Hope of the Phoenix (9/?)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Remus/ Petunia
Disclaimer: I guess the new ownership papers got lost in the mail, 'cos J.K. Rowling still owns Harry Potter. Darn!
A/N: Again, thank you to all who reviewed. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one as well! The plot is really beginning to pick up steam. But enough out of me, here's chapter 9!
Chapter 9: The Fight
The interest sparked across the country by Petunia's first television announcement started an avalanche of interest from around the world. Petunia and Remus were kept very busy; talk shows, interviews, radio spots, and more public service announcements. News correspondents everywhere latched on to the exciting news of a secret terrorist organization that attacked indiscriminately. They hadn't had a story this good in years!
In the furor, Petunia hardly noticed that September had turned into October, and, indeed, that November was fast approaching. She had never felt this busy in her life, not even when Dudley and Harry had been toddlers. The number of calls that had come in on the new Death-Eater hotline excited her; although most of them had been duds, the Order had managed to arrest a few lower profile Death-Eaters. The media had really promoted those arrests, further encouraging the population.
Remus was still pointedly ignoring her. He had skillfully rebuffed all of her attempts at conversation, and maintained a stony silence everywhere they went. She thought at first that he had merely changed in the years since they'd been friends, but she had seen him laughing quietly when Tonks dropped something, and he had seemed really friendly with Harry and his friends this summer, not that she'd seen all that much of him. Certainly Molly and Arthur thought very highly of him; Molly was often fussing over him. It seemed to be only her that he was avoiding.
As much as she tried to pretend that she didn't care that he was avoiding her, it continued to prey on her mind. She was mostly able to ignore it during the day, when she was so busy with the M.D.A, but at night, having spent a whole day with someone who was ignoring her, she was unable to escape the fact that it bothered her that he wasn't talking to her. She just wasn't used to being ignored.
And it wasn't fair. They'd been close in the past, why would he just ignore her now? Especially since they were now working together. It was for the good of the Order, and she was not obsessing. After all, she had lived perfectly well all these years without him; she was doing good work. She did not need him. The next morning was a beautiful autumn day. Remus had an appointment in the afternoon, so he arranged his meeting with Petunia for the morning. She was already sitting at the table when he arrived. She was smiling at him, and, waiting for him on the table, was the breakfast she had prepared.
He groaned inwardly, making sure that his face was still appropriately cold. It was getting more and more difficult to ignore Petunia. She kept trying to talk to him, doing nice things for him – and it was getting worse as time went on. Remus found, with all the time that he was forced to spend with her, because of the M.D.A, that Petunia Dursley was growing less like the angry, mean woman who had abused Harry for all those years, was growing more like the girl that he remembered.
No. Remus wrenched his mind away from those treacherous thoughts. Reminding himself of what this woman had done, Remus sat down at the table with a muttered "thank you" for the breakfast. He would not let himself be moved by her attempts to ingratiate herself. She had hurt Lily, and Harry over all those years. And she hurt you, a niggling voice at the back of his head reminded him, which he ignored.
The meeting started to go downhill from there. Remus, exhausted after the full moon a few days earlier, was having difficulty maintaining the icy indifference that he had adopted around her. Her slightly flirty manner around him began to wear on his already frayed nerves.
Still, the early part of the morning went smoothly. They were able to focus on the press conference that Petunia would be giving in two weeks. It would have representatives from the European Union, and from several of the Commonwealth Nations. Dumbledore hoped that Petunia would be able to convince them to alert their populations of the danger from the Death Eaters.
It was during their break, over a cup of tea, that the fight began.
It had started innocently enough. Petunia had made them a cup of tea, and had brought out some biscuits she had made earlier. She was chatting away at him, gossiping happily about things she had done since coming to Grimmauld Place, and perhaps from before that – he wasn't listening, when what she was saying suddenly invaded his consciousness.
"... should of known that this creepy house belonged to that murderer Black. I remember the news report. Of course, I had a feeling he'd turn out bad, with all those nasty pranks he used to play..."
Remus felt anger course through him. His friend had only been dead a few months, and now she was insulting him! He stood up suddenly, the motion thrusting the chair out behind her, his eyes blazing. Petunia looked scared at the sudden change that had come over him.
"Shut up," he snarled. "Leave Sirius out of this! He was a better person than you'll ever be! He didn't abandon his friends and family when things got difficult! You haven't even tried to get to know Harry! Not once! He's your nephew! Sirius died trying to save him, but you never even bothered to find out what happened to Harry last year. He could have been killed! Not that you would have noticed."
Remus stopped suddenly, watching the tears pouring down Petunia's face. He managed to control his anger once more, and left the kitchen. Petunia heard the front door slam shut behind him. She was left alone in the kitchen, clutching the cup of tea in her hand like a lifeline.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Remus/ Petunia
Disclaimer: I guess the new ownership papers got lost in the mail, 'cos J.K. Rowling still owns Harry Potter. Darn!
