He must've drifted off because he was awoken by Petunia's small hand on his shoulder.

"Wake up, it's nearly noon" she informed "Clean this room, it stinks, Then go and take a shower and come downstairs and eat"

Shower? Eat? Downstairs? He hadn't been allowed downstairs since the summer began. He looked at his fragile aunt whose eyes were bloodshot and swollen, She must've cried all night. He didn't know why because it never seemed like she liked Marge before. With word of this news he practically jumped out of bed and began to clean. He'd finished faster than Petunia had anticipated, the floor was drying as she came upstairs with clean linens and clothes for him.

"Looks good" she complemented.

Harry brought the warm pile up to his nose and breathed deeply the scent of Gain™ . He noticed also in the pile was a suit.

"What's this for?" he asked as if he didn't know.

"Your aunt Marge died last night" she said before sobbing into her handkerchief "You'll need it for when you go to the funeral"

"Oh really? I'm sorry" he lied trying hard to suppress his impending smile.

Petunia looked at him as she never had before "Are you really?" she asked

Harry didn't expect a follow up and was now on the spot "Uh yeah" he said "Even though we didn't get along it's . . . still . . . sad?"

'Didn't get along' wasn't the right phrase, they downright hated each other. She would pinch him until he was black and blue or give him hard slaps when no one was looking, not that anyone would object. She'd sic her dog on him and do or say other mean and nasty things to him. He knew it wasn't right to celebrate someone's death but he couldn't defend this one. She was dead, he was happy and hoped she'd gone to hell.

He was surprised then when she seized him and hugged him. It was brief but still he couldn't remember being hugged by her not even after his first week back when he'd informed her about Sirius's death. She must've not been thinking because when she realized she was hugging him she let him go fast.

"Ahem" she said wiping her nose and eyes "Don't mess it up. It should be around your size. Lunch is downstairs"

"Thanks" Harry said uncomfortably. She nodded and left.

Had she really just hugged him?

"Marge's death is making everything weird" he said to himself taking his clean jeans and t-shirt she'd given him into the bathroom with him. His shower was glorious, he'd even got to use some of their shampoo to wash his filthy hair. For the first time as he descended downstairs it was dead quiet. Vernon was staring out the back window with the telephone in hand, Dudley was picking at his food and Petunia stood by the sink sipping a cup of coffee.

There were several sandwiches on a platter and soup on the stove. Harry took no time filling the largest bowl he could find with the hot tomato soup. While doing so he couldn't wait and spooned some soup into his hungry mouth at the stove. It was so good that Harry shuddered as it made its way down to his waiting stomach. He ate some more and then a bit more before Vernon opened his mouth.

"Christ boy can't you wait until you're upstairs" he growled

Harry swallowed quickly what he had in his mouth and turned nervously "I"

"I don't want to hear it get-"

"Vernon!" Petunia snapped cutting Vernon off and looking at Harry wearily.

His uncle shut up abruptly, something rarely done. He took his food to the table and began to eat . . . A lot, as much as he wanted, All while watching his 'family' walk around like zombies. On his third bowl of soup Petunia chimed in . . .

"Stop eating like that you'll make yourself sick"

He looked up at her wondering if she was saying it out of concern? Certainly her attitude toward him had changed but he couldn't figure it out. As he finished his bowl and sure enough he did begin to feel sick and was soon on his knees throwing up all he'd eaten.

"I told you" she said from behind him.

"Leave me alone" he groaned flushing the toilet and rinsing out his mouth. She held out a plastic bag of cheese crackers and he reluctantly took it. "If I hadn't been starved for four days we wouldn't be in this problem" he mumbled shoving several into his mouth.

"You know your uncle gets out of hand sometimes" she answered following him as he began walking away.

"Whatever"

"I did bring you something when I could" she said trying to prove herself.

"Whatever" he said again going back into his room, suddenly he didn't want to be downstairs anymore. He lied on the bed and noticed that she still stood at the door.

"Harry . . ."

"What?" he answered not looking at her.

"I know I didn't tell you this when I should've but . . . I'm sorry about your godfather. I, uh, thought it was nice that you cared about Marge's death even though she wasn't the nicest person to you"

Harry stopped mid chew, he didn't even care that 'not the nicest person' didn't describe their relationship, if there was one at all. What threw him off was that she acknowledged Sirius and even went so far as to say she was sorry about his death.

"Um thanks" he said not showing how truly touched he was by her gesture.

They were both silent for a while until she sighed and stepped into the room. She took a seat beside on the bed and stared at him for a moment.

"You really do look like your mother more and more each time I look at you" she said softly.

When she said that Harry sat up and finally stopped cramming cheese crackers into his mouth. "Really?" he asked

She lifted her hand, Harry jumped back, she was known for her surprise slaps. But he was surprised when she just began to stoke his cheek. "Your eye's . . . they're exactly the same"

She continued to stroke his face and though Harry felt that this gesture was genuine, he couldn't help but notice how awkward and sort of scary this was.

