'A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer' - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The sound of loud R n' B music pulsated through the residence of number four, Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon had been delighted to host a birthday party for Dudley 17th this year, pleased that Dudley had made so many friends since his weight loss.
Forty teenagers had taken over the house, and at Dudley's request, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had fled the premises for a good few hours. Not wanting to take Harry with them, they had locked Harry in his room and given Dudley the key. It was safe to say that Harry was unimpressed. He doubted whether Dudley even had the key still or, in fact, even remembered he had a cousin. It was only seven o'clock in the evening, but by the sound of it, every occupant of the house – with the obvious exception of himself – was drunk.
A deafening cheer erupted as a favourite song begun to play. The door handle to Harry's room shook slightly as someone tried to turn it.
"I wonder what's in here?" a kid called out to his mates.
"How would I know? Let's ask Dud…or we could just break down the door, like in those kung fu movies!" A rowdy chorus of agreement sounded and Harry rolled his eyes and sighed, this wouldn't be the first time that night that kids had already tired to break down his door 'like in those kung fu movies', and would probably not be the last.
More footsteps padded up the stairs, "What are you doing?" A girl's voice asked, slightly slurred.
"We're going to break down this door," one of the boys stated, as if he were about to slay a lion.
"Ooooh, can we watch?" another girl giggled.
"Sure you can!" various boys exclaimed, the drunken teenagers readied themselves in front of the door and began chanting "5…4…3…"
Harry opened 'Hogwarts: A History' and lay down on his bed and began to continue where he'd left off.
CRASH
Harry sat up abruptly. He hadn't actually expected them to succeed! The boys kicked the rest of the door down and about seven of them filtered through, followed by two girls.
"Who the hell are you?" The leader of the boys asked rudely.
"Er, I'm Harry, Dudley's cousin," revealed Harry hesitantly.
"No you're not. Dud doesn't have a cousin – or he'd have told us!" the boy yelled brashly.
"Well he does," corrected Harry, glowering, "I go to a private school in Scotland so I'm only around in the summer holidays. That's why you haven't seen or heard of me. That and the fact that 'Dud' and I don't really get on," Harry added.
"Oh." The boy didn't seem to have anything to say to that so, Harry seized the opportunity and darted down the stairs to grab some food while he still could, then paused mid-step. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would not be back for a few hours, his door was broken down, and no other doors in the house had locks from the outside. Even if they did Dudley would be too drunk to work a lock. He was free! Only for a few hours mind, but for a few incredible hours he could do whatever he wanted. Eat however much he wanted, help himself to peoples' drink, and generally try and enjoy himself.
"We found this guy locked in a room upstairs by himself! I think he deserves a few drinks don't you?!" The leader declared.
Harry stood up to find that the group of boys and the two girls had followed him downstairs.
Suddenly the room went quiet and all that could be heard was the high-pitched voice of Michael Jackson singing 'Billy Jean'. The leader of the boys (whose name was Malcolm, Harry found out later on) opened up a can of Stella and handed it to Harry. Before he grasped what was happening, he was having cans, bottles, glasses thrust into his hands. Harry was ecstatic! Even Dudley couldn't ruin this. Where was Dudley anyway…?
"Harry, my man!" Ahh….there he was. Harry raised an eyebrow and allowed himself a smirk. Dudley redder than Harry had ever seen him before, ever redder than he had ever seen Uncle Vernon could become – and that was something, and he was sweating like a pig. But the largest grin known to man was splattered across his face.
"Come and join the party!" Dudley yelled, standing only three feet away from him.
"Er, thanks Dudley," Harry grinned and started to drink his Stella. A few minutes later the party was back in full swing, although every time someone saw him, they gave a cheer and offered him some of their drink.
Harry wandered outside into the garden for some fresh air and peace. One girl sat alone on the bench sipping an Alco-pop, and a few boys sat on the deck chairs discussing some girl called Ann, or Anna, Harry didn't catch the name.
