What's At Heart Book 2

The Worst Birthday

They landed on blades of grass that were exactly one inch by one inch thick and 12 centimeters deep. Harry knew this, because he use to have to measure this grass as punishment from time to time, just in case Uncle Vernon ever got that prestigious award for Best Kept Lawn competition.

"Shite!" Harry wasn't the only one who shouted, but his was the least foul swear word.

"Let's, let's not panic," Lupine tried not to stutter and panic himself. "Perhaps we just wound up at the place where we were first dropped off."

Ron launched himself at the fence Mrs. Next door loved to peep through, but hit the same invisible barrier as they had at every other location, he could not jump over. Sirius slammed his fist against the gates back lock, then tried magicking it, both to no effect.

Tonks even tried to simply go back inside the house, but even the back door would not open for her.

Neville had landed in the bush Dobby had once peeped out at Harry of and got up rubbing his bum, looking near tears like that lonely first year he'd once been. "Why is this still happening to us?"

"Great question mate," Harry groaned, eyeing the yard for anything else and making sure everyone was accounted for, and all parties were. "Let's have a look around and see if we can find the book, perhaps it still wanted to make me just a tad more miserable and show off the start to my next summer."

A swath of red hair followed him up to the roof for a better view, Harry had half a mind to try scaling over the side to the front of the house at the very least, but he found he couldn't go any further than the exact middle edge of the peak, the chimney all boarded up sat as lonely as he'd been at this place.

Then his eyes spotted something green in the gutters at his feet, and his heart plummeted as he scooped out with misery, "it's true! The books changed, we really are . . ." He couldn't finish. Harry turned to the last member of the group with an uneasy sigh. "What do you think?"

Ginny tossed her hair over her shoulder and scowled around with a look that gave Ron a pang of longing, like Mum was about to go on about the twins again. "Whatever's going on, I'm still wishing those Dursleys show up. Can't ask for a better time to curse them when at least the Ministry's not around."

"Of all the people you want back?" Harry asked mildly.

"For selfish reasons, it doesn't count as wanting," she grinned. Harry found himself smiling along in surprise, he still found it hard to believe this was the same girl who'd barely talked to him the year before but had just casually been jumping into conversation with him and Ron since summer.

Then he gasped as he continued looking at her, because she was growing steadily paler as she watched the book in his hand. He'd only seen her go that pale once before, in the Chamber at the end of this book.

"No, no, no," Harry groaned, spinning wildly on the spot now, not even in a spot of danger falling off his precarious perch as fleet-footed as he was. He might have once, foolishly, forgotten she'd experienced Voldemort's possession, but he bloody well remembered now. "We've got to find a way out of this, we can't go through all of this madness again!"

It was supposed to be done, why were they still trapped like this? Were these ruddy books going to drag him through the worst of his life until the moment he caught up to himself in that potions room!?

More concerningly in the meantime, was Ginny going to be possessed again?

"We'll get through this same as we did the last one Harry," Ginny watched the book with a very stubborn expression he recognized well from seeing every day on Ron's face. "My brother's hand didn't swell up again when he was bit by Norbert in that, you didn't pass out back in that last room like you did in the past. I'll be fine," she sounded much more sure of herself than Harry felt.