Harry sat on his bed with his History of Magic book propped open in front of him as he scribbled away with his quill on a roll of parchment. He had to wait until his aunt and uncle had gone to sleep before he could creep downstairs to get the book out of his trunk. The Dursleys did not like anything to do with magic so they locked up all of Harry's belongings when he returned home for the summer. All of his belongings except for Hedwig that is. After the racket she made last year at all times of the day while she was locked in her cage, Vernon Dursley finally agreed to allow Harry to let her out in the evenings under the cover of darkness.
It was 1:00am when Hedwig swooped through Harry's window and disturbed the writing of his History of Magic essay. Hedwig landed on Harry's bed bearing several small packages. Harry opened the card attached to the first box to reveal a clipping from the Daily Prophet. A picture of the entire Weasley family was waving at him standing in front of the Pyramids in Egypt. Ron's family had won a trip for part of the summer.
Next Harry opened a birthday card and a small package bearing a Sneakoscope. He had lost track of time. Harry had been 13 years old for an hour already. He opened the next two packages. Hermione sent him a broomstick servicing kit and Hagrid sent him a large book covered in fur. As soon as Harry opened the book it attacked him. He wrestled it to the ground and grabbed his belt off a nearby table to restrain it.
The last letter Harry opened contained a list of his new school books for his third year and a permission slip that a guardian had to sign that would allow Harry to visit the wizarding village, Hogsmeade, this year. After finishing his current thoughts on his essay, Harry turned out the light and went to bed happy on his birthday for the first time.
The next morning Harry joined the Dursleys in the kitchen for breakfast. As he sat down he heard the news anchor on TV notifying people that an extremely dangerous convict named Black had escaped prison. Uncle Vernon informed the table during breakfast that his sister Marge was coming to stay with them for a week. Harry strongly disliked Marge. She treated him even worse than Dudley did. Uncle Vernon stared threateningly at Harry as he was trying to cover an inaudible scoff.
"While Marge is here you better behave. Marge believes that you go to St. Brutus' Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys and I expect you to go along with that story," Uncle Vernon threatened him.
Remembering the permission slip that Harry received in the mail that needed to be signed by a guardian, he made Uncle Vernon a deal. "I'll cooperate while she's here if you sign my permission slip for school." Uncle Vernon begrudgingly agreed.
When Aunt Marge and her dog Ripper arrived, she treated him even worse than usual. At dinner that evening she said "You'd have gone straight to an orphanage if you'd been dumped on my doorstep." Marge continued to insult him. Harry could feel his temper rising so he tried to focus on Hogwarts. Then Marge insulted Harry's mother. He couldn't contain himself any longer. Marge's teacup shattered in her hand. Uncle Vernon glared at Harry. "Don't worry, Vernon," Marge said "I have a very firm grip."
Harry managed to contain himself by staying as far away from Marge as he could for the week. On Marge's last evening, the Dursleys had brought out several bottles of wine for dinner. The drunker Marge got, the more she insulted Harry's parents. Harry had enough. His anger boiled over and Aunt Marge began to inflate like a large balloon. The Dursleys freaked out and tried to hold onto Marge as she began floating toward the ceiling.
Harry left the kitchen and grabbed his trunk from under the stairs. He ran up to his room and threw all of his belongings in the trunk. He hauled it back down the stairs and walked out the Dursley's front door. Panic started to settle over Harry as he began to calm down. He had just performed accidental, illegal magic. He was afraid that he would be expelled from Hogwarts since students were not permitted to use magic outside of school. Harry sat on the curb trying to plan what he was going to do next. He would not return to the Dursley's house. Harry sat staring off into a large nearby bush. He was so deep in thought that he barely noticed the bush moving. A large black dog peered through the branches at him as it growled. Just as he was about to stand up and run a large purple bus materialized down the street and zoomed up next to him.
The bus stopped and a young crew member stepped out the door. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shunpike." Stan Shunpike welcomed Harry aboard and helped him heave his trunk through the door. Harry requested transport to Diagon Alley and the bus zoomed off. Stan leaned against the barrier between the coach and the cabin reading the Daily Prophet. Harry noticed the large picture that covered the majority of the front page. It was a deranged looking man with brown hair and tired eyes. he was screaming like a mad man. Stan noticed harry staring at the picture and explained who it was. "That's Sirius Black. He's a murderer. Was a huge You-Know-Who supported back in the day. He was put into Azkaban for blowing up a muggle street and killing 13 people. And now he's on the loose."
The Knight Bus arrived at the Leaky Cauldron and Harry stepped out. Upon entering the little pub he was greeted by the minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge. Fudge told Harry that he was there to make sure that Harry was safe and assured him that he would not be punished for accidentally "blowing up" his Aunt. This seemed very suspicious. Harry wondered to himself why the Minister of Magic, whom he had never actually met, was there to greet him and be concerned about his safety.
Harry stayed at the Leaky Cauldron for the last few weeks of summer. He had never felt as free as he did now. He was able to come and go between the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley. He spent his days finishing his summer homework and exploring Diagon Alley and eating free ice cream sundaes from Florean Fotescue's Ice Cream Parlour. One of Harry's favorite stores to visit was Quality Quidditch Supplies. He could spend hours browsing the store and admiring all of the Quidditch memorabilia they had displayed. One afternoon as he browsed the shop he came across a new broomstick. The Firebolt was the fastest racing broom ever created. Harry had to restrain himself from purchasing the broom because it was really expensive.
The day before the end of summer vacation the Weasley's and Hermione arrived in Diagon Alley. When Harry met up with them, Ron and Hermione were arguing. "Keep that thing away from Scabbers!" Ron shouted at her. Hermione had recently gotten a new cat that she called Crookshanks. Crookshanks was determined to eat Ron's rat, Scabbers.
The next morning they all woke up early and finished packing everything into their trunks. Percy couldn't find his new Head Boy badge and Ron couldn't find Scabbers' rat tonic (Scabbers had been looking pretty rough since the trip to Egypt). Harry thought that he remembered seeing the bottle of rat tonic downstairs so he went to fetch it for Ron. As Harry took the last few steps Harry overheard a conversation that Arthur and Molly Weasley were having. "Always the same words: 'He's at Hogwarts. He's at Hogwarts.' Black is deranged, Molly and he wants Harry dead." Harry froze as he digested what Arthur Weasley was saying. Mr. Weasley went on to say that the Ministry had ordered that Azkaban send guards to Hogwarts to search for Black.
After a nice breakfast, several cars from the Ministry pulled up to the Leaky Cauldron. Everyone loaded their trunks into the cars and they set off for King's Cross Station. After they arrived at the station Mr. Weasley stayed very close to Harry. Right before he boarded the Hogwarts Express Harry tells Mr. Weasley that he overheard Arthur and Molly Weasley's conversation and that he wasn't afraid of Black. Mr. Weasley was still concerned however.
"Just promise me that you will not go looking for Black," he said to Harry.
"Why would I go looking for someone who wants to kill me?" Harry said before boarding the train. Mr. Weasley clapped Harry on the shoulder and smiled.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were some of the last students to board the train. The only compartment they could find that wasn't full had a scruffy looking gentleman with brown hair sleeping propped up against the window. Hermione figured out that this was Professor R. J. Lupin according to the nameplate on his trunk. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down opposite the sleeping Professor Lupin and talked quietly as the Hogwarts Express left the station.
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