Title:Legacy
Author: Shutsumon
Pairings: None yet. We'll see in the sequels.
Summary: How would Harry's life have been different if Petunia had acted like a Human being, if Dudley had been a wizard too and if Lily had left a legacy for her beloved son? How would it have been the same? Just another AU of book 1.

A/N: Betaread by Shippo. Thanks Shippo. Yes, I know that it's a lot like the original in place. There will be some fairly strong plot differences but equally being a Book One AU there will be quite a few points of concurrence. I have, however, tried to avoid taking whole blocks of text wholesale. Review responses will be placed in my LJ. There's a link in my profile.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

LEGACY

Chapter Two

Hogwarts' Letters

The escape of the Brazilian snake had caused the longest ever ongoing argument between Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. It lasted for weeks and for the duration of it Harry had to spend much of his non-school time in the cupboard. The whole of the time that Vernon was both awake and in the house in fact. As soon as he fell asleep or left the house Aunt Petunia let Harry out and fed him but he had to be back in the cupboard by the time Uncle Vernon got up or came home. So every night Harry sat in the dark with the spiders and listened to his aunt ad uncle arguing about his punishment. Twice Uncle Vernon came home early and caught him outside the cupboard and both times the simmering argument between his guardians had exploded. It was no wonder that Dudley was indulging in some minor blackmail of his mother in exchange for not telling his father.

By the time the argument and Uncle Vernon's temper subsided enough for Harry to be allowed to stay in his presence without all hell breaking loose the summer holidays had begun. Harry was glad that school was over since he hated the way he was bullied there. Unfortunately he still had to deal with Dudley and his gang since they visited the house every day. Dudley's four cohorts were all big and stupid – though not as much as their leader – and shared his favourite sport: Harry Hunting.

As a result Harry spent most of the day wandering around outside avoiding them or – if it was raining – locked in his room reading. He spent most of his time thinking about September, when for the first time he'd be at a different school than Dudley. His cousin was going to a posh school called Smeltings which Uncle Vernon had once attended. Harry, on the other hand, was going to the local comprehensive, Stonewall High, because Uncle Vernon wouldn't pay for him to go to Smeltings.

In July Aunt Petunia took Dudley and Harry to London in order to buy Dudley's uniform for Smeltings. While he was being fitted for it she seemed a little stressed and Harry, who was waiting with her, could hear her muttering to herself.

"… Should have persuaded Vernon to let me wait a couple of weeks … Cost … going to be mad…" Was all he could catch and he wondered absently why she was so upset. Perhaps it was the ridiculous way the uniform looked. The maroon tailcoat and orange knickerbockers clashed horribly. An effect only made worse by the addition of a straw boater and a knobbly stick. Apparently Smeltings boys used the sticks for hitting each other when their teachers weren't looking. Harry thought it all sounded quite ridiculous but rather suspected that Dudley would want to practice on him with the stick.

That evening Dudley modelled the uniform for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia and Harry found himself trying not laugh again when Uncle Vernon declared it the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia was standing behind Uncle Vernon and she had that same unhappy and stressed look on her face but when her husband turned to say something to her she burst into tears and said something about her Ickle Dudleykins looking so handsome and grown up. Harry could tell she was dissembling and wondered why but Uncle Vernon seemed oblivious.

The next day Harry and Aunt Petunia were supposed to be going into town to buy his new school uniform but when he got up that morning he found her sitting at the kitchen table looking even more upset than yesterday and muttering about wanting something to arrive today so that she didn't have to waste any more money.

"Aunt Petunia?" He questioned. Her head jerked up and she smiled at him but he could still see the worry she was trying so hard to hide. "What's wrong?"

"It's n-nothing." She was obviously lying but he knew better than to press the issue. Instead he busied himself making a nice cup of tea for her. Not long after that Dudley and Uncle Vernon both came in. Dudley seemed totally oblivious to his mother's distress and just sat down and banged his Smeltings' stick on the Table. Uncle Vernon, however, did notice for once and instead of opening his paper he frowned across the table at his wife.

