Chapter Twenty-Nine
Almost two weeks had passed since we had been to Diagon Alley and back, almost two weeks had passed since I first stayed over at the Burrow, almost two weeks had passed since I had first had sex with Charlie.
Almost two weeks had also passed since I met my younger brother.
Life was slowing and calming down, hectic day schedules were coming to an end, and Christmas shopping was definitely over. It was Christmas Eve, and everyone in the household was relaxing and settling in the way they best saw fit. Although Percy, Bill, Mr Weasley and George still had to work, the rest of us were finding it oddly quiet since the four loudest men were out of the house.
'I'm so chilled.' Ginny drawled, lying on the carpeted floor next to the fire. The spark from the fire lit up her ginger hair, making it more bright and alive. Harry sat across from her gazing at her face, a look of admiration clouding his expression. Next to him, Ron tapped his fingers in time to the festive music trickling out of the radio, his feet up on the coffee table. Hermione; of course, had her nose in a seemingly old book, curled up in the armchair opposite me and Charlie. We all sighed at once, a deep, comforting sigh, knowing that nothing could faze us, not in the slightest.
That was, until the post came.
An owl begged at the window to be let in, and Hermione jumped onto it, although groaning as she did so. She paid the owl and it flew away, shaking some snow from the walls of the house. Hermione flicked the letter over, and then sliced it through the air towards Harry. 'It's for you.' She muttered, crawling back into position with her book in her hands.
Grunting, Harry cut into the envelope using his nails and pulled out an abused postcard. Harry suddenly scoffed and tore something off it, placing it on the table next to him. 'Hey Ron, tell your dad he can have this.'
Ron eyed the mystery thing on the counter and smirked, 'he'll love that,' before dropping back into his previous stance.
'What is it?' Charlie asked, squinting towards the round thing.
'Just a Christmas present from the Durselys'.' Harry aimed the postcard for the fire and shot it into the warmth. The postcard scorched in seconds, crumbling into ash.
'Who's the Durselys?' the question slipped out of my lips before I had time to contemplate it. What if it was some evil ex-girlfriend that should never be mentioned? What if it was from some guys in Azkaban with a story that should never be uttered?
The answer was not something I was expecting. 'Relatives.' Harry grunted out, picking up a paper from the side and opening it. 'You wouldn't want to meet them.'
'Relatives?' my ears pricked up and turned supersonic. If there were more Potters, I needed to know. 'Can I meet them?'
My brother moaned and threw down the paper. He looked at me directly and told me straight – 'they're not exactly people you'd want to meet.'
'But why not?' my lips were in the form of a pout, my voice getting close to whiney.
Harry's hands ran through his hair: he was getting agitated. 'It's not that you wouldn't want to meet them… its more they wouldn't want to meet you.'
'Why?' I asked, annoyingly curious.
'They don't like people like us, Violet. They didn't like our parents, and they don't like us.' He closed the argument and scrunched up the envelope, hard.
I was quiet for a few millennia. 'What makes them our relatives?' I prompted in a hushed voice.
Harry took a while to answer. 'Mum's sister, her husband and their kid.'
'I want to go see them.' I said sharply.
'I don't think that will be possible Violet, they told me never to step foot in their home again.'
'But they haven't said it about me.'
'That doesn't mean they won't!'
'They can't just turn us away at the door!'
Harry paused, looking dumbfounded. 'You don't know that.'
'I know that they are family, and where I come from, family means everything to me.'
'IF FAMILY MEANS THAT MUCH TO YOU, WHY HAVENT YOU CALLED YOUR MUM AND DAD SINCE YOU MET US?' Harry stormed from the room, slamming the door hard behind him.
The calmness of the room shattered; there was an audible 'pop' noise as Ginny disappeared from the fireplace. Hermione got up and looked at me sadly before leaving the room. Ron had already gone.
In the awkward silence that followed, it was Charlie who broke it. 'Harry's right, Violet.'
'I know.' I looked ashamedly at the phone in my left jean pocket. 'But so am I.'
Dialling my mum had been one the hardest things I had to do. I braced myself for the anger and humiliation at the other end, but all I got was gratitude and love. It was as if I could have called her up and been like, 'hey mum, I just killed a bunch of innocent people with my bare hands, then snorted a load of drugs and am going to prison for the rest of my life. Bye!' and she STILL would have loved me… as long as I called her.
I felt so ashamed afterwards, probably like a hooker does when she buys food for her kids with dirty money. Ok, maybe not that extreme, but I still felt damn disappointed.
I even got to talk to my dad, which was a thing I hardly ever did anymore. I hadn't properly spoken to my dad since I was a little girl, before the night I had left home. It was good to hear his voice.
I had told them everything, and they sounded so happy for me. I guess they did anyway… happy that I had found a new life.
I thought everything was going perfect until mum asked me the most demeaning thing all my life: 'That's wonderful sweetie, but when are you coming home?'
I wasn't sure what to tell her. So I just said 'soon' and hung up. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to tell her how I'm not sure I will come home, ever again.
