A.N- 'Thoughts'
"Talking"
Declaimer: I do not own (anything) Harry Potter universe or characters.
Harry's pov
Four Privet Drive
August 1st
I went down to breakfast the next morning to find that all three Dursley's were eating around the new television in the kitchen. I sit down between Uncle Vernon and Dudley as their beady eyes were watching the television as I nibble on a piece of toast.
"...In other news, as reported late yesterday, Sirius Black escaped a maximum security prison. We have been notified that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. If spotted, call the special hot line immediately," a well-dressed newsman reported as a picture of a man in prison stripes was shown next to him.
The prisoner had a mass of black matted hair, his face resembled that of a corpse as his skin was pulled tight against his skull, the only thing that showed it was an actual living person was the sunken gray eyes that stared out of the television screen. The man, he looked familiar as if I had seen him before, I just couldn't place where.
"Just look at the stated of him," Uncle Vernon interrupted my train of thoughts, "You can tell he is no good."
"On to other news, the Prime Minister will at the-"
"Wait a minute," Uncle Vernon interrupted yet again, "You forgot to mention where this lunatic escaped from!" Uncle Vernon slams his coffee mug on the table, "When are they going to learn that the only solution to prevent escapes is to hang them."
"True," Aunt Petunia chimed in.
Uncle Vernon finished off his breakfast before getting, "I best be off. Marge's train arrives at ten."
"A-aunt M-marge is coming here," I stutter.
'Who's Aunt Marge,' Ginny asks.
'My Uncle's crazy sister. She is horrible, she has a lot of dogs-that she usually sends after me just for her entertainment'
'That's horrible!'
"She will be staying for a week," Uncle Vernon says, "and while we are on the subject."
Dudley turned his head towards Uncle Vernon and me, finding more entertainment from watching me getting into trouble than the television.
"First, you will keep a civil tongue while talking to Marge," Uncle Vernon orders, "Secondly, I don't want any funny stuff happening while Marge is here. She doesn't know about your abnormality and it will be kept way. And Finally, We informed Marge that you attend St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys."
"What," I yelled!
"You'll be sticking to that story, boy, or there will be consequences."
I just sat there processing the revelation of Aunt Marge's surprise visit.
"I'll be off the station, then. Want to come along for the ride, Dudders?"
"No," Dudley said as his attention was turned back to the television.
"Duddy's got to make himself for his Auntie Marge," Aunt Petunia interjected as Uncle Vernon left the kitchen.
I rush out of the kitchen to catch Uncle Vernon. "Wait," I say as he was about to open the front door.
"I'm not taking you, boy," he said as his face turned a deep red.
"As if I would want to come," I say coldly, "I was just wondering if you would sign my permission form.
'Harry, remember the letter said you were emancipated,' Ginny said.
'But that doesn't mean Professor McGonagall will accept my permission form if I sign it. I need a backup plan just in case.'
"Why should I sign the bloody thing," Uncle Vernon's face now turning purple with the mounting anger.
"Well, it will be hard work remembering that I go to St. Whatsit-"
"St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys," His anger explodes!
"Yeah, that place," I say indifferently, "it's a lot to remember. But if you sign my permission form, I swear I'll remember where I'm supposed to go to school, and I'll act like I'm normal and everything."
"Fine," he sneers as he slammed the door behind himself.
I walked up to my room instead of going back to the kitchen. I take my presents and letters off my desk and put them under a loose floorboard with my summer homework. I then walk over to Hedwig's cage, where both Hedwig and Errol were napping.
I poke them awake, "Hedwig, you are going to have to go leave for a week. Go with Errol, Ron'll take care of you. I'll write him a note explaining everything," I say as Hedwig gave me a glare, "Stop that, it's not my fault. I have to if I want my Hogsmeade permission slip signed."
A few minutes later, both Hedwig and Errol were off to the Burrow and not long after that, I heard Uncle Vernon's car pull up.
I hear Aunt Petunia yell up the stairs, "Get down here and welcome Marge!"
