After breakfast, Aunt Petunia cleared the dishes while Harry washed them. Uncle Vernon continued to read the paper as Dudley watched obnoxious Saturday morning shows on the telly in the kitchen.

Harry was a little grateful for it (even though he hated the noise) because he was pretty sure it was the reason Dudley hadn't started in on him yet. He was braced for the usual harassments he received from his cousin and more, now that he had a new vulnerability that his cousin was sure to exploit. But Dudley hadn't seemed to notice yet.

Strange.

And Harry was still waiting for the other shoe to drop about the clown-barf serviette. Surely Aunt Petunia hadn't let it go so easily. He was certain she was thinking of all sorts of jobs for him such as washing all the bins, cleaning the toilets, and clearing out the tub drain. Consequently, he wasn't too shocked when that pretty much summed up the rest of his morning.

Oi! I should have been more creative if I was somehow planting the list of work in her head, Harry scolded himself as he carried all the bins from each room out to the backyard to be emptied, hosed out, scrubbed, and dried. He was able to use the staff (in its collapsed form) to locate the bins and then navigate through the house while carrying them.

Dudley tried to trip Harry as he walked through the kitchen to the back door carrying the largest bin, but Harry heard his chair creak ominously and his staff described the obstacle in time for Harry to skirt around Dudley's outstretched foot.

That's more like it!

Harry was tempted to keep some of the soggy remnants from the bin to deposit somewhere for Dudley to sit on, but resisted the urge knowing from past experience how badly retaliation could backfire on him (even if he felt completely justified).

Harry's reverie was interrupted by a lisping little voice near his feet. "Hello, Big Friend!"

Harry hadn't heard him rustling in the grass and guessed it was because it was wet from the hose. A warm feeling spread across his chest as he crouched down to greet Nio.

"Little Friend! I'm so glad you found me! I've been thinking about you."

"I've been missing you," Nio said with a heaviness in his hisses that Harry hadn't heard before.

"Would you like to perch on my neck while I work?" Harry offered. He knew he couldn't spend too much time crouching beside the bins talking to the little snake before Aunt Petunia with her penchant for peering out windows would wonder what he was up to.

Nio crawled onto Harry's offered hand and he gently guided the snake to his neck, loving the feel of his sleek scales against his skin. He tucked in his shirt again as a safety net.

"What are you doing with these big tubs?" Nio asked curiously.

"Cleaning them," Harry explained.

"You have a lot of things to clean," observed the snake.

Harry grumbled at this, though he actually preferred having something to do and an excuse to go outside that didn't get him in trouble with the Dursleys. The sun when it peeked out from the clouds, though it was too bright to tolerate with his eyes open, felt really good on his skin. He liked the breeze whispering through his hair and how it rustled the leaves. Against the backdrop of the hum of Little Whinging's traffic and the train in the distance, bird songs trilled and squirrels chittered, all punctuated by barking dogs and shouting children. It was as much peace as Harry ever experienced at Number 4 Privet Drive.

Nio's guidance was easier to follow than the staff's which described everything in the vicinity even if it wasn't relative to the task at hand. He liked his little snake friend, too, even when he wasn't particularly interested in helping Harry do his work. Like today, Nio just wanted to hang out on Harry's neck and nap and that was fine. He didn't really need the snake for this job, he could just enjoy the softly snoring form draped around his neck. Harry took as long as he possibly could cleaning the bins in the yard until Aunt Petunia yelled at him from the kitchen window to stop lollygagging around and get to work on unclogging the bathtub drain. Nio was startled awake by her shouting.

"I have to go inside, Nio," Harry explained.

"Take me with you?" the little snake asked.

"I'm not sure that's a great idea… The Dursleys aren't kind people. If they saw you they might try to hurt you," Harry's voice was tinged with fear.

"What are 'the Dursleys'?" Nio asked.

"Er, the other people in the house… my aunt, uncle, and cousin."

"Okay. I'll stay outside. But you come to visit me again soon, please. I wish you could come to my burrow and meet my family. They are kind and might even welcome a parselmouth like you."

"I'd like to meet them," Harry said and imagined a nest full of snakes all talking at him at once. The thought made him laugh. He was turning the bins upside down to empty out the last droplets of water and set them on the back patio to dry in the sun. Nio gave suggestions for where to set them when needed.

"Nio, I have to tell you that I'm going away the day after tomorrow for a whole month to go to school," Harry said.

"I thought you said you just returned here from school," said the little snake confused, "after the Basilisk attacked you."

"I did. This is another school where I can learn how to get around without sight."

"You do okay."

"Yeah, especially with your help. Thank you for helping me. I like being with you," Harry said as he put down Nio in the grass by the patio. "You make being at the Dursleys almost bearable."

"Thank you for keeping me warm and finding big worms for me."

Harry took off his trainers and padded to the back door. He decided he'd better take off his socks, too, as his feet were soaked and he didn't want Aunt Petunia to add mopping the kitchen to his list of Saturday chores. He took a moment to figure out how to hold his collapsed staff in the hand with his shoes and socks so that he could use the navigation spell to get through the house.

