Harry Potter : Next Generation

Chapter 21 Albus

Today I was meeting Alyssa's family. I was nervous, though probably not as nervous as she had been to meet my family, which was, again, adorable. I really needed to find a new word to describe her. I may have overused that one. Anyways, as much as I was nervous, I wasn't nearly as anxious as she had been. For one, I had already met her brother and he seemed to like me. Luckily, that meant there were only two more people to go, her parents. That was the other thing, she had the meet way more people than I had to. Since most of her family still lived in California, I was only meeting her immediate family.

When I walked into Alyssa's house, it already felt welcoming. That was pr badly because the only other houses I went to were Rose's l, where I practically lived, and Scorp's which I guess was basically the same deal, though his house was a lot more prom and proper looking that Rose's was considering that although she lived with neat freak Hermione Weasley she also lived with Ron and Hugo Weasley. Alyssa's house was neither. It was the perfect balance between messy and clean. It smelled like clean laundry, but also cooking. Not like cookies and cakes and stuff, but real food like meat and fresh bread. Alyssa had just walked right into the kitchen to find her mum and dad so I had followed. They turned around from the stove as we walked in.

"Hi mom. Hi daddy" Alyssa said, giving them both hugs and kisses on the cheek. "Where's Auggie?"

"Upstairs" her mum replied, "probably playing FIFA to get riled up for the game later. You'd think he's never been."

"It'll always be exciting!" He dad said , defensively, "even if the Blues are definitely going to win today."

"We can leave around one thirty for the game" her mum said before turning to me, "you must be Albus. I'm Heather and this is my husband Andrew. We're so glad you could finally come."

"Yeah" Andrew said, "we thought Alyssa was embarrassed of us."

Heather slapped him lightly and he didn't even wince. Now I knew where Lyss got it from. I grinned at her. "Only of you sweetheart" Heather told Alyssa's dad with a smile.

"Who wants food?" Andrew asked, "Albus I hope you're okay with American style food. In case Alyssa didn't tell you, it's my specialty."

"She did" I informed him, "and I've never had any before but I'm definitely willing to try it."

"Never had American food?! Well you're missing out. I'll make you a few burgers" he turned to Heather, "see honey this is why we had to open the Deaf Hippo."

"Thanks Mr. Hemsley " I turned to Alyssa and raised an eyebrow, "the Deaf Hippo?" I whispered.

"That's the name of the restaurant. Dad thinks it's really funny" she told me, "when we got here he noticed that all the pubs are an adjective and an animal like the Mute Swan so he decided to pick the weirdest possibly adjective and animal he could think of. Hence the Deaf Hippopotamus American Bar and Grill , the Deaf Hippo for short." I chuckled. I could tell I'd like Alyssa's dad already.

"August!" Heather yelled up the stairs, "your sister and Albus are here! Come downstairs it's time to eat."

Half an hour later and I was on my second burger. "Wow Andrew" I said, "this is awesome! Why don't we have more American restaurants in England?"

"A few pubs will serve burgers and such" he told me, "but were the only American restaurant officially in Chelsea. Most Brits think or food is too messy. But once you go heart attack you can't go back." He grinned.

"Dad!" Alyssa said, "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! You're such an idiot!"

"Did you not realize before?" He gained wider at Alyssa as she rolled her eyes, "plus if were being honest, it probably could give you a heart attack. Americans eat so much grease."

"Dad we are Americans."

"Well we live in England now so that's gotta count for something."

"It-" Alyssa was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing. "I'll get it" she said. Andrew and I stayed in the kitchen. I heard her open the door followed by a loud scream. I quickly went to the door.

"Lyss what's wrong?!" I asked, but she didn't hear me.

"I can't believe you're here!" She said to the family at the door. "You haven't come to visit us in forever! Oh I missed you so much! I mean writing isn't the same as talking in person. We should really figure out something for that. I mean if they have it in the muggle world we should be able to do it too right? And"

"We missed you too Lyssie " the girls at the door laughed. One was taller and dirty blonde while the other was shorter with reddish hair and lots of freckles.

"Who's this?" The blonde asked, wiggling her eyebrows and pointing at me.

"Kat!" Alyssa squealed, "stop that!"

"Alyssa" the other girl said, "you didn't tell us you had a boyfriend." By this time the parents had made their way inside and I could hear them talking to Heather and Andrew.

"This is Albus" Alyssa said, gesturing for me to come forward, "Albus these are my best friends Aria and Katrina. We lived in California together and have been best friends since birth. I used to practically live in their house. They go to school at Ilvermorny in America."

"I'm a Thunderbird and Kat is a Puckwudgie" Aria supplied.

"And we're muggleborns as well, so unfortunately we can only visit when our parents have time to fly since we're not old enough to apparate yet" Katarina told me.

"Well nice to meet you. I'm Albus Potter."

"Oh you're Harry Potter's son" Aria said, "that's cool."

I chuckled. I wasn't used to such a calm reaction about my dad. It was either excessive gratitude that I was supposed to relay to him later or no recognition at all. "Thanks I think."

An hour or so later we were at the football game and I had no clue what was going on. "So what exactly are they doing?" I asked Alyssa.

"Well there are two teams" Alyssa told me, "and both teams are trying to score in the other team's goal. They have to kick the ball to each their and pass it across the field to score like in quidditch but with just the one goal. I guess that's kinda the main idea."

"Come on Blues!" I could hear Andrew yelling, then, "oh so close! You should've passed to Faberghast on the right!"

Alyssa giggled, "sorry" she said to me, "dad's a little embarrassing. He gets really excited at these games."

"No it's actually quite amusing" I told her, "I really like your family. And your 'frousins ' " I made air quotes. Apparently a few years back August had decided that Aria and Katrina were more like cousins than friends so he created the word.

Alyssa blushed, "well I liked your family as well."

"Good" I said, "they liked you too. Just like I do."

"Oh get a room!" We heard Kat whisper from behind us.