They helped Harry, though despite the restful sleep, stretching the way he did, opened a few of the wounds on his back. It, however didn't hurt him, but Sirius saw the bloodstained shirt and yelled for Madame Pomfrey.

Those wounds still refused to heal, but Harry regained one more piece to the puzzle. As they walked down, a vision came into his mind. One shadow, no, two shadows were raising what looked like a long rope and bringing it down, laughing, or would it be called cackling? He shook his head, why wasn't he remembering it? What was preventing him from recollecting it, and what was causing him to slowly remember?

Thoughts of the incident were pushed back as Dumbledore conjured the same bowl chair and helped Harry into it while Sirius fixed him a plate of food. Remus groggily walked in and gathered up a plate as well and went to sit beside Harry.

"How did you sleep?" asked Harry, munching on piece of fruit. Lupin groaned.

"I had nightmares, and all about you and the Dursleys, tell me, please God, tell me that the books get easier to listen to?" he said with worry in his eyes.

"How should I know? I didn't write them." said Harry, he wasn't sure if he should warn his favorite Defense teacher or not. He just continued to nibble at his food. Sirius had to stop Mrs. Weasely from giving him another plate of food.

"We gave him a nutritional potion up at the Hospital Wing, if you give him more food than he can handle, he's going to get sick." said Sirius quietly, but kindly. He wanted to stockpile his godson's plate too, but Pomfrey threatened him with bodily harm if he overdid it.

Once breakfast was over, Dumbledore stood up and addressed the students.

"We are in for another day of reading, so if you would like to make yourselves more comfortable, feel free to do so. If you are unskilled in making furniture just yet, you may ask for assistance from your Head of House, the Head Boy or Girl and your Prefects." It seemed no one wanted to sit at the house tables, so they were magically removed and squashy, comfortable chairs were put in their place.

"That's more like it," as Dumbledore sat in a purple armchair beside the bowl where Harry sat between Lupin and Sirius. Ron and Hermione shared a red couch and Ginny with Luna sat beside the Weasely twins.

"Who would like to start today's reading?" he said looking about the Hall.

"I will Albus," said McGonagall, from her straight, high backed chair.

"The Letter's From No One

"Here we go again." muttered Harry

The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment.

Growls were heard acrossed the hall and Dumbledore looked over to Harry, with a concerned look upon his face.

By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started

"When is Dudley's birthday?" asked Draco

"May 2nd."

"And the summer holidays there start..?" asked Hermione, quickly getting angry.

Harry muttered quietly, "June 18th". The growls got more pronounced. Mrs. Weasely wanted to look towards Dumbledore and give him a good "Molly Weasely Rant" but saw how distraught Dumbledore was. His hands were shaking and his entire body was sagging, as if he were dying. She kept it to herself. This wasn't the time. Perhaps later.

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.

"Like father like son, a bloody monster." snarled Bill. His mother sent him a reproachful look, but he sent one back, which made her wince, the other Weasely children sniggered. It was the same look that Mrs. Weasely favored when yelling at the twins. Bill may look like a younger version of his father, but they saw their mother's discipline skills creeping out. It was actually quite funny, but also quite scary.

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.

"Very good logic Harry." said Luna. Harry smiled at her while people snorted and chuckled

The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.

"They better not have done anything." said Sirius and Lupin at the same time. They both looked at each other, with a furious look. If those brats did anything, they would deal out some 'Maurauder Justice'.

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.

"HOGWARTS!"yelled the Creevy brother's. Harry shook his head.

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.

"And I thank God, every day." said Harry, looking up into the sky.

Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings.

People started to snort and repress their laughter. The name Smeltings made them appreciate the name of Hogwarts even more.

Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school.

"Wonder what Stonewall High is like?" asked a Slytherin sixth year.

"It's not bad, the Chemistry class that's there is supposed to have the best teacher in Surrey. That and the sports teams are considered high grade for a public school. I was actually looking forward to it. Just not the uniform."

"Chemistry?" said Snape curiously.

"Muggle version of Potions. My old science teacher told me I had a talent for it." shrugged Harry. Snape's heart sunk, did he ruin a possible potion brewer? He would have to study Mr. Potter a little better and see for himself.

Dudley thought this was very funny.

"Of course he would." said Justin, rolling his eyes.

"They stuff people's heads down the toilet at the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"

"Harry, we will disown you if you fall for that." said the twins with a dramatic pose. People around the hall laughed.

"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.

"Never mind us disowning you," said George

"can you adopt us?" said Fred with a smile. The school could hardly stay in their chairs and cushions.

One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's.

