Lies and Illusions
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, this is a work of fanfiction.
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Chapter 4
Confronting the Dursleys
Hermione didn't stop until they were seated the Dursleys' dinner table.
"Okay, Harry, start talking," she said bluntly
He couldn't understand why Hermione was so upset with him. Unless it was the way he spoke to her after she climbed out of the cupboard. He had no reason to act like that, it wasn't like she'd been doing anything wrong. But he did find it very distrubing to see her sitting in the tiny space he'd been forced to call a bedroom for so long.
"Look, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I didn't -"
"That's all right. I'm not mad at you, just worried." Releasing a deep breath, she turned to face her best friend. "Even with all the fights we've been having these last few months, we never stopped being friends. As your friend, I couldn't help being worried by some of the things I've been seeing around here. Harry, I know that you and your relatives don't get along...but there's more to it, isn't there? There's a reason why you don't like to talk about them."
In a half-hearted last attempt to avoid her questions he said, "You don't talk much about your parents -"
"- Only because there isn't much to say, and don't change the subject." Raising her voice, Hermione called out, "Ron, stop hiding and get in here!"
The gangly redhead quietly took a seat across the table from them, after grabbing a bag of crisps off the counter.
"Sorry, I thought you wanted to be alone," Ron said sheepishly.
Hermione gave Ron a brief glance. "What are you...? Never mind, I don't want to know. Now, Harry, tell us what's going on between you and the Dursleys, and why you're so sensitive about that cupboard under the stairs. Don't tell me it's nothing, I know you better than that."
Under her intense stare, Harry reluctantly told his friends the story of his life before he found out that he was a wizard. Although they had both known parts of it for years, neither of them had asked for the details until now.
The stories about his bursts of uncontrolled magic before starting Hogwarts didn't surprise them. Such incidents were common among young witches and wizards. Hermione recalled a time when she made the pens carried by some girls who tormented her explode -- drenching them from head to toe. "Took them weeks to get it all off, and no one could believe how much ink sprayed from their pockets. My parents were surprised to say the least, and it took us forever to find out why it happened."
"If you think that's something," Ron laughed, "you should have seen what my family was like. One of us was getting upset and having bits of magic going off like every other week. Fred and George especially, but Mum's convinced they were doing it on purpose. Eventually, Dad started putting extra enchantments on the house because they were tired of fixing it all the time."
Unfortunately; Harry soon brought an end to the light mood, along with Ron's appetite. Like the Weasleys, Vernon and Petunia Dursley knew what the strange events occuring around their nephew meant -- and did everything in their power to put a stop to it.
From the very beginning, his aunt and uncle had tried to keep him as downtrodden as possible. Hardly a day went by without him being told he was nothing but a worthless burden to his "poor, hard-working family". Whenever he had one of his magical outbursts, they'd lock him in his cupboard for days at a time as punishment. Meanwhile, they constantly complained about Harry's behavior while ignoring the fact that Dudley and his gang were beating up every kid in the neighborhood.
There was more, of course; and as Harry told his friends about his life at Privet Drive, an odd feeling started flowing through him. Suppressing his emotions was neccessary to survive in this place, and to control his powers. But while he talked about his experiences, he began to feel both sickened and enraged by his relatives' actions.
Hermione's tear-filled eyes never left him as he talked. Harry could feel her trembling slightly as she held his hand in a tight, but comforting, grip. By the time he got up to the Dursleys intercepting his first Hogwarts letters, her expression had gone from one of concern to barely controlled fury. It wasn't often that Hermione looked like she wanted to hit someone (though she did slap Malfoy once), but this was clearly one of those times.
It took several minutes for anyone to find their voice after Harry had finished.
"Blimey, I knew you didn't get along but I never thought..." Ron said, looking rather green. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Mum and Dad would've taken you in, no problem."
"Would they?" Harry scoffed at the notion. "Dumbledore himself decided to put me here. Do you honestly think any decent witch or wizard would have gone against his wishes? It was fucking Snape all over again: if Albus Dumbledore thinks it's right -- it must be because he's the greatest sorcerer in the world!"
Hermione added in a subdued voice, "But Professor Dumbledore was still human and occasionally made mistakes, like trusting Snape and putting you here. Maybe the real problem was that no one ever questioned his judgment."
"I know what you mean," Harry said with a mischevious grin. "We all need someone like Hermione Granger around to beat some sense through our thick skulls once in a while."
"HARRY!"
Turning a bright shade of red, Hermione lightly slapped his fingers to make him release her hand. Harry felt his own face heat up when he saw the unusual smirk she was giving him.
Ron swallowed his laughter when Hermione started glaring at him. "So what do we do now?" he asked casually. "I say we get the bloody hell out of here."
Her cheeks still bearing a trace of pink, Hermione nodded as she stood up. "Good idea. Come on Crookshanks, we're leaving." The huge ginger cat jumped in her arms.
"Yes, I've stayed here long enough," Harry agreed. Taking a last look around the room he amended himself, "More than long enough. So, where are we going?"
Hermione quickly answered, "Leave that to me, I know where we can go. Plus, I also have the perfect way for us to say goodbye to this place."
