This time it was only Vernon who came to pick Harry up from the station. 'Julie's broken her leg during gymnastics practice,' he said, 'so this time we're actually happy to have you back. You're going to take care of her, to relieve your aunt.' At first Harry did not buy it, he knew for a fact that when they were in primary school she would sometimes fake being sick or hurt to stay home and get pampered by her mother. However, when he walked into her room that evening, carrying a tray of food and drinks, he realised immediately that she was not faking anything.

She was lying in her electrically adjustable double bed, with her hurt leg above the blanket. The blue cast was rather big and people had written on it. On the bedside table were various get well cards and empty cans. When he entered the room, Julie looked up. She tossed her celebrity magazine aside and smiled at him. 'Harry! I'm actually so glad to see you. You and I are going to be spending a lot of time together this summer.'

'Why's that?' Harry asked, while handing her the tray. Julie carefully placed it onto her lap and then pulled out a whistle from under her shirt, attached to a cord around her neck.

'You see, you get to be my servant during my recovery! Whenever I blow this whistle you'll come and do my bidding. Pretty neat, huh?' Harry sighed. He hated his summer already, and he had only just arrived. Julie was still smiling at him. 'Come on, between you and me you've always been my favourite cousin' she said cheerfully.

'Is that perhaps because I'm your only cousin?'

'Well, yes, but that doesn't make it any less true, does it?'

Harry said nothing. He looked around the room. Julie's bed was right next to the window, from which she had a view over the garden with the swimming pool. In front of her bed was the plasma screen TV she had been given for losing her second bedroom to Harry. Underneath the screen were a video player and a gaming console. Next to her bed laid some books and candy wrappers. She had a big desk with a PC and an ever bigger wardrobe. There were various posters of bands Harry did not know, and on the shelves were her school books and various gymnastics pennons. Julie had the biggest room in the house but still it was barely big enough to keep all of her stuff.

'You've never been into my room before, have you? At least I hope not' she asked with her mouth full of food.

'No, because you said you'd murder me in my sleep if I did.'

'Oh, yeah, right, I forgot.'

Harry looked at her leg. 'How did that happen anyway? You know, when people say break a leg they don't actually mean you should.'

Julie rolled her eyes. 'You're only the tenth person to make that joke. It's really none of your business, but fine, I'll tell you. I was training for a big competition with my personal coach at Smeltings and tried to land a complicated flip. Emphasis on 'tried', because upon landing my leg buckled and bended just below the knee. And yes, that hurt. They immediately took me to the hospital. I hate that place with a passion, it reminds me of that feather surgery.'

Harry would definitely not have wished this on her, but at the same time he did not mind that she was now incapable of bullying him like she normally would have done.

The first time Julie used the whistle was early in the afternoon on the next day. The sound echoed throughout the entire house and quickly made its way into Harry's ears. He groaned and went to Julie's room. 'Ah, glad you could make it' Julie said when he had stepped inside. She paused the movie she was watching and looked at him.

'Well, it's not like I have much of a choice, do I?' Harry asked grudgingly.

Julie raised an eyebrow. 'That's not true, specky. In life you always have a choice, as long as you're okay with the resulting consequences. Which, in your case, would be being locked up in your room.' She smiled smugly at him when saying those last couple of words.

'What do you need?' Harry asked.

'I want you to refill my jug of lemonade, and make sure to put some ice cubes in there. I also want a new glass and a new straw, and while you're at it, you can bring me a big cheese sandwich with tomato.'

Harry sighed. 'Do you also want me to bake you a pizza?' he said.

'No, that's okay, I'm not that hungry' Julie said, apparently not noticing the sarcasm. Harry went downstairs, wishing she would recover as quickly as possible. When he handed her the tray a few minutes later, she made quick work of the sandwich and then yawned long and loudly without covering her mouth. 'All right, it's time for my beauty sleep, so you can go and do whatever Harry's do for a few hours.' That was of course fine with him; asleep was when he liked her most.

