A million thank you's go out to all of those who read, followed and favorited this story. A special and humbled thank you goes out to the 13 people who reviewed the last chapter, my biggest record yet! I was so thrilled to read your wonderful praises and words of encouragement and though this chapter is a lot shorter than the last, I hope the much-anticipated tea between Petunia and Harry meet your expectations!
Petunia sat with ankles crossed and purse neatly perched on her lap on the comfortable leather armchair of her nephew's living room. Harry had gone inside to fix them the tea and his boys had been polite, but eager to go upstairs to play with their toys, leaving Petunia alone in the room. The floor was of a rich dark wood which contrasted pleasantly with the not too dark blue-gray of the walls. The armchair Petunia was sitting on was to the right of the large brick fireplace full of picture frames and one or two decorative books on the mantelpiece. The larger sofa was of a light beige suede, with throw pillows in different patterns, but all within the blue, gray, white and brown tones of the living room. The side table next to her was round and antique, with a small lamp and a book her nephew was probably in the middle of. She figured this was his favorite seat and he had invited her to sit in it instead.
From where she sat Petunia could perfectly gaze at the images in the picture frames and easily recognized Harry and his sons in several of them. There was one slightly larger photograph of him with three other friends, the redhead she recognized and so did she recognize the young woman with light brown hair and wild bushy curls, smiling up at the boys. Next to her was a slightly more petite young woman with pale skin and hair, as well as clear blue eyes, also smiling. She wore funny looking bottle caps for a necklace and just like the other girl wore dark robes, each of them holding what looked like a graduation diploma. The photograph next to that one almost break Petunia's heart, for it was slightly burned around the edges and warn out from the years, but she would recognize the face of her sister Lily anywhere. Lily was smiling as well, a crown of yellow and white wildflowers on her head as she and her bespectacled husband both looked down with adoration at the peaceful sleeping infant in their arms, in his christening gown. Petunia perfectly remembered the day this had been taken, Harry had been just two months old...
She heard some shuffling and the clatter of china in the other room and soon enough her nephew reappeared from inside. When she turned to look at him Petunia almost expected an older Lily to appear along with him, as it seemed everything about this house reminded Petunia of her.
Harry moved the newspaper and some books off of the coffee table and placed the silver platter on top. He and Petunia served themselves in silence and she took in the aroma of the chamomile tea, blowing ever so slightly before taking a sip.
"It's lovely, Harry, thank you." She whispered, feeling suddenly very awkward with his presence. It amazed her how they could be such strangers when she had after all raised him from the time he was one until he left for the war at seventeen. But Petunia knew very well that this was her doing, her own fault—everything could have been different if she hadn't been so blinded by her anger, fear, and bitterness. She quite frankly felt disgusted at herself and Vernon too, but mostly herself. She was Harry's aunt by blood, there were no excuses. Petunia sighed heavily and her eyes focused on the image of her sister in that photograph once again, she shook her head softly and lowered her eyes towards the teacup and saucer on her lap. "You know, I half expected Lily to round the corner and appear... She lived here, didn't she, once?" Harry's eyes widened slightly because never once had he heard his aunt pronounce his mother's name, either way, he nodded.
"She did, this is where it all happened..." He didn't even need to tell her what, Petunia could feel the presence and energy of his mother among these very walls. "I rebuilt it, took me almost two years."
"It's lovely, she would have been proud." Petunia took another sip. She noticed as his shoulders slightly tensed at her words. "I mean it you know, she would be. Not just for the house but for winning that crazy war, taking down that monster who killed her and also, those handsome boys of yours," Harry could hardly fathom her words, he'd never heard anything good or positive coming out of her lips when concerning himself. "Don't look at me like I'm some three-headed beast, Harry Potter." She scolded with a frown realizing the shock and disbelief written all over his face. "I never told you any of this, but I'm proud of you too—for being good and for your strength. You are a good person." Her tone had been very matter-of-factually that he wouldn't for the life of him debate the matter with her. Aunt Petunia had a peculiar way of looking and sounding cross even when she was saying something entirely nice and complimentary. Still, her words barely echoed in his brain and a sudden anger overcame him, his green eyes becoming more intense and his jaw tensing. How dare she say those things to him, be so kind? Why was she doing this to Harry after having been so cruel to him during all the years he had lived under her roof. What was Petunia Dursley playing at, why was she suddenly saying to him all these things that deep down he'd always wanted to hear from her?!
"Why on Earth are you telling me these things, Aunt Petunia?" He said, with a deep frown on his face, forehead creased, hands balled into fists. She wasn't blind to the fact that he became so defensive.
