Hello again! Thank you so much for your reviews, they really do help with my writing :)
Speaking of reviews- I have installed another Spell-check programme on my laptop and still trying to get it to understand a few words (it's good but had the habit of changing words without letting me know- great for flow, a pain when it replaces a word with the wrong one!). If you see anything that doesn't make sense or is miss-spelt, please let me know!
As usual I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I benefit financially from this story.
Sorry for the wait: I've been away for a week and things have been hectic getting ready for it! But I'm back now (I actually wrote Petunias part before I left but wanted to post a full chapter).
Hope you like it!
Petunia Dursley was angry.
No.
Anger doesn't cover what she felt.
She was burning with a strange mixture of betrayal, lividity, hatred, pain, and something she couldn't identify.
They swirled in her stomach and burrowed outward like needles. Sentient and burning, burrowing their way through every vein, crawling from every pore, numbing her mind and tearing at her heart.
She thought over the day, how the door had been forced open by those brutes, how the boy had been papered by them like a piece of cherished china, how she had burned from shame as she spotted the neighbours peering over at her house! Her home!
That home was her pride and joy- she spent almost all her time there, moulding her life into the shape she wanted, the kind of shape she had spent her whole life trying to achieve, and now, it was falling apart.
She knew the second she saw the bag it was true: Vernon had gotten himself into the wrong sort of business.
She couldn't lose him; he was her provider, in more ways than one. He provided her with money- yes, but more than that he provided stability, he'd provided her a son and supported that son in ways her own father never had. Her father had never shown the love and care to her that Vernon had to her son! He'd been too busy fawning over Lily!
If she lost Vernon not only would she lose his love and support, they may take anything they claim was bought with the money from his 'extra job'. That could be anything from the car, to the house, to Dudley's computer!
Yes: she had realised a while ago that while Vernon practically owned his company, the money he had did not match what he made. Years ago when Dudley was just 7 the business had been on the point of bankrupt. Then just a few weeks before they were set to go under there was a miracle. An unnamed investor whose money pulled the company back from the brink on one condition: have a slight change in structure. Some lost their jobs, others gained them, and Vernon's pay check gained a few zero's: that was enough that she didn't question it. It was a sign that her husband had the skills to allow for her to live comfortably, and from that day on she trusted his judgement without question.
She always had trusted him, almost as much as she loved him.
It was why, when the boy was dumped on them, with a letter saying they had no choice in the matter, saying he was 'special' like his mother, she knew Vernon would make sure her son never felt as abandoned as she did. He would make sure history wasn't repeated.
Yes- there were times where she felt a nagging in the back of her mind, saying it was wrong, saying this boy was not Lily, had done nothing to earn this. But when she voiced the concerns to Vernon she remembers how he wasn't angry, or annoyed, he simply took her in his arms, held her softly, and in a gentle, loving voice quietly explained that they had to do this. Not only for her son, but for her own wellbeing.
And she believed him; she loved him.
She thought back to the last time she had nearly lost him: The boy had been 6 years old.
It was one of the only times she had intervened in a discipline session. Usually Vernon was careful, he left no visible marks and nothing that would be permanent.
But this time was different. Vernon was drunk after yet another bad day at the office. She knew it was an accident: the boy shouldn't have had his arm near the door like that! Vernon had broken it, and then proceeded to punish the boy, grabbing it and twisting until the bone finally snapped completely, that was when she stepped in, guided her husband to bed and calmed him down before patching the boy up and sending him to bed himself.
The next day his teacher Mr Mathew's noticed, and upon learning he had not been to hospital and seeing the bruises he'd had the audacity to report them!
The slander must have been why the business went downhill, it was all the boys fault, and she knew it!
Still. She had married a fine man, one with connections. And those connections had ensured no further action was taken and this teacher lost his job for false accusations.
That was how things worked: if you crossed Vernon Dursley you paid the price, Paul Mathews learnt that the hard way.
After that few tried to intervene with the boy's life, and those who did were quickly put in their place, the financial crisis had only made Vernon stronger. Not even magic could stop her husband!
…
As Harry walked up the path towards the burrow he thought back on how strange the day had been. Not that that was saying much: the majority of his days had something strange about them, but usually that was mostly confined to school with the Dursley side being nothing but dull and 'normal'. Well, normal by the Dursley family standards (Harry couldn't help feel they weren't as normal as they liked to claim; how many families had a wizard in their cupboard, 5 TV's, and a son and husband each the width of a truck but a wife- and nephew if you count him as part of the family, they certainly didn't- the width of a tube of toothpaste?
Harry couldn't help being curious, his mind drifted back to his thoughts when the police had first knocked on the door. He'd contemplated the time Hagrid had shown up, broken down the door, and his life had forever changed.
It seemed like the old saying was true: History likes to repeat itself.
Maybe that's how divination really works: look through history, find the pattern, follow the pattern with a few encryptions to allow for the anomalies, burn some incense and have a cuppa. Simple!
It made it odd that Trelawny couldn't get it right! Pattern:
Step 1. Something strange happens over the summer
Step 2. School starts
Step 3. Something strange starts happening at school
Step 4. Harry gets annoyed (usually people turning on him and/or keeping important secrets that he really should have been told a while ago)
Step 5. Someone/thing tries to kill Harry and his friends
Step 6. The kids save the day and get a pat on the head from the adults
For some reason she seems to forget step 6 is a thing and assumes it ends at 5 with a successful attempt on his life.
