For the first time in the last few weeks, the weather was flawless. Just the right amount of clouds to block a large portion of glare of the sun hung on the crisp blue sky. The cool breeze offset the heat of the summer. In a park plopped in the center of South Kensington, the breeze also brought with it the pleasing aroma of grilled meat and fresh fruit.
Harry deeply inhaled the scent, then tossed a worn baseball to his companion.
"Boarding school?" Joseph Keener gave a small shake of his head as the ball smacked the middle of his glove. "What the hell did you do, mate?"
"For once, nothing. It's a 'privilege', not a punishment."
Joseph gave a small grunt as he chucked the ball back. "Months living with your teachers, under their constant watch. Ugh, I would kill myself."
Harry scowled. "I'm really glad we're having this talk. It's putting me at ease like you wouldn't believe."
"I'm just saying," he responded with a dismissive shrug. "I bet Cristina's more wound up than you."
"Unfortunately."
Joseph snorted.
"What?" Harry snapped.
"'Unfortunately'? Harry, I know it's tearing you up. You'd sooner eat your foot than disappoint Cristina."
"Shut up."
"You know what I mean. Cristina's loved playing mother to both of us since we were kids and we've both loved the attention. Although, you know, my love was a bit more perverted-"
"Can we ever have a conversation about Cristina that doesn't end in you babbling about how hot she is?"
He held up his hands submissively. "If you could see her without a brother's view, you would understand. And while we're on the subject, that cousin of yours- oh and that aunt with the Italian accent-just wow...," he trailed off airily with a smile tugging at his lips.
"Were you going to make a point?"
He frowned, "I don't quite remember..." He shrugged and threw the baseball. "How did your dad even sign you up for it, anyways? He's not coming back for weeks, right?"
"One of the professors actually flew all the way out to meet him on one of the islands the ship stopped at. Professor Sinistra, I think he told me. Apparently she got him really excited about the school."
"Huh...I'm going to bored as hell without you here, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Harry gave a solemn nod. Joseph rarely liked to let know people know he actually liked him, so it meant more than it seemed to mean. The first month that he had met Isabella it had consisted mainly of him pulling hair and poking at her like they were ten years old again.
Harry snapped his glove closed. "I'll be back for holidays so I'll be sure to see you then. We're probably going to go to Italy during Yule. Want to see if you can go with us?"
"Hell yeah if your aunt's going to be-"
The green eyed teenager groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "You know, I think I'll actually be needing some private family bonding with my dad and Cristina by then. Maybe some other time."
"Now you mind your sister."
The airport was a moving, breathing creature that day and Harry found himself continuously taking small steps forward, back, left and right to avoid getting knocked over by wayward suitcases rolling after their owners. The man in front of him had no problems. He was nearing fifty, with a broad face, graying hair and tanned skin. Despite his clothing, consisting of sandals, shorts, and a small silver stud in his left ear, he produced such an aura of power and control that even the inanimate luggage seemed to keep a respectful distance.
"I will, Pop. I always listen to Cristina."
"Harrison-"
"I will be the perfect little brother."
The elder gave a small shake of his head and briefly rubbed his son's head. "At least try and give me the impression that you're telling the truth."
"I'm trying my best, here." He grinned. "I'm serious, Pop. You know how much I hate upsetting her."
The object of their conversation stood a few yards away with their father's bags, along with his companion. Chelsea? Charity? Harry couldn't quiet remember.
"Well, you know the basic rules, son. No sneaking into the house and throwing parties, call your uncle if anything happens, have someone film all your football games and we'll watch them when I get back. Um, what else..."
"You'll miss your flight if you go through the whole list. Trust me, I've got it covered."
"I suppose you do. I'll call you when we land and two days from today we go on the boat." He took off his black Fedora hat, the one that always reminded Harry of old gangster movies, and fiddled with the hem. "As soon as the cruise is done I have to go to Rome for a business deal but I'll be able to call you from there, alright?"
"Alright."
"Here," he placed the hat on Harry's black locks and pulled it down to a slight tilt. "It doesn't really match with the Jamaican attire. Take care of it, it's my lucky hat. I pulled together some of my greatest business deals in it."
