Chapter 6: The Burrow
For Harry, the next couple of weeks passed by quietly. Marge had left the next day. Vernon spent longer hours at work. Harry went to the swimming pool almost daily with Dudley, and he noticed that Dudley really was losing weight compared to how big he was at the beginning of the holidays.
Vernon had been increasingly short tempered. He had not had his memory altered, and he clearly remembered Harry inflating his sister. He'd been gleeful next day at breakfast noticing Harry wince as he sat down. He'd left the house taking Marge to the train station by the time Dudley came down for breakfast which was just as well, seeing as Harry had no idea what would have happened if Vernon had realised Dudley was eating his breakfast standing up.
Healer Jones had visited while Vernon was still out. He'd been concerned over both Harry and Dudley losing their tempers and he'd scheduled a time to return when the boys would be out and Vernon would be in to assess Vernon's attitude in the wake of the incident with his sister. Neither Harry nor Dudley minded the Healer visiting, it was nice to talk to an impartial, non-judgmental person about how it was at Privet Drive. For the last couple of weeks Harry and Dudley had compared notes afterwards about what they'd told the Healer. It seemed they both felt the same way: things were generally better than they'd ever been for Harry; Dudley accepted that Harry was part of the family and was adjusting to having a kind of brother in the house; Petunia was hard to read sometimes but they both got the feeling she was waiting for Vernon to do something stupid and spent a lot of time, especially at night when she didn't know the boys could hear her, talking to Vernon in placating tones; and Vernon was a volcano waiting to go off but no-one knew when or what would set him off or what he would do when he did.
One week before the end of the holidays Harry received an owl from Ron. They were back from their trip to Egypt. Ron asked if Harry would like to visit the Burrow for the week. At any other time Harry would have leapt at the chance to escape Privet Drive, but just as Harry picked up his quill to say how excited he'd be, he remembered Dudley. A bit of Harry thought Dudley would be OK if Harry left for the week, and the rest of him thought about Vernon, and he realised he couldn't leave Dudley with his father. But he just couldn't decline the offer to visit the Burrow. First Ron would go mental at him, and second, he really, really wanted to visit. Privet Drive had been alright, but it wasn't like the opportunity to go to a wizarding home and stay with his friend for a week. Harry hadn't ever been to a wizarding home. He thought Ron might have invited him last year except that Dobby had stopped his mail, and they'd been dealing with The-Boy-Who-Became-A-Wizard.
So Harry wrote to Mrs. Weasley instead. From what he knew of her she seemed nice, and Harry hoped he'd be able to write to her without Ron knowing.
Dear Mrs. Weasley,
Ron has kindly invited me to stay with you for the week. I really, really want to say yes, but I don't want to leave Dudley on his own for the rest of the holidays. Please may I ask Dudley if he can come with me? He might say no. I know Ron and him don't always get on, but I really don't want him to be left out.
Please could you not tell Ron I've written to you?
Harry
Harry knew 'don't always get on' was a bit understated, but the more Harry thought about it, the more he didn't want to leave Dudley in the house. He attached the note to Hedwig and she gave him a quick nip on the finger before flying off.
Harry got a reply a couple of hours later.
Harry,
Of course you can invite your cousin, I should have thought to tell Ron to include him in the invitation. Arthur and I are thinking you could both stay until the end of the holidays. We could take you to Diagon Alley and we could take you to King's Cross on 1st September. You needn't bring your trunks or anything though - we can floo you back to get those the night before. We're all looking forward to seeing you.
Love Molly x
P.S. Bring your broom.
Harry noticed the affectionate way she signed off her letter and wondered if that was what having a mum was like or whether it was just Mrs. Weasley's way.
"Hey, Dudley!" said Harry, going into his cousin's room. "We've been invited to the Burrow, you know, Ron's house, for the last week of the holidays. Do you want to come?"
Harry wasn't surprised by Dudley's reaction. Dudley had essentially never got on with the twins and the least said about Dudley and Ron's falling out the better, but Harry could see the same thoughts he'd had marching across Dudley's brain. Option A, spend a week with people you know aren't your friends, but you know where you stand, or Option B spend it with Vernon who you have no idea about and it could either be fine, or the worst week ever. So Dudley picked going to the Weasley's.
