"Good evening, Jacklyn. How are you?" Harry asked as he greeted Jacklyn with a smile. Jacklyn simply returned the smile as she greeted him back. With the greetings out of the way, Harry sat down on the opposite side of the table. The two of them mutually agreed to meet in a cafe as the two of them wanted to avoid crowded places.
Harry was wearing a cap on top of his head, which easily covered his lightning bolt-shaped scar. Even his old glasses were gone. Right now, he was wearing a pair of modern-looking rectangular glasses. He looked so different from his perceived image that there was no way anyone was going to recognize him.
"Did the Headmaster tell you why I wanted to meet you?" Harry asked, getting straight to the point. Jacklyn nodded her head.
"Yes, I do. While I don't see any problems as I am simply going to be a figurehead, my father wants to meet you before we get everything legal" Jacklyn answered, looking a bit conflicted.
While she genuinely wanted to help Harry, she simply couldn't make the decision on her own. She was quite close to her parents and she loved them dearly, so it was kind of obvious she informed them. If she was going to become someone's guardian, she wanted her parents to be aware of her actions and Harry Potter was someone extremely high-profile, so it would be impossible for her to keep the whole thing under wraps.
Her mother, Madison Harper immediately agreed with the idea… In fact, she seemed to be quite ecstatic about it. Apparently, her mother never got tired of being a mother, and the prospect of mothering an orphan was simply too enticing for her. While her mother was completely on-board with her on the whole plan, her father, Daniel Harper seemed to be quite displeased with the idea.
After much consideration, her father decided to relent, but he insisted on meeting Harry before making anything permanent and legal. Jacklyn tried to explain that she was only going to be a figurehead, but her father still insisted on meeting Harry…
"I see… So, when can I meet him?" Harry asked without showing any outward reaction as he was already expecting this. After all, nothing in this world is free…
"You can meet him right now. He is waiting upstairs" Jacklyn revealed, looking a bit uncomfortable and this time, Harry was surprised. To be honest, he wasn't expecting her father to come out on his own to his meet him.
"Okay… Lead the way then" Harry said quickly after gathering his bearing. Jacklyn gave him a nervous nod as she stood up. Harry simply followed her upstairs without saying anything.
"Um… You might find him a bit weird, but he is a nice man" Jacklyn said as she looked over her shoulder to stare at her. Harry simply gave her a nod and the two of them finally arrived in front of one of the doors.
"Dad, I brought him here" Jacklyn called out loudly as she knocked on the door.
"Enter" The two of them heard a voice from the inside. Jacklyn opened the door and walked inside. It was a private meeting room and a man was already seated at one of the ends of the table. As soon as Harry laid his eyes on the man, he knew for sure that Jacklyn was this man's daughter. The similarity between the two of them was simply uncanny.
"Good evening, Mr. Harper. It's nice to meet you" Harry greeted the man with a small bow of his head.
The man simply hummed while coldly staring at Harry. "Good evening, Mr. Potter. Why don't you take a seat?" The man suggested, but Harry clearly understood that it wasn't a suggestion. It was an order… Harry pursed his lips together as he sat down on the side of the table and Jacklyn simply gave him an apologetic look before she sat down beside her father.
Harry couldn't help but wonder if he did something wrong to make the man angry at him… |Hadrian, I don't like this…| Lily warned and Harry completely agreed with his mom. Something was wrong…
"Mr. Potter, I don't like beating around the bush. So, I will get straight to the topic… What are your intentions with my pure and innocent daughter?" The man asked while heatedly glaring at Harry.
"W-Wha?" Harry was completely stumped by the man's question. He was expecting a lot of things, but he wasn't expecting this. Even Lily was completely stumped…
"Dad!!" Jacklyn scowled as she slapped her father on his shoulder. The man grabbed his shoulder and gave his daughter a horrified look. Then the man turned back at Harry and glared at him.
"See… This is all because of you. My daughter now hates me…" The man accused Harry as his eyes started to pool with tears. "My daughter is into young boys! Oh… Madison, what am I going to do? Our Jacky is going to leave us!!" The man screamed as he finally started to cry.
