The night Daisy came home wasn't easy for any of them, like all newborns Daisy woke every two hours needing to be fed, burped, and changed. Harry actually slept through it more than Dudley because he was used to noises in the house and his cupboard was farther away from the nursery. However, Harry was still exhausted when he got up for school the next morning and no one else looked much better.
Petunia sleepily served them all breakfast then Harry and Dudley left for school while Vernon left for work. Harry was half conscious during the morning group meaning and his first classes, but he used the morning break to take a nap in corner of the library. The rest of the day went better after that and Harry actually managed to follow what his teachers were saying to him. When Harry and Dudley got back home Dudley went inside to watch television while Harry started doing his outdoor chores; mowing the lawn, weeding, watering, and spreading manure on the flowers, trimming the trees and checking for fallen branches or other things in the lawn.
As Harry was finished he noticed what was going inside the house for the first time. Petunia was shouting, "Dudley Vernon Dursley you need to be more careful. I had just gotten Daisy to sleep when you slammed that door."
Daisy was crying loudly while Dudley stuttered, Harry couldn't help the slight grin that came across his face, Petunia never disciplined Dudley. Dudley said, "I'm sorry Mum I didn't know."
Petunia sighed, "I know, but you need to think of these things, when you come in the house do so quietly, no slamming doors, no dropping heavy things on the floor, don't turn on the living room TV. without checking to see if Daisy is sleeping there before doing anything noisy or turning anything on."
Dudley answered meekly, "Yes Mum, I'm sorry Mum."
Harry grinned again as Petunia said, "I understand, just be more careful in the future."
Harry walked inside making sure to turn his face to an impassive look because he knew his aunt would be furious if she saw Harry happy, especially if he was happy over Dudley's misfortune. Not long after Daisy started to fuss Marge came by, she gave Dudley a chocolate bar and threw Harry a nasty look
Harry started did the laundry and the dishes while Marge eyed him angrily as though waiting for Harry to suddenly pick up a kitchen knife and run at the Dursley's in some sort of murderous rage. Spent the rest of the day sulking in his room while Harry spent it doing chores. Aunt Petunia was angry that Daisy hadn't napped and since she wasn't going to take it out on Dudley she took it out on Harry, Marge nodded in satisfaction and added her own comments about what a useless waste of space was and how his rotten parents were to blame for everything wrong with him. Harry had to keep biting his lip and tongue to keep from simply snapping at Marge and telling her to stuff it. Harry wasn't really sure what stuff it meant, but he'd heard an older boy say it and the teacher had gotten really mad which meant it had to be bad. The next few days were fairly similar, Petunia was exhausted having to take care of a newborn who only slept for two hours at a time and she took her bad moods out on Harry.
Harry didn't see much of Daisy, Vernon and Petunia wanted to keep him as far from the baby as possible. Harry didn't really understand why, but he thought it was for the same reason they didn't treat Harry the same way they treated Dudley. Harry had only asked his aunt about his parents once and all she'd said was they were no good unemployed lowlifes who were killed in a car accident. However, sometimes when strange things happened around Harry (like the time Dudley was going to beat him up and ended up thrown into a wall without Harry even touching him) his aunt would mutter about her dratted freaky sister and Harry who had inherited his mother's abnormality.
Harry couldn't help wondering if he had some kind of disease that was passed from mother to son that the Dursley's were afraid Harry would give to Dudley or Daisy.
Harry was only seven, but he knew that if he was sick he would have to take medicine or see a doctor regularly, but he didn't do either. However, the Dursley's had never given Harry proper medical care so it was possible that if he had something they weren't bothering to take care of him. Still, Harry was never really sick, well at least not anymore than the kids did so if he did have something why did he never get sick or feel weak or have trouble doing things?
Harry tried not to think about this a lot, but it was hard when his aunt kept giving him dirty looks or pushing him away whenever he got too close to Daisy. Even if Harry was simply walking passed her on his way to the bathroom Petunia and Vernon still seemed to take it as some kind of great offense. Dudley slowly got use to Daisy being around the house, but he still seemed a bit wary of her. Harry figured Dudley was terrified his parents would love Daisy more than him and he couldn't stand that idea.
