Red Hen Edition Copyright© 2006 by the Author Under the Rose Bush Summer Break * 1 * An Unwelcome Visitor * 13 * The Serpent 4 th Yea r * 46 * The Butterflies * 84 * The Bug * 128 * Summer Break The Serpent of Lord Voldemort * 143 * Harmless & Easily Domesticated * 290 * 5 th Yea r Slytherin's Gift/Gryffindor's Dream Autumn Term * 338 * Christmas Over Azkaban * 348 * The Imbolc Serpent * 460 * Winter Break The Curse of the Aitvaras * 478 * - Addenda - (JOKE PIECES) 5 th Yea r Spring and An Unusual Specimen Summer Terms * 514 * The Slytherin Kama Sutra * 517 * 6 th Yea r Author's Notes/Colophon 7th Yea r * 527 * Post-Hogwarts TABLE OF CONTENTS TIMELINE Author’s Note: This story is set during the summer of the Quidditch World Cup and was written before Goblet of Fire was published. arry Potter leant against his shovel and mopped the sweat from his forehead. He eyed the hole he had just dug, trying to tell if it was deep enough yet for him to plant the new rose bush. Probably not, he decided. Sighing deeply, he picked up the shovel and carried on digging. Harry tried to take his mind off the hot and boring work by thinking about the Quidditch World Cup, which would be held later that summer. He’d been invited to go and see it with his best friend, Ron Weasley. Uncle Vernon, however, had made it clear that permission to do so would be contingent on Harry’s good behaviour during the weeks prior. Since then, the Dursleys had taken great pleasure in finding unpleasant tasks for Harry to do. With the threat of missing the Quidditch World Cup hanging over his head, he didn’t dare protest. That morning at breakfast, Aunt Petunia had looked at him point- edly and said that one of the rose bushes in the back garden was covered in blackspot, and someone would have to cut it down and plant a new one in its place. Harry had had no choice but to volunteer. 1 UNDER THE ROSE BUSH Harry’s attention was yanked back to the job at from the wax seal. The letter contained two sheets of hand when his shovel hit something and wouldn’t parchment folded together. When Harry took them out, go any further into the ground. It didn’t seem to be a several small heavy rectangular pieces of paper fell to rock. It felt almost rubbery, but even when he put all the floor. He reached down, picked one up and read: his weight on the shovel, he couldn’t cut through it. Harry Potter, the only wizard ever known to Curious, Harry began carefully removing the dirt that have survived an attack by He Who Must Not Be covered the mysterious object. When the last shovelful Named. scraped away, the cause of the blockage was revealed: Although the curse destroyed his house, Harry an envelope, made of yellow parchment. himself was left unscathed except for a lightning- Turning his back to the house in case any of the Durs- shaped cut on his forehead. Immediately after, the leys were watching, Harry snatched up the letter and Dark Lord disappeared. Harry Potter is currently stuffed it in his pocket. He finished planting the rose residing with his Muggle aunt and uncle, Petunia bush as quickly as he could, his thoughts racing. The and Vernon Dursley. envelope might merely be one of his Hogwarts letters that Uncle Vernon had missed, or one of the letters Dobby On the other side was a picture Harry recognised had stolen summer before last. Wizarding parchment from the photo album Hagrid had given him — him- was normally no stronger than Muggle paper, though. self as a baby, being held by his mother, with his One of those letters shouldn’t have made it past the first father’s arms around them both. Underneath were heavy rain, much less stopped a shovel dead. the words Harry Potter — The Boy Who Lived. As soon as he got back to his room, Harry took It was a Famous Witches and Wizards card from a the letter out of his pocket and sat down on his bed pack of Chocolate Frogs — of Harry. to examine it. The envelope had a dark brown wax Harry gaped at the card for a moment or two, seal with a frog on it. In ink the same colour as the then opened up the letter and began reading: seal, it was addressed to Mr and Mrs Vernon Durs- Theobrom and Raniday ley, 4 Privet Drive. Harry stared at it in astonishment. Purveyors of Fine Magical Confectionaries What witch or wizard would want to send a letter to the Dursleys? Could — could it have been written by Dear Mr and Mrs