Hi again guys, so this is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it :)
"Do you think we can really change the future?" Lily asked, breaking the silence a couple of minutes after the other boys left.
"I don't know, perhaps after we read these books we'll be able to see what we did wrong and somehow avoid doing it in reality, or well, again." James answered
"And what if we don't manage, what if we'll get killed by You-Know-Who ?" she asked him
"For that to happen you will have to accept my marriage proposal first, so getting killed isn't exactly the first thing that should be on your mind" he said with a huge grin on his face
"I'm serious Potter, what if we die and our son will end up living with those horrible people?"
"First of all those horrible people are your sister and her husband, and second of all now that we know what can happen we'll make sure it doesn't, we won't get killed, and we'll raise our son just like any other family, I promise that after we get out of Hogwarts, I will do everything I can to make sure we get to grow old together and live a long and happy life together." Lily had never heard James talk like that before; everything he'd ever said was mean or attention seeking. Perhaps people do change, and James will be the one that she'll say yes to eventually.
"Thanks, that was very nice" she told him, as she hugged him and gave a him a small kiss on the cheek. James was going to say something but she never got to hear what he was going to tell her because at that moment Sirius and Remus came back into the dormitory.
"Back already boys?" Lily asked them
"There was no way we could get to the kitchens, I'm guessing something happened since there's teachers patrolling every corridor, we were hardly able to get back to the common room without being seen." Said Sirius
"I wonder what happened actually, even Flitwick was going around and he seemed pretty concerned about something" said George who'd only just entered the dormitory.
"I heard some of the sixth year girls talking about a few people planning to set a couple of stink bombs all around the school, they got about 20 people to join them, they said the plan was pretty good and everything." Said Lily
"Oh yeah, I heard about that, they asked us to join them, but it didn't sound too exciting, and I bet some of them will get caught, you should never include so many people in a plan this risky" said Sirius
"you know, we should go down to the common room later and see how it worked out" said James
"Yeah, we'll go after this chapter, the real problem is that we didn't get any food!" said George
"Yeah, I don't know how I'll survive another entire chapter without any food," said Sirius
"Well, we still have some left over sweets from the Hogwarts Express, and you just had dinner, you can't possibly be hungry already." Said Remus
"Those words make you sound like you don't know Padfoot at all." Said James
"While you're done with the discussion on food, can we go on with the next chapter, it's getting kind of late and we still have classes tomorrow" said Lily
"Typical Lily, stop an important conversation on food to remind us about school" said Sirius
"Anyways... who wants to read next?" asked James
"I will, I just hope we won't have to hear about the Dursleys for much longer, I'm getting really sick of them" said Lily, then Sirius passed her the book from his bed.
Chapter three
The Letters from No one
"I think Harry will finally get his Hogwarts letter!" said Sirius excitedly
The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.
"Aww, the poor lady" said Lily
"I would think that too, then again she tortures Harry by making him look at photos of cats whenever he has to stay with her, so I think she deserved it." Said Sirius
"Come on now, she didn't deserve it, maybe Petunia or her husband, but not Mrs. Figg" said Lily
Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.
"If those are the criteria used to chose the leader of a group, then that means I'm the leader of the Marauders, bow to me my minions" said Sirius, while standing up and sounding very fond of himself.
Lily laughed and then told him "well at least you admit to being the stupidest around here"
"Way to ruin my moment Lily" said Sirius as he sat back down on his bed.
The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite sport: Harry Hunting.
This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope.
"At least they let him out of the house" said James
When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school.
"No he's not, what is this book talking about? Harry's going to Hogwarts!" said Sirius
"Of course he is, but he didn't get his letter yet, he doesn't even know about Hogwarts yet, I'm pretty sure Petunia didn't tell him about that, after all she didn't even tell him how we died" said Lily
Dudley thought this was very funny.
"We'll see who's laughing when Harry gets his letter!" said Sirius
"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"
"I think the toilet might be sick after having Dudley's head stuffed in it" said Sirius as everyone started laughing
"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.
"hahaha, that's one smart move Harry" said James and everyone started laughing again
"You know, Harry's never told us that much about his life before Hogwarts, all we know was that it was quite miserable, he never told us about the amazing come backs he came up with" said George and James had a proud look on his face but didn't dare say anything, at least not while Lily was there.
One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.
"Fine, she earned it, I feel sorry for her because Dudley knocked her over in the beginning of the chapter" said Sirius "and he even got to eat chocolate!"
"That tasted badly" said Lily, and Sirius responded "first of all, it's chocolate and no matter how old it is, chocolate still tastes amazing, and second of all, I bet Harry doesn't get too many occasions to eat chocolate, especially not with Dudley around, so he most definitely enjoyed it"
That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters.
"eww, that sounds really horrible, why would a school have that as their official uniform?" said Lily, then James said "I can't believe I was complaining about the Hogwarts robes."
They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.
