OH MY GOSH! I am SO SORRY it's been so long. I've been having writer's block like a mother. But I'm kinda excited about this chapter cause it was really fun to write. I am working on the next two, possibly three, right now, so I will try to have a least one of them up before the weekend is out. Again, sorry. Thanks for being patient.
Oh, and I'm also working on trying to have titles for my chapters, since I personally think it's kind of annoying when people don't have chapter titles (not that I'm hating on anyone. I totally get how hard it is to come up with chapter titles) but I don't want them to sound cheesy. If anyone has any suggestions after reading some of the chapters, I'd be glad to hear them. Thanks!
Chapter Six
Oh somewhere deep inside of these bones
An emptiness began to grow
There's something out there far from my home
A longing that I've never known...
Harry walked into the house thirty minutes later to find Kat and the Dursleys sitting around the big screen television. Harry went past the blaring of the news and was headed up the stairs when he heard soft padding behind him. He turned and saw Kat running up the stairs after him. She had changed into gray sweat pants and a tee shirt with a strange-looking blue creature on it and the word "Stitch" over it. He looked at her feet and noticed she was wearing fuzzy gray slippers. It was probably the first time the word "adorable" ever crossed his mind.
"Hey," she said, with that huge white smile that Harry couldn't help but return. "Dudley and I were gonna watch a movie when your uncle's finished with the news. Umm, do you wanna come?"
It took him moment to register that he had just been invited to watch a movie in the Dursley's house, but Harry nodded and Kat smiled again. "Cool. I don't know what we're going to watch, though. I brought all my DVDs. You can help pick."
Harry didn't know how much help he would be in picking a movie, seeing as how he hadn't seen one in years, but he just nodded again. Kat grabbed a large leather case from her room and bounded down the stairs, Harry trailing behind her.
"Okay, movie time." Kat settled herself on the floor and patted the ground next to her, where Harry sat down. "What are you guys in the mood for: Disney, or Passion of the Christ, either way, we're all going to be really depressed." Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing, not because he understood a word Kat just said, because he didn't, but because of the look on the Dursley's faces.
Kat noticed too, and laughed feebly. "Heh, heh...just kidding."
Dudley was the first to come out of the stupor and asked, "How are Disney movies depressing?"
"Well, I find it very depressing that they aren't real. Or sometimes it's because I'm not in Disney World at the moment. And in most Disney movies, the main character's mom dies. Like in Finding Nemo. Ooh! Do you want to watch Finding Nemo?"
Again, Dudley was the first to answer. "Isn't that that fish movie?"
Kat's eyes took on a strange gleam and her mouth fixed into a smile. She nodded. Petunia chimed in. "Oh, I know what you're talking about. I heard it was quite good."
"Yeah it is!" Kat still had that strange gleam. "It's like one of the best movies ever!"
"What's it about?" Vernon grunted, tearing his eyes away from the TV, which at the moment was showing a commercial for a cleaning product.
Kat leaned forward and took a deep breath, as if she was about to tell a great story. "Okay," she began, "it's about these fish, right. And this one fish, that's like a cripple, gets caught by this Australian dentist guy, and all the fish are trying to escape the fish tank because of the dentist's psycho niece. And there's this fish that can't remember anything and these turtles who are all like, surfers, because they're all like, 'whoa', and these sharks that don't eat fish; it's like freakin' Alcoholics Anonymous; it's hilarious. So funny."
Kat sat back and admired the reaction her rambling got. Vernon cleared his throat and said, "Well, um, I don't know, talking fish, that's not uh, very realistic, is it?"
"Yep, those crazy Disney people, they're always chalk-full of the not-real. That's why I love 'em."
"Well, go ahead and put it in, dear, the news is over," Petunia said. "Does anyone want popcorn?"
"Ooh me." Kat and Dudley answered simultaneously. Petunia went off to the kitchen. Harry had known better than to say he wanted popcorn. So far, the Dursleys had acted as if he wasn't in the room.
Petunia came back with three bowls of popcorn, and handed one each to Dudley and Kat. She then sat down on the sofa next to Vernon and shared the third bowl with him. Kat pushed play on the DVD player and held the bowl out to Harry, who eyed it warily. Kat looked at him and said. "I know you don't think I'm gonna eat this all by myself." Harry noticed that the sound of munching popcorn had stopped. He turned and the Dursleys were all staring at him. Kat hadn't noticed. "Uh," he started, "that's okay..."
"Come on, it's good for you." Kat looked so serious. "Look at all that butter and salt, just waiting to pump through your arteries." Then, in a low, husky voice Harry didn't think was possible for a girl, especially one as little as Kat, she said, "Eat up skinny." Harry stared at her wide-eyed, and she cracked up laughing. "Oh, the look on your face is priceless!" He started to smile too. "Oh, I guess you're not ready for the man voice."
