Chapter 2 – Trouble at Number 4 Privet Drive

Harry walked up to his aunt a little confused and his aunt said nervously, "Hello Harry."

"Er, Hi Aunt Petunia. Where's Uncle Vernon? Why you here?" asked a very confused Harry.

Looking at the rest of the crowd with Harry she said, "We will discuss that in the car. Now if you are finished saying your goodbyes we'll leave."

Saying goodbye to everyone one more time and promising Mrs. Weasley he would come to the Burrow a bit earlier than the date of the Wedding he left with his aunt. On their way to the car Harry could tell there was something different about his aunt. She had a calmer persona about her, not as uptight and stuck up, and it seemed as though she was being nice to him.

"So you're going to a wedding this summer? Who's getting married?"

Harry shocked at the civilness of his aunt's attempt at a conversation, "Er, yeah Bill Weasley, he's Ron's eldest brother. I just hope he gets well enough to get married."

Harry stepped into the passenger's seat while his aunt got into the driver's seat and started the car.

"Why wouldn't he be well enough to get married?" asked Aunt Petunia

"He was attacked at the battle that occurred at school a few nights ago. It was a werewolf that hadn't transformed; he was really torn up. We're worried about him we don't know if he'll…well if he'll be a full werewolf or not."

Turning quickly at Harry with concern in her face asked, "What do you mean 'battle at the school'?"

Harry gaped at his aunt for a moment and then looked at her hands on the steering wheel and saw that her wedding ring was missing.

"Aunt Petunia, what happened while I was gone? I'll tell you about what happened at school if you be honest with me."

Sighing Aunt Petunia pulled over into the shoulder of the road and turn off the car. Taking a deep breath she turned and looked at Harry with tears swelling in her eyes, "After you left with your headmaster I realised how horrible we've been to you. Vernon became angry that I agreed with your headmaster. I decided that when you returned that things were going to be different. Vernon did not like this decision. He became so enraged that I wanted you start treating you… well like family so he left me. He moved out and filed for divorce a few weeks after you left. It was finalised a while after Halloween. I got the house and Vernon now has a flat in London. When Dudley is back for the summer holiday he will spend half the summer holiday with Vernon and half with me. Dudley is with Vernon for the first half of the summer so it is just you and me for a while," with all that said Aunt Petunia burst out in tears.

Harry awkwardly tried comforting her nevertheless the whole time thinking; damn I am no good with crying women. After a few minutes Aunt Petunia pulled herself together and started the car again. Harry did not know what to say to his aunt, so he just kept quiet until the reached number four Privet Drive. Harry went to the trunk to get his trunk and was about to go to the back seat to get Hedwig but had seen that his aunt had already grabbed her cage. Walking in the house he was dreading the conversation that was bound to happen with his aunt about what happened at school.

They walked into the house and set his trunk down in the foyer, while Aunt Petunia put Hedwig and her cage in the conservatory and let Hedwig out. Harry was so stunned at his aunt's behaviour all day that he needed to sit down.

Aunt Petunia came back from the conservatory and came in the living room where Harry was and asked him, "So Harry would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"Er, sure Aunt Petunia," Harry said getting up to go in the kitchen. He sat at the kitchen table and glanced at the paper, which was at the obituaries, and Harry was stunned to see that Dumbledore's name was all the way in the bottom corner.

Harry gasped at seeing this and stood up suddenly, "It's in the muggle paper?"

Aunt Petunia walked over to Harry and seeing what it was to startle him sat down in the seat next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. After Harry calmed down Aunt Petunia got up to get Harry's sandwich and a glass of ice water and put it in front of him. Then getting her sandwich and water sat across from him and began to eat. They ate their lunch in silence. After their dishes were in the dishwasher the two of them went into the sitting room and sat down.

Aunt Petunia looked at Harry and said, "Harry what happened at school this year? What is this about some battle at the school?"

