18Disclaimer: It all belongs to JK Rowling, except the bits you don't recognise, which are probably mine.
Chapter Five: Discovery
Harry appeared in his flat and looked around nervously, half expecting to be attacked at once. Gradually, a smile spread across his face: neither Ron nor Hermione was visible, but the noises coming out of the guest room suggested a passionate reconciliation was well under way.
"At least somebody's getting some tonight", he muttered. He entered his bedroom, threw most of his clothes into the hamper by the door then pulled on an old T-shirt and collapsed onto his bed. After a minute or so he sat back up, grabbed his wand and cast a few silencing charms at the walls and door. Without the passionate cacophony coming from the next room, he fell asleep within moments.
.oOo.
Next morning Harry woke early. Remembering the previous evening, he cancelled the silencing charms and was relieved to hear that his friends had decided to call it a night at some point. He took a quick shower then dressed casually before heading into the kitchen to start on breakfast. Ron's eating habits hadn't changed much since Hogwarts so Harry put together a full English breakfast for him while preparing a slightly smaller version for himself and a more continental-style repast for Hermione. When the smell of cooking didn't wake his friends up, he started banging the pans around a bit more than necessary and turned on the radio for extra effect. This evidently did the trick, but it quickly became clear that his friends still had some reconciliation to do.
"If this is all they do to get their revenge on me I suppose I can't complain", muttered Harry under his breath.
He waited until they finished then walked over to their door and knocked loudly. "Breakfast is served, lovebirds. If you're not out here in five minutes I'm coming in with a fire hose."
Harry sat at the kitchen table and began eating breakfast. A minute or so later, the bedroom door opened to reveal Hermione and Ron looking ruffled and a bit flushed.
"I'd apologise for what I did but it looks you had a pleasant enough night. Is my spare bed still in one piece?" asked Harry casually.
Hermione blushed and spread jam on a croissant in silence but Ron smirked back. "I think we broke the base of the bed, and the mattress didn't last long at all. The undersheet caught fire, the other sheets are ripped and the headboard will definitely never be the same again." he replied.
This earned Ron a gentle elbow to the ribs from his girlfriend, but as he turned and pulled her into a hug she burst out in very un-Hermione-like giggles.
"I'm really glad, you guys. I honestly didn't know what I'd find when I came back last night."
"We still have more to talk about," said Hermione, "but we'll be fine. I'm sorry we kept dumping all our arguments on you."
"As long as you're moving forwards I don't mind being a sounding board," replied Harry. "It was only when the same things kept coming up again and again that I started to think about how to break the cycle."
"What about you mate?" asked Ron. "Has the lovely Claire succumbed to what passes for charm in your case?"
"Well she asked to come back here but I said no," said Harry, ignoring Ron's disbelieving expression and Hermione's raised eyebrow. "I don't want to keep anything from her so" - he took a deep breath - "I've invited Claire round here tonight and I'm going to tell her everything. My plan at the moment is to talk to her a bit, show her some basic magic, then some more advanced stuff and finally take her to Diagon Alley. After that I'll either be at St. Mungo's getting my teeth fixed or... well I'll see what happens."
"Do you want us to come with you? Or be around the Alley so she can meet us?" asked Hermione.
"I think it should be just the two of us at first. Could you meet us at the Leaky Cauldron... 8ish?" replied Harry.
"Not a problem mate", said Ron. He paused a moment before adding "So you think she's the one?"
Harry's expression went blank for a moment as he cast his mind back to the previous evening, and especially the kiss.
"Yes. I really do. I never believed in love at first sight but ever since I first saw her picture I've felt... something. Then the first time we met I felt it again. And the first time we kissed..." Harry was interrupted by a loud squeal from Hermione.
"You kissed! You should have said! How did it happen? Was it good? How long did it last? Who started it? Oh... everything!" she gushed.
Harry smiled and shook his head. Hermione could be so predictable at times.
"Would you like the penseive memory?", he teased. "I suppose I started it, and it was absolutely incredible." Harry frowned. "You know... I can't guess how long it was. It felt either like a second or about a thousand years. Somewhere between those two. I've never experienced a kiss like that before."
