A day in summer. When something unexpected happens.

HARRY XXXVII

Harry came out of the shower feeling refreshed. When he saw his mother's owl on its perch, he hoped for the best and he went to unroll the parchment attached to it. He unrolled the message and read it.

I won't make it for dinner. I'm sorry, my dear. Enjoy your evening. Be cautious.

Your Mom

Again, she warned him to be cautious. And again, Harry would probably not see his mother of the whole day. This had become a habit since he returned from Hogwarts two weeks ago. His mother left their apartment early in the morning, sometimes so early that Harry didn't even get to wish her a good day. She also came home very late, often too late for dinner, sometimes after Harry himself got to bed. This made Harry's summer vacations quite different from the previous ones.

Harry was no stranger to spending a lot of time without his mother. He grew up as the only child of a single mother, who had to work almost the whole year, even during his holidays. And when he started going to Hogwarts, spending time with her grew more difficult as he spent most of his year at school, and she began an accelerated Auror training, which required most of her time. Truth was, Harry didn't blame his mother for her absence. Especially not after recent events.

Harry was not stupid. He knew that his parents had been part of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret organization that Albus Dumbledore created during the last war to fight Voldemort. He would bet everything he had, from his glasses to his Firebolt, including his own wand, that Dumbledore re-established the organization and that his mother worked for it again. It was probably why she was absent so often. What made Harry upset was that he had no idea about what his mother was actually doing. He had tried to get her to tell him more than once, but she kept repeating that she couldn't say anything to him. She didn't even admit that the Order was back.

This frustrated him. Each day, Harry was reading the Daily Prophet, and each day he was to suffer its journalists mocking him, but also Dumbledore. They depicted Harry as a deranged teenager looking for attention and fame, and Dumbledore like an old fool without his mind. In the meantime, the news of Voldemort's return was absent from all pages. They didn't even mention Cedric's death. They used it as a way to discredit Harry and Dumbledore, but they never mentioned Cedric's name. Articles only talked about how the Tournament resulted in the death of an unnamed student, that Harry was present when he died, and that Dumbledore failed to ensure the safety of his students at Hogwarts. The Ministry and the newspapers were already questioning his ability to administer Hogwarts. To Harry, reading the Daily Prophet each morning was a frustrating, depressing, enraging part of his daily routine.

He heard a knock at the door of the apartment. His hopes flared again. Perhaps his mother freed herself finally. He went to the door and opened it. His hopes were crushed. He shouldn't feel sad about the person at the door, considering everything, but he was, because he hoped to see his mother.

"My parents are not home this evening," Susan explained. "Can I…"

"Yes, of course. Come in," he said immediately, feeling somewhat guilty to be disappointed that it was his girlfriend who knocked at the door. Perhaps it was the fact that he spent almost all his time with Susan since the summer holidays began, and it already became something he was used to.

"Your mother is not here either?" she asked.

"No. Wo… I don't know exactly why. Probably work."

Susan nodded. Harry didn't need to explain her in details. If there was someone in his life right now who understood why his mother was often absent, it was Susan.

"And your parents? Why aren't they home?" he asked her as they went to the kitchen.

"My mother is working without pause because of the upcoming referendum. As for my father, he says he's working on a new prototype of broomstick. One that might be even better than the Firebolt."

Susan didn't need to give further explanations. Harry seldom saw her parents over the last two weeks. He thought they were avoiding him. During the first two days following their return from Hogwarts, Harry and Susan couldn't see each other. His mother had to intervene to convince Susan's parents to let them spend time together.

"It's really supposed to be better than the Firebolt?" Harry asked, trying to be interested.

"That's what he told me. But he never tells me anything specific. He says this is a business secret, that sort of things. It's ironic. My mother and aunt are in politics, and they can tell me more about their work to introduce new laws than my father about a broomstick in development."

She offered a weak smile, which Harry tried to return. He also tried to pursue the conversation. "Is your mother still that busy with the referendum? I thought it was for Muggles, not wizards."

"Yes, but in Quebec, all wizards are citizens and get the right to vote in the Muggle elections all the same. But mostly, she's trying to prepare the ground so that the Ministry of Magic in the United Kingdom would recognize the Ministry of Quebec. But according to my aunt, it's unlikely to happen."

She tried to smile again, but both of them stopped all of a sudden. They were now just two adolescents who were disappointed.

"I guess we both struggle with our parents, although not for the same reasons," she summarized.

