𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 - Harry Potter x Fem!Reader¹

3.. LETTERS FROM NO ONE

The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Y/N her longest-ever punishment. By the time she was allowed out of her cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Cameron had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Autumn Avenue on her crutches.

Y/N was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Cameron's gang, who visited the house every single day. Damian, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Cameron was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Cameron's favorite sport: Y/N Hunting.

This was why Y/N spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where she could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came she would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in her life, she wouldn't be with Cameron. Cameron had been accepted at Uncle Lucian's old private school, Smeltings. Damian Byrne was going there too. Y/N, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Cameron thought this was very funny.

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

"No, thanks," said Y/n, already starting to back away. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it -- it might be sick." Then she ran, before Cameron could work out what she'd said.

One day in July, Aunt Eden took Cameron to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Y/N at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn 't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over her cat, and she didn't seem quite as fond of it as before. She let Y/N watch television and gave her a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.

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

As Y/N looked at Cameron in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Lucian said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Eden burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her little Cam-Cams, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Y/N didn't trust herself to speak. She thought two of her ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.

There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Y/N went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. She went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.

"What's this?" she asked Aunt Eden. Her lips tightened as they always did if she dared to ask a question.

"Your new school uniform," she said.

Y/N looked in the bowl again.

"Oh," she said softly, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."

"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Eden. "I'm dyeing some of my old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."

Y/N seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. She sat down at the table and tried not to think about how she was going to look on her first day at Stonewall High -- like she was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.

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