Chater 7 The Holidays/Tree Time!

A Few Months Later

It has been a few months since his aunt and uncle told him the truth about his parents. At first it really scared him to think that the one who murdered his parents could come back but now he realizes that it is just something that happened. He still misses his parents though and no matter what he knows he always will.

The little boy in question is just waking up. As he opens his eyes and looks down at the time before making the decision to get up. "Breakfast time..." he says softly and then he pushes his covers up and sits up. The sound of his aunt coming up the stairs fills his ears.

As she opens the door she looks in to see him sitting up on his bed. "Get ready and come down stairs Harry. Its time to eat." she smiles a bit "Then after we are have to go and look for a Christmas tree." Yes it was already getting close to the holidays. It was one of the times that the boys both always loved and Vernon and Petunia did try and make it special for them.

Smiling he looks at his aunt and nods. "Coming!" He gets up quickly and grabs a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Yes there were somedays he wore them. Gettign dressed as fast as he can he walks down the stairs quickly. Christmas has always been his favorite time of year and he really did like the part of decorating the tree. As he sits down he notices that Dudley is already there and that he had just started to eat.

"Morning Harry!" He says excidetly. Yes, he was excited for the tree shopping as well. They both love it and look forward to it every year. "Mom I want a big tree!" he smiles and looks at her.

She laughs a bit "well, we will see. It has to be small enough to fit the house." she smiles as she places a plate of pancakes in front of Harry.

"Aww...but big trees are cool mom!" He frowns a little.

"Dud,even if we do get a smaller tree it will look good once its decorated!" He takes a bite of his pancakes and drinks some of his apple juice to wash it down.

"Yea maybe so. I just can not wait to go and get one!"

She sits down to eat her breakfast and laughs a litle. "Well boys if you want to go and get a tree I say you should finish your breakfast. The sooner you finish the faster we can go." She knew that would get them eating faster.

Both boys look at eachother and start eating instead of talking. They were being careful not to eat too fast though. They knew they would get told to slow down if they ate too fast. Once it got quiet and both of them were eating it really did not take too long for both of them to finish.

As they finish she grabbed up both boys plates. "Boh of you go and get on your shoes." she puts the plates into the sink and grabs the keys. She knew that Vernon usually drives but she did at times she had too take the boys somewhere and right now Vernon was at work and would be for the next few days so she knew she woul dhave to be the one to drive.

Harry and Dudley both run up the stairs to their rooms to put on their shoes. It only took about a minute with them or so it seemed that way. "Well that was fast." she walks with both of them out the door and smiles when they literally jump into the back seat. she loved the moments like this when it came to both of them.

They drove for what seemed like a long time to both boys when really it was only thirty minutes. "That took forever!" Dudley says as he looks out the window.

"It was only 30 minutes Dudley." she says as she laughs a bit. she walks over and opens the door.

"It did feel longer." Harry says softly as he gets out behind dudley.

They each grab one of petunias hands as she has always told them to stay with her so that they did not get lost. "Now, lets see what we can find." she says as she walks with them over to the trees. She knew that she could always get a fake one and most did with small children. Only she loved the smell of pine that filled the house and knew the boys had a good time looking through them. So to her just seing them smile is worth it.

"Aunt Petunia what about this one?" Harry says pointing to a pretty nice sized tree.

She looks to it for a moment. "That one is the right size but can you try to find one that is a bit more full?" she looks down to him and smiles.

"oh...yes!" he looks around for another one trying to find the right one.

Dudley was doing the same. "Mom what about that tree over there?" He points to a tree that was off at a distance but it really was a nice tree. It was even full like she wanted.

She walks with both of them to see the one Dudley picked. "Oh! your right this one is a nice tree." Looking down to Harry and she smiles at his face. "What do you think Harry? Do you like this one as well?"

"YES!" He says rather loudly and was bouncing a bit on the balls of his feet. a smile on his face.

The man who owned the tree lot looks over as they find the true and laughs a bit at both boys and how excited they are. He walks over there to them after a moment. "Hello,Is this the tree that you would like to purchase?" He asks petunia as he knew the boys seem to really like it. It was a nice choice he thought as he looks to it.

She looks to the man and nods a little. "Yes,this is the one." She knew it was a bit bigger than she would have liked but not by much. Plus,it is not often that both boys actually agree on one tree. She thought on that for a moment:

Flashback

A few years ago when both boys were about 5 they had went shopping for the tree much like they are now. Only it did not go as smoothly.

"Mom, I like this one!"

"No Dudley! This one is better! That tree is too small!"

"Is Not!" He looks to his then Harry's "Well I like mine better than yours!" He sticks his tounge out at Harry.