Marge would often come over after school was over and help Petunia out, she would take Daisy and feed or watch her while Petunia got some extra rest. Marge would also use this time to torment Harry, she would follow him around as he did his chores and correct every single action he made and insist he do even the most simple tasks over and over again until it was 'done correctly' by the time she'd leave for the night Harry was so tired he could hardly stand. The only good thing about all this was the exhaustion allowed Harry the ability to sleep through Daisy crying in the night.
Finally, the day of the baby shower came, the party was being held at the house of aunt Petunia's friend Yvonne. Harry was naturally not invited to come, so he was going to stay with Mrs. Figg again. Marge arrived just in time for breakfast the Saturday morning of the party. She came in and sat down at the breakfast table while Ripper followed at her heels. Harry rolled his eyes and quickly made up a plate for Marge. As he went to give it to her Ripper snapped at his heels, Harry jerked back, but fortunately managed to avoid dropping anything. Marge scowled at Harry, "Leave Ripper alone." Then bent down to scratch the dog between the ears, "oh my good little baby, did the nasty little brat scare you? It's alright, Mommy won't let him hurt you."
Harry placed Marge's plate on the table and grabbed a bowl of kibble and water for Ripper, he carefully placed it on the floor making sure to stay at least a foot away so Ripper couldn't lunge at him. The dog growled low in his throat, but didn't snap again. Harry had two pieces of toast with peanut butter and a glass of milk for his breakfast. As he looked around the table he saw Dudley was scowling at Daisy as petunia fed her a morning bottle. Harry knew what the problem was, Dudley was jealous that there was going to be a party of Daisy and not him. Dudley had gotten a little better around Daisy, but he still wasn't too keen on her. Dudley would often pout or complain when Vernon and Petunia were playing with her or spending time with her instead of him and he still refused to play with her. Dudley would hold Daisy for a little while if one of his parents asked, but that was about as warm as he got with his sister right now. After breakfast Harry cleared away the dishes and took out the garbage. After everything was done Vernon walked Harry across the street to Mrs. Figg's then turned and left without so much as a good-bye the second Harry was in the house. Harry spent the day looking at cat pictures once again.
The party was over by three and Vernon came to pick Harry up in the same manner he'd dropped Harry off in. when they got back to number 4 Harry gasped. There was a pile of gifts lying around the living room floor. Ripper was rolling around in a pile of ribbon chewing on what looked like the remains of a rubber duck, no doubt a party favor. Dudley stood against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest, once again angry that he had gotten nothing. Marge took one look at Harry and barked, "Well what are you waiting for? Bring these things upstairs now!"
Harry grabbed the nearest gift, a beautiful pink blanket with little bunnies all over it and carried it up to the nursery along with a box of diapers. Petunia had also been given, a collection of new baby clothes, several stuffed animals, books about and for babies, and a few baby toys like rattle and teething rings. Harry put every item away (with Marge following behind him giving him dirty looks and making insulting comments the entire time) looking longingly at them and wishing that just once someone would give him a small gift. After the gifts were put away Harry folded up the gift bags and put them in the storage cupboard in the laundry room, Petunia liked to reuse bags. Harry then threw away the remains of the packaging and wrapping paper that had been on the gifts and began making dinner.
Harry settled on a simple, but delicious meal. Harry saw some defrosted beef in the fridge and placed it in a bag with a nice marinade that everyone liked. Harry then pulled out some vegetables and began cutting them up and setting the table. Harry made a nice stir fry meals with some freshly baked bread for dinner. The Dursley family sat and ate without so much as acknowledging Harry's existence (Daisy was asleep in a bouncy chair that Petunia had gotten that day). The family ate and Harry cleared the table, soon after dinner Marge kissed Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley good-bye and left so she could get home, it would be a long day.
Harry woke up feeling relaxed the next day, without Marge around the house was much easier to be in, it felt like someone had opened up the windows and curtains after a long winter or a harsh storm and everything was airing out and getting clear. Harry spent most of Sunday alternating between his chores and the rest of his homework assignments. The next few weeks where slightly better Dudley still seemed hesitant and often angry around Daisy, it was clear to Harry that his cousin was not happy to have a little sister and equally unhappy to be sharing his parents attention with her.
