Harry Potter and the Four Winds

The Unexpected Invitation

Harry Potter stood on the front porch of number four Privet Drive next to his enormous cousin Dudley watching something that hadn't been seen in years: someone new moving in. They were moving in right across the street in fact, to number five. Aunt Petunia had stationed herself at the blinds, her beady eyes peering through restlessly hoping for a glimpse of the new resident. Harry had caught snatches of Aunt Petunia's phone conversations and learned that the new owner was famous millionaire Chamberlain McCoy. That didn't excite Harry though, as little did these days, not since Sirius's death. Why would a millionaire want to move to Little Whinging anyway? Harry watched the unloading with only mild curiosity, since it was such a shock to have something actually change around here. He also kept one eye on the lookout for Owls. It was about the time that someone (according to the orders plan) should be coming to take him to Grimmauld Place and back to Ron and Hermione. They'd been forced to cease all Owls back and forth due to security measures. It was killing him to be forced to spend all summer in complete isolation from the magical world.

Harry could hear commotion inside as Aunt Petunia, barely able to contain herself, burst out onto the balcony behind them. She'd spotted a sleek black limo pulling in the drive.

"They're here!" she squealed almost jumping up and down; and then to Harry, "Fix your hair, what if they look over." They were Mr. McCoy himself, and a pretty girl who appeared to be about Harry's age. Mr. McCoy was a formidable looking man who seemed to have spent most of his life in military training. His light brown hair was shaped in a crew cut and he wore a suit perfectly fitted to his toned body. His posture was perfectly straight and he did not look in anyway like a pleasant man. The girl looked completely different from him; it was hard to believe that she was related to Mr. McCoy. She had fiery red curls, more vibrant that the Weasley's (if possible) and brilliant amethyst eyes. She was slender and had a dazzling smile that lit up her face. She stepped out of the limo after her father and began talking excitedly to him, as he nodded sternly. They were to far away to hear what they were saying and Harry could tell Aunt Petunia was straining her ears. Harry looked around for a moving van and saw none which he found a little strange. Maybe it was arriving later. The girl turned her head away from her father and looked right at Harry. Those eyes seemed to pierce him and he felt swayed by the force of her gaze. It seemed like an eternity passed as they stood on opposite sides of the road and just looked at each other. Then her face broke out into another smile and she dashed across the road right up to Harry. She was very short, at least three inches shorter than him, and her heart shaped face was dotted with freckles.

"Hi," she said breathlessly as the wind tumbled her curls in every direction, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Andreya and I just moved in across the street." She pointed back over her shoulder toward the limo. She stuck out her hand to shake his and he noticed her odd ring. It was on her middle finger, a slim silver band that curled itself into a great looping H. He recognized it because Professor Dumbledore also had one. The H stood for Hogwarts of course and Harry wondered what her connection to the school was. He blinked at it as he grasped her hand lightly. What did this mean? He looked back up at her face and saw her nod in understanding. Yes, she was also a wizard and she knew he was one too. Then she moved on to shake hands with his Aunt and Uncle and gave Dudley a little pat on the head. This was rich. Harry had to contain his amusement to see Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia puffing them selves up to meet Andreya, if they only knew she was a wizard. Andreya must also have been sharing his amusement as she kept suppressing nervous giggles. From the back pocket of her stonewashed jeans she pulled a smooth cream envelope and handed it to Aunt Petunia.

"Father is throwing a gala tomorrow night as a sort of getting to know the neighbors thing, I do hope all of you will attend." She put emphasis on the word all and looked purposefully at Harry, who looked sheepishly at Uncle Vernon. His face had gone incredibly purple, that is, more than usual. He seemed to be battling internally with himself and Aunt Petunia frowned making her face look even more horse like. Andreya gave her a hopeful smile and Aunt Petunia plastered a fake smile on her boney face.

"Of course sweetheart, we'll all be there." Andreya winked at Harry and then ran to the next house on the street, producing another cream envelope.

"See you later," she called waving.

The minute she was out of sight Uncle Vernon turned to Harry with a very sour look on his face. It looked almost like his head was about to explode and Harry braced himself for the shouting that was about to ensue.

"You..." he hissed vehemently. The quiet was worse than the shouting. "How do you explain this?" The invitation was shoved violently under his nose and Harry took it uncertainly, straightening his glasses. It was very plain printed on a folded off-white card; it was ordinary in everyway except for the ink. It was in a glistening green ink that Harry saw every year because his Hogwarts letters were printed in much the same fashion.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley,

You and your son Dudley are cordially invited to

Chamberlain McCoy's summer Gala

On the 1^st of August

At 7:00pm.

Formal attire is required.

Then there was Mr. McCoy's loopy business signature at the bottom. Harry read the P.S. and felt his eyebrows rise into his fringe.

P.S. It is also requested that the other resident of your household Harry Potter be present at the Gala as well. Thank you.

