Chapter 2: Anonymous Letters

It was the start of the summer holidays when Cassia was allowed out of the shed and 'moved' back in the house. Harry was finally allowed outside of the cupboard as well. She and Harry discovered that Dudley broke his new cine-camera, crashed his remote-control aeroplane, and knocked down Mrs Figg one his racing bike, when Mrs Figg crossed Privet Drive.

Cassia was kind of sad that school ended, despite having no friends, getting teased over her second-hand clothes, and being called 'Cassia Potter, Queen of Toilets,' because Piers and Dennis was trying to force her head in a toilet at school, which resulted in all of the toilets exploding. She got in trouble with both the headmistress and Dursleys for destruction of school property.

She had gotten in minor trouble because she had impressed the teachers with her dedication to getting good marks and made her teacher happy that she was trying so hard to get good marks. She was usually in the library studying, a place that Dudley and his gang would never dare to go into. She really wanted to go to university that was far away from the Dursleys. She wanted to see the world.

However, at home, there was no escaping Dudley's gang, that was made up of: Dudley, who was the leader; Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon. It seemed liked every single day, they showed up. To make it worse, they engaged in their favourite hobby: Potter Hunting.

They always split up, getting chased by either three members or two, while the rest chased after the other. Dudley and his gang was to thick to realize that they usually hid and then circled back to hide out in the cupboard under the stairs.

A good thing was that she and Harry were going to a secondary school called Stonewall High, while Dudley and Piers were going to Smeltings, which was Uncle Vernon's old school. Dudley thought it was funny.

"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," Dudley had told them. "Want to come upstairs and practise?"

"I don't know, Dudley," Cassia had replied, before she could even stop herself. "You may not be able to bend that far down."

"Yeah," Harry had cut in, "the poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your down it – it might be sick." They proceeded to run in different directions before Dudley can figure out what they had meant and chased after them.

One evening in July, Dudley paraded around the living-room in orange knickerbockers and flat straw hats that was called boaters. Dudley was posing as Aunt Petunia took pictures and cooed over him. Uncle Vernon said that it was the proudest moment of his life and then gave the Potter twins a disgusted look.

Dudley was also carrying a knobbly stick that was used for hitting each other, which was supposed to be for good training in later life. Cassia wasn't entirely sure how getting hit with a stick was supposed to be considered 'good training' for later life.

Aunt Petunia then burst in tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, because he looked so grown-up and handsome.

Cassia was trying so hard not to laugh at the sight and excused herself to get the Dursleys some tea.

The next morning, Cassia woke up to a horrible smell that was coming from the kitchen. She groaned at the terrible awakening and lay there on her cot, trying and failing to go back to sleep. She kept her eyes closed and after a few minutes, heard some thumping from the stairs.

"Get up, girl!" Uncle Vernon snapped gruffly.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Cassia replied.

"Dudley," Uncle Vernon said.

"Get up, Potter!" Dudley shouted and then the cot was tipping to the side and out spilled Cassia. She hit the ground and the cot was flipped over, right on top of her. She groaned.

Dudley laughed and ran into the kitchen. She got up and folded up the cot. She folded the thin blanket and there was the sound of the mail flopping onto the doormat.

She grabbed the mail and noticed two envelopes were thick and heavy. The two envelopes looked like they were made of yellowish parchment. She looked at one envelope, in emerald green ink, it said:

Mr H. Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey

She set it down and looked at the second envelope, which had the same emerald green ink, which said:

Miss C. Potter

The Living Room

4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey

She wondered who would write to them. Who knew where they slept? She looked around the house, as if trying to find a hidden video camera or tiny microphone.

"Hurry up with that mail, girl!" Uncle Vernon ordered. "Are you checking for letter-bombs?"

"Coming, Uncle Vernon," Cassia said, grabbing her things, folded the cot and tossed the items in the cupboard, before she went in the kitchen. She dropped the bill and postcard in front her uncle, and sat down next to Harry, handing him his envelope. It was a mistake, because Dudley smacked her in the knee with his Smeltings stick and she pulled her feet on the chair.

Cassia examined her envelope, turning it around to see a purple wax seal that had a coat of arms, which had a lion, eagle, badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'. Cassia thought, This is the strangest and only thing I ever got in the post.

"Dad! Dad! They got something!" Dudley shouted.

A few seconds later, Cassia heard Harry shout, "That's mine!"

Harry tried to argue with Uncle Vernon and Cassia went under the table, desperately trying to pop the wax seal.

Uncle Vernon yelled for Aunt Petunia.

Cassia managed to pop the wax seal. She pulled out a letter which felt like it was made out of parchment. She unfolded it and managed to read: Hogwarts School, when two meaty hands grabbed the back of her shirt. She crawled forward, and two bony arms grabbed at her upper arms and she was hauled from underneath the table. Her letter was ripped out of her hands.

