Unofficial Portkey Archive

Nothing to say, a lot of questions get answered in this chapter, though obviously it creates some new ones also ;) Enjoy!

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Chapter 6: Unexpected Visitors

"Harry?" Hermione called, coming back to see what was holding him up. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he replied quickly, grabbing the note so that no one else saw it. "Let's get going."

They quickly walked back towards the lift, only to find Remus in conversation with the large, unfriendly man they had met earlier.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but it's an emergency," Remus was explaining.

"What kind of emergency requires you to leave work - " he looked at his watch, "Thirty minutes early?"

"A family emergency," Harry interrupted, quickly growing impatient with this man.

"And are you family, then?" he asked with a sneer.

"That's right," Harry replied, doing some quick thinking. "Remus is my godfather." He could see the shock on Remus' face at this statement, but made no reaction so as not to give anything away.

"So why don't you tell me what this family emergency is, then," Remus' boss scowled at Harry.

"We have reason to believe that my aunt and uncle have been injured in an accident," he said. The man wrinkled up his nose and gave them a slightly animalistic growl, but nodded at the lift nonetheless. Not bothering to say thank you, Harry quickly ushered Remus into the elevator with Hermione hot on his heels.

"I take it you read the note, then," Remus said once the lift started moving.

"Yeah..." Harry replied, handing the purple paper to Hermione for her to read. She scanned it quickly and shook her head.

"You...you don't really think that it's the Dursleys, do you?" she asked.

"I don't know," Harry replied as the lift clanged to a stop. "To be honest, I don't even know if I really care."

"You don't mean that," Hermione said as they walked into the room they had arrived in earlier that day.

"I'm not sure," Harry said, taking a pinch of the green powder. "I wouldn't wish death on anyone except Voldemort, but some part of me wishes they would pay for what they did to me for all those years."

"Speak softly, will you, Harry?" Remus hissed at him. "We don't need people here knowing what we do."

"Right," Harry affirmed. "Er...how are we getting home?"

"Use the portkey that got you here," Remus replied. "Just tap it with your wand when you're both touching it, and it should take you back home."

"Right then," Harry said. "See you at headquarters?" Remus nodded and disapparated. Harry quickly took the quill from his robes and held it out for Hermione to touch.

"Ready?" he asked. She nodded once and Harry tapped the quill with his wand, causing both of them to be jerked away to their destination.

They arrived in the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place to find most of the Order already assembled (although Fred was still absent), chatting worriedly while, Harry supposed, waiting for Dumbledore.

"Glad to see you two got here safely," Arthur said, stepping through the crowd to meet Harry and Hermione. "Where's Remus?"

"He had just disapparated when we left," Harry replied, shortly thereafter spotting the topic of his discussion. "There he is."

"Ah," Arthur thanked Harry and turned to go speak with Remus.

"What do you suppose is keeping Dumbledore?" Hermione asked.

"He's probably cleaning up whatever mess the death eaters made," replied Harry. "Probably having to talk with the ministry too, given how many muggles must need memory charms." They were each silent for a bit, letting various thoughts and scenarios wash through their already exhausted minds.

"If it is the Dursleys," Hermione said. "What would you do?" Harry sighed and ran his hand through his already extremely disheveled hair.

"I really don't like them," he answered. "I can't stress that enough."

"....but?" Hermione asked, sensing there was more.

"But I grew up there," he said. "No matter how badly they treated me, they gave me a home. They could have just as easily dumped me off at an orphanage for any death eater to come and bring me home only to kill me when we got there. If they got killed...I suppose I'll attend their funeral, but I won't be saying anything."

"That's very mature of you, Harry," Hermione smiled. "I'm glad to see that you don't hold the lingering kind of hatred that Voldemort does."

"I suppose," Harry said. He was unable to say anything else he might've wanted to, however, because the door opened to reveal Dumbledore, looking quite drained, with Moody hot on his heels.

"Headmaster - " Hermione began, but was silenced when Dumbledore raised his hand.

"I cannot stay," he said. "I've already walked out on Ron once when he's needed my help to argue on behalf of our side for the ghosts. Moody will explain everything." And without another word he disapparated soundlessly.

"So what happened, Alastor?" Molly asked.

"The Dursley household was attacked," he explained. Hermione heard Harry take a sharp intake of breath.

