Everyone jumped at the loud bang from the kitchen. James, Arthur, Sirius and Remus and jumped to their feet and drew their wands, pointing them towards the kitchen. Everyone in the sitting room grew quiet and still, waiting to hear something. After a tense minute voices could be heard from the kitchen.
"Ouch Ron, that was my foot!" came a female voice.
"Sorry!" a male voice replied. "I thought it would be a smoother landing."
"At least we made it in one piece." A new female said brightly.
"Yeah that's a real comfort." Said a second male sarcastically.
"Shhh!" Came the first female again. "I think they can hear us."
There were the sounds of scuffling and several people getting up.
"What do you think Harry mate?" asked the second male. "Wands out just in case?"
"Yeah" replied the person who must have been Harry. "But just as a precaution. I don't really want to start duelling with anyone."
In the sitting room James, Arthur, Sirius and Remus looked at each other. Arthur edged forwards towards the kitchen with James, Sirius and Remus behind him. As they entered the kitchen a strange sight met their eyes. Four people stood in the kitchen with their wands out. They all looked in their late teens and they all were looking rather nervous.
The first female had rather bushy hair and a strange looking scar on her arm. She was rather tanned as if she had been somewhere hot recently. The second female had flaming red hair and was looking round the kitchen smiling slightly to herself as if remembering something. She looked younger than the other three people. Standing slightly in front of them was two young men. The first man was tall thin and had brilliant red hair and freckles. He was also looking around the kitchen happily. The second man standing their looked exactly like a younger version of James, except for his eyes which were green and a scar on his head which was shaped like a lightning bolt. The two groups faced each other for a moment before the younger group lowered their wands. After looking uncertainly at each other James and Arthur lowered their wands and after a second Remus and Sirius lowered theirs.
"Err hello." Said the girl with bushy hair stepping forward slowly. "My names Hermione Granger. This is Ron and Ginny Weasley" she pointed to the two redheads. "And this is Harry Potter." She pointed to the last man.
"James Potter." Said James. "And this is Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Arthur Weasley." Everyone nodded as their name was said.
"Don't worry, we know who you all are." Said Harry. "I guess you decided to read the books then."
"Yeah" said Arthur. "So far it's not going well though."
"Why is that?" asked Ginny.
"Well you didn't have the best start in life or the best upbringing did you?" James said looking at Harry.
"No I didn't" Harry replied. "But things do get better."
"Err shall we go in then?" asked Ron. "It will be good to start reading."
"Sure" said Arthur. "This way."
As they entered the sitting room Molly and Lily gasped. After introducing themselves to Molly, Lily and Dumbledore the new comers went and sat themselves down.
"So your my son all grown up." Said Molly looking at Ron.
"Err yeah" Ron replied.
"Are you a cousin or something dear?" She asked looking at Ginny.
"I'll explain later" said Ginny trying to stop herself laughing. "It may be a bit of a shock when you find out"
"Shall we read? We can catch up more over lunch" asked Remus who was waiting to get started.
"Of course. Sorry Remus. Hang on a second though" Said Arthur turning to the new comers. "Do we need to fill you in or are you aware of what's happened?"
"We know what's happened." Harry assured him. "Carry on when you're ready Remus."
"THE LETTERS FROM NO ONE" Remus read
The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.
"When is Dudley's birthday Harry?" asked Sirius.
"It's at the end of June." Said Harry confused. "Why?"
"So your telling me that you was locked in that cupboard for almost three weeks?!" Sirius growled angrily. Lily and James also looked furious about this now they realised what Sirius was on about.
"About that" said Harry shrugging. "It's in the past now. I'm not going back to live with them so I try not to think about what they was like."
Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. 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. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite sport: Harry Hunting.
"Harry Hunting?" snorted Ron. "Seems like nobody likes you mate."
"Well I like him." Said Ginny giving Harry a kiss on the cheek. Molly, Arthur, Lily and James all looked surprised by this but didn't say anything.
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. 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. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.
"Why would it be funny?" asked James. "Not that it matters because Harry would be off to Hogwarts anyway."
"Well some people think that if they go to private schools are better than people who go to public schools. But it doesn't make a difference what school you go to what matters is what you chose to do there." Said Hermione
"Oh" James replied looking more confused.
