Revelations
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters you recognise.
Summary: After 6th year things that are hidden are unleashed. Harry uncovers things about his aunt that will change his perception of his aunt forever.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Harry said in a monotone. Clearing out the attic was certainly not his favourite thing to do, but he could see his Aunt was not her self and thought it best not to argue with her.
The reason for his Aunt's distress was that his uncle had got home at quarter to three one night a few weeks back and was violently drunk. Harry had found his aunt the next morning sitting at the kitchen table crying. Uncle Vernon had been late home for the previous three nights before that. And in her arms was her husband's shirt, a purple lipstick smear on the collar.
Uncle Vernon had told Petunia that he was taking Dudley on a Father/son holiday and would be back in a few weeks, now the divorce was finalised.
Harry felt this was his fault as they had grown further and further apart since Petunia's insistence that Harry must stay after the events of last summer. The divorce had been finalised for a week before Harry had arrived home and he had heard Vernon yelling that it was his house and she had until the end of his holiday to be out of the house and she had to take "the darned boy" with her. Aunt Petunia had been packing all day and after tea she had asked Harry to help her.
Harry followed his Aunt up the stairs leading to the attic and she turned on the light. Dark and dusty became light and dusty and a peculiar smell hung around the attic.
There were many boxes of all shapes and sizes. Petunia picked out three and asked Harry to take them down stairs. Harry reached the bottom of the stairs and Aunt Petunia directed him to the kitchen. When he got to the kitchen he saw that these boxes were labelled "Gardening Magazines!" He wasn't going to have to sort through these was he? He sincerely hoped not.
"Harry be a dear and check that there are no more boxes labelled like this. We can't take any risks."
What was going on? Harry was confused why would they need more boxes and why couldn't they take any risks? Then it hit him. She called him Harry, not "You" or "Boy", but Harry, his name. And she said "be a dear". Harry was slightly worried that this woman was not his Aunt, but someone else under the influence of Polyjuice Potion.
He found another box with "Gardening Magazines" and took it down to he kitchen where his aunt was sitting. For the first time he noticed the bruises on her face and arms. She looked weak and helpless. He saw her as she was; not a horrible person, but a woman abused by her husband. On the table next to her, there were two bowls of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce on it. He had never been allowed ice cream before. This was weird. Was he dreaming?
"Sit down. Do you want a cup of tea? No? Well eat up your ice cream. We need a talk."
Harry ate his ice cream quickly wondering what this was about. His aunt was acting out of character.
When he had finished he looked up and saw she was crying. She wiped the tears away and opened the first box.
"These boxes contain everything of your mother's, and anything to do with the wizarding world that I own," she told him.
She took out a picture of her as a young girl about 8, with strawberry blond hair and grey eyes. A similar girl that he knew to be his mother stood next to her, green eyes twinkling in a manner that resembled Dumbledore and red hair shining in the sun. She was about ten. Harry was surprised. He had always thought that Petunia had been older.
"Your mother and I before she got her letter."
Harry's eyes fell, once again, on his aunt's hair, and he looked at her questioningly.
"I dyed my hair when I was 15," she answered his unspoken question.
She reached into the box and drew out some other objects, a wand and some books.
"Why do you have a wand?" he asked confused.
"Its mine." She said "When Lily went to Diagon Alley, I went with her. I had a go with her wand at home late on, and we both found that we could perform some spells. Later on that year I went back. I brought a wand and some books. Those books. I practised spells in my room hoping I would get a letter from Hogwarts. But I didn't. I never told Lily, but I nicked all her old textbooks and worked through them. I know as much about magic as I could teach myself, and I can do as most of the spells that I read about. Lily told me a lot about her world too. I know all about Dumbledore, the prophecy and Voldemort."
"I thought you hated magic. And me and my mother and father."
"No. I was jealous of her. Both that she was allowed to go to Hogwarts and about your father. He was so kind and romantic to her, whereas Vernon didn't know what romance was. Vernon hated magic and her forbade me form seeing Lily while she was practising it. I tried to argue with him, but it was useless. And so I pretended that I couldn't do magic and that I hated her and you. When you came here I was pleased and shocked at the same time. My sister was dead, but you were here and I loved you. But I had pretended that I hated you for so long that I wasn't really sure how to treat you. And Vernon really did hate you, and treated you so badly, and there was nothing I could do. So I had to pretend I hated you again, but I did as much as I could to make your life better. I really am sorry Harry. Truly."
Harry smiled at her and allowed her to pull her into a hug. Several minutes later they parted and sat down again.
"So show me some magic. And I can show you some other stuff if you want." Harry told her.
Aunt Petunia showed Harry some spells. Mostly they were ones he had learnt in first, second and third year.
He decided that she must have been very talented to have taught herself these spells, and wondered why she had not gone to Hogwarts. He resolved to ask Dumbledore when he next saw him.
"Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" he asked.
"I didn't want Vernon to know. And I wasn't really sure how to go about it."
"Oh. What's in the other boxes?"
"Look for yourself"
Harry looked in the box and saw a white dress and several photo albums. He took the dress out of the box. It was long, white and flowing, but was plain and simple. It was beautiful. He recognised it but couldn't place it.
"Lily's wedding dress."
"This was my mums wedding dress?"
