Dear Harry,
How are you feeling
Harry? Both I and Buckbeak are doing well. I cannot tell you much about what I
am doing and I must make this brief. Moony (Lupin as you know him) is here with
me. I need to tell you something of great importance Harry. There have been
more killings around the area where you saw Lord Voldemort. He seems to be much
more powerful than he was fourteen years ago. I do not know much about this. I
have of course been talking to Albus Dumbledore, and he doesn't know whether or
not Fudge will be getting rid of the Dementors in Azkaban. Harry- I must go
now. Do not write me back. I will send word when I can, but I of course am
still on the run. Stay safe and Harry, DO be careful.
Sirius
"This is all my fault." Harry said as he
shook his head thinking about all the problems with Lord Voldemort, but he knew
this was not true. No. Not true at all. In his third year he was convinced it
would be, because he stopped Sirius and Lupin from murdering Peter Pettigrew,
otherwise known as Wormtail. So now Wormtail was in Harry's debt somehow. Harry
wondered when the time would come. He was still shaken from his experience with
Lord Voldemort up close in person, but well enough.
Harry heard a soft "hoot" sound. He
looked to Hedwig, his snowy owl, she was asleep. He turned to the window and
saw Pigwidgeon, Ron's tiny Scop owl carrying a letter.
"Hello Pig. Whutcha got there?" Harry
asked as Pigwidgeon came over and flew around the room, and then around Harry's
head, hooting quite happily and looking proud for delivering the letter.
Harry,
Thanks for the birthday
card and the Chudley Cannons limited edition collectors' shirt. It must have
cost a bundle. But, I thought I told you not to buy me anymore birthday or
Christmas presents. (Harry had bought him a pair of Omnioculors at the World
Cup last year and they were quite expensive.) Hope your feeling well. Have you
written to Hermione lately? They made her a PREFECT. I am sort of proud of her
though.... Even if it is a dumb thing to be.
Write me back soon Harry,
Ron
He glanced at his bedside clock. It was already two
A.M. He laid down and drifted off to sleep.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Harry awoke in the morning to hear his cousin,
Dudley throwing another fit and Aunt Petunia screaming at him to wake up. Harry
clambered out of bed and got dressed. As he reached the bottom of the
staircase, he had to duck. Dudley had just thrown a flower vase across the
parlor.
"Oh Diddlykins, come now," said Aunt
Petunia cautiously, "and stop throwing things. Breakfast will be done
soon." She added soothingly.
"No! I WANT BACON AND EGGS! NOT GRAPEFRUIT
AGAIN!!!" screamed Dudley at the top of his lungs. Aunt Petunia still had
him on the diet and Dudley was not happy about it.
"Well.... We can have eggs," she spoke
very carefully, "but no bacon."
"I- WANT- BACON!!!" he shrieked. Aunt
Petunia cringed. She looked sharply at Harry whom she had just now noticed.
"You! Why weren't you up earlier you lazy
layabout!?"
"I was up late doing homework for Potions
class," he said earnestly. Petunia cringed. Harry would not show it or he
would be punished, but he wanted to smile so badly. He wasn't going to let the
Dursleys boss him around this summer.
"Harry..." she spoke warningly.
"Just... just get outside." He looked at her. He was expecting to be
punished. "NOW! What are you waiting for?" she yelled. She was so
exhausted dealing with Dudley that she wasn't up to thinking up a punishment at
the moment. Harry scampered off outside.
Harry didn't know what to do. So he pulled out some
Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. He started blowing bubbles. They were blue and
gigantically proportioned.
"Mum!" cried Dudley, "He's chewing
that odd gum again! The kind with the bubbles!"
"Oh dear!" she shrieked. "Harry get
in here now and get rid of that gum!" She paused, "and you'll be
doing the gardening! In! NOW!" Aunt Petunia waited. "Harry! I'm
warning you! Get in here now or I'll"
"You'll do what? You know.... I haven't
written to my Godfather in quite a while.... He might think something's
up." He grinned and waited at those words. He could see her tense up and
look about, as if waiting to be turned into a toad.
"Well at least get in your room! NOW! And GET
RID OF THAT RIDICULOUS GUM!" she screamed as he came inside and walked
upstairs. They were empty threats. He knew that. Sirius told him not to write
back. He went to his room. Which, incredulously, was what he wanted. He needed
to finish his essay for Potions. He sat down and began to work.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Harry awoke with a start. He had fallen asleep on
his desk after finishing his Potions essay and starting his Herbology diagrams
on how to plant Trifficle plants. There was an owl he didn't recognize sitting
on his desk patiently. He cleared up his eyes and took the letter from the owl.
