C H A P T E R
O N E
N O
B O O K S ?
The last day of summer was drawing nearer, and the normally calm and quiet Privet Drive was going back into the hustle and bustle of school. Every one was shopping for new school clothes, and school supplies. Cars would zoom past every now and then. The only person not getting new school stuff was a sixteen-year-old boy named Harry Potter. He was lying down on his back on the roof of number four. He was quite skinny with jet black hair, and he was wearing old hand me downs. Torn jeans and a faded T-shirt that was much to big for him. Harry was watching the boring puffy white clouds form above him, for there was nothing else to do. He'd much rather stare at floating marshmallows in the sky than be yelled at by his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, but he knew he couldn't stay for much longer. "I'll bet Uncle Vernon's wondering where I am right now." Harry said to himself. He sighed at the thought of it and enjoyed his time on the hard tile roof, still warm from the afternoon sun, while he could.
Since the summer was soon to come to an end Harry was getting exited to go back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He couldn't wait! He, Harry, would soon be leaving the Dursley's to go back home. Back to where he belonged, at his true home, in the magic world. He couldn't wait to have everything back to normal, and he wondered who was going to be the new defense against the dark arts teacher. "I sure hope ruddy old Professor Snape doesn't get the job," he thought, "that would be the worst thing that has ever happened to Hogwarts!" Well not really, of course Harry was just exaggerating, but he really hated Professor Snape. He was the meanest professor that Harry had ever had, that is other than Professor Umbridge. Now she was the meanest professor Hogwarts had ever had. He didn't think any professor could be meaner than her. He was also exited to see his two best friends Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger. He was so happy imagining that he was back at Hogwarts that he almost forgot he was still laying on the Dursley's roof. He slowly started to roll off, picking up more speed at the bottom. CRUNCH! He fell a couple feet and landed in the flowerbed smashing a few flowers along the way. He had used the flowerbed as a hiding spot the previous year. His aunt and uncle found him there though and thought he was plotting something evil against them, so he moved to the roof. Where he could finally get some peace.
He decided to go inside before to late or uncle Vernon would get mad. So he got up and started walking inside for dinner. On the way he met Uncle Vernon at the front door step staring at him with furry.
"Where have you been boy?" he growled.
"Outside," Harry replied.
"Outside where?" he snarled his face turning deep plum purple.
"Out in the back...err...looking at the clouds." which was partially true.
"You liar." he muttered letting Harry past.
Harry went in and sat at the table for dinner. He waited patiently just sitting there at the dinner table, so he wouldn't cause any trouble. When dinner was ready he got up and took the meal to the table. He got the usual small and nasty proportion of the meal. Which he usually didn't feel like eating at all, but this time he had something else on is mind. He ate a few quick bites and ran upstairs to his room. Ignoring Uncle Vernon's yells, he grabbed his quill and a piece of parchment and wrote.
Hermione
Did you get the letter with all the books and stuff we
need for our sixth year. I didn't get it yet, and to-
morrow's already the last day of summer. If you
got it would you please send it to me? Thanks.
Harry
"Hedwig!" Harry called, "I have a job for you." Hedwig hurried to Harry, exited to finally be let out again. Harry tied the note to Hedwig's leg. "Give this to Hermione please, and wait for her reply before you come back." Hedwig gave Harry a look as if to say I'd love to, and flew out the open window into the sunset. Harry watched Hedwig fly away, but just as the beautiful white owl slowly shrunk into a little speck on the horizon the speck began to grow again, as if she had made turned around was on her way back. "Why is she coming back?" Harry thought, but then he noticed it wasn't Hedwig. It was a different owl. Gray. It flew closer, and landed on Harry's windowsill, with its leg stretched out to give Harry the note. He took it off and unrolled it. It was from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
Have you gotten the letter from Hogwarts telling you
all the books you need yet. I wasn't expecting it to come so
late. It should have come last week. I'm sure you have it th-
ough. Could you please send me a copy? Thank you.
Hermione
"Hermione didn't get it either?" Harry thought confused, "That's weird. Why would they not send a letter to either of us. Or maybe they didn't send a letter to anybody. Maybe I should ask Ron." Harry wasn't quite sure what was going on. He took out his quill and two more pieces of parchment and started writing. On the first piece of parchment he wrote.
