Here goes the next chapter! It's only about the first day for Harry, but after this one it will go more quickly! It is just to show how a different environment to being stuck at the Dursleys would have done wonders for him! And to introduce more about Antonia and how he starts trusting her and appreciating the normal things. Anyway, I hope you like it! Thank you for everyone who favorites/followed!
Autumngold: Thank you for the review, I'm really glad you like the story and I hope it keeps evolving like that and making Harry a more mature person!
Hont91: I completely get what you mean, I felt the same way when I was reading OOTP! That's what I've been trying to copy, the original attitude, though maybe I exaggerated it a little ... but it will change with time, don't worry!
PuppyProngs: My original idea was for the order to realize it when they finally wanted to collect Harry (which would be farely late since there would be no underage magic done as Harry is not there during the dementor attack and neither is Dudley) and bring him to headquarters,but then I remembered the guard shifts! So sadly, I will have to make them find out fairly early, probably at the next order meeting! Yes, Harry will find out about the Spanish wizarding world very soon! His other findings will be later as a consequence of his new found maturity and common sense.
I apologize for grammar or spelling mistakes, since as you can guess, Spanish is my first language, not English (I'm from Chile, not Spain, but it was a bit of a stretch to send Harry so far away).
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, and any characters, places and companies you recognize. I'm not making profit from this story. I'm getting tired of writing this in every chapter.
Chapter 3
'I think that's it for today' said Antonia one hour later. To Harry's surprise, he had enjoyed learning. It kept his mind occupied from unwelcome thoughts, and it would definitely be useful. The girl had taught him all the basic sentences, and how to introduce himself, so he would definitely be able to be polite to Señora Inés now. Nevertheless, Spanish was hard, especially the pronunciation, so he was glad to do something else for now.
'Sure' he replied 'when do you want us to practice next?'
'How about one hour each day? It is vacation after all … this time would be fine' Antonia replied brightly. Harry nodded thoughtfully, surprised at finding out that the idea didn't bother him. He had never thought about studying a language before, but the lesson had been interesting.
'Ok then, let's go swim! There's an hour until lunch time and then we can go out in the afternoon if you want'. Harry groaned to himself. The day was stifling hot, and the pool looked very attractive at this moment, if not for the fact that he didn't have anything to wear.
'Um, I don't really own a bathing suit' he said embarrassed 'in England it rains very often and my relatives don't have a pool'.
'No matter, you're really skinny so I bet one of Luciano's will fit you…I think he got one for his birthday that was too big for him anyway!' she replied after giving him a strange look. Harry let her lead him into a basket with various swimming suits and towels, vaguely remembering that Luciano was her eleven-year -old brother from his conversation with Tía Ana and Tío Hernán. Before he could wonder if he should take the fact that Anto thought the kid's swimsuit would fit him as an insult, she gave him a pair of black and green shorts and a towel and pointed him to the bathroom. The shorts fit him, if a little snugly, so he decided to take the comment as a simple observation.
Antonia was already in the water when he came in, swimming happily. Harry cautiously approached the pool and put his feet in. It was a lot warmer than the lake at Hogwarts in the second task, that was for sure. He relaxed and dived, reveling in the cool sensation on his skin after the heat. He crossed to the other edge in four strokes and stopped, grinning for the first time since entering the maze.
'So you don't swim often then? If you don't have a bathing suit' Anto asked, startling Harry. The question was phrased a tad impertinently in his opinion, but her expression wasn't mocking, so he figured she was just curious.
'I've only swum once before in the last few years actually' Harry answered truthfully, remembering the disastrous rescue of the hostages 'we have a lake at our school but we never really swim in it. What about you? Do you swim a lot?' Even if not very polite, she seemed nice, so he might as well get to know her. After all, she was the only person his age in the house and he would be with them for two months.
'Yeah, as soon as it gets warm we swim almost every day!' she exclaimed excitedly 'in the pool here and in the beach in Barcelona. We usually go there for a month during August but this year we will travel instead' Harry smiled wistfully at the thought. He had never been to a beach, or travelled anywhere, and told her so. She was dismayed, which made him think that maybe he was being too obvious about his situation with the Dursleys.
'So what do you do during the summers?' she asked curiously.
'I usually spend half with my relatives at home and half at my best friends' house. He lives in the countryside and has a big family, so there's a lot to do. We usually play games and sports all summer' he replied grinning at the thought of the Burrow 'except last year; we went camping and saw a big football tournament'.
'Oh that sounds fun too' Antonia said smiling 'camping is great; we've also done it a few times'. They talked for the rest of the hour comfortably, about trivial things. Harry was surprised at how easy it was to talk to her, and how entertained he was. Provided he omitted the magical comments, of course.
