Title - Getting Away 14/24

Author - Lena

Pairing - Harry/Ron, Harry/various OC's (slash and het), Ron/OC (slash)

Rating - this chapter - PG

Feedback - [email protected]

For warnings, disclaimers, etc. please see chapter 0/24 - msg#11257

Chapter Fourteen - Tuesday

Ron took a taxi to the airport and Harry made sure he took his songs with him that he supposed to learn for Saturday night. After Ron left, Harry sat around his hotel room for a while. He knew he should go out to a museum or something, but he was nervous about his court date the next day.

He finally decided to go out and try to stop thinking about court. He went downstairs and found Frank. Harry knew he owed him a story. So he sat at the bar, munching on peanuts and chips, and drinking sodas, while telling Frank the whole story of how he got arrested.

Frank stood there speechless when Harry finished. Finally he said, "Oh, Harry, I'm sorry. I wish I hadn't gone in the back! I would've warned you she was a vice cop!"

Harry asked, "Vice cop?"

Frank said, "Yeah, what she did. That's her job...to catch guys. Oh, man, that is bad!" Frank started laughing and continued, "I'm sorry, guy. It's just so awful."

Harry laughed with him. "Yeah, I know. I'm just a little nervous about court tomorrow."

Frank said, "Is your pal going with you?"

Harry said, "No, he went up to New York for a few days."

Frank said, "Oh. Well, here..." Frank started writing on the back of a napkin. "...Here is my cell number. Just in case. No offense, but with your luck!" He handed it to Harry.

Harry smiled and said, "Thanks. I appreciate this. Well, I'm going to see the city. Talk to you later." Harry got down from the barstool and started through the lobby.

Frank called, "Have a good day!" Harry waved as he walked outside.

He walked to the Metromover rail line and took it to the closest station to the Miami-Dade Cultural Center. He walked the few steps to the center. When he arrived, he knew he had the whole day to spend, so he bought the combination ticket, so he could see both the Natural History Museum and the Art Museum.

Harry wandered through the art museum first looking at all the beautiful paintings. He sat for a while on a bench staring at the colors of one painting that he felt was vibrant and touching all at the same time. It was an abstract with bright golds and brilliant greens. He wished he could take it home. There were other feelings that he had from the painting that he couldn’t quite describe.

There were slashes of red throughout the painting, not dark, really, but just as accents. Like they were highlighting it and making it better. Adding to the painting, so the greens and golds weren't as harsh and unfriendly.

A gentleman in a suit walked up to him and said, "Do you like that painting?"

Harry didn't look away from it, but said, "Yes, very much. I wish I could take it home."

The gentleman smiled and said, "Well, maybe not the real thing, but it you check in the gift shop, they may have a print of it."

Harry turned to the man and said, "Really?"

"Yes."

"Oh, thank you!" Harry turned back to the painting and stared. There were colors in the background that he hadn’t seen before. He had a hard time pulling himself away, but he knew there was so much more to see. He decided to look at it one more time before he left at the end of the day and check in the gift shop and see if he could purchase a copy.

He walked around looking at all the paintings, some famous, that he had actually heard of, others interesting, while others he didn’t care for at all. He knew that was how it was with paintings, nobody liked everything, but everyone liked something.

He was getting hungry, so he went back to the entrance and followed signs to an outside cafe on the cultural center grounds. He looked up at the menu, trying to decide, when someone said to him, “Too many choices, huh?”

He turned and saw a girl with long blonde hair smiling at him. He smiled back, and said, “Yeah! I guess I’ll just get a sandwich.” He continued looking at her. She was older than he was, not by much, he guessed, but she was a beauty, he noted.

He wanted to know if she was with anyone, but he kept quiet and turned around to order. After he placed his order, he stood aside to let her order and waited for his own to be prepared. After she finished, she stood next to Harry, waiting for her meal as well.

Harry said, “What’s your name?”

She said, “Amy. And you are?”

Harry smiled at her. She had a bit of a really cute twang to her voice. “Harry.” Unfortunately, the cook called his order up and Harry walked up to the counter and took it from him. He turned back to Amy and said, “Are you having lunch with anyone?”

Amy said, “Oh, sort of.”

Harry said, “Oh.”

Amy smiled and said, “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I’m filming and I came over here because I didn’t like anything on the catering table.”

Harry had no idea what she had just said and he looked very puzzled at her. She laughed softly. She continued, “I’m filming a show over around the other side of the building. Do you want to come over and see?”

Harry said, “A show?”

Amy said, “Yeah, a T.V. show. Where are you from?”

Harry said, “England. I’m here on vacation.“

Amy said, “Oh, that’s nice, but you probably haven’t seen our show then.”

Harry said, “Probably not, but I’d like to come over and see!”

Amy gestured for him to follow her. Harry held onto his lunch as he walked behind her. He noticed the way her jeans moved as she walked and he almost ran into her when she stopped because he hadn’t been watching where he was going. He said, “Sorry!”

She laughed and said, “We can sit here, then we’ll start shooting again and you can see how it works.”

They sat at a picnic table on a patch of grass. Harry could see there were various cameras set up and people milling about. She asked Harry whether he’d had fun on his vacation so far. Harry stammered a moment, but then said, “Yeah, it’s been fun.” It had been, sort of, but he wasn’t going to mention some of the less savory moments.