"Petunia!" He asked sharply. "Whatever is wrong? Did the boy do something?" He turned to glare at Harry who glared back. Trust his uncle to assume that he was to blame. He opened his mouth to retort when they all heard the familiar click of the letter-box and the flop of letters on the doormat.

"Could you get the post please, Harry?" Aunt Petunia asked. Harry took a breath and nodded before heading out to get the post. Obviously Aunt Petunia was trying to head off another row and he didn't want to see her any more upset.

There were four pieces of post on the doormat: a postcard from Aunt Marge, who was Uncle Vernon's sister, a bill and two very unusual looking letters which he picked up first and examined.

The envelopes were thick and yellow… he thought they might be made of parchment rather than paper… and each was sealed with a wax seal. It was as if they had come from another time rather than merely another place. Most surprising of all was that one of the letters was addressed to Harry who had never received a letter before in his life. The second was addressed to Dudley but he got quite a bit of post so that wasn't anywhere near as odd.

"Come on, boy!" Uncle Vernon yelled. "Don't dawdle! Get back here and tell me why your aunt is so upset!"

So much for avoiding an argument. Harry sighed and walked back into the kitchen and handing the bill and postcard to Uncle Vernon, tossed Dudley's letter at his cousin and sat back down. "I don't know what's wrong with Aunt Petunia." He told him. Uncle Vernon looked at him sceptically and spotted the letter in his hand.

"What's that?" He snapped. "You should give me the post."

"It's letter to me." Harry replied. "Dudley and I both have one… hey!" This last was because Uncle Vernon had grabbed it out of his hand.

"No one would write to you." He sneered before unfolding the parchment and scanning the letter. Within moments his face lost its normal puce colouration in favour of a greyish colour similar to that of cold porridge. He made a choking noise looked around wildly and saw the letter addressed to Dudley – who had been too busy stuffing his face to open it yet. His face went even greyer and he grabbed and opened it over Dudley's protests.

"Oh no…" He choked again. "This can't be … not my son." He was actually shaking. Aunt Petunia reached over and plucked one of the letters out of his unresisting hand and read it before taking the other one and handing them to Dudley and Harry. While the two boys read the letters she gave Uncle Vernon a cup of sweet tea and packed him off to work. He was still muttering about 'not his son' when he left.

"I think that there is going to be a huge row tonight." Aunt Petunia sighed when she returned to the kitchen but she seemed a lot less tense and Harry realised she must have been expecting these letters somehow. "I expect that you two have a lot of questions. Let's go sit in the lounge and I'll try and explain."

"But, Aunt Petunia, Wizard School?" Harry asked.

"When you're sat down." True to her word it was only after they were sat down on the sofa on either side of her that Aunt Petunia finally began to explain. "My sister Lily, Harry's mother, was a witch. When she was about your age she received a letter from that school and went off to study magic. I, however, did not get one because I'm just an ordinary person - a muggle as they call us. The whole family was extremely proud of Lily except for me. I became extremely jealous of her and persuaded myself that she was a freak. We barely spoke for years… especially after she married a wizard from an old magical family. I told Vernon about her and it didn't take much to persuade her that she was something to be ashamed of." She paused and looked down. "Then one day something happened that changed my perspective. One evening when Vernon wasn't home – thank goodness – Dudley had a bit of a tantrum and performed what they call 'accidental magic'… I didn't know who else to turn to so I called Lily…" Aunt Petunia pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed her eyes. "She came and helped me in spite of everything. I'm so glad that we had the chance to make up before she died."

"Are you finally going to tell me how they died?" Harry asked even as he wondered what his life would have been like if Dudley had been ordinary and Aunt Petunia had never made up with his mother. After a moment he decided that he was glad that he would never have to find out.

"Yes." She nodded solemnly. "You need to know now." She paused for thought and Harry glanced at Dudley because he was being unusually quiet. He had gone pale and was still staring at his letter in shock. Harry looked back as his Aunt began to speak again. "As near as I can understand it there was a sort of civil war going on in the Wizarding community for about a decade prior to your birth, Harry. There was a group of witches and wizards who didn't like 'muggles' or witches and wizards like Lily who come from muggle families…. To the point of being genocidal about it."

