A/N: as a few reviewers have mentioned, this story is posted in it's entirety on fanfic.net…if you go there to read it please leave me a review and let me know what you thought. I have combined chapters here on PK and added a bit here and there, and will delete a few scenes from FF that aren't "allowed" here on PK…but I just wanted to let you all know. And, again, thanks for the reviews!
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Brand New World
It was as if he was on automatic pilot.
Mr. Weasley maneuvered him through the halls and was talking.
Who knows what he was saying; Harry still had the words ringing in his ears that were spoken a short while ago.
He felt like he was walking through a fog having Mr. Weasley being the foghorn and directing him where to go. He was in such a state he was sure he would have fallen into the fountain if he hadn't been grabbed by the back of his robes and steered around it.
"….don't forget to change back into Muggle clothes, Harry," Mr. Weasley was saying. He smiled and shook his head as he watched the back of Harry duck back into the loo.
'He has no idea how his life is about to change' Arthur Weasley thought to himself and headed back down to his office. 'It is about damn time that boy had something good happen to him in his life.'
He couldn't wait to owl Molly and tell her the news.
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Harry looked out the telephone box and saw his friends standing there, laughing and joking around. He just stood inside the box for a moment. They couldn't see him in there. It was magically protected so Muggles didn't see him descend under the ground.
Ron's hair was longer and he was at least two inches taller. Dressed in shorts and a plain blue t-shirt, he would fit in as a Muggle no problem. He was smiling and nodding at something Hermione was telling him.
Hermione. Another dress? What was up with her? Maybe she wore them at school and he just didn't notice with her robes covering them up. She had on a long, flower print dress with short sleeves. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail which was bouncing up and down as she was gesturing with her hands. As she took a step back, laughing, he saw Neville standing there, talking to Ginny. Ginny? What was she doing here? Then, Harry looked at an unfamiliar person next to Ginny who was watching Ron with interest as he described, no doubt, the latest candy he had tasted.
She looked like a Granger. Harry saw she had the same color hair, but it was much shorter and tucked back behind her ears. She wore some type of pants that only came past her knees and a top that showed her stomach. Harry would have bet her eyes were the chocolate brown that Hermione's were.
Harry could feel a smile coming over his face as he stepped out of the stuffy box. Everyone turned around.
Ginny let out a yell and launched herself at him before he had even closed the door behind him.
"HARRY! How did it go? Neville said you passed! I heard about the Will reading, so what did it say? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" she stepped back after her huge hug and looked at him. "Damn, you got tall….almost as tall as Ron! It's great to see you!" she smiled and Harry grinned down at her. The past year they became close as they had finally talked through the crush she had had on him. It seemed to take a large weight off of her shoulders and now she treated him like a favorite cousin.
"How are you mate?" Ron came over and they shook hands. He leaned over and whispered in Harry's ear, "Check out Hermione's cousin." Harry shoved him back, laughing. Luckily Neville caught him or he would have gone crashing through a store window. As he turned to adjust his bag, he saw Hermione standing next to him.
"Harry!" she stepped towards him and gave him a hug, lasting a little longer than usual.
"Hey Hermione, hey guys," Harry smiled and kept one arm around Hermione's shoulders.
"Harry, this is my cousin Samantha," Hermione nodded toward the very well dressed girl, standing next to Neville.
"Hi Harry…I am so glad we finally get to meet!" she held out a hand which Harry took.
She had the most interesting French/ English accent and he could tell already that she was pretty much the opposite of Hermione. Not one hair out of place, clothes that looked like they had just been pressed and molded onto her.
"Thanks. It's nice to put a name with a face," Harry said as the words of Ron reverberated through his head-'look at Hermione's cousin'. She couldn't have been more different than any girl at Hogwarts. He could see Ron looking at her, then tearing his eyes away to concentrate on something Neville was saying.
