Harry Potter and the Staff of Merlin

HARRY POTTER AND THE STAFF OF MERLIN

Chapter 5

"What the Hell do you think you’re doing!"

Hermione and Harry sat up quickly, rubbing their eyes and staring in bewilderment at the sight of a very angry Eric.

"Oh, Hi Daddy. What time is it?"

"What TIME IS IT? Get the Bloody Hell out of that bed and come over here now!"

"What are you so angry about, Dad?" Hermione was starting to get a little angry herself, and was staring with a confused expression at her father.

"I’ll tell you what I’m angry about. MY FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER IN BED IN A NIGHTGOWN WITH A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD MALE IN NOTHING BUT HIS BLOODY BOXERS. OTHER THAN THAT, I’M PERFECTLY FINE. NOW GET OUT HERE NOW!"

Hermione reluctantly climbed out of bed, and was practically dragged down the hall by her angry father, slamming the door behind her. Harry, not daring to move, lay quietly in his bed trying to catch snatches of the yelling that were filtering down from the next corridor. Climbing out of bed, he was just finished getting dressed when Hermione’s father burst through the door with a sullen looking Hermione.

"All right, now listen up good you two. What you did was in no way right, and Dumbledore and Sirius will definitely hear about this, and we will have a long discussion on this when I get back. You are very lucky that your mother and I have this conference in Brussels to go to. However, when we are there Hermione’s cousin will watch you to make sure you behave."

"NO Dad, you cannot do that to us. Do you know what it’s like to be alone with Sean for an hour, let alone three days? You can’t do this!"

"I’ll do what I please with you two after that little stunt you pulled last night, and you WILL like it! Your mother is going to be pissed!"

"But Dad…"

"Don’t you ‘but dad’ me, you wouldn’t have to put up with your cousins eccentricities if you had thought before you acted. I have to leave now, and Sean will be here in half an hour. If possible, during that time I would appreciate it if you didn’t have SEX before he arrives."

"DAD!"

"Just DON’T!" Eric stormed out of the room, leaving a bewildered and slightly scared Harry alone with Hermione.

Half an hour later, Harry and Hermione were down eating breakfast when there was a knock on the door. Hermione stood to answer it, then jumped back, just realizing something.

"Oh god Harry, that’s probably Sean. You get it."

"Why? He can’t be that bad." Hermione bent over with laughter.

"I’m going to remember you said that after you’ve enjoyed his company for a few days." Harry turned down the hall at this remark and made his way towards the door. What he saw when he opened it surprised him, as he was standing before the complete opposite of Hermione. Sean was a tall seventeen-year-old with spiky hair died blond, numerous earrings, and a Metallica"Ride the Lightning" shirt.

"Er, Hello," Harry started.

"Wassup," Sean said, grabbing Harry’s hand. "I’m Sean Granger, who the hell are you."

Harry took and step back and answered timidly, "Harry Potter."

"Oh, so you’re the chap that’s been screwing my fourteen-year-old cousin. Nice to meet you." Harry took another step back into the hall, looking for Hermione to support him. Sean walked in and pushed right by him.

"So, where’s my little cousin?"

"Um, I think she’s in the kitchen." Harry followed Sean into the kitchen, where Hermione was putting away the milk. She looked at them and saw Sean, giving a small yelp.

"Wassup Midget?" Hermione got red in the face and yelled back at him.

"Shut up Muff!"

"Okay now, no need to get defensive."

"You should talk! You’re the most defensive person I know!"

"Why Midget, whatever are you talking about?"

"DON’T CALL ME MIDGET!" Hermione threw a cereal box at him as she said this.

"My somebody has a case a bitchstritus today!"

"There you go again."

"You name one time!"

"The bar in Ireland!" Hermione was really mad now, and it looked like Sean was having fun.

"That damn Mick was asking for it."

"You walked up behind him and hit him in the head with a stool!"

"Okay, it might have happened once. Always have to be so smart, don’t we?"

"You don’t talk about smart, you Jackass."

"Are you calling me STUPID?" Sean looked incredulous.

"Hmmm, lets see. Now, who was it that brought the fireworks to grandma’s funeral, then lit them in the casket and closed the cover?"

"Okay, don’t mess with that one. The undertaker couldn’t get the old dead person smell person out of it for months."

