Harry Potter - Book 6

Harry Potter sat in his bedroom gazing over the neat front garden of number 4, Privet Drive. A cool breeze blew through the open window, causing Harry to shiver slightly, though this was partly due to his wandering thoughts. He was thinking about his Godfather, Sirius Black, who had died the previous June. Harry still felt that it was partly his fault, but he was surprised how quickly he had got over Sirius' death. He still felt sudden bursts of overwhelming sadness, and sometimes anger towards Lord Voldemort, the Dark Wizard whose fault it was that Harry Potter's parents and godfather were dead, but Harry felt more in control of himself than he had last year. He traced his lightening-bolt shaped scar with his finger, and shook himself slightly as he remembered what he was supposed to be doing – writing a letter to Remus Lupin, Alastair Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, and all the other members of the Order of the Phoenix. The Order of the Phoenix was a group of people who fought against Lord Voldemort now that he had returned to power.

Harry dipped his eagle-feather quill into his inkpot, scribbled a last few lines about his well being, and scrawled his name at the bottom of the parchment.

"Hedwig!" His faithful snowy owl, Hedwig, fluttered over from the windowsill, where she had been picking at the mangled carcass of some poor mouse. She stuck her leg out, and Harry tied the parchment on.

"You know where to go!" he whispered to her, as she glided away into the setting sun. Harry flexed his fingers and wandered downstairs to see if there was any sign of life in the house. The Dursley's often went out in the evenings, leaving Harry reign of the house. They forbid him to use the telephone and computer, or watch television. Harry did anyway, though, because he knew that they now lived in fear of 'Mad-Eye' Moody, who had sworn to Harry's Uncle Vernon that if he heard that Harry was being mistreated, he would be over there before you could say 'Mimblewimble'.

Apparently the Dursley's had gone out somewhere that evening, because they didn't seem to be around, despite leaving the television on. There was some programme about wildlife on, but Harry flicked it off. He wandered into the kitchen and stole one of his cousin Dudley's king-size Mars Bars. His aunt and uncle had tried to put Dudley on a diet last year, but had given up ages ago, Dudley being King-size himself.

Harry went outside to sit in the immaculate garden. At the beginning of the summer, he had no idea how he was going to get through the holidays. With Sirius' death, and Voldemort's return, he was feeling particularly depressed, but his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, wrote to him regularly, keeping him updated with how their summer's were going. Lupin and the other members of the Order did the same. He also got the Daily Prophet, the wizarding newspaper, so he knew what was going on in the wizarding world. Now that the Ministry of Magic knew that Lord Voldemort had returned to power, there were plenty of articles with rumours and similar, but, so far, there had been nothing in particular that had caught Harry's attention. He was waiting, though.

As Harry lay on the grass, he spotted a small round ball suddenly come hurtling towards him. He caught it, realising immediately that it was Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon, with Ron's daily update on 'Life at the Burrow'. Harry went inside, and up to his room, where he untied the letter from Pig's leg. He gave Pig one of Hedwig's owl treats before watching him launch himself haphazardly into the warm evening air and go hurtling away again.

Harry unrolled Ron's letter and began to read.

"Harry,

How are you? Fine, I hope. Well, listen, I have some great news. Mum has contacted Dumbledore to ask if you can come and say at the Burrow for the last four weeks of the holiday, and he says that you can! We would come and get you but Dad says that it may not be such a good idea – he remembers the incident with your relation's living room two years ago! So Dumbledore has organised for Moony to meet you at 7pm at the end of Privet Drive on 31st July, where you will get the Knight Bus to the Burrow. Hermione should arrive then, too. Write back quickly if you can come – if you can't, then Moony says he'll deal with your Aunt and Uncle when he comes to get you. In other words, you are coming whether your Aunt and Uncle agree or not. See you then!

Ron."

Harry's heart leapt. As long as Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia didn't make too much trouble, then he could was free! He shouldn't have any trouble getting round the Dursley's – they were always glad to be rid of him. He quickly scribbled a reply to Ron, then realised that Hedwig wasn't back yet. He sighed and slumped back in his chair, guessing that she would probably stay out hunting for a while now.

Very reluctantly, he pulled a neglected Charms essay towards him. If he was going to the Burrow in two days, he had better get as much homework done as possible, because it wasn't as if he had never left his homework to the last minute before. He decided that he definitely didn't want a detention during his first week back at Hogwarts. He wrote a couple of paragraphs, before tossing his Charms aside and getting started on a particularly hard Transfiguration assignment. He gave up on that after half an hour of scratching his head with his quill and muttering to himself, and began to research some Potions information for that essay.

"Oh, stuff it!" Harry muttered to himself, throwing his quill at the wall. He went and flopped down on his bed, scowling and still muttering about homework. He buried his head in his pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep. He must have slept for about five hours, dreaming that Dobby the House-Elf was playing Quidditch, because when he woke, the Dursley's had returned – Harry could hear Uncle Vernon snoring next door – and the street was deadly quiet. Hedwig was back, she must have been what had woken Harry up, so he gave her the letter addressed to Ron and an owl treat before watching her glide noiselessly away again.

Harry then flopped back down on his bed and promptly fell fast asleep again.

On the morning of the 31st, Harry woke early and grinned broadly. As well as going to the Burrow, it was also his 16th birthday, and the first thing he noticed as he leapt out of his bed was four owls perched on his windowsill, waiting to be let in. The first was Hedwig, who had a small note in her beak. Harry opened it. It read,

"Hey Harry,

Happy Birthday! Ron has invited me to the Burrow too, so I am going to give you your present this evening when I see you. I think Ron might too.

Love Hermione"

Harry's heart leapt excitedly as he realised it was less than 12 hours until he saw his friends again. He put Hermione's note aside, and looked at the other three owls. One was Pig, one he recognised as a school owl, and the third was unfamiliar. He tore open the note from Ron – it was a reminder that he was to meet Lupin at seven, and that he would also give Harry his present that evening.