The hottest summer in years took the cookie-cutter houses that lined Privet Drive by surprise. The once lush green lawns grew yellow from the drought that banned using garden hoses. That didn't stop the Dursleys from sending their nephew Harry out on useless garden chores in an attempt to keep him out of their home, but they didn't need to bother, a heat wave wasn't enough to force Harry inside during the day. The teenage boy was sitting propped up by his arms in the flower bed of number 4 Privet Drive, having just completed his chores, and decided to hide there in a failed attempt to get out of the mid-day heat.
Aunt Petunia's other motivation for the long list of chores was to keep him from roaming the streets. Harry stuck out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood, and one thing the Dursleys could not stand was people associating their family with anything different or strange. The scrawny boy's tan skin had only grown darker after hours in the sun, his black curly hair still "wild" in his aunt's eyes, and his sudden growth spurt wasn't enough to fill out his baggy secondhand clothes. It didn't help that his aunt disagreed with Harry's few friends during the summer. His fellow misfits of Little Whinging thought he was sent to some boarding school for delinquents during the school year. Lying to them had become harder and harder over the years, but this summer had been the worst. Even without his aunt's long list of chores, he'd probably see them less than usual.
For now, staying behind the hydrangea bush was a for sure way to stay out of sight of the residents on Privet Drive. The only way anyone would be able to see him at this angle was if one of his relatives stuck their head out of the window and looked straight down at the flower bed below. They were too preoccupied with the evening news, which was precisely why Harry was sitting there, He leaned his head back on the cool siding of the house and closed his eyes to hear the reporter better. The few times he tried to watch the news inside, he was met with glares and nasty questions. Why would he care about what was on the news? They had no clue what was brewing just under their noses. He was waiting for something to happen, anything that would leak through the veil since the Daily Prophet hadn't said a useful word about the wizarding side of all this. Voldemort was back, and that meant destruction. Destruction big enough that even the muggles wouldn't be able to ignore it. Harry was on the edge of his seat all summer, waiting for any news at all.
None came. The letters he got from his friends and godfather were dry and uninformative, nothing more than excuses about how they couldn't share information over owl, they couldn't meet up with Harry in person, and how they hoped he was having a great summer. Now, the muggle news reporter was going on about some water-skiing birds. Nothing had happened all summer. It was as if Voldemort had come back and decided he was going to do nothing but make Harry look as if he was going insane. Well, he did do one thing: he killed Cedric Diggory in front of Harry's eyes in that cemetery every single night for the past four weeks. Every time, his nightmare felt more and more like he was being transported back to the real thing. He would wake up with a searing pain right behind his scar that made him wish he had never woken up at all.
Before his mind could delve more into that memory, a deafening "Crack" echoed down Privet Drive. There was a shriek followed by the shattering of ceramic on tile. Harry's body was ready for this moment quicker than his mind. He was finally able to jump off that ledge that he had been sitting on all summer. He unsheathed his wand and stood up so fast that he banged his head on the open window right above him. He felt as if his head had split in two as he started to stand up slowly this time, but he was interrupted by two large purple hands reaching out the window and wrapping around his throat.
"Put. It. Away." Uncle Vernon snarled into Harry's ear. Harry's free hand came up to claw at his uncle's fingers. "Now! Before anyone sees!" Harry didn't listen, and if he had full control of his voice right now, his urge to hex his uncle would have won. They struggled for a couple of seconds, but when the hands tightened a bit more, his uncle let out a yelp and let go of Harry quickly as if he had been burned. His purple hands did appear a bit redder. Harry fell to the ground coughing but quickly recovered onto his feet. He looked around but saw no sign of whatever caused the sound. All down the streets, Neighbors had started sticking their heads out of windows. Their curious gazes landed on Harry and his uncle. Harry stuck his wand back into his waistband as he saw their stares and tried to look as innocent as he possibly could. "Did you hear the car backfire just now?" Vernon's words were coming out fast and through the wide grin of a madman. It couldn't have been a car backfiring. Harry was sure it was someone disapparating, but who would be all the way in Little Whinging? Who even knew Harry was at Privet Drive?