I start my slow death march down the stairs to meet Aunt Marge at the door. Aunt Petunia was by the stairs with Dudley by her side dressed in a dress shirt, bow tie, and slacks; his blonde hair plastered to his forehead. He was still focused on the television in the living room, however.
"Do something about that hair," Aunt Petunia screamed as I came into her line of vision.
I instead decide to leave my hair alone as Aunt Marge loves to criticize me. So, the more untidy, the happier she'll be. I hear the car doors shut and the opening and closing of the trunk.
"Get the door," Aunt Petunia hisses.
I open the door, allowing a female version of Uncle Vernon through the door. Aunt Marge was a large beefy woman with a large mustache on her purplish face. She held a huge suitcase in one hand and under her arm, she held her old, temperamental bulldog, Ripper.
"Dudders, you have grown so much," Aunt Marge exclaimed as she set Ripper down and shoved her suitcase into my chest.
Aunt Marge engulfs Dudley into a hug and when they pull apart, I could see her hand his a crisp twenty-pound note. The truth was, Dudley only dealt with her hugs because he got paid for it. The money was then slipped into Dudley's pocket and then he was back onto the couch watching television as if nothing had happened.
"Petunia," Aunt Marge kissed Aunt Petunia's cheek as a happy Uncle Vernon walked into the house, closing the door behind himself.
"tea, Marge," he asks, "and what will Ripper have?"
"Ripper will have some too, in my saucer," Aunt Marge replies as she follows Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia into the kitchen. I decided to go back up to my room for a while instead of listening to Aunt Marge insult me.
***That evening***
"Boy, get down here," Uncle Vernon yelled from downstairs.
I walk into the kitchen to see that everyone was seated at the table eating. Dudley was stuffing his face while Uncle Vernon poured Aunt Marge a glass of wine. I sat down across from Aunt Marge, gaining her attention.
"I see you're still here," a look of disdain on her face.
"Yes," I say.
"Don't give me that tone, boy," she said, "you're lucky you weren't dropped off on my doorstep. It would have been straight to the orphanage with you."
I had to bite my tongue in refrain from saying that I would rather go to an orphanage but I knew that I couldn't say that unless I wouldn't want my permission form signed.
"Where did you send this disgrace, again," Aunt Marge asks as she takes a sip of wine.
"St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys," Uncle Vernon said, "It's a first rate institution that deals with cases like him."
"I see," she said, "Do they cane at St. Brutus's?"
Before I could formulate an answer, Uncle Vernon nodded his head from behind Aunt Marge.
"Yes," I say, adding, "all the time."
Aunt Marge eyed me suspiciously from across me before she said, "Excellent. Do you get beat often?"
I swallowed before giving a meek, "Yes, at least once a day."
Aunt Marge pursed her lips as her eyes narrowed at me and to my relief, Uncle Vernon tried to save me but I think it was more because he thought I would give something away than actually caring for me.
"Did you hear the news this morning, Marge? There is a prisoner on the loose."
Aunt Marge ignored Uncle Vernon, "You shouldn't blame yourself for the way boy has turned out. If there is something wrong on the inside, there is nothing that can be done. It's like dogs if something is wrong with the bitch, then there will be something wrong with the pup-"
In that exact moment, her wine glass shattered, scaring everyone but Aunt Marge and me.
"Are you ok Marge," Aunt Petunia exclaimed as Uncle Vernon glared at the side of my face.
"I'm okay, I just have a strong grip, is all," she says as she wipes her face and hands of the wine, "Now as I was saying, it all comes down to blood. Nothing against your family, Petunia but your sister was a bad egg. Bad eggs turn up, even in the best of families."
I take deep breaths trying to focus on Ginny but it seemed as if she was busy eating supper also.
'Calm down, Harry. Just focus on listening to what I hearing,' Ginny said.
I could hear the familiar sounds of the lively Weasley family but my concentration was broken when I hear what Aunt Marge said next.
"This Potter, What did he do," Aunt Marge asked.
"He was unemployed," Uncle Vernon replied.
"Of course, he was a no good, lazy bastar-"
"HE WAS NOT," I yell, abruptly standing up.
"MORE WINE, MARGE," Uncle Vernon tried to over shadow my outburst.