Harry nodded. "At least, you have some idea of what your parents are doing. I just… wished my mother told me what she was doing."

He didn't like it to be let aside, not after what he went through in June. And he didn't like knowing that his mother may be outside, risking her life, without knowing what she was actually doing. He also didn't like not knowing at all what everyone was doing about Voldemort.

"I… think whatever she is doing right now, it is very important," Susan said. "I don't claim to know your mother very well, Harry, but from what I saw, what you told me about her, and what my aunt told me, she wouldn't be absent if she wasn't fighting… him. That's what she must be doing."

Susan, like most people of all ages, was afraid to pronounce the name of Lord Voldemort. Sometimes, she shivered when Harry said his name aloud. At the same time, she wouldn't call him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named like everyone else, and it was refreshing in some way. Harry nodded to show he understood and agreed with what she was saying.

"There's one thing I'm sure about, it's that what she is doing is more important than what my parents are doing. Fighting… him… is more important than building a new broomstick or preparing the independence of a new country."

On that, Harry could also only agree, although the part of him who was an unconditional fan of Quidditch weakly protested inside against Susan's assertion that a new broomstick even better than the Firebolt was not important. But his rational part couldn't disagree with the statement.

"Were there letters from Ron or Hermione at your home?" he asked her.

"One from Hermione," she answered. "Mostly the same thing as usual. She is fine and well, but somewhere she cannot tell, doing something important that she cannot tell either. The usual."

She said it calmly. Harry was envious of Susan's ability to not rage even a little as they were kept into the dark. He wrote to Ron and Hermione extensively over the past two weeks, wanting to know how they were faring, what they were doing, whether they were safe. And quickly, their answers had become the same from one letter to another. They said they were fine, but that they couldn't tell him where they were, or what they were doing, or with who they were. They claimed that they were told to not say anything in case their letters were lost or intercepted. Hermione even went as far as to tell Harry, after he sent her a letter telling her what he was doing to spend his days, that he shouldn't give them details of his whereabouts in case his own letters were intercepted. The worst was when Hermione told him she and Ron were very busy. Harry wondered what could make them so busy right now.

"They could at least tell what they are doing," Harry said. "Without telling us where they are."

Although he didn't see how it could be a problem to reveal where they were. Their homes were not hard to find, especially the Burrow. Harry didn't see the point of hiding where they were if that was the case.

"I know," Susan said. "I'm worried about Hermione too. She's Muggle-born. That makes her a target. Though truth be told, no one is safe, I guess." She sighed. "I think she would like to tell us more, but she's being forbidden from doing so. I guess we can't blame her."

Harry let out a frustrated sigh. He understood what Susan was saying, but still… He couldn't support being left without news about what was going on. Susan let out a sigh as well, running a hand through her hair to remove strands falling on her forehead.

"Well, do you want to dine? I can help you prepare," she said.

"Yes, of course."

They went on to prepare dinner. Harry had few opportunities to dine with his mother since summer began. In fact, he dined more often with his girlfriend than with his mother. He and Susan spent most of their time together since her parents allowed her outside of their apartment. In fact, it may be the thing that allowed Harry to remain sane. He and Susan spent a lot of time discussing Voldemort during the first days of summer. However, the subject eventually dried out after a few days, when they had no more to say on the matter. But they kept seeing each all day long. However, instead of talking about the current situation all the time, they completed their homework, and even actually went out on a few dates.

It was strange for Harry, getting to spend actual good quality time with his girlfriend for the first time right when Voldemort was back. It kept his mind occupied during the day. Despite being together for six months now, Harry didn't really have the chance to spend much real time with Susan. The Triwizard Tournament, exams at the end of the year, and the fact they were in different houses didn't allow him and Susan to spend much time together at Hogwarts, and most of it was spent studying or preparing for another task. There was also the fact that their relationship had been awkward in the beginning, Harry not being totally sure that his feelings for Susan were sincere. Now, however, he considered himself stupid for thinking such. Even before the third and last task, despite their relationship having been strengthened after the second task, Harry still had lingering doubts. It was even part of the reason why he didn't dare to tell his mother about he and Susan immediately when she arrived at Hogwarts for the third task. Even after the third task, he wondered if it was a good thing for him to date Susan. But he couldn't break up with her, not after everything that happened. And Susan was currently one of the few things allowing him to remain in one single piece. He could discuss freely with her about all the things that bothered him, whether it was Cedric's death or his frustration in being kept in the dark. Harry had discovered the hard way this year how wrong he had been to keep Susan away from his life. And he actually enjoyed the time spent with her. These were the only times in the day when he felt alive, while his nights were populated with nightmares concerning Cedric and Voldemort, or dreams where he found himself stuck in front of a door that refused to open. Susan was the only one he could confide in about this, his mother being almost always absent, and Ron and Hermione too far away or forbidden to discuss with him about those things. He could already hear Hermione's admonition if he was to discuss a dream about Voldemort in one of his letters. Not only would she not discuss it in her letters, but she would remind him he wasn't to discuss those things, considering he actually made a dream that proved to be real about Voldemort and Crouch Junior earlier this year. With Susan, he could really talk about anything without using codes or vague references.

