I'M BACK!!! (runs from angry readers, then pokes head from behind a wall) I'm sorry. I really am. I had promised you all that I would be writing after I got ten reviews, and well... I didn't. I am sorry. I had a little trouble with school. I have to indeed re-do 10th grade... Oh well. But I must say my new grade is SO much better then my old classmates, but don't tell them I said that...
Yeah, well... I had to get over some stuff and now I'm back, but I won't be updating that often. I have the next four chapters written out and the next 7 outlined, so don't worry. I may not be updating regularly, but I am deffinately not discontinuing this story!!!
Also, I want to thank you all for your wonderful reviews! They really inspired me.
Last but not least, I have to tell you that my beta has gone to a boarding school in England and doesn't have the time to spell- and grammarcheck my story. I do have others looking at my stories though, but this one is only half beta-ed.
Now, ENJOY!!!
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A soft thudding sound alerted Harry to the impending danger. Vernon was coming.
For the past few days Petunia had not left the house, claiming she had a migrain or she was coming down with a cold, which infact never came... Today was the first time his aunt had gone out again. She and Dudley had gone to Weight Watchers once again.
There was a pause in Vernon's steps. Then the door slowly opened. Swaying a bit, the whale of a man walked over to his staring nephew.
Harry hadn't even blinked, when Vernon entered this hell hole of a room. Vernon stood, swaying back and forth, in front of Harry. When the man's huge hands came forward to touch his nephew, the teen slowly moved his right hand under the bed. The instant Vernon's chubby fingers wrapped around Harry's left arm, he grabbed his wand, that lay under the bed, and brought it forward to point at his uncle. He felt Anger. Fear. And Sadness. Anger at just about everything and everyone. He feared his uncle, his past, his future, the present. Sadness because he had lost everything. Sirius was dead and his so-called family hated him. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair.
"It's. Just. Not. Fair!!!" Harry screamed. And a second later the large man known as Vernon crashed into into the opposit wall with a horrible crunchy sound. Harry looked at his uncle. It looked as though he was unconscious.
Harry couldn't remember what happened after that, he didn't move, he stared transfixed at the increasing amount of blood pooling around Vernon Dursley's head, drip, drip, drip...a drop of blood moved onto the front of his uncles head and all Harry could recall in the hours that followed was how that drop of blood had made it's way down the pudgy face, now almost serene in it's unconciousness.
Harry didn't hear Petunia and Dudley come home. He didn't hear his cousin groan and complain about salad and healthy foods. He didn't hear his aunt come up the stairs, calling for her husband. And he didn't hear her laughing.
The teen snapped out of his stupor, when two bony arms encased him in a hug. Harry stared blankly at his aunt.
"Oh, Harry! I'm so happy!" Petunia said with tears in her eyes.
"A-Aunt Petunia?" Saying Harry was puzzled would be an understatement. He was totally and thoroughly confused. Seeing Harry's bewildered face, Petunia said "Come Harry. There is a lot I need to tell you and Dudley." With that, she grabbed Harry's and Dudley's, who just stood there with a smile on his face, hands and lead them down to the living room, not once did she look back.
An hour later, Harry was once again staring. He just couldn't believe what his aunt had just told him. And Dudley for that matter. He had just been told by Petunia that she was also a witch. She and his mother had both gone to Hogwarts. His aunt had gone under the name of Petunia Merryweather. Their mother had thought that because Petunia was the oldest she would inherit if not all at least some soul vampire traits and so she had gotten the last name Merryweather to show that she belonged to the species of soul vampire. Lily's name had been Evans because most of the time the younger sibling would either inherit a few traits or just be a plain witch or wizard. But since the fates seem to play around with Harry's family a lot, it so happened that Petunia became the plain witch and Lily inherited the soul vampire traits. But both refused to have their names changed when Petunia didn't come into her inheritance, but Lily did. Because everybody had thought that Petunia would be part creature, she had been sorted into Slytherin. And since everybody thought Lily wouldn't inherit or at least only have some few traits and not be a full grown out soul vampire, she had been sorted into Gryffindor. Lily and Petunia had always been close, but because Slytherins and Gryffindors were supposed to hate each other especially because the war had been looming they had had to keep apart so nobody had found out that they were sisters.
