Despite her reservations about Dumbledore, Rory was excited to see Harry when she woke the next morning. She wanted to look nice, but she also didn't want to overdo it. She settled on a brown short-sleeved crop top and a calf-length brown and black plaid skirt. As always, her nylon fish bracelet was secure around her wrist and today she thought it would be nice to wear the star necklace Harry had gotten her for their anniversary last November.
She didn't have high hopes of really impressing the Dursleys once they found out who she was, but at least she'd get in the door without much trouble.
She walked out of her bedroom and was surprised when she got back to the kitchen and found it empty. Her dad never slept in. Sometimes she got up earlier than him, but it was nearly nine o'clock already. There were still two near-empty glasses of wine on the table, along with an empty bottle Rory noticed that it was different than the one they'd been drinking at dinner.
She emptied the glasses in the sink and chuckled at the thought that her dad might have a hangover. But she made breakfast and cleared her plate and her dad still wasn't up.
Was he even home? Had he left? If he'd left why wasn't he home yet? And he wouldn't leave her home alone with Voldemort and a cult looking for her. But there hadn't been a sound from his room all morning that she could tell.
Rory walked down the hall and tapped on his bedroom door.
"Dad, are you up?" she asked.
"Yes, I'll be just a moment," he said.
She let out a sigh of relief. "You had me worried. You never sleep in. I'll pour you some coffee."
"Thank you."
She walked back to the kitchen and true to his word, Remus emerged from his room a few minutes later.
"Didn't mean to worry you," he said as she sat his coffee in front of him.
"It's fine. I thought you might just have a hangover or something," she said. "And then I got it in my head that you might have left or something." She was trying not to convey how stressed out she'd felt in the moment, but her dad knew her better than that.
"I promise I would not leave you here all by yourself," he said. He took a sip of his coffee. "How could I chat with you about your visit to Harry if I weren't home?" Rory groaned. "Do you think I'm going to let you go, unsupervised, with Harry without laying out some rules?"
"Unsupervised? I assume that someone from the Order is going to be camped out on the roof of his house the entire time," Rory said. "And his aunt and uncle-."
"Weren't around when he got attacked by Dementors or when we took him from his house last summer," Remus cut in. "So I think it's safe to assume they don't particularly care what he gets up to when they're not in the same room."
Rory nodded. "I suppose they do tend to neglect him. All the same, don't you trust-."
"Trust you? Alone with Harry?" Remus asked. "Well, I have to, don't I?" He relaxed a little and so did Rory. He motioned for her to sit and she did. "Let's make a deal. You hear me out, and actually listen to me and take me seriously right now, and we never have to have this uncomfortable conversation again unless you bring it up. Okay?"
Rory nodded. "Alright."
"I've spent the last 15 years teaching you to be smart and responsible and to have agency over your person. It was much harder for me to put my trust into practice once you started dating. But you'll be 16 in a few weeks, so even if we looked at this from a purely legal standpoint, what you do with your body and who you are doing those things with is officially none of my business," he said. "Even so, you are still my daughter and I love you very much and I want to make sure you can take advantage of every opportunity afforded to you in this life."
"So getting pregnant and dropping out of Hogwarts does not factor into your hopes and dreams for me?" she asked.
"I thought we agreed you were going to take this conversation seriously?" he said with a frown.
"Sorry," she said. It was hard to be so uncomfortable and not make a joke about it. "You want me to put all of my hard work and my brains to good use and would prefer I not get derailed unexpectedly."
He nodded. "So. If you need anything, ever, whatever it may be… Just tell me. No questions asked. I would rather endure an uncomfortable 15-second conversation than watch you go through the emotional ordeal of struggling with other kinds of choices. And just so we're clear, even if it came down to something like that, please know I would still love you no matter what you decided to do. You understand?"
"Yeah," she said with a nod.
"If you ever need anything… No questions asked," he said. She nodded again. "Good… And in that same regard, I do think it'll be easier on all of us if I learn to relax a bit so we don't have a repeat of last summer or last Christmas, but I need you to promise that you and Harry will respect the boundaries that we set for you. That way no one feels like there's constant surveillance going on."
"I appreciate that," Rory said. "And I will respect the rules."
"Excellent. Now on another subject… Do not antagonize the Dursleys when you see them."
Rory scoffed. That was certainly a 180, not that she was upset about the subject change. "Didn't you threaten them at the train station?"
"So they don't need further antagonizing," he said.
"No fair. I'm great at antagonizing people and they certainly deserve it," Rory said.
"Try to keep it inside," Remus said.
"No promises," she said.