Next day, Harry stepped through the floo into the Burrow with Dudley in tow hoping that the week wasn't going to be an unmitigated disaster. Harry got the distinct impression that it wasn't going to go without a hitch when the twins greeted Dudley in front of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley warmly.
"Hiya, Harry!" said Fred.
"Big-D!" said George with an indeterminate grin, "Long time no see. We've been really looking forward to your visit."
There was nothing wrong with what George had said, or how he'd said it, it was just that Harry knew it was a fabrication. After Harry had got a hug from Mrs. Weasley and she'd moved onto the flummoxed Dudley, Harry sidled over to the twins.
"Please," he whispered, "Dudley and I have come to an agreement of sorts, and just now things are okay, so please be nice to him," Harry said desperately.
"But of course we'll be nice, won't we Gred?" said Fred.
"Certainly, Forge! Nothing could be further from my mind," George patted Harry gently on the head in a slightly condescending but friendly way and they both legged it up the stairs before Harry could respond.
Mrs. Weasley was bustling about getting lunch ready and Mr. Weasley had returned to his study to write a report for work, which left Harry, Dudley and Ron together not knowing quite what to say. Harry wanted to be excited to be with his friend, but he could see on Ron's face that Ron was not appreciative of Dudley's presence, and just as obviously, Dudley was making Ron aware that he was quite ready to defend himself against any animosity. Harry sighed.
"Please, can we just call a truce for the week?" begged Harry.
"Only if he doesn't start anything," said Dudley, eyeballing Ron.
"Same goes for you, Dursley," growled Ron, with the inflection on Dudley's surname sounding like an insult.
Knowing that was the best he was going to get in the short term, Harry gave up, and Ron led the way to his room. It appeared that the three of them would be sharing Ron's room for the week.
Lunch lulled Harry into a false sense of security. Everyone was perfectly polite to each other. The twins didn't exactly interact with Dudley, but such obstacles as "Please pass the butter" were overcome with minimum hostility.
"Would you boys be wanting to fly this afternoon? Dudley, we've got a spare as Percy's got one but doesn't use it much these days."
"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," said Dudley, avoiding answering whether he wanted to fly or not. He'd go outside and happily watch, but even though he'd lost weight, he really hadn't had much air time and wasn't about to make a complete tit of himself in front of the whole of the Weasley clan.
"Of course!" chorused the rest of the boys. So after lunch they all went outside to an area of the garden set aside for flying.
After the four keen flyers had been up in the air for ten minutes, Dudley decided he'd give flying another go and had mounted his broom and was carefully flying only a couple of feet off the ground around the edge of the flying zone. A bit like how Mrs. Figg drove her car - carefully and a bit grannyish. He'd got up a bit more confidence and was going a bit quicker, although still not that high when Mrs. Weasley brought out cupcakes for a mid afternoon snack.
"You've really got the hang of that, dear!" praised Mrs. Weasley, "I've been keeping an eye on you from the kitchen window in case you got into trouble."
"Thanks," said Dudley, going red at the compliment. Mrs. Weasley then went back inside. Neither Harry nor Dudley noticed when George tipped extra sprinkles on Dudley's cupcake. But they sure noticed when Dudley turned pink and yellow polka dots. Dudley might have accepted the prank with good grace and laughed it off except that it was untested and the twins were shocked when Dudley's skin started to itch with a rapidly developing rash.
"Oh, shit," exclaimed Fred. "It is not meant to do that."
"You complete bastards!" screamed Dudley, and took a swing at the nearest twin. Harry tried to stop him but not much stopped Dudley's fist when it was already in motion. A right hook caught George on the jaw. Harry changed tack and tried to stop Fred joining in by grabbing him round the throat but it was no use as Ron was already aiming a swift kick at Dudley too.
Suddenly they were all frozen in a tableau of teenage angst unable to move.
"What in Merlin's name is going on out here?" screamed Mrs. Weasley taking in the scene in front of her. A quick wave of her wand freed Dudley and Harry and she summoned a general Healing potion from the kitchen for Dudley which turned him back to a normal colour as well as curing the rash.
