The Fire You Touch

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Chapter 3: An Unexpected Friendship

Aeryn did not see Harry on Friday when she went to the Dursleys to clean. When she inquired politely as to his whereabouts, Mr. Dursley went white, then beet-red, and hemmed and hawed for several minutes, eventually offering her another raise. Aeryn sweetly suggested that Mr. Dursley save his money and instead take Duddy Dinkydums on an outing whenever she came over to clean. It would save them a lot of money in the long run, she explained, because she was able to get things done so much more quickly when…er…dear little Dudley wasn’t following her.

Next Tuesday, the Dursley house was empty. Aeryn heaved a huge sigh of relief and began to clean right away. She had just started washing the dirty breakfast dishes when there was a soft sound behind her.

"Hullo."

Aeryn whirled around, dish in hand. Harry was standing behind her, his bright green eyes peering at her owlishly behind his glasses. He smiled, a very small but inquisitive smile. "My name’s Harry," he said. "Harry Potter. Who’re you?"

"Uh…hi, Harry." Aeryn clumsily put the dish down on the countertop and wiped her hands on a dishtowel. "Aeryn. Aeryn Blake." She stuck out her hand. Harry took it and gave it a firm shake.

There was an odd silence as they stared at each other.

"Why…didn’t the Dursleys take you with them?" she asked finally.

Harry shrugged. "They didn’t want me around. Not that I mind that much." He pushed his glasses up his nose.

Why ever not,

Aeryn thought wryly.

"They told me to stay in my room until they got back, but I got hungry," he confessed. "Besides, they won’t be back until five. That’s what they said."

Aeryn glanced at her watch; it was now a quarter past twelve. "When did they leave?" she asked.

"About ten ‘o clock. Mind if I rummage for some food? I’ll stay out of your way."

Ten ‘o clock! No wonder the boy was hungry. As she looked into his thin face, Aeryn’s opinion of the Dursleys plummeted even further.

* * *

"So when did they hire you?" Harry asked between bites of his peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.

Aeryn was under the table, using a Dustbuster to suck up all the crumbs from underneath Dudley’s chair. "About two weeks ago, when Dudley came home from Smeltings," she said loudly. She scooched back out and wiped a hand across her forehead. She shuddered, remembering her first visit after Dudley got back. It had taken her over four hours to clean the house, since Dudley insisted that Aeryn unpack his things for him. "Where do you go to school, Harry?"

Harry looked down at his clean plate. "Uh…" He paused for an instant.

Wizard,

Aeryn remembered suddenly, and she ducked her head back under the table to hide the flush in her cheeks. "Doesn’t really matter where you go," she said glibly, picking at the carpet. "Being from the States, I’ve probably never heard of it."

"Oh, yeah." There was no mistaking the relief in the boy’s voice.

Aeryn crawled back out from the table and got to her feet. "Okay, Harry, I’m going to finish cleaning the house now." She took his plate and headed for the kitchen. "Go ahead and watch the TV or whatever."

Harry hopped out of his chair and followed her. "Mind if I follow you around?"

She looked at him, astonished. "You must have more interesting things to do than follow me around, Harry!"

"Not really," Harry said. "I mean, I guess I could read my books or something, but I’ve been doing that ever since I got back, and none of my programs are on now." He reached out and took the plate from her hands and began rinsing it off. "Besides, you talk to me. The Dursleys don’t."

Aeryn’s heart melted. How could she refuse?

* * *

That afternoon, Harry tagged along with Aeryn as she cleaned the first floor of number four Privet Drive. That was how she was supposed to clean the house, first floor on Tuesdays and second floor on Fridays, but somehow on Fridays she always seemed to have to clean at least half of the first floor. Not only did Harry tag along, though, but he helped her as she vacuumed floors, put away things Dudley had knocked from the shelves, and washed away any food stains on the furniture.

It was amazing how much more enjoyable the work was with someone to talk to. After several awkward, general questions that Harry dodged very skillfully—how did he like school, had he made many friends—Aeryn discovered that Harry enjoyed sports, and they kept up a stream of conversation regarding various basketball and football teams. Well, Harry called it football—every once in a while Aeryn slipped and said ‘soccer.’ Obviously, wizard schools didn’t keep up on such mundane topics—Harry hadn’t heard anything about the games of the past year, but Aeryn was happy to fill him in.