"I appreciate your honesty," he said. "Don't antagonize Dumbledore."
"I won't," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I'll be perfectly pleasant."
"Yes, that sounds convincing," he said.
"I will keep all of my snark inside. I did a great job of it last night," Rory said.
"Don't punch anyone," he said.
"Again, no promises," Rory said.
"And make sure Sirius behaves," he said.
"Sirius?" Rory asked.
"He'll be escorting you to Surrey. I would do it myself, but I have something to take care of for the Order," he explained.
"Well, you know he's even worse than I am about Harry," she said. "Kind of seems like Dumbledore wants us to antagonize them."
He sighed. "Just try."
"Fine," she said getting up from the table to refill her mug.
"Is there more to that shirt or is that it?" Remus asked.
Rory scoffed and turned to face him indignantly. "Are you really resorting to policing how I dress right now? Seems a bit beneath you as far as your parenting goes."
"I wasn't policing. I only ask because it's supposed to rain today," Remus said.
"It's always raining," she replied. "If it makes you feel better, I'll borrow a sweater from Harry before we go with Dumbledore."
"You don't have one you've 'borrowed' from him already?" Remus asked.
"I gave them all back when we broke up," Rory said.
"You do have your own, you know," he replied.
"Aside from my school ones, they're all for fashion and not function. I don't think the Durselys will want me walking into their house a with Hogwarts sweater on when Harry's not even allowed to say 'magic' in his house," Rory said.
"You're joking," Remus said.
"Lived in a cupboard for 10 years," Rory said. "No, I'm not joking."
Remus sighed. "Maybe you can annoy them. Just a little."
Vernon Dursley was surprised to open his front door and see a strikingly pretty, teenage girl standing there. She had curly dark hair that reached just past her shoulders that she had pinned back from her face. Her gray eyes were glittering at him.
His first thought was that she was underdressed, but then Vernon remembered that this was how teenage girls dressed these days.
"Hello," she said.
"Are you here to see Dudley?" Vernon asked. Why else would there be a teenage girl on his doorstep? She was definitely Dudley's type, though she was likely everyone's type. And what wouldn't she love about Dudley?
But the girl wrinkled her nose a bit and shook her head.
"Um, no. I'm here to see Harry. Harry Potter," she said.
His breath nearly left him. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Oh, right, sorry. I should've introduced myself. I'm Aurora," she said extending her hands as though he should recognize her name. "Rory?" He simply stared at her. "I'm Harry's girlfriend."
Girlfriend? Harry Potter? His stupid, homely nephew? This girl?
"You didn't know he was seeing anyone. Right. That tracks," she said. "It's fine. I'm Aurora Lupin. I'm Harry's girlfriend. We go to school together." She held out a brown envelope with a red, wax seal, and instantly his blood turned to ice.
This normal-looking girl was one of those people?
"Dumbledore asked that I give this to you," she said.
Vernon snatched the letter from her fingers, and he ripped it open.
Dear Mister and Missus Dursley,
Forgive the imposition and the late notice. This is Aurora Lupin. She will be accompanying me this evening when I come to retrieve Harry and I felt it prudent to send her ahead before my arrival. I trust you will be as courteous to her as you would any of your regular guests.
Regards,
Albus Dumbledore
Vernon did not like this. He was supposed to let this girl come into his house until late this evening when he could finally get his nephew out of the house. Preposterous. He was just about to tell the girl to shove off when a man popped up on the doorstep beside her.
"Sorry, dear. It looked like you were about to run into a spot of trouble," the man said. He looked strikingly familiar, but Vernon couldn't place him. The man extended his hand. "Vernon Dursley, I presume. A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I'm Sirius. Sirius Black."
Of course. How could he forget? This man was supposed to have been a serial killer, although recent reports had been saying he was exonerated of his crimes. What he did remember was that he was Harry's godfather.
"Vernon, who on earth are you talking to?" Petunia asked, walking up behind him
"Petunia!" Sirius exclaimed. "Long time, no see. I haven't seen you since before I finished school. You're looking well."
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
Vernon held out the letter to Petunia who looked it over quickly. Then she looked at the girl.
"Lupin?" Petunia asked. "The one that was friends with my sister? Who threatened my husband at King's Cross?"
"That would be my dad. Not his finest moment," Aurora said, having the decency to look embarrassed for her father's behavior.
"Yes, yes. I was just here to make sure she arrived safely and to see that you're treating Harry well. Which I'm sure you are, being that he's family and all. You wouldn't do something crazy like have him sleep in a cupboard or something."