Harry particularly enjoyed his dates with Susan. They gave him moments during which he could think about something else than Voldemort or anything related to him. Today, they had gone together to the public pool in the park nearby the Abandoned Tower. The main reason was the hot temperature outside. This summer proved to be particularly hot so far, and both Muggle and Wizarding news predicted even hotter temperatures in August. So Harry and Susan had decided to refresh themselves today, and had spent the whole afternoon at the park, swimming. They were allowed to go outside by their parents, so this posed no problem. The pool had been crowded, but it had been marvelous all the same. At the very least, it had been better than their previous experience in the Black Lake. Harry had joked that this time, there was no risk for him to believe that Susan was in danger of drowning.

Susan wasn't particularly fond of swimming. Perhaps it was partially the result of her experience during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Harry also felt that even before that, water activities were not those that Susan enjoyed the most. She obviously preferred inside activities, although she appreciated going out as well. It was another thing that might have encouraged her friendship with Hermione. Last year, when Hannah, Parvati and Lavender organized this day at the beach, both Susan and Hermione had come, but they spent way less time in the water than the others.

Harry chased the memory of that day from his mind. That was the day when he kind of started seeing Parvati last summer. Comparing his past relationship with Parvati to the one he currently had with Susan, he could only notice how different both girls were, and how his relationships with both had been entirely different as well. Harry had dated Parvati for only a single month. He and Susan had been together for almost half of a year now. His relationship with Parvati had been mostly secret, while he dated Susan openly and to everyone's knowledge. He broke up with Parvati. He no longer had any intention of ending his relationship with Susan. He could talk comfortably about any serious subject with Susan, whether it was his personal worries about his mother or Voldemort's return. He never broached a serious subject with Parvati, and he couldn't see himself doing so.

Dating Parvati had been a mistake from the beginning. Harry was not even in love with her. Only, they had just spent an entire day under the hot sun of a beach with many of their friends, swimming, throwing water at each other. All the while wearing swimsuits. Parvati was pretty. Harry couldn't argue against that. He had spent some time with her after she told him about Trelawney's prophecy, and had come to appreciate her more during this period. So when she asked him to let her inside the apartment where he lived at the end of the day, under the pretext that her parents were not there yet and that she lost her keys, Harry didn't mind. And when she kissed him a little later, he didn't push back. It took him some time to realize the mistake he made, and to become conscious that he had no feelings going deeper than a certain friendship with Parvati.

Harry wondered why he didn't notice Susan before the Yule Ball. Susan was with them at the beach that day in summer, and she was beautiful as well. Truth be told, although Harry seldom compared girls, he found Susan more beautiful than Parvati and many other girls. He even wondered once why there were not more boys interested in her, although he didn't complain. He didn't wish to see other guys looking at his girlfriend the same way he did. But Harry himself had not really noticed Susan before the Yule Ball. Well, he did notice her, in a certain way, but not with any thought of love or attraction. Susan had been a good friend from his second year, when she was one of the few after Justin's petrification to still believe Harry when he said he had nothing to do with this. He enjoyed the few times he spent with her after that, but it was only at the Yule Ball that he felt something else for her. Harry had not even thought about asking her for the ball. He wasn't even the one to ask her, since she asked him, in a certain way. The whole month of December, he had only thought about Cho.

Harry chased her memory from his mind as well. He hadn't thought much about Cho lately. Most of the time, when he thought about her, it was when he thought about Cedric and his thoughts wandered to her, and how thunderstruck and annihilated she looked after seeing him dead on the grass. This was yet another reason for Harry to regret Cedric's death.

Harry tried his best to push aside those thoughts as he prepared dinner with Susan's help. She was not bad at cooking, although it was obvious she didn't have the same experience as Harry.

