Sunk in a Trunk by werekitten



Summary: Harry Potter is having a horrible summer after his sixth year at Hogwarts. If only the Dursleys were the whole problem – he’s also facing a long, hard journey with no clue how to do it. And to top it off, he just left his girlfriend. But when Harry purchases a magical trunk, things get a lot more interesting…
Rating: PG starstarstarstar
Categories: Harry's Magical Trunk Challenge (2007-3)
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2007.06.23
Updated: 2007.06.23


Sunk in a Trunk by werekitten
Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Quidditch Wallpaper
Author's Notes:

In the ordinary town of Little Whinging, on an ordinary block of an ordinary street called Privet Drive, was an ordinary house whose inhabitants were, for the most part, as ordinary as it gets.

But perhaps this house was not quite as ordinary as it seemed. For one thing, it was the only house on the entire street which still had a window lit at this late hour of the night. Just one, up in the corner on the side of the house, but it was still there, casting a glowing yellow square onto the freshly trimmed grass below. And in that window, staring out at the street below with an excited look on his face, was a young man who can only be described as extraordinary.

Harry Potter — for that was the young man’s name — was about to embark on a journey that could be nothing but dangerous and arduous, but he was almost happy to going. Living with his aunt and uncle for the past few weeks had been torture, and Harry was so ready to leave.

His day had started out exactly wrong. He had been rudely shaken awake at ten o’clock in the morning by his Aunt Petunia, who claimed that it was Harry’s fault that the milk had gone sour because Harry had not added fresh milk to the shopping list.

Grumbling sleepily, Harry had dressed and followed his aunt down to the kitchen, pointedly ignoring the bedroom next to his where his cousin Dudley was emitting loud snores.

Usually Harry was up by seven, but just this once, he wouldn’t have minded a lie-in. After all, he had been up past midnight the night before at the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour — now Fleur Weasley, Harry supposed. The wedding had been a sumptuous affair, filled with gold ribbons and bows and delicate pink roses from the Weasleys’ own garden.

But most glorious of all, in Harry’s eyes, was the older of the two bridesmaids attending Fleur: Ginny Weasley. She had been dressed in a gorgeous gold, floaty something, but Harry hadn’t paid much attention to her dress. Rather, his mind had been on what the dress didn’t cover, which was quite a bit.

And Harry’s eyes were constantly drawn to Ginny’s face, to her sparkling, warm, brown eyes that always seemed to be looking in the opposite direction. Harry scowled at the memory. Ginny’s eyes had been, more often than not, on a gallant French cousin of Fleur’s — Pierre. With his polished manners and charming lines, Harry wouldn’t be surprised if Ginny really had fallen for the young Frenchman.

Harry tried to shove away the anger and jealousy that flooded his head in a torrent of hurt feelings. After all, it was for the best if Ginny had found a new boyfriend. They had officially broken up at Dumbledore’s funeral, hadn’t they? And she would be safer this way — Voldemort wouldn’t go after Ginny if he thought that she meant nothing to Harry. Yes, it was a very good thing that Ginny really didn’t like Harry anymore.

The memories still hurt all the same.

His morning had continued in a blur of difficult chores and taunts from Dudley. The only thing that kept him going was the promise of the afternoon. Every day this summer, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had come by to visit. They had promised not to leave him alone, and they had been quite true to their word. Sometimes their visits hurt — Ron and Hermione had just started dating, and it was painful for Harry to see them so obviously happy when Harry had broken up with Ginny — but, on the whole, Harry was very glad to have his two best friends with him.

But that day, their visit had brought nothing but more bad news.

After Dumbledore’s funeral, Harry had decided not to return to Hogwarts for his seventh year. Instead, he would hunt the remaining Horcruxes as Dumbledore had wanted. Ron and Hermione, showing amazing but not entirely unexpected loyalty, had promised to go with him.

