Disclaimer: Thought I'd put another one of these up… NOTHING HARRY-POTTER RELATED BELONGS TO ME!!!! It belongs to the brilliant mind of J. K. Rowling of course!!!

A/N: I'll be gone for another week after this, sorry, probably won't be any updates for a while… Ok I use a few spells that aren't from the books in here… sorry if there's a real one in the books already… Oh and the quote is from the wonderful Eleanor Roosevelt.

Enjoy!

New Neighbor

Chapter 6

There. He'd done it. Harry let out a sigh as he walked down Privet Drive. Kira hadn't taken it too badly, had she?

'Stop kidding yourself, Harry. You saw the look in her eyes.'

Harry had thought a lot about Kira during the past weeks. He really did like her, but… if she knew what his world was like…

'Well, first of all, she'd totally flip out at the thought of a wizard. And even if she did understand Hogwarts and all that came with it, she wouldn't get the life I live in,' Harry thought angrily.

His world. The adoration and idolization he received. Yeah, he fulfilled the prophecy. He had defeated Voldemort. But no one understood what it was like to live as he did. With everyone holding the name 'Harry Potter' in such high regard. Everyone expecting him to live as a hero. Well, one person understood…

'Yeah, Sirius understood. Sirius understood everything.'

XXXXXXXXXX

Kira took one last look at her closet before concluding that all that needed to be packed was now jammed into her suitcase. Uncle Griffin was coming to pick her up in an hour, but Kira wasn't near as excited as she should be. A certain raven-haired boy kept plaguing her thoughts.

'He doesn't want you Kira, don't you get it!'

Kira's big purple eyes threatened to well up with tears again, but Kira scolded herself and refused to let the tears come.

'It's fine, Kira! You'll be fine. With this trip to Aunt Ramona and Uncle Griffin's house, you'll totally forget about him. Stop blubbering!'

She exhaled deeply and attempted to pull the extremely heavy suitcase across the floor. The first few tries failed, but soon the suitcase was reluctantly bouncing down the stairs, Kira pulling it with all her strength. The heavy baggage finally landed with a soft bump on the ground floor, in the entry hall. Not wanting to pull it any farther, Kira left it where it was and walked into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat before she left.

"Dear, do you know exactly how your aunt and uncle plan to pick you up this morning?" her father asked when Kira appeared in the doorway.

"Um, they didn't exactly specify, but I think they would be using their car…?" answered Kira.

Her father nodded and resumed devouring his toast which was covered in an strange-looking purple goop.

"Oh Kira!" Mrs. Sanden exclaimed happily from where she stood in front of the toaster, "would you like some toast, dear? I've made some wonderful plum jelly, I think you'd love it!"

"Oh," said Kira, now with an explanation to what the purple goop was that was dissolving into her father's toast, "um, I think I'll just have butter on mine this morning. Thanks though, Mum."

Kira's mother nodded, but looked a bit crestfallen as she turned back to the toaster. Kira cast a glance at the purple goop once more before saying, "er, never mind, Mum. I think I shall try that jelly. It does look quite good, after all."

Mrs. Sanden visibly perked up.

"Oh fabulous, dear!" she said gleefully, as she loaded a sticky pile of her homemade jelly onto Kira's toast.

Kira sighed and sat down at the kitchen table next to her father. A few moments later her mother placed the toast in front of her. Kira eyed it suspiciously. The toast was absorbing the jelly, making it appear a purple-gray color. But before Kira could take a bite, she heard a loud BOOM in the living room.

Kira, Mr. Sanden, and Mrs. Sanden all shouted in alarm at the same time. They rushed into the living room immediately. There by the fireplace stood Uncle Griffin, covered in dust and what looked like… soot?

"Good heavens, Griffin!" Mrs. Sanden cried, "where in the world did you come from and what in blazes are you doing?!"

Griffin glanced up at the trio and smiled.

"Oh, I'm sorry Vera, am I early? Darn, I thought I'd make perfect timing traveling by Floo." He looked at his watch and tapped it a few times.