She explained her plan without going into certain details like where they were going, saying it was a surprise. With Harry and Ron each suggesting a few touches of their own, it took a while for them to work out all the details. They were going over it one last time when they heard Hedwig hooting upstairs. The clock on the wall read a quarter to three.
"Someone must be home, I asked her to keep watch for us." Hermione said.
"We'd better get going," Harry said, feeling more confident then he had all day. "By the time we make sure all my stuff is packed, the whole lot will be here."
Petunia came in the front door as they started up the stairs. With a sour expression she called out, "What are you fre- "
"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you, Petunia Dursley," Hermione said acidly while trying to keep her cat from attacking the woman. "For your information -- we were eating, and talking, and now we're leaving."
"Leaving? What do you mean you're leaving?" Petunia said blankly.
Harry looked directly at his aunt's horse-like face. "I think it means we're going away and not coming back," he said sarcastically.
"Even if You-Know-Who's nutters blow your door in!" Ron called down from the top of the stairs.
"Don't worry, Aunt Petunia," Harry went on, "we'll take care of everything. Including a proper thank you for everything you've done over the years..."
"...If we can decide which curse to use," Hermione muttered as she followed the boys upstairs.
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The boys started packing their things as Hermione quickly went to the guest room to fetch her trunk and Crookshanks' wicker basket. It took several minutes to catch Pig as he fluttered excitedly around the ceiling. By contrast, Hedwig climbed in her cage and closed the door once she saw them packing.
"I guess she's had enough of this place too," Ron commented.
Between them, the trio turned Harry's tiny bedroom upside down to ensure nothing of his was left behind. By five o'clock, not one item belonging to Harry Potter could be found in the house. The only thing left in the smallest bedroom, besides the barely held together furniture, was a pile of old clothes on the bed. Hermione insisted that he only keep enough of the oversized Muggle items to last until they could buy him new ones.
"Which will be tomorrow," she sternly announced.
With the last of their trunks packed, the three of them made the final preparations for their departure. None of them had ever tried the spell Dumbledore used to transport Harry's things to the Burrow last summer, and they weren't going to take any chances with it today. So instead, they once again used a charm to make the trunks feather-light. Once that was done, their brilliant witch transfigured some old socks into straps so they could wear them like backpacks. With everything ready; Harry, Ron and Hermione picked up their respective pet cages and headed downstairs, pulling their trunks behind them.
A quick glance told them the front door was being blocked by Dudley's large, blonde, stupid presence. Harry gave him a wide smile as he and his friends backed up to give themselves some room.
"Hey Dudders! Come to see us off? You'll be sorry to hear that I'll miss you about as much as the Blast-Ended Skrewts we studied in...."
A loud noise behind them turned out to be Vernon Dursley, he must have come home early. The two wizards shared a look with the witch standing behind them as they all set their pets on their trunks by the wall.
"Did you want something, Mr. Dursley?" Hermione's innocent question wasn't matched by the disgusted look on her face.
Vernon gestured wildly with his hands as he spoke. "You three come waltzing in here and disrupt our lives without so much as a by-your-leave, and now expect to just walk out? If you think you're going away without giving us proper compensation, you are sorely mistaken."
"Compensation? Are you mental?" Ron blurted out first.
"I figured my not being here any more would be enough for you, it is for me," Harry said with a thin smile.
Hermione took on a far more serious tone with the man. "You have a lot of nerve to suggest that Harry owes you a damn thing after the way you've treated him! Don't bother acting surprised, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Not only are you in no position to make demands, you should be grateful you're not talking to the police."
"If you think you can come in here and threaten me, little girl, you are greatly mistaken. I'm not afraid of you or your freaky kind," Vernon growled at her.
"Really?" Hermione shot back. "Then why are you shaking? Worried that I'm going to stuff you in a cupboard like you did to Harry?"
Dudley's menacing smirk faded into an ugly frown. Petunia, perhaps having a better idea of what could happen if this went much further, appeared behind her husband and tried to convince him to just let the trio leave.
Throwing off his wife's restraining hand, Vernon stepped towards Hermione. From the other side, Dudley assumed a boxing stance as he marched in Harry's direction.
The trio didn't really want to fight Harry's relatives. At most, they planned to just tell them off on their way out the door -- if they encountered them at all. During their earlier talk however, Harry had expressed some reservations about the Dursleys' reaction to his departure: particularly his uncle's nasty temper and the possibility that he would demand money from him before they left. In light of this, they'd decided to make a plan for a little show of force if it was needed. Nothing that would get them in trouble or hurt anyone, but enough to get their point across.
Hermione, who had been holding her wand out of sight all this time, raised it in response to the sudden charge. A Banishing Charm struck Vernon Dursley with enough force to knock the wind out of him even as it sent his immense bulk flying back down the hall. The whole house shuddered when his dazed form crashed to the ground back where he'd entered the hallway.
