To Fix The Past
Warnings: There may be cursing, oocness, and if you haven't read any of the books there are spoilers…obviously. And seriously…if you haven't…where the hell have you been? There is also going to be bashing of certain characters…but not for a while yet.
Moony…
Moony: Charny does not own any of the characters, rights, plots, and so forth, of Harry Potter. They all belong to the wonderful J.K Rowling.
Fate had a mischievous smirk on her face.
'This is going really well…' she thought, as she finished examining the group.
She settled down, sucking her golden lollypop, and holding her own blanket that had a tapestry on it, that seemed to be sown with a golden thread.
She waved her hand idly, sending a blanket that held a large grandfather clock, with a time turner hanging on the pendulum, to her best friend.
Chapter 3: The Letters from No One
Tonks cleared her throat and read …
"The Letters from No One"
"The Letters from No One?" Sirius questioned with a perplexed look on his face.
'Yes you dolt!' Tonks yelled at her cousin.
She shot a look at Nacrissa, Alice, Hermione, and Ginny and they all hit him on the head.
"OW!' Sirius yelled, rubbing the back of his head.
"There was no need for that….' He looked at all the girls, seeing the look in their eyes he quickly backed down – pouting, thus causing the girls to smirk superiorly, and the boys to snicker under their breaths.
Except Harry, he was enjoying his cookies.
Tonks started to read:
The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment.
There was a resounding growl through the room.
'You better have been fed…' Lily warned Harry in a menacing growl, causing many men to fear for their appendages and Harry to sweat nervously.
'Well?' she growled.
'Well… um … you see …' he tried to explain.
'PETUNIA YOU ARE SO DEAD!' Lily screamed, causing many to cover their ears, especially poor Remus.
James went over to her, trying to sooth her, promising that as soon as they saw her they would curse her into the next millennia.
This seemed to cause her to calm down, but she went over to Harry and gave him her cookies.
He had no choice but to accept, especially under Lily's watchful, stern gaze.
By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started
"What about school?" Lily asked her son, while everyone else looked on, all curious to hear the answer, so they would have another reason to curse the muggles.
"Umm...well...you see..." Harry hesitated, trying to figure out whether he should tell them or not.
"I suggest you tell them Mr Potter." A very stern voice sounded from behind him.
Harry's eyes widened, he knew that voice.
"SEVERUS!" he shouted in joy.
"Yes it's me brat." Severus Snape said fondly.
"Sir, how are you here ... after what happened in the war?" Hermione asked, whispering the word 'war'.
"I have been allowed to help Harry with some things, through his dreams since it ended. I was allowed to come and witness this...union." he told them.
No one could complain, seeing Harry's contagious grin on his face.
"Everyone, this is P...Severus Snape" Harry announced, almost spoiling the fact that he is/was/will be a professor
Everyone in the room gazed at him, not expecting to see the older version of any of them. The younger Severus Snape had his mouth hanging open.
"I suggest we continue..." Fate suggested to the gob smacked room.
"No, Mr Potter has to reply to his mother's question first." Severus replied.
Everyone looked to Harry who groaned, but after seeing a look from Severus, he started to tell them…
"They made me do all of Dudley's homework." He told them in a small voice.
Every person in the room was too angered to speak.
"Um… maybe we should continue?" Fate asked in a voice so quiet it was deadly.
She couldn't figure out how Harry's life was blocked from her, she didn't even know this.
'Stupid Poker Game' she thought sourly.
and Dudley had already broken his new cine-camera, crashed his remote control aeroplane and, first time on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.
"That horrible child" Alice gasped, scandalised.
The others in the room simply nodded their heads.
Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day.
Cue group groan.
Piers, Dennis, Malcolm and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.
'That makes perfect sense' Sev muttered, causing others to laugh. (Sev is the younger one, Severus is the older one)
The rest of them were all quite happy to join Dudley's favourite sport: Harry Hunting.
'WHAT?!' Sirius yelled; he was starting to feel quite protective of Harry.
This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope.
'Why?' Frank asked
'I think you will find out soon.'
'Wait! Lily shouted before the book could continue.
'Doesn't your Hogwarts letter come soon?'
Harry did nothing but smile mysteriously at her, causing many from the past to groan, except Remus, he figured out that it was the Hogwarts letter at the beginning of the chapter.
When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley.
'That's true…but you will be at Hogwarts!' James and Sirius yelled, causing many others to cheer with them.
'No stinking secondary school for my boy … nope, never!' James was muttering once everyone quietened down.
Dudley had a place at Uncle Vernon's old school, Smeltings.
There was a loud snort from everyone in the room.
Remus kept shaking his head; he was muttering something that sounded suspiciously like...
'He will so have mental problems ... Smeltings, really!'
Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local comprehensive.
'You are not' all those from the past yelled.
Draco shook his head, wondering how Harry could have been so naive.
Dudley thought this was very funny.
There was a low growl in the room; it seemed to be coming from both Remus and Sirius. Those who didn't know about the animagus/werewolf thing shot them curious and suspicious looks.
'They stuff people's heads down the toilet first day at Stonewall,' he told Harry. 'Want to come upstairs and practise?'
'That little bastard!' Lily yelled outraged.
'No thanks,' said Harry. 'The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it – it might be sick.'
The entire room burst out into laughter. There were people rolling on the floor, and others had chocolate milk coming out of their nose. After a few minutes, in which Harry just looked embarrassed, he really didn't think it was that funny, people were wiping their tears with their blankets.
'Harry –'Fred started.
'Why –'George continued.
'Didn't - '
'You - '
'Tell –'
'Us?' they questioned.
Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.
'Not going to happen' Severus muttered at the same time as Sev.
They all looked between the two.
'Guess you didn't change much did you Severus?' Harry questioned innocently.
