Chapter 2
ONE YEAR LATER
BANG BANG BANG. Jumping up, I banged my head on the ceiling of the little closet under the stairs. "Ow!" I squeaked. Rubbing the back of my head, I reached over, and gently shook Harry.
"Wake up sleepy head." I whispered. He just grunted, and rolled over. Rolling my eyes, I shook him again, saying "Come on. You're going to be eleven in a few weeks, at least try to put some effort into acting more mature." Stretching my fourteen year old limbs, I looked around, and sighed. The closet had become smaller over the years, and it was starting to feel constricting. Climbing over Harry, I opened the door, only to be knocked back by Dudley. Once He saw who it was though, he immediately reached down and offered a hand to help me up. I took it, and then ignored him. Turning my back to him, I looked to see if Harry was up yet, only to see him sitting up and putting his glasses on. Holding out my hand, I said "Ready yet? It's Dudley's birthday today." He sighed, not expecting a day full of fun like birthdays usually should be. I pulled him off the bed, and dragged him towards the kitchen.
After a bit of shouting, Harry and I were put to work making breakfast. He and I rushed around trying to get the food on the table quickly, without spilling anything. I was quite focused on my task at hand when heard a familiar whining coming from a pudgy little boy. "How many presents are there?" His father replied "Thirty seven. I counted them myself." My jaw nearly dropped. It was thirty seven! There was definitely going to be some complaints. "Thirty seven? But there were thirty eight last year!" Even after all these years, I still called Dudley's mother 'that woman'. Right now, that woman's face fell, and she quickly came up with a solution. "But Dudley, Darling, we were going to buy you two more presents when we went out today. We're going to the zoo!" the spoiled brat's face lit up, and he agreed quickly. After opening all his presents, we headed out. I stopped when I noticed Harry wasn't following. He had been pulled aside by the fat man, and the same man was warning him "If there's any funny business, You won't have meals for a week!" I frowned at this.
When Harry was allowed entrance into the car, I took his hand in mine, and squeezed it gently. "I'll give you half of my meals. I don't eat that much anyway." I told him. He smiled, and squeezed my hand back. We soon were at the zoo, and Dudley made us go straight to the snake section. He found the biggest snake there, and stared at it. "He isn't moving." Dudley whined. "Make him move!" so the fat man reached forward and tapped on the glass. Everyone was still for a moment, until Dudley announced "This is boring!" before walking away. Harry and I stayed there. I looked around us, only to see a few groups of boys sending winks my way, or elbowing each other while smiling in my direction. I ignored those boys, and turned back to the snake we were in front of. Harry was talking to him. Normal people would have worried about the child's sanity, but I simply smiled. I knew that animals had just as much thoughts and feelings as humans did. But I was surprised when Dudley came over knocking Harry down. He fell on his behind, and I rushed over to help the poor boy. Looking up when I heard a large splash, I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I saw Dudley in the water inside the exhibit. And when he tried to get out, the glass covering it had reappeared, locking the spoiled brat inside.
I quieted when the Adults came over, simply smiling and laughing on the inside. I watched as the snake slithered away, and I called after it "Good luck!" "Thankssssss" he replied. I smiled after it before helping Harry up. We returned home right away after that, with Dudley wrapped up in a blanket, and the fat man was furious. Once everyone had gotten inside, he grabbed Harry by the collar, and hoisted him up. I glared at this, and something came over me. I intervened, and placed a hand on the fat man's wrist. "You don't want to do that." I sang in a low dangerous voice. A dazed look overcame the fat man's eyes, and he dropped Harry. I smirked, and kept going "Go and read the paper." I sang in the same tone. With the same looks in his eyes the fat man made his way to the sitting room, and disappeared from site. Harry was staring at me, with his jaw on the floor. "H-how did you do that?" he stuttered, and I gasped, covering my mouth. "I… don't know. It just… happened." Grabbing his shoulders, I pulled him to me, holding him close, and whispered "Harry… I'm scared. If I could to that to him, that probably means I could do that to anyone. What if… what if I hurt someone? Or you? I could be cleaning and singing, than BAM! You kill yourself!" I hugged him tighter, and he sighed. "Don't worry. I bet there's some reasonable explanation." He assured me.
I reluctantly let him go, and I crawled into our closet. Burying my face into the pillow, I let myself go limp, before sleep took over. The next day, I saw Harry going to the front door to retrieve the letters. He shifted through them, and I saw his eyebrow shoot up when he saw one of them. "What is it?" I asked him when I came up behind him. He jumped, surprised, and said "Someone sent a letter to me. It's from a fancy looking place." He gave it to me, and I turned it this way and that, inspecting it. It was a nice envelope, and it had a red seal closing it. To Harry Potter. In the closet under the stairs it read, and I raised my eyebrows as well. "How on earth did they know where Harry slept? I was a little scared that someone outside was watching us. I handed it back to him, and went into the kitchen to help make breakfast. Harry came in after me, still staring at the letter. It was obvious he was curious about it. Unfortunately Dudley had to spot it. The little brat decided to tell on Harry too, and he did so. He had just gotten out the important stuff when I hurried to distract him. I simply placed my hand on his shoulder, and he cut off midsentence. But the fat man had caught the gist of it.
