The next day flew by, and before I knew it, Goyle, (my personal Death
Eater) was chaining me to my bed. I laid down, pretending to be exhausted,
and heard him leave. I sat up and held the Dream Crystal tightly in both my
hands. Then I whispered the incantation for the Wish Power:
"Yeei allci pnoui heti Orwepi, Ihswi
Iyghtmi Orwepi foi heti ltanepi, Esnuvi
Oemci ohrtfi, Yeei unmmosi hetei!"
I focused all my energy, like D.C. had told me to, on the Wish Power coming to me. For a tense moment, nothing happened. Then, I heard a whisper in my ear; the voice of the Wish.
"How many Wishes can I grant you, child?"
"Three, please," I whispered. I felt something blow gently on my face three times, and then a tingling sensation spread through my whole body; from the roots of my hair down to my toes. "Thank you, Power."
"Call on me if you ever need me again," it said, it's voice fading away. I felt a little dizzy, but D.C. had said I would. After all, summoning Powers isn't an easy task.
After the dizziness had passed, I made my first Wish; "I wish that I was no longer chained to my bed." The chains fell of noiselessly and recoiled into the headboard. I stood up and stretched for a bit, then made my second Wish; "I wish I was wearing a pair of blue caprice, white tennis- shoes, and my favorite spaghetti strap." Instantly, the ugly red dress vanished and was replaced with blue caprice, whit tennies, and my favorite spaghetti strap shirt- purple with a cat on it saying, "I'm purr-fect." I walked over to the locked window and made my final Wish; "I wish this window was open." The window slowly opened, and I crawled out onto the ledge. Luckily, there was a huge oak tree right outside it. I grabbed the nearest branch and started to climb down it.
When I had reached the bottom, I dusted myself off and looked up at my window. A wide grin spread over my face, and I whispered, "See ya later, Voldemort!" Then, I started to sprint away from the house, towards Surrey.
20 minutes later, I was gasping for breath. The house was long gone, but I still had a long way to go.
I walked over to a bench, sat down, and closed my eyes, waiting for my breath to return to normal. That took about 5 minutes, and then I started to gather my energy for what I had to do next.
Taking a deep breath and grasping the Dream Crystal in my hands, I recited the incantation to summon the Dream.
"Yeei allci pnoui heti Orwepi, Rmeadi
Iyghtmi Orwepi foi heti ltanepi, Antursi
Oemci ohrtfi, Yeei unmmosi hetei!"
I waited, focusing my energy. Then a soft breeze tossed my hair over my face, and I heard a beautiful voice.
"Whose Dream would you like to enter?"
I took a deep breath, and then said, "I would like to enter the Dream of Harry Potter."
The Power blew on me and I felt myself falling through blackness. I thought the blackness would never end when I suddenly fell onto a hard surface. I got up and looked around. All I could see was a soft white mist. He's not dreaming, I thought, smiling to myself. I knew that Harry must rarely have dreamless nights since what had happened to him. "Harry! Harry!" I called. To my right, a 15-year-old boy materialized out of nowhere. I stood staring at him for a moment. His bright, emerald green eyes were curious under messy, jet-black hair.
"Um, hi, Harry," I said shyly.
"Er, hi," he replied. A moment of uneasy silence, and then he asked, "Um, not to sound rude or anything, but-"
"Why am I here?" I finished for him, smiling a little.
"Yeah," said Harry, smiling too.
"Well, it's kind of a long story, so I'll do my best to summarize it for you," I said, sitting down. Harry sat down next to me.
"Um, let's see, I guess I should start with, er, a necklace I found a few weeks ago," I said, showing Harry the Dream Crystal. Harry's jaw dropped.
"I've seen that necklace before!" he exclaimed, his eyes showing a look between amazement and curiosity.
"Really? Where?" I asked.
"My mum was wearing it in one of the pictures I had of her," Harry answered, moving his gaze from the Dream Crystal to my face. I felt myself go red.
"Weird," I said. I stared off into space for a moment, and then snapped myself out of it. "Anyway, two weeks after I found this necklace, I was kidnapped by Voldemort."
"Voldemort?" said Harry, looking terrified.
"I know. He scares me too," I shivered, and then continued. "The night he kidnapped me, I met his two daughters, Victoria and Pristina. They had been posing as my best friends for a year-and-a-half. You can imagine how that went over with me."
Harry nodded, too white to speak. "Harry, are you ok?" I asked sympathetically.
"Yeah," said Harry in a hoarse whisper, "yeah, I'm fine."
