Hello
To the world below
While I'm watching the world spinning
This night seems so unending
Well I'll follow
To a place I know
That's only the beginning
Start over after ending
Lyrics to “The Beginning” by Lifehouse
Disclaimer- I own none of this. It all belongs to J.K. R. Thank you for letting my mind wander…
Chapter Eight- Departure
Harry hadn’t forgotten about his promise to Ginny; he was just waiting for the summer to go back to England. Sarah would be able to come with him during the summer because she wouldn’t have to worry about missing school, but Harry hadn’t told her yet. Tomorrow was the start of her vacation, so he was going to go up and visit her at school. That morning, he called and explained to her that he needed to tell her something. He told her that he’d be coming to visit her that night, so she wouldn’t be surprised. She sounded delighted that he’d be coming.
The day went by slowly, but finally it was time for Harry to leave. He built up the courage and then Disapparated. It was his first time visiting Sarah while she was at school and he was not sure where he was supposed to be going. When he got there, he found that he was standing inside a small room which must have been her dorm. He called for her.
“Just a sec!” Harry heard Sarah call to him. He was relieved that he had been right with his directions as he saw Sarah walk into the room with a couple drinks.
“Harry! It’s so good to see you! Please, sit, you said that you wanted to talk about something?” she asked him.
Sarah had been calling him “Harry” ever since he had gotten home from the hospital. She remembered that day clearly. When he had finally come to consciousness, Sarah noticed that he had changed. He was different somehow, but she couldn’t figure out the reason. She had stayed with him and took a few days off from school. It was weird how Harry seemed to have changed just like that. Harry left the hospital with a few scars and his arm in a sling. Sarah remembered that it had been about a month since that day and Harry’s arm still hadn’t healed fully. She figured that it was the magic that he had faced that was causing such a long recovery or maybe it was just the doctors. He still wore the sling that they gave him because he had difficulty using his arm. Harry had been different ever since.
“Yeah, I need to ask you to do something for me. That day, when I fought Malfoy and passed out, changed me a little. You’ve probably noticed. I can’t really explain it, but something tells me that I must go back to England. It was wrong for me to run away from everyone, and I know that now. I only made things worse for those who were close to me. I need to go back, and I would like you to come with me. I know that it’s asking a lot from you, but it’s very important to me.” Harry explained the situation carefully and watched her to try and guess what she was feeling.
“Wow, well, this explains a lot. You waited this long to tell me? Yeah, of course, I’ll go back with you. I just have one question though: why are you asking me to come with you?” Sarah looked at Harry thoughtfully.
“Because, you were there for me when I needed someone to be there. You’ve become my closest friend here. You were someone who listened to me and believed in me. You helped me. I’m afraid for you and what you don’t know about how much danger you’re in by just being my friend. I’m afraid that if you do not come with me, and learn, then we’ll both be taken off guard. And I don’t mean to scare you; I’m just telling you the truth. You mean so much to me and putting you in danger is not what I intended to do. For this, I’m truly sorry. That’s why I want you to come with me, not because you’re in danger, but because you are my friend,” Harry explained.
“Harry, I don’t think I’ve had a better friend my whole life. I’ll go with you and there is no need to apologize to me. You’ve been blaming yourself too much for things that you cannot control. You just need to let things happen as they’re meant to happen. So, when do we leave?” Sarah asked him because she admitted to herself that it would definitely be cool to see Harry’s world. She was actually very excited about the opportunity. Harry just laughed at her enthusiasm.
“Well, we can go tomorrow if you really want to or we can wait a few days.” Harry really was shocked that Sarah was so excited.
“Then what are we standing around here for? Help me get packed and then you can do your little disappearing act with me. Then we can go tell my parents that we’re going to visit your ‘family’ in England. C’mon, let’s go, move it, buddy! This is going to be wicked fun!” She jumped up and ran into another room. Harry was laughing so hard as he followed her. He thought of how interesting it was going to be introducing Sarah to all his old friends.
* * *
After they had finished packing, Harry Disapparated with Sarah back to his room at the Inn. Sarah had never done that with him before so Harry guessed that she must have been a little shaken up. Harry held her up as they hit the ground and then she walked over to a chair looking a little dizzy. Harry remembered his first time using that method of travel and fully understood what she was feeling. She looked up at him and he saw her face light up again.
