Chapter 56
Ron's jaw hit the floor when he recognized who was accompanying Sirius.
"So all that crap about the potion was true?", he gasped.
"So you knew about it as well?" Harry wondered.
"I have mentioned it to him, but Ron wouldn't believe us. In his point of view, it was all a sick joke and he refused to hear more about it" Hermione explained.
"Sorry, mate.... if I would have known that it was the truth..." Ron mumbled.
"It's ok, Ron. Trust me...when they would have told me about it, I wouldn't have believed it either." Harry assured his friend.
Then Hermione got up from the chair and walked up to Harry's parents.
"Mr and Mrs Potter, I am Hermione Granger and a good friend of Harry's" she said politely.
Lily smiled very friendly at the Gryffindor perfect and then hugged her tightly.
"I have heard quite a lot about you, Hermione" she said softly and James also smiled at her warmly.
Then the Weasley children lined up to introduce themselves to Harry's parents as well.
"Fred and George! When you are waking this wretched painting ONE MORE TIME then I will..."
Mrs Weasley had entered the room, obviously furious about her two sons, but nobody ever heard what would happen to them. At this very moment, Lily waved at her old friend and Molly stopped in mid-sentence.
"Lil...Lil... and J-J-J-"
Then her one hand grabbed her heart while the other one was searching frantically for a chair to hold on to.
"Their names are LILY and JAMES" the twins corrected her.
"Don't try to be smart you two and give your mother a chair" Lily said 'almost' sternly, but by then Ginny and Zara had grabbed Mrs Weasley's arms and moved her over to a seat.
Lily seized a cup from the shelf and filled it with tea.
"Here Molly, this will do you good" she smiled at the flabbergasted woman.
"Lily... how can that be?" Mrs Weasley whispered and wrapped her arms around the slender form of Harry's mother, totally ignoring the tea.
"We will explain everything in time" Lily said, padding the other woman's back.
James walked over to the table and knelt down next to Molly.
Mrs Weasley stroked his cheek and said "Oh James...where have you two been all those years. "
James just smiled at her and said "It will be all be revealed in time"
Then they were introduced to Tonks, who was an auror and a cousin to Sirius.
After they had finally finished their breakfast, James asked "Harry, what did you get for Christmas?"
Harry frowned before he answered. "I actually never got to open all of my presents."
"Then what are we waiting for" Sirius stated.
Harry, his parents, Ron, Ginny and Hermione tiptoed through the hallway to make sure not to wake up Mrs Black.
Sirius wasn't careful at all. He stomped through the entrance hall just as if he wanted her to wake.
Then, as expected, the ragged curtains flew open and the old woman started howling terribly.
"ABOMINATION, BLOOD TRAITOR, SHAME OF MY FLESH, SCUM, FILTH... FREE MY HOUSE OF YOUR UNWORTHY PRESENCE"
"Shut up, old wench! Nobody wants to hear what you have to say. This is my house now!" Sirius shouted and closed the curtains forcefully.
His mother continued to scream behind the curtains, but soon it died down and the hall fell silent.
"Let's go!" Sirius said airily and they proceeded up the stairs.
In Ron and Harry's room they all settled on the beds and Harry started unwrapping more of his presents.
Besides the Weasley jumper, he had gotten a big bag of sweets from Ron, a book about the work of aurors from Hermione, but when he opened the little purple envelope from Ginny, he smiled broadly.
Ron glared at him suspiciously, but Harry just put it deep inside his trunk, which had been delivered while he was at Godric's Hollow.
Lily knew that if he would want to talk about it, he would.
Then Kelsey and Kayla joined them, together with Zara, who was wearing Kelsey's Christmas present.
A little silver rose hung around her neck on a delicate chain, charmed to prevent major injuries.
Kelsey held out a box to Ron who ripped off the paper instantly.
When he spotted the content he choked on the chocolate frog he was eating.
"Aw you cwazy" he mumbled, before he swallowed the rest of the sweet.
He held up a big ball that Harry immediately recognized as a quaffle.
"What's so special about a quaffle?" Ginny wondered.
As Ron didn't answer, but continued staring at his present, Kayla enlightened them. "It's a quaffle with the original autograph of all of the Chudley Cannons"
Harry moved over to Ron's bed and admired the quaffle, together with James and Sirius.
"Hold on Ron, I totally forgot to give you your present this morning" Harry sighed.
He rummaged in his trunk and retrieved a huge box. Everybody was wondering how he ever fit it in there.
Ron took it out of Harry's hand and opened it.
