HARRY POTTER AND THE SHADOW OF DARKNESS
-1. The Odd Book
-2. The Vasile Feint
-3. Birthday
-4. Safety
-5. Invisible Fear
-6. Giant Problems
-7. Quidditch
-8. Missing
-9. Who?
-10. Weakness
-11. Dark Thoughts
-12. Find The Shadow
-13. The Silent Attack
-14. Terror
-15. Midnight Hunt
-16. When The Shadow Finds You
-17. The Voice Of The Shadow
-18. The Dark Book Of Dark Arts
These are to come later:
-19. Servus
-20. The Last Hunt
-21. Survive
-22. The Worst Nightmare
-23. Recovery
-24. Untitled
Chapter 1: The Odd Book
It was Harry's first day back at the Dursleys after his fourth year. He was at Privet Drive number Four for only three hours, but he already started to miss everything that made him happy while at Hogwarts, which was his true house. He imagined that he still was with his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, talking to them... but he had to spend the entire summer alone at the Dursleys, with no magic. He had no idea what to do for two entire, long, months...
The Dursleys weren't talking to him at all. Maybe they were scared that Harry's godfather, who they still thought that was a convincted murderer, may come and kill them if they mistreat Harry, so they didn't want anything to do with Harry. He only met them during meals, where they gave him as little food as they were giving Dudley(who was still on a diet after not being able to fit into the school desks).
His life was as it had always been with those magic-hating Muggles. He was bored to death in his first day, he wondered if he would resist two months... and if he did, how.
He started doing his homework at History of Magic(he dedided to start with the most boring ones first). That was a lot better than waiting two months for time to pass. He started writing about "The begining of the Dark Arts", one of the only interresting subjects they had ever done with Professor Binns, who was the only ghost professor at Hogwarts. Harry wrote about Grindelwald, a dark wizard Dumbledore had stopped himself in 1945. And after he finished the essay, the piece of parchment he wa writing on had a very long text wrote on it, a few words about every known and powerful Dark Wizard of all times. Surprised, Harry saw that none other was as powerful as Lord Voldemort, who was lurking free at the time Harry was writing about him, doing as many murders as possible.
He finished the History of Magic Homework, and then stopped because he thought that in that manner, he would finish the homework in his first few days back.
The next day, bored as he was, he knew exactly what to do. He took a piece of parchment and his quill, and then he started writing a letter to Ron asking for advice... He said that he would ask Hermione later about it, when Hedwig returned with Ron's reply.
Dear Ron,
Life at the Dursleys is very boring. Is there any possibility that I may come to the Burrow? Please tell me anything I can do to stop this way of living, or I will die of boreness.
Bored, Harry
He looked at the last line on his letter and smiled a bit. It was the first time he smiled since he reached Privet Drive. That wasn't quite a letter ending, but he wanted to write it. Then, Hedwig automatically flew to him.
"Bring this to Ron. And just hope that I will survive this until you return," he added before tying the letter to her foot, trying to think that he would be able to find anything to do. He opened the window and watched Hedwig as she disappeared in the white clouds, wishing he could do it as well.
He turned back to his bed, lying uncomfortably and thinking about the previous year's events. Only a week ago, Lord Voldemort had risen again, and he had used Harry's blood to come back. Harry wondered if he started terrorizing people already, because he couldn't know. At the Dursleys, he didn't have any connections with the wizarding world...
Then, he sat on his bed and continued thinking about the recent events... and he remembered some even more sad ones. Cedric Diggory died because of him; it was him, Harry, the one who suggested that both of them should take the Cup... He felt guilty for his death, and thought he shouldn't have won the Triwizard Cup. Because of that, he gave Fred and George his winnings for the cup(one thousand galleons) threatening to curse them if they didn't accept. He wondered if they were making good use of the money.
Thinking of Cedric reminded Harry of Cho, who was the only girl he had ever liked. She was Cedric's grilfriend... that was what made Harry think that 'Cedric was in fact a useless pretty boy who didn't have enough brains to fill an eggcup.'