Cassia exclaimed, "Please let me have it! It's mine!" She was held back as she struggled forward to get her letter from her uncle.

"Release my sister!" Harry demanded.

"Please let me go! It's my letter!" Cassia shouted.

Dudley tried to grab one letter, but Uncle Vernon held the letters high out of Dudley's reach.

"I want to read that letter!" Dudley shouted.

"We want to read our letters as it's ours!" shouted Harry.

"Get out," croaked Uncle Vernon, "the three of you." He was stuffing the letter back in its envelope.

"Give us our letters!" Cassia shouted, feeling herself about to snap at the frustration of not getting what was supposed to be theirs.

"Let me read them!" demanded Dudley.

"Out!" bellowed Uncle Vernon. He hauled both boys out of the kitchen by the scruffs of their necks. Aunt Petunia shoved Cassia in the backyard, ordering her to entertain herself by pulling weeds out of the garden. The backdoor slammed shut and she heard the click of the lock.

Cassia was locked out. She knew that it was rude to eavesdrop, but she wanted to know what had caused the commotion and what was in those letters. She crouched down and pressed her ear to the door.

It was Aunt Petunia who was speaking, "Look at the addresses – how could they possibly know where they sleep? You don't think they're watching the house?"

"Watching – spying – might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon.

"But what should we do, Vernon?" Aunt Petunia asked. "Should we write back? Tell them we don't want—"

"No," replied Uncle Vernon. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer…yes, that's best…we won't do anything…"

Petunia started, "But—"

"I'm not having two of them in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took them in, we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?" Uncle Vernon demanded.

There was a silence.

Cassia hurried over to the garden and started looking for weeds, so it would look like she was busy. She wondered what type of school was Hogwarts. Did she get some sort of scholarship from Hogwarts? She wondered why Harry was invited. She was the one with the great marks, but she didn't pick out any schools. Maybe a teacher picked a school for her? What kind of school name was Hogwarts anyway?

Harry and Cassia spent all day together in the cupboard, discussing what happened in the morning and what they both overheard.

It was evening when there was a knock on the cupboard.

"It's unlocked," Cassia said and Uncle Vernon had to squeeze himself through the door.

It was even more cramped with three people inside.

"Where's our letters?" demanded Harry, "who's writing to us?"

"No one," replied Uncle Vernon. "It was addressed to you by mistake. I've burned them."

"You did what?" asked Cassia flatly.

"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily. "It had my cupboard on it."

"It had the living room on it," Cassia added.

"Silence!" shouted Uncle Vernon. A couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. Cassia shuddered as some landed on her. Uncle Vernon forced a smile, which look painful. "Er – yes, Harry, Cassia – about the cupboard and living room…your aunt and I've been thinking…Harry, you're really getting a bit big for it…and Cassia, you need some space besides the living room and the shed. We think that it might be nice if you both moved into Dudley's second bedroom."

"What?" Cassia asked flatly again.

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Don't ask questions!" snapped Uncle Vernon. "Take your stuff upstairs." He added, "Now."

Cassia grabbed the bin bags, her blanket, pillow, and the tatty messenger bag she had since she was four.

It took one trip upstairs for the both of them. The Dursley household had four bedrooms; one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, two for Dudley, and one room that was reserved for guests, which was just for Aunt Marge. Dudley's second bedroom basically was a storage room.

There was a black metal framed bunk bed, which looked like it could turn into two separate beds right in the corner, with a removable ladder. The Potter twins ran for the bunk bed.

Cassia got to the bed first. She tossed her things up on the top bunk and climbed the removable ladder. She laughed at Harry, who looked frustrated. Harry glared up at her, took the ladder and put it against the wall.

"Hey!" Cassia said, "Come on. Why did you move the ladder?" She moved so she can put her legs through the space where the ladder was.

Harry grinned, "Because I want you stuck up there." He laughed.

Cassia looked at the room. The month-old cine-camera was lying on top of a small, working tanks that Dudley had ran over the next door neighbour's dog. In one corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, with a hole in the screen because Dudley put his foot through it when his favourite programme had been canceled. There was a large bird-cage that once had a parrot that Dudley had gotten, but he swapped it for a real air-rifle. The air-rifle was on top of a shelf with the end bent, because Dudley sat on it. The other shelves held unread books.

"Hey, if you listen, you can hear Dudley sobbing," said Harry.

Cassia listened and sure enough, Dudley was crying over the room switch. She sighed, "do you think the letter writer might write back?"

"Maybe," said Harry.

Cassia dropped the bag over the edge and laid down the mattress. "It's kind of odd having a bed."

"I know," said Harry.

