Welcome back my lovely Potterheads!

So, as mentioned in the previous notes this fic will be more book-canon oriented than movie, but I will be blending certain parts together. Since I'm following the books, this second chapters matches the third of The Philosopher's Stone. We've got a lot of Harry and Susanna moments. I'm really having a blast with their relationship, especially in figuring out how Harry's story changes with a "good Dursley" in the mix. Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley act as they do canonically, but at least he's no longer alone. It's also fun writing an OC who wasn't just "the only nice Dursley" to him from the very beginning of their relationship - I figured that her behavior towards him would have initially been learned from her parents, as Dudley's is, until she was put in a situation where she had to confront what she'd been taught and begin to change.

As I mentioned before I got all sappy, this chapter is based on the third from the book. As I'm a stickler for details, I looked up the calendar for 1991 and saw that the dates JK Rowling's were a little off. So, the first letters arrive on Tuesday the 23rd. As for Harry's birthday, the 31st was on Wednesday that year, not Tuesday as was written in the book. I know it doesn't actually matter, but it became a pet peeve of mine when I figured out the dates weren't correct.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. As always, I only own my OCs.


Harry's punishment for the zoo incident lasted a week into the summer holidays. While the Dursleys let him go to school - too many questions would have been asked if they hadn't - it was back to the cupboard as soon as the children returned home. Susanna had managed to sneak him food from her plate, but it was never enough. She knew it was never enough.

In that time, Dudley had managed to break most of his birthday presents and run over Mrs. Figgs with his new bike, while she'd been walking to her house on crutches. Petunia had "accidentally" ruined the dress aunt Marge sent Susanna, and the girl was sure it'd been made into horrid little kitchen rags.

With school out, it only meant Dudley and his stupid gang had overrun the house. Harry was their target, while Malcolm and Dennis both tried to charm Dudley's younger twin. Susanna had two forms of escape: ballet class and running around the neighborhood with Harry.

She had to wait until the end of Harry's punishment to tell him what she'd overheard. She couldn't at school, what with her twin following them around on Vernons orders. Then they'd both been far too busy trying to enjoy what remained of their holiday for her to bring it up. One bright July day, they managed to make a quick escape to the neighborhood park, and Susanna felt it was time to bring up what she'd overheard. Neither one had any clue about a letter, nor had they heard her parents discussing it since.

"You know, they could've just been talking about a school thing." Harry offered as he climbed up the trunk of the tree, following after her. Susanna pursed her lips and sat on a thick branch, straddling it so her legs swung.

"But Harry, it was important enough that they mentioned your mum. They never talk about your parents." Her cousin looked down at his hands. "I'm sorry. I wish they would."

"Me too. But you know what your parents would say."

"Mhmm. 'Don't ask questions!'" Susanna gruffed out, her voice deep as she impersonated Vernon. Harry snorted. "Bloody ridiculous." Harry hummed and they watched the little kids play with their parents. "Your birthday's coming up."

"That does happen, once a year." Harry yelped as Susanna slapped his arm.

"I wanted to ask what you wanted. I have some chore money saved up that Dudley hasn't sniffed out. I could stop at a shop when I go to ballet."

"Unless it's a ticket out of here, surprise me." He shrugged.

"I'll get one for the both of us." They grinned at each other and shook hands, completely at peace. "At least mum didn't shove us on Mrs. Figgs's doorstep." Petunia had taken her precious Dudders to London, so they could buy his school uniform. He'd be attending Smeltings Academy in September, Vernon's alma mater. Come September, she and Harry would be attending Stonewall High, the local state school. Dudley had told them both about the hazing, but Susanna thought nothing could be worse than having to go to the same secondary school as her twin and Piers.

They returned to Number 4 when the sun had set and found Dudley proudly strutting around in his new uniform. It consisted of maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats. He also waved around a knobbly stick - in class, the boys would poke each other when the teacher's weren't looking. Her father said something about that particular action being good training for later in life. Harry and Susanna did their best to eat what little dinner they were given. It was hard, though, with how much they were laughing. Susanna nearly choked on a piece of broccoli before she gave up and excused herself for the evening.

