The fresh air on the walk back did him some good. Harry found himself able to put his dark thoughts to a temporary rest and enjoy the scenery as he walked back to his apartment. By the time he made it to the front door, the sun was well past its peak, starting its descent.
Harry had an hour to kill till he dropped by Peter's again, so he spent that time sorting out all of the stuff he bought.
He left the groceries on the kitchen counters, still under the effect of the stasis charm.
The clothes were then magically cleaned & levitated into the now full wardrobe. Harry felt quite satisfied at the large and varied selection of clothes that he now owned. He'd lived off of Dudley's old, oversized clothes for so long that even when he had the chance, he never went out of his way to buy more than a shirt or a pair of pants here and there. It felt freeing to have a wardrobe full of his own clothes that he was responsible for picking out.
Afterwards, he spent time arranging his new furniture. Small knick knacks were scattered around the apartment - lamps placed on the nightstands beside his bed; a miniature owl sculpture on the dresser; flower pots haphazardly arranged on living room surfaces; and more.
The place looked a lot more lived in when he was done. He just needed to remember to go to the florist sometime soon. Those empty vases he bought on a whim were crying out to be filled, and while he could conjure a few types of flowers, he thought it might be nice to have a more varied selection.
Stopping in his tracks, Harry scoffed to himself. 'Merlin. I'm standing here thinking about flowers of all things.'
He shook his head.
'I cannot believe this is what my life is now.'
Harry appreciated how domestic the past two days had been, but he still felt a little on edge. Not knowing why he was in this world was a source of stress that refused to dissipate. At times he could unwind for a short while and enjoy the normality of it all, but it wouldn't be long before the questions returned - gnawing at him like an itch he couldn't reach or buzzing around like a particularly persistent fly.
In all honesty, Harry felt disinclined to search for any hidden wizards in this world. All signs pointed to them either hiding or not existing, and the fact that he'd somehow been able to assume the identity of a decidedly muggle version of himself was a strong indicator that this world might be one without any magic.
That said, he was unsure how the superheroes played into it.
If parallel universes were real and this was one… could it be that instead of wizards and magical creatures, this world was populated by superhumans instead?
The thought seemed absurd, but a small voice in his head that sounded decidedly like Hermione seemed to be saying yes.
Harry tabled that thought for a later time; it was almost time to meet up with Peter. He wondered if he should take anything with him. Looking at the bags of groceries he'd left sitting on the counter, Harry decided that an offering of food might have to wait for another time.
With a shrug, he walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind him, and knocked on the Parkers' door.
"Hey, you made it," Peter smiled, opening the door to let his guest in.
"I did," Harry replied with a smirk. "It was a long, hard road, but I managed to survive the journey."
Peter laughed and welcomed Harry into the living room, where he already had the next Lord of the Rings movie paused at the start. Harry took a seat on a couch, facing Peter.
"So how was your day?" Peter asked, wondering what the other guy had been up to in the hours since their morning meeting.
Harry beamed and he sat up straighter. "I went shopping!" he declared.
"Oh nice. What'd you get?" Peter asked. Harry's grin was infectious and he found himself smiling in kind.
"Uh clothes, furniture, decorations, food," Harry listed off his purchases one by one, counting with his fingers. "I got just about everything I need, and it was a fair bit given that I moved with barely anything."
"That's great!" Peter replied, glad to see his new neighbour was settling in. "Surprised you managed to fit all that in one day though," he noted, tilting his head slightly.
"Oh, uh, well…I suppose I'm just a bit of a shopping wizard." Harry snickered. Peter wasn't sure what the joke was but he laughed along anyway. "Anyhow, how was your day?"
"It was fine. I didn't get up to much," Peter replied. "I just did some chores for Aunt May, worked on some homework for my summer courses, and uhh… did some stuff for my internship."
Now, Peter didn't lie exactly. He just neglected to mention that the internship in question involved him being a superhero and swinging through the streets of New York. He had a pretty productive day. He stopped two muggings, helped the police with a car chase, and stopped an armed bank robbery. All in a day's work for New York's friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.
"What subjects do you study, by the way?" Harry asked curiously.
"Oh uh, the usual stuff. Junior year's still like a month away, but uh, I take AP classes, and I'm on the decathlon team, cause I'm apparently a masochist," Peter half joked. The AP classes weren't too hard, but the workload was annoying sometimes. Unfortunately he couldn't tell his teachers 'Oh, sorry. Can't do the homework, I'm busy being that Spider-Man guy.'
"I have no clue what either of those things are," Harry admitted, which was weird. He knew that Harry had a weird half-Amish background but he still went to high school, right? He should probably ask at some point. "It does sound like you do a lot though. How do you cope?"
"I like keeping busy I guess, but it can be hard. May was pretty great at helping me balance everything out. If it wasn't for her keeping me, like, on track… my GPA would have dropped and I would have had to quit the decathlon team for sure…" Peter trailed off, flashing back to the mess with Liz's dad last year. He continued moments later, speaking more to himself than Harry, "I owe her a lot."