The moment Cho refused him when he asked her to go to the ball with him was quite painful to remember... but still, that was the sad reality. Why was everything bad for Harry? Why?
Hedwig's journey took a lot of time. Harry wondered if something happened to her, because he couldn't remember sending her with a letter to Ron and not come back in a few hours. The only times she disappeared for a very long time was when he sent letters to Sirius last year, and that had a good reason because from Sirius's words he was living very distant from Hogwarts. Now, after some time, she was back, and Harry was relieved to see that nothing bad happened. He read Ron's letter:
Dear Harry,
Dad said that the new Quidditch World Cup is about to start. It is not the final as it was last year, but it should be cool anyway. This is the first game of the Cup. I don't know when and there this game will be, but I am sure you can come with us to see it. Until then, I have no idea on what to tell you... ask Hermione.
See you soon - Ron
Reading that, he decided to take Ron's advice and send a letter, exactly as he sent to Ron, to Hermione. But this time he added a question, he asked if she could send some Daily Prophets. He also asked if she could send him something to eat, because the Dursleys wren't giving him too much food. And he ended the letter with 'I started living off memories.'
Harry found Hermione's reply only the next day, being woken up again by Hedwig clicking her beak on the closed window. She seemed quite tired of the journey, and Harry realized why when he saw the package she was carrying.
Harry let her in the room, and the first thing he saw was that Hermione sent him a big book("Typical", Harry said in his mind). He didn't look at it too much and went forward to reading the letter.
Dear Harry,
I have nothing to do to help you with the boring life, except to give you something to do. Take that book, it's quite interresting and I am sure that you will find useful information in it. I read parts of it and thought you would be interrested in reading more things about the Dark Arts -- especially the advanced ones you will have to deal with if You-Know-Who tries to do something to hurt you.
Speaking of food, I had very little things to give you. But I think you already saw them.
Love - Hermione
Harry looked to see what she gave him to eat, and noticed some very good-looking cookies packed together. As for the book, he only looked at its title("The Dark Book of Dark Arts") and because that name wasn't very attractive, he just placed it under the bed and forgot about it, eating a few cookies. Hermione didn't send him any newspapers so he still had no idea of what was happening in the magical world he belonged to.
Then, he went back to his daily way of spending time: recalling memories... He told himself to only bring back only good things, and to leave the bad ones for another time. But he couldn't -- the sense of guilt for Cedric's death came immediately through him, and it was quite a consuming feeling, especially because Cho had to be hurt because of that -- and it was all Harry's fault!
He would have given anything to stop him die... because the thought was going to haunt him forever. And even worse, he wondered what Cho would think of him now after Cedric died. His insides squirmed of the thought, and then he closed his eyes trying to sleep again - but how could he; it was only morning.
Life paseed in the same way as it always did while at the Dursleys: Wake up, go down to eat, go back to your room and start doing some homework, eat again, spend the rest of the day by recalling memories, then sleep again. Everything was so boring - he wondered how he could resist the first week back in that way. And he still had eight more weeks to spend...
One morning, he heard a loud bang coming from downstairs. Harry knew it was caused by someone closing a door, but that was something what very rarely happened on Prover Drive, nuber four.
Only a moment passed until someone started screaming, and he recognized the loud voice, it had to be Dudley. After that, Harry could hear another door opening, and then someone closed it with another bang. Courious, Harry opened his door and got out of the room. He started walking slowly to the staircase, to see what happepned to Dudley.
And Harry saw him, running in circles in the living room, having a horrified look on his face. Uncle Vernon was looking astounded at Dudley, and his face went angrier and angrier with each passing second. "DUDLEY!" he shouted, but Dudley did nothing except continuing screaming and running in the room. "ENOUGH!"
It was a very funny scene, maybe there never was any funnier scene in that house: Dudley was running in circles, still screaming so loud that Harry thought his ears would blow up, and Uncle Vernon was running at his fat back, trying to catch him -- but with no effect. Harry almost burst out laughing, but then Vernon noticed him spying.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON, BOY?" he yelled as loud as Dudley did. Harry knew from that moment that he was going to be in trouble, even if he had no idea what happened to Dudley. "WHAT?"
