Chapter Three:
Dudley's Crush
Harry awoke to the sound of a car engine on the road outside his window. He leaned over and glanced at his clock. 11:34. Wonderful.
He rolled out of bed and threw on some jeans and an old shirt. Looking in the mirror desperately, he tried to calm his hair, but it just wouldn't stay down.
Harry decided that he was hungry enough to go and try to have a bit of breakfast. He walked past Dudley's room, where he could be heard playing an advanced level videogame. A few years ago, Harry would have given anything to have his own Playstation, but now that he knew what else there was out there, (i.e.: secret wizarding communities, magic spells, and an evil man out to kill him), he didn't see the point in wasting his time playing car chasing games.
Aunt Petunia was sitting next to uncle Vernon in the kitchen. They were both facing the doorway, as if waiting for their scrawny nephew. However, Harry had grown a lot this summer, and not just physically. He was pretty sure he could deal with whatever they were about to tell him.
"Good morning!" Harry said cheerfully, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
All he got in response were a couple of blank stares.
Harry made for the cupboard; he was in the mood for some really sugary cereal. The kind with the marshmallows in it.
"You've had a telephone call."
Harry spun around so fast, the bits of candy from his breakfast flew about the room.
"What was that?" he said curiously.
Vernon started again. "Some girl. I've forgotten her name."
Harry glared at his uncle, about ready to fire off. "Uncle Vernon, I really need you to think, who was it?"
His uncle's face revealed that he was thinking hard about this. On one hand, he had a piece of information that he could dangle over Harry's head. On the other, they might be coming to take him away like the previous summers.
Harry's face started to turn a claret red. He was trying to restrain himself. Just then, his aunt came to his rescue.
"Oh go on then, Vernon, just tell him."
Harry was just as shocked at this streak of kindness as her husband was.
It apparently took Harry's uncle a lot of self-determination to actually give his nephew something he wanted.
"You've got to stop them calling here. It's a zoo."
Harry just looked at his uncle expectantly. Who would be calling him? Hermione was on vacation somewhere far away, what other girls did he know? His thoughts rested briefly on Cho, but he shook her out of his mind - that was long over.
Vernon looked at the young boy. Finally, he seemed to give way. "Ginny something or other. But you best not tie up our phone lines talking, you hear? We don't pay that much so you can - "
But Vernon Dursley didn't even get to finish his sentence. Harry was already halfway up the stairs, heading for the other telephone.
It was only when he put his hand on the receiver that he realized he didn't have a number to reach the Weasleys at. They communicated by use of magic, and Harry had nothing of the sort. But then, why was he so worried about contacting the WEASLEYS? Wasn't it only GINNY who had called him? Surely if there had been any plans to remove him from Number Four, Ron would have called. So then what was this about.
He was feeling very distressed. Harry didn't often receive phone calls. He looked around the hallway, wondering what he should do. The first thing he thought of was to go and finish his breakfast.
Harry sat at the table, watching the morning news while he ate his food. The newscaster was saying something about rabbits. The adults of the house were talking in the corner, making sure to hush their voices. It seemed as if they were avoiding their nephew. But then again, that had been happening all summer. With the exception of the small period of time between his first and second years, (when his family was unaware he could not practice magic out of school), the Dursleys had tried to make his life as miserable as possible. Before Harry could think about this more, however, the doorbell rang.
Aunt Petunia looked at him and said sharply, "Well?"
He knew that his aunt expected him to answer the door, so he rose from his seat and headed towards the front of the house.
Harry looked through the peephole to a peculiar sight.
Standing there were three people, two of which were unfamiliar to him, but one whom he knew very well. He flung open the door.
"HARRY!" came the high-pitched, girlish shriek. He whipped around just in time to catch her in his arms.
Hermione Granger jumped up and gave him a big hug. "Harry! Wow, you've gotten taller. We've come to take you with us! Oh you look dead tired, I'm sure-"
"How did you get here?"
Hermione looked at him like he must have been the stupidest person alive.
"Well, we drove, of course."
Harry beamed at her, admiring her newly tanned skin and still extremely bushy hair, which was thankfully pulled back in a low ponytail. "Come on then, let me show you the house."
Harry let her parents in and introduced himself. It was then that Mr. And Mrs. Dursley exited the kitchen and saw the Grangers. They looked very uncomfortable to have these strangers in their house.
