The mood in the kitchen was low that night, even Tracey was unsure of what to say and the house elves moved around them quickly and quietly unused to seeing the morose looks on the teenagers. Theo was moving his spoon through his chicken soup, mouthing to himself as he tried to remember the books in his father's library and anything else that might help. Daphne was picking at a bread roll as she thought about what she knew about Prophecy's and mentally drafted a letter to her mother. Tracey was looking around as her leg bounced nervously as she thought about the third task and what it meant for it to be on the same day as the summer solstice. Harry was leaning on the table, thinking about the connection he might have with Voldemort and the vague plan they'd come up with in order to leave Hogwarts. Neville was the only one of the group not thinking about what they'd all learnt that day, instead he had a had worried expression as he looked at his friends and thought about how to remove the stress of the day. All in all as the month of April drew to an end it had been quite successful, they'd got rid of Snape finally. Sirius had official guardianship of Harry no matter how much meddling the old man had attempted. McGonagall had finally attempted an apology though it was only vaguely adequate at best, he still couldn't believe the nerve of the woman.
Flashback
They'd all been walking back to the library from their trip into Hogsmeade when the deputy headmistress had called to Harry and Neville asking for a moment of their time, although reluctant both males had agreed and the three Slytherins decided to head off feeling this was a conversation they didn't need to be aware of. The older witch led them into her office and asked them to be seated, they had exchanged glances at the shuffling of papers as well as the nervous glances she gave. Neither man had seen her quite so discombobulated and they doubted they would again. While it was obvious the woman needed time to think of what to say Neville had taken the time to eye up the rest of the office, he had only been in here a couple of times and he felt as uncomfortable now as he did then. It could have been a great room but the decorations made it too loud for his tastes, the view was straight over the Quidditch pitch and the training grounds. The room was slightly rounded with a fireplace and a bright red tartan covered armchair on one side with a large desk on the other, a few smaller bookcases were around the edges. The gleaming Quidditch Cup stood on the mantle next to the House Cup and there were many photographs hanging on the wall of past years. A large scarlet and gold rug covered almost all of the stone floor and there was a magnificent banner of a lion hanging down one wall. The furniture was all dark oak, with thick lines and spoke more of practicality than comfort. Professor McGonagall eventually cleared her throat and leaned forward on the desk glancing at the two of them as she spoke in a quieter voice than either of them had ever heard her use.
"I wish to make both of you a formal and heartfelt apology. I have been most unfair in my duty towards the two of you and am heartily ashamed of my actions."
Harry and Neville both nodded but kept their faces carefully blank of any emotion and waited.
"This year has been most confusing, exhausting and I have allowed myself to be swept up into it, I can only say Mr Potter that I am sorry for ever doubting your word and allowing my annoyance to influence my behaviour towards you. You came to me for help and I ignored you thinking it was an elaborate rouse for more attention like your father might have done. Mr Longbottom, I witnessed what was happening to you, I also showed my ignorance by thinking it would help you to see what was right and wrong, I apologise for the pain my pride let you feel. I also apologise for the judgement that I passed on your work as it improved. I hope one day you can once again trust me as Head of your House and Professor."
For a moment the two of them just let the words sink in, and for once it was Harry who had more control over his emotions. He was used to people disbelieving him and the apology hadn't affected him one way or another, he had a lot of time to think about his feelings for Professor McGonagall and he had realised that she had always seen him as Lily and James' son instead of his own person. She expected him to be just like them and didn't make the effort to get to know Harry, once faced with someone she thought she recognised but didn't know anything about; she gave up, unable to get past the figure she'd built in her head.
On the other hand, Neville could feel the anger slowly starting to burn its way up from the pit of his stomach and as much as he tried to calm himself, he could feel it working its way through his resolve to contain it. In the end he counted to 10 and then to 20 and when he spoke it was a controlled way that had fury lacing every word.
