Harry Potter and the Prophet's Curse
Chapter One: Books and Birthdays
pThe rain fell softly on the roof of number 4, Privet Drive, as a 15- year-old boy sat on his bed, feeding an owl. pHarry Potter was probably the only 15-year-old boy who fed owls in secret on his birthdays, at night. But then, what other 15-year-old boy would be forced to not celebrate his birthday during the day? pHarry's aunt and uncle had always ignored his birthdays. So had Harry, at that, because no one has ever given him a present until he was 13. But ever since then, Harry had received 3 packages by owl post on July 31st, and he had made a bit of a tradition of opening them at midnight. pThis year, he had gotten a large box of Fizzing Whizbees from Ron, an original Hagrid birthday cake, and a book on curses, from Hermione. Harry thumbed through Dark Curses; Why Aren't These Ones Illegal, in between handing owl treats to Errol, Ron's very old owl. p It wasn't just the presents and letters that had improved his birthdays since he started at Hogwarts 5 years ago. Now, rather than dreading his imminent return to Muggle school, Harry was able to appreciate how much closer he was to his return to Hogwarts, the first place he had ever felt really happy. pAs Errol shuffled off to get some water from Hedwig's cage, Harry read through Ron's letter again. pHappy Birthday Harry! pI hope you still like Fizzing Whizbees. So they contain bits of bugs, no big deal! ( pHermione wrote to me, saying that she is in America for August. She gets around more in her summers than most people do in their lives! pDad said the Ministry is implementing some sort of new course at Hogwarts, to do with some wonky sub-division of Divination or something. We can only hope Prof. Trelawney doesn't possess the "inner eye" needed for this. I don't think I could take much more of her this year than me we are already doomed to. pSee you at school! pRon
pHarry folded the letter back up, and put it with the rest of his birthday cards. He couldn't imagine what sort of course the Ministry was implementing, but he agreed with Ron; he couldn't imagine a worse way to start the year than the announcement of a new class taught by the creepy Prof Trelawney, except perhaps, one taught by Snape. pHarry smiled to himself, imagining the look on Snape's face when he finds out that he didn't get the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher again, as he surely would not, and fell asleep.
Chapter Two: Vernon's Vacation
p Harry woke up suddenly the next morning to loud, happy voices from the kitchen. He figured that either Dudley, Harry's porky, Muggle cousin, had agreed to eat his grapefruit without complaint, or Aunt Petunia had discovered some juicy tidbit about the neighbours, and so he tried to go back to sleep. He had almost succeeded in doing so, when he heard a smart rapping on his bedroom door, followed by his uncle's voice, which sounded somewhat less joyous as Aunt Petunia's had.
p "Get out of that bed now, boy. We need to have a discussion!"
pYawning, Harry rolled out of bed, pulled on a jumper, and went out to the kitchen. He expected Aunt Petunia to be standing by the table, brandishing some obvious proof of Harry's alleged misdeeds, but instead, saw both Vernon and Petunia sitting at the table, examining a small pile of papers. Uncle Vernon motioned for Harry to sit down.
p "Boy, your Aunt and I are going away for a bit. I won a ticket raffle at work. Dudley is staying at his friend's for the month."
pHarry was a bit puzzled at his uncle's expression. Vernon looked slightly tense, and his eyes were narrowed, as though he was carefully negotiating with a potentially dangerous person, and needed his full concentration.
p "We need you to go stay at one of your.err.friend's houses for a bit."
Harry smiled to himself. Of course, Vernon looked tense. That was how he always looked, whenever he was forced to make any mention of the wizarding world. /p
p "Oh", Harry responded. "You mean Ron's house?"
pVernon said nothing, but nodded curtly.
pAfter only a moment's pause, Harry informed Uncle Vernon that he would write to Ron, explaining.
p "Don't get your hopes up, though" he added, grinning. "I mean, they might not be available!" Uncle Vernon's face darkened in expression, as it always did when he saw Harry smile.
p "You had better hope they are, boy."
pHarry just shrugged, still grinning, and ran back to his room
Chapter 3: Burrow Bound
pAs soon as Harry got back to his room, he grabbed his quill and some parchment, and wrote Ron.
pRon,
pThe Muggles are going on vacation. I hate to ask, but could I stay at yours this month? pPlease write back as soon as you can.
pHarry
pHarry had been invited to stay with the Weasleys several times, and it had always been fine, but Harry hated having to ask them himself. All the same, the idea of spending the last bit of the holidays with anyone other than the Dursleys, especially Ron's family, was very appealing.
pRon's answer never arrived in letter-form, but Ron did, two days later, via Floo Powder. The Dursleys had only one experience with wizarding chimney-travel previously, and it had not been a good one. Thus, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were standing at the furthest point of the living room from the fireplace, and Dudley was not there at all, when Ron and Mr Weasley appeared.
pRather than waste time with futile greetings to Harry's unpleasant relatives, Mr Weasley and Ron both turned immediately to Harry, and asked if he had his things packed.
pHarry nodded, and with Ron's help, pulled his heavy Hogwarts trunk over to the hearth. Harry could tell Ron's father was a bit tense around the Dursleys, considering how the had acted at their last meeting, so Harry turned quickly to Mr Weasley.
p "That's everything!"
Smiling, Mr Weasley lifted the trunk, extracted a pinch of Floo Powder from the pot in his hand, and handed the pot to Ron.
p "You two follow along straight away, alright?"
pBoth boys nodded, and in a puff of green smoke, Mr Weasley disappeared.
pNot wanting to remain in the house any more than his father did, Ron handed Harry the pot, took a bit of powder, and in seconds, had also vanished.
pFinally, Harry carried the pot to the fireplace, and turned back to the Dursleys/p
p "Have a lovely holiday, then."
pAnd with that, he was gone.
