A/N: Bwa ha ha! Back at the Dursley's! I had to do it! Am I evil? Read and
find out!! BTW, I love hearing what people think about what I write, so
please, post a review or two if you like it...or if you don't...I really want
to know! Thanks.
Chapter Eight (AKA: Bwa ha ha)
"Who the hell is this, boy?" Harry's Uncle Vernon snapped. "Out with it! I am not a damn taxi service!" he yelled.
"Uncle Vernon, this is my fiancé, Luna." Harry answered calmly. "Luna, this is my Uncle Vernon."
"Your..." Vernon coughed.
"...Fiancé..." Harry finished.
"Boy, you had better not..." Vernon began, but Luna stepped forward and offered her hand.
"Luna Lovegood," she smiled. "Pleased to meet you."
"Err..." Vernon frowned. "Get in the car, boy." He barked at Harry instead.
"My aunt's a Muggle, you know...quite insane, actually..." Luna laughed on the way to Surrey.
"Luna...err...not a good topic of conversation for my uncle..." Harry whispered.
"I know," she shrugged, "but what else have I to talk about?"
Harry laughed. "All right, but I warned you..."
Finally, Pivet Drive came into view. It didn't look any different than when Harry had left it almost two years ago. He frowned. Dudley was sitting outside, his rolls of fat drooping over the front step. His aunt was peering through the blinds at the kitchen window.
"Come on, Luna. I'll show you where my room is." Harry sighed.
Luna grinned. "It's not that bad..." she offered.
"Dudley, this is Luna." Harry mouthed as he passed his cousin on the steps. Dudley said nothing, so Harry continued on into the house.
"Aunt Petunia, this is Luna," Harry introduced Luna to his aunt, who was still peering through the blinds.
Aunt Petunia turned. "Who is Luna?" she asked, her curiosity rising.
"My fiancé," Harry explained. "Luna, this is my Aunt Petunia. My mother's sister."
"You're Lily Potter's sister?" Luna's mouth dropped open.
Petunia blinked. "I...well...yes," she stammered.
Luna frowned at the stack of dishes in the sink. "You know...you could always just..." Luna waved her wand. Suddenly, the dishes were not only spotlessly clean, but sorted inside the drainer.
Aunt Petunia's mouth hung open. Harry quickly led Luna up the stairs. When he returned five minutes later to retrieve the rest of her things, his Aunt Petunia was still in the kitchen, only now, she was examining the dishes in the drainer as if they were contaminated ("Fascinating..." he heard her whisper as he turned back up the stairs).
"You, my friend, have managed to turn the Dursley household inside out in less then ten minutes. How do you do it?" Harry laughed.
"I'm just gifted," Luna smiled.
Dudley tried at all times to stay at least ten feet from Luna and Harry. He seemed to be afraid that something bad might happen to him. Luna delighted in scaring the tar out of Vernon and Petunia, who still seemed to think Harry and Luna weren't allowed to do magic outside of school. Harry hadn't told them yet. He was just looking for the right way...
It was about half way through the week when the owls started coming for Harry and Luna. The first was an owl from Harry, reminding him that his training was to start in a week. The second was a wedding invitation from Ron and Hermione addressed to both Luna and Harry. The third owl ("Ruddy owls!") was from Dumbledore. It was addressed to Luna. She read it quickly, and began to laugh.
"What is it?" demanded Vernon, who had become interested (in an angry annoyed sort of way) after the third owl had swooped through the living room window and over his head.
"Harry, Dumbledore has asked Ron to teach at Hogwarts." She smiled. Uncle Vernon flinched at the word 'Hogwarts'. "Herbology, I think. Says Professor Sprout retired..."
"Why wouldn't Ron have just told us himself? Why would Dumbledore send you a letter about it?" Harry and Luna carried on their conversation as if his purple-faced uncle wasn't even there.
"Because, Harry, apparently Dumbledore wants me to teach..." she scanned the letter again, as if she had forgotten. "Ancient Runes? That class was really interesting..." she said with a whistle.
Harry blinked. "I thought you were working for your father's magazine?" he asked.
