After a disastrous class with Trelawney which resulted in continuous pitying looks from Pavarti and Lavender and snickers from the boys in his year, Harry was very much looking forward to the next class that would take his classmates attention from him. After the fifth reenactment by Dean and Seamus of his death prophesy at lunch, Harry stood up and left the hall with the excuse that he had to get his books before defense. Unlike the past two years, Harry found himself looking forward to defense. Professor Lupin seemed to understand some things about the subject based on the experience with the dementor on the train. Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he did not realize that he had bumped into another person until he found himself falling backwards only to find a hand steadying him.
"Alright, there Harry?"
Harry readjusted his glasses and looked at the figure in front of him. He slowly took in Lady DuLac looking at him in slight concern. In the past few days, Harry had not seen her much around the castle. Other students mentioned that she patrolled the perimeter of the grounds and once, George and Fred had come back to the common room at a reasonable hour, looking uncommonly abashed.
"Yeah I'm fine…" Harry muttered, remembering his previous estimation of the Lady. Still, he could not help but feel slightly curious, given that she did not seem to either be awestruck of Harry as the boy-who-lived or loathe him based on the same status.
"Good…well then. I suppose you have classes to get to?" The Lady seemed to reach towards the top of Harry's head but pulled her hand away after what seemed to be an apparent moment of indecision.
"Yeah…I've got defense…"
"Lovely, I was just heading that way myself. Professor Lupin requested my presence for the lesson."
Harry wondered what lesson could possibly have the need of the head of security but felt it wise not to say anything. Unwanted memories of the doxy pixies from his disastrous second year class with Lockhart came to mind.
"Are you enjoying your year so far?" The Lady scanned the hallway and seemed slightly uncomfortable in Harry's company. This confused him to no end. Why would she care about his year, more importantly, why would any Slytherin bother to speak to him if they weren't insulting him?
"Erm…yeah I guess…we've only had divination and potions so far though…I wouldn't say that they're my best classes."
The Lady let out a small laugh. "I rather gathered from what Professor Snape has told me." She raised one eyebrow and smirked at Harry.
"Yeah well…it's not like I have much of a chance." Harry muttered.
"No, I suppose not…Professor Snape can be rather…set in his ways."
Harry couldn't help but look up curiously at this new adult. No one, not even Dumbledore, had ever agreed with him when he called Snape unfair, but then he reminded himself, no other adult had ever conversed with Snape at length. Was she waiting for him to agree so that she could berate him? Harry could never be sure of the intentions of the adults around him.
The Lady continued, "It seems that he has come to an unfortunate impression of you, which thus far, I haven't been able to make out."
"Oh." Harry had no idea how to respond.
She seemed to hesitate but seemed to come to a decision, "I believe that some people have the unfortunate tendency of comparing young people to their parents. I try to separate the two but I can see why people do so to you, you do look like your father but…"
"I have my mum's eyes, I know…"
"More than that…you have her mannerisms. Lily used to clench her jaw when she was uncomfortable much like the way you are doing so at this moment."
"You knew my mum?" Harry couldn't hide his curiosity at this point. Many people had spoken to him about his mother but they all spoke of her only in reference to his father. The only things that he had gathered about Lily Potter was that she was head girl when his father was head boy and he had her green eyes.
"I did indeed. You see, we were cousins…which I guess makes us second cousins I believe?"
"What?!" Harry stopped abruptly. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he had family apart from the Dursleys. However, his feelings of surprise and hope were quickly replaced with anger. If he had other family members, why was he left with the Dursleys? As stern as the Lady appeared, she did not seem to detest his very existence the way that his aunt Petunia did. She even talked about his mother in a way that was almost wistful. Harry wondered briefly if they had been close.
"I'm assuming that you've never been told about me?" Her left eyebrow was raised again and Harry wondered whether this was something she did often or whether these looks were solely reserved for him. She chuckled softly and shook her head. "I suppose it was too much to hope that a young boy such as yourself would have noticed letters from distant relatives. I forget that there is so much to pay attention to when you're young and I'm sure that your family members were not quite as strict as my grandmere was on the matters of returning correspondence…" She seemed to be lost in thought.
"But I never received any letters!" Harry blurted out. He was in shock. It felt like the cruelest joke to Harry. Someone had cared enough in his first eleven years of life to write to him, someone had noticed his existence before he was a wizard but how had he not gotten any indication. This must be a trick. She was just waiting for the moment that he believed her so that she could call him arrogant for expecting anything. That's how it always was with Uncle Vernon, Dudley, and even Snape. They would say things to elicit a reaction and then mock him for said response. The anger was back full-force and frustratingly, Harry found that his eyes getting warm.
