Chapter One: Last Holiday
New York City: 1999
Harry Potter frowned as he stepped outside of the airport.
This was it: New York City.
Two days ago, he would've never thought about coming to the city of all places. But Harry needed a break from his life. Everything was just too much. Especially after Dumbledore had passed away, and to be honest he didn't think he could handle his friends at the moment, or for that matter his ex—Ginny.
They were trying too hard to cheer him up, and Harry really wanted some time to himself that didn't involve the Dursleys, which was why he unceremoniously took some money from his bank account at Gringotts and booked the first flight out of the country not caring where exactly it was.
Before he went to Hogwarts, Harry thought a lot about traveling. He always wanted to go to faraway places like Beijing, Casablanca, and Buenos Aires. New York was not one of those places. It was true that he saw the city all the time on the telly and was not opposed to going there, but it had never really registered for him to go there.
On the plus side, he wouldn't need to do a translating spell which helped him with his goal of doing no magic this summer.
He really was going to try to stick with that mantra throughout this little vacation of his. Honestly, a part of him wanted to be done with the magical world. Just tell them to deal with the little Voldemort problem themselves and leave him alone.
Harry had never asked for any of this. He didn't want to be the chosen one and he had tried to make that perfectly clear to his now dead headmaster, who really didn't seem to take Harry's disdain seriously.
"It's in the prophecy, my boy. There's no way around it, I'm afraid."
"But I'm not powerful," Harry said.
Dumbledore shook his head. "You're more powerful than you realize, my boy."
"Please don't call me that," Harry said his tone a bit more acidic than it usually was. While he usually talked to Dumbledore with dignified reverence, he had been a little miffed at the man—okay, a lot miffed since Sirius died. Of course, Dumbledore had tried to remedy the situation best he can with these lessons, but Harry was finding them pretty much pointless.
Dumbledore sighed. "You know power isn't only about magical ability, Harry. Knowledge can be just as powerful as raw power. In fact, it can be a power."
Harry gave him a skeptical look, which Dumbledore seemed to think was his opening to talk about Voldemort's shattered soul.
That was how most of their lessons went. Harry wanted to make some biting remark about how he was only slightly better than average than his peers, but gave up after a while. Instead, he just nodded his head wondering if those occasional strong bursts of magic that he'd have were what the prophecy really was referring to.
He could never figure out how to control these outbursts, despite six years of schooling and private lessons; even Dumbledore acted perplexed when Harry mentioned it and called it "perfectly normal growing pains". But somehow, Harry wasn't sure if the magic he could sometimes do was normal.
He frowned as he walked outside of the airport as he waited for his cab to come take him to his hotel. He had no idea what he was going to do in New York for the next month, other than spend a lot of cash. A part of him knew he was wasting his funds, but at the same time—well, he was going to have to fight Voldemort and probably die as a result of it, so he might enjoy life while he could.
And there was his cab.
"Hey!"
He turned around to see a blonde girl glaring at him. She was probably around his age, maybe a couple of years younger and had on glasses that were obviously hand-me-downs much like his.
"What?" Harry asked as he waved for the cabbie to pop the trunk to the vehicle so he could throw his trunk there.
"That's my cab." The blonde said.
"Is it?" Harry said, "Because I made reservations about twenty minutes ago."
The blonde frowned. "Well, I did too."
The cabbie had gotten out of the vehicle by this time, turned towards the two of them and said. "Which one of you is coming?"
Harry sighed heavily not really wanting to get into an argument. "You want to split the fare?"
The blonde shrugged. "Fine. Whatever."
She didn't talk much, Harry noticed. He took in her appearance. Unlike him she was just carrying a backpack which seemed to be jammed full to capacity. The tag on the bag read "Diana Miller".
"What?" The girl, who he guessed was Diana said to him.
"Nothing," Harry said before giving the address to his hotel to the cabbie.
"That is a fancy place." Diana said. "I think it was in that Christmas movie a few years back."
Harry shrugged. "Was it?"
She nodded. "Yeah, it was. Don't bother seeing it; it wasn't as good as the original. But the Plaza, seriously? By the looks of those glasses, I didn't think you could afford it."
Harry grimaced looking at his battered glasses. He really needed to replace them. He really needed to get a new wardrobe, he thought. His clothes had always bothered him, but he had never really had the time to buy an appropriate wardrobe. "People often aren't what they seem."
"Sorry," Diana said.
"Where are you headed, Miss?" The cabbie asked.
"Um, same place." Diana said with a shrug. "I can get to where I need to go from there."
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Diana asked him if it was his first time in New York.
"It's the accent, isn't it?"
She nodded. "And the fact your letting someone share the cab. That is really naïve, kid."
Kid, was she for real? He had a half a foot on her, and some serious five o'clock shadow right now. They had to at the very least be the same age.
"Sorry," Diana said seeing his face. "You just seem young."
Harry shook his head. "Really, I'm taller than you. And I'm seventeen."
