Harry Potter and the summer he'll never forget
Matching Dates
It was another hot and muggy day on Privet Drive; the air was so dense and humid that you could hardly breath.
'Five more weeks just five more weeks,' Harry thought to himself as he lie on his bed in the smallest room in number 4.
'Five more weeks and I will finally get out of this prison and go home, back to Hogwarts.'
Though due to the events that occurred at Hogwarts (or to be more specific the Department of Mysteries) Harry wasn't sure whether or not he really did want to return, but Hogwarts was his home, it was the only place were he felt safe and the only place were he felt like he was loved…for the first time. All he knew was that any place was better then the Dursleys.
Hogwarts and Number 12 Grimmauld Place are the only true homes that Harry has ever known. But without Sirius there Harry could not return to Grimmauld Place. He could not bear to see the empty, dusty house that once imprisoned his Godfather. Sirius hated that house.
But, then again, remembering that disaster with Dumbledore in his office, he could not go back to Hogwarts and face that man either. He was in such a predicament.
Harry just laid on his bed, starring at the ceiling for hours at end, thinking about Sirius, reliving that terrible night at the Department of Mysteries and watching Sirius fall through that curtain for the one thousandth time that summer, and thinking about what life would be like if he were still alive.
He would probably be at Grimmauld Place right now, talking to Sirius about all sorts of things: Quiditch, his parents, what he was like when he was Harry's age (etc…)
It was then when Harry was violently pulled out of his daydream and was forced to once again face the truth…Sirius is dead…he is gone…and there is nothing that he nor anyone else could do to change that…and once again he was alone.
"Why?" whispered Harry, "why did you have to take Sirius? Why did you have to take Sirius?"
But at this question there was no response. There was nothing but dense silence and that painful question just looming around in his head; the question that haunted his dreams and woke him in the night, covered in cold sweat, breathing heavily, with tear stains on his face.
The next morning dawned and Harry felt as if he had been tied down onto his bed by bricks and boulders of substantial sizes. Instead of fighting against the weight, he simply lay on his bed thinking about the dream that he had just experienced that previous night. Again, his reverie was interrupted when he heard an annoying bat like screech from the door of his bedroom.
"Get up you lazy bum, and get down stairs Uncle Vernon wishes to speak to you."
Harry did not answer. He pretended that she did not exist. He had done this so many times that he actually began to hope that if he imagined it enough she would just disappear with a little pop.
But there was no such luck Aunt Petunia started pounding on the door like a mad women until Harry had no choice but to acknowledge her.
"I will be right down," Harry yelled back at his door. He heard a heavy sigh and at last the clump and creeks of the stairs signaling her leaving.
Harry lazily opened his eyes and pushed himself off of his bed (with great difficulty) and started to walk toward his door when he heard a squeaky little voice from behind him.
"Hello Harry Potter having a good summer sir?"
Harry wiped around to see none other than Dobby the house elf. His eyes were like two big brown baseballs, and his ears looked like they were two wings of a bat. He was still wearing a pillowcase (not the old disgusting one used in the second year, this one was died red with yellow and gold stripes with a roaring lion on the front, clearly a Gryffindor fan) and he must have been wearing at least seven pairs of socks according to the size of his feet.
"Hi Dobby" said Harry a little gloomily.
"Why does Harry Potter sound so sad sir? And why is mister Harry Potter's eyes red and wet?"
Harry must have been crying in his sleep again last night so with his sleeve he quickly wept his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" asked Harry
" Well, Dobby heard about what happened to Harry Potter and came to visit to him, to give him some company and to ask sir a question."
"What is your question Dobby?" asked Harry sounding little bit of impatient.
"Well sir Dobby wanted to know what Harry Potter say to Headmaster Dumbledore when he returned from the Department?"
"Why do you ask?" asked Harry suspiciously.
"Dobby does not wish to pry, but I ask Harry Potter this question because ever since that night that Harry Potter and the Headmaster Dumbledore returned to the school Headmaster has been very quiet and has been looking sad in the eyes!"
"That…well…it was just…it was just something between him an I that will stay between him and I" said Harry feeling rather guilty and angry at the same time.
"Dobby did not mean to offend Harry Potter, Dobby just wondering what…" But Dobby was cut off by another ear splitting screech from his aunt.
"You had better go Dobby, and thank you for your company I…I'll see back at school." However, just as Harry was about to turn his doorknob Dobby gasped.
"What, what is it, what happened?" Harry asked a little taken off guard.
"Dobby almost forgot to give Harry Potter letters from his friends." Dobby then pulled out a few letters addressed to him. "Well Dobby will be leaving now, Dobby will see mister Harry Potter in September" and with that Dobby bowed so low that his nose was touching the ground and then disappeared with a slight pop.
Harry was just standing there holding the letters in his hands and he was just about to open the first one when he heard Uncle Vernon shout,
"BOY YOU GET YOUR BUT DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"
Harry rolled his eyes, threw the letters down onto his bed and made his way down to the kitchen were Uncle Vernon was sitting at the coffee table with a newspaper folded in front of him and a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. He was looking rather impatient. While Aunt Petunia was busy washing the dishes from breakfast.
"What is it?" asked Harry.
"Boy, tomorrow Aunt Marge will be stopping by for a three day visit."
"And what may I ask does that have to do with me? You just send me off to my room anyways."
"BOY DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!" Uncle Vernon shouted, his face turning a light shade of purple.
" Sorry…please continue" Harry said trying to look and sound as innocent as possible.