A/N: Again, thank you to all who reviewed. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one as well! The plot is really beginning to pick up steam. But enough out of me, here's chapter 9!
Chapter 9: The Fight
The interest sparked across the country by Petunia's first television announcement started an avalanche of interest from around the world. Petunia and Remus were kept very busy; talk shows, interviews, radio spots, and more public service announcements. News correspondents everywhere latched on to the exciting news of a secret terrorist organization that attacked indiscriminately. They hadn't had a story this good in years!
In the furor, Petunia hardly noticed that September had turned into October, and, indeed, that November was fast approaching. She had never felt this busy in her life, not even when Dudley and Harry had been toddlers. The number of calls that had come in on the new Death-Eater hotline excited her; although most of them had been duds, the Order had managed to arrest a few lower profile Death-Eaters. The media had really promoted those arrests, further encouraging the population.
Remus was still pointedly ignoring her. He had skillfully rebuffed all of her attempts at conversation, and maintained a stony silence everywhere they went. She thought at first that he had merely changed in the years since they'd been friends, but she had seen him laughing quietly when Tonks dropped something, and he had seemed really friendly with Harry and his friends this summer, not that she'd seen all that much of him. Certainly Molly and Arthur thought very highly of him; Molly was often fussing over him. It seemed to be only her that he was avoiding.
As much as she tried to pretend that she didn't care that he was avoiding her, it continued to prey on her mind. She was mostly able to ignore it during the day, when she was so busy with the M.D.A, but at night, having spent a whole day with someone who was ignoring her, she was unable to escape the fact that it bothered her that he wasn't talking to her. She just wasn't used to being ignored.
And it wasn't fair. They'd been close in the past, why would he just ignore her now? Especially since they were now working together. It was for the good of the Order, and she was not obsessing. After all, she had lived perfectly well all these years without him; she was doing good work. She did not need him. The next morning was a beautiful autumn day. Remus had an appointment in the afternoon, so he arranged his meeting with Petunia for the morning. She was already sitting at the table when he arrived. She was smiling at him, and, waiting for him on the table, was the breakfast she had prepared.
He groaned inwardly, making sure that his face was still appropriately cold. It was getting more and more difficult to ignore Petunia. She kept trying to talk to him, doing nice things for him – and it was getting worse as time went on. Remus found, with all the time that he was forced to spend with her, because of the M.D.A, that Petunia Dursley was growing less like the angry, mean woman who had abused Harry for all those years, was growing more like the girl that he remembered.
No. Remus wrenched his mind away from those treacherous thoughts. Reminding himself of what this woman had done, Remus sat down at the table with a muttered "thank you" for the breakfast. He would not let himself be moved by her attempts to ingratiate herself. She had hurt Lily, and Harry over all those years. And she hurt you, a niggling voice at the back of his head reminded him, which he ignored.
The meeting started to go downhill from there. Remus, exhausted after the full moon a few days earlier, was having difficulty maintaining the icy indifference that he had adopted around her. Her slightly flirty manner around him began to wear on his already frayed nerves.
Still, the early part of the morning went smoothly. They were able to focus on the press conference that Petunia would be giving in two weeks. It would have representatives from the European Union, and from several of the Commonwealth Nations. Dumbledore hoped that Petunia would be able to convince them to alert their populations of the danger from the Death Eaters.
It was during their break, over a cup of tea, that the fight began.
It had started innocently enough. Petunia had made them a cup of tea, and had brought out some biscuits she had made earlier. She was chatting away at him, gossiping happily about things she had done since coming to Grimmauld Place, and perhaps from before that – he wasn't listening, when what she was saying suddenly invaded his consciousness.
"... should of known that this creepy house belonged to that murderer Black. I remember the news report. Of course, I had a feeling he'd turn out bad, with all those nasty pranks he used to play..."
Remus felt anger course through him. His friend had only been dead a few months, and now she was insulting him! He stood up suddenly, the motion thrusting the chair out behind her, his eyes blazing. Petunia looked scared at the sudden change that had come over him.
"Shut up," he snarled. "Leave Sirius out of this! He was a better person than you'll ever be! He didn't abandon his friends and family when things got difficult! You haven't even tried to get to know Harry! Not once! He's your nephew! Sirius died trying to save him, but you never even bothered to find out what happened to Harry last year. He could have been killed! Not that you would have noticed."
Remus stopped suddenly, watching the tears pouring down Petunia's face. He managed to control his anger once more, and left the kitchen. Petunia heard the front door slam shut behind him. She was left alone in the kitchen, clutching the cup of tea in her hand like a lifeline.