Entanglement

The Dursleys

As summer droned on, so did the arguments at the Dursley's. This time over the owls. Uncle Vernon never understood, and Elena was growing sick of his yelling. She wanted it to stop- it caused her head to hurt.

Back to life with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, and their dreaded cousin Dudley, who reminded Elena of a dirty pig. Elena missed the servings at Hogwarts, since the Dursley's always gave Dudley more food than Harry and Elena combined.
Number 4 of Privet Drive was a horrid time for the Potter twins. It was like walking on eggshells, every minute of every day.

Ever since Elena and Harry had come home for the summer holidays, Uncle Vernon had been treating them like a bomb that might go off at any moment, because Elena and Harry weren't 'normal kids.'
But if the Dursleys were unhappy to have them back for the holidays, it was nothing to how Elena and Harry felt.

Elena missed the castle, with its secret passageways and ghosts, her lessons- though she did not miss Snape- the post arriving by owl, eating banquets in the Great Hall, sleeping in her four-poster bed in the tower dormitory, visiting Hagrid, in his cabin in the grounds next to the Forbidden Forest and especially Quidditch.

All Elena and Harry's stuff for Hogwarts was locked in their old cupboard under the stairs by Uncle Vernon the instant they came home. What did the Dursleys care if Elena lost her place on the Quidditch team because she hadn't practiced all summer? What was it to the Dursleys if Elena and Harry went back to school without their homework done? The Dursleys were what wizards called Muggles- not a drop of magical blood in their veins- and as far as they were concerned, having a witch and wizard in the family was the deepest shame. Uncle Vernon had even padlocked Elena and Harry's owls- to stop carrying messages to anyone in the wizarding world.

The Dursleys hadn't remembered that today happened to be Elena and Harry's twelfth birthday. Of course, their hopes hadn't been high; they'd never given either one of them a proper present, let alone a cake– but to ignore it completely...
At that moment, Uncle Vernon cleared his throat importantly and said, "Now, as we all know, today is a very important day."
Harry looked up, hardly daring to believe it. Elena, however; didn't keep her hopes high. She continued to read- disinterested.
"This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career," said Uncle Vernon.

Uncle Vernon was talking about a stupid dinner party for a work deal. They went over the schedule. The family knew their places, and the twins would be staying quiet in their shared bedroom. Uncle Vernon left to pick up jackets for him and Dudley, while Elena and Harry went to the backyard to avoid Aunt Petunia.

They crossed the lawn, slumped down on the garden bench and Harry sang under his breath, "Happy birthday to me... happy birthday to me..."
"I'm sorry Harry," Elena said, "I did make you something, though I'm not sure if you'll like it."
"You didn't have to," said Harry.
"I did anyways. I'll give it to you later."

No cards, no presents, and she would be spending the evening pretending not to exist. Elena gazed miserably into the cover of her book. She had never felt so lonely. More than anything else at Hogwarts, more than playing Quidditch, Elena missed her best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They, however, didn't seem to miss her at all. Neither of them had written to her all summer, even though Ron said he was going to ask Elena to come and stay.

There was dozens of times Elena nearly unlocked Clover's cage using magic to send Ron and Hermione a letter, but she knew it wasn't worth the risk. Elena and Harry didn't tell the Dursley's this, since they knew it was the only way to scare them. For the first couple of weeks back, Elena and Harry had enjoyed muttering nonsense words under their breath and watching Dudley tearing out of the room as fast as his fat legs would carry him. But the long silence from Ron and Hermione had made Elena feel so cut off from the magical world that even taunting Dudley lost its appeal– now Ron and Hermione forgot her birthday.
What wouldn't she give now for a message from any witch or wizard? She'd almost be glad for a sight of Draco Malfoy, just to be sure it hadn't all been a dream...
But even Draco wasn't sending messages to Harry.