"Ok, if you're sure," I said. Narrowing my eyes in anger of the next part of my story, I continued. "Life at Voldemort's was horrible. My daily routine was the same; wake up, get tortured by Voldemort, and then serve him and his Death Eaters at dinner."
"Why'd Voldemort torture you?" asked Harry dryly.
"He wanted my necklace," I said simply. "Well, it really isn't just a necklace. It's called the Dream Crystal. I met the spirit of the Dream Crystal, D.C., on my first night at Voldemort's. D.C. taught me how to use the Powers and came up with a plan to help me escape, which is why I'm here."
"Powers?" Harry said blankly.
"I'll explain later," I said, smiling. "Right now, I have to ask you a favor."
"What is it?"
"Harry, as soon as Voldemort discovers I'm missing, I won't be safe anywhere but at Hogwarts and..."
"And?"
"And your house. D.C. thinks it's best if I stay with you until term at Hogwarts starts," I finished quickly.
"So, you're saying that you have to come live at Privet Drive?" asked Harry, jumping to his feet.
"Harry," I said, standing up too, "I have nowhere else to go. Just send Hedwig to me, or something, and I'll tell you where to meet me."
"Ok, but," Harry began.
"Harry, just send her to me. It has to work," I said, fixing my eyes on his. Slowly, Harry nodded.
"'Til then."
"'Til then," I said. Harry turned around, about to leave, when he called over his shoulder, "Wait! What's your name?"
"Emerald," I said. Then, I turned my back and shouted, "Dream, take me back to reality!" I felt something tug me forward, into blackness. My fit hit the cement a moment later, and I wobbled a little, about to fall over. Steadying myself, I smiled a little, looked up at the starry night sky, and fainted. Summoning 2 powers in one night had sucked away all my energy.
I woke up to a soft hooting. A snowy owl with beautiful amber eyes was near my right arm, looking at me patiently. It took me a moment to recognize her. When I did, I grinned. "Hello, Hedwig."
Tied to Hedwig's leg was a letter. I took it off of her leg and read it:
Emerald~ I don't know whether or not to believe my dream, but I'm writing this anyway. Where should we meet?
Harry
My grin widened and then diminished. I didn't have a pen to reply with. I scanned the ground, and luckily, there was a pen lying in the street. I ran out and got it.
Sitting down on the bench, I scribbled my reply:
Harry~
I have no clue. I grew up in a different country (not to mention a different dimension!) so I don't know my way around England yet. Right now I'm sitting on the bus stop bench on Veranda. Do you know where that is?
Emerald
I rolled up the piece of parchment and held it out to Hedwig. She clamped it firmly in her beak and took off. I watched her fly out of site.
I spent most of the day walking around the area, trying not to stray too far from the bus stop. Around noon, Hedwig returned with Harry's answer.
Emerald~
Yes, I know where Veranda is! It's only a few blocks away from Privet Drive, so I'll walk over there after lunch. (my stomach rumbled) See you then!
Harry
I wrote a hurried "ok" on the not and sent Hedwig off again.
For half-an-hour, I paced in front of the bench, explaining to curious passer-by that I was "meeting a friend here."
Finally, at around 1:00, someone tapped me of my shoulder. I whipped around and found myself face to face with bright green eyes looking at me through black, round glasses.
"Don't do that, Harry!" I exclaimed, backing away a little. "You could give a gal a heart attack!"
Harry shrugged, flashing me a mischievous grin. I couldn't help but smile back. "Fred and George rubbed off on ya, Harry," I laughed.
"Yeah, I guess- hey, wait a minute! How'd you know-?" Harry asked puzzled.
"I'm an avid reader," I said.
"What does reading have anything to do with it?" Harry was obviously baffled. I slapped myself on my forehead.
"Jeez, I keep forgettin'! You know how I said I was from another dimension?"
"Yeah."
"Over there, well, there are books about you," I said, trying to put it simply. Dare I mention the movies, clubs, websites, merchandise, and fanfics? Nah, he might go berserk.
Actually, Harry had already gone berserk. He started to stutter, bug- eyed. "B-b-books? A-about m-me?"
"Oh, Harry, honestly," I said, rolling my eyes, "you're sounding more and more like Professor Quirrell every second."
"What? Oh, you're right," said Harry, pulling himself together. "So, about these books..."
