Across To Elsewhere

Part One: Six - Worried Sick

Never was there a pleasant thought when Harri had to spare some on her relatives. This summer simply proved and cemented that very theory.

The moment that Harri had gotten past the house threshold, Uncle Vernon had taken all of her school things and locked them away under the stairs in her old cupboard. If Harri hadn't taken out the Window Wood from her trunk in order to make room for the potions Madam Pomfry gave her and put it on her person, she would have been forced to spend the entire summer unable to speak to Goku once.

As it was, because all the potion vials were in her trunk, she spent most of said summer in pain whilst she healed without them and all without being able to speak to Goku once due to her magic and body still healing. 

During this time Harri found that her relatives were especially hard to be around so constantly. There was no escaping the Dursleys, not even through one of Goku's stories, and Harri found that this was worse than her reoccurring nightmares.

Not once did she receive any letters either, from Hermione or Neville. It left Harri feeling very small, lonely and raw. Especially since, as soon as her relatives found out that Harri was hurting from a magical pain- something Harri deeply regrets informing them of, even as an attempt to get her school things out from under the stairs- they made sure to add to Harri's chores whenever they could. There was no rest for the raven haired school witch, and what little of it she managed to scrounge up at night was filled with reoccurring nightmares.

Then, somewhere near the start of July, a house elf appeared in her room. He'd introduced himself as Dobby, told her that she shouldn't go to Hogwarts this coming year, shown her how he'd been intercepting her letters, then promptly got her in so much trouble with Uncle Vernon that he'd put bars on her window, bolts on the door, installed a catflap so she could be fed, and kept her locked in the spare room for the rest of the summer.

Hedwig wasn't allowed out of her cage, so couldn't hunt for herself. Uncle Vernon had gotten a separate lock just for Hedwig's cage door and kept the key on his person so the girl couldn't even let Hedwig out to fly around the room while she cleaned the cage. He'd done it after the first time Harri had needed to clean Hedwig's cage. Her Uncle had the bad sense to show himself at the time and her owl had taken it upon herself to show him exactly what she thought of Harri's treatment. Suffice to say, Uncle Vernon did not appreciate the new spattering of white on his head, nor how it had fallen onto his shirt collar afterwards. It had been one of his best shirts.

Now that she thought of it, it was a good thing she had managed to get Hedwig's attention before she could do anything else and had her sit on the top of closet out of the way, or Uncle Vernon might have done something more drastic than just get a separate padlock for her cage. Harri spared what little of her food she had to share with her owl but the magnificent bird was still much too thin and sickly. Every once in a while Hedwig would give Harri a feeble hoot, but then she'd go impossibly still and Harri worried that the creature wouldn't be able to make it till summer's end.

After spending most of her year in a castle that fed her well, Harri felt the hunger she had grown used to since childhood return with a vengeance that had her wondering how she'd survived her childhood at all.

She wished more than ever to speak with Goku, if not to hear of his adventures, than to hear of his well being.

Last she spoke to him, he described how the Dragonball's they'd spent all last summer and then all school year collecting had been stolen. They had their vehicle destroyed for the umpteenth time that year too and so had to walk to the enemy's location on foot. He'd inferred that they were close and that their enemies may or may not be dangerous given the equipment that was used against Goku's group. Despite knowing that Goku himself knew how to fight if need be, Harri still found herself worried beyond belief for her friend.