Julie Anne Dursley

Deathly Hallows Part 2

The apartment the Dursleys had been given was really quite nice. It was about as big as their house on Privet Drive, but it came with some nice touches. The refrigerator, filled with what Vernon called 'normal food', magically replenished itself and their plates became clean automatically when left on the sink. Petunia did not like that much, she felt that that was her job. Julie kept to her room for a couple of days. It had a comfortable four-poster bed and her own television in front of it, just like home. Hestia had explained that they had made sure that their Muggle things would work in The Lair, which Julie found very considerate, and that they were allowed to go wherever they pleased.

After four days, Julie became tired of doing nothing but watch television. The family was enjoying breakfast when she promptly said: "I want to go out today and see what we're actually living in."

Her parents seemed shocked. "Why? We've got everything here, we don't need to leave these rooms," her mother said.

"I know, but I'm bored out of my mind. I want to know if there are people my age or, like, things to do."

"People your age? You mean freaks your age! What if they hurt you?" Vernon asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I'm sure they won't. They're protecting us after all, and I'm not at all sure if we actually deserved that," Julie said bluntly.

Petunia sighed. "All right Juliebee, if that's what you want to do. I don't want you to feel imprisoned even more."

"Thanks, mum," Julie said with a smile. After breakfast she took a shower and then selected her clothes carefully. She put on her golden necklace, her two favourite rings, jeans and a grey blouse. More out of habit than anything else she put on the watch that Calum had given her for their one year anniversary; it had stopped working the second day after their arrival. She gulped down a sob and looked once more at her reflection in the mirror. Her brown eyes looked back at her, nervous but excited. Her shoulder length dark blonde hair fell perfectly today. A good sign, and she was generally considered to be very pretty; that would probably help with making contact. She sighed and went back into the living room. "All right, I'll be back for dinner, if not sooner. How's that?" Julie asked her parents politely.

"Sure thing, Juliebee," her mother said.

"Make sure not to fall for any tricks," her father said. Julie smiled at them and stepped out the door.

The first thing she realised was that their apartment was at the end of a long corridor. During their arrival it had been too dark to get a proper look, and Hestia and Dedalus had seemed in a rush to get them to their rooms. There were a few more doors in this hallway, but theirs was the very last. That was easy to remember, Julie thought. She wondered if there were other people living behind those doors, and if so who they were and why they were here. Since there was only one way to go she began moving, looking around at every step she took.

"What are you looking at?" a voice suddenly snapped, causing Julie to jump. She looked around, but did not see anyone.

"I must be going mad," she mumbled to herself.

"Well, talking to yourself is definitely the first step," the voice said, but this time Julie had heard where it was coming from. She turned around and saw a line of five portraits. In the middle of them sat a fat man in a rocking chair, staring smugly at her. To her shock, the chair depicted on the painting was actually moving and the man spoke again. "What? You've never seen a painting before?"

"Not one that featured moving and speaking characters, no," Julie said. She moved closer to examine the paintings.

"Hey, back off! I'm warning you!" the man said and he clumsily jumped out of his chair, but Julie just smiled. She was not at all scared of this painting; in fact, she was rather fascinated. "I'm warning you once more, lady! I've got some tricks!" the man squeaked.

"I've got a trick too!" Julie said, and she promptly turned the painting, causing the man to fall out of view. A bang indicated that he crashed into something. Julie giggled and turned the painting back to its original shape. She then continued her way down the corridor, until she came to the end. The corridor had led to something reminiscent of an elevator shaft, but about twenty times wider and bigger. White stairs moved back and forth, constantly leading to different floors.

Julie watched this phenomenon for a few minutes. She noticed that she was on the fourth floor, which was also the highest. She realised that during their arrival the stairs must have been perfectly still, for she had not noticed anything odd about them. For a few minutes she stood there on the landing, holding on to the rail. She had a tremendous fear of heights and frankly did not dare to step onto the stairs that connected itself to her floor every few minutes.

