The World Ahead

With practiced ease the door to the smallest room at Number 4 Privet Drive, swung open. It truly wasn't the easiest task. Aunt Petunia (who was sleeping peacefully in her own room) had taken the liberty of installing a small cat flap on the bottom of the hollow door. This allowed her to pass food stuffs to the boy on the other side, without having to see him or make any sort of contact. One might think a dangerous animal lived in that room. Of course, those who knew that the perfect little house on that muggle road was home to The Harry Potter, knew that no large or dangerous animals resided there. In fact, no animal had ever resided there, save for Aunt Marge's ugly mutt of a dog. There was a mouse, but it had only moved in recently and the Lady of the home didn't knew it yet. She would find out soon enough though.  

That cat flap made it possible for him to make his escape.  From it, the small boy had managed to use his broomstick to nudge the five locks open.  Thankfully no key locks had ever been installed, just dead bolts and a sliding chain.  Silently slipping from the doorway, he closed and relocked the room.  No one should know he was not there any longer.  If they did, they would alert his "keepers" and he would be found in no time.

You see, Harry Potter had many good qualities, and one of those was his ability to keep crumbs off the floors. Due to his diligence and attention to detail, not even a fly had made it past the back door. Petunia hated bugs, rodents, and any living thing that was not human or normal. If she spotted a gnat, she would order Harry to kill it. He of course had made a game of it, grabbing cups, paper plates, and once he even swiped a cast iron skillet. He would flail and wave the objects around as he “tried” to kill the menacing little beast. His Aunt would scream with each wave and ask if it was dead every time he stopped.

Down the stairs he went, his trunk still in his room. The squeaky step was just two away now and he stepped over it with the grace of a ballerina. Once down he neared the living room, peaking round the corner to be sure Dudley hadn't skipped sleep to have cookies instead. Harry held his breath as he looked and saw no one. Before he could exit, he just wanted to leave his mark. Something that said he had been there, but wasn't illegal by any means.

Just a few moments later Harry stepped outside, swearing he had seen a little white creature running across the hall and ducking under the cupboard door at the stairs. Tonight was a perfect night to leave home. It was winter, his first away from Hogwarts, and it was cold. In fact, one might just tell the truth and say it was bloody freezing out. He wore two regular shirts, four Weasley sweaters, each with a large “H” on the front, and on top of that his Hogwarts robes. Hedwig, he had given instructions to go to Hogwarts and stay there until Winter was over. She'd of course not been happy about this but did as told. His photo album was tucked under one arm, wand in his pocket, invisibility cloak wrapped about his album, and finally, his school supplies in a awful old bag he'd stolen from his aunt.

So there stood the great Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, savior of the wizarding world, with all his worldly possessions tucked under one arm, and every stitch of clothes (that fit properly) layered on his body.

With a great sigh and a satisfied smile on his face, Harry ran his plan over in his head, satisfied he'd forgotten nothing.  

“Now what?”