Disclaimer – Harry Potter and all affiliates belong to JK Rowling. I have taken excerpts, one liners, ideas and characters from the books and films. These will not be referenced individually so anything you recognise from the books or films does not belong to me
Chapter 1 - Leaving Privet Drive
Harry stood in the Dursley's kitchen, arms folded nonchalantly across his chest as he listened to the hustle and bustle of Aunt Petunia jerkily packing away her best china in newspaper. Usually so careful with her prized dishes, flinching if Uncle Vernon or Dudley scraped the plate too hard with cutlery, Harry wouldn't be surprised if the dishes broke before they even reached their new destination with the haphazard way Aunt Petunia was resentfully packing them.
Harry himself lifted not a finger to help her, or any of the other occupants of number 4 Privet Drive. He simply watched with hidden amusement as Aunt Petunia restrained herself from unleashing her verbal poison. His own trunk had already been packed; he'd done it days ago; leaving out clothes he wanted to wear today. The Dursleys had bought him new clothes last year, the first time he'd ever been bought something just for himself. Whatever had prompted his aunt and uncle to kindness last year was no longer evident this year. It must have been a blip of conscience that rapidly faded away. Harry had no expectations that it would last so he was not disappointed to see them revert to type.
Other wizards and witches flitted in and out of the house; his guard. Sirius and Remus were in the living room shrinking down the furniture; Sirius was particularly taking great pleasure in performing magic in front of an apoplectic Uncle Vernon who was rapidly turning purple from holding himself back.
Uncle Vernon was resentfully taking down the pictures from above the mantle place, placing them carefully in the cardboard box, mumbling fearfully under his breath. Harry heard footsteps upstairs as Dudley moved things about in his own room and heard him descend the stairs slowly. He entered the kitchen and placed his huge gym bags full of his boxing gear onto the floor, propping open the kitchen door with them and silently helped his mother pack away the rest of the dishes, casting anxious looks between his mother and his cousin.
Hermione and Ron were outside with Ron's dad and eldest brother Bill, and Tonks was in the front with Moody keeping guard casting looks in the sky, waiting for the signal from Shacklebolt.
Snape, who'd also been tasked as part of the guard, stood moodily at the front door and Harry caught a glimpse of him through the open kitchen door.
Neville and Luna came down the stairs; Neville brought down Harry's trunk and Luna, who'd gone up to use the bathroom wandered down with Hedwig, who was still in the cage. They walked into the kitchen and Neville raised a querying eyebrow at Harry who just shrugged.
Harry marvelled at the change in Neville; he'd bulked up quite a bit and his physique almost matched Dudley's, whose blubber had changed into pure muscle from the work out from his boxing training. Neville walked out of the kitchen through the back door and Luna made straight for Harry who welcomed her and drew her against his chest, feeling his t-shirt rub against the scars on his chest; courtesy of Bellatrix Lestrange. The healers had tried their best, he'd been told, but the scars would always remain. They didn't hurt anymore but he still had nightmares about that horrid time; which sometimes made him feel like they were twinging.
He had been told that he and Neville had been lucky to be alive. Harry knew that was true. He'd almost felt like giving up; such had been the insidious nature of the curse cast on Neville and him.
Dudley stopped what he was doing as he watched Luna kiss Harry without any embarrassment before she too left with a smile to join the others outside. He could hear their murmuring through the open windows.
Dudley watched Luna skip out without a word or a glance in their direction. Harry saw Aunt Petunia purse her lips at Luna's behaviour and he bit back a smirk.
"Is she your girlfriend?" Dudley asked, still staring at the door where Luna had disappeared into the back garden.
"Yeah," Harry said, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter again.
"She's gorgeous," his cousin said, looking back at Harry more speculatively.
"She is," Harry agreed.
Aunt Petunia rattled the dishes loudly as she practically threw the last plate into the box. Dudley jumped and quickly picked it up to take it out to the car and walked past a sneering Snape.
"Almost done yet, Tuney?" Snape sneered, walking into the kitchen.
