𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 - 𝙝.𝙥. ⚯͛

𝐢 - 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗎𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗋 𝗈𝖿 𝟣𝟫𝟫𝟦

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

╰┈➤ HARRY'S POV

It was seven weeks into the summer holiday, and the sweltering summer heat had Harry in a bad mood. It also happened to be July 31st, Harry's fourteenth birthday, but of course, the Dursleys weren't celebrating it.

Harry was currently lying on his back staring at the ceiling in his bedroom in nothing but a pair of shorts, his bare feet dangling off the edge of the bed. He took off his glasses and ran his hands along his face, tugging at the ends of his hair which had grown out quite a bit over the summer. He felt just about ready to die of boredom. How Harry had survived the past seven weeks at the Dursleys— let alone the past thirteen years— he didn't know.

The heat was so intense today that the cheap paint which coated Harry's bedroom was peeling off, and he could practically hear the sidewalk sizzling from outside his second-story window. Typically, on a hot summer day such as today, he would have the window closed and the curtains drawn to prevent the excess heat from entering his shoe-box-of-a-room, but he was currently waiting for Hedwig to return home from her journey from France.

Harry had been writing to Elsie Goldleaf, one of his best friends (who also happened to be the girl he was secretly crushing on), every week since their return from Hogwarts over a month ago. Elsie's full name was Elisabeth Jane Goldleaf, a very pretty name in Harry's opinion, but since the death of her parents about five years ago, she had started going by Elsie. She and Harry met last November when she was transferred to Hogwarts after an incident at her old school. Since then, she, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, had become inseparable.

The feeling that Harry got when Elsie was around was unlike anything he had ever felt before; a warm sensation would spread throughout his body, his heart would beat faster in his chest, and hundreds of butterflies would attack his stomach. It was terrifying, yet wonderful at the same time.

Harry hadn't realized he had been daydreaming about Elsie again until a knock at his bedroom door shook him back to reality. The smile that had been on his face fell as Aunt Petunia's shrill voice sounded from outside Harry's bedroom door.

"Dinner is ready!" Aunt Petunia shrieked. "If you aren't down within the next minute, you're not eating until tomorrow!"

"Not that there's much to eat anyway," Harry grumbled, rolling over and swinging his legs off the bed.

Ever since Dudley had received a report from his school nurse expressing their concerns about his weight, the entire family, including Harry, had been eating meals that wouldn't even satisfy a small rabbit.

"Did you hear me?!" came Aunt Petunia's shrill voice once more, accompanied by more banging on the door. "Get down here, now!"

"I'm coming!" Harry shouted, listening to Aunt Petunia's footsteps retreat down the stairs.