Chapter Nine:
"Bloody hell! What's all this?"
"Oh, shit! I can't believe I forgot. It's my birthday."
Thirty owls had entered the old house through any open windows they could find. Three
even fluttered out of the chimney.
"You're lucky the sun hasn't risen yet. Or every muggle could come here to see what the
hell was going on."
"Yea, yea, just shut up and help me out."
All thirty (Harry had estimated thirty anyway) tried to push their way up to him, causing
painful clawing at Harry's skin. Another stream of owls flew into the house.
"Hold it! Any owl bearing fain mail please leave now with your letters." A majority of
them left, but a significant amount still lingered.
"Ok now, Ian can you untie all the ones who bear packages?"
Ian sighed and gathered up the handful of birds who looked weary of travel from the
weight of the packages tied to their legs.
"The rest of you just drop off your letters. I assume they're from friends and the lot."
After the chaos had been sorted and all owls with the exception of Hedwig left, Harry
began to look through the mail. Sure enough, the first one was from none other than Albus
Dumbledore.
* * * * * * * * * *
The ancient wizard put down his quill to read the letter he had just written.
Dear Harry,
I hope this letter reaches you in time for your 16th birthday. It is an important birthday so it is a shame we could not be with you to celebrate it. I do have a gift to give you, though I'm sorry to say it is much too delicate and precious to send through mail. So instead I shall give it to you next time we meet, which I presume will be September 1st? As you may know, I hope to see you well before then, as do your friends.
Harry, your friends miss you terribly. Please spare them any more pain and send a reply. It has been nearly a month since you have last been heard from. Assuming you are still reading this letter I will go on.
I know there is nothing I can do to completely regain your trust, but I hope that someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me. Not only just for the sake of an old man's conscience, but for your own as well. I understand how foolish I have been- how we all have been. And it's horrible that these realizations should have to come from Sirius's death. If you are able to accept the plain truth, then accept this: Sirius's death was not your fault. I can only hope you have come to realize this already instead of spending the summer in misery. He'd never want you to hurt, Harry.
If I do not have your trust, I want you to know that you have mine. Yes Harry, I do trust you. Though it may be hard to believe, I do what I do to spare you of any more grief than that of which you already had to endure. It must sound like I am contradicting myself, and in a sense I am. But I hope that most negative feelings you have towards me have dispersed.
With these things in mind I hope you have a wonderful summer. And I hope that you will contact myself or Remus soon, as well as your friends. Because I cannot give you your gift at the moment, I hope you'll accept what I have enclosed in the package as what you may call a temporary gift.
Signed,
Albus Dumbledore
"Yes, I suppose that will have to do for now. Archimedes, will you please?"
A tawny owl flew from a perch onto Albus's desk. He sealed the letter and tied a small package
to one of the owl's legs. The headmaster sighed as the owl flew out of his window and
disappeared into the distance. Albus then turned to a small dish under the perch to his right.
"Don't worry Fawkes, after your rebirth you'll be my first choice for sending mail."
And with that the phoenix burst into flame.
* * * * * * * * * *
"That conceited git!" Harry crumpled Dumbledore's letter into a ball and threw it over his
shoulder. Kicking the package aside, he walked over to the refrigerator to grab a beer.
Ian grabbed a bottle for himself and told Harry he would be upstairs. As soon as Ian's
footsteps could be heard over head, Harry ran to retrieve the letter and uncrumpled it. He
brought the package to the kitchen table and opened it. A small book fell into the palm of Harry's
hand along with a note.
Harry,
This is a book of charms you might find useful for your 6th year. I thought you might like to get a head start in what ways you can since you have no magical object in your current possession other than your wand. The book has been shrunken. To unshrink it point your wand and say "Maximus." To return it to its smaller form say "Minimus."
Harry took his wand out of his back pocket. He always kept it there, despite Moody's
warnings the previous summer. Not once had his buttocks been blown off.
"Maximus."
The book grew and now the title was clear: 1000 Useful Charms and Their History.
Harry shrugged, "Might as well," and began to flip through the book's pages.
There were an assortment of charms and spells useful for various tasks. Some could prove
to come in handy in battles and duels, like the Reflecting Shield. Others were very simple and
made house work easier. Harry glanced at the Disappearing Dust Charm and snickered. Mrs.