"Professor McGonagall, you have never acted like my head of house." The witch drew in a sharp breath and gripped her fingers hard as she watched the young man in front of her. "You told us in our first year that our house is like a family, Gryffindor has never been a family. They have always put me down and you yourself have always been disappointed in me, I see it in your gaze when I have failed to master a spell. My grandmother raised me to know right from wrong, she raised me to stand my ground and consider all perspectives and attempt to understand them. But I cannot understand yours; you watched your lions, your cubs put down the smallest; they bullied, abused me and not only did you do nothing but you encouraged it. When I improved thanks to Harry and Daphne's kindness and tutelage instead of congratulating me you accused me of cheating and ripped my work in front of my peers, do you have any idea the bullshit they did to me?!" The office was silent. Neville had risen to his feet and was now pacing, Harry remained seated he'd had an inkling of what was happening to Neville but had no idea it was this bad and he too felt more anger towards the Scottish woman. "And don't even get me started on how you've treated Harry, first it was like a pariah, you didn't even try to help him. You, his head of house turned him away, Cedric got loads of help from Spout and yet you felt completely unable to even point him in the right direction of spells that could help. I know that he came to you that night covered in bruises because the twins had found a way to enchant the stairs so he fell, did you know he almost died! You saw how he came! Covered in scratches and he begged you for help! And you said that he should keep his head down if he didn't like the attention. And then these past few months, you've been doing everything you can to make it up to him, not even bothering to give an apology that includes all the wrong you did." By the end of his rant, he was leaning on the back of his chair with an exhausted look on his face an he breathed deeply for a few moments. "Thank you for the apology Professor, I'm sure it took a lot of…courage to admit you were so completely and drastically wrong about us. Goodbye ma'am." And with that the blonde boy stalked out of the office with his head held high, looking every inch the pureblood lord that he was always raised to be.
Flashback ends
"Right, enough come on, it's a Saturday evening and we're all sitting here moping. Now lets go." And with that the Gryffindor hit the table and stood, his friends all shot to their feet eager to leave the slightly despondent atmosphere of the kitchen, though surprise was clear on their faces.
Neville led the way out of the kitchen, the marauders map clasped in his hand as he looked over it with a crinkled brow.
"Where we going?" Asked Theo quietly as the group trouped through the third floor corridor and hurriedly moved back as Filch moved over the staircase in front of them.
Just as Neville was about to answer they all froze as a loud 'Meow' moved through the silent corridor, their eyes all cut towards the end of the passageway and Mrs Norris still form as she sat by the corner, her tawny tail flicking through the air.
"Meow."
"Who is it my darling? Who will we punish tonight, hmm."
The group started tripping over themselves in a hasty attempt to flee without making too much noise, Mrs Norris stood and stretched lazily before stalking forward, her yellow eyes gleaming as her master's voice came nearer.
"Find them, Mrs Norris."
"No shoo, go away, scat!" Whisper shouted Tracey as she moved her hands which only served to make the cat move faster through the shadows.
Filchs form suddenly turned the corner and the group abandoned their stealth retreat immediately.
"Run!" Yelled Neville and they all turned tailed and darted through the corridors, up the staircases and through darkened corridors as they tried to outrun the hurried footsteps of the janitor. They sped through the Charms corridor on the fourth floor and hurried down the next staircase as they heard a familiar mew. Sprinting past portraits that complained about ' the young people, always in a rush' and then round the corner which led to the main staircase and hurried up three long flights before they had to stop as Theo almost collapsed against the wall clutching his side. By this time, exhaustion and hysteria had settled in and they were all working to keep the mouths shut to stop the giggles from escaping when they had to set off again at the sound of a shuffling walk through the corridor behind them. Eventually Neville found what he was looking for which was the small stone staircase which would lead up to the Astronomy tower and viewing platform.
As the others clattered up before him, he quickly waved his wand and placed notice me not and a confundos charm over the archway to stop anyone from following and headed up after the others. When he had arrived, the others were in various states, Theo was simply lying on the floor his chest rising and falling in quick pants. Tracey had conjured a bean bag and was flopped on it as she giggled hysterically. And Daphne and Harry were leaning against each other by the wall with huge grins on their faces as they watched Theo in amusement.