Eventually, the neighbors stuck their heads back into their own houses. Right when the last nosy neighbor started minding their own business, Harry took off running. He did not want to be near his uncle now that he didn't have an audience and probably thought Harry cursed him or something. Merlin, he wished he did.
His legs brought him to the park where he spent a lot of time the past few summers. The playground was void of any children since no parents would ever allow their children out in this persistent midafternoon heat. The metal slide alone was probably hot enough to cook a whole dinner on. Harry set himself down on the swings and started thinking.
He had to find a new place to listen to the news tomorrow. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to hear, but the Daily Prophet, who would arrive by owl at five in the morning, wouldn't be much help either. He kicked a rock, which caused the swing to rock further back and forth. Then he heard footsteps. His head moved with the sound, and one hand grasped the stick in his pocket. In the distance, there were two teenagers making their way around the perimeter of the park. They were still on the other side of the fence on Harry's right, so he was really just seeing them through his peripheral. A part of him hoped it was his cousin, but Dudley had been traveling in a much bigger gang of bullies this summer, unfortunately. The same part kept Harry on the edge of his swing anyway.
"Come on… I'm right here. All alone…" Harry found himself thinking as he saw the figures move alone with the setting sun. Even if it wasn't Dudley's whole gang, they would still outnumber him. Usually, the neighborhood kids are terrified of Harry because of his aunt's story. In his aunt's messed up little world, Harry is a criminal, and every year, they send him to St. Brutus Secure Center for Incurable Criminal Boys. All the neighborhood moms probably warned their kids about "That Potter boy" and to stay away from him. But then there were a few kids who didn't get these warnings or, better yet, just didn't care.
"Look who the cat dragged in," A familiar voice called, dragging Harry out of his mind. He looked up and relaxed into a smile as he finally recognized the two teenagers walking closer. Their silhouettes have changed over the school year, so you can't blame his blind ass for not seeing details at first.
"Hello, Andrew," Harry teased, staring at the boy with wavy black hair that just made it past his shoulders. He scrunched up his nose at the use of his full name, and the person next to him started laughing. They had short, dirty blonde hair in the same style as Cedric's. That was a change from last year when they were sporting a choppy haircut. They did themselves with rusty scissors once a month. "And Rory. You two are out a bit earlier than usual." The pair had always been a bit more nocturnal during the summer.
"How would you know what's usual when we haven't seen you all summer? Thought maybe you escaped this shithole for good." Drew rolled his eyes, but the corner of his lips curled up as he sat on the swing next to Harry. Rory leaned against the metal pole. That's when Harry noticed Rory's bright red polo shirt and non-ripped pants. Harry raised an eyebrow. When free of their Stonewall school uniforms, both Rory and Drew would be dressed almost identically to Drew now. Ripped jeans, it took Harry forever to realize that they bought them like that and baggy shirts. Neither of them would ever be caught dead in shorts, even if it meant they complained about the heat all day. Harry was pretty sure they looked at his hand-me-downs and thought that he was one of them. Then they found out he supposedly went to St. Brutus, and they were sold on taking him in as the third member of their little gang. Of course, the more they hung out with Harry, the less he fit their image of him, but that didn't matter at that point; he was in.
"I only got back a few weeks ago. Been stuck doing chores mostly." Harry looked at his own feet, forgetting for a moment why he had been avoiding them. He looked up and over at Rory, deciding to change the subject. "What's up with the outfit?"
"I started working at the grocery store down the street over winter holiday and it kind of just stuck." Rory shrugged and pulled something out of their back pocket. It was a small metal tin that Harry remembered them showing off quite proudly last summer.
"Wow I leave for school, and you suddenly become a functioning member of society?" Harry teased, swaying his swing slightly.
"They only did it for the weed money," Drew joined in, and Rory let out a quiet laugh as they opened the tin. "Speaking of, isn't it a bit early, Roar?" It was all teasing as Rory took out a thin joint, and Drew slipped his favorite lighter out of his pocket.