"Floo?" Kira asked him quizzically.

"Yes, Floo. Used for wizard transportation. I had the Ministry add your residence to the directory for a few hours so I could come pick you up. I thought it'd be-- cultural, for you to travel the wizard way."

"Oh," Kira said uncertainly, but excited nonetheless, "well then how does it work?" she asked, staring at the fireplace skeptically.

"Well, if you have your things packed, sweetie, I could show you right now."

Kira nodded but her father cut in before she could say anything else.

"Griffin," he began apprehensively, "you're sure it's safe… Absolutely sure…"

Griffin smiled at his old friend reassuringly, "as safe as safe can get, I assure you."

Mrs. Sanden still looked extremely suspicious of all the soot that was covering Uncle Griffin, but she managed to murmur, "Kira's baggage is in the entryway."

"Oh, alright," Griffin pulled out a long slender mahogany stick from the pocket of his horrid green leather jacket. He pointed it towards the entryway and said, "Accio suitcase!"

Kira was just to open her mouth to ask what the heck he was talking about, but stopped immediately in shock. Her suitcase was FLOATING into the living room. FLOATING. Kira rubbed her eyes and wondered if she hallucinating. She looked again. It was FLOATING towards them! Her and her parents meant to duck behind the couch, but the suitcase softly landed with a small thud on the living room rug. The Sanden family gaped at Griffin with open mouths.

Griffin chuckled at their humorous expressions. He gestured towards the stick he was holding, "Oh yes, and this is my wand."

Silence. The Sanden's appeared to be processing what the man had just said. Kira spoke first.

"Like… a magic wand? As in… Cinderella-magic-wand?"

"Umm, I suppose along those lines, yes. It's standard for every witch and wizard to have one. In fact, you'll be getting one on the 10th of August," Uncle Griffin said with a twinkle in his eye. Mrs. Sanden made a small choking noise but Uncle Griffin immediately gave her a short lecture on the safety precautions that exist for all under-age wizards and witches. When he was done, he turned to Kira.

"Well Kira, ready to go?" he asked with a smile.

"Um," Kira glanced at her parents. Her mother appeared a bit white but her father nodded towards her encouragingly.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's Floo."

Griffin laughed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a round silver can. He popped the lid off and held it out towards Kira.

"Okay dear, this is what you're going to do. You'll take a handful of the Floo powder," Kira tilted her head to see inside the silver can. It was filled with glittering green powder. Griffin continued, "and toss a bit into the fireplace. Then you'll step into the fireplace, and shout '985 Honey House Lane' very clearly, do you understand?"

Kira nodded uneasily at her uncle, her brow furrowed.

"Alright then, grab a bit of this," he gestured to the small green can. Kira grabbed a small handful. It felt slippery in her hand.

"Now toss it into the fireplace," coached Uncle Griffin. Kira did so and immediately jumped back in surprise. The fireplace had immediately lit itself! It was now a large crackling fire, but was green in color.

"Uncle Griffin, um, its… green."

"Oh yes, dear, quite alright. Now, when you step into the flames, be sure to say, '985 Honey House Lane' very clearly."

Kira gulped. She turned to her mother and father, both of whom had horrified looks on their faces. She walked towards them and gave each a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"I'll miss you two," Kira told her parents, trying to sound unbothered by the tall green flames she was supposed to walk into without a second thought.

Mr. Sanden tore his gaze away from the fireplace and cleared his throat.

"We'll miss you too, dear, see you in a few weeks." Her mother nodded, as if in agreement with her father.

Kira stepped in front of the fireplace, attempting to get up her nerve to walk into it.

"Oh, one more thing," Griffin said, "be sure to step out of the fireplace when you arrive, because I'll be coming through directly after you with the baggage."

Kira nodded. She took in a deep breath and gathering up all her strength, walked straight into the fireplace. But the burning sensation she expected never came. The flames that licked her legs were quite cool. She turned around in the fireplace to face her parents and Uncle Griffin.

