Hope of the Phoenix (11/?)
Pairing: Remus/Petunia (eventually... I'm not there yet!)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: See previous disclaimers ... I'm lazy, and JKR still owns HP...
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews to the previous chapter! I feel so loved! So sorry, I have been so long in updating. I am trying to work full time, and attend classes full time as well. Ugh. I will try to update once a week, though. But enough from me, on with chapter 11!
Chapter 11: Hermes, the Winged Messenger!
It was a crisp, early November morning, and the ceiling in the Great Hall showed the bright, slightly cloudy sky as the students crowded around the four long tables for breakfast. At the Gryffindor table, Harry Potter was seated with Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny, and was picking at his toast.
"Harry, you need to eat. Proper nutrition is extremely important at your stage of physical development" advised Hermione. Harry started nibbling at the toast, just to stop her nagging.
He was saved from breakfast, however, by the arrival of the post. The Malfoy's eagle owl brought Malfoy his sweets from home, even the arrest of Draco's father hadn't stopped his mother sending treats. There was a letter for Ron and Ginny from their Mum, and Neville's Gran had sent him another cauldron, to replace the one that he'd melted in potions the previous week. And for Harry...
"Hermes!" exclaimed Ron in surprise. "Harry, why would Percy be sending you an owl. It had better not be the same rot as last year..."
It wasn't. But when Harry saw the writing on the parchment that Hermes had brought, he was more surprised than he would have been if it had been a love letter from Snape: it was from Aunt Petunia. His magic-hating, don't- ask-questions aunt had written him a letter, and sent it to Hogwarts using Ron's ostracized brother's owl.
"I don't believe it," he muttered to the others. "It's from Aunt Petunia."
Hermione dropped her toast in surprise, and Neville stopped, midchew, to stare at Harry. With a glance at Ron, Harry began to read the letter aloud.
"Dear Harry," he read, "I hope this letter finds you well. I am hard at work with the M.D.A, and have found that it has met with a fairly good reception. I expect you are wondering why I am writing to you using Percy's owl. I suppose the simplest reason was that I felt that I needed to write to you, and Errol did not seem capable of making the journey. As you may have gathered from my use of Hermes, Percy has come to stay with us in Grimmauld Place. He has reunited with his parents, and I hope his siblings will reconcile with him soon as well. I have found him to be a very interesting young man, and I have become friends with him so quickly that I begin to wonder how I lived for so long without many friends. I am finding it wonderful to like so many people at once. I haven't liked so many people in such a long time; it's a bit overwhelming. Anyway, I know you probably don't want to talk to me, but I would like to get to know my nephew. I realize I've been horrible to you, but your all the family I have left, and I want to really be a family, if you'll have me. If you are willing to consider this, please send me back an owl either with Hermes or with your bird...Helga? I would really like to get to know you,
Your aunt,
Petunia Dursley
Harry looked around at his friends. They still looked very shocked.
"A bit formal, wasn't she?" asked Hermoine.
"I don't reckon you should take her back, mate." Ron asserted. "Remember the way they locked you up, half-starved you...'course Mum took Percy back... pompous git..."
"It's a step in the right direction though," Neville said quietly "she is your family, and it'll be much nicer on holidays if you're friendly."
Harry just sat quietly, looking down at the note again. He felt a wave of anger surge through him, for the bobble jumper, and all the treats he had never had, and for all the times he had been locked in his cupboard, or his room, for the lack of food, for all the times they had looked at him as a cockroach, for the lies, and the hate...But then, he saw his aunt's face as she cradled Dudley's body, and he knew that Neville was right.
"I'm going to try, after all, she is all the family I have left now." And with that, he borrowed a quill from Hermoine and scribbled his answer on a sheet of parchment.
Pairing: Remus/Petunia (eventually... I'm not there yet!)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: See previous disclaimers ... I'm lazy, and JKR still owns HP...
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews to the previous chapter! I feel so loved! So sorry, I have been so long in updating. I am trying to work full time, and attend classes full time as well. Ugh. I will try to update once a week, though. But enough from me, on with chapter 11!
Chapter 11: Hermes, the Winged Messenger!
It was a crisp, early November morning, and the ceiling in the Great Hall showed the bright, slightly cloudy sky as the students crowded around the four long tables for breakfast. At the Gryffindor table, Harry Potter was seated with Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny, and was picking at his toast.
"Harry, you need to eat. Proper nutrition is extremely important at your stage of physical development" advised Hermione. Harry started nibbling at the toast, just to stop her nagging.
He was saved from breakfast, however, by the arrival of the post. The Malfoy's eagle owl brought Malfoy his sweets from home, even the arrest of Draco's father hadn't stopped his mother sending treats. There was a letter for Ron and Ginny from their Mum, and Neville's Gran had sent him another cauldron, to replace the one that he'd melted in potions the previous week. And for Harry...
"Hermes!" exclaimed Ron in surprise. "Harry, why would Percy be sending you an owl. It had better not be the same rot as last year..."
It wasn't. But when Harry saw the writing on the parchment that Hermes had brought, he was more surprised than he would have been if it had been a love letter from Snape: it was from Aunt Petunia. His magic-hating, don't- ask-questions aunt had written him a letter, and sent it to Hogwarts using Ron's ostracized brother's owl.
"I don't believe it," he muttered to the others. "It's from Aunt Petunia."
Hermione dropped her toast in surprise, and Neville stopped, midchew, to stare at Harry. With a glance at Ron, Harry began to read the letter aloud.
"Dear Harry," he read, "I hope this letter finds you well. I am hard at work with the M.D.A, and have found that it has met with a fairly good reception. I expect you are wondering why I am writing to you using Percy's owl. I suppose the simplest reason was that I felt that I needed to write to you, and Errol did not seem capable of making the journey. As you may have gathered from my use of Hermes, Percy has come to stay with us in Grimmauld Place. He has reunited with his parents, and I hope his siblings will reconcile with him soon as well. I have found him to be a very interesting young man, and I have become friends with him so quickly that I begin to wonder how I lived for so long without many friends. I am finding it wonderful to like so many people at once. I haven't liked so many people in such a long time; it's a bit overwhelming. Anyway, I know you probably don't want to talk to me, but I would like to get to know my nephew. I realize I've been horrible to you, but your all the family I have left, and I want to really be a family, if you'll have me. If you are willing to consider this, please send me back an owl either with Hermes or with your bird...Helga? I would really like to get to know you,
Your aunt,
Petunia Dursley
Harry looked around at his friends. They still looked very shocked.
"A bit formal, wasn't she?" asked Hermoine.
"I don't reckon you should take her back, mate." Ron asserted. "Remember the way they locked you up, half-starved you...'course Mum took Percy back... pompous git..."
"It's a step in the right direction though," Neville said quietly "she is your family, and it'll be much nicer on holidays if you're friendly."
Harry just sat quietly, looking down at the note again. He felt a wave of anger surge through him, for the bobble jumper, and all the treats he had never had, and for all the times he had been locked in his cupboard, or his room, for the lack of food, for all the times they had looked at him as a cockroach, for the lies, and the hate...But then, he saw his aunt's face as she cradled Dudley's body, and he knew that Neville was right.
"I'm going to try, after all, she is all the family I have left now." And with that, he borrowed a quill from Hermoine and scribbled his answer on a sheet of parchment.