Harry's eyes fluttered open, and for the 8th time in a row, he laughed. The memory of Dudley falling in was still hilarious. Of course, he had been punished dearly for what he had done, although Uncle Vernon wasn't entirely sure what had happened himself, it was all worth it. By the time he was allowed to leave the cupboard again, summer had started and Harry's birthday was rapidly approaching. 1 week and 3 days. 3 days until he got his first letter. It was his only motivation to stay with the Dursleys.
Harry used his three and a half weeks in the cupboard to think about how he got stuck in the whole mess. He remembered the night like it was yesterday. Awaiting for Ginny to finally come home, dinner with Ron and Hermione, the strange letter and the even stranger time-turner. Time-turners were only supposed to send you back the number of hours you turned it, and yet, Harry hadn't turned it once. In fact, his hand had barely even grazed it before he got pulled into this timeline. Nothing added up. Whoever left that time-turner on Harry's desk knew it was cursed. It must have been the work of a very dark wizard. Of course, even after finally defeating Voldemort in the war Harry still had his fair share of enemies. He still didn't know how the time-turner had sent him back in time this far, or how it had only taken his soul, but he did know that until he found out he was going to be stuck here.
The three days passed in a blur, and Harry woke up one week before his birthday more excited than he had been to set that snake free at the zoo. Of course, no one else would understand his happy mood, however, this didn't bother Harry in the slightest. It just made the experience much more enjoyable, taunting the Dursleys with a smile. He was far too thrilled for what the day had in store for him to be put down by Dudley's rude behaviour.
Nervously, he climbed out of the cupboard and made himself pancakes for breakfast, making sure to clean everything up and leave enough for Aunt Petunia to think he didn't eat any himself. The post would be arriving any minute now. Finally, he heard the click of the post box and the flutter of letters hitting the floor.
"Get the post, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from where he was sitting behind his newspaper.
"Make Harry get it."
"Get the post, Harry."
"Sure," said Harry with an all-knowing smile. This response made Vernon glance over his newspaper and share a worried look with Petunia. Harry got up out of his seat and wandered to the door. Instantly, he recognised the yellowish parchment and the seal of Hogwarts. Quickly he picked it up and tore it open, not wasting a minute to read and re-read the letter. Slowly, he grabbed the other letters addressed to Vernon. Harry's mind ran a million miles an hour as he thought of how he could finally see his friends again.
Harry wandered back to the kitchen to hand Vernon his post, still looking over his own letter. Memories ran through his head of how he finally came to read the letter the first time around. Harry thought it would be hilarious to see it again, he definitely wanted Hagrid to turn Dudley into a pig, so he carefully slid the letter back into the envelope and handed it to Vernon with all the other letters. He watched as Vernon poured through the pile of letters, finally reaching the one from Hogwarts. His face whitened and he turned to Petunia shaking. Harry saw Petunia visibly flinch, and her eyes darted to Harry, catching him watching.
"What are you watching boy!" She screeched. "Go to your room!" Harry shrugged his shoulders, gas-lighting both his Uncle and Aunt and lazily wandered over to his little cupboard. He rolled over into his bed and began to shake in fits of laughter, with the thought of Aunt Petunia's shocked face circling in his mind. He didn't know exactly what they were talking about but he knew they would do everything in their power over the next couple of days to stop Harry from receiving any letters.
The next day Harry woke to Aunt Petunia banging around in the kitchen while talking to Uncle Vernon, seemingly about the events that unfolded the day before. She was insisting they wouldn't send any more letters because they would assume that he had received the first one. Oh, how she was wrong. Harry climbed out of the cupboard to see 5 letters flying through the mailbox, he picked them up and carried them to Uncle Vernon. The colour immediately left his face.
"Must be a mistake boy, no one wants to speak with you that badly," he muttered.
"Listen, Petunia and I were talking and we have decided to let you stay in Dudley's second room. The cupboard might be getting a tad too small for you now." Vernon said glancing at the letters and reading who they were addressed to
Mr H. Potter
Cupboard under the stairs
4 Privet Drive
He then picked up the pile and threw them into the fire.
"Take your stuff and move, NOW!"
Harry collected the small number of items he owned and hauled them up the stairs to Dudley's second room. It seemed to have been emptied during the night, and Harry could hear Vernon and Dudley arguing over the new arrangement. Choosing to ignore it, Harry looked at what would be his new home for the time being. It looked the same as he remembered. He checked for the loose plank under the bed, then sat down.
Over the next week, the Dursleys continued to try and stop the onslaught of letters addressed to Harry. They boarded up the windows and the letter box and yet nothing could stop the hundreds of owls that arrived each day. It wasn't until Sunday that the Dursleys finally thought someone would put an end to this madness. Vernon sat happily in his chair with the newspaper on his lap, smiling brightly at Petunia. Harry knew what was to come next but said nothing, he simply glanced at the fireplace every minute or so.
