Author's Note: I don't own it, and I'm not making money off it! Enjoy!
Natalie lay awake late into the night. Her head was spinning with all the new information as she stared at her ceiling. It was covered in stick on and painted on glow in the dark stars creating a galaxy above her head. It had always been comforting to her, her mother told her frequently that since she had been a child she had always slept better outdoors under the sky, so when she had stopped sleeping when her parents were fighting all the time three years before she had gone to the shop and bought what she needed and then stood on her bed to climb on top of the wardrobe to paint the constellation. Her father had been furious, looking somewhat like his own father as he screamed at her for being so foolish, whilst her mother had laughed and tidied up. That night they'd argued more than before, and she knew that it had been her fault, but she stared up at her stars and she fell asleep.
Now though the magic of the ceiling appeared to have worn off. Her eyes remained open and her brain remained active. An owl had delivered a letter to her. To tell her that she was going to leave her friends behind and learn magic. As a child she had never been even allowed to read books that featured magic. At Christmas The Wizard of Oz had been a definite forbidden fruit, The Worst Witch books and CITV series had been banned. In fact for a whole year she had been banned from watching CITV altogether, because of its reruns of The Worst Witch and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It was so bad that just the words Witch, Wizard, or Magic were enough to send Grandpa Vernon into apoplectic spasms. She hated to admit it, but she had a feeling her mentioning of Sabrina on the telephone to a friend in his hearing had been what had finished him off. That and the tub of ice cream a day habit he had developed to "alleviate the stress and relax his nerves" as Grandma Petunia always, without fail, explained it away as. She looked at the door as it swung open to reveal her mother standing there.
"Can't sleep?" she shook her head. "Me neither. Your father's snoring." Natalie laughed at that. "It'll be alright. I promise it'll be alright. We'll go see Grandma tomorrow." Natalie cringed, she hated seeing her grandma Petunia nearly as much as she hated the Dentist.
"But she'll hate it. She's like Grandpa, scared of all the wizardy stuff. At least now I understand their foolish fears. It was Uncle Harry and his mother that caused it?" Lara nodded and sat down on the bed.
"Grandpa Vernon hated things you couldn't easily explain, much like your father. He married your Grandma, and with her came the most unexplainable of unexplainable things. A sister who was a witch, who at the same time as Petunia married Vernon, married a scruffy looking wizard. Vernon hated scruffy-looking things almost as much as he hated the unexplainable. And then a year after Dudley was born, they woke up to find a baby on their doorstep. The baby of two sorcerers, who inevitably would also be a sorcerer. The way that his parents died was unexplainable and odd, so Vernon concocted a story about a carcrash, and all their neighbours thought that they were the nicest family in the world, taking in the poor orphaned Harry. Unfortunately, Vernon's fear of the unexplained rubbed off on Petunia, who was herself fighting a terrible jealousy of her sisters abilities, and between them they tried to eliminate all the unexplainable magic from Harry." Lara paused and stroked Natalie's hair back away from her forehead. "The events in Dudley's teenage years didn't help. Your father told you some of the stories earlier. They made the fear worse. And then to top it all off, this unexplainable thing made them leave all they ever knew and loved, and they never saw Harry again. The fear became anger for Vernon, and guilt for Petunia, and that's why they are how they are. Vernon's gone, and Petunia is emotionally crippled by it all. I'm hoping that this might help her make some peace with it, and with her sister's memory. That's why we're going tomorrow."
"Ok mum. If we have to."
"We do. Now, go to sleep." Lara remained seated on Natalie's bed stroking her hair until her daughter finally fell asleep. Then she carefully rose and returned to her bedroom where Dudley was now sitting up in bed.
"I woke up and you weren't here." he said petulantly.
"I was in Natalie's room. She's struggling with all of this." He nodded, a bit too curtly for her liking.
"I thought you'd left me again." He said, crossing his arms over his chest. She sighed.
"I was down the hall looking after our daughter. I thought we had discussed that already." She said, keeping the anger out of her voice, making an effort to keep it quiet and neutral. She thought that discussions of the time she had left in the middle of the night to take care of her sick dying mother without informing him first were over and done with. Apparently not. She sighed as she climbed into the bed next to him. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke up, but you were snoring again and I couldn't sleep, and then Natalie was still awake so I had to get her to sleep." she sighed again. "Can we forget about it and go to sleep now?"
