A/N: Okay people out there reading this. I'm new to this so don't be real hard on me. I don't even have to hang of my account yet; I'm just looking at what other authors do and try it out. So here's an attempted disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I am NOT the infamous J.K. Rowling and never will be. This story is of her world and is about the characters she created.

sigh I suppose I'll just have to live with the disappointment of never seeing this book in stores. But your reviews are worth more to me than money so send 'em on!

Please give this story a try. The first chapter may be short and bad, but it gets better! I promise you.

Chapter 1: One Last Time

Harry Potter sat on his bed thinking of what the next step was. He had come back to Privet Drive and had stayed a week so far. He planned to be leaving for the Burrow tomorrow. Once there he would, for the first time, experience a wedding. Bill and Fleur's wedding. He had packed up all his belongings and had put Hedwig, his snowy owl in her cage.

His thoughts turned to his quest and of how he would achieve it. Voldemort still had three, maybe four horcruxes out there somewhere; and Harry was determined to find them. He kept reciting their names to himself in his head, as if thinking about them would bring them to him: the locket, the cup, the snake, something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's… the locket, the cup, the snake, something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's…

They were still not sure if the locket had been destroyed by the mysterious R.A.B. who had vowed to 'destroy it as soon as I can'. It was Ron and Hermione's job to find out who R.A.B. might be or might have been. Harry was to go over the memories he had seen with Dumbledore in the Pensieve to try and figure out where the horcuxes might be hidden. No such domains had come to mind.

Harry gave a frustrated sigh and lay down. He thought of all the people who had died or suffered because of Voldemort. Of his parents, the original Order members, Sirius, and Dumbledore. He thought of Frank and Alice Longbottom, and how they were tortured by Bellatix Lestrange to insanity. Then his thoughts wandered to Cedric Diggory, who had died most unfairly at the hands of Wormtail, one of Voldemort's Death Eaters. Then he thought of Mr. Ollivander and the others who were missing. He also thought of all those people who had lost family members to the Second War; and the First War for that matter. There were also all the innocent muggles to take into account too.

Harry clenched his fists and vowed to make sure that no one would have to suffer the same horrible fates again. Then he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Harry woke up in the morning and stretched. Today was the day. Today was the day that he would leave Privet Drive forever. He wouldn't miss it of course. It had never given him much comfort to be here; even if his only family left lived there. The Dursleys had hated Harry to the point that Harry wondered why they took him in. They would not be saddened at the fact that their nephew would be leaving them forever. As for Dudley, their plump and piggy son, he would never again be terrorized by the fact that Harry was a wizard and could now, since he was of age in the wizarding world, use magic on him.

Harry went down to breakfast with a joyful attitude that baffled the Dursleys. Never had they seen the boy so cheerful.

"And what are you so happy about today?" Uncle Vernon asked him gruffly .

"You won't have to worry about how I feel anymore. Since I'm leaving for good that is," said Harry.

Uncle Vernon choked in his coffee. Aunt Petunia gagged on her half-swallowed piece of bacon. Dudley sat there and looked dumbfounded.

"You're leaving?" asked Aunt Petunia

"Yeah, and I don't intend to come back," answered Harry.

Silence followed Harry's statement.

"Well good riddance!" yelled Uncle Vernon, "You've been nothing but trouble ever since you got here." He rubbed his hands together greedily, "And now I can finally get some peace around here."

Aunt Petunia and Dudley sat there and didn't say anything. Harry got up and prepared to leave the house forever.

"Wait!" A voice cried from the table. Harry turned and saw that it was Aunt Petunia that had spoken.

"Can I have a word with you Harry?" She said. Harry was bewildered. He had thought that she would have been delighted to be rid of him. Just like Uncle Vernon. But there she was standing there with an unreadable expression on her face and insisting that she needed to talk to him? This was a very abnormal Aunt Petunia.

"But," spluttered Uncle Vernon, "But Petunia dear! You aren't going to try to convince him to stay are you?"

Aunt Petunia was silent and just watched Harry for his response.

"You can't! Look at all the trouble he's caused us over all the years!"

By this time Harry had recovered and looked Aunt Petunia directly in the face.

"Alright."

"Good, we'll go into your room." She turned and went up the stairs and waited for him on the landing. Uncle Vernon stared at her open mouthed.

"But…"

But he didn't get to finish whatever he was going to say; for Aunt Petunia turned on her heel and marched into Harry's room. Harry followed her. When he got in there he turned and closed the door with a snap.

"Now," he said, sitting on the bed and staring at her, "What's this all about?"

Aunt Petunia hesitated, and then took a deep breath.

"I wanted to tell you," said Aunt Petunia, she paused and took another deep breath, as if to reassure herself. "I wanted to tell you why I hated you mother so much."

Harry sat there, lost in thought. He had been told his Aunt hated her sister because she had become a freak. What else was there to tell?

"I hated Lily because we were best friends before she left." Harry raised his eyebrows at this but managed to keep the rest of his surprised emotions from showing.

"We did everything together, happy as can be. But then that letter came. When she got her letter saying she was going to go to a school to learn magic I knew then and there we were going to be separated. I told her not to accept, to stay here with me. But she refused and said it was the chance of a life time. So, she left to go to Hogwarts. When she did she left me all alone." Aunt Petunia's face contorted a little, but she sighed and continued, "She would no longer be there to comfort me when I was in trouble. No longer would she be there to stick up for me when the other kids at school teased me and called me names. She had left me all alone to go and do something for her selfish reasons, not even thinking about me. So when she came home for her first holiday after attending that school I showed her nothing but contempt. She didn't brag about her abilities to do magic, oh no, she wasn't that type of person. But she did notice my distance to her and confronted me. I told her my feelings, and then she got angry with me. 'You're the selfish one! Just because I got the chance to actually do something for myself when I'm always looking after you and doing what you want you stop talking to me and don't even pay attention to me. What kind of a sister is that? What kind of a friend is that! Can't I have my own life?' And with that she stormed out of the room and we never really made up again. She would come home for the holidays but neither of us spoke too much to each other. We both knew we should apologize to each other but we were both too stubborn to do so. So, we grew up and apart. And when she was murdered I felt guilty that I hadn't said anything to her. So there you were, on our doorstep with the note that that man wrote. So the least I could do was take you in. But I still hated her and decided her son would be no better. And now you are leaving and I resolved to tell you this."

A long silence followed Aunt Petunia's story. Harry had no idea that Petunia had cared so much about his mother. Aunt Petunia got up and went to the door.

"Thank you," Harry said softly, his eyes on the floor.

"It was the least I could do Harry," Aunt Petunia said gently her eyes full of sorrow. "You deserved it."

Then she closed the door behind her and left him to get the rest of his things and go.

Harry's mind was spinning with the information she had just given him. He got up, put the rest of his belongings into his trunk and rolled it down the stairs to the living room. To his surprise he found all three of the Dursleys there waiting. Aunt Petunia must have made them come to say good-bye.

"Well, so long," Harry said with a significant look at Aunt Petunia. She nodded and watched as her nephew took out a pouch full of some kind of powder and threw a pinch of it into the fire. He stepped in it and with one last look at the Dursleys said "The Burrow!" The next second he was gone. He had vanished in a swirl of green flame.

A/N: So. There we go! First installment of my story is now up. What did you all think? Criticism is as good as praise! I'm a new writer and need to learn. Send on your thoughts!

- EveningSongEnchantment