Disclaimer:As you all know, I in no way own Harry Potter

Chapter Eleven

A Dinner Party

A month had passed at 4 Privet Drive, and Vernon, Petunia and Dudley had taken to just trying to ignore Harry.

Vernon had been talking about an upcoming dinner with Mr and Mrs Mason, and Petunia drove Dudley and Diana into London to get Dudley a nice suit, and Diana got a pretty dress. Harry, of course, would be staying in his room, pretending not to exist.

And finally, the day had come. Harry's twelfth birthday.

Diana was having that dream again. She was running to the pool with her friend Isabelle Isaacs, a friend of hers who moved to Australia when Diana was five.

"Come on, Diana!" Isabelle cried.

Diana jumped into the pool, and something started dragging her under. Diana tried to scream, but she was underwater. The last thing Diana saw before everything went black was Harry looking down at her, concerned, before he faded away.

Diana woke up gasping and sweating. Cindy had been helping with the dreams, but Diana still had them.

"You all right, Diana? You were tossing and turning all night," Harry said.

"I'm fine," Diana muttered.

Harry arched an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"I got something for you!" Diana said. "If you like it, I got you a broom kit."

Harry unwrapped his present and said thanks, then the two went down for breakfast. They were interrupted by a loud hooting noise.

Vernon went from calm to angry. "Third time this week! If you can't control that bloody pigeon, it'll have to go!"

"If I could just let her out-"

"Do I look stupid?!" yelled Vernon.

"Yes," said Harry and Diana immediately. Vernon ignored them.

"If went let that pigeon out, you'll be able to contact all your freaky little friends!"

"I want more bacon," said Dudley.

"There's more in the frying pan, sweetums," said Petunia.

Dudley turned to Harry.

"Pass the frying pan."

"You forgot the magic word," said Harry.

"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU," roared Vernon. "ABOUT SAYING THE "M" word! HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!"

"Alright, alright," Harry said.

Vernon stopped yelling, but watched Harry with his beady eyes.

After a few minutes, Vernon cleared his throat and said, "Now, as we all know, today is a very important day."

"Really?" asked Harry.

"It may very well be the biggest day of my career."

Harry slumped down in his seat, looking very disappointed.

Diana groaned. Vernon was going on about the Masons.

"I think we should run through the schedule one more time," said Vernon. "Petunia, where will you be?"

"I'll be in the lounge, waiting to welcome them graciously to our home," Petunia said promptly.

"Good, good. And Dudley."

"I'll be in the hall, waiting to open the door. "Can I take your coats, Mr and Mrs Mason?""

"Yes, good. And Diana?"

"I'll be in the hall with Dudley, and I will open the door when they come," said Diana tonelessly.

"Good, good. And you, boy?"

Harry said, "I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not there."

"Exactly," said Vernon nastily. "I will pour them drinks. And Petunia?"

"I'll announce dinner at 8:15."

"Excellent. And Dudley?"

""Can I escort you to the dining room, Mrs Mason?""

"Yes, yes. And Diana?"

"I'll pull back Mr and Mrs Mason's chairs for them, and lay the table," Diana mumbled.

"Excellent, Diana. And you, Harry?"

"I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," Harry said dully.

"Too right you will be," said Vernon nastily.

Diana excused herself, than ran up the stairs. She didn't want to hear any more about "Mr and Mrs Mason this" or "Mr and Mrs Mason that." Diana stayed in her room, pouring through her school books until 7:40 pm, when Petunia poked her head in.

"Di, you need to get ready for Mr and Mrs Mason."

Diana sighed and put on her shiny blue dress, tied hair back into a high ponytail, put on her white tights, put on her fancy shoes and stuck a pin with a daisy on it in her hair, before doing a twirl in the mirror.

Diana ran down the stairs and stood at the door to the lounge for almost ten minutes, before the doorbell chimed.

Dudley opened the door. "Hello Mr and Mrs Mason and..." he faltered.

Next to Mr and Mrs Mason, there were two boys with mousy hair and eager expressions. Diana suspected one was her age, and the other was about eight or nine.

"My nephews, Colin and Dennis Creevey," Mr Mason.

"Right," said Dudley. "Welcome, Mr and Mrs Mason, and Colin and Dennis Creevey, may I take your coats?"

Dudley had never before impressed Diana until he managed to juggle four coats and put them on racks without dropping any or having to put one down.

Mr and Mrs Mason, with their nephews Colin and Dennis, walked up the the door, and Diana said, "Right this way," before opening the door.

"Mr and Mrs Mason, how wonderful to see you! Please take a seat! And who are these youngsters?" Vernon asked.

"My nephews, Colin and Dennis Creevey. My sister had something important coming up, and she couldn't find any other babysitter, so we had to take Colin and Dennis," said Mr Mason.

"Right," said Vernon. "That's ok. May I pour you a drink?"

As Vernon dashed of to the kitchen to find something for Colin and Dennis, Diana stricken up a conversation with the two boys.

"Hi, I'm Diana, Diana Dursley. I know you're names."