"Right! One of you is going to tell me what's going on, and you'd better hope that I'm impressed with your explanation!" Harry hadn't ever realised just what pitch Mrs. Weasley could reach when angry. He'd never been in the position of having upset his parents before, but he knew it wasn't a feeling he liked. His cheeks coloured in embarrassment.
"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley," he murmured.
"Sorry is not an explanation. Boys?" she asked, directing her gaze at Ron and the twins.
"Um, Mum, could you let us down?" asked George, as they were all still stuck.
"I said I wanted an explanation," repeated Mrs. Weasley.
"Well, it's like this," said Fred, "I accidentally jostled George, and he staggered, and the contents of his pocket just happened to land on Dudley's cupcake."
"Bollocks!" said Dudley. Harry could agree with his sentiment, but not with saying that out loud in front of an irate Mrs. Weasley.
"Language!" snapped Mrs. Weasley, and Dudley reddened at the rebuke.
"Ronald!" Ron winced at his full name being used. Nothing good ever happened when his mum used his full name. "Why," asked Mrs. Weasley, indicating the scene in front of her with her wand hand, "Does it look like you were trying to stop Harry from stopping Fred attacking Dudley?"
"Er..." was the only thing Ron managed.
"Inside, the lot of you! Living room. Now." She waved her wand and everyone was freed. They went inside in silence and trooped into the living room.
They heard a buzzing from Mr. Weasley's study as one of the adults had cast a muffilato on the room while Molly and Arthur had a conversation.
There were a lot of accusatory and baleful looks being exchanged in the living room while the adults were talking.
Mr. Weasley came into the living room a couple of minutes later. He did not look happy.
"Three of you know I have urgent work to complete today, and two of you should be sensible enough to realise that if I'm working in my study there's a reason and I don't want to be disturbed. As it is, I find you can't even manage one day before having a set-to."
"I'm not going to ask you to leave," he said, much to Harry's relief, directing a look at Harry then Dudley, "I realise that there are unresolved issues. But right now, I'm resolving them for you. You are confined to your rooms for the afternoon. You are going to think about ways to get on. You have the whole of the upcoming school year to survive in each others' company, and I don't think your professors are going to be as patient as I am if you can't get on with each other." Harry winced. Snape would go spare. Snape had already 'had words' about them losing their tempers. Doing it again so soon was just asking for trouble.
"So, rooms!" he said pointing towards the stairs, "You two first," he added looking at Harry and Dudley. Harry paused in front of Mr. Weasley who gave him his best disappointed look.
"Sorry, Mr. Weasley," said Harry quietly. Mr. Weasley nodded.
"Sorry, Mr Weasley," echoed Dudley on his way past.
Harry didn't understand why Fred winced when he stood up, but he soon cottoned on when Fred walked past his father and Mr. Weasley landed a solid swat to his rear. George got a resounding smack too, as did Ron.
The twins had gone to their room and Ron, Harry and Dudley shut Ron's door behind them.
"That could have gone better," commented Ron, rubbing his behind.
"It could have gone a hell of a lot worse too," said Dudley, and Harry couldn't help but agree given their run-in with Snape a couple of weeks ago.
Ron sighed.
"Right. For this week, we declare a truce. Twins included," said Ron.
"Deal," said Dudley, slightly begrudgingly. He'd wanted to get the twins back for the polka dots first, but he wasn't an idiot, he recognised common sense when he heard it.
For the rest of the afternoon they sat quietly talking, Harry and Dudley talked about the things they'd done so far during the holiday, although by tacit agreement, neither mentioned the Marge incident. It seemed that even though they'd had a visit from the ministry, if Mr. Weasley did know, he'd kept it from his children. Ron talked about Egypt and how Bill was getting on. All in all, they had a pleasant afternoon and were only interrupted when Mrs. Weasley called them all down for dinner.
The rest of the week went relatively smoothly. The twins had obviously been read the riot act by one of their parents as they didn't pull any more pranks on Dudley. They weren't exactly friendly, but then neither was Dudley towards them. Obviously Dudley's new-found fondness only extended to Harry and not his friends too.
They spent the week doing school work in the mornings (neither Harry nor Dudley had done much of theirs once they realised that being out of the house was easier when Vernon was around), flying in the afternoon, and playing a variety of wizarding games in the evenings. Harry had owled Hermione to find out what day she was going to Diagon Alley to get her school things, and they'd arranged to meet the day before term started.