Not that he would've been last year. Thank God, for puberty is all he had to say. And Diana was pretty tall. While Harry might've not been Ron Weasley height, he was now one of the taller boys in his class
Diana smiled. "True. I guess I just lived a lot."
"I'm sure you had, Ms. Miller." Harry said.
"And you're making me feel old. Ms. Miller, seriously? "
"That's your name, isn't it?" Harry said, "It says Diana Miller on your bag."
"It does," Diana said. "But just call me Di, I really don't want to be called Ms. Miller that makes me feel old."
"Much like calling me kid makes me feel like I'm in nursery school again."
Diana nodded before asking him why he was in the city.
"I'm on holiday." Harry said. "I needed a break from the world; there are things I don't want to deal with back home."
Like being the Chosen One, dealing with an impossible quest, and an ex-girlfriend who made him feel constantly guilty for breaking up with her.
Di nodded. "I get it. New York is the perfect place to run away and start over."
"Talking from experience?" Harry asked.
Diana rolled her eyes.
"You are running away." Harry said with a smirk. "Let me guess, trouble at home."
"I am not running away from home." The girl said.
"But you are running away." Harry said.
A part of him knew he was being intrusive, but at the same time he couldn't help himself. He found Di Miller to be an interesting specimen. He couldn't begin to describe what it was, but there was something about her that he thought he should know.
Di frowned. "I wouldn't call it running away, more like trying to control my own destiny. I am done with people telling me where to go. It is time for me to make my own decisions."
Harry nodded. "I know what you mean."
At this point the cab pulled up in front of a swanky looking hotel. Harry was sort of shocked. He had told the agent to book him a nice place, but this was a little excessive. Still there was a part of him that was oddly happy with the result.
It was the same part of him that grimaced at wearing Dudley's hand me downs, and looked forward to the days he could wear his tailored school uniform.
"Sure you do," Diana said looking pointedly at the hotel after they had paid for the cab. "It seems like you don't have a lot of people controlling you, Harry."
"How do you know my name?" He said.
"I—"
Harry subtly raised his hand and his wallet came flying out of Diana's pocket. He sighed in relief that the summoning charm had worked wandlessly. He had roughly a fifty percent success rate at doing things without a wand.
"What the—" Diana said shocked that he had caught her red handed.
"Really, trying to pickpocket me? You must think I'm an idiot."
Diana's eyes grew wide. "Please, don't—"
"Turn you over to the coppers." Harry said, "I should. But I won't. You were desperate, weren't you?"
Yes, she was distressed. He could see it by the look on her face. It reminded him of his own when he was younger and used to have to steal food so that Dudley could have thirds and fourths. Of course, there was a bit of a difference there. He had been five, and Diana was probably at least a good decade or so older. But still, he felt some odd sort of sympathy for her.
"That money that I paid the cabbie, that's all I have. I blew most of it when I flew here. I need to get away, Harry."
There was a part of him that wanted to tell him that he didn't kill, but in the end his Gryffindor chivalry won out. "You can come up to my room if you want, but you have to tell me everything and not try to steal my money again. Because I will find out, and next time I won't be so nice."
"Well, it beats getting arrested and sleeping on the street."
He nodded not really caring, but somehow he did. He couldn't explain it. He felt like the girl was somehow important to him, which was the only reason he could think he was letting a complete stranger into his hotel room.
Even he was surprised at his suite. It was bigger than his aunt's entire Privet Drive flat, and it was decorated in a posh fashion.
The good news that as a suite it had multiple bedrooms, so he could at least ward off his possessions from Diana.
That whole no magic thing was really sort of failing, he thought, as he ordered some pizza for them.
Diana had remained silent for a while until the bellhop left.
Harry sighed. "You can relax, I just want to talk."
"I've heard that one before." She said eying him skeptically. "I never should've come up here with you. I should've let you call the cops."
"It's better than ending up in jail," Harry said. "Besides, I'm taking it you're in trouble. Right?"
She sighed heavily. "You want the truth, I'm a foster kid. Or was one. I don't ever want to go back to a home again. I can't handle it. And my eighteenth birthday isn't that faraway"
Harry nodded. He knew how she felt. He didn't want to go back to the Dursleys ever again, despite Dumbledore's last pleadings with him about the blood wards. He figured since there was already a hit on his head, he might as well enjoy the summer than having six weeks of guaranteed protection at the Dursleys.
"You don't understand," The girl said.
"I understand enough." Harry said. "I grew up with guardians that hate me, I can emphasize."
The girl sighed heavily. "I hate being on the run. I hate stealing. I'm sorry I took your wallet, I really am. You seem like a nice enough guy, but I need to eat."
"I get it," Harry said.
"No, you don't." Diana said. "You at least knew where you came from; your parents obviously cared enough about you to leave you enough money to go on vacations with fancy hotels. My parents left me in the middle of a highway. Thank God, some boy found me. Otherwise I would've become roadkill."
She was hysterical, they really needed that tea right now, he thought. "I'm sure—" He stopped himself. He wanted to tell her that they cared for her, but he couldn't. Really, the middle of the road? That was cold and he told her as much.
