Harry Potter and the Last Summer
Four days left until the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!! That means I'll have to write quickly and probably skip some stuff…I'm sorry that my writing has already suffered so much and that it's going to suffer some more. So thank you all who are actually putting up with this piece of shit!
Disclaimer: Why would I be so excited to read a book if I wrote it myself? Think and this would be a lot easier for all of us. If I owned 1776, I would probably be in Minnesota watching it at the Guthrie, not in Kansas writing this. If I owned Red Dwarf, it wouldn't be nearly as hilarious as it is.
Chapter 8: Speed of Time
—
Harry awoke way too early to the sounds of Ron's snores. It wasn't like he wasn't used to the sound of air trying to escape from Ron's nostrils—how could you not be used to it if you spent almost all your summers and all of your school days and holidays with him?—it was just having the sounds of Ron's snores at Privet Drive. Sleeping in his Privet Drive bed, he wasn't hearing the loud noises of his uncle and cousin's snoring, but he was listening Ron's. Ron…Hermione…Lupin…Tonks…and Ginny (which made him quite nervous) were at Privet Drive. Middle-of-Nowhere Muggle suburbia…He had to keep reminding himself that he wasn't at the Burrow or Hogwarts; he was still stuck at his aunt and uncle's house.
Well, now that he was up he knew he couldn't go back to sleep. With a lot of effort, he got up and got dressed quickly; he kept his promise to Hermione and shaved. It was barely six thirty and the sun was still rising. But he was too hungry and too awake, so he decided to attempt to make some breakfast, which he hadn't done for years.
Thankfully, Harry discovered that making eggs was like riding a bike: you never forget. (Well, he assumed riding a bike was like that, he tried riding Dudley's hand-me-downs, but they were normally damaged too much.)
Harry had just finished his own breakfast when he heard footsteps. Turning around he saw Professor Lupin climbing down the steps.
"Good morning, Harry," the werewolf greeted.
"Good morning, Professor."
"I'm not your teacher anymore; just call me Lupin or Remus or Moony."
Harry smiled. He got him there. "Good morning, Moony."
Lupin smiled back. "Do you normally get up this early?" He asked as he walked over to the kitchen counter.
"God, no!" Harry exclaimed as Lupin laughed. "I guess it's just weird having people I actually like at Privet Drive." He paused before asking, "What do you like in your eggs, Prof—I mean, Moony?"
"Now you don't have to do that, Harry—"
"No, it's really okay. I made breakfast until I got into Hogwarts. I haven't forgotten. Plus, you guys are my guests after all."
Lupin looked like he might argue some more, but he gave up and sat down at the table. Harry smiled along with Lupin. "We have cheese and ham and some vegetables—well, a lot of vegetables." Lupin agreed to a ham and cheese omelet, which Harry sat down in front of him after a few minutes, along with a glass of orange juice. They sat in silence as the former professor ate.
As Lupin took a final sip of orange juice, Harry took a deep breath. "P—Moony, umm…can I ask some, er, advice?"
Lupin looked a bit shocked at being asked for his own opinion. "Er…of course, Harry. What about?"
Harry looked around to make sure that they were still alone. He wasn't sure how to ask since it was so weird to talk to anyone but Hermione about his love life…well, what little he had of one in any case…Taking a deep breath, he began, "Well…er…I was talking to Tonks, and…er…she advised me on something, but I thought you might….er…understand what I'm going through better…" Lupin nodded and Harry went on, "Well, I didn't want to broadcast it, but…er…this year I, uh, started going out…with Ginny…"
If Lupin showed any surprise, Harry didn't know it since he was now examining a tile on the kitchen floor. "And at Dumbledore's funeral, I, well, I…broke it off. It's just…everyone keeps on getting hurt from just being near me. First my parents, then Cedric, then Sirius, now Dumbledore…I just couldn't stand Voldemort killing her. In my second year she got taken into the Chamber of Secrets as bait since she was my best friend's sister. What would Voldemort do if he discovered that she's more than just my best friend's sister, more than a friend?
