Ok folks, here is the second installment of part II. We get to see Petunia's POV. If I haven't addressed anything and you have a question or comment about it, please leave a review or PM me.

I had a reviewer point out that I left the last chapter at a bad point. I'm afraid that this chapter won't really answer any questions about Harry, but rest assured that we will get to it. I will either have another chapter or an interlude for the next installment and we will continue to trudge onward. I'm getting there. I just have limited time to work on anything at the moment.

Thank you to Dr. Strange and Aealket for the feed-back on the last chapter. It was appreciated. I don't really mean to disguise anything specific. Basically I only like to use what a character would know as they experience it. The only one who 'knows' what is going on was Lily and dead men tell no tales-so to speak. But there is a plan in the works for that too and it is coming. The converging point for the entire story was the very first story I wrote, which was from Sirius's POV during the summer after 5th year where he lived instead of died. Those stories will actually be worked into this one very soon.

I hope the chapter doesn't disappoint.

Disclaimer: Not mine, I just enjoy playing with the characters.

Chapter 2

Petunia's POV

I watched the kids head off with a small frown, something niggling at the back of my mind. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but it was familiar. We'd left the building first, but I'd stopped to make sure they were heading out okay. Jasmine had stopped when she realized that I wasn't moving, her expression not changing from the slightly annoyed look that she usually held after interacting with Harry for any period of time. She still refused to explain what that was about and Harry wasn't able to enlighten me so I just let it go for now, I'd get it out of the woman one of these days, sooner rather than later preferably.

I was abruptly interrupted from my musings when she said, "They'll be fine. Let's go. I'd rather not be late. I have things to do this afternoon before dinner."

"Fine," I murmured as we walked off. I buried the worried feeling for now. I could just be overacting. Harry accused me of it frequently, but it was my job to worry and worry I did. I just didn't think I was. Something was going to happen, something that I don't think Luna saw or maybe she did, one didn't know with her.

Jasmine and I had an odd relationship. We were amiable towards each other but we would never be bosom buddies. More often than not, I wanted to strangle the distant woman, the only thing stopping me was Luna. Luna loved her mother and that was very apparent and I knew she looked forward to the weekends when the kids stayed over so I bit my tongue. There was no need to antagonize her today. There were too many other things to do.

We walked along the path to Hogwarts in silence. Walking, I realized part of the uneasy feeling was that I wanted my gun. It made me uneasy walking into the lion's den so to speak, where everyone else was armed but I, the supposed muggle would have been seen as aggressive had I brought my own weapon. I'd have to get Harry to be-spell it so I could carry it more often. I still had a couple of knifes on my person but having my rifle would go a long way in making me feel a little safer…a little more in control of the events around me.

I trusted Jasmine enough to have my back, but again that trust only went so far. She wasn't a fighter; she was a tinker and an experimenter. She worked in a lab and since the accident she wasn't as fast as she once was. She's not healed completely and had a permanent limp because of it, there were no physical scars, but the internal muscle damage would be with her for life. She'd be able to throw up a shield and keep it going, something I only knew because Harry had decided to test it once and to this day I still don't know what had brought that on, all I knew was that I'd come to pick the kids up and Luna had rushed to meet me and told me not to worry-that nothing was actually wrong. I was then stunned by the sight of my nephew throwing spell after spell at Jasmine. I'd asked Luna how long that had been going on and she'd proudly answered 10 minutes. The barrage of spells went on for a few more minutes and then as if by silent agreement he stopped and she released the shield spell. They both appeared satisfied and I had just rubbed my temples in frustration, muttering curse words under my breath. Luna laughed at me and gave me a quick hug before she went back to Harry's side. It'd only been a couple of months ago and the whole thing still gave me a headache.

I let out a sigh and Jasmine turned my way. She looked like she was going to say something, but stopped herself, her expression back to her normal neutral look. We continued walking in silence until I felt an odd sensation. It felt like something was trying to repel me away and I stopped. It took me a moment to fight the sensation off and Jasmine continued to the gates that kept flickering as if they weren't really there. I frowned in confusion and then slapped my forehead. I was an idiot.

"Jasmine, I need you to come back here for a moment."

"Why?" She turned around and gave me an expressionless look. It should have been creepy but it was the look I usually got from her, so it barely even phased me.

"The muggle repelling charms are trying to take effect and I'm having a hell of a time sorting it out." I wanted to cringe as I said the next bit, "You are going to have to hold my hand. My innate magic will latch on to yours and I'll be able to get pass the gates, otherwise I won't be able to enter the enchantments."

She frowned, I could tell that she didn't like the thought any better than I did and it almost looked like she would leave me there. She muttered something that I didn't quite hear, which was probably a good thing as she could bring my temper out faster than my father had been able to and walked back to me and held her hand out.

I bit the side of my cheek and grabbed it and felt the tension leave my shoulders and the gates came in clear view, the castle rising magnificently behind it. I was impressed. I'd never seen the castle from the outside before. I'd always come straight through the floo the couple of times that I'd been here before today. I could see why Lily loved the old girl.

