The Letters From No One.
"How can a letter be from no one?" a first year Gryffindor asked.
"You'll see," Harry replied with a smile. He was looking forward to this chapter, remembering that week always brought a smile to his face.
The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment.
"How long was that Mr Potter," Amelia asked. Harry shrugged; while it had been the longest, it hadn't been the most violent – that award went to the punishment he got for ending up on the school roof – or the worst, isolation, and food wise – that was the summer before his second year, even if that punishment had been interrupted by some friends three days in.
"Four or five weeks." Amelia frowned, writing another thing down.
By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started
"Did no one question why you weren't at school?" Charlie asked.
"I had come down with the flu apparently. They decided I was allowed out for school after two weeks of missing school though, so I was there for the end of term and only out of my cupboard for school."
and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control aeroplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.
"Horrible child," Mrs Weasley said.
Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.
"Nice logic Harry," Ginny said.
"Going off that, would Crabbe or Goyle be the leader of their group?" Ron asked.
"Did you not know? Their group is set out like that. Malfoy just likes to pretend," Harry said. He was quiet enough that only those in the group around him heard, causing many people in the hall to look at their group questioningly when everyone but Mr and Mrs Weasley started laughing, although Mr Weasley had snorted and seemed to be trying to hide his laughter.
The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite sport: Harry Hunting.
"Sorry to disappoint, but Dudley didn't invent that sport," Fred said with a fake sigh.
"Yeah, everyone knows that You-Know-Who started Harry Hunting first," George agreed. A few people giggled or smiled slightly, relieving the tension that the book was starting to cause with all the mentions of bullying that Harry received.
Dudley thought this was very funny.
"Why would that be funny?" Neville asked. Harry snorted.
"Don't ask me to try and work out what goes in Dudley's brain Nev."
"Want to come upstairs and practice?"
"Don't you dare," Hermione and Ginny growled.
"The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick."
"Where did this sense of humour go?" Fred and George asked.
"It died," Harry deadpanned, causing Fred and George to snicker.
"You are definitely coming pranking with us," they decided. Harry eyed Snuffles before smirking towards the twins.
"I guess I could be persuaded. I know Snuffles would like that; maybe he and Remus would even join us," he suggested. Not many people knew, but he actually did prank, quite often really, mainly on the nights he couldn't sleep and was wandering the halls, or when he was restless and needed something to do besides Quidditch, homework, or chess, with most of his pranks being attributed to the twins. Not even the twins knew who caused his pranks and he had never been caught; only Ron and Hermione knew, since they had helped with his alibi quite often.
George and Fred both looked at Remus, who was smirking, wondering why a teacher would want to go pranking. They already knew that Sirius would be able to help though, based on what they had seen during the summer. Harry was looking forward to their reactions when they found out who the Marauders were, since no one had actually told them. Though, they might do their best to get revenge on the trio for knowing for over a year and not telling them.
Minerva heard what the twins had said and seen the look on Remus' face. She groaned. One set of pranksters was bad enough, let alone two in the one place, especially when they joined forces. And she wasn't even sure if the school would still be standing if the twins and the remaining marauders worked together and convinced Harry to join them as well; she knew how sneaky he could be.
Then he ran before Dudley could work out what he'd said.
"Oh, so you do have some self-preservation," Hermione said.
"I have self-preservation, thank you," Harry replied.
"And you did know how to choose your battles," Ron added.
"Dudley was 4 times my size" Harry protested.
"So was the…" he was cut off when Harry covered Ron's mouth; Harry wasn't sure if he was going to say the troll, Voldemort, Fluffy, Aragog, the basilisk, dementors, or the dragon, but didn't want him to mention any of them just yet.
"Firstly, I am trying to keep those a secret for as long as possible. I'm pretty sure your mum took the 'no punishment' rule to only be directed at the teachers in regard to house points and detentions. Secondly, I was trying to help Hermione the first time. It's not my fault I didn't realise that was the room she was in. And there were reasons for all the other times too, which you know," Harry said.
Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats,
Many of the females looked ill.
orange knickerbockers,
Majority of the girls and a handful of boys were grimacing and looking ill at the idea of the outfit.
and flat straw hats called boaters.
Over half of the hall seemed ill at the description of the outfit. Those who had met Dudley were laughing at the image of him wearing the outfit, Harry laughing the hardest since he hadn't been able to the first time.
"Doesn't it make you glad that our robes are simply black," Ron said through his laughter, many people nodding their agreement with that comment.
"I will never complain about the Hogwarts uniforms again," was heard throughout the hall.
This was supposed to be good training for later life.
"How is that good training for later in life?" Minerva asked.
"That's just going to teach them bad habits," Pomona agreed.
"Let's be fair though. We all have sticks too. And ours can do a lot more damage than Dudley's," Harry said quietly to Hermione and Ron.
Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins,
Fred, George, and Lee were laughing again, as were many others around the hall.
"How many nicknames does Dudley have?" Remus asked.
"A lot. My favourite is in the third book though," Harry replied, thinking of what Marge called Dudley.
He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.
Harry did his best to ignore the small ache in his chest that was caused by trying not to laugh during the first experience. It wasn't that painful anyway; it was just there, a dull ache. Instead he simply allowed himself to laugh as he remembered the image, since he hadn't been allowed to the first time around.
"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."
"You really need to bring out your witty comments more," Fred said through his laughter. Harry grinned.
It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."
"They didn't even buy you a school uniform," Hermione said, her voice that dangerous, soft tone.
"It's fine Hermione," Harry said.
"It is most definitely not fine Harry James Potter."
"It's in the past Hermione. You can't change it." Hermione huffed, but didn't say anything else.
He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.
"Your imagination is very unique Harry," Luna said.
"Thanks Luna," he replied with a smile.
Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.
"He acts like a child with a new toy," Tonks said.
"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his newspaper.
"He actually makes his son do something?" Fred gasped.
"Get the mail, Harry."
"Ah, that makes more sense," George said, sighing dramatically.
"Make Dudley get it."
"Don't ask," Mr Weasley said as Fred opened his mouth.
"I wasn't going to ask where this Harry went," Fred said. George nodded.
"We know exactly where this Harry went," he agreed.
"Where?" Mr Weasley asked, sounding resigned.
"To the Toad," Fred, George, Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all answered together, causing those in the DA to start laughing; they all referred to Umbridge as the Toad in DA sessions, and around the common room when no one was nearby.
"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."
"Why did you even try though?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged.
"They actually encourage that kind of behaviour?" Mrs Weasley asked, outraged.
No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would?
"Most of the wizarding world," Mr Weasley said. Harry flushed; he really didn't want to think about getting fan mail.
"Ginny," Fred, George, and Ron all said at the same time.
"Shut up before I make you," Ginny warned quietly, making all three boys pale; none of them wanted to be on the bad side of her wand, especially after what they had seen her do in the few DA sessions they had already had.
Mr. H. Potter
The Cupboard under the Stairs
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
"Who addresses the Hogwarts letters? Because that should have been a big red flag," Bill said.
"We have a Self-Addressing quill that writes all the envelopes for Hogwarts letters," Minerva replied. "Which we will be supervising from now on," she added, glaring at Dumbledore, who simply nodded, knowing not to argue with Minerva when she had that look.
There was no stamp.
Harry snickered, causing those around him to look at him in confusion.
"A big difference to the letter Mrs Weasley sent," he said. Ron and Hermione, both remembering what Harry had told them about the letter, grinned slightly.
"Fourth book, you'll see," Harry said once he had quieted again.
He chuckled at his own joke.
"Wow," George said.
"So funny," Fred agreed.
"So funny I forgot to laugh," Remus added, smiling slyly at the surprised looks the Fred and George sent him.
