A/N: I'm sorry to say that there's no Severus/Brinley in this chapter. They'll be back, though, don't worry :) As always, please REVIEW! Please! 3

When Harry woke up, it felt as if there were sand in his eyes. He scrubbed at them with the palms of his hands and rolled onto his knees. Liam was lying in the corner on a pallet he'd made of old blankets, drool dripping from his half-open mouth onto his chin. Harry rolled his eyes, grabbed the t-shirt he'd discarded the night before from the floor, and chucked it at Liam's face.

"Huh?" Liam jumped in the air and his eyes roved around wildly. When they landed on Harry, he scowled. "No fair, mate. I thought you were a cop."

"You thought a cop snuck into the house in the middle of the night without you hearing anything?" Harry scoffed.

"Not like I knew where I was," Liam said. "I was asleep, wasn't I?"

Harry sighed. He levered himself off the floor and said, "Imma go talk to Dudley."

"You do that," Liam said. "And before you screw up the relationships we have with him any further, try to remember that this is the best hide-out we have, and we can't afford for your lout of a cousin to go blabbing it to everyone in a tizzy."

"Yeah." Harry sighed. "Okay, I got it."

Liam ambled towards the loo. After a moment, Harry sighed and dragged himself to basement steps. He felt sluggish, which really didn't make much sense. Yesterday hadn't been a physically hard day for him, not compared to some of the days he'd had while living with the Dursleys. Still, it was an effort for him to haul himself down the stairs, and when he did, it was only to find that the basement was empty.

Harry's stomach dropped. He scanned the room, hoping that Dudley was simply tucked behind some box or another, but he knew that it was fruitless. Dudley's duffel bag was on the floor at the foot of the stairs, but there was no Dudley.

Harry approached the basement stairs and called, "Liam!"

"What?" Liam called back.

Harry said, "He's run off."

There was the sound of a door slamming, and then Liam's face appeared at the top of the stairs. "Are you kidding me?"

"He's not here," Harry said. "His stuff is, but he's not."

Liam said, "Well, it's not like he'd need his stuff to get the police, is it?"

Harry shook his head. "You don't think…"

"Your cousin spent your entire childhood getting you in trouble with your aunt and uncle," Liam said, "and you don't think he has it in him to rat you out to the cops?"

Harry's mouth went dry. "I… I hadn't thought of it that way."

"We'll have to get out of here," Liam said. "I'll grab the most important stuff from upstairs. Have a look through your cousin's bag and see if he packed anything important."

Harry crouched down next to the duffle, but just as he was reaching for the zipper he heard a noise near the window they'd all come in the night before. Harry looked up, and was surprised to see one of Dudley's sneakers sliding into view in the gap.

Harry said, "Liam."

Liam looked over and let out a low whistle.

"Harry?" Dudley's voice said. "Liam? You guys down here?"

"Dudley!" Harry couldn't help it if his voice came out a bit sharp. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I got breakfast," Dudley said.

Harry snorted. He should have known that would be Dudley's first priority, though he had to admit to some surprise that Dudley hadn't just slipped into the freezer and helped himself. It really seemed more Dudley's style.

Harry said, "You went out to get breakfast?"

"Actually," Dudley admitted, wiggling his body further through the window, "I just went out for a walk. I was having trouble sleeping. But then I found breakfast, and I thought it made sense to bring it in."

Harry finally got up and helped haul his cousin the rest of the way through the window. "I'm surprised you managed to get out alone."

"It was a squeeze," Dudley admitted. "Took me almost half an hour. I thought you guys would find me stuck in the window. But I managed eventually."

When they'd finally pulled Dudley in through the window, they saw that Dudley held a box of donuts.

"Where'd you score that?" Liam sounded impressed.

"It was on top of a car," Dudley said. "Just sitting there, like someone forgot to grab it."

"Brilliant," Harry said.

The boys sat on the basement floor and each grabbed a donut. Dudley had stuffed half of a powdered donut in his mouth, and around the mouthful, he said, "What're we gonna do about school in the fall?"

Liam said, "I haven't been to school in years."

Dudley frowned, and then reached into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a crumpled letter. Harry recognized the envelope. He'd gotten about ten of them before Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had allowed him to open one. It was a silly thing—a prank, they'd decided, by some teenagers to make Harry think that he'd been accepted to a fancy private school of magic. Still, whoever had done it had gone through a lot of effort to make Harry believe that the place was real.

Harry stared at the letter for a long moment. "It's just a fantasy, Dudley."

"That's what I thought at first," Dudley said. "How could it be real? But then, why would anyone go to so much trouble over a prank? And even if they did, how would they know when you'd opened it? It wasn't like anyone could see you do it."

Liam said, "What are you talking about?"

Dudley glanced at Harry, and, at Harry's nod, passed the letter to Liam.

Liam flipped the envelope open carefully and extracted the letter. He unfolded it and stared at it for a moment, and then he shook his head and held the letter out to Harry. "I barely got through reception, mate. I mostly just deal with picture books at the library and stuff."

Harry didn't take the letter. Staring at a spot on the floor, he recited, "Dear Mr. Potter. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress."

Liam whistled. "That's some letter. You really think it was sent as a prank."

Harry dropped the second half of his donut back into the box. "I think it doesn't matter. Say it was real. I could never go, could I? There's a whole list of things I'd need to buy—things we don't have money for. Things we'd never even know how to buy. And we don't know how to send an owl. And anyway, the school would have tuition costs… I think we're better off forgetting the whole thing."

"But it's a school for wizards," Liam said. "It's not just, like, regular boring old school. How can you not go?"

"It's not practical," Harry said. "Just leave it alone, okay?"