Disclaimer: Everything in here belongs to J.K. Rowling and Thomas Harris. Let them fight over what's what.

Chapter Five

The Letters from No One

The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor was long forgotten by the children of this story as we meet them again. By this time, the summer holidays had started and Dudley and Harry were enjoying their free time, hanging out together. They were mostly outside with the racing bikes and they'd been seriously reprimanded by Hannibal after they'd accidentally knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.

Harry was glad school was over, but he quickly tired of the same holiday routines. After the other boys in their class had talked about where they were going for holiday, Harry had started wondering why he'd hardly been out of Surrey. When he'd asked Clarice one evening when Hannibal was working, she'd told him it was because Hannibal was too busy. Afterwards, he'd started noticing small things about her. She always wore sunglasses when she went shopping even though it was cloudy and she only went outside to exercise. Harry was slowly starting to believe that his stepmother was afraid of leaving the house.

Despite all this, both Dudley and he were looking forward to September. They'd be going off to secondary school and this time it was without Piers and all the other boys, which quite frankly suited Harry just fine. They were going to Stonewall High, the local comprehensive, and Harry knew that Aunt Petunia wasn't happy about it.

Uncle Vernon had been at Smeltings and she had cried when she realized she couldn't send Dudley there because of the price.

Hannibal wasn't too happy about the choice of school either. He'd gone on about private schools for a while and even gone as far as mentioning Eton, when Clarice had told him to shut up. Apparently they'd both gone to public schools and turned out just fine. Besides, the cousins should stay together, she'd said

One day in July, Aunt Petunia took both boys to London to buy their school uniforms. Harry found it rather depressing that they had to wear grey, but was surprised when he realized that his aunt was going to pay for it.

"It's your birthday gift, so don't mention it!"

Harry rarely felt happy when he was with his aunt, but the way her cheeks reddened when she'd told him it was a gift made him smile.

When he saw his aunt the next day though, she nearly jumped her skin. She was leaving the house for work and Harry was sitting on the grass in front of number two, waiting for Dudley to be let outside. It didn't happen though. As soon as his aunt saw him, she turned around, going into the house and yelled something. Harry couldn't make out what, but as she left the house, she locked the door.

That was weird…

As Aunt Petunia drove away, Harry got to his feet. The curtains were drawn next door but he saw something move inside. With a furrowed brow, Harry walked closer, standing on the front lawn of number four and watching as the kitchen window was pushed open. A leg came out and with a yelp, Dudley fell into the flowerbed.

"Good morning Dudley." Harry said with a smirk as Dudley wiped dirt off his face.

"Shut up Harry." He grumbled as he tried to clean his blonde hair.

"Are you going to tell me why you're trying to escape your own house?"

"Mum took my key. It's because of you, really."

"Oh…" Harry followed Dudley as the other boy walked towards number two. They sat down on the front step.

"Yep, I went to get the mail this morning and there was a letter for you."

"Really?" Harry arched an eyebrow. He never received any letters. "Well, where is it?"

"That's it. Mum tore it up and burned it." Dudley shook his head. "It was weird. She told I wasn't allowed to tell you… and now I did."

"She burned my letter?"

"That's illegal, you know." Came Clarice's voice from inside. "Move away from the door, I have to get outside."

Clarice hair was in a ponytail and Harry knew she was going for a run as they let her pass.

"What do you mean, it's illegal?"

"Kids are entitled to their mail. She shouldn't have done that."

"You were listening in?" Dudley's mouth was wide open.

"I always listen Duddykins." Clarice smirked at the bigger boy. "If another letter comes for Harry, you should hide it from your mum."

Of course, what they didn't know was that it would prove to be much more difficult than that.

When Dudley crawled out of the window the next day, he had a bruise over his knuckles and he told Harry that his mother had rapped him over his fingers with the broom to make him let go of a letter.

"There was another one." He said. "The weird thing is, it knows where you stay when you're home, I mean, home at our place."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's addressed to the floor in my bedroom…"

They made a plan that day, but as it would turn out, it didn't work. Dudley was supposed to get up early and get the post before Aunt Petunia, but as he told Harry the next day, she was already up. She had been really mad too and it didn't help her mood when three letters arrived that morning, addressed to one Mr. Harry Potter.

That was the last day, Harry saw Dudley that week.

When Friday arrived, Aunt Petunia stayed home. He'd woken up to hear her scream, and when he went downstairs, he found Hannibal looking out of the kitchen window at number four.

"What's all that noise?" Harry asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"I'm not sure…" Hannibal said, fixing his tie. "I think your aunt is boarding up her door from the inside…"

"She has finally lost it." Clarice said as she came into the kitchen with a cup of coffee. She glared at Hannibal, as if it was all his fault and he quickly picked up his bag and headed for the door.

On Saturday morning, Harry decided to get up early and receive the post from the mailman himself. It didn't turn out the way he had hoped. The mailman looked at him like he was crazy and said that he hadn't delivered any letters addressed to someone called Harry Potter at number four Privet Drive. Harry was seriously starting to think that Dudley had lied, and he glared at number four as the milkman made his delivery to Aunt Petunia through the living room window. She closed the window quickly as she noticed him looking.

