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Chapter 3

The next morning brought with it a lazy sunshine that cast an early sleepy glow over the town of Little Whinging. Harry lay awake in his bed, watching the dancing shapes of light on his ceiling, out of pure boredom, if nothing else. He had been laid in silence for a short while, but there was a noise from the road below that caused him to freeze suddenly. He had been subjected to a lot of paranoia these past few weeks, and his body ran cold with dread when he heard something slightly out of the ordinary.

It'll just be Mr. Bagshaw of No.2 going to work. Harry told himself, sinking back into his pillows.

But Harry then realised with a jolt that it was Saturday morning, and nobody on this street worked on Saturdays. He shot up out of bed again and scrambled out of the covers. He wanted to see what it was so he could at least push away some of the anxiety strangling his chest. He pushed away his curtains slowly and he looked carefully out of his window to watch the early morning glaze of weak sunlight over the street, lighting up the rows of shining parked cars in their drives. Harry's eyes darted around for the source of the noise, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.. until, he saw a parked car outside of the opposite house, No. 11.

No. 11 Privet Drive, had been on the market for little under a week and it had already been sold? Harry was no expert on real estate, but he was sure it needed more than a week for money transactions.

The car parked outside the house was a small old dingy looking Beetle of a rather disconcerting shade of green. Harry leant forward a little as he watched three car doors open and saw a small family exit the vehicle. So far, there wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. But then the girl who got out of the back seat was looking straight at the No. 4 house. She looked back to what must have been her parents who were shutting the front car doors quietly. Harry saw her lips move, but could not hear what she was saying. Then, suddenly, all three of them looked up at the Dursley's house. The girl had her eyes fixed upon Harry's bedroom window. Harry snapped back from the window so swiftly he felt his neck crick.

Why were they looking at the Dursley's house?

He rose up slowly again, peering out of a tiny gap in his curtains, feeling somewhat foolish as he tried to not be seen. They had stopped looking at the house now and were walking to the No.11 house, the house that was sold. Harry took this opportunity of their attention taken for him to study their appearances. The girl caught his eye first. She was only young, possibly around eleven years old. She walked slowly up the driveway behind her parents, long black hair swishing behind her in the sunlight. Harry then noticed that her mother too shared the long black hair, and also adopted a tall willowy form that her child would no doubt blossom into as she got older. The man instead had short brown hair, and walked smartly up the drive in strides beside the ebony haired woman.

Harry saw the girl peer around her shoulder to look back at the Dursley house, and Harry sunk down sharply under his window. Behind him, Hedwig woke with an interested hoot as she watched the activities from the top of the wardrobe. Harry, thinking Hedwig out hunting, started in surprise and shot up from the floor, his forehead meeting the window ledge. It made a sickening crack and Harry felt his world lurch around as he fell on the floor dazedly.

"Ergh.." Harry slowly pushed himself up, holding his head. It had hit him right where his scar was, and that seemed to have made the initial pain all the worse. It was stinging now. Not the bump, but the scar itself and it made Harry feel unpleasantly sickly. He rose up onto his knees slowly, pulling himself back into bed so he could lie down for a moment. But the bump seemed to have given him incentive to sleep, and the rest turned into a gentle slumber.

Harry trudged back upstairs grudgingly after his breakfast. It had not been a fun affair since Uncle Vernon had decided Harry was a lazy toe rag for sleeping in. He slumped into his room slowly, dropping down to sit on his bed, which gave a doleful creak beneath him. Harry slowly rubbed at his head, still feeling his scar twinge and sting uncomfortably. His hand massaged it slowly for a minute before he walked over to his window, the curtains now drawn back, glowing sunlight pouring into his room. Slowly running his hand through his untidy hair, he looked across the road to No. 11, wondering what the family were up to now and how they would celebrate their move. Things were looking generally normal that morning, until with a sudden shock he saw that instead of the clapped out green Beetle; on their drive stood a large silver BMW glinting pristinely in the sunlight.

Harry stared at it. The registration was exactly the same as the previous Beetle.

Down below his window he could see Uncle Vernon and his Aunt Petunia stood by their own large expensive car, whilst Uncle Vernon made a loud affair of washing his car and talking about it to Aunt Petunia.

"16 inch alloy wheels you know.." he informed Aunt Petunia, who no doubt already knew this, nodded in response.

"And don't forget the climate control," she said loudly, casting a shrewd glare to the new family across the road.

Harry slowly pushed back from his window, turning and then hurrying downstairs in order to go and get a better look of the BMW across the road. He leapt down the last two steps of the staircase and pushed out of the front door to stare at his Uncle and Aunt on the drive. They swivelled their eyes displeasingly on him like he was ruining the show.

But Harry ignored them; he just slowly moved to the side and peered across to the driveway on the opposite side of the small road. He was right, it was the exact registration; even Harry could vaguely remember that.

"What are you doing?" growled Uncle Vernon, making a clawed swipe for Harry's head, he promptly sidestepped it.

"Who are they?" asked Harry, looking to his Aunt Petunia.

"They moved in this morning," said Aunt Petunia knowledgably, "I shall invite them round for tea tonight. Be friendly."

Harry knew that being friendly wasn't the real intentions; it was 'find-out-everything-about-new-neighbours session', and also pick out anything remotely weird about them whilst also boasting about Dursley's good fortune and wealth.

