"Harry! Harry! HARRY!" Vanessa ran right into her brother.
"Hey! Slow down Nessie!" Harry said, a smile playing on his face.
"It came! It came! It came!" She squealed.
"What came? What came? What came?" He asked, mocking her repetition.
"My Hogwarts letter." She stated. "You got your first one last year, and I've just got mine." She said as she handed him a letter addressed to him in green ink. "Here's yours." Harry smiled. Vanessa had been looking forward to getting her letter ever since he was been able to read his. He flashed back to the year before, when he was boarding the train.
"But I want to go with you Harry!" She had Pleaded with her ten-year-old puppy-dog eyes.
"You can't Nessie." He had said consolingly as he hugged her goodbye. "But it's only one year until you can though, alright?" She had nodded sadly as she was dragged back to the car by aunt Petunia.
When his mind came back to the present, his little sister was still rambling on about what it would be like at Hogwarts.
"Oh, it's not that great." He said, feigning boredom. "The only thing that's interesting is the giant squid in the lake, but school's school, right?" Delight and anguish displayed plainly on his overly dramatic sister's face.
"Oh! Don't tease me Harry!"
"What's life without teasing you?" Harry said, and as she laughed his smile broadened.
All joy was then dispelled as their uncle came through the door.
"Petunia dear! Dudley my boy!"he called, and when he caught sight of his niece and nephew, standing in the hallway, he said, "You two as well. Come on." and at the command, they followed him into the family room, as their aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley came in from the kitchen. Dudley was cramming Chocolate fudge into his mouth in a way that made the siblings want to expel their breakfasts.
"Petunia, I might have mentioned that my boss is coming for dinner tonight."
"Yes Vernon, you've mentioned it several times this week." Petunia said.
"Yes, yes, today's the day, tonight's the night." He said with obvious joy in his voice. he grew serious as he pointed to his niece and nephew who were sharing an arm chair, since Dudley took up half the Sofa. "and you two had better be on your best behavior." He said in his usual 'Or Else' voice.
As everyone dispersed, Vanessa leaned over to Harry. "Happy Birthday Harry." She said as she handed him a piece of paper with a drawing of him, a birthday cake, and balloons. A picture of what a birthday should look like
Later that night, a few minutes before the couple were to arrive, uncle Vernon had everyone in the living room rehearsing; everybody in their best clothes... everybody except Harry and Vanessa, who of course, didn't have nice clothes.
"Alright, when they ring the doorbell... Dudley?"
Dudley, uncomfortable in his itchy suit and tie, replied, "I will open the door, and say 'How do you do maim? May I take your coat sir?"
"Oh, my Dudykins." Aunt Petunia said adoringly. "You look so smart in your little suit. They'll just love him Vernon!"
"That's my boy!" Uncle Vernon said with a proud smile, as Vanessa made barfing signs, pointing her finger in her mouth, and Harry tried to keep a strait face.
"And Petunia dear?" Vernon continued, not noticing the siblings.
"I'll come in from the kitchen and say 'Welcome, would you like to come into the parlor before dinner?'"
"Lovely!" Vernon said. "And you two?" He questioned darkly, the smile fading from his face.
"We will stay upstairs," Harry started.
"Being absolutely silent," Vanessa added.
"Pretending we don't exist." They finished together.
"Exactly." Said Uncle Vernon.
Just then the doorbell rang.
"You two, upstairs!" Vernon whispered viciously to them.
Harry took the stairs two by two while Vanessa lingered long enough to hear Dudley forget his line. She snorted and went the rest of the way up the stairs. She was on her way to the attic, (which became her room the year before since the only other bedroom was the guest room that was usually reserved for Aunt Marge when she came to Surrey.) When she heard a shout coming from her brother's room.
She went in quickly and found... Something. Or... Someone? The something had long ears and bulging eyes.
"Oh, my! and this must be the Miss Potter!" The something said in a squeaky voice.
"It's a pleasure to meet you... um?"
"Dobby, miss. Dobby the house elf." Dobby said.
"Nice to meet you Dobby the house elf." she said, still quite in shock. "Harry," she whispered. "whats a house elf?"
"No idea." He whispered back. "but he cried when I asked him to sit down." Neither of them really whispered any of the conversation; they where talking in a hissing language that only they could understand... them and the snake they met at the zoo last year.
As the Potters conversed like this, Dobby sat patiently waiting with a questioning look on his face.
"Dobby?" Harry asked when he and his sister had finished talking. "May I ask why you're here?"
Dobby stood and stated banging his head against the wall. "Not supposed to tell. Bad Dobby." he said.
Harry pulled him from the wall, "Please Dobby! Don't make so much noise!" He said urgently.