"I discussed with Hannah the other day," she told him as they sat down to eat. "She's wondering who our next professor in Defence Against the Dark Arts is going to be."

"Yes, good question." Harry had not thought much about that. "I don't think Moody will be coming back. He said so himself at the beginning of the year."

"Maybe Professor Lupin could come back," Susan suggested. She sounded hopeful.

"I doubt he will." Harry wouldn't mind Remus returning to teach them, but he didn't expect him to. "I haven't seen him since summer began. And Sirius neither."

Susan nodded in understanding. "Do you think Dumbledore could teach us?"

"Dumbledore?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Yes. He could teach us Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Well… He's already headmaster. Can he teach as well?"

"Why not? McGonagall continued teaching Transfiguration while she was the interim headmistress. And I think there have been headmasters in the past who also taught directly to students."

Harry thought about it. Dumbledore… teaching them to fight dark magic. The idea was quite appealing. Harry tried to imagine the headmaster teaching them powerful counter-curses against Unforgivable Spells.

"Plus, he was the professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts before," Susan added.

"He was?"

Susan nodded.

"I believed he taught Transfiguration."

"He did, before he was named headmaster. But before that, it was Defence Against the Dark Arts he taught, before he defeated Grindelwald. And for many years, from what I know."

Harry's imagination flared. He imagined what it must have been for students back then to study directly under Dumbledore, and to learn how to fight against dark forces on top of that.

"I would like that to happen," he said, wishful. "Though I wouldn't want him to be gone after only one year like everybody else."

Susan nodded. "Yes. It's strange, how each and every one of them only manage to last one year, and then they're gone. And I believe Dumbledore lasted as teacher of this subject for many years. Why can't today's professors last longer?"

"No idea. Some say that the position is cursed."

"Yes, I heard. But it is strange, all the same. I mean, I cannot remember one single professor who managed to stay in office longer than one single year. Even my father, back when he was at Hogwarts, he had one different teacher each year in that subject."

"Same thing for my mother. And your mother, it was the same, I guess?"

Susan smiled sadly. "Harry, my mother never went to Hogwarts."

"Oh. It's true. Sorry, I forgot for an instant. Well, I hope we will get a good one this year. Not someone like Quirrell."

Susan nodded in agreement. "We would need a very good teacher right now."

"Perhaps another former Auror. There must be others than Moody."

"Yes, I think. Though…" Susan seemed bothered. "I'm wondering if Dumbledore will find one this time. I heard he got Moody to accept at the last minute, as a personal favor. And with everything the Daily Prophet now says…"

Silence fell between them as they were left pondering about that. Harry hated to read those things about Dumbledore in newspapers. He decided to try to reorient the discussion to a better topic.

"Is there something you would like to do this evening?"

Susan seemed to think about it for a moment. "Not really. Well… I suppose I could do some homework. It's been a few days now that I haven't worked on them."

"Good. I can work with you."

"I… Well, I would like to do Arithmancy, but… You don't have that course, Harry."

He shrugged. "I'll do mine in Care of Magical Creatures. You don't have that course either."

She nodded. "Okay. Tomorrow, maybe we could go to the movies. It's going to be a hot day again. I don't think we would like to spend time outside."

"If you want." Harry thought about an idea. "I heard there's a good movie coming. It's about the space program. The United States, when they sent astronauts to the moon. They have a movie about one of their missions where the astronauts could not go to the moon because of an accident."

"Oh. You're talking about the Apollo 13 mission?"

Harry's eyes widened. "You know about it?"

"Harry, I went to elementary school with Muggles me too. And… My aunt gave the book on which the movie is based to my father. He devoured it, and then gave it to me to read as well. My father is fascinated by the idea of sending people into space," she said, a little smile while doing so.

They continued talking about the movie, and other light topics, until dinner was over, dishes washed, and they went to their homework. Susan had to go back to her apartment a moment to bring her school material, then they both set to work.

Hagrid's homework was far less demanding than the one Susan had from Professor Septima Vector. As a result, Harry progressed much quicker, and he allowed himself to look at Susan while she was working. She was very focused when working, not allowing much to distract her. Discreetly contemplating his girlfriend as she worked, Harry began to understand why Krum watched Hermione when she was in the library. Despite this, after a moment, Susan peeked over, noticing Harry was looking at her, and he reluctantly went back to work when she sent him a falsely reproachful gaze. That didn't stop both of them from repeating this process a few times over the evening.