Words couldn't describe how much Peter loved his aunt. She was there for him through everything. After uncle Ben died, she was the glue that held their broken little family together. She lost her husband - the love of her life, but somehow she kept it together for Peter's sake. He couldn't even begin to understand how she managed it. She was just so strong.
"You two are lucky to have each other," Harry told Peter, a wistful smile on his face.
Peter glanced at Harry for a moment - his eyes searching, wondering - then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we are."
The mood had gotten pretty serious so Peter sighed and decided to move things along.
He looked at the TV to his right, and clapped his hands to catch Harry's attention. "Anyway," Peter said, as he slid off the couch. "There's a movie that's waiting to be seen, and we won't get through it being all serious."
He grabbed the remote and a cushion with him, and shuffled forward to sit himself in front of the TV.
"Let's get to it then," Harry said, joining him on the floor.
Peter pointed the remote at the DVD player and pressed play.
"Get ready for three hours of greatness," he told Harry. "Hell, we can even watch the extended cut and make it three and half hours. You down?"
"Uhh, sure."
Peter grinned. Time for three and a half hours of Tolkien greatness.
The two movies were very good, Harry had to admit as the credits of the second movie rolled. It was quite impressive, and he was astounded at the lengths muggle cinematography and - as Peter called it - CGI technology was able to reach.
He wished he could show some scenes to people back at Hogwarts. He could probably convince them it was real footage.
It was night time, and both boys were hungry, so Peter suggested going out to get Chinese food from a local place. They left the apartment building and walked a few blocks to the west, ending up at this small, almost hidden, shoebox of a restaurant. Harry would never have even noticed this hole in the wall place, what with the broken, illegible sign hanging above, if not for Peter pointing right at it.
Entering the place, they were instantly blasted with the smell of the food. Harry was instantly in love with the myriad aromas lingering heavy in the air; the ginger, the caramelised sugars, and the unfamiliar seasonings stood out most of all.
"Merlin," he told Peter, feeling slightly dazed, "I hope the food tastes half as good as it smells."
"It tastes even better than it smells, don't you worry man," Peter replied with a chuckle, amused at Harry's reaction. "Have you ever had Chinese food before?"
Harry shook his head. "I had some sort of Asian inspired beef dish from hotel room service last week, but it wasn't particularly great. None of the food was to be honest, I was rather disappointed."
Though perhaps he was spoiled by the food at Hogwarts. Those house elves definitely knew how to cook.
"Well you're in for a treat," Peter said.
The small restaurant only had five small tables for people to dine in, three of which were occupied. The pair of teenagers walked up to the counter, where an Asian man was on the phone, scribbling on a piece of paper and barking orders at the kitchen.
"Hsin! My man!" Peter greeted the evidently familiar man when he was done jotting down the customers order.
"Peter!" the man - Hsin, returned the greeting enthusiastically. "Can't stay away for long, ah? Where's that aunt of yours? And who's this guy?"
"Well when you keep making food this good, how's a growing boy supposed to stay away?" Peter replied with a teasing grin. "May's having a girls day out with her friends, and this is Harry." Peter pointed at him.. "He just moved in next door and it's his first time trying proper Chinese food. So you better not disappoint, eh?"
"Disappoint? Never! You see the state of this dump? If we don't got good food, we got nothin'. Lucky for you," Hsin winked at Peter, then turned his attention to Harry, who was feeling increasingly out of place. "And you. You for real? Ya never had Chinese food?"
Harry nodded.
"Well damn!"
Hsin turned towards the open window into the kitchen.
"Hey guys, we got a chǔnǚ over here! Next order's gotta be perfect!" he called out to the kitchen staff. He then turned back to the two teenagers and asked, "So, what'll ya be having?"
Harry had no idea what a 'cho nye' was, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. As for the food, he had no clue what anything was and no real preferences so he let Peter pick out a selection of food; Harry insisted on paying, though.
"What? No! It was my idea to come here. Plus, I ordered an extra dish for May. I can't let you pay for us!" Peter protested.
Harry wasn't having it. "Nah mate, you've already had me over for dinner and for movies. This is the least I could do. I insist."
They squabbled over the issue for a little while longer until Hsin cleared his throat, getting their attention.
"This one's on the house, boys," he told them. They both started protesting but he cut them off. "Order's already in and unless you can force open the register, you ain't paying for shit. Consider it a bonus for being such a loyal customer, Petey boy. Plus," he gestured at Harry, "it's not every day we get a chǔnǚ."
"What's a cho nye?" Harry asked warily, trying not to butcher the pronunciation. He had a strong feeling he wouldn't like the answer, but was unable to resist asking this time.
"A virgin!" a cook called out from behind Hsin, having been passing by the window connecting the front and the kitchen.
Harry was mortified. He felt his face heat up as blood rushed to his cheeks and they turned pink. He couldn't believe this man just publicly called him a virgin - no matter how true - in any sense of the word.
In the corner of his eye he could tell Peter was trying very hard not to laugh at him. He might have appreciated the effort if it had actually worked. But Peter only managed to hold himself back for all of four seconds before he burst out laughing, the absolute prick.