Despite all of that Harry came inside one day and found Dudley sitting on the couch playing peek-a-boo with his sister. Fighting hard not to laugh and wishing that he had a video camera Harry walked over to his cupboard and started his homework before starting to set the table and cooking part of dinner. While Harry wasn't around the baby much he couldn't help noticing how Daisy seemed to bring out a side of the Dursley's he had never seen before. Whenever Harry would see Petunia with Daisy she was smiling and laughing playing with the baby or talking sweetly to Daisy and she changed her diaper, gave her a bottle, or burped her.
Vernon to seemed a different person around Daisy than normally. When he came home at night Petunia would hand Daisy over to him so he could see his daughter after being at work all day and Vernon would sit down in his chair and start talking to her, "Oh my sweet Daisy, how was your day today, did you have fun with Mummy?"
Daisy would goo and coo and Vernon would say, "Well that's nice to hear, Daddy had a very good deal go through today and the traffic home was nuts, but Daddy is so happy to be home with you."
Harry would often be distracted from his chores while he watched in total shock as Vernon sat talked gently to Daisy. Harry couldn't help feeling jealous at the fact that Vernon and Petunia never behaved that way to him and wondered once again if there was some underlying reason for it he didn't understand. Vernon would talk to Daisy for about an hour, usually he would get Dudley involved asking his son about his day and getting Daisy involved in the conversation as much as possible with an infant.
Vernon also played with Daisy, he would lay her on her back on the couch and spread her arms saying, "So big, so big, little Daisy is so big!" He would also play peek-a-boo with her and tickled her belly and cheeks. Vernon was usually the one who fed Daisy during dinner and changed her during the night so Petunia could take a break and spend some time with Dudley.
Despite the fact that the Dursley's seemed to want Harry to stay as far from Daisy as possible that didn't stop them from having him take wet and dirty diapers out to the trash, placing her clothes in the laundry, and cleaning her bottles. Harry was amazed at how many more clothes Daisy needed washing than the rest of them did, but he supposed it made since. After all Daisy was always spitting up and drooling all over everything, even with bibs she still got her clothes dirty and needed them cleaned a lot more often. One good thing that came from Daisy being in the house was that the Dursley's didn't have as much time to be horrible to Harry as they usually were.
The Dursley family were not even close to nice to Harry, but they didn't go out of their way to cause him trouble as they had before. Dudley didn't seem to do 'Harry hunting' as much as he use to and Petunia and Vernon were so busy with Daisy they didn't have as much time to smack Harry or give him spankings for no real reason, and because Petunia and Vernon were often busy giving daisy a nightly feeding they didn't always remember to lock Harry in his cupboard which made it easier for Harry to sneak out at night and grab extra food from the kitchen.
After having Daisy home for a week Petunia felt comfortable taking Daisy out for walks, if Harry was home she would often take him and Dudley with him. Petunia took Dudley so she could show off both of her children, she took Harry so he couldn't ruin the house or get into anything while she was gone and Vernon wasn't around. Petunia delighted in bragging about her daughter to the neighbors saying things like, "Yes isn't she just so adorable? She's getting so big and so strong, she's already moving her head around, of course she can't actually hold it up by herself yet, but she's good at moving around and she's started to track movements a little. If you wave your hand around her or in front of her she'll look at it even if she can't really see you yet."
The ladies of the neighborhood seemed to love Daisy, they would walk up to her stroller and coo and baby talk or make faces and talk about how sweet and cute she was. Petunia would always smile and hold her head up high as though Daisy being so sweet and cute was directly related to Petunia being there at the time. Harry thought it was actually more like some kind of miracle that Daisy was so nice with her family being the way they were, but of course he knew better than to say so out loud.
It wasn't easy adjusting to having Daisy around the house, she still tended to wake Dudley and Harry up at night when she needed feeding or a change or something similar, but as time went by Harry got use to it. Harry would often sneak naps during his free periods at school. Children in his grade had a free study period every morning and Harry would often find an unused out of the way corner to tuck in for a nap or he would take one during recess. Harry would crawl into one of the open spaces in the bottom of the playground equipment and sleep. The slides at school were all built with wood frames that had different levels with gaps in the sides for kids to climb through, there was a two foot space between the first level and the ground for kids to crawl under and because people rarely went in there Harry would use the space to catch up on his sleep.