"No. I've been thinking. I don't think Natalie should go to that school. Dad wouldn't have liked it." Lara winced, she'd been expecting that ever since Harry had poured the tea that evening.
"Now, Dudley, don't be foolish." She scolded.
"Foolish?! That's what you call it when I tell you that I can't send our daughter to that school for freaks."
"No, that's what I call it when you let your father's prejudices get in the way of your daughter's education. She needs this Dudley. She needs something more than staring at the ceiling listening to us yelling. She needs this because she is a witch, and you told me what happened when Harry's Wizarding traits began to manifest themselves without training in how to control them. You should be proud of her. I want you to be proud of her." Dudley didn't say anything in response to that and she sighed again before rolling over to go to sleep.
The next morning Natalie was woken up by the screeching of owls in the back garden. She leapt out of bed and pushed open the window. Three owls sat on the bench near the dining room door. Thrusting her feet into her bunny rabbit slippers she hurried down the stairs to investigate them. She was the first one up she knew because none of the lights were on, and for some reason she thought of Christmas as she nearly flew down the stairs her blonde hair and dressing gown behind her. It was a lot like Christmas, in that she was the first one up and she was hurrying to find out what Santa had brought, but in this case Santa was three owls. She fumbled on the shelf, being still too short to reach it safely and found the key. As soon as the door was unlocked and open the three owls flew sedately and graciously in to perch on the backs of chairs. Natalie was quite bright so she had wrapped napkins around the backs of the chairs to stop the owls claws from damaging them, she also knew that her mother would freak if the chairs were damaged. She looked at the three owls. One was a grand, tall snowy owl, her feathers Christmassy and shiny, the next was slightly smaller, tawny and slender, and the third was peering at her oddly through its heart shaped face and she recognised it from her books as a barn owl. It was this Barn Owl that proffered her the letter in its beak. She saw written there in a childish scrawl her name and a rough approximation of her address, ending in 'Muggleland'. There was a seal on the back and she rubbed her fingers over the warm wax before slipping a knife under it to open the letter without damaging the delicateness of it.
She sat down in a chair opposite the three owls. The barn owl didn't seem to want to leave without the others and the other two didn't seem interested in giving her their letters. She assumed that they were addressed to her parents. Dragging her eyes away from the owls she began to read the letter. The writing inside was much tidier than that on the outside.
"Dear Natalie,
We thought we should write to introduce ourselves. We are your cousins, Lily Potter, Hugo, Louis and Roxanne Weasley. We are all cousins ourselves and come from a very large family, that will soon be welcoming you into its fold, despite your peculiar background. Hugo says I can't say that because you're my Dad's background, and that his mother was also from a similar background, although her parents were dentists and not scary or mean like yours.
We hope that we will like you, because we are all going to be going to school together. I (Lily) already have two brothers at Hogwarts and they are very silly, James is going to be a fifth year, and Albus will be a third year. Hugo has an older sister there, she is the same age as my brother Albus and her name is Rose. Roxanne's brother Fred is starting Year 6 this year, and Louis' elder sister Dominique is in her final year, whilst his eldest sister Victoire graduated last year. We also have two other cousins but they are Percy's children and we don't see them a lot. They are also very young, Molly is six and Lucy is going to be three next week. We think we will be having a jelly party for her. If you are not busy and your mummy and daddy say it is ok maybe you could come.
See you soon
Lily, Hugo, Louis and Roxy."
Each name had been signed separately and Natalie read it back to herself several times as the news sank in; suddenly she was part of a large loving family. It was a novel concept to her but one that excited her beyond all reason.
There was a click in the kitchen that told her that her mother was up and she went in to find her standing in front of the boiling kettle waiting to make the coffee for breakfast.
"I have a letter, from my cousins, and there are two more in the Dining Room." She informed her mother solemnly. Lara looked at her puzzledly and then walked into the dining room. To their credit the Owls hardly ruffled a feather when she screamed at the sight of them.
"What? How did they get in here?" Lara exclaimed, shutting the door behind her so that they couldn't go anywhere else in the house.
"Well, I let them in of course." Natalie said looking at her mother as if she was crazy.
"Why did you do that? Your father is going to be furious." Lara said, wringing her hands, the memories of last nights argument fresh in her memory.
