The rain lashed heavily against the windows of number 4 Privet Drive as it had done for most of the holidays now and the occupant of the smallest bedroom was beginning to believe that he was responsible for the foul turn of weather. Normally this idea would be stupid nonsense, however the wiry boy, whose unruly black hair was plastered against the cold glass wasn't normal, in fact he was a wizard, and he was unsure whether wizards had the power to change the weather with their moods. For Harry potter's mood certainly reflected that of the outside world, as he sat with his green eyes dull and lifeless in sorrow.
The reason this teenager was so depressed was that he had recently lost yet another person he knew and again it appeared to be his fault. First his parents had died trying to save Harry from Voldemort attempt to kill him as a baby. Then, in Harry's forth year, Cedric had died because Harry had convinced him to take the Triwizard Cup with him, which was actually a portkey to Voldemort's hideaway. Now though was much worse. He had coped with losing his parents as he had never known them, with Cedric it was much the same in that he was just another student at Hogwarts. However this last person had affected him the most. The last person who had died because of Harry was his own Godfather, Sirius Black, who had been the only father figure he had known. He may have only have met him three years ago having spent the entire year believing that Sirius had been trying to kill him, but after that fateful night he had been offered a new home away from the heartless Dursley family, only to have it snatched away by a bumbling minister of magic Cornelius Fudge. However they had written to each other and Harry had grown fond of his father's best friend only to have him snatched away again just when things were looking up. At the end of June Harry had travelled to the Ministry of Magic after having had a vision, however he had turned up only to find the place crawling with death eaters. After a long battle the Order of the Phoenix turned up and managed to apprehend all but one Death Eater. Bellatrix Lestrange had caught Sirius with a stunning spell causing him to fall through a veiled arch that had supposedly transported him of this planet at least. This death eater had managed to escape after she fled with Voldemort who had turned tail when Dumbledore showed up. Even thinking about Dumbledore made Harry angry as he thought about what he had been ignorant of due to Dumbledore's meddling. However despite this Harry couldn't help be amazed at the show of power that both Dumbledore and Voldemort had shown. Harry wondered how he was supposed to match anything shown that night. But he knew he would have to because it had been prophesied over sixteen years ago.
Harry finished this train of thought as a loud crack of thunder rolled across the sky above the house. He knew where this train of thought led and he had had enough of the nightmares that constantly plagued him every night since the summer had began and the constant re-telling in his mind of the prophesy. Instead Harry fell back on his bed and began re-reading a defence book he had received last Christmas. He had only read half of chapter four when he was aware of a sharp tapping coming from the window. Throwing it open revealed a soaking, bedraggled snowy owl and a small fluffy grey tennis ball with wings. The snowy owl allowed Harry to remove the letter attached to her leg before she shook the water from her wings and flew over to the cage in the corner for a drink. Harry threw a few owl treats to Hedwig before grabbing Pig from where he was zooming around the light fitting. Surprisingly the owl had not one letter as Harry had expected but two. Having removed the letters Harry threw Pig out the window and watched as it was swept back past by a gust of wind. Checking to see that Hedwig was Ok Harry then set about reading his mail. The first being a letter from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
I hope you are doing all right after last year. I know it must be hard having to deal with this on top of everything else but it's really not you fault. Anyway I have looked in a few books and they say that at times of great lose it often helps to confide in someone whether they are a friend, colleague or just someone whose is available. So I hope that you will talk to someone about everything, as it doesn't help to bottle things up. I hope those muggles are treating you better than before, though I still don't know why Professor Dumbledore makes you stay at that dreadful place but he is the Headmaster so I am sure he has a perfectly good reason.
Hermione
Harry grinned at the thought of Hermione raiding the library to help him, after all Hermione's motto was 'If in doubt, to the library'. In turn Ron had come up wit the motto 'If Hermione doesn't know it, It doesn't exist.'
The next letter had a neat feminine script written which Harry didn't recognise so he decided to leave it till last, so he picked up a heavy parchment envelope and peeled it open after noticing Ron's untidy scrawl.
A'right Harry
Hope you doing well. (Well as well as you can be anyway.) Also you need to stop acting as if this is all your fault, Hermione said that you might think that Sirius died because of you but she said to tell you to stop blaming you self for everything. Plus the way I see it's all You-Know-Who's fault anyway.
Mums frantic with worry that you're not being fed properly. She keeps jumping Dumbledore every time he walks through the door insisting that you be moved to the Burrow at once. (At first Dumbledore wanted you moved to you-know-where but Mum insisted that you wouldn't want to go there and finally he gave in.) So Dumbledore said to tell you to be ready to leave at any time, as they can't tell you when in case the letter gets intercepted. So I hope I see you soon.
Ron
P.S. In case you're wondering the other letters from Ginny. For some reason she insisted on sending you a letter.
Well that was certainly an interesting note. It was nice to know that some one cared more about him than just keeping him alive, in fact the fact that Mrs Weasley had had the foresight to realise that he would never want to go back to Grimmauld place made him smile all the more.
Having digested the fact that he would be leaving the Dursleys sooner than even he had dared to hope, he picked up the third and final letter with a small amount of trepidation. Ginny had never sent him a letter before and so he wondered why she had decided to send one now. Suddenly, he remembered that Ginny had helped a lot at the end of last year and he might go as far as to say that they had become friends so he supposed that she had just as much right to send him letters as Ron or Hermione. With that thought sorted out he slid a finger into the envelope and withdrew the letter from with in.
Dear Harry.