"A CLEANSWEEP 2004? Harry, are you nuts?" Ron screamed.
"I thought when you tryout for the house-team next year, you need a decent broom"
While Ron was cooing over his new broom, stroking and admiring it. Lily recognized a little piece of paper on the floor.
She picked it up and looked at a fat boy behind a pile of presents.
"Who is this, Harry?"
Harry glanced at the picture and answered airily "Oh, that's Dudley"
"Dudley Dursley?", his mother asked curiously. "Why do you have a picture of him?"
"That was my Christmas present from Privet Drive"
"WHAT??" Lily shouted.
James leaned over to have a look at the picture and stated "He looks like a pig with a wig"
Harry laughed heartily before his mother shouted again "What?? How dare she! "
The rest of the teenagers looked uncomfortable at Harry's mom, who had jumped up from the bed, crumpling the picture in her fist.
Her face was red like Weasley hair and her eyes were glinting with rage.
"Wait Petunia, you're going to regret this" she said and with a plop she was gone.
Lily reappeared in the shadow of a large hydrangea bush next to Number 4 Privet Drive.
Quickly she walked up the driveway and rang the doorbell.
Soon she heard her sister's annoying voice behind the door and braced herself for the first encounter after 15 years.
The door opened and Lily said sweetly "Hello Petunia".
Her sister's horse-like face paled several shades before she screamed
"VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERNOOOOOOOOON"
"Thanks for the warm welcome" Lily said and walked passed her sister into the hallway.
She had just entered the kitchen when she heard Vernon's booming voice from the living room. He was sitting in an armchair, reading the newspaper.
"What crazy wicked game is this?"
"Hello Vernon! Nice to meet you too" Lily stated.
"How did you get here? You're dead for years"
"Sorry to disappoint you, dear. I have never been dead"
"You've always been a freak, Lily" Petunia said. "And unreliable to boot like the whole lot of yours. NORMAL people stay dead when they get blown up"
"This is where you are mistaken dear sister. I never got 'blown up'. But not that they haven't tried, mind you."
"So when you were alive the whole time, why did we have to take care of your spawn?" Vernon growled.
"This is why I am here" Lily called and slammed the crumpled photograph on the kitchen table.
"I have heard a whole lot of interesting facts about how you 'cared' about my son...your nephew" she poked her index finger painfully in her sister's chest.
"Answer me Petunia! What did Harry ever do to you? Just because you have a grudge against me, why did you let my child suffer?"
"He has been nothing but problems since the day they dropped him off at our doorstep" Vernon said angrily.
"Hold your tongue, you old walrus" Lily called. "This is something between me and my sister"
She looked at Petunia expectantly, impatiently tapping her foot on the clean floor.
"He has harassed my son, Dudley" Petunia said weakly.
"Oh really? So why do I not believe this? Your son is twice of Harry's size and when he's just inherited a tiny bit of your husband's mentality, he can't be anything but a bully"
"How dare you insulting my family" Petunia now shouted. "Huh? Look who's speaking Petunia!" Lily laughed now. "You have insulted me and MY family every chance you got"
"I will not longer tolerate this!" Vernon yelled and got up from the armchair. "You're leaving my house instantly"
"Make me!" Lily challenged him.
She didn't pay anymore attention to the stout man without a neck and walked out of the kitchen and back into the hallway.
Petunia followed her reluctantly.
Lily stopped in front of the cupboard and said "I have heard that my poor Harry had to sleep in this cupboard for 11 years, because YOUR son needed two rooms! I'm curious what it can tell me"
"But Lily... he now has a nice bedroom.." Petunia tried to explain, but Lily wouldn't hear anything about it and waved her hand dismissively.
She flicked her wand at the cupboard and said "Declaro!" and instantly the cupboard repeated everything that had happened to Harry while he was 'living' there.
All the times he had been locked up in it without food, how Dudley had tormented him and the countless times Harry had cried himself to sleep, wondering why they all hated him so much.
Tears of sorrow and fury trickled down Lily's cheeks at the end of the cupboard's narrative; then finally Lily faced her sister and whispered "How could you?"
Petunia didn't answer, but she seemed to be ashamed.
"You are my own flesh and blood! Do you think I would have treated your son so nastily if he would have been given to me? Sure as hell not! I would have raised him like my own no matter if he was a muggle or not. Just because he was your son"
"He never belonged here and we never wanted him. I should have dropped him off at an orphanage as Marge suggested" Petunia said stubbornly.
