Chapter Twenty-Nine: Meeting the Dursleys

That evening, Dad had brought home Muggle clothes for him and Mum. Daphne would simply be Disillusioned.

"Finny, could you tell Harry that we're picking him up at eight?" Daphne asked.

"Yes, Mistress Daphne."

A couple of minutes later, Finny returned, saying that Harry would probably need to pack his trunk last-minute when they arrived, because his relatives definitely wouldn't let him.

"Well, good thing we've never let rules stop us," Dad said. He seemed excited to do something different than sitting in on Ministry or Wizengamot meetings for a change. "Daphne, what did Harry say his supposed school was called?" he asked.

"Er, St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys," Daphne replied. "Why?" she added uncertainly.

"You'll see," Dad said neutrally, and Daphne felt a chill going down her spine.

Her parents got ready — they looked close enough to pictures Daphne had seen in the book Hermione had given her, so they probably looked enough like Muggles.

Dad Disillusioned Daphne. She wasn't quite invisible, but you'd only notice her if you were really looking for her, and hopefully Harry's relatives wouldn't.

Mum and Dad grabbed Daphne's hands and turned on the spot. Daphne felt like she was being squeezed through a very narrow tube, and then they appeared in the middle of an empty park.

"Okay, Privet Drive should be around that corner, there. Number Four," Daphne said.

She felt very out of place in the Muggle world, especially since she was wearing robes. Sure, she was almost invisible, but still. They walked through the quiet street, and Daphne took in the sights of the Muggle houses. They looked rather dull, though the electrical lights fascinated her.

They reached number four, walked up to the house, and rang the doorbell (which Daphne had told her parents about).

A short while later, a very fat man with almost no neck and a huge mustache opened the door.

"Yes?" he said.

"Mr. Dursley?" Dad said, drawing himself up to his full height and towering above Mr. Dursley.

"Who wants to know?" Mr. Dursley asked.

"Edmund Greengrass, of St Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. We're here for Harry Potter," Dad said.

Daphne suppressed a groan. Of course Dad had to play a stupid joke while he could.

"St.– St. Brutus?" Mr. Dursley repeated stupidly.

"Yes. That is where you sent your nephew, correct?" Dad asked.

"I– You– Are you of his lot?" Mr. Dursley asked.

Dad narrowed his eyes. "I'm not sure what you're implying, Mr. Dursley, but I'm sure I don't appreciate it. Again, we're here for Harry Potter, so if you would be so kind to go and get him, please."

Mr. Dursley suspiciously glanced behind Mum and Dad. "Where is your car?" he asked.

Dad sighed. "Mr. Dursley, I'm certain both you and me have better things to do than exchange meaningless banter. You can either bring Harry here so he can come with us, or I'll go and collect him myself. Either is fine with me."

"I will not be commanded in my own house," Mr. Dursley said stubbornly.

"Perhaps you'll find us more convincing when we say that an escaped murderer, Sirius Black, might be after Harry," Mum said.

"Black? That name was on our news," Dursley said.

"Of course it was. Black was convicted for the murder of twelve Muggles," Dad said impatiently. "But we have reason to believe he may be after your nephew and we, unlike you, would very much prefer to keep him alive. I'm sure Black won't be too picky about some extra victims, though, given his track record."

"He might come here? That settles it. BOY! Get over here!" Dursley shouted.

Harry came into the hallway and peered curiously at Mum and Dad. "Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass?" he asked.

Mum and Dad nodded.

"I'm here too," Daphne said, and Dursley nearly had a heart attack.

Harry fought to keep himself from cracking up. Dursley still seemed to be looking for Daphne, who stood right next to Mum. Harry had spotted her after she'd spoken up, and gave her a wide grin.

"These…people claim that that escaped killer is after you," Dursley said.

"He might be," Harry said neutrally.

Daphne wasn't certain how much Finny had told him, but Harry might simply be thinking on his feet.

"They're here to pick me up, at any rate, so if I could go and get my things…"

"Vernon? Who could possibly be asking for that boy at this hour?" a woman asked. She was nearly as large as Dursley himself and looked equally pleasant.

"Er, they're from his school, Marge. They say they, er, need to take him away immediately," Dursley said.

"Ah, good, good. Best to discipline them hard and early, am I right?" the woman asked Dad.