After a while, Julie would sometimes prefer to lie on the living room couch rather than staying in her bedroom all the time. During the day she would usually watch nature documentaries and funny sitcoms, while in the evening just before bed she would watch a movie. Sometimes Harry would watch with her, and they would occasionally have little discussions about what they were seeing. Julie would never admit it, but sometimes she actually enjoyed his company. Her parents would sometimes treat her like a baby even though she was now officially a teenager, and she felt it a nice change to spar with someone.

The days went by like that, and except for one Sunday afternoon nothing special happened. Julie was reading a book on the couch, Harry was studying (when taking care of Julie he was allowed one school book at a time), Petunia was dusting the shelves and Vernon was doing some administrative work when the phone rang. 'Vernon Dursley speaking.'

'HELLO, HELLO, CAN YOU HEAR ME, THIS IS RON WEASLEY, I WANT TO SPEAK TO HARRY POTTER!' Ron's voice came blasting in the room. Vernon dropped the phone, Petunia shrieked, Julie dropped her book in shock and Harry froze. 'HELLO, HELLO, I'M A FRIEND OF HARRY'S FROM SCHOOL!' could be heard from the now dangling phone. Vernon grabbed it.

'DON'T EVER CALL THIS NUMBER AGAIN!' he shouted and he promptly hung up.

'Haha, ouch!' Julie screamed.

'You!' Vernon pointed at Harry, 'how dare you give our number to your fellow freaks!' He grabbed his nephew's arm and dragged him outside, into the yard, to scream his head off. A few minutes later they came back inside. Julie smiled at Harry.

'Your friend doesn't know how a telephone works? What an idiot!' She began laughing. Maybe Harry was biased, but he had always hated her laugh with a passion; she laughed like a hyena and sometimes the sound would get stuck in his head for a few minutes.

By the time it was Harry's birthday, Julie had made a full recovery, but if Harry thought his summer would now be peaceful he was sadly mistaken. The Dursleys were having breakfast, completely ignoring the fact that it was his birthday. They did not even acknowledge him, but kept their eyes on the news. The television was brand-new, bought to celebrate the fact that Julie had healed. 'Convict Black is armed and dangerous, and nobody should approach him. Should you see him, notify the police immediately.' A picture of Black was shown.

'Ew!' Julie said, putting down her fork.

'I'd smell from hundred miles away that that guy is no good,' Vernon scoffed, 'anyway, I'd better get going, Marge should be arriving at the station soon.'

'What? Aunt Marge? She's coming?' Harry asked before he had even realised it, 'nobody told me!'

'Yes, boy, and she's staying till Friday' Vernon said. Today was Monday, so she would be staying a good five days. 'We told her you go to St Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys and you'd better stick to that story.'

Harry sighed. He wondered how he was going to survive aunt Marge for almost a whole week. She was Vernon's sister, but Harry had always been forced to call her 'aunt'. She loved nothing more than to criticise him. The last time Harry had seen her was on Julie's tenth birthday, the year before he went to Hogwarts, and he had stepped on her bulldog's (aunt Marge bred dogs for a living) tail. It had subsequently chased him up a tree, and aunt Marge had refused to call it back until midnight. The Dursleys and particularly Julie, who actually thought Marge's dogs were gross, still found that a hilarious story. At least Harry had gotten his sweet revenge by completely ruining Julie's next birthday.

Vernon put on his coat. 'Are you coming with me to the station, Julie?'

'No.'

'All right, I'll be back soon.' He left, and Harry gloomily helped himself to one last piece of toast.

'Aw, cheer up scarface, you won't even need to act, everyone'd believe you attend that St Brutus whatever' Julie said, after seeing his depressed state. Harry did not respond. 'Always look on the bright side of life. Oh wait, in your life there's none.' She smirked and turned her attention back to the television.

About an hour later (even though it felt like one minute), Harry heard Vernon's car pull up the driveway. 'Open the door!' Petunia hissed and so he did, feeling he just opened the gates of hell. Vernon and Marge came walking in, and Marge immediately thrusted her heavy suitcase in Harry's arms.

