Maybe it's All For the Best

Chapter 15: Arrival

"It's not gonna happen Roe" I shook my head as we stood at the door of Harry's apartment.

"Shut up and let me explain, ok?" She sighed and knocked once. She didn't wait for the door to open and pushed herself inside. "Harry? Hello? Harry?" She called out.

"Hey Roe, I'll be out in a minute" Harry called back from somewhere in the flat. I looked around.

The living room was pained in shades of cream, very simple and elegant. The whole place looked expensive and had a gorgeous view of London.

"Come on, we'll go put the kettle on" Roe nodded toward the kitchen. The rest of the flat was gorgeous but it was obvious a man lived there. I smiled at the row of photos in the hallway. There were so many of the Order, of us and our friends at Hogwarts, him and Teddy and the treasured one of his parents. I picked that one up. I always loved that picture of Lily and James. She was such a gorgeous woman I always wished I could have met her in real life. They looked so good as a couple, so happy and carefree.

I used to hope Harry and I were that couple, that gorgeous couple that everyone adores. My stomach clenched when I noticed a picture tucked behind it. I pulled it free and saw it was a picture of me. In the background I could see snowy mountains and a frosty Black Lake. My hair was being blown about by light winds and snow was falling around me, getting caught in my hair. The me in the picture seemed to be stuck on a loop, blowing a kiss out of the photograph at the photographer. I flipped it over and drew a breath.

My Girl. Written in Harry's hand across the back. Underneath was scrawled. I'm so sorry.

I felt tears in my eyes as I read the words.

"Riley?" I heard Harry say my name. I quickly shoved the picture back behind the Lily and James one in the frame and put it down. "Sorry, I thought Roe was here... You two sound so alike" He rubbed the back of his head.

"No, she's here too..." I nodded. "She's in the kitchen... I just got distracted by pictures" I smiled. He walked over to me and my heart rate accelerated. "I love this one of me and Roe" I picked up the first one I saw. It was a picture of me and Roe in Quidditch Jersey's... only she was wearing Draco's Slytherin one and I was wearing Harry's Gryffindor one. It was cute. Sisters in different houses. We were pulling faces at whoever took the picture.

"I'll get you a copy if you want" He smiled.

"Yes. Please..." I nodded, turning to look at him. He was standing so close to me, so close I could have reached up and tried to fix his hair. "Harry I'm so sorry about slapping you... It wasn't my place and..."

"It's fine Riley. I should know when to keep my mouth shut" he waved his hand to quieten me. "So what did I do to get both Vanderbilt sisters on my tail?" He chuckled and pushed past me into the kitchen. I stood in the hall, staring after him.

"Riley has a small problem" Roe started, setting three cups down on the kitchen table. I swallowed my beating heart and sat down next to her.

"A problem?" Harry asked, his voice tainted with concern. I looked at my mug.

"Nate's coming to London tonight" I said with a sigh.

"Oh... that's nice" He smiled uncertainly. "Is there a dinner or something going happening?"

I glanced at Roe and she cleared her throat.

"Well here's the thing Harry... Nate thinks that I'm with you and doesn't know Riley's a witch so could we possibly please use your apartment to have a family dinner tonight?" Roe bit her lip and pled with Harry.

Harry's eyebrows shot to his hairline. "Wait, what? We're dating? How did that happen?" He chuckled, glancing at me.

"Photos of you and me in London that day surfaced in magazines and Nate asked who you were. I lied and said you were Roe's boyfriend... it was the easiest thing to do" I blew some hair off my face with a puff.

"Why did you tell him that? All we did was wander around London and get a new phone" Harry shrugged.

"Because the pictures used looked suspicious and he would have gotten even more pissed if he knew you were just a friend" I explained. I winced at my choice of words. "It's just for tonight Harry, I'll cook dinner and everything" I promised.

"Well I was going to say yes anyway but if you're cooking that'll be great... You need a place to stay in London don't you?" He asked, sipping some tea.

"Oh yeah, but we can go to a hotel or something... I'll make something up" I shook my head.

"No, no use wasting money when I have a perfectly good spare room here" He smiled. "So who's coming tonight?" He clapped his hands.

I sat and stared at him, silently wondering why he was going to help me. He still loved me. Anyone could see that. It would kill him to have Nate here with me tonight.

