Aftermath Chapter 11 Privet Drive Again
After a moment they heard someone opening the door. There stood Dudley, but it wasn't Dudley, not the Dudley Harry remembered. This Dudley was pale and blond, yes, but there was hardly an ounce of fat on him and he was lean and one might even say a little bit handsome. Both Harry and Dudley were so shocked to see each other they just stared for a second. Finally, Dudley broke the silence.
"Harry? Blimey!"
"Hello, Big…ah, Dudley," Harry said and then they were silent again. Ginny just sighed.
"Hi. I'm his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. You must be his cousin. We've come for his things. Can we come in?"
"What? His girlfriend? Blimey. Ah, sure, yeah, come in," Dudley said and then in a moment they were in the living room, where the TV was on. To Harry's surprise Dudley turned it off and sat in an armchair.
"Have a seat," he said, sounding very polite. No, not the Dudley Harry remembered at all. Ginny and Harry sat on the sofa.
"Your Mum and Dad home?" Harry asked at once, getting to the point.
"No, they're out at the shops,' Dudley said. "We just got back late yesterday and Dad was dieing for all his favorite things he's missed the last year, but the shops were mostly closed so they went off first thing this morning." Then he looked at Ginny, a little nervous. "Are you…I mean...are you a wizard, too?"
"No, I am a witch," she said and his eyes widened a bit. "Same thing except I'm a woman," Ginny added. "I think you met my brothers a few years ago."
"Your…oh yeah," Dudley said and then he looked frightened.
"Look, Dudley," Harry started, wanting to get to the point again, and had the feeling Ginny was trying to frighten Dudley because she knew all the horrible things he had done to Harry over the years. "I've just come around because I wanted to ask your Mum a few things. You wouldn't know if she has anything of my parents, any papers, documents, would you?"
He shook his head. "Nah, sorry, Harry. She never talked about them. You know how they are about…about…your world."
"Oh…well…right. I guess we can go for a walk and come back," Harry said to Ginny.
But Dudley then surprised him some more. "Want a cup of tea, or a soda or something? They should be back soon."
Harry looked in surprise at Ginny. "Ah, tea sounds good, yes?"
"Yes, thank you," she said to Dudley, but it didn't sound very nice and Harry felt she wanted to say a few more choice words to Dudley.
Dudley got up and walked toward the kitchen. "Just be a minute."
"I thought you said he was fat," Ginny whispered.
"He was, always, even a bit when he was boxing" Harry said in a normal voice. "Wonder what happened. By the way, I know you want to give him and my aunt and uncle a piece of your mind but…"
"I'll behave as long as they will," she said and then she started looking around, at the pictures of the family and other things. "None of you or your mother or father?"
"Never," Harry said.
"Never? But your mother was her sister," Ginny said in rising anger.
"I know, but…you have to understand, I think my aunt was jealous of my mother, she wanted to go to Hogwarts, too. Least that's what I gathered from Snape's memories."
"Still doesn't make it right, way they treated you all those years," she replied crisply.
"No, it doesn't but…I'd like to put all that behind me. Please."
She held his hand. "Not to worry. I'll keep my temper."
Just then Dudley returned with a plate of biscuits. "Kettle's on now. Just another minute," he said. To Harry's surprise Dudley didn't even take one as he offered the biscuits to Harry and Ginny, who took one each and nibbled on them as they spoke.
A little awkward silence commenced, finally broken by Harry. "So…how was your…trip?"
"Bloody awful at first!" Dudley said a little loudly. "Had us up in a cabin in the Scottish Highlands. No telephone, no TV, no computer, nothing but a radio with batteries and it didn't even work unless you took it about hundred yards from the cabin. No electricity at all, just lamps and candles and a fireplace for cooking."
"Sounds awful," Ginny said in such a sarcastic way Harry felt she was about to lose her temper despite her promises and he squeezed her hand and she stopped.
"Was. Well in a way it was," said Dudley. "Did us some good in the end I reckon."
"How so?" Harry asked.
"Fresh air, exercise, that sort of thing. The only town was about three miles away, down this steep hill," Dudley said. "And we walked there quite a bit. Had a pub and a post office and a few shops and a bank, but not much else. The first night we arrived, those wizards that brought us, they walked around, waving those sticks, ah, wands I guess, like yours, muttering things. Dad said they were doing something unnatural."
