Chapter 042

If she was surprised by the contact she did not show it. She returned his hug fiercely, her arms wound tightly around his torso and she buried her face in the crook of his neck, while one of his hands slowly stroked her hair and the other rested against her back.

"Promise you'll write to me?" she croaked, and Harry could feel a few tears hitting the bare skin of his neck. He felt a moment of intense guilt threatening to overwhelm him, but reigned in it.

He also managed to reign in the suspicious moisture that gathered in his eyes. He would not allow himself to show weakness by crying. Especially not when his friend needed him to be strong.

"I promise," he whispered. He had actually spent quite a bit of time making sure that it would be possible to send her letters. He couldn't send Hedwig to her. While that wasn't quite breaking the law or jeopardizing the secrecy of magic, it would cause a lot of unwanted questions to be asked.

Fortunately, there was a way to send letters to non-magical people via the wizarding post office. Harry didn't know the mechanics behind it, but knew they had a way of transferring letters to a regular post office using some kind of magic. While it would be interesting to study at some point, at that moment, the only thing he really cared about was that it meant he could send letter's to Lisa.

"Everyday."

He chuckled, though it was lacking any humor. "I'll see what I can do."

Harry could feel her nod against his neck. For a moment, no one spoke, and the only sound were the small sniffles coming from the girl in his arms.

"I'll miss you."

Harry's arms tightened around the girl who was a sister in all but blood. Why was this so much harder than he thought it would be?

"And I you."

He carefully loosened his hold on the girl, his hands going to her shoulders. He pushed her back a bit, forcing her to let go of him. Giving the girl a small smile, Harry gently wiped the few tears that had fallen from her eyes.

"Try not to be too depressed, ok?" he said, trying to give her a smile he didn't feel. "I know it seems like a long time, but it won't be forever. I still get Christmas off, and I'll see you then."

"It seems like it's going to be forever," Lisa muttered, and Harry looked away uncomfortably. He wished he could make her feel better, wished he could say or do something to assure her that everything would be all right. That he could take away all the pain she was feeling, but there was nothing he could think of that would help in a situation like this.

Because even with all knowledge Harry gained, there were some things that you just couldn't learn from a book.

Because sometimes, the only way to learn is through first hand experience.

And unfortunately for Harry, this was one situation he had never been in before, and so all he could do was hope that things would get better with time.

The moment Harry arrived home, he received the very expected summons from his uncle.

"Boy!"

Sighing, Harry made his way into the living room where his uncle sat watching television. Over at the table, Dudley was scarfing down food like it would disappear if he ate too slowly, and Petunia flitted around her son heaping praises on how adorable he looked in his school uniform. It was a sight that Harry only spared a brief glance towards before focusing on Vernon.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon?"

The walrus of a man released a brief grunt, not bothering to look away from the news channel he was watching.

"Spending time at that trollop's house again, were you?"

Harry's fingers twitched as the desire to blast Vernon through a wall for insulting his best friend nearly overpowered him. He resisted, but only just.

The man seemed to be getting bold now that the day for Harry to leave had finally come. Harry could only hope Vernon Dursley would not be completely insufferable during the trip to King's Cross. At the moment, he wasn't all that sure if he could hold himself back from reacting violently. He still felt the keen ache from his goodbye to Lisa.

"What time do you need to leave?"

"As soon as I get packed we can go," Harry answered.

Vernon grunted. "Then hurry up. I don't have all day. I need to be at work soon."

Harry nodded, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, and made his way upstairs. As he closed the door to his room, he sank down to the floor using the wall to support his back and sat on his butt.

This day had started off much worse than he had initially expected. Everything was more difficult than he had assumed it would be. He had known that leaving his best friend would be hard, but he hadn't been prepared for how much it would hurt. His emotions felt raw, as if someone had peeled his carefully crafted defenses and then poured the proverbial salt over his open wounds. It was so bad that he had very nearly used his magic on his Uncle, something he had not done since he was seven.

Needing a moment to center himself, Harry forced himself to go through some light breathing exercises. It would not do for him to be an emotional wreck when he arrived at the Hogwarts Express. He needed to present an image of strength. He could ill afford to be seen as weak.

Thankfully, he had grown accustomed to meditating and didn't need much time to clear his mind and regain control over his emotions. It only took five minutes at the most, though it was the longest five minutes of his life.

His eyes were forced open when a pair of clawed feet landed on his left knee and a hoot garnered his attention.

"Hey, Hedwig." Harry softly stroked the snowy owl's feathers.

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