ENIGMA

Plot, new characters, new magical terms and abilities etc. are my intellectual property. If you want to borrow then please kindly ask. JK Rowling's characters and Wizarding Universe are all uniquely hers.

Summary: AU: What if everything we ever read in JK Rowling’s books was real – including the people characterised? What would you do if you found yourself caught up in that reality knowing what was to come? SS, RL, OC

Authors Note: It has been mentioned in the story but now I am noting it here. I am a fan of Diana Gabaldon’s ‘Outlander’/’Cross Stitch’ series and definitely was influenced by that in writing this story – i.e. the Standing Stones and traveling through time. But I also love Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ series and the tv programme ‘Sliders’ and the alternate universes alongside ours idea comes from there no doubt.


Fantasy/Drama

This story is rated R/M.

ENIGMA

Chapter 021: Learning to Fly

For the first time since she’d unloaded her burdens to Dumbledore, Jessica felt relieved as she talked to Remus several days later when they returned home from an after-dinner stroll. Perhaps it was because she knew that despite everything, Remus Lupin didn’t struggle with his feelings for her; he struggled because of what he was. He and Severus had more in common than they would ever want to believe, feelings notwithstanding. She could see it clearly but there was no way that either of them ever would, not that it would ever matter.

‘I understand now why Albus thought it best for you to keep silent, although I don’t understand why all the secrecy with me,’ Lupin said uneasily as they took a seat on the sofa in his sitting room. ‘As it is, I have no doubt that you have withheld some details from me, probably for my own good. I have to say I agree with that practice in principal.’

‘Hindsight is twenty-twenty. This is why you should always be careful what you ask for.’

‘It’s not quite the same thing when my heart is involved. It hasn’t been easy for me, please understand that.’

‘Why are you talking about this… and why now?’

‘Because I’ve been worried sick about you ever since I talked to Hagrid; if circumstances were different I would have gone to Hogwarts. And now that I know about all of that… I just... Things could have been so much different for you if we…if I… If I hadn’t had my head so far up my own arse. I’m doing this because it’s important to you and you mean that much to me Jessica.’

‘You do have more important things to be concerned about than this nonsense that I put you through,’ Jessica said quietly. ‘So – what do you do exactly, to get around not having wolfsbane?’

Lupin froze.

‘Remus – is something wrong?’

‘Oh God – I completely forgot…!’

‘Forgot? Forgot what?’

‘Tonight… it’s the Full Moon!’

‘Oh for God’s sake! I don’t believe you, Remus…!’

‘You can believe me alright! Look!’ the werewolf shouted after getting up and pointing to the lunar clock on a far wall.

‘Yes – I am well aware of that clock, thank you. What I meant was; this isn’t the first time you’ve forgotten your responsibility and it probably won’t be the last.’

‘Thanks for reminding me…’ Lupin grumbled as he ran a hand through his shaggy hair.

‘What do you normally do Remus?’

‘What?’

‘If I wasn’t here – what would you do? How would you handle it?’

‘Take myself deep into the woods until sunrise tomorrow and I’m myself again; otherwise I wouldn’t have a house. Then I come back here and cope with recovery for the next few days, such as it is.’

‘And the worry about me is… what, exactly? That I can’t boil water if you’re not able to do it for me?’

Lupin looked at Jessica wearily. ‘It’s not that simple Jess – you know it’s not.’

‘No Remus, I don’t know! I have an idea or two maybe but I don’t know and neither do you! At the moment you’re making a huge assumption that somehow you’ll hurt me! You certainly can’t do anymore damage than I’ve already done to myself.’

Jessica got up and walked over to him as he stood looking out one of the large windows at the overcast sky. She put her arms around him and kissed his back.

Remus looked over his shoulder and was overtaken by a wave of sadness. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the warm glass, there was a faint shiver as Jessica’s hand stroked his belly and abdomen. He swallowed as he felt the erection he’d had all night lengthen and thicken. It was always like this around the Full Moon and immediately after. He could be half dead and still there would be this insatiable need to shag.

‘Jess – don’t!’ he whispered, though he did nothing to disentangle himself.

‘It doesn’t really matter now, does it?’ she whispered before kissing his back again and resting against him. She knew as well as he did what had to happen now because she was here. ‘I won’t deny I don’t really want to know that way…’

The werewolf turned around and looked down at her. He touched her face and ran a hand through her hair. If only he didn’t have to… How could they ever recover from this?