"You’re so immature." Hermione threw a five-pound bag of sugar at Sean.

"Well, you seem mature enough to shag that bloke standing over by the doorway who’s trying not to burst out in laughter at us."

"First, I didn’t shag Harry. Secondly, you’re an asshole."

"Hey, don’t get so bitchy. I’m not the bad one here. I’m not the one who used to play with Dental Dan an all the friends at the ole’ coral."

"DON’T YOU DARE MAKE FUN OF DENTAL DAN!"

"You do know you’re very strange, right Midget?"

"Are not!"

"Are to!"

"Afraid not!"

"Afraid so!"

"Dental Dan reduced cavities in children by almost three-quarters, and all the children who played with him didn’t grow up violent and hyperactive, right Muff?" Hermione looked ready to cry now.

"I know, instead they grew up to be psychopaths that are either in the Nut House or having a secret affair with their local librarian."

"You’re an asshole!"

"That reminds me of a joke I just heard. What do you get when you cross two Polish people, a bottle of milk, a chicken, and a vibrator?" Hermione screamed as loud as she could and ran up stairs. Sean finally turned to Harry, who had been quite the whole time.

"What did I say?"

Harry spent the rest of the day with Sean, as Hermione was up in her room and wouldn’t unlock the door. He found that Sean was a senior in high school in Manchester and was very funny. He had an unlimited stash of Polish and blond jokes and hated ‘those damn Micks’ as he called them.

After a full day of swimming, watching TV, a disastrous attempt on the part of Sean to try to teach Harry soccer, and setting off large fireworks, they went in to cook supper. It was just past seven when they got in, and because Mr. and Mrs. Granger weren’t there the cooks were on vacation. There was plenty of food, but preparing it was a problem. There were numerous steaks, hams, turkey, and chicken available, but neither of them knew how to cook. Harry was an expert at breakfast, as he had to prepare it for the Dursley’s, but he had no clue how to cook a steak. Out of ideas, they headed up to Hermione’s room.

Harry knocked on the door, calling "Hermione" softly. When he got no answer, he opened the door slowly and saw Hermione lying on her bed reading. Sean ran over and jumped on the bed, in the process knocking both the book and Hermione off the bed.

"What the hell are you doing, Sean?" she yelled.

"Relax Midget, we just need you to cook some food for us. And while you’re at it, turn up the heat and make our beds."

"What do you think I am, your slave? Get Out!"

"But Midget!"

"Out! NOW!" Sean got up off the bed muttering something under his breath about ‘that time of the month’.

Harry cut in here. "Um, Sean, shut up for a minute." Turning to Hermione, he said "Hermione, what he meant to say was that we’re cold and hungry and we know how infinitely smart and nice you are, so as your underlings we are asking you to protect us from the cold." Hermione narrowed her eyes at Harry, but didn’t say anything. "Please," Harry added. Hermione sighed and got up, knowing the only way to get Sean to shut up was to do what he asked.

"Thanks, Midget, what he said." Hermione wheeled on Sean.

"Shut up Muff, you’re so stupid."

"All right, we all know you’re so smart. Now, food!"

An hour later, they were sitting down to a nice steak dinner in a warm house with new sheets on the bed.

"Thanks Midget. I bow before your infinite wisdom, or whatever that horse shit was."

"You don’t shut up, do you?"

"No, not usually. Hey, it’s your own fault I’m here. If you and good ole’ Harry hadn’t been screwing like little jackrabbits then I wouldn’t be here."

"We didn’t do anything!" Hermione yelled. Harry was looking confused now.

"What in God’s name are you people talking about?"

"You screwing my cousin, damn it," was his reply from Sean.

"Doing what?"

"Screwing. Shagging. Mating. Copulating. Rocking the Casba. HAVING SEX, dumb ass." Harry looked astonished.

"But we didn’t do that, I don’t think." Hermione turned on Harry.

"Damn straight we didn’t. Don’t play dumb. I know what males think about ninety percent of the time."

"Hold on a second here Midget," Sean cut in. "I think our Harry might have a serious problem." He turned and stared at Harry, who by now was very nervous. "Now, Harry, do you know what sex is?"

"Um, yes, pretty sure."

"Oh dear god, you’re worse than a five ton Mick after a keg. I take it you’ve never seen a porno."