Chapter One: Books and Birthdays
pThe rain fell softly on the roof of number 4, Privet Drive, as a 15- year-old boy sat on his bed, feeding an owl. pHarry Potter was probably the only 15-year-old boy who fed owls in secret on his birthdays, at night. But then, what other 15-year-old boy would be forced to not celebrate his birthday during the day? pHarry's aunt and uncle had always ignored his birthdays. So had Harry, at that, because no one has ever given him a present until he was 13. But ever since then, Harry had received 3 packages by owl post on July 31st, and he had made a bit of a tradition of opening them at midnight. pThis year, he had gotten a large box of Fizzing Whizbees from Ron, an original Hagrid birthday cake, and a book on curses, from Hermione. Harry thumbed through Dark Curses; Why Aren't These Ones Illegal, in between handing owl treats to Errol, Ron's very old owl. p It wasn't just the presents and letters that had improved his birthdays since he started at Hogwarts 5 years ago. Now, rather than dreading his imminent return to Muggle school, Harry was able to appreciate how much closer he was to his return to Hogwarts, the first place he had ever felt really happy. pAs Errol shuffled off to get some water from Hedwig's cage, Harry read through Ron's letter again. pHappy Birthday Harry! pI hope you still like Fizzing Whizbees. So they contain bits of bugs, no big deal! ( pHermione wrote to me, saying that she is in America for August. She gets around more in her summers than most people do in their lives! pDad said the Ministry is implementing some sort of new course at Hogwarts, to do with some wonky sub-division of Divination or something. We can only hope Prof. Trelawney doesn't possess the "inner eye" needed for this. I don't think I could take much more of her this year than me we are already doomed to. pSee you at school! pRon
pHarry folded the letter back up, and put it with the rest of his birthday cards. He couldn't imagine what sort of course the Ministry was implementing, but he agreed with Ron; he couldn't imagine a worse way to start the year than the announcement of a new class taught by the creepy Prof Trelawney, except perhaps, one taught by Snape. pHarry smiled to himself, imagining the look on Snape's face when he finds out that he didn't get the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher again, as he surely would not, and fell asleep.
Chapter Two: Vernon's Vacation
p Harry woke up suddenly the next morning to loud, happy voices from the kitchen. He figured that either Dudley, Harry's porky, Muggle cousin, had agreed to eat his grapefruit without complaint, or Aunt Petunia had discovered some juicy tidbit about the neighbours, and so he tried to go back to sleep. He had almost succeeded in doing so, when he heard a smart rapping on his bedroom door, followed by his uncle's voice, which sounded somewhat less joyous as Aunt Petunia's had.
p "Get out of that bed now, boy. We need to have a discussion!"
pYawning, Harry rolled out of bed, pulled on a jumper, and went out to the kitchen. He expected Aunt Petunia to be standing by the table, brandishing some obvious proof of Harry's alleged misdeeds, but instead, saw both Vernon and Petunia sitting at the table, examining a small pile of papers. Uncle Vernon motioned for Harry to sit down.
p "Boy, your Aunt and I are going away for a bit. I won a ticket raffle at work. Dudley is staying at his friend's for the month."
pHarry was a bit puzzled at his uncle's expression. Vernon looked slightly tense, and his eyes were narrowed, as though he was carefully negotiating with a potentially dangerous person, and needed his full concentration.
p "We need you to go stay at one of your.err.friend's houses for a bit."
Harry smiled to himself. Of course, Vernon looked tense. That was how he always looked, whenever he was forced to make any mention of the wizarding world. /p
p "Oh", Harry responded. "You mean Ron's house?"
pVernon said nothing, but nodded curtly.
pAfter only a moment's pause, Harry informed Uncle Vernon that he would write to Ron, explaining.
p "Don't get your hopes up, though" he added, grinning. "I mean, they might not be available!" Uncle Vernon's face darkened in expression, as it always did when he saw Harry smile.
p "You had better hope they are, boy."
pHarry just shrugged, still grinning, and ran back to his room
Chapter 3: Burrow Bound
pAs soon as Harry got back to his room, he grabbed his quill and some parchment, and wrote Ron.
pRon,
pThe Muggles are going on vacation. I hate to ask, but could I stay at yours this month? pPlease write back as soon as you can.
pHarry
pHarry had been invited to stay with the Weasleys several times, and it had always been fine, but Harry hated having to ask them himself. All the same, the idea of spending the last bit of the holidays with anyone other than the Dursleys, especially Ron's family, was very appealing.
pRon's answer never arrived in letter-form, but Ron did, two days later, via Floo Powder. The Dursleys had only one experience with wizarding chimney-travel previously, and it had not been a good one. Thus, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were standing at the furthest point of the living room from the fireplace, and Dudley was not there at all, when Ron and Mr Weasley appeared.
pRather than waste time with futile greetings to Harry's unpleasant relatives, Mr Weasley and Ron both turned immediately to Harry, and asked if he had his things packed.
pHarry nodded, and with Ron's help, pulled his heavy Hogwarts trunk over to the hearth. Harry could tell Ron's father was a bit tense around the Dursleys, considering how the had acted at their last meeting, so Harry turned quickly to Mr Weasley.
p "That's everything!"
Smiling, Mr Weasley lifted the trunk, extracted a pinch of Floo Powder from the pot in his hand, and handed the pot to Ron.
p "You two follow along straight away, alright?"
pBoth boys nodded, and in a puff of green smoke, Mr Weasley disappeared.
pNot wanting to remain in the house any more than his father did, Ron handed Harry the pot, took a bit of powder, and in seconds, had also vanished.
pFinally, Harry carried the pot to the fireplace, and turned back to the Dursleys/p
p "Have a lovely holiday, then."
pAnd with that, he was gone.