"Well, the pipe in the guest room has burst and the entire room is now soaked from ceiling to floor. So, for Marge's stay here she will be sleeping in your room," continued Uncle Vernon clearly trying as hard as possible to control his anger.
"WHAT, then were am I supposed to sleep?" asked Harry, his anger rising quickly.
"BOY YOU HAD BETTER SHOW ME SOME RESPECT!" Uncle Vernon shouted, his face as purple as a ripe plum by now. " You will be sleeping in either the soaked guest room or your stuffy old cupboard under the stairs, and I am warning you now boy, if something 'freaky' happens like it did last time, you will be thrown out onto the streets and you will NEVER step under this roof again…are we at an understanding?"
"Yes sir," was all that Harry could say because he feared that if he had said anything else he might have exploded. Harry just turned and stormed out of the kitchen and past Dudley who was currently sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the television, stuffing his face with caramel corn.
Harry went straight to his room, slammed the door, and threw himself onto his bed. As his body hit the bed he heard the distinct sound of paper crumbling, and then he remembered…his letters.
Harry instantly sat up and grabbed the letters. He had no idea why he was so exited, possibly being away from the 'real' world had gotten him home and friend sick. He grabbed the first letter and quickly ripped it open, form the look at the incredibly neat hand writing it was a letter from Hermoine,
Dear Harry,
At this very moment I am at the Burrow with Ron and his family, we all miss you terribly. Mom and dad are away on business so Professor Dumbledore thought that this would be the best place for me to go…
Harry's anger began to rise at the mention of Dumbledore's name. 'How could he keep something as big as the prophecy from me,' he thought, 'I thought I could trust him, I wonder what he has in store for me next… a twin sister… no wait, he's going to tell me that I am the last remaining descendent of the rich and I must take over the kingdom or it will be destroyed…'
Harry's mental ranting was abruptly stopped by the distinct sound of all twelve of the locks residing on his door being re-locked. 'Whatever,' Harry thought and returned to the letter.
…well everything is fine here I am so nervous about how I did on my O.W.L.S I hope I did all right, I know that you did fine. Just keep your chin up, there are only a few more weeks left of vacation until we are back at school. Oh speaking of school, I have already finished my summer homework and am currently trying to persuade a certain stubborn red head to start his. Well we all miss you and hope to see you soon.
Love, Hermoine
Harry folded up the letter and placed it in a red wood box on the night stand next to Harry's bed. It is were he keeps all of the letters from his friends. He then picked up the next letter and began reading,
Hey Harry,
Everything is fine, Hermione is here and she is completely driving me bonkers. She has been trying to get me to do my summer homework…I mean, honestly, who does she think she is. But the weird thing is that she is different, she is actually starting to care about what she looks like. She started wearing make-up and she does not look half bad. Well getting off of that subject, Fred and Georges' joke shop is a HUGE success so far (mum still doesn't approve though) and Percy is still being a gigantic git and not apologizing for the way he treated mum and dad. Oh and speaking of family, those muggles have better be treating you right, because if they aren't you can owl me and I will teach them a lesson or two…
At this Harry could not help but smile. Just the thought of Ron, face red with furry, running at Uncle Vernon… 'I would pay good money to see that,' thought Harry with a chuckle.
…Well hope to see you soon and make sure you owl me and Hemione your O.W.L.S scores as soon as you get them, well I mean after you read them of course. Hermione is going completely BALLISTIC.
See you soon,
Your friend, Ron
Harry had completely forgotten about the O.W.L.S. With all that has happened in the previous year the O.W.L.S results did not seem that very important.
He set the letter in the box with Hermione's and picked up the last letter. He turned it around to open it but stopped when he saw what seal was closing it. He would recognize that seal anywhere, it was the Hogwarts seal.
"What could they possibly want?" Harry let himself ask out loud as he, out of pure curiosity, broke the seal and opened the letter
Dear Mr. Potter,
As you know, you took your O.W.L.S exam during your 5th year here at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You were also told that you would be receiving your scores on these particular exams during the summer holidays, while reading your results and your essay part of the exams I came across something very interesting that I wish to confront with you. Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Nymphadora Tonks, and I will be arriving on the 29th of July and we will be staying until the 31st of July to discuss your career choices.
Have a nice day.
Sincerely,
MinervaMcGonagall
Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School
Transfiguration professor
Harry had to take a second to let this information sink in before he completely understood what was going to happen.
'The 29th,' thought Harry, 'what's today?'
He got up and went over to his calendar that was hanging on his wall between his dresser and his bed. His eyes got wide in shock as he read that today was the 28th and that meant that they would be coming tomorrow, but tomorrow was also the day that Aunt Marge was coming to visit.
"Ohhhhh wow," said Harry in complete and total disbelief.
Again, he heard the locks on his door that had previously been locked being un-locked and he watched as Aunt Petunia entered the room.
"Get your things and move into the guest room, the cupboard under the stairs is filled with Dudley's school supplies!" she said not looking at Harry with her most commonly pursed lips.
"Fine, just let me gather my things."
It did not take long for Harry to gather all of his things up. He picked up Hedwig's cage after emptying all of his possessions from the loose floorboards and safely locking them in his school trunk. He dragged the trunk and the cage down the hall and kicked open the door to the guest room. The room was absolutely flooded.
'This is great, this is really special,' Harry thought to himself as he entered the room and heard a disgusting squish from under his shoes.
'Well you always have wanted to take swimming lessons,' said an annoying voice in the back of his head that for some strange reason sounded like Hermione.
"OH shut up," replied Harry.
TO BE CONTINUED…
