House of the Dead Chapter 4
This one was sooooo much easier to write. Less soul sucking too. I don't like my Petunia, so I think I did a great job with her. Ha. I'm not going to hold chapters for ransom they come out as soon as I can finish them, but reviews are very nice and help me with my muse. (hint hint) That said updates will be sporadic from every few days to a month. It just depends on when I have time to write.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective authors. So does the general canon outline up to the point where I decide to deviate until I rubber band back. Expect tangent storylines. Ta!
Chapter 4: Uprooted
(Or where Petunia has a better idea on how blood wards work then an old goat)
It was with great fanfare that on the morning of May 15, 1988 that Petunia announced that she was pregnant, causing Dudley to sputter, Harry to stare at her in shock, and to the astonishment of the boys and the giggles of the sole female in the house, caused one Vernon Dursley to faint right out of his chair. Once Vernon was roused from both his episode and an hour of general shock which had him altering from a fish face of disbelief to positively beaming with pride, which had Harry running to lock himself in his room. Giggling? Fainting? Obviously some sort of catastrophe was eminent for his Aunt and Uncle to be acting so out of character. He wasn't necessarily wrong.
In short order it was decided that their home on Privet Drive was inadequate to hold their growing family. Sure they had rooms for each of the boys and a guest room for Marge's visits, but they couldn't just transform the guest room into a nursery! No they needed a guest room, and the boys simply couldn't share a room. It wouldn't DO for the freak to infect their soon-to-be oldest child. Or heaven forbid the little angel that was on the way. Within the week they were talking to the realtors about putting the house on the market and setting down the requirements that they needed for their new home. Closer to Vernon's work definitely, larger yard 5 bedroom, or at least 4 bedroom with a decent attic they could convert part of, ideally with sun room and/or wine cellar. Riding home from the office Petunia held her husbands unoccupied hand, smiling softly at him as she immersed herself into her memories.
Petunia stared at the object in her hand. She had be overdue for a cycle by a little over a month and had for the last two days been horribly sick in the wee hours before daybreak. Three tests and she still didn't believe the result, Petunia called up the family health practice and scheduled the next available appointment. The results were the same. After almost eight years of trying, despite being told that it was not possible after birthing Dudley, she was pregnant! A miracle! The higher power's reward for dealing with all the freakishness in her life! She didn't know nor did she care! She just sat in her car and cried tears of joy, this was HER year.
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It was a few days from when the house went onto the market that the housewives of the neighborhood gathered for tea and gossip, or rather gossip under the cover of tea time. It took less than five minutes after they all settled in that lady of #10 honed in on Petunia with a glint in her eye.
"Petunia darling! What are you up to these days? You are positively glowing. Is it a new diet? Facial product? Do tell!" she simpered. At once all the ladies quieted and turned their attention on her like sharks on blood.
Petunia basking and preening under the attention giggled like a school girl be for brightening and announcing to all and sundry "I just found out that I'm pregnant with my second child! Vernon wants us to move closer to London so that he can get home earlier to help out and it's all so exciting." She let the cries of "I knew it!", "Congratulations!" and "We must have a baby shower!" wash over her, answering as best she could on the due date "Sometime in early February", the realtor office they were using, how Dudley was taking it and so on.
As the gaggle started to trail off on that vain of conversation she wilted and let out a small sigh, causing the group to focus back on her, because what would cause a woman with so much going for her at the moment to slip from joy to near depression so quickly. There was a story here! And so Petunia again had an eager audience.
"It's just…. Harry…(sigh) they want to put him away. In a sanitarium. I just can't… he needs more than me now and with the baby on the way…." Petunia stuttered out, before hiding her face in her hands and letting out a load sob.
"Oh dear, the hormones are already affecting me." She laughed lightly between the sobs. "It's been a long time coming, and it's for the best, I just can't but help that I'm somehow letting my baby sister down by sending him away."
"No, no. You have done your best by him, and it's time to let him go. You have your family to look after and it'd be kinder to let him go where he can get all the help he needs and you can focus on family and home. That way you don't run yourself to the ground trying to spite yourself between two full time tasks." Hushed one of the older ladies as the others nodded along.
Petunia let out a weak smile, and they returned to the small time gossip of fashion, and gardens, and planning the eventual baby shower until it was time to wrap up. When she entered home she leaned against the front door and giggled then crackled.
