Muggles Rush In

As silence enveloped the room, the telephone rang, making everyone jump. Uncle Vernon went to pick it up but Dudley got to it first.

"Hello, Dursley Residence." He faltered for a moment, looking confused, then his eyes widened. He turned to gaze at Harry. Harry sighed. Uncle Vernon started to turn a slight shade of purple as he always did when Harry's friends called, or wrote, or did anything at all, Harry thought bitterly. This day is NOT going well, he thought as he lifted the receiver to his ear.

"Hello," he said, expecting to hear Hermione.

"Harry? Is that you?"

Harry frowned. It was a girl, all right, but not Hermione, or anyone else he knew for that matter.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"It's Sarah, silly. Don't tell me you forgot about me? It's only been...six years, after all!" The girl's voice teased at his memory. Sarah...

"Sarah! Sarah Willis?" Harry said, astonished. "Aren't you in America? How are you calling me?"

She laughed. "On the telephone, silly. As for in America? Look over your shoulder." The door bell rang right after she said this, and in a daze, Harry dropped the phone to open it. There she was, alright, holding her phone away from her ear, wincing.

"Do you have any idea how painful it is to listen to a phone crashing? On the phone?" she asked, indignantly, but her eyes were lined with tears and she reached out to hug him all the same. Her blue eyes were just how he remembered them, bright and twinkling with good humor. Her brown-blonde hair, now shoulder-length instead of up to her ears, waved in the breeze as she hugged him fiercely. He hugged her back. It was good to see her, he realized. It was good to see anyone who didn't know about him being a wizard. It was...relaxing. Finally, though, they separated.

"But, how..? How did you get here?"

"By plane, of course!" She shrugged. "I got bored in the US- what can I say? So I thought I would come down and see you." She chuckled. "Rather, I should say UP to see you, huh?"

Harry chuckled along with her. The last time she had arrived in Little Whinging, it was to stay with family friends after her parents' deaths. She had stayed for a whole summer, coping with what had happened. After the summer, she had gone to live with her uncle in the states. She had been the first true friend to Harry, and he had been crushed when she left. Right after that, though, he had received his letter and gone to school to meet Ron and Hermione. He and Sarah had still written but had rarely talked over the past two years.

"But, what are you doing here?"

She grinned. "I decided to come and stay for a little while as a transfer student. I couldn't believe it when they chose this place for my foster house. It was great! That means that you have to put up with me all summer, as well as during the school year," she continued, teasingly.

Harry felt his momentary happiness begin to fade. Because, of course, he hadn't told her about Hogwarts. And the Order wanted to get him out of there later on in the summer. But she didn't know that. How could she? What was he going to say to her when he left?

"Well, you could always invite me in, you know? To say hi to your family?" she prodded gently.

Blushing slightly, Harry moved aside so that Sarah could get in the house. Smiling at him, she moved to see his family standing by the door.

"Hello again, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley," she said, politely. Blinking in slight surprise, she added quickly, "and you too Dudley. I'm afraid I didn't see you there."

Harry watched his aunt and uncle as they struggled obviously with what to do next. On one hand, she wasn't a witch (as far as they knew), but she was friends with Harry which was nearly as bad. Still, Aunt Petunia jerked her head in what could be called a greeting and Uncle Vernon said:

"Good day to you."

Harry looked at Dudley and saw to his slight surprise a smirk on his face as he looked at Sarah. She noticed and calmly ignored him.

What happened after that moment would go down in history as the very first time Aunt Petunia invited one of Harry's friends to lunch. Harry nearly fainted.

After lunch, during which Aunt Petunia nearly interrogated Sarah, Sarah got up and thanked the Dursleys for the meal. Turning to Harry, she asked if they could go for a walk.

"Sure."