4 Meeting the Culvers

*Thunk*

I close the cruiser's door.

It was a 2-hour drive from the motel I was staying. That's including the break we took to get some sandwiches. The rotisserie style chicken was absolutely delicious by the way.

"This is it, Harry." He faces me and throws his arm up in a grand display of a completely average home in the middle of the suburbs.

I look around a bit. It's a normal neighborhood, but not to my tastes. I'd rather be somewhere where I'd get privacy.

As a wise man once said, "If you can't pee off your front porch, your neighbors are too close."

I nod to myself. I don't remember exactly where I heard it, but definitely wise words to live by.

A random thought crosses my mind.

'I've always thought the idea of an island in the middle of the ocean would be a nice place to live as a wizard. I could set up greenhouses and build my own home. Maybe I could, instead having it on the ocean, make it float in the sky. Imagine that. A floating wizard island. That'd be so cool.'

It's at this moment that two young looking adults come walking out the door and come down the porch to meet us.

'Mr. and Mrs. Culver I presume.'

The officer waves and greets them while I stand behind.

"Rosalyn! Arthur! Good to see you." The officer is excited to see them again. I can sense less anxiety and some happiness from him when he sees them.

'I wonder. Is he nervous all the time because I'm his responsibility or something?'

I consider closing off my empathy, but I decide not to as I want to know what they are feeling.

Some may call it an invasion of privacy, but mundane people can also do the same thing by reading body language. I don't see a problem with it.

"Jeremy. It's good to see you too." The man speaks.

'Oh. His name is Jeremy? I never actually asked.'

The two men go off toward the car to talk a bit, and Mr. Culver grabs the case that has the belongings I actually wanted to keep.

Mrs. Culver calls out to Mr. Culver to bring my case to my room, and both the officer and Mr. Culver go inside, leaving us alone.

She then walks over to me, and I hold my hand out.

I look into her warm brown eyes, and say, "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Culver. My name's Harry. Harry Potter."

She's a little surprised at my manners but reaches out and shakes my hand.

With a wide smile and a well-hidden chuckle, she responds, "Hello Harry. It's nice to meet you too. My name is Rosalyn."

'She is nice. I can feel that she has no bad intentions. She does have quite a lot of concern though.'

Concern for me? Probably.

She pauses a moment and continues.

"We have a room all set up for you inside, even if it is pretty bare. We know you don't have all that much in the way of belongings, but we were thinking you might like to go shopping tomorrow."

"That'd be good. I did bring a few pairs of clothes with me, but they'll only last so long. Can we head inside? It's a little chilly out here." I shiver a little.

It is maybe about 7°C out here (45°F), and I am wearing an old t-shirt and some really baggy pants. They're crappy, but they were the best I had out of all the hand-me-downs I had.

We both walk inside. I can hear the officer and Mr. Culver talking somewhere. The noises are complete with obnoxious noises and loud laughs. I look over at Mrs. Culver and see her shaking her head a little and rolling her eyes.

She is radiating fondness through the annoyance though.

"Feel free to look around, Harry."

"Okay."

I walk down the hall as she goes through a closed door, towards the sounds of the two raucous men.

'It's a nice house. Pretty clean too. I hope they have a washer and dryer. It's a pain to use a laundromat.'

How do I know that?

Well. It's one of those things I know from my other life.

I walk down the hallway of the first floor, poking my head in some rooms.

I take note of the bathroom.

"I hope you like it." Mrs. Culver walks up behind me while I'm standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

"AGH!" I yell.

"Oh! Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, Harry."

'Oh my gosh! How did she do that? I should be able to sense her from her emotions at least! But she came out of nowhere!'

I take a deep breath to calm my beating heart.

"No, it's ok. I was just thinking too deeply to pay attention, I guess."

"Well, I just wanted to ask if you'd like me to give you a tour of the house before you get settled in?"

"Yes, please." I nod.

She shows me around the house, pointing out the different rooms. Basically, on the ground floor, there is the kitchen, dining room, living room, washing room, bathroom, and a study/small library.

On the second floor is mostly bedrooms. At the end of the hallway upstairs, there is a master bedroom that Mr. and Mrs. Culver share, with an attached master bathroom. Along that same hallway is a couple of smaller bedrooms, and one guest bedroom.

The first bedroom we simply pass by, not looking inside, and Mrs. Culver tells me it is Alice's room. The second bedroom we go into, my case is sitting on the bed. I guess this room is mine.

There is also a small linen closet and another bathroom, which is at the end of the hall, close to the stairs.

"Well Harry, why don't you go ahead and get unpacked in your room, and I'll start on dinner."

"I really don't have much to unpack, shall I help you with dinner?"

She takes a deep look at me and softens her expression.

"Nonsense! I wouldn't dream of making you cook. Especially on your first day here." She feels sad for some reason.

"Are you sure? I like to cook."

"Well..." She hesitates. "If you really want to cook with me, then maybe we can do it another day." With that, she ruffles my already messy hair, and I take a half step back, but accept it.

She sees it and gives a slightly strained smile before going down to the kitchen to start on the food.

I stand there for a moment with my hand on my head, and I slowly crack a smile. She really is quite nice. Not only that, but she gave the legendary head pat.

I laugh a little.

'I wonder what dinner will be.'

I walk inside my room and hum to myself as I start putting the few belongings that I have wherever I want.

Once I'm done, I lay on the bed to rest my eyes for a moment but start to feel sleepier and sleepier.