Harry only hoped he wouldn't have to attend.

Aunt Petunia brushed past Harry suddenly and strode down the soapy wet driveway, then crossing the small road towards No. 11; the woman was exiting her new house.

Harry watched carefully as he saw his Aunt Petunia and the woman talk quietly, shrewd smiles passing from Aunt Petunia whilst the woman nodded interestedly. Within a few minutes, the woman had returned indoors and Aunt Petunia was returning to the driveway, "They are coming over tonight at 7. She was oddly eager. Perhaps she knows it'll do her well to mix with the likes of us."

Harry held back a scornful snort, eyes turning to watch the house curiously opposite him. It was possible that he had seen things that morning.. he had hit his head, it might have made his mind get somewhat confused. But in the back of his mind, he knew.. there was something not right..

The table was laid, and Aunt Petunia was once more in her pink cocktail dress. Vernon Dursley was stood in front of the living room mirror, fastening up his tie, and grunting as Dudley prodded him idly with his Smeltings stick whilst complaining about the company. Harry remained sat glumly in the kitchen, eating his small tea of a baked potato. He watched idly as his Aunt bustled around the kitchen, checking the heat was right for the salmon and that the white wine sauce was ready for serving. Harry wondered when he could bring up the subject of the Prophecy again, he wanted to know more on Petunia's views..

Just then, the doorbell rang, and Harry heard Dudley howl as he was promptly removed of his stick.

"Get the door, Duddy-diddims!" cooed Aunt Petunia sickeningly as she made sure her hair was neat in the hall mirror. Harry took this as his cue to disappear upstairs and slouched out of the kitchen to hurry towards the stairs. Once he reached the top, he paused to listen to the greetings.

"Hello!" trilled Aunt Petunia nasally, "Dudley, dear, take their coats and hang them up."

"Good evening," came a female voice, and Harry strained his neck round to peer down the stairs and watched the black hair woman walk in, giving her long black coat to Dudley who had a faint scowl on his face.

"I'm Vernon Dursley," said Vernon proudly, thrusting his hand into the other mans before he could even set foot into the house, "this is my wife Petunia, and our son, Dudley."

Dudley scowled all the more.

"I'm Gregory Mactor, this is my wife Ella, and my daughter Hazel."

Both Ella and Hazel smiled gently to the Dursleys, each shaking hands in turn.

"Erm.." said Ella politely, looking around the three Dursleys as if something was hiding behind them, "Isn't there another boy?"

Vernon bristled quietly, "Sorry?"

"There's another boy.. living here. I saw him this morning.." Ella gave a gentle smile, "Oh.. is he shy of visitors? No worry, Hazel's a good girl, the three can go and play."

Dudley gave an ugly growl. He did not 'play' at 16 years old. Especially not with eleven year old girls.

Vernon flashed a steely look with Petunia before he looked back to Ella and called very roughly, "HARRY!"

Hazel jumped back a few feet at the shout and promptly clutched upon her father. Harry, being only at the top of the stairs, crept quietly into view and slumped down the stairs with a quiet sigh. "Be polite," hissed his Aunt as he joined the small group in the hall. Harry slowly raised his head to glance around the Mactor family.

"Hello.."

It seemed that Uncle Vernon did not want Harry talking to them for long, for he bustled everyone into the dining room, quickly saying, "Right, I'm famished, Petunia dear, will you bring in the food?"

The Mactors followed into the dining room quietly and cast politely interested glances around the room, before they seated themselves at one end of the dining room table. Vernon sat next to Gregory, Dudley next to his father. Harry dropped into a seat beside Ella, watching his tablemat glumly. He really did not want to be here.

Aunt Petunia hovered into the room with a brisk sniff and placed down plates in front of the Mactors. She did a few more short trips before she seated herself at the head of the table and cast a faint smile at the visitors. Harry stared at his plate. She had given him a tiny amount from her own plate, but it was a large helping compared to what he was normally given. Feeling a sudden desire to try salmon, Harry quickly grabbed his cutlery and tucked in as the others did.

Harry dreamily ate his last piece of cheesecake and leant back in his seat feeling satisfied and full. He only spoke to the Mactors when he had to and he was careful to be polite to them. But now, he idly watched out of the glass doors that led to the conservatory as he watched the warm evening settle around Privet Drive. Moths gently fluttered up to the windows at the light before bouncing off and gracefully circling before trying again.

Uncle Vernon was loudly talking about his drill company to Gregory, whilst Aunt Petunia was discussing their new bathroom suite with Ella. Harry glanced over to Hazel who was watching him closely from her seat. When he met her eyes, she quickly looked down at her plate. Harry was too sleepy to care and made a relaxed sigh.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and Vernon quickly looked at Harry pointedly. Harry said nothing; he just calmly swivelled up from his chair and walked slowly into the hallway and to the front door. At the table, Gregory and Ella shared a glance before looking back to the Dursleys.

Harry undid the latch on the tall front door and pulled it back slowly to peer out into the red darkness of the summer night. A large hulking figure glared down at him, body completely in shadow from the backing streetlights. Harry stared, tempted to shut the door and run. Then suddenly, he saw something blue glint on the figure's face, something blue, round, and it was whizzing around searchingly very quickly..

Oooh, cliffhanger! Please review!