Chapter 11 is here!
Hope you like this chapter. Regardless of how the reviews of this chapter turn out, I'm proud of this one. This is the first chapter of mine that is entirely original. While working on the last few chapters, I had been feeling a bit low, and after much deliberation, I decided to pull this off right away. I feel like I'm back with all my energy and hope you'll like it. Enjoy!

The mood in the Smith household that day was one of silence, not because words weren't there to be spoken, but because they were, yet weren't spoken. John who wasn't angry anymore felt a bit sorry about earlier but was in no mood to apologise. Jane on the other hand had gotten used to a silent house. The next day when the doorbell rang, John looked at Jane and asked, "Is she going to be here every day?"

"Not every day, No, only on the weekends!" replied Jane. John opened the door, and made a quick turn and walked into his room. If Daisy knew better, she'd have known John was upset about Daisy, but she didn't and hence chalked the behaviour down to a fight. As time went by, Daisy started noticing how different that day was. The usually chirpy and charming Mrs Smith seemed much more subdued. One of the reasons Daisy loved coming here was Mrs Smith's attitude, her personality, the warmth that she had, and just the uncanny ability to react perfectly to every situation. Mrs Smith was also relatable amongst the students due to her age. She was the youngest teacher in her school by a margin of at least 10-15 years. But this day was different, she wondered if it was due to a fight with her nephew. So, towards the end of the class, she decided she should say something.

"I'm making some tea, do you want some?" asked Mrs Smith.

"Sure, thank you" she replied. As Mrs Smith got up and went towards the kitchen, she followed. "Are you ok, Mrs Smith?" she asked, trying to sound as polite and as less nosy as possible.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine! Why do you ask?" Mrs Smith replied.

"No reason, I just thought you were a bit more silent today than usual" she replied.

"I was, wasn't I?"

The room was filled with even more silence. Mrs Smith gave Daisy a cup of tea and sat down beside her.

"Have you completed the questions?" asked Mrs Smith.

"I have! It took about 20 minutes," she replied.

"You need to get the number down to 15..." After some 5 minutes, just as Daisy was about to leave, Mrs Smith spoke again, "Really, I am fine. It's just that he," she pointed at the room where John was, "well, I am seeing him for the first time in over half a year. We've both been a bit moody since yesterday." John came into the room, gave a cursory glance to the pair, and went to the kitchen. The moment Daisy left, John came and sat beside Jane.

"Jane, I'm sorry about yesterday," he said and gave a quick hug to Jane.

"I'm sorry about this too, I should have told you earlier that I was planning something like this."

"Okay, so, I was thinking, now that Daisy has seen me, there's no point in trying to be stealthy. I have a month, and I have to use it well!"

"Yes, you do," replied Jane.

Even though John had made an elaborate plan to take a month's break from Hogwarts and come home, he had not made any plans on what he'll be doing. As the week began, he found himself wandering the neighbourhood, just walking around all the streets. He made it a point to go to the school where Jane taught, towards the end of the day, to get a glimpse of Daisy, which happened on 2-3 occasions throughout the week. The week flew by in a flash, and it was the weekend again. John decided to go out and spend some time at the abandoned park reading a book. He had only walked a few steps when he saw Daisy coming from the opposite side.

"Hi, Daisy," he said, wondering if he could have said something else, or maybe he shouldn't have said anything at all.

"Hi" she replied.

"Extra class, huh?"

"Yeah"

"Have a nice day," he said, smiled and walked away. After walking a few steps away from Daisy, he thought to himself, "Have a nice day, what a load of nonsense, how could I not come up with something better than that?" The next day, he found himself sitting in the hall when the doorbell rang. He promptly got up, opened the door, greeted her, gestured her into the house, closed the door after her, and came and sat down at the table, adjacent to where Jane usually sat. Daisy sat down at her usual chair and removed books, notebooks and her writing material from her bag. John picked up one of the books Daisy had removed and was looking through it when Jane came into the hall.