For the next half-an-hour, during the walk to Privet Drive, Harry made me explain about "these books," which, one way or another, led to me explaining the longer version of why I was here. I was thoroughly out of breath when we turned the corner onto Privet Drive. What I saw when we turned the corner made me gasp. Trees were swaying gently in the cool summer breeze. Everywhere, flowers were in full blossom; from chrysanthemums to posies, from daffodils to roses. The aroma of all these flowers filled the air with a pleasant perfume I knew I would never grow tired of. The soft hum of bees from nearby flowers mixed with the chirping of birds in the trees to create a sort of natural symphony.
"Wow," was all I could manage to get out. "It's hard to believe the Dursley's live here."
"I know," said Harry, almost lazily, walking towards number four. I stood for a moment, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and then I followed him.
"Harry, I don't know how I'm ever going to thank you," I said, more than a little bit embarrassed.
"No problem," replied Harry, opening the door of number four. It opened to reveal five boys of around Harry's age crowded around the television, stuffing their faces with popcorn. Four of them were huge, but the other boy was scrawny and had a face that made him look like a rat (from what I could see). I wouldn't be surprised if he was related in any way at all to Wormtail.
The largest of the five boys looked up when the door slammed shut behind us. He had blonde hair that was plastered to his thick head and piggy little eyes. This had to be Dudley.
"Oy, 'Arry," he said, through a mouthful of popcorn, "'oo's tha'?"
"Emerald," said Harry irritably, trying to pull me upstairs to his room. Dudley, however, pulled himself to his feet (it looked very hard) and wobbled over to the bottom of the staircase, blockading our "escape" route. Dudley swallowed his mouthful of popcorn and grinned at me. I stepped behind Harry, peeking out around his shoulder at Dudley. It wasn't like I was afraid of him, it's just that, well, next to the Death Eaters, Dudley was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen.
"Dudley, move," said Harry.
"Why should I?" Dudley replied nastily. Behind us, his, er, friends formed a half circle, cutting off any means of getting away from Dudley. I could tell he wanted to impress me by beating up Harry. Why, I had no idea. I was exactly considered pretty by my former classmates.
"I'll tell you why," Harry hissed. He started to mumble nonsense words under his breath, but I cut him off. I winked at him and turned to Dudley, putting on a puppy-face.
"Dudley," I said, curling a strand of hair around my fingers and fluttering my eyes, "could you please move? Please?"
"Er-uh," Dudley stuttered, turning a violent shade of purple. I tried to force down a laugh, and, luckily, succeeded.
"Well?" I asked, making my eyes look round and innocent.
"Er, s-s-sure," he stuttered, stumbling over to his friends, who, I could tell, were trying not to snigger heartily.
"Thanks, Dudley," I said sweetly before Harry pulled me upstairs to his bedroom.
As soon as he closed the door, he collapsed laughing onto his bed. I joined in, doubled over on the floor, shaking with silent laughter until tears started to low down my checks.
"Jeez, how thick can you get?" I giggled, sitting up and wiping the tears away.
"I dunno," Harry said, sitting up too, "but Dudley is pretty thick."
I pulled myself onto his bed next to him and looked around. Now that I was done laughing, I could focus more on his room. The walls, which were a bland white, had dozens of wooden shelves nailed onto them. On one side of the room, opposite Harry's bed, was a large cherry-tree desk that took up most of the wall space. One half of it was littered with pieces of parchment, ink bottles, and quills. The other half was occupied by a large metal cage in which a sleeping snowy owl was perched, her head resting under her wing. I smiled softly at her.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by a loud, false cough. Startled, I looked around at Harry.
"Oh, sorry," I said, grinning widely, "it's just, sometimes I go off into la-la-land when I'm thinking."
"No kidding?" said Harry, raising his eyebrows. A bit of color rose in my cheeks, but Harry didn't notice.
"So," he said, his eyes wandering around his room, "are you hungry?"
"What gave me away?" I said as my stomach growled.
"Well, for one thing, that," Harry laugher, "and for another, I highly doubt that Voldemort fed you."
"You guessed right, Harry," I replied. "He didn't, even though I managed to sneak some food when I was in the kitchens."
"Let's go downstairs, then," said Harry, getting up off the bed. "There has to be some food left in the pantry."
"Even after Dudley and his gang cleaned it out?" I said in mock- amazement. Harry chortled.
"It can't hurt to have a look," he shrugged,
"Ok, then," I said, following him downstairs, "just as long as I don't have to do that puppy-face thing again. Eurgh!"
