Chapter Two

Harry's Departure

Harry woke up suddenly. He had been dreaming that he was playing quidditch. He had caught the golden snitch and just as he was about to crash, he woke up. Harry smiled at the memory of the dream. Harry was anxious about something, but he couldn't quite remember what. And then it hit him. He was leaving for Ron Weasley's house today! He got up to start packing his trunk when he heard his Uncle Vernon yelling for him. "Boy! Get down here and make me some breakfast! I'm starving!" his uncle bellowed. Harry hastily shoved on some clothes and ran downstairs. He did not want his uncle to get angry and change his mind about letting him go to Ron's house. He put some sausage and bacon on the frying pan in the kitchen and was tending to the meat as the doorbell rang. "Boy! Go get it!" his uncle screamed. Harry ran to the front door to see a cat looking up at him from the doorstep. The cat walked inside the house and Harry turned to close the door. As he looked back, he saw not a cat staring at him but a woman in her late sixties. "Hello, Harry." she greeted warmly. " Hi Professor McGonagall." "As you should know, I was appointed Headmistress at the end of last year. I have come to discuss with you the date of your apparation test and Dumbledore's will." she said calmly, trying not to show any emotion. Just two months ago, Dumbledore had been taken from Harry, just as so many of Harry's closest friends and family. "The date of your apparation test has been scheduled for the 7th of August. The test will include short apparation and long apparation. You had better be ready, Mr. Potter." she said. "As for the date of the reading of Dumbledore's will, that has been set to the 27th of August, and you are obligated to come." she added. " I will be there for both of them." Harry replied. " With that, I will see you on the night of the 27th, Mr. Potter. " Professor McGonagall stated, and the apparated with a small pop. "Who the bloody hell was that!" Vernon howled from the next room. "Just someone from my school." Harry replied. "You should not have let them in!" Vernon yelled, his face turning purple. "I'm sorry." Harry apologized, and without allowing Uncle Vernon to continue, he ran up to his room and shut the door. Harry spent most of the day shut up in his room, collecting parchment and spell books and placing them in his trunk. He collected his homework from the loose floorboard underneath his bed. He rounded up all his spare quills from around the room and shoved them into his trunk. When he finished he had just over an hour until Ron was supposed to arrive, so he made himself busy by cleaning Hedwig's cage, making his bed, and other little chores he would have not usually done. With just fifteen minutes left until Ron was supposed to arrive, Harry picked up his trunk and began to haul it down the stairs. He sat down on the couch in the living room, waiting for his friend to arrive. At just about five o'clock, Harry heard the familiar pop of apparation and the scream from his cousin Dudley. He saw Dudley waddling fast as he could up the stairs. Dudley was dead scared of wizards. Harry could not blame him. In his only two encounters with a wizard, he

had walked away with a pig's tail and a four foot long tongue. Ron entered the room and they both grinned. Ron had grown about another three inches over the summer, bringing him to around six' four. "Do you want to go home? We can talk there." Ron suggested, and Harry nodded. Ron handed him some floo powder and Harry stepped into the flames. "The Burrow!" Harry said loudly. He felt the familiar sensation of traveling by floo powder and within five seconds he was standing within the Weasley kitchen.