"Aunt Jane, I didn't know that you took English," he said pointing at the book he was holding.

"I don't," she replied, as she was going through the Math book.

"I have my exams from tomorrow, tomorrow is English," said Daisy.

"Your exams? You have them this early?" asked John curiously.

"No, these aren't the main ones, it's just practice, mock test sort of thing," she replied.

"Can I borrow this, till you're here?" he asked, holding the English book.

"Yeah, sure!" she replied. A the end of the class, while John was returning the book,

"Thanks for lending me this," he said.

"You're welcome! Why did you want it anyway?" she asked.

"I was bored, and I found that book interesting," he said.

"Are you serious right now?" she asked.

"Yeah, I like reading," he replied, not sure how else to respond to that.

"You're weird," she remarked and made her way out of the house.

"I'm weird? Why would you bring your English book to a math class?" he asked, trying to make fun of her.

"I was planning on going to the park from here. It's quiet there!" she replied. John hadn't realised this, but he was walking outside the gate with Daisy.

"Yeah, I have been there, it's a good place," he replied. He had walked a good 50 meters when he realised what he was doing. "Good luck with your exams!"

"Thank you!" she replied and he smiled and walked back home.

John's routine in the following week was pretty much the same as it was in the previous. He would spend most of his day randomly roaming the neighbourhood, go to the school at closing time, notice Daisy from afar, come back home with Jane. The weekend arrived and John decided that it was time to connect properly with Daisy. So, when Daisy came for her class that day, he talked her into skipping class. Getting permission from Jane was easy since she knew what he was up to.

"Thanks for this, I was extremely bored in the house, and I badly needed company," he said.

"Thanks to you too, I have never really skipped this class. It's a good change of pace, but sometimes I have wished to take a break, you know?" she replied.

"Yeah, you can ask for breaks, Aunt Jane is not mean!"

"No, no, it's not that. She's really sweet, but I don't usually need it."

"What do you mean? You could hang out with friends, do something fun," he asked.

"I don't have a lot of friends. I know a lot of people, but friends, hardly any," she replied.

"You don't have any friends? How is that possible?"

"I have 1 very good friend, best of the kind really, but he's not here. Apart from him, no, I don't have a lot of friends."

"What about school? Your classmates?"

"School? I don't like my classmates at all… Bunch of bullies!" she replied, anger and frustration evident in her tone. John suddenly felt bad for her, he had no idea about whatever she was facing in school.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," he replied.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"Nothing specific, I just wanted to get out of the house. We could just hang out at the park, go to the lake or something." They decided to go to the park.

"So, umm… wait, what's your name? You never told me your name!" she asked.

"John," he replied and continued, "you didn't know my name till now?"

"No," she said embarrassed.

"It's alright, I don't think I have ever mentioned it. So, what were you going to ask?"

"So, John, what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you have school? And where did you come from? I didn't even know till you came that Mrs Smith had a nephew."

"I am homeschooled! I was actually with my father all this time, just came here to spend some time with Aunt Jane."

"Homeschooled? Wow, I have never met anyone who was homeschooled. I bet it must be brilliant."

"It has its advantages," he replied. They spent hours just chatting about random rubbish.

"So, you said earlier that you had a friend, but he wasn't here anymore."

"Oh! Him, yeah, he went somewhere else to study. Transferred Schools!"

"That sucks," he replied.

"Harry was the first person I met in this place. 6 years ago that was!"

"6 years? That's a long time."

"Yeah, the 3 of us were really close. We spent most of our free time together."

"3?"

"Harry has a brother, cousin, named Dudley."

"Oh! Dudley? So, he transferred too?"

"No, he's still here! But I don't talk to him all that much," she replied. It was getting late, so they left the park and decided to go home.

"It was good talking to you," she said as they reached her home.

"Yeah, you too, today was fun," he replied. "Bye, see you tomorrow!"

