Chapter 1
This is just a
"Oooooh! Lunch time!" cried out Ron relieved, closing his herbology textbook loudly. He can't wait to leave his books.
"There's 15 more minutes left, what's the rush?" replied Hermione annoyingly, without looking up from her Arithmancy textbook .
"What? Are you crazy? I've been sitting in this common room for the past 2 hours, without even leaving one step, not to mention NOT going to the bathroom and you're saying I'm rushing? C'mon! This is like heaven!!! And besides, if I stay in this room for another minute I don't think I'm going to like this place any more." Ron cried out. Harry tried to stifle a laughter, but burst out laughing instead. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head annoyingly.
"C'mon Hermione, Ron's right. We need a break. Besides, losing 15 minutes of studying really isn't anything." Harry replied.
"Oh alright alright," Hermione sighed, feeling a bit hungry herself too.
The three friends made their way down the Gryffindor Tower towards the Great Hall. The Hall was already decorated with a summery atmosphere and the so-called sky of a ceiling is glowing bright with sunlight and cloudless. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down at their usual seats and began helping themselves to the food on the table.
Halfway through their lunch meal, the mail arrived. Hundreds of owls flapping their wings into the hall dropping mails and parcels here and there. Hedwig dropped a white envelope in front of Harry who, although he has been receiving mails occasionally ever since he arrived at Hogwarts, still took it by surprise. It was addressed to him and at the top left- hand corner of the envelope was printed the name "Theresa Lang, Director of hjhn7uWizardry School of Arts."
"Strange, I don't know anyone named Theresa Lang," said Harry puzzled.
"Probably a relative," replied Ron absentmindedly. "Wait a minute, you don't have any relatives other than the Dursleys!"
"Exactly," replied Harry, still wondering who it can be.
"So aren't you going to open it and read?" asked Ron. Harry tore open one side of the envelope and took out a thin piece of paper.
"That's it?" Ron asked.
"Well, how much do you expect it to be? Besides, I don't even know this person," replied Harry. He opened up the letter and saw it was written with great effort and tidiness. There was no sign of inkblots or any mess made on the letter. It read:
Dear Harry,
I'm sure this must have come as a surprise for you to receive a letter from a stranger, or to be more exact, a distant relative. Yes, I'm sure the last statement is coming as a huge confusion to you but I assure you that I will explain and answer every question you may have to the last detail once we meet.
I have written to inform you that I will be picking you up at the King's Cross Station on the day you are coming back for the holidays. Yes, you will be staying at a new place this summer. You are coming to stay with me. Do not worry about the Dursleys, they seem more than happy to not have you for the summer.
I hope to see you soon!
Yours
Love Aunt Theresa
"Aunt Theresa?" mumbled Harry to himself.
"Aunt who?" asked Ron as he looked up from his dishful of food.
"Aunt Theresa," replied Harry, looking very confused.
"You've got an aunt? I mean, apart from your Aunt Petunia?" Ron asked again, sounding surprised.
"I don't know. I'm not even sure if she's real." Harry was afraid this was some kind of joke. After all he had been through over the years, Harry wasn't sure if he was going to trust anyone from the Muggle world, or maybe anyone who isn't from Hogwarts. Yet again, a sense of excitement and longing seem to tell Harry that everything is going to be ok and that he should hope for the best.
"What did the letter say?" Ron asked. Harry told them about staying with this new aunt.
"Well, at least you won't be staying with the Dursleys right?" replied Hermione cheerfully.
"It would be great if this Aunt Theresa is better than the Dursleys, or else it wouldn't really make much difference if she is some sort of mean, old witch," replied Harry. I do hope not, he thought.
On their way to the next class, Harry, Ron and Hermione ran into Professor McGonagall, who wanted a word with Harry. Harry looked back at his friends thinking what had he done wrong this time and Ron had a worried look but Hermione was smiling as if nothing bad was going to happen.
Harry followed Professor McGonagall to her office. Professor McGonagall motioned Harry to sit down while she walked behind her desk.
"Tea?" asked the professor.
"Uh, no thanks," replied Harry nervously, thinking how strange for Professor McGonagall to make this offer.
"What's wrong Potter? You look very tensed! Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. I want to talk to you about your Aunt Theresa," said Professor McGonagall cheerfully. Harry looked surprised. "You—you—know Aunt Theresa?" asked Harry quietly.
"Yes I do, Potter. In fact, your Aunt Theresa used to teach at Hogwarts. She was a very highly respected professor. Seems like every student loved her Potions class. Unfortunately she only taught for a very short period of time. It was great having her around. She retired after that, decided she wanted to start her own wizardry school in a far off place in England. It's been 20 years since we last heard from her and we were all very surprised that she has come back and decided to take you for the summer." Professor McGonagall smiled broadly as if it was her who was going to stay with Aunt Theresa. Harry was very surprised when he heard about his aunt.
