Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. Everything that is underlined is taken directly from the book.
"talking"
'thought'
'written words'
Chapter 4: Punishments and Sunday Post
While the Dursleys thought they were punishing Harry and Journey for the escape of the boa-who-long-for-Brazil (Harry told Journey what he and the snake had talked about), in actuality, they were giving the twins time to practice their abilities without fear of being interrupted. The only thing that their 'punishment' prevented them from doing was going out to find another snake to see if Harry could talk to it again.
While in their longest punishment since their arrival at the Dursleys, Journey and Harry's abilities made some remarkable improvements. Journey's ability to call objects was almost as fast as Harry's, but he still had a bit of a lead on her. They worked on several of their other abilities as well. Harry was better at levitating things or making them move on their own (Harry and Journey had great fun making several of Dudley's old, broken toy soldiers fight in great battles which were always won by Harry's team since he could make more toys for his army move than Journey could), and he was also better at using his 'energy' as the twins called it, to unlock the door so they could sneak into the kitchen for more food in the middle of the night. But Journey was no pushover and had some abilities where she outstripped Harry by far. When it came to 'changing' anything, Journey was always the first to get it right. They took inspiration from when Harry had changed one of their teacher's hair blue when they were younger, and worked on changing the colour of different broken objects around the room. That was months ago, and both Harry and Journey could perform this particular ability with great ease, although Journey had much more finesse than Harry. While Harry could change the colour of the entire object into one solid colour, Journey could change it into patterns or just change certain parts of the object. While Harry's toy army always won their battles, Journey's always looked the coolest and that was okay with her.
Harry and Journey didn't only work on their previous abilities, they had been trying to 'make' new abilities for several months, but could only work on them sparingly because of school, chores and going to the rec center. While they were being 'punished,' the Dursleys didn't even let them out to force them to do chores, so Harry and Journey had lots of time to work on creating new abilities and to their great joy they were successful in many cases.
Their first success was being able to call a small ball of fire into their hand. Journey was the first to get any success and Harry even stopped trying to turn a pebble into a leaf when he heard her gasp (when practicing their abilities Harry tended to tune out the world around him in his concentration). They both stared in awe at the silver and blue/violet coloured flames that licked Journey's hand from where it was hovering above it, but didn't burn her skin at all. A few seconds later, Journey lost her concentration and the fire vanished, leaving her feeling very drained. Harry immediately began to try and conjure his own fire, and a couple days later he was able to call forth emerald green and gold flames. Through experimentation, Harry and Journey realized that they could call the fire directly onto their hand, looking to all the world as if their limbs were on fire when in actuality all they experienced was a nice warm feeling wherever the flames were. The twins also realized that they could shape the ball of fire into other shapes, but it took a lot of focus and even the smallest lapse in concentration would make the fire vanish completely.
Harry and Journey wondered at the fact that their flames were different from each other, and not even close to the colour of normal fire at all. After mulling over the topic for several hours, they came to a fairly decent conclusion considering that there were no resources they could look into for information. Harry figured that since they were different people, their 'energies' would also be different, which would reflect in the colour of the flames and that what they were doing wasn't really normal by any stretch of the imagination, so their flames wouldn't exactly look normal would they. Journey was inclined to agree.
Journey put practicing her other abilities on hold as she experimented with 'her fire.' When Journey focused on how her body felt when she practiced, Journey realized she could actually feel something building and moving within her and when Harry focused, he felt the same thing. They were both excited at this new revelation and practiced all the harder once they discovered it. Journey would try lighting one hand and she could feel some sort of energy building inside of her near her heart and along her spine before it would travel down to her left hand. Once it reached her hand there would be a small burst, kind of similar to a spark, and flames would erupt on her hand. After discovering this, Journey tried to create fire with her right hand and found something shocking. While Journey's 'energy' would flow easily down to her left hand, the same could not be said for her right. Very little energy would flow down to her right hand and the flow itself would be very chaotic, stopping at random moments or moving in small spurts.
Journey was shocked that this could happen and thought something was wrong with her, especially when Harry had no trouble creating fire with his right hand. However, her fears were proven to be unfounded when Harry found the same difficulties when trying to create fire with his left hand. They reasoned that they probably channelled their energy through their dominant hand their whole life, so the flow of energy was much smoother when it went down their dominant hand compared to their other hand. To resolve this, Harry and Journey started practicing more with their non-dominant hand. The process was slow going, and even by the time they were let out at the end of their punishment after school got out (Dudley's birthday was in May) Journey could only channel a small 'stream' of energy down to her right hand which made her extremely exhausted, and Harry wasn't any better.
Another ability that the twins had some success in was their 'chameleon ability' as they called it. They got the inspiration when Harry grew his hair overnight when Aunt Petunia had chopped it all off. Since then, they had been trying to change parts of their appearance with no success and had almost given up. One day when Journey was working on channelling energy into her right hand, she was struck with a sudden thought, 'if I could channel energy into my hand … couldn't I channel it into my hair or my eyes?'
Journey talked to Harry about it, and they both thought that it would be worth a shot. After several gruelling days of work, Harry finally achieved some results. He had been able to channel a small amount of energy into part of his hair and was able to change a couple of his black strands blonde. It took a constant flow of energy to keep the change, so Harry could only hold it for a few seconds before he collapsed in exhaustion. He didn't care though, and he and Journey were both ecstatic and plotted numerous ways this ability could be taken advantage of.
"We could try and make ourselves taller," Harry proposed, "then we wouldn't suck so much at basketball and people wouldn't laugh at us for being so tiny."
"Maybe," Journey mused, "or … we could pretend to be Dudley and get him in trouble with his parents?"
"Wouldn't work," Harry said as he shook his head, "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon believe that Dudley could do no wrong, so they'd blame it on us anyways."
Journey sighed, "that's too bad, I wanted to see how he would react if Aunt Petunia tried to make Dudley weed the garden as punishment." Journey shuddered at the thought of the garden, the one place where no matter how hard she tried, she could never do anything right and seemed to destroy everything in her path.
Journey was about to propose another idea when Harry quietly said, "we could try and escape the Dursleys. We could make ourselves look older, get a job and live in an apartment or something."
Journey was stunned. 'To be able to escape the Dursleys …' she couldn't even finish the thought. To be able to escape the Dursleys was a dream that both Potters shared, and to have even the slightest hint of an opportunity was making her giddy at the thought. She shared a smile with Harry and knew he felt the same way.
They didn't say anything else on the subject, but in the following days they worked on their abilities harder than ever before. They didn't even know if they would even be able to change their entire appearance, but if there was even the smallest possibility that it was possible … well, Journey knew that she would leave this wretched place in an instant, with Harry right behind her.
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When Aunt Petunia finally told them their punishment for "Dudley's birthday fiasco," summer was well underway and the twins had missed several of their summer sessions at the rec center. Dudley had already broken several of his birthday gifts and run over Mrs. Figg when he rode his racing bike for the first time ever.
