The Wizard and the Muggle Girl

Surprise Meal

    "So, did you all go to Hogwarts?" I asked and they all nodded.
    "Gosh, what a time we had at that school!" Said Neville and we all laughed.
    "What happened?" I asked, interested.
    "Well, we never had a quiet you that is certain!" Said Hermione, with a smile, the others agreed.
    "First year was when we had professor Quirrel as our defence against the dark arts teacher, we had a different one each year." Said Harry.
    "He liked power and wanted it dearly so, he was given an offer. He would get power and fame, if he let somebody borrow the back of his head." Said Ron.
    "What?" I said, slightly revolted.
    "Yeah, Voldemort was using Quirril's head to live." Explained Neville.

    "Who is Voldemort?" I asked.

"Okay, we need to go further back." Said, Hermione, looking at Harry. He nodded.

"Voldemort was a very powerful and dark wizard, and he had heard that I was going to get in his way of getting rid of all the muggleborns. I was just a baby then, when he came to my house. He killed my parents, tried to kill me, but he couldn't." Said Harry.

"Why couldn't he?" I asked, my eyes wide.

"It seems that my mum had put very powerful magic on me before she died, protecting me from Voldemort. He almost died and the killing curse gave me this scar." Harry said, lifting up his fringe, so that I could see the, slightly faded, lightning bolt scar on his forehead. I gasped. We continued chatting until lunch, when we were joined by some more friends, Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley. They had left Hogwarts and now Teddy was a healer (doctor) and Victoire worked at the Ministry of Magic. I was quite surprised when Teddy turned his blue hair into blonde and back again in the blink of an eye. I thought his hair was dyed, but Teddy was a metamorphogus, which means he can change his appearance at will. When we sat down for the meal, there was quite a scramble for seats, though everyone ended up with one.

"We had to use an engorgement charm on the dining table!" Whispered Ginny, before we sat down. "Otherwise we would never had got everyone in!" There were a lot of people at the table. Aside from the hosts, Harry, Ginny, James, Albus and Lily, there were seven guests, including me. The dinner was delicious and I chatted to everyone. I discussed the Hogwarts houses and which were the best, with Lily and Albus. They kept arguing about which house had the most talented quiddich team. James kept out of the conversation, for Albus's sake, because he would choose Gryffindor, as it was his house, and he was the Gryffindor seeker. Teddy and Victoire explained about the wizard families and their origins. I was fascinated by Luna and Hermione's conversation, as it consisted of Luna claiming that a crazy-sounding animal existed, and Hermione telling her it didn't. They had a very long debate that ended in them grinning at each other and bursting out laughing. After dinner had been cleared away (it is very easy to do so when there are wizards in the house!) we sat down in the sitting room and I played a game of wizard's chess with Ron. As we were playing, he told me about how he had, in his first year at Hogwarts, gotten past a giant version of wizards chess. In our game, it didn't help that Lily was trying to help me beat Ron, but instead she made me loose. I hadn't the heart to tell her it was her fault, she was a really nice girl and I hoped we could become better friends.

"Hey," a voice whispered in my ear, it was James. "I think we should go now." He said and I nodded and got up from my chair.

"Thanks for having me over, I had an amazing time!" I said, smiling at them all.

"It was wonderful seeing you again, Ava. You are welcome any time." Said Harry, his eyes twinkling. I noticed that they were exactly the same shape as James's.

"It was great to meet you, I am sure we will meet again." Said Neville, grinning. I waved goodbye and they all waved back.

"I am sorry about that." Said James as we started walking down the lane. I looked at him in surprise.

"Sorry about what? I had a great time!" I said and James grinned with relief.

"Hang on," I said, stopping and looking around. "This isn't the way to the clearing!" I said and James laughed.

"This is a quicker and easier way!" Said James and we set off again. I loved how James just always wanted to hold my hand. He held it now, so tight. His hand felt warm and I gripped onto it. He felt the pressure on his hand increase and he looked at me and dropped my hand. He then put his arm around my shoulders, holding me close. I snuggled in to him and we continued. We turned down a small alley that was dark and spooky, James held me tight and then we were surrounded by clusters of crooked houses, all wooden and old. I felt like I had stepped back in time, maybe to the Tudors, the houses looked from that era.

"Wow." I breathed, staring in amazement at the houses around me. They were so wonky it was like they were being held up by some force. Magic.

"Is this Spinner's End?" I asked

"Yes, it is invisible to muggles." Replied James.

"But how can I see it?" I said, confused.

"I think, maybe because you are with me that you know it is here and that is why you see it. If a normal muggle would look down this alley, he or she would see nothing, it would just be an empty strip of grass." He explained. We continued along the narrow road, staring up at the houses, their windows shrouded in darkness. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a curtain twitch, but it could have been my imagination.

"Do people live here?" I asked James and he nodded.

"A couple of my friends from school live here. They mostly keep to themselves." He said. We then reached the end of the street and ahead of us was a wooden door in a wall, covered in moss. We went up to it and James climbed up over the wall and unlocked the door for me on the other side. We then ran into the clearing, the sunlight streaming down. We sat down on the grass.

"I love it here." I said, laying back on the ground and closing my eyes, feeling the sun on my face.

"I do too." Said James. I was just thinking about how wonderful his voice was, when I felt his lips press against mine. My heart skipped a beat and I sat up slowly, still kissing him. My hands went up of their own accord and stroked his hair. When the kiss ended, I opened my eyes and saw that James was blushing. I leaned forward and kissed him again and he returned it with joy.

"Are wizards allowed to go out with muggles?" I asked him.

"Yeah, no one would worry." He replied, pressing his forehead against mine and staring into my eyes. I grinned and he smiled back. We sat there for a while, just talking, until the sun started falling in the sky. James then walked me home and we kissed goodnight.

"I will see you in the morning." He said and with a last wave, turned and started walking away down the streets, hands in his pockets, hair all sticking up. I stayed by the door, watching him go, think about how lucky I was, for him to be my boyfriend.