I may not be a witch, but even I could feel the majesty that was behind the front gates. It felt like she was reaching out to me and greeting an old friend. It made me want to reach out back. I didn't quite get the chance to as Jasmine interrupted me.

"Oh," Jasmine stared at me as if she was seeing me for the first time.

"What?" I asked a bit defensively.

"You didn't tell me you were a guardian."

"What the hell is that?" I demanded. We did not need something else to worry about.

"You're magic." I wanted to interrupt her but she didn't give me the chance, "You don't read as a squib and you don't read as a muggle. I've had a hell of a time figuring out what you were." She gripped my hand a little tighter. "Fucking hell, a guardian." She started muttering rapidly under her breath.

"Explain." I bit out as her nails dug into my hand. I abruptly stopped and she stared at me. She frowned and then noticed that she was gripping my hand tighter than necessary.

She sighed, "I shouldn't have said anything. This is not the time. We can discuss it over dinner tonight. The children will need to hear it too."

I wanted to rage at her, but I knew she was right. We didn't have the time right now. I unhappily pushed it to the back of head, and we continued on. As we got closer to the front doors, a tall severe looking woman open the great ornate doors. A woman I recognized as the same one who took us into diagonally all those years ago. Her eyes flickered to me in confusion, but greeted Jasmine warmly.

"Good Afternoon Jasmine. It is good to see you after all these years. Were we expecting your friend?" She asked with some confusion lacing the question.

Jasmine gave a seemingly pleasant smile, but I've seen goblins give grins with less teeth. "Good afternoon Professor McGonagall. Not exactly, but she needed to be here. Don't worry, the Headmaster will be delighted to see her." I wanted to laugh at the poorly hidden sarcasm and the professor gave a small frown but ushered us inside.

From what little I could remember of the great hall, nothing had changed. Still the same medieval decoupage, but this time there was a sense of coming home. I was not sure what to think about the odd feeling. It wasn't invasive, but it was unnerving.

"This way ladies, the headmaster's office is a bit of trek but it won't take long. I was surprised that you didn't use the floo." The professor said.

"It was more convenient for us to use the public station." Jasmine murmured. I let them make small talk as I looked around and then let the world fade from view. There was the same something that I felt outside reaching out to me and it made me want to reach out to the greeting and return it, so I attempted to reach out my senses. I could feel the start of a pull and then suddenly a sharp sting across my face.

"What the fuck!" Jasmine had slapped me with her free hand.

"Don't do that," she hissed as I came back to my senses and saw that we were in front of a great spiraling staircase. McGonagall was nowhere in sight.

I glared at her and was about to lay into her when McGonagall peaked around the corner, giving us an odd look, "Are you ladies coming? The headmaster's time is short today." I bit back what I dearly wanted to say to Jasmine and we went up the narrow stair case together. She still hadn't released my hand.

I went to pry my hand out of hers when she muttered, "Don't. I don't want you making ripples."

I mouthed ripples? Back at her and she shook her head. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was frustrating not knowing what she was talking about. I wasn't a damn mind reader. She had a lot of explaining to do and I wouldn't wait much longer before I demanded answers.

McGonagall led us inside and a familiar older man stood from behind his desk. He gave us a congenial smile and a shiver went down my back. I couldn't explain it. It was the same feeling I had almost two decades ago when I had first met him. This man was dangerous, but furthermore he was dangerous to my family and my innate magick wanted to rise up and attack. I wondered if this was how Lily always felt around him. I felt Jasmine squeeze my hand and the magick uneasily settled. McGonagall gave us one last inquiring look before leaving the room. She looked like she had something on her mind and wanted to say something but thought better of it and left the room, firmly shutting the door behind her.

"Ms. Lovegood. Good to see you again." He looked my way and there was no recognition in his eyes. I hid a smirk that wanted to crop up. "I was not expecting you to bring a guest."

Jasmine nodded to the headmaster, "Yes, well we'll get to that in a minute. I know your time is short so I'll be brief." She said curtly, bordering on rudeness but not quite reaching over the line. He gave a small frown, I wouldn't have even noticed it had I not been used to Lily's minute expressions in the past. He motioned for us to sit down. We took a seat in unison and he peered at us in mild confusion as he glanced quickly at our hands. I kept quiet and did not offer an explanation. For a moment the world faded away as he looked into my eyes and then Jasmine squeezed my hand and I looked over at her. She didn't look my way; instead she was glaring at the headmaster. Actually glaring, something had pissed her off. I turned my head back to him and I almost missed the tightening of his eyes. Something had just pissed him off. The tension started to build.

Jasmine bit out coldly. "That wasn't very nice sir. I'll ask you not to do that again."

He gave her a grandfatherly smiled and tried to deflect, "yes, I do apologize for rescheduling. We had a staff meeting earlier today." Ignoring whatever it was that just happened. I gave a small sigh; you could cut the tension with a butter knife at this point.