So far step 1 had featured the before mentioned Hagrid incident where he learnt he was a wizard (and magic existed, and he was going to Hogwarts, and about Voldemort, and he was famous… OK, he learnt a lot that day), then he had a house elf in his bedroom and two trips in a flying car, then his aunt turned into a living balloon and he learnt someone was out to kill him. OK that last part wasn't so strange for him but for most people it would be a doozie.
Now this was happening. Only this time Harry couldn't help worry he was about to have some very dark secrets exposed, secrets so complex he wasn't even sure why he kept them himself sometimes.
Things were so muddled Harry didn't know what to think or feel, or even what to tell Ron and Hermione.
The main question was: how would this end?
His life had improved dramatically after the Hagrid incident, would it improve more? Would he finally leave the Dursley's? Or was this the beginning of the end?
Whatever happened, Harry took comfort in the small blessings he still had: his cousin had been gone and his aunt at the station for questioning when he went back to get his stuff so the trip was mostly uneventful, spent collecting stuff and answering Mr Weasley's questions about muggle objects he saw both in the house and with the police. He couldn't shake the thought the man was biding his time, like he wanted to ask more about what was going on (Harry was honestly surprised that he hadn't, if relieved) but was waiting for something.
…
As it was, Harry was right: Mr Weasley was dying to know more about what was going on in Harry's home life! But he was a smarter man than most gave him credit for: he knew if he immediately started questioning the boy he would just clamp up and hide (years of raising 7 kids taught you things like that).
He also knew he couldn't simply relate to harry like his own kids: there just wasn't that natural bond that exists between father and son. No, if Arther was going to get this right he'd have to be patient and take things slow. Harry had already opened up a fair amount, even hinting at things unknowingly such as how his aunt and uncle seemed perfectly content to lie to him about huge matters such as his parents deaths (he knew that story was NOT out of thin air- Ron said Harry didn't know about magic until he was 11: that means until then he had probably only been told that outrageous car crash story!), and even the simple act of calling for an adult to help him was a huge step for the boy who previously ran into a forest of spiders on a whim based on a riddle spouted by Hagrid- WHY did that man think it would be a good idea to tell two 12 year olds but NOT Dumbledore, McGonigal, or ANY other ADULT. Honestly, that man was as bad as the kids sometimes!
As it is Arther had the basic outline for what he planned to do: get Harry somewhere safe, have a private word with Molly about what she thought they should do, see if he can work his way into getting Harry comfortable enough that he can have a private conversation without the boys barriers slamming up, speak to this police woman about what she knows. After that he'd have to see what cards he's working with.
…
Dumbledore was shocked (a rare thing indeed)! As he looked through Skeeters article he saw a story so wild only she could have written it… yet knowing Harry Potter, it could well be true.
How was she even allowed near him!? Dumbledore had put a lot of work into protecting Harry from the press! And what's this about his uncle being a drug lord, at no point had his monitors shown any sign of the man taking illegal substances! If he had he would have taken Harry away immediately, or arranged the man to go into a residential rehab until clean (probably the latter- blood wards and all),
Yes, he knew they didn't treat Harry as well as he deserved, a fact that constantly pained him. But he could only meddle so far and the wards must remain, not only for the sake of Harry's safety, but the safety of the wizarding world!
But never had Dumbledore suspected Harry had been in any danger from the family: under-loved? Sadly yes. Under-fed? Also yes. Over worked? Again yes but that had at least worked out in the boys favour- physically he was fast and surprisingly strong. Did Albus wish things were different and he could have put harry in a more loving home? Every day!
Just like how every day he regretted how things had gone with his brother, the loss of his sister, those lost in the war based on his decisions, the fate of Frank and Alice Longbottom, Hagrid being expelled despite being innocent, being unable to help Remus Lupin or Sirius Blacks more, and thousands of other things!
Yet here was an article saying he knowingly left Harry with a dangerous criminal!
That he was trying to mould Harry into some kind of puppet who had to rely on him for guidance in the absence of family! How he wished that the boy would turn to him more- maybe then he wouldn't keep with the pattern of nearly dying on a regular basis; that was NOT a pattern he wanted any student falling into!
And what was the part about Harry ripping clumps of his own hair out about?
A quick check on the protective spells he'd placed on the boy himself showed he was safe with the Weasley family at the Burrow.
Knowing the boy would be at the world cup in a few days Dumbledore decided he would start at the Ministry he grabbed some floo powder and made for the fire: he would start by talking to Fudge and the Prophet about what was going on, then swing by number 4 to get their side of the story, and hopefully have all this sorted in time to find Harry at the world cup and speak to him about what they decide on.
NOTE: for the record in terms of Arthur's section: it seemed he knew about the spider incident in PoA (presumably Ron told him) so while I'm sure he does like Hagrid, I get the feeling he'd be a tad annoyed with him.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the review section, hope this chapter answered some questions about Vernon's situation and how he got in it (next chapter should get exiting!)
To those reading my other story: Good Friends, Good Neighbours I'm hoping to post a new chapter soon!