Life's Surprises

Chapter 4

It was a normal, every day kind of day at the Dursleys. Harry was rudely awakened by Aunt Petunia. He was bitten by Alby while trying to clean his cage. (It was strange, the ferret always seemed to wait until he was gone to use the bathroom. He had gotten used to coming back into his room to find him waiting at the door of his cage, glaring at Harry, demanding to be out. He would quickly run under the bed, not emerging until Harry had removed the offending material, almost as if he was embarrassed by it.)

Then he made his way downstairs, tripping over one of Dudley's cars, and landing with a thump at the foot to the great amusement of his uncle. It was demanded of him that he prepare the bacon. He did.

Harry stood over the stove, prodding at the strips of fatty meat with a fork sullenly. Every once and a while, it popped, spattering him with boiling oil, but he didn't really care. It was nothing. He'd been in vastly more pain before, so who cared? All of this was so pointless.

"…Been a theft, Petunia," Uncle Vernon called to his wife, who entered the kitchen. She peered over Harry's shoulder, making a disapproving clicking sound at him, before sitting down and acknowledging her husband's comment.

"Oh, yes? Something valuable?"

"Seems like it." Harry heard a newspaper ruffling in the back ground. "Yes… a cup of some sort."

Harry froze. "A cup? Well, it couldn't have bee-," Aunt Petunia started, turning around to look at Harry. He stood over the table, brandishing the frying pan, still full of sizzling bacon.

"What cup? Stolen from where?" He demanded.

Vernon looked at him nervously; beady eyes glancing from the frying pan, to Harry's face, and back again. "Why do you care, boy? It's got nothing to do with you."

Harry set the pan down with a crash, neatly breaking Dudley's plate. "Give me that paper," He demanded.

"You order me around, boy? Go to your room. Now. No supper for a week." Uncle Vernon's voice was rising, his face turning its signature color of boiled lobster.

"I'll do magic,"

"You can't! Your ruddy school will throw you out, we know that, and-,"

"There isn't a school anymore. They've closed it. So if I need to use magic, I bloody well can," He said flatly.

"You…" Vernon glanced around wildly. His wife and son were both huddled behind him, with identical looks of terror on their faces. "You haven't got your wand."

Harry's hand flew to his back pocket, fingers scrabbling at nothing. He glared at Vernon. "Accio Paper!" He shouted.

The paper flew out of Vernon's hand, landing neatly in Harry's.

Vernon sprang towards Harry, shaking his fat finger furiously in his face. "OUT! OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" He bellowed.

Harry smiled at him. "Glad to. Just going to get my things. Don't try to stop me." He ordered. Vernon looked about ready to explode, his mustache twitching angrily and his face beet red, but he said nothing. Harry backed away, and slowly walked up the stairs. When he was up, he sat down on his bed, staring at the paper in his hand in amazement.

He hadn't expected it to work. You couldn't do magic without a wand, it was impossible. Even Dumbledore hadn't been able to do that.

Of course… he had done it before, once. He had been desperate for light, and had lost his wand, but when he said "Lumos!" in pure frustration, the tip of his wand had lit up anyway…

But there wasn't time, was there? He unfurled the paper, skimming the article quickly.

Museum Robbed!

A Priceless artifact has been stolen from the London Art Museum today. Police are baffled as to how the thief managed to get to this priceless treasure.

"It wasn't even on display yet!" Museum Curator Reginald Forbera is quoted as saying, "It was under tight lock and key in the cleaning room, which is custom with new accusations. No one knew it even existed except for my associates and me."

The cup, which is a large, silver vessel, with a badger imprinted on it, is appraised well into the millions, so it was under even tighter watch. To even get to it, one has to pass many guards into the building, the security system which should alert everyone if any door is opened, the laser security lines inside, not to mention numerous locks and codes once one reaches the cleaning room. None of the alarms were tripped, and the locks were opened with no damage to themselves. The police are considering this an inside job.

Harry's heart was beating so hard, he was sure it would burst. The cup. This was the cup. And it was obvious to him, at least, that it had been taken by a wizard. Any wizard could have gotten past Muggle security. Harry would have to go get it back, and destroy it, that was his promise to Dumbledore.

He stood up, tearing off the page from the newspaper, and stuffing it in his pocket. "Come on," He told the ferret. "We're going on a trip. I'll tell you about it later, but we're in a rush now." He unlatched Alby's cage, placing him gently on the ground. Then he turned, pulling out his trunk, and beginning to stuff his things into it. When he was finished, he stood up, looking around. "Now, where's my wand?"

A strange dooking noise, which Harry had quickly learned to associate with the ferret, was coming from under the bed. Harry lay down on the carpet on his stomach, peering underneath.

Alby was standing beside his wand, prodding it with his nose, and making noises, almost as if he was trying to say something. "Are you trying to cast a spell?" Harry asked with a chuckle. He reached under the bed with both hands, pulling them out with a ferret in one, and a wand in the other. The wand he slipped into his back pocket. He held Alby up under his front legs, dangling him in front of his face. "You should be more careful. What if you'd actually made it do something?" Alby looked at him mournfully for a moment, then began twisting his head around, in an attempt to bite Harry's thumb. Shaking his head ruefully, Harry set him down. "Now… We need to travel light, so I can't take the cage. I guess you can either ride in the trunk, or with me."

Alby took one look into the trunk, then scrambled up Harry's leg, ending up perched on his shoulder. "Alright, but keep a tight hold." He told him. Harry had expected as much. The ferret hated the dark. At first, Harry had tried locking him in the cage at night, but his whines had been too much, so he had taken to letting Alby sleep with him on the bed. Besides, it was nice having a warm fuzzy thing to sleep with. That is, when Alby would let him pet him. Mostly, he would allow a few pats, then rise, shake his head vigorously, take off to the other side of the bed, as if realizing he was doing something stupid. He was a strange little creature, that was sure…

. Taking out his wand, Harry quickly spelled his trunk to be light, and small. He picked it up, and strode downstairs, Alby riding proudly on his shoulder. His relatives flatly ignored him as he passed them, and he made his way into the morning sun, feeling more optimistic than he had in weeks. He would find out who stole the cup, take it back from them, and destroy it. And then he would be one step closer to killing Voldemort.