They chatted about Miami in general for a while, when a red-haired man walked up to them. He said, “Hey, Amy, protesting the catering again.”

She made a face and said, “Yes. Why can’t we get a new company?”

The man smirked and said, “Talk to Les!”

Amy stuck her tongue out at the man and said, “Yeah, right! I just do that.” Harry could tell she was being sarcastic.

The red-haired man looked at Harry and said, “Amy, who’s your friend?”

Amy said, “Oh, sorry, Harry! This is Dennis. Dennis, this is Harry. I met him at the cafe.”

Dennis reached out and put his hand out to shake Harry’s hand. Harry put down his sandwich and quickly wiped his hands on his jeans. He grabbed Dennis’ hand and shook it. Harry gulped his bite of sandwich down and said, “Nice to meet you.”

Dennis said, “You, too.” Dennis looked at Amy and Harry could see that he was puzzled.

Amy said, “He’s in Miami on vacation, so I thought he might like to see us film for awhile.”

Dennis grunted and said, “Okay.” Harry wondered if Dennis was all that pleased that Amy had dragged some strange guy over. He didn’t seem so.

After Dennis walked away, Harry whispered to Amy, “Is it okay that I’m here?”

Amy waved her hand in the direction of Dennis. “Oh, it’s fine.”

They finished their lunch and when they started to get up, Amy said, “Now, filming can get a little boring sometimes, so if you want to leave, don’t worry about it, okay?”

Harry said, “Okay.” She pointed out the cameramen and the director. She explained that the director was in charge of the way the show was filmed. Amy showed him where to stand as she walked across a line of cables and cords to the rest of the people starting to congregate in front of the cameras.

He watched as some woman brushed Amy's hair and touched up her makeup. A man standing behind the camera started focusing and moving equipment around. Another man looked through a large pack of papers and talked to Dennis.

The man talking to Dennis looked up and yelled, "Okay, everyone, come on! We only have so many hours to shoot here!"

Amy took off the jacket she had been wearing to reveal a form-fitting tank top. Harry audibly breathed out. She stood in a certain spot and Dennis walked over and stood next to her. The man who had called out and Amy had said was the director said, "Okay...action!"

Everyone was quiet while Amy said a few lines and then Dennis said his lines. The director called out, "Stop! Okay, let's try that again." Harry hadn't seen anything wrong with they had said their lines, so he didn't understand why they had to do it again. They did the scene three more times, until Dennis was glaring at the director.

Harry could tell how tedious filming could be and he realized the Amy was right that it could be boring. At the same time it was fascinating and he would remember to tell Mr. Weasley all about it.

He watched for a while longer, then they took another break and Amy walked over to Harry. She said, "Boring, huh?"

Harry said, "No, it was interesting, honestly."

Amy laughed, "Come on, it's boring!"

Harry laughed with her and said, "Okay, a little, but I had never seen something like that before. My mate's father loves stuff like this so he'll like to hear about it."

Harry continued, "Well, I want to get in some of the Natural History museum before I go, but thanks so much for letting me watch you...this!" Harry could feel himself turn a shade of pink.

Amy said, "Oh, you're welcome!" She smirked at him in a friendly way. She continued, "Have a good rest of your vacation, Harry."

"Thanks, Amy." The director called over to her and she turned and yelled at him back.

She turned to Harry and said, "I gotta go, Harry. It was nice to meet you."

Harry said, "Nice to meet you, too." He smiled, as she walked away waving at him.

Harry headed to the museum and walked around looking at the dioramas of animals and scenes from the history of Florida. It was interesting. He looked at some of the bones of dinosaurs, which he had seen in school and huge fossils. He thought it would've been fun to have Ron along. His stomach started to hurt as he remembered he had to go to court the next day, as well.

It was late in the afternoon, when he walked back over to the art museum to look once more at the painting. Then he went to the gift shop for the print he wanted. He asked the clerk at the counter if they had a copy of the painting. He had forgotten the name, but described and the clerk knew which one he was talking about.

The clerk showed him to a rack of prints. They were all standing straight up and covered in plastic. The clerk pulled it out and showed it to Harry. It was a little more than Harry anticipated but he didn't care. He loved it.

The clerk put it in a poster case for him and Harry paid for it. He grasped it tightly and thanked the clerk. He walked out of the building and to the train station. He'd had a great day.

He thought again about the next day and court. He didn't want to ruin his great day, but he was really nervous about it. He had no idea what to expect and didn't want to end up in jail again, but at least he had Frank's number if he needed it.

He arrived back at the hotel. He was hungry, but didn't want to really go out for dinner. When he got upstairs, he order room service and spent the rest of the evening watching television and looking at his copy of the painting.

The painting relaxed him for some reason. He thought he could've tried to analyze it, but he didn't want to think too deeply about his problems and his life. After years of having to face his fears and his mortality, the last few years Harry had become good at avoidance. These were not particularly good traits for an Auror, he knew.

He would be forced to make decisions in his life at some point and his stomach hurt even more, because he knew that it was going to be sooner, rather than later.