‘We can’t change it, Remus…’ Jessica murmured as two fingers stroked their way through his curly carpet of chest hair that was showing.

She’d always been so curious about him… too curious for her own damned good. ‘A hardcore fangirl would have gotten him into bed by now if she thought he’d be up for it’, Jessica thought to herself. She was testing the waters to be sure, because she at least knew that he felt something for her. It flattered her bruised ego as much as it did his. They were both testing each other no matter what protestations would be made to the contrary.

‘No, we can’t…’ Lupin said quietly as he pulled her closer.

Jessica was struck by the intensity of his eyes. They were a vivid shade of blue now given his obvious arousal.


He leaned down and kissed her. There was no light brushing of lips, no hesitancy. The werewolf took control of her mouth and then worked his way down to her neck. He was marking her as he pushed her back down on the sofa. He ravaged her mouth, neck and breasts and pushed off her baggy pants before moving between her legs. Time seemed to stop for the two of him as he marked his territory kissing and grinding hard against her – and with her implicit consent since she made no move to extricate herself. But it was the night of the Full Moon – and she didn’t dare. The werewolf inside him could do a lot of damage once he was inside her.

There was a sudden hard thrust that took Jessica’s breath away. Lupin eyes flashed werewolf gold and it scared Jessica to death to see it. She called out Remus’ name but he didn’t really hear her as he thrust hard. He held on tightly to the sofa as he lost control. Jessica couldn’t have conceived of the growls and yips as the werewolf expressed his pleasure. After a half hour he was ready to climax, she could tell because he’d swelled inside her and they were impaled together. Over and over he orgasmed, growling heavily as he did so.

When the last shudder of his body died down, Lupin pulled himself up slowly. His lips felt swollen and bruised and it was painful to pull out. The room smelled like sex – but really it was his werewolf senses; they were on overdrive because of the impending full moon. Jessica would be protected; that was the important thing. He could beat himself up about it in a few days when he had a clear head. He’d heard about such things when he was younger – but never really wanted to believe that this could be a part of who he was. The more he’d gotten to know Jessica, the more things began to change.

Lupin wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about what was happening to him even if was because of someone he wanted to be with for more than one night.

The werewolf leaned down and began to lick her.

Jessica observed Lupin with morbid fascination; she was beginning to separate the wheat from the chaff from the reading she’d done. The werewolf in him dictated even the most basic of instincts and impulses. ‘To deny your impulses is to deny being human’ a famous line from a famous series of films from back home. Creepy Mr. Chips wasn’t really there at the moment; his impulses made him someone else… someone she really didn’t know. Jessica was seeing a part of Lupin that he’d kept hidden even from himself most likely. And he was exercising restraint – considerable restraint given what had just happen.

‘I’ll see you in the morning,’ Lupin said tensely, looking away from her.

Tonight being a Full Moon and Jessica being there had changed everything. He just didn’t know how to deal with this latent part of his werewolf nature. It was one thing to know of it in the abstract, it was another to be faced with it and after all these years.

‘Yes – you certainly will. I’ll be right here waiting for you,’ Jessica said firmly.

‘Why are you doing this?’ Lupin whispered as he put a hand on hers.

‘Everything happens for a reason, Wolfie,’ Jessica answered slowly as she silently cursed Dumbledore.

‘If it wasn’t for your books you wouldn’t…’

‘Do you want me to leave tonight?’

Jessica tried not to look at the fearsome erection that very much in evidence as Lupin stood up.



The werewolf could sense how much she wanted him as she stood there with her shirt undone. It was the only thing that gave her some semblance of modesty. Her skin was flushed and moist; her breasts were swollen and her nipples engorged. She was ready to have him again. He’d always known when she was ready and how much she wanted him – he could smell it. Even through her clothes, sitting together over a coffee in Hogsmeade on a rainy day, he could smell her wanting him. That was something that had never made any sense to him; how she could want him the way that she did and maybe even have feelings for him, but the compulsions that drove her were for someone else, someone extremely unpleasant who couldn’t appreciate a good woman like her.

‘If you stay, let it be because it’s me that you chose – and not because you are running from him,’ Lupin said firmly as she stood and faced him.

‘But I am running, Remus. We both know that. I’ve spent my whole life running – just like you.’

The moon began to show itself and the werewolf took one last look at her before running off into the night.

xxxOOOxxx

Jessica was true to her word. When Lupin finally returned home, she was wide awake waiting for him. He felt badly for thinking that she would change her mind and take the chance to leave while he was gone.

