Lily's Sister

Severus flooed with Harry to Dumbledore's office early in the afternoon. They had both woken up two hours after the first time, and Severus and Tinky had, between the two of them, fed Harry some French toast. Harry was still in the pajamas he had worn the night before.

"Ah, Severus, wonderful to see you my boy. And this must be Harry! My, how he has grown. I trust all went well?" Dumbledore greeted them, gently ruffling Harry's hair.

"Yes, it was – oh no thank you, Headmaster" Severus waved his hand in refusal of Dumbledore's lemon drops as he took a seat. "As I was saying, the brat wasn't too much trouble."

Dumbledore surveyed him from behind his half moon spectacles, and Severus shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. He was a master Occlumens and he still felt as if Dumbledore could read his mind when the old goat looked at him with those twinkling eyes.

"Come now, Severus," Dumbledore said finally, "surely you are not so averse to the boy. Why, he is holding on to you as if for dear life."

Indeed, the boy had grabbed tight hold of Severus' neck and had his head buried in his shoulder so that Dumbledore couldn't see him.

"Not much like his father, is he Severus?" Dumbledore asked casually, "I'm quite sure James would have loved the attention."

"He had a mother as well, Dumbledore," Severus said stiffly.

"Quite right, quite right. And of course he is also his own person," Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling madly.

As Severus gave one brief nod, he felt as though he had been played, although he had no idea how.

"Now, for young Harry's living arrangements. I believe that Lily's sister would be the best one to look after him."

"Petunia?" Severus asked incredulously, "but she was horrible to Lily! Always calling her a freak. Harry – Potter is sure to be a wizard and Petunia will probably hate him too."

"How would you know what their relationship is like now, Severus? You and Lily had not talked for quite a number of years."

Severus glared. "Surely it would be best if a wizarding family took care of the boy. Muggles sometimes have… trouble looking after a magical child." He tried not to wince as he remembered his own childhood.

"Lily's family was very understanding, and surely her sister will be as well. After all, by now Petunia must have gotten over her childhood resentment."

"You'd be surprised," Severus muttered.

"Besides," Dumbledore continued, his voice slightly raised, "Petunia loved Lily. She would not turn away the only connection to her sister left."

He paused and Severus said nothing. Harry had finally let go of Severus' neck and was currently playing with the strange little objects on Dumbledore's desk.

Dumbledore watched the boy for a while before saying, "Harry Potter will be famous in our world as the defeater of Lord Voldemort and as the only known survivor of the killing curse. Books will be written about him. Every child in our world will know his name. Surely you understand how important it is to keep him away from all that. It is enough to turn any child's head. He will be protected at Petunia's house, away from our world."

There was a lengthy silence, broken only by Harry's occasional shrieks of delights as one of the little gadgets puffed smoke. Severus looked down at the child on his lap, the child he had promised to protect. "Fine, Dumbledore. But I will take him to Petunia's house myself, and I want to be the wizarding guardian of the boy."

Dumbledore sighed, stroking his long beard and said, "Very well, Severus. If you must."

"I must." Severus said firmly. "I will discuss the details with you when I return."

Dumbledore tilted his head in acknowledgement.

As Severus approached the floo with Harry, he suddenly turned around and said, "You said last night that the Dark Lord was going to return."

"I did," Dumbledore said

Severus hesitated only a brief moment before saying, "When he does, I will be ready." With that he swept into the fireplace and was gone.

Petunia Dursley had had a wonderful morning. She had kissed Vernon goodbye as she fed Dudley breakfast. She had finished all her housework and Dudley had learnt a new word. He was such a clever boy, Petunia thought fondly. And he would get the attention he deserved, the attention she had never had. Dudley was going to be a nice normal boy and the most important person in her life. Petunia had already decided against having any more children and Vernon agreed wholeheartedly with her. They would concentrate completely on Dudders.

As Petunia began to heat up Dudley's food, the bell rang. Who could it possibly be at this time, she huffed. Putting on her best welcoming housewife smile, she opened the door. The smile quickly slid of her face. A hook nosed, greasy haired man was standing in front of her, wearing a strange type of black robe and a smirk; he held a dark haired child in his arms who was pulling at his hair.

