Author's notes: I've never tried Harry Potter before, so please be kind in your reviews! Constructive criticism happily accepted. Flames will be used to heat the furnace and can be taken up with Ms. Prongs, my associate.
I plan on starting a very far-fetched HP fic as soon as I get this one (the one that follows the original idea of HP so much that it's disgusting) off the ground. I hope you guys enjoy my HP writing as much as I enjoy writing it.
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't claim to own, don't hope to own. Harry Potter = J.K. Rowling. Hermione's parents and any other unrecognizable characters are property of me. Sue me and bad things will happen to you if we ever meet in a dark alleyway. Have a nice day.
Harry Potter and the Compliance Curse
By Maleia L. Rosen
At exactly midnight, Harry was startled out of an almost-pleasant sleep by a loud jangling sound in his ear. His eyelids like lead, he groped in the dark for his glasses, forgetting for a moment, why his alarm clock was blaring in the first place. Shutting off the clock with a gasp, he listened in horror for the inevitable thumping of his uncle's heavy footsteps. He listened a moment. No, Uncle Vernon was still fast asleep and snoring in his bed, blissfully unaware of the terrible din from only moments ago. Harry let out a sigh of relief.
Finding his way over to the window, Harry wasn't surprised when he saw a tawny colored speck in the distance which could only be an owl headed for his own window. While he waited for it to approach, he sat on the bed and fantasized about what kind of birthday presents his friends had sent him this year, which would definitely make up for his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia either forgetting or not caring--whichever they chose this year.
When the owl finally arrived at the window, it dropped a package on his bed and hooted happily. Harry eagerly untied the string and tore off the brown paper to see who had sent what to him. Enclosed inside the package was a letter addressed to Harry in the clear, elegant cursive that could only belong to Hermione Granger, his best friend from school. Harry opened the envelope and read what Hermione had written.
"Dear Harry--I do hope you're enjoying yourself this summer and have been studying hard, and I can only imagine how positively dreadful it mustbe to have to return to a family like that. In fact, I was imagining it when an idea struck me.
I can't tell you about the idea that I had, it'll ruin the surprise. Well, it's very late and I must get to bed now. Please enjoy the gift I sent you. Happy sixteenth birthday, Harry. Hope you like it. See you soon.
Much love from,
Hermione
PS- I've been made a prefect! I just got my letter this morning. I'm so excited and can't wait to start school more than ever now.
Before Harry had a chance to look inside the box, before he had a chance to reread the letter, and before he had a chance to figure out what Hermione meant by "see you soon," a second owl came into the room through the window carrying another package, which was dropped on the bed and forgotten as the tiny owl flew around the room hooting excitedly.
This owl had been sent by his other best friend, Ron Weasley, by way of his younger sister's owl, whose proper name was Pigwidgeon. Nobody knew exactly why Ginny had named the owl as such, but they all had taken to calling it "Pig" for short.
"Shut up Pig!" Harry now hissed, trying to grab the owl. "You'll wake the Dursleys, and they'll make owl stew out of you!" But Harry's threats went unnoticed as Pig hooted even more loudly. This caused Hedwig, Harry's own snowy-white owl, to awaken.
If owls could scowl, Harry decided, Hedwig would be scowling at Pig and the tawny owl right about then. She clicked her beak grumpily at Harry as if to say, "The NERVE of you! To bring ONE other owl in might be forgivable, but TWO? What WERE you thinking Harry?!"
But this wasn't Harry's main concern right now; in fact, Hedwig's forgiveness was the last thing to cross his mind. Right now, Harry was concentrating on shutting the owls up before they woke the Dursleys. Now Hermione's owl had begun to feel left out and joined in the noisemaking.
"Shut up all of you!" Harry said trying to keep his voice down, though he didn't see the point in it since the owls were bound to wake Aunt Petunia, who was the world's lightest sleeper. "Oh bloody hell!"
The last exclamation was emitted as a fourth owl, this time one from Hogwarts, entered the room and dropped a small parcel on the bed next to Ron's and Hermione's and flew around the room as well, obviously startled by presence of the other owls and their cacophonous hooting.
