If Only Life Were Like This
by Josh McCusker
Chapter One
The Dursleys
The streets of Little Whinging were sullen and dark in the lazy heat of the summer evening. The only moving being appeared to be a dark-haired cat that was sitting on the garden wall of Number Four, seemingly watching the house. Being nearly one in the morning, all the houses but this one were dark. On the second floor of the house, in the back, one light was still burning. This was not the only thing strange about Number Four, for it was also the only house on the block that seemed to be attracting owls to it.
Inside the lit room of Number Four, a teenaged boy sat at his desk staring out of the window at the night sky. The open window allowed a slight breeze to caress his face, but he still sat with sweat beading on his forehead. Naked from the waist up, Harry Potter was desperately trying to concentrate on his homework, but the heat kept him from it nearly as well as Ron could with a game of Wizard's Chess.
Just as he was about to bring his quill back to the parchment, Harry saw the owls coming through the night sky and stood up, a smile brightening his otherwise dark face. It wasn't long ago that Harry had hated his birthdays, but in the last few years he had come to anticipate them as much as any other teenaged boy.
Four owls burst through his window and landed on the desk. Each seemed to be fighting to be first to deliver their respective packages, but Harry went immediately to his own owl Hedwig. Tied to her leg was a package that seemed to be from Hermione, her neat scrawl decorating an elaborately wrapped gift. As he removed it, he put it on his bed and began the task of removing the larger, brown-paper wrapped one from the small, baseball-sized owl called Pigwidgeon. Terribly excited to have been relieved of his delivery, Pig began to flutter around the room rather loudly and making Harry quite glad that he'd put up a silencing charm the moment midnight had struck.
The third owl was obviously a Hogwarts owl, carrying a package he guessed was from Hagrid and his annual Hogwarts letter. The fourth owl however was quite strange and unexpected. Suddenly worried that the Ministry didn't follow the concept of midnight as the determining factor of his coming of age, Harry was glad to see that the package attached to the bird was personal.
When he'd removed it, the elegant owl took off immediately and disappeared into the night sky. Intrigued, Harry made to open this one first.
Once done, he was surprised to find an ornately decorated ring and a note:
Harry,
This is in hopes that everything goes as it should. Please accept it and remember that I loved you once and hope to love you forever more. Please put it on and remember.
The note was unsigned, and Harry had the sneaking suspicion that it might be from Ginny. He had believed she was over her crush on him, but it was possible she would still have some sort of feelings. This thought only lasted a moment before he realized that her present would be with the Weasleys' other gifts and that she could never afford such a ring.
Further interested, he began to study the ring even more and noticed some strange markings on the band, but it was otherwise completely unmarked.
Though he thought he should speak with someone first, something made him feel that this ring was not meant to cause harm. Before he could second guess himself, he had put it on his right-hand ring finger. Immediately he saw it glow bright blue and felt warmth spread up his arm and throughout his entire body. No pain or other danger signs came however, so he imagined he hadn't misjudged.
Admiring the ring for but a moment, Harry soon moved on to his other gifts, resigned to trying to find out who the giver of this ornate gift was later. Hermione had sent him a box of Honeyduke's Chocolates and a muggle book called 'Dealing with Death by Dr. Johan Michaelson, PHD'. Included was a small note:
Harry,
Happy Birthday! I expect Ron will tell you about this as well, but I've received a letter inviting me to come to the burrow the week before we leave for Hogwarts. I look forward to seeing you very much. Harry, I can't deny that I've been very worried about you this summer. I've often thought of calling you, but my parents have kept me quite busy with summer work in their office. I won't pretend that I mind the distraction.
My mum recommended the book I've given you in light of your situation. I hope you'll find it helpful. Please don't be angry.
See you soon!
Hermione
Harry frowned and put the parchment on his desk, trying to keep his anger from swelling by distracting himself with Ron's gift. Another box of chocolates and a long note telling of his adventures during the first month of summer with no mention of anything that had happened last year gave Harry a bit of a strange sensation. He found also a few home-baked goods from Mrs. Weasley, which he was happy to have what with Aunt Petunia still on her diet kick for Dudley.
Suddenly feeling very tired, Harry patted Hedwig and made his way to the bed. Putting out the light and falling into bed felt very good, and he was asleep before he'd even removed his glasses.
