Chapter Three
Once in his room Harry hurriedly opened the trunk still holding the precious diary his mother wrote. He found a few mementoes, some old school books both from Lily's grade school and Hogwarts days. It was when he came across the packet of papers he found the letter from his mum and dad.
Dear Son,
If you're reading this then the worst has happened and we are no longer with you. I hope you are being raised with loving people but if I know Dumbledore he put you with Petunia and Vernon. Our will specifically said you were not to go there, but your aunt and I made our peace secretly. Vernon, once he got over his initial fear of magic turned out to be a good hearted man and a great friend. Dumbledore doesn't know this and we worked out an alternate plan. Talk to your aunt and uncle, but read my diary first as it has more information in it. Never doubt that I love you my son.
Your Loving Mum
Lily
Hey pup,
Listen to what your mother said, and don't forget to have some fun along the way. Our secret keeper was Peter not Sirius and Dumbledore knows this since he cast the Fidelus for us. Your aunt and uncle are good people son, if they treated you coldly its because they had to. They do love you.
Your old dad
Prongs
Harry at once opened his mother's diary and started reading it was almost dawn before he put the journal down, tears running down his face. Dumbledore had a lot to answer for and he definitely needed to talk to his aunt and uncle as soon as possible. He fell asleep still clutching the diary.
When he woke up the sun was streaming through the windows and he wondered why he was allowed to sleep so late, glancing at his alarm clock he was shocked to see it was past noon already. Rushing down the stairs he found his aunt setting lunch on the table and for the first time he could remember his family were actually smiling at him warmly. Sliding into his usual chair he look to Vernon who cleared his throat looking a bit embarrassed then he started to speak.
"I know you have a lot of questions but before you ask let me tell you a few things then we will all answer your questions, all right?"
Harry was too speechless to do anything but nod, so Vernon continued.
"Your parents were not only family but good friends, but they didn't trust Dumbledore so we hid that from him. We knew that Dumbledore though we hated Lily and anything to do with magic and thought it best to keep it that way. When Dumbledore left you here he came back the next day and told us to treat you badly, we were not to show you any love or affection, he even wanted us to abuse you and beat you so that you would be grateful to him for rescuing you every year. Now that you know we can treat you the way we always wanted to and show you that we really do love you."
Harry looked over to his aunt, she was crying and nodding at him, and he got up and hugged her whispering.
"Its ok aunt Petunia I love you too"
Petunia beamed at him through her tears and bustled even faster putting lunch on the table.
Looking at Dudley curiously, Dud shrugged and explained.
"Mum and dad told me what was going on as soon as I could understand, so I treated you like I didn't like you and was jealous but I would love to stop that and have a little brother to hassle.
Dudley grinned at Harry with a shrug and was pleased when Harry grinned right back at him while saying,
"Great Dud but just remember I'm still faster than you."
The four of them took their time over lunch and talked about everything and anything they could think of. Petunia even told him that now he was fifteen they needed to find a way to get to Gringot's and talk to the goblins. She even told him that they were being watched by Dumbledore's people. Harry told them about the past four years at Hogwarts and what happened even about Cedric. He told them about his invisibility cloak and that Petunia could drive Vernon to work one day and he could hide under the cloak in the back seat as long as it wasn't Moody on duty.
Harry went to bed a lot happier, plans made to get to London and Gringots the first day that Moody wasn't watching them. He was exhausted but happy when he finally fell asleep.
