The Job, Good News, and Bad News
Harry woke Monday morning at 7 a.m. sharp and began his normal morning routine. Surprisingly, by the time breakfast was over, there had yet to be any incidents between Harry and his muggle family. At 8:30 Harry found himself in the backseat of the Dursley family vehicle loathing the man in front of him and dreading what was to come. Half an hour later they pulled into the parking lot of a fairly plain warehouse building with a giant sign GRUNNINGS DRILLS on the front.
Harry was directed (dragged) to a backroom in the building and told to wait for his supervisor to come get him. Very little time passed before a young man, probably not more than 19 years of age, cam in and sat down behind the desk in front of Harry. He was tall with dirty blond hair dressed in a white Grunnings shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. He had a scowl on his face as he looked Harry up and down. The scowl quickly turned into a huge grin as he stood up and shook hands with Harry.
"Welcome to Grunnings, you must be Harry the new loader Mr. Dursley was complaining about. I don't know about him but you look like a good worker to me. My name's Chad, I'll be your supervisor." Harry breathed a sigh of relief, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
"It's nice to meet you sir, but yes, Uncle Vernon does not like me very much at all, the only reason I'm here is because my lazy cousin didn't want to be here."
"Well," Chad said, "If you stick with me your time here won't be all bad." He bent down and opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out 5 black T-shirts and 3 pairs of khaki shorts. "Here," he said, tossing the things to Harry, "this is the uniform for the loading crew."
Ten minutes later Harry found himself with Chad at the back of the building watching about 8 people pushing boxes of drills and bits into big trucks. "This is the shipping manifest," Chad said handing Harry a piece of paper, "It's a list of what goes on the truck, all you need to do is work with the others. Divide the job up, find the matching serial numbers and load the boxes on the trucks. Sound easy enough?" Harry nodded as Chad clapped him on the shoulder. "Good, I've got some things to take care of but I'll be back around 12:30 when break starts. Then you can ask any other questions you might have." With that, Chad left Harry standing on the loading dock.
Harry fell into the swing of things rather easily after finding the list the other loaders were using. He found the section that was circled for him and he quickly set off with his cart to get the boxes needed. The time flew quickly and the trucks were finished about an hour ahead of schedule. After lounging with the crew for a bit, 12:30 came and Chad appeared and whisked Harry off to the break room. They chatted while they ate their lunches rather peacefully.
Harry soon found out that Chad was a student at the local university and was very obsessed with the females. It became their only topic for the rest of the break. Chad asked Harry if he'd ever had a girlfriend, Harry had said he hadn't and wasn't really planning on it for awhile. The break ended as the afternoon shipment trucks pulled in, so Harry had to get back to work.
The Trucks were all loaded by 4 so that left Harry an hour until his uncle would come down and get him so he decided to just walk around the warehouse. It was quite large despite outward appearances and he thought himself lost a few times. Eventually his Uncle came down and they were headed back to number 4 Privet Drive.
When they finally got home that night, Harry immediately went to take a shower. Afterwards he collapsed on his bed. 'What a day' he thought, 'It may be tiring but at least I don't have any Dursley's getting on me the entire time.' After some time he heard banging around in the kitchen. Apparently with this job Harry wasn't expected to do his usual chores. This really shocked him but he was really grateful for it.
After a meager dinner due to Dudley's continuing diet, Harry made his way upstairs. The diet appeared to be having some effect on him, instead of looking like a baby whale; he was taking on the appearance of a fully grown hippo. As Harry opened the door to his room he was startled when a screech from a barn owl sitting on his bed was let out. Judging by the tidy script on the envelope it could only be from one person, his best friend, Hermione Granger.
Dear Harry,
Guess what? My family is going to be vacationing in Italy this summer. I can't wait to get there. I'm going to learn so many things. Before you ask, no, I'm not going to Bulgaria. I had never even considered it and Krum knew as well. We are only friends, nothing more. The only reason I had brought it up was to spite Ron. If I didn't know any better I'd think he was jealous. Speaking of Ron! Guess what else? His Dad got a big raise and they are going to Romania to visit Charlie this summer! He sent me a letter with Errol to tell me, apparently Pig has a broken wing so I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get much mail from him. Anyway, that's all the exciting news I have, hope to hear from you soon!
With Love,
Hermione
"So Pig has a broken wing eh?" Harry said, "That explains the lack of post."
Harry was incredibly happy for the Weasley family, if anyone deserved a raise from the Ministry, it was Arthur Weasley. The only downside was the fact that with them gone, Harry would be stuck here a lot longer than he originally expected. He wrote a response and told her all about his new treatment due to the job and wished her luck with her vacation. He tied it to the owl's leg and it flew off into the night. Harry wrote a similar note to Ron and added a congratulation for the family and sent the letter off with his snowy owl, Hedwig. As Harry laid down to sleep he couldn't help but wonder what his life would have been like if his family was still alive.
The next few weeks passed without incident. 5 days a week Harry would spend 8 hours a day hauling boxes and enjoying friendly chats with Chad and the crew. The work environment for Harry was surprisingly fun and easy to deal with so he felt no apprehension towards going back day after day. He also discovered that the work itself was becoming easier to do. Apparently all the lifting, pushing, and pulling was paying off for Harry and he was filling out rather nicely. He thought this was great because he would be in top shape for the new Quidditch season, especially since he hadn't flown in over a year, unless you count the Hungarian Horntail. When Harry wasn't at work, he steadily avoided any interaction with the Dursley's so he kept up with the Wizarding world with weekly owls to his best friends and an occasional one to his Godfather, Sirius Black.
Harry soon learned that all was not well. There had been a few isolated Death Eater attacks on muggles and Cornelius Fudge was still denying the fact that Voldemort had risen again. The Ministry itself was split in half between those siding with Dumbledore, and those siding with Fudge. He knew these developments were bad but he also knew that right now, there was no real immediate danger. His scar hadn't hurt at all since the night of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. He knew the events that transpired were not his fault but he couldn't help but feel guilty. Cedric Diggory died because they chose to take the cup for a tie. The portkey brought them both to Voldemort but it was he, Harry, that he wanted, not Cedric. Harry shivered as he remembered the voice, "Kill the spare." Then the bright flash of green light that signified the end.
As he snapped back into reality, he realized, there's no need to dwell on the past. He needed to just grit his teeth and try as hard as he could so that he would be ready for the next onslaught that was inevitable in coming.