Moi: Gave you a shout-out in this chapter; see if you can spot it. Yes, Petunia is turning into a bit of a femme formidable, isn't she? I always hoped she would.

Wow, quite a few reviews! I was surprised (but happy) that most of you supported Petunia. Didn't really expect that. Many thanks.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: THE DEMONS FILL YOU WITH FEAR

In which Sirius musters a counter-attack, and Petunia is unmoved.

The storm broke the next morning. Petunia had been up late; she had a serious conversation with the boys, borrowing McGonagall's office for the purpose. It was, as she anticipated, difficult. Both of them defended Sirius; it wasn't really his fault, Mum, we asked him and asked him to ride the motorcycle, and you know he doesn't mean any harm, Tante, don't you?

"Sirius may not mean any harm, but he often causes it, Harry," Petunia said. "I know you're fond of him; so am I, at times, but you have to remember, he did eleven years in Azkaban because of impulsiveness. I can see one thing about his behaviour since he was released, and that is that he hasn't learned a single earthly thing by it. People who don't learn by experience are really dangerous because they keep repeating the same mistakes. I don't want you or Dudley caught in the cross-fire, the way your parents were, Harry."

"But Sirius didn't kill-"

"No, he didn't, but his decision about changing the secret keeper probably doomed them. Yes, yes; I know he didn't mean any harm. He almost never does; but I know of at least one case where he did mean harm, and nearly landed an innocent man - other than himself, I mean - in Azkaban. He's smart, and he's charming, but his judgment is very poor, and he doesn't think things out."

I haven't convinced them, I can tell. "Do you know why else I was angry at Sirius?"

They shook their heads.

"Because he treated me like somebody whose opinions didn't matter, someone not to be taken seriously. I'd been through that once before. I tolerated it then. But I never will again. Never. And he refused to understand that."

She saw understanding on the boys' faces and said no more.

When Petunia came down for breakfast the next morning, there were no less than ten owls awaiting her. One each from Professors Lupin, McGonagall, and Sprout; one from Albus Dumbledore; one from Andromeda Tonks (a howler); and at least five from Sirius. It was obvious that Sirius had been very busy since his expulsion from the Manor grounds, soliciting outside support in what was shaping up as a battle. I've been embattled before, 'so once more unto the breach dear friends; once more.'

The messages from Professors Sprout and McGonagall were more in sorrow than in anger; hadn't she been really rather hard on poor old Sirius, and didn't she realize how vulnerable he was? Yes, he's very vulnerable, and he's an accident in the making. My vulnerability doesn't seem to matter, though. Dumbledore suggested that perhaps she had over-reacted. Well, given that the Headmaster gave Sirius detention for attempted murder, that one doesn't particularly surprise me. Professor Lupin was very disappointed, he had thought better of her. You forgave Sirius for the Whomping Willow incident, and don't tell me he didn't disappoint you then. I'm not going to take you as a model, either, so get over it. Andromeda Tonks' howler denounced her as a hard-hearted bitch. I notice that the level of indignation in Sirius's supporters increases in ratio to the possibility of Sirius moving in with them. She must be panicking indeed.

The messages borne by Sirius's five owls met her expectations. The first one was angry, the second disappointed, the third apologetic, the fourth one, demanding, and the fifth one rounded out to angry again.

Petunia surprised herself by not feeling particularly upset. I expected this, didn't I? Not perhaps so quickly, but I did expect Sirius to counter-attack. But she did not answer any of the owls, and she felt that she did need some support, or at least, some disinterested feedback. So she floo'd to St. Mungo's to see if Sirius had attempted to recruit Titus, the last remaining member of the Sirius Support Group, and the only one not represented by an owl. As it turned out, he hadn't. Interesting.

She told the whole story to Marcella, Hector and Titus, backing it up with pensieve memories to prove that she had not exaggerated.

"Did you expect gratitude from him, Petunia?" Titus asked her.

"Why not? When the three of you helped me, I was damned grateful."

"Your trouble was situational, mostly," Titus said. "I rather think Sirius's problems are more deep-rooted. That's a guess, of course, since he won't submit to an assessment. But whatever the problem is, he has a hard time focusing on problems outside his own."

"Tell me about it," Petunia muttered.

"From what I've seen, Titus," Marcella said, "you're right; but I don't know how we can help him if he won't be helped."

"If he can be helped," Petunia muttered again. "It appears that he's expecting me to give into peer pressure," she added.

Hector raised his brows, and asked: "And will you?"

"I will not." Petunia said, her mouth set. "I'm through with that." I've thrown that into the water with the whale.