"Harry, why didn't you tell Mrs. Figg what was going on? She could have sent me a letter and you would have been pulled from that house immediately!" said Dumbledore looking shocked. For years, Arabella only said that Harry was unhappy. But not abused, had he known the extent, he would have come running to Privet Drive.

Harry paled and turned his away, "After Officer McFinn passed away, Uncle Vernon told me that if I told anyone, he'd make sure that it was something that I would live to regret. At the time, I took it to heart and he made it seem to me that Officer McFinn's death was all my fault. I didn't want Mrs. Figg hurt too. Yeah, I thought she was crazy, but she was my only escape." he buried his face into Sirius's chest, a tear, betraying his trust, fell onto the man's shirt.

Sirius hugged tightly "Harry, you didn't cause Officer McFinn's death, never think that."

"Sirius is right Harry, but I can see why you didn't go to Mrs. Figg. You really are a selfless child. I'm sorry for not checking up on you, on my own. Perhaps someday you can forgive me." said Dumbledore. He didn't smile, he merely rubbed the young boy's head.

"I already do." said Harry. Dumbledore gave him a small smile.

"Your Godfather, Remus and quite a few people don't, and I don't blame them. I wouldn't forgive them if they did what I did, I still can't forgive myself. I think, tonight, I need to talk with a few people." He motioned to McGonagall to continue.

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.

"You don't do that to chocolate, especially chocolate cake." said Lupin, trying to lighten the mood, which he halfway succeeded.

"Lupin loves his chocolate." muttered Sirius to Harry.

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.

A few of the fashion conscious seventh year girls looked around at the boys and then they rushed to where Dumbledore was still kneeling and rubbing Harry's head and each hugged him in turn.

"What was that all about?" said Dumbledore with a confused smile.

"Thank you for having the boys dress in black as opposed to what that school had in mind."

Dumbledore laughed. " I would never subject my students to wear anything so ridiculous."

"Just himself." muttered Pansy.

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 in life.

"What a horrible school! No wonder your uncle acts the way he does, they condoned his behavior!" screeched Madame Pomfrey.

"I think it sounds like a fine school." huffed Madame Umbridge.

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" muttered Snape.

As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that is was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins,

The school laughed in unison at the name, Fred and George looked at each other in true shock and horror. They turned to Ron.

"We are never, EVER calling you 'Ickle Ronniekins' again."

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.

"You ain't the only one Harry." wheezed Terry.

There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast.

"I thought Aunt Petunia tried her hand at cooking again." said Harry, the school laughed and thought fondly back to the Knickerbocker Glories last night.

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 gray water.

"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.

"Hey, it wasn't as if she had a big, bloody sign saying 'This is what it is'" said Charlie.

"Your new school uniform," she said

Harry looked in the bowl again.

"I would do a double take too if it were me." said Draco with a smirk.

"Oh, " he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."

"Sarcasm is wasted on her, Harry, she never had a sense of humor." whispered Lupin.

"Don't be stupid, " snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray 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.

"You really like animal references don't you?" said Ginny. Harry shrugged.

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.

"I'd shove that stick right up his..."

"GINERVA WEASELY! yelled Mrs. Weasely, before Ginny could finish.

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.

"OH MY GOD! HEAD FOR HILLS PEOPLE!" bellowed Fred

"WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST" screamed George

"THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!" hollered Lee

"HE ASKED THE PIG TO DO SOMETHING!" yelled all three of them. The school could hardly contain their laughter, even the teachers had a hard time holding it in.

"Make Harry get it."

"Get the mail, Harry."

"Crisis averted people, go about your normal lives." shouted Ron. The laughter started again.

"Make Dudley get it."

"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."

"He better not have touched my cub." growled Sirius. Harry smiled and leaned even further into his godfather.

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.

The students began to cheer loudly.

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. Who would? He had no friends,

Ron and Hermione looked over to him in shock? They were his first friends? It was hard for them to believe.

no other relatives-he didn't belong to the library,

You mean, all the stuff you know, and you didn't go to the library to learn it?"

"No, I went to the library, it's just I never took the books home. I learned to be a speed reader."

"What do you mean 'all the stuff you know'?" said Hermione suspiciously.

Ron and Harry looked up at the ceiling and whistled innocently. Hermione narrowed her eyes.

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.

"Minerva, we must stop using a self-addressing quill. We could have prevented something by looking at the addresses." said Dumbledore, shaking his head.

"Don't I know it." she replied with a tear trickling down her cheek.

The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.

"What the heck is a stamp?" asked a pureblood from Hufflepuff.