Vernon was going to give this Sirius Black a piece of his mind. He had a lot of nerve standing there telling him how to run his household, but then Harry called out from behind him.
"I've finished up with the kitchen so I was just going to change and..."
Harry stopped and Vernon glanced over his shoulder to see his nephew staring at the girl in front of him. Vernon looked back to Aurora and she was absolutely beaming. She looked like she might jump out of her skin.
"Rory? Sirius? What are the two of you-."
"Just dropping off this one," Sirius said. "Dumbledore wanted Aurora here to accompany you this evening, so he thought he'd send her ahead if that's all right with you."
"Of course it is," Harry said.
"I trust you two have her well in hand then," Sirius said patting Aurora on the head.
"Yes. We do," Petunia said, reluctantly motioning for the girl to come inside.
"See you tonight then, Harry," Sirius said.
Vernon and Petunia stepped inside. When Vernon looked back out the door, Sirius was gone.
Aurora stepped inside and immediately wrapped her arms around Harry. Vernon looked at his nephew and realized it was the first time he'd ever seen him happy.
Harry was still in disbelief that he was standing in his house on Privet Drive with Rory. She'd stepped inside and wrapped her arms around him immediately. His aunt and uncle grumbled as they left him and Rory there by the front door.
"I missed you. I missed you like crazy," Rory said.
"It's only been two weeks and I talk to you every single day," he teased her. He held her tightly and breathed in the smell of her, the feel of her. He didn't care why she was here. He was just glad she was.
"Haven't quite started to miss me yet, then?" she asked.
"Obviously," he replied.
Rory laughed and it seemed to push out some of the darkness that lingered over him in this house.
He pulled back from her and held her at arm's length. She was grinning at him. Harry kissed her. It was meant to be quick, but he lingered against her lips, drawn into her as if it'd been a thousand years since he'd kissed her last.
"I missed that as well," she said. Harry chuckled and kissed her again.
"I'm going to change into a shirt that doesn't have dishwater on it, then I was going to go for a walk. Will you wait here?" he said.
"I'll be here. Go clean yourself up. I went and made myself all cute for you," she said.
"You're always cute," he said.
She smiled and kissed him again, before ushering him away.
Harry sprinted upstairs to his room and pulled off his T-shirt. He grabbed a clean shirt and pulled it on quickly and sprinted back downstairs and found Rory standing outside of the cupboard he'd once called his bedroom.
"That's it," Harry confirmed for her. She was frowning. Her fingers traced the door and then she took a step away.
"I'm sorry," she said. "It's not fair."
"Maybe, but it's better now," he said. He took her hand.
"Still makes me sad," she said.
"Not to worry. I can cheer you right up," he said. He led her back to the front door. He grabbed an umbrella from the stand. "You realize it's supposed to rain this afternoon."
"I chose fashion over function today," she said doing a little spin. "Do you like it?"
"I do, but I think you're going to miss the bottom half of that shirt if it starts raining," he said.
"I'm sure you can find something dry for me to put on if it comes to that," she said.
They stepped outside and as soon as the door was closed behind him, he kissed her again.
"I'm beginning to think that you maybe did miss me," she said.
"Possibly," he said. He kissed her again and they started their walk. Harry pointed out random landmarks from his neighborhood. The park where he and Dudley were attacked. The spot where Sirius terrified him and he was picked up by the Knightbus. A street corner where Dudley and his friends had shoved him around until they'd broken his glasses when he was 10.
"Do you have any good memories here?" Rory asked.
Harry chuckled. "No."
"You're supposed to be cheering me up, not proving that you're even more miserable here than I imagined," Rory said.
"I'm fine," Harry said. "Promise. Besides, I'll have some good memories after today. Next time I walk down this street I can say I remember walking down it with you."
"You're really laying it on thick," she said.
"I'm just so excited you're here," Harry said. "You didn't mention it yesterday."
She groaned. "Dumbledore showed up at my flat last night. Said he needed my help, well, our help, getting our newest teacher on board with us. Apparently, he retired from teaching a while ago and looks super interesting to Voldemort, but Dumbledore said he's important to the Order for something."
"I wonder what it is," Harry said.
Rory shrugged. He knew she wasn't Dumbledore's biggest fan after last year, which he completely understood. He didn't want to bring it up since it would only lead to her going off on a tangent. He was happy to listen to her express her reservations but now was not the time.
"Do you want to get a coffee?" he asked.
She instantly brightened again. "Is that a serious question?"
