Dorea Potter- The Girl Who Survived

The Letter

One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings school uniform, Vernon leaving Dorea at Mrs.Figg's. Mrs.Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Dorea watch television and even gave her a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.

That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tail-coats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This is supposed to be good training for layer life.

As she looked at Dudley in his knickerbockers, Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into "tears" and she said she couldn't believe it was her ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown up. Dorea didn't trust herself to speak. She thought two of her ribs might've already cracked from trying not to laugh.

There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Dorea went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. She went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.

"What's this?" She asked Aunt Petunia.

Petunia's lips tightened as she looked to the table where Vernon was reading his newspaper.

"Your new school uniform." She said, giving Dorea a sad look.

Dorea looked in the bowl again.

"Oh," she said. "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."

"Don't be stupid!" Vernon barked.

"I'm dying some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished. Don't worry, we'll fix them up later."

Aunt Petunia had whispered. Dorea nodded at her words and sat at the table as Dudley walked in the room, wrinkling his nose at the smell. Dudley sat down, slamming his Smeltings stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.

They heard the clink of the mail slot and the flop of letters on the doormat.

"Get the mail, Dudley," Vernon said from behind his paper.

"Make Dorea get it," Dudley said with a wink.

"Get the mail, Dorea."

"Make Dudley get it."

"Poke her with your Smelting Stick, Dudley."

Dorea stuck her tongue out at Dudley as she dodged his smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat; a postcard from Vernon's sister, Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and- a letter for Dorea.

Dorea picked it up and stared at it, her heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in her whole life, had written to her. Who would? She had no friends, no other relatives- she didn't even belong to the library, so she'd never got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:

Ms. D. Potter
The Cupboard Under The Stairs
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey

The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.

Turning the envelope over, her hand trembling, Dorea saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.

"Hurry up, girl!" Shouted Vernon from the kitchen.

"What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?"

Vernon laughed at his own joke. Dorea walked back into the kitchen, slipping her letter in the slot of her cupboard as she went. Dorea entered the kitchen and quietly handed the mail to Vernon as she sat back at the table.

After a long and uneventful breakfast where Vernon proceeded to insult Dorea before he finally left for work, Dorea went to grab the letter from her cupboard. Slowly walking back into the living room, she stood in front of her Aunt and held the letter out to her, petunia slowly going pale.

"Aunt Petunia. Is there a specific reason how this person knew I lived under the stairs?"

Aunt Petunia grabbed the letter with shaky hands and looked at it for a few minutes, letting out a sigh which made her look ten years older.

"I guess it's time you knew the truth then."

Petunia looked at Dorea with sad eyes.

"I only hope that you'll forgive me for wanting to protect the only thing I have left of my sister."

Dorea frowned.

"The truth about what Aunt Petunia? What do I need protecting from?"

Petunia sighed and grabbed Dorea's shoulders.

"You're a witch, Dorea"