Journey was glad school was finally over for different reasons than Harry. Harry was glad because he wouldn't have to sit in a boring classroom all day, but Journey was excited to finally be able to learn. Harry and Journey were never allowed to do well in school because they found out the hard way that they would get punished if they ever did better than Dudley on anything. Since Dudley was about as stupid as one could get (the only reason he passed was because he cheated off of others and he still got most of it wrong), Harry and Journey had to pretty much fail all of their assignments and tests so they wouldn't do better than Dudley.
Journey hated this part of living with the Dursleys the most, as she loved learning new things. Whenever she could, Journey would read book after book, many times even reading the same books twice to make sure she hadn't missed anything. She couldn't do this in school, otherwise teachers would ask how a kid who read so many books (that were often way above her grade level) could do so badly in class. Summer presented Journey with the opportunity to read until her hearts content, so long as she wasn't taking any of her classes at the rec center, doing chores or practicing her abilities.
Journey and Harry both loved to read, and between the two of them Journey figured that they read more books in a week than all of the Dursleys combined would ever read in their whole lives. Harry didn't read as much as Journey did, simply because he didn't need to. One thing that Journey was shamelessly envious of was Harry's ability to retain absolutely everything he ever read. Harry could read something once in a little more than half the time it took Journey to read the exact same book. Weeks later, Harry would still be able to recite the entire book word for word, and could even tell you what page and paragraph number it was. Harry didn't quite have Journey's endless thirst for knowledge, so he didn't read as fast as he could and took his time enjoying what he was reading. When Journey had asked him why he wouldn't learn as much as he could, Harry had told her that when he read too much in one go, it all became jumbled up in his mind until he could sort it out in his head, which could take days or weeks even.
Journey thought Harry was being ridiculous and that he could sort his mind out as he read something, but didn't push it since she didn't want to argue with the one person on Privet Drive who actually liked her.
The one thing that neither of the twins looked forward to was having to face Dudley's gang. Dudley's gang was full of kids like Dudley (big and stupid) with a couple of kids like Piers who were really scrawny and followed the orders of Dudley like well-trained puppies. Journey figured that they probably shared five brain cells between all of them and told Harry this. Harry agreed and said that Dudley had the smallest portion, which was why he was made the leader. This logic didn't really make sense to Journey, but she didn't try to wrap her mind around it because she feared that some of that stupid mentality would somehow reach her if she understood it.
Regardless of how the gang structure was set up, they were still dangerous. Small children and animals knew to get out of the way and hide when they could see Dudley's gang coming. Unfortunately, Harry and Journey didn't have the same luxury since they lived with Dudley. Whenever they could, Harry and Journey would escape to the library at the rec center, but that option wasn't always available and the twins would end up 'playing' with Dudley's gang. The members of Dudley's gang were always delighted to play with them and saved their favourite game just for them, Potter Hunting.
Potter Hunting was quite a simple game. Harry and Journey would get a ten second head start (sometimes not even that) before Dudley's gang would chase after them. If Dudley's gang caught up to either of the twins, they would beat them up and go off in search of the other twin. Luckily, Harry and Journey were really fast so Dudley's gang could rarely catch them, and if they did the other twin would always stay with the one who was caught and help them land in a few good punches before they were both overpowered.
Summer that year at the Dursleys passed slowly. Every day, Aunt Petunia would give the twins a list of chores to be completed by the end of the day, which could range from painting the garden shed, planting new flowers or the garden, or even mowing the lawn. Harry and Journey would divide the chores amongst themselves, so that it would get done faster and to Aunt Petunia's satisfaction. Harry would always garden since Journey couldn't even water a plant without killing it while Journey would cook all the meals since she had a talent for it. After their chores were done, the twins would head to the rec center to either use the library or do some other activities while at night they would practice their abilities quietly. Throw in a couple of run-ins with Dudley's gang, and the twins were having a slow and repetitive summer at the Dursleys.
Luckily, they wouldn't have to deal with Dudley's gang after this summer. Dudley and Piers were both going to Uncle Vernon's old boarding school called Smeltings while Harry and Journey would both be going to the local school called Stonewall High. The twins couldn't find fault with this arrangement because they knew that without their gang leaders, Dudley's gang wouldn't single them out any more than any other person. Dudley took to teasing them about having to go to a school where they shove people's heads down toilets on the first day but when he offered to 'practice' with Harry, Harry set him straight.
Towards the end of July the Dursleys went to London to buy Dudley's uniform for school, which meant that Harry and Journey were left to stay at Mrs. Figg's for the day. Surprisingly, Mrs. Figg let them watch television instead of looking at photos of her cats and fed them several-year-old chocolate cake, which pleased Harry to no end. Mrs. Figg told them how she broke her leg when she tripped over one of her cats, and Harry later told her that he knew they were not a good idea to be around. After watching the cats watch her with a much too intelligent gaze for a cat, Journey was inclined to agree.
When they went back to the Dursleys later that evening, Harry and Journey were forced to watch Dudley strut around in his new uniform. Harry and Journey both thought the whole affair was endlessly amusing. 'Whoever picked out those uniforms,' Journey thought, 'definitely needs their eyes checked.' The uniform for boys at Smeltings consisted of maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers and flat straw hats called boaters. While he walked around, Dudley also smacked everything he walked by with his knobbly stick that boys used for hitting each other when their teachers weren't looking while at Smeltings. Supposedly it was good training for later in life, but for the life of her Journey couldn't figure out how that worked.
Aunt Petunia cried as she watched her 'Ickle Dudleykins' walk around looking so handsome and grown-up and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley with a smile on his face before saying it was the proudest moment of his life. Harry and Journey couldn't speak or even look at each other without laughing.
After they were finally released from the room, Harry and Journey bolted upstairs to their room. Journey had barely shut the door before both twins collapsed in fits of laughter. Journey didn't know how long they laid there laughing, but when they had finally calmed down enough to talk (with only a few giggles or snickers escaping) Journey's stomach hurt and she had a stitch in her side.
"Man," Harry said before laughing again, "if that's what they have to wear at Smeltings, I'm so happy we don't have to go there. I'd take gray over maroon and orange any day."
Journey nodded in agreement before saying, "can you imagine what the girls' uniform would look like?" Journey shuddered at the thought.
Instead of practicing that night, Harry and Journey spent the remaining time they were awake discussing what they thought the girls' uniform would look like.
Both of the twins were tired the next morning, but couldn't bring themselves to regret staying up late the night before. When they went to eat breakfast however, Journey wished she had stayed in bed. There was an awful smell coming from two large metal tubs in the sink. Harry went to go have a closer look and dragged a reluctant Journey behind him. 'Why on earth does he think I would want to get closer to THAT?' When she peered over the edge of the tub Journey wrinkled her nose. 'Why on earth,' Journey thought, 'is Aunt Petunia dying a bunch of rags gray?'