'Petunia!' she screamed and she slammed her lips onto Petunia's cheeks. They started making their way to the living room, and Vernon told Harry to take Marge's suitcase to the guest bedroom. He did not mind that at all; any second away from Marge was a bonus. He spent as much time as possible, but then he was forced to go down to the living room as well. He entered just in time to see Julie happily tuck away a £50 note. The family sat down for tea and Harry reluctantly joined them. It was then that Marge first directed her attention to him. 'So, still here, I see?' she asked.

'Yes.'

'Yes,' she imitated him, 'you should be grateful they took you in.'

Harry said nothing, he did not want to rise to the bait, especially since Vernon had promised him to sign his Hogsmeade permission form if he behaved well and stuck to their story. 'Where is it you sent him to?' she asked Vernon.

'Er, St Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys' Vernon said hastily. 'Isn't that right, boy?' he added, looking at his nephew.

'Oh, yes, sure' Harry said.

'I see,' Marge said slowly, 'and do they practise physical punishment there?' Next to her Harry saw Vernon nodding furiously.

'Yes, they do, I've been beaten loads of times' Harry said.

'Good, it'll help you in the long run. Sometimes a good beating's the only thing that works with such hopeless cases. Could you pour me another cup of tea, please, Petunia?'

The next day Marge took the two children out shopping. Harry really did not want to go and Julie did not want Harry to come, but Marge insisted that he would come so that he could carry the shopping bags. Also Marge liked the idea of spoiling Julie while completely ignoring Harry. By the time they got lunch, Harry was already carrying two very heavy shopping bags. Marge ordered big portions for herself and her niece, while Harry got nothing more than a basic cheese sandwich and a glass of water. Harry considered himself lucky Marge did not scold or criticise him in public, chatting happily with Julie instead. When she went to the lavatory, Julie started complaining. 'Such big portions… how am I supposed to finish all that?' she said plaintively. It was true, she had only finished half of her salad. Harry did not respond; he knew all too well that she was trying to provoke him.

After lunch they continued shopping. He sat outside on a bench while Marge and Julie entered what felt like the 100th shop and wished for the day to come to an end. He was feeling so miserable that he had not noticed Julie walking out of the shop. She sat down right next to him, so close that their knees touched, and shoved something in his face. 'Look, aunt Marge bought me a cell phone! Wanna see what it can do?'

'No' Harry said, pushing Julie's arm down so that she lowered the phone.

'All right, well, it can't just make phone calls but it also comes with a pager, a calculator, an address book, a fax machine and even an e-mail device!' she said excitedly, completely ignoring Harry's answer.

'Julie, I really don't care, okay?' Harry said, wiping the sweat off his forehead that was the result of carrying the shopping bags.

'And I don't care that you don't care' she said pleasantly. Harry sighed and looked down at the ground. He was feeling hot and sweaty. 'Hey, are you feeling all right?' Julie asked. Harry did not answer. She waved her hand in front of his face. 'Please don't ignore me when I'm taunting you, that's rude.'

Harry glared at her. 'I'm carrying heavy shopping bags in the blazing sun while being out with two of the most awful people I know, and one of them is now showing off her newest present. Why wouldn't I be all right?' he told her irritably. Julie seemed to be taken aback a bit. She gave the zipper of her sweater a little tweak and put the phone back in her purse.

'Well, if it's any consolation, I don't like aunt Marge either, I just like her expensive gifts' she said after a few seconds.

'I know, Julie, you can fool your parents and her, but not me' Harry said.

'Fair enough, but I don't like that she insults you all the time, that's my job.' Julie got up. 'I'll carry one of those bags, all right? I reckon we'll be going home soon anyway.'

'Er, thanks Julie' Harry said as he got to his feet as well.

'Just make sure not to do any accidental you-know-what when she's scolding you again, she's not worth it, trust me.'

'I know, if only I could just stay in my room all day but she insists that I join you all the time.'

'Er, just try to think about something that makes you happy when she's talking,' Julie said, 'like, I don't know, maybe your friends or your favourite food.'