Both of the Snapes shot him a look that clearly said 'Shut Up if you value your life'. Unfortunately for them, Harry is immune to those looks and just grinned cheekily.
Lucius, James, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Fate and Hermione had grins twitching at the corners of their lips, while everyone else was either neutral or shooting him disapproving looks.
One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs Figg's. Mrs Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before.
'Poor woman.' Lily and Alice muttered sympathetically.
She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.
'Don't eat it then.' Hermione told him.
'Mione, it already happened.' He explained patiently.
Hermione huffed, and pouted but allowed the subject to drop.
That evening, Dudley paraded around the living-room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers and flat straw hats called boaters.
There was another round of laughter at the mental imaging of the uniform, from those who knew what muggle clothes look like anyway. (Lily, Harry, Hermione, Remus, Tonks, and surprisingly Sirius)
At the look people shot at him he told them calmly...
'I took muggle studies so I could get on my parents nerves. But it doesn't mean I listened all the time, I only remember that because it looked ridiculous.' He promptly burst into laughter once again.
Feeling bad for those clueless people, Harry extracted the memory of Dudley in his uniform from his head and duplicated it, turning it into a photo.
It was passed around the room, and everyone was laughing very hard.
They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.
'Great training" Hermione muttered sarcastically.
As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins,
There was another round of laughter at the name.
he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might have already cracked from trying not to laugh.
'I asked Madam Pomfrey to check on the first day of school, she said there was a slight crack in two of my ribs.' Harry said.
There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in grey water.
'Huh?' both Ron and Peter said dumbly.
'Please don't tell me that is your ... uniform' Nacrissa sneered.
'Ok' Harry said. Nearly everyone sighed in relief.
'What's this?' he asked his Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared ask a question.
'That's right Harry, break the rules!' Sirius cheered.
Lily glared at him for encouraging the breaking of rules, but it was not as heated as it could be, as she thought it was a stupid rule in the first place.
'Your new school uniform,' she said.
Harry was glared at by most of the room, except for the Twins, Remus, Sirius and James, they knew what Harry did.
"Well?' Lucius questioned quietly
'You said not to tell you, so I didn't.' He explained, slightly intimidated by Lucius.
The room rolled their eyes at Harry, except for the pranksters mentioned before, they were congratulating him.
Harry leaned over to Hermione and muttered to her, just loud enough for only her to hear...
'Is it bad that Lucius intimidates me when I am older than him?'
'No, I am too.' She muttered back in the same tone.
Harry looked in the bowl again.
'Oh,' he said. 'I didn't realise it had to be so wet.'
'Just to be clear, I was being sarcastic.' Harry told them.
'Well duh.' Was muttered by all except Ron and Peter.
'Don't be stupid,' snapped Aunt Petunia. 'I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things grey for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished.'
'We all believe that' Regulus muttered sarcastically.
Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue.
'Oh, come on Harry! Argue; argue till you lose your voice! Argue, argue argue!' Sirius shouted, bouncing around the room, James looked like he wanted to join in, but after getting stern glare from Lily, he settled for joining in mentally whilst pouting physically.
The rest of the room rolled their eyes at Sirius, some in exasperation, some in amusement, some fondly, and some just because they didn't want to be left out. ~cough~ Ron ~cough~ Peter ~cough~
Remus had, had enough of Sirius' exuberance, so he sent a silencing charm at Sirius and levitated him back to his spot, and then tying him up.
Sirius glared at Remus, and started to pout, knowing he wasn't going anywhere for a while.
He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High – like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin probably.
There was a snort around the room.
'You have a very strange mind.' Lucius told him.
'There is nothing wrong with that!' Fate yelled back.
Everyone looked at her strangely, she usually didn't say anything.
Fate just settled back down, summoning another lolly pop. She needed Time there, she was all upset now.
Harry feeling bad for her, especially after all the times he cursed her, got up and pulled her into a comforting one-armed hug. Fate snuggled into his arms, making many of the girls coo at the sight, except one. One very possessive and jealous red-head was glaring at the two, since they got to the room, Harry had not paid any attention to her, and she was starting to get very pissed off.
Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smeltings stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.
"Everywhere?" Regulus questioned incredulously.
"Everywhere." Harry repeated.
"He took it to the shops, the park, and the cinema, everywhere." Harry explained to them.
Everyone had a wide-eyed look on their faces, trying to figure out why he would be taking it everywhere with him.
They heard the click of the letter-box and flop of letters on the doormat.
'Get the post, Dudley,' said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.
"He is actually getting that fat tub of lard to do something?" Severus questioned, raising one eyebrow in question.
"I don't believe it." Frank said, looking absolutely astounded.
The rest of the room could only nod their heads in agreement.
'Make Harry get it.'
'Make the pig get it!' Sirius spat angrily at the book. James, Lily and the majority of the room nodded in agreement.
Although Harry thought it was a bit silly to be talking to a book about something that has already happened, he couldn't help but feel his heart swell with warmth, knowing that they truly accepted him. He was nervous about what they would think about his sorting though, he had never told anyone about almost getting into Slytherin, he had a small smirk however, he couldn't wait to see Mal...Draco's reaction.
'Get the post, Harry.'
'Are you going to take that Harry?' Sirius asked him.
Harry simply stared at him and raised a single eye-brow. Sirius backed down, that look was way creepy. Harry smirked at his reaction.
'Make Dudley get it.'
'That's right Harry! Don't you take that!' Sirius yelled, pumping his fist into the air.
Everyone looked at him, wondering if he had any sanity at all.
'Poke him with your Smeltings stick, Dudley.'
'Run Harry! Run for your life!!!' Sirius yelled, screaming at the top of his lungs.
James sighed tiredly. He picked up Sirius' lolly pop, and as Sirius passed him he stuck it into his open mouth. Sirius immediately sat down, cuddling his blanket and sucking on his lolly pop in a pure child-like delight.
