This is especially for Jules713. The rest will be out faster, I promise. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I sent them all to Sheep (in a letter) and I don't know if she got them yet, but she'd be happy. Thanks again.
A/N- I didn't write the poem. That was the work of Lain, a good friend of mine. Thanks Lain!
And without further ado...
Chapter Two: Welcome to Brownsville
Ginny woke when the plane began to shake. "What's going on?" she asked, terrified. She'd never been on a plane before.
"We're landing," Harry responded, instinctively placing his hand over hers to calm her. To his surprise, she didn't pull away.
Ara woke up and began to cry. Ginny picked her up carefully and rocked her. "Where are we anyway?"
Harry shook his head, "I don't know. Somewhere in Nebraska."
Ginny nodded and turned back to Ara.
"Welcome to Brownsville Nebraska!" the voice on the speaker boomed. "Please exit the plane and retrieve your luggage. Thanks for flying with International Express. Have a nice day."
Harry took their carry-on bags and carefully maneuvered his way out of the row and down the aisle, Ginny and Ara right behind him. The walked through the terminal and to the baggage claim. After grabbing their suitcases, Harry took out a folder. "Now, we're supposed to go to Poluck Café and meet Kylie Montgomery. She's supposed to take us to the place we'll be staying."
Ginny looked around, "There, the sign. Go left."
She followed the signs, with Harry and luggage in tow, to the Poluck Café. It was possibly the scariest place she'd ever seen. Stuffed animals were everywhere, and a horse and buggy statue were at the front. She cringed as a woman in a short jean skirt, plaid shirt that was tied so it showed most of her stomach and a large, brown cowboy hat on her head pranced up to them. "Three?" she asked, swinging her (dyed) blonde braids over her shoulders and winking at Harry.
"Um, no. Actually we're looking for Kylie Montgomery. Is she here?" Harry asked, obviously disgusted that she was trying to flirt with him.
She nodded, and called over her shoulder, "Yo! Table Six! The rest of your party's here!"
A brunette woman slammed the newspaper she was reading down and turned around. "You can just come over here and tell me, but it's almost better this way because I don't think I can stand to smell that 'jerky fried chicken' anymore!" The brunette stood up quickly, the chair she had been sitting in toppled over. She grabbed her jacket and stormed over to them. "C'mon, let's get something good to eat." She brushed past them and out into the terminal.
They followed, exchanging worried glances as she stormed into another restaurant. This one was a lot nicer. She sat at the bar and motioned for them to join her. They sat reluctantly, and she sighed, "Sorry about that, but the Divison wanted you to meet me there, but this is actually a portal to Calkin Row, it's kinda like your Diagon Alley, but it can be accessed through six portals. Portal two is the one behind us," she pointed to a vase, "Touch it and you get there. Even though ya'll are supposed to be Muggles, I thought you should know about it."
She continued, "Now, you'll be living in a house, in a regular, Muggle neighborhood. It needs a little love, but, from reading your files, it's nothing you can't handle. Your fireplace is hooked up to the Floo Network, various portkeys are located around it as are any magical ingredient you'd need to make a potion or something. Now, I'm going to be living in town, so if you need anything you'll have to come to me. All you are to do is go to work and come home. Tell no one why you're really here, and if anyone shows a special interest in the baby, tell me and I'll, um, dispose of the problem."
She waved the bartender over, "Can we order now?"
After a fairly decent meal, nothing like Molly's, but still, decent enough, Kylie led them to the airport parking lot. She unlocked a red car and motioned for them to get in. They did, and soon found themselves speeding along.
About a half hour later they pulled up in front of a run-down Victorian mansion. "They didn't tell me it was this bad," Kylie muttered as she got out.
Ginny's eyes went wide. The house was probably pretty at one time, but now, the porch was falling apart, windows were boarded up, the glass broken out and the garden was overgrown. She watched as Harry tried the first porch step. It held, but barely. The whole house seemed to creak as he walked up the rest of the stairs. He opened the door cautiously, and then turned around.
"The inside isn't so bad," he announced.