"C'mon," Harry said. I'll show you around.
Hermione smiled and followed him upstairs. Harry made quite an ordeal of opening his bedroom door in a very fancy way and led her into his room. He could tell from her face that she didn't like it, but she said, "Oh, well, it's very, er, nice." Harry laughed at her, and replied, "You're joking right? It's rubbish!" She looked very relieved that he could joke about his less than admirable living quarters, but nonetheless she still continued to act as if she liked it. "No, really, I, -"
Harry looked at her expectantly. "Yes?"
"Oh who am I kidding," she said, "It is rubbish."
Harry laughed again and pulled her out, showing her the rest of the house. He opened the door to his cousin's room. Dudley looked up from his video game to see who was intruding on him. He took a double take, however, when he saw Hermione standing there. Obviously he had never thought that he would ever live to see a girl standing in his room. He tried to stand up, but either he lacked the muscle strength to do so or he just weighed so much that it was physically impossible. Whichever one, though, didn't matter, because Hermione went straight over to him and offered him her hand to shake. "Hello," she started, "My name's Hermione Granger."
Dudley took this opportunity to wipe all the greasy chip crumbs from his stubby fingers and shake her hand delicately. "I'm Dudley."
It was obvious that Dudley was quite taken with her, but Harry promised himself that he would only use this bit of information if extremely severe taunting were necessary.
Dudley soon recovered himself, and went back to being the impossible, overgrown child that he was. "So I guess you finally found yourself a girlfriend, Potter!"
Harry was momentarily confused by this, but Hermione, thinking fast, said, "Hmm, I don't think much of this mess." motioning to the pile of rubbish beside the youngest Dursley. "Maybe I'll just-" Hermione brandished her wand, knowing full well how terrified Dudley would be. And she couldn't be more right. The speed at which Dudley Dursley then left the room defied the laws of physics.
Hermione looked around Dudley's bedroom, obviously thinking that it was much nicer than Harry's. But just then, her parents came through the door and said, "You had better gather your things, Harry dear, we have to be on our way."
Harry and Hermione ran back to his room to grab his trunk. Luckily, he had packed it all the night before. Harry lifted the luggage while Hermione took Hedwig's empty cage. They trooped downstairs with his school things, and put them next to the door. Mr. Granger stooped over and picked up his trunk. Harry then offered to take the birdcage from his friend, and the four of them went off to the Grangers' car. Harry waved enthusiastically back at his relatives, who only looked at him, apparently dumbstruck.
After all of his things were packed in the rear compartment of the car, Harry and Hermione piled in the backseat while her parents sat in front. Harry looked around the impeccably clean automobile, and then horror struck.
"Hermione," he began, "I haven't been to pick up my school things yet. How am I-"
Hermione giggled and said, "Don't be silly. We're going shopping tomorrow morning."
Harry smiled at her, and leaned back in his seat, very content.
"Wait a minute," he said, "When did you all plan this?"
This time it was Hermione's father that spoke.
"You didn't think we'd leave you all by yourself for the entire summer, did you?"
Then, her mother chimed in.
"Yes, its just a pity we didn't come to collect you sooner. Hermione's been hassling us to come by all summer ."
Harry smiled at his friend, seeing for the first of many times just how lucky he was to have her around.
*** Harry had had no idea how close the Grangers really lived from the Dursleys. It was no more than a 45-minute car ride, and that was with traffic.
Their house was very nice. Although the outside looked nothing more than average, the inside was decorated with what could only be incredibly expensive. The furniture itself must have cost more than the Dursley's entire house. There were paintings covering every wall, and a fireplace in every other room. Hermione, however, seemed not to notice the luxury she lived in. She walked right in and plumped down on a large couch in the middle of a sitting room. She said, "Well come on then, have a seat."
Harry sat next to her, all the while looking at their lavish surroundings. "You have a really nice house, Hermione."
"You think so?" she said. "I've always thought it was a bit, I dunno, much."
Harry laughed at her and asked her where the bathroom was. It wasn't a surprise to him that it was also decorated as if the people who used it had a ridiculous amount of money to spend. He looked in the mirror at himself and realized that he was still dressed in the grubby clothes he had thrown on this morning.
