"What do you mean you're going to America for a year?" Mrs. Weasley said. At the same time Mr. Weasley said,
"Are you really? So you'll be able to tell me how an airplane stays up, oh this is wonderful, think of all the different things American Muggles might have that we don't even know about. Isn't this wonderful news Molly?" All the Weasleys and Harry shook their heads fondly at Mr. Weasley.
"Now is not the time Arthur. My babies are leaving me to go far away. Farther than Hogwarts and they're taking my grandbabies with them."
"Oh come on mum, it's only for a year, and we'll write and call loads, it'll be like we were never gone, and we'll send everyone loads of stuff." Ron said trying to comfort his mother. Finally his mother calmed down, and everyone went back to their normal business.
The week went by rather quickly for Mrs. Weasley's taste.
"Now have you got everything? Passports, suitcases, clothes, carry-ons, things for Teddy to do, things for James to do?" Mrs. Weasley went on with her list as she walked the six of them to security.
"Yes, we've got everything. We'll miss you, but I promise we'll be home before you know it, it's only a year." Harry said comfortingly. Mrs. Weasley hugged him goodbye then moved on to say goodbye to everyone else. Harry shook everyone's hand and was hugged by all his sister in laws. He promised to tell Mr. Weasley all about American Muggles, he promised all of Ginny's brothers that she would be well looked after, and he told George that he would keep a look out for potential clients so he could grow his business to an international level. After everyone said goodbye it was time for them to get on the plane. They all hugged one last time and boarded. Ron, Ginny, and Teddy seemed pretty impressed with the plane. Harry let Teddy have a window seat and Ginny have the aisle since she didn't want to sit near the window. They put James in the middle seat.
"Let me know if you want to switch sometime during the flight, I'll be right up front with Ron and Hermione." Ginny nodded then helped Teddy with his seat belt and buckled James' seat belt then buckled her own.
"Harry! James needs a bottle! Teddy come here, I'm going to put these in your ears, don't take them out until I tell you to. Understand? It's really important okay?" Teddy nodded then leaned forward so Hermione could put the earplanes in his ears.
"Hermione? What are those?" Ginny asked cautiously.
"They're called Earplanes, the plane is pressurized and when we take off, the sudden change in altitude and pressure causes peoples ears to pop, these slow down the process to stop it from hurting, that's why James needs a bottle, swallowing helps keep them from popping as well. I got some for you and Ron too, would you like a pair?" Hermione said, then she reached in her bag and pulled out a box and handed it to Ginny and Harry handed her a bottle for James. Then Hermione gave Ron his box and told him to put those in his ears before takeoff and to leave them in until she said to. Then the pilot spoke over the P.A.
"Thank you for flying with British Airways, we will be departing from LHR and arrive in BWI the flight should be approximately eight hours and twenty minutes, so fasten your seat belts and enjoy the flight."
"Eight hours did he say eight hours? Blimey Harry that's a long time. Are you sure this thing is safe?" Ron said. Harry chuckled, and whispered to Hermione.
"I hope we hit turbulence just to see his reaction." Hermione had to bite her hand to keep from laughing.
"What's turbulence Harry?"
"I'll tell you if we hit some Ron, don't worry until then, just look out the window and watch as London gets smaller and smaller." Ron nodded and looked out the window.
"Wow Uncle Harry look at all the toy cars and houses, they all look like ants!" Teddy exclaimed brightly. The eight hours passed without any problem, when Teddy got bored he took a nap, James hardly cried at all, Ron just watched the clouds for the most part.
"This is so much better than second year. Remember that Harry?" Ron looked at Harry, suddenly the plane dropped a little. "What was that?" Ron said in a panic.
"Relax Ron; we've just started the descent, that's all. It means we'll be landing soon." The pilot came on the P.A. again.
"Ladies and gentleman, we will most likely be experiencing some turbulence as we make our final descent into the Baltimore Washington area if you would please remain seated and fasten your seatbelts. Harry and Hermione looked over at Ron and smirked. Harry then turned around.
"Ready for a little bit of fun Teddy? The plane might turn into a rollercoaster ride if we get lucky." Teddy smiled hugely. Just then the plane lurched up and down a few times. Ron held on to the arm rests as if his life depended on it. The flight attendant walked over.
"Is he alright?" She asked Harry.
"First time flyer, he's just a bit excitable." She smiled understandingly and then walked back to her seat. Finally they landed.
"Welcome to Baltimore Washington International Airport, enjoy your stay in the U.S. and thank you for flying with British Airways, hope to see you again." The pilot said.