"No."

"Never taken any kind of drugs?"

"No."

"Never had any alcohol."

"No."

"My god, you live a sheltered life. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Hermione jumped in here. "There’s nothing wrong with him Sean, unlike you!" Harry blushed at this, but luckily Hermione didn’t notice. "It’s not his fault that his friend’s cousin is a psycho maniac who only thinks about sex and getting drunk!"

"Oh Midget, you forgot making fun of Micks. Guess you’re not one hundred percent perfect all the time."

"GOD, I hate you! Come on, Harry, let’s go watch TV." Hermione grabbed Harry and pulled him out of the room as quickly as she could. They went out to the large den silently and turned the TV on. They watched some stupid sitcom for almost an hour when a special bulletin interrupted the show.

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this special bulletin. About an hour ago a crazed maniac went on a killing spree through the town of Orange. The death count is as of now unfinished, and develops."

"Oh no Harry, that’s only the next town over!" Hermione exclaimed.

The reporter went on saying how horrible it was and how it could have been prevented if people weren’t so horrible. They finished by showing some pictures of the dead people, and when they did Harry gasped. He knew that those people hadn’t been killed by any muggle. They were the same as he had seen Cedric and in his dreams his parents. They the killer or killers have escaped. We will more on this story as it had been killed by the Avada Kedavra curse.

"Hermione, those people weren’t killed by a muggle. They were killed by Avada Kedavra." Hermione started to look scared.

"What are you talking about Harry? They just said that they were killed by muggles." Just as she finished this, the station showed one last picture of one of the victims. They held this one for almost a minute, with the cheesy background music and everything. But that wasn’t what interested Harry and Hermione. They were staring at the picture.

It was a picture of a man in a long black robe. He also had a mask on that Harry recognized. It was a picture of a Death Eater. Suddenly, there was a banging on the door. Neither of them moved, and the banging didn’t cease.

"All right, don’t move your lazy asses, I’ll get it."

"Oh, shit," Harry swore. He had forgotten about Sean. "No Sean, don’t!" But it was too late; he wasn’t paying any attention to them.

Harry and Hermione held their breath as they heard Sean open the door.

"And who the Bloody Hell are you?"

HARRY POTTER AND THE STAFF OF MERLIN

PART 6

"And who the Bloody Hell are you!" Hermione and Harry held their breath and didn’t move, waiting to see what happened.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing? You can’t go in there! Are you blond or something?" Harry got up and raced through the house until he got to the hallway that connected the door to the living room. When he got there, he saw the three people that he least expected to see at this moment.

Walking down the hall towards him was Professor Dumbledore, flanked on both sides by Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. All three were wearing the blackest robes Harry had ever seen with a small orange insignia on the left shoulder, and had looks of extreme concentration on their faces. Sirius broke ranks and ran ahead to grab Harry into a huge hug.

"Oh, thank God Harry. We thought for a minute there that those bastards had gotten you."

"As much as I appreciate that Sirius, I would like to breathe if you don’t mind."

"Oh, right." Sirius released him. "Where are Hermione and her parents?" Just then, Hermione walked into view and spoke up.

"My parents are at a conference in Brussels. They won’t be home for three days, so they left us with him," Hermione pointed at a very confused looking Sean.

"Ah, Midget, would you mind telling who the hell all these people are? Your parents are going to be rip shit if they find out about this."

Hermione continued. "You’ll have to excuse him, he was dropped on the head as a child." Sean shot her a death glare then looked back at Dumbledore, Remus, and Sirius.

"Now, if you wouldn’t mind telling me who the hell you are, we could get this little party started. You’ll have to excuse my Midget here, it’s that time of the month, if you catch my drift." He nudged Remus with his elbow.

"Shut UP! You can be SO annoying!"

"Uh oh, Midget’s getting pissed!"

"I swear to God Sean, I’m gonna rip your balls off and shove them-" She was cut off by Dumbledore who gave an impatient grunt.

"If you don’t mind, we must interrupt this beautiful family chat," he started. "Voldemort has just attack the village to the east of us, and we have to get you out of here. We have a portkey waiting outside. Lets go."

"Wait a minute, what about me? You got a crazy dude coming and your going to leave me here?" Sean asked. Dumbledore took a minute to consider this, then gave his decision.

