That evening a tired, but very happy Susan, came down the stairs to join Peter and Emma in the lounge area of the B&B. Sighing, she lowered herself into a comfortable chair.

“He’s settled in then?” Peter asked.

“Yes, he took a short shower, brushed his teeth, we tried to comb his hair, but that’s a hopeless case if I recall his fathers’ hair, and I told him a bed-time story. He went to sleep quit happily. But goodness, I am tired.” Susan exclaimed.

Emma and Peter laughed. They too were rather tired, as it had been a long day. At first Emma and Peter had wanted to go and watch a movie in the cinema this evening, but they eventually decided not to, as they still had to drive for several hours the next day.

“I very much liked this day, and I am sure Harry loved it too. What did you think?” Susan asked Emma and Peter.

Emma replied: “ I rather enjoyed our shopping trip, I bought several new clothes, and as you noticed, we also bought Harry a few somethings. We also picked out some new furniture for our house, as the old furniture still belonged to Peter’s dad, and we really wanted some furniture that reflected our own tastes. And of course I rather liked our dinner this evening.”

Susan nodded, it had been a nice dinner. When Peter and Emma had come to pick them up, both Harry and Susan had been glad to sit in the car. Arriving at the B&B Emma had surprised the both of them, by presenting Harry with a plastic bag and stating that it was a present for him. Only when Susan had shown Harry her approval of the gift, did he take anything out of the bag. Emma had purchased some clothes that she thought might fit Harry. So he received several new shirts, and two new pairs of trousers. Also included were some new socks and underwear. At Susan’s urging he had tried everything on (well, apart from the socks, they were fine). One shirt was a little bit big, but he would probably grow into it. Amazingly enough the other clothes fit very well. Harry had looked very proud in his new clothes, especially when Susan told him they looked very good, and that he should wear them for dinner.

The lady of the B&B had been very accommodating, and had let Harry stay in Aunt Susan’s room. She even changed the sheets from the flower pattern into one which had cartoons on them. Harry loved this too. Susan had helped him pack his new clothes into the old backpack, and when she was also freshened up, they went downstairs to join Peter and Emma again. The Johnsons had decided to treat the two to a nice dinner in a nearby restaurant that also served up nice children’s menu. By the look on Harry’s face when he entered the restaurant, it had been clear he had never experienced such an outing before. All three adults had been slightly angered by this, but knew there wasn’t much they could do. Petunia was Harry’s legal guardian as far as they knew.

After dinner –Harry had even managed a small ice-cream dessert- they had gone back to the B&B and Aunt Susan had put Harry into bed. She would join him in the room shortly, as she was very tired as well.

“I have decided I want Harry to spend his birthday with me, on the farm. If I can arrange it with Petunia, I would like him to come over for a week or two. It’ll do him good to be out and about, plus the more time spent away from Petunia and her husband, the better off he will be I believe.”

Peter nodded, but Emma frowned slightly. “How do you want to convince Petunia then? From all that you have told me about her, she would probably delight in making both you and Harry miserable by denying you. I think she would actually rather be miserable having him around, than sending him away knowing the both of you will have a good time.”

“That’s actually a valid point” Peter joined in. “I hadn’t thought about that. Perhaps you can try to find out if Petunia is planning a holiday, and then present it as taking Harry out of their hands?”

Susan and Emma both nodded. That was a good idea. “Perhaps I will also need a back-up idea in case that one won’t work. Perhaps we can threaten with child protective services?”

Peter laughed. “I would like you to, but I think that will need to be a last resort. Although, picturing her face when you do so, makes me laugh.”

“When is Harry’s birthday actually? You never told me.” Emma said.

“It’s next month, the 31st of July. He’ll be six then, as he proudly informed me. And he will start learning his letters and numbers apparently. Harry said he’s already started, just to try and showed me by counting the tiles in the bathroom. He came up to 20 and then he got confused, so I just told him he did a wonderful job, and perhaps now was the time to sleep. It worked, as he then went to bed.”

“Let’s go and sleep too, I am much too tired to stay up late today.” With that everyone said goodnight to each other, and they went upstairs. Peter and Emma went into their double bedroom, and Susan carefully opened the door of the room she now shared with Harry. She only put on the bedside lamp on her side, so hopefully Harry wouldn’t wake. It worked, as she could get changed and go to the bathroom while the young boy curled up underneath the blankets just slept on, oblivious to what was going on around him. Finally Susan was in the lovely bed, and when she put out the light she softly whispered “Good night Harry” and went to sleep.

