Chapter 3- Little Whinging
The next morning found them on the Knight Bus travelling through Surrey. The trip had taken much longer than expected, especially with all the stops along the way as passengers got on and off the bus. Hermione was feeling rather nauseous about the whole thing, thoroughly disliking the way the armchairs they were each sitting upon haphazardly swayed back and forth in the bus. Ron appeared to be enjoying himself, but Hermione was a little more than ready to finally get off the stupid thing. She was beginning to feel a little nauseous. Fortunately, after a long while they finally arrived in Little Whinging in an alley behind a set of shops.
Ron was mesmerized with all things Muggle and kept asking questions about everything he saw. Hermione answered as discreetly as possible, but found his questions rather irritating, seeing as he was slowing them down. As planned Hermione quickly bought a local map at one of the shops and discovered that they were within walking distance to Privet Drive. Spotting a deli, they decided to purchase some sandwiches, bags of crisps, and drinks to take with them. If Harry's relatives were still forcing his enormous cousin on a diet there was no telling the last time Harry had eaten well. They had also bought a small cake to celebrate. They stored all of the food in the knapsack Hermione was carrying.
Ron's knapsack contained Harry's birthday presents they planned to give him. Hermione had gotten him a talking homework diary to help him keep track of all of his assignments. Ron had gotten him large box of Bernie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans and a subscription to a Quidditch magazine.
Shouldering their loads, the pair walked quietly through the streets until they came upon the entrance to the neighborhood Harry where lived in. When they finally arrived at Privet Drive and saw house Number Four, Hermione stopped in her tracks.
"Is this it?" she asked, glancing towards Ron nervously.
"This is it," he replied.
"What are we going to say?" she asked. "I don't want to get Harry in trouble or anything."
"We'll just tell them the truth. That we are Harry's best friends and that we wanted to surprise him for his birthday. They don't have to know that we're worried about anything else," Ron replied.
"What if someone from the Order sees us? There is always someone on guard here."
They glanced around but found no one they recognized from the Order, not that they expected to anyway. They were probably well hidden, under disguise, or using some type of charm to hide their appearance.
"Then we'll tell them the same thing. I'm sure once we explain why we are truly here they won't have a problem with it. We'll just have to face my parents when we get home," Ron replied with a shrug, as if it was not a problem.
Hermione nodded, but still felt quite anxious. She wasn't sure how she had let Ron talk to her into this. She didn't really want to get in trouble, but she was desperately worried for their friend.
They walked up to the house taking in every bit of it. The flower beds were well manicured and the lawn meticulously mowed. A bright red Ford Escort sat in the drive way, newly washed and sparkling. Everything about the home was well taken care of and they couldn't help but think that it may have been Harry who had done all of the work.
Climbing up the steps of the front porch, Hermione reached up and knock on the door. They had to wait for quite for a few moments for someone to respond, but then finally the lock was unlatched and the door opened. Hermione held her breath in hopes that it would be their friend who would answer. And luckily Harry did.
He held the door ajar, his mouth slightly open looking completely dazed. A smile quickly spread across his face and his green eyes lit up brightly at the sight of his friends. Ron and Hermione beamed their own smiles back at him, grateful to see their best friend.
"Hi guys, what are…" Harry began, but a noise from some distant part of the house caused his initial excitement to change. The smile he wore quickly fell from his face and his eyes began to glance about worriedly. "What are you doing here!" he whispered fiercely.
"Hi Harry," Hermione said softly. "We wanted to surprise you on your birthday. We decided to bring your presents in person."
Harry looked back into the house and the leaned forward and closed the door behind him slightly, as if to block their conversation from prying ears. "Birthday?" he asked.
"Yeah mate. You must have noticed that we didn't send your presents at midnight like we usually do," said Ron. "Did you forget the date?"
Harry ran a nervous hand through his messy hair and laughed shakily. "Yeah, I guess I did."
"Well, may we come in or would it be easier if you came outside?" asked Hermione.
Harry looked pensive for a moment as the thought about what she had asked. "Listen, I appreciate the trouble you went through, but it would be better if you guys just left. Sorry," he said finally, as he tried to close the door.
"No!" shouted Ron, pushing his hand against the door to prevent if from closing. "We're not leaving until we spent some time with you. Why are you rushing us off so fast? Is something wrong?"
"No, it's just-" Harry began, still trying to close the door.
"Who are you talking to? Who's there?" came a sharp voice from inside.
"No one, Aunt Petunia. They were just leaving," Harry tried to explain, turning his head to speak to his aunt behind him. "Just some salesmen."
Petunia opened the door and her eyes narrowed when she saw who was standing on the other side. She stared at Ron in particular, her lips pursed into thin little lines illustrating her obvious distaste.
"These aren't salesmen," she said, looking down at Harry now, who seemed to shrink under her hateful glare. "You lied to me."
Harry opened his mouth in his defense, but nothing came out. Instead he looked back at his friends and said, "Just leave you guys. You're going to get me in trouble here."
Petunia nodded. "Yes, leave!" she said, turning to close the door.
"Wait a minute…" Ron began, looking obviously upset with the infuriating woman. "Let us just explain."
"No. I know who you are, and you have no right to be here," she spat.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked. "What do you mean?"