"And?" asked Tonks when he didn't continue. Moody frowned, contorting the already distorted features of his face.

"Apparently Dumbledore hadn't removed all of the security charms after Potter left," he said. "He sensed an attack and quickly arrived on the scene a few minutes later to find Voldemort standing over a cowering Dursley family."

"Did they make it?" Harry asked, a little too quickly not to draw attention to his true emotions.

"Yes," Moody said, after a slight hesitation. "But Arabella Figg was having tea with your aunt, Potter. She died trying to stop Voldemort."

There was a moment of stunned silence at this proclamation. Harry could see tears forming in Mrs. Weasley's eyes, along with Professor McGonagal, and, much to his surprise, Mundungus Fletcher. All too quickly he felt the burning, prickling sensation at his eyes and wiped them with the back of his hand.

"You said Voldemort was there in person?" he asked with a slight sniffle.

"Yeah," replied Moody with a grunt. "Seemed that he wanted to personally kill the people who had ensured your survival during your young years." Harry frowned.

"So how'd they live, then?" he asked.

"Like I said, Figg was there," Moody said. "She stalled him long enough for Dumbledore to show up and give the Dark Lord a run for his money, but she got herself killed in the process. Voldemort doesn't like delays."

"So You-Know-Who just got away?" George asked.

"To put it mildly, yeah," Moody growled. "He and Dumbledore started dueling out in the middle of the street, and he blew half of it up before disapparating. I'm suspecting that's who Wormtail learned it from."

"Goodness," Hermione said, bringing her hand to her mouth. "How many were killed?"

"Twelve," Moody replied. "He blew three houses completely to smithereens, and another six were hit from the shockwave and sustained minor damage. Surprisingly, Number Four managed to get through it all without a scratch."

"What's the ministry doing about all the muggles who saw this take place?" Professor McGonagal asked.

"They memory charmed the ones who saw it all happen," said Moody. "The rest were told it was a gas explosion in one of the underground pipes."

"Where are the Dursleys now?" Harry asked.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that, Potter," Moody growled, but did not elaborate further.

"Well?" Harry demanded when his trainer didn't continue.

"Ah, yes...erm," Moody mumbled, obviously not wanting to answer this question. "You all know how I usually agree with Dumbledore without question...but I didn't really think this was the best idea -"

"Get on with it!" Mundungus Fletcher growled from the corner.

"They're about fifteen feet above your head," Moody said in a defeated tone.

This time, Harry swore that time did stop. He looked around to see everyone staring at Moody as if he was mad. Hermione's slightly open mouth was frozen in place, as were McGonagal's pursed lips and wide eyes. However, like so many times before, the thing that convinced Harry time had, in fact, not stopped, was the red color making its way to Molly Weasley's face.

"Er...putting aside my own feelings here for a minute," Harry said. "Why on earth did Dumbledore do that?"

"It's the safest place," Moody replied. "After all, there is a spy in the Ministry."

"And they couldn't just stay at Privet Drive?" Harry retorted, his anger beginning to rise.

"Better if they stay away from there for the next few days," Moody answered. "If Voldemort thinks they've left, he might go looking somewhere else -"

"Did you just say the next few days?" Molly interrupted, surprising everyone. Although she had a fiery temper, she was not usually the one to cut people off.

"That's right," Moody said, his tone growing impatient. "Look, I had no say in this, so stop acting like you're all going to bite my head off - not that you could stomach the taste, mind you. They're here until Dumbledore sends us an owl saying it's safe for them to go back."

"And are you forgetting that this is Harry's house, and if he doesn't want them here, they don't get to stay," said a voice from the corner, which surprisingly turned out to be Remus'. All eyes immediately turned to Harry, who sighed.

"I'm going to talk to them," he said. "I'll make a decision then."

"Harry," Molly said, stepping towards him. "Now I realise these people aren't the nicest in the world, but you need to remember they did bring you up - "

"Mrs. Weasley, for once, please stop treating me like a child," Harry said, not in a strong or obtrusive voice, but in a completely flat one. "As much as you would like to believe it, I'm not a Weasley, nor do I see it likely to happen."