"Alright, mate?" Harry asked as Neville decided to follow Theo's example and simply laid on the floor resting his forehead on the cold stone floor.
"I swear, this was suppose to be relaxing for us."
It took a scarce second later for the laughter to overtake the circular room again and the five were once again teenagers, unfamiliar with the wickedness of the world and enjoying the incredulity and immature behaviour.
It was much later when they were all sitting on the edge of the tower, legs dangling over the side enjoying the silence when Tracey decided to raise the subject that they were all feeling doom and gloom about in her usual tactful manner.
"So what do we think of Voldeyshorts returning and killing off our favourite scar-head? Or are we avoiding that subject?"
"Avoiding it for a later date." Daphne said bluntly, her hand finding Harry's and squeezing it tight.
"How about we discuss revenge on the Dursleys then?"
Harry immediately looked away from the piercing, understanding eyes of his girlfriend and instead looked over the view which involved the gate to Hogwarts. Sirius, Remus and Daphne had been sending more frequent letters to each other with numerous ideas of what to do and how to handle them. He'd asked for the bare details but mostly stayed out of it, he wasn't a vindictive person and although he wanted them to pay there was still a small part of him that shuddered at the thought of them therefore, he had kept out of most of planning, all he wanted for them was complete humiliation. He saw Daphne glance at him from the corner of her eye and visibly stop herself from speaking straight away.
"Go ahead Daph, you're damn proud of it lets be honest."
She kissed his cheek and started to speak, her excitement barely being contained.
"Its almost all over actually. Sirius calls it the game plan and its finally coming together…"
About a month ago, the Dursleys had realised that strange things had started to occur. At first it was small inconveniences; the roof started leaking, a pipe burst, the toilets kept getting blocked up and a strong wind had knocked down the TV antenna etc. Then bugs started to invade the house; the family would wake up to slugs leaving slime trails over the kitchen floor, ants had found their way into the cupboards and Petunia swore she could hear rats in the attic. After two weeks of having to continuously call up pest control in the middle of the night and suffer the embarrassment of having the large trucks pulling up with large pictures of cockroaches and rats on the side, things got harder for the Dursleys. At Smeltings, Dudley was discovered with cigarettes in his locker and footage was somehow released of him bullying younger students and consequently expelled despite his parent's stern warnings to the Headmaster who only straightened his spine and said imperiously "we are a first class Academy and shall not be embarrassed by one student." At Grunnings, Vernon had three very tense conversations with the accounts department as they discovered some irregularities with his clients, now they were examining his history and taking away his privileges including his company car which meant he had to drive his wife's lilac Honda Accord which barely fit his large frame. At Number 4, Petunia was desperately cleaning the surfaces that only remained shiny for a few seconds before stains became visible again and having to deal with her neighbours who were all questioning why her normally lovely garden was becoming overrun by badgers and foxes and the weeds were starting to crowd it.
In present day, things hadn't improved.
"Dudley darling, dinners ready." Petunia called up the stairs, her usually neat hair coming undone and her face shiny. The stove had refused to light the last few days and all the fresh food she'd brought from the shop all seemed to be off so they were having left over pasta. Her son came tromping down the stairs, since her boy had been expelled – all complete poppycock she'd told her ladies but she remembered their slightly disbelieving faces – he had seemed a little surlier as he couldn't spend time with his friends. He entered the room, took one look at the food she'd rummaged through the freezer for and snorted.
"I want to go out, give me some money."
"Oh but Darling, its been a hard few weeks and I'd really like it-"
"No way in hell, mum. I've already had this crap this week give me some cash and I'll get something from the shops."
"Oh very well." Moving over to get her handbag, Petunia was astonished to find no cash in her purse. Pulling out her card instead she handed it to Dudley who quickly snatched and shoved it into his back pocket without even a thankyou and ambled towards the front door.
"What time can I expect you back, diddums?"
