CHAPTER TWO
HARRY’S BEST SUMMER EVER
Harry came down to breakfast. He didn't sleep well that night. He was very tired. He walked into the kitchen, and walked over to the counter and poured himself some coffee, and then he went over to table.
“What the bloody devil are you doing with coffee, boy?” growled Uncle Vernon from across the table.
“I'm tired,” Harry replied, groggy and wearyful.
“You are way too young to be drinking coffee. You're only twelve years old, and it stunths you're growth! Give me that coffee!”
“First of all, Uncle Vernon, today is my fifteenth birthday, and I've stopped growing last year!”
“Did you just yell at me?”
Harry turned scared, but he decided to stand his ground.
“Yes, Vernon, I think I did,” Harry argued showing no fear, in spite of his body being full of it. Harry and Uncle Vernon's argument turned into a starring contest. They starred at each other for well over three minutes without even blinking. Aunt Petunia and Dudley were getting concerned. Dudley's chewed up food was starting to fall out of his mouth.
Suddenly, so out of the blue, the doorbell rang. Aunt Petunia couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't look anymore.
“I'll get it!” she burst out, and jumped out her chair, and ran for out of the kitchen. Harry and Uncle Vernon were still at it. Dudley was just starring them, not even blinking himself, stunned.
As sudden as the doorbell, Aunt Petunia screamed, and everyone in the kitchen get distracted, and stopped what they were doing to turn their heads toward the door, then they heard a thud which was probably Aunt Petunia fainting and falling to the floor.
They all ran into the entrance hall, concerned, except for Harry. He wasn't too concerned for his cruel aunt. When they got there, Aunt Petunia was laying the floor. She had indeed fainted.
The door was widely open revealing a man wearing green wizard's robes, and a black cape. Dudley was scared, and Uncle Vernon was shocked.
“Sirius?” Harry asked stunned.
“Yes, Harry,” Sirius replied.
Harry ran over to the door and hugged his godfather. He was so happy, that tears started to form.
“Harry, my name has been cleared. The Ministry is now searching for Peter Petigrew.”
“You've been cleared?”
“Yes, and now that I am not on the run any more, you can come and live with me.”
Harry was so happy.
“Okay. Let me get my stuff.”
Harry ran upstairs three at a time.
Uncle Vernon had just found the courage to speak to the "murderer" that stood in his house. “You get of my house, you... you... monster!”
“Weren't you just listening to me?” Sirius asked Uncle Vernon in calm voice.
“My name has been cleared. I've been innocent this entire time.”
Harry finally came down the stairs.
“Let's go, Sirius,” Harry said eagerly.
They left. Dudley was still paralyzed from fear, Uncle Vernon was still stunned, and Aunt Petunia was still lying on the floor.
Harry stepped over the threshold, then turned his head and said, in a I‘ll-never-miss-you-kind-of-voice, “good-bye, everyone.” Then, he turned and walked to the car with his godfather. Sirius opened the back door to his black Cadillac for Harry to put his trunk in, next he opened the passenger door for Harry to get in, and then he got into the driver's seat, and drove off.
I don't have to look back, Harry thought. I don't ever have to look back.
Harry's life was dramatically changing. He was now living with Sirius. He never had to think about the nasty Dursley's ever again. The Dursley's were official out of Harry's life for good. Harry felt as if he was the happiest boy on Earth. He has never felt so happy in his entire life.
“So Harry,” Sirius asked. “What do you want to do right now? We can do whatever you want.”
“First,” Harry started with wonder in his voice. “How did your name get cleared?”
“Well, a kid in Hogsmead went into the cave I was hiding in,--he was dared by his friends--then he saw me, notified the Ministry, then they used the Truth Potion to hear everything that happened the day ‘I’ killed those thirteen people; I told about Peter doing it, Peter cutting off his finger to appear dead, and everything else.”
“And since you were under the Truth Potion, you had to tell the truth.”
“Exactly!”
“I'm so glad.”
“Not as glad as me. I finally had a real meal of a cheeseburger, pizza and fries, rather than raw rats.” Harry cringed at the thought of eating dead rats, and the memory of witnessing Sirius eat a rat before. “I was also able to bathe, get a hair cut, etceteras, etceteras.” Even though he got a hair cut, his hair was still down past his shoulders, but it looked better, though. “Now, let me ask you, Harry, why are your clothes so damn big?”
“Oh, whenever Dudley outgrows his clothes, they pass them down to me.”
“Why are those Dursley's so damn cruel to you?”
“Because 'our kind' are freaks to them.”
“‘Freaks?’” People who judge before they get know are the freaks.”
“Mmm-Hmm.”
“Let me get you some fitted clothes.” Sirius turned a corner to a street filled with various stores, then turned into the parking lot of a clothing store, and parked the car.
“Come on, Harry.”
“Uh, Sirius, Muggles aren't used to seeing a man wearing robes and a cape.”
“Okay, these are the only I have with me, so I will I fine with the robes, but without the cape?”
“That will be fine.”