'I knew it was bad that mum/Aunt Eleanor kept dropping him on his head.' Regulus and Nacrissa muttered shaking their heads sadly.
Harry dodged the Smeltings stick and went to get the post.
'Nice dodging.' Regulus complemented. 'He would make a pretty good seeker.' He thought to himself.
Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was holidaying on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill and – a letter for Harry.
"HOGWARTS!' Everyone in the room screamed, except for Harry, Ron, Ginny, Peter and Draco. Peter, Ron and Ginny because they didn't care, Harry because it really wasn't as exciting after you had already lived it and Draco because he would not yell no matter what, even if his father and mother were, but they were younger than him so...
(AN: ~cough~ Denial ~cough~)
Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band.
'A what?' The purebloods, except Sirius asked.
'An elastic band' Hermione told them
'Its like a circle made out of rubber and it is used to hold stuff together, like if you roll up a piece of parchment, it would keep it from unrolling.' Sirius explained
After the explanation everyone was looking at him with shocked expressions.
'What? It looked cool, so I paid attention, not to mention you can use it to flick stuff at people.' Sirius grinned cheekily, causing many to groan and shake their heads. They should have known better than to thin Sirius could actually be mature.
No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him.
'Where are you guys? Why aren't you writing to him?' James demanded of his friends.
'I don't know James' Remus said, his brows furrowing in confusion.
Peter just shrugged his shoulder and continued to eat his cookies.
Sirius seemed to be really frustrated. He wanted to be there for his godson, he knew Harry was his godson, he just knew it. Why the hell wasn't he there?
Who would?
'We would' Sirius and Remus said together, whilst Frank, Alice and the past Slytherins nodded along with them.
Harry blushed, not used to this kind of treatment.
He had no friends, no other relatives – he didn't belong to the library so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:
Mr H Potter
The Cupboard under the Stairs
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
'They knew?' Lily and Hermione asked outraged.
James, Sirius, Remus and pretty much everyone in the room looked outraged at this.
Harry backed away from them, feeling very scared. He crawled over to Severus, and basically sat in his lap.
Severus wrapped a protective arm around Harry, murmuring soothing words into his hair.
Harry calmed down. He hated it when people got angry, he could usually hide it well, but he supposed being here and reading about his life was going to bring back memories a little stronger than normal.
Harry then got out of Severus' lap and blushed when he realised everyone was looking at him. He cleared his throat and Tonks snapped out of her uber-cute Harry daze and started to read again, brining everyone's attention back to her.
Harry sighed in relief when all the attention went to Tonks instead of him, making Severus chuckle and Draco to look over at him amusedly.
The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink.
'Green again?' Sirius moaned, whilst the Slytherins and Potters smirked. Everyone else just watched in amusement, except for three.
There was no stamp.
'A stamp?' the purebloods questioned.
'It's a square, small, thin piece of paper that muggles lick and stick to an envelope. It is proof that they payed for the postage of their letter.' Hermione explained to the group of dumbfounded looking purebloods.
'weird' Frank muttered.
Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'.
'GO HOGWARTS!' Sirius cheered, apparently over his dumbfounded moment.
'Hurry up, boy!' shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. 'What are you doing, checking for letter-bombs?' He chuckled at his own joke.
'It was so funny, I forgot to laugh' Harry muttered.
There were several snorts at that comment.
Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.
'Why the HELL did you not open it in the hall, or open it later?' Regulus questioned incredulously.
Harry stared at him in shock, not expecting an outburst like that. The whole room slowly turned to look at him, never expecting something like that from the quiet, stoic Slytherin.
Harry blinked a couple of times, before bringing one shoulder up a little, and letting it fall again in a kind of half-shrug.
'Idiot…' Regulus muttered, shaking his head sadly, wanting nothing more than to go bang his head against the wall.
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…'
'What is a whelk?' Harry asked. He had always wondered what it was, but never bothered to find out.
'It's kind of like a cockle' Hermione and Lily explained calmly, knowing that they were also explaining it to most of the room.
'Dad!' said Dudley suddenly. 'Dad, Harry's got something!'
'That little brat!' Sirius and James growled while everyone else looked beyond angry, with three exceptions.
Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.
At this point there was an annoyed growl coming from one messier Remus Lupin.
'That's mine!' said Harry, trying to snatch it back.
'That's right Harry! Don't let him take what's yours!' this surprisingly, came from Lily.
She ignored all the shocked looks directed at her, and glared at Tonks, wanting her to continue with the chapter.
'Who'd be writing to you?' sneered Uncle Vernon,
'I WOULD!' was yelled Sirius, Remus, Hermione and all the Slytherins.
James and Lily looked to be fighting off tears, they wished they could be there for their future child, but it seemed impossible.
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.
'That would have been amusing' Sirius said.
'Oh, trust me, it was.' Harry assured him, ignoring all those who were very confused at what traffic light were.
Lily and Hermione, taking pity on them went over and explained it.
After getting the explanation, there was a round of snickers in the room at the mental imagery.
And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the greyish white of old porridge.
'Ewwwww….' All of the girls in the room squealed, and all the boys had large grimaces on their faces.
'P-P-Petunia!' he gasped.
Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach.
'Sucked in brat! How do you like it? Never getting what you want?!' (A.N I'm sick, I couldn't figure out which grammatical mark I was meant to put so I did both! Hehe) Sirius yelled.
All though they all agreed with him, the others in the room couldn't help but think he was a little bit crazy.
'Gee, do you think being in Azkaban mad him less crazy?' Harry asked Hermione quietly. He couldn't believe this was his godfather.
'Maybe…' Hermione muttered back. She was honestly a bit scared.
Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint.