As she crossed from the dresser to her bed, she swore she saw something fly past her window. She peeked out into the dark night, but all she saw were houses with the lights turned on. Susanna sighed and crawled under her covers, dreaming she and Harry were finally free.


On Tuesday the 23rd, Susanna stumbled into the kitchen while covering her nose in an attempt to block out the heavy scent of rotten eggs. She bumped into Harry and the two sleepily entered the kitchen. Her mom stood over a metal tub of gray water, stirring occasionally and grimacing at the smell.

"What's this?" Harry asked, breaking the "don't ask questions" rule. Petunia glared at him.

"Your new school uniform."

"I didn't realize it had to be so wet." Harry muttered, still looking down at the tub. Her mother frowned, then snapped at her nephew.

"Don't be stupid. I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished." Susanna must've made a noise, because Petunia focused on her immediately. She swore her mother's eyes softened just a touch. "Yours is on the counter, Susan. I picked it up from the secondhand shop yesterday." At that moment, Susanna had never been happier that she was a girl. Dudley had no old skirts to dye and pass-down.

"Those'll fit me like bits of old elephant skin." Harry whispered in her ear as they got breakfast ready. Dudley and Vernon came in just as they were setting the table. Their noses wrinkled at the stench coming from the kitchen sink. It wasn't enough to diminish their appetites, and both males sat at the kitchen table digging into their large plates of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausages. Vernon opened his newspaper while Dudley banged his Smelting stick on the table.

There was a click from the mail slot, and they could hear the flop of letters on the doormat.

"Get the mail, Dudley." Vernon ordered, watching his daughter fix his coffee.

"Make Harry get it." The boy griped.

Vernon nodded, taking a sip from his cup and waving Susanna off. "Get the mail, Harry."

"Make Dudley get it." Her cousin responded.

"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley." Susanna glared at her twin as he tried to smack Harry with the knobbly stick, wishing she could douse him in hot coffee.

Still, Harry managed to dodge it. That didn't stop Susanna from setting down the pot of brown liquid and walking behind her brother to slap him up the head. He yelped and tried to smack at her, but she'd always been quicker. Susanna caught the stick mid-hit, ignoring the sharp pain in the palm of her hand.

"Leave your brother alone, Susan." Petunia ordered.

"Yes, mum."

"Hurry up, boy!" Her father shouted. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He laughed to himself. Susanna rolled her eyes and picked the coffee pot back up, returning it to its resting place. Harry returned moments later, and Susanna watched in confusion as he handed her father his mail without looking at him, the boy's eyes on two yellowed envelopes. She quietly walked over to him, and he glanced up at her.

"Suze. They're letters."

Worried he'd suddenly been knocked over the head, the girl nodded and spoke slowly. "I can see that."

"You got one, too."

Still confused, Susanna looked down at her envelope.

Ms. S. Dursley

Vernon's Old Home Office

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

Susanna's hands shook as she turned the envelope over, eyes glued to the burgundy wax seal on the back. The coat of arms consisted of a lion, an eagle, a snake, and a badger surrounding a large H. Her mind racing with confusion and her chest tight with apprehension, Susanna began to rip at the seal -

"Dad! Dad, Harry and Susanna got something!" Her twin shrieked. Dudley jerked the envelope from her grasp, then their cousin's, and passed both with a smirk to a bemused Vernon.

"Those are ours!" Harry yelled, but Vernon only sneered.

"Who'd be writing to you?" Her father ripped the crests, shaking the two letters out from their envelopes. He glanced at where they rested on the table, and his face got paler, and paler, until only a hint of green brought some color to his usually red face. "P-P-Petunia!" Her father gasped.

While Dudley tried to reach over to grab the letters, his mother gently pushed him out of the way. Vernon handed his wife one, and the woman choked on her saliva. "Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!" Susanna shrank back when her mother's pale eyes focused on her. She then looked back at her husband, the three children ignored.

Dudley wasn't used to such treatment, so he hit the top of his father's head with his Smelting stick. "I want to read the letters." He huffed loudly.

Harry and Susanna stared furiously at him at the same time. "Hang on, those are ours. We want to read them." She shot at him. "You didn't get one. Back off."

While Dudley tried to smack his sister with the stick and she dodged his attacks, Vernon was busy shoving the letters back in their envelopes. "Get out, all three of you." He ordered.

