Chapter 2: An Old Friend
“Come on Harry. We’re going to be late,” screamed Ginny from the bottom of the stairs. They were supposed to be going to the burrow to have a party for Ron and Hermione, whom had just returned from their honeymoon. “”If you don’t get done here now I’m going to come up there and jinx you.”
“Calm down dear,” said Harry as he appeared at the top of the stairs. “I just got out of the shower. I needed a few moments to get dressed.”
“Well, get down here now. I don’t want to be late for the party. Ron and Hermione got back only this morning.”
“You don’t want to see Ron. You want to eat something better for a chance,” Harry said as he walked down the stairs and wrapped his arms around Ginny.
“Well, that wouldn’t be a problem if you could just learn to cook. You were a natural at Defense Against the Dark Arts but you can’t fry an egg to save your life.” They both laughed. “Can we just get going?” Harry nodded and they both walked towards the kitchen. Ginny was eight months pregnant so they were going to use Floo Powder to get to the Burrow.
“Hey mum,” said Ginny as she stepped out of the fire.
“Ginny dear, how are you,” said Mrs. Weasley as she hugged her daughter. “Harry how are you doing?” Mrs. Weasley then proceeded to give him a hug too.
“I’m fine Mrs. Weasley.”
Mrs. Wesley then let him go. “How many times do I have to tell you? Call me mum,” she said waving her finger in front of Harry’s face.
“Mum, leave him alone,” said Ron from the other side of the room. “How are you, mate?”
“Not bad.”
“He still can’t cook though. I don’t understand how the-boy-who-lived can’t even make a decent meal for his pregnant wife. He can defeat he-who-must-not-be-named but can’t make a halfway edible dinner,” said Ginny.
“Don’t worry Ginny dear. I’ll just have to give him a lesson or two. But that will have to wait. Everyone sit down. Lunch is ready.”
Everyone sat down and ate. Harry sat with his arm around Ginny, and Ron had his arm around Hermione. Bill, Fleur, Charlie, the twins, Lupin and Tonks had also shown up. Ginny was in the middle of eating a plate of the delicious food when a silvery shape appeared in the kitchen right next to her.
Harry’s eyes widened and a broad smile stretched across his face. He whipped out his wand and a silver stag erupted out of the end of it and it was soon gone following the other Patronus.
“What was that?” asked Ron.
“Harry, who’s Patronus was that?” asked Hermione.
“You’ll see,” is all Harry said in reply.
“Harry tell this minute who that was,” demanded Ginny.
Again Harry replied with only a few words. “An old friend.”
Everyone else looked at Harry but returned to eating their meal. A few minutes later a faint popping sound could be heard outside the door followed by someone knocking.
“Could you get that Ron?” asked Mr. Weasley.
“I’ll get it. I’ll be back in a minute,” said Harry. He walked out the door and began having a conversation with someone outside. Ten minutes later, the door opened. Harry walked back inside, but this time he was followed by another man.
The man was about the same height as Ron and had short black hair. He had a tattoo along the inside of his right forearm that no one quite knew what it meant. He was dressed in normal muggle clothing but a wand was sticking out of the right pocket of his jeans.
“Everyone, I would like to introduce you to someone. This is an old friend of mine. His name is Michael,” said Harry while he scanned everyone faces tying to judge what they were thinking.
“Hey, just call me Mike.”
“Hi,” replied Ginny. “Harry, if he is an old friend, why haven’t you ever told me or anyone else about him?”
“I can answer that question. He never told you about me because I asked him not to,” replied Mike. “You must be Ginny.” Ginny nodded. Mike then proceeded to identify Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Weasley family. It was obvious that Harry had told him a lot about them.
“Please sit down and have some lunch. If you are a friend of Harry’s, you are a friend of our’s,” said Mrs. Wesley.
“How did you meet Harry?” Hermione asked Mike.
“It’s actually quite an interesting story. I came over from America during Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts. My parents had spent some time in England when they were younger and knew Dumbledore. To make a long story short, I came over to help Dumbledore. He showed me a few of his more interesting tricks and had me doing a few various things.”
“He never mentioned you during the Order meetings,” commented Mr. Weasley.
“I asked him about that once. He just said that he wanted someone outside the Order. He had some secret errands for me to run for him.”
“What could he have wanted you to do?” asked Bill who had thus far remained silent. “I don’t mean any offense. I was just wondering,” he hastily added as he saw the look on Harry and Mike’s faces.
“I’m sorry, but that is a secret between me, Harry, and a select other few,” Mike said as he threw a wink in Ron and Hermione’s direction. Ron and Hermione looked confused for a second but a look of comprehension spread across their face as what Mike meant dawned on them.
“But when did you actually first meet Harry?” asked Bill
“A day or so after you got married to Fleur,” Mike said bowing his head in Bill and Fleur’s direction. “Dumbledore always thought Harry was going to go off on his own and go after Voldemort. He wanted me to be there for some help.”
“Harry, I thought you said you were alone that year?” asked Ginny.
“I never actually said I was alone, only lonely,” Harry replied. Mike laughed.
“I’m not always the best company.”
“That is an understatement. We were much in the same boat. I had just Ginny at the Burrow, and he had left someone in America to come to England.”
“Nothing like conspiring in misery to cheer someone up,” laughed Mike.
“So, you two spent the whole year hunting down Voldemort?” asked Fred.
“Pretty much,” replied Harry.
“You weren’t at the site of the final battle when I showed up,” said Lupin. “Where you involved in it?”
“I was for part of it. A few low level death eaters had managed to escape. Harry said he could handle the rest of them and yelled at me to follow them. I chased after them for awhile. I caught all but one of them in a few hours.”
“What happened to the last one?” asked Harry. This was the first time he had seen Mike since the final battle.
“He actually made it all the way to the United States. By the time I got back to the states, he had hidden himself pretty good. It took me three months to finally find him.”
“Then why didn’t you come here to visit sooner?” Harry asked.
“You weren’t the only one with a life to go back to. I sacrificed a lot when I left my wife and two month old baby in America to come over to England. I did it because I knew my parents would have wanted me to.”
“I’m sorry. I should have realized that. You could have sent a letter or something,” replied Harry.
“Letters really aren’t my style, but I could say the same thing about you. Anyways, I see life is treating you well. I heard from tourists that you got married, but I didn’t know Ginny was pregnant. How far along is she?”
“I’m a little over eight months,” answered Ginny. “You said you had a wife and kid. How are they doing?”
“Oh they’re great. My wife Christina is starting to beg to have another child. My son Stephen is fine too.”
“How old is he now?” asked Hermione.
“He’s four now.”
Mike talked with everyone for hours. When they all sat back down at the table for dinner, Mike was friends with all of them. When Harry sat down at the table he noticed that Ginny wasn’t there with him. “Where’s Ginny?”
“I don’t know,” said Hermione. “I thought I saw her in the living room a few minutes ago.”
Harry got up and went to look for her. He found her sitting in the chair in front of the unlit fireplace. “Ginny, is everything alright?” Ginny looked up into his face. Her face was pale. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
“Harry, my water just broke. I’m having the baby now.”