Chapter 2: ¡Adios!

Harry glanced up at his clock, sighing to himself. It was 2:30 on July 30; in only an hour and a half, Rachel would be by to
pick him up and he would be free of the Dursleys forever. He tried fruitlessly to do a bit of homework to pass the time, but
he found that he could not concentrate at all. Instead, he focused on the task of packing, making sure that each of his items
was carefully placed, for once. Dobby appeared eventually, carrying a small tray with cup of tea. Harry laughed.

"Doesn't my horrible Aunt notice every time you nick something out of the kitchen, Dobby?" he asked smiling. Dobby's eyes
grew wide as he shook his head.

"Oh, no sir. She doesn't talk to Dobby, she is never saying anything..." Harry laughed again; he could just see the petrified
look on his Aunt Petunia's face every time the house-elf walked into her spotless kitchen. She's probably afraid he'll 
spill or break something, he thought, rolling his eyes. Aunt Petunia didn't quite understand the concept of house-elves.

"Master Harry, you is all ready to leave?" Dobby questioned, poking through Harry's belongings. 

"Yes, Dobby, everything's ready. And really, you don't need to call me master!" he exclaimed.

"Whatever Master says," Dobby replied, rearranging Harry's spellbooks. Harry gave up; it was hopeless. He lay down on his
bed and closed his eyes. Maybe a little nap will make the time go faster...

*******************

"POTTER! GET DOWN HERE, YOU HEAP OF DUNG!" an angry voice yelled up the stairs at him. Groggily, Harry sat up and looked at
the clock. 4:02. They're here! he thought excitedly, rubbing his eyes and gathering all of his things. He dashed down
the hallway and saw several people standing at the foot of the stairs. Rachel was indeed there, along with Tonks and two other
women he recognized as Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones.

"Harry!" Rachel cried, running towards him and hugging him. He dropped all of his belongings on the floor to hug her. As he
released Rachel, he turned to view the rest of the crowd.

"Wotcher, Harry," Tonks said, smiling at him and winking. Uncle Vernon was eyeing her as if her purple hair was going to infect 
him with a dangerous disease. Dudley, he knew, was out with his usual gang and Aunt Petunia had gone shopping. Harry grinned
a bit at the sight of his Uncle so angry because of the group of four witches standing in his foyer.

"We should really be going," Emmeline said, wrapping her dark green shawl tighter around her shoulders. She held out a neatly
wrapped present. "We'll be using this as a port key," she said, and the group closed in around her, everyone placing a finger
on the box and looking at Harry expectantly. Harry glanced up at his uncle, whose face was turning more and more purple every
second. 

"Well, er, bye Uncle Vernon," Harry said simply, giving him a tiny wave. "I won't be back." He turned away from him and collected
all of his belongings, stacking Hedwig's cage on top of his cauldron and also placing a finger on the box. 

"Good riddance," he heard his uncle mutter as he felt the familiar tug behind his navel and Number 4 Privet Drive spun away
from his sight.

The group appeared with a "pop!" just outside of a small house on a dusty dirt road with some mountains in the far distance.
Harry looked around and realized he didn't recognize anything. He heard a sound beside him and saw Dobby appear.

"Dobby, why didn't you travel by port key with us?" he asked. Dobby shook his head.

"House-elves is restricted from many kinds of magic, Harry Potter. Port keys do not work for us." 

"Shall we go in?" Rachel asked, pointing to the house. Harry stared at the simple house with its tiled roof and nodded as he
swallowed a lump in his throat. It's fine, everything's fine, I'm sure they're nice people...

"Let's go," he said nervously, attempting to smile. Rachel grinned and grabbed his hand.

"Oh, don't worry so much," she said. Tonks, Hestia, and Emmeline laughed.

"This is actually for you, Harry," Hestia said, holding out the gift-wrapped package they had used as a port key. "It's an
early birthday present."

"From who?" he asked. Tonks smiled.

"Open it and you'll see," she said. "Anyway, we're going back to headquarters. See you in a week, Harry!" The three witches
disapparated.

Harry began dragging his trunk towards the house. The door flew open suddenly and a plump dark-haired woman Harry 
recognized from one of Rachel's pictures came flying out the door.

"Harry Potter! ¡Bienvenidos!" she cried, grinning. She hugged him and kissed him on both cheeks. 

"Er.. hello," Harry managed to say. 

"¿Como estás? ¡Tu eres flaca! Necesitas mas comida," the woman said, poking his stomach. Harry glanced nervously
at Rachel, who simply rolled her eyes.

"Él no habla español, tía," Rachel said, picking up one of Harry's bags. "Let's take these upstairs to your room,"
she said as she opened the door. Harry nodded quickly, happy to hear a language he understood. They reached a door down a 
sunny hallway and Rachel opened it, exposing a neatly made bed along with a sturdy dresser and nightstand made of dark wood.
There was not much inside of the room, but everything was clean and polished until it was shining. Harry pushed his belongings
into one corner and sat on the bed. 

"Thanks again for having me stay here, Rach," he said, smiling up at her. She grinned.

"You'll have a fun time, not knowing Spanish and all," she joked. Harry frowned.

"What was your aunt trying to tell me before?" he asked. Rachel laughed.

