We're of to go to school...

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All things considering, Harriet's last month at the Dursley's was actually quite nice. Dudley was so scared of Harriet that he refused to be in the same room as her. Harriet thought it might have something to do with her absentmindedly twirling her wand and staring in the direction of his  tail whilst thinking one time.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't force her to do anything. They simply acted as if she didn't exist giving her plenty of time to catch up on the the facts and figures of the wizarding world. By the time summer ended she was more than well informed. 

Harriet kept to her room with her new owl Hedwig for company. She had named her after the patron saint of orphans. It was lucky that aunt Petunia didn't come into the room to vacuum anymore because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice.

 Her many diverse school books were interesting and she memorized about 70%. She loved creatures, the sound of quidditch and found charms particularly interesting. She didn't try any on the basis that she might blow something up. 

Every night before he went to sleep, Harriet ticked off another day on the piece of paper she had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first. She couldn't wait to get away from the lot she was forced to live with although Dudley wasn't so bad when he wasn't bullying her.

On the last day of August she thought she should probably ask her aunt and uncle about getting a lift to King's Cross station the next day. Logically there was no other way to get there. She didn't  have normal money. 

Thus, she went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. When she got there Dudley moved closer to his mother. Harriet shot him a smile to show she wasn't there to hurt anyone. He had been a jerk, sure, but that wasn't necessarily a reason to be an awful person to him. He was probably deeply insecure.

"Er - Uncle Vernon?" Harriet spoke, looking at the couch potato of a man.

Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.

"Er -I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to go to Hogwarts," she said clearly.

Uncle Vernon grunted again. Harriet was reminded of a pig.

"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" she asked raising her eyebrow inquiringly.

Grunt. Harriet supposed that meant yes.

"Thank you."

She was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.

"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"

Harriet said nothing. Where was he going with this?

"Where is this school, anyway?"

"Scotland," said Harriet, remembering what she had read in Hogwarts; A History. She pulled the ticket Hagrid had given her out of her pocket.

"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," she read.

Her aunt and uncle stared.

"Platform what?"

"Nine and three-quarters."

"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."

"It's on my ticket." Harriet said.

"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."

"Why are you going to London?" Harriet asked, trying to keep things friendly.

"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."

Harriet smiled. Oh yeah, the tail. The thing that had made her summer great again.

She continued upstairs and went to bed.

Harriet woke at five o'clock the next morning, with the sunrise. The pinkish hues stretching across the sky bidding her a good morning.

 She was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep so she got up and pulled on her robes, shoving her cloak into her bag. It was supposed to be warm that day and the rain minimal.

Harriet checked her Hogwarts list yet again to make sure she had everything she needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. 

Two hours later, Harriet's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, courtesy of Dudley who seemed to be trying to get on her good side. Aunt Petunia talked Dudley into sitting next to Harriet so she didn't have to, and they had set off. 

Harriet felt bad for aunt Petunia. If this was how she reacted to Harriet being a witch, she must have been terrified of her sister.

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Throwing this out there just because I can't decide: 

The Weasleys showing Harriet the way onto the platform or the Malfoys?

Comment below and let me know.

Thanks, 

Drachma XOXO 


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