24: Ron to the Rescue

386 11 0
                                    

Uncle Vernon was as bad as his word. The following morning, he paid a man to fit bars on our window. He himself fitted acat-flap in the bedroom door, so that small amounts of food couldbe pushed inside three times a day. They let Harry and me out to use thebathroom morning and evening. Otherwise, we were locked in our room around the clock.Three days later, the Dursleys were showing no sign of relenting,and Harry and I couldn't see any way out of this situation. We lay on our beds watching the sun sinking behind the bars on the window andwondered miserably what was going to happen to us. What was the good of magicking ourselves out of this room ifHogwarts would expel us for doing it? Yet life at Privet Drive hadreached an all-time low. 

Now that the Dursleys knew they weren'tgoing to wake up as fruit bats, we had lost our only weapon. Dobbymight have saved Harry and me from horrible happenings at Hogwarts,but the way things were going, we'd probably starve to death anyway.The cat-flap rattled and Aunt Petunia's hand appeared, pushing 2 bowls of canned soup into the room. Harry, whose insides wereaching with hunger, (he kept complaining)  jumped off his bed and seized it. Passing me mine, I dropped my soggy vegetables in Hedwig's cage.  The soup wasstone-cold, but harry drank half of it in one gulp.

"Hungry?" I asked sadlyy, he nodded, mouth full of soup. Then he crossed theroom to Hedwig's cage and tipped the soggy vegetables at the bottom of the bowl into her empty food tray. She ruffled her feathersand gave us a look of deep disgust."It's no good turning your beak up at it — that's all we've got,"said Harry grimly.He put the empty bowl back on the floor next to the cat-flap andlay back down on the bed

The room was growing dark. Exhausted, stomach rumbling,mind spinning over the same unanswerable questions, Harry and I fellinto an uneasy sleep.I woke up to Harry's voice "Stop it," Harry muttered a. "Leave me alone . . . cut it out . . . I'm trying to sleep. . . ." "Harry?" I asked hurriedly crossing the room shaking him. He opened his eyes. Moonlight was shining through the bars onthe window. His eyes went wide, I followed his gaze and matched his expression, ogling through the bars at us wasafreckle-faced, red-haired, long-nosed someone.

Ron Weasley was outside Our Window

Emma PotterWhere stories live. Discover now