A/N yay! I'm updated sooner than a month later! Who knows when I'll be posting the next chapter though! I wouldn't expect it before the end of next week and that's if we're lucky. I'm feeling very spent at the moment, very low on motivation and inspiration but I promise to post more ASAP! I promise to post by the end of the month.

Whoo.

Let's get on with it shall we? It's just getting interesting...

The Day Harry Potter Disappeared

Chapter Four:

Sand Creatures

After finishing their ice cream, Jo and Harry walked along the beach towards the condo. The breeze gently blew at their faces as the ebb of the waves brushed their toes. A seagull soared above them looking for a nice, stupid person to steal food from; while a heron edged slowly towards a fisherman's bait bucket hoping to steal a fish or two for his dinner.

As they walked along the beach, Harry and Jo came upon a little boy and girl. A few minutes passed as Harry stopped to watch a little girl and boy throw sand clods at each other. They laughed and screamed as they smashed handfuls of wet sand in each other's hair. Harry chuckled as the little girl hit the boy squarely in the chest with a large ball of sand. After while, the little boy and the little girl disappeared, and small, giggling sand creatures stood in their place. Each ran screaming and laughing into the waves to wash the sand off, only to race back to the beach to grab even more sand and continue the war.

Jo caught him smiling at the kids and she smiled, "I remember playing that game with my sister."

"Oh, so it's a game with rules, then?" said Harry, a smile slowly crept onto his face.

"Not really," Jo shrugged, "There are unwritten rules."

"Then how do you know what they are?" countered Harry.

"Everybody knows what they are..." she pushed him lightly when he laughed at her, "Don't throw sand in the face. Don't run crying to mommy if you lose. That sort of thing," Jo laughed, "A sand fight is the best kind of fight."

Harry smiled, "A snowball fight is pretty good, too."

"Yeah, but then you get all cold," she shivered, "I'd rather be sandy than cold."

Harry shrugged and watched the children again. They had started building a sandcastle. The little boy hurriedly packed sand into buckets and turned them over to make the walls and turrets. While he constructed the castle, the little girl collected pretty shells and seagull feathers from along the beach. The little boy finished and as he prepared to destroy his creation (as little boys tend to do) the little girl came back and stopped him.

"Nooooo! Micheal! We haven't finished!" she yelled at him as she dropped her handful of shells and feathers.

She proceeded to smooth the castle walls and add shells to it like windows. She placed the feathers on top of the towers like flags. Michael mumbled and grumbled as she completed her task, but after she finished they both stood back to admire their work. The shells glinted in the sunlight and the feathers waved in the breeze. It was a castle fit for any king crab and looked as if it could withstand any attack. However, a split second later the little kids jumped all over the castle and kicked it to rubble.

Harry did not know how long he watched those kids or why he watched them. He had seen children play before now. He had watched wizard children play on toy broomsticks and muggle children run at the play park. It had never affected him like this. Then the memory of his dream stirred in his mind.

Is this what it's like to have children...you're happy just watching them play, Harry shook himself mentally, What's gotten into me? He tore his gaze away from the two children as they started chucked sand at each other, again.

"Watching them makes me want to be a kid again," said Jo, she had observed him as he watched the children play, "or have kids of my own. But there's plenty of time for that."

Harry nodded, "Yeah, I guess. I'm an only child but I grew up with my cousin so I've never wanted a sibling. We don't get along, but I suppose it would be nice to have a sibling I could get along with."

"Well, the beach is always more fun with another person. Even when Cat and I didn't get along we always had fun at the beach. Because at the beach friends can be friends and enemies chuck sand at each other without getting into trouble with their mothers!" she threw up hands triumphantly and laughed.

They walked a few feet before Jo spoke again, "My mom loves the beach. Sometimes she gets up early just to watch the sun rise over the ocean. I've never shared her enthusiasm for it."

"Why?"

"She gets up a little too early for me."

"What time?"

"About 6:00 A.M."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Where have you been!" Catherine (red faced) exasperatedly asked Jo as they walked into the room, "I've been trying to help you out, but I got stuck and went to find you but you weren't in the kitchen. You weren't anywhere and you didn't leave a note so I could only guess where you went. Then I couldn't find James and I started to worry my head off! You know how im"

Jo threw up her hands, "Chill. James was hovering so I took him to get some ice cream. We walked home along the beach. Don't worry about the work. So what's the problem exactly?"

Harry hastily retreated to his room as Catherine sucked in her breath and exploded on a tirade about Jo being uncharacteristically irresponsible and how she needed to know where they were and on and on and on.

Catherine acts like she's Jo's mother. Must be an older sister thing, Harry thought.

"How could you forget to tell me?" Catherine screeched.

Jo put her hands on Catherine's shoulders and gripped her lightly, "Catherine. Breathe. You need to calm down. We can't talk about this now, not here with him. I give you my full permission to yell and scream at me later."

Catherine breathed slowly as her face began to return to its normal color. Jo removed her hands only after Catherine began to breathe normally.

