A few weeks had passed since Harry had first met the five boys that he now worked with on a daily basis, and he felt a lot better than he had at the beginning of the summer holidays. Each day that he walked toward their sanctuary –AKA Ezra's garage- he became more aware of the presence following him. It had only taken a few days to work out that he had a multitude of different people tailing him day and night, and a further lapse of several days after that realisation, he was able to determine which was which, though he still didn't know exactly who was following him. He was certain, however, that if it were in fact Death Eaters, they would have struck by now. As a result of his reasoning, he stopped taking the most obscure path, and walked at a reasonable pace, after all, if they were in fact there on Dumbledore's orders, it would be bad to accidentally loose them and then get into a fight with actual Death Eaters.
The strings of the bass resting on his leg dug into his fingers -mentally he cursed Jake for always buying the heaviest gauge possible. Harry could feel the intense gaze of the bassist as he watched Harry playing. Fingers danced along the fret-board, occasionally producing a dead note or some other absurd sound, and Harry found it hard to concentrate with that heated stare fixated on his hands. He managed to get halfway through the song he was playing before he had to stop, it was getting difficult to move his fingers in the correct way, and the frequency of incorrect notes was increasing. His tired fingers protested as he flexed them a few times.
Ezra and Alex were rehearsing lyrics near the door, it was raining outside and a pleasant breeze cleansed the stale air. They were without guitarists for the afternoon, the pair had gone shopping for strings, clothes and hair dye. Harry glanced at the mirror and nearly did a double take; he looked so much older with facial hair –something he had meticulously gotten rid of during the last year, but decided to let grow that summer, just to see how it would turn out. So far he liked the result, and it set him apart from the other band-members, who were either too young to grow any, or preferred to keep themselves clean shaven. The addition of some new glasses –rectangular plastic frames- and his now somewhat wavy hair, he could appreciate his appearance for the first time ever. Jake liked it too, which in Harry's opinion was as good a reason as any to keep it the way it was. They were preparing for their last gig of the summer, scheduled on the thirtieth of September, but Harry still didn't know if he wanted to go back to Hogwarts or not. A part of him wished to stay out of the melee of opinions -no doubt he was going to be a target for hatred and bullying next year, especially if any of the other students found out about his summer. He had told Ron and Hermione that he was considering the possibility of dropping out of school, and that he wouldn't write back until he had made up his mind, it was surprising really, that he hadn't had any letters from Dumbledore politely –not so politely- explaining that it was important for Harry to return and continue his education. With his indecision hanging between them, Ron and Hermione had eventually stopped writing, though they both said that they would continue to write if he did in fact begin attending Stonewall High.
While lost in his musings, he failed to notice Ezra standing beside him until the much taller boy prodded him gently, requesting that they go speak in private.
Once Ezra's bedroom door was securely shut, he turned to face Harry, who had perched himself on the desk chair.
"Your boarding school, you have to get the train from King's Cross Station tomorrow right?" He asked, and Harry could detect a hint of suspicion, which peaked his curiosity immensely.
"Yes, I do," Harry replied amicably, there was no point in lying about it.
"In that case, is your school called Hogwarts?"
"It…" Harry was absolutely astounded -he had never gotten any hints that Ezra was a wizard. "It is… are you going to be attending?" He asked out of intrigue, he felt that it would be good to have an extra friend there.
"No, but my sister Jasmin will be," Ezra explained with a smile. "I have a favour to ask of you then," he continued. Once more, Harry found that he was fascinated, and he dearly hoped that he would be able to help his friend.
"What is it?" He asked, leaning forward in his seat in anticipation.
"I know you've been considering leaving, but I want you to go back." He paused, and it was one of the few times Harry had seen Ezra struggle with English. "My father managed to find out about what is going on now, we believe you in that the hobo wizard is around once more. Would you go back, so that Jasmin has someone she knows? I want her to be able to look up to someone, and she likes you as a brother already."
Harry's heart thundered in his chest, it would give him another reason to go back –the first being Voldemort, and the second being his friends- and he didn't want to leave Jasmin alone, she didn't actually like speaking English and much preferred Korean, which made her seem shy and unapproachable.
"I'll do it, who knows what will happen this year!" Harry confirmed, giving his friend his best smile. Ezra grinned in response, and Harry was struck with the solution to the issue of sending compositions back and forth. "Can I owl you my work?"
"Of course, I look forward to it," Ezra laughed and picked up a black fedora with a green band around it. "I think this suits your look," he said as he passed it to Harry. Harry thanked Ezra profusely, and placed the hat on his head, adjusting the angle until it was perfect. He wasn't sure what angle, until he heard a small sound of approval from Ezra. "Also, we can give you a lift tomorrow."