"Oi!" exclaimed Ron, "What about Ginny? You two seemed to kiss enough while you were seeing each other."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want me to discuss your little sister's kissing technique with you Ron?"
He carried on speaking over Ron's bluster. "Look, the only bad kiss I've ever had was the one with Cho, and that was only because she was crying the whole time. But this one was... well... magic."
Hermione looked thoughtful. "You know there are going to be plenty of people unhappy at the idea of The Slayer of Voldemort dating a muggle?"
"I know. And if I ever begin to give a damn what those idiots think, please give me a slap." replied Harry.
"It might be more than just malicious chat though, mate" said Ron. "There's been quite a bit of discussion in the Wizengamot about the number of muggles who know about the magical world. A lot of people died in the war and some purebloods are worried that we're going to disappear."
"I need to make this place fit for a muggle - at least at first. Can you two give me a hand spotting all the magical stuff?"
.oOo.
Claire arrived just before 5pm. Harry buzzed her through the building's entry door and cast his eyes around the flat while he waited for the lift to bring her up to the sixth floor. The doorbell rang and Harry opened the door to let his girlfriend in. The pair exchanged a hug then Harry offered to take her coat. Claire looked around while Harry looked at Claire. She was wearing silvery pumps that showed a lot of her feet, with fairly baggy stonewashed jeans and a white blouse. Her hair was gathered loosely at the back with a few strands hanging around her face. She looked utterly happy and relaxed and Harry found himself hoping she still looked that way in a couple of hours.
"Wow, Harry! This is fantastic!" she gushed.
"Would you like a quick tour?" he asked. At Claire's silent nod he took her right arm and escorted her through the rest of the flat. "It's not a huge place. Guest room... my room... office... kitchen... pointless cupboard that's too small to be able to use for anything much... and back to the living room."
Harry steered Claire over to the sofa and they sat down.
"Okay. I'm sorry for being so mysterious, but before we take this any further there's something you need to know about me," he began.
Claire gave a nervous smile. "Let me guess - you used to be a woman and your name was Harriet?"
Harry smiled. "No, it's nothing like that."
"Ooh. You're the head of a local drug ring and all this is paid for with the profits of trafficking?"
"No, not that either."
"I know..."
"I'm a wizard, Claire," interrupted Harry and shook his wand out of his sleeve. "This is a magic wand. I use it to cast spells."
Harry summoned a book from one of his shelves then banished it back again then made the coffee table hover for a few moments.
"Magic." said Claire, in a dead tone.
"Yes, magic." Harry transfigured a vase of flowers on the table into a cat then turned the whole table into a Shetland pony.
That proved too much for Claire who leapt to her feet and backed away against the nearest wall.
"It's okay," said Harry softly and waved his wand to undo both transformations.
"It's not bloody well okay!" replied a terrified Claire. "How the fuck did you do that? And don't fob me off with 'magic'."
"That's what it is. There's a whole magic side to the world. It's much, much smaller than the non-magical world but it exists. If you still want to be with me I can show you more." Harry bowed his head and ran one hand through his hair. "I'm still the same person, Claire. This is just another part of me. I couldn't tell you until I was sure... until I was sure we had something. I really hope you think so too and I haven't fucked this up."
"Please can you put that down?", she said pointing at Harry's wand.
"Here." Harry held his wand out towards her. "Take it. I want you to trust me. Just... don't break it please."
Claire looked at the piece of wood for several seconds then reached out and pulled it away from Harry.
"If I break it, you lose your magic?"
"No. But that stick and I have been through a lot together. At the moment you wouldn't understand but I'll tell you all about it if you give me the chance."
"Can... can I do those things?"
"Almost certainly not. If you were magical you'd probably have received an invitation to study at the same school as me. You're welcome to try though. Try pointing the wand at that vase and saying 'accio'. That's the summoning charm."
"You didn't say anything."
"True. After a lot of practise you don't need the words. After more practice you don't need the wand movements. The strongest wizards and witches can even cast some spells without their wands. I can do some of that, but not much."
Claire pointed Harry's wand at the vase and said the incantation but Harry was unsurprised when nothing happened.
"So I'm not magical?"
"You may still have some magic but honestly, that's very unlikely."
"What else haven't you told me?"