Later, Petunia had fallen in love with Vernon, but he had made it very clear from the beginning that he didn't like anything out of the ordinary. Lily had demanded to know what she found attractive about him and the two of them had gotten into a huge fight and had stopped talking to each other. Petunia had not told Vernon everything about her family and given up magic for the most part. But since magic was part of her, she kept doing small household spells like decorating cakes, getting stains out of clothing, repairing broken dishes or cleaning the toilet. Vernon had never found out. Over the years, his uncle had become fat and ill tempered. It had gotten even worse, when Harry was dumped on their door step.
When Dudley had shown first signs of magic, Petunia had bound his powers. Otherwise Dudley would have gone to Hogwarts and been in Harry's year.
"So that means... I can do... magic?" Dudley squeaked.
"Yes, darling. You can." Petunia paused. "That is, after I set your magic free."
"But... But I don' t remember ever doing magic..."
"I cast a memory spell on you when your magic made itself noticeable." Dudly stared at his mother as if she had just changed into a cat, Harry smiled slightly, he would have to introduce his poor cousin to Professor McGonagall.
"Aunt Petunia? Did you cast a memory charm on me as well? Because I seem to recall...
Dudley...flying. But it's more like a memory of a dream... sort of blurry and fading."
"Yes, Dudley did indeed fly once. Thank Merlin Vernon wasn't around. You two were nine years old." She smiled at the memory. Then she looked back at Harry. "How come you remember that? I cast one of the most powerful memory spells I know on you..."
"Maybe it's because I came into my inheritence?" Harry mused.
"You mean your Soul Vampire Inheritance? Yes, that could be able to restore your memory."
"Snape did explain a bit about both of my inheritances, but maybe you could explain a little more...?"
"Both of your inheritances? You have a second one?" Petunia exclaimed.
"You didn't know that dad was part vampire?" Harry asked amazed.
"Y-you are a v-v-vampire?" Dudley, who had been unusually quiet, now asked timidly from behind the sofa he had hidden behind.
"Yes, but according to the letter-"
"What letter?" Petunia interjected.
"Mum wrote me a letter, in which she informed me about my inhertances." Harry explained.
"Oh. I didn't know she wrote a letter... Was there anything alse she told you?"
"Yeah, she told me that Sna- Severus is my other godfather aside from Sirius." Harry's eyes had filled with tears, when he had mentioned Sirius's name.
Petunia stood up and encased Harry in her bony, thin arms. The boy sobbed into his aunt's shoulder until his tears dried up.
"What else did the letter say?"
"Well, eventhough I am a vampire there is supposed to be so little in me that I shouldn't need blood to survive, but when Severus stopped by during my transformation I had this... longing for blood. I don't know if I shall continually need blood. I really hope I don't. Other than that I have cannies, my senses are sharper and I have wings." Harry informed his aunt. Dudley fainted. Petunia was so lost in thougth she didn't really notice or she just ignored her son. The two of them lapsed into silence. Then a thougth struk Petunia.
"Severus is your other godfather?" she asked aloud, which made Harry jump about two feet up into the air.
"Yes, that is what it says in the letter."
"I always thought that Remus was your other godfather..." she trailed off.
"Apparently they asked him to be, but he declined because of his... condition."
"It's alright. I know about Remus's lycanthropic... shall we call it... problem? So, after Remus said no... They asked Sev eventhough he was a spy? Why didn't they ask Peter?"
Harry clenched his fists and his face grew hard. "Peter Petigrew is a backstabbing, murdering rat." Harry forced out.
"I understand, that he was the one, who betrayed my sister and James." It was a statement not a question. "Will you tell me what happened?" Harry looked at his aunt, tears swimming in his eyes, but he nodded.
So, Harry told his aunt everything that had happened, from his first year at Hogwarts, when he refused the offer of friendship from Draco Malfoy and more or less averted Voldemort coming back, Petunia gasped quietly, but encouraged Harry to continue with his story. He carried on with second year, when it was believed that he was the heir of Slytherin and secretly a muggle-born-hater until he finally faced the memory of Tom Riddle, the 16-year-old-self of Voldemort and destroyed it. Then he went to tell about his third year, when he had found out that Sirius Black, who was supposedly after his life, instead of killing him confessed he was his godfather, and freeing him before the dementors could kiss him. At this, Petunia intejected. "I am sorry Harry. I also thougth that Sirius was a murderer all those years."
