Ch. 1 - The Unusual Letter
The day was like any other to a typical fifteen-year-old boy; much like the rather large on riding a bike around Little Whining with his friends, but not the boy sitting in his room of number four Privet Drive. For starters, the boy was reading a book, shut up in his room that smelled strongly of owl droppings. For another, the book was called The Rise And Fall of You-Know-Who and the author was nervously twitching in the picture under the title. But weirdest of all is that Harry himself was mentioned in the book, having caused the fall of the Dark Lord at the amazing age of one. Oh, and Harry Potter was a world famous wizard currently going into his sixth year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry flipped restlessly through the pages of the book, a gift from one of his best friends, Hermione Granger. The book had come with a note 'so you can research your enemy and find his weak spots. P.S. we all really miss you, see you soon hopefully!' That was it, after having faced the most powerful wizard of all time and lived (for the fourth time), plus most of his Death Eaters, and having lost his Godfather in the battle – that was it! But Harry didn't expect much more, he knew the danger if the letters were intercepted and the only thing he could do was to wait for the Order to pull him out and take him back to headquarters.
He flung the book aside with a sigh, thinking of headquarters and the Order of the Phoenix had caused Harry to think of his Godfather, the only father figure he knew, and that was still too painful. If only I hadn't had that stupid dream and left...If only I had of checked better...If only I had gone to Snape first...If only... Harry shook his head as if to clear it. He had been doing this for the last week and couldn't stand it any longer – it never got him anywhere except to a horrible mood and a bad headache.
"Harry. Kitchen. Now!" Bellowed Uncle Vernon's voice from downstairs. Wondering what he had done this time, Harry reluctantly trudged downstairs to find the entire Dursely family sitting around the table and an empty spot for him – which was actually rather hard seeing as how his cousin took up an entire side by himself and his uncle wasn't much better, but Aunt Petunia barely took up one seat so it worked. As Harry slumped into the empty chair, he spotted the letter in Uncle Vernon's hand; praying that it wasn't aunt Marge coming to stay, he worriedly asked, "What?"
"You're going to set up the guest bedroom while Dudley and I go out to get a new shirt and Petunia finds a nice dress. Than I want you to make this house spotless." It wasn't a question, or a request, it was a fact and it confirmed Harry's fear. Marge was coming to stay, the last time she had done that, Harry had accidentally blew her up – of course she doesn't remember this so she couldn't be mad at him, but he was her favourite thing to criticize, and that got bored really fast.
"Leah will be staying for a week, and she arrives tomorrow so it had better be done by the time we come back. And she doesn't know about you being a...abnormal, so NO FUNNY BUSINESS!" Petunia put emphasis on the last three words, just in case Harry hadn't realized they don't even like the word magic. But than Harry realized that Marge wasn't coming, Leah was..."Who's Leah?"
Vernon tensed at being asked a question by Harry, but answered him anyway, "She is Dudley's second cousin from my brother Mark's family. They live in Canada so I have not bothered to mention them before. Strange to be hearing from her now – but she wants to meet Dudley and she is family so she is coming to stay. Now, don't try anything while we're out, and don't go outside, neighbours might see." Vernon finished off with a quick look out the window to make sure no neighbours were looking in anyway, and than swept off to the car with Petunia and Dudley behind him.
Once Harry was sure they had left, he picked up the letter and read:
Dear Duresly's
I am not sure if you remember me, but I am a niece to Mark – your brother and have been living with them while my parents sort out their divorce. I having been hearing great things about my cousin Dudley and aunt Petunia's cooking so I was wondering if it would be all right to stop be for a short while on the tenth, I will be in London with a friend and if this is not all right than please contact Albus D. at 694-3958 and I will be there.
I will be in London until September 1st, at which point I will be leaving from platform 9 or 10 (unsure) so you can contact me afterwards as well.
I have heard of that boy living with you and have found on my exploration of London, a quaint little street called Diagon Alley that could teach him a thing or two!
Look forward to meeting you, Leah Xyler
Harry reread the letter a few more times to make sure he was seeing the words correctly. Albus...September 1st...platform 9 or 10...Diagon Alley. This was either a very big (and I mean very big) coincidence, or Leah was trying to tell him something. She can't be a witch, that wouldn't make any sense! How come the Dursely's don't know? Why wouldn't she tell them? He reread the letter and his eyes caught on all the key words again, they were defiantly there...unless the Duresly's don't know because she has only just got into contact with them – and maybe she knows not to tell them that....but how? A million questions were racing through Harry's head, but one thing was clear – Leah must either be a witch, or a squib, or at least know of his world, and that could only be a good thing to Harry. He flipped over the letter to see if anything else was there, and small writing in the bottom left corner caught his eye: Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus. The inscription for Hogwart's.
Quickly he raced up stairs and prepared the quest room, he had never been more delighted to be related to Uncle Vernon!
