Harry starred dreamily out of his bedroom window of number 4 Privet Drive. The summer holidays had been long and boring. He hadn’t left the house all summer on Dumbledore’s orders. He knew that someone from the Order of the Phoenix was watching over him from nearby. He sighed and rubbed his eyes; it had been almost two months since his godfather, Sirius Black, had been murdered by an escaped death eater, Bellatrix Levesque, Sirius’ cousin, in a duel. Harry still blamed himself for his death. Voldemort had returned and now the whole of the wizarding world believed him, unlike last year when he had been called unstable and crazy by the now converted. His birthday was fast approaching though he doubted he would receive any presents due to an increase in security for Harry against Voldemort and owls flocking to privet Drive may put him at risk though Voldemort couldn’t reach him, his deatheaters could. Ron Weasley, Harry’s best friend had given an empty portrait frame, he had told Harry that Katerina Silvermoore, Ron’s adopted older sister and Sirius’ niece, had invented it and to keep it safe; But to keep it somewhere with lots of room. Ron had refused to say anymore and Kat had just grinned when he’d asked her about it and told him to wait and see. He glanced behind him at the frame, he’d hung it on the wall above his bed. The frame glittered in the sunlight. His thoughts drifted back to Sirius, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him and whether or not he’d still be alive if he hadn’t gone to the department of mysteries to save what he thought was Sirius from Voldemort, though it had turned out to be a trap set by Voldemort to acquire the prophecy kept in the department of mysteries. He glanced down at his watch and turned away from the window to go down stairs for dinner. Outside his window an Old woman with a long crooked nose stopped opposite the house, smiled grimly and sat down upon a garden wall. She looked up at Harry’s bedroom window, now empty and sighed.
Harry entered the kitchen and was ignored by all three of the Dursleys, though his cousin Dudley seemed to break out in a sweat. Harry ate in silence whilst his uncle Vernon droned on about drills to his aunt Petunia, both seemingly unaware of his presence. This was until desert was served, when Vernon Dursley cleared his throat and meaningfully stared out of the kitchen window,
“Boy, Your aunt Petunia, Dudley and I are going to stay with your aunt Marge for the next few weeks. Your to stay here,” Harry’s face lit up at this, Vernon noticed this and quickly continued, “You won’t be on your own mind you, Mrs Figg is going to stop by during the day time to keep an eye on and if when we get back this house is burnt to a cinder you will be out on your ear and whoever is buying you all that...that...unnatural stuff for that school of yours.” His voice had dropped to a whisper as if Vernon was talking about some sort of treason “Can damn well pay for this house to be rebuilt.” Harry had to force away the grin that had smothered his face and suppress the happiness that had welled up inside him. He didn’t bother to tell his uncle that it was his parents money that had paid for his wand, robes and school supplies before he race from the dinner table and up the stairs. He reached for the nearest quill and parchment he could find and began to write furiously across the page. But stopped mid sentence and groaned. He couldn’t tell anyone about his uncle and aunt leaving him alone in the house for a few weeks, in fact he didn’t even know how long they’d be gone for. He rocked back on his chair deep in thought. If his aunt was leaving the house did that mean that the protection of his mothers blood that flowed in his aunts veins would also be gone? Did that mean that he would be vulnerable to Voldemort finding and killing him? If his aunt and uncle were gone up until school started again, how would he get to London to get the train or even to Diagon alley to everything he need for his next year at school, though his aunt and uncle had never taken him in the past it had always been someone in the magical community though this time was different, Voldemort was back and every wizard knew it, which meant that he couldn’t waltz into Diagon alley to collect his school supplies, he didn’t even know if it would be safe to take the Hogwarts express back to school at the beginning of September. The best thing to do would be to phone Hermionie, her parents were muggles and so he would be able to have at least some contact with the wizarding world, even if it was only a telephone call. Harry walked back down stairs and into the living room where the Dursleys were now seated, his uncle reading the paper, his aunt pouring over one of her magazines and Dudley sat two inches from the TV screen his piggy eyes focused completely on “Who wants to be a Fiveraire”
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