Chapter 38 is here... Enjoy!

"I'm fine... who are you?" asked Harry cautiously.

"May I speak with your Aunt?" asked Remus. Harry thought a second about inviting Remus in but decided not to. He had a suspicion that Remus wasn't a muggle. Remus' wizard fashion sense had seeped into his muggle attire and it was hard to miss.

"I'll call her," replied Harry and went back in and Daisy followed.

"Who's he, Harry?" asked Daisy.

"I don't know..." replied Harry absentmindedly. "Aunt Petunia..." he called out. "There is a Remus Lupin here to see you," he added. There was a sound of something falling on the floor and the next second, Petunia came rushing out.

"Harry... dear, who did you say is here to see me?" she asked frantically.

"Remus Lupin," replied Harry and observed the subtle change in expression on Petunia's face.

Petunia didn't reply and immediately went to the front door followed by Harry and Daisy.

"You," exclaimed Petunia the moment her eyes fell on Remus.

"Yes... it's me, may I come in? Harry here didn't trust me enough to let me in," said Remus grinning.

"Oh yes, of course, come in," said Petunia and in walked Remus.

Harry was taken aback and glanced at Petunia. "I'm sorry..." he whispered.

"Harry... there's nothing to apologize for. Staying vigilant is never a mistake," replied Remus turning back to look at Harry.

"Please, have a seat, would you like something to drink? Cup of tea?" asked Petunia.

"No, it's okay... I just had a cup before I left the hotel," replied Remus sitting down. By then, Ron and Dudley had already gotten up to go stand beside the awkwardly standing Harry and Daisy.

"Let's go upstairs," said Harry and had made the move to take the stairs when Petunia interrupted him.

"Harry, you stay, rest of you all can go up," said Petunia. The 3 of them stood back but after a stare from Petunia, they all took the stairs up reluctantly.

Harry wanted to ask who the dull and poorly dressed man sitting on the couch was but resisted the urge to do so.

"Harry... It's been a long time since I last you..." said Remus smiling, his mind wandered back to the good-old-days for a moment.

"I'm sorry... but who, uh... I don't recognize you," replied Harry, awkwardly.

"I wouldn't expect you to," replied Remus with a chuckle. "It'd be incredible if you had any memories from when you were a year and a couple of months old," he continued. "I am... uh, I was your parents' best friend in school... at Hogwarts," he added smiling.

Harry's jaw hit the floor. "My parents' best friend? You knew my parents?" asked Harry, taken aback. Remus nodded in response.

"Why are you here?" asked Petunia, her tone not as warm as Harry was used to.

"I apologize for coming here unannounced... But I had to meet Harry," replied Remus turning his neck to look at Petunia.

"You wanted to meet me?" asked Harry, surprised, his brain had gone into limbo. Harry, for some reason, had never considered looking for people in the magical world who knew his parents. And to have one sit right in front of him calling himself their best friend was beyond anything Harry could have expected.

"There are many reasons, Harry... I should of course apologize to you for not being a part of your life until now... And life has given me an opportunity to rectify it... I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," replied Remus, a tinge of pride and satisfaction in his voice.

"What?" gasped Harry.

"Yes... I got the call from Dumbledore a few weeks back..." replied Remus.

"That's fantastic," replied Harry, suddenly there was excitement inside Harry. Remus nodded smiling.

"How are you?" asked Petunia with a piercing stare.

"There's still a few days to go," replied Remus, getting a bit uptight. "Petunia... I would like to talk to Harry, alone, if you don't mind... Would it be alright if I come tomorrow, around the same time?" asked Remus. Petunia looked somehow worried at the thought but nodded in acceptance.

"Good... see you tomorrow then, Harry?"

"Sure," replied Harry and with that Remus left.

"Is something wrong, Aunt Petunia?" asked Harry a few minutes after Remus left.

"No dear... everything's fine," replied Petunia, though her response didn't fill Harry with any confidence. He knew there was something she was hiding from him, but he decided not to prod her over it. The moment Harry got upstairs, the other 3 pounced at him for answers.

"Who is he?" asked Ron.

"What did you talk about?" asked Dudley.

"Is he a wizard too?" asked Daisy.

"Wow... guys, calm down..." replied Harry and sat down on the bed. The other 3 looked at him eagerly, for answers.

"He was my parents' best friend... came to meet me," he replied after a few seconds.

"He is your what?" gasped Daisy.

"Best friend of his parents... how hard was it to hear that," interjected Dudley.

"Shut up," snapped Daisy.

"What was here for?" asked Ron.

"Well... guess what? He's our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," replied Harry.

"Woah" gasped Ron.

"What's that?" asked Daisy.

"It's one of the subjects," replied Ron.

"There's something else though," said Harry and all of their attention was back on Harry.

"What is it?" asked Ron. "He said something else?" he added.

"No, it's not that... I mean, yeah, he wanted to talk to me and said he'll come back tomorrow. But it's not that... It's Aunt Petunia, she was acting weird around him. Almost like there was something..." he replied. "Uh, I don't know, maybe I'm imagining things," he added.

"You have been doing way too much of that," said Dudley and giggled. Harry's heart stopped for a second. Nobody apart from Aunt Petunia and Dudley knew about his nightmares, not even Daisy. And that earned Dudley a devastating glare. Harry would have undoubtedly done something more had he had his wand with him handy.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Daisy, bemused at Dudley's giggle.

