Title: Harry Potter and Kinson's Orb
Author: Kararen
Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me; Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, etc. etc. etc.
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, though I know it really has nothing much to do with my storyline, I needed to address the stuff that had happened in the previous books!
-Chapter Two-
Mrs. Figg's Deal
The next morning, Harry went down to breakfast feeling pretty good, compared to how he felt earlier in the week. Aunt Petunia seemed to be angry over her slip of emotions the night before, though neither her nor Harry mentioned it. She had on a purple flowered apron, and she was scrambling the eggs in the pan on the stove a little too enthusiastically. The sound of the fork against the pan sent a chill up his spine and he wished she'd stop.
Harry sat patiently at the table, and when the food was ready Uncle Vernon and Dudley joined him at the table. She put a plate of eggs, toast and bacon in front of Uncle Vernon, Dudley, as well as one at her own place. With her eyes all squinty and her nose in the air, she looked at Harry and said, "Make yourself some toast boy!"
Harry didn't say a word, but obediently got to his feet and shoved two slices of bread into the toaster. When they were done he buttered them and sat back down at the table. By this time Dudley had already devoured his plate, had begged Aunt Petunia for another helping, and ran away sulking because he had been denied. Harry poured himself a glass of orange juice and began eating.
When he had finished, he was about to get up when Aunt Petunia came down on him from behind and shoved his shoulders back into the chair. She looked hard at him and somehow he knew that he was going to pay for what he had heard the previous night.
"You've spent quite enough time locked in your room. It's time you earned your keep around here. You can start by doing all these dishes," she said as she motioned towards the sink that was piled as high as you could get it without overflowing. "You will be given a list of chores that need to be done each morning. You can amuse yourself with whatever you people do the rest of the day so long as you are back by seven. I don't want anymore 'incidents' happening like last year!"
Having told Harry off, Aunt Petunia looked quite pleased with herself. She took off her apron, hung it next to the refrigerator, and left the room.
"Don't just stand there, get to work boy!" Uncle Vernon yelled overtop of his newspaper.
And so, Harry began washing the dishes, but didn't end there. Aunt Petunia also had him dust the family room, clean the bathrooms, make lunch, do more dishes and water her many flowers. Uncle Vernon had him wash the car and mow the lawn. When he went to bed that night, Harry was exhausted. He had done chores like these previous years at Privet Drive, but never so many. He was sure they wouldn't give him this much work to do everyday; eventually the house would be totally clean. But the next morning was not any better. He had to paint the fence, make breakfast and clean up after it, take out the garbage, weed the garden, trim the hedges, and do the laundry.
Each day he'd simply be handed a list of that day's chores and any crappy things the Dursley's could fit onto the page. Some days it took him the better part of the afternoon as well as the morning to finish his work, but he didn't dare to not finish it. He didn't fancy a row with Uncle Vernon at that particular time. He didn't quite have the spirit to stand up for himself. Harry was just glad that Dudley never got a chance to write out his list of chores. Cleaning Dudley's smelly room was the last thing Harry want to have to do.
It of course would have been much easier if Harry used magic to get everything done, but he knew he would be expelled from Hogwarts if he did. He was still an underage wizard and not permitted to do magic outside of school. He'd already had three incidences with the Ministry of Magic over the use of magic in the muggle world. Of course, one time it wasn't him at all, but Dobby the house elf, and another time he had blown up Aunt Marge, but that was accidental magic, and the third time he had used magic for his and Dudley's protection. Last year he had used the Patronus charm when two dementors, the wizarding prison guards, had attacked him and his cousin.
He couldn't even complain to the Order that he was being treated badly. Any adult would agree that he should not be idle during the summer months, and that it would be proper for him to help out his aunt and uncle around the house. He was sure that even Hermione would think it good of him to be working. Sympathy was certain to come from his best friend Ron, but Ron would be so outraged that he'd go and tell his mother. Harry loved Mrs. Weasley, and loved that she treated him like a son, and she would probably be disappointed in him for not offering to do chores around the house.
During his spare time in the afternoon, Harry would roam about the neighbourhood looking for things to do. He mostly just walked around or sat on the benches in the park watching people as they passed. He liked to imagine what they were really like, and what they would think if they knew about magic and the wizarding world. The red haired mother that brought her four young children to the park to play each day looked like she could certainly use some help and would be glad to be able to do magic. The old man that walked by with the help of a cane every day was really a child at heart, and Harry could tell from his eyes that he must really believe in magic. But there was a man, always dressed in suits and ties that walked hurriedly by carrying his briefcase and a stack of file folders once a week. He hadn't an imagination at all. Each time Harry saw him he was dressed up, drinking coffee, and looking completely stressed out. If he had found out about witches and wizards Harry thought he'd surely have a heart attack, though he only looked about 35 years of age.