"It was spells for your protection," Harry guessed. "So no one but you and they could find the cabin."
"Oh," Dudley said in surprise. "That's what the wizard said but Dad didn't believe him. After those wizards left, Dad was all set to come back here. Changed his mind he said, not going to be run out of his own home and all that, stay in a place without even a telephone. We packed up, got in the car, and well, it wouldn't start. Dad sent me into town in the morning to get a mechanic. Found one and he came back but…he couldn't even see the cabin till we were twenty feet from it. And he couldn't fix the car, no matter what he tried."
"I suppose he blamed our lot?" Harry said, guessing the car wouldn't start because it was inside the magical protective circle. Harry remembered Hermione saying that many Muggle things that operated on electricity would not work at Hogwarts because of its protective spells.
"Yeah, he did," Dudley continued. "When that wizard, that fellow with the talking pocket watch, showed up next day to check on us, Dad had a tirade. Said he'd find a new car or walk all the way back here. Then the wizard threatened to turn Dad into a toad, saying he could survive out there for while without a car and a telephone and other things if he wanted him and us to stay alive. Said we'd all be killed by those looking for you if we came back here."
"I reckon that shut him up," Ginny said with almost a smirk.
"Yeah," Dudley continued, seemingly not caring or too stupid to tell Ginny was enjoying this story of the Dursleys roughing it. "So, almost every day we walked into town and back. Dad had to check the post, go to the bank, use the public phone to keep in touch with his company, all that. Mum did the shopping. And, well, it was bloody boring. No TV or other things. So I took to hiking and fishing and sometimes they would come, but not often. Mum spent her time reading and fixing up the cabin, and Dad, well, he just read the paper every day and yelled and growled and …you know what he's like."
"Sure," Harry said and then he heard the tea kettle whistling and Dudley went off to the kitchen.
"Guess we now know the mystery of his weight loss," Ginny said. In a moment Dudley was back with a tray and teapot and three cups, sugar and milk on the side. They fixed themselves tea and sat sipping. After a moment Dudley looked at Harry with a sort of awe in his gaze.
"So, none of your people told us want happened. Just came yesterday morning and they waved their wands and suddenly the car was working and they said it was safe to come home now. Is that bad wizard gone?"
"Yes,' Harry said.
"What happened?" Dudley asked next.
"Harry killed him," Ginny said with a touch of pride in her voice.
Dudley just gaped at her. "For real?"
"I saw him do it," Ginny said.
"Gosh," Dudley said. "That's grand, Harry."
Just then the front door opened. "Duddykins! We're back!" Harry heard his aunt Petunia in her singsong voice. She came in the living room with her arms full of shopping bags. "We've got your favorite biscuits and ice cream and crisps and…"
She stopped suddenly, seeing the tea set on the coffee table. She turned and looked and there was a sharp intake of breath as she saw who was in her living room.
"Harry's back, Mum," Dudley said.
She didn't say anything, just stared at Harry, who stared back. "Hello, Aunt Petunia," he managed to say.
Then his uncle Vernon came in the room and Harry got another little shock. The big black moustache was still there but the beefy jowls were almost gone and he was definitely thinner. His arms were also full of bags and it looked like he was all set to pack on the weight he had lost in the last year.
"Dudley, get the rest out of the car, would you? Good lad. Petunia, what on Earth are you doing standing…oh…oh…YOU!" he shouted and dropped all of the bags on the floor as his face turned red as he looked at Harry, not even seeing Ginny sitting there.
"Hello, Uncle Vernon," Harry said calmly. "You're looking well."
"LOOKING WELL! The bloody cheek of him, Petunia! Why I...I…" But he couldn't get out the word he was so mad.
"You what?" Ginny asked sharply, also turning a bit red.
"Ginny…" Harry said in a warning voice. "Just calm down. Please"
"Yes," said voice that surprised Harry. His aunt looked at his uncle. "Vernon. Just relax dear. You know what the doctor said about your blood pressure. He's not staying. Are you, Harry?"
"Farthest thing from my mind," Harry said honestly.
"Harry killed the bad wizard!" Dudley said suddenly.
Then Harry's aunt Petunia just let the bags fall to the floor also. She was pale and her lip trembled when she looked at Harry. "You…you killed him?"