"It's ok aunt Petunia." Harry patted the woman's bony hand.
"Please continue."
And Harry set off again, telling his aunt how Peter had fled and helped resurect Lord Voldemort in fourth year, when he had forcibly participated in the Triwizard Tournament and won but with the death of Cedric Diggory hanging over his head because of it. And finally he came to fifth year, when the Dark Lord had tormented him with visions, one misleading him and resulting in getting Sirius killed because he hadn't been cautious enough.
After Harry had finished, Petunia once again took her nephew into her arms, where the boy, for that was what he was by heart at this moment, broke down and cried. Cried out his heart for all the losses he had endured. Finally he fell asleep. She lay the teen down on the couch and went into the kitchen and got her wand, smiling when she held it in her hand once again, not having to wonder and fear when Vernon would be getting home, and might catch her wielding magic. She walked back into the living room and transformed two pillow into nice and comfortable blankets. A levi corpus later, Dudley lay on the other couch and Petunia tucked in both boys. The bony woman climbed the stairs once more and burned her late husbands corpse without blinking. Slowly, she walked back down and let herself fall into the comfort of the armchair.
Her eyes landed on Harry's sleeping form. Her heart clenched when she thought about all that her nephew had been through the past couple of years. Then she looked at her own son. Dudley reminded her of the happy times she had had with Vernon. She really had loved him. They had been happy. But then more or less by accident, he had found out that her family was magical and had been absolutely disgusted. She had told him she didn't have anything to do with magic and had parted from her family. Vernon still had been loving and caring. But when her sister and James had died and Harry was left on their doorstep, Vernon had changed. He had become irrational and ill-tempered. A couple of times he had even hit or slap her, but they always made up afterwards. Vernon had started to deal with Harry his own way, Petunia had helped him as much as she could without being discovered. So as not to be found out, she cast a few memory charms here and there and lived as best as she could. Lastly she had found out that Vernon had raped her nephew. She was outraged!!! But to her dismay couldn't really do anything about it herself. She healed Harry's bruises and obliviated him afterwards. In the past couple of weeks, she had really come to hate her husband and she was glad that he didn't exist anymore. With a yawn, Petunia Merryweather closed her eyes and fell asleep.
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Harry woke bright and early the next morning. He looked around and found Petunia sleeping in the armchair and Dudley sprawled out over the other couch, opposite of him. Harry smiled. The teen made his way over to the kitchen.
He got out eggs, toast and bacon. Then he turned on the stove and let a little butter melt in the pan. While the pan was heating up, Harry put two toast in the toaster and started the coffee machine. Harry smiled again as the smell of fresh coffee wafted through the air.
Dudley woke to the scent of sizzling bacon and fresh coffee. He got up and stumbled into the kitchen, where he found Harry cooking breakfast. "Can I help you?" Dudley asked quietly. Harry looked up and a small smile flitted over his face. "Could you set the table?" Dudley nodded. A few moments later Petunia came into the kitchen aswell. What she found was a heart warming sight: Her son and nephew were sitting at the table eating breakfast. A third plate with food was ready for her and she sat herself down on the wooden chair.
"Would you like coffee or tee, Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked.
"Orange juice would be fine Harry."
The teen got up and got his aunt a glass and the orange juice out of the fridge.
"Harry. This tastes amazing!" Dudley exclaimed. "This is simply wonderful!" Dudley beamed at his cousin. Harry mumbled a quiet and embarrassed thank you.
"Don't be so embarrassed Harry. Dudley is absolutely right. This tastes delicious." Petunia said. "When did you learn cooking this well?"
"Well, there is this house elf. I told you about him yesterday Aunt Petunia. When I had the nightmares and visions last year I went down to the kitchens to get something to eat and Dobby and I started talking. And one day, or maybe I should say night, we started about cooking and I told Dobby I would love to learn how to cook. So we made a deal. I would teach him how to read and speak properly and he'd teach me how to cook properly. We had lots of fun." Harry smiled as the memory of the huge cake they had both made and it had collapsed ontop of them and they had been covered in icing and ice cream and all kinds of other sticky stuff. He couldn't get some unidentifiable goo-ey thing out of his hair for weeks.