Dudley and his gang were crowed around the television again, and they didn't even bother to look up as Harry and I ambled down the stairs. Dudley was still a faint lilac color, which nearly made me burst out laughing. I kept my composure, however, and followed Harry into the kitchen.
"Yeei allci pnoui heti Orwepi, Ihswi
Iyghtmi Orwepi foi heti ltanepi, Esnuvi
Oemci ohrtfi, Yeei unmmosi hetei!"
I focused all my energy, like D.C. had told me to, on the Wish Power coming to me. For a tense moment, nothing happened. Then, I heard a whisper in my ear; the voice of the Wish.
"How many Wishes can I grant you, child?"
"Three, please," I whispered. I felt something blow gently on my face three times, and then a tingling sensation spread through my whole body; from the roots of my hair down to my toes. "Thank you, Power."
"Call on me if you ever need me again," it said, it's voice fading away. I felt a little dizzy, but D.C. had said I would. After all, summoning Powers isn't an easy task.
After the dizziness had passed, I made my first Wish; "I wish that I was no longer chained to my bed." The chains fell of noiselessly and recoiled into the headboard. I stood up and stretched for a bit, then made my second Wish; "I wish I was wearing a pair of blue caprice, white tennis- shoes, and my favorite spaghetti strap." Instantly, the ugly red dress vanished and was replaced with blue caprice, whit tennies, and my favorite spaghetti strap shirt- purple with a cat on it saying, "I'm purr-fect." I walked over to the locked window and made my final Wish; "I wish this window was open." The window slowly opened, and I crawled out onto the ledge. Luckily, there was a huge oak tree right outside it. I grabbed the nearest branch and started to climb down it.
When I had reached the bottom, I dusted myself off and looked up at my window. A wide grin spread over my face, and I whispered, "See ya later, Voldemort!" Then, I started to sprint away from the house, towards Surrey.
20 minutes later, I was gasping for breath. The house was long gone, but I still had a long way to go.
I walked over to a bench, sat down, and closed my eyes, waiting for my breath to return to normal. That took about 5 minutes, and then I started to gather my energy for what I had to do next.
Taking a deep breath and grasping the Dream Crystal in my hands, I recited the incantation to summon the Dream.
"Yeei allci pnoui heti Orwepi, Rmeadi
Iyghtmi Orwepi foi heti ltanepi, Antursi
Oemci ohrtfi, Yeei unmmosi hetei!"
I waited, focusing my energy. Then a soft breeze tossed my hair over my face, and I heard a beautiful voice.
"Whose Dream would you like to enter?"
I took a deep breath, and then said, "I would like to enter the Dream of Harry Potter."
The Power blew on me and I felt myself falling through blackness. I thought the blackness would never end when I suddenly fell onto a hard surface. I got up and looked around. All I could see was a soft white mist. He's not dreaming, I thought, smiling to myself. I knew that Harry must rarely have dreamless nights since what had happened to him. "Harry! Harry!" I called. To my right, a 15-year-old boy materialized out of nowhere. I stood staring at him for a moment. His bright, emerald green eyes were curious under messy, jet-black hair.
"Um, hi, Harry," I said shyly.
"Er, hi," he replied. A moment of uneasy silence, and then he asked, "Um, not to sound rude or anything, but-"
"Why am I here?" I finished for him, smiling a little.
"Yeah," said Harry, smiling too.
"Well, it's kind of a long story, so I'll do my best to summarize it for you," I said, sitting down. Harry sat down next to me.
"Um, let's see, I guess I should start with, er, a necklace I found a few weeks ago," I said, showing Harry the Dream Crystal. Harry's jaw dropped.
"I've seen that necklace before!" he exclaimed, his eyes showing a look between amazement and curiosity.
"Really? Where?" I asked.
"My mum was wearing it in one of the pictures I had of her," Harry answered, moving his gaze from the Dream Crystal to my face. I felt myself go red.
"Weird," I said. I stared off into space for a moment, and then snapped myself out of it. "Anyway, two weeks after I found this necklace, I was kidnapped by Voldemort."
"Voldemort?" said Harry, looking terrified.
"I know. He scares me too," I shivered, and then continued. "The night he kidnapped me, I met his two daughters, Victoria and Pristina. They had been posing as my best friends for a year-and-a-half. You can imagine how that went over with me."
Harry nodded, too white to speak. "Harry, are you ok?" I asked sympathetically.
"Yeah," said Harry in a hoarse whisper, "yeah, I'm fine."
