Chapter 7 - Petunia

11.8.98 - Tuesday

"Have you decided what to do about your aunt's letter?"

Harry brushed his head with his hand, not too sure. "I think I will invite her, eventually. There's nothing else I can do, especially considering the information she may have for me and... Well, she is still my closest family..."

"Where will you want to meet her?"

"Probably at Evans Home. I don't want to return to Privet Drive and the other places we own are either inaccessible to muggles or just too far. Will you stay with me?"

Hermione smiled at him lovingly. "Always!"

It was early afternoon, a few days later, when Petunia Dursley came to visit. She was driving a small dark-green car and Harry noticed that she was wearing some of her finest clothes. She also seemed to be as nervous as he was.

Harry opened the door for her. "Welcome, Aunt Petunia." He offered her his hand.

Petunia seemed to not see the offered hand. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug to rival Molly's. Harry was so surprised that he could hardly respond. When she finally released him, he could see some moisture in her eyes. She now took the previously offered hand and held it tightly. "Harry!" – She could say no more for a while.

Harry led her in. Hermione was waiting at the door of the sitting room. "Aunt petunia, please meet Hermione Granger – my fiancée," he said proudly.

Petunia could hardly control her emotions. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed, putting her hand to her mouth, before getting hold of herself and shaking hands with Hermione, mumbling "Delighted."

Harry showed his aunt to the couch and sat on the sofa opposite her. Hermione came to sit close to him. There was an awkward silence. Petunia was looking at Harry, as if trying to study him, glancing occasionally at Hermione as well. Nobody seemed to know how to start the conversation.

"Would you like some tea?" offered Harry.

"Yes, thank you," she answered, relieved to have something to talk about.

"I'll handle this," suggested Hermione. "You two have a lot to catch up..." She swiftly rose from her seat and went to the kitchen.

"She seems to be a nice girl," commented Petunia. "How long have you been together?"

"I've met her the first day I went to Hogwarts. We became very close friends, but we have only discovered our love to each other the day I came here."

"So, she is a witch..."

"Her parents are dentists. She is muggle-born, just like Mum."

"She looks nice, but is she also smart?"

"Oh, yes! They say she is the smartest witch in our generation. I would not have survived the war if it wasn't for her help and her support. She stayed with me when nobody else would; she fought at my side all the way until the final battle. I can't imagine what I would do without her."

"So, you love each other..."

"We really do. We've been in love for quite some time, but I thought she loved my best friend and she thought I was in love with another girl. Luckily we found out."

Hermione came, carrying a plate with the tea cups, sugar, cream and some biscuits. Petunia noticed the way the youngsters were looking at each other.

"You remind me of your father," she told Harry. "He was also looking at Lilly the same way when I first met him."

"Can you tell me about my parents?"

Petunia smiled sadly. "I should have told you when you were still a child, if not for that vow. I still don't understand why Dumbledore made me act that way, though. From what I've heard about him he usually considered love to be the most powerful force. Why would he deprive you of that?"

"We have a theory, but please tell me first."

Petunia had a lot to tell. She told of Lilly's childhood, of how they found out her magic, how it affected their relations and how they grew apart when Lilly went to Hogwarts. Harry was so absorbed in her stories that he didn't even notice when Hermione brought another serving of tea.

Petunia finished her story, telling of his parents' wedding, of the first war and of finding him at her door.

"I was so shocked, I couldn't really do anything. I just saw a lovely baby abandoned at our door. I only thought 'what kind of parents would abandon such a loveable baby?' I then found the letter telling of your parents' deaths. It was just too much for me to bear. Vernon helped me take you in and feed you along with Dudley. We then discussed what needed to be done in order to provide you with what you may need. Vernon suggested turning the extra room into your room and started making a list of all that we needed to do or to buy. He suggested we make you comfortable in the cupboard under the stairs until your room could be ready. You were still a baby and that place was more than enough for a few days, as I thought."

She drank a bit of her tea before she continued.

"That evening we had a visit. Albus Dumbledore came. He told us how your parents died, or at least how he thought that happened, considering the evidence. He then said that even though you somehow survived, you may eventually be in danger, endangering us as well. It was then that Vernon changed his attitude. He didn't mind raising you; he could even accept your magic, though grudgingly; he just couldn't accept the fact that by taking you in he was endangering his family. He started to hate you then. Not for your magic or for the cost of raising you – only because your presence brought enormous danger to the family. Dumbledore didn't help either. He demanded that we didn't show any affection to you. When I protested, he made me vow to do just that. 'He still doesn't know, but he has a great mission awaiting him when he grows up. Only by doing as I told you does he have any chance to really fulfill that mission.' I was unable to argue, not even knowing all the facts."

"I think I know why he acted that way, although he eventually admitted it was a grave mistake," Harry said.

Hermione just hugged him tightly, not saying a word.

"Can you tell me what happened during your years at Hogwarts? I know you had some very difficult experiences there, but even our hosts during the magical war were unable to tell me much."

The door bell interrupted. Hermione went to the door and opened it to two giggling young women. "Hi! We thought we would find you here..."

"…especially since we knew Aunt Petunia was coming here today..."

"...and we knew it would be a long visit."

