Someone Like Me

The morning after Kenzie's arrival, Hermione again awoke Ron and Harry early, this time accompanied by Ginny and Kenzie. The five had bonded quickly the day before, and they all felt like old friends already. Today, rather than throwing open the curtains to wake the boys, Hermione simply plopped down and Ron's bed, and Kenzie and Ginny both on Harry's; the weight that was suddenly added to the bed when the girls' jumped on, or, in Harry's case, the fact that Kenzie landed directly on his feet and toppled over the foot of the bed and landed with a loud thud, woke them more effectively than the sudden light, anyway. The girls' loud giggling when Kenzie fell might have had something to do with it, too. But when Harry and Ron finally awoke, they were too shocked at finding girls on their beds to be angry for being woken up.

"What are you doing here?!" Ron and Harry said in unison, both staring at the girl or girls sitting on the foot of their beds, Ron's ears going quite red.

"I should think it was obvious that we came to wake you two up," Hermione said as she, Ginny, and Kenzie got off of the boys' beds. She turned and opened the curtains, letting light into the room. Harry stuffed his head back under his pillow and groaned, while Ron just glared at Hermione. "Nice outfits," he said sarcastically, surveying the girls' clothes. Each was dressed in blue jeans and a form-fitting brightly colored cotton jacket over a white tank top. Hermione's jacket was pink, Ginny's green, and Kenzie's blue, and each girl had a scarf with the three colors swirled together in her hair like a headband, the ends of the scarf barely visible poking out from beneath her hair onto her back.

Harry took his head out from under the pillow and surveyed the girls himself. "Oh, no! My scarf is in the wash today!" he joked. Hermione and Ginny glared and him, but he thought he saw a flicker of a smile on Kenzie's face.

"For your information, Kenzie's grandmother made these scarves for the three of us. As for the jackets, it was a lucky coincidence we all had the same one in different colors, thank you very much," Hermione said. "Anyway, if you two are just going to be prats, than we're going. Get dressed and come downstairs when you're ready." With that, she stalked out of the room, followed closely by Ginny and Kenzie.

"Honestly, she's a nightmare!" Ron said as the door closed behind the girls. Harry didn't need to ask who "she" was.

The two boys dressed silently, except for Ron's occasional muttering about Hermione. Finally, they went downstairs, where they found the rest of the household seated around the long table eating bacon, eggs, and toast. As they entered, Mrs. Weasley got up and fixed them both plates of food.

"Honestly, Ron, do you ever comb your hair?" she asked with a sigh as she handed the two their plates.

"No," Ron replied, taking a seat at the far end of the table across from the girls and beginning to eat. Harry sat down next to him and began eating, too.

"Did you two sleep well?" Kenzie asked pleasantly.

"Yes thank you, and you?" Harry replied.

"Quite," she said.

"I didn't," Ginny announced. "I had a dream that we were at school, and everyone was speaking a different language. I asked Harry what they were saying and he said it was a secret, and I couldn't know. It was terrible. Isn't it awful when friends keep secrets from one another like that?"

"NO!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione all cried at the same time. Harry thought guiltily about the prophecy, and he noticed that Ron and Hermione both blushed and avoided eye contact with each other. Ginny looked quite taken aback, and the five friends stayed quiet throughout the rest of the meal.

Mrs. Weasley, along with Mrs. Townsen, got up and began clearing away dishes some fifteen minutes later. No sooner had the last goblet of pumpkin juice been cleared from the table than three dignified-looking owls came to a graceful stop atop the table.

"Our O.W.L.s!" Hermione squealed excitedly. She pulled the letter off the leg of the owl nearest to her, and it quickly took flight again. Harry and Ron followed suit, though they were not as excited to see their results.

"Mr. Harry Potter, Third Floor Bedroom, 13 Grimmauld Place, London," the envelope read. Harry opened the letter, dreading what he would find.

"Astronomy: Exceeding Expectations

Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding

Charms: Exceeding Expectations

Defense Against the Dark Arts: Outstanding

Divination: Acceptable

Herbology: Exceeding Expectations

History of Magic: Acceptable

Potions: Outstanding

Transfiguration: Exceeding Expectations"

Harry was so happy he could have jumped up and down for joy. His lowest mark was in Divination, which was a useless class he planned on dropping, anyway. The rest of his marks were high, even good enough to get him into all of the classes Professor McGonagall had suggested for him in order to pursue becoming an Auror. He was most excited about his "Outstanding" in Potions. He didn't know how he had pulled it off, but he thought Dumbledore might have used a bit of his influence to help him scrape up the grade. Harry was grateful, even if it did mean another two years with Snape.

He looked over at Ron, who had a look of shock on his face. "How did you do?" Harry asked.

"Good," Ron said, looking more baffled than ever. Harry grabbed the letter from Ron's hands, thrust his own letter at Ron, and read down Ron's list of grades. He received "Outstanding" in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions, too, and "Exceeding Expectations" in everything else except for Divination, for which he received "Poor," History of Magic, and Charms, both in which he received "Acceptable."

"Alright, mate!" Ron said, holding up a hand which Harry slapped excitedly. An impatient sigh sounded from the opposite side of the table. "Well, are you going to tell us what you made or not?" Kenzie asked.

"Not," Harry replied, smirking. Kenzie donned a look of mock indignation before snatching the letters out of Ron and Harry's hands faster than either of them could prepare for it. She stuck out her tongue at Harry before grinning and scanning the list of grades.

Harry was impressed. "Wow, you have great reflexes. You really must be a great Chaser," he told Kenzie. Ron quickly agreed.

"Well, I told you I was, didn't I?" Kenzie replied with a small laugh followed by a smile. "Why would I lie to you?"

