Though he had to really concentrate on walking and listening to the directions from his staff as he walked, Harry had moments where he thought about what he'd do when he returned to Privet Drive. He could pack up the rest of his things and put them in his staff.
I wonder if Hedwig's cage will fit?
His books had fit and they were larger than the staff, so maybe the cage would, too? He wondered if everything was rattling around the staff as he walked.
It didn't feel like things were moving inside of it.
Hedwig! She's not back yet!
Harry stopped in the middle of the walkway. He sucked in a deep breath while reminding himself that it was only Friday, his training didn't start until Monday morning, and he continued his steady tap, tapping way.
She'll be back by then… and maybe with a letter from Hermione.
He stopped at an intersection and listened carefully for cars, not hearing any and with the reassurance from his staff that there weren't any coming, he started across. Once he was safely crossed, he went back to planning.
How am I going to get to 56 Charing Cross Road by 9 am on Monday?
He thought about sending a letter to Madam Pomfrey asking for suggestions… she knew that he had the training. He dreaded the thought of contacting her, though, after the floo fiasco. Also, he didn't really want to bring it to her attention that he couldn't expect help from the Dursleys. He was kind of put out with her for not noticing or not caring how horrid Aunt Petunia was to him.
He could take the train and underground to Charing Cross Road if he could convert his galleons into pounds.
Where do I find a place to convert coins?
The thought made him prickle with sweat. He'd only traveled by the Hogwarts express by himself before and that was when he could see. He really didn't count the trip he and Ron had made in the Flying Ford Anglia—he had been with Ron after all. He had the staff and was learning how to use it and that made things easier, for sure, but he still couldn't read signs without using the anagnóstis and that would be a little awkward… what if he couldn't reach them to read them?
And it's not like I can do that around muggles.
Maybe Nio hus cherio kisa would want to go with me!
He can't read signs, either. And how would I care for him in the city? Where would I find soft earth to dig up worms and other bugs? He's probably never gone beyond the garden wall. He won't want to travel to London with me.
Harry's hope deflated a bit.
The walkway had disappeared and now he was walking on the side of the road. He heard a car approaching and froze for a second as his staff warned him of the approaching car and the closing distance. He moved over closer to the hedgerow that was encroaching on the street. The branches poked into his back as he held his staff parallel to his body and waited for the car to pass. When his staff started describing the area in detail, he realized that he must have squeezed it twice in rapid succession and he was surprised to hear it read the street sign, "Privet Drive."
My staff will read signs to me!
He drew in a breath that held the scent of both exhaust and leaves and continued toward Number 4. It would be busier on the street soon as people returned from work. The local primary was out and there were more kids playing outside, too. Some of them got quiet as he neared and he thought they had probably stopped to stare at him as he passed.
Nice.
He wondered if there were kids that he knew from the neighborhood or primary—not that they'd talk to him.
Dudley always made sure of that.
Ugh. Dudley's coming home.
Harry heard a ball bounce near him and stopped when a voice called out, "Oi. Pass it here, would ya?"
Harry used his staff to locate the ball which had stopped by his feet and bent down to pick it up awkwardly with one hand. It was the size of a quaffle but squishy. He turned toward where he'd heard the voice, and said "Here you go," holding it out.
"Go ahead and toss it," the voice said, nearing him.
Harry switched his staff to his left hand, hesitated for a second while he doubted his ability to throw blindly. Softly, under his breath, he said, "sod it," and sent the ball into the air in an underhanded arc, hoping the kid hadn't moved much. He heard feet slapping and then hands on the ball, and a muffled "Thanks!"
Smiling to himself, Harry responded with "No problem," and continued on his way. He wondered who it was—the voice did seem kind of familiar.
Soon, his staff told him to turn right and he was on the path fringed with Agapanthus walking to the door of Number 4. He let himself in, the intrusive odors of the house washing over him, and went into the kitchen to fix himself some dinner.
oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo
After he'd cleaned up after himself with the hope that Aunt Petunia wouldn't be able to tell that he'd even been in the kitchen (let alone made himself a corned beef sandwich) Harry tried navigating around the lower level of the house with the staff in his pocket, the fingertips of his thumb and middle finger lightly resting on it. He practiced getting around without reaching out for tactile cues until he felt pretty confident.
Maybe this will save me from getting tripped by Dudley.
He heard a squawk and ran up the stairs without thinking about it, surprising himself.
Whoa! I can run up the stairs.
He almost tripped on the landing at the thought, caught himself and skidded into his room just as he'd done a million times before. It felt good.
"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed gleefully.
She growled in response and he heard her stretching her wings on the windowsill. He knew it was still daylight by the sunlight that was a little easier to bear inside the house.
He was too glad to see her to reprimand her for coming in during the day.