He looked up at his Aunt and Uncle's appalled expressions and fought the strong urge to laugh. He handed the invitation back to Uncle Vernon and walked into the house, lips clamped shut on and witty comments that threatened to escape his lips. He marched all the way up the stairs and into his bedroom where he flopped down on his lumpy mattress. This was... he couldn't exactly find the words. He wanted to exclaim that this was great! Finally another wizard for him to spend the holidays with, someone for him to talk to and not be treated like a non existent slug. However, something about the whole situation bothered him. Why had there never been a wizard before, why was there a family of them all of a sudden? Why would a family as famous as the McCoy's move to this place, it was as muggle as it gets.

Troubled, Harry went for his desk and pulled a piece of parchment towards him and a quill. Without thinking about what he was really going to say, he scribbled the words: Dear Sirius, at the top and paused to think of how to phrase his question. Horrified, he looked down at the two simple words scrawled on the parchment. How could he have forgotten? He savagely ripped off the top of the parchment, balling it up, and heaved it across the room towards his wastepaper basket. He sat with his hands braced on the desk, breathing heavily. He didn't have Sirius any more. He put his head down on the desk and shut his eyes replaying the night of the fight at the Department of Mysteries. He watched the image of his Godfather falling back through the whispering veil almost dreamily; it would be burned in his mind forever. Once Sirius had disappeared behind it had fluttered back into place almost jovially. Harry hated it. He pounded his fists on the desk on either side of his head. It wasn't fair, why did he have to continually suffer, why did he have to loose everyone he ever loved? He pulled himself up out of the chair and looked despairingly out the window. On the street below, Andreya had finished making her rounds of Privet Drive and was heading back towards her house. She stopped in the middle of the road and looked up, right at Harry. He jumped, startled as she met his green eyes directly. The moment just hung there as they stood looking at each other, neither moving or blinking, then her face broke into a smile and waved to him, continuing on her way. That had been odd. He felt the skin prickle on the back of his neck as he watched her go. Something out of the ordinary was definitely going on. Harry allowed himself a small smile at the thought of how angry the Dursleys were going to be.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Harry felt ridiculous. He squirmed as Aunt Petunia tried to slick his hair down for the fourth time to no avail. He was wearing Dudley's old tweed suit that Dudley of course had long outgrown. It was so big that the pant cuffs were rolled up six times and the belt was pulled so tight just to keep them up that he had to make a new notch. He was fairly nervous because he wasn't sure what to expect. The walked up onto the porch and rang the bell, Aunt Petunia pursing her lips unhappily and Uncle Vernon making threatening motions toward Harry. He knew what that meant. If he put one toe out of line tonight, he would be locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the remainder of the holidays. Not anxious to be reacquainted with his cupboard, he straightened his tie and vowed to try and keep himself under control. The door swung open and a grave looking man ushered them inside the entrance hall of the mansion like house where a slow haunting slow rock melody could be heard piped in from the ballroom. The man took their coats and the Dursley's walked stiffly into the enormous cathedral like ballroom to see a live band on a small plateau. Harry choked when he saw the band and muffled it in a sneeze before his Uncle noticed. It was the Weird Sisters, an insanely popular rock group in the wizarding world. As he looked around the room he noticed more oddities. Empty dishes filled themselves up on their own, the portraits all seemed to be wearing deep looks of concentration, once he thought he saw one scratch its nose. This was a wizard's house. Were the McCoy's out of their minds? House elves? Moving Portraits? Magically expanded house? Wizards everywhere disguised none too expertly in muggle evening wear? Harry looked around incredulously until he spotted Andreya. She was out in the middle of the floor in a yellow satin gown giggling helplessly as she tried to teach an old wizard how to dance. He kept stepping on her toes by accident, his half moon spectacles falling down his crooked nose as he studied his feet closely around his long silver beard. It was Dumbledore, Harry realized laughing, going incognito in a ruffled powder blue tuxedo. He looked around and saw other witches and wizards he recognized. Over by the refreshment table was Neville Longbottom and his formidable grandmother. A few steps away from them were Cornelius Fudge chatting pompously with Ludo Bagman. Also on the dance floor he saw Professor McGonagall waltzing spiritedly with Remus Lupin, and Nymphadora Tonks clumsily leading Charlie Weasley in great looping circles. Harry couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't know whether to be worried or elated. But when he spotted a pair awkwardly dancing in the thick of it all he forgot everything and ran for them.

"Ron! Hermione!" he called. Looking grateful for an excuse to break apart, Ron and Hermione, his best friends in the world, turned towards him excitedly. Ron was looking uncomfortable in a tuxedo two inches to short for him while Hermione was looking elegant in a deep lavender ball gown. Hermione dashed up to him and threw her arms about his neck.

"Harry! I'm so glad you could make it." Ron was right behind her patting Harry on the back.

"Yea, we weren't sure if the muggles were going to fall for it." It was at that moment of happiness that the walls of mansion shook violently and a great echoing boom was somehow amplified by the cavernous ballroom like thunder. The Weird Sisters abruptly stopped playing in surprise and guests were flocking to the windows to see what was going on. A second boom rocked the house and from the other side of the room a shrill woman's voice rang out in terror.

"The Dark Mark!"