Harry Potter and His New Standards

* Chapter 2 - The Boggart, the Basketball, & the Best Birthday *

Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.

*()%()*

After Sirius showed Harry around the house, Professor Dumbledore, Sirius, Holly, and him all took a seat in the living room and visited for a while. Just before noon Dumbledore left, after wishing Harry a very happy birthday, and Sirius brought the two teenagers into the kitchen for lunch.

He made them sandwiches, admitting that he had no skill in cooking whatsoever and promising that he would work on it for parental purposes. While he watched Sirius summoning different things from all the different cupboards and putting them together, Harry voiced something he hadn't yet thought of. "Sirius, do Ron and Hermione know you're cleared?"

"Of course. Ron's from a wizarding family, and his father and one of his brothers work for the Ministry. And, well, you know Hermione. Probably still has her subscription to The Daily Prophet, to keep up. She mailed me straight away, she spent month in France again this summer," said Sirius. He carried Harry and Holly's plates over to them and set them down. "Pumpkin juice?" Sirius questioned.

"Pumpkin juice?" echoed Holly, looking discredited.

"Pumpkin juice," confirmed her father. Holly wrinkled her nose.

There was silence for a moment before she said suggestively, "Can I get some water, instead?" Sirius nodded and turned to the sink that was under one of the windows, a glass popping into view. The room was flooded with receding golden light; coming from the three windows, all dawned with checkered pale yellow and white curtains. Sirius didn't strike Harry as the type to pick out yellow and white curtains, patterned with little squares. But, it didn't phase him. They were simply great kitchen colors.

"I'll have some pumpkin juice, thanks, Sirius," Harry stated. Another glass appeared, but this time Harry saw one of the unstained cupboard doors closing after its sudden visibility. He filled this one with pumpkin juice, set the cups down on the table, and slid into his chair.

"Now, who's Ron and Her...Her-my-o...nee?" Holly asked, struggling on Hermione's name. But, what could she do? It was a weird name. Harry went on to explain that they were his friends at Hogwarts, and that he'd introduce her to them on the train or maybe at Diagon Alley, wherever they met first.

After lunch, Harry and Holly went to put Harry's things away in his room. He felt like he could really like Holly, she did seem like the sisterly type. And, being that neither of them had ever had siblings to grow up with, this was an excellent change for both of them.

"I saw you were reading a Quidditch book... you like Quidditch?" questioned Harry. Holly, who was going through Harry's schoolbooks and alphabetizing them on the floor, tilted her head to look up at him, while struggling with The Monster Book of Monsters.

"Yeah," she stated, "I used to play Chaser for my class. Quodpot just wasn't my thing... I don't like holding something I know could scorch me, it defeats the true purpose of teamwork."

"I play Seeker for my House...and we've got some positions that are open this year, as all of our Chasers that we got last year were, coincidentally, seventh years, along with a Beater," Harry said. Holly grinned.

"I'll have to practice," she said. "When did you get your position?" She gave the luminous alarm clock in Harry's hands a funny look. "No outlets," she added.

"So I've noticed," he said, setting it down next to his sneaker box. "But I got my position on the team my first year," he told her. He leaned over and ran a finger down the spine of The Monster Book and it fell open in Holly's hands.

"Damn, you must be really good. And, thank you..." she said, looking down at the page the book had fallen open to.

Harry grinned to himself. He was always modest, but he had an itch to say "Youngest House Seeker in a century!" but thought better of it. "My father used to play, I guess I got the flying gene from him."

"Mmhmm..."

"And, you're welcome." Holly smirked.

Harry opened the wardrobe to put away his robes and Muggle clothing, but before he say anything more, something in a black cloak that was 4-metres-tall, ducked out of it. Holly gasped and as the color drained from her face, she made a very small shrieking noise. Harry's insides went cold and without a second of thought he yelled, "SIRIUS!"

Sirius bolted into the room, at the sound of Harry's panicked voice. "What? - - Oh!"

"Sirius, I think - - I think it's a boggart!" Harry said, ruling out the thought that a dementor had been hiding in his wardrobe. Cold was flooding him, but at the thought that it was only a shape shifter, it didn't come on quite as fast as it used to. He gently guided Holly backwards with his hands, who was pale and starting to shake. Harry's strength was leaving him as the boggart turned and faced Sirius, a slimy, scabbed hand reaching for its hood. Harry doubted that dementors were Sirius' greatest feat, as he had been with them for such a long period of time. But, maybe with the sentence to the Kiss he was given, a fear for them restored itself, Harry didn't know. But the boggart didn't change. Sirius pulled out his wand and called, "Riddikulus!" The boggart stopped, and it's hooded black robe turned neon pink, luminous yellow and blue flowers sprouting from it. Sirus and Harry laughed freely, and Holly giggled weakly.

