Chapter Three: In Which Petunia Has a Bad Day

Six students walked together across the platform in Hogsmeade, and as they moved a pocket of calm seemed to surround them. Other students moved subtly out of their way, so they walked unimpeded toward the train. The other students watched them, some whispering after their passage, others just watching.

Harry did not even notice. His mind was on what had happened in the past two days. The strange euphoria from the dream lingered, strengthened by Luna and Hermione both kissing his hands. Neither of the girls spoke of it again after they left the library, but he was conscious of their eyes on him wherever he went.

Ron was oblivious, of course. Neville noticed, but said nothing. Ginny merely watched, her lips pursed and her eyes looking hurt. But she said nothing.

They climbed into the train and claimed their compartment in the last car. The ride home was continually interrupted by a stream of traffic, which considering they were in the very last car, was odd. But every so often, someone would just pop their head in to say hello. Sometimes it was on the pretext of looking for Ginny, or Neville, or Ron. But quite often they just opened the door and said hello.

Floating on his lingering euphoria, Harry smiled back at them and engaged every person who came in a little conversation, before they moved on. When Susan Bones finally came by with Hannah Abbot by her side to supposedly check on Neville, Luna perked up and said, "Susan, would you kiss Harry's right foot?"

Susan stared as if shot. "What?"

Everyone else stared as well.

"Er, never mind, Susan," Harry said quickly. "It's nothing, really."

"She said she wanted me to kiss your foot."

"His right foot," Luna corrected. "Would you?"

"I should think not," Susan said, drawing herself straight.

"Never mind!" Harry said quickly. "I'm sorry, Susan. It's been a bad couple of days. We're all a little loopy."

"You mean Loony," Hannah muttered.

Luna sagged a little in her seat, and suddenly Harry felt a flash of irritation. "Luna is my friend," he said into a suddenly chilly compartment. "I would die for my friends."

Hannah's eyes widened and she paled. "I'm…er, sorry?" She spun around to leave. "Come on, Susan."

Susan, however, was staring at Harry. "Why would she say that?" Susan asked.

Next to Harry, Hermione suddenly blushed scarlet, and even Luna's pale cheeks had a spot of color in them.

"It doesn't matter," Harry said quickly. "I'm sorry it came up." He stood and took her elbow gently to guide her into the hall behind Hannah. "We've been through a lot, and Luna sometimes does say odd things." He turned to Hannah. "A lot of people hurt her this year by saying mean things, and stealing her stuff. But she stood with me and fought with us. I owe her my life. Please don't say mean things about her."

Hannah opened her mouth, but then closed it and nodded. "Okay," she said simply.

Harry looked back at Susan. The dream vision of her large bosom swaying in time to her rocking flashed through his mind, but he managed to shake if off quickly. "Thank you for coming by, Susan. I appreciate it."

He let go of her elbow and stepped back into the compartment.

He never saw the way she reached up with her left hand and cupped the elbow. "Are you hurt?" Hannah asked. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," she said. "That's just it. It feels warm. It's been aching all day, but it doesn't hurt any more. It feels warm."

Hannah snorted. "Please don't tell me you have a crush on Harry Potter now too. I thought I was going to gag when I saw Greengrass watching him yesterday at the feast."

"Greengrass?" Susan said. "Daphne Greengrass was watching Harry at the feast?"

"Malfoy looked ready to hex her," Hannah said.

"More like she was going to hex Harry."

"Don't think so," Hannah said. "If you'd seen her expression, you'd know. She looked just like you do right now."

~~Four Founders~~

~~Four Founders~~

Harry was not expecting the welcoming crowd at the station. Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, Remus Lupin, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and the Weasley Twins, Fred and George, were all waiting for them when he and his friends arrived.

The conversation that followed between the Order of the Phoenix members and the Dursley family was one Harry never thought he would hear. Nonetheless, he wondered if it would actually make anything better.

Before he split off from his friends, though, Hermione hugged him and even kissed his cheek. The sensation of it was still intense, and left her blushing and breathing harder than normal, and his head spinning from it. A moment later, Luna also stepped forward and hugged him. Then, inexplicably, she hissed him not on the cheek, but square on his lips. Once again that electric feeling shot through him, from his lips to the balls of his feet. It took an act of will he didn't even realize he had to stay upright.

"Yes, very nice," Luna said, flushed once more.