"He did," said Ginny, proudly.
Petunia collapsed into another armchair and waved her hand in front of her face. "Now see what you've done!" Harry's uncle shouted. "You've gone and made your aunt all upset!"
"Blimey," said Ginny to Harry. "Was it always like this here?"
"Pretty much," said Harry as he set his half empty cup of tea back on the tray.
"What?" said his uncle. "Look, boy, we…we…oh never mind. And who is she?"
"Harry's girlfriend," Dudley said with a grin.
"His …what?" said his uncle, who then looked at Ginny more closely. "Oh…I know her lot…smashed up my living room they did, used that…that…abnormal stuff on my son, they did!"
"I reckon that was my father and brothers," Ginny said without a hint of shame or remorse or apology.
"Killed him," Petunia was whispering quietly, so Harry almost didn't hear it. "But how?" She was looking at Harry and for the first time in his life Harry thought he saw a hint of his mother, just a hint, but it was there.
"How?" his uncle said with contempt. "What does it matter how? What I want to know is why it took so bloody long? Ten months we we're in those ruddy mountains. Ten months! What were you doing boy? Tell me that!"
Before Ginny or Harry could even reply came an astonishing sound. "Oh, shut up Vernon!" Petunia said sharply and Harry's uncle just gaped at her, went to say something, then thought better of it and then just stood there surrounded by grocery bags.
"Dudley, put away the shopping," Petunia said and Dudley got up and obeyed without a word of complaint, something he would never have done in the past. "Sit Vernon."
As Dudley started picking up bags and taking them to the kitchen Harry's uncle sat where Dudley had been sitting, glaring at Harry as Ginny glared at him.
Harry's aunt looked at Harry, started to say something, then stopped, and then suddenly just said it. "Thank you."
Harry was too astonished to reply and his uncle turned red again, but his aunt shot him a look and he said nothing.
"For what?" Harry finally asked.
"Exactly!" his uncle sputtered.
Petunia looked at Harry again and sat forward on the edge of the armchair. "I never cried when your mother died. I never went to her funeral or her gravesite. I had rid myself of her years earlier. We were no longer sisters. But…but...she was murdered…and the murderer got away…so, Harry, you did right. And that's why I say thank you."
She then collapsed back in the armchair and breathed deeply and Harry knew it had taken all of her effort to say that.
"Dudley!" his uncle shouted. "A cup of tea for your mother!"
In an instant Dudley was there with a cup and making it for his mother.
"Thank you, dear," she said as she took it, her hands trembling slightly. Dudley gathered up the remaining bags and headed to the kitchen.
"Now, can I speak?" Harry's uncle said. Petunia nodded and Vernon's eyes bore into Harry.
"Do you have any idea what we've been through because of you boy?" he growled, but in an even tone, not shouting.
"Do you have any idea what Harry's has been through?" Ginny said, turning slightly red again and with her voice rising. "How many of us have been hurt and killed?"
"Killed?" said Petunia in slight shock as she stared at Ginny.
"Yes…we had a battle…several battles actually…and…people got hurt…and some died," Harry said. "Including Ginny's brother, Fred."
"My word," said his uncle, shaking his head slowly, his anger gone. "My word."
"I'm sorry to hear that, dear," said Petunia to Ginny and Ginny said thank you. Harry actually believed his aunt was sincere, and not just saying it because it was something you had to say.
"So…so…" said Vernon after a moment of awkward silence, seeming to forget all his burdens of the last ten months after hearing people had actually died. "What brings you to Little Whinging? Come to welcome us home?" The last part was a bit sarcastic.
"Ah, no, sorry," Harry said. "I just wanted to get my things I left and well, I wanted to ask you something."
"Well, out with it boy," his uncle said, getting back to his usually tone.
"I wondered if my parent's left anything with you or if someone had given you anything of theirs," Harry asked, not really believing they had something.
But his uncle looked at his aunt and after a moment she just nodded and spoke. "He'll be 18 soon. It's time." And before Harry could ask what was going on his uncle went off upstairs.
After a long few minutes of awkward silence, the only sound being Dudley putting away things in the kitchen and his aunt Petunia sipping tea, Harry's uncle returned with a thin brown file folder, which he thrust into Harry's hands. "That's the lot," he said.