"I guess you will have to come with us. However, tomorrow morning you will have to be returned to your family." Turning to Harry and Hermione, he said, "As for you two, we will send an owl to Hermione’s parents as soon as possible to tell them where you are."

"NO Professor, you do not want to do that! Trust me on this one."

"Shut up Midget!"

"You shut up, Muff!"

"When you two are ready," said a Professor Dumbledore who was nearing the end of his patience. With that, he turned and strode out the door, with the rest trailing him as quickly as possible.

When they got outside, Professor Dumbledore had them all gather around an old shoe. They got in a circle with Hermione pulling Sean in, whom was looking at them like they were a bunch of ten-ton gorillas.

"Um, I don’t mean to be a damper to this happy little party of yours, but why are we gathering around an old shoe. I mean, even twelve drunken Micks at a birthday party could come up with something better to do."

"WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP MUFF!"

"Okay, okay, you don’t have to get pissy about it!"

"You’re the one getting pissy!"

"Am not!"

"Are to!"

"Not likely!"

"Likely!" By this time Remus and Sirius were doubled over in laughter, Harry was trying not to laugh, and Dumbledore was portraying the scene with mild amusement.

"WHEN YOU ARE READY!" Professor Dumbledore had to yell. Just then, down past the grove of Maples at the gate to the mansion, a mob of people in black cloaks was running towards them carrying torches. "We must go NOW!" Grab it on my mark! Three, Two, One, NOW!"

They all grabbed the old shoe, and Harry got the same sickening feeling that he was being pulled straight up into the air. About a minute later they landed on grass outside a large castle. The silence was only broken once by Sean.

"Holy shit!"

The party walked quickly through the grounds and up to the gate, following the blistering pace of Professor Dumbledore. When they got inside, Sirius transformed into a dog in front of the stunned eyes of Sean, then Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape walked up to the group. Professor McGonagall spoke up first.

"We are all assembled and ready, Albus. We can convene anytime you are ready. Oh, hello Hermione."

"Hello Professor," Hermione replied. Professor Dumbledore nodded to McGonagall then turned to Harry, Hermione, and Sean.

"You may go up to your common room now. I have a meeting I must attend, and then we will be with you shortly. You are free to roam the castle, but please do not leave Hogwarts." He finished with them, then turned to Sirius and Remus and all went up to his office.

"I understand now. You must think I’m pretty fricken’ stupid! What did you put in my drink? Or was it in my food. Go on, I’ve figured out your little game. You cheap bastards, I come here to look after you like a responsible cousin and you go off drugging me." Sean started towards the door. "I swear, sometimes you little kids…"

Hermione walked over and grabbed him. "First, the only reason you came was so you could have a kegger, and second, NOBODY DRUGGED YOU!"

"Oh, it makes sense now! I’m sleeping! I guess I’ll just wake up then." He started pinching himself. "God Damn it, it’s not working! There’s got to be another way. Oh, I got it!"

Sean finished saying this, then ran into the wall head first, knocking himself out cold.

"First of all, I would like to welcome you all back," Professor Dumbledore started. He looked around the room, taking in all he saw. There were about twenty people all dressed identical to him, black robes with an orange insignia on the left shoulder meeting in the teacher’s lounge at Hogwarts.

"It’s been awhile, almost fourteen years now. I can still remember our first meeting as if it were yesterday…" He was interrupted by a voice from the back of the room.

"Ach, move your bleeding arse’ man, I haven’t got all day ya know!"

"Of course Angus, I apologize." Dumbledore smiled at the skinny Irish man sitting in the back of the room. "As I was saying, we haven’t met in almost fourteen years. We have lost many since that time, almost half our strength. I would like everybody to take a moment of silence for our lost comrades." Everybody was silent for a minute, and then he looked up and continued. "I can remember them all, Lily had her perfect eyes-"

"Ach, quit your bitchin’ and get to the point!"

A large black dog that was sitting on the floor next to Dumbledore suddenly sat up and growled dangerously, but it was quieted quickly by Remus Lupin. Professor Dumbledore looked unfazed and continued.