He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.
"Harry," Ron and Hermione groaned.
"I know, I know. I should have opened it in the hall," Harry grumbled.
"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…"
"Good," Harry said savagely, "it's just a pity it wasn't permanent." Normally, Hermione would reprimand him, but she didn't this time. She knew that Harry wouldn't wish harm on anyone without good reason and also knew what she had said about his parents that caused him to blow her up.
Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.
"He took your first Hogwarts letter," the members of the DA exclaimed in outrage. Harry shrugged.
"I got more."
Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.
"Is that even possible?" Lavender asked.
"Uncle Vernon is the only person I know that can do it. Naturally," he added when Tonks opened her mouth to say something. She stuck her tongue out at him instead.
"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.
"Dramatic," Neville said, repeating his words from the previous chapter.
"Oh, they get worse," Harry said.
"Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!"
"Would you look at that. That actually know each other's names," Ginny said, getting a high-five from George and Fred.
He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.
"And he's still alive?" Bill asked.
"If we did something like that, you'd have to dig us up if you wanted to talk to us," Charlie agreed.
"I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."
"Here comes his temper," Ron said to Hermione who covered her mouth to try and stop herself laughing.
"Whose temper do you have?" Remus asked.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Lily had the famous red-head temper and would snap very easily. James was mainly easy-going, but if you pushed him too hard, he would explode and it was worse than Lily," Remus explained. Hermione and Ron exchanged looks.
"Both," they replied. Harry scowled but didn't dispute the matter. He knew they were right; his temper could be a mix of both, it was rather unpredictable for his friends since they had no idea if something would make him snap or if he would brush it off only to explode from a combination of things later; honestly, sometimes he didn't even know if he would explode or let it bottle up. Remus rubbed his temples; of course he had a mix of both of their tempers.
Harry didn't move.
"Any minute now," Ron whispered.
"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.
"There he goes," Ron said, wincing slightly as the spell reading the books perfectly captured Harry's ton and volume when he shouted.
"Actually, he could be angrier," Hermione noted.
"What do you mean? He's being so loud," Neville said. Those who had been at Grimmauld when Harry arrived all winced in remembrance.
"He can get louder. Right now, he sounds angry, but not furious. When he gets really angry, his volume could rival one of Mrs Weasley's howlers," Hermione said. Those who had heard one of the Weasley howlers winced and then stared at Harry in shock; he really didn't seem like someone who could get that loud.
"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall,
Harry did his best to discretely rub his neck and back.
"Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.
"We have much better things to do," Tonks remarked. "Like watching paint dry and grass grow."
Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —"
"That wouldn't have worked. We would have sent a teacher to work out why they didn't want the student to attend," Minerva said.
Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"
"Stamp it out," Remus growled. "What did he mean, stamp it out."
"If you couldn't tell they don't, er, like magic very much. They thought that, if they convinced me that magic wasn't real, then my magic would go away," Harry replied. Hermione suddenly gasped and turned to face Harry, turning him so they were looking straight at each other.
"Do you fear your magic?" she asked, a touch of fearfulness in her tone.
"No. I've told you Hermione, my magic helped me get food and protected me at times, even when I didn't know what it was. Why would I hate it." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, something echoed by many of the adults in the hall, who had all been thinking the same thing as Hermione.
"That's good."
"Why Hermione?" he asked.
"If a child starts hating their magic, they could start subconsciously, or even consciously, trying to repress it. Doing that can be extremely dangerous. It causes the magic to become like a parasite and it explodes out and becomes very destructive at points of high emotion. No one who's magic does that lives very long; the oldest Obscurial, someone like that, died at 16, but most don't make it past 10." Harry grimaced. He was extremely glad that the Dursleys made it clear that they hated all of him, not just his magic, as weird as that thought was.
That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.
"How the bloody hell did he fit?" Ron asked.
"He didn't. He just shoved his head in."
"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."
