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Chapter 3: Coming of Age Bringing Tragedy
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A week later, Hermione and Ron brought Harry back to Privet Drive where he would spend his very last week in that hellhole. They apparated to Mrs. Figg's, and then they parted ways, Hermione and Ron going back to the Burrow, Harry going down the street. When he got back, he was greeted with an empty house. It looked as though the Dursley's moved out while he was gone. Harry climbed the stairs up to his room, where the padlocks had been placed on the door, to try and keep him from getting in. Harry laughed to himself, Uncle Vernon didn't know that preventing underage wizardry wasn't the Ministry's top priority, so Harry could easily get into his room again. Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at all the locks.
"Alohamora (sp?)." The locks all undid themselves, and Harry opened the door. For the most part it looked the same as it did when he left, except for two envelopes on his desk. His name was printed on the envelopes in his aunt's tidy script. One had just his name on it, the other had his name and underneath his name were the words, `Do not open until July 31st. Harry opened the first one and found Petunia's writing in a letter.
Dear Harry,
I'm sure at this moment you're probably wondering where we are, but probably aren't too concerned. I'm not sure where we're headed at the moment, but we'll return the day after your seventeenth birthday. Vernon, in all his insanity, wanted to be as far away from you as possible the minute you became of age, and so he packed us up and soon we'll be leaving. I don't know if I'll ever see you again, I don't blame you if you never want to see all of us ever again; it's my fault for that. But basically I just wanted to say goodbye and wish you well, and also to apologize for sixteen years of misery that you spent in this house. I want you to know, if I could go back in time, I'd change everything. We were afraid, afraid of what you could become. If you need a reason for that, I can explain in three words; Lily and James. Even a ignorant muggle like myself could see the power that my sister possessed even at eleven, and when she met her counter-part at school, I could see that if they were to marry and have children, their offspring would have power that would be unthinkable. So, naturally, we were scared.
Another thing I want you to know, deep down, I loved my sister. She was my only sibling, and before she went off to Hogwarts, we were best friends. But I think my hate for her grew because of jealousy. She was the baby, and was going off to a wizarding school, while I was just a plain, every day mediocre person. The day I found out she died was the day that you turned up on our doorstep, and that night, I think I cried. I cried for all those years that I had hated her, and cried for the short life that she lived (she and your father were only twenty), and cried for the one-year-old that would never know his parents. And believe me, I think of that every day. I can see her staring back at me when you looked at me with her eyes. I wish you could've known her, and your father. I never knew James all that well, but naturally I knew Lily extremely well. She was always full of life, mostly all smiles, except around me, and she was beautiful. That was another reason for envy from me.
I want to say that I'm proud of you. More so than I am of my own son. You're the one that can and will do something with your life, Dudley's more content to spend the rest of his life wedged into an armchair, watching hours upon hours of television, eating bags of potato chips. I don't know what profession you want to go into, but I have a feeling you'll do what your parents did. They were both…oh what was the word…Aurors? Does that sound right? Some defense job, that hunted down the dark wizards of your world. You'll do well at it, should that be what line of work you go into.
I'm sorry about what happened to Sirius. I met him twice, I think, and I could see why your mum and dad named him your godfather, and why he and James were best friends. It's sad that you'll only had a few years to get to know him. And I hope everything turns out all right for everyone following Dumbledore's death. Death is a part of life, Harry, and everything happens for a reason.
Good luck with fighting Lord Voldemort. I hope you kill the bastard. In the meantime, keep your friends close. That Hermione girl seems like a good young woman. I can see why you and her are best friends, and…(the next part made Harry's jaw drop)…she'd be a good match for you. Something to think about. I'm sure by now you've heard quite a bit that you're a lot like your father. What with all the letters that your Head of House sends me two or three times a year. But you're more like your mother, I also get the letters every time you do something good too. Don't get me wrong, James did good things too, but I see it more from Lily's son rather than James's. Goodbye, Harry, and good luck. I probably won't see you again, but I hope that I might, and I hope that everything turns out right for you. I wish I could be there to say goodbye in person, but not everything works out the way we want.