Suddenly she heard a door open and she turned around. A boy about her age came walking out of the room closest to her, wiping sweat off his forehead and turning in her direction. He had brown hair, brown eyes and wore a black robe with a yellow crest. He spotted her and nodded. "Hello," he said politely.

"Hello," Julie said in return.

"I just came out of the greenhouse, had to water some of the plants. The Fanged Geranium can be quite nasty." Julie had no idea what he was talking about and decided to just smile politely. "Are you waiting for someone?" he asked kindly, seeing that she was standing by the stairs.

"No, er, actually, well, the thing is, you see... I don't feel comfortable with moving staircases, we don't have those where I come from," Julie said awkwardly.

"Ah, so you're a Muggle?" the boy asked politely. Julie had heard that word before, but had forgotten what it meant.

"A Muggle?"

"All right, you're definitely a Muggle," the boy said with a smile, "Muggles are people who can't do magic. My parents are also Muggles. I'm Justin, by the way. Justin Finch-Fletchley." He stretched out his hand and Julie shook it.

"I'm Julie, Julie Dursley. I'm Harry Potter's cousin." She had decided to be open about that, even if it meant that some people would dislike her immediately. She felt being honest and accepting her mistakes from the past was the best way to move forward.

"Wow, that's really cool," Justin said, "and I understand why you're here now. Are you new here?"

"I am, my parents and I arrived a few days ago. They're scared of magic and refuse to leave their rooms, but I wanted to see what I'm living in."

"Well, if you want I can show you around," Justin offered kindly.

Julie smiled at him. "Yupsolutely, that sounds fun!"

They descended the stairs and arrived on the third floor landing. There was a corridor very similar to her own corridor, but whereas the walls on the fourth floor had been white were these brown. Justin explained that most of the rooms on the two highest floors provided housing to people, but that the corridor on the fourth floor had the greenhouse he was partially responsible for and that the third floor had a very large bathroom with a pool. She liked that a lot. The second floor had a gym and some classrooms, where Justin explained sometimes guest teachers revised the students' work. "We basically just work through our books, and we wear the Hogwarts uniform to make it feel real, you know." Julie knew 'Hogwarts' was Harry's school and nodded. The first floor had only two rooms; a big study room and a gigantic library. Finally they arrived on the ground floor, where there was a lounge room and a kitchen, that also served as a dining room. Hestia was in the kitchen, seemingly overseeing the work of a house-elf. Julie had seen a house-elf once before, when Dumbledore summoned one into the Privet Drive's living room.

"Hello!" Hestia said brightly to the two of them as they entered the kitchen, and the house-elf bowed.

"Hello, ma'am," Julie said politely.

Hestia smiled at her. "Please call me Hestia. How are you? Have you settled a bit already?"

"Sure, the biggest shock is over I guess, and Justin here was so nice to show me around." Julie smiled at her new friend.

"Ah, that's wonderful to hear. Thank you, Justin, you're doing a fine job around here. How are your parents coping, Julie?"

"Er, they're still too scared to leave their rooms. Magic isn't exactly their thing." She paused for a second and then the words came out before she realised it. "I'd like to apologise for my father's behaviour during the transport. Sometimes I feel anger is the only emotion he's got. And I want you to know that I at least am very grateful for the protection and the rooms we were given. And if there's anything I can do to help out, I'll gladly do so."

Hestia smiled at her. "That's very nice of you. We're actually about to have lunch, why don't you join us?"

"Sure," Julie said without any hesitation. The house-elf was setting the table. "Would you like a hand?" Julie asked the elf politely, but the creature looked shocked and even somewhat offended.

"No, no, no! This is Lumi's work!"

"Er, I'm sorry."

"House-elves take much pride in serving their masters, don't worry about it," Justin explained.

