The Next Dance

THE NEXT DANCE

BY AERIE22

CHAPTER 18

HOME

* * *

Christmas dawned clear and cold around Amritsar. Harry awoke early to hear people scurrying around downstairs. He pulled the thick comforter around his chin and stretched comfortably under the covers. Then he came awake with a start, running everything that had happened yesterday through his mind. Riding with Parvati. The 'talk' with Mrs. Patil. The discussion of his--and Sirius's--finances. Sirius taking a job with the Patils. Then seeing Sirius and Lakshmi kissing.

Last night, he thought he would never get to sleep. The amount of giggling from down the hall coming from Parvati's and Padma's bedroom didn't help either. But sleep he did. Now, he sighed and smiled to himself. He had survived his visit with the Patils so far. And this afternoon he would see Tony and Mae for the first time in four months. He was excited and ...

His thoughts were cut short as Parvati and Padma, in their dressing gowns and matched sets of bunny slippers, came running into his room and leapt onto his bed. "Wake up sleepyhead!" Parvati shouted. "It's Christmas!"

* * *

It took Harry less than ten minutes to wash up, change and retrieve his bag of presents for the Patil family. As he raced down the stairs, he almost ran into Sirius, who looked as nervous coming down to face the Patil family as Harry had felt when he first arrived at Amritsar. Harry simply grinned at his Godfather, who grunted a barely audible greeting before squaring his shoulders and begin walking gingerly down the stairs. Harry chuckled as he followed, only to have Sirius turn and scowl. Harry simply laughed and jostled his Godfather out of the way and bounded down the stairs.

Harry again was amazed at the Christmas tree. It was nearly 20 feet tall, seemed to be growing out of the floor, and was fully decorated, a task that the whole family took part in completing three days ago amid much laughter and playful arguing. And beneath the tree was an amazing mound of presents. He took a deep breath and placed his gifts among the gaily wrapped packages.

He looked around to see various Patils talking and laughing. Suddenly, a warm pair of arms wrapped around him. He leaned back, his heart swelling at the feeling of truly being a part of a family Christmas. "I love you," he whispered softly.

Suddenly, he heard a giggle from behind him, then a squeal coming from the entrance to the kitchen. "Padma! Get your hands off of him!" Parvati shouted. Harry turned to discover Seamus's warning on the Hogwarts Express had come to pass: It was Padma, who now was laughing, playfully embracing him.

"Not bad, Harry," Padma said as Parvati pushed her roughly away. "Better keep an eye on him, PeeVee, or I'll take him off your hands."

"Oh, shut up PeeDee," Parvati said with a pout as she grabbed a blushing Harry in a bone-crushing hug. "Happy Christmas, Harry," she said, giving him a quick, warm kiss.

Harry managed to recover his composure as various members of the family laughed at his confusion. He definitely could get used to this. And he gave an inward chuckle at the twins' pet nicknames for each other, which he had never heard at Hogwarts--PeeDee and PeeVee. He'd have to remember that.

Harry smiled at how animated everyone was as he glanced around the room. Then he spotted an unfamiliar face, an ancient woman wrapped in a shawl sitting by the fire. He gave a questioning look to Parvati, who smiled and led him over.

"Grandma? I'd like you to meet my beau, Harry Potter. Harry, this is my dad's mother."

The woman, who looked like she had been tall once but who now seemed to be thin and bent, looked up in surprise. "Potter? Henry Potter?"

Parvati smiled indulgently. "No, Grandma. Henry was Harry's great-grandfather. This is Harry, my boyfriend."

The woman's eyes seemed to light up. "You're marrying a Potter? Harry is it?" Suddenly, her expression changed to one at once more serious and aware. She nodded sagely. "Good people, the Potters."

Parvati's grandmother then squinted up at Harry. "Always liked Henry. Cut quite a dashing figure in my time. You look a bit like him."

Harry was torn between discomfort and curiosity about his family. "You knew my great-grandfather?" he said softly.

The woman eyed him. "I did indeed. We went to Hogwarts together in the 1920s, before the troubles. Mischievous devil he was. And quite the ladies' man." The old woman seemed to become more focused as she gave him a careful look. "Yes, you do look a bit like him, you know. Same black hair that wouldn't stay put, no matter how much he oiled it. Finally gave up as the styles changed. Hair sprouted every which way." She suddenly reached out and grasped his upper arm. "Thin, you are. Thinner than Henry. The eyes are different, too. His were brown. Nice-looking boy. But a better looking man."

Harry had by now sat down, wide-eyed, on the ottoman next to the old woman. "What was he like?"

The old woman blinked. "Now where are my manners? I am Iris Patil. Formerly Iris Brown. One of the Southern Browns. Not like those snooty Northern Browns." She reached out a dry, weathered hand, which Harry took gingerly.

Iris Brown Patil smiled at Harry. "As I said, he was a devil in school. Never thought he had it in him."

Harry blinked. "Had what?"

Iris sighed. "You never heard about when the troubles came?"

Harry shook his head.

Iris looked away off into space. "Grindelwald," she intoned quietly.

Harry nodded, wishing for her to continue. "What about Grindelwald?" he said softly.

Iris sighed. "It was a bad time," she said in a faraway voice. "He came along, spouting his pureblood nonsense. Attracting all sorts of riffraff." Iris pursed her lips and sighed. "I was married by that time. We were all terrified. He didn't like us. Immigrants...wogs, he called us. I was a blood traitor for marrying into a nonpure family."

Iris was now frowning in concentration. She then slowly shook her head. "The Browns, my own kin, sat on the fence. Thought that they could ride out the troubles by keeping to themselves, relying on their wealth to protect them, like they always did before. Then Henry, a young pup with a new bride and a child, stood up for us, stood up to Grindelwald. Helped rally the clans."

Iris's train of thought seemed to wander a moment before turning back to Harry. "Finally, my family, my clan, became a true family again. It was a long, drawn out war, the troubles were. But we stood fast together. The Browns, the Boneses, the Weasleys, the Adairs. And the families, the Potters, the Prewetts, the McKinnons, the Abbotts. And the immigrants, the Patils, the Zabinis, the Johnsons." Iris took a deep, wracking breath. "So much tragedy. So many died," she whispered absently.

Suddenly, her focus returned and she turned to look into Harry's eyes. "We kept Grindelwald from taking over. And Henry was one of the leaders. Helped save the Browns from an attack when Grindelwald hit the clans in 1943. They say it was a curse Henry got hit with in that attack that led to his early death. Then old Albus finally got Grindelwald in 1945. And it was all over. But we Browns will never forget young Henry for what he did for us."

Harry stared wide-eyed at the ancient figure in front of him. "I never heard any of this," he whispered.

Iris turned to give him a puzzled look. "Your kin never told you any of this?"

Parvati reached out to place her hand on Iris's arm. "Harry's parents were killed when he was small, granny. He was raised by Muggle relatives. Don't you remember? Harry's 'The Boy Who Lived'," she said softly.

Iris gave a startled look. "My word, so you are," she exclaimed. "I swear, I don't know where my mind is half the time," she said absently as she reached out to give Harry's hand a squeeze. "Thank you, young man. I am happy to see you as part of our family."

Parvati slowly managed to edge Harry away from Iris and toward the tree. "She is so sweet," she whispered. "But she tends to lose focus unless she's talking about something specific from her past."

Harry was puzzled. "How old is she?" he asked quietly.

Parvati shrugged. "She's 91."

Harry frowned. "She's your grandma, but she's as old as my great-grandfather?" he asked in a puzzled voice.

A cloud momentarily passed over Parvati's face. "Shhhh. I'll explain it to you sometime. But come on," she said, brightening. "It's Christmas!"

Harry was still lost in thought when he was handed a small plate of fruit by Shane's wife Janine. "Eat up," she said. "A light breakfast so there's room for a big lunch. We have to open the presents," she whispered with a twinkle in her eye.

The uproar in the large room had reached a peak when Lil Patil suddenly stood up and merrily shouted everyone down. "Happy Christmas, everyone!" she exclaimed. "It's time!"

Pandemonium broke out as the adult Patil children dove like eight-year-olds into the pile of presents, tossing them back a forth to their intended recipients. Harry had to laugh as Shane and Janine's young ones, Chandar and Audra, seemed to treat the pile of presents as their own personal mosh pit, squealing and rolling around on top to find their own gifts.

Harry was immensely pleased at the Patils' reactions to his own gifts, mostly small, personal presents suggested by Parvati, such as the self-stirring balloon whisks for Lil and the Muggle mystery and spy novels so beloved by Sanjit, Hari and Shane. He even got a hug and a kiss from Padma, who seemed to like his gift of a small bottle of her favorite perfume over that of the spell book she received by owl from her boyfriend, Terry Boot.

And he was equally excited by his own gifts, especially the Auror manual he received from Shane. And he had to smile at the heeled paddock boots from Sanjit, obviously at Parvati's urging. But he had to gasp in delight at the elegant, engraved wristwatch Parvati gave him to replace the watch he broke during the previous year. He was touched by the engraving: 'PP to HP, Always Yours.'

Finally, Sirius walked up to Harry and handed him a large bag. Sirius looked troubled as he leaned forward. "These belonged to my brother, Regulus," he whispered in a sad voice. "He was a bit smaller than I was. So they should fit you."

Harry blinked and looked into the bag. Inside were dragonhide boots, trousers and a vest, along with a dragonhide wand holster. He was overwhelmed. Then he looked up at his Godfather and realized how pained the man looked. "Thank you, Sirius," he said quietly, as he pulled the man into a warm hug.

Sirius sighed. "I wish we could have been closer. He was family, my brother. I thought I could save him before..." Then Sirius simply stopped. He looked down at Harry and his smile gradually warmed. "Happy Christmas, you young sprout."

When the carnage ended and wrapping paper was strewn all over the large room, Harry looked up from his chair to see Parvati standing above him, her hands on her hips, pouting. "Well, nothing for me?" she said with a skeptical frown.

Harry gave her an anxious look. "Well, I wanted to save this for last. I hope you like it."

He slowly reached into his robe and withdrew a small package, handing it to her.

Parvati stepped back to unwrap it as the family looked on in anticipation.

As she took the chain out to see the intertwined hearts, she gasped and looked at him with wide eyes. Suddenly, she launched herself at him, squealing in delight and bowling him over in the most intense hug he'd ever received. "I love you!" she managed to gasp out. Harry managed to recover from her onslaught, giving a goofy grin.

But as he looked around the room, he could see several of the Patil men blanching or rolling their eyes, while the girls seemed to sigh. Mr. Patil seemed to be frowning thoughtfully, while Mrs. Patil gave him a warm, if speculative, smile. Finally, his eyes turned to Sirius, who seemed disconcerted.

Harry managed to disengage himself enough from Parvati's attentions enough for her to insist they both grab the intertwined hearts and kiss before he was finally able to put it on her. He listened idly as the girls in the family, along with Uncle Mandar, Aunt Lali, and cousin Jay--who had showed up after the gifts had been distributed, gathered around to admire Parvati's necklace.

