Emily Potter - Book 5 - Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 3 - The Extraction Team

"Hello there," I said with a smile upon seeing Hayley perching herself by my windowsill, "What did you bring?" I gently pulled out my arm out of the window and took her inside of the room, closing the window before opening the letters she dropped on my lap.

The letter that stood out the most was a small piece of parchment that was sloppily folded over three times it took me a few seconds to acquaint myself with the scrawls of handwriting:

Pack your trunk, we'll be leaving in 2 hours – M

M? Aunt Minerva does not sign her name like this, nor does she write like this. I'm sure it was the writing of a man, but not Moony/Remus. Even his handwriting was cleaner than this. I'm positive it's not from Molly.

I doubt that it's from Malfoy.

After several moments of thinking who might have sent it, I gave up, and chucked the letter in to the waste bin. Hayley flew to my lap, picking up a Howler with her beak, and then shoving it to my face. I frown at the Howler in the scarlet envelope, dare I open it? It doesn't even say who sent it. Before I could tear in, the Howler opened itself, tearing itself to shreds, floating in front of me:

WHAT 'RE YAH WAITING FOR, POTTER? PACK YOUR DAMN TRUNK, AND STEP ON IT! WE DON'T HAVE ALL BLOODY DAY, I'VE ALREADY INFORMED MINERVA IF THAT'S WHAT YER THINKING.

WELL? STOP SITTING THERE LIKE A PRINCESS AND GET TO IT!

It was Moody, it was Moody's voice. I grabbed the Howler and tossed it to the bin, thinking, why would he be the one to pick me up? Where are we going? Is Harry coming along?

~

"Hey, Big D!" Dudley turned, "Oh," he grunted. "It's you."

"How long have you been 'Big D' then?" said Harry.

"Shut it," snarled Dudley, turning away. "Cool name," said Harry, grinning and falling into step beside his cousin. "But you'll always be 'Ickle Diddykins' to me."

"I said, SHUT IT!" said Dudley, whose ham-like hands had curled into fists.

"Don't the boys know that's what your mum calls you?"

"Shut your face."

"You don't tell her to shut her face. What about 'Popkin' and 'Dinky Diddydums', can I use them then?" Dudley said nothing. The effort of keeping himself from hitting Harry seemed to demand all his self-control.

"So who've you been beating up tonight?" Harry asked, his grin fading, "Another ten-year-old? I know you did Mark Evans two nights ago -"

"He was asking for it," snarled Dudley. "Oh yeah?"

"He cheeked me."

"Yeah? Did he say you look like a pig that's been taught to walk on its hind legs? Cause that's not cheek, Dud, that's true."

A muscle was twitching in Dudley's jaw. It gave Harry enormous satisfaction to know how furious he was making Dudley; he felt as though he was siphoning off his own frustration into his cousin, the only outlet he had.

"Why don't you just go back to slee – Oh, that's right," Dudley said, a vile smile on his fat face, "Having nightmares, are we? Since we're on that topic, who's Cedric?" Harry's smile faded, his hands turning to fists, "A bigger man that you ever will be, that's for sure."

But Dudley didn't hear him, the gust of wind carried his voice away, "Is he your boyfriend, eh, Potter?" He said in an ominous laugh, "Does your sister know that? Where is she by the way? Did she desert you as well like your parents did?"

Through grit teeth, Harry refrained from storming into his cousin's way but inside walked at a fast pace back to Privet Drive. They turned right down the narrow alleyway where Harry had first seen Sirius and which formed a short cut between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. It was empty and much darker than the streets it linked because there were no streetlamps. Their footsteps were muffled between garage walls on one side and a high fence on the other.