Chapter 1- the dream
"Hold
on Harry! … Killed me, that one did, you fight him boy… Don't let go, now!
Don't let him get you… Your father's coming, he wants to see you, hold on… When
the connection is broken, you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to
Hogwarts. Do you understand, Harry… Stand aside! I will kill him! He is mine!"
Harry awoke suddenly. He was sweating,
and panting. He had just had another dream about Voldemort, when he had come
back to power. Harry couldn't remember a night since the accident, where he
hadn't had that same dream. The words of his dad ran through his head… "Do you
understand, Harry?" Harry got out of bed, and tiptoed to his desk, so as not to
wake the evil Dursleys. He got out some parchment and a quill, and started to
write to Ron:
Ron,
Do you know when I can come over yet? It's terrible here!
The Dursleys are down to only feeding me a quarter of a watermelon. And I'm starving! Anyway, write to me soon,
and could you maybe give me a copy of the Daily
Prophet because I need to catch up on the Wizarding world. How is
everyone? Have you heard from Hermione or Snuffles yet? Anyway, I've got to go
now, I think I hear my ugly uncle wake-up
Thanks
Harry.
Harry attached the letter
to Hedwig, and sent her out the window. Harry felt a lot calmer now, so he went
back to bed. But he couldn't get to sleep. The next day would be his birthday.
He was wondering what he would get, obviously not from the Dursleys, from Ron,
Hermione, and Sirius. He was wondering what he might find in the Daily
Prophet; it was probably some lie that the new
'Rita Skeeter' had scooped up. He could imagine it now: 'You know you
strikes at-' "Harry!" Aunt Petunia was shouting
at him through the door "Wake-up! If you are not downstairs in five minutes
then you wont get any watermelon!"
Was it really morning
already? Harry thought it was the middle of the night! He was about to go to
sleep again, but he would rather have a quarter of watermelon then nothing at
all. So he slipped into some clothes and forced himself downstairs. He was
wondering when the owls carrying his presents would arrive so he shoved the
lump of food into his mouth; he shuddered because of the sourness, and then
went upstairs.
He was sitting on his bed leaning out
of the window; there wasn't an owl in sight. Then suddenly, something swished
from around the corner and banged into Harry's face. Feathers were flying
everywhere! And a large blue box, which Harry guessed was his cake, flew across
the room and Harry dived to catch it! He dived a bit too far though, because it
landed on his back. He turned and opened the box, the cake wasn't very
squashed, because it was from Hermione, and she had put padding in the box, and
wrapped the cake in foil, as she was too protective.
There was a note, which Harry read,
before anything else, saying:
Harry,
Happy Birthday!
How are you?
Listen, I'm not buying my books
until the day before school starts, because of, well you know, there will be a
lot of wizards there that day. Anyway, could you meet me in the Leaky Cauldron?
I've already arranged to meet Ron.
I hope you have a nice day,
Bye.
Hermione.
Harry
unwrapped the cake and started to cut it with a knife she also added. It was a
delicious sponge cake. He ate half of it and put it under his bed, he lay down,
feeling sick from eating too much (which he thought would never happen while
living with the Dursleys).
He lay awake, and then scribbled a
reply reading:
Hermione,
See you in the Leaky Cauldron
-12:30?
Thanks for the cake.
Harry.
Harry
couldn't really be bothered to write
anything else. He attached it to the owl's leg, which looked annoyed that he
was disturbed from collecting his feathers. Then he flew off. Another owl flew in about two hours later,
and Harry knew instantly that it was Hedwig. He had returned carrying another
box and a newspaper, which Harry had asked for. This time the cake was
homemade. Probably by Mrs Weasley, because Harry knew Ron couldn't cook. There
was a box inside the big box from Fred and George. It was one of there inventions,
which Harry had helped them make, by giving them the prize money from the
Triwizard Tournament the previous year. There was a packet of sweets that read
'Weasleys' best blowing-up gum', disguised as Droobles' best blowing gum. Harry
was daring himself to eat them, he thought briefly that it was just a joke, but
from his experience, Fred and George probably would have them blowing you up,
after all, they had made 'Ton-tongue toffee's' which had made his cousin
Dudley's tongue swell up the year before, and 'Canary Creams' which caused
quite a funny term with Neville, but luckily he found it funny. Harry opened
the packet, but it was really hard, he kept pulling it and suddenly, the packet
burst. There was a massive bang and a huge cloud of smoke. When the mist
cleared, he noticed that nothing had happened, he checked in the mirror and
jumped back in shock. His face was bright red and he was swelling up
dramatically. There was another bang and Harry found himself on the floor, but
luckily was back to his normal shape and colour, he pulled himself up, and sat
down on his bed.