"Cat, we took a walk and got ice cream. He's only been here a day. You're just being paranoid. The plan will work. We will get him when this is over. We just have to smile and nod for now. He hasn't realized it yet, but by Monday he'll be on to us or at least suspicious. He's not stupid."

Catherine nodded, "This whole situation bothers me. It's dangerous for him to be here. Why can't we just imprison him and be over with it?"

"We need tangible evidence. Our superiors won't believe any of this unless we get rock solid proof that's he's behind it all."

"I hate kissing up to him."

"Yeah, I know but think about it. It's almost all over. The last phase has begun."

Harry sat down at the little desk in his room just as the yelling ceased.

At least, they stopped fighting, he thought, But why did Catherine need to know where they had gone?

This question preoccupied his mind as he took a piece of parchment out and a quill to write a letter to Ron and Hermione. It seemed odd that she would even care where they were for a couple of hours. They were adults, after all, with jobs and lives. He did not need a baby-sitter or a mother to keep track of him and keep him out of trouble.

Jo certainly did not need one. Nothing seemed to ruffle her. She was in control of herself and the situation at all times. She had said that she did not know how Catherine bounced around energetically all day, but Harry wondered how Jo remained calm and collected all the time. She had a quiet charm about her.

Catherine's charm was different. It was a friendly, in-your-face sweetness that won everyone over immediately. They were polar opposites in almost every way. They only seemed to share their blue eyes and brown hair.

Maybe she's jealous of the time I spent with Jo, the thought struck him suddenly, there's definitely a rivalry between them, but then he remembered the advice Fred and George gave him before he left.

"Now, you're going to be over there with all those girl Yanks and they'll probably be so different and nice you'll think every one of them wants you. It's not true, mate, their women are just like our women."

"They're absolutely insane like our women. Just when you think you've got them" George interrupted.

"they'll turn your world upside down," Fred finished.

Harry had laughed at him and he had asked Fred how he knew. George had answered for him, "We've been there, prat. We're going international with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. We met with our Yank contacts for over two weeks last year."

"So don't get yourself a big head, mate," Fred continued, "or they'll all talk and you'll never get one to even look at you."

Maybe I am getting a big head, or maybe, he thought, Fred and George are mad.

He looked down at the parchment and quill in his hands, and remembered that he needed to write a letter. He paused for a moment thinking about what to say and then he began to write:

Dear Ron and Hermione,

You could have told me you gave me that passport! I didn't realize I had it until I noticed no one was fussing over me. It was weird. Thank you.

Anyway, the flight over here wasn't so bad. You don't notice the bus jumping when you're in the air. The ocean is incredible! And BIG, really big. Florida is bloody humid but really sunny. My Yank contacts are two half-sisters, Catherine and Jo. They're sort of strange, but they're quite friendly and their fighting makes it seem more like home.

I ate a hotdog today. You'd like it Ron and they've got an extensive book collection in their den. You'd like it Hermione and you were right about bringing Hedwig. I don't think she would like this heat. I can barely stand it as it is. I'll have to borrow one of their owls or whatever they use here to send this letter.

I start work Monday and Catherine warned me to enjoy my last day of freedom because I'd be working for her in the morning. Sometimes her jokes scare me. I hope it was a joke. I'm on a mandatory, paid vacation. They can't put me to really, really hard work, can they? You can stop laughing now Ron.

I'll write again when I have something more interesting to say than this. Oh, and tell George and Fred they're wrong. They aren't the same. Fred and George will understand what I mean.

He lowered his quill to sign his name but stopped. He should probably sign his false name. He was no one special here, but something nagging at his brain made him sign James. He stopped and looked at his signature. It felt extremely odd to use his father's name. He wondered why they had chosen to give him it. He shook his head as he pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

He sealed the letter and stood up. He cautiously and slowly walked out of his room and down the hall in case Jo and Catherine were still arguing. He procrastinated as long as possible to postpone the moment when he would have to face Catherine in an extremely bad mood. He noticed the pictures on the wall and stopped to look at them.

Some of the photographs were wizard pictures. A family portrait of Jo, Catherine, and their parents hung at his eye level. Their father had their brown hair flecked with gray and he also shared their blue eyes. He stood straight with a big goofy grin on his face. He looked as if he had never really grown up because every once in awhile he put bunny ears behind his wife's head. She scowled at him occasionally, but she had a playful sparkle in her eye much like Catherine's mischievous manner.

Catherine must have picked up her mischievous-ness from her mother, Harry thought.

Their mother had wavy hair too but it was blond. Her skin was very tan but also very freckled. She had a wide smile that lit up her face and she hit her husband every once in awhile and laughed. Jo and Catherine stood side by side. They looked over at each other and then looked at their parents and sniggered. They seemed to have a secret understanding they did not wish to explain to the world.

He saw a few pictures of younger versions of Catherine and Jo. Almost all of them were at the beach but one showed the two little girls sitting at the table as they swung their feet from the chairs. Another pictured them in bathing suits splashing around at a crowded pool, and there were a couple of pictures of them at the beach waving frantically at him. In one beach scene, Jo and Catherine had an arm around each other and were laughing. The photograph reminded him of the painting in his room.