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It was the beginning of July that Petunia all but ordered her husband to take their son on a weeklong father-son fishing trip, to strengthen the bond before the babe came. The house was to be shown that week and to make sure that everything remained picture perfect she had decided that the entire family be absent from the property. The weeks prior had her nephew cleaning the house from the attic to the mudroom, and packing away the family valuables under her careful eye. It was a great deal more then she normally would have given the boy, but being pregnant and all gave her the perfect reasoning to let him do it all.
While her boys went off on their bonding trip, Petunia and Harry headed into London for the first night. She left the boy in the hotel room and drove into the poorer part of the city to an old run down park. The week before she had visited the orphanage for the last time and had told the young boy to meet her at the park that evening. She knew he would show, just as he had showed for all the times before as she built up his trust and whittled down his sanity. Sure enough just shy of 5 till 11pm, a small scrawny boy with caramel skin, forest green eyes, and black hair floated into the park and moved to sit down next to her. She smiled at him, confirmed with the boy that no one had noticed his disappearance, and invited him to come sit in the back seat of the car while she fished out the cookies and strawberry milk she had brought for him, wasn't he so special!
Little Leo was excited. He'd never had strawberry milk before, all the milk at the orphanage was powdery and watery tasting, but this, this was sweet, the sweetest he had ever had and he savored it even as the nice lady, Aunt Petunia she told him to call him, encouraged him to drink it all. He did in the end once he was promised another, but by that time sleep was heavy on his eyes and he quickly fell into drug induced slumber and dreamed of a soft bed and sweet milk and a woman humming softly.
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The next morning was a rush of activity as Harry was introduced and correspondingly traumatized with the experience of his (from his point of view at least) contently mood swinging aunt taking him on a shopping marathon for the first time in his young life. From picking up an assortment of canned and nonperishables as well as cleaning products from several corner shops to stopping into two different thrift shops to pick up a substantial pile of clothes and shoes for all seasons that would be sure to last Harry, for none of the articles would fit Dudley, several years. Bolstered by the apparent generosity, Harry begged for some of the more jeweled colored bright shirts, eyeing the bright orange and green in particular, and in the end a pair of shirts in those colors made it into the basket. The greatest surprise thou was when Petunia purchased two pairs of perception glasses. One wired rimed and fragile looking, the other sturdy and flexible with, as advertised, shatterproof glass. He wasn't sure what was happening at that point, and given the past behavior of his hot n cold again Aunt, felt an ominous sense of dread in the back of his gut.
It was late in the afternoon by the time Petunia determined that she was done, and so after having Harry load up the back seat while she secured her baggage in the boot, they headed out of London, north towards the Midlands. It was a silent ride except for the occasional humming and giggling from the driver. No word was given and no question was asked about their final destinations, but it hung heavy in the air. It wasn't till just over three hours into their silent vigil though the county side, that Petunia pulled off into the small but dreary town of Cokeworth, and checked them into the Railview Hotel for the next few nights that Harry knew they had arrived.
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It felt odd to Petunia, to be a visitor in her own hometown. It was the first time she'd set foot here after vowing to never again at her parents funeral. She didn't like it, she hated being reminded of her oh so humble beginnings. Of hard times, of doing without, of her family whole and happy, before her baby sister was stolen away from her and corrupted. Vernon had been her ticket away from this… this hole in the ground town with its mills and its ash coked air. Even looking out of the window of the rented hotel room she could see the filth that littered the town. The once bustling train yard that brought in work and took away the finished goods from the mills was old and decrepit no, the river looked even dirtier than her memories of it, and she knew the old park where she and Lily played in as children was nothing but an empty lot now. How utterly depressing, and she hadn't even begun what she was here to do. Turing away from the dirty window, she glanced dispassionately at the two young boys laying on the second bed, both breathing softly in their drugged sleep, before she resumed packing away the days purchases.
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It was a distinctly unsettling feeling to wake up to your own sleeping face, and Harry would blame the shock as well as his hazy brain failing to process the boy in front of him for the kick that sent them both tumbling off the bed. Which elicited crying from his doppelganger and a rush of concern and hushing and cooing from his aunt. A situation that rightfully unsettled him because Aunt Petunia had never acted that way towards him and he would have sworn that the boy in her arms could have been his twin…. That was a thought. Did he have a TWIN?! Was that what this was all about? Confused and unsettled he watched as Petunia rocked his twin and told him to fetch the strawberry milk from the small cooler in the corner, which he did before continuing to watch the boy drink it, and then fall back into a deep sleep. After she finished tucking the stranger into the bed, she motioned to the pile of luggage and shopping sacks in the corner and ordered Harry to go pack them into the car.
