Disclaimer: I own – well – let's be honest here. Sarah's mine, Michael's mine, Nolan is mine, Cassandra who has yet to make an appearance is mine, and so is the plot (I think. I thoroughly apologize if someone else has done it before) in short – anything you don't recognize from the books is MINE!!! Yep, that's about it! Anything else is J.K R's.
A/N: Thanks to those of you who reviewed – but two pressing questions were not answered!!! Will Harry have a romance of his own? AND HOW DO YOU GET ITALICS???? Please please please tell me!! Anyhoo, but thanks for responding guys. It always makes me want to post another chapter there and then. Trust me, you can ask anyone who knows me – I get waaay too excited when someone reviews!
On with the Story!!!!!
Chapter 6: Harry, meet Sarah (original, hunh?)
Harry scowled at the curtains hiding Mrs. Black's portrait. No.12 Grimmauld Place was the last place in the world he wanted to be. "But," he grudgingly admitted to himself. "It's probably the safest." With Voldemort's latest plan to somehow get Harry at Hogwarts – Harry didn't know the exact details; the still never told him everything – he had been whisked away to the old Black house and Charlie Weasley was impersonating him at Hogwarts.
"Don't worry, Harry," the young man had said, looking a bit too excited for Harry's liking. "No one will suspect a thing!!" Charlie looked ecstatic, actually. "And I'll do just fine in quidditch – they'll never know the difference!" Harry ground his teeth at the thought of the quidditch game he was going to miss. Or two games, for that matter. God only knew how long Dumbledore was going to keep him locked away…
"Harry – is that you???" he heard the voice of his former professor just before he was suddenly engulfed into a bone crushing hug worthy of Mrs. Weasley. After a few moments, Remus pulled back.
"Merlin, look at you!" Harry was confused for a second as Remus held him at arms length, then pulled him back into what Harry was coming to think of as the 'jaws of death'. Then he remembered, somewhere in the oxygen deprived haze of his mind, that Remus had been gone when he'd finally returned to Grimmauld Place that summer. Not that he could blame him. All the memories it held – Harry would have picked the Dursleys any day.
Just as he thought that he was going to black out from lack of air, a laughing female voice interrupted them. "Remus, are you out to kill him? Give him some air, I'm sure he'll know you're happy to see him without being suffocated to death."
Remus let go of Harry and grinned sheepishly at him. Suddenly Harry felt a lot better – and not just because of his renewed air supply. It was clear to see that Remus was happy to see him, and Harry had missed him. Remus was his only link to his family left…shaking his head of unpleasant thoughts, he grinned back, causing Remus to smile even wider.
" 'Lo, Professor" He said, taking off his coat. Remus made to take it, but the young woman – a rather good looking young woman, he noted, got to it first.
"Here, I'll take it." she said, smiling at the two of them. "I'm sure that you two want to catch up. I'll just be in the kitchen…"
"Cooking?" Remus added, wickedly.
"Yes, cooking." She said, firmly, glaring at him. Ever since she'd proven her culinary skills, Remus had steadfastly been unavailable to cook dinner.
"Uh," Harry said, looking between Remus and the girl. "Uh…" he didn't want to be rude, but who on earth was she? Her face was vaguely familiar – he could've sworn he'd seen her somewhere, but…
"Oh!" Remus smiled. "Forgive me, I seem to have misplaced my manners." The girl rolled her eyes at Harry. "Harry, this is Sarah Brenton, Professor Dumbledore's goddaughter. Sarah, as I'm sure you've gathered by now, this is Harry Potter."
"Nice to meet you, Harry." Sarah said, shaking his hand.
"You too." Harry said, liking her easygoing manner.
"Well," she said, giving Remus a meaningful glance. "I'll be making that quiche, then. The pastry takes forever. Harry, Remus knows this, but if you even think about interrupting me while I'm making dinner OR sneaking dessert before hand, you do so under extreme pain of death. I am an expert with well aimed kicks!"