"well I like this one!" He stomps his foot a little as he was pretty insistant that this tree was the one they should get.

She shakes her head a bit at both of them. "Harry, Dudley! They are both nice trees but we need to find one that we all like."

He pouts and looks to his aunt "But Aunt Tuney, Dudley likes all the yucky trees!"

"Is not a yucky tree!" He says determined to prove his cousin wrong.

she looks to both of them and then to their trees and sighs a little. They were both nice trees but she knew that 5 year olds would disagree every now and then. looking around she spots one that was somewhat in the middle of both of the trees they picked. she smiles a little and looks down to both of them. "What do you two say about that tree over there? It is a good tree and it looks a little like both of your trees put together." she says as she looks down to see their faces. She really was hoping this would work as she wanted the boys to like the tree they got.

They both look to it then to eachother almost as if they are deciding rather or not they like it. She waits for them to decide, she always had found it interesting how they seem to be able to just look at eachother and decide stuff. She remembered when she was younger her and Lily wer ethe same. They had been so close and she hoped more than anything that Harry and Dudley always would be. "So, what have we decided?" she look down to them as they both looked up at her.

"We like that one Aunt Tuney!" He smiles a little.

"Yeah, can we get that one!" Dudley says as he looks up to her. "Pleaase?" He really was a different child than when Harry came to live with them. Before that he had started to become rather spoiled but now he was anything but.

"Yes, we can get that one. We just have to get someone to help us load it up." she says as she smiles to both of them. she loved seeing both boys happy and they did seem to like the tree. It was a good choice she thought as she walked off with them to find the one who ran the lot.

End Flasback

She shakes her head a bit coming out of the memory and looks down to both of them who were talking quietly. she looks to the man who was standing there. "Do you think that you could help us get it to the car?" She knew she would need help with it when it came to getting it there. There were a few neighbors she could ask to help her get it into the house. There were some that had always been helpful when it came to helping her with things.

"Yes, of course,I would be Happy too." He walks off rather quickly and gets a rope to tie it with. They always kept extra rope around the lot just incase someone came that did not have any to use. He walks back over and picks up the tree. "Just walk over to the car that is yours and I will take care of it."

she nods a little "Come on boys lets get to the car so that he can get the tree tied for us."

"Then we can decorate it!" Harry says excidetly, his green eyes shining so brightly.

"Yes,but we have to get it home first." She says as she smiles and ruffles his hair a little.

She takes both of their hands and walks to where she parked the car. It was not too far of a walk which she was glad off. It was getting close to lunch time and she knew that she would need to get the tree and make some lunch before they could decorate it. "Here we are." she says after a moment as she looks to the man with the tree.

He nods a little and puts the tree up top and starts to tie it down. It did not take him too long as he had gotten pretty used to doing this sort of thing over the years. "There we go Ma'am. I hope you all have a nice day" He said to her as she handed him the amount for the tree.

"we will thank you,I hope you have a good day also. As well as a Happy Christmas." she smiles a little and unlocks the door helping the boys get in and settled. She looks over to see the man had went back to some of the other customers as she gets in and starts the car. she looks back to the boys. "Are you both okay?"

"Aunt Tuney, I'm hungry." he said softly but she could hear him.

She smiles a little as she backs out and gets back onto the road. "I know Harry,we will eat some lunch once we get home. Then after we can start to decorate the tree."

"Okay!" He swings his legs a little and turns to look out the windwon.

She smiles lightly and looks in the mirror to see dudley falling asleep. She knew that once they get to the house he would more than likely be wide awake. It only took a few minutes to get there since the lot was not too far from where they lived. "Harry,Dudley,we are home." she says as she stops the car and turns it off.

"Okay Aunt Tuney!" He says happily.

"Go ahead and get out and wait for me at the door. I will wake up Dudley."

"Okay!" He gets out and runs up the driveway stopping at the door. He was literally bouncing up and down. Or it seemed that way anyway to someone passing by.

She gets out and walks around to the back. She shakes Dudley lightly "Dudley,get up sweetheart. we are home."

He stretches a little and opens his eyes to look at her. "Ok Mom" He yawns a little as his stomach let out a growl.

She laughs a little "Go ahead and stand by Harry and we can get something to eat before we decorate."

He nods and then just like Harry he gets out and literally runs up to the steps.

She shakes her head a little at them as she shuts he door to the car. As she looks over she sees one of the neighbors walk up. "Hello Mr. Johnson" she said politely.

"Hello Petunia,will you be needing help with getting the tree in? I was just outside shoveling some of the snow and saw you pull up." he smiles and waits for her answer. He always tried to help the neighbors whenever he could.