"That's what you meant when you said you were speaking from experience," Remus said. Harry nodded.
"It's illegal to take or destroy someone else's mail," a third year Hufflepuff yelled.
"Technically, they are his guardians so are within their rights to do so," Hermione said, even as it seemed to pain her to admit it.
"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.
Harry threw his arm around Ron's shoulder, trying to comfort him as he shuddered at the mention of spiders.
Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom.
"His second WHAT!" Hermione yelled.
"Bedroom. Hermione, please calm down. It's in the past," Harry said, grabbing Hermione's hand and pulling her back down onto the couch next to him.
"Why?" said Harry.
"Good. Constant Vigilance," Moody said loudly, causing Tonks to mutter something under her breath about paranoids.
The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms,
"And yet they made you sleep in a cupboard," Hermione said softly. Harry squeezed her hand, trying to comfort her.
"They had a spare room, but they shoved you in a cupboard, on top of making you cook their meals and not giving you food," Remus said lowly, growling, his growl being matched by Sirius, who was still in dog form which meant that growling was his only way of showing his displeasure. Although Harry was pretty sure he would be growling if he was human too.
"Remus, either calm down or take a calming draught. But I would advise you to use them sparingly at the moment, since I know you'll need them later in the book," Harry said wearily, glancing over at the growling man. Remus sighed and nodded, grabbing one of the phials of calming draught and drinking it, making his growling stop.
They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.
"I don't think he can even read, to be honest," Harry said casually, as if he was talking about the weather.
He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick,
"Horrible, horrible child," Sprout muttered, shaking her head.
been sick on purpose,
"That's disgusting," Parvati said, wrinkling her nose.
kicked his mother,
"Terrible behaviour," Mrs Weasley said quietly.
and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back.
"Poor tortoise," Luna said.
"I know. The tortoise didn't even do anything," Harry said.
'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'"
"If he wants to read it, why didn't he open it in the hall?" Hermione asked.
"You're assuming two things Hermione," Harry said. "Firstly, that he's smart enough to think of that. And secondly, you're assuming he knows how to read."
Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.
The trio exchanged looks before they all started laughing.
"Why didn't you tell us you had practice?" Ron asked between gasps. Harry just shook his head.
"What?" Bill asked, looking at the others in their group who were still at school with them. They all looked just as confused as everyone else.
"Later. You'll see," Hermione said, being the first of the three to calm down.
After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath,
Harry rubbed the back of his head slightly, trying not to draw attention to it; he had been hit in the head a lot by that stick.
He had a plan.
Ron groaned and Hermione sighed.
"What?" Harry asked indignantly.
"It's just, your plans suck mate," Ron said.
"No, they don't," Harry protested.
"You're much better at thinking on your feet Harry," Hermione said in agreement.
"You have to admit mate. We plan, we get there, and all hell breaks loose," Ron said.
"I resent that."
"That doesn't make it not true though," Hermione said.
"It might," Harry muttered.
"Did the plan work?" Ron asked. Harry just huffed in reply, crossing his arms across his chest.
His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door —
"It sounds like a good plan," Bill said.
"AAAAARRRGH!"
"And then all hell breaks loose," Ron and Hermione said together.
Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something alive!
"Please be his face, please be his face, please be his face," Fred, George, Lee, and Ginny all chanted together. Harry grinned.
Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror, Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.
"Yes!" the four of them cheered, causing many people to burst out laughing. No one bothered to reprimand them, many of the adults privately expressing the same thoughts, not that they would tell anyone.
"I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.
"How dare he," was heard muttered all around, with other phrases along those lines joining the muttering. Everyone, especially old pureblood families, knew the importance of someone's first Hogwarts letter, and many still had their own years later.
He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.
"He took all day to mail up the letter slot?" Tonks asked. Harry shrugged.
"It would have taken him less than two hours, but he spent majority of the time complaining," he replied.
"I think the wrackspurts got to him," Luna said.
