In this one, Harry is twenty-one
and two months away from graduating from college. He's almost ready
to become an auror, class b. it's here that he has an unexpected
event that once again changes his life. Thanks so much for reviewing
my other stories, all who were brave enough to read and review! Hope
you all enjoy this story!
An Unexpected Turn
By: CNJ
PG-13
1: The News
Harry:
"It's a very good thing you know how to dance as well as play the bariol and violin, Harry," my roommate, Trevor Robinson tells me. I silently lift an eyebrow as my roommate elaborates. Music is very hard to get into professionally, so it's good to have ballet on the side; there are more openings for positions in that field. He's right.
My main career, though, is auror, class B, which is the magical equivalent to a muggle barrister. Once I graduate from Andrews and Wallace, I will continue for another year in auror b school, then start practicing magical law. Music is more my back-up career if for whatever reason, the auror plan doesn't pan out.
It's appropriate that Trevor and I are thinking about our futures since in two months, we will be graduating from Andrews and Wallace Arts College and starting real careers. For the past four years, Trevor and I have roomed together and been good friends.
I remember now how stunned I was when I first met Trevor and saw how much he looks like me physically. He doesn't wear glasses like I do and his hair is dark brown instead of black like mine and his eyes are blue instead of hazel like mine, but the similarity in our facial features is very striking. People often think we're brothers.
We have the same almond shape to our eyes, the same thick brows with almost no space between them, the same snub noses, and the same thin, rather curvy mouths. I never did suspect that there was someone in this world who looked like me, Harry Potter, except maybe my parents, who have been dead since I was a toddler.
"I think I'll have better luck with script writing than with acting," Trevor continues. "I've applied for several positions in both the muggle and the magical world." Trevor is an actor and has performed professionally in several movies since his early teens. But the movie series he was working on ended and there are just not enough agents to sponsor teen actors, so Trevor is looking into script writing for a career.
It's tough for teen actors to make it and I can see why many of them get involved in drugs and drinking. But Trevor has managed to stay out of that trap. Trevor is a muggle while I am a wizard and the college we attend is a mix of both.
My parents were also witch and wizard and for secondary school I attended the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They were wonderful, yet scary years...I'd made a group of wonderful friends there...Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, who's Ron's younger sister, and Luna Lovegood.
I go over to the dresser and pick up the framed picture I keep there. It's a magical photo and the five of us are waving from it with happy grins on our faces. The night we graduated almost four years ago. All of us are at different colleges now.
As I gaze at the picture, stroking it lovingly with my thumb, Trevor pretends to sing to the radio, which is playing softly and begins gathering a pile of his dirty clothes scattered beneath his bed. Trevor is somewhat like me, yet is louder and more outgoing, while I am very quiet and reserved. He also has a dramatic streak, which is not surprising being the superb actor he is.
My hand also wanders over the photo of my dear great-aunt Miranda, who's done a wonderful job raising me. I plan to head back to London, where I grew up; I'll be seeing Aunt Miranda. I also plan to rent a place near there, maybe near Diagon Alley or Godric's Hollow when I'm not traveling with the orchestra or with a ballet troupe.
I slide out of my reverie and start working on my homework for the weekend. My side of the room is very neat, so I don't have to clear away clothing and other clutter the way Trevor often does.
"Nos vemooos..." Trevor says with a dramatic wave as he exits the room loaded down with his clothes and detergent. I laugh and wave as he leaves. Nos vemos is I'll be seeing you in Spanish.
It is about an hour later when two owls arrive. One is from Ron and in his letter, he's written that he's been accepted for a professional Quidditch position of a Chaser for the Baron Stars. Way to go, Ron! I pen back and send the owl, Pig on its way.
The other one is a tawny
owl and it taps my back impatiently, then holds a black letter in my face.
Oh, dear, I think with a swallow and take the letter, paying the owl with
a small treat. Black envelopes are not good news in the magical world.
I open it timidly, my heart hammering, silently willing it not to be bad
news about any of my friends or my aunt. After trying to steady my
shaking hand, I read,
Dear Mr. Harry
Potter:
We must bring you the
news that your aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon have been killed in a car
crash. I know that it has been many years since you have had
contact with the Dursleys, but we decided that you had the right to know
since you are their only living relative besides their son Dudley.
Funeral services will be held this Sunday at one pm at Matthews Anglican
Church...
The letter goes on to give an address and is from a neighbor of theirs. Not really directly since the Dursleys and their neighbors were muggles, but from reading further, she apparently contacted Hogwarts, which forwarded this letter to me through Hogwarts' Headmistress, Professor Minerva McGonagall.
