Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the belonging of J.K Rowling

Chapter Nine

Hogwarts and Home

When Diana got back to the house, she collapsed on her bed with a groan.

"It's going to be a long year," she said to herself.

Wherever Harry was, Diana didn't know, but she hoped he was at least surrounded by friends.

Things to do...

Diana remembered when Dudley made a list of things he wanted for his birthday. It seemed so long ago that he did that. Diana suddenly felt herself longing for her old life before the divorce. She wished her parents were still married.

Make the list you idiot!

Diana got up and got a piece of paper. She needed things to do to keep her from going off the deep end. Harry had been her anchor for the past month, but he was gone now.

"Let's see," Diana muttered. "What can I do...?"

Things to do while Harry is Gone

1. Finish Lily Evans/Potter's letters

2. Get a life at Forrest Primary School/Make new friends

3. Try to reconnect with Dudley, Mum and Dad

4. Visit Ginny

Diana looked at the list.

"That looks alright," she said. "I'll try and make new friend, read Lily's letters, reconnect with my family and visit Ginny."

Wow. I must be really lonely. I'm talking to myself.

"I'm fine," she insisted.

Diana sighed and pulled out more of her aunt's letters. She decided she would read four each day.

Dear Mum, Dad and Petunia

This will be my last letter this year. I passed my exams, and the Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow. I'll be coming home soon.

I'm sad to leave Alice and Marlene, but at least I'll have Severus. Oh well, at least I won't have to see Potter and Black.

I really miss you, and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Love,

Lily

Diana smiled and wished she could speak with Lily. She seemed like the only person who would understand her problems, aside from Harry.

Dear Mum and Dad

So far my second year has been good. Our old Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Oldhaggen, retired after his house set ablaze, so we have a new teacher.

Potter hasn't matured one bit, which was a bit disappointing. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I don't care about him.

I miss you all so much, and I hope you are enjoying the lovely weather.

Love,

Lily

While reading the letters, Diana realised far Lily and Petunia had drifted had drifted apart. She didn't even write letters to Petunia any more. Diana could picture her grandparents and mother one morning. Her grandmother would point out the letter and open it, and show the family. Her grandfather would be delighted at his daughter's schooling, while Petunia would sulk in the back.

To be fair on her mother, her sister was going to a school of magic and got to experience a whole new world, while she lived as an ordinary Muggle. It wasn't fair, though it was certainly petty. But that pettiness Petunia had a girl turned into hatred, and that led to Harry growing up with ten years of abuse, and that was why Diana thought her mother was a fool.

Dear Petunia,

I know you won't respond to this, but I just want to say I miss you. I wish you were here with me, and I wish you could practice magic.

I'm sorry you can't come here.

Love,

Lily

Dear Mum and Dad,

I'm super excited for Halloween. Apparently there's going to be dancing skeletons! I remember the feast last year. That was great.

Potter made the Quidditch Team. He's been gloating about it all week.

Love,

Lily

Diana put down the letters. That was four today.

Most people would probably think her crazy. Diana certainly didn't know anyone who stayed up at night reading about a dead person's adventures in a Scottish boarding school.

For the next week, life was slow and boring. Diana tried out many hobbies, like knitting and drawing, but none of them seemed to be her thing.

Dudley had apparently just realised that he was going to a public school. He seemed to be in denial.

Diana mostly spent her time thinking about her new school, Forrest Primary. Would she make friends? Possibly, as long as she didn't mention Harry. Would she still be the nerd? Possibly.

Diana began to realise that maybe Harry was right, maybe he did hold her back. Maybe he held her back because she didn't want to connect with anyone else because she was too focused on keeping Harry happy, so she forgot to make herself happy. Oh well. Diana had a chance now.

Diana wasn't too excited when she got up for the first day of school.

"Great," she muttered as she woke up. "Six hours of my life wasted!"

Diana didn't even see the point of going to school. If she were going to Hogwarts next year then why would she need to go to a Muggle school.

Nevertheless, she got ready and waited at the door for Petunia.

"Mum!" called Diana. "I'm leaving for school!"

No answer.

"Mum? Are you coming?"

Still no answer. She was at work.

Diana turned to door handle slowly, hoping Petunia would come rushing down last minute to tell her goodbye. She didn't come.

