"God!" exclaimed Petunia as the portkey set them down right outside the gates leading onto the Hogwarts grounds. "I forgot how bad a mode of transportation a portkey is."
"I haven't," moaned Harry, grabbing at his aunt's waist. "It's even worse when you can't see anything."
Petunia squeezed her nephew's shoulder sympathetically then looked at Snape.
"Now what?"
"We go inside," replied Snape, taking his hand off Harry's shoulder. When the teen wobbled unsteadily he put it back. "Are you alright?"
Harry looked oddly in Snape's direction and replied, "Yes."
Then…
"Er, no."
Snape snorted. "I thought as much."
He then proceeded to sweep the rather small fifteen-year-old up into his arms and strode towards the castle, the gates swinging open then closed behind them at a whispered word.
"Well," said Harry in amusement as they crossed the lawn, "several people would get a kick out of this scene."
Snape sneered and shook his head at Petunia's questioning look.
"Are we going to see Professor Dumbledore?" asked Harry.
"Yes," replied Severus, trying not to focus on the slow ache coming over his arms.
"Good. Tell me when we get there."
Petunia and Snape exchanged a glance.
"Why?" asked Petunia.
"So I can sock him for leaving me with that bastard."
The two adults exchanged another glance. Not another word was spoken as the strange party continued across the lawns, Hedwig's shape suddenly appeared in the sky above them.
~*~*~*~*~
"Harry's dead, I know it."
"Don't be so negative, Ron," admonished Hermione. She wrung her hands in her lap and looked out the window in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore himself was nowhere in the office but in a study off to the side.
"Yes," said a voice from behind them. "Don't be so negative."
Hermione and Ron turned in their chairs to see Harry standing in the doorway, Snape and a horse-faced woman flanking him.
"Harry!" exclaimed the bushy-haired girl, leaping out of her seat and rushing to hug her friend. She buried her face against his neck, feeling and hearing the chuckle that he uttered as he returned the embrace.
"Good to see you too, Mione."
Hermione pulled back, smiling at her friend. Then she saw the dark glasses and frowned.
"Harry, what…"
Harry sighed and reaching up, his fingers fumbling for the glasses. Hermione took his hand and pushed it down, gently reaching out and removing them herself. When she saw his lifeless eyes, she let out a sob. Behind her Ron gaped in disbelief.
"Your – your…"
"Blind?" supplied Harry helpfully.
Ron nodded then hit himself mentally and replied, "Yeah."
"I know. Have been since a few days after term ended."
"Oh God…" breathed Hermione. "Harry…"
"It's okay, Mione. It could be worse."
"How?" choked Ron.
Harry smiled grimly and replied without humor, "I could be dead." Behind him the horse-faced woman let out a small sob and – to Ron and Hermione's surprise – Snape wrapped an arm about her waist in an almost comforting gesture.
Enter Dumbledore.
"Ah, Severus, you were successful."
"So was my uncle," spat Harry bitterly, his unseeing eyes staring at the old wizard accusingly.
Dumbledore's mouth dropped open and he started numbly at the blind teen.
"Merlin's beard…" He looked at Harry and breathed, "If I had known…"
"You didn't know," spat Harry. "You probably didn't even check on me to see how they were treating me. My aunt had to protect me on her own and she couldn't do it!" His face twisted with rage and he snarled, "I slept in a cupboard for eleven years because you sent me there! I was treated worse than the Malfoy's treated Dobby! And now look - "
He spread his arms wide.
"The oh-so-wondrous Boy-Who-Lived is blind. Who will save the world from Voldemort now?"
Harry turned a savage look on Dumbledore and hissed, "It won't be me."
With that, he turned and strode out the door, shoving past the reaching arm of his aunt and staggering down onto the staircase, his hand pressed against the wall. Snape looked after him then snapped, "Weasley, Granger, go after him."
Hermione nodded and ducked out. It took Ron a moment longer to respond but he too followed.
Snape shook his head then led Petunia over to the vacated chairs. He looked at the still stricken Dumbledore and said, "Albus."
The older wizard gave a little jump then looked at him.
"Yes, Severus?"