"I didn't say anything," replied Dudley quickly.

"What?" she asked looking at Harry.

"Nothing..." replied Harry. "Just some boy's stuff," he quickly added. And that only made things worse for Daisy was even more curious now. Ron knew something was up and decided to press on it when they'd be alone.

"Tell me," said Daisy and moved closer to Harry.

"Daisy... Stop it, will you? It's nothing," replied Harry hastily.

"Okay, relax... But there's something," said Daisy and walked towards Harry's trunk that he used to keep all his Hogwarts stuff and sat down beside it. "We had a deal," she added.

"Oh no," sighed Harry.

"Oh yes... You said you'll get me anything I want," replied Daisy. Harry walked towards her quickly and sat down in front of her as if guarding the trunk.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want..." replied Daisy and glanced at Ron to which Ron nodded trying to control his laughter.

Harry looked at Ron. A look that said, "what did you do?"

"I want you... to... give me a ride on your broomstick, Nimbus 2000, is it?" replied Daisy, excitedly.

"What? No, no way," replied Harry.

"You said anything," argued Daisy.

"Anything but this," replied Harry.

"Okay, give me your wand," asked Daisy.

"Absolutely not," replied Harry.

"You can't say no to everything," pleaded Daisy.

"2 people can't ride a broom... and no, there's no way I'm risking somebody seeing us," replied Harry.

"Ron? Back me up, please," said Daisy and looked at him.

"Ron... what are you doing, mate?" said Harry desperately.

"She asked me for some ideas... And this is the safest thing I could think of," replied Ron laughing.

"Thank you," mouthed Daisy.

"No you didn't... why would you do this?" pleaded Harry.

"So?" asked Daisy gesturing for him to get up.

"I uh... We can't... This is not... Ron... Not now," stuttered Harry in reply.

"You broke him," exclaimed Ron and burst into laughter as Dudley and Daisy joined him in the giggles.

"If somebody sees us, I'll take you down with me," said Harry looking at Ron.

"Who's going to see you here?" retorted Ron.

"And they will wipe your memories," taunted Harry looking at Daisy. Daisy's expression turned immediately to fear. "I was just joking," chuckled Harry immediately even though he knew he was lying.

"Will I get a turn?" asked Dudley.

"No," replied Harry strongly. He did not want to set precedence one bit.

"Shall we?" asked Daisy.

"Not now... Let's go in the evening... it'll be darker," replied Harry.

"A ride in the dark? I'll never refuse that," replied Daisy happily.

That evening, as discussed, Harry took his precious Nimbus 2000 out of his trunk. Daisy and Dudley were both equally amazed at the sight of the majestic broom.

"Oh this is going to be brilliant," sighed Daisy.

"You have no idea," replied Harry. He had never taken anyone a ride on his broom. He never had to would be more appropriate since wizards could use a broom of their own.

"Daisy Taylor-Williams, are you ready?" asked Harry.

"Yes, Harry James Potter... let's fly," replied Daisy after taking a deep breath. There was a mix of anxiety and excitement in the air.

The moment lift-off happened, Daisy closed her eyes. She could feel rising up, but the broom barely felt like a vehicle. It was narrow and that meant her anticipation of falling was even higher than she first imagined. She held on to Harry tightly. Harry had decided not to amp up the speed from the get-go, since even he was new to flying with someone else sitting behind him. A few seconds into the flight, Harry decided to fly higher than he normally did in quidditch to avoid being seen by anybody.

"Daisy... are you okay?" he shouted.

"Uh... not so sure, HP," she replied trembling, her eyes still closed. Harry turned back to look at her face and realized her eyes were closed.

"Open your eyes... you are fine... Don't worry, you won't fall," shouted Harry. Daisy slowly opened her eyes and at first, she was taken aback by the height at which they were flying, but a minute later, she was feeling much better.

"This is so good," sighed Daisy.

"You want me to go faster?" asked Harry.

"You can go faster than this?" asked Daisy shocked.

"Of course, I can," replied Harry and increased the pace. He was still not going at top speed, but he was never going to, owing to the danger of losing balance.

"Woo Hoo!" screamed Daisy in joy as the gust of wind against her face increased. This truly was here most adventurous and adrenaline-filled experience.

The ride came to an end a few minutes later. Harry had decided to take as little turns as possible and hence had travelled a long distance to and fro instead of making circles.

"I'm going to land in the grass..." said Harry and gradually decreased the pace of the broom and eventually landed a few hundred feet away from the house. The landing was awkward but no one got injured.

The moment they got down, Daisy gave Harry a big hug and didn't release it for a good minute or two.

"That was brilliant, HP," said Daisy.

"That went much better than I thought," grinned Harry.

"Thank you so so so... so much for this... Oh wow... That was something beyond brilliant," exclaimed Daisy and took Harry in another hug.

"My Lord, I come bearing news," said the man.

"What?" replied a cold voice.

"The Doctor is dead," said the man calmly.

"What about him?" asked the cold voice.

"There is very little we know," replied the man after a moment's thought. The worry in his tone was blatant.

"There is still time," replied the cold voice.

"There is something else... It's about Harry Potter. Capturing him shouldn't be difficult. I could have easily done it today," said the man slowly.

"He's protected... don't act now," replied the cold voice.

Another fun light chapter, hope you enjoyed it.

PS - The next one is a heavy one and will be published in a couple of days... Ciao!