Harry was walking around Diagon Alley. Who knew blowing up Aunt Marge would lead to the best summer of his life? He had taken a room at the Leaky Cauldron and had spent the last three days sleeping in, eating what he liked and not having to weed a shrub or trim a bush. Although he had to admit that he was itching to prune Tom's rhododendron bush that was a little bit out of control at the back where the pub connected to the Alley. He had a full six weeks of freedom and he was going to make the most of it.

Harry was strolling past Flourish & Blotts when he saw a familiar snowy owl on the arm of a dark-haired teen, dressed as a Muggle in a pair of jeans and a light jacket.

"Hedwig?" Harry muttered, surprised. Hedwig didn't take to strangers and if it weren't for the fact that she was freely perched on the boy's arm, he would have been more concerned. He walked up to the pair. As he drew near, he could her the boy talking to her, his accent marking him an American.

"You're a right beauty, aren't you?" He cooed. "No way are you a free owl and much too elegant to be a regular post owl. Your owner is one lucky bastard, isn't he?" Harry smiled and his eyebrows raised when he saw Hedwig preening at the boy's words.

"Well, she won't let me forget it, sure enough," Harry said and he couldn't help but smirk when the boy started at his words. The boy turned to face him, bright hazel eyes met his own and a faint blush dusted his cheeks.

"Oh, hi," the boy stammered, still blushing. "I hope you don't mind, she saw Bandit flying towards me and thought he was lunch. I had to intervene and try to talk her out of it."

"Bandit?"

"My familiar," the boy immediately said. He made a clucking sound at Hedwig who, to Harry's surprise, hopped up to the boy's shoulder. Harry then saw him reach into his jacket pocket and brought out what looked like a tiny squirrel. "This is Bandit. He's a sugar glider."

"He's very cute," Harry said. "Although I can't blame Hedwig for thinking of him as lunch. You said he flies?"

"Is that her name?" The boy's face lit up with a smile and turned to face the owl on his shoulder. "Well it's good to finally know you properly Hedwig. It's a fine name." Hedwig gave a short bark and nipped his ear affectionately. The boy turned to face Harry and said, "Well not really fly, he glides. He didn't appreciate being left behind in my room and came to find me." He then turned to face Bandit. "Serves you right for oversleeping."

Harry couldn't help but grin at the sight. He watched with amusement as the boy proceeded to introduce Bandit to Hedwig. Bandit scurried to the top of the boy's head, nestled in his dark curls he poked his head at Hedwig, still on the boy's shoulder, and to Harry's amazement began to bark at Hedwig. Hedwig barked back and it seemed that the two were having a conversation.

The boy was grinning as he turned to Harry. "Well, it looks like they're going to be fast friends."

"It sure does," Harry replied, still watching the two animals barking at each other. He turned back to the boy who he caught staring at him, but surprisingly, he wasn't looking at his forehead just at his face. When he was caught, the boy began to blush furiously.

"Um, I guess I should introduce myself," he stammered and looked at the pavement. Then he thrust a hand out. "I'm Blaine."

Harry was caught by surprise at the sudden movement but quickly grasped Blaine's hand. It was very warm and calloused. "I'm Harry."

Harry was fascinated when Blaine's blush deepened and he seemed nervous as he pulled back his hand and stuffed both it in his jacket pockets. He wondered if he was like Creevey, another fan? He really didn't need the aggravation and was going to excuse himself and call Hedwig when a woman burst out of Flourish & Blotts in a panic but looked relieved when she saw them.

"Blaine! I told you to stay close!"

"Mom, sorry but Bandit called and he was about to be eaten by Hedwig, I had to do something," Blaine rapidly explained, seeing his mother's eyes narrow and knowing that that excuse wouldn't cut it he did the next best thing to delay the inevitable scolding. "By the way, I want to introduce you to Hedwig's owner, Harry. Harry, my mother, Angeles Anderson."

The woman was brought up short and turned to face Harry. Harry saw that she was small, slightly shorter than he was if she weren't wearing heels. She had midnight-black hair in a bun and olive skin. She was exotic-looking, with sharp features but her eyes were almond-shaped and very dark, almost black with very long lashes. She wore very little make-up and her only jewelry were a pearls at her neck and ears and a simple gold wedding ring. However, her bearing and presence made her seem taller than she was. It was disconcerting because she acted like a pure-blood but, like her son, was dressed in Muggle fashion in a conservative skirt and top with a light coat.

She smiled at Harry and he could see that her smile was genuine. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Harry. I apologize for my outburst but Blaine has the bad habit of raising my blood pressure."

"Mom!" Blaine exclaimed, his blush back in full force.

"It's quite all right, Mrs. Anderson, in these times I don't blame you."

"'These times'?" Mrs. Anderson asked. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean."

Harry was taken aback, but then again, he reasoned, while her accent did sound posh it was also American. Maybe they didn't know about Sirius Black.

"Sirius Black? The escaped convict from Azkaban?" At the Andersons' puzzled looks, Harry explained further. "Sirius Black is a Death Eater who escaped from Azkaban recently. Has got a lot of people pretty spooked."

As Mrs. Anderson's eyes widened at the news. Harry was caught off-guard when Blaine asked, "What's a Death Eater?"

"You don't know?" Harry asked as Blaine shook his head. "Death Eaters were the followers of Voldemort." Blaine's face remained blank while Harry heard Mrs. Anderson slight gasp. At least she seems to have heard of Voldemort.

She reached out and grasped her son's shoulder and turned to face Harry. "Harry, where are your parents, shouldn't you be with them if this Sirius Black is out?"