Because Daisy had been born in May it was only about three weeks until school let out, but this actually made it harder for Harry to get extra rest. Petunia watched Harry like a hawk during the summer and as usual she buried him with a ridiculously large list of chores to do. This made it harder for Harry to sneak off and take naps during the day. Despite the fact that Harry was kept as far from Daisy as physically possible while still living in the same house he still picked some things up. Taking out diapers for Petunia Harry learned how to properly change a baby. And watching Vernon and Petunia feed Daisy during meals he learned how to make bottles, feed Daisy, and burp her.
Harry didn't know why all of this seemed important to him, but for some reason he felt drawn to Daisy as though the two of them had something in common that he couldn't quite put his finger on. As time went on they all got use to having Daisy in the house. Dudley still seemed uneasy around Daisy, he was often somewhat reluctant to hold her or help change her, but as time went on he got better. By the end of June Dudley was more than willing to sit on the couch and hold Daisy and had even feed her some of her bottle a few times (while one of his parents helped of course).
As Daisy got a closer to being a month old her hair started coming in, at first it looked like it would be blonde like Dudley and Petunia's, but after a while it got a bit darker and become an obvious light red. Petunia looked furiously at Harry when she saw this as though Harry were directly responsible for Daisy's hair color. This time Harry knew what was bothering his aunt, Harry didn't know much about his parents, but he did know that his mother had been a red head and Petunia was furious that her perfect daughter had anything in common with her lousy dead sister even if it were something as simple as hair color.
As Daisy got older she started sleeping longer, by her second month she was also starting to hold her head up and would turn when she saw movement. She couldn't see clearly, but she could notice things moving around and would look in a direction when people waved or did something else.
Things around the Dursley household were getting easier, but Daisy still needed a lot of care. One summer day Harry came in after finishing three hours of outside chores in burning heat, he could already feel the sunburn, to be confronted with Petunia holding a screaming Daisy in her arms. Petunia tried to get Daisy to nurse, but she didn't seem to want to eat, she also checked and saw that Daisy wasn't wet or dirty and she didn't need to burp. Petunia continued rocking her as she paced back and forth across the floor muttering, "Come on baby what's wrong?"
Daisy continued to cry as Petunia looked over to where Harry was getting a drink, "well, what are you standing there for? Help Me!"
Harry swallowed, "What do you want me to do?"
Petunia huffed, "Go upstairs and get her passie then bring it down here now!"
Harry ran up to the nursery and grabbed the pacifier off the baby changing table then he brought it down and handed it to Petunia. Petunia put it in Daisy's mouth, but Daisy still kept crying. Petunia glared at Harry, "This is all your fault get out of my sight."
Harry didn't need to be told twice, he went into the living room and started to clean it up by dusting the mantle and knickknacks then he cleaned off and wiped down the coffee tables, rearranged to coach and, since Daisy was already crying, started vacuuming. As Harry started running the vacuum across the floor Daisy started to settle, as Harry moved the vacuum closer to the kitchen she stopped all together, five minutes later she was fast asleep. Harry finished the vacuuming as petunia put Daisy down in her bouncy chair. Petunia laid down on the couch and took a nap of her own as Harry put the vacuum away.
Daisy slept most of the afternoon and went to bed that night fine. Harry was sleeping peacefully when a loud pounding came on his cupboard door, at first he tried to roll over and ignore it, but then the pounding came louder with Petunia's insistent, "Get up right now!"
Harry turned over groggily, and muttered, "What's going on?" Harry swung his legs over and got up out of bed as he opened the door. It was still dark outside, a quick glance at the clock told Harry it was 1am. Then he noticed aunt Petunia standing there holding a screaming Daisy. Petunia shouted, "Start running the vacuum she won't sleep."
Harry stumbled out trying to keep his feet from falling out from under him as he walked over to the laundry room and grabbed the vacuum. Harry kept running it, but Daisy only cried louder, Petunia even walked closer to it, but it didn't work. Finally Petunia cuffed him overhead, "Forget it you're useless!"
Harry turned off the vacuum and crawled back into his cupboard, Daisy continued crying. Harry went up to the bathroom and took out a case of ear plugs the Dursley's bought for Dudley to use in swim class. Harry took two out and rolled them up then placed them in his ear. The sound dulled enough so that when Harry crawled into the cupboard he was able to fall instantly back to sleep. Petunia however wasn't so lucky. It took until 3am for her to get Daisy back to sleep. Harry woke early the next morning, he wasn't sure what had woken him until he heard a noise, curious Harry turned around and saw that one of his earplugs had fallen out and the TV. was on, there was a commercial about a video war video game playing and the gun shots were what had woken Harry. Petunia and Vernon were obviously still asleep along with Daisy.
