Harry's Lucky Find by rosina
Past Featured StorySummary: For Winter Fic Fest using Jan AQ's challenge Special Stick. Harry finds and uses a wand before knowing anything about Hogwarts.
Categories: Misc Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Petunia
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: Fluff, General
Media Type: None
Tags: Child fic
Takes Place: 0 - Pre Hogwarts (before Harry is 11)
Warnings: None
Prompts: Special Stick
Challenges: Special Stick
Series: None
Chapters: 4 Completed: Yes Word count: 3993 Read: 16307 Published: 05 Jan 2015 Updated: 05 Jan 2015
Story Notes:
Petunia remained friends with Lily and Severus when they were children, and the Dursleys aren't entirely bad.
Chapter 1 by rosina
       

“Just be careful when you’re moving about up there, and don’t make any holes in the ceiling,” Petunia instructed. “I’ve left your lunch on the kitchen table, and I want this finished before we get home. No skiving off watching the television. And don’t break any of the decorations when you’re carrying them down.”

“Ok, Aunt Petunia,” replied Harry, unhappily surveying the large pile of unwanted books and toys from Dudley’s second bedroom, which Harry was to move up into the loft to make room for the new items his cousin was expecting to receive for Christmas.

“Hurry up, Mummy!” yelled Dudley from downstairs. “I want to go and collect my presents now.”

“Coming, Diddykins, darling,” she called, giving Harry one more pointed look. “Don’t get into any trouble while we are out Harry, please.”

Harry waited while he heard the front door slam, and then the Dursleys’ car move off down the road. When he was sure that they’d gone he dashed down to the kitchen to see what his Aunt had left for his lunch.

He must have been good lately as it was a nice lunch. Ham and tomato sandwiches, a few grapes, a whole bag of crisps, and even a little cup cake. Wow. There was also an orange squash bottle, with just a little juice remaining. Harry quickly made himself a glass of squash, then topped up the dregs in the bottle, transferring the weak squash into the plastic bottle he kept in his cupboard for emergencies. Finally, rinsing the glass bottle again he put it on the draining board so that Petunia could put it in the recycling, which she always liked to do herself.

Harry decided to eat his lunch straight away, before starting on his allocated tasks. When he’d finished eating, and washed up his plate and glass, he noticed Dudley’s treat tin. It had been refilled to overflowing yesterday, but Dudders had already eaten quite a few of the biscuits. Harry thought carefully, then opened the tin. They wouldn’t notice one missing. Swiftly removing a Penguin, and replacing the tin in its proper place, he stashed the biscuit out of sight in his cupboard with a grin. He wouldn’t go to sleep hungry tonight if he didn’t manage to complete all the work left for him.

Back upstairs, Harry picked up the first pile of books, and began to climb the loft ladder. This was going to be really hard work as he could only carry a few at a time. Why didn’t Dudley just throw away the things he no longer wanted?

It was quite dark in the attic, but Harry could see the Christmas tree and big box of ornaments close by so he decided to transfer those downstairs first so that Vernon would see immediately that he had been working. He dropped the tree through the hatch, and followed slowly and carefully with the box of decorations. Harry thought it was a shame that they didn’t have a real tree, just this silver imitation one, but Aunt Petunia liked it and in truth there was less mess for Harry to clear up afterwards.

Harry climbed the ladder again with an armful of old toys and considered where to put them. He really needed to get to the far corner of the attic, but it was a bit dark and dusty. As he looked around he spied a cardboard box marked ‘LILY’ in felt pen. Recognising his mother’s name Harry slid over to investigate. Removing the lid, the first thing he saw was a piece of wood. Puzzled as to why Aunt Petunia would have stored that he picked it up, and was surprised to feel a soft warmth run through his hand. The stick felt quite pliable and swishy, so Harry waved it around like a conductor’s baton. Whoa!! Red and gold sparks poured out of the end of the piece of wood.

Harry carefully inspected the strip of wood trying to see where the batteries were, but couldn’t work out where they were hidden. He waved it again and got more sparks. “I wish you’d light up properly so I could see better,” he said, and it did! “Out” and “Light” he cried, delighted when the stick produced the desired effect. This was a seriously good toy, better than any of Dudley’s, and it must have belonged to his Mum!

“I wonder if it can do anything else,” Harry thought. He pointed the stick down through the loft hatch and shouted “Come up here!” then laughed uproariously as a steady stream of books and toys came up through the hatch, and piled up neatly in the corner of the attic. This was the best thing ever!

Harry wondered if the swishy stick could help with the regular tasks Aunt Petunia gave him. “Dust,” he commanded, waving the stick around. “No! Stop. Pthh. Stop! Aatchoo! That wasn’t what I wanted,” he said when the cloud of dust he’d produced settled on the floor joists again. Oh, well. It had been worth a try.

As his allocated job was completed so quickly, Harry went back to the box marked ‘LILY’. “Light,” he ordered the stick, and investigated the contents further. There were quite a few photos, but he wasn’t sure who the people were. Maybe some were of his Mum and Aunt, but he didn’t have an Uncle, except Vernon, and there was a boy with a big nose in a lot of the pictures. Poking further down he found two framed certificates - one to say that Lily Evans had graduated from a school with a funny name, and another, the glass cracked, with the name James Potter. Harry handled them reverently as they had surely belonged to his parents. He wished he could take the box to his cupboard to sort through further, but he wouldn’t be able to hide it in the small space.

Hearing the Dursleys’ car pull back into the drive, Harry quickly closed the box, grabbed the lighted swishy stick, and raced down the stairs two at a time. “Go out,” he ordered and then put the innocent looking piece of wood on the top edge of the skirting board behind his bed: no-one would see it there.

He made it back upstairs just as the front door opened and the Dursleys spilled in.

Petunia climbed the stairs to check on Harry’s progress.

“I’ve finished,” he told her. “Uncle Vernon just needs to slide the ladder back up. Aunt Petunia, Dudley had two copies of this book. Could I have this one?” Harry asked, holding out a Christmas puzzle book he’d found in the first pile of books that he’d moved to the loft.

Unable to find fault, she agreed, and they went back downstairs. Harry put the book in his cupboard, and emerged to find Vernon waiting.

“Did you eat any of Dudley’s treats?” he asked.

“No, Uncle,” Harry relied truthfully.

“Well, go and help your Aunt with tea, then.”

**

Harry spent several pleasant evenings solving puzzles by the light of the stick, and even managed to get it to amplify the television sound so he could listen. Despite his best efforts he couldn’t get the TV picture to show in his cupboard though, only managing to scorch a part of the wall which he was hoping no-one would notice.

The End.


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