"No post on Sundays," claimed Vernon, looking at Harry, hoping to catch a sad expression. There wasn't one. Harry couldn't have been trying harder to contain a fit of giggles. Did Vernon really think that wizards played by muggle rules?
Apparently, he did and taking Harry's attempt to suppress giggles as a constipated expression of dislike, Vernon was delighted.
"No more letters," He said to himself. Just as he finished saying this, however, the fireplace started to rumble and Harry could no longer contain himself. He burst out in laughter as the letters darted out of the fireplace, littering the living room was yellow parchment. Every letter was delivered to Harry and yet he made no extra effort to grab one. He simply sat, watching and laughing, as Vernon and Petunia looked horrified. Once their eyes had locked onto Harry, he made his move. He reached down from where he was sitting, made direct eye contact with Uncle Vernon, and ripped the letter open.
Vernon strode across the room and ripped the open letter from Harry's hands and looked at his smug face.
"Out! OUT!" He seized Harry's arm and threw him into the hall.
"That's it! I want you all back here in 5 minutes, ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" Vernon bellowed. He looked so dangerous no one argued, however, Harry refused to wipe the grin off his face. This was too priceless. Instead of being scared like he was the first time, he was instead fighting to contain his joy. Everything just seemed so much funnier this time around.
Soon everyone was in the car and they were on their way. They drove and drove and didn't stop once all day. The euphoria was starting to wear off as Harry was almost as hungry as Dudley. Uncle Vernon kept muttering something about 'shaking them off' and while Harry knew what it meant he couldn't deny it was quite peculiar.
At last, they reached a musty hotel where Dudley and Harry had to share a room. Harry didn't remember the hotel very well so he assumed nothing was going to happen there.
The following morning, one of the staff members knocked on the door with a letter in his hand. Once Uncle Vernon saw this he fumed. Grabbed it out of the poor guy's hand and shoved him out of the door before slamming it in his face. Harry, however, once again tried to stifle laughter. This seemed to be a constantly recurring action. Vernon ripped the letter up, glanced at his family and Harry, and then demanded they were going somewhere else. He brought them to a small boat some gentlemen had lent them and told everyone they were staying on the rock in the distance. Harry could vaguely make out the shack that stood on the rock. Despite how cold and miserable it was of a journey to their house for the night, the excitement in Harry's stomach wouldn't disperse. He lay on the cold floor counting down the seconds, this time not to his birthday, but to Hagrid's arrival. Not even the billowing storm outside could stamp out the eagerness Harry felt. With 5 seconds to midnight, he felt it rather than heard it.
BOOM!
The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Hagrid was outside, knocking to come in.
BOOM! Another bang on the door had it off its hinges and Harry rushed forward to meet the man at the door.
Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room rifle in hand and yelling who was there. Hagrid stood in the doorway peering around the room before his eyes finally met Harry's. Before he said anything, he turned around and placed the door back on the hinges. Hagrid looked even larger than usual at this age, thought Harry as he watched Hagrid move to take a seat on the couch.
"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..." The giant spoke facing the Dursleys. No one responded so Hagrid turned his attention back to Harry.
"An' here's Harry! Last time I saw you, yeh was only a baby," said Hagrid, "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes."
Uncle Vernon tried to say something but it was as though the words wouldn't leave his mouth.
"Anyway - Harry, a very happy birthday to yeh! Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."
Hagrid pulled out the birthday cake from his large coat. Harry was overcome with joy after seeing a familiar face, or one that is 13 years younger.
"Thank you," said Harry as he grabbed a slice but didn't eat any. From his many years of experience with Hagrid's cooking, he wasn't going to risk his teeth.
"So, who are you anyway?" Harry asked, he knew it would seem weird to everyone if he knew this 'strangers' name.
"Call me Hagrid, everyone does. I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course." At this Harry smiled. Of course, he knew all about Hogwarts, but the Dursleys didn't know that.
"Of course," responded Harry, glancing at the Dursleys to see their reaction. Vernon and Petunia were white-faced. They looked completely outraged at this piece of information. Vernon, however, seemed to regain the ability to speak.
"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!"
Uncle Vernon had said the wrong thing.
"NEVER -" Hagrid thundered, "- INSULT - ALBUS - DUMBLEDOOR - IN - FRONT - OF - ME!" Hagrid brought his pink umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley. A flash of violet light flooded the room and a sharp squeal sounded from Dudley's mouth. This is exactly what Harry had been waiting to see. Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clamped over his bottom, howling in pain. Harry didn't need to look to know that Dudley was now half-pig, but that did not stop him from checking. He burst into laughter and couldn't help but grin at Hagrid's misuse of magic. Seeing him again was pure bliss. Harry really needed to see someone he knew again that wasn't the Dursleys, and Hagrid was just the right person to lift his spirits.