The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 3

By the time Harry and Anna were allowed out of the cupboard, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had ruined most of his birthday presents. While the twins were both glad that school was over, there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who came over every day to play their favorite game: Harry and Anna Hunting. Because of this, the duo spent as much time as possible outside. While Anna loved the summertime, she couldn't wait for September because for the first time, she and Harry would be going to a different school then Dudley and his friends. Anna was especially glad to be going to a different school than Piers, who had only gotten more creepy towards her as the summer went on. One day in July, Aunt Petunia decided to take Dudley shopping for his school uniform, leaving Anna and Harry at Mrs. Figg's. As it turned out, the reason the old woman broke her leg was because she had tripped over one of her cats, and was no longer as fond of them. Instead of making them look at pictures of her cats, she let them watch TV and she gave them chocolate cake that tasted like it was several years old.
The next morning, Harry and Anna went into the kitchen and Anna wrinkled her nose. It smelled like rotten eggs. It turned out that Petunia was dying clothes for their school uniforms. Anna's was 3 times too big, not that Aunt Petunia cared. The click of the mouse lot could be heard and Anna went to go fetch the mail. Most of it was bills and such, but then...
Anna bit back a gasp, and blinked, unsure if she read it right. Yet there it was:
'Miss A. Potter
The Cupboard under the stairs
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey.'

There was a similar letter for Harry as well.
"Hurry up!" Uncle Vernon shouted, and Anna scurried back into the kitchen, giving Vernon the bills and Harry his letter before sitting down and starting to open her own.
"Dad!" Dudley shouted. "Anna and Harry got something!"
"Hey!"Harry exclaimed as the letters were ripped out of their hands by Uncle Vernon. "That's mine!"
"Who would be sending you a letter?" Vernon sneered as he unfolded one of the letters and began to read it. In a flash the color of his face matched the hue of the porridge that they were having for breakfast. "P-P-Petunia!"
Dudley try to grab the letter, but it was quickly snatched away by Petunia. "Vernon! Oh my goodness- Vernon!"
Dudley was still trying to get the letter. "Get out." Uncle Vernon croaked. "All three of you." But Harry wasn't giving up. "I WANT MY LETTER!" He shouted.
"OUT!" Vernon grabbed both boys by the scruff of their necks, and Anna yelped as Petunia grabbed her by the ear and threw her out of the kitchen. The door closed as the two adults went back into the kitchen, and Harry and Dudley had a silent but furious fight over who would get to listen at the keyhole. Dudley, of course, won and Anna laid on the floor so that she could listen through the crack in the door.
"Vernon," Aunt Petunia said in a shaky voice. "Look at the address. How could they possibly know where Anna and Harry sleep? You don't think they're watching the house?"
"Watching- spying- might be following us." Vernon sounded absolutely wild.
"But what should we do Vernon? Write them back? Tell them we don't want-"
"No." Vernon said firmly. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer... Yes, that's best. Period. We won't do anything."
"But-"
"I'm not having any of them in this house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took them in that we would stamp out this dangerous nonsense?"
Anna and Harry exchanged a look. Who had written them, and why were their aunt and uncle so scared?

That evening, Vernon suddenly decided that the cupboard was too small for both Anna and Harry, so Harry would be moving upstairs into a spare bedroom. Anna, however, would remain downstairs in the cupboard. She wouldn't mind it so much, but she would miss Harry. Anna sighed as she stared around the cupboard. She was  lonely without her brother. Oh well, she would manage. She laid down, falling into an uneasy sleep.
As the days went on, Uncle Vernon began to get more and more paranoid. The letters kept coming, making Uncle Vernon turn purple every time. once Harry had snuck downstairs to get the mail early one morning, only to find Vernon asleep in front of the door. On Friday no less than twelve letters arrived for the twins. Saturday was when things really started to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters came, each rolled up and hidden inside the two dozen eggs that a very confused milkman handed to Aunt Petunia.
"Who wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry and Anna in amazement as Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor. Sunday morning Uncle Vernon came into the kitchen, looking a bit ill, but also extremely giddy. "No post on Sundays." He said happily as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, Anna fighting not to burst out into laughter. Almost as soon as he spoke, thirty or forty letters came whizzing down the kitchen chimney, and Vernon dragged Anna and Harry out of the room before they could grab any letters. When Petunia and Dudley join them in the hall,Vernon announced that everyone was leaving. Ten minutes later they started driving. Anna didn't think Vernon knew where he was driving, but she didn't dare say anything. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a bit, muttering about 'shaking them off'. They didn't stop until late evening outside a gloomy looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. The following morning they had breakfast of stale corn flakes and tinned tomatoes on toast. After breakfast two more letters came for Anna and Harry. Aunt Petunia suggested going home, but Uncle Vernon wouldn't hear of it. He drove all the way to the coast, locking them all in the car before disappearing. It started to rain and Dudley complained about how he couldn't watch his favorite Monday night TV program. Monday... Anna suddenly remembered that it was her and Harry's birthday the next day. They would be eleven years old. Anna wondered what color socks they would get that year and how many holes they would have. Vernon came back then, a great big smile on his face and a long, thin package in his arms. "Found the perfect place!" He exclaimed. "Come on, everybody out!"
Anna rubbed her arms as she got out, it was absolutely freezing. Uncle Vernon pointed at what looked like a rock out at sea. He really had gone crazy. Perched on top of the rock was a tiny little shack.Uncle Vernon rented them a boat and had also gotten them rations. It took about a half-hour for Vernon to row out to the shack. It smelled horrible, like seaweed and mold. There were only two rooms, and the one fireplace was damp and empty. Their rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. As night fell and they got ready for bed, Aunt Petunia found a few thin, moldy blankets and made a bed for Dudley on the moth bitten  couch. she and Vernon took the one bedroom, leaving Anna and Harry to curl up on the floor, huddling together for warmth. Neither Anna nor Harry could sleep.
"It'll be our birthday tomorrow." Harry, did, and Anna nodded. "Eleven years old." She murmured, looking at him. "Think we'll actually get socks without holes in them?"
"I wouldn't hold out any hope." Harry chuckled quietly so as not to wake Dudley, who was snoring away. "What do you think was in those letters?" Anna shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, but whoever sending them really wants to talk to us."
"Yeah, I wonder-" He was interrupted by a booming sound. Someone was knocking on the door forcefully enough to make the entire shack quiver. Anna sat straight up. Who could That be? Was it the man who had rented them the shack, or would they finally be meeting the person who had been sending them all of those letters?