Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter or Eyeshield 21 or any of the affiliated characters. What I do own is a kick ass Ash Ketchum hat, a freezer full of fudge pops, and a collection of gold medal winning maple syrup. None of which will appear in this story.
Warnings: OC's, some OOC, Het, Slash, AU, fluff, language
The Fourteenth Tackle
Harry walked through the arrivals gate and was greeted by the anxious face of Dean. He had called his friend as soon as he made it back to the hotel, needing to talk to someone about his disappointment. Dean listened, and apparently had communicated with his parents about the situation. By the time they finished talking; Mr. Thomas had booked Harry a return ticket home. Dean had promised to be there for him when he got off the plane and told him that he would be spending the rest of the break at his place. Harry tried to protest and say he would stay at the Leaky or something, but Dean wasn't having it.
"Harry, I'm so sorry darling," Evie said as soon as she saw him. It only took a moment for Harry to be in her arms as the woman tried to comfort him. Harry soaked in the feeling of a mothers hug before he got embarrassed.
"It's okay Mrs. Thomas. It was a lot to hope that he would be at the school over Christmas break anyways. I'm just glad I learned something new about him." He pulled away and greeted his friend. "Hey Dean, thanks for having me over."
Dean smiled and pulled him into a hug. "That's just what friends do. Come on, let's get going. It's Christmas Eve and I planned an awesome night for us to cheer you up."
"You don't have to do that," Harry objected. It was overwhelming how supportive and helpful Dean and his family were being. On Privet, nobody really helped each other out much. It might be because they were all able to do and buy the things they needed, but Harry was still a child in the eyes of the law. He couldn't do half the stuff he wanted, without the help of an adult. Before he would just accept that he wasn't going to get what he wanted but now... now the Thomas family were offering all the help they could give and it was just an intensely overwhelming situation.
"Harry, just let us take care of you," Dean said, completely shutting down any other protests that might have made their way out of Harry's mouth. And there were a few. Like the financial burden he would cause and how his presence may get in the way of their family situation.
"Fine but just this once!" Harry responded slowly. He couldn't become completely dependent on Dean's family. He needed to stand on his own too. But… maybe if he tried to stay out of the way as much as possible, he wouldn't be too much of bother and he could enjoy Christmas with a family that liked him for once.
"Excellent!" Dean grabbed Harry's bag before he started directing him towards the doors. "I thought you would put up more of a fight, but I like this. Less fighting means less wasted time. I even had mum buy a treacle tart earlier to bribe you with."
"Dean let the poor boy walk on his own!" Evie scolded her son as he was pulling Harry around. He didn't mind, really. In fact he liked that his friend was so enthusiastic about whatever they were doing. Harry just let Dean do what he liked, knowing that whatever was planned was going to be good.
"I still get the treacle tart though, right?"
o.O.o
Harry snuggled down in his blanket with a smile on his face. He had a great evening out with the Thomas family. They had hit up a few different Christmas markets, and then returned home where they engaged in their annual Christmas Eve tradition. The night before Christmas, Evie made everyone large cups of hot cocoa, they gathered around the tree, and Mr. Thomas would hand everyone a gift to open. It was pyjama's. Dean told him that every Christmas eve that got to open new pyjamas which they would wear to bed, while they waited for Santa to come and go. It was a really wonderful tradition. Harry had even been included. He got his own set of special Christmas pyjama's. He had been touched. Not just because he got a gift, but because he was included in such a special tradition.
"Your family is really amazing," Harry whispered as he rolled over.
Dean was still preparing for bed as he responded. "Yeah, Mum is really big on family stuff. Every holiday she has us do something special."
"That must be nice. I wonder if my parents would have done the same thing…" He didn't want to get all sad but thinking about his parents had been happening a lot since he boarded the plane to America. He wondered if they would have kept his brother even though he is a squib. Would they have certain traditions too? Would they have had more children?
Harry couldn't picture being part of a large family like Ron's or Dean's with his five sisters, but maybe another sibling so he could be the big brother… that would be nice. He would teach them everything he knew about quidditch. If it were a girl he would play dress up with her, or if she liked sports more he would make sure none of the other children looked down on her. He would help her prove to those bullies that girls were just as good as boys.
"I'm sure you could ask some of their old friends… they might know if the Potter family had things they did. Did your aunt do anything special for Christmas? She might have learned it from your grandparents," Dean pointed out.
