Harry slammed the door to his room and threw himself down on his desk chair. Fuming, he stared blankly at the wall in front of him. Every time Uncle Vernon opened his mouth it made Harry hate him even more. Harry's door slowly creaked open. Standing in the entrance was Dudley, taking up the entire space.
"Does ickle Harry not like his friends picked on?"
"Shut up."
Dudley's piggy eyes narrowed, "Oh, yeah, well what are you gonna do about? If you don't want to be kicked out of that crack pot school of yours, you'll do nothin'."
"Get out of my room!"
Dudley grinned evilly, "Oh, I hit a cord. There's nothing you can do about it."
Harry had an idea, "If you don't like my friends, why don't you do something about it? Or are you afraid of her?"
Dudley "hmphed" his way out of the room. Harry knew his cousin well enough to know that tomorrow Sillas would be in trouble. He wasn't worried about it though, Sillas was of age, and she was allowed to do magic. Harry imagined what Sillas was going to do and he couldn't help but laugh. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.
The next day Harry woke up early and, for once, not out of a nightmare of his late godfather. Dressing without turning on the lights, Harry let himself fully wake up. Dudley would go meet his little gang after breakfast. They would probably trash the park first, and then beat up the little first grader that lived down the street. If Sillas was out of doors, they would most likely go after her. Harry felt it was his responsibility to warn her, even though he would like to see Sillas go after his fat cousin.
Harry sat down at his desk and pulled a piece of parchment towards himself and began to write a quick note
Sillas,
My cousin is going to try to go after you with his gang. Its kinda my fault, but I thought you could take care of yourself. Dudley doesn't like witches; he's afraid of them. He shouldn't be too much trouble, but if you want to avoid it, just stay inside today.
Harry
Yeah that looks alright Harry thought. Hedwig was sleeping in her cage, having been out hunting all night. Harry gently poked her until she woke up. She wasn't happy about it and she nipped him.
"Ow! Listen, this will only take you a minute. Just take across the road to Sillas, that's all."
Hedwig eyed him for a moment, and then she slowly stuck her leg out.
"Thanks, Hedwig."
She flew out the window. While she was gone, Harry cleaned out her cage, which had begun to smell. He was just finishing up when Hedwig soared back through his window. In her beak was a note. Relieving her of the message and letting her return to her nap, Harry read:
Well, I'll just have to see this with my own eyes. I'll try to make it as painless as I can. No, wait, I'm lying. If your cousin is foolish enough to start trouble, then I'll just have to finish it.
Sillas
Harry grinned. His cousin had been asking for this for years. It was time he learned a real lesson.
Putting on his rather torn up trainers, Harry went downstairs. Aunt Petunia was already preparing breakfast. Uncle Vernon was reading the morning paper, but Dudley was still wallowing in bed. Harry picked up a piece of toast and pulled the marmalade towards himself.
Aunt Petunia called upstairs, "Duddikins, your breakfast is all ready!"
There was a loud thump, thump as Dudley made his way down the steps.
"Good morning Diddydunkins, here you go a nice fresh half melon. You've lost so much weight this summer, I'm sure you'll be off this diet in no time."
Harry thought this
was a little too much like wishful thinking on Aunt Petunia's part.
True, Dudley HAD lost a little weight, but not nearly enough to
constitute any praise.
Dudley ate his half melon in two bites,
and then left the kitchen without a word to his mother. Harry
followed him outside. Across the street Sillas was trimming roses.
Harry could see Dudley eyeing her as he almost ran to his gang's meet
up place.
Harry walked across the street.
"Hey, Harry. What do you think of my roses?"
"Um, there nice, but they weren't her yesterday."
"Of course not, they just grew today. One of my experiments; turned out well."
Sillas continued pruning her flowers while Harry watched.
"Say, Sillas..."
"Yes?"
"What exactly is the Protess Potion?"
Sillas stopped trimming, but didn't turn around, "Where did you hear about that?"
"Er, from a friend of mine. You're listed in my potions book too."
Sillas sighed, "The Protess Potion is dangerous if not done correctly."
Harry couldn't find out anything else because at that moment Dudley showed up with four of his friends.