Harry knew Vernon would be up soon and Dudley would probably start whining about food so Harry went upstairs and used the bathroom so he could shower and brush his teeth. Harry came back downstairs and started cooking some pancakes with eggs and bacon, he knew it was Petunia's favorite and hoped it would put her in a better mood. Harry set the table as the burners heated up. As Harry stirred the pancake batter he heard Daisy crying, Harry gasped in shock as Vernon came downstairs carrying Daisy in his arms. Vernon went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of breast milk then handed it to Harry, "Turn the faucet on hot and run this under it a few minutes."
Harry did as asked, and then handed the bottle back to Vernon who held it in his hands, "A little longer."
Harry did so then Vernon sat down and started to feed Daisy while Harry finished cooking. Harry had seen his uncle feed Daisy before, but this was the first time Vernon had got up for Daisy instead of Petunia. Dudley started eating right away, but Vernon waited until Daisy was done and burped before he ate. Petunia came down as they were finishing, Harry threw a plate in the microwave for he and poured her a cup of coffee. Petunia ate and drank as she thanked Vernon for taking care of Daisy and barked at Harry to start the laundry.
The next few weeks passed quickly, but as time went on strange things started to occur. Once Harry was doing the dishes while Petunia tended to a fussing Daisy, Daisy continued crying while Petunia looked for something to calm her, a moment later Daisy's favorite toy, a blanket with a stuffed bear on top appeared in her hands. Daisy stopped crying as Petunia turned to Harry, "What have I told you about doing those freaky things in my house?"
Harry said, "I didn't do anything."
Petunia pointed to his cupboard, "Liar."
Harry spent the rest of the day in his cupboard, but couldn't figure out what it was he was supposed to have done. Not long after that Petunia was giving Daisy a bath in the sink when she realized that she'd forgotten the shampoo, she shouted for Harry to get, but before he could go upstairs Harry saw something that scared him down to his socks, the shampoo bottle was floating through the air. Harry shouted, "Ghost, Ghost, Aunt Petunia uncle Vernon the house is haunted there's a ghost."
Petunia held Daisy as she turned around, "What are you yelling about?" then she gasped as the shampoo bottle landed right next to Daisy in the sink. Harry said, "You see aunt Petunia it's a ghost."
Petunia snapped, "Shut up. It's not a ghost it's, it's." Petunia looked around, "It's you, this is all your doing."
Harry blinked, he didn't see how this was his fault he certainly wasn't a ghost and he definitely didn't bring a ghost into the house, "Aunt Petunia I swear I didn't do anything."
Petunia said, "Don't you lie to me these sorts of things are always your fault, you and that awful freakishness you brought into my beautiful home. Get into your cupboard now."
Harry went to his cupboard wondering if this had something to do with the reason Petunia and Vernon never wanted him around Daisy. Petunia insisted over and over again the house was not haunted and that, "there is no such things as ghosts!" However, Harry couldn't help wondering that if there was no such things as ghosts and that hadn't been what had made things float around then what did? What was going in this house? Harry spent the next few days feeling like there was a tornado in his brain, his thoughts were whirling around constantly and he had no idea what to think or what to believe.
More and More unusual things started happening around Daisy, and Petunia always blamed Harry, but a lot of times weird things would happen when Harry wasn't even around. Once Petunia sent Harry to the store to buy some groceries and when Harry came back Petunia ordered him straight into the cupboard. Another time Harry was out watering the flowers and Petunia screamed loudly inside, Harry ran into the house and saw Daisy's bottle floating through the air.
Harry was shocked as Petunia sent him to his cupboard again. That night Vernon came home, and as soon as Daisy was asleep and Dudley was enraptured by the television, they went upstairs and started arguing loudly. It went on for over an hour and Harry couldn't help feeling a sense of dread rising inside him because his aunt and uncle usually only fought about him and it never ended well. Finally, Harry heard Vernon coming downstairs, he held his breath and closed his eyes as tightly as he could praying that Vernon would just leave him be, but it wasn't to be.
Vernon yanked the cupboard door open and pulled Harry out by his ear shouting, "You think this is funny do you boy?"