Harry looked just as disgusted as Journey felt when he asked, "What's this?"
Aunt Petunia looked furious that Harry had dared to ask a question. Her lips tightened and for a second Journey thought she wasn't going to answer. Finally she said, "It's both of you school uniforms."
Harry and Journey looked at each other incredulously before turning back to the bowls. 'Please don't tell me she is serious …' Journey though in horror.
"Oh," Harry said causing Journey to look at him, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."
Journey couldn't help herself, she snorted at Harry's sense of humour before quickly turning it into a cough. Harry spared a small smirk at her before schooling his expression back into the innocent confusion just as Aunt Petunia looked sharply at him.
"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped. "When we were in London yesterday I stopped by a second hand shop. I'm dying some of the things I found gray for you so you'll look just like everyone else."
Harry and Journey shared a look, but knew better than to argue. They both sat at the kitchen table and began to eat breakfast feeling rather subdued. Journey knew that she and Harry would probably be the laughing stock of Stonewall High, and she had a feeling that was what Aunt Petunia hoped for. 'If anyone tries anything on Harry …' Journey didn't finish the thought. For the rest of breakfast Journey thought up creative ways she could get back at people if they ever tried to hurt her brother.
Harry may have been the older of the twins (by a full day technically since he was born before midnight on July 31st while she was born after), but despite this fact Journey always felt protective of Harry. She didn't know why she felt like this, but reasoned it to be a combination of factors with the main one being she was the only one ever there for Harry. When Harry had dreams about their past, Journey would be there to hold him and murmur comforting words into his ear as she rocked him back to sleep, which could take all night if he dreamt about the night their parents died. After Dudley and his gang were feeling particularly vicious and hurt Harry more than usual, it was Journey who would patch him up as best she could before pouring some of her energy into him to speed up the healing of his injuries while ignoring the sting of her own. Whenever the twins got in trouble, from Dudley's or for something one of them actually did, Journey would stand up and take the fall so Harry wouldn't get in trouble. Journey was the one who made sure he got enough to eat when the Dursleys starved them, even when she felt hunger clawing at her own stomach.
Another reason that Journey felt protective of Harry was because he was just too … nice. Whenever Dudley's gang would beat them up, Harry would just sit there and take it after he got overpowered. Journey however, fought until they physically held her down and she couldn't move. She did this for several reasons, the primary reason being it distracted them from Harry. The second reason she did this was because more often than not, Journey would land at least one good hit on one of them (especially since they started taking martial arts classes), which mostly satisfied Journey's feelings of helplessness and made Dudley's gang a little hesitant to go after them. Journey's final reason wasn't really a reason at all, but she knew that if Dudley wanted to beat her up, he'd have to work for it. If Dudley's gang ever attacked Harry when she wasn't there, a myriad of misfortunes would befall them. They knew it was her who caused them all, but they could never prove it. Most of Dudley's gang hadn't realized the pattern of why misfortunes befell them, but she could see the wheels turning in a couple of the smarter (though not by much) members' of the groups heads.
Dudley's gang wasn't the only time Journey wanted to get revenge for Harry. Many people in the neighbourhood, from parents to teachers to kids, all believed the Dursleys lies about them. Harry would just walk with his head down trying to ignore it but Journey couldn`t do that. Whenever anyone said anything about her or Harry, but especially Harry, rage would fill Journey like a red haze. Usually she could control it but whenever anyone pushed her too far, things around Journey would spontaneously explode, or the person would suddenly find themselves with bright, fluorescent-coloured hair. Harry would tell Journey not to take anything those people say seriously, that they aren't worth it, but Journey knew better. She saw the hurt in her brother`s eyes every time someone said anything mean about them, and Journey wanted to take it away. She knew that she couldn`t really do anything, the neighbours would always believe the Dursleys over them, and that`s why she always felt so angry whenever anyone said anything. Journey hated feeling helpless, and that was how she felt after she saw Harry`s hurt eyes after every vicious comment or snide remark.
Journey was brought out of her musings when Uncle Vernon and Dudley came waddling in. They sat down (Journey swore she felt the table shake) before Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper. Dudley banged his ever-present Smeltings stick (he carried it everywhere like a two-year-old with a new toy) on the table before he started shovelling food into his mouth.
Several minutes passed before Uncle Vernon`s voice was heard from behind his paper. "Get the post, Dudley."
Dudley barely stopped eating long enough to say, "Make Harry get it."
"Get the post, Harry."
"Make Dudley get it."
Journey didn't believe that Harry actually thought that would work from how dejected his voice sounded. She was already beginning to stand up when Uncle Vernon said, "hit him with your Smeltings stick Dudley."
Dudley swung his stick at Harry from across the table, but Journey grabbed it before it could get anywhere near Harry. Dudley looked shocked and didn't even fight her when she used it to shove him roughly backwards. Journey was struck with inspiration. She was definitely going to find a way to put magic into her muscles to make her stronger for a small amount of time so that when she shoved Dudley, she would actually be able to move him. Dudley was still gaping at her like a fish, 'he's showing his intelligence level right now as he is about as smart as one too,' when she said, "I'll go get the post."
When she went into the hall to get the mail, Journey saw four things on the doormat. The first thing she picked up was a postcard from Uncle Vernon's horrid sister Marge, who was apparently ill after eating something that didn't agree with her. 'Good,' Journey thought bitterly, 'maybe that means she won't be visiting us this summer.' The second item was a brown envelope that Journey figured was a bill, but it was the third letter that made her pause, it was a letter … for Harry.
Journey was shocked, neither of the twins ever received mail (they had no one for them to receive mail from), yet out of the blue there was a random letter for Harry. She knew it wasn't a mistake just from looking at the address on the letter:
Mr. H. Potter
Dudley's Second Bedroom
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
Journey had a funny feeling in her stomach. Looking down at the last item, Journey's suspicions were confirmed when she saw her name on the letter.
Miss. J. Potter
Dudley's Second Bedroom
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
Both envelopes were thick and heavy as if there were several papers in each of them, and were made of yellowish parchment instead of paper. The ink used to address them was emerald-green and strangely there was no stamp.
Journey's hands were shaking when she turned the envelope over. She knew these letters were important, that it would change her and Harry's lives, and she was nervous. There was a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms she'd never seen before. In each corner of the seal, there was an animal, many of whom were not native to Britain at all. There was a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake, and all of them were surrounding a large letter 'H'.
"What's taking so long, girl?" she heard Uncle Vernon shout from the kitchen, "I'm pretty sure we don't need you to check for letter-bombs."