'Do it…(clap, clap, clap) Do it… (clap, clap, clap)' Sirius started chanting. Soon everyone in the room was chanting, it was very catchy, even Tonks!
'umm, Tonks?' Alice asked, a little timid.
'Hmmm?' Tonks looked over at her with curiosity shining in her eyes.
'Aren't you meant to be reading?' Alice asked.
For a moment it seemed like time had stopped. Everyone just stared at Alice, than looked at the book, and back to Alice.
'Shit, you're right!' Tonks exclaimed. Time seemed to have started again.
Fate looked around, and swore she saw a deep green skirt disappearing around the corner.
She clutched her throat and made a chocking noise.
'Ooo? Is she dying?' Sirius asked eagerly
'Sirius!' Harry reprimed. He didn't know why, but he didn't want anyone to bad mouth his aunt.
He ignored the curious and confused looks sent his way.
'Vernon! Oh my goodness – Vernon!'
They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room.
'As stated earlier…Vernon ~snort~ has short term memory loss, or is just plain stupid. But Petunia too?' Lucius asked, trying to hold in a snicker at the name given to Harry's uncle.
Dudley wasn't used to being ignored.
'Surprise, surprise' Nacrissa muttered sarcastically, whilst rolling her eyes.
He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smeltings stick.
'That little brat!' James yelled before bursting out laughing, it didn't take long before everyone else was laughing too.
'I want to read that letter,' he said loudly.
'No' Hermione said simply, she was feeling a little mischievous today.
'I want to read it,' said Harry furiously,
'As it is yours!' James added, nodding furiously.
'as it's mine.'
Everyone looked at James and then to Harry.
'Spooky' Sirius said, expressing all their thoughts.
'Get out, both of you,' croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.
'What? The fat lump too?' Regulus sneered.
Harry didn't move.
'That's right Harry! Don't let him boss you around!' this, surprisingly came from one, Lucius Malfoy.
Everyone turned to look at him, and after realizing what he had just done, which included jumping up and pumping his fist into the air, he sat back down with a tinge of pink colouring his cheeks.
'I WANT MY LETTER!' he shouted.
'He wants his letter!' James and Sirius echoed.
Harry leaned over and whispered to Hermione…
'I'm glad Sirius or my dad didn't get this chapter'
'Why?' she questioned
'They would have yelled all the yelling parts – and there is a lot in this chapter – if I remember this day correctly – which I do.'
'You are right.' Hermione agreed, releasing a sigh of relief.
'Let me see it!' demanded Dudley.
'No' Nacrissa stated snidely.
'OUT!' roared Uncle Vernon,
'Wow, he is serious' Sev said wide-eyed.
'No…that's me.' Sirius said with a cheeky grin.
'That pun is so old.' Hermione stated with a roll of her eyes.
and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall,
'DON'T YOU DARE TUCH MY HARRY!' Lily, James, Draco, Hermione and Ginny all yelled.
Once Lily and James realised what they said they quickly said…
'Our Harry!'
Hermione and Draco just looked away with tinges of pink on their cheeks. Ginny just stared at Harry possessively.
Harry on the other hand just started to sink down in his chair with his cheeks glowing Weasley red.
Although they wanted to laugh at Harry, Sirius, Remus and the Twins all growled angrily.
slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly
'That is such a fun word to say…Promptly' Harry burst out randomly.
Everyone looked at him as he continued to say the word 'promptly' under his breath.
Hermione sighed and shared a look with Ron. He nodded and Hermione picked up her chocolate brown tinged lolly-pop and stuck it into Harry's mouth.
Harry immediately quietened down and sucked on the lolly-pop with the delight that only an innocent child could have.
had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole;
'Good thinking! Come on Harry, you can win!' Sirius cheered. He knew Harry could be made into a marauder yet.
Dudley won,
'Damn!' James exclaimed.
so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.
'Good thinking son!' James yelled.
'That really was a good idea.' Regulus mused thoughtfully.
Harry blushed.
'Vernon,' Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, 'look at the address – how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?'
'Pa-lease…we have better things to do than watch a boring house all day.' Nacrissa said with a roll of her eyes.
'How do they know where you are at the time the letter is sent?' Harry asked, a perplexed look on his face.
'There is a spell they use – you cast it on a quill and say the name of the person the letter is addressed to and it writes it down. There are obviously exceptions – the fidellus spell for example.
'Watching – spying – might be following us,'
'Yeah right' Regulus snorted.
muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.
'But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back?
'Yes…it should say something along the lines of – On behalf of Mr Harry Potter, we would gladly like to accept his position in your fine institution.' Sirius said..
Everyone turned to stare at him, he looked at them and said…
'You really think that I thought they would write something like that?'
He looked at them at all, saw their looks and snorted.
'You are all idiots.' He muttered shaking his head.
Tell them we don't want –'
Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.
'Didn't it say earlier that your glasses had fallen off?' Lily questioned.
Tonks flipped back a page or so and glanced at it, she found what she was looking for.
'It says they were dangling from one ear.'
'Which ear were they dangling from Harry?' Hermione asked as she turned to look at him.
'The opposite one from the door. Don't know how I was able to see that though.' Harry commented.
Several persons became very thoughtful.
'No,' he said finally. 'No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer …
'They will continue to send letters.' Frank said knowingly.
Alice looked at him, her hand entwined with his, and asked…
'How do you know?'
'There was a girl who lives down the street from the Longbottom Summer Cottage who continued getting Hogwarts letters. It was hilarious. I asked her when she started this year how it started, she said that she showed the first letter to her parents and they threw it out, thinking it to be a prank and then the letters started showing up in really random places. '
Everyone had a really good laugh at that. Harry was surprised that someone else had a house full of letters.
yes, that's best … we won't do anything…'
'And that was their big mistake.' Harry muttered to Hermione and Draco, causing them to snicker lowly.
