Title - Getting Away 17/24

Author - Lena

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

Rating - this chapter - PG-13

Feedback - [email protected]

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

Chapter Seventeen - Thursday

Harry slept in until close to eleven in the morning. It was a group of sirens going down the street in front of the hotel that woke him. He loved the city, but thought it was occasionally too noisy. Thankfully, he wasn't to meet Laura down in the lobby until noon. He couldn’t believe how much he had slept in the past two days, but he continued being lazy, lying in bed, watching television, when the phone rang. He leaned over to the nightstand and picked up the receiver. He said, "Hello?"

"Hi, Harry." It was Ron.

"Hey, Ron, having a good time?" Harry was pleased to hear from him, but hoped all was going well.

Ron said, "Uh, yeah...I'm going back tonight."

Harry said, "Okay. Everything alright?" Ron seemed hesitate and Harry was concerned.

Ron said, "Yeah. We're fine."

Harry said, "Oh, good."

Ron said, "I just wanted to let you know I'll be home."

"Ron, are you sure everything is okay?" Harry felt Ron was being secretive.

"Harry, I'm fine. Stop it." Ron wasn't angry, just a little insistent.

Harry back off. "Okay, I'll see you tonight some time."

Ron said, "See ya, mate." Ron hung up quickly and Harry was left wondering why Ron was acting a little odd.

He got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and went downstairs to meet Frank's cousin. He walked into the lobby and saw Frank talking to a gorgeous girl. She had long dark brown hair and she had beautiful olive-colored skin. Harry stopped short to look at her. She was beautiful. Frank spied him out of the corner of his eye and called Harry over.

Harry put a smile on his face and tried not to be nervous. He walked up and looked at her. Frank said, "Harry, this is my cousin, Laura. Laura, Harry."

Harry extended his hand and she shook it. Laura said, "Hi! Nice to meet you."

Harry continued smiling and said, "Nice to meet you, too!"

Frank said, "Well, you two have a good day. Remember be back by six, so I can have my car back, okay?"

Laura said, "Sure, Frank!" She turned back to Harry and said, "Well, to lunch first?"

Harry said, "Sure!" They walked across the street to the Bayside Marketplace. They picked a Cuban themed restaurant and waited for someone to seat them.

As they were waiting, Harry asked her where she was from. Laura said, "I'm from Boston. I have been visiting my parents, then came down here to visit Frank and my aunt before I go back to school."

Harry said, "Oh, where do you go to school?"

"New York."

Harry said, "Oh! That's were my friend is visiting right now."

Laura said, "Oh, Frank said, you had a friend you were on vacation with. What do you do? Do you go to school?"

Harry had thought about what he would tell people if they asked. He said, "I'm training in law enforcement."

Laura said, "You're going to be a cop?"

Harry hesitated, but said, "Well, more like a detective." Harry had thought that was the closest Muggle occupation to being an Auror. It made it all the more ironic when he had been arrested.

They sat and chatted for a long time, eating their lunch, enjoying the sun. Harry was able to make conversation with her, even when she asked questions of his life. He told her, not the truth, but just changed it to make sense in her world. When they had finally finished eating, they decided where to go next. Laura said, “You know, you might find this silly, but I love zoos. Could we go to the zoo?”

Harry liked that idea and said, “Sure, but I just don’t want to go into the reptile room.”

Laura smiled and said, “Oh, you don’t like snakes?”

Harry said, “You could say that.” Harry didn’t want to tell her that if he went into reptile room, he wouldn’t be able to hear her for all the conversation going on from the snakes.

Laura said, “That’s okay. I understand.”

They walked back across the street to the hotel and went around the back to the parking lot, where Frank’s car was. Laura got into the driver’s side and reached over to unlock the passenger door. Harry pulled it and got in. It had unnerved Harry at first with all the cars having the steering wheel on the opposite side he was used to, but over the last week, he had gotten used to it.

They sped down the freeway and made it to the zoo quickly. Harry thought Laura as a great girl. She was fun, had a good personality and was beautiful on top of it. Harry wanted to make a move on her, but remembered his promise to himself and Frank's subtle warning.

They walked up to the zoo entrance and paid their admission. Laura got a map and with Harry looking over her shoulder, they tried to decide what to see first. They decided to walk towards the lions and see what came along. They walked around looking at various animals. Harry was glad he had brought his camera and took a few pictures of Laura in front of some of the animals.

When they were standing in front of the lions, a woman came up to them and asked if one of them would take a picture of her family with her camera and they would do the same for them. Laura said, “Of course!”

Laura took the picture of the family. Then the woman took Harry’s camera and took a picture of Harry and Laura. Just before she snapped the picture, Harry slipped his arm around Laura’s waist. The woman gave Harry back his camera, so he let go of Laura.

The family and Harry and Laura said their goodbyes. Laura asked, “Harry, would you mind sending me copies of the pictures?”

Harry said, “Oh, no, I don’t mind.”

Laura said, “Good. Here’s my address.” She pulled a pen and a scrap of paper out of the small pack she carried around her waist. She motioned Harry to turn around and she used his back as a flat surface to write on. He enjoyed the tickle of the pen and the feeling of her hand leaning into his back.

She stopped and Harry turned back around. She said, “Here. It’s my college address. Write me, too. I’d like that.”

Harry said, “Sure. I will. Thanks.” He gave her the Burrow address, as he had the family on the beach.

They spent the rest of the day looking at the animals, talking and just having a nice time. Harry didn't make any passes at her, except to try and touch her any chance he got. He touched her on the shoulder when they were at the otter pool to show her that an otter had come close to them.

