A/N: I was hoping to wait till I finish the Potters and the Chamber of Secrets before restarting on Year 2, but a reviewer on The Calm Before the Storm: Year 1 had ignited my muse and I just had to write out Year 2.

Well anyway, here's to The Calm Before the Storm: Year 2.

Elizabeth Gillies is the face-claim for Hailey.

"Third time this week!" Uncle Vernon roared at Hailey Potter from across the table. "If you can't control that owl, it'll have to go!"

"She's bored," Hailey replied, irritated that her uncle didn't bother to learn Hedwig's gender or name. She knew that they wouldn't, and she should've have expected it from them. "She's used to flying around outside. If I just let her out at night—"

"Do I look stupid to you?" snarled Uncle Vernon, with a bit of fried egg dangling from his bushy mustache.

Don't ask me ridiculous questions, Hailey thought.

"I know what'll happen if that owl's let out!" Vernon continued.

Hailey almost sighed. It wasn't the first time that an argument broke out over the table and she knew that it certainly wasn't going to be the last. She watched Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia exchange dark glances.

There was a long, loud belch coming from their son, Dudley. "I want more bacon."

"There's more in the frying pan sweetums." Aunt Petunia said, turning misty eyes on her massive son. "We must build you up while we've got the chance…I don't like the sound of that school food…"

"Nonsense, Petunia, I never went hungry when I was at Smeltings," said Uncle Vernon.

Smeltings was the school that Uncle Vernon had went to, that Dudley is now going too. Knobbly sticks were allowed in, which students used to whack each other with when the teachers weren't looking. Getting whacked with the stick was to prepare students for life. Hailey wasn't sure how getting whacked with a stick was going to prepare one for life, since she had gotten whacked with the Smelting's stick once in the knee last year. She was sure that she wasn't prepared to take on the world just yet.

"You! Pass the frying pan," Dudley ordered.

"You've forgotten the magic word," Hailey responded irritated. Dudley gasped and fell out of his chair. Aunt Petunia gave a small scream and covered her mouth with her hands. Uncle Vernon jumped to his feet and Hailey noticed that his veins in his temple were throbbing. She was sure that that wasn't a good sign for his health.

Vernon thundered, "What have I told you about saying the 'M' word in our house?"

"I meant 'please'!" Hailey said quickly.

"How dare you threaten Dudley?" Vernon roared, pounding the table with his fist. His face was now turning purple, which couldn't be healthy either.

Hailey started, "I didn't threaten—"

"I warned you! I will not tolerate mention of your abnormality under this roof!" Vernon continued.

"All right, all right," Hailey said, giving up trying to reason with him. Vernon sat back down and Hailey looked at Dudley. "Sorry, Dudley." She added and passed him the frying pan, after Petunia managed to heave her son to his feet.

Vernon sat back down, breathing heavily like the winded rhinoceros that Hailey saw last year at the zoo on Dudley's birthday, and he watched his niece through the corner of his eye.

Hailey should've been used to her uncle treating her like some bomb because she was a witch fresh out of her first year of Hogwarts. If her family was miserable because she was at Privet Drive, it was probably nothing compared to how she felt. She missed her friends from Gryffindor, Ron and Hermione. She missed her Ravenclaw Housemates, Michael and Mandy. She missed Ravenclaw Tower and hearing the wind whistling in the turrets, which was oddly relaxing. She missed eating as much food as she wanted in the Great Hall and she even missed Quidditch, which she played as a Seeker.

Speaking of magic, all of her spellbooks, her cauldron, and her Nimbus Two Thousand were locked in the cupboard under the stairs, which had formally been her bedroom for the past decade. The Dursleys wouldn't care if she lost her position on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. They certainly wouldn't care if she fell behind in her class because she hadn't done her homework.

She eyed her family. Uncle Vernon was large and neckless with an enormous black mustache, which he had grown after ripping half of it off last year. Aunt Petunia was horse-face and bony, with a rather large neck which she used to peek over the hedges to spy on her neighbours. Dudley was blond, pink, and porky, with watery blue eyes.

Hailey on the other hand was small and skinny with messy, elbow-length, dark auburn hair and hazel eyes. She had a lightning shaped scar on her forehead, which she spent most of life believing she got in a car crash that orphaned her, but it was because a mass-murderer by the name of Voldemort who tried to kill her, after he killed her parents. Last term, she had come face-to-face with Lord Voldemort and defeated him once again. The resulting scuffle with Lord Voldemort, who had attached himself to her previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, had caused her to wake up many nights sweating. She could still picture the livid face, the mad red eyes—

"Now we all know that today is a very important day." Uncle Vernon announced, interrupting Hailey from her thoughts.

Hailey ripped a piece of toast in half, looked up at him. One half was hoping that they remembered her twelfth birthday, and the other half was preparing for her crushed hopes. She never really received anything for her birthday and Christmas. The only thing she received was a pen from Uncle Vernon's drill company, but that was never on her birthday or Christmas. Although last term, she received a fifty pence piece for Christmas and a pair of Dudley's used socks.

