Harry sat alone in silence on the sandy shore. The waves washed up and wet his toes. He couldn't move. Stunned by the power of Ginny's kiss, broken by the coldness of her reaction, he was motionless, going over every detail of the evening. Why had he told her he loved her? Of course she would get scared. She thought he was practically a stranger. But did he love her? Harry thought, "Yeah, I guess I do love her. If this isn't what love feels like than I'm more messed up than I thought."
The tide was coming in. A wave washed up and wet Harry's toes and the hem of his new leather pants. He decided to stand up and walk back to the restaurant where he had changed clothes. He couldn't let Ginny see him in "Jeremy's" shirt and pants,
"What I am going to do next year," Harry's thoughts continued as he ambled down the shore, "I am going to have to room with Dean. I'll have to pretend not to be jealous every time I see him breathing. He gets to be Ginny's boyfriend. Ginny knows that he likes her. Ginny knows that she can count on him. Oh and he gets to kiss Ginny for real! I'm going to see them together all over school….Ugh! Seeing Ginny, knowing that she kissed me! She thought I was someone else, but I felt it. How can I ignore that all year?"
But Ginny was a smart girl. As she hurried down the beach, Ginny knew that something was wrong with the way Jeremy's eyes had changed, "muggle eyes, even magical eyes, just don't do that. And how could they have changed into such a warm and familiar pair of green eyes? How could….," she paused her thinking for a moment to reflect on the memory of that stare, "how could, Harry's eyes appear. How could I feel him, when I wasn't near him? Did I subconsciously want to kiss him? Was this whole fantasy with Jeremy really a mirror of what I wanted with Harry? A big celebrity to come and sweep me off my feet…..Were Harry's eyes really a window to his soul? Did Harry somehow appear inside Jeremy? Now this is getting trippy." Ginny was snapped back from her runaway thoughts when she saw the unmistakable figures of Ron and Hermione coming towards her on the beach.
"Ron, Hermione?!" Ginny shrieked, it was a confirmation of reality to see two familiar people again. "I am so glad to see you two. I was starting to get scared,"
"How come you are all alone? How could Charlie have left you? Weren't you two walking together?" Ron asked, concerned for his younger sister,
"Oh we were but then I ran into someone else." Ginny answered, grateful for her brother's concern, she was feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment, and was grateful that Ron and his brilliant girlfriend were around to help her.
"And where's Harry? I thought he would have found you two." Ron asked.
"Maybe he found Charlie." Ginny said.
"Wait a minute, who did you run into? Who do you know in L.A.?" Hermione asked.
"I saw, um, Jeremy Titan, I think."
"Whoa! What are the odds?! I'll bet thousands of muggle girls would give anything just to meet him once!" Ron cheered.
"What do you mean, 'you think'" Hermione said, not fazed by the celebrity excitement.
"Well, it was him, I mean it looked and sounded like him. But he acted much friendlier. It was like we had known each other forever. And he sort of changed towards the end." Ginny reminisced; her eyes were not on Hermione anymore, but staring out at the ocean, recalling his face. She was embarrassed to look at Hermione and Ron while admitting to acting like a star struck little girl.
"How did you act? Did you, uh, you know, lead him on or anything? Maybe you were the one that had changed." Ron inquired.
"No, he was definitely different. But I was too, I guess. It sort of felt like…well, have you ever thought if you moved to a different school, you would be an entirely different person?"
"Uh, no why?" Ron asked.
"Oh honestly, Ron. Ginny we all think about that. You feel that you act a certain way only because your friends expect it. For example, if I was in a whole new environment, maybe I wouldn't study as much because nobody is expecting me to. I could be the class clown and people would think that was who I am."
"Exactly, so when Jeremy came, I wished that I could the type of person who just, like, asks out the captain of the Quidditch team. And I realized that Jeremy had no preconception of who I was. For all he knew, I could be the most popular girl at Hogwarts. It's embarrassing, but, um" Ginny stopped talking, she couldn't say it in front of her brother. So she leaned over and whispered to Hermione, "I sort of wanted to be a little slutty."
"WHAT?!!" Hermione shirked.
"What did you say, Ginny" Ron asked,
"Don't listen to this, Ron, go walk ahead." Ginny shouted. Ron obeyed the look that Hermione gave him after initial protests. When Ron was out of ear shot, Ginny whispered again to just Hermione, "I kissed him. Well, he kissed me, but I sort of led him to it. I don't know, I only thought about Dean for like ten seconds."
"Ginny, how could you kiss him? You had said that you weren't even sure that it was Jeremy?"
"Oh it looked like him. He's really gorgeous. But something else seemed to be pulling us together. Some sort of fate thing. I don't get it. Have you read any books about that stuff?"
"Ginny, fate is for wusses. It's for people who can't deal with their own actions. People make their own fates."
"No, but this was beyond my control." Ginny pleaded. She desperately wanted Hermione's brains to figure the whole thing out for her.
"Are you two done with girl talk yet?" Ron called from up ahead.
"Yeah, we're done. Wait up for us!" Ginny called. She and Hermione caught up with Ron and they continued on their way to find Harry, and hopefully Charlie was with him.
"I hope we find Harry. He doesn't know his way around." Ginny said, sincerely hoping that Harry was not in danger.
"And neither does Charlie, though he won't admit it. He doesn't know Rodeo Drive from a dirt road in Kentucky." Hermione joked.