Aunt Petunia
P.S. Help yourself to anything while we're gone, no one will care.
Harry was surprised to say the least after he finished the letter. He never knew the kinds of things his aunt felt, or really how much she knew. He tucked the letter back in the envelope and placed it between two pages in Quidditch Through the Ages. He went downstairs and helped himself to a pop (soda, coke, soft drink, whatever you happen to call it), and plopped into the couch in the living room. His aunt's words were running through his head, the explanations and the little advice stuck the most. It was at that time that he forgave her, he realized that he couldn't stay mad at her anymore.
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July 31st rolled around and Harry again was spending his birthday by himself with no one to wish him happy birthday in person. He had the birthday cards and presents from his friends, and some fan mail from people who found out that he turned seventeen. He didn't open any of the ones from people he didn't know, because you can never be too cautious in the middle of a war, especially when you're the target of the enemy. Instead, he through them into the garbage disposal and ducked as paper shards flew all over. Since Ron and Hermione were coming to get him this evening, he figured he should pack his things. He could just see the look Hermione would give him if he wasn't ready when they came. The owl carrying the Daily Prophet for him flew through the window, and Harry paid the fee and took his paper, and the owl took flight again. On the bottom corner of front page was a short article,
Mysterious Muggle Attacks in the Middle of the Night
At exactly midnight on 31 July, two muggles were found dead with the Dark Mark sent over their house, writes Miranda Hixby, Special Correspondent. At this time we are unable to disclose their names, but further reports will be posted as soon as possible. Authorities are questioning the Death Eaters motives for these deaths because it's unusual for Death Eaters to pick a specific time of day like midnight. And this writer believes that the specific time of this particular day might have something to do with `the Chosen One', Harry Potter, like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is sending his calling card. With the death of Albus Dumbledore, one wonders what kind of people are still out there for the Boy Who Lived.
Harry rolled his eyes. This writer was almost as bad as Rita Skeeter was. After scanning through the rest of the Prophet, he folded it up and left it on the table. He got up and stretched. He had total freedom on his birthday, it was the first time he had ever had a chance to do anything. Now he was legally an adult in the wizarding world and could do magic without taking the chance that Ministry officials would come and expel him. Going back to the letters he received, he opened a letter from Ron. It read,
Harry,
Happy Birthday! Sorry I didn't send your present with you, but when Hermione and come get you tonight, a party's waiting for you at the Burrow. See you at seven tonight.
- Ron
Harry supposed that the party wouldn't wait till tomorrow, it'd be waiting for him when he got there that night. An official Ministry letter was among his mail and it read,
Dear Mr. Potter,
With your coming of age, the opportunity has come up that you may take your apparition test. Should you choose to do so, contact the Ministry with an available time for you.
Sincerely,
Louisa Marshnal
Head of Department of Wizard Travel
Harry folded up the letter and took out a piece of parchment, wrote down a time and sent it to the Ministry. He was nervous, the last time he apparated, he needed assistance, and wasn't all together sure he could do it by himself. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, another one pushed itself in the previous one's place. He was talking to Lupin at Bill and Fleur's wedding, and the topic was apparition. Even then, Harry wasn't sure he could do it, and it was at that point where Lupin smiled and said,
"Harry, you're James and Lily's son. I don't really think there is any magical capability that you don't possess."