"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"
"He better not!" growled Lily angrily.
"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it—it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.
Everyone laughed and even Dumbledore gave a small chuckle.
"Thank god you have your mother's wit" said James "She would have said something like that."
Harry grinned. It was so wonderful to see his parents laughing and joking.
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. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.
"Speaking of cake, when's lunch?" asked Ron looking at Molly.
"Must you always think with your stomach Ron?" asked Hermione sighing.
"I don't always think with my stomach…" Ron started to argue back.
"How about I do lunch after this chapter?" Molly asked before anyone could start bickering.
"Sounds perfect." Ginny said.
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. 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.
"That's the most disgusting uniform I've ever heard of." Said Sirius looking ill.
"I think it sounds quite interesting." Smiled Dumbledore. "Perhaps we should change the Hogwarts uniforms to that."
Everyone laughed at the look on Sirius' face. "You've got to be joking!" He said loudly.
"Yes Mr. Black I am. However I feel it would make a good prank one day." Dumbledore replied with his eyes twinkling.
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, he looked so handsome and grown up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.
Everyone laughed at this.
"You didn't really crack your ribs did you?" asked Lily concerned.
"No I didn't." said Harry grinning. "But I ached for a few days."
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.
"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.
"Is she still like that?" asked Lily.
"I think so." Said Harry. I haven't seen her for more than a year."
"Your new school uniform," she said.
Harry looked in the bowl again.
"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."
Everyone started laughing again.
"Oh Harry." Said Ginny through her laughter. "Sometimes you can be so thick!"
"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."
Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. 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.
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 Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.
"What a horrid child" said Arthur.
"Dudley has gotten better now." Said Harry. And all it took was being attacked by Dementor's, he added silently.
They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.
"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.
"Make Harry get it."
"Get the mail, Harry."
"Make Dudley get it."
"Did you really think that would work?" asked Hermione.
"No but it was worth a try." Harry replied.
"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."
Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill and— a letter for Harry.
"Hogwarts." Sirius cheered happily. "It has to be them."
Everyone looked relieved that Harry would be getting out of the Dursley's. Only Remus noticed the look that the time travellers shared and it worried him.
Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him.
"WHAT!" cried James. From upstairs came the sound of crying.
"Oh dear that's the boys." Said Molly. "Shall we go get them Lily?"
Lily and Molly went upstairs to get the babies whilst James turned towards Sirius and Remus.
"So first off you didn't even look after my son when we were killed." He winced a bit as he said that remember that Lily died. "But then you don't even write to him! Sirius you're his godfather! And Remus you're just like an Uncle to Harry! WHERE ARE YOU TWO?"
Sirius and Remus both looked down ashamed. James was right, of course, Harry was family and they should have been there for him.
"Dad!" said Harry standing up and looking shocked. He never thought his dad would yell at his best friends. "Dad there is a perfectly good reason that Sirius and Remus are not in my life and they will be explained in the following books. But please, don't get mad at them until you know what happened."
James still looked angry but he nodded and Harry sat back down.
"He's right though" sighed Remus while Sirius nodded. "We should have been there for you. We should of looked after you."
"It wasn't your fault." Harry said firmly. "I don't want to hear any more about it until it comes up in the books."
After a moment Lily and Molly came back down carrying baby Harry and baby Ron.
"Aww." Cooed Ginny and Hermione, making both Harry and Ron go red.
"Ready to read?" asked Molly.
Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives—
James shot Sirius and Remus a dirty look but stopped when he saw Harry watching.
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
The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald green ink. There was no stamp.
"Stamp?" asked Arthur excitedly.
"I'll explain later." Hermione smiled at Arthur.
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.
"Woo! Hogwarts!" cheered Sirius.
"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.
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.
"No don't open it at the table!" cried Lily.
"Why not? Asked James looking confused.
"Because Petunia will recognise it and take it off of him!" Lily answered.
Harry smiled. Well she's almost right, he thought.
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."
"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"
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.
"Damn" muttered Sirius.
"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.
"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, 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. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the greyish white of old porridge.
"That sounds lovely" said Ginny sarcastically.
"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.
Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.