"No Vernon," She said her eyes fixated on me, "Go on, tell me how proud you are of your parents. The parents that went and got themselves kill in a car crash, most likely drunk-"
"They didn't die in a car crash," I yell!
'Harry you need to calm down," Ginny tried.
"Yes they did, you little liar and they left you to be a burden with your hardworking relatives, you ungrateful little br-" Aunt Marge rants but stops speaking as she seemed to swell with anger but the swelling didn't stop. Buttons started to pop off of her shirt as her midsection swelled like a parade balloon, her fingers swelling like sausages, and her face stretched tightly over the swelling.
"Marge," Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon yell as they rush to her as her body starts to rise from the floor. Uncle Vernon grabs a foot as Ripper bites into her pants legs, lifting him up with her. I run out of the kitchen and up the stairs without a second thought. Once I get to my room, throwing open my trunk tossing in my things from around my room. I rush out of my room and out the front door.
'What am I going to do now? Where will I live? I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go. I'm going to be expelled,' I think as I collapse on to the sidewalk a few blocks from number four Privet Drive.
'Harry, take deep breathes,' Ginny instructs me, 'Everything will be ok. Just get to the Leaky Cauldron and get a room.'
'How can I get there? It will take hours to get to London by walking.'
'Just call the Knight Bus.'
'The Knight Bus?'
'I overheard Fred and George talking about it once. It is a bus for witches and wizards.'
'How do I call the...Knight Bus?'
'About that...I don't know for sure,' Ginny replied.
A loud growl was heard, I look up and on the other side of the road, the huge bushes were shaking. I stand up quickly, wand drawn out in front of me, I step out into the street as a huge black dog with big gray burst out of the bushes, making me jump a little and then tripping backward onto the sidewalk.
The next moment a loud bang was heard and then a big purple, triple decker, bus with the words The Knight Bus printed on the side, pulled up in front of me.
'I think I found the bus,' I told Ginny as the bus doors opened.
"Good evening, welcome to The Knight Bus, emergency transport for stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step aboard, we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this eve-" The conductor in an all purple uniform cuts off, from the entrance of the bus. He looks down at me with an eyebrow raised.
"Whatcha doin' down there?"
"I fell," I reply.
"'Choo fall over for," sniggered the conductor.
"I didn't do it for the fun of it," I say, dusting myself off as I got up.
"Woss your name?"
"Neville Longbottom," I blurt out the first name that comes to me, "The bus, can it take me to the Leaky Cauldron?"
"Yep."
"How much?"
"Eleven Stickles but for firteen, you get 'ot chocolate, an' for fifteen you get an 'ot water an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice," Stan raddled off.
I hand him the required gold and he takes my trunk into the bus placing it under the bed behind the driver.
"You 'ave this one," Stan says to me, "That's Ernie Pang, our driver. This is Neville Longbottom, Ern."
Ernie Prang was an older wizard with thick rimmed glasses behind the steering wheel. Stan sat beside him before saying, "Take it away Ern."
Another bang was heard, I was thrown onto the bed as the bus shot forward. Stan unfolded a copy of the Daily Prophet and now was reading it with his eye furrowed. On the front of the paper was a large picture of a man with matted black hair and sunken gray eyes that blinked at him.
"Hey, that man was on the Muggle news," I exclaim.
"Sirius Black," Stan said, nodding, "'Course 'e was on the Muggle news, where you been? He killed firteen people with one curse."
"He killed thirteen people with one curse?"
"Yep, in front of witnesses an' all. Broad daylight. Big trouble it caused, dinnit, Ern?"
"Ar," replied Ern.
"Black woz a big supporter of You-Know-'Oo," Stan said.
"What, Voldemort?"
'Harry! Some people don't say his name remember,' Ginny says.
Stan's eyes went white as Ernie snatched the steering wheel to the right, hard, almost hitting a barn.
'Oh, right,' I think.
"'Choo say 'is name for," Stan yelled.
"Sorry," I said, "I forgot-"
"Forgot!" said the conductor. "My 'eart's goin' fast.."
"So, Black was a supporter of You-Know-Who?"