Dursley, his mother before she’d died? With shaking hands, Harry opened the letter. He We are pleased to inform you of our 2 couldn’t seem to tear through the flap of the envelope, plans to add your nephew Harry Potter 3 but with a few sharp tugs he was able to pull it loose to our series of Chocolate Frogs Famous UNDER THE ROSE BUSH UNDER THE ROSE BUSH Witches and Wizards cards. Unfortu- tical to the first, but the one after that had a picture of nately our three previous letters seem to his baby self in the arms of his godfather, Sirius Black, who looked up and smiled at him from the photo. A have gone astray. The Tracing Charms on woman Harry had never seen before stood beside them, the last two revealed that while those let- waving. Several other people were moving around in ters were delivered to your doorstep, one the background. One in particular caught his atten- was torn to pieces and the other burnt tion. Harry’s mouth thinned and he glared at Peter shortly after delivery. Pettigrew, who refused to meet his eyes. The christening robe wasn’t nearly as bad as some We have reported this possible inter- of the outfits Dudley had worn in his baby pictures, ference with the owl post to the Minis- but it certainly was extremely lacy. Lace at the collar, try of Magic. If you have any suspicions lace at the cuffs and a panel of lace over a foot long at as to the parties responsible, you should the hem, with a fantastic design of moons and stars and trees and cats and owls. Harry shuddered. He do likewise, particularly as some of You- could well imagine what Draco Malfoy would have Know-Who’s supporters may still be at to say about a Famous Witches and Wizards card of large. We have taken the additional pre- baby Harry in a lacy white robe. caution of enchanting this letter against Harry set the cards down and went back to read- all common types of parchment damage. ing the letter. Enclosed for your consideration are sam- We feel certain that with the proper ples of our three proposed card designs. spells Sirius Black can be removed from We would prefer to use the christening this photograph photo; little Harry looks just like a baby ‘Good, you can use them to get rid of Pettigrew,’ angel in that white lace robe. said Harry savagely. Harry could recall no such photo from his album, — but either of the other two would also and this remark sounded alarmingly like the sort of be suitable. Can you give us any informa- thing Aunt Petunia often said about Dudley. Somewhat tion about the dog that appears in the 4 apprehensively, Harry gathered up the rest of the cards 5 from the floor. The next card he turned over was iden- Christmas picture? The original photo UNDER THE ROSE BUSH UNDER THE ROSE BUSH had the words ‘Harry and Padfoot, First the Dark Lord to have a go at him. Bet Christmas’ written on the back of it, yet you five Galleons the beast turns out to no one we’ve spoken with recognised either be a present from Hagrid they got rid of the name or the animal itself, nor did they as soon as they decently could. recall the Potters ever owning a dog. Viridius Harry flipped through the remaining cards. Harry grinned, then finished reading the letter: Another christening photo, then one of an enor- mous black dog, the transformed Sirius Black, lying Please sign the enclosed release form in front of a Christmas tree with a bright red bow and return it to us as soon as possible. around his neck. On the rug beside him was a five- month-old Harry, who opened his mouth and stared Yours sincerely, curiously out of the picture at his much older real Sabella Theobrom self. Sirius-Padfoot raised his head and thumped his tail against the floor. Director The last card in the stack was a second copy of the Harry smiled grimly. It didn’t look as though Christmas photo, but felt heavier and thicker than Theobrom and Raniday had had much luck getting the other cards. Harry took a closer look and saw their form signed, either. Still, considering the pic- that it was actually two cards stuck together. He put ture they’d wanted to use, it was just as well. For the his fingernail between them and pulled them apart. first time in his life he was glad the Dursleys had such Sandwiched inside, holding the cards together, was a a horror of all things magical. He spread the cards out bit of parchment with a Sticking Charm on it.