Someone Like Me

The next morning, Harry and Ron where jolted awake by Hermione. She threw open the door with a bang, strode across the room, and threw open the curtains covering the floor-to-ceiling window. It was this that roused them more than anything.

"Oi!" Ron said, shoving his head under his pillow and cursing loudly. Hermione glared at him disapprovingly.

"Maybe you should try locking her out, now that Kreacher's gone," Harry suggested groggily. Hermione now glared at him, too.

"Good morning to you, too," she said sarcastically. Ron groaned in reply as Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"What time is it, anyway?" he asked.

"Yeah, and what's this all about?" Ron added, gesturing towards the window through which early morning sunlight was now pouring into the room.

"Its 8:30, and most of us have been up for hours," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "And your mum sent me up here to wake you two up; I've got to wake up Fred and George as well," she added, looking at Ron.

"Why?" he asked.

"Mrs. Townsen and Kenzie are due in two hours," she said, looking pointedly at Harry. "She wants us to clean the empty bedroom on the fourth floor for Mrs. Townsen. Kenzie's going to sleep in the room with Ginny and me."

"Alright, alright, we're coming. Now get out so we can get dressed, will you?" Ron replied.

Hermione rolled her eyes but left the room just the same. "Come down for breakfast first!" she called as she shut the door.

Ron and Harry climbed sleepily out of bed and dressed in silence. Soon after, the trudged down the many flights of stairs to the kitchen. "Good morning, boys," Mrs. Weasley greeted them as they entered the warm kitchen. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you," Harry answered.

"What's for eating?" Ron asked.

Mrs. Weasley frowned at him. "Bacon and eggs," she answered curtly. "I see you didn't bother to comb your hair," she added, eying Ron's messy hair, which was sticking out at odd angles from sleeping. Harry tried pointlessly to flatten his own hair.

"No, I didn't," Ron answered mildly.

"Hmph," his mother sniffed and she sat two plates piled high with bacon and eggs in front of Harry and Ron. "Now eat fast so you can get to work scrubbing that bedroom. I don't think it has ever been used."

Harry didn't need telling twice. He began hungrily shoving large spoonfuls of eggs into his mouth while Hermione, who he had just noticed sitting at the other end of the table, looked on frowningly. Ron was eating in a similar fashion next to him. The two where soon finished, and moved to the other end of the table while they waited for Fred and George, who had recently appeared, to finish their own breakfast. They sat and chatted with Hermione and Ginny for a few minutes until the twins announced they were finished and Mrs. Weasley shooed them out of the kitchen. They climbed up the stairs to the fourth floor and cautiously opened the door to the bedroom in question.

Indeed, the room did not look like it had been used or even entered in many years. The long curtains were closed tightly over the window and quivering ominously. The hangings on the four-poster bed where dusty and damp, and the rods they were hanging from bowed from the weight of them. The floor was covered in a thick layer of dust and grime, and the wardrobe was also shaking slightly.

"Well," Ginny said, "it's really not that bad. I'll go get the Doxycide from Mum, I'm sure that is what's in curtains and we're going to need the light in here. One of you should probably see what's in there. It's probably a boggart," she added to Fred and George, then ducked out of the room.

"I'll get rid of the boggart," Fred said, walking over and facing the wardrobe. He nodded to George who unfastened the latch and flung the doors of the wardrobe open. A mirror-image of Fred emerged from the wardrobe, a prefect badge pinned proudly to his chest. "No!" Fred cried in disgust. "Riddikulus!" Boggart-Fred pulled the gleaming pin off of his robes, threw it on the ground, and began jumping up and down on top of it. Harry, Ron, and George laughed, but Hermione looked slightly abashed. He glared reproachfully at Ron, the other prefect in the room, who was rolling on the floor, laughing and clutching his stomach.

"Don't finish it off! Let me have a try!" George said, going over to stand in front of his brother. The boggart immediately changed into George's double, who was wearing a lime green bowler like the one Cornelius Fudge wore and was sitting at a tidy desk with a name plate reading "Minister of Magic" in front of him. "Never! Riddikulus!" he cried. The name plate changed to read "Maniac of Magic" and Boggart-George whipped the bowler off his head and began chewing on it. This time even Hermione laughed. George stared straight at the boggart and let out a particularly large "Ha!" and the boggart, already weakened by all the laughter, disappeared.

No sooner had it faded than Mrs. Weasley can through the doorway carrying six cans of Doxycide and six washcloths, Ginny behind her with a large bucket of water and six sponges. "There you are, dears," she said, handing a washcloth and can of Doxycide to each person. "Don't forget to cover your mouths. Mrs. Townsen and Kenzie should arrive in about an hour so hurry!" With that she turned left the others to clean.