"Bye," she replied. John was beaming when he got home.

"How was today?" asked Jane who saw John's beaming face.

"Fun, that was fun," he replied. As they were talking about John's day, there was a buzzing noise that made them stop talking.

"What's that noise?" asked Jane

"I don't know," he replied and got up.

"Wands at the ready, John!" she said. Both of them got ready with their wands, but nothing happened. As they tried to trace the origin of the buzzing sound, they realised that it was coming from John's bag that he had brought from Hogwarts.

"Oh No! No, no, no!" muttered John and rushed towards his bag and removed what looked like a wristwatch.

"What happened?" asked Jane.

"Harry's in danger," he said, handing Jane the watch.

"What is this?"

"Every needle is someone, and they point to their status, specifically if they are in danger or not. I scanned Ron, Harry and Hermione when I got an opportunity and created this watch. Look, Harry's status is pointing at Danger."

"How can Harry be in danger, but Ron and Hermione are fine?" asked Jane marvelling at the watch.

"I don't know, but this can't be good," he replied. "Do you think I should return to Hogwarts?" he asked.

"I don't know, but whatever danger Harry is in, surely people like Dumbledore and Severus can help, right?"

The worried faces of John and Jane told the whole story. John decided to stay put for the moment but decided to keep the watch with himself there onwards.

It was a warm Sunday afternoon. After Daisy was done with her class, both of them decided to go to the lake. On their way to the lake, they had the misfortune of meeting Dudley.

"Dicey, what are you doing here? And who's this? Your brother?" asked Dudley mockingly.

"Shut up Dudley" replied Daisy.

"Dicey?" asked John, trying not to laugh.

"Stupid nickname," she replied.

"Well, if it was given by Dudley, what else could it be?" replied John.

"What did you just say?" retorted Dudley.

"What's this guy name, and why is he called Dudley?" asked John.

"His name is Dudley," replied Daisy.

"Man, your name is Dudley? I'm so sorry! Imagine being called Dudley!" he said and started laughing. Dudley who had gone quiet for a few moments was clenching his teeth in anger and embarrassment.

"Say another word, and I'll knock your teeth out" taunted Dudley.

"Will you now?"

"Pretty boy won't be a pretty boy anymore!" retorted Dudley.

"Dudley the Ugly would know all about that, wouldn't he?" retorted John back.

That was it, Dudley flung himself at John and tried to throw punches. It was chaos out there, as Daisy tried to stop the boys from hurting each other. They both landed a few punches, but John was surprisingly strong for Dudley, even though he was shorter than him. After a few seconds, they stopped fighting.

"Dudley, go home, NOW! Or Aunt Petunia will hear about this!" said Daisy authoritatively and turned to look at John, "And John, apologise to him" she said.

"Sorry DtU," he said, as Dudley walked away muttering something under his breath. "What was that?" asked John.

"Nothing, I was just telling Daisy to ask her brother to stay away from me," he said and left.

"Why does this guy keep calling me your brother?"

"I have no idea, but that, that was the best thing I have seen in a long time!" said Daisy with a broad smile on her face.

"He bothers you a lot, does he?"

"No, not really! It was all fun and stuff till Harry was here, but since he left, Dudley has been meaner to me! You're bleeding, let's go home."

"It's alright, it was just a punch," he replied, but Daisy wasn't listening, she dragged him home.

"John! What have you done?" asked Jane the moment she opened the door.

"Good old fistfight, that's all"

"I'll get you some ice," said Jane and left to get some ice and a cloth. Daisy left for her house soon after that. The moment she left, Jane turned to John.

"What on earth were you thinking?"

"What? The guy was a bully, I just gave him some of his own medicine!"

"What if he had gotten hurt?"

"He had gotten hurt? You're joking, right? First of all, do you know how big Dudley is? And second, really? He had gotten hurt?"

