Chapter 2- The Letter

Approximately 10 Years Later

"Harry! It's time for school!"

Harry woke up to the sound of his godfather's voice waking him for school. Sirius had tried to home school Harry over the years, but it never really quite worked. So Harry had been enrolled in primary school at the age of five. He rather hated it. The neighbors behind them had a horrible son who absolutely hated Harry. Since Dudley Dursley was the biggest and strongest kid in the school, he was in charge of the social aspect of the students. This meant that anyone Dudley hated, the rest of the school shunned. Harry supposed it could be worse- at least he had Sirius to come home to. He reckoned that it would be much more miserable on his own.

"Harry! Come on! You need to get to school!"

"Coming!" Harry called back. He rushed out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt for the coming day. He grabbed the comb on the dresser and went into the bathroom to attempt to do something about his unruly black hair. After a few moments, he stared into his own bright green eyes at the mysterious, lightening bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, and gave it up as hopeless. He took a detour to his room to get his backpack, and then went down the hall to the kitchen.

After gobbling about 3 doughnuts from the box on the counter, Sirius gave Harry a ride to school. This sort of ride could have made Harry very cool if it wasn't for Dudley's hatred of Harry. Sirius took Harry to school every day on a bright red motorcycle.

As usual, the teachers looked on disapprovingly as Sirius roared up to the school with Harry.

"Bye, Sirius," Harry said somewhat glumly.

"Bye, Harry," Sirius replied cheerfully, trying to encourage Harry "See you this afternoon."

As soon as Sirius was out of sight, Dudley appeared as if summoned by magic.

"You think you're so cool!" Dudley sneered, "Riding to school on a motorbike! You're such a freak, Potter. You don't even have any relatives to take you in after your parents died! Had to go live with one of your dad's old school friends! Bet he didn't even want you!"

Harry was used to this sort of abuse, but today it struck especially hard for some reason.

"Shut up, Dursley!" Harry shouted.

"Nope. Won't," said Dudley, pleased to get a rise out of Harry.

"I said, shut UP!" Harry yelled again.

"Make me!" Dudley taunted. Harry knew he couldn't. Harry had been told that his next fight would get him detention. Sirius had told him that he needed Harry to stop getting in fights with Dudley, and that getting detention would get Harry in trouble at home. Harry had never been in trouble at home before, and didn't want to start. He turned and ran from Dudley and his gang. Unfortunately, Dudley gave chase.

"You're such a coward, Potter!" Dudley said from right behind Harry. Harry panicked, and tried to jump behind some trash cans next to the school kitchen. The next thing Harry knew, he was on the roof of the school. Frightened, Harry grabbed hold of the chimney. Dudley grinned evilly, and ran for the outdoor supervisor, who lectured Harry viciously for climbing school buildings. Once removed from the roof, Harry was told to call Sirius to pick him up and go home for the rest of the day. Since it was the last day of term before the summer, they gave him his report (not top marks, but not bottom either) and told him that he had passed through his final year of primary school.

Oddly enough, Sirius seemed to believe his story about not knowing why he had ended up on the roof of the school. Not only that, he took picked Harry up from school without an angry or harsh word. In fact, his only comment was of how proud he was of Harry's grades. Instead of taking him home, Sirius took Harry to a restaurant where they had hamburgers for lunch.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," Harry said quietly.

"Don't worry about it, Harry," Sirius smiled, "I do believe you, you know. It's very strange what happened, but I believe that you're telling the truth."

"Thanks," Harry said, smiling back at his godfather.

Harry's relationship with Sirius was a curious thing. Sirius had raised him from the age of one. When Harry came home from school after the first week asking why everyone else had a mom and dad, when he didn't, Sirius broke down in tears and told him that Harry's parents had died the October after Harry's first birthday. Sirius's tears had so shocked five-year-old Harry that the subject of his parents was never broached again.

Sirius had raised Harry as well as he could. They didn't have much, but they lived in a government sponsored house, and were sent a check each month. They were also sent nonperishable food each month. Things like cans of beans and boxes of oatmeal were in the boxes, but they had to get anything else they wanted or needed with the government money. Harry, subconsciously understanding that there wasn't much to go around, never actually asked for anything. However, Harry sometimes had the suspicion that Sirius could read minds. Very very occasionally, things that Harry really wanted would appear in their cart. For Christmas, there was always a few things for Harry that weren't necessities like clothes. On his birthday, instead of actually getting something, the two of them went somewhere interesting like the zoo or an arcade.

"Sirius?" Harry said quietly as he finished eating.

"What's up, Prongsling?" Sirius asked with a quick grin.

"I.. Uh.. Sirius, am I a problem?"

"What?" Sirius looked stunned, ",Oh Harry, no way! You're not a problem at all! What would make you think that?"

"Dudley said you only took me because it was your responsibility as my godfather and there was no one else to send me to. He said you were probably one of my dad's old school friends and probably didn't even want me."

"Harry, look at me," Sirius said with an uncharacteristic sharpness in his voice that made Harry look up from his lap, "You are with me because I wanted you to be. I was your father's old mate from school, but I wanted to take you to live with me. I fought to have you with me."

"Really?" Harry perked up.

"Really, Prongsling," Sirius grinned, "That's what you get for listening to old Dursley!"

Harry grinned back as they left the restaurant.

Soonthe two of them returned home. Sirius took the paper with Harry's grades and displayed it prominently on the refrigerator, a tradition from the first time he brought grades home.

"I bet you're glad it's summer," Sirius smiled at Harry.

"Yeah," Harry grinned back, "I'll miss you during the days you're working though."

Harry still was not exactly sure what it was that Sirius did for a living. But whatever it was, he could be home whenever Harry was except during the summer. During the summer, he spent two days a week with the awful neighbors that lived behind them- the Dursleys. In this way, Dudley could still continue to beat up on him over the summer. Harry usually brought a book or two (Sirius always made sure that even though there wasn't the money for video games, Harry wouldn't be bored), and stayed out of everyone's way. They didn't feed him much, but as long as Harry didn't talk he would be left mostly alone.

"I'll miss you too, Harry," Sirius said with another, somewhat sadder smile.

Over the next few weeks, Harry spent most of his time with Sirius. He still had to spend two days a week with the Dursleys, but he survived these by reading and imagining the amazing surprise that Sirius would concoct for his birthday this year.

One sunny morning, Sirius sent Harry to get the mail.

"Prongsling, get the mail for me?"

"Sure!" Harry replied enthusiastically. He grabbed the small stack of letters and flipped through them. He saw that the government check for the month had arrived. This was a good thing- they were living mainly off of canned beans and tinned fruit from the box since they were a bit short on money. He also saw a few bills. Suddenly, something caught Harry's eye. He only saw the bottom of the letter where it was held closed by a bit of wax. The seal on the wax was a shield divided into four sections and each had a different animal (a lion, a snake, a badger, and an eagle) on it, surrounding the large letter "H" that dominated the middle. He flipped it over and gasped. The address read "Mr. Harry Potter, Number 4 Pansy Walkway, Little Whinging, Surrey."