"You can't judge when you smoke it all for free. Indulge me I just got off an eight-hour shift." Rory rolled the joint between their fingers and took the lighter from Drew. As far as Harry could tell, the two started smoking together right after Harry left for his third year. Something about Drew's older brother giving away his stash before flying off to America for uni.
"So, how was prison this year? Still somehow a hundred times better than Stonewall again?" Drew turned his attention to Harry as Rory took their first long drag. Harry kept his eyes on the joint as the end glowed orange, and he froze slightly. This would be where his creative lies would come in. He would talk about the events of the year but de-magic it. His quidditch wins would become football, which he regretted when Rory asked him to play sometime. Luckily Drew's groan and comments about Harry turning into a jock had changed the subject, and they didn't mention it again. He always managed to avoid mentioning all his near-death experiences, but he knew that would be hard this year.
"For the millionth time, it's not prison. All that talk is just rumors." Harry was lucky when he realized that no one from Little Whinging had actually gone to St. Brutus for generations now, so he could say anything about it, and the two would believe him. "We had a dance, but I didn't do much dancing. I had a date. I don't think she liked me very much by the end of it." Harry said, chuckling lightly as he remembered the Yule Ball and Parvati. He had made up that St. Brutus was recently a co-ed school after his almost immediate slip-up of mentioning Hermione during the first summer they befriended Harry. Rory laughed with him, and Harry watched as smoke passed through their lips. There wasn't much else Harry could say about the year. There was so much he wanted to say, wanted to tell them, but he couldn't. Drew took the joint.
"Want a hit?" he asked, smirking up at Harry after blowing out some smoke. It became a running joke last summer after Harry's first bewildered expression to his friends telling him about their new pastime. He scrunched up his nose at the smell that first time Drew had asked and simply said that St. Brutus tested for that type of stuff. There were many reasons for his initial rejection. But the main two were that he really hadn't felt like it was something he'd like at the time, and he was generally nervous it would somehow cause him to reveal the entirety of the wizarding world to his only two normal friends.
"Are we just going to bypass Harry, saying he actually got a date?" Rory asked before Harry even had a chance to answer. It's not like they were expecting Harry to even contemplate it at this point.
"Hey, I've told you I am actually very popular in school," Harry smirked, but his mind shifted slightly. He was well known, obviously, but everyone at Hogwarts couldn't seem to make up their mind about if they loved him or hated him. One year, he was the boy who lived. Another, he was the Slytherin heir attacking muggleborns and cats, then in the same year that he was their champion, he was also a cheat, and now, if his suspicions were right about what the ministry might be saying, he should be prepared to be titled a liar until all hell breaks loose. His two friends' laughs cut him out of his thoughts right when they started to turn angry, not for the first time this summer. His eyes caught on the glow at the end of the joint, and he interrupted right before Drew passed it back to Rory. "Yeah, I'll take a… hit." He struggled with the wording at first, and it sounded kind of dumb out loud. Drew coughed as smoke escaped his lungs, and he looked up at Harry with wide eyes.
"You sure, Harry?" Rory asked, taking the joint from Drew, who was still coughing, and grabbing a water bottle from his bag. Harry nodded, not wanting to say it out loud once again, but Rory took that as sure enough and shrugged. They handed Harry the joint, and he took it between two of his fingers before bringing it up to his lips. Luckily, with a lack of wind this summer, he didn't need to relight it. He didn't think he could take having the lighter flame that close to his face. His first inhale was shallow, causing smoke to fill his mouth, but a cough racked through him as soon as the paper left his lips, and the smoke threatened to creep down his throat. As smoke clouded his vision, Drew started laughing beside him. Harry hit him slightly on the shoulder, still coughing. Rory chuckled but moved closer to Harry.