He groaned as he dragged himself towards his front door and Jessica ran out to help him. Had she not been there he would have spent the first day on the sofa, unable to move and eventually covered in his own messes. She got him up the stairs and managed to clean him off. He clenched his teeth through the agony of being touched, but he was grateful. He was so, so grateful that she was there to take care of him.

The Librarian seemed to have an instinct for what was needed. She did as much as she could and kept Lupin clean. He slept mostly, but Jessica would come and wake him long enough to get some nourishment in him. He slipped in and out of consciousness for three days. On the fifth day following the Full Moon he came down stairs and found her hanging laundry out back. She’d obviously kept herself busy from the looks of things; the house was immaculate.

‘Hey,’ Jessica said softly as he walked over to her.

‘Hey yourself,’ he said squinting in the light of the sun.

‘What do you want for dinner?’

Lupin didn’t reply as he stared at her.

‘Is something wrong?’ Jessica asked, as she touched her hair and then looked down at her clothes.

‘No… nothing’s wrong,’ he whispered as he took her into his arms and buried his face in her neck.

Jessica held him tight as she rubbed his back.

‘Everything’s fine… honestly…’ she murmured.

‘Thank you,’ the werewolf said thickly as he held onto her.

For the first time in his life since he’d been bitten, Remus Lupin was wondering if maybe there was some hope for him after all.

xxxOOOxxx

‘I need to pay someone a visit,’ Jessica said several days later as she ironed a pair of jeans in the kitchen. ‘I could use your help getting there…’

Lupin felt a knot rising in his throat as he looked up from his Daily Prophet. Whatever he said was going to come out wrong. Things were ok between them and he really didn’t want to fight with her. But he was entitled to not be happy that she was going to go see him after everything he had put her through.

He continued to eyeball the blur in front of his eyes. Suddenly his paper was taken from him and put on the kitchen table.

‘I promised,’ Jessica said as she sat down across from him. ‘I promised him I’d go see him. He’s probably desperate for a kind face; doesn’t really have anyone to…’

‘Surely Severus could arrange something in the way of a portkey for you.’

‘I’m talking about Harry actually, Harry Potter!’

‘Oh…right…’

‘Nevermind. Forget it!’ Jessica huffed after turning off the iron and setting it on the cooker to cool off.

Lupin heard her stomp up the stairs and the sound of her bedroom door slamming.

‘Damn it,’ he sore under his breath as he took to the stairs two at a time.

‘I’m sorry,’ he called through the door having reached it faintly winded. ‘Jessica please talk to me.’

Lupin tried to open it and found that she hadn’t locked it at all. He walked in and sat on the bed looking down at her.

‘I jumped to the wrong conclusion.’

‘You think the first chance I get I’m just going to crawling back to him!’

‘If he was willing to talk to you – you would hear him out, you know you would. And if he offered to take him back you wouldn’t turn him down.’

‘I’ll cross that bridge when I get back to Hogwarts.’

‘So you are going back,’ Lupin said quietly.

‘There’s no way I’m not going back, Remus. It’s the only living I have and it’s not a bad one. Besides, Dumbledore will be expecting me.’

‘It’s just well that we haven’t been that intimate then, isn’t it?’

‘If you’re expecting happily ever after – then I guess so…’

Lupin looked at Jessica incredulously.

‘You let me… – and yet you’ve already made up your mind that nothing else can happen between us?’

‘I don’t believe in happily ever after, not anymore. Sooner or later something goes wrong. I’m not meant to be Suzi Homemaker with the perfect life, the perfect man and 2.4 kids. I’m not jut a hopeless romantic, I’m just plain hopeless romantically – and we both know I didn’t really have a choice since I was here that night, now did I…’


‘Don’t you think you’re exaggerating just a bit? You can’t judge anything on the basis of what happened with him!’

‘It’s not me that needs convincing, Remus. It’s you. If someone is really worth it then you take the risk to let them know what they mean to you. Not giving someone you care about the chance to make their own choices isn’t good for either of you…’

‘This isn’t one of your stories, Jessica! This is my life! MINE!’

