THE MYSTERIOUS LETTER

Natasha potter woke up with a start. She had a really weird dream,where she saw that she was being carried somewhere,on a flying motorcycle. This was a dream which she saw on a regular basis,along with the one where she could hear a woman screaming ,and a blinding flash of green light. The dreams were something,which made her feel that she was more than,what she was told she was. Her life was miserable because of her aunt and uncle who took every care to make it so. Her parents were dead in a car crash,at least that was what she was told by her relatives,and they scolded her if she asked any questions about it. Suddenly her thoughts were disturbed by a loud knock on the door,followed by her aunt shouting,"girl!wake up!".

She was living in a small cupboard under the stairs of the Dursley house,which was of a very small size and enough to fit only her .The clothes she was wearing was very large for her,it was aunt petunias old clothes. They did not want to give any new clothes for her,as she was a freak. They called her a freak,because all kinds of unnatural things happen when she was around. She knew it was true as she knew these things did happen. Her cousin was a school bully,who enjoyed hitting her every time he got a chance. He also bullied people who tried to make friends with was as though,his goal in his was to make her life as miserable as possible. One day Dudley and his friends were chasing her,to beat her up,and when they found her she was on the rooftop of the school. One day when aunt petunia was washing some clothes which stank severely ,which she planned on giving Natasha,the clothes somehow shrank into the size of clothes of a doll. Luckily her aunt did not blame her,as she thought it was because of bad washing.

Then just a week ago something happened which was seriously unbelievable. It was on Dudley's birthday .The Dursley family went to the zoo on that day,and Natasha joined them as there was no one to take care of her that day. Usually their neighbor Mrs Figg took her under her care when the Dursley family went somewhere. Mrs Figg was an old lady who lived in a house which stank of cabbages. The old lady has lots of cats at her house and would show Natasha pictures of some cats which the old lady previously had. Natasha hated to go to that house,and was glad that she was going to the zoo with the family instead of being with the old lady. While she was going to the zoo,uncle Vernon warned her not to do anything unusual, or else she will stay in the cupboard for a week. The zoo was filled with various animals which gave joy to her, and everything went well until the family visited the reptilian display.

There was a Brazilian Boa Constrictor on the display, and Dudley who became interested in it started trying to make the snake move but to no avail. Natasha felt bad for the snake. Then the snake started talking to her. She first thought that she was imagining things,but when it started telling her things ,she knew it was for real. Then there was a loud voice that called Dudley to come and look Dudley came running and pushed Natasha and she fell on to the floor. When Dudley went and started pressing on to the glass, the glass suddenly vanished ,and Dudley fell in to the display .The snake escaped whispering a thanks to Natasha. The whole incident was blamed on her ,and she was immediately thrown into the cupboard as soon as they reached was not let out of there until now.

She quickly got dressed,and ran to take shower. She was allowed only five minutes in the shower. They did not want her to use so much water. As soon as she came out,she went to the kitchen to have her breakfast."You will not be cooking today",aunt Petunia said."You will move the lawn ,soon after your breakfast."."Ok aunt Petunia",Natasha replied. Uncle Vernon and her cousin came in,and sat opposite to her. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper and Dudley banged his smelting stick , which he carried everywhere ,on the table.

They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.

"Get the mail,Dudley",said Uncle Vernon from behind the newspaper.

"Make Natasha get it."

"Get the mail, Girl."

Natasha went for the mail,as she knew there was no use of arguing,and she never liked arguments.

Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and - a letter for Natasha. Natasha picked it up and stared at it, her heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in her whole life, had written to would? She had no friends, no other relatives - though her grades at school were the best in her class,her aunt never let her join the library,so she'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:

Ms. M. Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging, Surrey

The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no the envelope over, her hand trembling, Natasha saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.

"Hurry up, girl!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own went back to the kitchen, still staring at her letter. She handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard."Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia, "Ate a funny whelk-.". "Dad!" said Dudley suddenly, "Dad, Natasha's got something!" .

Natasha was on the point of unfolding the letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of her hand by Uncle Vernon. "That letter is addressed to me,Uncle Vernon." said Natasha politely ,wanting the letter back."Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge."P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.

Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise."Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!". They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Natasha and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.

"I want to read that letter," he said loudly

"I want to read it," said Natasha furiously, "as it's mine."

"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope."

Natasha didn't move, "I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.

"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley."OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Natasha and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Natasha and Dudley struggled to find a place near the keyhole,so that they could won,so Natasha, lay flat on her stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.

"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address - how could they possibly know where she sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"."Watching - spying - might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly. Natasha could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. "we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer...Yes, that's best...we won't do anything...",Uncle Vernon said. "No! you don't understand Vernon ,we have to tell her the truth. I know their people, they will not stop till the girl gets it.", Petunia argued. "We'll hide! yes we'll go away from here for some time! I am sure that will stop them", Uncle Vernon said. "No Vernon ,if they are following us they will know where we have gone. What if they get angry when they don't get any response?!. We cannot protect ourselves from them", Aunt Petunia shouted,"And what will the neighbors think,if a group of their kind marches to our house?",she added.

"You are right Petunia,i think telling the girl maybe the right thing. At least she wont be in the house for the rest of the year. But i am telling you, i won't be paying for the girl.",Uncle Vernon agreed at last. That's OK Vernon , i think we should call the girl now",Aunt Petunia said. As soon as Natasha heard it, she got up ready to open the door. Dudley was staring her in wonder." Why do they keep repeating 'your kind,your kind', who is your kind?",he asked. "I have no i will find out soon, won't I?",Natasha asked. Just then a voice boomed from the kitchen,"Come to the kitchen girl, we need to talk".

A/N:Sorry for the delay guys. Had some family issues . Next chap will be posted shortly