Swept Into The Wind
By: chocolateswirl88
There was something different about him. He looked different, but people could easily get used to the new looks and clothes. His perspective on life had changed. Changed to somewhat philosiphical, deeply-thought, extrodinary, mystical. His eyes darkened. No longer their bright shiney green, but to a deep emerald that every girl fell for. His attitude changed.
He was no longer seemed troubled. The depressed hue had left his eyes and was replaced by something people usually did not see: confidence. They had seen determination, but never confidence. The way he walked, the way he stood, the way he sat, the way he ate, the way he talked. Harry Potter had changed.
It was July thrityth. A month of the summer had past, and now two more months of freedom was all that was left. No one really seemed to care too much. Muggle children and teenagers made sure to make the last couple of months the most enjoyable by going on vacations, spending much time with family and friends outdoors, and constantly going places. Within the Dursley home, things were rather lazy and laid back. Dudley was still as fat as he had always been, constantly eating and sitting in front of the television throughout the first moth. July thirtyth was no differently in routine.
Petunia Dursley was busy about the kitchen that early afternoon, taking out things from the refridgerator, cabinets, and drawers preparing a rather festive and large lunch. Something from the stove top sizzled and smelled delicious. She bustled over with a hamburger flipper, carefully turning the baccon over to fry on the other side in what seemed to be a bit of oil. The thin blonde woman bent to open the oven and reveal a four beautiful different sized cake pans baking inside. Petunia smiled to herself, and began to hum a little tune that she heard from Harry's radio the other morning.
Vernon Dursley decended the stairs whistling the very same tune. He strode into the kitchen and kissed his wife tenderly on the cheek before going into the living room to ruffle his son's hair. The beefy man looked around the room, raising and eyebrow and cocking his head. There was still a person missing in the house, Harry Potter was no where to be seen indoors. Making way to the back windows, he spotted the black haired boy in the garden, weeding and tending the vegetables on his own account. No one had asked him to do so, at least he thought.
"Dudley?" Vernon asked, looking towards his song. He was only given a grunt in response. "Did you ask Harry to work in the garden?" The fat boy shook his head, his eyes never leaving the television. "Hmm." Vernon looked out the window. As he watched his nephew he felt a twinge of pain everytime he saw the boy. When he came back after his fifth year at Hogwarts he was so cast out that they decided things needed to change for the better of the boy, and for their family. They treated Harry with the kindness that he deserved. Dudley generally just ignored the boy, angered that he couldn't continue his favorite game of 'Harry Hunting' anymore. So his cousin's presence was nothing to him anymore.
However, Pentunia and Vernon treated Harry right, helping him with whatever he needed, and keeping the son of Lily and James Potter happy, well, and alive. It had been an awkward first month of summer, but they warmed up to eachother and started to become a family. Truthfully, they were happy. There were no worries but to keep their boys safe and happy. Vernon studdied the form of his nephew.
He deffinatly had grown into a well-built young man. His hair became tameable and he had gotten to cut short and spiked it in the front. He replaced his glasses with new and smaller ones that had not been broken several times in a gunsteel color. He grew several inches, now a towering 6"1' teenager. To Vernon, he wasn't anything like his father anymore. Harry was a general quite boy, very conservitive, observant, helpful caring, loving, and smart. He was much stronger and more muscular than he had ever been, which was all the more reason for girls to fond all over him. The beefy man grinned.
Vernon Dursley opened the back door and poked his head out, greeted by the bright sun and warm air. Harry was still bent over the same patch of tomatos completely oblivious to the presence of his uncle. Or at least, for a moment.
"Harry!" Vernon called, stepping out and closing the door behind him. Birds flew through the sky singing and playing with other birds before landing for a minute and a half then taking off again. Harry Potter looked up and gave a small grin. "You don't have to work in the garden today! Come on inside, Petunia has lunch almost ready!"
"I'm alright Uncle Vernon." He called, whiping a gloved hand across his face, leaving a trail of dirt across his brow. The spot where his lightening bolt scar had been was vacant. Harry had come across an ancient spell and finally got rid of the scar for good, making him a normal boy. To Petunia he was a normal boy, a normal boy with a few special abilities.
Of course, their change in behavior towards Harry was very sudden. His friends were not able to comprehend what was going on and demanded to know the truth. Eventually, Harry got so annoyed that he refused to write Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger back. They wouldn't understand, so he tore himself away from them and lived the way he had wanted to live for a long time. Happily with people that cared about him. Vernon gave another small smile.
"Come on inside and get cleaned up!" He called once again. "Don't want you smelling up your birthday lunch now don't we? Remember, we're going to the theator this evening. So you might as well leave the garden for Petunia and I to tend to to later. Go in and enjoy yourself!" Harry nodded, picked up his tools, and jogged over to the shed to put them away. The sun had browned Harry's body nicely, he was no longer extreemly pale like he used to bed. Harry James Potter was a downright stud. "Go on boy! Phew you smell like sweat!" Vernon gave him a playful shove into the house, closing the door behind himself.
Harry walked up the stairs of number four Privet drive and stole away in the large bathroom down the hallway. He had chosen a pair of dress slacks with faint yellow pinstripes down them, a light yellow shirt, and a matching jacket to he pants for the entage. He grabbed a pair of shiney black shoes and a pair of black and yellow socks. Letting out a sigh of contemptment as he stood under the hot stream of water, Harry grinned.
