Chapter 33

The car journey from King's Cross to Surrey was silent. Not awkward, because Harry was used to the silent treatment at home, but odd in the fact that in previous years there were always plenty of remarks about how he wasn't going to slack off and there were plenty of chores waiting for him, along with a dig or two about his things being locked away for the whole time. This was a bit disconcerting.

They arrived back at Privet Drive. "Get your things, take them to your room," was the only thing Petunia said.

Harry took his things upstairs and then came back down, expecting to be given chores before dinner. Petunia was in the kitchen making dinner and Vernon and Dudley were sitting in the living room watching TV. Vernon totally ignored Harry. Dudley gave him a brief terrified look, curled up into less room and looked away quickly.

Harry went into the kitchen.

"Dinner is at six. Do what you like. Don't disturb your uncle." She didn't turn around from the worktop on which she was peeling potatoes.

Harry was very confused. This wasn't how Privet Drive went. The moment he was available, all chores, including making dinner, were given over to him immediately.

"Would you like a hand?" he asked, programmed to act a certain way in the house, that is, doing the chores.

"No!" exclaimed Petunia hurriedly, panicked. That came out a bit louder than intended. The TV in the living room was muted. "No," said Petunia in more normal tones, "That won't be necessary."

"I'll just… go upstairs to my room then," said Harry slowly, backing out of the weird alternate reality he'd walked into.

He went upstairs and closed his bedroom door. "Well that was weird," he said to Hedwig. A bit of Harry's brain knew deep down that someone, and he knew who, must have done something major. This was going to take some getting used to.

Dinner was a silent affair. All four of them ate at the kitchen table. Harry, without thinking, stood up at the end of dinner and reached to take Vernon's plate to the sink. Petunia snatched it off him. Harry wouldn't say she'd done it angrily, but it took a moment for him to realise she was worried. What the hell had Snape done?!

Harry spent the evening in his room. He picked up parchment multiple times to write to Hermione or Sirius but had no idea what to say. He could hardly say, 'Hey, I've never told either of you that my home life is absolutely awful but now it's all bizarre.' The fact that eating normally at a table counted as bizarre perhaps said everything that needed saying.

Harry woke up on Sunday to the sounds of someone in the kitchen. Someone other than him. Petunia hadn't woken him. Vernon hadn't yelled at him. He was already out of bed throwing his clothes on, hopping into his second sock before a new pathway in his brain fired. The one that said yesterday might not have been a one off. Perhaps he wasn't expected to make breakfast every day. Perhaps Snape had explained about even division of labour. A bit of Harry's brain slid away from 'explained'. He didn't want to know what it had taken for Vernon to act differently.

Harry finished dressing more slowly, then quietly stepped onto the landing. He could hear snores from the master bedroom which meant Vernon was still asleep, but he couldn't hear a sound from Dudley's room. Dudley was never a silent sleeper. Harry went downstairs. He nearly passed out when he saw Dudley setting the table for breakfast. There were four places again. Harry closed his mouth before Dudley saw his shock.

"Morning, Dudley," said Harry. They were the first words he'd spoken to Dudley since returning.

Dudley flinched and looked at Harry with an expression that Harry didn't recognise on Dudley. It was fear. Well that was new. "Morning, Harry," he murmured. Harry had occasionally been called 'Harry' by Dudley, but not very often and not for a long time.

Breakfast happened in silence. Vernon didn't come down. To get out of the house, Harry asked if he could visit the local library for the day and stay out until dinner time. Petunia agreed with alacrity and relief. "Dinner will be at six again."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia."

Harry left the house for the day. He'd said he was going to the library, but really he was going everywhere and anywhere he could in Little Whinging just to stay out of the way, including a nice walk down in the woods on the edge of the town. He'd taken a small amount of muggle cash with him, so he grabbed a sausage roll and a doughnut for lunch. It was a nice day being out and about relaxing with just his own thoughts.

After dinner that evening Harry wrote to Sirius, knowing he had to write very carefully.

Hi Padfoot,

It hasn't taken me long to get bored of Little Whinging. It's little and muggle. And my cousin isn't really much fun. Please can I come and see you both on Tuesday? I want to make a start on my homework tomorrow (because otherwise when will I get it done?), but I really want to see you both, just to have a nice 'wizarding' day. I don't really know how one of those goes, simple stuff like how do you make toast?

