If I said I owned Harry Potter I would be lying. Sadly.

Soon after the kids had left, Petunia came back.

"That was quick, Mrs. Dursley." I said. I was in the kitchen, washing the dishes.

"Yes, well, you can stop doing the dishes. It's about time you leave." she said, plopping the car keys down on the counter.

I dried my hands and turned around. Petunia was sitting on a chair, removing her peach high heels.

"I haven't found a place to stay yet. Could I possibly stay with you until I do?" I asked, grabbing the car keys and her high heels.

"Absolutely not. You have had your time, and God knows what you have been doing then." she said.

Taking care of your idiotic lump of a child. I thought, and put away her shoes and keys.

"Today is your last day in this house, Angel, start packing." Petunia said, and she got up and went out to her garden.

When she was out of visual range I stuck my tongue out at her. Frowning, I ran up to my room. I closed the door gently behind me as I looked over at my small room. I went over to my bed and got my suitcase. It was a normal Muggle suitcase. I'd never understood how other wizards had made the insides of their Muggle suitcases bigger. I was still working on that, but I wasn't good at it. I could only make it bigger by an inch or two. After that, it would explode. So I figured if I wanted to practice, I'd better do it when I'm not dependant on it.

After I had packed all my clothes and my magical books and my wand into my small suitcase, I made the bed and clleaned up the room. I glanced at the bottom of my-well, it wasn't mine exactly anymore-bed, and I crouched down. I pulled on the loose floorboard and took out the food I had very recently stashed in there. It was another sandwich and a green apple. I turned the apple in my hand to see if it hadn't gone bad. Luckily, it was still lively green and there wasn't a spoiled spot in sight. I shoved the apple in my jacket pocket and got the sandwich. I stood up and walked to the door, then turned back and looked at my room once more. This was the last night I'd sleep in this room. No, I didn't even have that much time. I was expected out by tonight. I turned back, but my hand hesitated on the doorknob. I glanced back, and a white whip caught my eye. How could I have missed that? I went over to the paper to throw it away, but found the content of the paper intriguing. A phone number. Mallory's phone number. She had said anything...No, that was absurd. Roommates? Not going to happen. I shook my head and opened the door. It doesn't hurt to try, though...

I went down the stairs and peered out into the garden, where Petunia was still tending to her flowers, and occasionally glancing over the fence to spy on her neighbours. She wouldn't notice if I slipped a little sandwich into Harry's cupboard. I opened the door to the cramped storage space, and climbed inside. Checking around to see where to hide the food, I found a shelf where there were small figures of soldiers and horses lined up. I took a few out of place and placed the sandwich and apple there. I put the soldiers back. If Harry came in here, he would see it, but if Vernon or Petunia looked in from the outside, they wouldn't have been able to see it.

As I was about to climb out, something dangled down. At first I thought it was the cord for the light, but then I saw eight legs sprout out and I suffered a mini heart attack. It was a spider. I am terrified of spiders. I slowly ducked under it. How could Harry possibly sleep here? They could crawl on his face and get into his hair and- no, I was over reacting. Harry was brave enough to live with a few spiders, I reassured myself. I sure wasn't.

I closed the door slowly and went out to the garden, waving merrily at Mrs. Figg, the strange old cat lady, who was crossing the street with a plastic bag in hand. She was a bit strange, but smiled back and waved. Mrs. Dursley did not seem to like this very much, and hissed at me to get on my way. She gave a long line of chores, which didn't take a small amount of time to complete, let me tell you. By the time I was done, Harry and Dudley were home and it was almost time for dinner. Harry was sitting outside in the garden, doing Dudley's and his homework. I glanced at the telephone. Mallory's phone number popped in my head. If she said no, I always had a place at my ancestral home, right? Right. I hesitantly picked up the receiver and dialed the number. It rang once. Twice. Thrice.

I was just about to hang up when Mallory answered.

"Mallory Knox, how may I help you? Sorry, I was sort of away from the phone. Who is this?" she shot away, again intriguing me by her formality.

"Hi, Mallory? It's Angel." I could hear a smile in her voice as she answered.

"Angel! Hey! What do you need?" I chewed my bottom lip.

"A place to stay."

"Oh. Not what I was expecting. But sure! I have plenty of space in my flat!"

I breathed a silent breath of relief and happiness.

"Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"I have one condition, though."

"Yeah?"

"No magic."

I went silent. So did she.

"I'm sorry?" I said, not sure if I'd heard her right.

"Yeah. No magic. It's… it's complicated." She went serious for a second there, but soon became her cheerful self again.

"But anyways, when are you coming over?"

"Tonight."