"It's a lot roomier," said Cassia, moving around. "It will be nice not having Dudley tip me over."

"You let him get away with that," Harry accused.

"Well, it's either let him get away with it, or have him pull my hair, pinch me, chase after me…or get punished by Aunt Petunia," Cassia replied, shrugging. "Trust me; there'll be a time when I will fight back. I just don't know when, yet."

"Probably never," Harry responded.

Cassia would've smacked him if she could reach him.

Over the next few days, everything was chaotic, because number four was getting bombarded by letters. The mysterious writer knew about the bedroom change, too.

One time, Cassia had came up with an idea on Harry distracting the Dursleys while Cassia snuck out a letter, but Cassia tripped over Dudley, who had grabbed the letter from her. He had made a strange squealing sound of delight, which alerted Uncle Vernon, who promptly snatched the letter from him.

Harry had tried sneaking down the stairs to get to the post before their aunt or uncle could, but he had stepped on Uncle Vernon's face, who apparently had the same idea.

It was Sunday, when everything seemed to change.

They were sitting down at the breakfast table. Cassia was busy spooning her porridge as she looked at Harry, almost frustrated. She wasn't sure why her relatives were acting like this over something that came from a school. She wasn't sure why they seemed almost fearful over it.

Uncle Vernon looked happy, "Today's a good day. Do you know why Duddy?"

"There's no post on Sundays?" asked Dudley.

"That's right," said Uncle Vernon. "No post on Sundays. No damn letters today—"

Something caught him on the back of the head. A cascade of letters came pelting out of the chimney. Cassia and Harry looked at each other.

This was their chance. Harry leapt in the air, trying to make it obvious as can be and Cassia snagged one off the floor, because the Dursleys had ducked. Cassia ran to the backdoor, trying to turn it open, but the door was locked. She managed to open it and ran outside, planning on hiding behind the shed, but Aunt Petunia was surprisingly fast.

The Potter girl kicked and elbowed, trying to get Aunt Petunia to release her. She shouted, "No, it's mine!" She wiggled, trying to get out, but her aunt had a surprisingly strong grasp, because she was hauled inside and through the kitchen door, where letters were still shooting out.

She was thrown into the hallway, where the letter was ripped out of her hands by Vernon, who ripped it in halves, 'til nothing seemed left.

"That does it!" shouted Vernon. "I want you all back here in five minutes, ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"

Cassia and Harry made their way upstairs.

"So close," Cassia muttered. "I think heading to the backyard was my downfall. I should've gone through the front door." She put a change of clothes and a book in her messenger bag.

"Well, I don't blame you," Harry said, packing a change of clothes, too.

"Thanks," Cassia said, shouldering her bag. "Maybe whenever we get back, the house will be so full of letters, we might be able to take some."

Five minutes later, they were downstairs and it looked like Dudley had tried to pack his television, video recorder, and computer in his sports bag. Vernon hit him round the head for it and Dudley had to put them back.

Five minutes later, they were in the car, speeding towards the motorway. They just kept driving. Every now and then, Uncle Vernon would make a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. Every time Uncle Vernon did that, he would mutter, "Shake 'em off…shake 'em off."

Cassia would look out the window to see who was following them, but she didn't see the same car twice or three times.

"Who wants to write to you two this badly?" Dudley wondered.

Cassia shrugged. She didn't know either.

They had stayed in a grubby motel room, where four more letters arrived, two each for Harry and Cassia. It was late afternoon the next day, when they had parked at the coast.

Uncle Vernon had locked them inside the car and walked away. Great drops of water started hitting the car.

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked in a dull voice. "It's Monday."

Cassia tried tuning out her cousin. It was Monday, then the next day would be Tuesday…which meant that it was hers and Harry's birthday. Of course, their birthday wasn't celebrated like Dudley's. No, Uncle Vernon had once given her a cotton swab and a mug with no bottom, and got Harry a coat hanger and Uncle Vernon's used pair of socks.

Cassia sighed and then Uncle Vernon was back, but he was smiling and carrying a long, thin package.

"What did you buy?" asked Aunt Petunia.

"Found the perfect place!" Uncle Vernon responded ignoring his wife. He was grinning widely, "Come on! Everyone out!"

It was very cold outside the car. Cassia was glad she put on a long-sleeved shirt, a black jacket and jeans. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out to sea. Perched on top of the rock was a miserable little shack. It looked like it could be blown over with a strong gust of wind, or get knocked down by a wave.

"Oh, no," Cassia muttered.

"Storm forecast for tonight!" declared Uncle Vernon, gleefully. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"

"Boat?" asked Cassia.

A toothless old man came up to them and pointed at an old row boat that was bobbing in the iron-grey water.