"Alright, that's us, now we are looking for a thing called baggage claim and a man named Alex Wolfe, I think he'll have a sign with him." Harry said as they got off the plane. Harry was holding James' car seat and Ginny was holding Teddy's hand. Hermione was trying to comfort Ron, who didn't enjoy the turbulence much.
"Teddy, you have to keep your hair a normal color and you can't change it while we're surrounded by people. Okay?"
"Okay, Aunt Ginny." Teddy said. Harry smiled; Teddy's hair was black today.
"Hey Uncle Harry, look there's signs for baggage claim. I bet Mr. Alex Wolfe will meet us there." Teddy said pointing at a sign over head. They followed the signs and the other people from their flight and walked through customs with no problem. There in a big space just past security was a man with a little boy and they both had a sign. The little boys sign was colored on in crayon and had "Daddy's friends from England" written on it. The man's sign was typed and professional looking and said "Potter and Weasley family and Teddy Lupin".
"Look Uncle Harry, look he's got a sign and it's got your name and my name on it. Look there's somebody about my age. Can we go see if it's Mr. Alex Wolfe?" Teddy said pointing towards the man. Harry looked skeptical; living through a war will do that to you.
"How about you stay here and I'll go check. How does that sound." Harry said. Teddy nodded.
"Sounds good, go check." Teddy said then stood behind him and gave a little shove as if trying to get Harry to move faster. Harry walked over to the man. He could see that the man was about his age, and had black hair and ice blue eyes, as did the little boy; they were obviously father and son. The little boy saw Harry coming and looked up at his father and pulled on his sleeve. The man bent down and the boy whispered in his ear. The man smiled and nodded and whispered something to the little boy who then smiled.
"Mr. Potter, I presume. Alex Wolfe at your service." The man said sticking out his hand.
"You presume correctly. It's a pleasure to meet you." Harry said quietly, then he glanced over his shoulder and gave his thumbs up to everyone. They started walking over.
"I'm Jacob Alexander Wolfe. But you can call me Jake, everyone else does, except when I'm in trouble then mommy and daddy call me mister." The little boy said all this while bouncing on his heels he then stuck out his hand for Harry to shake. Alex turned a bit red from embarrassment.
"I'm so sorry about him; my wife had to watch her nieces today and didn't get a chance to pick him up from school, which meant I had to. He comes home very energetic, usually he torments the dog outside for an hour or he'll hang out with which ever cousin is at our house but he insisted on coming with me to show everyone the sign he made with his best friend Tony Jr."
"Don't worry about it, my godson's seven and does the same stuff, and my brother-in-law George is older than me and he still acts like he's two. Ah speaking of Teddy. This is Teddy my godson, my wife Ginny, my son James, my brother-in-law Ron, and my sister-in-law Hermione. Everyone this is Alex Wolfe, and his son Jake." Alex shook hands with everyone as did Jake. Jake insisted on walking with Teddy, apparently they got along pretty well.
"You guys sound funny; does everyone in England sound like that?" Jake asked Teddy. Alex was about to say something when Harry stopped him.
"No, some people come from a different area so they sound different. My Uncle Harry's friend Seamus sounds funny 'cause he's from Ireland. You sound funny too; does everyone in America sound like that?"
"No, my Uncle Tony, he's from New York, and he sounds funny. My mommy says he's in the mob whatever that is, but she's just joking." Teddy and Jake kept talking as they walked.
"It's just new for both of them; they have absolutely no clue that what they're saying could be embarrassing." Harry whispered to Alex.
"So Al, where are we going?" Ron asked.
"Off to baggage claim to get your stuff, then we have to find the car, then we have to go to HQ and let Kingsley know that you got here all right, then we'll head home."
"HQ?" Ron asked.
"Headquarters. Don't worry Ron; we'll make sure you speak fluent American by the time you leave. We'll even have you acting American."
"I thought Americans spoke English. Do you mean to tell me that they have a different language?" Ron asked in disbelief.
"No Ron, they just say some things differently here, just like how they have different sports and different music. I don't think they listen to much Celestina Warbeck." Hermione told him, then added to Alex, "At least I don't think so. Am I wrong?"
"Nah you're right. At our house we listen to Muggle music, they got some pretty good stuff too. I'm a fan of Maroon 5 personally; they've got some cool songs. My wife likes lots of different things, but neither of us really like country music, I mean we've got our favorites but as a whole all their songs are the same. Well here we are now what do your bags look like?" Alex said. They had just arrived at baggage claim and were grabbing spots near the carousal.
