Julie Anne Dursley

Philosopher's Stone Part 2

Vernon locked Harry in the cupboard for three weeks. He was allowed out only two times a day for toilet breaks, and for the rest he just stayed in it. He did get a meal a day, even though Vernon had said that he would not. It was the most severe punishment he had ever been given. He did not regret the incident, though, for he felt that Julie had gotten exactly what she deserved. He just did not understand how the glass could disappear and then reappear; it did not make any sense.

By the time his punishment was over, the summer vacation had started. He grabbed his book and went to read in the sunny garden, when he saw Julie was already doing the same thing there. She looked up when he sat down in the chair opposite to hers, but she did not say anything until about ten minutes later. "Hey, do you want a drink?" she asked.

Harry looked up in surprise. "Er, a glass of water would be nice." She got up and went inside, only to return with one glass of apple juice. She put it on the table in front of her and continued reading. "Er, did you forget my drink?" Harry asked politely.

Julie looked up from her book and smiled smugly. "No, I just asked you if you wanted a drink, I didn't say I would actually get you one." She broke into a fit of giggles and Harry sighed.

"That's not very nice."

"Who said I was nice?"

Harry decided to not let her get to him and got up to get a glass of water himself, as he had gotten thirsty. When he came back he saw Julie had placed her feet on his chair.

"Julie," he said calmly, "what are your feet doing on my chair?"

Once again Julie looked up. "What's your chair doing underneath my feet?" she replied pointedly.

At this point Harry had had enough of her little stunts; he promptly grabbed the chair and pulled it away from Julie, who instinctively strengthened her feet's grip. As a result, she flew off her chair and landed with her bottom on the concrete terrace. "Ow!" she screamed, getting up and looking at her hands that had partially taken the hit. She glared at Harry and ran past him inside. "Mum, mummy! Harry pushed me off my chair and it really hurt!"

Sure enough, Julie came back with Petunia in tow. Petunia did not give Harry a chance to tell his side of the story and made him clean all of the windows by means of punishment. With Harry washing the garden side windows, Julie went back to her chair. She did not get back to her book, but just watched with amusement how Harry did his chore. Harry felt incredibly stupid; he should never have let Julie get to him like that. He did, however, feel somewhat proud of himself when he did not react to Julie throwing her apple juice at the window ("You missed a spot!") he had just finished cleaning.

The next day Petunia and Julie went to London to get her Smeltings school uniform, consisting of a red tie, a white blouse, a red blazer, grey stockings and a grey skirt. Smeltings was the same school that Vernon had attended, and despite having some doubts about sending her to a boarding school they were certain that it would be a good school for their daughter. Not least because Smeltings had a very competitive sports programme, and so Julie could continue developing as a gymnast, under professional guidance.

When Harry entered the living room he saw Julie posing in her uniform, with Vernon and Petunia fawning over her and taking pictures. "Aw, can you believe it Vernon, our little girl is growing up so fast!" Petunia said rapturously.

"Proudest moment of my life!" Vernon said.

"Will I have to wear something like that too?" Harry asked, kind of ruining their moment.

"You, go to Smeltings?" Petunia asked, annoyed as always when he dared asking a question.

"Ha!" Vernon scoffed. The two of them burst out laughing, and Julie joined in after a few seconds.

"Don't be so stupid, you're going to the state school where you belong!" Petunia said and as if to emphasise her words she walked over to the kitchen, where she had put a laundry-basket on the kitchen counter. "This is what you're going to be wearing, when I finish dying it." She lifted something grey and very soggy out of the basket.

"Those are just some old clothes, they'll fit me like an elephant skin!" Harry protested.

"They'll fit you well enough!" Petunia said pointedly, "now go get the post!" Harry sighed. Well, at least for the first time he would not have Julie with him at school, and so maybe he could actually make friends there. When he went to get the mail, he was shocked to find that one of the three letters was addressed to him. After all, he had never received any mail before. Mr. H. Potter, The Cupboard under the Stairs, 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. Harry stared at the letter in disbelief, then started making his way to the kitchen. He gave the letters to Vernon, still captivated by the letter that really was his. That is, until Julie rushed over to him and snatched the letter right out of his hands.

"Dad, look, Harry's got a letter!" she screamed, handing it over to her father.

"Hey, give it back, it's mine!" Harry said.

"Ha, who'd be writing to you?" Vernon asked him in a mocking tone. He turned the letter over and saw what it was about. His grin disappeared immediately, and he looked at Petunia, who had also seen the letter. "Julie, Harry, out! Now!" Vernon said loudly, immediately sparking protests from both of them.

"I want to know what it's about!"

"It's my letter, give it back!"

To regain control Vernon slammed the table, startling both children. "OUT!" he bellowed.