Lakshmi peered closely at the intertwined hearts. "I've never seen one with stones, rather than initials or names. That's a ruby, but the other can't be an emerald. Too dark."

Padma frowned. "It's not jade."

Mrs. Patil frowned. "Peridot," she said finally.

Harry blinked and shrugged. "It sort of matches my eyes," he said absently.

Several members of the family looked up and then back to the stone, nodding. Harry had bright green eyes, perhaps not as crystalline bright as an emerald, nor as deep as a peridot, but somewhere in between.

"Ruby is my favorite gem," Parvati announced.

Mandar frowned. "Birthstones?"

Padma turned and frowned. "But our birthstone is sardonyx," she said, making a face over the traditional August birthstone, the common, milky white mineral generally used in making cameos.

Mandar cleared his throat. "Well, peridot is often thought of as the modern birthstone for August among the Muggles and some members of the wizarding world...mostly among the jewelers," he said with a snort. "Anything for a little extra expense."

Parvati returned the snort. "No. The ruby is me, the peridot is Harry. It matches his eyes. Anyone can see that."

Harry simply smiled, enjoying the attention he was getting among the girls in the Patil family over his gift. 'At last, I finally got something right,' he thought.

It was only a few minutes later, when several of the girls retired to the kitchen to chat and help Mrs. Patil begin to prepare the formal Christmas luncheon feast, that Sirius pulled Harry aside.

Harry's smile faded when he saw his Godfather's exasperated look. "What?" he asked anxiously.

Sirius smiled and shook his head. "Harry, do you know what that necklace is?"

Harry shrugged with a worried look. "It's just like one I saw on a Muggle girl I know. I thought it was nice."

Sirius chuckled and shook his head sadly. "Oh, Harry. You don't know what you've gotten yourself into."

Harry froze. What had he done? He gave Sirius a fearful look.

Sirius began to laugh softly. "Harry, that's a Fidelity necklace. You see those two hearts? They magically get closer whenever your relationship with Parvati is strong. Like right now, they are practically on top of one another."

Harry shrugged nervously. "So?"

Sirius sighed. "But if you do anything that would harm your relationship with her, the hearts will start moving away from each other. And if you ever did anything that would break her heart, or if she ever did anything that would break your heart, the hearts will break apart, pulling apart the heart on the chain of the person whose heart was broken...even if she would never have found out about it otherwise."

Harry's eyes fluttered in consternation. "What does that mean?"

Sirius sighed. "That means if you are ever untrue to her, or hurt her, she'll know it, no matter how hard you try to hide it."

Harry frowned in concentration. Then he looked up at his Godfather. "I told her mum yesterday that I love Parvati, and that I'd never do anything to hurt her," he said with more firmness than he felt.

Sirius nodded. "I know, Harry. But you're fifteen years old. A lot can happen before you are ready to make that kind of commitment," he said, shaking his head with a crooked smile. "After all, I made it a goal to have fun with as many girls as possible before I got out of Hogwarts. And I probably would have gone through at least a dozen of those necklaces," he said with a chuckle.

Harry sighed. "I liked it," he said quietly.

Suddenly, Sirius reached out and mussed Harry's hair. "Not to mention the pressure you've put on all the guys around. Every girl who sees that on Parvati will want one, too. I wouldn't want to be in Shane's shoes right about now," he said with a wry chuckle.

"Or yours, Sirius Black," Lakshmi said with a knowing smile from over his shoulder.

Sirius rolled his eyes and turned back to Harry and, with a mock frown, gave him a playful punch. "See what you've started, Potter?"

* * *

The rest of the morning was a whirlwind of activity, as presents were arranged and lunch was prepared. Only Harry and Shane among the men were allowed in the kitchen as the women went to work on an elaborate Christmas feast.

Harry was thoroughly enjoying the bustle when, on returning to the kitchen to help deliver another platter of food to the table, Hanuman stepped in his path. Harry still didn't know what to make of this 27-year-old man who seemed to make such adolescent sport of teasing and annoying everyone.

The Monkey Man suddenly crossed arms and shook his head. "I don't know if you are being smart, or being just too dumb to be believed with that necklace," he said solemnly. Suddenly, his face broke out into a grin. "But it was worth it to see the looks on the faces of Shane and Hari when they saw your gift to our little PeeVee," he said with a chuckle. "I think if you ever do decide to join this family, you and I can have some fun with them."

Monkey suddenly threw his arm over Harry's shoulder and led him over to the fireplace to join the rest of the men.

* * *

The Christmas feast was spectacular. And, as a final grace note, twelve owls flew in at one o'clock to settle three large, fragrant boxes on the table. Lil and Sanjit Patil gasped as they opened them. There were three huge pies--mince, plum and apple--to serve as dessert.

It was Harry's final gift to the family, one he had arranged for at Simple Simon's the day he had bought Parvati's necklace.

Mrs. Patil turned to Harry, her eyes alight. "Simple Simon's? Oh, how I miss their pies from when we were at Hogwarts. Oh, Harry, this is perfect," she said, rising to give him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

After a satisfied hour sitting back and enjoying the afterglow of the tremendous meal, Parvati nervously stood up and grabbed Harry by the hand. "We better get ready to go. What should I wear?" she asked, fretting.

"Dress Muggle," he said, rolling his eyes. Harry ran upstairs and quickly packed his trunk, while answering a constant stream of questions from Parvati, who kept running into his room, about his foster parents, her wardrobe, and what she should expect.

Harry managed to pack his trunk in a matter of minutes. He worried that he should have brought along Hedwig, but somehow he knew she understood to stay in the owlry at Hogwarts until he arrived home at the vicarage and then fly in, where a second, recently purchased cage awaited her as her Christmas present.

Suddenly, he heard yelling from down the hall and raced over to Parvati's and Padma's bedroom.

Parvati was standing there in a nice black skirt and black stockings, but only her bra on top, her arms crossed glaring at Padma. "As if half my wardrobe isn't already in your closet," she growled.

Padma was glaring back at her sister. "The pink jumper is mine and I won't lend it to you. I was planning to wear it."

Parvati suddenly stalked over to Padma's side of the room and pointed her wand Padma's closet. "Accio my clothes!" she yelled.

Suddenly three jumpers, four blouses, a skirt and two pair of shoes seemed to leap out of Padma's closet.

Padma glowered. "Oh, yeah!" she exclaimed angrily, then stalked over to Parvati's side of the room, practically knocking Harry over in the process, and repeated Parvati's actions. A half dozen blouses, three skirts, a dress gown, and four pair of shoes flew out and landed in a heap on the floor next to Parvati's pile.

The twins looked like they were about to come to blows when Harry jumped between them. "Stop!" he shouted. "Parvati, we only have twenty minutes."

Parvati turned to him with eyes begging sympathy. "I wanted to wear the pink one but she is too selfish to share," motioning her head toward Padma.

Harry took a deep breath and glanced at the pile of Parvati's clothes on the floor. "Uhhh...what about that nice purple one?" he asked in a tentative voice.

Parvati seemed to pause, then turned to give her sister another glaring look.

Harry, thinking furiously, cleared his throat. "I think the darker purple sets off the necklace better," he said in a choking voice.

Parvati again seemed to stop and ponder. She then sniffed and grabbed the plum-colored jumper and, with a haughty look toward Padma, began to put it on. "See if I ever lend you anything ever again," she muttered in Padma's direction.

As Harry made his way out of the twins' room, he ran into Lakshmi, who was quietly chuckling. "You may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to this family," she whispered with a smile.

Parvati was still fretting about her wardrobe when Harry managed to drag her and their trunks down to the main fireplace in the drawing room. After hugs from the assembled Patil family--including Padma--along with Sirius, Harry grabbed Parvati's hand. He knew both the Patil's fireplace and the one at the vicarage were big enough for both of them. So the two looked at each other and, after a deep breath, they threw floo powder into the fire and stepped in.

"The Vicarage, Little Whinging."

* * *

Rev. Anthony Strowbridge was excited. But he was the picture of calm next to his wife Mae, who was nearly bouncing off the walls waiting for the couple's foster son, Harry Potter, to arrive with his girlfriend for a four-day, post-Christmas visit.

The couple had not seen Harry since August 31, when a huge old Daimler limousine had rolled up with two huge bodyguards, and crowd of wild redheads and a pretty young girl named Hermione had practically flown out of the car to swarm over the boy. To the Strowbridges, who had fretted over the often moody young Harry, it was a delightful scene. Harry seemed to revel in the love of his friends.

Still, Tony and Mae worried about Harry. He hadn't told them much about the dangers of his world, but it was enough for them to want to know more about how he was doing. So they were surprised and delighted that Harry had been surprisingly regular in his correspondence. Three Friday evenings in a row they received brief, chatty notes, by way of Harry's owl Hedwig, that generally touched briefly on school events and activities of friends. Tony and Mae would then sit down and write a page or two about what was going on in their lives and the lives of Harry's Muggle friends and those in the parish, by return owl. Mae would also post through the regular postal system, addressing her letters to Harry through a postal box in the post station at Hogshead, the tiny Muggle town nearest to Hogwarts, where someone would collect regular mail and forward it to Hogwarts, itself.

Then, only a few weeks into the term, they received a very long, confused and rambling letter from him, full of anger, tears, and self-recrimination. It appeared that Hermione had turned his affections away. Then nothing for two weeks. Tony and Mae were heartbroken and worried for Harry.

Suddenly, they received an unexpected letter in the middle of the week. Hedwig, for her part, seemed irascible that no one was there to collect the message for several hours. But the Strowbridges didn't mind, after reading the wonderful news. Voldemort, the Wizarding Hitler, had been defeated in some sort of battle and would not be bothering Harry for the foreseeable future, if ever. Then there was a new girl. Parvati Patil.

Harry's correspondence had changed in tone after this letter. His letters started to get longer and more thoughtful. He had briefly described her, but not to the point that they could get an idea of what she looked like, which exasperated them no end. But what was somewhat disconcerting was his calm and understated avowal that he was in love.

The Strowbridges shook there heads at this. Fifteen-year-old boys were constantly falling in and out of love. But Harry's quiet prose took great pains to explain his feelings about this girl. There was little of the swooning statements you might expect of a young boy's first major crush, although the couple had to smile about Harry's description of her as the prettiest girl in school. But the almost analytical way he described his feelings showed a depth of emotion that surprised and worried the Strowbridges. It was almost like he had grown up in the space of weeks.

But Tony also remembered a crush he had on a local girl at that age. She was pretty enough, as he remembered, but she also was well-developed for her age, and Tony now realized his interests in her were primarily carnal in nature and it embarrassed him to be so taken in by young lust. Not that anything came of it, but Tony worried that, despite Harry's letters, his feelings might be of a similar nature. And, given the more permissive atmosphere these days, he feared Harry's feelings were derived from the physical rather than the spiritual aspects of love.