"Well, at least you didn't sugarcoat it and tell me that they had their reasons." Diana said through tears.
"Really, how can you have a good reason for that?" Harry said. "Abandoning your child is irredeemable, but in the middle of the street they might've as well been trying to kill you."
He didn't know why he felt so strongly about this, but something inside of him hated Di's parents.
"Tell me about it," Diana said. "I want to find them. It seems silly doesn't it? That I want to find the creeps who left me in care of the state and tell them off."
"Not silly at all," Harry said. "You want justice, trust me I want the same."
He wanted to end things with Voldemort, but on his own terms. And he was tired of everyone pressuring him to be this big hero. And he told Diana this stuff, minus all the wizarding world stuff.
"That is crazy," She said. "You're seventeen. How do they expect you to take on a mass murderer?"
"Because I'm Harry Potter," He said.
"Yeah, not the same thing as being Bruce Wayne. Unless you're telling me something I don't know." She said.
He gave her a blank look.
"Batman," She said. "Do they not have superheroes in England?"
"They do, but I wasn't allowed to read or watch them until Cousin Dudley was finished with them and decided they weren't worth his time. And that never happened with Batman or any of the superheroes really."
Diana rolled her eyes. "Your cousin sounds like a piece of work."
"He is," Harry said.
"I had foster siblings like that." Diana said, "The foster parents would have their real children and make you feel like an intruder."
"Yep, sounds like the Durselys." Harry said.
"Ugh, I'm sorry." Diana said. "I can't imagine being related to people like that."
Harry shook his head. "Right. I just couldn't spend the summer with them. Hence, the extravagant trip."
That and he was pretty sure he was going to die and wanted one summer of fun.
"I thought it was to get away from those people who think you are some sort of superhero."
"That too," Harry said forgetting that bit. "This is essentially my last hurrah. I know I'll have to go back there eventually and do something."
Diana shook her head. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, Harry. And please, do not try to go all Batman on your parents' killer. That is just dumb. You don't even have a Batmobile."
"Batmobile?"
"We are so renting those movies." Diana said, "At least the first two. I didn't like the latest one with George Clooney. The guy might be the "it" doctor on ER but bat credit card, excuse me but no."
Harry had no idea what she was talking about, but he agreed that they would watch the movies and that they would order in some New York pizza.
She ended up staying there that night, and the next day, and the next. When he wanted to go shopping, she went with him. They went to Ellis Island together. To Beauty and the Beast because Diana wanted to see a real life musical and he couldn't help but complain about it the entire time which apparently Diana found adorable.
"Really, there is nothing wrong with the musical."
"But they got it wrong," He didn't know how he knew that, but it was like a lot of things in his life. He just had a feeling.
"Well, as far as fairytales go, I think it was fine. Maybe the Belle chick read too much but—"
"No the reading part was fine. She did like to read." He said as if he was stuck in a memory lost long ago.
"You are so weird." Diana said. "Please tell me you are one of those book people."
"No," He said. He liked to read but he wasn't like Hermione and for that matter the character, Belle.
They went to picnics in Central Park before going on one of those tacky carriage rides. The two of them went to every museum that the city had to offer. Diana and Harry seemed to do it all. And through the process, they grew oddly close to each other.
It was different than his other friendships or relationships. Even kissing Diana had been a different experience than kissing Cho or Ginny.
The lines between friendship and something more gradually blurred and while it had been somewhat of a surprised when Diana pulled him into a kiss in that carriage ride, he welcomed it.
They became partners who seemed to be able to talk about everything and at the same time, nothing with each other. He knew Diana was more torn up about her parents than she ever let on, and she knew that his termed Batman Suicide Mission was lurking. But they didn't seem to care when they were together.
"I wish it would stay this way forever." She said after they had gotten through making love.
"Hmm," Harry said. "Maybe it can."
"Don't be ridiculous." Diana said. "You are on vacation."
"I'll extend it," Harry said.
"You are on a visa," Diana said realistically. "Sooner or later you'll have to leave."
He opened one of his eyes. "You're ruining the mood, love. This is supposed to be the unrealistic fantasy aftermath where we whisper sweet nothings into each other's ears. Not talking about legal realities."
Diana giggled. "Well, it's glad to know you're not disillusioned."
Harry laughed as he moved his hands strategically along her body.
"Oh, that feels good."
"You're not supposed to say that." He said. "It ruining all of the faux sentimental bonding we're supposed to be having."
"So, I'm supposed to be talking about our future children."
"Yes," Harry said. "And the quaint little home we're going to build in the Cotswolds."
Diana scrunched her nose. "No. I don't do England too rainy and cold. We need some place that's more tropical. Like some place in Florida, only not Miami because that is not quaint. I don't know, maybe Tallahassee."
"Tallahassee works for me." He said with a grin before he became preoccupied again.
Of course, all things come to an end. Good or bad. Especially when you're on holiday, and you keep extending your vacation date even though you knew you had responsibilities.
It wasn't that something dire happened back in England, though that would occur soon enough. It was because of something Diana told him.
She was pregnant with his baby.