Autumn 1988
Jennifer Halfpenny was twenty three years old when she bought her first house with her new husband Michael. Number Eight Magnolia Crescent was a small house with three bedrooms with a small front garden and a pond in the back garden where the previous owners had left a couple of friendly looking gnomes. It took a while for Michael and Jennifer to get used to the extra space and garden after several years of living in halls of residence and shared flats but they soon learned to revel in it.
The little house was perfectly situated, close to shops, a library and on a regular bus route to the centre of Little Whinging where Michael's practice was located. Jennifer was also thankful that it just happened to be on the other side of town from Mr and Mrs Halfpenny, Michael's well-meaning but often interfering parents.
Handily it was also fifteen minutes' walk away from St Grogory's Primary School where Jennifer started work teaching Year 4 in September.
"Year 4 is easy enough" Headmistress Roemmele told her on her first day "Not too young that you'll spend half your time mopping tears and vomit and not old enough that you have to worry about exam results"
"You'll be taking 4G, there are a few boisterous ones in there like any class but nothing you can't handle I'm sure" and with a hearty clap on the back Cecilia Roemmele left her to it.
Her teacher training and fellow colleagues had taught her that there were certain types of children in each class and sure enough over the first few weeks Jennifer was able to spot that Class 4G had all the usual suspects.
Amanda Stevens, a blonde girl with pigtails was easily the brightest always with her hand in the air, Ibrahim Masood was the comedian amusing his classmates (and secretly Jennifer) with funny impressions of Mrs Roemmele and the ex-army teacher Mr Barrington.
Judy Jenkins was a very inquisitive girl if not slightly annoying, always questioning why they had to learn the six times table and what proof Jennifer had that the Earth did in fact go round the sun. Gordon Stoles meanwhile seemed more interested in eating his workbook than writing in it.
As with every class there was an oddball, a scrawny little boy with jet black scruffy hair covering a lightening shaped scar and a uniform that was several sizes two big, Harry Potter sat at the back of the classroom on a table by himself often staring dreamily out the window at the playing fields beyond. He was a very polite if quiet boy, it was such a shame really that he wasn't particularly bright.
"Harry" Jennifer called one day catching the boy watching Mr Barrington's Year Sixes playing football outside "What do you think the answer is?"
She nodded to the half-finished long multiplication problem on the board and Harry squinted slightly "Um, three"
The class laughed and Jennifer struggled to contain a small smile "No Harry, I'm afraid sixty four multiplied by twelve is not three, anyone else have any guesses"
Amanda immediately shot up her hand
"Yes Amanda… Dudley stop that this instant"
Rounding off the class stereotypes was Dudley Dursley a large round boy who along with his best friend Piers Polkiss and several other boys bullied the rest of Year 4. Their favourite target in particular was Harry Potter who Dudley was currently throwing balled pieces of paper at.
"Sorry Mrs Halfpenny" Dudley said not sounding sorry at all.
Dudley was an exceptionally stupid boy but to be honest Jennifer was more concerned with Harry's performance. This may have been because she simply felt sorry for the poor boy who seemed to have no friends yet was always polite to her whereas Dudley spent most of her lessons taking up her time by misbehaving. It may also have been that Dudley was stupid because he simply messed around in lessons whilst little Harry seemed to work quite hard but was worrying far behind in both English and Maths.
Voicing her concerns to the boy's Year 3 teacher Ms Hardcastle, a withered old battle-axe who for some reason believed Potter to be a deranged lunatic did not help matters.
"His aunt explained the whole thing" Ms Hardcastle said one lunchtime in the staffroom after telling Jennifer a ludicrous story where Harry had turned her wig blue. Jennifer was privately convinced it must have been Ibrahim up to his usual tricks and with batty old Ms Hardcastle for a teacher she was not sure she could blame him. "He's not right in the head, never has been. She told me not to bother, not much can be done"
Jennifer was shocked to hear such a cold interest in the boy's welfare "His aunt told you, what about his parents?"
"Cecilia didn't tell you?" Ms Hardcastle questioned "Potter doesn't have parents; they died in a car crash years ago. He lives with his aunt, uncle and cousin now."
"How awful" Jennifer said feeling a stab of sympathy for Harry, no wonder he was always staring mistily out of the window
"That's why he's all…" Ms Hardcastle whispered making a loopy motion with her hand "Luckily for the Dursleys, Dudley turned out all right"
Jennifer raised her eyebrows in surprise and put aside the notion that Dudley Dursley had turned out all right to one side for one moment "Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley are cousins"
Ms Hardcastle nodded furiously "Never have guessed it would you? There could not be two boys more different"
Sure enough at the end of the school day Jennifer spotted a tall bony woman with a neck life a giraffe smothering an embarassed Dudley Dursley with kisses in the playground whilst Harry Potter stood off to one side looking on awkwardly. Mrs Dursley said some cursory words to Harry before grabbing Dudley's hand and escorting him across the road in front of the school with Harry jogging behind.