Harry answered, "I didn't do anything -"
"HOW COMES?" asked Vernon, even angrier. "BOY, YOU DO NOT LIE TO ME! WHAT DID YOU DO TO DUDLEY? TELL ME OR YOU WILL BE OUT OF THE HOU --" Vernon stopped like thunnderstruck. His face went from its angry expression to one of deepest confusion, and a little bit of terror, everything in less than a second.
Harry understood that when he remembered that Sirius Black was still free, and Vernon's fear stopped him from everything bad he could do to Harry. That's good, Harry thought, waiting to hear what Vernon said next. But unfortunately --
"TELL ME NOW!" he ordered.
"I didn't do anything! Ask him!" Harry pointed to Dudley, who still didn't stop.
Vernon seemed to listen to what Harry said, and went straight to Dudley. "DUDLEY! STOP THIS OR YOU WON'T EAT ANYTHING FOR A MONTH!" Harry knew Vernon would never do something like that, but he saw that at least it had some effect, Dudley stopped suddenly and looked at his uncle, who was very angry.
Vernon shouted at Dudley so loud that Harry couldn't understand what he said, he had to press his hands to his ears. Harry thought Dudley was in serious trouble - just as he was. He thought Uncle Vernon would never stop that shouting...
But suddenly he stopped everything, and Dudley told him something that Harry couldn't understand. Uncle Vernon entered Dudley's room, and after a few seconds, he came back out holding something very familiar by a leg in his big fists.
It was Errol, the old Weasley family owl. He had missed the target and went straight to Dudley's room. Judging Dudley's behavior towards everything from the wizarding world, it was nothing unusual that he started acting like that. The only one who acted strangely was, Harry thought, Uncle Vernon, because he couldn't remember seeing him shouting like that at his stupid fat son.
Uncle Vernon gave a stare at Dudley, and then he hasted to Harry's position. They looked at each other straight in their eyes, and then Vernon asked, "What is this then?" He pointed to Errol, and after that, he throwed the owl down to the ground, making a loud noise.
"I shall not approve this! If there will be ONE - MORE - THING - LIKE - THIS - you will see trouble as you had never been before. Did I make myself clear, BOY?"
Harry nodded. Uncle Vernon left, angry, while Harry went back to his room. He didn't forget to take Errol with him. Unfortunately, looking closer, he saw that Errol was dead. Ron's letter could be seen tied at his leg, and Harry took it slowly. He wondered what to tell Ron - he now had to give them the money to buy another owl. Not that it cost him much -- comparing to the money he had in his vault. But he felt sorry...
The Weasleys needed another owl anyway. Errol wasn't up to journeys lately, not even the shorter ones. And bringing letters to the wrong target could be devastating... What if Voldemort caught an important letter?
'How stupid I am,' Harry said to himself, 'if there is an important letter they wouldn't send it with Errol.'
Ron's letter was still tied to Errol's leg. Harry untied it. He read:
Dear Harry,
The game is in July 26th, and it is, surprisingly, at Hogwarts! We will come to take you at four PM, the game will begin at seven. I hope you will survive until that day.
Can't wait - Ron
Harry cheered up when he read the letter - it were two more weeks until the date Ron told him, but it was better than not leaving the Dursleys at all...
Then he took a piece of parchment. He wrote 'Dear Ron' but then, he stopped thinking how to start... because he didn't want it to sound too bad. It was a bad thing anyway, he thought, and wrote faster than his mind told him:
'I am sorry to say that Errol is... dead. He entered Dudley's room instead of mine, and Dudley was very alarmed of it. Scared as he is of anything which had to do with the magical world, he started running in circles and screaming louder than you can even imagine. My uncle wasn't pleased with it, and, angry as he was, he threw Errol to the floor so hard that when I took him, he was dead. I should buy you another owl in Diagon alley.'
He paused the next moments.
'I am very anxious to going to the Quidditch Cup.
See you then, Harry.'
That was the ending of his letter. He knew nothing more to write - the circumstances were quite bad and his mind was flying to other things, like what he could do because of Errol's death.