"Ok, if you're sure," I said. Narrowing my eyes in anger of the next part of my story, I continued. "Life at Voldemort's was horrible. My daily routine was the same; wake up, get tortured by Voldemort, and then serve him and his Death Eaters at dinner."
"Why'd Voldemort torture you?" asked Harry dryly.
"He wanted my necklace," I said simply. "Well, it really isn't just a necklace. It's called the Dream Crystal. I met the spirit of the Dream Crystal, D.C., on my first night at Voldemort's. D.C. taught me how to use the Powers and came up with a plan to help me escape, which is why I'm here."
"Powers?" Harry said blankly.
"I'll explain later," I said, smiling. "Right now, I have to ask you a favor."
"What is it?"
"Harry, as soon as Voldemort discovers I'm missing, I won't be safe anywhere but at Hogwarts and..."
"And?"
"And your house. D.C. thinks it's best if I stay with you until term at Hogwarts starts," I finished quickly.
"So, you're saying that you have to come live at Privet Drive?" asked Harry, jumping to his feet.
"Harry," I said, standing up too, "I have nowhere else to go. Just send Hedwig to me, or something, and I'll tell you where to meet me."
"Ok, but," Harry began.
"Harry, just send her to me. It has to work," I said, fixing my eyes on his. Slowly, Harry nodded.
"'Til then."
"'Til then," I said. Harry turned around, about to leave, when he called over his shoulder, "Wait! What's your name?"
"Emerald," I said. Then, I turned my back and shouted, "Dream, take me back to reality!" I felt something tug me forward, into blackness. My fit hit the cement a moment later, and I wobbled a little, about to fall over. Steadying myself, I smiled a little, looked up at the starry night sky, and fainted. Summoning 2 powers in one night had sucked away all my energy.
I woke up to a soft hooting. A snowy owl with beautiful amber eyes was near my right arm, looking at me patiently. It took me a moment to recognize her. When I did, I grinned. "Hello, Hedwig."
Tied to Hedwig's leg was a letter. I took it off of her leg and read it:
Emerald~ I don't know whether or not to believe my dream, but I'm writing this anyway. Where should we meet?
Harry
My grin widened and then diminished. I didn't have a pen to reply with. I scanned the ground, and luckily, there was a pen lying in the street. I ran out and got it.
Sitting down on the bench, I scribbled my reply:
Harry~
I have no clue. I grew up in a different country (not to mention a different dimension!) so I don't know my way around England yet. Right now I'm sitting on the bus stop bench on Veranda. Do you know where that is?
Emerald
I rolled up the piece of parchment and held it out to Hedwig. She clamped it firmly in her beak and took off. I watched her fly out of site.
I spent most of the day walking around the area, trying not to stray too far from the bus stop. Around noon, Hedwig returned with Harry's answer.
Emerald~
Yes, I know where Veranda is! It's only a few blocks away from Privet Drive, so I'll walk over there after lunch. (my stomach rumbled) See you then!
Harry
I wrote a hurried "ok" on the not and sent Hedwig off again.
For half-an-hour, I paced in front of the bench, explaining to curious passer-by that I was "meeting a friend here."
Finally, at around 1:00, someone tapped me of my shoulder. I whipped around and found myself face to face with bright green eyes looking at me through black, round glasses.
"Don't do that, Harry!" I exclaimed, backing away a little. "You could give a gal a heart attack!"
Harry shrugged, flashing me a mischievous grin. I couldn't help but smile back. "Fred and George rubbed off on ya, Harry," I laughed.
"Yeah, I guess- hey, wait a minute! How'd you know-?" Harry asked puzzled.
"I'm an avid reader," I said.
"What does reading have anything to do with it?" Harry was obviously baffled. I slapped myself on my forehead.
"Jeez, I keep forgettin'! You know how I said I was from another dimension?"
"Yeah."
"Over there, well, there are books about you," I said, trying to put it simply. Dare I mention the movies, clubs, websites, merchandise, and fanfics? Nah, he might go berserk.
Actually, Harry had already gone berserk. He started to stutter, bug- eyed. "B-b-books? A-about m-me?"
"Oh, Harry, honestly," I said, rolling my eyes, "you're sounding more and more like Professor Quirrell every second."
"What? Oh, you're right," said Harry, pulling himself together. "So, about these books..."