Not wanting to sit on the grass he seated himself at the other end of the bench.
"I don't bite you know," the girl smiled
Harry chuckled, "I didn't want to intrude in your personal space but I didn't fancy sitting on the grass,"
The girl laughed. It was a very soft laugh, Harry noticed, unlike the dreadful high-pitched squeals of Lavender and Parvati.
"So you're Dud's cousin then? The kid who was locked up in the room?"
Harry blushed. "Yeah, that was me. I'm even famous in the Muggle world." He added to himself quietly.
"What was that, sorry?"
"Oh, nothing," Harry dismissed the question airily.
"You know, you look nothing like Dud,"
"Thank god! Just being his cousin is bad enough."
The girl laughed again, and Harry decided he liked her soft laugh very much.
"So, where do you go to school?"
"A private school up in Scotland, it's boarding."
"So are you only home half terms and summer holidays? Don't you miss your par- umm relatives?"
Harry knew that she had wanted to say parents, "I only stay here for the summer holidays, and that's plenty enough for me. I've never felt very…welcome in this family.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
"Don't be stupid! It's fine. So, are you enjoying the party?" Harry asked changing the subject.
"Yeah it's okay. I love parties, and this one is especially good." The girl tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Harry couldn't understand how any party of Dudley's could be good, let alone especially good? The girl laughed at the confusion written all over his face. Harry watched, fascinated, as her soft brown ringlets bounced as she laughed.
"Feel like going inside to dance?" she suggested.
"Oh, I'm not really the dancing type."
"Good, me neither."
This time Harry laughed. He suddenly realized he did not even know her name. He held out his hand, "I'm Harry by the way, Harry Potter."
She smiled, "Paige Turner."
"Paige, interesting name."
She laughed and rolled her eyes, "I hate it."
"Why?"
"It's just…different; not normal. People think that I must be exciting or exotic or something just because my name is uncommon."
"Well I've got a friend called Hermione. She's never actually said whether she likes her name or not come to think of it…" He trailed off lost in thought of his Hogwarts days.
"Is Hermione your…girlfriend?" Paige asked, turning her silver bracelet around and around on her wrist.
"Hermione?! God no, she's one of my best friends. Just a friend." Harry could imagine Ron's reaction to the mere suggestion that he and Hermione might be a couple.
"So, no girlfriend or just not Hermione?"
"No girlfriend. The girls at my school see me differently; I'm not really the kind of guy they'd want to date."
"Then they must be blind," she said softly, her lips whispering in his ear. Harry didn't even have time to look shocked at the thought that this girl actually liked him, because the second her lips brushed his, every thought in his mind was gone. Her tongue gently probed his lips apart. She tasted sweet, a mix between icing sugar and alcohol. Not having the remotest idea what he was supposed to be doing, he tried to simply mimic her actions.
In the midst of his subconscious a car horn hooted, brakes screeched, and a car door slammed. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were home. He, Harry, was out of his room (of which the lock, and most importantly the door were broken); he was drinking alcohol, and kissing a strange girl in the back garden.
Attempting to hold onto the kiss, and jump up in alarm at the same time, Harry ended up tumbling off the bench into the grass.
"Er…Harry, what's wrong?" Asked an extremely puzzled Paige.
"It's my Aunt and Uncle, they're home! They'll kill me, or worse, never let me back to Hogwarts!"
"Hogwarts? Is that the name of your school?"
"Yeah," Harry had stopped paying attention to Paige and was looking for the quickest escape route.
"BOY!" Uncle Vernon roared, and Harry noted absently that this was the closest his Uncle had ever come to resembling a bull. Where was Tonks or Moody when you needed them?
Out the corner of his eye Harry saw something being thrown in his general direction, and without turning around completely around and losing sight of Uncle Vernon he managed to catch it. Harry barely had time to register that it was a red, woolen sock before he felt a tug somewhere around his naval…