"Mom! Have you seen my gray Dickies?"

"Not since last year," Lisa called back to her son. "I don't do your laundry anymore, remember?"

Ricky appeared at her office door. "Got a minute?"

Lisa pulled the reading glasses from her face and swiveled her chair. "What's up?"

"Um, are you, like, okay?"

"Me? Okay? Of course. Why do you ask?"

"You've been holed up in here for like weeks. Me 'n Kev think you should come out."

Lisa arched her back, pressed her fingers into her neck muscles. "I'm fine. Really. Just ... just working really hard. I have deadlines, you know."

"Yeah, but not like this. This is like mega working hard."

"What, are we out of Hot Pockets? Toilet paper?"

Her son offered a grin, looked down at his sized twelve Nikes. "Nope. Not like that. We just worry, that's all. Maybe we can all go out and get a pizza or something. Maybe Dean will even say something."

"Dean's not talking?"

Ricky shook his head. "I don't think he's spoken aloud since a year ago Christmas."

Pizza. With her sons. It sounded like a long overdue date.

"Okay. How about seven?"

The pizzeria was semi-crowded with couples and families lingering in anticipation of the blue grass band that would start in thirty minutes. Lisa sat in awe of her own joy, watching her boys banter and chide one another across the table. Even the normally reclusive Dean jumped into a dispute over video game tactics. Lisa did her best to keep up, sadly admitting to being a bit behind on the Playstation scene. "Whatever happened to those Mario Brothers guys?"

Kevin nearly sprayed his Sprite. "Aw, Mom. C'mon. Mario and Luigi have been sundowned. Even way before Dino was born."

"Not true," Dean protested. "Mom, he's lying. There's still Mario games out there."

"Well, good. I still have time to learn how to grab more gold coins."

Ricky snorted. "We need to get Mom hooked up with F&F five," he teased. "The way she drives the Audi, she'd be a pro."

"F&F?" Lisa asked, lifting a new slice of Hawaiian pizza. "What's that?"

"Fast and Furious," Kevin told her. "It's a car chase game."

The normally forbidden pizza was nearly intoxicating. Somehow her usual salad didn't fit in tonight. While listening to her sons debate the merits of virtual car chase technology, Lisa let her eyes wander the room and was stunned to see Trey Wilson sitting across the room with Harry. As if feeling her gaze, Trey looked up.

On impulse, Lisa waved and motioned for them to join her brood at the long trestle table they occupied.

"Boys, this is Trey Wilson and his son Harry. Trey and Harry, this is Ricky, Dean, and Kevin. We were just talking about the state of the video game market."

The youngsters all exchanged greetings. Surprising everyone, Dean spoke up.

"Do you play Nintendo or something?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope. I don't have time, much. I'm too busy."

"Doing what?" Kevin asked.

"Magic," Harry replied matter-of-factly.

"What kind of magic?" Ricky joined in, old enough to humor the young boy. "I used to do magic, too. We had the best Houdini set Mom bought..."

"No. I do real magic."

"Real magic?" Dean looked up, his interest piqued.

"Of course. You might have heard of me. I'm Harry Potter."

Lisa looked to Trey, who offered a sheepish shrug. "We've been reading The Sorcerer's Stone."

No one said anything until Ricky found his voice. "Well, I'm glad to meet you, Harry Potter. I've read about you. Are you on holiday from Hogwarts right now?"

"Yes, I am. But I gotta go back pretty soon. Ron and Herminey will be waiting."

Kevin joined in the game. "So, how was it playing Quidditch last year? I heard Slytherin nearly beat you."

Harry smiled for the first time, the thrill of acknowledgement apparent. "It wasn't so bad. I'm on the good team."

It was Dean's turn to speak up. "How can you be Harry Potter if that guy's your dad? Harry's father is dead. So's his mom. I've read the whole series. I know."

Lisa shot her youngest a reprimanding look, but Harry was unfazed.

"He's not my real dad," he asserted, glancing briefly at Trey. "And my mom is dead. And you just don't know nothin', 'cuz you're just a muggle. Muggles aren't smart like wizards."

"Now, Harry," Trey began, not sure if he should be embarrassed or not. "It's not nice to talk about muggles that way."

But Dean Michaud was not to be pushed aside. "Well, if you're Harry Potter, prove it. Show us some magic."

"Dean, that's enough," Lisa began. "It's not necessary."

"I can prove it," Harry said defiantly. "I'm not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts. If you weren't a dumb muggle you'd know that. But I have proof. Look at this!"

Lisa felt her mouth drop open as the boy swept his brown bangs from his forehead to reveal a jagged scar above his right eyebrow. Jagged, like a lightning bolt. There was no doubt about it; it was Harry Potter's scar.

Wide-eyed, Ricky laughed in awe. "Look at that! He is Harry Potter! Guess he showed you, Dino-beano."

Dean sat back in his chair. "It's just a scar. Doesn't mean anything," he muttered.

Kevin only smiled, slowly shaking his head. Lisa cleared her throat.

"That's very interesting, Harry. Wow. So, when you're not doing magic or going to Hogwarts, what else do you like to do?"

"Nothing," came the response, and Trey put a fatherly arm around his small shoulders.

"It was nice meeting you guys," he offered, then turned to Lisa. "I didn't realize you lived here in Tampa. You know, the booksigning, last weekend, I thought, well, that you'd traveled here."

"Nope. This is home. We don't come here much, at least not lately. I've been rather tied up with a movie deal, you know, so we thought we'd just, kinda reconnect tonight." Why was she telling him her life story? "Good seeing you."

"Same here. I, uh, haven't had a chance to send that e-mail, but I will," Trey told her while easing Harry away from the table. "I'm still interested."