'But –'
'I'm not having one in the house, Petunia!
'He is not a dog!' Lily raged.
Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?'
'Stamp…out…that…dangerous…nonsense?' Lily whispered in a very dangerous tone.
James was far too angry to even try and comment.
Hermione and several of the other girls had tears in their eyes and the mere idea that Harry could have been more than neglected at his relative's house. The men in the room were shaking in barely suppressed rage.
That evening when he got back form work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before;
'Use his imagination?'
'Use his brain?'
'Diet?'
Were just some of the suggestions flying around the room – mainly James and Sirius.
he visited Harry in his cupboard.
'He actually fit?' Severus asked with a raised eyebrow, looking toward Harry who was sitting next to him.
'Can't really remember.' Harry responded, crawling onto Severus' lap.
'I was on my who-is-the-letter-from obsession.'
This caused several people in the room to laugh and also to coo at the sight of a very cute-looking Harry on Severus' lap.
'Where's my letter?'
'You really were obsessing weren't you?' Draco asked with a single raised eyebrow.
'Yep!' Harry responded chirpily.
said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door.
'Apparently he did fit.' Ron said, amazed.
'Who's writing to me?'
'Hogwarts' Sirius responded, surprisingly calm, as he stopped Peter from stealing his cookies.
Once he saw the looks he was receiving h said…
'What? Can't I be quiet sometimes too?'
They all raised their eyebrows.
'If you would prefer me to be loud I co…' he was cut off by a loud and unanimous…
'NO!'
'That's what I thought.' He said rather smugly.
'No one. It was addressed to you by mistake,' said Uncle Vernon shortly. 'I have burned it.'
'What? There was no way that was a mistake! It had Harry's cupboard on it!' James yelled.
'It was not a mistake,' said Harry angrily. 'It had my cupboard on it.'
'I think I will repeat my dear cousin's earlier statement…Spooky' Nacrissa said, looking between the two wide-eyed Potters.
'SILENCE!' yelled Uncle Vernon,
'Cuz him yelling 'silence' is really showing him how to be silent.' Sirius said sarcastically.
and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.
Thus causing Ron to shiver and the twins to grin.
He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile,
'Was it painful?' Remus asked curiously.
which looked quite painful.
'My suspicion is proved to be correct.' Remus said, nodding. Harry nodded long with him, and they both ignored the looks from the rest of the group.
'Er – yes, Harry
'He knows your name?" Regulus asked incredulously.
about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking
'They can think?' Frank asked with wide-eyes.
… you're really getting a bit big for it
'He's always been too big for it!' Lily raged.
… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom.'
'Second….bedroom?' James asked in a deadly whisper.
The rest of the group were shaking with rage.
'Why?' said Harry.
'Don't ask for reasons Harry!' Tonks cried, forgetting she was the one reading the story.
'Umm….Tonks?' Harry asked tentively.
'What?' she snarled
'T-the book…' a very frightened Harry trailed off.
Tonks, realising what she did sat back down with a blush colouring her face, sent an apologetic glance at Harry, who wave it off, and continued to read the book.
'Don't ask questions!' snapped his uncle.
'That's a stupid rule!' snapped his mum.
'Take this stuff upstairs, now.'
'What stuff?' Sev and Severus asked snidely with a raised eye-brow.
The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms:
'Four?' Lucius asked Harry quietly.
'Yes' Harry replied, still rather intimidated by Lucius Malfoy.
'Those people are bastards and I am sincerely sorry that you are related to them Harry, Lily. If either of you ever need it, the Malfoy home will always be open to you.' Lucius told tem quietly.
'Uh…Thank-you?' Lily questioned uncertainly.
Harry just looked rather bemused.
one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge),
Harry and Hermione grinned at this and snickered under their breaths.
one where Dudley slept and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.
'WHAT? Have they never heard of a shed? Or an attic? Or perhaps a basement or what about just throwing it all out?' James ranted, pacing back and forth between Lily and Sirius.
Sirius, getting tired of his pacing, took out his wand and conjured up a small stone. He then took that and threw it at James, it hit him right between the eyes.
James, having been shocked out of his rant, just blinked dumbly and then sat back down.
Remus sighed in relief. Sirius had managed to shock James out of his rant before it got too bad.
It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to his room.
'You owned something?' Alice asked, thinking that his relatives didn't give him anything but his cousin's old clothes.
'Just my cousin's old clothes.' Harry replied.
Oh, that makes more sense. Alice thought, not wanting to upset Harry anymore than he already was.
What she really wanted to know was why her and Frank were here, along with the Slytherins. She could understand James, Lily, Sirius and Remus, bit none of the others from her time.
He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken.
'Yet they didn't throw it all out?' Frank questioned.
'Nope' Harry replied.
The month-old cine-camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over next door's dog;
Here Sirius let out a small whimper, causing many to look at him.
Harry got up off of Severus' lap and climbed onto Sirius', offering him all the comfort he could.
Sirius wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug, thanking him for the comfort.
Now, you may be wondering how Harry can fit on Sirius' lap when he is older than Sirius...well simply put….Harry is tiny, so tiny infact – he is only a little taller than Ginny.
in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite programme had been cancelled;
'Do you think he has a temper?' Fred asked
'You know – I don't think he does.' George replied.
'Didn't think so.' Fred agreed.
there was a large bird-cage which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air-rifle,
'Best thing that ever happened to Bird.' Harry replied.
'Bird?' Sirius questioned.
'That was what he called the parrot. He wasn't very imaginative.'
'You don't say.' Sirius said, sarcastically.
which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it.
Cue five minute, group laughing fit.
Other shelves were full of books.
'He has books?' Nacrissa asked with a raised eye-brow.
They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.
'That makes sense.' Nacrissa responded.