Now, a few weeks later, Harry was immensely glad that he would not be alone on what promised to be a long and dangerous journey. He wouldn’t have traded their loyalty and support for anything, but… their company would add complications, as today had proved.

Just as they had agreed, Hermione and Ron had gone together to Mrs. Weasley, Ron’s mother, and broached the subject of missing school to accompany Harry on a dangerous quest. They carefully explained how crucial it was to the war effort, and how much Harry valued the additions they would bring to the mission. How it was what Dumbledore wanted Harry to do, and how they could never leave Harry to do so much all by himself. How the task was unpleasant but necessary, and how Harry was really the only one for the job… just not by himself.

Mrs. Weasley had listen patiently until they were through, then exploded. To hear Ron tell it, the roof had blown off the Burrow with her shouting, and Hermione didn’t do anything to deny it. Harry had winced as they recounted the story. She had called them everything from ridiculous to downright crazed, and even irresponsible, when they were being quite the opposite. She had argued about Harry’s sanity right along with Ron’s. “He might be of age, but he can’t just go sauntering off wherever he pleases! He’s still just a boy at heart! You’re all still my babies, no matter what age you are!” And with that, Mrs. Weasley had burst into angry tears.

Harry had winced, and tried to apologise for asking them to help, but his friends would have none of it.

“You didn’t ask us, we want to. And this doesn’t mean that we’re quitting on you, or that we’re angry,” Ron had reassured him.

“No, it just means that we’ll have to make our plans better,” said Hermione. With a careful glance at Ron, she added, “and maybe we’ll have to do this without permission.”

“But do it we will. Harry, this Horcrux hunt is more important than anything else, and we’re staying with you, all the way.”

Harry had smiled gratefully. “Thanks. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Ron had shrugged, embarrassed, then said, “So, when are we leaving?”

Harry sighed. “Well, your mum’s disapproval sort of puts a crimp in our plans, doesn’t it? We obviously can’t use the Burrow as a place to store resources, or to go if we get hurt, the way we planned.”

Hermione sighed, too. “What we really need is something that we could take along with us, wherever the hunt goes. Apparating over long distances would have been difficult. And we’ll have research, and materials and things. Surely we need some way to carry it all with us?”

Harry shrugged. “I guess we could just play it by ear — we could shrink things to carry with us, and stay in hotels or something.”

Hermione frowned. “It’s always best to have a plan, Harry. What if we… no, wait, how about… oh, never mind… well…”

Ron rolled his eyes. “You two are thinking too hard. I think we need a lunch break. Your Muggles got any food, Harry?”

“I probably shouldn’t take any. And besides, they’d freak at the sight of you.” He sighed. “I’m getting really sick of this place — how about we go to Diagon Alley, and get some lunch there? The Order’ll never know as long as I’m back before dark.”

Ron agreed instantly, but Hermione had hesitated, unsure. Lying, even indirectly, to the Order of the Phoenix went against all her principles. And of the three, she was the least comfortable with her ‘adult’ status in the wizarding world. Traveling through Muggle London with just two friends might not be safe…

“C’mon, Hermione, we can also stop in Flourish and Blotts. They’ll probably have some useful books on defensive spells or obscure objects…”

That decided her. “Alright. We can take the subway, I think I have enough for the fares, and--”

“Hermione!” said Ron, exasperated. “You’ve got an Apparating license!”

“Oh. Right.” She blushed. “Then let’s Apparate to the Leaky Cauldron.”

And with that, she disappeared to the little pub, Harry and Ron following close behind.

~*~*~


“So, where to next?” asked Ron as he pushed open the door of Flourish and Blotts and stepped out into the sunlight.

They had just finished a delicious lunch in the Leaky Caldron and followed Hermione into the bookstore. After almost an hour spent browsing through the shelves, they were ready to move on. Now both Hermione and Harry were weighed down with several bags of books, both antique and recent, filled with defensive spells and information about the four founders of Hogwarts. Even Ron had found a book on the applications of chess in the real world that looked interesting.

