The Knife

Back at Grimmauld Place, Harry, Hermione and all the Weasley children carried on with the party. It wasn't until about one a.m. that Harry managed to drag himself up to his bedroom, much to the disappointment of Fred and George who had wanted to take him to a strip club on Knockturn Alley.

Falling into bed, Harry suddenly remembered that he had left one present unopened. With a groan he got up again and rummaged around until he unearthed the little silver package, and then quickly unwrapped it. Inside was a letter wrapped around what seemed to be a long sharp dagger. Slightly confused, Harry unrolled the letter and started to read it.

So, it began, there may be a slight chance I overreacted a bit.

Harry laughed. That was Sal all over, straight to the point.

It wasn't until later on that I realised just howimmature I had been. I shouldn't have just walked out. To be fair, I did come back to your house later to…well, to accept your apology, admittedly, but you had already left.

The thing is, it sounds terrible (especially when I write it down), but I was getting a bit worried about you. Dudley had been telling me for ages that you were teetering on the brink of insanity – yes I am aware that he is the world's biggest prat, but still.

Not to mention the fact that Petunia came round the other day to have a 'little chat' with my mum, and just dropped in that the school for the criminally insane was doing wonders for you but that you did have occasional relapses.

I'm not saying I believed her, because I didn't. But then when you said you were going away and you wouldn't tell me where, and you introduced the owl into the equation (which is strange you have to admit); by the time you grabbed my arm there was a little alarm bell going off in my head saying 'Psycho! Psycho! Run for the hills!'

So I did. I don't know why – maybe I've been watching too many Hitchcock films.

Funnily enough, I was sitting in my room thinking about what happened when your owl turned up outside my window.

Harry looked up at Hedwig, who was now sitting on her perch, eyeing him lazily. He was reminded of the time, just before his thirteenth birthday, when Hedwig had flown backwards and forwards to Ron and Hermione to make sure that they sent cards and presents.

He grinned at her, making a mental note to buy some owl treats when he was next in Diagon Alley.

Your owl is gorgeous, by the way the letter continued. I had meant to give you your present before you left, so I just sent it.

I should explain the present. Do you recognise it? When we went to that little shop in the village, I noticed that you kept picking it up and playing with it. So I got it for you. I think it's a letter opener.

Ah well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It's probably highly illegal.

Harry put down the letter and picked up the knife. Suddenly he remembered.

A few days previously, Harry and Sally had gone into the centre of Little Whinging - a shopping district consisting of a small supermarket, a post office, a wool shop and a very out of place antiques shop.

In the antiques shop, Harry had been curiously drawn to a long, thin dagger with a golden hilt, which on closer observation seemed to be a miniature version of the sword of Godric Gryffindor that Harry had pulled out of the sorting hat in his second year.

At the time, he had been so surprised that he had spent several minutes holding it up to the light before putting it back again.

And now it was here.

Lightly running his fingers over the flat of the blade, Harry began to read the letter again.

Anyway, that pretty little owl of yours is welcome here any time. I still don't understand why we can't use good old Royal Mail or – if we're being really technologically advanced – the telephone, but I'm not going to let it bother me.

Love Sal

xxx

Harry put down the letter, and dropping to his knees began to rummage through his trunk for some parchment and a quill.

Sleep, he decided, would have to wait.

"Hedwig must be exhausted, the amount of letters you've been sending to that muggle girl," said Ron crossly, as the snowy owl dropped yet another envelope into Harry's lap.

"Are you kidding?" replied Harry, ripping it open, "She gets spoiled so much at Sal's I swear she's gaining weight."

Hermione came into the garden where the boys were sitting; carrying a tray bearing three glasses of lemonade. As she put the tray down on the ground, she caught sight of the letter in Harry's hand.

"Another letter from her?" she said, with just a hint of jealousy.

Harry nodded, and quickly put the letter in his pocket.

Although she never would have admitted it, as Harry's only female friend, Hermione was beginning to feel slightly usurped. It was in fact Sally who had suggested to Harry that he might want to be a bit more discreet.

Sensing the tension, Ron quickly changed the subject. Hermione, however, remained visibly tense for quite a while.

Sally sat up in bed. Straining to see in the darkness, she listened carefully, and felt a sudden chill run down her spine. She was almost certain she could hear breathing.

Heart hammering, she slid out of bed, trying desperately to move as quietly as possible towards the door. The breathing was getting louder.

Only five steps to the door, she told herself. Four, three, two… A hand shot out of the shadows and grabbed her hair. Before she could scream, a flash of red light pierced the darkness.

She was unconscious before she hit the floor.

A/N: Firstly I would like to thank all my lovely reviewers, especially Star 19 and Fictionair. Also thank you to my semi betas juno malabre (who listens patiently to my ideas before i write them down) and fippets (who reads over my shoulder and laughs at my spelling mistakes.) Both of them are much better than me so read their fics (after reviewing mine of course)! Juno malabre has a particularly good new one call stockholm syndrome. Anyway, end of plug...

Those of you who read regularly (yay!) will notice that the title has changed. The original title was actually meant to be the title of the first chapter but I accidentally put it in the wrong box and...well its all sorted now. Also I have overhauled all the previous chapters so (fingers crossed) they should be easier to read and make slightly more sense...