Chapter 2: Number 4

The next morning when Harry awoke, it was to the sound of his aunt screeching up the stairs that it was time for him to get up and start cooking. As he was dragging himself out of bed and pulling on his dressing gown Harry privately wondered, not for the first time, if his aunt was related to a banshee.

Deciding that asking her this was probably not a good idea at this time, Harry descended the stairs and started cooking the mountains of sausages, bacon, toast, eggs, beans, fried bread, hash browns and various other foods that made up the average Dursley breakfast since it seemed that Dudley's diet had been entirely abandoned at some stage during the year. Once he had finished cooking and serving said food and again being amazed that the kitchen table was actually capable of not collapsing under all that weight he took his own breakfast (a single half slice of toast) and sat down at the opposite end of the table to his aunt, who then began listing chores for the day. In this instance Harry was to load the dishwasher, clean the kitchen floor, vacuum down the stairs, dust the ornaments downstairs, clean the bathroom, wash the windows and weed the flowerbeds. On the other hand Dudley was to tidy his room if he got the chance before he went to have tea with one of his friends. If Harry noticed the difference in work load, or knew that his cousin would in fact be standing on a street corner with his gang, terrorising the local kids while selling and/or taking vast quantities of drugs, he wisely chose not to say anything, instead returned upstairs.

Once in his room he briefly stroked Hedwig, who had returned during the night, while refilling her supply of owl treats before collecting a change of clothes and heading for the bathroom to have a shower and then going downstairs and beginning the tedious workload assigned by his aunt.

By mid afternoon Harry had completed the majority of the chores and decided to take a break to look at what school work needed to be done over the holidays.

As Harry had just completed his fifth year of schooling and was awaiting his O.W.L. results at this point he could only do work for the few classes that he knew he was guaranteed a passing grade in, as he saw no point in preparing for a class he would not be allowed to take. In his case this meant he only had his defence, transfiguration and charms assignments to be working on for now so he began collecting his notes for them.

Once this was completed he then went and finished his chores for the day and was then confined to his room once again with no food further than the toast in the morning.

Thus continued Harry Potter's confinement at the Dursleys' house, in the mornings he did housework, in the afternoons he studied and then did more housework, occasionally he would be permitted to have a meal (well, table scraps anyway) and then in the evenings he would sit in his room either thinking about the past or trying to plan for his future. During these evening thinking sessions, Harry reached one inevitable conclusion, he realised that the Order of the Phoenix was pretty much useless and that he would not be receiving any help or training from that quarter beyond a standard Hogwarts education….alright for most Harry thought but then most people don't have a damn prophecy saying that they have to kill or be killed by the most feared Dark Lord in living memory, and turning furniture into farm animals or tending dangerous plants really isn't going to help me win against Tommy boy anytime soon.

But, as always Harry was stuck in privet drive for the summer or until Dumbledore decided to spring him from his prison this time.

Dumbledore….there was another sore point for Harry. Yes, in all of his time to contemplate things, Harry Potter had come to a conclusion. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin First Class, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump, Headmaster of Hogwarts, leader of the Order and hero of the light was in fact nothing more than a manipulative, self-serving, egotistical fraud who actually did very little other than sit on his backside and watch other people take action. But Harry also realised that at that point in time there was bugger all he could do about it.