Well, Chapter Two. I must say, even though I had the general gist of what was going to happen this chapter, I am completely surprised at the content, and how I executed the ideas I had. Anyway, again, this hasn't been edited yet, so if you find any mistakes, please tell me! (Just as a side-note, the original chapter title was going to be "Bittersweet Sixteen," but I'll let you guess why I didn't name it that at the end :-P).

Chapter Two: Aunt Petunia's Surprise

Harry Potter awoke with a start. The lightning-shaped scar that lay upon his forehead was searing with pain, as if someone had just branded it there. He panted heavily, noticing he was drenched with sweat and on the floor with blankets surrounding him. He took his bearings, and realized he was in his bedroom at the Dursleys, and not in Draco Malfoy's house.

It occurred to him that Voldemort was showing him something. But how? How had he managed to break through Harry's Occlumency shields? And why? Why would Voldemort want him to know about this Ocean Amulet? And what was so special about it anyway? Did he purposely want Harry to see this to see if he would actually stop Draco and end up with Draco dead? And what was this contract that they had talked about?

His musings were interrupted by a fierce rattle on the door. Aunt Petunia screeched, "Harry, you'd better get down here now or else we're moving you back to the cupboard under the stairs."

Harry could not ignore a threat like this, and rushed downstairs. He then remembered it was his Cousin Dudley's 16th birthday, and regretted the decision to obey his aunt. His aunt glared at him, and was accompanied by his uncle. Today was going to be a long day.

As he scrambled eggs in a frying pan, and sizzled bacon in another, he couldn't stop thinking about the dream he had. The more he thought about it, the more splitting the ache in his head became.

He served the breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon, and immediately reached for some fresh fruit and bread to toast. His aunt had informed him that Dudley was on a diet, as ordered by the boxing coach at Smeltings. However, it appeared that Dudley's new diet consisted of about twice as much as it had before, and he was swelling, especially in the areas of the stomach and face.

Once the Dursleys had finished breakfast, Harry helped himself to some eggs, bacon, and toast. He was about to sit down with his meal when Uncle Vernon snapped, "What do you think you're doing? You should be cleaning the kitchen right now, not eating. Any intelligent boy would know that. I guess they don't teach common sense at your people's school like they do at Smeltings, right m'boy?"

"Mmhm," Dudley said, with his mouth full of something he had found after searching through the refrigerator. He nodded.

"Dudders, that's disgusting!" Aunt Petunia exclaimed, reaching for a garbage can. "Don't eat moldy bread if you don't want to get sick."

"But I'm hungry!" he complained, stealing Harry's breakfast plate, which had been the last of the eggs and bacon. Harry reached to grab his plate, but didn't really feel like facing the wrath of the Dursleys. The events of last year had caused him to go into a state of almost-depression. When he wasn't lying around his room doing absolutely nothing, he was in the kitchen eating or cleaning. But he mostly refused meals.

Dudley quickly wolfed down Harry's breakfast, and was about to run up to his room to play on his PlayStation when Uncle Vernon said, "Well boy, off to the driving school so you can test for your license!" Rather than throw a tantrum that he didn't get to play videogames, he smiled and rushed off to get dressed. In all the confusion, Harry considered himself lucky for getting off from cleaning the kitchen.

He ran back down the stairs, almost tripping over himself three times. Aunt Petunia kissed him goodbye, wishing him good luck, and closed the door behind Uncle Vernon. She then turned to Harry, Harry bracing himself for the worst.

"I think it's time someone told you about your mother."

Harry was stunned. Had he heard his aunt correctly? She was talking about her sister? And on Dudley's birthday too, wow! His mouth stood ajar, half-hoping that she wasn't joking.

"Well, sit down!" she ordered, the first order she gave him that he was happy to obey.

"Just one question, Aunt Petunia… are you on crack?" Harry asked. "Or did you take Polyjuice Potion?" His aunt shook her head to both questions, which shocked Harry even more.

"Do you think I'd tell you if I had taken Polyjuice Potion and was someone else?" she inquired, Harry admiring her intellect for just this once. "So Harry, can you tell me what you already know about your mother?"