Jennifer observed Harry over the next few weeks and noticed he was also a little clumsy. Once or twice he bumped into a table on his way into class and several times had been hit in the face with a ball during P.E. much to the laughter of the rest of the class. By November she had formed an idea.
"Harry can you come stay behind for a moment" Jennifer called as the class filed out for afternoon play.
Jennifer sat down on one of the little chairs by Harry's table; the boy looked quite nervous and avoided Jennifer's eyes "Harry I've noticed that you've had some trouble reading as well as with your other work"
"I'm sorry, I do try" Harry insisted looking incredibly small and guilty
Jennifer felt her heart break a little "Oh Harry, it's not your fault I know you try hard, I was wondering if you could help me with a little theory I've come up with"
Harry looked a little more relieved and nodded
"How to the words look to you on the page?" Jennifer asked and leaned to pick up a copy of Hoppy the Happy Rabbit from the nearby bookshelf and opened it in front of Harry "Can you see the lines of the letters clearly or are they blurry?"
Harry squinted at the first page "I…uh suppose they are kind of fuzzy"
Jennifer thought so and pointed at out the window where the rest of the school was at play "Can you tell me who's on the swings with Judy"
Harry's eyes scrunched up as he strained to see "Is it uh… Piers?" he asked hazarding a guest
Jennifer hid a smile "Not quite, it's Amanda"
Harry went bright red with embarrassment
"Harry when was the last time you went to the opticians"
Harry was silent for a moment and once again he looked as though he had done something wrong "I don't think I've ever been"
Jennifer frowned shocked that the boy's aunt and uncle had neglected such an important part of the boy's health especially as their nephew seemed to have such bad sight problems. "OK Harry you can go out to play now"
Harry looked distinctly relieved and rushed to leave the classroom almost tripping over his oversized trousers on the way out.
Jennifer had the chance to speak about her concerns to the Dursleys the next day at parent's evening. Whilst Harry took after his aunt's side of the family in terms of skinniness Mr Dursley was pound for pound an adult size replica of his son. Almost as wide as he was tall and with a very red face that almost looked like it was being strangled by his black and grey striped tie Mr Dursley cut a very imposing figure marching into her classroom with an air of disdain. Jennifer thought it was lucky she had had the foresight to bring in some adult chairs from the staffroom as she was certain Mr Dursley would have broken any of the smaller chairs in her classroom.
Mr and Mrs Dursley it turned out were under the impression that Dudley walked on water and seemed impervious to Jennifer's suggestions that his work wasn't really up to standard "What do I want a swot for a son for?" Mr Dursley boomed.
When she had brought up Dudley's bullying Mr Dursley merely chuckled heartily "Boys will be boys, the little tyke"
Conscious that she had only allotted a certain amount of time for each set of parents and the Masoods were already outside Jennifer moved onto Harry who Mr and Mrs Dursley seemed markedly less interested in, as Jennifer showed them Harry's painting of the solar system, Mr Dursley tapped his foot impatiently whilst his wife kept checking her watch. She became increasingly annoyed as she explained the difficulties Harry was having in English and Maths and the couple shared knowing smirks as though they were pleased he wasn't doing well.
"However I think the route of these problems is probably his eyesight which seems to be below average" Jennifer went on to say "Harry tells me he's never been to the opticians before"
Jennifer didn't realise until she had said this last part how accusatory it may have sounded until Mr Dursley went very red and angry
"Has he now?" he boomed "And just what other tales has Potter been telling you?"
"Harry hasn't been telling tales" Jennifer rushed to reassure them "I just meant it might be an idea to get him tested for glasses, I think they could make the world of difference in his schoolwork. My husband has a practice on Church Street or if you already…"
"Ho ho so that's what this is all about" Mr Dursley sneered "You get us in here on the pretence of Dudley's education and before we know it you're trying to bleed us dry"
"Disgraceful" Mrs Dursley muttered in agreement
Jennifer was horrified "I can assure you Mr Dursley that it simply not the case I am simply speaking in regards to Harry's welfare. There are many reputable opticians you can use and surely you know the NHS will pay for any treatment Harry needs given his age. Money is no issue here."
This if anything made Mr Dursley more angry "And what make you think money is an issue?" he boomed swelling to almost twice his size and Jennifer noted that with his bushy moustache he looked remarkably like a walrus "What has that boy told you?"
"Nothing absolutely nothing" Jennifer insisted quickly, worried about how her words would affect Harry and shocked at the behaviour of this strange man "Look I wasn't trying to insinuate anything it's just that I've noticed Harry's uniform is second hand. It's really nothing to be ashamed of you know, have you ever been to one of our jumble sales, a lot of families get surprising good quality uniforms there"
This was the wrong thing to say.