"This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career," continued Vernon.

Hailey looked down and violently took a bite of the toast. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten about Vernon's dinner party. Since after the possibility that Vernon might get a large order from a rich builder and his wife, Vernon had made a schedule for where they will be at and had rehearsed it so many times to get it memorized.

"I think we should run through the schedule one more time," said Vernon. "We should all be in position at eight o'clock. Petunia, you will be—?"

"In the lounge, waiting to welcome them graciously to our home," said Petunia promptly,

Hailey pulled some crust off the bread and set it on her plate in a frowned face. She moved the two eggs as eyes. She grabbed a strip of bacon and ate it, before setting down a nub for the nose.

"Good, good." Vernon continued, "and Dudley?"

"I'll be waiting to open the door." Dudley put on a nasty, simpering smile. "May I take you coats, Mr and Mrs Mason?"

Hailey almost chocked on her orange juice, because it was hilarious that Dudley was trying to be polite, when she knew better.

Petunia cried rapturously, "They'll love him!"

Hailey almost laughed at her aunt's reaction.

"Excellent Dudley," Vernon said, proudly. He turned to Hailey, "and you girl?"

Hailey set the glass down and said, in a monotone, "I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending that I don't exist." She stabbed the egg yolk with her fork, causing yolk to spill out.

"Exactly," said Vernon nastily. "I will lead them into the lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them drinks. At eight-fifteen—"

"I'll announce dinner," continued Petunia.

Vernon smiled, "and, Dudley, you'll say—"

"May I take you though to the dining room, Mrs Mason?" Dudley asked, offering his arm to an invisible woman.

"My perfect little gentleman!" gushed Petunia.

Hailey knew that there was nothing gentlemanly about Dudley.

"And you?" Vernon asked rather viciously to Hailey.

"I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise, and pretending that I don't exist," responded Hailey in a monotone.

"Damn right," Vernon stated. "Now, we should aim to get in a few good compliments at dinner." He looked at his wife, "Petunia, any ideas?"

Petunia pretended to gush, "Vernon tells me you're a wonderful golfer, Mr Mason…Do tell me where you bought your dress, Mrs Mason…"

"Perfect…" Vernon turned to his son, "Dudley?"

Dudley looked like he was thinking, which looked like hard work. "How about—'we'd had to write an essay about our hero at school, Mr Mason, and I wrote about you.'"

Hailey wondered how believable that would be, considering Dudley probably never met the Masons before and knew next to nothing about them. Aunt Petunia burst into teas and hugged her son, while Hailey considered pulling a "Michael Corner" and slide under the table, but to hide her laughter instead out of embarrassment.

Vernon turned around on Hailey and said menacingly, "and you, girl?"

Hailey sighed and said in a defeated tone, "I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise, and pretending that I don't exist."

"Damn right, you will," Vernon replied gruffly. "The Masons don't know anything about you and it's going to stay that way." He looked at Petunia, "when dinner's over, you take Mrs Mason back to the lounge for coffee and I'll bring the subject around to drills. With any luck, I'll have the deal signed and sealed before the news at ten. We'll be shopping for a vacation home in Majorca this time tomorrow."

Hailey wondered what they would with her once they got the vacation home in Majorca. She wondered if they would drop her off at Mrs Figg's house, a mad old lady that lived down the street.

"Right—I'm off into town to pick up the dinner jackets for Dudley and me." He rounded on Hailey and snarled, "and you. You stay out of your aunt's way while she's cleaning. You understand?"

Hailey nodded, said, "yes, sir," and walked out back, tugging down her grey dress that Petunia dyed last year, when they thought that she was going to Stonewall High. Out of the entirety of her wardrobe, the only colour in there was a light blue shirt, a dark blue skirt, which served as her pajamas and was in her trunk, and a tie-dyed green and yellow shirt that Mrs Figg bought her from the second-hand shop.

She sat down on the garden bench and tugged at her dress again. It came to mid-thigh, since she grew two inches over the summer holidays, marking her at five-four. She sang under her breath, "Happy birthday to me…happy birthday to me…"

She was expecting cards and presents to show up since she had friends now, but apparently they forgot about her. They had planned to spend a week at each others' homes, before rotating homes.

She stared at the hedge and thought about how miserable she was going to be. She had to spend an entire evening pretending that she wasn't going to exist. There was countless times she considered using magic to unlock the padlock that Vernon had put on Hedwig's cage, but she didn't want to risk getting in trouble because underage witches and wizards weren't allowed to use magic outside of school. As she was thinking that over, she looked at the sky. It looked like it was going to be a very sunny day.

She turned to look at the hedge and noticed that the hedges had two enormous green eyes staring right back at her! She blinked and jumped up. The eyes stared at her and before she can contemplate if mental illness ran in the family, a jeering voice said, "I know what day it is."