“Well,” said Harry, thinking out loud. “We don’t really have any more errands to do, so perhaps we could visit Fred and George’s shop?”

“Yeah! That’d be great!” agreed Ron enthusiastically.

The twins were, as ever, delighted to see Harry. The greeted Hermione warmly, and gave Ron a friendly punch on the shoulder.

When Harry asked what new products they were developing, Fred and George exchanged secret smiles, making Harry even more curious.

“You see,” Fred explained, “we’ve been continuing our line of defensive charms and objects, like the Shield Hats you saw last summer, only more so. Like, we’re trying to get ones that will send the spell back to the caster, and things like that. And we’re working on these brilliant modifications to our Snackboxes, where all you have to do is throw it and hit the other person with one, instead of swallowing it, and then the symptom starts.”

Hermione started to question them excitedly, but George cut her off. “And, naturally, these ones have no antidote. Well, of course it would be a disaster if any of these got into the hands of the Death Eaters. Our workroom isn’t all that secluded,” he said, waving a hand towards the swinging door that led to the back rooms of the shop. At least two or three purple-robed employees were entering or exiting each minute, and the room behind the door was clearly accessible. “So…”

“We’ve decided on a bit more secrecy,” continued Fred. “We needed a place to develop these weapons where no one can get in but us and whoever we chose to bring with us. And we found the perfect place. Follow me, if you please?”

Curiously, Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed Fred to the back room of the store. He then opened a little door on the side, revealing a small closet containing only one item: a trunk.

Harry gasped when he saw it. “I think I know what this is!”

“Please, Harry, enlighten us,” said Ron, rather sarcastically. “I’m just dying to know what’s so special about a plain old trunk.”

“And that, dear brother, is why you’ll never be a prankster,” teased George. “You fail to see the potential in simple things.”

“All right, step in, all of you,” said Fred as he ushered them into a cramped closet, shutting the door once all five of them were in.

“This is where we make our most secret potions and develop our best charms.”

“A broom closet?” asked Ron.

“No!” corrected Harry. “It’s a–“

“A magical trunk.” Fred fitted a key into the lock on the trunk and, almost reverently, opened the lid.

Harry knew what to expect, but Ron and Hermione gazed down in to the room below in amazement. “That’s wonderful!” exclaimed Hermione.

“Wicked,” was Ron’s response.

“We can store whatever we want down here. And the best part is, we can carry it all with us when we move the trunk.”

Carry it all with us… the words rang a bell in Harry’s head. He gasped aloud. “Ron, Hermione, that’s it! This is how we can--”

He broke off suddenly, seeing the interested looks from Fred and George. “Erm, never mind.”

Ron looked a bit confused, but Hermione had seen his meaning. “Harry, that’s brilliant!”

“Care to share the news?” asked Fred.

“Sorry, can’t,” said Harry guiltily. “But, it looks like we’ve got another errand to run today!”

~*~*~


"This one's my favorite!” Ron said as they climbed the stairs out of yet another trunk. After questioning the twins, Harry had learned of a furniture store that had a large supply of magical trunks for sale. This one had thick, lush, carpeting on the stairs, and numerous extra features.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Why would Harry want a trunk with a Jacuzzi?”

Harry laughed. “It’s sort of nice, but I don’t think it would be particularly useful for --” he broke off. It was not the first time that one of them had nearly spilled their mission.

The store had an enormous range of trunks, and extra features for each one. Ron liked the extravagant ones, especially those with mini-bars, while Hermione leaned towards the ones with studies and self-cataloguing libraries.

Late in the afternoon, Harry was ready to make a decision. Any magical trunk was quite expensive, so he had to go easy on the extra features.

“Okay,” he announced. “I think I know what I want. Remember that green one, over there?” he asked, indicating the trunk. “That’s the one.”

“Ooh, it had space for a library, didn’t it?”

“And a kitchen!”