Aunt Petunia gave Snape a hateful glare, looking close to spitting at him and turned her back to him to close and seal the final boxes. Snape moved back to his place at the front door.
"Happy?" Aunt Petunia finally burst out in a shrill voice. "You've driven us from our home. Our home! We've lived here nearly 20 years. I knew nothing good would come from taking you in, you ungrateful brat."
Harry stilled; he'd been waiting for this. He'd known it wouldn't take long for Aunt Petunia to lose her temper. He also knew that the other occupants had heard as well, and listened, ready to intervene.
"It's for your own safety," Harry said evenly, not moving from his position.
"Our safety? We would have been perfectly safe without you," his aunt carried on.
"You're right," he said, still staring at her, refusing to back down from her glare. Those days were over. "You would have been safe if you'd not taken me in. You could have stayed in this house without any problems, completely ignorant of what's been happening."
Aunt Petunia blinked, nonplussed at the agreement from her nephew.
"Do you know why Dumbledore asked you to take me in, to give me a home?"
She stayed silent as she stared at him.
"After Voldemort was defeated everyone thought I had something to do with it. I was just a baby; but they thought it was me who was powerful. At 15 months old I was their saviour, their hero, their celebrity. Dumbledore wanted me to grow up away from all that. He thought something like that would turn my head so he left me here, asked you to take me in and bring me up; away from the world of magic. He left me here to give me protection from the backlash of people who would have tried to kill me.
"The real question is why did you agree to give me a home?"
"That – that old man gave me no choice," Petunia said shrilly.
"There's always a choice, Aunt Petunia," Harry said quietly. "You could have left me at an orphanage. You could have told him no. You could have just drowned me in the bath, just like Aunt Marge always said you should do."
Harry heard a movement and knew without checking that it was Sirius; he'd kicked something. And more than likely, Remus was stopping him from interfering.
"It was Dudley's seventh birthday; you threw him a huge party. You bought him 19 presents; everything he asked for. Piers Polkiss' dad gave him a fire truck and asked him what he wanted to be when he was older. You and Uncle Vernon laughed indulgently when he said he wanted to be drummer and start his own band and you'd bought him the drum kit he'd asked for.
"Mr Polkiss laughed as well. He saw me sitting off to the side and asked if I wanted to work for my Uncle's company when I was older. I don't remember what I said but I remember what Uncle Vernon had said after everyone had gone. Do you remember his words, Aunt Petunia?"
She didn't answer. Harry knew that everyone was waiting for him to answer.
"He said I'd be lucky if I was still alive."
He heard a restrained growl from the front room.
"Why are you telling me this?" Petunia snapped.
"That was when I gave up from trying to be perfect for you and Uncle Vernon. That was when I knew, nothing I ever did would make you accept me; to be treated the same way you treated Dudley. That was when I started counting down the days of when I'd be old enough to leave."
"Your kind have brought nothing but misery to me since I knew you. From Lily, to that Snape boy to the crackpot old man who calls himself your headmaster. Why should I have accepted you?"
Harry controlled himself from blurting the first thing that entered his mind. Petunia didn't care that he was just a child. They'd tried very hard to beat the magic out of him. Perhaps if they hadn't known that he was magic just like his family, they might have accepted him but there was nothing he could do about that. Petunia had her prejudices. She'd had her own experiences with magic that had turned her away from her family and she preferred to wallow in her own anger.
Harry took a deep breath. In just a few days he would turn 17. He would be of legal age and he could perform magic outside of school and more importantly, no longer in need of the protection of the blood wards. He had no need to see the Dursleys again so he may as well get this off his chest.
"You're nothing but a bitter and jealous old bitch," Harry said quietly, ignoring her gasp of outrage. "Your sister loved you and you loved her, but you couldn't put your anger to one side long enough to reconcile and be one family again. You wanted to be a witch like she was and when you realised you wouldn't be able to go to Hogwarts like your sister you turned everything around and made magic the root of all evil."
