Chapter seven

Just after McGonagall handed out their schedules, a young Ravenclaw boy handed Harry a note. He read it then went back to his breakfast.

'Who is that from?' Hermione asked.

'Dumbledore, he wants to see me before class,' Harry turned to the staff table and noticed the headmaster was not there. He had been there, Harry saw him sitting in his usual seat, 'I've finished, hopefully I will make my first class, but with the old man, you never know.'

'It's Professor Dumbledore, Harry,' Hermione huffed.

'Who is an old man,' Harry said but hurried from the great hall before Hermione could begin arguing.

'Fanged Frizzbies,' Harry said to the gargoyle's making them jump apart. When he got up stairs, the door to the office was open.

'Come in Harry.'

Harry stepped in to see not only the headmaster but the deputy head, 'Is something wrong sir?'

'Yes, I was informed only yesterday that the Dursley's are no longer at Privet drive. I sent someone to investigate and found they all died, mysteriously at the beginning of the summer holidays.'

'I saw them the first day, Vernon kicked me out, so I left. His sister was there, like always, I figured he didn't want me blowing her up again.'

'You don't sound upset that your family has died Mr Potter,' Minerva said.

'They weren't my family, I was just unlucky enough to be related to…her. I hated them just as much as they hated me. I never thought of them as family or that place as a home.'

'I take it you never got on?'

'They hated me because I'm a wizard and weren't afraid to show it, but I hated them just as much.'

'If this happened at the beginning of the summer holidays, where did you stay Harry?' Albus asked.

'Muggle camp grounds. It's not unusual for teenagers my age to stay in camp grounds during the holidays. I just moved around every two weeks.'

'How did you eat? Unless you went out to eat every day.'

'The Dursley's made me cook from a young age, so I'm pretty good in the kitchen. I just bought what I needed for a few days before shopping again.'

'Why did you not contact me?'

'I was afraid you would send me to people worse than the Dursley's. I wanted to contact…' Harry paused, he wasn't sure if McGonagall knew about Sirius, 'um, Remus, to see if I could stay with him, but I remember what he said before he left, that he might head overseas to find work. Um, I'm going to be late for class.'

'I will organise somewhere for you to stay during the holidays and let you know. So head to class.'

'If it's Remus or the Weasley's, then I will, otherwise I'll just leave and stay in a camp ground again,' Harry turned and hurried away before the old man tried to argue with him.

'I always said they were the worst sort of muggles. I must get to class. I'm sure Molly would be delighted to have Harry live there.'

'Yes, even though the house is already full, it would be safer.'

'Apart from what happened to Harry during his first year, there has been no sighting or word that he is still around.'

'He is trying to return Minerva and he will go after Harry again.'

'Then you should have kept him here and trained him how to fight,' Minerva huffed, she had this argument with Albus many times, but like always he ignored her. She turned and left the office, heading for her own classroom.

'What did Professor Dumbledore want?' Hermione asked as Harry joined her outside the charms classroom.

'The Dursley's are dead. Happened at the beginning of the holidays.'

'Why didn't you tell me?'

'I didn't know, I never stayed there. I got inside the house and Vernon told me to leave and not come back. I got to Diagon alley, got money from my vault, changed it to muggle money and stayed in different muggle camp grounds.'

'Why didn't you send Hedwig to Professor Dumbledore, or me?'

'The old man would have made me stay with people worse than the Dursley's and you would have run straight to him if you knew,' Harry turned his back on Hermione. He still hadn't forgiven her for going behind his back about the Firebolt.

When the door opened, Harry didn't sit near Hermione, he sat beside Neville who seemed surprised. Harry just gave the shy boy a smile before taking out his books.

'What's up with Harry?' Ron asked as he sat beside Hermione.

'It seems the Dursley's died and Harry decided to stay alone for the entire holiday instead of contacting Professor Dumbledore,' Hermione huffed.

'Well, it's not really up to the headmaster to tell a student where he can stay Hermione. Harry has no other family, but if the ministry found out then they would have tried to put him with people like Malfoy. Harry's the-boy-who-lived, so it would be easy for Malfoy to talk Fudge into giving him guardianship of Harry, then kill him. Harry did the right thing in my opinion.'

Hermione was about to argue but Professor Flitwick got everyone's attention. Ron turned to Harry and gave him a smile and a nod before he faced the front.

When class finished, Harry stayed talking to Neville so he wouldn't have to hear Hermione go on about Dumbledore.

'Um, I read in the paper about some death eaters dying,' Harry said nervously.