"Why? Why?!" She repeated, unconsciously raising her voice, setting her teacup and saucer forcefully on top of the platter again, almost breaking, and looking deep into his green eyes, her own brown eyes in a glare.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia, why?" They glared at each other for a long moment before he saw her pride falter in the look of her eyes and the corner of her lips twitch. And then she finally spoke, her tone of voice high and full of emotions that had been pent up for too long:
"Because I'm a bloody idiot, Harry Potter, that's what I am! And we both know I was a disgraceful aunt, hell, who was Voldy-mort or whatever next to Petunia Dursley?" She said this all loudly, an outburst full of rage and deep contempt, not directed at her nephew, Harry realized, but towards herself. She ran her fingers madly through her hair, in nervousness and frustration because she was losing her cool in front of him. "I'm telling you all of this, boy, because I never said it before, even if I really, really wanted to." Her voice became low again and he watched as he thin lips began to tremble. "I-I, I didn't know how..." Her voice broke and a sob escaped her lips. "Because I ruined everything with you, Harry, I kept you in a bloody cupboard for crying out loud, who does that, Harry?!" She questioned, and then wiped angry tears away with the back of her hands, inhaling deeply in an attempt to control the crying. "I did that, Harry, I did that to you and it kills me now to have been so cruel. There's not a day that goes by where the memories don't flood in and I feel disgusted and embarrassed with myself."
Harry watched her with alarm, not knowing what to do, having never expected his aunt to ever admit her wrongs, never mind feel bad about them.
"Aunt Petunia, please drink more tea, it'll calm you down," Harry suggested with a whisper, pouring more into her teacup and stirring the sugar in, no milk as he remembered she preferred it, before offering it to her. She gladly accepted, with shaking hands, and after a few minutes of silence she began to calm down, cheeks red from both crying and remorse.
…
Two hours later they were still seated in the living room and drinking their second kettle of tea along with tuna sandwiches he prepared for them in a haste. Harry had wisely directed their conversation to his sons, marriage, parenthood and his divorce rather than towards his and Aunt Petunia's difficult history. They were both much more at ease by now and Aunt Petunia had even slid off her shoes for greater comfort as he regaled her with stories of his sons' antics or those of Teddy, his godson, who was now in Hogwarts himself. It was Harry who talked more while she listened, devoting all of her attention to him. She had even chuckled or smiled at some stories and there was a barely-there twinkle in her brown eyes. Seeing her looking so comfortable in his presence, after their emotional foray hours earlier, Harry gathered the courage to request something that he'd always desired to ask her:
"Aunt Petunia, if you don't mind—could you tell me a story of you and my mum, what your family was like?" Petunia seemed to hesitate for a moment, but in a split second, she was reaching for her wicker bag perched next to the armchair she sat in. She pulled out her long wallet and opened it, revealing an old folded photograph from inside. Petunia carefully held it out to show him.
Harry couldn't believe what he saw when he lay his eyes upon it—two little girls, one dark haired and taller and the other a ginger, smiling hugely, each one with a giant cotton candy in hand. The man who looked to be their father dressed elegantly in a suit sitting at the edge of the bench next to little Petunia, while their mother who had big, puffy brown hair in a typical 1960's fashion sat on little Lily's side. In the background were the grass and trees of a park and in the distance a large Ferris-wheel in what looked like an amusement park.
"That's your mum and I when we were little, I was eight and she was six years old, ever so clever. That's our mother, Camellia, she and our father, Henry, you're named after him in a way, died two years before you and Dudley were born, victims of a dreadful car accident. I thought I would never recover from the pain... and that's when I met your uncle Vernon. He helped me through my grief, I suppose, and right after came your cousin... I reckon it was always meant to be him."
"I realize that before now, I never knew their names or anything about them, not even how they looked..." Harry admitted, his emerald eyes locking with those of his aunt's, the old photograph still in his hands. Petunia noticed the glimmer of emotion in his eyes.
"It wasn't just you—Dudley didn't know either, it's my fault. I preferred to pretend they never existed than to have to be reminded of our good moments together and feel all of that pain again." Harry nodded in a way understanding her reason. "Your mother got the ginger hair from our father's side, his parents were Irish, didn't come from money, worked in the factories and even the coal mines as children during the war. My mother, on the other hand, came from a more posh upbringing, she was the daughter of a Lord, but when she told her parents she wanted to marry Henry Evans—oh Harry, they told her they'd disinherit and she was so in love that she did it anyway and never saw her parents again. Lily was like her, passionate, idealistic, brave..." Petunia trailed off and Harry caught her staring once again at the picture of Lily Evans Potter on the mantelpiece.