"Hermione, leave it be. Just go!" Harry pleaded.
His aunt ignored him and answered her question. "That boy's family hurt my Dudley with those ridiculous sweets," said Petunia Dursley, pointing a finger at Ron accusingly. "We don't like your kind here and I want you to get off my property."
Hermione held up her hands hoping to placate the woman. "I'm sorry for intruding upon you like this," she began in the sweetest voice she could muster, feeling a bit like Dolores Umbridge. "But we've come all this way to see Harry on his birthday. We brought him lunch and would like to spend some time with him. What's the harm in that?"
Petunia looked incredulous. "What's the harm? How dare you! Who do you think you are young lady?"
"I said go!" Harry shouted at her angrily.
She gave Harry a pointed look and continued her tirade. "My name is Hermione Granger, ma'am, and this is Ron Weasley. We are Harry's friends, as I'm sure you have gathered by now. And we will see Harry today, whether you like it or not!" Hermione said in a stern voice, realizing her attempt at sweetness had not worked. She knew in heart that something wasn't right here, and she just had to see Harry at all costs.
Petunia looked about, hoping the neighbors hadn't heard the out burst. "Keep your voice down! I will not be yelled at by some floozy!"
"Hey, that's uncalled for!" Ron shouted, stepping towards Petunia.
Hermione grabbed him by the arm and held him back. "Mrs. Dursley, if we aren't allowed to see Harry we're going to have to go back to Dumbledore and tell him how unaccommodating you were about all of this. He will not be pleased considering he sent us all this way to check on Harry's well being. Do you honestly want us to report such an unwarranted attack on my character? Or the fact that you are being so unreasonable?"
Ron and Harry both looked at her in surprise. She didn't blame them. She didn't know where that had come from either. She just hoped that Harry's aunt didn't catch her lie as well.
"Dumbledore sent you?" she asked, looking worried.
"Yes. And it seems that I may have to report back to him that I felt that Harry wasn't being treated properly here, seeing as it is his birthday and all and he wasn't allowed to see he his friends," Hermione replied, standing up a little straighter. "Dumbledore may want to send the Ministry to check up on this matter."
Petunia looked like the wind had been let of her sails. After a moment, she said, "He's being punished…"
"For what?" Ron asked.
"Nothing," Harry muttered angrily, earning him a look from his aunt.
"Even still Mrs. Dursley, we only want to see Harry a short while. I'm sure you can make an exception just this once. Unless of course you have birthday plans for him later," Hermione continued. "Most families make it a point to celebrate a relative's birthday, so if you'd rather we came back later to join in the festivities I'm sure Dumbledore would understand. We could even being more friends if you like."
Hermione knew that Petunia wouldn't admit that they wouldn't be celebrating Harry's birthday this year, or any other for that matter. Realizing that she would have to let them see Harry or run the risk of even more witches and wizards coming to her home, Petunia finally consented.
"Fine. You can have your lunch, but I don't want you anywhere near the house. Go the park or something," she said irritably.
Hermione gave her a wide false smile and used her Umbridge impression once more. "Thank you, for accommodating us Mrs. Dursley. Professor Dumbledore will be happy that Harry's relatives thought enough of him to let him spend some time with his friends." She turned to Harry and took him by the hand. "Come along Harry."
Harry allowed her to pull him out of the house, but then ripped his hand from hers and stormed past them. Petunia looked as though she wanted to call him back and say something more to her nephew, but opted instead to slam the front door. Ron and Hermione followed Harry down the path to the sidewalk. Harry seemed to look around for his "guard," but like Ron and Hermione earlier he didn't seem to find anyone.
Harry was quite a few feet ahead of them, seemingly intent on making it to whatever park they were going to quickly. Hermione wondered why their friend was walking so much faster than them or why he wasn't even talking to them for that matter.
"Harry?" Hermione called to him, picking up her pace to try to walk beside him. Harry took one look at her and began walking even faster, as if he was trying to lose her. She looked over at Ron hoping that he would help.
"Hold up, mate!" Ron called after him, reaching out to grab him by his sweatshirt. "We want to talk to you!"
Harry finally stopped dead in his tracks and whipped around to face them, shrugging Ron off of him. "Why did you come here?"
Surprised by his tone, Hermione looked to Ron and saw that he wasn't sure how to deal with their friend either. His moods could be so unpredictable and the last thing they wanted was to upset him any further.
"We just wanted to see you. We're worried about you," Hermione explained.
"Well, don't be." Harry crossed his arms over his chest and looked away. Then he added, "There's nothing to worry about."
"But we are worried and that's not going to change just because you don't want us to," said Ron.
"Whatever," Harry muttered, looking somewhat defeated. "Let's just get to the park."
He stormed off once more, leaving Ron and Hermione completely bewildered. In all of their plans to come visit their friend, they had never expected Harry to react quite this way. Realizing that he wasn't in a mood to talk right now, they quickly followed behind him, hoping that once they had Harry at the park that he might be more willing to discuss what was going on with him.
A/N: So far all of your responses have been positive. I'm curious to see what you thought of Harry's reaction to his unexpected visitors. Harry is an angry boy, isn't he? Don't worry, more will be revealed in the next chapter.