I wasn't even given dinner. As I got my suitcase and went to the door, Harry came, tears in his eyes. He hugged me and said, "I don't want you to go."

I ruffled his hair and said, "Hey, I'll still be here, just not at night. Don't worry, Harry. I'll never leave you."

Harry nodded and let go. He turned around, and I saw the back of his neck. It was beet red. My breath was knocked out of me.

"Harry." I said his name with such force, I startled even myself. He jumped and turned around, eyes wide, "What's wrong?"

I looked at him with my best piercing stare and said, "What did Dudley do? And don't lie to me."

Harry's gaze dropped to the ground. He was silent. I bent down and gently grabbed his wrists and repeated myself, "What did Dudley do?"

Harry mumbled something incoherently.

"What?" I asked, and Harry looked at me and said, "Itching powder."

I blinked and let go of Harry's wrists. I looked into the dining area, where Dudley was eating like a pig, stuffing chicken and bread and juice into his big mouth. I glared at him, and let me just say, if I hadn't had my magic under control, I might have another meeting with the Minister for Magic.

I looked back at Harry and said, "Do you know where he got said powder?"

Harry's eyes widened as he understood what I was going to do. He shook his head frantically. I said, "Fine. Don't tell me. But I will make him pay, Harry. I will."

I kissed him on the top of his head and turned and went outside. A car was waiting for me, in which Mallory was sitting in the front seat. I climbed inside the car on the other side after stuffing my suitcase in the trunk of the car, and Mallory. "What?" I asked and she said, "Guess we're roomies now, eh? Well, I guess not roomies, but more like flatmates."

"I guess." I said, shrugging my shoulders. She nudged my arm and said, "The first thing we need to do is make you more accustomed to Muggles."

I shrugged again. She rolled her eyes and said, "The first thing, we need to make you more fun. Let's go see a movie."

"A movie?"

She nodded and started the car.

"But first, we should probably go to the flat first."

I nodded and away we went.

The flat was like a mini number 4 Privet Drive, with a little living room, a little kitchen, a little bathroom, and two little bedrooms. Mallory showed me to my room, and said, "Get comfy. I'll be back in a few once you make yourself at home." She closed the door, and I sat on the bed, similarly to how how I had entered my last new room. I set my suitcase down and got off the bed to put all my clothes away. Mallory came back and I thanked her again, she waved it away, and led me back to the mass of metal.

"What do you want to see?"

"Erm, I don't know what there is to see."

"A Disney movie?" I shrugged. "Great. The Little Mermaid is out. I've really been waiting to see it, perfect." And so we went to go see The Little Mermaid. I must admit, it was pretty good. A red head mermaid who wanted to be a human, kind of like a certain dusty-haired witch who wanted to be a Muggle. Except the dusty-haired witch didn't have an array of sea creatures to sing to her. While it seemed she hated magic, she was not beyond shunning Hogwarts all together. We had a fiery debate about putting the different characters into Hogwarts houses. We put Ariel into Slytherin, because of her ambitions to be human, and her willingness to do anything about it. That sounded very Slytherin-ish to us. The café Mallory took me to next was the very acute of Muggle life. Small, cozy, yet enormously busy. We had tea, and laughed and talked, and couldn't wait to do it again.

That was a life I could live with. I could almost see the appeal Mallory saw in this life. But without magic? A person manually picked, dried, and packaged that tea. So much work had been put into making the tables clean. It seemed like an awful waste of time. The reward was higher, I supposed. You got a different amount of satisfaction, I learned in the following weeks, from cleaning the dishes (of your own free will) than just waving a wand or having a house elf do it for you. It really made you appreciate everything, like making your bed. It really looked nice, maybe not as perfect as with magic, but the work was the important. I could see the same pride go into a work of art, like playing an instrument. I had never played one myself, but I had been to see an orchestra when I was very young, and the instruments had no player, just several wizards and witches orchestrating with their wands. I supposed it would be much more influential if real people had been playing. All that work, gone into making a masterpiece.

All of this would have been just enough crazy thoughts bouncing around my head if it hadn't been for an entrance sense of paranoia. I could swear I saw Death Eater mask, or a swish of a black cloak, or the crack of a spell. I started carrying my wand with me everywhere, in a pocket, down my boot, in a shirt sleeve. I feared about sharing this with Mallory, because I knew how she felt about magic, but it became to real, and it must have started showing, because she asked. "Something seems to have you a bit… different lately."

"Well… no, it's to crazy." I shook my head and sat down across the table. After Mrs. Dursley started paying me real money, I contributed to the rent, and some food. Tonight we had a wonderful meal of Chinese takeout.