"As most of you are aware, Voldemort has been reborn, with much of his original powers. Just today he has attacked a muggle settlement. Our mission is the same as last time, to prevent the rise and spread of the Dark Arts by any means necessary. However, it will not be as easy as it was the last time. Firstly, we do not have the backing of the ministry. In fact, we are being denounced as a radical group. Secondly, we have lost many members and the ones left are fourteen years older. Thirdly, we no longer have the expansive recruiting network to which we were accustomed. Finally, we can expect no foreign help this time around. He paused here to let the murmurs coming from the group subside. Anyway, since our numbers have faded so dangerously low, we have a need to recruit new members for the task ahead. I will open the floor to any names for nomination."

Harry and Hermione, having left Sean in the infirmary with Madame Pomfrey, headed up to the Gryffindor common room. There was a nice fire going, and they sat down next to each other on a couch right in front of it. They sat in silence for a few minutes, and then Harry finally broke the silence.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you and Sean fight all the time?"

"What are you talking about Harry? We never fight. Well, he might try to, but it never works with me. I not the confrontational sort."

Harry stifled a laugh then continued. "Okay, but why does Sean always try to fight with you?"

"Because he’s a jackass."

"No Hermione, really, why does he try to fight with you?"

Hermione sighed. "I don’t know. We’re cousins. I guess in some twisted sort of way that’s how we show that we care about each other and deep down love each other."

"That’s a very strange way to show you love each other."

"You don’t under-" Hermione stopped quickly, just catching herself. She had been going to say that Harry didn’t understand, but then she remembered why he didn’t understand. She hoped Harry didn’t notice. There was another minute of silence, and then Harry asked another question.

"Why does he call you Midget?"

"DON’T EVER SAY THAT IN MY PRESENCE AGAIN!" Hermione yelled. "I hate it! When we were really little I was short and he was huge, so he started called me Midget. I really wasn’t that short, I was perfect. He was just too tall."

"So why do you call him Muff?"

"When we were little Sean’s mom used to call him ‘Muffin’, and of course I couldn’t let that one slip by." Hermione laughed to herself. "Imagine if there were two of him, like Fred and George. The world would not survive. But I guess he’s just a typical male."

"And what do you have against that male race?"

"There a bunch of idiots!"

"How?"

"They just are."

"Yeah, right."

"Notice how every war in history was started by men? Notice how every bad thing you see in the news is about a man?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Come on Harry, everybody knows that all the bad people in the world are male."

"Bull!"

"Oh, maybe you don’t. You haven’t figured it out yet? I guess that’s okay, women are smarter too."

"You’re a, a, a, stupid!"

"See, that’s a perfect example of it Harry, I couldn’t have done it any better myself." Both of them fell back onto the couch and sat peacefully watching the fire.

Back in the teachers’ lounge, the meeting was moving along at a snail’s pace. Names were still being thrown out, but in the last half-hour only one had been accepted.

"What about Francis Fredrickson? He just graduated from Durmstrang with high honors, maybe we could use him."

Remus spoke up now. "He got a horrible Defense Against the Dark Arts grade, we can’t have him. The only reason he got high honors is because he had such a good potion grade, and we all know how trivial that is, right Severus?" he said, throwing a grin at Snape.

"Oh, I don’t know Remus, it can be beneficial. You can make almost anything, wolfsbane potion for example," Snape said, throwing a malevolent sneer at Remus. The big black dog growled again, and Dumbledore had to step in.

"Enough you two, we’re not going to go anywhere with you fighting. Now, does anybody have any more names."

The Irish man called Angus stood up quickly. "Why yes, you better believe it. I say we get that Veela girl there, Fleur Delacour. We could use a nice piece of that in here!"

Dumbledore sighed.

This went on for two and a half more hours, until everybody had finally run out of candidates. Only thirteen had been accepted, not nearly enough to fill the old ranks of the society. Dumbledore was just starting to move the meeting along when an old wizard near the door interrupted him.

"We have had a great selection tonight, but nobody has said the name that we all really want. Harry Potter!" There was an outbreak of whispers and heated conversations at this remark, and it took Dumbledore a minute to regain control.

"We may want Harry Potter, but he is not old enough to undertake this. He only turns fifteen next week, more than three years too young. His powers have only just begun to bud, and bringing his into this group would endanger him even more than he already is." Remus was looking agitated, and the dog at his feet was up and pacing around. Finally, Remus spoke up.