Harry

On Monday morning Harry got a very excited reply saying they'd be delighted and Lupin would call to pick Harry up at nine on Tuesday morning. Something to look forward to made doing holiday homework a little better, although Harry had to admit, it was nice to be able to do his holiday homework instead of being stuck in his room with nothing to do, even though he wasn't allowed to use his wand.

Mealtimes were all awkward, although thankfully Vernon had gone out to work before Harry got up, and Harry was back in his room before Vernon got home. Harry was shocked when Petunia brought Harry the small portable TV from Dudley's room (Dudley had upgraded to a larger one earlier in the year, but had kept his 'second TV'). Harry had never had the luxury to binge watch TV all evening before, even if there were only four channels and one of those was a bit grainy.

Harry was waiting eagerly for Remus by ten to nine. He'd got his wand and had dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. He'd found a new pair of jeans and three new T-shirts on his bed when he'd come home from being out all day on Sunday. And they fit. And they'd come from a store. Things were definitely weird.

Remus rang the doorbell. He was also wearing jeans, but was wearing his with a collared shirt. Remus obviously knew how to dress as a muggle. He even had brown shoes with his dark blue jeans. Harry answered the door, hoping to leave with the minimum of fuss and just a quick goodbye to Petunia, but Remus had other ideas. He motioned Harry inside.

Dudley squeaked and slid as low as he could down the couch to be as unobtrusive as possible. Petunia came out of the kitchen on hearing the squeak. She hurriedly dried her hands when Remus put out a hand.

"Remus Lupin, Mrs Dursley," he said brightly, "Pleased to meet you. Thank you for letting Harry come round for the day, Sirius will have him back by nine. We'll sort him out for food, that won't be a problem."

Harry watched Petunia's mental pedalling to catch up. This was a normal conversation you'd have with anyone who was taking your child out for the day. She was just having to have it about Harry.

"No trouble, that's fine, he can come back whenever you're ready," she said, rallying.

"You must be Dudley," said Remus, turning to the boy on the couch. "Nice to meet you,"

Dudley managed a squeak.

"Dudders is very shy with strangers," said Petunia, stepping between Lupin and the couch.

"Oh, OK," replied Remus, looking at Dudley slightly oddly. "We'll just be getting off then. Nice to meet you both."

Harry and Lupin left the house, walked around the corner, checked no-one was watching and then Lupin sidelong apparated to Hogsmeade.

They appeared outside the front of Sirius' house.

"We thought it best if I come and pick you up. Sirius, muggle news from last year, mass murderer, you never know," said Remus.

"Yeah, that was a good choice," agreed Harry. "Little Whinging is an odd place."

Sirius opened the door and waved them in, "Come on, come on!" he said, clearly excited and giddy for Harry to be there.

"Don't mind the small schoolboy in him, he gets like that," said Remus with a grin.

Sirius and Harry exchanged a hug on Harry's way in.

"Do you have anything you want to do for the day, or can I go with my plan?" asked Sirius.

Harry turned to Remus, "Should I be scared?"

"You're OK, I moderated it," said Remus. "Nothing explodes any more, and we don't end up in Cornwall. He got carried away."

"I'd happily go to Cornwall with a bit of notice," said Harry, "I've never seen the sea. We never did beach holidays," he added hurriedly. What he couldn't say was, he'd been left with Mrs Figg for a week a couple of times while they'd been to the seaside.

"Next time you come we're going to the beach then," said Sirius. "Wales has a nice coast, we'll go there. Today we're doing everything wizard. It's odd to think you've never done simple wizard stuff."

"Yeah, just don't mind the bathroom mirror," said Lupin. "It's new and still yells a bit."

They spent the day just chilling out at Sirius's. They played wizarding games and talked some more. It was nice to just get to know people. What started off as a bit awkward ended up being nice and relaxing. Lunch and dinner were interesting. Sirius explained that wizard technology wasn't exactly much more advanced than Victorian Britain because the elves didn't like it, and just about every wizarding household had elves and those that didn't had magic and charms to do most things.

There were charms for so many little everyday things. It was like that scene out of Fantasia doing the washing up after dinner. Charms to tidy up sent items back to where they were supposed to be. It was odd to Harry that an item was assigned a home when it was bought just so that a charm could return it to its place later.

