A/N - I am sorry! I am! I know it's been a long time since I last updated, and now I am updating with a short chapter, but I just couldn't see how to squeeze this and the next chapter into one so had to split it.
I have been so busy with work and university recently and haven't had much time to spend on my story. But here is an update, I will set to work on the next chapter right away!
Hope you enjoy it.
Novalee.
A month had passed since the Dursleys and Harry had visited Diagon Alley and things had changed at number 4 Privet Drive.
'Harry, can you pass me my Modern Magical History book?' Dudley asked. Harry who was sitting in the armchair reading a book entitled Hogwarts a History, passed Dudley's book, briefly glancing up from his own.
'Thanks.' Dudley smiled from his place on the sofa and settled down to read his book.
Over the last month Harry and Dudley had been getting along amiably. They weren't the best of friends by a long shot, but their desire to learn more about the wizarding world, combined with the different way in which Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon, to a lesser extent, had been treating Harry had made the house a much more pleasant place to be.
'Hey Harry, have you read this yet?' Dudley looked over at him, questioningly.
'No why?'
'It mentions you! Listen; Known as the Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter was only a year old when Voldemort stole into his home in Godrics Hollow and heartlessly killed James and Lily Potter, Harry's parents. Voldemort turned his wand on Harry, meaning to kill him as well, but Harry survived the attack, rebounding the killing curse on his attacker and killing him instead. No-one knows, and perhaps never will know, how a small child escaped certain death at the hands of the most lethal wizard of the Twentieth Century, but one thing is for sure, the whole wizarding world will be eternally grateful to Mister Harry Potter for ending the war.'
'You ended a war?!' Dudley was incredulous. He had initially been a little jealous of Harry's apparent fame, but after a few weeks of reading about it in his new books, felt almost sorry for Harry having lost his parents. Dudley had never heard mention of his Aunt and Uncle before and was ashamed to say had never even asked his mother what had happened to them.
Harry peered up at him 'I ended a war? How could I end a war and not even remember?'
Dudley shrugged and went back to his reading.
Harry had had a tough few weeks truth be told. Having learnt his parents hadn't died in a car crash like he had always thought, but had been murdered by an evil wizard who had also tried to murder him, was a lot to take in. He wondered if the green light he could sometimes remember was the curse which had killed them. Perhaps it was his imagination though, he couldn't see how he could remember something which happened when he was only a baby. The few days following their return from Diagon Alley, Harry had been very subdued thinking about all this new information. One morning Harry awoke to a small package on the end of his bed, wrapped in shiny, golden paper with a red ribbon tied around its centre. He double took for a moment, not sure what to do with it, then he spotted the card below it. Ripping it open it simply read; A belated birthday present – Aunt Petunia
Perplexed, Harry carefully opened the gift. It was a wedding photo encased in a beautiful, gilded frame. He instantly knew this was his mum and dad.
He had devoured this photo hungrily. He had never seen a picture of his mum or dad before. In the wedding photo his mum had long, red hair, half of which was twisted up in an intricate style, interwoven with a lacy, white veil. She had beautiful green eyes, much like his own, and was smiling happily. His father looked almost familiar. Harry noticed the similarities to himself immediately. The crooked smile and the messy black hair were identical to Harrys. Like Harry, his father wore glasses. Harry felt proud to see this link of something, even only a small something, which linked them both. His father had his arm wrapped around his mother's waist and was smiling down at her.
Harry carefully placed the photo on his shelf and, taking one more glance at it, left the room. He found his Aunt in the kitchen preparing breakfast and looked at her, trying to figure out this change in her persona whilst also trying to form the words he needed to thank her for the wonderful gift. She looked around, and, immediately understanding Harry's nervousness, simply said, 'It's okay Harry.' Since that day Harry had found himself a lot more relaxed in his Aunts presence. The same with Dudley, who seemed to have been treating him with a bit more respect since Harry's story had emerged. He wished he could say the same for his Uncle though who's booming voice bought Harry back to the present.
'Out of my seat boy!'