"Vernon! Oh my goodness—Vernon!"
"Wow they knew each other's names!" said Lily making everyone laugh.
They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.
"Someone really needs to teach that boy some manners" said Molly
"I know you said he was bad, but I didn't think he was that bad." Said Ron and Hermione and Ginny nodded in agreement.
"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.
"I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."
"He should be allowed it as it's his" James said.
"It's illegal for them to take his mail." Hermione added. "At least it is with Muggle mail."
"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.
Harry didn't move.
"Good on you Harry." James smiled.
"That's the Gryffindor sprit" said Sirius proudly.
"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.
"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.
"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.
"We really need to teach you how to fight." Said James looking at Harry.
"I don't think that's a good thing to teach our son, no matter what time he's from." Said Lily sternly.
"Yes Lily-flower." James smiled but when she looked away he winked at Harry.
"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?"
"Watching—spying—might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.
"You're not that important." Snorted Ginny.
"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want—"
Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.
"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…"
"I'm afraid that won't work." Said Dumbledore. "If we don't get a reply we keep writing."
"But—"
"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"
That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.
"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"
"Good Harry." Said Arthur. "Straight to the point."
"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."
"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."
"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.
"Er—yes, Harry—about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."
"HE WHAT!" everyone except the time travellers and Dumbledore yelled. Baby Harry and baby Ron started to cry and the noise.
"He has a spare bedroom and you still have to sleep in the cupboard!" James looked furious at this.
"I can't believe they would do that." Said Lily as she tried to calm baby Harry down.
"So that's why you don't like small spaces?" Ginny asked looking at Harry. Harry nodded and Ginny gave him a hug.
"Can we keep reading?" asked Harry after a minute.
"Why?" said Harry.
"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."
The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.
Everyone glared angrily at the book again.
It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbour's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite program had been cancelled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.
From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't want him in there… I need that room… make him get out…"
"Brat" muttered Remus before he continued reading.
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 than up here without it.
"More letters will be sent" assured Dumbledore.
Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.
When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive—'"
"Yeah get it Harry" cheered Sirius.
"He does know he's yelling at a book right?" Hermione whispered to Ron. Ron snorted with laughter and out the corner of her eye he saw Remus grin and remembered about his extra hearing.
With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.
"Damn!" Sirius growled.
"Go to your cupboard—I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley—go—just go."
Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.
"Oh no!" groaned Lily, Sirius and Remus.
"What? "Asked Harry
"If your plans are anything like your fathers this is going to go horrible wrong." Lily groaned.
The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.
He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door—
"That's a pretty good plan actually." Said Sirius impressed. "You must have your mother's brains."
"Oi!" cried James while Lily laughed.
"AAAAARRRGH!"
Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat—something alive!
"What the…" started Arthur but Remus kept reading.
Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.
Everyone roared with laughter. Baby Harry and baby Ron giggled with everyone else.
Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.
"I want—" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.
"Git" said Sirius.
Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.
"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."
"Like that would ever happen." Said Arthur smiling.
"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."
"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.
"I'm rather glad my mind doesn't work like them." Said Molly. "They don't sound like very nice people."
On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.
Uncle Vernon stayed at 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. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.
"Goodie he's frightened." Grinned Sirius.
On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty four letters to Harry found their way into the house, 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. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.
"This is brilliant." Said Ginny.
"Yeah" agreed Ron "Why did you never tell us this Harry? It's hilarious."
"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.
"Everyone" said Ginny and Ron together.
"Really?" asked James in surprise.
"Well yeah" said Ginny. "When we were growing up Harry was the most famous person in the wizarding world. Everyone wanted to talk to him."
"He still is the most famous person in the wizarding world." Said Ron.
"Yeah but now you lot are famous with me." Harry grinned.
"Why are you famous?" asked Molly looking at her future son.
"You'll see." Said Hermione. "We don't want to tell you things before they happen."
On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.
"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today—"
"Wizards get post everyday" Lily said smiling.
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—
"Yeah catch one Harry!" cheered James and Sirius.
"Out! OUT!"
Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. 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 off the walls and floor.
"Wow" whistled Ron. "That's a lot of letters."
"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"
He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue.