Harry stood his ground, his cousin still busy fighting off her twin's attacks. "WE WANT OUR LETTERS!" He shouted at his uncle, the loudest he'd ever been to the large man.

"Let me see it!" Dudley had succeeded in smacking Susanna on the arm, and a large bruise was forming on her bicep. She rubbed it and glared.

"OUT!" Vernon roared, and he stood up quicker than Susanna had ever seen. Her mother steered her towards the hallway while her father took Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them out of the kitchen. He slammed the kitchen door behind them.

The two boys fought over who would listen in through the keyhole. Their silent battle was so distracting that they missed Susanna rolling her eyes and simply walking around them, crouched down to listen. She tugged Harry by his wrist and pulled her cousin next to her so they could listen together. Dudley stomped his foot but resolved to press his ear to the door instead, standing next to Susanna.

Her mother was talking, Petunia's voice quivering with fear. "Vernon, look at the addresses - how could they possibly know where they sleep! You don't think they're watching the house, do you?"

"Watching - spying - might be following us." Her father muttered wildly.

"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want -"

"No." Judging from the heavy footsteps, Susanna reasoned her father was pacing. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… yes, that's best… we won't do anything."

"But -"

"I'm not having two of them in the house, Petunia!" Her father interrupted his wife again. "Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense! Now our daughter's just like him! I will not stand for it! My own daughter, just like the Potters!" Susanna felt Dudley's eyes on her back, but she simply straightened and walked away, pulling Harry behind her.

Susanna had spent the rest of the morning in her room. For once, it wasn't enforced, but rather her choice. She simply lay on her bed, rolled over on her stomach as she sketched a messy tree into an old drawing book. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she never heard the heavy footsteps coming up the stairs, followed by much lighter ones. A knock on the door did jolt her, though, and she sighed frustratedly at the wayward branch.

"Come in!" She answered, sitting up and closing her sketchpad.

Her father swung the door open and he shoved Harry in before shutting the door. "Sit on the bed, both of you." Harry nodded and did as instructed, clearly just as confused as his cousin. Vernon began to pace, seemingly searching for what to say.

"Where's our letters?" Harry finally asked, breaking the "Don't Ask Questions" rule again. "Who's writing to us?"

"No one. It was addressed to you both by mistake. I burned them." Vernon quietly responded, briefly glancing at the door as if someone were standing behind it.

"Isn't it illegal to destroy mail that isn't your own?" Susanna asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Her father glared at her, but she didn't back down.

"It wasn't a mistake. It had my cupboard and her room on it!" Harry argued.

"SILENCE!" Her father screamed, and the walls around them seemed to shake. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. When the large man smiled, his daughter shivered in fear. That look was never a good sign, at least not when directed at either kid. "Er - yes, Harry - about your cupboard. You're aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it. And Susanna, it was perhaps premature of us to give you such a small space, especially as you're getting older, not younger!" He joked, but neither one laughed. "So, Petunia and I have decided to move the two of you to Dudley's second bedroom."

Susanna blinked. Dudley's second bedroom was her original one, before the incident with the television. Her twin used it to store all of his unused and broken toys, but her bed was still there so he'd be able to sleep in it if he'd played for too long. Susanna had been given her dad's old home office, until Vernon moved it into Petunia's old crafting room. "We're sharing it? What about Dudley's things?"

"Yes, you are. And Dudley's belongings will be brought in here -"

"No!" The door swung open, and all three jumped as a red-faced Dudley stormed in. "I don't want them in there, I need that room!"

"Dudders, I'm sorry, but that's just the way things are going to be." Vernon attempted to pacify his son, though his voice wavered.

Dudley began to cry in an almost cartoonish fashion, the cousins on the bed snickering down at their laps. "Mu-mu-mummy wo-won't le-let you!" He shrieked, storming out of the bedroom. Vernon started to follow, but turned to glare down at them, as if the entire thing was their fault.

"I'm going into London to buy some furniture, and some of the delivery men at Grunnings are coming over to help move everything. Your room will be ready tonight."

Her father left them and the cousins both collapsed back onto Susanna's bed, their feet touching the ground. "Think it'll be permanent?" Harry finally asked, and his cousin looked over at him. "The old-new room?"

