The next morning, Rose Potter woke up feeling contented, and was surprised because of it. Though she had lived with ther Dursley's for nearly ten years, she had never woke up feeling this way before.
When she quietly opened her eyes, she remembered instantly why she felt so happy. A black bird that she knew as a Thunderbird, an incredibly strange and intelligent creature, had decided to be her friend.
"I should come up with a name for you." she wondered, and the bird's eyes lit up.
Harry didn't appreciate his own naming skills, and so decided to influence her decision for his actual name. He hopped on her shoukder and peered into her eyes for a second, before running his beak through her hair, and then his own feathers.
"My hair?" she asked, surprised. "Oh wow, it's the same color as your feathers!" she noticed. Then she saw some of the sunlight on the bird, and she could see that his feathers had a blue undertone to them.
"Pretty." she remarked.
He decided to be more obvious. He pointed at himself, and nipped some of her hair again.
"You want to be called something?" she asked him.
He nodded, and played with her hair again.
"Like Blackie?"
He shook his head.
"Feathers?"
He shook his head again, and nipped her hair.
"Come to think of it, are you a boy or girl bird?"
He tried to figure the best way to tell her that information, cocking his head to think.
"Oh, it must be hard to answer questions that aren't yes or no."
Harry nodded in relief.
"Are you a boy bird?"
He nodded again.
"And you want me to name you after something about my hair?"
He groaned as well as a bird can, and hopped up to the desk next to her bed. In a flash, he had a pen in his mouth and he wrote a shot message on some scrap paper.
"My... name... is... Harry..." she read after him.
He nodded, pleased with himself.
"Wow. Harry, you are a really smart bird."
He would smile if he had lips, but she seemed to get the expression from his eyes.
"Oh, I should go make breakfast." she said morosely. "They'll exoect me to be started already."
Harry shook his head.
"What? But... they'll hurt me, or you! I can't let them hurt you!" she cried.
He shook his head again, and sparks ran through his feathers intimidatingly.
Rose watched, shocked, as he bristled and stood tall. "You'll protect me?" she asked. She sounded so surprised, and he felt it was sad that she didn't sound as if she could believe it.
He nodded determinedly, and he was soon found to prove to her his... nodding.
The door slammed open and Petunia Dursley grimaced at the girl. "Well? Why aren't you downstairs, making breakfast?"
Harry cawed indignantly and sparks flew through his feathers.
"What? What is that... filthy creature doing in my house?" Petunia demanded, stepping forward.
Lightning flashed through the air, and Petunia cringed out of the room when a small current ran through her body.
The door slammed behind her as she fled downstairs.
Rose, astonished, hugged Harry close. "Thank you! But... I'll just be in trouble..." she whispered. "You shouldn't have angered her."
Harry hardly agreed, and in a flash, a full english breakfast was before her on a simple dining tray.
"This is!" she cried in surprise. "Food?" she asked, incredulous.
He nodded, and ate some bacon off of her plate.
After a moment, she started eating as well.
And so it went. For days, Harry defended Rose from multiple intrusions and attacks by the Dursleys, and brought her three square meals.
One night, Harry watched the door slowly creak open, and Vernon Dursley tried to stealthily enter the room. If he wasn't the size of a walrus or a seal, he might have been sneaky enough. As it was, the man tried to bring a small firearm to bear on Harry, who was staring amusedly at him.
Vernon fired, and Harry easily allowed his magic to project a shield over, not only himself, but Rose too.
Vernon fled fearfully, throwing the gun at the stairs as he returned toi his bedroom.
The shield he made had even blocked the sound from Rose, so she didn't even shift in her sleep.
On the other hand, the rest of the neighborhood heard the gunshot, and no less than fifteen phone calls were made to the police.
Not twenty minutes later, policemen knocked on the front door of Number 4 Privet Drive with a warrant and an irate attitude.
Vernon tried to deny them entrance, which they ignored. The gun was stil on the stairs, almost the first thing they saw. They carefully bagged it, and searched the house.
All in all, besides the man trying to impede the search, they found little until they came on a small bedroom. It was riddled with broken toys for a little boy, and a small girl slept peacefully inside.
They examined the area for a moment before movement caiught their attention.
It was Harry, though to them it looked like a massive raven, or maybe a dark colored hawk. They were extremely cautious, but all it did was point at a small hole next to the sleeping girl.
A quick glance matched, with fair accuracy, the size of the bullet to the hole near the girl, and the cops were incensed.
Without a worry in the world, they arrested Vernon Dursley and took him to the jail, where they ran his fingerprints and matched them with the gun.
He was put away for attempted murder, not to be seen again for Rose.
Meanwhile, the next morning after the police search that Rose mercifully slept through, she was awoken by her friend, Harry the Thunderbird.
He had a piece of paper with his handwriting on it, which she was mildly surprised had remained clear and consistent, that told her that Vernon was no longer going to be around.
"Is that true?" she asked.
Harry nodded. He wished he could talk easier, but most witches and wizards were paranoid, and more likely to make things to keep other people's thoughts out rather than allow them in. As it was, he felt reluctantly glad that he was an able writer, even as a bird.
Today, Harry knew, was one week before July 31st, and that meant that the first letter would arrive today.
Or rather, it would if Harry didn't prefer to let his excitement overtake him. As it was, he flashed to Hogwarts without a worry, and stole the letter for Rose. He winked at the surprised Professor McGonagall, and flashed away, leaving only static behind.
Rose was familiar with his habits by now, and when he returned with a letter instead of breakfast, her curiosity was peaked.
"What is this?" she asked.
He dropped it on her lap, and hopped onto the desk as she read.
"Congratulations Miss Potter, you have been accepted into Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry?"
She was bewildered, and turned to him. "Is this true?"
Harry nodded, and she smiled. "I'm a witch..." she said, without certainty. "Magic is real, and I'm a witch." she said more firmly.
She read through the letter more carefully, and read the required school supplies as well.
"Where will I get all this? And how will I pay for it?" she asked, downtrodden.
Harry trilled, and she smiled. "You knew about this, didn't you?" she asked
Harry, of course, nodded again.
"Do you know where I can get this stuff?" she asked.
Harry nodded, and pointed at her closet as he flashed away.
When she had changed, he came back with a larger breakfast, his stern eyes telling her that he wanted her to eat it all.
She rolled her eyes with a smile and ate, even as Harry stole some of her bacon, as usual.
When she was finished, he hopped on her shoulder and gave her an encouraging nuzzle with his beak. She smiled, and they disappeared in a flash of static.