Her only answer was the sound of the front door slamming. Shaking her head she went back to tidying the kitchen up before Vernon got back and almost screamed as she caught sight or another large cockroach scamper across the floor. Moving quickly to the cupboard under the stairs where they had dumped all the cleaning equipment she froze at the sight of the spiders crawling over the walls and the three large slugs that were clinging to the shelves, hating the shivers that went up her frame she went to slam the door shut before she noticed a dusty deep green blanket in the corner. Her body went still as she remembered the first time she'd seen it wrapped around her baby nephew, it had miniature lilies and stags embroidered around the edge with a white H.J.P. in the centre. Her breath came quicker as she quicky slammed the door shut and almost ran back into the kitchen only to give a shriek as she realised the door had somehow blown open and sent dirt, leaves and debris into her kitchen. As she went to close it, Petunia could have sworn that she had locked it that morning. But that was of course nonsense she told herself, a door couldn't unlock and open by itself, that was too…freakish?
By the time Vernon had returned home his wife was a nervous wreck having scrubbed every inch of the kitchen and still seeing the dust balls everywhere as well as realising the electrics had gone out again.
"What the devil is going on?" He said looking around in shock, the kitchen was still a mess with glass wear and their fancy wedding china out drying on tea-towels.
"The silver had marks and you know I can't stand marks and I cleaned it the first time but there was still marks and I just can't stand the marks so I thought I'd clean it again and again and now you're back and I'm explaining." Petunia said a little breathless and quite hurriedly. "How was your day?"
Vernon threw his briefcase onto the armchair and went to pour himself a snifter of whiskey.
"Terrible, those bastards still think there's something wrong with my accounts. Complete rot of course but they're digging and aren't letting me sign for anything until then." Of course there's also that new chit, she was someone's assistant and was making a fuss about him. He'd only shown his appreciation for her and HR had been ridiculous enough to listen to her claims, but he knew nothing would come from it.
They settled down and quickly ate the now cold food.
"What is this rot?"
There was a clunk as his wife put her glass down with a little more force than necessary.
"It is food, dear. I've tried my best but everything is going off."
Seeing the face that she used when gearing for a full rant as well as the high pitch of her voice Vernon immediately backed off.
"No no sorry my dear. It's quite lovely and well done. Much better than whatever the freak used to cook up." They both heard the lie in his voice but chose not to dwell on it, the freak cooked good stuff and made a veritable feast out of plain things, course that was because he knew the consequences if he should not.
They were listening to the radio while reading a gardening magazine and newspaper when they looked up as blue lights flashed through their lacy curtains and Petunia immediately hurried to see what the fuss was about. It was her quick drawn in breath that alerted Vernon and he quickly felt a sinking feeling in his gut as their doorbell rang, they both went to open the door and stood in shock at the burly policemen who had a hand on their son's shoulder whose hands were cuffed behind him.
"What the hell is going on here?" Thundered Vernon and Petunia felt a blush rise into her cheeks as she caught sight of Mrs Maurice in no.7 looking through her curtains at them.
"How do you do, sir I am Sergeant Moore. I am sorry to disturb you tonight but your boy here needs to answer some questions for us and he insisted on coming to you first."
"Quite right Dudley while I'm sure its all a big misunderstanding, why don't you come in, Sergeant."
"Thankyou sir, and if you don't mind my colleague, Officer Stone will be joining us too." There was a note of steel in the policeman's voice which made it clear that it was less of a request and more of a done deal anyway."
"Of course, of course do come in."
"Thankyou sir."
They moved into the lounge and while Petunia immediately began to fuss over her son who was looking quite peaky in her mind, the officers only glanced at them with blank expressions before looking around the place.
"How can we help, Sergeant."
"First we'd like to confirm that this is in fact your card and your son had permission to use it."
Sergeant Moore pulled out Petunia's credit card and handed it over to Vernon who quickly glanced at the back to check his wife's signature and nodded.
"Yes, this is my wife's card and our son is allowed to use it."
"Thankyou sir, do you have an idea of what your son buys on this card?"
"I believe he gets himself the usual food and drink and maybe games or something." Vernon said starting to get irritated.
"I have seen your son around the neighbourhood a lot the last few weeks, are you aware he is no longer in school?"
