Harry stepped into the backyard to do some thinking about his loss of Sirius. His mind discarded the belief that his onstinance with Professor Snape was the reason that Sirius got killed, but his heart kept rhythmically pounding it into his overburdened conscience.

" Those we love never truy leave us," Petunia said approaching him from behind.

" What did you say?"

" I said that those we love never truly leave us. I know how badly you miss him. I can feel it."

" What are you talking about," Harry asked backing away from her as if she planned to attack him at any given moment.

" I'm not going to do anything to you, you silly boy. I'm an empath. I feel traces of emotion and past events when I touch things. That's why I could never stand to hold you. Both you and Lily feel things too strongly. Everytime I held you, I recalled the incident of your mother's murder. Tonight, it's much worse. I've come here to try and help you resolve whatever it is that's eating at you. The summer solstice is a time of happiness, and if you continue like this, then Hestia will punish me for not taking proper care of you as a member of my house. So tell me everything that happened."

" I was supposed to be taking Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape, and I resisted; becaue, I hated being trapped here all summer, and nobody seemed to trust me. It's as if I were a pariah of some kind. Plus the worst thing about lessons was that I hated revisiting the pain of my memories when we had lessons. I couldn't take it."

" Oh, yes. You're just like Lily was. She too hated any discipline that required patience and concentration. Her life was 'sooo' intense. She could barely afford to breathe, since things were so powerfully 'bad' in her life."

" Don't mock me!" Harry roared.

" I'm not mocking you, boy. You think that you sit on some island specially reserved for the tragically misunderstood? Well, do you?"

" I'm leaving."

" Yes, my dear little puffin. You do that. Just run away, and tomorrow everything will be all right when you return to this very spot."

Before thinking, Harry brandished his wand and threw a stupefying jinx his aunt's way. To his surprise, she closed her eyes and stopped it in mid-air.

" Wearing our emotions on our pathetic little sleeves is useless. We have to fight using our heads, not our hearts. Lily never tried to understand this."

" You're a witch!"

" No, I am a druid; just as my parents and grandparents were. I was an exceptional student unitl Lily showed signs of magic. My parents forgot all about my development and attunement. Only gran seemed to care, I to felt cheated at the way that she could perform feats with great ease, but do you think I left the call to practice my faith to sit around blaming myself?"

" No," Harry said almost whispering.

" I knew that I had to get up and keep going. As long as you pine away for whomever it was you lost, this long lost loved one will continue to die. Going on and marching to continue what he or she felt was worth dying for will keep him or her alive."

" Jut shut the hell up! You don't know what I feel! You've never even given a damn about me! You sit here preaching to me about letting go and looking past the intensity of things, yet you just admitted that you couldn't bear the pressure that you felt whenever mom or I touched you!"

" Yes, but I let you stay with me nonetheless, don't I?"

" Oh, of course. Whatever would I do without your gracious charity?"

" You'd die, and so would the rest of us."

" So you admit it! The only reason you do this is for yourself."

" Its one of the reasons that I care for you, yes; but it isn't the only reason. I know that you have a destiny, and mine is a faith that believes in nobility. So, for me to refuse you would be for me to spit on the very foundation of my faith. Besides, you are all that I have left as I continue my journey alone through this life. Oh, right, I forgot to tell you; Vernon's divorcing me. It appears that he's fallen for Yvonne, and they plan to dissolve all ties with me come next month."

" So what? You're telling me this so that I can sit here, and think of you as a human being? How can I, when all the things that you've done to me over the years have been horrible."

" Oh, you still don't get it, do you? Well, let me spell it out for you. This was destined to happen, so I had to face it and move on. Vernon was only to love me for a time, and I knew that the day would come when we would face different paths through life. Whoever this was that died would have done so anyway. Your life was patterned after a set of fixed scenarios. Now the outcome will be determined by the choices that you make from here on out."

" What will you do to support yourself?"

" I will return to teaching school. I have a degree in Social Studies; plus, Vernon is taking Dudley off my hands; because, he thinks that life here with me is too dangerous for his son, seeing as how you're an inseperable part of me."

" So you blame me for your breakup?"

" No. Do you 'ever' listen? I said that he's going to skip out on me with my best friend. I also told you that it was bound to happen. Now, come next week, I want you to start moving your things into Dudley's old room, but don't think that I will lighten up on you. I plan to squeeze discipline and order into that bony little frame of yours."

" Yes, Aunt Petunia."

" For now, just concentrate on getting our mind together. I'll also teach you how to tame nightmares and mental attacks while you're at it. A wizard could never do it properly. Your whole lot relies too heavily on their wands and spell work and not enough on their minds and astral selves. It's just so irreverent the way that you all carry on. It's as though you've forgotten that you are apart of the same world as is everyone else."

" Okay, I've got it. I know why you hate wizards now."

" No, I don't. I just don't respect the flagrant disregard of time-honored beliefs and the value that these beliefs hold in the everyday life of the magician, be he or she Wiccan, druid, sorcerer, or magician. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like for you to get to bed. Tomorrow is a big day."

" Good night, Aunt Petunia."

" Good Night, Harry."