Susanna bit her bottom lip, then shrugged. "Who knows with my parents. But I hope so. For your sake."

"Think uncle Vernon will let me put up some posters?"

"As long as it's an advertisement for Grunnings." The two began to laugh, temporarily distracted by the events of that morning.

True to his word, her father had hers and Harry's shared bedroom set up by that evening. It was smaller than she remembered - though obviously still larger than Harry's cupboard under the stairs, which was most important. That of course could have been because her father opted for two smaller beds instead of a bunk - evidently the ceiling hadn't been high enough for the cheapest option - as well as the two smaller dressers and the large shared closet. There was only one desk, which was positioned at the large window between their beds. Still, it came with an attached bathroom - something she'd missed when she was put in the old home office. Granted, it was small, but at least they'd have some privacy.

Harry spent the first night staring outside, and in his single-minded focus became an unknowing model for his cousin as Susanna sat up in her bed, sketching him into her pad.

The next morning, breakfast was a quiet affair. Dudley was still distraught, though only seemed to be milking the situation at that point. Vernon and Petunia kept staring darkly at one another.

When the mail came, Vernon sent Dudley to get it. He'd been nice to both his daughter and nephew the past few days, going so far as to make sure both got as much dessert as Dudley. No other letters had come for the cousins, and they began to fear that perhaps they really were mistakes, or funny little tricks.

"There's four more, two for each! Mr. H. Potter and Ms. S. Dursley, the Old-New Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive -" Dudley shouted and Susanna smiled, but their father's cry interrupted him. Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, his daughter and nephew following closely behind. Susanna watched with wide eyes as her father wrestled her twin to the ground, taking the letters from his clenched pudgy fist. It was a difficult feat as Harry had pounced onto Mr. Dursley's back and wrapped his arms around his neck to stop him.

When Dudley had managed to lose the Smelting stick - he'd banged the other two males with it while Petunia watched in fear, a hand on her daughter's shoulder - Vernon got to his feet and gasped for breath. He held the letters up, then pointed at Susanna and Harry.

"Go to your cupboard - I mean, your bedroom. Both of you. Dudley, go… just go."

Knowing they'd be safest further away from her father - but still wishing deeply that they could have their letters - Susanna tugged her cousin up the stairs, wondering just how the people sending the envelopes knew they'd switched bedrooms.


Susanna shot off her bed when the alarm rang, Harry already getting a move on in the form of turning the alarm off and grabbing some clothes before dashing to the bathroom. She groaned when she saw the time - six in the morning - until she remembered their plan. Susanna rolled out of bed, sliding her feet into a pair of slippers and tugging on an old, fluffy robe. Harry was still ready before her, and he gave her an impatient look as he bolted out the room, his cousin on his heels.

She stumbled in the dark, rubbing her eyes as they ran down the stairs. They had decided the previous night to wake up early and wait for the postman at the corner of Privet Drive. Finally, they'd be able to open their letters!

She knew they'd failed, though, when someone shouted in pain. The cry was so loud that someone upstairs had woken up, as the lights were turned on. Harry had accidentally slept on her father's face, the man lying in front of the door all wrapped in a sleeping bag. He'd clearly known about their plan, or at least guessed what they'd do.

Susanna rushed forward, keeping Harry behind her as her father slowly got up and advanced. "It was my idea, dad, I swear! I'm sorry!" She apologized, and the man's glare switched from his nephew to the girl before him. He proceeded to yell at his daughter for half an hour, ordering Harry halfway through to go make him a cup of tea. Susanna stood tall, chin up despite the fear gripping her heart and her eyes watering with unshed tears. By the time her father stopped the mail had arrived, and Petunia crept down from the top of the stairs to take them and hand them over to her panting husband. There were eight yellowish envelopes, and Harry bravely stepped forward.

"I want -" He began, but his uncle began tearing the letters to pieces. Susanna refused to stare down the debris - a sort of twisted confetti - and looked over her father's shoulder.

Vernon didn't go into work that day. Instead he remained at home, nailing boards to block the mail slot from the inside-out.

"See," he had begun to explain to his wife while Susanna sat miserably on the middle-step, watching with her chin in her hands, "if they can't deliver them, they'll just give up!" He reasoned around a mouthful of nails.

