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There were defiant benefits, Harry thought to himself, of having a godfather, who, even though he was innocent, was a wanted for murder. For instance, he was now allowed out of the house anytime he pleased. All he had to say if his abusive aunt and uncle tried to keep him inside that he'd then write a letter to his godfather and suddenly they were falling all over themselves to please him. Still, it didn't get him a new bike. Rather he had to ride one he pieced together from bikes his obese cousin, Dudley, had broken. It wasn't the best bike in the world and certainly didn't ride like his broom, a beautiful Firebolt, but it got him around without attracting the attention of muggles. You see, this black haired, green eyed boy was none other then the wizard-in-training, Harry Potter, the boy who lived. Harry was going on his 5th year of wizard training at Hogwarts His parents had been murdered by the muggle hating wizard, Lord Voldermort, real name Tom Riddle. Harry had a few run ins with Voldermort since starting his wizard training and so far survived them all. Even when Voldermort reclaimed his body.... Harry shook his head, refusing to think about Voldermort. Refusing to think about how strange it was that even though Harry was living with magic hating muggles like the Dursleys, Voldermort hadn't made a single move. Instead Harry decided to think about his newest discovery - girls. For a moment he thought of Cho - but she was quickly dismissed from his mind. Lately Cho just didn't have the same appeal anymore. She really wasn't that pretty or that special - and besides, she was older then him, always a recipe for disaster. Harry had found that females mature faster then males for a reason. Instead Harry thought about a very different girl - the little sister of his best friend - Ginny Weasley. He had recently received an updated picture of the Weasley clan - puberty had hit Ginny, hard and fast. In his letter Ron had complained about a muggle man from the village they lived near who had refused to believe Ginny was under 18 and had even come to the house to court her - thankfully Bill had been visiting and threw the creep out on his ear. Judging from the picture Harry could see why men would be hard pressed to believe Ginny was only 14. Even though she had a youthful face, her body screamed full grown woman. Suddenly to Harry, Ginny was no longer the scrawny, kind of annoying little girl who mooned after him - no, now she was someone who could compete with Fluer - and Fluer was 1/4th Veela. "Jenkins, I'm not a child." A woman's voice suddenly brought Harry out of his thoughts. He could tell that the owner of the voice was American, but he wasn't sure what part. Not New York, though. "Madam Hood," an older voice, now Harry could see the owners of them, the current speaker was an older man dressed as a chauffeur. "This is my job." The American woman sighed heavily. She was a short, overweight woman, young - probably under 30, with blond hair and even from this distance Harry could tell she had the most unusually colored eyes he had ever seen. They were the color of green mold, only they seemed to glow, as if radioactive. Her skin was a delicate shade of pink and despite the extra weight she was exceedingly pretty. "I can carry my own bags, Jenkins." The woman, "Madam Hood", said, grabbing for a heavy looking suitcase that was snatched out of her reach. "Okay! But you have to leave three of the other bags in the car and get them later. I won't have you throwing your back out!" "Very good, Madam," the man said, putting three bags back into the trunk of the large town car. Now Harry remembered. This was the former house of Lord John Hood. Lord Hood had died a few months ago and had left his money, property, and title to an American relation. Rumor had it that she had given up her American citizenship so she could legally lay claim to the name Lady Hood. This was one of the smaller houses Lord Hood owned, she was probably just going to get settled in here. Or maybe this was the only house she could get for Harry had heard some of the cousins were fighting the will in court, saying an American, even though she had the same name and blood, shouldn't be allowed the lands and title that went with them. The woman now looked at Harry and smiled. She had a cute, heart shaped mouth and lips of that were naturally pink. It reminded Harry of roses. Though - her smile wasn't as pretty as Ginny's, he thought.... "Hey kid," she said, motioning Harry over even as Jenkins walked towards the house. "You live around here?" "I live a few streets over on Privet Drive." Harry answered. Up close he was even more amazed by her eyes. They seemed to swirl with strange light. He shuddered a bit, thinking how much the light in them looked like the green light of the unforgivable Avada Kedavra curse. She didn't seem to notice the shudder, however. Instead she held out her hand which Harry took, her handshake was firm and brisk. Harry found himself instantly liking her. "I'm Ashley Katrina Hood. Call me Lady Hood and I'll scream. So just call me Ashley." She grinned a crooked grin. Her eyes flicked to his scar briefly but she didn't seem to notice anything significant about it. "I'm Harry Potter. Everyone calls me Harry." Harry said, lamely. Still ensnared by those eyes - though he found himself comparing them to Ginny's eyes and found them lacking.... "Well, Harry," Ashley said, releasing his hand and leaning back against the car, "it's like this, I'm going to be living here for the rest of the summer and all I've got is Jenkins. I need someone to show me around, where the fun stuff is, and since I'm pretty bloody immature for 25 going on 26 I think you're the kid for the job." Now this was surprising. Lady Hood didn't even know Harry and she was full grown - and she wanted him to show her around? "Don't worry, I'm not some sicko." Ashley said with a chuckle. "I'm just an incredibly immature adult." She looked as Jenkins started back. "Hey, Jenkins, come meet my new friend, Harry Potter." Now Harry thought he must be mistaken, for Ashley was so obviously muggle, but Jenkins almost seemed to look at him in awe, reverence. Even the way he said, "It's a great honor, Mr. Potter," seemed like almost every wizard he ever met. Not to mention that Jenkins looked right at Harry's scar. "So, Harry, what do you say? Or am I too old to hang with you?" Ashley asked. If one thing could be said about her, she didn't beat around the bush. Well, it wasn't like he was going anywhere. So Harry agreed.