"Hey, do you think Harry met up with any celebrities, you know, maybe he and Kindora Poppe started a little somethin'-somethin'?" Ron joked.
"Why would you think that?" Ginny said, sharply turning her head.
"He's the only one without a girlfriend..." Ron said, putting his arm around Hermione.
Hermione smiled at this, and then whispered to Ginny, "Well, you also got a little kiss today, so that means Harry is the only one out of the four of us who didn't. Maybe we should try to set him up." Hermione said to Ginny, not meaning for Ron to hear.
But Ron had good ears and he exclaimed "Hey, what do you mean, Ginny got something today? From who?!"
"Ron, that was discussed during girl talk. You missed out." Ginny said, turning pink.
"But that's not my fault!" Ron said, lightly punching his sister on the arm. He felt like he didn't know her today. First she was chasing after a muggle pop star, and now she got an anonymous kiss! And she had a boyfriend who wasn't Harry! Ginny just kept growing up, and everything Ron had thought would be best for his sister seemed to be the opposite of what she wanted.
Finally, we get back to the dark alley behind the restaurant called "Jose y Jorge's" …..
Silas had cuffed Charlie to a bike rack and had demanded to be led to Harry.
"What makes you think I even I know where he is?"
"You'd be a lousy chaperone if you didn't, I could report you to the people who are in charge of this mug-magic vacation of theirs." Silas sneered,
"What do you know about mug magic?! And how do you know about them in the first place, you are a surf instructor! A muggle surf instructor!" Charlie exclaimed
"Oh I wish I were a muggle. It would be a lot less embarrassing. And don't you ask about how I know of them. My father gave me strict instructions not to tell." Silas said, pacing in front of Charlie.
"Oh you are good at this. So you learned from your father? Who is he? Is he English? Is he a wizard, too?"
"I said that you are not going to know that! Now where is Potter?!" Silas was really upset now; he hadn't meant to give away as much information as he had. This whole evil thing was harder than it looked.
"Un-cuff me." Charlie said.
"No. Tell me first." Silas said, and gave Charlie his most vicious grin.
"Alright! I'll tell! He's at…… He's at ….Disneyland!" Charlie cried out in mock agony.
"He's at Disneyland? Very interesting. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Silas said, very proud of himself.
"It was excruciating! Oh, but please don't go after him! It would ruin his day! He had bee dying to go on Splash Mountain all summer!"
"Splash Mountain? I'll be sure to look for him there. Now, I'm not going to un-cuff you. I don't want you following me. So Farewell, Charlie, you have been most useful."
Later on…
Harry walked up to "Jose y Jorge's," the restaurant in whose bathroom he changed into Jeremy's costume. He was about to pull open the orange and red painted door when he heard a familiar voice singing Jeremy Titan's hit single "You Rock" coming form the alley.
Harry was scared about what this music could mean, was Jeremy coming to haunt him? His curiosity led him to peer into the alley.
Charlie was hand cuffed to a bicycle rack singing his heart out.
"Charlie what are you doing?"
"Oh thank Heavens, Harry, you heard me! I was singing that so you would find me when you came to change your clothes. But unfortunately other people heard me, too. People must think I'm the town drunk. Anyway, I'm tied here because Silas, your surf coach, caught me and asked where you were."
"Did you tell him?" Harry asked nervously, he didn't really know Charlie and didn't know how he acted in stressful situations.
"Of course not. I sent him to Splash Mountain. He is such a doofus. Honestly. The worst kidnapper ever. Although he said his father sent him, and now he's calling himself 'Dudemort.'"
Harry's heart stopped. "What did you say he is calling himself?"
"Dudemort. He says his father had sent him a list of suggested evil names."
"Did he say who his dad was?" Harry said, he was catching on to the plot a lot quicker than Charlie.
"No. But he must be a real nutter." Charlie said."
"Yeah, a nutter… hey Charlie, where are Ron, Hermione, and Ginny?"
"Well, Ron and Hermione were busy on the beach, and Ginny was occupied with you last I saw her. I assume Ginny would have gone back to them, though."
Harry didn't say anything more. His mind was too busy. His wand was in his suitcase back in San Diego, and he wasn't allowed to use magic anyway. But he wanted to get to Silas. Silas would soon realize that Harry wasn't at Disneyland, and he knew where Charlie lived….
Harry was still thinking, "How had I done magic before I had wand? I vanished a piece a glass at a zoo….could I vanish Charlie's handcuffs? There has to be some magic left in me…."
"Uh, Harry, are you still with me?" Charlie said after the long pause.
"Hold on Charlie, I'm thinking." Harry said. "Here, just hold still."
"That's easy enough." Charlie said, still hooked to the bike rack.
Harry stared at the handcuffs and wished that they would go away…. He visualized them floating away….
"How did you do that?" Charlie said, suddenly freed from the bondage.
"Magic. Now come on, let's go find the others. They wouldn't want to miss Disneyland."
Harry and Charlie ran out of that alley. Harry was still wearing his Jeremy costume; he was too distracted to remember. The leather pants still fit him nicely. The blue shirt did not compliment his eyes as well as they had Jeremy's blue ones. But Harry's green eyes were so stunning that he needn't have bothered with a colored shirt. And Harry was so buff; he shouldn't even have bothered with a shirt in the first place.
Wand or no wand, fist fight or witch fight, Silas didn't stand a chance against Harry Potter.