"It's a small sort of sticker that Muggles put on their letters, it's a way of paying to have it delivered." said Mrs. Weasely before Hermione could answer.

"They pay? What a waste of money." said Blaise with a smirk.

Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion,

"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the house known for its bravery and nobility.

an eagle,

"RAVENCLAW!" yelled the house known for wisdom and wit.

a badger,

"HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled the house known for its loyalty

and a snake

"SLYTHERIN!~ yelled the house known for their cunning.

surrounding a large letter H

"HOGWARTS!" bellowed the entire student body.

"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchens.

"If you wanted it sooner, you should have gotten off your lazy arse and fetched it yourself!" bellowed Mr. Weasely. His children and wife stared at him in shock.

"What? I couldn't hold it in any longer."

"What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.

"That was pathetic, I think I'm going to be sick." said Fred while George gagged.

Harry went back to the kitchens, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.

"Potter! Why did you open your mail there? You know they were going to take it!" said a haggard looking Auror.

"He was excited to just get a letter." said Kingsley

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..."

"What the heck is a whelk," asked a Slytherin first year.

"It's sort of a snail that lives in seashells." said Harry

"Why would you eat them." said the poor Slytherin, face turning green.

"Oh I don't know, throw in some leeks, eels, and clams and you can make them taste pretty good." said Harry offhandedly.

Sirius looked shocked over at Harry.

"You've eaten it?" he said, turning just as green as the Slytherin

"Made it actually, whelks are Aunt Marge's favorite food. Every time she visits, we have a fish pie or something else." he noticed the nauseated looks around the room. Harry laughed. "I won't even ask if you want me to make it."

"Thank you." said Ron quietly.

"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"

"He just had to ruin Harry's moment didn't he?" moaned Ernie.

Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope,

"Potter, " growled Moody, "I've never been this impressed before..."

"Excuse me?" said Tonks indignantly.

"As I was saying, " sending his protĂŠgĂŠ a well-meaning growl. "I've never been this impressed with an eleven year old wizard before. Nice observation skills.

when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.

"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.

"Oooh! Harry's getting mad! said Fred excitedly

"And when Harry gets mad..." said George in an equally excited tone

"Things get scary." they both said together.

"What do you mean? Does he get violent? said Fudge excitedly.

"Not at all, but he does tend to give you a severe dressing down." said Fred matter-of-factly.

"And that you don't want, cause when he does." said George

"You pray to God it ends soon." said them both with what looked like a fake shudder.

Harry blushed.

"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon,

"I WOULD!" yelled a majority of the students.

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 grayish white of old porridge.

"Eww! I don't think I want to eat porridge again." said a third year Ravenclaw.

"I didn't either for a week." said Harry.

"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.

"If only she would." muttered Ron

"Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!"

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.

The entire school was silent, they all slowly turned towards Harry.

"What?" asked Harry with his brows furrowed.

Harry grew up with these people right? He never acted like that. Hell, he was the nicest person in the school, really. Hermione and Ron were nice too, but if you came to Hermione with a personal problem she made everything sound logical, even the passing of a beloved pet. Ron was the same as Hermione, except instead of using logic, he could be tactless. Ernie spread the word after their second year that Harry stood up for Malfoy when everyone tried saying that he was the Slytherin heir after Hermione was attacked. How did Harry become the Harry they all knew, growing up with, obviously the worst people on the planet.

"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.

"I thought Dudley couldn't read." said a Slytherin.

"He can't, but, when there is something I want to read, like the paper or a book, he takes it, pretends to read it and then loses it on purpose." he tried doing that with a few of my school books. Aunt Petunia told him off, it was beautiful." smiled Harry fondly.

"I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine"

"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside it's envelope.

Harry didn't move.

"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.

"You're sounding more and more like your mother." grinned Sirius.

"How do you mean?" asked Harry

"Your dad was laid back and easy going, hardly anything fazed him. Your mom on the other hand..." he whistled, "when she got mad, the whole world knew it."

"He sounds like a half and half mix of what his parents were." said Neville.

"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,

The yelling that would sometimes crop up in the Hall started again, but none so loud as Mrs. Weasely.

"HE COULD'VE HURT YOU!"

"I was fine Mrs. Weasley. I wasn't hurt." said Harry with a small smile. He was thinking back to that time and remembered something. After that first letter, his uncle was real careful around him. He didn' t hurt him as bad as he normally did, unless Harry accidentally did something, that was considered really, REALLY, bad in his eyes. He silently thanked the school, for sending him the letter.

slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole;

"Sorry Harry, but that would have been insanely funny to watch." said Bill with a small smile. Harry chuckled.