One day while sitting down on the grass in the park watching the red haired woman and her children (they reminded him of the Weasley's) when he felt a nibbling at his hand. Hedwig was next to him with a piece of parchment to deliver. Harry looked frantically about hoping that no one was watching, grabbed the note, quickly gave Hedwig a pet, and told her to go back to Privet Drive. The letter was from Hermione,
Hi Harry!
I'm so glad to finally hear from you! We were all getting rather worried. I hope everything's going all right. If those rotten relatives give you any trouble alert the Order at once! And remember, you can never be too careful Harry, especially when you aren't at you aunt and uncle's house. My phone number is at the bottom as you asked, but I'm not sure how much it will cost to call me from Surrey. Hope to hear from you soon!
Your friend,
HermioneHarry ran straight to the payphone at the other side of the park and dug some change out of his pockets. The last time he was in Diagon Alley at Gringotts bank, he had exchanged some of his gold galleons for some muggle money and had hid it for emergencies. Harry considered this an emergency. He needed to talk with someone, he couldn't take it anymore. He missed his friends and the chance to talk with Hermione wasn't something he wanted to lose. Writing letters just wasn't the same. He would never be allowed to use the phone for a long distance call at Privet Drive, so the pay phone would have to do. It was his money after all!
Over the next two weeks he had quite a few good chats with Hermione, mostly about her worries about the Ordinary Wizarding Levels (O.W.L.) results they'd soon be receiving, but his pockets were starting to run dry. One day near the end of July, he hung up the phone rather depressed. He didn't have enough money to make any more calls, and he had gotten used to having someone to talk to. Having to be back at the Dursley's at seven meant that he didn't have much to do in the evenings, so Hermione had sent him a few books to read. Most of them were about N.E.W.T.S., and deciding on what courses to take after receiving your O.W.L. results, but Harry had chosen to read 'Hogwarts: A History'. Hermione was always rattling off information from it, and it would be nice to know some of the things she knew about the school. He actually found that it was quite interesting, and it gave him more to talk with Hermione about on the phone. There wasn't much news from the Order, the Ministry was busy taking precautions regarding Voldemort's return, and no sign of Voldemort or his supporters had been seen since that night at the Ministry. He wished that Ron had a phone so that he could have called him as well.
As he turned to start making his way back to Privet Drive, Harry bumped into a woman, almost knocking her down.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to, Mrs. Figg!"
"Hello Harry dear!" she answered. "You've grown so much over the last year, look at you! Who were you calling?"
"I've been calling Hermione. I needed someone to talk to and I couldn't have a good conversation at my aunt and uncle's house."
"Is that so? Have you just been calling her?" she inquired suspiciously.
"Er, yeah, but only because the Weasley's don't have a phone. But it doesn't matter, I don't have enough money left to make anymore calls."
"Oh you poor dear!" Mrs. Figg said. "You are welcome to come by and visit if you're looking for some company. I could always use a cheery young face around."
Harry suddenly had an idea.
"Mrs. Figg, you do have a telephone don't you, because maybe I could cut your lawn or weed your garden or do something for you in exchange for using your phone."
"Sorry Harry, but being a squib, all my relations are in the wizarding world and don't have telephones, so it seems pointless for me to have one."
"Oh, okay then," Harry said disappointedly.
"I have a better idea Harry. I just happen to have my fireplace hooked up to the floo network, and I've got some floo powder as well. Perhaps you could come over for tea once and a while and use that to talk with your friends," she said.
Harry was ecstatic! He would be able to talk with the whole Weasley family this way! He couldn't wait to talk to Ron and Ginny about everything his mind could think of, and Fred and George about their newly opened joke shop in Diagon Alley.
"Thanks Mrs. Figg, I would love that! And I'll send you some money for the floo powder when I go to Diagon Alley to get my school supplies," he said.
"Well, why don't you come by tomorrow then Harry? It is your birthday after all. It can be my birthday present to you so you'll owe me nothing but sitting down to a cup of tea with me," she said smiling.
"Okay then, that's a deal! I'll see you tomorrow afternoon!"
~~~~~
Author's Note: Okay, so it's not that interesting yet, don't worry, Harry's birthday is coming up next and will be more exciting! And the whole phone thing I know you're thinking that he could call collect and pay Hermione back later, but that doesn't work for my story! I hope you are liking it so far! I think that now that there will be more dialogue and less explaining I'll be able to write quicker!