"Yes, we decided that Smeltings was limiting his intelligence and we withdrew him, what is this all about?" Petunia asked tetchily.
"Well ma'am, the people that your son has taken to hanging around with are the people that we like to keep an eye on. We've seen your son hanging around with Piers Polkiss, Dennis Bucket, Gordan Tweely and Malcolm Locket as well as some others. Unfortunately, these boys are suspected in some small, petty crimes."
"Crimes? My Dudley doesn't commit crimes! He's a good boy!" Said Petunia with her arm around her son's shoulder who was still looking quite pale.
"I am not suggesting he does, but he does hang around with those that are suspected of it. Now onto the matter of tonight which is a little more serious. You see two weeks ago we had news that there might be drugs within the area, a small gang trying to start up their business somewhere small and unnoticeable. Fortunately for us, they thought themselves too arrogant and screwed up early on by using credit card details and used their normal phones to place calls. Officer Stone here was one of our people tailing several of the members, Officer continue."
Officer Stone was a young man of about 24, brunette hair, cut smartly and a serious face with grey eyes that had a glint of something in them that carefully catalogued everything in the room as soon as he'd entered; from the mother who wouldn't stop fussing over her son, to the cleaning products still out on the kitchen surface.
"Sir, Ma'am. Last week I started to follow your son-"
"You followed our son! How dare you! Do you know who I am!" Vernon yelled.
"Sir, please remain calm. Due to the friendship your son keeps, we must follow up all loose ends. As I was saying, I followed Dudley Dursley on his nightly excursions and wasn't happy with what I found. Your son and his gang went repeatedly round the same area's taking money off of people, most of them far younger than themselves and some were left with bruises. However, three days ago I saw him taking money out of the ATM and we discovered it was close to £200."
"£200! Dudley, dear you know you can take what you need but that's a little excessive isn't it?" Petunia asked her son who looked straight down at his feet and mumbled incoherently along with a shrug of his massive shoulders.
"Well, I'm sure the boy needed it for his boxing membership, he does that you know very good too." Blustered Vernon.
"Sir, your son hasn't been near the gym in almost a year. The money he took from the ATM, I saw him give to a young man by the name of Paul Rodgers, does this name mean anything to you?"
Shaking their heads, the Dursleys found themselves getting goosebumps as the policemen exchanged glances.
"Paul Rodgers is whom we consider to be our prime suspect in this drug business-"
"Oh sweetie-pie you've got mixed in the wrong crowd, haven't you? But its all okay now, we'll protect you. I'm sure you thought they were good people; Dudley always likes to believe the best in others you see." Petunia said looking at the policeman.
"That's our boy, he probably had no idea what this Rodgers did. Did you, son?" Again no response from the teenager.
"Well that's the second bit of bad news I'm afraid, sir. Tonight I was following Mr Rodgers and saw him meet with your son and several other boys in the park. Rodgers handed them several bags, tonight my team were ready though and we managed to move in on them and get them all including Mr Rodgers. I'm afraid we confiscated the items and have found them to be containing drugs of various sorts."
"Dudley Dursley!"
What followed was 15 minutes of shouting which included Dudley being innocent and simply lead astray, Vernon threatening the police for wrongful accusations and Petunia yelling that the police only wanted a scapegoat and her darling boy would never do anything of the sort. Back- up was called soon and the night ended with Petunia watching as her husband – for attempted assault on a police officer- and her son were led to the police cars and driven away.
Two days later at a magical school in Scotland, Harry's breakfast was interrupted by Sirius's new owl (Carmela, apparently one of the nurses that looked after him after Azkaban) who soared towards him and chittered excitedly in his ear as Harry struggled to untie the band that held The Whinging Times to the owls feet. Opening it up, he gazed at it in amazement and eagerly lapped up the information as Daphne watched him from the Slytherin table with a fond smile on her face.
"Well go on mate, read it out loud."
Dursley after Dark!
Mystery Nephew Missing!
Grunnings Committed to New Regulations
By Timothy Sanderson
In an extraordinary turn of events, one of the most prominent families in the local area have found themselves under fire from numerous attacks that they seem to thoroughly deserve!
