MINE

Chapter Five


Draco,

Well, Dudley left this morning with Lucius and Severus. Uncle Vernon forbid me downstairs when they came, but I did give Dudley the shoe box to give to your father and Albus to look through. There haven’t been any more changes, except I’ve had this constant pain between my shoulder blades. It’s very uncomfortable when I sleep on my back.

Vernon has been in a rather good mood the past couple of days, thinking his son is going to be rich and famous, or rich and a doctor. I’ve been staying out of his way. Why tempt fate . . . right?

You may want to mention to your father, that most of my ‘symptoms’ seem to point towards me being of the veela race. Do you think it’s possible?

I was quite surprised when Severus came to the door with Lucius that first night. He looks good in muggle clothes, and the way he smells . . . mmmm. Couldn’t get that smell out of my senses for the rest of the day.

Signing off,
Harry


~*~


Harry,

Sounds like you’re hot for teacher, Harry. You are right though, Severus does look good in muggle clothing. Have you had that strong of an attraction to someone before, noticed their smell before their looks?

Oh . . . and thanks for degrading me by helping you in that garden. Father is constantly teasing me now about that, wanting me to help out in the Malfoy gardens.

Father is also talking about sending me off to our island manor. Beautiful beaches, private, and completely unplottable. Not even old snake face knows of it. He’s been coming around more often, eyeing me up. Quite creepy, really.

Your cousin arrived safely at Hogwarts and has been with Dumbledore since. I think they’re going to ‘Ollivanders’ to get his wand in a couple of days.

Keep in touch brother,
Draco


~*~


While Harry was reading Draco’s latest journal entry, Vernon was enjoying his coffee and breakfast, Petunia sitting quietly, reading the Surrey Sunday paper. He let out a howl of rage when a brown tawny owl flew through the open window, dropping a rolled paper in front of him. He picked up the paper, about to throw it out, when he noticed the moving picture of a very familiar face from a few years ago.

‘Sirius Black, accused murderer of Lily and James Potter, as well as several muggles, was posthumously cleared of all murder charges yesterday. Sirius Black, who somehow survived the dementors in Azkaban for twelve years, had disappeared in the line of duty in protecting his godson Harry Potter from an attack of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the Ministry of Magic. He was declared dead by several Ministry officials, but still remains a mystery on how Sirius Black disappeared. The real murderer, Peter Pettigrew, thought to have died that fateful night when the Potter’s had perished, was apprehended and confessed under veritaserum that he was the secret keeper to the Potters, and had aided He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the murders, as well as framing his so-called, long time friend Sirius Black. Sirius Black was . . .


The last little bit of the article drew Vernon’s attention as he gripped the newspaper tighter in his fists.


‘Sirius Black, who had died heroically two years ago, will be honored at a memorial service at Godric’s Hollow. He will be buried next to his longtime friends Lily and James Potter. May they meet in their next life.’


Vernon immediately tore the paper in a fit of rage, not seeing that one Harry Potter was willed in Sirius’s will as his godson, and is also to be given wrongful pay dues, from the Ministry for the time that Sirius was in Azkaban, and in hiding.

Petunia looked worriedly at the shredded paper, then at the back of her husband as he stomped up the stairs. She stayed rooted to her chair in fright and shock, as she listened to the yelling and crashing sounds above her head in Harry’s room. There were howls of rage and cries of pain as Harry’s beating became more violent. After a half hour, all was silent upstairs. She got up on shaky legs and was just about to open the front door to get help from Mrs. Figg down the street, who she knew to be in contact with the wizarding world, when the back of her hair was violently tugged back. She looked back at Vernon, seeing the anger still in his eyes, and the spots of blood on the front of his shirt.

“You are not to feed him, and he stays in that room until school starts. He will be enrolled in St. Brutis’s where they can do whatever they’d like to him, as long as he does not come back here. And don’t even think about helping him up there,” Vernon warned, letting go of Petunia’s arm, leaving his hand print bruised onto her skin. “Now, I’ve a fire to start,” he added manically, heading to the back yard.



Harry pulled himself up off the floor, taking care not to put pressure on his broken lower leg, or his dislocated shoulder. He carefully sat himself on the chair, looking out the window when he heard Vernon humming to himself in the backyard. He looked on as he brushed the side of his head and lip with his hand, rubbing the blood on his jeans. Vernon was piling scraps of wood in the middle of his aunt’s prized flower garden, then liberally dousing it with gasoline that was used in the lawnmower. He disappeared for a few moments into the house, his heavy footsteps hesitating by his door, then led on into Dudley’s bedroom. Harry let out the breath he had been holding, then looked out the window again to see all his wizarding books, his potion ingredients, his school robes, thrown into the middle of the wood pile. More gas was added. Vernon then went into the shed.

“NO!” Harry cried out, hitting the window, as Vernon brought out Hedwig’s cage, with a big lock on the latch. Hedwig was screeching and trying to get out, trying to snip at Vernon’s fingers through the bars of the cage.

Vernon looked up at Harry as he placed Hedwig’s cage in the middle of the pile of books, then lit a match, and then another, the books firing instantly, with the help of the gasoline and potion ingredients.

“NO! NO!” Harry screamed, punching the window. “HEDWIG!” He cried, his hand punching through the glass. He was just about to wandlessly freeze the fire or levitate Hedwig’s cage, when the back of his head was grabbed and slammed into the broken window by Vernon, who had come up behind him.

“You think you can make a fool of me . . . FREAK!” Vernon shouted, then grabbed the back of Harry’s head. “Watch as your pretty little bird dies, and it is all your fault. You are nothing freak. You will not be going to that freak school again.”

Harry watched as Hedwig’s body soon was engulfed in flames, her body still, as her once pristine white feathers turned to ash. He slumped down to the floor after his uncle left, reaching over for one of his discarded shirts to press against his bleeding face. Thank Merlin, the glass shards missed his eyes. He accio’d his small hand mirror, and grimaced when he got a good look at his face. He ran his fingertips gently over the cuts, taking the shards of glass out, one by one, then pressed the shirt to his face again to stop the bleeding. He was already feeling a tingly sensation in his lower leg, figuring his body was healing itself. He reached for the journal and wrote one sentence, before laying flat on his back on the floor, wincing as his dislocated shoulder hit the floor.


Hedwig is dead


tbc