The doorknob began to turn as Harry tried to shove some of the owls back out the window. Harry cringed and every muscle in his body went rigid in anticipation for the inevitable--
"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?" thundered Uncle Vernon. The owls all flew out the window upon hearing this and the room was filled with silence, like that of a room that had perhaps had a bomb explode inside it only moments before.
Uncle Vernon stood in the doorway in rumpled pajamas and unruly hair. Aunt Petunia came in shortly after him; she was pulling a dressing gown on over her nightgown and there were curlers in her hair. Both wore the same expression of "you've-got-a-lot-of-explaining-to-do."
Dudley squeezed himself into the room between his mother and father, which was quite a task considering Dudley's size. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had tried to put Dudley on a diet two years before, but it made Dudley so miserable that Aunt Petunia had gone straight to Smeltings Academy where Dudley attended and demanded that they custom-make her son's uniforms, seeing as how the school didn't supply uniforms in large enough sizes for him.
Already in a foul mood upon finding out the day before that he would be paying nearly twice as much to send Dudley to school now that his uniforms were being custom-made, Uncle Vernon used this opportunity to take out his anger on Harry by means of screaming himself hoarse with scolding and threats of what would happen if this was to ever occur again at such ungodly hours.
Of course, Harry knew Uncle Vernon wouldn't really do anything to Harry. He could threaten until he was blue in the face and it wouldn't mean a thing, not knowing that Harry's godfather was keeping constant correspondence with Harry and sending letters regularly. Harry made it a habit to read Sirius's letters at breakfast as often as possible, just to make sure the Dursleys knew Sirius was still around and keeping an eye on Harry.
"Dad? Mum? What's going on in here?" demanded Dudley, who then caught Harry's horrified expression. "What's the stupid git done now? Can I help you punish him?"
Dudley had a look of pure malice in his eyes, and Harry was sure that he was concocting all sorts of imaginative forms of torture to perform on him. Uncle Vernon gave Dudley a glance, then nervously at the three owls hovering outside the window (Hedwig had returned to her cage and was now watching Uncle Vernon carefully), at the parcels on Harry's bed, and then, finally, at Harry.
"No, Dudley, I think he's learned his lesson this time," Uncle Vernon shot him a look that sent shivers up Harry's spine. "But if he does it again, you can do whatever you want to him." Satisfied with this proclamation, he stomped back to his bedroom, followed closely by Aunt Petunia. Harry heard the door slam.
"Now you've gone and done it," sneered Dudley, "You've put Dad in a foul mood like you always do. If I get into trouble for anything tomorrow, it'll be all your fault. The you'll get it."
"Fine," replied Harry in a cool tone. "And then I'll just write Sirius and tell him everything, and make sure it's YOU who gets it." And with this, Harry seated himself at the desk, took out a quill and a roll of parchment, and began to pretend to write a letter to Sirius.
"You wouldn't!"
"Oh wouldn't I?" Harry retorted sharply, raising his eyebrows challengingly. Harry had grown considerably braver since his first year at Hogwarts. Compared to what he had fought against at school, Dudley was a breeze to intimidate, and not without good reason. All of the Dursleys knew that in one year's time, Harry would be graduating from Hogwarts. With graduation came the horribly foreboding sense of fact that Harry would be a full-fledged wizard and thus would be allowed to perform magic anytime he wanted.
Terrified that something awful would happen to him if he threatened Harry further, Dudley glared at him. "You watch yourself," he growled and stormed off to his bedroom, leaving Harry in stitches as he walked over to the window to let the owls back in.
Harry wrote Hermione a quick thank you and congratulations on becoming a prefect and sent the letter off as quickly as possible in order to get rid of the owl. After this was done, he turned to Pig and detached the letter from his tiny leg.
"Dear Harry-- I reckon you'll have gotten Hermione's letter by now.
Any idea what she's up to? I think she's definitely acting sneaky. We've rubbed off on her way too much.
Anyway, happy 16th and all that stuff. There's a gift for you here too, from Ginny and me.