Ice formed in my stomach and I sipped some tea.

This would be interesting.

"You don't think Fred will say anything about you and Harry not actually being together, do you?" I bit my lip and watched Roe peel some potatoes. By peel potatoes I mean she flicker her wand lazily and the magic did the rest. "He seemed to find that the most amusing..."

"No. Avery will belt him if he does. She's so excited to meet Nate, she doesn't want anything to ruin tonight" Roe shook her head and started on the carrots. Her wand flicked lazily again and I sighed.

"I better call a cab to take me to the air port" I reached for my phone.

"Don't be daft... Borrow Harry's car" Roe rolled her eyes.

"Harry has a car?" I raised an eyebrow. Roe nodded and grinned.

"Oh snookie bear!" She yelled through the apartment. I grimaced and held back a laugh. "Hey if I have to be his girlfriend I'm gonna have some fun with it" She grinned as Harry's head appeared at the door. Teddy was on his hip, his hair a fluro blue. I'd have to charm it brown or something for tonight. There was no way I'd be able to explain a child with colour changing hair to Nate.

"You hollered pumpkin pie?" Harry cooed back and I burst out laughing.

"You guys are gonna be doing this all night aren't you?" I asked between laughs.

"Sure are" Roe nodded. "Will you be kind enough to lend your car to Riley so she can go and pick up Nathaniel?" She battered her eyelashes exaggeratedly and Harry snorted.

"Yeah, of course. I'll drive you if you're not used to driving on the right side of the road" He reached for a set of keys by the kitchen door and placed Teddy on the floor.

"Oh no you don't have– "

"Really, it's no trouble... Ted you gonna stay here with Roe-Roe and help her with dinner?" Harry asked the toddler.

"Yesh!" He nodded happily and marched over to Roe. Roe scooped him up into her arms.

"Come here little man... You can stir the pot" She placed her wand in his hand and held her own hand around his. They made stirring motions in the air and the pot of potatoes and carrots started to stir. Teddy squealed with delight.

"Right then, let's go" Harry clapped his hands and handed me a coat. It wasn't mine but it fit alright so I wore it.

I followed him to where his car was parked in the car park under the building.

"Nice car" I commented when he unlocked the silver Mercedes Benz sports car.

"Thanks" He opened the passenger door for me. "After you" He smiled.

I slid into the car and buckled up. "Why do you have a car?" I asked him when he slid behind the wheel and turned the engine on.

"Necessity to be honest. I rarely ever drive but sometimes I need to it get around London" He answered and pulled out of the car park. "Not everywhere allows me to apparate around here"

"I know what you mean" I nodded "It's the same in New York... but I usually get a limo anyway" He slid a sideways glance at me and snorted.

"No wonder you don't want to leave" I shrugged my shoulders and looked out of the window. "So are you excited about Nate finally meeting your family?" He asked, breaking the silence between us.

"Yeah. I am... I think it's something that needs to be done before the wedding... I just didn't think it'd be on this trip" I answered, trying to keep my voice neutral.

"He must care about you a lot to fly all the way to London on his weekend off" Harry commented. I nodded.

"Yeah. He does" I let out a sigh and turned to look at him. "Why are you doing this, Harry? Why are you letting us stay at your flat and going along with the 'dating Roe' thing?" I fiddled with my bracelet and chewed on my lip. Why are you helping me when you so obviously still love me? The words remained unsaid on my lips.

Harry slid a surprised look my way before concentrating on the road in front of him. "Because it's you Riley. I'd do anything for you" He shrugged a shoulder and changed lanes. My stomach squirmed. "You needed help because, for reasons that still aren't clear to me, you haven't told him you're a witch and that your family lives in London. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't help you?"

I continued to watch him, liking the way the light from the setting sun made his skin look a strange colour and defined all the angles of his jaw and neck. I liked how it made his green eyes look electrified behind his glasses. I smiled and felt my heart do the double time.

"Dating Roe was just a bonus" He glanced at me and cracked a grin.

"I'm glad you think it's so hilarious. I'm going to be stressing all night that someone's gonna slip up" I shook my head. Harry reached over and gripped my hand in his, leaving our interlinked fingers resting on my leg.

"Everything will be fine" I murmured.