He looked down at the table again. He was actually sitting at the table with his aunt and cousin. Petunia was a witch and Dudley could do magic. He himself was part vampire part soul vampire and he had killed his own uncle. Not that he really cared, the man or whale was better off dead. Nobody would miss him.
"What are you thinking about Harry?" Petunia had seen how Harry's smile had vanished and a somber look had crossed his face.
"Nothing really. I just still can't believe I'm sitting here with you. It's like a dream come true." Harry sighed. "By the way, I wanted to ask you... When are you going to get rid of Dudley's binding spells?" Harry asked curiously.
"As soon as possible, I think. I just need to check if I have all the potion ingredients..." Harry's eyes shone with exitment.
"What do you mean 'get rid of my binding spells'?" Dudley looked confused and scared.
"Don't worry sweetheart. It won't hurt." Petunia smiled at her son.
They finished their breakfast in comfortable silence, probably for the first time ever in the Dursley house. Harry smiled at that thought, eventhough everything was confusing, and Sirius was…gone. Harry chocked back a sob, the smile disappearing from his face, and he suddenly had an impulse to drinking blood but quickly supressed it. A watery smile once again slid onto his face. Everything seemed to be going up hill. Harry felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, there were people who cared for him, that was all that mattered.
After they had finished, Harry went to put the dished into the washer, but his aunt grabbed his wrist, smiled and waved her wand at the dished and they flew into the dishwasher. Harry grinned.
"Say... Aunt Petunia? Do you want Dudley to go to Hogwarts?" His aunt nodded. "Yes, I want him to attend. I wanted to talk to you about that. Would you mind teaching him the basics? You know, Charms, Transfiguration and definitely Defence Against the Dark Arts...? I would do Potions and History of Magic."
"I guess I can do that. But... But he is not allowed to do magic."
"I will put up wards so your magic will not be detected."
"Oh. Don't worry about that. I can do magic legally. I got the permission from the Ministry of Magic because Voldemort is back." Petunia shivered. "I'll still need to raise some for when Dudley starts practicing." Harry nodded, grinning at the thought of making Dudley do what ever he told him, and in magic no less. Yup, things definitely looked brighter than they did yesterday.
"So, when were you planning on unbindging Dudley's magic exactly?" Harry asked.
"As soon as the potion is brewed. Which takes two days."
"And where are you planning on brewing said potion? You would at least have to have a small Potionlab." Harry asked.
"It's not just a small one, Harry." Petunia smiled, "Potions always was my favorite subject in school. It was the one thing I couldn't leave behind... I still practiced the art of potion making... That is until you showed up on our doorstep. Since Vernon locked you into the cupboard I wasn't able to get to my Potionslab."
Harry was confused. "Why couldn't you get into the Potionslab? I would have noticed if I had been squished into the cupboard together with a Potionslab..." It came out a little more bitter than Harry had anticipated and aimed for. At the underlying tone, Petunia looked up. Seeing the small scowl on her nephew's face, she walked over to him. "Harry. Listen to me. What Vernon did was very wrong. What Dudley and I did was very wrong. I must admit, I was angry. Angry at you. When you were left with us... I was trying to build a more or less magic-free life and when you came it was all just ruined and with you came the news that my beloved sister was dead. I was just so angry. But then I got to know you. And I noticed that I didn't really loose Lily and that it wasn't your fault. In the smallest things you did, I recognised my sister. I got over myself and helped you as much as I could without Vernon noticing. There is only so much'obliviates' a brain can manage without it being destroyed bit by bit. So I smuggled a little food and water and tried to help you. I am so sorry for all the pain I have put you through. Please forgive me? Please?" Petunia looked at Harry with unshed tears shining in her eyes.
"Aunt Petunia. I cannot honestly say that I can understand what you went through. I am and always was you nephew and Vernon treated me less than crap. I am glad that you came to your senses and helped me. I forgive you and Dudley both. It was in the past." Harry's eyes suddenly had a hard glint in them, "It died together with Vernon."
Dudley and Petunia both stood there and could only nod. They could only imagine what the raven haired wizard was going through.
Then Harry smiled. "About your Potionslab... I really suck at potions... Could you teach me?"