"Oh, I can put that on hold for a little while for a favor to Dumbledore!" she smiled. "Although, I'm unsure why he'd want a couple nineteen year olds teaching classes..." She seemed to be thinking for a while, "but why am I worried?"
"That's great," Harry smiled. "And you'll even get to work with Professor Lupin...you know, instead of handing in his homework..." Harry laughed at the thought.
"Why are you talking about this in front of me?" growled Harry's uncle.
Harry looked thoughtful a moment. "Because we can. It's not like they're going to come take us to Azkaban..." Harry shrugged.
"But I thought you weren't allowed to do magic outside of school!" His uncle was suddenly outraged.
"My dear uncle, we are no longer in school. We are now of age. We can do whatever we bloody well please as long as it's within the Ministry's bylaws."
"Then why are you still here?" he demanded next.
"Because I had to come and get my things, and I can't start renting out our house until next week. Why does it bother you so much, anyway? You've lived with me in the house before."
"Luna, dear..." It was Aunt Petunia. Calling Luna...into the kitchen. Harry cast a suspicious glance towards the swinging door that went into the dining room. "Luna, could you come here a moment?"
"Aunt Petunia, what are you doing?" asked Harry, an eyebrow raising.
"I want to talk to Luna, Harry, dear..." she replied.
"Harry, 'dear'..." he smirked. "Are you all right, Aunt Petunia?"
Harry tiptoed into the kitchen behind Luna. What could Petunia possibly want with her? And for that matter, why was she being nice to him? For sixteen years, he had been trodden on, left out, and just plain forgotten. What had caused his aunt's sudden change in attitude? He watched Luna and his aunt, perplexed, but fascinated.
"Hello, Luna dear." Petunia smiled.
"What did you need, Mrs. Dursley?" whispered Luna, sounded slightly worried.
Mrs. Dursley lowered her eyes to the floor. "I just wanted to tell you...well...what you did earlier...it was quite neat..." she admitted.
Luna did a double take. "Is that all? It was nothing, Mrs. Dursley." She smiled. "But why all the secrecy? What have you got to whisper about?"
"Vernon...he doesn't like...that side of my family too much..." Petunia whispered.
Harry nearly fell over. Was he hearing what he thought he was hearing? His degree of interest just went up a point. He took yet another step forward. He was practically on top of the door.
"You don't need to tell me that, Mrs. Dursley," frowned Luna.
Petunia sighed deeply. "You mentioned Lily. We don't talk about Lily or James in this house. We even tell people Harry goes to St. Brutus's. My sister...my parents thought she was so special. They were so proud of her...Maybe I was jealous? I don't know. I told everyone she was a freak..."
Harry took a step backwards. His breath had caught in his throat. His Aunt Petunia had finally cracked. And what was more interesting: his Aunt Petunia was talking to his fiancé about his mother. She hadn't even talked to him about his mother. Indeed, this was a very noteworthy occasion. He didn't want to intrude, only to listen, so again, he stepped forward.
Luna was talking now. "...I'm sorry, Mrs. Dursley. I don't know what to say. Harry's said you've never talked about his parents before. He's rather sore about it..." she added. What could he say to that? He was.
"Yes, I understand. We thought we could stomp it out of him, you know?" she laughed to herself, and Luna cringed. "But then, he still got that letter. And almost every year, we'd get one of those owls saying he'd been hurt...and then a couple years ago..." Petunia shivered.
"The Dementors?" Luna whispered.
Petunia shivered again. "Yes. Poor Dudley. But then look...look at all you've learned; at all he's learned. You are one of the few women in the world who may never have to do one bit of housework...it's quite amazing. I knew, of course...Lily was my sister...how could I not know?" She paused. Luna looked as if she wanted to run away. "But it wasn't until Harry showed up here with you...you're so open about it, like Lily was...you reminded me of her. She probably hated me by the time she married James, though. I was so mean to her. My friends were mean to her. It was horrible."
"Oh my god!" Harry whispered to himself. He wanted to run in and hug his aunt. He had never heard her talk so openly, especially about his parents. Boy, was he glad his Uncle Vernon was absorbed in the seven o' clock news.
