Wish Come True

Chapter two: Letters and Lists

Harry closed his eyes, covering his head with a pillow to block out the loud rapping noise that could be nothing but his aunt's boney knuckles banging against his door. "I'm getting up!" he mumbled sleepily into his mattress, before pulling himself out of the warm sheets. His hand fumbled around his bedside table in search of his glasses, which he shoved unceremoniously onto his nose.

He jumped in shock as his eyes fell upon a large white owl rapping it's beak against his window pane. Harry stepped cautiously over to his window, watching the huge majestic bird flap outside. He fumbled with the latch and pushed the glass open, in one swift motion the bird flew through the open window, landing on a large cage in the corner of Harry's desk that he had somehow failed to notice.

Large, gleaming, yellow eyes stared at him expectantly, and it was then that he noticed a letter tied to the bird's leg. Harry edged forward, carefully untying the letter, and to his surprise, the letter was addressed to him; Mr. H.J. Potter. The letter's contents bewildered the boy even more then the fact it was addressed to him.

Mr. H.J. Potter,

The Ministry of Magic wishes to address your recent 17th birthday, as you are now a legal wizard, we must inform you of the laws which apply to this. Magic is permitted, the unforgivable curses are, of course, forbidden, unless you are an auror. Magic must not be used in front of muggles, unless they are in you direct family. It is not permitted to harm a muggle in any way, nor to kill a fellow wizard. Please keep these laws in mind, and enjoy your new freedom.

Sincerely,

Rufus Srimgeour,

Minister of Magic

His emerald eyes skimmed over the letter for a second time, there was no way he could've read that properly, Ministry of Magic, well that's a load of rubbish, there was no such thing. You are now a legal wizard, more nonsense, how gullible did these people think he was, and what in the name of god was a 'muggle'. It wasn't just the letter's contents the surprised him, for that could easily be a prank, a very odd prank, but one none-the-less, but who would go to that length for a joke?

As much as it pained him to do so, at the sound of his aunt rapping on his door, he decided to show her the letter. "Er… Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked timidly, coming out of his room.

"What?" She said in haughty voice, glaring at Harry suspiciously.

"I… just got this letter," he hesitated, before handing it to his aunt. Her piercing gaze scanned it quickly, before she shoved it back into his hands, a slightly scared look in her eyes.

"Very well, breakfast is ready," and with that she strode off briskly, Harry didn't have the faintest idea why this letter affected his aunt in that way, but it certainly had a huge effect on her. He shrugged, threw the letter back onto his bed, and went downstairs to eat.

For the first time in the history of his memory, his food serving was the same size as Dudley's, not just that but all of the Dursleys kept glancing up at Harry with a kind of wide-eyed horror. This was awfully confusing for Harry, who ate as quickly as possible and took his plate to the kitchen.

Petunia Dursley came into the kitchen not long after and informed Harry, in a small voice, that he needn't do any of his usual chores. Yet another mystery of the day, and he was getting rather sick of not having any answers. He walked over to his window which was still open from when he had let the owl in earlier that morning, but at the exact moment he walked in front of the opening, a large, very old looking grey owl came flying strait at him.

Harry did not dodge fast enough, and the bird collided rather forcefully with his stomach. Only minutes later yet another owl flew through the window, this one smaller than Harry's fist. Each bird had either an envelope or parcel tied to its leg. After he had detached the cargo, the birds flew off, and just as he was opening the letter, another owl flew inside; this was getting to be crazy.

After scanning the skies for anymore supposedly nocturnal birds, Harry sat on the floor glaring at the stack of four parcels, all addressed to him. He lifted a lumpy package with blue writing that read "Happy Birthday Harry" He opened it and found a package of treacle fudge and a small fruit cake. To say that Harry was surprised would be an understatement. He had never had a present in his life, well if one excluded the strange cake that had appeared in his room yesterday.

The next one, with very untidy writing on it, was a birthday card; "Hey Harry! I hope everything's going well, I'm going to give you your present on the train; I just have to be there to see the look on your face at what I got you! I hope your having an excellent birthday (well as good a birthday as you can have while living with the Dursleys),

See you in September,

Ron.

PS Did you get the fudge and cake Mum sent you?"

The emerald eyes blinked slowly in disbelief, and he reread the letter. This person 'Ron' knew he lived with the Dursleys, a fact that Harry rarely told anyone, but not just that, he also knew when Harry's birthday was, and seemed to think that they would see each other on a train in September. Harry shook his head to clear it, and lifted another small package; this one had a letter tied to the front of it.