They were surprisingly early for the train, and so Harry and Jasmin were able to get a compartment near the back. The girl was now asleep, and Harry believed she had probably stayed awake for the majority of the previous night, either in excitement of apprehension. She shivered, and Harry extracted one of his robes from his trunk, wrapping it around the trembling figure. Though the summer had been hot, it was surprisingly cool in London, and Jasmin had not been prepared, wearing only a vest top, a rather thin looking blazer and a skirt.
About half an hour into the journey, Harry decided that his friends probably weren't looking for him, and so pulled his copy of 'The Hobbit' out of his trunk and turned to the first page. He had read it before, several times over, but he always found it amusing. Soon enough, he was lost in the seemingly endless paragraphs of type. As he read, he noticed that many students paused as they passed his compartment, many whispering to their friends, and he began to feel quite annoyed. He had gone the entire summer without encountering anyone from the Wizarding World, and then suddenly he was thrust back into it. To his utmost surprise, after a further hour of this behaviour, the compartment door slid open and in the threshold, was Hermione, looking apologetically at Jasmin.
"Excuse me Professor, would you mind if we sat in this compartment? The others are all full," she explained, keeping her voice low.
"Tsk, Hermione I'm astonished, you can't even recognise one of your best friends?" He asked casually as he folded the corner of his page and set his book down. Hermione frowned, her eyes flicked over his face, taking in the changes.
"Everyone thinks you're the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, you look really mature!" She exclaimed brightly, apparently now over the new look. "Have you finished your homework?" Harry scowled, it was almost as if she doubted he had done it without her breathing down his neck.
"I have," he replied, smirking, "I have also completed at least one extension activity per subject, but in most cases two or three." Though he believed Hermione was a brilliant friend, he found her obsession with other people's grades rather off-putting. It amused him to no end the way her eyes widened.
"There are extension activities?" She questioned, her voice going an octave –or three- higher.
"Yes, I'm surprised you didn't know that already, I just owled my completed homework and asked if there was anything else I could do, they all sent back research projects, most likely to do with the first unit of study this year." Another thing he enjoyed was providing with something she didn't know, her expression immediately turned sour.
"Why were you doing extra-credit then, you've never been interested in it before?" Her tone was accusatory, as if she suspected he had an ulterior motive for doing the extra work.
"I need to survive, and any knowledge I gain-"
"Annyeonghashipnikka," Jasmin suddenly yawned, sitting up a little straighter and shucking the oversized robe from her body.
"Annyeong hashimnikka, eotteohke jinaeseyo?" Harry asked, looking away from Hermione and her severe gaze.
"Jaljinaeyo," the girl replied, sticking to her preferred language for the moment.
"As I was saying, as Voldemort is back, I need every bit of knowledge I can scrounge off of the teachers." Harry offered no further insight into why he was doing additional work, but that was because there weren't really any other reasons. Silence descended on the compartment, Jasmin began reading a Korean magazine, Harry wasn't sure what it was about.
"So what exactly did you do over the summer? What made you decide to come back?" Hermione asked stonily, "apart from out-do me in the homework."
Harry didn't especially want to talk about the summer, particularly after the little revelation of Hermione disliking that he had done better than her for once.
"Well, I didn't do an awful lot this summer, I guess. I made some muggle friends, joined a band, began learning how to play drums and bass, got a boyfriend, earned a little bit of money, bought my own bass and began upgrading the drum kit I was borrowing, and began having civilised conversations with my aunt and cousin," He paused for a few minutes, half expecting Hermione to pick up on at least one of the things he had listed.
"Oh, you had a boyfriend? I thought you liked Cho Chang?"
"No I didn't, but I couldn't exactly ask a boy to the Yule Ball last year, could I?" They both laughed, and the tension began to dissolve. "As for why I decided to actually return, well, a friend asked me to."
"Hang on, Ron and I are your friends, and we asked you to, but you just said maybe! What's so special about this friend?"
At Hermione's harsh words, Jasmin squirmed uncomfortably, she was aware of why had come back after all.
"Hermione, watch yourself. Ezra asked me to keep an eye on his sister, seeing as they've only just moved to the U.K this year," he explained vaguely. Hermione seemed dissatisfied with his answer. Harry didn't want to talk anymore, so he picked up his book once more, and ignored Hermione's probing.
Annyeonghashipnikka - hello - Korean/Hangul
Annyeong hashimnikka, eotteohke jinaeseyo - good afternoon, how are you? - Korean/Hangul
Jaljinaeyo - I'm good thank you - Korean/Hangul.
This chapter may be a little bit deceptive, it isn't going to be one of those "Harry hates everyone that isn't Draco" type of things, they're just having a *slight* disagreement :p
My work is so much better when written at a reasonable hour ne?