When they came to the reptile room, Harry stopped just outside the door and Laura said, "Oh, yeah. Do you mind if I go in and look?"

Harry said, "Oh, no go ahead! I'll be out here." She smiled and walked in.

Harry wandered around outside, until he found a bench where he could see the door of the reptile room. He sat and watched the people go by. It was a nice sunny day again, and though it was a bit humid, he enjoyed it. She came out after about ten minutes and he got up and walked towards her as she looked around for him.

She said, "Oh, didn't see you."

Harry said, "I was sitting over there on that bench." They walked away from the reptile room, to the happiness of Harry. They continued walking, until the zoo was getting ready to close. They had to get Frank's car back to him by six anyway, so it was time to go home.

As they were walking out to the car, Harry said, "Laura, I had a fantastic time today. Thanks a lot."

Laura said, "Oh, I did, too! I was kind of, I don't know, Frank had told me you were here on vacation and your friend went to New York and did I want to go out with you, but I..." She laughed.

Harry laughed with her. "I know, when he said, 'my cousin', I wondered if I was going to have a good time, but I really have."

She continued laughing. "You're fun, Harry, you should visit me at school in New York some time. You haven't been there right?"

Harry said, "No, I haven't."

Laura said, "Well, on your next vacation, visit New York and I'll show you around."

Harry was pleased and seriously considered it. "You know, I'll do that. I'd really like that!"

Laura said, "Great!" She reached out and surprised Harry by hugging him. He hugged her back. Before she let him go, she surprised Harry again by giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Harry felt himself blush a little, but he liked it and he liked her a lot. She gave a quick smile at him and got into the driver's side and let him in as well.

Harry and Laura returned to the hotel. The minute they walked in the lobby, Frank was at their side. Frank said, "Uh, Harry, have you heard any news today?"

Harry said, "No, we had a great day. We went-"

Frank cut him off. "That's nice and I'd love to hear it later, but..." Frank looked at his watch. He continued, "...it's almost six. Come in the bar and watch the news."

Laura asked, "What's going on? Something bad?"

Frank said, "Yeah, well, no, I guess not bad, but Harry needs to see."

Harry was alarmed now. He, Laura and Frank walked to the bar. Frank went to behind the bar and adjusted the television sound so they could hear it. It was a few moments before the news came on and Harry was wondering what had happened.

Soon the news flashed their logo and played the ominous music that always went with it. Then a man sitting at a desk started to speak about the day's events. He droned on for a while about world politics and the national economy. Finally about ten minutes into the program, he turned to another man and said, "So, with interesting news in the world of sports...now, our sportscaster, Joe Daniels!"

Joe Daniels said, "Well, I don't know if the first story is truly about sports, but it does involve the continuing story of Ryan Robinson."

Harry gasped out loud and Frank glanced at him.

The sportscaster continued, "It seems that Robinson, the right fielder for our winning local team, has a relationship he has also been trying to hide. This is footage from this morning."

Harry's heart dropped. He couldn't decide if the bad news was going to be that Ron's picture was going to be up on the screen or Ryan had another boyfriend, he didn't tell them about. It turned out to be the former.

The news cut from the sportscaster to a clip of Ron was walking out of a hotel lobby, as cameras flashed in his face. Someone jostled him and caused him to trip. Then he turned and faced one of the camerapersons and pushed back. It didn't cause the person to fall, but someone else next to that person, hauled off and slugged Ron in the face.

There was a jostling of people and cameras, as there was a fracas of bodies pushing each other. Someone helped Ron disentangle himself and he ran for a black car, which Harry knew was not Ryan's. The people started to run towards the car but it took off before they could completely surround it.

The news then flashed on the sportscaster and had a picture of Ryan in the upper right corner of the screen behind him. Harry swallowed hard. The sportscaster then said, "As you may remember a few days ago, Robinson had been arrested for soliciting a male prostitute, who turned out to be a cop. The next day he had a press conference, stating that he was in fact gay and becoming the first active professional athlete to admit so."

The sportscaster continued, "Who this friend is we don't know. They were spotted together this morning and it had been obvious that these two were friends. Robinson is refusing to speak to the media at this point, though he did issue a statement through his agent. It says in effect that, 'I would really appreciate it if the media would not continue to harass anyone I may have a relationship with. Let's focus on the great game of baseball and not on my personal life."

He continued again, "Robinson is due in court tomorrow morning. It is not expected that the police will prosecute." The sportscaster continued with other sports for a while, and then handed the program back to the anchorman. The anchorman said, "Interesting story about Robinson."

The sportscaster said, "Well, yes, more human interest, than sports really...I agree with Robinson though, let's focus on baseball, especially since they have a fantastic chance of getting into the playoffs again."

"True, Joe..." The anchorman went back to his business of reporting the news.

Harry just sat there staring at the television in shock. Laura was the first one to speak. "Who is that guy that is going out with Ryan Robinson?"

Frank said, "He's Harry's friend. I told you he went to New York while Harry stayed here."

Laura said quietly, "Oh."

Frank turned to Harry and said, "But I didn't know he was dating Robinson."

Harry croaked out, "They just meet over the weekend."

Frank said, "At the ball game, I dropped you guys off at?"

Harry's voice was still shocked. "Yeah."

All Frank said was, "Wow."

Since Harry and Laura had said their goodbyes before, along with their addresses from each other, they simply hugged, even with Frank giving a bit of a glare and wished each other well, before Harry went upstairs to the room. Ron was supposed to be in anytime and Harry wanted to be there when he did.