The next morning

After a wonderful breakfast, where everybody ate too much, as is often the case when you’re not eating your regular breakfast, the four left the B&B after thanking the hostess profusely. She had been absolutely wonderful with her tips on where to shop, where to take Harry and even letting him stay there rather unexpectedly. 

They were unsure when the Dursleys would be back home, but decided it would probably be later in the afternoon, which gave them some time to spend together. Instead of going to the playground, Susan, Emma and Peter had decided they would go and visit a castle that was nearby. Normally this would probably not interest a young boy of nearly six, but this case was a bit different. This weekend the castle organized a large tournament. There would be ‘knights’ coming in from all over the country, and they would battle each other. Then there were the children’s game that all children could play, for instance dressing up as a knight, sword fighting (with wooden and plastic swords obviously), a treasure hunt and demonstrations with birds of prey. Harry was pretty much bouncing around being able to do so much cool and fun stuff in one weekend. Normally he would spend the time either in his cupboard, or doing chores in and around the house for the Dursleys. Now he was allowed to join in the fun activities, he got the occasional treat and he had had a sort of sleep over too! He repeated the thoughts of yesterday. He really was a very, very lucky boy indeed.

Susan, Peter and Emma had a great time at the castle too. They enjoyed seeing Harry so excited, but also likes the activities themselves. Peter confessed that he wouldn’t mind a sword fighting lesson either, but quickly backed out when Emma told him this could be arranged, and started to go for the instructor.

Around three in the afternoon they finally came back at Privet Drive. After all, they still needed to drive all the way back to Windermere, and Peter had to go to work the next day. Luckily (or in Harry’s case unluckily) the Dursleys were also back home. Petunia frowned when she opened the door and took in some of Harry’s new clothing.

“Hello Petunia. As you can see we bring Harry back in perfectly good health. He behaved himself very well, and we enjoyed getting to know each other again.” Before Susan could continue, Petunia interrupted.

“Why is he wearing different clothes? You do realize he will just ruin them very shortly.” She said this whilst looking as If she had bit in a lemon.

“Emma gave them to Harry. If you are that worried about Harry ruining his clothes, than you can let me take them along, as I am expecting Harry to stay at the farm for a week or two, next month.”

Petunia looked angry, but Susan cut her off. “Think about it Petunia. You won’t have to deal or even see him for a week or two, and you can enjoy the time that you have with your husband and son. Perhaps you were planning a holiday that you can take?”

Petunia mulled this over in her head. If she said no, they would have to dump the boy at that crazy Mrs. Figgs house, and she would have to deal with both the crazy lady and her nephew. But if she said yes, she could enjoy her holiday without the boy and without Mrs. Figg involved in any way. The downside was that it would please her aunt and the boy very much. What to do…

As it turned out, her husband made the final decision. “What’s this I hear? You would be willing to take the boy of our hands for a few weeks? Done, but don’t come complaining when you have enough. We won’t take him back before his two weeks are up. We can finally have that holiday in Majorca that we’ve been talking about Pet.”

Petunia hadn’t even thought about that bit yet. Then she smiled slightly and said “Very well then, you can have the boy for two weeks next month. You will be responsible for picking him up and dropping him off though.”

Susan had already anticipated something like that, and so she agreed. Behind her back she put a thumb up, to let Peter and Emma know how it was going. “Very well then. I will call you to finalize all the details, as it’s a bit hard to plan ahead for so very long. Can you write down your phone number so I can call?”

Grudgingly Petunia wrote down her number on a scrap of paper, and handed it over to her aunt. “Boy, come here!” she shouted.

Susan tried not to react to that stupid word Petunia used, but it was hard. Couldn’t she even use her own nephews name to call him?

“Harry, we are leaving now, but I will call your aunt to let her know when and how I will be picking you up to spend a week or two on the farm. It will be next month though, so you can start counting down the days, alright?”

She then gave Harry a small but firm hug. He returned it quickly, very much aware of his aunt Petunia looming behind him. Then he went into Privet Drive number four and as Petunia closed the door quickly, Susan slowly walked towards the car.

“She agreed; now let’s go back home and start planning.” Susan said.