Sirius untied the cape, and tossed it in the back seat before leaving the car. They entered the store, and checked some of the racks; Harry picked out a few pairs of jeans, t-shirts, and flannel shirts, went into the dressing room to try on the clothes. They were in the store for an hour, before checking out. Harry got some great clothes, and Sirius bought an outfit that made him look more like a Muggle, so he won't get any more stares. People in the clothing store stared at Sirius with is green wizard robes.
They left the store. Harry was wearing black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red flannel shirt, and Sirius was wearing navy blue jeans with a black t-shirt.
“Thanks so much for the clothes, Sirius,” Harry said happily.
“It's no problem, Harry,” replied Sirius. “No problem, whatsoever. What do you want to do now?”
“Well, I am very hungry.”
“So am I. What do you feel like? Burgers, Pizza, Tacos?”
“Hmm..” Harry thought. “Pizza?”
“Great choice, Harry.”
Sirius drove to a pizza place in down town London, called Mario's. When they entered the restaurant and Sirius told Harry, “Go sit down, and I'll order the pizza. What kind do you want?”
“Umm, Sausage.”
“Okay, and what do you want to drink?”
“I don't care, Sirius. Surprise me.”
Harry went to find a table. A few minutes later, Sirius came to the table with two drinks in his hands. He sat down across from Harry.
“Our pizzas will be ready in a few minutes,” Sirius told Harry.
“Pizzas? Plural?”
“Yes, you get a medium sausage and I get a medium mushroom.”
Harry's face cringed. “I don't like mushrooms.”
“I adore them. They're my favorite vegetable.”
“Mine are boiled carrots.”
“Yick.”
Harry was the happiest boy in the world. He felt as if Sirius was his father, and he was Sirius' son.
“So Harry, I have fifteen years of catching up to do. Tell me about yourself.”
Harry didn't know what to say. He had just realized at that very moment that only four things were important to him: his friends, Hogwarts, Quidditch, and now Sirius--his family.
“Well,” Harry started. “I'll be starting my fifth year at Hogwarts. I'm the Seeker for the Gryffindor house team. Quidditch is probably the most important thing in my life. I might play for England after I graduate.”
“Cool. Good luck with that, Harry.”
“Thanks, Sirius.”
“No problem. Continue.”
“Well, my best friends are Hermione Granger, and the Weasleys--especially Ron.
“My favorite class is Care for Magical Creatures, because it's with Hagrid, the game keeper. My least favorite classes are Divination and... Potions,” Harry sounded sick when he said ‘Potions.’ “Because pretty much, I don't like the professors.”
“What professors are they?”
“Professor Trelowny teaches Divination, and Professor Snape teaches Potions.”
“Is Snape still teaching there?” Sirius asked surprised. “I never liked him either… what else is there?”
“That’s pretty much it.”
“Oh come now. You’re fifteen years old. There aren’t any girls that you have a crush on?”
“Well…” and all of a sudden, he remembered Cho Chang. That pretty face; that long black hair that looks so soft, and that skin that looks like silk, and that voice of an angel. “There’s Cho, Cho Chang. She’s amazing,” he said dreamily. “Really? Is she in Gryffindor?”
“No. Ravenclaw.”
Sirius looked at his watch. “Ooh, I should check up on the pizzas.” Sirius left the table, leaving Harry free to dream about Cho Chang. He remember her smile last year at the Quidditch World Cup, her voice when they talked about the Yule Ball, last year as well. Harry snapped back to reality when Sirius put Harry’s pizza in front of him.
The lunch was great was great. He and Sirius talked about everything.
“Excuse me for one minute,” Sirius said while getting up. He came back a few minutes with a chocolate cupcake with a candle in it, placed it in front of Harry, and said, “Happy birthday, Harry.”
“You remembered?”
“Of course I remembered. What kind of godfather would I be if I don’t remember when my godson turns fifteen.”
“Thanks, Sirius.”
Harry ate the cupcake quietly, just sinking in everything: Harry has a father-figure, a father-figure who cares, and remembers his birthday, he’s not living with his cruel aunt and uncle anymore. Harry was falling in love with his knew life.
They drove back to Sirius’ house.
“This is a wizarding town, so you can fly, play Quidditch, whatever.”
“Cool.”
They got out of the car. Sirius’ house was a gigantic three-story house.
“Whoa,” Harry said, stunned.
“Yep,” Sirius said. “This is my home.”
They walked in and Sirius showed Harry upstairs to the second floor.
“My bedroom is the last door on the right… pick a room, Harry, any room at all.”
There were five bedrooms on each side of the hallway. Harry chose the bedroom right across from Sirius’.
“I’ll let you get settled in, Harry. I’ll be in my room if you need anything.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Harry put Hedwig down on the wicker desk in the room, then opened the cage.
“Now Hedwig, don’t go anywhere. I need you to bring these letters to Ro and Hermione.”
Hedwig hooted as if saying ‘okay’ to the assignment.
Harry sat down at the desk and wrote a letter to Ron telling him all about day in details, and where he is living now, then he wrote to Hermione saying the same things. He tied the letters to Hedwig’s legs, and she soured off.
“What a summer,” Harry said aloud to himself. This was definitely Harry’s best summer ever!
