Before I begin, I should also explain who Cheria is...she's a character I've added who's a friend of Hermione's. Cheria joined Hogwarts in their fourth year. And to answer Pale Rider's (thanks for your review!) question, no, nothing romantic will develop between Harry and Cheria and it won't be a "Mary Sue" type story; those bore me out of my mind. Sure, Cheria is a good friend to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but she's closer to Hermione than either Harry or Ron.
It's the end of Harry Potter's 4th year at Hogwarts and he and his friends have gone home for the summer. Ron, Hermione, and Draco have hit puberty this year and Harry is on the edge of it. He'll be fifteen this summer and will go through so many changes...enjoy, all Harry Potter fans!
The Transformation
By: CNJ
PG-13
1
Dear Ron,
Incredible, but another
year is over, as Dumbledore always says at our end-of-the-year banquet.
Cho
and I were on the verge of tears as the train left Hogwarts;
did
you notice that? Cedric is still fresh in both of our minds. I really didn't
want to say goodbye to you, Hermione, Ginny, Cheria, or Cho getting off
the train. I felt like I was moving in slow motion and as you know,
didn't want to get into Uncle Vernon's car. Things are quiet so
far, but who know when that will change, as I've only been home two days.
Dudley's demanding that he get a car already for his sixteenth birthday.
I
shudder to think of my cousin behind the wheel of a car, especially since
now he's out at all hours and I suspect he's running with a wilder group
this year. I've managed to stay out of his way; so far he's
only pushed me into the closet once. How are Ginny and the rest
of your family? I really wish I could see all of you, but I'm not counting
on it. You know how Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia won't let me bring
anyone over, especially not from Hogwarts. It's a little lonely here and
my heart aches a little, but I'm counting the days when I can go back to
Hogwarts in the fall. Just three more years, Ron, and we'll be adults.
Speaking of adults...my voice sounded a little different this
morning and I can't figure out if it's the change that us boys go through
with the big voice change. You went through it last fall; what
does it feel like? I mean, did you know that it was going to be it for
your voice? I wonder if I'll be as tall as Dad; I'm still very small
for almost fifteen. You're so much taller than me now. I'm
upstairs in my room, the upstairs one and right now, Aunt Petunia's shrieking
about something, I don't know what. I just hope she doesn't come
up here. As it is, you know how she is about my writing to you...
I went on a couple of pages
about the start of summer, but didn't tell Ron about how really lonely
I was and how I'd felt sort of moody lately. I also didn't mention that
instead of deep, my voice has come out kind of ringing and almost...metallic.
I just hope I don't sound too dreadful. I also didn't tell Ron that Aunt
Petunia and Uncle Vernon are fighting a lot more this summer and that Dudley
has come home drunk or high more than a few times. Or that Dudley had a
scrape with the law in April and my aunt and uncle ran to bail him out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"HAAA-RRYYYY!" Dudley bellowed
up the stairs. "Mummy and Dad want your arse down here now!"
"Bloody hell..." I muttered.
I'd finished my letter to Ron and sealed it, so I sealed it and gave it
to my owl Hedwig to send to the Weasleys. I heard thunks on the stairs,
so I started downstairs. Dudley sneered at me and I tried to slip
past him, but he tripped me and I stumbled with a yelp.
"For a wizard, you're awful
clumsy," Dudley laughed and raced ahead of me to the kitchen where dinner
was ready. His voice changed last year. I struggled to my feet, muttering
under my breath, then ambled into the kitchen, where the Dursleys were
already wolfing down their food.
"Well, it's about time you
showed for dinner," Vernon told me as I sat.
"Please pass the mash,"
I asked. I was startled to hear my voice ring again. Petunia passed it
on and as I helped myself, I wondered if they'd noticed how strange I'd
just sounded. As I ate, I listened to Uncle Vernon ramble on about his
work and about this person and that. Aunt Petunia occasionally butted in
with a snide comment about this neighbor or that one and I wondered if
the fact that she hasn't worked since Dudley was born made her so small-minded
and critical. But then again, Vernon works, but he's not much better. Dudley
snatched the peas platter out of my hand when I tried to serve myself and
dumped most of it into his own plate. I rolled my eyes and Dudley sneered
at me, then snickered. My aunt and uncle ignored his behavior as usual.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was working on my summer assignments by the outside streetlight when I heard footsteps. Bloody shit, I thought with a swallow and slid under the sheets pulling in my parchment and quill. It was Uncle Vernon getting up to piss. I waited until he was done and had been back in bed a few minutes before sitting up and continuing my potions assignment. Even though it wasn't cold, I was shivering a while later as I got into bed and couldn't stop shaking for a while before drifting back to sleep.