Harry Potter and the Forgotten Friends

CHAPTER ELEVEN: HELP?

"Hey Harry!" Alexis called, waving at Harry.

Harry was just entering the schoolyard. Alexis walked across the schoolyard but stopped abruptly when she was Riley with him.

"Hey Alexis. What's wrong?" Harry said, with confusion.

Alexis had a look of a glare on her. He followed her gaze, only to see that it had landed on Riley. Riley was also giving that look, right back at Alexis. He sighed looking back and forth at the two. He knew this would have to happen some time. Riley and Alexis always seemed so close, and inseparable. They would have to get in a fight eventually, after all the time they spent together. They would have to eventually get over it, right? Knowing both their personalities, they were both stubborn, and wouldn't admit they missed each other.

'Well, then. I'll have to do it!' Harry thought to himself.

"Um… what do you guys want to do?" He asked, forcing a conversation.

The only response he got was the laughter and calls coming from others' on the playground. Alexis and Riley were back to back to each other, arms crossed staring into the unknown worlds in their minds. Harry sighed. OK… maybe it wouldn't be that simple…

"I'm really sorry Harry, but I can't hang out with Riley here." Alexis said, not taking her eyes of the baseball diamond.

"I agree. You'll have to pick you like better Harry." Riley muttered, looking at the parking lot.

"I don't know what—" He was then interrupted.

"Why are you agreeing with me, I don't want to think the same as you!" Alexis said, whirling around to face Riley.

Riley whirled around to face Alexis as well. The two were so close, they were almost 'nose to nose' in rage.

"Alexis Lupin, are you saying to give up my friend! I knew him first, so that means he's my friend first!" Riley shot back, putting her arms on her hips.

"Oh, Riley. Please grow up. Just because Harry likes you better, doesn't mean he's ONLY your friend!" Alexis replied, crossing her arms.

The two remained bickering like this, not even hearing the bell ring. Harry grabbed one of each of their arms bringing them back to reality. They both looked over at him.


"Alexis, Riley. You're both my friends, I can't pick between you both. But come on, the bell rang. We're going to get detention if we don't move." Harry said, pointing to the school.

Everyone was making a move for the door. Harry let go of their arms and started for the door. Riley and Alexis followed him. The two soon picked their bickering up again. Harry just shook his head, at the two.

'Girls… why are they always fighting?' He thought.

The day pasted by very slowly. Miss. Snape was back and giving them the usual hassles. The first one was about how they acted on Thursday when Mr. Snape had come to teach the class for her. Riley earned herself a detention because of the "cheek" she gave to her brother. Alexis also got a detention because she "skipped out" on the afternoon classes. She had a problem when it came to Harry. As much as she disliked him, there was no mention of Potter acting up in class. Maybe he'd do something today to join Ms. Black and Ms. Lupin in detention.

The end of the day was minutes away, and the weekend was coming closer and closer. After watching the clock, and droning Miss. Snape out on her lecture, the bell rang. Everyone cheered, and made a beeline for the door. When the first boys reached the door, it slammed shut in their face. They looked up to see Miss. Snape's hand on the door, glaring down at them.

"Don't forget to tell your parents that tonight is Parent/Teacher night. I just can't wait to meet them," She drawled on, and opened the door. "Black! Lupin! A word."

Alexis and Riley managed to detangle themselves from the others leading outside. They didn't say a thing to each other while walking up to her desk. They waved bye to Harry as he left the room, closing the door behind him. Even though Harry didn't like his two friends trapped in a room with the evil teacher, Harry had something he had to try to fix. If he could talk to both Riley and Alexis' parents, maybe they could try to convince them to try and get them friends again. Only if he could do this before they were left out of "Snape's lair", as the three of them used to call it.

Harry quickly grabbed his bags and other things he had from his locker and made his way down the hall. He quickly went out the doors of the school and out into the schoolyard. He walked out of the yard and started down the street to where Riley's house was located. It was down Harry's block, turn left at the intersection go two blocks, turn right and up three houses. 

He walked quietly down Privet Drive; stopping in front of the Dursley's house. He looked up at the front door, and sighed. He knew that he would get in trouble, but he'd risk it. He continued on for two and half blocks until he reached the driveway of the Black's house. He walked up the driveway only to be startled by a voice behind him.

"Hey Harry!" It was a girls' voice.

Hopefully it wasn't Riley. He turned around to see Riley's mother, Arabella standing there.

