Julie Anne Dursley

Philosopher's Stone Part 3

About ten minutes later everyone was in the car, Julie a bit shocked and quiet because Vernon had told her off for packing so slowly. It could well have been the very first time that her father was angry with her, and it had affected her a bit. Vernon drove for what seemed like hours, and it had gotten dark by the time they got to a hotel.

Harry had bad associations with long Dursley car rides. When Julie and Harry were eight, they went to Great Yarmouth for the weekend. That was actually the only time that Harry had been taken on vacation by the Dursleys, because normally they always dropped him off at Mrs Figg's. After about thirty minutes into the journey, Julie started complaining that she was nauseous; she had a pretty bad case of motion sickness at the time and the pills her parents had gotten her did not work. Disaster struck when they were about halfway there, and Julie vomited all over the floorboard in front of her. Vernon immediately took the first exit and Harry let out a sassy 'ew'. Maybe as a result of that, Vernon made Harry clean the car, while Petunia and Julie walked around on the parking lot, Petunia trying to calm down her whimpering daughter. When they went back on the road again, Petunia made Julie and Harry switch seats and the smell lingered for the entire duration of the trip until Vernon had the car cleaned professionally.

Vernon parked the car and went inside to ask if there were any rooms available, while Petunia, Julie and Harry stayed in the car. "Mummy, I'm hungry!" Julie complained as soon as her father had slammed the car door shut. It was the first thing she had said since their departure, which was rather out of character considering she usually would not stop talking. Harry realised that he was hungry too.

"It's going to be okay, sweetie," Petunia said, but her voice was shaking a bit. Apparently she did not feel comfortable with the situation either. Julie just sighed and leaned her head against the window, presumably because she was feeling tired. Vernon came back smiling.

"We're in luck! They have two rooms left. Let's go!" He led his family to two tiny rooms farthest from the reception. Vernon and Petunia shared one room, while Julie and Harry got the other. To their horror there was only a double bed, that nearly took up the entire room.

"Wait a minute, I'll actually have to sleep in the same bed as you? Wow, and I thought this day could literally not get any worse!" Julie whined.

"Believe it or not, but I'm also not exactly looking forward to this," Harry said pointedly.

Julie looked at him. "It's like a thousand times grosser for me to do this than it's for you so pipe down!"

Harry kept his cool. "Your father said that the rooms we got were the last ones left, and considering how he's been acting today I don't think it'd be very wise for you to bother him with your complaints."

Julie did not want to admit it, but she realised that her cousin had a point; she did not want to be told off again, she was not used to that and she did not like it at all. She sighed. "There's not even a TV in here. I already missed about four shows that aired during the day, and now I'll miss like three more," she said.

"Can you stop being such a princess?" Harry asked annoyedly.

"Sure, as soon as you stop being a twat, which is never." She angrily threw her suitcase into a corner, then looked back at Harry. "You do realise that this is all your fault, right? If you hadn't gotten all those blasted letters I'd still be at home, lying in my large bed, watching my favourite shows on my plasma."

Harry sighed. "How's it my fault? I can't help someone sending me them, but it must be important considering how many I received."

"Because, well... it just is."

"Solid argument."

"Why are you still talking? Nobody likes a person who doesn't know when to shut up!" Julie spat.

"Ah, that explains why nobody likes you," Harry said coolly.

Julie rolled her eyes. "Careful now, or you'll have two scars. Anyway, I just spent the entire day sitting in a car and now I got to sleep like this? Maybe I can detach it." She walked up to the bed, but did so in very agitated fashion, and as a result of that she hit her toe hard against the bedpost. She screamed in pain and danced around the room, holding her foot. Harry could not help but laugh; he did not necessarily laugh because she was hurt, but at the comical fashion of it. Julie glared at him with tears in her eyes. "Think it's funny, do ya?"

"Yes, very much so."

She called him a bad name and then went to hold her foot under cold water. A few minutes later it became clear that her complaints had been a waste of energy, as she fell asleep within a minute. It took Harry a bit longer to fall asleep. As the sound of Julie's loud snoring filled the room, he sat by the window, watching the headlights of cars go by. He kept thinking about the letters, and if he would ever know what they were about.

