O.W.L results, letters...and surprises!
Harry Potter was bored. He stared at the ceiling, wishing Hedwig would get back soon from wherever she was. She was his only real friend at no. 4 Privet Drive, and whenever she left, life was only just bearable. Admittedly his holidays before had been a nightmare, so it wasn't too bad now, but nevertheless he was still bored out of his skull waiting for her. She had been gone over a week since he had sent his last letter to Tonks.
Harry, at first glance, seemed to be an ordinary teenager. He was tall and thin, and his clothes hung loosely from him. His emerald green eyes stared through battered wire rimmed glasses, and his hair, always a mess, was no different this time. Even the scar he had, in the shape of a lightning bolt, was not an irregular occurrence. His headmaster, for example, had once told Harry that he had a scar that looked like a map of the London Underground just below his left knee.
No, there seemed nothing odd about Harry James Potter. Except that Harry knew that he was not like ordinary people. You see, Harry was a wizard, and a very famous one at that. Harry was the only person to have survived the 'Avada Kedavra' killing curse from the most powerful and dangerous wizard of that time: Lord Voldemort. When Voldemort tried to kill Harry, the curse rebounded and Voldemort became almost a spirit, having to inhabit people's bodies. Harry, on the other hand, received his scar. Since finding out he was a wizard, Voldemort had tried to kill Harry 4 times, the last two times after he had been resurrected at the end of Harry's 4th year. For the last year, Harry had been ridiculed by the press, until Voldemort entered the Ministry of Magic and tried to possess Harry. Harry had also discovered that he was the subject of a prophecy, which said that only Voldemort could kill him. Now, though, he was waiting for his O.W.L, or Ordinary Wizarding Level results. It was a fortnight since school had finished, and since his Aunt and Uncle had been told to 'look after him or else', he had been sending Hedwig, his owl, out every 3 days or calling his friends by telephone. However, since his letter to Tonks, a metamorphamagus, as in someone who can change their appearance at will, over 4 days ago, she had not come back. Harry was now worried. She had been gone longer than this, of course, but she was normally back the next day.
At this point, he heard a fluttering at the window. He rushed towards it, hoping desperately that it was Hedwig, which it was. However, with her were 3 other owls: Pig, Ron's owl and two owls he didn't recognise. He opened the window and let them in. Hedwig went immediately to her cage, not even bothering to offer Harry her leg. Pig, as usual, fluttered around excitedly, though he wasn't squeaking as much as normal. Eventually, however, he calmed down, flew down and offered his leg to Harry. The other two birds, in the mean time, flew onto the bed and waited there sedately, looking at Pig with obvious distaste.
Harry collected his letter from them and then went over to Hedwig's cage. She looked exhausted, but offered her leg to Harry delicately. He took the letter, opened the plain white envelope, and started to read.
Dear Harry, the letter read,
Glad to hear you are doing well. I know you won't get this for at least a week, due to your O.W.L results being collected, but if we don't hear from you 3 days after that, we'll send a group of us in. Hopefully we'll hear from you soon. Tell us what the O.W.L results were when you get them.
With love,
Tonks
Harry smiled. "So that's why you were so late! You had to go and meet up with these guys (here he gestured his head to the two owls on the bed) to show them were this dump is." Hedwig hooted, which he took to be a yes.
Harry then turned his attention to the 3 other letters in his hand. One, he could tell, was from Ron and, from the thickness of the envelope, probably Hermione as well. She hadn't mentioned that she was going to stay with Ron and his rather large family, but from the looks of things, she obviously had. The two other letters were in big plain white envelopes. He turned them over. One was marked with the Hogwarts seal, so he guessed that they must be his O.W.L results. The other seal he didn't recognise, so he opened that one first. There were two letters inside, one on a scrap of paper and the other with a seal on it. He opened the one with the seal first.
Dear Mr. Potter, it began,
As the firm of executors to your Godfather's will, I am obliged to tell you of not only the circumstances behind this letter, but also of the items you have inherited from him. Mr. Black instructed that we send this letter to your parents two weeks after his death, so as to give them time to recover. As they are dead, I am obliged to send it to their next of kin, that is you. Harry sighed. He'd never quite got over how his Godfather had died. He carried on reading.
I am obliged to inform you that you have inherited his house in Hogsmeade and all its contents. Also enclosed is a letter from your Godfather that he instructed to send with this one.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. P. Marshall, Marshall and Associates.
Harry stared at the letter. A house in Hogsmeade? Why had no one mentioned it before? Maybe the other letter would explain things. He opened it.