"I told you I was training in law enforcement. That's true, but it's in the magical world. I'm a trainee auror - that's a magical policeman. Hopefully I'll graduate later this year. There's a lot more about the magical world I can tell you too. I'm not going to hide anything."
"Why are you chasing non-magical girls on the Internet instead of looking for someone who already knows all this stuff?"
"This is going to sound..." Harry sighed. "I'm... very famous in the magical world. There was a war and I defeated a dark wizard called Voldemort to end it. Since then it's like all the girls my age are only interested in me for that. I wanted to get away from it and find someone who liked me for... well, for me."
"A war? And somehow the rest of us never noticed?"
"You did, but it was always explained away. Think back three years ago. Bridges collapsed for no reason, people disappeared, there was a rash of 'gas main explosions'. I lost..." Harry swallowed. "I lost several good friends. I was killed myself actually."
"But you got better?", said Claire sarcastically.
"It was complicated."
"You know how all this sounds, right? Either there's a whole other world living alongside the one I'm used to that has somehow evaded detection all this time, or I'm trapped in a house with a delusional maniac who must have managed to dose me with a hallucinogen or something."
"You're not trapped. If you want to leave, and I really hope you don't, the door's open. Please leave my wand on the shelf. I'll sit here or I'll walk to the other end of the room if you prefer. Look, I do know how all this sounds. I felt roughly the same when I was 11 and heard it all for the first time. Even now sometimes I'll hear something new that makes me wonder whether my leg's being pulled. I told you how my life changed on my 11th birthday when I went to a boarding school? Well that was true, except the school was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That's where I learned all this."
Claire stood in silence and Harry knew better than to interrupt her thoughts.
After a minute or so, Claire walked towards the door. Harry felt tears prick his eyes and buried his head in his hands. He listened to a small, wooden noise as Claire left his wand as requested, then heard the door open.
Harry waited through a moment of pure tension... then the door slammed and he felt the tension dissolve into disappointment.
"Fuck."
"Not very eloquent but it seemed to come from the heart."
In shock, Harry grabbed his wand from his sleeve, having forgotten it wasn't there, and the misplaced momentum caused him to spin inelegantly to the floor. With every piece of gravitas and elegance he could find, Harry raised his head, put his arms on the coffee table and looked at Claire, who was still definitely on Harry's side of the door rather than the other. The look on her face was somewhere between horror and hilarity.
"If I hadn't forgotten you had my wand just then, that would have been far less embarrassing."
Claire gave a small, slightly lopsided grin then became serious. "Look... you scared me, and I don't like being scared. But..." She stopped talking and visibly gathered herself. "But I really, really like you. I liked you when I first saw your picture, I liked you even more when we first met, and I've liked you more as we've spent more time together." Claire took a deep breath. "And the kiss. That kiss was mindblowing. I think I floated the whole way home."
A thought seemed to cross her mind and she frowned slightly. "Did you do anything magical? Is that why it was so good?"
Harry shook his head. "Nothing. I promise. But yeah... it was pretty spectacular."
"So... magic. Right. Let's go with that for a minute. Is there anything else you feel you ought to tell me? I mean, do you travel by flying on the back of a dragon and fight giants for fun?".
"Err... you're not going to believe it, but..."
"What?" shouted Claire. "I was joking!"
"Well there was only one flight on the back of a dragon. And nobody fights giants for fun."
Harry was trying to be light, but he knew it was a lot for Claire to take in at once. He stood up and walked over to her. He took her hands in his and looked her in the eyes.
"Let's start with the small stuff. I thought we could head to the main magic centre of Britain. It's called Diagon Alley. We can take a look at the shops, you can see some more magical stuff. Hopefully it'll ease you into things. How does that sound?" He smiled, and Claire smiled back.
"Nothing weird?"
"Nothing too weird. You may see a goblin or two."
Claire laughed. "If you're making all this up you are going to be in so much trouble."
Harry smiled. "Promises, promises".
"Is it far?" asked Claire.
"You can get to it through a pub on Charing Cross Road", replied Harry, "But there's an easier way. Ready for another bit of magic?"
Claire's eyes widened slightly and she nodded.
"Okay then. This will feel a little weird." said Harry, and with a small pop, the couple disappeared.
A/N: Thanks for reading!