"Fair enough," Harry conceded, grinning himself.

"Well," Hermione announced loudly, causing everyone to jump. Since she had not been speaking, they had all quite forgotten she was there, a fact which they all guiltily realized. "I wish I could have managed an 'Outstanding' in Ancient Runes; I can't imagine what I could have missed, but it must have been something. I'm quite pleased with the rest of my grades, though." She neatly refolded the letter and slipped it back into its envelope, laying it on the table in front of her. Ron quickly snatched it up. He scanned the letter with a look on growing disgust on his face before handing it off to Harry and staring disdainfully at Hermione. "All 'Outstanding' except for that one, and a note of congratulations for having the highest grades in the year. Oh, yes, I can see why you're so upset. I'm surprised you haven't broken down into tears, I know I would have," Ron said sarcastically. Harry quickly read the letter and realized it was true. He, too, looked at Hermione in awe while passing the letter across the table to Kenzie.

Hermione blushed. "Well, it's just that it would have been nice to have a perfect score. There's nothing wrong with striving for excellence, you know," she said.

"No, but there is this thing called 'obsession,' and that's what you have," Ron said. Sensing an argument, Ginny hurriedly got up from the table and left the kitchen. Harry had learned to tune out Ron and Hermione's arguments and Kenzie had never experienced the full extent of one of their rows, so they remained behind.

"I am not obsessed!" Hermione insisted, blushing.

"Yes, you are! All you ever talk about is grades and studying, and you've been pushing it on Harry and me for years!" Ron yelled.

"Hey, leave me out of this," Harry said, looking up at Ron, who was now standing. Ron glared down at him.

"Well, it wouldn't kill either of you to concentrate on your studies a bit more. You scraped together enough O.W.L.s, but these N.E.W.T. classes are going to be much harder!" Hermione yelled back, now standing also.

"I said leave me out of this!" Harry said loudly. This time both Hermione and Ron stopped to glare at him before resuming yelling. Kenzie looked between Ron and Hermione for a moment, amused, before she got up from the table. Harry decided that his two best friends would be preoccupied for a while and stood to go with her. As soon as they exited the kitchen, Kenzie burst into laughter.

"Have they always been that in love with each other?" she asked.

Harry laughed. "Not always," he answered, "just since about our third year, but it didn't get this bad until fourth year when Hermione dated Viktor Krum. Ever since then, all they ever do is argue. Eventually, they'll figure it out in the middle of a row and snog each other silly. Until then...."

Kenzie laughed again. "I've heard them row in the common room before, but I didn't know they always rowed."

"They do," Harry assured her, "but you'll get used to it. Most of the time I don't even hear them, unless I come up in the middle of it, and believe me, that's not a place you want to be."

"Good to know," Kenzie said, smiling. They reached the end of the hall and came to a stop in front of the front door. Neither one wanted to leave the other. "Can we go out?" Kenzie asked hopefully.

"Well, I can't, at least not out the front," Harry said, slightly ashamed. "Everyone is a bit over protective of me, I'm sorry to say, but there is a garden out back if you want to..."

"Alright," Kenzie answered eagerly before Harry could even finish his sentence. She blushed, and Harry smiled hugely. He led the way down a small side corridor Kenzie had never noticed before and out a shadowy door into the bright sunlight of the small garden. The garden was surrounded by a tall wooden fence, which wasn't necessary since Number Twelve Gimmauld Place was invisible to the muggles who lived on either side of it. One large tree stood in a corner, and a stone bench sat underneath it. Harry and Kenzie walked over to this bench and sat down. As Kenzie turned her face toward the sun, closing her eyes and smiling slightly as it warmed her face, Harry couldn't help but notice how her beautiful auburn locks shone and sparkled in the sunlight. Kenzie must have sensed Harry watching her, because she turned back toward him, opened her eyes, and smiled, that same piece of hair falling into her eyes again as she did.

"What?" she asked. "I don't have anything one my face, do I?" Kenzie worriedly reached up and touched her cheek.

Harry laughed quietly. "No, there's nothing... it's just that... never mind," he said.

"Alright?" she said uncertainly. Her words were followed by an awkward silence. "Congratulations on your O.W.L.s, but the way," Kenzie finally said.

"Oh, thanks," Harry said, glad the silence was broken.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to make it next year, if you want to know the truth. I've done alright up until now, but Hermione said it gets harder when professors go O.W.L.-crazy. I'm worried," she confessed.

"Don't worry. From what Ginny says, you're really smart, and if I can make it through the O.W.L.s alright, you can," Harry assured her.

Conversation flowed easily until Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Townsen called Harry and Kenzie in for lunch three hours later. They couldn't believe they had talked for that long, or that they could still find conversation topics all through lunch. After lunch, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione joined the two again, and a wizard's chess tournament which, to everyone's surprise, came down to Kenzie and Ron, though Ron, of course, was the winner, carried them through until dinner. After dinner, the five friends all sat down in the girls' room and talked until eleven o'clock, when Harry and Ron said goodnight and retired to their room.

As usual, Ron raved on about how insufferable Hermione was as the two boys changed into their pajamas. When they finally turned out the lights and climbed into their beds, Ron went to sleep almost immediately. Harry, however, lay in bed and thought over his day with Kenzie. He now knew with more certainty than ever that he fancied her. The only question was what to do about it. After all, he had only ever dated one girl, if you could call that awful day with Cho a date....

Kenzie was awakened by the sound of the bedroom door opening. She could still hear the deep, steady breathing of Ginny and Hermione and knew they were still asleep. About the time she decided that she might have imagined the noise, she was startled once again by footsteps. A voice whispered her name, and she felt someone sit down next to her on the bed. "Harry?" she asked groggily.