Harry nodded, and replied, "Well, I know that here eyes look exactly like mine, for her appearance. I know she was probably top of her class at Charms and Potions. Her wand was made from willow, but I don't quite remember the length…"

"Ten and a quarter inches, but continue," Aunt Petunia interrupted, and Harry was surprised how much she remembered about her sister. She usually just blocked her out, pretending she didn't exist.

"Er…yeah. Well, she was killed by Voldemort–" Aunt Petunia cringed at the name, something she'd never done before. "When I was one, so in 1981."

"Yes. Anything else?"

"Er…no."

"Okay, then, one second," his aunt said, moving swiftly to the cupboard under the stairs that had previously been his bedroom. He watched his aunt retrieve a big box of stuff from the very back of the closet. On the side of the box, "LILY" was written in large letters. "Sorry, I had to hide this from Vernon and Dudley for so long. It was under a bunch of other stuff so they wouldn't notice it."

Harry nearly destroyed the box itself from rushing to open it. He wanted to know what was inside it, what his aunt had been keeping from him all of these years. The first item he found in the box was a wand. His mother's wand.

"That wand saved my life once," Harry's aunt remarked. "When Lily–" Harry had never heard Aunt Petunia even mention her name before, "and I were out for a walk, a guy by the name of Severus Snape, I believe, (Harry laughed silently) just randomly jumped out from a bush and started attacking me. Luckily, Lily performed and Impediment Charm, so Severus was thrown backwards. Maybe he thought I was Lily, because she later told me that she and he didn't get along very well. I remember an owl was waiting for us when we got home, saying something about breaking an Underage Restriction Law. I didn't know what it was at the time, but when we were informed that you weren't permitted to perform magic outside of school, it suddenly became clear that she wasn't allowed to do that Impediment Charm, and got a warning. You should've seen the look of outrage on our parents' face," she concluded, with a smile.

Harry placed the wand gently on the table, as if it contained part of his mother's soul. He then shifted through some of the papers that now lay on the top of the pile of Lily Potter's belongings. Some of the things he found included old essays of his mother's that were remarkably similar to Hermione's. Nearly every sheet of parchment he found wore a giant "O" at the top, proudly. Yup, Harry thought, Very Hermione-esque. The only papers he could find that didn't have an "O" at the top, he quickly discovered, were Divination essays and History of Magic homework. So he took after his mother in his interests in classes, as well.

"But why are you showing all of this to me?" Harry questioned. "And now, not before or later?"

"Dumbledore's orders," she said, simply. "I doubt I'd be showing these to you right now if he hadn't–"

"Anyway…" Harry interrupted. "He lifted the huge stack of papers out of the box, and found his mother's old Hogwarts cloak. As he lifted it out of the box, something fell out of the cloak; a sapphire-colored, small box that looked like it held jewelry. He gazed curiously at the box, and closed his hand around it. Instantly, a wave of pain shot through his scar, and he moaned.

Aunt Petunia, who was distracted with her memory of Lily and Severus, looked to see what was wrong. Her nephew was holding the box that Lily had kept secret from her parents, and from everyone except for her. She gasped. "Where did you find that?" Her attitude had changed from reminiscing about all the good things Lily had done for her using you-know-what to slightly angry, like she normally acted around Harry.

"It- I- It fell out of the cloak here," he elucidated, thinking he did something wrong. "I picked it up because I didn't know what it was and my scar started- Wait, you know what this is?"

"Never you mind, Harry, give that box to me right now."

"Why? What is it?"

"It doesn't matter, give it here! That's an order!" her voice rising. Instead, Harry pocketed it quickly, dumped everything back into the large brown box, and quickly ran up to his room, his step being shortened by the surprising weight of cardboard box that held memories of his mother.

Closing the door as quick as he could, the lock clicked just as Aunt Petunia reached the door, swearing loudly as she said, "I TOLD DUMBLDORE WE SHOULDN'T'VE TRUSTED YOU WITH THOSE YET!" She automatically reached for the lock that had been on the hallway side of Harry's door, and remembered that Vernon had removed after that strange man with the even stranger eye demanded that they didn't mistreat Harry. She swore even louder, not caring if the neighbors were interested in what was going on in number four, Privet Drive.