The Strowbridges continued to be curious about exactly what this Parvati looked like. They had dutifully gone up to Harry's room as instructed and dug out the magical picture of his classmates that he had hidden on the top shelf of his closet. It was one of all Harry's classmates in Gryffindor during their fourth year.

Hermione, Harry and Ron were instantly recognizable in the middle to the group. Tony and Mae knew that Dean was the tall black kid looking over Harry's shoulder. And the somewhat stocky boy on one end must be Neville. On the other end was a relatively pretty young girl with a shock of blond hair streaming out from under her school hat who must be Lavender.

But the other two were not quite as distinct. The one just behind and to the right of Ron must be the joker, Seamus. It was still startling for Tony and Mae to see photos that moved. And Seamus, in the photo, was moving, flipping the floppy peak of what had to be Parvati's school hat over her eyes, much to her annoyance, as she kept turning back to elbow him in the picture.

The action tended to obscure her face, which already was somewhat shadowed from standing next to the much taller Ron, in addition to being obscured by Seamus's horsing around with her hat.

So Tony and Mae could not really make out what the girl looked like. She seemed a little taller than Lavender to her right. But she seemed small next to Ron, and a few inches shorter than the jokester, Seamus. It was clear that her hair was tied back, as Harry had mentioned in his letters. But because of the shadows, the movement, and the flopping hat, they couldn't get a good sense of what she looked like.

Tony and Mae, frustrated at Harry's lack of eloquence on her appearance, except for his claims that she was the prettiest girl he knew, speculated at what she really looked like. Maybe she looked like the adorable little Susie Pondichary, the daughter of one of the Indian families in the town, with her long, glossy black hair, nut brown complexion, bright eyes and dazzling smile with unnaturally white teeth. The two smiled at such a cute match.

But the Strowbridges were anxious to see Harry, and almost as anxious to see how this flue, or "floo," process worked. Harry had explained, rather whimsically, that it worked like Santa Claus. They would come out of the chimney. He simply asked that the fire grate and tools be removed before 3:00 pm on Christmas Day.

Tony dutifully cleaned the fireplace and removed the tools the night before. The couple enjoyed sitting before the fire, especially on cold days during the holidays, but they both were aware that the magical world worked in strange ways. So, having completed their Christmas services and duties for the day, they were sitting on the couch before the fireplace by 2:45 pm.

Almost exactly at 3:00, they heard what sounded like a whoosh in the fireplace and suddenly two people, holding hands, ducked their heads and stepped out.

Tony and Mae were startled by the appearance to the two people in their fireplace, even though they'd been forewarned. But they were almost as shocked by Harry. He didn't look all that different--perhaps an inch or so taller with a slightly thinner and more angular face--but the way he carried himself and the way he dressed was worlds away from the haunted boy who struggled to figure out what to wear to services during the summer.

As Harry stepped forward smiling to hug first Mae, then Tony, the Strowbridges were struck by how straight and erect he carried himself, rather than the slump-shouldered, almost furtive way he carried himself during the summer. He was wearing a long black coat over charcoal gray slacks, a light gray Hogwarts sweater and a button-down white shirt with a red-and-gold Gryffindor tie, a far cry from the oversized, hand-me-down tee-shirts and jeans that he was just beginning abandon at the end of the summer.

"My word, Harry," Mae gushed wide-eyed. "You look all grown up."

"Happy Christmas Mae, Tony," he said, smiling excitedly.

Harry then turned to the girl by his side. She was wearing a long black cloak with a fur-lined hood. As she pushed the hood back, Tony stared. She was tall, taller than Mae, who was a solid five-foot-six, almost as tall as Harry. And Parvati held her head high and her shoulders back. She had long, very dark brown--almost black--hair with a short fringe in front, with a thick braid over her shoulder. Her perfect complexion was a light olive and her smile was warm and dazzling. But it was her eyes, a deep, dark brown, that were her most exotic and enchanting feature. Tony was nonplussed. This was not a bubbly, adorably cute young girl like Hermione, who they had met at the end of summer. This was a lovely young woman who seemed older than her age--older than Harry.

Mae, on the other hand, was more analytical in her quick, almost instinctual, examination of this new woman in their foster son's life. Parvati's nose was straight, but perhaps a little too long, and her mouth a bit too wide. Mae noticed a hint of makeup. And Parvati's eyebrows were a bit too perfect, obviously the product of a lot of time before the mirror. She wondered about the type of 15-year-old girl who spent so much time on her looks. But then Mae gave an inward shrug. What 15-year-old girl didn't spend a lot of time fretting about her appearance?

But this Parvati did have great bone structure, with a strong but elegant jawline and high cheekbones. And her complexion was not the nut-brown of Susie Pondichary, but more like a golden tone of someone who spent a lot of time in the sun. Not the peaches-and-cream complexion of the traditional English lovely. More like some unidentifiable ethnic beauty, like to daughter of some Spanish hidalgo or Italian noble, or even like a Persian princess.

Mae nodded to herself. She was the kind of woman who could be beautiful into late in life, or become thin, pinched and shrewish looking, depending on her life's circumstances.

Harry suddenly stepped back. "Reverend Anthony and Mae Strowbridge, let me present Miss Parvati Patil. My girlfriend," Harry announced nervously, breaking Mae's concentration as he looked at Parvati fondly.

Parvati walked forward and embraced Mae warmly and then did the same to Tony. "Thank you, Reverend, for saving my Harry," she whispered in his ear.

Tony was still staring speechless when Mae broke the spell. "Oh, come now. Since when were you so formal, Harry," she said with a laugh. Turning to Parvati, she smiled. "Around the house, it's just Mae and Tony." Then turning to Tony. "Or, just Mae and 'Hey You'."

Tony turned to Mae and started to laugh. Turning back to Harry, he again hugged his foster son. "Welcome home, Harry. Welcome home, son. And you too, Parvati. Come now, take off your coats and make yourselves at home."

As Parvati removed her cloak, Mae noticed that she was wearing a plum-colored jumper and a simple, modest black skirt that came down just below her knee. And her boots were high and had classic medium heels. The girl had a trim, but not thin, figure that was modest, but well in proportion. This was in stark contrast to Hermione, who Mae had noticed when Harry was picked up, was smaller, but whose budding figure promised to be more curvy.

As the two couples sat in the drawing room getting to know each other, Mae and Tony were amazed to see how mature and confident Harry now was. For the first few weeks he had lived with them during the summer, Harry was almost like a ghost, seeming to drift around the house cautiously and silently, doing chores unbidden until Mae would kick him out with orders to enjoy himself in the neighborhood. And he would disappear into his room at night until Tony would drag him out to watch the tele or chat or generally goof around. Even at the end of the summer, he was often shy, quiet and careful, despite the tutelage of Sara Geddes from the neighborhood and a new-found confidence around girls thanks in part to the local parish dances.

Now, he was almost eager to talk about his friends, his school and his girl. Parvati, for her part, seemed equally poised despite the strange surroundings. She would occasionally look to Harry for guidance or appear a little nervous, but seemed able to hold her own in the conversation, with funny stories about her family, school and Harry.

Some of what the Strowbridges heard disturbed them. Tony pressed Harry to tell him about Voldemort, something he was never able to succeed at during the summer. He was shocked to discover how Harry had nearly been killed several times during the boy's first four years at the school and grimaced as he discovered it was Harry and Parvati alone who confronted and nearly destroyed Voldemort a few months before.

Tony and Mae now realized that Harry and Parvati had nearly killed people, even though in self-defense, something that he hadn't realized from Harry's letters, which tended to become cryptic when describing the hazards of his world. He also now understood where Harry's nightmares had come from, particularly from the incident where Cedric Diggory was murdered. The Strowbridges' hearts went out to both young people.

Finally, Mae turned the conversation to more pleasant and mundane subjects. It was then that Tony noticed something else, something he couldn't quite put his finger on earlier. He noticed how Harry and Parvati kept touching each other in absent ways--the way Harry would play with Parvati's braid or caress her shoulder and how Parvati would hold Harry's knee, rubbing it with her thumb. Had a pretty girl touched him like that when he was that young, Tony knew he would have hit the roof in excitement and anxiety. And yet it seemed like Harry and Parvati took these familiarities for granted, savoring them without any particular show.

Tony blinked a couple times, realizing. They were sleeping together. Despite the wonderful change in Harry's attitude brought by this girl, the thought disturbed him. They were so young, even though talking to them was almost like talking to contemporaries. He shook his head at the thought. He would have to talk to Harry.

* * *

Suddenly, as the sun had set, and Mae turned on the lights of the modest Christmas tree in the drawing room, everyone seemed to realize it was still Christmas. Harry and Parvati rushed over to their trunks to grab their presents for the Strowbridges.

Then Harry stopped and frowned, and a look of comprehension passed across his face. He jumped up and dashed out the door. No sooner than he had left than he returned, followed by eight annoyed looking owls carrying between them two large fragrant boxes.

"Uh, I forgot that this wasn't a typical wizarding household," he said, blushing, as the owls unceremoniously placed the boxes on the coffee table. Harry quickly opened one steaming box and the smell of a freshly baked apple pie wafted through the room. He quickly broke off a large piece of the crust with some apple still clinging to it and fed it to the now mollified owls, which devoured the piece happily, and then grudgingly hooted their thanks before Harry let them out the door again.

In the meantime, Parvati opened the other box, allowing the rich, fruity smell of a huge, warm mince pie spread in competition with the apple. "Harry!" Parvati exclaimed in laughter. "Are you trying to fatten me up?"

Tony and Mae looked at the pies with wide eyes. "Are these magical pies?" Mae asked in a tentative voice.

Harry chuckled. "No, they're regular pies. They were baked and delivered from Scotland magically, but they are normal in every other way," he said, returning to the room with plates and silverware. He muttered a quiet incantation, then aimed his wand at the fireplace. Logs and kindling arranged themselves in the hearth and ignited, and the warmth of the fire soon added to the spirit of the room.

Parvati eyed him. "Underage magic wards?"

Harry nodded with a smile.

Then there were the presents. Parvati gave the Strowbridges elegant jumpers, Tony's in Scottish wool, and Mae's in cashmere. She made them both try theirs on and, after a nod from Harry, did a quick charm to make sure they fit perfectly.

Harry, for his part, felt anxious. He wasn't sure whether his presents were appropriate. Finally, he handed Mae a small, wrapped box. "I know it's more a Catholic thing, but I thought you might like it."

Mae opened the box and drew out a delicate gold chain with a small, simple gold cross. Mae looked up at Harry in surprise. "It's absolutely beautiful...But..." Then she paused in recognition. "You were here this summer when I broke my old chain."

Harry nodded.

Mae looked at the chain closely. "This is so beautifully and delicately done." She then gave him an uncertain look. "Harry, this must have cost a fortune. You don't have to spend a lot of money on me."

