Harry awoke on a vast golden plane of tall thick grasses. He smiled broadly. He knew she was here. It was the main reason that he went to sleep. He had to get away from his aunt and uncle and she was always the perfect refuge.
The problem was he was not allowed to nap during the day. He had to wait for his aunt, uncle, and cousin to leave or he had to wait for actual bedtime.
He quickly moved through the tall grass to the place where he could feel her. He broke through the tall grass and stopped and looked, in awe, at the vast body of water before him. He had never seen the sea and he was both mesmerized and enamored with it immediately.
"I thought you might like it."
He turned to look at who he considered his best friend. She reminded him a lot of himself in an odd way. She had long straight dark red hair and very pretty hazel eyes. She always had a small bird on her shoulder that seemed to change color with the light and she dressed like a witch but her clothing, including her tall pointy hat, were black as night with silver shining stars and patterns. She always looked like a walking cosmos to him.
"You are here early. Is everything okay?"
He had been meeting Hazel in his dreams for almost six years now. She knew him rather well and he told her everything about his home life. She often became quite upset after listening to him.
He sighed. "My aunt and uncle are behaving very strangely."
She pursed her lips and sucked her teeth. "That's nothing new for them. Has something happened."
Harry frowned. "Well I'm not sure. There seem to be letters coming for me. I caught a glimpse of one but uncle took it from me almost as soon as it was in my hand."
"Letters?!" He could tell that she was suddenly excited. "It is just one letter but since you have not answered they must be inundating you with them to break them and force them into giving it to you."
She abruptly stood and grasped his shoulders. "Oh Harry I am so excited for you. You will finally get out of that house. You have to get that letter."
"What is it Hazel what is this letter about."
She set back still smiling at him. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Come on Hazel. You never keep things from me."
"Well Harry I am pretty sure you have been excepted into a magic school. I would guess Hogwarts because we have a connection there. You see, in order to use magic we all have to be properly trained.
"I started training when I was three but here they feel that is way too young."
She stopped when she saw Harry staring at her with an incredulous look on his face. She rolled her eyes.
"I told you that you would not believe me. Just get a hold of that letter and read it. That is all you need to do.
"When you do that I think it will be safe to tell you all that I remember."
That brought Harry back to the conversation, He had been asking Hazel questions for years, and for years she told him that he had to wait until he was ready, but as soon as he was ready she would tell him everything that she could. She had always been honest with him and she told him that she would not be able to tell him everything. He would be ready once he got this letter?
Suddenly obtaining that letter was everything to him.
He spent the rest of his time speaking to Hazel and exploring the dream plane that she had pulled him into. When it was time for him to wake up she reminded him.
"Don't forget to get the letter and be careful." She hugged him and smiled.
"Of course I won't. Going away to school will definitely get me out from under the stairs."
Hazel looked confused. "Out from under the stairs?"
"Yes. That's where I sleep.'
Hazel looked at him blankly and he obliviously waved goodbye to her. She just stood stock still for a long moment as the dream began to fade around them both.
He woke up in his bed feeling good.
He needed that letter to know more about himself and Hazel. He knew she knew a lot about him. The way she spoke to him, the way they interacted. He paused. It was almost like they were brother and sister. He shrugged and got out of bed. He needed to get breakfast done before he got any complaints and more punishments.
As he got ready the idea of magic stayed at the back of his mind. If he were honest strange things did happen around him. He often found himself wondering if it was because of him. Hazel said that witches and wizards had to be trained so that they could use their magic properly.
So maybe his was just going off randomly because he was untrained. A thrill ran threw him and he became excited all over again. But he forced himself to calm and erased his smile, look as pitiful as he could, and with his eyes to the floor he walked to the kitchen.
That night a bright watery light shown in the hall just across from the door that led to the minuscule room under the stairs. Hazel stepped out and looked around. She narrowed her eyes and used magic to quietly open Harry's door. She looked at the small room for quite some time, anger welling up within her. She gazed up at the ceiling and thought about the others in the house and decided to look around. There seemed to be two rooms for their cousin and she felt herself grow even more upset.
She dropped through the floor to return to her dimensional door. She looked at her brother once again and quietly closed his door with her magic.
"Having him sleep under the stairs when there is a perfectly good extra room upstairs."
She spoke to herself as she walked back through her dimensional door.
Later that night their uncle, aunt, and cousin began to toss and turn in their beds as if they were trying to wake up. It seemed that they were having nightmares.
Inside a shared dream:
Hazel sat back calmly as a fire raged before her. She had her aunt, uncle, and cousin all tied up as if they would be placed above the fire to roast once it was ready.
"We are all family. I understand that you may have been a bit jealous of my mother but to take it out on my brother like this." She sucked her teeth.
She stood up and walked to the fire. There was a small branding iron heating within the coals. She took it and stirred the fire with it.
"I want you to understand. All I have known is the magical world, but I knew that there was a part of me missing. I knew that I was not whole."
She stirred the fire more and small motes of fire rose into the air.
"When I finally found my brother I immediately understood why. Then when I found out why we had to be a part. I accepted it. But to know that both Harry and I had to sacrifice so much and you treat him like this."
She looked at them and they all flinched back from the fire that licked within her eyes.
"I want you to know that this is real." She pulled the brand from the fire. It was a small star set within a larger crescent moon. It was a symbol of her house back at Star Academy. A symbol of ownership.
"If my brother does not have a true bedroom by tomorrow morning I will come back to your dreams and this will feel like a tickle compared to what I will do to you."
She looked to the branding iron and it flared white hot. She touched it to each of them just below their left buttock. The brand never loosing it magical white hot heat.
"Remember what I said. And if Harry is punished for my actions I will visit you again for another conversation. And do not tell him who I am. He still can not know that he has a sister."
They woke up instantly, all three howling in pain. Harry was out of bed immediately and up the stairs. His uncle was in the hall first holding his bottom. His eyes locked with Harry's
"Hurry boy! Get your things and move them into Dudley's second bedroom. Dudley get your things out of there now!"
Dudley came out of his room, tears streaming down his face. "Yes… Dad…"
He spoke through sobs as he too held his bottom.
His aunt came into the hall. "It is really there. It is really there!" she looked at Harry. "What are you waiting for move your things upstairs now! Did you not hear your uncle?!"
The command in his aunt's voice rouse him from his stupor and he bounded down the stairs and quickly back up again. He didn't understand what was going on but he was slightly excited about getting a room. He couldn't wait to tell Hazel.