Journey's heart went to overdrive, barely hearing Uncle Vernon's chuckling at his own rather lame joke over the pounding of her furiously beating heart. She had a sudden urge, a feeling, and she suddenly knew that she shouldn't let Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia see these letters. She was going to run upstairs quickly and hide them, but she heard Uncle Vernon's chair scrape across the floor and she panicked thinking he was coming out after her. She quickly shoved the letters up her shirt and tucked them a little into the waistband of her jeans before she hurried into the kitchen.
Journey's heart thundered as she forced herself to act normally. She felt as if everyone in the room could hear the loud beats of her heart as she handed the letters to Uncle Vernon, who had moved his chair to be closer to the bacon it seems, but no one said anything. Harry looked her strangely as she walked slowly around the table back to her seat while Uncle Vernon snorted in disgust at the bill before throwing it down, taking no notice of her at all.
Dudley noticed and he wanted revenge for being shoved earlier. When his father was informing Aunt Petunia about Marge's ill-health, he roughly punched Journey in the back.
Journey gasped in shock as she felt something pop in her back near her shoulder. She fell to the ground with a thud from the hit and pain laced through her from where the pop originated. Journey's left arm, the one that had been holding the letters, went limp and to her horror, the letters fell to the ground, right in front of Uncle Vernon who looked up to see what the noise was.
"Stealing our mail are you?" he glared at Journey. He got up and gave Journey a sharp kick in the stomach to move her away from the letters, before he picked them up and sat back down.
"They're," Journey tried to talk but couldn't find her voice because of the sudden coughing fit that took over her. She tried again, "they're mine! Mine and Harry's!"
Harry looked at her sharply and rushed over to her where she was struggling to get up. Uncle Vernon on the other hand, just ignored her from where he was opening one of their letters at the table with Dudley watched Journey's pain with glee.
When Uncle Vernon finally opened one of the letters, he took one of the pieces of paper-parchment Journey corrected-and began to read. Faster than Journey could blink, Uncle Vernon's face went from red to green and didn't stop. Within a few more seconds, he went a strange grayish white colour. 'Impressive,' Journey thought, 'whoever can cause that kind of reaction in Uncle Vernon is definitely worth getting a letter from … I can't even get a reaction that fast out of him.'
Uncle Vernon struggled to say something. It took him several moments before he could finally gasp and say, "P-Petunia!"
Wanting to see what all the fuss was about, Dudley tried to snatch the letter out of his hand but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. 'Why doesn't he just go for the one on the table?' Journey thought through the pain, 'I'm sure they're the same … or at least similar since they were addressed the same and had the same seal on the back.'
Aunt Petunia got up from her seat and walked over to Uncle Vernon to get the letter. She curiously took it and read the first few words before her face went pale. 'Wow,' Journey thought in awe, 'making Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia react … these people are awesome!' Journey thought she would faint, but sadly all she did was clutch her throat and make a strange choking noise.
"Vernon! Oh my goodness – Vernon!"
They stared at the letter Aunt Petunia was holding, before they stared at each other. They seemed to forget there were even other people in the room. The twins were used to being ignored and didn't mind too much, but this was a brand new experience for Dudley, and he found he didn't like it. Trying to get his attention, Dudley gave his father a sharp smack on the head with his Smeltings stick before saying in a loud, obnoxious voice, "I want to read their letters."
Harry looked furious, more for the fact that Journey was in pain than anything else, but Journey was for once in too much pain to think about arguing. All she could feel was the pain that laced from her shoulder and it took all of her concentration to just watch what was going on, never mind get worked up over it.
"I want to read the letter," Harry said furiously while looking worriedly at Journey, "as one of them are mine."
Uncle Vernon looked sharply at them as if he just remembered they were there. He stuffed the envelope into his pocket and said hoarsely, "Get out, both of you."
Journey didn't move. She looked pleadingly at Harry, trying to convey that they needed those letters.
Harry nodded to show he understood and Journey was glad for the special connection they shared. At times, usually when they were really stressed but occasionally at other times, they were able to share a special connection with each other. Journey always knew when Harry was in pain or was feeling strong emotions such as fear, since she would feel an echo of it in her own body and the same went for him. Remembering this, Journey focused on something else, forcing her mind not to register the pain coming from her shoulder. Harry frowned at her, and Journey got the impression that they'd talk later about that particular habit of hers.
All of this happened in a few seconds, long enough for Dudley to demand to see the letter again. Remembering why he wasn't moving, Harry got angry again. He took a breath and shouted, "I WANT OUR LETTERS!"
"GET OUT!" Uncle Vernon roared. He took Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall while Journey slowly walked behind them. She tried to subtly swipe the other letter that was still on the table, but just at that moment Aunt Petunia picked it up with a shaky hand so Journey kept walking like nothing was wrong.
Journey had barely walked through the doorway when Uncle Vernon slammed the kitchen door shut. Dudley and Harry, who now seriously wanted to know what was in those letters that was making Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon react like that, promptly had a silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole. Journey didn't stay to watch who won, as she had a better spot to eavesdrop. She went upstairs and carefully laid down by the vent that was outside the bathroom being careful not to bump her left arm or shoulder which still stung painfully. All of the vents in the house were connected and this one was right above the kitchen so she barely needed to quiet her breathing to hear what Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were saying.
"Vernon," Aunt Petunia's voice shook as she spoke, "look at the address – thank goodness we let them out of cupboard! They know where they sleep! Do you think they're watching the house?"
Journey hadn't thought of that before and frowned at the thought. How did they know where she and Harry slept? And the fact that it wasn't even their room? The letter called it Dudley's Second Bedroom, but how did it know that it was still officially Dudley's room? It was kind of creepy, and Journey resolved to ask as soon as she found out just who they were.
"Watching," Uncle Vernon mutter sounding wild, "spying maybe, they might even be following us."
"What are we going to do, Vernon? Should we write back and tell them we don't want – '
There was a pause before Uncle Vernon answered, "No … we'll ignore them. If they don't receive a reply … yes, I think that would be best … we just won't answer …"
"I don't think –"
"I'm not having that freakishness in this house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took them in that we'd squash that dangerous nonsense out of them?"
Aunt Petunia didn't answer, and she heard Uncle Vernon's heavy footfalls approach he door followed by shuffling from what she assumed was Harry and Dudley scrambling away from the door. She got up as quickly as she could and walked over to her and Harry's room. As she did she thought about what she had just heard. 'What dangerous nonsense was Uncle Vernon talking about?' she mused, '… could he mean our abilities? … that would mean that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon knew what was going on this whole time, maybe not that we were practicing but at least that we had them … if these letters have something to do with our abilities … then that means there are more people like us!'