"Yes. I wasn't allowed to go to the wedding, Vernon said, but Lily and James actually said I had to come. And I pretended to be going for a check up at the hospital and went to her wedding. I was maid of honour."
Aunt Petunia was crying now and Harry was on the verge of tears.
"Here" he offered her a tissue and gave her a quick hug. He pulled out one of the photo albums it had a number 1 written on it in pink.
All the photos were of his 11-year-old mum, her friends and family, even his Dad, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. To his disgust Peter Pettigrew was included in several of the photos. The next one had a 2 written on it and these were of his mum and all her friends in second year. The other ones had 3,4,5,6,7, Wedding and Baby Harry written on it.
"You can keep these if you like."
"Thank you."
"This last box hold all the letters Lily wrote to me and my parents. You can look at that too if you like."
Harry picked up the first one and read:
"Dear Petunia,
It's the end of my first day. I know that I said that I'd owl you when I got here, but I was just so tired. I'm sorry. I have made lots of new friends. One of them you would like a lot. Her name is Alice Davies and she comes from a wizarding family. She is really cool. I also have another friend a boy called James Potter, he comes from a wizarding family too. And guess who his best friend is! Remus Lupin! You know, the one who lived next door to us for seven years. He is also best friends with another boy called Sirius Black.
There are 4 houses Gryffindor, for the brave, Huflepuff, for the loyal, Ravenclaw, for the smart and Slytherin, for the ambitious. I'm in Gryffindor. The school is very big and trick steps that you can get stuck in and changing staircases. I would write more but I have homework to do.
love to Mum and Dad
Lily
"That was the first letter we got," said Petunia with a sigh.
Dear Petty,
I have found out some thing about Remus. You know the last book I sent you, the one called "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"? It mentions in werewolves. Remus is one! I know, I was shocked too. Poor boy, I know the transformations must be painful.
Don't tell mum and dad though, I'll do that when I see you next.
Love you
Lily
Dear Petty,
I'm really angry. James hexed Snape again. As you can possibly guess I was mad with him. Mad enough to call him Potter. I think he was mad at me too. And he only did the stupidest thing ever: he asked me out. I don't think I have seen him as anything more than a friend so I said no. He's become so egotistical recently. Anyway I'm in a pickle. Tell mum that we have James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Alice and Jenna coming on the third week of the holidays if that's al-right with her. Anyway I heard Remus talking about you. Pity you're over your crush on him.
Love
Lily
"That one is from fifth year where James annoyed her" his Aunt had obviously read these over and over again.
Dear Petty,
I was looking at James and you know what you said in the last letter? That I could be jealous of all the girls he's been out with? I think you could be right. I was staring at him in Charms and he was so sweet. Later Peeves, the ghost I told you about, he dropped a bottle of ink on me then threw me in the lake and James helped me up and gave me his cloak. I think this is more than like. I think I'm in love.
Love
Lily
"And that one is from when she realised she liked James"
Dear Petty,
He asked me to the ball. Petty I'm so happy, you have to come to Hogsmede so we can pick out dresses. What are you going to do about Remus? Don't tell me you're not going to come! I asked Dumbledore, you can come to that ball and stay over if you want.
Write back as soon as possible with your answer. And you were right James is the best Kiss I have ever had.
Lots of love because I'm jumping around
Lily
"And that is the one where he asked her to the ball" She told him.
"It's late, take the rest upstairs and you can read them later. Would you like to come and look at new houses with me tomorrow?"
Harry nodded enthusiastically, but Aunt Petunia was staring out of the window. Harry followed her gaze.
In the window stood Remus Lupin. Harry remembered all of the Remus and Petunia stuff in the letters. He wondered if they had ever been in a relationship. And more to the point, why was Remus here?
Harry opened the back door and let his former Professor in.
"R...Remus?" stammered Petunia.
"Professor Lupin? What are you doing here?" Harry asked in obvious surprise.
"I'm here to pick you up actually. It appears that Ginny is a Seer. She fell into a trance and saw you being hit by a fat purple man...I'm not really sure what that means, but Dumbledore wants you to come to Grimmauld Place."
"What about Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked. "If I'm going to be attacked, surely she's in danger too."
Remus looked rather surprised at this.
"I don't see why she can't come too. I mean, If that's what you want Petty?"
Aunt Petunia nodded, not meeting Remus' eyes
"Well in that case, I have to sort a few things with Dumbledore. Get your tings ready to go and I'll see you in half an hour," he told them.
Harry repacked all the boxes and left them on the table. He brought his trunk, already packed with his books, clothes and money, downstairs. He was ready in ten minutes.
His Aunt took a little longer, as she had to pack her trunk.
"Ready..." said Harry, when Lupin apparated back into the Kitchen. He former professor nodded, and shrunk the luggage so that Harry and Petunia could put it in their pockets. By now he had noticed that Petunia and Lupin were avoiding each other's eyes, but he did not mention it.
Lupin showed Aunt Petunia a piece of paper with the address on it and told her to hold the address in her mind. He then checked she remembered what a portkey was. He drew out a spoon from his pocket and all three of them made sure they were touching it. "Padfoot," Remus said firmly. This was apparently the password, as Harry felt the familiar jerk behind his navel just seconds later. And with that they left for Grimmauld Place.
That's it I'm not pleased with this story it's turned out really bad. Please review to tell me how it went and what i should change.