Chapter Text
This summer seemed set to be as hot and boring as the previous one. The first night back, Hazel had patiently explained to her relatives that she was not allowed to use magic in front of Muggles, except in life or death situations, and she had no intention whatsoever of being expelled.
"That said,'' she concluded, "on the very slim chance you see me with my wand out, please just get behind me, or run and hide, alright?"
Vernon replied with his usual outraged bluster and threatened to lock her school things in the cupboard under the stairs, but Petunia shushed him sternly, and seemed oddly certain nothing would happen. Hazel tried to learn why she thought this, of course, but she had refused to explain and Vernon sent her to her room for asking questions.
At least the fish had survived.
The next morning Dudley knocked on her door. “Um, did… did you sleep okay?”
“Not really,” she muttered, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She had in fact had more nightmares about Quirrell and Voldemort, and the vague recollections of the night her parents died.
“Yeah, um… you were moaning a lot…” he mumbled, looking down at the floor. “I don’t think Mum and Dad noticed, but… but I did…”
She felt, simultaneously, as if her guts had turned to ice and her cheeks had lit aflame. “I’m so sorry… I’ll write to my Professor about… about that…” He nodded and turned away, and she shut the door again. “Well shit.” It wouldn’t do to have her aunt and uncle woken up at all hours by her screaming nightmares, and wondered if her dorm mates had been forced to endure them too.
There was no sense suffering alone, not when she had no idea how to handle this. She went straight to her desk and pulled out parchment and a pen.
Professor Snape,
I hate to bother you so early in the holidays, but my cousin just told me I had a nightmare last night, and it woke him up. Do you have any ideas on how to handle this? I would rather not wait until my Aunt and Uncle notice before doing anything.
Thanks in advance,
Hazel Jade Potter
“Sorry to wake you so early, Hedwig, but this is very important,” she said softly, reaching for her dear owl. Hedwig hooted sleepily, but seemed to wake up when Hazel offered her some treats. She tied the letter to her feet and let her out the window, and watched as she flapped her wings and soared away. Hopefully Snape would have some useful suggestions…
At breakfast, she learned Dudley was being bullied at Smeltings by older and bigger students who also had wealthy and influential families, and since 'boys will be boys' as Vernon had put it, there was nothing else to do but teach the big oaf how to hit back against boys his size. So they signed him up for self defense classes three times a week, and grudgingly allowed Hazel to go too after she made vague allusions to what might happen if she were to be left alone at home for two hours. At that first class Hazel proved to be the better student, and Dudley did his best to keep up; the older bullies must really have been traumatizing for the kid, she decided on the way home.
That evening she went upstairs and found Hedwig back, and she had brought a letter and a package. The letter was written in cramped, spiky handwriting, and she had to wipe her glasses off to make sense of it:
Miss Potter,
I regret that I was unable to bring these books to your attention before term ended, as they would have assisted with this very issue. They serve as an adequate introduction to an obscure branch of magic called Occlumency.
“Ock-lew-men-see?” Hazel muttered, pausing to peer at that word. “Never heard of it…” She kept reading:
Occlumency deals with closing off one’s mind, guarding against intrusion. A side effect of practicing it is increased willpower and control over thoughts and emotions. Study the books carefully, in the order I sent them, and perform the exercises every night before bed, or when you have time during the day.
When you return for the fall term, come speak with me, and we shall see whether or not you did as I instructed.
Good luck,
S. Snape
Increased willpower, eh? she thought to herself, reading back over the letter. Nothing else that she could see…
She opened the package and found a stack of three old books, with dark covers. The one on the top was titled Introduction to Occlumency, and had been written by a wizard named Maxwell Barnett. Cracking it open, she saw right away that it would prove desperately boring; the wording was archaic, and clearly written for more experienced witches.
“Snape thinks I can handle this, so I’ve got to do my best!” she said to herself, though she despaired in the next second. This was going to be a very busy summer, what with Occlumency, her normal homework, and the Muggle classes…
At least she wasn’t totally deprived, she thought as she fingered her wand. What she hadn't told her relatives was that there was a loophole or two in the rules; as long as she wasn't caught by Muggles, or didn't do any major magic anyway, it would be just fine. So she read by wandlight at night, scribbling away at parchment and doing her summer homework, and practicing the Occlumency exercises (which really seemed more like meditation to her) before she went to sleep; it really was homework this time, she reflected with a smirk.