"Well, then, you can't allow him to undermine your relationship with the boys," Marcella said. "And that's definitely what he's trying to do, consciously or not."

"But you know what my weak spot is in this, Marcella," Petunia said. "You were with me when we read my sister's and brother-in-law's wills."

Marcella nodded. "Yes, I do know. Sirius is actually Harry's guardian by the terms of those wills. You're the alternate in your sister's will, but not in James Potter's."

"That's going to come up," Petunia sighed. "You can bet on it. I have a feeling I had better prepare for it."

And she was right; it did.

When she returned home, there were more owls; another set from Sirius, whose messages she didn't bother to read; and yet another one from Albus Dumbledore suggesting that he arbitrate a meeting between her and Sirius on the subject of the boys.

Petunia felt she couldn't ignore this plea, but she didn't expect too much. She wasn't at all surprised to see that Lupin, McGonagall and Andromeda Tonks were also present. Luckily, she wasn't alone, either; both Hector and Titus accompanied her. (Marcella's presence was felt to be overkill, especially as she was not a fan of Sirius.) Sirius bristled when he caught sight of them. He, Dumbledore and the rest were seated around a table in Dumbledore's office; Sirius leaped to his feet.

"I won't stay if they do!" he cried, indicating Hector and Titus.

"Goodbye, then," Petunia said calmly and seated herself at the table. Hector and Titus sat down on either side of her.

Sirius remained standing, though he didn't leave. "I don't want mind healers here!" he shouted.

"They are not here as mind healers," Petunia said, not raising her voice. "They're here as friends of mine. You have seconds, I see, why can't I?"

"Indeed, Sirius," Dumbledore said, "Mrs. Dursley has a point. I think we'll allow Hr. Connelly and Hr. McWhirter to join us, unless you wish Remus, Minerva and Andromeda to leave as well?"

No, Sirius did not want that, he needed his support network as much as Petunia did hers; so he accepted the healers' presence, though with obvious ill-grace.

"Now," said Dumbledore, "I understand that you and Mrs. Dursley have had a difference of opinion."

Petunia nearly laughed aloud at the mildness of this description. "You could say that," she agreed.

"Sirius tells us that because he allowed Harry and Dudley to ride on his motorbike, you struck him, stunned him, threatened him with an Unforgiveable, and evicted him from lodgings for which he was paying proper rent."

"Is that all he told you?" Petunia asked.

"There's more?"

"Well, what do you think, Headmaster? I'll admit that I struck him. I'll admit that I told him that if I could cast an Unforgivable-which I can't-he'd have been in trouble. I'll admit that I evicted him, though I have to say his rent was always late. Not because he was unwilling to pay it, mind you, but because he finds details rather difficult to remember." She looked directly at Sirius as she spoke the last words and he had the grace to blush.

"What Sirius didn't tell you is that he promised not to allow the boys on his motorbike after the first time I caught them riding it with him under very unsafe conditions. He promised. I caught them again, this time trying the hide the fact that they were riding it from me with Sirius's connivance. That's when I struck him, which I think Professor Lupin can attest to. He promised never to do it again. On the third occasion I caught them doing the exact same thing, I stunned him, threatened him with the Unforgivable which I don't know how to cast and yes, I evicted him."

Andromeda Tonks said, "You struck him? In front of the boys? Don't you think that you should apologize to him for that?"

Petunia felt the sudden surge of white-hot rage again. "Not only won't I apologize for hitting him," she said tightly, "I'd belt him again should I ever get the opportunity." Sirius abruptly pushed his chair away from the table.

"I apologized to you," Sirius said. He sounded hurt.

"Yes, you did. Each and every time. And then you did it again."

"I was careful with the boys! They weren't in any danger!"

"Your opinion, not mine. Were I to apologize to you, I'd have to mean it; and I'm not sorry. You deserved it."

"That's not fair, Petunia! I love the boys! I'd never try to hurt them!"

Petunia shook her head. She suddenly felt very tired. She said, to the group rather than to Sirius: "He just doesn't understand. I've tried explaining it to him too many times to count."

Hector said: "Petunia's account is correct, by the way. We've consulted her memories."

"Well, Sirius," Dumbledore said, "it appears that Mrs. Dursley's position, if rather extreme, is not unwarranted. What have you to say?"

Sirius's head was bowed. He said to his hands, "I'll never do it again."

"I already gave you three chances, Sirius," Petunia said. "I'm sorry, I just don't believe you. When you make the promises, I think you do intend to keep them. But you can't seem to follow through. I'm not going to take any further chances."