"Dear Harry,

I hope your relatives are treating you all right. I can't wait to see you or for school to start! I know you'll probably be annoyed with me for getting you a book for a present, but it really is fascinating. I'll see you soon,

With lots of love,

Hermione."

He stared dumbfounded at the letter. This was in completely different handwriting then both the 'ministry of magic' and 'Ron's' letter. Who ever had set up this prank was going through a great deal of bother to make it realistic. He opened this 'Hermione's' package to find, as the letter had said, a book. It was the strangest book Harry had ever seen, the pages changed directions, so that the reader constantly had to flip the book upside down or sideways to read the text. The book was titled "A Diary of Pranks, confusion on every page" By Gred and Feorge Weasley. Both of which seemed like very bizarre names.

A seal on the back of the last letter proved its obvious importance, that along with the green cursive formal addressing "Mr. H.J. Potter Smallest Bedroom, Number 4 Privet Drive." The seal was in red wax and showed a shield with four animals, a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake. His thumb slid under the flap, opening the letter. It was written on yellowish parchment with green ink.

It consisted of a letter 'reminding' Harry to go to King's Cross Station, London to catch the Hogwarts express. A train that apparently would take him to his school, this was strange because he did not attend "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry", but Stonewall, the very boring and ordinary public high school. There was also the ticket to said train, a reminder to replenish all school supplies, robes and potion ingredients, and a book list.

To Harry's disbelief the school's book list consisted of the fallowing:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 7) by Miranda Goshawk

Charming the Already Charmed by Zamira Gulch

When Your Garden Turns on You by Kaitlin Florae

Transfiguration for the Trifled Mind by Emeric Switch

Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration byAdalbert Waffling

From Abyssinian Shrivilfig to Wormwood, for Those of Esteemed Caliber in Potion Making by Arsenis Jigger

To Death, Doth I Part, the diary of a vampire by Rennet Silth

Shining Light on the Dark Arts by Quentin Trimble

Théorie des Stratégies de Défense Magique par Wibert Eskiudur

The last of these books, Harry assumed was for French class, however a book titled "Theory of the Strategies of Defensive Magic" seemed a rather odd title for a French course book. Harry puzzled over these letters and gifts. It really made no sense… well unless it was all a dream, but no it couldn't be.

Sudden realization hit Harry, hard. He swore loudly as he realized that if this was his school supply list, he'd have to ask the Dursleys for money, he really didn't think they'd give him money to buy a vampire's diary, or a book about evil gardens. Feeling as though it might be easier on himself to just hide in a ditch and die, he descended the stairs to the living room, hoping dearly that god would be merciful.

"Uh... Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked timidly. Vernon grunted, not looking up. Harry took this as a sign to continue. "Well I need to get some course books, for my scho—"

"Fine boy, come on get in the car, I don't have all day!" Uncle Vernon's face had gone purple as though he was fighting every instinct he had. Harry all but ran out of the house before his uncle could change his mind. Vernon slammed the door forcefully as he sat down in the driver's seat.

"I'm dropping you off in London, I will pick you up here at five sharp, if you are not there, then I'm leaving you in London until your ruddy school starts," Harry's Uncle announced.

"But," Harry paused, he had being thanking the gods for his fortune the whole ride to London, but he still had the hardest part to go, "I need to buy my school things."

"Then go already," a vain was throbbing in Uncle Vernon's temple.

"And to buy things, I need…" his voice trailed off and he gulped "to borrow some money." It was truly amazing the number of colors his uncle's face could turn, there was every shade of red and purple imaginable, Harry of course was too busy writing a mental will to notice any of this.

"Fine," Uncle Vernon finally chocked out. He handed Harry some money. The black-haired teen got out of the car as fast as humanly possible. His uncle's car zoomed quickly out of sight, Harry examined the money in his hand; he had about enough for four books if he bought them used and in paperback. This wasn't very useful seeing how he had ten books he needed to buy.

About four hours later Harry had found a grand total of none of his school books, the fist store he tried, after wandering around for a half hour, he decided to ask one of the people working there. The girl behind the counter was a very ditzy looking blond, her hair was tied in two messy buns, and she was chewing gum in a rather loud manor.