"So, they'll arrive soon, eh?" Ron said as his mother left the room. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Harry meaningfully.

"Why does everyone keep looking at me like that?" Harry shouted angrily. "I've never even talked to her, you know!"

Everyone looked taken aback for a moment, as though the answer should have been obvious. "Well, let's get cleaning!" Hermione said finally. Everyone else muttered words of assent.

They started with the doxy-infested curtains. Ginny pulled the curtains back one at a time while the others sprayed the many doxies that flew out from behind them. Once they were sure all of the doxies had been killed, they threw them all into one of the dusty bed hangings and bundled it up. Fred and George levitated the large bundle down the stairs to the bin. Harry and Ron then began to scrub the inside and outside of the wardrobe while Ginny removed all the bedclothes from the bed and scrubbed the frame. Hermione taught Fred and George the complicated wand wave which produced steam, and they began steaming the curtains. Next, the window, walls, and floor were cleaned. Finally, Ginny and Hermione put clean bedclothes on the bed and pronounced the room finished. Happy that the house had so many floors and a bathroom on each, they all scattered to different floors to shower and rinse the dirt and grime from their bodies.

No sooner had Harry pulled on his clothes after showering than he heard the doorbell ring. His stomach lurched a bit as he followed Ron out of their room and into the hall, where they met Hermione and Ginny coming out of their room. "They're late, you know," Hermione said as the four sent down the stairs. "They were supposed to be here a half hour ago."

Harry was glad they had not arrived earlier, before he had a change to change into clean clothes. No sooner had he had this thought than he kicked himself for being so anxious. Why was he so excited? "How did they come?" he asked.

"The Knight Bus, I'd expect," Hermione answered.

"Well, there you are then. They probably had to stop about a thousand times before getting here," he said, remembering his own experiences on the purple triple-decker bus.

"I suppose so," she said as they entered the entrance hall of the house. Mrs. Weasley was just pulling open the front door, Mr. Weasley close behind her. Standing on the threshold was a short, plump witch with gray hair pulled back into a tight bun high on her head dressed in eggplant colored robes. Harry assumed this was Mrs. Townsen.

"Welcome!" Mrs. Weasley cried, hugging Mrs. Townsen and ushering her further into the hallway. "Come in, come in! It's so wonderful to have you here!"

"Sorry to be late, but with that horrid bus you can never be too certain how long you're going to be," Mrs. Townsen said. She smiled, a warm smile which reached her eyes and made them sparkle and revealed lines around her mouth and eyes.

"Oh, no matter," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Let me take this for you," Mr. Weasley said, taking the worn carpet bag Mrs. Townsen was holding.

"Thank you, dear," she said happily. "Now where is that girl?" she added, looking around. "Kenzie! Mackenzie Louise Townsen!" she called.

"Here I am, Grandmother!" called a voice from the doorway. Kenzie was struggling to pull her school trunk up the stairs, but couldn't get it past the first one. She gave a particularly large pull and fell over backwards, landing firmly on her backside on the third, top step.

"Oops," Fred said, blushing a bit as his mother gave him a stern look. He and George hurried to help Kenzie with her trunk. Fred soon reappeared levitating the trunk in front of him, followed by George, who had a cage containing a large brown barn owl. Picking up the rear was a girl, unmistakably Kenzie Townsen, carrying a long-haired calico cat and blushing a bit.

"Honestly, I'm so clumsy all the time!" she laughed as she came to stand beside her grandmother. Grandmother, do you really have to use my full name like that?"

"I certainly do!" Mrs. Townsen said, smiling at her granddaughter.

"It's wonderful to have you, dear!" Mrs. Weasley greeted Kenzie, hugging her also. Then Mrs. Weasley steered her over to where Harry and the others were standing quietly beside the stairs. "You know Ginny, of course. These two are Fred and George, and this is Ron, Hermione, and Harry," Mrs. Weasley introduced.

Kenzie smiled and said hello to everyone. Hermione said it was wonderful to meet her and Ginny asked Kenzie how her summer had been so far but Harry could only murmur "Hello." He was once again taken by her beauty. Her wide, happy smile revealed straight white teeth and made her emerald eyes sparkle much like her grandmother's. Her long sheet of straight, sleek red hair hung down her back and tumbled gracefully over her shoulders and was shining in the sunlight that was pouring through the open door. One piece of hair hung by for face, mimicking the curve of it and ending at her chin, which she tucked repeatedly behind her ear as she talked.

