Winning Ways

Winning Ways

Chapter 5- Rude Awakenings

Petunia Dursley was sleeping soundly early one Monday morning, in the beginning of September, blissfully unaware of the dramatic events that had taken place during the night. She was blissfully unaware of anything actually (being asleep as she was), however, Petunia's peaceful slumbers were about to be shattered.

Screeeeeeech!!!!

Petunia woke with a start at the sounds coming from outside. A shrieking screeching clattering something was flinging itself against her window.

Frozen in terror, Petunia stared at it, unable to make out the dark shape that was violently trying to get into her house. The first rays of the sun were only just beginning to peek over the horizon, casting long black shadows across the floor of her room, and the...the...the thing, whatever it was, was made to look five times it's size, and terrifyingly ferocious. Petunia wondered briefly where her husband had disappeared to, but all other thoughts vanished as the creature began a fresh round of assaults on her window.

Just then, she heard the noise of a toilet flushing, and moments later her husband Vernon opened the bedroom door, the light from the hallway flooding into the room to illuminate the creature that was attacking the window...it was Hedwig.

Petunia let out a shaky sigh of relief at the realisation that the thing at her window was not in fact some demonic monster trying to kill her, but only her nephew's pet owl.

"What the devil is going on here?!" her husband demanded to know, dealing with the situation the way he dealt with everything- yelling and causing a big fuss.

But this time, the fuss was most definitely justified. With the panic over, Petunia felt a hot surge of anger towards the owl...and it's owner.

"HARRY!!!" she bellowed, throwing off her covers and storming out of the room, past a red faced, blustered and very confused husband, leaving behind the troublesome owl, still throwing itself at the window, and barely stopping to grab her dressing gown from the hook on the back of the door.

"HARRY! That bloody owl of yours has been causing trouble from the moment it arrived. It's just spent the last fifteen minutes trying to break through my window! This is it! I've had enough! It's got to go. Harry? Harry! Let me in this instant!" Petunia was hammering on Harry's door loudly enough to wake the dead...or Dudley.

"Mum? Whassgoinon?" a very groggy Dudley asked, as he stumbled out of his bedroom, rubbing his eyes.

"Nothing sweetums. Go back to bed." she answered a little more sharply that usual. Luckily Dudley was too sleepy to notice, or they would have had a tantrum on their hands.

Vernon joined the family in the hallway, still looking somewhat confused, but anger was starting to take over from bewilderment in his expression.

"HARRY? HARRY! OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW! HARRY!!! OPEN THIS DOOR!" Petunia was still bellowing at the locked door.

"Let me take care of this Petunia," Vernon said, stepping in front of the door.

"Harry? Open the door." he ordered importantly.

No answer.

"Well dear, that was exquisitely handled," Petunia said with more than a touch of sarcasm in her voice, glaring at her husband, "but I think that perhaps we should just go and get the key?" she continued through tightly pursed lips.

"Right." Vernon said in a determined sort of voice, as though it had been he who had thought of it, storming off down the hall to his bedroom to get the key to Harry's room. In the background, Hedwig's attempts to break through their window could be heard.

Vernon came back into the hallway, clutching the key.

"Right, I'll take that," Petunia announced, snatching away the key, "I was the one woken up with all that racket!"

Dudley muttered something about her not being the only one, but it went unnoticed as his mother fitted the key in the lock, turned it, and went inside.

As it was a very small room, her husband and son did not follow her in. They were both a little on the heavy side (especially Dudley), so Petunia stormed into the silent room alone.

"Harry? HARRY! Get up, you lazy boy!" Petunia yelled down at her nephew, who showed no signs of getting up at all. "Harry! HARRY! HARRY!!!"

Grasping him by his shoulders and shaking him, she continued to shout at him.

"HARRY! Wake up, Harry! Harry? Harry?"

She paused, noticing how much paler he looked than usual, how cold he felt in her hands. Her husband and son were looking in through the doorway at them.

"Harry...?" Petunia asked again, so silent that it was nearly a whisper. Suddenly, realisation dawned on her.

She let go of his cold shoulders, and put her hands over her mouth.

"Oh god."