Harry slept really well all night. He wasn't sure why he did, considering everything that had happened the day before, then he thought it might just be because of what had happened. He opened his eyes and looked up at Hedwig, who was still asleep. He carefully crawled out of his nest of blankets and peeked out of the cupboard door to look at the clock. It was six in the morning and he couldn't hear anyone.

That thought reminded him of the night before and he quickly ducked back into the cupboard and buried his face into his blankets to laugh. He couldn't laugh at the time, since he was so surprised at seeing his uncle trying to yell at the healer and only moved his mouth with no sound at all.

I need to find that spell! Harry thought as he opened up his trunk and quickly descended the ladder. I know it has to be something that everyone who uses magic should know. It has to be! He grabbed his seven basic spell books for school and went back up to his closet. It's too useful to not be taught!

Harry had grabbed the first book in his excitement and flipped to the contents page. Thankfully, his eyes adjusted to the dim ambient light and he read what it said. He chuckled under his breath when he realized his mistake and put it aside. He read the second year book's contents, then the third and fourth. He hit gold when he read the contents of the fifth year book and found the silencing spell called 'Silencio'.

YES! Harry exclaimed in his mind and flipped through the book to the right page. When he read it, he was very surprised at how simple it was. The movement was a swish to the right that was slightly above what you wanted to silence, then you cut your wand down to point at the target and say the word. That was all. He flipped the page to see that it was the method to end the spell and not a further explanation of the spell itself. He flipped back and read it again.

Why would they wait until the fifth year to teach such a simple spell? Harry asked himself. It's bloody brilliant! The healer proved that last night!

While he was reading, Hedwig woke up and gave a soft hoot, barely a breath, and he looked at her.

“Oh, yeah. You need to go.” Harry whispered and carefully opened his cupboard door and reached back to offer an arm for Hedwig. He crept into the living room and took her to the window, slowly unlocked it with a click, then tried to push it open. A kind of loud creak sounded and he winced. He stopped immediately and waited to see if his uncle or his aunt heard him.

When there were no thumps from the upstairs, Harry carefully put Hedwig down and went back to his cupboard. He retrieved his wand care kit from his trunk and opened it up and looked at his wand. He gently picked it up and hoped beyond hope that it was going to work. He needed it to work. It had to work!

Harry crept back to the living room and sat down next to the partially open window. He took a deep breath and let it out, then he practised the wand movement. He didn't want to mess it up by making a mistake and then waking everyone up when he opened the window. It was almost funny how the sound from the window creaking could barely be heard during the day, and at night when there was no other sound around, it was as loud as thunder.

Harry did the move one last time, cleared his mind and concentrated. I can do this! He thought and did the movement perfectly. “Silencio!” He whispered and pointed at the window. It didn't glow and he thought it hadn't worked, then remembered his family hadn't glowed, either. It worked. I know it did!

He reached out and pushed the window with a fingertip, which moved it barely a quarter of an inch, and there wasn't a peep. It swung open and didn't make any noise at all!

Ha ha! Harry laughed in his mind and opened the window for Hedwig. “See you soon.” He whispered.

Hedwig hooted softly and hopped onto the window sill, spread her wings, and took off into the darkness that was just starting to lighten up. Harry closed the window, because he didn't want to be yelled at for letting all the heat out. He only had to wait an hour for Hedwig to come back, so he went back to his cupboard and put his spell books back into his trunk, except for the first year one.

There were no alarms sent up or warnings from the Ministry of Magic because he had performed underage magic, which meant that everything they had put in place the night before had actually worked. He brought the book back out to the living room and sat beside the window.

Of course, the very first spell was the wand lighting spell, 'Lumos'. He didn't dare use that, though. The last thing he wanted was for a light to show that he was up already. He read the spell, just as a reminder, then went to the next spell. When he read the conditions for the softening charm, he shook his head. He couldn't have a purple light glowing anywhere in the living room if he cast it, so he moved on.

The fire-making spell was next and Harry looked at the cold fireplace with a smile. The book said you needed to concentrate and speak the incantation aloud and passionately if possible, so he had a brilliant idea. He pointed his wand at himself and performed the silencing spell. He opened his mouth to speak and nothing came out.

Excellent! Harry thought and walked over to the fireplace. He put in the kindling and the larger pieces of wood to make an appropriate fire, then did the quick motion and jabbed his wand at the fireplace. INCENDIO! He yelled, except no sound escaped from his mouth.

