Title: Fall- back

Chapter nine: The Other End of the Line

Rating: T

Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.

AN: Hi all!

BEFORE YOU READ THE CHAPTER, PLEASE READ THIS:

I just wanted to say I love every single kind review being sent my way, and I hop a little out of my seat with joy whenever I see a new story alert or favourite alert. Having said that, I like those because they are positive, and when they're not positive, they're constructive.

I love getting constructive reviews, every author does. I also love it when someone says they liked a chapter, without giving constructive criticism. What I don't like, is just plain criticism. I can't work with a 'you suck', or 'this story sucks', or 'boring'. It's great that you leave a review or PM me about the story, really. But I'm going to have to ask to stop PMing me if all you're going to give me is criticism. I suppose that goes for reviewing as well. When you say something's boring, I'd like to know why you think it's boring. If you think it sucks, tell me why (or don't bother reviewing at all, really). All you're doing right now is proving to me that you've got an opinion. Awesome. Good for you. That only proves you're marginally more intelligent than the average goldfish.

So, in a nutshell: If all you've got to say is "this story sucks", don't even bother saying it and try towrite something better yourself. Constructive criticism is the way to go here.

I'm going to stop bitching now.

Again, thanks for all the kind and sweet reviews and messages I do get, they really mean the world to me!

Here's the chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it.

"Wait, wait," Ron breathed in between bouts of laughter. "Say it again, please."

Harry sighed, doing his very best to resist throwing his cell phone against the wall.

"I joined a choir," he said, sighing as his redheaded friend went into another fit of laughter on the other end of the line. He decided to just wait out the laughter and put his phone on speaker mode (something Kurt had explained to him the other day when he had accidentally set it on speaker and Remus' voice was heard through the entire hallway) before laying it on the kitchen counter so that he could unload the dishwasher (which let out a sound of protest upon him doing so).

From the corner of his eyes he saw Teddy running into the kitchen and he smiled when he heard the tell- tale sound of Remus' agitated footsteps following him. He shuffled in front of Teddy and grinned when Teddy grasped the back of his jeans in his hand so that he could hide behind him better. Even at nearly two years old, the little boy was proving to be a bit of a mischievous child, winding his father up like that. In the background, he could still hear Ron's boisterous laughter coming from the phone.

"You know, Remus," Harry said when the man skidded into the kitchen, his eyes darting around to find his son. "All this worrying you do about Teddy is going to give you a heart attack someday."

Remus looked at him as if he really couldn't care less. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just worried he's going to hurt himself running around the house. Where is he? I heard him coming in here."

Harry went to shrug, but then raised an eyebrow instead.

"How exactly is he going to hurt himself in this house?" he asked. "Everything sharp is put away, anything fragile had had a strengthening charm placed on it, you've put child proof locks on pretty much everything in the house and have put cushioning charms on every hard object. I'm fairly sure he'd have to actively try to hurt himself."

"Well, that is to say…" Remus tried, before giving up. "Never mind that, where's my child?"

"Who's to say he hasn't found a way to open one of your child proof locks and has crawled into a cabinet somewhere?"

Remus faltered, seeming to actually wonder about this for a bit, before his resolve strengthened.

"You're just still bitter you couldn't open the child proof locks I placed on the closets in your room for the first two weeks. Now hand me my son."

Harry narrowed his eyes. It wasn't his fault he couldn't get those closets open. Remus hadn't even warned him he had installed child proof locks, so of course he didn't expect to be faced with difficulty when he went to open the cabinet above his desk. He blamed the days after that on the Dursleys. The only lock he had had on his cupboard wasn't child proof. It was anyone- but- uncle- Vernon proof.

"Just for that, I'm not going to tell you where your son is," he grumbled, but the effect was somewhat ruined by Teddy giggling from somewhere around his knees. Remus' eyes immediately locked onto the position and Teddy –seemingly sensing this- gripped the back of Harry's jeans tighter still. The raven haired boy started to worry about the blood flow in his lower extremities.

Remus dived down to grab his on and hung him over his shoulder, Teddy shrieking with laughter as his father marched them out of the room. Before leaving, Remus tossed a parting comment over his shoulder:

"I think someone's trying to get your attention."

Confused, Harry watched him go before suddenly remembering he had been in the middle of a phone call. He turned back to the counter and picked up the phone, automatically negating the speaker mode.

"…rry, Harry, come on, answer me!"

Harry chuckled. "Nice to hear your voice too, Hermione."

"Harry!" the girl started, "Why is Ron in stitches on the floor?"

"I don't know," he answered. "Maybe he thought about that Halloween costume he was planning again."

"And one of these days I'm going to find out what it is, too," Hermione mused. "Though I'm pretty sure that's not what's got him laughing. He stopped outright laughing days ago and started snickering instead. So, what did you tell him?"

"Nothing unusual," He evaded. "I just told him I joined a choir at school."

The silence after his announcement took a little longer than he would have liked. "Hermione?"

"Huh? Oh sorry, I was just dragging Ronald up from the floor. So, a choir. Why did you decide to join a choir?"

In the background, Harry could hear Ron protesting against being manhandled and Hermione shushing him. In his mind, he could easily picture him looking just as she had when she had found out Ron and Harry had been the ones to exchange Lavender and Seamus' underwear; strict, like she wanted to scold them, but with a reluctant smile dragging at her lips.

"Kurt asked me to," Harry answered simply. Another short silence fell.

"Okay, and- Will you be quiet, Ronald? And who's this Kurt then?"

"Kurt is my friend," he answered, while storing away the clean dishes in the child proofed cupboards, "They were a member short for their choreographies and he asked me to join them so things wouldn't look weird. I figured I would, to help him out."

"That's very sweet of you, Harry. Now I'd like to hear the real reason," Hermione said, sounding just like professor McGonagall in that moment.

"I heard it makes an actual addition to a college resume," he tried.

"Nice try," she answered drily. "Nice touch though, throwing in academics."

"I thought so," he said, grinning slightly.

"Reason, Harry."

"He's my friend and I haven't really made a lot of those yet?"

"Harry."

Harry sighed. "Fine. He's kind of cute. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Pretty much, yes," Hermione answered, with a very un- Hermione like giggle.

"Happy now?"

"Ecstatic. Oh, Ronald, will you stop laughing? It's not that funny."

When Harry ended the phone call over an hour later (Hermione had kept going on and on about the new professors at Hogwarts and about which subjects she liked more now after having spent a year living in a tent and barely learning any new magic), a new text message was waiting for him. Opening it, he noticed it was from Kurt.

Sent: 15.32

Hi Harry! Puck's throwing a small party to celebrate Halloween tomorrow night. It's just for glee club, but you're a member now, too, so you're invited! Want to come? –Kurt.

Harry grinned, stuffing the phone in his pocket. He put away the last of the dishes (ignoring the fact that clearing out the dishwasher had never taken this long before) and went off to find Remus. Normally he didn't care much for Halloween parties, and while he was surprised that Puck was throwing one three days in advance, he didn't much mind. Now, all he needed was to get permission to go from an overprotective werewolf. Oh, joy.

And this concludes the chapter! What did you guys think?

Till next time!

-Robin.