It was from Hermione. He decided he would read it a bit later. It was indeed a
very handsome owl though. He took a quick drink from Hedwig's water bowl and
took off. It was almost lunchtime and Harry was hungry.
He walked down the stairs and saw Uncle Vernon
carrying a suitcase and his briefcase and walking out the door. Dudley was
playing a video game on the family computer.
"Where is Uncle Vernon going?" he asked
Dudley.
"Dad's going on a business trip." said
Dudley blandly, "YES! Fourteen thousand seven hundred points!" Harry
sat down, bored. Then Aunt Petunia declared that it was time for lunch. Dudley
ran into the kitchen. Harry slowly slouched in. She served it onto the table.
Lunch was just a small piece of baked chicken with celery. Harry chowed down
his chicken and nibbled on a stick of celery as he put his plate in the sink
and washed it. He went back up to his room to read the letter he had received.
Dear Harry,
How're you? I bet Ron
already mentioned, but just in case, THEY MADE ME A PREFECT!!! I can't believe
it. Can you? My parents are very proud... They bought me this owl. His name is
Rolandin. I found it in A Thousand and One Wizards of the Thirteenth Century.
Do you like? My parents were actually a bit... er angry with me for shrinking
my teeth. Or rather letting Madam Pomferey shrink them. However, after I told
them about Malfoy's stupid curse, they were a bit more understanding. How is
Dudley? Are the Dursleys being dreadful toward you? Hope you're well.
Hermione
"Cooooooming." said Petunia shrilly. She
walked to the front door and opened it. "He......llo..." she finished
faintly. "What do you want? Why are you here?" she said nastily. A
familiar voice said, "You should know by now."
"Mum, who is it?"questioned Dudley.
"Dudley, go- go to your room! NOW! It's Sirius
Black." she said sharply. Dudley's eyes widened. Then he ran up the stairs
faster than you could say "jackrabbit."
"Sirius!!!" Harry cried out, running
towards the door.
"You know him?" she eyed Harry sharply.
"He... he is my godfather...." said
Harry, quite confused.
"What do you mean? This is my cousin! My nasty
wizard cousin. How could he be your godfather?" Harry was completely
shocked. His mouth hung open. He looked from Sirius to Aunt Petunia and back
again, then back to Sirius. Harry asked him, "Bu-But how??? I mean, you
never mentioned.... A-a-and you... like you never said anything."
"Remember? I knew about you living with
them?" Realization dawned on Harry. "Harry, didn't you get my last
letter? I told you I would be coming... to er-... pick you up."
"Awesome!" yelled Harry. "Now wait a
minute here!" interjected Petunia, "He is NOT going with you.
"Why NOT?" said Harry defiantly.
"Because you have been lying to us for over a
year now. About your Godfather. You're going to be punished before you take one
step out of this house."
"Um... Harry." said Sirius, "Go get
your things. We're LEAVING." He looked at Aunt Petunia with the cold dead
eyes he had gotten with all his years in Azkaban.
Harry ran upstairs and gathered his letters and
schoolwork and shoved it all into his trunk along with is invisibility cloak
that he had been using to sneak into the kitchen for midnight snacks. He also
grabbed his books that were laying about. He closed his trunk and looked
around. Harry had all of his things. He took the trunk downstairs very carefully
and very slowly. Then he ran back up and took Hedwig and her cage.
"Ready Harry?" asked Sirius.
"No." about to voice something he just
thought about. "HOW do I know you're really Sirius? Wha- What was my
father's nickname at school?"
Sirius smiled. "Prongs. Now lets get
going."
"One more! What did you send me for my
birthday in my third year?"
"I can't remember... I don't remember sending
you anything.... Oh yes! A big scare in Magnolia Crescent. It was a bit
belated, but it was only by a couple of days."
Harry laughed and walked out with him. He saw Lupin
standing outside with a man he didn't know and....
"Miss Figg?!" cried Harry. "What are
you doing here? Are... are you a witch? And who're you?" he asked turning
toward the man.
"Mundungus Fletcher. Nice to meet you"
Harry remembered Percy talking about a Mundungus Fletcher at the Quidditch
World Cup.
We have to get going to Professor
Dumbledore's."said Sirius. "He said we were to take you with
us." And they all walked off toward the end of the road.
"Whu? Who? Ara- Oh! You mean Mrs. Figg's daughter?" Harry said.
"Yes precisely," Lupin spoke calmly.
"Well, frankly, I am surprised to see her. I had no idea that she was a
witch. I would never have guessed it. She seemed quite, er, normal the one time
I met her." Harry confessed.
" I see. So you know her mother, Edith Figg?" asked Lupin.
"Yeah." Harry answered him. "She would watch me when the
Dursleys went out. Or when it was Dudley's birthday. The only odd thing about
her that I can remember is she had a ton of cats."
