Another Potter

thirty one

chapter thirty one
the prisoner of azkaban

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Amelia Potter was a highly unusual girl in many ways. For one thing, she hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, she really wanted to do her homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And she also happened to be a witch.

It was nearly midnight, and she was lying on her stomach in bed, the blankets drawn right over her head like a tent, a flashlight in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow. Amelia moved the tip of her eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as she looked for something that would help her write her essay, 'Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless -- discuss.'

The quill paused at the top of a likely looking paragraph. Amelia moved her flashlight closer to the book, and read:

Non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognizing it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame-Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty-seven times in various disguises.

Amelia put her quill between her teeth and reached underneath her pillow for her inkbottle and a roll of parchment. Slowly and very carefully, she unscrewed the ink bottle, dipped her quill into it, and began to write, pausing every now and then to listen, because if any of the Dursleys heard the scratching of his quill on their way to the bathroom, she'd probably find herself locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the rest of the summer.

The Dursley family of Number Four, Privet Drive, was the reason that Amelia never enjoyed her summer holidays. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and their son, Dudley, were Amelia's only living relatives (except for her older twin brother Harry, who was also a wizard). They were Muggles, and they had a very medieval attitude toward magic. 

Amelia's dead parents, who had been a witch and wizard themselves, were never mentioned under the Dursleys' roof. For years, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had hoped that if they kept Amelia and Harry as downtrodden as possible, they would be able to squash the magic out of them. To their fury, they had not been successful. These days they lived in terror of anyone finding out that Amelia and Harry had spent most of the last two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most they could do, however, was to lock away Amelia and Harry's spell books, wands, cauldrons, and broomsticks at the start of the summer break, and forbid them to talk to the neighbours.

This separation from his spell books had been a real problem for the twins, because their teachers at Hogwarts had given them a lot of holiday work. One of the essays, a particularly nasty one about shrinking potions, was for Amelia's favourite teacher, Professor Snape. The twins had therefore seized their chance in the first week of the holidays. 

While Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley had gone out into the front garden to admire Uncle Vernon's new company car (in very loud voices, so that the rest of the street would notice it too), the twins had crept downstairs, Amelia picked the lock on the cupboard under the stairs, grabbed some of their books, and hidden them in their bedrooms. As long as they didn't leave spots of ink on the sheets, the Dursleys need never know that he was studying magic by night.

Amelia had had no word from any of her wizarding friends for five long weeks, and this summer was turning out to be almost as bad as the last one. There was just one very small improvement. After swearing that she or Harry wouldn't use her to send letters to any of their friends, Harry had been allowed to let his owl, Hedwig, out at night and Amelia was allowed to let her cat, Marie, wonder around the house as long as she didn't bring any mud, dirty or dead animals back into the house. Uncle Vernon had given in because of the racket Marie and Hedwig made if they were locked in their cages all the time.