Just Love
In Privet Drive of Little Whinging, everything was as normal as it always was. The only exception was in the household of Number Four, where a teenage boy, Harry Potter, was at his desk in a fitful sleep. Ever since Dumbledore's funeral, his dreams had been filled with the same monotonous mantra: the locket… the cup…the snake…something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's… In his hand, he had a rather crumpled piece of parchment that was an invitation to Bill and Fleur's wedding. Even though Bill had been mauled by a werewolf, and attained numerous scars to his once very handsome face in the process, the wedding was still going as planned. When Mrs. Weasley made the implication of saying that Bill WAS going to be married, Fleur flew off the handle, protesting loudly that she was not just marrying Bill because of his looks, but because of their love. It was at this point which Mrs. Weasley and Fleur actually started to get along; making wedding plans and going to robe fittings together.
Harry awoke with a start after falling out of his desk chair and quickly looked at his clock. 11:43. Seventeen more minutes of being an underage wizard. Ron and Hermione were coming to get him at half past two that afternoon. The three of them had made plans to get Harry on his birthday, where they then would go to The Burrow for a birthday celebration and then the wedding a few weeks later.
Harry got a few more hours of restless sleep until he deemed his attempts futile and got up to go to the loo and shower. Shortly after, he wandered down to the kitchen while absent-mindedly attempting to flatten his still damp hair. As he walked into the kitchen, he was acknowledged in the usual fashion; Dudley watching the telly and ignoring him, Uncle Vernon glancing up at him with his usual sneer, and Aunt Petunia practically dropping a plate in front of him with a loud sniff.
Harry knew that they were hoping with all their might that he was going to be leaving their presence today. He hadn't told them that he actually was yet, but this seemed about as good a time as any.
"I'm leaving today at half past two. Ron and Hermione are coming to get me."
If Harry was expecting them to look around in a panic, he wasn't to be disappointed. There was a flurry of activity; open windows being slammed shut, closed ones locked, and Uncle Vernon breathing heavily and turning a lovely shade of puce.
"Wha…What was that, boy?" Vernon stuttered, his eyes wild and glancing around as though expecting them to pop into the kitchen.
"I said," Harry began in a somewhat exasperated tone as if he were speaking to a small child, "that Ron and Hermione, two of my friends from Hog…, school, were going to come get me at half past two this afternoon. They'll be Apparating, don't even ask," Harry had noticed that his Uncle was about to interrupt, "but don't worry; they won't be seen by any of the neighbours." Harry spat the last statement out, considering that many of the neighbours in the surrounding area thought that Harry was a highly disturbed boy that attended St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys.
"You're actually leaving then?" Petunia said in a startled sort of voice.
"Yes. For good."
With those last words, Harry grabbed a couple pieces of toast, left the kitchen, and departed to his room. The afternoon seemed to last an eternity, but finally, a few minutes before two-thirty, Harry saw Ron and Hermione approach the Dursley's mailbox. "Where did they Apparate to?" He wondered, but he had no time to delve deeper into the question as at that time, seeing as how the doorbell rang. Harry crept down the stairs as he heard Uncle Vernon lumbering towards the door to open it.
"Hello, is Harry here?" Harry heard Hermione ask from just outside the door while he himself was on the stair landing.
"Oh, um, yes…yes he is. Come in." Vernon uncertainly answered as he shut the door behind the pair. Harry could tell that he was confused as to how two people as normal looking as Ron and Hermione were wizards.
"Harry, you're friends are here." Vernon called in a strangled voice as though it were paining him talk to Harry kindly.
"I know, Uncle Vernon. Thank you." Harry had thought it best if he reciprocate the kindness as to not get scolded from Hermione.
"Harry! It's so good to see you!" Hermione said as she flung herself at him so that he was being smothered by a mouthful of bushy, brown hair.
"Hermione, get off me! I can't breathe!"
"Sorry, Harry," she apologized as a grin spread across her face.
"Great to see you, mate." Ron greeted Harry as he grasped his hand in a handshake and pulled him into a manly hug.
"You too."
"We should really get going, Harry. Do you have all your things packed?" Hermione questioned.
"Yeah, there are just a couple things I need to throw in."
At this point, Aunt Petunia had thought she'd better see Harry's friends, seeing as how Vernon was aghast as to how normal they looked. Harry guessed this should be expected since a year ago, Dumbledore, who radiates of magic, had traipsed through their house, banging coffee cups against their heads.
"Harry, I'd like to speak with you. Alone." She added as she spotted Ron and Hermione exchanging meaningful looks between her and Harry.