"She accepted it; I just wish I had realized how cool she was sooner so we could've had more than those weeks. And then Tonks talked to me and said that I shouldn't have broken up with her. The Weasleys are in danger anyways for being so close to me, and Malfoy and Snape," he spit out their names, "Could've told Voldemort by now. And with Voldemort gaining so much power, life is short enough as is and I shouldn't waste it. I just don't want to see anyone hurt again.
"So Tonks was saying that you went through a lot of the same things with her…and you're as close to a parent as Sirius was…So I thought I would just get your opinion on the, er matter." Harry managed, with great effort, to look at Lupin in his eyes. Lupin managed a weak smile before stretching back and closing his eyes, his hands behind his head.
"Just out of curiosity, who all know about it?"
"Ron, Hermione, Tonks, all of the Hogwarts population…maybe a few others, I don't know. I just don't want to deal with any angry redheads killing me for hurting her."
"Well, I can't say I'm too surprised about any of it, really." Harry gave him an odd look, which apparently he expected or he felt or he just felt like explaining into detail what he meant. "Ever hear of OedipusRex, Harry?" He opened one eye to see Harry shake his head. "Well, it's one of the first tragedies, a Greek one I believe. See, Oedipus is king…well; the story is really complicated so I won't tell all of it. Basically, a prophecy was made stating that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He then discovers he caused chaos in a kingdom by killing someone he didn't realize was his father. Then he discovers that he has indeed married his mother. At the end of the play, he gouges out his eyes to punish himself.
"After seeing a performance of the play, Sigmund Freud—whom I'm sure you hear of," Harry nodded, "eventually came with a whole theory called the Oedipus complex. There's a lot to it, but it's now referenced today as a simpler theory. Basically, it's been made out to be that children look for traits for their mate in their parents. So girls are supposed to secretly want their father while boys really want their mothers. Well, just the traits of whatever sex they are attracted to.
"So, am I surprised that you like Ginny as more than a friend? Not really. I knew she liked you when I saw how she acted around you at Hogwarts. And many people end up following the Freud road. Ginny is very much like Lily, so I guess your proof that even if you didn't know your parents you can follow the Oedipus mold. They have the fiery temper, the power; they even look the same…" Lupin yawned.
"Now…you really wanted my advice, right? Well, on one hand, I can see where you're coming from with not wanting to put her danger. On the other hand, she'd probably only be slightly more in danger if Voldemort discovered you were going out. I know you want to keep people safe, but she obviously doesn't care or else she wouldn't have even associated with you throughout the years or even come for the week. And I must say that I agree that life is too short to waste it without someone you love and care about.
"Well, I hoped I helped a bit. It's ultimately something you'll have to decide for yourself."
Before Harry could even think a bit more, everyone else came downstairs. He muttered a thank you to Lupin and made eggs for the lot.
—
The week went by all to fast for Harry. At least he made some good memories. Harry and Hermione taught Ginny and Ron how to work the TV remote, but they often could only find random movies (like 1776, which Tonks knew every word to because her father was insane and made her watch it to learn the American view on independence, "I didn't realize before that they all burst out into random fits of song!") or episodes of Red Dwarf, of which both Tonks and Hermione were fans. Ron and Harry saw some weird handshake on some movie that they decided to imitate (the whole fist coming from above/below and then coming from below/above and then pounding the fist and "locking" it). They would sometimes walk around the neighborhood, watching all the little kids running away from the Potter boy but looking confused (and even more frightened) to see him happy.
Hermione, in secret, gave him a wizarding picture of him and Ginny. Which was quite odd seeing as he never told anyone about his photo collection of his parents and his baby self. It wasn't that he didn't want people to know, it just wasn't normal conversation. Harry put it right by a picture of him and his parents because of the whole Oedipus talk he had with Lupin/Moony/Remus.
Before any of them knew it, it was the last night of the visit. Tonks went out to buy food to replace what they'd eaten at the Dursleys and to pick up some ice cream and Italian for dinner while Lupin was taking a shower, causing the teenagers to be left alone.