Taking a deep breathe and began at the beginning, starting with he and Dumbledore leaving to go to Horace Slughorn. Harry then told his aunt about the trip to Diagon Alley and his suspicion about Draco Malfoy and how no one believed him. Then he grazed over some smaller details like becoming Quidditch Captain and the problems with Quidditch this year, mainly with Cormac McLaggen cracking Harry's skull. Then the Half Blood Prince and what a scandal that stirred up with Hermione but how it saved Ron's life. Then Harry connected all the attempted murders on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team telling her about Katie Bell, but then saying how it turned out not having anything to do with Quidditch. Then Harry told her about his private classes with Dumbledore, but not telling her what they were about until Aunt Petunia asked what they were about. He didn't tell her exactly about the Horcuxes but saying how they were to help with the demise of Voldemort. Thus going on about his suspicions about Draco increasing and still nobody believing him. And then came Ginny. Harry steered off track taking about all the horrible things that occurred this past school year and started talking about Ginny. While talking about her Harry couldn't help but grin. His aunt saw his reaction about talking about this girl and could tell that he really cared for her. She gave her nephew a knowing smile and listened to how he described their few weeks together and how he broke it off and now realising it was stupid and his intentions to make up with her when he goes to The Burrow for the wedding.

Interrupting Harry asked him, "What does this girl look like?"

Smiling Harry said, "Well, she's a bit shorter than me. She has long red hair and chocolate brown eyes. She also has freckles across her nose and under her eyes. She's beautiful."

"Wow, she sounds like your mother except for her eyes," saying surprised and then looking upset. "Harry I'm sorry how I've treated you all these years. I really didn't hate Lily, she was my best friend up until she left for Hogwarts then we fell apart. It was mainly because I was angry that she left me. Then when I found out that she was dead and you came to live with us I was angry all over again and I'm sorry but I took it out on you."

Not knowing what to say Harry just nodded. After a moment of silence Aunt Petunia asked Harry to continue and Harry then told her about his suspicions about Snape trying to help Draco.

Then interrupted by his aunt again she said, "Snape, Snape I can't put my finger on it but that name sounds awfully familiar. I think it's someone Lily went to school with, I think she had mentioned him on one occasion or another. I can't really remember precisely what it was about, but one time I think it was because she was upset about something he did, I can't remember exactly but I recognise that name."

"What did she say about him? What did he do to make her upset?" Harry questioned his becoming furious that Snape was even mentioned and even more that he did something to his mother. Then remembering Snape's memory and what he called his mother.

"I don't know, I can't remember. Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Aunt Petunia don't you know what Snape did? It's his fault Voldemort went after my parents in the first place! Snape overheard half of a prophecy that was made about Voldemort and me then Snape went and told him! That's why he went after us. And then what he did at the battle."

"Oh my, so it's his fault my sister and her husband were murdered?! They went into hiding and no thanks to that traitor they were discovered. What was his name, their traitor?"

"Peter Pettigrew. He was suppose to be their friend and he betrayed them," Harry said frowning.

"What happened with this battle, Harry? What did Snape do?"

"Well my suspicions about Draco were right, he was up to something. He ended up figuring out how to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts and when they came into the castle a fight broke out between them and members of the Order of the Phoenix with help from my friends. But what Snape did was beyond vile. He killed Dumbledore. I was there I saw it happen," Harry said furiously.

"Oh, so Snape, I'm guessing he got away?"

"Yeah, but where I'm headed I'll probably run into him and he'll pay for how much he ruined my life," Harry said darkly.

"Harry where are you going? This man wouldn't think of going back to the school."

Looking her dead in the eye said, "Aunt Petunia in the prophecy –

"What prophecy is this exactly?" interrupted Aunt Petunia.

" 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thriced defined him, Born as the seventh month dies…And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…And wither must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.'"

"That's horrible! '…either must die at the hand of the other' ? Does that mean…"

"It means that I must kill or be killed. Snape only heard up to the point of '…born as the seventh month dies…' so Voldemort never found out about him marking me as his equal if he attacks and now 'either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.' The only way for me to destroy him now is to find these objects called Horcuxes, which have been hidden by Voldemort, and destroy them before I am able to destroy him."