Harry sputtered a bit, and then grinned sheepishly with a shake of his head. "Have a good summer, Luna. Stay in touch."

"I will," she promised.

"Wotcher Harry!" Tonks said from nearby with a wolf-whistle.

Harry ducked his head and walked back to the Dursleys, never noticing Ginny's expression.

Vernon looked apoplectic from his discussion with Mad-Eye. Aunt Petunia simply looked scandalized. Dudley looked jealous. They had obviously seen the hugs. "Get in," Aunt Petunia hissed.

Harry placed his trunk in the boot of their car and climbed in with Dudley. Once they were all in, Petunia turned around and stared at him. "Those…those…trollops of yours had better not come anywhere near our house."

Harry should not have been surprised by the spite in her voice. He should have kept his mouth shut. The Harry from just last week would have kept his mouth shut. But the words were coming before he even realized it. "The people who murdered my parents are back. I fought them a few days ago, and those trollops fought at my side. You should be happy, Aunt Petunia. My godfather died in the battle. The whole magical world is on the brink of war with a Dark Wizard more powerful than anyone in generations. He wants to kill me, and anyone around me. Good thing those blood wards are up and that I'm coming back to your house to renew them, isn't it?"

She paled to the color of bone while Vernon sputtered. Finally, he managed to turn his great bulk around. "Now see here, you little brat!" he started.

"If I leave your house," Harry said with a calm that surprised even him, "the blood wards will fail. Voldemort and all of his followers will know where you are. He'll know you were my guardians. I'm told that he makes his victims beg him to die. That those he doesn't kill are so bad off, they will kill themselves, if they have enough of their minds left over. He'll do this to you, Uncle Vernon, whether I'm there are not. And truth be told, I don't particularly feel like being at Privet Drive. The more you mistreat me—the more you try to starve me—the more I'll feel like leaving forever. I have friends now who love me, and would gladly take me in."

He leaned forward until he was an inch from his uncle. "Would you really like me to get out, Uncle Vernon?"

Vernon turned back around but said nothing. Petunia too faced forward, and without another word between the three of them they drove back to Little Whinging. Dudley made a strange whimpering sound as they started.

That night, alone in the second bedroom, Harry took his glasses off, laid down in his uncomfortable bed, and gazed into the darkness of his room. Gradually, his eyes closed and he dreamed. This wasn't his normal nightmare of Voldemort killing his mum. No, this was a dream bordering on fantasy. Of the woman who called herself Hogwarts visited him in his sleep.

The bliss of it struck almost like the opposite of a cruciatus. He felt such overwhelming pleasure it almost hurt, and like last time her face changed from Hermione, Luna, to Susan and finally to Daphne. As she started moving, her face again began cycling. Only this time, her whole body changed. The wonderful pressure built, and he moaned with the release.

Only to wake up rather messy. He didn't dare risk using a cleaning charm on himself, so he climbed out of bed long enough to change his boxes. It was the only thing that saved his life.

As he finished pulling on the new boxers, the wall beside his bed, the bed, and much of his nightstand exploded. The blast threw him violently against the inner wall. He cleared his eyes long enough to say, "Accio wand!"

His wand came to his hand just as a silver-masked figure in black robes stepped through the hole with a broom in his hand. Harry responded instantly: "Stupefy!" he shouted, pouring magical energy into the spell.

The stunning curse hit the man in the center of his chest. He flew back through the hole with a gurgling scream as Harry turned and blasted a hole through the wall.

"What is going on here, boy!" Vernon cried as he came lumbering out of his room. He had his shotgun in hand.

"We're under attack!" Harry cried. "Get Dudley and Aunt Petunia out of here!"

"You don't tell me what to do…" He never finished his sentence. At that moment, Vernon Dursley's head exploded.

His uncle's body actually swayed a moment before toppling to the floor in a spray of blood. Harry stood frozen in shock. A small corner of his mind registered the blood all over his face, and admired how well the moisture-repelling charms worked on his glasses.

Across the hall stood Petunia Dursley. She stared, jaw open, without comprehension. "Harry?" she asked.

Over her shoulder, Harry saw movement. "Accio Aunt Petunia!"

With a startled scream his aunt flew across the room just as a vicious cutting curse slammed into the doorway. Harry snatched her from the air and with muscles borne from five years of Quidditch pulled her toward the stairs. "Dudley, get out here!" Harry cried.

