Harry Potter and the Girl Next Door

Chapter #2- The Party

As soon as the headlights turned off, the host, actually hostess, came out excitedly to greet her newly arrived guests, and quickly introduced herself as Jennifer. She immediately began to introduce the family also, just as soon as they walked through the door.

"This is Stephanie," she said, pointing to a blonde-haired bigger-boned girl around fourteen in a pink gingham sundress probably two sizes too small for her. "She's my youngest. And this is Whitney, my oldest," she added, indicating her as the eighteen-year-old brunette standing next to her. "Where's Michelle?"

"I think she's in the kitchen, I'll go get her," Whitney replied, going to fetch the missing sibling.

After a short uncomfortable silence, before Aunt Petunia decided to try to fix the uneasiness. "I hope I'm not being so rude as to ask," she said politely, yet hesitantly, "but where is your husband?"

A cloud seemed to pass over the hostess's face. "I'm a single parent," she replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Aunt Petunia apologized.

"Nonsense, there's no reason to apologize," Jennifer answered. "No reason at all," she muttered to herself as Whitney returned with her sister.

"Ah! Here she is. This is Michelle," she said, smiling at the middle child. Michelle had a pleasant face, although not necessarily striking, and had the same dark brown hair as her older sister, which oddly contrasted against her pale lavender dress. Her face was dull, as if no light was there, and, despite her young age of 15, she had slight frown lines, and her full cheeks were quite sunken, revealing her elegant high cheekbones, which gave her a fragile look, and her eyes were slightly closed, as if thinking about something. Her eyes...despite all of her other facial features which made her appear depressed, her dark hazel eyes said otherwise, displaying a strong sense of curiosity as she gazed over the Durlsey family, and especially Harry.

"Uh... hi," she said softly and hesitantly, instantly making her seem bashful.

The hostess then chose this time to notice Harry's arms full of sweets. "Oh, Michelle, will you please show Harry where to put the food," she politely ordered.

Michelle didn't say anything as she led Harry back to the kitchen, and silently pointed to the counter where he should set them down. There was an awkward silence as Harry arranged the dishes, and he couldn't stand it. "Your mother seems nice," he stated, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Yeah, well, she's not usually like this. It's just because there's guests here... doesn't want to seem mean," she replied, slowly reaching for a cookie with the most chocolate chips.

"Oh," Harry said, somewhat startled by Michelle's directness. How could he respond to that? To find something to try and change the subject, he looked at all of the food on the counter.

Michelle caught his longing glance, and said, "Why don't you have one?"

"I'm not allowed to," he replied. "They're for the other guests."

"But you're a guest too, and you made them, so you deserve one," she argued.

"Uh... I don't really think I should. My Aunt would be mad at me," he said, trying to come up with an excuse. He hadn't eaten all day, and all that food looked so good right now.

"Oh, is she your Aunt?" she asked. "Well, I guess that would make sense. You don't really look much like her." Harry nodded, his eyes still locked on the food. "Go ahead and have one," she encouraged, sure that his Aunt wouldn't just bust into the room.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"You make me sick," she teased. Harry grabbed a plate and took a brownie and a cookie. "Eat as much as you like," she added, as if reading his mind. He then began to pile his plate high with a little bit of everything.

Just as he began eating, Dudley walked in.

'I was wondering what was taking him so long,' Harry thought. 'Must've come to fill up again... the pig. He just ate!'

Dudley's eyes went huge as saucers as stared at the pile of sweets on Harry's plate. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but Michelle, sensing danger beforehand, said, "Oh. Hello."

Dudley's mouth closed and he turned to her to reply to her rather random comment. "Uh... I... uh..." he stuttered, gawking at her like a kid at a toy store. Michelle giggled, and Harry couldn't help but laugh too. "What's so funny?" Dudley snapped. Michelle immediately stopped, and Harry glared at him. Then Dudley remembered what he was going to say, and smirked at Harry. "You know you're not supposed to be eating that," Dudley said.

"I offered it to him," Michelle stated, trying in vain to save Harry from trouble.

"Yeah, but I won't get in trouble for it... he will," he replied menacingly. "I'll be taking that," he said to Harry, snatching Harry's plate from his hands.

Harry tried to grab it back. "That's mine," he said, tilting the plate and dropping a very chocolate-y brownie on the floor. Michelle stared at the wasted chocolate that now lye on the linoleum floor, wistfully wishing she had caught it. She hated wasted food... especially chocolate.

"You two quit it," she said, trying to break the two up. Harry seriously couldn't tell if she was acting as peacemaker because she didn't want them to fight, or because she was angry about the brownie and didn't want any more sweets to get ruined. 'Definitely an odd girl.'

Aunt Petunia walked into the kitchen, drawn by her motherly instinct that there was trouble there. "You boys cut it out!" she cried, trying to get in-between them.

"He took my food!" Dudley whined.

"Harry, give it back!" Mrs. Dursley commanded.

"Fine!" Harry said, letting go of the plate, showering sweets galore all over the kitchen. Michelle watched on in silent horror.

"Harry! That's it! Go to the car, and stay there!" Aunt Petunia shouted, really ticked off.

As he walked out of the room, Harry heard Aunt Petunia apologizing for his "rude" behavior, and felt Michelle's eyes on his back. He silently walked outside to the car, steaming with anger, and stomach still growling...

An hour and a half later, as the Dursley's drove home, Harry's mind was still on Michelle. He chuckled as he remembered the look on her face as the sweets flew across the room, but was instantly shut-up by a quick punch in the shoulder from Dudley. 'What an odd girl...' he thought. And, he thought, she seemed a lot like Luna, but less dreamy and weird.

Harry sighed as he climbed up the steps to his bedroom. He felt he'd have a pretty good summer, if he was lucky. Maybe she could help him keep his mind off of Voldemort... 'Voldemort,' he thought again, falling into an uneasy sleep...