"Of course I could..." Petunia could only wonder how Harry's past had managed to make him build such a high wall around him. How the teen could mask his true emotions like any true Slytherin could. But Harry himself didn't really seem conscious about it.
"That would be really great, Aunt Petunia!" Harry's eyes sparkled.
All this time, Dudley had only stood there, watch ing his mother and his cousin talking about things he knew nothing about. He felt kind of left out. Charms? Transfiguration? He didn't even know how to spell that! And Potions? The boy looked like a walking, talking question mark.
Once Petunia had finished her last cup of coffee, she got up, put the cup in the sink and walked out of the kitchen into the corridor.
"What are you two waiting for?" she called out. Harry and Dudley scrambled onto the corridor.
The horse faced woman was standing in front of the small cupboard under the stairs. While Dudley walked over to his mother's side, Harry stopped in his tracks.
Flashback
Petunia and Dudley were standing next to the open door of the cupboard. Vernon was dragging a ten year old Harry by his shirt collar behind him. Dudley was laughing, when Vernon pushed Harry into the cupboard. The door slammed shut and darkness embraced the small crying boy.
End Flashback
"Harry!!!" Petunia called. The teen shook his head to clear his mind.
"Thank god! Everything alright? We called your name for the past minute... You weren't responding. What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just remembered something. Nevermind." Harry smiled. That was in the past. Vernon was dead. His aunt loved him. And Dudley wasn't all that bad. He walked up to his aunt and cousin.
"Lead the way, Aunt Petunia."
"Te venis ad quid verus es. Öffne dich und zeige was du verbirgst. Open and show what it is you hide." Petunia said in a very clear voice.
As Harry and Dudley looked toward the little cupboard under the stairs, the small space inside began to change. No more were there the shelves stuffed with all kinds of broken toys and clothes. No more was there the old mattress Harry had once slept on. No more was there the closet. No, now the small space showed stone steps leading downwards. Petunia walked down those stairs and beckoned her son and nephew to follow.
Harry was the last to enter. The teen was having trouble breathing properly. The air was damp and it smelled a little of mold. Still, Harry followed his family down the stone steps. The staircase led down in a spiral. Harry concentrated on breathing and putting one foot before the other.. Finally the stairwell opened up to a large almost square room. Two huge very sturdy looking tables stood against the wall to Harry's left and the far wall from Harry. They both reached from wall to wall. The right wall had four cauldrons over unlit fireplaces along it. And the last wall, the one from which the stairwell led, had shelves over shelves over sheles along it filled with all kinds of potion ingedients, viles, test tubes, stoppers, corks, boxes, books finished potions.
Both, Harry and Dudley, stared in awe at their surroundings. This Potionslab had to be at least as big as the entire house!!! Well, Petunia had certainly not been joking, when she'd said it wasn't a small one... ' This is probably how Severus's lab looks like' Harry mused. Petunia was already sitting on a chiar at one of the tables, skimming through what was probably a Potionsbook.
The raven haired teenager walked once around the room, stopping at the far wall from the staircase, he once looked around again. He was suprised to see a door in the corner of the cauldron wall and the shelves. He couldn't have seen it from where he had stood a few minutes ago because it was hidden behind a shelve filled with books.
"Aunt Petunia?"
"Yes, Harry?"
"What's behind the door?"
"Oh, just a fire place connected to the floosystem." Petunia looked up to smile at her her sister's son.
"What's a floo system?" Dudley asked. He still hadn't moved further into the room. Since the woman was once again looking through the texts, Harry took the liberty of explaining
"The floosystem enables witches and wizards to travel through fireplaces to get to where they need to be. If your fireplace is connected, you just throw in a little of grey powder called floo powder into said fireplace, step into the fire and very clearly say where you want to go."
"You mean like that time when your friends picked you up from here and my tongue swoll?" Dudley asked in horror.
"Well, your tongue swelling, Dudley, had nothing to do with the the Weasley's flooing here, but more with the toffees you ate..." Petunia said, a little disapprovel in her voince. Harry had to hide a grin.
"Ha!!" Petunia suddenly called out. "I found it!"
"Found what?" her son asked, confused.
"The Potion for unbinding your magic." Harry said in excitment.
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Hope you like it! Tell me in a review!!!