When he went inside he was startled by the warning from his staff that Aunt Petunia was standing right in front of him as he passed through the doorway. He hunched up his shoulders waiting for her outburst.

"What were you doing out there with all that hissing?" Aunt Petunia demanded.

"Er," was all Harry could come up with on the spot. He didn't think she'd like the truth: Talking to my snake friend in a rare snake language.

"I was singing a song I learned at school," Harry lied.

"Duck!" screamed his staff, and Harry dropped to the ground in a crouch as he felt something pass through the air over his head. He scrambled on the ground at Aunt Petunia's feet, feeling in front of him to make his way around her with the hand that wasn't full of shoes, staff, and wet socks. He struggled to his feet and then ran forward, lurched around the kitchen table, knocking into one of the chairs despite the staff yelling more warnings about obstacles in his path, and hopping on one foot when he stubbed his toe. Aunt Petunia was yelling at the top of her lungs, no real words, just frustrated, gurgling noises. He figured he was going too fast for the staff to guide him accurately, but it still helped him mostly make his way through the kitchen, to the hallway, and then up the stairs without getting banged up too badly.

Panting he went right into the toilet to start working on the drain. He locked the door behind him, though.

[break]

After finding the bent wire coat hanger that he kept under the sink for this job, Harry got to work pulling the slimy muck from the tub and depositing it into an old rag. He gagged at the smell. He'd have to brave Aunt Petunia again as he took it out to the rubbish bin in the garage since all the bins were sitting on the patio drying. He was tempted to save the muck and slip it into one of Aunt Petunia's slippers. That thought kept him going for a while.

After the drain was done, he worked on scrubbing the toilet. He still had to clean the downstairs loo and his stomach was starting to rumble.

He was also keeping one ear out for Hedwig's return, though it would be disastrous for her to return again in broad daylight with all the Dursleys at home. He knew that there was no way that Hermione would be able to get the galleons converted until she got to London and then she'd have to write a letter and send it to him. He couldn't reasonably expect anything before night time. And he could see her getting all fussy about him traveling by himself to London, especially now.

When I can't see.

Hermione would be all worried about it.

I shouldn't have asked her. I should have sent it to Ron. He wouldn't question it.

He was regretting asking Hermione for help… but it's not like he could take the letter back. It was probably already in her hands. He just had to wait and hope that she'd help him.

She knows how much I'll want to escape Privet Drive, even if it is for some stupid adaptation training. She'll think that's good for me, at least!

Harry was wishing he had thought to wash some of his laundry yesterday while the Dursleys were gone as he felt his wet socks that he had hung up to dry while he worked. He wondered if his Aunt Petunia remembered that he had the training on Monday.

Should I ask them if they are going to take me to London?

She did throw the note in the bin.

Though, you'd think she'd be happy to get rid of me for a month out of the summer!

Who'd she get to mop the floors?

Dudley! Ha!

Harry nearly laughed out loud at the thought of Dudders trying to mop the kitchen.

Finished with the toilet, he listened by the door wondering if anyone was upstairs before he opened it slowly. He had the rag with the drain dregs to take out to the garage in one hand (with his shoes and wet socks) and with the other, he held his staff in his pocket to get a description of the hallway. It seemed clear.

He could hear a cricket match on the telly in the living room—that would be Uncle Vernon. He wondered what Aunt Petunia was doing. And Dudley.

He stepped out of the toilet in the hallway and heard floorboards creaking at the threshold of Dudley's room and realized that Dudley must be watching him.

Harry decided to pretend he hadn't seen Dudley and walked by his room to the stairs.

Well, I haven't!

It was a little awkward to walk while concealing his staff in his pocket at the same time holding it so that he could get the description of the area. Again his staff warned him of Dudley's beefy foot trying to trip him. Harry skirted around it, ducked (he knew Dudley would try to grab him—how many times had his cousin tried this move?) and then made it down the stairs pretty quickly. Dudley came lumbering after him. In the dash down the stairs, Harry pulled the staff out of his pocket so that he could use both hands for balance as he made it down the stairs in his bare feet.

Wow, he sounds a lot bigger. More like Vernon than he did last summer. Slower like Vernon, too, and breathing hard.

Harry ducked into the loo on the first floor and locked the door. Dudley pounded in frustration on the thin wood of the door which rattled Harry's head a bit as he was leaning against it. Resigned to being stuck in the toilet for a while, Harry cleaned the toilet and unclogged the drain with the supplies that were kept under the sink.

Then he summoned his anagnóstis and the letter from Hermione from his staff and settled down to read the list of homework Hermione had sent. He listened to the first chapter in his required summer reading from Professor Binns. He ate the apple he'd been saving (also summoned from the staff) and checked to see if his shoes and socks were dry yet.

Not yet.

He had made it through the morning at least.