Harry briefly had an image of his father conducting business with the hat, along with a crowbar and a Italian accent similar to the ones from his mother's side of the family. "Alright, Pop."
He nodded and looked to the two women standing near. "And remember what I said about your sister." He wrapped an arm around the teen's shoulder, smiled adoringly at his daughter and hissed out of the side of his mouth, "You know how she...gets when she's stressed. Watch out."
"I should run your arse down! Move!"
Harry sunk farther into his seat, his head becoming nearly level with the dashboard. Granted, the street in front of the train station was busy, but his sister was blowing everything a bit out of proportion.
"You jaywalking bastard. What do you think the crosswalk is for?"
"Cristina, that woman is using a walker."
"So she should have free reign over the street? As if!" She honked her horn.
Harry sunk even lower and put the black hat he had been carrying on his lap onto his head, pulling it low over his eyes in a fruitless attempt to shield himself. From the backseat, B.D. gave a pitiful whine.
She had been fine yesterday. Just last night they had gone out to dinner with Joseph, Isabella, and Harry's junior football coach, Miguel. While Harry didn't like the idea of his sister dating anybody, introducing her to the Spanish man seemed like a better alternative to her dating a corpse. And according to Isabella, Miguel was 'excruciatingly gorgeous' and his accent was 'like an angel's song'. He wasn't really sure if that were true, but he knew Miguel was a nice guy so it would be an improvement. Cristina had been practically giddy afterwards. But all traces of happiness seemed to have drained.
Though, the young woman's subtle growls were surprisingly effective at clearing a path for Harry to push his luggage through. It was helpful, but Harry figured he should do something before she scalped or bit someone.
The moment they stopped walking Harry let go of the loaded trolley, got behind his sister and wrapped his arm around her as if he were going for a headlock. She squealed, he laughed and moved his arms to wrap around her shoulders, squeezing and lifting her off her feet for a brief moment before setting her back on the ground.
"Harry, I will hurt you!"
"Nah, I'm too adorable and sweet. The moment you turn around you'll be so lost in my emerald puppy dog eyes any thoughts of harming me will fly away."
Her heel hit his shin with a solid thump.
"Oi! I guess that doesn't quite work if you don't turn around." He grasped her shoulders, spun her around, and widened his green eyes.
"You look like a fish, Harry," she sighed as her lips twitched.
"But, am I an adorable fish?" He batted his eyelashes.
She smiled, "As much as one can get."
"Well that's all that matters." Harry gave a contented nod. Crisis averted; no one was getting scalped that day.
"So..I think I'm supposed to walk through that wall. Seriously, Parvati told me," he added at his sister's incredulous stare.
"Maybe she just wanted to see if you actually ran into a wall at her advice."
Harry scoffed, "I barely know her, there's no way someone could want to cause me bodily harm that quickly."
"I wouldn't assume so easily, Harry."
"Ha, ha," Harry replied sarcastically. He shook his head and turned to the brick wall. It did look like a solid brick wall, but so did the entrance to the Alley. 'Just walk right through it,' she had said. Harry glanced back the smirking brunette behind him, looked at the wall, then quickly shot out his hand.
"Ow." His knuckles scraped the rough bricks and a pain shot through his bones. Not three feet away, a pretty blond about his age stopped, and gave him the most intense 'you're such an idiot' look he had ever received.
"Er..."
She rolled her eyes, "Wrong wall, dumbass." With that she flicked her hair over her shoulder, picked up a bag with a label of Zabini, and walked to the opposite archway. Harry blinked owlishly as she went straight through.
"What a bitch."
"She pulls it off well, though," Harry replied to he new, but familiar, voice automatically. However, the moment the words left his mouth his neck muscles clinched up at the thought of how familiar the girl's voice was.
"Yeah, Hogwarts is in Scotland. How'd ya know that?" "I must have heard it from somewhere-"
"You wouldn't happen to know a Ms. Brown, would you?"
"And while we're on the subject, that cousin of yours-"
Harry squeezed his eyes closed as is if to prevent in unpreventable. What were the chances? Like one in a thousand? It couldn't be. But even as he tried to reason with himself his sister squealed behind him, crushing all hope.
"Lavender!"