"Harry, dear, if you're talking about how I feel about Ron - "

"I'm not," he replied. "And I understand that you wish the best possible outcome for everyone in this world. Unfortunately the Dursleys don't feel the same way. I'll deal with them how I see fit." With that, he strode to the door and put his hand on it, but felt a familiar presence following him. "Hermione, please stay here while I do this."

"Why?" she asked, obviously slightly hurt.

"Because this is something I need to do on my own," he replied. There were nervous glances shared throughout the room. "Look, if you're all afraid that I'm going to harm them, don't worry. I have no intentions of physically hurting them in any way."

"What about mentally?" Hermione asked, almost in a whisper. Harry turned to face her.

"I make no promises." With that he stormed out of the room and up the stairs.

It didn't take spells or magic to figure out where the Dursleys were being kept. All one had to do was simply follow the sound of the floorboards creaking from where Vernon was pacing. Harry slowly made his way down the second floor corridor to a room at the end of the hall and opened it without knocking. He barely had time to register the animalistic growl his uncle gave before he was running at Harry like a wild bull. Fortunately, he had prepared for this.

"Impedimenta!" Harry bellowed leveling his wand at his uncle, who froze mid-air, blinking at him. This action had the effect of causing Petunia to back into the corner, trying to shield Dudley. Frowning, he walked over to his uncle and pointed his wand at him. "Incarcerous." Thick, yellowish ropes sprung and bound Vernon, whom Harry promptly levitated onto the bed.

"Now then," he said, conjuring a chair out of mid-air, and taking a seat. "What a strange predicament this is." His 'family' sat in silence while he tucked his wand away and crossed his arms. "How long ago was it, that you found a small child in a basket on your doorstep, only to learn that you were the only living family this child had?" Still, silence. "I SAID, HOW LONG AGO?!"

"Almost seventeen years," Petunia said softly. Harry nodded.

"You took me for what reason?" he asked. "You both hated - hate my mom and dad. You hated what they were, what you knew I was going to be. So why do it? Why make me suffer through seventeen years when you could have just as easily sent me off somewhere else, and then everyone's happy?"

"Your headmaster - " Petunia began, but Harry cut her off.

"Oh don't give me that," he said. "Don't pretend to tell me that he forced you at wand point to take me in."

"H-h-he said that we would be protected from that-that Voldermorty," Vernon stuttered, although it was an obvious lie. Harry stood and drew his wand, causing all of the Dursleys to recoil.

"I can force you to tell me the truth, you know," he said menacingly, even though he knew he could do no such thing without Veritaserum. However, the Dursleys remained silent so Harry chose to do nothing but scoff at them and sit back down. "You treated me like scum. Why should I let you stay in the safety of my house when I could just as easily send you back to Privet Drive and subject you to the mercy of Voldemort?"

"How about because we took you in, even though we didn't want to?" Vernon grumbled, though Harry heard him quite clearly.

"Hmm, fair point," he said. "Perhaps I could find a nice cupboard for all three of you. Though I'm not sure one exists that could fit both you and my pig of a cousin." He saw Vernon's face purple slightly at this remark. "I'll ask you again. Give me a reason why I should let you stay here and not toss you out onto the street."

"Because Lily wouldn't have wanted it," Petunia spoke in an almost inaudible whisper. Harry nearly fell out of the chair at hearing his mother's name come from his aunt's lips. No matter how angry he wanted to be at the Dursleys though, he couldn't argue with Petunia's logic.

"Fine," he said, standing up. With a wave of his hand the ropes holding Vernon vanished. "Try not to make a disturbance. I'll send Dobby up with food later." He opened the door and stepped out, but stopped before he was fully in the hall. "Oh, and Dudley? I advise you not to wander around. You might er...run in to some things that would result in unpleasant experiences for you." He heard a distinct whimper from where his cousin was, and he closed the door behind him as he walked out into the hallway.

Sighing, Harry shook his head and walked back down towards the basement kitchen, hearing hushed whispers coming from the inside upon nearing his destination. He opened the door and everyone in the room stopped to turn and look at him.

"They're staying," Harry said, answering the unsaid question. "But we're not making it easy for them. No favors. If they want something done, they can do it themselves."

This seemed acceptable to everyone in the room, so quiet discussion resumed while Harry made his way over to where Hermione and George were talking.

"He still hasn't budged," George said quietly. "Listen...I realise that doing what we did can take a lot out of someone...but are you sure he's okay?"