Naturally she tried to pace herself, but even so, she had everything done before two weeks was up, so she practiced the wand movements and spells with a pencil in her hand to keep from doing anything illegal. She wouldn't know it was right until she was back on the Hogwarts Express, of course.
Dudley continued being weirdly nice to her, insisting she get the same food he did. It ran counter to Vernon and Petunia's desire to ignore Hazel as much as possible, but they wouldn't dare oppose their son, so they overcompensated by sobbing over what a gentleman ickle Duddy-kins was becoming, and snarling that Hazel had best get the dishes done as promptly as possible or her things really would be locked away, see if they weren't. Since she didn't want Hedwig locked up or to be unable to correspond with her friends, she meekly did as ordered.
All in all, there was enough going on that Hazel could keep herself occupied, especially as she watched herself changing. The lumps on her chest were more than just lumps by now, though if the reflections of her older self and her mother she had seen was any indication, they were nowhere near their full size, and it was with some trepidation that she started wearing the magicked underthings.
She was growing in other ways too, taller and wider, and she was glad for Dudley's change of heart; it meant she wouldn't miss out on the nutrients she would need to sustain this growth spurt. Even so she looked forward to returning to Hogwarts, where she could really eat her fill and drink as much milk as she wanted. Being so busy helped, as it didn’t leave her enough energy to have the nightmares about Quirrell and Voldemort, but she kept up with the Occlumency despite that.
It wasn't until the week of her birthday that anything interesting happened at all. "Hazel!" came Vernon's shout as she came in from outside one afternoon. "Come in here!"
"Yes, Uncle Vernon?" she said as she entered the kitchen. She saw him and Petunia, both looking offended; a letter lay on the table between them. "Oh, is that for me?"
"I thought your kind used those ruddy owls," he grumbled as she reached for the envelope. It was of a heavier paper than usual, with a very expensive stamp in the corner, and was addressed to Ms. Hazel J. Potter, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. The return address, she noted with a start, was just a PO box from some hamlet on the south coast, but the name above was L & N Malfoy. Malfoy!
Quickly she pried it open, and two sheets of parchment fell out. One was a formal and flowery invitation for Hazel to spend the remainder of the summer at Malfoy Manor, and a note to reply in the usual way as to a good time and place when they could retrieve her. The second was from Draco, and he hoped she was well and that the letter got there on time, because they were coming for her the day after her birthday whether the Muggles approved or not. That sent a chill down her spine; Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy? Here?
"It's... an invitation," she said slowly. "From one of my friends at school. He wants me to spend the rest of the summer at his family's mansion."
"You're too young to go out with boys!" Petunia said immediately. "You're not to accept!"
"It's not a date, Aunt Petunia, and it's not like we'll be alone," she replied politely, struggling to hide her excitement. She heard Dudley thumping in as well, but ignored him for now. "You won't have to put up with me for the rest of the holidays!"
That was a powerful lure for Vernon, she noticed. "Give me that," and he snatched the first letter from her hand before she could say yes or no. While he and Petunia read she slipped the second one away out of sight. "Mansion, they say! Rubbish."
"The Malfoys are an old and powerful family, you know," Hazel said slowly, watching their expressions. "Incredibly wealthy and connected as well."
If there was one thing Vernon respected, it was wealthy and connected people. "Hrm... Alright, brat, you listen close. I've got some very important visitors coming by tonight, Mr and Mrs Mason, and we're this far from sealing the biggest deal of my career!" Mr Mason, she assumed, was probably a contractor of some kind, if he was looking to make a deal with Vernon (who was a director at a firm called Grunnings, which made drills). "You're to help Petunia get the house ready, and then I don't want to see hide nor hair of you for the rest of the night! And if this goes well, then... then you can..."
"Of course, Uncle Vernon, thank you so much," she replied levelly, though inside she could whoop for joy. Getting away a whole month early! "I'll be as quiet as a titmouse, promise."
He glared at her for a second more, unsure as always how to respond when Hazel was being polite. Then he shook his head and turned away. "Dudley and I are going to the City for dinner jackets after their practice today! Then we'll run through the routine when we get back and as long as nothing goes wrong-!" here he shot another glare at Hazel, "it'll be all tied off and we'll be looking at vacation homes in Majorca over the winter!" Petunia and Dudley both cheered; Hazel had to turn away so they wouldn't catch her rolling her eyes.