He called Hedwig, who, even though didn't much like Errol, looked quite sad after his death, and tied the letter to her leg. "Bring this to Ron..." he said in a dully voice. He felt sorry that he didn't have some galleons at him, because he wanted to include with the letter some money so they could get another owl. The Weasleys were a very poor family, indeed.
Then he went back to his bed, thinking of what Lord Voldemort was doing in the present. He felt that something was going to happen soon... it was a strange feeling he had last days, telling Harry that Voldemort would find him...
The next days passed as slow as usual. Ron sent back a letter and told Harry that he doesn't need to buy them another owl, because they were planning to get another owl even if nothing happened to Errol. "But I still have to give you another one because it was my fault," he said to himself while reading.
There were two more days until July 26th, and Harry thought it was better to ask the Dursleys if he could go to the Quidditch Game. Not that he wouldn't go anyway, but he thought it was better to tell them where he would be for a while before the day came -- maybe the only effect it had was to make them happier and anxious to leave... To tell them where he would be gone maybe for three hours or maybe for a few days, he didn't know how long the match could be. Some said that they could take several days.
It was a sunny morning. He had to go down for breakfast, anyway, so he decided he would ask them there. He dressed in the huge clothes that were once Dudley's, and went downstairs. His stomach was asking for food, and it didn't seem to give up until Harry ate something(he decided to keep some of the food Hermione gave him for another time, and it was only a very small amount of food left.
His aunt and uncle acted as usual. They looked like as didn't notice him enter, except for putting the plate with a very small amount of soup on the table. Harry took a spoon and started eating... he was thinking of what to tell them, of how to start.
He finished it in very few minutes even though he ate quite slowly. He didn't feel like telling the Dursleys anything, he thought they would ignore him. But he had to ask them... What was the loss? They couldn't do anything bad to him, could they? Not when they were scared of Sirius anyway. Then Harry remembered that he hadn't heard from Sirius for a long time.
"Uncle Vernon," he started, "The day after tomorrow, I will go to the Quidditch World Cup -- the same wi --" he stopped because he shouldn't say the 'wizard' word in that house, --"the same sport I went to watch last year." The entire Dursley family gave him a ferocious stare, then Petunia asked,
"More of those stupid odd stuff?"
Harry didn't answer, he would have never said that Quidditch was stupid. Then, the words formed without thinking, "Not stupid. Just Quidditch." Where did those words come from?
Harry saw Petunia's face darkening, and after that, Uncle Vernon got angrier. "We shall not be spoken like that! I told you this once before!"
But, exactly as he did last year, Harry didn't accept what Vernon said. He remembered how good things went last year, when he had almost almost overtaken the Dursleys. He tried to find a way to do it again, last time he talked about Sirius, and he knew they were very terrified that he would turn up and kill them with only one curse.
Harry knew that wasn't going to happen, but the Dursleys were that stupid, that they believed everything, and Harry had to make good use of that. This time he still had nothing to say yet, he still had to wait until they answered to his request to go to the Quidditch. Then, he could decide on what to tell them next.
"You can go then," Vernon told him in a i-know-whats-the-alternative way. "But how will you get there?"
Harry hadn't thought of that. He thought the Weasleys were coming to take him again. The only thing he wanted, was them to leave the house intact - last year they made quite a mess coming by Floo Powder. Not to forget that Fred and George gave Dudley(they only "dropped" it on the ground, they knew that Dudley would take it) a ton-tongue toffee that enlarged his tongue, done with a good engorgement charm.
"I suspect they will do another stupid thing!" said Uncle Vernon angrily. "If the last year's events are going to happen again, I..."
But then he paused, it looked like words have left him. Harry almost asked, 'You what?' but he knew better than to do it. Everyone was goggling at Vernon, hoping that he would continue his sentence sooner - but it seemed that that wouldn't happen. Then, Vernon pointed his finger at the staircase and looked straight at Harry, who got the message. He sat up and walked to the staircase, glad that he wasn't in any trouble with his uncle and aunt.
That day passed as slow as any day when Harry was waiting for something to happen. He only had two more days until he would go and see the Quidditch Cup!