The Lady looked puzzled. "Surely you must have. I sent you several gifts as well over the year on your birthday? I had thought of inquiring whether you had received them from your relatives but I never got their names. I assumed you were staying with obscure muggle relatives of the Potters so perhaps that's why none of my gifts had made it, but surely they would have known that they were raising a wiz-"
"Potter relatives?! You mean that I had other relatives?!" By this point, Harry was starting to hyperventilate.
"W-well I don't know for sure but I had just assumed…" She looked slightly uncomfortable at this admission.
"I was left with people who didn't care about me at all! And everyone knows that! Dumbledore knows! They hate me and magic! The Dursleys didn't want me to come to Hogwarts!" Harry yelled. At this point, his head began to spin.
"Harry…" The Lady placed a hand on his shoulder and maneuvered him over to a small alcove where she had him sit. "Harry, I did not mean to upset you. What do you mean that they did not care for magic? Surely, you can't mean…" Her eyes narrowed. "Your relatives…what are their names?" Her voice was hard and cold. Harry wondered if this was what inspired awe even amongst the Slytherins.
"The Dursleys…like I said."
"First names, Harry" Her tone was soft but firm.
"Petunia and Vernon Dursley."
"I think you should be excused from your classes today, Harry. We are taking a trip. There is someone that I need to speak to."
"What?" Harry barely registered that she took hold of his arm and with a pop, he suddenly found himself in the last place he would want to be at the moment—in front of Snape's office door.
Harry looked dazedly around the Snape's cramped office. He had never enjoyed being in this particular man's office not in the least because every time he found himself in the dark room adorned with slithery objects that sat pickling in jars, it was due to the man's ire and seemingly deep loathing of Harry. Despite all of those memories of being berated by the man, Harry had never felt as uncomfortable in this office as he did at this moment. The Lady had unceremoniously pushed Snape's door open. Harry wondered again at their relationship as he could not imagine anyone ever having the audacity to enter Snape's domains without knocking. Currently, the lady in question had her hand firmly on Harry's shoulder, preventing his escape from the awkward situation.
Snape sat at his desk. He appeared to have been working. However, the expression on his face showed no indication at having been disturbed by the intrusion. Instead, he drawled casually, "Lady DuLac…and Mr. Potter" He eyed Harry with disdain. "To what do I owe the dubious pleasure of this visit?"
Lady DuLac looked livid. Her jaw was set and her grey eyes flashed dangerously. Harry wondered for a moment about which of the two adults in the room he would prefer to have their anger directed at him. After a brief consideration, he concluded that despite Snape's biting remarks and look of displeasure every time he saw him, Harry would much rather face the man's tirades to the current look of murder on Lady DuLac's face.
"How dare you?" She whispered. Her voice was low and cold. "You knew the whole time? Tell me you didn't know, Severus or I swear…."
Snape furrowed his brow. Obviously, whatever he had prepared himself for, he had not planned for this line of questioning. Snape threw a quick glance at Harry before replying calmly. "I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about Cressida. Perhaps if you spoke sensibly, I would?"
"Petunia. Harry was sent to live with her. Did you know? Because if you did know this whole time that he was sent to live with that shrew and her beast of a husband instead of people who could have cared for him…" Harry was confused. Why would Snape know about his living situation? Why did his distant relative care? Part of Harry felt warm by the protectiveness expressed by his new-found relative but part of him felt the same anger he had expressed in the hallway. Why hadn't anyone bothered to check in the last 13 years? Why did he have to find out about the details of his parents death by a crazed murderer escaping from Azkaban?
Snape's expression was unscrutable. "I was informed that Mr. Potter was spoiled…lavished by his relatives in fact…I had not thought…"
"Did you even think to ask him?" The lady released her hold on Harry and sat in one of the hard-backed chairs in front of Snape's desk. The fight seemed to have gone out of her. Instead, she looked exhausted.
Harry could bear it no longer. "Ask who? I don't understand! I thought that Aunt Petunia was my only living relative and Dumbledore"
"Professor Dumbledore, Mr. Potter. The rules still apply to you whether or not you have been pampered…" Snape sharply interrupted.
"STOP IT!" Yelled Harry. "That's all you do isn't it? Everyone else knows about the boy-who-lived except for me! Everyone knows more about my parents than I do! Apparently, I'm invisible in a room even when it's about me!"
Snape seemed to have scathing reply off the tip of his tongue based on the livid look on his face, however, Lady DuLac held up her hand. "Harry, I apologize. I quite forgot myself in this discovery.."