Harry looked at Ginny and she was just waiting for him to open the folder. Harry did so and there on top was his birth certificate. Under it was a document stating the Dursleys were his guardians. Then there was his mother's birth certificate, and finally a newspaper clipping dated November 1, 1981. There was no picture, just a small article headlined "Two Dead in Gas Explosion." Harry quickly read it.
"The peaceful Halloween trick or treating in Godric's Hollow was interrupted by what a preliminary investigation is calling a gas explosion. The upper story of number 12 Stonewalk Road was destroyed in the blast. James Potter and his wife Lily were killed by the explosion. Their infant son Harry apparently survived unharmed and is now with relatives, according to a local policeman, who seemed a bit befuddled but quite certain that is what happened. No one else interviewed seemed to remember taking the boy from the house or any relatives arriving. It seems like there is more than one mystery surrounding this incident. Some local children claim they saw a man dressed in a dark robed Halloween costume enter the house shortly before the explosion, but no third body has yet been found. Other witnesses state that a large man entered the home soon after the incident, took something from the home, and then drove away on a large motorcycle. Police and fire officials are investigating the matter, but it appears that a gas explosion is the reason for the blast."
Harry just looked at the piece of paper and realized all that had happened on the dreadful night was summed up in just a few words by some Muggle reporter who had no idea what had really happened.
Of course, Harry's relatives hadn't arrived. He had been taken from the house by Hagrid, the large man on the motorcycle. And the hooded figure was Voldemort, probably blending in with the trick or treating crowd and not seeming out of place on Halloween night. There was no gas explosion, but the breaking of a dark wizard which had caused such damage. Harry guessed some good wizards had also arrived in the small village after Hagrid and had used memory charms on a few local officials.
He looked in the file and that was it. There was no birth certificate for his father and no marriage license and Harry guessed such things might not be used in the wizarding world. He felt stupid, knowing he should have asked Mr. and Mrs. Weasley since they were married and had children. His mother's birth certificate was there because she was a Muggle. But then why did he have a birth certificate? It looked like a proper British government document. Maybe it was something gotten for him after his parents had died.
"Thank you," Harry said at last to the Dursleys as he handed Ginny the article. He wasn't mad they had kept this from him, like he thought he would be. But he was curious. "Ah, how did you get this?"
His uncle looked at him like he was stupid, a look Harry had seen many times in the past. "Well, once you came here and people found out about you we needed to explain it to my family and the neighbors, didn't we?"
"I guess," Harry said.
"And we had to make it all legal, right Petunia?"
"Of course," she said. "So…Vernon went to Godric's Hollow."
"You did?" Harry asked him in surprise.
"Yes," he said gruffly. "We got a call, from a legal firm there, said they needed to see us about you. So I went. Saw the house. Not just the upper floor smashed like that clipping says. Whole house was gone, burned to the ground, not a stick of wood left. Of course we knew what really happened, that it wasn't a gas explosion. That letter that came with you explained it all. Met this strange fellow, Smith I think, one of your crowd, I believe, at the legal firm. Showed me their will, said you got everything, but here was nothing left to give you. He gave me those papers and the clipping. Made me sign the guardian papers. Said that fellow, at your school, Dumble…oh, whatever his name was, didn't quite understand how our world works. Smith knew we'd need proper papers so you could go to our schools and so we could be your guardians. Even said he had a proper birth certificate made for you since your parent's hadn't bothered to do so."
"And all this time you never told Harry this or showed him the papers?" Ginny asked, her anger unmistakable.
"There was no need!" Petunia said, also with a touch of anger. "He wasn't 18!"
"It's still not right!" Ginny almost shouted and Harry took her hand again.
"It's OK. It's over now," he said gently. "I got what I came for."
"What about that lot in your old room?" his uncle asked, struggling to control his anger.
"Right," Harry said. "I'll collect what I want and you can throw the rest out."
His uncle looked like he was about to protest this but his aunt gave him another look and soon Harry was upstairs, back in the room he had hoped he would never see again. It was as he had left it. Dust covered everything and there was a musty smell. He grabbed some of the clothes he had left behind, two books he thought he might like to keep and that was it. He stuffed it all in his school bag, with the file and his Invisibility Cloak, the bag being quite full now, and then in a minute was downstairs again. Ginny was already by the door and the Dursleys were there, seemingly glad this painful meeting was at end. All except Dudley.