"Go on," she heard Griffin urge, though he seemed far away.

Kira took a breath, something she immediately regretted because ashes went up her nose, but nonetheless she was able to shout, "985 HONEY HOUSE LANE!!!"

The fireplace started to spin, she felt herself getting nauseated. Everything around her was spinning too fast for her to make anything out. It was hard to breath, because every time she did, ashes and dust filled her nose. Just when she thought she might throw up, the spinning stopped. She immediately fell forward, and landed on the hardwood floor of a strange living room.

"This isn't the right house," Kira said aloud, starting to panic. She almost screamed when someone came bustling into the room but stopped herself when she realized it was her Aunt Ramona.

"Oh good, sweetie, you made it. Hurry, dear, out of the fireplace. Griffin will be arriving momentarily."

Kira crawled out of the fireplace, covered in soot. She heard an OOF and turned to see Uncle Griffin crawling out of the fireplace as well, covered in more soot than before. He was dragging her heavy suitcase behind him.

As they started the task of dusting off their clothes, a smiling Aunt Ramona asked, "so how was your first Floo trip, Kira?"

"Erm, it was good I suppose," Kira answered. Having finished dusting off her clothes, she glanced around.

"Auntie, did you guys move recently or something?" Kira asked.

"No dear," her aunt replied as she helped her husband wipe the soot off his face.

"But," said Kira, confused, "this isn't the house I visited last time I came on a vacation with you."

"Oh yes Kira, but see, now that you know we're witches and such, we can show you our real home."

"Huh?"

Uncle Griffin answered her, "well we couldn't exactly bring your parents, who are muggles, into a wizarding home. They would find it… strange. So we simply used a tutis inflecto charm to make our residence appear muggle-ish. But this," he gestured around the house, "is our real home. Wizard and all."

Kira looked around in awe… There was a duster on the mantel, that was dusting by itself. A large grandfather clock in the corner with five hands appeared to be muttering about the weather, and the grand piano was playing Beethoven's sonata, Clair de Lune, flawlessly, only no one was sitting on the piano bench!

"Amazing…" she murmured as Aunt Ramona and Uncle Griffin led her into the kitchen and dining area. Aside from the dishes which were washing themselves and a muffled voice that could be heard from upstairs that sounded oddly like, "save the kneazles," the house appeared well kept and very stately.

"Dear, we're going to go start dinner. Feel free to look around the house. I'm sure you'll find some exciting things here," Ramona told her with a twinkle in her eye, "also, remember to pick a bedroom. There's plenty open upstairs."

"Okay," Kira said, excited to explore. She grabbed the handle to her suitcase and gave it a yank. Griffin stopped her before she pulled it farther.

"Kira, there's no need for that." He took out his wand and said, "agito." The suitcase disappeared with a POP.

"Wh-where did it go?" Kira asked, bewildered.

"Oh, I put it upstairs, so you won't have to lug it up the steps."

"Uh, thanks…" Kira replied. She left the kitchen to find the stairs. Soon she found it, near the front door. Actually, she found three sets of stairs.

"Um, Aunt Ramona?" She yelled.

Ramona came into the front hall saying, "yes, dear?"

Kira pointed to the stairs.

"Which one do I take?" she asked.

"Well, it depends which floor you would like to go to. The second floor, third, or fourth. I can't tell you which stairs go up to which floor, though. They tend to switch around. I say, just try one, and once you reach that landing, there will be other stairs to the other floors if you don't want to be on the floor you're presently on. Does that make sense, sweetie?"

"I suppose," Kira replied uncertainly, before charging up the first set of steps. Soon she came up onto that floor, where a large painting was directly across the hall. The painting was of a gigantic sneaker.

'How odd,' Kira thought, leaning forward to examine the painting. Suddenly the sole of the shoe opened up, revealing some sort of mouth.

"'Ello lass, 'elcome to the third floor, you are."

Kira's jaw went slack. This was a painting for goodness sakes!

"Ever seen a talkin' paintin'? I think not, the way ye be lookin' at me."