Journey suddenly felt excited. Maybe she and Harry weren't the freaks that Aunt Petunia always said they were, maybe there were more people like them! At the thought of freaks, Journey's eyes narrowed. 'Freaks,' she thought slowly, feeling that she was about to understand something major, 'Aunt Petunia has always called us freaks … especially when anything strange or abnormal happens … but …wait –'
Just then, Harry's voice startled her out of her thoughts. "What was that all about?" he asked confused as he gestured with his arm in the general direction of the door before saying, "let me see you shoulder."
"It's fine," Journey said quickly even as she felt a fresh wave of pain hit her.
Harry snorted, "And I'm Santa Claus. Now –"
"Nice to meet you Santa," Journey interrupted, "for Christmas, I would like a pony and a dolly and –"
"Wow Journ," Harry said as he rolled his eyes, "very funny. I'm not an idiot. Did you forget that I can feel when you're in pain? Let me help you."
Harry didn't wait for her to respond before he walked over to her. Journey sighed, she hated feeling vulnerable or helpless, and right now she felt both. She didn't protest when Harry lightly ran his fingers over her shoulder.
She gasped when Harry suddenly pressed harder on her shoulder. Pain rushed through her from where he pressed and Journey's vision swam before her. Black dots danced around her eyes as she tried to focus on something other than the pain she was feeling, which was much easier said than done.
Harry waited for her to steady herself before he said, "I think you've dislocated it, like that one older guy at the rec that one time. I think we just need to pop it back in but I'm not sure."
"Do it," Journey said without hesitation, "I remember. If that's what this is, I should be mostly fine once you pop it back in."
Harry looked uneasy, "Are you sure."
"Positive."
"Okay," he said slowly, "here goes nothing. On the count of three. One …"
It felt like someone poured fire into her shoulder. She bit her lip trying to prevent herself from gasping at the pain. Black spots, more than before, swam in front of her eyes, and the edges of her vision started to turn black. She fought to focus on something else, and found Harry's hand in hers. She focused on that and slowly the pain left. It didn't go away completely, there was still a dull ache in her shoulder, but it was much better than before.
Harry was rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand, Journey realized. Journey smiled at Harry, "Thanks. It feels better now."
Harry smiled back. "Liar," he said but without any real accusation in his voice, "I know it still hurts."
"Compared to before," Journey reminded him, "this is nothing."
Harry nodded, "I guess."
"Hey, Harry," Journey began slowly, "you know how Aunt Petunia always called us freaks?"
Harry nodded slowly, how could he forget?
"Uncle Vernon said that he wouldn't have anything to do with that in his house," Journey mused, thinking about her previous thoughts on the subject, "so I think these letters have something to do with that."
Harry frowned, "what do you mean?"
Not quite sure how to explain, Journey tried to put her jumbled thoughts into words. "Whenever anything strange happens around us, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon always yell at us for our 'freakishness'. I'd never thought about it before, but when Uncle Vernon talked about how they would squash this 'nonsense' out of us, it just suddenly made sense."
Harry still looked confused. Journey tried to explain again with a bit more urgency. He had to make him understand, even if she didn't fully. "Harry, they knew that we were different! That we had these abilities all along! They thought if they kept us downtrodden, they'd be able to squeeze the abilities out of use!"
The widening of Harry's eyes relieved Journey, 'he understands.'
"B-But," Harry stuttered, "why did the letter scare them so much?"
Journey smiled, that was the question she was looking for. "Well, I was thinking about that earlier," Harry looked at her sharply, "I think this letter has something to do with our abilities!"
Harry looked at her expectantly, expecting her to go on. When she didn't he stuck his tongue out at her before his brow furrowed in thought. After several seconds Harry spoke. "That would mean," he began slowly with comprehension dawning on his face, "that there are other people with abilities like us!"
Journey's smile had never been bigger. "Exactly."
Harry's face split into a smile of his own. "Maybe they would be able to teach us how to control them better?"
Journey hadn't thought of that. "Maybe," she said slowly, "I thought of something else too. Aunt Petunia always calls us freaks, right?"
Harry looked confused, "Yeah, haven't we gone over this?"
Journey nodded impatiently, "Yeah but listen. She calls us freaks because of our abilities …"
"Right," Harry said slowly, "and?"
"She calls our parents freaks too."
Harry looked thunderstruck and Journey wasn't much better off. The thought had been taunting her, floating around the edges of her mind but never fully forming. She hadn't even realized what she had been saying when she blurted it out, but it had suddenly clicked and she couldn't stop herself.
"That would mean …" Harry couldn't even finish the sentence, "… does that mean … our parents … you think they had these abilities as well?"
"I don't think, I know," Journey said with conviction. And it was true. Now that she had made the connection, she knew she was right.
Journey explained everything she knew about the letters to Harry. Afterwards, Harry and Journey sat in silence for several minutes, trying to wrap their minds about what they now knew, when the door to their room suddenly banged open.
"Where's our letters?" Harry and Journey said simultaneously the moment Uncle Vernon stepped through the door. "Who's writing us?"
Uncle Vernon looked unnerved for a moment, as he always did whenever Harry and Journey spoke at the same time, before he shook himself. "No one is writing you. I've burned them," he said shortly, "they were addressed to you by mistake."
Journey stopped short, 'he burned them?' Dread filled her, she knew they were important, life changing, letters, and their Uncle burned them?
Harry however, didn't miss a beat. "It was not a mistake," he said angrily, "they knew we were sleeping in Dudley's second bedroom even!"
"SILENCE, BOY!" Uncle Vernon roared. He forced a smile onto his face, which looked pretty painful. 'Probably because he never uses those muscles,' Journey thought viciously as she watched Harry shrink back from the voice.
"Er – yes, Harry … and Journey too – about this being Dudley's second bedroom. We – your Aunt and I – have decided that … well you're getting older now … we think it would be nice if it officially became your bedroom. You'd have to share … and take all of Dudley's things out into the hall so he can see what he still wants … but it'd be yours."
"Why now?" Journey asked suspiciously.
Uncle Vernon turned sharply in her directions. "No questions!" he snapped. "Take all Dudley's stuff into the hall … now!"
With that, Uncle Vernon turned and left the room. Harry and Journey looked at each other, then at Dudley's stuff that they had piled together, which took up half of the room. Almost everything was broken; from the rifle Dudley sat on to the first television he'd ever owned that he put his foot through in a fit of rage. Slowly, Harry and Journey brought everything into the hall in front of the door to the guest bedroom (which was the fourth bedroom in the house and yet Harry and Journey had had to share the cupboard under the stairs for the majority of their life, and would still be there if it wasn't for Journey). They even brought the books (that they'd both read already) out, even though they knew they'd be sent straight to the bin.
That night Journey and Harry lay in bed quietly. They had listened to Dudley wail to his mother about how he needed that room and didn't want to get rid of any of his things, as they were his. Journey silently cursed. 'He could have all of his junk … hell he could have this entire room and I'd go back to the cupboard, if I could read that letter.'