"So, Harry, where you living now?" he asked.
"At Ginny's parent's house for now," Harry said. "Got my own place in London, though. And the property in Godric's Hollow."
"What?" his uncle said in surprise, struggling to control his anger. "That Smith never told me about that! He said it wasn't theirs, said it was a rented house. All these years I paid your way boy. I think I'm due some compensation. Yes, indeed, yes, indeed."
Harry just glared at him, wanting to be angry, wanting to say all the things that had been bottled up for years, but then he just let it slid away, and grinned. "No, I don't think that's going to happen."
And now his uncle did turn red and his aunt tried to calm him as he shouted, warned him about his blood pressure and then Harry and Ginny just said goodbye to them and left and Dudley followed them.
"Sorry about that," Dudley said. "You know Dad and money. Going back to school now are you?"
"No," Harry said, still marveling at this new Dudley. "Got a job with the Ministry of Magic in London. What about you?"
"Got to finish the last year at Smeltings," Dudley said glumly. "Then university, if I get in, or maybe work with Dad. He'd like that."
Harry got the feeling Dudley wouldn't like it at all. "Well, Dudley, I think we'll be off now. Take it easy."
Harry stuck out his hand and Dudley shook it. "You, too. Nice to meet you." He said to Ginny and she smiled and said goodbye to him as politely as she could manage and soon they were walking down the street.
"That could have gone better," Ginny said. "Sorry I lost my temper."
"Not to worry. Actually, that was quite good for a day at the Dursleys' house," Harry said.
"When you were upstairs I saw the door to that cupboard," Ginny said gently. "The one under the stairs. I can't believe that was your bedroom."
"Yeah, it was. For ten years," Harry said, embarrassed.
She took his hand and stopped walking. "I'm sorry. Just you're childhood…those people…it's just all so terrible. How did you turn out so nice?"
Harry grinned. "Had no where to go but up I guess."
She hugged him and Harry felt warm all over. Then he heard a voice. "Harry?"
It was Mrs. Figg. They said hello and went into her house which still smelled of cabbage. They had a nice long chat, had more tea, and some cake which wasn't too bad, discussing everything under the sun, including the Dursleys of course. After two hours they said their goodbyes and Harry decided to show Ginny around since it was turning out to be nice day. They went by the local school Harry had gone to, and Harry told Ginny about the time he had ended up the roof of the kitchens. They stopped for a sandwich in a local café and then it was getting dark so they decided to head back to the alley where the Dementors had attacked him to head back to the Burrow.
The alleyway was covered in shadows from the nearby houses. Harry started to take his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag when suddenly he felt like he couldn't move at all.
"What's the matter?" Ginny asked but then too late Harry realized someone had hit him with a Body Binding spell. As he started to topple over and hit the ground he hear a growling, all too terrifyingly familiar voice yell "Stupefy!" Ginny screamed as she was hit by the spell and was flung back against the wall of a house next to the alley, hitting her head and falling to the ground, unconscious.
"I said kill her!" came a second voice, one Harry had also heard before. Into his line of vision came Travers, the Death-Eater Harry had used the Imperious Curse on in Gringotts.
"Likes them fresh and breathing when I sinks me teeth in," growled the first voice and Harry's mind screamed "NOOOOO!" but he couldn't say a word.
The smell of the werewolf reached him first, and then Harry saw Fenrir Greyback, in human form as there was no full moon. "Don't worry, you'll be next!" Greyback said, bearing his yellow teeth.
Travers looked at Harry. "Very stupid to return here, Potter. We've been waiting all day for you to come back. Greyback wanted to just take you in your aunt and uncle's home, kill the lot, but I convinced him to wait till dark or until you came back here. Now, would you like to see your little friend die?"
Travers pushed Harry with his foot, turning him around. Harry's brain was on fire, trying to think of way out of this knowing he only had seconds, seeing the hulking form of Fenrir Greyback over Ginny's limp body, his jaws just inches from her throat. But nothing came and Harry knew all the training, all the congratulations, all the handshakes and backslaps and hugs and kisses in the world he had gotten for killing Voldemort meant nothing for he and Ginny were about to die.