Dudley won,

The school groaned, that would have been awesome if Harry could've won.

so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.

"Resourceful too, not bad Potter." nodded Moody.

"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?"

"...should have...could've saved..." mumbled Dumbledore quietly. Only Lupin and Harry could hear him. Harry crawled over Lupin's lap, who in shock, noticed how light he was. Harry grasped Dumbledore's tightened, pale hands and squeezed. Dumbledore looked up quickly gave him a small smile, before Sirius pulled him back. Jealous of the attention the old man was getting, and a little angry at Harry, who was so quick to forgive and forget.

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

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

"Not even that would keep Hogwarts from getting Potter." said Snape calmly.

Harry could see Uncle Vernon shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.

"I should be impressed that he could bend over to polish his own shoes." said Percy.

"He never polishes his own shoes." said Harry. People turned quickly to him and stared.

"He better not have..."

"Not even he would trust me with his two hundred pound shoes."

"He paid that much for ruddy shoes!" said a Muggleborn.

"Aunt Petunia's cocktail dresses are worth more than that."

"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..."

"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?"

People around the Great Hall blinked, they turned around to Harry, very slowly. Just staring. A few moments had passed till Harry finally couldn't take the deafening silence anymore.

"What's wrong now?" He looked to Dumbledore, and was in for a shock. Dumbledore was sobbing into his hands. Even harder, Sirius and Remus noticed, than last night. Lupin decided to answer Harry's question.

"Harry, 'stamping out' the magic in a person is a very dangerous thing. The consequences could have been disastrous, even...deadly. You could have been reduced to.." he shuddered and his voice broke. "...to a person similar to a victim of the Dementor's Kiss. All your magic and your soul would be stripped from your body. We...we would never know the real you." finished Sirius, his voice cracking. He brought Harry into a tight embrace and refused to let go. The Weasely's, teachers and the rest of Harry's friends looked down. They didn't want to think about it, they couldn't think about it. They could have lost Harry, forever. It was too terrible to imagine. It took a half hour for McGonagall to continue on with the reading.

That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.

"How could he fit? " asked Fred, remembering how small the cupboard really was.

"Wasn't easy for him." said Harry with a smirk.

"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"

"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake,"

"Bull, it had his cupboard on it." said Angelina with snarl.

said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."

"I'm gonna kill him." muttered Sirius. "The Acceptance Letter is supposed to be the most important moment in a young wizard or witch's life. And he FUCKING BURNS IT!"

"SIRIUS! LANGUAGE!" reprimanded Mrs. Weasely, gesturing towards the students.

"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.

"If he touches you in any shape or form, I'm gonna rip him apart". said Lupin, Sirius nodded.

"Hope his smile did hurt him." said Charlie.

"Er-yes, Harry-about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking...you're really getting a bit big for it

"He was too big for it when you first put him in there you..."

"Molly! Language!" taunted Sirius, mimicking her gesture to the students.

...we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."

The silence returned once more. The students looked at each other slowly. Did he say second bedroom? That fat git had a second bedroom, whereas Harry didn't even have one? The Weasely's looked over to Harry, Harry appeared to be dozing in Sirius's chest. His legs laying on top of Lupin's lap, Lupin had picked them up and set them there so Harry could just lay down instead of sitting all the time.

Harry was pretending to be napping, he didn't want to look at them. This book was horrible, none of Harry's thoughts were safe anymore, it was torture. "Well," thought Harry, "At least I got Sirius out of it, I guess I can endure it."

"Why?" said Harry.

"Don't question a good thing Harry." said Lupin, knowing full well that Harry was pretending to be asleep.

Moody on the other hand, approved. "Good lad, get all the facts, never know what the Walrus has in mind, giving you a bedroom." he added with a sober tone.

Tonks blanched, "You don't think...he wouldn't.." she whimpered. She couldn't take it, she hurried over to the trio in the bowl and gave Harry a shake. Sirius also knew Harry was faking, so he didn't stop her. Harry opened his eyes slowly and she whispered in his ear. The entire school stared, they couldn't figure out what was going on. What Moody said to upset the female Auror was spoken too quietly, they didn't hear it. They, however heard a great sigh of relief when Harry shook his head to the question Tonks put to him.

"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. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room.

"What was it that you all owned?" said Draco, no hint of a sneer. The same couldn't be said for his cohorts. They were laughing silently.

"Well, let's see, I had six small, broken army figurines, five pairs of socks, five pairs of socks, underwear pants and five different shirts. And an assortment of medals and plaques I won at primary school."

"What did you win them for?" asked Sirius, he was interested in knowing the talents his godson possessed besides flying.

