Harry ran as fast as he could, dodging the thousands of curses coming at him from all directions. He ducked under an angel to catch his breath. Just as he was about to start running again, an ivory white hand seized his upper arm. Harry was pulled down with extraordinary force and his ankle was completely crushed now. Voldemort pulled out his wand at the exact moment that Harry pulled out his. They looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds until Harry screamed "Explelliarmus" and Voldemort bellowed "Avada Kedavra" (a/n: kinda like de ja vous...that is how u spell it.. rite?). A golden beam of light connected the wands as the two spells collided in air. Voldemort, at first looking utterly perplexed, now looked completely deranged. Harry couldn't help smiling as this had just happened for the second time in a row. As the light started breaking apart to form a dome, and the heavenly phoenix song began, Voldemort began tapping and hitting his wand against the angel to break the connection....
Tap, Tap, Tap
Tap, Tap, BANG!!!
"Ahhh!!!!!... Oh god, its just you Hedwig..." Harry woke with a start, looked up at the window and saw Hedwig smacking himself against it with full force. He thought back to the dream he had just had. It was the same one he had been having since he got back from Hogwarts. Every night, he would wake with a start exactly the moment Voldemort began tapping the angel. At first Harry thought this was another promonition but seeing as to the fact that his scar didn't hurt, he didn't bother telling anyone about it.
Harry got out of bed, slightly dizzy, and walked up to the window. With difficulty he opened the clasp and let in a very disgruntled Hedwig, along with four other indignant birds. All five of them, Hedwig holding a small package, Pigwidgeon carrying a rather limp-looking Errol who had a huge box tied to his claws, a school barn owl holding a small envelope, and a bright purple, elegant looking bird with a green sphere-shaped package literally collapsed onto his bed. Harry groaned loudly, almost forgetting about the Dursleys, and sat heavily on the beige carpet. He had almost forgotten that today was his birthday... his 15th birthday to be exact...
"Might as well open these..." he murmured through the silence.
Hedwig's package being closest, was first to be torn. It revealed a small crystal framed mirror- except it wasn't a mirror at all. In fact, Harry recognized this as a miniature version of his old Defence Against the Dark Arts professor's foe-glass. He eagerly grabbed a peice of parchment lying at the bottom of the package. It read:
Harry,
Hope you're having a good birthday!!!! How are you? I hope your aunt,
uncle, and Dudley aren't giving you too much trouble. I've been over-
whelmed with work these days. Mum and dad had me enrolled into an art
school for the last months. Its at a new school at Diagon Alley called the A.
Dumbledore School of Wizarding Arts. As you probably noticed, it was
named after Dumbledore. Stupid, really, to name an art school after him.
It would make more sense for it to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts
College, or a Dueling Center.
I've been getting the Daily prophet delivered to my house lately so I
can keep up. Rita Skeeter broke our promise and, being the nosy and
inconsiderate...cow that she is, wrote all about the chaos that took place
after the third task. I sent a letter to the Daily Prophet employer's unit
telling them about Rita's little secret. They fired her from their group of
reporters and she had to pay a fine! (a/n: our evil hermione cackles insanely...very witch-like...)
You-Know-Who has murdered 7 people and 24 wizards in the past
month. I think that by now Fugde (a/n: mmmm.... that sounds good....)
should have accepted his return to power. One of the wizards he killed was
unfortunately Cyril Brown, Lavendar's father.
I was wondering, since we always seem to end up with Ron's family
over the summer, why not mine this year? Ron already agreed to come
on Tuesday at 5:30. Can you ask your family if you can come also? If
yes/no ( I really don't care), we'll, my parents and I , pick you up at 6 PM
on Tuesday. Don't worry, my father can DRIVE.
Hermione
P.S.: Your present is a Foe-glass, isn't it cool? I found it at a small shop
when I was visiting my grandmother. Its a mirror that always shows vague
images of your enemies. As your enemy gets closer to you, the images
become sharper until you can see what they are doing. It should come in
handy.
Harry smiled as he re-folded the parchment and packed up the box again. He would have to ask the Dursley's if he could go, it would make things much easier. He wondered how they would take it and couldn't supress a grin as he remembered their last encounter with wizards. he looked over to where the rest of the birds were. Harry impatiently disentangled Pigwigdeon from Errol, put Errol in Hedwig's cage, and ripped the paper off of their bundle. Inside was a box of three mince pies, home-made fudge, a letter and another box. He broke off a corner of the fudge and began chewing it. It was, as always, excellent. Then, remembering the letter, he picked it up and began reading.
Harry,
Happy Birthday!!! Three days until we meet at Hermione's! My dad
insists on personally dropping me off so he can "meet" the Grangers.
"Explore their house", more likely.
Are the muggles treating you well? If they aren't, just send for Fred
and George! Speaking of them, they already reserved a counterpart of
Zonko's in some place up north. I have no idea how, but they managed
to make a whole lot of money by the end of last year, about eleven
hundred galleons to be exact. They bought Ginny and me some new
school and dress robes, Mercury 360's (they are a new kind of broom-
stick, faster than the Nimbus 2001, but still slower than the Firebolt) for
everyone, reserved an area for their store, and they gave the rest to Mum
and Dad.
I hope you like your presnt, see you at Hermione's on Tuesday!
Ron
Harry smiled, glad that Fred and George had shared the money he had given them. He turned his attention to the other box and slowly opened it. It turned out to be... a red twig? Searching frantically on the twig for a button or something (a/n: because clearly, our hottie can't get such a crappy present) his eyes fell on a peice of parchment on the wrappings:
This is an ever-lasting glow light. You have to say the same
thing you'd say to light a wand (a/n: "lumos", you idiots!!!) and
it only gives light to the person holding it. I think the light's color
depends on the person holding it. Enjoy!
Ron
"Lumos", said Harry, deciding to try it out. It glowed bright green, the same color as his eyes-not to mention the emerald eyes of Slytherin's serpent. The last thought gave him the goosebumps.
Harry yawned and realized for the first time that he was tired, hungry, and sitting on the floor opening presents at 3:17 AM (a/n: and thats STANDARD time!!!) Noting the time, he decided to go to sleep and enjoy his presents in the morning. He switched off the light (a/n: not that it was on...), took off his glasses, and went to sleep.
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A/N: sorry about htis being such slow and short chapter, at this rate,
I'll have about twenty. Read, which you have already done, and reveiew, luv ya!