First up is the son. Dudley Dursley, when he was younger Mr Dursley was considered an exemplary young man with average grades and a healthy interest in sports. Having been admitted into Smeltings Academy the young man was thought to have an excellent grasp of academia and education. However it now appears that the teenager was not what he appeared. When questioned shop owners admitted to seeing Mr Dursley loitering in the park and outside various shop fronts. Mrs Clarks – owner of The Summer Café – said "I saw Dudley and his gang in the park smoking several times and on a few of those included laughing at children a lot smaller than themselves and pushing them around." Smeltings confirmed that that the boy was expelled from the prestigious school and though they refused to say why several of the students explained how Mr Dursley was a known bully and had apparently broken a few bones in his time. When the incident took place yesterday Mr Dursley was disrespectful and refused to answer questions, the situation escalated when the teen took a swing to the officers in charge. This has resulted in him being restrained and kept in custody until the police have all the facts.
The woman of the house is a Mrs Petunia Dursley, a woman who was once known for having the best rose garden in Little Whinging and a perfectly organised house. However, she is now known for spreading rather vicious lies about the women of the neighbourhood and stirring up trouble. And her house is no longer the most charming on the block, the garden is overgrown and underkept, weeds popping up everywhere and the grass is dead! Neighbours have complained that pest control are also round their house an incredible number of times, leading this reporter to believe that the pristine house is not as immaculate as one might suspect.
The head man himself is Vernon Dursley, one of the directors at the well-known drill making firm, Grunnings. Having worked there since 1975, the man has been awarded for his long-term work and is known for bringing new clients to the company. Nevertheless accusation of harassment have recently come forward from more than one source and over several years, it seems that the loving family man has more than once 'comforted' several assistants and 'convinced' others to share a meal with him. Former secretary Miss Fronley says "Mr Dursley continually made me feel uncomfortable by invading my personal space and saying suggestive comments about my outfit, when I complained to HR I was told to take the compliment. When the comments turned into touches on my shoulder, leg and once on my back I knew I had to leave as no one was taking me seriously. That and I knew that Mr Turner in HR and Mr Dursley are close friends." A few other people at the firm have come forward and explained their experiences with Mr Dursley calling him out for being rude, dishonest, impatient and short-tempered. A thorough investigation of his finances showed Grunnings CEO that Mr Dursley had been dipping into his client's accounts for a little extra as well as placing personal shopping on the company card. Mr Dursley didn't help the circumstances that occurred yesterday when he became uncooperative and refused to listen to the Officers in charge as they tried to explain, this resulted in Mr Dursley being restrained for the night and until a time he was more inclined to cooperate.
Another mystery to unravel is the mysterious nephew. Many of Mr and Mrs Dursleys neighbours recall the quiet Harry Potter and since September 1991 they have been told that the boy attends St Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys. And yet no institution even exists. Grace Rowan; a student at Stone Wall High recalls the young Mr Potter when he attended primary school and states "Harry was odd, very quiet and stuck to himself and the library. It didn't help that he was pretty badly bullied by his cousin and gang, I remember a time when he came sprinting past with all the bullies after him and the teachers just stood and watched. No one really wanted to be friends with him as we were then threatened by Dudley and our parents thought he was a bad apple." Her mother also came forward to say "Petunia told all of us that her nephew was good for nothing and that he was being taken care of, but all my memories of him include him being polite and completing chores, I never saw their son doing chores. I'm ashamed to say I listened to the adult." Mr Potter has since been rehomed to his Godfathers - chosen by his parents but was unable to take care of the boy due to work - care and Mr Black was delighted to say that his honorary nephew managed to pass the entry exams into the prestigious Georgiana Clements Academy in Scotland and has been there for the last three years, his name being down for the school since he was born. Seems like the apple wasn't bad but the barrel instead.
