A/N: Hello Everyone. Yep, this is also a revised version. Hope you like it.

Chapter 3: Confessions

A fortnight had passed since that fateful day. Harry kept himself shut in his room. He had avoided his parents … no … uncle and aunt since then. Only Dudley came to his room, talked to him, brought his food upstairs and lent him a shoulder to cry on. He was as angry on his parents as Harry. He would sometimes force Harry to leave his room and accompany him for a walk. He was provided company by Dudley, his Hogwarts' books, quills, parchments, Hedwig, the owl given to him by Hagrid as his birthday gift and Hobbit.

"They have grown into best buddies, just like us, haven't they?"

Harry turned to see Dudley standing in the doorway. Harry was sitting on windowsill observing Hobbit and Hedwig soaring high in the sky.

"--Yes, I s'pose," answered Harry weakly.

"Harry, how long will you be like this?" asked Dudley, sitting on Harry's bed and motioning Harry to follow him.

"I am alright, Dudley." tried Harry, putting on a weak smile.

"Harry, you need answers. I need answers. I was sitting in the kitchen yesterday when Mom asked me about you. She wants to talk to us Harry, both of us, together."

"I don't want to talk about it, Dudley. I still feel it as a nightmare. I had a family, I did not know about. They died ten years back, I don't know why. I am a wizard and I don't know whether to be happy about it or sad. I don't know what to make out of all this Dudley," finished Harry, tears glistening in his eyes.

"This is because we still don't know our parents' story, Harry. We need to know to be clear."

"Yea? And what will they do? COOK ANOTHER STORY?" yelled Harry.

"For old times sake, Harry, listen to them once. I am not asking you to go and forgive them, but at least listen to them. I myself can't forgive them"

"I don't know"

"I know. You will come downstairs tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is Sunday and Dad will be home as well. We both will listen to what all they have got to say. Okay?" finished Dudley, with a tone of finality.

Without waiting for an answer, he moved out of the room, leaving Harry alone to ponder over it.

Harry got up next morning. In fact he had not slept properly the previous night. He dreaded going into the kitchen and facing his parents … no … uncle and aunt. But he loved his cousin or brother (Damn it) Dudley and dare not disobey his word. So he got ready and went downstairs.

He noticed the quiet and tension, when he entered the kitchen. Petunia had her back to him, probably cutting bread, Dudley smiled at him and Vernon, as usual, was reading his newspaper.

Harry quietly went and took his seat. It was only then Petunia and Vernon noticed him and stared at him with a look of concern in their eyes. Petunia's eyes were glistening with tears. They both studied him for full minute and when they found him okay in his health turned to their work. Petunia served them breakfast, which everyone ate in silence. After finishing breakfast, Harry started for his room.

"Harry, we would like to talk to you, if you don't mind. Actually both of you." It was Petunia, looking hopefully at Harry.

"At least give us a chance to say something." added Vernon.

Harry quietly took his seat, but continued staring at his feet.

Petunia began, "It all started when Lily was eleven years old and I was thirteen years old. I can't forget that day when a man came to our house with a similar looking letter. We were out of the house when he came. But when we came back home, Mum and Dad were very happy and they told us that we have a witch in our family. They explained everything to us.

"I was shocked, my little sister - a witch. It was not easy for me to accept it. I was a very shy kind of a person. I had no good friends in school. My only companion and good friend was Lily, who was soon to leave me. My parents turned all their attention to Lily. I started feeling jealous and lonely. I tried to stop her from going to that school, but she was all excited to go there. I tried everything, tears, hatred, anger, everything but she went away.

"And I was all alone, all over again. My dislike and jealousy grew up into hatred. I felt that she chose her wizard world over me. I distanced myself from her, living in my own shell. Vernon knew my hatred towards magic and never went against it. We did not go to Lily's marriage. Many a times she tried to patch up things between us. She once came to our house, when you were 2 months old. But I clearly told her that day that I don't want any relationship between us. I never heard from her again." finished Petunia with sobs.