I tried to ignore the way my skin burned where he touched it and how my stomach seemed to be alive with butterflies. I didn't want to open my mouth in case they burst out so I kept my mouth closed until we got to the airport.

"Shit" I swore as we walked into the waiting terminal. 6 or so photographers were standing around the terminal, sipping coffees and chatting idly. They were obviously waiting for Nate's flight to get in and me to arrive.

"What do we do?" Harry asked, stepping back slightly. I chewed on my lip and tossed my hair over my shoulder.

"We wait, out of sight, until his flight lands. It's all I can do" I shrugged. A flash went off in the corner of my eye and I groaned. "Or not"

"Miss Vanderbilt! Look this way! Who's the guy Riley? Where's Nathanial?" The words were yelled at me and there was a flurry of activity from the other photographers as they realised I was finally there.

I stood, wondering how to handle this situation. The flashes blinded me and the questions were loud.

"Miss Vanderbilt! Miss Vanderbilt THIS WAY!"

"What are you doing in England?"

"Are you happy to have Nate with you?"

"Who's the guy Riley? Another lover? A brother?"

"What's with the ring? Are you engaged?"

Harry gripped me around the top of my arm. "Excuse us, can we pass?" Harry asked them, pulling me behind him. I breathed a sigh of relief as they parted the way for us. The flashes still went off.

"I'm sorry about them" I sighed. "I didn't think they would know... someone must have tipped them off" I ran my hand through my hair.

"It's fine. I actually had this happen in Diagon Alley not too long ago" He chuckled. I laughed and then stopped abruptly. "Except they weren't asking me about the ring on my finger" He tapped my hand. I stopped listening to him though.

Nate was pushing his suitcase out of the doors. His hair was longer, for his movie roll and fell over his eyes messily. I stared at him, my lips parting slightly, expecting to feel a tingling or butterflies in my stomach. Something to tell me that I loved him and this whole 'confusion over Harry' thing was just because I'd come home and had seen him for the first time in forever.

I watched him look around for me as I felt nothing. Not a spark, not tingling, not butterflies. I was happy to see him, yes, but there was nothing there.

I suppressed a sighed as he spotted me and a grin broke out on his gorgeous face. "Baby!" He exclaimed. I felt relieved that I was still at least happy to see him, even if I didn't feel what I was meant to feel for my fiancé.

I laughed happily and ran toward him . I jumped and wrapped my legs around his waist as he caught me, our mouths colliding. Cameras flashed, people yelled questions but I just concentrated on him.

"I missed you so much!" I laughed as I slid down his waist. I planted my feet on the floor.

"Not as much as I missed you... you're wearing your ring" he smiled, brushing some hair over my ear.

"I didn't know the paps would be here" I bit my lip. He kissed me again.

"I tipped them off. This is one thing that should be front page news" He waved to the photographer and shot them his cheesy trade-mark grin. "Although, if I were you I would have worn a baggy shirt or something... haven't been working out have you babe?" He smiled down at me, patting my stomach. I wrapped my arms around me protectively and blushed. "What's he doing here?" Nate jutted his chin toward Harry. He didn't sound too happy about it either.

"Harry gave me a lift. We're staying at his apartment with Roe" I answered with a smile. "Come meet him" I linked my fingers with Nate's, camera flashes going off around us. I held my breath as I led Nate over to Harry. "Harry, this is Nate... My fiancé... Nate, this is Roe's boyfriend" I looked between them both as they eyeballed each other.

"Nice to finally meet you... Riley doesn't stop talking about you" Harry held his hand out stiffly.

Nate took it with a cool expression. "It's funny, because she's never mentioned you" He replied. I winced and patted his shoulder.

"Can we get out of here? I didn't know the paps were gonna come and I so didn't dress properly" I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arm around Nate's waist.

"Sure babe" he kissed my head. "Let's go meet your family"

Harry nodded and walked a little in front of us. This was going to be trickier than I thought.

Sorry it's so late... Uni work is FINALLY catching up with me :( That and I rewrote this chapter. I'm rewriting the next one too so it may be a little delayed again :( Sorry guys. I feel like I'm letting you down in someway but I'm only one person! I need to do uni as well so thanks for reading and please review. Reviews make me skip uni work ;)

xo Plea