Chapter 29
"Goodbye, Miss Potter." Professor McGonagall left Eliza, her trunk and Biscuit in her cat basket in the Leaky Cauldron before the young witch even had a chance to wave. Eliza felt that something had changed in her relationship with her Head of House. She wondered if McGonagall had lost patience with waiting for Eliza to talk. The older witch had barely spoken before they left the hospital wing, but she had given her another Transfiguration book that she wanted Eliza to read and summarise before the start of term.
"Your brother should be down for breakfast soon Miss Potter. Now can I get you a pot of tea?" Tom grinned at her as he looked across at her from over the bar; Eliza nodded and smiled slightly at Tom's enthusiasm. Tom led her to a table and then disappeared taking her possessions to her room and returned a few minutes later with a pot of tea floating mid-air.
"There you go, Miss Potter, now have you had breakfast?" Eliza nodded, gave the teapot a stir and opened her diary.
What am I going to do when I see Harry - I'm so angry with him but I've missed him soooooo much. I'll just give him a hug and leave it at that. He's going to have loads of questions, that I will avoid answering, so the least I can do is give him a hug and forgive him for being such a prat.
Eliza was about to start a new paragraph when Harry came running down the stairs and sprinted across to her table,
"Eliza I'm so so so sorry, I just lost control and I didn't know what to do and Uncle Vernon said he wasn't going to let you come with me so I thought I could come to London and get some money and then come back to get you, but then I ran into Fudge and he said the Ministry were on the way to Surrey and they would collect you and bring you here. I promise that I'll never leave you there again ever!" Harry took a deep breath and looked to be starting another declaration of promises when Eliza stood up and engulfed him in a hug. They broke apart a minute later and Harry looked mildly relieved.
"I thought you were going to slap me?" He spluttered, Eliza thought that her first words to her brother shouldn't be; I was going too, because you are a prat, so she simply shrugged.
"So what happened after I left? Did Uncle Vernon take you into the house to fix Marge?" Harry always formed questions that required no talking when he needed information from Eliza - it was one of the things she really liked about him. She nodded.
"Did you fix her?"
She shook her head, Harry exhaled.
"I didn't have a clue how to fix her either! You stayed at Hogwarts last night, didn't you?"
Eliza nodded, now that she had had chance to evaluate last night's drama she knew that a simple deflating charm would have put Marge right.
"Did Madam Pomfrey know that you hadn't had your potions?"
Eliza nodded, allowing her brother to believe that the only reason she was in the hospital wing was because of her leg. She looked down at it, amazed by the lack of pain in it, Madam Pomfrey was a miracle worker.
"I saw Uncle Vernon put them down the sink, it was hilarious, the potions kept coming back up, in the end he put them on the fire and it made the flames green! But you're alright now, aren't you?"
Eliza nodded, slightly amused by Harry's tale.
"Did they know that you were in the shed?" He asked, lowering his voice and glancing around at the half empty pub.
Eliza shook her head and her brother sighed, but it didn't appear to be in relief, exasperation perhaps.
"I've been thinking about this sleepwalking thing, Eliza. We could find a Potion or something to stop it and then maybe next summer you can stay in the house?"
Eliza nodded thinking hard. Even if they did find a potion she would have to brew it and then disguise it as something else so that Uncle Vernon didn't throw it out. She sighed and pushed the thought to the back of her mind, they were away from the Dursley's for another year.
"Two weeks till Hogwarts, it's going to be great we can explore the Alley and get all our school stuff and you can help me with my homework!"
Eliza frowned at him and he laughed.
"Ok fine, we can do our homework together." He conceded as Tom brought over a huge breakfast feast, just for Harry, Eliza had already eaten under the watchful gaze of Madam Pomfrey.
"Tuck in, Mr Potter!" Tom exclaimed looking delighted at the prospect of both the Potter twins staying in his pub.
The next two weeks passed in a blaze of sunshine and fresh air, Eliza's chest infection cleared up quicker than she thought it would and Harry was none the wiser. They spent the evenings in the pub playing wizard chess, exploding snap and enjoying their frequent purchases. They had both bought new clothes, using the money in the Gringotts account, it felt strange to have clothes that actually fit for a change!
Biscuit was enjoying her freedom and would disappear during the day only, returning at night to sleep on her mistress's bed. Eliza bought her a new collar to make up for her confinement in Surrey, and bought her a box of cat treats to help her regain some weight after Petunia only giving her scraps.
They saw many of the Hogwarts friends passing through to get their school supplies; Neville Longbottom joined them for a memorable afternoon while his Grandmother shopped alone. They had ice cream most days at the parlour, and they bought each other's birthday presents; Harry bought Eliza a new sketch pad and Eliza bought Harry a pair of Quidditch gloves that she had seen him admiring.
Harry gave Eliza the presents that Ron and Hermione had sent her for her birthday (sweets from Ron and a scrapbook from Hermione), and told her about the Weasley's trip to Egypt and Hermione's holiday to France. They were all planning to meet in the last few days of August.