-1. The Odd Book
-2. The Vasile Feint
-3. Birthday
-4. Safety
-5. Invisible Fear
-6. Giant Problems
-7. Quidditch
-8. Missing
-9. Who?
-10. Weakness
-11. Dark Thoughts
-12. Find The Shadow
-13. The Silent Attack
-14. Terror
-15. Midnight Hunt
-16. When The Shadow Finds You
-17. The Voice Of The Shadow
-18. The Dark Book Of Dark Arts
These are to come later:
-19. Servus
-20. The Last Hunt
-21. Survive
-22. The Worst Nightmare
-23. Recovery
-24. Untitled
Chapter 1: The Odd Book
It was Harry's first day back at the Dursleys after his fourth year. He was at Privet Drive number Four for only three hours, but he already started to miss everything that made him happy while at Hogwarts, which was his true house. He imagined that he still was with his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, talking to them... but he had to spend the entire summer alone at the Dursleys, with no magic. He had no idea what to do for two entire, long, months...
The Dursleys weren't talking to him at all. Maybe they were scared that Harry's godfather, who they still thought that was a convincted murderer, may come and kill them if they mistreat Harry, so they didn't want anything to do with Harry. He only met them during meals, where they gave him as little food as they were giving Dudley(who was still on a diet after not being able to fit into the school desks).
His life was as it had always been with those magic-hating Muggles. He was bored to death in his first day, he wondered if he would resist two months... and if he did, how.
He started doing his homework at History of Magic(he dedided to start with the most boring ones first). That was a lot better than waiting two months for time to pass. He started writing about "The begining of the Dark Arts", one of the only interresting subjects they had ever done with Professor Binns, who was the only ghost professor at Hogwarts. Harry wrote about Grindelwald, a dark wizard Dumbledore had stopped himself in 1945. And after he finished the essay, the piece of parchment he wa writing on had a very long text wrote on it, a few words about every known and powerful Dark Wizard of all times. Surprised, Harry saw that none other was as powerful as Lord Voldemort, who was lurking free at the time Harry was writing about him, doing as many murders as possible.
He finished the History of Magic Homework, and then stopped because he thought that in that manner, he would finish the homework in his first few days back.
The next day, bored as he was, he knew exactly what to do. He took a piece of parchment and his quill, and then he started writing a letter to Ron asking for advice... He said that he would ask Hermione later about it, when Hedwig returned with Ron's reply.
Dear Ron,
Life at the Dursleys is very boring. Is there any possibility that I may come to the Burrow? Please tell me anything I can do to stop this way of living, or I will die of boreness.
Bored, Harry
He looked at the last line on his letter and smiled a bit. It was the first time he smiled since he reached Privet Drive. That wasn't quite a letter ending, but he wanted to write it. Then, Hedwig automatically flew to him.
"Bring this to Ron. And just hope that I will survive this until you return," he added before tying the letter to her foot, trying to think that he would be able to find anything to do. He opened the window and watched Hedwig as she disappeared in the white clouds, wishing he could do it as well.
He turned back to his bed, lying uncomfortably and thinking about the previous year's events. Only a week ago, Lord Voldemort had risen again, and he had used Harry's blood to come back. Harry wondered if he started terrorizing people already, because he couldn't know. At the Dursleys, he didn't have any connections with the wizarding world...
Then, he sat on his bed and continued thinking about the recent events... and he remembered some even more sad ones. Cedric Diggory died because of him; it was him, Harry, the one who suggested that both of them should take the Cup... He felt guilty for his death, and thought he shouldn't have won the Triwizard Cup. Because of that, he gave Fred and George his winnings for the cup(one thousand galleons) threatening to curse them if they didn't accept. He wondered if they were making good use of the money.
Thinking of Cedric reminded Harry of Cho, who was the only girl he had ever liked. She was Cedric's grilfriend... that was what made Harry think that 'Cedric was in fact a useless pretty boy who didn't have enough brains to fill an eggcup.'
The moment Cho refused him when he asked her to go to the ball with him was quite painful to remember... but still, that was the sad reality. Why was everything bad for Harry? Why?