'Antonia, Harry, ¡vengan a comer!' (…, come eat!)Señora Inés told them coming to the terrace. Anto got out of the pool, and Harry suppressed a gasp of surprise. He had been so concentrated talking that he hadn't noticed the red and blue bikini she was wearing, but she looked very good in it. Her bosom was still small, but her flat stomach, tiny waist and round, attractive bottom made up for that. Her legs were long and shapely, making her look taller, and Harry understood why he initially hadn't noticed she was shorter than him. He had never seen a girl wearing so little before, and it did strange things to his thoughts. He didn't remember what Cho, Hermione and Fleur had been wearing during the second task; he had been too stressed to think about it.
'You coming?' Anto looked back at him. Harry quickly stopped staring, hoping she hadn't noticed, and got out of the pool. He dried himself and threw his t-shirt on while Antonia slipped into a sundress and they both went inside. Tía Ana was sitting at the dining room table with two identical girls that Harry knew were eight years old. They had a lot of similar features to Antonia and the same tanned skin colour, but black hair and brown eyes.
'Harry, these are Marta and Laura' the lady told him gesturing to the twins in turn 'girls, this is Harry'.
'Nice to meet you' said Laura grinning, while Marta nodded. Harry returned the greeting, feeling embarrassed. Until today, he hadn't known how to say that in Spanish, but an eight year old knew it in his language. He resolved to study hard during the next two months.
'Mom, Harry and I want to go to Parque del Retiro after lunch' Antonia announced. Harry nodded, as she had told him about the big park during the last hour, and he had thought it seemed interesting.
'Ok, do you want me to drop you off at the metro?' Tía Ana asked them while handing Antonia some money.
'Nah, we will take the bikes' she replied brightly 'Harry can use Luciano's. He's a good biker, so he uses a bigger wheel size, don't worry' she reassured him. Harry had no idea what the wheel size meant, but he was more concerned with the fact that he had never ridden a bike before. How was he going to explain this?
'Actually I prefer to go walking if you don't mind, my leg had been hurting for a while' he invented wildly, but with a convincing face.
'Sure, we can take the metro then' Antonia smiled.
'So where's Luciano?' Harry asked hoping to change the subject. He did not feel comfortable using things that belonged to someone he hadn't yet met.
'You will not meet him this summer, he's spending it in Canada doing the same thing as you' Tía Ana replied proudly. Harry felt confused; he wasn't doing anything special as far as he knew.
'What do you mean the same that I am doing?' he asked nonplussed.
'Spending a summer abroad to learn a language' Tía Ana explained patiently, as if he was supposed to know this 'Antonia also went to Canada three years ago and spent a summer with distant relatives learning English. The past two summers her Canadian cousins came here to learn Spanish, and now it was Luciano's turn to go'. Harry thought now it made sense that Antonia spoke so well English, and why Vernon's excuse to leave him there had not seemed too strange for these people. He wondered if he would be able to speak Spanish like she did English after two months. He doubted it.
'Well, it worked very well' he complimented her 'your English is excellent'. She blushed slightly, and the action made him feel slightly warm.
'Thanks! My parents wanted me to go to England with your family, but they said they don't have enough space at their home, so I went to Canada instead' she told him. Harry quickly confirmed the lie. He couldn't imagine the Dursleys pretending they liked him for a whole summer in order to seem like a normal family.
'It would have been great if you had come though' he said thoughtfully. Then maybe he wouldn't have needed to be rescued by the Weasleys. Or maybe he would have been locked up pretending he didn't exist for two months instead of three days.
Nymphadora Tonks prepared to leave her shift, extremely bored. The Dursleys had left earlier than her arrival, so she had been idly sitting beside their back yard under an invisibility cloak. Harry had either gone with them or stayed in his room, so nothing interesting at all had happened. Oh well. She'd rather have nothing to report than some disaster.
She waited impatiently for Mundungus to arrive, so she could start tagging a new lead at the ministry. He was already fifteen minutes late! No respect whatsoever. Finally, she saw him heading her way, surprisingly cleverly disguised as a muggle. They turned the corner to ensure they were unseen by the neighbors and she passed the cloak onto him.
'Finally, I was waiting for ages!' she huffed. Before he could argue she disapparated to the ministry. Why did she have to waste all morning keeping guard over a kid? Even if it was harry Potter, what was the worst he could do? He was under wards and he wasn't an idiot. In her opinion, they should have just told him what he needed to do and not do and why, so he could avoid getting in trouble. But obviously, when she had raised this point, most people had ignored her after Dumbledore countered the idea. Oh well. Maybe they would see sense to it next Thursday when no one had anything interesting to report on him. She didn't know how wrong she was. But of course, she didn't know everyone taking shifts on Harry this week would experience the same inactivity as her.