The next morning they enjoyed a simple yet much welcomed breakfast, before they went to check out. "Eh, these came for you earlier this morning," the hotel receptionist said, handing Vernon a ton of letters. Vernon groaned, took the entire bunch and disposed of them outside. Back in the car, Petunia tried to convince her husband to just return home.

"It's no use, if they can find us here, they can find us anywhere!" she said.

"Yes, daddy, please just take us home!" Julie joined in.

"No way, I'm not giving up that easily!" Vernon said.

"But..." Julie started, only to be interrupted immediately.

"No buts! What I say goes. If it helps any, consider it a road trip."

"Yes, on the highway to hell maybe!" Julie snapped. Vernon got annoyed with his daughter and glared at her through the rear-view mirror. Julie went quiet immediately, probably intimidated and realising that she should not provoke her father too much. Instead, she just leaned her head against the window, just like she did yesterday.

Evening had fallen by the time they stopped at the coast. Like yesterday they were all hungry and tired. Vernon had gone out of the car and he seemed happy when he came back. "Everybody out! I got us the perfect place to stay, no way will they find us there!"

He pointed at a rock in the sea, about 200 yards from the shore. Petunia, Julie and Harry all reluctantly got out; it was cold and raining. To their horror, Vernon made them sit on a boat, which he rowed to the rock on which was some sort of run-down cabin. The boat trip only took about fifteen minutes, but it felt like hours. The cold, the rain, the wind and splashing water made them shiver; Julie and Petunia were clinging to each other to keep warm. When they finally reached the rocky island they immediately went inside.

It was the most depressing place Harry had ever seen. There were only two rooms and it smelled really bad. As they ate dinner, consisting of a banana and a bag of crisps, the weather outside worsened; the wind became so powerful that it caused the walls to shake.

"Dad, will we get a refund if this thing collapses?" Julie asked, but she did not get a response. After dinner, Petunia made Julie a bed on the sagging couch using some old blankets she had found, while she and Vernon got a double bed in the other room. Harry was not given any blanket and thus he was forced to find the softest spot on the cold floor. It was about nine p.m. when they went to sleep fully clothed, trying to forget their misery. Harry noticed that Julie was very scared of the storm; she was constantly sitting up and whimpering softly whenever they heard a clash of thunder. After another bang, Julie suddenly started speaking. "You can't sleep either, can you?"

"No, but at least you got the sofa," Harry said.

"You know, that's not the only thing I've got. Watch!" she said. She got off the couch and walked towards her backpack. To Harry's surprise she took two apples out of it. "Took them with me from the hotel, because I'm so smart," she said smugly. She began eating one.

"Can I have the other one, please?" Harry asked enviously.

Julie grinned evilly. "Let me think for a second. No."

Harry sighed and rolled onto his side, away from her. He felt Julie looking at him, and then suddenly something bizarre happened. Maybe she felt sorry for her cousin as he was lying there on the floor without a blanket, trying to keep warm. "All right, here you go," she said softly and not only did she hand him the apple, but she also gave him one of her blankets.

"Wow, thank you, Julie," Harry said. He was truly astonished.

"Consider it a birthday present," she said, and Harry realised that it was indeed his eleventh birthday in a few hours. She got back on the couch, looking at him as if she was already regretting what she had done. "Dad has gone mad, hasn't he? Hopefully tomorrow we'll be back home," she said.

"That'd be nice," Harry said with his mouth full of apple.

"Well, we'd better get some sleep. It'll probably be another hellish day tomorrow. Good night, Harry," she said and she laid her head on the couch's arm rest.

"Good night," he said. Julie eventually fell asleep, but Harry could not get comfortable even with the blanket she had given him. He looked at her lighted digital watch. 11:50. He would be eleven in ten minutes time. With his finger he drew a birthday cake with eleven candles on the floor, and exactly at midnight he blew them out. "Make a wish, Harry," he whispered to himself.