Harry opened his eyes and looked at his alarm clock, the numbers too bleary to make out. Groping on his nightstand to reach his glasses, he pushes them over the edge, a tinkling noise that jerked him awake.

"Stupid glasses…" he muttered, leaned back onto his pillow, opting instead to push the clock so close to his eyes that he was finally able to make out the time. 3:31 in the morning. Pushing the offensive object away, Harry sighed loudly and buried his head in the pillow, knowing sleep was no longer an option. Fully awake, he lay on his back, and looked at the ceiling with unfocused vision.

Thoughts came unbidden to the forefront, and Harry screwed his face up in concentration, intent on not letting a single memory slip through. They were more insistent now… the dreams of what happened in his last year at Hogwarts mingling with other horrific times in his life.

One night it would be Cedric's death, and the overwhelming feeling of helplessness, watching the lifeless eyes of his fellow student stare back at him. Other times it was Cho, and her inability to reconcile her interest in Harry with her grief over Cedric. Then there was Sirius, who was snatched so quickly; Harry began to wonder if he would ever properly feel his absence.

His life had simply become too much to comprehend. The reason he kept waking up every morning eluded him, and the strength of his friends, kept him from going insane. Maybe he was already insane, but didn't know it… The thought faded as soon as he'd said it. He was too important to go insane. There were things he had to do… and he had to be sane until he did it. Afterwards, he could check himself into a loony bin.

The wind blew briefly over his cover, which he had kicked off in the summer heat of early evening, and the surprisingly cool early morn had him shivering. There were clouds in the small patch of sky he could see through his bedroom window, angry fat things that smelled of rain and the inescapable Dursleys. Harry didn't have an umbrella, and both asking for one and stealing one from Dudley proved to be too much trouble than it was worth for some alone time.

He was grateful for the time to reflect, without someone sitting across from him, expecting something. A story… a reaction… anything. He didn't have anything else to give right now. Maybe that made him selfish, but he just wanted to remember Sirius without everyone around. The best thing for him right now was to be alone, and perhaps make some decisions on his own for once.

And that thought brought him to Albus Dumbledore. The man responsible for quite literally saving him from the clutches of evil. But the man inspired so many different emotions within Harry that he didn't know what to think about him. The knowledge of all he told him at the end of term was confusing, robbing him of his indignation against the world, and putting it squarely on the shoulders of a man that he depended on more than anyone, other than Sirius.

Who knew that your whole world could come crashing down because of a few assumptions, spared feelings, and doubt? The challenges Harry knew he was soon to face almost overwhelmed him, and the people he knew loved him in one way or another pulled him from the cliff of insanity.

Stinging tears appeared in his eyes, and he blinked them away, finally sitting up in the dark. Hedwig was in her cage, hooting softly as she saw that Harry was awake. She snuggled back down and dozed again, apparently awoken by his sudden and early rising.

Smiling softly Harry pulled on his robe, walking around his trunk and stepping over his strewn about broom grooming kit and various books he had taken from Hermione, because he promised that he would study over the summer. Glancing out the window, he passed by it to his dresser, but stopped and came back.

Two moving vans were at the house next door, and a crew was busy quickly transporting the furniture into the house. Harry did not know that the Ellsworth's had moved… guess it had happened while he was away at school. The scene held his interest for a while, watching interesting furniture being carried in quickly to avoid the rain.

The sky lit up in a quick lightning show, and Harry could make out the words "Transatlantic Movers" on the side of one of the trucks closest to him. Transatlantic… they must have moved here from America. His curiosity was peaked as he leaned against the window, the cool pane relaxing his aching head, his scar numb.

A teenager who looked about two years older than Harry darted outside, waving at a car that pulled into the driveway. It was a late model car, but he didn't know what it was, definitely not from England. A door opened and a dog came bounding out of the back seat, tail wagging furiously as it tried to jump into the teen's arms. They laughed and rolled around on the lawn until the kid slapped a leash on the dog's collar, and led it inside.

Next a man and another teenager, this one a girl, stepped from the car. He couldn't tell what anyone looked like, the clouds moving in to obscure the light of the moon and he not wearing his glasses. A thunderclap later rain started to pour, and the movers, who were done in the nick of time, pulled away, leaving the family to walk inside of their new home.

Harry stood there watching, his forehead leaning against the window for some minutes, curiosity gradually beset by an aching tiredness in his brain and body. Yawning, half glad that his prediction of no sleep was wrong, he fell back into the bed without taking off his robe, and fell asleep.

Chapter 1

Harry found himself, for once, left alone by the Dursleys. Their usual morning tirade was transformed into a long diatribe as to why Harry would never measure up to "their Dudders", and why he should formulate himself to be more like their son. Harry never said anything, and there wasn't even a need to rein in a temper. He just felt nothing. The words just floated over his head and through his body, not affecting him in any way.

Suddenly, Harry put down his cracked drinking glass and pushed his chair back from the table, picking up his dishes and heading into the kitchen. "And where do you think you're going?" Uncle Vernon asked, glaring at him from behind his ridiculous mustache.

"Out."

"Vernon." Aunt Petunia shook her head quickly, patting her husband on the arm. "Just let him go." Her unusually subdued voice, and the way she stopped her husband from interrogating him didn't escape his attention. He washed his chipped plate and cracked glass and put them in the cabinet reserved for him, and walked out, the eyes of his Aunt the only ones that didn't watch him leave.