"It's hard to explain, but you need to inhale more deeply. It'll go down smoother than you think. You just breathe in, hold for a millisecond, and exhale. Don't force it, though," Rory didn't go to take the joint from Harry's fingers, so he tried again. This time, he inhaled more, feeling the burn in his throat as the smoke moved down. He removed the paper from his lips and kept his mouth shut for a moment before he coughed again, allowing the smoke to escape his lungs. This cough was coming straight from his chest and hurt quite a bit more than before, but it faded fast. Rory dug through their bag and handed Harry a water bottle. Harry took it and chugged half the bottle without realizing it. Come to think of it, Harry wasn't sure when the last time he drank water that day was, so the bottle was definitely a good idea.
"Thanks," Harry mumbled as the pain in his chest faded and he handed the bottle and joint back to Rory. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Drew take out bags of chips and cans of soda.
"I swear to God, Drew, if you stole that from my store, I will kill you. My manager is already up my arse about you distracting me when I stock shelves every other shift."
"Don't worry, don't worry, I nicked them from the store across the street from yours. Your manager should be happy I'm hurting the competition." He tossed a small bag of chips at Harry, who caught it automatically. He didn't feel any different, but the heavy feeling in his chest stopped him from asking for another go.
"How was your guys' term?" Harry asked as he opened the bag. He loved hearing about Stonewall and all the muggle teen drama. There was a moment of silence after Harry's question, though, and Harry looked up to see Drew looking down at his hands and Rory looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"My term was great. Drew, why don't you explain your year to Harry?" Every year, when Harry comes back, something like this happens. The two of them would get closer and closer each year, but there would always be something that brought tension between them whenever it was brought up. Last summer, it was Rory's parents, and this year, Harry guessed it was school. Drew had a habit of getting into trouble at school. Even when all three of them were in the same classes, Harry remembered always seeing Drew getting scolded by teachers or having to sit inside during recess. Harry actually had the same recess detention as Drew a couple of times as a kid due to his bursts of accidental magic, but they never spoke before.
When Harry looked over at Drew, he immediately knew something more happened this year. He shrugged after Rory stopped talking and didn't look up at the two of them. There was another minute of silence before he looked up at Harry with an awkward smirk.
"They kicked me out." He tried to play it off like he was proud, which got an annoyed scoff from Rory. "During the beginning of second term. First term was great though! Well, failed like three classes but I snogged a chick." This got yet another scoff and eye roll from Rory and Drew sent over a glare. "Oh, shut up Rory not all of us can suddenly become a star pupil."
"I got Bs and Cs, Drew, that's far from gold star, but yeah, maybe some people realized they need to grow up a little and get their shit together." They took a hit of the joint and looked away from Rory, who just rolled his eyes. Okay, I guess schools are now a sore subject here. "Also, seriously, Drew 'snogged a chick' you got one peck from Ashley Thompson." Harry laughed involuntarily at that which got him a half-hearted glare from Drew. Rory smiled at Harry and handed him the joint. He inhaled slowly and deeply this time, and it barely burned at all. He felt a slight rush from it and enjoyed the distraction from the twos bickering. When they fought like this, it always reminded him of Ron and Hermione, but right now, he didn't want any reminders of his absent friends.
"Speaking of girls, can we go back to Harry having a date? With a chick? Didn't think I'd ever see that one." Drew was, of course, trying to curve the subject back to anything but himself.
"Yeah, what happened to that blond bloke you wouldn't shut up about? Usually, by now, you're ranting about him again." Rory didn't correct Drew's use of chick this time, so he decided to play along with his attempt to change the subject.
"For the last time, I never had a crush on Malfoy. He's a spoiled prat," Harry said and rolled his eyes when his friends laughed. Now that they mentioned it, his rivalry with Malfoy was far from his mind compared to previous summers. Even if he was still convinced the boy was a rising Death Eater, he just wasn't very high on Harry's list of issues right now.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've heard it a million times now. What's up with him, though? You haven't said a single specific insult about him yet. You haven't even said anything about that dick teacher." Snape, his supposed "chemistry teacher," was also a subject brought up a lot the past few summers. The two teens were complaining about their classes, and Harry wanted to join in. He made up all muggle versions of each of his classes and avoided anything with magic in his stories. It was nice to get an outside view of his life, even if it was very doctored.