‘It’s not as black and white to me as it always is to you; it’s complicated because people and feelings are complicated. And it still comes down to choices. You never gave me the opportunity to choose Remus. You never gave me a chance to see just how real my feelings are – and despite everything you’ve said and what’s happened since I’ve been here, you haven’t given yourself a chance either. I had a hard time trusting you as much as you did me in the beginning. And over time I knew what you felt and I think even Dumbledore knew. But you were keeping quiet, so no one said anything about it, until now. Severus was open – or at least he seemed to be – he was open enough for him at least. And before you come up with some kind of justification to really make me feel like shit – what I feel for you isn’t the same. You aren’t Severus and he’s not you. You’re right, this isn’t one of my stories and this is your life. But it’s not just about you, Remus. It’s never just about you.’

‘If he really loved you,’ Lupin replied hoarsely, ‘he wouldn’t have turned his back on you!’

‘But you walked out on me too, Remus…and more than once. You gave up on me. Stop throwing your issues back on me and Severus. ’

‘I had to!’

They sat in an uncomfortable silence.

‘Deep down you don’t have much faith in me. Neither did he; the whole time we were together he blew hot and cold and in the end he was always having to convince himself that being with me was OK. The fact that he had to talk himself into it probably explains why I’m not with him, so it stands to reason that I shouldn’t be with you either since you keep going around the houses about this.’

‘You may only just be curious about me and I may be a welcome distraction… But you said it yourself Jessica, you haven’t been parted from Severus that long.’

‘You got me there…’

There was an uneasy silence as Lupin got up to go downstairs.

‘I don’t want this to be a rebound,’ he said standing in the doorway, but not looking at her.

‘So – I should get myself a boyfriend for the summer and then get back to you once I’m at school, is that it?’

‘No – of course not.’

‘Then I should get my own place now eh?’

‘It’s what you were intending to do, your illness notwithstanding.’

‘Fine – I’ll sort something out by the end of the week… at least then I can let Dumbledore know where I am and that I’m alright. I still haven’t responded to all those bloody owls of his…’

‘Is there anything else that’s happened that you haven’t mentioned in all this time?’

‘No...’

‘And you never mentioned this because…?’

‘I didn’t see that you really needed to be bothered about it. It’s not a big deal.’

‘I think you just answered your own questions, Jessica.’

Lupin went downstairs and a few moments later she heard the front door open and close.

‘No – we both did…’ she whispered.

xxxOOOxxx

It had turned out that Lupin lived in the West Country, not too far from Bath on the edge of the Avon Valley, and in the same house that his parents bought after he received the bite. The property was surrounded by a vast acreage on all sides; it had proven a godsend over the years.

The Senior Lupins were still alive and lived in Bradford-Upon-Avon; a reasonable distance. She knew that they despaired about the life their son had to lead and the fact that he wouldn’t let them help him. It wouldn’t do to be dependent on them, he’d told her. And at least he had magic to help him survive. Fortunately he was able to grow vegetables and there were apple and cherry trees.
Remus actually got by better than he was given credit for,’ she’d thought.

He definitely did better than the impression he gave to people.

This Remus Lupin was certainly proved to be a man of startling contradictions once she started living with him. But at least he was doing his usual and being reasonable about how things were not going between them; just as he’d always done.

What happened the night of the Full Moon may as well have just been a figment of their imaginations.

xxxOOOxxx

Jessica was as good as her word.

By the end of the week she’d found a large maisonette at the top of a period building on one of the cherished hills on the edge of Bath’s city centre. She loved this city – it was as beautiful in this world as it was in her own. In her world she could have never afforded a place down here any more than she could London, but once again it seemed that the real estate boom that was the bane of the average British resident wanting a home in her world just didn’t exist.

There was something to be said for having her own space once she had moved all her things in. She took more time that she anticipated tarting the place up to make it a real home away from Hogwarts. She hadn’t been there two days before Dumbledore’s owls managed to find her yet again. With nothing to really distract her, she sat down and wrote him a little note that spiraled into a long letter. And so it proved every time she wrote to him.

Jessica had never known her father and her grandparents hadn’t spoken of him. But if she’d had one, Albus Dumbledore wouldn’t have been a bad one to have. Like all fathers he could be frustrating, but also like fathers – especially those with daughters – he could be overprotective. She was learning a lot about the Headmaster and his own life away from the school, much more than she ever could have dreamed. She wondered how many other people knew.

But it did strike her now as much as it had with the books: why was it that owls could find missing people, even those on the run from the Ministry of Magic – and yet wizards and witches couldn’t, not even Ministry officials. Why didn’t they just cast a spell on the owls?

