Harry quickly made his way back to the infirmary. He needed to see Professor Snape to find out where the Polyjuice Potion was. He burst through the doors of the infirmary a bit too forcefully for Madam Pomfrey's liking. "Mr Potter, what do you think you are doing?" she asked. "The patients in here need rest."

"I'm sorry Madam Pomfrey," Harry said contritely, "I need to talk to Professor Snape. Professor Dumbledore knows about my visit"

"Very well. Try not to excite him though. He needs rest if he is going to fully recover."

Harry moved to Snape's bedside. Snape immediately spoke to him. "What do you want, Potter?" he demanded.

"I need to know where the Polyjuice Potion in your office is located, Professor," Harry said politely.

"Do you now. Why don't you brew some for yourself if you need it?" Snape responded with a sneer.

"I don't have the time, Professor," Harry replied as calmly as he could, though there was more than a hint of anger in his voice. "You know it takes a month to brew and I wouldn't care to take the chance I might make a mistake if it could be made in time. Professor Dumbledore knows that I need to get some of the Potion. He would tell you to give it to me."

"Going over my head again, eh Potter?" Snape said acidly. "It's always that way isn't it. I've never been able to treat you as you deserve. Go ahead then. The Potion is on the third shelf down on the left side of my office. Have you got that?"

"Third shelf, left side. Yes I've got it."

"So you have learnt something while you've been here. You know Potter," Snape said sarcastically. "I'm glad this is going to be the end. If we win, you can go swanning off to do whatever it is you want to do with your life and if we lose we'll probably both be dead. Either way, I won't have to deal with you ever again."

"There was a time when I wanted to know why you hated me, Professor," Harry said tiredly. "I know in part it's because I look like my father and remind you of your rivalry with him, but I don't care any longer. Hate me all you like. I don't like you either, so we're even. But we both know we'll never be fully free of each other. I'm willing to work with you if you will work with me."

"That's the most mature thing I've ever heard you say. Maybe you're right, but if I see you again it will be too soon for my liking. Now let me get my rest Potter. I will need it if I'm going to be able to fight when the Dark Lord gets here."

"All right Professor. I'll let you be, but if we survive I hope you'll eventually be willing to let bygones be bygones, and that I will too."

Harry began to move towards the exit, but stopped in surprise when his aunt spoke to him. "Harry, can I talk to you before you leave?"

"All right, Aunt Petunia. What do you want to talk about?" he asked.

"It's ironic that I'm here now," Petunia said sadly. "There was a time when I would have given anything to be here, but now I would give anything to be back home."

"Here? Do you mean Hogwarts?" Harry said in surprise.

"Yes. I mean Hogwarts."

"But you hate magic," Harry interrupted her.

"I thought you were brighter than that," Petunia responded, an odd smile on her face. "I do hate magic, I think, but I didn't always. When I was young I adored magic. I read everything I could get my hands on that contained wizards and witches and so on. Then, in the summer holiday after she finished primary school, she got The Letter."

"The letter from Hogwarts?"

"Yes. I always thought of it as 'The Letter'. It turned our world upside down. We all thought it was somebody's idea of a joke to begin with, but eventually we were convinced it was real. Oddly enough," Petunia said, a look of fond reminiscence on her face, "Lily didn't want to go at first. I persuaded her that if she didn't go she'd regret it for the rest of her life."

"How did you convince her?" Harry asked coldly.

"Not the way you're probably thinking," Petunia responded vehemently. "I didn't make her life a misery until she left. I used words to persuade her learning magic would do her good."

"But I thought you hated her."

"How many fourteen year olds have you met that truly hate their younger sister?" Petunia asked wryly. "I'll admit I was jealous of her sometimes, but I didn't hate her, not then. I suppose I loved her. I'm sorry to say that changed later. Lily came back as happy as I'd told her she would be, and I was pleased for her. But as the years went on and she told us more and more about what she did, I became increasingly jealous of her. I kept asking myself 'Why does she get to learn magic? Why can't I?' Eventually I came to the conclusion that the reason was that she was a freak and that I was normal, and that I never wanted to go anyway. Deep inside me I knew I was fooling myself, but I didn't care. That was when I began to treat her as somebody I didn't want to know, and eventually I said things I never should have said. In the end, I left home because I couldn't bear to be near her. I married Vernon then, to get away, and I told him about magic so Lily wouldn't come to the wedding. I'm afraid I told him lots of lies and half-truths about it. That's why he hated magic so much. I never spoke to Lily again after that, though we did send letters to each other occasionally."

"Did you love Uncle Vernon?" Harry questioned her.

"I don't know. I don't know if I've really loved anyone except Dudley since I was sixteen or so," Petunia replied sadly. "Still, I know I don't love Dudley the way Lily loved you. I dearly love him, but I don't think I'd ever have sacrificed myself for him the same way. Part of the reason I spoiled him so much was to make up for it. I will miss Vernon terribly, though. I became so used to him that I don't know how I'll live without him."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"It's your right to know the truth at last. You need to know why I kept you."

"Why did you keep me? Why didn't you let Uncle Vernon get rid of me?" Harry demanded.

"Because of Dumbledore's letter," Petunia said simply. "Vernon never saw it, so he never learnt the whole truth, only what I told him. In his letter, Dumbledore told me everything that had happened, that in the end you would be needed to save he world from Voldemort, and that so long as you were in my care you would be safe. It was the last part that made the difference, really. For all that I'd come to detest the magical world I couldn't let you die. And Dumbledore also said that I would be compensated for keeping you."

"How?" Harry was genuinely curious. He'd never seen his Aunt get anything for taking him in.

"Apparently I always had a little magic in me. Not much at all," Petunia said, seeing the confused look on Harry's face. He obviously wondered why, if she had magic, did she never go to Hogwarts. "Only slightly more than a Squib like that caretaker Lily hated so much, Mr. Filch, certainly not enough to do anything useful or to be worth teaching how to use. That magic was apparently needed for Dumbledore's protective charm to work and as a result of the charm I got a very limited amount of extra magic, what I'd always really wanted."

"You've got magic?" Harry said in shock.

"Oh, not much," Petunia assured him. "Not even as much really as a young witch. I sometimes used it around the house, but without a wand I could never do anything powerful enough for the Ministry of Magic to detect it."

"Then why did you let me go through everything I did?" Harry asked indignantly, raising his voice to a volume that caused Madam Pomfrey to ask him to keep it quiet.

"I shouldn't have," Petunia said, shame in her voice. "I know that. But even when I got what I wanted I could never let my bitterness go, and I'd made Vernon hate magic more than I ever could have. It took Vernon's death to make me admit this to you."

"I don't think I can forgive you for what you've put me through," Harry responded bitterly.

"I don't expect you too. I can't really forgive myself for my actions either," Petunia said sadly.

"I'll leave you now, then. Don't expect to see me any time soon," Harry said before leaving the infirmary.

"I don't. Good luck, Harry," Petunia said, speaking up to make sure Harry could hear her. "And I do want you to win. Believe me about that even if you don't believe anything else I've said. I want Voldemort dead for Lily and Vernon, and for everybody else. Once he is, perhaps I can begin to forgive myself." Although Harry heard, he showed no sign as he walked out the door.