"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"

It was freezing in the boat, so the Potters huddled close together to stay warm. Icy sea spray and rain down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. That was when Cassia's allergies started up. It was always during the cold when her allergies acted up and her nose started dripping.

She could already taste the nasty oil that Aunt Petunia always made her swallow, which made her nose run even more. She didn't have any tissue or a handkerchief to use, so she wiped her nose on her jacket sleeve. It'll be washed later. Aunt Petunia looked disgusted.

Harry patted her on her back.

They finally reached the rock where Uncle Vernon led the way to the shack. They slipped and slid on the rock as they made their way to the shack.

"Do you think that's going to last the whole night?" Cassia asked Harry

Harry shrugged. There were gaps in the wooden wall and Cassia hoped that they wouldn't get rained on.

The inside was horrible, it smelt like seaweed and the wind was whistling through the gaps. There was a fireplace and Cassia went to it. She looked in it, but it was damp and empty. She looked around the shack to see two rooms. Uncle Vernon handed out the rations, which was a packet of crisps and one banana each.

After eating the 'rations,' Uncle Vernon tried to start a fire but the crisp packets just smoked and shriveled up. In a cheerful tone, he said, "Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" He was in a good mood.

Cassia and Harry looked at each other. The good mood was a little suspicious. Cassia figured that it was because nobody stood a chance of reaching them in the shack during a storm just to deliver post. It hurt for her to agree with Uncle Vernon's line of thinking.

As night fell, the storm waged on. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and the wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed in the next room and the Potter twins were left to find a spot on the floor, with two thin blankets.

Cassia already missed her bunk of the bunk bed. Hell, she even missed the cot, because at least it was something to sleep on. She was looking for a spot by the fireplace and wiping her dripping nose on her jacket sleeve.

"Hey, Cassy, over here," Harry said.

Cassia walked over and Harry directed her to a spot away from Dudley, who would most likely kick her in the morning when it was time to wake up. Harry took a spot between Dudley and Cassia. Cassia took off her jacket and handed it to Harry, "Here, this would at least provide some warmth. I have long-sleeves on." She put her messenger bag down and rested her head on it.

"You wiped your snot on it," Harry said.

"Okay, then," Cassia said. "Freeze to death. You know that I'm a blanket hog."

Harry debated it and took the jacket, trying to ignore how his sister wiped her snot on it, but he put it on, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Cassia said. The storm seemed to pick up as the night went on. "I hope that the shack won't come down on top of us."

"Or get swept out to sea," Harry said.

Cassia shuddered, "Don't get me paranoid."

"Too late?" asked Harry.

Cassia lightly punched him on the shoulder, "shut up. Go to sleep."

"How can I when you're talking," Harry joked.

Cassia huffed and rolled over so her back was facing her brother. "Go to sleep."

"I'm trying," Harry said.

Cassia rolled her eyes and closed her eyes.

Cassia was shaken awake. She flailed, snorted, and inhaled a glob of snot. She started coughing and Harry smacked her back a few times. Cassia managed to get her bearings, "Huh?"

Harry said, "I made us a cake." He motioned to the picture of a birthday cake in the sand. He had put eleven candles on it. In the middle he wrote:

Happy Birthday
Cassy + Harry!

Cassia couldn't help but smile. People usually refer to them as Harry and Cassia, but Harry liked to put her first. Cassia usually put Harry first, when she referred to him and her.

Lightning and thunder was waging on. She was usually a fan of those types of storms, but right now, she wasn't, because she wasn't sure if the shack was going to cave in.

It sounded like rock hit the water.

Harry looked at the door.

"The rock hit the water. It slipped, that's what usually happens when it's wet," Cassia said.

"Thanks, Cassy," Harry said sarcastically. "I couldn't have figured it out without you."

"That's what I'm here for," said Cassia smiling. Dudley's watch beeped at twelve, "Happy birthday, Harry."

"Happy birthday, Cassy," Harry said.

"Shall we blow out the candles, together?" asked Cassia.

"Together," said Harry.

"Together, as always," said Cassia. She looked at the cake and closed her eyes. I wish I can leave Number 4 Privet Drive, she thought. The Potter twins started blowing on the sand.

When the cake was erased, they smiled at each other and then:

BOOM!

The whole seemed to shiver and Cassia almost ducked and covered. It was the perfect eleventh birthday present: a shack caving in on them.

BOOM!

"Is the shack going to cave in on us?" Cassia asked grabbing Harry's arm.

Dudley jerked awake and asked, "Where's the cannon?"

There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room, holding a rifle. "Who's there? I warn you – I'm armed!"

Cassia doubted that her uncle knew how to work a gun.

SMASH!

The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and landed with a crash on the floor.

A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair, and a wild, tangled beard. Cassia could make out black, glinting eyes under the hair.