Harry took a moment to think. "Aunt Petunia likes to show off during the Holidays. She has this really big figurine village that she puts out every year. Then she throws a large Christmas party for the neighbourhood where she spends most of the night bragging about it and directing everyone's attention towards it. It's the biggest one in our area. One time, there was this new couple that moved in and they had their own village. They put it on display in their front window so everyone could see it when they walked past. Aunt Petunia was furious. She had Uncle Vernon buy her more little houses, but the ones that had lights in them so they looked like a real mini village. It took me three days to get it just right and working. She even got these carol singers that would turn on when you walked past.
"It was really big and stuff so Uncle Vernon had a new table and shelving unit installed in the living room to hold it. It stretched from the entrance all the way around to the fire place. Anyways, I got it all set up and Aunt Petunia had a big tea party with all the ladies. She talked about how Uncle Vernon had surprised her with the new additions and how he was so caring. But while they were having tea, someone threw a rock at the couple's house and broke the window. It ruined their village. It was really sad. Aunt Petunia was telling Uncle Vernon that night that she heard the village had belonged to the woman's mother and she inherited it when her mother passed away."
Dean was giving him a weird look. "You put up the village? By yourself?"
He didn't see what the matter was. He was good at putting it up, plus he kind of enjoyed it. "Yeah, I was really good at it. I always had this image of a small English country town in winter in my head… I used the village to make it come alive."
"That sounds really nice. Did she do anything else?"
"Not really. They did the usual gifts in the morning, Christmas ham, and spirits in the evening. They really didn't do anything like hot cocoa and pyjamas," Harry explained.
Dean sat down on Harry's makeshift bed. It was just an extra mattress on and the floor but it was very comfortable. "My mum told me when I was younger that these moments are the times that we will always remember. One holiday, one tradition, and years to come you will associate so many happy memories with the simplest of things. She started making her own traditions after my father left. She didn't ever want to forget a single holiday with me and when she married my stepdad, she insisted that they keep the traditions alive."
Harry stared at his friend. He had known that Mr. Thomas wasn't his real dad, but Dean never touched on it. In their little band of friends, Seamus was the only one who had both parents. "What happened?" He wanted to know. Dean didn't seem messed up or overly sad about his dad, but that didn't mean he didn't want to talk about it.
Dean sent him a small smile. "Not much really. My mum says she met him the year before I was born. She was walking home from work one night when this man came running out of an alleyway. She thought he was going to attack her so she grabbed her purse with both hands and took a huge swing at his head." Dean took a moment to laugh, making Harry smile at the thought of Evie beating down unsavory men with her handbag.
"Well, the man went down and when she went to hit him again he started yelling about crazy women attacking him. She stopped after that and apologized when she learned he wasn't going to attack her. Well she offered to buy him a coffee. He apparently didn't want to go with her, saying he didn't trust crazy women. But mum wasn't having it. She told my father that he was going to accompany her to a diner and he was going to order coffee and she was going to pay. She then dragged him to one."
Harry giggled. Dragging people around seemed to be a family trait then. Mother and son both seemed to get their way with a little force, even if they projected calm and caring aura's.
"Well, she says that she left him there, happy she had apologized. But then, the next day he was standing outside that same alleyway, waiting for her. That time he invited her for coffee. At first she thought he was strange. He acted completely clueless about money and just threw a bunch of pounds at the waitress when he went to pay. Mum says he paid like triple that bill that night. She thought it was endearing though and they started dating. They moved in together after a few months and their first night together, he proposed to her at that diner. Five months later, I was born. Apparently he wanted to name me Gary, but mum wasn't having it. She thought Dean was better. She says they argued everyday about it until I was born and then my father told the nurse that I looked like a Dean more than a Gary.
"Mum says they were happy for a few months after I was born but then my father started getting anxious. He was getting home later and later, he was strict about my mum not talking to anyone new. She said he started losing weight… then one night he just left. He said he was going to buy milk and just never came home. Mum was devastated. For a whole year after he disappeared she refused to believe that he walked out on us. My grandparents helped the best they could. They watched after me most of the time. It was my third Christmas when mum came home and according to my grandmother, she looked like she woke up. She was smiling and had these reindeer pyjamas in her hands. She dressed me up, started taking pictures, and since then always bought me pyjamas.