Dear Lily and James,
Obviously, as you have received this letter, I have passed away two weeks ago. I have left you my house in Hogsmeade for Harry, Jem and Kitty to live in once they have left Hogwarts. Harry started in surprise. Jem and Kitty? Who on earth were they? He frowned and carried on reading.
I hope you are well,
Sirius.
Harry sighed and picked up the envelope Pig had brought. He opened it and found two letters inside. He rolled his eyes. "Which one to read first?" he mused to himself. He picked out a letter at random and opened it.
Hey Harry!
How were your O.W.L results? We haven't received ours yet, but I bet Hermione's got 13! Ow! She just hit me! Harry chuckled to himself at that.
Well it serves you right, Ronald Weasley, for telling Harry that I have when we don't even know the results yet! Came the even angrier reply in Hermione's neat handwriting. Harry was starting to have trouble suppressing his laughter. Only after he had composed himself did he pick up the letter and carry on reading.
Sorry about that, Harry. Ron and I didn't mean to write that down. Harry could imagine Hermione looking threateningly at Ron as if to want him to contradict her that instant. By the way, I've bought a mobile phone and will ring you when our O.W.L results come through. In any case, I've got something I need to talk to you about. Harry got the impression that he knew what that 'something' was, but couldn't be certain until Hermione called him. We'd better go. I'll talk to you soon. Oh, Ginny's just asked me to put in something from her. Read it, will you?
Hear from you soon,
Ron and Hermione.
Harry raised her eyebrows. From Ginny, eh? He opened it and started reading.
Dear Harry,
I know this has probably come as a bit of a surprise, but I wanted to invite you to stay at The Burrow for the holidays. This would be after you get your O.W.L results of course. I'd really like to talk to you about something. I can't say what here though. I've got Fred and George breathing down my neck at this very moment. They're telling me to tell you to come visit the shop soon and see how they're doing. Anyway, I've got to dash. Mum's calling us for supper. Hope to hear from you soon.
Lots of love,
Ginny.
Harry put down the letter. He wondered what she wanted to talk to him about. He looked at the end. Lots of love? "I wonder..." he mused to himself. He then looked down at the last letter on his bed. He gulped. He really didn't want to open it. He took a deep breath, picked it up, broke the seal and peeped inside, then closed it again. He closed his eyes and reached in, pulling out several sheets of paper. He opened them and started to read tentatively.
Dear Mr. Potter,
Enclosed are your O.W.L results and a N.E.W.T request form. Please make sure you fill in and return these by owl as soon as possible as we need to work out the classes and send out the book list.
Yours sincerely,
Professor M. McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress.
Harry put the letter down on his bed and turned to the second sheet of paper. He realised that these were the results themselves, and started to shake with worry. He looked down the list, which was in alphabetical order.
Astronomy...Acceptable. "Well I expected that. Only Hermione would get more than that, after what went on in the exam," Harry thought to himself. He carried on down the list.
Care of Magical Creatures...Exceeds expectations. "Well Hagrid will be pleased," he smiled to himself.
Charms...Exceeds expectations
Defence against the Dark Arts...Outstanding. "I knew I could do it. After that Patronus, I didn't expect anything less," he muttered.
Divination...Poor. "Like I really care about that one," he said.
Herbology...Exceeds expectations
History of Magic...Acceptable
Potions...Outstanding. "You WHAT???!!!" He stared at the sheet of paper. Five minutes later he remembered he had one more grade.
Transfiguration...Outstanding
Harry put the results down on his bed along with the other letters and picked up the N.E.W.T request form. "Now which ones do I want to do?" He thought back to his careers advice. "I'll need Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defence against the Dark Arts obviously. I suppose I'd better take Herbology, because that will be useful. Oh and Care of Magical Creatures, because that's easy." He filled the form out and found there was a fourth piece of parchment. Puzzled, he opened it.
Dear Mr. Potter,
Congratulations on your exam results. I am writing to tell you that you have been appointed as Quidditch captain for Gryffindor. Please reply to this letter as soon as possible as I would like to confirm it with the headmaster.
Yours sincerely,
Professor M. McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress.
Harry stared. Quidditch captain for Gryffindor? He stared in disbelief at first. Then a smile gradually came over his face until he was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "YES!" he shouted, punching the air with his fist.
"Keep it quiet up there boy! I'm in the middle of an important phone call!" came Uncle Vernon's voice.
At that point, the doorbell rang. Harry heard Aunt Petunia going to get it, then heard a scream and a thud. Harry ran down the stairs. A voice wafted up to him. "H-H-Harry?" said a voice he thought he'd never hear again. He came right to the door and saw... "Mum? B-b-but... you're dead!" Harry said, and promptly fainted.