"But…how…?" Harry asked. So many questions have popped up in his head all of a sudden.
"Now now Potter, I'm sure there are lots of questions you want answered but I presume your aunt have told you that she will tell you everything once you two met? (Harry nodded) Well, I guess I won't spoil it and leave it to her. You're going to love her Harry. She's a lovely lady and very cheerful. You won't have to deal with anything you had to with the Dursleys." But Harry still wasn't sure.
"You may go now Potter, I've already informed your professor for the next class that you will be late so no points will be taken from your House." Harry left quickly for his next class but his mind was already full of questions that he wasn't concentrating in class.
The finals went amazingly successful for Harry. Although the thought of Aunt Theresa distracted him a little, but the thought of not staying with the Dursleys this year made him ten times more cheerful that he had no worries with studying. Ron thought Harry had went mad when he wouldn't stop studying. "I can't wait for the summer to come! I want to meet my Aunt Theresa!" Harry had said. However Harry convinced Ron that he is fine, Ron can't help thinking Harry resembled Hermione in some ways during the last weeks of the term.
Finally, summer has arrived. Students from Hogwarts all packed up and ready to leave. When they reached the station, Harry was feeling excited, a feeling he never felt before and had always dreaded summer vacation. But today, Harry felt that his summer vacation is going to be great, greater than perhaps all his past summer vacations. No Dudley's annoying pranks and no Uncle Vernon's crazy warnings of his magic tricks.
The train ride seemed to take forever for Harry. He wasn't listening to Ron and Hermione when they talked to him and he kept staring out the window, his thoughts full of how Aunt Theresa will look like and how his summer is going to be.
"I seriously think that Aunt Theresa of his has cast a spell in that letter, whatever spell it is. Look at him! He's like not here at all!" Ron whispered loudly to Hermione.
"Aren't you glad Harry is finally looking forward towards summer vacation? Look! I've never seen him this happy about summer vacation before! I always felt sorry for him. This year is going to be great. Trust me, just leave him alone. He's going to be fine." Hermione said cheerfully.
"Has the spell got into to you as well, Hermione?" Ron couldn't believe it.
Once they reached the station, Harry hopped off the train excitedly, he couldn't wait to meet his Aunt Theresa. Ron and Hermione were lagging behind, Hermione smiling broadly while Ron still thinks the spell is hopeless to them.
When they finally arrived at the Muggle station, Harry looked around nervously. As he don't know how Aunt Theresa looks like he was only guessing some sort of old lady with a small handbag, with lots of wrinkles and white wispy hair ----
"Are you Harry Potter?" asked a voice behind him. Harry was still trying to create an image of his aunt when the voice interrupted him. He jumped a little and turned to face a short plump lady smiling brightly at him.
"Uh, yes, I am…you are?" Harry looked questioningly at the lady.
"Oh! Harry! Harry Harry Harry…oh how I've missed you! We've all been looking for you but always looked at the wrong places. Oh how we should've known you've been in England all this time!" At this moment, the old lady hugged Harry so hard she knocked his glasses and it slid down his nose about half an inch. Harry struggled to slide his glasses back on again, when the lady finally released him from the monstrous hug.
"I'm Aunt Theresa by the way, your Aunt Theresa Harry!" The lady cried out gleefully. Harry felt embarrassed for a moment. His Aunt Theresa has attracted so many Muggle attention he doesn't know where to look. Then he spotted his two friends standing not to far from him and was going to smile at them when Aunt Theresa grabbed his face in both her hands and gave him a long, deep look. Harry could see tears in her eyes. He wondered why.
"C'mon Harry, let's go, we've got a lot to do this afternoon." Aunt Theresa took the trolley handle and started to push away.
"Hang on," Harry said abruptly. "I want to say goodbye to my friends." He walked over to where Ron and Hermione were standing. Both were looking excited and Ron seemed to have forgotten about the imaginative spell.
"I'm so happy for you Harry. Aunt Theresa seemed like a nice lady," said Hermione, with some tears in her eyes.
"Oh Hermione, it's not like I'm going away or anything. I just found a better place to stay that's all. Remember to write me though!" Harry smiled back.
"Well, Harry, I hope you have a great summer, which I'm sure you will. Yeah, your aunt seems like a nice lady. Well, my parents are waiting for me at the parking lot. I really have to go. I'll write you and you've gotta write me this time! Now that you don't have to worry about the Dursleys interfering." Ron said. Then off the two friends go as Harry waved back when they turned around to look at him for the last time.
