Destinies Collide

Disagreements are Unavoidable

September 16th, 1988

"Did she know my parents?" Harry can't help but ask when Mr Wright says someone is coming over to meet him and she's a witch like Mrs Malfoy.

"I don't think so, but you can ask her if you want," Mr Wright answers as he finishes setting up the table.

This time they're not meeting at a restaurant, and Harry had been worried for a bit since visitors had never been good news at the Dursleys until Mr Wright, but he didn't have to do anything but pick up a few books he left out of place. No mopping, cooking or dishes to clean, not even a single one! He thought he was getting used to his new life, but sometimes things like this happened and he suddenly felt like laughing, or crying, or throwing himself on Mr Wright's lap and letting the adult hold him until everything stopped feeling like too much. He did none of those things, of course. Instead he tried his best not to get in anyone's way as Marie and Mr Wright tidied up the house for their guests.

"Oh, that's weird," Mr Wright said out of nowhere after putting down the last plate. Harry probably looked confused, because he explained a moment later, "They're here, I think? These wards sure are something. That felt like a little poke straight into my brain. I'll go greet them before they get hurt."

Harry muffled a chuckle behind his hands at the thought of some invisible creature poking people in the head to let them know they have visitors, only nodding in response. Mr Wright walked out the front door, closing it behind him and leaving Harry to fidget with his hands from his spot on the sofa.

Mr Wright comes back a couple minutes later, and Harry notices he's followed by a lady with curly brown hair and a pretty blue dress that reminded him of the one Mrs Malfoy had on at dinner that one time. Maybe witches don't have lots of clothing stores? Can't they buy muggle dresses? Before he can even think of asking any of the questions going through his mind, the lady is followed in by a man, he looks kind of older than her but maybe it's the beard. He's wearing clothes more like Mr Wright than Mr Malfoy, but he did come with the witch lady so he's probably magical too.

"Harry? Want to come say hello?" Mr Wright asks and Harry doesn't really want to but he also doesn't want to disappoint Mr Wright, so he steps forward to greet the couple.

"Hi, 'm Harry, 's nice to meet you," he bows the way he'd read in the wizard book and rehearsed in the mirror, hoping it's right.

"It's very good to meet you, Mr Potter," the lady does her own bow back, "I'm Andromeda Tonks, you can call me Andy if you'd like."

"Look at all that bowing," the man by Mrs Tonks chuckled, making Harry's cheeks heat up as he looked down at the floor, "not a bad thing! I'm just not for the formalities, name's Ted Tonks, feel free to call me Ted."

"How about we sit? Dinner will be done in a moment," Mr Wright saves him from having to figure out what to say and leads the way to the table, sitting at the end with Harry right by his side and the Tonks couple in the other.

Harry stays quiet at the start, even with the couple insisting on asking him questions. He gives short answers and eats fast enough to finish quickly without choking, but their eyes on him make his skin tingle and he feels like they're looking for something and he's not doing it. It's not how it felt with the Malfoys, they'd talked to Mr Wright and left him and Draco to talk on their own, but now there wasn't another kid to distract him and there were only so many different ways he could answer "I don't know" to Mrs Tonks' questions without feeling like he's probably the dumbest kid they've met.

"Harry, how about you go play for a bit? I need to talk to Mr and Mrs Tonks in my office," Mr Wright asked, though Harry knew it wasn't much of a question and nodded, leaving the table with a short bow and hurrying up to his room as fast as he could without running.