All that was left of the boggart a moment later were wisps of smoke. "Thank you, Sirius," Harry said, feeling as though he'd sincerely thanked his godfather for at least ten things that day already. Harry had learned to take the presence of the dementors better throughout the past couple years. He forced the last moments of his parents' lives out of his mind, and kept it clear. But, nonetheless, they still made him rather cold and queasy.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Holly quickly running her hands across her cheeks. When she pulled them away, the faint shimmer of her skin told him that she had been wiping away tears. Sympathetically, he wondered what Holly had been forced to remember... it didn't make her faint or throw herself into screaming fits, but it managed to make her cry. Her eyes weren't red, and it seemed as though the tears had just fell like there was no cause. It struck him as odd.

He decided against asking her about it.

Sirius hurried down the stairs and returned breaking a chocolate bar into pieces. Harry later found pieces of its wrapping torn off from the point where he retrieved it, in the kitchen, past the door, up the stairs, and down the hallway. "Thanks," muttered Holly, taking a bite.

After they had all regained their full strength, Holly posed a question. "Was that boggart impersonating one of your prison dementors?"

"One of the famous dementors of Azkaban," answered Sirius, "How would you rate it?"

"Five stars on performance," Harry said.

"Two thumbs up on realistic freakiness. I've never seen a dementor before... well I guess I still haven't seen a dementor before..." stated Holly. "Are they really that bad?" Harry and Sirius nodded simultaneously.

After a while, Sirius went back downstairs as Harry and Holly continued to put away his things. "Do you have a broomstick, Holly?" he asked. She returned a nod.

"Yeah, I got a Nimbus from my foster parents last year," she stated, carefully setting Harry's Pocket Sneakoscope down on his desk.

"You had foster parents?" Harry asked.

"Well, yeah, for the past few years. I was surprised to find a couple people who could put up with me. They were old, and had never had any children. I guess they wanted one before they were gone... Muggles. Pretty fascinated with the fact I was a witch after I explained the entire situation to them... I was happy they didn't reject me, you know?" Holly said. Harry nodded.

"I do..." he said. He was all too used to being looked down on by the Dursleys like he was a lesser mortal then they.

"Yup, they really spoiled me. I enjoyed the attention, I wouldn't deny that, and I still lived like a Muggle - - for the most part. They were really nice people. I thought I'd be stuck in that orphanage forever... because people want to adopt babies, not teenagers," she said, smiling weakly.

Harry looked out his window and noticed that the trees sloped along with a hill. With a fleeting hope that perhaps there was an open space near the top, he asked, "Holly, do you want to go flying?" She glanced up, looking confused.

"If you know a place where we can fly around on broomsticks without about 40 Muggles spotting us from their houses, I'd gladly come with you," she stated with an air of superior simplicity.

He motioned for her to come to the window, and pointed at the hill. When she stood there, obviously pondering whether they could pull it off, Harry noticed Holly was very tall (for a girl). She probably stood just as tall as he did, at least. Harry marveled at her height for a moment, before remembering that Sirius, too, was quite tall.

Holly glanced at Harry and grinned. "Let's go," she said. She disappeared into her room and returned carrying a broomstick before Harry could even pull his own out of his trunk.

"Ugh, Malfoy has that broom," said Harry.

"Well whoever Malfoy may be, I don't care. But I assure you my broom, whether the same model or not, is better - - than - - his," she replied, patting her broom as though it were her prized pet.

He grabbed his Firebolt and after letting Holly goggle at it for a while, and then complain that Sirius never sent her a broom like his, they set off. Holly ran back into her room and grabbed a basketball.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked

"I already told you, I lived like a Muggle!" she replied, bouncing it on the floor after she slid down the stair railing, Harry tailing her on the steps. She prodded a letter printed on her basketball then dropped it. It fell smoothly as though the air inside had been replaced by water, and it was slowly sinking. "For the most part," she added, swooping the basketball up into her arms.

"Sirius! We're going for a walk!" Harry called, slipping on his shoes.

"Alright! Behave yourselves!" his voice replied, coming from the den.

"Okay, Dad!" Holly answered. They set off at a quick-paced walk for the hill. Harry then thought that they should have wrapped the broomsticks in his Invisibility Cloak, so there were no odd questions. "I haven't flown since school..." she said. "My Beater-friend, Jackie and I used to fly around the pitch in our free time."

"I've never met a girl Beater," Harry remarked.