After Harry had returned home that evening (Sirius had escorted him to the front door from Wisteria Walk but Harry hadn't invited him in), Mooney discussed Privet Drive with Sirius.

"How were they when you dropped Harry off? Did you meet the uncle?" asked Remus. "I finally met Petunia. Lily rarely mentioned her. I sort of get why, even in under five minutes. Petunia is no Lily, that's for sure. The boy was odd too. I had to refrain from shouting 'Boo' at him really loudly, I honestly think he'd have fallen off the couch."

"No, Harry just gave me a hug and went inside. The car was in the driveway, so the Uncle must have been home. Given the neighbourhood, I can't imagine there's much pro-magic going on there," said Sirius.

Remus laughed. "Sorry, I just imagined owl post in that street!"

Sirius chuckled. "Yes, so very out of place."

Next morning Harry came down for breakfast. He tried to fill the glasses with orange juice, but at one look from Petunia, Dudley took the carton of juice from Harry and filled three glasses. Vernon had already gone to work.

Harry went out for the morning again and did some more homework in the afternoon. He felt a bit too much like Hermione. That thought made him reach for parchment and quill and write to Hermione and Ron. He wrote a really long letter to Hermione describing a wizard house, and a medium length letter to Ron telling him about the village of Little Whinging.

Vernon came home just in time for dinner. Dudley tried to make polite conversation with Harry, the first time he'd tried all week. "The man who brought you home yesterday, that's your godfather?"

"Yes," said Harry, "Sirius."

"Hey, weird," said Dudley, "That's the same name as the mass murderer who was on the run the other year. Same long hair too."

"That's because he's the same person," said Harry, casually. "He was exonerated earlier in the year. Was it not on the news?"

"Oh, er, um. Right," said Dudley with absolutely no idea how to proceed.

"Bloody wizards, mass murders, that doesn't surprise me, of course it's your bloody godfather," snarled Vernon, "Freaks, the lot of you,"

Harry wasn't expecting Petunia's or Dudley's reactions. Both were frightened. They tried to hush Vernon, fighting to say first that they disagreed with Vernon.

"You don't mean that," said Petunia at the same time as Dudley tried to say that Harry wasn't a freak. All three Dursley's stopped speaking and looked around, as if waiting for something to happen. Dinner was finished in silence. Harry went up to his room.

This was proving to be a very long week. Harry spent it waiting for the other shoe to drop. There had been a near miss on Wednesday when Harry had to show Dudley how to work the lawnmower and Vernon was obviously angry that Harry wasn't mowing the lawn. Petunia had come out and escorted Vernon back in.

On Thursday Harry arranged to go round to Mrs Figg's to use her floo to meet Sirius in Diagon Alley. Harry had asked to go to Flourish and Blotts to buy his fifth year book for Charms as it was the same book every year. He wanted to get ahead, he really liked Charms.

He was browsing the shelves when he felt a presence behind him.

"And how is the nut farm?"

"Nutty," said Harry, turning around to meet Snape's gaze. "What did you do?"

"I don't know what you mean, Mr Potter," replied Snape casually. "How's your cousin?"

"Terrified."

"How's your aunt?"

"Trying to keep everything calm."

"Uncle?"

"Avoiding me as much as possible."

"Good to know. Professor Flitwick's first lesson is always Chapter 5," said Snape nodding at the book in Harry's hand. "It's his way of seeing who's done the most holiday reading."

"Oh, right, thanks. So, which chapter do you start on?"

"Nice try, Potter."

"Sir."

Harry and Sirius had a nice day just spending time in Diagon Alley. They spent time planning their trip to the coast for Tuesday next week. Remus wasn't with Sirius, Harry only realised later it was full moon that evening and the moon rose late afternoon. Remus obviously hadn't wanted to be too far from home.

Harry kept himself to himself for the next few days, spending a lot of time out of the house.

Sunday was the day when things went more weird than usual. Vernon was worried about something all day, Harry could tell. He'd learned years ago to stay away from Vernon when he was in that mood. It wasn't anything to do with Harry, it was something else, but Harry being below radar was a good idea. Not seen, not heard. Harry heard the odd snippet and caught the name Mr Harrison. Ah, work worries. Keep out of the way.

It came to a head after dinner. Dudley was clearing the plates and took Harry's plate. Harry said 'Thank you'. That was when Vernon lost his temper.