"Are you saying I can't see Harry anymore?" Sirius asked. There was something in his voice that caught at Petunia's heart despite her resolve. This is so very hard. Harder than I ever imagined.

"When he's seventeen, certainly. He'll be an adult then and can make his own choices. He's very fond of you, and will undoubtedly want to see you then." I foresee sleepless nights for me when that happens, too. Oh, joy.

"That's four years away!" Sirius cried.

There was a silence. Then Petunia said, as gently as she could: "Sirius, you need to think about your own life and your own future. Maybe you should train in a profession or do some travelling. You could rebuild your family's Manor. You could get some more education. Do something for you. I think it would do you a world of good."

"Couldn't-couldn't I come for dinner sometime, just to see the boys?"

"No."

"Why not?" Sirius was angry again.

"There's the question of you lying to me and encouraging the boys to do the same. Maybe I can't cast an Unforgivable, not yet, but I've certainly received one." Petunia felt her anger scald her again, and with some difficulty, she suppressed it.

"You certainly are a bitch, Petunia," Sirius said. "Lily always said you were."

"That's enough," Titus said, an edge to his voice.

Without looking at him, Petunia laid a hand on his arm. To Sirius, she said: "I'm sure Lily did say something like that, and you know something, Sirius? She was absolutely right. Take it as a warning. But I refuse to descend to name-calling here. If you have a point, make it."

But Sirius had no point to make. "It's not fair!" he cried.

Petunia stared at him. He spent eleven years in Azkaban for something he didn't do, and he thinks life is fair? I give up.

Dumbledore said, "Are there any circumstances under which you would reconsider, Mrs. Dursley?"

Petunia opened her mouth to say no, and then hesitated. "If Sirius would agree to a mind-healing assessment at St. Mungo's and any recommended treatment, yes; then I would reconsider."

Sirius jumped to his feet. "I'm not crazy! You're trying to have me locked away again!"

Petunia knew that fear; she had had it herself. "You might get some help there, Sirius. You need it. I tried to help you, but I've concluded that I'm not qualified enough to do so."

"They're your friends," Sirius said, indicating Hector and Titus. "They wouldn't be fair to me!"

"Maybe I should remind you that Titus has already risked his career to help you," Petunia said, angry now. "He is your friend, or at least, he's behaved like it." Sirius caught the rebuke in her voice, and winced.

After a rather long silence, Sirius said hoarsely, "I'm Harry's godfather. And I know James left his guardianship to me. You can't make conditions. In fact, I should making the conditions under which you see him."

"I have custody and guardianship in the Muggle courts," Petunia said, unmoved. "And I took the precaution of having it confirmed in the Wizarding courts when I passed my equivalency. You were in Azkaban, so it went through unopposed."

"I'll apply to have that overturned," Sirius snapped. Oh, lovely. He's finally found something to do with his time.

"You do that," Petunia said. I've had enough of this.

"In the meantime, Mrs. Dursley," Dumbledore said, "Sirius still wants to see the boys. He has no actual right in Dudley's case, of course, and your veto would apply there; but in Harry's, I think he should be able to see him in the interim, if this matter does go to court."

Sirius nodded eagerly.

"Very well," Petunia said coolly. "He can visit Harry at Mayhew Manor, on Sundays for lunch."

Sirius looked triumphant, but he was much less triumphant when he arrived that Sunday to discover that Hector and not Petunia would supervise the visits. Dudley was present too, mainly because Harry had refused the visits outright unless Dudley was included. This rather surprised Petunia, but then she knew that the boys were a team. She supposed that even the generally self-sufficient Harry needed a back-up and sounding board on occasion. Petunia and the mind-healing team decided that as Titus seemed to be anathema to Sirius, Hector was indicated; not than Hector seemed to make him any happier. But Hector's cheerful, outgoing personality might appeal to Sirius more, or so they hoped.

The first visit took place that Sunday. The boys seemed anxious both beforehand and afterwards. Petunia made a point of not asking what happened, but they told her anyway. Hector, who stayed for tea, looked thoughtful.

"Sirius was really angry," Dudley said. "He wanted to know where you were." He was looking forward to rubbing in it, no doubt. And I'm sure he didn't want a mind healer there.

She was right. "Then he started in about mind healers," Harry said. "He said they were witch doctors, or something."

"Figuratively as well as literally," Petunia said, amused.

"Yes," said Hector, "and I shrink heads in my spare time."

Petunia smiled. "Remind me to direct you to some possible additions to your collection," she said, and the boys laughed.

"We'll draw you a map to the dungeons," Harry said, looking more cheerful.

"And the caretaker's office," said Dudley.