Ron
Did you get the letter with all the books and
stuff we need for our sixth year. Hermione and
I didn't get it. If you have it would you please
send both of us a copy. Thanks
Harry
Harry tied the note to the owl that brought Hermione's letter, and told him it was for Ron. The owl pecked at Harry, as if to say no, and stood there stubbornly. "Take this letter to Ron then come back, and you can send the next one to Hermione." The owl looked at Harry his eyes saying FINE! Then he flew out the window to Ron's place. Harry started to write a letter to Hermione, but couldn't figure out what to write yet. Harry put down his quill, and waited for Hedwig to come back with Hermione's reply. He lay down on his bed and thought about it for a while. He almost fell asleep when Hedwig came back. Harry got up and untied the letter on Hedwig's foot. Unrolled it and read it.
Dear Harry,
You haven't gotten the letter either. That's
odd. I wonder if Ron got the letter. I'm going to
send a letter to him and ask him if he got it. Please
write back.
Hermione
Harry picked up his quill and started to write back to Hermione.
Hermione
I already wrote a letter to Ron. He'll send
us copy if he got it. I'll write back and tell you
if he didn't get the letter either. I hope he did
though. Or how will we know what we need to
bring to Hogwarts.
Harry
As soon as he finished, the owl that had brought Hermione's first letter returned with Ron's answer. Harry took it off and read it.
Harry
I was just going to ask you that! I didn't get it either!
I don't think they sent it to any one. Either that or they sent
it to every one but us three. What should we do? Please wr-
ite back.
Ron
Harry picked up his quill and quickly scribbled out the letter he had written to Hermione and started over again
Hermione
I already wrote a letter to Ron. He'll send
us copy if he got it. I'll write back and tell you
if he didn't get the letter either. I hope he did
though. Or how will we know what we need to
bring to Hogwarts.
Harry
Hermione
I already wrote a letter to Ron. And I
just got his reply, and he said he didn't
get it either. What should we do?
Harry
"You can send this back to Hermione now" Harry told the owl. And it fluttered out the window to it's destination. Harry leaned back in his chair and thought, as he waited for Hermione's response. "Why had they not sent us our letters? How were we to know what to bring to Hogwarts? What were we supposed to do? Go without knowing what to bring? Why were they just----" "HARRY!" Uncle Vernon bellowed from downstairs. "How many times do I have to tell you? If you want your dessert come get it! I'm not going to call you down here for food again, so if you don't come down in time, you don't eat!" This was the normal invitation Harry got to come down and eat, but it wasn't so normal this time. This invitation was only for the particular meals of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. "Dessert?" Harry thought, he had never been invited to eat dessert with them before no matter what kind of invitation it was. "This isn't right," Harry thought, "what are they planning? Are they planning to surprise me? Are they planning to murder me? Or are they just being plain mean by giving me some disgusting dish as a so called dessert?" Harry stuck his wand in his pocket just incase they planned to murder him, and hurried down stairs straight to the kitchen. There he met Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and his cousin Dudley sitting down at the table eating ice-cream sundaes. There was an empty spot for Harry, where he expected to see a bowl with a blob of poop in it. As he walked closer, to his surprise he found it was an ice-cream sundae. He stared at the Dursleys blankly with his mouth open as if to ask why they had done this, but nothing came out of his mouth except for a weird gurgling sound. He sat down and ate the sundae in silence. It was the best thing he had ever eaten in this house of number four Privet Drive. The only place he had had anything as good, or better, was at Hogwarts. Harry ate gazing at the Dursleys still expecting them to say something, but they just sat there eating their sundaes in peace. It was very odd, and definitely not normal for Harry and the Dursleys to eat ice-cream sundaes in peace, or anything in peace. Or for them to be eating ice-cream sundaes at all for that matter. Rather it be in peace or not.
As soon as Harry finished eating he ran up stairs to tell Ron and Hermione about his dessert. He expected to hear Uncle Vernon yell after him, but he didn't even hear as much as a peep from down stairs. He went to his bedroom, and found an owl on his windowsill with Hermione's message tied to its claw.
Dear Harry,
I have an Idea. I've sent a letter to Ron
asking him to ask Fred and George what they
needed in their sixth year. Then we would at
least know what the basics are. They might
have updated since Fred and George's sixth
year, but it's still worth a try. We'll meet you
at the entrance of Diagon Alley Tomorrow.