"Hello Mrs. Black. Um, can I talk to you and Mr. Black?" Harry asked, looking at her.

Arabella looked down at Harry.

"Sure, Harry. Come in, we'll see if he's home but I don't know at the moment. Can you grab some this groceries for me, Harry?" She asked, peering through the bags.

Harry nodded, and grabbed some of the bags from her arms. The two walked the way up to the house, in an almost silence until Arabella broke the silence.

"Just a question, but why are you here? Mostly you're here with Riley, and sometimes Alexis. But, they're not speaking at the moment, so I guess it's about the two of them?" Arabella asked, as they reached the front door.

Harry nodded, as she fished for the house key in her pocket. Upon finding it, she put it in the keyhole and opened the door. They quickly entered the house. Arabella took the grocery bags from Harry and walked into the kitchen.

"Sirius? Are you here? Come down here, we have to talk." She called, while walking into the kitchen.

Pounding was heard coming down the stairs, and he soon appeared in the archway of the stairway.

"You called? What is -- Oh! Hey Harry!" He said, just realizing who was there.

He waved at him, as Arabella came back into the hallway where they both were standing. She looked at the two of them and sighed.

"OK, well, don't just stand there. Sirius, you could have shown Harry into the living room. He's come to talk to us about something, but I don't know what. But, please come in Harry." Arabella said, as she motioned for Harry to follow them into the living room.

The three of them walked into the living room and sat down in the chair and couch.

"So, Harry, what's the problem?" Arabella asked, with a hint of concern. Knowing what his life was like with the Dursley's, it was natural that he might want to talk to someone else about his problems. Maybe, right?

"It's about Riley and Alexis…" He started off, but stopped when Mr. Black held his hand up.

"Harry, after you're done talking to us you're going to go and talk to Alexis' parents, right?" Harry nodded. "If you can just wait a moment, we'll call her parents and bring them over here and you can do this in one go." Sirius said.

"Alright."

Arabella nodded, getting off the couch. She walked out of the kitchen and out of sight down the hall. For the next few minutes you could semi-hear Arabella talking to one of Alexis' parents. She then appeared in the doorframe moments later.

"They were just on their way out to go to the grocery store, but they said that they could come over here before they do their shopping. Also, Harry, if you want they can give you a ride home." Arabella offered, walking across the living room and onto a red couch.

The three sat in silence waiting for the Lupin's to arrive. Harry ended up staring at the carpet, following the line pattern with his eyes. The doorbell rang, jerking him out of his thoughts. Arabella got off the couch, again, and glided out of the room and to the door. Small talk could be heard from the hallway and a door closing. Arabella appeared in the doorway with Remus and Viola behind her.

Arabella sat back down on the couch while Remus and Viola took a seat in the chairs. This was the first time that the Lupin's had actually seen Harry since he had been living with James and Lily. Alexis talked about him a lot but he hadn't seen him in eight long years.

"What's wrong 'Bella?" Viola asked, looking at her and Sirius.

Arabella pointed over to one of the chairs. Viola followed her gaze and looked at the chair. A boy was sitting there looking at them.

"Hi, um…" Viola started off.

"It's Harry. Harry Potter." Harry replied.

"Anyways," Arabella piped up, looking from Viola to Harry. "Harry wants to talk to us about Harry and Riley."

All the attention then turned over to Harry, who suddenly seemed interested in a hole in his sweater.

"Harry, you can talk to us. It's Alexis' parents, no big deal." Arabella said, giving him a smile.

Harry nodded. "It's about Riley and Alexis. You have to try and get them to be friends again. I can't take it the way they're acting anymore. They want to pick which one I want to hang out with now, and which one not to hang out with. They want me to choose between the two of them. Every time they're together they're fighting. It's starting to put a drift in our friendship. You have to do something." Harry pleaded.

The four adults went into silence, trying to think about what to do.

"The parent/teacher meetings are tonight. We're bringing Riley with us because she doesn't want a babysitter and she won't be able to stay here by herself. Why don't you bring Alexis there as well? Maybe we can try to get these two to be friends again for Harry's sake."

Remus and Viola nodded. "Sure, we'll bring her. Is there anything else? Sorry if we're coming off rude, but we have to get to the school to pick up Alexis. If you want to, Harry, we can give you a ride home." Remus said.

Harry nodded from the chair he was sitting in and got up and followed the Lupin's into the hallway. He quickly threw his too-big shoes on and left the house.