Harry stuttered, "I swear, I didn't do anything."
Vernon pulled Harry into the laundry room and Harry felt his stomach drop, "Don't give me that boy, you know how we feel about that freaky stuff of yours now take off your shirt and assume the position."
Harry shuddered as he took off the overly large red shirt that his cousin Dudley had thrown away and leaned over the dryer bracing his hands on it. Harry gritted his teeth and braced himself as he heard the zink of Vernon's belt coming off. A moment later his back exploded in pain, Vernon brought the belt down again and again saying, "You will knock off this freakish nonsense of your do you hear me? We will not tolerate anymore of you and your nonsense especially around our sweet Daisy. We will not have you corrupting her you hear me. No more of these problems."
Vernon brought the belt down again and again while Harry tried to keep himself on his feet knowing that his uncle would be furious if he collapsed. Eventually Vernon stopped and Harry sank onto his bottom as Vernon left the room saying, "No more of this, no more."
Harry carefully stood up and the world instantly began to spin, he bit his lower lip and leaned heavily against the wall using it to support himself as he limped into the kitchen. Harry could feel the blood running down his back and thighs from the fresh welts that now crossed his back and would eventually scar over to join the extensive collection he already had. Harry walked to the large washtub sink in the laundry room and grabbed a clean rag sitting by it as well as a bar of hand soap Petunia always kept there for when Dudley came home covered in muck.
Harry ran the warm water and rubbed the soap into the rag. He knew this was going to sting, but he had learned from experience that he needed to keep his wounds cleaned. Harry remembered when he was four and hadn't scrubbed off after a time his uncle had backhanded him and caused Harry to get a nasty cut on his back from being thrown against the kitchen door. Harry had gotten sick and Vernon and Petunia had been furious when they'd had to take him to the doctor to get antibiotics to treat the infection he'd gotten. Harry hissed loudly as he carefully washed his back as best he could, obviously he couldn't reach everywhere, but he would simply squeeze the rag over his back and let the soapy water drip down.
Once he was cleaned Harry took an ointment from the first aid kit and rubbed it on as best he could his head reeling and his back screaming at him the entire time. Finally, Harry grabbed a clean bath towel and stumbled into his cupboard, he lied down on his stomach and draped the towel on his back to absorb the bed and fell instantly asleep. Harry slowly recovered from his injuries careful to avoid his aunt, uncle and cousin as much as possible. Harry's eighth birthday passed without much acknowledgement from his relatives. Petunia gave him a chocolate cookie and a pair of uncle Vernon's old socks as a gift.
Strange things continued occurring around Daisy and more and more Vernon and Petunia argued about it. Finally, around mid August Harry saw that Vernon had moved the rickety old bed from bedroom where Dudley kept his old toys and things he didn't want (his second bedroom) and moved it into the nursery. Harry wrinkled his brow curiously that afternoon Petunia said, "take all of your things and put them up in the nursery then sit on the bed and wait for me."
Harry blinked wondering what was going on, but knowing asking questions wouldn't be a good idea so he just moved and did as he was told. It only took Harry one trip to move everything up, Daisy was sleeping peacefully in her crib as Harry carefully placed the duffle bag of his belongings onto the floor. Once Daisy started fussing Petunia came upstairs, she looked truly awful as though she'd been up all night crying, her hair was mused and her eyes had rings around them. Harry didn't understand what was happening. Eventually, Petunia turned to him and said, "This is all your fault, you know. We knew, we knew when we took you in you were and abnormal little freak and we knew it would be dangerous for Dudley to be around such bizarre creature as yourself, but we never imagined it could."
Petunia paused as she sniffed loudly tears falling down her cheeks saying, "It is all your fault, Daisy is a freak just like you, so now she is your responsibility."
Harry jerked back in shock as though he'd been slapped, "What?"
Petunia said, "You will take care of her, you will feed, her you will change her, you will pay for her food and diapers and other necessities."
Harry gapped in total shock, this must be some kind of joke on his aunt's part, "But how can I do that, I have to go to school and I'm too young to get a job. How can I pay for anything and how am I supposed to look after he, I don't knew anything about babies?"
Petunia turned to him and gave him a dark look of utter loathing and absolute hatred, "That's your problem not ours."