Harry was very interested that Aeryn had lived in the States. So, skirting around the dangerous topics of wizards, mutants, and her parents’ deaths, Aeryn told him as much as she could about growing up in the suburbs of Michigan.

After two hours of cleaning, Aeryn and Harry flopped into the gaudily flowered couch in the living room. "Whew!" Aeryn exclaimed. "I’m beat."

"That was fun," Harry said with a sigh.

Aeryn looked over at him. He grinned at her, and she laughed, putting a hand to her head. "Gosh, kid, I sure could use you on the rest of my jobs," she said. "I don’t think I’ve ever talked so much while I was cleaning in my entire life."

Harry stretched his arms. "I wish I could come with you on your jobs. It would be better than—" He snapped his mouth shut, a guilty look spreading across his face.

Aeryn silently finished the sentence for him. Better than staying here.

There was an uncomfortable silence, which was finally broken by a very peeved owl hoot coming from upstairs.

"Oh, Hedwig!" Harry got to his feet. "That’s my owl," he explained, heading for the stairs. He paused at the rail and turned back to Aeryn. "Would you like to see her?" he asked.

Every muscle in Aeryn’s body suddenly became alert. "Sure," she said.

She got up from the couch and followed Harry up the stairs to the house’s smallest room. Harry pushed open the door and headed straight for the huge cage that took up most of the space in the room. As he opened the cage door and let the snowy bird hop onto his arm, Aeryn looked quickly about the room. She saw no sign of the huge trunk Harry had carried in on Tuesday, and the broomstick was nowhere to be found. It looked like a plain, sparse, ordinary boy’s room.

Except for the owl, that is. Aeryn’s knees felt weak as the bird’s golden eyes swiveled around to look at her. She sat down rather suddenly on the bed

"This is Hedwig." Harry sat down on the bed next to her, petting the owl’s feathers. "I’m not really supposed to let her out of her cage, but she feels a little cramped." He held the bird out for Aeryn to see. "You can pet her, if you like."

Slowly, as if she was moving through water, Aeryn reached out her hand and touched the bird’s feathers. Hedwig hooted softly.

"This is Morgana," her father said, putting the cage on the floor so Aeryn could look into the cage. The small owl inside blinked curiously at her. "She’s only a baby right now," he explained, "but she should get to be pretty big."

"Can I hold her?" Aeryn asked in an awed voice. She had never seen anything more beautiful in her life.

"Not right now." Her father dropped a cloth over the cage and lifted it. "It’s still time for her to sleep. We’ll see about taking her out after dinner. How ‘bout we go show her to Mom?" He took his daughter’s hand and smiled at her.

"Miss Blake?"

Aeryn swallowed the thick lump in her throat and drew her hand away from Hedwig. "She’s beautiful, Harry," she said, and was relived that her voice did not waver when she said the words.

Harry put her back into the cage and shut the door. "She’s not quite awake yet. She’s still supposed to be sleeping. She usually wakes up in the evening, after we’ve finished eating."

Suddenly, Aeryn found it very difficult to breathe. She looked down at her watch, more to keep from looking at the snowy white bird than checking the time. But it was a good thing she checked. It was nearly three ‘o clock, almost time for her next appointment. She stood up regretfully.

"Harry, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to run." She bit her lip. "Will the Dursleys…I mean, will you be here on Friday?"

"Probably will," Harry said, poking a finger through Hedwig’s cage and scratching her neck. "That’s when you’ll be back?"

"Yeah."

He turned and gave her a brilliant smile. "Guess I’ll see you then," he said. His emerald eyes glowed behind his round glasses. "It was nice meeting you, Miss Blake. You’re really nice."

Aeryn smiled. "I liked meeting you too, Harry." But right now, she had to get out of this house…

Harry hopped down the stairs with her and got her purse for her as she straightened a few final things. "See you Friday," he said from the doorway.

"Yep. ‘Bye, Harry."

"’Bye!" He grinned and closed the door. Aeryn walked to her bike, feeling very light-headed. As she rode out of the driveway, she looked towards the house. Harry’s owlish little face was pressed to the window of the living room, and he gave an cheerful wave.

Aeryn waved back, for the first time feeling a bit disappointed to be leaving the Dursley house. It could have been a frightening feeling, but as she pedaled away, a smile twitched the corners of her lips.