I hope you weren't too surprise to receive my letter as I felt that I had become one of your friends. (I hope I wasn't wrong in this assumption). Well any way I assume you have had enough letters from your fan club telling you to stop beating yourself up over this so I won't bother. Instead I thought you might like a light letter about nothing so here goes….
Ginny's letter then went on to describe how various teams were doing in the league (it seems that the Wimbleborn wasps were top with the Cannons being bottom, much to Ron's displeasure) and how Fred and George's shop was doing a roaring trade just from there school reputation alone. It also went on to say that she hoped that if he was eating properly that he had best send a letter to her Mum or Law or no Law she would hex him into next week for worrying her Mum like that.
…. Also I heard you were coming here soon so I hope to see you then.
Ginny.
P.S. You should see the number of owls Ron and Hermione are sending between them and I'm sure you're not the topic of all of them. (Nudge, Nudge)
Harry was not sure what to make of that last comment, but he supposed he would just have to ask her. In any case he was very glad that someone had realised that he didn't want a flood of owls showing concern and pity and that even though he was pleased that people cared that much for him he much preferred Ginny's letter. In fact the only thing that surprised him the most was that it had been Ginny and not one of his other friends that had thought deeper about Harry's emotional needs at this moment in time. However the more he though about it the less surprised he as. After all Ron, like Harry, wasn't much good on the emotional front and Hermione would be to caught up in research to stop and think things through. If Hermione had one fault it was that she always over complicated things that were often quite simple.
So it was that with a much lighter heart that Harry drifted off to sleep that night.
'What do you mean you couldn't get in,' yelled a high pitched voice from behind the high backed chair by the fireplace.
'Th Th there was some kind of wards placed on the house my Lord. Every time we went near the place it would disappear and would only reappear when we moved away.' Came the voice of the blond haired man knelling on the carpet before the chair.
'I won't stand for this constant failure Malfoy. Twice now you have failed to capture Potter. Perhapes a dose of punisement will change you mind. Remember Malfoy that I don't tolerate failure.'
'Yes my Lord.' Malfoy replied before kissing the hem of his master's robes. 'I won't fail you again.'
'No. Indeed you won't. CRUCIO.' A wand had appeared before the now screaming man and the only sound that could be heard over the anguished screams of the Death Eater was the cruel high pitched laugh of Lord Voldemort as he sat in the chair with is gleaming red eyes shut as his reptillian face twisted in the act of laughter.
Hundreds of miles away Harry Potter woke screaming to find himself being shaken awake by the large ham sized fist of Vernon Dursley, Harry's overweight Uncle.
'WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ALL THIS BOY. I WILL NOT BE WOKEN AT ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT BY AN UNWELCOME FREAK. EXPLAIN YOURSELF NOW,' Vernon screamed into Harry's face whilst still shaking him roughly by the shoulder.
'It was just a nightmare.' Harry struggled to reply as he was shaken vigorously.
'I won't have it boy. That's the last time you wake my family up in the middle of the night with your unnecessary screaming. You are to pack your things and leave. Immediately.' And before Harry could even begin to argue he had picked up Harry's trunk and flung it unceremoniously down the stairs and left the room.
"What now" thought Harry. It really didn't look like he had much choice, so he sent a quick letter to Dumbledore explaining what had happened and let Hedwig out of her cage and watched her fly out the open window over the steely grey roofing tiles and off into the inky blackness of the night. Harry knew that whereever he ended up she would be able to find him.
Harry quickly gathered together the few objects that were scattered around his room before diving under the bed to retrieve the few items stashed under the loose floorboard. Having grabbed every item that hadn't been in his trunk and after tucking Hedwig's cage under his arm he made his way down the stairs where he found all three Dursleys watching him with different expressions on the faces. His uncle's was one of pure vehemence and anger that he had had to put up with Harry for the past fifteen years. Whilst his overweight whale of a cousin Dudley showed signs of glee at the thought that Harry was finally getting what he deserved. The only expression that surprised Harry was the look of regret that his aunt was wearing, but after a moments quick contemplation he put it down to the fact that she was probably thinking what the order might do after the warning they had given the Dursleys on the platform at Kings Cross at the end of the school year.
Thinking that at least the retribution the order might enact on the Dursleys was worth the fact that he now had nowhere to live bar Hogwarts. So it was with mixed feelings that Harry dragged he trunk down the still wet road as he contemplated what he was going to do. Harry suddenly had a flash of inspiration and without a moment hesitation he whipped out his wand and threw is arm out into the road as if hailing a taxi. Seconds later with a blast likened to that of a cannon a violent purple triple decker bus appeared and screeched to a halt next to Harry causing several of the occupants and there beds to slide forward several feet. Before Stan Shunpike, the conductor, could even get out to greet Harry with the usual response, Harry had hauled his trunk onboard and thrust a bag of sickles at Stan.
'Were d'you want t' go,' asked the pimpled youth.
With a moments hesitation Harry replied, 'The Burrow, Ottery St Catchpole.'
With a loud bang, the bus disappeared from the quite trimmed road of Privet drive and appeared hurtling through the heart of London. As a tube station jumped out of the way Harry lay down and decided to try and get some sleep and, despite the reoccurrence of the beds sliding up and down the bus every time it disappeared from one area to another, he finally managed to drift into a light sleep. So it was that the conductor shook him awake a while later and with a quick glance out of the window Harry took in the now familiar view of the lop-sided building.
'You wana 'and wi'h 'hat,' Stan offered, indicated the trunk.
'Thanks.' Having grabbed the end of the trunk, they lowered it into the yard before Stan jumped back of the bus and shouted something to Ernie the driver. Seconds later the doors slammed shut and the Purple bus banged out of existence.