Harry lay on his bead, counting balls of plaster on the ceiling. He had been at the Dursley's now for a month. Tomorrow was his birthday. He and his friends had decided that they were going to come and pick him up at noon. That would be the last time he would ever have to see the Dursley's ever again. He was exuberant, but he knew that something was being hidden from him. He just wasn't quite sure what it was exactly.
He knew it was something between the previous headmaster Dumbledore, and his Aunt Petunia. He thought that he had figured it out, but he just wasn't sure.
Harry had just finished cleaning from dinner and was just sitting in his room, counting the hours until his friends would be there for his rescue. All of a sudden he heard knocking on his door. He wasn't sure of he was dreaming or if it was really happening. Then in walked his Aunt Petunia. She looked very pale, which was very unlike her. He had noticed earlier that day that something was amiss; he just could not figure it out. Harry moved over so she could join him on the bed. They sat in silence for a few moments until Aunt Petunia decided to break the silence.
"Look Harry, I am really sorry." She whispered it, almost as if she was scared of his response.
Harry was puzzled. Why was she now apologizing to him? He could think of a million things that she should be sorry for, but he never thought that she would actually apologize. He decided not to respond. He wanted to make sure that she would have the opportunity to say everything she had entered in to say.
She inhaled deeply. This is going to be harder than I thought. "Harry, I know we haven't treated you the best while you have been here, but we just didn't know what people would think. When you were dropped on our door step sixteen years ago, we were scared. WE thought that someone might come looking for you, then people would think that we were abusive or something. We were just scared."
Harry was dumbfounded. His Aunt and Uncle obviously had always known what had really had happened that night his parents had died, therefore they knew what harm and danger magic could really do. He was scared at how bad they made his life sound. He just sat there, trying to take all of this information in, but he had so many questions. He just didn't know where to start. He raised his head enough to look his Aunt in the eye.
She began again when their eyes locked. "I couldn't stand hiding the truth from you any longer. Is there anything else that you are wondering? I bet that you have a million questions, and you probably always will, but there are only certain ones that I can truly answer." She took another deep breath. She had not realized how tense she had become during this conversation.
Harry was still dumbfounded, she was right. He did have a million questions running through his head. He decided that he needed to know some things. "First" He took another deep breath. "Why are you telling me this now?"
Petunia was surprised at this question. "I guess, I thought that you are ready to know this information. Also because you will be leaving us for good tomorrow and I want you to think that you can trust us. We never meant to hurt you or betray you, we were just scared."
That was all Harry needed to know, is that he had family there for him. Real family, not just friends, but actually blood related family. He had thought that he had lost all of the family he had ever had. He had never considered the Dursley's to be real family because they were always so cruel to him, non matter what he had done or hadn't done. He knew that his Aunt was truly sorry for all of the pain she had caused him throughout the years just by looking in her eyes. They had that hollow and deep loving glint in them. She then reached over and gave him a great big hug. Harry could tell that she was trying to be loving and comforting, but he had never known his Aunt to be like that so it was a little frightening to him.
After the hug had ended they both sat there on Harry's bed, staring at the floor. Petunia was holding back tears that had started to form in the corners of her eyes, but was having some difficulty.
"Were really going to miss you Harry. Our door will always be open to you. I made a promise to Dumbledore and to your Mother that I would always be there to give you a nice place to live and food in your belly whenever it wasn't already provided for you. I won't turn away on my promise." She looked into his emerald eyes. "I am serious Harry. We will always be there for you."
Now it was Harry's turn to let a tear slip out. He turned and hugged his Aunt. Then he told her that he needed to finish packing. She then proceeded to leave the room, only turning back to give him a warm smile, before closing the door behind her and leaving him in the quiet to contemplate his thoughts.
AN: Okay, so what did you think????? Please read and review. I will try to update soon.