--------------------------
Chapter 3 : Back to the Burrow
---------------------------
It was only a few hours later when Harry woke up to the sound of his enormous cousin, Dudley. Though, Harry thought, enormous was an understatement for what Dudley was. Harry got up, rubbed his eyes and looked at his clock. It was nine o'clock. He sighed and stretched and got up, walked over to his wardrobe and got dressed in a sweeter and jeans that were about twenty-four sizes to big. He had to roll up the sleeves ten times to be able to use his hands, and the sleeves still fell over his hands. Harry sighed and walked out of his room, closing the door behind him, and walking down the stairs.
When Harry walked into the kitchen, his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and rather large cousin Dudley, were all sitting at a table, watching a T.V. and eating breakfast. It was then that Harry remembered the bag of jokes sitting on the table beside his bed. He made a mental note to try them out, and there was no way Dudley would turn them down. He was still on his diet after all. Even though he had been on it for a year, he didn't seem to be getting any smaller. Maybe, Harry thought, he was sneaking junk food at night. That had to have been the reason, considering that Dudley seemed to have gained another four chins over the school year.
Harry sat down at the table and helped himself to some….'Great, egg-whites again…' Harry thought with a grimace. Well, at least he still had all those sweets under the loose floorboard in his room. With the prospect of real food when he got upstairs, he took his severing (which seemed to be the smallest of the lot) and began eating it, debating with himself about asking Uncle Vernon to go to the Weasley's so early in the morning.
It took a totally of maybe thirty seconds to decide he was going to ask. So, Harry quickly finished off his food before turning to Uncle Vernon. " I got a letter from my friend from school." He said very casually.
The effects of this simple statement were almost too much NOT to laugh at. Uncle Vernon's face went white briefly, and then to bright red that made him look like a very ugly, rotten tomato; Aunt Petunia dropped the fork she had been holding and looked at Harry as if he just announced the end of the world, and Dudley clasped his hands over his mouth. He had apparently not forgotten about the Ton-Tongue Toffee Fred had given him last year. Harry did his best to not laugh at the site.
" Writing to them are you?" Uncle Vernon said, his face turning now to a deep purple.
" Yeah. My friend Ron, you met him, his brothers, and dad last year, wants me to come and stay the rest of the summer with him." At this Uncle Vernon's face (if it was even humanly possible) turned even darker. Harry could see that Uncle Vernon was thinking hard about this. If he allowed it, they could rid of him a full four weeks earlier. But, that would mean he had done something that would make Harry happy. Which was not something he was not keen on doing. The thought of seeing the Weasley's didn't seem to bode over well with him neither. Seeing this Harry decided it was time to make sure he got what he wanted.
" If you don't want me to, I'll just go and write to Ron and tell him that I can't stay with him." He said, in very calm voice. " Though, Sirius was hoping to see me before I went back to school; you know, my godfather." That was it. He had done it. Harry tried not to laugh at the look of horror that had crossed the Dursley's faces. He was thoroughly enjoying the effect that Sirius had on all of them. After a long moment, Uncle Vernon finally spoke up.
" Alright…you can go to your ruddy friends house…and…and tell your godfather…that you can go too…" He said in a forced calm voice, although Harry could see the panic in his eyes.
" Alright then." Harry got up and walked out of the kitchen, letting out a loud whoop as he took the stairs three at a time. He walked in his room, picked up a piece of parchment and a quill and scrawled a quick note on it telling Ron that he could come and sent it off with Pig. Then he wrote another to Sirius telling him he'd be at Ron's by Saturday for the rest of the summer vacation and sent it off with Hedwig, who wasn't to thrilled be going, and only agreed after he said he would just wait for Pig to come back and use him instead. He sent her off and sat down pried the loose floorboard up and ate some of sweets before settling down and reading some of the book Hermione had gotten him.
The week had gone by quite fast, Harry said to himself as he packed up his things in his trunk. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. He would have already had everything packed, but he had gotten caught up in trying to figure out which one of Fred and George's jokes he was going to pull over on Dudley. It was a hard choice, really. They all sounded very entertaining. Harry decided to stick with the Frog Fudge, seeing as he already knew what Ton-Tongue Toffees, and Canary Creams did, and the sound of 'Booger Bars' made Harry wonder if you'd turn into a giant booger if you ate them. He set aside some Frog Fudge, and a Chocolate Frog (seeing as they both looked alike) and put the rest of the jokes in his trunk. He gathered all of his books and homework he had been working on, and dumped them in his trunk.