He closed the door behind him, the summer's heat drying the earth out from the early morning shower. The only way you could tell it had ever rained was the shiny grass and the heavy smell of water in the air. Harry didn't know where he was going, personally the need to leave the house had become so unbearable that he just decided to leave without any actual plan.

No muggle money in his procession, and the lack of knowledge of what to do with it and where to do it at on this morning crashed on him, and shoulders slumped, headed for the park at the end of Privet Drive.

At this time of day there was no one here, the equipment still wet. Harry liked the fact that he didn't have to see anyone here either, as if nature was telling him it was alright to be alone. But apparently that wasn't the case.

After wiping of a swing to sit on and daydream, he blinked at the shadow that was cast over him. "Hello. Am I intruding?" She asked, smiling hesitantly. He stood up quickly, caught off guard and screaming at himself to release the want that he held firmly in his hand, but hadn't brandished.

"Uh… no. Public park and all…" Harry said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Thanks. Come on Eno!" She said, urging the Labrador at her feet to action. Taking off the leash, the dog bolted and commenced running around, the fresh air and puddles too much for it to stand.

"Eno?" Harry asked, watching the dog chase after pigeons unused to being perused.

"Means gift in Nigerian. I was given her as a gift on my birthday, and that's what she's been for the last six years." Harry looked at her really for the first time, hearing a catch in her voice. The girl was an inch taller than he was, and that was probably due to the boots she was wearing. Her jeans were black and they flared out over her boots, a star print stitched over the flare and up the sides until it reached her knees. A black velvet peasant tank top and a large moonstone pendent sat atop cocoa skin.

Her mouth was turned up in a slight smile, and her eyes were a startling grey. Her hair was picked up by the breeze, the bulk of it hanging down her back in a thick wave. Overall, it was safe to say she was pretty. Harry realized he was staring and turned away, face burning. "Sorry." He muttered.

"For what? I'm flattered. It's not everyday that a girl get ogled." She laughed and sat down in the swing next to him.

"Don't…" He trailed off… his eyes wide in horror as she sat down in a swing full of water.

"Oh!" She said quietly, eyes wide as Harry's as she lifted herself gingerly. Water dripped from her bottom, and some ran down her slender legs, darkening her black pants. "That was brilliant."

Harry's shoulders shook with the pressure of not laughing. The look on his face was cross between constipation and diarrhea, with no bathroom in sight. The girl closed her eyes and nodded her head. "You can laugh."

Harry's laughter exploded like a sharp crack across the park, startling Eno, causing him to bound back towards his owner, muddy from paws to nose. He couldn't stop laughing, leaning against the chains of the swig to keep himself from falling into the puddle that was below him. He laughed long and loud, and when it was done he trailed off feebly, wiping his eyes in the first moment of genuine mirth in who knows how long.

"I'm sorry… it's just so funny." He gasped out, clamping his hand over his mouth.

"Well can I get your name since you're laughing at me? I mean, I can't insult you properly if I don't know your name." She joked, grimly wiping off the excess water from her bum.

"It's Harry. Harry Potter." He said, standing up and extending his hand. She looked at him and smiled back, a pleasant smile on a pretty face.

" Mahari." She shook his hand, while shaking her head.

"What?" He asked her. She shrugged and dropped his hand.

"Because by now I probably would have made up some excuse as to why I have to extricate myself from this introduction, seeing that I've embarrassed myself to no end."

"It's alright. I almost did it myself." Harry said good-naturedly. Mahari smiled and shrugged.

"That's life." She smiled and whistled, calling back Eno, who once deemed the situation okay, ran off to terrorize the birds. "Well, Harry, it was nice to meet you. I'm going to go home, wash off some of this embarrassment and change my clothes. Want to hang out?"

Harry's heart thumped into a painful rhythm as he considered her offer. It wasn't as if Ron or Hermione were here to keep him company, and while the letters and the pictures helped stave off absolute loneliness, he still was without companionship. "Sure, why not?" He said, more to himself than to Mahari.

"Great! I live at 3 Privet Drive." She said, clipping the leash back onto her dog's collar.

"So it was your family who just moved in next door!" Harry said, smiling at his good fortune.

"So it was you who was watching us from your bedroom window." She teased, watching the look of horror spread across his face.

"You saw me?"

"No, I just saw someone at a window during the lightning. I'm glad you're not a creep like I thought you were before." She smiled and started walking away. "Meet met at my house in an hour. We can get to know each other over some food. I for one am starving." At the mention of the word food, Harry's stomach had growled to life, reminding him that not only did he skip the rest of breakfast; he was given unsweetened oatmeal along with Dudley to help with his diet. It looked like undigested vomit in a plate, no less.

"That'd be brilliant!" He said, standing up as she was backing away, pulling on Eno's leash. A confused look crossed her face before she worked out what he was saying.

"Oh, okay, cool!" Mahari waved and turned, now fighting to stay upright against an enthusiastic Eno. Harry watched them progress further down the street, and finally allowed himself to express the grin he held in ever since he had been invited to "hang out".

There was someone finally on the block that at least appeared to be his own age, and was fun and funny. And bloody beautiful actually… Harry stepped over a puddle, the sun shining down on his shoulders, and for the first time in a while, he was looking forward to a day on Privet Drive.