"Err…that's alright I guess…" Harry never had an adult apologize to him before and didn't know quite how to respond.
Snape looked at Harry with a curious expression as if he was looking at a very perplexing potions ingredient. Harry had seen that look before, often it was directed at Neville's cauldron, seconds before something occurred to make it melt or explode. Harry quickly realized that he much preferred Snape's look of loathing. The scrutiny made him uncomfortable.
Suddenly, Lady DuLac let out a small gasp and looked at one of the bangles on her arm. Harry had not noticed the bangles before. There were a few in various different jewel tones adorning her left wrist. Currently, a pale blue one was slightly glowing. She looked at Professor Snape. "Someone has crossed one of the perimeters…but this isn't a full breach…I will need to check the wards on the grounds."
Snape looked at her and curtly nodded. "Shall I alert the headmaster?"
"Perhaps not quite yet. It could be nothing." To Harry's surprise, she popped into thin air. Harry had only seen Dobby do anything remotely similar.
"Is it Sirus Black, sir?" Harry turned to Snape.
Snape seemed to notice that Harry was still in his office. "It's not your place to question the inner workings of the Hogwarts staff, Potter. Now, if you could leave my office. You've already intruded once on my privacy or do you consider…" Snape paused mid-sentence. "Just leave, Potter." He waved his hand dismissively.
Harry did not need telling twice to quit the man's presence. However, only after he was halfway down the corridor, did he notice that the man had sounded more tired than angry, which was a first for Harry.
Harry's head was spinning with the events of the day. He thought about heading straight towards the common room to speak with Ron and Hermione and tell them about his discovery. However, another part of him wanted to keep this to himself. He wondered if they would understand the significance of it. At best, Ron would talk about how this might allow Harry to go into Hogsmeade. At worst, he would talk about whether or not it was a trick from the Slytherins. Ron's negative view of Slytherins and anyone associated with the house was unwavering. News had spread about the lady throughout the student populace and the general public knew that she had been in Slytherin during her time at Hogwarts. The thought had crossed Harry's mind but the joys of being able to visit the wizarding village seemed to pale in comparison about the implications of him having a new relative. Would this mean that he would get to leave the Dursleys? Based on Lady DuLac's reaction to finding out that he was staying with the Dursleys, Harry doubted that she would allow him to go back there. However, Dumbledore had always emphasized the importance of his return to his unpleasant relatives and Dumbledore was always right.
A sudden thought hit Harry. Dumbledore would have known of Lady DuLac. In that case, why was he not placed with her to begin with? Harry had so many questions. He wondered if he should bring these questions to Hermione. Then again, her logic and complete deferment to the words of professors always grated on him. No doubt, she would urge him not to question Dumbledore's motives. Perhaps, Harry thought, he could go ask the old wizard himself. Harry did not know if he would get a straight answer. Dumbledore had never really answered Harry's questions. Another idea crossed Harry's mind and he almost snorted out loud at it. Snape seemed to know both the lady and that he had been placed with some relatives. Maybe he had a sense of why Harry's other relative was not contacted. Harry stopped in his tracks. Snape didn't ask questions when the lady mentioned Petunia's name. Did he know his aunt? More importantly, did he know his mother?! Harry knew that Snape hated Harry's father but what if it was more than that? What if he hated Harry because she had died for him? Harry recalled her voice from the horrible memory he had experienced on the train. Lily Potter had died to protect her son. Her sacrifice caused Harry to do miraculously terrifying things like burn possessed odorous professors with his bare hands.
Harry thought about the events of his past few years at Hogwarts and deep unfamiliar feeling of resentment rose up in him. It felt incredibly unfair that he had been expected to face Voldermort not once but twice and all because adults didn't believe him. It struck Harry with the fiercest irony that this time around, no one considered that he might want to know about Sirius Black, that he could confront Voldermort's emaciated right-hand man when he had defeated his supposed master twice. A nagging voice reminded Harry that he had only defeated a weird garlic-smelling shade and a memory but he felt the indignity of the situation nonetheless.
Harry arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady and muttered "Figaro" as she swung open. Upon entering the common room, he noticed Fred and George excitedly testing new sweets in the corner as steam poured out of the ears of first years. Ron sat at a table with Seamus, Dean, and surprisingly Neville. They looked to be talking about some event that had all of them laughing loudly. Harry wondered if this had anything to do with the defense class that he missed. Feeling suddenly quite exhausted and on the verge of headache, he opted to quietly sneak up to the third year boys' dormitory.