Harry looked pensive, " I had about fourteen trophies and medals for running, but I managed to only salvage two. The one in my pocket and the other one is a big one that I still haven't been able to glue back together. I had a one for music, that was a piece of paper in a frame, Uncle Vernon set that one on fire. I saved it, not before it was mostly destroyed though. Then there was a chemistry award the teacher gave me. Dudley threw that one away personally. I had to rummage through the town dump just to fish it out. Took me two hours. Had to use the community showers by the town pool just to get presentable enough to go in the house. I had some other ones, but they didn't last very long in that house." So I've only got four out of more than twenty."

Subtle growls went around the school.

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 neighbor's dog;

"Ouch!" whined Sirius, rubbing his backside absentmindedly.

in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled;

"Good Lord!" moaned a Muggleborn, there had been shows that he liked too, that were canceled, but he never put his foot through a TV in anger before.

there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle,

"What's an air rifle, dad?" asked Charlie curiously.

"Remember what I told you about guns? Instead of gunpowder, they use compressed air."

"And this idiot traded a living thing for something that could kill? I WANT TO BE THE FIRST ONE TO HEX THIS LITTLE TWIT!" screamed Charlie.

which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it.

"Whoa! Dudley must be huge! My cousin has an air rifle, and those things are freaking hard to bend!"

Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.

"WHAT?" yelled Hermione and some of the Ravenclaws.

"I told you, Dudley didn't know how to read then." seeing the looks on the Ravenclaws and Hermione, he added quickly. "But I've read them."

"What was your favorite, Harry? asked Hermione, forgetting to be furious.

"Oliver Twist"

The people in the room who had read that particular book, didn't look too happy.

"Why?"

"Makes me feel a lot better of my lot in life." said Harry. People started to growl, not to him, but the thought of the Dursleys. Harry had to hold his hands up.

"Listen, I get it, you don't like the Dursleys, I'm not a big fan of theirs either. What I meant by what I said, was that I was never, almost forced to a life of crime. And I wasn't shot, for being somewhere I never wanted to be. Now, is it possible to drop it for now? You're all kinda starting to scare me." he added playfully. The school hesitated, then nodded.

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..."

"I'll give yer what yer need yer little..." said Hagrid in a threatening tone.

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.

Nobody had a funny comment or snide remark about that. They all sat in silence, they too would rather have the letter then a spacious room. Especially if that letter meant an escape from that wretched family.

Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick,

"That boy needs a spanking!" whispered Madame Bones to her niece. Susan nodded furiously.

been sick on purpose,

"No loss there." said Draco.

kicked his mother,

"Someone please smack him!" said Percy, rolling his eyes.

and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof,

Shouting over Charlie's rants of animal cruelty, Neville asked Harry, "What kind of plants do you have in there?"

"Vegetables, and herbs I use for cooking, the Dursley's won't admit it, but the stuff in that greenhouse is all mine. I planted everything in there, the vegetables came in handy the summer I turned fourteen."

"Why is that?" asked Sirius.

"If the books print it, you'll see."

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.

"Hindsight is 20/20" muttered both Harry and Dumbledore in unison. They both looked at each other Dumbledore didn't smile, but Harry's was enough for the both of them.

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,

"Ten years too late." snarled Flitwick.

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-'"

With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon lept form his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him.

"GET 'EM HARRY!" yelled the Gryffindors.

Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.

"Practicing for your fight with the troll, Harry?" smiled Ron.

"What troll?" asked Sirius. Harry smiled pointed towards the book, looking sheepish. Sirius paled looking at the book, that was only the first year book!

"Fifty points to Gryffindor." whispered Snape, smirking at the look of distraught on Black's face.

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.

"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.

"Dear lord, if it's anything like James's plans, they won't go well." said Lupin with a smirk.

"I thought dad was your guy's leader." said Harry with a shocked look on his face.

"He was, but your dad's plans sucked," said Sirius tickling Harry's stomach. After Harry laughingly tried in vain to escape his Godfather's fingers, Lupin continued "I was the one who had to come up with the plans that didn't get us caught."

"You were a prankster, Professor!" said the twins and Lee, mouths open in obvious shock.

Harry looked between Sirius and Lupin and grinned ear to ear.

"Fred, George, Lee, I'd like you to meet Padfoot and Moony. Two of the Marauders." grinned Harry. The twins and Lee gaped at them, then each other and came over to kneel in front them. Then they kissed their feet.

"What the hell..?" said Sirius picking up his feet, out of their reach.

"You're our HEROES! We idolize you guys!"