Finally, Harry's backbone returned to him. He pushed open the swinging door and stepped into the kitchen. Luna smiled at him almost automatically.
"How much did you hear, Harry dear?" his aunt asked him.
"All of it, Aunt Petunia. I've been standing by the door for the past fifteen minutes." Harry was surprised at how easy it was to be honest with her.
His Aunt Petunia laughed. This was a day for the record books. "You just make sure you don't tell your uncle I've been standing here babbling like an idiot," she whispered.
"My lips are sealed, Aunt Petunia." Harry promised.
That night, it was Luna's turn to be surprised. She flopped down onto Harry's bed, and sighed deeply. Harry sat down next to her.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Luna took a deep breath. "I don't know. That was weird. I wasn't expecting her to say that kind of stuff, you know? It was kind of scary...and she said I reminded her of Lily, Harry...why would she say that?" Luna had a habit of thinking out loud lately.
"I don't know." Harry admitted. "I didn't really get a chance to know her...you want to see pictures?" he pulled a photo album from his bedside table. "To tell you the truth," he whispered, (Luna had begun to flip slowly through the album) "I don't think I've heard my aunt talk about my mother as much in nearly eighteen years, as she did tonight..."
"Oh look! There's you as a baby!" Luna smiled. "You're waving at me!" She paused. "Is that...Sirius? Look...there, next to your father..." she pointed.
"Yeah, it is." He sighed. "He was at their wedding. All the original Marauders were. Look. The next page should be one of Sirius, Lupin, and Peter. And the page after that is Peter with my parents..." Harry's fist had tightened into a ball.
"Harry, I'm sorry. We're talking about a sore subject. Why don't we talk about something else?" she suggested softly. "What about...?" but she paused. Hedwig had just flown into the window. She dropped a letter into Harry's lap.
Harry smiled. "Another one from Dumbledore. At least you didn't go through the living room, Hedwig," he laughed. "My uncle may have shot you..." Hedwig hooted disapprovingly. Harry opened the letter, sealed with the familiar Hogwarts crest.
'Dear Harry- The enclosed document comes from the Ministry of Magic itself. If you happen to get the Daily Prophet, it may be covered in tomorrow's issue as well. I thought you might want to be the first person to see it. Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore'
"Harry, what is it?" asked Luna anxiously.
Harry put Dumbledore's cover letter down on the bed, and Luna read through it. He looked at the piece of paper behind it. It was an official notice from the Ministry of Magic.
'As of this day, the 24th of June, the Ministry of Magic would like to announce its capture of the illusive Animagus criminal Peter Pettigrew. Two years ago, the supposed-murderer Sirius Black was cleared of all charges after his unfortunate death in his quest to protect the prophecy told of Harry Potter...' 'It was discovered that Black was indeed an innocent man, and that Pettigrew had been the wizard who had ultimately contributed to the murders. Earlier this day, Pettigrew was found scurrying around the Hogwarts grounds...' 'Pettigrew was later delivered to the Azkaban prison. When he tried to escape, the Dementors preformed the dreaded Dementor's kiss...'
Harry need not read any farther. He smiled and wiped a stray tear from his cheek. The man who had helped kill his parents would never be able to hurt anyone again. He had been caught. Justice had been done.
"What is it, Harry?" asked Luna again.
Harry sighed. "They caught Pettigrew. You know where he was? He was back at Hogwarts. But they caught him..." Harry whispered.
Luna smiled, and kissed Harry gently on his forehead. "That's great for you, Harry." She giggled softly. "That's wonderful..." she yawned and leaned back on the pillow.
"Yeah," he smiled, "and one less thing to have nightmares about."
"Yes, dear..." Luna yawned again and rolled over on the pillow. Harry brushed her hair out of her eyes, smiled, and sat at his desk. Hegwig hooted in her cage, and Harry sat, smiling, and watching Luna sleep.