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hanging" as Ashley put it in American vernacular, was - interesting, to say the least. She came by the next day, in a limo. The Dursleys were struck speechless, which Harry found amusing as Ashley talked a mile a minute, praising Petunia's hair and Vernon's tie. She even ruffled Dudley's hair. The Dursleys seemed to kowtow to her which Harry found hilarious. "I hope you don't mind but I'm taking Harry shopping." Ashley said as they left. "Poor kid needs some clothes that fit. These things look like they were meant to cover a blimp!" As soon as they were in the limo Ashley left out a sigh. "Thank God we're away from them! I don't know how you put up with them, Harry. Well, Jenkins, let's get my new friend some clothing suitable for the Ritz." She winked. Ashley had played a bit of a trick on Harry. Though she did get him a couple of suits she mainly bought him regular "street" clothes. Sometimes Harry couldn't understand her American slang, but then she'd turn around and say something incredibly British - he found out that she adored British tv shows and movies. Preferring them over American. She even preferred British food and loved steak and kidney pie most of all. But the most amazing thing about her was her singing voice. She put on a Michael Crawford CD while in the car, the British muggle singer was her favorite. When she opened her mouth and started to sing along Harry felt like he was in some kind of trance, he couldn't do anything except listen to her sing. He breathed only when she breathed, not making a single sound. Just sitting there in utter amazement at her talent. Even Jenkins seemed to have trouble driving and they ended up getting a ticket when he ran a red light. After that Ashley didn't sing but rather told silly jokes and told about her American life, confirming the rumor that she was now a citizen of the crown. "It was always my dream to live here." She said. "I hated California with a passion, the snooty people, the constant sunshine - I love rain and I'm tired of beaches and all that crap. Besides, I have to admit I'm secretly pleased how angry it made my parents. They're very controlling." Harry nodded, remembering how controlling the Dursleys use to be until they started to - well, fear him. He let Ashley do all the talking, though sometimes she drew him into conversing. She was different from anyone he ever knew. Ashley was smart, but didn't lord it over people, yet she was funny - she was kind of like both a Hermione and a Ron. There was even a bit of Fred and George in her as she was often pulling minor practical jokes. The hard thing to get use to was the fact that as a new member of nobility, Ashley was often ambushed by paparazzi and reporters. Both she and Harry were photographed several times and she had to keep explaining that their relationship was totally innocent. "He's a kid and I'm a kid at heart. Come on, people, I'm lonely, I need a friend and Harry was the first one in my neighborhood I met." She said to one reporter. "There's nothing illicit about our relationship - I would sooner kill myself then to do something sick like that! I just need a friend and I don't make them easy with adults as I'm often intimidated by them. Besides, Harry's smart, brave, kind - if I had a son I'd want him to be just like Harry." Half the summer passed this way. Harry often got letters from Ron and Hermione, both curious about the adult muggle he was often photographed with. Sometimes Ashley would have a weird look on her face and Jenkins would look at Harry as if kind of scared. Finally one day Ashley let Harry in on what was bothering her. "Harry, do people in England often use owls to deliver joke messages?" Ashley asked over a cup of tea. Harry nearly dropped his cup. Quickly he sopped up his spilled tea. "Um - well...." Suddenly something fell in front of Harry. He recognized the Ministry Of Magic seal. It was from the Improper Use Of Magic office. He opened it up. Reading it outloud. "Dear Miss Hood, this is your final warning. Untrained witches are not allowed to practice magic." He looked up just as Jenkins dropped a tray, shattering the delicate pot on it. "Jenkins!" Ashley cried out, jumping up and examining him. "You okay? You didn't scald or cut yourself, did you?" "No, Lady Hood." Jenkins said, looking pale. He allowed Ashley to sit him down as she ran to get him a glass of water. "Oh dear - I thought I saw those owls.... Oh blast the bloody Ministry! I wasn't ready to tell her yet." "Tell her what?" Harry asked, though he knew perfectly well what it was. "Lady Hood is a witch...." Jenkins managed to get out just before Ashley returned with the water. However when she left with the broken pot and such Jenkins quickly whispered. "She comes from two powerful wizarding bloodlines that went bad about 500 years ago. The Hoods and the Munchasens. The ones who didn't go bad tried to breed the magic out of them, but two of them married and produced Ashley who had all the signs of being a witch, the blond hair, the mold green eyes. Even that bat-shaped birthmark on her right forearm. Her parents are controlling because they were trying to hide this from her. I've been trying to find a way to tell her. Oh, Harry," Jenkins said, pulling his jacket aside to reveal that tucked in an inside pocket there was a wand. "She doesn't believe in magic...." Harry was about to open his mouth when he heard a scream from the kitchen. He and Jenkins jumped up, wands out, they ran into the kitchen. Ashley laid on the floor in an obvious swoon. Kneeling next to her was Albus Dumbledore, fanning her with his hat. "I do believe," Dumbledore said with a small smile, "I shouldn't have Apparated in the kitchen." (Continue....) Home |