Diana slammed the door and ran down the road. Forrest Primary was at the field a few houses away from theirs. Diana passed it a few times while walking through the neighbourhood.

She reached the school and buzzed the ringer at the office door.

"Uh, hi," she said through the speaker. "My name's Diana Dursley, I'm the new student in Year 6."

Diana waited a few seconds before the door opened.

"Welcome to Forrest Primary School, Diana," exclaimed the headmistress. "I am Mrs Burbleton, headmistress of Forrest Primary. School will start in five minutes, so I will show you to your class."

Mrs Burbleton (Diana had to restrain a snicker at her name) led Diana through the hall.

It was rather awkward walking with the headteacher. Diana was silent, except for nodding her head a few times or saying, "Yeah," or "Uh-huh."

Eventually, Mrs Burbleton stopped outside Classroom 6d.

"This is your classroom," said Mrs Burbleton. "You will be with Mr Norman. Good day."

The headmistress ran off, and Diana entered the class.

No one was there yet, so Diana decided to try and find a seat, but when she looked at the desks, she realised she'd been assigned a seat.

Diana looked round the desks and found her name tag next to a boy named Colin's.

Diana sat down at her assigned desk and listened to the racket outside.

"Mummy, I don't wanna go!"

"Aidan, that's my basketball!"

"Come on, Deane, that's not fair!"

"Why can I go with Cam and Liz?"

"No, I am old enough to make the Football team, I'm turning 9 in a month!"

"Daddy, don't go!"

Diana smiled. Oh how she wished to be starting school again. She remembered when she had friends, when she wasn't the outcast.

Diana remembered Harry's first day of school.

"Don't go Harry," she had pleaded. "I don't wanna be alone with Mummy! She scares me."

"I'll be fine, Di-Di," Harry had said in his little five year old voice.

"Don't call me that," Diana giggled.

Diana smiled at the memory. It had only been nine days since she last saw Harry, but his face was already getting dimmer and dimmer.

Diana jumped when the bell ring loudly. She heard the racket of ten years olds putting their bags away, and Diana cursed as she remembered that she still had her bag on. She quickly snuck it under her desk.

Twenty-four students poured into the classroom, and hurried to find their desks. A few stared at Diana in an alien sort of way. Eventually the boy named Colin sat down next to her.

"So, hi, I guess," said Diana.

"Yeah, hi," replied Colin. "You know, it's kind of a rule to put your bag outside."

Diana rushed out of the classroom to put her bag away on her peg, and rushed back in before anyone saw her.

"So, I'm new here," Diana told Colin.

"This place is nice," said Colin. "It's better than my old school. I moved when I was six by the way. I'm Colin Creevey by the way."

"Oh, I'm Diana Dursley," Diana told Colin. "Nice to meet you."

"Hey, our name's are both alliteration!" exclaimed Colin.

"I suppose so." Diana had never really thought about her full name. Her initials were D.L.D, but if you didn't count her middle name they were D.D.

"So are you excited?" asked Colin.

Diana said, "What, for school? Not really, no. I just want a life."

"What do you mean a life?"

"Well, before this summer I dedicated more of my time into protecting my cousin, so I didn't really have a life. My cousin's at a boarding school now, I moved schools and my mum and dad separated so I guess I have a chance for an actual life now."

Colin smiled. "I could be your friend."

"I'd be more than happy about that," Diana responded.

Just then, the teacher, Mr Norman, walked in.

"Good morning, 6d. I will be your teacher, Mr Norman. I'd like to announce a new student, Diana Dursley."

The class turned and stared at her. Diana's face turned red as she tried to focus on her hands in her lap.

"Yes, welcome to the class, Diana," said Mr Norman. "Anyways..."

Diana breathed a sigh of relief. At Stonewall Primary, you'd introduce yourself to the new class by saying your name, you age, a fact about yourself and why you'd moved to Stonewall Primary School.

Mr Norman was boring teacher. He droned on and on about maths, and Diana couldn't help but think that she didn't need any of this.

But will Petunia let you go to Hogwarts.

In truth, the answer was yes and no. After Harry left for Hogwarts, Petunia had made a deal with Diana. If she did well in school, she could go to Hogwarts. If not, she would go to Dudley's school. So she had to keep her grades up.