Sometimes the world of Harry Potter was like an old Keystone Cops film.

xxxOOOxxx

Two weeks after she’d moved into her new flat, Jessica decided it was time to see Harry. She hadn’t meant to leave it this long, but it couldn’t be helped. Fortunately the train fares were also more affordable for her and so she decided to go see Harry the old-fashioned Muggle way and use British Rail.

It was so strange; British Rail had been sold off by the Tories under Margaret Thatcher in Jessica’s world but not here…

The ‘Iron Lady’ was still in office and still holding strong, sparing the world from the disaster that had been John Major, although many were baying for her blood now and it looked like Labour could do very well eventually… With John Prescott at the helm no less.

‘Remus was right about one thing,’ she’d thought as her connecting train hurtled into deepest Surrey: ‘it wouldn’t do to be dependent on anyone.’

xxxOOOxxx

Jessica found that the trains were very efficient, not to mention fast. Unlike her world, British transport here was on par with the Continent from what she’d gleaned from Muggle newspapers. In no time at all she was walking towards Privet Drive from the Little Whinging railway station. It wasn’t terribly far and it was a rather nice day out given all the rain they’d had so far.
.
‘I need to be as clear-headed as possible for this…’ she muttered to herself as her mind ran over all that she knew of the Dursleys from fiction. Given the comments Harry had made here and there, it seemed Jo Rowling may have even toned down just how abused he really was. God she hated them with a passion that bordered on hysteria. Just the idea of them made her skin crawl.

Jessica looked down at her map and then turned left. Up ahead should be Privet Drive. She stopped once more to have a drink of water from the bottle of Pevian that had with her. Her stomach was in knots and she just needed to settle it a bit. Undaunted, she continued on, oblivious to the fact that she was being followed.

xxxOOOxxx

The Librian looked around the cul-de-sac that was Privet Drive. There were nothing but sterile identikit houses, one indistinguishable from the next save for their lawns and the cars parked in the driveways. A typical bland British Estate, modeled on a concept that started with America. She’d rather slit her throat than to live in such a stale, overwhelmingly brown place.

She wiped her face a bit with a handkerchief that she’d forgotten was in her stylish leather rucksack. She glanced at the monogrammed intertwined double S and then sniffed faintly. Even after all these months, she could still smell the scent that was uniquely Severus’. Her eyes began to well up and she admonished herself to stop as she put it in a front pocket of her jeans.

For some unknown reason, that handkerchief was a great source of strength to her as she walked up the pathway to the Dursley’s front door, still unaware that she was being watched.

xxxOOOxxx

RING!! RING!!!

Jessica glanced at the unimaginative flowerbeds under the large window facing the street after ringing the bell to Number Four Privet Drive. A rather horse-faced sliver of a woman peered out of the staid net curtains and frowned at seeing a stranger coming to call.

The Librarian steeled herself as the woman opened the door a bit and eyeballed her suspiciously. Inwardly Jessica smiled. Her weathered jeans fit her like a glove. They had been pressed along with the white t-shirt she was wearing. She’d put on a off-white linen jacket and a pair of comfortable slingback sandals. She wore her long hair loose and it’s sun-streaked waves shone.


‘Yes?’ the woman barked unpleasantly.

‘Hello, you must be Mrs. Dursley. I’m Jessica Newkirk,’ Jessica said extending her hand.

She knew exactly what the older woman was thinking – lord knows she’d come across her sort too many times.

‘I’m here to see Harry,’ the Librarian added firmly.

‘Harry?’

‘Yes – Harry Potter.’

‘What do you want with him?’

‘As I said, I’m here to see him. May I come in please,’ Jessica said placing a foot on the doorstep.

‘Who are you!’

‘I work at Hogwarts; I’m the Director of Library Services as of this Fall thanks to a new promotion…’

The bony woman narrowed her eyes as she looked Jessica up and down once more.

‘Say it you bitch! Say it and I’ll kick your flat arse into next year wand or no fucking wand,’ the Librarian thought to herself.

‘If it’s inconvenient perhaps I should come back some other time with the Headmaster…’ Jessica said lightly.

‘Petunia!’ came a bark from the sitting room. ‘Who’s at the ruddy door?’

A rather portly, dumpy looking man budged up behind Mrs. Dursley and opened the door wide so he could get a good look at the woman he’d been checking out from the relative anonymity of the net curtains.

‘She’s from that place!’ Petunia hissed.

‘Eh?’

‘I don’t mean to take up too much of your time. I’m from Harry’s school. I’d like to see him if that’s alright?

