Petunia knew when she woke up that morning that today was going to be interesting. After all, how many people wake to their cat hissing and clawing at their sister's journal?
"Gaia! Calm down, it's just a book." Petunia said, pulling her cat off of the journal to flip through the pages. To Petunia's disappointment, the paper was blank. Betting that her sister had just bought a simple charmed book, she decided to check it out later.
"Pete, hurry up!" Hermione groaned, leaning against the doorway.
"I'm coming!" Petunia said, following Hermione down to the common room. Harry and Ron were coming down the opposite stairwell as they did, but Hermione acted like she didn't see the two as she pulled Petunia out the porthole.
"Are you seriously going to hold a grudge to two of your best friends?" Petunia asked, annoyed.
"Yes." Hermione clipped, giving Petunia a look that screamed 'drop it'.
"I just think it's," Hermione pulled out her wand, "alright, alright!" Petunia gave up, watching as Hermione slipped the wand back into her pocket with a smirk. The rest of the walk down to the Great Hall was silent. As soon as they sat down, Hermione propped up her book Voyages With Vampires on the milk container and went straight to reading. When the boys sat down beside them, there was a slight stiffness in the way she said "Morning," which made Petunia frown.
"Morning boys." Petunia said cheerfully, taking the milk from behind Hermione's book and passing it to Ron.
"Morning." Ron grinned, completely ignorant to Hermione's glare. Neville came up and sat in front of the boys with an anxious grin.
"Mail's due any minute - I think Gran's sending a few things I forgot."
Petunia took a bite from her bagel when, sure enough, there was a rushing sound overhead and a hundred or so owls streamed in, circling the hall and dropping letters and packages into the chattering crowd. A big, lumpy package bounced off Neville's head and, a second later, something large and gray fell into Harry's porridge, spraying them all with feathers and porridge.
"Errol!" Ron groaned, pulling the bedraggled owl out by the feet. Errol slumped, unconscious, onto the table, his legs in the air and a damp red envelope in his beak.
"Oh, no -" Ron gasped.
"It's all right, he's still alive," Petunia said, prodding Errol with the tip of her finger.
"It's not that - it's that." Ron was pointing at the red envelope. Petunia instantly recognised the Howler and didn't know whether or not to be frightened or laugh at Ron's luck.
"What's the matter?" said Harry.
"She - she sent me a Howler," said Ron faintly. Petunia decided to be frightened, after all Molly Weasley sent this letter.
"You'd better open it, Ron," said Neville in a timid whisper. "It'll be worse if you don't. Me gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and" - he gulped - "it was horrible."
Harry looked from their petrified faces to the red envelope.
"What's a Howler?" he said.
"It's a note sent by wizards to scream at you once you've done something wrong." Petunia informed Harry, seeing as Ron was to invested in staring at the red envelope, which had begun to smoke at the corners.
"Open it," Neville urged. "It'll all be over in a few minutes -" Petunia resisted the urge to say "That's what she said".
Ron stretched out a shaking hand, eased the envelope from Errol's beak, and slit it open. Neville stuffed his fingers in his ears, Petunia following suit. A roar of sound fiIled the huge hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.
