The Burrow Again
Harry woke up to a
brilliant rising sun shining through his window. Harry grinned as he climbed
out of his bed. His eye caught sight of his birthday cards and his presents; he
grinned wider. At least I won't be bored, thought Harry. It was true
that he had finished all his homework about a half a week ago and had been
bored to his wits end, even after such a short amount of time. Then Harry
caught sight of the letter that sat on his desk. Perfect, I forgot to send
the letter to Dumbledore thought Harry.
"I
need to get it to him quickly," murmured Harry. Harry caught sight of Pig and
Hedwig sleeping.
For once, Pig, your hyper ness might be useful thought Harry. Maybe
I should stop talking to myself. Nah, not while I'm still here.
"Hey
Pig. Wake up. Come on, wake up you lazy thing," said Harry. Pig didn't wake up.
Harry walked over to the cage and tapped the side of his head.
"Wake
up. I have a job for you." That woke Pig up. He hooted importantly and
proceeded to fly around the light fixture. Stupid owl thought Harry.
Harry grabbed the letter and added a post-postscript.
P.P.S. I'm using Pig
because he happened to be here and I think he's faster than Hedwig is. You'll
see what I mean when he gets there.
Harry
held out his arm but didn't say anything. Pig swooped right down. Harry
attached the letter to Pig.
"Now,
Pig. I need you to get to Professor Dumbledore quickly. So go faster than
normal, ok?" But Harry barley got "ok?" out of his mouth before Pig shot like a
bullet out of a gun out of the window. Harry grinned. Hedwig hooted and she
sounded offended.
"Aw,
Hedwig. I wanted to give you a rest after flying to Italy carrying those two
books. Don't be mad, please?" said Harry. Hedwig swooped out of her cage and
settled on Harry's shoulder. She gave him a nip on the ear, a bit harder than
necessary, but Harry knew he was forgiven. Hedwig went back to her cage and
Harry got dressed and headed downstairs.
The Dursleys didn't
acknowledge his presence among them when Harry walked into the kitchen, not
that Harry cared. He grabbed a piece of toast that was on the table and tried
to get out of the kitchen before anyone could give him a chore, but he was the
tiniest bit too slow.
"Oh no you don't! You are going to mow the lawn today. Then you'll
disappear to that room of yours because the doctor is coming to see Dudley
today and I don't want him to see you!" snarled Aunt Petunia.
"All
right," Harry replied dejectedly. I tried and I didn't succeed. Great,
another sunburn for me thought Harry to himself. He stuffed the rest of the
toast in his mouth and looked at Dudley. No doubt was in his mind that the
doctor was coming to see Dudley about his weight problem. The diet hadn't done
a thing because he could still fill one whole side of the table, so the
Dursleys had stopped the diet (much to Harry's relief). Dudley noticed Harry
looking at him and gave him a superior look. Harry just rolled his eyes and
walked outside to the tool shed to get the lawn mower and start on his
extremely boring chore.
Harry was in his room later in the day, gingerly
rubbing a sun burnt neck when Dudley walked into his room. Or rather waddled
into his room. Dudley gave an evil looking grin to Harry, and then looked at all
of Harry's presents. He grew slightly pale and stuttered, "Where d-d-did you
get all that stuff?" Harry noticed that Dudley was looking at the cover of his
Quidditch book. On the cover, there were a Golden Snitch and a Bludger zooming
after each other. Harry grinned. "Oh," Harry said innocently, "those are some
gifts from my friends at school." Harry reached over and picked up the dragon
claw. "Wanna see?" Dudley's eyes went wide; he was about to scream but Aunt
Petunia screeched upstairs, "Dudley, the doctor's here!" Dudley waddled out of
the room as fast as he could all the while muttering about how seeing the
doctor was a lot safer than hanging around his cousin's room. Harry chuckled to
himself. Torturing Dudley was fun but it got really boring after a while. Harry
put the claw back on the wall and sat on his bed. He started to think about the
Burrow and why Dumbledore wouldn't let him stay there before he fell into a
dreamless doze.
Harry was awakened from his doze by
a non-stop hooting. He muttered, "I'm up, I'm up, oh hi there." The greeting
was directed at a tawny brown owl, who was still hooting. Harry glanced
outside; it was just turning dark, Harry guessed that it was probably around
8:00 pm. Harry got off of his bed and took the letter off of the owl.
"Thanks.
Want a drink of water?" Harry asked. The owl hooted and took off. Guess not thought
Harry. I've noticed that none of the Hogwarts' owls ever want a drink of
water thought Harry, I wonder why?
Harry
glanced at Hedwig.
"Wonder
who it's from?" Harry said to Hedwig, but also to himself. He stared at the
letter. It had the Hogwarts' crest sealing the back of it. Please let it be
what I think it is thought Harry. Maybe, maybe it's from Dumbledore. Please
be from Dumbledore. Harry realized with a laugh that he was staring at
the letter as if it would open itself.
"Well,
it's not going to open itself so I might as well open it," said Harry. He broke
the seal and opened the letter.
July
31, 1995
Dear Harry,
You were correct about
Pig. He is a very, energetic owl. Harry, I do not know what to tell you about
the dreams. Just keep informing me whenever you have them. Anyway, I have some
very good news. I have finished the necessary spells that needed to be put in
place. You may finish the rest of your holiday at the Burrow starting August 8.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer.
Professor Albus
Dumbledore
Harry stared at the letter, rereading it
over again. Then he looked over at Hedwig with a huge smile on his face.
"Hedwig! We can go to the Weasleys'!"