"The man voice?" Harry asked.
"Yeah... ooh it's starting."
The movie had started, so they quieted down. Although Harry turned out to love Finding Nemo, he spent more time watching Kat then he did the movie. She had the most fantastic reaction to things. She would lean over and say, "oh, this part's hilarious" or "that is so creepy." And she seemed to find the littlest things funny, so she would laugh a lot. Her laugh was unique; it started out loud and short, and then she would just lower her head and laugh silently, then raise her head and sigh. She would repeat things that were funny and moved her hands a lot. She was a very interesting person to watch. Harry could tell she really loved movies.
Finding Nemo was incredible. Harry especially loved the seagulls that repeatedly shouted "MINE!" And he knew that "just keep swimming" was gonna be stuck in his head. He honestly hadn't thought he would be that entertained by a movie, as long as he had been in the wizarding world. He probably wouldn't have been at any other time. But seeing it with Kat made it interesting.
When the movie was over, everyone got up and stretched, and Vernon and Petunia went to bed. Harry was feeling restless, and didn't particularly want to go back up to his room. Kat took care of that.
"Do you guys want to watch another one?" Harry and Dudley both nodded, Dudley giving Harry a strange look.
"Okay, pick something." They sat down on the sofa, Kat in between Dudley and Harry, and looked through Kat's case.
"You have a lot of movies," Harry observed.
"Oh, these aren't all movies. Most of them are cds, actually. But I'm a huge fan of Disney. And Aqua Teen Hunger Force."
Harry didn't bother to ask what Aqua Teen Hunger Force was. One movie caught his eye. "What's The Nightmare Before Christmas about?"
Kat's eyes took on that gleam again. "Oh that's another one of the best movies ever. You'll notice how most of the best movies ever are Disney movies. Anyway, it's about this skeleton from Halloween world that finds out about Christmas world and tries to take over Christmas and totally screws it up. It's the most disturbing children's movie I've ever seen; I'm not even sure it's supposed to be a children's movie. I didn't know it was Disney until like, two years ago. But it's awesome. And I know all the words." She smiled, obviously very proud of her accomplishment. Dudley looked at it with as close to a thoughtful look as he could get. "It looks creepy."
"It is creepy," Kat explained. "But it's heartwarming and teaches good moral values." She gave a huge fake smile. "Plus Jack's hot. If I were a skeleton...well anyway, do you wanna watch it?" Harry nodded. Kat turned to Dudley. "What about you, Dudders?"
Dudley looked at her in alarm. Harry looked at her in shock. She had just called him "Dudders." Most people would get have gotten beaten up for that. But Dudley just nodded, and Kat got up and put the DVD in, with the boys staring at her from the sofa.
From the beginning, Harry completely agreed with Dudley that The Nightmare Before Christmas was creepy. Why any child would watch this movie was beyond him. Actually, he would have been freaked out to find a little kid whose room was decorated in Nightmare Before Christmas stuff.
But what really did it for Harry was Jack. Creepy or not, Harry was enjoying the movie for the first few minutes. Then the scarecrow on fire came. It jumped in the fountain, and out of the fountain, out of the white liquid and thin mist, came this tall, abnormally thin, white creature. It was all too familiar. It reminded Harry too much of another tall, abnormally thin, white creature. He stared at the screen, not really seeing it, but seeing him, and he could hear the high, cold, cruel laugh.
He felt someone squeeze his shoulder gently. He looked over and Kat was looking at him with concern. "Is it really that scary?" she asked. Harry realized that his fists were clenched and his whole body was rigid. He tried to relax and sighed. "Yeah. I mean, no, it's not scary. I was just—thinking of something."
Kat nodded and turned back to the movie. Harry mentally shook himself. What was he doing, letting a stupid movie get to him like that? Was he really that much of a spaz?
Despite his little freak out, Harry enjoyed The Nightmare Before Christmas almost as much as Finding Nemo. He turned out liking Jack Skellington, as scary and familiar as his appearance was. At least he didn't have red eyes, Harry mused, or there would have definitely been a problem.
Dudley stalked off to his room, and Kat sat back down on the floor and proceeded to put her DVDs in order. Harry looked at the clock. It was only 11:30 and he was tired.
"Well, I think I'm headed to bed." Harry helped Kat up to her feet. "Okay," she replied. "See you in the morning."
"Good night," he said.
"Good night."
WHOO! LONGEST CHAPTER YET! I'm excited! I hope you all liked it. Finding Nemo and The Nightmare Before Christmas really are two of my favorite movies, and I thought they were kind of universal so it wouldn't go over too many people's heads (Finding Nemo in Spanish is Buscando Nemo. How cool is that? ï