How can someone tell their own mother that? Even if she isn't your real mother?
'Violet?' Harry found me after the phone call, bundled up in blankets lying on Charlie's bed. He approached me cautiously, like he wasn't sure how I was going to react. Was I going to bite his head off, or smile sweetly and expect him to understand? To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was going to do either.
'Mhmm?' I answered, and although it was not the most informative answer, he went on.
'If you really want to meet the Durselys', I'll take you. But I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart so you know,' I looked up at him to see him smiling, 'it's just so they know how well I came off in the war.' I laughed with him and grinned my appreciation. 'Thanks Harry.'
'No problem.' He turned to leave the room, when a thought occurred to him and he questioned me: 'have you ever travelled by broomstick?'
'No?'
His chortling told me everything I needed to know about how we were travelling there.
'Come on, Vi!' Harry hollered from way out in the yard. I was bracing myself in the kitchen, clutching a glass of water and my backpack in one hand. With shaking hands I downed the water and slung the bag onto my back, taking a deep breath before strolling outside to meet him. He snorted when he saw my trembling hands, and scooted up so I could slide on behind him.
Shaking out my entire body, I tactfully climbed next to the bristles of the broom and wrapped my arms around my brother's waist. 'You got a good grip?' he asked, kicking his feet off the ground.
'I think so ye-'but my words were lost as a scream erupted from my lips, and we were magically whooshing across the air at probably more than 100mph. I squeezed my hands more tightly around him, and hearing him laugh, pinched his stomach with my fingers. The broom dipped then, and I squealed again, promising that I would never do it again. 'GOOD' was Harry's shouted reply over the rushing of the wind.
We landed skilfully in a dark field, crowded by trees to mask our arrival. 'Where are we?' I asked, holding onto the back of Harry's cloak as he muttered 'lumos' and summoned light. He shrugged off his cloak and laid it over his broom in the grass, not answering my question.
'Just through here.' He said, gesturing with his wand. I looked longingly at the wand and brooded for my own; but enough about that for now. I trapezed after him, stumbling in the dark. It was only about 5pm, and I kept forgetting that through the blackness and starry night. I wondered if Harry had called and told them we were coming over, or if we were just going to pop up on their doorstep and be like 'hi, you remember me? Oh yeah, and this is my sister! Can we come in?'
Unfortunately I had a feeling the last one was more likely.
'Ok, here it is.' Before me was a modern house, intentionally small with a plain exterior. It was covered with trees and other plain looking houses, tiny windows showing only deep dark curtains.
'Why is it so shadowed?' I asked Harry, cutting through a line of trees and through a wrought iron gate.
'They moved because of me. They didn't want to be found.' For some reason I didn't think they were only scared of Harry finding them.
He knocked on the door twice and stepped back from the step.
'Whose there?' a nasal voice sounded from behind the door.
'Just let me in.' Harry sighed, exasperated.
'Harry?' The door opened and a petite, dark haired woman answered the door. She hid behind it, not welcoming us in but not exactly telling us to bugger off either.
'Can we come in?' He asked, not waiting for an answer but instead pushing the door fully open.
'Hey!' the woman exclaimed, trying to get past him to enter the nearest room first.
'Harry?' a gruff voice was on the other end of the room.
'Yes, it's Harry. Now please shut up.' Harry waded through the cluttered living room and sat on a dishevelled sofa. I collapsed next to him, awkwardly sitting on the edge of the seat.
A large man with a ruddy face and hardly a neck sat opposite me in a giant armchair. His wife perched next to him on the arm of the chair, glaring at us openly. From beyond another door, I could hear obnoxious yelling and tapping of keys.
We perched cumbersomely together, granting Harry did look more at ease then me. When we had all sat uncomfortably for a few moments, he cleared his throat and introduced us all.
'Petunia and Vernon, this is Violet. Violet, this is your aunt and uncle.'
The woman who I assumed was Petunia choked on a mug of what appeared to be tea.
The man who I assumed to be Vernon roared in a very unpleasant voice, 'WHAT DID YOU SAY?'
I cowered back from the anger and half hid myself behind Harry. He sighed and repeated what he said again, rolling his eyes.
'What do you mean, "your aunt and uncle"?' Uncle Vernon wondered out loud with half closed eyes.
'Yes, explain.' Aunt Petunia crossed her arms and kept glaring at us with beady eyes.
I sat back calmly while Harry explained the entire story to them. As the story got longer as he went into more detail, I noticed their eyes getting wider, and wider, and eventually they were so wide I thought they would roll out if their sockets.
When he had finished, they were all sat with curious and anxious expressions.
Finally, Aunt Petunia scoffed and muttered, 'it would be like Lily to flower the flower theme, wouldn't it?'
And with that, we left.
Did anyone else realise the flower names? I did do it deliberately. I am secretly smart you know ;)
This will be the second last chapter to this story. I hope you all enjoy it, and I am trying to get to at least 150 reviews so I can end on a good note, so please recommend to your friends, because that would make me happy ;3