Harry was so stumped that he didn't even know how to react… For a moment, he considered consoling the crying man, and then he ultimately decided to stay away from the man. The man was really weird and Harry didn't know if the man's weirdness was contagious or not. So, he slowly turned toward Jacklyn for some help, but he was disappointed.
Apparently, Jacklyn couldn't handle the embarrassment and she ended up burying her face in her hands… When Harry realized that he won't be getting any help from Jacklyn, he turned back toward the man.
"Um… Mr. Harper, I don't want to marry your daughter nor I am planning to fool around with your daughter. For Merlin's sake, I am only eleven" Harry explained hurriedly.
The man immediately stopped crying and glared at Harry. "What do you mean by you don't want to marry my daughter? Huh? Is she not good enough for ya?!" The man growled threateningly.
Take him down, son. He is mad!! I don't want you to catch anything from him!| Lily screamed inside Harry's mind, sounding completely horrified.
"Will you stop embarrassing me, you fool!" Jacklyn screamed, looking utterly embarrassed as she punched her father in his face. The man howled in pain as he fell on the floor and started to roll around while grabbing his face. Once again, Harry was left completely dumbfounded along with his mom.
"Das as a hood unch (That was a good punch)" Daniel said while still holding his face with one hand and giving Jacklyn a thumbs up with his other hand.
"Will you ever grow up?" Jacklyn asked with a groan as she rubbed her temple. "Come on, Harry, we are leaving" Jacklyn said as she stood up and started to leave.
"Is he going to be alright?" Harry asked wrily as he stood up, getting ready to leave along with Jacklyn.
"Wahhh!! My daughter finally grew up! She is going to leave her poor daddy!!" The man continued to cry. Jacklyn opened the door and walked out of the room, followed by Harry.
"Don't worry about him… He will be up and running in no time" Jacklyn said with a stony look on her face. "By the way, sorry for everything… My dad is kind of a goof, but he is a good man" Jacklyn finished with a sigh as she started to climb down the stairs.
"I see… He seems like he really cares about you" Harry pointed out as the two of them finally arrived at the ground floor. "And no need to apologize… It was an experience" Harry said after taking a pause as he needed to contemplate the right word.
Jacklyn flushed in embarrassment. "Just forget everything!" Jacklyn scowled even though her face was still flushed in embarrassment.
"Okay…" Harry said while nodding his head. He completely agreed with Jacklyn… He also wanted to forget the whole meeting. "So, do you want to visit the school tomorrow to finish the paperwork?" Harry asked after a few moments of silence.
"Okay… I will meet you at eleven. How's that?" Jacklyn asked and after thinking for a bit, Harry nodded his head.
"That's fine with me… Do you want to eat something before we go our way?" Harry asked curiously as he was feeling a bit hungry.
"Sure… I know the perfect place" Jacklyn said as she grabbed his hand and started to lead him out of the cafe. Harry didn't know where they were going, so he allowed her to lead him. Surprisingly, Jacklyn took him to a Muggle or No-Maj restaurant called KFC. The two of them ordered a couple of burgers along with some chicken wings.
Harry was quite impressed with the food even though it was quite expensive… Jacklyn was the one who paid for the food as she pointed out that she was older than him… The two of them finally returned to the Magical side as Jacklyn was going to use a public Floo to return to her Family manor and Harry was simply going to walk.
"Take care, Harry. See you tomorrow" Jacklyn said while waving her hand as she parted from Harry.
"Sure and take care" Harry waved back at her. "By the way, you are more than good enough for me" Harry said with a grin as he disappeared into the crowd, leaving behind a gobsmacked Jacklyn. After standing there dumbly for a few seconds, she shook her head and a smile bloomed on her face. With a smile on her face, Jacklyn walked away.
After nearly 10 minutes, Harry finally arrived at his apartment. He put his hand in his pocket to grab the key, but he froze in his tracks when he felt something other than his key inside his pocket. Harry pulled out the foreign object from his pocket and stared at him with a look of complete surprise on his face…
It was a letter addressed to him from Daniel Harper…