Nearly half an hour later, Harry submerged from the bathroom, sparkling clean, smelling lightly of musk, and dressed to appease. Placing his sweaty clothes into the hamper in the closet, he traveled down the stairs and into the kitchen. Pentunia rushed over and gave him a hug and a kiss on the forehead wishing him a Happy Birthday before bustling back over the stove. Sitting himself down across from his uncle, he saw a small pile of letters and cards in the center of the table. On the counter directly across from him was a rather large pile of presents from his aunt and uncle, Remus, Dumbledore, McGonagal, Snape even, The Weasleys, Hermione, and more. He raised an eyebrow and eyed the gift that was labeled from Hagrid, wondering what could possibly be in such a small package. He secretly feared for his life.
Ten minutes later, Petunia had lunch on the table and called Dudley in. They ate with light but happy conversation and finnished lunch in a relaxed amount of time.
"Vernon, could you help me bring the presents over to the table?" Petunia asked once the table was cleared and the cake was eaten. There were four extreemly large pieces wrapped up and placed in the refridgerator for later in the week. The pile of gifts were placed in front of Harry, who contemplated whos he should open first and whos he should open last. Making a mental note of how Ron and Hermione had been treating him, he reached for Vernon's gifts first.
His uncle had given him a handsome pen set with some very handsome buisness paper to write letters and what not on it. Then with the paper was a nice looking tie that was striped grey and black. Harry thanked him and reached for Petunia's parcells that awaited his fingers to rip open. He slid a slender, long finger under the fold where the paper had been taped down and gingeraly opened the parcelle without ruining the decorative heart wrapping paper.
A beautiful hand crafted gold frame lay inside its contents with the family picture they had taken merely 3 weeks ago. Harry had no clue when the pictures were coming in, and was pleasently surprised to find it as a birthday gift. He smiled a genuine handsome smile that caused everyone to smile at him back. Petunia handed him another parcell from her that had a new black suit with blue pinstripes. Coat, pants, and a dark blue shirt to go under.
He thanked Vernon and Petunia and reached for the gift from Dudley, whom stared at the tv in the other room. Inside was a black tie with blue bubbles on it, and a pair of black and blue socks. Harry had thanked his cousin, but the whale didn't hear him. Shrugging, Harry sighed and picked up the gift from McGonagal first.
It took at least an hour total to unwrap his presents. He was rather surprised to see a barn owl from Hogwarts perched outside the kitchen window, waiting for entry. Petunia hurried to open it, letting to owl in. It stopped on Harry's shoulder, held out its leg with his Hogwarts letter attached to it, and flew off once its' task was accomplished.
"What does it say?" Vernon asked, collecting the wrapping paper to throw it out. "It's a little to be getting your letter now isn't it?" Harry nodded, and raised an eyebrow, sliding the seal with a pocket knife open. A gold badge fell out and clinked onto the wood table top.
"Well, I've aparently made Head Boy, a year earlier then expected." Harry mused, reading the letter with a raised eyebrow. "McGonagal had something to do with this." He grinned. "Hermione was prefect along with Ron. She was bound to become Head Girl, but now that I've been given Head Boy Duties, she can no longer be head girl. It'll have to be someone from the other three houses." Petunia took the letter from him to read it.
"Congradulations Harry!" She threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. "I'd much rather you be head boy instead of that girl Hermione whom sent the howler." Vernon looked at his watch.
"Ah, we had better get going." He reported, pointing at his watch. "It's nearly two, the musical starts at half past three. Come Dudley, Petunia, Harry! We musn't be late." Harry nodded and quickly ran his gifts upstairs and placed them on his bed before returning to his family gathered in the hallway.
At least four hours later the Dursleys' plus one Potter returned home all reminicing about their favorite parts of the musical. Harry and Petunia had enjoyed the entire thing, while Dudley and Vernon liked several parts, but thought some of it to be borring. While out, they had stopped at Il Caffè di Stella di Famiglia ( The Family Star Café) for dinner. Full, tired, and ready for a good nights rest, Harry hugged his aunt and uncle goodnight and retired to his room for the night. When he fell asleep, a small grin was placed gently on his lips, feeling that this was the best birthday he'd had in a long time.
Off in the distance. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley argued on Harry's sudden show of affection towards his relatives, convinced that they put him up to it, and had finally done something about him since their letters began to come back to them.
"Have to help him!" Hermione said, heat radiating off of her body. She was angry, there was no way around it. Ron rolled his eyes.
"Hermione, he's going to Diagon Alley tomorrow afternoon. He always goes after his birthday. And I have a feeling that he's going tomorrow. We'll go and get our school supplies and meet up with him and see whats going on. Relax. I'm sure he's fine." Ron didn't sound too convinced of his own advice. But it seemed to cheer Hermione up, which was the only goal he had.
They sat at the window sill together watching the stars appear in the big black sky. It had seemed like hours to the couple, and eventually,Hermione fell asleep at Ron's shoulder. The redhead grinned and rested his chin on top of her head.
"He has to be fine." He whispered to the darkness before falling into a blissfull sleep. Dreams rendered no one's rest that night, for the world was truly at peace for once, and would be provoked in the later.
A/N: I do not Own Harry Potter. I just simply play with the characters D Please read and review and let me know what you think! I'll love you forever!