"He should've awakened by now," Hermione replied. "Maybe you should take Harry and me to see him."

"Fred's still under?" Harry asked, speaking in a hushed tone.

"Yeah, do you want to come up now, while everyone's down here?" George asked. "I think we can avoid being bothered by mum if she's busy talking to someone about Order business."

"Sure," Harry replied. "Let's go."

The three of them left as discreetly as possible, and made their way to the room where Fred and George were staying, but not before running into Ginny.

"Oh, hello," she said brightly. "So are you going to tell me why everyone from the Order is downstairs?"

"The Dursleys were attacked," Harry said. "Arabella Figg was killed." Ginny's face dropped immediately.

"Isn't she the person who gave the testimony in your fifth year that got you off?" she asked. Harry nodded. "Harry, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah...so am I," he said sullenly.

"Is there anything I can do?" Ginny asked.

"No - yes, actually," he revised. "Tell my why I haven't seen Draco around since he first got here."

"Oh...that," Ginny said, frowning slightly. "He's been quite busy, from what he tells me. I only see him for about an hour every day, and that's right after he comes home."

"What time does he usually come home?" Harry asked.

"Around 11, usually," Ginny said. "Why?"

"Just curious," Harry replied. "Listen, don't go telling your mum that we told you about tonight."

"I won't tell a soul," the red-head replied making a motion as if she was zipping her lips.

"Actually, we're just going to check on Fred right now. How would you like to come with us and see how he's doing?" Hermione offered.

"That's fine," Ginny said. "I was just looking for Dobby to see if he could - "

"Miss called for Dobby?" the house-elf said, having suddenly appeared at her knee.

"I keep forgetting I can do that," Ginny said with a smile while shaking her head. "Could you bring my dinner up to my room when you have the chance, Dobby? I'm doing some difficult schoolwork and I won't be able to join everyone for dinner."

"Of course, Miss," the elf replied before turning to the other three present. "Can I get Sirs or Miss anything?"

"Nothing for me," Hermione answered.

"I'll have a butterbeer," George said. Dobby snapped his fingers and a cold, frosty, butterbeer appeared which he handed to the Weasley twin, he thanked the elf.

"Could you bring a pepper-up potion to Fred and George's room?" Harry asked.

"Of course, sir." With that Dobby disappeared with a soft pop.

"You know Fred can only take that when he wakes up," Hermione said, as they started up the stairs again.

"I know," Harry replied. "I have an idea though."

"Care to tell us?" Ginny asked as they reached the room and opened the door. Taking a quick glance around the room, Harry saw that Dobby had already been there and placed the potion on the dresser.

"You'll see in a minute," he said, walking over to Fred and looking at him carefully.

'What are you thinking?' Hermione asked silently.

'That the fact that the potion contained my blood is somehow responsible,' he replied, pressing the back of his hand to Fred's forehead.

'It shouldn't have had any effect,' Hermione said as Harry slapped Fred's face lightly.

'He shouldn't have been out for nearly two days,' he said. 'The spell we made last year was much more complex and I was only out for a day and a half.'

"So what do you think?" George questioned.

"Hermione?" Harry asked. Getting the picture, she went over to Fred and with a wave of her wand checked his pulse, blood pressure, and temperature.

"He's perfectly fine," she said. "He just seems to be in a really, really, deep sleep."

"So what's your great idea?" Ginny asked, getting slightly impatient. For an answer, Harry drew his wand and pointed it at Fred's chest.

"Ennervate!"

Fred's eyes seemed to shift under his eyelids, and a few seconds later he let out the first sign of life that he had since the creation of the spell: a long, extremely loud snore.

"Fred," Harry said, bending down over him. "Fred, wake up. Fred!"

"Mmmf?" the bed-ridden Weasley mumbled as one of his eyes squeaked open. "Tired. Go 'way, Harry."

"Here," he said, grabbing the potion. "Take a sip of this." Fred let out a frustrated growl but took a bit of the potion all the same, and a moment later his eyes were wide open.

"Wow," he said, letting out a large yawn. "That's some good stuff."

"Works like magic," Harry said with a grin. "Are you okay?"