"They have letters for us, what was I supposed to do?" Natalie asked.
"Oh, I know, I'm sorry. It's just that your father and I…"
"Had another fight."
"No, not a fight, just a discussion, about what we should do about the situation we find ourselves in."
"What situation?" Natalie asked, genuinely and innocently confused.
"Well, the Hogwarts situation honey."
"But, I don't understand, you always say 'situation' when there's a difficulty or a problem. But there isn't a difficulty here, I'm going to Hogwarts. I have to go to Hogwarts." She said trying to understand what her mother was implying.
"I know, but…"
"No mum, no buts. Buts are bad, buts mean you don't want this for me. I'm going to Hogwarts." Natalie exclaimed, taking a step back so her mum couldn't put her arm around her. "I'm going to Hogwarts." She repeated stubbornly. Lara looked anxiously at the ceiling as a telltale thump alerted her to Dudley's getting out of bed.
"Honey, I know. I just have to talk to your father first. Now, lets get the Owls out of here before your father arrives downstairs shall we?" The two Owls held out their claws and Lara tentatively took the letters from them as Natalie opened the door for them. The Owls flew out with a slight hoot and a bow, and Natalie slid the door shut just as her father appeared in the doorway.
"Good morning Daddy!" she said brightly as she walked out, deftly taking the letters from her mother as she went passed her.
"Good morning Natalie, you're up early. What's going on?" he asked looking at his wife.
"Nothing, nothings happening, why would you think that something was happening?"
"Because you're all flushed, and Natalie is up before half seven."
"Oh, well, I just went for a jog in the garden that's all, and I guess Natalie must've heard me. Do you want some coffee?" she followed Natalie out of the dining room and into the kitchen, leaving Dudley wondering why his wife had gone for a run in the garden barefoot.
Natalie waited until her father had gone to work before she returned the two letters to her mother. Handing them to her silently she went back to her bedroom to listen to music and re-read the letter she had been sent. Lara settled down on the sofa, the sound of her daughters current preferred music blocked out by the closed door. She had developed a taste for the classics, the Spice Girls to be precise, and Lara found it disturbing to hear her eleven year old daughter singing 'If you wannabe my lover…" at the top of her voice. She hooked a finger under the thick red seal and peeled it off carefully before unfolding the parchment it held shut.
The first she read was from Harry, a brief note to apologise for his not being forthcoming the night before, he should have mentioned that he had a family engagement that evening, and his hopes that the reunion would be continued soon. He and his wife would be taking the children to Diagon Alley two weeks from Friday if they would care to join them. The second she read was more interesting. It was written in a swooping style, one she had long since associated with her Grandmother, the one who had refused to use ball point pens her whole life and insisted on using an old fountain pen that you had to dip in the ink.
Dear Mr and Mrs Dursley,
You do not know me, although I believe I once met Dudley briefly in a train station, many years ago. I am Mrs Molly Weasley, Harry's mother-in-law, and as your daughter has been excepted by Hogwarts I thought it would perhaps be fitting for you to join my family at my home for a meal on Sunday. Sunday lunches have become somewhat a tradition in my family, when we all gather together to give thanks for the passing of the bad times and take stock of the week together. I would be honoured if you would attend next weeks dinner at The Burrow. Most of my seven children will be present, although Charlie is still in Transylvania. If you could let me know by returning a note with my Owl, he will wait until you have told him either way, and then I can organise to get you on the Floo Network. It really is the fastest and simplest way for a Mugg non-wizarding family to travel to our house.
Sincerely, Molly and Arthur Weasley.
She tapped her finger on her chin for a second before walking to her desk and taking out some of her best writing paper.
Dear Mrs Weasley,
Thank you for your kind offer, we would be happy to attend. Please let me know if there is anything I can bring.
Sincerely, Lara Dursley.
P.S. what exactly is the 'Floo Network'?
She took the note to the back door and the Tawny Owl flew to her side and took the letter with a hoot before all three flew off together. She shook her head slowly whilst closing the door.
"How very odd." She murmured before glancing at the Grandfather clock in the corner. "Natalie, get dressed honey, it's nearly time to go see Grandma Petunia." Her daughters moans of protest were so loud she could hear them over the fourth Spice Girls track on the album. "And turn that off, I don't want you ending up like them."