
"Yeah, well, not for long, Malfoy has taken over my last three assignments," he said stirring sugar in his tea.
"What?" Sirius and Remus both exclaimed.
"Yeah, his goal is to put me out of work. And he's doing a damn good job about it too."
"Can't Hermione do anything about it?" questioned Sirius.
Harry shook his head.
"I didn't ask her too, she has enough on her plate as it is. Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, Malfoy is good at what he does. It must have been his upbringing."
"Those damn Malfoys," Sirius cursed. "Nothing but trouble!"
Then he turned to me.
"Stay away from them you hear?" he ordered, pointing a finger in my face.
You didn't need to tell me to stay away from the Malfoys. Mom covered Draco and his family pretty well. I've never met one before and already I hate them.
"Yes, sir," I replied politely.
Sir, hmm, I haven't said that in years.
"So, Harry," started Remus, "what are you doing in Paris anyway? Shouldn't you be teaching junior here how to do magic?"
Harry looked at me.
"I didn't really want to learn," I explained.
They looked taken aback.
"Why not?" Remus asked.
I shrugged.
"This is all new to him," Harry said. "I introduced him into this world to fast. Plus, he's..."
Harry stopped.
"He's what?" Sirius asked.
"Abnormal?" I suggested.
"Gifted," Harry corrected.
Whatever Harry, call it what you will be we all know I'm a freak.
"Explain this gifted," Sirius coaxed, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"I can do wandless magic," I started, "just ask Harry, he has the bruises to prove it."
Harry nodded fervently.
"And he summons storms when he's mad!" Harry offered.
"Oh yes, we knew about that," Sirius said, waving Harry off.
"Anything else?" Remus asked.
We shook our heads.
"Not that we know of," I said.
The two older men were silent for a while. They appeared to be thinking.
"Well I don't know what to tell you guys," Remus said at last.
"Hayden, could you do wandless magic at will?" Sirius asked.
"Never tried," I said shrugging.
"Try," he coaxed.
"What should I do?" I asked.
Sirius held out a match.
"Light it," he said.
Being stupid and being a muggle for most of my life I reached out to strike it on something.
"Not like that!" Sirius scolded, and I felt like an idiot.
Not really knowing what to do, I just stared at the match and willed it to light. And to my utter surprise, it did! Sirius swore and dropped the flaming match in his tea. Harry and Remus were looking at me in shock.
"What?" I asked, confused. "It's what you wanted isn't it?"
They nodded.
"Then what's the problem?"
"We just didn't actually think that you'd be able to use wandless magic at will," Remus explained. He turned to Harry. "This is serious!"
"What about me?" Sirius asked, looking up from fishing the match out of his tea.
"Nothing," Harry and Remus said at once.
I looked down at my food, feeling as if I was a burden with all of the wandless problems.
"So what are we going to do?" Harry asked.
"It's obvious isn't it?" Remus asked.
No one said anything except Sirius who was complaining that his tea tasted burnt.
"We must see Dumbledore!" Remus said.
"Dumbledore?" I asked. "That old bat who was the Headmaster for all of you guys? He's still alive?"
"Barely," said Sirius.
"He's in Mecca," Harry told me.
What kind of person chooses Mecca as their retirement home? I would pick Florida.
"Mecca?" I asked.
"Yeah, wizards with questions that they want answered travel to Mecca to Dumbledore's hut and ask him."
"That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard in my entire life," I told them.
"Well we better get going," Sirius chimed in. "Harry check yourselves out. We'll travel by Floo Powder to Mecca."
"I don't like Floo Powder," I told them.
"Too bad," said Sirius.
And that's how one hour later, I found myself standing in a fireplace in Sirius's flat.
"This is stupid," I said for the millionth time.
They looked at me weirdly.
"I mean, I'm forced to get up at four in the morning, I bungee jump off of the Eiffel Tower, and now I have to go to Mecca to talk to some really old guy just because I can do wandless magic? And it's not even noon! Can't I take a nap or something?"
"Oh, come on!" said Harry who was getting grumpy. "Just a quick stop to Mecca then we go back to the Potter Pad."
He made it sound as if this was his daily routine. I threw the Floo Powder at my feet and didn't say anything. The other's stared at me.
"YOU WASTED A PERFECTLY GOOD HANDFUL OF FLOO POWDER!!!" Sirius yelled, grabbing at his hair.
"I didn't know what to say," I told them. "Does this Dumbledore have a name for his house or am I just supposed to say 'Mecca'?"
"Oh," the others said, realizing that I still had lots to learn about their world.
"Say 'lemon drops'," Harry instructed me
"Lemon drops?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He has a fascination with them," Remus explained.