“Well, sort of,” laughed Harry. “Remember? It had a fairly large main room, with three walls of shelves, which we can use for books — yes, Hermione, I’ll ask for the catalogue function -- a desk, and a few armchairs. The third wall was sort of a kitchen, and there were two bedrooms, and I think there’s a small bathroom as well. It’s pretty much a very small house.”

“That’ll be perfect!”

“Yeah. And we need extra protection for it. It would be disastrous if Voldemort got a hold of it.” Ron managed not to cringe as Harry said the name. “Obviously, we want the anti-theft alarm, which stuns potential thieves and give you an alert, and of course the Shrinkable option — after all, we want a trunk for carrying around easily. Unless we buy special modifications, the…well, it’s sort of hard to explain. The extra area that the rooms take up can’t be compressed with a shrinking spell, because they don’t exist until you open the trunk, but if they aren’t shrunk, then the connection between the trunk and the room will be broken, and…” Harry stopped, seeing the confused look on Ron’s face.

“I’ll just take your word for it, mate,” said Ron.

Harry smiled. “Right, then. I’m also going to get a proximity detector for the trunk. Just imagine if we were all inside it, and someone thought it was unattended and ran off with it. The thief alarm wouldn’t pick it up, because it’d think that we were near enough to the trunk to stop the thief ourselves. So… those three things. Oh,” he added, shrugging. “I was going to get Quidditch wallpaper.”

“Harry, that’s not exactly practical,” chided Hermione.

“C’mon, we’ll need some fun!” urged Ron.

“Yes, I suppose so.”

Harry started towards the counter to order his trunk officially, when he stopped abruptly. “Oh, I am such an idiot!”

Ron caught up with him. “What is it?”

Harry bit his lip. “Well, the Order doesn’t know that I’m here, and if, when my guard of the day comes by this evening, and they see that I’ve got a brand-new trunk, they’re bound to ask questions.” He sighed. “I guess I’ll do it by owl order.”

He picked up some order forms and thanked the salesman who had shown them around the trunks, then left the store, Ron and Hermione following behind.

Harry checked his wrist, remembered that he still hadn’t replaced his watch, then looked at the sun. To his surprise, it was rather low in the sky. He sighed. “I should probably get back to Privet Drive. Today was really fun,” he said to Ron and Hermione. “Will you stop by tomorrow or something?”

They agreed, and Harry Apparated back to his uncle’s house.

~*~*~


And so Harry sat at his window, watching the spot where Hedwig had vanished a good half hour ago, carrying the order for his trunk. Aunt Petunia had been furious when he returned home — after all, he had been out having fun for almost half of the day. He had tolerated her screams, then trudged up to his bedroom. The visitor from the Order that night had been Hestia Jones — not particularly interesting.

He realised that, after the trunk arrived, they would really have to leave to find Horcruxes. It was one thing to talk about it, and quite another to actually do it. The trio didn’t really have plans yet, just a general sense of their mission.

Perhaps he could stall the inevitable journey a bit longer? The really did need to know where they were going, after all. And, knowing Hermione, there would be a few libraries that she would want to consult before they could leave.

There were goodbyes to be said as well. They would have to leave secretly, but Ron and Hermione would want to do something special with their parents before they left, just in case…

And maybe Harry could go with Ron to the Burrow? He told himself that he, too, wanted to say goodbye to Molly and Arthur, and the twins, if they were there. And maybe, just maybe, he could see Ginny too?

Harry shook his head. Nonsense. Ginny wouldn’t even want to see him. And he certainly didn’t want to see her… or at least, that’s what he told himself. Seeing her would just bring back feelings he had been trying so hard to suppress.

Harry pulled his thoughts back to the mission, and the trunk.

The trunk. Of course, Harry reasoned with himself, it would be best to see if the trunk worked before they left. Just test out its functions and all. He was already getting ideas…

He smiled. Yes, testing out the trunk could be quite fun indeed.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

This story archived at http://www.siye.co.uk/siye/viewstory.php?sid=126905