Vernon continued from there, "Ten years back, we got up one fine day to find you on the doorstep, with a letter. I still remember that day, Petunia was outraged that you were left to us. She did not want to take you. Dumbledore had explained in the letter how James and Lily had died and you have survived, that you had no other family than us and that we were to take care of you. Petunia was in shock, she kept shouting that how Lily chose magic over herself and now she had died, that magic could not protect her, that she deserved it all. She fell sick. I understood that how much ever had she hated the wizard world, she never wanted ill of Lily. It took some time for her to recover from all this. Till then I took care of you and Dudley. She still did not want to take you. She kept a distance from you. But I knew she liked you, she was sympathetic towards you. She would take care of you, when I would not be around. I suggested her about sending you to an orphanage, for which I got a nice lecture.

"We decided to keep you away from the wizard world; the world that has taken away her sister, the world had made her lonely, the world that had made you orphan and the world that was dangerous to you. Her hatred towards magic had increased profoundly. We thought that maybe if we kept you away from magic or anything strange, you might not become a wizard. Maybe you might not be a wizard. So we decided to adopt you legally. It was important to hide anything and everything to do with your past. Otherwise you would have asked questions, become curious and might have left us. We even left our old house soon afterwards. Only our relatives know the truth.

"To our neighbours here, you are our son only. We had to cook a story for them. We told them that soon after Dudley's birth, Petunia again got pregnant and by the time we got to know, it was too late to abort. We told them that you were born as a pre-mature baby after six months of pregnancy. That explained your skinny structure and whatever things which they found odd about you."

"Harry" said Petunia, weakly, "Harry I did not mean to sat all that that day, but I--I could not control. I had lost a sister to that world, but no that world is not happy. It has come back again and this time to claim two family members of mine. Harry we loved you. We love you. I don't want you or Dudley to go there, Harry. It is not a good world. Stay here both of you. We will be happy just as we were all these years. We did only what we found was best for you. Don't leave us. I can't afford to lose my two sons to magic."

Harry did not know what to say. Slowly, he got up and left Petunia, sobbing in Vernon's embrace. He went into garden and sat on the bench, thinking what he has been told by his parents. They had not done anything wrong, but what they were asking him now, he could not give them. He wanted to know about his parents, their world, about himself. There were endless questions in his mind. He needed answers for all of them.

"Harry."

Harry turned around to find Dudley staring curiously at him. Sitting beside him, he put his arm on Harry's shoulder.

"What do you suggest Dudley"

"About what Harry? If you are asking whether they did right or not, then, I would say – Harry they did what they thought was best and looking from their point of view, it does seem the best."

"Yes. It does," answered Harry, chokingly, "But what about our not going to that world? I want to go Dudley. Don't you want to? But I don't want to lose my family, the only family I am left with now. What to do? What would you do?"

"Well. That day in Diagon Alley, I did not find your….I mean our world any different from this. It's interesting, yes, very interesting. Harry, maybe we should try to persuade Mum and Dad with it." He added after a while, "Dad seems to be an easier option to persuade, if you ask me. We should try on him first."

The rest of the week went normally. No one talked about the approaching first September. Life was back to normal and happy affairs and no one wanted to disturb it. Meanwhile, Harry and Dudley spent their time pondering over books, quills, and wands and discussing how to persuade their parents. Dudley had already started working on Vernon. Casually, he had asked Vernon his view on magic. Vernon had been at first hesitant to answer, but making sure that Petunia was out of earshot, had termed it as freaky and funny art. Finally they decided on Sunday, a week before September 1, to talk to their parents. They were having breakfast when Dudley started the topic.

"--Dad--its September 1 next week. I mean we are supposed to take our train that day."

"What? How can…how can y--" shrieked Petunia

"Wait Petunia," cut in Vernon, "It seems you want to go?"

"Dad, it's not a bad world. As you said, it is funny and maybe a bit freaky." At this Petunia shot an angry look at Vernon. "Dad, that world is just like ours, the only difference being magic. It's like any other highly complex art … I read that in one of the books. I mean, for the first time, I found something interesting to read"

"Dudley, shut up!" roared Petunia.