The next day, everyone ate in silence. Dudley seemed to be in shock. He'd thrown another tantrum, worse than the last one, and he still didn't have his room back. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon kept looking at each other darkly when they thought no one was looking.
It was so silent in the kitchen that they actually heard the letters sliding through the slot in the front door. Uncle Vernon was still pretending (quite pathetically) to be nice to the twins, and made Dudley go and get it. Dudley was furious but did as his father asked, banging his Smeltings stick on everything he passed along the way. Suddenly, they heard Dudley shout, "There's more! Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive –"
Uncle Vernon gave a strangled cry as he leapt from his chair and ran after Dudley, Harry and Journey right behind him. Uncle Vernon wrestled Dudley to the ground to get the letter he was holding, while Harry grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck as he jumped on his back.
While the boys wrestled around for the letter Dudley was holding, Journey simply bent down and picked up the one that was still on the ground, her letter. She quickly opened it and began reading:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. for Wizards)
Dear Miss Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that –
Journey didn't get to see what they were so pleased to inform her about, as the letter was suddenly ripped from her hands. She looked up to see Uncle Vernon's face, which resembled a beetroot with a moustache ('Anger level 10,' Journey thought in awe) and was breathing heavily.
"What – did you – read," Uncle Vernon wheezed as he pointed a threatening finger at her.
Seconds ticked by. It was one of the few times she didn't know what was the right choice, and it always left her floundering like a fish out of water. She didn't know if she should tell the truth, or lie and say she hadn't read anything. Looking at Uncle Vernon's face, she knew she needed to decide quickly.
"All I saw," Journey said thinking quickly, "was the word 'Hogwarts'."
Uncle Vernon breathed a sigh of relief. "Good," he said, "all of you – yes you too Dudley – go to your rooms … now!"
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That night, Harry had a plan. He'd been thinking about it all day. Journey had told him what she had really read in the letter, and it only confirmed their suspicions that there were more people like them … even if they had no idea what a 'Mugwump' was.
They wondered why a school would be writing a letter to them, but they didn't dwell on it since they didn't want to get their hopes up.
'Back to the plan,' Harry thought.
Harry woke up at six o'clock the next morning with the help of an old alarm clock that he had repaired. He shut it off quickly and glanced at Journey, thankfully she was still asleep. Journey always came up with the best plans and he wanted to show her that he too could make successful plans, so he hadn't told her what he was doing.
Silently, Harry crept out of bed and got changed. He slowly turned the doorknob, watching Journey the whole time to make sure she didn't wake up, before stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind him.
Harry's plan was quiet simple. He was going to sneak outside, then wait for the postman at the end of Privet Drive. He would get the mail, take his and Journey's letters, before sliding the rest of the mail through the slot like nothing had happened. Then he would run to his and Journey's room and hide the letters before pretending he never saw them.
Everything was going perfectly to plan. No one was up yet to stop him from reaching his destination. Harry's heart hammered out of fear of being caught and in excitement of finally being able to read those stupid letters. Harry was reaching towards the doorknob and –
"AAARRRGGAAAHHH!"
Harry jumped back. 'There's something alive down there!' Harry thought in horror. He had just stepped on something big, and now it was moving!
Lights flickered on and voices sounded from upstairs. Harry looked at the thing he had stepped on in horror, it was Uncle Vernon's face! Harry's uncle was just getting out of the sleeping bag he was in, and he looked furious. Apparently, he had been waiting here making sure that he got the letters first, and that Harry or Journey wouldn't do the exact thing Harry had been planning on doing.
Uncle Vernon was just starting to rant at Harry when Journey came downstairs already dressed. She cut off Uncle Vernon's rant in midsentence, "It's my fault Uncle Vernon. I made Harry get up this morning and try and get the letters before anyone was awake."
Uncle Vernon paused in his rant while Harry looked at Journey pleadingly. "That's not true Uncle Vernon," Harry began but Journey cut him off.
"Don't try and cover for me Harry," Journey said, "I feel bad enough as it is that you got caught."
Harry watched as Uncle Vernon started ranting at Journey instead of him feeling uneasy. He didn't understand why Journey always felt the need to get in trouble for him. Harry hardly ever got in trouble because of it, the only times he did was when Journey was nowhere near the incident and Harry took the blame before she could say she made him do it. Harry knew that it didn't really bother Journey, getting in trouble that is. He could tell by the way she would square her shoulders and look Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia right in the face when they were yelling at her, like she was doing now. She never complained or tried to protest her punishment, and Harry envied her for being able to do that.
Harry waited for Journey the whole time she was getting yelled at (which wasn't really a long time since Uncle Vernon always got unnerved when he saw Journey just standing there defiantly, staring at him) before they were both sent to go make tea. Harry shuffled miserably into the kitchen, still upset that his plan had failed and Journey got in trouble for it, but Journey walked in as if it were any other morning and the whole incident had never happened.
As he was making tea Harry whispered to Journey, "I'm sorry."
Journey didn't miss a beat as she grabbed some cups from the cupboard. "Don't worry about it Harry," she whispered, "it was nothing." She turned her face slightly to smirk at Harry as she said, "Besides, having Uncle Vernon's face squashed in was definitely a good way to wake up this morning. But next time, wake me up when you are planning something, okay?"
Harry had just begun to smile (thinking about Uncle Vernon's face being squished under his foot), before he sighed sadly at the last part of Journey's sentence. "I wanted-," Harry cut himself off, he didn't want to sound like an idiot.
Journey didn't let him off the hook though. "What did you want?"
Harry took a deep breath and braced himself. "Well," he began, "you always come up with the best plans. Like how you got back at Dudley that one time when he tried to cheat off you or the time when Piers bullied that little girl. I just … I just wanted to show you that … that I could make good plans too." Harry quickly looked at the ground, ashamed at what he was about to admit, "I wanted you to be proud of me."
Journey stopped what she was doing. Harry looked up and saw she had a peculiar look on her face, and thinking she was going to yell at him, Harry quickly looked back down.
Harry jerked a little when he felt a hand on his chin, gently guiding his head to look Journey right in the eyes. Journey looked at him for several moments, long enough for Harry to feel a trickle of fear around all of his uneasiness. 'What if she laughs at me for it?' He thought desperately, 'or worse … she gets angry?'
Journey did neither of these things. Instead, she pulled Harry into a tight hug. Harry was shocked for a second, he had been so sure Journey was going to laugh, before he hugged Journey just as tightly.
"Oh, Harry," Journey whispered into his hair, "You don't need to do anything special to make me proud of you. Making drawn-out plans isn't your thing, so what? I couldn't garden if my life depended on it. You have so many other talents Harry! You're the smartest boy I know, and I've never seen anyone better at gymnastics at our age than you! And I don't think we could go anywhere in the world and find someone nicer than you. Every day you do something – many things – that makes me proud of you, you're my brother and I'm always proud of you. I love you."
