Harry Potter and Gryffindor's Legacy

Chapter 2: The Invitation

By: Linsi-Lou

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From the month of September until the month of June, the Dursleys were the most normal, ordinary people you could care to meet. They had a nice, tidy house in an ordinary suburban neighbourhood. Mrs Petunia Dursley was a skinny, nosy, horse-necked housewife (the neck was dead useful for spying on the neighbours), and Mr Vernon Dursley, her husband, was a large, ruddy-faced businessman, who worked for a large, normal company. Their son, Dudley, was quite fat, but still not what one would call out of the ordinary. He went to an expensive boarding school in England, and his parents spoilt him shamelessly. Yes, at one time they had prided themselves on just how perfectly normal they were.

That is, until Harry Potter showed up on their doorstep one night in October. The bane of their conventional existence manifested itself in the form of a small, one-year-old orphan with jet-black hair, bright green eyes, and an unusual, lightning-bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. The Dursleys knew about Harry's 'abnormality,' as they called it, but it was precisely this difference that made them so mad. Harry was a wizard. His father, James Potter, had been a wizard, and his mother, Lily Evans Potter (and Petunia Evans Dursley's sister), had been a witch. Which is why, upon their deaths, Harry was sent to live with his only surviving relations, the Dursleys. For eleven long years they tried everything they could to 'squash' the magic out of him, but all their efforts were to no avail. On his eleventh birthday, an envoy from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came to introduce Harry to the magical world, in which he had and would continue to play an integral part.

At the moment, however, he was interrupting their otherwise conforming lifestyles by mowing their lawn. The Dursley's despised Harry, and went out of their way to make sure his life with them was as unpleasant as humanly possible. Shortly before his eleventh birthday, they had given him an upgrade from a cupboard under the stairs to a small room upstairs, but that was about as generous as they were. So, as Harry begrudgingly pushed the lawnmower to and fro across the Dursley's already painstakingly manicured lawn, he thought about how much longer he had to wait until September the first, when he would take the Hogwarts Express back to school.

Harry looked out across the lawn, realising, with a smile, that he was just about done. He wiped the perspiration from his forehead and started up again, renewed at the idea of being able to stop soon. It was dead hot outside, and Harry could feel a nasty sunburn forming on his bare back. This was the second time that week that he had been made to mow the lawn, and it was only Thursday. It wasn't as though Dursley's had quick-growing grass, they just liked to get him out of the house as much as possible. With one final push across the lawn, Harry let go of the mower, letting the engine roll to a stop. He heaved it back to the garden shed, and then made his way to a shady oak tree by the fence. He sat down wearily and took a deep breath, savouring the coolness that the shade of the tree provided. It felt so wonderful to finally be able to sit back and relax a bit! He put his head back against the rough bark of the trunk and closed his eyes, knowing that as soon as he went back inside his aunt would have some other ridiculous chore for him. He sat forward a bit and rubbed the kinks out of his back before lifting himself from the ground and trudging back to the house for a glass of cold water.

Just as he had expected, Aunt Petunia was sitting at the kitchen table. She was leaning over the table, holding a pair of black binoculars to her beady little eyes, trying as hard as she could to see into the next-door neighbour's window. As Harry went about preparing a glass of water, Petunia spoke.

'Are you done mowing the lawn, boy?'

Harry looked up to see her sneering at him. 'Yes, I've just finished,' he replied politely.

'Good then, you can press Vernon's shirts now.... Mind you don't mess them up! ' She said, turning back to the window.

He sighed quietly, glad that, at least he hadn't been made to wash Dudley's over-large knickers by hand again. That was an experience that he would be quite glad to forget, but that he doubted he could. It made him shiver just to think of it! He downed the last of his water and went upstairs to press his uncle's dress shirts.

At last it was night-time. Vernon's shirts were all nicely pressed, the lawn was perfect, and Harry had just finished his supper. Dinner had been relatively uneventful. Dudley had shovelled as much food as humanly possible into his quivering jaw, Uncle Vernon had droned on and on about drills and things that made him angry, and Aunt Petunia had sat and listened quietly, still craning her neck to see what the Mrs Next-door was serving for her supper, all ignoring Harry, who was eating quietly not caring what his relatives were doing.

'May I be excused?' he asked, putting down his fork.

'What? Oh, yes, fine, go,' Uncle Vernon said, not looking up from his own, still full, plate.

Harry pushed his chair back and climbed the stairs, flopping down onto his bed. Looking around his room, he was startled to see a sleek brown owl standing beside Hedwig's cage. He got up and walked over to it, noting a small box with the envelope. He untied both from the owl's leg, which then ruffled its feathers importantly and flew off through the open window.

When he looked closer at the envelope, he noticed the Hogwarts insignia and thought it strange that he would get a letter from his school so early in the summer. Usually the supply list came in August, not mid July. He broke the seal, and pulled out a length of parchment upon which was a letter to Harry.

Your presence is requested at a meeting to be taking place in my office, tomorrow morning at precisely 11.00 AM. It is very important that you be there. In the box with this letter you will find a portkey that will transport you to a spot near the lake at exactly 10.30. The gargoyle's password is 'mars bars.' Please don't be late.

Thank you,

Albus Dumbledore, headmaster.

Harry folded up the letter, placed it back in the envelope, and laid the whole upon his desk. He then proceeded to open the small box that had come with the letter. Inside, he found a shoe-string. He placed the lid back on the box, and set it back on his desktop. All the while he was getting ready for bed, thoughts of why Professor Dumbledore would want to see him in his office in the middle of summer holiday were running through his head. 'What could I have possibly done now?' he thought to himself. Maybe Dumbledore was going to let him go to the home of his best friend, Ron Weasley, for the rest of the summer. 'But why, then, would he need to see me in his office?' Nothing Harry thought of seemed to make any sense. Harry got into bed and drifted off slowly, still curious as to why Dumbledore wanted him at any summer meetings.

~

Well, so what did you think of that one? Not too much longer, I know, but I tried! Later on in the story the chapters get to be over 7 pages.... Nice, huh? Next chapter should be out next week some time... Adieu till then!