Harry Potter and The Whispers of A Serpent

Chapter 3

Summer holidays rolled in but Harry was nowhere close to mastering the ability to apparate from one point of his room to the other. He did manage to injure himself doing so, slicing his arm open mid apparation. A lot of stitches were involved in that and a lot of excuses to give to the doctor. Muggles couldn't know about magic, the snake had been adamant about that.

Other than that there were no other incidents at Privet Drive. Harry kept to his own devices, polishing the things he could do, and trying things he couldn't do yet while the rest of the family stayed far from him. The Boa Constrictor incident spooked them, making them fear Harry in a new way. "He could control snakes," Uncle Vernon had said that night after Piers had gone home and it was just the four of them. They kept Harry further away from them.

And so Harry would watch from a distance as Dudley broke his cine camera, crashed his remote control aeroplane, and knocked down old Mrs Figg as she crossed Pricet Drive on her crutches. He felt bad for Mrs Figg, whose recovery from the broken leg had been set back.

Harry hardly left the house in the summer, only to stretch his legs in the backyard. Even that time he had been cut short when Dudley's gang started hanging out at the house. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest were all quite happy to join Dudley in terrorizing the rest of their class. Harry used to be one of the terrorized until he broke Uncle Vernon's leg and sent a message. Now Dudley, and more recently Piers who saw Harry as the one who saved him and counted him as his new friend, kept the rest away from Harry.

had been admitted to a different secondary school, one his father went to before him and would start come September. Piers would be going there as well. Where Harry would be going was still up for debate since no talk about his education had been brought up.

"Wherever it is you end up Potter, you'll probably get your head dumped in a toilet and flushed down it too with Dudley," said Dennis one day when talk of schools had come up and Harry happened to be on his way to the backyard. "Why don't we go upstairs and practice?"

"No thank you, I wouldn't want your fat head to clog up the toilet" Harry threw back snarkily and stood there, looking Dennis in the eyes with a smile. It took Dudley and Piers both to stop Dennis from jumping Harry that day. Malcolm and Gordon had found It funny and were rolling on the floor laughing.

July soon rolled in Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to do his school shopping. Harry had been left with Mrs Figg, who had broken her leg again tripping on her cat. She let Harry watch television and gave him a piece of chocolate cake which Harry politely declined.

The Evening Dudley paraded around the living room in his new uniform, maroon tailcoats orange knickerbockers and flat straw hats called boaters. Harry swallowed his laugh at the sight of his cousin and only raised his thumb when the boy stopped and waited for Harry to comment. Why Dudley did so was a mystery to Harry.

The following morning the mail arrived and Dudley was sent to collect it. The boy returned with a stack of them in one hand and only one letter in another.

"Harry's got a letter," Dudley said out loud.

Harry who was coincidentally having one of those rare family breakfasts almost choked on his food.

"Gimme" said Harry holding his hand out for the said letter. But before he could take it, his uncle swiped it.

"Who'd write to you" the man grunted and ripped the letter open. The longer he read, the greyish-whiter his complexion got, like old porridge.

"'P-P-Petunia!" Uncle Vernons stuttered.

Harry watched with a frown as his frowning aunt walked over, wiping her wet hands on her apron. She took the letter and for a moment it looked as though she might faint.