Chapter 79
Chapter 79
Mr. Ellison told Suer what had happened in the dining room.
The plate of gravy had suddenly floated into the air, sailed over to the unfortunate Dudley Dursley, and emptied itself over his head.
Then the dishes on the table had risen and smashed themselves against the floor.
“What was that about?” Mr. Ellison asked, holding the rather frightened Angel in his arms.
“And what is this letter?”
“A warning.” Suer’s face was dark. “I think I know what happened. I’m sorry, Dad.”
“You can’t tell me?” Mr. Ellison asked with concern. “I read the letter. It seems you’ve broken the rules governing underage wizards?”
Suer shook his head in silence.
“All right.” Mr. Ellison quickly accepted what had already happened. Ever since witnessing the wonders of magic, he had been forced to reconstruct his entire view of the world at remarkable speed.
“I don’t understand the affairs of your wizarding world.” He looked at the dining room and sighed. “Go and help your mother clean up. The place is a complete disaster. Such a shame about all the lovely food she made.”
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Suer said again. Then he rose from the sofa and went to help Mrs. Ellison.
While Suer silently cleared up the wreckage Dobby had caused, Mr Dursley stamped on the accelerator with a face like thunder. The car roared all the way home at its highest possible speed.
The first thing he did when they arrived was fling the letter, now crushed and wrinkled in his fist, in front of Harry.
“Read that! Go on, read it!” he bellowed hoarsely.
Harry picked up the letter and unfolded it. The further he read, the paler he became.
“You never told us you weren’t allowed to use magic outside school!” A mad gleam shone in Mr Dursley’s eyes. “You ruined the biggest contract of my life with your damned magic!”
“It wasn’t–I didn’t–” Harry swayed on his feet. “It wasn’t–”
“Wasn’t what?!” Mr Dursley loomed over him, baring every tooth in his head. “Slipped your mind, did it? Forgot to mention it, I suppose…”
“Never mind.” He laughed in his fury. “Because I’ve got good news for you.”
“I’m locking you up, boy. You are never going back to that damned school. You can try using your precious magic to escape–go on–and then they’ll expel you!”
“Now get to your room.”
“This instant!”
Harry fled upstairs like a startled rabbit.
He nearly cried out when he reached his bedroom. Sitting on his little bed was a creature with enormous bat-like ears and bulging green eyes, staring directly at him.
“Good evening, sir. Dobby has wanted to meet you for such a long time–”
Had Suer been there, he would undoubtedly have drawn his wand and blasted the creature with a curse.
To hell with the rules on underage magic.
Harry felt much the same. After speaking to the elf named Dobby, he learnt what had been happening to him and discovered exactly who was responsible for the disaster at Suer’s house.
Furious, Harry lunged at the house-elf. But Dobby shrieked, “Dobby cannot let Harry Potter go back to that place!” Then, with a crack, he vanished.
Harry collapsed weakly onto the floor.
It was over. Everything was over.
The next day, Hermione came over after hearing the news from Angel.
“So Harry came to your house the day before yesterday?”
“Yes. I meant to bring him over to see you after dinner.” Suer nodded with a rueful smile. “Then all that happened. The whole evening was a disaster.”
“I wonder what happened to Harry when he got home.”
“Is his uncle really that horrible?” Hermione could scarcely imagine anyone so detestable. “I wrote Harry loads of letters but never received a reply. I thought he’d given me the wrong address.”
“All we can do is hope he’s all right.” Suer sighed.
“But what about you?” Hermione held the warning letter, looking worried. “You didn’t cast the magic.”
“And this is your second warning, isn’t it? They aren’t about to come and take you away, are they?”
“Don’t say that! You’ll jinx me.” Suer gave her a disgusted look. “I don’t know what will happen, but I wrote to my aunt this morning. She works at the Ministry of Magic.”
“Your aunt? You have a relative in the wizarding world?” Hermione asked curiously.
Speak of Amelia, and Amelia appeared.
“What happened?” There was still soot on Amelia’s clothes from the fireplace when she strode straight up to Suer. “I wasn’t at the Ministry yesterday. Did you use magic?”
Suer gave her a careful account of the entire affair.
Amelia frowned. “Are you certain you didn’t cast a Hover Charm?”
“I’m certain, Aunt Amelia.” Suer nodded.
“Very well.” Amelia thought for a moment. “Give me your wand.”
“Strictly speaking, the warning has already been issued. The process has been completed and entered into your file. But if you truly didn’t perform magic outside school, then this was a mistake.”
“There should be a way to put it right.”
“Will it be difficult?” Suer asked quietly.
“Fixing the record itself won’t be too difficult. The problem is that if word gets out, a great many people will come knocking.” Amelia frowned. “You’ve never dealt with Fudge. You don’t know what sort of man he is.”
“Just give me your wand. I’ll take care of it.”
Suer went upstairs and brought it down.
Amelia swept away as briskly as she had arrived. That evening, she returned with good news.
“It’s done. The matter is settled and the record has been erased. Who else knows about it? That young witch who was here earlier?”
“She knows.” Suer nodded. “But she won’t tell anyone.”
“Good.” Amelia nodded. “Make sure this goes no further. You have no idea what it would do to the Ministry if the reporters at the Daily Prophet heard about this and printed it.”
“I understand. I’ll speak to Hermione,” Suer said. “But Harry…”
Amelia shook her head.
“Dumbledore has always kept an eye on Harry. He will see that the matter is handled.”
“I have a meeting at the Ministry. There has been a great deal happening in the wizarding world lately, so I must go.”
“If you run into anything you cannot deal with, write to me.”
Suer nodded. “Thank you, Aunt Amelia.”
Amelia smiled and ruffled his hair.
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m your aunt. If I don’t help you, who will?”