Disclaimer: All the characters here belong to J.K Rowling, not to me. I am simply a fan amusing myself while waiting for the next book to come out!
Harry Potter was not enjoying his summer holiday. He was back at the Dursley's house after his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and as usual they were making his life as unpleasant as possible. The last time that Harry had seen his aunt and uncle was last summer as he disappeared by floo powder to the Weasley's house for the Quidditch World Cup and his aunt was nearing hysterics as his cousin Dudley's tongue grew to gigantic proportions. Harry smiled at the memory but then sighed, things seemed to have gone downhill for the rest of the year. He hadn't expected his aunt and uncle to have forgiven him by now but their coldness towards him had reached a new all time low. Most of the time Aunt Petunia did not cook him any food and Uncle Vernon had managed to disconnect his room from the rest of the house's central heating. This wouldn't have mattered apart from the fact that the English weather was being freakishly cold for the time of year and Harry often lay in bed shivering.
As usual, Harry felt cut off from the rest of the wizarding world, just at a time when he needed his friends the most. The last term of his fourth year had ended in disaster; Harry had encountered a newly restored Voldermort and had only just survived. Cedric Diggory had not been so lucky and Harry knew that a lot of wizards were suspicious about his role in the whole business. The whole experience had left Harry shaken and vulnerable and although it was a relief to escape to the muggle world for a while to get away from the side-glances and constant press attention he really felt that he needed someone on his side. Occasionally Pig, Ron's owl, managed to make the journey to Harry's house with a brief letter from Harry's best friend, but Harry got the feeling that things were very hectic at the Weasley's house and he held very little hope of being able to escape there at any point in the summer.
Harry felt that he would have been able to cope at the Dursley's for the whole holiday had they only been treating him with cold indifference. However, in the last few weeks something had happened which had made them treat him in a very strange manner. Harry could not decide whether it was amusement, horror or downright disgust. What had caused this, he had no idea but it had started after Aunt Petunia had taken a visit to town to buy Dudley's new school things. When she came back she had been extremely agitated and had dumped the shopping bags filled with Dudley's uniform, text books and sweets in the hallway and dragged Uncle Vernon into the sitting room where they had talked in hushed voices for a long time. This new attitude towards him worried Harry, he felt that he was missing out on something and it made him very uneasy.
"If only we were back at Hogwarts, Hedwig." He said through the bars of his owl's cage, "I'd feel a lot better with Dumbledore nearby."
Relief finally came for Harry in the form of a letter from Hermione Granger and her parents (delivered by muggle post of course.) inviting Harry to come and stay for the end of the holidays. Uncle Vernon couldn't find anything to complain about considering Hermione's parents were both muggles, would be arriving by car and best of all would take Harry off their hands. When the day arrived the Granger's arrived promptly and spoke very politely to the Dursley's as Harry and Hermione carried his bags out to the car.
Hermione spoke to Harry in a hushed voice, "I have something really important to tell you Harry, I don't know if your Aunt and Uncle know, but I expect Dumbledore does...but it's all so confusing and I have no idea how..." she trailed off, glancing behind to check that no one was listening.
"What are you talking about Hermione? You're making no sense at all." Harry was getting uncomfortable; did everyone know something that he didn't?
Hermione touched him gently on the arm, "I'll have to tell you later so THEY don't hear," she nodded behind to where Uncle Vernon's voice was booming through the front door, "But it really is odd Harry."
Harry Potter was not enjoying his summer holiday. He was back at the Dursley's house after his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and as usual they were making his life as unpleasant as possible. The last time that Harry had seen his aunt and uncle was last summer as he disappeared by floo powder to the Weasley's house for the Quidditch World Cup and his aunt was nearing hysterics as his cousin Dudley's tongue grew to gigantic proportions. Harry smiled at the memory but then sighed, things seemed to have gone downhill for the rest of the year. He hadn't expected his aunt and uncle to have forgiven him by now but their coldness towards him had reached a new all time low. Most of the time Aunt Petunia did not cook him any food and Uncle Vernon had managed to disconnect his room from the rest of the house's central heating. This wouldn't have mattered apart from the fact that the English weather was being freakishly cold for the time of year and Harry often lay in bed shivering.
As usual, Harry felt cut off from the rest of the wizarding world, just at a time when he needed his friends the most. The last term of his fourth year had ended in disaster; Harry had encountered a newly restored Voldermort and had only just survived. Cedric Diggory had not been so lucky and Harry knew that a lot of wizards were suspicious about his role in the whole business. The whole experience had left Harry shaken and vulnerable and although it was a relief to escape to the muggle world for a while to get away from the side-glances and constant press attention he really felt that he needed someone on his side. Occasionally Pig, Ron's owl, managed to make the journey to Harry's house with a brief letter from Harry's best friend, but Harry got the feeling that things were very hectic at the Weasley's house and he held very little hope of being able to escape there at any point in the summer.
Harry felt that he would have been able to cope at the Dursley's for the whole holiday had they only been treating him with cold indifference. However, in the last few weeks something had happened which had made them treat him in a very strange manner. Harry could not decide whether it was amusement, horror or downright disgust. What had caused this, he had no idea but it had started after Aunt Petunia had taken a visit to town to buy Dudley's new school things. When she came back she had been extremely agitated and had dumped the shopping bags filled with Dudley's uniform, text books and sweets in the hallway and dragged Uncle Vernon into the sitting room where they had talked in hushed voices for a long time. This new attitude towards him worried Harry, he felt that he was missing out on something and it made him very uneasy.
"If only we were back at Hogwarts, Hedwig." He said through the bars of his owl's cage, "I'd feel a lot better with Dumbledore nearby."
Relief finally came for Harry in the form of a letter from Hermione Granger and her parents (delivered by muggle post of course.) inviting Harry to come and stay for the end of the holidays. Uncle Vernon couldn't find anything to complain about considering Hermione's parents were both muggles, would be arriving by car and best of all would take Harry off their hands. When the day arrived the Granger's arrived promptly and spoke very politely to the Dursley's as Harry and Hermione carried his bags out to the car.
Hermione spoke to Harry in a hushed voice, "I have something really important to tell you Harry, I don't know if your Aunt and Uncle know, but I expect Dumbledore does...but it's all so confusing and I have no idea how..." she trailed off, glancing behind to check that no one was listening.
"What are you talking about Hermione? You're making no sense at all." Harry was getting uncomfortable; did everyone know something that he didn't?
Hermione touched him gently on the arm, "I'll have to tell you later so THEY don't hear," she nodded behind to where Uncle Vernon's voice was booming through the front door, "But it really is odd Harry."