That question threw Harry for a loop. They didn't know who he was! It was strange to meet people who didn't have preconceived ideas about him. He was about to tell them that he was going to meet up with his parents later but stopped himself. Here was a chance to meet people who'll judge him for himself. Not as the "freak" or "the Dursleys' delinquent nephew" or "the Boy Who Lived" but just Harry. And he didn't want to start it off by lying to them. As he started to answer, he then wondered if Blaine didn't know him as the Boy Who Lived then why was he acting so strangely?

"I'm by myself, Mrs. Anderson," Harry told her. He started to explain further but stopped himself. What else could he say? He didn't want to explain his history so he just stopped and hoped that they wouldn't ask any more questions.

Mrs. Anderson blinked in surprised and he saw that Blaine was impressed about him being on his own. He could see that she wanted to ask why an obvious minor was by himself but was too well-mannered to bring it up. He decided to make it easy on her.

"The Ministry is aware that I'm by myself, Mrs. Anderson. It's only for the remainder of the summer. I'm off to Hogwarts in September."

"Well, that is a relief," Mrs. Anderson said, and he could see that she really was relieved. "Hogwarts you say? Well we're thinking of enrolling Blaine there. Would you mind joining us for dinner? We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron, at least for tonight. You'll be doing us a favor by telling us a bit about your school."

"Yes Harry, please," Blaine added eagerly and then that blush was back. "Um, that is, if you like..." Blaine trailed off. Mrs. Anderson was amused by her son's antics. Her heart felt light seeing her only son open up again, she missed this. For months, he was withdrawn and quiet and she couldn't really blame him but it made her heart ache to see her beautiful boy so distant and guarded. This Harry seemed to bring him out of his shell, and she couldn't really blame Blaine. Harry was very handsome and charming. While she feared for her son risking rejection, she was glad that at least he was willing to risk his heart again, that he was allowing others in again.

Harry could see that Blaine really wanted him to stick around although he didn't know why if Blaine didn't know he was the Boy Who Lived. What other reason could there be? Blaine looked like the sort that didn't seem to have problems making friends, so why was he so eager to be in Harry's company?

"Sure, thanks, that'll be brilliant."

Mrs. Anderson smiled again in pleasure. "That's settled then. Why don't you two boys head back to the Leaky Cauldron. Blaine, I'll find your father and we'll meet you there." She then turned to Harry, "Is that all right?"

Surprised but pleased to be asked Harry said, "That's fine, Mrs. Anderson."

"Splendid. You boys go ahead and we'll catch up with you two later."

"Bye Mom," Blaine said and kissed his mother on the cheek. She waved at Harry and walked down the street towards Gringotts.

Blaine looked at Harry, his mouth in a half-smile. Bandit had crawled down to his other shoulder as Hedwig was still in possession of the other one and didn't seem to be leaving it any time soon. "I guess we're off to the Leaky Cauldron. Where are you staying?"

The two boys started walking as Harry answered. "I'm staying there, too. What did your mum mean that you're only staying there tonight?"

Blaine grinned at him. "She's not too impressed with the facilities so unless she finds better accommodations here, we're moving to a non-magical hotel tomorrow."

"Is she Muggle-born then?"

"Mom?" Blaine asked his eyes widened. "Oh no! My mother's family is as old as they come. In fact, she got into a huge fight with her grand uncle, he's the family patriarch, for marrying my dad. That's 'cause the Andersons, despite being in the States since the 1700's isn't old enough for them. My dad's family is technically pure-blood but they're against that whole agenda. They left England because of it. My grandmother, my dad's mom, is non-magical and she isn't the first either. In fact, my family's known for marrying first generation magicals and non-magicals so while it's considered one of the old families it's not considered pure..."

Blaine suddenly stopped talking, "Um, sorry. I tend to ramble when I'm nervous. Don't mind me."

Harry looked at Blaine quizzically. "It's fine, I was enjoying it actually, but why are you nervous?"

Blaine stopped walking suddenly and paled then blushed even more furiously. Harry stopped and turned to face him and idly wondered if a piece of paper would land on his face if it would burst into flames. Blaine looked down at the pavement and shuffled his feet. Harry was puzzled, he was even more puzzled when Hedwig nipped at Blaine's ear and barked encouragingly at him. Bandit put a paw on Blaine's other ear and pulled himself up and glared at Harry!

"Um," Blaine began but as he looked up and saw that they were in the middle of the street he quickly walked to the side. Harry followed. It was strange, Harry was never at this end of the conversation; usually he's the one who's unsure or embarrassed.

"Look, I hope you don't take it the wrong way or anything, and really it's no big deal. I mean, it IS a big deal, I mean for me but maybe not for you but then again it can be because, well, you're dressed as a non-magical so maybe it isn't a big deal for you I mean I know that magicals here in England are rather conservative but you don't strike me as one of them—"

"Blaine, Blaine!" Harry interrupted. "Breathe mate! Seriously, take a breath! And you're rambling again."

"Um, that's 'cause I'm nervous."

Harry grinned. "So I gathered."

Blaine looked up with a smile playing on his face. "Jerk."

"Look, mate," Harry said, "you don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable. I'll just chalk it up to your weird American ways."

"'Weird American ways'?" Blaine asked, although he looked grateful at the change of subject.

"Of course! Everyone knows that Americans are touched in the head. I think it's because you folks drink coffee instead of tea."

Blaine laughed in relief and the two started walking again. "Don't knock it, English. Coffee is the lifeblood of the universe."

"You would say that, you're American."

The two boys walked on teasing each other. Harry still didn't know what was bothering Blaine so much but it didn't seem to be that important. He hated it when he was forced to say things he didn't want to and he didn't want to start off on the wrong foot with a potential new friend. Besides, he can't be that bad if Hedwig likes him.

If Blaine does go to Hogwarts this year, maybe it'll be a good thing.