"There was just a lot more going on this year. I mean, they both still taunted me every two seconds, but I had other stuff." He didn't mean to say that much, but oh well, it was already out of his mouth, and changing the subject kept his friends from fighting. His mind flashes to the last conversation he had with Malfoy on the train. He admitted that Voldemort's back. He called him the "Dark Lord" and everything. Harry scrunched up his nose, and his friends' laughs pulled him away from his thoughts.
"Oh, great, we have him reminiscing now. Come on, what did the arsehole do." Harry laughed with his friends but shrugged.
"I mean not much. He did make these stupid pins that said, 'Potter Sucks' because I was in a competition." It sounded even more stupid when Harry said it out loud here.
"Wow, that's… very lame. Yeah, the insults are a lot stronger at Stonewall. You said he was rich, though. Rich kids are weird," Drew said, laughing at the thought. Harry just laughed along once again and got handed the little cone of paper. He didn't think he could make them understand the other insults Malfoy would regularly throw out. He inhaled and smiled as the smoke surrounded him without a single cough.
"You're becoming a natural," Rory joked as they playfully bumped into Harry's swing and took the joint back. The sun was setting, and he knew he should stop so he wouldn't be too out of it when he inevitably had to head back to the Dursleys and stand through a lecture from his uncle. "What else has been going on then? It must have been something big to get you to forget about the blond." Harry blamed what happened next on his increasingly fuzzy mind.
"Someone died. I almost did, too." Six words. Everything that had been haunting Harry summarized in a quick six words that passed his lips faster than the smoke did. He shouldn't have said that. It hit him immediately when Rory froze mid-hit, and Drew whipped his head up from looking down at his snack pile, but he felt a little lighter now that it was out in the open.
"Dude, what?" Drew was the first one to break the silence.
"I, um, I don't know. In the competition, there was an… accident… or an attack. I don't know how to explain it." St. Brutus's dangerous reputation would come in handy now. "Drew, can you pass me some crisps?" He was never as good at changing the subject as his friend,
"Fuck, man. No wonder you've been so out of it." Drew stood up and handed Harry a bag of crisps. Rory just looked down at the joint in their hand for a long second, still silent.
"I guess. I also haven't talked to any of my friends all summer so far." Harry felt bad after he said it. His mind raced to the two friends around him who he'd been avoiding for the past few weeks. He expected them to be mad, but Drew just shrugged.
"Hey, you got us if you ever need someone to talk to." Of course, that would be Rory's response. Harry thought, smiling over at them. Rory was right, and Harry really let that sink in. These two had unknowingly been through it all. They were the one thing he always had to look forward to going back to the Dursleys these past few years. When he thought all his friends were ignoring him after first year, he met them on one of his lonely park strolls. That was until he got locked in his room with bars on his window. He was just lucky that his friends listened to his warnings to never come over to his relatives' place.
"Yall are great, you know," Harry said, looking between the two.
"Aw, that's sweet. No more hits for you, though," Rory said, laughing to themselves. Drew threw Harry a wink that made him giggle.
"No, like for real. I said I was popular in school and... I kind of am, but sometimes they all hate me, and I think right now is one of those times."
"Oh, come on, they can't all hate you. What about Hermione and Ron? You're still friends with them, right? And the astrology girl... Luna?" Drew spoke up. He always remembered Harry's tweaked stories and antidotes. He had brought up Luna while the two muggles were in their star sign phase because, apparently, it was very "alt" at the time. All the talk about planets and stars reminded Harry of the blond, and he started telling his friends all about his school friend.
