Reality.
Harry and Dudley crept
home, carrying Harry's belongings and went up to bed. Neither wanted a confrontation
after such a long day, and both were exhausted though both knew neither would sleep
well tonight.
Vernon Dursley clasped
the whisky glass in his hand. He was red-faced and drunk. He was also crying. Petunia
Dursley had taken two sleeping pills and was sound asleep, safe in the
knowledge tat it would all blow over, and that Dudley was just going through a
phase.
It was a cold morning.
Mr. Mohebbi checked his watch again and stacked the papers. Both Harry and
Jasmine were late. He stared out of the window, watching the sunlight creep across
the dirty streets outside. Graffiti plastered fences and sweet wrappers blowing
around the gutters somehow gave him a sense of peace. It was grim but it was
real.
He checked his watch
again two minutes later.
Jasmine awoke drowsily
as her alarm clock went off. She felt terrible, but had to see Harry. Her
parents were still in bed, so she crept out and ran to the newsagent. She
reached the shop and saw that Harry had not turned up. Something inside her
broke and without warning she wrapped herself around Mr. Mohebbi for comfort
and wept. He was at first a little startled, but then reassured her.
"Forget him girl. I
always knew he was not to be trusted," he said sternly.
Harry had spent all
night on his bed, going through his many things. His many books. His homework.
His broomstick. His robes. Him. Harry had heard that things themselves did not
define a man, but these were more that things: they were his tools for his role
in life. Fate had chosen him and as much as he wanted to live in the Dursley
soap-opera as it unfolded around him, Harry knew he must leave.
Dudley had spent all
night looking for the letter from his lover, but knew it had been destroyed. It
did not matter, for Dudley knew each word exactly. Dudley had crept out a few
times now to go out and was relieved that he did not have to hide his love
anymore. Still, in his heart, he knew he could no longer be part of the Dursley
household and had resolved to leave.
The cousins sheepishly
met on the landing, looked knowingly at each others heavy bags and nodded.
Vernon and Petunia were knocked out and so the pair left unnoticed.
"Come and find me
sometime," said Dudley as they reached the end of the street. "We've a lot of
time to make up."
"Glad to. Where are you
going to stay?" Harry asked.
"Don't worry," Dudley
held up his mobile phone. "I've got my own little owl and he's got his own
place. We'll be fine." They embraced as cousins yet felt like brothers.
Harry waved Dudley off
at the bus stop then turned to see Jasmine's bike laying in the gutter outside
the newsagents. Harry did not want to see her, or any of those stupid,
treacherous muggles again. And with that, Harry walked out into the countryside
until he was sure he was alone. Once alone, he straddled his broom and kicked
off, carrying everything he owned.
Ginny had not slept all
night and had tended to Hedwig's burns. The owl seemed fine, yet would not be
able to fly for a while. Harry was gone. She placed Hedwig in a small wooden
tissue box lined with paper and balanced it on her lap as she sat on Ron's hovering
broom. Draco watched her silently from his bed. Ginny kicked off and flew from
him without saying a word.
He watched her fly away
until she was gone from sight. "Well, I guess that's me told!" he laughed
finally. A tear betrayed him and he sneered at himself. "Come on Draccy. Enough
of this. Let's go get breakfast eh?" He spent breakfast thinking in
third-person, distancing himself from his own pain.
Ginny's family was
delighted to see her again. As she landed, Harry bounded from the front door,
gathering Ginny up in his arms.
"You come back!" she
muttered.
"Oh Ginny, I would never
give you up!" he smiled. They kissed and only stopped when Ron and his faking
of being sick was getting unbearable.
The Weasleys were glad
to take Harry under their wing and Ginny felt Harry's warm kisses fill her
heart to bursting. The long summer was over and Ginny had Harry once more.
It hadn't worked out for
him and Dudley had come home within a fortnight. Petunia felt justified that it
was just a phase and made it a rule for this episode never to be mentioned again.
Vernon stormed in sadly with a note in his hand.
"It's from Harry. It
seems he won't be coming back. Those weird friends of his are looking after
him."
"Good riddance I say,"
he added, but Dudley saw how dearly Vernon was missing Harry and smiled. His
parents could be okay when they tried. Still, Dudley had profited from the
affair as his parents had bought him a new widescreen television and games
console to cheer him up. Dudley was as trapped as ever, but it was a
well-furnished prison.
Jasmine rode alone down
to the place where she and Harry had spent that long afternoon in each others
arms. Waiting there was the dragon.
"Hello Jasmine. I must
go. You must let me go, or I will eventually kill you. You know this."
"I know. But when I'm
with you, I'm in Harry's world again!" she whined.
"I know, I know. I'm
sorry that I lied to you – I could never bring Daniel back."
Jasmine sighed. In her
heart, she knew this too.
"Cheer up though, I've
one more treat for you, then I must go."
"Really?" Jasmine's eyes
lit up as the dragon stooped down to reveal a saddle perched on his shoulders.
"You carriage awaits my
fair lady."
"So it failed then?"
said a black clad wizard to a second dark wizard. They were watching the dragon
fly upwards through the warm clouds of the last day of summer with Jasmine on
his back.
"Oh well, it was always
such a long shot," sighed the first wizard. "We cannot take Harry directly due
to the wards placed on him by his parents. But if we were to convince him that
Hogwarts had all been in his head, or failing that, that a muggle girl be found
worthy enough to give it all up for, well, he'd be out of the picture without
the need for bloodshed on our part. Voldemort could then make his move
unopposed. As it is, seems that Harry had a greater reason than we guessed to
move back to Hogwarts."
"The Weasley girl?"
"Perhaps. His aunt and
uncle don't help much." They both chuckled politely. "I guess they don't do
they. Oh well, we'll get him. We'll get him, rest assured," continued the first
wizard passionately.
"And the dragon?" asked
the second wizard from the recesses of his dark hood.
"Oh, it'll dissipate
before the night's out I daresay. Without Harry to fuel the invocation,
conscious or otherwise, it will fade. The dragon is after all built on one of
Harry's own insecurities. Harry suddenly gained a resolve and so the dragon
will fade. It did well to life this long."
"Ah, there we can thank
the cousin I feel, he added greatly to Harry's fears. And we of course kept the
dragon strong didn't we, " said the second wizard smugly.
"Credit where credit's due.
I think Jasmine's key also to keeping Harry's dragon alive long after he left,
as is often the nature of these things."
The second wizard paused
then pondered aloud "I wonder if we should have killed the Weasley girl in the
forest?"
"Of course not! It would
have fired Harry to act out of vengeance in a shot!" retorted the first wizard.
"Still, the Weasley girl
may be the key…" mused the second wizard thoughtfully.
The first paused, turned
to his colleague and added "We shall see. We shall see. Come. We'd best get back
to Voldemort and explain this mess." He then added in a worried tone "And carefully
- it'd not do to upset him." The second wizard nodded furiously in agreement.
And with that, they were
gone.
THE END.