"I think so," Fred replied, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. "Could I have my wand?" George quickly withdrew his brother's wand from his robes and handed it to him. "Aquas." A spray of water flew out of the tip of his wand and hit Harry squarely in the face. "Yep," said Fred with a grin. "I'm fine."

"Glad to see it," Harry said in an annoyed voice, taking off his glasses and wiping them on his pants while Hermione and Ginny were trying their best not to laugh.

"Great to have you back, bro," George said, clapping his twin on the back. "Shop's not been the same without you."

"I'm sure you managed," said Fred. "So did it work?"

"Did what work?" Harry asked, muttering a drying spell on his clothing.

"The charm, you git!" Fred exclaimed.

"It worked great," Hermione said. "Thank you for doing that, by the way."

"Oh, it was nothing," said Fred as he stood and worked out the kinks in his back. "So!" he exclaimed clasping his hands together. "What have I missed?"

At that precise moment, a distinct beeping was heard coming from Ginny, who looked confused for a moment before blushing.

"Right, it's for me," she said. "Give me a minute?" Harry's brow furrowed in confusion, but his confusion disappeared when he saw her take the small charm attached to the silver necklace she was wearing and bring it to her mouth before walking off to the corner of the room.

"Is that the necklace Draco gave her?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah....." Harry replied, but then trailed off.

"Harry?" she asked.

"Mate? You okay?" Fred responded when Harry did not.

"Yeah...yeah. I'm fine," he said. "Listen, I'm a bit tired, so I think I'm going to head on up to bed."

"At quarter of six in the evening with no dinner?" George asked.

"Training was really tough," Harry replied. "I'll just have a large breakfast tomorrow. You know they say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"Unless you're Ron," George snickered.

"Why, what does he say?" Hermione asked.

"That anything involving food immediately becomes the most important thing of the day," Ginny said with a smile as she returned from her spot in the corner. "Sorry about that."

"Was that Draco?" Harry asked.

"Yes, he said he won't be able to make it home tonight. They've got him doing extra work lately in the research department," she replied.

"Ah. Well, I'm going to head up now," Harry said. "I'm sure your three can bring Fred up to speed on what's been happening. See you tomorrow." He quickly left the room without another word, leaving Hermione and the three Weasleys standing there speechless.

Harry jogged to his room and closed the door behind him before flopping down onto the bed, his mind reeling from what he had just remembered.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny found themselves back on the Hogwarts Express, heading back for their next term of classes. Hermione had convinced Ron to take a quick walk with her to check on some of the first years so that Harry could inquire about the present from Malfoy.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, opening the door, bringing him back from his thoughts.

"Mm?" he asked. "What's up?"

"I should be asking you that," she answered. "Why did you run out of there like a bat out of hell?" He looked up at her and sighed.

"That necklace..." Harry said. "Was Ginny wearing it while you were captured?" Hermione thought for a moment.

"I think so," she said. "Mind you, I don't really remember much from that whole experience what with the draught and everything, but I think she had it on. Why?"

"She and Malfoy can talk through them," Harry said.

"But what does - " her eyes widened. "Oh."

"Malfoy isn't stupid, we know that," said Harry. "Hell, he landed a portkey onto a moving Hogwarts Express. How could he have forgotten about the necklace so easily?" Hermione sat down on the bed next to him.

"Honestly? I have no idea," she said, shaking her head. "And I agree with you. It doesn't sound like Malfoy to forget something as simple as a necklace, especially if he was wearing it."

"What if he wasn't wearing it?" Harry asked. "What if he really did have an ulterior motive when he gave it to Ginny?"

"Harry, I thought we were past trying to find ways to distrust Malfoy even more," Hermione said.

"He lives here, for Merlin's sake!" Harry exclaimed. "He knows all about the Order of the Phoenix, and he's going to be inducted into it this weekend. What if - " he stopped short as a horrifying thought came to him. "What if he's the spy?"

"I think it's a little early to be making accusations," Hermione said. Harry opened his mouth to argue, but she raised her hand to silence him. "I'm not saying we shouldn't be paying attention to him a little more carefully, but, and forgive me for saying so, don't you have a history of jumping to the wrong conclusion? Like with Snape in first year?"

"You agreed with me on that after the quidditch game," Harry said, angered at Hermione's accusation.

"Don't get mad at me," she said. "I'm just trying to help point out everything before you go off and do something rash."

