Chapter 23
Once Harry and Minerva get home from their shopping trip, they come home to Remus curled up on the couch watching 'The Princess Bride.' "You know the book's better Remus." Minerva says, startling Remus into falling off the couch.
"When did you guys get home? And what did you learn at Gringotts?" Remus asks once he picks himself up off the floor.
"Well, we learned that Hendrick does have some distant family members that are still alive, his cousin Dudley Dursley will eventually be given a Hogwarts letter, I'm a distant relative of Rowena Ravenclaw, and between Harry and I we can take full control of Hogwarts because Lily is a descendant of Helena Hufflepuff, and his father is descended from not only Godric Gryffindor, but to the Peverell's as well. What else, oh yes, he is distantly related to Slytherin as well, which also means Tom Riddle." Minerva says, hoping none of this will give Remus a heart attack.
"WHAT?" Remus shrieks. "Is there anything else that happened?"
"Harry gave his stuffed Padfoot to Axewielder, we bought him a new bed for his room. Which reminds me, Harry is not allowed dessert for the next week due to his behaviour today and-"
"Mama made fwiend." Harry happily interrupts, hoping this will help his uncle forget that he isn't allowed his favourite part of supper.
"No amount of diversion will get you out of your punishment young man." Minerva says.
"This I'd like to hear, what's this person's name?" Remus asks, his curiosity peaked, knowing that Minerva hadn't looked at another man since the loss of her husband and unborn child.
"Mark MacDougall, and I literally ran into him after Harry decided to run off to the toy section without me or my knowledge." Minerva explains. "I helped pick him up off the floor, and he helped me find Harry, and then he asked for my number. Doc, can you come here for a minute please?" With that, Doc popped into the room.
"What can Doc you for do, I mean, do for you?" He replied.
"Can you start something for dinner please?"
"Of course, what would you like me to make?"
"Something simple, how about spaghetti and meatballs, oh and just to let you know, Harry isn't allowed any desserts for a week, so could you please let the other elves know?"
"Doc can do that." With that, Doc popped out of the room to spread the news to the other elves and prepare supper.
"Did anything else happen? Or did you just plow a random guy off his feet, pick him up, and go on and about your day?" Remus pries, hoping to get a bit of payback after Minerva sent him flying off the couch.
"I bought him a new pillow, gave him my number, and came straight home. Speaking of which, where's the phone book? I need to make a phone call." Minerva says as she heads towards the table beside her chair, which is where she normally hides the phone book behind a locking ward. Once she undoes the locking ward, she pulls out the phone book and starts flipping through it until she gets to the Surrey section.
"Who are you calling?" Remus asks, secretly hoping it wasn't the Wicked Witch of the West.
"I need to get in touch with Petunia, give her a heads up about her son and see if she would like to meet her nephew." Minerva replies, "Harry! Get out of the freezer, you know you're not allowed!" She says when she sees Harry trying to get the ice cream out of the freezer.
"I hungry mama. I want ice cream." Harry replies.
"You're not allowed ice cream for a week, remember? But, if you're hungry, then I'm sure Uncle Remus can slice you up an apple or a banana." Minerva replies as Remus gets up and starts heading for the fruit bowl.
"Come on pup, lets get you some fruit. To be honest, I much prefer a banana over a bowl of ice cream this time of day." Remus says. "Now, lets have a contest to see who can eat the quietest while your mama is on the phone."
Once Minerva found Vernon Dursley's number, she picks up the receiver and starts punching in the number and hoping that its Petunia who picks up and not her cow of a husband. After the fourth ring, Minerva's just about to hang up and try again the next day, but then she hears, "Dursley residence, Petunia speaking." Internally sighing with relief, Minerva gathers up her Gryffindor courage for the rest of the conversation.
"Hello Petunia, my name is Minerva, is this a bad time for me to call?"
"Do I know you? Your name rings a bell, but I can't remember why."
Minerva quietly sighs and decides to just be blunt like a sledgehammer. "I taught your sister Lily at her boarding school."
"You have some nerve contacting me! How does a freak like you know how to use a telephone anyways?"
"If you must know, my mother was a muggle, and my father was a wizard, and because of that, I was raised in the muggle world and have a wonderful understanding of muggle technology and its recent advances." Minerva says, while trying to keep a rein on her temper.
"Well, then you're more normal than that dastardly husband of my dear sister. I swear, he couldn't navigate riding a school bus. May I ask why you decided to call me of all people?" Petunia asks, while peeking around the corner of the kitchen to see if Dudley was still playing with his toys in the living room.
Minerva also looks at Harry and Remus quietly eating their snacks at the dining room table, and then brings her attention back to the task at hand. "I'm just wondering if you've heard anything about what has happened in the wizarding world?"
"Well, I know Vernon said that there were some strange people wandering the streets November 1st and the news stated that a lot of owls had changed their sleeping patterns, but I haven't heard anything from my sister, and if I'm to be honest Vernon loves to pretend that I'm an only child." Petunia replies.
"Petunia, there's a reason for that, but I'm not comfortable sharing it over the phone. I know you and your husband don't like my kind, but would it be possible for me to come over for tea sometime? Hopefully when your husband isn't home?" There's a brief silence over the line, and Minerva's hoping that Petunia is just looking at her calendar.
"Minerva, you can come over at 1:00pm tomorrow for tea, my Dudders will be napping at that time and Vernon works late at Grunning's on Friday." Petunia says.
"That sounds like a plan, I will see you tomorrow at 1, may I bring my son and a friend of mine?"
