The Chimney Incident - Chapter 2: Back Home

All copyrights respected. I only own 'Miss Armstrong' although you're welcome to her if you want her. Obviously the other characters are the property of the wonderful J.K.R.

Please make any comments you wish, and thanks for reading!

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Later that afternoon after school had finished, Harry arrived back to the only home he had ever known, number four Privet Drive. Dudley had run ahead of him (a remarkable achievement in many ways, the only other time Harry had seen Dudley run that fast was when Harry had thought that he'd heard the Ice-cream van on the road late last summer), and the reason for this haste soon became obvious.

Harry had just stepped through the doorway when he heard his Uncle Vernon's voice coming from down the hallway.

"Boy! Get in here now."

Uncle Vernon was standing in the centre of the kitchen with Harry's Aunt Petunia standing next to him. They looked, as Harry often thought, like a comedy duo because they were so totally different. Uncle Vernon was big and beefy but Aunt Petunia was the complete opposite, thin with a long craning neck. At the moment however, they weren't looking very comical. Uncle Vernon had Miss Armstrong's letter in his hand.

"What's this then?" he said, shaking the letter in Harry's direction, "Been up to more funny business have you?"

"No" said Harry, "I was just trying-"

"Oh I see," interrupted Uncle Vernon in mock understanding, "so you mean to say that you happened be running along in the playground, and then suddenly you were on the roof of the school?"

"Yes! I was trying to hide from Dudley's gang, " said Harry, "and I don't know what happened."

Aunt Petunia snorted, "You filthy little liar!" she said. "This letter, from the headmistress no less, says that you climbed up a ladder on the side of the building. Explain that!"

"I - I can't" said Harry.

"Why?" asked Dudley, who up until this point had been watching the exchange with interest, "did you do it by magic?"

"DUDLEY!" shouted Uncle Vernon loudly, causing several net curtains across the street to twitch, "DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!"

"I think you should go up to your room sweetums," said Aunt Petunia quickly, "read a book or something."

Shocked, Dudley threw his parents a disbelieving look and scurried out of the door and up the stairs.

"And you!" growled Uncle Vernon, as he rounded on Harry, "You can go straight to your cupboard and stay there for the rest of the summer!"

"Hey!" said Harry, "But I -"

"GO!" shouted Uncle Vernon as he spun Harry around and marched him into the cupboard under the stairs. The door slammed shut behind Harry, and he was plunged into semi darkness, illuminated only by the shafts of light from the grill in the door itself.

"Ruddy lock," complained Uncle Vernon fiddling with the door, "it was working fine this morning." At which point he gave up and wedged one of the kitchen chairs under the door handle.

Harry pressed his face against the grate, " I was only trying to jump behind the bins!" he shouted, but his Uncle and Aunt were having none of it.

"Just think about what you've done." came Aunt Petunia's voice through the door.

That's just it, thought Harry. I really don't know what I did...

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Well there you go. Just a little fic.. I hope you like it.