"What're wrackspurts?" Charlie asked eagerly, always wanting to learn about new creatures, even though dragons were his passion.
"Invisible creatures that float into your ears and make your brain go fuzzy," Luna explained. Harry scoffed.
"Luna, I would agree with you, but that would mean he had to have a brain to make fuzzy to begin with." Those in their group, apart from Mr and Mrs Weasley, laughed at his quiet comment.
"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways,
"Our minds work in strange ways?" George asked.
"And yours doesn't?" Fred added.
"Like I said George, Fred, he would first need a mind for it to work strangely," Harry said.
Uncle Vernon stayed at home again.
"How did he keep his job if he just stayed home without a reason why?" Hermione asked.
"Honestly, Hermione, I have no idea. And he gets worse," Harry replied with a shrug. "I'm just glad that he didn't get fired, because then it would have been my fault."
"But it wouldn't have been your fault," Ron said.
"Everything that happens is my fault. Even the drought this summer was my fault," he said, waving the concerns away. Remus growled at that, but only slightly, showing that the calming draught was helping a bit, as did Snuffles.
Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window.
All around the hall people looked as if they were trying to hold in their laughter. Harry didn't bother though, since he hadn't been able to laugh at the time and, looking back, the situation was even funnier than at the time, and was quietly laughing. Which then set Fred, George, and Lee off, which in turn caused more and more people to stop holding in their laughter.
While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.
"And when they went to the doctors to complain about having sore throats, they all conveniently forgot about this," Harry said quietly to Ron and Hermione.
"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.
"Ginny," all the Weasley boys in the group said instantly.
"Shut it or else," she growled, pointing her wand at each of her brothers in turn. They all raised their hands in the universal sign of surrender, and she nodded, pocketing her wand again; none of them were brave enough to go against one of her curses, especially the Bat-Bogey, which was her favourite. Tonks giggled at Charlie's scared face and he nudged her.
"Hey, you haven't seen what she's capable of," he said, "she was scary enough before she got her wand. Now she can use her magic deliberately too."
The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one —
"Why didn't you grab one from the ground?" Remus sighed.
"Seeker training," Harry offered, his answer causing Snuffles to bark happily, his tongue lolling out of his mouth in a dog-like grin.
Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.
Harry absently rubbed his back as he felt the pain of colliding with the floor.
He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue.
"He really did look terrifying. Ridiculous and hilarious, yes, but also dangerous and terrifying."
"Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.
"He really has lost it, hasn't he," Charlie said.
"You're only just noticing?" Bill replied blandly.
They didn't stop to eat or drink all day.
"So unhealthy," Madame Pomphrey muttered.
Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…
"Before anyone asks, I have no clue what I was wondering about. It was four and a half years ago," Harry said loudly as a few people turned to face him and opened their mouths. Those people shut their mouths, turning away again.
The woman stared.
"She should have done something," Mrs Weasley said.
"For all she knew, Uncle Vernon could have been Mr H. Potter and I was just a nosy child," Harry replied with a shrug.
"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later,
"At least someone has sense," Neville commented.
"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.
"He's only just noticing?" Tonks asked.
"Dudley isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer," Harry said.
If it was Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.
"Don't," Mrs Weasley warned as Fred and George opened their mouths. They frowned, but didn't dare anger their mum, not when she was already mad about Harry's treatment. Lee, however, didn't have the same issue since she wasn't his mum.
"Happy Birthday," Lee exclaimed.
"I appreciate it Lee, but you're a bit late. About 3 months late," Harry replied with a grin.
He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.
"Dare I ask what he brought?" Hermione asked Harry quietly. Harry shook his head.
"The book will say, either this chapter or in the next chapter, but you won't like it. Neither will Remus." Hermione sighed.
It was very cold outside the car.
"You've g…got to be ki…kidding me," Harry stuttered quietly as he shivered slightly, rubbing his hands together to try and make them warm up. He knew that it got colder during the night, especially as the storm started up, but he hadn't thought he would experience the cold. He just hoped this chapter would go quickly so he could get to the part where Hagrid arrived and started the fire.