Harry's mind had been completely taken off of Sirius's death, and was focused solely on the box that bore the word "Lily" on it. Managing to take out the wand and essays without breaking or ripping or crumpling anything, he removed the cloak again. Nothing fell out of it this time. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the dark blue box, with his shirt sleeve covering his hand so as not to feel the pain he had before. He gently wrapped the box in the cloak, and set both aside. He dove his hand into the box again, and it produced another wand, a wand that was nearly the same length as his own, if not the exact same length.

"It's… dad's wand," he said, gripping it in his right hand. A silvery mist erupted from the tip. Not knowing what was going on, he quickly placed the wand next to his mother's, which was slightly shorter.

Harry's moment with his parents' belongings was interrupted by a bang and a shout. It sounded as if Uncle Vernon and Dudley had arrived home. He strained his ears to listen, but the words he was shouting were muffled by the door.

After hiding the brown box in a safe location (a floorboard he had uplifted, first used to store his magic books when the Dursleys took them from him and locked them in a closet), he opened the door a crack to hear what was going on.

"– DIDN'T GET HIS LICENSE! THE ONLY THINGS HE DID WERE CRASH INTO A TELEPHONE POLE AND RUN A RED–" Harry closed the door and laughed. Apparently Dudley's test hadn't gone so well, putting Uncle Vernon in a horrible mood. His laughing ceased.

Opening the door again, he could hear Dudley sobbing like a two-year-old, and Aunt Petunia comforting him, "Come here, Diddykins, it's not your fault, it's just the driving school being mean to my Diddykins–" Harry closed the door again and laughed, his godfather's death completely off of his mind at the moment.

A snowy white owl flew into the room through the open window, dropping a piece of parchment onto Harry's lap.

"Thanks Hedwig!" Harry said, excited at his first piece of mail the entire summer. He locked the door, and gave his owl a treat of mice-flavored pellets. Hedwig hooted, thanking her owner by gently nipping him on the ear.

Laughing, Harry opened the letter, to see neat handwriting scrawled quickly on it. It was from Hermione.

Hey Harry, how are you! Hope the Muggles aren't giving you too much trouble. Anyway, Dumbledore told me to send you a letter, telling you that you'll be leaving the Dursleys very shortly (although I'm afraid I can't tell you when, in case this letter is intercepted). Looking forward to seeing you, Hermione.

Harry nearly squealed with excitement. He was going to be leaving number four, Privet Drive before his birthday! He couldn't wait, and swiftly folded and packed the jumble of clothes and books that lay strewn all over the floor in messy clumps.

"BOY, GET DOWN HERE NOW!" he heard his uncle scream. Aunt Petunia had probably told his uncle that he'd stolen a box of his mother's things.

Bracing himself, Harry unlocked the door, and it immediately swung open. Uncle Vernon stood on the opposite side of the door, looking livid and purple-faced. Harry walked straight past him, to the surprise of Uncle Vernon, and walked down the stairs. Once reaching the landing on the first floor, he yelled up to his uncle, "What do you want?"

"Don't be smart with me, boy," Vernon said, triumphantly, ambling down the stairs. "I know exactly what you've done while we were out." He wore a smug, victorious look on his face.

"That makes two of us." Harry gritted his teeth, prepared for whatever Mr. Dursley was going to give to him.

"So, give us back the box, boy," Vernon Dursley growled.

"I'd be delighted to waltz up to my room and dance back down to give the box to you, especially after what I went through to obtain it in the first place!"

"Don't get smart with me, boy."

"Okay, I won't, you might not be able to understand me if I do." The smug grin was wiped off of Uncle Vernon's face, and replace by the same livid, purple-faced look Harry had experienced only moments before. He then scowled, having figured out Harry's character long before; Vernon knew Harry wasn't relinquishing his ownership of Lily's box, no matter what circumstances he'd find himself in.

"I would suggest saving your breath for a discussion with your son," Harry told his uncle, calmly, with a hint of amusement, "and exactly what your son can do to prevent himself from crashing into poles. Because, I know this might be a shock to you, Dudley crashing into a telephone pole with a Driver's Ed car isn't, funnily enough, their fault, but Dudley's." Harry then ran back up to his room, locking the door again.