"Hey. Share, will you?"

"I think I'm seeing things, but I'm sure it's just that stuff you put in my tea last week." I smiled at my joke.

Mallory laughed. "I would never. But in all seriousness, something is bothering you, and I will find out what it is."

"I think Death Eaters are following me."

"Oh?"

"I know, it sounds crazy. But can you please look after Harry at school? I just worry…"

"I'll keep an eye on him."
"Thanks." And the conversation was over. I didn't bring it up again, and neither did she. I went to the Dursleys every day after three o'clock, and left before seven, then spend the whole day on weekends. I still snuck Harry food, and I still met McGonagall weekly, although I didn't bring up my concern.

One Saturday morning, I left for number four Privet Drive and Mrs. Dursley's was waiting from me at the front steps. "I've just gotten news of my cousins wedding. It will be on Tuesday, and I'll need you to take Dudley and Harry out of school. Harry will spend the day at Mrs. Figgs. Understood?" I nodded, and she turned her back. Why did I have to bend to this woman's will? It just wasn't right. With every fiber of my being, I wanted to put a jelly-legs jinx on the entire family, then take Harry to the Caribbean, or somewhere nice like that. But that wouldn't happen just yet. I had windows to clean, and a spoiled brat to watch.

Sunday was pay day, Monday was boredom day, and Tuesday was the wedding. I pulled on my favorite green and silver sweater, and walked to the school, it wasn't too far from Mallory's flat, and once again, felt as though I was being followed. But the streets were too crowded and too many people heading in the same direction as I to see if this was just me being paranoid, or real fear.

When I got to the school, a placid, unsmiling man with strange clothes opened the door for me. He let me go first to the front desk, and the woman with blonde hair and heavy make up looked up at me and said, in a deadpan, "How can I help you?"

"Erm, I'd like to take Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter out of school for a wedding please."

"Do you have any identification?"

"Erm, no, but if you bring them out I'm sure they would recognize me."

"Alright. I'll call their teachers." I sat down in one of the chairs, and the man walked up. And whispered something to the receptionist. She nodded, and picked up the receiver, calling for Harry Potter, then Dudley Dursley. I got the strangest feeling from the strange man and blonde receptionist. They seemed to know each other, and not in a good way. The placid man sat across from me and picked up a parenting magazine.

A few minutes later, Mallory came in with Harry and Dudley. She smiled at me, but her smile faded as the unsmiling man and receptionist stood. My hand went to my coat pocket, where I had stashed my wand. The man reached down into his boot and pulled out a thin stick. A wand. More importantly, his sleeve rode up on his arm, and I saw the pictures of the dark mark. Death Eaters. I saw a wand slide out of her sleeve and come into her hand. My own wand entered my own hand, and I stopped thinking. I didn't think of Harry, or Dudley, or Mallory, or the random teacher who stumbled upon us.

I knew in an instant they were here for Harry. They lifted their arms, pointing wands at Harry. An overwhelming sense of protection came over me. I would do anything to protect this boy, and was just about to do that anything, when a blast of purple light came from behind me. It slammed into the woman, who crumpled into a heap, and I whipped behind me to see where the purple light had come from.

Mallory stood in front of Harry, wand raised, head held high. I didn't even know she still had her wand, much less kept it with her. I was shocked. She turned to me and said, "Take him and go," Dudley's jaw was on the floor, and Harry looked like a deer stuck in the headlights. The teacher that had come up to the front office was looking similarly shocked, and the man seemed to break out of his own shock and once again pointed his wand at Harry.

I followed Mallory's instructions, picking up Harry and running. "What's going on!" Harry yelled as a spell ricochet off the well.

"It's hard to explain, but we need to get into this classroom." I ushered him into the empty classroom, and said, "Sit here." I pointed to the corner, but he wasn't having it.

"Why? Tell me."

"Like I said, it's hard to explain. And also not my place to say." I was past the point of hiding magic, so I pointed my wand at the door and locked it with a click. "Can you trust me?"

"Yes, but-"

"But what? You saw what happened. It doesn't make sense yet, but unless you want to die, I would trust me. Got it?" He nodded, and we heard more spells come from the office, and a shriek that could only have been the muggle teacher.

A bang came from the other side of the door. The lock broke. I took a deep breath and gripped my wand, standing directly in front of Harry. The man pushed open the door, cuts down his face and arms, and lifted his own arm to match my own. From behind, I saw Mallory stagger, point her wand, we all took a breath simultaneously, and I saw three separate shots of light from each of our wands. Mallory and my own blue light hit the wizards, and the wizard's red spell hit me, pain flooded every nerve ending in my body, and that was all I could remember.