"How dare you?!" Aunt Petunia, looking ready to scratch his eyes out.
"I dare because what you did was wrong. We're not going to see each other again. Once the war is over, you'll be free. Free from me, free from magic and free from the wizarding world. You took me in because you were trying to atone for your own behaviour towards your sister. I was the last reminder you had of her. You pretended for so long that you didn't have a sister who was magical that you almost believed it to be true and then suddenly you find a baby dumped on your doorstep to remind that not only did you have a sister but that your last chance to put your differences aside was gone as well. You found me on your doorstep with nothing more than a letter and that was how you found out that Lily was dead and I was your last remaining link to her."
"She would have been alive if it hadn't been for her magic," Petunia said angrily. "She could have been with me but instead he took her away from me. That horrible Snape boy."
She gave a glare on the direction of the front door and Harry followed her gaze to see Snape who stood frozen with his back to them.
He knew everyone was still listening.
"He took her away from me as well."
Harry heard a thump and knew without looking the sound had come from Snape.
He smirked.
"You and Snape have more in common than you think. You both loved Lily, you both wanted her to choose you, you both lost her and you both took it out on me."
Petunia's neck should have got whiplash with the speed with which she turned her glare on him.
Harry sighed and uncrossed his arms. He moved to stand in front of his aunt.
"I forgive you," he said, eye level with her. "I forgive you and Uncle Vernon for every hurt, every bit of suffering, for every hateful word you've inflicted on me."
Slap!
Harry's face jerked to the side and he felt a sting on his left cheek. He hadn't expected that. He slowly straightened up to face his aunt again, who was trembling and breathing hard in her anger. He heard Uncle Vernon roar before he was subdued and he saw everyone had run in to the kitchen to point their wands at Petunia Dursley; even Snape stood behind Remus, holding a fearful Dudley.
"I forgive you," Harry repeated quietly. "Because I know I never have to see you again."
Sirius, angry, stomped over to Harry's side and pointed his wand at Petunia and told her through gritted teeth, "You don't know what you've done. You don't know what you've lost, what you've thrown away. Harry may forgive you and it's only for his sake that I'm not cursing you to little bits right now but God help me, if I ever see you again after today I will take great pleasure in showing you just how much damage magic can do."
Mr Weasley and Bill stepped forward as well.
"We'll just take these things and help you on your way, shall we?" Arthur said in a deceptively mild voice, and flicked his wand and floated the rest of the boxes.
Bill gestured for Petunia to leave ahead of him and she turned on the spot and marched off towards the front door passing Snape who released Dudley and bent down to whisper something in her ear that turned her face an angry red colour.
Mr Weasley followed with the rest of the boxes.
Luna stepped forward and examined Harry's cheek and rubbed it lovingly, kissing the handprint left behind from Petunia's slap.
Harry smiled at her.
"Maybe one day the wrackspurts will leave her and she'll realise that you're not going to hurt her."
"Maybe," Harry said doubtfully.
"Get off me," he heard the scuffling and turned his head to see Ron and Remus trying to stop Dudley from coming into the kitchen.
"I need to speak to Harry," Dudley was saying, pushing past the wizards, looking fearfully at their wands.
"Let him through," Harry said softly. Luna reached down to hold his hand and with her other removed her wand from behind her ear.
She idly pointed it at the ground and trained her eyes on Dudley. Dudley knew that every witch and wizard wouldn't hesitate to curse him if he tried to hurt Harry in anyway.
"Is it true what you said? We're – we – you're not going to see us again?" Dudley said, gathering up his courage and tried to ignore the wizards looking ready to hex him senseless.
"For what reason could we possibly see each other again, Dudley?"
"You'll be safe though? You're going to be – who – will you be all right?"
Harry was confused. If he didn't know any better then he'd have thought that Dudley was concerned.
"What do you want Dudley?"
"I never thanked you... for saving my life from those Dementy thingies. I meant to…" Dudley trailed off nervously.
