Weekend at the Granger's
Written By: K-Chan
Chapter 4: Away from the Dursleys
The next day, Harry's face was still a little black and blue, much to his disappointment. Getting dressed quickly, he hurried down for breakfast. The Dursleys glared at him, as usual, but this morning it was extra harsh. Dudley seemed to whimper as Harry sat down. They ate in silence. Once he had finished, Harry rose to clear his plate.
"Harry's got a girlfriend," Dudley blurted out unexpectedly.
Harry spun around angrily and made as if to say something, but stopped, seeing the warning look on Uncle Vernon's face.
"That's why he hit me," Dudley continued, a little braver. He knew Harry wouldn't dare try anything with Uncle Vernon around. There was an awkward moment of silence.
"She's not my girlfriend," Harry said, the urge to slug Dudley welling up inside of him, "Just a friend from school."
There was another awkward silence before Harry looked at the clock and ran upstairs. Five minutes later, the doorbell rang. Uncle Vernon answered it and glared down over his large bulk at the skinny man and brown-haired girl in front of him. Hermione gasped in surprise as she saw him standing there, filling the doorframe. Her father, who was behind her, gulped.
"Uh... is Harry there?" Hermione asked uncertainly.
"Here, here," Harry called as he descended that staircase, his bag on his shoulder. Uncle Vernon stepped aside to let his nephew slide through. Harry greeted Hermione with a wave and quickly introduced the two men.
"Uh, Uncle Vernon, this is Mr. Granger. Mr. Granger, my uncle, Vernon Dursley."
Uncle Vernon nodded curtly, almost as if to get the whole situation over faster. There was a bit of an tense silence before they all said a quick good bye and departed.
"He's even worse that I remembered," Hermione said as the got into the car.
She gasped as she spotted his bruise,
"What happened?"
Harry tried to dismiss the subject, for he really didn't want to tell her the real reason. Covering his cheek with his hand, he said,
"Oh, it was nothing."
The car ride to Hermione's house was the most enjoyable two hours Harry had experienced in many weeks. He and Hermione discussed their summers and what had happened. As usual, Hermione was having a much better time, and had finished all her homework one week into break.
"I was rather disappointed when I finished it," she said. Harry laughed. This was much better than the Dursleys.