Harry looked down and squirmed a little. "Well, it was only twelve Galleons," he said quietly.

Mae gave a puzzled look. "Well...I guess...that doesn't sound like a lot, I suppose."

Harry them passed a much larger box to Tony. "I had Sirius pick this up for me," he said quietly.

Tony opened the wrappings and stared. It was a 1.75-liter bottle of a rare twenty-one-year-old, single malt Scotch whiskey. Now it was Tony's turn to Harry and stare. He began chuckling uncertainly. "And I suppose this cost only twelve Galleons, as well."

Harry made an uncertain face. "No, that was fourteen," he said, not sure whether he should grin or not.

Tony simply continued to chuckle. Finally, he leaned back with a smile. "Not that I drink much of this, but when I do, it'll be nice to have the best." Suddenly, he looked up at Harry. "You heard Basil Wright teasing me about 'store brand whiskey,' didn't you."

Harry nodded. He knew it was a running joke between Tony and the head of the Parish Council over Tony's choice of whiskey after meetings or when Basil came by to visit. Harry blushed. "I asked Sirius to charm the bottle. It will continue to refill until you have drunk all 1.75 liters. So you can share it as much as you want without worrying about running out. Especially with Mr. Wright."

Tony gave Harry a quizzical grin. "You mean I get to drink the whole bottle and any of it I share with others won't decrease the supply?"

Harry shrugged and nodded.

Tony burst into laughter. "Well, looks like this gift will last me for months. It's about time I got one up on old Sir Basil."

Harry grinned, then produced another bottle. "This is Dragon's Blood wine. It's supposed to be strong but sweet. You drink it after a meal, according to Sirius."

Tony gave Harry a quizzical look, realizing suddenly how accepting he was becoming of how different the magical world was. "I'm going to have to meet this Godfather of yours." He then paused in thought. "He really was innocent, after all. I saw it on the tele that the search was over and the real killer had been apprehended."

Harry nodded sadly. "He was in that place for all those years," he said quietly, as Parvati leaned over to stroke his back soothingly. "But now he's free."

Harry had two last gifts. "This is something you should have had all along."

Mae opened the first gift as Tony looked on with interest. It was a book: So Your Son or Daughter Is Magical--A Window Onto A New World.

Harry simply shrugged. "It was written for Muggle parents with magical children. It just tells you a little about my world and how I fit in."

Harry walked back to his trunk and hefted a large, heavy package and gingerly placed it on the coffee table between the two pies. As Mae tore off the wrapping paper, Parvati began to giggle and roll her eyes.

Mae and Tony stared at the huge, thick book, and then gave a questioning look to Harry.

Harry sighed. "Hogwarts, A History. It's more like a history of the wizarding world in Britain. It might give you an idea of what our world is really like. It's also subscribed for a year, so any revisions in the next edition will appear magically."

Parvati burst out laughing. "And how many pages are devoted to you?"

Harry blushed, but Mae was already hefting the book to check the index. Her eyebrows shot up. "Here. 'Potter, Harry James: Ancestry, 4515, 4583-4584; The Boy-Who-Lived, 4583-4587; Forbidden Forest, 4823-4824; Golem (1995), 4825; Hogwarts, 4792, 4812, 4823-4825; Quidditch, 4812. See also, Dark Lords (Lord V--, 1978-present); Dumbledore, Albus; Golem (1995); Granger, Hermione; Patil, Parvati; Potter, James; Potter, Lily; Quirrell, Caspar; Weasley, Ronald'."

Parvati gasped. "I'm in there?!" She quickly reached for the book and looked herself up. Finally, she nodded with a crooked smile. "Two mentions, one for the Forbidden Forest and one for the Golem. Not bad," she said with a quiet chuckle.

* * *

The next morning, Harry had just returned from the shower and just had time to dress when he was greeted at the door to his room by Mae and Parvati.

Mae gave him a fond look. "All right, Harry. Time to measure you. You must have grown at least an inch since the summer."

Mae and Parvati started giggling and Harry had to smile as the two most important women in his life pushed him back and positioned him with his back to the edge of the heavy door to his room.

A couple days after he arrived at the vicarage during the summer, Mae had cautiously suggested the same thing. He had never even noticed all the markings on the edge of the door. Then, as Mae positioned him so his back was up against the door edge, he saw her wistful expression and her gentle, almost grateful, smile as she placed a small, flat-ended box on his head. 'Stand up straight,' she insisted. Once she had the position of the box held against the side of the door, Harry had ducked out from under it, puzzled. Then he saw Mae trace a short line on the edge of the door and pencil something beneath it.

It was at that point he realized what all those little lines were in the edge of the door. He looked closely and understood he was looking at growth charts of several generations of children who grew up at the Vicarage over the years. And he also realized that Mae had never gotten the chance to do this and probably always wanted to. 'Five feet, seven inches and seven eighths,' she announced that first time.

It was the first time he had reached out and hugged Mae--one of the first times he could recall ever reaching out to hug anyone on his own initiative.

By the summer's end, he had reached five-feet, nine-and-three-quarters inches.

Mae had also weighed him. He was 56 kilos, 123 pounds, at the beginning of the summer. By the end, he was up to 62 kilos, 139 pounds.

Now, he was playfully being pushed up against the edge of the door again not just by Mae but by a giggling Parvati. "Stand up straight, Harry," Parvati chided him. Turning to Mae, she gave an exasperated look. "You don't know what a time it is to get him to stand up straight," she said with a roll of her eyes.

Mae chuckled and found the old cigar box in Harry's room where he kept a few knick-knacks, including his TriWizard Tournament medal, and emptied it on his desk so she could measure him again.

Harry dutifully stood against the edge of the door, smiling, all the time listening to Parvati nag him to stand up straighter. As Mae finished penciling in his height, Harry stepped away. "Five feet, ten-and...about a quarter," she announced. "Congratulations. You're now taller than Tony."

Harry gave Mae a lop-sided smile. "Sirius said my dad was almost as tall as he was--a little over six feet tall."

Mae returned the smile. "Five feet-ten is a good height. Almost ideal, if you ask me."

Suddenly, Harry gave Parvati a side-long glance and his smile turned mischievous. "Okay, Parvati. Your turn."

Parvati squealed and made to bolt, but Harry grabbed her and positioned her against the edge of the door where he had been only moments before. "Come on, Parvati. Stand up straight," Harry said, laughing, as Parvati kicked off her bunny slippers in exasperation. He turned to Mae. "You don't know what a time it is to get her to stand up straight," he said in mocking echo to her earlier comment.

Harry prodded Parvati a couple of times until she simply rolled her eyes and straightened up.

"Five feet, seven and....three-eighths," Mae announced.

Parvati's face fell. "Well...some of that is because of my hair...it's thick up there when it's plaited..." she complained.

Harry rolled his eyes, but Mae tut-tutted. "You are a very lovely, elegant young lady. You should be proud of your height," she said soothingly.

Parvati turned to her with mournful eyes. "But I like wearing heels...And I've got such big feet that I can wear them high...and..."

Mae simply chuckled, but Harry guffawed. "That's why your parents bought me those paddock boots with the riding heels, right?" he said with a laugh.

Parvati frowned but held her tongue.

Mae walked into Harry's bedroom and sat at the chair at his desk. Harry simply walked over and flopped on his bed, his back against the headboard. Parvati walked in, glancing around in appreciation, and sat down at the foot of Harry's bed and leaned against the footboard.

"This is a nice room," she said quietly.

Mae shrugged. "It's a rich parish with a history of fund-raising vicars," she said with a quiet chuckle. "It's nice that this room can once again be used...by family."

Harry's smile broadened as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the headboard.

Mae turned to Parvati. "So you have a twin? Is she as pretty as you?"

Parvati gave a half shrug. "I guess. We're identical."

Harry chuckled. "I can tell them apart easy. Parvati's hair is a bit shorter and she wears a fringe on her forehead."

Parvati poked him and he giggled. "Well, Padma has a slightly broader face...and she's not quite as pretty," he said with a smug grim.

Parvati cast him a mischievous glance. "Oh, yeah? So you knew you were leaning against Padma, not me, yesterday morning?"

Mae blinked in surprise as Harry blushed. "Well...you sound a lot alike. And she came at me from behind and grabbed me, so I thought it was you," he stammered.

Parvati simply laughed.

Finally, Harry relaxed. "I didn't know she was such a flirt."

Parvati's smile softened. Finally, she shrugged. "I think you're the only boy she feels comfortable with. Not like that poop, Terry."

Mae looked back and forth between the two of them in puzzlement.

Parvati turned to Mae. "Padma, my sister, is dating this guy Terry Boot. Both of his parents teach at a wizarding university. So he was raised on intellectual discussions among professors and university-aged students, and that's all he knows to talk about. Half the time, we don't know what he's talking about. So all Padma does is study and listen to Terry babble," she said, rolling her eyes. "He has the social skills of an mountain troll."

Harry burst into laughter, but Mae frowned. "If she's so pretty, why doesn't she date someone else?"

Parvati sighed. "She's tall like me, and very smart, and a little reserved..."

"Unlike you," Harry said with a giggle, earning him a gentle kick from Parvati.

Parvati frowned again. "A lot of boys are afraid to ask out someone taller then they are, or smarter than they are," she said in a faraway voice. "Teenaged boys can be so dumb."

Harry simply shrugged and smiled at his girlfriend.

Parvati simply sighed and grabbed Harry's foot, giving it a squeeze. "She did like this one guy, but he was dating a friend of ours. Then he turned out to be a real prat..."

Harry nodded. "Ernie..."

Parvati nodded. "She also liked this other guy, Justin, but he's too reserved. She needs someone with a little life to him to bring her out of her shell."

Harry stared. "Padma likes Justin Finch-Fletchley?" he exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

Mae started. "Finch-Fletchley? As in the Finch-Fletchleys? The automobile family?"

Harry nodded. "He's like the third son of some Muggle Lord who's worth half the empire or something."

Mae stared. "Alexander Finch-Fletchley is the Earl of Condon. They're wizards?"

Parvati rolled over on her stomach to look at Mae. "No. But the Finches and Fletchleys have had their share of witches and wizards in the family over the years. So it isn't a surprise that we go to school with one."

Mae began chuckling. "We drove a Finch Falcon when we first came to Little Whinging..." she said absently.

Parvati shook her head. "She doesn't need someone like Justin. She needs someone who knows how to have a little fun." She turned to Harry. "So that's why you better not encourage her. I'll share my wardrobe with her. But. Not. My. Boyfriend," she exclaimed, punctuating her statement by playfully throwing her bunny slippers at him.

* * *

Parvati was out in the kitchen with Mae, getting a handle on Muggle cooking techniques despite Harry's protests that he was the better cook and should be in the kitchen, as well. But Tony pulled him back and insisted they take a walk around the church grounds.

As they strolled slowly near the cemetery, Tony confronted Harry. "You're sleeping with this girl, aren't you?"