Not accustomed to encountering one of ‘Harry’s kind’ that looked normal and didn’t talk a load of rubbish, the Dursley’s weren’t sure what to think about letting Jessica into their home.

‘Or you can send him down to me and he can accompany me to Bluewater. I’ll have him back in time for dinner…’

‘Bluewater?’ Petunia said, standing up straight. ‘What would you know about a shopping mall!’

‘We like clothes too, Mrs. Dursley,’ Jessica said as she opened her jacket and gave them both a good look at what her leering letch of a husband would never have.

‘How do we know you are who you say you are?’ Petunia sniffed.

‘You can ask Harry for a start.’

‘Vernon – go get the boy!’

Jessica restrained a smirk. Wives weren’t that mistrustful of their husbands unless they had a reason to be – so far the woman didn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities that would justify anyone putting up with her. And the same could be said of her husband.

After a moment or two Jessica listened to what could only be Harry stomping down the stairs.

‘You know her?’ Petunia snapped as she pushed The Boy Who Lived Forward.

‘Of course I do. It’s Miss Newkirk from school,’ Harry answered through gritted teeth.

‘I was thinking you might like to join me at Bluewater; that is if your relatives are inconvenienced by me talking to you here…’ Jessica said, addressing him directly.

‘What’s a teacher want with a student when school isn’t even in session – and at a ruddy shopping mall?’ Vernon spat.

‘The Headmaster will be asking you questions when he comes to see you if I don’t have anything to tell him because you won’t have me in.’

Petunia visibly blanched at the mention of Dumbledore.

‘The boy is fine – aren’t you boy!’ Vernon said through clenched teeth.

Jessica unconsciously gripped the wand Dumbledore had given her, hidden in the pocket of her jacket. He’d said she should get in the habit of having it and she’d made it a practice to do just that even though it seemed pointless. Her hand stung for a moment and she absent-mindedly wiped it in her pocket.

She stared down the obnoxious couple. Just the idea of Harry possibly having one good day and being away from them was enough for them to make his life hell. She could see it as clearly as she could see the dandruff in Vernon Dursley’s hair. Why couldn’t they just leave him be until the Weasley’s showed up to take him to the Quidditch World Cup?

Jessica felt a chill go up her spine just as she finished the thought.

‘Better to have her take him than have him underfoot all day!’ Petunia snapped as she pushed Harry outside, causing him to fall.

Jessica moved fast, and caught him in her arms before he could hit the ground.

‘Come on Harry, no point in hanging around,’ Jessica said as she looked at his aunt and uncle.

The door closed in their faces.

‘Miss Newkirk I…’ Harry began only to be silenced by a nod from Jessica.

She guided him to the end of the street, knowing that two sets of eyes were on them every step of the way, with the exception of the Squib who lived across the street and who’d been babysat Harry all his life. He didn’t know it just yet; but time would tell if that was as true in this world as it was in fiction.

Only when they had turned the corner did Jessica and Harry begin to talk. They walked in tandem, her arm around his bony shoulders as they headed for the railway station, shadowed every step of the way.

xxxOOOxxx

“Those clothes are horrible,” Jessica said as they walked through Europe’s biggest shopping mall. In her world it was the third largest and located in the county of Kent. In this world it was not only the largest, it was located in Surrey, not far from Little Whinging.

“They’re Dudley’s” Harry said bitterly.

Jessica spotted a store in the distance, and smiled as she recognised a peculiar variation of The Gap.

‘Come on – time to shop ‘till we drop!” she said enthusiastically.

‘Time to…? Look, it was nice of you to get out of the house but…’

‘You’ve not had much kindness in your life, Harry. You’ve never had people that would stand up to your Aunt and Uncle. I’m not afraid of them and I’ll make myself bloody well clear on that front when I take you home tonight!’

Harry looked up at Jessica in amazement.

‘Now come on – let’s hit the racks,’ Jessica said as she steered him into the shop.

Harry looked around, feeling embarrassed by what he already wearing. People were giving him funny looks. It was one thing when he was roaming around Little Whinging, it was another when it was a big, fancy place like this.

‘They’ve never taken you anywhere – have they?’ Jessica asked, interrupting his thoughts.

‘No – only when they couldn’t Miss Figg to look after me,’ Harry said sullenly. “I always have to sit in the car.

‘Mmm – well then we better get you into some things that you can wear out of here,’

‘I’ll pay you back Miss. I have money my parents left me and…’

‘You’ll do no such thing. I don’t ask it and it’s not required. And my name is Jessica; Miss Newkirk makes me feel so damn old.’

