Chapter 3 The Letter From Dumbledore

As usual, nothing belongs to me except the stuff that does.

Chapter 3 The Letter From Dumbledore

A few days later Harry was still just as worried about the dream he'd had. He still hadn't told anyone though, nor had he recalled whose voice he'd heard. It was speaking constantly in his mind. It made him crazy listening to it. He could hear Voldemort's voice too, "Harry Potter will be mine this time." And the laugh. It wouldn't go away. Still, Harry didn't tell anyone.

Trying to get his mind on something else, Harry thought of Quidditch. Surely they'd have a house competition next year. They couldn't have another Triwizard Tournament after everything that had happened last year, or could they? He doubted that Dumbledore would allow it. He most certainly would be extremely cautious that Harry wouldn't get entered again. Here I am thinking about it again, thought Harry. I tried to think of Quidditch but I always end up thinking about THIS. He sighed. Maybe he was paranoid. But what did it matter? He was going to go crazy if he had to stay at the Dursleys' much longer anyway. They were still almost completely ignoring him, and Dudley was still supposedly on a diet, although he didn't look a bit thinner to Harry, just even more grouchy than normal.

A bird that Harry didn't recognize arrived at his window. He let it inside and quickly seized the letter from it. It was from Professor Dumbledore. The letter had finally arrived! Harry read:

Dear Harry,

I hope you are well this summer. I have been looking forward to being able to tell you this news as I know it will make you quite happy. You may go to stay with the Weasleys' anytime you'd like after you receive this letter. I think I'd better tell you why I had you go to the Dursleys' first. You see, since you've battled Voldemort, you've lost a lot of the protection you'd had previously, from both your mother and from me. I needed you to go to the Dursleys' so that I could see if I could work something out so you'd be safe when you're there. I have managed to restore the power that protects you when you are with family members. I have also worked out something at the Weasleys' house so that you will be safe there as well. I visited the house the other day, and Mr. Weasley gave me permission to perform various spells on the house. As long as you're inside, nothing can harm you. You are now safe to go there. Remember, if anything happens you are to contact me immediately. I have a feeling you might not be telling me something, Harry. I want to know. Have a good summer at the Weasleys'. I will expect an owl from you soon telling me what it is that has been bothering you lately.

Be careful, Harry and don't trust anyone that you don't know well. In times of danger, that is unwise.

Best Wishes,

Professor Dumbledore

Harry groaned. He knew he should be happy, but Dumbledore knew something had happened. How did Dumbledore know? Could he read Harry's mind or something? That was an eerie thought. But Harry could go to Ron's now. He began a letter.

Dear Ron,

I got the letter from Dumbledore. I can come! I don't know how I'm getting there, though. I seriously doubt that Uncle Vernon would be anything close to willing to drive me there. Well, hope to see you soon. Tell your mum I said thanks for the food. It's delicious.

Harry

Later that afternoon, Harry decided to talk to the Dursleys' about going to stay with Ron. He really didn't expect to get far, and he really didn't care. He would go to Ron's whether they would allow him to or not.

Harry walked down the stairs to the sitting room where the Dursleys were watching television.

"Excuse me," said Harry. "Could I talk to you?"

Uncle Vernon made a disgusted face. "What?" he nearly growled rather than spoke.

"I would like to know," Harry began. "If I could spend the rest of the summer with my friend Ron Weasley and his family. They invited me."

"Weasley!" shouted Uncle Vernon. "The crazy man who came through the chimney? Those people will never get near this house again! Never! You hear me, Harry?"

"Yes," muttered Harry. It had gone just as he'd expected. It really didn't matter, though. He was sure the Weasleys' would come to get him and take him no matter what. It had happened once before. He was still angry, though. These people were rude and inconsiderate to him all of his known life. And he could be the same way to them.

"Oh, well then," Harry began. "I guess I'll just run along upstairs then and start working on my magic skills for next year." He watched his Uncle Vernon's face turn a bright shade of red as anger flooded him.

"You do not mention your abnormal ways in this house!" he shouted with rage. "You know how much it angers your aunt."

"I don't want to hear a thing about your ways! Just like my sister! Always going around doing crazy things with that weird crowd! Got herself killed eventually! I wouldn't be surprised if it happened to you too!" Aunt Petunia shouted angrily. Harry could feel himself getting angry as well.

"Don't talk about my mum like that!" he shouted, feeling the anger raging inside him.

"I'll talk about my sister however I want to talk about my sister!" The shade of red on Aunt Petunia's face nearly matched that of Uncle Vernon's. Harry was glad he didn't have his wand with him, or he was sure he would have used it and the results wouldn't have been good. He'd get even with them, though. There were no rules against threatening to use magic on people.