Harry said. Hedwig hooted happily. Then an owl flew through the window. Harry
looked at it; he recognized it as Percy's owl, Hermes.
"Hmmm. Is the world ending or did Ron
just steal Hermes?" Harry asked Hedwig. Hermes made a disgruntled hoot and
stuck out his leg.
"All right, I'll take off the letter."
Said Harry. He untied the letter and opened it.
Hey Harry! July
31, 1995
Dumbledore finally said yes! He said that you can come
over the eighth of August. Finally. Dad will be coming by Portkey to your room
around 5:00 pm. See you the eighth!
Ron
P.S.
I hope you didn't die from shock from seeing Hermes. I
told Percy all the flying Pig's been doing and I guess I caught Percy in a nice
mood either that or he had just talked to Penelope.
Hermes was about to take
off but Harry stopped him.
"Hermes, wait. Would you
mind taking a message for Ron back for me?" asked Harry. Hermes just hooted,
but stood there.
"Thanks. Hold on a
minute."
Harry grabbed a piece of
parchment and his quill.
Ron, July
31, 1995
I'll be ready at 5:00 for
your dad. See you soon!
Harry
P.S.
No, I didn't die from
shock; I just wondered if the world was ending and I hadn't noticed it.
Harry
tied the letter to Hermes. Hermes hooted and took off.
"Well,
Hedwig. I guess I should go tell the Dursleys that I'll be gone soon." Harry
said. Hedwig hooted.
"But
first I think I'll write a letter to Sirius." said Harry. Harry hadn't heard much
from Sirius during the summer and was starting to worry a bit. Harry grabbed
another piece of parchment and started to write.
Dear Sirius, July
31, 1995
Hi. How are you doing? I'm not doing badly, considering that I'll be
going to the Weasleys' August eighth! Sirius, do you know why I couldn't go to
the Weasleys' straight from school? Also, I haven't heard from you much this
summer. What have you been doing? I'll understand if you can't tell me what
you're doing but if you can, I would really appreciate it. I hope to see you
soon.
From,
Harry
Yeah, thought Harry, that looks all right. No need to mention the dreams
unless he asks if I'm having them.
"Hedwig,
feel up for taking this letter to Sirius?" asked Harry. Hedwig hooted and stuck
out her leg. Harry smiled at his owl and tied the letter on. Hedwig nipped his
finger and took off. Now, I get to go downstairs and tell the Dursleys that
I'm leaving in a little over a week. I wonder what their faces will look like
as they remember what happened last time. With that last thought Harry
headed downstairs.
Harry entered the kitchen with a
grin on his face. He looked around. He noticed that Dudley looked extremely
forlorn. No one noticed Harry come downstairs. He decided to tell them he was
leaving soon.
"I
have some good news," said Harry. All the Dursleys looked at him.
"The
Weasleys' will be picking me up the eighth of August."
Harry
almost burst out laughing. Uncle Vernon's face went purple then went pale as he
remembered what had happened last time. Aunt Petunia let out a gasp, and
Dudley's hands immediately went to his rear.
"I'm
not very hungry so I'll just go to bed," said Harry, "Good night."
Harry
left the kitchen with a skip to his step. He went up the stairs three at a
time. He went into his room and jumped on his bed. It was fun to see the
Dursleys like that, scared and furious at the same time. All of a sudden, Harry
seemed bored. Thank Hermione that she sent me a book. He grabbed the
book off of the dresser and opened it. The last thing he saw before he fell
asleep was the record of Roderick Plumpton, the Seeker who caught the Golden
Snitch in three and a half seconds in 1921 against the Caerphilly Catapults.
Harry spent the next week in his
room, doing extra work (what would Hermione say?), reading the Quidditch
book, or writing letters. He wrote to Hermione, thanking her for the book. He
wrote to Ginny, thanking her for the letter. She wrote back, saying it was no
problem. In her next letter, she asked for help on some Transfiguration, and
Harry wrote her back with the answer but told her that next time she should ask
Hermione because she would be glad to do anything. Ginny wrote back to Harry
saying that asking Hermione for help by way of owl post was not a good idea.
Harry was starting to realize that Ginny was a smart person, not just Ron's
little blushing sister.
By the time August eighth rolled
around, Harry was really sick of the way the Dursleys were acting. They now
acknowledged his presence by Dudley grabbing his rear end, Aunt Petunia
stifling a scream or Uncle Vernon shooting dragger eyes at him but not saying
anything.
He
didn't even bother going downstairs on the eighth. He spent the morning packing
his trunk. He spent the afternoon pacing his room, waiting. He checked his
clock for what seemed like the thousandth time and was not happy to see that
only three minutes had passed from the last time he checked. Time is moving
slower to aggravate me. This is not fair. The clock read 4:50.
"Please
move faster," said Harry. He was now staring at the clock as it counted down to
5:00.
"4:51
come on hurry up. 4:52. 4:53. 4:54. 4:55. 4:56. 4:57. 4:58. 4:59. Please, one
more minute. 5:00!"
With
a small pop, there stood Mr. Weasley, thin and balding, with his wand in his
right hand and a clock in the left. How appropriate that the Portkey is a
clock. All of sudden, memories he didn't want filled his head. He shook
them off and took the hand Mr. Weasley held out to him.
"Good
to see you, Harry. All ready then?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"I've
been ready," answered Harry. Mr. Weasley gave him a smile and held out the
clock. Harry grabbed the end of his trunk and grabbed the clock. Mr. Weasley
glanced at his watch.
"All
right, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." All of a sudden, Harry felt the tug behind his navel. He
ignored the memories that went through his head and waited to arrive at the
Burrow.