"So, tell us Harry…what happened?" Ginny was practically jumping up and down from excitement. She could see that he still looked a little confused, a lot happy and he was still standing there with his arm around Hermoine's shoulder. Ginny logged that in the back of her mind…usually, Hermione would have shrugged out of his embrace by now, but it looked as if she was leaning into it.
"Well, why don't we go get something to eat and I'll tell you while we wait for our food? I'm still trying to process everything." Harry removed his arm from Hermione's shoulders, explaining how he hadn't eaten much. Harry also needed to figure out how he was going to relay what the Will had said to his friends. How he could word it so Muggles wouldn't overhear anything they shouldn't.
Since no one was from London, they had no idea where to eat and were all talking back and forth about which direction to go in.
"WAIT!" Ron held up a hand and everyone fell silent. "Samantha, Hermione what time do you need to be at that play?" he asked, looking at Samantha then Hermione.
"It starts at two, but we should be meeting my parents about 1:30. It's about five blocks behind us." She gestured back towards the entrance to the Underground.
"Neville, you have been here before with your grandmother…know of any good places around here, so they girls won't have to walk too far back to the theater?"
"Ummmm…not really. But, I'm sure if we walk a few blocks we will find something,." Neville answered looking up the street. "Since it's pretty hot, let's not walk to far."
"I agree!" Ginny and Samantha said in unison as Ron made a motion for them to follow him.
"Since when did Ron lead?" Harry asked Hermione quietly as they followed him and Neville up the sidewalk. He saw Hermione glance quickly at her cousin, who was animatedly telling Ginny all about France, then looked back at Harry. Their eyes met and he understood what she was saying. He gave her a grin and shook his head, chuckling. Ron and girls. It was never a pretty sight!
Harry still smiling, glanced up at his best friend walking a few feet in front of him. He had grown a bit…like every summer and was easily over six feet tall. Harry didn't realize how much he missed Ron until he had seen him standing outside the box. He missed the days at the Burrow playing Quidditch, fighting with his brothers.
Suddenly, he and Neville stopped in front a place that had a menu posted out front. Samantha walked up and examined it with him Ron and Neville. She was tall too, taller than Hermione but still only came up to Ron's shoulder.
"This looks good mate. For dessert they have treacle tart!"
"If we go in here, Ron, you can't eat like you do at school!" Hermione warned him.
"Do you always look at the dessert part first?" Samantha asked running her finger down the entrées.
"Of course. My favorite part," Ron answered pretending to be very interested in the crack in the pavement.
"Me too," Samantha whispered, putting a finger to her lips. Ron looked up stunned as if expecting to reprimanded for this. Samantha just smiled at him and opened the door.
As if by mutual agreement, they all filed into the restaurant, trying to keep Ron quiet about how different Muggle restaurants were from the Three Broomsticks. Ron was totally beside himself. He had never eaten in a Muggle Restaurant before and wasn't used to people waiting on them, asking what they wanted for drink or to eat.
They were seated in the corner of the restaurant at a round table. Harry stuck in the corner with Hermione on one side and Ginny on the other. Samantha stuck by her cousin's side and much to Ron's delight was seated next to him; both with their backs to the room, which was a good thing, Harry thought, that way no one could see how confused Ron looked! Neville, having been out and about before was pretty much used to the restaurant and just looked very amazed to be sitting next to Ginny.
Ginny, who was never fazed by anything, was discussing the lunch options with Neville. Harry glanced at his menu and tried to figure out what he was in the mood for….a chicken sandwich sounded good. He could hear Hermione and Samantha discussing what they should get to eat.
Setting aside his menu he looked around at his friends. Harry was happy. He could honestly, 99% say that now; having Sirius would make it even better, but after brooding about it and trying to get Sirius to come back, examining the mirror that was given to him, he had no idea, if he was indeed alive, HOW to get him back.
Voldermort was gone; Harry with the help of Dumbledore had seen to that. He had all his good friends sitting at this table. He was almost scared to give into this feeling of contentment living the past six years fighting a battle against himself and the outside. Now, there wasn't any type of nagging worry that he would die. No worries about his friends meeting an untimely demise. Just worries about Ron acting like a git in front of Samantha and wondering if Neville would ever let Ginny know how he felt about her.