From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother: 'I don't want him in there …
'Bad luck' Sev said with a sneer.
I need that room …
'You do?' Draco asked with a raised eye-brow.
make him get out …'
'hmmm….how about…no.' Hermione said.
Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter then up here without it.
'I can understand that.' Most of the group said.
Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smeltings stick,
'That's pretty funny.' Sirius said.
been sick on purpose,
'He voluntarily got rid of food?' Regulus asked, raising and eye-brow.
'Yep, I heard him dry sobbing over it. I don't think he can actually cry' Harry replied.
kicked his mother
'If he were my son, he would be grounded for that.' Lily said, disapprovingly.
'Lucky he isn't.' James told her.
'But then again, if he were raised by you, he wouldn't have turned out like that.' Harry added.
'True' they agreed.
and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof
'Poor Tourtie – he was so young.' Harry said – sighing sadly.
'Tourtie?' Lucius asked increadously.
'He doesn't have and imagination – as stated before, but he was too lazy to say tortoise.' Harry told him.
'…' Lucius could not say anything to that – so he just shook his head sadly.
and he still didn't have his room back.
'And round 1 goes to Harry Potter' Sirius burst out randomly.
Everyone just stared at him. They had no idea what he was going on about.
Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall.
'Now you realise!' Regulus cried, annoyed.
'Yep!' Harry responded happily, to busy munching on Hermione's cookies.
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.
When the post arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry,
'He knows how to be nice?' Ginny asked with raised eye-brows
'No' Harry said simply, not even turning to look at her.
This caused her to glare at him.
I am his girlfriend and he is ignoring me! She thought angrily.
made Dudley go and get it.
'I think it would be nicer if he had let you go and get it Harry' Hermione told him.
Harry got up off of Sirius' lap, with a bit of a struggle due to him holding on so tight and went and sat down next to Hermione.
'Your right' Harry responded, putting an arm around her shoulders – thus causing her to go a light shade of pink.
GET YOUR ARMS OFF OF MY WIFE POTTER! One very angry red head thought whilst keeping a calm façade on the outside.
They heard him banging thins with his Smeltings stick all the way down the hall.
'That poor wall' Alice said.
The rest of the group just nodded mournfully.
Then he shouted, 'There's another one! Mr H Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive –'
'Run Harry! Run, run, run!' Sirius cried, jumping up and running around in a circle – he looked like a dog chasing its tail.
Harry looked over to where Fred and George were sitting and signed to them 'got any of those new products' 'Yep' they signed back. 'Which ones you got?' he asked 'Number 4 and 6' 'Use number 6 on Sirius' the three of them shared a mischievous look.
Now you may be wondering how no one noticed this – it is because the twins and Harry came up with a way to talk to each other with the way the move various parts of their body – it made it look like they were just twitching.
Now what does number six do? You may be wondering. Well, you will just have to wait and see.
The tins threw it at Sirius when he was facing them with his mouth open – and bullseye. It went straight in. Sirius swallowed, and feeling confused sat down.
With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall,
'He knows how to run?' Peter asked, feeling left out.
'No, it was more like a hobble.' Harry responded, trying his best to ignore the fact that the question had come from Peter Pettigrew.
Harry right behind him.
'Why didn't you over-take him?' Lily questioned at the same time as Hermione, causing them to giggle.
'He took up the entire hallway.' Harry answered with a completely straight face.
Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him,
'EVERYONE DUCK AND COVER! IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!' Fate yelled at the top of her lungs.
Harry laughed very hard at this considering the entire house did shake at that moment.
which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.
'Did you wash your hands afterwards?' Nacrissa questioned worriedly.
'I had a 20 minute scolding hot shower.' Harry answered – he then added.
'Of course Uncle Vernon and Dudley were both out at the time and Aunt Petunia seemed to be laughing at the fact I had a shower after grabbing onto Uncle Vernon but… meh.'
After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smeltings stick,
'That isn't exactly true…' Harry said
'What's that Harry?' Hermione asked curiously.
'I was never hit by it. I remember that I kept thinking that I don't want to be hit by the stick, but it would be great if Uncle Vernon and Dudley were…and well that's what happened.'
Everyone looked at Harry in surprise – amazed at his ability to do wandless magic at that age.
Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.
'DAMN!' the entire room chorused.
'Go to your cupboard – I mean, your bedroom,'
There was a growl in the room – coming from most of the occupants at the reminder of that god damned blasted cupboard!
he wheezed at Harry. 'Dudley – go – just go.'
'Wow! He actually told him to do something' Draco said – amazed.
Harry walked round and round his new room.
'Did you get dizzy?' Peter asked.
He was ignored by all those present, causing him to rage inwardly.
'Just wait – my master will take care of me and he will kill you ALL. MWUHAHAHAHA'
Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter.
'I have a sneaking suspicion that there is someone who is actually monitoring that house in some way.' Lucius said in a calculating tone.
Surely that meant they'd try again?
'Yup!' Frank said with no traces of doubt in his voice.
And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail.
'How?' Sirius questioned
He had a plan.
'Oh…that's how' Sirius answered his own question.
The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning.
'You're able to get up early?' Hermione asked incredulously.
'Yes I am thank you very much' Harry replied with his nose in the air – thus causing everyone else to laugh.
Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any lights.
'Ahh – I see what you are going to do. Smart.' Regulus commented/complimented.
'What? What's he going to do?' Sirius questioned frantically.
'My dear brother – you are just going to have to wait and see – or hear.' Regulus told him.
Sirius immediately went quiet – surprised at be called 'dear brother' by his little brother who Sirius thought hated him. Tears of happiness appeared in his eyes, but he immediately pushed them back.
No one but Nacrissa and Harry saw the tears in Sirius' eyes before they vanished. They were both happy that the relationship between the Black brothers was starting to repair.
