Sudden Realizations

Sudden Realizations

Harry dipped his quill in the inkpot and began doing the extensive amount of homework that Hogwarts had assigned. It was 12:01 in the morning, on July 31^st.

"Happy birthday to me," he sighed.

The Dursleys had not spoken to Harry the whole summer, except when there was work to be done. He was now receiving his meals through a doggy door in the entrance to his room. Dudley was accumulating in size, as he was almost twice as large as his father, and the term " baby whale" was extremely inaccurate.

"Pompous git," Harry muttered while trying to concentrate on his homework.

He paused to carefully open his book, " The Monster Book of Monsters" and succeeded in getting bitten quite a few times. He tried to start writing again but there was something else in his mind. Harry was thinking about Hermione.

He remembered her fiery cinnamon eyes as she waved goodbye to him when they were departing from The Hogwarts Express. He subconsciously rubbed the spot near his cheek where she had kissed him and swore he felt a slight tingle on that very same spot.

For the past few weeks, he hadn't been able to get her off of his mind. His eyes seemed to glaze over as he thought of her wavy hair bouncing happily when she laughed. And that smile. Merlin knew he loved her smile.

Just then a small, white minute owl hit Harry on the head . He snapped out of his reverie and took the letter from it as the owl took off.

"Merlin," he cursed. "That kinda hurt." He opened the letter and the instance he saw the neat, small handwriting, he knew it was from Hermione.

Dear Harry,

Happy Birthday! I am in China right now on holiday, and it is quite nice.

I was wondering if you would like to come over for the rest of the summer. We come back from vacation tomorrow, so send me your reply ASAP. Dumbledore already said it was okay. I invited Ron, but he is on holiday for the rest of the summer. Hope the Muggles are treating you right, and send Dudley my regards on making a feeble attempt to lose weight. (Harry snickered at this)

Love from,

Hermione

Harry finally noticed that his quill had made a large blot on his paper. He snatched it up, all thoughts of doing homework vanishing from his mind and scribbled his reply:

Dear Hermione,

Of course! I would love to come. I have to figure out how to sneak out of the Dursleys without them noticing though. I will meet you at your house two days after you return.

He picked up his response and made his way to Hedwig's cage, who was fast asleep. He poked her and she woke up, giving him a hoot of indignation for waking her. He didn't care about this and immediately tied the letter to her leg.

" I'll be at Hermione's when you get back," he told her while picking her up and taking her to the window. He watched as his owl dissapeared into the dark night.

Meanwhile, in a dank room, deep below ground, Voldemort was plotting. He had gotten word of Harry leaving the Dursleys and was planning something bad. Real bad.

Harry spent the following days doing homework, while packing and planning his escape. He was so excited that he could practically taste Hermione's raspberry scent.

When the big day finally arrived, Harry had just finished his homework and was ready to leave. Because of what happened at the Triwizard tournament, he was now allowed to use magic over the summer. He performed a shrinking charm on all of his things and slipped them into his pocket. He then yelled at the Dursleys

" I'll see you pompous ferrets later!!" Harry whispered to himself. He stepped out of the door, which creaked loudly, as if it was rigged to wake up those who were trying to rest. As Vernon Dursley tore out of the house, which was more of a waddle, his face now the color of an overripe plum, Harry stuck his wand out and with a loud bang, the Knight Bus appeared. Harry ran on as fast as his legs could carry him and with a sigh he sat down.

" OI, ERN!" said Stan Shunpike " Look, it's Neville!"

Ernie Prang said a quick hello before asking Harry:

" Where ya off to?"

" Granger residence," Harry replied.

He took one more quick look at Uncle Vernon, standing in the doorway, panting heavily, scantily clad in extra - extra - extra- extra- extra- large boxers, with Dudley, clutching his fat bottom, standing behind Vernon, and Petunia, who looked like who- did-it and ran, due to the green mask she wore which supposedly got rid of wrinkles, but was actually extremely ineffective. Harry chuckled to himself.

" I certainly can't wait to get back next summer," he said, displaying evident sarcasm in his voice.

In a few hours, Harry arrived at Hermione's house. He paid the fare for the ride, and stepped out of the bus. He arrived to a lush, three story high house, painted white with Ivy growing towards the foundation. There was a big, black door with a brass knocker in the shape of a lion. The door creaked open, and Harry saw whom he thought was the most beautiful creature on the face of the earth: Hermione.