"Why do you need to destroy these Horcruxes?"

Taking a minute to think if he should tell his aunt if he should tell her the reasons he finally decided to tell her, "Horcruxes, Aunt Petunia are extremely dark magic, and these have bits of Voldemort's soul in them. I need to find 4 more objects that he hide a piece of his soul in and destroy them before I can go for the fragment of soul left in his body."

Aunt Petunia had a very stunned look on her face and then her eyes started to tear up. All of a sudden she started to wail and grabbed Harry into a very tight hug. Harry was dismayed by this sudden show of affection that he did not know what to do at first, then he hugged his aunt back.

Then his aunt pulled away and said, "I'm sorry Harry. It's just you have so much put on your shoulders at such a young age. Then losing your parents and us not being what a family should be, then losing your godfather and now Dumbledore. I am just so ashamed at how I've acted and treated you. I just wish I could make it up to somehow."

"Well, there is something you could do," said Harry hoping his aunt would oblige.

"What, Harry?"

"Could you, er… tell me about my mum? Well what you knew," Harry said hopefully.

"I can actually do one better," with that said Aunt Petunia got up and left the room. A few minutes later she came back downstairs with a big cardboard box. Not until she put the box on the down in front of Harry, did he know what was in it. Inside the box was a bunch of old pictures. "These are all of our family pictures Harry. Pictures of your grandparents and great grandparents and of your mother and me growing up."

For the next few hours Aunt Petunia showed pictures to Harry and telling him their each individual stories. Harry learned that his grandparents owned their own bookshop up until they died, which was two years before he was born. He heard stories of his mother's childhood. His aunt had gotten all the way to the last summer Lily had with her family. Then Aunt Petunia sighed, "I'm sorry that I don't have anymore of you mother past Hogwarts, Harry. I didn't see much of her; we did correspond a bit when major events would occur, like her quick marriage and your birth. I also sent her messages when I had gotten married and when Dudley was born. Then the last letter I got from her said that she was going into hiding because your family was being targeted by Voldemort and that she couldn't risk sending anymore messages in fear of me and my family's protection."

Harry then remembered the photo book he owns of his parents after Hogwarts he stood up and told his aunt he would be right back. Harry went into the foyer and dug in his trunk for that book. He found it and brought it back to his aunt. "Now Aunt Petunia remember this is a wizard photo book, so the pictures are going to move," he warned his aunt before she opened it. They looked at that book for another two hours and talked about all the pictures. Harry showed his aunt what Sirius use to look like before Azkaban and what Lupin looked like when he was younger. Then they came to a picture that was taken at James and Lily's wedding of James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Harry stopped laughing immediately pointed and the lump of a man and said darkly, "That's him. That's who betrayed my parents."

Aunt Petunia looked at the man being dragged jokingly into the photo by James and Sirius. She quickly turned the page and came to a picture of Lily in her wedding dress and on the other side a picture of Lily and James at the alter holding hands and looking at each other.

Aunt Petunia made a sniffle and said, "I wish I could have been there but Vernon didn't want me to go when he discovered I was invited and wanted to go, we were engaged then and he threatened that if I went he wouldn't marry me. Well, good gracious look how late it is! I have to work in the morning."

"You work? Where do you work?" asked Harry surprised.

"Oh, I am a receptionist at your friend's parents' dentist office in London called Granger and Granger Dental Care. When they saw that I had apply they told me that their daughter goes to school with you."

Harry getting up to check on Hedwig, who had just flown back from a hunt was fast asleep under her wing, made a mental note to thank the Grangers for giving his aunt a chance after probably all they heard about her from Hermione.

Saying goodnight to his Aunt Harry went to bed with his head swimming with all that had happened his first day back at Privet Drive. Maybe this time back wasn't going to be so awful after all.