Mr Norman made the students do 50 minutes of algebra. Diana found this particularly difficult, as you didn't start algebra in her old school didn't start algebra until a month into Year 6, while in Forrest Primary you began it in the middle of Year 5.

Finally, the bell rung, and it was recess.

"I can't believe we got Mr Norman," whined Colin. "He's the most boring teacher ever!"

"I agree," said Diana. "I can't pay attention to him. Anyway, could you teach me about the class, Colin?"

Colin nodded. "So, first of all, you have the girl group: Camden and Lizbeth Oswald, fraternal twins. Camden is the one with the short hair, while Lizbeth is the one with the elbow length hair. The next in the girls is Flora MacDurf, she's the girl with the waist-length black hair. There's also Kirsty Longboy, she's the girl with the frizzy brown hair at the back. Hadiya Amin, she's the girl with the pretty hijab and Ella Donalds is the girl with the butterfly pin in her hair.

"Next there's Derek and Ann Harper, Frank Macintosh and MaKayla McKanter. They hang out together because Derek and Anne's mother is friendly with MaKayla's mother, and Frank is MaKayla's cousin.

"Next there's Rose, the girl with the red hair. I don't know her last name, sorry. There's also Winnie Aterson, the albino girl, and Harvey Haren, the boy with Winnie. They hang out together because they're all kind of rejected by other people.

"See the group of kids on top of the slide? Don't go near them. They unfortunately happen to be in our class, and they bully everyone who comes near them. Their names are Aidan, Deane, Oliver, Henry and Shayla. Oliver and Deane are brother and sister, Deane being almost a year older than him. They verbally bully you, while Shayla steals things from you. She's very good at it. Oliver and Henry beat people up, and Aidan's the leader. He's a huge brat who thinks he's better than everyone else. Don't go near them, especially Aidan."

Diana looked at the kids in the field and playground. There were no adults to supervise them, so a lot of them were doing whatever they wanted to. Two girls were writing on the bathroom doors. A boy was trying to climb over the fence. The group of six that Colin told her to stay away from were pushing kids down the slide. A few girls were chasing little kindergarteners. Diana found it a bit sad.

"Come on, Colin," Diana said. "Let's go on the swings."

"But Aidan usually hogs the whole park to himself," protested Colin.

"I don't see his name on it." Diana grabbed his arms and dragged him over to the swings.

"Come on, it'll be fun," she said.

Diana started swinging slowly, wondering whether or not she should use magic to make herself go higher.

Let's try it.

Diana focused on going very high on the swing, and it started to go up higher.

Higher, higher.

Diana was soon going higher than she'd ever gone.

"How'd you do that?" Colin called from down below.

"I dunno, focus on going high I guess!" called Diana.

Colin squinted his eyes, and soon was going as high as Diana.

Could he possibly be...?

Diana realised that maybe Colin was like her - magical, but not aware of it. Or how she used to be anyways.

Diana felt that Petunia had done a very weak job of explaining magic to her and Harry. She still didn't understand, and she could only partly control it.

Diana shook her head. She couldn't afford to think like that. Sooner or later, she'd understand magic completely.

Diana looked at the playground. There were many kids staring at her and Colin.

Maybe it's time to get off.

Diana jumped of her swing, but started going upward. This was so fun! She went higher and higher until she realised she was exhausted, and fell down. Instead of hitting the ground hard and dying, she flew down gently.

Colin copied Diana, and landed gently next to her. The whole playground stared at them, but after a few seconds went back to what they were doing.

"That was so fun!" Colin said. "I've never met anyone who can do strange things like me, well, apart from my brother Dennis."

"You can make abnormal stuff happen?" questioned Diana.

"Yep. I've been doing it my whole life," answered Colin proudly.

"Same," said Diana, suspicion creeping into her voice.

Colin is a wizard? What is going on?

Diana didn't tell Colin he could possibly be a wizard. Instead she asked him about his magic, and got peculiar answers.

"I made my brother's hair turn purple once," Colin admitted. "He in turn made my shirt dissolve."

"Interesting," Diana noted. "I once made my brother's bed set on fire."

She and Colin discussed the peculiar happenings with each other throughout most of the day. At the end of the school day, Diana ran back to her house to check if her mum was home. Unfortunately, she wasn't, and likely wouldn't be back for another four hours.