"Certainly true, ma'am. Sadly, it appears no one has done that for you," he replied.

"Excuse me?" the woman said indignantly.

Dad scoffed. "Ma'am, at our school we employ corporal punishment early and often. If any of our boys indulge in more than their allotted share of food, they are beaten, often severely. Someone of your girth would have benefited greatly from that approach. It is plain to me that removing this boy from this environment is necessary for him to ever be rehabilitated into society."

He turned to Dursley, who had begun to turn purple in rage. "You've made the correct decision, sir, to send Harry to our school. It is good that you have realized your own overindulgence would do more harm than good."

He turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, why have you not yet packed your belongings? Did we not inform you we would be here at eight?! You shall receive the cane when get to school, young man. We demand punctuality!"

"Edmund, enough," Mum said. "Do forgive my husband. He is used to dealing with criminally insane boys, you see. He needs to be rough with them. I myself find a gentler touch sometimes works wonders. Brings out the cooperative nature, you know. Of course…"

She lowered her voice, but kept smiling sweetly.

"I can be far more dangerous than my husband, as well. And you seem to be getting in the way of Harry collecting his belongings. Now, Harry will receive his just deserts, you may rest assured, but we do not tolerate relatives getting in the way of the re-education process. Move aside, and let Harry gather his things, RIGHT NOW!"

Even though Mum was much smaller than Dad, her sudden shout, combined with the still-present smile, seemed to unnerve the Dursleys enough to let Harry get past and fill up his trunk.

Everyone stood in perfect silence waiting for him to be done. Dad scowling, Mum smiling, the Dursleys shocked and appalled, and Daphne having to stuff the sleeves of her robe into her mouth to keep quiet. Mum and Dad probably hadn't had a chance to mess around like this in ages, and now it was for a good cause, to boot.

A few minutes later, Harry arrived with his trunk, Hedwig in her cage, and his Nimbus Two Thousand. The fat woman looked at Harry's belongings and said, "What does he need all of that for?"

"A broom is for sweeping, ma'am," Dad said helpfully.

"And the owl?"

Mum put on a pained face. "That, Mrs. Dursley, is something only our boys know. And they know what it means, don't you, Mr. Potter?" Mum asked threateningly.

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said immediately.

Harry lugged his equipment outside and Dad turned to the Dursleys.

"Harry will be back next summer. We shall beat some sense into him in the meantime. Come along, Mr. Potter, we have a long way to walk."

The Dursleys, annoyingly, kept staring until they had rounded the corner into the park, but then they could finally start laughing out loud.

"Sorry about that, Harry," Dad said. "Edmund Greengrass." He held out his hand and Harry shook it.

"Amaranth Greengrass," Mum said, and also shook Harry's hand. "We'll take you to our manor by Side-Along Apparition, but with all your things, we'll probably need to go separately. Edmund will take your belongings, and I'll take you and Daphne. Here, take my hand, and just relax. It feels a bit unpleasant, but it'll be quick."

Mum offered her hand to Harry and Daphne and then turned on the spot, and an unpleasant moment later they arrived in the dining room. A few seconds later, Dad arrived with Harry's things, and he reversed the Disillusionment on Daphne.

"There we are. Welcome to our house, Harry," Dad said. "Apologies for needing to collect you on such short notice, but we saw the news of the escape and, well, Daphne didn't want to take any risks."

Daphne wasn't sure if she liked Dad's knowing look, but she said, "So I thought, since we stayed at Ron's place last year, why not invite you here, now?"

Harry grinned. "Well, thank you very much for allowing me to stay here. I don't think the Dursleys are going to be happy, though…"

Dad shrugged. "Your uncle is worse than the people I have to deal with at the Ministry every day. I can't believe they treat you like that after everything you've done," he said.

Harry smiled sadly. "I think the best way to describe the Dursleys is 'blood purist Muggles'. They hate magic and everyone who has it, and believe it needs to be stamped out."

"I'd love to see them meeting Lucius Malfoy," Daphne said.

Harry chuckled. "I'd pay to see that, too."

"Finny?" Mum said.

"Yes, Mistress Amaranth?" Finny asked when she appeared.

"Could you take Harry's belongings to the guest room, please? And his owl to the aviary?"

"Yes, Mistress Amaranth."