Self-defense would be fun at least; they had moved on from throws to breaking grapples, and she was already taking on students twice her size. To his credit, Dudley wasn't too far behind, though he had a large advantage in size and power already.
They had their practice, Hazel showered and got ready to help Petunia while the boys left. It didn't take long for her to change her mind and send Hazel outside, however; she'd been practically terrified of being alone with Hazel ever since she'd come back, no doubt reluctant to endure more questions about the past. Hazel didn't mind in the slightest of course, and wandered off down the sunny streets to the playground on Magnolia Crescent.
Most of the equipment was busted up by Dudley and his gang of thugs, and at the moment some of the older girls were dithering about in the sun. Hazel groaned; most of them were her tormentors from school. They noticed her quickly enough and laughed as they went to surround her, and not feeling especially cowardly she stood her ground. "Look who finally showed up, girls!" the biggest and meanest of them sneered. Her name was Jessica, and she had a superficial resemblance to Dudley. "Been too good to hang out, Potty?"
"Sure have," she countered levelly, crossing her arms. An old and comfortable anger rose up in her, and though this was exactly what Snape wanted her to learn Occlumency for, she embraced it. "Too good and too busy! There's a reason I got into Lady Astoria's Academy for Young Ladies and you didn't, after all!"
That brought a red flush to Jessica's face. "You did not, you lying brat!" she snarled. "I heard from your cousin that you got taken in by some private school up in Scotland!" She brought her fist up to smash Hazel's face in, and promptly found herself flat on her back for the trouble while Hazel was already backing away to keep from being surrounded again. "Get that lying bitch!"
Hazel was very glad she was good at fighting, because these four weren't playing by the rules. It was mostly dancing back and forth trying not to be surrounded, and rebuffing their wild swings by catching and throwing. Fortunately, once Jessica finally hit the dirt for the last time the fight went out of the other three, and she let them haul Jessica off. She touched her face and grimaced; she’d been caught on the nose and in the eye, her scalp hurt like hell from when one of them got a good handful and yanked, and unless she managed to sneak upstairs there was no way Petunia wouldn't notice.
Best to just get it over with, she told herself as she started back for number 4. She was passing a heavy patch of hedges when a hissing voice caught her attention. "Miss Hazel Potter! Miss Hazel Potter!"
"Who's there?" she called, peering at the hedge and wishing she had her wand. All she saw was a pair of large eyes, very low to the ground. "What do you want?" Whatever it was, it only hissed her name again, beckoned to her and disappeared. With nothing else to do, and hoping to delay facing Petunia, she approached the hedge and ducked past it.
The hedges were tall enough to give good shade, and thick enough that by the time she reached the center, it was quite isolated. Waiting there for her was a tiny, shivering creature about two feet tall, with enormous eyes and ears and spindly arms and legs, and dressed in what seemed to be a pillowcase. As she watched, it squeaked and bowed low. "Miss Hazel Potter! Such an honor for Dobby, such an honor!"
"Er, what are you?" she replied, wishing for her wand again.
"Dobby is being a house-elf, miss," he replied nervously. "Oh, miss has been hurt! Dobby can help!" She shrugged and got down to one knee, and Dobby raised a hand, snapping his fingers; a white glow surrounded her, and the injuries she had suffered disappeared, along with any damage to her clothes. There was no more pain either, she quickly realized. "Miss Hazel Potter cannot get into trouble!"
"Please, just... just Hazel, Dobby, please."
"Miss Hazel is so kind and generous!" he cried, throwing himself to her feet. "Ah, Dobby has heard all about Miss Hazel's bravery and kindness, and how she defeated the Dark Lord not once but twice! But the dangers are not stopping, miss, oh no!"
"Dobby, enough!" she snapped, tugging him to his feet again. "What do you mean, the dangers are not stopping?"
He gulped nervously and looked around. "Dobby was sent by, by Young Master Draco!" he whispered, leaning in very close and speaking so quietly she had to strain to hear. "Dobby is serving the Malfoys! But Master Lucius is planning horrible things for to happen at Hogwarts, miss!"
"What horrible things?" she whispered back, though she wanted to scream.
"Dobby cannot say! Dobby was ordered to silence by Master Lucius, and Young Master Draco is not able to say otherwise! But he ordered Dobby to warn Miss Hazel, so Dobby was coming straight here!"
"Am I in danger from the Malfoys?" she asked, standing up.
