Please read beginning author notes and comments!

A/N: This chapter is a monologue in the first person from Kathryn's perspective. Sorry this chapter took longer. I have a busy weekend and finals are coming up in a few weeks so it is crunch time.

Also: Harry is not recognizable as Harry, as you see in this chapter he has disguised himself, as in changing his eye and hair color and he has concealed his scar. He used magic to do it, but as a general rule he doesn't use magic. Of course, when people try to owl him he uses magic to send them the nastiest Howlers possible. But magic is more a supplement in his life, rather than being his life. Most of the time he ignores his abilities. He has recognized accidental magic in both Courtney and Michael, but he still has not told Kathryn or the children about the magical world.

And one more note: The end of this chapter Kathryn is talking in the present time-which is the year 2021, where we rejoin the story in the next chapter and Courtney receives her letter.

Getting to know you

He always sat in the front of the class. He slouched in his chair somewhat; I guess he felt self-conscious because he was tall. No, not tall, but he was so thin that he seemed taller than he actually was. He had brown hair that was cut short and well kempt. He had brown eyes and sometimes showed up with a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on his nose, and other times he had contacts in.

He never socialized with the others in the A-Level prep class. He introduced himself as David Barnes and didn't really say anything else. To my knowledge, he had no friends. He was a complete loner, always on the outside.

I know several times he was invited to social functions that the other adults planned, but he turned them all down.

One day I happened to get there early and I found him sitting on a couch in the lobby area of the building. He was just reading the text. I greeted him and he just grunted in return. He was cold to everyone. I asked around and people said they didn't know much about him. He rarely answered questions and never spoke voluntarily.

Somewhere along the way, I became obsessed with him. Not because I liked him at that point, but because I couldn't understand how someone could survive completely isolated from society. I guess I'm a people person.

The first conversation we held took place a month before the course I taught ended. I found him sitting in the lobby once more, just studying. I just started talking about anything that came to mind. I think he just finally started talking because he was so annoyed. To my surprise, he wasn't rude, or, rather, he didn't insult me or tell me to go away and shut up, as I expected he would.

At first, he just ignored me hoping I would go away. Finally he got a clue that I wasn't going anywhere and he responded to something I was saying-which actually surprised me enough for me to stop talking for a little bit. I saw him smirk at this and so I started talking again.

I really don't remember all I said, but I do remember when he finally just sighed and set his book down and turned his attention to me. That was when he really started participating in the conversation. He was still quiet. I had to take the lead in the conversation, and he still didn't volunteer any information without a question to illicit it, but he answered in more than monosyllables.

I don't know where I found the courage, but I eventually I just asked him, "Why do you isolate yourself? Don't you have any friends?"

He stiffened and his eyes got so cold that I thought he was just going to get up leave, "I'm sorry," I said, "I shouldn't have asked that."

He looked at me, though it felt more like he was looking through me, and then relaxed again as I changed the subject. "So what are you planning on doing when you get out of this course?"

"I'm going to go to University."

"What will you be studying?"

He was silent for a little while and then answered, "I'm not sure yet. I don't even know what I like, it has been so long since I've had any schooling."

"Why is that?"

He sighed, "Just…I dropped out of school as a teenager…it wasn't a happy time. I finally got some sense and decided to go back to school."

This quiet man had been a rebellious teenager? I couldn't see it at all.

"Well, do you have a job now?"

"Yes, I work for a Drill Company called Grunnings."

Our conversation went on until class was to start. It was the first of many. He seemed to have resigned himself to the fate that I wanted to talk to him. I suppose he found some joy in these conversations because he kept coming early, even though he knew I would be there.

The class ended few days before the adults were to take their A-Levels. That day I got there especially early, hoping to talk to David longer. He came in five minutes after I got there. I had gotten pretty good at reading his emotions over the past month. I could tell he was slightly surprised and pleased, though I doubted anyone of his classmates would have been able to tell.

"Kathryn, you're early."

"I know, this is the last class you'll have with me, but I hope we can still be friends." I said, thinking to myself how corny that had sounded.

He sat down and looked at his hands for a moment, "I quit work today, so I can concentrate on University full time after I take the tests next week," a small smile crossed his face as he continued, "One of my co-workers was upset at me quitting-for some reason he likes me better because I hardly ever talk; I just get the work done and he likes that. Detestable man actually, he just liked me because he could take credit for my work. He got mad at me today because I quit and he can't use me anymore. I was angry and so I went out and bought up a bunch of shares in the company-if I keep up the same rate I will own enough of the company to get him fired."

I had no clue why he was telling me this, but I was pleased that he was volunteering information for the first time.

"I want to continue our friendship Kathryn. I realized that when I left Grunnings today and wanted to tell someone about it."

I smiled, relieved, "Thank you David, I would hate to see you become like you were when I first saw you."

True to his word, we remained friends. Our relationship was not romantic in any way for the longest time. We had a completely platonic friendship. I even complained to him about the guys I dated, like I would to one of my girlfriends.

Our first date, our first kiss for that matter, came about in a very interesting manner. Since he was going to the same university I was a grad student at we would sometimes run into each other on campus, or eat lunch together (neither of us considered eating together when we happened to run into each other, a date). I was outside on the quad and a grad student, Brian, who had been practically stalking me was trying to ask me on a date. I didn't want to be outright rude to him because he was actually a nice guy—I just had no interest in dating him. I had said no to a date, but he didn't get the clue that I wasn't interested. David came up behind me, heard what was going on and, reading my facial expression, he knew I needed some help.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my cheek, "So, are we still on for tonight's dinner and concert?" he said.