Lily now was raging inside, but she replied calmly "You wanted it that way, sister. You reap what you sow!"
Without further ado she pointed her wand at Petunia.
"Where did she go?" Harry asked confusedly when his mother disappeared in front of his eyes.
James sighed and answered "I have a very good guess. We better get there before she kills somebody"
Sirius and James exchanged quick glances and then James nodded. The two men walked over to Harry and took his hands in theirs.
"We'll be right back" Sirius said to the others before they disapparated with Harry in the middle.
Harry recognized immediately where they were.
Sirius and James walked up to the front door and Harry almost had to run to keep up. "Alohomora!" James called and the door sprung open.
Harry spotted his mother standing in front of the cupboard pointing her wand at his aunt.
"Lily..." James said carefully, but Lily just laughed.
"Don't worry, James. I'm not going to kill her just yet, but she's going to pay for what she has done to my Harry. So you just let me handle this"
Then Vernon came out of the living room. All this commotion inside his home made him very uncomfortable.
"Who's this?" he growled and pointed at Sirius.
"This is my godfather Sirius, Uncle Vernon" Harry explained and he had to restrain himself hard not to laugh at the sight of his uncle's face. "We have to call the police, Petunia. He's a convicted murderer! I will not allow him in my home"
"Wrong as usual!" James sighed. "You're too dumb for your own good, Vernon. Do you really think that your pleasemen are a match for 3 full-fletched wizards?" "It's called police-men, dad" Harry corrected him, but James just snorted.
"Go ahead, Lily. They are so ignorant; they need to be taught a lesson" Lily smiled at her husband and then hell broke loose.
"I hope that she's not overdoing it" Sirius said as he watched Lily. "You know Petunia, we never got along very well, but the way you treated my Harry proves that you're nothing but a big donkey!"
Then she flicked her wand and her sister's ears became bigger and bigger, growing a grey fur. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK! INSTANTLY!" Vernon shouted, but Lily just laughed louder.
"Oh my god" Petunia screamed as she recognized the big donkey ears in the mirror. "What did you do to my ears?"
"Wait until she sees her pretty tail" Sirius snickered and Harry had to hold on to the railing so he wouldn't collapse.
Petunia then stormed off towards the living room, not sure what she could do about her current situation. After two steps she stepped on said tail and landed on the floor with a thud, face forward.
"Can't you shut up down there!" Dudley finally screamed from upstairs. "I can't concentrate on 'Slaughterhouse IV'"
"You stay upstairs, son. Don't come down, under any circumstances" Vernon roared.
Harry started grinning in pleasant anticipation. He knew exactly what was going to happen. And just as expected, his cousin's head appeared just seconds later. "Who's this?" he said angrily when he recognized the visitors. "What's he doing here? Why isn't he at his madhouse of a school?"
"Hey Duddykins! I would like to introduce you to my parents" Harry grinned.
"So you are my nephew Dudley" Lily said in a dangerously low voice. "He really looks like a pig with a wig" Sirius laughed when he had a closer look on the fat boy.
"You better watch your mouth, mister" Vernon bellowed. "Or what, Vernon?" Lily inquired. "What are you going to do with us? You should be worried what I'm going to do to YOU!"
Dudley now seemed to be seriously frightened and hurriedly hid behind his father's stout body, his hands firmly pressed against his backside.
Harry had to sit down on the steps because he was laughing so hard now, he couldn't stand up any longer.
"Not so brave in front of grown ups, are you?" Lily scoffed at Dudley.
"You leave your freaky hands off my son!" Vernon now yelled.
"MOMMY!" Dudley screamed fearfully and carefully headed for the kitchen. There he screamed even louder when he caught sight of his mother, who was trying to hide her big ears under an ugly straw-hat.
Vernon ran after his son and the others followed. "Why are you all so upset?" Sirius taunted. "It's a big improvement, in my point of view. She already had the face to match the ears"
James laughed heartily at the looks the Dursleys gave them. Dudley walked over to the refrigerator. Eating always seemed to calm his nerves.
"No, my dear! I think you should see how it is to stay hungry" Lily exclaimed and pointed her wand at the refrigerator.
Dudley just snorted and tried to open it, but the door wouldn't move. A calm female voice could be hurt from inside the refrigerator now "I'm sorry, Dudley, but you're too fat already. No food for you today."
"Move, boy!" Vernon said angrily and pushed his son aside. He couldn't open the door either and instantly the voice said "The same goes for you, Vernon. You're killing yourself with the fat stuff you're eating. Take a grapefruit!"