The first bedroom door burst open and Dudley came stumbling out. "What's going on?" he cried. Another curse hit the wall behind him. The explosion sent the large boy tumbling down the stairs. Harry watched in horror as his cousin impacted he and his Aunt, and all three of them finished tumbling down.

"Vernon!" Petunia whimpered.

"He's dead, Aunt Petunia," Harry said. "The wards have failed somehow. Come on!"

Not wanting to risk the front, Harry led his stunned aunt and whimpering cousin out the back door. They stopped just beyond when they found a half-circle of twelve death eaters standing in their way.

The ones on the end raised their wands and both Petunia and Dudley fell to the ground screaming under the cruciatus curse.

One of the death eaters removed a mask, and Harry found himself staring into the maddened eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange. "Poor, ickle little Potter," she snarled. "No help coming this time. No prophecy to hold over our heads. You're not walking away this time! Crucio!"

Harry joined the last remnants of his family on the ground as the pain coursed through his body. Just as quickly, it passed. "So, boy, are these your beloved family members? Your Aunt, right? And your little cousin?"

Dudley whimpered.

Bellatrix looked down at the large boy and placed her wand in his ear. "Hello, big boy," she whispered with gruesome smile. "Do you know what the magic word is today?"

"Nnn…no," Dudley said.

"Don't!" Harry shouted.

"It's diffindo." Dudley's body jerked. Harry saw something erupted from the other side of Dudley's head into the grass of the garden. He then went completely, terribly still.

"Dudley!" Petunia shrieked. "Duddikums! Little Duddikums! What have you done to my son? What have you done you filthy freak!"

Bellatrix sat on Dudley's too-still chest and laughed at Petunia's rage and fear. Harry began to pull his wand to bear, but then felt the cruciatus again.

"Freak, am I?" Bellatrix said. "Oh yes, I am a freak. A horrid bitch I am. Don't worry though, I'm killing you first so little Harry here can watch and enjoy. And then when you've died, I'll make him suffer for the rest of the night. Doesn't that just sound lovely?"

Petunia's rage melted into terror. Harry watched, in agony himself, as his aunt was subjected to an hour of some of the darkest magic he had ever seen or even imagined. All the while, Bellatrix laughed and sat on the dead body of Petunia's only son.

In the end, Petunia was incapable of making sound when Bellatrix beheaded her with a slicing spell.

"Well," she said, perky. "That was refreshing! It's been too long since I've enjoyed myself." She turned those wild eyes to Harry, who lay curled up in a ball and shivering from the cruciatus curse. "Whatever shall I do with you? Perhaps we can start with…oh yes. This will be perfect."

She raised her wand, and suddenly Harry was not there.

The curse struck the grass beneath him and gouged a foot-deep trench. "What is this?" Bellatrix shrieked. "What is this? Where is Harry Potter? Where!"

~~Four Founders~~

~~Four Founders~~

Saint John Granger ran into his daughter's room with his wife Calliope a step behind. In her bed, Hermione was screaming and thrashing about as if in agony, though her eyes were closed.

"'Mione!" Calliope cried. "Wake up, darling!"

When calming hands and desperate words could not wake her, Saint John Granger did something he had never done and would never have imagined himself doing. He struck his daughter, once, with an open palm.

The blow woke her suddenly and she sat up, gasping desperately for air. "Harry!"

She looked around but could not find him. It took several calming words before Hermione realized where she was, and who she was with. She grabbed onto her mother with such a tight grip Calliope winced. "Sweetie, what is it?"

"Harry," Hermione said. "They're torturing him!"

"It's just a bad dream," her father said.

She backed away from them. "No it isn't!" she hissed. "It's happening right now! We've got to get you out of here. They'll come for me next."

"Who?"

Hermione was half-way out of bed when she realized something dreadful. Her parents didn't know. She had kept everything from them, for fear they would try and make her withdraw from Hogwarts. She turned and faced them now with a quivering lip.

"I'm sorry I've been lying to you," she said. "I'm so sorry. I've told you how wonderful the magical world is. But I was lying."

"Then you'll stop going," Saint John said, just as Hermione knew he would.