“That was so cool! I can’t believe that we traveled here in just a couple seconds. Is this how we’re going to England, too? What if my parents ask about my car? What happens”” Harry cut her off.
“Relax, Sarah. I’ve already figured everything out. Yes, we are using Apparation to go to England and we’ll tell your parents that I picked you up from school using my car. If they ask why, we’ll just tell them that your car was too small to fit all of your luggage and you needed to use my pickup. Problem solved,” Harry explained clearly, and hoped that his plan would work. He wasn’t sure about how they would convince Sarah’s parents to let her go back to England with him, but he would try everything he could think of.
“Oh, good plan and I really need to calm down a little, huh? It’s just that I’m so excited that you’ve made the decision to go back and see the people that you care about. I’m also so honored that you want to take me along with you. Okay, I supposed that it’s time to go see my parents”this ought to be interesting,” she laughed.
“Alright, let’s go then because I’m already packed. Maybe I’ll take you and your parents out to dinner tonight and we can tell them then? I think that’s a good idea,” suggested Harry. Hopefully, a nice gesture would help to convince Sarah’s parents.
“That’s a great idea, Harry. I know the perfect place to go, too. There’s a little place just down the street that we used to go to all of the time when I was younger and the food and service is excellent. I’ll call my parents now and tell them to be ready by about seven o’clock. That gives them some time to get ready because it’s only five thirty now.”
Sarah ran over to the phone and Harry heard her talking to her parents about how the last week of school was and where they were going to eat tonight. Harry walked into his little kitchen and boiled some water. He would have tea and he knew that Sarah would want hot chocolate because whenever he offered tea to her, she always asked if he had any hot chocolate mix. Harry laughed at this thought as he searched around the kitchen for the cream and sugar. He had a long night ahead of him and didn’t even want to think about the Weasley’s reaction when he showed up on their doorstep tomorrow.
“Well, they said that they’d love to go out to dinner with us and will meet us at the front doors to the inn around quarter to seven. I can’t even imagine the looks on their faces when I tell them that I’m going to England. Oooh, are you boiling water?” Sarah asked Harry, eyeing the kettle on the stove, “Can I have some hot chocolate? I love hot chocolate.”
“Gee, how did I guess that you’d want that instead of tea? Of course, you can have some hot chocolate. I’ve already got a packet out for you and there are some marshmallows over in the cabinet by the toaster. Help yourself.” Harry chuckled because Sarah was so predictable sometimes.
They sat down and talked while they drank. Harry told Sarah about the Weasley’s and how he used to look forward to visiting them every year just to get away from his crazy aunt and uncle. Then he remembered how Aunt Petunia and Dudley actually visited him while he was in St. Mungo’s and he wondered why they actually cared for him after all those years of torturing him. Sarah suggested that they had finally discovered what a remarkable person Harry was and came their senses. After saying this, she had to wait a while for Harry to calm down from laughing so hard, but Sarah didn’t understand what was so funny. Harry specifically told Sarah about Ron and Hermione and joked about how they were probably married by now.
Sarah could tell that Harry cared about these people very much and considered herself lucky that he was sharing all of this with her. No one had ever done this for her and she decided that she would help Harry as much as she could to let him be happy again. Sarah looked around at her surroundings and found that Harry’s living area was quite normal. There weren’t really and magical things at all but then she noticed a couple pictures on the mantel in the other room. She got up and walked over to them and discovered that they were actually moving. The people in the pictures were in fact smiling and waving to her. She felt Harry’s hand on her shoulder and turned around.
“Who are these people? They all look so happy and look, that must be you when you were younger,” Sarah laughed. Harry pointed to the pictures and told her who they were.
“Yeah, that’s me, with Ron and Hermione. And that one there is my dad, his friend Remus Lupin, and my godfather Sirius. That one is my dad, and Sirius is holding me as a baby. The one next to that is the picture of my mother and father. And that one there,” he pointed to the one furthest from the rest of them, “is Ginny and I at Bill and Fleur’s wedding.” Harry looked at the pictures and wondered why they had brought him relief just looking at them.
“Wow, you look just like your father, but have your mother’s eyes,” Sarah pointed out.
“You are like the millionth person to say that, but I haven’t heard it in a while,” Harry chuckled.
“Oh, well, I just thought I’d say that because it’s true, you know. These moving pictures are really cool though,” Sarah stated still looking at them.