"Grandmother says she was relieved that night. My mum had been depressed a long time. It was after a month that Gran found out the reason for the change. My stepdad had been doing some last minute shopping that Christmas Eve. They had run into each other and mum's first instinct was to grip her shopping bag and hit him. I guess she shocked herself out of her sadness or something. Instead of getting angry like my father did when he got hit, my stepdad just laughed. He said it was probably his punishment for waiting so long to buy a gift for his mother. They exchanged numbers and after that my mum just perked up. My Grandfather says that she was like a schoolgirl in love again. Anyways, they got married, obviously, and I was adopted by my new dad."
Harry had been enraptured the whole time. "That's a really sweet story… both of them."
Dean laughed. "Yeah, my mum said that one day I will run into someone and find my future wife. Who knows… personally I hope I'm not beat into love like my father and stepdad. I think a nice gentle transition is better. Start as friends and grow closer until one day we just look at each other and know it's love. That's what I hope for."
Harry couldn't help but stare at the soft smile on his friend's face. It was one thing to hear Seamus talk about dating, but to hear Dean talk about love and marriage in such a mature way already was a bit of a shock. They were only 13! Their bodies were still developing. Harry had found some hair in places it didn't grow before, and when he asked his friends about it they just laughed and said he was becoming a man. He was still becoming a man but Dean was already thinking like one. It was all so weird and strange and he didn't know how he felt about it.
He really needed to change the topic before he thought too deeply about this. It was making his head hurt like he was trying to write an essay for Potions.
"Do you anything else about your dad?" Harry asked. It was the first time Dean ever talked about his father and Harry felt like he still had more to say. Plus it got them away from anymore brain hurting conversations.
"Not much. He was tall, clearly got that from him. Mum says he was smart and a history buff. He came from old money, but he still had a job somewhere, he said it was to pay the bills. When I got my Hogwarts letter… she wondered if he had been a wizard. I got my magic from somewhere… and none of my sisters show any signs… we both wondered."
Harry sat up at those words. "A wizard? So you could be a half-blood? If that's true he might have left something for you. Do you know his name? We could go the library and see if they have any family books about him," Harry offered.
"Rory Buchanan." The taller boys voice was shaky and unsure as he spoke it, like it was the first time he was saying it out loud.
Harry nodded. "Then we start there. We will find out if your father was really a wizard or not." He was adamant to help his friend but just as he finished speaking, a strong sense of nervousness overtook him. "That is… if you… want to…" he mumbled. He was so ready to search high and low for Dean's father but what if the other boy didn't want to? What if he accepted his father was just a muggle that walked out on him and his mum? Harry felt awful if he was pressuring his friend into doing something he didn't want to do.
A large warm hand landed on his head and started ruffling his hair. "It's okay Harry. I do want to know. When my mum first mentioned it… I never really let that hope go. I just never knew where to start."
Emboldened by his friends words, Harry sat up. "Friends help each other. You are helping me with my brother so I will help you with your father. The library helped me so we will start there. If not, we'll write to Neville and see if there's another way to find our parentage or something, like a potion."
"That sounds great, but… it's almost midnight. Let's get some sleep yeah? We have a big day tomorrow," Dean pointed out. "We can see if Mum would let us go to the library after Christmas."
"Okay," he agreed. "He snuggled back down. He had another new mission. His first mission was to find his brother, his second was to learn all the sports, his third was to pass third year, and his fourth was to learn Japanese. But now, he had a fifth one! Help Dean find out more about his father.
He was getting pretty busy.
o.O.o
Christmas had been fun. Harry got a lot more gifts that he thought he would. Neville had sent him a quilt. It had different types of magical plants on it, but Harry loved it because it was warm and soft. Seamus had sent him a gift certificate for the Three Broomsticks. It was for four free butterbeers, somehow he felt like Seamus would also benefit from the gift. He got some candy from Ron and the girls from the team. Hermione sent him a study guide, Oliver sent a book of new plays he was thinking up, and the twins sent him a box of pranking supplies.
The two biggest surprises came from Dean's parents and an unknown person. He received a Firebolt! The best broom on the market that was way too expensive… and someone had bought it for him. Mr. Thomas said that it arrived last night after the boys went to bed, he didn't know who sent it, just some brown owls delivered it. It had Harry's name on it, and since it didn't seem harmful, he put it under the tree with the rest of the gifts. Harry loved it. Dean was jealous but happy, immediately talking about how Harry would never lose now.