He exited the bathroom and went over to ask Hermione where he would be sleeping. Before he had seen her home, Harry had pictured himself sleeping on a couch, not that he would have cared. But now he wasn't sure what to expect.
Hermione showed Harry to the guest bedroom, which goes without saying that it was much nicer than Harry's own. He threw his trunk down and looked around. There was a television in the corner, and a sliding glass door that led out onto his own private balcony. He was amazed.
Hermione told him that he would be sleeping in here.
"Where's your room?" Harry asked.
Hermione led him out into the hallway and to the left. There was a wooden door with a flowery sign that read HERMIONE. Harry smiled at this and followed her inside.
Her room was surprisingly less decorated. There were only the essentials; a bed, a desk, a closet, and what seemed to be an attached bathroom. Okay, so maybe a bit more than the basics.
Harry gazed at her incredibly clean room. She then said to him, "I know, I'm sorry, it really is a mess."
Harry gave out one really loud laugh and then followed a semi-embarrassed Hermione downstairs.
***
They left their house at 9:00 am on the following morning. The 3 Grangers and Harry all got into what appeared to be a minivan. It wasn't a very long drive, but Harry couldn't wait for it to be over. He and Hermione talked constantly the entire way there, and her parents kept giving them strange looks for the entire car ride.
Harry was eagerly anticipating their arrival at Diagon Alley. They drove up to the Leaky Cauldron and parked across the road. The group of four went in the inconspicuous bar and out the back door. Entering the magically concealed street wasn't a problem for them; Hermione simply tapped the special brick with her wand and they were in.
Harry looked longingly at the street covered with witches and wizards of all sorts. He finally felt like he was somewhere where he fit in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Why are you here?" the shadow person said. Sirius had to admit he didn't know. "Where is here??" The man just looked at him and said, "It isn't your time. You shouldn't be here." It was Sirius' turn to stare at him. "Wait, what? Where am I? Who are you? What is this?" "Too many questions. One at a time, please." "Where is Harry?" The man looked at him, evidently thinking. "We do not know a Harry. Where you are is the Realm of Passing." Sirius stared at the man. "And what the bloody hell is that?"
Harry awoke to the sound of a car engine on the road outside his window. He leaned over and glanced at his clock. 11:34. Wonderful.
He rolled out of bed and threw on some jeans and an old shirt. Looking in the mirror desperately, he tried to calm his hair, but it just wouldn't stay down.
Harry decided that he was hungry enough to go and try to have a bit of breakfast. He walked past Dudley's room, where he could be heard playing an advanced level videogame. A few years ago, Harry would have given anything to have his own Playstation, but now that he knew what else there was out there, (i.e.: secret wizarding communities, magic spells, and an evil man out to kill him), he didn't see the point in wasting his time playing car chasing games.
Aunt Petunia was sitting next to uncle Vernon in the kitchen. They were both facing the doorway, as if waiting for their scrawny nephew. However, Harry had grown a lot this summer, and not just physically. He was pretty sure he could deal with whatever they were about to tell him.
"Good morning!" Harry said cheerfully, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
All he got in response were a couple of blank stares.
Harry made for the cupboard; he was in the mood for some really sugary cereal. The kind with the marshmallows in it.
"You've had a telephone call."
Harry spun around so fast, the bits of candy from his breakfast flew about the room.
"What was that?" he said curiously.
Vernon started again. "Some girl. I've forgotten her name."
Harry glared at his uncle, about ready to fire off. "Uncle Vernon, I really need you to think, who was it?"
His uncle's face revealed that he was thinking hard about this. On one hand, he had a piece of information that he could dangle over Harry's head. On the other, they might be coming to take him away like the previous summers.
Harry's face started to turn a claret red. He was trying to restrain himself. Just then, his aunt came to his rescue.
"Oh go on then, Vernon, just tell him."
Harry was just as shocked at this streak of kindness as her husband was.
It apparently took Harry's uncle a lot of self-determination to actually give his nephew something he wanted.
"You've got to stop them calling here. It's a zoo."
Harry just looked at his uncle expectantly. Who would be calling him? Hermione was on vacation somewhere far away, what other girls did he know? His thoughts rested briefly on Cho, but he shook her out of his mind - that was long over.