"Yes please,that would be so much help if you could." she says as she looks back over to see the boys still standing there talking to eachother.

he nods a little after that. "Not a problem at all." He says as he walks over to the car and un-ties the tree. He picks it up and looks to her "Go ahead and walk ahead of me and get the boys in and then I will come in behind you carrying it." she nods a bit and walks over quickly to where they boys were and walks them into the house. She has them sit on the couch so they are not in the way of him bringing the tree in or anything.

He waits for her to walk in and get them settled before walking himself. "Ok did you want it there?" He points to a spot that looked as if it had been cleaned out earlier in the day.

She looks to where he was pointing and nods. "Yes that would be it." she says as she moves over so he can put it there.

He walks over and places the tree in the stand that was sitting in on the floor. After making sure it was filled with water he stands up. "There you go." He looks to her as he stands up. "is there anything else you needed help with?"

She shakes her head a little "No that is all for now. Thank you though for helping. It may have been a bit hard for me to get such a big tree in here on my own."

"Happy to help" He says as he walks off with her to the door and then out. Heading back to finish the shoveling that he was doing before.

She shuts the door after he walked out and looks over to see both Dudley and Harry sitting on the couch. She walks over and kneels down to both of them "Ready for some lunch?" she asks them after a moment. They both nod and quickly get up literally running to the kitchen. She could not help but laugh a little. Yep they were obviously hungry she thought as she walks into the kitchen. She thinks of what to make then just decides on something simple since they both were obviously excited to decorate. She grabs the stuff for sandwiches and walks over to make them one. She made dudley a ham and cheese with mayo since that was his favorite. Then for Harry she made him a turkey and cheese with Mayo since he has always liked it the best along with a bit of lettuce for him as well. She never really has had a hard time getting them to eat the vegetables.

She finished making both of them and walks over placing the plates in front of each of them. "Okay,both of you sit here and eat." she starts to walk off before she looks back to see dudley eating really fast. she sighs a little,he always seems to not want to take his time. "Dudley not so fast! Slow down! You don't want to choke!" she reprimends him. She never really has had to raise her voice much with either of them as they were both very well behaved most of the time. She walks over to the sandwich stuff and makes one for herself before putting up the stuff and walking to the table to eat with them.

About 30 Minutes Later

Once both of them finished eating she gathers the plates and places them in the sink and decided to wash them later as she knew she would have time once the boys went to play. "Ok are you both ready?" she says as she looks to both of them. Pleased as she sees a smile on both of their faces.

"Yes! Lets go Dudley!" Hare says as he grabs dudleys hand and pulls him to the living room.

"Okay!" he walks with him or almost ran actually.

She walks into the living room after them and pulls over the box that had the decorations on it. "Ok lets get started then." she says as she grabs the lights and begins to place them on the tree. At one time she would always need to ask for Vernon's help but over the years she has gotten rather good at it. "Okay" she says after a few minutes. "Hand me an ortament that you both want on the tree and we can puit it on."

Harry looks in the box and pulls out a bulb that had a picture on it. He gasps a little and smiles. "Aunt Tuney can we put this one on there!" He says as he runs up to hand it to her.

She looks down and takes the bulb he had. she smiles and nods as she sees that it was bulb her sister had made and sent to her. It was a family photo of Harry,James and Lily that was on the bulb. It was not one that moved though like the wizarding pictures do. "Where do you want to hang it?" She asks him as she looks down.

"Hmm...Right there!" He points to a spot in the middle of the tree right in the front.

"Good choice Harry,then you can see it easily from the couch." she says as she smiles a little and places it in the spot he picked.

He smiles brightly and runs over to look through the box again. Dudley had found one of him and Harry and runs over to the tree. "this one mom!."

she laughs a little as she takes it and places it where he picked out. It took them about 20 minutes to finish the tree. As she stands back she looks at it then to the top. "Would one of you like to put the star on?" she asks as she looks to both boys.

"I put it on there last year mom, It's Harry's turn!"

"I want to!" he runs up to his aunt as she picks him up and hands it to him. he looks up and pulls the branch down a bit and places it on there.

"Good job Harry!" she says as she puts him down and kisses the top of his head. she walks over and turns off the lights in the kitchen so they could see it better.

"It looks really good!" Dudley says as his mom comes back in.

"Yeah I like i t too!"

"you know what boys? your right it did turn out well." she looks at it before looking to both of them. "Now, what do you say about going to the playroom for a little while to play?" They both look at eachother and run upstairs to the playroom. she smiles a little and walks to the kictcen to start cleaning up. She thought altogether it had been a pretty good day.

Crescentmoon12: Thanks for the suggestion with the flashbacks. I put one in here and it works well I think in some parts.