The second surprise -after Harry managed to put the broom down and look away from it long enough to pay attention to something else- was a bunch of workbooks and a cassette tape on learning Japanese. Dean's parents had bought him the resources he needed in order to further his search for his brother. He would never be able to thank them enough. The cassette came with a player and while they knew he wouldn't be able to use it at Hogwarts, the still had the rest of break and the next Holidays to work on it. Until then, his workbooks would help him. Harry thanked them profusely until one of Dean's sisters got annoyed and demanded they eat breakfast.
o.O.o
They never managed to make it to the library. Evie had planned a series of fun family trips to entertain the children while on Holidays. Mr. Thomas had to go into work still, but he came when he could. They were so busy during the day, and Harry was so busy at night learning Japanese that it just didn't happen. He was just working on the basics but learning a new language was hard. The characters were different; the sounds were awkward in his mouth. He was so used to the 'A B C's" it was hard to adapt to writing symbols. He was getting used to it though. It took him a long time, but he was getting it.
Soon enough, New Years had passed and Evie was shoving both boys onto the train. "Have a good term boys," She said as she gave them both one last hug. "I'll miss you both so much."
"I'll see you at Easter," Dean reassured the woman.
Evie looked like she wanted to hug them one last time but she held herself back. "Okay, study hard. Remember to write, and Harry, if I find any more books that will help you I will send them your way."
"Thank you, Mrs. Thomas, I appreciate all the help you have given me," he responded, slightly embarrassed. He could see a few students pointing him out to their parents and he really just wanted to find a compartment and hide. He still wasn't used to all the attention, and he was sure that he would never get used to it.
"Think nothing of it sweetie." Evie fixed Dean's collar then stepped back to let them go. With a quick exchange of goodbyes, Harry and Dean finally got away to find seats.
It was a good holiday and they couldn't wait until Neville and Seamus arrived so they could swap stories. They sent a few owls back and forth but there was still so much to talk about. For one thing, Seamus had said his Mom had gotten him a great gift that all the boys could enjoy, and Neville said his gran had set him up for a marriage interview. These were things that they needed to share!
Neville arrived first and the poor boy look so flustered. He quickly entered the compartment and shut the door behind him before trying to hide in the corner.
"Everything okay, mate?" Dean asked. He and Harry were sitting side by side sharing a bag of gummies. They watched the show with confusion but waited until the chubby boy had settled before questioning it.
"Not really," Neville started. "You remember that marriage interview? Well the girl goes to Hogwarts and she's been following me since I got on the platform. It's awful!" Neville cried.
"It can't be that bad," Dean tried to placate him. "Who is it?"
Neville flushed with colour. He was about to speak when the door burst open. Neville squeaked and dove for the ground. "Oh Merlin just leave me alone!" He cried.
"What you on about?" Seamus asked as he waltzed in. "I just got here… I haven't done anything yet."
Dean and Harry laughed as Neville sat up looking very relieved.
"Neville is hiding from a girl," Harry spoke up.
"It seems he has a good story to tell," Dean added.
Seamus got a glint in his eye. "Oi! Is that why there's a poor lost girl wandering the halls? She looks so sad… maybe I should call her over," he teased.
"No, please no!" Neville cried! "You don't understand! She's insane! She's already planning the wedding!"
Poor Neville looked so distressed. Harry felt bad for him. "Why don't you explain it to us Neville," He started. "I'm sure if we know the whole truth we can help you somehow."
Neville crawled up onto the bench to sit beside Seamus. He looked so lost. "Well I told you guys that my gran wanted me to start marriage interviews right?" All three of them nodded. "Well I went to my first one, gran picked her because I didn't show an interest in anyone at school, and when we met she was awful! The entire time all she talked about was clothes and how her friends did this and did that. She talked about how great shopping in France was, and how lucky I am to be friends with The Great Harry Potter. She asked so many questions about Harry, and then started talking about how we being together meant that she could be closer to Harry.
"By the end she was already talking about how at our wedding we would have an eight tiered cake with butterflies and violets, and how Harry would be my best man. When I said I didn't think we would get married she got super scary! She started ranting and following me. When I left she started fire-calling my house! When I got to the platform today she was already there trying to convince me that she was better than I could hope for and that I should just agree to marry her!"