To be continued…
This is just a
"Oooooh! Lunch time!" cried out Ron relieved, closing his herbology textbook loudly. He can't wait to leave his books.
"There's 15 more minutes left, what's the rush?" replied Hermione annoyingly, without looking up from her Arithmancy textbook .
"What? Are you crazy? I've been sitting in this common room for the past 2 hours, without even leaving one step, not to mention NOT going to the bathroom and you're saying I'm rushing? C'mon! This is like heaven!!! And besides, if I stay in this room for another minute I don't think I'm going to like this place any more." Ron cried out. Harry tried to stifle a laughter, but burst out laughing instead. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head annoyingly.
"C'mon Hermione, Ron's right. We need a break. Besides, losing 15 minutes of studying really isn't anything." Harry replied.
"Oh alright alright," Hermione sighed, feeling a bit hungry herself too.
The three friends made their way down the Gryffindor Tower towards the Great Hall. The Hall was already decorated with a summery atmosphere and the so-called sky of a ceiling is glowing bright with sunlight and cloudless. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down at their usual seats and began helping themselves to the food on the table.
Halfway through their lunch meal, the mail arrived. Hundreds of owls flapping their wings into the hall dropping mails and parcels here and there. Hedwig dropped a white envelope in front of Harry who, although he has been receiving mails occasionally ever since he arrived at Hogwarts, still took it by surprise. It was addressed to him and at the top left- hand corner of the envelope was printed the name "Theresa Lang, Director of hjhn7uWizardry School of Arts."
"Strange, I don't know anyone named Theresa Lang," said Harry puzzled.
"Probably a relative," replied Ron absentmindedly. "Wait a minute, you don't have any relatives other than the Dursleys!"
"Exactly," replied Harry, still wondering who it can be.
"So aren't you going to open it and read?" asked Ron. Harry tore open one side of the envelope and took out a thin piece of paper.
"That's it?" Ron asked.
"Well, how much do you expect it to be? Besides, I don't even know this person," replied Harry. He opened up the letter and saw it was written with great effort and tidiness. There was no sign of inkblots or any mess made on the letter. It read:
Dear Harry,
I'm sure this must have come as a surprise for you to receive a letter from a stranger, or to be more exact, a distant relative. Yes, I'm sure the last statement is coming as a huge confusion to you but I assure you that I will explain and answer every question you may have to the last detail once we meet.
I have written to inform you that I will be picking you up at the King's Cross Station on the day you are coming back for the holidays. Yes, you will be staying at a new place this summer. You are coming to stay with me. Do not worry about the Dursleys, they seem more than happy to not have you for the summer.
I hope to see you soon!
Yours
Love Aunt Theresa
"Aunt Theresa?" mumbled Harry to himself.
"Aunt who?" asked Ron as he looked up from his dishful of food.
"Aunt Theresa," replied Harry, looking very confused.
"You've got an aunt? I mean, apart from your Aunt Petunia?" Ron asked again, sounding surprised.
"I don't know. I'm not even sure if she's real." Harry was afraid this was some kind of joke. After all he had been through over the years, Harry wasn't sure if he was going to trust anyone from the Muggle world, or maybe anyone who isn't from Hogwarts. Yet again, a sense of excitement and longing seem to tell Harry that everything is going to be ok and that he should hope for the best.
"What did the letter say?" Ron asked. Harry told them about staying with this new aunt.
"Well, at least you won't be staying with the Dursleys right?" replied Hermione cheerfully.
"It would be great if this Aunt Theresa is better than the Dursleys, or else it wouldn't really make much difference if she is some sort of mean, old witch," replied Harry. I do hope not, he thought.
On their way to the next class, Harry, Ron and Hermione ran into Professor McGonagall, who wanted a word with Harry. Harry looked back at his friends thinking what had he done wrong this time and Ron had a worried look but Hermione was smiling as if nothing bad was going to happen.
Harry followed Professor McGonagall to her office. Professor McGonagall motioned Harry to sit down while she walked behind her desk.
"Tea?" asked the professor.
"Uh, no thanks," replied Harry nervously, thinking how strange for Professor McGonagall to make this offer.
"What's wrong Potter? You look very tensed! Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. I want to talk to you about your Aunt Theresa," said Professor McGonagall cheerfully. Harry looked surprised. "You—you—know Aunt Theresa?" asked Harry quietly.
"Yes I do, Potter. In fact, your Aunt Theresa used to teach at Hogwarts. She was a very highly respected professor. Seems like every student loved her Potions class. Unfortunately she only taught for a very short period of time. It was great having her around. She retired after that, decided she wanted to start her own wizardry school in a far off place in England. It's been 20 years since we last heard from her and we were all very surprised that she has come back and decided to take you for the summer." Professor McGonagall smiled broadly as if it was her who was going to stay with Aunt Theresa. Harry was very surprised when he heard about his aunt.