Harry didn't have to ask to know what Hermione was referring to. He hung his and let out a deep breath.

"You're right," he said, sighing. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Hermione said, taking Harry's hand in hers. "The last thing we need right now is to accuse the wrong person."

"I know," Harry replied, kissing her forehead softly. "I wasn't lying to the twins though, I am really knackered. You can go down to dinner if you want."

"I know I can," Hermione said with a smile. "But I'm probably just as tired as you, if not more so, so if it's all right with you, I think I'll just go to sleep with you in those wonderful arms of yours." Harry smiled and flexed his biceps.

"I suppose I at least got one good asset out of quidditch," he said.

"More than one," Hermione replied with a devilish grin and squeezed his arse, causing him to jump slightly.

"You'll pay for that, Granger," he said with an evil smile, which was interrupted by a large yawn. "Tomorrow, you'll pay for that," he revised.

"Yeah, tomorrow sounds like much more fun," Hermione said as they laid down in bed, Harry wrapping his arms around her before she muttered a vanishing charm and their clothing disappeared, shortly followed by the lights clicking off.

=====

Harry was awoken several hours later by a soft knocking at the door. Groping in the darkness for his glasses, he found them and turned the bedside lamp on to see what time it is.

"Ugh..." he muttered, seeing that the clock read 1:12 AM. "This better be good."

"Harry?" Hermione mumbled into her pillow.

"Go back to sleep, love," he said. "I'll take care of this." She didn't answer and upon a quick check, Harry saw that she had fallen back asleep. Smiling, he threw on a bathrobe and walked to the door. Opening it, he saw one of the last people in the world he was expecting to see.

"Hello, Harry," Petunia whispered.

"What are you doing up at a quarter past one in the morning?" he asked groggily.

"I...I was hoping we could talk," she whispered. "I didn't want Vernon or Dudley to know."

"Erm...okay," Harry said, stepping out onto the landing. "What is it?"

"Perhaps we could go somewhere more private?" she asked, looking nervously around the hall.

"Uh, sure. Let me get my wand." Harry said, going back into the room. A moment later he returned. "Follow me."

He led his aunt to a room down the hall that he knew was unoccupied: Buckbeak's old room. Quietly opening the door, he let his aunt enter before he followed her into the room and closed the door behind him. Waving his wand in the air, he conjured a pair of comfortable armchairs and sat down in one. Petunia, however, was looking skeptically at hers, almost frightened to sit down in it. "It won't bite you," Harry said with a small smile. She glanced at him warily before carefully sitting down in the chair, visibly relaxing when it, in fact, did not bite her.

"Forgive me for being cautious," she said. "Sirius got me to sit in a chair that bit me once."

Harry, who had been leaning back in his chair, toppled over backwards completely at hearing this.

"Wha - what?" he asked, getting up off the floor and righting the chair.

"I should have told you all of this a long time ago, Harry," she said, sighing.

"Told me what?" he asked, not daring to believe what he was hearing. His aunt took a deep breath.

"When Lily and James graduated, they had already been dating for several months," she said. "He and Sirius came over one day to visit. It turned out that James had been planning on proposing to Lily for quite some time, and Sirius, having known about it, refused to not be there when he popped the question. So the both of them came over to our house, and James asked Lily to marry him. That was after the recliner had taken a bite at me, though."

"This can't be true," Harry interrupted. "Sirius would've told me something like this."

"In truth I'm surprised he didn't," Petunia said. "But it happened. My parents decided to throw a nice party that night to celebrate the engagement. I spent the entire party in my room."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"I didn't meet Vernon for another year, so it was another thing that Lily had that I didn't," Petunia said. "Just like magic. The number of times that I wished I could do magic when I was twelve or thirteen is too many to count."

Harry was stunned. Here he was, being told by one of the people he thought despised magic the most, that she had wanted to be able to do magic when she was younger, and that she had known Sirius.

"Why did you treat me so badly then?" he asked, wanting to know the answer.

"Lily and I were never on the best of terms, even before she went to that school," his aunt said. "She always knew more than I did, always did better than I did."

"Sounds a lot like my fianceé," Harry said with a chuckle.

"You're engaged?" Petunia asked, with a look of surprise.

"Yes," Harry replied.