"what?" said both James and Lily at the same time. "If there is someone who needs training for later in life with knobbly sticks, that person is most definitely not Dudley, especially not with Harry around" said James
"Oh, I can't believe it, it's not like it was bad enough for Harry with Dudley using him as a punch bag all the time, now he's going to become a poking bag as well" said Lily looking quite depressed.
As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up.
"Handsome and grown-up, yeah right, I bet a hippo in a tutu looks more handsome and grown-up" said Sirius as the others started laughing
Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.
Everyone was laughing again, as they were trying to imagine themselves having to watch Dudley parade around in his new uniform.
There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.
"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.
"Come on, anyone that came in the kitchen and saw that would have been wondering what it is" said Remus
"Your new school uniform," she said. Harry looked in the bowl again.
"Thank god Harry's going to Hogwarts, and won't have to wear that to school." Said James
"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."
Everyone started laughing again. "I never actually realized how funny Harry is" said George
"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."
"Wouldn't it just be easier to get him some new clothes, I mean she would even go through all that trouble and dye those clothes gray just so that she didn't have to get Harry anything new" said Lily then sighing.
Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High - like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.
"Don't worry son, you'll be wearing brand new robes, just like everyone else" said James
Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.
They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.
"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.
"No way, did he just make Ickle Dudleykins do something as hard as getting the mail?" said Sirius
"Make Harry get it."
"Get the mail, Harry."
"Of course, can you think what could have happened if Dudley actually got up, walked all the way to the door, bent down and walked back again, it would be like the end of the world or something" said Sirius and everyone was laughing again.
"Make Dudley get it."
"It's not going to work," said James
"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."
"What? No, Harry just go and get the mail" said Lily
Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and - a letter for Harry.
"Harry's Hogwarts letter!" said James
"It's just a letter for Harry, it doesn't necessarily have to be his Hogwarts letter, "said Remus
Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives - he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:
Mr. H. Potter
The Cupboard under the Stairs
4 Privet Drive Little Whinging Surrey
The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.
"I was right" shouted James enthusiastically "and Remus with all his logic was wrong!"
"I never gave a firm answer I just thought of other possibilities"
"Just accept that you were wrong"
"Fine, I'm sorry I made a wrong guess"
"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.
"Wait, no way, why did he just take his letter to the kitchen, he should have read it in the hallway, of I don't think they're going to let him read it." Said Lily
Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.
"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk. -." "Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"
"Oh, when I get my hands on that kid..."said James
Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.
"oh" Lily said in a very sad voice, as she hid her face in James's shirt and passed him the book.
"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.
"You go Harry!" said Sirius
"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.
The room was quiet for a few seconds while everyone imagined uncle Vernon turning all those colours, then grins appeared on all of their faces.
"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.
Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.
"Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!"
Lily sighed.
They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.
"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.
"Oh shut up, it's not even your letter" said James.
"I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."
"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.
"He deserves the right to read his own letters!" shouted Lily, and then asked James for the book back so that she would finish reading.
"Yes he deserves it, although with these muggles around, that doesn't mean he'll get it" said Remus
Harry didn't move.
"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted. "Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.
"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole;
James and Sirius both started a cheer of "Go Harry!"
Dudley won,
"ohhh, come on!" said both James sand Sirius at the same time
so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.
"At least he still got to hear them" said Lily
"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address - how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"
"Watching - spying - might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.
"That you stupid muggle is called magic" said Sirius
"In the muggle world it's called stalking" said Remus
"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want -"
"They won't take no for an answer, especially not when it's Harry Potter we're talking about" said Remus
Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.
"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer... Yes, that's best... we won't do anything...
"Believe me, they won't give up that easily, they're probably going to send more letters or something" said James
"But -"
"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"
"Magic? They wanted to stamp out magic out of him?" asked Sirius
"I thought Petunia would know better than that after she's spent her entire childhood with me" said Lily
That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.
"Whoa, did someone die or something, how could the old git take his time and actually go and talk to the boy who lives under their stairs?" said Sirius sarcastically
"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"
"No one, it was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."
"WHAT?" everyone gasped, and then James said "why would he burn it, that was Harry's ticket to freedom!"
"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."
"Exactly, you tell him Harry!" said Sirius
"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.
"Sometimes it's better not to smile at all than force a smile, this is one of those times" said Lily
"Er - yes, Harry - about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking... you're really getting a bit big for it... we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom.
"OH, SO HIS SON HAS TWO BEDROOMS BUT MY SON HAS TO SLEEP IN A CUPBOARD!"shouted James
"I'm so going to talk to Petunia about this, the next time I see her, why would she ever treat my son in such a horrible way!"
"Guys, you're missing out on the point, they are being nice to Harry, why are they being nice to him? I know it's a good thing but it's very unusual"
"They're probably doing it because they don't want other people knowing how they treat Harry, if the word got out that they made him sleep in a cupboard and do everything they make him do, it would ruin their reputation, and now that they think the Hogwarts people are watching them they're going to try to be nicer to him" said Lily
"Why?" said Harry.
"Harry, never look a gift horse in the mouth, just accept it" said James
"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."
The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.
Lily and James both sighed, probably too angry to say anything.