Ron"
Harry wrote a quick reply to Ron and sent Pig back off. Two down, one to go. Harry caught the Hogwarts owl and, finding no letter, opened the box and found several Cauldron Cakes and a rock. There was a note inside from Sirius explaining that the cakes were from Hagrid and that they were store-bought and a hundred percent safe to eat.
Sending off his final thank you note and the last owl, Harry fell backwards onto his bed heaving a sigh of relief. He picked up Hermione's box and looked inside to find a stone bowl. Harry took the bowl out and set it on the desk and remembered his fourth year at Hogwarts, two years ago.
"Hermione ... sent me ... a Penseive ... " Harry whispered. He made a mental note to explain to her why he hadn't seemed very excited about his present the next time he saw her and to express his gratitude properly. His eyes began to wander around the room and grow heavy. The rest of his presents could wait until morning, and would have to, because the instant Harry lay down on his pillow, he was asleep once again.
The clock read 1:15 AM.
~*~
When Harry awoke hours later, it was not by his own free will, but by Dudley pounding on the door.
"Downstairs, now! Dad said so!" he hollered, seeming to have forgotten the threats of the previous night and went back into his room. Harry opened the door and tiptoed down the stairs to see what he had done this time.
"That you Harry?" Uncle Vernon called. "Get in here, please." He sounded as if he were speaking to someone at work, and about to fire them. Harry, although terrified of going into the kitchen at that particular moment, desperately wanted to know what in the world Uncle Vernon wanted with him.
"Yes Uncle Vernon, it's me," Harry said. With this, he took a deep breath and bravely walked through the kitchen door.
Uncle Vernon had a letter in his hand and an envelope at his side. The envelope looked quite normal enough, with one stamp and the Dursleys' address scribbled across the middle in a woman's handwriting.
"This came this morning," Uncle Vernon said. "It's about you, again."
Now, Harry remembered the last time the Dursleys had gotten a letter about him, and was a little afraid that it might be from Ron's mother again. The letter looked ordinary enough, though, and Harry couldn't think of a soul he knew who would write about him in the Muggle way.
"Very surprised, I was, to actually get a normal letter from someone who seems normal herself," Uncle Vernon continued. Harry wondered what he was getting at, why he was being so nice about this whole thing. Harry began to feel a bit frightened by the letter that Uncle Vernon had in his hands.
"Well, boy," Uncle Vernon finally said, addressing Harry and looking at him. "Do you want to hear the letter or not?" Harry swallowed and nodded.
"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,
We haven't been introduced, but Harry must have told you all about his school friends, which include Ron Weasley and our daughter Hermione, who had the excellent idea that Harry and Ron would come to our house for a birthday party in Harry's honor.
We will, of course, be taking Harry to pick up his school supplies and will be more than happy to keep him for the remainder of the summer holiday. Please do not worry, I assure you that my husband and I will make sure Hermione and the boys get on the school train on time.
Ron has already gotten permission to attend, and we hope you'll allow Harry to join us; if you don't mind, please have him send your reply by owl, as I find that their method of post is so much faster and more convenient than ours.
We will, of course be coming by car. (Molly Weasley told me about the Floo Powder catastrophe. I'm so sorry that happened to you!)
We look forward to your company when we come by at about noon on Friday to pick him up (granted you give your permission for him to go along with us).
Best regards,
Lydia Granger"
Harry waited for Uncle Vernon to say something. He did.
"Every year," he muttered. "Every year we get a letter from one of those ... those ... those people from that place of yours." Harry said nothing and waited for Uncle Vernon to continue.
"And every year it ends in chaos that ends up costing me money. Your first year, Dudley ended up with a pig's tail and I had to pay to have that removed. Second year, you broke Aunt Petunia's best dish, blew Marge into a balloon, and ran away in a flying car. Third year-- err, well I don't remember what happened third year. Fourth year Dudley's tongue was the size of a large pickle and our living room wall was broken almost beyond repair. And last year-- "
"Oh just get on with it!" Dudley said irritably from the living room, where he had apparently been eavesdropping on the entire conversation. Obviously, Dudley wouldn't be able to stand one more retelling of what had happened to him the previous year. Uncle Vernon cleared his throat and finished.
