20demayo 72 Picking Up The Pieces
72 Picking Up The Pieces
72 Picking Up The Pieces
After seeing Voldesheep being chowed down on by a herd of griffon, my mood over Tonks breaking up with me was lightened. I was secretly glad that I had previously resolved to not take it too hard if she lost interest in me, in case I was just a phase for her. I apparently was and she pushed me aside to have a career.
It was just too bad that she didn't realize I would have happily waited for her while I fully supported her. Making rash decisions seemed to be universal, even though she believed I really did all of the adventures I had done in my books. Not surprisingly, most adults didn't believe it. Well, not all of it, anyway. It wasn't my fault they didn't investigate to find out that the stories were completely true.
That thought made me laugh and I went back inside the castle. I was halfway across the kitchen when Amy lunged out from behind the counter and tried to tackle me. I partially dodged, grabbed her arm and leg, and swung her around in a circle like a merry-go-round.
“WHEEEEEE!” Amy yelled as her long black hair flapped behind her. She laughed and laughed as I spun her a bunch of times.
Petunia sighed from the kitchen table. “Must you do that inside?”
I slowed down and carefully stood Amy on her feet, then held her steady as she wobbled. Her face was red and she couldn't stop giggling. “There's nowhere for her to ambush me outside.”
Petunia rolled her eyes and took a sip of tea. “That's not a good enough reason.”
Amy eased off her giggling and hugged me. “Harry loves me! He won't listen if you tell him to stop.”
I looked down and saw the smug look on her face and looked back at Petunia. “She's not wrong.”
Petunia shook her head. “Go jump in your piles of fan mail or something.”
“LET'S DO THAT!” Amy shouted and dragged me out of the kitchen. I glanced back just before the door shut and saw that same smug look on Petunia's face, so I knew where her daughter had learned it from. We passed Dudley on the stairs and he gave us a questioning look.
“Fan mail cannonballs.” I said and he laughed and turned around to follow us.
We always had a great time diving into the giant pit of fan mail that I had collected over the years. They were all spelled to not crumple or tear and the house elves had covered the pit with cushioning charms, so there was no danger of paper cuts or anything.
“Why do you keep all of this?” Dudley asked and jumped to do a half-gainer and landed on his back and sunk down a couple of feet. Amy laughed pretty hard and she did a swan dive and disappeared under the surface letters.
“So I can tell anyone that talks to me that I got whatever they sent and saved it.” I said and jumped from the side, did a backflip, and pulled my legs in to do an actual cannonball.
A pile of letters shot up into the air and fluttered all around us. When I surfaced, both Dudley and Amy were laughing.
“I have a master list of everything, too. Notes, cards, gifts, and things I sent in return.” I said and started to do a backstroke. Amy quickly joined me and we raced around Dudley as he technically floated in the middle. Cushioning charms were the best.
“You're really doing the whole best Harry Potter thing at your new school, too?” Amy asked me.
“Yep! I can't disappoint my fans.” I said and made a face at her as she passed me. “Hey! You won!”
“YAY!” Amy yelled and stopped moving. She sunk down slightly and started giggling as she slowly sunk out of sight and letters and cards flowed over her head.
“Ooo, Amy wants to play the submarine game!” I said and Dudley barked a laugh and rolled over onto his belly. The two of us slowly sunk down into the piles of letters to join her. The hunt was on!
Amy won, of course. She was too cute to lose to two big lugs like Dudley and I.
*
On my birthday, I was a little depressed again. I didn't have a second private birthday party at Andromeda's. I did have a pretty good laugh as I watched Hagrid pace back and forth on the other side of the street for half of the day. The aversion ward was still working, even with a sheep powering it. It made me wonder what Hagrid would think about a sheep holding him at bay and my depression faded away.
I received much more fan mail this year and spent the rest of the day opening gifts and cards and sent off thank you cards with added personal responses to the more notable ones. On the plus side of being single, I now had nothing holding me back from flirting with the fairer sex... not that I let that stop me before. I usually never took it too far, like I did that one time with Andromeda.
Damn, she had a nice ass. Her husband Ted agreed with me and didn't mind me copping a feel. He's a great guy for allowing it. Did me making him rich have something to do with that? Nawww.
Oh, another pair of panties. I thought and put them aside. Black lace this time. Nice.
I wrote out a quick note and thanked them for thinking of me and that I appreciated it. I was not tempted to send them a pair of my boxers in response. Not only would that be in bad taste, it would be more fun to do that in person. I didn't recognize the name, so that idea was out. I put the card in an envelope and added her name, then put it on top of the outgoing stack.
“Yes, it does. It lets us meet new people and the other students to meet up with the friends they probably haven't seen all summer.”
Amy pouted and looked up at my 5 foot 8 inches of height. “I don't care about anyone else. I just want my cousin to never leave me.”
I knew exactly what to say to that. “Amy, I may be leaving home for a while to go to school; but, I am never leaving my family.”
“Never?” Amy asked, her voice full of hope.
“Never ever.” I promised.
Amy smiled slightly and her face changed to show determination. “Then I'll wait for you, Harry.”
I opened my mouth to thank her and she stood up on her tippy-toes and kissed me right on the mouth. It only lasted for a second and she broke the kiss, blushed to a bright red, and ran out of the living room. The shocked looks on Vernon's, Dudley's, and Petunia's faces, matched mine. As far as I was concerned, that had come right out of nowhere.
It took Petunia a few moments to shake the shock off. “I'll talk to her.”
“Y-yeah. Thanks.” I whispered.
Petunia put a hand on my shoulder briefly as she passed me and followed her daughter.
“Well.” Dudley said and then smiled at me. “That just happened.”
I sighed. “Dudley...”
“No, I didn't know. I knew she liked you. I just didn't realize she liked you liked you.”
“Please don't tease her about it.” I almost begged.
“Hey, don't tell me how to do my job.” Dudley said as his smile grew into a grin.
“Bloody hell.” I said and rubbed my forehead. “If you leave her alone and don't make this whole thing worse, when you turn 16 and get your license, I'll buy you the sports car you like.”
“You gonna enchant it, too?” Dudley asked.
“Of course. I won't put you in danger just because you want to drive a deathtrap.”
Dudley chuckled and slapped my shoulder. “Bribe accepted.”
“Thanks.” I said and watched him walk away. I practically felt Vernon stand up and approach me, even though I wasn't using my magic detection spell.
“Harry.” Vernon said and his tone of voice was so low that it rumbled.
“I promise nothing happened.” I said and held up my hands as I looked back at his face to see his glare. “I've only ever been the best second brother that a little sister could have asked for.”
Vernon's glare changed to a blank face. “Maybe that's the problem.”
I sighed and had to nod. “I think I have to agree with you. I never suspected... I would have...”
Vernon sighed, too. “I can't tell you to stop.”
“No, you can't.” I said and took a deep breath. “I can't stop, either. She'll think it's her fault if I do.”
Vernon nodded and kept that blank gaze on me.
“I need to go.” I said and left the room. I felt his eyes on me all the way to the floo room. The feeling didn't fade until I called out Grimmauld Place and disappeared in the flames. King's Cross Station was within walking distance of that address and it was the easiest way to reach the train without trouble instead of trying to teleport near a crowded station.