"It was hardly a fair fight, wizard versus a muggle!"

"I didn't use my wand! What sort of an idiot do you think I am to use my wand in front of a muggle and at another?"

"Are you telling me that you wouldn't have if it had gotten worse?"

"I didn't let it go bad! Calm down Jane, Dudley is Harry's brother, I'll apologise to him when I meet him properly. This was just for fun!"

The following week, John made sure that he was at the school during closing time every day, and then to walk home with Daisy to her house.

"You don't need to do this every day! Dudley wouldn't dare do anything to me, he's mostly all talk!" said Daisy.

"I'm not risking it, especially since it was me who said those things! Plus, I'm bored at home anyway."

"Thanks, but I'm fine, really!" she said. As they were nearing her house, a sudden thought came to her mind. This had been bugging her for a while now, but she had always brushed it aside. "If you don't mind me asking, how does a person as young as Mrs Smith have a nephew as old as you?"

"Complimenting her to me is not going to win you any brownie points! She's not that young!" he smirked. They both had a hearty laugh, and Daisy replied,

"I'm glad that we met"

"So am I, but don't get used to it!" he replied.

"Why? When are you leaving?"

"I don't know, one of these days!" he replied.

The week went by swiftly, and it was time for the weekend again. Jane did not allow Daisy to skip her class again. So, it was only after class that Daisy and John went to the lake. It was a peaceful day, spent well in a peaceful place. As it usually was, most of their conversation was about things that were completely random and funny. From topics ranging from food to science, time travel to swimming, they talked it all.

"So, let me ask you something," said Daisy with a spark in her eye.

"Go on"

"What would you do if you found out that magic existed, but you couldn't use it?"

"What sort of question is this?"

"Just imagine, you're in a world where lots of people know magic, they can use magic, but then there are others who don't have those powers or skills. If you were one of them, how would you feel?"

"Wow! That's a deep one! I don't know, I'll probably just forget about it." he replied worried about where this conversation was going. He was hoping and praying to the old gods and the new that she wouldn't tell him about Harry.

"Come on! Be a bit more creative! There's no way you'll forget magic exists"

"Okay! There are magical people, and there are non-magical people, let's call them No-Maj! If I was a No-Maj, and if I found out that magic exists, I'll probably want to see it being done. I'll want to see people doing magic. I would want to see all the things that they could do like read minds, fly, etc."

"Now that's more like it! I'd want to see it being used too! Do you think these No-Maj people could learn about it?"

This question rang loud alarm bells in his head. He had to somehow change the topic of the conversation as he was in serious danger of saying something he shouldn't.

"It depends, doesn't it? Why can some people do magic, and others not? What is different between the two? Maybe you're born one. It could be that these things aren't something that you can learn like Math."

"I wish we could," she replied. Quickly realising she had let it slip, she said, "I mean, if magic existed, I'd definitely want to be a witch!"

"Yeah me too," he said. Being born a wizard was as big a boon as it was a curse, he thought. But probably the worst thing was to be born as a muggle and be the best friend to the greatest enemy of the Dark Lord. They stayed at the lake till the sunset and returned to their homes. John checked his watch and saw that Harry's needle was still pointing at danger.

"Jane, you wouldn't believe the conversation I had with Daisy," he said. He told Jane about the questions she asked and how close she was to revealing Harry's secret.

"I told you not to sway Harry into telling Daisy about everything," she replied.

"She'd have found out anyway!" After a few minutes, he spoke again,

"Jane, I need to go to Hogwarts!"

"Why? What happened?"

"Nothing, well, nothing till now! But I'm worried. The needle still points to danger. I have had my fun, but I believe it's time for me to return."

"Have you told Daisy you're leaving?"

"Yes and No, but it's best it stays this way," he replied.

That's all for now, people! Do share your thoughts on this chapter. Did you like it? Would you want to read something similar in the future?
PS - Chapter 12 will be out by Friday!