Harry had shown her the list, and she started laughing "What are you, bonkers?" she had asked. Harry had glared at her and tried to explain that these were the books he needed for school, she laughed even more and then told him that he had the strangest pick-up lines she had ever heard, and that she was free on Sunday. He had left fuming.

All the other stores he tried had varying levels of that same response everything from "Sorry we don't carry any of those here" to "No bu' the mad house is down the street, yer might wanna try there." It was now one pm and Harry was getting very hungry, not to mention tired, wandering through all of London in search of apparently non-existent books was getting very tiresome. He found a place selling very small cheap burgers; he bought one of these for lunch before continuing his search. The idea of going to a large bookstore had quickly been put down as a bad idea, and he was now searching all the small stores.

A shop across the street with red lights and dark wall paper, along with a sign reading "Vampyres' Night", had caught Harry's eye, this looked like the exact type of store that would sell him books on the 'dark arts' and vampires. Upon entering the store, Harry was forced to stop and let his eyes adjust to the strange lighting. Glass jars full of oddly colored liquids littered the shelves, along with clip-on fangs, and all sorts of other bizarre things.

"Why hello there," said a slow strange voice behind him. Harry jumped and spun around, the man who had spoken was wearing all black and had hair and eyes to match, his skin however was deathly pale. His eyes bulged slightly but had a sharp focus, excluding the fact that his left eye kept wandering a little to the right. A large grin was placed on this man's lips, it definitely didn't suit him. In fact it gave him the look of some sort of psycho killer who was on the loose.

"Er… Hi," Harry replied uneasily.

"Looking for something?" the man asked, his smile still in place.

"Uh, yeah, I was wondering if you, had any books on vampires," Now that Harry thought of it, this man looked as though he could easily have been a member of the blood-sucking undead.

The man chuckled "Vampires my boy? What interesting creatures they are… fallow me." The man turned and walked toward the back of the shop. Harry really didn't want to let the door out of his sight, but needed to find at least one of his textbooks before the day was out. He fallowed the man into the dank shop, to find a section of books completely dedicated to vampires.

"Uh thank you, sir, but there is a specific book I need. To Death Doth I Part, if you have it, sir," Harry said, trying to keep himself on the good side of this stranger.

"Oh yes my boy. It is a very good book indeed, great insight on those who haunt us in the night," His gaze made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand on end. The man finally broke eye contact to pull a dusty volume from the shelf. "Here you go my boy, I don't get many customers or I'd give it to your for free."

Harry went to the cash register and paid for his book, leaving as quickly as possible, but before the door close behind him, he heard the man say "I hope we meet again Mr. Potter."

Harry had spent most of the rest of that evening attempting to find his other course books, and to keep his mind from straying back to the evil looking man who had somehow known his name. As promised the Dursleys were there to pick him up at exactly five o' clock.

Dinner was eaten in silence, and Harry left quickly. This was getting to be a very strange business, playing along with the prank was very difficult indeed. He had resolved to send whatever money he had left along with a note to this "Hermione" girl, seeing as she seemed to be so fond of books.

Dear Hermione,

I am doing well, but am having a bit of difficultly getting my school books, there is some money enclosed, and I would greatly appreciate if you could get them for me. I will pay you back whatever this doesn't cover when I have the money. My booklist is included as well, I already managed to get a copy of "To Death Doth I Part".

Harry.

There, that part was taken care of, now how was he supposed to send the letter. His eyes darted around the room, finally to land on the large snowy owl; he handed the letter to the bird and said quite clearly, "Could you please take that to Hermione for me." Before collapsing down on his bed as the owl flew out of his room, he had just talked to an owl. That girl in the bookstore was right, he had gone completely bonkers.

About a week later Harry got Hermione's reply along with his nine other books. Whoever was doing this prank was certainly doing the whole thing properly; Harry himself was nearly completely convinced.

The days dragged on, one after the other, the Dursleys avoiding Harry, and Harry avoiding them. The summer was slowly drawing to a close, and he had received no other owl letters, and hadn't seen hide nor hair of that stranger he had met in London. All thoughts of his strange birthday were driven from Harry's mind. Until of course the last week of summer, which was filled with the suspense and wonder of what would happen on the first of September.

TBC

Hey guys, sorry for the lateness, but dont worry I'm still on track, as an apology I'll update next Friday instead of waiting a week. Thanks to the four people who have reviewed so far! I love you people! And if you haven't reviewed yet pleeeeaaaase do! Happy Belated New Year everyone!

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