Mr Dursley swelled up and went so red he now resembled a scarlet hot air balloon. He seethed and spluttered, spraying spit everywhere, so angry he could barely get the words out "How dare…never in my…mark…"
"I'll have you know my husband is the director of a very successful drill manufacturer" Mrs Dursley sneered with absolute derision at Jennifer "We live extremely comfortably and judging by your cardigan much better than you. Come along Vernon."
What was wrong with her cardigan?
"Mark my words" Mr Dursley said through gritted teeth as they got up to leave "We will be discussing this with the headmistress"
The Dursleys stormed out of the classroom shutting the door so forcefully it banged back and forth several times. Oh dear Jennifer worried what would the Headmistress say, would she get the sack? She also had a very nasty feeling that the Dursleys were going to take out her lack of diplomacy on poor Harry when they got home.
"Mrs Halfpenny?" Mr Masood said tentatively sticking his head round the door "Um…do you have time to talk about Ibrahim now?"
Headmistress Roemmele gave her a two hour lecture on how to deal with difficult parents and fortunately chalked up the incident to Jennifer's relative inexperience.
"What you have to remember Jennifer" Mrs Roemmele told her "Is that they usually know their child a lot better than you do"
"We also have to be careful because Mr Dursley seems like the type to complain to the Governors in future and that looks very bad for the school."
When he heard the story Michael was of course aghast at the Dursley's attitude towards their nephew "Do you know what could happen if he has a serious eye condition and it is left unchecked?"
Jennifer did in fact know mostly because she had helped Michael revise for that part of his exams and was sorely tempted to agree with Michael's estimation that the Dursleys were incredibly neglectful guardians.
The rest of Parent's Evening passed with relatively little drama elsewhere. Unlike Ms Hardcastle however Jennifer at least hadn't needed to play referee to the newly separated Wilkinsons who spent their entire appointment sniping at each other before Mrs Wilkinson snapped and dumped a tank full of frogspawn over her soon to be ex-husband as well as Ms Hardcastle.
November grew colder and bitterer and soon it was December and the children grew wild with excitement in anticipation for Christmas. Jennifer made sure to hand out Christmas cards and chocolates to all of her class and managed to prevent Dudley from stealing the other children's chocolate after he had stuffed his face with his own. She was delighted to receive cards from quite a few of her students including a very nice handmade card with a robin on the front from Harry.
Michael brought home a Christmas tree and they spent a lazy Saturday decorating the house with baubles, paper streamers and tinsel. There was the usual bout of Christmas parties; the one at Michael's practice was really just drinks at The Crown due to Michael's practice consisting of himself, a more experienced optician Dr Singh and their receptionist Mrs Philips.
Ms Hardcastle's Year 3 class put on a nativity show to mark the end of term and soon it was the Christmas holidays and Jennifer was braving the packed shops of Little Whinging to buy presents for friends and family. She congratulated herself on discovering a bottle of fine wine for her Uncle Glen and a china cat ornament for her mother-in-law one Friday morning thus completing all her Christmas shopping with one week to go until the big day itself. Making her way to the bus stop she encountered a familiar face looking nervously around outside Marks & Spencer
"Harry, everything ok?" she asked approaching him. Harry looked distinctly relieved and explained that he had come shopping with his aunt and cousin and gotten lost.
"Well where did you last see them?"
"Aunt Petunia told me to wait by the socks whilst she took Dudley to try on shirts, I waited and waited and then when I went to look for them I couldn't find them" Harry said nervously
Jennifer sighed "You probably crossed paths, come on I'll take you to look for them"
She lead Harry back into the shop and they made their way over to the changing room "Your aunt is probably worried sick" she said on their journey through the packed shop. Harry looked at her with a startling amount of scepticism for an eight year old and Jennifer was reluctant to admit he was likely right.
Dudley and Mrs Dursley were not by the jumpers or the changing rooms so Jennifer searched out the shop manager who took them to his office where he made an announcement over the telecom that Harry Potter's aunt should collect him at the help desk. They waited 45 minutes before it became clear that Mrs Dursley had forgotten Harry.
The shop manager suggested contacting the police but Harry spoke up insisting it was unnecessary and he didn't want to make a fuss
"You live in Privet Drive don't you Harry?" Jennifer asked
Harry nodded "Number four"
"Well that's not far from when I live, how about I drop you off there on my way home" This was an acceptable solution to both the shop manager and Harry so she and Harry headed off to the Bus stop. As they were heading out of the shop Harry bumped into one of the glass doors whilst trying to get out.
Honestly this was getting ridiculous; checking her watch Jennifer asked Harry if he would mind taking a little detour and Harry who didn't seem in a particular hurry agreed. Making her way along the High Street she showed Harry into the pristine white and impeccably clean Bright Sight Opticians. The walls were covered with spectacles of all different shapes and sizes on display alongside mirrors and arty black and white photos of beautiful people modelling the glasses.