This car ride was much more informative as Petunia drove around the town, pointing out this or that landmark telling Harry about the town she and his mother had grown up in. Anxious to learn anything about his parents, Harry soaked it up greedily, ventured to ask about the house they lived in. "Burnt down it was when my parents died, shame too, I was to inherit a good deal of furniture and jewelry. Lost, gone in the inferno." was the bitter reply from Petunia, but was oh so willing to point out the lot though as they pasted it by. Eventual the meandering drive came to a end as Petunia turned into the local graveyard aways from the town. Crawing down the overgrown path till there was no other option but to walk, she grabbed a few bags and motioned for Harry to do the same, before marching further in.
When she stopped infront of a medium sized mausoleum she waited until Harry caught up to her before she begain to speak.
"This is the Evens family mausoleum. It has been the final resting place for our family for generations. We were here long before the trains and the mills were built, we worked this land, bleed on this land, served the lords of old that ruled here, and were buried in this land. For the servaces of our ansestors we were given our own mausoleum and have ever since then returned here. You may be a Potter, and deserve a grave in a potter's field for all that I care, but there has always been an Evens responsible for this plot and I have no desire to tie myself or my children here." She turned to face Harry as she whispered , "Lily should have been buried here, not in some cold uncaring grave."
"You will remain here with your blood family," the lock opened to the key in her hand;
"You will work to preserve this house of the dead" bags dropped into the corner as Harry followed hesitantly into the building
"You will bleed" she all but tackled her nephew, holding him down firmly as she withdrew an old knife and proceeded to carve a line up his cheek, skimmed over his eye, and tore through the lightning bolt above his eye before she stood up.
"You will keep your freakishness here" she sneered before staking over to her large purse and pulled out a small green book, opening it to a pre-marked page and intoning with obvious distaste. "By the blood spilled I claim you as an Evens, blood of my sister's blood unclaimed by his father's. I, last of my generation, last of the line bind you to uphold our traditions and responsibilities. Congratulations Harrier James Evens, you are the new head of the Evens family. Make sure to gather the rest of the bags from where the cars was parked, and don't darken my doorstep again" The walls glow briefly as she dropped the book, grabbed her bag and exited. As she walked away with a smile on her face all she could hear was screaming.
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Petunia arrived back at the hotel with a lighter heart, no longer was she burdened with the shades of her past, no-sir she was walking on air. The little orhaphen was still fast asleep and just ready for the molding! She picked him up and carried him to the tub. Best get the unpleasentries done now while he was sleeping. The knife still slick with the freaks blood made quick work in carving an identical lightening scare on the boy's forehead. Some clumbsy stiching later and then all she had to do was spend the rest of the week forming him into exactly what she wanted. With the boy put away into a comfy sanatorium with the help from Dr. Smith she would be safe from scrutiny in both worlds. Those magical freaks couldn't judge her, she made sure that the boy was living with blood, she followed her instruction to the T and besides it wasn't like she had ever agreed to anything.
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In Scotland an old busybody noticed that several of his trinkets ceased to function, and wondered why it had taken so long. After all, blood wards were built on love, but perhaps the magnitude of Lily's sacrifice took time to finally run out due to the lack of love of family. It mattered not. His tool was being kneaded with strife and toiles to prepare him for future molding.
Months later as Petunia held her beautiful perfect daughter in her arms, she vowed that nothing would take this away from her.
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Notes:
Originally I was just going to have Petunia pretend to be pregnant, but then I thought why pass up on opportunities of future Karma? It might not have been part of her initial plan, but she is nothing if not adaptable. She would have been a Slytheran that Voldy would have loved to have as a follower.
As for why she doesn't just send him to the loony bin or move before now, remember that she is being paranoid. She would have loved to have gotten rid of Harry as soon as he was left with her, but the warning of the blood wards and his likely return to them if they tried to get rid of him makes her plan. With all the records on the muggle side, and a living body in his place it's a lot harder for anyone to force Harry back, because 'Harry' never left. She has effectively destroyed his ability to be official in the non-magical world. This will cause issues for several people latter.
Villains do things to make themselves happy or to better themselves. If they aren't happy with what they are doing, or what they are doing is causing them harm, they will fight to get what they want regardless of the cost to others. Petunia is dare I say happy in the chapter, because she is getting rid of what she sees as a treat to her family and the ideal life.