Muggle pictures hung amongst the moving ones. Most of them were black and white, and many depicted the beach dunes and grasses or the waves caught in a spectacular crash. In a few, Jo or Catherine posed serenely on the beach as they looked away from the camera. In most of these pictures, they were smiling at the ocean or something far off in the distance.

In one particular picture in the corner, Jo sat staring at the setting sun amongst a field of flowers. However, she was not smiling. She sat in a simple sundress among the happy flowers looking at the beautiful sun with a book held loosely in her hand on the ground, but her face looked empty and a single tear rolled down her cheek. The photographer must have caught Jo unaware of her surroundings (a mean feat) because it was the only sad picture in the bunch. Nevertheless, it was the best picture.

Harry finished looking at the pictures and moved down the hall to the den where Catherine and Jo were bending down opposite each other pouring over the sea of papers surrounding them on the floor. He knocked lightly on the wall after neither of them noticed him. They both looked up at the same time and almost knocked heads.

"Yes, James? Need somethin'?" said Catherine recovering first.

He held up his sealed letter, "Can I borrow an owl? I have a letter to send."

Catherine look puzzled for a moment but recovered, "Oh, we don't use owls. Not many around here. So we use herons but Bob is on a job right now so you'll have to use Jo's."

Harry frowned, "Can he make it across the Atlantic?"

Jo looked incredulously at him, "She's no ordinary heron."

She stood up and walked into the kitchen to open the back down. She whistled a little tune Harry did not recognize, and a tall, blue heron walked gracefully into the house. Harry stared amazed. He had never seen one before up close and the size of the bird surprised him.

"James this is Roxy. Roxy this is James," the bird tilted her head as Jo pointed at him and she gazed intently at him.

He felt as if the bird looked straight through him like Dumblesdore's eyes. Catherine laughed at him as he gingerly tied his letter to the long leg of the bird and stood up slowly. Roxy stared at him for a minute before she turned around and exited the house. Harry watched through the window as the bird spread its large wings and leapt into the air.

Catherine smiled evilly at him and sarcastically said, "I think she likes you."

Jo laughed and pushed Catherine roughly, "She does that to everyone when she first meets them. She'll get used to you eventually," Jo started to gather the papers into stacks.

Catherine cackled silently behind Jo's back and whispered to Harry, "But, she might not. She's an annoyingly lofty bird. Don't insult her. She'll try to poke your eye out and I should know," she pointed to a small white scar on her arm, "nasty beak on that bird."

Harry laughed sheepishly, "I know a hippogriff like Roxy."

"Well," said Jo as she walked up to them with a stack of teetering papers in her arms, "I'm starved so I'll put these away and start dinner. Could you two set the table?"

They both nodded and watched Jo exit the room slowly under the weight of the paper.

"They throw all that work on one person?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, but only on Jo-Jo," Catherine sighed and scratched an itch on her back, "she doesn't complain so they throw whatever they feel like on her. I've tried to reason with her but she always says 'someone's got to do it,'" she shrugged, "Well, let's go get that table set. I am hungry!"

Catherine fixed Harry with a beady eye, "So," she said over the clatter of pots and pans from the kitchen as they set the table in the dining room, "Did you guys have fun while I was frantically worrying about you?"

Harry looked guiltily at his naked ring finger as he passed her a plate, "Err...no. It was terrible."

She laughed, "You don't have to lie. I'm only messing with you. But seriously, did you have fun? The ice cream is good isn't it?"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, "Yeah, it was excellent. We watched some kids at the beach for a bit on the walk back to the condo. They were throwing sand at each other."

Catherine laughed again, "Little kids have it made. Sure school can be a pain sometimes but those two and a half months off during summer spent at the beach were some of the best times of my childhood."

Harry nodded but did not have time to respond because Jo walked in at just that moment carrying a large pan.

"I hope you like chicken because there's what we're having," Jessica said jovially. They had much more than chicken. The table was hidden beneath large platters of mashed potatoes, a basket of rolls, and a small salad. After they finished eating, Harry helped wash the dishes and lumbered off to bed.

"Better get lots of sleep tonight Jamesie! Tomorrow you gotta go to work for me!" Catherine yelled at him down the hall as they each walked to their separate rooms.

Jo walked past him and rolled her eyes at her sister, "She loves rubbing it in my face that she's technically our superior. Like that matters anyway." She slid her hand lightly across on his back, as if she did not think she could hug him after only knowing him for a day, as she passed and said good night.

Harry smiled and met her eyes, "G'night Joey. See you in the morning." She swatted him playfully and smiled, which was what he was after in the first place.

"You can't call me that yet. I've only known you for a day," she smirked, "I'm not even sure if I like you yet. You insulted my bird." She turned on her heel laughing silently at his taken aback expression.

Okay, Harry thought, maybe Fred and George had a point. Women are bonkers period.

A/N

whhoo! longest chapter yet. yeah I know. I say that everytime but it is! chapter 2 is longer than chapter 1. chapter 3 is longer than chapter 2. chapter 4 is longer than chapter 3. and so on and so forth (hopefully)

anyway, until next time. READ AND REVIEW PLEASE! but no flames.