"I'm sorry, Colin," she told him. "She's not home."

"Well why don't you phone her?" Colin asked. "My mum's only said, 'If Diana's mum's ok with it,' so all we need is your mum's permission."

Diana ran back to her house and dialled the number of her mother's workplace.

"Hello?"

"Uh, my name's Diana Dursley and I'd like to speak to Petunia Evans."

The man left the line, and a minute later Diana was speaking with her mother.

"Mum, can I have a friend round?" requested Diana.

"Yes, Diana, that's fine," said Petunia, sounding stressed. She hung up.

"Ok," said Diana to herself. She went to tell Colin.

I think Colin will be a pretty good friend.

It took Diana a while to realise just how good her life had become in the ten months Harry was gone. She had two amazing friends who were also (most likely) going to Hogwarts, and she had an amazing time with them.

Both Ginny and Colin were the bested of friends. Ginny was great for catching up on the wizarding world, while Colin was great for just living as a Muggle. And it was so much better knowing that they'd both be at Hogwarts with her.

But not everything in her life was working out. In the middle of October, Petunia took Diana to a store in London for school shoes. But they met someone unexpected.

"Marge?" spluttered Petunia.

Diana groaned. Not Aunt Marge!

Marge was Vernon's sister, and Diana hated her. Whenever she visited, everything would play out exactly like this: Marge would start out by ordering Harry around, then Diana would defend Harry. After that, Marge would start stealing her stuff and hitting her every time she passed. Diana would get through it, but on the last night Marge would get drunk and say too much about Harry, and Diana would go ballistic and make something magical happen to Marge, and she would leave in tears. Then Vernon would shout at Diana and he'd be mad at her for weeks.

"Petunia!" cried Marge. "I didn't think I'd see you here!"

"Frankly, I thought the same!" said Petunia. "What brings you into London?"

"Shopping for Vernon," answered Marge. "I've moved in, you know. He really can't handle living by himself. He's too vulnerable on his own."

Diana stifled a snicker. Her dad, her invincible dad would had to be feared and respected, had his sister moved in to take care of him because he couldn't handle living alone?

But her amusement was short lived.

"Petunia, I know you and Vernon divorced, but it would be lovely if you popped in this weekend while I'm away to check on my other dogs. He'll lose himself if I'm gone, but I need to see the dogs. Please," Marge begged her.

So on Saturday, instead of meeting Ginny in Diagon Alley, Diana found herself (and Dudley and Petunia) on the doorstep of 4 Privet Drive.

"Now, who wants to ring the doorbell?" asked Petunia.

Diana sighed and rang the doorbell. If Petunia wanted to be a coward fine, but she wasn't scared of Vernon, not after being away from him for two and a half months.

Vernon answered the door, and stared at them for a moment, speechless.

Diana awkwardly picked at her fingernails, waiting for Petunia to tell him why they were there. But she wasn't expecting what happened next.

"Vernon,I'msosorryforgivemeIwasn'tbeingrational,pleaseforgivemeIloveyou!"

And so Diana and Dudley had to watch their divorced parents make out in broad daylight. Diana had already been in a bad mood, but this angered her so much that a large crack in the window appeared.

What am I going to do?

The next month was absolute torture for Diana. Petunia and Vernon were dating again, and were already on the track for marriage, making them the fastest couple in history, even though they had previously been married.

"I'm so sorry," Ginny said. "You have my condolences."

"Thank you," said Diana. "By the way, I don't think you can come to my house. Dad's there a lot, and I don't think he'd appreciate you. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Ginny reassured her. "At least I don't have to meet Dudley."

"You're lucky your brothers are nice," Diana told her.

Colin had a different reaction to her parents getting back together.

"I wonder if they're actually in love again," he stated while they played sat in the playground. "After all that's happened, I don't know if anyone could come back from that."

Diana frowned. Maybe Colin was right. Maybe one of them was just using the other.

It was funny, how horrible this was for Diana. Most people would be overjoyed if their divorced parents got back together. Not Diana. After everything that happened leading to the argument, Diana just couldn't be happy.

Dudley, however, seemed very happy. He was now, once again, being spoiled by both his parents, and Vernon had money to by computers and toys, as his job paid him well, unlike Petunia's.