"Doesn't mean you have to kiss my feet." said Sirius with an uncomfortable look on his face. Lupin agreed with him.

"Back on plans," said Harry trying not to laugh in front of his Godfather. "It's kinda not the same with us, is it Hermione?" Hermione blushed.

"Why do you say that?" Lupin asked puzzled.

"Hermione is the one that tries to plan everything out, then everything goes to hell. I take over when she can't find a way out of a situation. Which works out great in the long run."

"Harry is wonderful when everyone else is panicking." said Hermione grinning. Ron and Neville nodded.

The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning.

"How did you get the alarm clock fixed?" asked Mr. Weasely earnestly.

"I've always been good with my hands." said Harry.

"Next time you're over, I need some help on some things." said Mr. Weasely excitedly.

"Alright." said Harry with a smile.

Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.

"Good thinking boy, move slowly and carefully." growled Moody.

He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.

"Not a bad plan, Potter." said Snape, the sides of his mouth twitching.

"Trust me, it doesn't end well, like one of Hermione's plans in action."

His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door-

"AAAAARRRGH!"

"What the hell happened now?" asked Bill nervously.

Harry lept into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat-something alive!

"Dear God! Tell me it's your uncle!" Sirius spoke excitedly.

Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big,

"Come on..."

squashy

"Come on..."

something had been

"Let's hear it..." his breathing becoming quick.

his uncle's face.

"YAHOO!" yelled Sirius and sat straight up and danced around in a circle. Harry was lifted off his Godfather's chest and unceremoniously fell behind him as he danced for joy. He could help but laugh. Fred and George joined him to the laughter and cheer of the rest of the school. It took fifteen minutes for the trio to calm down. Sirius picked Harry up and laid his torso back on his lap.

Umbridge scowled. "You should be ashamed of yourself Mr. Potter, stepping on the man who graciously took you in, gave you the clothes on your back and food in your stomach..." she would have continued, but she had to dodge a few curses and hexes sent from several students, teachers, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore and Madame Bones herself.

Uncle Vernon had been lying at 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.

"Oi! He ain't your servant!" said Ron indignantly

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.

"Oh, Harry." fretted Hermione and Mrs. Weasely.

"I'm so sorry Harry." said Professor McGonagall "You shouldn't have been put through that."

"It's okay, I was used to it, Dudley and Uncle Vernon ripped apart and destroyed most of my awards, this actually wasn't anything different and it didn't bother me. I knew there would be more coming. I felt in my bones." he smiled broadly. The students at first looked angry, but then their expressions softened when they saw his smile.

Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.

"Yeah, cause that job will take all day to do." said Sprout, rolling her eyes.

"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."

"I never give up." said McGonagall smugly.

"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.

People snorted at this, this man was trying to say he was more intelligent than themselves, yet he was trying to hammer a nail into a piece of wood with food.

One person spoke this thought out loud when Harry spoke up. "The nail did gone in easier with the fruitcake then it would have with the hammer. Aunt Petunia made that one." More snorts were heard around the room.

"Fruitcake is nasty." said Sirius sticking his tongue out.

"We'll see if that opinion still holds true." said Harry smugly.

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.

"Gave Uncle Vernon the shock of his life, seeing those poke through." said Harry with a smirk on his face. People were rolling on the floor laughing.

Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters,

Growls creeped through the Great Hall.

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.

"That was the only time that I heard him hum, I tried to hum at another time in the kitchen, he came up behind me and smacked me on the back of my head."

"Why on earth, would he do that?" asked Professor Flitwick in shock.

Harry shrugged, "No music allowed in the house."

"Why not?" asked Hermione

"He saw me enjoying the music on in the kitchen, and singing along. Apparently he didn't like my singing voice." said Harry with a smile.

"To be brutally honest, Harry, your father couldn't carry a tune in a bucket." said Sirius.

"Lily was the same way," said Lupin with a small smile.

"How does that 'Tiptoe' song go?" asked a nervous first year from the Ravenclaw table.

Harry thought carefully, thinking of the words and remembering the tempo his uncle used. He closed his eyes and sang it out loud.

What he didn't know was that everyone stared at him. His voice was a soft, airy tenor, yet it held the possibilities of going deeper into a baritone and becoming rich and full. The lyrics and the melody coming from him, were beautiful. They silently begged for more.

When Harry was done, he opened his eyes and saw everyone staring at him. He began to worry, he wondered if he was as bad as his uncle had said he was. That all changed when everyone, excluding Umbridge and a restrained Fudge, stood up and applauded. Harry blushed deeply and covered his face into his stunned Godfather's chest.