"This is Petunia, Potter's aunt." When the old wizard looked confused, he said, "Lily's sister."
Dumbledore looked at Petunia in surprise.
"I seem to remember a red-haired young woman as fiery as her twin sister."
Petunia smiled grimly and said, "A glamour. After I lost my wand…" And Severus practically hung on the air. "…I cast it. I didn't want to remember – but I didn't want to Obliviate myself to forget."
"How did you cast it?" asked Dumbledore.
Petunia let out a slightly hysterical laugh.
"Surely, professor, you remember who mine and Lily's grandfather was – is, I am now told."
"Was would be a better word," said Snape softly. "I'm not certain you would want to call the thing he is now your grandfather."
Petunia tilted her head back to smile at him.
"Maybe. But deep down he's still that man. Even if it can't be reached."
Snape squeezed her shoulder and left his hand there. Petunia's own snaked up to his and squeezed back.
Dumbledore smiled at them then said, "So you will be staying with us, Mrs. Dursley?"
"Evans. I never considered Vernon my husband and after what he did to my nephew and myself, I never shall again."
Dumbledore nodded then said, "Severus, if you would…"
"Of course, Albus."
Snape gently pulled Petunia to her feet and led her out of the office onto the rotating staircase. As they rode it down, she softly said, "He's the one, isn't he?"
"Pardon?"
"The one who made you abandon me."
Snape looked down at her in surprise.
"I didn't abandon you, Tuna. I had to keep up my spy duties."
"And Dumbledore just pulled your leash and you jumped," snarled Petunia, glaring at him accusingly.
"Tuna…"
"Truth, Severus. I want the truth."
Snape sighed and turned his face away from her as the staircase stopped moving.
"Albus did ask me to continue spying…"
"I sense a but."
Snape glared mildly at her and continued, "But I was also afraid."
"Of me?" exclaimed Petunia.
"For you," corrected Snape. "I was afraid for you."
Petunia frowned for a moment then got an expression of realization on her face.
"Because of Grandfather."
Snape nodded.
"I was afraid that is our relationship continued, with you being in hiding, that he might find out who you were. You were in hiding because of the prophecy, after all."
"Well, we were wrong about that, weren't we?" spat the woman bitterly as she waved a hand dismissively. There was a shimmering over her form then the bony, horse-faced woman known as Petunia Dursley disappeared and Petunia Evans reappeared for the first time in sixteen years. Light brown eyes turned emerald green but not the same startling emerald that her sister's had been and certainly not what her nephew's were – had been. Reddish-brown hair turned flame red and cascaded down over Snape's arm as it was freed from it loose bun. Her features shifted to smoother and more rounded and she grew a few inches in height.
"That's better," said Petunia, giving a little shake. She smiled up at the man beside her, her features now decidedly like her dead sister's. Any student would have likely fallen over dead in the next moment as Snape smiled back at her.
"It's good to have you back, Tuna."
"It's good to be back, Sev." Petunia looked around suddenly and said, "Harry. Where's Harry?"
"Never fear," said Snape. "Weasley and Granger will find him."
"I still want to make sure he's safe."
Snape sighed, "Alright."
"You're a good man, Sev."
"Oh, bugger off, woman."
~*~*~*~*~
"Harry!"
"Harry!"
Ron and Hermione raced down another corridor, looking for their friend. Just as they started to turn down another hallway, a voice sprang out at them from a dark alcove.
"It helps it you actually look instead of just running through the halls."
The two fifteen-year-old's skidded to a halt and spun about. "Harry?" said Hermione nervously, peering towards the alcove.
"Looking for me? I feel so loved."
"Harry, stop being sarcastic," said Ron.
"I'll be as damn well sarcastic as I want to be, thank you."
Ron and Hermione looked at each other nervously. Hermione slowly crept forward, her eyes adjusting to the dark as she did so. She could see Harry now, setting in the alcove with his legs pulled up to his chest and his chin resting on his knees.
"Harry," she whispered.