"I'll turn you into a frog if you ever talk about my mother like that again!" Harry almost had to laugh as he said it. He doubted he'd even be able to get his aunt to look a bit like a frog. He never did exactly well in transfiguration class. Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley all looked terrified.

"You –you wouldn't!" said Uncle Vernon.

"We'll see," said Harry. With that, he left the room and headed back upstairs to his bedroom. When he got to his room, he had to laugh. The Dursleys were terrified. But they deserved it, talking about his mum like that. Let them worry, he thought, and then had to laugh again at how ridiculous it seemed.

Later that week, he received a letter from Ron.

Harry,

It's all right if you don't have a way to get here. My parents expected that. So, what did the Dursleys say? You know we're coming for you no matter what, as usual. My dad and I are coming tomorrow night. Don't worry, it'll be by car, not through your chimney like last time. Fred and George aren't allowed to come either. We'll come around eleven. Hopefully the Dursleys will be asleep by then and you can sneak out. Don't forget your stuff for Hogwarts. I am looking forward to seeing you soon.

Ron

The Dursleys still seemed terrified of Harry, which Harry found hilarious and really pathetic. They thought he was going to turn them into frogs. It was just pitiful how they took all of his magic threats so seriously. But it was one way to actually have some fun around their house, so he played along.

The next day, Harry packed everything for Hogwarts in his trunk. To his benefit, Mrs. Dursley and Dudley had went to the store that day and Mr. Dursley was at work so he had two hours alone to himself, which was rare. He decided to stash his trunk in the bushes in front of the house. It would make too much noise trying to carry it down the stairs in the dark that night when Ron showed up.

Harry dragged the trunk down the stairs. When he got it to the front door, he first checked to see that no one was watching, then he brought out the trunk, which didn't look very convincingly hidden in the large bushes. Harry groaned. Now what would he do with it. He shoved it inside the door just in time to hear a car pull into the driveway. He recalled the closet at the foot of the stairs that used to be his room. They never used it. He quickly opened it and shoved the trunk inside just as the handle on the front door turned and Mrs. Dursley and Dudley walked in.

"What are you doing, Harry?" asked Mrs. Dursley. "Oh, nothing," said Harry. Just heading up to my room, that's all." He looked at Mrs. Dursley with his best evil glare, hoping to remind her about the frogs. It obviously worked because she didn't say another thing.

Night came quickly. At 10:58, Harry grabbed his owl, Hedwig and began creeping towards the stairs. Dudley's room was next to his, and Mr. and Mrs. Dursley's was on the other side of Dudley's. He reached the stairs. It was dark and he didn't see that the top step was as close as it really was. He slipped and nearly fell, but luckily he caught himself on the railing. It had startled Hedwig and she let out a loud hoot.

"Shh!" said Harry, attempting to calm her down. Great, the Dursleys are probably awake now, he thought. He continued down the stairs, careful not to make a sound. He reached the closet that housed his trunk. He could see headlights from the front windows of the house. Ron and his dad had arrived. Harry slowly opened the door to the closet. It screeched. He tried to carefully to get the trunk out silently, but it fell over and made a loud banging noise. And to make matters worse, Harry hadn't closed it properly, so all of his things came tumbling out onto the floor. He groaned and hurriedly began scooping them back into the trunk.

There were footsteps upstairs. He heard someone walking from Mr. and Mrs. Dursley's room into his. He packed up the last of his things and latched his trunk properly. Whoever had went to his room had quickly discovered that he wasn't there and he could now hear them heading for the stairs. He grabbed Hedwig and the trunk and darted to the front door. He yanked it open and shoved the trunk through the doorway. Someone was now thundering down the stairs.

"What on earth do you think you're doing, Harry Potter?" Uncle Vernon's voice bellowed. Harry didn't care. He continued racing towards the Weasleys' car. He hurriedly climbed inside.

"Hi Har—," Ron began.

"Go!" Harry shouted. "Just go!" Mr. Weasley took off. Harry sat back and let out a sigh of relief. He knew Uncle Vernon didn't care enough to come after him.

"Hi Ron. Hi Mr. Weasley," Harry now remembered to say.

"What was that all about?" Ron still looked startled.

"My Uncle Vernon heard me leaving because my trunk fell over and everything spilled out," explained Harry. "And he got up and was coming down the stairs as I left."