"If you must, now I will see you tomorrow, and supply your own snacks, goodbye." With that, Minerva hears the click of the phone, signalling that Petunia has hung up, placing the phone back in the receiver, Minerva heads to the kitchen and quickly places a locking rune on the fridge and freezer, and plans on giving Remus the code so that he can supervise what comes out of them.
"Harry, if you and Uncle Remus are done your snacks, can you go play in the living room? I need to have a little chat with your uncle."
"Ok mama." With that, Remus helps Harry out of his highchair and sends him to the living room. Once he's happily playing, Minerva sends a one-way silencing charm so that she can listen to Harry, but he can't hear them.
"So, how bad was the phone call?" Remus asks.
"First, here's the code to unlock the lock rune I set on the fridge, do not give it to Sirius, because we both know he's going to go behind our backs and unlock it for Harry. Secondly, I have been invited to tea with Petunia tomorrow at 1, do you have to work?" Minerva asks.
"No, the Wizengamont doesn't meet until a week before Christmas, and the goblins don't need me until Saturday, why?" Remus asks, not sure he's going to like the answer.
"You and Harry are coming with me to the Dursleys, I need someone with a cool head to help keep me from blowing anyone or anything up."
"You can count on me. Do you have to help Sirius tomorrow with his lesson plans?"
"No, thankfully I have helped him plan his lessons until the end of the term, and hopefully he will learn to use them as a reference guide to plan his future lessons."
"Hopefully, now can we get back to the elephant in the room?" Remus asks.
"It didn't go as bad as I thought it would, and to be honest I don't think she's as bad as we thought."
"Did your adventure with Mark give you a concussion? Or did I hear that Petunia isn't evil."
"We will find out more tomorrow when we all go for tea, and I'm secretly hoping that Mark doesn't call until Saturday. If that-" The phone ringing stopped Minerva midsentence.
Giving a quick glance to the living room to see that Harry is happily playing with his remaining stuffed animals, then goes over to answer the phone.
"Hello, Minerva speaking."
"Hello Minerva, this is Mark MacDougall, how's your afternoon going?"
"It's going pretty well, although Harry has already tried to go behind my back to get at ice cream."
"Ahh, young ones, I know the feeling, I've had to babysit my niece's and nephew's a few times, especially when they're grounded. Anyways, I was wondering if you were free tomorrow afternoon for a coffee?"
"I wish I was, but I just made plans with a relative for tea tomorrow afternoon, and I have no idea when we will finish catching up with each other."
"That's too bad, um do you happen to have plans on Saturday?"
"Let me check my calendar." With that, Minerva takes a glance at the calendar that she keeps near the phone. 'I wish Remus would write his schedule on here.' Minerva thinks, planning on bringing it up with him soon. "By the looks of it, my schedule is clear, would 2:00 work for you?"
"That should work for me, as long as I get home by 6, my siblings are coming over for a big family get together. Where would you like to meet up?"
"How about Sweet on Treats? It's about 2 blocks away from the old one-story school that's being converted into a daycare."
"I heard that that old building finally sold, it's a date, I'll see you then, until then, I hope you have an enjoyable visit with your relative tomorrow."
"I look forward to it. See you Saturday Mark."
"See you Saturday Minerva, ta-ta."
"Good-bye." With that, Minerva hung up the phone and undid the silencing charm on the living room.
"Harry, please put your toys away, supper will be ready soon."
"Fine mama, who on phone?"
"A friend, now please put your toys away and go wash up." With that, Harry reluctantly puts his toys in his toybox and heads for the bathroom to wash his hands. "Remus, can you make sure Harry gets his hands washed properly, without soaking the bathroom please."
"Of course, is there anything else we need to do tonight?"
"After dinner, we are going to have to ask Tilly to keep an eye on Harry for a bit so we can get his new bed set up and move his crib to the attic."
"Sounds like a plan to me, speaking of plans, what did Mark want?"
"He asked if I was free tomorrow for coffee, but since we are going to Petunia's, we are meeting on Saturday."
"Amelia doesn't need your help getting information from Lucius, or Molly with the daycare?" Remus asked.
"Amelia has plenty of other people in the auror department to help her with Lucius, and Axewielder was a big help with the daycare to be honest. He's been asking all the muggleborns and half bloods that have come in for inheritance tests for up to date resumes for me. I sent the stack to Molly via Fawkes, and hopefully she and I can start interviewing next week."
"Okay, I was just making sure. Who's going to look after Harry?"
"I guess I'm going to have to floo call Sirius and ask him to babysit, but I'll do that after Harry goes to bed." With that, Remus jogs over to the bathroom to make sure Harry hasn't done anything stupid like flush a bar of soap down the toilet. A few minutes later, Remus and Harry return to the kitchen where Doc had just finished placing the spaghetti and even made up a small batch of garlic bread to go with it.
"Thank you, Doc, could you do me one more small favour and get the new bed and bedsheets out of the boot of my car and place it in Harry's room? Don't bother setting it up, Remus and I will do that."
"Right away maam." With that, Doc quickly pops out of the room and does what was asked of him. "The room is in the bed, I mean, the bed is in the room."
"Thank you Doc, thank you for everything, you may call it a night if you wish." With that, Doc pops away to finish his last small jobs and heads to bed.
After dinner, Minerva asks Fawkes to keep an eye on Harry in the living room while she and Remus go upstairs and assemble Harry's new bed and mentally prepare themselves for tea with Lily's sister the next day.
End Author's note: I am so sorry about the delay in posting this new chapter. I hit major writer's block and I have a surgery coming up in the near future. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.