"Petunia dear," said Vernon tentatively, "I understand your hatred about magic, but I think it … it will be injustice to them. They are destined to be wizards. See we couldn't get that out of Harry. And imagine our own son got it, when none of us has anything to do with it."

"But Vernon--"

"Petunia, it will be like asking Dudley to excel in maths, when we know that all he can do best is play tennis." Dudley grinned at this.

Petunia flopped in the chair beside Harry.

"Mum," said Harry, "It would be just like any school. Instead of going to Smeltings, we are going to Hogwarts. It won't make any difference at all."

"Harry, it's dangerous out there for you. You were attacked when you were just one--"

"Now, now Petunia, what did that giant, what was his name--"

"Hagrid." answered Dudley.

"Yes, yes Hagrid," remembered Vernon, "He said that day that Harry's headmaster is a great wizard. And with a giant like that around, I guess Harry will be safe. After all, if it's a school, many students would be coming there for their education."

"C'mon Mom," said Dudley loudly, "Don't se so rigid. See Mum, there are good and bad people here and same is the case with magic, it's no different."

"Sometimes, kids can be so right" said Vernon cheerfully, thumping Dudley's back.

"I … I am not sure … I am worried about my kids," said Petunia looking at Harry, "But, you are right, Vernon. I should have understood this long time back. All right you can go. I don't say that I like it, that I like magic. But I will try to be neutral."

"Yes, YES" yelled Dudley, jumping high from his seat. Harry looked at Petunia with moist eyes, who kissed him on his forehead.

"What about me?" demanded Dudley, raising an eyebrow. Petunia kissed him as well.

"And what about me then?" said Vernon and everybody laughed.

The rest of the week went flying, buying new clothes for both Harry and Dudley. They had a blast together. Soon they were having dinner at their house on the eve of Harry's departure.

"Harry, you told me about the tickets, Hagrid gave you. Give it to me. I will keep it carefully." Vernon asked Harry, who rushed upstairs to bring the tickets back to his dad.

"—hmm … King's Cross," said Vernon, studying the ticket, "Hogwarts Express, Platform no. 9 … what? 9 ¾? Are … are you sure Harry, the ticket is alright?"

"Yes, Dad" answered Harry.

"But Harry, there is no platform as 9 ¾. We either have platform no. 9 or platform no. 10. Nothing in between."

"Oh Dad, we are forgetting. It's magic, we are dealing with," cut in Dudley, importantly.

"Well, let's see tomorrow, then, I--I don't know."

"Off to bed now … everyone." said Petunia, finishing the conversation, "Wake up early you two, we will leave at 8. Good night"

With that Harry and Dudley left for their rooms. But no one was feeling sleepy, so Dudley also went to Harry's room, where they spent half night discussing about Hogwarts. They did not know when they fell asleep, so when the alarm rang, it seemed just an hour before. But the excitement made them get ready quickly and soon they were heading off to London. They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Vernon put their trunks onto a cart and wheeled it into the station.

"Well, here we are, boys. Now … platform eight … nine -– platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, boys. Where is it?"

He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.

Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth were they going to do? They were starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig and Hobbit.

"Relax, bro" said Dudley, encouragingly, "We will have to ask someone. Shall I ask the guard, Dad?"

"No, Dudley," snapped Petunia, "He must have never heard of Hogwarts"

Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it.

"I bet, there is supposed to be something magical here, but what?" whispered Dudley, looking around. He wandered around for few minutes before coming back, with a large grin on his face. "Follow me." The Dursleys followed Dudley, who led them behind a group of people. They all looked questioningly at Dudley who answered, "I heard them saying muggles. Remember Hagrid also used the same word."

They saw a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like theirs in front of him -– and they had an owl.

Heart hammering, Dursleys followed them. They stopped and so did the Dursleys, just near enough to hear what they were saying.

