Behind His Mask, Beneath Their Facades (Year 1)

The Letters From No One

I don't own Harry Potter, all the original text belongs to Jk Rowling.

The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs.Figg as she passed Privet Drive in her wheelchair.

Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcom, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were quite happy to join Dudley's favorite sport: Harry hunting.

This is why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he could be going off to secondary school, or Hogwarts, if he got a letter, and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old privet school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, might be going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.

"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall." He told Harry, "Want to come upstairs and practice?"

"No thanks." Replied Harry, "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it- it might get sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.

One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs.Figgs. Mrs.Figg wasn't as bad as usual. Due to the snake bite she didn't seem to enjoy animals' as much before, she didn't seem quite as fond of her cats either. Instead, she let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.

That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobby sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.

As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Duddleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might have already cracked from trying not to laugh.

There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went to make breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The bowl was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water. "What's this?" He asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did when he faded to ask a question.

"Your new school uniform." She said.

Harry looked in the bowl again. "I didn't realize it had to be so wet." He said sarcastically.

"Don't be stupid." Snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I'm finished."

Harry rolled his eyes. He seriously doubled this, but thought it was best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his day of Stonewall High- like he wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.

Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.