Neville was in hysterics by the end of it and several of their Gryffindor neighbours were watching him with concern, Harry looked fondly at his friend remembering a time when Neville was very much on the fringes of friendship groups. Looking down at the paper Harry had to admit that his girlfriend, godfather and uncle had outdone themselves, the entire Dursley family was ruined and for once he wasn't getting the blame for any of it. He looked over to the Slytherin table and saw Daphne talking with Tracey and Theo, after a moment she looked up and her eyes immediately locked with his and she gave a cheeky wink that he laughed at before returning to the paper.
Daphne's smirk melted into a gentle smile as she watched him for a moment before tuning back in to Tracey and Theo's conversation. What Harry didn't know was this was just the beginning; it was guaranteed Dudley would go to a detention facility and he'd soon realise he wasn't the big fish and his mummy and daddy couldn't protect him, Vernon was going to be in big trouble when his finances somehow went viral as well as a video of him harassing a woman at work before she showed him she wasn't defenceless. And Petunia would find herself homeless when the bank would come to retrieve the house as they couldn't pay their mortgage and all her credit cards were maxed out. Oh yes, Daphne thought in satisfaction, the Dursleys were going to get what was coming to them.
The next few days was spent training, Harry was proud of how far he had come with his Occlumency and he had a few defences now set up, he was ecstatic to find out he could hold his own against Daphne's attack and eagerly told Sirius all about how he had incorporated different 'traps' in his mind to slow anyone down during their weekly fire call.
"And then the defences are similar to physical things, different spells depending on your level of assault and how much danger I feel threatened in."
"That's excellent, tell me did you use Rodbocks theory or Wieldermans?"
"Weildermans, I understood his way of being able to physically touch rather than the idea of not truly existing."
"Ah your mum used that way too."
"Mum used Occlumency?"
"Oh yeah, started just after our 7th year, James taught her, when they got married but were still fighting in the war they decided to would be better in case anything happened to her."
"What do you mean?"
Sirius sighed and looked a little lost for a moment.
"Before the war and during it, the Killer Munchies had a way of figuring out the weakest points, they knew where to find the Minister. Upstanding light members, when guards were changing shifts etc. The group we were in realised that they had advanced knowledge of Occlumency and Legilimency and had been using it to inflict the most damage possible. We were part of the group that held a lot of knowledge, Lily herself was a master in charms, potions and pretty fantastic at every other subject. Also as soon as your grandparents died all the knowledge of House Potter transferred to James and he in turn shared it with Lily. If anyone had gotten a hold of them they'd have even stronger defences. Then when they realised you were pregnant…well they would have done anything to keep you safe. She put herself through an intense course with Moody and Dumbledore as her mentors, she knew she had to protect any knowledge of you from them."
Harry stayed silent as he thought about his mum, it was moments like these that he truly missed his parents. When he felt how much they must have loved him and how incredible they must have been. Sirius shook himself out of his mood and focussed on his godson.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, just miss 'em."
"Me too, Prongslet. Your mum used to love learning Occlumency. She made the library her mind field, each book and individual memory and the restricted section was her most hated and her most precious, the memories she didn't want anyone ese knowing about. She let me in and before you ask why, it was to see how good she was. My family trained me in the mind arts from a young age, I was heir and my father while he didn't like it, he trained me to be his little carbon copy. Your mums mind simply astounded me, the detail she'd put into it, it was all structured, they even had labels but that was a trick. And the defences were just like yours, the more sever the attack the worst it was, I was left with a blinding headache after I tried to sneak an attack on her."
"What about my dad?"
"Ah Prongs was like me. Learnt from birth, not really a way to explain it just that it was force fed into us though his parents were probably slightly more kind about it. His defence was Potter manor, huge traps, collapsing ground pieces, black outs, ghosts that flashed past you. Was terrifying. You see as Heirs and then Head our rings protect us from most mental attacks as well as warn us against simple poisons however those protections can only be strengthened and continued if you learn it thoroughly"
"Well I think I have the basics down."
"Haha if you can defend yourself from an heiress attack then yes I would say you have the basics down."
"What about you? What was your defences like?"
"From what I remember it was simply a black hole. I was taught by my parents, they more or less tortured me into it."
"But…how? I mean all the books."