It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbour's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite program had been cancelled;
"Spoiled!" sang Sirius
There was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books.
"No way, Ikle Duddlykins has books?!" said Sirius
They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.
"Oh, that's better, for a moment I thought he actually read, everything's ok now, everything's back to normal" said Sirius
From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, I don't want him in there... I need that room... make him get out..."
Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.
Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back.
Everyone was grinning again.
Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall.
"That's a little too late, but at least he realized his mistake" said James
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.
When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive -'"
"I thought he also wanted to read it, and then again he would have needed to think before he spoke, which would have been way too hard" said Sirius
With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.
"Go Harry get the letter before him!" shouted James without much enthusiasm in his voice, probably because he already knew how small the chances of Harry getting the letter would be.
After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.
"Go to your cupboard - I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley - go - just go."
Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.
Everyone's mood seemed to lighten up a bit at that.
The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.
He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door -
"Oh, I thought he would have a better plan than that, the letters don't even come by post, why does he think they have no stamp, they're sent by owl!" said Lily
"Come on Lily, he doesn't even know about owls, that's actually a really good plan for someone who doesn't know the letters come by owl" said Remus
Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat - something alive!
Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do.
"And the plan fails miserably" said Sirius
He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap.
Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.
I want -" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.
"Isn't he getting a bit obsessed with keeping Harry away from those letters, I mean, not even going to work, that's a bit exaggerated." Said Remus
"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."
"That's just like saying that after McGonagall couldn't get us to stop misbehaving in our first year she would've given up by now." Said James
"Yeah, McGonagall is not one to give up on something, especially getting the students to school" said George
"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."
"Wow, the woman's got some sense in herself, I guess she might resemble Lily a tiny bit" said James, earning a warm look and a smile from Lily
"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.
"Thank Merlin for that!"Said Sirius
On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.
"Told you they won't give up!" said James
Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.
"I think he's going a bit fanatical" said Lily
"Just a bit?" asked James
On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.
"I wonder how they got the letters in there, I think there's more than owls working on the job to get the owls delivered" said Remus
"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.
On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.
"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today -"
"No muggle post on Sundays, owls work 24/7" said James with a wicked smile on his face
Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.
"Get one and run Harry!" shouted Sirius
"Out! OUT!"
Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.
"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time. I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"
"I have a feeling that leaving the house won't do it." Said Lily
"Of course it won't, I got my letter while we were on vacation at the sea side" said Remus
"I got it while we were over at our aunt's house for 2 weeks" said George
"I wonder where they're going to go" said James
He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.
They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake'em off... shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.
"Not going to work" sang Sirius
They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.
"Oh Merlin, what's going to happen to him, someone do something he's going to die, if he doesn't play on the computer soon!" said George and everyone started to laugh again
Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering...
They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.
"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."
Everyone laughed as they tried to imagine uncle Vernon's face when he heard that.
She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address: Mr. H. Potter
Room 17
Railview Hotel
Cokeworth
Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.
"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.
Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.
"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.
"Yes Dudley Daddy's gone mad, you know this kid might actually have some brains, even though it took him this long to notice, he figured it out!" said Sirius
Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.
"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television. "
Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday - and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television - then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun - last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. Still, you weren't eleven every day.
"Oh Happy Birthday Sweet heart" said Lily, and Sirius started singing Happy Birthday, as everyone else joined in as well. All of them were laughing by the end of that and it took a couple o f moments before the laughter died out and Lily could continue reading.
Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.
"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"
It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain; there was no television in there.
"Wow, I still can't believe they would actually agree to stay on that thing" said George "They're really not the sort of people to cope well with that"
"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"
A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.
"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!" It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.
The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.
Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shrivelled up.
"Probably wishing you had kept some of the letters now, aren't you?" said Sirius cheerfully
"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.
Everyone laughed at that.
He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.
"Owls can deliver their letters through just about any weather, except for perhaps snow, there's always quite a problem with delivering the mail through a snow storm, which happen quite a lot around Hogwarts during the winter" said Remus
As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.
"Filthy muggles" Lily started but she didn't have to finish her sentence, everyone already knew what she was trying to say.
The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.
"Probably in Hogwarts sitting in her office or sleeping in her room" said George
"Knowing McGonagall, she's probably still in her office" said Sirius
Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.
"Being positive about a really horrible situation, which he came up with by being negative, not sure what to say about that one" said James
Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.
Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?
One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds...
"I think something's going to explode or at least happen after this countdown" said James
twenty ... ten... nine - maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him
"Yes you should!" said Sirius excitedly
- three... two... one...
Lily counted that really quietly.
BOOM.
Lily shouted as she said it, and everyone jumped up from their beds, and then started laughing, but they stopped quite quickly since they were all curious to see what had happened.
The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.
"That's it" said Lily, as she handed the book back to George
"Great, let's go down to the common room and see what happened" said George, and they all sat up and headed for the common room
Ok, so this is it, I hope you liked it, I will write a bit more of what happened in the hallways in the next chapter, but that will be quite short, since the Marauders are planning something great for themselves. Please review and tell me what you thought :)