"Yeah," Stan said quietly, rubbing his hand over his heart, "I 'eard he was the second in command for You-Know-'Oo 'nd took over when little 'Arry Potter got the better of You-Know-'Oo. Anyway, they cornered him in the middle of a street full of Muggles an' Black took out 'is wand and 'e blasted half the street, an' a wizard got it, an' so did a dozen Muggles that got in the way. An' you know what Black did after that?"
"What?"
'What," Ginny asks also.
"Laughed, just stood there an' laughed," Stan said, "The 'instry did a 'ood job covering it up, said 't was a gas explosion. And now 'e out, you know no ones broke out of Azkaban before."
'He sure doesn't seem like he is in his right mind,' Ginny says.
"Talk about something else, Stan," Erin said.
A while later, the bus came to an sudden stop in front of the Leaky Cauldron.
"Thanks," I tell Ern as Stan set my trunk on the sidewalk, "Well, bye."
But Stan wasn't paying attention, he was staring at the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.
"There you are, Harry," said a voice, walking to the bus, it was the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
"What didja call Neville, Minister," ask Stan excitedly.
"Neville? This Harry Potter," Fudge said leading me inside, "Thank you for picking him up but we must be getting into the Leaky Cauldron."
"You got him, Minister," Tom said, "Want me to get you something? Beer? Brandy?"
"A pot of tea please," Fudge replied.
There was the sound of huffing and puffing from behind them as Stan and Ern were behind us carrying my trunk and Hedwig's cage.
"'Ow come you di'n't tell us 'oo you were 'Arry," Stan asks.
"And a private parlor," Fudge added looking pointedly at Stan and Erin.
"Bye," I waved at Stan and Ern as Tom lead Fudge and me through a narrow hall.
"Bye, 'Arry," I hear Stan call.
We are lead into a small parlor with a warm fire, Tom bows before leaving Fudge and me in the parlor alone.
"Sit down, Harry," Fudge says as he sits down, "I am Cornelius Fudge. The Minister of Magic."
I already knew this information as I had seen him once before when I was under my Dad's Invisibility Cloak, Fudge didn't know that though and I wasn't planning on telling him that. Tom reappears with a tray with tea and crumpets. He set the tray down and then left again.
"Well Harry," Fudge said, pouring out tea, "you gave us quite a scared, running away from your Aunt and Uncle's house like that. I'd started to think...but you're safe, and that's what matters. You will be pleased to hear Miss Marjorie Dursley has been punctured and memory modified. So no harm has been done."
I open my mouth, then shut it, not knowing what to say.
"So, now all that remains is where you will stay for the remaining three weeks of the summer. I suggest you take a room here at the Leaky Cauldron-"
"Hang on," I interrupt, "What's my punishment?"
Fudge blinks, "Punishment?"
"I broke a law," I say.
"Oh, we aren't going to send you to Azkaban for blowing up your aunt."
'Just go with it, Harry. If they're not punishing you, don't ask.'
"Last year, I got an official warning because a house elf smashed pudding in my uncle's house," I yell, ignoring Ginny, "It told me I would be expelled from Hogwarts if it happened again."
"Circumstances change Harry and surely you don't want to be expelled?"
"Of course I don't," I say quickly.
"Then why fuss. Now have a crumpet, Harry, while I get you a room," Fudge says leaving the room.
'Well, that was interesting…'
'Shush, Ginny.'
Fudge walked back in with a key, "Room eleven is free. Just promise me you'll keep to Diagon Alley and not go into the Muggle world. And be back before dark each night. Tom will be keeping an eye on you for me," he tosses me the key before leaving quickly.
Tom enters shortly after to lead me to my room, as we stop outside room eleven, Tom says, "I have already brought your things up."
I open the door and there flies Hedwig at me, "You have a smart owl . She arrived just after you did. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask," Tom says before shutting the door behind himself.
'Why didn't you tell me Hedwig left?'
'She was here? I didn't see her,' Ginny replied.
'Nevermind, good night, Gin.'
'Gin?'
'Yeah, so?'
'I like it. Good Night Harry.'