The day was like any other to a typical fifteen-year-old boy; much like the rather large on riding a bike around Little Whining with his friends, but not the boy sitting in his room of number four Privet Drive. For starters, the boy was reading a book, shut up in his room that smelled strongly of owl droppings. For another, the book was called The Rise And Fall of You-Know-Who and the author was nervously twitching in the picture under the title. But weirdest of all is that Harry himself was mentioned in the book, having caused the fall of the Dark Lord at the amazing age of one. Oh, and Harry Potter was a world famous wizard currently going into his sixth year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry flipped restlessly through the pages of the book, a gift from one of his best friends, Hermione Granger. The book had come with a note 'so you can research your enemy and find his weak spots. P.S. we all really miss you, see you soon hopefully!' That was it, after having faced the most powerful wizard of all time and lived (for the fourth time), plus most of his Death Eaters, and having lost his Godfather in the battle – that was it! But Harry didn't expect much more, he knew the danger if the letters were intercepted and the only thing he could do was to wait for the Order to pull him out and take him back to headquarters.
He flung the book aside with a sigh, thinking of headquarters and the Order of the Phoenix had caused Harry to think of his Godfather, the only father figure he knew, and that was still too painful. If only I hadn't had that stupid dream and left...If only I had of checked better...If only I had gone to Snape first...If only... Harry shook his head as if to clear it. He had been doing this for the last week and couldn't stand it any longer – it never got him anywhere except to a horrible mood and a bad headache.
"Harry. Kitchen. Now!" Bellowed Uncle Vernon's voice from downstairs. Wondering what he had done this time, Harry reluctantly trudged downstairs to find the entire Dursely family sitting around the table and an empty spot for him – which was actually rather hard seeing as how his cousin took up an entire side by himself and his uncle wasn't much better, but Aunt Petunia barely took up one seat so it worked. As Harry slumped into the empty chair, he spotted the letter in Uncle Vernon's hand; praying that it wasn't aunt Marge coming to stay, he worriedly asked, "What?"
"You're going to set up the guest bedroom while Dudley and I go out to get a new shirt and Petunia finds a nice dress. Than I want you to make this house spotless." It wasn't a question, or a request, it was a fact and it confirmed Harry's fear. Marge was coming to stay, the last time she had done that, Harry had accidentally blew her up – of course she doesn't remember this so she couldn't be mad at him, but he was her favourite thing to criticize, and that got bored really fast.
"Leah will be staying for a week, and she arrives tomorrow so it had better be done by the time we come back. And she doesn't know about you being a...abnormal, so NO FUNNY BUSINESS!" Petunia put emphasis on the last three words, just in case Harry hadn't realized they don't even like the word magic. But than Harry realized that Marge wasn't coming, Leah was..."Who's Leah?"
Vernon tensed at being asked a question by Harry, but answered him anyway, "She is Dudley's second cousin from my brother Mark's family. They live in Canada so I have not bothered to mention them before. Strange to be hearing from her now – but she wants to meet Dudley and she is family so she is coming to stay. Now, don't try anything while we're out, and don't go outside, neighbours might see." Vernon finished off with a quick look out the window to make sure no neighbours were looking in anyway, and than swept off to the car with Petunia and Dudley behind him.
Once Harry was sure they had left, he picked up the letter and read:
Dear Duresly's
I am not sure if you remember me, but I am a niece to Mark – your brother and have been living with them while my parents sort out their divorce. I having been hearing great things about my cousin Dudley and aunt Petunia's cooking so I was wondering if it would be all right to stop be for a short while on the tenth, I will be in London with a friend and if this is not all right than please contact Albus D. at 694-3958 and I will be there.
I will be in London until September 1st, at which point I will be leaving from platform 9 or 10 (unsure) so you can contact me afterwards as well.
I have heard of that boy living with you and have found on my exploration of London, a quaint little street called Diagon Alley that could teach him a thing or two!
Look forward to meeting you, Leah Xyler
Harry reread the letter a few more times to make sure he was seeing the words correctly. Albus...September 1st...platform 9 or 10...Diagon Alley. This was either a very big (and I mean very big) coincidence, or Leah was trying to tell him something. She can't be a witch, that wouldn't make any sense! How come the Dursely's don't know? Why wouldn't she tell them? He reread the letter and his eyes caught on all the key words again, they were defiantly there...unless the Duresly's don't know because she has only just got into contact with them – and maybe she knows not to tell them that....but how? A million questions were racing through Harry's head, but one thing was clear – Leah must either be a witch, or a squib, or at least know of his world, and that could only be a good thing to Harry. He flipped over the letter to see if anything else was there, and small writing in the bottom left corner caught his eye: Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus. The inscription for Hogwart's.
Quickly he raced up stairs and prepared the quest room, he had never been more delighted to be related to Uncle Vernon!