"Well, that doesn't mean we can't do it, now does it?" Holly said. It was her usual cheerful tone, but there was a bit of an irritated note in it. Harry decided to avoid criticizing Holly. "Besides, I went to an all-girl school. Really, where were we to find a boy to play Beater for us?"

When they reached the hill about 5 minutes later, they climbed it at a run, sliding through trees until they has successfully found a large bare stretch of ground at the top of the mound. "Aha, we score!" she said. Harry raised his eyebrows at her, but she obviously chose not to notice because she mounted her broom and kicked off the ground.

Holly rounded the bare ground once before Harry mounted his broom and kicked off. He flew up high into the air and dived straight down, pulling out of it just in time. The wind against his face, messing his hair more than before, and the free-falling feeling he had when descending in the air all came back in a flash, reminding him how much he had missed flying.

They flew around silently for a while, before Holly grabbed her bewitched basketball. She tossed it to Harry and asked, "Ever try being a Chaser?" He shook his head.

"No...I guess I've focused more on my own position," he replied, grinning as he tossed the ball back to her. Holly looked around for a good gap in between branches of trees. She rounded him and whipped the ball through a space between the branches of a tall oak.

"It's fun," she stated happily, flying around the trunk of the tree and snatching the ball before it fell to the ground. She tossed it to Harry and he flew forward, trying to put the ball between the same gap. He missed, but swooped down to catch the ball before it fell to the shaded ground. When he looked up at Holly again, she was dangling from her broom, hanging on by one hand and a bent ankle.

"Is that the Starfish and Stick?" he asked, half-laughing.

"Hell yeah, I could so be a Keeper," she said. Somehow Holly managed to steer her broom in this position, and zoomed slowly and steadily around, cackling like a gleeful leprechaun. Harry laughed at her, and threw her basketball back after she had gotten back onto the broom.

"We should practice a few nights a week... I need to keep my spot on the team," Harry said.

Holly snorted haughtily. "Like you'd lose your spot on the team! But, hey! Maybe with 168 hours worth for me each week, I could make the cut."

"You're being insanely modest."

"As though you would know."

They flew for a couple hours, then took a walk around the Muggle part of the village. Like Harry, Holly had not a clue as to where the entrance to the wizard part of this place was. Harry told her about the entrance to Diagon Alley and they dreamt up where the door to the magical street of Bolkinwick might be.

By the time they got back, it was dinner (more sandwiches), and Harry was still not sure what to make of Holly. She seemed to be a whole bunch of people with different qualities and faults all mixed into one complex person, that's all he could deduce then.

After they ate, they went into the sitting room. Sirius read The Daily Prophet while Holly showed Harry some of her favorite moves from Dangerously Interesting Quidditch Maneuvers, most of which a majority of Quidditch players wouldn't dare pull off.

Harry went to bed late that night looking forward to his birthday that would only be in a few short hours.

*()%()*

"Wake uuuuuup!"

"Mmphh-a?" Harry answered.

"Happy birthday!" exclaimed Holly.

Oh yes! That! Harry had nearly forgotten. He was very tired from the activity of the day before, but considering how light the room looked through his eyelids - - it was well into the morning.

He opened one eye and saw that there was more than one blurred shape in his room. At first he thought he was hallucinating but as he put on his glasses, he was sure that was not the case. Around his bed stood Holly, Sirius, and Ron.

"Happy birthday, Harry! The rest are all downstairs," said Ron. He had reached the top of his height climb now... taller than Sirius by an inch or two, at least.

"Ron!" he said somewhat weakly, trying to piece together his senses to fully comprehend what was going on. "What do you mean by... the rest?" he questioned. Harry sat up somewhat groggily.

"Oh, you know, everyone wanted to come wish you a 'happy birthday', congratulate Sirius, meet Holly, see the house...y'know!" Ron said happily. "Percy, Bill, and Charlie couldn't come though...they're all away but they sent you stuff!" From this, Harry deduced that over half of the Weasley family was downstairs. "Hermione's here too."

"Happy birthday Harry," Sirius said, beaming down at him. He thanked him... again.

Harry grinned. "Get your butt in gear!" said Holly anxiously.

"Alright, I'm coming..." Harry said. The three left the room before he climbed out of bed, scrambled over to his wardrobe, opened it cautiously, and saw no sign of a new boggart. He picked out his clothes and pulled them on quickly. Trying to finger-comb his hair didn't do much, although Harry wasn't really expecting great results.

He bounded down the stairs, fully awake, and into the sitting room. There sat Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, and the four youngest of their children - - Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny all sitting in the various recliners, on the sofa, and the loveseat. Hermione sat next to Ginny, Holly was cross-legged on the floor, and Sirius was standing next to the coffee table.