"Harry, why don't you take a seat there? I'm sure you'll want to know why we think Black might come after you," Mum said.

Harry nodded. "That would be nice. I saw him on the Muggle news, and I thought I'd heard his name somewhere, but I didn't really know where," he said.

"I think someone at school mentioned it," Daphne said. "And I know it had something to do with you, but I can't really recall what it was."

"You should probably hear the story as well, Daphne. I know you wanted to warn Harry, but I don't think you realize how good your suggestion was," Dad said. "Let me get something to drink, first. Tea alright, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, thanks, Mr. Greengrass."

A few moments later, the four of them sat at the table. Daphne was glad that Harry was there, but she was a bit apprehensive about what her parents were going to say.

"Well, Harry," Dad began. "There's no easy way of saying this, so I'll just do it quickly. Sirius Black was your father's best friend. He was also the one who betrayed him and your mother to the Dark Lord," he said.

Harry paled, and Daphne felt shocked as well. She'd known he was dangerous, but to think his grudge against Harry might be that personal…

"There aren't many people who know that it was him," Dad went on. "But I had a lot of contacts at the Ministry even then. His killing of those twelve Muggles may have been the official reason he was put in Azkaban, but the blunter truth is that he also killed a wizard that day. A former friend of his named Peter Pettigrew. Reportedly, Pettigrew's last words were, 'Lily and James, Sirius, how could you?' Then Black blew up the street, and all they ever found of Pettigrew was one finger. Allegedly, when they came to arrest Black afterwards, all he did was laugh."

"And now he's free again," Harry said flatly.

"You'll be safe here," Daphne said quickly. "We've got all kinds of defensive magic around the manor. There's no way he can get close without us knowing well in advance. And he won't expect you to be here, I'm sure."

"Well, guess it's a good thing I never got that Hogsmeade form signed, then," Harry said ruefully.

"You didn't get it signed?" Daphne asked, trying not to sound too disappointed. She'd been looking forward to going there with Harry. She'd still go with Hermione and Ron, of course, but still.

"Uncle Vernon said he'd sign it if I acted 'normal' while Aunt Marge was visiting. She was supposed to stay a week," Harry said.

"If you'd told me we'd have picked you up in a week," Daphne said. "I doubt Black would've found you in that time."

Harry shook his head. "I think this is better, anyway. You saw Marge. There's no way I would have lasted the entire week. I'd probably end up being expelled for using magic on her before the week was out, and then I'd be in a lot of trouble."

He grinned. "I liked the act, though," he said, looking at Mum and Dad, who beamed.

"Normally, I need to behave in a very controlled and dignified manner," Dad said. "But I enjoy messing around a bit…and I'd say in this case it was a pretty victimless crime, though I can imagine Arthur Weasley might consider it Muggle-baiting."

"I don't think he'd mind that much considering he knows what happened last year," Harry said with a grin.

"So, Harry…" Mum said. "Daphne told me you play Quidditch?"

Dad and Daphne groaned. If Mum was allowed to get that conversation going, they'd be up all night.

"Harry, why don't I show you where you'll sleep?" Daphne said quickly.

"Er–" Harry said, with an uncertain look at Mum.

"Don't worry, you can talk about Quidditch all you want later," Daphne assured him.

"Oh, come on," Mum said. "The one time someone who enjoys Quidditch comes to visit…"

"Your job is Quidditch," Dad said, and Daphne laughed.

She led Harry out of the dining room while her parents continued to talk.

"Sorry about that," Daphne said. "But when Mum gets going there's just no stopping her."

"She's a professional player?" Harry asked.

"Used to be. These days she manages a team," Daphne said.

She led Harry to the trophy case in the living room. "These are the prizes she won when she played professionally."

Harry looked at the many trophies with amazement.

"But be careful when you talk to her about Quidditch," Daphne warned. "If you mention liking the wrong team she'll probably kill you."

Harry laughed, but Daphne gave him a meaningful look, and Harry quickly nodded. "Got it," he said.

They headed upstairs, and Daphne showed Harry the guest room.

"This is the biggest bedroom I've ever seen," Harry said with wide eyes.

Daphne laughed. "You've got your own bathroom, too. Think you'll be able to live here for a month?" she asked.

Harry grinned at her. "Yeah, I think I'll manage."