Harry leapt out of the armchair and resettled himself next to Dudley on the sofa. He shouldn't be surprised, his Uncle was a stubborn man and it would take him a lot to break the habit of a lifetime; treating Harry badly.
'Petunia! Come in here will you? We need to sort out tomorrow!' Uncle Vernon bellowed. Now Harry looked him more closely, he noticed his Uncle looked a little more stressed than usual. Perhaps it was the reality of his son leaving tomorrow to train as a wizard finally hitting home. As Aunt Petunia entered the sitting room, wiping her hands on a green apron tied around her waist, Dudley and Harry sat up a little straighter, excited to finally be preparing to leave for Hogwarts.
'What time does the train leave then?' Uncle Vernon asked the room in general.
'Eleven o'clock!' Dudley burst out, having memorised all the information he possibly could about the new school.
'But the Professor told us to arrive for ten thirty remember? So we can see other families arriving as well.' Aunt Petunia added on.
'Right. Well, you'd better get your trunks packed then. Off you go.' Uncle Vernon nodded at his son and nephew who both immediately vacated the sofa and dashed upstairs. Petunia took a place on the edge of the sofa and looked at her husband, concern furrowing her brow.
'Are you okay Vernon? You aren't worried about Dudley leaving are you?'
'Worried? Of course I'm worried Petunia! I've been thinking more and more about it these past few weeks. What if he is unhappy there? What if he and Potter are in the same house?'
'Vernon – you have surely noticed how well they have been getting along? And truth be told, I for one, am pleased. Harry is a good boy when left to his devices. Did you see Dudley reading? Reading Vernon! That's something I never thought I'd see outside of the classroom! He is excited, and interested in learning. You must be happy about that?'
Vernon grunted something akin to agreement.
'Well, we've forked out all this money – I suppose we'd better let him give it a go. I want to visit this school though Petunia, see what kind of place it is. I'm not happy sending Dudley into the unknown. He's never been on a train alone before – what if he gets off at the wrong stop? Perhaps we should drive him there, then we can see the school for ourselves.'
Petunia could see her husband was panicking. She should have expected this– whilst she felt relatively calm about the situation, having seen her sister go through it herself, the same couldn't be said for Vernon. Petunia moved to sit on the arm of Vernon's chair, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
'Don't worry Vernon – they'll take good care of him – and Harry. It'll all be fine'
Upstairs Harry was packing the trunk his Aunt had purchased the week before. He and Dudley had one each with their names stamped on the side for Harry and for Dudley. As he was folding his new robes carefully around the picture of his parents so as to keep it protected, Dudley peered around the door.
'Are we supposed to wear our robes on the way to school do you think?'
Harry considered this for a moment. 'No, I think maybe we can change on the train? I'm not sure though.'
'Yeah, I think you're right. We would draw some attention dressed like wizards in Kings Cross Station!'
Harry and Dudley both grinned at the thought.
A rustling came from the corner of Harry's room. There, Hedwig was shuffling herself into a more comfortable sleeping position. Harry loved his owl Hedwig, his first ever gift. He had chosen her name from one of his school books and felt it suited her well. Dudley had named his screech owl Odysseus, Odie for short. It turned out that Aunt Petunia had worried over nothing as the owls were rather clean, and given that they were let out every night to hunt and exercise, they usually just slept quietly all day.
'Did you know that the schools houses are named after the founders of the school?' Dudley asked Harry. Harry had recently felt like he was in a constant trivia match, Dudley spent so much time reading his school books and telling Harry random facts. But he had read through some of Hogwarts a History himself, so did know this one and nodded his response at Dudley.
'Which house do you think you'll be in?' He questioned Harry. This was something Harry had thought about many times over the past month or so and the answer was, he truly didn't know. Each house sounded like it had something good to offer.
'I don't think I mind. They all sound alright don't you think?'
'Yeah I suppose so. I think I'd like to be in Gryffindor though – I've been reading all about it and it sounds like the best. That or Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw sounds okay too.'