It was Sunday though, that things got out of hand. Hannibal had the day off and the small family was having breakfast when they heard a weird noise coming from next door. Harry glanced up from his scrambled eggs and looked out of the window. He had never seen anything like it.

"What the…"

Clarice's eyes had gone wide and Hannibal put down the paper he was reading to see what all the fuzz was about. Harry dropped his fork as he took in the sight of number four Privet Drive.

Dozens and dozens of owls were scattered over the roof and the front lawn in the early morning light. They swooped to the chimney one after one and a whooshing sound could be heard. The Fells watched with astonishment as the front door was thrown open and Dudley and Aunt Petunia ran out, covering their heads. She locked the door behind her and ran for the car.

Then they drove off.

"What the…" Clarice muttered again.

"Owls…" Hannibal picked up his paper and started reading again as if nothing unusual had happened.

"Where are they going." Harry was looking between Clarice and Hannibal as if they should have the answer.

"I have no idea dear Harry." Hannibal said, turning a page.

"We should go and check out the house…" Clarice looked like she was just as curious as Harry. The owls were slowly leaving and it looked like the coast was clear.

"Get dressed then." Hannibal said as he sipped his coffee. "Don't break any windows please…"

Harry was in his clothes faster than Hannibal could say "Okey Dokey." And he ended up waiting ten minutes for Clarice to join him. By the time they were outside, the morning mist had lifted but it still looked like it might rain. They walked around the house to the backyard where no one could see what they were doing. Clarice told him to stay low as they glanced in the backdoor. There was nothing to see, but as they reached the window to the living room, that opinion changed. The floor was covered with letters. Harry got his first glimpse of the infamous letter that Dudley had been going on about and he frowned as he realized that he couldn't get to it.

"I wonder who it's from…" Clarice mumbled over his shoulder.

"How did they all get in there?" Harry could see a pattern in the letters, all leading to the fireplace, but somehow it seemed very implausible that they should have come through there…

"I…" Clarice halted before she said another word and held a finger up to his lips. She motioned for him to follow. They crept along the house wall and Clarice practically pushed him through the hedge to their house. Harry was rather confused at this and he watched her warily as she stood still, listening to something on the other side of the hedge. Then, he heard it.

"There ya go Fang, Sniff it, yeah, good boy!" A deep voice sounded from the backyard of number four and Harry looked up, to see a man so tall that his head reached the gutter attached to the roof. The man didn't see them as they pressed themselves against the hedge, but the dog whined as he passed them.

"Wha' is it Fang?" Another whine and some scratching. "No, I ain't got no biscuits, now, find Harry Potter, will ya?"

Harry looked at Clarice, fright evident in his eyes as his heart skipped a beat. Why would the man be looking for him? Clarice hugged him close as the man went back around to the front yard.

"Letters are there all right, don't see no nobody home tho, do ya Fang?" There was a loud pop and then… silence.

Clarice and Harry waited several seconds before they heard the kitchen window open and Hannibal stick his head out with the morning paper still in hand.

"He's gone now."

Clarice breathed out in relief, but Harry felt no such thing. Why was the giant looking for him? His stepmother stood up and took him by the arm, leading him inside to the kitchen.

"We could have used some backup out there…" She mumbled angrily as she sat down in front of her husband.

"I didn't see you in any trouble, besides, that man wouldn't want to hurt Harry."

"He wouldn't?" Harry asked, thinking of the big man's arms and how they easily could crush his chest plate.

"No, I've seen him before."

"Is he one of them?" Clarice asked. Harry didn't know what they were talking about and his eyes narrowed.

"He's the one on the motorbike."

"Who? What are you talking about?"

"Nothing Harry, eat some more breakfast." Hannibal said firmly as he put the paper aside.

"I don't want to eat more breakfast." Harry growled, pushing away his plate. "Who is he, and why is he sending me letters?"

"I do not know." Hannibal said articulately without showing any emotions. Harry pushed out his chair from the table and stood up as tall as he was, which quite frankly, wasn't very impressive.

"It was a lovely meal." He growled. "Now, please excuse me."

He knew that he wouldn't get in trouble for being angry, but if he didn't remember his manners… he didn't want to think about what might happen. He whirled around on his heels and left the room, hurrying up the stairs. They knew something and they wouldn't tell him! Who was that man and what was going on? Thoughts were filling up his head and he kicked the door to his bedroom shut behind him. He put his hands over his eyes as he felt the angry tears pressing. He wanted to know where Dudley had gone and it annoyed him to no end not knowing where he was. What if Aunt Petunia had taken him on vacation and not brought Harry? He had never been on a vacation after all… but then again, the hurried escape to the car this morning didn't sound very much like a vacation…

He dumped down on his bed and hid his head in his pillow.

Downstairs, Hannibal wasn't too happy either. Being told off by his wife was not one of his favorite activities and her tone was hurting his ears.

Somehow though, he was still able to hear the light knock on the front door.

Someone was outside, knocking to come in.

A/N:
Remember to review. Anything else would be rude. Don't want Hannibal coming after you, do we now?

Thanks to all those who've started following this story!

A short chapter, but we're keeping it in the style of the books and following it as close as possible :)

I hope you enjoyed it!

Firebolt