Harry tensed and looked away for a moment. First Lil Patil. Now he was getting 'the talk' from the one of the most important persons in his life. Harry stopped and closed his eyes to ponder how to answer this. He first hung his head, then raised it slowly to look at Tony levelly. "Yes, Tony. I am."

Tony closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. "Harry, you are little young for that sort of thing."

Again, he turned to cast a level gaze at Tony, belying the uncertainty that he felt. "I guess. But there are some things that happened that made it so right, so important to us." Harry then looked ahead along the path next to the cemetery. But he saw nothing.

Tony shook his head. "Harry, I know it feels right. But that could be as much hormones as love."

Harry paused, but couldn't seem to come up with a response that made sense. He didn't know what to say. Here was one of the most important people in his life, the closest thing he had to a father--even above Sirius, who often seemed like an older brother. And now Harry felt that this could fracture their relationship. By sleeping with Parvati, he had ignored all the advice Tony had given him during the summer about girls. He felt that he had let Tony and Mae down. And he now feared that his relationship with Parvati might jeopardize the closeness he had enjoyed with the Strowbridges.

But he loved Parvati. She was everything he always hoped for in a girl, a friend, a girlfriend. She was pretty, challenging, exasperating, exciting, unpredictable, warm, and fun. And he wouldn't, he couldn't let her go. And he couldn't promise he wouldn't sleep with her again. He knew that was a promise that he would have a difficult time keeping.

He closed his eyes and sighed as Tony silently led him through the back door to the church and down the stairs through the vestry and into Tony's office. Tony sat Harry in one of the chairs in front of the desk and took the other one, turning to face the boy. Harry was surprised Tony didn't take his seat behind the desk.

Tony frowned in thought. Finally, he took a deep breath. "Harry, I'm concerned about this not because I'm worried that you'll be hurt if you two break up. I hope I'm mature enough to realize I can't protect you from the emotional stress of being a teenager. And I'm not about to give you a fire-and-brimstone speech about sins of the flesh. But I do know of the more serious problems that the kind of relationship you have with Parvati can lead to. I've been counseling sexually active teenagers for many years. There are so many things that could happen. And almost all of them are bad."

Harry lowered his head and nodded. "I know," he said quietly.

Tony turned to Harry. "What if Parvati gets pregnant? You've met a couple of the girls in town who became teenaged mothers. You've seen what they go through. And teenaged fathers. How desperate, how angry, how sorrowful they are."

Harry nodded and heaved a great sigh. "We are being careful."

"What do you mean, careful?"

Harry frowned. "We were just going out for a walk, to meet a unicorn Parvati had become friends with, when Voldemort attacked. But everyone assumed we were looking for a place to have sex," he said in a halting manner.

Tony frowned and nodded for Harry to continue.

Harry took another deep breath. "But after the attack, we started getting birth control advice and methods from half the professors in the school," he said with a mirthless laugh. "So, yes, we are taking precautions."

Tony was quiet for several moments. Finally, he looked up at Harry. "You know, having access to birth control isn't a license to have sex. There's more to having a relationship than sleeping together."

Harry was silent for a long time. He felt miserable, feeling that he had to find a way to explain how he felt.

Finally, he looked up at Tony, fighting to keep his eyes from filling. "Do you know what it's like to grow up an untouchable?" he said in a choking voice. "Both in spirit and in reality? To never be hugged or kissed growing up, to never get a pat on the back, a kind word, or even a neutral word?"

Suddenly, Harry's voice was no longer choking, but filled with bitterness. "The only human contact I had was feeling the occasional belt or cricket bat to my back or my backside. No one ever asked me how my day was. Whether I was feeling well. What I was thinking or what I was planning. The only ice cream I ever had was what I stole from the carton when no one was looking. And when I was caught, I was branded a thief and thought of as a thief for the rest of my time on Privet Drive. And labeled a thief to all who would listen to my aunt."

Harry closed his eyes and sighed. "When I got to Hogwarts, all of a sudden I was special," he said with a rueful laugh. "But I didn't know why. I didn't trust anyone, except my friends Ron and Hermione. They were wonderful. They were the first friends I ever had."

Harry's face then clouded. "But then Ron turned on me last year when I was chosen to compete for the TriWizard Cup--the competition I told you about, the one where Cedric Diggory was murdered at the end. Ron was jealous. He felt bad afterward, but it scared me," he said with a vague half shrug. "And then, at the beginning of this year, I tried to tell Hermione how I felt about her. But she froze...treated me as if I had bit her, and seemed to turn on me as well. I lost her friendship when I was desperate for human contact."

Harry leaned back in the heavy leather chair and closed his eyes. "Then Parvati seemed to just appear in my life. It was all an accident. She heard me one night doing exercises, trying to wear myself out to get to sleep. And she wasn't afraid to touch me, not as a sex thing, but as a friend. And she was willing to listen to me. She let me cry on her shoulder. She treated me like a person, like I was worth something. And when we suddenly found ourselves on the brink of something...maybe love...she didn't back away. She admitted that she was fascinated by 'The Boy Who Lived.' But when we finally got to know each other, she didn't look at my scar or my fame. She didn't ask questions. She didn't stop to analyze the situation. She just let it happen. Maybe...just maybe, because she thought I was worth giving her love to."

Tony stared at Harry, who now was leaning his head back, his eyes still closed as if he was too weary to open them. Tony had never realized what Harry had gone through. The depth of his pain and sorrow. He slowly reached across and grasped Harry's hands in his own. Harry opened his eyes in surprise.

"Harry," Tony said softly. "I think I understand. I just wanted to make sure you understand as well."

Harry gave Tony a sad look. "I...I just like it when she leans against me when we're sitting together studying. Or when she gives me a hug or a pinch. I like that I can hold her hand or put my arm around her waist or shoulder without worrying whether she'll flinch or turn away from me. I can...touch another human being...a very special human being, and she can touch me. It's like...we're connected. It makes me feel like I'm not alone in the world."

Tony stepped forward off the chair and gave Harry a hug, which Harry returned gratefully.

"You're not alone, Harry," he whispered. "You'll never be alone."

* * *

Parvati looked thoughtfully at the stove. "Let me see if I understand this. You turn the knob and the circle here..." as she pointed to the burners "...heats up to different temperatures. But you don't know what temperatures they are. So you have to had be able to judge how high the fire should go while you're cooking."

Mae nodded. "It takes some getting used to. So how do you do it?"

Parvati shrugged. "Wood-burning stoves...or magic. I guess this is easier to get used to than our stove, but magic is the easiest of all. You just will the appropriate heating charm and the food cooks. Of course I'm not supposed to be doing magic outside of school, but the Ministry of Magic doesn't bother with underage magic violations within your family home. I guess they figure your parents are supervising you and they know best. So I've been helping with the cooking since I was about eight. My sister actually knows more recipes, but I think I'm the better cook. And don't listen to Harry. I'm a better cook than he is. He thinks being adventurous means being good. But I think taste comes first, not trying weird combinations. Of course I've only eaten his cooking a couple times over at my parents' house. So he might surprise me yet."

Mae laughed softly. "At least you can count on him knowing where the kitchen is. Tony is one of those men who is more than willing to help around the kitchen, and then burns everything in sight. I think he's a terrible cook on purpose just to keep from having to do it more often than he does now."

Parvati laughed. "I guess Harry's like that with shopping. He doesn't like to shop. It was a job to get him to spend anything on himself at first, even on things he desperately needed. Now, he doesn't mind buying something if he knows exactly what he wants and can get in and out in five minutes, but looking around and getting ideas and trying out different looks is something that drives him crazy."

Mae nodded knowingly. Then she looked at Parvati with an appraising eye. "One thing he never mentioned was whether you are in the same classes. You two are the same age, aren't you?"

Parvati giggled. "Oh no. He's much older. Let's see, he's three weeks and four days older then me. I never thought he'd be the type to rob the cradle, did you?"

Mae chuckled. "It's just that you're both fifteen, but you both seem so much older."

Parvati leaned back against the counter and looked at Mae with a smile. "Look, Harry's had the hopes of the wizarding world on his shoulders since...well, I guess, since forever. My roommate Lavender and I got a laugh out of finding out that we both had the same picture book of great wizards in history and both of us were most charmed about the page about Harry. We loved the story about how baby Harry saved the wizarding world from the evil wizard. And when we ended up not just going to school with him but living in the same house, we were thrilled."

She then frowned. "I guess he felt that sort of hero worship from a lot of us. And I don't think he liked it very much. But when things went wrong, he took it on himself, with the help of his friends Ron and Hermione, to take care of the problem, even when he knew it might cost him his life. I don't know why he always felt responsible for everything, but he did. And you heard him last night. He almost died several times without ever giving what he was doing a second thought."

Mae's face had fallen. Parvati noticed. "It's just the way Harry is. And I guess he grew up faster than the rest of us in most things. He always wants to take care of people. Like his way with the first year students. He and Hermione...has Harry told you about Hermione Granger?"

Mae nodded. "We met her when Harry was picked up at the end of the summer."

Parvati gave a quick frown and a curt nod. "Well, Harry and Hermione are prefects in charge of the first years in our house. Hermione tells them to study and reads them the rules and threatens to take away house points when they do something wrong. But Harry is their friend. He listens to them, guides them, gives them hell when they do something wrong, but encourages them constantly. He's going to be a great father some day."

Mae nodded and sighed. "So how long have you known each other?"

Parvati shrugged. "We've known each other since we've been at Hogwarts. My roommate and I always liked him, but he was always hanging out with Ron and Hermione, who is our other roommate. And she's always been a little possessive and standoffish. So it was kind of hard to get to know him. He did take me to the Yule Ball in our fourth year, but that was just when he started noticing Hermione and was a bit of a prat. Okay, he was a real prat. He and Ron took me and my sister to the Ball and we hardly danced or talked at all."

"So I really didn't get to know him until I came across him jumping around practicing karate in the common room in the middle of the night in the beginning of the term. I thought he was dancing," she said with a laugh. "He was so cute and so sexy. So we ended up showing each other karate and dance moves," she said, smiling warmly at the memory.

"We ended up talking and agreed to help each other out romantically, me with Hermione, who had hurt him badly, and him with Ron, who couldn't get up the nerve to say boo to me. We ended up meeting a couple more times after lights out to talk and have fun together...not romantically...just fun. Then, when Harry finally arranged a date between Ron and me and it failed miserably, we somehow got together. And it was the most wonderful thing I've ever experienced."

Mae gave Parvati a wary look. "Is that when you two began sleeping together?"

Parvati blanched, turning a deep red. She lowered her head and shook it. "That came later."

Mae reached out and grabbed Parvati's shoulder. "Don't be upset, Parvati. I'm not passing judgment on you. I just figured you could use someone to talk to about it. Someone a little older and more experienced."

