Amelia Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PART 1

5

school, Mr Mason, and I wrote about you.'
This was too much for both Aunt Petunia and Harry. Aunt

Petunia burst into tears and hugged her son, while Harry ducked under the table so they wouldn't see him laughing.

'And you, boy?'
Harry fought to keep his face straight as he emerged.
'I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there,' he said.

'Too right you will,' said Uncle Vernon forcefully. 'The Masons don't know anything about you and it's going to stay that way. When dinner's over, you take Mrs Mason back to the lounge for coffee, Petunia, and I'll bring the subject round to drills. With any luck, I'll have the deal signed and sealed before the News at Ten. We'll be shopping for a holiday home in Majorca this time tomor- row.'

Harry couldn't feel too excited about this. He didn't think the Dursleys would like him any better in Majorca than they did in Privet Drive.

'Right – I'm off into town to pick up the dinner jackets for Dudley and me. And you,' he snarled at Harry, 'you stay out of your aunt's way while she's cleaning.'

Harry left through the back door. It was a brilliant, sunny day. He crossed the lawn, slumped down on the garden bench and sang under his breath, 'Happy birthday to me ... happy birthday to me ...'

No cards, no presents, and he would be spending the evening pretending not to exist. He gazed miserably into the hedge. He had never felt so lonely. More than anything else at Hogwarts, more even than playing Quidditch, Harry missed his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and a strange girl named Amelia. They, however, didn't seem to be missing him at all. They had written to him all summer, even though Ron had said he was going to ask Harry to come and stay. Amelia wasn't able to send letters becouse she doesn't have an owl she does however have a pet dragon which should be hatching very soon.

Countless times, Harry had been on the point of unlocking Hedwig's cage by magic and sending her to Ron and Hermione with a letter, but it wasn't worth the risk. Underage wizards weren't allowed to use magic outside school. Harry hadn't told the Dursleys this; he knew it was only their terror that he might turn them all into dung beetles that stopped them locking him in the cupboard under the stairs with his wand and broomstick. For the