Outside there was a White Regal car sitting in the driveway, with four-door access and an automatic door opener and trunk opener. Harry gaped at the car, the only car he had ever seen in "good maintenance" was the Dursley's beaten old station wagon they drove everywhere.

"Come on Harry." Viola called, beckoning Harry forward.

Harry nodded and walked forward. He opened the backseat door and quickly got in closing the door and snapping his seat belt on. The car started in reverse backing out of the Black's driveway.

"So, Harry, which house is yours?" Viola asked, looking in the small mirror at Harry.

"I live at number four Privet Drive. You go down two blocks, turn left at the intersection and that's my street." Harry explained.

They nodded, and within ten minutes they were driving up Privet Drive.

"All these houses look alike. How can you stand it here Harry?" Remus asked, looking at the houses.

"Yu get used to it after nine years, trust me. After what I've seen and done to the house, I know it from the others." Harry sighed.

The two adults looked at Harry and at each other with raised eyebrows. Something wasn't right by the way Harry was talking about it, but they let it go. They went back to looking at the houses trying to find number four.

"There it is!" Viola said, pointing to a well-groomed house. It had it's number four shinning bright in the suns' rays.

They slowed the car down and parked in front of the house. It looked like there was a woman in the window but when they looked again she was gone. Harry got out of the car followed by Viola and Remus. They walked across the lawn and up to the door. They were just about to ring the doorbell when the door swung open. A woman stood there with a pointed nose stuck up in the air and a severe looking face.

"What is it? What do you want?" She snapped.

"Hello Petunia. Well, we were picking our daughter Alexis up from school, and since Harry's her friend we gave him a ride." Viola said, looking at Petunia.

"How do you know my name?" She studied them carefully and gasped.

As she looked at the two of them she realized who they were. Her perfect sister's freaky friends… Remus Lupin and Viola Mitchell. Great…

"Harry!" She said, stopping Harry between the two. "I've missed you so much, we all have!" Petunia said, putting on a sugary smile, and brought Harry over to her.

"Thank you so much for bringing him back. Bye now." And with that the door slammed shut. Viola and Remus looked at the closed door and made their way back down to their car. When their car drove away Petunia glared down at Harry.

"You boy. How dare you bring those freaks like you over to this house!" She yelled. "Go to your cupboard. NOW!" She yelled, her face going red.

Harry nodded and scurried off to his cupboard, wondering one thing. What did Aunt Petunia mean when she said 'freaks like you.'

To be continued…

All I can say is the next chapter… it's the Parent/Teacher Meeting! Oh no!

Q&A:

Anonymous: There actually is a lot of Harry in the story except in Chapter Ten because I had some things to clear up and such.

WeasleyTwinsLover1112: Yes, Harry and Riley are going to find out about magic. Riley will be the first to find out in a couple chapters, I think. It will take Harry a bit longer to find out about magic, I haven't thought about when he is going to find out. It might take until he gets his Hogwarts letter. You're just going to have to wait to find out what happens.

Draco'sgal: Excellent? You think is Excellent, thanks!!

Slytherin Witch: Yeah Riley and Alexis do have a very big temper, and they don't also know how to control it all the time. Harry will soon be able to put their differences aside.

Lupin's Angel: Thanks for the compliment, and I'll check the next chapter out when I get a chance.

Coconut-ice agent h/h: What insight did you leave, to get a direct quote from what you said: "I like the picture that's how I thought Harry's hair would look like but they changed it for the movie." At first I thought that the hair looked kind of stupid and odd looking, but you know… not as much anymore.

Moonshadow: Thanks for telling me that this story rocks. What happens next? Trouble, Trouble, and more trouble, that's what! Lol.

"No Name": OK, I found my first flame for this story. Well, to answer your question: Yes. I have a taken Grammar class at school, but I find it irrelevant to this story. I just did it for fun and it's not too much. The point of this story is that Harry has friends and wasn't Dudley's punching bag. Yes, this story is different from the books in many ways if you took the time to read the whole story because there is ten chapter's up, not one. Next time, I'm going to say one thing to you. Please read the chapters up of a story before flaming the first chapter. It was only a prologue and was taken from the first chapter of the first book. Other then that the story idea, Alexis and Riley belong to me. So it is not like the book. OK?

Note: If you're an Anonymous reader and you want me to e-mail you with updates and such, leave me your e-mail address in reviews, OK? Thanks!

Fire Spirit