Harry felt his eyes burn as tears threatened to leak out. It didn't matter that right at that moment they could hear Uncle Vernon shouting that more of those dratted letters had arrived or that he didn't go to work that day and nailed up the letterbox instead. It didn't matter that he may have screwed up his chances of ever reading his letter. None of that mattered, because Journey was proud of him.
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Over the next two days, letters began to get themselves into the house in the most unexpected of ways.
On Friday when the letters couldn't make their way through the letterbox, they forced themselves beneath the door and through the sides, and even through the small window in the downstairs bathroom. This made Uncle Vernon stay home from work again to burn all of the letters, before he sealed every single crack on the front and back door so nothing could get in or out. He became very paranoid and would jump at the smallest of noises (Journey took great fun in this and would use little bits of energy to knock things over just to frighten Uncle Vernon).
On Saturday, even more letters found their way into the house. This time, it was inside of the two dozen eggs that were handed to Aunt Petunia by the very confused milkman through the living room window. Aunt Petunia shredded them in the food processor while Uncle Vernon yelled at the post office over the phone.
Dudley looked at Harry and Journey in amazement, "Who would ever want to talk to either of you this badly?"
Uncle Vernon looked rather ill and had a slightly insane smile on his face, when he sat down for breakfast on Sunday morning.
"Well, today is going to be a great day," he said cheerfully before reminding everyone, "as there is no post today since its Sunday."
Harry and Journey watched, amused, as Uncle Vernon spread marmalade on his newspaper while he said, "No damn letters today –"
Something suddenly flew down the chimney while he was speaking and smacked Uncle Vernon right in the face. Harry and Journey didn't have time to laugh before suddenly, what seemed like a hundred letters came pouring out of the fireplace as fast as bullets.
The Dursleys began to duck and were shouting, but Harry and Journey both stood up. Harry tried leaping into the air to grab one, while Journey tried to get one that was flying around on the ground. Just as she would reach them, another letter would smack into the one she was reaching for and would send it flying in another direction.
"Get out!" Uncle Vernon shouted, "OUT!"
Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry around the waist and Journey by the arm before he threw them both into the hall. After Aunt Petunia and Dudley ran out of the room (screaming in terror with their arms over their faces), Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could all hear the sounds of the letters flying around the room and bouncing off the walls, the floor, the chairs and everything else in the room.
"That's it," Uncle Vernon said trying to stay calm. It worked (his voice was rather steady) except for the fact that he was starting to rip out chunks of his moustache at the same time. "All of you go grab some clothes and be back in five minutes. Just clothes. No arguments!"
Uncle Vernon looked so dangerous (and ridiculous) with half his moustache gone that everyone, even Dudley, did what he said without arguing. Fifteen minutes later everyone had forced their way through the boarded-up doors and they were driving away in the car. Dudley was sitting dejectedly in the back seat beside Journey. His father had smacked him in the head, for the first time ever, for holding everyone up by trying to pack almost his entire room into his sports bag.
They drove for hours, stopping only for gas. No one, not even Aunt Petunia, dared to ask where they were going. After every hour or so, Uncle Vernon would turn sharply and drive in a completely different direction all the while muttering, "Shake 'em off … just shake them off …"
They didn't even stop to eat, much to Dudley's horror. By night-time Dudley was on the verge of tears while he screamed at his mother for having such a bad day. He was hungry, missed several TV shows he wanted to see and hadn't ever gone so long without playing a computer game.
They finally stopped outside a sketchy-looking hotel outside a big city. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon shared a room, while Dudley and the twins were forced to share a room that only had two twin beds. Harry and Journey didn't even think to argue when they were told that they had to share as they'd been doing it for years. Dudley quickly fell asleep, but Harry and Journey stayed awake. Harry and Journey both stared through the window, Harry from his spot on the windowsill and Journey from the bed, thinking about everything and nothing late into the night.
The next morning, everyone ate a meagre breakfast in the hotel dining area. Just when they were about to get up, the owner of the hotel walked over to their table and said, " 'Scuse me, but are any one of you Mr. H. Potter or Miss J. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."
The manager held up one of the letters she was holding, Harry's letter, so that they could clearly see the address written in the sae green ink as the others:
Mr H. Potter
Room 17
Railview Hotel
Cokeworth
Both Harry and Journey tried to make a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon got there first and said, "I'll take them if you don't mind." The woman gave them all a strange look, obviously wondering what the heck was going on, and led Uncle Vernon out of the dining area.
Hours later, they were on the road again. Aunt Petunia had quietly suggested that they just go home, but Uncle Vernon either didn't hear her or he was so far gone in his madness that he thought driving around aimlessly for two days was a good idea. Journey thought it was the latter option and Harry agreed with her when she whispered to him during a break for gas.
No one had any idea what Uncle Vernon was trying to accomplish, and no one asked him. They had stopped in a forest, a field, halfway across a bridge, and on the top of a parking garage. Each time he would do this, Uncle Vernon would get out of the car, look around for a bit before shaking his head and getting back inside to drive in the opposite direction.
The highlight of Journey's day was sometime in the afternoon after Uncle Vernon had stopped on the coast and locked them all in the car before disappearing somewhere. Dudley had looked at his mother and muttered pitifully, "Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?"
Journey had to suppress her laughter in a sudden, violent coughing fit while Harry just smiled faintly. The whole wild affair was affecting him more than Journey, and he had been silently staring out the window for the majority of the trip. The fact that it was raining seemed to make Harry even more depressed since he hated the rain.
Journey was trying to think of a way to take Harry's mind off of things (which was easier said than done since they couldn't really do anything in the cramped car besides play I-Spy which they wore out hours ago) when Dudley suddenly spoke up again.
"Today's Monday," he said to his mother miserably, "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."
Harry and Journey looked sharply at each other. 'Monday,' they both thought. If the twins could count on Dudley for anything, it would be knowing the days of the week because of television. Monday would be Harry's birthday and the following day would be Journey's. They had different birthdays because of the times of their births and they both thought that was really cool since a person didn't often come across twins born on different days. Aunt Petunia however, thought that their birthdays' being on different days was very strange and just one more sign of their 'freakishness'. This led to the Dursleys giving Harry and Journey horrible presents, like coat hangers and extra chores, so their birthdays were hardly ever enjoyable. The only gifts they had ever received were homemade gifts from each other, which was good enough for them. They didn't expect this year to be any different, except for the fact they would likely get no gifts at all since they couldn't really go out and get any since they were trapped in a car. 'Still,' Journey thought, 'you don't turn eleven every day.'
When Uncle Vernon came back, he was smiling a crazy smile making Journey think that he had finally gone off the deep end. He carried a long, thin package and ignored Aunt Petunia when she asked what it was.