Harry nodded. 'I'll try, thanks.' Julie took hold of one of the bags, but promptly used it to hit Harry on the knee. 'Ow! What was that for?!' he exclaimed.

'Don't think I'm going soft' she said, but she did inadvertently smile a little. At that moment Marge came walking out of the store and spotted Julie carrying one of the shopping bags. 'Er, Harry was feeling a bit tired' Julie said before she could ask anything. Marge shot Harry a disdainful look.

'Weak, aren't we? Just when I started to think I found you a purpose in life. Well, let's go home.'

That evening they were having dinner. Marge had just finished asking about Julie's school and her gymnastics and was very satisfied with the answers. She instantly made a comparison to Harry. 'You know, boy, if you could only do one per cent of what your cousin can, you'd already have been much better off.'

'Well, everyone's got different talents' Julie said hesitantly, casting Harry a glance.

'Normal people, perhaps,' Marge said, 'what talent does he have?'

'Well, he brings out your most creative insults, doesn't he?' Julie said with a polite smile.

'I don't know if telling the truth is an insult per se. It's the same with dogs, sometimes they're just rotten and nothing will help. Please don't feel like you failed or anything,' she looked at Vernon and Petunia, 'when there's something wrong with the bitch there'll be something wrong with the pup.' At this point Harry felt pretty angry, but he managed to keep himself together. Marge looked at Petunia. 'Again, don't feel bad. It wasn't your fault that you had a rotten sister who married some scoundrel.' Suddenly the wine glass she was holding broke. Except from Harry, everybody started speaking. 'It's all right, it's all right, I just have a strong grip!' Marge said loudly, but the Dursleys all looked at Harry suspiciously.

'Er, aunt Marge, maybe you could share us another funny childhood story?' Julie asked, trying to relieve the tension.

'Not now, dear' Marge told her with a smile, before turning back to Harry. 'Your parents were a pair of losers and so are you, boy.'

Suddenly she gasped for air and her body started to swell up. She started screaming, which quickly turned into squealing, while the Dursleys were all watching in shock. Before long, she rose up from her chair and hit the ceiling. To make matters worse, the cool summer breeze coming in through the open backdoor started to suck her outside like a gigantic human balloon. A lot of things then happened at once. Julie ran to the door to close it, Vernon tried to grab his sister, Petunia stood there dumbstruck and Harry ran away furiously. Using magic, he opened up his cupboard, quickly grabbed his belongings, went to his room where he shoved everything in his trunk and went back downstairs where he found Vernon waiting for him.

'YOU GO AND TURN HER RIGHT!' he screamed at Harry.

'No,' he said quietly, 'now get out of the way, I'm going.'

'You're not going anywhere, boy!' Harry then pointed his wand at his uncle, who looked shocked for a second but then a grin spread across his face. 'Ha! You're not allowed to use magic outside of school, I know that!'

'I just did, so a little more wouldn't hurt. Now get out of my way!' He wrestled himself past his uncle and ran outside, into the cool night.

Vernon tied his sister to the table with a rope, while Julie watched the scene. 'Well, that happened' she said.

'What are we supposed to do now, Vernon? We can't take her to the hospital' Petunia said worried.

'Maybe if we pierce her with a needle, she'll go back to normal' Julie suggested.

'Don't you dare!' aunt Marge squeaked, 'call a doctor!' The Dursleys knew that was not an option, but then the doorbell rang. Hesitantly, Vernon made his way to the door and opened it just a little, so that the other side could not see the scene in the living room.

'Hello, my name is Johnson and this is Saunders, we're members of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. We got word accidental magic has occurred in this residence, and we're here to fix it.' Vernon was actually very relieved to see these wizards on his doorstep.

'Oh, yes, yes, please come in!' he said and he let them inside. They saw aunt Marge and turned her back to normal within a few seconds. After that they obliviated her memory.

'Er, sirs, will the person who did this be punished?' Julie asked tentatively.

'Maybe, it's not us who decide' one of the men said curtly. They did not linger; all in all their stay had taken about a minute. Julie realised that this had been quite the event, but unfortunately she could not tell anyone about it.