"No, no, at least, Dobby isn't thinking so, miss," he replied, wringing his hands. "Master Lucius knows that Miss Hazel is a friend for Young Master Draco! Ah, Dobby cannot say any more, but please don't get Young Master Draco in trouble, miss, please!"
"Right, right, you were never here," she replied quickly, mind a whirl as to what could be going on. Dobby gave her a watery smile, then disappeared with a snap of his fingers and a crack, leaving Hazel with a sinking feeling and a lot of questions. She hurried back home though, quietly made her way upstairs and whiled away the time until the guys came back by working out on the floor; she loved how powerful her body was becoming, and didn't want to lose any of it by slacking off.
Vernon and Dudley returned, and Petunia shrieked for her to come downstairs and eat before the Masons arrived. "Hurry! They'll be here any minute!" she hissed, pointing at a bowl of soup and a sandwich waiting on the table. She was already dressed up, Hazel noticed as she shoveled the food down. It disappeared quickly, and Petunia practically shoved her out of the chair. "Get back upstairs, now!"
"I'm going, I'm going!" But she paused at the foot of the stairs. "Um, you look nice, Aunt Petunia, you'll do fine I'm sure. Good luck, Uncle Vernon, Dudley." Then she left the room, hoping for the sake of seeing the Malfoys that the deal went off without a hitch and they would be in a good mood in a few hours.
She stretched out on her bed and read Hogwarts: A History, even though she'd already read it once. "Why don't they mention the Sorting?" she asked herself, while laughter and the clink of silverware drifted upstairs. Her stomach growled, but she focused on Occlumency and ignored it; if Petunia were in a really good mood she'd get some of the leftovers, if Dudley hadn't eaten them all anyway.
She must have drifted off, because the next thing she knew, there was a rousing cheer and much clapping from downstairs, and she pushed herself off the bed, wiping drool from her face. Eventually, the ruckus quieted down, and doors slammed, and a car was heard driving off, and then Vernon was calling her downstairs. "Yes, Uncle Vernon?" she said as she reached the foot.
She could tell right away that he was immensely pleased, because he didn't scowl when he saw her. "You can write your friends and tell them you're going," he said shortly, tugging his necktie off. "And Petunia says you and Dudley are to finish the leftovers, hurry up."
"Thank you, Uncle Vernon." She went to the kitchen and sat down, helping herself to what was left of the fancy dinner. Roast pork, bread, mashed potatoes and gravy, some juice; it had nothing on Hogwarts, of course, but it was nice enough. Dudley was already there of course, stuffing his face as usual. She went to the fridge to pour herself some milk. "How'd it go anyway, Dudley?"
"Boring," he said through a mouthful of meat. He swallowed roughly and kept going: "All Dad and Mr Mason wanted to talk about was golf, Mum and Mrs Mason didn't say much except to gush about each others' dresses or whatever."
"Sounds awful." She went back to eating, priding herself on being neater than her cousin even if she went just as fast. "I just sat upstairs and read my books, it was boring too."
He didn't have much to say to that. After a few moments he spoke up again: "So... what do they feed you at that… castle?"
"All kinds of things," she said with a grin. "There's literally endless food at mealtimes, Dudley, and everything you could ask for to drink. And the desserts..." She closed her eyes and shivered. "Some of them I'd never even heard of!"
The thought of endless food brought a look of awe to his face. But before he could keep asking questions, Petunia bustled in, already changed back into her usual evening things. "What sort of rubbish is she telling you, Dudders?" she asked, fondly ruffling his hair.
"No rubbish, Mum, I was just telling her about the Masons," he simpered, and Hazel hid a gag.
"Well hurry up, both of you, I want this place clean before bed." For the first time she looked straight at Hazel, and her pleased smile faded a bit. "So when are those people coming for you?"
"Saturday," she replied, "the day after my birthday."
"Mum, we never do anything for Hazel's birthday, she'll be twelve," Dudley said, turning puppy dog eyes up at his mother. "We should go see that movie about the soldiers!"
"Uh, sure, Dudders, we can... we can do that, I guess." Petunia seemed at a loss for words, and as usual defaulted to moaning about what a nice boy her son was.
Hazel finished eating and took her things to the sink. "It was delicious, Aunt Petunia, thank you," she said meekly, looking down. "I'll go get ready for bed now." Seeing her Aunt and Uncle so at a loss was worth the bile she had to swallow to be nice to them, she decided as she skipped up the stairs. She couldn't spend as much time in the bathroom as she'd gotten used to, but it was still nice to shower before bed.