"But…how…?" Harry asked. So many questions have popped up in his head all of a sudden.
"Now now Potter, I'm sure there are lots of questions you want answered but I presume your aunt have told you that she will tell you everything once you two met? (Harry nodded) Well, I guess I won't spoil it and leave it to her. You're going to love her Harry. She's a lovely lady and very cheerful. You won't have to deal with anything you had to with the Dursleys." But Harry still wasn't sure.
"You may go now Potter, I've already informed your professor for the next class that you will be late so no points will be taken from your House." Harry left quickly for his next class but his mind was already full of questions that he wasn't concentrating in class.
The finals went amazingly successful for Harry. Although the thought of Aunt Theresa distracted him a little, but the thought of not staying with the Dursleys this year made him ten times more cheerful that he had no worries with studying. Ron thought Harry had went mad when he wouldn't stop studying. "I can't wait for the summer to come! I want to meet my Aunt Theresa!" Harry had said. However Harry convinced Ron that he is fine, Ron can't help thinking Harry resembled Hermione in some ways during the last weeks of the term.
Finally, summer has arrived. Students from Hogwarts all packed up and ready to leave. When they reached the station, Harry was feeling excited, a feeling he never felt before and had always dreaded summer vacation. But today, Harry felt that his summer vacation is going to be great, greater than perhaps all his past summer vacations. No Dudley's annoying pranks and no Uncle Vernon's crazy warnings of his magic tricks.
The train ride seemed to take forever for Harry. He wasn't listening to Ron and Hermione when they talked to him and he kept staring out the window, his thoughts full of how Aunt Theresa will look like and how his summer is going to be.
"I seriously think that Aunt Theresa of his has cast a spell in that letter, whatever spell it is. Look at him! He's like not here at all!" Ron whispered loudly to Hermione.
"Aren't you glad Harry is finally looking forward towards summer vacation? Look! I've never seen him this happy about summer vacation before! I always felt sorry for him. This year is going to be great. Trust me, just leave him alone. He's going to be fine." Hermione said cheerfully.
"Has the spell got into to you as well, Hermione?" Ron couldn't believe it.
Once they reached the station, Harry hopped off the train excitedly, he couldn't wait to meet his Aunt Theresa. Ron and Hermione were lagging behind, Hermione smiling broadly while Ron still thinks the spell is hopeless to them.
When they finally arrived at the Muggle station, Harry looked around nervously. As he don't know how Aunt Theresa looks like he was only guessing some sort of old lady with a small handbag, with lots of wrinkles and white wispy hair ----
"Are you Harry Potter?" asked a voice behind him. Harry was still trying to create an image of his aunt when the voice interrupted him. He jumped a little and turned to face a short plump lady smiling brightly at him.
"Uh, yes, I am…you are?" Harry looked questioningly at the lady.
"Oh! Harry! Harry Harry Harry…oh how I've missed you! We've all been looking for you but always looked at the wrong places. Oh how we should've known you've been in England all this time!" At this moment, the old lady hugged Harry so hard she knocked his glasses and it slid down his nose about half an inch. Harry struggled to slide his glasses back on again, when the lady finally released him from the monstrous hug.
"I'm Aunt Theresa by the way, your Aunt Theresa Harry!" The lady cried out gleefully. Harry felt embarrassed for a moment. His Aunt Theresa has attracted so many Muggle attention he doesn't know where to look. Then he spotted his two friends standing not to far from him and was going to smile at them when Aunt Theresa grabbed his face in both her hands and gave him a long, deep look. Harry could see tears in her eyes. He wondered why.
"C'mon Harry, let's go, we've got a lot to do this afternoon." Aunt Theresa took the trolley handle and started to push away.
"Hang on," Harry said abruptly. "I want to say goodbye to my friends." He walked over to where Ron and Hermione were standing. Both were looking excited and Ron seemed to have forgotten about the imaginative spell.
"I'm so happy for you Harry. Aunt Theresa seemed like a nice lady," said Hermione, with some tears in her eyes.
"Oh Hermione, it's not like I'm going away or anything. I just found a better place to stay that's all. Remember to write me though!" Harry smiled back.
"Well, Harry, I hope you have a great summer, which I'm sure you will. Yeah, your aunt seems like a nice lady. Well, my parents are waiting for me at the parking lot. I really have to go. I'll write you and you've gotta write me this time! Now that you don't have to worry about the Dursleys interfering." Ron said. Then off the two friends go as Harry waved back when they turned around to look at him for the last time.
To be continued…