"People!" Harry rolled his eyes towards the ceiling.

"Now the leader of this group of psychos went by the name of Voldemort…"

"If his mother called him that it's no wonder he's a psycho." Harry interrupted. Aunt Petunia grinned briefly.

"I think it's an alias Harry… and for some reason a lot of witches and wizards won't use his name. I think they think it's bad luck or something. Anyway this Voldemort had the reputation as the most feared Dark Wizard in a century and for some reason he targeted you and your parents specifically. On Halloween 1981 he turned up at your parents' home and killed them. Then he tried to kill you as well – but he failed and whatever spell he used in the attempt backfired on him. No one knows why. But that's where you got that scar. From the backfired spell." She paused again and Harry quickly jumped in.

"How do you know all this?" He asked.

"There was a letter with you when you were left here." She replied before continuing. "This is why those strange people sometimes seem to know you in the street sometimes. You're quite famous in the magical community. They call you the 'Boy Who Lived' apparently." She glanced around. "Someone should be here to take our reply shortly I imagine. They were when Lily got her letter and they know we don't have access to Owl Post."

"But I don't want to go to some schools for weirdos." Dudley finally found his voices. "I want to go to Smeltings." He banged the coffee table with his stick for emphasis. "Do I have to go?"

"Well there's no law saying that you have to, dear, but you'll probably blow yourself up if you don't learn control … anyway which would you rather do? Spend your days studying geometry and history or studying how to turn teacups into rats and learning to fly?" She had apparently put that the right way because Dudley actually looked thoughtful – a very unusual expression to see on his face.

"Dad's not going to like it is he?" He said finally.

"I'll handle your father."

Harry, in the meantime, had been feeling a little queasy at the thought of having to go to school with Dudley after all but as he thought about it he realised that if he was famous in this new school then their situation would be pretty much reversed. Not that he'd treat anyone the way Dudley had treated him … but this might be interesting.

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The person from Hogwarts didn't arrive until after Uncle Vernon came home from work that night. He apparently gotten over much of the shock during the day but was still in a foul mood about it. He had no sooner come through the door than he rounded on Harry and blamed him for turning Dudley into a 'freak'.

"Stop that Vernon." Aunt Petunia intervened. "I told you back when we took Harry in. Wizards are born not made."

Uncle Vernon opened his mouth as if to argue and then froze as something clicked. "You… you knew about this! And you didn't tell me!"

"Well I knew how you'd react. Pardon me for wanting a little peace until it was necessary." She paused as the doorbell rang. "Finally! That'll be the person from Hogwarts to take our reply."

"I can't stop you sending that boy there but my son is not going to a school for freaks." Vernon yelled as she opened the door.

"If you don't want your son to end up hurting himself or someone else by accident you might reconsider that, Mr Dursley." Said the stern looking woman who entered the lounge with Aunt Petunia. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, which Harry recognised as the name of the person who had signed the letters.

She talked with them for quite some time and eventually Uncle Vernon realised that he was fighting a losing battle. After all, thanks to his mother and Professor's McGonagall's description of Hogwarts, Dudley had decided that he wanted to go and what Dudley wanted Dudley got. Uncle Vernon was not happy at all and stormed upstairs after informing them that he wasn't paying for Dudley's fees. Professor McGonagall and Aunt Petunia looked at each other.

"Well Lily provided for Harry." Petunia murmured. "We'll just have to hope that my savings will cover Dudley. I'll get a job if I have to." She grimaced at the thought.

"Well, actually tuition is free, actually, but there are certain supplies and books that you'll need to purchase for him." Professor McGonagall replied. "Professor Dumbledore has arranged for someone to come and take you to buy them on the 31st of July." She paused. "You know we half expected to have to send someone to forcibly deliver the letters you know. Lily often commented on how anti-magic you were."

"Yes, I was." Petunia admitted. "But having a magical child of my own changed that."

Professor McGonagall spoke briefly to Aunt Petunia in private and left soon after that. Once she'd gone Aunt Petunia cooked dinner and Dudley hogged the television as usual. It almost seemed normal but Harry knew things would be different from now on.

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R&R