Disclaimer: Oh if only it were mine but sadly the creation is all of J.K.Rowling! The plot however belongs to the 10 year old me who wrote it years ago and then I found it and turned into the story we have here today!
A/N: I am very sorry that it's being updated later than I said but I had major writers block! I have however, come with chapter 4 as well because I wrote that chapter before as chapter 3 but then I sort of didn't include all I wanted to in chapter two and long story short – I had writers block with it. Hope you enjoy! I see some people have added it to favourites and I hope you review again! I am not pleased with this chapter writing wise and plot wise but it was needed.
Hello! – Hello! I suppose that's all I'll say! Thanks for reviewing!
uknowho - Love your stories! Please keep writing them! Thanks for reviewing!
SiriuslyFunny – I love a picture's worth a thousand words – please update it! Thanks for reviewing!
Slinky-and-the-BloodyWands – I added you to fav authors I like your style of writing! Please update R.A.B.! I am glad you like the GW/HP ship – I wouldn't have it any other way! There's a bit more ship stuff coming up in chap 4 actually. It might lose me some reviewers!
drgn prncss – Thanks for reviewing! I'm updating now so please review again! I'm glad you think it sounds like it'll be good. I've already written like chapter 15 which is weird but I can't think what to put in between. I know the basic plot all the way through I just have no end!
Neep – See you in school! Also please actually review the fic and don't be so weird next time! laughs
Chapter 3: Gratitude and Photos…
Harry placed the badge on his side table with the letter. McGonagall had to be kidding! This must've been her way of making him stay. Did he make it that obvious that he wasn't going to return? He laughed! Hermione was a Head Girl then! Who wouldn't have guessed it? Ron was going to be in a foul mood. His parents weren't going to be too happy with him. He could imagine it now. They might be too preoccupied with the order now Dumbledore was gone. Harry gestured for Hedwig to come over to him. He took a piece of parchment from the side table and ripped it in two. On one half he wrote;
Hermione,
I'm Head boy, you're head girl! Congrats. See you at the burrow!
Harry
On the second half he wrote a note to Ron;
Ron,
Will definitely come next week! Can't wait to get out of here! It's very dull. I will fly to you – I'll lighten my case. Say hello to your family. I understand about not writing, it makes sense. Can you please pass the other note onto Ginny and please don't read it Ron – I'll tell Hermione! See you next week! I'm going to have some fun with the Dursley's! Magic is so much fun to use around them!
Harry
He grabbed another piece of parchment and his Green inked quill.
Ginny,
Look, I know you want to come but you can't come every time. He's used you before, he'll use you again. I'll decide when you come with us. If you really care about me, you'll do as I say.
Love,
Harry
He finished the last letter and attached it to Hedwig's leg.
"Just take it to the burrow. Hermione should be there too. You can stay there then. They'll look after you." Harry took her over to the window and set her free. He stood for a while, watching her fly into the horizon. He suddenly realised that it was getting cold. He closed the window and walked over to his letters. He packed them away in his trunk along with the rest of his belongings that were scattered around the room. He glanced around. The walls were bare, the bedside table was clear of clutter. The only things left were his firebolt in the corner, his trunk and his birthday present from Ron. Even though he hated it here, it still held memories.
He walked over to the loose floorboard and pulled it up. It had pictures, school-books, his wand and his invisibility cloak. He collected them all up and put them on his bed. He threw the books and photo's in the trunk and lay the invisibility cloak out ready to use. He slipped his wand and the photo-snitch, as Harry had decided to call it, into his pocket.
He opened his bedroom door to be hit with the smell of cooked breakfast. He coughed. Nobody was upstairs. They must all be eating, he thought. He made his way over to his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's bedroom. Nobody was in there. He pushed the door gently closed. He surveyed the room. He'd never been in here before. The walls were as he had expected pink and flowery. The bedding and curtains were the same. There were two large wooden wardrobes, one in each corner of the room. Above the doors were the words His on one, and Hers, on the other. Harry made his way over to the Hers wardrobe, careful not to creak the floorboards. The carpet was warm and soft beneath his feet; much nicer than what he was used to in his room. He slowly opened the wardrobe and was presented with something he didn't expect from his Aunt – mess! It was piled high with paper-work and documents, folders, box-files, and least of all clothes. He turned around and located a chest of drawers the other side of the room. That's where the clothes were then. He smiled. Aunt Petunia not tidy! Photos were what he was looking for and it looked as though he might be in luck. He knew what he had to do "Accio photo albums" he thought. He had mastered non-verbal spells last year and found them very useful in circumstances such as these. A book at the bottom of the wardrobe dislodged itself and flew into his chest. He wrapped his arms around it before it could fall to the ground. Closing the wardrobe doors carefully, Harry walked over to the bed.
He sat down and placed the photo album on his lap. It looked quite old; the cover was faded and it smelt musky. A yellowing label, curling at the edges, was situated n the top right-hand corner. Cracked gold lettering on it read Family Album – 1974-75. Harry thought, this was five years or so before he was born. There might be pictures of some of his mother's family.
Harry suddenly realised how nervous he was – it was a strange feeling.
Slowly, carefully, he turned the front cover. A large picture of a family stared back at him, smiling, laughing, and moving? The picture was slightly colour-faded. His eyes stung with tears but he didn't really notice – or care. His eyes came to rest on his mother. She was standing, in Gryffindor school robes. Her red hair was as bright as the red in her Gryffindor tie; the least faded part of the entire photo. Harry clearly saw why so many of the wizards and witched he came across remembered Lily's striking green eyes, and recognised them in him.
A man with a great resemblance to her had his arm around her shoulders. He was looking at Lily fondly. Harry came to the conclusion that this man was his grandfather.
He inspected the rest of the photo. This time his eyes came to a stop at the other two people.