I almost burst out laughing. I saw Brian's eyes widen as I then turned around and kissed David on the lips. As soon as Brian hightailed it I did laugh. David grinned and then said, "So, would you like to go to dinner and a concert tonight?"

I accepted.

Our relationship slowly changed from platonic to romantic. We started dating exclusively when he was in his second year at the university and well into the pre-med program. The day he graduated, we went out to celebrate at the same restaurant we went to on our first date. Then he took me out to an open-air concert and we sat out on a blanket. That was where he proposed to me. Looking up at the stars, listening to the New World Symphony, sitting on a blanket on a cool spring night: it was the setting every girl dreams about. I was twenty-six, but at that moment I felt as giddy as a love-struck teenager. I said yes, of course.

He had been accepted into Medical School, which worried my parents. I'll never forget that conversation. We were eating dinner with my parents two weeks after we got engaged. David was talking about his plans for medical school. I could tell my parents were getting uncomfortable. I couldn't figure out why until my Dad said, "Where are you two going to live?"

Of course, that is what they were worried about. When my younger sister Lauren had been married she and her husband had had no money. They had ended up living with my parents for a year and a half, completely depleting my parents' meager pensions.

David looked thoughtful, so I spoke up to alleviate my parents, "We'll find an apartment somewhere. I can continue my job." I was subtly trying to let them know we would not be a financial burden on them.

"Actually," David said, "I was thinking of buying a house. Kathryn, you don't have to work if you don't want to."

"Then how will you live?" my mother asked, perplexed.

David sighed and looked distinctly uncomfortable, "My parents died when I was one year old. They left enough money for my schooling to be paid for, but I came into my full inheritance when I turned twenty-one. I have enough money to support our family while I am in medical school."

I stared at him. Money had never come up so this was all new to me, "How much money do you have David?"

"When I first enrolled in night classes I had about fifteen million pounds. Over the past four years some of my investments have made good returns and so now my bank accounts total about twenty-two million pounds."

Me and my parents were flabbergasted.

Before the wedding there was one other important conversation. "David? Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Well, do you remember that first time I talked to you? I asked you if you had any friends." I let him pick it up from there.

He smiled a weary smile, "Yes, I suppose we should talk about that. No, at that point I had no friends. Growing up I had no friends, but then started at the school my parents had gone to when I turned eleven. I made friends. I had two best friends. I had wonderful teachers; I met people who had known my parents. It was wonderful. When I was fifteen," he sighed, "something happened and everyone I knew and cared about betrayed me. They blamed me for something without proof and turned me out of the school and surrounding community. I didn't truly drop out; I was expelled. I was alone in the world for ten years. I had become so used to being isolated that I didn't know how to handle normal human interaction after so long, Kathryn. That is why it took me so long to even realize I needed it," he paused and the said, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I was also afraid that if I opened up to people again I would be betrayed again."

I was trying to take it all in, "How did they betray you?"

"I don't want to talk about it. I never want to think about them again. That was a different lifetime for me. I am someone completely different now. I've had no contact with them for years, and I will be perfectly happy to never have contact with them again."

I knew I wouldn't get anything else out of him on that subject.

The wedding was perfect. Lauren and her husband were there, my parents and my older brother Jacob and his wife Maria were there too. All my friends (most of whom were married long before I was) came with children in toe. They teased me about getting married so late. I wasn't that old—just 26, but most of them had gotten married around twenty or twenty-one.

While he was still in medical school, I worked part time, until I got pregnant. Then I quit work. After Courtney was born, I became a full time mother. David worked hard in medical school to earn his degree as quickly as possible, but because he wasn't working, he could spend time with us. He adored Courtney-she was daddy's little girl. He would take her to the park, take her out for ice cream, play with her. He was the stereotypical dotting father. Sometimes I would just look at him and wonder at the change that had come over him, from the sullen withdrawn man I first saw, to the loving, kind, generous and affectionate, but still quiet, husband I loved. He seemed to grow a capacity to love me and Courtney infinitely, and that capacity seemed to expand even more when Michael was born.

David delivering Michael was an adventure. He knew what to do, even though that was not his field of medicine, and, I have to say, Michael's delivery went much smoother than Courtney's did. That was just a few days before he received his M.D. as a pediatric oncologist.+ Michael was such a calm little baby, unlike his older sister. Courtney is more of a chatterbox, like I am, while Michael and David are perfectly content to sit back and listen most times. Courtney inherited red hair from both her grandmothers and her blue eyes from me. As I have brown hair and blue eyes and David has brown hair and brown eyes, I'm not sure where Michael got his black hair and green eyes. It doesn't run in my family and David hasn't said it runs in his either.

David is happy at his job, for the most part. Once in a while, he looses a patient which is very hard on him, but he has helped so many people. Some of his colleagues call him a miracle worker because he takes the cases that other doctors won't even touch because there is so little hope, and then he gets them in remission. His patients love him as do his patients' parents.

His hours working at the hospital are rough on him. But he usually makes it home for dinner with the family. He always takes off one day a week and gets a month off every summer. We go on vacations. One year we went to Germany, another France, another America. This year we are planning on going to Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

In all honesty, I'm not sure how possible this is (I'm not sure exactly how shares and company ownership work, business economics is not something I know very much about), but I thought it would be fun. I'm sure you can guess who the "despicable co-worker" is.

Oncologist- a cancer specialist

Yes, he manages to squeeze in a little magic to help his patients along.