"She is!!" Remus whispered loudly to Harry, earning himself a mock glare from Sarah before she turned and entered the kitchen.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Harry found himself going to bed on an extremely full stomach. Dinner had left him with the firm belief that somehow, Sarah was distantly related to Mrs. Weasley. Now that he thought about it, it made sense. How else would Dumbledore have come to be her godfather? Her family must have been descended from squibs, he thought. She certainly reminded him of the Weasley family – out going, happy, busy… "Nice girl." He decided.
At that moment, Sarah poked her head through the door. "Hello, Harry" she said brightly. "You decent?"
Harry blushed furiously, mumbling affirmatively. Sarah promptly entered the room, carrying a load of clothes in her arms. "Okay." She said, setting it all down on his bead and placing her hands on her hips. 'Sarah Weasley' thought Harry. 'Has to be.'
"Now, I've made sure you have enough bedclothes and whatnot, but there aren't any good towels in this house. I've been using my own, as has Remus…"
Harry wondered just how she knew which towels Remus used.
"And so I went out and bought you some nice fluffy ones. Now." She surveyed the room in a manner that Harry considered the epitome of her Mrs. Weasley behaviour. "Remus and I cleaned things up in here, but the old man is going on about safety and all that rot again, so you might be here for a while."
'Yep,' Harry concluded; her annoyance at Dumbledore's issues with safety was plain to see. 'I like her.'
"And so you will probably want to have some fun decorating it yourself. I know it sucks…" she sighed. "Having to go somewhere safe and all."
Sarah wasn't trying to empathize with Harry. 'Safety' had been the all-important theme for the past few years. Ever since she'd found out about her telepathy, and consequently, about the magical world, her godfather had stressed the importance of 'safety' almost daily. Then she'd become - well, better at what she did and so she'd hoped that she could finally get on with her life. She'd been recruited by Michael and enjoyed her job, only to find herself drawn back into the ever-increasing turmoil of the wizarding world. Although now, it wasn't just for her safety…
"Is that why you're here?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself. Sarah glanced sideways at Harry.
"Harry." She said, after a few seconds. "How much do you know about me?"
"Nothing much really – seeing as I just met you today." Harry wondered what she was getting at. "You're professor Dumbledore's goddaughter, you're a muggle, nothing else, I suppose."
Sarah sighed. "Well," she said slowly. "Uncle Al wants me to help you with your occlumency whilst you're here, so you'll have to know all of it."
"Teach – teach me occlumency?" Harry said, utterly perplexed. "You're a muggle, right? How would you – I mean…" he was at a complete loss for words.
"You're probably not going to like this, Harry." Sarah said, avoiding his gaze.
"I'm not going to like what?" Harry ground out, not at all happy with the turn the proceedings were taking. Whenever someone said that, it was never followed with good news.
This, Harry.
"Whaddya mean, 'This'" Harry's face paled as he looked at Sarah. She hadn't spoken, but he'd heard her, plain as day.
I'm a telepath. She said, nervously, hoping he wouldn't run out on her.
Merlin. Harry thought. At no time during his lessons with Snape had he ever felt such a presence in his mind.
"Oh, I agree." Sarah said, talking again, for which Harry was thoroughly grateful. There was a certain amount of power behind that presence and he had the disconcerting feeling that no matter how hard he worked at occlumency, he would never be able to get around that force.
"It scared the living daylights out of me when I first found I could do it. I immediately went to Uncle Al – I'd managed to overhear something about magic, and I thought he'd know what to do. But, much to my disappointment, I wasn't a witch."
'Funny' Sarah thought. 'I can't believe I actually used to want to be caught up in all this. Gods - Harry has no choice. How is he sane??'
"And soon afterwards it became evident that I was also telekinetic, with some ability to sense danger prior to the event."
