Disclaimer- Harry Potter isn't mine.
A/N: So this is the story I wrote months ago before I became a member of fan fiction.net. It took me like a month to write with pen. It's also fifty-eight pages on paper. I hope it's good, please review it.
Harry awoke due to the buzzing of his wind-up alarm clock. He absentmindedly threw out his hand, searching around his bedside table and finally his fingers connected with the button and the jack-hammering stopped abruptly. He sat up in his cramped bed and leaned against the headboard. He reached out for his glasses and slipped them on his face.
Harry pulled out a pen from the drawer in his nightstand and crossed off another day on the calendar he had drawn up for himself to count down the days until he went aboard the Hogwarts Express and returned to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on September 1st.
He crawled out of bed and padded silently across the room to his closet. He stopped and looked in the mirror on the inside of the door.
A would-be normal boy of fifteen stared back at him. Through his untidy jet-black hair a thin lightning-bolt shaped scar was just barely visible on his forehead. His bright green almond shaped eyes were hardly slits that used all of his face muscles to keep open. He looked away and dressed.
Later, he emerged into the kitchen to find Uncle Vernon and Dudley sitting at the table. Aunt Petunia was fixing breakfast. They seemed all in a stupor to his entrance even though it was his birthday. His uncles eyes were still fixed on the paper and Dudley was staring hungrily at breakfast.
Harry sat down and soon a piece of lettuce was dropped on each of their plates.
"Now eat up Dudley, darling. You're up for a real treat at lunch! A whole stick of celery!" Dudley's diet had been going on for a year now and he was clearly showing no progress. The evidence of this was that he had only lost three pounds total.
Dudley gobbled down his piece in one single bite Uncle Vernon looked at his with the air that it was his arch-nemesis and Aunt Petunia chewed off piece by piece crunching and grinding it very loudly between her horse teeth. Harry ate his showing no emotion and left the Dursleys to goggle at Mrs. Next Door Neighbors new car. From upstairs he could hear an outraged voice yell
"Petunia! Call up the insurance company! We must get a …a….something better that they have!"
"Yes, Vernon."
And then a hopeful voice which Harry recognized as Dudley's rang out up through the stairs " Can we get one with a built in refrigerator?"
Harry pulled up the loose floorboard under his bed. Like last year, all of his friends had sent him dearly birthday cakes, pies, and candy. He grabbed some cake from the old pillowcase and began to eat. He sat on the window seat and gazed at the identical houses lined perfectly in a row on Privet Drive. He found nothing in interest to him there so he looked up into the sky, searching for any sign of his owl, Hedwig, who had sent out in search of Hertmione, one of Harry's friends from Hogwarts.
Suddenly, he saw a tiny black dot in the sky, at first he thought it was Hedwig, but it was much too fast, it got so close it resembled a feathery gray tennis ball headed straight for Harry's window. He leaped up and discarded his piece of cake. Harry wrenched the window open and the black dot tumbled through it. It collided with Harry's wall and collapsed on the bed.
"Pig!" Harry said to the miniscule owl that was splayed on the bed. He saw the dwarfish chest heave up and down. Harry picked him up gently in both hands and laid the minute bird into Hedwig's cage. He picked up the letter that had fallen off from Pig when he had hit the wall. It read:
Dear Harry,
Happy birthday! I've gotten you a present and I sent it with Hermes (Percy's at the Ministry and I sorta used him without asking) I figured pig would get there first but Hermes's is coming. Ginny's dying to see you; you're all she's talked about the whole summer. Hermione, of course, is studying hard for her O.W.L.'s and she's been nagging me to do the same. Ugh!
Mum wrote Dumbledore to ask if you could stay with us for the rest of the summer and he said that you were coming to our house with an old witch named Mrs. Figg. He said you'd know who she was. See you then!
Ron
Harry stared hard at the name Figg. Mrs. Figg was the old lady that used to watch him when the Dursleys went away or wanted to get rid of him, on occasions such as Dudley's birthdays. Her house smelled of cats all of the time, but she hadn't been so fond of them since she tripped over one and broke her leg. Sometimes Harry could see her coming out of her house, shaking her fist toward the door, bickering about the "wretched old cats". She couldn't have been a witch, but then Harry's mind went back to last summer when he and the Weasleys stayed in a tent Mr. Weasley borrowed from someone at the Ministry of magic that was furnished like Mrs. Figg's place and had a strong smell of felines.