"They look like trunks, with our initials on them. What else would they look like?" Ron asked confused.
"How did you fit a trunk on a plane? Is it like a car trunk or an elephant trunk?" Jake asked.
"Suitcase Jake, he's talking about a suitcase. Remember the talk we had on the way here? About how sometimes they use different words then we do?" Alex said as he grabbed Ron's trunk.
"Oh right." Jake said. Alex and Harry managed to get Ron's trunk off the carousal and put it on a cart.
"Ah there's Hermione's." They grabbed Hermione's next, followed by Ginny's, Teddy's, James' and finally Harry's.
"Wow you guys got lucky, all your luggage made it. Alright, time to go to HQ. Hey Jake, did you remember where I parked?"
"Yeah, we walk across the sky walk to the top level and then we're by the doors." Alex smiled at the boy and they started walking. They came to an elevator. Jake let Teddy push the button. They walked through the skywalk and through the doors that led to the top level of the parking garage. Alex started to load their trunks in the back of a white van.
"I had to borrow my sister-in-law's van just because it's the biggest car we have, but it's already got car seats for the kids and a base for James' seat room for the suitcases, and all of us. We've actually got a bit of a long ride before we get to D.C. so we'll stop by my house and drop off the trunks and we'll grab a quick bite to eat on our way, but if Sterling asks, your plane was delayed. Alright?" Everyone nodded. "Great. Alright Jake get in your seat and show Teddy how to buckle." Alex said, then he took James from Harry and snapped his car seat into one of the bases on the seats. He then unhooked the other one and put it in the back with the trunks. Then he looked back at the adults.
"So." He said smiling. "Who's calling shotgun?"
"What is calling shotgun?" Ginny asked.
"Ah you guys don't know, all right, shotgun is the passenger's seat. Calling shotgun means you claim the passenger's seat."
"Oh well then I call shotgun." Ron said, than went over to left side of the car.
"Ron hang on, in America the passenger is on the right side." Ron blushed and then walked over to the other side of the car. Alex got in the driver's seat. The radio blasted quite loud, everyone jumped Alex grabbed the volume knob and turned it almost all the way down.
"I don't remember it being that loud when I got out of the car, radio must be faulty, old car like this." Alex muttered to himself.
"No daddy, we were rocking out to Maroon 5 remember? Then I think you accidently hit the volume knob remember?"
"What's Maroon 5?" Teddy asked Jake.
"Daddy's favorite band, he says the song 'she will be loved' reminds him of mommy. He has every word memorized. Don't you daddy?" Alex was turning red again.
"What's with you getting so red, we don't even know what Maroon 5 is or how the song goes." Ron said. Alex's face lit up in realization.
"Oh! That's right you don't know. Hang on, I know I've got it in here with me." Alex started glancing down by the radio.
"It's already in the CD player daddy." Jake said shaking his head. "Maybe mommy's right, you forget lots of stuff. You'd forget your own head wouldn't you?"
"Thank you Jake. And no I wouldn't 'cause my head's attached to me." Alex looked over to see Ron confused. "American thing, the phrase is 'you'd forget your own head if it wasn't attached to you', my wife is quite fond of saying that our morning ritual consist of me kissing the twins and Jake goodbye, kissing her goodbye, walking out the door, getting to the car, turning around and catching the keys just as she throws them at me. Now let me introduce you to Maroon 5." The song finished just as they pulled down a long drive way. The little boy wasn't lying; his dad did know every word to the song. Harry took out a notebook and wrote down the name of the song and band, as well as the phrase he learned earlier.
"Quick question about something you said earlier, what is rocking out to Maroon 5 mean?" Ron asked as Harry wrote in his notebook.
"What are you doing Harry?" Alex said noticing Harry writing.
"Making a list of American things for Arthur. He's my Muggle-loving father-in-law."
"Aw I know all about him, didn't he enchant a car which you stole along with Ron, but it was Ron's idea. Anyway to answer your question Ron, rocking out is hard to explain, but it consists of listening to your favorite music as loud as you can and screaming the words as loud as you can along with the music. It's a lot more fun than it sounds. Oh and before you can ask Harry, I have my ways of knowing things. I'm sure you'll find out eventually." Alex said smiling. Then he turned off the car, and got out. "We're here by the way."
Well this is the next chapter, I'm not sure if I like where this story's going, it's pretty slow moving but the characters are important for my other story Time Less Traveled, so. Let me know if I get any British details wrong and I'll fix them.