Harry was surprised. But honesty compelled him to admit, "You're welcome Dudley. But your mum was right. Those Dementors came for me, and if I hadn't been sent here then you would never have met them."
Dudley swallowed.
"I think, I think - -I'm glad you were here. Those demented things made me think about how I was – before. About how I made you miserable. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for everything I've done to hurt you. I have – I have no excuse."
Harry nodded dumbly.
"We should have grown up like brothers," Dudley began determinedly. "Mum and Dad gave me almost everything I ever asked for. And I still had tried to take away the little they gave you. I-I- I think I was jealous, but I don't really know why. They treated you like crap, so it felt like I should do the same because it made us all happy. I was wrong to do that. I should have treated you better."
"Wow, Dudley. Those Dementors sure pulled a number on you."
Dudley nodded back and stepped away. Everyone stepped away from them. Luna squeezed his hand.
Dudley bent down to pick up his gym bag and boxing gear. He turned back suddenly.
"Harry! What if – what if I wanted to keep in touch? What if I wanted to see you again?"
Harry was even more taken aback.
"We could do that," Harry said, bemused. "After it's all over. If you wanted to speak to me after the war then you – we can keep in touch."
"Thanks," Dudley smiled and hitched the bags up on his shoulders. "Stay safe, Harry. Look after yourself."
"You too, Big D," Harry said with a puzzled smile.
Dudley nodded and awkwardly made to leave.
He turned around suddenly to find his mum was standing right behind him. Dudley froze, expecting to be reprimanded and was surprised to when she burst in to tears and threw herself at him.
"Oh, my boy. I'm so proud of you."
Dudley gingerly patted his sobbing mother and lead her out to the car.
With a last nod at his cousin, Dudley left the place he'd called home for the past 17 years.
Harry heard the car start up and the sound of fireworks outside and knew they'd received the signal. The Dursley's left for their safe house. Harry didn't know where it was. Dumbledore was the only one who knew and their guards would only take them part way before switching duties with the next lot who would take over the next bit of journey.
Harry left the kitchen and towards the hallway, his hand still held by Luna. Everyone but Sirius, Ron and Hermione dispersed, waiting for the next signal.
Snape wandered off outside again, not making eye contact with anyone. Remus went to stand in the living room to stare at the empty space which previously held all the Dursley's family photographs.
He remembered last year when he'd thrown a fit in his anger with Sirius and Remus and he'd dared them to step into the Dursleys home and find a single photograph showed that he existed.
He left the kitchen, the others awkwardly following. Luna still held his hand.
He stopped in front of his cupboard and reached to open the door, letting go of Luna's hand. He knelt in front of it. It was completely empty except for spider webs and he smiled.
"This was my room," he told Luna, turning to her as she knelt next to him. It would be too cramped for him now but he felt an odd urge to crawl in there and lock the door behind him. "My first Hogwarts letter was addressed to here. They thought it meant they were being watched."
"It's cosy," Luna said, peeking inside. "Safe from nargles."
"Yeah," Harry laughed and felt an odd lump in his throat. "I think I'm going to miss it."
He heard Sirius snort from behind him and Hermione and Ron looked angry. There was another sound to the right. He saw Snape standing there with a tight expression.
"How long until the next signal?" Harry asked, standing up and helping Luna to her feet. Absently, he closed the cupboard door.
"Two minutes Potter," Snape told them, and they nodded.
"I have your trunk, Harry," Sirius said, and Remus walked out of the living room with Hedwig on his arms and the cage already collapsed.
One minute and 35 seconds later they heard the second signal and along with the roar of Sirius' motorcycle driven by Hagrid.
Harry smiled, feeling lighter. He recalled many years ago when, on the way to the zoo for Dudley's birthday, Harry had told Uncle Vernon about his dream of a flying motorcycle. Hagrid was the one who had brought Harry to number 4 Privet Drive and Hagrid would be the one to take him away.
It was fitting. He took one last look around. He'd spent many years wishing that someone would take him away from the Dursleys and now finally he knew he would never return.