Grabbing the letter out of Harrys hands, the fat man looked it over quickly, and his scowl deepened. Promptly ripping the letter to shreds, he sat down again, and kept eating. I frowned. That mean man should at least let Harry have his mail. It was overly cruel to not even let Harry have his rightfully earned mail. In fact, I bet that was against the law. But I knew even if I said something, it would only end up with Harry and me both getting into trouble, so I kept silent for his sake. Once I had the food on the table, I sat down, and ate what little I did eat. Once I had finished, I cleaned off the table, and went off to do some other chores that needed to be done. In the next few days, more and more letters were arriving. I could see that the fat man was starting to go mad, and the next day, Harry and I actually caught him burning a whole pile of Harry's letters one night. But they still came. So the fat man nailed boards onto the mail slot. The people mailing Harry must be really desperate. When we had gotten into bed that night, Harry was lying down facing me and he asked "Melody, I managed to see who the letters where from before they took them away. It said 'HOGWARTS SCHOOL' and it looked like a very important school, even though I've never heard of it."
I smiled at him, and said "don't worry. We'll find a way to sneak one of the letters away. We need to find out why this person is sending you so many of these." Harry grinned at that, and we both fell asleep. The next day was Sunday, and while I was making coffee for the fat man, the very same man was going on about why he loved Sundays. "Does anyone know why I love Sundays?" he asked, looking around him, waiting for an answer. "No work?" Dudley suggested. "No." the Fat man said. "There's no post?" Harry offered. Sticking his fist in the air, the fat man said "Exactly my boy! There's no post! There hasn't been one stinking letter. Not one!" he settled back into his recliner, and let out a sigh of contentment. But he spoke too soon. Suddenly, a letter shot out of the fireplace. I swear I saw a vein pop on the man's forehead. Then another letter popped out. And another, and soon, letters where flying everywhere! It was like a blizzard of white rectangles, and I couldn't help myself. I reached out and grabbed one. I saw Harry grab one too, but I only got a glance before I dashed towards the closet. We both had made it to the door, but the fat man grabbed both of us before we could open it.
The letters were still blowing around us like mad, and the fat man yelled "That's it! We're going away from here! Far away from any letters!" in the background, I could hear Dudley whisper to his mother "I think dad's gone mad." And she nodded in response. The next thing I knew, I was in a leaky boathouse, lying on the floor with Harry. Dudley was asleep on the couch, and we were entertaining ourselves by drawing pictures in the sand. Right now, I was helping Harry draw a birthday cake. As he and I finished off the last few candles, I hummed a happy birthday song quietly into his ear. Reaching over to my bag, I pulled out a small package, wrapped with some white paper, and tied up with one of my hair ribbons. It was a pretty blue colour, and Harry opened it carefully, so he didn't tear the paper, I had done my hair up into a French braid with the ribbon that Harry had handed to me from his gift, and watched as he gave a small gasp at the small trinket he held in his hands. It was a piece of cord, and on it was a small and beautiful silver key. Putting the necklace on, he looked at the key and hugged me.
Smiling, I pulled my necklace from under my shirt, and showed it to him. It was the same kind of cord, but instead of a key on it, it was a small silver lock. "See? They go together." I said, and then tucked the necklace back under my shirt. I had found them when I had been dragged along to go shopping for Dudley. They had been in a knick-knack store, and I could pay for them. I had also found a long piece of cord, but that was free. So I tied the cord a certain way to make two necklaces, and put the charms on them. I was happy that he liked them. I lay back down again about to go to sleep when some banging made me jump. Sitting up, I grabbed onto Harry's sleeve, and stared towards the door. Soon, the banging got louder, and then, the door fell down, right off its hinges. A giant of a man stepped inside. He looked down at the fallen door before saying "Sorry about that." He picked it up, and placed it back where it was before. Turning towards us, he raised one bushy eyebrow at the quivering adults on the stairs.
"What are you doing here? Get out!" the fat man yelled, holding a gun. The giant just walked over and bent the barrel upwards. The gun was set off, but it harmlessly shot away from anyone, making a hole in the ceiling. Now ignoring the parents, the giant turned to Dudley. "My have you grown Harry. You're much fatter than I remember." I almost laughed at this. "I-I'm not Harry." Dudley managed to get out. Harry stepped out from where he was hiding, and said "I am." The giant smiled at this, and brought out a box. Opening it, he said "well then, Happy birthday Harry, I made this myself. It's not every day someone turns eleven." Inside the box was a birthday cake, saying 'Happy Birthday' on it. I grinned at the thoughtful gesture. Walking out from where I was hiding, I placed a hand on Harrys shoulder, and said "Thank you, sir, for such a kind gesture. It's very true what you said. You only turn eleven once." The man looked taken aback by my appearance, but inclined his head. "And who might you be little miss?" walking fore ward, I held out my hand to shake, saying "Melody. And who might you be?" the giant man shook it, and replied "Hagrid. I'm here to retrieve Harry." Everyone's heads swivelled around to look at Harry again.
I froze. Take Harry? But… but he can't! Harry's the only thing I have left that matters! The conversation kept going, and I grabbed Harry's sleeve again. Pulling him to me, I hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. "H-Hagrid… you can't… you can't take Harry from Me." tears starting making their way down my face. "He's the only good thing in this world. Wherever he goes, I go. I know this is selfish, but Harry means too much to me." I looked up when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and saw Hagrid there. "I hate to see such pretty little missy's cry. But we won't be takin' Harry away from you anytime soon. You're to come too." My eyes widened, but I followed after Harry when he had finally moved from his spot.