Harry smiled at his twin cousins, motioning them to sit down. Petunia looked at them with some surprise in her eyes. "Aren't you John's daughters? I've last seen you about ten years ago."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia. I'm Daphne..."

"...and I'm Iris Evans."

"When did you get to know Harry?"

"Oh, we met him when he came here a few weeks ago."

"And then we met Hermione as well."

"Aren't they nice together?" they asked.

Petunia shook her head. "I don't know how anybody can listen to you talking that way, but yes, they are nice. How did you know I'm here?"

"We wanted to see Harry. He wasn't where he stays normally, so we thought he may have been visiting you. Dudley told us it was the other way round."

"Harry was just going to tell his aunt about his school years. You may like to hear that as well," suggested Hermione, placing a cup of tea in front of each of them.

Harry started telling. He told of the troll in his first year and of his first meeting with Voldemort. The twins only listened with deep concentration, but Petunia seemed to live his story as he was telling it. She was really worried for him.

He then told them of the Basilisk and the Chamber of Secrets during the second year; fighting Dementors and rescuing Sirius during the third year; the Triwizard tournament and the return of Voldemort during the fourth; Umbridge and the battle at the ministry during the fifth and then the retrieval of the dark objects during his sixth. Hermione also added bits and pieces, especially when Harry tried to gloss over his bravery and his care for his friends. She wanted them all to fully appreciate him and was not ready to let these parts be skipped.

"So, you two had more than your fair share of adventure," noted the twins.

"It's just horrible that such small children had to endure this fate. Couldn't that Dumbledore of yours prevent these?" Petunia asked.

"Dumbledore was a great man, doing great mistakes as well. His intentions were good, but he sometimes failed, just like any man," said Harry.

"His views may have clouded his understanding of what was happening during his last years. I'm sure he would have prevented most of these if only he was aware at the time," commented Hermione.

The clock chimed. Petunia paled. "It is quite late for me to stay any longer. Vernon doesn't like it when I'm not home by dinner time. I must go home now."

"Just one question, please," said Harry,

Petunia looked at him. She was worried about what he might be asking. "Can you tell me how come you have your own car now?"

She smiled in relief. "When we returned home, after spending almost a year in hiding, I felt I needed my own car, so that I won't have to rely on Vernon or on public transportation only, especially in case of emergency. Vernon agreed, even if reluctantly."

She then took her leave of Hermione and of the twins. "We still have a lot to discuss," she told Harry. "I hope we can meet again soon." She hugged him again while he hugged her back quite reluctantly.

There was a pregnant silence after Petunia left. Each was thinking of the visit and its implications. The twins were also thinking of Harry's stories.

"You know – nothing of what happened to you at school would have been allowed to happen at Beauxbatons. I'm sure they would have sacked the headmistress and even the whole staff had they allowed any student to be even slightly endangered," commented Iris after a while.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, Harry. During our fourth year there was a minor incident: a pair of pixies managed to enter the school ground and harass a student. The whole incident lasted less than half an hour and the pixies were banished. Yet we had a committee research the whole school security system and the way all the security regulations were enforced. Luckily, they only found a minor problem on the part of the janitor. She was fined a week's salary. Had it been the headmistress... I don't really know what they would have done, but it would have surely become a major scandal. Even that pixie incident got front-page coverage in the papers for more than a week. You and you friends were put into life-threatening situations several times and nobody seemed to care. That's almost unbelievable!"

Daphne was thinking on a different direction. "No wonder you and Hermione are so close. After going several times through such experiences I would expect no less."

Hermione didn't like the serious atmosphere created by the stories. Ever since she and Harry found each other in the romantic sense, she felt too happy to dwell on past troubles. "What did you have in mind when you were looking for us?" she asked.

"Nothing special, really. We only thought to spend some time with you."

"Would you like to go to the cinema? There are a few new movies I'd like to see."

Harry's head shot up. "Movies? I've never seen one."

The twins turned "all business". "There's a remake of 'Emanuelle' playing nearby. It may give you some ideas."

Hermione frowned. She didn't remember ever reading about this film which meant that either it was too new, but a remake wouldn't, or it was not appropriate for her age at the time. "What is it about?" she asked cautiously.

"Oh, just love"

"Physical love,"

Harry seemed oblivious to the kind of film and the twins were very persuasive. Hermione agreed quite reluctantly.

Three hours later they were led back into the house by the giggling twins. Both Harry and Hermione were Weasley-red on the face, yet their hands were firmly clasped. "Bye" chimed one of the twins. "See you tomorrow," added the others. They mounted their car and were gone.

Harry still felt unable to look Hermione in the eye.

"I didn't know it was THAT kind of film..." he said.

"Neither did I..." She glanced at him under lowered lashes and noticed how excited he was. "We may consider it an educational experience, though," she added.

"Educational?" he finally dared look at her.

"Yes. It is like an advanced version of 'The Talk'. Don't you think so?"

"Well... I can see your point..."

"I can see your... much larger than a point," she smirked.

"Don't you think we should exercise what we've just learned?" he got into the playful mood.

"By all means. We shouldn't waste such precious learning."

They smiled sheepishly at each other and went to the bedroom.