Hermione and Ron looked at him in concern when he spoke, and both saw him shivering slightly and heard his slight stutter. Ron wrapped an arm around his neck in a brotherly way to disguise how he pulled the other boy closer, so that Harry could huddle into his warmth. Hermione moved closer to Harry as well, taking his hands in hers as she subtly leant against him in an effort to provide more heat. Harry smiled his thanks to both of them when they moved, noticing how they were trying to keep him warm without other noticing that he was suffering.
Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces.
Harry did his best to inch closer to his two friends as he got colder, his shivers increasing.
Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas.
"Those aren't rations," many women and teenage boys cried.
Harry privately agreed though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.
"You're so pessimistic," Remus said, shaking his head. Harry grinned slightly and shrugged, not wanting to answer verbally since he wasn't sure if his quietly chattering teeth would allow him to without stuttering.
"He always is," Hermione agreed.
She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.
Harry's shivers lessened slightly as the small amount of warmth from the thin blanket appeared, but the change was barely noticeable with how thin the blanket had been.
He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger.
Harry's own stomach echoed the sentiments quietly, but not quite quiet enough that those in their group didn't hear it. They all glanced over at the trio, though none of them said anything about their close proximity, assuming they were just offering comfort to Harry since his privacy was being invaded so severely; Harry was glad that all the students were wearing their school robes still, even though they didn't have classes, since the robes were bulky enough to hide exactly what Hermione and Ron were doing.
"I know, I'm hungry too mate," Ron said, trying to take the attention away from Harry.
"Trust Ron to only think of his stomach," Ginny said, rolling her eyes and turning away from the group.
"There are snacks on the table Ronald," Mrs Weasley added.
"But I'm comfortable here," he replied, not wanting to get up and leave Harry while he was still shivering intensely; the blanket may have reduced it, but it didn't reduce it much.
He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.
"I honestly don't know if that's being optimistic or pessimistic," Remus muttered, shaking his head at Harry's thoughts.
Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.
"I think they would have gotten rid of all the letters before they let you in," Bill said.
Was the rock crumbling into the sea?
Many of the first years, as well as those in the group around the golden trio, exchanged nervous glances.
"You have to remember guys, Harry's fine. He's right here," Hermione reminded the hall, effectively calming many people down.
Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him
"You should," George and Fred agreed.
BOOM.
Many people jumped as the spell on the book made the boom as loud as it had been that night.
Someone was outside, knocking to come in.
Confused looks were exchanged all around the hall, many people wondering the same thing. Who was it. Dumbledore stood up at the front of the hall, effectively calling everyone's attention to him.
"We are going to read one more chapter and then stop for a break," he announced before sitting down again and allowing people to discuss what had occurred during that chapter.
"Harry, why did you never mention how bad your relatives were?" Remus asked calmly, proving that the calming draught was still working. Harry shrugged, not wanting to answer since shivers were still wracking his body. He hated the fact that he would experience the pain until the book reached a point where he wasn't in pain; he just hoped that they wouldn't stop for a meal or the end of the day between chapters where the pain carried over from one chapter to the next.
"Harry," Remus pressed. Harry tried to subtly nudge closer to Hermione and Ron, who noticed what he was doing and discretely moved closer themselves, wanting to try and warm up a bit more so he could answer without stuttering.
"N… Never came up," he said, cursing the book for making him stutter slightly. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice his stutter, or no one who noticed commented. Remus frowned slightly but seemed to know that he couldn't do anything to change things, so he dropped it.
"We're going to continue with the next chapter now," Filius said after allowing the students five minutes to discuss things. Harry grinned slightly, his teeth pressed together in the aim to stop them chattering, happy that the fire would appear soon. Filius shot the charm at the book, making it start to read again.
The Keeper of the Keys.