Chapter 1
Harry woke up at four thirty in the morning because his owl, Hedwig, was nipping none too gently at his arm.
"Wassamatter?" he sat up rather groggily. Hedwig glowered at another owl, Pig, who was drinking in her water dish. Harry couldn't help but laugh. He got up and relieved Pig of his burden, which was a letter from Ron. It said:
Harry,
How are the muggles treating you? Every thing is hectic over here. Dad doesn't have a job anymore, and Percy is on the verge of a breakdown. He understands that crouch is dead, but he doesn't want to believe it. I think Dumbledor is going to give dad a job or something like that because I heard my parents talking, but I don't know for sure. Other than that everything is fine. Ginny seems to be unusually happy under the circumstances. I think she has a boyfriend or something, she's always giggly. Fred and George are all secretive again, but nobody else notices. They have money, and I don't know where it came from. They bought me a dress robe earlier in the summer though, and I'm pretty sure they put some money in our gringotts vault. They didn't tell mom about it, and she didn't notice. When I asked them about it they denied it completely. Have you heard from Hermione?
-Ron
Harry wrote back immediately. He found parchment and a quill in his trunk and wrote:
Ron,
The muggles are treating me good. They are now afraid of Sirius and your dad. Dudley for some strange reason is not complaining about his diet, and he even lost weight. We have some new neighbors. I didn't see them, but they had an owl so I think they are witches or wizards. I wonder if they have a kid that goes to Hogwarts? It would be nice to have someone like me next door. Yeah, I got an owl from her last week, she was talking a lot about a vacation but she wouldn't tell me where. She didn't say anything about Krum. I hope things calm down for you at home.
-Harry
Harry looked at his clock. Four forty-five. He decided he would let Pig rest up before he sent back his letter. He stroked Hedwig's feathers.
"Be nice," he told her. Hedwig ruffled her feathers and went into her cage, kicking Pig out with a glance.
Harry turned out the light and got back in bed. He yawned wide and almost immediately fell back asleep.
The next day (or rather that morning) Harry awoke to the smell of bacon and pancakes. Harry wondered what the special occasion was, so he got dressed in his baggy pants and baggy shirt and went down stairs.
A quick peek down the hall at the bottom of the stairs into the living room stacked with presents told him that it was Dudley's birthday, again. He hated Dudley's birthdays.
Harry joined the rest of the "family" in the kitchen. Not that he considered them his family, but after all, they were related no matter how much he hated them.
As usual they completely ignored his presence. Uncle Vernon was reading his newspaper, and Aunt Petunia was cooking over a hot stove. Dudley was looking ravenous. He was actually drooling and he had a faraway look in his eye.
Harry slumped in his chair and watched the t.v. It was the news and there was nothing special on. Uncle Vernon folded his paper as Aunt Petunia served breakfast.
Dudley had the most out of all of them, and Harry had the least. Dudley devoured his in less than half a minuet and asked for more. Harry listened while His aunt and uncle discussed what the plan was for Dudley's birthday.
" Well first we're going to pick up Dudleykins little friends, then we're going to go to that new amusement park," said Aunt Petunia.
"That one on first and main?" asked Uncle Vernon.
"That's the one," said Aunt Petunia cheerily.
" Good. I know where that one is. What are we going to do with him?" Uncle Vernon motioned toward Harry. Harry looked up from his plate hopefully. He had never been to an amusement park.
"Mrs. Figg said that she's going to visit one of her friends, but she agreed to take him along." Harry looked back down at his plate. He wasn't going along after all.
After he finished his meager breakfast, he went back into his room to read a book or something. When he got back in his room Pig was up and fluttering around.
"Stop that Pig!" Harry had a hell of a time trying to get him down but got him eventually. He tied the letter to Ron to Pig's leg and let him go out the window. Harry watched him fly off. He heard Uncle Vernon calling his name so he went down stairs.
"We're leaving. Walk over to Mrs. Figg's house." Uncle Vernon locked the door after Harry was out of the house. Harry started towards Mrs. Figg's.
"Hello Harry, how nice to see you again. How are you?" She greeted him.
"O.K. I guess," Harry had sort of a depressing tone in his voice. She pressed further.
" I don't believe you. Sit down and we'll talk," Harry took the couch and she took the chair. One of her many cats jumped up on her lap. It was the black one. "Well, what's the matter?" She asked. Harry Put his hands on his forehead and leaned on his knees.
"It's nothing really, it's just something that happened last term at school."
"I suspected it might. Harry listen to me, his death is not your fault do you understand?" she laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Yes I know, but… " Harry shot his head up to look at Mrs. Figg. "How do you…?"
"Care for some tea?" She cut him off.
"Umm, ok" Harry started having his suspicions about Mrs. Figg, if that was her real name.
"You're going to like our visit to my friends house to day," she said while readying the tea.
"Oh?" He asked.
"She has a daughter that's your age, they just moved in the neighborhood."
"What's her name, the daughter I mean?" He asked
"Cho, Cho Chang."