For Harry, it was shocking to see his aunt so civil towards him, so open and emotional. He truly felt a different sort of energy emanating from her, as though she was an almost entirely different person than the one he'd known and who had terrorized him all of his early life. He felt that Aunt Petunia seemed to have changed for the better and it intrigued him as to why. Perhaps this change in her had been caused by the death of Vernon Dursley, or the maturity of her years, maybe it had been a result of Dudley and Abigail's sudden and tragic deaths that made her reevaluate things... Still, it was so very strange for him, how changed she was, almost as though it was the fruit of a spell, side effects of which would melt away in a few hours, revealing the nasty woman she truly and sincerely was.
His ears caught the sound of his two sons bickering all the way upstairs, toys crashing on the wooden floorboards. In a flash he heard Albus stomping down the stairs, arms crossed angrily across his chest, brows furrowed and wearing a deep pout. Behind him came James, looking every bit annoyed with his younger brother and Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes at their antics, it had taken them long enough.
Petunia looked at the boys and seeing that her nephew would certainly be making use of his parental authority, checked the small wristwatch on her hand, eyes widening as she looked at the time, it was nearly 5 o'clock already!
"Dad, James won't let me play with him!" Albus cried out feeling every bit wronged.
"Oh, Lord have mercy..." Harry then heard Petunia grumble, brows furrowing quite like Albus', and Harry was shocked to see a shadow of resemblance between his son and aunt, in posture and mannerism. "Harry, I'm afraid I must go, I have to catch the last train to London. My granddaughter is with Mr. Temple and I still have to fetch her before heading home..." She explained very quickly, slipping her shoes back on as she stood and immediately grabbing for her bag, making sure all of her things were rightfully inside, almost oblivious to the little boys who fought for their dad's attention.
"Dad, Albus will ruin my broom and it was a birthday gift from Mum!" James cried back, huffing, he too crossing his arms over his chest with defiance and ignoring the older female relative next to him.
"Harry..." Aunt Petunia insisted, trying to capture his attention and Harry's head turned quickly away from the boys' complaints towards his impatient aunt.
"Boys, that's enough. Please be nice and say goodbye to your Aunt Petunia, she's on her way back home." The boys frowned but obeyed, each one extending a polite right hand for the strange aunt they had just met to shake.
"Goodbye, Aunt Petunia," they said in unison and she surprised Harry by smiling brightly and ruffling each of their heads of raven hair and patting their shoulders warmly.
"It was a pleasure to meet you James and Albus, even if we weren't able to get to know each other very much. Aunt Petunia will bring you cookies next time, what do you think?" She looked up at her astounded nephew expectantly and to be perfectly honest Harry was dumbfounded she was even suggesting a second visit between them.
"Oh, please bring cinnamon cookies and also ginger cookies as well!" Albus cried out, now much more interested in the older woman. James elbowed him in silent disapproval and Albus turned at him sticking the tip of his tongue out.
"Of course I will, Albus, if your father allows." Petunia's and the little boy's green eyes looked up to Harry expectantly, Albus' anger had dissipated at the thought of falling into the good graces of this new aunt and the prospect of his favorite treats. Petunia was surprised with herself for feeling this strange pull in her heart, an actual desire to see Harry and his sons again.
"How are you getting to the station?" Harry asked as they reached the door and his aunt's eyes widened, cheeks turning red. Outside the sun was beginning to set.
"Oh, well, usually I call for a cab..." She explained and then fished for her phone inside her purse. She had a very useful app on it and slowly typed in her destination and then Harry's address as he said it to her. The children stayed inside as Petunia stood in front of the house gate with Harry, both quiet and appreciating the shades of orange and bright pink in the sky. The black taxi cab pulled up in front of Potter Cottage in just five minutes and Harry opened the backseat door for his aunt.
"Thank you for tea, Harry." She said with a shadow of a smile, brown eyes twinkling despite the roller-coast of emotions she had experienced in just one day. She wondered if this all had been in a way Lily's doing.
"Don't be a stranger, Aunt Petunia. Would be great if we could meet again." She nodded and pulled the car door closed. The driver pulled away and he caught her waving goodbye to him from inside the dark windows. He waved back and when the cab turned left and disappeared from Harry's line of vision, he buried each hand in a pant pocket and made his way back home. What an utterly crazy day this had been...
Please leave a review on your way out guys, let me know what you thought of Harry and Petunia's meeting!
Hermione will return next chapter!