I just nodded and took another fistful of Floo Powder. I threw it at my feet and said the appropriate words. The spinning started again, but I managed to not clunk my head on anything and the next thing that I knew I was tumbling out of the fireplace of Dumbledore's hut. The other three stepped out after me gracefully. I felt like a klutz as I picked myself up.
"Be polite," Harry instructed me.
I didn't give him the satisfaction of an answer. The hut was small and sitting engulfed in a huge chair was a wrinkly old prune who was dozing with his chin dipped down upon his chest. His hands with extremely long fingers were folded on his lap, which was covered with a plaid blanket. Remus nudged him softly, awakening him.
"What, what?" Dumbledore asked softly.
"Professor Dumbledore, it's me, Harry," Harry said.
Dumbledore looked at me.
"Harry?" He looked confused. "Oh, yes, your transfiguration homework is due to me next Tuesday."
What the hell is transfiguration?
"No," Harry instructed, forcing Dumbledore to look at him. "No, Professor, I'm out of school, that is my son, Hayden, you remember? We talked about him last week."
For the first time, Dumbledore seemed to realize where he was.
"Oh yes," he adjusted his spectacles. "Come closer Hayden, let me get a good look at you."
I took a step forward.
"You'll be great you know," Dumbledore said, smiling slightly. "You don't think that you'll be great, but you will. Potters are always powerful. You see, Hayden, wizard's magic is very little when they are born. That's why they don't get wands until they're eleven. The magic needs to build up inside of them. Yours has been building up for seventeen years, which is why you can do wandless magic. You have so much, and are so powerful that it is easy for you to perform magic without the aide of a wand. You're also gifted in other ways," he settled back into his chair, "but that is a story for another time."
We were all quiet and then Dumbledore turned back to Harry and knitted his brow in confusion.
"Who are you?"
Harry smiled and tried to settle him down.
"What are you doing in my hut?"
"It's okay," Harry said, trying his best to calm the older man.
"Where's my prune juice?"
After that Dumbledore dozed off again and we left. We went back to Sirius's flat and collected our stuff and began saying our good-byes. Sirius winked as he shook my hand.
"You know, I was quite the ladies' man back in my day too."
"What?" I asked confused.
He showed me the Afternoon Prophet (How many flippin' newspapers do they need?) and I was on the cover. Turns out they found us outside of the café that morning. The picture of me was huge and in color. It was of me lighting the match with out a wand. I read the article (which by the way took up most of the front page and was continued on 2A).
The New Boy Wonder
Harry Potter has never ceased to amaze us; from conquering He Who Should Never Be Named Again at the tender age of one to, well, conquering him again at seventeen, Harry Potter has surprised us many times. The latest of these surprises came last week when Harry brought into the Leaky Cauldron, his son, Hayden James Potter.
The handsome seventeen-year-old is the product of Harry's teenage romance with Virginia Weasley. Virginia's pregnancy was kept secret and Hayden was born merely days before Harry returned home from conquering He Who Should Never Be Named Again. Harry has always been famous, but after the final battle his popularity soared. The two teens were smart enough to realize that Hayden would be happier living a normal life; however, the only way they could achieve that is by completely leaving the wizarding world.
Virginia took Hayden to America and began living as a muggle in southern California. Being only sixteen, she was under the financial aide of Harry, who is financially secure for the rest of his life. Virginia is very independent and excelled in muggle schools, finally becoming an architect and making enough money to raise Hayden comfortably.
It seems as if no one knows why Harry and Virginia decided to bring Hayden into the limelight, though many believe that Harry will surprise us once again by answering our questions. But for now, Harry is letting his son do the surprises.
Merely five minutes after his introduction Hayden announced that he had a lightening bolt scar on his upper arm, a scar that is said to be identical to his father's infamous one. Sadly, we have no pictures of this scar seeing as Hayden has taken a sudden liking to jackets and long sleeve shirts.
With the shock of the scar surprise still in effect Hayden decided to wow us again this morning by demonstrating a very unique talent; wandless magic. It is a well-known fact that, when angry enough, Hayden can summon storms, therefore it really shouldn't come to a surprise that Hayden can do wandless magic. However, I for one am looking forward to Mr. Potter's press conference Tuesday evening, where he will hopefully give us some answers.
I crumbled up the piece of paper and threw it into the fire.
"Hayden, I..." Harry began, but I just walked past him, collecting my stuff.
"I don't want to talk about it," I told him.
The others told Harry not to push it so we both said our good-byes and left. The Potter Pad seemed to be in the same state as when we left it. I stepped out of the fireplace and went directly to my room. I closed my door and took off my shirt, intending to take a shower once I unpacked my shampoo. The sun had gone down and my room had a bluish tinge to it. I opened my duffel bag and began searching for my shampoo when the door opening and closing softly distracted me.