A large uncomfortable looking black leather sofa stood opposite the receptionist's desk where old Mrs Philips sat eating her chicken and lettuce sandwiches.
"I'm sorry we're closed for lunch" Mrs Philips called before looking up to see Jennifer and Harry "Oh hello dear, have you been Christmas shopping"
"Yes I've got all the presents now, I just have to go home and wrap them"
"Oh you're so organised dear, I'm sure I'll be out fighting the masses for the last bath salts on Christmas Eve" Mrs Philips chuckled and then peering over her glasses she noticed Harry "And who's this young man then?"
"This is Harry Potter, one of my students" Jennifer explained "Is Michael free?"
Mrs Philips told her he was in the Examination room with his cold pasta.
"Well this is a surprise"
"Harry this is my husband Michael Halfpenny" Jennifer introduced them after she had pecked Michael hello "Michael this is one of my students Harry Potter"
Jennifer gave her husband a meaningful look and he registered that this was the boy with the poor eyesight and neglectful aunt and uncle.
"Could you just take a quick look at him?" she whispered
"Jenny" Michael sighed "You know I can't do that not without his guardian's permission, where are his guardians anyway?"
"Heaven knows" Jennifer rolled her eyes "His aunt forgot him in Marks & Spencer. Come on Michael can't you bend the rules just this once, you said yourself he could have all sorts of viruses or infections"
Harry who had been hovering nearby pretending to look at Michael's fish tank stopped stared at the couple in alarm before quickly realising he shouldn't be eavesdropping and went back to staring hard a particularly sluggish water snail.
Michael glanced down at the eight year old in an oversized jumper that went down past his knees and then back at his wife who fluttered her eyelids pleadingly.
"Alright Harry, pop on the red chair let's take a look at you" he relented
Michael then asked Harry to read all the letters he could from a chart opposite and looked in Harry's eyes every so often with a variety of different instruments. He wrote down some quick notes as he worked before getting Harry to try reading some small print close up. Then he got a pair of very funny looking glasses with interchangeable lenses and told a wary looking Harry to try them on.
Harry gasped out loud at the difference, he held up his hand to see it through the lenses and then pulled them to the tip of his nose to see with and without them at the same time.
"Not so fast Harry" Michael chuckled, he then proceeded to get out a series of different lenses and change them with the ones in the glasses asking Harry along the way which were the best and most comfortable
"Do I have an infection then?" Harry asked boldly once Michael had finished and ask Harry to take off the special glasses.
"No not at all Harry your eyes are perfectly healthy" Michael said smiling "They are a little weak however so it's probably advisable for you to wear glasses from now on so you'll be able to read better and possibly not bump into so many tables"
Harry looked very happy at that and Jennifer saw him grin for the first time since she had known him.
"Now all you need to do is get your aunt and uncle to come in here with you and we'll prescribe you with your very own set of glasses"
Harry's face fell instantly and looking earnestly at Jennifer she could tell what he was thinking.
"Michael is there any way we could do this without them" Jennifer implored before explaining delicately "Harry's aunt and uncle, well they are not the most understanding of guardians"
Harry nodded vigorously
"I'm sure if you just explained the situation that you really needed these glasses for school Harry" Michael said "I mean they must under…"
"They won't" Harry interrupted "they wouldn't care if my eyes fell out as long as it didn't make a mess on the carpet"
"Well I'm sure that's not true" Michael said in what he obviously thought was a reassuring tone but noticing his wife's expression "let me see what I can do"
He went to the back of the room with the notes he had made and pulled open several drawers before he found the right set of black glasses with round rims.
"Here" he said handing them to Harry with a grim expression "I'll do a bit of creative paperwork and mind you don't break them"
Harry smiled and put the spectacles on keenly. As they left the shop Harry looked eagerly around the High Street savouring the clear sights and visions before him, it was as though he was looking through a magnifying glass. As Jennifer led him to the bus stop where they caught the No. 465 he kept taking them off and putting them back on again to marvel at the difference.
"I really think those glasses will make a difference Harry" Jennifer said on the way home "You're a bright boy and you should find school much easier now"
Harry's face dropped as though he had just thought of something "What am I going to tell Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia?" he asked her nervously
"You leave them to me; I'm sure once they see how much the glasses help you they'll understand"
Harry didn't look convinced. Soon they reached their stop and walked the rest of the way to Number Four, Privet Drive. As fortune would have it Mrs Dursley was entertaining a guest when they arrived at the door and was unable to do anything but lightly scold Harry for running off and thank Jennifer for bringing him home. However she noticed Mrs Dursley twitch when her friend Yvonne complimented Harry on his new glasses and she seemed to biting her lip as though there was a lot she wanted to say but felt that she shouldn't in polite company.
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