Parvati sighed. "It's...it's just that I found him so sweet...so nice...someone I had fallen in love with. He was someone I could trust. And...well, it just happened. It was...wonderful. It was like we were the only ones in the world. We didn't intend to...Harry even tried to stop a couple times for my sake...but...I don't know."

Mae nodded. "So it wasn't just that once, was it?" she said softly.

Parvati gave her a wan smile. "Well...Professor Trelawney--she's our divination teacher--has this boyfriend who lives in...well, London. So she goes away every few weekends to stay with him. And my roommate Lavender and I are her favorite students, so she gave us a key to her classroom. So Harry and I snuck up to her quarters and spent the night. It was so wonderful. And waking up in his arms the next morning was the most wonderful experience of my life."

Mae nodded again. She knew that feeling well. "So you get together whenever this professor is out of town?"

Parvati shook her head. "We were only able to do that twice. And we've managed to find a couple other places when we want to...well, you know."

Mae's face took on a more serious look. "Is he demanding?"

Parvati looked up, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well...is he always after you to go up to this professor's quarters, or wherever else?"

Parvati blinked a couple times and started to laugh. "Oh, Mae. He's fifteen. My mum warned me that teenage boys are always interested. But he doesn't press. He doesn't even ask, really. If we feel like it, fine. Otherwise, we sit and talk or have fun or just hold hands. He can take no for an answer, if that's what you're asking," she said, her expression becoming mischievous as she finally began to relax in front of the vicar's wife. "And if he didn't, I'd toss him out the window. I'm not that much smaller than he is. And he's been teaching me karate. So he knows better."

At this point, both Parvati and Mae burst out laughing.

Then Mae's face recomposed to a more serious look. "Are you taking precautions?"

Parvati began laughing again. "You have no idea. When we defeated Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, the wizarding press all jumped to the conclusion that we were out there for a quick shag. They started calling it 'The Lover's Showdown in the Forbidden Forest.' And all of a sudden, everyone started coming out of the woodwork with contraceptive potions and charms, family planning advice, birds-and-the-bees talks. We had professors playing father of the bride and mother of the groom for weeks. I swear, half the wizarding world were interested in our sex lives before we had even thought of having a sex life. So yes, we are taking precautions."

Mae was now giggling so hard that she had trouble catching her breath. "I swear. My little Harry. A sex symbol."

At this point, Parvati started shrieking with laughter. "You have no idea!" she exclaimed. "One of our teen magazines claimed Harry was the sexiest wizard under 25! Can you imagine? I started calling him 'Harry Potter, Boy Gigolo.' I never saw a boy turn that color."

As the two women collapsed against each other in laughter, the back door opened.

"Uh-oh," Tony said. "That doesn't sound good."

Harry gave a crooked smile. "No. It doesn't."

* * *

It was Wednesday. Tony came down to breakfast wearing a frown. He looked across the table at Harry and Parvati and sighed.

"Harry, I got a message that Mrs. Beaupre is worse," he said quietly.

Harry looked up with a worried look on his face. "Old Mrs. Beaupre? What's wrong?"

Tony simply shrugged. "She had the grippe, but it has gotten worse. Her son put her in hospital when he came by on Christmas. It's now pneumonia. The doctors aren't optimistic."

Harry lowered his head in sorrow. He had mowed the lawn for Mrs. Beaupre. It was an ordeal as he used her antiquated push mower, and hand shears to do the trim. But she was a sweet old lady, and it pained him to hear she might die.

Tony cleared his throat. "Harry. I'll probably be spending a good portion of the morning over at hospital with her," he said quietly. "And I had promised to stop by to say hello to Jenna Cartwright and her son, but I probably won't be able to make it now. And you know how she looks forward to our visits."

Harry frowned and nodded. Jenna Cartwright was a young unwed teen mother. He had met her a couple times during the summer as Tony or Mae would come to visit to see how she was doing.

Tony frowned. "Harry, Parvati? I was wondering if you two would mind stopping by Jenna's just to say hello. I'm sure she would love the company, even if for an hour or so."

Harry looked up. "Sure...I guess." He turned to Parvati.

Parvati turned to him and smiled. "Sure. It sounds like fun. And we could walk around the neighborhood and see some of your other friends. It's a nice day for a walk."

Harry sighed and then smiled. "Sure."

* * *

Jenna Cartwright had not had an easy life, despite being relatively well off. Her mum had developed a drinking problem that only got worse when her father abandoned them.

Her one solace was her boyfriend, Will Short, who was a little older, but seemed to pay attention to her like her mother and her now absent father never did. Then, at age 16, she found herself pregnant.

Will, in a panic, bolted, joining the Royal Marines. Her father could not be found. And her mother went into a rapid downward spiral that ended in her hospitalization and, eventually, institutionalization.

Jenna was left with nothing but her pregnancy and a small trust fund from the sale of the family house in Little Whinging.

Tony and Mae intervened, finding her a small apartment in the basement of an understanding member of the parish. And they managed to see to it that half of Will's military pay went to her to support her and the baby, and saw to it that she had access to a portion of the family trust, which was also being used to help pay for her mother's stay at an institution. So she had just enough money to support herself.

But Tony knew how fragile Jenna was. She was a child of modest privilege who now found herself alone in a harsh world.

Harry knew some of this as he and Parvati walked up the drive to pay her a call. No sooner than he had knocked than he was greeted by an excited, if somewhat harried, young 17-year-old girl with a round face, ginger hair and a broad smile.

"Harry!" she exclaimed. "I'm so pleased you could come!"

Harry introduced Parvati, who exclaimed how homey the small apartment was.

Soon, Harry found he was feeling like a fifth wheel as Jenna and Parvati began chatting away. He was frankly surprised that Parvati would be this friendly. And Jenna was practically bouncing with excitement that she had a girl who was almost her age to simply be a teenager with. He listened in as the two girls started talking about boys, fashions and child care. And he suddenly had little baby Jeremy, only ten months old, shoved in his lap.

As he made awkward, uncertain efforts to play with the quiet, wide-eyed infant, he heard Jenna talk excitedly about the fact that she actually had found a boy who was willing to take her out. A carpenter's apprentice named Jack Sponson from the next town over had asked her to the First Night's party to be held in the Church Hall on New Year's Eve. It was her first date since she had become pregnant and she was excited and frightened.

Then he noticed a familiar look on Parvati's face. "Well, we're just going to have to do something to make sure you make a dazzling impression!" she exclaimed.

Harry barely had time to let these words register when he found himself in a baby harness with little Jeremy, bundled up, sitting snuggly against his chest.

"Come on, you troll," Parvati said with a laugh, as Harry found himself being dragged out of the small apartment by two giggling teenaged girls and off to the shopping area of Little Whinging.

* * *

Harry hated shopping.

Harry hated shopping when he didn't know what he needed to buy.

And now he found something he hated even more: Shopping for women's cosmetics.

He stared down at little Jeremy, who insisted on staring silently back up at him from his snug harness on Harry's chest. Harry was in the middle of making a face at Jeremy when he heard a familiar voice.

"Harry?"

Beth Simon, the slightly overweight young girl he had danced with during the summer, was staring at him with a stricken look on her face.

"Is...is that yours?" she said in a quavering voice, glancing back and forth between Harry and Baby Jeremy.

Suddenly, Beth's two best friends, Patty Rourke and Pam DeMarco turned into the aisle and stopped, showing sudden looks of recognition. "Harry!" they exclaimed together and came bustling up to greet him.

Harry turned back to Beth, who continued to stare open-mouthed at Harry and Jeremy. "Uhhh, no. It's...he's Jenna Cartwright's son."

Beth's face instantly showed recognition and relief as she noticed Jenna turn to look to see what the commotion was about.

Almost instantly, as Patty and Pam walked up to Harry to give him hugs and kisses on his cheek, he felt someone grab him around the waist.

"Hello, I'm Parvati Patil. Harry's girlfriend," Parvati announced in no uncertain terms.

Harry blinked as he looked at the four Little Whinging girls he knew from the summer and saw four vastly different expressions on their faces. Jenna was smiling uncertainly. The ever bubbly Patty was smiling broadly. Beth now had a newly stricken look on her face. And Pam was eyeing Parvati with suspicion and a frank curiosity.

"Parvati's helping me with my face," Jenna suddenly exclaimed. "She knows all about makeup. I want to look my best. I've got a date for First Night," she babbled.

After an awkward pause, the girls smiled and, after a quick series of introductions, were off to help Jenna in a flurry of giggles and gossip and questions.

Harry looked down at Jeremy, who suddenly gave Harry what looked to be a smile.

Harry patted him gently on the back. "Is that a smile because you like me? Or is that just gas?" he said softly with a crooked smile.

Jeremy gave a squeaky burp, and Harry rolled his eyes. "Just gas, I guess."

* * *

Harry and Parvati were strolling slowly, arm-and-arm, down Queen Anne road toward the turnoff to Carton Drive. Parvati was uncharacteristically quiet after all the fussing and chattering with the four girls at the cosmetics counter.

Finally, Parvati turned to Harry. "Jenna really has it tough," she said quietly.

Harry shrugged and gave a vague nod. "Jeremy seems to be a good baby."

Parvati was quiet for a few moments. "He's not going to be a baby long. He's already a handful, and once he begins walking, she's going to be at wit's end keeping an eye on him."

Harry nodded.

Parvati sighed. "I'd love to be a mother some day. But not like that," she said quietly.

Harry reached down to grasp her hand and gave it a squeeze.

Parvati remained quiet as they walked in the mild winter weather. Finally she glanced over at Harry. "Be careful with Beth. She's really crushing on you," she said softly.

Harry gave her an absent shrug. "I write to them all on occasion, but I told them about how I was seeing you and all."

Parvati nodded. "What about Pam?" she asked quietly.

Harry frowned and looked at Parvati. "We kissed a couple times this summer. She gave me my first real kiss. But she's going out with a friend of mine, Jim Jamison."

Parvati pursed her lips. "No. They broke up."

Harry paused and turned back to her. "I didn't know that."

Parvati frowned. "I wish I was going to be here for New Year's Eve," she said in a thoughtful tone.

Harry frowned again. "I'm not interested in Pam," he said quietly.

Parvati sighed. "Still, I hate that I have to leave in tomorrow. I'd rather stay here with you. Or maybe you can come back to Amritsar."

Harry slipped his arm around her as they turned onto Carton Drive. "You know what Dumbledore said. He didn't even want me to come here at all. And Professor McGonagall said he had to pull some strings to arrange us to use the floo network without alerting anyone in the Ministry about where we were and when we were going."

Parvati sighed. Then she turned to look up to him. "So, who are you taking to the First Night's party?" she asked with a mischievous smile.

Harry stopped abruptly, almost stumbling from being unused to the heels on his new paddock boots. "What are you talking about?"

Parvati gave him a smirk. "You mean the sexiest wizard under 25 won't be kissing someone to greet the new year?"

Harry stared at her, open-mouthed. Suddenly, a small smile crept across his face. "Oh, I don't know," he said mischievously. "So many choices..."