"Hi Diana," said Dennis eagerly. "Me and Colin didn't want to come, but you'll make things interesting!"

Colin said, "Are those ugly people your family?" he pointed to Vernon, who had just came back with some apple juice, and Petunia and Dudley.

Diana nodded. "These ugly people are my family."

"You're not like them, you're beautiful," said Colin, blushing.

"Thank you, Colin," Diana said.

"So, Mr Mason, Vernon tells me you're a wonderful golfer," said Petunia.

"Please do not call Mr Mason. Call me and my wife Bob and Jennifer," Mr Mason said.

"Alright Bob," said Petunia.

"Also, I gave up golf ten years ago," Bob said, frowning.

Vernon must've sensed the awkwardness in the air, as he said, "My son Dudley is going to Smeltings."

"Smeltings. Fine school. Where did you send your daughter?" Bob asked.

"I'm going to a special boarding school for kids who have special abilities," Diana said cheerfully.

Jennifer's face changed from bored to shock to understanding. "Would this school, would it happen to be called Hogwarts?"

Before Vernon or Petunia could say "No, we've never even heard of girls flying through London due to magic," Diana nodded.

Colin's face became excited. "But I'm going too! In a month! And Dennis is going in two years! When are you going, Diana?"

"One month," said Diana.

"Yes! We'll be in the same year! I was worried I would be alone, but I'll have you Diana!"

Diana smiled. "That would be great Colin. I'll introduce you to my other friends, Maisie, Ginny, and maybe Luna!"

The two started chanting, "WE'RE GOING TO HOGWARTS! WE'RE GOING TO HOGWARTS!" Eventually, Dennis joined in, but the three stopped when it got boring.

"How do you know about Hogwarts, Jennifer?" Diana asked.

"My sister is a witch," said Jennifer. "I was a little jealous at first, because I knew I wasn't going, seeing as I'm two year older than her, and our friendship fell apart, but when she had Colin, we became friends again. It's all water under the bridge now. My husband Bob's dad is a squib."

Petunia cleared her throat loudly, and for a moment Diana thought she saw a flicker of regret cross her face, but instead she said, "We should be having dinner now."

The party of eight went into the dining room, and Diana pulled back Bob and Jennifer's chairs for them, did the same for Colin and Dennis, and then layer the table.

There was a sudden noise, as if something was banging on something from upstairs. Vernon went up, and came down with a red face.

"Dudley must've left his television on, the little tyke."

Bob turned his attention to Diana. "Done any magic yet?"

"No, but I've done lots of accidental magic," Diana said. She told them about all her magic exploits, except for erasing Mike Florence's memory, floating across London and getting Harry on the school roof (it would've given Dudley a bad name.)

Bob and Jennifer seemed to be enjoying themselves, and treated Diana as if she were one of their close friends after a little while. Diana, Dennis and Colin all became very close as well. The only people not enjoying themselves were Petunia, Vernon and Dudley, most likely because the others were talking about magic.

At the end of the dinner party, Bob said, "Vernon, we have a deal."

The lines of Vernon's face relaxed, and he too looked happy. Suddenly there was a splattering noise from the kitchen. Vernon went to see it, and he came back in dragging Harry.

Diana immediately knew Harry was in big trouble, as Vernon looked absolutely furious.

"I'm sorry," he told the guest. "It's our nephew, he's-"

"Harry Potter," said Bob in awe. "Your nephew is Harry Potter!"

"He is?" Dennis asked in wonder.

Vernon's face had gone puce, and Diana knew them that if one more thing happened, he would explode.

After nearly ten minutes of Jennifer, Bob, Colin and Dennis talking to Harry, Jennifer said, "Well, me and Bob better head off. I expect Jessica will be wanting Dennis and Colin back."

As they were leaving, Bob said, "Mr Dursley, you are very lucky to have family like Diana or Harry."

After the fiasco of the weird splattering noise, Harry had been locked in his room. He had told Diana what had happened, and Diana was mystified.

For three days, Harry had been locked in his room. Diana often joined him to pass time.

As Diana was about to go to sleep on the third night, she realised something.

"It must've been a prank," said Diana. "Didn't you say there was this Slytherin who hates your guts?"

"Malfoy," said Harry bitterly. "Should've known. Malfoy would do that sort of thing, and his family is probably rolling around in gold, so they would probably have a house elf."

On that note, Diana fell into a deep slumber of drowning once more.

Diana awoke to the sound of bars being ripped of.

"What's that?" Diana asked. She sat up and bumped her head on the roof, and saw a floating car at the window with Ron Weasley in it, and two of Ron's brothers were helping Harry load his trunk into the car.

"What's going on?" Diana asked.

"We're here to rescue Harry," said Ron. "He wasn't replying to our letters, so we're here. Get your trunk and hop in too!"

"No, I want to stay with my family, even if they are horrible," said Diana. "And also, why the flying car?"

Harry put his trunk in the boot of the car, and got Hedwig, and then Ron said, "Our dad's. He likes to enchant muggle things."

Harry hopped in the car, and said, "Bye Diana, see you in September," then the car flew off into the distance, leaving Diana alone once more.