"You!" Petunia shrieked. "What are you doing here? Go away or I'll call the police!"

"Careful, Tuney," Severus said smoothly, "I'm sure you don't want to draw attention. What would the neighbors say?"

She glared at him for a moment before relenting. "Fine then, come in quickly," she snapped. She led him into the living room, away from Dudley who was playing in the kitchen and demanded, "Well?"

Severus looked at her distastefully. He had never liked Lily's muggle sister and the years had simply added to their mutual dislike. At least this now he was older and wiser and could fight back to her verbal taunting. Nor was he a poor charity case from the other side of the river any longer.

"Who's the brat?" Petunia jeered, glancing at Harry who had wormed out of Severus' lap and was crawling around on the floor, "Got some poor girl from Spinner's End pregnant?"

Severus hid his surprise behind a sneer. She didn't even know what her own nephew looked like? This did not bode well. "Actually, Tuney, this boy is Lily's son." He proceeded to explain the events of last night to her, keeping his Occlumency shields up the whole time.

Petunia's face paled as he spoke. "She – she's really gone?" Petunia asked shakily.

"Yes," Severus said, "And her son is alive. You are the only family he has left. Headmaster Dumbledore wants him to stay with you. You remember the Headmaster, of course?" he added sarcastically, "He has written you a letter explaining the circumstances."

Petunia's face took on a sour expression. "So my sister got herself blown up because of her freakishness and now you lot are trying to saddle her freakish brat with me? Coming back with her pockets full of frog spawn! Turning teacups into rats! I always knew she would come to a sticky end. Even her wand waving couldn't save her in the end, could it?"

"She was your sister, Petunia! And she always loved you, even when you wouldn't speak to her. If the roles were reversed, she would treat your son as her own!" Severus was furious. Petunia had grown into a hard, bitter woman, who even now was unable to get over her jealousy of the fact that Lily was magical and she was not.

Petunia was shaking – Severus didn't know whether it was out of anger or grief. "The boy is probably a freak like Lily," she said taking a deep breath.

"He is a wizard," Severus corrected coldly.

"If I agree to take him in, my son will always be treated better than him. I love my son, and I will not promise to love hers. Dudley will be given preference in everything. The boy will earn his keep by doing chores around the house. And I do not want to get involved in any of his freakishness. If he or anyone else asks, I will tell them that my sister died in car crash. These are my conditions." Petunia said firmly.

Severus looked at her closely. He could not force her to love her nephew. He could not force her to be kind to him. He sighed. Taking the boy in himself was impossible; his position as a spy would not allow it, he had no experience with children, and he was not as yet sure whether he would be able to stand James Potter's son.

"Perhaps we will be able to reach a compromise, Petunia," he suggested silkily. "I will agree to your terms, however as I am his wizarding guardian, I will have some rights over the way he is brought up. The child will spend at least one day a week with me so that I can teach him about our world. As for his 'freakishness', I will deal with that if such a situation arises. If you have any problems with him, I will give you a way to contact me. Acceptable?"

She nodded.

"Very well, then I will leave Harry with you. I will collect him next Sunday."

"Why do you care? You and Lily were no longer friends. She told me that you weren't talking any longer," Petunia suddenly burst out.

"Lily made me promise to protect her son. And I will. For Lily," Severus said abruptly. "Goodbye, Petunia."

"Goodbye, Severus" she answered quietly as he walked out the door. At the sound of a child whining, she looked down at the boy, and suddenly gasped. He had her eyes. He was fussing, and no wonder. He must be hungry. Who knows when those freaks had last fed him! It was November and he was wearing only pajamas. She would never let Dudley be so thinly clad in this weather, she sniffed. She lifted him up and took him upstairs. Perhaps some of Dudley's old things would fit him.

Later in the evening, after she and Vernon discussed at length what they were going to do with the child, Petunia finally read Dumbledore's letter. As she did, reality came crashing down and as tears began to fall down her face unbidden, she finally mourned her sister.

A/N: I'm early! I'm having too much fun with this! Big thank you to my wonderful reviewers!

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