There wasn't much to do in Harry's neighborhood, but he was a short walking distance from a few shops and a cafe. He showed Rory the shop where he got her singing birthday card, dinosaur bag, and necklace last year. He pointed out the ice cream parlor his aunt and uncle would take Dudley to for his birthday while Harry stayed with Mrs. Figg.
It started to drizzle so they hurried quickly into the cafe before the downpour started. Harry couldn't have been happier. He insisted on paying for Rory's coffee and got a piece of cake for them to share. He could hardly remember what they talked about while they ate. He was too busy watching her smile and laugh and lick the frosting from her lips. And kissing her. So much kissing.
"It's weird," Harry said.
"What is?" she replied.
He motioned to the space around them. "This. It's weird. It's normal. We've never been able to do anything normal before. There were always cameras or someone watching us."
"Well, to be fair, there are definitely multiple someones watching us," Rory said.
"Yeah, but there isn't someone sitting beside us at the table telling me to keep my hands to myself," he said.
Rory chuckled. "It is nice. Doing something normal. Just having a coffee with you."
"Even though your coffee choices are questionable," he replied.
Rory took a drink from her mug, finishing the flat white she'd ordered. Harry had gotten a sugary, caramel-flavored latte that their server had mistakenly thought was for Rory. He'd switched them after their server walked away.
"Are you ready to go back?" Harry asked.
"To your house?" Rory asked. Harry nodded. "Will I have to sit awkwardly in the living room with your aunt and uncle?"
"We can just hang out in my room," he said.
"Oh, I see. You just want to get me alone in your room," Rory teased.
"Only to talk about books. Remember I did finish The Lost World," Harry said. "I don't have any ulterior motives."
Rory kissed him and smiled. "Have I ever told you that I love you?"
"You could tell me every day and it would never be enough," he said.
Rory's face was suddenly tinged with pink and she stood from her seat. She excused herself to the bathroom and Harry sat patiently waiting for her return. He could not have been happier to have her here today. The worst part of last summer had been that he hadn't been with her. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to be with her every day like last year, but even having her here now seemed like a gift.
And yes, he was looking forward to getting back to the house, taking her up to his room, and kissing her until they both ran out of breath and then some.
They hadn't been back together for very long. Most of that time was spent studying and taking their OWLs. There'd been nothing more than a few precious moments between classes and exams where they'd steal kisses in the corridor or get cozy on the couch.
It was shaping up to be a perfect day for Harry. But then Dudley walked into the cafe.
Harry desperately hoped his cousin wouldn't notice him, but that was not to be. Dudley spotted Harry and made a beeline for him. Dudley's three friends trailed behind him and they looked equally eager to give Harry a hard time.
"You get two coffees so you don't feel so pathetic and lonely?" Dudley asked.
"What do you want?" Harry sighed. "I've got better things to do right now."
Dudley scoffed, "Like you've got anything important happening. You just sit in your room or walk around alone."
Harry was going to protest, but Rory returned and walked back to the table. She pretended Dudley and his friends weren't even there.
"You ready to go, Lovey?" she asked.
"Yes," Harry replied.
"Who's this then?" Dudley asked.
Rory turned around and gave him a once-over. She smiled. "You must be Harry's cousin, Dudley. He's vaguely mentioned you once or twice." She extended her hand out to Dudley. "I'm Harry's girlfriend, Aurora."
"Girlfriend?" Dudley chimed in. "You?"
Rory nodded. "Yeah. Me."
"You're his girlfriend?" Dudley asked.
"Yes, that is what I said," Rory replied.
Dudley looked to Rory, then to Harry, and then back to Rory. He scoffed. "How much is he paying you then?"
"Excuse me?" Rory asked.
"To pretend to be his girlfriend," Dudley laughed, hid friends laughing with him.
"Harry's never had to have anyone pretend to be his anything. I'm sure I can't say the same for you," Rory said defensively as Harry got to his feet.
"Guess you don't have many options at that loser school if you landed with Potter," Dudley said.
"And I'm sure girls are tripping all over themselves to be with you," she replied. "I mean surely you wouldn't stand here mocking Harry if you had better prospects than him. People might think you were jealous."
"I'm not jealous of him," Dudley scoffed.
"I definitely believe you," Rory said. "Bet you can have any girl you want. I'm sure have a great personality."
Harry could not be more in love with Rory than he was right now. He was sure of it.
She wrapped her arms around his torso and looked up at him. "Can we go now, Lovey? You haven't shown me your room yet and I'm dying to kiss you properly."
Harry knew she was saying this for the benefit of irritating Dudley, but also knew that barring an audience, she might've said the same thing anyway.
"See you later," Harry said curtly.