The end of his wand burst out a small fireball and it hit the wood inside the fireplace. The sudden whoosh of all the wood catching fire and the crackling wood sounds startled him. He hopped back and stared at it for a second, then knew what to do.

Silencio! Harry said silently and did the motion with his wand at the fireplace. The sound disappeared and he sighed. He stood there and waited to see if there was any movement from upstairs. There wasn't. He couldn't be sure that his aunt and uncle were still asleep after that loud sound, though. He went back to the window and sat down on the chair there, then looked at the next spell.

Harry skipped over the levitation charm, since he really didn't want to do something like that while trying to keep quiet. The unlocking spell was next, so he locked the window and did the wand movement as he silently said the incantation, 'Alohamora'. The little latch on the window popped open to his delight. He smiled, locked it, and did the spell again.

He nodded at the result and looked at the next spell, the locking spell. He did the motion as he silently said the spell, 'Colloportus'. The little latch only twitched slightly and didn't really move.

What the...? Harry thought in confusion, then sighed. I'm not concentrating on what I want the spell to do properly. He thought and took a breath. I want you to lock! Colloportus! He said silently and the little latch snapped closed, also silently. YES!

Harry sat there for quite some time as he alternated between using the locking charm and the unlocking charm. He remained focused and concentrated as he kept switching between the two spells. He had to keep his mind clear as he locked and unlocked it, because any mistake would result in a failure and the follow-up spell wouldn't work, either. He completely missed someone coming into the living room.

“What are you doing up?” A gruff voice asked loudly.

AHH! Harry yelled silently as he jumped up from the chair he sat in and almost lost his footing. He caught himself against the window and braced himself, then stood up straight and turned around to face his uncle. He opened his mouth to speak and remembered that he had cast the silencing spell on himself, so he pointed to the roaring fireplace instead and his uncle looked at it.

“Huh.” Vernon grunted and walked out of the living room. He didn't want to admit that it was nice for once to wake up to a warm living room.

Harry sighed in relief, cast the counter to his silencing charm on himself, then resumed his seat by the window.

“Boy.” Vernon said and Harry jumped again. “Since you're up already...”

“Yes, Uncle Vernon.” Harry said and dropped his spell book and wand off inside his trunk in the cupboard under the stairs, then went to the kitchen. He started with the coffee and tea first, then began the eggs. He knew exactly how his family liked them and cooked them that way. He put the bread in the toaster and did up the plates of food for everyone, except for himself. His uncle didn't comment at him not taking his proper portion and drank his morning coffee.

Aunt Petunia came into the kitchen and was surprised that her husband was calmly drinking coffee and Harry was serving breakfast, long before she could get angry at the boy for sleeping in and making her wait. She sat down at the table and was presented with a cup of tea, perfectly brewed, and her eyes went over the boy. Even with the expensive pyjamas, she could see a bit of dirt building up and he was starting to smell.

It's probably because of that damnable owl. Petunia thought with a sneer. “You need a bath.”

Harry jumped at her words, looked down at himself, then nodded. He put Dudley's plate down on the table and added the plate of stacked toast within easy reach of everyone, then left the kitchen. He ducked into the cupboard and grabbed a change of clothes, closed the cupboard and looked at it as he had a neat thought. He took out his wand from his trunk and closed the door again, then did the motion for the locking spell.

Colloportus! Harry thought and mouthed the word as if he was actually speaking it. The latch closed and locked with a satisfying clink. He smiled and walked down the hallway as he slid the wand up his sleeve to hide it from view. He went up the stairs and saw Dudley's bedroom door start to open. Harry didn't want to get caught upstairs by him and out of sight of his aunt and uncle, so he took three quick steps and ducked into the bathroom.

COLLOPORTUS! Harry yelled in his mind as he did the wand movement. The door whooshed and was about to slam very loudly, so he yelled in his head again. SILENCIO!

The door slammed closed and not a sound was heard. Not the bang of the wood, not the click of the handle, nothing.

Harry sighed in relief, because he knew he would have been yelled at for a long time if he ever slammed a door in the house. He undressed and placed his wand on top of the pile, then did up the bath for himself. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was getting in the bath before Dudley.

The suds were white and fluffy instead of flat and barely there. The water was on the nice side of hot and not tepid like usual. Even the soap was clean and not streaked with grime after his aunt had used it on Dudley to clean him.

Harry slipped into the water with a happy face and started to wash himself.