Finally, they ended up reading on the couch of the living room, Susan's back against Harry's side. But truth be told, Harry didn't get to read a lot, too distracted by the lush of red brownish hair falling on his right shoulder. Susan had let her hair fall free today. There was still some remnant of humidity left in it, and Harry had no complaint to make when he could smell the discreet aroma emanating from her hair. He sometimes took deep breaths into it. Susan was usually restrained in showing her affections, especially in public, but Harry couldn't miss the small moans coming from the other side as she kept searching on Arithmancy. Or at least, while she gave the impression of researching Arithmancy. After a while, Susan removed one hand from the book she was consulting to place it on Harry's hands, in an awkward but comforting position. Not long after, Harry noticed that Susan had let down the book she was reading and her head leaned on the side. He even heard a faint sound of sleep breathing.

Giving up on his reading as well, Harry leaned his neck on the side as well to breathe more deeply into Susan's hair, and closed his eyes, leaving his mind and nostrils to be filled with her familiar scent. He was good in this moment, feeling the presence of his beautiful girlfriend against him. Each and every one of his muscles relaxed as he his head leaned further ahead into Susan's neck. He felt her weight on him. His whole body seemed to be giving away.

A sound brought him back to the real world.

"Up, now."

Harry must have dozed off, for he was suddenly woken up, a heavy weight being lifted right away from his body.

"Mrs Evans," he heard Susan saying next to him as she stood up from the couch. "Sorry. We were just…"

"Susan, it's very late," Harry's mother was saying as he rubbed his eyes and got back on his own feet. "Your parents are going to be worried about you."

"Oh, yes. I'll… I'll be off then."

What followed was an awkward moment during which Susan hurried to put back everything she brought with her into her bag. Then she placed it over her shoulder and headed for the exit.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Harry," she said when she walked past him.

A moment later, he heard the door of the apartment open and close, and Harry was left alone with his mother. He and Susan must have dozed off while together, and his mother must have found them lying on the couch when she came back.

"We fell asleep while studying," he explained, still feeling weird about explaining to his mother how he and Susan ended up cuddling on the couch of their apartment. But it was the truth. The books and parchments all around the living room testified to it.

His mother had a reproachful expression, the same one she had when she slightly, teasingly berated Harry for something she barely disapproved. However, it was harder for Harry to determine whether she was serious or not this time. She looked very tired, and this affected her facial expression.

Finally, she sighed, only making her look more tired. "Well, at least, this time, I know you are actually seeing a girl here," she said.

Harry rolled his eyes internally. His mother had not appreciated that he hid from her the fact he dated Parvati last summer.

"Just don't make her stay too late," she said in an exhausted voice. "Her parents are going to worry. I would worry in their place me too."

She went to sit in the armchair, almost collapsing in it. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yes. We… We went to the park. To the pool there, in fact," he said. It was still a little awkward for him to discuss it with his mother. Usually, he had no problem telling her everything, but whenever it came to discuss girls, he didn't feel comfortable sharing it with her.

"Not a bad idea, given the temperature," she commented.

She really looked exhausted. There were many questions Harry wanted to ask her, but a part of him was telling himself this was not the right time given his mother's tired state, and the other part was saying that he wouldn't get many answers anyway. So he settled on a more mundane, although related question.

"How was your own day?"

"Long," she replied. She suddenly stood up. "I'm sorry, my dear, but I need some sleep. Please forgive your old mother."

"You're not that old," he replied.

On her way to her bedchamber, she pinched him on the head. It had been quite a while since the last time she did that. "You should say that I'm not old at all. I hope you have better compliments in store for Susan."

Harry felt himself redden and looked away. He felt his mother's gaze on him, and after a moment, he looked back. She bore a sort of sorry expression.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she replied. "I guess I just regret the time when I had to bend over to ruffle your hair."

She then looked away and continued to her bedchamber, ruffling his hair on the way. Harry looked at his mother heading to her bedchamber and closing the door behind her. He didn't really know how to feel right now. His mind was in a mixture of pity and annoyance towards his mother. Without much to do, Harry went to bed as well. It was indeed very late, anyway. Again, he dreamed about that door at the end of the long corridor that night.

This chapter is meant to take a point of the situation for Harry in the middle of summer. We can see that although he is frustrated with the recent events, his mood and situation is much better than in canon, in part because of the presence of one particular person. It also allows me to show a relationship evolving in a different context.

Please review.

Next chapter: someone else for who summer is difficult