"Right," Julie said. She still found it a bit odd to see the tiny elf do the work all by herself, but at least she had offered help. She sat down next to Justin and gradually more people entered the kitchen. Everyone greeted Hestia, adults and children alike, before they sat down. Some of them also greeted Justin, and nodded politely at Julie, who nodded back. "There are more people in this house than I thought," she said to Justin, with the sounds of lively chatter filling the kitchen.

"This isn't even everyone. Some people prefer to prepare their own food and whatnot. They know they're always welcome, though." It was a nice lunch. There was a delicious drink called pumpkin juice ("Just wait till you taste Butterbeer!") and Julie and Justin talked about literally everything. After some time people slowly started leaving, and a blond boy about a year younger than Julie came up to them.

"We're heading down to the lounge! Are you coming?"

"Sure," Justin said, and he looked at Julie. "Will you come as well?" Again Julie did not hesitate to say yes.

The lounge turned out to be a nice room with tables and chairs. It was filled with teenagers in black robes, whom Julie assumed to be Hogwarts students. "Hello, Justin!" the blond boy called and he waved, "who's your friend?"

"Hello, I'm Julie Dursley, I'm Harry Potter's cousin," Julie said. The effect of her words was immediate; the room fell silent for a few seconds.

"Oh my goodness, are you really?! I'm Colin Creevey, I'm like Harry's best friend! How cool to meet you!" He enthusiastically shook Julie's hand, and so did a boy who was blond like Colin, but maybe two or three years younger. Both of the boys were remarkably short. "This is Dennis, my brother. We like Harry a lot, don't we, Dennis?" He looked at Julie, who smiled at them. The other students all looked at them. "How's Harry at home? Is he any different than he's at school?"

"Er, I don't know, I mean, I don't know how he's at school," Julie said carefully.

"Ah, I see. Well, this is Norah" – Colin pointed at a girl with black hair – "and this is Khaya." He pointed at a girl with long brown hair. They waved politely at Julie, who waved back. "They're both Ravenclaw students. They should be in their sixth year, but you know, with that Muggle-Born Registration Commission..."

"I'm sorry, but what's that exactly?" Julie asked. It sounded serious, considering how Colin's cheerful tone had disappeared immediately.

"Well, now You-Know-Who's taken over the Ministry, all Muggle-born wizards and witches must register with the Ministry, so that they can be imprisoned for 'stealing' their magical powers from 'real' wizards and witches," Justin explained, and people started murmuring.

"Is that why you're all here?" Julie asked the group. They gave her a collective nod. "That's terrible," Julie said, feeling sorry for them.

"So, as I already explained, we're trying to keep up with our studies here, just in case someday we can return to Hogwarts."

"Of course we will, Justin, Harry's going to win the war for us!" Colin said excitedly. The others cheered.

"Harry's our only hope!" Khaya said.

Julie looked at the group. They all seemed to find Harry some kind of hero. She hoped that they would not find out just how horrible she had always treated him.

They spent several hours playing games. They taught Julie how to play games like wizard's chess and Exploding Snap and she enjoyed it immensely. She was having such a good time that she forgot she had promised her parents to be back for dinner, and only thought of it when the group was about to leave for their dinner. "Sorry, I got to go," Julie said, getting to her feet.

"All right, well, will we see you tomorrow?" Colin asked her.

"Sure," she said with a smile.

"Yay!" he cheered, and Julie giggled. She liked Colin a lot, even though he had asked her a lot of questions about Harry during the games.

She quickly made her way back to the fourth floor and to her own rooms. "Sorry I'm late. I was having such a great time," Julie said as soon as she entered. Her parents did not look too happy, even though judging by their plates they had not started dinner that long ago.

"That's all right, Juliebee," her mother said. Her father looked a bit angry, but he did not say anything. Julie assumed he found it hard living here and did not take it personally.

While the family enjoyed their dinner, Julie told them all about the house and her newly made friends. "Just wait till you see the swimming pool!" Her parents half-heartedly promised to go with her some day. That night, Julie went to bed with a smile on her face. Maybe this 'vacation' was not going to be so bad after all...