"Harry is way too young to do this, he just wants to have fun with his friends and do well in school. If this point is not good enough for some of you, then you must take into account that if James and Lily were here then they would not approve of him joining us." The dog let out an approving bark, wagging its tail at Dumbledore and Remus.

"We must now adjourn this meeting," Professor Dumbledore started. "However, before we go, I have one final order of business to attend to. Years ago, Sirius Black was accused but never convicted of blowing up Peter Pettigrew and a street full of muggles. Two summers ago he escaped from the prison of Azkaban, as you all know, and has not been found. I bring you the news that Sirius Black is innocent! It was Peter Pettigrew who betrayed the Potter’s, not Black! Because of this fact, Sirius Black will be rejoining our group. Sirius?" He turned to the dog and gave a small nod, and then to the astonishment of most of the crowd, Sirius Black stood where seconds before had been a black dog. He gave a small smile to the group, then turned back to Dumbledore.

"This meeting is adjourned. We will meet again in two weeks. I also need to see Severus, Sirius, and Remus in my office at once. That is all." With that, he walked out the door closely followed by Sirius and Remus, who were shooting death glares at a Professor Snape who was following behind them. They all went up to Dumbledore’s office and sat down in three seats in front of his desk, waiting for him to begin.

"Severus, what do you have?"

"Before I begin, sir, I would like to express my concern over the fact that Black is being allowed to join the group. I still suspect that he works for Voldemort."

"And I would like to register my concern," began Sirius, "That Snape is once again pulling the traitor thing and is working for Voldemort." Dumbledore sighed at these, then continued.

"Duly noted. Now, Severus, continue."

"Well, sir, it seems that Pettigrew is indeed working for Voldemort, and has become one of his major officers in the ranks of the Death Eaters. Voldemort is pissed at Karkaroff for abandoning him, and plans to assassinate him at Durmstrang sometime during the year."

"That’s not good. Thank you Severus, you may leave now." Giving one final nasty glance to Remus and Sirius, he departed. Dumbledore now turned to Remus and Sirius.

"As you know, Harry is no longer safe outside of Hogwarts in England for the rest of the summer, as is Hermione. They will be kept here under guard for the remainder of the summer. However, there is the matter of the owl we received for Harry from the Russian School of Magic at Murmansk. They want him there for two days, with Hermione for some reason, which they would not disclose. I know their headmaster well, Professor Rostov, and I would trust him with my life. However, if I do send them, I don’t want them going alone. Sirius, you couldn’t go because of your, um, predicament, so I would like you Remus to accompany them to Murmansk."

"Professor, you can’t send two kids to a school in Russia when you have no idea what they want them for, especially with Voldemort after them. He’s going to be following their every move! There’s no way they could use a portkey all the way to Russia and not have someone notice!"

"Easy, Sirius. I have already thought this through," Dumbledore began. "Remus, you can drive a muggle car, right?" Professor Lupin nodded. "You will take the passage out to Hogsmeade, where you will proceed to drive them to the airport in Glasgow. You will fly in a muggle jet to Moscow, where you will get on a smaller plane, which will take you to Murmansk. I will have a contact waiting for you there. You will leave in two days. We should go inform Hermione and Harry of this." With that, the trio got up and started walking towards the Gryffindor common room.

"They look so cute together." That was all Sirius had to say.

Professor Dumbledore, Sirius, and Remus had just arrived in the Gryffindor common room to the sight of Harry and Hermione asleep together on a couch in front of the fire. Hermione’s head was resting on Harry’s shoulder, and Harry was resting his head on Hermione’s.

"Let’s not wake them, we can tell them tomorrow." With that, they left the two young sleepers in peace.

However, at this moment Harry and Hermione were not sleeping peacefully. Harry was having another dream, and, unbeknownst to him, Hermione was having the same dream also.

He was back in the graveyard, dueling Voldemort. Voldemort had just used the Crucio curse on him, and he was lying on his back, unable to get up. Suddenly, he was lying on his Uncle’s lawn and Uncle Vernon was standing over him, pulling him up. "What the hell are you doing Boy! What will the neighbors think if they see you!" He pulled Harry inside quickly, then threw him into the wall and started hitting him. Harry was already tired, and he couldn’t take much more of it. Finally, Vernon punched him as hard as he could in the stomach, causing him to pass out.

Back in reality, Harry and Hermione both woke up with a start.