For the next half-an-hour, during the walk to Privet Drive, Harry made me explain about "these books," which, one way or another, led to me explaining the longer version of why I was here. I was thoroughly out of breath when we turned the corner onto Privet Drive. What I saw when we turned the corner made me gasp. Trees were swaying gently in the cool summer breeze. Everywhere, flowers were in full blossom; from chrysanthemums to posies, from daffodils to roses. The aroma of all these flowers filled the air with a pleasant perfume I knew I would never grow tired of. The soft hum of bees from nearby flowers mixed with the chirping of birds in the trees to create a sort of natural symphony.
"Wow," was all I could manage to get out. "It's hard to believe the Dursley's live here."
"I know," said Harry, almost lazily, walking towards number four. I stood for a moment, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and then I followed him.
"Harry, I don't know how I'm ever going to thank you," I said, more than a little bit embarrassed.
"No problem," replied Harry, opening the door of number four. It opened to reveal five boys of around Harry's age crowded around the television, stuffing their faces with popcorn. Four of them were huge, but the other boy was scrawny and had a face that made him look like a rat (from what I could see). I wouldn't be surprised if he was related in any way at all to Wormtail.
The largest of the five boys looked up when the door slammed shut behind us. He had blonde hair that was plastered to his thick head and piggy little eyes. This had to be Dudley.
"Oy, 'Arry," he said, through a mouthful of popcorn, "'oo's tha'?"
"Emerald," said Harry irritably, trying to pull me upstairs to his room. Dudley, however, pulled himself to his feet (it looked very hard) and wobbled over to the bottom of the staircase, blockading our "escape" route. Dudley swallowed his mouthful of popcorn and grinned at me. I stepped behind Harry, peeking out around his shoulder at Dudley. It wasn't like I was afraid of him, it's just that, well, next to the Death Eaters, Dudley was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen.
"Dudley, move," said Harry.
"Why should I?" Dudley replied nastily. Behind us, his, er, friends formed a half circle, cutting off any means of getting away from Dudley. I could tell he wanted to impress me by beating up Harry. Why, I had no idea. I was exactly considered pretty by my former classmates.
"I'll tell you why," Harry hissed. He started to mumble nonsense words under his breath, but I cut him off. I winked at him and turned to Dudley, putting on a puppy-face.
"Dudley," I said, curling a strand of hair around my fingers and fluttering my eyes, "could you please move? Please?"
"Er-uh," Dudley stuttered, turning a violent shade of purple. I tried to force down a laugh, and, luckily, succeeded.
"Well?" I asked, making my eyes look round and innocent.
"Er, s-s-sure," he stuttered, stumbling over to his friends, who, I could tell, were trying not to snigger heartily.
"Thanks, Dudley," I said sweetly before Harry pulled me upstairs to his bedroom.
As soon as he closed the door, he collapsed laughing onto his bed. I joined in, doubled over on the floor, shaking with silent laughter until tears started to low down my checks.
"Jeez, how thick can you get?" I giggled, sitting up and wiping the tears away.
"I dunno," Harry said, sitting up too, "but Dudley is pretty thick."
I pulled myself onto his bed next to him and looked around. Now that I was done laughing, I could focus more on his room. The walls, which were a bland white, had dozens of wooden shelves nailed onto them. On one side of the room, opposite Harry's bed, was a large cherry-tree desk that took up most of the wall space. One half of it was littered with pieces of parchment, ink bottles, and quills. The other half was occupied by a large metal cage in which a sleeping snowy owl was perched, her head resting under her wing. I smiled softly at her.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by a loud, false cough. Startled, I looked around at Harry.
"Oh, sorry," I said, grinning widely, "it's just, sometimes I go off into la-la-land when I'm thinking."
"No kidding?" said Harry, raising his eyebrows. A bit of color rose in my cheeks, but Harry didn't notice.
"So," he said, his eyes wandering around his room, "are you hungry?"
"What gave me away?" I said as my stomach growled.
"Well, for one thing, that," Harry laugher, "and for another, I highly doubt that Voldemort fed you."
"You guessed right, Harry," I replied. "He didn't, even though I managed to sneak some food when I was in the kitchens."
"Let's go downstairs, then," said Harry, getting up off the bed. "There has to be some food left in the pantry."
"Even after Dudley and his gang cleaned it out?" I said in mock- amazement. Harry chortled.
"It can't hurt to have a look," he shrugged,
"Ok, then," I said, following him downstairs, "just as long as I don't have to do that puppy-face thing again. Eurgh!"
Dudley and his gang were crowed around the television again, and they didn't even bother to look up as Harry and I ambled down the stairs. Dudley was still a faint lilac color, which nearly made me burst out laughing. I kept my composure, however, and followed Harry into the kitchen.