"Go on, I'll be up in a minute. Ron, you should know where my room's at, but if you forgot, it's the first door on the right."
Ron gave a brief nod to show he understood and walked up the staircase with Hermione at his heels.
"Harry, I know that I've never showed much emotion involving your well-being, but in all actuality, I do care. No, honestly, I do!" Petunia added this last statement almost as a plea since Harry had snorted in a way that told her that he didn't believe a word of what she said.
"Harry, I know that I may not have seemed to care for your mother, but she was my only sister. I was…jealous of her I suppose. Our parents always seemed to favor her just because of her abilities. But when she met, and started dating your father, I knew that things had changed forever. It was then that I met Vernon, and not long after, we were married. When I was invited to Lily's wedding, I refused to go. I did not want Vernon to leave me thinking that I was the same as her. We were not married at this point," she had to explain this to him as how Harry gave her a questioning look. "Vernon and I got married a few months later, but I did not invite Lily or James to the wedding. I wish I would have now. When I heard a few years later that she was expecting at the same time I was, I refused to expose my child to your…culture. Not even two years later, I found you on our doorstep as I was getting the morning milk. Vernon didn't want you at first, he knew that I had a sister, but he knew nothing about her being a witch," she paused as if unsure of what to say next. "Until you showed up. Once I had read the letter and taken you out of the basket you were brought in, I found this," she held out her hand to Harry to reveal a small carefully wrapped box. "This was your mother's wedding ring, Harry. I thought that it was probably best for me to hang onto it until you were old enough. You are now. Take it; she would want you to have it. Hopefully you'll be able to give it to some girl that you meet at that school of yours. And Harry, I do love you." Petunia finished as the placed the small box in his open palm and closed his fingers around it. "Take care of yourself. I know that both your world and mine are in danger now, but be careful." She finished this, and stood there uncertainly for a second before pulling Harry into a great hug; a hug that he would have gotten from his own mother.
"Thank you, Aunt Petunia. I'll try to be careful," Harry thought how incredibly weird this was, but then thought that maybe, just maybe, his aunt, was actually feeling remorse for the way she had acted towards Harry for seventeen years.
"Go up to your friends, they're waiting for you," Petunia sniffed as she pulled away from her nephew with a slight smile and strode away, leaving a thoroughly perplexed Harry in her wake.
"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione questioned as she peered down from the landing towards Harry, concern evident in her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he responded as he followed her back upstairs to his room.
"What was all that with your Aunt about, Harry?" Ron questioned.
"Oh, well, she was feeling guilty about how she treated me all the time I was here. And she gave me my mum's wedding ring."
"Oh, Harry, that's wonderful! But you haven't opened the box; don't you want to see what your mum's ring looked like?"
"Yeah, I suppose I do," he replied as he sat down on his bed and carefully pulled at the string on the wrapping. Once he unwrapped and opened the box, he saw the most beautiful ring he ever had seen. It was gold with a single diamond in the middle with a slightly smaller emerald on either side. On the inside of the ring there were Celtic runes. He had no idea what they meant; maybe he could have Hermione figure them out for him later.
"We should get going, mum's expecting us." Ron said, startling Harry out of his thoughts.
"I guess we should." With that, they gathered all of Harry's things and walked downstairs. Harry went to the sitting room to bid his farewell to his "family," although only Aunt Petunia responded. He turned to Ron and Hermione beckoning them to follow. Considering that all three of them could do magic now, since they had come of age, they thought it wise to put a shrinking and weightless charm on Harry's items so he could fit them into his jacket pocket, considering they might be a little out of place on a very Muggle street. Of course, even though Harry could Apparate, Hermione would not allow him to considering he didn't have a license. They were going to The Burrow by ways of The Knight Bus.
Once Hermione had flagged down the bus, they had to endure what seemed to be a very long and rough ride to The Burrow, considering they had Stan Shunpike, who had finally been released from Azkaban, enlightening them to his life story from his capture up until his release. All three of them were very glad when they were finally able to get off and walk up the lane to The Burrow where Harry could see Mrs. Weasley running towards them, arms outstretched and pulled Harry into a rib-crushing hug.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," Harry greeted her as she pulled him even tighter to the point of him not being able to breath. Thankfully, Ron was able to pry his mum away from Harry, although, with difficulty. Once Harry was able to catch his breath again and massaged some of the pain out of his sides, Ron and Hermione helped him carry his things into the house.
"Hello, Harry."
Harry knew whom that voice belonged to. It was the most beautiful sound in the world, but a sound he knew he could never have, at least, not now. He slowly turned around to face the woman that he had been both hoping and dreading to see.
"Hello, Ginny."