"Dangerous?" asked Sirius "I thought he would look more amusing then dangerous."
"He did actually look rather mad like it." Said Harry.
Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. 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, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.
"So they do know how to treat that brat when his misbehaves." Muttered Arthur.
"He may be a brat but no child should be hit by their parents." Said Molly looking concerned.
They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.
"Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.
"My god." Lily said looking at Harry. "You really did drive him mad."
"Only a little bit," Harry grinned.
They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.
"So he finally knew how you felt." Said Hermione smirking.
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 windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…
"You really should sleep better." Said Molly
Harry shuddered. He'd been having trouble for the past 7 months. Ever since the war ended he kept dreaming about it and the people who died. Ron and Hermione also looked down. They had bad dreams about the war too but they weren't as bad as Harrys. Ginny took Harrys hand and gave it a small comforting squeeze which he returned.
"What's wrong?" asked Lily.
"We will explain later." Replied Ginny. "Let's keep reading for now."
They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. 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."
She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:
Mr. H. Potter
Room 17
Railview Hotel
Cokeworth
Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.
"I think most people would" said Dumbledore.
"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.
"Git." Muttered Sirius again.
"How much is left of this chapter?" asked Molly. "The children need feeding soon."
"Only a few pages, Molly. I'll read through it quickly." Replied Remus.
"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, 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 multilevel parking garage.
"What was he looking for?" asked Hermione bewildered.
"I'm not too sure." Harry shrugged. "I guess he was looking for a place wizards couldn't get to."
"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia 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. "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 the week, because of television—then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.
"Oh that's wonderful!" exclaimed Lily looking happy.
"Yeah but isn't the date that the Hogwarts letter has to be returned by the same as Harry's birthday?" asked James.
"Oh. I forgot that. You must have cut it pretty fine young man." She said glancing at Harry.
"Sorry mum." Harry grinned back. Lily smiled. Harry looks so much like James when he smiles, she thought.
"So how did you manage to finally get a letter?" asked Arthur.
"Wait and see." Harry smirked.
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. Still, you weren't eleven every day.
"They didn't even give you presents?!" Lily and James said. They looked at each other feeling bad. They couldn't help that Voldemort had killed them but they felt like they had let their son down.
"It's ok mum, dad" said Harry looking at their sad faces. "Once I get to Hogwarts and that I start getting some of the best presents ever." He smiled to himself thinking of the invisibility cloak, marauder's map and the photo album he had got.
Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.
"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"
It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.
"Yeah sounds like a perfect place." Said James sarcastically. "We should get a summer house there Lily." Lily playfully smacked his arm whilst Sirius and Remus laughed.
"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 rowboat bobbing in the iron grey water below them.
"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.
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.
"How did you all have a place to sleep if it was that small?" Asked Hermione.
"You'll see" Harry said remember that wondrous night.
Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of crisps each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty crisp bags just smoked and shrivelled up.
There was a loud growling in the room. Everyone looked around at Ron who had gone red.
"I'm hungry all right?" he said defensively.
"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.
He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.
"Never underestimate wizards" said Arthur.
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. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth eaten sofa. 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 to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.
There was growling again in the room but this time it was from Sirius and Remus who was looking murderous.
The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. 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.
"Who does write the Hogwarts letter professor?" asked Molly.
"We have a special pen that does it. Replied Dumbledore smiling.
Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. 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.
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?
One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine—maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him—three… two… one…
"BOOM!" cried Sirius, James and Remus at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.
"Nice to know we all still think the same. Eh, Moony?" laughed James.
"I wish I could say we did" said Remus, "But I was just reading from the book."
"What do you mean?" asked Sirius.
"Well the next work in the book is just that. It says BOOM." Remus explained.
James and Sirius looked at each other and then started laughing again.
"Keep reading Remus." Said Lily. "Otherwise these two will go on all day."
BOOM.
The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.
"That's it" sighed Remus.
"Awesome." Said Ginny. "It sounds so much cooler then when you described it."
"Yeah" agreed Hermione. "You just said Hagrid knocked on the door and all that."
"Excuse me" said Molly standing up and giving baby Ron to Arthur. "But I must get lunch done." She hurried off to the kitchen leaving everyone alone in the living room.