The eyes blinked and vanished. Hailey frowned, wondering where the eyes went. She said, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I know what day it is," Dudley repeated, waddling up to her. He proceeded to pinch her arm.

She winced and said, "congratulations. I'm so proud that you finally learned the days of the week."

"Today's your birthday," Dudley sneered. "And you know what that means?"

Hailey almost paled at that. Every year, Dudley had to pinch her for each year she turned. Since it was her twelfth birthday, he was going to pinch her twelve times, hard enough to leave bruises. She responded, "you're going give to me my Birthday Pinches." Last year, he didn't give her the Birthday Pinches because Hagrid had gate-crashed it to give her the letter from Hogwarts. Maybe Dudley would be terrified of her not to give her any pinches.

"Hey, how come you haven't got any cards? Haven't you even got friends at that freak place?" Dudley taunted.

Hailey wondered the same thing, but she wasn't going to let him know that. She said coolly, "Better not let your mum hear you talking about my school."

Dudley hitched up his trousers which were slipping down his arse. He sounded suspicious, "Why're you staring at the hedge?"

Hailey couldn't help herself, "I'm trying remember what spell catches things on fire."

Dudley stumbled backwards, looking panicked. "You c-can't—Dad told you you're not do m-magic—he said he'll chuck you out of the house—and you haven't got anywhere else to go—you haven't got any friends to take you—"

"Abracadabra," Hailey said fiercely, which was the first thing that came to mind. "Hocus pocus—squiggly wiggly—"

"Mum!" howled Dudley, tripping over his feet as he dashed back toward the house. "Mum! She's doing you know what!"

Before Hailey could be impressed at how fast he ran, there was a screech from inside the house. Aunt Petunia came out of the house, holding the frying pan, which she waved around madly, looking like she was almost ready to foam at the mouth. She heaved the frying pan at Hailey, "You wash the dishes! Now! You won't eat until you're done with your chores!"

Hailey went to do as she was told. Doing the dishes was hard because Aunt Petunia allowed Dudley to eat ice cream. Once she was nearly done with the dishes, Dudley would put the used bowl in the sink before getting another bowl that she cleaned. After Dudley had gotten bored of doing that, Aunt Petunia made Hailey clean the windows, wash the car, vacuum the carpeting, and dust the pictures of Dudley. As she dusted the pictures she noticed that a new picture was added to Dudley Through the Ages, which was Dudley wearing his Smeltings uniform. She had snorted at the picture and Dudley had given her three hard pinches, causing her to continue her chores. After she dusted the pictures, Aunt Petunia made her trim the flower beds, prune and water the roses, and repaint the garden bench.

What wasn't helping was that Dudley was on his twelfth bowl of ice cream, which he slurped obnoxiously as Hailey worked.

She tried to drown out the slurping by wondering why she hadn't received anything from her friends, again. She thought that since Michael had been raised in the Muggle world, due to his mother hiding that she was a witch for eleven years, he would've sent her something through the Muggle mail system. Or at least Hermione, but they had owls, which was the wizard equivalent to the postal system.

As she painted a leg on the garden bench, sweat was already pouring down her back, and her shoulders were burning. She was probably going to have a tan line on her shoulders from the shoulder strap on her dress. As she was finishing painting the garden bench, which was probably half past seven when Aunt Petunia shouted, "Get in here! And walk on the newspaper!"

Hailey stood up, her knees aching and wiped her paint splattered hands on her dress, which was muddy, sweaty, and equally paint spattered. At least it had some colour add to the grey. Probably after the bench dries, they would send her out to paint it a different colour.

She moved into the kitchen and eyed the pudding, which was a huge mound of whipped cream and sugared violets. There was a loin of roast pork was sizzling in the oven.

"Eat quickly! The Masons will be here soon!" Aunt Petunia snapped, pointing to two cheese sandwiches on a paper plate. She scrubbed the paint splatters off as best as she can and went to eat the pitiful cheese sandwiches. After she finished eating, Petunia whisked the plate away and threw it in the trash.

"Upstairs! Take the bag of second-hand clothes with you, too!" Petunia said, "Hurry!" Hailey went in the hallway, noticing a rubbish bag by the stair. She grabbed the bag and noticed Uncle Vernon and Dudley in bow ties and dinner jackets. She held her laugh and went upstairs. She was on the landing when Vernon appeared at the foot of the stairs.

"Remember, girl—one sound—" Uncle Vernon warned.

Hailey nodded and tiptoed to her room, slipped inside, closed the door, tossed the rubbish bag on the office chair, and went to throw herself on her bed. Before she could do that, she encountered a problem, because a house-elf was jumping on it.

A/N: Well, there's chapter one. My older brother liked to pinch me numerous times on my birthdays. Like when I was ten, he had to pinch me ten times, although he stopped doing that a while ago.