"You'll be sleeping in Ginny and Hermione's room," Mrs. Weasley told Kenzie, snapping Harry back to reality. "Fred and George will take your things up. We'll eat lunch in about an hour so you all have some time to get better acquainted. And don't worry about that cat. Hermione has one and Harry and Ron both have owls so we don't mind animals around here," Mrs. Weasley said kindly. She then turned back to Mrs. Townsen, leading the way to the kitchen while Mr. Weasley carried her bag upstairs. Fred and George took this as a cue to leave and followed their father up the stairs, the other five behind them. Fred stopped at Hermione and Ginny's room to drop off Kenzie's trunk while George followed his father up another flight of stairs to Mrs. Townsen's room.

"Thank you so much!" Kenzie said as Fred dropped her trunk beside the single bed that had been placed against the wall across from the beds that Hermione and Ginny slept in.

"No problem," he assured her.

"It's wonderful to finally be here," Kenzie said as she sat down on her bed.

"It's wonderful to finally have you here," Ginny said, sitting down beside her. Kenzie smiled.

"Who's this?" Hermione asked as she sat down on Kenzie's other side and petted her cat's head.

"Pixie," Kenzie answered. "I got her the year I started Hogwarts." She bent over and placed the cat on the floor, where it walked over to where Ron and Harry were standing silently and rubbed up against Harry's leg.

"She likes you," Kenzie laughed, smiling at Harry.

"I guess so," Harry said, bending down and scratched Pixie behind her ears. Just then George came into the room and stood beside Fred.

"Oh!" Kenzie exclaimed as he entered, "With you both here it reminds me, I wanted to tell you I loved when you two left last year! It was brilliant! The old toad was angry for days! And those fireworks and that swamp were brilliant, too."

Fred and George looked rather pleased with themselves. "Well, someone had to do something. You can buy your own, you know, use them against whoever they get to teach this year," George said as he and Fred sat down on Hermione's bed, facing the girls.

As the conversation turned to the possibilities for new Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, Ron and Harry became more comfortable and sat down on Ginny's bed, joining into the conversation.

"I was in the DA, you know," Kenzie told Harry. "I'm not sure you ever knew I was there. You were a wonderful teacher. Are you going to do it again this year?"

Harry blushed. "Thank you. I suppose I might, it's according to whether the new teacher can teach or not and if the others want to."

"I'm sure they will. It was such fun! I'd like to do it again. I'm not sure everyone will though, but most of them. I heard a few people talking and they said that they thought you were getting a bit conceited, teaching your own Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. I don't agree, though. I think it was a wonderful idea. You were a great teacher and you definitely know loads about it," she replied, hardly taking a breath. The others looked at each other in a stunned silence, all struggling to keep a straight face until finally they all cracked and broke into laughter. Kenzie blushed furiously. "Oh, I'm sorry! I never think before I speak. I always have to say what's on my mind. I'm sorry! Please don't take me seriously."

"No problem," Harry said. "I understand." Kenzie smiled gratefully. He smiled back.

The conversation had turned to Quidditch by the time Mrs. Weasley called the seven of them down to lunch.

"I got to play Seeker for a while last year, but I think with Angelina and Alicia gone I'll try out for Chaser. I really prefer it," Ginny said.

"I think I'll try out for Chaser, too. I play with my cousins all the time, and it's definitely my favorite position," Kenzie said.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we both made it?! Then, you, Harry, Ron, and I could all be on the team together!" Ginny replied enthusiastically.

"You should try out. It's good fun," Harry said.

Kenzie blushed. "All right, I will then."

The conversation stayed on Quidditch all the way through lunch and afterward. Harry thought it was a pity Kenzie had never had many friends before because she seemed like a wonderful person. He understood why she had kept to herself, however. When Voldemort had come back to power at the end of Harry's fourth year, anyone who was remotely connected to him had been pestered endlessly about it, and the murders of Oliver and Suzanne Townsen had always been well-known. They were supposedly the last people Voldemort had killed himself before Harry's own parents. He was happy to have a new friend with whom he could sympathize and who would understand what he was going through.

The more the six old friends were around Kenzie, the more they opened up to her, and vice versa. As Kenzie talked and laughed with them, Harry became aware of a faint American accent that was hinted in some of her words. He wondered briefly what the story behind this was, but was too enveloped by other things she was saying to give it much thought. The others still gave him that odd look occasionally, but Harry found it did not bother him so much anymore. Now that he had come to know Kenzie, he was no longer ashamed of how his stomach flopped when she smiled at him. He did not know what would become of his friendship with Kenzie, or if anything would, but he couldn't wait to find out.