"No, not them, but like everyone! Even Ron at one point… we made up." Harry tried to think of a way to get them to understand. It wasn't just some silly school thing anymore. People don't just think he's some nepo baby for killing the dark lord when he was a baby. No, this involved the entire wizarding world. His world. His kind all hated him. But here are these muggles who the entire wizarding world, no matter how progressive they claim to be, mock and belittle, but they are always there. Bickering sometimes, yeah, but they're here. "Because they're always watching my every move until I mess up or do something not perfectly heroic, and then they throw me under the bus. It's like with the Dursleys watching and judging my every move, but it's worse because I know the Dursleys hate me. It's a coin toss with the rest of them." Harry's eyes were watering. He stared down at his feet and slowly rocked the swing back and forth. Rory got up from their seat and placed an arm around Harry's shoulder. They didn't stop him but steadied him.
"Harry, it's okay. Let it out, alright?" Rory whispered and loosely placed a hand on either one of Harry's shoulders. Tears slipped from Harry's eyes and down his cheek. Rory pulled him up and in for a hug. He was still a little shorter than his friend, but only enough where his head settled on their shoulder. They wrapped their arms around Harry. Still loose enough that he could pull away but still present, grounding. Harry didn't get Rory hugs a lot. Drew would do little side hugs or claps on the back a lot, especially once high. He would get the occasional hug from Mrs. Weasley whenever he saw her, and he still thinks about the embrace on occasion. Awkward at first but so motherly. Rory's hugs are different. They only ever hug when they mean it.
"I'm just so tired. I need to know what's going on but no one will tell me. They act like I'm some child even after all I've done," the words floated from Harry's lips. It was as if every thought was said out loud as it came. He clamped his jaw shut at the realization and stepped out of the hug to look up at Rory's confused look. His words spilled out. "I've proven myself so many times, and they still keep me in the dark." Harry's mind flashed to Sirius and how the whole wizarding world knew he had escaped Azkaban. They were all convinced that he was going to go after Harry, but they still left him at the Dursleys.
The friends sat there in silence for a moment. The crisps Harry asked for now sat on the ground unopened and forgotten. He sat down on the ground across from Drew as Rory also lowered themselves back to the ground.
"I want to be back at school. I love it there but not sure how much I'm actually looking forward to next year." Harry hadn't realized how true that was until he said it.
"Well, that's understandable. Shit seems intense," Drew said, reaching over to give Harry's hand a squeeze. Harry shrugged. Intense was an understatement when it came to Hogwarts. He wished he could tell them everything, but instead, he fought with impaired impulses to keep his mouth shut.
"I need to go soon. My uncle's going to be pissed at me, so better deal with it now rather than later." Harry didn't stand up, though. The Dursleys were something he could handle. Something he was used to. He didn't have to lie much to his friends about them. They both had fucked up home lives where they didn't seem to judge him much. Sure, he wouldn't tell them about the deadbolts on his door or the way they locked him up with barely any food, but the fighting was normal to them. He wasn't a freak for that.
"We'll walk with you back. It's getting dark," Rorry said, standing up. The sun was setting, and it felt like it was earlier than usual as if the sun was dropping down below the horizon a little faster than the past few long summer days. Harry nodded and stood up followed by Drew.
The night air was cool and it felt nice on their warm skin. Then it got cooler. Until Harry felt goose bumps all up his arms.
Then the lights went out. Harry had been glancing up at the stars that filled the night sky, but they grew dim even when the streetlamps flicked off. There was no flickering like the bulbs were dying. No, every light on the street disappeared within the same millisecond. You blink, and boom, all out. For a moment, Harry thought he had done magic without meaning. He was floating on this high and made everything else around him go mute. But he knew he was not powerful enough to turn off the stars. He turned his head to face his friends, but there was nothing but darkness, a mere foot in front of his face. His hand found his wand instinctively, but he didn't pull it out yet.
To his left, a lighter was lit. Andi held an arm out in front of him with a small flame at the very end. Harrys eyes went from the flame and then up.
If he had eaten those chips earlier, they would now be on the sidewalk next to him.
A hooded figure towered over the group. It was hovering inches over the ground and made no contact as it came closer. A dementor, the same creature that still haunted his nightmares, stood directly next to Andi.