"And now, finally," he raised his eyebrows at Harry in almost-astonishment, "finally, we've gotten a normal request from a normal woman and a normal family."
"So can I go?" Harry said uncertainly. He wasn't quite sure what exactly Uncle Vernon was getting at, but didn't want to press his luck by badgering.
Uncle Vernon looked deep in thought (which was a first for him) and stroked his bushy mustache. He seemed to be actually considering it. Harry waited in anticipation, but did his best not to hover around like a small child would.
"I'll think about it. Friday's not until tomorrow, so ask me again this evening and I'll let you know," Uncle Vernon said finally. "But not before!"
Harry took the stairs two at a time back up to his bedroom, and when he got there, he wondered aloud, "What just happened? Uncle Vernon being nice? That's got to be one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me." This was saying a lot considering Harry's past experiences at Hogwarts.
Using this opportunity to finally think about something other than Uncle Vernon, Harry went back to his gifts from the previous night and put away the letters under the loose board in his floor with his broomstick and wand.
Harry now turned to the unopened gift from Ron and Ginny, and found inside the box a book-- Twenty Fun Curses and Their Coutercurses. Harry opened the book and read a few of them and their effects, stifling a giggle when he was overcome with a hilarious mental image of his arch rival, Draco Malfoy spitting frogs from his mouth. Among the ones Harry had never seen before, there were a few curses Harry had encountered before at Hogwarts, for example, the Leg-Locker Curse.
The next gift from Sirius was enclosed in the box with Hagrid's Cauldron Cakes. It was a smooth, oval stone that was about as large as the palm of his hand and a deep royal purple. The remarkable thing about this stone though, was that although it was purple, Harry could see straight through it as if it were made of glass.
Harry had no idea what Sirius had sent for him this time, but decided that if nobody else knew what it was, then there was no reason that it wouldn't make for a fine paperweight.
For the rest of the evening, Harry did his best to stay on Uncle Vernon's good side, for if he slipped up once, even the slightest sign of any misbehavior whatsoever, he could say goodbye to Hermione when they left Privet Drive the next afternoon-without him.
All through dinner, Aunt Petunia and Dudley chatted on and on about Dudley's upcoming school term and about how they must go into town the next day to buy all of his supplies. Throughout the entire meal, Uncle Vernon said nothing and ate his pork chop in silence, occasionally glancing in Harry's direction, grunting, and turning his attention back to his plate. After the dishes were cleared away, Uncle Vernon migrated to the living room where he read what seemed like every single word of every single page of the newspaper, including the ads. Afterwards, Harry approached him nonchalantly.
"So, Uncle Vernon, you told me to ask you again this evening if I could go to Hermione's house for the rest of the holiday, and well, they're expecting my owl anytime now and I just thought, well that I'd ask you and see if it's okay-- "
"Save your breath Harry," Uncle Vernon said calmly. "I haven't forgotten. Petunia and I have discussed it and decided that you can go with your friends provided that they come here in as normally a way a possible and ABSOLUTELY nothing strange happens while they are here, AND that you leave here with none of your ... wizard's stuff at all, do you understand?"
Harry nodded vigorously and ran back up the stairs to write to Hermione.
"Hermione-- They said it was okay but we have to keep our wands to ourselves no matter what. I think your parents'll impress them though.
See you soon.
Harry"
He gave the letter to a more than willing Hedwig and off she went, towards Hermione's end of town. He opened his trunk and began packing his things from underneath the floorboard inside. Harry left out of his trunk one robe, his wand, and his book from Ron and Ginny, in case he wanted to do some reading on the train. After everything had been packed, Harry took a quick shower and got into his pajamas.
Everything was perfect. He had a book of curses to threaten Malfoy with, and he would be leaving Privet Drive tomorrow to be with Ron and Hermione. It would be a good day tomorrow, yes it would.