Parvati began to giggle and gave him a pinch. "You better not!"

Then, Harry cocked an eyebrow and gave a mock thoughtful look. "Let's see, Beth is sweet, and Pam is pretty, and Patty is fun..."

Parvati gave him another playful pinch through his overcoat.

Harry gave her an even more mischievous look. "Well, I can't decide between those three. So, let's see...Maybe I'll ring up Hermione to see if she's busy..."

Parvati gasped and gave him an angry look. Then she punched him on the arm. Both Harry and Parvati were startled by how hard she had hit him. She then gave him a gentler, more playful punch. "Don't you dare!" she said in an only partly mock growl.

Harry chuckled as he rubbed his arm. "Well, maybe not," he said with a fond smile. "I guess I'll just help set things up and work at the concessions. I'll have to make sure nobody spikes the punch."

Parvati grabbed Harry's arm tightly and the two began to stroll down Carton Drive.

As they went further along the drive, the houses got older and larger. Parvati looked around and nodded. "This is nice," she said quietly, her breath frosting as she spoke.

Finally, they came upon a large brick home. "Well, this is it. Are you ready?"

Parvati looked at the house and gave a curt nod.

* * *

The Geddes home was as elegant as ever. And Sara Geddes was as beautiful as ever. She had let her blonde wavy hair grow out a little and, though her summer tan had faded, her skin still seemed to have a healthy glow about it.

And Harry was ecstatic to see Peter Boyd again. His best friend from summer had lost none of his sparkle now that winter had arrived. He was full of enthusiasm, immediately grabbing Harry to ask about his karate training, checking Harry's splits in his running and gushing over Parvati. And Harry was pleased that Sara and Peter were still together and seemed happy, making plans for university in the fall.

But Harry noticed that Sara and Parvati seemed to eye each other warily, even more than Parvati and Pam had. They ended up chatting in a friendly enough manner, and seemed to be getting on well. But Harry could sense a strained undercurrent just below the surface. He didn't know what to make of it. At least he didn't until Sara managed to get Peter and Parvati talking and then pulled Harry into the kitchen on the pretense of helping to prepare lunch.

"She's very pretty, this Parvati of yours," Sara said casually.

Harry nodded as she handed him some salad fixings. He noticed they were on the opposite side of the kitchen island facing the door to the hallway, giving Sara plenty of notice in case Parvati or Peter came in. Harry frowned.

"But what happened to Hermione?"

Harry blinked. "I explained that in a letter I wrote to you. Didn't you get it?"

Sara turned to Harry with a serious expression. "I don't know why you couldn't ring me up when that little blow-up with Hermione happened. I could have helped you out on that," she said as she removed a turkey carcass out of the refrigerator and began to carve slices off for sandwiches.

Harry frowned. "Look, what happened, happened. Everything worked out. No big deal," he said uncomfortable with the conversation.

Sara sighed. "Harry, when I met Hermione when she and your friends came to pick you up, I could tell right away that she was crushing on you terribly. I warned her to take care of you. But I could tell she was awfully unsure of herself or her feelings. I could tell because I've seen that look before from other girls who liked guys but didn't know what to do. And I could really tell how she felt about you by how she reacted to me. It was as if she'd turn me into a toad or something if she could."

Harry gasped and had a coughing fit. Sara looked up, puzzled. "Are you all right?"

Harry nodded, then frowned at the line of the discussion.

Sara simply shook her head. "I wish you had rung me up while all this was going on and not simply drop a line that you had a blow-up and now had this new girl. I could have helped you out."

Harry frowned as he chopped the salad greens. "Things worked out," he muttered.

Sara sighed. "For you, maybe. But what about Hermione? I know you were hurt. But I'll wager that Hermione was hurting too. I could see how much she liked you but I also knew she had no clue about how to tell you. And when you tried to sweep her off her feet, she probably panicked. And when you started seeing this other girl, I'll bet it broke her heart."

Harry slowly stopped chopping the greens. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked quietly. "I wanted to be Hermione's boyfriend. Then suddenly, Parvati came into my life and everything changed. She's the most wonderful person I've ever met. And her family's nice and fun. And she's always there for me. And...and..."

Sara looked up at him. "Harry, I'm sorry. Parvati seems very nice and she's very pretty. It's just that you seemed so set on Hermione this summer and she seemed so taken with you when I met her that I thought everything would have worked out for both of you. I just hoped that both of you could have found happiness with each other. I just didn't want either of you hurt."

Harry simply sighed again. "I like Parvati," he mumbled.

"I hope she's more than just a pretty face, Harry," Sara said quietly.

* * *

Tony Strowbridge was still a little uncomfortable with Harry's and Parvati's relationship. Mae shared his concerns, but thought that the young couple was delightful. And she still couldn't get over the change in her foster son. For the first time since she had known him, he seemed genuinely relaxed and happy. Surely, part of the change was that he had finally shed, at least for the moment, the burden of the fiend Voldemort. But she knew that the young girl Harry doted on was a large part of the cause.

Harry and Parvati had been in the kitchen for 45 minutes, preparing what they had promised was a meal to remember. Mae didn't know whether it would be a pleasant memory or not. Harry had shown over the summer that he could cook. But his culinary skills were still at the basic meat and potatoes level. So Mae decided to take a peek into the kitchen to see how the young couple were faring.

As she crept up to the kitchen door, she could hear them talking.

"Harry, curry is supposed to be a subtle favoring, not a frontal assault on the taste buds," Parvati was saying with a laugh.

"Well, I didn't hear your mum complain. And she is definitely a woman of taste." he replied.

Parvati chuckled. "She was just being nice. And I think she was too shocked to find a boy who knew what a kitchen was for, much less knowing anything about cooking, to say anything."

Harry made a rude noise and the two continued giggling together.

Mae could see them side by side at the counter. It looked like Parvati was chopping vegetables and Harry was eyeing the spice rack.

"Getting back to my point," Harry continued. "What's so subtle about curry?"

"Nothing, the way you use it. I hope you sifted it. I'd hate to see Tony or Mae bite into a curry ball buried in the rice. I don't think there's enough water in Hogwarts Lake to cool your mouth if that happens."

"Sounds like the voice of experience. One of your special dishes?"

Parvati gave him a playful swat. "No, one of my brother Gani's, I'll have you know. I don't know why they let men near kitchens."

Harry laughed. "And speaking of the subtlety of Indian cooking, do we have any ghee? Or should I just leave a tin of butter out for a week until it gets rancid."

At this point, Parvati poked him in his most ticklish spot. As the two commenced tickling each other, Mae stepped back and into Tony, who had also been enjoying the by-play.

Mae looked at Tony, who had a broad smile on his face. "Just like a couple of newlyweds," she whispered with a glint in her eye.

Tony chuckled softly. "I still think they're awfully young. But you've got to admit, they are cute together."

The two withdrew to the drawing room. Tony raised an eyebrow. "What do you think of her?"

Mae gave a small smile. "I like her. She's very pretty, but I think she's strong and quite nice and seems to have a good heart. I just wish she'd stop trying to act so grown up. I've never seen a girl in such a hurry to be an adult. She's even worse than Harry in that regard. That's why it was so nice to see them acting like kids in the kitchen there."

Tony nodded. "Well, she seems to have a good influence on Harry. He still has some coping to do, but I think she's helping him enormously."

"We girls have a tendency to have that effect on the boys we love," she said with a mischievous grin.

* * *

It was a surprisingly tasty meal. Mae was pleased that Harry, with Parvati's help, seemed to have graduated from his standard meat and potatoes fare to a more complex and seasoned dishes.

Tony, for his part, seemed pleased that, while the portions were smaller, the variety and number of dishes had increased.

As they retired to the drawing room after the meal, Mae noticed Tony had gotten 'that look' on his face. Whenever a question popped up in his mind, he had to know the answer. But often, he didn't know how to ask it. Tony was never one to beat around the bush when it was something he needed to know. But when the question was more than a mere matter of curiosity, or one of delicacy, he would get a look of the utmost concentration that was almost painful to witness.

Mae sighed. It couldn't be about Harry's and Parvati's relationship. They had both covered that territory the day before. Nor was it her background. She had been delighted to talk about her family, often with Harry rolling his eyes and earning a playful pinch in the process.

Finally, Mae simply leaned over to Tony while Harry and Parvati seemed to be deep in discussion about school. "What is it, dear?" she asked gently.

Tony sighed. Time to take the plunge. He cleared his throat. "Uh, Harry? Parvati? I'm curious about the role religion plays in the Wizarding World."

Mae pursed her lips. She knew this could open a whole can of worms, but it was an important question to them. Especially Tony.

"We go to services every Sunday," Harry said quietly.

Parvati, however, was watching Tony carefully. "You're not talking about Church, are you?" she said evenly.

Tony gave a half-hearted shrug, then looked down in thought. Finally, he looked back at Parvati. "There are a lot of people, even in the church, who see witchcraft as a form of devil worship or evil, even blasphemy. I just would like to know what people in the Wizarding World think."

Harry started to squirm and Parvati looked uncomfortable.

Mae jumped in. "We don't mean to put you on the spot, dear, or you either, Harry. We're just very curious. And there's no one else we can really ask."

Harry looked stricken. "I don't know. We go to services like everyone else," he complained.

Finally, Parvati sighed and grimaced. "It's hard to talk about," she said with a frown. "Mrs. Branch, our religious studies teacher when I was young, always told us never to discuss religion with Muggles or Muggle-borns. She said they'd get mad or offended..." she said uncomfortably.

Tony frowned. "Are your beliefs that much different, so alien from Muggles?"

Parvati gave Harry an uncertain look.

"Parvati is Church of England, just like us," Harry interjected.

Parvati frowned, her face a mask of concentration. Finally, she looked up at Tony, then Mae, and took a deep breath. "In religious classes, we were taught that there were two major differences between the way the Wizarding World treats religion from the way Muggles do," she said in a flat voice as if she were reciting from a school book "First, we were taught that Muggles pay a lot of attention to miracles, whether they're from the Old Testament, or New Testament, the Koran, the Upanishads, or whatever."

Tony nodded in curiosity.

Parvati frowned in concentration. "Well, we don't pay much attention to that. A lot of those miracles for Muggles are taken for granted as normal life in the wizarding world."

Tony and Mae now frowned.

Parvati's face turned into a mask of concentration. "No! That's not to say they aren't important, I guess. But we pay closer attention to the messages in whatever religion we follow."

Tony leaned back, his eyebrows arched. "Can you give an example?"

Parvati blanched. This wasn't going well. She darted a quick look at Harry, who was now looking confused even as he rubbed her back in support. Finally, she turned back to Tony and Mae. "Well, I'm Church of England, so I know Christianity better than the other religions," she said in a strained voice. "Mrs. Branch, gave this example. She said that one difference is that, in the Sermon on the Mount, we pay attention to the words of the sermon, while Muggles pay attention to the loaves and the fishes."