Weasley would love that. Harry shook his head at the image of Mrs. Weasley crying over him.
He cursed at himself under his breath for even thinking of her.
*This is why I'm here in the first place, to forget about all that stuff.*
* * * * * * * * * *
Professor Dumbledore,
Just writing to tell you that I'm safe and all is well. Tell everyone I said 'hello.' Yes, you will see me on September 1st, and no sooner. Oh, and thank you for the gift.
Harry-
"Well, he sounds alright. I must admit, it does lessen my worries a bit." Remus paused and
looked at the headmaster, " Albus, is something wrong?"
Dumbledore seemed to snap out of a reverie.
"I'm sorry Remus. It's just that...something seems off. I cannot quite put my finger on it."
"How do you mean?"
* * * * * * * * * *
"Argh, Harry! Not again! You can't keep doing this." Ian shook a hardly-conscious Harry
at the kitchen table. Harry stirred, then slowly sat up. He squinted at Ian, too intoxicated to pick
up his glasses.
"Huh? Nooo, I dun' wanna get up now, too early!"
"It's 12 in the afternoon. You've been asleep for...well, I'm not really sure. I went upstairs last night and you were down here. Damn Harry, have you been up drinking all night?"
Harry closed his eyes and put his head on the table once more.
"Yea, you're nearly worse than me." Ian started for the door but something caught his
attention out of the corner of his eye. It was Dumbledore's letter.
"Hey, I though you threw this out..." Ian took a few moments to read the letter.
"Gift?" He spotted the book. He picked it up and began to flip through it, his eyes grew
wider with each page turn.
"This is amazing, all these spells! Wish I could do this shit...God, they're really worried
about you. You have to write back."
Ian looked at Harry. His eyes caught the mess of beer bottles on the floor.
"Well, you're certainly in no condition to at the moment. I'll do it for you."
Harry mumbled something incoherently, but otherwise made no attempt to argue. Ian
wrote a short letter to the man named Albus Dumbledore and hoped it would pass for Harry's
handwriting. Hedwig patiently waited for the muggle to tie the letter to her foot, and then flew
out into the summer heat.
~~~
A/N: I hit a bit of writer's block but once again, the reviews are encouraging. Thanks.
"Bloody hell! What's all this?"
"Oh, shit! I can't believe I forgot. It's my birthday."
Thirty owls had entered the old house through any open windows they could find. Three
even fluttered out of the chimney.
"You're lucky the sun hasn't risen yet. Or every muggle could come here to see what the
hell was going on."
"Yea, yea, just shut up and help me out."
All thirty (Harry had estimated thirty anyway) tried to push their way up to him, causing
painful clawing at Harry's skin. Another stream of owls flew into the house.
"Hold it! Any owl bearing fain mail please leave now with your letters." A majority of
them left, but a significant amount still lingered.
"Ok now, Ian can you untie all the ones who bear packages?"
Ian sighed and gathered up the handful of birds who looked weary of travel from the
weight of the packages tied to their legs.
"The rest of you just drop off your letters. I assume they're from friends and the lot."
After the chaos had been sorted and all owls with the exception of Hedwig left, Harry
began to look through the mail. Sure enough, the first one was from none other than Albus
Dumbledore.
* * * * * * * * * *
The ancient wizard put down his quill to read the letter he had just written.
Dear Harry,
I hope this letter reaches you in time for your 16th birthday. It is an important birthday so it is a shame we could not be with you to celebrate it. I do have a gift to give you, though I'm sorry to say it is much too delicate and precious to send through mail. So instead I shall give it to you next time we meet, which I presume will be September 1st? As you may know, I hope to see you well before then, as do your friends.
Harry, your friends miss you terribly. Please spare them any more pain and send a reply. It has been nearly a month since you have last been heard from. Assuming you are still reading this letter I will go on.
I know there is nothing I can do to completely regain your trust, but I hope that someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me. Not only just for the sake of an old man's conscience, but for your own as well. I understand how foolish I have been- how we all have been. And it's horrible that these realizations should have to come from Sirius's death. If you are able to accept the plain truth, then accept this: Sirius's death was not your fault. I can only hope you have come to realize this already instead of spending the summer in misery. He'd never want you to hurt, Harry.