After gathering the rest of his things and putting them
away, he picked up Hedwig's cage (it was still empty) and put it on his trunk,
grabbed the chocolate frog and frog fudge, and went down stairs. Ron had sent
him a letter and told him that they would be traveling by Floo Powder again. So
Harry made sure that the fireplace had been open as not to repeat another
incident like last year. It was ten till five when Harry walked into the living
room, Frog Fudge and Chocolate Frog in hand. He looked at all the Dursley's and
laughed to himself. Uncle Vernon was pulling out pieces of his mustache while
pretending to read the paper, Aunt Petunia was straightening the pillows and
cushions on the armchairs,
Unable to stand the paranoid atmosphere of the living room, he moved to the kitchen and sat down at the table. It was exactly five o'clock when a thud from the fireplace announced the arrival of Mr. Weasley. Harry jumped and looked over at the now soot covered Mr. Weasley and smiled widely as Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley came to the doorway.
" Hello Mr. Weasley." Harry said as Mr. Weasley brushed himself off.
" Hello Harry! How are you?" He asked, brushing himself off as another thud came from the fireplace, and Ron walked out from behind his dad.
" Hello Harry!" Ron said brightly, smiling from ear to ear.
" Ready to go Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked, spotting the Dursley's in the doorway. He didn't look to keen on repeating last year's incident.
" Yeah, my trunk's upstairs. Ron can you help me get it?" Ron nodded and walked upstairs with Harry to his room. When they walked in, Ron looked at Harry, smiling still.
" Have you tried out any of the jokes yet?" He asked with a laugh. Harry shook his head.
" Not yet, I'm gonna give him a Frog Fudge, see." Harry said, holding out the joke in one hand, and the Chocolate Frog in the other, laughing loudly.
" Oh, you're going to love that one!" Ron said as he grabbed one end of Harry's trunk, while Harry grabbed the other side. They carried it down stairs, Ron still laughing to himself, apparently dying to tell Harry what it did. The scene downstairs was quite amusing. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia where trying to shield Dudley from view of Mr. Weasley, who was looking around, itching to check out some of the things that sat around the room. When Ron and Harry came into the room, Mr. Weasley turned to them and smiled.
" Right, time to go. Incendio!" He said, pointing his wand at the fireplace, which burst into merry flames that looked as if the been burning for hours. No one noticed that Harry had sat the Frog Fudge on the table while he ate the Chocolate Frog, making sure Dudley was the only one who had seen him.
" Ok Ron, you and the trunk first." Mr. Weasley said. Ron and Harry carried the trunk over to the fire as Mr. Weasley took out a small pouch, opened it, and tossed some of it's contents in the fire. Ron stepped into the fire, which was now burning green, and waved at the Dursley's as Harry helped him turn the trunk on it's side. He had vanished after shouting "the Burrow!" Mr. Weasley turned to Harry.
" Ok Harry, your turn." Harry began to walk toward the fire but stopped half way there.
" Mr. Weasley, you go first, I forgot something." He said with a smile. Mr. Weasley turned to him, and after a look back at the Dursley's he nodded and stepped into the fire, disappearing like Ron after shouting "the Burrow!" Harry walked out of the room and up the stairs, pretending to get something and returning in only a few seconds time. He walked to the fire, seeing out of the corner of his eye, Dudley unwrapping the Frog Fudge. He smiled and stepped into the fire and looked back at the Dursley's as Dudley crammed the Frog Fudge down his throat.
" Well, 'bye then!" He said with a cheery wave. At that very moment, Dudley let out a large burp that made Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia look back. Harry had to fight the urge not to laugh. Dudley was now burping up frogs in big bunches. Aunt Petunia rushed to Dudley as Uncle Vernon turned to Harry, his face a deep, ugly purple.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO DUDLEY?!" He roared as Harry smiled brightly and waved. With that, he cried "the Burrow!" and the last thing he heard was Uncle Vernon yelling at him, and the last thing he saw was Dudley on his hands and knees, a large pile of frogs in front of him, and large bunch pouring out of his mouth.
~End Chapter 3
