Summer School Woes

by PeanutButterConnoisseur

Patty McCormick, who lives next door to the Dursley's, anxiously awaits the return of Harry Potter, the mysterious boy that strangely disappears during the school months. As Patty sees Harry, her long-standing crush on him kicks into overdrive.

1. Chapter 1

Patty McCormick stared out of her dirty window, onto the neighboring lot, the home of the Dursley's. It was early on a summer day, and the window was cracked slightly to let in the temperate breeze. Patty let her mind wander, and she watched the silent, nonmoving neighborhood. Her grades had not been good enough the previous school year, and now was forced to take summer school classes, the worst possible punishment her parents or her school could concoct.

The Dursley's were always a bit of a mystery to Patty, who was a year behind Dudley. The man of the house was fat and antisocial, and reminded Patty a bit of a walrus. His wife, Petunia she though was her name, was timid and pale looking, and even less friendly than her husband. And from what Patty could observe of their son, he was an annoying, chubby, bully of a boy that liked to think he was tough, though he would as soon run away from anything dangerous than meet it head on.

But then there was Harry, a slight young man, a year older than Patty, who mysteriously disappeared during the school year, only to return nine months later for the summer. It was Harry who Patty had always harbored a crush for, and it was Harry for whom she was now watching. It was June 15th already and he had not yet returned, so Patty was getting anxious. Though she knew deep down that liking to the point of loving someone she had only spoken to once was foolish, she could not shake the feeling she got when he looked her in the eyes from behind his thick glass lenses.

Patty's reverie was broken as her mother called up that it was time to leave. Patty sighed and retrieved her schoolbag, which she had shoved under her desk the previous evening. She climbed sullenly down the stairs, into the garage, and into the car. Her face was set in a serious line when she saw him. It was Harry, getting out of a car in the Dursley's driveway. Patty gasped quietly through her nose at the gangly boy as he struggled with a heavy trunk, and their eyes locked for a fleeting moment, sending shivers down her spine. She snapped her head forward and wished silently that this would not be the last time they met.