Hedwig's journey took a lot of time. Harry wondered if something happened to her, because he couldn't remember sending her with a letter to Ron and not come back in a few hours. The only times she disappeared for a very long time was when he sent letters to Sirius last year, and that had a good reason because from Sirius's words he was living very distant from Hogwarts. Now, after some time, she was back, and Harry was relieved to see that nothing bad happened. He read Ron's letter:
Dear Harry,
Dad said that the new Quidditch World Cup is about to start. It is not the final as it was last year, but it should be cool anyway. This is the first game of the Cup. I don't know when and there this game will be, but I am sure you can come with us to see it. Until then, I have no idea on what to tell you... ask Hermione.
See you soon - Ron
Reading that, he decided to take Ron's advice and send a letter, exactly as he sent to Ron, to Hermione. But this time he added a question, he asked if she could send some Daily Prophets. He also asked if she could send him something to eat, because the Dursleys wren't giving him too much food. And he ended the letter with 'I started living off memories.'
Harry found Hermione's reply only the next day, being woken up again by Hedwig clicking her beak on the closed window. She seemed quite tired of the journey, and Harry realized why when he saw the package she was carrying.
Harry let her in the room, and the first thing he saw was that Hermione sent him a big book("Typical", Harry said in his mind). He didn't look at it too much and went forward to reading the letter.
Dear Harry,
I have nothing to do to help you with the boring life, except to give you something to do. Take that book, it's quite interresting and I am sure that you will find useful information in it. I read parts of it and thought you would be interrested in reading more things about the Dark Arts -- especially the advanced ones you will have to deal with if You-Know-Who tries to do something to hurt you.
Speaking of food, I had very little things to give you. But I think you already saw them.
Love - Hermione
Harry looked to see what she gave him to eat, and noticed some very good-looking cookies packed together. As for the book, he only looked at its title("The Dark Book of Dark Arts") and because that name wasn't very attractive, he just placed it under the bed and forgot about it, eating a few cookies. Hermione didn't send him any newspapers so he still had no idea of what was happening in the magical world he belonged to.
Then, he went back to his daily way of spending time: recalling memories... He told himself to only bring back only good things, and to leave the bad ones for another time. But he couldn't -- the sense of guilt for Cedric's death came immediately through him, and it was quite a consuming feeling, especially because Cho had to be hurt because of that -- and it was all Harry's fault!
He would have given anything to stop him die... because the thought was going to haunt him forever. And even worse, he wondered what Cho would think of him now after Cedric died. His insides squirmed of the thought, and then he closed his eyes trying to sleep again - but how could he; it was only morning.
Life paseed in the same way as it always did while at the Dursleys: Wake up, go down to eat, go back to your room and start doing some homework, eat again, spend the rest of the day by recalling memories, then sleep again. Everything was so boring - he wondered how he could resist the first week back in that way. And he still had eight more weeks to spend...
One morning, he heard a loud bang coming from downstairs. Harry knew it was caused by someone closing a door, but that was something what very rarely happened on Prover Drive, nuber four.
Only a moment passed until someone started screaming, and he recognized the loud voice, it had to be Dudley. After that, Harry could hear another door opening, and then someone closed it with another bang. Courious, Harry opened his door and got out of the room. He started walking slowly to the staircase, to see what happepned to Dudley.
And Harry saw him, running in circles in the living room, having a horrified look on his face. Uncle Vernon was looking astounded at Dudley, and his face went angrier and angrier with each passing second. "DUDLEY!" he shouted, but Dudley did nothing except continuing screaming and running in the room. "ENOUGH!"
It was a very funny scene, maybe there never was any funnier scene in that house: Dudley was running in circles, still screaming so loud that Harry thought his ears would blow up, and Uncle Vernon was running at his fat back, trying to catch him -- but with no effect. Harry almost burst out laughing, but then Vernon noticed him spying.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON, BOY?" he yelled as loud as Dudley did. Harry knew from that moment that he was going to be in trouble, even if he had no idea what happened to Dudley. "WHAT?"