* * * *
A/N: I hope for more chapters to come soon. I'm not completely satisfied with the length and such of this chapter, but it was just begging to be uploaded and who was I to deny that privilege? ^^
I plan on starting a very far-fetched HP fic as soon as I get this one (the one that follows the original idea of HP so much that it's disgusting) off the ground. I hope you guys enjoy my HP writing as much as I enjoy writing it.
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't claim to own, don't hope to own. Harry Potter = J.K. Rowling. Hermione's parents and any other unrecognizable characters are property of me. Sue me and bad things will happen to you if we ever meet in a dark alleyway. Have a nice day.
Harry Potter and the Compliance Curse
By Maleia L. Rosen
At exactly midnight, Harry was startled out of an almost-pleasant sleep by a loud jangling sound in his ear. His eyelids like lead, he groped in the dark for his glasses, forgetting for a moment, why his alarm clock was blaring in the first place. Shutting off the clock with a gasp, he listened in horror for the inevitable thumping of his uncle's heavy footsteps. He listened a moment. No, Uncle Vernon was still fast asleep and snoring in his bed, blissfully unaware of the terrible din from only moments ago. Harry let out a sigh of relief.
Finding his way over to the window, Harry wasn't surprised when he saw a tawny colored speck in the distance which could only be an owl headed for his own window. While he waited for it to approach, he sat on the bed and fantasized about what kind of birthday presents his friends had sent him this year, which would definitely make up for his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia either forgetting or not caring--whichever they chose this year.
When the owl finally arrived at the window, it dropped a package on his bed and hooted happily. Harry eagerly untied the string and tore off the brown paper to see who had sent what to him. Enclosed inside the package was a letter addressed to Harry in the clear, elegant cursive that could only belong to Hermione Granger, his best friend from school. Harry opened the envelope and read what Hermione had written.
"Dear Harry--I do hope you're enjoying yourself this summer and have been studying hard, and I can only imagine how positively dreadful it mustbe to have to return to a family like that. In fact, I was imagining it when an idea struck me.
I can't tell you about the idea that I had, it'll ruin the surprise. Well, it's very late and I must get to bed now. Please enjoy the gift I sent you. Happy sixteenth birthday, Harry. Hope you like it. See you soon.
Much love from,
Hermione
PS- I've been made a prefect! I just got my letter this morning. I'm so excited and can't wait to start school more than ever now.
Before Harry had a chance to look inside the box, before he had a chance to reread the letter, and before he had a chance to figure out what Hermione meant by "see you soon," a second owl came into the room through the window carrying another package, which was dropped on the bed and forgotten as the tiny owl flew around the room hooting excitedly.
This owl had been sent by his other best friend, Ron Weasley, by way of his younger sister's owl, whose proper name was Pigwidgeon. Nobody knew exactly why Ginny had named the owl as such, but they all had taken to calling it "Pig" for short.
"Shut up Pig!" Harry now hissed, trying to grab the owl. "You'll wake the Dursleys, and they'll make owl stew out of you!" But Harry's threats went unnoticed as Pig hooted even more loudly. This caused Hedwig, Harry's own snowy-white owl, to awaken.
If owls could scowl, Harry decided, Hedwig would be scowling at Pig and the tawny owl right about then. She clicked her beak grumpily at Harry as if to say, "The NERVE of you! To bring ONE other owl in might be forgivable, but TWO? What WERE you thinking Harry?!"
But this wasn't Harry's main concern right now; in fact, Hedwig's forgiveness was the last thing to cross his mind. Right now, Harry was concentrating on shutting the owls up before they woke the Dursleys. Now Hermione's owl had begun to feel left out and joined in the noisemaking.
"Shut up all of you!" Harry said trying to keep his voice down, though he didn't see the point in it since the owls were bound to wake Aunt Petunia, who was the world's lightest sleeper. "Oh bloody hell!"
The last exclamation was emitted as a fourth owl, this time one from Hogwarts, entered the room and dropped a small parcel on the bed next to Ron's and Hermione's and flew around the room as well, obviously startled by presence of the other owls and their cacophonous hooting.