"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon." Her mother tried, but he waved Petunia off.

"Oh, these people's minds work in very strange ways. They're not like you and me."

Susanna was so heartbroken she couldn't even laugh when her father tried to hammer in a nail with a piece of fruitcake.

The next day, no less than sixteen letters arrived for Harry and Susanna. Despite being unable to go through the mail slot, somehow someone had managed to stuff them under the door, through the sides of the door, and even forced a few into the downstairs bathroom. Vernon stayed home again and burned the letters, but not before boarding up the cracks in the front and back doors. Susanna still couldn't laugh when her father kept jumping at the smallest of noises, Harry comfortingly and understandingly patting her shoulder.

On Saturday thirty-two letters arrived, rolled up and hidden in the eggs that the confused milkman handed to Petunia through the kitchen window. The woman screamed in horror and ran up to her room, slamming the door behind her. Vernon called both the post office and the dairy company to complain.

"Who on earth wants to talk to either of you so badly?" Dudley had asked before returning to his TV programme, the cousins bitterly playing with their bowls of soggy cereal.

The next day was Sunday, and when her father sat at the table that particular morning he seemed far-too delighted considering how angry he'd been the night before when he discovered a whole mess of envelopes on his bed. "Fine day, Sundays! In my opinion, the best day of the week. Why is that, Dudley?" His son shrugged as he stuffed his mouth with bacon.

"Because there's no post on Sundays." Harry answered, pouring his uncle a mug of coffee.

"Right you are, Harry. 'No posts on Sundays'." He chuckled, taking a bite of his eggs. "No damn letters today! No sir, not one! Not one single, blasted, miserable let-"

All of a sudden, something flew out from the fireplace and hit Susanna's father sharply on the back of his head. Then another, until the house seemed to shake. And as it shook, what must have been hundreds of letters shot down through the chimney and soared into the living room and kitchen, covering the floor and filling the air with sharp envelopes.

The rest of the Dursleys ducked, but Susanna joined Harry in shooting up and grabbing a letter. She fell to the floor and pushed them around until she came across her name, written in dark green ink. Her moment of success was taken from her when her father managed to drag both her and Harry by their waists, making an escape for the hallway. "Out! OUT!" He bellowed. "That does it! We're going away! Far away! Where they can't find us!" Within ten minutes they were shoving their way out of the boarded-up house and climbing into the car. While Dudley sniffled - Vernon hadn't let him bring his VCR, television, or computer - Harry and Susanna looked back at 4 Privet Drive, where the letters from no one remained unopened.


They drove, and drove, and drove some more. Susanna had watched her mother occasionally open her mouth before smartly deciding against it. No one asked where they were going, not with the way Vernon was holding the steering wheel, half of his mustache missing as it'd been cut off by a letter. Susanna hoped one of hers had done it. They would make the occasional sharp turn. "Shake 'em off, shake 'em off." Her father would mumble to himself.

They hadn't stopped for so much as a quick break to stretch their legs. Susanna covered her ear when, by the end of their journey, Dudley began to howl and cry. He was hungry and had missed five television programmes already.

Her father had pulled outside what looked like the UK's most haunted hotel. It was on the outskirts of a big city - Cokeworth, if she'd read the sign right. Having most-likely guilted her husband into it, Petunia managed to secure a tiny room for Dudley. Harry and Susanna shared their own, sleeping on creaking twin beds with damp, itchy, musty sheets. They didn't sleep, though. Instead they shared the windowsill, sitting and staring out in the dark night silently.

The next morning Vernon had knocked rapidly on the door, ordering them to "get a move on!" Of course, the cousins were already dressed, having not changed for bed. The hotel served dismal food options, but still the stale cornflakes and cold, tinned tomatoes on toast were a welcome sight. They'd only just managed to swallow their last bites when the hotel's owner came shuffling over.

"'Scuse me, but is one of you a Mr. H. Potter and a Ms. S. Dursley? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." She held up a letter so they could read the green ink writing.

Mr. H. Potter and Ms. S. Dursley

Room 17

Railview Hotel

Cokeworth

Harry - who was closest to the woman - made a grab for the letter but Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. "I'll take them." The man told her, standing up quickly and following her out. A handful of minutes later, they were driving away from the Railview Hotel.