"Can't I be left alone for any moment of time?" said the boy bitterly. He turned his sightless eyes towards Hermione and continued, "Or is the blind Boy-Who-Lived such a fine attraction?" His voice took on the ring of a circus ringmaster as he cried, "Come one, come all, and see the blind Boy-Who-Lived! Only two Galleons for a glimpse!"
"That's not funny," said Hermione darkly.
"No," said Harry with a cold smile. "It's sarcasm."
"Harry…" sighed Hermione.
"Mione," said the boy wearily, "please. Just leave me alone."
"Do you really want us to?" asked Ron.
Harry turned his lifeless eyes towards the ginger-haired boy and seemed to consider the question.
"No."
"I didn't think you did," said Hermione. She gently touched his arm and added, "C'mon. Let's go up to the Tower."
Harry nodded and turned to drop down out of the alcove to the stone-flagged floor. As he staggered slightly, Ron and Hermione both grabbed at his arms, causing the teen to grimace.
"I'm blind, not crippled, damnit!"
Hermione smiled at Ron as she slipped the sunglasses back onto Harry's face then pulled his left arm across her shoulders.
"We know," she said to the boy.
"But can you find your way to Gryffindor Tower from here?" questioned Ron with a wry grin on his face as the two teens steered their friend down the corridor.
"Humphf," was all Harry said as the three of them trudged towards their tower.
At the other end of the corridor stood two figures, one with flaming hair and the other with dark.
"There," said Snape, nodding towards the three. "He's safely in the clutches of Weasley and Granger."
"I can see that," said Petunia. "He'll need new things."
"And I shall probably be sent after them," grumbled Snape.
"Severus, drop this silly act. No, you can't, can you? You have to keep up your image."
"As a loyal Death Eater."
Petunia looked up at him with a questioning gaze and asked, "What am I to do? I can't just stay cooped up in a room."
"It might be safest."
"You know damn bloody well that I am not going to sit in a room and do nothing while a war goes on outside these walls!"
"Yes," said Snape. "I do. Albus will decide what we shall do. But now there is sleep that is need, now that you see Potter is safe."
"Fine, fine." She yawned and leaned against Snape's tall, strong form. "You said something about sleep?"
"I did indeed."
"Can I spend the night with you?"
"Tuna…"
"It was worth a try…"
Snape smiled and chuckled softly, hugging the slim woman close as they turned and headed back down the corridor.
"Maybe someday, Tuna. Maybe someday…"
~*~*~*~*~
"Harry, where've you been?"
Harry looked up in surprise when Ron and Hermione led him into Gryffindor Tower. "Neville?" he called, trying to locate the boy.
"It's me," said the other boy, wriggling out of a chair near the fire. "Everyone else's already gone to bed."
"Why haven't you?" asked Ron a little grumpily.
Neville frowned nervously and replied, "I wanted to know what was wrong with Harry."
Harry smiled, a little of the weight he did not realize until that moment was on his heart lifting.
"Thanks, Neville."
Neville smiled sheepishly and ducked his head.
"No problem, Harry. Can – can I ask what happened?"
Harry nodded solemnly and slipped his arm from about Ron's shoulder, leaving his other about Hermione's as she was more his height than Ron. Slowly he reached up, searching only a moment for his glasses before he found them and pulled them away.
Neville gasped, "You're blind."
"Yeah," said Harry, fumbling at the glasses to slide them back on. He finally gave up and just clutched them in his hand. "Don't let anyone know, will you? I don't want it around school before I even wake up."
Neville nodded and said, "You got it, Harry. Nobody'll hear it from me."
"Thanks, Neville," murmured Hermione, smiling gratefully at the boy, who blushed. She then asked, "Can you take my place? I can't go up in the boy's dorm."
"Abandoning me already, Mione?" quipped Harry as Hermione moved and Neville took her place under his arm.
Hermione smiled and hugged her friend about the waist as Ron took Harry's other arm again. She buried her face against Harry's neck and whispered into his ear, "Never in all eternity would I abandon you, Harry."
"Thanks," whispered Harry as she pulled away, another little piece of weight on his heart lifting.
Hermione smiled and patted his shoulder before she turned away and vanished up the girl's staircase. Two of the three boys watched her go then began to slowly help the third up the stairs to their own dormitory.