Jessica looked faintly hurt and so Harry fell silent. He spent a good twenty minutes alone just walking around, touching the different fabrics. Jessica would point things out to him, but he was still in such a state of disbelief he wouldn’t pick up anything. When the Librarian noticed him lingering longer over certain garments, she picked them up. She was far more practical and also picked up underwear, knowing that whatever he had was as likely to be unsuitable as the other clothes he was wearing.

‘Right – I think this is a decent start. Plenty of other shops to go to so let’s not spend it all in one place, eh? Jessica said as she steered Harry towards the Fitting Rooms.

Harry tried things on and became more enthusiastic when he saw how decent and normal he looked for a change. They left the shop with him wearing brand new jeans that fit much better than anything of his cousin Dudley’s tatty old hand-me-downs along with a new short-sleeved shirt and underwear. The old rags that he’d been forced to wear were thrown out.

‘They won’t give you a hard time; I’ll see to it,’ Jessica said darkly.

They went into a trainers shop and Harry walked out with a new pair on and another bag to take back to the Dursley’s.

Over the next few hours they bought more clothes, some books and a small radio for his room. Jessica also treated him to a nice lunch at Pizzeria Express. It was his first time ever having something so nice away from his relatives, his forays to the Weasleys and the wizarding world notwithstanding.


After lunch they went to more shops. By the time they were finished for the day, they hadn’t even seen a quarter of the mall. But it was the best day that Harry could ever remember having during the summer, with the exception of the time Ron and his brothers came to fetch him in a Muggle Car that their father had bewitched to fly.

Jessica couldn’t help but to roar with laughter as Harry told her the story on the train back to Little Whinging, even though she already knew some of the details. There were so many other things that had happened on that fateful journey to Hogwarts in Harry’s Second Year, things she couldn’t have dreamt of that she would have paid double to see in the films.

“That cinema looked great,’ Harry enthused as they slowly walked back to his Aunt and Uncle’s house.

‘We’ll have to go back sometime, take in a couple of films,’ Jessica said firmly.

‘Oh, I didn’t mean that you had to take me.’

‘I know…’ Jessica sighed as she was confronted once again with the ugliness that was Privet Drive.

Being summer it was still very light out and it didn’t feel right for Harry to have to go back to them. But he needed to go back. He had to, because of the Quidditch World Cup. She had spoken to Dumbledore about it. Arthur Weasley was slated as one of the members of his department at the Ministry to get complimentary tickets. He and Molly, his wife, would be contacting Harry about staying with them and attending one of the wizarding world’s most prestigious events.

When they reached the door of number four, Harry let himself in and Jessica with him. He led her into the sitting room where he knew his Aunt and Uncle would be along with his pig of a cousin.

‘Just what do you think you’re…’ Uncle Vernon began – until he saw the wand in Jessica’s hand.

‘I think we should have a little chat while I’m here – and before I go upstairs with Harry to review a few things he needs for the new term.’

Petunia made a strange noise and Dudley backed up from the television, his fat piggy hands trying desperately to cover the grotesque flank that was his backside. The Dursley’s piggy eyes never left Jessica’s wand as fingered it while she talked. To get one point across she gave it a wave and there were shrieks all round.

Harry bit his lip to keep from pissing himself laughing.

‘I’m going to say this once and I don’t expect that I will have to say it again,’ Jessica said menacingly. ‘You lay one hand on this boy, you touch one hair on his head and I will make you sorry you were ever born. His things belong to him. You will not touch them nor will you deny him access to them! That monstrosity you claim as your own will not touch them either! And one more thing – he isn’t a bloody servant and you will stop treating him like one with immediate effect!’

Jessica jabbed her wand and the television blew up.

‘Holy Shit,’ she heard Harry mutter as he stood next to her.

‘Accidents happen,’ the Librarian sneered as the stereo went the same way as the television

Dudley burst into tears and ran screaming up to his room to hide. Harry was crossing his legs now. If Miss Newkirk didn’t stop he really was going to use the sitting room as his personal toilet.

Inwardly Jessica was shaking. ‘Dumbledore… what the hell is he doing? He should have warned me,’ she thought to herself.


But even she knew that idle threats weren’t enough with these people, and her accidental magical tantrum certainly drove the point home.

It was alright because it was her and not Harry. They had no idea that she wasn’t a witch and neither she nor Harry would volunteer that information.