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A few hours later, Harry had gone trough the visitors' entrance of the Ministry and presented his wand to be checked. The security guard found it ok, and sent him to the apparition floor. A surly wizard marked one spot with his wand and told Harry to stand on it. Then he marked a spot twenty feet away and told him to apparate from one spot to another. Remembering the brief training he had last year, Harry concentrated on the spot and kept willing himself to appear on it, and he shocked himself to find that he had. The wizard marked three more spaces; each time was farther and farther apart. Finally, the examiner decided Harry had passed, and twenty minutes later, Harry apparated out of the Ministry and to Mrs. Figg's backyard with his license in hand. When Harry got back to his room to finish his packing, he found the second letter that Petunia had left him that said not to open until July 31st. He opened it and read,
Dear Harry,
When you were left in our care, a few things came with you from your parents' house. Lily had written on a piece of paper that if anything should happen to her that these things should be given to you on your seventeenth birthday. They are at the bottom drawer of my dresser in the hall closet, underneath a blue quilt. There are three books in there, all three of them belong to you.
Petunia
Harry set the letter down and went to the hall closet. He found the blue quilt underneath a green one, thinking that Petunia didn't do all that good of a job hiding the books, but then remembered that he had only opened this door once or twice, and it was to hide from Dudley. Harry found his books, a small baby blue, a crimson square one, and a small emerald green one. The green one had the word, "Journal" written on it, and on the inside cover was his mother's signature. The crimson square one was a scrapbook Lily had made of her years in school, her wedding, the birth of her son, etc. Harry opened it and saw his mother and the Marauder's smiling and waving at him. The third book, the baby blue one, was Harry's baby book. The first page was titled, "Arrival" and had all the birth information on Harry.
Name: Harry James Potter
Date of Birth: July 31st, 1980
Time: 12:00 A.M.
Weight: 7 lbs. 4 oz.
Mother: Lily Elizabeth Evans-Potter
Father: James Michael Potter
Maternal Grandparents: David and Rose Evans (both deceased)
Paternal Grandparents: Michael and Cecilia Potter (both deceased)
Godfather: Sirius Black
Godmother: Alice Haysing-Longbottom
Aunts/Uncles (mother's side): Petunia Evans-Dursley, Vernon Dursley
Aunts/Uncles (father's side): none
Harry looked at the page with curiosity. He never knew his grandparents' names, on either side of his family, but wasn't surprised to find that all four of them were dead. He found it interesting that his godmother was Alice Longbottom, thought sadly that both his godfather and his godmother were either dead or insane because of being tortured. Harry closed his baby book and pulled out the scrapbook. Apparently, taking pictures was one of Lily's favorite things to do. Almost every event had a dozen or more pictures for it. There were quite a few pages dedicated to James and Lily, and a few for the Marauders. Harry kept looking at the pictures in the scrapbook, and lost track of time. Faintly, downstairs he heard someone knocking on the door. He looked at his alarm clock and noticed it read 7:10. Harry jumped out of his chair and ran downstairs. He was supposed to meet Hermione and Ron ten minutes ago. He opened the door and saw Ron on the step.
"Sorry, I lost track of time. And I haven't even packed yet."
"I was worried. I thought something happened to you on the way to Mrs. Figg's."
"I'm really sorry, Ron. But I just need to finish packing and we can go." They both went upstairs and packed up all of the things in Harry's life into the trunk. Harry shrunk it down and put it in his pocket. On the way down the stairs, Harry asked,
"Is Hermione still at Mrs. Figg's?"
"No. She didn't come with me," Ron said expressionlessly.
"Why didn't she? Where is she?"
"She at her house," Ron said in the same expressionless tone.
"I thought it wasn't safe for her there?"
"She's protected there. The Ministry is there with her."
"Why?"
"Did you read the Prophet this morning?"
"I skimmed through it."
"Did you read that article about the muggles dying last night at midnight?"
"Yeah, I did. About all that crap that they think it has something to do with me, because of the time and day it happened. Do you know who it…?" Harry trailed off, realizing why Hermione was at home and the Ministry was there. He stopped walking and looked at his best friend.
"Hermione's parents were the ones who were killed?" Ron slowly nodded.
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A/n: Well, I finally got the next chapter out. Again, I apologize for long times between updates. School and work keeps me busy, and there are times when I just don't get a chance to write. Well, please review!!!!
Husker_fan_2006
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