Harry looked around in wonder. When Antonia had said they would be going to a park, he had assumed that it would be bigger than the one in Little Whinging, but he had not imagined this. He thought it looked more like a forest. The girl led him obliviously through a street (yes, the park had streets!) up to a small plaza with a fountain. Many teenagers were skating around it, performing tricks he had never seen. Harry watched stunned as two skaters played a game of Frisbee, sometimes jumping or bending in the skates to catch it, and even hitting it with their knees like a football. There were also teens skating around what looked like an obstacle course, incredibly coordinated, almost like a dance.
'I have no idea how to do that stuff, I haven't skated in ages' commented Antonia. Harry agreed. Catching a snitch was definitely easier than this. After a while, they walked through more trees and rivers, arriving at a pond with a palace made of glass. Anto showed him the inside, which was full of rocking chairs with books attached. Apparently, you could just come here and read whenever you wanted. Harry thought it was a nice concept to relax. He believed Hermione would be in heaven here, but he didn't know if she ever read novels or just academic books. He commented this to the girl beside him and she laughed and asked him for more details about his friends. He told her some (heavily edited) stories about the visits to Hogsmeade and Hagrid's and they ended up both laughing hard while walking. Harry hadn't felt this relaxed in what seemed like ages. He wondered if it was because nothing in Madrid reminded him of his troubles at school, or because he was aware that he would have a totally Dursley-free summer with people he was actually starting to like. Or maybe because here he was anonymous, and no one expected anything of him or even knew he was the boy who lived.
They walked slowly and arrived at a lake in the middle of the park. It was full of people having picnics, and also eating at a couple of cafés at the edge. Inside the lake were many people in boats rowing around, and at the other side he could distinguish a big monument. The sight was very lively, and Harry tried to drink it all at once amazed, just like he had with Diagon Alley.
'Do you want to get an ice-cream?' Antonia asked grinning. Harry hesitated. He didn't have any muggle Money, and she had already paid for the tickets in the tube.
'My mom gave the money to both of us you know…your uncle and her agreed on a sum that he gave her for your expenses during these two months'. Harry didn't know what to be more surprised at. That a girl he barely knew could guess his exact thoughts, or that Uncle Vernon had given someone money for him. But he supposed it was obvious that hosting a person for two months brought extra costs.
'Sure then' he grinned back at her and they raced to the ice-cream parlour. He got a big vanilla and hazelnut sundae. Antonia got mint with something called "dulce de Leche" which was very good. They shared the ice-cream talking animatedly while they examined the many statues in the monument.
'Do you want to rent a boat?' Anto asked enthusiastically. He noticed she got excited very easily about everything, almost like a little kid. It was refreshing.
'I don't know how to row' he replied uncertainly. He didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of all these people.
'I don't either, but who cares? No one will be looking at us and if they do you'll never see any of them again!' she replied grinning. Harry thought she had a point, but it was strange. He had never had the luxury of not attracting people's attention before, either for being the vandal freaky nephew of the Dursleys or the boy who lived.
'You're right, let's go!' he said a little more enthusiastically this time 'It's weird to not feel watched' he commented. Obviously, she had no idea what he meant.
'Why, are you famous or something?' she joked 'come on, the rental is this way'.
'Extremely famous' he drawled in a haughty voice, chuckling at the irony. Anto laughed too, thinking his joke rather funny. They rented the boat easily, and in five minutes they were on the shore. The seller explained to them the basics of how to row and left them on their own. It wasn't as hard as it looked, and they enthusiastically made it to the middle of the lake. Harry enjoyed himself immensely, especially when they started a water fight from the boat, which rocked dangerously and almost turned over.
'In my school we have a tradition that you have to reach it by boat in your first year' Harry told Antonia 'it's located in a big castle, so when you see it for the first time from the lake it looks amazing'.
'It's a castle and it has a lake? You school is weird' she commented laughing 'but it sounds cool, I wish mine was like that'.
'It's a British thing' Harry replied thinking quickly.
'I'm glad you like to make your country seem cool, but that's the biggest lie ever. My school is British and it's just plain boring' she replied chuckling. Harry was surprised at the statement, but supposed it made sense then that even Marta and Laura knew some English. There went his hope to speak perfect Spanish in two months.
'Yeah, I guess my school is weird then' he replied. She stuck her tongue out at him and splashed him again. He splashed her back, laughing freely. It felt strange to be a normal teenager, but it was a welcome change.
I hope you liked it! In the next ones more interesting things will start to happen and I'll cover more days at a time. Remember to tell me your thoughts and ideas onwhat you think should happen! I'm sorry about not updating soon, but I can't promise how often I will do it because I'm a very slow writer!