The morning seemed to come faster than Harry hoped, the sun's hot rays baking his naked chest as he lay waking in the bed. Feeling like he'd rather go back to sleep, but knowing the sun was already too high for him to stay in bed, Harry forced himself to sit up. He rubbed his eyes to try and get the sleep out, yawning and seriously considering charming the door shut and hiding in his room for the day.
After a few minutes, he reached around for his glasses and put them on, looking instinctively to Hedwig's cage to see if she had enough food. It was when he saw her cage missing that he started to wake up enough to notice the room was not as he'd left it the previous night.
Where his desk had been a chest now sat, brimming over with what appeared to be old toys of Dudley's. In place of a dresser, Harry saw more broken toys and a television. The decisive lack of his things caused Harry to jump out of bed and search for his wand. He found it under a pair of jeans and brandished it as he searched out any indications of trouble.
When nothing attacked, Harry took in a few breaths and tried to figure this out. The jeans on the floor appeared to be his, but they were his size and in good condition. Harry was used to Dudley's second-hand clothing, so anything that fit properly didn't seem right to him here at Privet Drive. Nervous, Harry pulled them on over his boxers and retrieved the tee-shirt that also seemed to be his. Now dressed, he decided nothing would answer his questions here, so he would have to go down and see if the Dursleys had an idea of what was happening.
When he yanked the door open, Harry noticed that all of the locks were missing and made a mental note of it before he bounded down the stairs. His wand still at the ready but now tucked under his tee shirt, so as not to upset his aunt and uncle, Harry entered the kitchen and found Aunt Petunia making breakfast at the stove.
"Morning Harry," she called jovially when she noticed him. Taken aback by her tone, Harry gawked at her silently. "Would you like some breakfast? I've eggs and bacon, sausages and … Harry, what's wrong?"
Harry wasn't able to bring himself to speak. In the sixteen years he'd known Aunt Petunia, Harry had never heard her sound anything like this. Something was very wrong and Harry was more scared by her smile than he was by a horde of Death Eaters.
"Harry? Your Aunt asked you a question." The voice was unmistakable, but as Harry turned his eyes on Uncle Vernon, they bulged and almost shot out of his skull. Sitting at the kitchen table were his uncle and his cousin. It wasn't so shocking that they were sitting at breakfast, but it was shocking that both of them appeared to have lost a horrible amount of weight overnight. Uncle Vernon, who had had more chins than twins the night before now looked as though he worked out on a regular basis. Dudley was still big-boned, but he was trim and well toned now, his face looking perplexed and almost – but Harry couldn't even bring himself to apply the word 'kind' to Dudley; it just wasn't possible.
"I – I'm sorry," he stumbled after a moment. Turning once again to Aunt Petunia he said shakily, "I – I'm fine." Unsure how to proceed, Harry decided to play along until he could get some answers. He figured his best bet was to get out of the house and contact Dumbledore as soon as possible.
"Well, are you up for breakfast?" Petunia asked, seemingly content with his assertion.
"Sure," he answered, putting a smile on his face.
He tried to keep his smile while his aunt served him and Dudley read the sports section while his father read the business. The whole feel of the morning routine was so surreal that Harry felt he must be dreaming, but a quick pinch under the table assured him he wasn't.
After gulping down all of the food and more than his share of orange juice, Harry had a quick thought that he should have probably been more cautious before eating this food. When he didn't die, he guessed it hadn't actually been a problem.
Standing up, he made to pick up his dishes out of habit when yet another shock came.
"Oh don't bother, Harry," his aunt said with a smile. "I'll take care of that."
"Right," he said, replacing the plate on the table. "Well, I'll just be … off then," he said cautiously.
"You're not waiting for your father?" his uncle asked from behind the paper.
"My – My what?"
"Your father, Harry," his uncle said, pulling the paper down and cocking his head. "Are you sure you're alright, boy?"
"Fine. I'm fine. No, I'll just… go. Right. See ya!" He took off down the hall and yanked open the door quickly, determined to get out of the house before they could stop him. As he flung himself through the door, he did so right into a man who had been standing there about to ring the bell. Falling to the ground on top of him, Harry panicked and tried to extract his wand so fast that he ended up hitting the man in the face.
"Harry! What on earth – "
Harry immediately froze. Terrified to look, Harry wasn't surprised by what he saw when he finally did, but instead very upset. There, under him on the ground was his father. Quite alive and dusty, it was definitely James Potter.