The doorknob began to turn as Harry tried to shove some of the owls back out the window. Harry cringed and every muscle in his body went rigid in anticipation for the inevitable--
"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?" thundered Uncle Vernon. The owls all flew out the window upon hearing this and the room was filled with silence, like that of a room that had perhaps had a bomb explode inside it only moments before.
Uncle Vernon stood in the doorway in rumpled pajamas and unruly hair. Aunt Petunia came in shortly after him; she was pulling a dressing gown on over her nightgown and there were curlers in her hair. Both wore the same expression of "you've-got-a-lot-of-explaining-to-do."
Dudley squeezed himself into the room between his mother and father, which was quite a task considering Dudley's size. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had tried to put Dudley on a diet two years before, but it made Dudley so miserable that Aunt Petunia had gone straight to Smeltings Academy where Dudley attended and demanded that they custom-make her son's uniforms, seeing as how the school didn't supply uniforms in large enough sizes for him.
Already in a foul mood upon finding out the day before that he would be paying nearly twice as much to send Dudley to school now that his uniforms were being custom-made, Uncle Vernon used this opportunity to take out his anger on Harry by means of screaming himself hoarse with scolding and threats of what would happen if this was to ever occur again at such ungodly hours.
Of course, Harry knew Uncle Vernon wouldn't really do anything to Harry. He could threaten until he was blue in the face and it wouldn't mean a thing, not knowing that Harry's godfather was keeping constant correspondence with Harry and sending letters regularly. Harry made it a habit to read Sirius's letters at breakfast as often as possible, just to make sure the Dursleys knew Sirius was still around and keeping an eye on Harry.
"Dad? Mum? What's going on in here?" demanded Dudley, who then caught Harry's horrified expression. "What's the stupid git done now? Can I help you punish him?"
Dudley had a look of pure malice in his eyes, and Harry was sure that he was concocting all sorts of imaginative forms of torture to perform on him. Uncle Vernon gave Dudley a glance, then nervously at the three owls hovering outside the window (Hedwig had returned to her cage and was now watching Uncle Vernon carefully), at the parcels on Harry's bed, and then, finally, at Harry.
"No, Dudley, I think he's learned his lesson this time," Uncle Vernon shot him a look that sent shivers up Harry's spine. "But if he does it again, you can do whatever you want to him." Satisfied with this proclamation, he stomped back to his bedroom, followed closely by Aunt Petunia. Harry heard the door slam.
"Now you've gone and done it," sneered Dudley, "You've put Dad in a foul mood like you always do. If I get into trouble for anything tomorrow, it'll be all your fault. The you'll get it."
"Fine," replied Harry in a cool tone. "And then I'll just write Sirius and tell him everything, and make sure it's YOU who gets it." And with this, Harry seated himself at the desk, took out a quill and a roll of parchment, and began to pretend to write a letter to Sirius.
"You wouldn't!"
"Oh wouldn't I?" Harry retorted sharply, raising his eyebrows challengingly. Harry had grown considerably braver since his first year at Hogwarts. Compared to what he had fought against at school, Dudley was a breeze to intimidate, and not without good reason. All of the Dursleys knew that in one year's time, Harry would be graduating from Hogwarts. With graduation came the horribly foreboding sense of fact that Harry would be a full-fledged wizard and thus would be allowed to perform magic anytime he wanted.
Terrified that something awful would happen to him if he threatened Harry further, Dudley glared at him. "You watch yourself," he growled and stormed off to his bedroom, leaving Harry in stitches as he walked over to the window to let the owls back in.
Harry wrote Hermione a quick thank you and congratulations on becoming a prefect and sent the letter off as quickly as possible in order to get rid of the owl. After this was done, he turned to Pig and detached the letter from his tiny leg.
"Dear Harry-- I reckon you'll have gotten Hermione's letter by now.
Any idea what she's up to? I think she's definitely acting sneaky. We've rubbed off on her way too much.
Anyway, happy 16th and all that stuff. There's a gift for you here too, from Ginny and me.