Then to make it worse, when he got his laughter under control Peter reached over and patted Harry on the back. "Well, I guess it's time to, uh, pop your cherry," the insufferable twat teased.
Merlin help him. Harry felt his cheeks get even hotter, even as he cursed Peter in his head. The tosser was lucky Harry wasn't keen on revealing his powers, or he'd hit him with one hell of a stinging hex. Unfortunately that wasn't an option. So, trying to regain his dignity, Harry shook his head and swatted Peter's hand away.
"This food better be amazing or I will end you, Parker," he told the other boy with a semi-playful glare.
They ended up taking a seat at a free table by the door, and chatted aimlessly while waiting for their food.
"So you never went to a mall before?" Peter asked. He had inquired about Harry's day during the course of the conversation.
"No, never. The place I lived in wasn't big enough to need a mall."
"Wow, how small was this place?"
"Quite small," Harry replied, thinking fondly of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. "It was more of a large village than a town."
"Huh, I can't imagine what that's like. I've always lived here so I, uh, I guess I'm used to how crowded and big everything is." Peter then tilted his head ever so slightly and leaned in closer to Harry. "How are you dealing with everything?" he asked softly. "I know you said you've been enjoying the city, but it's still new, and like, New York's a big place, so uh... if you need any help getting around - or with, um, anything else… I'll do it. I mean, I'd be happy to help with whatever."
Harry could only blink in surprise as he tried to wrap his mind around the incredibly earnest offer of assistance. In those passing seconds Peter retreated and started nervously playing with the locks of hair at the back of his head. His wide brown eyes and sheepish look made for an endearingly vulnerable picture.
"Thank you Peter, I appreciate the offer. Really," Harry told him with a small smile. "I'm still getting used to this place, but it's good to know I have someone to count on."
And Harry truly meant that.
Something about Peter was so very honest and genuine that Harry couldn't help but respond to it. He found himself starting to trust his new neighbour a little. And trust was a rarity in his life, given how often he had been betrayed, the environment he grew up in, and how fickle most wizards had proven themselves to be. When Harry lost the few people in his world he truly loved and cared for, there was a strong part of him that thought he would never be able to trust and believe in another person again. It was early days yet, but it would be good to be proven wrong, he thought.
A minute or two passed in silence afterwards. Harry didn't really have anything to say, and for whatever reason Peter was quiet also.
Not content to leave the conversation to wither and die, Harry spoke up. "Hmm, well there is one thing you could help me with," he said, catching Peter's attention. "I do want to get my hands on a television and some of those devices that go with it, like the one you have."
"Oh! Yeah, sure, I can help you out!" Peter agreed, with no small amount of eagerness. "Oh man, how much do you want to spend on this stuff? There's so many choices! There's the-"
Peter went on to list names, letters and numbers that made Harry's head spin. The young wizard had to interrupt him and remind Peter that none of what he said had any meaning to someone like him.
"Sorry, I'm kind of an… uh, enthusiast when it comes to this stuff," Peter apologised.
"Don't worry about it," Harry reassured him. "I'm feeling even better about asking you now. You obviously know all about these matters. Besides, maybe you can teach me whenever we go shopping."
The pair ended up making plans to go shopping in two days - on Tuesday, around noon. It was still summer break, so Peter didn't have a rigid schedule but he did have some online courses and internship work that got in the way.
Small talk was made for another few minutes, until Hsin walked over with two brown paper bags filled with boxes of Chinese food. They thanked him profusely as he handed them the takeout, and after saying their goodbyes, they were on their way back to their apartment building.
They ended up settling on the Parker apartment, eating on the living room coffee table and watching a comedy special on a tv channel called Netflix. Peter had to get Harry some cutlery, seeing as he had no clue how to use chopsticks.
"This is sooo good," Harry breathed out, shovelling chow mein into his mouth with a fork.
Peter grinned, delighted by Harry's enjoyment of this new type of food.
"You haven't even tried the fried dumplings or the Mongolian beef yet. Here," he grabbed the box of dumplings and held it out for Harry. "Try a piece."
Harry's eyes lit up as he speared a dumpling and brought it to his mouth. "Mmmmm," he moaned loudly as he bit into it and tasted the wonderful flavours of the chicken, ginger, and herbs.
When Harry had swallowed, he looked back at Peter and saw that his lips were parted and his cheeks had taken on a rosy pink colour. He wondered if Peter had accidentally bitten into a chilli pepper.
He put down his fork and grabbed a bottle of water, offering it to Peter, but the other boy shook his head and looked away, saying he was fine. Harry shrugged and picked his fork back up, eating the rest of the dumpling.
"I have to say," Harry said after swallowing his mouthful, "I miss home somewhat, but with food like this available, I don't think I ever want to go back."
Harry was joking of course.
Sort of.
[AN]: And that's a wrap on chapter 5. Hope you enjoyed it! The plot starts to move a little from here on out, but I definitely plan to include a good amount of character interaction throughout the fic.
As always, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Looking forward to hearing what you thought about this one. Cheers!