Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
Once in the kitchen, Harry led the way to the kitchen silently. He knew this was not going to be pretty at all.
With one arm around Harry's shoulder, Arthur led them into the kitchen. The Dursley's took no notice of him however. They were far to engaged with Vernon's "fascinating" discussion about drills and Gunnings.
Mr. Weasley cleared his throat a few times before the Dursley's turned around and looked at him.
The reaction was immediate. As one, they all jumped up with Petunia behind Vernon, and Dudley hiding behind his mother.
"BOY! I WILL NOT TOLERATE FREAKS IN THIS HOUSEHOLD!" Vernon yelled.
Harry winced at his Uncle's words. That had not been the smartest thing to say in front of Mr. Weasley. Harry noticed that Mr. Weasley's eyes became as cold as steel as he appraised the Dursley's. If he didn't do something soon, someone could get hurt, and it would more than likely be him.
"Please, Uncle, I didn't know he was coming by today. I would have warned you otherwise," Harry pleaded softly.
"I am sorry for interrupting your lunch, but I have important business to discuss, with all of you," Arthur said.
"Whatever it is, we want no part in it. Particularly if it has to do with you and your freaky kind," Petunia huffed.
Mr. Weasley buried his rage at those words and through gritted teeth, began to speak. "Oh I would beg to differ Mrs. Dursley. You see, the business that I am here for has to do with your nephew, who is very much your business."
"Not if I had had it my way," Vernon muttered under his breathe.
Both Harry and Mr. Weasley had heard what the obese man had said, although neither said anything about it. Harry, being far to used to it for him to be bothered anymore, and Mr. Weasley didn't because he was trying desperately to get the Dursley's to sign the papers. He would deal with Vernon's comment later.
"Please, why don't we all go sit down in the living room?" he asked as politely as he could under the circumstances.
Reluctantly, the Dursley's did as he suggested, but only because he was a fully trained wizard, which Arthur knew perfectly well.
"Well, not that we're all here, let's get started," he said.
"Ah! Boy! Go to your room! What do you think your doing sitting around and listening to our conversations!" Petunia said shrilly.
Harry hung his head in shame. "Yes Aunt Petunia," he said softly as he started to get up.
Arthur forced him to stay sitting down though. "I had thought I had made myself clear earlier. This discussion involves Harry," he said icily.
The Dursley's looked at him as it to say 'so what?'
Resisting the urge to curse them into a thousand bits, Arthur tried to start up the conversation again. "All right, look. I'm going to be perfectly blunt here so forgive me. You don't want Harry, right?" he asked.
"Right!" Vernon exclaimed.
Harry looked down at his so called family's words. He had of course always known that they hated him, but it was another thing completely for someone in the Wizarding world to know about it.
"Very well. I have a very simple offer for you. We want Harry, you don't. If you sign these papers, you'll never have to see him again," Mr. Weasley said.
Both Harry and the Dursley's looked at Mr. Weasley with shock, but for very different reasons.
"Harry, Molly and I have always considered you to be family and we wanted to make that official. Here I have guardianship papers from the court with their approval for Molly and I to become your foster parents, that is, if you want us to be," Arthur said nervously.
Throughout Mr. Weasley's speech, Harry's mouth had dropped open more and more. He pinched himself hard to make sure this wasn't a dream. At last! All his dreams were coming true!
"I'd love to Mr. Weasley," Harry said shyly. "That is, if you really want to. I would understand perfectly if you decided you didn't want to."
"No Harry, we are certain. The entire family is certain. All you have to do is sign your name here, and the Dursley's here," Arthur said.
Both Harry and the Dursley's eagerly signed. Everyone was getting what they wanted.
"Thank you all very much for your time. I'll just help Harry pack and then we shall be on our way," Arthur stated.
The Dursley's nodded and flew back into the kitchen in order to avoid the two wizards
Arthur laughed once they had gone. "Well, that went a lot better than I expected it to. Sorry for the shock there Harry, but we didn't want to tell you earlier in case the courts didn't approve."
"No, no, it's fine!" Harry said still in shock about everything that had happened in the last twenty minutes.
Arthur smiled. Harry was obviously overwhelmed. "Come on then. Let's get you all packed up. I know a lot of people back at a certain place who are dying to see you."
For the first time since summer break had started, Harry smiled a real smile. At last, he was going home.
It didn't take long at all to pack Harry's things. Nearly everything was in Harry's trunk anyway, which he had never been able to unpack since Vernon had shoved it in the cupboard the second he had returned to Privet Drive.
Once he had his stuff together, Harry headed for the door while Mr. Weasley went back into the kitchen for a moment.
"Pardon my intrusion again, but wouldn't you like to say goodbye to your nephew?" Mr. Weasley asked.
Vernon glared at him. "And why would we want to say goodbye to that menace?" he growled.
"He's been nothing but trouble since the day we took him in," Petunia sniffed disdainfully.
Mr. Weasley eyed them all with hard eyes. "I see. Well, so long, for now."
The Dursley's didn't hear his implied threat though. They were far to busy celebrating that they had gotten rid of the freak at long last!
"I'm sorry you had to hear all of that," Harry said softly as Mr. Weasley came back to the door.
Arthur eyed the poor boy sorrowfully. How in the name of Merlin had Harry come out so good in a home like this one? "Harry, you have nothing to apologize for. In fact, the Dursley's should be the ones apologizing to you."
Clearly this was quite the new concept for Harry judging by his wide eyes. Arthur knew that he and Molly had their work cut out for them in terms of healing all the emotional damage that Harry had sustained over the years. He didn't mind one bit though. Harry was their son, and family always helped family, period.
"Come Harry, let's get going. If we're lucky, we'll be able to get home before the sun sets so you can squeeze in game of Quidditch with the boys."
Harry's eyes lit up at the prospect of Quidditch and hurried to the car. "How long will it take us to get there?"
"Oh, two, three hours at the most. Possibly shorter depending upon traffic," Arthur said.
Harry nodded and after having put his trunk in the car with Mr. Weasley's help, he climbed into the back seat.
As soon as Arthur was sure that everything was in, he pulled out of the driveway and drove away from Privet Drive for the last time ever.
Harry could barely recall the last time he had felt so happy. At long last, Privet Drive was in his past, a past, he would never have to revisit.
Fate, however, was not known for being nice. Unknown to Harry, Privet Drive would become a very large part of his future, unwillingly or not. Destiny and fate could and would indeed be cruel.