His green gaze settled upon Ron, across from him. He was playing with the salt and pepper shakers, stacking one on top of the other, but he could tell he was listening to the conversation that Hermione and Samantha were having, which had progressed from food to the latest play there were going to see.
He moved his eyes to Neville who was talking to Ginny about Quidditch and attempting to act nonchalant about sitting next to her…which was almost impossible for him to do. Ginny, being the good sport that she was kept up the conversation.
He could see how Samantha used her hands to talk, just like Hermione and was amazed that she actually had relatives. She only ever talked about her parents, but then again no one thought to ask her if she had any aunts or uncles. Every once in awhile, Hermione would shift in her seat and her leg would bump his under the table. 'Should I move it or leave it there?' he thought as he felt her leg rest against his. He never had time to answer his own question because a young woman came up to take their order.
Ron passed with flying colors, ordering the same sandwich as Harry.
"So, tell us what happened!" Ginny turned and gave Harry a little shake. He could hear everyone agreeing with her, and smiled.
"Ok, ok, but please contain yourselves. And Ron, no yelling when you hear what I'm about to tell you. Got it?"
Ron made a zipping motion across his mouth.
"Well, they called me into their room and Ron's dad came with me. They went over the basics as how I was to inherit upon his….death," Harry's voice went down and octave as he struggled to get that word out. He felt Hermione put a hand on his knee to reassure him. He glanced at her, took a deep breath and went on, "anyway…he didn't have any money in the bank," Harry knew everyone was following him when he didn't have to mention Gringott's by name. Even Samantha was nodding…for all she knew he was talking about a Muggle Bank up the street.
"But, he did leave me his house," Harry said quietly.
Stunned silence, then Ron let out a quiet, but very excited, "YES!"
"Blimey Harry…your own HOUSE?" Neville squeaked, eyes huge. He turned to Ginny who was nodding, along with Hermione.
"That's what we figured. We didn't think he had much else to his name," Ginny explained, taking a sip of her water.
"But that isn't all of it. Guess who showed up in the middle of the reading?"
"Professor Dum-" Ron started and was promptly shushed but Hermione.
"Who is that?" Samantha asked looking around the table, confused.
Ron leaned over and whispered something in her ear and she nodded.
"Yep, it was him! Totally scared me because last time he popped in, I was in that trial. He just sat there, didn't say a word and the Council didn't even flinch. Like they expected it or something. Well, the reading only took about five minutes, I had to sign some papers, after Mr. Weasley read over them and HE walked out with us to the hall."
"Why was he there?" Neville asked, glancing up at the waitress as she brought them some more water. Harry waited until the woman had refilled Ron's glass, enjoying the startled look in his friend's eyes. He wasn't used to people doing things FOR him, having had food and drink just apparate, or having to get more to drink himself from a pitcher. At the same time, Harry noticed that Hermione's hand was still on his knee…he looked at her and found she was watching him. For a moment all he could do was look into her eyes, listening to the sound of ice clinking in the glasses as the waitress made her way around the table. Then, for a moment everything went quiet and Ginny had to kick him under the table to pull him out of his…out of his…whatever (reverie?) that was he was feeling.
He cleared his throat and felt Hermione remove her hand, his knee warm from where it had settled a few minutes before.
"Well, we sat down on a bench and he proceeded to tell me how happy he was that I would finally be able to leave my Aunt and Uncle's house and still have a safe place to stay. He said that he was made aware of my godfather's intentions awhile back and had already made arrangements for the, uh, GROUP to meet somewhere else when need be." Everyone but Samantha nodded knowing full well he was talking about The Order of the Phoenix.
"What group? Where is this house?" She asked, not in a nosy way but in a typical Granger way, wanting to know all the small details. Harry nodded to Ron, who leaned over again and explained in hushed tones what Harry had meant. He could see Samantha's eyes grow wide as they darted over towards Harry then back to her plate as she listened.