Ron"
Harry wrote a quick reply to Ron and sent Pig back off. Two down, one to go. Harry caught the Hogwarts owl and, finding no letter, opened the box and found several Cauldron Cakes and a rock. There was a note inside from Sirius explaining that the cakes were from Hagrid and that they were store-bought and a hundred percent safe to eat.
Sending off his final thank you note and the last owl, Harry fell backwards onto his bed heaving a sigh of relief. He picked up Hermione's box and looked inside to find a stone bowl. Harry took the bowl out and set it on the desk and remembered his fourth year at Hogwarts, two years ago.
"Hermione ... sent me ... a Penseive ... " Harry whispered. He made a mental note to explain to her why he hadn't seemed very excited about his present the next time he saw her and to express his gratitude properly. His eyes began to wander around the room and grow heavy. The rest of his presents could wait until morning, and would have to, because the instant Harry lay down on his pillow, he was asleep once again.
The clock read 1:15 AM.
~*~
When Harry awoke hours later, it was not by his own free will, but by Dudley pounding on the door.
"Downstairs, now! Dad said so!" he hollered, seeming to have forgotten the threats of the previous night and went back into his room. Harry opened the door and tiptoed down the stairs to see what he had done this time.
"That you Harry?" Uncle Vernon called. "Get in here, please." He sounded as if he were speaking to someone at work, and about to fire them. Harry, although terrified of going into the kitchen at that particular moment, desperately wanted to know what in the world Uncle Vernon wanted with him.
"Yes Uncle Vernon, it's me," Harry said. With this, he took a deep breath and bravely walked through the kitchen door.
Uncle Vernon had a letter in his hand and an envelope at his side. The envelope looked quite normal enough, with one stamp and the Dursleys' address scribbled across the middle in a woman's handwriting.
"This came this morning," Uncle Vernon said. "It's about you, again."
Now, Harry remembered the last time the Dursleys had gotten a letter about him, and was a little afraid that it might be from Ron's mother again. The letter looked ordinary enough, though, and Harry couldn't think of a soul he knew who would write about him in the Muggle way.
"Very surprised, I was, to actually get a normal letter from someone who seems normal herself," Uncle Vernon continued. Harry wondered what he was getting at, why he was being so nice about this whole thing. Harry began to feel a bit frightened by the letter that Uncle Vernon had in his hands.
"Well, boy," Uncle Vernon finally said, addressing Harry and looking at him. "Do you want to hear the letter or not?" Harry swallowed and nodded.
"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,
We haven't been introduced, but Harry must have told you all about his school friends, which include Ron Weasley and our daughter Hermione, who had the excellent idea that Harry and Ron would come to our house for a birthday party in Harry's honor.
We will, of course, be taking Harry to pick up his school supplies and will be more than happy to keep him for the remainder of the summer holiday. Please do not worry, I assure you that my husband and I will make sure Hermione and the boys get on the school train on time.
Ron has already gotten permission to attend, and we hope you'll allow Harry to join us; if you don't mind, please have him send your reply by owl, as I find that their method of post is so much faster and more convenient than ours.
We will, of course be coming by car. (Molly Weasley told me about the Floo Powder catastrophe. I'm so sorry that happened to you!)
We look forward to your company when we come by at about noon on Friday to pick him up (granted you give your permission for him to go along with us).
Best regards,
Lydia Granger"
Harry waited for Uncle Vernon to say something. He did.
"Every year," he muttered. "Every year we get a letter from one of those ... those ... those people from that place of yours." Harry said nothing and waited for Uncle Vernon to continue.
"And every year it ends in chaos that ends up costing me money. Your first year, Dudley ended up with a pig's tail and I had to pay to have that removed. Second year, you broke Aunt Petunia's best dish, blew Marge into a balloon, and ran away in a flying car. Third year-- err, well I don't remember what happened third year. Fourth year Dudley's tongue was the size of a large pickle and our living room wall was broken almost beyond repair. And last year-- "
"Oh just get on with it!" Dudley said irritably from the living room, where he had apparently been eavesdropping on the entire conversation. Obviously, Dudley wouldn't be able to stand one more retelling of what had happened to him the previous year. Uncle Vernon cleared his throat and finished.
