A/N I'm dreadfully sorry for the gap between updates, I've had a bit of a rough run lately, personally, and everything is a bit up in the air. More Than Life will be finished in the next few weeks though, I promise.
Anyway, here is the long-awaited reunion with Petunia and Vernon!
8.
The hallway of number four, Privet Drive, was very plain, and very beige. Ginny looked around, a slight wrinkle on her face she smugly knew was most likely annoying the other woman. As her eyes swept the vicinity, Ginny couldn't help her eyes drawing themselves to a small,irregular shaped door on the right-hand side, irregularly shaped because its' top was slanted, diagonally, in line with the stairs situated behind it. The door itself was nothing out of the ordinary, it was painted the same cream colour as the skirtings and bannisters, and was relatively unassuming, in fact, had Ginny not sought it out, whether consciously or not, she was fairly certain she would not have given the door any sort of glance.
But the door, or rather the minute space that lay beyond the door, was important, as it was one in a long line of reasons for the Potters' visit. And so, Ginny's brown eyes scrutinised the door, that had, at one point in time, housed her husband's sleeping arrangements, feeling a white rage bubble just below her surface as she did.
Forcing her gaze away from the cupboard door, Ginny looked swiftly between the two standing figures, neither were moving, or speaking, and, what Ginny originally thought would be, difficult, certainly, but natural, yet very accusatory, conversation, had not only not started, but seemed to have somehow already descended into awkwardness.
Well, this won't do.
"Hello, Petunia," Ginny began, caring not to keep a frostiness from her voice that she knew her mother would have been proud of, given the circumstances, "my name is Ginny, I'm Harry's wife, and we felt it was important that Harry got the chance to talk to you about...certain things."
She would have known that Harry had stiffened as she spoke so brazenly, even if she hadn't felt it. But, Ginny realised, she did not care. She knew he would have gone his whole lifetime without seeking the Dursleys' out, and although she knew it seemed partly cruel, to bring him back to the place that had invoked so much misery, Ginny reminded herself of the one surety she had, Harry needed this.
Neither Harry nor Petunia spoke at Ginny's words, but another had spoken, concealed through another door, this one on their left, that led, Ginny could only assume, to the family's living room.
"Petunia?" The voice boomed, and even if Ginny had heard nothing of Vernon Dursley, she would have guessed straight away that the owner of the Merlin-awful boom was that of a large gentleman. "Who's there? If it's to do with the damned windows you can tell them not to bother coming back."
"It's not the window cleaners, Vernon, it's…" the tall, bony woman trailed off as she cleared her throat, turning to a still stationary Harry, and a still glaring Ginny, she motioned her head towards the living room door, "You'd both better come through," she said, shooting a nervous glance towards the front door as she did.
xxx
"Abuse?!" an irate Vernon Dursley cried, his large arms flailing as he did, his eyes were narrowed and staring daggers at Ginny, who was glaring right back, "We never gave the boy abuse, we took him in,-"
"-into your hall cupboard!"
"-fed him,-"
"-not always!"
"-clothed him,-"
"-in his cousin's old clothes!" Ginny interrupted, bolstering every point that Vernon made, her voice had began the conversation, if it could be called such, in as calm a tone as she could muster, but her volume and pitched had quickly heightened to a shriek as the back and forths continued.
"Now, listen here, you idiotic girl," Vernon sneered as he spoke the last word aloud, his mouth twisting grotesquely, "I will not tolerate being spoken to in this manner in my own home!"
"Oh ye-"
"You know what," an, up until now, silent Harry interrupted his wife, rising to his feet with his outburst, green eyes blazing as he stared at his uncle, "you will be spoken to like this, because for years, I went through shit in this godforsaken house! I might have had to put up with it for years, but I will not stand for you insulting my pregnant wife, you don't ever insult her!"
Ginny gasped, Petunia made a strangled choking sound and Vernon didn't make a sound, instead puffing himself up more, resembling a robust, grumpy walrus as he gaped, clearly dumbfounded at his nephew's outburst.
"Pregnant?" Petunia whispered, eyes wide, speaking for the first time since they had entered the living room, her beady eyes darting between him and Ginny.
"That's right, and don't worry, you will not be the last living relatives if anything were to happen to us."
"That is not what I-"
"I don't care," Harry interrupted again, still on his feet, the finger he had been pointing at Vernon now swivelling around to Petunia, "I don't care what you meant, or what you were going to say, I'm here because I want, no, I need, to let you know what a pair of abusive fucks you really were."
Petunia did not answer, Ginny was watching Harry intently, he rarely swore; Ron did regularly, and even Hermione was known to mutter obscenities from time to time, Ginny let out swear words far more often than she would admit, but oddly, despite having something of a loose temper at points, it was incredibly rare for Harry to utter such words, and Ginny didn't know whether to be proud, or worried, wondering whether this visit would turn out to be the healing that Harry needed after all.
"I just need to know…. Do you regret it? Any of it?" Harry asked, and Ginny watched his eyes, knowing it was directed entirely at Petunia, Vernon, it seemed, was possibly a lost cause entirely.
Petunia, yet again, did not speak, but gulped, audibly.
"Err, hon," Ginny interjected, sensing they would not be staying much longer, "where's the loo?"
"Top of the stairs," Harry muttered, "you okay?"
"Yeah, back in a minute. You aren't going to deny a pregnant woman use of your facilities, are you Vernon?" Ginny added, narrowing her eyes at the man, before swiftly getting up and exiting the room, not bothering to wait for his response.
xxx
"I'm so proud of you," Ginny said, shooting Harry a sideways glance as they walked down a nearby avenue, which led to a park that Harry hoped would be empty enough for them to apparate from.
Harry didn't reply straight away, instead smiling at his wife as he took her hand in his own, lacing her fingers through his, "I'm quite proud of me too," he eventually said, his voice quiet, but lighter than it had been in weeks. "I know they haven't...damaged me, I guess. It was them, not me, nothing I did."
Ginny squeezed Harry's hand, she didn't yet know what, if anything, Petunia had replied to Harry's questioning, but when she had returned from the bathroom, Harry was calm once again and offered her a kind smile as she re-entered the room.
"Want some food?" Harry asked, and Ginny felt a hunger clawing at her stomach she hadn't realised was there,
"Sure, babe."
"Good, I'm starving, need a pee, too, should have gone before we left, but I didn't really fancy staying there a minute longer than I had to."
"Oh, you wouldn't have wanted to use their toilet," Ginny answered.
Harry shot his wife a sideways glance, a small, confused smile creeping onto his face as he did, "and why would I not have wanted to use their toilet, Gin?"
Ginny pushed her shoulders back, and began to quicken her pace as the park came into view, before, voice steady, she replied; "because the next time someone uses it, it'll blow up."