It wasn't long before Petunia announced that they were moving back into 4 Privet Drive.

"What?!" Diana cried, jumping of the couch.

"Me and your father have decided to move in together," Petunia announced. "You and Dudley are getting you old rooms again. Better start packing."

Diana nearly sobbed. She couldn't live with Vernon after everything that happened with him.

As she packed her bags, Diana realised that Petunia might've meant more than just getting sleeping rooms. Dudley was going to Harry's room!

Harry's not going to be here for months! It's only mid-December! He's probably enjoying his Christmas holidays with Ron and Hermione! It doesn't matter.

Diana had come to appreciate her conscience lately.

Once Diana opened the door to her room, memories came flooding back to her. Most of the memories were of the rare good times in the house.

Diana and Petunia watching movies every Saturdaynight when she was five.

Vernon and Diana playing board games together when Diana was sick and couldn't goto her nursery's Christmas party.

Diana and Harry splashing around in Dudley's blow up pool at night during the summer of 1988.

Diana writing, 'Mr Poophead' on Dudley's door when she was five, and giggling away with Harry as Dudley cried about it.

Diana turning the bubbles on and off at Dudley's hot tub party.

Harry pushing Diana too high on the tire swing a week before his last year of Stonewall Primary.

Diana came to realise that maybe moving back into Privet Drive wasn't bad after all. Maybe it did hold bad memories, but Diana had a relatively decent childhood there until she was five. She could make good memories.

Diana's life was the most awkward thing ever.

First of all, Vernon. Whenever Diana looked at him, she'd get flashbacks of the night he kicked her out. Diana cringed whenever she looked at him.

Next was Dudley. Diana thought he might change, but he was going back his old brattish, bullying self.

And lastly, Petunia and Vernon's interactions. For some reason, Diana hated seeing her parents in love again, but them remembering their divorce was so awkward. At dinners, they'd bring up the divorce, and then awkwardly change the subject, and it would hang in the air for the rest of night.

Diana started growing desperate for June to come, even though it was only in the early days of January. She needed an anchor to keep her from going off the deep end. Ginny and Colin might've been great anchors, but they just didn't work the way Harry did. Whenever Diana brought up her problems, Ginny would offer her condolences and change the subject, and she couldn't talk to Colin without wondering whether he was magic or not, and then getting stressed, and to be honest, Colin was indirectly another one of her problems. At least she had Lily Evans' letters. Those cheered her up a bit.

Diana lay awake one night. It was one am, but she couldn't help but stay awake.

1 am.

Diana sighed. Why couldn't it be morning already?

She got up and sat at her old desk. It felt nice to sit at it again, and it had been so long.

Dear Harry,

Things are fine. Mum and Dad are really awkward, and Dudley's turning back to normal, so you don't really have anything to look forward to coming back. Sorry!

Aunt Marge is came round for dinner yesterday. Didn't end well at all. Her hair turned green and I got yelled at by Dad. He isn't afraid to lash out at me for magic anymore.

I wish you were here. It's not the same at Privet Drive without you.

Hope you're doing well!

Diana

Diana read the letter through several times. That looked good. Now she needed to wait for Hedwig.

As if on schedule, Diana heard a tap on her bedroom window. It was Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl that he bought on his birthday.

Diana opened the window and let Hedwig in.

"Hi Hedwig," she whispered. "Sorry, I haven't got any owl treats today. It'll be a while before I can pop back to Diagon Alley, so why don't you have a biscuit for now."

Diana pet Hedwig gently, and removed the letter.

Dear Diana,

How are you? Hope you're well.

Nothing much has happened since the Mirror of Erised, except for the fact that Gryffindor won the game.

Speaking of Gryffindor, me and Ron had a discussion of what houses we think you and Ginny will make. You seem like a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. I really hope you make Gryffindor.

Hope you're not bored!

Harry

Diana smiled. It was nice to hear from Harry. They couldn't contact each other a lot because of Vernon, so it was nice to hear from him.

Diana have Hedwig the letter and watched her fly off. She checked the calendar.

Yesterday had been the 31 January, so today mustbe the 1 February.

Diana felt that her life had been one big drag, butnow she faith that Harry would return.

Hang in there, Di, her conscience told her. He's coming. I know he is.