Caught in the Rain
"Dantes!" I yelled out the door. "Come inside you big ball of fur, it's starting to rain."
My dog came bounding over the hill and across the grass towards me. I couldn't help but smile. Dantes leaped through the door and went to the foot of my favourite chair. He was panting and I sat down beside him on the floor and absentmindedly pet him.
'Such a good friend.' I thought to myself. 'Friends seem to be hard to come by these days.' I sighed and Dantes looked up at me with his big brown eyes, his tail wagging.
"Good boy." I pet him a little more vigorously. His tail stopped wagging and his ears went alert. I stopped and listened. Someone knocked on the door.
Dantes barked and I slowly stood up. On my way to the door I put her wand in my pocket and my gun in the shoulder harness under my sweater. "Can never be too careful" I muttered to myself as I reached the door. I undid the lock and opened the door. A man stood there. He was tall and the hood from his jacket hid his face. The rain had started to get worse.
"Bonjour…je suis…uh…comment tu dis…strandide"
"I'm English." I said half smiling at his horrible attempt at French. He laughed, relieved.
"Miss, I'm sorry to come into your home like this but my car's stalled just up the road." I raised an eyebrow at him.
"You need a mechanic?"
"Just a phone. With these clouds my mobile doesn't have any reception." I stepped back and let him walk in. He was tall…although to me most people are tall but I could tell even through the thick raincoat that he had a fairly slim build. He took off his shoes and then his coat. Dantes started to growl. "Quite a guard dog you have there isn't he?" The man turned back to me and I almost stopped breathing.
It was none other than Harry Potter himself. The best friend I hadn't seen in years. After the war was over he had gone to explore the world. I always secretly thought he was just a bit disappointed that he didn't have any evil to fight anymore.
"Miss?" he asked, his bright green eyes staring at me without glasses in the way. "Are you alright?" I swallowed loudly.
"Me, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be alright."
"You…stopped breathing for a minute." Damn Harry, always paying attention to things like that. I mean honestly.
"The phone is in the kitchen. Just to your right." He stood there, still looking at me. Not moving at all. "Sorry, you wanted the phone right? It's just in the kitchen…" He shook his head and laughed.
"I'm sorry miss but…well when I was trying to find a phone, my glasses fell off my face and I couldn't find them in the mud." That explanation made the not recognizing me bit make a whole lot more sense. I was suddenly much more at ease with him.
"I'm sorry, I'll lead the way." I heard thunder crash overhead and cringed. "We're sort of in the middle of nowhere though and sometimes when it rains the phone lines…" He picked up the phone and there was no sound. "Sometimes they go dead." I bit my lip and smiled. "Sorry."
"Not your fault at all. I guess I'll be on my way though. Thank you so much for trying to help me out." He started making his way to the door again. I grabbed him by the arm.
"You're not going out into that storm. Just…stay here tonight." Harry's eyes lit up and I could tell he was thankful for the offer."
"Well if I'm to be a guest I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Harry Potter."
"If it's not the boy-who-lived standing here in my sodding kitchen." I said laughing to myself. Harry blushed deep crimson. "I heard you'd locked yourself in a cave in Thailand or something." He looked down at his feet.
"Or something…"I suddenly regretted that comment. It was a bit harsh, all things considering. "Well, out with it then, what's your name then?"
"I'm He…Helen…Helen Garret." I'm not quite sure what possessed me to lie to him so blatantly. Perhaps it was the fact that I had felt so betrayed at him leaving, maybe I just wasn't ready to see him again, or maybe I wanted to see him too badly.
"Nice to meet you Helen." He stuck out his hand and a shook it quickly. "What are the odds that the only house for miles around in the French countryside when I manage to get myself stranded is owned by and English witch?"
"Your middle name must be Felix." He smiled at me.
"Very clever…Felix meaning the lucky one. Someone is well versed in their Latin. What else do you speak?"
"English-obviously, French-also quite obvious, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek and a little, little being the operative word, Russian."
"Impressive."
"I like languages." I smiled. This was going to be like meeting Harry all over again. I wondered to myself how long it would take him to realize who I was. It was 8pm. I gave him 18 hours before I planned on telling him myself.
Disclaimer – I own nothing.