"And Trelawney's lair!" They went on with increasingly absurd suggestions, and seemed to forget the visit for a bit. But after they floo'd back to the Castle, Petunia turned to Hector with raised brows.

He looked grave. "He's not in good shape, Petunia. He doesn't seem to have much of a grip on his emotions, either."

Petunia felt her heart sink. "What do you think it is?"

"No way of telling without closer inspection; but eleven years of Dementors would have driven most men mad."

Petunia sat down. Hector said: "He was counting on you being there, I think," Hector said.

"He wants to talk me back into doing all his dirty work," Petunia said, sighing. "Not that I minded, really, but he wouldn't take any interest in learning to do it for himself. I could see that it was going to be never ending." Hector gave her an odd look, which she couldn't interpret, and said no more.

Sirius, in fact, was a never ending problem in any case. At the next lunch, he was very difficult: sullen and aggressive – Hector dubbed it 'acting out' - and the boys were upset. "Why is he doing that?" Petunia asked, exasperated.

"Because he's hoping I'll refuse to supervise, and you'll have to do it," Hector said. "He's not subtle."

Things settled down to a slow simmer until one Sunday when Hector was unavailable, and Titus had to be substituted. Sirius refused outright to tolerate him as supervisor, so Titus invited him – politely, he said; rudely, according to Sirius – to leave.

The boys told her excitedly that they nearly came to blows, and it ended with Sirius transforming into his animagus form and bounding out of the room, and indeed the house.

That was the last supervised visit. It occurred to Petunia that by making supervision impossible, Sirius had ensured that the wizarding court would probably not order it. There's a method in his madness; he's crazy, but not stupid.

She looked forward to the guardianship hearing not at all. Sirius, too, wasn't enthused, to judge by the stream of people whose visits she had to endure, all of them pleading his case for an out-of-court agreement. Professors McGonagall and Sprout thought that he had learned his lesson. He's incapable of that, which is exactly the problem. Andromeda Tonks was at first stiff with Petunia, but after a cup of tea, and a discreet shot of Firewhiskey, she admitted that Sirius could be very difficult, and that she understood Petunia's problems with him. "But he's a good person at heart," she insisted. "And he's had some terrible luck." Petunia couldn't disagree with either contention. I can't fix him, though; even magic can't cure some things.

It was Lupin, though, that angered her the most. If anyone did, he knew the results of Sirius's impulsiveness. Yet he told her that he intended to testify at the hearing on Sirius's behalf.

"Sirius is my friend," Lupin said, by way of explanation. "Perhaps my only one."

"That's not true: Lily and James were also your friends," Petunia said. "And I'm asking you to make a decision in the best interests of their only child. Perhaps I should also point out to you that you are not a Hufflepuff. You're a Gryffindor, so it's courage before loyalty, is it not? Which is exactly what Sirius exercised when he excluded you from the decision to change the secret-keeper. I shouldn't think you are obliged to be more loyal to him than he was to you."

Lupin's face twisted. "You hit hard, Mrs. Dursley."

Petunia stared back at him, unmoved at his distress. "Yes I do. I've been through this before, remember? More than once. You get better at cold-bloodedness with practice. You can tell Sirius that. Do you think he'd stand up to cross-examination on the stand? If so, I can only say that you're an optimist."

Lupin was silent a moment, and then said: "He's only doing this because you are leaving him no other choice."

"I suppose not," Petunia said. "Contrition didn't work. Belittling my position didn't work. Blaming me for everything didn't work. Promises of reform didn't work. 'I'm-going-to-drink-myself-to-death' threats – yes, I've heard about those - didn't work. So yes, aggression is next on the list." Of course, he could wait the four years, but apparently that's a non-starter.

As the date for the hearing approached, Sirius seemed to grow increasingly frantic. Petunia didn't like to think about what additional stress would do to his already unstable personality. Therefore, she was very unhappy to encounter Sirius just outside Hogsmeade, on her way home. She knew that he had a room at the Three Broomsticks, but she scheduled her visits to the village early in the day, hoping to avoid him. Sirius had obviously caught on to this.

She had her wand in her hand in no time. Sirius bristled when he saw it, but he reigned himself in. "I don't mean to hurt you, Petunia," he said indignantly.

"That's a change," Petunia muttered. Sirius looked hurt.

Petunia said, in a milder tone: "We've already discussed this ad nauseum, Sirius. You know my position, and I know yours. Let's let someone else make the decision, and live with it."

"I've got a suggestion that will settle everything," Sirius said eagerly.

"I'm listening," Petunia said wearily. I might as well humour him.

"We could get married," Sirius said, with an ingenious smile.