A long-necked, blonde haired young woman stood, wearing a navy and white school uniform, smiling a genuine smile. A younger Aunt Petunia. An older woman had her hand resting on Aunt Petunia's shoulder. She looked a mixture between his mother and his aunt. This must be his grandmother.
At the bottom of the page was a neat, calligraphy style note about the photo. Alena, John, Petunia and Lily – The Evans Family. Harry smiled. His first sight of new relatives and they had been named for him.
Harry stared at the photo a little longer and flicked to the next page.
The caption read Petunia and Vernon. He looked at the picture. A slimmer Uncle Vernon stared back at him, unmoving, as was Aunt Petunia. Both looked sickly-sweet happy. Unreal. Harry quickly moved onto the next picture.
Lily, and James Potter.
The photo was moving. They were both in dress-robes. It must have been some kind of party. Harry just sat and watched the picture. Like a video. His dad pulled his mothers hair, she turned round, her face red, ready to yell, and then saw it was him and just laughed. James laughed with her and Harry found himself joining in too. Then they turned and pointed at the camera and stood in a pose. James put arm around Lily's shoulders. She glanced at him and then they both turned to the camera and smiled.
Harry felt weak inside. He wished they'd lived even for a few years longer – just so he could know them more than from photographs and other people's memories. He slipped the photograph of his parents out of its plastic casing; his aunt wouldn't miss it. He closed the album. He'd seen enough for today.
Harry made his way over to the wardrobe to replace the album. He knelt down and lifted the pile of papers, folders and books up. Under the folders lay something he'd not expected to see.
Envelopes. Addressed to him. There were around 20 in total. They were littering the bottom of the cupboard. Some were brightly coloured. Others were plain parchment envelopes like the one's he received every year from Hogwarts. Harry peered around the wardrobe door at the rest of the room. Nobody had come upstairs yet. He grabbed 2 envelopes, careful to pick ones with different writing on them. Those ones might be from different people or something. He placed the photo album carefully back into its place and put all the wardrobes other contents back on top of it. Everything looked as it had before he'd moved anything. He quickly left the room, careful not to awaken the creaks of the floorboards. He made his way into his own room, closed the door and flopped down on the bed.
Warily, he took the photograph and the envelopes out of his pocket. Leaning over to his trunk, he carefully put the photo of his parents with the others. Now he had to read these letters, eagerly, he returned to the bed. Carefully, he examined the envelope.
Master Harry Potter,
4 Privet Drive,
Little Whining,
Surrey
01/11/1981
Harry was slightly taken aback by the date. The day after his parents were killed. He carefully undid the seal.
Harry,
I do not believe that you'll ever get the chance to read this letter, but it is worth writing it, just to know that you might be reading it someday. I am Karston Dawson. I was your parent's employer. As soon as I heard of the deaths I contacted Albus Dumbledore and found your new place of residence. I thought it would be interesting for you to know what your parents did for a living. Many people will try to keep this from you; they believe it better for you to not know. Your father followed in his father's footsteps as
The letter ended there. All that was left was a blur; the rest of the letter had been wet and what was written there was lost forever. He was beginning to wonder more about his parents work and this would've been some hope. It frustrated him to know that he wouldn't find out yet but he made a mental note of the employers name – Karston Dawson. Hermione could help him find something in the Library. He picked up the other envelope.
This one had only Harry written on it. He opened it carefully. It was one of the brightly coloured envelopes: yellow. Out fell a birthday card. Happy Birthday! It said on the front along with a picture of a Boy holding a red balloon. Harry opened the inside. He wasn't really expecting to read that the card was from his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Dudley!
To Harry,
Happy Birthday
Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Dudley
Harry sat, with his mouth open. He was in disbelief. That was probably similar to what the other brightly coloured envelopes contained! It was in his aunt petunia's handwriting; did his Uncle Vernon know that she'd been writing him birthday cards and hiding them away.
Even though that she'd been hiding them away from him for all of these years Harry felt a rush of gratitude to his Aunt. She did, in a strange way, care about him. It was a strange feeling – to be cared about by a real family member. Harry put the card into his trunk and closed it over.
He walked out of his room and down the stairs into the kitchen. He saw his aunt petunia look up at him as he entered the room.
"Where's Uncle Vernon and Dudley?" Harry questioned. He was smiling slightly, this was putting off Petunia. She seemed slightly taken aback at his happiness but then her face settled into a realisation. She knew that it was his birthday. Harry's eyes flickered with puzzlement when her face changed.
"They're out fishing," she paused, "I've made them some bacon and eggs but they've phoned to say they've already eaten, you can have it, Dudley's not allowed more than what he's already had…" She trailed off. He knew that she'd made up an excuse to give him the breakfast. There was no phone-call from Uncle Vernon; the phone didn't ring in the bedroom. She was trying to cover but even she'd known that she was failing. Harry reached out and took the plate that she'd placed on the work-surface.
"Thanks," He said, with real gratitude in his voice. She looked at him, this time her face was swimming with puzzlement. He smiled. She turned back to the worktop, reached and grabbed a grapefruit. She took out a knife and began to search for a knife. Harry reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out his wand. He gripped his hand around the wand. He pointed his wand at the grapefruit and thought incidere. Thegrapefruit cut itself in two.Aunt Petunia turned around to him.
"Tha-" she began but Harry cut her off.
"No problem," He replied and with that, he turned around and left the room. Tonight he would have to leave for the burrow. It was the right time to leave. He went up to his room and didn't come down for the rest of the day.
A/N: Soooooo? What do you think, like, dislike? Review it and let me know! I'm still looking for people to sort so leave a name in your post if you want to be sorted! Please review and this time, I will post the next chapter soon – I've already written most of it! Review….
by ceringosnowflake