“Well, you know how I like to try and make my things ‘really cool,’” Harry mocked. Sarah took a pillow from the couch and hit him with it, being careful not to hit his injured arm.
“Hey, that’s not fair; I only have one arm to fight with!” Harry announced. He looked for a solution for his problem and finally pulled out his wand. He made another pillow hit her softly several times and she finally surrendered to him. They both collapsed on the couch laughing. Finally, Sarah stood up and put her hands on her hips as if she was about to act like a mother scolding her child.
“It’s getting close to 6:45 and we should be heading out. C’mon, stop fooling around you big kid and let’s go before I send you to bed without dinner,” Sarah commanded.
“Okay, Mommy, but you won’t get very far without me because I’m paying,” Harry replied. Sarah pretended to act irritated, but failed. She wasn’t a very good actress and couldn’t hide her amusement at Harry’s comeback. She took his hand and together they walked out the door toward the front doors to the inn.
* * *
They met Sarah’s parents at the doors and enjoyed a nice dinner at the restaurant. About halfway through the dinner Sarah told her parents that she had something important to tell them. Mr. Pabden’s reaction to Sarah saying this was priceless.
“You two aren’t getting married are you? Because you’ve been spending an awful lot of time with each other?” he asked. Harry actually choked a little on his food and Sarah was laughing so hard that everyone around them was now looking at them. Mrs. Pabden, however, seemed oddly excited.
“No, Dad, James and I are not even dating”we’re just friends. Jeesh, jump to conclusions next time why don’t you?” Sarah said sarcastically.
“Sorry, sorry, continue then I guess.” Bob turned red a little and stared down at his meal bracing himself for the “big” news.
“Well, James is going back to England for the summer and has invited me to go along with him. I told him that I would go because it’s really important to him and it’s a great opportunity for me. Now I’m going to go but I was hoping to get your permission because it would make me feel a lot better. I know that it’s not the best time to be traveling and everything, but I assure you that I will be with James and his family the whole time. I’ll call you all the time so you don’t have to worry about me. What do you think?” In Harry’s opinion she had done very well by making sure that they knew that she’d be safe. He only hoped that she would be successful in convincing them.
“Wow, um, okay then. When are you leaving?” Bob asked and turned to his wife for suggestions. She just shook her head as if to say that it was his decision. He looked back at Sarah looking for an answer.
“Well, we were hoping to leave tomorrow morning so we could get there at a reasonable time. James hasn’t seen his family and friends in a long time, so it will be good for him. I’ll call you when we get there to tell you that we had a safe trip. Please can I go?” Sarah looked to Harry for help but he just smiled because he knew that she had probably convinced them already. Reluctantly, she turned back to her parents and smiled at them brightly to show them how much she wanted to go. Surprisingly, it was her mother that spoke.
“Well, of course you can go, honey. It sounds like a fantastic time and if Bob and I weren’t so busy with the Inn, we’d probably go with you. Just tell us how you’re getting there and when you’re leaving.” Mrs. Pabden added. Sarah had no choice but to lie in order to protect Harry’s secret. She told her that they were traveling by airplane and leaving around 8:00 A.M. She would call them as soon as they reached where they were staying.
After dessert, Sarah and Harry said goodbye to her parents and went back to Harry’s room at the Inn. Harry didn’t sleep much that night because thoughts of the Weasley’s reactions when he showed up on their doorstep kept running through his mind. It had been about a year and a half since he had seen them and was nervous to return to the place where he had longed to go every summer.
When morning finally came, he was disturbed by the telephone ringing. He picked it up and found that it was only someone trying to sell him something. They said something about water resistant soap and he hung up after they said “lifetime guarantee.” A glance toward the clock told him that it was almost 7:30. He went into the other room to find that Sarah was already awake and sitting on the bed looking through a photo album. She quickly put it back in its spot when she saw Harry, but Harry didn’t mind. They finished up some last minute packing and then Harry shrunk the luggage so it could fit in his pocket. Then he changed his appearance back to normal so the Weasley’s could actually recognize him.
“Ready?” he asked Sarah.
“Ready if you are,” she responded.
“Okay, then let’s go!” He took her hand and she held onto him tightly. He turned on the spot and the next thing he knew, he was standing in a grassy area face to face with a tall young man with flaming red hair.