Amanda Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

3. The Letters from No One

    For the next few days, weeks really, everyone who lived in the town of Surrey, was talking about one thing, and one thing only — the vanishing glass incident in the reptile house, or, what most people had decided to deem these conversations, what the Potter boy did. Everyone of course, except for looney Mrs. Figg, who had kept these stories well-hidden from her granddaughter, Amanda Goodwin, who hadn't heard from Harry since Dudley's tenth birthday, a year ago. Harry had been in the cupboard for what must've been the longest punishment ever. When he finally got out, the summer holidays had started, and Dudley had broken the screen of his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and even knocked over Mrs. Figg with his new racing bike, as she walked across the sidewalk with her crutches.

   Happy as he was that school was over, outside it was so hot, that it made his forehead sticky, and the grass had become long, brittle and brown, meaning it was too unbearable to go outside. Yet it wasn't exactly bearable inside the house either, for Dudley's gang had visited the house everyday, and they had made it nearly impossible for Harry to enjoy one moment's peace. The gang consisted of Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, Gordan, and of course, Dudley their ringleader. As they all were large, stupid, conceited and brutal, they hated exercise, but there was one sport that they did delight in: Harry Hunting, a sport where they chased Harry around the house until close enough to harm him. So of course, even though his punishment had lifted, Harry had returned to his spidery cupboard.

    There was however, a tiny pinprick of justice, a ray of hope, visible in Harry's future. That September, he would be going to Stonewall High, a secondary school, while Dudley and his friends went to Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. It was a small ray of hope, but nevertheless, it meant a school where Dudley couldn't bully him after class, and make fun of his taped glasses and baggy clothes. 

   All evening Dudley had paraded himself around the house proudly, wearing his Smeltings uniform. Smeltings boys sported maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, boaters, and knobbly sticks, which were used, according to Dudley, for hitting others when the teachers weren't looking. Uncle Vernon had said that seeing him in his uniform was the greatest moment of his life, while Aunt Petunia had burst into tears. Harry on the other hand, suppressed a laugh, for he had never known Dudley to look so ridiculous.

The next morning, a reeking smell filled Harry's nostrils before he had even left his cupboard for breakfast. Aunt Petunia's arms were in a large metal basin sitting in the sink, which was filled with what looked to be dirty rags and blackish water. 

   "What's this?" Harry asked, watching his aunt carefully.

   Aunt Petunia's lips grew thin with a look between distaste and displeasure. If there was anything she hated more than when her nephew did something inexplicable, it was him asking questions, "It's your new school uniform," she told him.

   "Oh," he replied, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."

   His aunt snapped, jerking her hand out of the graying water, "Don't be stupid. I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I'm finished."

   Harry doubted this. Turning away from his aunt, he imagined going to Stonewall with his messy black hair, glasses taped from where Dudley had punched him, and wearing what looked like ripped up bits of dead elephant skin. Perhaps he wouldn't need Dudley around to be bullied. 

   Dudley and Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen, their noses wrinkled at the smell of Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon cracked open his newspaper, and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he now carried everywhere, on the table, as a way of morning greeting. 

   There was a click of the mail slot, and then the spilling of letters on the doormat. Uncle Vernon turned the page of his newspaper.

   He ordered, "Get the mail, Dudley."