They were standing in Flourish and Blotts waiting for the assistant to bring them the third year textbooks when Harry pulled Eliza aside looking serious,
"Eliza, have you seen a big black dog anywhere?" He whispered indicating at the cover of a book entitled; Death omens; what to do when you know the worst is coming. Eliza looked at it and frowned as she immediately recognised the black dog. She nodded slowly.
"In Surrey, right?"
She nodded again, wondering when he had seen it.
"Good, if we've both seen it then it's probably just a stray." He seemed settled by this thought and walked back over to the assistant who was pricing up the books. Eliza looked around at the other books in the Divination section and shook her head, Professor McGonagall had advised her against the subject during their advanced transfiguration lessons and looking at the books Eliza felt she had definitely made the right subject choices. She had chosen to study Arithmancy and Ancient Runes; she had considered doing Care of Magical Creatures but decided against it after Percy Weasley told her that talking to the creatures was assessed in the OWL practical.
"Harry, Eliza over here!" Came a familiar voice, it was the day before the start of term and Harry and Eliza were making their way down to breakfast. Ron and Hermione were waving madly to them from across the pub. Harry sprinted across to them while Eliza made a more dignified approach.
"Good summers?" Harry asked when Hermione leant over to hug Eliza.
"Yeah it was great; those Egyptians really knew what they were doing."
"France was amazing, there was loads of information for the History of Magic essay!" Said Hermione slightly out of breath, the quartet were interrupted by the arrival of Mrs Weasley and Ginny, the latter blushed as she saw Harry but smiled at Eliza nonetheless.
"Hello dears, how are you both?" Mrs Weasley asked, giving them both a hug.
"Fine thanks, Mrs Weasley, how are you?" Harry replied politely.
"Very good, very good. Have you heard the wonderful news, has Ron told you? Percy has been made Head Boy!" Ron huffed slightly but didn't speak.
"That's great news." Harry replied struggling to maintain his composure, luckily for him Mrs Weasley's attention diverted to Eliza. Mr Weasley came over and hugged them both before stroking Biscuit who had jumped onto the table for attention.
"How are you feeling, Eliza? Has that chest infection cleared up yet?" Eliza nodded looking at the floor and waiting for the explosion.
"What chest infection?!" Shouted Harry, his laughter instantly stifled by anger, Mrs Weasley seemed surprised by Harry's outburst.
"Well ... I heard from Pro..." She began cautiously, glancing between the twins.
"Why didn't you tell me Eliza?! Has it gone? How did you get it? Was it from that stupid shed?!"
"What shed?" Said Mr Weasley quickly.
Harry opening his mouth in a gape, knowing instantly that he had gone too far, he attempted to backtrack.
"Umm ... Eliza has spent a lot of time ... painting the shed!" Harry seemed so delighted with the speed of his lie but his enthusiasm cost him and the Weasleys clearly saw straight through it.
"Eliza, what does he mean?" Asked Mrs Weasley looking slightly desperate, Eliza remained still and glanced helplessly at Hermione.
"Maybe we could discuss this later, Mrs Weasley, we have a lot of shopping to do and didn't you want to get to the bakery for ten to get the best ingredients?" Said Hermione, in a voice of forced calm.
Mrs Weasley looked up at her and then back to Eliza, sensing defeat she nodded and turned to Mr Weasley who also seemed to realise that the moment had been lost.
"Ginny is staying with you Ron, make sure you keep an eye on her." He said to Ron.
Mrs Weasley kissed her children, and then Harry, Hermione, and Eliza, before following her husband and leaving the children standing in the Leaky Cauldron in slightly awkward silence.
They visited the bookshop and the apothecary and then Hermione asked to go into the magical menagerie.
"Oh good, I need to go in there, I want Scabbers checked out," Said Ron, removing a much thinner rat from his pocket, "I don't think Egypt agreed with him."
They entered the shop and Ron started asking the witch about his rat, the prognosis did not seem good. Ron was just about to pay for a tonic when a huge cat collided with his head.
"CROOKSHANKS, NO!" Cried the witch, the cat leapt off Ron and onto Scabbers who fled quickly into the street.
"You awful cat, I'm never going to get rid of you!" Said the witch in clear exasperation. The large orange cat sat on the counter and purred contently, as thought it had not just attacked someone. Hermione walked up to it and stroked it.
"It's he lovely, Eliza?" Hermione asked, as the cat purred contently. Eliza looked at her friend as if she was mad, or blind!
"He's been here for a few years but …no one seems to want him. He's yours for five Galleons." The witch looked cautious.
"Isn't that a bit cheap?" Hermione replied.
"For seven I'll throw in all the accessories and a months' worth of food, that's a bargain and a half, dear!" Crookshanks lifted his paw and brushed it gently across Hermione's face, Eliza knew that her friend was now a cat owner