Ginny held Ara to her as she ascended the steps, Kylie at her heels. Harry held the door open for both of them, and Ginny gasped as she stepped inside.
A large marble staircase sat in the middle of the entryway, a red carpet banner running up the center of it. The wood floor was covered in dust, but a couple of spells would fix that. Two doors were on either side of the room, one leading to the front room and the other to the drawing room. The door next to the staircase led to the kitchen, and upstairs was six bedrooms and four bathrooms. The house was fully furbished with new things, but it still kept with the Victorian theme.
"So, not much work on the inside, just the windows and outside. We can do that, right?" Harry asked as he continued to inspect the foyer. Ginny coughed, and he said a quick spell to lift the dust. "Some dusting on the inside, maybe. But it looks like a nice enough place."
Kylie clapped her hands together. "The cars yours, and I'll leave you to unpack. If you need help with fixing the place up, I'll send some Ministry guys over." She Apparated out, leaving Harry and Ginny in silence.
"Well," Harry finally said, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably, "We should see the rooms." He didn't say our rooms, because he was secretly hoping that they'd end up in the same room, but he wasn't about to get his hopes up. He followed Ginny up the marble staircase, enjoying the view from behind, but his mouth dropped when he saw the upstairs.
There was no way they'd be sharing a room.
Ginny instantly began to look for a nursery. The first room on the left was a smaller room, and it had extra furniture stored in it. The room on the right was yellow, and the furniture was sparse, a dresser sat in the middle and a bed against the corner. The next room would be perfect for the baby. It was pink with white trimmings, a small bassinet in the middle, toys spread out everywhere. Ginny stepped inside, but Harry continued to investigate.
The next room was probably the room he'd be in. It faced the back of the property, letting in sunlight, but still staying comfortably dark. The walls were painted a forest green, with a mahogany wood dresser and four poster bed. The hangings were green, as were the bed sheets, but the curtains were a silver. He closed the door and went to the room across the hall.
It was the master bedroom. Dark blue draperies accented the silver bed sheets, and, like all the wood in the house, the dresser, bed posts and side tables were mahogany. A door on the left led to the nursery and a door on the right led to the bathroom.
Just as Harry was about to go into the final bedroom, Ginny crept out of the nursery. "I cast a spell so we'd know when she woke up," she explained, hiking her bag back up on her shoulder, "Now, where are we sleeping?"
She immediately blushed, and Harry pretended not to notice. He pointed to the door across from them and told her, "That's the master bedroom, and it has a door to the nursery, so I thought you'd want that one. I'll take this one."
Ginny nodded and retreated to her room. She shut the door and sighed, closing her eyes. She sought out the bathroom.
Harry sighed as he watched her retreating form. He knew it was all his fault that she was this uncomfortable with him. He walked down the stairs and outside, deciding to begin on fixing the house.
The first thing he did was look in the car for tools. They were there, so he began to plan what he had to do. The roof needed replaced, as did several boards on the porch. New windows, paint, trimmings were also needed, and he got a headache thinking about it. He finally decided to start on the porch, being as they had to walk across it to get into the house.
He pulled up the first board to survey what kind of spell he'd need to fix it and was a little surprised to find carvings on it. Probably whoever built it wanted to stake their claim, Harry thought. But as he looked at it closely, the writing became more clear.
Trying to find love or time
Is like chasing shadows
Never to be fully mine
Running through a meadow
Feeling the sun shine
Searching for that special kiss...
Hidden away, I pine
Time is against thee
Never a straight line
Twists and turns uh many
The ups and downs of time
The one, the only, the first,
It shall be their time to shine...
Upon these floors a curse is real
For your first love, you shall pine...
Wadding in a stream
Time is never mine
Sitting on a front porch
Time is never mine
Growing old together
Time is never mine
Lying on my death bed
Time is never mine
Spirit flying free
Hopefully, Love was mine...
Hopefully, Love was mine...
Harry shook his head as he reread the last line. Love was mine? Luckily, he thought, Cho was my first love, so I've got nothing to worry about. But something in the back of his mind told him he was wrong. Very wrong.
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