After nearly an hour of driving, Susanna's mother cleared her throat. In a timid voice, she asked her husband, "Wouldn't it just be better to go home, dear?" But Vernon didn't seem to hear her. He was far too busy driving and mumbling to himself. Susanna would've worried they were lost if she hadn't already known her father had no clue where they were going.

He first drove them into the forest, forbidding them from leaving the car as he got out and looked around. Moments later he was shaking his head and climbing back in, and off they went. He did the same thing three times; in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel garage. That's where they'd spent the night. They stopped to spend the night at another hotel but left before the sun was even up. They'd never know how many letters those confused hotel workers received.

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley bemoaned. Susanna was looking out the window, watching as the rain slid down the window. After driving non-stop for almost twelve hours, her father had parked them at the coast and locked them inside the car, and they hadn't seen him since. "It's Tuesday! The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."

Tuesday. So it'd been a week since the first two letters arrived. Susanna sighed and peered around Dudley to stare at Harry. Oh. Tuesday. Which meant tomorrow was Wednesday, the 31st of July. Harry's birthday. Oh no! In their rush to leave the house, she'd left his gift under her bed! She had wanted him to have as good a birthday as would be possible in the Dursley house. She even had enough left to buy him some ice cream from the local shop.

The driver's door opened and her father peered in, a long parcel and a tied-up plastic bag in hand. "Darling, what is that?" Petunia asked, looking terribly worried. Vernon didn't answer her, though. He just kept smiling dangerously, and waved a free hand.

"Found the perfect place! Come on, everyone out!"

Wary of her father and the package in his hand Susanna was the first one out of the car. She shivered as the rain pelted down on her, her clothes clinging to her shaking form. Her little duffle was just as wet, which meant her other outfits would be just as wet.

Her father pointed to a large rock in the middle of the sea. Resting on top was an old shack out of a horror film. Unfortunately for all of those in favor of staying sane, there'd most likely be no TV, which meant Dudley would be at his absolute worst. "Storm forecast for tonight!" Her father grinned, clapping his hands and leading everyone towards the broken-down docks.

"How could you possibly know that?" Susanna sarcastically replied, though a crack of thunder made her wit go unheard.

"This gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" Vernon announced, and a toothless man walked over to them, pointing to an old rowboat bobbing along on the black water. Susanna gulped and looked between her father and Dudley, more than a little concerned of the coat tipping over. "I've already got us some rations, so all aboard!" Uncle Vernon got in first, face a little green as the boat rocked. He helped his wife in first, then Dudley. With as much balance as Madame Dulaine taught her Susanna gracefully climbed aboard, wary of shifting the weight of the boat too much. She helped Harry in, making sure they shared the other end of the bench so they wouldn't tip.

Her father rowed them across the choppy waves. Salt water sprayed all over them, beyond freezing and as sharp as knives. The rain only seemed to be falling harder, and heavy winds seemed to slap them in their faces. It felt like they'd been at sea for hours when her father finally reached the shore. He tied the rope to the dock and got out first, Dudley scrambling after him. Petunia shrieked as the boat bucked like a wild horse but Susanna was quick to act. She lunged forward to grab onto the rope and steady them. Fortunately the rest of the inhabitants of the rowboat were far lighter than the two that had just exited. Still she could feel the callouses on her hands starting to rip.

Vernon helped his wife out and Susanna nodded for Harry to follow after her mother, needing to keep the boat steady so her cousin wouldn't fall in and get pulled away by the current. It was Petunia who helped her out, and Susanna blinked in confusion when her mother lifted her hands and checked her over.

"Come on! We need to get out of the rain!" Her father bellowed over the growing storm. They slipped their way to the broken-down shack.

The inside was even more unpleasant than the outside, and Susanna was sure her father had found a haunted house to sleep in for what would hopefully only be the night. It stank of months-old seaweed and there were large gaps in the house walls that allowed the cold air to blow in. The walls and floor were damp, there was mold in the corners of what barely passed as a living room, and Susanna was completely sure the empty fireplace would never work. There seemed to only be one room up the stairs, which her mother cautiously walked up with her and her husband's belongings. Vernon set the long parcel down on a rickety table and opened the plastic bag. He pulled out five packets of crisps and five bananas which Harry and Susanna did their best to savor. Still, they had to be quick about it as the hungry Dudley finished his in a matter of seconds and licked his lips at his twin's and cousin's "dinner".