"Mr. Potter, I want to see you in choir next year!" squeaked Flitwick, tears coming down his face. "We need a voice like yours!"

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.

"It's hers, cause I refuse to use it. I prefer to do it myself, without help." said Harry, who was still buried in the folds of the man's cloak.

"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.

"Everybody who really knows him." said Hermione with some pride in her voice.

On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill,

"Good" said Kingsley, accidentally out loud, attracting some attention.

but happy.

"Damn, well life can't be perfect." he said out loud again. People around him snickered into their hands.

"No post on Sundays,"

"Really? Muggles don't get mail on Sunday's? Why not?" asked a Slytherin fourth year.

"Some muggles, consider it a day of rest, a governmental day off as it were, as well." stated Harry.

he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers,

"However, no sane person should do that on any day, never mind a Sunday." said Harry amusingly

"no damn letters today-"

"That's what you think." said Harry in a singsong voice. Lupin smiled over to Harry, glad he was finally enjoying himself.

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-

"Just pick one up off the floor, Potter!" yelled Draco.

"Was too excited to think logically or rationally, I just wanted to grab one of those elusive little buggers." said Harry with a wide grin.

"Out! OUT!"

Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.

Another hush came over the school, Madame Pomfrey made to hurry to Harry, when Sirius and Remus stopped her.

"He's fine, we've got him."

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 floors.

"The does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time.

"Ouch." said a few seventh and sixth year boys, feeling the faint traces of hair just above their top lip. The men who already had grown theirs out, winced.

"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 mustache missing that no one dared argue. 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.

"What he was doing with a sports bag, I have no idea. Never did anything athletic, even after ten feet of chasing me down, he gave up." remarked Harry after Mrs. Weasely quietly ranted about hitting a child over the head for over packing.

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.

"Man after your own heart, Moody! OUCH!" said Tonks cheekily, then Moody smacked the back of her head.

"Don't compare me to him."

They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling.

"Aww..poor baby." said the twins.

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.

"Geez what a hard life he lives, only one thing can make it worse." said Ron

"Living it for more than one day, like Harry does." said Hermione.

The twins looked in shock. "They're stealing our act."

The school erupted with laughter.

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

"I've noticed something Harry, every time something is bothering you or you're worried about something, you sit on the windowsill and stare out onto the grounds. You stay that way all night long." said Dean.

The teachers exchanged looks, and then they looked to Poppy, next time they hear about that, they'll have to give Potter a sleeping potion, even if they have to hold him down and pour it down his throat.

and wondering...

Before they could ask, he answered. "I was wondering who was sending the letters and what did they want with me?"

They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day.

"What time is it?" Ron said as his stomach grumbled. Before Dumbledore could bring out his watch, Harry looked up in the sky, at the sun. "It's two-sixteen." said Harry calmly. Dumbledore frowned in curiosity at Harry and looked at his own watch, his eyes widened in shock.

"On..the..nose..." he slowly looked over to Harry with a surprised look on his face. Everyone gaped at the raven haired teen.

"Guess we missed lunch." he said glumly. Then the a long table of food appeared in the center of the room.

"A late lunch is always welcomed." said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, yet never really leaving the young man lying in the bowl. He waved his wand at the table and four plates of food began to fill themselves. They then levitated over to Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin and Harry.

"With Harry draped over the both of you like that, I didn't think you could bring yourselves to move." he said with a smile.

Lupin sent a smile of appreciation back to him. While they ate, McGonagall continued on with the reading, in between mouthfuls.

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

"You were in Cokeworth? Did you..." started Hermione, but with a glance from Harry, she quieted.

"I didn't see much of anything Hermione. Just blurs going past the window."

Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.

"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and followed her from the dining room.

"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 into the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multileveled parking garage.

"What the hell is he doing?" asked Lupin.

"Running for his life." said Harry plainly.

"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.

"What a horrid man!" screeched Madame Pomfrey.

It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled.

"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."

"Who's The Great Humwhatsit?" asked Ron.

"An annoying man who says he can impersonate the voice anybody who comes to the show, its faked, the people are already picked out for it." said Hermione.

"Wonder what's so great about him."

"He's a GREAT big fraud."

Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday-and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television

"Go figure." moaned Hermione.

-then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.

People in the school cheered. Harry blushed deeply.

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.

People turned to him in shock and disbelief, THOSE weren't presents!

Still, you weren't eleven every day.

"Way to stay positive, Potter" said Moody. Though he was deeply disturbed by the way his life had been up to this point.

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.

"That's perfect?" exclaimed Tonks, "I'd love to see his version of terrible."

"He said my singing voice was terrible." said Harry.