She shook her head. "It's too late, Dad. We're at war. A real, honest-to-God war. Harry and I were in a battle last week at the Ministry of Magic. Against dark wizards who want to kill anyone like me who isn't a pure blood. And when they're done with that, they'll start killing muggles like you. But they know who I am. Me and the others who fought there. They know, and they're going to come after us, just like they've gone after Harry."

"Hermione, just calm down," her father said. "We're perfectly…"

"Stupify!"

Calliope stared down at her unconscious husband in horror. "Hermione, did you just…how… why…how could you do such a thing?"

Hermione had tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry Mum. I can't let them hurt you. I can't. Stupify!"

She left her unconscious parents in her room and telephoned the only person she knew who had a telephone, and could help.

~~Four Founders~~

~~Four Founders~~

Andromeda Tonks never liked telephones, but as the wife of a muggle-born wizard who still clung to the luxuries of his muggle past, she recognized the need. She lifted it from its cradle just to silence the incessant ringing. "Yes?"

"This is Hermione Granger. I need to speak to Tonks. Is she there?"

"I'm sure Nymphadora is here. May I ask what it's about?"

"I need help!" The voice on the other side sounded young and terrified.

"Dora, there is a Miss Granger on the phone who says she needs help." The seriousness of the situation became apparent when her daughter came barreling down the stairs in her Auror's robes.

"Wotcher, Hermione," she said as she nearly ripped the phone from her mother's hands. "What's up?"

Andromeda watched as her daughter's hair flared red with anger. "I'll be right there. We'll floo the headmaster and let him know."

She dropped the phone. "Mother, please floo Dumbledore and let him know Harry's been attacked. I've got to go help Hermione with her parents. She thinks they'll be next."

Andromeda, though, simply stared. "Potter is supposedly behind impenetrable wards."

"They got penetrated. Go!"

~~Four Founders~~

~~Four Founders~~

Ten minutes after receiving the floo call, Dumbledore arrived on Privet Drive. Only, Number 4 was gone. Moments later Alastor Moody joined him, followed by Kingsley Shacklbolt.

"What is this?" Moody demanded.

"These aren't the blood wards," Dumbledore said, aghast. Anti-apparition wards, powerful notice-me-not charms and other protections that were not their own hid Number 4 Privet Drive almost as thoroughly as the blood wards did.

Never in their lives had Kingsley or Moody seen the venerable old wizard so visibly upset as they did then. He almost shook with fear and rage. His magic flowed powerfully about him, and the aurors had no doubt that any Death Eaters they encountered would suffer a horrible death.

They arrived on the edge of the newly fashioned wards, and Dumbledore started working on them feverishly. Mad-Eye and Shacklebolt did the same. Within half an hour other members of the Order had joined them as they drained the ward's power. It was an hour, however, before they were able to break through.

Kingsly sucked in a breath—it did not look good so far. They could immediately see a hole blasted into the front of the house. As they rushed forward, Kingsley saw a body in the bushes. He ripped the mask off. "It's Goyle Senior. Dead." He performed an auror trace. "He was killed with a stunner, Mad-Eye."

"Even stunners can kill, if they have enough power," the old auror said, though he sounded surprised.

Dumbledore said nothing as he walked through the already open door. As they stepped in, all of them smelled the distinctive iron-laced stench of spilt blood. Kingsley ran upstairs and found the first body. "Looks like Durlsey," he called down. "Hit in the head with a blaster curse."

He continued to search and returned when they found nothing else. Dumbledore led the way through the first floor of the house until they reached the back garden. They heard a sound that might have been a moan from the old wizard as he rushed toward the bodies.

Kingsley recognized Harry's cousin immediately, as well as the first-sized hole punched all the way through his skull. He did not appear to have been harmed otherwise, though he suspected the boy had been tortured.

But the other body was hardly recognizable as human. He identified at least a dozen very painful hexes in addition to dozens of slicing and banishing curses. Every bone appeared to have been broken, every digit of her hands and feet first shattered and then severed. Her teeth were broken or pulled. Her eyes were gone, her nose and ears gone. The list of horrors was written plainly across the corpse.

"Where is Harry!" Dumbledore roared.

Suddenly the enchanted galleons they used to communicate chirped. "Albus, this is Minerva! Harry is at Hogwarts. He seems to have apparated directly into the school!"

Dumbledore turned and stared at his two comrades. "We must go!" he said, and with that he disappeared with a pop.