Hermione
"Well, I'm glad that's all figured out." Harry thought, as he sent the owl back to Hermione with a short letter saying 'Okay." Harry was too tired to write any more letters so he decided to tell Ron and Hermione about his strange dessert with the Dursleys when he got to Diagon Alley the following day. He gently bribed Hedwig into her cage, and closed the metal door shut tight. He slumped down on his bed. And pulled over his covers without changing his clothes. "I hope they haven't updated too much since Fred and George's sixth year." Harry thought. His pillow being so soft, and being tired from so many letters, it didn't take him long to go to sleep. In no time hes was drifting away in his fantasy land of dreams—drifting..............."OUCH! We can't get in!" Hermione shouted. Harry saw that Hermione had crashed into the wall between platforms nine and ten. "The dream..." Harry said silently to himself. "Oh no!" exclaimed Ron, "this happened to us the second year too!" "Dobby stop it!" Harry shouted "I'm going back to Hogwarts whether you like it or not!" he yelled frantically. Dobby's voice was ringing in his mind, "Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts!" "Open Sesame!" Ron stammered, "Aloha Mhora...whatever!" he shouted pointing his wand at the solid brick wall as if it were to open up. "That's not going to work Ron!" Hermione explained, "the wall between platforms nine and ten is a..." Harry spun around and............... "Harry! How many times do I have to tell you!" shouted uncle Vernon interrupting his mysterious dream. "I was just coming!" Harry replied sleepily, as he pulled over the covers and got out of bed. "It seems Uncle Vernon's Normal again." Harry thought, streaching. Luckily he kept his clothes on from the night before so he ran down stairs as quickly as possible to go cook breakfast.
"Get in the car!" Uncle Vernon shouted at Harry. "I'm coming!" he answered frantically packing the last of his stuff, and dragging his suitcase along with Hedwig downstairs. "And hurry up with it!" Vernon added looking at Harry with disgust and anger in his eyes. Harry dragged his suitcase down the last steps and left the door. Scurrying into the car he glanced up at the clear blue sky and saw what appeared to be an owl. A very small owl. Harry didn't have much time to look at things in the sky, but if he hadn't been mistaken that small owl seemed to be blue. "What kind of owl was that?" Harry thought to himself as Uncle Vernon backed out of the driveway. "I've never seen a blue owl that tiny before, actually I don't think I've ever even seen a blue owl before." Harry thought. "Maybe I should ask Hermione, I'm sure she'll........." The thought was shaken out of his head when it hit the seat in front of him from a sudden jerk. "What was that all about," he wondered looking around. Then he realized the stoplight had just turned red, and Uncle Vernon had slammed down hard on the break pedal to stop in time. "I hate it when he does that!" he whispered quietly to himself, but he might have whispered too loud, because there was another jerk. This time he was flung hard into the back of his seat. It was just a green light. Silence. But what did you expect. A friendly conversation between Harry and his Uncle? Never in a million years. It was always this way in the car with the Dursleys. Harry had gotten used to it, but this time the silence got to him. It was much too quiet. "It's too quiet," Harry thought, "No!" He shook the thought out of his head it was always this way. Quiet. It had never bugged him before. "This is perfectly normal for a car ride with the Dursleys." He assured himself, but for reason the silence still bugged him. He wouldn't have to worry about it for long though. "Get out we're here!" Uncle Vernon shouted, interrupting Harry's thoughts. He stepped out of the car and dragged his luggage and Hedwig with him to the edge of the street as Vernon sped straight out of sight. Through the cars whizzing past, he could see Hermione and Ron on the other side of the street waiting for him. He quickly but carefully crossed the street when no cars were zooming by and headed towards them. Just as he was about to tell them about the strange blue owl he saw Draco Malfoy walked by. "Well if it isn't Potter and his little friends," he smirked. "Mind your own business!" Hermione snapped. "What are you doing here?" Malfoy continued as if Hermione hadn't said a thing. "Getting our books for school," Harry answered. "What does it look like?" Ron added. "Shut up Weasly!" Malfoy sneered, "You guys are getting your books for school? Well it's not my time you're wasting it's yours." "What are we supposed to do? Go to Hogwarts without our books?" Hermione snapped back glaring at him with anger. "Shut up mud blood!" he barked sounding almost like Uncle Vernon. "Jerk!" Hermione Muttered. "What was that?" Malfoy questioned, staring at Hermione with furry. She didn't say a word. "Well then good day Potter, Granger, Weasly." He sneered, turning to each of them as he said their name. "And good luck on your books!" he smirked, he flipped around and marched away with his cape flying behind him. "What's his problem?" Ron asked as they walked towards the entrance to Diagon Alley. "He's obsessed with making fun of us." Hermione replied. "Just to make himself feel better!" Harry added.
"So hi Harry how was your summer?" Hermione asked.
"Great!" he answered sarcastically,
"Just fantastic!"
"I thought you'd say that" she continued.
"How 'bout yours?"
"Oh, it was okay, I didn't do much."
"You Ron?"
"Same, I didn't do much either"
"Well we need to get our supplies now!" Hermione reminded them.
"Right, okay so this is what we need to get," Ron said reaching into his pocket for the list. His fingers rummaged around in his pocket until he reached the bottom. It was empty.