Then she turned slamming the door behind her waking Daisy up in the process. Harry sat there for several minutes starring in shock at the door expecting his aunt to come back in and take care of Daisy but she didn't. Harry swallowed hard and walked over, he bent down carefully putting one hand behind her head and the other under her back as he lifted Daisy up and started rocking her back and forth as he paced the floor singing 'Hey Jude' in an attempt to calm her. It took twenty minutes and four singings before Daisy finally went back to sleep, Harry hoped she would sleep for a little while, but he knew even if she slept for three hours he would still have to figure out what to do next.
Dudley came home not long after Daisy had fallen asleep, Harry peaked out the door as Petunia and Vernon walked up to him with Petunia saying, "Dudley darling we need to talk."
Vernon put a hand on Dudley's back and steered him into the living room, Harry sat back down on the bed and waited. They talked for over an hour and several times he heard Dudley shouting, "What what are you talking about? How's that possible? What do you mean? What's changed? Why is she a freak now?"
Vernon and Petunia didn't shout back so Harry couldn't hear their answers. Once the talk was done Dudley came walking up the stairs looking white as a sheet and trembling head to toe. Instead of walking to his bedroom, Dudley walked up to Harry and said, "They said Daisy is a freak just like you and you're supposed to take care of her now."
Harry looked back as the small baby sleeping in the crib and said, "Yes that's what she said, are you hear to rub it in my face." Harry knew he could get in big trouble for talking to Dudley like that, but he was so overwhelmed he honestly didn't care at this point.
Dudley shook his head and walked over to the crib starring at Daisy as though she held the answers to life and the secrets of the universe, "no, I won't she doesn't look any different than she did. Mum loved her so much Mum was so happy and so nice to Daisy and now she can't stand Daisy, but Daisy doesn't look any different now and I can't tell."
Harry asked, "can't tell what?"
Dudley turned around still looking stricken, "What makes her a freak? Mum and Dad have always called you a freak and you've always been a freak, but Daisy hasn't and I can't tell what makes her one or why mum and dad want you to take care of her now. What if they decide I'm a freak to? What if they stopped loving me?"
Harry gasped as he finally recognized the look on Dudley's face as one of pure and absolute terror, "you're really worried aren't you?"
Dudley nodded, Harry wasn't sure how to feel, on the one hand Dudley had always been ridiculously nasty to him. His cousin had made beating Harry into a game he and his friends still played, but looking at Dudley's face Harry couldn't help feeling sympathy for Dudley, and for the first time in his life, Harry also felt a kinship with his cousin. Hoping he wouldn't regret what he was about to do Harry said, "I don't know what makes us freaks either, and I don't know what will happen if Vernon and Petunia decide you're a freak to, but maybe we can help each other."
Dudley looked up as Harry paced the floor once again a crazy plan blooming suddenly in his mind, "Dudley what if we decide the three of us are a family?"
Dudley looked at Harry like he was insane, "We already are."
Harry shook his head, "No I mean you and I promise right here and right now that we will stop fighting with one another. You promise to stop beating me up and making fun of me and that you will help me with Daisy and I will promise you that I will be there for you and help you as best I can under any circumstance. If aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon decide you're a freak then I promise I will help you and I will be there for you. We will be a family the three of us. You, me, and Daisy, and forger aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon, we will have to lie and act like we still hat each other around Petunia and Vernon, but we will both know we don't mean it and that we are there for each other. We are family."
Harry gave Dudley a determined look, and his cousin nodded, "O.k." then he left and came back holding his pocket knife.
Harry starred at it confused, "what are you doing with that?"
Dudley said, "I heard these older kids at school once talking about being 'blood brothers' we cut our hands and swear to things and it will show we are both serious about it."
Harry nodded as he held out his hands Dudley cut a small portion both of Harry's palms and then his own. They held their hands together, as they stood with their other hand resting on Daisy as she slept and said, "we swear that we will always be there for each other and support and help each other as best we can. We swear to treat each other and Daisy as family and that we will not let anything change this or separate us from each other."
As they finished they each felt a huge rush of energy run through them, Harry and Dudley gasped loudly and daisy stirred n her crib but did not wake and then they both felt this incredible since of calm and strength and connection between each other. For the first time they grinned at each other and knew that they had truly become a family.
a/n so here it is. For those of you also reading A family's journey I will not give up on that I just wanted to do this as well.