A Stolen Past

Ron

The bus ride from St. Brutus's back to Surrey took hours, but it seemed short compared to the twenty minutes Harry spent in the car with his Uncle Vernon, who was in a nasty mood.

"Don't see why they have to send you home for the holidays," he muttered, glaring at Harry as he zipped through the traffic. "I wish they'd just keep the whole lot of you, and throw away the key!"

Harry pretended not to hear him. If he remembered anything about dealing with his uncle, it was that silence was generally the best policy. Uncle Vernon continued grumbling all the way home, but Harry didn't care. True, he would have to deal with his annoying and sometimes brutish relatives, but at least he wouldn't be dealing with any attempts on his life. Plus, Aunt Petunia's cooking would be a welcome change; she might make everyone participate in Dudley's diet the way she had during the summer, but at least she would never serve rancid food - not even to Harry.

Walking through the front door, Harry was greeted by a welcoming punch in the jaw from Dudley. He just shook himself and smiled at his cousin. "You know, Dud," he said, "after being hit across the face with a baseball bat, your punches don't seem all that bad."

Dudley grimaced and threw another punch just to prove that his punches were too "that bad," but Harry ducked it easily and dashed into his cupboard under the stairs, where he stretched out on his little bed and waited for suppertime to be announced.

The holiday wasn't as bad as Harry had feared it might be. Dudley still liked trying to beat up on him, but Harry was fairly good at escaping. A couple of times, he almost used magic in self-defense, but he always managed to stop himself. If the Dursleys found out he was a witch, he would likely be out on the street before nightfall, and then where would he go?

When Christmas Day arrived, Harry was not surprised when Dudley received a mountain of presents, while he was given nothing but a badly-wrapped, broken marionette that was missing all of its strings. Sadly enough, it was the best present he could ever recall having received from the Dursleys.

The food at Christmas dinner, however, was excellent: turkey, ham, roast potatoes, and anything else that Uncle Vernon and Dudley might find appetizing. It appeared that the diet had been put on hold for the holiday feast, and for that, everyone was grateful. Although he was not allowed first choice of the food, Harry was still able to secure a satisfyingly large and tasty meal before retiring to his cupboard.

As he lay on his bed, daydreaming about being able to practice magic openly, his eyes fell on the marionette that the Dursleys had given him. He smiled as he whispered, "What do you think, Pinocchio? Can we make you dance like a real boy?"

For about an hour, Harry practiced casting a separate levitation charm from each of the fingers of his right hand: one for each of the marionette's limbs, and one for its head. By the time he was finished, he was able to make it move quite easily, just by moving his fingers. After another half hour of making the marionette run, walk, jump, and dance at the foot of his bed, Harry was so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open. Without bothering to change into his pajamas, he lay back on his bed and fell fast asleep. Perhaps it was the fact that his stomach was truly full and content for the first time in months, or perhaps it was merely a coincidence, but his subconscious mind chose that night to give him a chance to prove to himself, once and for all, whether or not his dreams were made up of real memories.

It was late at night, and Harry was leaving the kitchen after having an unauthorized snack. As he approached the stairs in the darkness, he muttered to himself, "I could use a 'Lumos' spell about now." He quietly ascended the staircase and entered Dudley's second bedroom, where he knelt on the floor and began prying at a loose floorboard. The board came up, revealing a small hidden space. Harry pulled a folded paper from his pocket and placed it inside the hole before replacing the floorboard. Once it was securely back in place, he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.