"Harry, I told you to look presentable — and you actually pulled it off."
Kevin couldn't quite hide his surprise. He'd always known Harry had the potential — he'd read it in the books clearly enough — but seeing it in person was something else. Standing at the door with a new haircut and a bag over his shoulder, Harry was genuinely striking. A notch behind Kevin himself, maybe. But still.
Harry flushed. He wasn't used to straight compliments.
Hermione shot a quietly suspicious look at the two of them standing there with their arms over each other's shoulders.
Harry had arrived first, cab straight from his aunt and uncle's, bags in hand. Kevin introduced him to the Grangers, who welcomed him with the easy warmth of people who had been doing this for two years. Harry started out shy and loosened by degrees. Then Ron appeared with Ginny, and Draco came with them, and the introductions started over.
After a good lunch, Kevin walked the group next door.
"This is yours?" Ron said, looking around. Harry did the same, wide-eyed.
"Rented for now. Saving up to buy it outright."
Kevin gave them the tour, sorted rooms — Ginny got the one that used to be Hermione's old bedroom — and then they all settled in the downstairs sitting room to plan the trip.
He pulled out a resort map covered in annotated photographs and spread it on the table.
"This is where we're going. And this —" he tapped a spot by the mountain and the creek "— is base camp."
Kevin stepped into the role with the natural ease of someone who had clearly been thinking about this for weeks.
"Tents first. Option one: two separate tents, boys and girls. Option two: one big tent with an Undetectable Extension Charm inside — proper separate sections, plenty of room. Which do you want?"
Option two. Unanimous.
"Right. Food: two days, two nights means barbecue and big-pot stews. We'll buy ingredients on departure day. This afternoon, we pre-order from vendors at the market." He paused. "Any allergies? Anything you won't eat? Say now."
No allergies. No strong objections. Everyone, it turned out, would eat more or less anything.
"We'll also fish, forage, and see if we can't find some game."
Kevin circulated the list. Everyone added things. The afternoon became a shopping trip — Kevin footing the bill over the protests of Harry and Draco both, who had the money and the instinct to offer, and Ron who had scraped together what he could since Ginny was coming.
Kevin waved them off. Money was for spending. If they wanted to buy their own extras — bug spray, sweets, whatever — they were welcome. The trip itself was his.
Harry looked like someone had handed him something he didn't know how to hold. First real camping trip with friends. Kevin knew the feeling — or rather, he knew it from the other side. His previous life had been the kind of adult grind that killed the impulse to play. This time around, he was squeezing every drop of it.
He was, if he was honest, more excited about the water fights than anything else.
They spent the rest of the afternoon hauling their purchases back in shifts, sorted through it all, and Kevin spent two hours in the back garden with his wand, running the Extension Charm through the tent until the inside was fifteen by fifteen metres of organised space with a central lounge and separate sleeping sections.
Dumbledore had taught him that one personally. Snape would never have shared something that practically useful.