Dean tossed the boy a gummi. "It sounds like she is an obsessed Harry stalker, and was offended when you rejected her. She is probably used to getting whatever she wants and when you said you didn't see yourself marrying her, she took it as a challenge to change your mind, to not only soothe her pride but to get closer to Harry. It's all very creepy."
"That sounds awful Neville. Do you think there's a way to stop her?" Harry asked. He really wanted this girl stopped. Not just for his sake but for Poor Neville's as well.
Neville just shook his head. "I don't know. I don't understand girls."
Together they turned towards Seamus. They all had their areas of expertise, and in their group the one that knew most about girls was Seamus. Or at least they thought so. Dean had a lot of sisters he might know too… but Seamus seemed to understand the dating side of it better.
Seamus looked to be thinking about something. "Well… she's clearly nutters and you can't do anything about those kinds. They don't think straight like us. We think in a nice straight line. When we talk, we talk about one topic. Women talk about three things at once. The thing their saying, the thing their not saying, and the thing they're really saying. Their minds go off in a several different directions and no man can or will ever be able to follow that. It's only worse when they are barkers like this chick. Neville is doomed unless she gets a reason to give up. So what will make a girl give up on a guy?"
Harry didn't have a clue. The only experience he had with the opposite sex was Hermione, and the only thing she truly cared about was books. You don't break up with books. So he had no clue what to do.
"One of my sisters recently discovered boys- completely in love with a boy band. One of them was rumoured to be in a relationship with some actress, she flipped out. She was crying, ripping up posters, claiming her entire life was over because her future husband had found love in the arms of another woman."
"So she never met him and thought she was going to marry him?" Harry asked. That just sounded… off. Why would you want to marry someone you never met before? How could you be sure that they were a good person or someone you could live the rest of your life with?
Dean nodded. "Like Seamus said, you can't understand girls. Their brains are just too different from ours."
"Exactly!" Seamus cried. "See, Dean's sister gave up when she saw her man with another woman. So we need to get Neville a girlfriend! She'll have to give up then."
Neville rejoined the conversation at this point, looking completely terrified. "Me a girlfriend? But I can barely talk to girls… how will I get one to date me?"
"That was before I decided to help you. Trust me Nev, with my help we will have the girls begging to go out with you. First we need to work on your look. Girls like certain looks. Right now you are so shy you blend into the walls. We need to change it up a bit. Make you stand out!"
"This sounds like it will hurt," Neville whimpered.
"Nonsense." Seamus waved away the chubby boys fears. What followed was a long lecture from Seamus about how to present yourself to girls. There were some cheesy opening liners, a few charming comments, and then a detailed instruction on dates. For someone who has yet to go on a date, Seamus seemed to know a whole lot.
Neville looked completely terrified, but still listened aptly. Harry didn't say anything but occasionally Dean would chime in. They finished the bag of gummi's and when they pulled into Hogsmeade, Neville was frozen solid from sheer information overload.
As they stepped on to the platform, a loud voice cut through the general noise. "Neville Longbottom!" Together the four turned to see a girl with long dark hair tied up in a ponytail and fierce scowl on her face.
"Leanne Woodsley. The girl who is after you is Leanne?" Seamus whispered.
"Yeah…" Neville whimpered.
"Right, that rules out Hufflepuff. We will need to get you a girlfriend from Ravenclaw or Gryffindor then. It can't be the same house, just in case Leanne tries to bully your new gal. Right, at the feast tonight I'll scope out some potential girls for you Nev, until then, good luck." Neville didn't get much time to respond because then Leanne was on them and dragging Neville away from then. The girl was scary strong and determined it seemed. They all mourned for their friend, but none of them were willing to step in and help.
Everything was changing and so strange. How could so many new things happen over one Holiday? Neville was caught up n some weird girl drama, Dean was on the lookout for his father, and Harry had to learn Japanese. The only one in their group that didn't seem to change or have some overly major event happen to him was Seamus.
"So lads, wanted to tell you earlier but Neville took top spot. I got meself an older lass and she gave me my first blowjob," Seamus announced happily.
Maybe Harry spoke too soon. Christmas had been one very interesting holiday for everyone it seemed.
Fun Football Fact
In 1892 a touchdown was worth four points while a field goal was worth five points. In 1897 the TD increased to five points. In 1904 and '09 a field goal was reduced to four then three points respectively. Finally in 1912, the TD increased to 6 points.