If I do not have your trust, I want you to know that you have mine. Yes Harry, I do trust you. Though it may be hard to believe, I do what I do to spare you of any more grief than that of which you already had to endure. It must sound like I am contradicting myself, and in a sense I am. But I hope that most negative feelings you have towards me have dispersed.
With these things in mind I hope you have a wonderful summer. And I hope that you will contact myself or Remus soon, as well as your friends. Because I cannot give you your gift at the moment, I hope you'll accept what I have enclosed in the package as what you may call a temporary gift.
Signed,
Albus Dumbledore
"Yes, I suppose that will have to do for now. Archimedes, will you please?"
A tawny owl flew from a perch onto Albus's desk. He sealed the letter and tied a small package
to one of the owl's legs. The headmaster sighed as the owl flew out of his window and
disappeared into the distance. Albus then turned to a small dish under the perch to his right.
"Don't worry Fawkes, after your rebirth you'll be my first choice for sending mail."
And with that the phoenix burst into flame.
* * * * * * * * * *
"That conceited git!" Harry crumpled Dumbledore's letter into a ball and threw it over his
shoulder. Kicking the package aside, he walked over to the refrigerator to grab a beer.
Ian grabbed a bottle for himself and told Harry he would be upstairs. As soon as Ian's
footsteps could be heard over head, Harry ran to retrieve the letter and uncrumpled it. He
brought the package to the kitchen table and opened it. A small book fell into the palm of Harry's
hand along with a note.
Harry,
This is a book of charms you might find useful for your 6th year. I thought you might like to get a head start in what ways you can since you have no magical object in your current possession other than your wand. The book has been shrunken. To unshrink it point your wand and say "Maximus." To return it to its smaller form say "Minimus."
Harry took his wand out of his back pocket. He always kept it there, despite Moody's
warnings the previous summer. Not once had his buttocks been blown off.
"Maximus."
The book grew and now the title was clear: 1000 Useful Charms and Their History.
Harry shrugged, "Might as well," and began to flip through the book's pages.
There were an assortment of charms and spells useful for various tasks. Some could prove
to come in handy in battles and duels, like the Reflecting Shield. Others were very simple and
made house work easier. Harry glanced at the Disappearing Dust Charm and snickered. Mrs.
Weasley would love that. Harry shook his head at the image of Mrs. Weasley crying over him.
He cursed at himself under his breath for even thinking of her.
*This is why I'm here in the first place, to forget about all that stuff.*
* * * * * * * * * *
Professor Dumbledore,
Just writing to tell you that I'm safe and all is well. Tell everyone I said 'hello.' Yes, you will see me on September 1st, and no sooner. Oh, and thank you for the gift.
Harry-
"Well, he sounds alright. I must admit, it does lessen my worries a bit." Remus paused and
looked at the headmaster, " Albus, is something wrong?"
Dumbledore seemed to snap out of a reverie.
"I'm sorry Remus. It's just that...something seems off. I cannot quite put my finger on it."
"How do you mean?"
* * * * * * * * * *
"Argh, Harry! Not again! You can't keep doing this." Ian shook a hardly-conscious Harry
at the kitchen table. Harry stirred, then slowly sat up. He squinted at Ian, too intoxicated to pick
up his glasses.
"Huh? Nooo, I dun' wanna get up now, too early!"
"It's 12 in the afternoon. You've been asleep for...well, I'm not really sure. I went upstairs last night and you were down here. Damn Harry, have you been up drinking all night?"
Harry closed his eyes and put his head on the table once more.
"Yea, you're nearly worse than me." Ian started for the door but something caught his
attention out of the corner of his eye. It was Dumbledore's letter.
"Hey, I though you threw this out..." Ian took a few moments to read the letter.
"Gift?" He spotted the book. He picked it up and began to flip through it, his eyes grew
wider with each page turn.
"This is amazing, all these spells! Wish I could do this shit...God, they're really worried
about you. You have to write back."
Ian looked at Harry. His eyes caught the mess of beer bottles on the floor.
"Well, you're certainly in no condition to at the moment. I'll do it for you."
Harry mumbled something incoherently, but otherwise made no attempt to argue. Ian
wrote a short letter to the man named Albus Dumbledore and hoped it would pass for Harry's
handwriting. Hedwig patiently waited for the muggle to tie the letter to her foot, and then flew
out into the summer heat.
~~~
A/N: I hit a bit of writer's block but once again, the reviews are encouraging. Thanks.