All a Dream
Chapter 9
"So, did any of us show up in your dream?" asked Stew after Harry cast Muffliato on the room. "Mum and Dad didn't say much. They just said you'd tell us what we wanted to know, if you wanted."
"No, I don't know anything about my siblings at all," Harry answered.
"Well," began Stew, "my full name is Stewart Michael, and I'm a year younger than you. We have two sisters, Mae Joanne, fifteen, and Erin Rose, ten. Your littlest brother, the one you just met, is Nigel Louis. His ninth birthday's in four days, but he had the party yesterday. And one of my friends from school, Andrew Collins, you'll meet him on the Hogwart's Express, comes here for most of the summer holidays. His parents disowned him when he left for Hogwarts."
Harry raised his eyebrows in shock. "Were his parents Muggles, then?"
"Nah," Stew responded matter-of-factly. "He just refused to go to Durmstrang like the rest of his family, didn't want to learn any Dark Arts stuff."
"Wow," said Harry, with concern.
"Yeah, well there's only so much one can do. No-one can change their opinions for them."
Harry nodded his head in agreement. He'd been there before.
The conversation continued well into the wee hours of the morning. Stew confessed, after some slight pestering from Harry, that he had a girlfriend at Hogwarts. She was small, brown-haired, and "definitely not from around here." Stew would say no more on that particular subject, but then went on to get Harry to say who he'd liked while in his coma. Eventually Harry confirmed the fact that he'd had a girlfriend, but wouldn't say who it was. He was pretty sure that Stew would laugh, or tell Ginny himself, which, somehow, Harry couldn't imagine in a positive light.
Just after 2:30 in the morning, Harry and Stew were still talking, but the amount of topics was thinning out. This lead to the next question Harry asked.
"Why are you blond? None of the rest of the family is, as far as I know. Did you dye your hair, or what?"
"Nope," said Stew. "It's a recessive gene. Aunt Petunia was blond, but Lily wasn't. No-one else in the family is blond."
"Hmmm..."
In the silence that followed, both Harry and Stew fell deeply asleep. Harry was very glad that he didn't have one single dream.
.:. :.: .:.
Harry awoke at 8:00 a.m. to the sound of several feet that were rather smaller than his own running down the hallway past his shared room. Groggily, Harry realized that he'd slept in the clothes he'd worn the day before. But he was too tired to care. Right now, he needed food. He plodded past his brother's empty bed, down the stairs to the living room, following the sound of the small feet. This brought him to the dining room, where toast with jam, bacon, and eggs were being served. Harry immediately became more awake at the sight and smell of food. For a while, he just stood there, gaping at the amount of food on the table before him.
"Harry? What do you want to eat, dear, we're going to Diagon Alley to shop for your school things, since you missed a year." asked his mother.
"Harry! You're awake!" squealed Nigel and an older girl with long red hair, but James's eyes, who Harry assumed was Erin. Shortly after, Harry felt the impact of two small bodies, one at his legs, and the other around his midriff. Caught unawares, Harry fell backwards into something that was a little shorter than he was. That something, or rather, someone said, "Ow, bloody hell, get off!"
Harry, stunned, rolled over to dislodge his brother and sister and got up to find he'd squished Mae, who had the waviness of hair that Stew did, but her hair was a mousy brown, like darker blond hair that hadn't seen the light of day for a while. Her eyes were green, like Lily's, but the shape of eye was her fathers, as was the rest of her face. "Ow," she repeated, getting up. Lily was attempting to hide her laughter, with little success. "They always have to be that enthusiastic, don't they? Oh, nice to see you, Harry." Mae hugged her eldest brother for a second, but then let go to take a seat at the table, smiling a little. Harry shook his head to clear it a little more, and sat beside his youngest sister, who was still grinning from ear to ear. He picked up a piece of toast, smeared some raspberry jam on the surface and took a large bite. Even though it was only toast, it was some of the best toast Harry had ever consumed. After swallowing, he asked "Where're Dad and Stew?"
"Dad's at work, and Stew's setting up for a Quidditch game," replied Erin. She seemed very eager to talk to her oldest brother. "He's invited a bunch of his friends, but I think they're one short, so they'd probably let you play too. Do you like Quidditch? Were you good at it in your dream? What position did you play?"
"Yeah, I love Quidditch. I was good enough to be Team Captain in my sixth year. Played Seeker."
"Really?" said Mae, intrigued. "That's the open position this year. You should try out for it."
It seemed that something warm and happy had appeared in Harry's stomach. Or maybe that was the toast. Either way, it made him feel elated.
"Do you play?" Harry asked Mae.
"Yep. I play Chaser, and I've been told that I'm pretty good."
"Are you going to play this afternoon?"
"Well..." Mae paused, as though she was trying to word things carefully. "I might just ref instead. It all depends on who's coming over." With the tone that she used, it seemed that some of Stew's friends did not like to abide by rules much. Harry smiled crookedly. Today could prove interesting.
A/N: Yeah. This is one of my favourite chapters I've written. Yay!
Mae is a character I've used in other stuff. She's basically the same here as in my other stuff, but she's usually Canadian, and I had to change her eye colour from blue to green so that she could be related to Harry.