Harry answered, "I didn't do anything -"
"HOW COMES?" asked Vernon, even angrier. "BOY, YOU DO NOT LIE TO ME! WHAT DID YOU DO TO DUDLEY? TELL ME OR YOU WILL BE OUT OF THE HOU --" Vernon stopped like thunnderstruck. His face went from its angry expression to one of deepest confusion, and a little bit of terror, everything in less than a second.
Harry understood that when he remembered that Sirius Black was still free, and Vernon's fear stopped him from everything bad he could do to Harry. That's good, Harry thought, waiting to hear what Vernon said next. But unfortunately --
"TELL ME NOW!" he ordered.
"I didn't do anything! Ask him!" Harry pointed to Dudley, who still didn't stop.
Vernon seemed to listen to what Harry said, and went straight to Dudley. "DUDLEY! STOP THIS OR YOU WON'T EAT ANYTHING FOR A MONTH!" Harry knew Vernon would never do something like that, but he saw that at least it had some effect, Dudley stopped suddenly and looked at his uncle, who was very angry.
Vernon shouted at Dudley so loud that Harry couldn't understand what he said, he had to press his hands to his ears. Harry thought Dudley was in serious trouble - just as he was. He thought Uncle Vernon would never stop that shouting...
But suddenly he stopped everything, and Dudley told him something that Harry couldn't understand. Uncle Vernon entered Dudley's room, and after a few seconds, he came back out holding something very familiar by a leg in his big fists.
It was Errol, the old Weasley family owl. He had missed the target and went straight to Dudley's room. Judging Dudley's behavior towards everything from the wizarding world, it was nothing unusual that he started acting like that. The only one who acted strangely was, Harry thought, Uncle Vernon, because he couldn't remember seeing him shouting like that at his stupid fat son.
Uncle Vernon gave a stare at Dudley, and then he hasted to Harry's position. They looked at each other straight in their eyes, and then Vernon asked, "What is this then?" He pointed to Errol, and after that, he throwed the owl down to the ground, making a loud noise.
"I shall not approve this! If there will be ONE - MORE - THING - LIKE - THIS - you will see trouble as you had never been before. Did I make myself clear, BOY?"
Harry nodded. Uncle Vernon left, angry, while Harry went back to his room. He didn't forget to take Errol with him. Unfortunately, looking closer, he saw that Errol was dead. Ron's letter could be seen tied at his leg, and Harry took it slowly. He wondered what to tell Ron - he now had to give them the money to buy another owl. Not that it cost him much -- comparing to the money he had in his vault. But he felt sorry...
The Weasleys needed another owl anyway. Errol wasn't up to journeys lately, not even the shorter ones. And bringing letters to the wrong target could be devastating... What if Voldemort caught an important letter?
'How stupid I am,' Harry said to himself, 'if there is an important letter they wouldn't send it with Errol.'
Ron's letter was still tied to Errol's leg. Harry untied it. He read:
Dear Harry,
The game is in July 26th, and it is, surprisingly, at Hogwarts! We will come to take you at four PM, the game will begin at seven. I hope you will survive until that day.
Can't wait - Ron
Harry cheered up when he read the letter - it were two more weeks until the date Ron told him, but it was better than not leaving the Dursleys at all...
Then he took a piece of parchment. He wrote 'Dear Ron' but then, he stopped thinking how to start... because he didn't want it to sound too bad. It was a bad thing anyway, he thought, and wrote faster than his mind told him:
'I am sorry to say that Errol is... dead. He entered Dudley's room instead of mine, and Dudley was very alarmed of it. Scared as he is of anything which had to do with the magical world, he started running in circles and screaming louder than you can even imagine. My uncle wasn't pleased with it, and, angry as he was, he threw Errol to the floor so hard that when I took him, he was dead. I should buy you another owl in Diagon alley.'
He paused the next moments.
'I am very anxious to going to the Quidditch Cup.
See you then, Harry.'
That was the ending of his letter. He knew nothing more to write - the circumstances were quite bad and his mind was flying to other things, like what he could do because of Errol's death.