Neville sighed, 'My gran told me how the ones that died cursed my parent's. She couldn't stop smiling, I admit I did as well.'

'I would, if I had been year. I read about your parents, I'm sorry Neville,' Harry gave his shy friend a small smile, 'So, um, if they died and Snape died, do you think it had something to do with the dark mark I heard all death eaters had?'

'Gran believes it was something to do with the mark or you-know-who. It's the only thing that linked them together.'

'I saw his spirit in our first year, but I haven't seen anything of him since and I've stopped getting pain in my scar. I have a feeling he might have finally crossed and that's why some died.'

'I noticed you got pain in your scar during Quirrell's class.'

'I wasn't sure why, not until I saw him with Voldemort. Dumbledore said he died because of my mother's sacrifice. I wasn't really listening. I didn't want to think about it, let alone talk about it.'

'I get you there. You also have to be careful in case someone overheard you. They would think you're crazy or something, maybe even dark. To many people here believe rumours that aren't true.'

'I know, especially after the heir of Slytherin thing,' Harry pulled Neville away from the others, 'This ball, I figured I would ask some girl, then I remembered how everyone thought of me during that time. I overheard Ernie McMillan trying to talk Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones into believing I was the heir. Those two kept saying he was wrong and I was nice. They really stuck up for me. Do you know them Neville?'

'I sort of know them, I mean we've seen each other when one of their families put on a ball. We didn't talk a lot but I was a lot quieter back then. So you're interested in asking one of them?'

'Yeah, Susan, I just don't know her, or what she might be interested in. If we did go together, what would we talk about?'

'I know she's interested in healing and she did consider being an auror, like her aunt. I don't know if she's still interested in that. She's good at defence so she would be a good auror. I'm not sure if you know this, but she's second to you in defence out of the whole year.'

'No, I didn't know, but there's two things we can talk about. Healing is one idea I've had and I do like defence. I'm not sure I would suit a healer though even though I like seeing how magical healing works. It's still an idea. I'll probably know more in a year or so.'

Harry and Neville finally joined their friends in the great hall, but Harry sat beside Neville and not Hermione. It also gave him the opportunity to watch Susan Bones.

'So have you thought of asking anyone?' Harry asked but he kept his voice low.

'Um, no, but I doubt anyone would want to go with me.'

'Neville,' Harry sighed, 'you're a great person. Okay, you might not be good in classes like defence or transfiguration, but you have skill in herbology. I was made to do gardening from a young age and I hated it, it's why I hate herbology. I also don't bother learning more than I have to. Everyone has different talents and the world needs different talents. Imagine if we didn't have people like Professor Sprout, none of us would know to be careful around devil's snare or mandrake. We need people like that who know what they are doing. That is you Neville, it's your talent, your skill. But apart from all that, you are a nice person. I'm scared shitless about asking her, I'm sure you are too. But I told myself, she can only say no and apart from denting my ego, it's not going to hurt, so I might as well try.'

Neville stared at Harry. First, he heard how Harry thought he was a nice person and how he was skilled in something he, Harry was not good at. But he also realised Harry was right, if he asked a girl, all she could do is say no, or laugh. It might not be nice, but it wouldn't hurt, physically and he would get over it. It didn't stop him being nervous but now at least he would ask someone.

When dinner was over, Harry whispered to Neville that he wanted to see if he can catch Susan to ask her to the ball. He hurried from the great hall, ignoring Hermione when she asked where he was going. She always wanted to know where he was going or what he was doing. It was beginning to get on his nerves how much she wanted to know everything he does.

Harry stood against the wall leading towards the Hufflepuff rooms. He was nervous, he felt sick in his stomach and hoped he didn't throw up. But he was determined to go through with asking a girl, asking Susan Bones if she would go to the yule ball with him. What he said to Neville was true, all she could do is say no, or laugh. If that happened then all he could do was put it behind him and see if there might be another girl that took his interest. There were a lot of girls at Hogwarts, some really beautiful girls and other girls who might not be beautiful but they were nice people. He wanted to be able to talk to the girl. He would look again if Susan said no and hoped he found a girl who might want to go with him for him and not the-boy-who-lived, but also someone that had something in common with him. He hoped he wouldn't need to find another girl just because Susan would not turn him down. Apart from being pretty, she was a nice person. He may have only spoken to her in herbology, but what he had seen of her, he thought she was nice.

Harry had no idea that Hermione had told Ginny what Harry had said about the girl he was going to ask to the yule ball. Both Hermione and Ginny believed it meant Ginny since Harry didn't really know her. They would just have to wait and see when Harry approached her.