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Chapter 2 – The Bitch, The Burger and The Bike
Harry
heaved his trunk as silently as he could down the stairs towards
the
door, cursing Jen for not staying to help. His trunk was
filled with all
his Hogwarts equipment as well as the clothes he
would need for the rest
of the holidays, the trunk was less than
light.
The
front door was unlocked, the handle appeared to have been burnt
somehow.
No doubt Jen had cast some kind of spell to allow herself
entry to the Dursley's
house. Dragging his trunk down the path,
hoping the Dursley's were in a
deep enough sleep to ignore the
sound of the case as he dragged it across
the gravel path, trying
to suppress the noise any way he could. His efforts
to keep the
silence were destroyed when Jen shouted from beyond the
front
gate,
"Potter! When I said we didn't have much time,
funnily enough, I meant it!
Get your ass over here!" Harry froze
as her shout, amplified by the silence
of the sleeping street rang
in the air. A light clicked on in the house
behind him and he had
no choice but to break into a run, dragging his trunk
behind him
as Jen continued to watch him, offering no assistance as she
watched
him struggle. She led him around the corner to the side of the
street,
away from view of number four. Harry panted behind her as
he tried to keep
up with her. Finally they rounded the corner and
she stopped, allowing him
to catch his breath.
"You run like
a girl," Jen muttered, fixing her emerald eyes on something
in
the darkness. Harry stopped panting and looked up, indignant,
"Well
you could have helped me?" he said, in disbelief. Jen turned and
glared
at him, fixing him with a piercing stare.
" Ah no!
Manual labour so does not agree with me." Harry groaned and
looked
around, surveying the area, his eyes coming to rest on a
motorbike that
Jen seemed to be drawing herself to.
"We're
riding that?" he asked, in somewhat amazed manner. The
motorbike
was black, blending in with the darkness just as Jen
had, though the word
"Ninja" emblazoned in small writing in an
almost luminous pink, clearly
visible against the dark
background.
"What were you expecting?" she asked, curiously,
"a broomstick?" she laughed,
"that is so five hundred years
ago," she patted the bike, fondly, "welcome
to the 21st
century, Potter." Harry watched her as she strapped a black
helmet
streaked with a flame design to her head and taking Harry's
trunk,
lifted it with ease onto the back of the bike where it
appeared to fix itself,
perfectly. Harry wanted to question this,
but considering she had come from
Dumbledore and she would
probably have another of her sarcastic quotes waiting
for him, he
thought better of it.
She sat in the seat and sliding forward to
make room for Harry, she handed
him a pink helmet. Harry glared at
her,
"Its pink," he said. She looked down at it for a
moment,
"Its not pink, it's punk," she said, forcing it onto
his head, "and seeing
as you run like a girl, this completes the
outfit."
Harry gave up trying to argue, convincing himself that
nobody would see
him or recognise him for that matter in a pink
helmet, riding on Jens motorbike.
He slid onto the seat, behind
her, trying to figure out where exactly he
should put his hands.
Without giving him nearly enough time, Jen revved
the bike and
they shot off, forcing Harry to throw his arms around her stomach
to
remain seated.
"Jen!" His protesting shout was lost upon the
air as they swerved around
corners at incredible speeds. They
passed the traffic with ease and part
of Harry's mind was
wondering if they were going to survive without getting
stopped by
the police. How the trunk managed to stay attached to the bike
was
a mystery to Harry.
They
weren't on the road for that long. The sight of headlights and
people
passing them at immeasurable speeds forced Harry to keep
his eyes tightly
shut, but now the bike slowed and skidded to a
halt. Harry felt the thud
of Jen's boot coming down off the
pedal to steady the bike.
"You can let go of me now," she
muttered, unable to move while Harry kept
his arms wrapped tightly
around her abdomen. Harry released her and steadied
himself as he
opened his eyes and looked around.
Far from the rows of houses
that made up Grimmauld Place, Harry was greeted
by the sight of a
luminous yellow sign, glowing through the darkness.
"What are we
doing here?" he asked, "McDonalds"? he read from the
door,
though he knew the sign from advertisements and the bags
Dudley brought
back with him whenever the Dursley's took him
out. Jen locked up the bike
and slipped her helmet off her head,
"Dumbledore told me to feed you," she
said, "and more
importantly I fancy a Big Mac." She watched Harry get off
the
bike. When he had turned to face her, she was still looking at
him,
one eyebrow raised.
"What?" he demanded, looking down
on himself to search for a problem.
"For one who made such a
fuss, you've taken to that helmet pretty well,"
Jen said,
keeping her laughter in check. Harry's hands instinctively shot
up
to remove the headgear while Jen just smiled and led him into the
restaurant.
Harry had never seen the interior of the restaurant
before. The Dursely's
never treated him to a meal, they let him
finish off Dudley's leftovers,
if there were any. Harry slipped
into a booth as he waited for Jen to return
with the food. There
were a few people scattered through the building, more
than Harry
would have expected for such a late hour. The staff watched him
and
the others with a hatred, no doubt they were hoping for an
exceptionally
quiet shift which meant as little work as possible.