He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.
'Smart - even though it wouldn't be the post man but an owl.' Sev mused thoughtfully.
His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall towards the front door –
'I have a feeling this isn't going to turn out to well…'Nacrissa trailed off
'AAAAARRRGH!'
Everyone in the room jumped at this. Tonks had screamed this at the top of her lungs.
After everyone in the room had recovered they all sent a glare to Tonks.
Harry leapt into the air – he'd trodden in something big and squashy on the doormat – something alive!
Nearly all the eyebrows in the room were raised at this statement.
Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realised that the big squashy something had been his uncle's face.
There was a stunned silence for a few seconds
'Your…'Alice began
'Uncle's…'Frank continued
'Face…'Remus finished, a wide eyed expression on his own face.
The silence continued on for another few seconds and then out of nowhere one Draco Malfoy burst out laughing. His face was quickly becoming red from his joyful laughter and soon everyone else had joined in with him.
It took quite awhile for everyone to calm down enough to continue on with the story and even when they did, there was still a few snickers escaping mouths as well as tears being wiped from eyes.
Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do.
'So he isn't as dumb as he seems.' Lucius stated with a raised eyebrow.
'Actually…'Harry started.
'I heard him arguing with Aunt Petunia the night before that incident – I wouldn't be surprised if she kicked him out of the bedroom for the night but the sofa wouldn't hold him, so he had to sleep there.'
'Seems more likely.' Lucius said.
'OMG….I can't believe you stepped on your Uncle's face.' Sirius said before bursting out into another round of laughter, soon joined by everyone else.
He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea.
'That's one way to end a lecture.' Sev mused.
Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the post had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap.
'Damn' was all that could be heard going through the room.
Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.
'And so…it begins.' Frank whispered ominously.
'I want –'he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.
'Bastard' James growled
Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the letter-box.
'Not like it will stop the letters.' Nacrissa muttered/
'See,' he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, 'if they can't deliver them they'll just give up.'
'Not likely.' Hermione snorted
'I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon.'
'At least she has a bit of sense.' Regulus intoned.
'Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me,'
'Than Merlin for that' all those present muttered thankfully.
said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with a piece of fruit cake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.
'Does that say something about her cooking?' Ginny asked.
'No, that was the one that she bought at the shop a few weeks before hand' Harry told her/them.
On Friday, no fewer than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the letter-box they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs toilet.
'Quite funny that.' Harry said.
'Why is that?' Lily asked her son.
'All the ones that went through the window fell on Dudley when he was trying to flush something that wasn't meant to be flushed.' He told her.
Uncle Vernon stayed home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out.
'That's a bit extreme isn't it?' Severus asked with a raised eyebrow.
Draco nodded along with him, he couldn't help but think that Harry's uncle was insane.
He hummed 'Tiptoe through the Tulips' as he worked, and jumped at small noises.
'Do you think it is possible that he has gone insane?' Lucius asked the room.
'Wasn't he already?' Was the unanimous response
'Well, more insane than normal.' He corrected.
'Yep' the responded.
On Saturday, things started to get out of hand.
'It wasn't already?' Sirius asked sarcastically.
Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house,
'Okay…that is a little extreme.' Sirius reluctantly agreed.
rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living-room window.
'Why was he confused?' Peter asked stupidly.
'Because he had to hand them through the window.' Lily and Hermione replied - irritated.
'Oh…okay then.' He said and went back to minding his own business.
While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to,
'At least he isn't complaining to Harry.' Alice commented optimistically.
'True, but I did have to hear him complain to everyone else.' Harry responded.
This caused spirits to dampen a little.
Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food mixer.
'Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?' Dudley asked Harry in amazement.
'Me.' Was the immeidiate response from the Slytherins, Hermione, Frank, Alice, Lily and the Marauders.
On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.
'Why?' Sirius asked.
'No post on Sundays,'
'You know that is getting really annoying.'
'What is?' Nacrissa asked the 'white' sheep of her family
'The fact that the book keeps answering all of my questions.' Sirius said irritably. He huffed and crossed his arms over his hest before pouting.
he reminded them happily as he spread marmalade on his newspapers,
'On…his…newspapers?' Sev, Lucius and Regulus asked with a raised eyebrow each.
'no damn letters today –'
'That's what you think.' Sirius said joyfully.
Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one –
'Catch it Harry! Catch it.' Sirius yelled, jumping up and down pretending to catch letters – thus causing the rest of the room to laugh.
'Out! OUT!'
Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.
'How DARE YOU!' Lily and James snarled.
When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing of the walls and floor.
'Now you have a hose full of letters.' Frank said laughing.
'Pretty much.' Harry agreed, snickering.
'That does it,' said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time.
'Quite amusing that.' Harry commented notchantly.
'I want you all back here in five minutes, ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!'
'It won't stop' Frank, Lily and Nacrissa said.
He looked so dangerous with half of his moustache missing that no one dared to argue.
'More like…'He looked so funny with half a moustache and his eyes spinning crazily, Harry dared not to open his mouth in case he wet himself from laughing, but now he may have cracked some ribs.' Sirius said in a fake announcer voice.
Those contained in the room burst out laughing.
Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding towards the motorway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, video and computer in his sports bag.
'Serves you right brat!' Sev said with a sneer.
They drove. And they drove.
'And drove' Sirius said
'And drove' James said
Soon, everyone in the room had said it.
'Bit too repetitive now.' Lily commented, making several nod along with her.
Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turning and drive in the opposite direction for a while.
'Shake 'em off … shake 'em off,' he would mutter whenever he did this.
'Definitely insane.' Severus muttered.
They didn't stop to eat or drink all day.
'Bet it was hell for Dinky Diddydums.' Remus said with a snort.
There was a round of laughter in the room.