All four were sitting in the kitchen since the living room was too uncomfortable for Harry to sit in too often since he rarely left his room except for the bathroom or the kitchen. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all talking about who knows what, but Harry was distracted. In midst of his Ginny crisis, he walked past his old room, AKA the cupboard under the stairs, and couldn't stop looking at it. It was hard, even after all these years, to not be upset by it. Harry hated doing the "woe-is-me" act so he never told anyone, not even Ron and Hermione. But that night proved that the secret wouldn't last long.
"Hey, Harry, you there?" Ron asked, flapping his hand in front of his friend's face.
"What? Oh, yeah, yeah, of course, yeah," Harry responded lamely.
"Harry, what were you staring at?" Ginny asked, not liking to beat around the bush.
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all," Harry replied.
"Harry…" Hermione's voice went off dangerously. "Just tell us what you were thinking. I'm too tired to be coy about it."
Harry sighed. "Just…the cupboard under the stairs…no big deal."
"Of course it's a big deal," Hermione said as gently as possible, "Or else you wouldn't have been staring at it. I mean, my God, you almost burnt a hole in it."
Harry thought for a moment, deciding that it wasn't worth pretending that there was some other reason that he was glaring a hole into the cupboard door. "I just…don't like the cupboard, okay?" He stopped Hermione before she could ask why, "I don't like it because it's where my aunt and uncle made me sleep until I started getting letters from Hogwarts. If it wasn't for the fact that they were afraid I probably would still be sleeping there, despite the fact that I could barely stand in there anymore." Time to send in the awkward bunnies…
"Well, I guess that's why you aren't afraid of spiders like a sane person." Ron said with a smile.
"I'm not afraid of them since I'm smart, Ronald." Harry said with a grin.
"Hey, intelligent people aren't anywhere near sane, Potter."
—
Yet again, before Harry knew it, it was July 30. He was leaving at midnight to go to the Burrow and celebrate his seventeenth birthday, but he never thought he would be upset at leaving Privet Drive. Even though it was miserable, it was his home for years and years, so saying goodbye would be difficult. Then he'd have to go on that terrible journey…Facing that wasn't something he looked forward to.
Plus, Aunt Petunia was being, dare he think it, nice. Dudley was sick in bed with mono (how he managed to find anyone wanting to kiss him was amazing to Harry) and Uncle Vernon was away on a business trip to America, so she didn't have to be rude to Harry since there was no one to put the show up for. She just made many acts of random kindness, which shocked and confused Harry…until that July 30.
Aunt Petunia was now being rude to him again since Uncle Vernon was back, but she stopped by his room around nine at night. Harry was sitting on his bed with his back turned to her.
"Harry?" She said, stepping into the room. Harry jumped a bit and turned around to look at her. She closed the door and slowing walked over to Harry's bed, sitting next to him.
"Well, I know you're leaving for good tonight, so…I wanted to give you this." She gave him a leather-bound book, much like his own photograph collection. Harry opened it to find Muggle photographs of his mom, his aunt, his dad, his grandparents (he assumed)…everyone. There were even some of Sirius and Lupin from the wedding.
Harry stared at shock at the album. "Thank you," he whispered, tracing his finger on a photo from his parents wedding.
"I have doubles of everything. I didn't know if you had any pictures or not, so I thought you might want it." Petunia said nervously.
Then, to Harry's shock, she pulled him into a hug. Harry didn't know what to do but to ask awkwardly, "Er, Aunt Petunia, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
She pulled herself together enough to say, "It's just…I feel so bad about how I treated you over the years. I just can't believe I hurt an innocent child just to get revenge on my sister." She took a deep breath and continued, "I was always jealous of how much she excelled and that she could do magic…I wish I was a better aunt to you, Harry."
Harry was shocked at his aunt's kind words. "It's okay, Aunt Petunia. I forgive you…and I know my mum does to." Aunt Petunia nodded and looked away from Harry. Harry wanted to make conversation, so he said, "Well, I don't have a lot from when my mom was a kid or really any Muggle," he paused, waiting to get yelled at, but when his aunt said nothing he continued as if nothing had happened. "Pictures. I do have some wizarding ones if you want to see them."
The soon to be man walked to his trunk and returned with a nearly identical leather-bound album. He pointed at all the pictures and explained who they were. Eventually they reached the end where Harry had his picture of his mom and dad from their wedding and Hermione's picture of Harry and Ginny down by the lake. They smiled the whole time and occasionally kissed, almost in tune with his parents' photo.