Jasmine didn't look like she would let it go, so I squeezed back. She didn't want to let it go, but we had other things to worry about but her expression never changed as she started, "My daughter will be turning 11 this year. Unfortunately it will be after the start of the school year, but we come here today because I need to enroll her a year early."

He leaned back, seemingly comfortable and folded his hands to rest on his lap. He thought he was in charge of this game. Too bad we weren't even playing the same one. "Mmm, yes not an unheard of request, but there are several reasons as to why we start the children after then have turned 11; one of those being that the children need to have a mature enough core to be able to do wand magic and traditionally another reason has always been so that the children feel comfortable around their peers. I can't start making exceptions for your daughter; it's bad form and doesn't set a good example. I do believe she is down in the book to start next year."

Jasmine raised a brow and then laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh and it made my spine straighten on reflex. It was the same laugh she'd laughed the night she survived, cold, distant and not amused. The headmaster looked bemused at the somewhat irregular attitude, "I know very well that you can and will make an exception this time Albus Dumbledore." He looked like he was about to interrupt her, until she held up her free hand. She gave him a cold smile, "Let me introduce you to my friend. Her son is set to attend Hogwarts this year and I think you'll want to listen to her." She turned to me and gave a slight shake of her head to cue me.

Game

"Hello Headmaster. You don't appear to remember me but my name is Petunia Evans." A small flicker in his eyes and the game was baited. "I'm not entirely sure what you did earlier…." The tension was so thick that it felt like it would snap, "and I'll ask you not to do it again as it gave me a tension headache, but that isn't really important. What is important is that my son is going to be attending this year…"

He interrupted a cold undertone to his voice (someone was getting frosty), "It is getting late and I have another meeting soon, but I don't believe that we have an Evan's down this year."

I grinned. Set

"Yes, but this won't take much longer and no I don't imagine that you do. But I do believe that you have a Potter down," Ah there it was. "And I do believe that you have been trying to find us for quite a bit of time." He sat straighter. He tried to hide it, but failed, he was too interested. The tension suddenly draining and I smiled again. Idiot.

"Miss Evans, ah yes. Now I remember. Lily Evans must have been your sister. She was a bright girl. I believe that you visited a couple of times..."

Please as if he didn't know exactly who she was or who I was for that matter. I recognized that look, it was the look of a cat who had finally caught the canary. Too bad he wasn't the cat. "Yes, she did and she married a Potter. They were killed several years ago and her son was dropped off on my door step. I'm sure you know the story; almost everyone in the wizarding world seems to have some version of it down. I have raised him as my own since. But that is not the point." I said coolly. "If Luna Lovegood does not attend this year, neither does my son. He can always wait a year. Frankly I don't mind Harry staying at home another year."

"I will need another reason. Because of her age the board of governors will want to know why I am allowing her to attend."

I gave him a sweet smile, the same smile my mother used to give someone right before she ripped them apart, "Marriage. Luna and Harry were married somewhat recently. Their bond is too new and we as their guardians don't want them separated. It's not a well known fact. It was one of those I believe you call them 'accidental magic outbursts' or something." I shrugged, pretending to be unknowledgeable about it all, it would deflect attention from what the bond actually was and the old fool would attempt to use it to his own folly. I could see an interested glint in his eye that I didn't like, but the children must have already known about. If they didn't know I would be sure to let them know later. We had know we couldn't hide their bond, but we could hide the truth of it in plain sight.

Jasmine cut it, "Yes, so you understand Headmaster, by the bylaws of Hogwarts that were written long ago. You must let my daughter attend. If I'm not mistaken her name should be written right beneath Harry's name, but since we would like to keep it quiet for as long as possible, I would prefer she go by Lovegood until she otherwise wishes to."

He sighed and looked at a small piece of what looked like parchment, "I see." His posture relaxed, he gave a very convincing aura of acceptance. Too bad we could both see right through it.

He turned his gaze to me and I met his eyes unflinchingly. "Hogwarts would be happy to welcome young Harry and Luna to this coming term. I will get Minerva, she is the deputy headmistress, to send out two more invitations…"

"Headmaster," I interrupted, enjoying this game we were playing, it was not often that I got to be the one that held all the cards, "I am not ready for my home life to be invaded by wizards. Harry is safe where he is and no one knows where he lives and it will stay that way. We will pick up the invitations from McGonagall ourselves."

I smiled again, "Now I understand you're a busy man so we'll take our leave." Jasmine nodded as I murmured "Good-day."

I didn't turn back but I could feel his piercing blue eyes drill into my back and all I could think as we walked out the door was: match. I didn't even notice that someone slipped a note into my pocket until we were at dinner later that night.

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Hallo! Thank you for reading this latest installment. Please leave a review if you have any questions or concerns and I will attempt to address them when I get a moment or two.

Cheers

Jack