"You're not supposed to tell what?" Vanessa asked curiously. Before Dobby could answer, they heard Uncle Vernon coming up the stairs. Harry and Vanessa shoved Dobby into the wardrobe just as uncle Vernon came through the door.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU"RE DOING?" He whispered rather loudly. "I was just about to tell them the punchline on my joke!"
"Then we probably saved them a really big headache." Vanessa muttered.
"What was that girl?" He asked slowly and darkly.
"I just asked if it was the one where your friend fell into a lake."
"No..." he said. "but that is a good one."he muttered to last part to himself. "Well, I managed to smooth this one over by saying we left the television on. It worked this time, but I doubt it will again. SO BE QUIET!" Then he left the room.
Harry opened the wardrobe and Dobby stumbled out.
"Sorry about that Dobby." Vanessa said apologetically. "What exactly are you here for?"
"Dobby has come to warn Mister and Miss Potter not to go to Hogwarts this year."
"We have to go to Hogwarts Dobby. We don't have a life here."
"You can't go to Hogwarts miss." Dobby said solemnly .
"We can and we will." She said softly.
"Very well." Dobby said as he hung his head, then he ran out the door... strait for the kitchen.
"Dobby comeback!" Harry whispered sharply. "Please don't make any noise! You'll get us in trouble!"
Dobby hopped onto the refrigerator, right next to the fruit salad aunt Petunia had made.
"Dobby don't!" said Vanessa, horrified.
"Only if miss and mister Potter promise not to go to Hogwarts this year." He replied.
"Dobby," Vanessa started smoothly. "Come down from there and we can talk about this. Maybe you can tell us why we can't go to Hogwarts this year, then we might think about promising."
"Dobby would miss, but he knows better. Dobby has masters who are much better at lying than you." Vanessa closed her eyes, and tried to picture herself somewhere safe, then she opened them again after a deafening crash abruptly entered the safe haven she had put herself in.
Harry pushed his sister under the counter, so she wouldn't be seen by their Aunt, Uncle, and the guests who were just entering the kitchen. The kindly looking couple looked bewildered, while Vernon himself had an enraged purple colour on his face. Petunia on the other hand, was horrified as she looked down at the fruit salad covering her once pristine, polished floors, with Harry standing in the middle.
"Our.. um... Nephew." Vernon started. "He's a slight bit deranged. we usually keep him upstairs when company comes over, as he gets nervous around strangers."
Aunt Petunia was guiding the guests back into the parlor, as an owl flew though the window. The man's wife shrieked as the bird flew into her hair. When they got the bird untangled from the woman's hair, it flew away, and the man, supporting his trembling wife, told them that she was deathly afraid of all kinds of birds.
"Was all of this some kind of joke?" he asked, disgusted.
"No!" Vernon replied hastily. "No of course not! we never meant for any of this to happen Walter! Please forgive us for this outrage." Their uncle's voice faded as he followed Walter and his wife to the entryway.
"You'll clean this up!" Aunt Petunia whispered to harry, and he nodded as Vanessa noticed what it was that the owl had brought. After his aunt turned away, crawled to the letter, grabbed it, and slid back under the counter to quickly read it.
To Mr. Potter,
We have received notice, that you have used underage magic in a muggle inhabited neighborhood. As this is a first offence, we are giving you a warning. The next time you use under age magic, you will be expelled from Hogwarts, and your wand will be snapped.
Have a pleasant evening,
Belinda Venireman,
Inappropriate Use of Magic Department
She sat shocked as she silently slid the letter to Harry, and watched his expression turn from caution, to extreme concentration as he read.
"Harry has a letter! Harry has a letter!" Dudley shouted after his father came through the doorway with a look of passionate relief.
"What?" he said, then whisked away the letter from Harry's hand and started reading.
"And Vanessa is under the counter." Dudley added, and aunt Petunia pulled her out.
"No one likes a tattle tail, you over sized slug." She said viciously, still glaring at him as aunt Petunia jerked her for saying such things about her son.
both the sibling's turned white as their uncle started laughing.
"You're not going to Hogwarts this year." He said. "You never told us you couldn't do magic, Harry. Did it slip you mind?"
"We have to go to Hogwarts." harry said with finality.
"Oh, but you're not going." Vernon said enthusiastically. "This says that if you do magic again you'll be expelled."
"You can't make us stay!" Vanessa screamed as their uncle lead them up to their rooms. "We have to go..." Her voice trailed away as he shut her attic door and locked it. She sat on the bed, a silent despair coming over her as her eyes drooped heavily and her head fell to the pillow. "We have to go..." Then sleep enveloped her.