‘Have I made myself clear?’ she demanded. ‘You take one step out of line, any of you, and we solve your problems the wizarding way – permanently!’

Vernon Dursley had turned five shades of colour from bright pink to purple in the last ten minutes. Petunia’s anorexic frame shook violently as she struggled to not wet herself.

‘Right,’ Jessica said lightly. ‘Harry show me your room before I go please…’

They picked up all the shopping bags and Jessica followed Harry up the stairs, a devilish grin on her face.

xxxOOOxxx

Jessica frowned as she looked around the grim room.

‘Here,’ she said pulling a large bag from her rucksack. ‘I thought you might like these, to decorate your room with…’

There were poster books of travel destinations around the world. Harry had told her once that he would like to see the world someday, and experience something completely different to the life he’d known. One of the books was a souvenir from Bath, which was a World Heritage City even in this world.

‘You live here?’ Harry gasped, forgetting to ask Jessica about the magic she appeared to have executed.

‘Mmm hmm – I’ll have a word with the Headmaster. I did at least talk to him before asking you if you wanted me to come…’ Jessica answered as she began pinning posters to the wall. ‘If I hadn’t managed to talk to you on the train, I would have still come anyway…’

After ten minutes she and Harry stepped back and admired her handiwork.

‘It looks a hundred times better already,’ Harry beamed.

‘Good…’ Jessica said leaning over his desk.

Harry watched as she scribbled something on a bit of parchment.

‘That’s my address, phone number and the mobile number. You need anything, get a hold of me. If it gets too bad, take the Knight Bus… just have it drop you in the park by the Royal Crescent; I’m not too far from there.’

It had always irked her that in fiction all Harry needed to do was to return to the place where his last remaining relatives were every summer. He didn’t need to stay the full summer. But that was fiction and this was real life (so to speak). She could make a difference and she would, if it was possible.

‘Keep that mobile hidden Harry – I don’t trust them as far as I can spit,’ she added sharply.

Harry showed Jessica the loose floorboard under his bed. It was a decent enough space for him to hide food in. He added the mobile to it.

‘Having to hide food…’ Jessica muttered. ‘A bloody disgrace!’

‘Please Miss, you’ve done enough already. I think my food situation will improve a bit.’

‘It better!’ Jessica snapped.

‘Remind me to never piss you off,’ Harry laughed.

‘Oh – I’m sure you’ll get in check quick enough if you know what’s good for you!’ Jessica smirked.

‘And I daresay I will certainly have to if things play out as they seem to be,’ she said to herself silently as she thought about CAPSLOCK Harry in his Fifth Year from the novels.

They went over his homework and then twenty minutes later, Harry showed Jessica to the door.

Petunia had ordered Dudley to set the table and was now fighting with him because he refused to do it.

‘I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you,’ Harry said quietly.

‘You’re a good lad, Harry. You deserve a lot better – and you certainly shouldn’t be left to deal with this on your own. I’m the one you told, and I thank you for trusting me enough to do that.’

‘I never thought you’d actually do something. I just… you know…’

‘Yes, I do actually.’

Vernon Dursley waddled into the dining room and within seconds all three Dursleys were shouting. Petunia decided the Dursleys would go out to eat as soon as that freak left so that her Dudders could calm down. Potter would be fine on his own for a change.

‘You don’t need her dinner anyway…’ Jessica sniffed.

‘Not with the pizza and stuff you got me,’ Harry replied gratefully. ‘I’ll be fine now.’

It felt awkward having to say good bye after such a great day. And really, he just didn’t want her to go.

‘Try and have a decent rest of the summer,’ Jessica said turning away.

‘POTTER!’ Vernon yelled. ‘CLOSE THE RUDDY DOOR AND GET UP TO YOUR ROOM, NOW!”

Jessica looked like she was ready to square up to his uncle and aunt again and Harry shook his head ‘no’.

‘Fine – you just remember what we talked about. Don’t be embarrassed to tell me you need my help or a place to stay, Harry.’

Jessica stepped outside and walked slowly up the street.

‘POTTER!’ she heard Petunia yell. ‘DO AS YOUR UNCLE SAYS AND…’

Harry waved to her one last time, and then he disappeared from view behind the closed front door.

It would take her a couple of hours to get home, but it was well worth it to know that Harry would be OK enough for the time being.

She walked to the train station, turning over the day’s events in her head, still unaware of what lurked in the shadows.