Past and Presents

Harry Potter was asleep, the sky outside was dark and flecked with dazzling stars. The orange glow of the street lamps shone onto the houses and neat gardens of Privet Drive. Further down the street a cat silently slunk under a car and a wispy cloud drifted lazily across the moon. A dark shadow drifted past one of the many orange lamps and swooped through the window of Harry's bedroom. It wasn't an ordinary bedroom, but then Harry Potter was not an ordinary boy. The small writing desk was covered with large leather- bound books bearing names like "A Condensed History of Magical Discoveries" in gold lettering. Also on the desk were several rolls of parchment and a large feather quill, the shadow dropped something on the desk with a light thud and then moved to a large cage in the corner and once again Privet Drive was still and silent. Then sweeping from nowhere came what seemed like a flying tennis ball, it flew in through Harry's window and flew in circles around the ceiling twittering like a mad thing. Harry turned over and muttered sleepily "Shut up Pig." It took a few moment for harry to register what he had just said, he sat bolt upright in bed "Pig?" he asked incredulously, the tiny owl swooped down and started circling round Harry's head. Harry shot out his hand and caught hold of the tiny grey owl. He untied the parcel and envelope from it's legs and flicked on his light. Hedwig hooted sleepily from her cage. "Morning Hedwig" chirped Harry, he was wide-awake and it was his fifteenth birthday. He virtually leapt out of his bed and looked around his small room, pig was now perched on top of Hedwig's cage with his chest puffed out proudly. Harry stifled a laugh not wanting to wake the Durselys, Harry's aunt and uncle and their overlarge son Dudly. Harry lived with them, they we're his only remaining family, but he hated them. Harry crossed to his little desk and put Pigwidgeon's package on top of the other one. Harry reached for the card that accompanied the first package, the tiny neat handwriting told him who had sent it immediately. He pictured Hermione her bushy brown hair and large front teeth. No! Harry had to remind himself of the episode last year after Draco Malfoy, a nasty boy of Harry's age, had cursed her so that her already large front teeth grew. When Madame Pomphrey had shrunk them Hermione had let her shrink her teeth to normal size rather than the larger ones she had previously had. He tore it open grinning from ear to ear. "Harry," it read "Happy Birthday, I hope you like the present I found some great wizard shops in Rome. Proffesser McGonagall leant me a book last year "A Wizard's Guide to Italy" it really was interesting and I found out lots about the Ancient Roman wizards, isn't history fascinating. Anyway, I had never seen one of these in England before and I thought you might like it. Ron says I can come over for the last two weeks of the holiday again, maybe you could too, as long as you ask Sirius first and make sure it's all right with Dumbledore. I wouldn't want to get you in any trouble next year. See you soon (hopefully) Hermione" Harry's smile broadened that was Hermione through and through, couldn't stop finding out about everything and anything. He opened the parcel, it was a small box bound in leather and in crisp gold leatters on the front it read "Seeker's Glove" he opened the box. Inside was one fingerless glove made for the left hand and a roll of parchment. He opened the parchment and written on it in flowing red letters was "The Seeker's Glove; a glove specifically tailored to the needs of quidditch seeker. This glove is lightweight and ha no fingers for easy manoeuvrability, special gripping charms have been used to enhance the power of the seekers hold on the broom making flying one handed easier." "Wow Hermione!" Harry breathed, this was great he loved quidditch and this would really help him on the house team. Just as Harry was turning his attention to Ron's present another owl swooped though the window, it deposited it's package in front of Harry took a sip of water from Hedwig's bowl and flew off again. The heavy letter it had dropped bore the Hogwarts crest of snake, lion, badger, and eagle surrounding a larger letter H. Harry smiled, that must mean the new package was from Hagrid, however his smile faded slightly as he remembered last year's gift of the monster book of monsters. Harry picked up Ron's card and opened it. "Hi Harry, Hope you've had as good a holiday as is possible with the muggles and have a great birthday. Mum's written to Dumbledore to see if you an come over for a bit at the end of the holidays. I hope he say's it's okay I wouldn't want you stuck with the muggles too long. Anyway I hope you like the presentI know you'll come round eventually, if I keep pushing at you. Oh and mum pursuaded me to end you something else instead, incase the muggles still had you on that diet. If Dumbledore says yes, we'll come pick you up two weeks from Thursday whether the muggles like it or not. Fred and George went to London by themselves last week and it was the strangest thing, went hey came back they told me they'd bout me something, and can you guess they'd got me new dress robes. I can't say I wasn't grateful, the ones mum got me were hideous but it was a bit strange, I suppose they felt sorry for me. Anyway, write back about visiting us. See you then, Ron" Harry's grin became larger than ever, Ron didn't seem to have changed and the Weasley twins had kept their word to Harry. After Harry had won the Triwizard tournament last year he had given his winnings to Fred and George as an investment in "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes" on the condition that they bought Ron some new dress robes, at the Yule ball last year he had been in maroon velvet. They had been bought second hand by Mrs.Weasly and had had mouldy ace collar and cuffs, which Ron had removed with a severing charm. The result had been rather a frayed mess, looking even worse when you considered the robes rose several inches above the feet of the tall, ginger boy. Harry yawned and looked over at the clock, dawn was starting to creep over the sky, it was four o clock, harry would open the rest of his presents in the morning. He climbed back in bed and was awake just long enough to wonder what Ron had got him and whether Hagrid had got any new "pets" Harry shuddered at the thought. His last thought before he drifted into that peaceful time between wakings was, where was his godfather Sirius Black? He wondered if he was in danger if he was happy. As the dark haired boy fell asleep he did not know that in three hours his aunts voice would wake him to a beautiful bright day. And on his table would be a card marked with a muddy paw print on the front, a card from the infamous murderer Sirius Black.

Authors note: Well this was my first piece of real fan fiction, I was put up to this by a girl I know who said that I should try my hand at this. Being an aspiring author I tried and I hope the result turned out okay, I would appreciate any feedback. Although this is my first piece of fanfiction I do often dabble in MSTing on the TMFFA (Carl and Katy if u wanna chack it out) thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you didn't hate it too violently.