"Take your own plate to the sink, wastrel," snapped Vernon. Harry stood quickly, programmed to obey that tone to avoid being grabbed and thrown in his cupboard.

"No, Dad, I've got it," said Dudley, half a step off hyperventilating.

"And you, stop being so bloody servile!" snapped Vernon at Dudley. Vernon had stood and pointed a finger at Dudley's chest. Harry was halfway to the sink with his plate already, passing behind Dudley. Dudley had stepped back out of the way of Vernon's finger, but had stepped back too quickly, too forcefully, and had stepped back elbow first into Harry. Dudley very inadvertently connected his elbow to Harry's solar plexus, causing Harry to yelp in surprise more than pain.

The look of horror on Dudley's face was absolute. "I'm sorry!" he wailed, "I didn't mean to!" Tears filled his eyes. "It was an accident!"

"I know, it's fine," said Harry, looking at Dudley very strangely. Dudley had done much worse over the years, but the boy looked like the world was about to end. "This is just odd, so I'm going to put this plate in the sink and go to my room."

Harry went upstairs. He quickly grabbed a parchment and quill.

Sir,

Just what?! Dudley accidentally bumped into me elbow first and his expression looked like the bogeyman was going to steal his soul.

Do I have to be here for another five days, because this is too bloody weird.

Harry

He sent the message with Hedwig.

Next day was Monday. Vernon went to work earlier than usual. Harry, Dudley and Petunia were eating breakfast in another awkward silence when they all heard the pop of apparition. Harry noticed the looks of panic on his relatives' faces. So they knew about that sound then.

Thirty seconds later there was a knock on the door.

"I'll go, shall I?" asked Harry, already halfway to the door.

"Mr Potter," said Snape entering the house. Harry heard a crash from the kitchen.

Snape headed towards the noise. Dudley was now curled up on the couch in the living room and Petunia was between Snape and Dudley.

"I'd like a quick word with your son, if you don't mind," said Snape, his tone indicating he was having that word whether she minded or not. She glared but moved out of the way.

Two flicks of Snape's wand glued Dudley to his seat before he could crawl away and raised a silencing charm.

"They can't hear us, Mr Dursley," said Snape softly. Dudley whimpered. "That wasn't a threat. People know when I'm threatening them."

Dudley stopped trying to escape his chair.

"What happened yesterday evening?"

"It was an accident. I accidentally elbowed him," said Dudley.

"I told you, the charm detects intent, Mr Dursley. You didn't intend to hurt Mr Potter, did you?"

"No, sir, I didn't, I really wouldn't."

"Look at me, Mr Dursley," said Snape. His cold command made Dudley look him dead in the eyes. "Do you intend to ever hurt Mr Potter again?"

"N… No, sir, never," said Dudley.

"Why?"

"Because it's wrong," replied Dudley.

Snape flicked his wand. "Finite Incantatem."

The sticking charm unstuck, the silencing charm dropped. Snape turned away from the boy.

Dudley felt pins and needles throughout his body. Inside his head he heard the words, 'The ghost of summer present is pleased with you.'

Vernon was packing up his briefcase for the day at 5:01pm. That was when he noticed the figure in his office.

He opened and closed his mouth. No sounds came out. The figure strode towards him.

"Take a sales trip, Mr Dursley. Until Saturday. Tell your family it's a work thing, that it's urgent and has just come up. For everyone's wellbeing, yes?"

"Sales trip. Right," said Vernon reaching for his phone. Snape apparated back to the gates of Hogwarts.

That had taken longer than he'd thought, he'd misguessed by a good four days.

On Wednesday Harry met Sirius and Remus and they went to the seaside in Wales for the day, not far from Bangor. The beach went on for miles. Harry stood watching and listening to the sea from the cliff tops for an hour. It was beautiful. They'd simply walked along the coast. The joy of magic was that they didn't need to plan a circular trip. They just went where they liked.

They'd done ten miles by lunch time. Harry asked if they could have muggle fish and chips for lunch, which Sirius decided was something he needed in his life more often. Harry paddled in the sea after lunch, only going in up to his knees with rolled up trousers. The sea was never really warm even in summer. Then they carried on walking, enjoying the view and each others' company.

They apparated to Hogsmeade for an hour or so just to relax before Remus took Harry home.

It was one of the nicest days Harry had ever had, and they'd hardly done anything.