Harry's and Dudley's Hogwarts letters arrived for them at the Burrow when the other boys' did. They spent plenty of time discussing their options for the next year. Ron wanted to choose Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. His reasoning, applauded loudly by the twins and derided by Percy, was that there was very little work to do for either and it'd be a bit of a laugh.
Harry could see Ron's reasoning, but he wasn't convinced. He had a premonition of the future, and it involved him having a conversation with his head of house about why he'd chosen either of those subjects. Harry had heard Snape muttering about them derisively to other Slytherins in the common room. He could picture the scene clearly: "You dunderhead, Potter! What on earth would you want to waste your time doing those for! Select a proper subject!"
Harry shuddered at the thought.
"Ron, I think I'd like to do Arithmancy and Ancient Runes." Harry wasn't sure of Snape's opinion of either of these subjects, but it had to be better than if he'd picked Care of Magical Creatures, or worse, Divination. Everyone, non-Slytherins included, thought that Trelawney was a crackpot.
"But Harry, that's actual work!" exclaimed Ron, aghast.
"Then I'll have Hermione for company," replied Harry smugly. They returned their options by owl after Dudley had picked Muggle Studies ("Because no-one will care if I pick an easy subject" Dudley had said, winking at Harry) and Ancient Runes.
Harry's other problem was the letter he got that accompanied the standard Hogwarts letter. He'd recognised the writing before he opened it:
Harry,
I realise that this would be an easier topic to discuss if this were a face to face meeting, however I can hardly imagine you would appreciate a floo conversation with your head of house while you are staying at the Weasleys'.
I would like to broach an awkward subject that came up in conversation yesterday between myself and Professor McGonagall. It has been pointed out to me that you were originally sorted into Gryffindor and subsequently into Slytherin. It should be patently obvious that your resorting was linked to the arrival of your cousin at Hogwarts.
I have observed, and received on good authority from Healer Jones, that you and your cousin have a much improved relationship.
The choice should be yours as to whether you continue to be part of Slytherin or whether you request to be resorted. I would like to make it abundantly clear that you are most welcome in Slytherin. This letter should by no means be construed as me encouraging you to leave Slytherin. On the contrary, I believe that you have thrived better in Slytherin than you did in your first year in Gryffindor. You have made new friends and academically you are far superior. And yes, Mr. Potter, that was a compliment.
Moreover, I believe that the house is improved for your presence in it. I would like to take this opportunity to say that I enjoyed mentoring you last year, and I would like this to continue. Whatever your decision, you are always welcome in my office.
There are a number of things that could be done to see that you are not disadvantaged from having friends in multiple houses, and we can discuss any details at the start of the new term.
Please consider this carefully. I know how much your Gryffindor friends mean to you, but Slytherin does not wish to lose you. Send your decision before 1st September.
Regards,
Severus Snape
After Harry had read the letter he carefully folded it and put it away for later perusal. It wasn't until he was lying in bed that night that he read through it again.
"Harry, what's in the letter?" asked Ron.
"Just a reminder about subject choices," lied Harry, hoping that Ron wouldn't catch him out in the lie. He couldn't have said why he lied that fast, he hadn't prepared the lie, it just tripped off his tongue, but he didn't want Ron to know he might not want to return to Gryffindor.
"Well," said Ron, "From what you said earlier you've got that nailed, and the Bat will be happy. Scribble a reply and ignore it for the week."
"Mmmm," said Harry absently.
Harry lay awake for a while that night thinking about his options. He had eventually got it down to two mental lists, one for staying in Slytherin, and one for requesting to be sorted back to Gryffindor. Harry truly believed that the Hat would put him where he asked for, he just had to decide where that was.
If he stayed in Slytherin he would have access to his true friends less. But on the flip side, he had made kind of friends in Slytherin. He could have conversations with Theo on a wide range of subjects and he knew, given the Slytherin code, the other members of Slytherin would never not be his friend. Hell, he'd even chalked up a couple of friendly conversations with Draco. Harry made a mental note to speak to Snape about having friends in other houses.