Vernon looked at the young boy. Finally, he seemed to give way. "Ginny something or other. But you best not tie up our phone lines talking, you hear? We don't pay that much so you can - "
But Vernon Dursley didn't even get to finish his sentence. Harry was already halfway up the stairs, heading for the other telephone.
It was only when he put his hand on the receiver that he realized he didn't have a number to reach the Weasleys at. They communicated by use of magic, and Harry had nothing of the sort. But then, why was he so worried about contacting the WEASLEYS? Wasn't it only GINNY who had called him? Surely if there had been any plans to remove him from Number Four, Ron would have called. So then what was this about.
He was feeling very distressed. Harry didn't often receive phone calls. He looked around the hallway, wondering what he should do. The first thing he thought of was to go and finish his breakfast.
Harry sat at the table, watching the morning news while he ate his food. The newscaster was saying something about rabbits. The adults of the house were talking in the corner, making sure to hush their voices. It seemed as if they were avoiding their nephew. But then again, that had been happening all summer. With the exception of the small period of time between his first and second years, (when his family was unaware he could not practice magic out of school), the Dursleys had tried to make his life as miserable as possible. Before Harry could think about this more, however, the doorbell rang.
Aunt Petunia looked at him and said sharply, "Well?"
He knew that his aunt expected him to answer the door, so he rose from his seat and headed towards the front of the house.
Harry looked through the peephole to a peculiar sight.
Standing there were three people, two of which were unfamiliar to him, but one whom he knew very well. He flung open the door.
"HARRY!" came the high-pitched, girlish shriek. He whipped around just in time to catch her in his arms.
Hermione Granger jumped up and gave him a big hug. "Harry! Wow, you've gotten taller. We've come to take you with us! Oh you look dead tired, I'm sure-"
"How did you get here?"
Hermione looked at him like he must have been the stupidest person alive.
"Well, we drove, of course."
Harry beamed at her, admiring her newly tanned skin and still extremely bushy hair, which was thankfully pulled back in a low ponytail. "Come on then, let me show you the house."
Harry let her parents in and introduced himself. It was then that Mr. And Mrs. Dursley exited the kitchen and saw the Grangers. They looked very uncomfortable to have these strangers in their house.
"C'mon," Harry said. I'll show you around.
Hermione smiled and followed him upstairs. Harry made quite an ordeal of opening his bedroom door in a very fancy way and led her into his room. He could tell from her face that she didn't like it, but she said, "Oh, well, it's very, er, nice." Harry laughed at her, and replied, "You're joking right? It's rubbish!" She looked very relieved that he could joke about his less than admirable living quarters, but nonetheless she still continued to act as if she liked it. "No, really, I, -"
Harry looked at her expectantly. "Yes?"
"Oh who am I kidding," she said, "It is rubbish."
Harry laughed again and pulled her out, showing her the rest of the house. He opened the door to his cousin's room. Dudley looked up from his video game to see who was intruding on him. He took a double take, however, when he saw Hermione standing there. Obviously he had never thought that he would ever live to see a girl standing in his room. He tried to stand up, but either he lacked the muscle strength to do so or he just weighed so much that it was physically impossible. Whichever one, though, didn't matter, because Hermione went straight over to him and offered him her hand to shake. "Hello," she started, "My name's Hermione Granger."
Dudley took this opportunity to wipe all the greasy chip crumbs from his stubby fingers and shake her hand delicately. "I'm Dudley."
It was obvious that Dudley was quite taken with her, but Harry promised himself that he would only use this bit of information if extremely severe taunting were necessary.
Dudley soon recovered himself, and went back to being the impossible, overgrown child that he was. "So I guess you finally found yourself a girlfriend, Potter!"
Harry was momentarily confused by this, but Hermione, thinking fast, said, "Hmm, I don't think much of this mess." motioning to the pile of rubbish beside the youngest Dursley. "Maybe I'll just-" Hermione brandished her wand, knowing full well how terrified Dudley would be. And she couldn't be more right. The speed at which Dudley Dursley then left the room defied the laws of physics.
Hermione looked around Dudley's bedroom, obviously thinking that it was much nicer than Harry's. But just then, her parents came through the door and said, "You had better gather your things, Harry dear, we have to be on our way."