"I'd like to meet her sometime," she said with a soft smile. Harry, though thoroughly stunned, nodded dumbly. "Anyway, when Lily got her letter, it only made me hate her more. The week after she got engaged to James she moved to Godric's Hollow with him. I didn't speak to her again. You may think that Vernon hates magic because it's strange. The truth is he hates magic because I hated it when I told him about it shortly after we got married. I didn't really stop despising it until the summer before your sixth year."

"When you found out that Sirius had died trying to protect me," Harry said, remembering all too well the conversation Dumbledore had with his aunt and uncle the moment he had arrived at Privet Drive that summer.

"As much as I loathed Lily and disliked James, I liked Sirius," Petunia said. "When he saw how angry I was over the chair, he actually apologised to me and promised that he wouldn't do it again. No one except my parents had showed me that kind of compassion before, so he became the first person in the wizarding world that actually seemed nice. Of course I didn't ever hear from him after the engagement was announced. Lily went off with James, and neither James nor Sirius had a reason to come to my house anymore. When I found out that he had been killed, it brought forth all those emotions that I had completely forgotten, the greatest being that not everyone who knows magic is evil."

"My parents weren't evil," Harry countered angrily.

"I never said that," his aunt said. "But it was Sirius who helped me realise that for the first time, not James or Lily."

"All right," said Harry with a sigh. "Go on."

"I realised that your uncle and I shouldn't have treated you as we did," she said. "You're not James, or Lily for that matter. You didn't even have enough time with them for either of them to really rub off on you."

"I appreciate you telling me all of this," Harry said. "But is there a point to it?"

"Yes," said Petunia. "When James and Lily were killed, Sirius was the beneficiary of their will. But he went to jail the day after, or so I heard."

"That's correct," Harry said.

"So it fell to Dumbledore to distribute James and Lily's possessions as he saw fit," his aunt said. "Most of it he put in a vault in that wizard bank, but he left something to me, which I feel you need to have, especially now that you're engaged." Harry's eyes widened as his aunt pulled a long velvet box from a pocket in her nightgown and handed it to him. Hands trembling, he took it from her, and opened it.

Two wedding bands sat resting inside it, both made of what looked to be solid gold. A lone tear running down his face, Harry picked up the slightly larger one and examined it. The outside of the band was smooth and the edges were rounded. On the inside though, there was a faint inscription that read 'Two bodies, one heart'. He picked up the other one and sure enough it contained the same writing on the inside of the band.

"I thought you might like those," Petunia said softly. "They are rather nice."

"They...they were my parents'?" Harry asked, choking back a sob. Petunia nodded. Letting go of all of his reservations, he stood up and walked over to his aunt, before bending over and wrapping his arms around her in a hug. Clearly taken aback by this, she patted him softly on the back before he pulled away.

"Thank you," he said softly.

"Of course," Petunia replied. "Now we should probably get back to bed. It is rather early." Harry nodded, and they left the room in silence. They walked back to Harry's room, and he put his hand on the knob to open the door but stopped.

"Aunt Petunia?" he asked quietly.

"Hmm?" she asked.

"Why now?"

"Let's just say that your decision to let us stay here instead of throwing us out after our treatment of you had something to do with it," she said with a small smile. "I'll see you around, then."

"Yeah..."

Petunia walked off down the hall towards the stairs, leaving Harry staring after her. Sighing, he opened the door to his room and quietly made his way to the bed before placing the velvet box on the nightstand, discarding his robe, and getting under the covers next to Hermione.

"This has been one of the strangest days of my life," he mumbled before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

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Okay, I know a lot of you may not like what I did with Petunia. I wrote her the way I feel JKR will reveal her to be in later books. I don't believe that she is as cold-hearted as we are led to think, and although that she probably won't turn out the way I wrote her, I think that if she really hated Harry as much as some people think, even Dumbledore's howler in the fifth book wouldn't have stopped her from kicking Harry out onto the curb. The other possibility, of course, is that Dumbledore's 'last' could be something solely for the benefit of the Dursleys, but I do not think that's true. On a whole, I rather enjoyed writing this chapter, and I think I'll rather enjoy writing the next one. I've got some great ideas that are going to start planting themselves, so you can all enjoy that. As for Mrs. Figg, don't worry. I didn't forget about her.