Vernon removed his scowl for another livid face. He opened his mouth to shout at Harry, decided against it and closed it. He opened his mouth again to see if Harry would give the box back, but decided against that too, closing his mouth. It was a hopeless fight for the Dursleys, and they all knew it.

Dinnertime arrived way too early for Harry, as a scornful rattle interrupted him from a letter he was scribbling to Remus Lupin, despite that fact that it was most probable that they would reunite in a few days' time.

Hi Professor Lupin, It's Harry. Just telling you that today was Dudley's (my cousin, the fat kid, remember?) birthday today, and that the Dursleys have an annoying habit of really making me lose my temper today. But that's not why I'm writing.

I'm writing because my Aunt Petunia was showing me a box of my mother's old things, and I managed to find a small blue box that looks like it holds jewelry. My scar burns whenever I make skin to box contact with it, and I was wondering if you knew what it was? –Harry

Harry arrived at the dinner table to see Aunt Petunia cooking steak. She had just placed cuts of beef into an oiled pan as Harry walked through the doorway into the kitchen. Her lips were pressed tightly together, as if someone had glued them together, and her face was paler than he'd ever seen it before.

Uncle Vernon still looked unhappy, and Dudley was still clearly upset that the driving school had not issued him his license, especially after he'd done so much better than he normally did.

Aunt Petunia gazed at him, half of it anger that he stole the box with her sister's belongings (but more importantly the box, which she hadn't told her husband about), and half of it saying 'Come over here and cook the dinner before your uncle gets very mad at you.'

Uncle Vernon opened his mouth, and was about to say, "Cook the steaks for your aunt, boy," but Harry crossed the room to the stove before he could say a word. His uncle closed his mouth for the third time that day without saying anything.

Number four, Privet Drive, finished dinner without managing to make any noise other than the scraping of forks and knives against ceramic.

Harry had finished before everyone, and ran upstairs to his room. Uncle Vernon was about to protest about where he was going, but decided against doing that because Harry would most likely either ignore him or give him a vague answer, something he'd mastered last summer ("Watching the news.").

Opening the door to his room, Harry found that Hedwig had managed to find Professor Lupin and return with an answer. He excitedly ripped open the parchment envelope, and removed a sheet of parchment from it, with scribbling all over the top half, most of which was in all capital letters.

Hi Harry, Good to see the Dursleys back to normal. But WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, DESCRIBING WHAT YOU FOUND IN SUCH GREAT DETAIL, AND MANAGING TO SEND OUT THE LETTER TO ME! WHAT IF HEDWIG WAS INTERCEPTED! Anyway, I'll give you more details about it later, next time I see you (which will hopefully be soon!). But please Harry, remember that Voldemort is back, and could be having his Death Eaters search through the letters every owl they come into contact with has. Be especially careful with anything you don't know about, like what your letter was about. –Remus Lupin

Hearing Uncle Vernon roar, "GET DOWN HERE, BOY!" made Harry jump up and run downstairs, to find the Dursleys were lighting sixteen candles that were placed into an enormous cake that Harry guessed Dudley would eat most of.

They commenced singing "Happy Birthday," with neither Harry nor Dudley looking extremely amused. They both thought Dudley was too old for this kind of thing. Harry would be keen to point this out, but he didn't want to give Aunt Petunia a heart attack on her son's birthday.

Aunt Petunia forced Dudley's head over the enormous cake so h could blow out the candles. Dudley blew as hard as he could at the candles, but when his blow reached the candles, they each ignited, sending a whirl of fire towards Dudley. He pulled his head away just in time, but could not avoid making his mother scream in horror, and his father in anger. They both figured this was Harry's doing.

Harry looked both extremely amused and surprised, because he had no part in doing this. He turned to Uncle Vernon and, for the third time that night, saw the livid, purple-faced expression that only meant that he was about to scream himself hoarse at his nephew.

But before Uncle Vernon could do anything or say anything, there came a knock on the door. Harry felt as if something was squeezing his stomach. Could this be?

Uncle Vernon moved quickly to the door, stopping only to groom his hair in the mirror in the front hall, not wanted to upset this guest, even if it was a door-to-door salesman. He opened the door to be faced by a small girl, nearly three times smaller than himself, with bushy brown hair and abnormally large front teeth.

"Hi, you must be Mr. Vernon Dursley. I'm here to see Harry."