"Come," Julie whispered to Harry, before softly touching his arm and leading him out. Harry figured she had the right idea and followed. In the hall they tried to overhear Vernon and Petunia but to no avail; they could not hear a thing. Harry glared at his cousin.

"You idiot! If you hadn't taken it from me, I'd have been able to read it!" he snapped at her.

"Hey, that's not fair, how could I know that? Also, bit rich calling me an idiot when you could've just put the letter in that cute little cupboard of yours and read it there, you halfwit!" she retorted. Harry realised that she had a point. Why did he not do that? Why did he not just put it in his cupboard before bringing Vernon the other mail? The rest of the day he kept thinking about the letter. Who would write to him?

The next couple of days letters kept coming in, sometimes at extremely odd places. One morning Petunia even found them inside a bunch of eggs! Since the letters were addressed to the cupboard, Vernon and Petunia decided that it would be best to move Harry to the smallest bedroom, which was currently used to store all of Julie's possessions that could not fit in her bedroom anymore. When Vernon told his nephew the good news during breakfast, Julie's face fell immediately. "What? You can't possibly be serious, then where am I going to put all of my stuff?" she asked, containing her anger.

"Don't worry Juliebee, most of it can easily fit in the garage," Petunia said soothingly. Julie shot her mother a dirty look.

"And what if it won't?" she asked, now definitely sounding angry.

"How about you go upstairs in a minute and see which things you really want to keep and which things you aren't really fond of anymore? Then we can put the good stuff in the guest's bedroom and move the other stuff to the garage," Petunia said.

"I don't see why he," (she looked at Harry with disdain) "can't just stay in his cupboard, like he's done for like ten years already!"

Harry did not say anything. He surely liked the idea of getting that bedroom, but he would rather be in his cupboard with the letter than in the bedroom without. Still he decided that it was best to just take it, and worry about the letter after. While he was gathering his stuff, he heard Julie argue with her parents.

"I need that room! How can you do this to me?! Don't you love me anymore?!" Harry then heard his aunt say something very quietly, and apparently that made Julie realise that she was not going to win this battle and succumbed to the inevitable. Maybe she did not care much about the bedroom after all and just did not want Harry to have it, or did her parents manage to convince her that it was for the best. Anyway, when Harry had finished grabbing his stuff he made his way to the bedroom; it only took him one trip to move all of his belongings. When he entered the room, he saw Julie was indeed scanning the shelves.

"So, you finally came out of the closet? I guess we're neighbours now. I hope my new plasma screen TV won't disturb you too much."

"What new TV?" Harry asked.

"Oh, just the one I'm getting by means of compensation for losing this room to you," she said, "pretty neat, huh? Then we both got something today." Harry sighed. So that is why she had suddenly given up the fight.

"Oh, wow, my video camera! I completely forgot about it," she went on. She grabbed it and inspected the microphone that came along with it, while aiming the lens at Harry. Harry looked at the shelf she had been emptying. He spotted Julie's first television set, that she had thrown out of the window in a fit of rage upon hearing that her favourite show had been cancelled. He also saw her kick scooter, some stuffed animals, a colouring book and some worn dolls. Ultimately the video camera was the only thing that she wanted to keep, and she threw the other things in the plastic bag that she had brought along.

"All right, you got everything you need?" Harry asked.

"Yup, I think so," Julie said, looking around the room once more.

"Very well, then I'd like you to leave my room," Harry said. It felt good saying that.

"Fine, it smells in here anyway!" Julie sneered and then she left, slamming the door in her departure, leaving Harry alone in his new room. It was not much; all there was in it were a bed, a bedside table, a desk, a chair, the shelves and a wardrobe, but at least it was his.

Moving Harry from the cupboard to the smallest bedroom did not stop letters from coming in, and Vernon tossed all of them into the fireplace. One morning the family was having breakfast. "Fine day, Sunday. In my opinion, best day of the week. Why's that, Julie?"

"I don't know, daddy."

"Because there's no post on Sunday?" Harry asked.

"Ah, right you are, Harry! No post on Sunday. Ha! No blasted letters today!" Vernon said, and barely had he finished when a letter came flying through the fireplace right across his face. About two seconds later about a thousand letters came shooting out of the fireplace, straight into the living room. The noise was deafening, and the Dursleys all started screaming. Harry managed to grab a letter and ran away with it, only to be grabbed by Vernon before he could open it. "Give me that letter!" he screamed.

"Get off! Let go of me! They're my letters!" Harry screamed back.

"That's it! We're going away, far away, where they can't find us! Pack some stuff for a few days, now!"

Petunia and Julie, who had followed Vernon and were now standing in the kitchen door, looked at each other speechless.