A/N: I don't even know if Peter is still alive in the books or not, but in this case, he is for the sake of the story, okay? I just can't help but have the mush...you thought I'd be evil, didn't you? HA. Well, that is still to come. Read and Review, please!
Chapter Eight (AKA: Bwa ha ha)
"Who the hell is this, boy?" Harry's Uncle Vernon snapped. "Out with it! I am not a damn taxi service!" he yelled.
"Uncle Vernon, this is my fiancé, Luna." Harry answered calmly. "Luna, this is my Uncle Vernon."
"Your..." Vernon coughed.
"...Fiancé..." Harry finished.
"Boy, you had better not..." Vernon began, but Luna stepped forward and offered her hand.
"Luna Lovegood," she smiled. "Pleased to meet you."
"Err..." Vernon frowned. "Get in the car, boy." He barked at Harry instead.
"My aunt's a Muggle, you know...quite insane, actually..." Luna laughed on the way to Surrey.
"Luna...err...not a good topic of conversation for my uncle..." Harry whispered.
"I know," she shrugged, "but what else have I to talk about?"
Harry laughed. "All right, but I warned you..."
Finally, Pivet Drive came into view. It didn't look any different than when Harry had left it almost two years ago. He frowned. Dudley was sitting outside, his rolls of fat drooping over the front step. His aunt was peering through the blinds at the kitchen window.
"Come on, Luna. I'll show you where my room is." Harry sighed.
Luna grinned. "It's not that bad..." she offered.
"Dudley, this is Luna." Harry mouthed as he passed his cousin on the steps. Dudley said nothing, so Harry continued on into the house.
"Aunt Petunia, this is Luna," Harry introduced Luna to his aunt, who was still peering through the blinds.
Aunt Petunia turned. "Who is Luna?" she asked, her curiosity rising.
"My fiancé," Harry explained. "Luna, this is my Aunt Petunia. My mother's sister."
"You're Lily Potter's sister?" Luna's mouth dropped open.
Petunia blinked. "I...well...yes," she stammered.
Luna frowned at the stack of dishes in the sink. "You know...you could always just..." Luna waved her wand. Suddenly, the dishes were not only spotlessly clean, but sorted inside the drainer.
Aunt Petunia's mouth hung open. Harry quickly led Luna up the stairs. When he returned five minutes later to retrieve the rest of her things, his Aunt Petunia was still in the kitchen, only now, she was examining the dishes in the drainer as if they were contaminated ("Fascinating..." he heard her whisper as he turned back up the stairs).
"You, my friend, have managed to turn the Dursley household inside out in less then ten minutes. How do you do it?" Harry laughed.
"I'm just gifted," Luna smiled.
Dudley tried at all times to stay at least ten feet from Luna and Harry. He seemed to be afraid that something bad might happen to him. Luna delighted in scaring the tar out of Vernon and Petunia, who still seemed to think Harry and Luna weren't allowed to do magic outside of school. Harry hadn't told them yet. He was just looking for the right way...
It was about half way through the week when the owls started coming for Harry and Luna. The first was an owl from Harry, reminding him that his training was to start in a week. The second was a wedding invitation from Ron and Hermione addressed to both Luna and Harry. The third owl ("Ruddy owls!") was from Dumbledore. It was addressed to Luna. She read it quickly, and began to laugh.
"What is it?" demanded Vernon, who had become interested (in an angry annoyed sort of way) after the third owl had swooped through the living room window and over his head.
"Harry, Dumbledore has asked Ron to teach at Hogwarts." She smiled. Uncle Vernon flinched at the word 'Hogwarts'. "Herbology, I think. Says Professor Sprout retired..."
"Why wouldn't Ron have just told us himself? Why would Dumbledore send you a letter about it?" Harry and Luna carried on their conversation as if his purple-faced uncle wasn't even there.
"Because, Harry, apparently Dumbledore wants me to teach..." she scanned the letter again, as if she had forgotten. "Ancient Runes? That class was really interesting..." she said with a whistle.
Harry blinked. "I thought you were working for your father's magazine?" he asked.