I sit for a long while, letting the news sink in. My aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon...what should I tell you about them? It's hard and before you pass a judgment on them, sit down and just hear this out...Petunia was my mum's older sister and because she was a muggle and Mum was a witch, Petunia felt very threatened by that and made life hell for Mum until mum left for Hogwarts at the age of eleven. But Petunia still gave Mum trouble whenever she'd come home for the summer holidays until Mum was fourteen and Petunia was nineteen and eloped with Vernon.
I guess neither Vernon or Petunia understood the magical world and maybe were a little afraid of it. So they chose to stay ignorant. They had Dudley a few months before Mum and Dad had me.
When I was a year and three months, an evil wizard by the name of Tom Riddle, commonly known as Voldemort broke into our house, which was in the neighborhood of Godric's Hollow and ruthlessly killed my parents. He was going to kill me too, but my dear mum...I still get a lump in my throat sometimes remembering first hearing this story...Mum hugged me and willed her love to infuse me to deflect Tom's evil curse and as she died, he incredible love saved my life that night. But I was left orphaned and crying.
Voldemort's curse rebounded back into him and temporarily weakened him, so he had no choice but to flee from the house. It was the then-Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore, my godfather, Sirius, Professor McGonagall, and Hogwarts' gamekeeper, Hagrid, who'd found me crying and clinging to my mummy's blouse, so they'd taken me back to Hogwarts for about two weeks.
Unfortunately at the time, Aunt Miranda had been cursed with a memory-loss charm, so she couldn't claim me and they didn't know where she was anyway. So Vernon Dursley put in a claim, saying that he was my only family and falsified papers to claim me. So that's how I wound up living at the Dursleys for almost fourteen years until I was fifteen.
Petunia didn't know about Vernon's scheme, so she'd been shocked to find me there in a basket outside her doorstep that November morning. I think they'd hoped if they forced me to live as a muggle and lied about my parents' deaths, I'd grow up a muggle. But I just was unable to fit into their straight and narrow "proper" world, so they had no patience with me and often ridiculed me. Several times, they'd yelled at me or beaten me. Their son Dudley was often cruel to me and they did nothing to stop him and Petunia spoiled him rotten. It was very similar to what my mum had to go through with Petunia.
It got worse as I got older until I was fifteen and Vernon began badmouthing my parents as he often did and I got tired of it and told him to stop. He slapped me hard several times and there was a huge fight and I'd ended up running away. I was also in the throes of puberty, which made it all the worse.
I had no idea where to head to, so I spent several terrifying days on the streets of Diagon Alley before Hagrid finally caught up with me and told me about Aunt Miranda, who by that time, recovered her memory and had been looking for me for some time. We were reunited and I went to live with her during holiday breaks. Aunt Miranda is a witch too and has an apartment and Godric's Hollow and finished raising me. I'll forever be grateful to her for taking me in. That summer was the last time I'd ever had contact with the Dursleys.
It's hard to believe that now, here I am, debating whether to go to their funeral or not. Common sense tells me that I really ought not to go, that it would be foolish to waste any more time on a family that could not love me as I was, but some emotional part of me is urging me to go, since they are human beings and it is tragic when any human dies. At least, I should go see if Dudley or Vernon's sister Marge need anything. Just then, the door opens and Trevor is back, face flushed and breathing hard, hauling his now-clean clothes with him.
"Oh, I'm sooo bloody glad to get this mess done with..." he starts, then peers at me, dropping his pile onto his dresser. "Harry...what is it?" his brows slant in worry. I show him the letter. I've never told anyone much about the Dursleys and how they treated me, but I get the feeling Trevor has a hint.
"I was trying to decide whether to go..." My brows pull together in a worried frown. "Maybe Vernon's sister or their son might need some support...but I don't want to seem like a hypocrite."
"It's possible that it could bring closure to you as well," Trevor hands the notice back to me. He somehow has a very good idea of what the Dursleys were like. "Harry...tell me something honestly and if it's too much, you don't have to answer...did you ever love the Dursleys?"
"I'm..." I have to clear my throat just thinking about that question. For so long, I thought I really didn't, then I would feel guilty about it since I felt I ought to love them as my family if nothing else. And they were limited perhaps by circumstances beyond their control.
I know now that in a way, Dudley was as much of a victim of this circumstances as much as I was. I know now that it was the bigotry that still exist unfortunately in this world that imprisons some people and my late aunt and uncle, I guess were two of them. I don't even feel angry at them any more; I used to sometimes when I was a teenager.
"Perhaps..." I say softly. "I...used to want their love as a small child...even as I got older...it's really hard to say now...I guess I still wished they could have...maybe not been so small in thinking...I...don't know now." Trevor touches me gently on the back and I look up at him gratefully, silently thanking him for his support. I decide to go to pay some respects if nothing else. Maybe this funeral will help me figure out how I finally feel about them.
More later