At the other end of the house, Dudley had met a magical problem of his own. Before he'd gotten halfway to his cousin, he found himself being tied up with thick ropes conjured with a silent Incarcerous spell. Struggling for a moment, he toppled over with a loud thud as the two wizards switched places. With all the noise and confusion, none of the Muggles noticed Harry and Ron exchanging their wands as they moved.
Petunia screamed as her husband and son fell to the floor.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
"It's called defending ourselves, and we could have done a lot more." Hermione told her with a deadly glare. "Don't worry, you can get your son out of the ropes easily enough...after we're gone."
Vernon huffed as he got back up, "You're finished. You'll be expelled from that ruddy school of yours for sure this time. And you were so close, weren't you?"
Harry wearily shook his head, amazed that his uncle still thought he could scare him.
"You're assuming that Hogwarts will even reopen this fall," he said bitterly. "Since Professor Dumbledore was murdered a couple of weeks ago, there's a good chance it won't. Anyway; where I am doesn't matter, as long as it's far away from you."
"Next thing you know, he's going to say he's expecting some git from the Ministry to come and arrest us," Ron muttered under his breath.
"They're already up to their political ears in problems with Voldemort on the loose. Besides, I don't think I've annoyed Scrimgeour enough for him to have me put on trial again. It made the Ministry look really stupid the last time they tried it." Harry shrugged before adding, "If they do try something, the spells were all cast with your and Hermione's wands. Mine hasn't been used since we got off the train."
It was true, in matter of speaking. Harry hadn't used his wand to tie up his cousin since he was still restricted by the laws against underage magic. Borrowing Ron's wand, with his permission of course, allowed Harry to take advantage of a loophole in the way the laws were enforced to get a little revenge on Dudley without having to worry about the Ministry of Magic.
Seeing the Dusley's confused looks, Hermione explained in her best walking encyclopedia voice, "Although you're clearly aware of the laws barring anyone under the age of seventeen from performing magic away from school, you seem rather ingorant as to how the authorities actually enforce them. You see, while the Ministry is able to detect the use of magic in a location such as this, they can't trace it to a specific person. In order to determine exactly who performed the spells, they have to test the wand of the witches and wizards found at said location. Once they determine which wand belongs to whom, the investigators then use the Priori Incantatem effect to...."
"ENOUGH!" Petunia cried.
She stared at Hermione with a look of disgust, anger, and strangely -- recognition.
"I knew it, from the moment you stepped in this house...you're just like her. So brilliant...so insightful...so bloody perfect in everything you do! You took those ridiculous tests of yours last year, didn't you? Got top marks in the lot of them, am I right? No doubt you run all over that wretched school of yours, always sticking your nose in places it doesn't belong. Always claiming you're just trying to help, never mind the fact that some people don't want it!
As his aunt carried on, Harry stepped beside the girl she was yelling at.
"And you!" Mrs. Dursley redirected her rant at him. "Think your little stunt is funny, do you? I'm sure you'll all have a great laugh on your way to...to wherever you're going. Oh, your father absolutely loved playing his practical jokes on people and never had a care in the world what anyone else thought of them. As if it wasn't enough for you to look just like him, except for those wretched eyes, you had to be just like him in spite of everything we did! You even had to get your own hooligan of a best friend, and a girl who's exactly like she was! "
Harry had been watching his aunt with disgust. All his life he'd known that the Dursleys had hated him and his parents. Now, as he was preparing to leave this house forever, he was reminded just how deep that hatred went. A small part of him wondered just why they'd taken him in at all, but the rest of him simply couldn't bring himself to care.
"Do you really think we wanted to fight you?" Harry said angrily as he slid his wand into his pocket, motioning his friends to do the same. "A few years ago it may have been true, but not anymore. I won't bother to tell you why, because you wouldn't understand -- just like you couldn't understand what Professor Dumbledore was trying to tell you last summer. But there is something I wanted to say to you before I left."
He broke off his speech to help his friends strap the trunks on their backs. Once his own was secured in place, he picked up Hedwig in her cage. Harry stared at her with a weak smile as the white owl gently nipped his fingers in encouragement. He had wanted to tell the Dursleys off before he went away forever, but he couldn't find the words to express his feelings towards them.
Ron picked up Pig and stepped next to his best friends. Hermione retrieved her cat after whispering "You can do it" in Harry's ear.
Now with everything ready, Harry spoke the last words he would ever say in this house.
"Before he died," Harry said in a calmer tone, "Professor Dumbledore once told me he was amazed that I've never been attracted to the Dark Arts. I think I know why. It's because so many Dark witches and wizards I've met have reminded me of you. They're always going on about how great their families are, how much money they have, or how powerful the Dark Side is. But it's all a lie they use to cover up how pathetic they really are.
"I hate you. You made my life a living hell for as long as I can remember, and I will never forgive you for it. But I'm not Voldemort, and you have nothing to fear from me or my friends. We're leaving, and you will never see, or hear, from any of us ever again. Goodbye, Aunt Petunia."
Holding Hedwig's cage tightly, Harry firmly grasped Hermione's right hand. Ron grabbed her other arm as hard as he could and took a deep breath. With a loud pop, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley vanished from number four, Privet Drive and were never seen there again.
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end chapter 4