"I know Vernon is . . . extreme at times" she admitted

Harry scoffed and pulled his face away. The tender moment was no more. "Extreme? That's not the word and you know it" he snapped

Petunia lowered her head and nodded slightly "I understand"

"I don't think you do" he snapped once more

She sighed and looked at him "Harry I want to tell you something"

"What!"

"You know sometimes . . people they want to tell something but they can't you know uh, look" she took a deep breath and started over "Do you remember last year when Vernon tried to throw you out?"

"Vaguely" he answered sarcastically

"He couldn't because Albus wouldn't allow him to. I was beyond his control . . . Do you understand?" she asked in a tone that said 'I really hope you understand'

Harry got the gist of it, what he couldn't figure out was what his aunt was trying to tell him. Was she going to tell him about that girl? By the tone of her voice he could tell if not it was something important. He nodded and clutched the sheets in anxiety.

"I would've told you earlier but I couldn't . . . Harry you-"

"Petunia?" Vernon said curiously poking his fat head into the room.

Petunia flinched when she heard his voice and in unison both nephew and aunt turned to face the fat man.

"Yes darling?" she asked

"What are you doing in here? Is that boy bothering you?" he asked staring fiercely at his nephew.

"No, no dear" she reassured "I just needed to tell Harry something"

Vernon stepped into the room in one swift movement and said "No you don't"

Petunia, still looking up at him, repeated "Yes I do"

He walked over to them a menacing look on his face. He towered over the two naturally small people and said once again, very slowly "No. You. Don't"

Petunia looked at her nephew and then up at her large husband and sighed. Standing up he placed his hammy hand on her shoulder and led her out. "Why don't you go downstairs and try to get Dudley to eat something?" he suggested "He's obviously so traumatized by the death of his favorite auntie that he can barely eat"

Petunia nodded softly and without a look back at Harry she descended downstairs. Vernon however, took a step back into the room and seized Harry by the back of his neck. He sunk his fist into his stomach and covered his mouth to muffle his cry of pain. He pushed him down onto the bed and hissed…

"I know you were up last night, shut up, I don't want you asking Petunia any questions and if I find out you have I'll lock you in here for the rest of the summer. You know I will!" The fat man looked back at the door noticing that it was entirely too quiet downstairs. "Darling is everything okay down there? Is Dudley eating"

"Only a bit Vernon" she called back even though Harry knew she was on the stairs trying to listen in.

"Well try to get him to eat more, we don't need him collapsing on us" he said

"Maybe he'll lose some weight after this" Harry mumbled under his breath.

Vernon's piggy like ears picked up the insult an Vernon punched the teen in the stomach once and then again. Harry let out a cry before Vernon clamped his fat hands over his mouth and nose.

"Vernon what was that?" Petunia asked knowing full well what it was.

Vernon clamped down even harder during his response. "Nothing dear" he said as Harry began flailing his arms around and kicking his feet.

"Oh" she said "Okay"

Vernon turned back to his nephew who was now a bright shade of red and desperate for air. A vindictive smile was on his face as he decided to see how far he could push this. Harry dug his nails into his uncle's arm, into the bed, into his head, he pulled on his hair,he scratched them along the wall trying hard to do anything to breathe. But all Vernon did was press more of his weight down onto his neck and head. For a second Harry thought his neck would be broken because of all the pressure but fortunately after a few minutes of this, when he was a nice, bright shade of purple Vernon let go and Harry took the deepest breath he ever had. He was about to cry out but Vernon held up his fist and he managed to hold back.

"Your cousin is coming" he said dabbing the sweat from his forehead and fixing his shirt. "A girl, her names Hayleigh. She was your Aunt Marge's granddaughter understand?"

Harry nodded thought his various gasps and coughs and Vernon turned on his heel and left closing the door, but not locking it, on his way out. Once his breathing was regular Harry sat down and tried to figure out the information he'd been given. This girl Hayleigh was his cousin? Could Aunt Marge's daughter had been a witch? Is that why he's never heard of her? He hated having unanswered questions. He'd had them all his life and now these were just some more in the long list. He placed his head on his knees and decided against telling Ron and Hermione about this girl. Not until he knew more about her himself. As he watched the clouds pass by and listened to the birds twitter, he thought of Sirius. He wished he could ask him about this girl but Sirius was no more . . .because of him. He lied down and tried not to think of the bad things and instead of the good. Maybe with this new girls arrival Vernon would leave him alone and maybe his aunt would continue to be nice to him and maybe Dudley would lose weight and maybe he and 'his cousin' would become friend and maybe . . . His thoughts trailed off as he fell into a sleep filled with possibilities.

Authors note: This was a long one I hope you all like it ;)