"She says you're too skinny. You need to eat more," she replied. "I'm sure she'll take care of that, she cooks like a maniac.."
They both laughed. "Meals are a little different here, we usually don't eat until late. I'm sure you'll notice some other things."
Harry simply nodded. Rachel gasped as she noticed Harry's dark green book.

"Have you been practicing for your apparition test?" she asked. 

"I've been reading and rereading that book all summer," Harry confessed. "I want to be certified as soon as possible."

"We're going into the city tomorrow," Rachel replied. "There's a bit of a wizarding community there, and they have a testing
site for apparition. I could come with you!" she said excitedly.

"I thought your birthday was in September? Aren't you already certified?" he asked. Rachel shook her head.

"I just never got around to it, I guess. It would be nice to be able to, though." The door creaked open and Rachel turned around
to see her aunt, who raised her eyebrow warningly at her. 

"Sobrina, no debes estar en el cuarto de hombre," she said pointedly. She turned to Harry. "You hungry, Harry Potter? You need
to eat, after your travels..." she said in broken English.

"Er, no, I'm fine, thanks," he said, shaking his head. 

"Raquel, quieres té?" she asked. 

"No," Rachel murmured, shaking her head. The woman glanced at Rachel one last time before leaving. Harry sighed as he fell 
back onto his bed. 

"I'm going to be lost this entire week, aren't I?" he asked. Rachel shook her head.

"Nah, you'll be fine. I'll translate for you!" she answered. Without waiting for Harry to ask, she said, "What she just said
when she came in here was that I shouldn't be in a boy's room. And asked if I wanted tea," she added.

"Why aren't you supposed to be in here?" he asked. Rachel smirked.

"You know those 'traditional values'... Boys and girls can't be left alone, who knows what would happen?" They both laughed.

"Maybe this," Harry whispered, leaning over and kissing her. Rachel grinned.

"I think that's exactly what she's afraid of."

********************

A few hours later, Harry's stomach was rumbling and he wished that he had taken the food that Rachel's aunt had offered him.
He rummaged through his trunk and found a bar of Honeyduke's chocolate which he consumed almost immediately. After unpacking,
he still felt tired. Maybe another nap would help, he thought, looking at his soft bed longingly. He heard a knock
on his door.

"Come in," he called. The door opened and Rachel stood outside. 

"My Aunt Isabel wants to have dinner early tonight since you're here. Are you hungry yet?" she asked.

"I'm starved," Harry answered. "And what do you mean early? It's nearly 9:00 at night!" Rachel shrugged.

"We usually eat at 10. It's so hard to get used to eating at 6:00 when I go back to Hogwart's," she commented. "I'll go and
tell her you want to eat." 

"Thanks," Harry replied.

"Did you want to come down and talk for a while? Everyone's home now, and they're all so excited to see you," she said.

"Sure," he said, a bit uncomfortably. He glanced at the mirror on the wall, pulling his hand through his dark shaggy hair.
He followed Rachel down the stairs quietly and into a room off of the foyer that turned out to be a brightly lit kitchen.
A girl who appeared to be a few years older than him squealed as soon as he entered.

"Oooh, Raquel, que guapo!" she cried. She stood and held out her hand. "Hullo Harry, I'm Adriana, glad to meet you," she said 
with a musical Spanish accent. Harry sighed with relief, knowing that there was another person in the house that spoke English.

"Ana went to La Escuela de Magia in Madrid, she graduated last year," Rachel explained, gesturing towards Adriana. 

"I have my own house but I prefer to be over here, especially for meals," Adriana said, winking.

"Let's see," Rachel said. "You've already met my Aunt Isabel, this is my Uncle Andrés, and these are my other cousins
Ramon and Raul," she said, pointing to two twin boys about the age of 8 with dark hair. "And this is the baby of the family,
Sergio." She gestured towards a boy who looked about 6. "The only non-muggle besides me is Ana. Although you don't always
know right away, so maybe one of the boys are." Adriana and Rachel laughed.

"Probably not," Adriana said sarcastically. Aunt Isabel hurried into the room.

"La cena está lista" she announced. The family rose and walked over to a tiny table packed with chairs. Aunt Isabel
began carrying out dishes heaping with food, and Harry's mouth began watering immediately. Everything looked exotic but
delicious. After saying grace, everyone dug in, and the table was quiet as they began eating. Aunt Isabel looked at Rachel and
said something in Spanish.

"Harry, she wants to know if your room is all right," Rachel said in between bites.

"Oh, tell her it's perfect," he replied, smiling. Adriana nudged him.

"You tell her," she said. "Es perfecto, that's all you have to say."

"Es perfecto," Harry repeated, and the entire room beamed at him. He smiled back. Maybe this won't be so bad after all,
he thought to himself.

***************

After excusing himself from dinner, Harry went upstairs and got ready for bed. Rachel came and knocked on the door again.

"Since it's your birthday tomorrow, we'll go into the city and do some fun stuff. I can show you around!" she said excitedly.

"Sounds great," Harry replied.

"We can go shopping and then take our Apparition tests!" she squealed.

"Er... shopping?" Harry asked, grimacing. Rachel laughed.

"Don't think of it as shopping... think of it as... buying cool stuff!" she exclaimed. Harry laughed.

"Good night, Rachel," he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Night, Harry," she replied, closing the door. Harry lay in his bed, smiling to himself. Even with shopping, tomorrow sounded
like it was going to be fun.

****************

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