"Uhh," Kira muttered intelligently.

"Well, when ya get yo voice back, lass, come talk with me anytime, ye hear? Me name's Maverick. Ye can call me Mav if ye like."

"Are the b-bedrooms up here?" Kira asked Mav, still not used to the idea of talking to a moving painting, "My aunt said I need to p-pick one…"

"Ye should stop mutterin' ye should. Anyhow, aye, lots o'nice bedrooms up here. Best floor with bedrooms, I should say. I'd avoid that last one on the left though, I would." Mav motioned down the hall, "got itself a ghoul, it has. Shouts up somethin' nasty if anyone messes with 'im. This your bag, by the way, lass?" the sneaker asked, looking down at Kira's suitcase.

Kira nodded and began shakily walking down the hall, planning to bring the suitcase to her bedroom after she'd chosen the one she wanted. She reached towards a doorknob that was turquoise in color.

Mav yelled down to her, "Lass! I wouldn't pick that one if I were ye, it has one nasty bathroom, I must say. Some sort o' problem with the toilet, it has. I wouldn't try and flush it."

Kira dropped her hand and walked back down the hall to the talking sneaker.

"Anything else I should know about these bedrooms before I pick one, Mav?"

"Wonderful, ye've stopped stutterin' lass." the sneaker said, "well for such a gorgeous girl like ye self, I wouldn't 'ecommend that one there with the with the blue door. Got a bed that shouts at ye when ye snore. I doubt ye snore, lass, but just to be safe, eh?"

Kira nodded and an idea popped into her head. Mav the sneaker seemed nice enough anyway.

"Which room do you think I should choose, Mav?"

If sneaker's could smile, Mav just did.

"Ye be trustin' me now! That's fabulous, that is! And I got the perfect room for such a lass as ye. See that one with the small inscription on it?" Kira nodded and Mav continued, "then that's the one ye'd be likin' I say."

Kira smiled at the sneaker and walked down the hall. She lifted her hand to the yellow doorknob while reading the inscription on the door. It read:

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams

Kira smiled and entered the room. She shut the door behind her before glancing around. When she did look around herself, she gasped.

The room was absolutely breathtaking. It was painted a deep crimson, with white trim. There were assorted paintings decorating the walls, all which were beautiful. To Kira's left there was a huge canopy bed, with a white feather comforter and pillows in assorted colors. There stood two mahogany nightstands on each side of the bed, each with its own exquisite lamp.

On the opposite wall, to Kira's right, stood a mahogany vanity and matching dresser. She approached the vanity, only to have the mirror say, "my we have a pretty one here, now don't we?" Normally such a thing would have frightened Kira, but seeing how she had just met a giant talking sneaker, the mirror didn't bother her quite as much. Next to the dresser was a door that obviously led to her very own bathroom.

But directly across from Kira was what pleased her the most. Next to a small sitting area that consisted of a reclining chair, a loveseat, and a small coffee table, there was a pair of French glass doors. Through the glass Kira could see a tiny balcony, all her own. She went through the doors and looked down. The fact that she was so far up made her a bit nauseous, but she quickly moved her gaze elsewhere. Her aunt and uncle's home was absolutely fantastic. It was surrounded by fields on one side, and lush fruit trees on the other.

Kira let out a deep sigh.

'Oh, if only Harry could be here to see this with me--' Kira halted her thoughts and quickly shoved her green-eyed neighbor out of her mind.

She walked back into her room and jumped onto her bed. The soft blankets seemed to melt around her. She laid her head back onto the pillows and thought, 'this vacation will be absolutely magnificent,' before she fell asleep.

A/N: Holy cow almost 3000 words! You guys better love me for this freakin long chapter!

Oh and bubble gum and lollipops go out to my FABULOUSLY SUPERB editor, Digladior0124!!! Without her, there would be a whole lot more grammar and spelling mistakes, I tell you!

Again, I'm gonna be gone for the next week though I MIGHT be able to update. If I can't, see you guys in a week!

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!