"They didn't care about that, my father entered my mind and forced me to defend myself from his attacks. Making me trust and feel safe, that was totally not a plan of theirs. Eventually I learnt, I made all my memories simply disappear, they didn't exist. Simply put I made my landscape a blank space, nothing was there. Course my time with the dementors put a stop to that." His godson looked curious but quickly changed the subject and Sirius felt a smile grow as Harry started to introduce a new theory and Sirius held up a hand. "No Harry its okay, I don't mind talking about it. You see the after my exposure to the dementors…well they basically shredded my mind." He said bluntly. "My defences are practically gone and my mind was in chaos from the moment I felt that island to until I got help from Dr. Etienne. Even now, its no where near what it should be considering my upbringing, but that's okay because I'm still learning and have this baby to help." He said holding up his hand and showing his ring. "Enough how's the rest of your training going?"
"Actually can I talk to you about the Durselys?"
"Ah, I thought you might have something to say about them."
"I just…I understand why you guys did it…and I know I didn't deserve anything they did to me. But I…what if they do get off? What if they do something about me or you?" Its different in the muggle world. Could they take me away? What if they find me, Uncle Vernon does have contacts? And what if they want more money or-"
Sirius listened, his heart heavy and his eyes soft as he watched his Godson vent out the frustration the hate and the guilt that had been eating him up inside since the paper had arrived. He had suspected that his godson wanted to talk about the Dursleys all along but had used his Occlumency triumph as an excuse.
"Prongslet I can't be sure of a lot of things but I can 100% promise you that you are never. Never. Going back to the Dursleys. They cannot do anything to you without some serious repercussions, we have the guardianship in both worlds so even if they try to challenge it some way, nothing can happen. Plus, we have the records of the amount of money you gave them and the amount of money that they spent weekly; no matter what angle they come at us with, we are prepared."
"But all of this that is happening? The curse on Aunt Petunia, Dudley being in juvie. They're not nice there Padfoot, I just…I don't think that they…I don't know that they don't deserve it that much."
Sirius sighed heavily and thought carefully about his response.
"You know, I used to take care of my little brother before Hogwarts. I helped him to walk, played with him. Taught him how to read. Protected him from the rougher members of the family when I could, there was this time when we were at the Italian estate and Bellatrix pushed him into the lake, knowing full well he couldn't swim. I was the one to jump in and save him…That evening I dumped a bowl of boiling hot soup on her lap, after she got healed and the parents had left I told her if she did anything like that to Reggie again she wouldn't be healed quite so easily. The first year I went to Hogwarts, I sent Reggie letter after letter, at the start he replied quickly, by Christmas he had slowed down to once ever two weeks then once a month, then nothing. By the time summer came around he was no longer my little brother but mothers perfect prince and he hated me. During Hogwarts I barely recognised him he called people mudbloods, bullied those that were different, told his friends about my secrets. Then when I was in my fifth year and Reggie in his third, he and a group of his friends in Slytherin attacked me just outside the kitchens where I was meeting the gang, called me a blood traitor, wasn't worth being alive all of that kind of thing. Thankfully Remus and your dad arrived on the scene, we overpowered them easily enough but Regulus had managed to get a couple of good hits on me before I returned the favour tenfold. I told him that next time, being my brother wouldn't stop me from beating him black and blue."
Harry remained silent as the glowing embers of the Sirius' face stared off into the distance. His guardian often mentioned his brother and how much he regretted not taking him when he had run away, but he had never delved into so much detail and Harry realised how easily Sirius understood his feelings of guilt even though they weren't right.
"You see Harry, I allowed my feelings for his past self to stop me from stopping his future self. The way he hurt people, it was wrong and I should have said something to him, even James, Remus and Peter left him alone because I asked them to. He was killed, yes. And I will always regret not going to him once more, but he was a Death Eater, he would of had to go to Azkaban. I would have made sure that he realised the bad that he did. DO you understand?"
"I think so. I cant say that I agree yet, but I do know what you're trying to tell me. And I promise I'll try and get past it."
Sirius nodded too with a sad smile.
"Its hard, but you'll get through this."