"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boy's mother.

"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go…"

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."

What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Dursleys watched, careful not to blink in case they missed it -– but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of them and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.

"Where did he go?" asked Petunia.

"No idea." answered Vernon.

"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone -– but how had he done it?

"Excuse me," Petunia approached the plump woman.

"Hello, dear," she said. Looking at Harry and Dudley, she added, "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too." She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.

"Yes," said Vernon. "The thing is -– the thing is, we don't know how to --"

"How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Vernon nodded.

"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."

"Er -– okay," said the Dursleys, looking apprehensively at the barrier.

Dudley and Harry pushed Harry's trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.

They started to walk toward it. People jostled them on their way to platforms nine and ten. They walked more quickly. Scared, they broke into a heavy run -– the barrier was coming nearer and nearer -– they were a foot away -– they closed their eyes ready for the crash –

It didn't come ... they kept on running ... they opened their eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it, and Mom and Dad following them. They had done it.

Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. They were all staring around the surroundings trying to take everything in, when Dudley reminded them that they need to get into the train.

Harry and Dudley went down the platform in search of an empty seat, while Petunia and Vernon continued to star at the people around them.

Harry and Dudley pressed on through the crowd until they found an empty compartment near the end of the train. Dudley and Harry were trying hard to put their trunks inside but they were too heavy for both of them. Dudley should have left some of his sports gear.

"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.

"Yes, please," Harry panted.

"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"

With twins' help, Harry's and Dudley's trunks were, at last, tucked away in a corner of the compartment.

"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.

"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.

"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you --"

"He is," said the first twin.

"What?" asked Harry.

"Harry Potter," chorused the twins.

"Oh, him," said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am."

The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, Mom."

With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.

"You are famous, Harry." Dudley said from behind him, "Come, let's go to Mum and Dad."

They went down the train onto the platform where Petunia and Vernon were standing. Vernon was quite excited about all this.

"All set then, boys?" asked Vernon

"Yup, Dad" answered Harry.

"Now, Harry," started Petunia, "there is something I want to tell you. You might be famous there, as Hagrid had said --"

"And he was not wrong. Harry and his scar seem to be quite famous. We just saw an example." cut in Dudley, winking at Harry, "I mean two guys recognised him just from the scar."

"Yes Harry," continued Petunia, "you are famous … as Harry Potter. Even your name in Hogwarts is as Harry Potter. I just wanted to say – er – Harry … keep your name Harry Potter, only. Don't change it to Harry Dursley.

Harry looked shocked "Why, Mom?"

"Harry, you have got nothing from your past life. We did that to keep you away from magic. Now, when you are going back to your own world, I want you to be there with your original identity. As Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter --"

"And Petunia and Vernon Dursley" finished Harry, "I love you, Mum." With this he hugged his mom and dad.

"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" They heard one of the twins they had met say to his mom.

Harry leaned behind Dudley quickly so they couldn't see him looking.

"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"

"Who?"

"Harry Potter!"

"Dude, you are famous," said Dudley winking at Harry, who had turned red.

"Don't embarrass him, Dudley," interrupted Petunia. She knelt down to level with Harry, "you will take care, wont you? I don't want any trouble near you. And you will write me regularly, right? You too, Dudley, though I should not expect from you."

"You mean owl mum," said Dudley, "they don't use postal services. They use owls for delivering mails. Hagrid told me how to train Hobbit for it. And now we can use her to deliver mail to you."

A whistle sounded.

"Hurry up!" Vernon said. Petunia kissed Harry and then Dudley good-bye. They hugged Vernon, grinning at him. Vernon patted them on back and rushed them onto train. There he kissed them, one by one on their forehead with "Take care, boys." Harry saw the twins waving at their mother and sister, who had begun to cry.

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!"

"Only joking, Mom."

The train began to move. Harry smiled and looked at Dudley, who also seemed to hear the conversation and winked at Harry. Harry waved his parents till they were out of the view and then moved along with Dudley to their compartment. Their journey into the magical world has started.