Metanoia • Harry Potter • Book I

Chapter 7

Word Count: 2899

After everything that had happened, Keziah and Harry's last month at the Dursleys' wasn't fun. Sure, Dudley was so traumatized by Hagrid that he refused to be in the same room as them, but the novelty of that wore off pretty quickly. Petunia and Vernon had decided to take a different approach and completely ignored them. In their half-terrified half-furious eyes, any seat with Keziah or Harry in it was firmly empty.

While Keziah found this to be a massive improvement, Harry thought it was plain depressing. He cheered up, however, when Keziah gave him the copy of 'Quidditch Through the Ages' she'd bought in Flourish and Blotts. 

Most days, they stayed up in their room, leafing through their new textbooks, with only their pets and each other for company. Harry had found Hedwig's name in his history book. Keziah had taken a different route and named her new feline companion Aslan.

The school books themselves were far more interesting than anything her secondary school could cook up. She and Harry would stay up late into the night, reading and reading. Harry had been ecstatic when Keziah had handed him 'Quidditch Through The Ages', his eyes lighting up as he read the small red book, pointing out all the funny moving diagrams. Hedwig would often be swooping in and out during the night, depositing her freshest kills in the room. This worked out well, with Aslan usually stealing half the share. This meant that Aslan didn't have to constantly slink out of the house and Keziah didn't need to fret over cat food. This also meant that Petunia didn't die from fright on the odd occasion she did enter their room.

Every night before bed, Harry would mark off yet another day on a small, sloppily-rendered calendar they'd pinned up on the wall, counting down the days to September 1st. 

On the last day of August, they decided to finally ask the Dursleys about transport. Keziah would've rather walked up to London than ask the bastards but Harry had decided to be reasonable and walked up to his aunt and uncle before she could get a word in edgewise.

She hung in the doorway, while Harry cleared his throat to announce their presence. Dudely screamed and rushed out the door, knocking Keziah to the floor. She scowled at his retreating back but stayed silent. She didn't need to set off the Dursleys, not for something so important. Vernon clicked pause on the stupid show he was watching, but that was the only indication he was paying attention.

"Er– Uncle Vernon?"

Vernon grunted but still didn't face Harry. Keziah subtly flipped him off from where she was standing.

"Erm– Kezi and I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to– to go to Hogwarts. Would it be alright if you gave us a lift?"

Vernon grunted, letting Harry breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank you."

Keziah smiled at him, motioning for them to retreat back to their hermit cave when Vernon cleared his throat.

"Funny way to get to a wizards' school. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"

"Aren't magic carpets from Asian cultures?" asked Keziah curiously before she could stop herself. Vernon carried on as though he hadn't heard her.

"Where is this school, anyway?"

"Why do you need to know? You want a round two with Hagrid?" Keziah called out, narrowly missing an ornamental plate flung at her head.

"We don't know," Harry said quickly, pulling two train tickets from his pocket.

"We just take the train from platform nine and three quarters at eleven o'clock," he read. Vernon stared, while Petunia looked unnaturally flustered.