"Oh, I can put that on hold for a little while for a favor to Dumbledore!" she smiled. "Although, I'm unsure why he'd want a couple nineteen year olds teaching classes..." She seemed to be thinking for a while, "but why am I worried?"
"That's great," Harry smiled. "And you'll even get to work with Professor Lupin...you know, instead of handing in his homework..." Harry laughed at the thought.
"Why are you talking about this in front of me?" growled Harry's uncle.
Harry looked thoughtful a moment. "Because we can. It's not like they're going to come take us to Azkaban..." Harry shrugged.
"But I thought you weren't allowed to do magic outside of school!" His uncle was suddenly outraged.
"My dear uncle, we are no longer in school. We are now of age. We can do whatever we bloody well please as long as it's within the Ministry's bylaws."
"Then why are you still here?" he demanded next.
"Because I had to come and get my things, and I can't start renting out our house until next week. Why does it bother you so much, anyway? You've lived with me in the house before."
"Luna, dear..." It was Aunt Petunia. Calling Luna...into the kitchen. Harry cast a suspicious glance towards the swinging door that went into the dining room. "Luna, could you come here a moment?"
"Aunt Petunia, what are you doing?" asked Harry, an eyebrow raising.
"I want to talk to Luna, Harry, dear..." she replied.
"Harry, 'dear'..." he smirked. "Are you all right, Aunt Petunia?"
Harry tiptoed into the kitchen behind Luna. What could Petunia possibly want with her? And for that matter, why was she being nice to him? For sixteen years, he had been trodden on, left out, and just plain forgotten. What had caused his aunt's sudden change in attitude? He watched Luna and his aunt, perplexed, but fascinated.
"Hello, Luna dear." Petunia smiled.
"What did you need, Mrs. Dursley?" whispered Luna, sounded slightly worried.
Mrs. Dursley lowered her eyes to the floor. "I just wanted to tell you...well...what you did earlier...it was quite neat..." she admitted.
Luna did a double take. "Is that all? It was nothing, Mrs. Dursley." She smiled. "But why all the secrecy? What have you got to whisper about?"
"Vernon...he doesn't like...that side of my family too much..." Petunia whispered.
Harry nearly fell over. Was he hearing what he thought he was hearing? His degree of interest just went up a point. He took yet another step forward. He was practically on top of the door.
"You don't need to tell me that, Mrs. Dursley," frowned Luna.
Petunia sighed deeply. "You mentioned Lily. We don't talk about Lily or James in this house. We even tell people Harry goes to St. Brutus's. My sister...my parents thought she was so special. They were so proud of her...Maybe I was jealous? I don't know. I told everyone she was a freak..."
Harry took a step backwards. His breath had caught in his throat. His Aunt Petunia had finally cracked. And what was more interesting: his Aunt Petunia was talking to his fiancé about his mother. She hadn't even talked to him about his mother. Indeed, this was a very noteworthy occasion. He didn't want to intrude, only to listen, so again, he stepped forward.
Luna was talking now. "...I'm sorry, Mrs. Dursley. I don't know what to say. Harry's said you've never talked about his parents before. He's rather sore about it..." she added. What could he say to that? He was.
"Yes, I understand. We thought we could stomp it out of him, you know?" she laughed to herself, and Luna cringed. "But then, he still got that letter. And almost every year, we'd get one of those owls saying he'd been hurt...and then a couple years ago..." Petunia shivered.
"The Dementors?" Luna whispered.
Petunia shivered again. "Yes. Poor Dudley. But then look...look at all you've learned; at all he's learned. You are one of the few women in the world who may never have to do one bit of housework...it's quite amazing. I knew, of course...Lily was my sister...how could I not know?" She paused. Luna looked as if she wanted to run away. "But it wasn't until Harry showed up here with you...you're so open about it, like Lily was...you reminded me of her. She probably hated me by the time she married James, though. I was so mean to her. My friends were mean to her. It was horrible."
"Oh my god!" Harry whispered to himself. He wanted to run in and hug his aunt. He had never heard her talk so openly, especially about his parents. Boy, was he glad his Uncle Vernon was absorbed in the seven o' clock news.