Tony paused thoughtfully, frowning in concentration. He looked up at Parvati. "In other words, we Muggles take the miracles as a proof of divinity. But you decide that the message is the most important thing."

Parvati squirmed in her seat. "I don't mean any disrespect. I'm sorry..."

Mae reached out to grasp Parvati's hand. "We know you don't," she said soothingly.

Parvati frowned again. "Mrs. Branch says that the miracles are the only thing that's important to a lot of Muggles. They don't pay attention to the message because...to them, turning water into wine is...uh...more God-like than talking about love and forgiveness and redemption."

Tony frowned and nodded thoughtfully. "This is a lot to think about. But what you say does make sense in an uncomfortable way. So miracles don't count?"

Parvati looked pained. She knew she shouldn't be the one to be explaining all this. But she had to do it, for Harry and for their relationship. She had to explain this as best she could so that Tony and Mae wouldn't think she and Harry were some sort of freaks, or devil worshippers, or worse. She took a deep breath. "If miracles made all the difference in the Wizarding World, then the most powerful wizard would be the one worshipped. If your ability to do the best 'miracles' was a sign of divinity, then we would be worshipping Professor Dumbledore...or V-Voldemort."

Tony gave her an intense look. "So, was Jesus a wizard?"

Parvati gasped. "No!" she exclaimed. "That's Blasphemy!"

Tony and Mae were startled by her vehemence.

Parvati turned a bright red. "I...I'm sorry. It's just that that's the sort of claim that Dark Wizards use to try to wield power. That they can do these great, dark things, so they must be lords, or The Lord. That's why so many called themselves Lord This or Lord That. That they are powerful enough to do things like promise paradise on earth or grant eternal life to their followers. It's horrible to say such a thing, comparing Jesus to wizards who would like to play God. I'm sorry for getting upset."

Tony nodded in understanding. "So they can't do these things? Like grant eternal life?"

Parvati shook her head. "There are some things in the Bible that we can't do. We can't raise the dead or resurrect ourselves. When you're dead, you're dead. It's that promise, the message that you do right and forgive those who hurt you, that you regret your sins and be forgiven, that is the basis of our faith," she said, reciting almost word-for-word what she had learned in Sunday School years before. "Turning water into wine is something a lot of witches and wizards can do. But not forgiveness of sins and redemption, the promise of eternal life in heaven. That's why we go to services and follow our faith."

Tony sighed. He didn't know what to make of this. He knew he had put a poor 15-year-old girl on the spot with his arrogant curiosity. And in return, she had given him more to think about than many of the religious scholars he had read.

Suddenly, Mae spoke up. "You said there were two things that made religion different between Wizards and Muggles. What's the other thing, dear?"

Parvati blinked and took a deep breath. "Well, Muggles go through life hoping that there's an afterlife. We know there is one, although we don't know what it is like."

Tony and Mae gasped and stared at her. "What!?!"

Parvati blinked in surprise. "Well...we see evidence of it all the time..."

Suddenly, Harry cut in. "One of the first things we see when we first come to Hogwarts are the ghosts. Our House Ghost is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington."

Mae gripped Tony's arm as she leaned forward with eyes wide. "What?"

Harry shrugged. "Sir Nicholas was caught in a compromising position back about 500 years ago and was beheaded...or nearly. That's why we call him Nearly Headless Nick."

Tony shook his head to clear it. "You mean there really are such things as ghosts?"

Parvati nodded. "There are lots ghosts at Hogwarts. Each House has its own. There's the Bloody Baron of Slytherin, who was a merciless dueler until he finally found someone who better than he was. There's the Gray Lady of Ravenclaw, who refused to relocate to the country and abandon her precious library during the Black Death, resulting in the death of her family. And there's the Fat Friar of Hufflepuff who got a little tipsy when he was supposed to be guarding Hogwarts during an uprising of Giants, getting himself and several students killed.

Harry turned to her. "And Professor Binns, our History of Magic teacher, is a ghost."

Parvati nodded, turning back to a startled Tony and Mae. "And Reverend Micah Meacham, our pastor, who was killed defending his flock during the Civil War."

Tony made a choking sound. "You...you mean your pastor is...the original Micah Meacham?"

Parvati nodded. "He asked...whoever was the gatekeeper to his eternal reward if he could defer his reward to continue is mission to minister to Hogwarts and the Wizarding world."

Mae frowned. "But these ghosts, several of them anyway, seem all to have died as the result of some bad or foolish act. Is being a ghost some sort of punishment?"

Harry frowned. "I think they become ghosts because they can't face what comes next--the 'Next Great Adventure,' as Professor Dumbledore calls it. Maybe they fear they will be punished in the next life. Or maybe, like Professor Binns or Moaning Myrtle, they can't accept that they are dead and just keep hanging around."

Mae blinked. "Moaning Myrtle?"

Harry nodded. "She's...well sort of a friend of mine, I guess. She haunts one of the girls' toilets and helped us find the Chamber of Secrets in our second year. I told you a little about that."

Mae nodded. "The big snake, right?"

Harry nodded.

Tony was staring wide-eyed at Harry and Parvati. "But the afterlife...? Do you know...?"

Harry shook his head sadly. "No one knows. Not even the ghosts. Reverend Meacham has talked about a reward, but he doesn't seem to know what that reward is or what it's like."

Parvati was still upset as she watched Tony leaning forward, rubbing his temples. Finally he looked up at her and Harry. "Does the Archbishop know about this?" he asked.

Harry shrugged. "I guess. I don't know."

Parvati looked pained. "I don't know what any Muggle authorities know about any of this. I think we in the Wizarding World are a little afraid of saying anything that might upset Muggles or become the cause for Muggles to find out about our world. A lot of wizards and witches believe that if the Muggle world ever found out about us, we'd be hunted down and exterminated," she said, now clearly upset.

Mae blinked. "But why?"

Parvati shifted again. "Because they've been taught to hate us. They've been taught that witches and wizards are evil. That we are devil worshippers or worse, demons or the Anti-Christ. There have been so many times in our history when one or more of our people have come out in the Muggle world only to be murdered or worse. There's been too much killing."

Again, Mae reached out to give Parvati a consoling pat on the hand. "You don't need to worry about us, Parvati."

Parvati shifted uncomfortably. "It's just that...I didn't want you to hate me...or Harry for what we are. We always live in fear that someone will come after us for what we are, whether it's because we are from the wizarding world or...well...what we are in the wizarding world."

Tony sighed and reached over to grasp Parvati's arm. "I don't think you need to fear anything from us, Parvati," he said quietly. "We love Harry and we've come to care a great deal about you, too. It's just that you have given me so much to think about. And so many reasons to be embarrassed for some of my co-religionists for some of their attitudes. I am beginning to understand more than I realized possible about your world."

Parvati raised her eyes, which were now flowing with tears. "I'm sorry. I don't think magic and being a witch or wizard is evil. It's something we're born with. But it gets me upset. There always seems to be something to fear. Yes, I know I'm different from a Muggle girl. It's just...so many times people get attacked or hurt for no reason. Just because they're different."

Tony and Mae blinked in confusion.

Parvati now looked like she was becoming very upset. "You don't understand," she cried. "We all live in fear. If it's not Muggles, its' Dark Wizards. That's why the message in religion is more important than the miracles. Miracles emphasize power. It says my God is tougher or cooler than your God. But the message emphasizes love, caring, repentance and forgiveness. It's not about competing with other religions, or impressing the Muggles with tricks. It's about living together in peace and hoping for something wonderful in our life and beyond this life. At least that's what Mrs. Branch say," she said, taking a deep breath.

"That's why our prisons are so horrible," she continued in a rush. "To scare people away from turning dark, from seeking power, from making life miserable for the rest. But there's always someone out there who thinks he can use his power to play God, to destroy and kill anyone who doesn't obey him. Voldemort is like that. And before him, Grindelwald..." she said with a shudder.

Harry was now holding her tightly as she sobbed.

"...and if you're not a pureblood, they're always after you," she cried. "I had two aunts and an uncle I'll never know because they were murdered by Grindelwald in the 1940s because they were different. They were wogs. My dad and my Uncle Mandar could have been murdered too, but they were too young to be in the grammar school that was attacked and...'purified' by the purebloods. My dad's sisters and brother were only little kids...but they were killed because they were different, a little darker skinned than the purebloods and their families had only been in England for nine generations...That could have been...my daddy," she said, now collapsing in sobs against Harry.

Tony and Mae stepped forward and embraced Parvati along with Harry. "I'm so sorry, Parvati," Tony murmured. Mae added soothing noises.

Finally, after several minutes of being held and tended to by Harry, Tony and Mae, Parvati began to recover. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

But Mae simply put a finger to the girl's lips. "We understand. And there's nothing to be sorry about," she whispered as she tightened her hug.

It was an early night to the Strowbridge household that night.

* * *

The next day, their final day together, was spent by Harry and Parvati in the large drawing room in front of the fire simply holding each other. Harry recognized that Parvati was still upset over the night before. Tony and Mae had been trying to tend to and reassure her all morning, letting her know that not only did they not dislike her but that they had a new-found love and respect for her.

But Harry pulled Mae aside after breakfast and, blushing furiously, explained that Parvati got quiet and depressed just before her time of the month, which should be coming up around now, just at the full moon, just as it had after their dinner with Sirius at the beginning of the month when she invited him to spend the holidays at Amritsar. He refrained from mentioning another friend who suffered even greater difficulties at this time of the month. He knew his foster parents had enough to think about without telling them about having a friend and mentor who was a werewolf.

As 3:00 pm approached, Tony made a move to extinguish the fire in the hearth, but Harry stayed his hand. "It's not necessary," he said quietly.

When 3:00 pm came, Parvati embraced Tony and Mae. Then, with a sob, grabbed Harry into a fierce hug. "Oh, Harry. What am I going to do without you around," she cried through her tears.

Harry smiled at her and pressed his forehead against hers. "It will only be a week, sweetheart. And I'll owl you every day."

Tony and Mae stepped out of the room to allow the couple some privacy. Harry and Parvati kissed tenderly. "I love you," she whispered.

Harry nodded. "And I love you," he whispered into her hair as the embraced one last time.

Finally, Parvati stepped back and grabbed her trunk. With a tearful look, she stepped forward and gave Harry one last kiss before turning and tossing floo powder into the hearth. The fire flared a bright green and with a quick step in, Parvati was gone.

Tony and Mae returned to the drawing room to see Harry, a tear trickling down his cheek, staring at the fire.

Tony came up behind him and grasped his shoulder. "She's quite a young lady."

Harry simply nodded.

Tony returned the nod. Finally, he cleared his throat. "You know, Harry, I wondered about your world. It never quite seemed real to us. But it seems all too real now. I hope you'll take the time to tell us more about it while you're home."

Harry nodded absently. "It is a whole different world."

* * *