"Go away, Harry," I said, not looking up. "I told you that I don't want to talk about it."
No answer. I turned around ready to hurl some more books at Harry when I saw her. It was the girl from Paris, the one who jumped off of the Eiffel Tower.
"Hi," she said softly. She was wearing a summer dress and her black hair was in a messy bun. She took a step closer. "I read all about you in the newspaper."
I didn't like the fact that this girl knew so much about me but I had no clue who she was.
"Who are you?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
"My name's Cameron," she said, "but I'm sure that you think of me as that nut who tried jumping off of the Eiffel Tower."
That was exactly what I was thinking, but I didn't tell her that. Instead I asked her why she was trying to jump off of the Eiffel Tower. She saddened and looked down at her feet.
"I don't feel like talking about that right now," she started, "but I'm not suicidal if that's what you're thinking."
"I don't know what to think anymore," I told her.
She smiled once again and came closer. Her gaze was focused on my scar. She lifted her hand and traced it with her finger. Then she looked up at me; her face was very close to mine.
"You want to see a trick?" she whispered.
I nodded slowly.
She covered my scar with her hand for a few moments. She appeared to be concentrating really hard, and then she brought her hand away and my scar was glowing a bright blue. It was the first bit of magic that didn't scare me. I heard yelling coming from the living room, but I ignored it. She heard it too. The yelling seemed to be getting closer.
"You want to do something that will make your dad mad?" she asked, smiling playfully.
I nodded. She cupped my face in her hands and kissed me softly on the lips. I was shocked at first but soon gave in, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her closer to me. All of Aunt Hermione's books began to whirl around us. I think I did that, but it could have been her too. The door burst open but neither of us noticed.
"Bloody hell!" Harry cursed.
I sensed another man with Harry though I was too busy to take note of him. They seemed to be trying to get to us, only to be bombarded with books.
"Damnit Potter, do something!" the other man shouted. "Your son is seducing my daughter!"
"My son's seducing? Your daughter is the one who's wearing the extremely short dress!"
"Are you insinuating that my daughter is a...?"
"Yes, Malfoy, I am."
Malfoy? I broke apart from Cameron and looked at our fathers who were currently trying to throw punches at one another and having terrible luck at it too because they both seem to be adequately trained. I looked back at Cameron, she seemed disappointed.
"You're a Malfoy?" I asked her softly.
She nodded. I couldn't believe it. I began to feel dizzy and I made my way to the bathroom.
"Hayden wait!" she called after me, but I just locked the door and began to splash water onto my face. I don't know how long I was in there. It must have been awhile because when I finally came out the Malfoys were gone and I heard Harry talking in the living room. I went to the end of the hall to listen to what he was saying.
"How are things going with Hayden?" It was Mom's voice. "I've heard that England has been getting a lot of storms lately. Thunder rumbled in the distance. There I go again. Mom noticed it.
"What's wrong?" she asked suddenly, becoming serious.
It started raining.
"The Malfoys came over when we got back from Paris today," Harry told her.
"And?"
Harry paused and ran a hand through his hair. I heard him sigh again.
"Harry, what is it?" Mom asked urgently.
"I think Hayden is infatuated with Cameron."
The thunder was deafening.
Why don't you come in
Smoke all my cigarettes again
Every time I get no further
How long has it been?
Come on in now, wipe your feet on my dreams
You take up my time
Like some cheap magazine
When I could have been learning something
Oh well, you know what I mean, oh
I've done this before, and I will do it again
Come on and kill me baby
While you smile like a friend
Oh and I'll come running
Just to do it again
You are the last drink I never should have drunk
You are the body hidden in the trunk
You are the habit I can't seem to kick
You are my secrets on the front page every week
You are the car I never should have bought
You are the dream I never should have caught
You are the cut that makes me hide my face
You are the party that makes me feel my age
Like a car crash I can see but I just can't avoid
Like a plane I've been told I never should board
Like a film that's so bad but I've got to stay till the end
Let me tell you now: it's lucky for you that we're friends.
Like A Friend ~Pulp
Another Author's Note: Sorry about putting all the lyrics to that song on here, but I just thought that they fit what just went on so well, that I couldn't just pick a part of it. Next chapter Ginny comes out, or does she? Hmm, I guess you'll just have to read to find out. Please review!
Last Author's Note, I Promise: How did you guys like that part with Dumbledore? He must be a pretty old geezer by now. I was going to have him live in London, but my friend told me that he should live in Mecca. Just cuz. So I put him there. It kind of fits doesn't it? Oh, and be sure to tell me what you think of Remus and Sirius! Review!