"Happy birthday, Harry!" they chorused. He figured he should start keeping track... he had never heard so many 'happy birthdays'... directed to him, anyway.

There were two large cakes on the table next to plates and silverware. "Breakfast?" George offered sweetly. Harry smiled and prepared to accept. He hadn't had cake for breakfast since the entire Dursley family was forced into dieting for the sake of Dudley.

"Sure," he accepted. They all dug into the cake except for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Maybe the reason Sirius joined in was because he was the youngest parent there... or maybe the troublemaker youth came along with an automatic liking for cake.

After the cake, they all insisted Harry opened his presents. There were so many gifts sitting in a large pile in front of a vacant chair, Harry nearly fell over. He had never received so many presents for one occasion in his life.

From Ron he received a Revealer along with a set of self-shuffling playing cards. Hermione gave him a book from their school list, Advanced Astronomy, and a large bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Ginny blushed furiously as he opened her gift - a set of Gobstones, and Percy had given him a miniature Foe-Glass about the size of a cosmetic mirror. As Harry continued opening gifts he got a book from Charlie called Professional Seeker Diversions - An Account of What Those Foolhardy Players Have Done Now. From Bill he received a nice watch that, according to the note, had a face made of an ancient Egyptian Galleon (he hadn't had a working watch since his went into the lake when he was 14, so this was much appreciated). A great container of fudge came from the Weasley parents. Fred and George gave him some Filibuster No-Heat Wet-Start fireworks along with some of their own creations. From Sirius he got a clasp for a cloak with a button that made in invisible ("For keeping certain cloaks on without being seen" he hinted) a Remembrall, and a nice chessboard, and Holly gave him some levitating sherbet balls and a super-sized bag of Dungbombs.

All the gifts, either pricey or homemade, Harry thanked all of them over and over. He could hardly comprehend how much he had gotten. Everyone stayed for quite a while, and chatted and joked freely. Fred and George were telling Holly about some of their more miraculous scheming and rule breaking throughout their time at Hogwarts (they had just graduated), and she listened, rapt with attention. Harry challenged Ginny to a game of Gobstones, feeling he didn't ever pay enough attention to her. After Ginny blushed for nearly two minutes straight, they got on with the game. Ron and Hermione talked a lot, bickering about something here and there. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley chatted with Sirius.

Harry and Holly made plans to meet with the Weasleys and Hermione when they went to Diagon Alley before everyone left. By this time, it was early in the afternoon. An hour after they left, Sirius' old friend, and Harry's ex-professor, Remus Lupin made an appearance. He looked as tired and shabby as ever, but managed to be extremely cheerful. He apologized to Harry for not getting him a gift, but did tell him he would be taking up the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher position again that year. After he left, Holly already staked the claim that he was the best teacher she ever had. Harry didn't press on this, because if Holly's elaboration was something on the lines of 'Well, I think he's handsome...' he'd be permanently scarred.

It wasn't until that night, when Harry lay down in his comfortable bed, setting his glasses on his bedside table, that he could really think about the happenings of the past day. He shut his eyes tight and recalled exactly how everyone had seemed to change dramatically over the past month. But, it wasn't Ron's added height, or Fred and George's lengthening red locks that came to mind. More on the lines of Hermione's sleek brown hair, newly held confidence, and perfect complexion... Ginny's new "teenage-curves", nearly sophisticated attitude, and smile... it was all wonderful to turn over in his mind.

But Harry had no idea that these two developing loves, a constantly-held crush on the pretty Ravenclaw Seeker at school, and a new sister who would simply adore sticking her oar in - - was not a good mix. He didn't realize that this would be the complicated subplot of his next year at school, and that it would definitely tie his heartstrings in intricate some knots.

*()%()*

QUOTE: Complexity - Wallace Stevens

A/N: Who can deny that this is what EVERY HP fan wants?! I ain't makin' up no stinkin' new DADA teacher... I want Lupin, dang it! Okay now!

And, if your name happens to be 'Hermione' (honestly, how many of those could there be out there?)... um... don't take offense by my expressing that your name was weird in this chapter. Maybe not so much weird as it is... hard to pronounce when reading it, or in Holly's case, after first hearing it.

Holly's not a priss, thus she's not anti-Quidditch... and will get her time to shine. It was a long and hard debate whether she'd be interested in Chaser or Beater.

NEXT CHAPTER: A brief description of what goes on with Harry over the next month, the trip to Diagon Alley, and onto the Hogwarts Express. Holly makes flowers send off luminous flashes of colors and puff out glitter, and states her first claim at whom she likes the look of. Harry helps a friend with robes, and sets eyes on Cho for the first time in a few months to great effect. Finishes off with the Welcoming Feast. A little rushed, but there it is.