"Is she from that family of redheads that always greet you?"
"Yeah, that's Ginny…"Aunt Petunia didn't say anything else, but Harry knew she was thinking along the lines of Oedipus.
After a few minutes in silence, Aunt Petunia hugged him and walked to the door. She almost closed it before saying, "You should check to make sure that you left nothing here."
Harry stared at his empty room. Like I haven't spent the last three weeks packing everything, he thought. Still, he obliged and checked under the bed and the loose floorboards and the other typical hiding places.
Hedwig hooted softly from her cage. Harry was thankful she did this or he would've forgotten to send her ahead to the Burrow. As Harry opened the window, he said to her, "Go to the Burrow, I'll meet you there in a few hours." Hedwig nibbled Harry's ear affectionately and flew into the night.
—
Time sped up on Harry again, and it seemed he just let Hedwig out when the clock displayed eleven fifty. Harry checked the room one last time before grabbing his stuff and turning off the lights for good in that place.
When he got downstairs he checked the cupboard to make sure that he hadn't left some long forgotten spell book or something as well as the rest of the downstairs despite the fact that he never brought anything out of his room. When every last inch was checked he joined his cousin and uncle in the sitting room, trying to control his jittering legs.
At five till, the door bell rang…five times. Harry grinned and raced toward the door. He opened it to reveal Mr. Weasley (Harry wasn't surprised that he was the one ringing the doorbell), Tonks, Lupin, and Moody.
"Wotcher and happy birthday, Harry," Tonks said with a grin.
"Five more minutes, Tonks," Harry said, smiling back.
Tonks and Lupin grabbed the trunk and carried it outside. Mr. Weasley tried to smile friendly at the Dursleys, all of whom were standing in the entryway, but Harry could tell that he didn't like their way of saying goodbye before his fourth year.
"Well," Mr. Weasley said with tight lips, "Do you want to say anything to your aunt and uncle and cousin, Harry?"
Harry had been thinking for a long time what he wanted to say and do to the Dursleys. He had come up with this while lying in bed one night.
"Well, it was tempting to wait here until I turned seventeen officially and perform some hex on you." Harry said while his cousin and uncle shrank back with difficulty. "But that would be counterintuitive to what I wanted to prove to you guys for years.
"You tortured me for no reason whatsoever, like I was a bad person since I could do magic." He emphasized the last word since he knew he wouldn't get yelled at for saying it with his guard there. "Just because I do magic doesn't make me a bad person. Yes, my parents were killed by Voldemort's magic, but Voldemort is an entirely different case; he's just insane. You were just being like him, judging me based off who I was born to and what I could do. Ironic, isn't it, seeing as he would like your judging but would kill you anyway for being Muggle.
"The only good thing you did do for me was take me in even though you wanted to throw me out. I just wish that wizards and witches are like Muggles in personalities; not all of us are bad. Goodbye." He turned to leave when his aunt grabbed him and gave him a hug.
"Goodbye, Harry. Good luck," she whispered in his ear. Harry didn't even have to ask; he knew that she was talking about Voldemort.
Petunia let him go and he walked out of the house, closing the door behind him as the clock chimed twelve. It hit him like an arrow. I'm seventeen! He thought, I can do magic legally! I'm an adult…
He dragged his trunk in his formation on the way to Mrs. Figg's house where they were Apparating from. Mrs. Figg greeted him with a hug. "Goodbye, Harry. Good luck," she whispered like Aunt Petunia.
Harry smiled at her and bid her goodbye, too. A cat rubbed against his leg as he took out his wand. He smiled at Mr. Weasley in a pleading manner.
"Oh, all right, Harry," he said, "You've done it successfully before…why not actually perform magic legally in Privet Drive?"
The raven haired man held onto his trunk with his left hand and his wand with his right. Tonks counted down. "One…Two…Three!" And Harry was soaring out of Privet Drive for the last time of his life.
—
Okay…it's 4:08. R&R, goodnight! Barely any days left until the opening!!!!!