"So, when will you move in?" Neville asked.
"As soon as possible. I don't have much to pack. When I go home this afternoon, I'll talk to my aunt and uncle, pack my things and leave. Professor said he had the house cleaned up and removed that one picture that no one liked, but I still have to deal with "the little guy"." Harry spoke in code, knowing that everyone but Samantha knew he was talking about that portrait of Sirius's mother and of Kreacher the house elf.
"We can help you set up, then!" Hermione said with all the girls nodding. "Get some furniture, nicer portraits, fix it up a bit…"
Ron groaned, and ran a hand through his hair, casually draping his arm across the back of Samantha's chair. "No pink frilly stuff. I think Harry, Neville and I could have a grand ol' time in that place! Maybe Fred and George could get us some firewh-, uh, drinks to celebrate. You know with it being your birthday and all…"
The girls rolled their eyes and by now, Samantha was so overloaded with information, she didn't even ask what "fire" was.
"What is the deal with this woman refilling our glasses?" Ron moved his arm from behind Samantha and picked up the half empty glass and looked at it. "It would be so much easier to just Accio water into-" but he never finished because Neville's water jumped out of his glass and immediately into Ron's.
"RON!" Hermione and Ginny hissed. Harry and Neville broke into a fit of giggles, trying to stifle them as not to attract attention. "YOU BROUGHT YOUR WAND?" Ginny hissed at him. Ron just shrugged, and set the water glass down.
"Why?" she asked staring at her brother. "We don't need it here!"
"It's habit! I put it in my back pocket then took it out when we sat down because it was bothering me. It's under the table in my hand." Ron nodded down towards his left hand which was indeed, under the table. "No one saw it."
Samantha stared at the cup for a second; everyone turned to look at her as she looked, openmouthed at the cup then up at Ron.
"That was bloody incredible! Do it again with something else! How did you do that? You have a wand?" She spoke so fast that it took Ron a minute to hear through her accent that she was just floored by what happened.
"Ummm..Samantha, we really shouldn't in here .Other people wouldn't understand," Harry said quietly, leaning over the table so she could hear him.
"C'mon Harry, I can do something small that only us will see," Ron grinned at him as Hermione, Ginny and Neville shook their heads NO.
"Accio fork," Ron said quietly and Samantha's fork jumped the six inches into Ron's hand. He laid it back down, thoroughly enjoying the look on Samantha's face.
"Brilliant," she breathed and looked at everyone around the table. "You can all do that?"
"Oh yeah and more!" Harry said trying not to laugh, he felt elbows poke at him from both directions. "Hey!" he protested swiveling his head from Ginny to Hermione.
"Harry don't encourage her!" Hermione said sharply and Harry promptly looked at Ron who was enjoying the attention.
"What else can you do?" Samantha turned her brown eyes up to Ron and gazed at him with wonderment totally apparent on her face.
"WE can do all sorts of things," Ginny said, frowning at her brother, "Ron shouldn't be showing you this, here, now."
Ron glared at her, his blue eyes clashing with her hazel ones. He turned away and asked Harry a question about how the meeting ended with Dumbledore.
"He said he would see me soon and to keep an eye out for the school letter." Harry referred to the letter they got every summer with a list of books needed and, what would most likely contain Hermione's Head Girl Badge.
"Will you still be prefect?" Neville asked Ron, who shrugged.
"Don't know…I mentioned I wanted to have some fun this year, so that might be enough for Professor to take that badge away."
"Oh, Harry come 'round The Burrow about seven tonight…big birthday bash for you. All of you are invited!" Ron looked at Neville, who politely declined, then at Samantha who was still speechless.
Ron smiled, and looked up as the waitress came over with a huge tray of food. "Now, let's eat!"
Everyone tucked into their food, to busy to continue any conversation about school, magic or Harry's new found independence.