Amelia Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PART 1

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grey feather duster – at least, that was what Harry thought it was, until he saw that it was breathing.

'Errol!' said Ron, taking the limp owl from Percy and extracting a letter from under its wing. 'Finally – he's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to try and rescue you from the Dursleys.'

'That thing is alive?' Amelia thought out loud. Harry elbowed her in the side.

Ron carried Errol to a perch just inside the back door and tried to stand him on it, but Errol flopped straight off again so Ron laid him on the draining board instead, muttering, 'Pathetic.' Then he ripped open Hermione's letter and read it out loud:

Dear Ron, and Harry, and Amelia if you're there,
I hope everything went all right and that Harry is OK and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get Harry into trouble, too. I've been really worried and if Harry is all right, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be better if you used a different owl, because I think another delivery might finish your one off. Hope things are good back in America for you, Amelia.

I'm very busy with school work, of course – 'How can she be?' said Ron in horror. 'We're on holiday!' – and we're going to London next Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley?

Let me know what's happening as soon as you can, love from Hermione.

'Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too,' said Mrs Weasley, starting to clear the table. 'What're you all up to today?'

Harry, Ron, Amelia, Fred and George were planning to go up the hill to a small paddock the Weasleys owned. It was surrounded by trees that blocked it from view of the village below, meaning that they could practise Quidditch there, as long as they didn't fly too high. They couldn't use real Quidditch balls, which would have been hard to explain if they had escaped and flown away over the village; instead they threw apples for each other to catch. They took it in turns to ride Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand, which was easily the best broom; Ron's old Shooting Star was often outstripped by passing butterflies.

Five minutes later they were marching up the hill, broomsticks over their shoulders. They had asked Percy if he wanted to join