Not Alone After All

Chapter XXXVI

To say that the summer started very badly was an understatement.

Uncle Vernon had decided it was a good idea to switch Harry's bed with Dudley's. Dudley had had a bunk bed for years, and he only ever used the bed on the ground, because he was scared the stairs would collapse if he tried to climb them.

Vernon took Harry's comfortable bed away from him and gave them the bunk bed. He had obviously bought Dudley a completely new one. Laura was quick to shotgun the top bed. Not only because she knew Dudley hadn't been sleeping in there, but also because she thought it might be fun. She had never had a bunkbed before.

Their aunt and uncle couldn't care less that the two were back from school. They hadn't done anything else to accommodate their niece. They told her to share Harry's closet and pretty much the rest of the room. It's not like there wasn't any space, Harry had almost no clothes, and the ones he had were mostly hand-me-downs from Dudley.

"I'm sorry again," Laura told her brother. It was late at night, both of them were laying down on their beds, but neither was sleeping.

"What for?"

"For intruding," she whispered to her brother. It was true, she felt bad. She had only known her brother for a couple of years, and now she was all over his personal space.

"I swear if you apologize for that again," he threatened her half-heartedly. "You're lucky you only came over now. Were it three years ago, we'd both be crammed inside that cupboard under the stairs." Laura laughed. Yes, Harry's childhood had been tragic, but he was the first to always joke about it, like a true Potter.

The first few weeks weren't easy. Laura and Harry were pretty much always doing the chores while Dudley did nothing. Uncle Vernon worked the whole days, and Aunt Petunia barely noticed them. Sometimes Laura would catch her staring, but as soon as she looked over, the woman would quickly look away. Laura wasn't sure what to think of it. Little did she know, Petunia was admiring how much the girl looked like her late sister.

One night, Harry woke up with a jump, immediately sitting up with his hand glued to his forehead.

"Are you okay?" Laura asked. She was a very light sleeper, and the sound of Harry shifting in bed had woken her up. She had been watching him shift and grunt for the past few minutes, but was taken aback when he suddenly sat up, almost headbutting her head which was dangling from her bed to see him.

"Not really."

"Is it the same dream again?" she asked sleepily. Harry nodded.

Harry had told her sister about his dream. He dreamt of Voldemort and Wormtail and another man. He didn't know who the third man was, and he wasn't good enough at remembering dreams to be able to describe him to Laura. He had hadn't told her, though, about the pain from his scar. He wasn't sure she would understand. To be fair, it was an almost laughable matter.

"Did I wake you?" Harry asked her sister. He already knew the answer.

"It's fine."

"I wished I could talk to someone about this, you know?" Harry admitted shamefully. "An adult."

"Why don't you write to Sirius?" Laura suggested. "I was planning on sending a letter to Fred and George, we could send Hedwig off together." Harry liked the idea. They immediately ran to the small desk they had on the room, putting Hedwig's cage on the nightstand for them both to have enough space to write their letters on the desk.

Dear Gred and Forge,

To answer your previous letter, summer has been hell. Harry was not exaggerating when he said all those things about Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia (yes, it is still hard to call them that). They won't even let Harry free Hedwig in our room. Here I was, thinking about getting an owl for myself so that I could write to you two more frequently. I think that's not the best idea, now. Maybe I'll wait a few more weeks, wait for the end of summer to actually get one.