"And now, finally," he raised his eyebrows at Harry in almost-astonishment, "finally, we've gotten a normal request from a normal woman and a normal family."
"So can I go?" Harry said uncertainly. He wasn't quite sure what exactly Uncle Vernon was getting at, but didn't want to press his luck by badgering.
Uncle Vernon looked deep in thought (which was a first for him) and stroked his bushy mustache. He seemed to be actually considering it. Harry waited in anticipation, but did his best not to hover around like a small child would.
"I'll think about it. Friday's not until tomorrow, so ask me again this evening and I'll let you know," Uncle Vernon said finally. "But not before!"
Harry took the stairs two at a time back up to his bedroom, and when he got there, he wondered aloud, "What just happened? Uncle Vernon being nice? That's got to be one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me." This was saying a lot considering Harry's past experiences at Hogwarts.
Using this opportunity to finally think about something other than Uncle Vernon, Harry went back to his gifts from the previous night and put away the letters under the loose board in his floor with his broomstick and wand.
Harry now turned to the unopened gift from Ron and Ginny, and found inside the box a book-- Twenty Fun Curses and Their Coutercurses. Harry opened the book and read a few of them and their effects, stifling a giggle when he was overcome with a hilarious mental image of his arch rival, Draco Malfoy spitting frogs from his mouth. Among the ones Harry had never seen before, there were a few curses Harry had encountered before at Hogwarts, for example, the Leg-Locker Curse.
The next gift from Sirius was enclosed in the box with Hagrid's Cauldron Cakes. It was a smooth, oval stone that was about as large as the palm of his hand and a deep royal purple. The remarkable thing about this stone though, was that although it was purple, Harry could see straight through it as if it were made of glass.
Harry had no idea what Sirius had sent for him this time, but decided that if nobody else knew what it was, then there was no reason that it wouldn't make for a fine paperweight.
For the rest of the evening, Harry did his best to stay on Uncle Vernon's good side, for if he slipped up once, even the slightest sign of any misbehavior whatsoever, he could say goodbye to Hermione when they left Privet Drive the next afternoon-without him.
All through dinner, Aunt Petunia and Dudley chatted on and on about Dudley's upcoming school term and about how they must go into town the next day to buy all of his supplies. Throughout the entire meal, Uncle Vernon said nothing and ate his pork chop in silence, occasionally glancing in Harry's direction, grunting, and turning his attention back to his plate. After the dishes were cleared away, Uncle Vernon migrated to the living room where he read what seemed like every single word of every single page of the newspaper, including the ads. Afterwards, Harry approached him nonchalantly.
"So, Uncle Vernon, you told me to ask you again this evening if I could go to Hermione's house for the rest of the holiday, and well, they're expecting my owl anytime now and I just thought, well that I'd ask you and see if it's okay-- "
"Save your breath Harry," Uncle Vernon said calmly. "I haven't forgotten. Petunia and I have discussed it and decided that you can go with your friends provided that they come here in as normally a way a possible and ABSOLUTELY nothing strange happens while they are here, AND that you leave here with none of your ... wizard's stuff at all, do you understand?"
Harry nodded vigorously and ran back up the stairs to write to Hermione.
"Hermione-- They said it was okay but we have to keep our wands to ourselves no matter what. I think your parents'll impress them though.
See you soon.
Harry"
He gave the letter to a more than willing Hedwig and off she went, towards Hermione's end of town. He opened his trunk and began packing his things from underneath the floorboard inside. Harry left out of his trunk one robe, his wand, and his book from Ron and Ginny, in case he wanted to do some reading on the train. After everything had been packed, Harry took a quick shower and got into his pajamas.
Everything was perfect. He had a book of curses to threaten Malfoy with, and he would be leaving Privet Drive tomorrow to be with Ron and Hermione. It would be a good day tomorrow, yes it would.
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A/N: I hope for more chapters to come soon. I'm not completely satisfied with the length and such of this chapter, but it was just begging to be uploaded and who was I to deny that privilege? ^^