Someone is bound to notice a snowy owl flying in and out of my window, but right now I don't care.
He had tucked some scraps from his dinner into his pocket for her and offered them to her bobbing head. He ran his fingers through her soft feathers as she pecked the scraps from his hand.
After she was done, she hopped around and he knew she had a scroll on her leg, which he found and unfastened. She went to her cage to drink water and he listened to the familiar sound as he unrolled the scroll. There were actually two pieces of parchment. He took his staff out of his pocket to retrieve the anagnóstis, pleased that he could open the storage compartment while it was collapsed.
Holding the larger scroll flat, he figured out which end was up and started reading it.
"Dear Harry,
Thanks so much for your long letter with more details about what they said at St. Mungo's. That's the pits and I'm sorry. I won't say anything else because, well, I know you don't want me to.
I've spent as much time as I can in the library researching spells that could be useful. The best one I've found so far is the navigation spell. You think about where you want to go, hold your wand in front of you and say, navigant, and it will tell you how to get where you want to go. However, I don't think you can use it while you're around muggles.
There's a summoning charm that will summon things to you (accio) and a charm that will return the accio'd item back to where it came from (reditus), but I think we'll have to practice them because I tried them and it took me a while to get the hang of them, especially the returning spell. You really have to visualize the location exactly to replace items. Those, too, are spells that you can't do around Muggles, but could be handy once you're back at school.
I talked to Professor Flitwick to see if he knew any other spells, but he couldn't think of anything. He said he'd do some research, too, and let me know over the summer.
I've included a separate list of your homework for the summer." Harry groaned when he read this.
"I know you won't be happy to get it, but maybe it'll help to have something to do. I hope that with the anagnóstis you're able to read the list, my letter, and your homework. I thought it was really brilliant of you to use a ruler to write the letter to me. It was a lot easier to read than your first letter.
I've also read that some blind wixen (this is a word for both witches or wizards that I learned while researching! I don't know why more wixen don't use it, it's so much easier than saying witches or wizards all the time!) learn braille which is a muggle invention for reading by touch. You've probably seen it on the elevator and other public muggle places. I think there are spells for converting text to braille or to speaking books (though, I think your anagnóstis is probably easier to use for that), but I haven't found them yet. I'll keep looking.
It sounds like the Dursleys are being horrid and for that, I'm really sorry. I'll ask my parents about having you come to visit. Ron says that he thinks his parents will also invite you to visit, so maybe between the two of us, you'll get a break. I'll give you a call once I'm home. Tomorrow we take the Hogwarts express home. It won't be the same without you. I miss you. So does Ron and well, loads of other people. Everyone is asking if you're okay.
Your friend, Hermione."
Harry was so glad to have the letter from Hermione that he didn't mind too much that it included the long list of summer homework.
Harry checked the time. It was nearly 5:30 in the evening. He was pretty sure that the Dursleys would be gone for a few more hours at least.
I've got to call the train station and find out about tickets to London while I can. How much is it going to cost?
He went down to the phone in the kitchen and found the phone book. With the anagnóstis, he was able to find the number for the local train station and called it (though it took him a while to remember the order of the numbers on the phone and he dialed a few wrong numbers until he tried using his anagnóstis to read the numbers on the phone—duh!).
Trying to sound as adult as he could muster, he learned that the ticket from Little Whinging Station to London would be nearly 25 pounds (that's like 5 galleons!).
With an urgency, he decided to write Hermione back right away and tell her about the staff and the training in London and to see if she could help him convert galleons to pounds.
If anyone can do it, Hermione can. Maybe while she's at King's Cross Station. Her parents have had to convert pounds to galleons, I bet they can help her.
He summoned the paper, ruler, pencil, eraser and pencil sharpener from his staff and set to work.
It was slow going, but soon he had an adequate letter describing the staff and how he was able to walk to the park with it and that he was heading to London on Monday morning to start training. He asked her not to call him at the Dursleys (he didn't want anything to get in the way of his escape to London) and told her that he'd figure out a way to talk with her once he was safely at his training residency.
After he summoned his money bag from his staff, he counted out (he was so glad that galleons were so obviously different in shape and size than the other wixen coins) and wrapped 10 galleons up in an old sock (begging her forgiveness) as it was the only thing he could find that he could secure inside the scroll. Maybe she'd be able to get him the pounds by Sunday night. He crossed his fingers and hoped this plan would work.
Hedwig wasn't so thrilled about being sent out again so soon after arriving, especially weighted down with the sock of galleons. She made a show of dragging her leg noisily so that Harry had to ply her with more scraps from the kitchen. Harry was anxious to send her off before the Dursleys arrived home. She hooted dolefully as she flew away and Harry was sad to lose her company so quickly.
It was now after 7 pm and Harry suddenly realized that he hadn't finished the ironing yet.