'Yeah I think Hufflepuff sounds good. I think I'd prefer Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. I wonder how they decide? I hope it's not a test.' He sounded worried.
Dudley didn't look too worried at the idea of a test. 'I don't know – it doesn't say anything in any of the books I've read so far. I guess we'll find out tomorrow!' His voice lifted at the end of his sentence in excitement, and Harry, too, couldn't help but feel nervous excitement in the prospect of starting his new school the next day.
'Get up! We overslept!' Harry heard a banging at his bedroom door and leapt out of bed. How could they have overslept today of all days? He looked at the old clock on the wall of his bedroom. Seven thirty. He thanked his stars he had finished packing the night before and had laid his clothes out ready. Throwing on his jeans and a t-shirt, he dashed to the bathroom to brush his teeth, nearly running into Dudley who was running out of the bathroom, an excited smile plastered over his face.
An hour later they had eaten breakfast, loaded the car up with their trunks, and set off towards London, Hedwig and Odie in their cages on Harry and Dudley's respective knees. Uncle Vernon had conceded to drive to London as he wasn't, as he put it, 'taking those bloody birds on the train again.'
The drive was quiet, Harry and Dudley feeling nervous now they had finally left the house. Aunt Petunia looked around her seat.
'Have you got everything? Books? Socks? Writing sets? Wands? Oh my! Have you got your wands?!' she all but shouted, sounding panic stricken, but the boys nodded that they had them and she relaxed a little. If Harry hadn't known his Aunt better, he might have thought she was more nervous than he was.
'You will write to us won't you Duddy?' She peered back at her son, who was looking paler the closer they got to London. 'Yes mum, I will write – I will send my letters back with Odie.'
'Harry? It would be nice to hear how you are doing as well.' Aunt Petunia nodded at him.
'Oh, erm, okay I can write too.' Harry didn't want to be rude – he thought his Aunt was just being polite, but she had bought him that writing set after all.
Uncle Vernon snorted from the front seat and Aunt Petunia frowned and turned back in her seat.
It was 10:15 when they arrived at Kings Cross station, thankfully ahead of schedule. By the time they had loaded up two trollies with their belongings, and found their way to platforms 9 and 10, it was half past.
'So, what did the professor say? We should run at the barrier? It looks pretty solid to me.' Aunt Petunia looked around anxiously.
'Look!' Dudley pointed out 'Over there!'
Harry followed his pudgy arm and saw a large family heading on to the platform, with trollies and an owl. They must be going to Hogwarts too. There was a plump lady, 4 boys and a younger girl, all with flaming red hair and freckles. The Dursleys and Harry moved to be closer to them and see what they did next in order to get on the platform.
A red headed boy, who looked to be the eldest of the group, took a trolley, the one with the owl on top, and ran straight at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Then, he was gone! Disappeared!
Harry looked on in wonder. They had gotten close enough now to hear the plump lady, whom Harry assumed was the mother, talking.
'Fred, you next'
'I'm not Fred, I'm George,' said the boy. 'Honestly, woman, call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?'
'Sorry, George, dear.'
'Only joking, I am Fred,' said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done, because a second later, he had gone.
Harry smiled at the boys humour. As he watched, the other twin followed his brother and disappeared too. The next thing he heard was his Aunts voice;
'Excuse me? It's our first time here. Do we really just run at the brick wall?'
The plump lady turned to look at Aunt Petunia and spotted Harry and Dudley.
'First time at Hogwarts?' She beamed and pointed at the last boy 'Ron's new too.' Ron was tall, gangly and thin with red hair, big hands and feet and a long nose. 'Just run at the barrier, don't worry. Why don't you boys go together before Ron and your parents can see how it's done?'
Dudley looked at this mother who smiled encouragingly back at him.
'Go on, your father and I will follow you with the trolleys.'
So, glancing at each other, Harry and Dudley stood in front of the barrier. Walking forward, they both broke into a jog. The barrier was getting closer, this was going to hurt! Harry closed his eyes, but the impact never came.