Susanna watched sadly as her father attempted to start up a fire with the empty crisp packets, but they only shriveled up and smoked. Petunia coughed primly, eyeing the smoking fireplace as though it had personally betrayed her.

"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" Vernon said cheerfully, missing the deadly glare his daughter threw his way, her arms crossed and her wet red hair seeming to be the color of blood. He was in a good mood, after all, pleased that he'd found a place no one would dare try to deliver the mail.

Dudley yawned tiredly and Petunia jumped into action. She disappeared for a few moments, returning with moldy sheets. She set up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa, passing a thinner blanket to her daughter. Harry just folded up a few of his hand-me-down tees to make himself a pillow.

After her brother had changed into his striped pajamas Susanna entered the loo, noting it looked like it came straight out of a nightmare. She finished her night time routine as quickly as she could and made a mad dash for the living room, waiting for Harry to return. He came back just as freaked out as she was, and they lay down beside one another. Dudley snored on the couch next to her, and Susanna watched with sad eyes as her cousin continued to shake with the cold. "Take it. My pajamas are much warmer than yours." She whispered, handing him the raggedy blanket and curly into herself.

"You'll get sick, Suze." Harry whispered back, eyes wide at the gesture. Susanna smiled when he stopped shivering.

"And my mum'll get me to the doctor, if I do. Probably. I want to take care of you, Harry. Someone has to take care of you. Besides, it's the least I deserve."

"Stop it."

"No, I was absolutely horrid to you. My parents and Ickle Dudleykins are even worse." Susanna shook her head, her thoughts traveling down memory lane. "All because I wouldn't think for myself."

"You were a kid. We still are."

"That's no excuse, Harry. You were always kind to me. Always." Susanna quietly reminded him. "I'll never be half as good a person as you, but I'm trying." She promised. "I'm not just… I'm not just doing it because I feel guilty. I do really love you, Harry. You're more my brother than Dudley is, and I'm so sorry I missed all those years of being your friend for the sake of making my parents proud of me."

Harry took her hand. "I know you do. You're more than a cousin to me, too. You're my sister. I forgave you the day you saved my life. Why can't you forgive yourself?" Susanna shrugged, blinking away some tears.

"Maybe I don't want to. Maybe I'm scared I'll forget how I was, and I'll go back to being the old me."

"You won't, though. Because that girl was never who you really were." Susanna sighed at his words, and they fell into a comfortable silence. Well, they were quiet. Upstairs her father was snoring as loud as Dudley, and the high waves kept splattering the walls of the house, shaking it while the wind rattled the windows.

Neither Susanna nor Harry could sleep, though she kept closing her eyes. When she opened them again Harry was leaning up on an elbow, his eyes trained on the couch. Susanna turned and her eyes roved around her snoring brother until she took note of the watch on his large wrist. Digital, the little screen was lit up to announce the time. It was five-to-midnight, almost Harry's birthday.

She turned to watch her cousin, taking in how sadly he focused on the clock. Getting an idea she rose from the floor and walked over to the hearth, taking note of the soot spread all over the floor before the useless fireplace. "What are you doing?" Harry hissed, but she only put a finger to her lips to shush him before looking down at the dirty ground before her. With a delicate touch, she drew a large cake into the ground, giving it some dimension as she added eleven candles. She wrote "Happy Birthday Harry" in a large font and smiled at her work, beckoning him over. He tilted his head but did as asked, smiling softly when he saw what she had drawn for him.

"We can pretend it's whatever flavor you'd like, until we go back to Privet Drive. I left your present there, and I saved some extra money for ice cream. Happy birthday, Freak." She whispered with a smile, and he sniffed in a happy sort of way. Dudley's watch beeped, signaling it was midnight. "Make a wish, Harry."

He took her hand and leaned forward, exhaling deeply across the cake. The ash scattered, and he was speak -

BOOM!

The whole shack shook and the cousins jumped, latching onto each other in fear. It wasn't the wind that had made that noise. Someone was outside, knocking heavily on the door.