There was then Harry's academic progress. Harry couldn't deny that he performed better in Slytherin. Homework groups, homework times, bedtimes, prefects checking up on them, regular catch-up with his head of house. All of which got him better grades. Although he was no Hermione, he couldn't just ignore the advantage these things gave him.
But the harder Harry thought, the more he came down to one thing: Dudley. And it was one of two things. Either Dudley was genuine in their improved relationship at which point if he stayed in Slytherin he'd be abandoning his cousin to no friends - it wasn't like Dudley had made himself all sweetness and light last year - this week at the Weasleys' confirmed that. But if their relationship wasn't genuine, and Dudley could regress to being well, Dudley, then Gryffindor would become an unpleasant place for Harry.
And so in between having a great time for the week, Harry thought about where he'd like to be next year.
On the last day of the holidays they met up with Hermione in Diagon Alley. They went to Madame Malkin's for robes, Flourish and Blotts for books and then to the Magical Menagerie. Nothing could be done with Ron's rat and Hermione bought a rather large cat she named Crookshanks. Dudley looked wistfully at the pets, especially the cats.
"Your dad will go spare," said Harry quietly in his ear. Dudley sighed and left the store dejected.
Harry then suggested a visit to Fortesque's for ice-cream and afterwards they saw a large crowd at the window of the quidditch store. The boys made a great deal of the Firebolt and it took quite a while for Mrs. Weasley to get everyone back to the floo point.
Later that afternoon, Mr. Weasley flooed Harry and Dudley back to Privet Drive to collect their things. Vernon was out.
"We'll both miss you, Sweetums," said Petunia, gushing over Dudley, having signed both of their permission slips for Hogsmeade.
"Bye, Mum," said Dudley. "See you at Christmas!"
"Goodbye, Harry," said Petunia, and with a touch of embarrassment added, "Enjoy yourself."
Harry was taken aback for a moment, "Oh, er, yeah, bye, Aunt Petunia, thanks," said Harry. Mr. Weasley looked at Harry slightly oddly as he escorted the boys through the floo, but he didn't comment.
When they got back to the burrow, Dudley cornered him in Ron's room when no-one else was in earshot.
"Harry," said Dudley quietly.
Harry turned to look at him when Dudley didn't continue straight away. "What's up, Dudley?"
"Snape wrote to you. You've been thinking about it all week. I know you have, we've all seen you reread the letter more than once. There was that moment a couple of days ago when Fred snatched it off you to try to read it and you went ballistic. I thought you were going to punch him until Mr. Weasley accio'd it off him and returned it to you. And I notice you were relieved that neither of them read it. So he wrote to you about something important, but it came with your letter, which means it's Hogwarts related. You've spent a lot of time considering it so it's important. But you haven't discussed it with anyone, or even showed any of us the content, so the fact that you're thinking about what's in the letter would upset people."
Harry just stood there with his mouth open. Dudley should be a Ravenclaw the way he could think sometimes.
"So I think I've worked it out. Snape asked if you wanted to stay with Slytherin. It fits. Every time you read the letter you watch us all for a bit, like you're working out what you want."
"Dudley..." began Harry.
"No, let me finish," overrode Dudley, "You are considering moving back into Gryffindor because of your friends. No other reason. That's a good reason, but I think Slytherin suits you. And how will it look if you leave? Can you imagine how much worse Malfoy could be after being spurned by you, than just being in a different house? Ron's told me about some of the animosity you guys had in first year. Think about it, Harry. And if your decision is in any way to do with me, bloody well stay in Slytherin. I'm quite capable of sorting myself out."
"Oh," was all Harry managed to say. Dudley gave him a meaningful look and went downstairs for dinner.
That evening Harry was tossing and turning in bed, deliberating the fact that Petunia had been nice to him when he heard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing. Ron and Dudley were both asleep. Harry crept to the door to listen. He didn't catch much, but he heard his name and crept out onto the landing to listen more. He didn't understand much of what they were saying. How was Sirius Black anything to do with him? Why was he after him? How bad were Azkaban guards? It took Harry a bit longer to get to sleep than usual.
The next morning Harry wrote a letter to Snape:
Professor Snape,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to choose. I choose to stay in Slytherin. I think that it suits me better. The Hat wanted me to originally be in Slytherin, it said I could be great in Slytherin. Perhaps I should give that a try.
Thank you,
Harry