Harry and Hermione ran back to his room to grab his trunk. Luckily, he had packed it all the night before. Harry lifted the luggage while Hermione took Hedwig's empty cage. They trooped downstairs with his school things, and put them next to the door. Mr. Granger stooped over and picked up his trunk. Harry then offered to take the birdcage from his friend, and the four of them went off to the Grangers' car. Harry waved enthusiastically back at his relatives, who only looked at him, apparently dumbstruck.
After all of his things were packed in the rear compartment of the car, Harry and Hermione piled in the backseat while her parents sat in front. Harry looked around the impeccably clean automobile, and then horror struck.
"Hermione," he began, "I haven't been to pick up my school things yet. How am I-"
Hermione giggled and said, "Don't be silly. We're going shopping tomorrow morning."
Harry smiled at her, and leaned back in his seat, very content.
"Wait a minute," he said, "When did you all plan this?"
This time it was Hermione's father that spoke.
"You didn't think we'd leave you all by yourself for the entire summer, did you?"
Then, her mother chimed in.
"Yes, its just a pity we didn't come to collect you sooner. Hermione's been hassling us to come by all summer ."
Harry smiled at his friend, seeing for the first of many times just how lucky he was to have her around.
*** Harry had had no idea how close the Grangers really lived from the Dursleys. It was no more than a 45-minute car ride, and that was with traffic.
Their house was very nice. Although the outside looked nothing more than average, the inside was decorated with what could only be incredibly expensive. The furniture itself must have cost more than the Dursley's entire house. There were paintings covering every wall, and a fireplace in every other room. Hermione, however, seemed not to notice the luxury she lived in. She walked right in and plumped down on a large couch in the middle of a sitting room. She said, "Well come on then, have a seat."
Harry sat next to her, all the while looking at their lavish surroundings. "You have a really nice house, Hermione."
"You think so?" she said. "I've always thought it was a bit, I dunno, much."
Harry laughed at her and asked her where the bathroom was. It wasn't a surprise to him that it was also decorated as if the people who used it had a ridiculous amount of money to spend. He looked in the mirror at himself and realized that he was still dressed in the grubby clothes he had thrown on this morning.
He exited the bathroom and went over to ask Hermione where he would be sleeping. Before he had seen her home, Harry had pictured himself sleeping on a couch, not that he would have cared. But now he wasn't sure what to expect.
Hermione showed Harry to the guest bedroom, which goes without saying that it was much nicer than Harry's own. He threw his trunk down and looked around. There was a television in the corner, and a sliding glass door that led out onto his own private balcony. He was amazed.
Hermione told him that he would be sleeping in here.
"Where's your room?" Harry asked.
Hermione led him out into the hallway and to the left. There was a wooden door with a flowery sign that read HERMIONE. Harry smiled at this and followed her inside.
Her room was surprisingly less decorated. There were only the essentials; a bed, a desk, a closet, and what seemed to be an attached bathroom. Okay, so maybe a bit more than the basics.
Harry gazed at her incredibly clean room. She then said to him, "I know, I'm sorry, it really is a mess."
Harry gave out one really loud laugh and then followed a semi-embarrassed Hermione downstairs.
***
They left their house at 9:00 am on the following morning. The 3 Grangers and Harry all got into what appeared to be a minivan. It wasn't a very long drive, but Harry couldn't wait for it to be over. He and Hermione talked constantly the entire way there, and her parents kept giving them strange looks for the entire car ride.
Harry was eagerly anticipating their arrival at Diagon Alley. They drove up to the Leaky Cauldron and parked across the road. The group of four went in the inconspicuous bar and out the back door. Entering the magically concealed street wasn't a problem for them; Hermione simply tapped the special brick with her wand and they were in.
Harry looked longingly at the street covered with witches and wizards of all sorts. He finally felt like he was somewhere where he fit in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Why are you here?" the shadow person said. Sirius had to admit he didn't know. "Where is here??" The man just looked at him and said, "It isn't your time. You shouldn't be here." It was Sirius' turn to stare at him. "Wait, what? Where am I? Who are you? What is this?" "Too many questions. One at a time, please." "Where is Harry?" The man looked at him, evidently thinking. "We do not know a Harry. Where you are is the Realm of Passing." Sirius stared at the man. "And what the bloody hell is that?"