23 The Letters

After the getting Dudley and Dennis out of the enclosure, the zoo staff we very apologetic. They offered the Dursleys a year of free visits to the zoo, but of course they just yelled at them. After they bundled Dudley into the car, and Harry, Dennis, and I joined them, they switched their yelling to us.

But after Dennis opens his mouth there's dead silence. "He was talking to it. The snake. I saw Harry talking to the snake before the glass disappeared."

Of course, that started off an entire new round of yelling even louder than before! By the time we got back to the house, Harry and I were light-headed from all the yelling. Which is why when they dragged us to the cupboard and locked us inside, we didn't resist.

After that nothing much happened. We talked to Clarity about it at school, but she just nodded her head and commented that we would need to help find Harry some kind of charm to control his power.

Must suck not being able to control your abilities.

Oh yeah, she did freak out when I introduced her to Arianna. After her twenty minute freak out, she made me swear to make sure she stays by my side at all times, and not to show anyone.

'Sigh, I guess the world isn't ready for pocket tigers.'

Now it's July, just a week until Harry and I's birthdays. And in my hand is something suspicious. Highly suspicious.

It's a letter addressed to me, with an extremely detailed address.

{Ms. M. Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs.

4. Privet Drive. Little Whinging, Surrey}

Next to me Harry holds a near identical letter, the only exception being that it's addressed to him.

Apparently it's from a place called 'Hogwarts', and it has a crest. The crest is a shield with four animals, one in each corner. A lion in the top left, a snake on the right, a badger on the bottom left, and a raven on the bottom right.

Harry and I exchange glances and he speaks first.

"Do you think-"

"It's a prank?"

I finish his sentence. He looks a bit put off by it, but I decided that we need to do more twin things.

Before we can discuss it more, we hear Vernon yell for us to bring them the mail. Shrugging, I hold out my hand and Harry puts the letter in it. We make our way to the kitchen where the Dursleys are gathered, gushing about how Dudley looks in his new uniform.

Well, Petunia is boiling some of his old clothes for me and Harry to wear, but lets ignore that.

I hand the mail to Vernon and walk to the other side of the table, staring at the letters in my hand. Before I can open them though, Dudley snatches them out of my hand and brings them to Vernon, shouting about how I have mail.

To be fair, even after we made friends with Clarity we don't get mail. Afterall, she got us phones. So the letters are rather unusual. And kind of creepy. Seriously, who gets so SPECIFIC on an address? If it was address to Petunia or Vernon, would it say something like 'Second floor, main bedroom, second door from the left'?

A shiver runs down my spine, and not the good kind.

Oh look, Petunia joined Vernon in laughing about the letters. But when they see where it's from, they stop. Their faces pale a little, and the two of them adopt grim expressions. Dudley tries to look serious, but it's difficult for him to pick up new things quickly.

Harry and I observe their reactions, my arms crossed across my chest.

"Do you-"

"Know where-"

"That place is?"

Wow, we're getting good at that. We even managed to say the last part in sync!

Vernon's eyes look to the side, avoiding both us and the letter. Petunia on the other hand is constantly glances between us and the letter... with guilt in her eyes?

Eventually Vernon speaks. "No. Just some scam. Bloody annoyances." He proceeds to tear the letters apart. I can tell that Harry wants to stop him, but I signal for him not to do anything.

After the letters are in tiny pieces, Vernon gets up and throws them in the trash. Then he looks at us. "What are you cadgers staring at? To your cupboard!" He randomly decided to yell at. Again Harry looks like he wants to argue, but I pull him along.

Once we're inside, he whirls on me. "Why'd you stop me!? Those were our letters!"

I ignore him for the moment, instead removing a loose panel of the wall. There lies Adrianna, making progress with her eighteen hours of necessary sleep. Gently I nudge her awake.

"Hey, Arianna. Wake up. I've got something to ask you."

Groggily, she raises her head. Looking at me with bleary eyes. "Wazzaht?" She mumbles out. I wait a few more moments for her to finish waking up. While I do so, I gently pick her up and place her on my head.

That manages to wake her up faster and I feel her front claws grip my head. Not enough to hurt, just enough to make sure she won't fall off if I move it.

"Sigh, what do you want? As I recall, you said that I could sleep as much as I like if I left the zoo with you."

I giggle but ignore her complaint. "Have you heard of a place called Hogwarts?"

Harry scoffs while she thinks. "Misha, she's a tiger, no offense. If this is the first time we're hearing about it, then I doubt that-."

"Ah! I HAVE heard about it before!" Harry's lack of faith is interrupted by Arianna's confirmation.

"Not much though, I've just heard it mentioned that it's some kind of boarding school."

I stare at him with a smug grin, only getting a deadpan look in reply. "I can't understand cats, sis. That's your thing."

Laughing awkwardly while rubbing the back of my head, avoiding Arianna's legs, I tell him what she said.

Harry's face lights up. "Awesome! If they sent us letters, then that means we won't have to go to the same school as Dudley! And if we got in, then you can bet they'll accept Clarity too."

I stare at him with a deadpan expression on my face.

"Did you apply to this school?" I question.

Confusion crosses his face. "No? Why?"

"Is this the first time either of us have heard about this school?"

"Yes? Are you going somewhere with this?"

"So if neither of us have heard of this school, nor have we applied to it, how could they get such a specific address for the letters they sent to us?"

Realization crosses his face and he facepalms. Of course I create a slice of cake into his hand as he does so.

So he gets a face full of cake.

I can't help but chuckle at the sight as he gives me a deadeye stare. No idea where the cake comes from, but I won't complain.

Arianna chooses this moment to chime in. "You know, all the people I saw who talked about that school wore heavy coats or dresses. And they tended to ignore anyone who was dressed normally."

I give Harry a look. "See? Arianna said that anyone who talked about the school dressed like there was heavy snow. It's creepy. Let's just ignore the letters.

He nods with a complicated look on his face. I can understand though, even if it is creepy, the temptation to get away from the Dursleys is strong.

'Sigh. Well, lets just see what happens next.'