Damn. What did I do wrong? What the hell, Karma? What did I do?!
He spun around slowly, biting his tongue as the blond came into view. This girl (if she was indeed human) had once shaved the sides of his head in his sleep. He had once colored the tips of her yellow hair green with markers during her sleep. She had put lipstick on his action figures. He had thrown her dolls (which were entirely different from his action figures) into the toilet. She put a hole in his favorite autographed football. He took every opportunity he had to push her in the mud.
She was the most distance cousin of his he had met (their family lines split at their great-great grandfather) and yet she was the most common one appearing throughout his childhood. And now here she was again. God had a malicious sense of humor. Lavender Brown was a bloody witch?
The blue eyed demon turned to him and spread her arms out as if to engulf him.
"Harrison!"
Harry's face split into a charming grin as he too spread his arms and walked into her hug.
"Hey Lavender!" Damn, damn, damn!
"Wow!" She exclaimed as she finished the hug and backed up, one of her elbows digging painfully into Harry's side as she did so. "I saw you two over here, but I couldn't believe you were looking for the Hogwarts Express! Are you a wizard, Harry?!"
He noticed her outfit. A muggle uniform which could be worn under or, if it was warm, instead of school robes. On her chest pocket was a tiny Gryffindor crest which Parvati Patil had had stitched onto her bag in Diagon Alley, giving it away. This was really happening. "Yeah, yeah I am. My biological parents were-are magic. You know the Potters?"
"Yes, why?" She stared blankly at him.
He swallowed the urge to snap at her. "That's them."
"That's them who?"
"They're my parents, Lavender."
Her eyes widened slightly. "Oh! How...quaint..." She looked around for a moment, as if not sure how to proceed.
"You don't have to pretend you care."
She beamed, "Of course, I care. I just want to save this talk for later. Anyway-" She looped her left arm with Cristina's, and grabbed Harry's wrist with her right hand, digging her nails in as she sent him an annoyed glare. Harry simply shook his head and wrapped B.D.'s leash around his free wrist while grabbing his trolley
"Let's go to the platform." She smiled at Cristina then dragged them both through the wall.
Harry managed to repress his feral sneer until Lavender Brown walked away. The moment he let it out at her back, he was reproached by Cristina.
"Cut it out, Harry!"
"She is evil, Cristina! You just never see her!" He gestured frantically at the blond. "Just watch closely at her face. You'll see a flash of her true form. It looks just like Ghost Rider."
"Harry quit it!"
"Just don't look into her eyes or she'll steal your soul! I've seen it happen!"
"Harry!" She quickly slapped down his pointing finger. "When you were five she was secretly the boogeyman. At seven she was a vampire. At ten she was possessed by the devil. And now four years later she's the Ghost Rider? Seriously Harry. Get over this silly little feud."
"I'm not saying she's The Ghost Rider, just that they look sim-just nevermind." He glanced at the large clock on the brick wall opposite the train. It was almost time to go.
Cristina followed his gaze and instantly became more demure. "I guess you need to get on the train."
"Yep.." He scratched the back of his neck. "Well...I'll write tomorrow and tell you about everything that happens."
"Alright." She bit the inside of her cheek and began roll back and forth on her heels.
Harry unconsciously began mimicking her movements and quickly stopped when he realized what he was doing. He looked left and right, then quickly reached forward and pulled his sister into a hug.
"I'll miss you," he mumbled into her shoulder after a moment. Cristina pulled back, smiled, and gave him a quick peck on the side of his head.
"I'll miss you, too."
Harry smiled back and pulled out of the hug. "Miguel number is in my black notebook. He gave it to me in case there was an emergency and I needed his help or something, but I seriously doubt he'll care if you use it. Not that I'm encouraging you to date or anything."
"Thanks, Harry."
Harry hummed in response as he picked up his suitcases. "He's also in culinary school, so he knows how to cook pretty well. F.w.i."
"I got the hint, Harry."
He grinned. "What hint?"
She rolled her eyes, "It must have just been my imagination." She bent to scratch B.D. between the ears, then stood and gave him another quick hug. "Goodbye, Harry."
"Bye, love you." He gave her one last smile, turned and walked to the train.