Jen
slipped into the seat opposite Harry and swung her legs up onto
the
table, her black, leather boots thudding heavily on the
polished surface.
She started examining her nails and reaching
into her pocket she removed
a small, silver dagger, which to
Harry's shock was tinted with red smears.
The cleaner eyed her
suspiciously as she proceeded to pick bits of dirt
from beneath
her long, red-polished nails using the tip of the knife.
She
looked up at Harry who was gazing at her with a kind of subdued
horror.
She shrugged,
"What?" she demanded, swinging her
arm to the side, carelessly. Harry watched
as the knife scraped
against the wood of the booth wall and left a small
mark. Jen
looked back and seeing the damage, hastily stuffed the knife
back
into the pocket and gazed around the restaurant
absent-mindedly.
They sat in silence, broken by her over
exaggerated humming of a heavy metal
ballad. Her hair swinging
madly as she sang loudly. Harry watched her with
an air of
disbelief, as she continued to head-bang to her own music.
Eventually
Harry interrupted her song and spoke up,
"How old
are you?" he asked. She held up a finger indicating the one
minute
gesture,
"Every way the wind blows,bwoooooosh," she
finished her enactment of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and turned to
Harry, "Pardon?" she asked, having been to engrossed in the
imaginary music to hear him properly.
"Right," Harry muttered,
rolling his eyes, "Never mind, so, where...did?"
Harry
struggled to think of a question, "How long have you been
driving?"
he thought again, "It's a nice bike you've got,"
she smiled, appreciatively,
"Where did you get it?"
She
hesitated, "It's not like they'll miss it," she protested.
Harry's jaw
dropped, but before he could respond she added, "at
least they haven't missed
it...yet," she shrugged.
"Why
did Dumbledore send you to get me?" he asked, suddenly blurting
the
question that had been nagging at him since he had first read
the letter
from the Hogwarts headmaster, "Why didn't he send
someone else from the
Ord…?" Harry didn't get the chance to
finish his sentence as Jen had suddenly kicked him hard beneath the
table in a rather violent manner. "Yes," she
hissed, quietly but somewhat dangerously to Harry, "just tell
the
whole world who sent me, it's not as if it's some big secret, is
it?"
She sank back, a silence descending upon them once
again,
"I'm a part of it," she muttered, leaving enough
silence to confuse any
eavesdroppers. Harry looked up at her in
disbelief,
"You?" he spat, more bitterly than he had intended
and for a moment she
looked genuinely surprised at his reaction. A
wave of jealousy had hit Harry,
he wanted to be in the Order since
he had discovered the nature of it's
existence. Who better to
fight the Dark lord than the one who had defeated
him on more than
one occasion and yet this reckless girl had managed to
gain entry
over him. Harry thought for a moment,
"Why did the headmaster
send you?" he asked, choosing his words carefully
so they didn't
attract attention from whomever may be listening. Jen shrugged,
"He
trusts me," she smiled, she added with a sad afterthought,
somewhat
softer than her normal confident tone, "Family have to
trust each other."
"He's a relation?" Harry asked,
confused. Jen jerked out of her trancelike
state, not expecting
her thoughts to be heard.
" Oh great! The foods here", she
gestured happily. Jen munched on her Big Mac, savouring the taste of
each bite, where Harry, who had never tasted a proper McDonald's
meal before wolfed down what lay before him, ravenous and repressed.
She chuckled as she watched him eat and inevitably choke on a chip.
She offered him a sip of her coke, he supped it gratefully and smiled
up at her.
"Don't think I'm getting all nice on you, Potter," she warned him, catching the look of gratitude he gave her, "I don't think Dumbledore would be happy of I took you back as a corpse." Harry laughed, convinced she liked him more than she let on and carried on wolfing down the food. Jen glanced down at her watch and with a shriek she began taking larger bites out of her burger,
"We're running a bit late," she muttered, through a mouthful of meat. Stuffing the last of her burger into her mouth she tore Harry from the table and led him toward the motorbike. Harry protested in vain, trying desperately to return to his unfinished food. Jen had none of it and forcing him on the bike they shot off.
They weaved in and out of the traffic, causing Harry a great deal of discomfort and made him wish he hadn't eaten his food so quickly. Jen, however, seemed unaffected by the speeds they were reaching and paid no attention to Harry's gagging sounds.
Eventually the bike stopped and they slid off it, Harry immediately took the opportunity to throw up beside the bike. Jen looked down at him in disgust,
"Well, that was a waste of £3.29," she muttered. Harry apologised, making false promises to pay her back, but she dismissed them with a wave of her hand, "Just don't mess the helmet," she warned, sliding her own helmet off and leading Harry up the familiar drive of Grimmauld Place.