He unlocked the doors and told them all to exit the car, crazy smile still fixed firmly upon his face. Journey shivered in the cold air outside the car and felt as if her stomach had fallen through her feet when she saw where Uncle Vernon told them they were staying that night. Barely visible was the tiniest little shack on top of a large rock out at sea. 'Never mind having a television,' Journey thought, 'there won't even be any food or solid walls out there!'
Uncle Vernon happily informed all of them that there was a storm forecast for the night. Journey didn't know whether to cry or hit Uncle Vernon when she saw the rickety old boat they were supposed to row across in. In the end, she decided on neither and just gave Uncle Vernon a mildly disgusted glare that clearly showed her thoughts on the matter. The toothless old man who was lending it to them saw her look and gave her a grin that left Journey with the impression that he was laughing at them.
After informing them that he had bought some rations, Uncle Vernon loaded them all into the boat and set off.
Being in the boat was worse than Journey imagined. She had known that the ride would be unpleasant, but it was worse than she thought. The cold air was just the beginning of the long, miserable ride to the hut. Waves from the oncoming storm crashed into the boat on all sides and more often than not, would splash into the boat and soak everyone to the bone. What Journey really hated wasn't the water, it was the wind. There was a horrible cold wind that seemed to come from all directions and would cut into them and make their hair fly around their faces. Journey could barely see because her hair would keep sticking to her face and the wind made the effects of the water feel even worse on her body.
If she thought the storm was bad, it was nothing to how Harry looked. Harry looked worse than she felt and that was saying something. He had curled up into a ball at the side of the boat and was shaking horribly. Ignoring her own discomfort, Journey moved closer to him and wrapped her body around him, shielding him from the worst of the waves and the wind. She didn't say anything, she just held him close to her while she tried to block out her surroundings.
After what seemed like hours of being repeatedly drenched by the waves, Journey jerked into awareness when the boat suddenly made a loud thudding noise. Looking up, she saw that the noise was from the boat hitting a small stretch of sand on the rock they would be staying on. Harry and Journey miserably made their way up to the hut, which looked even worse close up. It was lopsided and didn't the walls were only made out of thin planks of wood.
The inside was even worse than the outside if that were even possible. Journey couldn't go anywhere in the two-room shack without it smelling as if the whole thing was covered in seaweed. There were gaps in the wooden walls where numerous planks were missing, which left no protection from the wind that they could hear howling outside.
They ate Uncle Vernon's 'rations' which consisted of a packet of crisps for each of them along with some bananas. Journey tried to give her banana to Harry, who had eaten his rations in less than a minute he was so hungry. Harry refused, but Journey persisted by saying she didn't like bananas. Harry wouldn't relent and they ended up each eating half of the banana.
After they ate, Uncle Vernon tried to start a fire using the empty crisp packets, but all they did was smoke a little and shrivel up.
"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he asked jovially.
He was in a much too happy mood for being in a shack in the middle of nowhere and Journey knew why. He obviously thought that no one would be able to send a letter through the storm to this tiny rock. At first, Journey privately agreed before the thought that she was actually agreeing with Uncle Vernon made her feel almost sick. She tried to think positively. 'If they were able to send a hundred letters to us while we were staying in a random hotel, then they will be able to find a way to send us just one letter …well two since there would be one for me and one for Harry … they'd be able to send us each one letter out to this stupid shack.' The longer she thought about it, the more confident she became in herself. Her confidence grew to the point where she almost felt she knew that by tomorrow morning she and Harry would get a letter.
The promised storm finally hit just as Aunt Petunia began to set up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa with a few blankets that Journey couldn`t even tell the colour of since they were covered in mould and were in such bad shape. Wind rattled the dirty-covered windows and waves crashed against rock and sprayed against the sides of the hut.
Aunt Petunia left the thinnest, most ragged blanket for Harry and Journey to share, before she and Uncle Vernon went to sleep in the uncomfortable-looking bed that was in the other room. The twins didn't mind that they had to share since they would have anyways being as cold as they were. Harry and Journey lay down onto the floor and draped the blanket over as much of them as they could before they cuddled together to try and keep warm.
As the night wore on, the storm got worse. Neither Harry nor Journey could sleep and they ended up tossing and turning all night. For once, they couldn't hear Dudley's snores over the claps of thunder that seemed to have no end.
'Speaking of Dudley,' Journey thought before looking more closely at Dudley's wrist. More specifically, she looked at the digital watch that was on Dudley's wrist. The glowing face of the watch told Journey that there was fifteen minutes to midnight.
Journey nudged Harry and pointed at the watch. A small smile crept onto his face when he saw how close he was to being eleven.
The minutes seemed to drag by. Journey thought about what she could possibly get Harry as a birthday gift if they ever got off this rock. Soon it was five minutes until midnight and Journey began to feel something build within her, the feeling that something big was going to happen. Something life changing.
Time seemed to go faster again as the feeling grew. She didn't even register the strange sounds that were coming from outside she was so caught up in trying to figure out what this strange feeling was trying to tell her. By the time there was a minute left, the feeling had completely filled her and was screaming at her to do … something.
She looked back at Dudley's watch, hoping it would distract her. There was just ten seconds left until midnight … six – Harry was practically beaming in excitement – three – two – one –
BOOM!
Harry and Journey both jumped and sat straight up when the whole shack shook around them. Journey's strange feeling was ringing in her ears as she realized that somehow, someone was outside … and they were knocking to come in …
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amethystdreamstar: Holy cow that was a long chapter. 12000 words! Sorry for most of this chapter being really slow, especially after the last one being really slow as well. I promise things will start to pick up now.
It was brought to my attention that Journey's name is really bad … to be honest I kinda just picked it a random as a place-holder for when I decided a name and then was too lazy to change it later. If you guys want, I could change her name. I was thinking of either Raelyn (Ray) Iris or Jade Lanaya Potter or having her middle name as Lily I'm not sure. Review if you think that her name should be changed or if I should just leave it. If enough people they tell me they want it changed, I will go through each chapter and fix it and from here on out I will keep using that name.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially since you all were very honest about what you thought of my story :)
Also, MarkerBarker78 brought up something that I was going to bring up eventually, but I thought I'd bring it up now. Since Harry Potter is (obviously) about Harry Potter, he (I'm assuming you're a guy but please correct me if I'm wrong) said that I should have some Harry POV. I put in a small section of Harry POV in this chapter but I'm not sure if I want to continue like that. This story was mostly going to follow Journey's POV but I had been thinking about doing every few chapters from Harry's POV. I could do it that way, or, for every chapter from Journey's POV (going to Diagon Alley, Sorting etc) I could do another from Harry's POV. Review and let me know what you think I should do (I don't really want to do the last one, but if a lot of people want me too – not that I would know since I've only had 4 reviews – then I will)
So in short, review if you think Journey's name should or should not change, and whether or not you want Harry's POV and how I should write it.
August 11, 2011