By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programmes he'd wished to see and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.
'Suck it up…' James said
Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the window-sill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering …
'Wondering what?' Tonks asked abruptly, looking at Harry.
'I think it was about the letter writer, but it could have been about what my mum and dad were like.' Harry answered her. Lily and James engulfed him in a hug, still upset that they weren't there for their baby boy.
They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast next day.
'Eww…' All those present shuddered.
They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.
''Scuse me, but is one of you Mr H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk.'
'A hundred?' Hermione repeated with a raised eye-brow.
'They work fast.' She added.
She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:
Mr H. Potter
Room 17
Railview Hotel
Cokeworth
'There's a place called Cokeworth?' Sirius asked.
'Apparently.' James told him.
'Weird' they decided.
Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.
'She didn't think anything suspicious.' Lily asked increadolusly.
'Apparently not.' Draco answered.
'I'll take them,' said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining-room.
'Wouldn't it be better to just go home, dear?' Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later,
'At least she has some sense.' Lucius commented.
but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge and at the top of a multi-storey car park.
No one could comment on that obviously mad behaviour.
'Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?' Dudley asked Aunt Petunia
'He just figured that out?' Severus asked.
'Yepp!' Harry said chirpily. ^_^
dully late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car and disappeared.
It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.
'It's Monday,' he told his mother.
'Well done!' Draco said clapping.
Everyone looked at him like he was mad.
'He knows the days of the week – obviously inherited some of his Aunt's brain.' He explained.
After hearing his declaration the room burst out laughing – all tough some laughed reluctantly.
Harry wiped his eyes and went to sit beside Draco. When Draco looked at him with a raised eyebrow, Harry just grinned cheekily and stole his cookies.
'The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television.'
Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday – and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television – then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.
'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' Sirius and James burst out.
Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun – last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat-hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.
'That's …. Polite' Hermione said timidly. She was very stunned at the fact that they had even given him anything, so was everyone else if their faces were anything to go by.
Still, you weren't eleven every day.
'True, but I still don't think they will give you anything.' Nacrissa said.
'Duh.' Harry said with a role of his eyes.
Uncle Vernon was back and he was still smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.
'What is it?' Sirius asked eagerly.
'You will find out' Fate told him sternly, causing him to stop bouncing and to sit down with pout.
'Azkaban definitely made him saner.' Harry whispered to Hermione who nodded mutely.
Draco, Remus and Sev sent them suspicious looks, but didn't ask what they were talking about.
'Found the perfect place!' he said. 'Come on! Everyone out!'
'That doesn't sound good.' Regulus said.
It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out to sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine.
'OK, definitely not good.' Regulus muttered.
'Harry.' Hermione said, and once she was sure she had is attention, she continued.
'If your eye-sight is so bad, how did you see that far, in the rain?' she asked him.
'No idea.' He said as he stole Draco's chocolate milk. Draco tried to et it back, but didn't really have his heart in it.
One thing was certain, there was no television in there.
'Ya think?' James asked sarcastically.
'Storm forecast for tonight!' said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. 'And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!'
A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowing boat bobbing in the iron-grey water below them.
'I don't like this, I don't like this at all.' Lilly muttered, wringing her hands nervously.
James went over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder comfortingly.
'I've already got us some rations,' said Uncle Vernon, 'so all aboard!'
It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.
Everyone was now glancing at the book and then to Harry nervously. Harry ignored them and continued to eat the chocolate chip cookies from Draco's plate.
The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.
Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a packet of crisps each and four bananas.
'What wonderful rations.' Hermione said sarcastically.
He tried to start a fire but the empty crisp packets just smoked and shrivelled up.
'There is no way you are going to be able to start a fire the muggle way.' Remus said, still fretting about Harry.
'Could do with some of those letters now, eh?' he said cheerfully.
'Or I could just come and wring your neck out.' Sirius added cheerfully.
Everyone glanced at him, truly worrying for his sanity.
He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver post.
'Won't stop them!' Frank said cheerfully, wrapping his arms around Alice's waist.
Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.
As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows.
'Oh…that house doesn't sound safe at all.' Lily said – worry written all over her face.
Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa.
'What about Harry?' Hermione and Lily said furiously.
She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.
'If he gets sick I will….' Lily trailed off threatingly.
The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep.
'Harry, baby, try and get some sleep.' Lily said with concern colouring her voice.
Harry just blushed and hid his face in Draco's arm, causing Draco to smirk.
He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter-writer was now.
'No they won't remember, but the letter writer is probably at Hogwarts' Regulus said unnecessarily..
Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside.
Lily gave a small shriek of fright and hid her face in James' shoulder.
He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in,
'Don't say that!' Hermione shouted.
although he might be warmer if it did.
Draco snorted at this, causing Harry to hit him on the arm – hard. Draco flinched and rubbed his arm.
Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.
'Maybe.' Sev said hopefully.
Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?
By now Lily was shivering, with her face in James' shoulder.
Alice was in a similar state with Frank and Nacrissa with Lucius.
Ron smiled happily, thinking that Hermione was going to cuddle up to him, but snarled furiously when she went and hid in Draco bloody Malfoy's shoulder.
One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds … twenty … ten – nine – maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him
'Do it ~clap, clap, clap~' Sirius had started the chant again, but luckily it only went on for a minute or two, everyone wanting to get back to the chapter.
– three – two – one –
BOOM.
Tonks shouted, causing many to jump.
The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was
outside, knocking to come in.
'Wasn't expecting that.' Lucius commented idly.
Author's Babble:
What did ya think? Did ya like it?
Well anyway, just in case you didn't know, I am re-writing my story Harry Potter and the New Destiny. It is now under the title Harry Potter and the New Fate. Check it out.
Let me know what you thought of this chappie, and I will get the next out ASAP!
Ciao for now…
xx