"My point has just been made." said Tonks gestering towards Harry.

One thing was certain, there was no television there.

"I kinda feel sorry..."said Fred with a sniff.

"..for Dudley.." George said while whipping a fake tear away.

"NOT!"

"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully,

"And he's excited by that?" asked Professor Vector, with eyebrows raised.

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,

"I've read about old fashioned gentlemen, in romance books," said a seventh year Gryffindor. "Only Gentleman there is Harry." Sirius nudged Harry in the ribs raising and lowering his eyebrows quickly. Harry groaned, blushed and buried his head again. The school laughed again.

at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.

"You couldn't pay me to go over that water on a broomstick!" yelped Dean.

"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.

"Out of curiosity," said Lupin, a grim look on his face. "who rowed?"

"I started, but Uncle Vernon noticed I wasn't nearly strong enough to keep us going in a straight line. He took over. Only after we nearly capsized a few times."

Dark muttering took possession of the school till McGonagall stopped her own muttering with Flitwick to continue reading.

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.

"Nice, a real fixer-upper." Hermione said rolling her eyes.

There were only two rooms.

Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and a four bananas.

Some of the Gryffindors looked down at their plates, which still had some food, they stood up and wanted to give some to Harry, when Lupin held his hand up to halt them.

"He's full, we made sure."

He tried to start up a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.

"Well, duh, those bags aren't made of paper or wood. Idiot."

"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.

"Let me at him!" yelled Charlie, Bill had to pull him back down to his seat, which took a lot of effort.

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.

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.

People looked around nervously, they wouldn't of want to spend a minute in that house, let alone the night!

Aunt Petunia found a few moldy 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 curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.

Silence again ran rampant through the school. They turned around to look at Harry, who was still lounging against Sirius. Dumbledore stood up waved his wand in the air and a giant, thick red and gold quilt, with a lion on it, appeared. He covered Harry with it. Harry was initially embarrassed, he was fine, he wasn't cold. But the weight of the covers felt too good to remove them.

The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered

Sirius placed another, but lighter, blanket over top the gold one. This one was blue, with a giant broomstick on it.

and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger.

Lupin took a plate of snacks from Mrs. Weasely and he himself placed some chocolates on the plate. He handed Harry a piece of fruit and waited for Harry to eat it.

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.

"In my office, going through all the replies and awaiting yours, Mr. Potter."

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.

"A typical Harry thought." snorted Ron. Hermione turned to glare at him.

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.

"Good idea, Potter, have a plan already, ready to use."

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?

Few people squirmed in their seats, this was getting scary.

One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds...twenty...ten...nine-maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy-

"Do it!" yelled the Weasely twins. "It would be so worth it!"

three...two...one...

BOOM.

McGonagall yelled. People had fallen off their chairs and landed on the floor. Sirius and Lupin instinctly placed their bodies over Harry's to protect him. Even Dumbledore jumped a little. Moody was cursing very loudly towards the Transfigurations Professor.

"Constant vigilance, Alastor." said McGonagall said simply. People around the school started to laugh hard, but was silenced by the look the retired Auror sent them.

The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.

"Who the bloody hell is it?" said Lupin. Harry and Sirius looked at him in shock.

"You cursed Moony!" said Sirius with an impressed look.

"Hey! I'm human..." he stated.

"Hardly." Umbridge said, cutting him off.

Third years and up snarled at her. Even the teachers looked at her in fury.

"More human then you ever will be!" yelled Harry.

"Don't you dare talk to me! You worthless boy!" she spat back.

Harry flinched, it wasn't from her insulting him, just the words. He heard them somewhere before recently, who said it? He couldn't remember. It must have something to do with the incident, but what was it? Harry's brain was still a little fuzzy from the fever and he couldn't think straight half the time.

While Harry was sitting in the bowl thinking, McGonagall stood up, walked over to her and punched her soundly in the jaw again. Knocking Umbridge once again to the floor, and she was once again, out cold.

"PROFESSOR! YOU ATTACKED..." yelled the Minister.

"SOMEONE WHO EARNED IT!" screamed McGonagall. The school erupted in cheers.

"I will have you arrested, Minerva!" said Fudge looking wildly around, "And I have plenty of witnesses."

"I'm sorry Cornelius, did you say something?" said Madame Bones curiously. The Aurors, taking her lead, (for they had no love for the woman either) shrugged their shoulders too. The Minister watched as all the "witnesses" denied seeing anything. Even the Slytherins feigned blindness and said their attentions laid elsewhere. He sat down and tried to awaken his Undersecretary. To no avail, she wasn't waking up.