Harry looked at her, his mind working fast. He'd felt what the petite, harmless looking young woman standing in front of him was capable of moments ago. He didn't need to be a master occlumens to know that what he'd felt was not magic. Or perhaps, not any kind that he was used to…
"You're not here for your safety, not entirely." He said. He understood. "You're here for ours."
They were both silent for a few minutes as Harry digested this information and what it meant. Sarah found her eyes roaming the room. It had been renovated, but was devoid of personal touch. The wall were a bare, clean cream and the curtains were a deep burgundy, matching the bedspreads. Creamy rugs covered the deep brown wood, which had had to be totally sanded down and redone over the summer. As nice as it looked, Sarah much preferred her and Remus's smaller rooms. Especially Remus's, with its books everywhere, scrolls, quills, and just the general feel of Remus. Remus. "Oh…no…oh…well…" she came to a not so unexpected realization. "Oh, I like him."
'Course you do' snorted an inner voice. 'You've flirted with him shamelessly since the day you met. And if that isn't enough, listen to you going on about his room. You know what that means, don't you? Well, I know, because it's subconscious, and I am your subconscious.'
'What!!' Sarah thought, indignant. 'I thought the subconscious was supposed to be – well – that! Subconscious!'
'You,' the voice continued as if it hadn't heard a thing. 'You want to be in his room. Spend quality time in his room. And not reading all those books, if you get my - '
Sarah flushed a magnificent red worthy of the world's reddest redhead as her inner voice stopped abruptly. Remus had just entered the room.
"Can I come in?"
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Can I come in?"
"Sure." Harry said, scooting over on the bed he was currently residing upon in order to make room for Remus.
"Oh, no!" Sarah said, turning about quickly, trying very hard not to look at Remus, and failing miserably. "Here, I was going anyway. Michael called, and I have to go into work."
"Work?" Harry looked up at her. "You have to go into work now? What do you do?"
It was worth a try, he thought. So far he'd learnt a lot of interesting things about her – she seemed to be a bit more open than most of the adults around him.
"Oh, nothing much." Sarah breezed by him, picking up some of the laundry she'd dropped on his bed earlier. "I'm an MI5 agent, that's all"
'So much for openness' Harry thought. There was no way she was that.
"I'll be back late, Remus, if I'm back at all, so don't wait up for me." Sarah secretly hoped that he would, despite what she had just said. "And don't you two stay up all night talking." She shook her finger at them, then, on impulse, bet and kissed Remus on the cheek before gathering up everything she was taking with her and departing.
"Night, Remus, Night, Harry." She said, closing the door behind her.
Harry immediately turned to Remus with a sly look on his face. "So…" he smirked. "You two, here, all alone…" he let the implications hang in the air. Remus blushed and playfully punched Harry in the arm.
"So what if I like her a bit? She's a pretty girl – you can't fault me." He tried to explain, but Harry laughed.
"No – I was just teasing you, I think she's a nice girl, really. Lucky you, actually. You get to be with your girlfriend whenever you want." He looked momentarily downcast, which did not go unnoticed by Remus, but the former chose to ignore it for the time being.
"She's not my girlfriend, Harry – I mean – I - ugh!" He turned away, the abruptly turned back. "You should get some sleep; just because you're not at Hogwarts doesn't mean that you won't be studying – and you forget that you have several good teachers in the Order who will be here frequently."
Harry groaned, but obeyed, and got ready for bed. Remus bid him goodnight and left, leaving Harry to wonder about just what was going on between Sarah Brenton and Remus Lupin.
A/N: There it is, people! So, then, maybe Harry does have a girlfriend back at good ol' Hogwarts! But if he does, who could it be, that no one can know about it?? Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Review and let me know!
Here's a preview from Chapter 7:
'"Oh Merlin, NO!" Remus thought. 'Not that – he's only sixteen – she's twenty-two… they couldn't have! They wouldn't have – but my bed!!! How could he?? HOW COULD SHE!!!!"'
MWAHAHAHA…….. - Laren