He called Hedwig, who, even though didn't much like Errol, looked quite sad after his death, and tied the letter to her leg. "Bring this to Ron..." he said in a dully voice. He felt sorry that he didn't have some galleons at him, because he wanted to include with the letter some money so they could get another owl. The Weasleys were a very poor family, indeed.
Then he went back to his bed, thinking of what Lord Voldemort was doing in the present. He felt that something was going to happen soon... it was a strange feeling he had last days, telling Harry that Voldemort would find him...
The next days passed as slow as usual. Ron sent back a letter and told Harry that he doesn't need to buy them another owl, because they were planning to get another owl even if nothing happened to Errol. "But I still have to give you another one because it was my fault," he said to himself while reading.
There were two more days until July 26th, and Harry thought it was better to ask the Dursleys if he could go to the Quidditch Game. Not that he wouldn't go anyway, but he thought it was better to tell them where he would be for a while before the day came -- maybe the only effect it had was to make them happier and anxious to leave... To tell them where he would be gone maybe for three hours or maybe for a few days, he didn't know how long the match could be. Some said that they could take several days.
It was a sunny morning. He had to go down for breakfast, anyway, so he decided he would ask them there. He dressed in the huge clothes that were once Dudley's, and went downstairs. His stomach was asking for food, and it didn't seem to give up until Harry ate something(he decided to keep some of the food Hermione gave him for another time, and it was only a very small amount of food left.
His aunt and uncle acted as usual. They looked like as didn't notice him enter, except for putting the plate with a very small amount of soup on the table. Harry took a spoon and started eating... he was thinking of what to tell them, of how to start.
He finished it in very few minutes even though he ate quite slowly. He didn't feel like telling the Dursleys anything, he thought they would ignore him. But he had to ask them... What was the loss? They couldn't do anything bad to him, could they? Not when they were scared of Sirius anyway. Then Harry remembered that he hadn't heard from Sirius for a long time.
"Uncle Vernon," he started, "The day after tomorrow, I will go to the Quidditch World Cup -- the same wi --" he stopped because he shouldn't say the 'wizard' word in that house, --"the same sport I went to watch last year." The entire Dursley family gave him a ferocious stare, then Petunia asked,
"More of those stupid odd stuff?"
Harry didn't answer, he would have never said that Quidditch was stupid. Then, the words formed without thinking, "Not stupid. Just Quidditch." Where did those words come from?
Harry saw Petunia's face darkening, and after that, Uncle Vernon got angrier. "We shall not be spoken like that! I told you this once before!"
But, exactly as he did last year, Harry didn't accept what Vernon said. He remembered how good things went last year, when he had almost almost overtaken the Dursleys. He tried to find a way to do it again, last time he talked about Sirius, and he knew they were very terrified that he would turn up and kill them with only one curse.
Harry knew that wasn't going to happen, but the Dursleys were that stupid, that they believed everything, and Harry had to make good use of that. This time he still had nothing to say yet, he still had to wait until they answered to his request to go to the Quidditch. Then, he could decide on what to tell them next.
"You can go then," Vernon told him in a i-know-whats-the-alternative way. "But how will you get there?"
Harry hadn't thought of that. He thought the Weasleys were coming to take him again. The only thing he wanted, was them to leave the house intact - last year they made quite a mess coming by Floo Powder. Not to forget that Fred and George gave Dudley(they only "dropped" it on the ground, they knew that Dudley would take it) a ton-tongue toffee that enlarged his tongue, done with a good engorgement charm.
"I suspect they will do another stupid thing!" said Uncle Vernon angrily. "If the last year's events are going to happen again, I..."
But then he paused, it looked like words have left him. Harry almost asked, 'You what?' but he knew better than to do it. Everyone was goggling at Vernon, hoping that he would continue his sentence sooner - but it seemed that that wouldn't happen. Then, Vernon pointed his finger at the staircase and looked straight at Harry, who got the message. He sat up and walked to the staircase, glad that he wasn't in any trouble with his uncle and aunt.
That day passed as slow as any day when Harry was waiting for something to happen. He only had two more days until he would go and see the Quidditch Cup!