"Do you think he'll try to come after you?" asked Ron.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, right. Those people couldn't care less about me." Harry wanted to tell Ron about how he'd threatened to turn them into frogs, but decided against it seeing that the department at the ministry where Mr. Weasley worked dealt with misuse of magic on muggles.

It didn't take them long to arrive back at the burrow. Mr. Weasley was driving hurriedly.

"I'm going to have to leave you kids when we get back," he said. "I've got to get back to the office." Harry noticed that his eyes looked as though he hadn't slept decently for days.

"Lots of work?" asked Harry.

"Yes," said Mr. Weasley. "Every since You Know Who has been back, we've been busy constantly."

"It's a dream come true for Percy," added Ron.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll get sick of it soon," said Mr. Weasley. They pulled up in front of the house.

"You should be safe here," Mr. Weasley told Harry. "Professor Dumbledore put enough spells on this house that I doubt anything could destroy it or anything inside." Harry nodded. They unloaded his trunk and went inside. Harry and Ron headed for Ron's room. Everyone else was sleeping.

"I'm leaving now!" Mr. Weasley called to them. "I've got to get back to the office."

"Dad, it's eleven thirty at night!" shouted Ron. "Why don't you go to sleep instead."

"I wish I could," said Mr. Weasley sounding depressed. "But work comes first and this is really important. I might be home late tomorrow, if I'm lucky. Goodbye."

"Bye!" called Ron and Harry.

"I can't believe your dad has to work that much!" said Harry.

"Yep," said Ron. "I guess you haven't heard, but terrible things have been happening. There were three riots last week. Another time an old lady insisted that she saw one of the Death Eaters, but everyone thinks she'd been seeing things. Someone was caught for selling fake tattoos that look like the Dark Mark to kids. And of course the real Death Eaters are out doing things too. It's expected that people are under the imperious curse. Luckily no one has been killed—yet."

"Gosh! I had no idea it was that bad," said Harry.

"Well, you wouldn't have, living with Muggles," said Ron. "But dad said people at the Ministry are saying that if they don't stop this soon, it will be even worse than it was before when Voldemort was in power. You know, before you stopped him." Harry could sense a slight sound of jealousy and sarcasm in Ron's voice.

"I was like a year old, Ron," Harry said. "I don't even remember it. And really it was my mum. She gave her life so I could live." Ron shrugged.

"Honestly, you think my life is so great? Try being an orphan your whole life because your parents were killed by some crazy dark wizard who tried to kill you too but you survived and now have a scar that everyone stares at because you're the kid that survived the avada kedavra curse and made Voldemort loose his powers. And now you have to spend every second of your life knowing that he's out there planning to kill you and you barely stand a chance! Anytime you want to switch me lives just let me know because I'd gladly do it!" Harry shouted angrily.

"Sheesh! I didn't even say anything!" said Ron.

"Well, you implied it!" shouted Harry.

"You think your life is so hard! Your not the only one who's ever suffered you know! It's always Harry this and Harry that. Harry defeated Voldemort. Harry has some stupid scar on his forehead. Let's go stare at it. Poor Harry, his parents both died. Harry's on the quidditch team. Harry got to be in the Triwizard Tournament. Do you enjoy having everyone take pity on you? Love the attention, huh?"

"Ron, I don't try it!" Harry said sounding exasperated. This was similar to what caused him and Ron to not speak to him for a few weeks last year. "I really don't want people to give me attention all the time. I hate it. But there's nothing I can do about my past. I really don't want to fight with you about this again." There was a long pause.

"You're right," Ron sighed. "I'm sorry. I know it's not your fault."

"It's okay," said Harry. Someone knocked on the door.

"What's going on in there?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Nothing, mum. It's all right," said Ron. Mrs. Weasley opened the door.

"That didn't sound like nothing. Are you two fighting?" she asked.

"It's all worked out, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry.

"Oh, Harry! So good to see you!" said Mrs. Weasley, running over and hugging him. "We've been looking forward to having you. How have you been, dear?"

"Oh, I'm all right," replied Harry.

"Well if everything's all right I'm going to head back to bed. Try to stay quiet, all right?" she said.

"Okay," said Ron.

"Your dad went back to the office?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Ron. Mrs. Weasley sighed as she headed back to her bedroom.

"Well I guess we'd better get to bed," said Harry. "It's late."

"Yeah," agreed Ron. Harry slept on Ron's floor as he usually did when he visited.

"Sorry about that," said Ron. "Mum said she'll get one of the extra rooms fixed for you soon."

"It's okay," said Harry, placing some blankets on the floor and lying down. As he lie there, the voice came to his mind again. Who was it? He couldn't sleep.