Clara's last month with the Dursleys wasn't much fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of his cousin, and he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Clara in her room or demanded her to return back to the cupboard, force her to do anything, or shout at her--in fact, they didn't speak to her at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Clara in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.
Clara kept to her room, with her new owl, Hedwig, for company. Her school books were very interesting, and she kept laying on her bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased.
It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before she went to sleep, Clara ticked off another day on the piece of paper she had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first, excited and nervous to get to her new school.
On the last day of August she thought she'd better speak to her aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day without mentioning Hagrid's threats, so she went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television.
She cleared her throat to let them know she was there, and Dudley froze in fear before he quickly took off running out of the area. "Uncle Vernon?" Clara asked. "What?" Vernon grunted.
"Er, I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to--to go to Hogwarts," Clara said, "Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" Vernon grunted, and she took it as a yes, "I'll take it as a yes, so thank you."
She was about to go back upstairs when Vernon spoke, "Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?" Clara didn't say anything and just blinked at him. Vernon finally looked at her, "Where is this school, anyway?"
Clara slowly raised an eyebrow, "Why do you care where it is?"
"I don't."
"That's what I thought," she muttered.
"All right, we'll take you to King's Cross," Petunia said before her husband and niece could argue,
"We're going up to London tomorrow anyway."
"Why are you going to London?" Clara asked, trying to keep things friendly. "Taking Dudley to the hospital," Vernon answered, glaring at her as if she did that to his son, "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."
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Clara woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. She got up and changed her clothes. She checked her Hogwarts list yet again to make sure she had everything she needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up.
Two hours later, Clara's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Clara, and they had set off.
They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Vernon dumped Cara's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for her. Clara frowned, thinking it was strangely kind until Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a frown. He turned to her, "Which platform?"
Clara pulled out the ticket and read it.
Platform 9 ¾
Platform 9 ¾? Clara asked herself, But there's no such thing, was there? She frowned and Vernon noticed, "What is it, girl?"
"Nothing," she said, "I can take it from here. Thank you for dropping me off, good luck with Dudley's tail." Clara took a hold of her cart and walked past Vernon, ignoring the hard glare he send after her.
YOU ARE READING
The Girl Who Lived
FanfictionBook 1 Clara Lillian Potter had lived her childhoods as a servant to the Dursleys. She was normal, or at least that was what she thought all those years, until the night of her 11th birthday, everything in her life changed. Draco Malfoy x Female Har...