Finally, Harry's backbone returned to him. He pushed open the swinging door and stepped into the kitchen. Luna smiled at him almost automatically.
"How much did you hear, Harry dear?" his aunt asked him.
"All of it, Aunt Petunia. I've been standing by the door for the past fifteen minutes." Harry was surprised at how easy it was to be honest with her.
His Aunt Petunia laughed. This was a day for the record books. "You just make sure you don't tell your uncle I've been standing here babbling like an idiot," she whispered.
"My lips are sealed, Aunt Petunia." Harry promised.
That night, it was Luna's turn to be surprised. She flopped down onto Harry's bed, and sighed deeply. Harry sat down next to her.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Luna took a deep breath. "I don't know. That was weird. I wasn't expecting her to say that kind of stuff, you know? It was kind of scary...and she said I reminded her of Lily, Harry...why would she say that?" Luna had a habit of thinking out loud lately.
"I don't know." Harry admitted. "I didn't really get a chance to know her...you want to see pictures?" he pulled a photo album from his bedside table. "To tell you the truth," he whispered, (Luna had begun to flip slowly through the album) "I don't think I've heard my aunt talk about my mother as much in nearly eighteen years, as she did tonight..."
"Oh look! There's you as a baby!" Luna smiled. "You're waving at me!" She paused. "Is that...Sirius? Look...there, next to your father..." she pointed.
"Yeah, it is." He sighed. "He was at their wedding. All the original Marauders were. Look. The next page should be one of Sirius, Lupin, and Peter. And the page after that is Peter with my parents..." Harry's fist had tightened into a ball.
"Harry, I'm sorry. We're talking about a sore subject. Why don't we talk about something else?" she suggested softly. "What about...?" but she paused. Hedwig had just flown into the window. She dropped a letter into Harry's lap.
Harry smiled. "Another one from Dumbledore. At least you didn't go through the living room, Hedwig," he laughed. "My uncle may have shot you..." Hedwig hooted disapprovingly. Harry opened the letter, sealed with the familiar Hogwarts crest.
'Dear Harry- The enclosed document comes from the Ministry of Magic itself. If you happen to get the Daily Prophet, it may be covered in tomorrow's issue as well. I thought you might want to be the first person to see it. Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore'
"Harry, what is it?" asked Luna anxiously.
Harry put Dumbledore's cover letter down on the bed, and Luna read through it. He looked at the piece of paper behind it. It was an official notice from the Ministry of Magic.
'As of this day, the 24th of June, the Ministry of Magic would like to announce its capture of the illusive Animagus criminal Peter Pettigrew. Two years ago, the supposed-murderer Sirius Black was cleared of all charges after his unfortunate death in his quest to protect the prophecy told of Harry Potter...' 'It was discovered that Black was indeed an innocent man, and that Pettigrew had been the wizard who had ultimately contributed to the murders. Earlier this day, Pettigrew was found scurrying around the Hogwarts grounds...' 'Pettigrew was later delivered to the Azkaban prison. When he tried to escape, the Dementors preformed the dreaded Dementor's kiss...'
Harry need not read any farther. He smiled and wiped a stray tear from his cheek. The man who had helped kill his parents would never be able to hurt anyone again. He had been caught. Justice had been done.
"What is it, Harry?" asked Luna again.
Harry sighed. "They caught Pettigrew. You know where he was? He was back at Hogwarts. But they caught him..." Harry whispered.
Luna smiled, and kissed Harry gently on his forehead. "That's great for you, Harry." She giggled softly. "That's wonderful..." she yawned and leaned back on the pillow.
"Yeah," he smiled, "and one less thing to have nightmares about."
"Yes, dear..." Luna yawned again and rolled over on the pillow. Harry brushed her hair out of her eyes, smiled, and sat at his desk. Hegwig hooted in her cage, and Harry sat, smiling, and watching Luna sleep.
A/N: I don't even know if Peter is still alive in the books or not, but in this case, he is for the sake of the story, okay? I just can't help but have the mush...you thought I'd be evil, didn't you? HA. Well, that is still to come. Read and Review, please!