Harry placed the slip of parchment gently in the pillowcase. He walked over to the window to see an owl soaring gracefully toward him. Harry had never seen Hermes before but he was sure this was him. It landed on the desk beside Hedwig's cage bearing a package. Harry took the package and while Hermes swooped back out the window he ripped it open. It was a box full of sweets. Sugar Quills, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Levitating Sherbet Balls. Black Pepper Imps, Chocolate Frogs, and a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
Harry poured the contents of the box into his trunk and flopped onto his bed, sprawled out. He stared at the ceiling, his eyes drooping. He was thinking about returning to the Burrow and Hogwarts, and slowly he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
Harry awoke when he felt a sharp nip on his ear.
"Ouch!" he turned his head startlingly to find a large, snowy owl perched upon his bedside table.
"Hedwig!" he said, sitting up in bed. Hedwig held out her leg and Harry untied to the card that was attached. There was no package but Harry opened the card and read:
Dear Harry,
Happy birthday! I'm looking forward to seeing all of you at Ron's house. I've been studying for my O.W.L.'s for the last half of the summer and I hope you've been doing the same. We just got back from our summer vacation in the Bahamas. It was a very enjoyable trip. It is very hot in the Caribbean. The ocean is pure blue and clear. Anyway, hope you've had a great summer, too. See you soon!
Hermione
Harry sat his card down and opened his trunk at the foot of the bed. He placed the pillowcase full of things inside. He eyed his cakes and candy. He couldn't throw them away here, the Dursleys would find it, after thinking he'd dispose of it at Ron's house he made sure his trunk was packed with everything he needed. Harry went down the stairs thinking of how he'd get to Mrs. Figg's house when he emerged into the living room.
"Hi there, Harry!" Uncle Vernon said cheerfully striding toward Harry, who stepped back, utterly bewildered. "Remember Mrs. Figg, the wonderfully nice women that used to babysit you? Well, she's offered to take you in for the rest of the summer."
Uncle Vernon put his arm around Harry's shoulder, as he stood there, dumbstruck. Uncle Vernon had never addressed him by his first name nor referred to Mrs. Figg so nicely, he usually preferred to call her old and crotchety.
"So get your trunk packed and I'll take you over there."
Harry went upstairs, still feeling dumbfounded by Uncle Vernon's behavior, and entered his room and checked every crack and crevice for forgotten items. He let Pigwideon back out through the window and slammed it shut. He put Hedwig in her cage and fastened it on top of his trunk and dragged it down the stairs to the living room. Uncle Vernon carried the chest out to the car and heaved it into the trunk of the car. Uncle Vernon even let Harry seat. He leaned his head back on the seat as they rode down the few streets to 7 Teresa Avenue. (A/N: Is that where she lives? It seems as though, I've heard it before…)
Harry clambered out of the car as his uncle conveyed the trunk out of his company vehicle and up to the foot of the porch steps where Mrs. Figg was standing, hands on her hips.
"Good riddance, boy!" he hissed before returning down the drive.
Harry watched as his uncle gleefully drove away before returning to the old lady on the porch.
"Well come on in, Harry!" she said cheerfully.
Harry stood there, puzzled, Mrs. Figg usually acted old and strict. Now, she was bouncy and she strode into the house without limping. Even the way she was holding her back was strange it made her look about a foot taller than before where she slouched so much she resemble the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Harry dragged his stuff up the few steps obeying her order.
He entered the sitting room and Hedwig began to squawk madly as many cats began to advance slowly toward her, meowing.
"Get off!" shouted Mrs. Figg as a few cats pounced on Hedwig's cage. She pulled the cats off and bustled them into the next room.
"How are you, Harry?"
"Fine," said Harry and then he asked the question that was pondering in his mind since he got the letter from Ron. "How come I didn't know you were a witch before?"
"Well Harry, last time I saw you, you didn't know you were a wizard," she said simply.
Harry said nothing to this.
"So, I've been instructed to take you to your friend Ron's house by Dumbledore and then I'm off. Come, Harry, our Portkey leaves in two minutes." she rushed to the kitchen as Harry followed trying to drag his trunk hurriedly into the room. Mrs. Figg noticed Harry's trouble "Let me get that, dear," she pulled out her wand, pointed it at his luggage and said, "Accio trunk!" the trunk soared through the kitchen and landed with a loud thump beside her.
"Oh, Dear," she said frustratingly. " I must have put it back in the drawer.
She began searching through the cavalry, muttering to herself. In no time she pulled out a fork with a slightly bent tip. She held the pointed end, pointing the blunt end at Harry, he grabbed it and held it tight. With the other hand he grasped the handle of his trunk.
"OK," she said, her eyes fixed on her watch "In three…two…one!"
A/N: Cliffhanger. Yay! You won't be hearing from me again if I don't get any reviews. Hehe ^_^ Me hyper!